Kragroth King Cassiel [Game 3 Session VI Aurorarcher vs. Kragroth]

[Kragroth]

Thou shalt have no other gods before me, I Cassiel am your God!

This thread is not for Aurorarcher. If you are Aurorarcher, please leave!

[Kragroth]

The Main Settings for this game are:

Mirrorland
Tiny
Thaw
Quick
Critical Resources close
Inland Seas
No Scattered Improvements
Always War
Emperor Difficulty

Yeah, that's critical resources close. That means that copper and horses will be nearby the capitol starting position with a decent chance of iron, mithril, and/or gunpowder being nearby as well.

To me, Cassiel seems an ideal choice. Quickly upgrade your adventurer scout or warrior into a horseman or axeman and go to town. If the game lasts a longer term, another nice combo is to get an adventurer warrior, get him enough combat to get the moving while healing promotion and then promote that warrior to a horse archer. High Withdrawl combined with Healing, a lot of first strikes, and heroic attack is a force to be reckoned with. Eventually Blitz could be added as well to seal the deal.

So our map looks like this:



I moved up and settled on a plains forest to be in range of the gold, cow, and wheat. I went for mining because that gold makes a huge difference in teching early on, it will also reveal to me the location of the copper. When mining is finished, I'll have to decide whether to get agriculture, exploration and then bronze working or try a different route. There's a lot of animal resources here and it's quite tempting to go Animal husbandry earlier too.

[Kragroth]

And so the Harassment begins



The above is literally the worst position to be in. I cannot run away from this scout to a safe location. The best move is to fortify. Her scout still has 70+ Percent Odds and will likely eat my unit and then gain xp to threaten my capitol!

Not fun! This is one of the few games where I didn't settle on a hill either.

Sheesh.

[Kragroth]

So yeah, the Svart scout killed my scout. He didn't have much of a chance. The enemy had about 73% odds. Unfortunately, I'm in a choke right now. The scout is too highly promoted. For now I must wait. Branding will gain enough xp eventually but that will take some time. In the meantime it's straight warrior building until we have enough units to mount a challenge.

Svarts really are powerful, Volanna is probably too powerful. Regardless, I was in a tough position, Grigori need to wait to get their hero but they want to keep Pacifism as long as Possible. In hindisght I probably should not have gone worker first and should have dumped Pacifism on Turn 1. I should not have seen that gold mine and gone mining first.

Oh well, what's done is done.

[Kragroth]

Yeup. Volanna Svarts are annoying. Well. I can get out of this choke eventually. I think I go for exploration next followed by Bronze Working.

[Qgqqqqq]

Volanna has been banned in the past for a reason. Regardless, I think she's okay now in a FFA, but duels are another matter entirely.

Why did you make Branding a scout? Edit: Ignore, stupid question.

[Kragroth]

This is part my fault. I should have gone warrior first and abandoned pacifism. I should have stuck to agriculture first.

Part this is bad luck. I literally got my scout trapped. There was a very low chance of defending against the svart scout. I did not expect such a quick find either.

[Kragroth]

I ended up losing Branding due to Heroes having a higher chance of defending the Stack. Turning Branding into a Scout was a dumb idea for the situation. His 2 move didn't help at all in the forest. Despite the 3 Str Shock Promotion, turning him into a warrior would be better.



Now, I can't get the gold without fear of giving the enemy free xp, they can attack an adjacent square and immediately retreat without reprisal. I have to do a slow wait until I get Bronze Working. The Choke on me is quite successful even if subdued at the moment.

[Kragroth]

So, what are the soliders saying to me. It says 14K. I see two scouts in my territory. That leaves another 10K. He likely has at least 1 warrior in his capitol which leaves 7K. Maybe he has 2 more scouts and another warrior? He probably doesn't have bronze working or other relevant techs. Does the power always have to match up or does his 5 pop add 2K soldiers to this?

[Kragroth]

So let's see 11K Soldiers from the enemy. I see 3 enemy scouts within range this adds up to 6K. The enemy Likely has a Warrior at home so that's 3K more to 9K. He has a size 5 city so that's 2K more.

So the enemy has next to no defense back home most likely?