tense stuff, even if the Empress seems to rely pretty much on brute force
It was. Ive not played on many small(er) maps, but I think given the difference in map sizes, the AI appears to concentrate their forces more. Which if you think about it is a given. Less space to cover. Less objectives to capture.
Turn 73. We were fortunate in that I had the right forces in position for that volume of attacks. The zombies were able to soak up the majority of damage, leaving the others to take minor hits. However we must not reduce the enemy's number of will to fight by causing an enormous amount of harm, otherwise we will be overrun. Of this I have no doubt.
Unfortunately the zombies will not take any part in the forthcoming battle so I withdrawn them to Corrovallum and expect to rest them next turn and beyond. I decide to move my newly summoned and untouched ghost wolves to a position to the west of Deadwood. Here they can attack a group of enemy skeletal warriors. However when they reach their intended spot, the situation looks back with around a ratio 1:1 casualties for both sides. The reason for this is that the enemy unit is in a forest and that provides a -25% penalty to the attacker, plus an additional -25% because they also possess the cover specialist perk. Even if one of these is negated as the summoned unit possess the Forester perk. So I decide to leave them alone for now.
Unfortunately I still do not possess enough mana to can another Firestorm spell, so I decide wait it out and hope that even if I lose the city of Deadwood, I can try to seize it back quickly with help from this spell. I continue to move two units from the east to the west of my domain and let the A.I have its phase.
To my surprise Empress begins to move around half of her forces back towards her domain (to the west). Lucky me or could she be under threat from another source?
Turn 74 begins with the arrival of another goblin spearmen unit. A quest to defeat a group of roaming minotaurs who appear to the west of Deadwood, just south of Empress' forces. I check to see what recruitment options I have. Due to a lack of money, I cannot afford to build anything beyond basic land forces. Worried that my underbelly maybe exposed to an attack from across the sea, I choose to start creating a navy. I am in two minds. Should I have kept the money and waiting to add to my army, given my rivals superiority of numbers? Will I regret this decision? Hopefully not I think to myself as I continue to move the latest two goblin units from Madruid in the east to Deadwood in the west. From across the sea to the far west, my flying galleus continues to bridge the map as it makes it way to the rear of Empress' frontline.
Now the A.I takes its turn. It retreats a few on its standard units, but then performs an unexpected manoeuvre. It gathers its three vampires units in a group outside the boundary of Deadwood, destroying an unaligned enemy unit in the process, but takes a large chunk out of the quest minotaurs to their south.
It is now Turn 75 and perhaps I made a good call with the construction of my first naval unit, for an enemy caravellus belonging to Mirabulus the Hat (blue) has appeared on my coast. This time Im lucky as I have a band of goblin archers in range to attack it immediately. Which I do with haste, sending a good portion of it (-7) down to join Davey Jones.
The population of Deadwood has managed to grow, but only by the good grace of the zombie and ghost units that frightened off Empress' forces.
p) I decide to build a Bat Fort. The only choice really as I have to ensure that the next massed attacked by Empress' will be met by stiffer opposition. Yep more stiffer than a skeleton with frostbite!
I follow this by preparing to go on the offensive. I cast the spell - Lesser Weakness on the vampire unit nearest to Deadwood. It won't achieve much, but given I want my mana to grow next turn, it will have to do. Lesser Weakness costs 11 mana, while my reserves will go up by 12 mana. I move up all my forces that were arrayed to the east of Deadwood, to locations to the north and south of the city. Placing them on the best defensive terrain I can. They form a < shape, where the unit (a group of summoned imps) west of the city sits the west most point of the arrowhead.
Empress takes her turn, summoning another group of ghost wolves and destroying my summoned imps and moving one vampire unit towards the city. The other two retreat towards her own domain. The unaligned Minotaurs attack one of my units of goblin spearmen. Fortunately the spearmen defensive positioning lets them deal a great amount of damage onto the minotaurs, while only taking a very small amount in return.
Turn 76 commences. I choose the option to research Lesser Heal, given the current situation - we are at war with most of the know world of Ardania. I would have chosen the Harvest Blessing spell otherwise. In order to grow my cities more quickly. My navy has now come into being and not enough enough. I immediately send her into battle against the ailing caravellus from Miraibulus' fleet. One salvo and the enemy disappears beneath the sea.
Across my domain around the city of Deadwood my own forces and those of Empress' are about to lock horns on the field of battle once more.
More to follow...
