Part 29: Turn 26: I Was Hoping For A Bit More Of A Fight
Construction 4 is done. We'll be dealing with that very shortly.
No new sites.
In Jome, we get the same event that we just got next to Jome. How odd. Again, I think this is a bit of a net minus, but it's not that much of a net minus, and I'm pretty sure there's no "attack spell" that does this. It would be a strange attack spell.
Iron Range, Agartha's sole remaining non-castle province, gets attacked by Ronin. This is a similar random event to the "hey barbarians in your face" event that we just saw. Poor Agartha. It goes badly for Agartha - most of the random independent attacks will just overwhelm low levels of province defense easily, and Agartha hasn't been building up forces there.
In Nydian Range, Midgard takes one of their provinces back from C'tis. It's roughly the same skinshifter battalion you saw before, Pretender God included, versus some province defense. Province defense melts.
A similar thing happens in Solian, minus the province defense - there's a single Poison Slinger there who turns and runs instantly.
Meanwhile, an oppositely pitched battle occurs in Alman - Fluffy Bunnies versus maybe two points of PD. The PD loses.
And in Storn Woods, Abysia suicides another group of infantry against Mictlan.
(Future Me: I'm not worrying too much about telling you where these provinces are. To be honest, I don't really know. It's just important to realize that C'tis and Midgard are jousting for territory and the AI is still retarded.)
I was actually hoping for some resistance just so I could show you a castle siege before Agartha. Nope. Looks like there was literally nobody left. Barra is ours, and Agartha is down to one province.
And next turn, Agartha will be ours . . . hopefully.
(Future Me: Hey, remember this, back in turn 23? I'm guessing it actually was a random event. Which almost disappoints me, because with a little research in the right direction Agartha could have been bombarding me with it constantly. In any case, we haven't been hit with it again, so I'm no longer worrying about that.)
(Future Me: Here's a version with name labels. I personally think it's just too cluttered. You guys chime in, what's useful for you?)
T'ien Ch'i seems to be encroaching. This is a bit of a problem. His forces are strong, and I'm not well-suited to take them on. Additionally, the bulk of my forces are finishing off Agartha.
I decide to play defensively and make a stand at Carnag. They'll either have to go through Carnag, Barra, or south the long way, and I can easily seal all of those off. Once his army is dead I can stampede up and start taking his land, and Agartha's income will help greatly with that. Meanwhile, I build tons of Hypaspists to weather the arrow storm and get close.
I also summon a Cave Drake of my own. I don't know if T'ien Ch'i is using Fire Closest or Fire Largest, but if it's Closest I can decoy them into shooting at the Cave Drake. Conveniently I've got a capable mage sitting in Carnag at this very moment.
It's getting to the point where I need to use battle magic seriously, especially given my lack of range. More mystics will help with that, and soon I'll have three forts that can be dumping mystics out constantly.
Meanwhile, I've got a castle to siege. I deliberate heavily on elephant placement. If my luck so far holds, putting them in the front guarantees that they'll flee and trample the entire rest of my army in the process. Putting them in the rear means that they'll never get a chance to trample the enemy army. Let's live life dangerously: they go in the front.
If this goes badly, I'm really fucked against T'ien Ch'i.
I also move my Slingers up towards Carnag. I must admit, it'll be pretty funny if they are simply utterly unable to damage the walls. I'll be courting supply disaster, but hopefully I'll be able to get my elephants there in time to rescue the fort.
And finally, my entire scout network starts migrating north. I want T'ien Ch'i covered.
Now, on the non-military front, remember that level in Construction? That level gives us access to a whole pile of useful things. First, I give Mrs. Butterworth her Dwarven Hammer. Then I start production on a Robe of the Sea. That'll cost me 11 Water gems, but it will let me boost one of my Sibyls up to Water 2, which will give me access to Water sitesearching. Similarly, I have one of my Sibyls start work on a Thistle Mace, which is a similar Nature booster. I've only got one hammer, but that one only costs 10 Nature gems anyway. I'd love to claim I have a specific plan for it, but I don't - I just know that at some point I'll want it, and I'd rather get it done earlier than later. And finally, I have a priestess forge an Endless Bag of Wine. I actually should have done this last turn, but, well, hindsight and all. The Endless Bag of Wine increases supply in a region by 50, and it will let me fling my slingers around with significantly more impunity.
I need another hammer.
The red arrow in the topleft is a scout attempting to gank a no-PD province. Worth a shot. I'm stepping up armored unit production at all my forts, and starting to move my Arco units west - C'tis is running into enough of a problem with Midgard that I doubt I'll be attacked, and I need all the forces I can get. One way or another I plan to stop off at the barbarian-plagued Anvast in the near future and take it back - additionally, there's still two unclaimed territories in old Agarthan territory.
Right now, our plan is to finish off Agartha and weather the first wave of T'ien Ch'i. Once we're done with that . . . well, we'll see.
Next: The assault on Agartha.