Part 15: Less Fiery Death, More Lightningy Serious Injury

zrrgin posted:

Also, what's the best troops in the game? Dragons?

Pretty much. They can fly, they have hundreds of HP and they do loads of damage. They're expensive, but in terms of gold spent per HP they're surprisingly good value. They do have one significant disadvantage that limits their effectiveness when you use them, but I'll get to that when we find some.

Crouton posted:

I've never actually managed to finish this game before. I've got enough of the map to the Scepter on my Knight that I know exactly where it is, but I have no clue if that helps me at all. Do you need to actually beat the main dragon-guy in order to win? How do you end up actually getting the Scepter?

As Largepotato mentioned, there's a Search command that you can use at any time to try and dig up the Sceptre. If you find it, you win the game. If you search and the Sceptre isn't there, you waste ten full days. Beating Arech isn't necessary; his map piece reduces the time penalty for a failed search from 10 days to 1 day, but there's no other special reward for beating him. He's basically there as a challenge.

Anyway, on to the update!

Less Fiery Death, More Lightningy Serious Injury

The consensus today is clear enough: explore Forestria and build an army for more effective destruction!



"Did someone say 'army'?"



"Because I thought I heard someone oh hell no."



I probably should have remembered that the Sorceress' third class summons Elves with Instant Army, huh? Now if I get into a fight, those Elves are going to attack allies and enemies indiscriminately, and if I can't get their numbers back down to controllable levels by the time all enemies are defeated, they'll turn into enemy units permanently. Balls.



I could reload now, but that would be unsporting. Instead, I'm going to stick these Elves in a castle right now and buy replacements.



That's better. I mean, we're about 10,000 gold poorer, but we had too much money anyway. We can always get those elves back later, once we're promoted and get a huge leadership boost all at once.



We've explored barely a fifth of the continent, if that. Time to strike out in new directions!

"Why doesn't King Maximus have maps of the Four Continents, anyway?"

Oh, he does. I think he just doesn't want to give them to you.

"Honestly, I'm trying to save his life here. Just because a few things happen to get set on fire while I'm nearby, that's no reason not to trust me."



I don't think I've shown you what wandering monsters look like on Forestria yet. That burly gentleman to the southeast is a wandering encounter.

"Is that a shield he's holding or a dumbbell?"



I love Forestria.



A whole new continent, full of new treasures. Also, new signs!



What are you looking at me like that for? I said new signs, not new information. I haven't seen many undead on this continent yet anyway, unless you count Rinaldus.



According to popular folklore, the first artificial object launched into space was an improperly secured hatch intended to contain the blast of a hydrogen bomb being tested underground. I mention this now because the same thing is happening to Ignatia's leadership.



Oh boy, just what we need. Even more elves.



Could... could it be? Are my eyes deceiving me? Ignatia, do you see what I see?

"Please don't disturb me. I'm having the most beautiful dream."

I'll take that as a yes, then.



Just from looking at their stats, you wouldn't know they're anything special: they're expensive units with a high skill level but a mediocre melee attack. But three times per battle, they can use a missile attack that's equivalent to a Lightning spell. Until we find Archmages (which, with my luck, will probably be near the end of the last continent), these will be our best ranged units.



Even this mediocre gold cache can't ruin my good mood!



I didn't need you orcs anyway! You'd just lower the morale of my precious, precious Elves and Druids!



Demons? Ha! We can take them!

"I think you're getting drunk on power."

You're just jealous because you're not the only one who can use magic any more.



The goat horns and hooves I can understand, but why do demons have navels? The spawn of Hell don't need umbilical cords! I'm so confident that I'm not even going to bother shooting at these demons with my Archers: I'm just going to let my Druids do all the work!



Wait... there are three demons there! Why did that only kill two?

"Pride goeth before a fall, mortals."



Whew, the demon just flew over and attacked my archers without killing any. That could have gone much worse. How much worse, you ask? I'm sure you'll see the answer to that sooner or later.



Disaster averted, thanks to our ever-reliable Elves.



This is what happens when Druids shoot at something that doesn't have huge amounts of HP and a ridiculously high skill level like Demons do.



The bigger they are, the harder they fall and the more gold they give us. That won't be the last time we fight Demons, but I won't be so reckless about it in future.



Another castle full of random monsters. Yawn. I'm honestly tempted to attack it and leave our archers there; the Druids and Elves have the whole missile thing covered, after all.



And another castle. Unless I'm mistaken, this is Mooseweigh.



Rinaldus left some treasure outside. It's ours now.

"Technically, it belongs to the peasants now. For some reason, giving away all the money we find to useless slobs makes more people want to fight on our side."



We won't be attacking him this update. We'd have to run back to town and get a contract for him first, anyway.

"Yes, mortals. I can feel your fear as you sense death approaching. Run. Run, while there is still flesh on your bones."

"Isn't it a little early for Hallowe'en? Let's forget this bozo and sail upstream to search for more treasure."



Well, this is a promising start.



A tree full of garrison bitches! We'll be coming back here a few times, I'm sure.



Not the best loot we've found, but it'll do. Now, let's see what that joinable unit is! We've got a full army, but we can always reload if it's anything good.



Oh, they're just enemies. Nothing new for you guys to see, so we'll leave these be for now and explore more of the river.



That sign sure wasn't kidding around when it said there was treasure.



That's not so great, but I'm sure the other two will be better, right?



I said better, not worse!



KING'S BOUNTY!

I shouldn't be complaining, really. Ignatia got some leadership and one more Lightning spell to play with.



Oh, and there's even more treasure to pick up on the other branch of the river.





"If we've given the peasants all this money, why are they still peasants?"



With all of that leadership under our belt, I think it's time to go back and improve our army, don't you?



I've completely cleaned out that Druid lair. If we want more Druids, we'll have to either find another lair, wait for it to randomly restock, or cast Clone.



This is why the Sorceress is a great class: leadership is the easiest stat to boost through treasure, and spell power is the hardest.



Here's our map. We've still only explored about half the continent, so we can either keep exploring or fight Rinaldus now. Over to you, loyal retainers!

"That guy was a jerk. Let's try out our Druids on him!"