2 twice, then boink Alara to max out our troops.
This is easy mode, so we can take our time. 'Turtle, Build, Invade, Repeat' should be our pattern.
Gyertza seams to be the weaker of our neighbours, but Uraj has less neighbors. We don't know their current troop count, but they could have any unit available anyway.
When ever there's a fight, mind revealing how you handle the dice? I'd like to see what you did.
So, no player controlled AI? Damn. Oh well.
I'd say we stick to the good old strategy the_taken suggested - dig in and build up in Egyp...uhh, I mean Akkad, then go for French-controlled Western Afri...uhh, Uraj. Sure, they're potentially stronger, but we'll want as few neighbours (that could hand our asses to us) as possible. Also, time is sorta on our side, since 1 attack = 4 weeks, so we'll need about 20 weeks for pure conquest (implying we don't lose due to suicidal attacks on our side or some AI-luck).
If I understood correctly from your little intro, our main hero decided to stay where he is (in Egip...GAH, Akkad), so loosing this country = game over, right? So, after Uraj go for Gyertza and hope we won't get counter-attacked by them Kpungas. After that, go for Jat'lu, then Maklatl, and end with an epic battle for Kpunga.
Also, this:
When ever there's a fight, mind revealing how you handle the dice? I'd like to see what you did.
Course of action:
1. 2 x2
2. 3
3. Depends on what our enemies do, but propably 1.a).
Side note: Wasn't our plan to capture and fuck the princesses (princess'? I never could get that right) brains out, and not literally ripping said brains with our bare hands? Just thinking out loud here.
Since most people just want a functional game to try out, not yet. Maybe in the next incarnation, if this one is successful.
If I understood correctly from your little intro, our main hero decided to stay where he is (in Egip...GAH, Akkad), so loosing this country = game over, right?
Not necessarily - by default the hero will flee to the nearest country controlled by him. Losing Akkad doesn't necessarily mean GO, but if there are no Archer-controlled territories adjacent to it, it does.
Side note: Wasn't our plan to capture and fuck the princesses (princess'? I never could get that right) brains out, and not literally ripping said brains with our bare hands? Just thinking out loud here.
Important: What's going to happen when you conquer a country is a choice. You can either kill the princess or try to add her to your harem. Adding her to the harem may not be successful - she might not take to the main character, especially if she is strong-willed. Attempting to tame her costs you four weeks, regardless of if it's successful or not (so if you want all the countries you actually have to count on each invasion taking two months, not just one).
I had two reasons to kill the first princess. First, I wanted the only breeding source to be Alara at the start of the game. Second, I wanted an excuse for Archer to stay out of the battles - like Alara said during her internal monologue, he's a powerful enough warrior that he could probably invade a country with half the troops it would normally take and win - but having a hero unit would add a whole new layer of complexity to decision-making and combat.
As for combat calculations, absolutely I'll write them down for you guys. I'm still not exactly happy with the combat system I've worked out, so I want to display it for anybody that wants to make suggestions for improvement.
As for relative troop strength of possible invasion targets, I'm going to have Alara give Archer a general idea of their strength. The reason I didn't do it here is because both Uraj and Gyertza have relatively the same strength - both of their armies are made up of infantry only (so Alara's casters will typically make short work of them), and while Uraj has the capability for more troops, Gyertza's army is slightly better trained.
Hm. I'll go with the flow and say 2 - build up Akkad. Specifically, "build up Akkad" twice and then "breed Alara" once we've got the spare capacity to support that many troops.
Next moves are kinda dependent on whether Uraj or Gyertza decides to try removing Archer directly. Assuming neither does, I'd vote for hitting Uraj first, and trying to capture Uraj's princess. Less exposure that way.
I'll keep taking votes for now but things are a bit hectic for me at the moment (seems like everything goes wrong all at once haha). not sure when i'll be able to update next. I'm confident it will be within a week though. sorry about the delay.
[Okay, I've added a new rule - what I'll be calling the fog of war. Basically, a country can't act until a month after Archer becomes adjacent to it. After that month, I'll be able to attack, build up troops, etc. I am also planning on rewriting the original post to lay out all the rules. Sorry the update took so long; my days off have been pretty stuffed with intense RL action. =P]
The impossibly beautiful prince gazed at the map for a while, then decided his position was too precarious to go attacking willy-nilly. He needed more strength; he needed to solidify his position.
"Dig in," he declared in his deep voice - a relic from when he was an ugly hunchback. That voice also still carried its gravelly quality from before, making him sound a bit strange to a newcomer. After all, one expected a beautiful golden man to be more high-pitched, with a voice resembling the clarion call of a trumpet, not the rough grating of a diseased nobody. "Take a month to build up our defenses."
Archer spent those four weeks observing how the reparations were coming - his subjects, though not exactly loyal, were afraid of him and his twisted troops enough so that they obeyed. He didn't interfere with their daily lives, so many of them hardly noticed any difference in lifestyle - regime changes were rarely newsworthy to the common folk, aside from how much they charged for taxes. When he was satisfied with how the construction of his city-state was coming, he summoned Alara to his private chambers.
The succubus, Alara, knew what he wanted even before she stepped into his presence - a leader needed an army, and she was his method to gaining that army. Still, she gasped in surprise as the smooth, ropy tentacles encircled her, and her deep violet eyes widened as they fixed upon the beautiful prince. She tried to speak, but was only able to produce a muffled grunt as a penile shape thrust itself into her mouth, the man before her sighing in pleasure as he was stimulated by her throat. She felt her body being lifted, surprisingly gently, so the man in the chair could better watch her. As her clothes were torn from her, she decided to relax and enjoy herself - after all, there were worse fates than being triple-penetrated with a man who seemed to care about her own pleasure even more than his own.
They spent two weeks tending to her pregnancy, birth, and raising of two new spawn-troops before Alara took him to the map room again. "Our numbers have increased, my prince," she murmured seductively, running a hand across his narrow shoulders. "Both Uraj and Gyertza now know of our presence, and can mobilize against us. What will you do with your new troops?" she asked.
Status: 58 weeks until the banishing spell is complete.
Princesses: Alara (Caster-type)
breeds 2 Caster minions. Caster minions are strong against infantry and weak against ranged foes.
Countries/Military:
Maximum food limit: 5
Akkad; 5 troops (caster)
Country = Food Limit = Name
1 = 3 = Akkad
2 = 5 = Uraj
3 = 4 = Gyertza
4 = 3 = Jat'lu
5 = 2 = Maklatl
6 = 5 = Kpunga
So country 1 on the map's name is Akkad and it has 3 food limit.
What will you do? 1: Invade. 4 weeks.
a) Uraj
b) Gyertza
1.a) Invade Uraj with all five troops. We have the same number of troops and you revealed that we have a type advantage, so we're less likely to fail. That kingdom also has less neighbours, meaning we won't have to worry about as many counter attacks.
Tcha. I want to invade, but I also don't want to lose a territory to invasion...
Bah! 1A - invade Uraj with 5 Casters. If Gyertza overruns Akkad while we're away, we'll just take it away from 'em after we're done smacking Uraj down and carrying off its princess.
Another thing I've forgotten to mention - I did in fact decide against a 'scouting' mechanic. You'll have to guess.
Also, I make my decisions for what other countries do at the end of each post. Since both Uraj and Gyertza's knowledge of Akkad is that Archer has been digging in and has been fortifying his position, it's very unlikely that they're going to attack at the very same instant you attack another province. At the end of the battle, I will give you an option for marching troops back to the province they attacked from - this march does take a certain amount of time, though, and another province could attack while they're on the march (in which case, if they win, you'll lose the troops you marched with as well).
When you decide to attack, don't forget to tell me how many troops you want to attack with - for expediency's sake.
Christ. I'm going to have to write a program to do all these calculations. It's ridiculously long and drawn out. Anyway, I'm impatient to test this out so I went ahead and started the fight. Since there were only two suggestions for how many troops to attack Uraj with, I went with 4. And good god is it taking a long time. I'll edit this post when I finish.
Calculations:
When I refer to stats, I will display them in the Strength/Agility/Concentration/Talent format. Example: 0/0/3/3
Here's how I'm handling combat calculations.
Determine initiative in each pairing by adding Agility and Talent. If two troops tie for initiative, a d20 is rolled. Example:
Archer Troop A has 0/0/3/3 stats.
Uraj Troop A has 0/3/0/3 stats.
Calculation:
AA: 0 + 3 = 3
UA: 3 + 3 = 6 - Uraj
Result:
Uraj Troop A gets to attack first.
Example 2:
Archer Troop A has 0/1/1/4
Uraj Troop A has 1/3/0/2
Calculation:
AA: 1 + 4 = 5 (14)
UA: 3 + 2 = 5 (5) - Archer
Result:
Archer Troop A gets to attack first.
Attacks:
Miss chance: 8
Base damage: 10
Attacking calculation for a physical attack:
(d20 + triangle bonus) + attacker's Agility vs defender's Agility + miss chance [bonus damage]
Attacking calculation for a magical attack:
(d20 + triangle bonus) + attacker's Talent vs defender's Talent + miss chance [bonus damage]
Bonus damage is [(left - right) / 2] rounded down, left being what's on the left of the "vs"
Ties are hits.
If there is a hit, the defender performs a soak roll.
Physical attack soak:
(d20 + triangle bonus) + defender's Strength vs base damage + attacker's Strength + bonus damage
Magical attack soak:
(d20 + triangle bonus) + defender's Concentration vs base damage + attacker's Concentration + bonus damage
If the right side is greater than the left side, defender takes bonus damage + 1 to their Hit Points.
If the left side is greater than the right side, defender takes no damage.
(Note that in this battle, ties were failures; in future battles, ties will be successes)
Combat:
Initiative:
Initial Archer Team:
A 0/0/3/3
B 0/0/1/5
C 0/1/1/4
D 1/0/1/4
Initial Uraj Team:
A 0/3/0/3
B 0/3/0/3
C 1/3/0/2
D 0/4/1/2
E 2/3/0/1
Alara hissed in satisfaction as their troops swarmed the castle, claws extending and retracting in excitement, bloodlust sending shivers of enthusiasm through her body. Archer looked a little sick as he surveyed the carnage. But he kept walking, and that was all Alara wanted. She didn't care if he didn't have the stomach for it - all she needed was for him to keep taking over countries, just like this. "My lord," she spoke as they entered the throne room, empty of its princess. "Uraj is yours." He sat down upon the throne and gazed at the rafters of the great hall, rubbing a hand over his forehead. Alara bowed before him, pressing her forehead to the floor. When she rose, her eyes were still gleaming. "My lord, my scouts have told me that the princess has escaped the grounds - would you like to hunt for her, and take her as your captive?"
Status: 54 weeks until the banishing spell is complete.
Archer's position: URAJ
Princesses: Alara (Caster-type)
breeds 2 Caster minions. Caster minions are strong against infantry and weak against ranged foes.
What will you do? 1: Go after the princess. 4 weeks. (There is a chance that the princess will escape; if that happens, the 4 weeks will have been wasted. If you catch her, however, at the end of the four weeks she will produce troops for you as if you had bred with her.)
2: Let the princess escape into hiding. We have work to do.
1: Invade. 4 weeks. (Don't forget to tell me how many troops you want to invade with.)
a) Gyertza
b) Jat'lu
2: Build up a country. Gain 1 extra food. 2 weeks.
a) Akkad
b) Uraj
3: Breed with Alara. Produce 2 caster-type troops.
Hmmm... so troops pair off against one another. And then any leftovers get to pick their target? Or do they have to go evenly, e.g. if there'd been an Uraj F in the first round, he'd attack Archer B?
My vote? 1 - run the princess down and capture her. Even if she escapes, keeping her from mustering a resistance will be useful enough that the time spent is worth it.
Another question... is there any way to boost up the stats of our troops, once they've been born? Training, equipment, anything?
Hmmm... so troops pair off against one another. And then any leftovers get to pick their target? Or do they have to go evenly, e.g. if there'd been an Uraj F in the first round, he'd attack Archer B?
This. I tried to think of a better way to handle it, but didn't come up with anything. As it is, I'm not exactly happy with it, as your chances of winning increase exponentially the more you outnumber your opponent. The curve seems too steep at the moment.
Another question... is there any way to boost up the stats of our troops, once they've been born? Training, equipment, anything?
No. Outnumbering the defender is powerful enough. Also, don't forget that if you breed with one of the princesses a certain number of times, she'll start producing superbabies.
Also, by the way, I haven't come up with a system to determine whether or not our attempted capture of the princess is successful or not (further proving that this game is still very much a 'I'm making this shit up as I go') so if anybody has any ideas on that, I'd greatly appreciate hearing them. To give you a sort of idea of what I want to happen, you have two chances to catch her, and one chance to break her. Each of these takes two weeks - if you catch her the first two weeks, regardless if you successfully break her or not, the whole operation takes a month. If you miss catching her both times, again, a month (just no princess). If you fail at the first capture and succeed at the second, whether or not you break her, you lose six weeks.
I do want to make the later princesses harder to capture... so there'd have to be some sort of balance. I have no idea how to achieve this balance, though. Number of troops? Make Archer his own unit? Lots of ideas, but none of them stick out to me. Again, if any of you have any suggestions for how to handle this, please let me know.
TBH, I expected the combat system to be, well, Risk - each attacking troop gets a die (max 3), each defending troop gets a die (max 2), winners kill losers, defender wins ties. Fight until one side is dead. Type advantage gives a +1 to the troop with the advantage, "elite" also gives a +1 to the troop. Nothing complicated, no stats to speak of.
So, continuing in that vein, how about this:
Each attempt to capture the princess involves a roll on a d20 - beat a 10 to succeed. An unmodified 20 is an automatic success.
Each troop in the country adds +1 to the capture roll.
Each woman in your harem (including Alara) adds -2 to the capture roll.
You get +2 for being a lover, or -2 for being a fighter.
No break roll - you get yer paws on her, she's yours.
This makes it so that you've got a pretty good chance (~75%) of capturing the first girl, but it gets progressively harder the larger your harem gets (64%, 51%, 36%, 19%, 9% for future tries). But if you flub the first rolls, subsequent ones don't get harder (the second princess assigned some of her guards to protect the first, or whatever).
The removal of the break roll is because we can assume that Archer & Alara won't allow the princess to escape or suicide (or whatever you consider a break roll failure), if they manage to imprison her. Since I didn't want to go to the bother of allowing repeated break attempts (the natural result), I decree that you auto-succeed.
TBH, I expected the combat system to be, well, Risk - each attacking troop gets a die (max 3), each defending troop gets a die (max 2), winners kill losers, defender wins ties. Fight until one side is dead. Type advantage gives a +1 to the troop with the advantage, "elite" also gives a +1 to the troop. Nothing complicated, no stats to speak of.
The problem with this method is the lack of scaling difficulty. I want to make it progressively harder and harder as we go along. Madagascar, for example, is going to be damn-near impossible to take even though the food limit is only 2, because their troops are extremely well-trained. This forces you to get to love status with at least one princess to get elite troops. The other problem with just using risk-type rules is sort of the same problem - the game would become way too easy. All you'd have to do is sit back and build up until you got elite troops, then take over all the countries at once at the end of the time limit. Another issue is that the princesses would have no individuality to speak of - the first one would be exactly identical to the last one, aside from which type she produces. In this one, the Uraj princess is going to produce more troops in shorter time, but they're going to have relatively low stats, and Gyertza is going to make fewer but better troops. So even though they're the same type, there's a cost/benefit ratio.
I'm not really awake right now (I hate having to work in the mornings) so let me know if that wasn't as coherent as I'm hoping it is.
So, continuing in that vein, how about this:
Each attempt to capture the princess involves a roll on a d20 - beat a 10 to succeed. An unmodified 20 is an automatic success.
Each troop in the country adds +1 to the capture roll.
Each woman in your harem (including Alara) adds -2 to the capture roll.
You get +2 for being a lover, or -2 for being a fighter.
No break roll - you get yer paws on her, she's yours.
This makes it so that you've got a pretty good chance (~75%) of capturing the first girl, but it gets progressively harder the larger your harem gets (64%, 51%, 36%, 19%, 9% for future tries). But if you flub the first rolls, subsequent ones don't get harder (the second princess assigned some of her guards to protect the first, or whatever).
The removal of the break roll is because we can assume that Archer & Alara won't allow the princess to escape or suicide (or whatever you consider a break roll failure), if they manage to imprison her. Since I didn't want to go to the bother of allowing repeated break attempts (the natural result), I decree that you auto-succeed.
I like this. It does what I want it to do, even though it's not exactly doing it the way I wanted it to. Still, better than anything I've thought of, so I'll probably use it unless someone comes up with something better while I'm at work.
The problem with this method is the lack of scaling difficulty. I want to make it progressively harder and harder as we go along. Madagascar, for example, is going to be damn-near impossible to take even though the food limit is only 2, because their troops are extremely well-trained. This forces you to get to love status with at least one princess to get elite troops. The other problem with just using risk-type rules is sort of the same problem - the game would become way too easy. All you'd have to do is sit back and build up until you got elite troops, then take over all the countries at once at the end of the time limit. Another issue is that the princesses would have no individuality to speak of - the first one would be exactly identical to the last one, aside from which type she produces. In this one, the Uraj princess is going to produce more troops in shorter time, but they're going to have relatively low stats, and Gyertza is going to make fewer but better troops. So even though they're the same type, there's a cost/benefit ratio.
The counterbalancing option is the food limit. Risk doesn't have that, so you can do the whole "build up a horde" tactic.
Which brings me to some other questions:
-I assume, if you have more than one country, you can order troops to do stuff in each country, like moving and invading. That is, if Archer spent time breeding up to the maximum in Akkad and Uraj, he could then order the Akkad troops to invade Gyertza while the Uraj troops invaded Jat'lu?
-Also, I assume you can invade a country with more troops than it can support. So he could invade Gyertza (which supports 4) from Uraj (which supports 5) with 5 troops if he had them. Any surviving extras would automatically retreat to the invading country.
-With those two behaviours, you could then do a "combined" invasion - attack Gyertza with both Uraj and Akkad, giving you 10 troops to their 4.
'Cuz like you say, Maklatl (Madagascar) is gonna be impossible if we can only invade with 2 troops per invasion. 9 on 2 is maybe a bit of overkill, but since we're going to have to launch an "expected failure" invasion just to scout them out and determine their troop type...
I like this. It does what I want it to do, even though it's not exactly doing it the way I wanted it to. Still, better than anything I've thought of, so I'll probably use it unless someone comes up with something better while I'm at work.
Well, if you'd describe "the way you want it to", maybe we can work something else out. You WERE complaining earlier about working out battle stats, after all. Did you want something more stat-based instead of a simple probability roll? What factors did you want to key into the scenario?
