Aramon Defiant

If I remember correctly, Brakada was a sort of 'separatist' faction within Veruna which was based on the island of - guess! - Brakada. I'm thinking Delean was somewhat similar in Aramon, what with all the "magic" faerie-folk and whatnot, but I'm not sure. Either way, I thought it'd be a little fun to have a 3 player game on a 5 player map. Araman, Brakada, and Delean. Sort of a role-play of Delean rebels asking for Brakadan aid against the Tyrant Elisn... or something else altogether absurd.

Guidelines - For me alone to follow in gameplay
-No Attacks within the first 20 minutes
-No more than 10 Defensive structures at any one time
-Elsin must go toe-to-toe with at least one Enemy Monarch
-No Dragons or Deities
-Only 2 Acolytes

So, let's get started!

Image1: Set-Up (Gametime: 00:00:00)
Just to show what exactly I'm operating with...


Image2: Watch Your Step (Gametime: 00:13:00)
Kind of stumbled onto Brakada on my immediate Right Flank, so I have begun to fortify (I end up putting a total of 5 towers here). Elsin rushes over to protect the workers should Brakada come by to kill them. Please note that the mini-map has colored circles for the enemy's spawn points (White = Brakada, Brown = Delean)


Image3: Raid! (Gametime: 00:17:00)
While I was worried about my defenses, Brakada sneaks through a small raiding party which hits my Mustering grounds, catching my new recruits unawares. We end up beating them back, and that Horseman charging right at the enemy cannons ends up attaining Veteran status for killing 3 enemies. So now we've given the Brakada a bloody nose, despite being taken by suprise!


Image4: All Quiet on the Northern Front (Gametime: 00:20:00)
A small squad of Horsemen is acting as border patrol on the most direct route to Delean's forces. Also please note that the plateau which my Mage Builders are on is covered in unclaimed mana nodes and I plan to exploit the mess out of them! Still no sign of Delean, though... something feels odd about that.


Image5: FIRE! (Gametimes: 00:20:03)
As soon as I built some minor defenses, I began construction on a Trebuchet which is now fully operational. I don't plan to let Brakada attain that Tier 2 if I can help it - as it gives them access to some aerial combat units - and not a moment too soon. Before this picture was taken, the building (Tower of Dyn) was close to 80% completion. My forces are now massing for an assault on Brakada and I'm putting in a new order of 30+ troops.


Image6: Pincer Attacks (Gametime: 00:22:00)
Here on the central plateau I had constructed nearly all the Lodestones... but had completely forgotten to send another pair of Mage Builders in for a couple of towers nevermind the 20 troops I had on standby. This is the result - Delean finally making an appearance from the north and Brakada raiding from the south. I will go on to lose everything on the plateau except one Lodestone. Notice my Horseman patrol is also gone, lost sometime while I skirmished in the south with Brakada.


Image7: Momentum (Gametime: 00:23:40)
While I drew away most of my forces to secure the Plateau, Brakada launches an assault on my Right Flank. Pictured here you can see my towers shredding their lines, but I do go on to lose one Guard Tower. Meanwhile, in the mini-map you can see my concentration of forces coming together on the plateau and driving the Delean forces away.


Image8: Peace and Order (Gametime: 00:23:49)
Here is shown the liberation and occupation of the Plateau, and the last Delean forces - a couple of Halfling Archers - running away. They don't make it past the Swordsmen just ahead of them. The skirmishing was fierce as my Horsemen arrived ahead of my main body and dealt with a greater number of Delean troopers. I then bring in a couple of Mage Builders to rectify the situation permanently.


Image9: Over the Top! (Gametime: 00:28:00)
As soon as I get a couple of towers up on the Plateau, I move every combat soldier on the Plateau and those in the Mustering grounds to patrol into the heart of the Brakada base. This northern thrust is led by the veteran Horseman who charged the cannon early on, while the western thrust is led by a Rolling Tower and Elsin himself. If he can find Lord Grenseal and kill him, then I will have wiped out an enemy and completed one of my Guidelines. Here is shown the force cresting the large hill on the edge of Brakada's base. That northern Palace gets destroyed stupid-quickly. Notice Lord Grenseal in the bottom left, getting shot by Elsin. When the picture is taken, Grenseal has about 30% health, but waves and escapes temporarily.


Image10: Duel to the Death (Gametime: 00:28:30)
Elsin, caught on the edge of Grenseal's wave attack, quickly recovers and rushes around the Standing Stones. Soon he runs headlong into Grenseal who emerges from the Fog and goes begins to attack Elsin with his nasty Halberd. That residual explosion in front of Elsin is the last vestiges of Grenseal, who is removed from the earth by a Meteor attack. Brakada has Fallen! Notice the mini-map for major thrusts. The two flanking attacks are mostly to make sure I can contain Delean while the central attack is to hunt down Renagon.


Image11: Last Patrol (Gametime: 00:35:00)
While Elsin recuperates in the rear, every available soldier is sent into harm's way on a one-way hunt for Renagon, Monarch of Delean. Surprisingly, the Delean base is smaller than Brakada's, despite being farther from Aramon's Military Arm. As my forces rush in, only a motley handful of Delean troops are on hand to defend their leader, only to fall under the human waves. One Horseman makes it far enough into the base to glimpse the 50% complete Intangible Mass that is the Spirit of Osalm, the Delean Deity. This perhaps explains why Delean has been so quiet. Renagon reaps a terrible harvest from the advancing Aramon troops, but in the end is overcome.


Image12: Overkill? (Gametime: Final 00:35:34)
When I first found Grenseal with Spyhawks, he hadn't built the first Lodestone and was building the 23,000 mana Heavenly Warrior. Meanwhile, Renagon had built a couple of factories and towers before building the Deity. Both jumped the gun and allowed me to build up and overwhelm them, despite a few minor turn-arounds. All in all it was a fun - if anti-climactic - fight, and I hope to have more in the future.

Wow another, I really like your descriptions, sounds like a true battleroom
You really should consider making some senario based maps, sort of like mini campaigns which give requirements like you mentioned, you can do something like that in cartographer I think.

Also I've noticed you left the crusades balance off, you should consider putting it on as it changes up everything for the better imo. for example certain troops get bonus damage against others, buildings will be more resistant, you can't just wave a mon and sap half its health, teir 1 is also much less effective later on in games so teir 2 have much more worth

ACE wrote:

Wow another, I really like your descriptions, sounds like a true battleroom
You really should consider making some senario based maps, sort of like mini campaigns which give requirements like you mentioned, you can do something like that in cartographer I think.

Also I've noticed you left the crusades balance off, you should consider putting it on as it changes up everything for the better imo. for example certain troops get bonus damage against others, buildings will be more resistant, you can't just wave a mon and sap half its health, teir 1 is also much less effective later on in games so teir 2 have much more worth

Having never really dealt with Crusades Balance, I didn't know that. I'll test a couple that way for the purposes of an AAR.

I remember making a mini-campaign years ago, but never got off the ground with it. I was reliant upon the guy named Whitehammer (who did the Mechanist Campaign - anyone have that?) but I lost interest. Apparently you can only overlay your own objectives on the same areas in maps that Cavedog campaigns are. Its kind of hard to explain.

But hey, thanks for the compliment. I kind of honed my skills on AARs with the Total War series and before that Age of Wonders, but I do try to attempt to tell a story and put the reader in the mix. I'm a bit rusty, but its been a while.

Any requests on the next AAR? WITH Crusades Balance?

Quote :

Having never really dealt with Crusades Balance, I didn't know that. I'll test a couple that way for the purposes of an AAR.

I remember making a mini-campaign years ago, but never got off the ground with it. I was reliant upon the guy named Whitehammer (who did the Mechanist Campaign - anyone have that?) but I lost interest. Apparently you can only overlay your own objectives on the same areas in maps that Cavedog campaigns are. Its kind of hard to explain.

But hey, thanks for the compliment. I kind of honed my skills on AARs with the Total War series and before that Age of Wonders, but I do try to attempt to tell a story and put the reader in the mix. I'm a bit rusty, but its been a while.

Any requests on the next AAR? WITH Crusades Balance?

Oh well, I didn't realise making campaigns was such a pain. I really like what you're doing here, I remember having these kinds of battles vs cpu long ago, this is what TAK is all about! It brings back good memories I wish we could play larger spread mana maps rather than the grouped stuff or small spread maps all the time because these are really fun maybe not so large as it would take forever though

Indeed, I've noticed a few problems in the larger maps, particularly with an expanded unit limit and 8 players.

Also, when I used F8 to take pictures... where do they go? I can't find them in the Kingdoms folder?

they go to C:/cabedog/kingdoms/(username)/screenshots

and its not f8 lol its F9

Bardan wrote:

Indeed, I've noticed a few problems in the larger maps, particularly with an expanded unit limit and 8 players.

Also, when I used F8 to take pictures... where do they go? I can't find them in the Kingdoms folder?

They should be in a folder called whatever your user account is.

Vaerun

TF-Lord-hawk-claw wrote:

they go to C:/cabedog/kingdoms/(username)/screenshots

and its not f8 lol its F9

D'oh, oh well I wa close enough :p

Epic battle description indeed!!! I was impressed by the existence of... Halfling Archers! LOL! As a fan of D&D rpg series, I went rofl when I saw them. Nice battle, however they started the construction of their deities too soon...