The Arkentool War - Bk 1, Chap. 1: "Clocks"

[WaterMonkey314]

The Arkentool War: Book One - The Red Menace
Chapter One: Clocks

Blurb:
Located on the northern coast of the Western Continent as well as on several islands off the coast, the Federation of Alkimia is one of the most powerful empires on Erf, on par with the likes of Jetstone and Gobwin Knob. It resolutely stayed neutral during the Great Western Conflict, and it only watched the Royal Crown Coalition's ill-fated march on Gobwin Knob. Along with the rest of Erf, Alkimia watched Gobwin Knob's subsequent march on Spacerock with concern; after the annihilation of Jetstone in an improbable - nay, impossible - turn of events, it decided that it had to act. As Gobwin Knob turned north to consolidate its power over the Western Continent, Alkimia rallied its own coalition to make a stand against Gobwin Knob. Because of the thick forests and mountains (and the peaceful Kingdom of Cameria) immediately to its south, the United Nations expected Gobwin Knob to advance north along the eastern coast of the continent. They planned to make their stand at the Maginot Line, a massive line of fortresses in Gall that protected the coast.

Alkimia led the way forward, sending its troops first to the expected front; nearly all of Alkimia’s forces had deployed to Gall when Cameria sighted the enemy. Cameria would not - and did not - delay the enemy long, and the only troops defending the Alkimian heartland were a few green Alkimian divisions and the arriving coalition contingents. Even at a breakneck pace, Alkimia’s forces cannot reach the heartland in time to save it; the fate of Alkimia rests in the hands of the coalition forces...

Major Changes in Rules:

• Scouting is now per LtDave's Way (tm) - scouts auto-scout at the beginning of the turn. No more tedious scout planning!
• Foolamancy powers changed: Veils nerfed; Baffles strengthened; Cloaking added.
• Sandbox Mode OFF! Players can design their own factions; no more set objectives.

Links to Previous Threads:
OOC Sign and Discussion Thread
Prologue - "Gathering Clouds"

Rules
General Ruleset v1.2
Supplement 2
Previous General Ruleset - v1.0
Supplement 1
Combat Spreadsheet

[WaterMonkey314]

Maps:
(I haven't put coordinates on these yet - as you can see, they're much larger than normal maps. Would you guys prefer to use landmark-based navigation instead of absolute coordinates?)

Federation of Alkimia - Heartland


Federation of Alkimia - Eastern Frontier; Gall - Maginot Line
(connects exactly with eastern edge of Heartland map - use road and coast to align)


Map Legend:

[WaterMonkey314]

And for even more stuff!

[LTDave]

Watermonkey,
I'll be interested in playing this game, on one condition:
That Ronaldo Calliari's name be spelled correctly in the acknowledgements. He is an awkward fellow, and liable to make life difficult for me if not properly credited. BLANDCorporatio, this also applies to your oddworld rules.
The inventor of Ronaldo Calliari's Simplified Super Easy Random Number Generator is a generous friend, but an annoying enemy.

[Sihoiba]

I'm interested, not sure how many games I can sensibly be a part of. Considering I'm running one, a player in another, and primary tactician in a third...

I notice Alkemia has 10 move units, is there a limit on move?

[BLANDCorporatio]

That Ronaldo Calliari's name be spelled correctly in the acknowledgements. He is an awkward fellow, and liable to make life difficult for me if not properly credited. BLANDCorporatio, this also applies to your oddworld rules.

Spelling fixed.

[WaterMonkey314]

LtDave, oh my - we need to spell his name right! That's a pet peeve of mine. Fixed! (And will be retroactively fixed in all documents I can find!)

Sihoiba, if you feel like you can do it, go ahead; if not, you're welcome to watch or advise another side. The move limit has been raised to 10 (because the map is much much bigger than previous maps - you'll see when I get it up)

[WaterMonkey314]

Maps are up! See post # 2!

LtDave, Sihoiba, and HerbieRai, are you guys in?

[Nihila]

I think that with maps that large, we probably should use landmark navigation, but some absolute coordinates would clear up any misunderstandings.

Where can we place our starting units?

[LTDave]

The Grand Duchy of the Fae Folk

Spoiler: show

The Fae Duchy is a large nation of tiny folk, which on average works out to be quite below average in area. Nearby neighbours to the west of Alkimia, the Fae have intervened as part of the Unified Nations in order to protect their national interests, which are chiefly cobbling and toadstools.

Faeri
Your standard winged biped, each Faeri carries a shock-staff, which fires a jet of bright light which blinds opponents before incinerating victims.
3H, 6A, 4D, 5M,
Flyer, Cargo 3, Ranged, Shockamancy, Dancefighting, Sapper
Cost 252

Firee
The Firee is a Faeri that cannot fly. As a result, they are remarkably easy to annoy. The Firee love making clever traps to snag the unwary. They are chiefly transported by their arrogant comrades, the Faeri.
3H, 6A, 4D, 1M
Walker, Ranged, Shockamancy, Dancefighting, Sapper
Cost 122

Feaii
The largest of the Fae, the Feaii are too fat to fly. Used to command, the Feaii stand ready to blast anyone who makes unsavoury comments. To move any distance in a hurry, the Feaii need the help of two Faeri or Fazti.
6H, 12A, 4D, 1M
Walker, Ranged, Shockamancy, Dancefighting, Sapper
Cost 432 (Commander 640)

Fazti
The Fazti are the swiftest of the Fae, able to carry Faeri, Firee, and by co-operating, Feaii, halfway across the Erf in a matter of moments.
3H, 6A, 4D, 10M
Flyer, Cargo 3, Ranged, Shockamancy, Dancefighting, Sapper
Cost 369

Hidden because superseded, but left for colour.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Huh, wait a second. Can two units with 3C carry a unit with 6H?

Dun-dun-dunnnn!

[WaterMonkey314]

Huh, wait a second. Can two units with 3C carry a unit with 6H?

Dun-dun-dunnnn!

I'm going to say no.

4 3-hit carriers are much much cheaper than 1 12-hit carrier. If I let cargo be additive, there's little incentive for any unit with hits greater than 3 to have cargo - and I really don't want to see armies of "dwarf ponies" carrying everything around.

How would you like it if I had a flock of war pigeons (made from genuine walnuts) carrying Dwagons around?

[LTDave]

Even if it's in theme? Dang.

I'll redesign - maybe make the Fazti a Fatti, or just let the Faeii fly by itself.


I also have a question about the cost of scouts: at 111 * Move * (move+1) means that a 5 move level 4 scout will cost about 3330 points. Is this not a bit much? Especially with Terrain Shadow? Or have I missed something?

[WaterMonkey314]

Er... yes, it is quite a bit. But Sihoiba has already shelled out for a lvl 10 scout.

You raise a good point about the Terrain Shadow - we have a lot more types of terrain than RtGB. Lakes in particular don't make much sense as blocking scouting, and I'm in fact tempted to say that only Mountains block scouting. Scouts will be rather expensive though.

And I'll go quite for for in-theme, but not that far - not to introduce a super-scary precedent.

[LTDave]

The Grand Duchy of the FaeFolk
The Fae Duchy is a large nation of tiny folk, which on average works out to be quite below average in area. Nearby neighbours to the west of Alkimia, the Fae have intervened as part of the Unified Nations in order to protect their national interests, which are chiefly cobbling and toadstools.

Faeri
Your standard winged biped, each Faeri carries a shock-staff, which fires a jet of bright light which blinds opponents before incinerating victims in a puff of golden stars.
3H, 3A, 4D, 5M,
Flyer, Cargo 3, Ranged, Shockamancy, Dancefighting
Cost 185

Firee
The Firee is a Faeri that cannot fly. As a result, they are remarkably easy to annoy. The Firee love making clever traps to snag the unwary.
3H, 6A, 4D, 1M
Walker, Ranged, Shockamancy, Dancefighting, Sapper
Cost 144

Feaii
The largest of the Fae, the Feaii are too fat to fly. Used to command, the Feaii are ready to blast anyone who makes unsavoury comments. To move any distance in a hurry, the Feaii need the help of a Fatti.
6H, 3A, 4D, 1M
Walker, Ranged, Dancefighting
Cost 153 (Commander 231)

Fazti
The Fazti are the swiftest of the Fae, able to carry messages and scout reports halfway across the Erf in a matter of moments.
3H, 0A, 0D, 10M
Flyer
Cost 126

Fattee
The Fattee are Feaii that can fly, but aren’t very bright, and are no use in combat at all. Generally they exist to carry Feaii and Firee from place to place. Occasionally they carry Faeri that are in a hurry. Some very special Fattee have the gift of far-sight, but none of these have been spawned in many generations.
6H, 0A, 0D, 5M
Flyer, Cargo 6
Cost 504 (Commander 539) (Scout 3834) (Scout and Commander 3869)

Flittee
Adolescent Fae, who are not yet old enough to become Faeri, Firee, Faztie, Fatti, or Feaii, the Flittee are an ever present flock that are used by the Fae as scouts, ranging far beyond the combat in search of enemies that threaten the Fae Way.
3H, 0A, 0D, 5M
Flyer
Cost 68


On scouts - the cost seems to be based on move, not the range of the scout. Or are they one and the same? Also, is the five hit minimum still included for Scouts?


(edited for spelling of Fatti. What was I thinking? Of course it should be Fattee!)

[Nihila]

The Grand Archduchy of the Imperial Federacy
The Imperial Federacy: Once, this great Empire dominated the faraway Eastern Continent. Now, having spun off cities into well over 50 sides, it elects an Emperor--usually, but not always, from the Grand Archduchy--to present a single ruler to other nations.

However, the outbreak of Toolist revolts in some 20 component sides has caused the ultra-Royalist Archduke and Emperor to make one desperate attempt to contain Toolism where it began.

Federate Pikers
Levy troops from sides other than the Grand Archduchy, Federate Pikers are useless. With Loyalty, Duty, and Obedience scores verging on zero, they will often defect 7 times in a single turn before being croaked by exasperated commanders.
4H, 8A, 2D, 5M
Walker
Cost 118

Federate Archers
More levy troops, Federate Archers have a similar problem to their Piker counterparts, with the added disadvantage of an opportunity to croak their commanders before their commanders croak them.
4H, 8A, 2D, 5M
Walker, Ranged
Cost 150

Imperial Stabbers
Effective, dedicated troops recruited only from the Grand Archduchy and select few internal sides, very few Imperial Stabbers will join this conflict due to their being needed on the home front.
5H, 10A, 3D, 5M
Walker
Cost 190 (Cdr. 342)

Imperial Knights
Nobles and Royals only from the Grand Archduchy, Imperial Knights are the first to fight against and the last to fall to Toolist revolts.
6H, 12A, 4D, 5M
Walker
Cost 288 (Cdr. 496)

Imperial Diplomats
At this point, no one's really fooled by the "Diplomat" part. Between assassination, suppressing revolts, and croaking any common units who look at them funny, Imperial Diplomats are correctly considered insane, dangerous, and impossible to control. Most of them hate each other almost as much as they hate Toolism. For this reason, among others, they are generally spread among stacks, or, even better, among hexes, to minimize friendly fire. Do not use at home.
10H, 10A, 4D, 5M
Walker, Sapper, Shockamancy, Healomancy, Builder, Foolamancy
Cost 4984 (Cdr. 5268)

Starting Army:
3 Imperial Stabbers
1 Imperial Knight Commander "Maxwell"
7 Imperial Knights
7 Imperial Diplomat Commanders "Jan," "Johannes," "Nikolas," "Awthur," "Kiwchew," "Fwanz," "Fwedewick"

If anyone wants an all-purpose caster that's totally cost-ineffective, just state your starting location and I will see if I can get one to you.

[WaterMonkey314]

LtDave, your Fazti cost does not work out.

A 126 pt Fazti would have 0 attack and 0 defense; the Fazti as you outlined would have a cost of 144.

Also, I'll be PMing you about your starting point and starting allocation.

Re Scouting: For now, I'm requiring that scout rating equal move; that could be changed if we feel the need. The 5 hit minimum also remains, though it might be outdated. (Does anyone remember why there was a minimum?)

To everyone, a new map is up that provides absolute coordinates for the Alkimian Heartland. The Eastern Frontier and Gall map does not have absolute coordinates because it's really supposed to provide an idea of where the Alkimian army is on its retreat. Of course, if you choose to march over there, I'll be putting coordinates up on that.

[LTDave]

A 126 pt Fazti would have 0 attack and 0 defense; the Fazti as you outlined would have a cost of 144.

Edited to correct. On the multi unit carrying one big thing, would it be plausible for four cargo 3 units to carry a six hit unit? So four Faeri can carry one Faeii?

(the extra six hits can be for the ropes and carriage, etc?)

((This could be a Fae special racial ability, and only for carrying Faeii?))

[Sihoiba]

The WeatherToffs shall make a return for this game, a distant state based around a floating city, heard rumours of a the legendary arkentools having been attuned too in the Western Continent. Curious to see the result for themselves they launched a long range expedition supplied by a great relay train of Fronts to witness and report back this wondrous site.

The expeditionary force having first arrived on the Western Continent by reaching Alkemia's territory were witness to the horrors of Gobwin Bump and offered their units in service to the empire.

WeatherToffs Expeditionary force.
Stack "Ill Tidings"
7x Storm Front {Thunder}
1x Storm Front Scout {Thunder Commander Farenhiet}
96H 168A 4AvD 10M, 168Shock, 24Heal

Stack "Supply train"
8x Storm Front
48H 24A 4AvD 10M, 24Shock, 24 Heal

Storm Front 6H 3A 4D 10M, Flyer, Cargo 6, Ranged, Shockomancy, Healomancy, Dancefighting, Sapper. Cost: 1143
Storm Front Scout +12210
Thunder 6H, 18A, 4D, 1M, Walker, Ranged, Shockomancy, Siege, Dancefighting, Sapper Cost 1098
Thunder Commander +294

[BLANDCorporatio]

The Steam Gentlemen- or rather, one of the landed gentry- will make a comeback! The Steam Gentlemen contingent is Lord Kelwin's bid for fame, fortune, and the chance to outdo Wivingston in tall tales of battles in exotic locales.

The Steam Gentlemen are a non-Royal side, a fact they are immensely annoyed by. Most of them try their hardest to act royal and dignified, while deriding actual royals who appear to take their crown less seriously. Actually, any royal is a target for derision, at least when out of earshot. They tend to be industrialists and are very keen on mechanisms and machines. For the most part, Steam Gentlemen units are designed to work in concert with units from other sides. This comes from a long history of alliance and intrigue. The Steam Gentlemen have rarely fought a battle alone. They also have rarely kept the same allies for more than one campaign.

Lord Willian Kelwin 6H 12A 4D 2M Walker 6C Commander Ranged Sapper
The eccentric heir to the Kelwin estate, William K. is an amateur Wion Hunter keen to share tall tales of daring exploits. Unfortunately he doesn't have that many, a fact which upsets him to no end. Why should braggarts like Wivingston get all the adventure?
(Unit type non-commander: Wion Hunter)

Rick Hoffen 12H 36A 2D 7M Flier 12C Commander Ranged Siege
One of those braggarts that Kelwin cannot stand, but had to begrudgingly agree to take on the expedition, Rick Hoffen is a multiply decorated war veteran, and one of the most skilled pilots around. Dashing, self-assured to a fault, and quite the drawer of crowds in peacetime.
(Unit type non-commander: Otto Motor. Yes I realize 12H is a bit off from the usual Commander range)

Annie le Nox 6H 18A 4D 4M Walker 6C Commander Ranged Siege Sapper Shockamancy
Popped as regular infantry, Annie showed more intelligence than the average piker, and pursued the chemical arts to make her way up in the world of warfare. Her various experiments with mind altering substances have left her with more bats in the belfry than a Transylvitan warlord, and a desire to set things aflame and/or in pieces. Lord Kelwin, the one who discovered her talent for chemistry, is one of the few Erfworlders she respects.
(Unit type non-commander: Hazmat Trooper)

Nanny Goo8H 8A 4D 3M Walker 8C Commander Ranged Healomancy
The nanny, or guardian, of the Kelwin clan for several hundreds or thousands of turns. Nobody's sure anymore. She's seen many a hotheaded Lord Kelwin, and is sure to see many in the future as well. Still, she is quite protective of Lord Kelwin, and insisted that Rick Hoffen be allowed in the expedition, so as to have a proper military man around as opposed to that acid gargling trollop.
(Unit type non-commander: Medic)

I. Reg. Baker 6H 12A 4D 4M Walker Commander Ranged Dance-fighting
Leader of a gang of street urchins, Baker has always used his wits to survive. He distrusts Royalty and Nobility even more than the average Steam Gentleman or Gentlewoman, and despite his cynical street background is a bit of an idealist. Erfworld for all Erfworlders is his ideal, with liberty for all. He doesn't care much for Lord Kelwin, but his expedition seemed the perfect occasion to see more of the world, and hopefully work towards the goal of transcending Duty.
(Unit type non-commander: Street Urchin)

Wail Gowem 15H 30A 4D 5M Flier 15C Sapper Builder
A bizzare mechanism resembling a cross between a dragon fly and preying mantis, this is the go-to unit for building fortified bunkers for advancing Steam Gentlemen troops.
(Unit type non-commander: the same unit of course )

Starting budget: 40000. Starting army TBD.

(Costs:

Otto Motor 4613
Hazmat Trooper 1242
Wion Hunter 396
Medic 672
Wail Gowem 6450
Street Urchin 396
Rick Hoffen 5699
Annie le Nox 1536
Lord Kelwin 604
Nanny Goo 865
I. Reg. Baker 604)

Starting army will include
Lord Kelwin
Rick Hoffen
Annie le Nox
Nanny Goo
I. Reg. Baker
1x Wail Gowem

for 15758 points; 24242 remaining for other units. I asked WaterMonkey314 that, when he rolls the levels for the Commanders, he assign the highest level to Rick Hoffen.

Lord Kelwin will not receive reinforcements for the duration of this scenario. Seeing Oddworld's tenacious disdain for high-H units, this will be interesting ... I foresee SG units being relegated to carry others to the battlefields, and/or building of Forts (only one other unit is a builder I see). The Wion Hunter/Hazmat/Otto combo can pack some punch, but it depends against what. Armies of stabbers, no chance.

EDIT: I'm tempted to add Dancefighting to some of the SG units, so that they can work better with the Toffs' units. However, the theme of the SG kinda doesn't chime well. They're supposed to be stiff upper lip toffs, they don't do dancing. Except for the lower classes, but who cares about them?