Titanic Mandate vs. Elder Gods

[Harry1991]

Is it too late to join the game?

[Twoy]

The game is full. Sorry.

All five players have their starting map.

Note: If you have an alliance with one brand of Elf, you can have the Chieftain pop any other type of elf.

Q: I’m not sure how scouts work. Do they need to move into hexes to check them out, or do they spot everything in range?
A: Scouts can see into the hexes surrounding them except when they are in heavy forest and mountains. Then they can only see in the hex they are in. They do need to move into hexes to see farther away. If you give a scout an order to scout a hex, but be careful. The scout will take initiative to stay alive while providing the information. You can tell a scout to be suicidal, reckless, careful, or very careful.

As I was reading the rules on the affects of terrain on scouting (page 14), I realized I made a mistake on Koopa's scouting of the area around the superfluous elves. That was light forest and you would have been able to see the forest around your scouts flight path. The forest was empty, except for the elves you saw. Just wanted to clarify.

Q: What does reinforce mean?
A: Reinforce means any final moves you need to make to get everyone ready to end turn.

Question about allying with natural sides and players:
If one player were to ally with Hobgobwins, and another player to side with Elves, could those players ally without their natural allies taking issue, or would the player be allying with the natural allies by proxy?
A: I think allies of allies would be ok, but you would need to keep them out of the same hex or it could negatively affect their loyalty.

Q: So, popping a batch of starting units will be free (and popping is free, in fact), but I will thereafter pay upkeep?
A: Popping is free, but you have to build a city and wait for the units to pop. For example, on Turn 1 Papa Smurf pops a level 3 city called Big Mushroom for 27,500 shmuckers. Papa Smurf orders Big Mushroom to begin popping a Warlord. The warlord will pop on Turn 9.

A: No starting batches of units. The only starting units are the Ruler, Heir, Warlord, Caster and 3 Scouts.

Q: And I can pop as many units as I'd like?
A: No.

Q: Also, what are the black thingies on the map?
A: Those are ruins. See page 15. They got shmuckers and magic items, maybe.

Q: Also, since my first caster is a Dirtamancer, does this mean I can pop/upgrade my first city for 10% less?
A: Unfortunately, Yes We Can (See page 26) costs 60 juice to cast and you have a maximum juice of 50 (See page 19). Your Dirtamancer needs to raise to level 2 before he can cast Yes We Can.

[marshalkowski]

Question about allying with natural sides and players:
If one player were to ally with Hobgobwins, and another player to side with Elves, could those players ally without their natural allies taking issue, or would the player be allying with the natural allies by proxy?

[Twoy]

Koopa, EIL, MiniTitans and Cthulhu have finished Turn 1.

I sent the Steam Gentlemen the wrong starting map, so they were trying to co-locate with the MiniTitans. Waiting to hear back now that the Gentlemen have the correct map.

Isoceleans sent in orders, but I still need to send him a map and report.

Should be able to end turn on Saturday. Maybe Friday night if I get home early enough.

Note: Natural Ally chiefs have the leadership bonus, but they are not classified as commanders or warlords. Therefore, chiefs (or chieftains) may not do the same things that walrods and commanders may do. Only commanders may increase the level of a city.

Note: In order to pop more natural allies, the Chief must be in the same location as the shmuckers used to pop the new units. The new units pop in the location of the chief and the shumuckers. Upkeep for natural allies is calculated in the same way as other upkeep (see page 9).

Note: Casters cannot build farms, though they can pop cities.

[Twoy]

Turn 1 is finally complete. It took a bit longer than I expected. I will begin working through the Turn 2 orders beginning on Monday.

Some factoids from this turn:
The largest city is a level 4.
The most powerful magic item discovered is a Backpack +6 Attack useable by a light humanoid unit.
The largest pile of shumuckers discovered in a ruin is 4,000.
Two sides made alliances with natural allies.

[Twoy]

Turn 2 is going to take a bit of time because I have to make a spreadsheet for each side. something I have not yet done.

No need to do it now, but the spreadsheet also includes the size of your walls and the strength of your air defenses. For reference, see page 10. Cthulhu's level 2 cities have 85 walls and 30 air defense.

Note: You will need to keep track of individual units. For example, Yugg 1-8 or Yugg R1, R3-5, R7 and R9-11 form a stack and defend hex 10.10.

The reason you will need to keep track of individula units is because most of your units can gain xp, raise levels and carry magical equipment.

[BLANDCorporatio]

I'll be AFK for tomorrow, but I'll send some orders for Turn 2. Barring unforeseen events, they should do.

[Twoy]

Finished turn 2 for Koopa and Minititans. More tomorrow.

Edit: Finished Turn 2 for Steam Gentleman. Slow but steady. More tomorrow.

[Twoy]

More Questions and Answers:
1. If I were to declare that such-and-such commander will go out and look for Wild units to tame, will that make them more likely to appear? As in, more likely than 0% chance?
A: Wild Units can only be tamed by Turnamancy and Carnymancy. In theory, you could capture a wild unit, and force it to do your bidding, but I really think it will not work. What you should be doing with Wild Units is croaking them so that your warlords can level. There are some wild units in your area, but they are so far apart, they will be difficult to find.

2. Is it possible to turn wild units without turnamancy?
A: Carnymancy and maybe an Arkentool.

3. Could a non-caster unit with Fabrication produce any type of magic item (Breast-plate, Ring, Helmet etc)?
A: Yes. But only a level 1 item. No higher.

4. Can I order my Fabrication unit (assuming I have it) to produce a "Riding Crop", which is meant to be a +1 to attack weapon for Light Humanoids? (It will fit the theme with one of the units I plan to pop soon.)
A: Yes. But you need to identify what type of magic will be used to create it. It does not matter to me, but you cannot use multiple items made from the same type of magic.

5. Can I order my Fabrication unit to make items for any type of unit?
A: Only Special A, B, C, D, Knight-class Infantry and commanders may use magical items.

6. Can I order my caster to make an item for a Heavy Nonhumanoid Mount, say, for example, a 747? It's weird to think what a breastplate for a 747 might look like (or, say, a nipple ring) but hey why not?
A: Yes. And someone who has dragons could steal the breasplate or nipple ring and use it on his dragon or Shoggoth.

7. So, my caster is 2-0, that is, level 2 and 0XPs? Not level 2, 2 xps, right?
A: He has cast 80 juice worth of spells which gains him 8 XP. He needs 8 XP to reach level 2 with 0 XP remaining.

8. I knew about wild chieftains not being able to build cities, ruins were a new thing in the rules though, oops. Ok, I'll remember to send some other warlord there soon enough.
A: No one ever wrote down the rules on Wild Chieftains, or I would have taken them.

Turn 2 Complete.
Two Casters leveled. The best treasure found in a ruin was 5,000 Shmuckers.

Thursday I will work on the Elder gods turn. Friday is D&D night, so I should start working turn 3 on Saturday.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Shite. Those ruins are actually useful huh. Ok ...

Anyways, I was wondering how could turns be sped up. I estimate that it will be turn 10 before we can do anything actually interesting like mount campaigns of conquest or go after critters. If we spend 1 week for a turn ... and need I remind everyone that it takes 60 freakin' turns to produce an heir the natural way (which NOBODY will use EVER)?

Ok, griping about rules aside (and I have quite a few, I'll join the New Erf forum at some point), it is vital to speed up turns, and ways to achieve this, from both GM and players, should be considered.

[Twoy]

Bland: You should already be able to defeat Wild Units. All it takes is a warlord and a handful of archers or perhaps two Special C units, as one of your future allies already discovered.

Not sure that there is really any way to speed up the game too much, since only two players have posted their turn 3 as of Saturday morning (my time). However, I think there is some potential for speeding up, since there are less questions coming in.

One thing that would help a bit is if everyone would tell me where a unit is starting from when they tell me where the unit is going. Yes, I already have that information, but it saves me a step.

Turn 3 complete:
Koopa, Evil Imagination Land, Minititans

Still waiting to receive turn 3 from the Isoceleans and Steam Gentlemen.

[Twoy]

Stil need Turn 3 from the Isoceleans and Steam Gentlemen.

My boss just gave me off a very long weekend for Thanksgiving, and my wife inists that I go with her to visit her family.

I see that the Steam Gentlemen have sent me turn 3, and Evil Imagination Land has sent me Turn 4. If I can get Turn 3 from the Isoceleans by Sunday, I will finish up Turn 3 then and start working on Turn 4 on Monday. If I have already sent you back turn 3, then please send me turn 4 info and we will try and get back on schedule early next week.

[Twoy]

Turn 3 is complete.

Highlights of the turn include:
A Woodsy Elf chieftain raised to level 4 after an engagement with some (Non-Elder God) Gobwins.
The most powerful magical item discovered in a ruins was a pair of Gauntlets of Attack +4.
The largest pile of Shmuckers discovered in a ruins was 6,000.
A ruler reached level 2.
A common Piker was promoted to Warlord.

Feel free to send me your turn 4 actions if you have not already done so.

Edit: Elder gods turn 4 is complete.

[Twoy]

Q: I'm presuming that "my ruler" can order other cities to produces, at least by using Orders, if not through Natural Thinkamancy.
Natural Thinkamancy works for city production.

Note: When you have a Scout Link with a scout, you do not need to cast the Orders spell.


Evil Imagination Land and Koopa Kingdom have completed Turn 4.

[HerbieRai]

Another Question,

If we have the money on hand, can we pop a city and level it in the same round.

ex. A walord has 12,500 smuckers, can he found a level 2 city?

Edit: You are correct, Twoy also answered it above, so it is actually a bad question. Hard to come by those.

[marshalkowski]

Another Question,

If we have the money on hand, can we pop a city and level it in the same round.

ex. A walord has 12,500 smuckers, can he found a level 2 city?

I think I remember one of the examples in the rules doing just that. In the sample turn, I think?

EDIT: Yes, page 4-5, King Oz orders funds transferred to the new city, and orders it popped and levelled the same turn. Granted, he used Moneymancy, but the principle seems the same.

[marshalkowski]

Question:
If I had 4 builder units help build a Lumbermill, for a 20% time cut, it would take 3.2 turns. Would that round down to 3 turns, or would I need a fifth builder to cut it to 3 turns even?

[Twoy]

3.5 goes to 4.
3.49 goes to 3.

And, yes, there are some exploits there.

[Twoy]

Evil Imagination Land, Koopa Kingdom, Mini-Titans and Steam Gentlemen have completed Turn 4.

Note: There are no hills on the map. Single peak hexes are mountains. Triple peak hexes are high mountains.

Note: I am okay with commanders and chieftains having their own initiative to accomplish general goals. However, they cannot report what they are seeing or react to events that occur in a different location if you do not have some means of communication between the ruler and the various commanders and chieftains. Communication methods include Eyebooks, Message Hats, Thinkamancers, Limited Thinkamancy, or even simple written messages given to a scout and having them hand carried between the ruler and the commanders and chieftains.

Note: Rulers have limited Thinkamancy with their cities. They always know how much is in the treasury. Also, a ruler or warlord does not have to be present at a city in order for the city to pop new units. A warlord or ruler does need to be present to upgrade a city.

[Twoy]

Still need Turn 4 from the Isoceleans.