Darkness Rising

[ETheBoyce]

IF we do I think it should be me doing the...thinking, I AM a shockamancer after all, causing pain is what I do!

[Swodaems]

Well played MarbitChow. Well played.

I'm thinking we should just shut the gates and rely solely on our ranged units to deal wih the attack. With dying cry bonuses involved, the majority of our ground troops are out classed combat wise. We also don't know if the Archons are going to take out the rest of the alt elves mid battle. While sending out just the heck pups is tempting, I'm going to suggest caution instead. At the moment, sending in the melee seems like it will add to our problems.

Of course, we need strategies for dealing with the enemy archers and gumptons, but that is easily enough done.

Archers: In phase 10, Bill's 9 skele archers and the 4 Com 10 garrison archers recieve new actions. So do the 4 remaining level 2 elven archers. Since the level 2 archers are going to be able to fire on phase 10 even if we take them out at that time, I suggest we use these actions against the level 1 enemy archers, before they get new actions at phase 7. They've all fired, so the skele archers should do 4+2d6 and the dancing garrison archers should do 7+2d6, so splitting those 13 attacks across 6 level 1 elves will take out most of them before they can fire. (On phase 10, only the 4 com 10 garrison archers and 4 skele archers will be firing. The 4 garrison archers all fire single shots at different targets, while the 4 skele archers split between two other targets. (The garrison archers have a 1/12 chance each of one shotting their targets. Spliting between turns could save us a shot and the risk is low since the skeles delaying their shots are low priority targets for the 4 level 2 archers.) Survivors are targeted on the 9th phase and a 7th target is chosen if we find it likely that we'll have 2 skele shots to spare. (Possibly firing on phase 8.) If we're just going to have 1, then it goes to downing gumpton 1.) The remaining 5,6,or7 enemy archers will be good targets for the remaining zed archers and the 3 com 7 garrison units. (Their priority will be the level 2s. )

Gumptons: At phase 9 T. Coil's mount regains it's action, allowing T. Coil to do his shuffle tactic. He uses it to stun 3 of the gumptons attacking the tower, making them lose their round 3 actions. At phase 7, we spare one or 2 of the com 7 garrison archers to shoot at gumpton 1. 16 com, (hopefully), vs 18 def means a roll of 4 is needed. (11/12 chance.) 1 gumpton is left unstunned, but the tower can safely take about 3 more hits if need be. We may even be able to take it out before it can attack next round using the high move ranged. (or possibly go for 2 surer croaks later at the cost of a single hit on the tower.) T. Coil will have the juice to stun the gumptons again in round 3, meaning we'll have until until 15 on round 5 to deal with them. This also gives the elves an incentive to keep some of their altruistic elves alive to heal damage. Fortunately for us, they won't be able to heal the wards on three gumptons T. Coil stuns.

MarbitChow, I have a few questions: Does dying cry help with attacks versus structures? Does it affect movement time? Would it be possible for the brickbats to screen shots coming from an adjacent target instead of just screening to protect a unit?

[MarbitChow]

Well played MarbitChow. Well played.

Thank you.

MarbitChow, I have a few questions: Does dying cry help with attacks versus structures? Does it affect movement time? Would it be possible for the brickbats to screen shots coming from an adjacent target instead of just screening to protect a unit?

Yes, Dying Cry helps against structures. Inspiration bonuses don't behave like the many of the other bonuses (such as leadership or dance-fighting): they stack, they're useful against structures, and they modify the base stats like a magic item does. Because of this, it will also impact movement time, although I only recalculate reaction time at the start of every round.

If you're asking whether the Brickabats can move next to an enemy archer and negate their shots regardless of the target, no matter what the target is, then no, they can't. The ability only allows them to select adjacent units to protect. They ARE flying bricks, after all - they're not THAT maneuverable.

[ETheBoyce]

Wait what? Rallying Cry s described as a Combat Bonus, and Siege attacks do no benefit from Combat Score

[MarbitChow]

Wait what? Rallying Cry s described as a Combat Bonus, and Siege attacks do no benefit from Combat Score

Siege attacks won't get modified. However, with enough bonuses, the base combat scores of many units will be able to exceed the 20 Def of the gates, the 25 Def of the towers, or even the 30 Def of the walls if they roll well.

Leadership, Dance Fighting, and Combat Modifiers specifically exclude themselves from such attacks. Dying Cry does not.

[Werebiscuit]

Well played MarbitChow. Well played.

Thank you.

Inspiration bonuses <snip> modify the base stats like a magic item does. Because of this, it will also impact movement time, although I only recalculate reaction time at the start of every round.

If this means what I think it means.... that dying cry improves the phase units act on... then ignoring the 2nd level elves in this round of fire is a big mistake. By round 3 these units will act on phase 17 ! That's before much of our forces. It really is imperative then that we take out archery

[ETheBoyce]

They'll act on phase 16 in round 3 , 22 in round 4 and 26 after that (presuming the archons kill 3 more elves next round and the last 2 the following. But I'm of the opinion we take out the gumps before worrying about the archers, in addition while I might be able to shuffle out of LOS it might make more sense for me to present myself as a target at this time especially if I can get my mount into Tod's stack as then it's Def would be 31 and so it would be pretty hard for even the now buffed archers to damage it especially since Triage can currently cast 4 spells in a round thanks to his staff.

[MarbitChow]

...Triage can currently cast 4 spells in a round thanks to his staff.

Not sure where you're getting that from. At 4th level, Triage gets Quick-shot, which gives him the ability to make another Fire attack, but that has no bearing on his spell-casting. All casters can only cast 1 spell per turn normally, no matter what level they are.

[ETheBoyce]

Staff of Er : Allows caster to cast a 2nd Healmancy spell in the same turn. Casting cost of the 2nd spell is doubled.

Though I forgot that he ha actually shot down some Fairies, though I assume if he was holding an action from a previous Round he'd be able to cast 4 times in a round thanks to the staff <_<

[MarbitChow]

Got it. The description on the staff is vague, and I'll probably need to clarify it in the future. The intent was to give it 1 additional cast per round, but it isn't clear whether the 2nd cast must be in the same phase as the first, or whether it can be delayed, and whether that counts as a delayed action, etc.

For now, let's treat the staff as follows: once per round, the user can cast a spell as a free action. They do not need to have an action ready, and this does not count as their action for the round. They cannot use this ability while stunned. This spell costs 2x Juice that the spell would normally cost.

[Werebiscuit]

They'll act on phase 16 in round 3 , 22 in round 4 and 26 after that (presuming the archons kill 3 more elves next round and the last 2 the following. But I'm of the opinion we take out the gumps before worrying about the archers,...

Yes, thanks for the correction Phase 16 indeed. I still think we should deal with the Gumps quickly too.... and that means releasing the dogs but for some reason Swod doesn't seem to want to.

If we release the dogs the gumps will be gone before they can act in turn 3 and you (Coil) will be able to ickypron 3 archers or warriors or whatever they have left. The dogs are the perfect units for dealing with high com/def as they can stand off with their high move or move in as a pack when they have an assured kill. And we will have archers to deal with the footsoldiers too.

If we don't release the dogs we'll have gumps knocking on one tower and the footsoldiers pounding on the other..and there'll be 16 of them who'll do no damage next round...but a decent 2d6-5 the following and by the 5th round they'll have stats better than a gump (com 23 def 15) and we'll have spent time tying up our archers with the gumps...or footsoldiers... or archers. Too many targets, not enough archers.

We NEED to release the dogs.

[Werebiscuit]

Note : They can only get 10 round the tower so they are likely to go for the doors as well...and this still leaves them the guards who can go for Yuri's tower too.
There are just too many options to guard against if we can't take them down in 2 rounds.

[MarbitChow]

[BLANDCorporatio]

They'll hire out Charlie to kill their allies, and Coil is too evil for them!?

Aye, we need to use the Elves' apparent commitment to practicality at the expense of niceness to their own units at every opportunity. I hope June and what's-his-face see this and have their loyalty to us strengthened. Hey, we're honestly evil and thus paradoxically the most virtuous.

Instead of just all retreating? Now T. Coil will really want Armolad in his clutches

Get in line, esteemed caster. She's got an arrow battle appointment first.

I do think we should use this incident with the healers for all it's worth in later parlays.

Until then though, a modest proposal. We have Gumps that are few and strong, and Infantry who are many and squishy, who are capable to hurt our walls. What if T. Coil were to keep the Gumps stunned in perpetuity, since Ickypron can stun 3 units. Thus, T. Coil alone can disable the Gumps, while the rest of our ranged units croak the elven melee?

A hitch in the plan is that there are four Gumps (five, but the fifth is mostly dead), so we still need to expend some considerable firepower to croak the fourth. That accomplished however, once there are three gumps we could target the lesser units with archers, including Will.

That is, if we absolutely must fight with one hand tied behind our backs. We've got a host of melee units that -we are not using-. This battle is still not close at the moment. It may get more nasty once all Alt Elves are dead and everyone gets a +8 bonus of Emo, but until then, and we should commit to this fast, an Infantry charge would deplete their ranks nicely.

[The Colonel]

Yes she does, just sort her corpse. I can uncroak her and her leadership now.

[Werebiscuit]

Until then though, a modest proposal. We have Gumps that are few and strong, and Infantry who are many and squishy, who are capable to hurt our walls. What if T. Coil were to keep the Gumps stunned in perpetuity, since Ickypron can stun 3 units. Thus, T. Coil alone can disable the Gumps, while the rest of our ranged units croak the elven melee?

A hitch in the plan is that there are four Gumps (five, but the fifth is mostly dead), so we still need to expend some considerable firepower to croak the fourth. That accomplished however, once there are three gumps we could target the lesser units with archers, including Will.

That is, if we absolutely must fight with one hand tied behind our backs. We've got a host of melee units that -we are not using-. This battle is still not close at the moment. It may get more nasty once all Alt Elves are dead and everyone gets a +8 bonus of Emo, but until then, and we should commit to this fast, an Infantry charge would deplete their ranks nicely.

The one wrinkle in this nice plan is that Coil is already at 23 juice and about to use another 9 in an ickypron, meaning he's got one more good ickypron left after that. We need to use both of these to deal with the gumps...i.e. kill them
Well actually this rounds ickypron should do as the gumps will still be stunned when thier phase comes along allowing Will, Rolf, Cupid and Yuri to go before them and there should only be 2 left to deal with. That is If we let loose the heck pups on them on phase 7
It means that in round 4 all four big guns will be able to deal with the footsoldiers and at least 3 of them will still go before the footsoldiers in phase and after that we can Stun 3 and the dogs should account for 2. if we pick the right targets the dogs should be able to get away without being hit.

That should account for at least 8 footsoldiers...and let's not forget our archers. However we will not account for them all before round 5.
Therefore I think they will breach our doors or a tower. So we may need those infantry units as a buffer, either inside or outside the doors.
However we need the pups OUTSIDE.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Don't we have enough Mana potions to start a modest dealership? Can't another caster spare theirs if somehow T. Coil dunks the 2 he already has?

[Werebiscuit]

Don't we have enough Mana potions to start a modest dealership? Can't another caster spare theirs if somehow T. Coil dunks the 2 he already has?

Yup, but it takes Coil an action to down ONE potion, meanwhile he can't cast and the gumps become unstunned and create havoc. So drinking potions is for when Coil is out of Juice and we're desperate or have actions to spare... neither of which is this coming turn...or the next.

[MarbitChow]

Are there any other actions that anyone wants to take on phases 10 and 9, other than what Swodaems has detailed in his last post? If not, I'll run through those this evening and provide the next update.

[Werebiscuit]

Are there any other actions that anyone wants to take on phases 10 and 9, other than what Swodaems has detailed in his last post? If not, I'll run through those this evening and provide the next update.

While I still think we should be targeting the 2nd lvl elves first at least on re-reading his instructions he's targeting them...albeit with 1st level archers.
And he's the warlord... so it's his orders to the troops that count. Hopefully he'll be back on before phase 7 and we can convince him that we've got a harder fight without the heck pups in the field.