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After Action Reports => Digital Gaming AARs => Topic started by: JasonPratt on November 30, 2016, 08:25:57 PM

Title: Khazâd du-bekâr (Dwarves, to Arms!) COMPLETE
Post by: JasonPratt on November 30, 2016, 08:25:57 PM
Prologue

"Bring the elf," declared King Dain, seated upon the counsel throne. Ranged left and right, stood elders of his people, among them survivors of the Lonely Mountain raid many decades ere. A lone human man, King Brand of Dale, had also been invited to the Undermountain, a central location for counsel. Not far away, Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror, King Under the Mountain, lay entombed with the Arkenstone.

The elven envoy entered, escorted, guarded though with honor.

She entered, wrecked. Ripped, bruised, filthy; standing tall but hobbling.

"Was she caught in an avalanche?!" one of the counsel sputtered, along with more subtle murmurs of shock and amazement. A dirty elf could not bode well.

"I know that this is not how you treat your guests," King Brand stated, though a bit doubtfully, trying to parse this visual riddle.

"No dwarf did this," the elf agreed, surprising them all with her serviceable Khuzdul. "An avalanche did, yes. Except far worse than any possible avalanche. King Dain Ironfoot," she tottered to a stop, "and the Undermountain counsel. Please call me Ithilia; I have no family name now."

The standing counselors shifted on their feet. "What do you mean?" invited King Dain, as the woman's breath caught in her throat.

"I mean I have no family now. They died by the White Hand, in Eryn Lasgalen, the Wood of Greenleaves -- now, more truly than ever: Mirkwood."

Before the murmurs could even begin anew, Dain stood and threw up both his hands for quiet. "Thranduil, your king -- "

"Slain in battle. My people, the few survivors, scattered south, into the lands of men."

Shock struck the counsel mute -- they had heard of distant and troubling rumors, but this!?

"Into the lands of men? Not into Lorien?!" Dain tried to clarify in confusion.

"Lorien fell first. Though at about the same time..."

"A coordinated assault!" marveled King Brand; then. "For pity's sake, Dain, offer the envoy some rest!"

"Do not blame the dwarven king," the noble woman exhaled. "For I have vowed to deliver this news as I am, until it is done. Should I collapse, let it be; then I will rest."

"Why for?!" the king of Dale and the Long Lake colonies asked.

"As a sign," she simply answered; then, "I was sent by my king, to our east, creeping here to avoid being caught by the Hand, barely escaping. Three others, all who knew enough Khuzdul to help you -- they have not arrived, have they? Probably they will not."

"Who or what is this Hand? And how could this have happened?!" Dain demanded in distress and disbelief, the sight of the wretched state of an elf increasing his unease.

"You want to know how? I will tell you -- until I fall. And then afterward, if the stars above are willing." Ithilia gritted this between her teeth in fury and grief.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on November 30, 2016, 08:29:09 PM
THE TALE OF THE FALL OF THE WEST


I will tell you first of the second reason this happened (she said).

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Sauron, the inheritor of Morgoth, has risen again! -- without the Ring of Power that he forged, so far as we know, but still kept alive in this world by its tether, wherever it may be. You know of the Counsel of Elrond, yes? One or two or more of you were there? Gloin and his son? We sent representatives, too. My husband accompanied Legolas, son of Thranduil, among some others.

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He told me what had been found: the One Ring. That it could not be destroyed, or not feasibly. Legolas and a ranger, Aragorn, or Strider perhaps he was called, accompanied a halfling from the west, and his kinsmen, who had proven he could safely carry the thing without corruption. The elves safely escorted him to the western havens, so far as we know, to the ships departing Middle-Earth for the undying lands. There, Frodo the Ringbearer, and his uncle who also had borne the Weapon, passed beyond reach of the enemy with the Ring. If any art under heaven can be found to unmake the Ring, and so to destroy the Dark Lord, too, there it may be.

The Nine Servants, the Nazgul, had been scattered by Elrond's wards near Imladris, the Riven Dell. But naturally, one regained power with more expediency: nameless now, but the former Witch-King of Angmar.

With a wyvern steed, bred for war in Mordor, he flew northwest to the lands he once had haunted, and raised a number of armies, aided by the current king of goblins from under the Misty Mountains.



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Who could stand to oppose them (she bitterly asked)? Your Blue Mountain clans fought bravely, but were caught unprepared.

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Yes, this is why you have not received any messengers from them in months! -- doubtless you thought I'd bring news of some mere problem in the West that would account for their silence. Indeed. They have merely been murdered or enslaved, simply overwhelmed by a goblin flood stiffened by Angmar detachments.


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The Witch-King fell upon Rivendell himself: a brutal battle, and brutally short.


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The halfling Shire, the clusters of human outposts, the elven havens -- once the two principle strengths that lived west of the Misty Mountains had been scoured and tossed aside by the tide, how could they hope to do better, even having heard the distant thunders of that lightning-war? What preparation could save them?

But in the darkest deep, a lower deep! For Saruman the White, one of the lesser Valar himself, leader of the Maiar who once came to Middle-Earth to aid us against the Fallen Ones -- he himself has fallen! Reduced in power at least, but he has sworn himself to Sauron. Perhaps he thinks to compete with Barad-dur...? He has bred an army of half-orc men, Uruk-hai. How could they know to act in concert?! As if they could read each other's minds, and see across such distances?! As Rivendell burned, he burst out from under the Misty Mountains with two large armies, hidden in the tunnels of their goblin allies, and smashed into the Forests east.


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I see your smug looks. You think they attacked in our weakness. This, I cannot dispute. What is the primary reason for this disaster? I will tell you, and you will look at me when I say it so you know what I am saying:

Those who could have stopped this, ran for their lives, or hid. Like cowards. Cowards!

Yes, we fear death, although we train for centuries of your time in dealing it out. You want to know how we see you? Rotting corpses walking the world, stinking, falling to pieces. I say this now, in your faces, so that you will understand I am speaking from my heart. We know it is not your fault, we do not blame you for it, but still: consider how you would feel to be touching such pits of disease. Such un-death, like barrow-wights, or not much better to us.

And so, the very concept of dying ourselves, in such dissolution, grievously insults us. We fight so fiercely to keep from being stained with... with this! (she beat her breasts) Death to you is a natural enemy; death to us is not.

So sensing, at long distance, yet another war for this world... we sighed to ourselves, and hid in our trees, and made our arrangements to sail away: to leave this world of death to death.

And so our fate is just. For we have fallen first; when with our skill, we could have sliced the foe into such ribbons that the other free peoples would then have plenty of time to gather to finish the fight in relative ease.

And so we have cursed this world, and cursed ourselves and our honor and our memory in this world, by failing this world. Running and hiding. Like cowards.

Yes, yes. I see you nodding in judgment. And self-satisfaction.

I see you nodding: YOU WHO HAVE HIDDEN LIKE COWARDS!!

Oh! -- you thought we stood alone under judgment? That we were the only ones to creep into holes and hope that someone else would sacrifice themselves to keep us safe? Of course you didn't see yourselves, closing your eyes to all but yourselves. As we did.

LOOK UPON ME!! Open your eyes and see my shame! For now it may be too late for you: for you to avoid my shame!

(here the elven woman collapsed at last, rasping, her throat worn raw)
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on November 30, 2016, 09:17:17 PM
[Gamenotes]

And so my occasionally hinted Secret AAR Project stands revealed: a War of the Ring grand campaign as the dwarves in Electronic Arts' Battle For Middle-Earth 2, with the Rise of Witch-king expansion.

I'll be playing with the unofficial fan-patch 2.02, which can be found at GameReplays.org (http://www.gamereplays.org/riseofthewitchking/), along with many other nice fan-patch projects keeping old games up to date(ish) and playable on modern systems.

RotWK was released in November 2006, and this coincidental 10-year anniversary is one reason why I'm going ahead and starting the AAR while it's still November 2016 (here in West Tennessee anyway), rather than waiting for next year. But while I've finished the campaign, win or lose, I have only started writing it up so entries may be sporadic for a while.

BfME2 (which by the way also has a modern fan-patch at that site, for anyone who can only get hold of one of the now-rare parts), is a real-time strategy game based on the movie property, part of a suite of games based on the films which EA released around the time Return of the King was going into theaters, including the Playstation 2 cinematic brawlers The Two Towers (which included some missions and footage/designs from the Fellowship film) and The Return of the King -- indeed, footage from the final film could be found in that game before the movie itself came out! I'd like to see those two games brought forward to modern consoles and (if possible) a good PC port; also TTT would benefit from a multiplayer co-op mode as can be found in RotK.

For PCs, EA jumped into the nascent real-time-strategy renaissance with Battle for Middle-Earth (which also has patches handy at the site, btw). The campaign for that game retells the story of the trilogy, starting the action with a party-based set of missions in the Mines of Moria and slowly adding rts functions as it went. A colorful and a bit quirky game, it helped move forward an innovation first promoted (so far as I recall) by Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns a few years prior, of generating and collecting soldiers in automatic groups and moving those around in (somewhat) reasonable formations. The Kohan series itself released a sequel around the same time, Kohan: Kings of War, which updated the graphics to 3D models; and Dawn of War completed the trifecta of the new next generation of real-time strategy design.

BFME1 had only four factions, which could also be played in single and multi-player skirmishes of course: Rohan and Gondor (as mostly human with some elven and hobbit-related support); and Isengard and Mordor (as duh). One key difference among the teams was that Rohan and Gondor could build fully walled fortresses, while the evil teams could only build encampments -- but then, of course, the evil teams got generally better tools for bringing such things down! Another major game design quirk, was that no player (human or AI) could build a base anywhere except on certain designated areas of any map. (Kohan 2, if I recall correctly, used a similar mechanic, though a bit more loosely for outlying support.)

Specifically, every map had two or sometimes three types of build-plots: single resource-gathering plots; major base plots; and small outpost plots (for raising a small tower). Each base, small or large, once raised, would then provide a limited number of sub-plots within the base area, inside and upon the walls for the heroic teams. The campaign missions were often more flexible about this, but these restricted base-building designs chafed some fans of the game. On the other hand, this design choice made BFME1 ideal for introducing new players to the rts genre.

Not surprisingly, BFME2 ditched the limited base-building plots -- now any team could build (almost) anything anywhere they wanted on the map, although the good teams retained the tendency to set up walled fortress areas and the villain teams retained the tendency to set up encampments. The faction options were expanded, too, although consolidated in other ways: specifically Rohan and Gondor were conflated into the Men faction.

The other factions ended up as the new factions of Elves and Dwarves; and then three villain types, Isengard and Mordor (again) plus the new Goblin faction. For the RotWK expansion (requiring BFME2 to play), a seventh team was added, Angmar, the former kingdom of the Witch-king, leader of the Nazgul.

Another new feature was a proper grand campaign (given some new details and options with the RotWK expansion), allowing various numbers of human and/or AI players to fight the War of the Ring over either an entire Middle-Earth map, or a map more like that from BFME1, restricted to the Misty Mountains and parts east (plus Rivendell west of the Mountains). Unfortunately, the RotWK expansion coders were unable to figure out how to add a 7th player to the grand campaign, so some faction must necessarily be left out.

Consequently, I'll be playing the Dwarf faction; with Men as my teammates; against a team of Isengard, Mordor, Goblins, and Angmar. I've set everyone to "medium" difficulty, so no one gets extra bonuses or debuffs.

(There are story campaigns for the main BFME2 game, detailing the war in the north on both good and evil sides; plus an Angmar campaign set centuries earlier for the expansion. But I'm not playing the story campaigns.)

Another new detail to the BFME2 game (compared to BFME1), is the option to design and play with a custom hero. Each team gets a suite of 'hero' characters who will level up over time -- more quickly in single skirmish games of course. But the player can now make their own hero or heroine, and choose what sort of capabilities (within a limited set appropriate for their race) will be unlocked as the character levels up. Frankly, even stock heroes can be over-powered in BFME, moreso in BFME2, and the custom heroes can completely break the game. But I made one anyway!  >:D That's Ithilia, the distaught elven holocaust survivor in the prologue narrative. The game will balance her brokenness a little (possibly a detail coded into the fan-patch?) by preventing custom heroes from leading assaults into territories. More on this later.

So I'll be having one elf helping the dwarves; but she'll factor less into the game than you might expect. Also, the dwarves have some elite human help, at their option, which considering the odds stacked against me I ended up using a lot. We'll see how that goes.

Enough introduction to the game for now; but I'll be dropping more explanatory gamenotes as I go along.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: MetalDog on November 30, 2016, 09:25:41 PM
You had me at 'Khazad.'
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: Sir Slash on December 01, 2016, 10:32:19 AM
One AAR to rule them all.....  :notworthy:
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 01, 2016, 07:36:05 PM
WEEK ONE -- AN UNEXPECTED PARTY
-------------------------------

Ithilia awoke in a softly lit darkness, her last memory being of hitting the floor while casting out her despair upon her allies. She felt hungry, but not greatly so; and sore, but not greatly so. Also, her clothing felt warmer and less ragged. Feeling carefully around, she decided that someone had mended it.

Altogether, she inferred that time had passed, perhaps a few days. She hoped that she had been cared for by dwarven women -- and then decided such niceties didn't much matter anymore.

A smell of food wafted inward from the door to her room, which when opened revealed a tunnel just long enough to dampen down much noise from a small kitchen beyond. The dwarves at work there noticed her emerge, and apparently thinking she wouldn't understand, made polite gestures for her to sit nearby while a messenger was sent -- and breakfast was brought.

About an hour later, Ithilia was being escorted into a campaign-room. Several maps with different markings, temporary and permanent, lined the walls; and another one lay spread out on a central table. King Dain arrived in the otherwise empty room while she was admiring the artistic details; Gloin, Gimli his son, and King Brand the human man, along with a few more dwarven advisors followed.

"Good, good," the grandfatherly Gloin nodded in kind appraisal at her appearance, though Ithilia knew for a fact that she must surely out-age him a century or more.

"Glad to see you awake and fed," said Dain more crisply. "We've work to do, and lots of it. Before we start deploying our forces, we need to know our situation as far as possible."

"So you'll fight," she almost stated, but that seemed insultingly obvious. "Thank you," she said instead, using a formal Khuzdul expression reserved for gratitude to royalty. "I know we'll be too late," she almost added, but restrained her bitterness: it couldn't be helpful now.

"What I can add to this," she started, "is... wait, where are we?! Is this you? Are we here, no longer beneath the Lonely Mountain?!"


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"This wasn't a withdrawal!" Gimli huffed. "We needed to make arrangements!"

"Wars are won at the end of a spear, but first the spears and axes must be gathered and arrive. Dwarves well know that an army marches on its stomach," chuckled Dain. "That starts, in this corner of the world, in the Iron Hills. Our presence is thin on the ground nearly everywhere else."

"Don't worry; we'll be surging soon. I wouldn't be here, away from Dale," said Brand, "if I didn't trust my allies to know what they're doing."

"Make our heart strong; then, our arms; then, crush the foe." Dain seemed to be quoting a dictum. "If we win, that will be why." 'If', Ithilia noticed... "So, again: tell us about our enemy's dispositions."

"And our allies," added Brand. "How do Rohan and Gondor fare -- do you know?"

"Underprepared, no doubt," she answered. "But then, neither has the enemy put forth anything like full strength. They have thinned themselves, striking first where they saw their enemies thinnest. I will need to make contact with the rangers among my people, in order to give you current news. But from what little we've gathered so far, this seems to be..." She started lightly sketching with different chalk.


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"That can't be us!" Gloin snorted.

"It isn't, though it is. For now," she answered. Before she could clarify, Gimli muttered, "They shall answer both yes and no," to small chuckles. If that was a joke about elves, well, she couldn't exactly complain she fit the joke! She joined the small chuckle, and grimly continued:

"All I have done is leave over the parts of the map unclaimed by others for now -- but Thranduil arranged that small elven convoys should try to sneak resources out to dwarven posts at your edges, from these areas. Until they are overrun by one of our enemies." She wiped a bit of chalk that tickled her nose. "Even a little for now may help. So, for now, treat all this in red as helpful to you. Next week, expect something different.

"Here on the southwest corner, surrounding the White Mountains, are the lands held by the human kingdoms of Rohan and Gondor -- mostly Gondor. And somewhat only outpost colonies. Technically they would say they hold these areas up to the mountains of Mordor, too, but in reality the Gondor rangers can only keep a thin presence for tracking the infiltration by the enemy. Osgiliath itself, the jewel of the river, has fallen into disrepair and could easily -- "

"What nonsense is this?!" Dain exclaimed. "You think their commanders have marched away from the capitol city?!"


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"My sources, before I arrived here, suggested that was the plan: to let Gondor stand as a tempting target, able to shrug off initial assaults, while they spread out to defend Meduseld, the Rohan capitol, and Helm's Deep, as well as retake the Old Brown Lands from Mordor's influence. Then, as well, they would send a captain north with forces -- into the Fangorn forest area, currently allocating resources by elven convoys to you, you're welcome," she dryly reminded them, "to be ready to retake Lorien or, more likely, cut off Saruman at Isengard Tower."

"A daring initial thrust of a plan," mused Brand.

"An arrant, horseheaded plan," Dain declared. "I hope they succeed," he tried to be diplomatic in adding, "but I won't bet on it. Hmph. We'll end up having to do all the work ourselves..."

"And there," Gloin sadly pounded a fist in frustration, "lies the ruin of the West." Ithilia noticed that although he had lightly struck on Angmar, his hand came to rest in the Shire. Well, he had friends there. Once.


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"The Witch-king isn't sentimental, so he has given much of his former territory to the Goblin king -- thus protecting his main source of flooding numbers, and creating a more-or-less willing slave population." Ithilia outlined the purple area with a finger. "This green, meanwhile, shows the extent of his fullest reach beyond them. Including Rivendell now," she sighed. "But remember, he effectively controls operations for the Lidless Eye as well, and they shall surge from Mordor soon." She tapped the blue region. "Saruman, as I reported a few days ago, looped his forces around from the west, to strike over or rather from under the Misty Mountains onto Mirkwood and Lorien simultaneously. They hold, in effect, this brown area now."

"...but not Dol Guldur?!" Gimli marveled.

"No, not yet. We think the enemy thought that investing Sauron's old fortress, where he once worked as 'the Necromancer', would be far too obvious, and set his strongest enemies racing to reinforce too quickly. That plan worked," she grimaced, "and so, although my people drastically thinned his numbers, Saruman can reach out his hand and take it at his leisure now -- for his Dark Lord."

"Can he?" Dain muttered. "Can he. Hm."

"He can," she confirmed. "The last I heard, he had collected his surviving, victorious troops, and started marching south, no doubt to threaten Rohan next and to seize that dread -- ... what?"

"I," Dain declared, "will not let him have that fort without a fight."

"...what!" Ithilia blinked, wondering if she had truly awakened yet. "You have troops there already?"

"Pah, no. But I can get a steady trickle there quite quickly. We have long dug highways beneath Middle Earth, including here, and devised mechanisms that, while they cannot move many at once, can put those few at speed. I had already sent some builders down to check the tracks to potentially... problematic areas, before leaving the Lonely Mountain and coming here, with you, to plan and stage.

"Yes! -- I will start by building fortresses in the lands to our south, in Celedor where Brand's settlements flank the River Running, and in Dagorlad where that Last Alliance of Men and Elves fought Sauron long ago. Dagorlad first, actually," he pondered. "We cannot afford to start two fortresses yet, and that, along with Dol Guldur, is the key to our homelands from Mordor. So we start denying them. Brand, I'll start a fortress in Celedor next week. And we'll want you there, in case Isengard tries to move back through Mirkwood toward us." The man nodded in understanding. "Gloin, take your son and hurry to Dagorlad, find a fitting place to make our fort!"

"Eh, that land is worthless," the sullen elder judged. "I cannot guarantee we'll be able to get a small fortress going this week."

"Fine, just find a place to start. Whether Dol Guldur falls into Isengard's hands or not, Dagorlad will be an important cornerstone of our defense.

"I will march with our first dwarves already packed and provisioned, to Erebor. Once we have secured our heart, I expect to be our first arm to land a blow."

"From the Lonely Mountain?" Ithilia wondered. "...you mean to reclaim my home!"

"Yes, as a start. I have a fairly obvious plan beyond that; one I don't think our enemy has much appreciated yet, nor will if we keep them distracted."

"I will come with you, gladly!" she cried.

"No, my lass.

"I expect you to rush to Dol Guldur."

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"Win or lose," the dwarf king roared, "they won't be expecting this party!"
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 01, 2016, 08:48:24 PM
(Not yet time for) The Defense of Dol Guldur

The way the real-time-strategy gameplay actually works in this game, I can't feasibly keep the narrative going during the fights. But I'll switch back to narrative during the weekly interludes.

Let's talk about the strategic map setup first. The way this game works, teams necessarily start at set glowing territories, which differ somewhat depending on how many teams will be playing. What I didn't know at first, but which I discovered to my confusion when I started my first game and found my dwarves based in Mordor (!!), was that in order to make sure everyone gets placed where you want, you have to reverse-click all the capitol areas and then click them again in the order of the teams you've set up.

Because the game, in this mode, is trying to be balanced, each capitol territory starts as far as feasibly possible from other capitols; which works out okay 'historically' except in two cases for a six-player game: Rivendell and Lorien are both assigned capitols where a team must start; and Gondor would be too close to Mordor's capitol so the map designers assign the southwest-corner team to Rohan's territory instead.

That makes sort-of-quasi sense, but if there aren't two elven teams in the strategic game then at least one non-elven team has to start in an elven capitol! -- which explains some of the loopy story convolutions I'm having to angulate around. Hopefully what I've come up with sounds plausible for fighting back against a catastrophic early gain by Team Evil.

Aside from various map setups with different numbers of players, the other main choice was whether everyone should start with only one territory (the glowy capitols) and go from there, or whether everyone should start with a roughly equal number of territories. There are map setup options both ways. I decided for narrative drama it made much more sense to start with territories already established. This also gives Team Evil an early boost to production which will keep Team Dwarves(AndMenAndAFewElves) on our toes staggering around. Team Dwamaafe needs all the dwama we can get, yo!

This did mean I had to explain why on Illuvatar's green Earth the dwarves held land all the way through Dol Guldur(!) to Rohan's Gap(!!); but I figured early that was a moot issue since there was no way Team Evil would let me keep any of that past the first few turns.

(By the way, in case you are suddenly wondering, yes there are ents in this game, but they help the elven team not me, and there is no elven team in my setup for this campaign: so the ents' contributions are moot.)


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(I chuckled waaaaay too hard at that.)

This led quickly to the question of what to build on my first turn. Go back up a post (past the pun dog meme), and check out my territories on the map, especially in closeup. Each territory grants at least one, up to three, plots for me to build structures. Assuming I have enough funds, I can build any one of four possible structures (with repeats as I like) per week in any or all of those territories. They won't go into effect until the following turn (or week as I'm calling the turns for narrative convenience), but they provide functions not only on the strategic map afterward but on the tactical maps for those regions during a territory defense.

Those structural options are (for the dwarves, but all factions have similar functions):

mines, which generate income per turn (and also every few seconds on the map during tac battles);

barracks, which can be used to train missile or melee squads (but only melee types during tactical);

forge, which can be used to generate two types of siege unit, a melee type and a missile type, and which also upgrades some troops per turn with all possible bling automatically (but on tac maps those have to be researched for each battle, and applied manually to any unit without them -- at cost both ways!);

and a fortress, which on the strat map just allows heroes to be recovered if they're not on the map for some reason. Most of the time this function is completely useless, as it's difficult to get rid of commanders even if you kill them off on a map they lose (as long as they have somewhere to safely retreat.) On the tactical map, though, fortresses start off plopped on the map, which is a costly and time-consuming item otherwise! Forts are very important for defense, and also generate some income (though not as much as mines).

Some territories come with large forts already on the map, however -- like, for example, Dol Guldur -- and on those maps, small forts can't be built, either strategically or during battle. Usually those territories also only have one extra plot available for something else (most of the territory already being, after all, a large fortress).

You should be able to see why I'd want to not only start by plopping as many forts as I can at the start; but also -- since I have the opportunity -- try to defend Dol Guldur. Small forts cost 1500, so I could have started by buying one, in Dagorlad being the most usefully obvious place, and then spreading the remaining money out on mines, such as in Erebor, Celeduin, and Rhur. In fact, that was my plan.

But I was so excited by my plan that I forgot to actually buy the structures. #:-)

So... yeah, that puts me one turn behind as a handicap, at the start. Good job, Jason, good hustle. {clap}{clap}...{clap}

Thus also my little narrative explanation that Gloin thinks they'll have to do some extra scouting to find a place for a fort in Dagorlad.

Incidentally, this game's flavor text treats "Dagorlad" as being the plain where the Last Alliance fought against Sauron; and the "Dead Marshes" being a different territory next door, in front of the "Black Gate" territory (where it should be). I'm not sure how canon that distinction is; I got the impression the dead bodies in the marshes were left over from the final battle? Whatev. Maybe the writers couldn't come up for something to say about Dagorlad otherwise.

Oh, a few more things about how the strat-map works. Squads can be generated either directly on the map by structures (once they're up), or can be 'paid' to stay on the map out of the map's remaining balance for the turn, so long as that doesn't go below zero. And once paid for, the squads stay available on-map permanently. (Until manually disbanded to recover some cash, or until destroyed in the Tac battles.) Squads can be shuffled between any number of groups, up to the inherent command limit supported by the territory, or by a commander: squads can only attack enemy territories if they're attached to a commander; and commanders can allow a territory to easily exceed the number and type of squads allowed by the inherent command points.

What this means, for my first turn, is that I could move my starting squad by itself one territory at a time through any area owned by Team Dwamaafe (including the golden areas, although I can't build there -- those are the Men's responsibility). Or I can attach them (in any combination of their squad numbers) to one or more commanders, and those commanders can move two territories per turn -- in friendly areas. But the commanders are also the only way for my squads to get into enemy territories. So I had to make a decision where to put my starting troops for best effect, and I figured in the early game I could chill somewhat on my defense and put those guys with a commander for an eventual daring thrust later. (I chose Dain as their commander for purely thematic reasons since this thrust would be launched from Erebor, the Lonely Mountain.)

This plan will have to be adjusted if I lose my first battle defending Dol Guldur, as more of my core starting territories will be opened up to invasion. But, more importantly for this turn:

custom heroes (like Ithilia) are treated as troops. Not as commanders.

She can only defend an area, not attack on her own, nor carry troops with her (though she can travel defensively with a troop batch); she needs a commander to attack.

So for attacking purposes, I'm only going to have four options: Brand, Dain, Gimli, and Gloin.

But I don't know this yet. I think sending Ithilia to DG could be setting up a daring second thrust. But what I do quickly realize, is that Ithliia doesn't seem to be on the map as a distinctly unique piece, and she can only move one territory at a time like a squad.

BUT: like a hero currently offmap, she can be summoned to a fortress! So once I earn the money, and get the time, I'll be able to teleport her across the map to help defend Dol Guldur!

...assuming I last that long.

Because I'm starting there with NO SQUADS WHATEVER!

(...sort of.)

And the enemy is bringing four heroes (all from Isengard's team), plus a small starting group of one sword, cav, and missile unit (attached to Saruman).


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You may be thinking, eh, Wormtongue, really?

Let me tell you a story: a story where Wormtongue, by himself, hacks down the chief keep-fort of Dol Guldur.

That really happened. I watched it. And couldn't get anyone to him in time to stop it.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Ahem.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 02, 2016, 11:34:28 PM
(Now it's time for) The Defense of Dol Guldur


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Ohhhh yeah, I can see why Team Evil wants this place.


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I can reaaaly see why Team Evil wants this place! Everything visible there is part of Dol Guldur fortress -- and a lot more offscreen. But I've selected the "fort" part of the fortress, the central keep. If I had a portable keep (for want of a better term), I'd have a few more options, but selecting this one brings up the basic functions: training a builder (I start with two already in any battle, including this one -- you can see them about center screen); summoning an off-map hero (Ithilia will cost 2440 by the way, and she's only level 1, and I only start with 2500 for a battle this early in the game)... annnnd nothing else really. Except paying for faster repairs, which is an option all my buildings have. My dwarves will go out and slowly repair hurt buildings during a peaceful interlude, but I can pay to get that done faster and/or during a fight -- and sometimes, depending on how much ruin remains, I can pay to rebuild. Forts are the only place I can get new builders, so if I lose my builders and lose my fort permanently, any buildings I lose afterward can't be rebuilt. But at that point I've probably lost the battle anyway.

Um, that's a topic to return to later. Ahem.

For now, I haven't played a battle in BFME2 in... maybe eight years? And never this map, much less while defending this castle. So I have no clear idea what I ought to be concentrating on. I presume (correctly) I've got a large wall ringing me around with a gate or two (or three as it happens in this case) for the enemy to have to pound through before I'm in trouble. So I've got a little time to prepare to meet them. To prepare I'll need cash, and while my fort is slowly generating some, mines would generate more. So I need to build mines quickly and early while I have a chance to benefit the most from them.

Consequently, I spend 1000 gold (of my 2500+) on a couple of new builders first. Why? ...um, because then I can build mines faster I guess? And some other things between mine building faster? I dunno, I'm playing this by ear: I'm just using the DG map as an opportunity to practice where if I lose, well, I was going to lose it anyway.

Around this time I see the little flashing blue "25" over above the minimap (lower left of the screen), and remember that this is where I buy special abilities for the battle. Left-click that and...


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Okay, each player starts the campaign with a basic number of power points, 25 in my case. Those points reset after each battle (no matter how many battles per turn), and sometimes they increase by a few points during the battle as my troops score kills. (My troops; not my structures, a key point for how I tend to fight. More on this soon.) The total can also increase depending on certain territories held by the player on the strat map: I suspect Isengard right now has a higher starting base of power points per battle than I do, for example. (Reminder: I'm fighting Isengard here in my first battle!)

The chart there is explanatory: as I choose a special ability for this battle, it opens various paths to other abilities, and deducts the cost from my point total. The three at the top are, from left to right:

"Rallying Call", which grants temporary 50% morale and armor bonuses to any squad within the (rather limited) target radius;

"Heal", which heals very substantial amounts of damage for all non-mechanical troops (not catapults for example) within a large target radius;

and "Repair", which totally repairs any structures within a moderate target radius (no matter how damaged or how large their hit point totals).

I could buy all three and still have 10 points left over to choose something from Tier 2. Which for this battle I do, because I recall Rally being very helpful back in BFME1's story campaign missions. I will be revising this judgment after this battle; but meanwhile I can afford one more 2nd tier power. Being unfamiliar with them, I mistakenly pick the one on the far left, "Undermine", which automatically plops down a free mine anywhere I can (validly) choose on the map. (It has to be large enough flat ground.)

I said I mistakenly chose that, because in the long run or even the medium run this power isn't very useful, and I can't even use it in the early game: all these powers have to charge up first! It can damage enemy squads by erupting up underneath them (thus "undermine"), but then they recover and kill it quickly. It generates profit like a regular mine, and presumably can level up over operational time like a regular mine, but if I still need a new mine that badly by the time it charges I'm probably in too much trouble and could use something to save me with some offensive punch -- not a mine that the enemy will probably be rolling over and crumbling twenty seconds later! Dwarven mines do have the theoretically useful ability to teleport large numbers of squads (nine at a time I think!) between mines with the mine network, so I could in theory pack a an army into one mine, deep in my base, and then spit them out all the way across the map by Undermining up -- if I have a scout unit spotting through the fog of war for me! This, to be honest, is what I think I want to try, and so is why I picked it. But in practice, I might as well spoil here that I never bothered using it more than once or maybe twice in my whole campaign. Basically it's better to scout with an army and then drop in more butt-kickers by other methods: there's a squad limit based on "command points", and while a new mine does help raise that, by the time I train new troops to replace squads being lost in an assault, and get them blinged up enough to be useful in an assault, I will probably have lost any mine near the enemy. So plopping it near the enemy base for that purpose would be useless.

But eh, lessons learned later. We'll call those foresight lessons in hindsight. Or something.

As I'm waiting for my 3rd (1st new) builder to train up, I scroll around most of my nifty dark fortress, and not only locate my three gates, but also learn that my left and right gates have two dwarven catapults each already set up on pillars flanking the gates. I don't notice that my central gate also has a pair of flanking catapults already set up, because they're set on pillars on my side of the approach bridge leading over the river and to my gate -- so they have a much wider opportunity shot radius than at the other two gates. (I'll show those eventually, don't worry.)

I also don't notice, because I don't recognize what I'm looking at, that my main wall, and several places in my inner walls, have a bunch of towers with dwarven axe throwers already in them. They don't shoot as fast as my dedicated dwarven axe towers, and I can't upgrade their axes, but believe me their tally of whittling the enemy adds up.

I do see enough to be glad I tried to grab this place before Saruman did, because it's gonna be a nightmare trying to take it from a prepared defender!

On with the preparations. I have no clear ideas yet where I should most effectively start building mines for this map, but I make some initial guesses.


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Here, for example, behind this nice strong gate that I haven't opened yet, farther up into the backside of my fortress where my builder will have to loop around to reach because I haven't opened that gate yet...

oh.

But in my defense, how ignorant or cheap is this wall design!? A looping path with exactly one gate in it? The enemy can just go around it! Oy. Nor can I build new walls (or a portable keep) on maps where I already have a large fortress, so I can't fix that design flaw!

Still, I'm not one to talk about ignorance: I set a builder to make a mine there behind a closed gate that I don't bother to open, and about which I've made a natural inference that there's no open way to reach the area. #:-)

While I'm introducing my "Introduction to Losing A Tactical Battle", I might as well zoom into my builder options so for future entries if I talk about one of them there's be some context:


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From top to bottom those are:

Mine -- already discussed in detail. I may not have mentioned that mines automatically but slowly upgrade while they operate, to produce more gold and also to be a little more reinforced against spoil attacks. (This may be unique to the Dwarves.) At the 3rd, top level, mines add a small axe tower for short range active defense.

Barrack -- this can be upgraded twice, manually, at cost. It trains the two basic melee squads, swordsmen and pikemen. At second level I can buy the ability to buy banner sergeants for squads; these give some morale and (I think?) attack bonuses, and allow for slow medical regeneration in the field. At third level, I can buy up to three small elite dwarven berserker squads (but they can't be upgraded unlike other squads); and the barracks gets a small axe tower if I recall correctly.

Archery yard -- upgradable twice manually at cost. It trains dwarven axe throwers at first level; and human archers of Dale at second level. At third level it gets a small axe tower, and opens the option for me to buy the option to buy a fire upgrade for my archery squads.

Forge -- upgradable twice manually at cost. It trains an armored dwarven battering ram machine at first level, and also a goat-pulled battle wagon. The battle wagon itself comes with a few dwarven axe throwers, and can be upgraded with some spearmen from Dale; or with a banner providing extra bonuses in a small radius; or with a hearth providing moderately fast healing effect in a small radius. As I will discover later, these things are far more fragile than I expected from something called a DWARVEN BATTLEWAGON; and to compound this problem, they zip around much faster than any group they're assigned to support, meaning they zip ahead into danger where they get easily munched. At second level, the forge can make catapults -- a truly game winning unit -- and opens up the option to buy two abilities: double melee damage to buildings (especially nice as a global passive ability that doesn't need more buying to activate), and magical runes for any melee or squad-thrown axes (which must then be bought separately for squads). At level three, the forge unlocks fire shot for the catapults, and mithril mail shirts for squads (both of which must then be bought specifically for squads).

Before I forget, have I mentioned that dwarven catapults work on ballista principles (like reverse crossbows), and so are strong enough to throw two rocks long-distance at once?

Because I love dwarven catapults. :smitten:

Let's see... next down the icon list...

Axe Tower -- these things are quite well armored (though enemy artillery can take them down easily in two shots); are tall enough to fling axes over most walls; and each can be upgraded at additional cost after building to use runed axes. I love Axe Towers as much as Dwarven Catapults. Maybe more, since they have no command limit and I can tower spam to my heart's content -- even on fortress maps!

Hearth -- this somewhat fragile thing speedily heals and recovers lost troops in squads (as long as they have one unit remaining), within a moderate radius. Very handy for setting up a defensive point.

Statue -- this surprisingly-fragile thing (though a little tougher than the hearth) adds very nice buffs to all troops within a large radius. Again, very handy for setting up a defensive point.

Column -- blacked out because it can't be built on fortress maps by defenders (such as me for this battle). Takes a while to build the first one, but even one of these can rule a map eventually. We'll see why later.

Keep -- also known as a fortress or fort, but I'll call it a keep. Expensive, but ultimately very useful for reasons I'll get to later.

Meanwhile, I've been sending builders around fishing for the best places to build mines.


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This isn't necessarily a good place, for example, because it not only lacks some open ground, but it also overlaps two other already-plotted mine radii (those are the pink arcs on the ground). The game tells me this with a percentage effectiveness in the center of the mine-shadow (where the mine hypothetically could go if I clicked the placement button); also by making that percentage yellow instead of green. Eventually I'll put it farther to the upper left of that screenshot, in a nice open courtyard not far from the left gate, where I can get 97% effectiveness.

At this point I set my first builder (who has finished his mine in the main keep's small courtyard) to building my first barracks; and I'm pondering whether to go with a forge or a range from my next available builder, when I hear: "OUR STRUCTURES!"

The minimap tells me with a glow that my central gate is under attack. I proceed to partly ignore this by focusing on starting some axe towers near the two mines closest to that gate.


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That mine is in a nice open area between my central and rightward gate, by the way.

My barracks are ready, but I figure I still have some time -- the central gate looked thick, and my minimap isn't flashing there anymore so I guess the enemy got tired of knocking and went away. (Not really -- my pair of front catapults, which I don't know about yet, knackered whoever was knocking more likely, although small heroes can sneak out of catapult range by getting right up to the gates.)

I recall from BFME1 that the banner upgrade was highly important for unit survival, so I plan to buy that before getting around to any actual squads. Meaning I also have to invest in level 2 upgrading for the barrack. I set to building a range next, also in the keep's courtyard. I don't realize until later that every building I add within a mine's radius decreases its efficiency! -- but on the other hand, what use is a mine's efficiency if I don't have troops to win the map?

I'm putting in second axe towers near my main mines when I hear, "They're after our buildings!" again. Eh, better scroll over to the main gate and see if it's nearly down yet...


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This is when I discover I have rock throwers for shattering enemy units attacking this gate, too -- somewhere off to the left, off-screen! (I'll show them later, but unlike the other gates they're so far away I can't show them and the main gate at the same time very well.)

These six starting dwarven catapults can, sadly, never be upgraded with fire shot -- but dang they can crumple foes! Much to my surprise, the central gate looks pretty stable so far.

Time to buy banner carrier tech, and my first actual squad: axe throwers.

While I'm waiting on that, I mouse around my environs more, unable to find any (surviving) enemy troops nearby. Wow?


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Oh, therrreee are my front gate catapults! As you can see, they also serve to guard the central approaches to the left and right gates. There are fords across the river, too, near those gates, but the enemy AI likes to march troops around the path there anyway -- getting sniped by axe throwers in towers that come with this fortress, which I don't know about yet. THIS PLACE IS AWESOME I WANT TO KEEP IT SOOOOO MUCH! :D

...I don't have to be a Dark Lord to keep it. It... it can just look scary, uh, to strike fear into the hearts of cowardly and superstitious criminals. Yeah. :bd:
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 02, 2016, 11:35:04 PM
Ah, my axe throwers are already ready already; and I can outfit them with banners now.


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One of the many, many nifty touches in this game, is that squads will kind of lounge around if nothing is happening (juggling throwing axes in this case), but if I run my mouse cursor over them they snap to attention -- before I've even selected them!

With news of another assault on Central Gate, I march the throwers over to it; testing to see if they can ballistically hurl over the gate.


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Much to my not-surprise, they can't. And this time Isengard has sent troops with burning torches or something, along with two or three heroes (including Grima Wormtongue? who has a glowy sword?!) My catapults are doing work, and for whatever reason most of the squads aren't attacking, but what's there has done more damage to my gate already than all other previous attempts combined!

So. It has come to this, has it? Time to stop messing around getting ready, and to get ready. ...er. Readier.

By "readier" I mean, time to buy level three on my range, and then see if a new squad of Dale Archers can shoot over the gate ballistically.

My catapults whittle down the enemy squads on the stairs, but their heroes have taken the gate down to half points already...


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Oh, my dwarven repair power has long since charged up? Giggity! :D

That'll buy me some time, but I'm not sure my catapults (despite noble efforts) are even quite reaching the enemy heroes, except maybe with a bit of random splash damage, and Grima is turning out to be amazingly effective at hacking down dark iron gates of forebodance. I can also set the gates to autorepair, but not while they're under direct attack, although once started the repairs can keep going during attack. This also costs gold, of which I have an increasingly reasonable amount as my mines slowly level up. But I'm spending that on getting an archery squad ready right now.


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And also on sending a couple of builders to flank the main gate with a pair of axe towers. You can see the first one starting to build at the bottom of the screen, and the second one's proposal around the green crosshair.


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As my fire archers arrive (not as strong as elven archers I suppose, but still my best ranged unit), I also send builders to set up a hearth and a heroic statue. I suspect, although I'm never quite sure, that statues buff axe towers, too; but anyway I like to have them around in case my squads need to rush over to plug a gaping gate hole.

My archers can't shoot ballistics over the wall either; but I can put any unit inside my axe towers for protection and, in the case of missile units, to add shootyness. This I do; by which time my new towers along with the cats have already gotten rid of those pesky heroes. For now.

It's around this time, as I'm exploring my perimeter again, that I discover I have missile towers built into the outer wall perimeter.


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Squee! Does this place come with a flying saucer, too!!? Those towers are no joke either: they may not shoot as fast, and can't get rune upgrades, and can't be replaced once destroyed, but they're tougher than my normal axe towers.

Unfortunately, even with missile squads in them, the two towers (no relation) I posted around the central gate don't always have a good angle to shoot at single heroes hacking at it, and they've come back and whittle the gate to half strength again. Fortunately, my "repair" skill has recharged, so I spend it for a free instant fix on the gate again. Time to start my forge (and unknowingly cripple my first mine some more by adding another building nearby); and send my second archery squad to the front gate.

While trying to get an angle to place a tower at the center of the front gate, for better coverage, I learn how to rotate my camera. Hey, this looks rather better!


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Ha, I feel like a giant, disembodied eye, floating above my dread fortress, looming over all who dare opp--

----

um.

Aw, dangit, my new tower still can't get a good angle on whichever enemy hero that is hacking at my gate -- although the AI is scared enough now that it would rather put its nearby squad back far enough on the stairs to be pulted rather than toweraxed!


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Dwarven berserkers are cuing up by the way. These, as I will discover in my first few battles, aren't nearly as useful as I was expecting.

With one Uruk berserker swacking at my gate (he's the bald mostly-naked commando who rode the siege ladders to the top of the walls at Helm's Deep in the second movie, and lit the bomb -- something that Isengard could do in BFME1, by the way, but which I never saw in BFME2), and my repair not recharged yet, and not having figured out yet how to get rid of him...

...I hear an alarm from my left gate, which confuses me since I've flipped the camera so that now it looks like my right gate. But isn't. {inhale}

After wasting a bit of time reorienting my camera so that my keep is 'north' of my central gate (also allowing me to better see who's hitting it, namely that Uruk commando), I glide over leftward to see AGH!


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There's quite a little horde at that gate! More than my cat pair can deal with easily. As the snapshot shows, I'm sending a builder there pronto to reinforce with an axe tower (and after the snapshot I send another for a 2nd tower).

I find the new dwarfserkers, and rush them there in case the gate falls before I can arty back the attack, and I train up more archers, setting their rally point near the gate so they'll arrive without microing them. (Meanwhile, you may not be able to tell from that snapshot but there's a squad of enemy archers marching around the outside wall methodically nixing my irreplaceable towers. One falls while I'm doing this. It leaves a hole in the wall, but fortunately no units can climb the grade there. Including my builders, so I can't repair the hole or replace the tower.)

I barely remember to "repair" my main gate in time; this assault is distracting me, and eventually that commando will get through if I'm not careful. Both new towers behind the left gate are up now, and I think I've repelled the attack -- but the downside to having cats next to the gate is that their splash damage also hurts the gate!

With the arrival of new archers (buffed up), put into a tower, the gate is saved. For now. Floating back to my keep, I buy a squad of pikes, just to check them out; and then I remember I can afford to bring in Ithilia now, so I pay the cost at the keep (or, now that I notice, the "castle" rather.) She'll take a few minutes of battle-time to arrive.

The commando has almost hacked through the central gate again, and while I suspect it'll last until I can throw the "repair" ability I also get word of a few enemy squads coming up the bridgeway. And even though they'll be crushed by my pults eventually, they might contribute enough damage to put down the gate.

So heck with it: I open the gate. That's what they wanted, right? RIGHT?


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Oh -- guess they didn't want a storm of axes from the towers plastering them, huh. Note to self: sometimes opening the gate is a good idea!

Ithilia has arrived at Dol Guldur by now -- heroes, and the builder pool, show up as icons across the bottom. She's an archer whom I designed with a lot of passive abilites, so I won't have to micro her much, especially until she levels up a lot.

In the process of opening the gate (surprise, ha!), I discover that the pay-to-repair button only lights up once enemies have gotten away -- but that once it lights up, I can choose it even if enemies come back. So that's handy (and I have plenty of cash to do so.) I take the opportunity to set our left gate to repair itself, too. The repair button doesn't do an instant repair, the way the Repair skill does, but I find it's pretty quick.

Since heroes move relatively quickly, and even 1st level heroes are tough to kill, they make good scout/recovery units, so I send Ithilia out the leftward gate to one of the three signal fires on the board. Once claimed (and all have been claimed by Isengard long since), they help recharge special abilities faster. The enemy has to run a bit of a gauntlet to get there and claim it, but since that has clearly happened already I decide to send a couple of builders out as well to tower-up around the flag.


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I soon learn that it takes more than two axe towers to kill a squad faster than it can retake a flag, but eh; had to make the experiment. Three or four towers next time, got it!

Back at the front gate there has been a new and perhaps portentous development:


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The computer has finally realized it needs to do something about my catapults on the bridge, and so has sent bats to gnaw at one of them. They've already taken off half its strength by the time I notice -- and worse, there's nothing I can do about it!

Sensing that I may need to take the offensive before I lose half my main central gate defense (duh), I group up Ithilia and the three dwarvenserker squads to rush down the bridge to the middle signal fire (the one an attacker will surely be able to get without trouble). An assaulting squad trotting by draws her bow, and her ire, and her attention before she can claim the flag.


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They also give her enough kills to level up, thus unlocking her first leadership bonus which continuously and passively grants nice buffs to any nearby allies (like my berserkers). I chose her initial skill to be a passive archery damage buff, by the way -- and I took several upgrades for those as my picks so she'll continue getting better at them throughout the game.

With my serker squads chasing down enemies (who are basically ignoring them), and Ithilia sniping people who go by -- the AI is concentrating on getting that signal flare back in the upper left corner, a little stupidly -- I have a minute to remember I haven't upgraded at my forge yet. Time to buy that research!

While there's a lull, I gather a disparate group of dwarves, along with Ithilia, and rush them down the bridge again, meeting another group of about equal numbers heading up. For kicks, I spawn an Undermine in their path, as close as I can (can't get near the bridge edge because that isn't flat but curves down for draining water -- a subtle artistic touch that doesn't otherwise affect the game at all.)


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Hm; can't really tell from that snapshot, but I threw a group to the left as the mine is erupting (which takes a few seconds).

Frankly, my group is a mess, scattering around trying to hit enemies who are marching away. I need to gather everyone together more effectively and run them down past the bridge to find the enemy's camp and...


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...uh...

...wait, what?

What did that say?

{squinting}

My opponent forfeits this region to my superior might?!

Really!???!

How could I win!? I haven't even managed to destroy a single one of their buildings yet, and their troops are getting more numerous and tougher with each push and...

...I mean, look, even the GAME thinks it was way ahead!


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At first I'm afraid I've accidentally activated a limited attack time, which could be deadly for me when it's my turn someday to hit a fort. But eventually I figure out that the game has been programmed (possibly by the fan patchers / updaters) to resign if certain somewhat-randomized thresholds are passed. In this case, looking at unit stats, my guess is that their unit count sharply dropped too quickly and too far compared to my troop totals during the last quarter minute.

wow.

I won a defensive action I was sure I'd lose!

Naturally, this was only due to Dol Guldur being a great fortress to defend. But does this mean the game will be a cakewalk?!

(Answer: no. No it does not.)
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 02, 2016, 11:36:54 PM
(Note 1: you may be asking yourself, "Self, didn't Jason say something about Grima Wormtongue, of all people, hacking down Dol Guldur's castle by himself?" Yes. Yes I did. I said that was a story for later. I didn't say how much later.)

(Note 2: don't worry, I won't go into nearly as much detail hereafter -- this was the first fight and I wanted to explain as much as possible for people who haven't played the game. If you skipped over a lot of those textwalls, no biggie.  O:-) )
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 03, 2016, 01:47:48 PM
WEEK TWO -- THE BUILDING BEGINS
------------------------------------------

"Well, who would have thought it!" Gloin smacked his mailed fists together in triumph. "The elvish lassy chased old Sharky out of Dol Guldur!"

"And Saruman, too, don't forget!" added Gimli, as the father and son made final preparations in marking off where to start the fortress. The elven courier team had already vanished in the nearby brush.

"...what?"

"What?"

"Sharky. That's what I hear the orcs call Saruman. 'The Old Man' in orcish."

"I thought Sharku was the name of the filth who trains his warg riders. You're gettin' old, pa, the couriers clearly said -- "

"And I heard from Brand who heard it from scouts who captured Isengard scouts, that it's Saruman!"

"Maybe we're both right?" Gimli shrugged, in an offer to placate the stubborn elder.

"Well, we're both right that this is the only feasible spot to build our fort," his father grumped. "We'll send a message to Dain, that he can account for our expenses now. He'll know how much left over he can spend on digging new mines. Two I reckon."

"Where, I wonder?"

"I'd put one in Rhun, behind us; there's room for three good mines in that area easily. And a new one in the Iron Hills; we'll want troop production there soon, but we need operating expenses for that."

"Makes good sense. We'll be tied up here; no reason to put them in that silly extended tongue the elves are keeping for us down to the Rohan Gap; and even putting them on the edge of Mirkwood would be foolishly exposed."

[Gamenote:


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...yeah, I slept between making that plan and implementing it. I figured I should fairly report how duh my early decisions were. In my defense however:]

"Now, while that would indeed be premature," Gloin mused, "with safer sites prepared already, Brand and Dain should march on this week into Mirkwood and secure it from Isengard. Once they do that, we'll have shortened our defensive line, and then any resource mines we build in Erebor and Celedor would be protected. Besides, Erebor has the Lonely Mountain itself as a stronghold."

[Gamenote: As you can see from the snapshot, I am in fact moving those two, along with my initial few troops, into Mirkwood this turn. So, the mines won't simply be exposed to the front line. Not unless Isengard manages to throw me out this turn...]

"And speaking of shortening defensive lines, hurray for... who was it, that ranger Aragorn or King Theoden of Rohan, who moved into the old brown lands south of here?"

"Eh, I wasn't paying attention either," Gloin grumbled. "Aragorn I think."

"You think we should march down to the Dead Swamps and cut off Mordor's access out of that mountain bowl of ash?"

"Pft. Let him do that; it's Gondorian territory after all. And a huge marsh of dead people."

"Good point. I just hope whichever human commanders are currently in that Fangorn forest -- "

"Boromir of Gondor, and Eomer of Rohan. I think."

"-- I hope they have enough sense to stay there to repel any sallies from where Saruman is camping in the Lorien area."

"Oh, aye. The humans are running around like chickens with their heads cut off. That can only lead to disaster: they need to secure what they've got first!"

"Or even what we've got! The elves are ferrying us resources out of there," Gimli reminded his pa.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 03, 2016, 02:22:35 PM
WEEK THREE -- FANGORN FALLS
----------------------------

"What were you even thinking?!" the livid Ithilia shouted at Eomer.


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"I'm thinking you don't understand how cavalry think," he grunted, half to himself, as he prepared the week's march. "We split out of the way so that they would march into a trap. They take Fangorn, I come around from the rear to retake Lorien; Boromir and Theoden return from Helm's Deep to push them out of Fangorn. They have nowhere to go. We'll give you Lorien and Fangorn back when we're done, of course. By holding Dol Guldur -- a brilliant stroke by King Dain, send him my compliments while he's forting up Mirkwood -- you acted as a hard rock spiking out of the grassland, for our enemy to pivot around since they couldn't go through it. But we can. Two weeks from now, Isengard will be finished."

"Unless they go to the Old Brown Lands, which are undefended completely now that -- !"

"And what if they do? We consolidate behind them, and push to catch them between us and Aragorn, or perhaps between us and Gondor's stronghold. Two weeks from now," Eomer promised with a grunt as he mounted his steed for an aggressive scouting raid. "You'll be thanking us, and we can concentrate on our true foe, the Witch King."

"Assuming Aragorn stays to hold and reinforce the Dead Marshes, I suppose..." Ithilia quietly allowed as the marshal of the Riddermark rode away.


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Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 03, 2016, 02:53:22 PM
WEEK FOUR -- ROHAN OVERRUN
--------------------------

"I suppose it would be poor form," King Dain muttered while waiting for King Brand to finish climbing up beside him on the Carrock, "to send congratulations to our human allies, for recovering a bunch of empty forests while losing literally all of Rohan."


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"A fine view," Brand huffed a bit as he finished. "We can even see the Mountain from here!"

"Really?" Dain squinted and stood on his tiptoes. "If you say so."

"I wonder why this rock looks like a giant bear -- with giant steps leading up here to the head?" The steely eyed archer king squinted down in some confusion instead.

"I wonder if Gondor will ever be able to sort out that tangled mess of knots down south. Fah," and Dain spit, expertly clearing his beard and moustaches. "Well, at least we've solidly accomplished our first goal: forge a path to the Misty Mountains."

"Easy enough without any opposition, except a squad that ran away from here to be stomped on by Eomer," Brand reminded his royal ally. "My fellow men have had harder choices."

"Nonsense. They could and should have stayed put and made themselves invincible with perhaps one limited sally to seal off Mordor at the Black Gate and Minas Tirith. Instead they gathered at Rohan to begin -- and still ended up trying to seal off Mordor! With insufficient force!"

"They didn't have a secure rear area as we did, Ironfoot. Only an orbit around the White Mountains which they couldn't spread out far enough to defend. So they tried an, admittedly, messy offense."

"And now have lost Rohan anyway. Including Helm's Deep! Sheer folly."

"Well, they have solid dwarven allies to depend on, don't they?" the human king stated somewhat wryly.

"Aye, lad, that they do. And with mines spread out behind us back into Rhun, we'll be swarming down to put boots where they belong in no time. There," he added to an aide, pointing at a small plain some distance away. "We'll put our fortress there. Get to work." The aide heaved a breath and started the long climb down the tall stairs. "What about a mine in Dol Guldur itself?" the dwarven king chuckled with a golden glint in his eyes.

[Gamenote: in hindsight, I should have put a forge there. This would have allowed me to give free full upgrades to any troops I moved into the area, and I wouldn't have had to build a new one during a defense.]

"I assume we'll be stopping here to fortify the area and gather a proper invasion army. The only question is which way to invade..." pondered King Brand.

"No question at all; but we'll cross those mountains later. The situation might have seriously changed by then -- but not a disaster on my end, if so!" Dain declared. "Send ravens with word," he added to another aide. "Get an invasion barrack started at the Iron Hills this week. We'll set up barracks closer, too," he assured his human friend, "but should your fellow men lead us to catastrophe somehow, then we'll always have a way to pump troops forward from safety."
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 03, 2016, 03:51:11 PM
WEEK FIVE -- MORDOR MARCHES FORTH
---------------------------------

"Get those barracks humping!" Gloin shouted to workers already doing that. "Durin's beard, have the Men got anything left at all?!"

"Six territories," the elven courier answered, quite certain he had passed that information along already. "After Mordor marched from the Black Gate."


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"Aye, and by next week they might have three. They're cut off from Fangorn," growled Gimli, "so Isengard can retake that at will; and really, Gondor will be too busy to bother with it. Angmar and the Goblins are marching around the White Mountains on both sides as we speak, snipping off Gondor's southern coastline as they go. Mordor will easily take Osgiliath at least; and that will leave Gondor, what? Gondor itself, plus Cair Andros and those old brown lands to our south. If they're lucky. And I don't think they're that lucky."

"Well, the Men served as a distraction, no doubt." Gloin folded his arms and glowered. "Soon, it'll be our turn. They've bought us time to grow our finances, and to prepare our troops. Though the Enemy has also had all this time to do the same, and with more land. And strictly speaking, we don't have troops ready yet either."

"It's a good thing Dain has finally ordered barracks scattered out behind us," Gimli agreed. "But I wonder... will they be enough?"

Both looked south, where the hour had come for Boromir and Aragorn to draw their swords together, in a defiant attempt at taking the Dead Marshes from a sizable army of Mordor -- not quite by themselves, since Theoden would be bringing a ragbag army out of Cair Andros, fleeing the fall of Rohan.

But leaving Cair Andros undefended, as Isengard and its northern allies approached.

"...what are we going to do, pa." More of a statement than a question.

"Well. We'll just have to kill every stinking, twisted elf thing that dares to creep on our doorstep.

"And then, when they're all tuckered out, we'll advance a step. And then do it again. Until they don't dare to crawl out of their holes.

"That's how my grandfather did it. That's how his grandfather did it. And it's worked pretty well so far."
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 03, 2016, 05:02:22 PM
WEEK SIX -- DOL GULDUR STANDS ALONE
-----------------------------------

"And where exactly do you think you're going?" Ithilia demanded as the tattered and dirty Riddermark marshal prepared his steed.

"North, into your home forest, if you must ask. I hope the welcome there fares better than here," Eomer muttered in addition.

"We have no less than seven enemy commanders within striking distance, some with sizable armies! Do you care to explain this with some cavalry logic? Or are you just running away?"


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"Like the outer darkness, am I going to sit here and defend this cursed place for you! Certainly not against that! I ride for the north. You'd do best to come with me, and set up defenses for your home. Maybe this time your experience will serve you better."

"I have set up the best defense available for my ruined home: this wretched place. With stout allies."

"Who all crept away in the night, over the past weeks, and left you here alone! Because they hadn't been paid!" Eomer thundered. "Such allies! Come with me, and shoot from my saddle. You seem a noble woman; I would be glad to have you."

Ithilia's face steamed red. "-- my husband of many decades has yet to be found where he fell in the forest, not two months hence, and you, with your living rotting body, you dare --!"

Eomer was already waving off her wrath. "Not remotely what I meant." He paused just a moment to think about that answer. "Not what I was offering," he tried again. "But my offer will stand. Until I fall, or you do.

"Or until I find someone else to act as mobile archer with me instead, I suppose," he shrugged. "Stay as you see fit; see if your dwarven friends will give their lives to help an elf to annihilate herself, in her grief."
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 03, 2016, 05:03:53 PM
(Not yet quite ready for) The Second Defense of Dol Guldur

Dropping out of narrative for the tac battle.

In case anyone was wondering, Gondor did manage to push Mordor back out of the Dead Marshes. But in the process, as the zoom of the strat map shows, they lost the Old Brown Lands. And Osgiliath and their final southern coastline, as predicted. But not Cair Andros! -- mainly because Team Evil coming from that direction decided to converge for invading Dol Guldur. Gondor still has Fangorn for now, too, likely for the same reason, so the tally stands as we go into our second tactical battle:

Gondor: four territories, two of them completely undeveloped, and one with not enough room to develop much than a barrack (or maybe a forge, who knows, I can't tell. Not a money-making farm, for sure.)

Mordor: nine territories, after losing the Dead Marshes (for now).

Goblins: the same nine territories they've had since the start -- Angmar, rather typically though probably by an accident of coding, doesn't allow them to claim any territories they helped take! But naturally these are well developed by now, moreso even than Mordor.

Isengard: ten territories, somewhat well developed, but somewhat not since they've been shuffling around recent acquisitions with Gondor/Rohan. Also two of their territories are a bit split off, and small, so they can't get much out of them, and can't march any troops from there easily (needing detours west of the Misties.)

Angmar: twelve territories, all well developed except for recent acquisitions. They didn't take the final southern coastland away from Gondor; Mordor (a bit surprisingly) did that. So they've probably reached their limit unless they press on us from some direction.

Dwarves: eight territories, completely developed. This turn I start pumping out troops from my many new barracks. But those can't arrive in time to save Dol Guldur. Or Dagorlad, if the enemy attacks there. We can afford to lose Dol Guldur, and still keep our homewall unbreached. Losing Dagorlad would be a disaster -- but not currently our problem. The other "DG" is.

Totals: Team Dwamaafe, twelve territories, about 1/3 poorly developed (no fault to me). Team Evil, FORTY TERRITORIES, mostly well developed, and soon to be moreso.

As the snapshot of the previous entry showed, Eomer is yes abandoning a stronghold in the face of all that hypothetically incoming power. What the AI is calculating there, I have no clear idea. He isn't going to help defend Lorien in case of assault; and he could still retreat there if we lost DG. Perhaps the Gondor AI is thinking of trying my Dain plan...?

Somewhat more interestingly, after having gotten the Dead Marshes, my Allied captains have decided to abandon them and strike out at three of Mordor's not-necessarily-well-guarded territories. I actually approve of this, under the circumstances. We'll see how well that works out next turn. Cair Andros, just north of Gondor, has a garrison; but if I were the Team Evil captain in charge of all Evil forces, I'd stomp it with at least two of the armies in the OBL; send move Lurtz up to keep Fangorn secure while someone in Fangorn (the spider?) takes Lorien from Gondor again; and then send everyone else in the OBL to the Dead Swamps to start harrowing down the Gondor Captains. I'd leave DG alone for now; don't give Gondor a chance to cling on with fingernails, but prosecute them out.

But... Dol Guldur is just SITTING THERE, with only one elf defending it! Because, as I also plotted in the previous post, unless I pay for the arrival of new troops, they don't stay on the strategic map after a battle. Nor do most structures, unless I bought them on the strat map and they weren't destroyed in the tac fight. So I'll have to rebuild from scratch in DG.

And this time, I'm facing... well, let's see. The computer sends four of the seven available commanders at me. The Mouth of Sauron from Mordor -- no troops, but he'll have plenty of opportunity to make them. Ragash, Troll of the North, from Angmar -- he's bringing one support troop, one archer squad, and one sword squad. And from Isengard, Sharku the warg rider (see, that wasn't just a joke a few entries back!) -- no troops; and Saruman with two cavalry and one sword squad.

What I don't know is how experienced these troops are, nor how far they've been upgraded. It could be a lot worse, but it's also a lot more starting out than I had to deal with the first time.

On my side... well, I've got two builders as before, plus Ithilia starts on site. And, because I'm not entirely stupid:


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Yep, I was able to march King Brand down from the Carrock, since commanders can move twice through friendly territory! Yaaay, hero-archer waagggggghhh!

-- uh. Wat. WAT?

Oh, boo, booooooo you computer! You sent my two starting builders out to Brand's starting position! And why is Brand starting out in the woods on the edge of the map anyway? He isn't a separate team! Argh!

So, in the best case scenario they'll be hugely delayed in starting to build anything inside DG (and no point starting a base outside it, to just be stomped.) Or they'll be killed trying to rush to the base. Possibly Brand as well -- he's only first level, having never fought in a tac battle yet. (Well, in the game anyway.)

Gug. Lots to do, and now not only less to do it with, but more to do than otherwise since I've got to try to get these clowns somewhere useful.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 04, 2016, 09:45:52 PM
(Now it's time for) The Second Defense of Dol Guldur

Okay, we all know I can expect a brutal stomping. Just how brutal can I make it? Enough to have any chance at all? That's the question.

I'm glad to have already had an introductory battle here, because even though I barely got outside my stronghold before the computer gave up, I did get to know Dol Guldur well enough to start with a better idea, for example, of where my initial mines should go. With no less than three sides of Team Evil and four total heroes running against me, plus a larger set of starting evil ground troops, I can't waste a moment getting into gear.

So of course, thanks to a boneheaded miscoding about how the computer should set my troops under these conditions (with Brand arriving at the last moment before battle), I have to waste my first moments lassoing him and my only two current builders, and then scrolling back up across the map to my front gate to give them a direction to hoof it pronto. I would send them to the right gate (which they're roughly halfway between, at some distance south either way), partly because I expect everything the computer's got to be marching up that bridge to the central gate very soon. But for exactly that reason, I need Brand (as well as Ithilia whom I also quick select to send down there) ready to repel borders -- but also ready to defend the builders if they run into trouble on the way up! So they've got to go with him, and he has to go to the front gate, and Manwe help me that's already a complex tactical estimation three second into the match, eek!

And probably the easiest decision, too! -- next up (as I ponder while opening that silly temporary-blocking gate near my castle)...


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(...remember, that gate doesn't really block off anything, just makes for a longer loop around if unopened...)

...is whether to gamble that my builders will get safely inside in time, or spend 1000 of my starting 2500 gold to get two more builders cooking. I quickly decide I'm going to need them to be mining up while the other builders fortify the gate(s) with axe towers, so I queue them.

Ack, I'd better not forget to get my special abilities cooking for later! (Good thing the game pauses when I go to that screen, phew.)


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(Trivial aside: the imageshack random code for this png is "Haeday". :o )

I earned an extra power point in my first battle, but nothing costs just one point so for now it's useless. Also pretty much useless, compared to other things: that "rallying call" on the upper left. But I don't have enough left over to buy anything else, so it's better than nothing. I figure I'm going to need mobile shooters, even if they're temporary, more than permanent stationary shooters -- so Dale archers more than towers -- that I can plop at a moment's notice just about anywhere (flat); and that I'm going to need instant healing more than I need instant towers (probably). So while I could have taken instant repair plus the archers and the tower spawn, I take healing instead which locks me into choosing one of the two. (For now -- once I earn another four power points, I'm never going back to rallying cry again! But that won't help me in this battle.)

That's the last pause to act I'll get: this game, unlike some other high-quality rtses, doesn't allow single players to set commands while paused on the main screen.

By now, it's time to open the front gates, so I don't get too distracted when the builders get there -- and distractions are indeed on the way, to the front gate I'm now opening!


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Where are my builders?! Let's see, scroll, scroll..., oh yeah, click their icon to select one (they should be moving together), and...


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EEEK! I lasso them both and order them inside the gate; they turn the corner just ahead of the first enemy squad... (Brand apparently is checking out Gollum somewhere, dangit!)


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PHEW! Ithilia arrives at the open gate in time to give that first squad second thoughts about trying to rush up after the builders, and as I close the gate they're stuck outside. With Brand, somewhere, on the way.

My 3rd builder has already arrived, but I haven't had time to do anything with him yet; and first I set my newly saved first pair, to work towering up on either side of central gate.


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I waste some time opening and shutting the front gate a few times to let Brand and that enemy squad in where he and Ithi can both work on them (and they can't escape). So everyone is safely inside now. Yay!

Next up, what other gates are being attacked? Hm, right gate? I'll send both of my new builders down to start on towers there -- its catapults are doing okay for now, but the surviving enemies have gotten inside their splash range --


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-- and as my first front towers finish, I start upgrading them with runes and send those dwarves to build mines, first in my castle courtyard (because I'm still stupid and don't send them immediately to the two most profitable places), and then to my left gate courtyard (one of the two most etc.)

With all my builders busy, and only 21 gold left over (for now), I take a breath back on right gate, selecting its pults and trying to manually target the remaining nearby enemies for splash damage. This doesn't work before it's time to reassign builders for more mines (still not in my second most profitable place yet, because I'm still stupid).


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If I lose for running out of money, you can make some inferences why here. :P

You may have thought I was joking about Brand being distracted by Gollum earlier. I was, but that was also literally happening. Want proof?


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There he is, running for the front gate with a mob of whatevers (orcs of some variety no doubt) charging afterward.

I might as well mention here that (also in BFME1), Gollum is carrying the One Ring, and if you happen to find him (he's stealthed) and leave him alone, you can watch him just frolicking around with it and minding his own business. If you target him (which the AI always does) and manage to kill him, he drops the Ring, which can be picked up by any non-mechanical unit (e.g. not a catapult) and taken back inside any castle or fortress gate (i.e. somewhere that makes builders and summons off-map heroes). If you do that, you get the option to summon a special ring wielding hero. And then the Ring is completely ignored after the battle, and Gollum rises from the dead to get it again automagically, and one side or the other may get it in the next battle.

You can probably see from this partly why I haven't mentioned this before, and partly why I plotted the Ring out of the 'strategic plot': because how it's used in the game makes less than no sense. Still, the last thing I need is Sauron incarnate stomping around, so I open the front gate to send Ithilia out to see if she can chase off the squad and grab the Ring -- but by then, somehow the little runt has zigged or zagged and gotten away from everyone.

Then a couple of wolfpacks run up to the front gate, to get sniped to pieces by two catapults, my runish axe towers, and Ithilia. No problems there yet... shouldn't I be doing something else?! Oh, right: more mines. I finally get around to putting one in my other best spot.

By now, left gate is also under attack; not from huge numbers yet, but still steadily. Two builders over to build tower supports.

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I mentioned last time that I love this stronghold, right? :smitten: I'm going to try to systemize my references properly, too.

"Stronghold" -- a big developed fortress that the defender already starts with on some maps, usually with multiple walls, and usually with multiple gates, and usually with multiple artillery and/or archery towers already in place. Some strongholds have option slots on the walls for building your own choices, if you can afford them. (DG doesn't.)

"Castle" -- a high-hitpoint structure inside the stronghold, where builders and off-map heroes can be recruited. Also where the One Ring should be taken if captures.

"Fortress" -- an expensive structure that can be built by builders of any team on most maps (except those with strongholds). It acts like a "castle", but with a lot more internal options for upgrading itself. With enough money, a "fortress" can be expanded out into a temporary "stronghold" of the player's design. (Temporary because after the battle, win or lose, all those upgrades and extensions disappear, plus any structures not already bought for the territory on the strategic map.)

The game also calls "strongholds" "fortresses", just to be confusing. There's a third thing also called a fortress (agh!), which serves as one of the dwarves' special abilities, but I'll need many battles to earn up enough power points to unlock it for a battle, and I don't recall if I can use it on a stronghold map like Dol Guldur anyway. So not a factor for this battle (nor for mannnny strategic turns yet -- if I survive that long!)

Right, so back to not-losing-DG-yet. I haven't built a single combat unit yet (builders don't count), but you should be able to tell by now how I like to play the dwarves: lots of shooty structures! Dwarves may not be the shootiest faction, but they understand the importance of MOAR DAKKA! (Which I suppose is why they tolerate the human archers -- as their best unit.) So I start adding a central axe tower directly behind each gate, and a heroic statue (which I go through most of the game suspecting it adds bonuses to axe towers.)

I also, around this time, learn an important tactic for getting rid of the final few troops of a unit (or an enemy hero) that has gotten up under the shooting arcs for my catapults and towers:


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Yeah, just open the gates. This pushes back the units for a few second, into pult range, and also instantly clears the lines of sights for nearby axe tower support. I zipped those three guys out before the warg riders could even turn the corner. Close the gate again immediately, and now the wargs will be whittled away if they stay.

Mine is an evil laugh. Mua ha ha ha.

Even if heroic statues don't affect towers (and they may not), they'll be of help if I have to rush heroes or, eventually, troops to a gate to throw back a hard assault. So do hearths (for healing troops), so I add those, too, while I have both extra cash and more builders than current projects.

I mean, I could be spending that time and money adding more money-making mines and/or getting ready to make troops (and making troops), but no. No, I {sigh} build this crap instead.

I also remember around this time that Ithilia is still stuck outside the stronghold, but I accidentally close central gate before she quite gets inside, while heeding worrying messages about the left gate, which is where I meant for her to get behind in the first place. Oh well, I send Brand instead -- he needs to level up a bit -- and open left gate. The force there melts away quickly enough, but they whittled my gate down to half strength. I can afford to start auto repairs, which I do, whereupon I learn a super-annoying game mis-code: once I start auto-repairing, I can't click the open/shut button until it finishes. So now left gate is standing wide open while it repairs. :uglystupid2:

This is so incredibly stupid that I'll repeat this mistake several times throughout the game. Fortunately, this time I have enough support around, and the enemy doesn't, that the lapse makes no difference. This time.


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I decide to check on my central gate, for example, and find some mounted clown (the Mouth of Sauron probably) and, probably, splash damage from my own catapults, plus that troll drummer (not sure if he attacks anything or just acts as a buff agent), have eroded Central Gate to ALMOST ZERO while I wasn't looking! Ack, ack, I need to fix it, quick forget completely that I have an instant-repair skill, good, forgetion complete, now, ack ack ackk! What can I do, the gate can't do auto repair with enemies next to it!? I'd better open the gates to save them for later -- yeesh, where's Ithi, what's she doing, is she inside or not? Now the towers can start axing the horse guy more directly, and I suppose I should get Brand back here pronto, and oh great I can click the auto-repair now CRAP DIDN'T I JUST TEN SECONDS AGO LEARN THAT ONCE I DO THAT I CAN'T SHUT THE GATE FOR ABOUT A MINUTE AAAAAGHHH!


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Okay, there's Ithi and Brand; the enemy hasn't charged that mass up the stairs yet, probably being pulted once the horse guy ran in -- where did he go? Did the towers finally axe him? I hope for the best, scroll left quickly to close that repaired gate, then back to roost on this one until I can get it closed... hm, still a while to go, better check on what might be gathering downstairs...


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Uh oh. Those melee trolls could be tough (also there's a commander among them, hard to see in that screenshot); but that cave troll could be a major problem: he's basically a fast-moving catapult who, unlike other catapults, can fight melee (and decently, too). Archers kill him quick, but he has stand-off distance.

Fortunately, by leaving the gate open, he fixates on getting to my mines (or something), so he and the troll squad get murdered by my axe towers and IthiBrand while coming up the stairs. Crisis averted for now -- and I think I'd have heard something if that cav hero had survived past my defensive line.

I decide its past time to get started on my own squads, so after closing the gate with IthiBrand outside -- within heroic statue and even healing hearth range (as long as they don't move forward much to shoot, which takes them out of hearth radius) -- and after making sure the other two gates are healed up, I plop up a range, a barrack, and a forge, up near my castle. (And accidentally start a new mine instead of a barrack before I realize what's happening, delaying that a while longer.)

What I don't realize is that either Brand starts on sword as his weapon, or I've set him that way and forgotten it -- which means he runs out of support range fast when the next swarm comes up.


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Fortunately, they soon push him back into buffing range (and axe tower support).

Unfortunately, this new swarm is a lot bigger. And Omigosh the Dang Troll has decided to stop screwing around and come help at the gate (along with whoever down there is in the wolf pelt.)


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...what, you can't see him in that shot, with the debris from my front catapults being destroyed hard enough that I can't rebuild them for this battle?

Yeah, that's new: the AI finally wised up and sent fire archers and more cave trolls to bomb them to dust.

This is not going to help my chances of winning this battle.


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That big armored troll hero isn't going to help either. Opening the gate does help. So does finally remembering I've got special powers, and summoning three large Dale Archer squads! -- whom I can't summon directly at the gate (not enough free flat ground), so they take a quarter minute to get into place after arriving. In this game, that can be too long.


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This is bad. Very bad.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 04, 2016, 09:52:16 PM
(Still going on) The Second Defense of Dum Goshdarn

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This is bad. Very bad. At least one maybe two wolfpacks got in -- they'll probably eat some mines before my other interior towers can take them down. My emergency Dale archers are getting murdered trying to provide melee support for their king who is still stuck in melee mode. whew, the wolves stupidly went for my right gate ax towers instead of carefully angling to eat my mine safely in the courtyard; but some enemy cavalry get inside, too, before I can close the gate. Brand is inside; I send him to help get rid of the wolves.

Ithilia is still stuck outside -- along with some surviving but temporary archers (they'll fade back to wherever I summoned them from eventually once the magic wears off). And she has been pulled away from the healing hearth radius, maybe also the statue's buffing radius. And is being wailed on by two trolls, one of them a commander (Rogosh)!

I finally remember I can cast heal, which saves here; around the time the computer casts the Eye of Sauron to give me debuffs and his troops buffs. (The Eye also uncovers cloaked units, if I had any.)


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This is bad, really bad. I've forgotten I still have the rally cry, but it wouldn't help me much. Sure, I'll probably fight off this wave, but I've got THREE TEAMS worth of enemies out there, all who have special powers, too (so who can throw them three times as often, with some variations between teams). And they've all had plenty of time to get their own economies going. And they've had time to get their troop makers upgraded; and to make lots of troop makers.

This 'wave' isn't going to end. It's going to keep surging. And getting worse all the time.

If I'm to have any hope at all (I don't) I trust Ithi and the Central Gate defenses to hold a few seconds while I start upgrading my range, forge, and barrack, back near my castle. No point bringing buddy-level troops now; I can only hope my defenses will hold long enough to get enough quality upgraded troops out to... man, I don't even know. I'm always going to be outnumbered by their (increasingly) quality troops.

Still, one good news: the enemy cavalry also foolishly charged my right-gate axe towers; with Brand around horse-chopping, even the Eye couldn't save them.


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The Eye can be moved around by its owner like a hero unit, by the way. (Though I suspect only the Mordor team can summon it; only one team can at a time anyway.) So, ironically, as they fall and the computer loses interest in boosting/debuffing around them, I watch it slide away in the direction of the middle bridge -- which tells me a new mass is coming up that way! I quickly order a nearby builder to set up a healing hearth at the right gate since there isn't one yet, and swing over to open the gate and tell Brand to get out front and help there again.

Amazingly, some of the guest archers are still hanging in, although I expect them to disappear any moment.


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A nice snapshot there of them showering the new wave coming up the stairs. That yellow glow on them, is a buff from the heroic statue nearby. (Blue glow would be healing.) Actually... maybe that was one big tough wave? Whatever tried to come up the stairs didn't make it -- and I don't even have arty support down at the bridge anymore! With that signal triumph, the archers give a victorious shout (one of the nice aesthetic touches in the game) and then whiff away. Now it's just IthilBrand outside as I shut the gate.

They're able to hold off the next smallish wave, as I buy banner technology and queue up a couple of dwarven pike squads -- I wasn't especially impressed with the 3rd tier berserkers last time, so I go with these for now. I don't really know what to order next, not having enough experience playing battles yet to pick wisely; I choose rune axe tech from the forge (which will help the pikes, oddly) and Tier 3 research to unlock mithril armor (which helps everyone) and fire shot (which will help my mobile catapults) eventually.

I do realize I need more firepower at the front, but instead of working on Dale archers (because I'm too proud as a dwarf I guess?) I scroll back down I open the gate and send out a builder to work on a new tower outside the gate. The result? A squad of melee trolls get inside before I close the gate. After pausing a moment to 'think', they trot off rightward. I hope the AI is still going for the rightward axe towers? I open the gate again and send Brand to help, just in case. (A wise move; soon the troll squad is back at the front gate courtyard where they get mowed down quickly.)

I'm having trouble finding a place to build a tower outside on the stairs (thus the confusion with the troll squad getting in); but eventually I do get one going, yay!

While I'm busy managing a repulse at gate right; and remembering I've got pike squads to bring down (and to buy upgrades for); my nascent tower gets swarmed and doesn't finish, wasting that gold. Somewhat amusingly, so many squads are crowded onto the stairs between the walls, that they're getting in each other's way and can't advance! I open the gate to get the builder back inside (okay, that experiment failed, but maybe later) and to let pikes out when they arrive. Also to let Brand out, but he gets punched right back into the courtyard by the magic of some baldheaded guy I don't recognize. (I couldn't get a good snap of that, with gate icons in the way.)

Ithilia is being overwhelmed (even with a healing power thrown to help, as well as rallying cry) by the time the pikers arrive to help form a pike wall.


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Or a pike pit rather. They already have the best inherent defense of any of my troops, and the "porcupine formation" doubles that, though at the cost of active movement. (They can be pushed around somewhat.)

Ithilia's 4th level unlocks an active ability which I promptly forget exists although right now it would be useful: she can train nearby troops and so add to their experience for leveling up (and it recharges pretty quickly, too).

I get her inside near the hearth for a while, and finally finally figure out that I can toggle Brand over to archer mode (which after all is his main gig). He gets parked just outside the front gate within all the buff radii, and starts shooting over the pike pits whom I Heal on general principle.

By the time I check on my left and right gates (right needs a bit of management to axe off some stragglers; left could be overrun soon), and I float back over to central, the enemy has held up to let some cave trolls blast my pikes into their graves! The first squad has long since bitten the dust; the second is on the way. Man, is the AI getting smarter as I watch?!

I go back to train a new pike squad, and while I'm there I finally remember to research mithril and boulder-fire at the forge. And a demolisher, because boulder-fire doesn't help it at all! I haven't lost yet! -- yet.

"They're breeching the walls!" calls me over to right gate. Where... man, what even is happening?


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Yeek! Somehow, probably by cave troll, I've permanently lost one of my right gate catapults; and the computer seems to be clipping the enemy squad progressively through the resulting gap in the wall!

Not that that works for them -- my axe towers chew them up fast. But it doesn't bode well for later: my defense there has been reduced significantly, and I can't make it up. Not even by building a tower to plug the space: I can't get a builder 'there' (probably for game balance reasons.) Before I can figure out a close area to place an extra tower for good luck -- "They're tearin' our buildings down!"

Wait, what? That's a sign of building damage, that shouldn't be happening. Where at? Central Gate?


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AGH! They're through Central Gate!

There's still some good news; gates can be remade if I've got the cash (which I do), so I start on that. And IthilBrand are healthy, having been pushed back into hearth range. And while my pikes are totally gone, between one thing and another most of that assault wave is toast, while one fool cave troll is racing off to fight my right axe towers (presumably).

Still. That hasn't happened before. A sign things are still getting worse, and I'm not catching uUHHHH CRAP! The cave troll stops short to start throwing rocks at my mine! And while I can kill off Rogosh (again; like all commanders he can be respawned, and with all experience and levels retained, if a player has enough cash), my middle gate tower is nearly wrecked. Worse, my central gate gets completely crumbled in the fight while I'm trying to rebuild it! (And also I discover I never upgraded the central axe tower there to runes; so it has been shooting weakly the whole time. TOO MANY THINGS!)

I cast repair on the central gate area, which helps the towers anyway -- and I discover my gate is still being rebuilt, so it might still come back (it does)! Because I haven't really learned better yet, I train three dwarven berserkers this time, and send them down. Brand (or someone) was able to shoot that cave troll, so my mine only took half damage -- eventually a dwarf will get out there and tick it back to full health. Slowly.

Some troll sledgers have already worn down central gate again.


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That took disturbingly not-long. I open the gate to let the towers get better shots (along with Ithi and I think Brand's still around there). My first serker units arrive, talking reaaally big trash -- and get wiped quite quickly.


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This is a freaking disaster. Nearly all that group gets inside. I think this is where I mostly give up ever bothering with Dwarfserkers again.


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Somehow, partly thanks to the left-gate catapults which didn't have anything worse to be dealing with at the moment, and partly thanks to that mine having grown itself to level 3 (so getting an archery tower), and despite the Eye there -- and let's be fair, one berserker squad was in there helping -- that mass got smushed.

I trust you can see a developing pattern here.


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A terrible, escalating pattern.

Yeah, my mine doesn't survive that. I swing over to the castle courtyard to order up some more pike squads; also two real catapults (instead of that useless battering ram); and a battlewagon because heck I'm testing out capabilities on a losing map anyway, might as well see if it's worth anything.

(You may recall I've already spoiled earlier whether battlewagons are worth much; but if not... we'll just let that be a surprise, hm?)

The builder starts a new, 5th tower at the front gate (since it's going to be crushed pretty regularly now I guess), and I'll be fair -- I think all three berserks are still around (I have over 5000 gold and can't order any more, so they must be at the unit cap). They heal themselves, too, I notice. It's possible they're contributing to the defense with some competency. I clear away the rubble of the gate and start remaking it again, sigh.

By the time it has been remade (50 seconds later), I don't even bother closing it again. The towers and BrandIthi are chewing up incomers; my pikes are arriving and being upgraded; my catapults are starting to arrive; my berserks are kind of guarding the leftward exit from the gate courtyard...


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...and I've got a steady flow of this nonsense trying to run over me.

What I don't realize yet, but which can be good or bad for me depending on how I use it, is that when a gate is open the AI sends EVVVVERRRYYYONNNEE over there. So my other gates are being (mostly?) spared right now. But man. We're reaching Warhammer40K levels of meatgrinder right now. I take heart that somehow, somehow, I haven't lost yet. But I'm doubtful I'm going to break the AI's will to fight like this; and do I have any way to actually move forward here?!

...well, yes. After a mass attack-move downward, and upgrading my battlewagon with a banner (so nearby troops keep a statue buff effect, though the radius is much smaller), and manually using it to toss casks of burning oil, we're kind of at this point.


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Wow? Uh, I need to open up and get more of my troops outside, but micromanaging the battlewagon's oil casks is keeping me unable to contribute much elsewhere! Considering that the computer will never have that control problem, that's a losing calculation.

The enemy has breached right gate, too, by now; which needs rebuilding.


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They haven't managed to destroy the nearby mine yet, but if the computer decided to forgo Central Gate they could probably push through here.

Going back to the Front Gate -- oh, yeah, I forgot I had told the Demolisher to attack-move down the stairs, even though it can't really attack non-buildings!


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I decide, correctly I think, that I have to give a lot of credit for nuking that swarm so efficiently to my single swarm-nuker: that upgraded catapult. I even think it may be responsible for most of the damage to my pikers. I have some more pikers up near the gate, so sure -- while things look a little quiet here, let's see if I can get down the stairs an establish a perimeter to control the crossroads! Sure, that seems ludicrously optimistic, but so does buying another four battlewagons!


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It helps that the current swarm was assigned somewhere else to go, and so they mostly ignore my little crossroad force for now. Meanwhile I also queue up another four pikers, since those seem to be doing well, and buy 3rd tier archery tech plus two Dale archer units. (The last tier of their tech allows me to buy fire arrows, and makes their building tougher. Which currently isn't a problem, but that's why there's a distinction between buying the tier 3 range upgrade and unlocking fire arrows. An expensive and time-consuming distinction.)

They literally cannot get here soon enough, because this swarm...


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...was sent to kill my crossroad force, and is doing a great job of it. All my pikes have been wiped completely out in a few seconds! And this is the point where I said to myself, "Did I just buy four more squads that, once I upgrade them completely, the computer will still murder somehow in fifteen seconds?!"

I quickly pull my catapult back behind Central Gate, and have BrandIthi take up positions in front of it; as battlewagons and pikes arrive, I open the gate to let them out, and try to upgrade them with useful things as I get the cash and opportunity. This mainly results in Ithilia finally falling.

Great.

This also results in my coming to realize that battlewagons are dang fragile regardless of how I upgrade them. This maybe shouldn't surprise me: they're only 60 command points, one of the cheapest units in that sense.

I set my pikes in some staggered waves of porcupine formation on the stairs, just within my catapult's range, since that seemed to work great a few minutes ago. (I also come to realize around now that I have zero ways of repairing catapults.)


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My first dedicated Dale archers are arriving now, too; with banner and mithril upgrades being bought, but no fire yet, because I haven't had time (or in some cases even money) to unlock that tech. Nor do I spend that money now; rather when I have a moment to breathe and the cash to do so, I click to call up Ithilia again. (As heroes level up, they cost more and take more time to arrive if they've been casualtied off the map.)


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Even though one of my pike squads has almost bit it (partly due to my own fire catapult), they and the second pikes, plus my not-fire-shooting-yet archers (and the fire catapult) have held the stair pretty well against a moderate rush; I've got one more archer and pike squad teching up and on the way down. (Notably, I think all my berserks are out of commission, but I'm wrong; at least one squad is just hanging loose in my backfield waiting for a wave to crash through my defenses again.)

Can they hold the area with Brand until Ithilia gets back? And even if they can, what then? The last time I tried a push down here, we were rolled by the first dedicated swarm to come along!

The answer to that comes while I leave the stairforce alone for a minute to check on my left-and-right gates (right was open, I close it); check if I have enough money to buy fire arrow tech (not yet); and send a builder to find another place to mine.


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Jeez, what? King Brand got rolled over now?! Crap, he was sitting behind two pike squads and an archer squad, what happened to --


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Oh.

I actually still have some troops in the area (though they need to tech up and may not have time). And my forest of rune-ax towers won't be easy for Team Evil to get past (I hope, maybe??) I quickly scroll up to the castle and queue up Brand to return asap. That'll be awhile; aside from his own 'build-time', Ithilia has to finish first, and she's still got a way to go.

This.... this could be the end.


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Well, not quite yet. One advantage to being nearly wiped out is that with fewer units I'm less inclined to try to stake out a position down out of support range of my rune-ax towers and my statue/heart buffing combo.

With Ithilia on her way at last, I go back to queue some more pikes and see at least one berserk squad standing guard (loosely speaking) at the left exit from the front gate courtyard. I still have those things? Yep, two of them somewhere. I haven't learned to properly group strong units yet (which is, like, rts 101 first day :crazy2: ); nor have I learned that berserks aren't as useful as pikes really, because I go ahead and buy the third set again.

King Brand takes a lot less time to return than I was expecting (he may not be potentially as awesome as Ithilia, and certainly hadn't leveled up as much); and so far despite my lone pike squad being cursed by everything all three teams can throw against them...


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...we've held on. Again. Phew. Whew? Poo?
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 04, 2016, 09:54:58 PM
(The Return of the Return of) The Second Defense of Dog Godang

You may not be able to see it (in that prior snapshot up thread), but I'm using an archery ability here that I don't usually bother with: a saturation shot effect which can be shot ballistically. The archers don't aim at targets, just a location on the ground and keep raining arrows there. My second catapult has also arrived, though I haven't noticed enough to tech it up with fire yet. My first pult is still kicking butt regularly with only a few hit points left!

To make a long mission report a little less long -- I try to move down the stairs again, my pikes get wiped almost instantly. So do one of my berserks, which I rebuy because dense.

At this point I've basically decided I'm never getting off these stairs: the best I can do is plant a pike pit, and maybe a berserksquad, at the top of the stairs inside all kinds of fire support. I still haven't bought fire arrow tech yet, but my proportion of archers to melee is slowly shifting to "archer"!

So if I can't get out this way, then is that it? Should I just give up and let Team Evil have this (somewhat literally) damned place!?

Well... I do have another plan. This plan involves sending a tough melee whacker out left gate, while I set up a feasibly tough stacking point at center gate to distract my enemies. Brand is the obvious choice, since he can dual-purpose over to shooting if I need to.

The basic idea is that Brand goes out, and tries to clear Team Evil's left backfield of some resource stations. He doesn't go after their bases; that would be suicide; he just goes after their ability to pay for troops. For one team (whichever of the four teams is over on the far left. Why that side? No idea, just felt like it. The map is pretty symmetrical, no advantage going either way for this plan.) In fact, heck, I'll send Ithi with him; she can shoot to protect him in case of trouble.

While I'm setting this up, I make the mistake of trying to push forward down the stairs again, because optimism is dumber than evil.


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I don't even recall making that move. And I have the playback to watch! That's how dumb this move was; I blocked it out of my mind.

Basically everyone, including my only two pults (including the highly experienced one) outside that gate is dead. Also to some extent inside the gate. Also dumber than evil: still trying to fix things by buying more battlewagons. I send one out to support BrandIthi on their quest, and it almost instantly dies. Sure, send more to the front gate! Woo! Yeah, more costly berserks to the front gate, that sounds great!

Just to distract enemy troops a little (and because it seemed like a good start to my quest outside the walls), IthiBrand capture a signal fire just outside my walls on the upper left. This map is crawling with the things, no less than five of them, all of which I can't really get to much less protect once I've gotten them. But the AI has many feelings about them, so... (I'm lying, I don't really know that yet, I'm sure I thought it was a good idea while the enemy keeps hammering the front gate. Instead of, you know, THE ACTUAL PLAN TO PROACTIVELY REDUCE HOW MUCH ENEMY CAN HAMMER AT THE FRONT GATE!)

Oh, and I left Left-Gate open, for trolls to rush in, because battle fatigue, sigh.


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Here's the far-left signal fire. The battlewagon can't capture it -- I just experimented. I have also come to the first awareness of just how fast the battlewagons get ahead of all support, even in a group. Fortunately, no one is around this part of the map?

How's central gate going?


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...well, surprisingly pretty good. I've got another fresh catapult on the way, for the left flank; three berserk squads reinforced with a battlewagon (ha ha) in case anything breaks through, and at the moment the AI doesn't want to get within my catapult's range. Also, the AI can't send cave trolls close enough to bombard my gate, I guess, without being outranged by my pults (possibly from my being uphill)! So, it's a handy stalemate. I remember to buy the siege hammer passive tech upgrade which I hope to help Brand's mission, and forget to cast "repair" on my central tower there while I may have time to recharge it before serious trouble builds up again.

I send the BrandIthi group south into the forest, and lookee!


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I leave this to its fate in good supervillain fashion (...uh, gotta go with the superstructure theme, yo?); check in on Central Gate, which is repulsing attacks nicely; I remember to do a Repair on the central structures, yay; I stupidly train some more battlewagons (because I just feel in my heart they must be usefully awesome despite all evidence so far to the contrary), and also a "demolisher" battering ram which I plan to send out left gate, too, to help IthiBrand's task force. I even spare a moment to finally buy fire-arrow tech and to miss seeing a troll wandering around inside my base. Things are looking up! -- wait, what? King Brand is in trouble?


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I barely manage to save Brand from... I'm not kidding, a sewage treatment plant (used by one of the teams for resource gathering). Specifically from its archery tower. Pulling him back behind the elf-girl, and switching him to archery for support, I look around for the battlewagon and its portable hearthhhhyeah, no, it's dead already.

...I feel like I... like I saw something back there I maybe should have attended to...


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Oh crap, the AI sent a cave troll (and maybe other support) to my right gate, where it (or a friend) not only knocked out one of my catapults but also my gate. I've been leaking troll squads into my base for minutes and haven't even noticed yet! -- one mine gone already (and an experienced one, too... this snapshot was after I had already replaced it). Gotta solve this problem before getting back to my plan to do much the same to the enemy which hasn't even barely succeeded yet...


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Eventually I seal up right-gate again, but the computer and I both sense weakness here. It lacks catapult support now, for one thing; it has an unpluggable hole next to the gate for another.

(Worth noting: the pillar for the catapult hasn't been destroyed yet, so I could actually rebuild the pult! -- but I don't know this yet.)

An eye-ey... eye-ish... whisper whispers to me: "all you have to do is run away, and it will all be over..."

Hm. How about I finally get around to sending that new battlewagon and demolisher out the left-gate to help BrandIthi? They've already shot down (??) one cesspit. Working on another one in range!

Let's see, central gate still okay. Right gate...


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...could be a lot worse; glad I sent one of my pults to go help! I decide to make another and send it to permanently take station behind where I lost the pillar-pult. (Again, I don't realize yet that I can still rebuild this.)

Hey, Team Evil: why don't you just give up?! Oh, because I've forgotten again to shut left-gate after sending out the vehicles? Okay then!


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Worth noting. After I took that snapshot, did I close this gate? No. Why?  Well, because I had another few battlewagons wandering around to round up, and I didn't want to forget to open the gate later!

...I was getting tired.

I do remember to shut the gate this time once I send out the battlewagon (and catapult) reinforcement to IthiBrand, who have been steadily plinking away at resource stations from a safe distance (while my Demolisher goes in for a finishing blow perhaps, when I notice it isn't doing anything, and if IthiBrand doesn't finish shooting the stations out first.) Is this having any effect on incoming horde strength? It should be!


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On the balance, I have to think I'm making a real dent: any mines they've thumped, I've remade (even if they aren't back to full potency yet). So far I've shot every builder trying to reinstate their sites (I think).

I have to think that, because if I didn't I'd probably just listen to the eye whispering in my head and go do something else with my life until I die.


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Central Gate distracts me for a minute or two; but I get the gates rebuilt and shut, and I've got more Dale archers training and on the way.

I check on BrandIthi's Task Force, and send them on down to the next cesspit.


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...it's a mixed report.

Despite my joke, they are actually attacking it. By weakly butting into it. The demolisher finishes it off quickly. Didn't I have a catapult over here??

Back to central gate, no problems there, three archer groups arriving, tech them all up, and another pult for gate defense, we've found the enemy base, buy firepitch for it...

...wait, what? That's IthiBrand Taskforce, right? Is this a good thing?


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The battlewagons, as I hope I have finally learned by now, die very quickly (the one in that snap lasted literally two more seconds.) The demolisher doesn't last long enough to take down one building. (Helped by a special Angmar power -- I think this is Angmar's base -- of making a building temporarily invulnerable; something I don't recognize yet.)

IthiBrand flee for their lives, closely pursued by some enemy squads. Ithilia is so wounded, I can't even dare stop to get rid of a builder creating another resource pit already.

I try summoning some guest Dale Archers (who don't get any upgrades btw), to hold off the enemy archer group chasing us, long enough for us to at least tag out one of the replacement cesspits.


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This doesn't work. Brand goes down; and I can't take a moment to get Ithilia out of this mess (I really think she has already gone down and the game is just lagging about it), because:


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...center gate is being overrun again.

And -- repulsed again! I had to rebuild the gate, but they didn't even get close to through. Huh. I begin to distantly evaluate just how great Dale Archers are (upgraded). Order another one, and another pike... hey. Ithi isn't dead yet?

Well great? And she destroyed that cesspit! Still time to send her home, but she and the temp-dales take out another resourcer on the way in.

And then I forget to bring her in. But it's okay, because the enemy leaves her alone: she just sits out there shooting that resource point by herself and regenerating health pretty quickly; when it dies, a builder comes along to restart it, and she continues harassing it.

Meanwhile, I did find an enemy camp! How best to get rid of it? Hm. I find the catapult I thought I sent out to help (I hadn't), and while nursing Central Gate from other attacks (the gate keeps being destroyed and I keep rebuilding, but nothing is getting through), I build two pikes and an axe-thrower squad: I can't afford any more archers, because I've actually reached my maximum command limit (a tad over really, 1004/1000)!

That seems good, right? I tech up this new task force, and send it out to find Ithilia. (I haven't remembered to heal Brand yet. Turns out I can't anyway -- he has a command point cost, too, and I'm at my command limit.)

Central gate keeps me distracted a while -- that and sending one of my three builders (one died a long time back) out left gate to reach Taskforce Ithi. Checking on how she's doing?


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2FtbvWeC.png&hash=720b35dda53caa9de0ac0e7ea6bd9258166743f6)

Team Evil has been sending out squads to 'spot' them and then nuke them with three teams worth of special attack powers. I get there in time to see the last stand of the last of the pikes; but I've sent over an actual archer team, too (the axe throwers have gone I don't know where), and they're doing okay. Also the catapult.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F921%2FDeLk4w.png&hash=0d7dab6ea31a2ee38798a6f9b34688aabc7a9bc1)

The lon(nnnnnnn)g and the short of it, is that the whole task force dies; Ithilia is mobbed by a bunch of squads (including the goofballs with the Ring!); I summon guest-archers again to save her hash; this doesn't work and Ithilia falls; but not before the Ring gets dropped.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F922%2Fw9TNVB.png&hash=15035ed30d1fc669ee7c8ef2ed2d4981126a7ad1)

That cloud of dust in upper central left, though? That's my builder working on a tower.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 04, 2016, 09:58:03 PM
(The final dregs of) The Sucky Defense of Doh I could have been watching The Legend of the Galactic Heroes tonight

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F922%2Fw9TNVB.png&hash=15035ed30d1fc669ee7c8ef2ed2d4981126a7ad1)

That cloud of dust in upper central left, though? That's my builder working on a tower.

The crazy thing, is that after a troll destroys it, the computer trots everyone off to assault the Central Gate again. They don't bother to kill my builder! -- he actually manages to stay out here in the protection of an expanding network of towers I set him to build (when I remember he's here) for the rest of the game, slowly marching his tower-line forward to Angmar's base. He can't do anything worth speaking of when he gets close there, but he does serve as an ongoing distraction! I'll give a snap when the battle's close to over.

I spend some time working on this plan, and tower spam works so well keeping resources down in this area (not altogether; some builders get past) and drawing Angmar troop attention, that I get some leeway to start forward out of Central Gate again!


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F923%2FyFSyjt.png&hash=c5f8bc0cd7a6795a218f1c3f86d3415234676986)

There are some key differences this time.

1.) I have a much more heavy archer to melee ratio. And they've been leveling up for a while guarding the central gate. (To be fair, I have all three berserk squads still in the group, too.)

2.) I have two catapults with them; and this time they have a bunch of fast-killing Dale archers for support.

This allows me enough time to get my other two dwarf builders across the map to the crossroads, and I actually get towers going, as well as a statue and hearth afterward for buffing the Crossroad Force! By this time, Brand and Ithilia have returned.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2FBQgoBS.png&hash=d130e62f12bc0220efa0cc85370c1f74ac114fe6)

Those are my next two towers going up! -- and yes, I've got a goatwagon in there because I'm still not convinced they're somehow useful. (Also, I haven't yet realized I can only buy one upgrade for each wagon.)

This?

This keeps going for a while.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F923%2FJfCUpO.png&hash=53ba24cc41de0965e4c69f7c0c7a32d45aab2022)

It isn't pretty.

And it takes me a while to figure out the most efficient build strategy. In fact I never quite do: I keep wasting money (and command points) on goat simulators, when I should have brought another two builders so I could always have two flanking towers and also new buff stations being built simultaneously. Also, I still haven't remembered real-time strategy 101 day 1. (... ....... oh, right, CREATE EFFECTIVE GROUPS!) So I'm constantly moving squads around piecemeal. And I have a hard time remembering to set my replacement flags forward for new arrivals, so a bunch of archers just sit in the backfield a while, not even teching up.

But.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F921%2FaEhluD.png&hash=97007b2eed6af2dc597be99bd30ce14ffeefe34a)

But I'm slogging down that bridge!


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F922%2F9IMWG1.png&hash=3a141d38eed540bb11004358e02a1ed3671a795a)

At this point (and for some time afterward) I haven't really started attacking their base(s) yet. But the chief one is just south of here. I spend some time getting a new range, barrack, and forge set up, so that I can get reinforcements to the front quickly.

Fredgar's tower network has reached the environs of the enemy base, too.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F922%2FlpLHTI.png&hash=7105eb6e9c0820e92b936767f6efc50c83714d98)

It takes another while. And another half a while.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F923%2FMu3xmX.png&hash=faffc6f76ff4a9b9a16b720fc9b5b3a083359d53)

But once I've got four flaming catapults in range of the enemy base, the outcome is no longer in doubt.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F923%2FGntCSH.png&hash=231872e10fee47a87a7cced44a0f949278d67f81)

I do, in fact, win the Second Defense of Dol Guldur.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F922%2Fq0aojd.png&hash=186947286d9f06960a1e73a53fd05dc9c5d4d952)

...despite my best efforts otherwise at times. :pullhair:

Worth noting: Angmar actually still had significantly more units than I did when Team Evil packed up to go home.

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2Fg4MXjk.png&hash=8dc93a747848039608497a8d589240eecc59b686)

Also, I was left with waaay more troops after the fight than I could afford to keep on the strat map. That was despite a little more than 82% casualties against me! But I couldn't, in the end, keep any of them. Dol Guldur, and Ithilia, ended that fight with not one more troop than she started with. (Except Brand. Awww!)

Still, I slodged through five thousand eight hundred and sixty four dead Team Evil units, with a better than 8:1 kill ratio.

...and I still have to deal with this place again. You know I will. Why?

Because Grima Wormtongue wasn't in this battle.

(Remember...?)
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 04, 2016, 10:00:15 PM
(Note for all those who managed to slog this far with me through the Battles of Dol Guldur: I will DEFINITELY be making subsequent battle reports shorter. For whatever reasons.  :arr: )
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 06, 2016, 07:21:02 PM
WEEK SEVEN -- THE PROMISED TIME HAS COME
----------------------------------------

"Well! -- we did it again, my boy! The dwarves threw three armies out of Dol Guldur this time, did you hear?"

"Must have been a dwarven fortress originally!" laughed Gimli, as his father smugly gazed off toward the western gloom; who added, "It sure is now!"

"I have heard," the man beside them grimly gritted, looking instead to the south, "that many Men gave their lives in helping you keep that cursed place."

"...and Ithilia of the Woodland Realm came near to death herself," the elven courier nearby quietly reminded.

"Ohhhh, I suppose they followed our lead well enough," Gloin allowed.

"Now Theoden King," Gimli tried to comfort the man. "Tis no fault of yours that, with your few troops you couldn't hold the Dead Marshes behind the advance of your striding ally. He did take the Black Gate, and not much stands to oppose him within that mountain ring."

"I don't give a straw for those marshes. All my homeland is held by the enemy, and I must needs cross more enemy land now to return as their king."

"Don't be hasty!" the younger dwarf leader exclaimed. "Stay here with us till we're ready to push onward."

But the king wouldn't listen to reason: "My chances are best through the Marshes right now; too many foes in the Old Brown Lands to pass without note."

"Let him go lad. Let him be," Gloin sighed.

"Yes, let me be!" the horse-master snapped. "Gondor fell this past week! The city itself! We hold nothing now except Osgiliath, in name only, and Cair Andros, plus the Black Gate for now. Here, courier," he addressed the ranger waiting to ferry news. "Who survives in Osgiliath, Boromir? If he stands there alone, ask him to march also into the Marches, there to meet me. Together we can hold better, and then march in better union to retake..." he strode away already planning ahead, the courier following.

"I guess if they expect to lose Osgiliath, too, better to consolidate -- or try," Gloin nodded.

"They have a better chance than his kinsman; Eowyn?" "Eomer." " -- who now," Gimli continued, "seeks to take back Lorien again, from that spider-thing and whoever else has infested it. Again."


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F923%2FzI5sVY.png&hash=9a7eaadd113f6bc7ae0aec23866ab131cf89334b)

"Aye, well, all we can do is hold until our troops have gathered sufficiently for both of us to advance in parallel while still securing Dagorlad."

"That'll take a while," Gimli judged; his father nodded. "What about Dol Guldur? Should we send a squad or two to help?"

"What, and be overrun here?! Our fortress isn't so grand! Those two youngsters can call for help again if something happens; we didn't need to keep more than wall-towers and catapults there before."

(Sometime later that week:)


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F921%2FbYOTMj.png&hash=123629c830dc699faede4a3cf92386ca16a0b31f)

...this is a game where Grima can Wormtongue Dol Guldur until it collapses from exhaustion and submits to his will.

-- ---- there's no way to make that sound less ridiculous. So I went the other way.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F923%2FP4PEKm.png&hash=b296a55fdbc90a727403ddb9ede57d712470e25c)
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: undercovergeek on December 07, 2016, 11:07:19 AM


Putting this here because I don't know where else to put it
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: bob48 on December 07, 2016, 11:10:15 AM
...write your suggestions on a postcard and send them to this address.......
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 07, 2016, 07:45:15 PM
Oh, the battle is on the way; I'm just working on how to trim it down. Unfortunately, despite being seared into my memory, Grima didn't get that far in the final battle; and worse, I discovered I had deleted my video footage of him actually crumbling the central castle from an earlier playthrough. Still, he got there at least twice! I'm glad I had some footage to prove it.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 07, 2016, 10:30:27 PM
(Yeah, it's time for:) THE THIRD DEFENSE OF DOL GULDUR

Look. Y'all have suffered along with me through two of these defenses already. ...or else you sanely decided to skip most or all of those posts. Whichever, doesn't matter. All that matters is, can I find a way to keep from being humiliated by Grima Wormtongue? That's all. That's all that matters.

I should perhaps mention here that the prior snapshot was at least my fifth attempt at the third defense of Dol Guldur. Sadly, the playthrough where he actually succeeded in wearing down the castle more-or-less by himself, was lost to the myths of mystery before I realized I should save that video long enough to snapshot it.

Anyway. Team Evil was through messing around this time. They didn't just send Grima (oh noooeeess!) I think they sent every hero still within a territory of Dol Guldur, and they definitely sent builders from all four enemy armies. What most of them didn't send was any troops, just builders. That didn't stop them from pumping out tons of troops quickly; and one team brought some tough starting troops.

After Matrix/hogging this battle a while, I came to the conclusion that math is a harsh mistress, and she dictated that with four enemy teams against me I not only had to max my revenue asap, I absolutely needed to trim off some of theirs asap. And with no units of my own either to start with, I only had one way to do that.

IthiBrand had to die.

I'll explain that in a minute. First, the crucial setup.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2FXMe0mq.png&hash=5f6d0cfe429ee7af9b843f330ea4d0c631c4af92)

There are a couple of limits on how many new power points I can earn per battle. Eventually I'll hit a hard limit where nothing I do will earn any more; their gain or loss depends entirely on gaining and losing various territories. Until then, I can gain a few points per battle by how much damage I do to the enemy using my units -- my units, I emphasize, not my buildings. I think catapults count, but only if they're rolling; not axe towers (even if I build them), nor stationary wall pults (whether I build them or not).

The result of this factor, is that in my first defense of Dol Guldur, I only racked up one point (because the enemy packed up and quit just as I got seriously rolling); and in my second defense, the previous battle, I only racked up three more points -- and that stopped a lonnnnng time before I won that fight! So the limit per battle is three points, evidently. This means, since I started with 25, I now have 29: one point short of being able to take two Level 2 powers and two Level 1s. But my strategy will involve me doing things to earn me that last point quickly (after which it'll be a while before I get enough more to buy something else useful in a fight).

So I choose the two most useful 1st Levels, "Heal" and "Repair"; which happen to open paths to the two most useful 2nd Levels, "Tower" and "Dale Archers". I can set one of those to warming up now; I'll have to activate the other one later. After waaaay too many horrifying Edges of Destruction(s?), I have decided that early in the battle I need mobile shooters, even though they're temporary, more than I need to place an axe tower instantly anywhere (flat, that I can see), even though it's permanent. (Until and unless it's destroyed; the archers will go away in a few minutes by themselves regardless.)

So on with the show. Even though I need cash flow, and lots of it, as soon as possible, I also need to defend my left gate as soon as possible because that side is where whoever brought a few tough starting troops camps. I think they all start directly south opposite me and then spread left and right, but that guy always goes left. I also, however, need to nix one or two of the teams as hard as possible as early as possible, and that means sending IthiBrand south out the Central Gate as a team. Alone, with no support.

For several attempts I thought I ought to send a builder or two to try to set up a strong support station down here:


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F923%2FLAsWOW.png&hash=d51b34d4fc05128bed989b152eab1133420192d0)

...south of the bridge and the central signal fire.

Those glowy treasures mid-screen right mean a spider's nest or something has been destroyed by combat troops already! -- and not by mine! But they wandered off, probably to collect the signal-fire flag, and forgot the gold. The enemy builder didn't think about it either, just plopped a resource building nearby. Someone will eventually be assigned to go after that gold; we have to choose about getting it first or wiping some buildings first. There are builders zipping around, and it's important to snipe them, too, if I can, because if I can take out all the builders on a side, they'll be permanently crippled, unable to make more buildings without a fortress that they probably haven't been building yet. So I have a target-rich environment, that for the first minute or so after arrival can't quite fight back yet. But that changes quickly, and soon IthiBrand will be mostly fending off increasingly strong squads (and the occasional enemy hero, like Rogash the SuperTroll), with only a rare opportunity to take down a resource building.

This is why I originally thought I should be building a minibase down here myself. But the problem is that there's no way I can build a base strong enough to keep from getting rolled by two or three remaining evil teams; and then all that cash and builder-activity has been wasted, leaving Team Evil with even more of an advantage I can never catch up to. In fact, every time I tried this, I couldn't build enough to defend left gate (those resources going to build axe-towers here instead, plus the healing hearth and heroic statue), and the enemy punched through early there every time. Not as early as if I kept BrandIthi cohabitating! -- them being down here does serve as a distraction for some leftward units. But still. Trying to help them leads to Grima Wormtongue-ing my central castle, and that is the very illustration of "LOSER".

Consequently: all I can do is give IthiBrand some targets occasionally, and let them take care of themselves (with the help of a temporary Dale Archer squad or maybe even two) -- until they die.

But that's enough time for me to put my four builders (two original, plus two immediately queued for training), to cover every usable diameter in Dol Guldur with mines, starting with the two most efficient sites. And before even starting that, to start towering up on my gates.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F922%2FWPrDvQ.png&hash=932b81853a5b42475b2e5e9ea42c713b12ede44e)

So what did IthiBrand buy with their heroic casualty charge and about 13 game minutes?

1.) A crippled southern base.

2.) A major shortfall in cash for at least two teams, maybe a minor shortfall for a third one.

3.) The elimination of a number of squads and (temporarily) enemy commanders who take a long time for the computer to be able to rebuy, if ever -- costing the computer money it can't meanwhile be spending elsewhere.

4.) A secure right wing, which only needed three towers to survive basically unharmed this long.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2FKgmcEW.png&hash=1c623359eb7ff7cd6b153b5242d02dedad115f37)

All axe-towers in that and the next two screens are upgraded with runs, btw.

(Editor's note: with runes, not with the runs!  :P)

5.) A central gate area so secure...


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F921%2FDVgi3o.png&hash=2559c15d03c0d1774079aeaa796f706a99c5bdfe)

...that the catapults at the bridge still exist; I've got three upgraded towers at the gate; and a mine in the courtyard (every bit helps); and my range and barracks are already 2nd tier (with banner tech being bought in that snapshot) with my forge almost ready nearby (and a second forge ready to start construction, so I can pump out cats while also working on high-level tech research -- and later pump out two catapults at a time). This area will soon have at least two more upgraded towers, and its forward troop production will allow me to send reinforcements left, right, and (obviously) center faster.

6.) Left gate hasn't fallen yet, and instead:
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F922%2F3GYAlf.png&hash=d48877ad4475c9a188be0e84ccd1be8073e6b8d9)

...I have so many (quickly upgraded) axe-towers here, that I haven't lost a catapult yet and I'm actually better off keeping the gate open!

"The best defense is a strong wall of rune-axes." -- Me

7.) Oh, and as noted, I've put down so many mines, so quickly (and so the first ones have self-upgraded so far already), and with no interruptions from a breached gate, that I can not only afford to put all this out by now, but I can easily pay for Ithilia and Brand to start healing in the castle. They'll be back soon, leveled up thanks to their adventure, and by then I'll have some troops waiting to help them on their next foray.

Which is where I make my first major mistake for this battle. In my defense, I hadn't gotten this far before; by now, wolves and cavalry are usually running riot in my stronghold while Grima is... ..... okay, let's not dwell on that. That's the past, this is the future.

Win or lose.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F923%2F9TnDkr.png&hash=73e43f41c1967dd28d39542bffa8f53176683bf9)

... more on that development later.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 10, 2016, 02:39:35 PM
(Yet another entry for) THE THIRD DEFENSE OF DOG, URLY?

Let's see, checking my previous post, where did I leave off? Hm... oh, right, the right gate. Where I've just summoned a temporary force of Dale Archers to help put down another raid. They appear with an equally temporary poof of grass, because the game thinks they're elven archers.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F922%2FEKBEYF.png&hash=85192a4dfb19cecb568472afcd3ecea1f5a8e667)

-- I meant the LEFT GATE!

But I should have been thinking the right gate. Except I wasn't at the time. Only now, in hindsight. And... and that's why I called this the right gate! Because of wishful thinking.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F922%2FvjVCBQ.png&hash=aa08f28daa6a0886e55b4b694b35590ec359b7f0)

Yeah, my Dale Archers there didn't last long before being steamrolled by seven more amped-up squads. Eh, they were going to vaporize away anyway.

So, the strongest camps of Team Evil must be on the left side of the map, demonstrably. And they're getting worse. Naturally, I not only want to build up a strong defense to parry their assaults, but... well, naturally I kind of fixate on 'fixing' that problem.

That's a mistake, and a big one. What I should have been doing, when building up an assault crew of my own (which takes several minutes), is preparing to go rightward, where the enemy is thinnest, and roll down the map that way, wiping out enough support on a clockwise orbit of the map, that this would trigger too much of a lead by me in some area and the computer would give up early and I wouldn't have to fight a slug match over there against a numerically superior foe with better funding. That's what Yang Wenli would do.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F923%2F02e5Mt.png&hash=4feb4c019ab1d14b96a08c4a4f805fb3af2d1bfa)

In my defense, my left-gate defense was being hit so increasingly hard that a cave troll managed to permanently wipe out one of my defensive catapult towers flanking the gate (before I realized the danger and could cast a repair on the area). I was so desperate I threw one of my free axe-tower spawns down there to save the day -- too late. Also, the tower itself got torn down soon afterward. My best way to save left gate from being overrun seemed to be a careful, strong counterthrust.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2F4vI6k3.png&hash=c334cdbf77bfa4332c577b02894e8e18c9526d95)

Even with Brand (now returned, and Ithilia on the way) and a squad of buffed Dale Archers now built and assigned to the gate, plus a hearth and statue for extra buffing, Team Evil keeps hitting it so hard that two whole squads of warg riders punch through! They're soon put down by the expedient of running through my central courtyard, now home to another two archery squads gearing up plus a bunch more axe-towers, but still. I'm not feeling comfortable with leaving Left Gate alone. (Also note in that snapshot, my other catapult tower has been shorn of its pult, although I can still rebuild there. For now.)

What eventually evolves, is that in order to buy time for me to work up a suitable left-gate defense --

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F922%2FFrHLvT.png&hash=386e0ccaecc7fa8352de01e9ae239d436ccddaa6)

-- I have to push leftward across the river into the blighted forest anyway. Where I start wilting various scattered resource sites.

What I have come to realize meanwhile, is that as long as I have Left Gate open, the enemy will ignore attempting any other gates, and send everyone there. Which is great for protecting the other two gates by comparison, but then Left Gate needs to be that much more moxier to compensate.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2FvyISB5.png&hash=7671a14f1420d85ab3cf28651e5270f247e75844)

And no, that isn't (entirely) a joke; that still isn't moxie enough.

This will become evident soon.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F923%2FHbzCEz.png&hash=4ef2710651373eb74a247b6cdd1678bb3230d614)

By 'soon' I mean 'after my minifort up here at the top of the forest has been wiped out'.

If you're like me (and I know I am), you may be thinking, "Yeesh, man, just let Dol Guldur go!" and "But wait, that minifort looks pretty boss! You've got two axe-towers supporting, and two catapults throwing four balls of fire, and an archery range pumping out replacement Dale Archers, plus IthiBrand sniping all of reality! This is basically a win a few minutes from now, right?!" Yes, imaginary voice in my head, I recall thinking the same thing at the time! Never mind that the reason I rushed a builder out there to put up a range was because my previous batch of archers had already been destroyed! See, if they could be destroyed once, then...


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F922%2FyfDK81.png&hash=a09de62344fcd5abeccad66c4bc321d215488c2f)

...then certainly I should be able to push down, especially with flaming catapult support, and just keep on rolling! That's a major base, and crushing it would probably remove at least one opponent. Indeed, I --


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F922%2FfhynaP.png&hash=703de1f7d4bdcf2c413b575f0333199c59615090)

-- wait, why are my troops running back to minibase? WHERE ARE MOST OF MY TROOPS!? Agh, most of my cats are stuck out front, and being overrun! What, how...?

Well, I can only make guesses since I wasn't looking (with my screencapture) when it happened, but I think I stupidly marched my army right into the middle of their base, probably in a misclicked attempt at shattering their fortress, which was currently throwing giant boulders at me. So when I scrolled off, my archers were being hit by literally everything.

Two minutes later, all my archers are tromped (again), Brand's last few hitpoints are fried off by one of my own catapults striking nearby, and Ithi is about to be a casualty again, too. And there's no way my local range is going to pump out enough archers to replace the losses, much less time for me to buff them with three upgrades, in time to hold the area.
Fortunately, I've got enough gold to start working on recalling IthiBrand immediately, but their return will still take time; ditto rebuilding a task force. But I've got an army of axe-towers waiting!


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2F3UxSya.png&hash=a2f06088f681d05ba0b777fb9ded55ee50824404)

...they've got a Hulk.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F921%2F7PN3ks.png&hash=1e703a1d3cebde3e2bccd1e7bf77cda5da63d8c1)

Actually, two of them. Together they can remove one tower per attack, in complete safety.

There's only one way that math ends up.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F923%2F9TnDkr.png&hash=73e43f41c1967dd28d39542bffa8f53176683bf9)

Yeah, even summoning some temporary Dale Archers nearby doesn't help much; just delays them a little.

And so the circle of narrative is complete, back to the future I showed at the end of the prior entry, and the end of this battle begins.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 10, 2016, 03:37:10 PM
(At last the end of) THE THIRD DEFENSE OF DOOR GULLIBLE

About a minute after that last snapshot, and after killing two stone giants, we're here:


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F921%2FfJcf4q.png&hash=75120fedff043a474537b36e9c628ff108a2694c)

With, uh, two stone giants blasting down the last of my towers outside Left Gate, Brand already sent to the hospital again, my next two archer squads already slaughtered, and by the way still no replacement catapult next to my gate.

I'm thinking if they want Dol Guldur this badly, maybe we should let them have it.

And then... somehow the two remaining giants die.

I think it's because being up on a hill, my two rolling catapults currently buried in axe-towers behind the gate, can outrange them; and partly because the giants get distracted removing some archery towers (successfully) from the nearby cliff walls. Anyway, Ithilia and some fresh archer squads get outside the gate, and... sure, why not, I'll try that push again. It almost worked the first time.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2FrURUTQ.png&hash=d4b05721cfdceebbffd1d973cf29c0d4db4637d3)

This time I advance a lot more slowly, taking up a position at the ford until I can get an axe-tower forest build behind me. I still haven't yet learned how best to use my catapults, who easily account for half my own casualties, but...


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F923%2FSLu6yy.png&hash=a3b76b72b1c65ab0603aa864a401e57747e00049)

...if you keep throwing enough catapults at a problem, it can go away. Along with a lot of my own troops. :P

Also, I've got a battlewagon out there, supposedly bringing a portable healing hearth, but I still don't know how to micromanage those things so it isn't doing much except sucking up command points for no purpose.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2Fd0uyYj.png&hash=8cc37ce8af146736f715fa757e2bb0666d10a6f2)

It's notable that I just barely saved that task force with a Healing ability, despite the tiny hearth on that wagon. To be fair, I had just moved it into place -- but I also didn't trust it to work enough in time.

Still, I've got a mobile firebase now. Ho, ho, ho.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F921%2Fimwrkc.png&hash=2d9e6577d0daf1539152a45bc532ce68d558ba63)

Annnnd my fragile goat-hearth gets goat-ed into attacking the enemy base all by itself (while I'm busy back at Left Gate extending the axe-tower forest some more, and queuing more archers on the way), leading to its inevitable demise. The battlewagon's, I mean. Ho, ho, ho! #battlewagonsaretheworst.

I lose a lot of archers getting my pults up in range of that giant, but:


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F922%2FiwQK5P.png&hash=b61e5cda71a87c56b359aef46d995133006e0878)

Yeah, how about this time we hang back and guard the catapults and let them take care of business?

This plan almost fails, on the edge of a knife a few times, not least when they start dueling with the rock giants standing on top of the enemy fortress.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F923%2FfXUdmu.png&hash=b928add6dc1818fb261bd9e9203b17030aac4a32)

Still, the two remaining cats eventually nix the fortress -- at the cost of one more cat -- and that gives me time to post up here outside the remnants of (most of) the base, while I bring in builders (and some replacement catapults) to minibase again near the signal fire.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F922%2FymukMW.png&hash=a55aefc5b9ad4c554cacf7deb9445cbf2c18fa06)

Why there? Because I claimed it, so I not only get a small bonus to my power-recharging, but the AI will fixate on trying to take it back. And I can use that distraction to my advantage.

Annoyingly, and probably by accident, the AI summons some axe throwing hillmen or something between my archers and my newly arrived catapult squad, which results in a lot of my archers dying when my catapults smother them in protective attention: I still haven't gotten a handle on how best to use them.

Still, with some increasingly subtle fieldwork:


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2FzzS8WP.png&hash=06cdc84f6e106080052b52e625c37e4e593b8dd3)

I'm able to wipe out that extended base network -- and in the process defeat three of the four teams camped there!

...wait. I'm going to win again? I actually found a way to defend Goldangur again?!

WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!!?


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F923%2FIQM1En.png&hash=4cf04eaebb8c174bd7916e9fa2a0e3718c3fd1de)

Oh Gah no, NOOOOOOOO!

Only 69% casualties on my side this time, though. And, 'only' 4777 enemy casualties this time.

I can only hope they learn their lesson and never, ever, ever attack here again, ever.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 10, 2016, 04:25:33 PM
WEEK EIGHT -- MORE WORRIES
----------------------------

Weary to the bone, Ithilia and King Brand looked warily at each other. Both had been critically wounded often in the previous battle; both had recovered from the edge of death many times, and returned to the field.

"At least this time," Brand grated quietly, "my men will stay with me here, at my command."

"All the catapults will be staying, too. This time," she grimly added, and spat on the ground. "Because we could pay them enough to stay."

Brand couldn't meet her eyes. His own men had abandoned Dol Guldur twice for lack of pay -- at the instigation of the dwarves. "We aren't a numerous people," he tried to explain. "We've suffered many casualties, hundreds so far. And many more to come no doubt."

"While the dwarves send out a few in towers and catapults. They keep their losses few as well. And as for our losses," she emphasized, "your people have not been driven to the edge of extinction."

"Yet."

"Yet."

"...got any room on those boats to the Undying Lands? Maybe your people have the right idea. If Sauron wants to make a hellpit of Middle Earth, leave him to it."

"Even if we had enough ships to evacuate the continent, which we don't, and even if we had permission to bring anyone other than elves within sight of the Undying Lands, which we don't anymore, thanks to the fools in Numenor -- the Witch-king holds the Grey Havens. We would practically have to win the war to escape the war."

"Fine. Just kidding anyway. This is our home. You've heard from your couriers?"

"Yes. Aragorn has taken Mount Doom itself. A foolish plan; the enemy has simply retaken Black Gate behind him. But Theoden and Boromir did retake the Marshes again, so..."

"The man has gone mad, trying to return to his overrun lands."

"Osgiliath and Cair Andros have fallen," she continued, "as the price for the Marshes. Only worth it had Aragorn stood long enough to fortify the gate. I fully expect the Marshes to fall again soon, before anything can be made of them. Which won't be much."

"Perhaps Aragorn will stay to build up Mount Doom, and one commander will succeed in retaking the Gates, and so create a fortified wedge into... ...." Brand couldn't believe that would happen. His fellow Men didn't seem to have enough sense to consolidate. "At least Eomer got Lorien back while the enemy commanders were trying to defeat us."

"Which he will give away again without fortifying it sufficiently. He marches already for Moria."

"Well, if the enemy leaves us a little more alone this week, and takes Lorien behind Eomer's back," Brand sighed, "...why, by the Stone, is a cavalry commander advancing alone into Moria? But if that happens, Gimli has moved into the Greenwood with a squad of pikemen, and may be able to put Lorien under our management soon. In any case, King Dain needs someone up there to defend his anchor position if he's going to try his plan someday.

"Or, if you prefer, I could try marching with some of our troops to retake Lorien should it fall again," offered King Brand, but:

"No," Ithilia came close to sobbing. "I do not think I can stand to fight for this wretched place one more time without help."

"Well: we are both wounded and need the rest. I'll stay for now," he promised.

While he was leaving her to the privacy of her exhaustion, a new elven ranger arrived.

"...what news now?" she sighed; and received his report. "By the Evenstar, are they purely insane?! Those fool Men, Theoden and Boromir," she explained as Brand hurried over. "They are trying to take the Old Brown Lands, where most of those enemy commanders we fought still linger! What...?" she paused as the courier passed more notes along. "And Gloin will take a small force to help. Well, that's something. Not much, but something."

"Dagorlad has been moderately well reinforced," Brand nodded. "Gloin should try a push, even though it seems likely less exhausted commanders will soon hit the Marshes to recapture them again. I guess this seems the better option, for Theoden, than waiting for a strong enemy group with no fortifications ready."

"More worries," Ithilia added, receiving notes from another arriving courier. "King Dain reports his scouts saying Morgomir, an Angmar commander, marches over the High Pass toward the Carrock. He stands alone, but with his fortress ready."

"The best we can do for now, is what we had already planned," King Brand stated. "Stay here, try to rest a bit, and act as a defensive diversion to draw any foolish enemy commanders into trying to take us again."


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F922%2F5Evq48.png&hash=833d5c01382c43ae4268493059baab257854cb85)

Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 10, 2016, 04:58:11 PM
(At last, not Dull Gully, but): The Defense of Lothlorien


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2F75lnDL.png&hash=b2c8806768af43316157726bbed11d0c74947ddc)

Unfortunately, I don't get to start with that fortified area in place. (I guess that's from the campaign missions.)

I do however get to start with Gimli (still at 1st level for not having fought in the game yet), plus one squad of Dale Archers, and two squads of Dwarven Pikes. And while they're quite low-rent, not having upgraded or leveled up at all, they're something while the enemy only has Shelob (the goofy giant spider), and must build troops -- which can only be trash troops this early.

In other words:


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2Fzl0l1R.png&hash=6f729b48255d03f7900b65dee673a0e784e2fbff)

...uh, that map was larger than I expected. Large enough that their base is a little farther along than I expected.

I mean, not as far along as my base defensively:


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2FC5LeqK.png&hash=d30341a5a46c0169b1aaa711cd562cf6ed97234a)

Oh, yeah! At last I can built my own fortress! -- which, granted, looks puny compared to Dol Guldur, but it's far more portable. And, cash allowing, I can build as many as I want. Not to mention extensions! Also, I've got an axe-tower already ready to help defend the approach to my first mine in my backfield, and I'm about to start my second mine. Once that fort is ready in a few more moments, I'll start a third, mine, too, and begin some fort upgrades. As it is, it's one giant axe-tower already, with a lot of toughness (which can be increased), and it can generate a steady income like a mine (just not as fast, nor does it upgrade with its own experience).

Meanwhile, how is the puny spider base goi--?


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2F2O59Oe.png&hash=9b979aa05bb3eacd1e6c5dd51967097de8230cbe)

Dangit, TaskForceGim, you had one job, ONE JOB!

In their defense, they're still novices at being elite units.

Still, I've got enough mines going (three eventually), plus my fort, and choked up my area enough with defenses to prevent Shelob's spoiling counterattacks; and while one of the pikes doesn't survive the fight, Shelob never got her fort up. Consequently, when I happened to shoot the last builder: bang, the end. Victory to the base rush!


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2FOnQ74Q.png&hash=c27edd0ecac1d7c0de77633c7a15581b6dac4d16)

Worth noting, until I triggered their surrender by eliminating their final builder, Shelob's team was holding steady with me on score -- and I started with three entire squads!

This is just the warmup for Turn 8 however. The second and last battle for this turn isn't at DG either.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 10, 2016, 06:37:08 PM
(Time to Carrock-and-roll!): THE DEFENSE OF THE CARROCK

To paraphrase Cyrano de Bergerac, "I have been robbed! There is no Carrock here!"


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2F4im3GO.png&hash=f6829134bf0706e7bcbc5bdca719e338474d1920)

There is, however, a hundred. Or close enough.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F921%2FjGQ923.png&hash=d6f8dc4f9e39f9e2b775d0b80ef332c5b2eea2dc)

Not that I have nothing, but some of that not-nothing isn't really cavalry: it's just my (not even upgraded) battlewagon. Sooo, basically I only have one sword squad (actually axe), and one archer squad (actually axe). Morgomir is bringing 6 units along with himself, and I have to suppose they're each more useful than my baggy wagon.

Yeah, this is going to bite. What does help, is that my side of the map starts with a fortress already on the ground as well as a mine (thanks to my having built them on the strat map long ago); and because I've expanded and kept my side of the map so far, I get to start with the maximum battle gold purse of 6000, immediately supplemented by income from the mine and the fort.

That means I can start building a second fort immediately. (They cost 5000.)

But just because I can, doesn't mean I should. Forts take a long time to make, and I only have two useful squads plus King Dain; whereas I can expect the computer to base rush me with its superior smiting force promptly. Since I already have two sources of income, I decide to put my builders to work on a couple of axe-towers first, sort-of in line with a guess about where the computer will be thrusting from, combined with wanting to keep my defensive firepower (and hackpower) concentrated.

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F922%2FQpKFPx.png&hash=93e111bb6e9b22951268fd01369f3e76c93b7e7c)

(I also give my wagon a minihearth, and set it on defense so it won't be charging out. Now it can serve as a portable healing buff, with a smaller radius than a proper hearth.)

Now, in hindsight I ought to be spending quite a bit of my initial purse on fort upgrades, too. But I don't, because in my head I'm still thinking, "Once I can punch away his base rush, I want to have enough to start my second fort (down at the river ford south of that snapshot)."


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2FqIvAC8.png&hash=65ce2385641a820564e8b92308d75bb7876dab41)

Instead I wait until the base rush arrives (some of the units having been held back by the AI, wisely), and have clobbered my only mine so far, before building even an extra axe-tower on one of my fort's six build-plots.

-- uh, yeah, the base rush simply ran up and around my dwarves standing guard there. sigh.

My axe hewers (the melee not the missileers) almost get wiped out in the scuffle, but enough thrown axes deal with that problem in time, and my hearth-wagon starts bringing them back. The enemy commander, Morgormir, foolishly arrives alone a few minutes later, and promptly takes a lot of axes to the face.

At this point I decide, hm, instead of building another fort-strongpoint below, why don't I start making a proper stronghold of my own?

Thirteen minutes later, King Dain goes to the casualty house (after an ill-conceived sally across the river), and most of my troops have died. But that's partly from having been hit by the increasing number of flame catapults I've put on my killzone walls.

A few minutes later, the AI desperately tries to hit me with a squad carrying the Ring of Power itself (which they had picked up on the mission to get me I guess), and after they quickly die, I run a squad out to get it and return it to my keep's gate. This will become relevant later. ;)

18 minutes after I start Project Dainhold:


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F923%2FTsMymp.png&hash=237adecb2ffb486cf672bf2d86e11c11a1885c87)

That wall leads from the eastern riverbank (uncrossable offmap) to my central gate. I've forgotten who those jokers are just standing around there doing nothing {checking}, oh a group of axe-throwers. I had them on guard duty until the wall was up and running, but they have a hidden postern gate that they can go out if I need them to hit a gate assault from the side.

Not that I need them to.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F921%2FzwSEzw.png&hash=e7910dd2361d75a16f66fe53641a3f8da133baf2)

Central gate is throwing back sallies all by itself, no problem. That wall continues westward solidly around my side of the rivershore to the northern hills (unpassable terrain). It doesn't have any armaments yet, because it doesn't really need them: that gate is a magnet for AI attention.

What's that, voice in my head? Two more towers to guard that gate? Sure!


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2FXvhjK7.png&hash=02372c750c28c7b4a92e3746907e8ec93da2e527)

By the way, my axe throwers are down there on the lower left, hitting the enemy attack from the back. They aren't very useful at the moment anyway; I was trying to get them killed off, so I could recover command points for something else.

Eventually I send them off westward to scout for the enemy base; and having not found them, thus deducing their location (in where I haven't looked yet), I send out my hearthwagon, too, so I can get it killed off -- plus a squad of Dale firearchers, since I might as well do a bit of damage while I'm scouting.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2F4WXWt8.png&hash=95cf348cf9daba4b41977d33d54c7d4afc4d2c75)

This works somewhat better than I'm expecting. My axe-throwers die (yay); my firearchers live (yay); with the help of my hearthwagon they start to recover (I guess yay?); and they have a tower I've power-plopped nearby to serve as a guard while they watch for enemy builders trying to re-establish some farms (or whatever those are) in the area.

This isn't going to get the battle won, though. What I need is to build up a force strong enough to get across the river and hold its ground long enough to build a potent minibase. Who's going to help with that? Let's see, King Dain, a bunch of fire-archers, Galadriel the Storm Queen, maybe some pikes, I dunno that hearthwagon is also a little useful as long as I'm using it like a portable little --

-- what did you ask? Galadriel the "Storm Queen"?

Oh yes. She's going to use the Ring of Power for good, you see. So I can buy a hulked out Cate Blanchett. This is not a bad thing. I promise.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2FTyLHFv.png&hash=6938def3fcdf3c5137883fdeea48c92744a520ac)

Yeah, that's Cate holding the far side of the river ford by herself.

Several squads of trolly things decide they'd rather take fire impotently from catapults, than risk trying to cross the ford with her around.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F921%2F2Kfy5k.png&hash=bc1a7b48acf87c600841846c540a3071fec0992c)

They make a handy test for her power; the power with which, in book canon, she basically destroyed Dol Guldur by herself even without the Power Ring.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F921%2FuCDJRz.png&hash=28874e936f3c9b8aced848ca6572b373bad7259e)

You can't see well in that snapshot because I just threw it, but that's a tornado. Later I'll realize that it can be selected with a hero icon (you can see it on the bottom there) and moved around the map manually.

Long story short: with increasing power here across the river allowing me to set up a strongpoint to surge from (and fall back to if I get in trouble), I eventually push down-leftward to the enemy base.


  (https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2FZQK9Nt.png&hash=be5b50999d53ddd50eddf701c8b090bc3057eaaa)

To be honest, this is a failed assault; most of my crew were wiped out, and Galadriel barely escaped. Still, I tornadoed the base. Yo!

I wasn't quite ready to assault the base fully by the time the tornado recharged again, but that didn't stop me getting more tornado practice.

As it happened, I didn't need to beat their base to win; just set up a second fortress with plenty of upgrades at the river ford.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F922%2FNWBr7c.png&hash=77b2c5dec4ec7fc3bd76dbfa7234bfd5818a8c3d)

And with that, the Angmar army retreated back from the Carrock (which nowhere featured a hill shaped like a bear that I ever saw), to the High Pass.

Thus ending Week 8.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 10, 2016, 07:32:01 PM
WEEK NINE -- THE FALL OF THE KING
---------------------------------

"Feeling better this week?" King Brand was trying to be cheerful, and not succeeding very well.

"Not really." Well, Brand couldn't blame Ithilia for not being in the mood for cheer.

"At least we got some rest."

If a grim stare over battlements could count as a sigh, Ithilia quietly sighed.

"And we aren't likely to be mobbed by as many enemy commanders this week."

The silent sigh continued, aimed in the direction of Fangorn. Currently, only Shelob and Drogoth the Dragon Lord could reach them, both from there. Gloin had taken the Old Brown Lands, providing a buffer from attack. If he could keep it -- he had doubtless told his people to start a fortress, but Theoden and Boromir had been driven back from the Marshes into Dagorlad by a huge mass of enemy commanders and their minions.

"And Theoden and Boromir survived."

"Which," Ithilia half-snarled, "is more than Aragorn the fool can say." He had lost his attempt at taking Minas Tirith from within the mountains of Mordor, and had been thrown back to the region of Mount Doom -- right into the path of one of the enemy commanders retaking Mordor's territory. The rangers were trying to smuggle the deathly wounded pretender to Gondor's throne back to safety somewhere. Except Gondor only had two territories remaining. King Aragorn would be a long time returning. If ever.

"At least the southern kingdom still has two territories remaining," Brand ventured.

"Neither of them in the southern kingdom. Lorien and Moria," she reminded him.

"Well, Gimli is guarding Lorien."

"But they won't allow him authority to fortify the area."

Brand checked a sigh. "Eomer can pass on behind the enemy lines through Moria, and start raiding their interior. He's a cavalryman, he'll like that."

"That could be useful," she allowed. "So of course he isn't doing that. He's marching back to Lorien." She hid her face in her hands so Brand would not hear secret elven curses.

The human king groped for something else to say worth saying. "...Theoden and Boromir can help protect Dagorlad from assault; they should be able to hold on, thanks to dwarven efforts, if -- " Ithilia simply passed him a courier note. Brand read it. "-- ---- I... I guess I am not surprised."

"They're running away from the probable mass of enemy commanders about to shatter our shield wall somewhere less defended than this rotten tomb." She kicked a balustrade. It didn't care. Another courier arrived, warily handed her an elven script, and backed away expediently.

She bit her lip reading it. "Ah. Another large army, even larger than the first, approaches King Dain at the Carrock over the High Pass."



(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2FU9iLSS.png&hash=a6cb82de1fdacf788d7551267fbd50d85844db42)

"...he beat back heavy odds last week. And he has more troops this time, better able to -- "

Ithilia whirled and grabbed his lapels. Brand thought she might be thinking of hurling them both off the balcony to the stones below -- stones still stinking of blood.

"DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND IT'S OVER!" She shook him, no small feat for an elven woman. "No one stands to defend Dagorlad; they will be tossed aside like leaves, and then the Witch-King's forces will ride around destroying our ability to fight!"

"...I'm sure I could get there in time, with or without more troops to help defend it. Seasoned troops, too. If you think I should leave you here."

"And should you fall, then what? Or if they come for Gimli instead, on their way here? -- then, having slaughtered him instead, you will be in Dagorlad and I...

"Either way, I will be alone.

"I do not want to be alone, here at the end of all things."

"...you are a widow, and I am only a rotting, dying Man. But for the sake of your lost husband, I will stay and stand with you, if you wish. As he would have wanted to do."

Ithilia turned away to look out again. "Do as seems best to you. I am wed to death already; covered in it; sopping, soaked in my clothes with death.

"But if you choose to die with me, I will not complain. Though rather your wife must hope that if she dies... then you must go to her."

"No wife. I never had time. Perhaps for the best now; one less heart to break."

"One less," Ithilia agreed. And stared her quiet sigh again, this time north to the Greenwood -- where animals long would have eaten her husband away.

[Canon-note: King Brand died standing with Dain Ironfoot in the War of the Ring, at the Lonely Mountain. Brand's wife is mentioned but no details or name; so I feel allowed to proposition an alternative here. ;) ]
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 11, 2016, 05:29:21 PM
(A preliminary consideration of the cesspit that will be:) THE DEFENSE OF THE OLD BROWN LANDS

Enough of the kissy-eyed angst between the designated couple, it's time to STOMP SOME ARMIES!

Or riddle them with lots of rune-axes and flaming arrows, to be more precise. This territory is called the Old Brown Lands because it sits in a conceptual vacuum between other places Tolkien bothered to talk about; but it could just as easily be called The Land Where A Lot Of Dale Archers And Dwarven Mechanics Are Going To Die.

...well, not just as easily, and that's depressing, so we'll stick with OBL for short. O0

This battle, y'all. This battle. I'm having trouble even summarizing it. So while the back of my mind is chewing on that gristly (and grisly) piece of flank, I'm delaying by talking preliminary strategic factors.

So, as explained in the narrative last time, I was more than a little worried that the computer would load up all the enemy commanders currently sitting in the Dead Marshes and whomp me in Dagorlad. If they brought everyone, I just couldn't figure out how I was going to beat them back; and if I surrendered or otherwise lost the land, those commanders would be able to spread out and hit a bunch of loosely defended breadbasket territories, most importantly the three mines of Rhun. I just didn't know if I could come back from that.

Fortunately, by now I was getting a feel for how the AI has been taught by the programmers to calculate strategic moves. From the AI's perspective, that mega-group currently has two open targets, Dagorlad and the OBL.

In Dagorlad, Team Evil can see some dwarven troops, two of my allied captains, and a fortress already ready -- the different AI sides can't see plans plotted by each other, so the enemy AI wouldn't be able to see that Theoden and Boromir are running away!

In the OBL, the AI can see one hero (Gimli) with a few squads of no experience or buffing yet, and that's it, nothing more. It can tell I'm building something, but for an assault right now that doesn't matter -- it won't be ready in time to contribute.

By any metric, the OBL is the easier target. And beyond it lies Dol Guldur, which the enemy AI has been coded to fixate on taking (mainly for 'canon' purposes I suppose, since so long as it doesn't have a troop production facility -- and it doesn't -- an enemy would be better advised to just take all the lands around it first and bulk up to hammer it.)

Consequently, I inferred that the AI wouldn't throw everything at Dagorlad. It might hold a hero back to prevent a counterthrust, but otherwise it would either split forces between Dag and OBL on an assault, or go all in for OBL with an expectation of hitting Dol Guldur with everythng afterward. A split force in Dagorlad I felt okay about dealing with; so I chose not to send anything there (more than I was already bringing down in small waves from the Iron Hills through Celedor each turn).

Instead, I moved most of my seasoned and tech-buffed Dale Archers out of Dol into the OBL -- not being too worried about Shelob and/or Drogoth trying after DG by themselves from Fangorn.

And, my inference paid off. Team Evil ignored Dagorlad completely and swamped the OBL.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F921%2FF3EAzh.png&hash=dc4971512505c5aabf0cb3c3311ed10186f28343)

They sent seven captains up from the Marshes (leaving behind Rogosh the North Troll with some squads in case I advanced); and flapped Drogoth the Dragon over from Fangorn. He frankly worried me, since I sure didn't want him to level up!

So, ready to receive visitors: Gloin, two novice archer squads, one novice pike squad, and (most importantly) five buffed-out archer squads arriving from Dol Guldur. And two builders.

The visitors: no less than eight builders (divided into four teams); the Mouth of Sauron (cavalry hero); the Witch-King on a wyvern (or whatever they're called in the books); one spear, two sword, and two missile squads, and one support troll; Saruman and Sharku; the Witch-King again in cav form (on Angmar's team, yes two WK's); Hwaldar the Angmar barbarian; Azog the Defiler; and Drogoth the Dragon Lord.

The number of starting enemy troops could be a lot worse for me: I substantially outnumber them and my quality is near top-notch. The heroes badly outnumber me, but the computer can usually be suckered into sending its heroes weakly into strong defenses. The real problem, is the eight builders vs my two. All four sub-teams would be basing up fast, and I'm pretty sure they know how to share gold between each other, too. So they'll be pumping out lots of troops a few minutes after starting, with continuations all battle long, and teching up relatively fast while doing so.

Oh, and I don't have a stronghold to defend behind this time. I'll be starting straight out in the open.

I spent most of a whole Saturday trying to win this battle. An unending nightmare of hopeless despair.

...and now I have to try to summarize it! :D

I'll just concentrate on my last playthrough, though. Summarizing that hour and twelve minutes will be task enough.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: Sir Slash on December 12, 2016, 10:52:41 AM
I guess the Old Brown Lands are kind of the Old Brown Shoes of Middle-Earth. Great AAR Jason. Keep them coming.  O0
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: Martok on December 12, 2016, 02:00:18 PM
Quote from: JasonPratt on December 11, 2016, 05:29:21 PM
I spent most of a whole Saturday trying to win this battle. An unending nightmare of hopeless despair.
Sounds like "fun"...  :( 


Also:  How the hell does Team Evil get two versions of the Witch-King??!  Setting aside that that obviously doesn't work from a lore standpoint, that's also gotta be unbalanced from a gameplay standpoint, no? 

Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 12, 2016, 04:46:27 PM
Thanks, Slash!

Martok, it was "fun" the way OD-Compulsives are compulsed to try to figure out whether something is an unwinnable mess or an inadvertent puzzle that if I can find just the right key to progression I can get through it.

Re the Witch-King, originally "Angmar" was introduced as a 4th evil team in the expansion, for a campaign game where, playing as the eponymous BossWitch, the player over-runs the west and creates the notorious kingdom of Angmar. But Angmar is available as a team in skirmishes and grand campaigns, and can be activated along with Mordor who also gets the WK. Consequently, he can be on the map in two places at once, unless (like any other team hero) he's defeated in a battle somewhere he can't retreat safely from, in which case he's removed from the map until the player for that team pays to get him back (whether on the strat map or in a tactical battle).

Which (or "witch"?) has the further consequence that two "Witch King" heroes can be involved in a battle, one for Angmar's Team, and one for Mordor's. Depending on how the skirmish or campaign is set up, you could even get WK vs WK! Mordor's version can fly, though; which was actually a bit of a detriment since that made him more vulnerable to missiles. The fan patch I'm using changed this so that Mordor's WK can dismount and fight on foot, like Angmar's WK.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: Boggit on December 12, 2016, 05:27:49 PM
Fear not, it looks like it is still available if you're inspired by Jason's literary masterpiece of an AAR... O0

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=battle+for+middle+earth+2+pc
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 12, 2016, 08:43:09 PM
Worth noting, most of those are only the base game -- which does also have its own fan-patch at the link waaaay back in my first this (http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=18319.msg484159#msg484159) post.

If you want the expansion, Rise of the Witch-King, which is what I'm playing, you need to buy not only the original BFME2 but also the expansion -- which on that page is selling for over one hundred and seven pounds sterling.  :o :o :o
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: Martok on December 12, 2016, 09:50:34 PM
Quote from: JasonPratt on December 12, 2016, 04:46:27 PM
Re the Witch-King, originally "Angmar" was introduced as a 4th evil team in the expansion, for a campaign game where, playing as the eponymous BossWitch, the player over-runs the west and creates the notorious kingdom of Angmar. But Angmar is available as a team in skirmishes and grand campaigns, and can be activated along with Mordor who also gets the WK. Consequently, he can be on the map in two places at once, unless (like any other team hero) he's defeated in a battle somewhere he can't retreat safely from, in which case he's removed from the map until the player for that team pays to get him back (whether on the strat map or in a tactical battle).

Which (or "witch"?) has the further consequence that two "Witch King" heroes can be involved in a battle, one for Angmar's Team, and one for Mordor's. Depending on how the skirmish or campaign is set up, you could even get WK vs WK! Mordor's version can fly, though; which was actually a bit of a detriment since that made him more vulnerable to missiles. The fan patch I'm using changed this so that Mordor's WK can dismount and fight on foot, like Angmar's WK.
Appreciate the explanation, Jason.  It's still borked IMO, but at least it makes a certain warped sense. 




And holy hell, I forget how bloody expensive games can get when they're no longer being made!!  :o  I'm surprised EA doesn't re-release the BFME games for sale via digital-download; they were pretty fun as I recall (I still own the first one), and it's not like it would cost the company anything to "manufacture" additional copies. 

Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 12, 2016, 10:17:51 PM
I suspect there are rights issues locked up with photos, possibly voice acting, possibly music, and for BFME1 movie footage (and more voice acting) -- not sure what the "War In The North" game on Steam is doing along that line (but it sure isn't this, nor sadly a remake of the two PS2 brawlers which also tell the plot of the movie). LOTRO's closest rights would be art that kind of looks like the film actors -- but different enough that lawyers can avoid problems. Other than that, they have nothing from the movies specifically.

(Incidentally, I have also been seriously considering doing an AAR on a LOTRO campaign, which would be quite different from this.)

Edited to add: Wiki articles, although not addressing the topic specifically, suggest that I'm right about EA being unable to republish these games online due to a lapse of movie rights -- which is also the reason the multiplayer servers were shut down. This, as I painfully recall, completely screwed with the ability of the first game to be patched out of the box, since it was very difficult for years to get all the patches for the first game, which weren't labeled clearly and which came with their executables and their data packs separated from each other (across I think three packs). I still have them archived on my computer.

Today, fan patches make internet multi-player possible (LAN play has always been available), and patching BFME1 is a snap. But alas, unless and until EA renews its license deal with New Line Cinema (or vice versa), possibly also depending on what the Tolkien estate deals are with other devs/publishers for video-game adaptations, EA would seem unable to legally republish the game. Copies can be resold on the market, but their numbers will steadily decrease as the DVDs (and earlier, the CDs) wear out.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: Martok on December 13, 2016, 01:59:42 PM
That's a genuine pity.  :( 
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 18, 2016, 12:06:36 PM
(The Land Where Many Dale Archers And Dwarven Mechanics Will Go To Die, aka:) The Defense of the Old Brown Lands

This battle, guys.

This battle is so crammed with enemies, that the computer couldn't fit us all in different starting areas.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2FiOsCaD.png&hash=28481a1c1e1076bd5e5f26ed50ccc8db3b0d75e3)

Note the old, brown lands. And the FREAKING DRAGON LORD and his squad of goblin minions and his two builders promptly booking south to go find a place to start ruining my life.

That being said, the Japanese kanji for "crisis" combines "danger" with "opportunity", or so I read in I think Tom Clancy somewhere. Or maybe a Drizzt novel. And this initial disaster, as disastrous as it often was in my repeated attempts at beating this fight...


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F921%2Fh6GxK8.png&hash=a2c8e4f57fbc26d460d00758128900eadbe70286)

...and I spent almost an hour and 20 minutes just trying to survive the first five minutes with enough gump to have a chance surviving the next hour...

...this actually turned out to be good for us.

Really.

No, really!

Because I brought a bunch of fully upgraded Dale Archers to a dragon fight. And they each have King Brand's "Black Arrow" ability, which does significant damage to a single target, and recharges pretty quickly!

-- which I never once remembered they had at any useful time in the whole campaign, such as when starting with a literal dragon lord in our face. For example, now.

Still. Once I got used to the problem of starting-with-a-literal-dragon-lord-in-my-face, it wasn't too hard to double-click an archer in order to select all of them, and then order them to attack him en masse, in case they weren't doing so already (since other enemies were nearby on the ground to distract them).

Not too hard. Also not entirely easy, because he doesn't just hover in one spot, and I can't issue orders while the game is paused, so I had to manually target the flappy badass thing myself.

Moreover, I couldn't sit back and watch the eventual fireworks:


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F921%2FFFP3bF.png&hash=c425cf8dd02c1da7b4ba01be0c9bea8023ae7cde)

because I needed to be putting my builders to work pronto, one on a citadel to the southeast, near one of the three chokepoints leading into the area (...note, one of the three narrow points, so it can only sort-of-guard one), and one on a mine which experience eventually dictated would be destroyed soon but which I needed in order to keep from cratering my expenses entirely within three minutes.

You can see the fort starting with that cloud of dust in the snaphot; my other builder is going to the nearest (so as not to waste a second of doomed-mine income) relatively safest place for the mine.

That, and a quick guard tower on a line between the central pass and my mine (kind of between my eventual fortress and the mine, too), are Stage One.

Stage Two? Lasso-group all my (surviving) combat units -- which eventually manages to be most of them, due to luck and expectantly-quick reflexes -- and chase after the Goblin team's escaping builders through the bottom-left gap out of my starting plain. More specifically, Stage Two is finding and hitting their base and builders so hard that I eliminate Team Goblin from the battle. Because if I don't, even if I delay them, they will get time to rebuild as the other three teams constantly assault me, and unlike the other three teams they can stage assaults from next door easily through two natural passes into my base area.

This eventually works! Go me!

During this time, I don't even bother with another mine, only with another axe-tower guarding its approach.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F923%2FnnZO0H.png&hash=296d0916400fa29b95a15752d67b3531f28c49c8)

This, with some rune-axe upgrades, allows me to get rid of the first minor base rush without losing my starting mine after all!

Now with two axe towers and a whole fortress (which is like four well-armored axe-towers around a well-armored mine to start with), I can send the builders around to mine up my backfield. Meanwhile, the next rush has taken the time to eliminate a goblin cave outside my central pass, but the way the AI works that squad doesn't have the gold inside the destroyed cave as a target. So, since there's gold in that little valley between the hills, and since I know the largest initial rush will be arriving there soon, I hike Gloin and his stack up there to retrieve the gold and foil the boss rush; while the fools who left the gold behind (because they hadn't been ordered to get it -- who would have thought orcs would be so disciplined about following orders to the letter!?) travel on into my base to be promptly axed in the face, the-end-for-them.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F924%2F3YNKE1.png&hash=1c3350698807386a681325f69f3af0df46fb0258)

Okay, as per my notes in that snapshot, this little high valley (above my base-plain) makes a great place to bleed off enemy capital spent on assault troops (considering the campaign from an economic viewpoint) -- if I can establish a strong enough base here.

That's a big if. I can't run the fort builder out here initially because of the goblin cave (now gone), the denizens of which would smack my builder or, at best, erode away my fort while it's being built -- the basic problem being that there are few flat-ground parts in this high valley, and the goblin cave is next to the only one large enough to build my fort on. Also, the first time a base rush squad happens by, they report back to enemy HQ and the next wave gets targeted on my fort before it's ready to defend itself (if it even gets that far with the goblin cave nearby). And I can't detail someone to go protect the builder, because I need everyone down whomping the Goblin Team off the map asap (including the melee units to protect my precious, currently irreplaceable fire archers from any enemy goblin squads while they're busy disintegrating base structures.)

Trust me, I've run the options. Still, getting anywhere in this fight will involve sealing off this central pass (and the other two passes!), and that means forting up here eventually.

Eventually.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F921%2FdPjcks.png&hash=48e9eab4c7a96541673898e2ec83d5cf243dcbfe)

But not quite yet, because while I've now charged up a healing cast, it doesn't bring everyone back to full strength and those archers are still irreplaceable. So with one builder working on my final mines, I send the other up front to build a healing hearth, and pull my mega-group back to stand guard around it (foiling another rush or two meanwhile) until they're healed back to full strength; which doesn't take long, healing hearths are the best thing in the game for this.

The fort itself can be upgraded to provide healing powers within a very short radius nearby, and that time will come eventually, but for now I'm spending money on it adding a fifth axe tower (beyond its original four), and a hub column.

Hub columns take a long time to make, and I can send a builder to put one in the field, too (which you'll see eventually); but even though they do nothing themselves, they are arguably the most dangerous thing in the game. Because from any hub column, I can make free walls (with their own hub columns for changing wall direction and starting new wall constructions). And with walls, I can make (not free) axe-towers and catapults. And those all will partake of any upgrades I buy at my fortress.

To be honest, I'm going to waste money, and more importantly another fortress slot, buying another hub column on the other side of the fort (which can't be seen easily in that snapshot) -- where I should have bought only one hub instead anyway! I only need one hub for my purpose, which is eventually to seal off my left and right passes with defensive walls, and to keep from minimizing my mine income (by planting walls on ground being mined) I was going to hub-wall the left pass anyway. So building a hub column on the back-left side of my fort was silly, even though I also plan to wing out defensive walls left and right of the fort to create a kill zone for enemy task forces: I only need one hub for that, not two, but I'll waste a slot on another hub (instead of more defensive axe-power) in order to make the end result more aesthetically balanced. Because I'm stupid that way. :P

Anyway, that's in the future. Right now, things are going well enough that I save the game to create a base (literally and figuratively) to strike out from afterward: this is pretty much (after many tries) the best result I can expect from that start.

I will now spend four or five more hours trying to win from this ideal result.

I won't inflict that on my readers, but I'll start summarizing my final attempt to win from here next time.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 18, 2016, 04:06:53 PM
(Dang near the end of all things with:) The Defense of the Old Brown Lands

Everyone caught up? Good? Okay?

Okay, while I'm doing this no less than two, maybe all three of the other teams are starting to expand into the large central plain east of my base-plain, past that high constricted valley I mentioned last time. This is bad, because all three allied teams together can (and will) easily out-produce me, so I definitely don't want them to also set up vastly much more of an economic base than I'm going to get!

What this translates into, is that I need to quickly make two more bases. Sort of. One in that high valley to eat task forces trying to get down into my base from that direction, and one in that large central plain to my east.

By "sort of", I mean --
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F921%2Fdk1PIw.png&hash=f1dcdf976533a345686f578b7b033fae588d9237)

-- I send my two builders out to make a sacrificial mine and four (runed up) axe towers to defend it (one of my builders just died in this snapshot while getting ready to put down a healing hearth); while --


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F921%2FEpNysJ.png&hash=340359d116c7aec7784940c45ed4c70adc2eec30)

-- I send Gloin and his strike force (plus three squads of temporary guest archers) out to ruin enemy settlements and ambush some incoming enemy task forces. The healing hearth (and ideally a heroic statue) I mentioned a minute ago is for providing them a fallback point to recoup at, or for their support if the enemy sends a major task force up from the south pass instead.

I'm not being idle (God knows) back at my base-plain either! I'm slowly working up a barrack, range, and forge, and slowly upgrading my first fortress; plus sealing off my southwestern pass with a hub wall, although at this point I haven't even started trying to wall off my northern pass yet.

You might recall from the snapshot a moment ago that I've also got a hub column built in the high pass area; that's for sealing off the southern route into the high pass, which in turn will provide me some hubs to start expanding my ad hoc stronghold southward.


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Here Gloin's task force have come back to heal, although I have to use a heal power on them since I still haven't gotten a hearth up yet. You can see on the far left that I've started to wall off the southern approach to the high pass, although the terminating hub has also already been severely damaged. (I can use my repair power on it, or if it survives long enough dwarven mechanics will automatically go out and tap it back to full strength.)

On the far right, you can see the arrival of the first of the enemy's own artillery pieces, and there are no curses in the tongues of dwarves, elves, or men, for how much trouble enemy arty gives me in this game. Sure, I get to build what I expect is the strongest mechanical arty in the game (once upgraded -- the elves get ents which are the strongest organic arty I expect); but dwarves totally lack the one thing necessary to decisively beat artillery when I don't yet have my own catapults on the field: strong fast-movers, i.e. fliers or cavalry. I have goat-wagons, but while fast they don't hit hard and are so brittle I can't expect them to survive a counter-arty mission, maybe not even long enough to trade piece for piece!

With the central "lure" almost sealed off now from the south, and Gloin's task force able to go out into the plains to hunt for new buildings and intercept incoming enemy arty, it's time to wall off my far northern pass.


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I find a goblin cave nearby, which is fine: once I get the wall up, I'll build at least once wall-pult for support and it'll smash that place automatically.

This snapshot, by the way, marks the first time I have ever clearly seen that my giant octo-wall networks do cost me resources. Just not a lot for the bang I get spending those bucks. The walls slowly build 'upward', out of the ground, starting from the hub I dragged the ghost-plot out from, so as long as I remember he's down there I can easily get my builder back in. Builders are NOT used in expanding walls like this, by the way, only for setting up the initial hub column.

This goes on for a while. About 25 minutes after starting my final attempt at being the mission from the ideal save point, I've also walled out a nice killing zone along the main track into my base.


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In the middle of that snap, you can see that I've selected a wall section with two free sections on either side, to buy a catapult there. By now, I've bought most of my fortress construction upgrades so when that cat arrives, it'll fling fire rocks automatically. You can see along the upper-right edge of the snapshot that I've long since made a row of ensconced axe-towers and fire-pults (each of which shoots two flaming rocks per shot, remember :smitten:), and that's why the ground is so scorched. There's a "postern gate" in one of the walls, which the enemy can't see, which lets my troops in and out automatically without fiddling about opening and closing, so I can get them to the hearth to recover. But it won't let my rolling catapults out, and I've foolishly been preparing my forgeworks in my backfield to set up for that (although also to buy troop upgrade tech for new squads, especially new Dale Archer squads which you may be able to see arriving from the left offscreen.)

Toward the far right of my northern wall, I save up enough money to put down my next fortress.


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If you're thinking, "Why bother?" my main answer is: because my range for extending a wall network for an ad hoc stronghold is limited to a radius centered on the nearest fort. This will allow me to continue moving my wall network to the upper right corner, where I suspect one of the teams is camping. Also, once I upgrade my fort sufficiently, I can buy a Mighty Catapult for it, which only shoots rarely but which can hit hard from a long way out.

Also, the enemy will start concentrating on this, and so less by proportion on trying to reach my mines.

Also, it can help protect a new forge over here, from which I can send out catapults through proper gates in the walls (since I neglected to design that egress previously  :uglystupid2: ).

Every once in a while I try a push with Gloin's task force toward the southeast, where I know from prior experience the enemy has lots of basing (though no stronghold capability like me). Here's one such attempt for an example:


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It does not end well, like most such attempts, but I eat a lot of enemy units along the way.

Pay attention to the minimap in the lower left, though. All the red is me; anything not Old Brown is enemy. You may notice there's an enemy blob in my base. That's because my wall trying to seal off the southwestern pass into my base isn't fitting tightly against the hills -- something that can only be ascertained by trying to send a squad through the area, annoyingly -- and squads are leaking through. I'll be taking steps to nullify this. But even more importantly, I need to remember that enemy squads may have already knocked down a couple of my mines!


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Not this mine, though, in my upper left corner! Gollum spawns over there, or randomly stealths into the area perhaps, and my mine's archery tower spots him. Soon afterward, Gollum is shot down, and drops the Ring of Power. I'll be sending a freshly made Dale Archer squad to go pick that up (while they're busy outfitting with mithril, banners, and fire), and return it to my first fortress presently. This is a major boon for my side! -- it means I can summon the Storm Queen soon.

While the enemy is busy with three catapults murdering my new fortress at standoff range -- which won't really hurt me at all, just cost me some of my plenty of income to replace -- I manage to push Gloin's task force down to the main enemy base for the first time!


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Since I have one charged up, I throw a free near-instant axe-tower down, which gets the attention of a lot of enemy catapults, giving me a chance to move up into anti-catapult range.

To be honest, this doesn't work: Gloin gets sent to convalesce, and I pull back the task force in on a path to High Valley Base that will allow me to zorch a number of the enemy's resource nodes along the way.

Oh, and the surviving enemy arty has been punching away my northern base area (including my upgraded fort), almost back to High Valley Base. You'd think my elevated catapults up front on my fortress would outrange them, but no.


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So, yeah, I needed to get back anyway.

I also learn, somewhat by accident, that this nonsense has been happening:


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I have to wonder if the map designers put that little bit of pathing beyond the rock, just to screw with people who thought they had sealed off the approach between the rocks. Admittedly, there haven't been many survivors of that trek, but enough have gotten through and out of range of my wall defenses that they've surreptitiously nicked a few of my mines already! Well done, AI. Well done.

Oh, and the enemy has been exploiting a path around what I thought was the map edge down here, too.


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I'm sealing it off for sure -- the next squad on the way in turns around and leaves -- but that's one of my mines going down in my backfield nearby, because some squads have been getting in. When those mines go down, they not only affect how much money I can work with (and rebuilding them not only costs money but they rebuild naturally at level 1 so I'm losing relative income from upgraded mines during the time it takes for them to automatically level up), they also affect my command points which affects the number and quality of units I can buy to replace losses. This is how I dealt with the northern leak eventually, btw.


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Which is what I should have done in the first place. (That spur will get some armaments, of course, once it's up.)

...yeah, that's a bear caught between the rocks and my hard place, a clause that sounded a lot better in my head before I typed it. It could have been a beaver. I mean just one of the environmental animals meandering around in the game. Wolves and bears don't really attack anything, although I think they can have dens with treasure in them as environmental hazards.

My southernmost wall spur is doing partly-well against an arty-reinforced thrust:


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About fifteen minutes before the end, I had managed to box in a large section of plains west of that shot, with plenty of fire catapult and axe towers to cause trouble for incoming enemy assaults, who started focusing down here for some obscure AI calculation.

This distraction allowed me to march Gloin's task force around the map, thwomping the enemy's supply points. But I didn't try assaulting the main enemy base again until I could afford to call Galadriel, and until she arrived with Gloin's group.


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I hates enemy arty so much.

I came pretty close to not winning this assault either, despite Tornado!Lady on our side, but 
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.us%2Fv2%2F1024x768q90%2F921%2FqU18Jh.png&hash=999f42e50f62c1246bc52ff70d2bec43e9a80587)

...after eroding more than half their base (and I noticed no fortress had gotten up this time), the AI called it quits.

This was my first large win where I didn't ever get around to using catapults, and I think I struggled because of that. Also because of having to build my own stronghold in the teeth of four freaking teams.

64.7% casualties on my side; they lost a touch over 5100 troops.

And yet, this wasn't the riskiest move I made this turn.

No, that was putting my King Dain Plan finally into effect:


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My Dain Plan had always been to send him up in a run around the north end of the Misty Mountains, into the Goblin Team heartland (nicking one more of Isengard's lands along the way). From there he should be able to remove the Goblins as a team eventually, and start collapsing the Angmar team.

But I hadn't run him yet, because I didn't feel safe yet leaving the Carrock to fend without him. And I still didn't; but I reasoned that my AI ally must be sending Theoden to do that instead, and if that happened I wouldn't be able to properly reinforce the areas taken for the Dwamaafe Team. So, despite a very large Goblin army still waiting in the High Passes, I started Dain on his Long March Around. And, much to my relief, Team Evil pulled back their Goblin army, evidently worried that they couldn't beat Dain with a fortress at the Carrock (having tried that once already) and not realizing Dain was leaving.

The Gundabad territory, despite its reputation, ended up being just a snowy vacation for the king.


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Once I did some, ahem, recon in force, it was simply a matter of marching the king and his single novice squad of archers around west of my base, and eliminating enough enemy buildings and builders for them to retreat.

In case you're wondering whether this means we've finally started coming back from the brink: it doesn't.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 18, 2016, 06:26:14 PM
WEEK TEN -- FORTH, ITHIBRANDILAS
---------------------------------

"...they're calling us what?!"

The elven commander squinted. "Ithibrand. I suppose because we seem to be in joint command. It's a term of affection, I feel pretty sure, not of disrespect." She squinted in the direction of a squad at rest downrange, her ears twitching, not noticing the lovely shade of nonplussed purple her fellow commander's face was turning. "Pretty sure. Not entirely. They can't tell I'm listening from this far away, so I think their remarks are cordial enough, but cordially amused, so..."

King Brand was still casting around for how to explain the implications of the portmanteau, in a way that wouldn't end with the deaths of a squad or two -- which would be bad for morale -- when a courier ranger arrived for Ithilia.

"Gloin has held," she sighed in relief and reported to Brand. "And Dain has marched on Gundabad, at last."

"Before Theoden could beat him to it, no doubt," nodded the Lakemen King. "I trust he left the Carrock strong enough to hold against a determined Goblin attack; and I hope Theoden turns around for Dagorlad again. If he would strike out from there, Gloin might be able to follow and lend support!"

"Boromir will be attacking Fangorn again, with Eomer coming down from Lorien," added Ithilia, pointing to where the Gondorian hero was preparing to leave Dol Guldur.

"That means Gimli will stay behind to parry any attempts by the enemy to cross over and take Lorien again from Fangorn. He must be chafing at that, defending a land he can't even oversee proper fortifications in." Brand shook his head. "He wouldn't even be allowed to do that in Moria, to their west! -- those are the only two lands remaining to the captains of Gondor and Rohan!"

"Ironic," agreed Ithilia. "Lands of dwarves and elves, held by humans who would prefer grand cavalry sweeps. I wish I could feel more assured that our human allies would securely take Fangorn this time. My other human allies I mean," she added with a smile to Brand.

Brand had never seen her smile since meeting her. Not really, not like this.

"...I think we should split up!" he volunteered, his voice cracking a little.

"...what?" Her delicate elven eyebrows scowled. Brand felt himself flush, and that (he told himself) was exactly why it was time for them to split up. Courting a widow this recently would be improper in any case, and this immortal creature... that could only end in tragedy. Mooning over her wouldn't help anything either. He should have found a wife already. "Why?!"

He swallowed. "As you say, I don't trust my fellow Men to take and keep Fangorn properly. Whereas, I don't trust Theoden to guard Dagorlad properly in case the enemy wisely tries a strong thrust that way this week. Dol Guldur has proven it can withstand minor assaults from a foe without us..."

"No it hasn't!" she reminded him. "One or both of us have been here every time!"

"...but we can leave orders how to most efficiently proceed this time, and the enemy cannot possibly send enough troops from Fangorn -- their only line of attack -- to take it. On the contrary, we should hope they try, so that they will have nowhere to retreat if I recover Fangorn for y'us. For us. I mean for our alliance." Yes, definitely time to be away. "Right now the strongest threats are against Gloin in the Old Brown Lands, and against Dagorlad who has no one to defend it. And you're far more experienced than I am. It makes sense that you go. And that I go the other way."

She pondered that a moment. He bated his breath and waited to hear his doom.

"Of course," she nodded. "I see your reasoning clearly now; forgive me, I was a little distracted before." His heart lurched, stopped. He willed it to continue, and cursed his gross stupidity over and over. A king should have more dignity than this. Next, he would be writing forlorn poetry in a journal!

Also, his men needed to stop getting ideas.


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Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 18, 2016, 06:26:55 PM
WEEK ELEVEN -- KEY STRATEGY
---------------------------

"So, noble lady," the human horse-king ventured. "What news from the north and the west?"

Ithilia tried not to be sullen. Theoden had certainly helped protect this gateland to Dwarven industry, when she and he had arrived to find some of the enemy setting up camp in the region. Together they had quickly routed the foe. Maybe a touch more quickly than if Brand had followed her here -- Theoden rode a swift steed. And after all...

"Our human allies recovered Fangorn forest, as expected. As expected, a strong Goblin force now approaches Lorien through Moria, which it took without resistance."

"Tsk, so we still have only two lands in control; both forests." Theoden shook his head. "Well, nothing could have been done to stop it I suppose. All we can do is make do."

Ithilia added tartly, "Gimli, expecting this problem, stands ready to defend Lothlorien, although without support in the land -- "

" -- he will doubtless be overrun, I understand." The king, she saw, was preparing to ride. Where to?!

" -- he must fight extra hard for a victory," she finished. "Afterward, perhaps he can retake Moria. And hold it."

"Perhaps." But Theoden clearly didn't expect that to happen. "Perhaps Eomer, my nephew, and heir to my throne, can now retake Rohan. And hold it."

"Brand will do his best with his troops, even though he will not be allowed to fortify properly, to hold and keep your rear line secure. And to save your rears when you fail again," she managed not to add.

"Well, once we have Rohan back, we can take Fangorn again, I'm sure," he reassured her. "First things first."

"And so, will you be riding through the Old Brown Lands to help that assault?" she asked. "The couriers will want to alert your men to your immanent arrival."

"I have full confidence in Eomer -- and I suppose Boromir, who, if he can help retake Rohan, will be that much closer to retaking Minas Tirith, too."

"Then you will stay here, and help me defend the dwarven holdings?"

"No, not hardly, child!" he laughed. "Cavalry are for advance, not defense! I shall see if I can drive the enemy out of the Dead Marshes again!"

"...they... but..." The purblind fool?!

"They have been routed from Dagorlad; if we are ever to retake the Marshes, and seal off Mordor again, we must strike while they are reeling. Good cavalry strategy, is the only cavalry strategy."

"...indeed," she had to agree. "And more good if you also had some cavalry!"

"Perhaps I will find some along the way. Tis better than sitting here and doing nothing. Our enemy still holds forty territories, and -- "

" -- thirty-nine. They now hold thirty-nine. King Dain has taken Forodwaith."

"Really! Splendid fellow! Not much of a fight I expect; and if one does not have cavalry, still the principles apply: circle around and strike from the rear! I had thought to do that myself, but, alas."

"But now you will not be circling around to strike from the rear." Ithilia decided not to mention that Dain had had to fight rather harder against the goblin fortifications than even he had anticipated; by all accounts from courier so far, his had been the toughest fight of the week.

"No, no, running down routers while I can. Also a key strategy."

And so, calling for his squire, Theoden King soon rode away.

And soon again rode back. Routed.


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[Gamenote: I seriously thought about raiding Gimli to take Moria, forting it up, and letting the enemy army bounce off my fortifications elsewhere while I slowly retook and forted up Fangorn and Lorien, this time as proper dwarven holdings. But I worried I might be left with no Gondor/han allies at all, which could theoretically be worse than having them 'help'. ;) Besides, a close squint at the map will show one large Angmar army coming in from Moria, and that large Goblin army coming back through the High Pass to attack the Carrock. If Gimli has to deal with one of them, better the one who might be attacking a dwarven fortification! So in fact I abandoned Lorien for the Carrock. I felt pretty confident that I could leave enough of a garrison to keep Team Evil from event considering another attack on the OBL this turn, so with the loss of Lorien expected, I moved Gloin out of the OBL to help my allies retake Rohan.]
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 18, 2016, 06:27:35 PM
WEEK TWELVE -- REPULSE
----------------------

Eomer and Boromir were celebrating in Meduseld, as Gloin stood in the door, watching anxiously northward.

"What think you of our fine rocky town, friend dwarf?" Eomer strode over in grand cheer; aside from filthy leftovers, the team had taken the area without a fight.

"Better, I'd say, to defend this place than Fangorn," he replied judiciously. "Where your enemy here has gone."

"Indeed. Well, Brand is a ranger, of sorts. He will have a fine time hunting many, many targets. And here, a courier must be coming now!" The man could see a torchbearer from the city gate wending up the mountainous roads; not quite see the elven courier flanking him with the actual messages.

A few minutes later, Gloin reported. "King Dain has taken the stronghold of Carn Dun."


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[Gamenote: in fact, he had four territories he could have chosen to strike, none of them with a commander yet to threaten retaking Forodwaith; I chose the place which would give me ten more points to spend each battle on superpowers. :D Despite almost no garrison, this was a tough fight; I was never in danger of losing, but had to build up enough of a task force to punch progressively through multiple walls, each with archery and catapults. Meanwhile the enemy built up enough behind the walls, unmolested, that they could send down increasingly strong task forces to harry my mines along the southern side of the map: I had to build up my own, smaller ad hoc stronghold to guard them sufficiently, before moving out. The most amusing thing in this battle, aside from building and upgrading two of my own forts just outside the final walls guarding the enemy's camp, was capturing one of the signal fires about mid-fight and setting up a death-gauntlet of axe-towers leading to it, since I knew the computer would send squads down there to reclaim it!  >:D ]

"A fell place of power indeed; better that Angmar no longer holds it."

"Goblins," Gloin coughed. "But yes, indeed. And," he read on, translating the runes, since to be honest he could not truly imagine the Witch-King granting that place to Gorkil either, "as expected, Gorkil the Goblin King led a large army, even including Stone giants, to the Carrock."

"Ah. Well, you had to lose a territory sometime." The rider of the riddermark clapped a hand on Gloin's shoulder in commiseration.

"My son arrived in time to lead a counter-charge across the river and into the enemy's burgeoning camp, once the initial rush had been parried." Gloin explained this patiently, and with no small satisfaction. "They slew four hundred before the enemy beheld the folly of sending only one army, however large, against a dwarven hold." The dwarven elder chanced a glance up and over to see the man goggling in disbelief for a moment.


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[Gamenote: despite my cavalier attitude, and the battle's brevity, I honestly wasn't sure I was going to pull it out at first. But I had a strong enough force, and a small enough map, that with a battlewagon serving as a portable healing depot, I pushed for the early win.]

"...erm, a fine cavalry charge! -- and with no cavalry either, even more marvelous an achievement!" The clap on the shoulder smacked even heartier, though not enough to budge the stolid elder, who smiled behind his beard. "Let us to a drinking game, in celebration of your victory!"

"You understand, of course, that Lothlorien fell behind my son, who chose -- "

" -- yes, yes, what?!" Eomer blinked. "Oh. Well I'm sure he chose which territory he preferred to hold, as we ourselves have often had to do."

Gloin couldn't quite bring himself to remind the marshal that the alliance of southern human kingdoms had last claimed Lorien's forest. "A temporary setback," he agreed instead. "The dwarves shall return and set things right soon enough. Who I worry about now, is our ally, your fellow Man, King Brand."


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"He has nothing to hide behind, indeed, except some trees," Eomer declared, shaking his head.

"He has two archer squads, and two catapults, defending against no less than fourteen squads and a giant spider looking for her vengeance against him."

"And a Wormtongue, don't forget!" the cavalry marshal laughed.

The news of Brand's failure didn't need much longer to arrive.

When it did, Gloin arranged for ten pints to be set near the door. Where he spent the night, drinking them slowly.


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[Gamenote: yeah, I'm not anywhere awesome enough to overcome that, no matter how much I save scum. He loses his troops, but because he has somewhere to retreat to, namely Dol Guldur, he'll be active next turn. Besides, it wasn't a dwarven territory.]
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on December 27, 2016, 11:08:59 AM
In case anyone has been wondering, I'm closer to the end of this AAR than you may be expecting, and I'd rather it count toward next year's AAR nominations, so I'm holding off completing it until after New Years.  O:-)
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: Martok on December 27, 2016, 04:54:41 PM
I was wondering about the lack of recent updates.  I'll admit I'd started to think you had maybe abandoned it. 
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on January 05, 2017, 06:58:27 PM
WEEK THIRTEEN -- AWAY WITH ROHAN
--------------------------------

"WHAT IN ALL THE STONES ARE YA DOIN'?!" Gloin roared as he stumped at a brisk sprint down from the recently-reclaimed hall of Meduseld to the king's recently-reclaimed stables not far down the path.

Eomer and Boromir shrugged in confusion at one another and continued saddling up as Boromir answered, "Saddling up. I'm sure even a dwarf has seen that before."

"You ninny-headed ninny-riders! I know that," the elder spluttered, "and don't evade my question! Where could you possibly be riding to?"

"Wherever we want to fight, frankly; it isn't as though we don't have plenty of targets," Boromir grumbled.

"You haven't even made this fine rock-fortress safe yet! You have no troops to speak of!"

"Don't think so little of yourself, friend!" grinned the Gondorian captain, clapping the dwarf on the shoulder -- and winking over his head to Eomer who smirked at the joke. "We're leaving you here to guard the keep-town."

"But! ... But!" Gloin sputtered, too enraged to get out words.

"The enemy in Fangorn will doubtless throw themselves at Dol Guldur, once they understand that its defenders have been deployed more forward," Eomer patiently explained. "So Boromir may be able to take back Fangorn at least behind their backs. They'll get that wretched castle at last, so we might as well try for an even exchange."

"And I will ride southeast to Cair Andros, to see if enemy troops there have moved on to help attack the Old Brown Lands. Again." Eomer rolled his eyes a little at the thought of wasting time and energy trying to take or defend that dumpland. "If no one is there, I'll retake it, otherwise I'll be back next week."

"That lad, King Brand, and his lassie the elf have worked miracles in blood, holding that pile of cursed stone! If it falls now, that's because they were trusting in their allies to protect the western approaches while they sent troops to other front lines. As it is, your king Theoden refuses to stay in Dagorlad to help Ithilia defend it; and with a sorcerer leading a sizable army in Lorien, the elf-lassie had to risk losing Dagorlad to go back to guard her own recovered home, the Greenwood --!"

"Mirkwood," sniffed Boromir.

"-- which you at least should be following her example on!" Gloin rounded on the riddermark captain in fury.

"Why, under all the skies, would I ride into Mirkwood?!" "Dwarves don't really understand how horses work," Boromir stage-whispered to his peer, who snickered slightly.

Gloin thought steam might soon be spouting from his ears. "I MEAN FOR DEFENDING YOUR HOME YOU HORSE-DROPPING!"

"We already said: that's why we have you here. Fair luck!" bade Boromir to Eomer as he swung into the saddle and kicked away.

Slightly annoyed the Gondorian captain had won their little preparation race, Eomer checked his tack a couple more places before also swinging up. "Don't lose my home here before I get back, little guest."


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One day later, Eomer was back with news: Gothmog from Mordor, Lurtz from Isengard, and Rogash Troll of the North, were all marching to finish off Rohan once and for all, bringing two catapult, three cavalry, two spears, five archer, three sword, and one support companies. Gloin, unable to reinforce yet in lands his allies barely held before throwing away to grab at more, could only muster two missile companies for defense, along with himself and Eomer.


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It wasn't a long fight.



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The final territory of Men had fallen. Again.


************** [dropping out of narrative voice]

The Witch-king, meanwhile, led three fellow evil commanders, but six cavalry, a spear, and two sword companies, into the Old Brown Lands. Again.

But, despite a protracted fight, things didn't go quite as well for them there. Again.


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Enemy units slain: 4500. 66% friendly casualties.

Worst of all: Morgormir, the northern demi-lich trying to rise (or sink) to the level of the Nine Ringwraiths, led Wormtongue from Isendgard and Shelob the Spider-goddess (aiding the goblins) into Dol Goldur, confident that this time, with 2 catapult, 6 cavalry, 3 spear, 1 archer, and 1 sword companies -- plus three factions worth of builders -- against literally no one but King Brand standing alone...


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...this time they would surely throw down the defenses of that dread fortr --


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--ressSSSORRY, NNNOT! ONCE AGAIN, TEAM EVIL, YOUR OWN FORTRESS HAS BECOME A DEATHTRAP FOR YOU!!


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No easy task -- I will note that even after that snapshot they actually managed to get a squad of elite spears into a gate of Dol Goldur (mostly having wiped out my attacking army from that snapshot, including Brand and the Storm Queen!) -- but with the strategy I developed (painfully) in my prior defense, of marching out a forest of towers near the left open gate, to lure forces across the board into a rune-axe gauntlet, I built up a strong assault army, and carried the day back into their teeth.

Compared to those two hour-long slogs (not even counting reload attempts), King Dain's assault on Angmar's home province barely rates mentioning: in with plenty of elite Dale Archers and catapults, done in six minutes boom.

Upon this turn, however, the whole game turned...
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: jjdenver on January 13, 2017, 10:10:21 PM
What game is this?
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on January 14, 2017, 03:10:55 PM
Electronic Arts' The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth 2: The Rise of the Witch-King. (If I could figure out how to add New Line Pictures into that over-wieldy title, I would.  >:D )

See also this post introducing the game per se: http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=18319.msg484159#msg484159

Coincidentally, I'm working on the next entry this afternoon!  ^-^
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on January 14, 2017, 04:27:48 PM
WEEK FOURTEEN -- THE TURN OF THE TIDE
-------------------------------------

Eomer eased his steed up to the edge of Lothlorien's woods. He had only recently left behind Fangorn Forest to the south, and couldn't say he felt specially eager to enter another ancient forest -- on horseback again or otherwise.

Better than going again into the Mines of Moria on horseback, however. What under all the skies had he been thinking to do that...?

"Well met," called a voice softly from under the trees, far enough back so as not to startle him. Not overmuch. "We're coming up," he heard Boromir tell him from the forest, but he still backed away in case of some kind of trickery.

A prudent move, and so not needless, but this was truly the heir to Gondor's stewardship. Eomer breathed a quiet sigh of relief as the taller man strode clearly out from the forest; men behind him stayed in partial concealment, but the Riddermark marshal could sense the presence of horses. "You found some cavalry, then? Excellent!" he told his ally.

Boromir shook his head. "Only one squad, beyond the squad of scouts you sent up ahead of you. Also a company of spears, and of archers."

"Better than nothing," Eomer shrugged -- he, after all, was alone. "And we've marched with far less."

"Aye, you have! Bunch of -- " curses in dwarven floated from over a nearby rise, as Gimli son of Gloin stomped over it to the west, the mountains behind him. "Can't say I've brought any better myself this time, to be honest. Hopefully we'll bring more in as we hunt." He eyed Lothlorien with just as much trepidation as Eomer, while he approached. Behind him, close up and within the forest edge, came one squad of archers of Dale and a dwarven pike squad -- well clear of the foreign foliage!

"Now listen," he continued: "I've left most of my forces at the Carrock; King Brand will come later to support us, but he has left all his troops at Dol Goldur; Ithilia, I think, is staying in her Greenwood homeland for now, in case these villains move that way. So whether they stay here, or move out, we've got them cornered!"

"Glad you could join us to help retake the forest that you abandoned. I mean withdrew from," Boromir smirked.

"Not as though I was abandoning my homeland nearly unprotected, though," the dwarven commander saltily retorted. "To be overrun, again, while taking a forest I couldn't hold and left behind, again, to --!"

"Enough!" Eomer winced at the implied rebuke. "We've caught Shelob, Wormtongue, and most importantly Morgormir, here in our trap -- "

"-- made mostly out of dwarven preparations --"

"-- yes, I acknowledge that. But they should be who we're fighting. Not each other. So let us get going and find them, before they slip away again!"

As it happened, Shelob found Gimli and his dwarven detachment first!


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Scrabbling down the side of the valley's cliff-face, the demonic spider-thing shattered all the morale of the troops, who fled in disgust!


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But that didn't stop Gimli, son of Gloin, from axing her face and spindly limbs. Repeatedly. Soon the wretched thing had collapsed; she might crawl away to reform, eventually, but not especially soon. Especially with King Dain Ironfoot methodically removing the heartlands which the Witch-King had delivered into Goblin hands to harvest and protect!


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Alas, with the Mines of Moria still in Angmar control, and with the fall of Fangorn again behind the advance of the human commanders, the weakened group in Lorien, although pressed before they could regain strength, escaped the noose.

Not a fault of the dwarves; but Gimli had long grown used to the foolhardy moves of his human allies. Sullenly, since otherwise his friends would have no territories at all anymore, he agreed not to take the Lorien woods under dwarven control and management.

Down to the southeast, Gimli's father, the elder Gloin, having been pushed from Rohan in shame after being overrun with no support left behind to help him defend the homeland of his allies, took out his rage and frustration upon yet another advance by all four evil factions into the Old Brown Lands.

Still, while Azog of the Goblins, the Witch-King himself in such power that there seemed two of him on the field at once, along with another one of the Nine, Khamul, plus no less than Saruman, too (and Sharku, who commanded his warg riders), all together marched to try to wrest the Old Brown Lands from the dwarves, they all together could only manage to bring three sword squads, four cavalry, one spear and one sword squad, a catapult and a drummer troll. No small force to be sneezed at, but rather much less than all those commanders together should have been able to muster!

Against them? Gloin sneezed!

Four catapults, two pike phalanxes, and no less than nine ready archery squads (mostly dwarven axe-throwers), put paid to a rush by an enemy quickly.
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Leaving his fledgling base to weather sporadic raids by the enemy...


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...Gloin took advantage of his early force superiority to clomp southeast steadily, ruining resource spots and occasional forays in his direction, until...

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...he had pressed into the largest enemy camp, fatally crippling their efforts and sending their commanders packing off to the Dead Marshes once again.

"Hmph. We didn't even get a wall up this time! Not that I'm complainin'," the dwarven elder muttered to a banner sergeant, who heartily agreed -- his pikemen had needed seasoning, and frankly hadn't come through all that well. "All those commanders together, and we drove them off in about a day?!"

Tanking a tankard of hard apple brew, and receiving an elven ranger with courier news from far northwest (the grim and weary elf politely accepted a mug for himself as well), Gloin read about his king, Dain Ironfoot, smashing aside an attempt by Gorkil the Goblin king to keep hold of the dark and snowy Ettinmoors.

The tide in the north, along with the tide-breakers held by the dwarves in the south, had finally, finally, turned the tide of the war.

Now, if only they could find a way to keep their Gondorian allies from self-destructing...
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on January 16, 2017, 07:50:52 PM
WEEK FIFTEEN -- THE TIDAL SURGE
-------------------------------

In the weakened state of Sauron's forces, the dwarves struck out that same week, following up their successes with a push by King Dain to retake Rhudaur, flanking Elrond's Rivendell to the west, without opposition; moreover, while King Brand guarded Lorien forest against counter-thrusts, Gimli and Boromir pushed freely through the Mines of Moria, and Gloin marched again out of the Old Brown Lands to help Eomer (who chose a forest cavern over caverns made of stone) to enter Fangorn Forest once again as their foes retreated into Rohan proper. Gimli, with Dain's approval by ranger courier, graciously allowed the human kingdom to temporarily work the mines for now until the war could be won -- besides, as he added in correspondence, past experience suggested the poor humans would simply lose the mines again someday to the enemy, at which time the dwarves could reclaim them clear of conscience!

Shelob foolishly attempted a retreat into Dol Goldur, where even without a commander's presence the garrison easily routed her support. And the concentrated evil within the Dead Marshes, having scried perhaps the departure of the doughty defender of the Old Brown Lands, tried another push despite their own quite relative paucity -- only to find Ithilia leading the defense now! Blitzing south and west, much as Gloin had previously done, she routed them out of the Brown Lands even more quickly. (Alas, poor, mad King Theoden still kept creeping into the Marshes to try to take them behind the assaulting forces, only to creep away again when he found their garrison left behind.)

[Gamenote: somehow I got off count of my turn/weeks during the game, and this fourteenth week of 'double-action' represents me trying to get back into synch with the turns. This desynch is made worse by my having started to save games a week ahead, as Turn 16 for Turn 15! :buck2: Annnnnd now you are insane! Sorry.]


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With a solid heartland finally, finally secured for the Men of Rohan and Gondor, the dwarven commanders could consider weighted strikes in support of the scatterbrained lash-outs of their allies.

Well, sort of.


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"Eomer, you utter maroon..." Gloin grumbled.

"We can do it! We can take back our land!" the Riddermark commander exclaimed with just a hint of fever in his eyes.

"Only if the armies holding it for Mordor decide to pass you by and strike here! You can't beat them by yourself!"

"Which of course they shall do, for ever does greed and madness drive their thoughts," declared the Rohan noble. Gloin declined to comment on this.

"Well, I'm sure as the Arkenstone not going to stand here in this unfortified patch of weeds and take hits to the face for you from six or seven armies! If you want them to take this forest, again, they can have it. Count me out; I'm going to Dol Goldur to refit."

"Your bravery is noted, sir dwarf."

"Yeah, my bravery is noted by not ever having lost a territory I actually owned when I could fortify the place. I'll be back to take Fangorn again, if I want -- this time for dwarven management. I swear, you humans are as bad as giving money to drunks..."

"Well, don't come with me to Meduseld! You fled it last time we trusted you with it -- "

"LAST TIME YOU LEFT ME IN AN UNREPAIRED RUIN TO BE PUNCHED IN THE FACE FOR YOU BY FOUR OR FIVE ARMIES!" The elder took a deep breath, as Eomer's steed shied back from the unbearable roar that had blasted from what, to the horse, looked like a stolid stump. "Now you're doing the same, but worse. Never in the outer darkness will I do that for you again! -- Let my son go maundering off to Dunland to help that Gondor captain, Boromir, if he likes. At least Boromir has an army to help in his assault! Also, by the way," he added acidically, "our king will be fighting the shattered Goblin King again this week, this time to reclaim Rivendell. Care to bet he doesn't?! I can always use the extra gold!"

Eomer looked away, and didn't take that bet. "Your pet king Brand won't be fighting this week, or so the courier says."

"No, he's marching back to our secured fortress at the Carrock, to refit and prepare to root Isengard out of the High Pass. He's worth a hundred of you for what he has done so far. Must have inherited good sense from dwarves in his family somewhere back, or by osmosis..."

"Enough. I'm taking my homeland back now -- "

" -- again, maybe, if they let you. Have fun storming your castle again, boy."

And Gloin tromped off to muster his forces to march away, before the horseman could insult him further by leaving in front of his face.

A little surprisingly, though predicted, only two of the evil commanders marched to take Fangorn -- but all the others scattered on business elsewhere from Rohan, so Eomer did in fact reclaim their prime territory. Again.

More surprisingly, Sharku, Isengard's cavalry commander, tried to take the dwarven Dagorlad, heavily garrisoned, by himself -- he fled without a fight.

Not surprisingly at all, King Dain Ironfoot smashed Gorkil the Goblin King, who turned out to have been joined by the wight Morgormir in an attempt to keep Rivendell in Angmarian hands.


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The elves weren't exactly happy that Dain and his troops had to blast Elrond's home to bits to root out the final enemies. Dain suggested that the edifice would never have been fully cleaned and would have needed to be rebuilt from its foundations anyway. He barely managed not to smirk when sending the couriers on their way with the news. Tensions mounted.

Tensions didn't mount much between Gimli and Boromir, though, who together tore through the enemy commanders gathered to try to slow the tide through Dunland. Gimli diplomatically agreed for the Men to manage this area, since it made sense as part of their territory expanse. Besides, if the enemy took it from behind them as usual the dwarves would probably end up with it anywaAAT?!?


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Unexpectedly, Grima Wormtongue (of all people) led a large army back behind King Dain to retake Rhudaur, allowing his battered allies somewhere to feasibly escape!

Tensions did mount when Boromir spent a good half hour cackling about this, while handing mugs of mulled wine to Gimli -- who didn't want to drink while mulling over this news.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on January 21, 2017, 12:35:34 PM
WEEK SIXTEEN -- BY BLOODY INCHES
--------------------------------

Wormtongue, and his rescued allies, the Goblin King Gorkil and the wight Morgormir, didn't wait around to be smashed by the returning King Ironfoot, but instead (quite reasonably) attempted to push through what was now his logistic backfield, retaking the Ettinmoors first.


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There, only a garrison and a fort awaited their combined numbers. And no large garrison either, but only a dwarven pike and human archer squad!


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There, in the snowy dark, with enemies fortifying only a few hundred yards away (what the soon-to-be-dead hobbits called a "par 3" in their vulgar backwater dialect), a brutal slugging match quickly started with a barely-deflected rush by wargs and trolls and wildmen from Dunland.

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The newly trained and novice troops fought and died heroically; the survivors passed on bitter lessons to the new men and dwarves slowly filtering into the area through the extensive dwarven underground support network.

Without any way to call upon heroes and commanders, and without even enough breathing time to start getting stronghold walls in place, the battered defenders relied more than ever on newly developed innovations. "Dwarven Riches" permanently boosted all income from mines (and forts) by 25% during this hideous battle of attrition. This also allowed the defenders, once they had weathered past the first assaults, to afford not only many lone axe towers (and rune upgrades) while more quickly bringing out troops and technical upgrades for them; but also to push a brigade out about halfway to the enemy's major base, not far south up a rise, and guard the area while a new fortress could be built.


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So many enemies congregated at this choke point, that in desperation the dwarves even launched Barrages of rocks (from hidden artillery posts far away) down onto their own overrun forces.


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These had been used before but only for offense against enemy bases, not in a final defense upon the broken arrowshafts of the men of Dale themselves.

The most useful defensive innovation however was the citadel, first deployed in the war for this battle.


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These artillery structures required much preparation, but once ready could be quickly pushed up from the ground as towers of solid rock -- not unlike the lone-tower ability, but with more toughness and functionality. For these small forts could build up to three runed axe towers and/or flaming catapults around themselves, and on top was placed a larger catapult of the type usually reserved for the fortresses themselves: this strategic weapon could punch far across the battlefield to eliminate some small enemy buildings outright, but like the long-distance barrages (which used more extensive groups of the same technology) needed a lot of preparation first.

Inch by bloody inch the dwarves and men shoved forward over the bodies of their foes and their friends.


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Sorties against the main enemy base itself often failed -- even after raising a citadel on its very stoop! But at last, enough firepower could be concentrated to crush the enemy fortress.

79% casualties, the worst for the dwarves so far; enemies slain, just under 4800.

But the Ettinmoor garrison now wasn't a couple of novice squads any longer.

And they itched to see that the evil commanders, who had survived again to flee the loss, soon would pay.

Saruman and his Isengard faction had been dealt crippling blows elsewhere, too: including losing Orthanc Tower itself to Boromir's scouting advance!

Fortunately -- for Isengard! -- they could rely on their human adversaries galloping off in scatterbrained fashions, and so losing Meduseld and Rohan once again! Even with that typical week for southern humanity, however, Isengard had been whittled away by another three provinces at least.


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By bloody inches, the treacherous Maiar had almost been cut down.
Title: Re: Khazâd du-bekâr
Post by: JasonPratt on January 31, 2017, 10:54:36 PM
PULVERIZATION
-------------

Difficult days still lay ahead -- Mordor's lands had not yet been touched, and together with their struggling allies, especially Angmar, the leaders congregated together against the Old Brown Lands repeatedly. But always they were repelled, and often quickly, by dwarven fortifications, by doughty archers from Dale, and by Ithilia of the silver hair. Counterattacks by flailing monsters infesting the West, floundering under the dwarven fists, fared no better.


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From the seventeenth week, the enemies of peace had broken themselves too far upon the rock of dwarven fortitude -- and the rocks of dwarven forts. Boromir even managed to take Orthanc from Isengard by himself, and although he flightily abandoned it (as usual for the Men) to retake Fangorn Forest once again (with Gloin's help, again), the dwarves at least could push down garrison contingents now to secure, somewhat, the lands rushed over and out of by the southern human leaders. Orthanc never again came under Saruman's rule.

On the eighteenth week, Boromir and Gloin (mostly Gloin) retook Rohan again for the final time, while the forces of Mordor beat vainly against the dwarven shields in the East -- and while Gimli defended the Gap of Rohan, seized (for now) for dwarven management.


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King Dain Ironfoot methodically pushed into Angmar's goblin-ceded heartland, followed and soon joined by his Lonely Mountain ally King Brand -- who often, despite himself, thought long of Ithilia guarding those wretched brown lands every week.

He needn't have worried much: after week seventeen, the gathered leaders of Mordor simply refused to fight her again! -- preferring to strike what seemed weaker targets like Dagorlad.


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Whence they typically chose to retreat in dismay without even fighting!

By the nineteenth week, Gloin had joined Boromir and poor, mad king Theoden, in starting to eat away at Mordor's holdings around the White Mountain, starting at Cair Andros. Henceforth the Lidless Eye would be steadily stripped of resources with which to hire and train and breed troops to die on the flaming points of Dalean shafts and dwarven spears. Desperately, corrupted commanders in the West, unable to even bring troops to the field, strove to keep Gimli from closing off a potential retreat of Angmarian troops by taking the Endewaith. The vengeful dwarf hunted them down for daring to show their faces again instead! -- then hunted them further as they fled north into Cardoland, the final area still captured by Isengard. Rather than face him, some of those captains tried to retake Rhudaur: a fatal move either way.


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Gloin the dwarven elder caused some political ruckus by staunchly refusing to hand back Gondorian lands now that "real work" as he said would have to be done in evicting the Lidless forces from the region. Brand sent missives of consolation and assurance to his fellow Men, vouching that the Dwarves would depart from Rohan and Gondor lands, after the war had been settled. He did this in the North Downs while detachedly fending away a feeble sally from Gorkil's final army who, together with Morgormir the wight-lord, had now been cornered by Brand and Dain in a final land that the goblins refused to let loose.


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Much more importantly, on the twentieth week of the war, the first of Mordor's allies was wiped from the map: "Sharkey" crept away to face some ignominous fate in obscurity, as the former angelic power, maddened in his splintered-white colors, received news from the Seeing Eye himself, stabbing out from beyond the gates of Mordor, that Lurtz the Uruk-Hai commander, had relinquished the pastures of Cadorland.

Dain spared Gorkil a week more, as Brand and the garrisons behind him in Rhudaur fended away another set of foolish hatred. Meanwhile, Gloin and Ithilia decided the time had come to pen the Lidless foes behind the mountains of Mordor by taking the Dead Marshes.


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From there it was frankly a foregone conclusion: the Witch King had brought most of his leaders out of Angmar to destroy Gondor and Rohan, and now could not return to protect his waning conquered lands, the home of hobbits and western elves and Blue Mountain dwarves. His plans to reconstitute his ancient kingdom eroded away, week after week, as Brand and Dain marched around. Bizarrely, at the final extreme, a combination of fleeing Angmar commanders, and Mordor commanders using the southern route around the White Mountain, holed up in the Hornburg and on the twenty-seventh week actually retook Rohan away from Rohan one last time!

 
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It must be admitted that King Dain heavily debated whether to let the clearly inbred Rohan and Gondorian nobles recover management of their territories at all. Not that he was even slightly worried about a military reprisal should he keep them (or give them to Brand as a wedding gift -- rather misunderstanding that Ithilia wasn't human and would almost as quickly wed a corpse!) But Dain's distaste for killing humans, and pitiably weak ones at that, gave Brand a foothold for convincing the derisive king to let his fellow Men return to their homes and do with them as they would.

On week 28, the enemy fled from Minas Morgul rather than be driven out as catapults and archers approached the central undeath tower.


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On week 29, the Free Peoples invested Mount Doom.


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The orcan garrison bravely stood this time, while their commanders tried a doomed march from Mount Doom to seize the Black Gates -- guarded by dwarves, though under Gondorian management.

At last on the thirtieth week, Gloin and (of all people) Theoden King marched onto the Plains of Gorgoroth to deal the Lidless Eye in his tower the final blow.


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Only a hundred and seventeen orcs remained, at the end, to fall at the hands (and hooves) of the Free Captains.

The dwarves celebrated as might be expected: with feasting, drinking, and accounting!

   

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Dwarven logbooks estimated that for each dwarf (and/or human) who gave their lives to free the people of Middle-Earth in the war, they and their comrades had slain over nine-and-a-third enemies: a total of fifty thousand, five hundred and fifty-five foes, exactly!

Dain could hardly believe that the Gondor/Rohan Protectorate forces had even stumbled over twenty enemies with their horses while hieing hither and thither like airheaded ninnies. But in fact, his grudgingly careful assessing sergeants -- prodded somewhat by Brand for professional pride -- admitted that together the southern human troops had put down nine hundred and fifty-five enemies of their own.

"Hmph. That's almost respectable, all things considered. Although I imagine the elven lass did as well by herself." And Dain went back to slaking his thirst and hunger, celebrating the solid dwarven virtues -- and honoring his dead.

And if that barely bearded boy who had served so well as his ally couldn't convince that elf to improve her people's bloodline from their fairy, flighty ways -- well, Dain now recalled that the Men of Numenor had long ago soaked in elven magic or intermingled or something, so if that explained their ridiculous strategic foolery then maybe Brand's slightly broken heart would be just as well.

Dwarven quality, now: that's what Men sorely needed to thicken their blood, forward into the Age to come!