Abysia CB 5.0 AAR

[RedRover]

This game is unusual for me on several levels. It started as a 10-Turn Test. It is my first game after an extended break. It is my first game with the Concept Balance 5.0 mod. It is my first game with low magic settings and slow research. It is the second outing for this particular Pretender chassis (see below). While it is not my first game at the Difficult level, it�s the first one in recent months; so far I�ve been pretty happy soloing at Normal.

10-Turn TEST: Because I intended to run just 10 turns, I didn�t keep close track of income, gems, etc. the way I would in a dedicated AAR. However, the game just sucked me in, and I have kept playing. I am well past turn 50 as I post this first installment. Thus, any advice on strategy or play techniques, while welcome, is unlikely to be relevant to the game�s current progress. With this in mind, feel free to comment. I will post play notes as I transcribe them.

TEST OUTCOME

Cradle map with 8 nations. Nondefault settings: Independents 6. Sites 30. Research slow.
Password off. Rename on. Cheat Protection disabled*. AI Difficult.
Mods: Complete Concept Balance 5.0, Oceania 1.0.
Nations: Abysia (me), Arcoscephale, Caelum, C�tis, Man, Pythium, Oceania, Ulm
*I always do this. I think it�s twitchy, had difficulties before it was patched, and haven�t used it since.

Pretender: Manticore 7S3N Dom: 5 (note: S=Astral; other paths abbreviated by first letter; N=Nature.)
Scales: 2 Order/1 Production/3 Heat/0 Growth/-1 Misfortune/1 Magic
Fort: Citadel (much cheaper in the CB mod!)
Provinces Owned: 7 (poised to take 2)
Current Research: Evo 2 (Evo 3 will be reached turn 11)
Research Rate: +25 (Bid on wizard Dagon turn 10)
Gem Income: 5F (starting income�low magic means low magic)
Income: 398 gold
End of Turn Treasury: 8
Capital Resources: 160 (have taken three of the four provinces adjacent to the capital).

Leaders: Manticore*, 1 Warlord* (Prophet), 1 Assassin* (*starting leaders); 2 Apprentices, 2 Salamander Priests, 2 independent Commanders. Turn 10, buying another Apprentice.
Mercenaries: Blackfist (about half strength); Dagon (renegade mage) bid on turn 10.
Field Armies: Two. The first is about out of steam (probably last attack on turn 11). The other is going into combat for the first time on turn 11. (An army is about 12 Abysian Infantry, plus 20 or so Independent or Mercenary foot, supported by a Salamander priest).

Provincial Structures: Temple construction ordered in province #169 (Lizard Men, south of special magic site), to be followed by a Lab.

Strategy: Normally I clear the provinces around the capital first. However, I start in province 157 (east continent, northwest quadrant, well inland), giving me access to two of the inland special magic sites�if I can get there quickly enough (as opposed to clearing out around the capital and heading for the coast). This decision is driven by the relative scarcity of magic sites in this game.

By turn 10, I have secured the first special magic site and conquered the Lizard Man province directly south of it. Intelligence says my two paths to the second site (an island with one access point) are blocked by a 70-man force and a 60-man force, respectively. The latter route is quicker (three moves, opposed to four), but farther from my capital, so reinforcement will be slower.


((Flashback
This test is actually the second try with this setup. I wasn�t doing a 10-turn test then, or recording an After Action Report, so the following details are sketched from memory. The first Pretender was generally the same, except the Manticore had Earth instead of Nature magic, a Mage Tower instead of a Citadel, and no Production scale. C�tis (default nation) declared war on me around turn 20 and popped the global spell �Foul Air� around turn 30. The war was a major blunder on my part�I provoked it too early in the game.

I discovered later that when the war started, C�tis was greatly outbuilding me in raw number of troops. I had a fortified chokepoint between us, but by turn 25 he was hitting it with 30-40 infantry plus a half dozen Bog Beasts every single turn, while a typical defense for me was 8-12 Abysian Infantry and scattered scum troops. Turned out, he could reach the chokepoint from his capital before I could reach it from mine. The chokepoint was changing hands about every turn, until I managed to clear it long enough to build 25 province defense (PD). The next few turns, the PD died every turn, but I always seemed to have 1 or 2 unbroken regular infantry when the smoke cleared, just a little more battered than before. (I would have been history by turn 24, except that I managed to get a Wand of Wild Fire up there, so by turn 30, C�tis was still trying to pry my bloody fingers off the province.)

After that, though, with no way to counter either disease or the global spell, and with all my income being sucked into the battle for the chokepoint, things were pretty much over. As of turn 30, I had not discovered a single Astral site and was still at L1 Enchantment (I had been concentrating on Fire, Earth, and Blood magic�Evocation, Blood, and Construction schools�and Dispel is a fifth level Enchantment). I discontinued the game at this point, and started over.

The experience with Foul Air reminded me of some earlier experiences with C�tis and the Burden of Time global spell, before that was patched. Isolated event? C�tis is going to be on my priority opponent list for some time, I think.
End Flashback

Overall, the restart is decent for a single player game, but not nearly good enough for multiplayer, IMO. It may have been a mistake not to send the Manticore out conquering early, but I chose troops over researchers for early expansion. I need the Manticore as a researcher, and I�m a little skittish about getting early afflictions on the Pretender, anyway.

Projected: I will be pursuing an inland strategy for the next 10 moves or so. At this time, only one black candle is visible, in a sea province off the west coast (#135). Turns 11-20 should see the start of a Blood economy (I usually prefer non-blood magic paths, but this game is an experiment). I will probably build a big Fire mage soon, and send one of the Apprentices out blood hunting.