Jotunheim:Utgard AAR

[Gateway103]

Originally posted by Arryn:

quote:

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Originally posted by Kelan:
Another weapon you can give a commander that normally just stays in the back is the Rod of the Phoenix.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'd already planned to make them. At the time I was equipping some of my priests with Sceptres I lacked the gem income to build Rods in significant quantities. Sceptres = 5 gems, Rods = 20 (now 15 w/Hammers). The Rod is considerably more effective than the Sceptre. I've used them before and they are pretty much auto-kills for most normal units. And a priest with one is almost like the Energizer Bunny, he keeps killing and killing. The 5 fatigue per is standard for magical items, but in the case of the Rod, it means a lot of kills before the wielder has to rest. Only castle sieges might Last long enough for that to happen.

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Here is a thought for making more use out of your fire gems based on your gem income at turn 40, may or may not be foolish

To get more use out of the preciou few Rod of Phoenix you may forge out of your limited fire gems, you may consider giving the lucky pyromanic Energizer Bunnies a Boot of Quickness and possibly an Amulet of Resilience (for reinvigoration 5).

While neither of these equiptment are cheap gem-wise given your current gem income (W22,N11), they really make those bunnies go the distance. With just BoQ, you'll kill 2 each turn, with enough fuel to go for 10 turns. With the Amulet also, you'll extend the effectiveness to 2 kill/turn for 20 turns, and then 1 kill/turn for the rest of the battle (effectively giving you 2+ rods, but spreading the cost among 3 gem types. Too bad you can't use these 2+ virtual rods at different places simultaneously...) And if you are lucky, some of them may even pick up Heroic Quickness with all the firework

This way you can reap the benefit of the Rods without mass producing them (your fire gem income is 18, which means it'll take 2 turns to make just a Rod, without alchemy of course. So you can't really mass producing them yet)

Just a thought

-Gateway103

[ March 20, 2004, 07:25: Message edited by: Gateway103 ]

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by LintMan:
Norfleet: Have you at all considered writing an AAR for an undead campaign, maybe from an MP game? I gather from what you've written here that the strategy for the undead is very different, so I think it'd make for a very educational read.

I've considered it, but there's a few obstacles to doing this:

#1: I'm old, and I have a long beard. If I don't write it while I still remember it, I'm not going to remember it in any detail.

#2: I tend to play games that run at a fair clip: It's a little difficult to gather enough to do an accurate reporting, although I did PM the final turns of "The Revenge" to Arryn. If Arryn wishes to help compile them, perhaps editting some of my snarkier comments out, that'd be fine by me, as the game is now more or less over.

#3: I rarely play undead Ermor in SP in anything other than test games. It's too much like napalming fish in a barrel.

[Gandalf Parker]

Keep in mind people that there are alot of ways to do an AAR. Some prefer a more RPG Version with comments from the god and reports from scouts, planning sessions with generals and maybe even some chewing outs. Others prefer a more strategy-game format. Blow-by-blow with discussions about unit stats and less use of names in referring to commanders or provinces. And of course some are somewhere in-between. We arent all going to agree on the style we like but since some will like and find it useful then its a desired AAR.

Personally Ive been debating trying one myself. Online. Lots of links to captured images of the map, battle replays, scoreBoards. I dont think Im disciplined enough to do either strategy or RPG by itself. I will probably bounce back and forth but if I use italics to refer to out-of-roleplay comments then that seems to be kindof standard. Actually I think the standard seems to be to use regular text for whatever style you would use the most, and italics to mark whichever style is lesser. In my case I think RPG would be dominant.

[SATANS PAWN]

This AAR (just my opinion) was not that good. Maybe next time.

>>>THE HORNED KING<<<

[ March 23, 2004, 04:16: Message edited by: Zen ]

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally posted by SATANS PAWN:
This AAR (just my opinion) was not that good. Maybe next time.

I think maybe this AAR is not your preferred style. I would suspect that any AAR of Arryns is likely to also not meet your preferred style. It also probably wont be neccessary to jump in each time to let us know that.

Since you didnt mention what you felt would be more to your liking Im afraid that I cant point to other AARs here that you might enjoy but feel free to read them all and stick with the ones you find enjoyable.

[ March 20, 2004, 17:29: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

[Shudson66]

Hey Arryn,

Wonderful, AAR, I recieved my copy of DOM2 two weeks ago. I was just getting killed everytime. Mostly due to laziness and missing things I should not have. But after reading this AAR and taking some of the advise you Norfleet, Zen and others have posted here I finally won a game as the Jotuns. Now I am trying one as the ACRO with higher AI levels. Once again thanks and keep up the good work.

[Wyatt Hebert]

I would also like to chime in with congratulations for Arryn on this wonderful AAR. The rp'ing ones are nice, but sometimes (especially for us new players) the pure strategy element is nice.

I'm thinking of starting a newbie AAR (i.e. an AAR from a completely acknowledged neophyte) in the hope that I can get pointers in the middle of the game that might prompt some good strategy commentary from the experienced crowd... something like a 'simulator' run in a more advanced setting, with the older players (and I mean more experienced ) acting as the training officers.

If it would work as planned, I would imagine it could be a good read for new players.

Also, Arryn, with the risk of making this go even slower, I'm thinking of the possibilities of explaining more often why you are doing certain things. Personally, I haven't looked at the screenshots, but I think I'm going to need to so as to fully comprehend the situation, tho I'm learning the Orania map quite well, actually.

Anyways, good job, and keep it coming.

I'll post more often now that I've read the whole thing. It's taken me a week or more of hit-and-run reading to finish this!

Wyatt

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Shudson66:
Wonderful, AAR, I recieved my copy of DOM2 two weeks ago.

Thanks! And congrats on your new addiction.

I was just getting killed everytime. Mostly due to laziness and missing things I should not have. But after reading this AAR and taking some of the advise you Norfleet, Zen and others have posted here I finally won a game as the Jotuns.

I understand what you mean. I, too, get annoyed when I forget to move a unit (in my haste to get to the next turn), or I don't anticipate the need for more supplies, or I research something and/or cast a spell that I then cannot make good use of at the time. From reading the AAR you'll have seen me make all these mistakes, and more than once. Heh, it's particularly annoying when one makes these mistakes in public for everyone to read about. Which is why I try to point out when I make them so that all of you reading the AAR won't make them yourselves.

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Wyatt Hebert:
I would also like to chime in with congratulations for Arryn on this wonderful AAR. The rp'ing ones are nice, but sometimes (especially for us new players) the pure strategy element is nice.

Thanks for the praise, Wyatt, and for your perseverance in reading the whole thing.
I strongly urge you to go forward with your own AAR. IMO, you can not have too many newbie AARs, and certainly never too many if they are well-written (informative and interesting).

With regards to my AAR, you do need to look at the screenshots to get a feel for the overall strategic situation. It's one thing for me to describe that I will attack province X containing Y numbers of enemies with Z number of my troops, and another to actually see what it looks like on the map with the relative army strengths. You can also see ALL the potential enemy threats, some of which I sometimes won't mention in the text because I know that they can be seen on the screenshots.

I will endeavor to try to go into even more detail as to why I do some of the things I do (and when I do them). One example that you may wonder about is why I've researched schools in the order I have. I'll make a special post about the choices I've made in this regard to fill you (and others) in on it.

[Arryn]

I just wanted to notify all of you faithful AAR readers that I will be gone from the forum starting Sunday 28 March until mid-April. I have to travel out of state to go take care of my elderly mother (82) who'll be undergoing shoulder surgery (to repair torn ligaments) next week. The AAR will resume after I return home. (My mother has no Net connection, and the town she lives in has no publically-accessible Net connections where I could hook up my laptop -- in case anyone's curious as to why I won't be posting while I'm away from home.)

Try not to go into AAR withdrawal during the 2.5 weeks I'm away. Go nag Peter or Charon or any of the other good AAR writers to post a few more turns of their AARs.