KotR Out of Character Thread V

[econ21]

Same routine as before. First come, first serve, whoever gets the save let the others know and then provide a link to the new uploaded save so the next person in line can continue.

Yes, Warluster: go ahead and play out your battle, but don't forget to load up the savegame promptly for those next on the scene.

[Warluster]

I have fought the battle, and killed the lot of 'em again. (sigh) but can't upload untill this afternoon due to work, sorry!

[FactionHeir]

It only take likes a minute to upload

[OverKnight]

Since Dutch_guy will play his battle(s) "sometime tomorrow", Warluster's delay is not too bad. I would have liked the save to be available
for FLYdude, who's in Arizona I believe, but I don't have any confirmation he'll be able to play tonight anyway. Let's just keep going.

[Stern]I would appreciate it in the future that before someone downloads and plays the save that they have means to upload promptly. Despite having a battle report and such, play can't continue until that save is uploaded.[/Stern]

Remember we're here to have fun, but efficient and timely fun.

[Dutch_guy]

Since Dutch_guy will play his battle(s) "sometime tomorrow", Warluster's delay is not too bad.

I decided to play the battle tomorrow because of Warluster not having the time to upload, which I assume will have happened when I wake up tomorrow.

[OverKnight]

I was unaware of this little wrinkle.

We stick to the originial plan. If we lose a day, that just means I have less time to wait for direct2drive to get its patch out.

[FactionHeir]

Maybe if Warluster doesn't mind fighting his battle again, Dutch_guy could fight his now? I think overall that would save time.
But then it depends on how time critical it is.

[OverKnight]

Alright, hypothetically, Dutch_guy and FLYdude, would you be able to you play your battles now?

[flyd]

Well, I may seem to be around, but I should be busy. So, while available now in an emergency, I would much rather get to it in a few hours' time.

[OverKnight]

Thanks for the offer, but let's stick with what we got. Warluster will upload the save, Dutch_guy will play it, and then I hope FLYdude has some time tomorrow night. This syncs up well with the time zone differences and I get the feeling that if I try to futz with this anymore, I'll just make things worse.

[Ignoramus]

You realise that we can't give Jerusalem to the Pope? He is still on that fleet, and as such contact is impossible.

[TinCow]

Not in the latest save. He's landed on Corsica.

[OverKnight]

Yup, the Pope's on Corsica. I mentioned it in the Chancellor's report when he made landfall. I've moved a diplomat right next to him this turn that will contact him when needed.

Now, the possibility exists with the wonky diplomacy AI that his Holiness could refuse our gift for some weird reason. Sometimes, the AI seems to get suspicious if you're too generous. I've got my fingers crossed.

[Ignoramus]

I still can't believe that we haven't captured Sardinia or Corsica yet. However, maybe that may happen soon.

[Stuperman]

I still can't believe that we haven't captured Sardinia or Corsica yet. However, maybe that may happen soon.

I'd second that

[OverKnight]

Hey, I was right there with you in 1140, but the majority of people didn't want to finish them off then. Until the Crusade is complete we can't move on them anyway. Even then, they're pretty high on Papal standing so it might not be the wisest thing to try to finish them off.

[Ignoramus]

I'm just worried about the relative ease with which the Crusade has marched through Palestine. Unless they get ambushed suddenly by an army of Turks like at Dorylaeum.

[OverKnight]

The Crusade did eviscerate forty Egyptian units on their way to Palestine. We've earned a turn's worth of peaceful travel. The units in Antioch, Jihad remnants and others could still march south.

[Warluster]

Okay, I am really really sorry for the delay, but I thought i'd have time but was rushed, sorry for causing all the fuss! Will be faster next time!

I am uploading now.

[Warluster]

Save is uploaded.

DO I have to do another Battle Report? Because the battle was a exact repeat of the last one, go behind them, slaughter the good cavalry and infantry with Jobst, then frontal charge with the rest and their all gone.

ANyway, here is the screen:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Pretty easy, I wanna deal with some better units now! lol.

[OverKnight]

Posting a battle report is completely optional. I enjoy doing them myself. Still, killing rebels is necessary but often boring task. Nice kill ratio by the way, it's not like you're fighting peasants, they had some good units.

I assume Friedrich is knighted?

[Warluster]

Yep, he shall be knighted.

Thinking on doing a co-op story with xdeathfire about it. What do you think xdeathfire?

The battle was pretty hard, as Jobst nearly got killed!

Anyway, how long untill the Crusaders reach Jerusalam? ANd if we suck anymore generals out of the Reich then it will be empty of leaders!

[FactionHeir]

Its actually scary how few troops the egyptians and turks have left. Egyptians do have another full stack but its hidden somewhere in the northern mountains...
Also checked on finances and turks and egyptians seem to be near 0. Happened in my SP campaign too, where I gave em 40k a turn and next turn they'd be broke again (because the AI doesn't seem restricted by unit pool, its pool is always full...bug or intended)

[Dutch_guy]

OK, I will be picking up the save in the next 5 minutes, and will fight the battle immediately after that.

[TinCow]

Its actually scary how few troops the egyptians and turks have left. Egyptians do have another full stack but its hidden somewhere in the northern mountains...
Also checked on finances and turks and egyptians seem to be near 0. Happened in my SP campaign too, where I gave em 40k a turn and next turn they'd be broke again (because the AI doesn't seem restricted by unit pool, its pool is always full...bug or intended)

We've smashed two full Egyptian stacks and one full Turkish stack. That's bound to have some impact on them. There are still some large Egyptian armies around, but they are on their borders, where you would expect them to be. If you want a chance at the Egyptians summoning some reinforcements, you shouldn't be pushing to get into Acre by attacking the reinforcements that are adjacent to the settlement. Spend a few turns besieging the place, or better yet just take Jerusalem and then deal with Acre afterwards.

[FactionHeir]

Actually Gaza is a citadel so they have better chances of getting reinforcements there than in Acre where we already stand at the gates.
The main problem the turks and egyptians have right now is lack of funds anyway. Leaving them the castles won't make them train more as their current upkeep (especially after losing Jerusalem) will be too high with their full stack to the north to hire more.

[TinCow]

No, they won't train units there, but it will give them time to move armies from other places to help defend the places. Regardless, I don't see how you can complain about their weakness and then push to take more settlements from them as fast as possible.

[FactionHeir]

I would like to think so, and a human player would do that too, but experience and script files say otherwise.
If you have more than twice the frontline balance of military power (and we have ~4x or 5x) the AI will stay inside its cities and defend those instead of moving armies about to defend a city where you currently are, as they are aware the place is lost.

Right now, the only actual army they can move is north of Adana and that one will at best attack Adana or else just camp near Antioch. They have nothing south of Gaza that they can realistically send towards our position within 4 turns even. Plus even if they could, as I said above, they won't - they'll stay in the regions they currently are in due to "deep_defense"

As you may be aware, I am not complaining about their weakness at all but merely posting observations in terms of comparing to my SP campaigns. The OOC thread is to banter anyway. We have Mongols to worry about soon enough anyway.

[TinCow]

Yeah, I'm eager to see the Mongols as well, especially with a 1.2 campaign and battle AI. Hopefully we won't be so powerful in the region by then that they won't be a challenge. I would love to a see a crisis caused by the loss of settlements and generals to the Mongol hordes.

What year is it that they finally show up on the map? 1240? 1260?

[FactionHeir]

1224 the latest, 1208 the earliest I think. That's the warn. 4-8 years later the first wave.