User:Matryx/Guides/Dominions 3 Newbie Game/Update 043
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Sauromatia's Update
Meanwhile, in Holy Sauromatia...
Early Summer, year 3
A hurricane struck. Yet again. This hurricane happened to strike my earthmage-producing fortress. This has been happening far too often to be a random event. At this point I'm convinced that another pretender is behind the glut of tropical storms. I'll assume that someone is trying to soften me up prior to an invasion. Either that or I'm getting too paranoid.
Yoni has built a fortress in the province of Suthu, which borders my own northern territories. I can't tell exactly how strong Yoni is in this fortress, but based on the score graphs I'm assuming Yoni has a minimal force there. I'm going to risk a quick attack on it with my nearby army of archers and infantry.
Noobis the Great had to stop for a few months to make some magic items for my researchers. Next month he'll be done with magic items, and will be able to continue his search for more hidden sites.
I've ordered my sorceresses that have ability in blood magic to my central territory of Vepitre. They will use their sanguine dowsing rods to search for more blood slaves, which will be useful for spreading my dominion via blood sacrifice and for creating blood magic items. The sorceresses also have a strong army in tow, which can be used to reinforce neighboring territories in the event of an attack or to patrol their own province when unrest from all the blood hunting gets out of hand.
Mid Summer, year 3
A three way fight took place in Suthu involving Yoni (the owners of the fortress), the noble Sauromatia, and the shady Kailasa. Neither Kailasa nor myself meant to attack each other, but since we haven't been communicating it is very easy to stumble into one another as we plan our attacks.
The first battle fought was Sauromatia vs Yoni, where we won without any losses. The fight was really rather dull.
The second fight against Kailasa involved some deaths on our part, but it was still an overwhelming victory. We had enough troops left over to tear down the walls of the fortress in the same month. We both made some interesting mistakes, though.
Both sides of the accidental fight between myself and Kailasa suffered from placement problems or scripting errors. Kailasa's melee-based vinemen were stuck at the rear of the battle and did not really get a chance to participate.
The rear placement of the vine men works to Kailasa's advantage, oddly enough. Thanks to a little bit of neglect in specifying targets, Sauromatia's archers ended up fixating on the vine men and marching forward to shoot at rear targets, allowing them to get within range of Kailasa's superior melee troops. Had I told my archers to only target the closest targets they would not have made such a foolish choice.
Incidentally, this fight is a good example of a problem that plagues nations that rely on massed archer fire. Your archers may be good, but sometimes an arrow or three is bound to fall short of its target:
And when those arrows fall short, they fall right into the friendly melee units. You know - the melee units that are putting their tiny pixelated lives on the line to protect the archers from harm. The archers mean well, but I have a feeling that an arrow in your back hurts just as much as a monkey spear in your front.
I'll have to send an apology to Kailasa, just to let them know that we hold no grudges. I'd rather not fight them if I can help it. After all, why not keep relations civil?
The blood hunt is starting off small, but going well. We harvested slaves and immediately put down all the unrest that the hunt generated.
A true blood nation would scoff at such low numbers from a blood hunt, but Sauromatia is not completely dependent on blood like some other nations are. To us, blood slaves are sometimes useful in combat, can be used to make a few nifty magic items, and (most importantly) can be used to focus religious belief with laserlike accuracy through the magic of blood sacrifice.
Speaking of faith, it's time to build yet another temple. The former Lanka territories just aren't pious enough, and I need to play catchup with R'lyeh. Those fish people are building temples almost everywhere they can. I was able to keep my homeland faith bolstered with Noobis' presence alone while he searched for magic sites near my capital. Now that he's moved to the northwest, I'll have to keep the faithful focused with other methods.
Late Summer, year 3
The blood slave harvest is going well. 2 commanders found 13 blood slaves in one month. The natives don't really appreciate their activities, but my patrols are strong enough to squash anyone who gets too vocal. Still, I might be better off with moving my blood hunt party west into the forests. The forests are light on income and heavy on resources, but the loss of resources in that specific territory won't hurt me as much as a loss of gold revenue from Vepitre.
4 of my less competent death mages have been ordered to cast Dark Knowledge instead of researching this turn. They will be searching some of my northern territories (territories that Noobis doesn't plan on personally visiting) for death magic sites. If any of the target regions hide death magic sites I will know about them next month.
My armies have taken over the fortress at Suthu after meeting just a token resistance. I didn't plan well for my invasion force - the region doesn't have enough food for the force that I brought with me. I'll need to send part of the army north into Wold to avoid further starvation. If I leave the entire army here they will begin to contract diseases next month as they starve to death. On the plus side, an attacking army would have to bring portable food sources (magic items) with them in order to maintain a siege. I could hole up in this fortress indefinitely so long as my commanders have enough food-generating magic items.
Just so you know, diseases and afflictions are pretty horrible:
This poor soul is stricken with the worst disease of them all - old age. Every turn he becomes more and more feeble and gains more and more afflictions until he finally crumbles apart into old man components. Old age afflictions can turn into a macabre game of sorts. Sometimes I eagerly open my game just to see how many afflictions my oldest mages can carry while still clinging to life.
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