- Location
- Brazil
And if we hug them, they burn!
But the matter is, things need stabbing now. Battlemagic is in a few years.
Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest
- Thread starter Boney
- Start date
- Fantasy Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
But the matter is, things need stabbing now. Battlemagic is in a few years.
chocolote12
A Penguin Flailing Against The Keyboard Of Life.
We've got two animal wizards right next to us who'd love to have a bunch of baby dinos.
We have spent a decade making our underground palace into a home that fits us. In Stirland. We have spent our first professional honour and a small fortune on our fief. In Stirland. Our main source of income is a 36% stake in a company intimately tied to the economy of Stirland. Most of our friends live in Stirland. Our employees, tenants, underground contacts: Stirland.
Getting around to actually voting now. I've changed my mind on a couple of points.
[X] If any resistance does start to gather, they will be smashed apart by the very heavy cavalry of the Knightly Orders. Stand ready with them.
Nobody wants to take Petrescu's social action, so I don't care as much about joining the scouts. Nor do I want to get Mathilde typecast as 'just a scout', as it were. She's also got heavy armour and defensive magics, an amazing mount, high close combat skills, and Terror, so she makes for a pretty incredible addition to the army's shock cavalry. And that's saying a lot considering that most of that shock cavalry is composed of demigryphs.
[X] Grand Master Ruprecht Wulfhart
With the change in contribution, the Marksman didn't make so much sense for my social action. Of the two Grand Masters, I decided to go with the Ulrican. Even though they're supposed to be religiously opposed to Wizards, we have a couple of things going for us. One, for a Wizard we really don't use much magic. They're going to like that we get in the thick of it with a greatsword most of the time instead. Two, we have a wolf. They have wolves too.
[X] Test their skills in battle.
The one action I've kept from my provisional vote. I could also be swayed towards one of the Dispel-teaching votes, but they're not as useful as they seem. We've picked up Kragg the Grim who is one of the best dispellers in the entire Old World, if not the best, while Mathilde now has a spell-eating item, so it's less important that the journeymen -- who aren't going to be that great at it anyway -- are available for dispelling. If the army's being targeted by Battle Magic-scale spells, they're really not going to be any use, so it's mainly for if they or the units they're attached to are attacked by weaker mages.
[X] Do not purchase the strange Lustrian eggs.
I've turned against buying the eggs. We don't know what the roll is, unlike for the other two. On the one hand, they could be dead or unviable. Maybe they're just big eggs from an ultimately useless bird like a kiwi. On the other, they could be as amazing as a clutch of carnosaurs, stegadons, or similar giant Lustrian warbeasts. Either way isn't going to be worth it right now. If they're useless, we've wasted a sizeable amount of gold on a biological curiosity. But even if they were viable and held bastiladons inside, they're too fragile for travel and combat and anything that pops out of them isn't going to grow enough or be trained enough to be useful in this campaign.
I'd be open to buying them on the way back if they were still there, but that's beyond unlikely.
[ ] Purchase the Helldrake scales (100 gc).
[X] Do not purchase the Helldrake scales.
This one I'm not so sure about. The scales aren't perishable like the eggs, but they're still not going to be useful for a long time. When we get back to civilisation we'll be able to either improve Enchantment until we can make something out of them, or at the very least trade them to someone else for favours. But we still won't be able to use them until the end of the campaign.
[X] Purchase the title of a Border Princess (300 gc).
Surprisingly, this is the only option for purchase that doesn't force us to wait until after the fun's over to use it. Even if we don't want the land (I do), it comes with a title recognised by the dwarfs. You know what that means? If we buy this, all of the dwarfs in the army have to call us Princess Mathilde.
[X] If any resistance does start to gather, they will be smashed apart by the very heavy cavalry of the Knightly Orders. Stand ready with them.
Nobody wants to take Petrescu's social action, so I don't care as much about joining the scouts. Nor do I want to get Mathilde typecast as 'just a scout', as it were. She's also got heavy armour and defensive magics, an amazing mount, high close combat skills, and Terror, so she makes for a pretty incredible addition to the army's shock cavalry. And that's saying a lot considering that most of that shock cavalry is composed of demigryphs.
[X] Grand Master Ruprecht Wulfhart
With the change in contribution, the Marksman didn't make so much sense for my social action. Of the two Grand Masters, I decided to go with the Ulrican. Even though they're supposed to be religiously opposed to Wizards, we have a couple of things going for us. One, for a Wizard we really don't use much magic. They're going to like that we get in the thick of it with a greatsword most of the time instead. Two, we have a wolf. They have wolves too.
[X] Test their skills in battle.
The one action I've kept from my provisional vote. I could also be swayed towards one of the Dispel-teaching votes, but they're not as useful as they seem. We've picked up Kragg the Grim who is one of the best dispellers in the entire Old World, if not the best, while Mathilde now has a spell-eating item, so it's less important that the journeymen -- who aren't going to be that great at it anyway -- are available for dispelling. If the army's being targeted by Battle Magic-scale spells, they're really not going to be any use, so it's mainly for if they or the units they're attached to are attacked by weaker mages.
[X] Do not purchase the strange Lustrian eggs.
I've turned against buying the eggs. We don't know what the roll is, unlike for the other two. On the one hand, they could be dead or unviable. Maybe they're just big eggs from an ultimately useless bird like a kiwi. On the other, they could be as amazing as a clutch of carnosaurs, stegadons, or similar giant Lustrian warbeasts. Either way isn't going to be worth it right now. If they're useless, we've wasted a sizeable amount of gold on a biological curiosity. But even if they were viable and held bastiladons inside, they're too fragile for travel and combat and anything that pops out of them isn't going to grow enough or be trained enough to be useful in this campaign.
I'd be open to buying them on the way back if they were still there, but that's beyond unlikely.
[ ] Purchase the Helldrake scales (100 gc).
[X] Do not purchase the Helldrake scales.
This one I'm not so sure about. The scales aren't perishable like the eggs, but they're still not going to be useful for a long time. When we get back to civilisation we'll be able to either improve Enchantment until we can make something out of them, or at the very least trade them to someone else for favours. But we still won't be able to use them until the end of the campaign.
[X] Purchase the title of a Border Princess (300 gc).
Surprisingly, this is the only option for purchase that doesn't force us to wait until after the fun's over to use it. Even if we don't want the land (I do), it comes with a title recognised by the dwarfs. You know what that means? If we buy this, all of the dwarfs in the army have to call us Princess Mathilde.
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[X] Ulthar's Rangers and Petrescu's marksmen are ranging far to ensure that any greenskin that claps eyes on the Expedition don't live to tell the tale. Assist them.
[X] Ask him to teach Johann to Dispel.
[X] Help Esbern teach Seija to Dispel.
[X] Purchase the strange Lustrian eggs (200 gc).
[X] Purchase the Helldrake scales (100 gc).
[X] Do not purchase the title of a Border Princess.
[x] You've heard that greatswords and greataxes are near identical in the way they're used, and you happen to be surrounded by experts in the art of the axe. Learn how to use one.
[x] Introduce him to the dwarven smiths so he can try to convince them to teach him.
[x] Ulthar's Rangers and Petrescu's marksmen are ranging far to ensure that any greenskin that claps eyes on the Expedition don't live to tell the tale. Assist them.
[X] Ask him to teach Johann to Dispel.
[X] Help Esbern teach Seija to Dispel.
[X] Purchase the strange Lustrian eggs (200 gc).
[X] Purchase the Helldrake scales (100 gc).
[X] Do not purchase the title of a Border Princess.
[x] You've heard that greatswords and greataxes are near identical in the way they're used, and you happen to be surrounded by experts in the art of the axe. Learn how to use one.
[x] Introduce him to the dwarven smiths so he can try to convince them to teach him.
[x] Ulthar's Rangers and Petrescu's marksmen are ranging far to ensure that any greenskin that claps eyes on the Expedition don't live to tell the tale. Assist them.
Excuse me, that's "Princess Dame Magister Mathilde Weber".
- Location
- Brazil
[X] If any resistance does start to gather, they will be smashed apart by the very heavy cavalry of the Knightly Orders. Stand ready with them.
[X] Grand Master Ruprecht Wulfhart
[X] Ask him to teach Johann to Dispel.
Point.
[X] Purchase the title of a Border Princess (300 gc).
[X] Purchase the strange Lustrian eggs (200 gc).
Even if they can't contribute, one doesn't simply pass the chance for dinosaur pets.
[X] Grand Master Ruprecht Wulfhart
[X] Ask him to teach Johann to Dispel.
Point.
[X] Purchase the title of a Border Princess (300 gc).
[X] Purchase the strange Lustrian eggs (200 gc).
Disagree, they are bioengineering warmachines, they will in all likelihood grow quickly. I highly doubt they can't survive travelling in a padded wagon. The campaign is liable to take a few years.
Even if they can't contribute, one doesn't simply pass the chance for dinosaur pets.
- Location
- Detroit, Michigan
Foresight and Thirst-for-Shinys rarely overlap. Sometimes they do and great things happen (see the new BAMF Belt), other times not so much.
Technically just about everything on the Warhammer Fantasy world is a bioengineered war machine thanks to the Old Ones and their war against Chaos. But while the Lizardmen were their direct servants, their warbeasts are just 'natural' monstrous creatures that are captured from the wild. I don't think there's any reason to believe they'll be fully grown by the time we get to Karak Eight Peaks in a few months. Maybe the halls of the dwarfs are big enough to fight in with dinosaurs, but I feel like that would be a tactical error when both the goblins and the skaven have the numbers to overwhelm anything that's not a chokepoint with pure weight of bodies.
- Location
- Aotearoa
Excuse you.
I think you'll find it's Adbarazi Princess Dame Magister Mathilde Weber Govibarazak.
Guile
Having a really great time right now
Even if we're spending half of our entire fortune just taking this random trader's word that dinosaurs are going to pop out?
Entirely aside from the logistical concerns of birthing, raising and training a creature (or five) on the road to war, our new 'dinosaurs' could turn out to be extra-large chicken eggs or something.
- Location
- Aotearoa
Warhammer Chocobos are probably really scary.
Not even necessarily from extra-large chickens. Kiwis produce the largest eggs relative to their body size of all real world birds, and they're about the size of an emu or ostrich's egg.
Warhammer Chocobos have an extra pair of legs. Demigryphs are indeed terrifying.
chocolote12
A Penguin Flailing Against The Keyboard Of Life.
... Are you trying to dissuade us from this option?
I've yet to be convinced that "biological curiosity" - assuming that's all we get from the eggs - still doesn't trump any value we might theoretically get out of the title to a patch of mud somewhere.
I mean, maybe if the title actually meant something? But we're talking about "border princess." And if we're going to throw tons of resources down a hole to make a title mean something, we've already got one to start with.
I mean, maybe if the title actually meant something? But we're talking about "border princess." And if we're going to throw tons of resources down a hole to make a title mean something, we've already got one to start with.
Guile
Having a really great time right now
We don't have to buy either of them, y'know.
We could just... choose not to bankrupt ourselves buying curiosities.
But if I were going to argue in favor of being a Border Princess, well, at least being a Border Princess is something we get access to right away, instead of going into favor-debt with the Ambers trying to figure out how to raise a bunch of war-beasts.
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- Location
- Memphis, TN
Seriously the description of the land itself calls it poor and bandit infested, cause that is what 90% of border princes are, not to mention the constant threat of a Waaagh coming along and killing the the shit out of everyone there
You think giving Amber Wizards access to biological curiosities they'd never get ahold of themselves is the kind of thing that costs you favour?
Imrix
Periodically Malevolent QM
And then we abandoned all of them as soon as we had our affairs in order to go sign up with a dwarfish expedition heading almost a thousand miles away. Methinks we're not so attached to the place as you'd like to believe.
Guile
Having a really great time right now
... That was how I thought 'Hey guys, spend all your off-time helping me take care of these creatures I bought' works, yes.
- Location
- Aotearoa
Well, all else being equal, the Niter should be earning us 100g/year, the holdings maybe 70g (less any reinvestment), then there is the debt paydown from the EIC.
If/when we come back, we should have many hundreds of gold banked. Again.
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Guile
Having a really great time right now
We paid down our debt to the EIC? I thought we blew it all on the fief, resulting in a zero sum between EIC debt and niter sales.
- Location
- Aotearoa
I just meant it is being paid down passively, from our share of EIC profits.
Niter sales of 100g year are being held in the EIC vaults.
I would have liked the opportunity to vote on a EIC reinvestment/capital injection option, but Niter sale proceeds are just accumulating.
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DarkLight140
Credit to Team
- Location
- Lost in my thoughts
I guess my biggest issue with the eggs is that we have no evidence the eggs are even still alive and will hatch into anything at all. I don't care whether dissecting an exotic embryo makes for a mildly amusing evening's entertainment; it's not worth 200g.
Warding against the fail state of "keeping a dinosaur egg alive during intercontinental travel was beyond the abilities of a mundane human, and they are now worthless" is something that could be trivially accomplished by having one of the Ambers or the Jade come down and witchsight at them before purchase, since presumably "living creature" shows up on both their Winds' sensory input. It admittedly wouldn't stop them from being alive but useless, but it would at least let us be confident that we're not dropping enough gold to buy multiple masterwork dwarven pistols on a handful of unborn corpses.
However, in the absence of the ability to make sure that we're not getting a dud, I can't support this. The worst expected result is "get nothing" and the best expected result is "get something in several years after a lot of work". I don't even want to do all that work, which means if we buy them I'll be voting to gift them immediately to the Ambers and wash our hands of them anyway.
Warding against the fail state of "keeping a dinosaur egg alive during intercontinental travel was beyond the abilities of a mundane human, and they are now worthless" is something that could be trivially accomplished by having one of the Ambers or the Jade come down and witchsight at them before purchase, since presumably "living creature" shows up on both their Winds' sensory input. It admittedly wouldn't stop them from being alive but useless, but it would at least let us be confident that we're not dropping enough gold to buy multiple masterwork dwarven pistols on a handful of unborn corpses.
However, in the absence of the ability to make sure that we're not getting a dud, I can't support this. The worst expected result is "get nothing" and the best expected result is "get something in several years after a lot of work". I don't even want to do all that work, which means if we buy them I'll be voting to gift them immediately to the Ambers and wash our hands of them anyway.
- Location
- Aotearoa
Reasonable argument. Futile, in the face of Shiny Dino Box, but reasonable.
One campaign help, one social (to unlock future options), one training the journeymanlings.
[X] Ulthar's Rangers and Petrescu's marksmen are ranging far to ensure that any greenskin that claps eyes on the Expedition don't live to tell the tale. Assist them.
[X] Marshal Titus Muggins
[X] Help Esbern teach Seija to Dispel.
[X] Do not purchase the strange Lustrian eggs.
[X] Purchase the Helldrake scales (100 gc).
[X] Purchase the title of a Border Princess (300 gc).