Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Well, there is no no-risk scenario.

The main risk of the first option is overextension, as said before by @AbeoLogos .

The main risk for the second option is the possibility that it gives the cloud barbs time to set up a formation/combo, especially if the hidden enemy is a shaman.

So this vote is pretty much to decide which risk we are more comfortable with
 
Well, there is no no-risk scenario.

The main risk of the first option is overextension, as said before by @AbeoLogos .

The main risk for the second option is the possibility that it gives the cloud barbs time to set up a formation/combo, especially if the hidden enemy is a shaman.

So this vote is pretty much to decide which risk we are more comfortable with
I think that they second is a bigger risk simply because they currently outnumber us. If they can organize the action economy is clearly on their side and we don't have any reinforcements coming.
 
That's literally the other option though. Why do people punish @yrsillar so? He reacts to player concerns and criticism by providing amazing contextualizing blurbs after vote options, and people respond by not even reading them.
Not really, Drive them before you is banking on Shen to protect them while we give all the barbarians something else to worry about. Yes it places the civilians at greater risk by actually trying to deal with the problem rather than treating the symptoms.
i voted drive them before you but im starting to come around to the other option after rereading. Mainly because this line " Ling Qi saw, and remembered a nightmare of fur and teeth, of screams and bloody bones, gnawed and cast aside." and the fact that we did not take the protect citizens choice then.
Uh no. The problem there was Ling Qi trying to pursue her own self preservation. Given the fact that Ling Qi is tapping into her icy nature to point Sixiang is worried she's probably already internalized the whole 'never again' and is going to precede to murder these people with significantly less doubts than she might otherwise have.

Because I love Ling Qi when she forces people to react. When she's the specter that comes out of the dark with no warning and ruins everything you've worked for. When she singlehandedly tries to invade a fortress built to hold her out. She steals that which you hold precious before you even know she's your enemy. So I'm going to go for proactive, to ghost in like a wraith strangling her lessers of warmth and qi and forcing the experienced barbarian raiders to either lose their chaff or be dragged out of position to prevent their destruction.

Moreover, simply being reactive against an enemy with faster strategic speeds is at best loss preventative. If we cower here in a defensive point there's nothing stopping the raiders for leaving for more vulnerable locales, in which case we just made them someone else's problem and don't necessarily have any support if we pursue. Letting them quit the field largely intact is a small loss for us. Not when we can rip their reds and yellows apart and leave their greens exposed.

[X] Drive them before you
 
That's literally the other option though. Why do people punish @yrsillar so? He reacts to player concerns and criticism by providing amazing contextualizing blurbs after vote options, and people respond by not even reading them.
Let them come talks of defending civilians, I'm voting Drive them before you to drive them away from the civilians. The latter explicitly mentions the ideas of breaking their morale and making them flee. Considering their superior numbers, I think that's the best thing we can do for the lower realm allies and civilians since we can't defend everyone.
 
i voted drive them before you but im starting to come around to the other option after rereading. Mainly because this line " Ling Qi saw, and remembered a nightmare of fur and teeth, of screams and bloody bones, gnawed and cast aside." and the fact that we did not take the protect citizens choice then.
Didn't we regret not trusting Shen Hu during that? So we should trust him now to handle his role.
 
Let them come talks of defending civilians, I'm voting Drive them before you to drive them away from the civilians. The latter explicitly mentions the ideas of breaking their morale and making them flee. Considering their superior numbers, I think that's the best thing we can do for the lower realm allies and civilians since we can't defend everyone.
It defends civilians by killing any barbs near them. That's plenty spear-like. I'm primarily objecting to the false implication, not just made by you, that Let them come isn't an offensive maneuver.


[X] Drive them before you

I'd be defensive if we have reinforcements coming but we ARE the reinforcements
And there's still another village to check out, as well as our own to return to. A plan that uses us as an essentially disposable asset to be risked, while not preserving our side's lesser assets as aggressively, seems very reckless in the broader context of our mission. Given the lack of reinforcements, our first priority should be conserving what forces we do have, not making gambits.
 
[X] Drive them before you

The two elements of nomad raids are their superior mobility(which we match) and ability to pick their fights. Their typical strategy is to hit Point A, wait for reinforcements to support Point A from Point B, hit Point B, and then the attack on Point A fades back. Repeat indefinitely.

I think the Cloud Tribes' primary strategic concern here is tying up all the Sect fliers. Once they can be sure of this, whether by defeating Ling QI(as the unexpected extra Green flier) or by having her hold a known position and deterring her from leaving, they can proceed with their main strategy.
the first and second realm shoulders running too and fro, battling the rain of arrows that fell from the sky, giving mortals time to flee
Those are some potent shoulders @yrsillar
 
Which option would be locking down and destroying as much of their force as can be caught by surprise? I think crushing what we can grasp rather than trying to chase greater numbers would be best.

Some dead and some hanging back would be better than many survivors retreating for other targets, and if feasible it would probably hurt morale more to ensure that nobody swallowed by the mists is seen alive again than to have a greater number escape with scratches from hungry shadows.
 
It defends civilians by killing any barbs near them. That's plenty spear-like. I'm primarily objecting to the false implication, not just made by you, that Let them come isn't an offensive maneuver.
That's a fair concern, awkward timing that my calling the aggressive option being "the spear" was after yours and I didn't see it til I posted :p

Something to be said for pinning the barbs for an organised strike is that it better allays previous fears of them circling back to undefended villages. The aggressive approach's chance of making them flee may end the battle here but they're mobile enough that if they decide to retreat through other settlements not many of our allies could likely follow.
 
Which option would be locking down and destroying as much of their force as can be caught by surprise? I think crushing what we can grasp rather than trying to chase greater numbers would be best.

Some dead and some hanging back would be better than many survivors retreating for other targets, and if feasible it would probably hurt morale more to ensure that nobody swallowed by the mists is seen alive again than to have a greater number escape with scratches from hungry shadows.
"Let them come" is more focused on keeping them bottled up and not letting them scraper until we get Shen Hu and the other noble on our side for a full assault.
Advance and push them back, slowly and methodically, keeping yourself between the barbarians and any civilians, do not let them maneuver, keep them pinned together by fear of your presence and only when your own forces have gathered and organize will you strike them in force.
 
"Let them come" is more focused on keeping them bottled up and not letting them scraper until we get Shen Hu and the other noble on our side for a full assault.
Yes. It isn't "turtle up", but rather "give our allies breathing room, get civilians to safety, and consolidate our forces before counterattacking". I.e., basically what we should be doing.

I can't help but feel that people are being overconfident in our ability to solo everything here. Like, if we were still in stealth and being asked if we wanted to aggressively sneak attack the leaders and nuke their formation in order to turn things around then that would be one thing, but that's not really where we are right now. We've already revealed ourselves. They're already regrouping in response. We've got people on the ground who, tbh, really need backup - assuming that our appraisal dudes for instance are going to be fine when fighting even odds isn't really safe.
Edit: in fact, if anything it looks like he's on the back foot?
Further out, she could sense one of the two nobles she had come out with still clashing with a third barbarian presence, a third realm and a half dozen seconds at least, or rather, being harried by them. This was the strength of the Cloud Tribesman, the supremacy of the skies over the lower realms. Had Ling Qi not herself used that much to her advantage in the past?

It isn't being inactive. It's just not going Leeroy Jenkins on a force many times larger than ours.
 
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