Halkegenia Online Thread 22 - Kill Sheffield Vol. 2

I didn't say they had Minotaurs, I said they had Ogre's and Troll's which had tough skin.

And then pointed out that the only example of "Tough Skin" we had on a magical creature was with the Minotaur. And just what it's skin was shown to be capable of standing up to.

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough.

That is worse Vaermina. That is like saying, I heard that boiling water and magma are both hot. Then I heard that magma is hot enough to instantly char someone. So hot water and hot magma both instantly char someone who touches them.

I can also describe both a 6'2" man and a 12' Ogre as big. That does not mean that the man is as tall as the ogre.

I can describe salsa and H2SO4 (sulfiric acid) as acidic. That does not mean that both will eat through flesh in minutes.

Do you see where your assumptions are a problem?


Edit: I actually use the "ad absurdem" argument to disprove things. As I show above, what you were doing was trying to use an "ad absurdem" argument as proof of truth.
 
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Which is my point.
The Albion forces have no way to understand that the Tech war is going to go south for them the longer they wait.
They might understand their secret of ranges are gone but not that its being turned around on them completely.

They may not understand that the tech stasis is coming to an end, but even if they didn't know that, people like Admiral Blake would realize that time favors Tristain in building up its defenses regardless of political considerations. It's not the sooner they strike the better, it's the sooner they strike the less bad.

Sheffield is also now more than a little invested in killing Faeries after her run in with Shiori reinstilled the fear of God in her, so she's now even more driven to provide Albion with some useful tricks up their sleeve. It isn't much, but hopefully it will make the battles a little more exciting rather than foregone. More importantly, it will give the sane men in Albions army a rational reason to think they might be able to win, or at least make defeat costly enough to secure Albion and maybe survive public opinion turning against Cromwell in turn.

I also don't know why everyone thinks Albion is complete blind to what is happening in Tristain. They've lost all their insider knowledge, but it's not likely everything the Faeries are doing is completely secret. Privileged intelligence should be beyond their reach, but some people have acted like they'll be blind to what's happening right out in the open.
 
Maybe someone should work with TH to set some ground rules here on what Halk mages and wildlife are capable of, and what Fae are capable of in comparison...
 
They may not understand that the tech stasis is coming to an end, but even if they didn't know that, people like Admiral Blake would realize that time favors Tristain in building up its defenses regardless of political considerations. It's not the sooner they strike the better, it's the sooner they strike the less bad.

Sheffield is also now more than a little invested in killing Faeries after her run in with Shiori reinstilled the fear of God in her, so she's now even more driven to provide Albion with some useful tricks up their sleeve. It isn't much, but hopefully it will make the battles a little more exciting rather than foregone. More importantly, it will give the sane men in Albions army a rational reason to think they might be able to win, or at least make defeat costly enough to secure Albion and maybe survive public opinion turning against Cromwell in turn.

I also don't know why everyone thinks Albion is complete blind to what is happening in Tristain. They've lost all their insider knowledge, but it's not likely everything the Faeries are doing is completely secret. Privileged intelligence should be beyond their reach, but some people have acted like they'll be blind to what's happening right out in the open.

Yay, The Reconquista mooks won't just be walking into a meat grinder! Boo, Sheffield is doing voodoo magic again! Yay, the Vlad Tepes Award no longer applies! Boo, there will be heavy good guy casualties!

This is gonna be interesting, like me get some popcorn.
 
They may not understand that the tech stasis is coming to an end, but even if they didn't know that, people like Admiral Blake would realize that time favors Tristain in building up its defenses regardless of political considerations. It's not the sooner they strike the better, it's the sooner they strike the less bad.

Sheffield is also now more than a little invested in killing Faeries after her run in with Shiori reinstilled the fear of God in her, so she's now even more driven to provide Albion with some useful tricks up their sleeve. It isn't much, but hopefully it will make the battles a little more exciting rather than foregone. More importantly, it will give the sane men in Albions army a rational reason to think they might be able to win, or at least make defeat costly enough to secure Albion and maybe survive public opinion turning against Cromwell in turn.

I also don't know why everyone thinks Albion is complete blind to what is happening in Tristain. They've lost all their insider knowledge, but it's not likely everything the Faeries are doing is completely secret. Privileged intelligence should be beyond their reach, but some people have acted like they'll be blind to what's happening right out in the open.
Gotcha

I Personally dont think they are blind to be they are more Isolated then normal. Because their news has to come in Via ship its going to be slow and many times out of date and Hodgepog of Info and not entirely correct.
Its like the Telephone Game for example.
 
or at least make defeat costly enough to secure Albion
That just seems plain wrong to me. The only way Tristain could ever hope to actually beat Albion (without futuretech that the Albionese won't know about) is if Albion were to lose a large chunk of it's forces... For example by a failed invasion. Any attack by Albion will make them less secure, not more.
 
Okay back to something more relevant. How is Tiff likely to regard Shiri rather than the other way around.
 
Okay back to something more relevant. How is Tiff likely to regard Shiri rather than the other way around.
With Caution based on your ranger!Tiff.
She will help because that is her Nature but she wont be the trusting Soul in ZnT for example stripping her of her Garments both to help fix her and to limit her options, Remove her weapons and lock them away until she knows she is safe.
I dont think a guard but a Locked room far from the children.

And once Shiori is awake being open but guarded in her behavior making sure she is on the mend but also probing to find out what happened and why.

At least that is my take on it.
 
They may not understand that the tech stasis is coming to an end, but even if they didn't know that, people like Admiral Blake would realize that time favors Tristain in building up its defenses regardless of political considerations. It's not the sooner they strike the better, it's the sooner they strike the less bad.

True, though in your Lost snip, it indicated Blake wanted a bit more time for Albion to prepare, train, and get a bit more stabilized themselves, and the rush to invade before they're fully ready will contribute to the outcome.

I also don't know why everyone thinks Albion is complete blind to what is happening in Tristain. They've lost all their insider knowledge, but it's not likely everything the Faeries are doing is completely secret. Privileged intelligence should be beyond their reach, but some people have acted like they'll be blind to what's happening right out in the open.

Probably your portrayal of Cromwell and his adviser's overconfidence being used as a basis to believe that the blindness is willful than a lack of available intelligence.

Which is probably partially true. The topic of the IdiotBall being poor writing has come up, but given Reconquista is a mix of people being put in positions they have no prior experience in and fueled by religious zeal, a degree of idiocy should be expected. Though this will likely be more predominant in the ground forces than the Navy.

Okay back to something more relevant. How is Tiff likely to regard Shiri rather than the other way around.

A mix of caution and curiosity.
 
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Since dunkirk captured 11 ship of the lines and unknown number of Ships damaged and destroyed including men.
Tristain only captured 4 ships of the line during the Dunkirk Operation.

Reconquista started out with 11 ships of the line at York and 2 at Newcastle.
SoL at York - v1 ch 13 pt 1 said:
"Looks like, tak, tak, tak . . . seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven? Eleven ships of the line docked?" The Spriggan looked over to his leader. "That's one more than we were expecting."
SoL at Newcastle - v1 ch 13 pt 5 said:
Four third rate ships of the line and twenty frigates against a second rater, a third rater, and the surviving twenty odd frigates of the Rebel fleet. In terms of ships, it was a nearly even match that slightly favored Albion with its larger and more powerful frigates and battleships.
Neither of the ships of the line at Newcastle were captured.
v1 ch 13 pt 7 said:
One by one, the frigates and ships of the line ceased their exchanges and began to pull away, the Thunderchild's last broadside bouncing almost harmlessly off the thick hull of a Tristanian Third rater as she and her two sisters fell in around the crippled fourth ship of the line, the victim of concentrated fire dealt by both the Thunderchild and the Unconquerable.
6 of the ships of the line at York were crippled or destroyed in the initial bomb drop,
v1 ch13 pt 2 said:
In total, the Sabrina had expended sixteen of her twenty four bombs against the the eleven docked ships of the line.

Two of those ships of the line, the first and second, had been completely destroyed.

Two, the third and sixth, were so badly damaged as to be barely airworthy and would need weeks if not months to be repaired assuming their crews even managed to rescue them from the fires that licked at their hulls even now.

Two more had suffered light to moderate damage from missed bomb, their hulls were intact, and their keels sound, but attached masts and rigging had been badly damaged, or in one case completely stripped from the hull. These vessel, while fully airworthy, had no means other than prodigious amounts of wind magic to propel themselves and would be unable to travel fast or far.

In addition, two of the seven frigates stationed at York and three of the small coastal gunships and post ships were now nothing but wrecks burning in their docks or blown to splinters. Bombs that had heavily damaged the sturdier ships of the line had completely annihilated their smaller brethren.
...
At least three more of the large battleships had suffered some damage to their rigging but no more than might be expected in a minor engagement, and the remaining two vessel were all but unscathed. The Royal Sovereign in particular had been shielded by her large compliment of mage officers, resisting several bombing attempts and would no doubt soon be readying to enter the fray.
and Karin then hit them with a Heavy Wind,
v1 ch 13 pt 8 said:
Her final tally was one second rater, a heavily damaged third rater, and a single frigate completely destroyed. Three post ships crash landed into the city of York. Four dragon Knights unlucky enough to have not gotten clear. Two third raters suffering additional moderate damage, mostly torn sails and crew cast over board.
leaving only 4 ships of the line still airworthy at the end of the Battle of York.
v1 ch 13 pt 8 said:
The surprise attack, combined with the second devastation of what he could only describe as an impossibly powerful wind spell, and even that did it no justice, had left the Far Northern Squadron in no condition to fight on. Only three of their surviving ships and the Lexington possessed anything resembling flight worthiness, and the surviving Dragon Knights had been driven off or forced to stand down in short order.
It was these last 4 ships that were taken as prizes.
 
Tristain only captured 4 ships of the line during the Dunkirk Operation.

Reconquista started out with 11 ships of the line at York and 2 at Newcastle.


Neither of the ships of the line at Newcastle were captured.

6 of the ships of the line at York were crippled or destroyed in the initial bomb drop,

and Karin then hit them with a Heavy Wind,

leaving only 4 ships of the line still airworthy at the end of the Battle of York.

It was these last 4 ships that were taken as prizes.
Whoops my bad misunderstood.
Sorry.
 
Net result - it won't be random, occasional "wildlife incidents," it may very well be an organized campaign lead by Tiny!Strategists and Tiny!Beast Tamers, with the occasional Tamed!Boss Mob thrown against the army where they least expect it.
The pixies would be incredibly effective when it comes to destroying Reconquista's gunpowder store and other equipment with fire. Likewise, poisoning their food is much easier to do when you're tiny and can fly around discreetly.
 
The pixies would be incredibly effective when it comes to destroying Reconquista's gunpowder store and other equipment with fire. Likewise, poisoning their food is much easier to do when you're tiny and can fly around discreetly.

That's literally what I've been planning. Also the horror when Tristain troops get to an outpost and find everyone inside dead. Everyone but the pixies ruffling through their stuff.
 
Ground Troops: 15.000 vs 90.000
Ships of the Line: 26 vs 52
Smaller Ships: 60 vs 100
Flying Cavalery: 190 vs 450

Now dunkirk was a massive sucess, it would have altered the Ships of the LIne thing into something closer to 30 vs 40, cost them perhaps up to 50 cavalery, a few frigates, and thousands of ground troops at dunkirk.

So maybe afterwards they were a something like
Ground: 15.000 vs 80.000
Ships Line 30 vs 40
Smaller ships 55 vs. 90
Cavalry 180 vs 400
Fae ..... ?

Actually this is interesting, for fun I've looked up troop capacities.
Ships of the line 400-850 men from 4th to 1st rate. ~25,000 men
Smaller ships 150-300 men from 5th rate to frigates. ~20,000 men
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rating...ng_system_in_force_during_the_Napoleonic_Wars

Now the best numbers for a fleet actually transporting troops I could find was for 50 ships carrying 15,000 troops.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/french_threat_01.shtml


This means that numbers work out to around,
130 ships carrying 45,000 men (including crew, uncertain # of troops) 50 ships carrying 15,000 troops (crew excluded)

~ 346 crew per ship or 300 troops per ship

I think that we can from the sources I found assume that on average each ship in a fleet could carry around 300 troops. So that in total they can likely carry in one load 39,000 troops.

I have amusingly done some research on napolionic war sieges and found that on average it took 3-5 times as many attacking troops to win, but amusingly the defenders won when the average attackers was greater than 6 times the defenders. Presumably no seiges took place when the attackers had a lower than 3 to 1 advangage.

So depending on how many troops there are in the city the attackers will want to bring enough ships to get a 3 to 1 advantage or they won't attempt an attack. You may be able to make use of these nubmers Trigger to help work out how many ships are used, how many trips required, etc etc.
 
Okay back to something more relevant. How is Tiff likely to regard Shiri rather than the other way around.

Lots of curiosity with a healthy dose of 'if you hurt the kids I will end you.'

~~~~~
Omake Time

A Room With A View

CATS I will be doing things eventually so why not? It's kinda relevant...
~~~~~
A room with a view.

In Balcony's opinion it was a nice view. It even faced toward the rising sun. It had a good sight line that reached to the edge of the city, and let him see early morning traffic.

He continued to sketch out the layout of the city. The street design was rather important. How wide they were and where the shops and other buildings were place was of the utmost importance. There was no local map available in the shops so he had to make his own. Some of the buildings and features on the map were marked with various Hiragana symbols denoting priority for attack. Depots, store houses, stockpiles, barracks, and the like.

On the back was a list of names written in Korean. Argo had been demanding better 'operations security' as she called it so now most of the communications sent to and from CATS I agents were in languages other than Japanese. Since most of them knew at least some Korean, if only to insult them over the internet, that was what they went with.

Balcony grinned as he remembered the meeting that had decided that. Not many people were happy but it was better than using plain text that a traitor could easily read. The shouting match over the decision only ended when Argo said she would make a language for them to use. Balcony would freely admit to not knowing how that was supposed to work but questioning Argo was useless.

He put the finishing touches on the map and put it in the pile with the rest of his report. Albion was consolidating that was for sure. Mostly toward the capital it seemed as troops and supplies were being pulled from the coastal regions further inland. He would have to look into it, but right now he needed to send his report.

Heaving a sigh he put his paperwork into the leather pouch then strapped it to the messenger bird. As the bird took off into the sunrise, Balcony admired his view of the city.
 
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That's literally what I've been planning. Also the horror when Tristain troops get to an outpost and find everyone inside dead. Everyone but the pixies ruffling through their stuff.
So the omake about Kurotaka Pixies might be accurate? Or there might be Pixies who get adopted by Kurotaka because of their methods?

And now I'm imagining Fiona Glenanne as a Pixie. That's rather horrifying.
.. and what does an Assassin or Ninja Pixie even look like?
 
Okay back to something more relevant. How is Tiff likely to regard Shiri rather than the other way around.

Hmm,

I think that it will certainly change once the other two show up but until then given Shiori's size, and apparent age she is going to be cautiously protective of her.

Taking her back, stripping her of weapons and cloths and doing her best to bandage/cure the wounds etc. While many might have been offput by the ears I don't think Tiff will be one of them. I would expect her to either sleep in teh same room or against the door so that the rest of the children aren't a threat to Shiori and Shiori isn't a threat to them.

She can tell Shiori had/has weapons and was a fighter so until she wakes I don't know that Tiff will be completely at ease with her. Even so her life has been spent protecting those younger than her and that attitude is likely to rub off on an already injured girl. Add that she may feel some kind of kinship, even if only in the, "we're both strange to humans" kind of way and I would expect lots of close attention. One on one treatment with work to keep the other children away while she gets on with bonding and soup.
 
Sheffield is also now more than a little invested in killing Faeries after her run in with Shiori reinstilled the fear of God in her, so she's now even more driven to provide Albion with some useful tricks up their sleeve. It isn't much, but hopefully it will make the battles a little more exciting rather than foregone. More importantly, it will give the sane men in Albions army a rational reason to think they might be able to win, or at least make defeat costly enough to secure Albion and maybe survive public opinion turning against Cromwell in turn.

How invested is she?

Because if she is really set on it there is nothing stopping her from contacting Rub'al'kar. With her Golems and other Magical items she could probably even slip past the Elves blockade.

A single Rub'al'kar gunsmiths coerced into working for Joseph could probably propel the country fifty years in weapons design.

I also don't know why everyone thinks Albion is complete blind to what is happening in Tristain. They've lost all their insider knowledge, but it's not likely everything the Faeries are doing is completely secret. Privileged intelligence should be beyond their reach, but some people have acted like they'll be blind to what's happening right out in the open.

Doubly so given anybody with an Obsveration/Scrying mirror should be able to get a look at the visible preparations being made in the Fae cities.



That's literally what I've been planning. Also the horror when Tristain troops get to an outpost and find everyone inside dead. Everyone but the pixies ruffling through their stuff.

That will cause Reconquista retaliation against the Pixies though.

And put the Pixies in Gallia's cross-hairs for their eventual invasion. Something I don't think they can afford given how easy it is for a surprise attack to wipe out an entire garden.
 
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So depending on how many troops there are in the city the attackers will want to bring enough ships to get a 3 to 1 advantage or they won't attempt an attack. You may be able to make use of these nubmers Trigger to help work out how many ships are used, how many trips required, etc etc.
Also keep in mind that those numbers are from siege positions, not when you need to land those troops by diverting ships from an already iffy naval battle.
 
The pixies would be incredibly effective when it comes to destroying Reconquista's gunpowder store and other equipment with fire. Likewise, poisoning their food is much easier to do when you're tiny and can fly around discreetly.

They check for magical and non-magical poisons with magic, at least they did during the Albion invasion.

Probably a big risk when fighting people that can make tiny golems or use their familiars to do most of what a Pixie can.
 
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How invested is she?

Because if she is really set on it there is nothing stopping her from contacting Rub'al'kar. With her Golems and other Magical items she could probably even slip past the Elves blockade.

A single Rub'al'kar gunsmiths coerced into working for Joseph could probably propel the country fifty years in weapons design.

Is she going to have the time? War is on the horizon, Sheffield won't be able to get the equipment shipped and distributed fast enough to hope to compete.

Doubly so given anybody with an Obsveration/Scrying mirror should be able to get a look at the visible preparations being made in the Fae cities.

IIRC the mirror belonged to Romalia

That will cause Reconquista retaliation against the Pixies though.

And put the Pixies in Gallia's cross-hairs for their eventual invasion. Something I don't think they can afford given how easy it is for a surprise attack to wipe out an entire garden.

Who will know if no pixies are seen and there are no survivors? Also, pixies will already be in the crosshairs for their appearance and association with the Fae. So let them get their hits in where they can.
 
They check for magical and non-magical poisons with magic, at least they did during the Albion invasion.

Probably a big risk when fighting people that can make tiny golems or use their familiars to do most of what a Pixie can.
You're downplaying the Pixies' strengths again. They are significantly smarter than a familiar. They are self-aware and able to plan. That gives them at least one advantage over a golem.

As for the poisons, I assume there's a spell that checks a list of toxins. Will it work on a toxin they've never seen before? Or will the soldiers be able to fight if they discover that all their food has been poisoned? They'll be left on the edges of starvation.
 
They check for magical and non-magical poisons with magic, at least they did during the Albion invasion.

Probably a big risk when fighting people that can make tiny golems or use their familiars to do most of what a Pixie can.

So at worst you are rendering their food and drink unusable. An army marches on its stomach Vaer. Hungry soldiers don't fight well.

Why divert mage resources that must micromanage those golems when you can send in a force that can perform the same tasks but is also intelligent and can show initiative? The pixies can capitalize on opportunities they see and don't need as much oversight.

EDIT: Ninja'd
 
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