Dimensions of Castle Walls: the height and thickness of castle walls varied from castle to castle but typically they ranged from between seven to thirty feet in thickness and typically thirty to forty feet in height.
I'm way too lazy (i.e. I go to sleep in an hour and want to spend that time enjoyably) to actually hunt down dimensions of walls for Oppidum - Wikipedia which are the closest thing to what I think we're discussing.
So I'll just leave you w/ that relatively inappropriate quote to demonstrate that any serious wall is pretty damned thick. If it wasn't, you could just hit it with a trunk and walk right in. Any serious wall is also pretty damned tall. If it wasn't, building a ladder or even just giving people the old ally-oop would let them get over it.
We could also just make a relatively rectangular lake higher up. I.e., create a reservoir that also serves as a barrier. If we make it by cutting deep into the stone it wouldn't even serve a risk should a dam fail, or at least not a great one.
Dimensions of Castle Walls: the height and thickness of castle walls varied from castle to castle but typically they ranged from between seven to thirty feet in thickness and typically thirty to forty feet in height.
I'm way too lazy to actually hunt down dimensions of walls for Oppidum - Wikipedia which are the closest thing to what I think we're discussing.
So I'll just leave you w/ that relatively inappropriate quote to demonstrate that any serious wall is pretty damned large. If it wasn't, you could just hit it with a trunk and walk right in.
We are not building castle walls either and we are not building walls to withstand sieges, at least with the triple walls. That is not their purpose, anyway.
Settlement, however, will be built to withstand sieges, and they will have seriously thick walls.
We are not building castle walls either and we are not building walls to withstand sieges, at least with the triple walls. That is not their purpose, anyway.
Settlement, however, will be built to withstand sieges, and they will have seriously thick walls.
We talked about a) Marches, b) The Great Wall & Foresting for the Great Wall.
I have no idea when or why the "triple wall" entered this conversation?
Our colonies have indeed taken quite a number of forest actions in comparison to wall actions, iirc.
Check notgreat or whoever's infographic, though. Idr.
Don't forget that they need to raise funds to build up their cavalry. They will need to plant cash crops or find valuable mines like the HH did with their iron, salt, and gold mines.
We could build a artificial lake there too, cutting the job of walling, and would help too with food production and even defenses, because turning the valley into a lake we can build chinampas, and use the mountains to build step-farms.
Note that while dams are good(the rapids there are great for damming) I don't think subordinates can build megaprojects AND they present a weak point if damaged.
[X][Hero] The War Chief is an Avatar of War (Genius Martial, at least semi-stable Diplo and Admin)
[X][Target] Focus everything on the Forhuch, hold the line against the nomads
[X][React] Sec Proclaim Glory
[X][Traders] Support Faction for an extra turn (Patricians will switch support to Yeomen immediately)
[X][Kick] No further kick
Alyxunmyn had known early on in his life that the gods had a special purpose in for him, but somewhat fortunately he had managed to neither let that fact go to his head nor crush him under the weight of implied responsibility. He was simply so good at all things war that it implied a higher plan in mind for him. From a young age he had excelled at organizing the other boys around him into scrums and fights, earning him an early trip to the gymansia and academy in Redshore, where he had soaked up the lessons of the tutors and the ancients. He had entered manhood with the position of a unit commander in the Red Banner Company, and had from there quickly been promoted upwards. He simply understood how fighting worked on every level, from two men fighting with fists all the way up to the movement of armies, and understood what the correct action for victory in any given moment was. While his family's contacts and the contacts he made serving the kingdom certainly helped his career, his ascent to the position of War Chief had been faster than any could have expected. Legends told of younger War Chiefs, but he was certainly the youngest that any reliably knew of.
And when the war with the Forhuch had begun, a weight had been lifted from him in knowing that this was what the gods intended for him all along. This was why he was born, why the gods had placed so many gifts upon him. The weight of wondering why had however been replaced with the responsibility to see his duty through. He had rushed out to the east with all the king's warriors to assist the local forces and buy time for the levies to be called up, knowing that his decisions would cost lives, would send some to die by his orders and leave others to perish by his orders. He took to the task as he always did: careful and methodical exactly when needed, brutal and decisive exactly when needed, and never confusing speed with haste nor caution with cowardice. The early campaigning was hard in that his ability to contest the terrain was much limited than his foe, but he spent those years conserving his strength and learning the ways of the enemy.
Fotharmin - a curious name that for some odd reason the Forhuch had no trouble with the exact pronunciation but the People kept stumbling over - was a brilliant commander who knew exactly how to use the speed his mostly mounted warriors gave him to the best advantage. Alyxunmyn had managed to catalogue in his mind all the ways that Fotharmin and his lieutenants went about war, and now that he had the ability to contest the terrain with mass he could begin truly acting on all he had learned. Along with the arrival of the levies, the king also sent word that Alyxunmyn was to be granted the title of Dragon General for his exemplary work in holding the line. Aside from being a tremendous honour, the title was rarely granted and called forth the stories of the greatest heroes, a major morale booster that Alyxunmyn put his tremendous charisma to leveraging even further. As he organized the levies, he made sure to tour the various camps to check up how the recruits were being arrayed and drilling, instilling within them the fire and desire to fight. He also made sure, as best he was able, that they maintained proper physical and spiritual hygienic standards as laid out by the priests, although even then fevers ran rampant throughout the camps and claimed the lives of many before they could even get near the enemy.
Somewhat amusingly enough, Alyxunmyn found that the majority of his attention was focused upon ensuring that the caravans of food and equipment kept moving forward across the lowlands to keep the literal cities worth of levied troops fed. The main tricky thing was ensuring that the Forhuch weren't able to slip past them and hit the somewhat geographically restricted routes that the caravans could traverse, but by keeping his levies in blocks of the ideal size to minimize disease spread while maximizing their ability to make raiding parties rethink where they wanted to attack, he was able to push forward. Getting the Forhuch to directly engage was difficult, but over many seasons he forced the dance between them back and out of Thunder Horse territory. A lesser commander than Fotharmin would have fallen into frustration long ago, while a lesser commander than Alyxunmyn would have either made him quit this field and engage somewhere else, drawing the war further out as the People chased dust clouds and shadows.
Instead, Alyxunmyn played a very careful and dangerous game with the enemy, moving units into positions he suspected would draw the enemy into attacking, at least until other groups could move forward to assist and the enemy would wheel away. It was a ruthless and bloody game, but it kept the Forhuch interested in fighting here where he had all his warriors rather than elsewhere where there were civilians to carry off and murder. More than that, over many seasons he blooded his troops and confirmed the behaviour of the Forhuch. Finally after frustrating years of being unable to bring the enemy to a proper, decisive battle without risking catastrophe, Alyxunmyn had it. With proper consultation of the omens and stars he confirmed that the auspices were right for what he wanted to do. For any other man his orders would be utter madness, but he knew that his upper soul had been personally crafted by Hynryn as an instrument of war.
War. Not fighting, not battle, but war. He had everything positioned the way he wanted it, and he had his scouts and cavalry keeping just the right level of contact with the enemy that he knew where they were, and from years of experience he could predict what they would do. He saw in his mind Crow's view of the world and the little humans swarming like ants over it, and he directed them accordingly. The trick to it all, the madness of it all, was that he had to be issuing orders days to weeks in advance to get things moving just right. His orders also had be somewhat flexible, because there was no way that he could avoid delays in messages and warrior movements from weather or unexpected complications, but he had spent years drilling and campaigning with the men and their commanders, so he knew which units needed to get which directives to achieve his goals. Some had shorter but more rigid instructions, while others had longer but more flexible plans.
Thus it was that he started his forces moving. Thus it was that he 'accidentally' opened a path to his rear and the vulnerable and valuable supply caravans, right in a place and in a way where Fotharmin's brother-in-law wouldn't be able to resist pouncing. The 'accidental' gap would of course begin closing right away and Fotharmin would need to rush in and haul his brother-in-law out before Alyxunmyn surrounded him. It had happened before, and but the aggressive warleader had got away with it each time, and they had avoided the 'obvious' times when Alyxunmyn had opened up an inviting gap in their defensive blocks. The Forhuch knew when the People made a mistake and when they were laying a trap. The Forhuch knew how fast the People could react and respond to these sorts of events and opportunities.
Only, Alyxunmyn had been carefully leaving these gaps open for years to test how the Forhuch would respond, and he had been moving his formations in places they couldn't see to know exactly how fast they could move and train them to be better, all while never having them move at full speed in places the enemy could see. While every death weighed upon him, he had made sure that every life he sacrificed this way was done productively. The temptation to take his vastly superior numbers and rush out to smash the enemy, but he knew that if he did not do this just right the Forhuch would dance around them, slice apart their supply lines, and then run away laughing while tens of thousands starved in the wastes between rivers and oases. Finally though, finally, he could yank the noose shut once the prey had its neck fully inside, content in the knowledge that it had avoided the slow and obvious trap in front of the bait.
It took weeks for the trap to actually fully shut, and Alyxunmyn paced every day even after he knew that it was working. He paced not precisely out of concern or worry, but because his mind was so busy running through everything that he had to distract himself with physical activity in the quiet moments between repositioning with his own forces. Again, the trick of it all was not to smash the enemy right away, but to let them see what they wanted to see, what they expected to see, to let them follow the paths they thought safe and their scouts to report back the expected sort of movements and resistances that made them think they had the People dancing to their tune.
And then one fine afternoon the enemy brought their forces into the space between a river and a little line of hills. Pretty much all of the horse warriors the People had had been trailing them, not enough to stop them but certainly enough to let them get pinned if they chose to attempt to fight off their pursuers. At close to twenty thousand warriors strong, the Forhuch was certainly the greatest concentration of cavalry the world had ever known, and only semi-mythical tales such as the Battle of Bloodvalley held accounts of numbers comparable to the concentration of force present. Lead by a king who they all regarded of as being truly great, there should be nothing that could stop them.
Except perhaps the entire Red Banner company backed by thirty thousand crossbowmen in front of them.
And then the Dragon Banner joining up with the Spiritbonded to the rear.
And Alyxunmyn standing atop the ridge to their north.
"You are surrounded! There is no hope for escape! Throw down your arms and abandon your horses, and your king may ride out to return with those you have stolen from us so that you may walk away from here alive," Alyxunmyn's iron-lunged majrodomo Horllyxyn boomed out, his amazingly loud voice carrying out for all to hear.
The Forhuch forces seemed to consider this for a time, before their king made an unmistakable gesture of defiance and wheeled his warriors around to hit the less solid forces in his rear.
"So be it," Alyxunmyn said in expected disappointment, gesturing to the trumpeters near him to pass along the order. Horns and drums went up all along the back slope of the hill, flags and banners waving. All was silent for a moment before the hundred thousand crossbowmen he had just out of sight unloaded across the ridge all at once, thousands of them immediately rushing forward into view after the first blind volley was off to begin making more precise shots.
The sound. The sound of a hundred thousand bolts loosed into the air all at once was like some sort of damned wail, a scream of the gods.
When it was all said and done, Alyxunmyn could only comment to those around him in a half-comical, half-pitying tone, "If I hadn't just done it and thus knew every last trick I pulled, I would call bullshit on this. One should not be able to conceal that many men and achieve such total surprise."
"The king will surely name you heir for his own safety after this," Horllyyxyn said jovially.
"Hrm," Alyxunmyn grunted noncommittally. It was a foregone conclusion, politically the only threat to him was assassination, and that would probably trigger a civil war. Far safer to simply give him the crown and try to get in his good graces to ride alongside his success than stand against him. Still, it sat poorly with him to joke about it like this. It stank of the dead king before him, who declared war to secure his own crown.
Unfortunately, while he had needed to pin the slippery horsemen, their obliteration was not exactly what he wanted. "The Forhuch are no more, a kingdom without a king or army. What warriors they have left will be even more bandits than they already are, and there is nothing to stop another nomad group from taking over. I in fact fear that the foes we face in the north-west will take advantage of this to invade the Forhuch territory, and we will have to root them out, or they will become the new Forhuch in a generation and we will repeat all of this once more in three generations."
"I take it you have already made recommendations to the king?" Tortoxyn, a senior commander from a Blackmouth levy asked.
"I have. I ask that I be sent in the Horse Mountains to secure their territory before it descends into utter anarchy, and to ensure no new hostiles take up residence there. I would prefer to take the majority of our forces to do the job right, but barring that I am asking that the levies not come without professionals. They are good men, but I worry about their discipline when not being watched by those who have dedicated their lives to war, and the trouble they could get up to in those mountains," Alyxunmyn explained, now that he knew what message he would be sending.
"What of the tribes to the north? I have heard that they have ravaged the Heaven's Hawk. Or the fight between the Highlanders and the Harmurri to the south? The Harmurri have gone disturbingly silent these past few seasons," Tortoxyn asked.
"These are indeed troubling, but with the Horse Mountains secure we will be able to strike at the nomads from more than a third direction, and they will not be able to occupy the territory to vex us. We should be able to secure the region quickly, and then we can turn on the invaders before moving with all force against the Highlanders who attack our friends in the south," Alyxynmyn states. "I just pray to the gods that the king agrees with me to utterly crush our problems one at a time, in order."
AN: Because you will ask, Alyxunmyn is Genius Martial, Excellent Admin, Excellent Diplo, Poor Mystic. And he rolled two Nat 100s this turn while the Forhuch did not pull a miracle out of their asses to counter him. You also actually won so hard that you can't formally end this war, your enemy no longer has a government that can surrender. You can either walk into their territory and secure it, or stop fighting to effectively White Peace out while implosion and invasion wipes out the Forhuch as a kingdom.
Where to send the regulars?
[] [Regulars] Horse Mountains
[] [Regulars] Northern Nomads
[] [Regulars] Highlanders
Where to send the levies?
[] [Levies] Horse Mountains
[] [Levies] Northern Nomads
[] [Levies] Highlanders
AN: If you send no forces to the Horse Mountains, you effectively White Peace the Forhuch and gain +1 Stability
Second React Action
[] [React] Sec Improve Annual Festival
[] [React] Sec Restore Order
[] [React] Sec Build Mills
[] [React] Sec Palace Annex - Grand Hall
[] [React] Sec Support Sacred Orders
[] [React] Sec Blackmouth Ironworks (tech cost accounted for by Guild Push)
AN: You may notice that the Econ and Martial on the front page has changed. Levies will eat up Econ through logistics disruption and disease in the camps, but they can also convert Econ to martial. Your Genius general won so hard that a massive amount got converted this turn, along with other issues. Also, Tech dropped to keep trade going, but since Wealth is already at max a min of 2 was converted and then overflowed to Diplo.
Patricians (6) - Power: Add or subtract their faction power from factions they are supporting/opposing. Objective: Build 3/4 Great Hall Annexes within 1 turns Reward: Government upgrade Guild (7) - Power: Half faction power added to Max Wealth. Objective: Have a level 3 Ironworks within 1 turns. Failure: -1 Stability Traders (4) - Power: Add or subtract faction power modifier to all innovation rolls. Objective: Have Naval power 3 or above within 2 turns. Success: +1 Naval Yeomen (2 {8})- Power: Adds faction power to secondary Martial Objective: Have 30 EE within 1 turns. Failure: -1 Stability [1/2] Priests (3)- Power: Adds faction power to RA. Objective: Perform 0/4 priest actions within 3 turn. Success: New Level 1 Temple. Failure: -1 Stability Urban Poor (4) - Power: +1 Max Legitimacy every 3 full power. Objective: Have 5 or more Free Cities within 2 turns. Success: New Social Value slot These counters iterate at the next midturn. The numbers in brackets indicate the general faction strength.
When it was all said and done, Alyxunmyn could only comment to those around him in a half-comical, half-pitying tone, "If I hadn't just done it and thus knew every last trick I pulled, I would call bullshit on this. One should not be able to conceal that many men and achieve such total surprise."
Now, you got some really shitty rolls too (the worst for you was your health roll, and if not for everything you have invested in fighting that your rather harsh casualties there would have been appalling, but in a number of extremely key places you had absurd luck.
Well, crap. We have to conquer the Forhuch or we'll have to deal with this again in three more turns. That makes our next choices...hm...
I'm thinking send the levies to prop up Heaven's Hawk-our general is right that they should be under the supervision of career soldiers-, and the regulars to secure the mountains. Then, when all is secured, we wheel southwards and crush the Highland Kingdom-even if they've beaten the Harmurri we don't actually have to respect that, we can just go after them for daring to come after our friends in the first place, liberating the Harmurri if need be.
Seriously, we actually outright annihilated a massive steppe horde in the period where those things are basically the death knell of civilized nations. Admittedly, it was the result of the kind of maneuver and timing that would be impressive in the modern day--let alone the iron age like we're in, but still. My god.
Like, with a king like this, we can actually take steps to dealing with some long running Problems.
Like, normally, I'd be worried about the Highland Kingdoms slash and burning through the Harmurri, then withdrawing into their enclave with slaves and loot and going "COME AT ME BRO", but... Well, Alexander the fucking Great.
Right now, Wealth/Diplo/Culture/Mysticism/Tech are collectively 7 points away from maxing, with 14 points of overflow primed. That means we will get 7 points overflowing into Econ.
If we take Mills, we will lose 8 wealth, this eliminating overflow, all to gain 4 Econ. As a result, we will be down 3 econ. Why?
Improve Annual Festival [Priests][Urban] - A festival for every season, but their expansion can help put the People at ease and teach good practices.
* S: -1 Econ, -4 Wealth, +1 Stability, +2 Culture, chance for additional effects
"So be it," Alyxunmyn said in expected disappointment, gesturing to the trumpeters near him to pass along the order. Horns and drums went up all along the back slope of the hill, flags and banners waving. All was silent for a moment before the hundred thousand crossbowmen he had just out of sight unloaded across the ridge all at once, thousands of them immediately rushing forward into view after the first blind volley was off to begin making more precise shots.
@Academia Nut is it intentional that the 10 econ converted to martial didn't refund into EE, either fully or partially (i think we have 8 EE refund right now?)
Also, wow, even with a "Bullshit" stability roll we ended up losing an unexpected stab this phase... Edit: @Thomasfoolery pointed out this is probably about genius stability, not the stat, so nvm on this
Somewhat surprised this was only worth 5 prestige, but i guess more will come with the actual war end.
Honestly, the most irritating thing about the steppes is how quickly they forget that we're good friends to have, but that we pretty much wipe them out any time they decide to pick a fight with us.
Then again, that might be exactly why they keep forgetting. Nobody ever survives to come back and spread the stories.
