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

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Also, I'm sure we surprised the fuck out these people by being flight capable when they were sure they knew where all our Cyans were.

I think it behooves us to press that surprise before they have a good chance to reorganize in a formation more suited to 3D combat instead of Air vs. AA.

Also, I'm worried about how Mr "Appraisal Disciple with only one scene of narrative weight behind him" will hold up if we take things slow.
 
Yeah, I can't help but feel we are being baited here, this isn't some small smattering of first and second realms looking to get blooded, they will probably make the attempt to draw us out if we press the initiative
Problem is I don't think we have a better choice available to us, play defensive and they'll regroup and if this attack is coordinated probably harry us, drawing the combat well beyond acceptable levels
 
naths said:
First Realms are pretty much irrelevant against Ling Qi and given that we are already set up, even Second Realms should also be fairly neglectable, given that we already have quite a few techs set up.
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Are they a big threat, no.

I think dismissing them is dangerous thinking.

If Gnawing Ones have group buff arts, Barbs Definitely do.

They might not be able to do multiattacker penalties on us or realisticly hit us themselves, but they can be a threat to our own Red-Yellow forces, and some of them are probably throwing little pissant imitation Zephyr's Heart effects on their own yellows and greens.

If they were useless, they'd be back at camp.
 
CrimsonOddball said:
Yeah, I can't help but feel we are being baited here, this isn't some small smattering of first and second realms looking to get blooded, they will probably make the attempt to draw us out if we press the initiative
Problem is I don't think we have a better choice available to us, play defensive and they'll regroup and if this attack is coordinated probably harry us, drawing the combat well beyond acceptable levels
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Baiting would mean that they knew that there was a flight capable Green cultivator in the area tho. Flight is (unless bullshit) usually cyan. Right now they are recovering from sudden death clouds appearance. That they planned to bait seems weird. They should need time to set up a plan in these cases.
 
CrimsonOddball said:
Problem is I don't think we have a better choice available to us, play defensive and they'll regroup and if this attack is coordinated probably harry us, drawing the combat well beyond acceptable levels
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I think that defensive play will win us this fight with the least Infantry/Civilian/Infrastructure losses.

It ain't just this fight though. I'd hate a situation where we take blood on both sides and are setting up for coup de grace then start getting calls for help down the old bond from bestturtle.
 
Vanguard_D said:
Logically they should not have expected a flying cultivator here, considering those are cyan usually, so this being a lure them in trap seems a bit weird unless they where baiting a cyan cultivator from somewhere and then whoever is in that cloud is way above us either way.

Attacking now would take advantage of that while they are on the back foot from sudden death cloud.
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If LQ's done any sort of flying during the week or so (?) of guarding her area, then barbarian scouts might've picked up on that.
 
Vanguard_D said:
Baiting would mean that they knew that there was a flight capable Green cultivator in the area tho. Flight is (unless bullshit) usually cyan. Right now they are recovering from sudden death clouds appearance. That they planned to bait seems weird. They should need time to set up a plan in these cases.
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They could just generically bait any young hot blooded imperial cultivator. You don't need to have flight to overstrech one's self and SynchronizedWritingBlock pulled out the quote showing that this is absolutely a thing that happens. Moreso since this doesn't look like a regular raid.
 
Vanguard_D said:
Baiting would mean that they knew that there was a flight capable Green cultivator in the area tho. Flight is (unless bullshit) usually cyan. Right now they are recovering from sudden death clouds appearance. That they planned to bait seems weird. They should need time to set up a plan in these cases.
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Yeah, to get sustainable flight in Third Realm you'd probably need something absurd like a Talisman created by a fifth realm artisan with ducal grade materials that was given to a yellow with affinities for like three different appropriate elements to grow with them and then buffed again by an effect from a masterpiece of the greatest tailor in the world.

Who the fuck would anticipate that?
 
yrsillar said:
Ling Qi techs currently active
Forgotten Vale(all)
Ten Ring Defense
Grinning Crescent Dancer
Spring's End Aria
Inquisitive Study
Seeking Moon's Eyes
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Kinda surprised that Spring Breeze Canto isn't on that list, since it does have a Duration of "Persistant" and explicitly lasts for several minutes after being played. Probably gonna be activated once we enter actual combat though, Combat Perception and Hit are gonna be huge for this.

Depending on whether or not the Barbarians speak a language that Six or Ling Qi can understand always being able to hear everyone that heard the song out to Far Range would be incredible for reacting to their battle tactics.

@yrsillar Do we know if Sixiang able to understand other languages or just the Imperial language and dialects?
 
Bloodalchemy said:
[] Drive them before you

we don't have time to get drawn into a stalemate. I'm worried about the mystery guy but unless he's good enough to one shot us it is pretty had to trap us in a fight.
Our arts are meant for feeding on large groups of fodder rather then stand off duels.
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We have a fairly good defense against being one shotted.
 
Ling Qi could easily defeat two third realm bandits using only her AoE, three barbarians should not be to much of an issue even though they're probably better equipped and more apt at dealing with us than the bandits were. The danger lies with the stronger raid leader. We were warned about being lured out by Guan Zhi and while we're exceedingly hard to pin down a Green five would be able to beat us handily.

Shattering the tribesmen outright serves to defend the villages if we are quick and provoking the leader into attacking us might be better than the alternative of letting a possible ambush focused barbarian come up with a plan, but are we really in a hurry? Our village is well defended regardless of our worries and breaking the invaders achieves nothing if they get away. We should prioritize not making mistakes and force a fight that's not diving straight into the enemy formation.
 
Yeah, I wouldn't get too hung up on there being some kind of complex trap here. I think things are as they seem: the barbarians have insurance for dealing with reinforcements like us in the form of their hidden reserve green, and us charging this many people on our own makes it highly likely that we'll overextend and get into trouble.

If this was DotA, it'd be the kind of move that would be asking for us to die, and possibly allow our opponents to push down our tower and get into our base.

I'd like to do something like take out the people nearest to us to make a point, then defend, but I'm pretty sure that's the defensive option?
 
[] Drive them before you
[Advance toward the main barbarian group at top speed. Force them to scatter before you, be swallowed by your mist, or flee. Be aggressive in your attack, and give them no quarter, focus on offense and breaking their morale as quickly as possible. Neglects defense, and trusts Shen Hu and the other noble, once freed up to handle things on the ground. High Risk of overextension.]
 
Falconis said:
First let me start with my pick
[] Drive them before you

Ling Qi has the advantage of surprise here. While her defensive abilities are great there's no point in letting the barbarians regroup so that they can actually give her trouble.
The majority of the enemy are low realm and this kind of cleanup is what she excels at.

Sweep forward, drive them away, shatter their ability to fight and force the hand of the enemy when they don't know exactly what she's capable of.

Even if we overextend Ling Qi has another specialty in maneuverability and escape, she has a very good chance of being able to escape any sudden moves to stop her. They know we can sneak because of how we arrived, and they'll see our power as we rush, but its unlikely that they'll get a chance to see how we evade before they have to intervene or lose. Right about now she's the proverbial cavalry charge through enemy lines and they'll come prepared with spears when they don't know our horses can teleport (shh its wuxia). We can afford to be bold.

After this we can always set up the full domain over the battlefield and do the 'stand in one place and be a fortress' act when they don't have the people left to force it.
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Pretty much this, but also based on our tankiness and especially manoeuvrability, if it turns out that the hidden guy up top is powerful enough that overextending absolutely screws us, then he's probably powerful enough that if they group up and turn all their concentrated power on us we'd be screwed anyway. If that's not the case, then I'm pretty certain we'll be able to get away with injuries at worst, which if we're also able to effectively disrupt the Barbarians whilst the civilians get to safety I'll honestly count as a win.
 
OneArmedYeti said:
Are they a big threat, no.

I think dismissing them is dangerous thinking.

If Gnawing Ones have group buff arts, Barbs Definitely do.

They might not be able to do multiattacker penalties on us or realisticly hit us themselves, but they can be a threat to our own Red-Yellow forces, and some of them are probably throwing little pissant imitation Zephyr's Heart effects on their own yellows and greens.

If they were useless, they'd be back at camp.
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We have FVM fully setup. Dissonance deals D (Base E + Traveller's End bonus) damage. Reds have their stats capped out at E. As long as they enter the mist, First Realms lose against us as soon as they enter the mist. The higher ranked cultivators can buff them and that makes them a bit more of a threat, but even then FVM should be strong enough that we dont have to put additional focus on them
 
Probably should also remember that time is a factor. Even if we do it slowly here things might get ugly elsewhere.
yrsillar said:
"Ma'am," he stood up and bowed as she stepped in. There was a touch of relief on the middle aged man's features. "I am glad my message reached you. There is a situation. One of the outriders in the northwestern village spotted several tribesman with bonded mounts below the cloudline to our west. Shortly thereafter, the northeastern village reported something similar. They are requesting support."
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Tho, does this mean that another group like this is attacking the other village also?
 
Given our allied forces, and the complete disparity between the numbers, I think we need to push to force the Barbarians to retreat as soon as possible. I don't think we can do well in the long game if they have a chance to regroup and assault our position with unity, or decide to bugger off and raid another section.
 
Thor's Twin said:
Given our allied forces, and the complete disparity between the numbers, I think we need to push to force the Barbarians to retreat as soon as possible. I don't think we can do well in the long game if they have a chance to regroup and assault our position with unity, or decide to bugger off and raid another section.
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That's also fair. Ultimately, victory can be more about who wins the morale/confidence game more than actually killing everyone, and the appearance of confidence/aggression can count for a lot.
 
It's already been established that the two primary barb' tactics are quick raids, or false retreats to catch glory hound idiots. Them grouping up to hit a defended position like this isn't likely.

Our job is to protect the villages, not be a hero who jumps into the possible trap.
 
I think this is a generic rather than specific trap.

Send someone to agitate the spirits to limit reinforcements then go to town. Just looking at the force numbers they outnumber the reds almost 4:1, the yellows around 2:1 and the greens likewise 2:1, before Ling Qi arrived as reinforcements. Just going by generic numbers (i.e. if everyone was a baseline mook) they are likely to roll over a village.

The fourth presecene is likely some form of insurance or trump card. This doesn't mean that they are stronger than us though. Stealth can be an extremely powerful force multiplier. If they waited until their comrades were fully engaged with Shen Hu and our appraisal disciple they might be able to deliver a finishing blow. At which point iit becomes 4 on 1 odds.

Time is a real concern here, as it would probably be a poor idea to assume that the Empire are the only ones with long range communication techniques. That said, such techniques are typically not real time in early green (see our escape from Liling in the mountains) without significant cost. We need to judge whether the safer path is worth it. The option itself states that waiting could give the Cloud Tribe attackers time to plan, and we should not assume they are incapable coming up with a plan that threatens us.

I am leaning toward agression, but I'm not certain it's the right path. As Baiboy showed us, we are still far from the biggest fish in the pond and dragging overeager soldiers into traps is a known tactic used by the tribes.
 
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Jensaarai said:
It's already been established that the two primary barb' tactics are quick raids, or false retreats to catch glory hound idiots. Them grouping up to hit a defended position like this isn't likely.
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Yes, them coming in numbers like this is already anomalous, and is likely another sign of the coming invasion.

That being said, you're right that we have certainly been warned repeatedly about the dangers of overextending here, so if yrs was going to punish us for something it would be well justified to punish that.
 
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