Try to survive the Winter: A planquest in Fantasy Colonial America

[Fanhunter696]

Okay so, I was looking at my current plan, and it occurred to me that there might be a way we can take on all three of the Vermin at once. So, here's my current plan draft.

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Well thanks for answering @Chimeraguard , now that I have some time I would like to comment on a few things about your ideas

It assumes that we can in fact, do the whole "whittle down the Many-Limbed Devourers using the Bone Hives" on their own, which hasn't actually been hard-confirmed by OldShadow yet.

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The problem I have against this is that IIRC attacking the Devourers could cause a response, and AFAIK the best way of preventing them was to take advantage of the surprise and make our first strike as devastating as possible...

However, it's occurred to me that we can actually get a total of 3 dice onto the Many-Limbed Devourers. Our Dead die would be one die, but we could also theoretically take the Militia away from Spread and Regroup (which isn't likely to be that useful during the Winter where if the big monsters have gotten past the walls we're already screwed), and taking Andreyas away from the Council (with Funerary Practices only needing 1 die, whatever other action we do there should only require 2 dice.) That would give us a total of 3 dice to use against the Many-Limbed Devourers.

Now, this has its risks, especially since 2/3 dice will be the Living. With 3 dice, the risk DC for fighting the Many-Limbed Devourers is 20 (10 for the Dead.) Which is relatively high.

But on that note, I think with this hypothetical plan it's best to look over the risk factors for all three Vermin Campaigns.

-Eyevine Nodes: 2x Silent Blades dice, 1x Sara die. Estimated Risk Threshold of 10 DC per die (20 DC for more generic dice, assuming Sara's boost to combat means she is on Blades/Skirmishers level of resilient.)
-Many Limbed Devourers: 1 Dead die, 1 Militia die, 1 Andreyas die. Estimated Risk Threshold of 20 DC per die (10 DC for Dead die.) Risk Threshold can be reduced by 10 by adding one more die.
-Woodflesh Spiders: 2x Warrior's Son dice, 2x Son's Skirmisher dice. (10 DC per die)

This would be a total of 10 dice, 2 (maybe 3 if Sara's still vulnerable) needing to pass a 20 DC and 7-8 needing to pass a 10 DC. I should also note that besides omakes rewards which can be used to save dice (of which we have a lot right now), we would also have access to 2 re-rolls for this.

But risks aside, this would be a major investment, and if there's non-Great Hunt issues that we need to resolve before Winter (like more shelter for the animals for example), we're gonna need to sacrifice projects in order to get that work done.

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It may be possible mechanically, BUT I am completely against using our militia which has not yet finished its training or even had their weapons upgraded to High-Quality Steel enter the fray against the most dangerous of the 3 Vermin.

So I think the question should be asked on if we want to go with this maximalist Hunt project, or maybe we want to be more conservative and only go for the two threats of the Eyevines and Devourers that have higher growth rates, saving the Woodflesh Spiders for later (alternatively, we could split the Son and Skirmishers with one pair of each die on both while Blades + Sara handle the Devourers, which should be enough to clear out the first Eyevine Node even on below-average node while still putting pressure on the Spiders, but wouldn't give us a chance of outright completing one of the Vermin on Turn 11.)

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I am completely against dividing our forces here... From those OOC questions, we know that if we concentrate our forces on two fronts we can easily finish off two vermins, which is much better than advancing a little against the 3 vermin.

And I would be fine to switch back to the Eyevines and Devourers plan, but seeing that for the next year we have pretty much booked out the Sons and the Skirmishers (with all the expeditions we want to take), so this could be a good place to use an OOC question to know about the Devourers and his capability of expansion if the other two vermins are dealt with, because AFAIK we haven´t had any definitive answers about it and we are operating under assumptions that can be wrong... So if we could deal with the Eyesvines and the Spiders this autumn we can probably use Sara and the Blades to destroy the Devourers in summer.

And Now about the plan itself.

--[ ] Sulfur Paths [0/75] (1 Colonist die)

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I still think that seeing that we have a good amount of gunpowder reserves and that we won´t be able to use this until we finish the Saltpeter and the Gunpowder workshop I will put these dice somewhere else, preferably the Protective Patterns

Hell, I would argue that Paths of Iron would be significantly more useful at this point in time not only for crafting equipment and armour but also as a trade good for the rest of the natives...

--[ ] The Devourer Kingdoms [Vermin] [???] (1 Dead die)

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As I said before, I am afraid put this dice alone here, I don´t want to provoke some sort of counterattack.

Town
-[ ] The Food Traps [0/25] (1 Native die)
-[ ] To protect animals [0/75] (1 Colonist die)

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I truly consider "Protecting Patterns" a much higher priority than any other town project... As we have seen in the last couple of years Knowledge is our most glaring weakness in winter, and even if it cannot help us too much with Smallpox it is going to help us with the rest of the stuff that Winter will throw at us...

-[ ] Train the Militia against monsters [Militia]
--[ ] Spread and Regroup [10/75] (1 Militia die)

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-[ ] Give power to the Assembly [DC 30/ ??/??] (2 Council dice, 1 Andreyas die)
-[ ] Funerary Practices [DC 25/75/ ???] (1 Council die)

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I love the idea of getting Give power to the Assembly done ASAP and with 3 dice so that we get up to the 3rd DC, but I would leave Funerary Practices for the next year so that we can put at least a couple of dice there, and I will use Andreyas die training the militia... If we are lucky we may finish a couple of training actions due to spillover.

And I truly think that training our militia on how to use Razorweed would be much more useful in winter, despite the "Risky" thingy

-[ ] Follow the Path [0/100] (1 Colonist die, 1 Alexandre die)

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I am not sure if we can use a knowledge hero as Alexandre does this though...

-[ ] Heal the Wounded
--[ ] We shall patch the wounds of their vessels and ensure the trees are healthy [DC ??] (1 Unchained die)
---[ ] Write-In: Set aside a unit of Excellent Bark to be expended in this if it is deemed beneficial.
-[ ] Rites of Death [Death] [Freed] (2 Mourner dice, 1 Unchained die)

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Three things here...

• For all we know Heal the Wounded could finish by itself in Spring, so I would use an OOC question to confirm it before committing any dice...
• I may be an optimist but I don´t think that Rites of Death is going to be that necessary, I would rather put both Mourner dice on the Sherpards of Corpes, that way we give the Free extra punch this winter, and we unlock more dead Dice ASAP that is going to be extremely valuable for both dealing with the Devourers and for building Deadport
• If we could free the unchained dice we could take the Champions this turn making the militia much more effective, and if we are lucky we could even get an extra militia dice (a solid command structure makes any army exponentially better)

 

[trooperist]

One dice on building the bird shelters is kind of low. We just got those turkeys and chickens and I'd hate to lose them.

While I would love to finally clear all the Vermin projects, I think we're missing opportunities if we don't attack the Tribute-Takers. Every year we don't attack them we allow them to grow stronger. I think we should at do the action where we attack their expeditions.

 

[Chimeraguard]

The plan is for next year to be a series of attacks specifically launched against the various Gifts for the Takers options making use of most of our military in the Spring, followed by taking advantage of the chaos to Burn the Lesser Pit in the Summer.

We don't want to hit those hard targets yet because once the Tribute-Takers realize they're vulnerable, they'll start hardening them. I did consider doing Attack the Tribute Taker Expeditions, but I wasn't sure if that would raise their alert level and cause them to start fortifying their vulnerable points. And there was the question of scrounging up the dice for it. We could retask the Son's Skirmishers for that, but I'm very reluctant, since part of the reason we have him on Vermin-hunting isn't just to kill Vermin, but also because we need him in serious combat scenarios to "level him up" so to speak, from QM Answer to OOC Questions.

 

[Fanhunter696]

The plan is for next year to be a series of attacks specifically launched against the various Gifts for the Takers options making use of most of our military in the Spring, followed by taking advantage of the chaos to Burn the Lesser Pit in the Summer.

We don't want to hit those hard targets yet because once the Tribute-Takers realize they're vulnerable, they'll start hardening them. I did consider doing Attack the Tribute Taker Expeditions, but I wasn't sure if that would raise their alert level and cause them to start fortifying their vulnerable points.

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You know, there is an argument to be made wait for a season to launch our attacks, then we can to use spring finish off the vermin, and to train the Militia to be able to take on expedition the summer, and then we can hit every one of the Gifts for the Takers actions in summer, and burn the Pit in autumn...

 

[Chimeraguard]

I want to have a season after Burning the Lesser Pit before Winter hits to properly integrate whatever slaves we manage to rescue.

 

[Fanhunter696]

I want to have a season after Burning the Lesser Pit before Winter hits to properly integrate whatever slaves we manage to rescue.

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OK fair enough, even then we should try to get the Expeditions in summer training, that way we can use them as distraction or use them for the fire in the War in the Forest...

But just to be sure ans since we already used an OOC Question to ask for the Raid on the Pit...

@OldShadow if we manage to rescue slaves in our Raid to the Pit, will there be any substantial difference between doing it on summer so that we have autumn to integrate them, or doing it in autumn and go directly to Winter with them?

 

[trooperist]

Do we have somewhere that lists things like the number of weapons, winter clothes, trade goods, and stuff like that? I always look around for something like that but can never find hard numbers.

Do we have enough winter clothes for the whole town? I know we have enough for the militia.

Next turn we're going to get at least one unit of fabric. Considering how much sneaky work our skirmishers are going to be doing over the next year or two we should probably get the camo cloaks.

Also for next turn:
- Bark Armor. I think we're sleeping on this since it's apparently a lightweight version of full plate. Not sure if it's a number of suits or just one though. That 2 craft cost is kinda steep at the moment though.
- Champions. They're a good upgrade for our militia and an Unchained project. Having the equivalent of NCOs and squads will do wonders.
- Recovering Malcolm. He's already not doing well mentally and I'd hate to leave him out in the wilds for another winter.
- Beaver Fur. We picked some up from the shepherds. And we'll they would be nice to hang on to as a trade good if another ship shows up, I'm curious on what we can do with waterproof fur. We could at least give our people warm and spiffy hats.

 

[OldShadow]

@OldShadow if we manage to rescue slaves in our Raid to the Pit, will there be any substantial difference between doing it on summer so that we have autumn to integrate them, or doing it in autumn and go directly to Winter with them?

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Probably not much difference.

 

[Lurking_Badger]

While you're here @OldShadow, I have a question for a plan I'm making. Since Alexandre is a devote member of the Order of Lazarus, can he assist Sara with Tales of the Saints and Heroes (specifically with Saint Lazarus) in any way?

 

[OldShadow]

While you're here @OldShadow, I have a question for a plan I'm making. Since Alexandre is a devote member of the Order of Lazarus, can he assist Sara with Tales of the Saints and Heroes (specifically with Saint Lazarus) in any way?

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He is not yet ready to deal with the Cult of Saints and Heroes, but the project would be enhanced by what was learned from building the Hospital (and possibly others Lazarite projects).

 

[Fanhunter696]

- Bark Armor. I think we're sleeping on this since it's apparently a lightweight version of full plate. Not sure if it's a number of suits or just one though. That 2 craft cost is kinda steep at the moment though.

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I think that we are prioritising the Lord Skin armour, the Supernatural Protection and the cold resistance makes it significantly better than Bark Armor...

- Champions. They're a good upgrade for our militia and an Unchained project. Having the equivalent of NCOs and squads will do wonders.

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I totally agree, and getting a proper chain of command and organising the Militia by squads may even give us another dice

- Recovering Malcolm. He's already not doing well mentally and I'd hate to leave him out in the wilds for another winter.

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This is probably the only chance we will have to recover him... IIRC him surviving two winters is basically a miracle.

Beaver Fur. We picked some up from the shepherds. And we'll they would be nice to hang on to as a trade good if another ship shows up, I'm curious on what we can do with waterproof fur. We could at least give our people warm and spiffy hats.

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Apparently anything that we can get out of beaver fur can be done with regular furs, so the only difference from the gameplay point of view is that they can be sold for a higher price...

Probably not much difference.

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Good to know

With this new information @Chimeraguard would you consider to wait for summer to start our raids? We could really use spring to prepare for the Raid and finish off the vermin.

 

[Chimeraguard]

Also for next turn:
- Bark Armor. I think we're sleeping on this since it's apparently a lightweight version of full plate. Not sure if it's a number of suits or just one though. That 2 craft cost is kinda steep at the moment though.
- Champions. They're a good upgrade for our militia and an Unchained project. Having the equivalent of NCOs and squads will do wonders.
- Recovering Malcolm. He's already not doing well mentally and I'd hate to leave him out in the wilds for another winter.
- Beaver Fur. We picked some up from the shepherds. And we'll they would be nice to hang on to as a trade good if another ship shows up, I'm curious on what we can do with waterproof fur. We could at least give our people warm and spiffy hats.

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Current plan is for Giant Shields rather than Bark Armor, since Giant Shields seems to provide enough shields for the whole militia and we just got Formation Fighting, so most of our militia can use them.

Champions has the problem that it requires specifically Unchained dice, of which we only have 3 that can do the action (2 Workforce, 1 Andreyas.) Would need to make some notable sacrifices for that.

Malcolm is already on the list.

Beaver Fur so far has only been unique from Normal Leather as a trade good from Word of QM.

Hmm, one thing that we could do is reduce the Son + Skirmishers to one of each die on the Eyevine Nodes, and use the other pair to do Further Out. That would save on Workforce dice that could then be used for other projects. Downsides being that it's a lot less firepower being sent at the Eyevines. It should still complete the first phase, but there's still two more phases we'd need to finish up in later turns. Plus, it's less "Combat XP" so to speak for the Warrior's Son.

Alternatively, that extra pair could be used for attacking Tribute-Taker Expeditions, but to have a solid chance of completion, we'd need to source a third die from somewhere. And I'm worried that it'll raise the Tribute-Taker alert level that they start forting up.

It may be possible mechanically, BUT I am completely against using our militia which has not yet finished its training or even had their weapons upgraded to High-Quality Steel enter the fray against the most dangerous of the 3 Vermin.

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Our Militia has, in fact, finished its training, at least in terms of Formation Fighting, which is the kind of training that would actually be useful for fighting the Many-Limbed Devourers. Plus, "Combat" Actions get resolved last, so there would be time for everyone to get the Giant Shields and Lordsbone weapons before they head out.

Plus, the Many-Limbed Devourers aren't really the most dangerous of the 3 Vermin. They're the one with the most variable difficulty, depending on how many dice get sent at them, ranging from something like 40 DC with 1 die to 10 DC (same as the Woodflesh Spiders) with 4.

And I would be fine to switch back to the Eyevines and Devourers plan, but seeing that for the next year we have pretty much booked out the Sons and the Skirmishers (with all the expeditions we want to take), so this could be a good place to use an OOC question to know about the Devourers and his capability of expansion if the other two vermins are dealt with, because AFAIK we haven´t had any definitive answers about it and we are operating under assumptions that can be wrong... So if we could deal with the Eyesvines and the Spiders this autumn we can probably use Sara and the Blades to destroy the Devourers in summer.

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Honestly unnecessary IMO. We might not have outright Word of God, but we can infer from what we've been told and what's been hinted. We know that after we finish the main battle with the Many-Limbed Devourers, we'll need to keep a degree of pressure up on them in the culling, otherwise their numbers will replenish and we'll have to start over.

From this, we can tell that the Many-Limbed Devourers have a rapid reproduction rate, and so in the absence of competitors for space and resources, their numbers are liable to multiply.

I truly consider "Protecting Patterns" a much higher priority than any other town project... As we have seen in the last couple of years Knowledge is our most glaring weakness in winter, and even if it cannot help us too much with Smallpox it is going to help us with the rest of the stuff that Winter will throw at us...

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This is true, but it Patterns of Protection requires 2 dice for a good chance of finishing it, and I'm not sure where we'd find those dice.

It might be possible if we're willing to sacrifice Food Traps, since we've already increased our anti-spirit defenses by increasing the number of Mourners.

I love the idea of getting Give power to the Assembly done ASAP and with 3 dice so that we get up to the 3rd DC, but I would leave Funerary Practices for the next year so that we can put at least a couple of dice there, and I will use Andreyas die training the militia... If we are lucky we may finish a couple of training actions due to spillover.

And I truly think that training our militia on how to use Razorweed would be much more useful in winter, despite the "Risky" thingy

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Funerary Practices (and Rites of Death) is non-negotiable from Hunter531's arguments, since he's expecting that even if we succeed in the Test of Knowledge, we're going to suffer heavy casualties from Smallpox. But since we only need to cover the basics of having official ones at all, it only requires 1 die.

Training with Razorweed I'd be willing to do if we weren't already doing a major military operation where we want both of our re-rolls available to save on bad rolls. As it is, I want our other projects to be as riskless as possible.

I am not sure if we can use a knowledge hero as Alexandre does this though...

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All dice can be used for Expeditions, they just do different things. We wouldn't want to use Alexandre dice for anything military, but him helping bring Malcolm back should be fine so long as we're sending another die of people who'd actually know how to look for him.

Three things here...

• For all we know Heal the Wounded could finish by itself in Spring, so I would use an OOC question to confirm it before committing any dice...

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Unless Healing the Wounded completes literally next turn (which it only has a 1 in 6 chance to have done so), I consider it very important to put some kind of patch on the still gaping and bleeding wounds the Wounded still have before Winter shows up, because that sounds like a massive vulnerability that Winter will exploit.

With this new information @Chimeraguard would you consider to wait for summer to start our raids? We could really use spring to prepare for the Raid and finish off the vermin.

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No. I see minimal benefit in waiting. We had already planned for the raids to be done with just our unique specialists, without the need to involve the Militia proper. In fact, the nature of our raids means using the whole militia would be more of a hinderance than a help.

Militia would be far better suited managing things back home and doing things like working on cleaning up the remaining Vermin.

 

[Fanhunter696]

Hmm, one thing that we could do is reduce the Son + Skirmishers to one of each die on the Eyevine Nodes, and use the other pair to do Further Out. That would save on Workforce dice that could then be used for other projects. Downsides being that it's a lot less firepower being sent at the Eyevines. It should still complete the first phase, but there's still two more phases we'd need to finish up in later turns. Plus, it's less "Combat XP" so to speak for the Warrior's Son.

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I would rather put the 4 dice here, since we have confirmation that the excess points will go for the next node, even if we have average rolls, we could gets the 3 nodes in one go.

This is true, but it Patterns of Protection requires 2 dice for a good chance of finishing it, and I'm not sure where we'd find those dice.

It might be possible if we're willing to sacrifice Food Traps, since we've already increased our anti-spirit defenses by increasing the number of Mourners.

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As I said before we could use Sulfur Paths dice here, but if I had to renounce to food traps and the subterranean poultry pens for getting the Patterns done on time...

Champions has the problem that it requires specifically Unchained dice, of which we only have 3 that can do the action (2 Workforce, 1 Andreyas.) Would need to make some notable sacrifices for that.

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We can still do if we put Failure with the Heal the Wounded, and we use only the Mourners for the rites we can free the two Unchained dice that we need to get Champions done before the next winter

And as I said before we have Sulfur Paths dice, and the dice that you keep in reserve

 

[Hunter531]

Our Dead die would be one die, but we could also theoretically take the Militia away from Spread and Regroup (which isn't likely to be that useful during the Winter where if the big monsters have gotten past the walls we're already screwed), and taking Andreyas away from the Council (with Funerary Practices only needing 1 die, whatever other action we do there should only require 2 dice.) That would give us a total of 3 dice to use against the Many-Limbed Devourers.

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I'm fine with removing those dice, but I think you might be undervaluing Spread and Regroup. The main weakness of close military formations throughout history is stuff that can break those lines. Spread and Regroup allows us to counter those tactics. While we would be up the proverbial creek if a Lord-level threat makes it past the walls, this should help us out with smaller beasts that can still serve as linebreakers.

Now, this has its risks, especially since 2/3 dice will be the Living. With 3 dice, the risk DC for fighting the Many-Limbed Devourers is 20 (10 for the Dead.) Which is relatively high.

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Might be even higher than that. Our current Dead die isn't exactly well-suited for holding the line against an army of acid spewing monsters. It's one reason why I'm not exactly enthusiastic about going this route.

I am completely against dividing our forces here... From those OOC questions, we know that if we concentrate our forces on two fronts we can easily finish off two vermins, which is much better than advancing a little against the 3 vermin.

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I wouldn't worry too much on that score. The forces currently arrayed against the Eyevines and Spiders should be enough to destroy the Nodes and clear out the Spiders. The question is whether or not we want to hit the Devourers as well.

As I said before, I am afraid put this dice alone here, I don´t want to provoke some sort of counterattack.

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The counterattack won't be against Union itself though, just against the expeditionary forces we send against the Devourers. The Dead die is pretty much immune to that though, thus my willingness to do this.

I truly consider "Protecting Patterns" a much higher priority than any other town project... As we have seen in the last couple of years Knowledge is our most glaring weakness in winter, and even if it cannot help us too much with Smallpox it is going to help us with the rest of the stuff that Winter will throw at us...

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Issue is that we'll need 3 dice to have a good chance of completing it before Winter hits. That's a whole lot of dice to spend on a single project, especially when we have so many other potential projects to work on. I feel your pain though. I'm the same way about the Razorweed Hedges.

I love the idea of getting Give power to the Assembly done ASAP and with 3 dice so that we get up to the 3rd DC, but I would leave Funerary Practices for the next year so that we can put at least a couple of dice there, and I will use Andreyas die training the militia... If we are lucky we may finish a couple of training actions due to spillover.

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The problem is that we are exceedingly likely to take serious casualties this Winter. We're planning on getting hit with Smallpox this turn and have a bunch of FNG's who have never seen a New World Winter. We need to prepare ourselves for a sizable death toll. Thus the need for Rites of Death and Funerary Practices.

I am not sure if we can use a knowledge hero as Alexandre does this though...

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I think Alexandre can manage though. Helping those who are afflicted by supernatural curses is very much in his wheelhouse. I don't think he'd be able to manage without help, but the colonists should provide the woods skills and brute force he lacks.

For all we know Heal the Wounded could finish by itself in Spring, so I would use an OOC question to confirm it before committing any dice...

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This isn't about speeding the healing process. It's about sealing up the open wounds so Winter can't take advantage of them. The fact that it should speed up the healing process is just an added bonus.

If we could free the unchained dice we could take the Champions this turn making the militia much more effective, and if we are lucky we could even get an extra militia dice (a solid command structure makes any army exponentially better)

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I wonder if we could spend a Militia die on this project? It makes sense narratively that the militia would be useful in this area.

One dice on building the bird shelters is kind of low. We just got those turkeys and chickens and I'd hate to lose them.

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The birds should be protected by the top quality houses we built. It's the untrained dogs and deer that make me nervous.

 

[Fanhunter696]

I wouldn't worry too much on that score. The forces currently arrayed against the Eyevines and Spiders should be enough to destroy the Nodes and clear out the Spiders. The question is whether or not we want to hit the Devourers as well.

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With the new info that the QM has given us about the rescued slaves and that the difference between rescuing them in summer or autumn is basically zero, I was hoping that we can leave the Raids to the Tribute Takers in summer and autumn, and use spring to prepare things and finish off the vermin...

Issue is that we'll need 3 dice to have a good chance of completing it before Winter hits. That's a whole lot of dice to spend on a single project, especially when we have so many other potential projects to work on. I feel your pain though. I'm the same way about the Razorweed Hedges.

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IIRC a part of the overflow of the houses was going to be transfered to the Patterns, so the project is likely to need only 80-100 progress to be finished, which is perfectly doable with a couple of dice.

No, part of it go into granaries and warding patterns, part into enhancing further the new houses.

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Besides that, we can always spend some Morale to finish the project before Winter, like we have done other autumn...

Speaking of Hedge Mazes, the Sambankoli will provide the young trees for the maze, which was the main reason why the maze had increased its DC so it should be easier to get it done ASAP

I wonder if we could spend a Militia die on this project? It makes sense narratively that the militia would be useful in this area.

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It uses exclusively Unchained dice, wich makes sense since it is the Unchained training the Militia...

The birds should be protected by the top quality houses we built. It's the untrained dogs and deer that make me nervous.

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The deer and the dogs know how to handle themselves well enough in Winter since they have been doing it for decades so I am not that worried.

The Protect the animals seem to be almost exclusively for the poultry...

This isn't about speeding the healing process. It's about sealing up the open wounds so Winter can't take advantage of them. The fact that it should speed up the healing process is just an added bonus.

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Yeah, but if we are lucky and we learn that the Voices will heal for themselves in one or twonturns we may not need ant further treatment at all, which frees up a dice, something that we desperately need.

The OOC Question is to know about the time frame of the healing and act with that info..

 

[Chimeraguard]

Okay, I think I managed to set up a Plan Draft that keeps us having most of what we want...

[ ] Plan Pest Control
Fields
-[ ] Harvest [Task] (3 dice) (1 Colonist die, 1 Unhardened Colonist die, 1 Native die)
Wilds
-[ ] Rebuild the Peaceful Wilds
--[ ] Further out [0/100] (1 Colonist die, 1 Dead die)
-[ ] Gathering Expedition [DC 20/80/120] (1 Colonist die, 1 Native die)
-[ ] Purge the Vermin [Away With the Pests] [Risky]
--[ ] The Tower of Eyes [Vermin][???]
---[ ] Strike down the Node (Risky) [0/75] (2 Warrior's Son dice, 2 Son's Skirmishers dice)
--[ ] The Devourer Kingdoms [Vermin] [???] (2 Silent Blades dice, 1 Personal die)
Town
-[ ] Train Champions [0/100] (1 Andreyas die, 1 Unchained die)
-[ ] To protect animals [0/75] (1 Colonist die, 1 Native die)
-[ ] Train the Militia against monsters [Militia]
--[ ] Spread and Regroup [10/75] (1 Militia die)
-[ ] Patterns of Protection [0/120] (2 Colonist dice)
Crafting (7 Craft Points)
-[ ] Make tools for the Shepherds [1 Craft, 1 unit of Mediocre Steel]
-[ ] Smith the Lord's Remnants [1 Craft, 1 unit of Lord's Bone] (Will trigger a quality roll)
--[ ] Weapons
-[ ] The Great Mending [2 Craft, 1 unit of Fabric]
-[ ] The Giant's Shield [2 Craft, 1 unit of Excellent Wood] (Will trigger a quality roll)
-[ ] Elixir of Wakefulness [1 Craft]
Raids, Expeditions and Diplomacy
-[ ] Follow the Path [0/100] (1 Colonist die, 1 Alexandre die)
Knowledge
-[ ] Heal the Wounded
--[ ] We shall patch the wounds of their vessels and ensure the trees are healthy [DC ??] (1 Failure die)
---[ ] Write-In: Set aside a unit of Excellent Bark to be expended in this if it is deemed beneficial.
-[ ] Rites of Death [Death] [Freed] (2 Mourner dice, 1 Unchained die)
The Council
-[ ] Give power to the Assembly [DC 30/ ??/??] (2 Council dice)
-[ ] Funerary Practices [DC 25/75/ ???] (1 Council die)
Death Singing
-[ ] Teach the Shepherds (1 Personal die)
Sara Smith, the Mourner
-[ ] Tales of the Saints and Heroes [DC 20/50/??]
--[ ] Saint Lazarus, the Resurrected, patron of the ills and cursed (1 Personal die)
-[ ] Select Candidates
--[ ] Andreyas Sarsas [Free, no die needed]

Dice Remaining: 1 Native die

Doing away with Food Traps on the assumption that the strengthened Mourners + Sara (and possibly Ghostnose dogs) will be enough reinforcement on the anti-Spirit front, and away with Paths with the hope of buying more Gunpowder from the trader to make up for delaying our own production thereof.

Had to move the focus of the Vermin Hunts back to Devourers + Nodes like it was originally planned though.

2 dice are on To Protect Animals with the assumption that the project will be increased in progress required and expand to cover dogs and deer, since before this turn, we didn't have those animals.

Not making progress on freeing the Tribute-Taker victims sucks, but is...a semi acceptable cost, seeing how the planned raid where we'll be having slaves to free isn't until next Summer at the earliest. Still, if dice end up being freed, it'll be first on the list to go back up.

And the Native die is remaining in reserve for Dog Training.

If it turns out more dice need to be freed up, it can be done by moving one pair of Son + Skirmishers dice onto another Project and use that to free up the necessary dice. It will mean cutting back our Eyevine hunting down to completing a single stage, but at least the Eyevines will begin to be driven back.

 

[Fanhunter696]

Well @Chimeraguard the plan looks pretty great, there are only two things that I would change...

• I am not that worried about protecting the animals since deer and dogs have been surviving just fine for decades, so I would only put a single dice here (and if we don't finish it we can always spend some Morale to finish it)
• That way we could free an Unchained dice, wich we can put on the Champions actions, freeing Andreas dice so that we can put 3 dice on Give power to the Assembly, which we really want to get up to the 3rd DC

 

[Chimeraguard]

• I am not that worried about protecting the animals since deer and dogs have been surviving just fine for decades, so I would only put a single dice here (and if we don't finish it we can always spend some Morale to finish it)

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They haven't actually. The dogs appear to have been the dogs that were once part of the Winter Walkers' old settlement and managed to escape and have been living in the Wilds for a couple years, not decades.

The deer might be another case, but they were explicitly called out by OldShadow that "all" we had to do was protect them in the Winter. I think the difference is that before, the deer were among the Shepherds all year-round to take care of them, whereas now they're with us in our more sedentary lifestyle.

The Herd give one season of food and two units of leather each year (added in Spring)
Not that much, but you get thoses for free, you don't even need to sheperd the deers, just make sure to keep the worst predators away from the wilds near Union and protect the deers in Winter.

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[Fanhunter696]

They haven't actually. The dogs appear to have been the dogs that were once part of the Winter Walkers' old settlement and managed to escape and have been living in the Wilds for a couple years, not decades.

The deer might be another case, but they were explicitly called out by OldShadow that "all" we had to do was protect them in the Winter. I think the difference is that before, the deer were among the Shepherds all year-round to take care of them, whereas now they're with us in our more sedentary lifestyle.

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OK fair enough...

I still think that putting 3 dice on Give power to the Assembly, and use both the Unchained dice to cover for Andreyas could be really useful...

 

[Chimeraguard]

Well...the best way for that to happen would be for if it turns out we can use our Militia die on the project. It's a bit odd that Unchained Workforce dice can be used on the project, but our Militia veterans who are effectively the ones in charge of the Militia in its current state can't.

Alternatively, we can reduce the amount of effort on the Eyevine Node culling and use a pair of Son + Skirmisher dice to free up Workforce dice. I'd prefer not to, but it is an option.

 

[Hunter531]

No. I see minimal benefit in waiting. We had already planned for the raids to be done with just our unique specialists, without the need to involve the Militia proper. In fact, the nature of our raids means using the whole militia would be more of a hinderance than a help.

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I can see a fair few benefits to waiting actually. Biggest one is that we free up the dice that would be going on the raid to help us recover from the plague. While the Son's Skirmishers probably aren't going to be particularly helpful here, Sara and the Silent Blades most definitely will. The former can council the bereaved, and the latter can be used to help replace the labor of those we have lost. The Warrior's Son can then use his new Death Singing abilities to help pick up some of the slack from Sara.

It would also reduce the amount of dice we need to spend on Further Out right now. You could get that Dead die off of Further Out and onto the Devourers, for which they are much better suited. Or you could have them handle the animal protection.

-[ ] Elixir of Wakefulness [1 Craft]

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I know I'm the one who originally pushed for this, but I don't think we can afford to do this now. I've found a flaw in our plague prep (well, two actually, but it's too late to go back to the Shepherds and get that strengthening ritual). We've got a plague ward all set up, but we need Protective Clothing in order to prevent those providing treatment from spreading the disease to others.

On the plus side, picking it could mean we can take the Many Uses of Razorweed action without it being risky. That stuff should have a major impact on our Defense, to the point where I'm willing to delay Champions.

Blowguns that can wound souls are pretty darn powerful. I really do want to hit that third DC on Assembly. We're only going to have one chance to get this right after all. Plus, knowing human nature, one of the first things that those uncontrolled dice will do is get alcohol production going. That's a free step towards true gunpowder production right there.

2 dice are on To Protect Animals with the assumption that the project will be increased in progress required and expand to cover dogs and deer, since before this turn, we didn't have those animals.

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Hopefully the original action was designed with additional capacity for this situation, or us not needing to house the birds there frees up enough space to counteract that effect.

If it turns out more dice need to be freed up, it can be done by moving one pair of Son + Skirmishers dice onto another Project and use that to free up the necessary dice. It will mean cutting back our Eyevine hunting down to completing a single stage, but at least the Eyevines will begin to be driven back.

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I think it's worth noting that we will have a devil of a time launching those raids in the Spring if we also have to beat back the Eyevines. Not saying doing so is a bad idea mind you, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

 

[Chimeraguard]

I know I'm the one who originally pushed for this, but I don't think we can afford to do this now. I've found a flaw in our plague prep (well, two actually, but it's too late to go back to the Shepherds and get that strengthening ritual). We've got a plague ward all set up, but we need Protective Clothing in order to prevent those providing treatment from spreading the disease to others.

Blowguns that can wound souls are pretty darn powerful. I really do want to hit that third DC on Assembly. We're only going to have one chance to get this right after all. Plus, knowing human nature, one of the first things that those uncontrolled dice will do is get alcohol production going. That's a free step towards true gunpowder production right there.

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Hmm, yeah the strengthening ritual actually would have been pretty good for people who would otherwise die of smallpox. I think I thought of it but dismissed it as too radical to be easily accepted and too expensive when there was other stuff we wanted. Well, too late now, and it would have required an even bigger investment to trade for it anyway.

But yeah, that's a good point about Protective Clothing helping the people who are supposed to treat the sick. Still, is there anything else we'd prefer to swap out for it instead? Just to be certain that this is what we want.

Well, alcohol production requires Craft rather than dice, so I imagine that Alcohol Production is something more likely to be a Will of the People rather than Assembly Work. But I do expect it to come up soon.

On the plus side, picking it could mean we can take the Many Uses of Razorweed action without it being risky. That stuff should have a major impact on our Defense, to the point where I'm willing to delay Champions.

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Hmm, yeah that's a good point. And with the sheer amount of omake bonuses we have in reserve (I think we have like, 13 if you count ones not yet determined), it shouldn't be that much of a risk.

I think it's worth noting that we will have a devil of a time launching those raids in the Spring if we also have to beat back the Eyevines. Not saying doing so is a bad idea mind you, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

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Well, I think we'll be able to leave the Eyevines on a bit of a hold so long as we've begun pushing them back. The Nodes don't seem to be things that can be easily replaced the way the Many-Limbed Devourers can just lay more eggs. It would still be frustrating, but not extremely so.

Still, those are good points raised. Sara being close by during the Spring would also mean that we can do the Blood Pact with Razorweed without any issue.

One concern I have is that if we delay the heavy raiding until Summer, then that's left the Tribute-Takers with a full year of being able to expand operations ever since we finished the Wider Hunt to disrupt them. I've been considering whether we could afford to do attacking Tribute-Taker Expeditions, or if that would alert them enough that they'd start hardening the Gifts for the Takers targets.

 

[Fanhunter696]

On the plus side, picking it could mean we can take the Many Uses of Razorweed action without it being risky. That stuff should have a major impact on our Defense, to the point where I'm willing to delay Champions.

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The thing is that since Champions use exclusively Unchained dice and doesn't use the militia dice... So no need to delay the Champions...

One concern I have is that if we delay the heavy raiding until Summer, then that's left the Tribute-Takers with a full year of being able to expand operations ever since we finished the Wider Hunt to disrupt them. I've been considering whether we could afford to do attacking Tribute-Taker Expeditions, or if that would alert them enough that they'd start hardening the Gifts for the Takers targets.

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The QM pretty much said that as long as we picked these raids before the Tribute Taker Raid, we wouldn't have any problems and things will remain mostly the same, so we should not worry about that too much

 

[Chimeraguard]

One thing we could do is swap out the Assembly for sorting out the official position of Heroes, which I think should only require two dice, and save doing the Assembly for in the Spring. Granted, that's a further delay on something that's meant to provide us with more dice, but it would allow us to free up Andreyas for setting up Champions and let us put 3 dice on the Assembly later on.

 

[Hunter531]

Well, alcohol production requires Craft rather than dice, so I imagine that Alcohol Production is something more likely to be a Will of the People rather than Assembly Work. But I do expect it to come up soon.

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Ah, but we do have an action that converts a die to one Craft. I wouldn't expect it would work out in a more mechanically-focused quest, but the narrative seems solid enough that I think it would work.

Well, I think we'll be able to leave the Eyevines on a bit of a hold so long as we've begun pushing them back. The Nodes don't seem to be things that can be easily replaced the way the Many-Limbed Devourers can just lay more eggs. It would still be frustrating, but not extremely so.

Still, those are good points raised. Sara being close by during the Spring would also mean that we can do the Blood Pact with Razorweed without any issue.

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Makes sense to me, although I wouldn't worry too much about needing Sara for the Blood Pact. It's a pretty safe action so long as we don't put too many dice on it. Plus, it's ridiculously unlikely that we'll place all of Sara's dice on actions outside of Union, so she should still be present when we try it.

One concern I have is that if we delay the heavy raiding until Summer, then that's left the Tribute-Takers with a full year of being able to expand operations ever since we finished the Wider Hunt to disrupt them. I've been considering whether we could afford to do attacking Tribute-Taker Expeditions, or if that would alert them enough that they'd start hardening the Gifts for the Takers targets.

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Another fair point, and I'm really wishing I included the Expeditions in my omake question about potential raid targets. Think it's worth asking another one?

The thing is that since Champions use exclusively Unchained dice and doesn't use the militia dice... So no need to delay the Champions...

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I'm aware that the two options aren't mutually exclusive. My point was that taking Many Uses for Razorweed should boost our Defense enough that I feel comfortable moving the dice on Champions to other projects. There's no shortage of projects that could use those dice.

The QM pretty much said that as long as we picked these raids before the Tribute Taker Raid, we wouldn't have any problems and things will remain mostly the same, so we should not worry about that too much

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Unfortunately, due to an extremely unfortunate oversight on my part, that question only covers the potential raid targets, and Tribute Taker Expeditions isn't one of them. My apologies.