"Got Blood?" -- BF Ulm AAR (Newbie)

[Boron]

nice aar
it has awakened my interest for BF ulm
but a question which frightens me a bit to play them myself :
the inland map with 154 provinces is quite big already though i love the orania map with 260 or so provinces with every player and highest research costs .
at which turn are you at the moment ?
but i guess you will need at least 100-150 turns or so . now my problem : you have to take death 1 :
although you only lose 0.2 % per turn you lose them . it is very slow but constant . if nothing else happens and i did calculate it right : at turn 100 your 30k capitol population should have dropped to 24557 . that is not so bad at all .
but with blood hunting you should get unrest and if you patrol lose your population quite quickly . and there are many bad events / spells which further decrease population .
so with positive growth it is not much but at least your population has the ability to slowly regrow.
so if you are some time (10-20) turns in a state where you can't expand and fight much i fear that you come in a blood shortage and you can't hope it will ever become better because of death 1 .
how far did you already play and how long do you think your game Lasts roughly estimated in turns ? plz tell me if you had any blood hunting problems then and how do you plan to bloodhunt ? masshunt in a few provinces with opressing unrest through partrols or perhaps 1 blood hunter in almost every province and taxes reduced to 50-80% to keep unrest low without patrolling ?
cause in my first big own game as abysia i took growth 3 and are at turn 80 but i don't know really why now my unrest is increasing quickly and my 12 provinces where i bloodhunt get slowly depopulated and my blood income drops slowly

[Scott Hebert]

Originally posted by HotNifeThruButr:
Why buy Farstrikers? If I remember right\ it's a captain and 30 shortbowmen with, I believe ringmail cuirasses for around 130 gold. Shortbows aren't amazing, and Machaka has plenty of heavy armor to make them go crying for their respective mamas (who I'm sure are all saints ).

First, as Sheap said, these are longbowmen, which are far better than shortbowmen. Second, while Machaka has a lot of heavy armor, their archers are VERY vulnerable to counter battery fire. As you point out later, my Rangers will do quite well against Machakan armor, and so I'm going to want archers to counter the Machakan archers. Besides, I find the Farstrikers the best investment of any merc.

Do you pay upkeep for wolves? If so, how much?

According to my brother Wyatt, Wolves are free. If they aren't, then they are probably like slaves, which have a gold cost of 1, for an upkeep of 1/15.

If I read the roleplay part of the report right, you intend to make researchers in the mausoleum as well as your capital.

Slight correction. My capital will be making my Fortunetellers and my Wolfherds (which depends on money), while the Mausoleum will be making Members of the Second Tier for Bloodhunting.

Also, from the roleplay part, it looks like you mean that Irma and Ulrich are sitting on their fat asses in Ulm, eating chocolate and the occasional child/virgin. Is it for some kind of master plan?

The story is just that: a story. While it does give direction to the game, it's not the main part. If you notice in my troop movements, Ulrich is leading troops in battle, while Irma is starting to take provinces.

How did/will you deal with Machaka?

As I've said, I am now 'in present time', as it were, and I plan to do one turn a day. I plan to host to turn 8 and have a write-up in the next 4 hours.

If I were you, I would've kept the Farstrikers around to deal with Warriors, Militia, Spider Riders, and their own Archers.

See above.

I would also employ masses of Rangers gunning for the closest enemy in case they have Knights or Hunters.

If I want to deal with them, I would set to 'fire cavalry' or 'large monsters', just so they don't get confused. Probably large monsters, since after the riders die, I don't know if they're classified as 'cavalry' anymore.

For hoplites, I would also have a small diVersionary force of Infantry of Ulm to fend off Warriors and Militia until they route, if they're present along with hoplites.

I have a hard time seeing Ulmish infantry as 'diVersionary'. I plan to have a center line/block of Ulmish infantry whose job is to hold that line until my Rangers/other archers defeat the enemy.

Once the hoplites are at the front, my rangers can cut them down with relatively close range fire. How will you fight Machaka archers after the Strikers have died or left, though? That I want to know.

I highly doubt that the Farstrikers will ever die or leave my service. However, in that event, Wolves are my best fast flankers, and especially against archers with no armor, will really rip them up.

Are you compromising your fighting forces by creating a research team?

I don't feel I am. More than researchers right now, I need Blood hunters to get my first Blood Count. I'll be switching over to Construction this turn to get to 4 ASAP for SDRs, and the Death/Blood path-enhancing items.

Early-game, mercs are your way of enhancing your forces while maintaining decent mage production.

Thanks for the questions, though. It helps to clarify everything and enhances the AAR.

[Scott Hebert]

Originally posted by Boron:
nice aar
it has awakened my interest for BF ulm

Thanks!

but a question which frightens me a bit to play them myself :
the inland map with 154 provinces is quite big already though i love the orania map with 260 or so provinces with every player and highest research costs .
at which turn are you at the moment ?

I'm about to do turn 8, as soon as people stop posting in this thread! (this is a joke)

but i guess you will need at least 100-150 turns or so . now my problem : you have to take death 1 :
although you only lose 0.2 % per turn you lose them . it is very slow but constant . if nothing else happens and i did calculate it right : at turn 100 your 30k capitol population should have dropped to 24557 . that is not so bad at all .
but with blood hunting you should get unrest and if you patrol lose your population quite quickly . and there are many bad events / spells which further decrease population .

Yes, the mandatory Death-1 hurts BF Ulm, since it is a Blood nation. I find it to be the main reason I don't play them more. I'll cover more below, but I'd like to point out that the Fortunetellers can negate bad events, and if you put them in your high-income provinces, it helps.

so with positive growth it is not much but at least your population has the ability to slowly regrow.
so if you are some time (10-20) turns in a state where you can't expand and fight much i fear that you come in a blood shortage and you can't hope it will ever become better because of death 1 .

I don't think that will happen, honestly. While I wouldn't call myself a 'good player', I don't think that, properly and cautiously played, the computer is going to give me that much of a problem. Yes, C'tis was just in the wrong place at the wrong time (with the wrong Fort, and the wrong Pretender). Part of the reason I took the VQ was to break that kind of stalemate.

how far did you already play and how long do you think your game Lasts roughly estimated in turns ? plz tell me if you had any blood hunting problems then

I expect the game to run as long as it takes for me to be the obvious and clear winner. How that is defined is different for every person, I would expect.

and how do you plan to bloodhunt ? masshunt in a few provinces with opressing unrest through partrols or perhaps 1 blood hunter in almost every province and taxes reduced to 50-80% to keep unrest low without patrolling ?

Generally, I follow one of two strategies when I'm bloodhunting. The first is to put 2 Bloodhunters in a province that's as close to 5K as possible, turn the taxes down to 0, and let them hunt. If they are Blood-2 mages (whether innate or 1 with a SDR), they generally don't cause any unrest to accumulate. The second is to use Norfleet's numbers to stifle unrest by patrolling (he has 65 slaves stops the unrest from two Blood-2 mages). Now, for BF Ulm, you'd use the Thralls auto-generated by the Blood Counts instead of Slaves, but the theory is sound. I don't know if this way is feasible with the Death scale, though.

At this point, I'm looking at doing it the first way until I get my first Blood Count, and then judge from then on.

Hope this helps. Another hope: I get the Blood Marshal or the Member of the Third Tier soon.

[Scott Hebert]

Turn 8

--

Short form: All battles won, no casualties taken. Always a good thing.

Rexor's Barbarians leave to try to get rehired (with 1 barbarian, I hope someone does). Black Bones's Pirates are available to hire.

Albrecht, the Member of the Second Tier, joins me in C'tis, and Sethenana, an SD Fortuneteller, joins me in Ulm.

Akesta has an Arena.

To deal with unrest, Cun Aral has its taxes set to 50%, Zanthrast to 60%, and Akesta to 40%. This should eliminate unrest so that taxation can return to normal levels next turn.

Unit Orders:

Albrecht Sneaks to Zimmria (at 6.7k, my best Bloodhunting province to start).
Karl moves to attack Bitra.
Dante and Arnaud move to attack Frygia.
Irma moves to attack Dothian (the other province between me and the Machaka province; I have Dominion there now).
Sethenana is commanded to Research.
Ulrich is reanimating Soulless in Zanthrast.
Evita (my SN Fortuneteller) Forges an Ivy Crown.

Purchase Orders:

I spend 85g to rehire Dante's Stingers (22 men left).
I spend 90g to hire a Fortuneteller in Ulm.
I spend 160g to hire a Member of the Second Tier in C'tis.
I spend 30g to hire a Commander in Fenatice (it will take 2 turns).
I spend 10g to hire a Morningstar Infantry in C'tis.

Research:

My research is currently focused on Construction to get up to 4 ASAP. My research levels are currently:

Conjuration 1
Alteration 2
Construction 2
Enchantment 1
Thaumaturgy 1

Status:

Treasury: 0
Income: 454 (+68)
Upkeep: 88 (+20)
Gems: 5A/3S/25D/2N
Gem Income: +1S/+6D/+3N

Questions, comments, suggestions, feel free to post.

[HotNifeThruButr]

"I have a hard time seeing Ulmish infantry as 'diVersionary'. I plan to have a center line/block of Ulmish infantry whose job is to hold that line until my Rangers/other archers defeat the enemy."

Isn't that being a diVersion? Just a big diVersion.

It seems to me like you're using mercs and mages extensively instead of normal national troops. I wonder what would happen if you lost just one battle with the mercenaries. That's why I tend to not be in favor of hiring mercs. Would I be correct to assume that you're toast if your merc army routes one time?

[Scott Hebert]

Originally posted by HotNifeThruButr:
Isn't that being a diVersion? Just a big diVersion.

I see it as more of a wall. Slaves are a diVersion.

It seems to me like you're using mercs and mages extensively instead of normal national troops.

At this point, if I want to have any research at all, I need mages. The Mercs are cheaper than what I can get otherwise (and in numbers I just can't match), so I get them instead of hiring 'normal' troops. What would you be doing different?

I wonder what would happen if you lost just one battle with the mercenaries. That's why I tend to not be in favor of hiring mercs. Would I be correct to assume that you're toast if your merc army routes one time?

Not particularly. First, the chances my mercs will rout is minimal, considering that I currently have 22 HI and 30 Longbowmen (my mercs) going up against 20 Militia and LI. If you don't use them effectively, of course you're not spending your money wisely.

And, even if I did lose them, I still have my 'main' army with Karl, which is very low-upkeep and very good at taking out Independent provinces. I also have my SC VQ. So no, I don't think I'd be hurt that much at all.

Do you have any other questions I can answer?

[Scott Hebert]

Turn 9

--

Tien Chi names a Khan his prophet. I believe this means he's playing the Barbarian theme.

I gain 1 Nature gem from a Cursing Witch event.

In Bitra, I take no casualties.
In Frygia, I take one HI casualty.
In Dothian, my VQ takes out HC.

Taxes:
Cun Aral, Zanthrast, and Akesta all go back up to 100%.
Dothian goes down to 30%.
Frygia goes down to 40%.
Bitra goes down to 60%.
Zimmria goes down to 50%. (This is in anticipation of Bloodhunting.)

Unit Orders:

Albrecht starts to Blood Hunt in Zimmria.

Aistulf (my new Second Tierer) Sneaks to Zimmria.

Meliath (SB Fortuneteller) Researches in Ulm.

Evita begins a monthly ritual of Awakening Vine Men after donning the Crown she made. (These I consider more of a distraction.)

Irma moves to attack Waywoods, on the other side of the capital. Having taken Dothian, I note Caelum occupies the province SE of Dothian and S of Machaka's province.

Ulrich builds a Temple in Zanthrast. (Rather impressed he could. I do so here because it's surrounded by my own provinces and I can build Priests here and not necessarily in the capital.)

Dante and Arnaud move to attack The Woodlands.

Karl moves to attack Wicker Woods.

Purchase Orders
Spend 90g to rehire the Farstrikers.
Spend 200g to build a temple in Zanthrast.
Spend 90g to hire a Fortuneteller.
Spend 22g to hire a Morningstar Infantry and a Ranger in C'tis.

Research
No real change from previous, up to 32 RPs, still researching Construction

Status:
Treasury 2
Income 532 (+78)
Upkeep 106 (+18)
Gems 5A/4S/31D/5N
Gem Income: +1S/+6D/+3N

Comments welcome.