Armageddon Empires AAR / My first AE game

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Quitch
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Armageddon Empires AAR / My first AE game

Post by Quitch »

Just getting into this little gem which, like Sword of the Stars, has an interface you fight through to find a great game underneath...

...or so I hope. I played the demo once, liked what I saw, then bought the full thing. This AAR will detail my first retail copy game.

I was starting to detail an almost step-by-step play guide with full rules explanations, but I think that'll be dull so I'm going to keep it light. Hopefully this will prove a useful perspective to anyone trying to learn the game.

Let's get started.

I'm going to play the Empire of Man, one of the four factions in the game. While new and exciting factions are open to me now, I like the Empire mechs, I was stomping around with one in the demo raining fire down on al the mutant beasts I could find, so I'm going to try them again. That and the Empire also have the easiest time finding allies in the waste.

I decide to put together my own deck, despite not actually read the entire manual yet (minor things like sabotage, assassinations, research.... ahem) because that'll be more fun, and I'll be able to setup a strategy around it rather than hoping the deck contains cards I want.

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Above is my deck, and the interface used to create it. I'm going to be playing a game with the default settings, so that's a 175 point limit on cards and 5 tile points.

I love me my MeBU-II Vengeance so I get a couple of those, and two other mechs I find available who are also going to give me a measure of anti-air. The plan is to get a MeBU out fast and clear out my surroundings, as I did in the demo. Except this time I know how to build extractors to collect resources. RTFM FTW!!

The MeBU has a range of 2, so it can fire from behind other units so I add a selection of cheap infantry for cannon fodder.

Due to the fact that my materials costs are looking to be quite high (green resource) I add a few Industrial Complex cards to the mix to mine this precious resource.

Other than that I try to keep a reasonable balance of tanks, infantry, planes, heroes and facilities. Mainly this is because I have no clue what I'm doing, so I just pick stuff that looks useful to me. I'm not a subtle player, I don't go for all that sneaky stuff, I prefer to play an aggressive game. I'll be scouting fast and hitting hard. To that end my heroes focus on extending supply and increasing movement. In addition I add some commando units to allow me to raid undefended stuff and just scout in general without worrying about supply, which I was pretty bad at handling in the demo.

Finally, I have three scout vehicles because I want to make reasonably sure I start with something scouty.

My starting tile is a standard Staging Area tile since, with a five point limit, I have no options. It has to be that tile.

The layout of cards above was painstakingly dragged around by me to try and give you as much info as possible. The game does NO filing whatsoever. It's a bit of a pain to TBH.

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I will be playing in Iron Man. I can save when I quit and only to one file, but no reloading mid-game. I like it that way anyway, nothing worse than saving and loading and saving etc. Really wears you down. Plus I get a points bonus to my final score this way :)

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That's my deck. My first deck. I'm so proud.

I'm so dead.

SKIP TO THE NEXT POST IF YOU WANT TO FOLLOW THE GAME. DUE TO THE LESS THAN STABLE NATURE OF THE GAME I DECIDED NOT TO PLAY IRON MAN AND SO STARTED OVER

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All default settings, except the opponent choices.

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All three players roll for initiative. Since I'm playing with 1.02 I have turned on fast rolls.

I'm placing second, not that it matters in the slightest considering we each have only one tile.

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Cunning placements like this will win us the war!

Okay, I just picked one with limited approaches to make it easier to fan out scouts. Thinking back on this... that was stupid. I want as many surrounding tiles as possible, firstly it extends my supply lines deeper, it also increases the chance of resources being next door.

D'OH!

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I've chosen a Citadel as my stronghold. Frankly, I was actually rather tempted to go with the Fortress I think it looks like a better card, but since I don't trust myself to stop any sneaky attacks whatsoever I want a stronghold which can survive my retarded oversights.

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And so the wait begins. This takes a surprising amount of time, though according to the blog it's more than randomly dumped tiles, it's running some erosion procedure to create a realistic landscape.

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Anyway, soon its done and it's time to roll for initiative. I of course don't buy any dice on the first turn because resources are more important than AP right now.

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The AI agrees and I end up going second with 8 AP.

Let's take a look at the players:

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I've highlighted the differences between the sides in yellow. Of course, each race has its own cards too.

Not sure if counts of units and heroes etc. are only for those I know about. Also unsure of the Max Tactic Cards since I think you're allowed a base of four, so why theirs say zero I don't know. Should that zero be a question mark?

Time to check out my hand.

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I'm happy to see I have a recon unit in there (does the game rig this?), that'll be the first thing we push out so we can quickly find the local resources. If we save up we can then push the rangers out, unlike the Imperial Recon they're not affected by supply lines, they also enjoy a stealth of 6 and if the Empire of Man is anything to go by most units only see up to 5. Even if they do get caught their counter-attack will allow them to do harm from defence.

A hero in the hand means we have a means of claiming resources, so he'll be coming out after the recon to really get us moving. He also gets us an additional point of humans every turn, which should be handy to help bolster the infantry force.

Getting out the recon and Starke will clear some room in the hand for new cards, and hopefully I'll get a firebase down early as two in the hand just means I'm missing out on valuable cards.

Things like the Groom and Mobile Repair are for later when I have armies out on the field. Likewise, I bought the Imperial Pioneers purely for their anti-mine abilities.

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And so it begins...
J. Lutes
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Post by J. Lutes »

Hey Quitch --

I look forward very much to reading your AAR. HOWEVER: Be warned that playing in the Iron Man mode is extremely risky. If the game encounters any sort of error (which has happened to a lot of people so far), all of the progress you made since your last quit will be lost. There is no autosave (as it should be for Iron Man mode).

I recommend taking that same deck into a normal game. Until Vic gets all the bugs squashed, I think Iron Man is pretty risky. After four Iron Man games lost due to bugs, I've been playing strictly in normal mode. It would suck to have you get well into your AAR, only to be screwed by a scripting error.
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Quitch
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Post by Quitch »

Taking the advice of one J. Lutes, and having had four scripting errors while building my deck (you can't use your l337 desktop skills, slow and steady is the mantra there) and one firing up Iron Man, it seems 1.02 has some... issues, I fire up a...

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Unlike Iron Man I can save and load, but I'm not going to, I'm using this purely for the End Turn autosaves, though personally I'd prefer if they were from the start of the turn to stop me cheesing the initiative rolls.

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It's my intent to recreate the same game as before, except in my mind I end up changing The Machine Empire into the Xenopods... oops. Ah well, if you want to see The Machine Empire you can play the demo, so I suppose this is probably better :)

Max card points, tiles and map size are all at their smallest values. Uncommon in the other settings means 5% of the map.

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Xenopods only need to pay two APs to draw a card from their pile, unlike the rest of us saps paying three. Still, that won't mean much until later when they have a lot of resources and may actually be in danger of playing more than 0.5 cards in one turn.

A new game of course means a new hex map, opening hand, deployment locales...

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At least I learned my lesson here. I deploy my staging area forwards to expand my supply lines further.

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And the first turn is mine! MWHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

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MWHAHAHAHahaaa... oh. Oh bugger.

Not a single card is affordable right now. Still, two ranger squads, I'll be out and ignoring supply rules in no time. My opening plan is changing, I'll be trying to scour as much of the map as possible, hopefully locate both enemy strongholds in short order, along with the resources, then go into overdrive during the mid-game... whenever that is.

Here's hoping I've got something which can deploy a minefield. I didn't make it that far into the manual :)

Still, I have the AP to draw a card so perhaps not all is lost.

Note that I only have seven cards, as it should be. I screwed up last time I took two shots of the Imperial Firebase. This means I have space in my hand for one more card.

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Whelp, we're screwed. I'm sure he's a great card, but I could kinda do with a cheap scout right now. Still, I smell a potential hero to lead a Ranger army deep in enemy territory. Perhaps I'll be just a little sneaky...

THREE TURNS LATER

Since I didn't want to discard anything to free up space I passed, and every turn I have won the AP roll, so at least the others are being held back.. slightly... not at all.

Not that it matters anymore for my rangers are taking to the field!

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And the army of About Damn Time is formed.

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They immediately observe a neutral force to the North. Neutrals will either join, bargain their services, or fight. Well, they're human, so that bodes well, but then again they're slavers so might fight just to capture me. Hmmm... nothing on the army screen which gives their stance away so I'll steer clear for now. My scouts could take the Slavers I reckon, but those three fate points make me nervous so I'll come back later.

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Due to my small numbers I only need to spend one action point to move. I can also stealth the unit to make it harder for others to see. Ideal for a scout. As an added benefit my rangers are immune to supply rules, so they'll be moving around the map pretty damn fast.

Once the scouting has been done, I'll use them to keep an eye on what the enemy are doing, hopefully intercept assassins on the way to my territory, and for strikes against undefend facilities. Bwahahahahaa.

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And here is the movement grid. I'll explore around my stronghold first. It's easy going desert terrain and the closer the resources the better.

Without enough resources to buy anything (but with plenty of energy... the yellow one) I draw another card.

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Another goddamn hero! Everyone wants to be a hero these days, but where are the grunts? This is all J Lutes fault... *grumble grumble*

Complaining aside, getting this guy out early could be a real bonus, will allow me a whole lot more flexibility in my hand

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And there it is, end of the third turn. True to my fortunes I find the only resource I don't need right now, next door.

I'll be posting updates covering more turns in the future.
kong
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Post by kong »

Personally I would have got Starke out as soon as possible. His charismatic skill gives you +1 human resources a turn. In the early game those extra resources really help out.
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Quitch
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Post by Quitch »

But I'm not human resources dependent, none of my cards require that above anything else, so the additional humans would be useful only for initiative dice purchasing.
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Quitch
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Post by Quitch »

The turn division is going to get a little hazy, but this covers 4-13. Card pulls tend to be at the end of my turn.

Kicking off turn 4 with our ranger squad we go scouting for the beasties of the waste and the treasures they hide.

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That'll do nicely :)

I choose to observe, which tends to mean "drop to the main interface" so I can see if there's anything to choose or select. There isn't, so it's back into the resource screen to claim what's rightfully mine.

For the Empire!

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Or not. One of the infamous 1.02 script errors. Clicking yes allows me to continue, but any attempt to Claim leads to the error. I decide to reload my autosave and claim what's mine once more, no observe this time.

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Energy? Oh you've got to be friggin' kidding me! We're knee deep in this shit and I haven't got dick that needs it. Initiative dice here I come.

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The rangers uncovered some tentacle beasts to the SE, which we're steering WELL clear of. To the NE is an observation post, seems to be abandoned.

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Vincent joins the fray! Due to my card situation I want the ability to draw more and diversify my holdings. Perhaps I have something that needs energy, hmmm...

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He also means I have a supply range to rival that of God. No fighting out of supply for me! Not that I have anything which need supply yet, but soon, soon...

Unsure about the post, I think observation is an all or nothing thing for a hex, so I venture in...

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Sweet, that's the right flank covered from sneak attacks.

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I end the turn (5 maybe?) by picking up a card from the deck. Doesn't need energy, no, of course not, why would I want cards needing that?!

Grrrr...

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Cloaked rangers in the observation post notice movement nearby.

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Looks like the mutants are scouting this way. An attack of five eh? Makes me think twice about taking them on. It's unlikely they've seen me here though (stealthed), but if they haven't spotted the observation post I'd be surprised, even with the modifier for the rough terrain it's in.

It does look like his army is out of supply though. If that's true then it's an easy kill that's come my way.

EDIT: They're commandos Quitch you pillock!

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He's buying more dice? Hmmm...

I grab a card from the deck to see if I can get anything which will bolster my forces by the mutants, since the observation post is a barracks too, as well as a supply line.

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Another card of no current use. I'm seeing a pattern. Looks like my scouting phase is going to last a little longer. Still, I can't let that scout roam up and down my flank, he might find me, or take my newly found observation post.

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Only one thing for it.

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Just to give you an idea of the clunkiness of the battle screen -- well, that's not fair, it handles the battles well, there's just too much clicking -- I will show the first attack by both sides, one screenshot per mouse click. Remember, up to seven units and one hero per army.

Don't ask what some of the counter-intuitive messages mean, I have no idea.

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There we go, 11 mouse clicks for me to attack him and him to attack me. Ouch.

In this combat I missed him, he then attacked me but I defended, and using my ranger's counter-attack ability I inflicted two wounds.

EDIT: He doesn't suffer from being out of supply because he's a commando unit... he might actually be in supply and it's simply that commando units are always marked as out of supply, I don't know.

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Oh yeah, seeing this for the first time feels good :)

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UNbeliveable!

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He runs off into some rough terrain in the opposite direction of my army. I wonder if retreat is always in the opposite direction of the attack? Allows a bit of cheese, since if they killed me they wouldn't know where I came from, but by retreating you could figure it out, assuming an opposite direction retreat.

EDIT: According to the manual they retreat towards the nearest stronghold or friendly outpost. Good to know, so the mutants are almost certainly on the right.

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Heh, call those dice, but I still whooped your ass.

I choose you, Adam Wraith!

His ability to call one human resource a turn should help bolster my resources should I keep pulling infantry, but more importantly, give me dice spending money. Except, whoops, I've got my heroes confused and this is stealth and speed guy.

Whoops again.

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I send him to build a collector on the energy resource so I CAN buy dice, except I don't have enough AP to build one.

At this point my memory gets hazy. I'm pretty sure I end the turn and try again the next turn because the collector option is black. It turns red, but no collector appears. I'm almost certain it happened.

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The observation post is already paying off, spotting a minefield to the NW. Handy, will provide a nice buffer zone, and in sneaky style territory too.

I pull another couple of cards to bring me to ten.

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The Research Lab isn't useful yet, but it will be. Meanwhile the Ozymandius could be a godsend. A moving factory I can move to better hexes as I find them and retreat if need be.

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Since I have sneaky fast guy, I link him up with About Damn Time to give me some seriously rapid scouting, as well as fate points.

I also finally drop Starke on the board, he can give me that collector I want and then lead the army I'll be following up with soon.

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And the energy resource is invested in dice, time and time again.

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Not always to good effect.

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Collector plz builds a collector. Good job, Starke.

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Not that it's doing me much good yet. I wonder why they need dice.

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More rangers join Adam and we prepare to move on the slavers and find out their intentions.

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A little dribble forms at the corner of my mouth. If you look to the left, those black speckles represent an abandoned city. There be "monsters", but also likely resources and goodies. Big stuff like that you can see on the hexes without going there.

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Making a pull from the deck I finally start to see the beginnings of an army. A unit like this will need a fodder field though.

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A tank to tank for the artillery. Excellent. I'll need one more unit to form a front rank. Perhaps that Infantry man I have.

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We engage the slavers. Turns out they're entirely hostile. Wonder if potential allies are only gold star encounters, not neutrals. Manual doesn't say.

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First attack wounds, but doesn't kill, but as fate would have it...

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Death to the slaver! One fate point down.

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He gets an attack in his death throes, but it avails him nothing.

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And we win, with ease. I LOVE counter-attack.

Oddly you don't seem to be able to use fate points to influence rolls some times. I'm not sure I understand how that works.

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Normally we'd get five dice to hunt, but Adam bolsters that by two and The Overlord is hunted down like a dog. You can capture heroes, but I assume that's only from the other factions and that neutral heroes always die. Maybe? Manual doesn't say.

EDIT: This is incorrect, according to the manual the formula is 1 + (player total unit cards in hex / 2) + highest observations strength in hex. So in this case it's 1 + (2 / 2) + (6 - 1 for terrain) = 7, he has 3 fate points and therefore rolls that many in defence. If I roll more successes (mine minus his) then he has dice in his pool (minus my highest bounty hunter value in the hex, which is two) then I score a capture. If I win without beating his dice pool total then he dies. In this instance I needed to score two since 3 fate - 2 bounty = a score of 1 to beat. I guess I rolled three successes to his two, hence the kill

If he has no items does it make a difference whether the roll succeeds or not?

The game didn't offer me the use of fate here. Why? If I'd failed I'd have been able to use all three points and likely score a capture, but because I succeeded I can actually get a worse outcome than failure allows for?

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They're spending big money now, wonder what they're up to. Still no contact, but I haven't done much on the left and they're over there somewhere if the mutant scout is anything to go by.

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The beginnings of a real army.

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The slaver hex is flush with resources, as neutral "monster" hexes are apt to be. Unsure whether "one collector" means I can only have one of each type, or one of any type on the hex.

I'll need my Ozymandius over here, then we'll be rocking. It'll repay its cost in one turn!

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And here's things at the end of turn thirteen.

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Those are the "explored", "control" and "observation" minimap views.

Finally, the state of my empire:

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Thus far things aren't going badly. We're starting to hit cards which I can use, and the terrain around us is incredibly open so we'll be able to scout the map in just a few turns, and even if my rangers are detected they're quite capable of defending themselves.

Just wish I had a damn mech in my hand. God I love mechs. :D
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JonathanStrange
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Post by JonathanStrange »

Quitch, I'm liking the look and feel of the game. It seems both accessible and challenging. Yeah, I reaching the tipping point towards a purchase.
The opinions expressed by JonathanStrange are solely those of JonathanStrange and do not reflect the opinions of OctopusOverlords.com, the forum members of OctopusOverlords, the elusive Mr. Norrell, or JonathanStrange.


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Quitch
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Post by Quitch »

I'm loving it myself, even though this is only my first retail game (and second overall). The range of options is impressive, I haven't even touched on assassination, espionage, attachment, munitions, research etc. yet.

I've also updated my post to answer some of my own questions and correct mistakes I made in my understanding of the rules. All updates are marked EDIT.

I'm getting over the UI, though scrolling is a true pain, that hasn't gone away. I'm glad mouse roll-over tips got added, I couldn't survive without, even with the manual printed and bound next to me.

Unlike, say, SotS, the demo of this game should give you a good idea as to whether you'll like it or not. Though I think you need to simply imagine what card creation is like as I'm not sure it's in the demo. Demo was updated to 1.02 at the same time as the main game.

I think game would be right up your alley, JS. It's really quite accessible, the manual is, for the most part, excellent.
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Quitch
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Post by Quitch »

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And thus we begin turn 14, spending a couple of energy to bolster the dice and winning the initiative.

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The first thing we do is send About Damn Time to the North and setup a Scrap Team to start those materials (green) rolling in. We also move Osymandius to the same hex and await the materials and energy it will be able to extract.

Oh yeah, now we're moving into overdrive. Time to find me some enemies to squish with my soon to be mega armies!

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I end the turn by calling in my FAC team. I hadn't noticed they can stealth, so they'll compliment About Damn Time nicely, allowing me to call in air strikes on targets we find. No doubt I'll be getting some air support soon.

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My recent expansion has left the coffers a little empty.

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Still, onto turn 15 where we're still spending more than anyone else on dice since we're exploding outwards and I need the AP to keep things rolling.

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About Damn Times grabs us some more resources to the West.

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As you can see, my new collector and Osymandius mean I'm starting to pull in those precious materials. I'm going to need to do something about tech though, that's a resource I'll be needing.

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Moving, claiming and cloaking has cost me a lot of AP, so I simply spend the rest of bolstering the hand. A forward barracks isn't that handy yet, but soon maybe.

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We've still got a huge excess of energy, but it's proving rather handy in ensuring I'm always at least second (and usually first) in the AP stakes.

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CONTACT! Exploring the West, About Damn Time have found a Xenopod collector. Looks to be undefended. Maybe.

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It was, and now it's no more!

Time to bolster the hand again.

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Not a bad draw at all. We finally have a mech, some anti-air, and some air power of my own. That FAC will have a use after all.

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The Xenopods open up with an air strike against About Damn Time in retaliation for the loss of their collector. Did I not cloak them again? Thought I did. Perhaps I was spotted by something I can't see?

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He rolls four dice, he gets four hits, where as I only score a single defence point. Jammy bitch.

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I'm finally facing some competition for the initiative, and this time I lose out. I'm fairly worried, if About Damn Time is under Xenopod observation another strike could be incoming.

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Fortunately nothing of note happens. Note that About Damn Time is now a Hardened army, earning it an additional fate point. I bring them back to HQ to collect the FAC team.

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W00t! My beautiful mech is here *sniff*. Now the army building can begin.

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Over at Weather Hill we form up a proper army and prepare to strike out.I could add my mech in here, but each new unit means it costs more to move the army so for the moment we'll keep it fairly tight and wait for a target. We're in an observation tower, so I expect to see some mutants soon.

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About Damn Time makes a discovery... and ignores it. I don't want to be paying to keep cloaking them.

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Back at HQ I begin putting togther the makings of an encounter collection squad. Not enough AP to form an army though.

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Continuing its push around the West, About Damn Time finds what I consider to be almost guaranteed allies. Still, I don't want to be cloaking and uncloaking, so I leave it for the follow-up force I will send this way. Recruits wouldn't aid About Damn Time anyway.

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More signs of the Xenopobs. It's looking like they're a NW force.

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A defenceless outpost and a lone hero right next to my stealth recon army with bounty hunter leader? Pinch me!

A captured hero would be really valuable right about now. I need all the AP I can get my grubby little hands on. I get three per turn per prisoner.

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A recon unit! Excellent, I need one on the right flank to go scout those hills. It's all open terrain here in the West, but on the East it's mountains and lots of hidey holes, rough terrain making it harder to observe units.

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The Xenopod hero hasn't gone anywhere, so I thank the heavens when I win the toss.

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Ready or not, here I come!

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Oh yes, this guy doesn't have a hope in hell.

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Bwhahahahahaaaaa...

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I also take this opportunity to take a look at the neutrals to the South to see if I can clear them out before returning to base with my prisoner.

Had I read the manual I would have realised my prisoner goes direct to the nearest base and that I didn't need to go back. Oh well, live and learn :)

Oddly there's no Collector here... WTF happened to the one I observed in the hex??? There's no way I'm failing to observe it.

Being in a ruined city I cannot air strike or get supply there so a commando force would be ideal for the attack, but my FAC would be horribly vunerable, one for the back lines I think.

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Over at Weather Hill I deploy my recon unit to the garrison. Collector plz has started heading SW to collect up my gold encounter stars and to destroy anything About Damn Time skips.

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I thought I cloaked? Well buggering hell if I'm not bending over to take it hard.

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Shit, shit and shit again. ANOTHER perfect, no fate required air attack, vs. my miserable defence, and alas, I can't use fate defending against an air attack.

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And now the Xenopods are sending a force against me. I really don't like the look of that psiblast ability. That's a potential one-kill weapon if ever I saw one. Time to get the hell out of here.

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To the hills! my Imperial Recon army have found a mutant scout playing around on the flank again. Considering the minimal contact I've had I'm thinking they're playing in the North against the Xenopods; that, or the rough terrain up there is really slowing them down.

That's one insane recon value. I fear for my recon units stealthy hide. Though this unit isn't much of a threat, I am in mutant territory.

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An overview of the position at the end of turn 22.

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Foolish Outrider, you're out of supply and you'll be easy pickings for me on my turn.

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Oh... bugger... I knew I should have left a basic infantry garrison there! But I always had other things I wanted to do with the AP.

No matter, I'll retake it on my turn.

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Pushing deeper into mutant territory I found a resource dump and... is that their HQ? Is that their UNDEFENDED HQ?

Oh please, please, please, please...

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Don't get too excited, this is my assault on Weather Hill. There's no point laying siege, About Damn Time is more than capable of retaking the obs post right now.

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So we form our battle lines.

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Not an instant kill, but nothing fate can't fix.

Three fate points later...

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I end the turn by placing a research lab in my HQ. While there's no more tech resources to claim here, I do have a technologist hero in the hex who was meant to be leading a reserve army I've never got around to sending out. Research here I come!

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And here is the state of play at the end of my turn 23.

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The mutants take their turn and To the hills! spots a force on the move. They don't engage me so obviously are oblivious to my presence. Let's check them out...

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Wow, I've been lucky not to get spotted by the Ravager, good thing I'm in the hills. That looks pretty nasty, perhaps I'll need to finally put out my mech army?

Then again, if their HQ really is undefended them this is all irrelevant. Heh.

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???

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Ah, they're attacking the facility Collector plz just erected where theirs once stood.

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Even spending two fate didn't help him. About damn time I got some luck on the air rolls.

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Here's the prisoner I caught some time ago, sitting at my HQ providing a tasty 3 AP per turn. Nice.

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And thus ends turn 23 and this update. Tune in next week to find out just undefended that mutant HQ really is! Watch in awe as Collector plz pushes down the West flank! Gasp as mechs get deployed to the field!

And by God I will destroy that damn plane. I swear.
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Quitch
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Post by Quitch »

Clutching his cloak around him as the chill winds of a comment free AAR whistled by, Quitch bravely continued on, unknowing whether his AAR was simply too detailed, too picture heavy, or just too damn intimidating in its strategy greatness... ;)

It should be noted that I was away over the weekend with a laptop and snuck in a game as the Free Mutants where I was summarily thrashed.

And thus we cover turns 24 - 33, inclusive.

Anyway, we move our Imperial Recon into the enemy stronghold, making a tentative snatch for victory!

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Balls.

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However, off to the SW of their main HQ is a hero erecting a collector all by his lonesome, just in range of About Damn Time. Looks too tasty to pass up, free AP are never a bad thing.

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What should have been my seven dice against his two turns into an enormous roll fest as he plays not one, not two but THREE tactic cards. Until finally he matches my roll.

But I have three points of fate. Bwhahahahahaaa. I roll them, one of the three gains me a success, and not only do I find him, but it appears that the capture score to beat is his base fate, not the additional dice, so my three to his two equals a capture!

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Until he plays ANOTHER sodding tactics card in response to my use of fate.

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This strikes me as rather cheesy. It took him four tactics cards to beat me off, with four being the maximum you can hold without special abilities. Yet once I fail to capture all I need do is spend just 1 AP point, and we get to do it all over again!

Doesn't seem right.

I also experience disappearing collector syndrome. Where has the collector gone that was here? It just vanishes. Can't possibly have avoided detection, surely?

Later moves around this area suggest that it hasn't and that it has indeed vanished. Eh?

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We're well established around the mutant HQ now, eyes and ears are everywhere.

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Now with two prisoners AP are not a problem. Even if I come last in the initiative I still get 12 AP.

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On the West flank, Collectors plz go to the refugee (or scavenger, I forget) camp we passed earlier.

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I then use my left over AP to upgrade my citadel... just in case.

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On the Xenopod turn one of their scouts comes blundering in. I can't believe he didn't spot me!

The battle is short and one-sided.

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Next turn and we're investing our spare materials into the initiative dice. Even if I don't need the AP, it's no reason to give it to the AI. I don't need the materials, that's for sure.

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The East flank is well observed, so what we're seeing over there currently should be accurate. This means either the mutants are all around HQ, or they're off waging war with the Xenopods.

Worryingly blotchy cover in the West though. Not that I'm going to do anything about that for the time being.

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I've got more AP than I know what to do with and resources to spare. I was going to make some plans on the West flank, but instead I choose to soften up the mutant armies while I have LOS on them. I launch four or five strikes against their stack.

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Unfortunately it seems my scout in the enemy HQ was found.

While I wasn't sure how this had happened, it seems obvious to me now that the AI returned the Ravager to base, or simply spotted me from the adjacent hex.

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My attempts to deny the enemy this turn fail.

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On the West the Xenopods send in that army I spotted a while back to avenge their scout. I now know what the paperclip symbol means, representing an attachment.

Utterly mis-reading the Psiblast and taking it as an additional seven die damage attack, I choose to strike with the Grom so as to reduce his attack dice to 1.

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Had I read the card properly I'd have known that's know how it works and would have assaulted with the Panther. Live and learn. Costs me my infantry unit.

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Still, I think that cost him more than me.

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On the East flank the mutants are cleaning out my armies, presumably uncovering them with their scummy Ravager. The FAC doesn't stand a chance and is destroyed, but due to Slaughters being anti-tank, it takes all three units to destroy them, allowing my Commandos to slip away.

Fate ensures they remain unharmed.

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We launch a series of retaliatory air strikes against another of their armies which are ineffectual for the most part. It'd be handy if I could eliminate their Ravager, but even damage means they will need to withdraw and spend AP (and maybe even resources if I do enough damage) on repairs, and with my materials ensuring I win all the initiative rolls (almost) they can ill afford such costs.

Hopefully will keep them off my flank until I have an actual army.

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Having only a couple of AP left I upgrade my lab, since my observation of the West leaves a lot to be desired and I don't want it being blown up by some agent's bomb.

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Grrrrr.

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I decide to check out this whole "technology" thing. That hero has been sitting around doing dick, time for him to perform.

I make a grab for the lasers, intending to allocate them to the Emperor's Own, but despite having twice the dice of the success needed AND two fate points, he fails. Still costs resources though.

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The Xenopods are sniffing around the East. That's fine with me, they can have all the mutants they want.

Still, best ready those mechs I've been holding.

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It's around about this point I suddenly realise I have sod all tech income, and that nothing will be joining my army until I resolve this, or save.

So instead of building an army we draw cards to fill my hand.

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And we win the next turn!

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Finally my commandos uncover some tech resources, sitting temptingly close to me!

At this point my brain collapses and rather than use the hero with the Commando squad to build a collector, I start drawing from my hand to find a new one.

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Oh man that'd make for sweet accompaniment for my mech, a killer two card stack, I just need some tech.

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On the West flank we build a firebase to extend our supply lines, but more importantly, to free up space in my hand.

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Must make tech. Must make tech.

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The Xenopod scout is uncomfortably close to my outpost, and I have no intention of losing my grip on the East flank.

I drop in an infantry unit to the garrison.

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No heroes.

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Spending material and energy like crazy rigging the dice as best I can. I'm certainly not short on AP.

Having little I can do until I earn some tech I decide to hit the mutant armies. I move my commandos around the enemy HQ to restablish contact. They have been working their way North and then East, around the Ravager scout who was tracking them earlier.

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I launch my plane, unsure which army to strike due to the air strike target screen not allowing you to view targets, when I remember the Xenopods attacking my facilities earlier.

A sudden urge takes me and I decide to do the same to the mutants.

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Wow, I did a lot more damage to the stronghold than expected, launching about five attacks on his facilities. That'll be costly to repair.

Excellent.

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Except, I went after him last turn, now before him this turn. He hasn't had a chance to repair, and I doubt he's transferred his HQ because he hasn't been under threat. I smell an opportunity.

Or I would like to say I did. Actually I didn't see this at the time and just decided since I didn't have much else to spend AP on that I would air strike the bitch.

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Dancing around mutant territory, slowly making their way to the tech resource, my Commandos finally see what's hiding in a nearby abandoned city. A couple of rad zombie units.

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SUCK IT MUTANTS!

Are they out? Did that do it? Did I really nail them with a cloaked Commando unit (which was lucky to still be on the board) and some ultra plane spam?

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WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

At this point I don't know whether to feel dirty or victorious. The method of my win feels... cheap. Then again, I had taken every opportunity to claim AP (including hero snatching), my forces were light on the ground, and that left me with an excess of AP and energy which allowed for airstrikes. He missed a chance to push on me, was possibly fighting the Xenopods (as it's too quiet on the West front) and didn't build any AA.

I also got lucky with the initiative order :)

I think I'm going to kick back and pat myself on the back for a job well done :)

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It's time to get an army, and to that end I claim the tech resource with About Damn Time. I also add a firebase so I can deploy armies closer to the front-line.

Earlier I had created an army in my base which I attached my technologist hero to, intending to claim the resources with him. Except I failed to notice he had a move of one. D'oh! He's staying in the base from now on.

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A very handy draw!

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I immediately assigned it to an army and send it East to check out what remains of the mutants. While they're out of the game, their outposts, and armies therein can turn neutral. I want their resources, but I need to know what's available.

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Should be handy for the "big push".

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Keeping the initiative going, and winning the dice counts for even more now the mutants are out since second place = half the base AP of the other guy.

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It seems that the town where their collector once stood (possibly) is probably free, but their staging area is still well-defended and their technology lab still stands.

I believe their attack and defence are red because garrisons suffer penalties in combat.

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Knowing the Xenopods have air in their hand I add AA to my forward base. I'm not going to make the same mistake as the mutants.

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Replacing my AA card I draw another. Not quite so helpful..

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Advancing to place (i.e. get it out of my hand) my minefield, I find myself short of the tech necessary and, predictably, come under air assault.

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I got lucky.

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At the end of turn 33 things are looking very good indeed. I haven't a clue what the Xenopods have been doing, but their airstrikes thus far suggest their range does not extend into my territory (checking the Xenopod scout battle on turn 24 suggests this is a bad assumption to make, note the lack of Xenopod combat penalties). The death of the mutants means some resources are now freed up on the East flank, and hopefully I will be able to gain enough tech resources quickly that I can bring out the Vengeance and the Elephant to form a stack which will allow me to roll the Xenopods.

All I need now is a general hero, and I am desperately trying to get one out of my deck and into my hand. Obviously this is something I'll need to change the deck to account for, the importance of having leaders for my armies. Luckily as the Empire of Man I can have three units to an army without a hero, where as the other races can only have two, but I doubt they'll be short on heroes by now.

I'd like to advance on abandoned towns on the West flank with Collectors plz, but I need another front-line unit for them since they lost an infantry unit to the psiblast. Without another unit the Grom has to sit in the front ranks, and I don't want that.
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Incendiary Lemon
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Post by Incendiary Lemon »

Exciting :) keep it up!
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stimpy
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Post by stimpy »

This is really helping me to understand the mechanics of gameplay.
Games like this tend to overwhelm me to the point I stop playing.
Stuff like this helps me to understand and get over the problems I'm having.
Thanks.
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Butterknife
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Post by Butterknife »

It is very fun to read your AAR, Quitch. I also have the game and would have done a couple of things differently in the beginning, but I've also learned a lot from reading your AAR.

I had no idea you could airstrike an opponent out of the game. One more tactic to keep in mind, especially playing as the Xenopods!

Your recon army has been so valuable to you so far, I'm tempted to put together something like that for my next game. I've always just been playing a cheap-scout and heavy-military type of game, with a strong attack force, but you seem to have done very well with a heavy-scout team. That is not a tactic I had considered before.
dave866
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Post by dave866 »

Great read, AAR! That's a lot of work! Good job, very entertaining and well-illustrated.
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Quitch
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Post by Quitch »

Butterknife wrote:It is very fun to read your AAR, Quitch. I also have the game and would have done a couple of things differently in the beginning, but I've also learned a lot from reading your AAR.

I had no idea you could airstrike an opponent out of the game. One more tactic to keep in mind, especially playing as the Xenopods!

Your recon army has been so valuable to you so far, I'm tempted to put together something like that for my next game. I've always just been playing a cheap-scout and heavy-military type of game, with a strong attack force, but you seem to have done very well with a heavy-scout team. That is not a tactic I had considered before.
I'd be interested to hear what you'd change. Of course, in several cases I've simply missed things for several turns (such as my lack of tech resources, or the move value of my technologist hero).

I definately need to evalulate my hero setup, some more generals, though maybe I've just been unlucky with the draw.

My recon army certainly has been helpful, though I think it's their high stealth, commando status and +2 move hero that's made them such a killer stack. If only the FAC had survived they'd be a killing machine in combination with the air card.

However, it has kept my resource awareness low, it's only in the last few turns I've really uncovered a lot of the map as I rampaged through mutant territory. On the upside, perhaps its helped keep attention off me due to lack of stacks out there drawing notice.
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GrandMof
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Post by GrandMof »

Nice AAR Quitch! I tried playing the demo but it wasnt my cup of tea. But reading your AAR has been great and I hope you keep it up.
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Post by Grundbegriff »

:pop:
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Quitch
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Post by Quitch »

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And we're off. We need to push some scouts into the NW and then we can follow up with mech driven armies.

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Collectors plz tries to deploy my minefield and finds that a hero isn't good enough.

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To the discard pile with you!

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On the East side About Damn Time (or more specifically, Adam Wraith) builds two collectors, including one to bring in the precious tech resource.

One confusing element is that to build collectors the hero cannot be in stealth mode, but the game doesn't indicate this to you, you simply right-click them and nothing appears, no sub-menu but no warning either.

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We make a couple of draws as I don't have the resources to bring in the big guns yet, and I'm only holding seven cards of a possible ten. The Pioneers are unlikely to be useful, I've seen no indication of enemy minefields, and the neutral minefield is serving me nicely. The Cheetah on the other hand I can see proving useful, just need some infantry.

As for the recon, you can never have too much of that.

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The "explored" view at the end of the turn.

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Umm... oops? I was so focused on discarding the minefield and replacing it with new cards I forgot to withdraw Collectors plz from its forward location. I get hit by two airstrikes, same craft.

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Despite my huge expenditure on dice (which I can easily afford) I still end up second. Still, being tight on tech resources right now this isn't the biggest deal.

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I withdraw Collectors plz to my firebase in the SW wastelands and immediately add a Vindicator to put a stop to these ridiculous air assaults.

I considered adding the Vengeance to the army, but I think AA will prove more useful.

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The replacement card is dedicated AA. Not sure if that's going to be overly handy, I've only seen the one plane, and I don't want to bolster armies with units which can't do some real damage in a ground fight, it just slows them down.

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Another roll lost.

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I begin to bring About Damn Time back towards the West so we can find, and crush, the Xenopod forces. I have near complete observation of the East, I've checked out the South-West, so he's somewhere in the North West and I think he's weaker than me.

My Leopard tank is scouting along the fringes of my supply lines.

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Turns out I do have an infantry army, sitting in my stronghold no less. I add the Cheetah, and while they won't be able to use its additional speed (there being two of them), the attack/defence bonuses are just what the doctor ordered. This is now a useful army.

I despatch them North towards my tech resource base in the hills. This will put them closer to the combat zone and allow them to defend that collector (valuable as it is) against attack. If I draw a general they can form the basis of a new army.

Playing the Empire of Man allows me to send out a leaderless army of three without penalty, where as everyone else is limited to two.

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Eeep? One hex NW of my stronghold I run into this. Rather than fight straight away I choose to delay...

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...and launch an airstrike to soften him up.

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The results are less than exciting.

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However, the strike does reveal something rather interesting. A hero, in a separate army. Unsure why it's in a separate army, or even this deep in my territory, but still, I smell opportunity.

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We line-up for battle and I win the initiative. My Cheetah grants bonuses to The Emperor's Own which attacks but merely suffers damage it itself through counter-attack. Same for my infantry.

In the next round I grant the bonus to them again, but this time load a couple of HP into a fanatical attack.

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We do an impressive amount of damage.

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Having learned my lesson, I pass with the infantry to prevent them taking additional damage from a counter-attack.

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In the end we're victorious, but we lost the infantry.

I'm out of AP, and as the hero is in a separate army (warning: assumption) I don't get an automatic kill/capture challenge, I'll need to spend AP on one.

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This time the investment in dice pays off. He doesn't buy any. Big mistake.

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We rush our bounty hunter experts, About Damn Time, over to the hex and prepare a capture mission, which costs more than normal as Stack 'em High is in the hex.

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We of course succeed.

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I deploy my Imperial Recon to the SW firebase. About Damn Time will push up in a NW direction, the Leopard will follow my supply lines around the North, while Pass the AP makes a straight North push.

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And lookee here...

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...a resource collector with some potential threats...

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...and his HQ! It's not as far North as I was expecting, and it appears to be incredibly lightly defended.

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There's no time to waste, I immediately push Collectors plz North, rather than wait for reinforcements.

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Handy, if my first attack fails I've got a general who will allow me to have a reserve army in place.

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I throw everything I have into dice, I must win the initiative before he has a chance to reinforce that HQ. He's always air striking my armies, so presumably something is giving him early warning. It's tight for a second, we roll a draw, but then I convincingly win the reroll.

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At the beginning of the turn the record team spots another army, and running them around the outskirts of the HQ reveals a few empty armies too. Has he really had that many spare AP points to burn?

Nothing has changed, that army doesn't look the least threatening, it wouldn't get off more than a single shot.

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We no time to waste we throw Collectors plz into the fray. There will of course be no siege, it's do or die!

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He readies his first army and we win the initiative.

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Battle lines are drawn up.

I choose to attack with the Vindicator, despite the Grom having a stronger attack. All the Vindicator needs do is hit, then the Thrower is committed for the turn, meaning it cannot do anything, allowing me to attack with my other two cards thereafter.

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He throws in a couple of tactics cards, but the odds are two one-sided and I come out on top.

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We defeat him with just one attack and push on to his next army.

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Initiative is ours again.

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We will use the same approach as before.

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It took all three units, but we blew him away without him getting a chance to attack us. Not that he was a threat, I deliberately included no infantry in this army.

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And the game is won! This doesn't happen until I hit End Turn, which is annoying as I have to play out all my moves Just In Case, but finally the sweet taste of victory is mine. The Xenopods are weaker than I had realised, goodness only knows what they've been doing.

I choose to inspect the battlefield.

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And Armageddon Empires decides to have the last laugh.

So I click Yes and choose to Close the victory instead.

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It's having none of it. I'm left with no choice but to terminate the app.

But still, victory is mine!
Cryptic D
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Post by Cryptic D »

Great AAR. That's a lot of work you put into capturing and editing all those images. But what an inglorious way to end the game. Sorry abut that. Quitch can you send me the autosave for right before you won the game so I can check out what happened with the inspect? Would love to know why it did that.
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Canuck
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Post by Canuck »

I nominate this AAR for 'most screenshots in the history'
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Quitch
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Post by Quitch »

Is that good or bad? :)

I just can't bring myself to trim any of the information... or not much at any rate. I want people to be able to see everything I did, and why, not suddenly have a mech card appear from out of left field.

Save game on its way, Vic.
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tylertoo
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Post by tylertoo »

Quitch wrote:Is that good or bad? :)
Good. Very good. Thanks for the effort. I want to read this through carefully because I'm very interested in the game.

How would you rate the bugginess 1-10, 1 being outstanding QA and 10 being nearly unplayable?
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Quitch
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Post by Quitch »

I'd rate it 4. There's some weird ones, like moving too fast on the deck creation screen causing a script error, but the bugs aren't show stoppers they just tend to prevent you doing something, like claiming. Often you can work around this by choosing another option, saving, quitting, loading and forcing the dialogue again, though not always. However, I would say this renders Iron Man mode unplayable for the moment.

I had one script error at the start of my game, and that one at the end, but nothing during the course of play, though obviously I only played in ten turn bouts. I did just play the demo at my parent's today and had no script errors.

However, there is a bug where sometimes you place your tile but the Set Tile option remains greyed out. You have to cancel the game and start over, though placing tiles is the first you do.
Cryptic D wrote:Great AAR. That's a lot of work you put into capturing and editing all those images.
I've been thinking of following up with a FRAPS video of AE in action, so people can see for real how it all works. And before anyone says anything, it will be recordable under Windows Vista because the desktop is using Direct3D.
Cryptic D
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Post by Cryptic D »

Quitch wrote:However, there is a bug where sometimes you place your tile but the Set Tile option remains greyed out. You have to cancel the game and start over, though placing tiles is the first you do.
I've discovered that with many more monkeys banging on it with hammers that some areas need more "safety locks" A lot of problems seem to be attributable to sticky mouse cursors on peoples systems when the drag and drop cards and tiles. It's no excuse for such things being able to happen but a good tip when playing the game is to always left click in the center of the card/tile and drag with a stately/slow motion so that the card/tile flows with the cursor. There are supposed to be safety locks for whipping the cards around but sometimes they seem to be failing. I'll be continuing to lock these down.
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