Ruined Kingdom ooc

[M0rtimer]

Since you guys requested it - An OOC thread! Enjoy.

If you think there might be something I can put in here for convenience's sake that's not on the main thread already... Let me know.

[BadgeAddict]

That map image would be nice to have on the first post there...it'd be a handy reference guide. nvm, here it is..

[spiderwrangler]

This should help keep the main thread a bit easier for Mort to parse and make updates from.

[kida]

Ideas how to generate money from court members:
marshal - pillage other countries
spymaster - steal gold from treasury of other countries
artisian - create artifacts for us to sell
emissary - demand money from Rhenovia in exchange of our help against the 'ant' demons
dragonknight - collect donations from the people/nobles of our land

[BadgeAddict]

Actually...at some point we should start to focus on our real enemy...and stealing money from them in order to weaken them isn't a halfbad idea.

As for dealing with Rhenovia, I agree with Dlover in that we need them as a trading partner...I think dealing with them with a measure of forgiveness, with a promise to become trade partners would be good.

Artisan needs to focus on building industries that enable us to make things to sell.
- Surplus Food, we could sell to our neighbors
- Other stuff here

Also, we built a cathedral for the people in order for them to worship us, shouldn't there be alms which generate income over time?

[thinkslogically]

Agreed. I think if we do a "nice" thing for Rhenovia now, we can hold it over them later when we need assistance for something else. If they don't help us... Well, on their heads be it. Besides, they at least had reason to behave the way they did, and I suspect we would probably have behaved similarly had the positions been reversed.

[Dagazzard]

Actually...at some point we should start to focus on our real enemy...

A reminder of the forces of our main enemy, Umilicien:

-24 units of troops (equipment and training unknown. Number is approximate)
-Multiple lesser mages (possibly 1 unit?)
-1 Powerful Mage (rivals the Magister)
-Darilcoth has powerful magic, more powerful than us and it takes a dragon to defeat a dragon.

Aside from that, they developed some technology that our spies found. We could try to destroy it or steal it, risking revealing our spies, but we did neither.

Another thing to consider is that Umilicien is not friend with its neighbors and the population is kept in check by the powerful military. So we could potentially ally with Umilicien neighbors.

As for stealing from them, we could try, but I think stealing from them directly might be too dangerous. It might be worth it to learn about their trade routes and source of income in order to sabotage or steal from caravans or something.

[BadgeAddict]

Apparently in order to keep the Master Spy happy we need to keep throwing him into impossible sounding tasks...

It sounds like the things he wants the most is a Challenge...continuously.

[Dagazzard]

Aw, bummer, I wanted the Marshall to go with the Emissary, but now the Emissary is unprotected =/ Not only we didn't get his help with the Regent situation, now he may die (or be wounded).

[Arch Lich Burns]

Yea can we send troops with him? at the very least?

[spiderwrangler]

Emissary has requested them, but need to actually post that....

[Dlover]

Agreed. I think if we do a "nice" thing for Rhenovia now, we can hold it over them later when we need assistance for something else. If they don't help us... Well, on their heads be it. Besides, they at least had reason to behave the way they did, and I suspect we would probably have behaved similarly had the positions been reversed.

I'd suggest that if we ever learn of something valuable in a nation we aren't quarreling with, and they don't know about it, we propose allowing us to mine in, and each nation gets half of the resources, since it's in their land and we'd be the ones to know where to find it and to provide the work force. Seems like a better option than stealing their land.

Also, on a thought I proposed about helping to make a sword for the dragon knight earlier; Do we even have fire breath?

[Dagazzard]

Also, on a thought I proposed about helping to make a sword for the dragon knight earlier; Do we even have fire breath?

We do! It's on the "Magic" tab of the report, I believe.

By the way, in-game that report was prepared by the Regent, so I'm sure if we'll have it in the next update.

[BadgeAddict]

Is it possible that the current map will expand once we have docks and ships again? I assume there are other nations somewhere out across the sea that we could befriend and begin to trade with.

[Dagazzard]

You know, the current map is something I drew based on what a court member (the Magister, I think) told us about our lands xD It just tells us about our borders, basically. So if we get knowledge about any of our neighbors borders the map will expand.

But yes, most likely there are other nations across the sea. When we inquired about other dragons, the Magister talked about the one ruling Morgue and suggested the possibility of dragons in other continents.

[Dlover]

Just to make sure I'm not misunderstanding that map, we're Fehlarin, right? Since we can built docks and have spoken about Rhenovia and Morgue.

[spiderwrangler]

Yup.

[Dagazzard]

So, folks, what do you say?

We should deal with the ants now, before they injure more soldiers and destroy Rhenovia, but what is the better way to do it?

Summary of what we know (and don't know) about the ants:

► Show Spoiler

Blue rocks in the abdomen. They become very open to suggestion when offered them. The rocks are brittle and they are some kind of metal. They contain a tiny bit of arcane power.

They are sending scouts. At first sign of the trouble, the scouts call for backup and swarm the enemy.

The mining site where they came from is surrounded by too many of these creatures to enter.

Regular Ants are the size of large dogs. They follow simple instructions. If they forget them, they look for instructions from a Commander ants.

Commander Ants are the size of horses. They are more intelligent and can plan some strategy.

The ants can dig underground tunnels.

Weakness:
They are not smart by themselves ÔÇô someone is controlling them. The control is lost after some time imprisioned and they stop trying to fulfill those orders, becoming docile. Bad eyesight due to living underground. They are unable to handle water.
The Magister has a spell to make them forget their orders. It is impossible to control the minds of Regular Ants, for they are to simple. It should be possible to tame them. For mind control, Commander Ants are necessary.

Questions:
-If they eyesight is poor, do they identify each other by smell? If so, could we simulate the ant smell and infiltrate the colony, getting to the queen?
-Is there a way to ÔÇ£speed upÔÇØ the forgetting of the orders, such as separating the ants from the ore?
-What are they scouting for? Food? A new place to found a colony? The stolen magic ore?
-What do they eat?

These are the plans I can think of:

Plan 1 - The Flood
Fly over where the mining site should be, use the Ice Breath to freeze a lot over the top and then the Fire Breath to Melt it. Repeat it a lot of times to try to drown the ants.
Flaws: We might not know for sure the exact location of the mining site and it might take some time to get that location. The tunnels are probably pretty deep, too, which might stop the plan from working. Plus if it works we might kill the queen, which might end our ant supply. And the Commander Ants might survive and be pretty pissed.

Plan 2 - The Infiltration
Have the Magister (helped maybe by the Spymaster or Artisan?) research a substance to simulate the ant smell. Since they have poor eyesight (and are ants) it's likely that they recognize each other by smell. Then have a small force (maybe the Spymaster, Dragonknight and/or Magister) infiltrate their base and assassinate the queen (or control her).
Flaws: We don't know if they see by smell. We don't know if neutralizing the queen will stop the ants, and it seems unlikely that the Magister would be able to brainwash her in viable time. Most importantly, it is a great risk to some very valualble court members. (Plus, the Spymaster seems to have left us this season)

Plan 3 - Diplomacy
The Commander Ants are smart? Maybe they are smart enough to communicate with. They only started attacking us after we captured some of them, and they likely are attacking Rhenovia due to previous conflicts (or the stolen ore). Maybe working with the Magister we can find a way to communicate with them.
Flaws Well, it's a long shot, possibly. Plus even if we manage to communicate with them any diplomacy gets complicated after we captured, killed and experimented on them. Maybe if we can offer them something... But what do they desire? The ore?

[kida]

I think we should attack them now:
2 elite units led by the marshall to attack.
1 elite unit led by the dragon knight to capture the bigger ants.
The magister will provide magic support.

[M0rtimer]

You can always pose questions to the court so in this case pose those questions to the magister. He may be able to answer them or at least theorize around them.

[Dagazzard]

Alright, I will! Also, added some plans to my post, I'd like to hear the players thoughts... And maybe I should ask the Magister about them, too xD

[Patdragon]

Plan 1 - The Flood
Plan 2 - The Infiltration
Plan 3 - Diplomacy

Plan 4 - The Plague poison - have magister adapt the plague poison we have to only effect the ants. then we mop up the survivors and use which ever ones survive for our purposes.

[Dagazzard]

But where would we put the poison to affect all ants?

[Dlover]

On a fleeing commander. It would flee back to the nest, and the plague will spread. Anyway, I'm quite partial for Plan 1. Though, does our ice breath actually form ice if there's no water in the first place? Or does it just supercool the air? That's a rather vital point.

[Patdragon]

Unless there is a massive water source flooding them i think is unlikely, especially if we are relying on ice breath... Now smoking them out might be easier, but they'd just swarm out of the fires.

I think plan 2 might be better and it could also be combined with plan 4 as a last resort.