There Be Dragons Here!

by on September 26, 2023 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Computer games

This is the second in a series of reviews looking at the evolution of Stellaris. See the previous review here:
Stellaris: Paradox Among the Stars

The first expansion for Stellaris was announced on September 15, 2016, after two major patches had been released. Development was centered around reworking some of the space creatures already in the game, and adding massively powerful new encounters.

At this point, Paradox had reworked how they were doing expansions. Each game from Stellaris on has defined ‘small’ and ‘large’ expansions, with the expansion cycle typically leading with a small one. The small ones are more flavor focused, while the larger ones are where you see the new mechanics and larger changes.

The small Stellaris expansions are called “story packs”, and the first one, Leviathans, came out on October 20th, alongside patch 1.3. My initial Stellaris review was about a patch after this one, so I’m mostly talking about the expansion features here.

Creatures Upon the Deep

The main patch change for monsters was making them regional. That is, each kind that appears is given an area they generally appear in, and possibly a ‘home system’ they are spread around. This helps make them feel a bit more logical, and that home system will generally have a tougher version of the monster to encounter, so that once you’ve done the basic research on what they are, there’s still that extra bit to deal with.

The expansion also added several extremely tough monsters to the mix. These are all easy to spot as the military rating on them just shows a skull symbol instead of a number. Leviathans has nine of these creatures, and a few more have shown up in other expansions.

I don’t want to give any specifics, as they can add to the sense of wonder in the game, so anyone interested should wait to see them in-game. They are, however, quite varied. Not all of them are actually something to fight (though most are).

Enclaves

The other major addition of the expansion are enclaves. These are space stations scattered about the galaxy who will generally stay neutral and be inoffensive. They don’t actually claim the systems they’re in but do show up as extra entities in the contacts list, and can be conversed with diplomatically.

The there’s three types of these stations, a research-oriented one, a unity/influence-oriented one, and then a set around each strategic resource. These are an interesting idea, not necessarily worth buying an expansion over, but it is nice a bit of extra flavor, and an extra place to spend energy, if you have a healthy economy. As a way of tying the features together, the Curators (research station) can also give some details on the monster encounters, including where to go looking for them.

Plantoids

A third, smaller, type of expansion for Stellaris is the “species pack”. At first, this was purely extra art assets, akin to the unit sprites for EU IV or the portrait expansions for CK II. More recently, Paradox has attached a few mechanics to these expansions.

The first species pack, Plantoids, came out ahead of Leviathans, on August 8, alongside patch 1.2.3. The general idea of the art included should be obvious from the name. In patch 3.1, three new species traits were added to the pack, and two new government civics. This transformed it into a nicely thematic set, with the ability to create species that act more like plants, such as needing energy instead of food, and moved it from a skip to a worthwhile purchase for me.

Conclusion

Another major concern of the patch was reworking ship combat and the types of design slots. Paradox would come back to this subject with another major round of reworks much later. Both have helped, but the ‘strong ship roles’ desired by them still don’t do what they’re supposed to.

The enclaves are an interesting idea, and help with making the galaxy feel “lived in”. However, the monsters are the star of the show, and the real reason to get the expansion. If those don’t seem like a good idea to you, skip it. That said, I think they do a lot to add a bit of mystery and spice to the game (as well as causing the occasional choke point), and think this is a very good first expansion to get.

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The Witchwood Crown

by on September 22, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

The start of epic fantasy stories often have a pacing problem. The desire to provide lots of background, and root you in an unfamiliar world mean that the plot moves like a freight train. It has a lot of momentum, and won’t stop for anything, and the start of the story is all about getting the wheels to start turning at all.

Meanwhile, space opera is capable of starting with a firefight, pausing just long enough to pull a farm-boy out of his dead-end life, and giving you a roller coaster for the rest of the ride.

To an extent, the prologue of The Witchwood Crown lives in the epic fantasy mode. A character is ambushed and killed; this is a signal that something is very wrong, but the rest of the book moves on without that scene impacting the plot at all. But, our mysterious victim, Tanahaya is not dead, and it’s something of a shock when she shows up halfway through the novel. Not that we get to know her or anything, as she’s at death’s door for the rest of the book.

Meanwhile, instead of the traditional single, or at least limited, viewpoint of epic fantasy, we see fragments of stories from a bewildering array of viewpoints. There is a lot going on, and we get to see a fair chunk of it. This means the plot is going at a fairly good clip the entire time. Now, it’s hard to say just what a lot of it means, and where the central plot really is, but it is easy to have confidence that they all have a bearing on what is going on, and this is all part of one cohesive whole, instead of say, three completely separate stories that happen to be packaged together like Game of Thrones.

Some parts do seem disconnected; I don’t see any connection in them to what’s going on in Nakkiga, the decided source of the big threat, which presumably the action will end up revolving around. But, characters do connect between these plotlines, there is motion from one to another, and so it is part of the whole. And one part got me thinking about series title, “The Last King of Osten Ard”. This may be bigger than a mere metaphysical threat.

Part of the reason for the format is that Tad Williams is coming back to a world that already got that very slow start. All the fragmentary pieces are picking up threads of a world that has already been developed, and he is endeavoring to get new readers up to speed as well as entertain return visitors to Osten Ard. It’s been a bit since the last time I read Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, so the help was appreciated here too, and I have some confidence in saying that this series stands fairly well on it’s own. If you haven’t read the original, I do recommend going back to it, as it is one of the best epic fantasy stories out there. But, you can start here, and may well enjoy this more….

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Two Rounds of Valentia

by on September 18, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: CC:Ancients

Patch took a while to come up with a setup for our next Hatten game (and I didn’t do much better), so we returned to Commands & Colors: Ancients, with another Expansion #3 battle. Pompey has caught two of Sertorius’ subordinates away from their commander, and he plans to give them a drubbing. They cooperate in this by refusing to work together; all the Sertorian units that start in their left flank can’t be ordered with any units from outside that set (making Coordinated Attack and the like much less useful), and here they use the Greek blocks to set them apart.

Patch had Pompey the first time, and started with Double Timing his center into contact, eliminating a LS (caught with a solid wall of Mediums and Aux behind it) and doing a block to another, which did one block in return. Leadership Any Section let me bring the main line in, and reduce to Mediums to block each, which were then finished off by Herennius, at the cost of three blocks on an Aux, and one on a Medium. Clash of Shields did two blocks to Herennius and forced him to retreat.

Line Command let me rework the center and bring up my right, with ranged combat doing one block. Order Mediums brought Patch in again, chasing off a LS and losing a weak Medium to battle back after doing one block to an Aux. He also finished off Herennius’s unit and killed him, doing another two blocks to a Medium on momentum. I Ordered Mediums, pulling back a weak Medium, and doing two blocks to a MC in return for one on mine. Mounted Charge saw Patch to more than rearrange his cavalry, and Perperna finally moved with Order Three Left.

Three Units Center finished off my weak Aux and forced a LB to evade with a loss. I Ordered Three Center too (but only had two units) to pick off a block at range, and Patch did another Three Center to attack my weak Medium, but my First Strike only did one block before he went down. Move-Fire-Move let me put together a light line, but didn’t cause any damage, and Patch Ordered One (Heavy) to pull his depleted Medium out of the way, but Mounted Charge caught it and finished it off and got a hit on a LS as it evaded. Order One (Inspired Center…!) let my MC take on his 1-block MC, but I missed and lost mine in battle back. 4-6

For the second game, Order Mediums followed by Line Command let me get the center into contact, while Order Lights let Patch rework his line a bit. I managed to take blocks on a LB and LS at range, while knocking out an Aux. Patch tried to repair the damage with Order Three Right and did a block to a Medium, but a second Line Command let me engage in two sections, and destroy a Medium taking two hits on one of mine in return.

Order One (Heavy) pulled a Medium out of danger, but then Double Time let me slam into the formation that was quickly coming apart, and forced Herennius to evade off-board, while taking hits on two Mediums while nearly getting an Aux. Order Four Right let him get behind me, knocking out a Medium and forcing Pompey to evade through an Aux to a new Medium. Order Mediums finished a weak Aux and we traded blocks on a pair of Mediums. Patch’s Order Mediums finished off my weak Medium, traded blocks on another pair, and lost him a Medium after doing two hits. I Counter Attacked to finish off a Medium and Aux after failing to get a LB stuck on the baseline. 6-2

Afterword

It’s a nice scenario. The city makes a nice obstacle, and the special rule really does hold Perpenna immobile. Between that, four cards, and a lighter force (other than Perpenna), the Sertorians have a really tough time, but it’s still fun.

The first go was a hard-fought, tough battle. The second went really fast as I had a lot of great cards (largely drawn as I went), and my dice did well the entire time. I smashed into the line, and kept going without giving Patch any time to do anything.

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The Lake Erie Campaign of 1813

by on September 14, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

This is intended as a short book for the National Parks service to sell as part of their memorial to the Battle of Lake Erie. The author was originally intending a much longer, definitive, work on the battle, which I think helped make this book much more solid.

This is a short book (just over a hundred pages without the appendixes), largely aimed at the general public, and it does a good job with the subject. It starts with a fair background to the War of 1812, its general course, and how the strategic frontier extended all the way out along the length of Lake Erie and into Michigan. Most of the book is from the American viewpoint, though there is of course time spent on British activities.

Along the way, there’s talk about the general design and construction of the ships involved, including recreations of the Niagara. There’s a denouement about a fight Perry and Elliot’s post battle fight over credit and actions during the climatic battle.

It’s a very short book, but serves its subject very well. The writing is clear, and goes through some very introductory material well. I’d like to see a much more comprehensive book on the campaigns around the Great Lakes in the War of 1812, but this is a great primer on the main part of that.

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A Toledo Beset

by on September 10, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Boardgaming

For a long time, I’ve been aware that almost any pre-modern wargame has problems with seasons. Carrying on a campaign in winter is the next thing to impossible, and many games ignore the entire ‘winter quarters’ aspect entirely. Even those that do have it abstract it a lot; each turn is several years in Here I Stand, but you only send your troops back to shelter at the end of the turn, and that’s still one of the better representations there’s been.

So, Levy & Campaign has been of interest to me since Nevsky was announced, but me and Mark only recently got to try the series out with the first scenario in Almoravid, which is just two turns. That doesn’t get into my main point above, but it is implicit in the structure, and even in a short scenario, it’s leaning towards one of my other thoughts from medieval reading, where you’d  spend a long time in a game trying to raise money so you could pay your troops for a campaign.

I had the Muslims for this scenario. The Christians start with Toledo under siege, though most of their forces are still in Sahagun. The Muslims have three Taifas active, and would have a hard time matching the Christians in a stand-up fight; the more so as they’re scattered, and Alfonso VI counts as a marshal, who can move everyone with him.

The initial parts of the first turn took quite a while to get through, as we were also getting a crash-course in medieval logistics. Figuring out just what could be done during the main part of the turn was needed just to have an idea of how to prepare for it. It’s tempting to just call up all the vassals you can, but the restrictions on feeding everyone showed that going with what we had was going to be the order of the day. (Considering there should be an attrition of troops through the game, I assume vassals will start showing up as the lords’ forces deplete, making them necessary, and easier to feed.)

Sancho I did call up his vassal, while the main Christian army concentrated on transport. Abu Bakr did the same, while Al-Mustain II levied one vassal, and Al-Mutamid pulled out Andalusians and Alrama as capabilities.

The first card/activation of the game was Sancho who started a siege of Barbastro. Al-Mutamid brought in supply and moved to Morena, while Alfonso VI marched the Christian army to Somosierra. Al-Mustain moved to besiege Jaca, accepting a reduction in service since there was no provender. Pedro used his extensive transport train to do a pair of supply actions, and Al-Mutamid drew supplies from his seat, and moved to attack Alvar at Toledo.

This was a somewhat even battle, with Al-Mutamid having more, lower-quality troops. But the dice were not with Mark. Interestingly, the number of hits generated in combat has no luck, instead it is all defense rolls, and the side taking the hit generally decides who takes it, so you can go for high-odds defense, or make sure you preserve your best troops. Missile fire saw my light horse and Mark’s knights rout, the mounted round saw Mark’s sergeants rout, and the foot round saw mine rout (on their third roll). Mark conceded the battle for the second round, and his last two units routed during missile fire. However, I lost my light horse permanently, while Mark only lost the serfs (who are always eliminated if they take a hit).

Garcia successfully foraged for provender once on two tries, while Al-Mutamid used his train to draw four provender from his seat (thanks to Hasham which I had forgotten until this point). Alfonso VI then moved the main Christian army to the gates of Toledo to start a siege, while Al-Mutamid closed the gates and put the provender under strict guard. Al-Mustain advanced his siege, reducing service again in lieu of pay. Garcia passed (Mark looked at him moving off to forage, but it was judged best to keep together for the three lords needed to properly besiege Toledo), and Abu Bakir gathered supplies before the siege advanced in Toledo with a second marker and Abu Bakir made his way to Baniskula.

Turn 2 levy got Mark some Crusaders, who went to Alvar, and Freebooters ravaged Calahorra. Al-Mustain paid his troops to stick around a little longer (running him out of coin as well). Mark had no mustering (Alvar was the only one not in a siege to begin with). Taifa Marriage (held at the start of the scenario) let Abu Bakir muster his vassal and take a couple of capability cards.

Sancho lead off the turn again, this time heading back to Jaca to break the siege, which he promptly did. He conceded the field straight off, and his army quickly routed, as did a Muslim sergeant, and he withdrew into the town with the permanent loss of one knight. But it forced me to feed the troops, which I couldn’t do, so they disbanded.

This turned my first two cards (Al-Mustain) into passes. Alvar attempted to find provisions for the main Christian army, but this was more complicated than anticipated, since of course moving supplies means consuming some, and ending at Toledo, where he’d be an extra mouth to feed if the siege progressed, so he just foraged two provender, and then moved in on his second activation. Abu Bakr moved along the coast to Lerida. Pedro drew supplies, and Abu Bakr raced up to put Jaca back under siege. The siege of Toledo finally advanced to a third marker. Al-Mutamid sallied from the fortifications, destroying the last two siege markers, but routing before getting to the foot phase, and losing both militia, though Alvar lost a sergeant permanently.

This also ran the Christians out of provender, and forced some reductions in service, which was made up in extra pay. Pedro then attempted an assault with only minimal protection, but quickly found himself routed before anyone else could join in.

Afterword

Technically, there was another Christian activation left (and two Muslim), but that assault was a desperation move to force the walls before the scenario ended, and it’s failure effectively ended all operations. Abu Bakr also had a card coming up, but he couldn’t do anything with the lack of supplies.

Taking a defended stronghold is hard, especially the larger ones who have a good garrison, and it’s hard to see how it can be done here, though I expect much more knowledgeable play would give a much better chance. Certainly more time would, since the main problem is supplying the large army with provender with every siege operation. Of course, I did get a bit lucky with that early combat. Just putting Al-Mutamid inside toughened things a lot as Toledo then couldn’t succumb to a surrender roll, but the real win was being able to pull in lots of supplies before the siege started again. Between that, Al-Mutamid’s service limit, and three coins in his treasury, he wasn’t going to starved out short of a protracted siege. On the other hand, the Muslims just can’t stand up to the troops that Alfonso VI can bring with him in the field.

The rules have some decided problems. One is that its hard to see just how the opening situation could have come to pass within the confines of the rules. That’s… okay. There’s places where that needs to be done. But thinking it must be possible leads you down blind alleys of trying to figure out how a siege of a neutral fortification works, and the rules need to be very up front about the fact that it can’t happen (worse is a passage that implies it can). The more overarching problem is layout and organization. Some important rules have lots of sub-rules that need to be better organized, and are done in a larger all-caps font than the actual section header, which then disappears when skimming the rules. Just fixing the header styles would do a lot to make things easier to read, and then it would be possible to tell what does/doesn’t need rework from there.

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