Anime [LP CYOA] Epic

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A

B is a bad option. Sparks and a regenerated hand that only the crustiest of our veterans recall are mean feats compared to the shadow creatures. If we want to impress the soldiers with our strange powers, we should go with our strength (caving in skulls) in C.

At the same time, I don't like that 'fuck tactics' in C, so I'm going with A. I'd switch to defeat B, though.

Switching to A.

For Akkad!

A 8
B 5
C 1

***

Chapter 2.5: Battle Plans

You give your best shot at making a rallying speech; you shout, gesticulate, and roar. You pontificate on the glory of fighting back to back with a brother. You laugh off the lurching horde approaching you - surely they are no match for your disciplined warriors. They cheer, but the Akkadians cheer the most. The gist of your speech seemed lost on those from the client-states. It seems that they have come here out of fear of the Egyptians, not out of any loyalty to you or the Akkadian Empire. Still, with the Egyptians from the front and the shadows at the back, they appear to have no choice but to fight. You make your final battle plans.

You have:
200 chariots, each crewed by 3 veterans equipped with spears, shields and bows.
800 Akkadian spear-men, led by 200 veterans, divided into four phalanxes of 250 men each.
400 composite bowmen, an equal mix of veterans and regulars.

The client-states have:
1000 militia
800 javelin auxiliaries
500 bowmen
500 spear-men
50 chariots, crewed by 3 men each
10 camel cavalry

The enemy's composition is still roughly unknown, but they do outnumber you, from what you can observe, though they have only about a hundred or so chariots between them.

***

1. Front-line Composition

A. The Akkadian army takes the front, with the client-states bringing up the rear. Your greater strength will break the Egyptian advance more easily, allowing the lesser-skilled client-state warriors to mop up.

B. The client-states do not seem to be as steady as your men - you put them in the front. Use them up and throw them away, rather than having them vanish on you once battle is joined.

C. You order the lines to be a mix of units. This should help boost morale for the client-state warriors, though the effectiveness of your own soldiers will be reduced by this.

***

2. Overall Strategy

A. You play it cautiously, holding your position and letting the enemy come to you while being shot at, using the superior range of your bows. You do not know the extent of their numbers and it would be folly to charge in.

B. You go on the offense - if the enemy traps you between them and the shadows on the Tuwanu walls, the situation would be grim. You have your chariots lead the vanguard of the assault, old-school Akkad style.

***

3. You...

A. CHARGE!!!!

B. Stay back, directing the battle best as you can. Given the capabilities of the enemy, you need to be able to react to situations as they develop, and you cannot do that in the thick of combat.

C. RUN!!!!! Into the desert you go, your nerves broken by the shadows and the horde.

1.B - It may be a dick move, but it should give us a chance to react to whatever is coming at us.
2.B - Getting pinned against the walls sounds bad and going on the offense, while risky, could ease the spirits of our troops some (ie they don't have to stand there and wait for it) and might not be what our enemy expects.
3.B - We need to be ready in case of any surprises.

VOTE BBB

C-The frontline must hold and we'll lose less men then in A.
B-Avoiding being pushed towards the wall is paramount.
B-Charging is going to get us injured and out of commission.
EDIT: Changed my mind on the first.

C - Putting the clients in front will likely just get them slaughtered and routed and I'm not sure I trust them enough as reserves.
A - They likely outnumber us. Also, them "lurching" implies that they move slowly. Both are good reasons to soften them up with our ample ranged units. Additionally, I don't think a charge will break the morale of supernatural beings.
A - I'm assuming this means we don't actually charge until the rest of our forces engage in melee (if not I swap to B). This is how we initially won over Sargon's men, by putting ourselves on the line for them. It will also improve morale against supernatural foes.

CAA

CAA

treave: I'm assuming that our client-state cannon fodder allies have not been blessed by the glorious military reforms that our soldiers have, so their equipment is outdated while our guys have the good stuff. Is that right?

The biggest problem with using up our city-state militiamen is that they can't be relied upon to hold a front line. You put a whole bunch of guys who are psychologically questionable and who have inferior gear to boot, and they'll be far more likely to rout or break. Their morale is low, and I don't want to risk them panicking and endangering the rest of our men that way. Based on the way the choice is written, I am assuming that if you pick 1B), then it would be the militiamen's chariots going on the offensive in 2B). Their chariot crews are green and they don't have a fraction of either the experience or the superior arms of our Akkadian bros.

Another thing, if we come out of this battle and it turns out that only the Akkadian soldiers survived, our city-states will be extremely pissed off. I'd much rather be able to take Egypt without having to deal with an internal shitstorm back home. Besides, given the choices we've made in the past, it would be very inconsistent to have Ean become so callous with the lives of the men under his command.

For now I'll go with:

C
B
A - Boost morale when the enemy comes within range

Yup. Donkey chariots. If you choose to go on the offensive the charge will be combined with your own chariots (all chariots go), but the client-states spearmen and militia will still be at the front of your formation while the rest of your men back them up from the rear.

C - I don't want to piss off the client states by using them as cannon fodder nor do I wish our men to take disproportionate casualties
A - Shock tactics are likely much less effective against a foe that doesn't have to worry about morale
B - We need to be a mobile reserve and keep our men co-ordinated

Looks like we should have gone for the supernatural powers speech as well, as I imagined.

C- Our own morale is the biggest issue here, our veterans faced demons before, they know how to hold their shit together and inside. Let them inspire the client-states.
B- Not really about shock, more about practicality: if we're broken, our men have more room to regroup. Also, equally important, we're have a lesser chance to be backed against a wall.
B- While this is about battlefield awareness, I'd recommend just the tiniest bit of heroics. Our men trust us, the client state militias never fought for us. Back the, generals sitting on their asses was bad form.

Treavebro, on an unrelated note, can Ian teach mortals his mind reading powers, at all?

I think it'time for some Inquisition.

BBB

Oh you guys and your metagaming powers bullshit. Oh well.

BBA

No, but it is possible to research something similar which others can apply, when you actually understand how your powers work instead of using them instinctively. But you'd need to invent the materials, technology, and of course, the scientific method first.

So... we can manufacture psykers?

Sounds complicated... but good to know... Mind reading might be too powerful though, why not just keep it for yourself?

Inquisition. 'Nuff said.

Uh, doesn't CAA imply the army plays it cautious while we charge alone? How will it work?

CAB for now.

1.A Hopefully the clients will get morale boost when they see us holding the line easily. with C we risk clients running and our men being scattered.
2.A Let's minimize casualties by killing them afar.
3.A We have always lead by example.

AAA.

CBB

CAB shitty vote but i cant be assed to make effort today :heatdeath:

ABA