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Cassidy

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*redacted*
 
Last edited:

oscar

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1A - Element of surprise
2B - Establish our supply chains
3B - Would be a dick move to forcibly conscript them and we need to save money
4D - I like the sound of some disciplined pikemen
5A - A small group as I'm not to keen about leading us into some demonic ambush
6A - Freedom? That selfish individualism will get us nowhere and is no spiritual answer to what we face
7B - These men need a Kaiser
 

Cassidy

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I forgot 2 extra options but edited them in, oscar. 6 and 7 about a name for the city and whether to meddle in its politics or not.
 

Jester

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Mostly voting like Oscar
1A - Its not surprise anymore but maybe we still got some window of opportunity and we can split their forces that should help
2B - Establish our supply chains and get staging ground for our troops though it might upset their ability to sending gold
3B - Its good to leave some troops to defend city and from this wording looks like we can get mercenary or militia and prefer more experienced troops.
4D - I like the sound of some disciplined pikemen (so do I and it should balance our troop rather well)
5A - A small group as I'm not to keen about leading us into some demonic ambush (i expect scouting gathering horde of darkness, HORDLINGS AT THE GATES. Unfortunately i expect we need naphtha to conquer our targets)
6A - Freedom? That selfish individualism will get us nowhere and is no spiritual answer to what we face

and 7c I like the vision of kill consume and evolve. Ankh-Morpok was established and Vetinari had came back in glory.

I wonder what route they staging the gold maybe some port blockade some time later? We got boats and will have some ports close to enemy.
 

Monty

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Interesting choices once again. I also like Oscar's approach, but will think a bit further on this. I had initially hoped to make use of the horses we had been breeding here and so recruit some light cavalry with crossbows to complement our heavy cavalry, but given the enemies we face pikemen will probably be more useful. And our Serbian infantry could probably do with some reinforcement from disciplined troops.
 

aleam iacis

Liturgist
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Codex USB, 2014 BattleTech
Cool choices ^

1A 2B 3B 4D 5A 6E 7C
The city will be free, we won't even force a name upon it! Besides while being an immortal king is cool, being an immortal justiciar may be far cooler.
 
Joined
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1A - Are we vikings or not?
2B - Since the element of surprise is gone, it would be a good idea to prepare for a longer campaign.
3B - We need the money and the space on our ships. Plus it makes us look good.
4C - We are unlikely to face a lot of cavalry, and heavy infantry would come handy if assaulting walls. And maybe we can turn these guys into the new Varangian guard.
5A - Yeah, we need naphta, but not at the cost of an entire army. Just how much time is this detour going to take anyway? Tempting to just avoid this for now.
6E - We can always name the place later.
7D - With a suitable position in the new government for us of course - maybe a constitutional monarchy of some kind? Though B could work as well, but might make us more enemies among the powerful that way. I don't like other choices. The current status quo in A would be a huge problem if the city ever faced a real threat, and C assumes that we will be here all the time to keep the place in check - if we ever take a prolonged dirt nap or even if we have to leave for a while, the place immediately reverts to A or worse (because you just know every bastard with an agenda will take the opportunity when our backs are turned).
 

Rumsfeld

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1A - Are we vikings or not?
2B - Since the element of surprise is gone, it would be a good idea to prepare for a longer campaign.
3B - We need the money and the space on our ships. Plus it makes us look good.
4C - We are unlikely to face a lot of cavalry, and heavy infantry would come handy if assaulting walls. And maybe we can turn these guys into the new Varangian guard.
5A - Yeah, we need naphta, but not at the cost of an entire army. Just how much time is this detour going to take anyway? Tempting to just avoid this for now.
6E - We can always name the place later.
7D - With a suitable position in the new government for us of course - maybe a constitutional monarchy of some kind? Though B could work as well, but might make us more enemies among the powerful that way. I don't like other choices. The current status quo in A would be a huge problem if the city ever faced a real threat, and C assumes that we will be here all the time to keep the place in check - if we ever take a prolonged dirt nap or even if we have to leave for a while, the place immediately reverts to A or worse (because you just know every bastard with an agenda will take the opportunity when our backs are turned).
Agree with this. We're going to be assaulting fortified positions at some point, I think axemen will be most useful. Only change I'd make to these options is to 6A, let's name the City Odinhóll, which commemorates our original intentions and is better than calling it 'The City'.

So, 1A, 2B, 3B, 4C, 5A, 6A, 7D

Luckily we'll soon be hitting a gold mine as it seems our jewgold is running low and we have a whole army of mercs. The naptha is a gamble too, this could turn into a lengthly detour like our quick investigation of the temple where we ended up on another plane. But it's very useful if we take on fortified opponents so on balance we have to go for it.
 
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Oh, and if we are going for naphta, it goes without saying that we should take at least some of our cavalry with us. Native infantry should be very vulnerable to heavy cavalry, and we payed for the best heavy cavalry there is - time to make some use of them.
 

Major_Blackhart

Codexia Lord Sodom
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1A - Are we vikings or not?
2B - Since the element of surprise is gone, it would be a good idea to prepare for a longer campaign.
3B - We need the money and the space on our ships. Plus it makes us look good.
4C - We are unlikely to face a lot of cavalry, and heavy infantry would come handy if assaulting walls. And maybe we can turn these guys into the new Varangian guard.
5A - Yeah, we need naphta, but not at the cost of an entire army. Just how much time is this detour going to take anyway? Tempting to just avoid this for now.
6E - We can always name the place later.
7D - With a suitable position in the new government for us of course - maybe a constitutional monarchy of some kind? Though B could work as well, but might make us more enemies among the powerful that way. I don't like other choices. The current status quo in A would be a huge problem if the city ever faced a real threat, and C assumes that we will be here all the time to keep the place in check - if we ever take a prolonged dirt nap or even if we have to leave for a while, the place immediately reverts to A or worse (because you just know every bastard with an agenda will take the opportunity when our backs are turned).

I wholeheartedly agree sir.
 

Esquilax

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I'm going to propose a somewhat different plan. I believe that since we came here, we ought to organize the best army that we can (within reason, of course). Based on that, and on the sieges we'll no doubt have to lead, the naphta will be a huge boon for us, so we ought to go after it. The Christians know that we're coming, but remember - Narackamous, the skraeling immortal we killed, doesn't. Based on that, I think we ought to come in hard and with people who know the terrain. Cassidy, are any of our people familiar with the area? I get the feeling that even though our side has the tech advantage and horses, their side still has the edge in being allied with supernatural horrors that could hurt our morale and do all sorts of nasty stuff to us. The cataphracts that we hired have faced such horrors before however:

"I will forgive your offense, because you have no idea of what we went through there. If you think it was merely a losing battle against the Seljuks, you are wrong, but you'll never believe in the truth, because you would have to see it yourself to believe."

Maybe we can rely on these men to hold fast if we're the ones leading them. Maybe with us at the helm, they won't break a second time. So based on that, I have to go with:

1A: They know we're coming, but we need to hit them before they manage to really get organized.
2B: This is a war of conquest, not a raid. Stopping the flow of gold will help King Thorvald's campaign back in Norway, but it'll do us no good if we have no organization or supply lines. We've decided to hunker down, so we ought to prepare for a more sustained campaign.
3B: This city doesn't even have walls:

The fact the skraelings have no horses and the river and sea all around the island the City lies at and the fact one would have to be paid by donations were explained as the reasons no wall was ever raised.

Narackamous has risen again and he has some degree of control over Deep Ones. They may not have horses, but the river surrounding Manhattan is no obstacle to him. If we take the volunteers, they definitely aren't going to bother with building walls because it's not a real priority for the merchants in power here.

4C) Sounds like just the sort of bros we need for a siege.

5A) I disagree with the approach here so far. I believe that the only right answer here is either B or C and I view A is a half-measure that isn't helpful. We either take this asshole out again, rain down fire and steel on the local tribes and acquire the naphta and emeralds in the region to supplement or wealth, or we just don't bother with it at all. I don't see why we'd go to our enemy's turf with only a small contingent. Perhaps to take the naphta hopefully without Narackamous noticing? In any case, we'll still have to deal with him in the future unless we decide to take him out here and now.

6E) The only reason I want to call it The City is because I fucking love Thief. No reason other than that.

7B) While I guess a Greek-style democracy could work, but the problem is that we have an oligarchy already. Everyone may have a vote under this new system, but the people with power and influence will be the same fucking guys that were there before. Based on that, at least initially, I favour ruling with a strong hand (though I could see C being an effective choice with less risk, but requiring more finesse). This is why I also advocate destroying the tribe of skraelings near us; it will gain favour from the people, and if we find lots of emeralds there, we won't really have to give a fuck about the various interests of the merchant groups in the city, because we'll have more money than them.

Of course, these are just my initial thoughts. I could flop based on some good arguments.
 

Monty

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5A) I disagree with the approach here so far. I believe that the only right answer here is either B or C and I view A is a half-measure that isn't helpful. We either take this asshole out again, rain down fire and steel on the local tribes and acquire the naphta and emeralds in the region to supplement or wealth, or we just don't bother with it at all. I don't see why we'd go to our enemy's turf with only a small contingent. Perhaps to take the naphta hopefully without Narackamous noticing? In any case, we'll still have to deal with him in the future unless we decide to take him out here and now.
I favour A mostly because I hope to avoid combat so I don't really see it as a half-measure. I agree that we have to deal with this area once and for all, but I think the priority should be Vinland and the gold mines to cut off the flow of gold to Europe first. If we were heading deep into enemy territory to obtain the naphtha then all or nothing would be the only logical choice. But, remember that there are already men working in that area, although it is dangerous as individuals are occasionally picked-off. So a small group will help us against a few raiders, but if we are confronted by a massive force (which obviously hasn't happened before as there is a settlement there) then we'd have to retreat.

Taking our full army into the area to seize everything and deal with Narackamous can come later. But if we do it now I fear we won't have an army afterwards to deal with the Christians and seize the mine. How would the Serbian mercenaries react to confronting supernatural horrors? Would they still think this assignment worth the risk and reward? The cataphracts faced supernatural horrors before and are still scarred from the experience. Would they not break this time because we're leading them? Or is part of the appeal of the new life we've offered them the chance to get far away from their previous experiences? I'd rather find out after we've dealt with our other problems.

So I think a small party is best to get in quickly, seize some naphtha, but leave if things look like they're turning really nasty and then rather do without naphtha. Once we've dealt with Vinland and the mine we can use our whole army against Narackamous, possibly with the offer of an emerald bonus for our mercs. If they break then and decide to leave afterwards at least we'll have accomplished our initial goals up North first.
 
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Yeah, going with 2. Once we hit land we can rest before proceeding. At worst we will tire our men needlessly, but that is still much better then leaving them unprepared for a possible (if not likely) attack. We need naphta so 3 is out, and there is no way of knowing if option 4 will prevent the attack.
 

Cassidy

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2

A shame the republic option won.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest_ruling_non-royal_national_leaders_since_1870

At least the protagonist can make to the top of this one.

:M

Yeah, going with 2. Once we hit land we can rest before proceeding. At worst we will tire our men needlessly, but that is still much better then leaving them unprepared for a possible (if not likely) attack. We need naphta so 3 is out, and there is no way of knowing if option 4 will prevent the attack.

Tiring all men needlessly actually is the best case scenario with option 2.
 

oscar

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NZ
Not a bad idea. Hopefully we can evolve it so there's a democratic structure for mayors, ministers, important bureaucrats etc but we step in as Head of State to say "no fuck that" to retarded things. Could be a decent hybridisation system. Something like Switzerland with a benevolent God Emperor.
 

Jester

Arbiter
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personally would prefer 4 still it will take to much time so
edit


Flip Vote 4
 

Cassidy

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Consensus always makes it tempting to just write the next update as Dagon showing up and slaughtering everyone.
 

Rumsfeld

Scholar
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Bilderberg HQ
TBH I was going to go for the compulsory dissenting opinion and vote 4, but thought there wasn't much point as the vote is a landslide.

Why 4? Well it reduces the risk to the fleet which is my primary concern. Going to Smaragdur on foot was what I expected in the first place actually. Of course the fleet could still be attacked but the risk is reduced. And the delay to the invasion could allow them to improve their fortifications (depending on what news has reached them given the limited communication with Vinland), but this would be offset by the naphtha which should come as a nasty surprise to them.

Anyway, will hope for the best with the 2 bandwagon.
 

Baltika9

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Jun 27, 2012
Messages
9,611
2, lads. We cannot deny ourselves Greek Fire, vicvtory would be too costly wihtout it (and I also cannot deny myself another chance to kick Narackamous in the nuts); that being said, we'd beeter dock the fleets and be on our guard: losing them at this point wiould be catastriphic.

Cassidy, great job with the story, I had great pelasure from reading it and the similarities between Bernhard and Angratyr made me very sentimental as well.
 

Monty

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Location
Grognardia
2, lads. We cannot deny ourselves Greek Fire, vicvtory would be too costly wihtout it (and I also cannot deny myself another chance to kick Narackamous in the nuts); that being said, we'd beeter dock the fleets and be on our guard: losing them at this point wiould be catastriphic.

Cassidy, great job with the story, I had great pelasure from reading it and the similarities between Bernhard and Angratyr made me very sentinentla as well.
Welcome back Baltika9... for a moment I thought you'd turned into Rex Feral or another new addition. A pity you caught dyslexia on your holiday, but it's good to see you voting again.
 

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