Kathelas' LOMSE Challenges No. 001

[kathelas]

Hey Everyone!

I decided to make some challenges, to breath more life into our little LOMSE community. This first one will be the test version. If there are several people who are interested in these challanges i will post a new challenge in every one or two weeks. The dead-line to complete this first challenge will be March 14 23:59 GMT. The first mission will be very simple! I hope you'll like it So let's see:

Kathelas' LOMSE Challenges No. 001

The "peaceful" conquer of Urak!

Description: Simply get yourself to dominate over your lands, then slay your enemy faiths. But why is it peaceful, you ask. Well you will have an extra restriction in this challenge. You MUST NOT kill faiths who aren't your ultimate enemy. Interesting isn't it? (I tested it... it is.. =P)

Map: Urak (yes, the good old one ;p)

Quest: Part 1: Liberate your Great Temple
Part 2: Acquire your Legendary Artifact
Part 3: Kill your opposite Faith
Part 4: Kill Death (with Death kill Order, with Life kill Chaos)

The fastest Player wins the challenge. (if there's a tie, part 3 completion-time decides)

Rules/Restrictions: You must not use cheats.
You must not use Lord Editor
You must not use Special Champions as Lords (included Balkoth)
You must play on hard difficulty
You must use the latest GS mod
You must not kill a faith if it's not on your "Quest List". EXCEPTION: If a lord attacks you, you are allowed to kill him/her. You must take a screeshot that he/she attacked.
You must complete the "Quest Parts" in the listed order. EXCEPTION: If a lord of a faith from the "Quest List" attacks you and you kill him/her, that part of your quest will be counted as completed. (Remember you must not attack and kill those Lords until they're the next on your list.) If a lord is killed this way, you must take a screenshot that he/she attacked. If both part 3 and 4 is done this way before comleting part 2, completing part 2 will be your finish time. (finish time = the turn when you complete the last "Quest Part")
You must take a screenshot when you complete a "Quest Part", and you must also take a screenshot at your first turn.
If an AI Faith is killed by marauders or by another AI take a screenshot about that to let us know, you weren't the one who killed it. If it was one of your enemy from part 3 or 4 you're lucky and that part of the quest is completed. If both part 3 and 4 is done this way before comleting part 2, completing part 2 will be your finish time.



I hope i haven't forget anything. If you're done with a game, place the finish time and the thumbnails of the requested screenshots here. A player can register more than one games. I'll also participate in the challenge. Sorry for my weak English, if you have questions, ask! So that's all! Good luck everyone! Let's play LOMSE

Kathelas

[Boaster]

This challenge, exactly down to the details, was already issued by myself in the forums a long time ago. I will find it and post a link to it. It's probably in the graveyard.

Second page of graveyard: impz.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=lomsegraveyard&action=display&thread=1341

It's almost the exact same challenge. heheheh

[kathelas]

Feb 28, 2010 22:45:24 GMT -6 Boaster said:

This challenge, exactly down to the details, was already issued by myself in the forums a long time ago. I will find it and post a link to it. It's probably in the graveyard.

Second page of graveyard: impz.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=lomsegraveyard&action=display&thread=1341

It's almost the exact same challenge. heheheh

Yes, it's not a secret, i was inspired by that one! But i have also completely different challenge ideas in my mind. Some of them are really CRAZY i think you'll love them.
The main reason i started with this one, because it's quite simple, and has many opportunities, so it can make more people interested about it.
I hope you don't mind, that i took your idea as a "sample"

[By the way], will you try the challenge?

[Boaster]

I suppose. I pretty much do these things any time I play, unless I am testing.

[skrag]

Sounds like a fair idea, but it's hardly a challenge. It's because the AI players in this game are too easy to defeat - it would be great if we could get the AI to produce lots of big, high-level armies, and to protect their lords better by having a large army escorting them constantly.

[kathelas]

Well, here's my first registered game.

Finish time: Turn 36
Quest parts finished: (6,35,36,36)

Here are the required screenshots:
img189.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=chall0101.jpg

The next post contains my gameplay and tactics for those, who are interested in strategy of other players! It's quite long, so I wanted to add it here as a spoiler, but this forum doesn't support that so sorry

Quick off-question. How can i add thumbnails here?

Kathelas

[kathelas]

At first, sorry for my weak English!

So. I thought the most important thing was to quickly liberate the great temple. After that, you can make a strong army to defeat the level 11 encounter for the legandary artifact, which is definately the hardest part of this quest. After that, all you need to do is some "speed run".
So for the quick Great Temple I was thinking about taking one of our "terminators" Paladin Lord (Crusader) or Dwarwen Warlord. I chose the Pala 'cause Order's relations to other faiths is slightly better, and they're a bit faster then Earth. Speed is very important in this quest.

I went alone through the encounters with Sir Lionheart only. I made him lvl6 at the first turn In a lvl 3 hut i found a scroll of curse. Well, not so good for beating the GT but better than nothing. Than at turn 3 or 4 i beated a lvl5 encounter. A mid-level huntress caused me a problem (and a nice amount of damage) but it was not a big deal. There I found Shield of Rightousness! Oh yeah!!!! That's what I need. No more problem with those huntress b*tches And hit rate at 2... nice! At turn 6 I found Ring of Protection on the first floor of a lvl4 estate. Do I want to switch that with my Sword of Quality? Offense or Defense? Well, i picked the Ring because defense is more important for a stand alone Paladin, and magic resistance boost is also something that I need. Right on the second floor i saw that I made a right decision. Sir Lionheart survived 2 Fury Fires with 1HP nice one! At this time he was lvl9.

So let's see what's in our Great Temple! I send a "kamikaze hound" in. YESSS! It's necro-free!!! Damage sources are: Lvl6 Dark Warrior, a Rock Troll, a group of lvl 4 Javelins. (The hound escaped successfully [Laugh out Loud] xD) Well, the greatest attack value is the Darky's 21 and my defense with morale is at 30. And I don't have to care about deadly strike, since I go with a lord! (Am I right?) I give it a go. And the result is: Great Temple at turn 6!!!! I like that!

So, let's stop at this point and make plans for further strategy.

1. How and with what kind of army will I beat the lvl11 encounter for the legendary artifact?

For the answer i need to know exactly, what I will face so my hound continues his heroic journey.

2. Beating Chaos.

For some unknown reason, Chaos lords almost never leave the chaos lands, so I will have to battle them, where my Order soldiers would have terrain penalty. The lucky thing is, chaos army usually doesn't grow too strong, so a mid-strength party will be enough to beat 'em. I can't go with Order army so I must acquire some Air (maybe Life or Earth) champions through parley, and help them with some mercenaries. Terraforming is not a solution, since it would take too much turns to learn Create Plains, and the spells before it. At best, i can pray for a scroll..
So i need to take the northern village for air mercenaries or southern for earth. I could take also eastern for fire, but i wouldn't like to pass through enemy lands. Water is bad geographically and also has terrain penalty in mountains.

3. Beating Death.

From now on, I always want to know where their lord is, to cath him after Chaos as fast as I can. When I find him, I'll make the complete plan. Probably I'll need some ships (From the Village's future Air Barracks or maybe Corsairs from the western Village.) So I'll buy another 3-4 hounds. C'mon doggies, let's search him.


Only my Wizard joins to Lionheart, the Ranger can evolve later. I found scroll of minor XP and Rightous Cause at the GT. Both are learned by Gryffry my newly acquired Wizard. He is lvl 4 now. I also gave him the Ring and Lionheart used the Sword again. I'll go for the low and mid-level mines with them, then for a Village. The Ranger will explore the surrounding territories, the starting units will defend the Capital.

The Archon Palace has a lvl15 Sacred Knight in there and 2 lvl 10 Wizards. Naturally a bunch of Crossbowmen, Holy Knights, Gargoyles and Warrior Spirits. I'm not so happy … and I also lost a hound . My tactic will be pumping up Lionheart with Wizards as much as i can and support him with 9*3 holy knights. I must take care of the Sacred Knight as quickly as i can. Maybe i should use the heroic demise+dispell combo on my lord. We'll see how fast can i learn spells.

Southern Village has 2 Magicans. It's a no go.

At turn 11 Air gifted me with lvl3 Fae Slinglers and some crystals. Next turn I bought a mage for their resources

Also at turn 12 I offer Death a "generous" trade to "gain full access" (wizard for assassin and dark warrior) to their resources. I'm starting to raid them with gaining crystal then sell Wizards for Crystal then do it again and so on... I also meet Lord Ziicon the Lich lord! Yaay!

The parley pictures shows the final result of the "fair" trading (It's not all the parley i made in the game)

Now i can upgrade my city and barracks and teach those Knights how to fight!

At turn 13 a Life thief were catched trying to rob me by my Death champs. Now i have a prisoner! Ha-ha!

I'm clearing encounters near earth, with my death champions. They'll be the ones against chaos. I acquired a scroll of ice bolt. That will be useful against the Sacred Knight.
At turn 22 Lionheart finished teaching since knights are trainable at lvl5, but I'm lacking followers, so i have to wait for that holies. I'm starting to beat some higher lvl encounters with the lord.

Day 28. Week five is just started. My feelings are saying we'll end this game soon. So to the Archon keep i must send my lord, holy knights and a wizard, but i recognized the 3rd champ doesn't have to be a Wizard. I just found a scroll of lightning so the other mage will be a Storm sorcerer with mana potions, and he'll shoot the Sacred, and make Lionheart's work easier. The Wizard will pump up the Lord then use the ice bolt scroll. I just have to wait 2-3 turns to Lionheart become lvl12 and then I can make him wow to lvl13. That should be enough with rightous cause, morale, leadership and protection.

Meanwhile, i'll send two groups after my two targets (chaos and death lord). The best would be to kill them in the same turn when I beat the Archon keep.

I bought each of the armies then made my knights wow. My lord didn't leveled up! Is there a lvl cap for wowing? At turn 35 i attacked the Archon Fortress. I also made a video capture about that, but something's wrong about it, maybe I used a bad program for capturing By the way it was very easy. Lightnings and Ice bolts alone would've killed the Sacred Knight but at the top of that I made Lionheart 34/40 or something like that with rightous cause, morale, leadership, protection and blessing, so this fight caused me no problem. Maybe i would've try it earlier.

At turn 36 I attacked the Witch Lord at the chaos thieves guild. She was shot down by a few rightous bolt from a scroll, but survived, and escaped with a huntress. Their warrior didn't make it through the exit. In battle 2 I caught the huntress and learned that Death neither likes mountainous terrain. In battle 3 I finally catched her too.

At the same turn, I cought the Lich lord in Death Mage Tower. My two Wizards shot him to zero. I'm done.

Well, i could've been faster. I lost a lot of time with preparing for the Archon keep. Maybe Order wasn't the best choice because their lvl 11 can be though. I'll do this challenge again. But with another Faith and another strategy. Let it be a surprise who's my next chosen one.

With the same tactic maybe Earth would've been a better choice, since their lvl 11 encounter may be slightly easier. Terrain penalty made me the things also a bit more complicated, but with Earth that's not a problem.

Parley pictures:
img186.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=chall01parl01.jpg

[Boaster]

Wow. That's a very detailed quest you've logged.

Also, one last mention as far as Marauders go. AI Lords cannot perish as a result of auto-calculated combat anymore. So AI Lords can technically only be killed by Human players.

[kathelas]

Mar 6, 2010 23:03:41 GMT -6 Boaster said:

Wow. That's a very detailed quest you've logged.

Also, one last mention as far as Marauders go. AI Lords cannot perish as a result of auto-calculated combat anymore. So AI Lords can technically only be killed by Human players.

Yes, I don't see many strategic discussion on the forum, that's why I made that. But sadly, there's not too much people interested in it :S
Anyway it was fun to analyze my own game. It made me have more ideas (such the storm sorcerer for archon fortress) that usally i forget. It was quite fun.

Oh, and thanks for the information about Marauders vs Lords with auto-calc.

[Boaster]

You're not the only one with topics that go without response. I have quite a few. But it's not like we have forum regulars in the double digits who visit and talk frequently.

[Boaster]

Death Thief.
Hard Mode.
Map: Temora.scn.

Lord reached Level 14 before making it to the Great Temple.
Great Temple invaded and liberated at turn 35.
Fire Thief killed at turn 38, he was harassing me by using his Lord to capture resource buildings. I had apparently pissed of Fire by killing a few Thieves and scouts early on to up my experience.

Turn 48, Order Temple captured, then Order Capital.

Turn 52, I captured Life's Capital City.
Turn 53, I captured Life's Great Temple.
Turn 59, I captured Air's Capital City.
Turn 61, on my turn, I spot the Lord of Life traveling toward my capital city. I vacate the city and combine my local armies at the Library. With my Lord, I consume a Movement potion and head toward my capital city.

Turn 61, Life captures my vacated Death Capital.

The Lord of Life, Elven Patriarch, is being escorted by the Phoenix.

Turn 62, I consume another Movement potion and finish the long trek to my capital of the Death region. I engage combat with the Lord of Life.

Victory is mine!

[kathelas]

Well, this doesn't fit exactly to the listed rules, but anyway it's still a nice game! After I finish my second attempt to this challenge, I'll play a game with the same settings as yours.
(Did you go for speed, or for just fun?)

[skidi]

i would try it but the way i am i take forever i roleplay more than i actualy play to win but i may try it eventualy

[Boaster]

Mar 9, 2010 7:39:58 GMT -6 kathelas said:

Well, this doesn't fit exactly to the listed rules, but anyway it's still a nice game! After I finish my second attempt to this challenge, I'll play a game with the same settings as yours.
(Did you go for speed, or for just fun?)

I'm pretty sure it fits inside every rule but one or two. I have a low tolerance for enemies harassing me, so he had to die. He was the only one. The Urak map doesn't exactly provide the best challenge either.

I liberated my Great Temple first, then acquired my Legendary artifact, I killed Order, then I killed my opposite. To me, it makes more sense to kill your direct opposite last. You know, main event being the last match.

I, like many others, enjoy taking my time when playing through the game. This time, I enjoyed myself but went to speed up my progress quite a bit. I went about twice as fast on seeking out my enemies.

[kathelas]

My second and last game registered for the challenge!
finished: turn 35
parts: 5,28,28,35

Pictures below.

The matron is just IMBA! no I'm just kidding. But if you play well, you can clear very high level enconters at very low level with her!!!
It was hard to catch Balkoth and I also did some other stupid things which took me plus couple of turns to win. With all the experience I gained with the challenge I think with a lot of luck & some skill it can be finished less than 20 turns!
Instead of me, let the pictures tell the rest about this game!

img641.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=chall0201.jpg

PS: I LOVE MULTISHOT! (and fire rate at 4)

[naimankhan]

Mar 11, 2010 15:40:18 GMT -6 kathelas said:

My second and last game registered for the challenge!
finished: turn 35
parts: 5,28,28,35

Pictures below.

The matron is just IMBA! no I'm just kidding. But if you play well, you can clear very high level enconters at very low level with her!!!
It was hard to catch Balkoth and I also did some other stupid things which took me plus couple of turns to win. With all the experience I gained with the challenge I think with a lot of luck & some skill it can be finished less than 20 turns!
Instead of me, let the pictures tell the rest about this game!

img641.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=chall0201.jpg

PS: I LOVE MULTISHOT! (and fire rate at 4)

Nice, I too find that Amazon Matron Thief is really powerful, but not as powerful as the Chaos Elite Huntress outfitted with the Chakram of Entropy and Amulet of Fate (I custom-made on Easy lvl difficulty, so I had enough credits) However when I tried to get the Water Spitter/Blowgun of the Amazons on Normal, I didn't have enough credits, so i went with the normal setup instead of custom. If I went custom build, I had to sacrifice experience and starting party members to get the Water Spitter and without the Amulet of Fate technique of teleportation just couldn't hold on her own.

Anyways, what im trying to say, kathelas, could you provide the detailed strategy walkthrough as you did on your playthrough as order. I noticed u didnt use Heavy Cavalry and instead used lots of slingers and water elementals with mages. I dunno but my strat with Matron thief lord is to have 3 groups of slingers with matron in one group, second group of warrior with heavy cavalry as a front, last group with a mage with some creatures (ideal main battle group to aim for) I use Heavy Cavalry more as a buffer than anything else. What are your strats?

[kathelas]

As far as I remember my early game strategy was clearing encounters with the Matron on her own. Because she has very low fire rate the stealthing+shooting+stealthing thing works with her very well. As you saw on the pictures I was able to clear the GT at turn 5. (notice that on Urak hard mode GT is only at lvl6 not 10 as on new gsmaps.)
After capturing the GT i continued the journey with her alone. With the new champs and my starting units I formed a new group and they also cleared encounters. When there was no more low lvl at my territories I went with them to Life's encounters.
The army that you see (slinglers and a thief with the lord) at beating the amazon keep was bought only for distributing the damage that enemy priestesses deal. (and for evade the spiders web) After they ran out of mana I could easily clear that one too with the Matron.
After that, I went after the two enemy lords with my two armies. Lord went after Death and other units went after Fire. The rest of the armies that you see (lots of slinglers and lots of water elementals) were only bought to cath Balkoth faster. The first army (thieves and slings) were bought only to kill his supporting units cause they couldn't do damage to Balkoth. The Water elementals were bought to defend priestesses while they were shooting him with ice bolts.
This one is not that detailed because I don't remember so well on the game yet, but I hope i could've answered all of your questions and made everything clear.

[naimankhan]

Thanks Kathelas! Much appreciated

I now understand the reason for the two armies (thiefs with slings and mages with water elems)

However, I don't think I mastered the stealthing-shooting-stealthing method. I keep pressing the T button to restealth but it's rather unresponsive for some reason and by that time im surrounded by melee. How do you pull it off? Also, do u use custom to get the Blowgun of the Amazons/Water Spitter at startup, since u don't really need the starting units? Or just normal setup?

Thanks in advance

[kathelas]

I don't use lord editor, I'm using normal setup.

Maybe you have the "stealthing-shooting-stealthing" problem because you click on a target to shoot after you appear from stealth. If you do the thief needs some time to be able to stealth again. Just let him auto-shoot.