Min/Max Boards

"Have to play to our strengths and minimize our weaknesses while exploiting their weaknesses."

Normally, you would be quite right about that, but I would say that many of this county's troops cannot wait for us to dally around. Much the same issue as you mentioned about the arena.

I think, as far as our actions, we could use the harassment method, as you sort of mentioned. Using hit-and-run attacks in order to gauge our strength, the enemies strength, and also provide a bit of distraction to the enemy forces.

That would, at the least, provide the soldiers who need the aid something, even if it isn't much.

Really, the biggest concern here are the troops that aren't on the map. The Assassin-types and the Arial Mounts.
Between the defense-breaking attacks of the assassins, and the sudden reinforcement capacity of the mounts, either of them, in the wrong place at the wrong time, could easily shift the whole battle.

It is that reason for which I am most uneasy about anything other than the most rapid of strategems.

Honestly, it is as I said, I am not a specialist in the ways of war, but I do know that whatever we do must be done quickly. If the major battles can be won before the enemies even become fully aware that we have managed to turn the tide, then it will be much easier to maintain our momentum.

Also, just to check:
These characters start out with the Mori too, right?

This is not working. I should provably back out of this game .

What is it that isn't working?

Pinpoint Aim is unlikely to be of much use. I don't think we'll be fighting anything smaller than us that might need such special tricks.

Nemean Lion--lion sized or bigger
Hydra--big, big, big, big thing
Chimera--ditto. (actually only large)

Typhon- Colossal +++++++

Hell, smallest thing is probably Medusa. (medium)

FTFY

That's kinda what I figured. So... grappling or tripping?

Up to you in that choice.

Supercomputer teaches itself what a cat looks like

Quote

There Google scientists created one of the largest neural networks for machine learning by connecting 16,000 computer processors, which they turned loose on the Internet to learn on its own.

Presented with 10 million digital images found in YouTube videos, what did Google’s brain do? What millions of humans do with YouTube: looked for cats.

Cats, the inoculation to prevent Skynet.

Because, seriously, lacing together that many computers and trying to get them to learn on their own, what could possibly go wrong?
Oh, wait, cat gifs.

Then again, aren't there a lot of those pictures that feature the memes of cats taking over / already being in charge of the world.

...

So, cat pictures are either going to prevent Skynet, or cause it.
Great.

No offense taken (please also don't be offended at my long winded rant in response I just needed to get some of that out before I blew up)

Yeah, that's pretty much what I did.
It was something that had bothered me a while, and I saw the excuse to vent.

I used to end up watching a lot of crap movies I didn't care to, just because it was background noise as I was doing something else.
Like "Stealth". I knew I'd hate that movie, but it was the only thing on late one night, so it was b/g noise as I was on the computer. I knew the whole plot, and how it would happen 10 minutes in.

I can pretty much call, either before the movie even starts, or as soon as it does, whether it'll be that "waste of time" type of movie. So I just don't bother. I don't think I could do the kind of job that you have, because I really just wouldn't want to watch a lot of that crap.

Of the slasher types, really the only one that was any real good lately, IMO, was "Cabin in the Woods".
I only bring that up, because it is as you said, they kind of went with some real variances to the basic formulas, while also kind of pointing out the formulas base and making fun of it. And that's what made it stand out.

All hail the almighty Joss.

It's not nostalgia for me.  I watch 40 films a month for my job since I have nothing else to do right now.  I have quite literally seen thousands of movies in my life time.  And after a while they just begin to piss you off.  You notice how much people steal from each other, how lazy the writing staff is, how little research people do.  You start to see little things that most people don't notice or might not care about.  It's why critics and audiences often disagree.  The audience says "wow that movie kicked ass, I've never seen anything like that before" while the critic thinks "this is the 114th incarnation of this story I've seen, and probably not the best one of the bunch".  Genre films are the worst.  Take mysteries.  I used to love mysteries.  Now half the time I know who did it within the first 10 minutes because the writers are lazy and predictable.  I have a similar problem with horror films.  I love them, but no one does anything unpredictable.

Okay, this immediately made me think two things.
First: The guy in the worst of the Shamalan movies, who watches movies, and he makes the comment about nothing being at all original.
("Lady in the Water", it think was the name of the movie. It was crap.)
Second: the opening theme to MST3K "you really should relax, it's just a movie".

As a viewer, I know that there are only so many plot devices in existence. And there are only so many ways to combine them.
But knowing "Fahrenheit 451" didn't stop me from enjoying "Equilibrium".
As a viewer, I know when things go too far, and are relying on suspension of disbelief, or the willingness to accept that there are things that aren't covered in the movie to explain stuff.
In "Tron: Legacy", I know computers don't work like that, and I am willing to accept that Clu would have been able to disable the filter or whatever so that his troops wouldn't have had all of their computer stuff removed like the chick did at the end.

That, to me, is the reason for disagreeing with critics. It isn't that they've seen so much as to magically be smarter than me about that stuff. They've seen more than me, but I do know what I'm watching.
But they are watching to be critical. I am watching to be entertained.

"you really should relax, it's just a movie".

EDIT: just to clarify, this isn't aimed at you, Bhu. I'm just tired of people complaining about movies, especially in ways that suggest that I need to agree with them. If I like something you don't, or vice versa, then so freaking be it, people.

What was King Mildain thinking when he took all of our veterans with him?

Irrelevant. We may theory-craft another day. Let us all focus on questions of import.

Arthur seems to still be emotionless as he speaks. Though these words may seem brashly given, or from a person irate, this dragon states them as a simple matter-of-fact.

Your suggestion here makes sense from a military point of view on the short term...
But recalling those troops back to the castle will result in the nearby raider groups being left free to do as they will. It will be only a matter of time until they realize the local troops have left and seek to take advantage of it...
However it's still your decision. You're right, hard choices have to be made. I couldn't do them with a clear conscience, so that's why I'm handling the responsibility to you. Forgive me for my cowardice in this situation...

In an ideal situation, we would be able to return the forces to their locations with great enough haste for that to not be an issue.
But, to be honest, the full thought was to let them have their way for now, win the current engagements, then return with forces that could actually do something.
That, however, was predicated on the thought that the raiders will behave as men, and not as beasts. If you really believe they pose that great of a risk to the innocent people and the workable lands, then you are correct that we cannot afford to let them be as such.

Arthur, looks up from the map, and looks directly at the captain.

My comment was not based on short term. I can understand the confusion, with your lifespan being what it is. I was looking at the very long term. The idea that some loss of land was acceptable in the current, so long as the kingdom survived well enough to reclaim the lost property.
The only miscalculation I may have made was in the assumption as to the behaviors and humors of the aggressors in those areas.

And still, his words are flat. He also then goes back to simply looking at the map.

I would guess they've been concentrating their forces on the village areas precisely to secure the livestocks and crops there.
Which means we'll probably end up just taking back what's ours by right.

Hmm...

---

Other than that, at the very least, it would be prudent to not delay, unless anyone has better ideas, it would be best to send out the forces for the northern group.

I will defer to your critiques, Captain, and trust that the remote forces are better where they are. But I will say that leaving our forces spread out as such, does mean that we need to work more quickly on clearing the board.
It matters less to be stretched thin, if there is nothing to defend against.

Very well, if we must be aggressive, then we must do so well.

To that end, these Mercenary groups, do you know off-hand what their asking price would be?
If we can have them deal with the brigands and raiders, then that would allow us to allocate more of our forces to the relevant battles, but means is an issue. I am aware that we do not have enough at this point, but it would help to know just how much would be required. The enemy may have coffers for us to put to such use as we overcome them.

"Plenty of bad people to fight and turn into... friends,""Might even be able to get a leader or mage or someone fun onto our side! And best of all, they won't be able to say no. I like making friends. It's fun."

Such types of things are often considered morally questionable after the battles are won. If you focus your mental manipulations on their healers and mounts, however, then I doubt that any of the 'morally upright' would complain afterwards.

And we could really use the healers and mounts. The mages are less of a priority, but a good goal to have none-the-less.

Just to make it clear, just because adjacent platoons appear in diferent squares on the map, doesn't mean they're 5 miles away from each other. If there's a bunch of platoons near each other, they're most probably a single company working togheter.

I am curious as to three points about Regi, but these are questions for you.
A) Can he actually carry a full unit of soldiers + us?
B) Can he ford the river on his own, due to sheer size, or would he need another means?
C) How would the wooded areas affect his movement?

If you're open to more Cleric-y-ness:

Cloistered Cleric -> Boneknight -> Ordained Champion.
This is only if your DM lets you do Ordained Champion without worshiping those particular deities.

DMM Persist Shenanigans. Use the obvious buffs for that, Divine Wrath and Righteous Might.
Swap Knowledge Domain for the Knowledge Devotion feat, as per Complete Champion. Use buff spells for the knowledge checks, so you always have a decent bonus for this. Alternatively, you can use the Ordained Champion class feature to swap out the granted power for a Fighter feat.
Have the other Domains be Planning (for free Extend Spell), and and Undeath (it is appropriate, and it grants a free Extra Turning feat).

Ordained Champion gets a spell channel ability at 3rd, so you can sword swipe them with a Blade of Shivering Touch. in order to absolutely @WHUMP your party-mates.

You're not a God-Wizard, you're a CoDzilla. But, and here is the main thing, you aren't locking things down or controlling the field, you are walking up, and hitting them hard with your weapon.

And because you are a melee fullcaster, you can scale your attack power as far up or down as needed for the circumstance.