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3rd Military Auction in BL!

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    Posted: 21 Sep 2019 at 03:55
So, as it's taking a while for The Code to achieve critical mass for entertainment (though numerous of you are preparing for it, building armies, or moving to Jurgor), and thus my fun-o-meter is unsatisfyingly in the red, I'm going to host a 3rd auction of my excess military! Big smile

Previous auctions were super fun, with a level of deviousness amongst the participants entirely above and beyond - honestly, I didn't think you had it in you. Boy, was I wrong! Clap

This auction will be the biggest ever, with nearly 100k units spread across 30 forces, including a few "proper" sized forces as well as a force of 30 catapults and one of 30 rams! What in heavens might someone anonymously do with those??? Shocked

The previous rules are essentially going to remain in place. Here's a quick refresher:
  • As before, any communication related to this auction will be held in the strictest confidence and any winners will not be revealed (unless you explicitly ask me in writing to confirm it was you!).
  • If at the end of the auction you have the highest bid for an army, then it's yours to use on a single mission as soon as the gold is in transit to me.
  • If the army survives that mission, or if you choose to release it, then control over it returns to me.
  • You may ask me to decide the specifics of how to use the army to achieve a goal you state, or you may mail me the exact target, time to hit, and order to use (e.g. attack, reinforce, blockade, etc.).
  • There are no restrictions on the targets you can send these forces at, though you must use any forces within two weeks of winning them, else they revert to my control.
  • I will send you all reports related to your forces.
  • At your request, I will keep the results of these actions secret...otherwise, I may share them for the mutual amusement of all (though keeping the buyer strictly anonymous, of course).
  • I will provide the commander, choosing the one best suited to achieving your stated goals.
  • The commander and troops will not use crafted items by default, though if you wish to send me crafted items or the gold equivalent (based on the current best sell price on Centrum), I will equip them accordingly, assuming I have the gear (which I probably do).
  • I'm including some diplomatic forces as well, which can be used on separate diplomatic missions (if you'd like diplomats paired with a military force, just ask if that's possible and I'll tell you).
  • The minimum bids for each force are based on the production cost of the force plus two weeks' upkeep for that force. In other words, for the cost of the materials and 2 weeks of upkeep, you get an instant force you can use anonymously. Crazy, huh?
  • Bids must be at least 100k gold higher than any previous bid, to avoid any "previous bid +1 gold" malarky.
For a little historic context, check out the post for the previous auction as well as the one before it.

During the auction I will (try to) publish any new bids that have come in for the armies, so you can be sure to bid higher than any existing bids.

If the auction is set to end within a day, a new bid will push the end date for the auction for that army back one day. So, as long as the bid for a given army is being increased, the auction for that army will be extended. That means there's no point in waiting to bid until the last minute, as your bid will extend the auction until the next day, allowing others to bid as well. If you really want an army, just bid high enough so that you won't be outbid.

The auction is set to end at midnight on September 30th, server time (subject to the previously noted possible extensions caused by last-minute bids).

Here are the available forces, grouped by type, including the number of units and minimum bid.

Militiamen (T1 Spears)
#1: 3,000 for a minimum bid of 2,100,000 gold

Pikemen (T2 Spears)
#2: 10,000 for 6,800,000 gold
#3: 6,819 for 4,600,000 gold
#4: 6,673 for 4,500,000 gold
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#5: 3,408 for 2,300,000 gold
#6: 3,116 for 2,100,000 gold
#7: 2,141 for 1,500,000 gold
#8: 395 for 300,000 gold

Longbowmen (T2 Bows)
#9: 10,000 for 10,100,000 gold
#10: 2,000 for 2,100,000 gold
#11: 2,000 for 2,100,000 gold
#12: 1,350 for 1,400,000 gold
#13: 1,250 for 1,300,000 gold
#14: 1,100 for 1,200,000 gold
#15: 550 for 600,000 gold

Men-At-Arms (T2 Infantry)
#16: 7,423 for 7,500,000 gold

Charioteers (T1 Cavalry)
#17: 1,500 for 1,600,000 gold

Knights (T2 Cavalry)
#18: 10,000 for 13,500,000 gold

Catapults
#19: 30 for 1,600,000 gold

Rams
#20: 30 for 600,000 gold

Agents Provocateurs (T2 Saboteurs)
#21: 300 for 700,000 gold

Assassins (T2 Assassins)
#22: 1500 for 5,100,000 gold
#23: 500 for 1,700,000 gold

Rangers (T2 Scouts)
#24: 5,000 for 3,400,000 gold
#25: 4,000 for 2,700,000 gold
#26: 4,000 for 2,700,000 gold
#27: 1,000 for 700,000 gold
#28: 1,000 for 700,000 gold

Spymasters (T2 Spies)
#29: 3,000 for 2,100,000 gold
#30: 1,000 for 700,000 gold

Please send me, Mafro, a mail with your bid. It can be as simple as "5 million gold for #3", "25 million gold for all your pikemen", etc.

The production cost for materials used to set minimum bids are based on the following, rounded up to the nearest 100k for the sake of simplicity.

Spear - 40 gold
Sword - 220 gold
Bow - 45 gold
Leather - 200 gold
Chainmail - 250 gold
Plate - 70 gold
Beer - 95 gold
Horse - 60 gold
Saddle - 725 gold
Book - 325 gold
Siege Block - 500 gold
Gold - 1 gold

If you check Centrum, you'll see these values are currently right in the middle of the best buying and selling offers.

Once again I look forward to seeing what you folks do with these! Will it be mischievous pranks, secretive revenge, or a cold calculation to advance your cause...? Will you let me share your shenanigans with the rest of the server? Let's find out! Thumbs Up

Yours,

Mafro
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mafro Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2019 at 05:27
Bids have been coming in and some bidders have already been outbid! If you've been outbid, or would like to place your first bid for these fine fighting forces, please see the current minimum bids below. Note that the diplomatic units are still quite cheap, available for their original minimum bids.

Militiamen (T1 Spears)
#1: 3,000 for 8,400,000 gold

Pikemen (T2 Spears)
#2: 10,000 for 51,000,000 gold
#3: 6,819 for 34,600,000 gold
#4: 6,673 for 33,800,000 gold
#5: 3,408 for 17,400,000 gold
#6: 3,116 for 15,900,000 gold
#7: 2,141 for 11,400,000 gold
#8: 395 for 2,400,000 gold

Longbowmen (T2 Bows)
#9: 10,000 for 75,700,000 gold
#10: 2,000 for 15,900,000 gold
#11: 2,000 for 15,900,000 gold
#12: 1,350 for 10,600,000 gold
#13: 1,250 for 9,900,000 gold
#14: 1,100 for 9,100,000 gold
#15: 550 for 4,600,000 gold

Men-At-Arms (T2 Infantry)
#16: 7,423 for 56,300,000 gold

Charioteers (T1 Cavalry)
#17: 1,500 for 12,100,000 gold

Knights (T2 Cavalry)
#18: 10,000 for 101,200,000 gold

Catapults
#19: 30 for 12,100,000 gold

Rams
#20: 30 for 4,600,000 gold

Agents Provocateurs (T2 Saboteurs)
#21: 300 for 700,000 gold

Assassins (T2 Assassins)
#22: 1500 for 5,100,000 gold
#23: 500 for 1,700,000 gold

Rangers (T2 Scouts)
#24: 5,000 for 3,400,000 gold
#25: 4,000 for 2,700,000 gold
#26: 4,000 for 2,700,000 gold
#27: 1,000 for 700,000 gold
#28: 1,000 for 700,000 gold

Spymasters (T2 Spies)
#29: 3,000 for 2,100,000 gold
#30: 1,000 for 700,000 gold
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mafro Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Sep 2019 at 07:50
Only change here is that #22, 1500 assassins, has had the minimum bid placed on it. Note that all other diplomatic units are still quite cheap, available for their original minimum bids, in case you want any risk-free reports.

Apologies to those that offered bids below the current minimums - I wish I could update the prices in the original post to avoid confusion.

Militiamen (T1 Spears)
#1: 3,000 for 8,400,000 gold

Pikemen (T2 Spears)
#2: 10,000 for 51,000,000 gold
#3: 6,819 for 34,600,000 gold
#4: 6,673 for 33,800,000 gold
#5: 3,408 for 17,400,000 gold
#6: 3,116 for 15,900,000 gold
#7: 2,141 for 11,400,000 gold
#8: 395 for 2,400,000 gold

Longbowmen (T2 Bows)
#9: 10,000 for 75,700,000 gold
#10: 2,000 for 15,900,000 gold
#11: 2,000 for 15,900,000 gold
#12: 1,350 for 10,600,000 gold
#13: 1,250 for 9,900,000 gold
#14: 1,100 for 9,100,000 gold
#15: 550 for 4,600,000 gold

Men-At-Arms (T2 Infantry)
#16: 7,423 for 56,300,000 gold

Charioteers (T1 Cavalry)
#17: 1,500 for 12,100,000 gold

Knights (T2 Cavalry)
#18: 10,000 for 101,200,000 gold

Catapults
#19: 30 for 12,100,000 gold

Rams
#20: 30 for 4,600,000 gold

Agents Provocateurs (T2 Saboteurs)
#21: 300 for 700,000 gold

Assassins (T2 Assassins)
#22: 1,500 for 5,200,000 gold
#23: 500 for 1,700,000 gold

Rangers (T2 Scouts)
#24: 5,000 for 3,400,000 gold
#25: 4,000 for 2,700,000 gold
#26: 4,000 for 2,700,000 gold
#27: 1,000 for 700,000 gold
#28: 1,000 for 700,000 gold

Spymasters (T2 Spies)
#29: 3,000 for 2,100,000 gold
#30: 1,000 for 700,000 gold


Edited by Mafro - 23 Sep 2019 at 07:51
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mafro Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Sep 2019 at 22:32
Here is the latest update on the military auction, which is due to end at midnight on Sept. 30th server time, just over 24 hours from the time of this post.

All forces have now been bid upon. Below are the current minimum bids for each force (i.e. they are slightly more than the current top bid).

Militiamen (T1 Spears)
#1: 3,000 for 8,400,000 gold

Pikemen (T2 Spears)
#2: 10,000 for 51,000,000 gold
#3: 6,819 for 34,600,000 gold
#4: 6,673 for 33,800,000 gold
#5: 3,408 for 17,400,000 gold
#6: 3,116 for 15,900,000 gold
#7: 2,141 for 11,400,000 gold
#8: 395 for 2,400,000 gold

Longbowmen (T2 Bows)
#9: 10,000 for 80,000,000 gold
#10: 2,000 for 16,000,000 gold
#11: 2,000 for 16,000,000 gold
#12: 1,350 for 11,000,000 gold
#13: 1,250 for 10,000,000 gold
#14: 1,100 for 9,500,000 gold
#15: 550 for 4,700,000 gold

Men-At-Arms (T2 Infantry)
#16: 7,423 for 60,000,000 gold

Charioteers (T1 Cavalry)
#17: 1,500 for 13,000,000 gold

Knights (T2 Cavalry)
#18: 10,000 for 105,000,000 gold

Catapults
#19: 30 for 12,100,000 gold

Rams
#20: 30 for 4,600,000 gold

Agents Provocateurs (T2 Saboteurs)
#21: 300 for 800,000 gold

Assassins (T2 Assassins)
#22: 1,500 for 6,000,000 gold
#23: 500 for 2,000,000 gold

Rangers (T2 Scouts)
#24: 5,000 for 4,000,000 gold
#25: 4,000 for 3,200,000 gold
#26: 4,000 for 3,200,000 gold
#27: 1,000 for 800,000 gold
#28: 1,000 for 800,000 gold

Spymasters (T2 Spies)
#29: 3,000 for 2,400,000 gold
#30: 1,000 for 800,000 gold

To place your bid, simply send me an email indicating the forces you'd like to bid on and the amount you'd like to bid (you can just copy and paste from this post, if you like)! Clap

Can't wait to see what the winners do with these! Tongue
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote eowan the short Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Sep 2019 at 17:29
I offer the name of any accounts I currently run for #17
This is the thread that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friend. Some person started it, not knowing what it was, and we'll continue posting on it forever just because...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mafro Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Sep 2019 at 04:15
Thanks to all participants for a fun auction and a special congratulations to the winners!

All winners have now been notified. I am eager to see what you will do with your forces over the next couple weeks! I hope I will be able to share some of your escapades.... LOL

This auction is now closed...thanks again!

Yours,

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mafro Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2019 at 17:33
The first operation that came out of this military auction has completed and, as promised, here's what I can share!

The force in question consisted of all the militiamen, pikemen, catapults, and rams that I auctioned, which were won by a single bidder with an agenda. Altogether it consisted of the following:
  • 3,000 militiamen
  • 32,552 pikemen (across 7 armies)
  • 30 catapults
  • 30 rams
With this force at their disposal, the winner set me to the task of taking out one of G!'s cities, but declined to give specific direction, instead leaving the operational details to me. Given that G! is quite possibly THE preeminent military alliance (gulp!), I figured I had little hope of accomplishing this task.

As always, I insisted on payment before beginning the operation. There was some delay in receiving that payment, so I used to the time to begin reviewing G!'s cities near me, looking for any weakness. Due to my placement on the map, there were only a few G! members within a few hundred squares. 

Ultimately, I found my target, a city that had the following qualities:
  1. It was quite far from other G! members - the closest other member was 250 squares away, though the targeted player themselves had other cities nearby.
  2. The city placement was extremely poor from a defensibility perspective. It was on plains, with two large mountains and a large forest adjacent. Plenty of good terrain for a siege and a blockade. I figured G!'s leadership might not even give the order to use alliance resources to defend it, given the poor kill ratios they'd surely experience.
  3. The player's growth chart had flatlined a couple weeks ago. They hadn't abandoned, and they hadn't been kicked from G!, so I assumed they had a sitter who just wasn't actively building for them. The account has been around since at least 2012, so I figured they would be back.
  4. It was a legendary city, with a population of nearly 28k. This would make it more difficult for any defender to maintain its population by prestige building, assuming they could get resources into the city.
Here's a screenshot of the city, with less population than it started with:


While awaiting payment, I sent a force of 5000 rangers to scout it. To my shock, it was held by 30 stalwarts, with 3 axemen commanders and 1 stalwart commander. You read that right. Not 30Kstalwarts - 30 stalwarts. Either this was a gold farm or their armies had been spent before they took a break from playing. This confirmed to me that the city was a great target.

I put together a battle plan using Google Sheets, with formulas to calculate the launch times of the various forces to hit at the right time. I launched those forces that were reinforcing early, as they wouldn't be flagged to the defender as being inbound, and I wanted to seize the defensible ground before my target knew I was coming and could possibly head out and seize it themselves.

I decided to have my siege camp with catapults and rams on the southern mountain, which would be defended by the majority of the pikes...30,016 pikemen, to be exact. I used the 3,000 militiamen as a blockade on the southwestern mountain, reinforced by another 2,141 pikemen. Finally, as a diversion, I decided to send the smallest force of pikemen, just 395, to the large forest with the siege command, even though they had no catapults.

My thought with the diversion was that it might cause any siege clearing forces that were sent to be split. For example, if there were 30k cavalry near enough to break the siege, then seeing two siege camps they might be split 15k at each siege camp. If that were the case, my diversionary siege force would easily get wiped, but my 30k pikes on mountains might just survive to finish the job. Of course, I also thought that if they saw they had to clear two sieges, that might be enough for them to not bother even trying.

I shared the plan and the scouting report with the auction winner, who said it was "awesome".

With the plan in place, and the reinforcing armies already marching to seize the defensible terrain, the auction winner sent payment. Once I saw that it was inbound, I adjusted the target hit date and time to be Thursday morning at 6:30am server time. I figured that would be when the fewest people would be on to make note of the automated siege announcement in GC and raise a fuss. Of course, the target themselves would see inbound armies as soon as I issued the siege or blockade command, but I wasn't sure how diligent the sitter was, or if the account was even being sat.

After launching the besieging catapult force, I then launched the diversionary siege and the blockade. I kept expecting to receive an IGM demanding to know what I was doing, but none came. It seemed the account was inactive or the sitter negligent!

When the two siege forces hit, right on time, there was no reaction in GC, as I had hoped. Move along...nothing to see here folks.

However, in less than an hour I had an IGM from a G! member with the subject "Is that arranged". I wasn't online to get it immediately, but when I did I replied "Of course!" and included a link to this thread. It was arranged through the military auction I had publicly held. Wink

I never got a response from that IGM, but the siege was already setup and bombardment went quickly. The city was ready to fall 33 hours after my siege landed, after 12 hours of setup and 21 hours of bombardment. I didn't bother with a clearing force, and another player had won the auctioned cavalry anyway, so I just let the 6,819 pikemen who were with the catapults and rams march in. The rams had eliminated the wall several hours prior.

I lost 48 pikemen seizing the city. Amusingly, I actually lost more troops - 63 pikes - to a force sent by The Tower while the siege was inbound! All told I lost 111 pikemen in the operation, while the auction winner successfully took out a 28k pop legendary city at no risk to them.

A few hours after taking down the city, G! kicked the player from their alliance, presumably relinquishing any claim on their remaining dozen or so cities.

And that's it! It was fun to hold the auction, and even more fun to plan and execute the operation, though I had fully expected far more resistance. Well, to be honest, I always expect to lose all my forces...that's the whole point of auctioning off excess troops. LOL

And for those wondering why on earth I'd foolishly reveal the details of this operation publicly...especially one where the target was a highly respected military alliance!...well...I'm just trying to live my best life, and it seemed more fun to share the shenaniganry than not. Smile Hopefully it doesn't come back to bite me too hard...! Ouch LOL

Anyway, thanks to The Winner who was behind all this, and especially for letting me share the outcome of your effort! If you decide to come forward and take credit, I'll gladly confirm it was you!

And now that I'm still stuck with a few excess troops, I gotta figure out what to do with them...hmmm....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote DeliciousJosh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Oct 2019 at 16:01
Awesome! Thanks for sharing. It was a nice read. Posts like this are informative and help out more than we think

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mafro Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Nov 2019 at 21:18
Okay, the operations from the 3rd military auction are now complete! Actually, they completed a couple days ago, but RL has been preventing me from sharing the results until now...

First off, to be frank, I wasn't intending to post anything about this operation, as it didn't involve any siege armies and therefore appeared to me to just be a prank. However, as the response to it was highly visible, and as many people have asked about it and requested insights, I've decided to share what I can.

A single bidder won all of the auctioned longbowmen, men-at-arms, charioteers, knights, and diplos. The force consisted of the following:
  • 18,278 longbowmen (across 7 armies)
  • 7,423 men-at-arms
  • 1,500 charioteers
  • 10,000 knights
  • 21,300 diplos of various types and force sizes
With this force at their disposal, I was directed to attack Iron assets in Chulbran and Strendur in a way that would require a response. Given that direct attacks are easily dodged and a siege without siege engines can just be ignored, I proposed the main thrust be to use those forces that had some defensive capabilities (e.g. not cavalry) to blockade, to which the winner agreed.

With this direction, I reviewed the map looking for towns that:
  1. Had a mountain or large hills adjacent to the city (for the longbowmen)
  2. Had a forest or building adjacent to the city (for the men-at-arms)
  3. Sat on plains (for the cavalry, as direct attack targets)
  4. Were as far as possible from Iron's main cluster
  5. Were as close to me as possible
I found a single town that had both large hills and large forest adjacent to it, which I proposed be the target of two blockades - one by the longbowmen (on the hills) and one by the men-at-arms (on the forest). This would allow each type of unit to benefit from terrain modifiers, which I assumed would likely be defensive, but could also be offensive if those tiles ended up being occupied when the forces arrived (more on that later!). While it is certainly possible that "completed" cities could ignore a blockade for a couple weeks, the assumption was that they would require a response and be cleared.

I built a spreadsheet in Google Sheets to determine optimal launch times based on distance and speed so that all forces would arrive at the same time. The slowest unit, the men-at-arms, would require a whopping 10 days march under the blockade command, so any chance of surprise was essentially lost. I chose the fastest force of longbowmen for the second blockade command (so I could issue that highly visible command as late as possible), and used all other longbowmen as reinforcements sent to occupy the same square as the blockading longbowmen.

Shortly after I launched the initial force of men-at-arms I was approached by the target, asking what this was about. I explained, as I always do, that they are being targeted by a winner from the last military auction, along with a link to the auction in case they were unfamiliar with it.

At this point I'd like to pause the narrative to consider the situation from the target's perspective, as they faced an interesting conundrum.

I have purposefully structured my mercenary activities so that I don't "join a side". Instead, I make specific forces available for one-time use. This means that while I am clearly attacking the target at that moment, they have little reason to view me as an ongoing threat or as a future enemy. Therefore, any forces or resources that are consumed retaliating against me don't improve my target's position against whoever their enemy is (assuming the action isn't just a prank, like most are), but are wasted.

It is presumably based on this reasoning that the vast majority of my targets have chosen not to react. In fact, the most common reaction by far has been to simply ignore the attacks, perhaps beyond a single IGM asking why they were occurring.

However, there is an argument to be made that allowing an attack to go without a response could be taken as a sign of weakness and invite future attacks from others. By this reasoning, a response is necessary to prevent appearing weak, and that appears to be how Iron has chosen to react.

Returning to the narrative, shortly after explaining the situation to the target, I was approached by other members of Iron, to whom I gave the same explanation. Presently, I was targeted with 15 inbound military attacks, all from my target.

These military attacks were all very small elite forces using the siege command, but without siege engines, which resulted in messages in GC, with cities that had been renamed to state things like "Mafro Is Eowan" (I am not) and other things (all of which were also untrue). The main impact of this reaction was to raise visibility within GC, which ultimately caused this post to be written! Smile

I destroyed the majority of these shortly after they landed, but just ignored the last one. That last one had a short occupation time, 12 hours or so, before turning around and heading home. Some of these armies dropped gear, including several dozen war wolves, light spears, and extra light armours, and I gathered all of those up and returned them to the player who sent them, along with a friendly reminder that despite the inbound attacks from me I am not their enemy.

During this time I also began to be targeted by diplomatic attacks, which turned out to be from a number of Iron accounts. I have a sizable force of defensive diplomats, and at first attempted to "dodge" these attacks by moving my diplomats away from the cities that were being targeted, while ensuring those cities were more or less diplo proof (e.g. no building or research to sabotage, no advanced items to steal, no commanders to assassinate). I did this in an attempt to reduce the casualties that I caused to the players attacking me, as - again - I'm not their enemy.

However, there ended up being so many diplo attacks - more than 70, at last count - that I quickly gave up trying to dodge them. As a result, roughly half - 35 or so - were killed by my defensive diplomats. The others successfully scouted and spied most of my cities, I think, and managed to assassinate about 8 of my commanders (I missed sending defensive assassins to one city by two minutes, due to being delayed at the pharmacist, which resulted in 6 of those deaths...sigh). I learned a huge amount from this exercise and am adjusting my diplomatic strategy accordingly.

One interesting outcome that I hadn't considered was that Iron was successful in scouting a number of my cities (partly because of my attempts to dodge and partly because of their own prowess). From those scouting reports it is clear they were able to determine where my reinforcing longbowmen were headed, and thus set up their own forces to occupy those large hills.

As a result, when my longbowmen finally arrived every single unit went - *splat!* - against a cornucopia of defenders who defeated them so soundly that I never got a combat report! I do know that other Iron members took the lead in defending that square, and I must compliment Iron on their coordination of both diplomatic attacks and their response to the intel their scout reports contained. They did a smashing job (pun intended!). Big smile

I don't know the exact kill ratio, though my Atk score increased by about 50k, with the loss of about 55k exp worth of longbowmen. This likely resulted in a moderately better kill ratio for Iron than they would have gotten if they'd had to attack my longbowmen on large hills - again, well done!

As my men-at-arms had no reinforcements, I don't believe there was any way for Iron to know exactly which square they would land on. I had chosen the single large forest adjacent to the city, as infantry have strong bonuses in large forests, both to attack and defense. Here's what the situation looked like, after my longbowmen were all destroyed and my men-at-arms were blockading from an adjacent large forest.



You'll note some gear on the large hills square. That was a few riding horses that I gave to some of the commanders of my longbowmen to make the journey faster. While the auction winner didn't request it, it was in my own best interest to get this operation over and done with, so I included those myself.

Given that men-at-arms are strong attackers, it was actually to Iron's benefit to let the force land and attack it afterwards, which they did, wiping it out with a single force of some 11,100 clanguards, of whom some 96% were lost. Again, Iron managed to get a slightly better kill ratio than I did, with some 22k exp in losses on my part and 21k exp losses on their part.

Meanwhile, the two forces of cavalry, knights and charioteers, reached their destinations - two different nearby cities on plains - and were dodged with no casualties on either side. I believe this too was an example of smart tactics on Iron's part, as they limited their losses.

Finally, most of my diplomats were either killed or minimally effective, with my assassins only managing to kill two of my target's commanders, which clearly had no impact on their ability to clear my blockades.

Speaking of which, the only additional impact was that during the 12 hours or so that the blockade of my men-at-arms lasted, a few herbalists and miners were redirected to my cities with a small amount of harvest. I will return that harvest once it reaches my cities.

As always, if the auction winner chooses to step forward, I will gladly confirm their identity!

And with that, I'd like to thank all who participated in my military auctions, including those who bid, and - of course - the winners! My 3rd military auction is - finally!!! - officially over and done! Thanks for taking part!

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Joined: 30 Aug 2018
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bill_Cipher Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Nov 2019 at 00:24
LOL that sucks to not have Cats I wonder who stole them 🤔 🤔
Let fate chase you not me
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