In the last entry I had explored more of the world and uncovered the region of Saradh, where I need to convert every minor faction village and destroy any city present. Unfortunately that region belongs to the Necrophages, currently the strongest players in the game. I have a peace treaty with their neighbours - the Vaulters - but they happen to be the weakest players in the game.
We closed the last entry at turn 70, with a Broken Lords invasion force preparing to cross the small sea between their land and my Citadel. My hero Andom the Seer is several regions away, and the only army I have needs to take a longer route around the water - I muster two units of Kazanjii daemons from the villages in the neighbouring region, but given the winter I'm not sure if they'll get to Citadel before the Broken Lords lay siege.
This will be my third game of Endless Legend. My faction of choice this time will be the Cultists, who only have one city and convert the minor faction villages to be more dedicated allies than for other factions. I enjoyed the Wild Walkers and their forest bonuses in my first game, but found the Drakken much less interesting in my second. Probably because I had a better grasp of the game mechanics and was still playing on a low difficulty I found it too easy, so I didn't have much call for the diplomatic special powers of the dragon people. If nothing else, having only one city should change the game substantially. I'm playing on a large map with six empires on Hard difficulty. The world gen options are fairly standard.
It's always the approaches to my main base that are most dangerous. But while the helicopters usually get hit flying over the nearby stretches of jungle, it's the engineers who tend to get ambushed barely a few hexes out from safety. It must be very demoralizing, to be freshly deployed with the mission of improving the road network miles behind the frontlines and forward bases, only to be hammered with RPG fire moments after leaving the safety of the compound. Then having to limp back for reinforcement, not even having completed a full movement before taking losses. I'm inclined to like any game where getting a Chinook for longer range transport and longer operation time between resupply is not only a legitimately exciting prospect, but often more compelling than a Cobra gunship. Where it can take the little Huey's several turns to ferry artillery shells to your most advanced positions, the Chinooks feel like they can cover the whole map in two turns (I'm sure they don't take more than three). Don't get me wrong, I love the Cobras for their ability to deliver indirect firepower quickly without having to worry about terrain, but they aren't going to help keep my artillery supplied or airlift injured infantry out of harm's way. Vietnam '65 is all about transport and supply lines. Your task is to patrol a section of the country, identifying and destroying enemy units to win the hearts and minds of villages in the area. While you win hearts and minds mostly by destroying enemy units (and a little from visiting the villages with infantry, though these visits are often more valuable to get intel on enemies to destroy than for the small H&M boost itself), Viet Cong cadres will emerge from the jungle aiming to visit these villages to lower their H&M value, lay minefields, or set ambushes. You'll also have to deal with advances by North Vietnamese Army units, which will grow in intensity if the overall H&M score is allowed to drop.
|
What's All this then?I like making and writing about PC games - mostly strategy games. Expect after action reports, thoughts about design and gameplay, and maybe even a few prototypes. Archives
September 2016
Categories
All
|