Generally, we were running with around 23 weaponthanes at the high end. Average was 17-20.
> Second, what is the highest combat score on your ring (and is that
> leader around in fire season when you are being
> raided?). Anything below excellent and you will have a lot of
trouble
> winning fights in my experience, and getting
> someone who is renowned is a real help (but you lost your best
fighter
> in a heroquest I think you said?)
Originally, we had Insterid: Vingan with I think Excellent combat. The HQ offed her in the 11th hour, so we went with Orldag, an Orlanth worshipper with VG combat and VG leadership. In truth, there is another Orlanthi with Excellent combat, *I think*. For some reason, we thought the Leadership might be useful. I really need to figure out where I put that manual... I'm not sure if I've seen it since I moved. Maybe it's in a box?
> Third, how much sacred times magic are you dedicating to war? The
max
> is influenced by your clan type and whether
> or not you have a war god on the ring, but more importantly what are
> you actually spending? This is probably not the
> place to skimp on your magic allocation. If you can only assign one
> point of war magic you might want to keep a
> couple set aside to assign when battles happen.
Hm, methinks we only have one box for War at Sacred Time, and we always fill it in. We tend to spend extra magic during actual combats.
> Fourth, what war blessings, if any, do you have in place? Remember
> knowing the blessing isn't enough, you have to
> have it locked in by a shrine or temple, or else sacrifice for it
each
> year. The rock in the middle of your war screen will
> tell you which blessings are active.
We have enShrined: Lightning, Thunderstone, and I'm pretty sure Sureshot (I'm at work, or I'd check to make 100%) I've debated the usefulness of the Listening Wind blessing...
> Fifth, what treasures, if any, do you have for war (besides the
earth
> shakers, obviously)?
Heh, the evading Mask and the Earthshakers. We traded away a Godbone,... there's one more Treasure, but I'm not sure what it is.
> Sixth, how many of your people are you getting to battle? When
> attacking you probably need to bring along extra carls
> beyond the default (they won't be happy about it, but they'll be
less
> happy if you lose all your battles). I typically
> increase the default by half, going from half the available fyrd to
> three-quarters. I've not seen any negative side effects,
> aside from occasionally unhappy farmers. On defense are your
patrols
> spotting the attackers?
Lately we've been spotting them. I've made sure to keep maxing out
the patrols after we raid.
Usually we up the default on a full raid to about 1/4 to 1/3 more
people, and send in 10-20 auxiliaries. On cattle raids, we tend to go
a little more lean, though lately I tried using the Listening Wind (?)
to coordinate raids. I might have my winds crossed...
>If not, make sure that
> you have a watch-tower built, strong outer patrols (I usually have a
> little under half my thanes on outer patrol), and as
> many hunters as you can support (recruit more cottars if you don't
have
> enough people to support all of those hunters).
Hunters were maxed, until the farming went to hell and we needed extra farmers. I think we need a permanent Cure shrine.
> Of course, you can do everything perfectly, and when you get the
three
> consecutive raids--especially if you lose badly in
> the first battle--you can just get pummelled. I have had clans
suffer
> so badly in the first year or two that I thought they
> had very little chance of surviving, and re-loaded and started the
year
> over again.
I think we were in 1141 when I flipped out at our misfortune. Last save is 1136, methinks.
> I hope this helps a bit!
I'll keep at it!!! I think I'll dig for the manual tonight.
Thanks for all your help!
Darren
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