The Chronicle of Karguun · Chapter 7
Going to War
The War Room sends your armies against other provinces. Choose a target close to your own size, send more than enough to break its defence, and your army comes home with land, gold or worse. The War Table beside the orders does the reckoning for you.
Choosing a target
- Size. What you gain depends on how the target's networth compares with yours. A target between 90% and 110% of your networth yields full gains; below 56.7% or above 160% it yields nothing worth the march.
- Kingdoms. Gains also fall when the target's kingdom is much smaller than yours.
- Repeated hits. A province hit again and again yields less each time, by 10% for every successful hit in the last 24 days, down to 40%.
- Your own kingdom. Attacking a kingdom-mate is allowed but shameful: the attacker keeps only 20% of what is taken.
- Protection. No one may attack a province the Elder Thrones still protect.
Winning
Your army's attack, with all its bonuses, must beat the target's defence. Fortune moves each side by up to 3.5% either way, so send a margin. A failed attack loses troops and gains nothing.
The attacks
| Attack | Effect |
|---|---|
| Traditional March | Takes land: about 12% of the target's acres in a full-strength hit, at most 20%, with some of the buildings on it. The usual attack. |
| Raze | Fights 15% harder and burns the target's buildings to barren land. Takes nothing. |
| Plunder | Carries off up to 40% of the target's gold, food and runes. |
| Learn | Steals some of the target's science. |
| Massacre | Kills peasants, thieves and wizards. |
| Conquest | Takes land from a province almost exactly your size (95% to 105% of your networth), or any size in war. Can win in part with less offence. |
| Ambush | Strikes an enemy army on its way home and wins back land it took from your kingdom. |
Coming home
- An army marches home in about 18 days, longer for every island between you and the target, up to 14 more. Barracks and some spells shorten the march.
- Land, buildings and loot come home with the army.
- Credits. Land won earns building credits, and broken defences earn specialist credits, so new acres and new troops cost less.
- Honour is taken from the defender (see Honour and Nobility).
- Prisoners. Some of the defenders are taken prisoner if you have Dungeons to hold them.
The War Table
The War Table on the War Room page fills in your army and the freshest intelligence your kingdom has on the target, and shows your attack against their defence, the margin fortune allows, and what each attack would bring home. A Crystal Ball cast or a Spy on Military the same day makes it exact (see The Mystic Arts).
Counsel
- Attack provinces your own size; a much smaller target yields little and angers its kingdom just the same.
- Every attack raises your kingdom's anger toward the target's, and theirs toward yours. Too many, and they may declare war (see Relations between Kingdoms).