Ashes of Empire: Cutting One's Losses (Lost)

I finished the last entry, asking myself a question. Restart or continue onward in what might just be a doomed state? The answer came when I looked over the map again. Can I even *win* in this province? No. I can't, there simply aren't enough forts to do so. Since that was a bust, it made my decision easy. Restart in a new place. Also, turn off the sound via the install menu, because that was getting annoying. You really can't be bothered to have an in-game music toggle?

This time, I go for one in Ossia. Or rather the one the game seems to let me pick, Temir, where instead of a famine, the economy is the problem. Only smugglers and gangsters are moving stuff, there's nothing in the shops and rebels have taken the gold. In practical terms, I have to get Vaults, Mines, Well Heads and Refineries. I have to take out Forts, Barracks and Communication Centres. This is an interesting realization, I didn't know that what buildings you had to build/destroy were conditional. I also realize that this means I can't get unlimited ammo in this province. There are a lot more troops I'll have to deal with, but I'm confident that I'll be able to deal with that one way or another. The votes are considerably easier, just Ossian and Moldenes, with a tiny Ruzakh minority.

Fighters spawn close enough to my starting position that I end up fighting some the second I switch away from my map screen. Two towns also pop up right within walking distance. This is not what I'm concerned with right away. I'm concerned with filling out the map so I can know where I need to go, and that means going around without getting into combat, just exploring towns and recording Professionals' requirements. And also this time checking that I can actually, you know, win this province.

The province is very small, but full of a lot of enemies. Not in the sense of there being big concentrations, but of them being spread out all across the map. This makes things tricky to properly eliminate. Does this mean I need to get half a dozen pacifying professionals to get through this with a minimal amount of fuss? I decide that ultimately combat is something I should be avoiding.

My campaign here starts at Kilodar near the starting position. I trade goods for a Depot and Pump Head. Now I just need to find a Processing Plant and I have unlimited food. There's an Engineer Builder here, who just wants goods for goods and votes, not really something I need just yet. A Professor is expected, so I negotiate at a mine until he comes. This turns out to be the wise choice, as the Professor knows where everyone in the province is, and is willing to give me 30 airlifts, plus medication and votes besides. All he wants is 10 fuel, 10 goods and 10 gold.

I head east, going through, but ignoring Trotchenko, nothing I need. My real objective here is Brivrilsk. I negotiate for a Control Tower and a Fort. I might have to blow up the latter later, but until I need to do so, it's going to provide vital resources. Then there are two professionals, a Doctor and a Strike Marshal. The former just gives me medical treatment and some votes, not yet necessary. The Strike Marshal, meanwhile, is incredibly powerful, so I decide that it's actually a better option to allow him to reach a different town, he recruits all CSR forces with 50 km, which is a waste near the border.

That isn't actually where I wanted to go, but as I've mentioned, it's hard to have an exact idea of where you're going in this game. So, I head southwest to Vistev, which is a small town with a Vault and a Radar Station. Which opens up my knowledge of the area without having to rely on the guy who told me where everyone is.

I continue southeast to Drigoran, which has a Mosque, a Well Head and a Hospital. I grab the Mosque and Well Head, since I need the latter. There's a Surgeon and Superintendant Administrator here, both of which just want various goods rather than anything harder to replace. Against my better judgement, I give both the necessary resources, and get medical treatment, papers and enough Moldene votes to finish that. Which now leaves a good question of where to go next, as most of the towns that have anything I want seem to be pinned down by some battalion I'd need ground attack capability to deal with, and I'm trying to stick to a fighter unless absolutely necessary.

This turns out to have been an unwise decision, as I head southeast, to Jilgevo, which only has a Well Head and a Bombproof Warehouse. It's guarded by tanks and I just decide to ignore them. They shoot the Well Head. I'm glad that enemies can destroy buildings as well as friendlies. This game wasn't hard enough as-is. The manual also states that bombproof buildings are destructible too, but that doesn't matter.

Out of an interest in capturing a Refinery, I head southwest to Batchyl, which is practically a one-stop shop for most of the important bits. A Well Head and a Refinery. Unfortunately, there's a tank battalion there too, which means that this fighter is going to be more trouble than its worth for a moment. Still, just because they spawn there sometimes doesn't mean I should change just yet. Enemies have to be right on top of the town, not just wandering around it. There are two nurses here, who just offer a paltry amount of medical treatment and votes that I don't yet need. I negotiate for a Vault, and the two important buildings.

Southeast of that is Dedlagan, which has a Control Tower and a Farmhouse, not important right now. What is interesting is that another Strike Marshal is here. The end result is the same, he wants diamonds and 2 medical teams, demolishes the forts (Apparently there are more than the required number to destroy in this province, or he can destroy ones I have) and recruits nearby CSR forces. This doesn't seem that much better, but I know there's some more south that I haven't encountered yet.

My next target is west, Elgalsk. There's a Refinery and a Factory here, the later produces ground vehicles. The big news is that there's a Captain of Works here willing to build Mines and Well Heads for me. I think there are enough Well Heads, but I'm not sure on Mines. He pushes the number of Well Heads into the target reached, and now I only need to find a few Mines to succeed there. Votes are also becoming quite easy to finish.

I head east-southeast to Taskagan, which has a Vault, an already built Well Head and two Engineer Builders travelling to there. One's a Ruzakh and both have little to offer me, so I just give the Ruzakh what he wants so that part of the votes are over. I decide now to head to the little outcroping in the southern part of the region, going west to Cregomsk. Owing to a mountain southwest of Taskagan, I end up making an accidental detour back to Elgalsk, which I've already cleaned out. Going the right way around, turns out that mountain wasn't supposed to be blocking me, I actually reach my destination. The buildings there are unimportant, there are more Professionals here. A Lieutenant Administrator offers me just air lifts and votes. It's not really something I feel is too worth the cost, but at the same time, it wins me the voting programme, so I take it. The other is a Medical Coordinator who offers me nothing I need at this point.

I engage in a little combat at this point, no reason not to. More or less just shooting whatever little I can before moving onward, I'm not doing serious cleanup just yet. I then head west to Rupirsk, which has a Radar Station and a Mine, winning both via negotiation. No Professionals here, so I continue south to Zutol, where there is a Professional, a Nurse, who offers me nothing I actually need at this point. Otherwise, there's a Vault, Well Head and Radar Station, with exception to the Radar Station (I just give the required wine), I negotiate for.

Continuing further south, I go to those three towns in a sort of triangle shape. Grelyl has a Mine and a Radar Station. Second, Digrevsk, which is actually one I didn't know of before, has a Refinery, and Processing Plant, as well as two Professionals. The first is a Highway Master, who will build most of the rest of what I need, but needs a Medical team I don't have. The second is a Lieutenant Administrator who can offer me nothing I need. I lose my Groundhawk here, but that doesn't work entirely against me, as I needed a bomber for Frogorno, which has a Barracks I need to take out. There's a Well Head, Fuel Dump and Windmill here that I negotiate for while waiting for an Engineering Coordinator. For three gold, he'll give me all the ammo and fuel I'll need in this area. Then it's just east to Memeanka, which has a Factory, Warehouse and Refinery, but more importantly, a Professional. It's just the Highway Master again, and I need to get another medical team somehow before grabbing him.

Since there's a Communications Center in Saprorsk, I head there next. There's also no required buildings there, so, indiscriminate fire is not a problem here. Then it's back south for a series of towns with Well Heads, Vaults, Refineries and one Radar Station. I'm going around the edge, just grabbing what I can. Including medical Professionals so I can maybe build a team out of them.

Once I'm out of the hole, so to speak, I head west to the mountains. It's fairly clear skies, but of course the areas that do have enemies are the towns. Still, there are plenty of Well Heads (I no longer need them if I did before), the final Mine I need and a few Vaults, so I'm slowly but surely finishing things up. At least, until I find a Radar Station revealing most of the north, and quite a few enemies. At least once I've returned to the starting section my issues are now down to enemies, Vaults and one building I need to take out. The number of Vaults I manage to get gives me hope that I can do this. Because I now have only 2 left to get.

The last building I need to destroy is in the northeast, and now I have to hope that there are two Vaults on the easternmost part of the area. And then to my shock, the hope rang true. All that was left was the big fight against the hordes of the CSR. The big one. Sixty four units to take out. Because that's what you have to do....and then I reload an earlier save after a stupid combat incident, only to discover that every time I enter the game world the screen goes black.

This is about as far as I'm going to go for this game. I wanted to save a province at least, but it seems even that option has been taken from me. I'm not that sad about it. I don't feel like I'm really doing anything. As a combat game, I'm extremely discouraged from shooting most people by virtue of the game's attempts at promoting peace. As a strategy game, it's a very simple trading game where at any point you can sacrifice time to gain resources, be it just negotiating or traveling to another province. By the time one starts to feel consequences of anything, the causes are so far gone that they're forgotten.

This Session: 4 hours 30 minutes

Final Time: 8 hours 50 minutes