Elvyra's Experience

[DeathKnyte]

So if you have been reading from before, the Sanctum of Sanity is located at the top of a plateau, surrounded by either cliff face or sheer bluffs. The only access is via a ramp, the width of a road, in game. Therefore, any battles occurring along the edges of the area will cause bodies to either fall, or roll down, these terrain features.

I have constructed a couple of corpse incinerators, and have ordered the retrieval of bodies and subsequent disposal - mainly because I don't like all the flies permeating the area when said corpses are left out too long. However, due to the first statement, I ran into problems with characters getting stuck trying to retrieve bodies with no clear path to them.

Study the picture below.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/3OH8AjE


Even though the game is paused, nothing displayed is dynamic. My faction characters and the corpses, although it may look like they are tumbling (they're not) - are stationery. Sometimes, the only way to unlock a character from their predicament, was to reload the game - which I despise doing.

So there are certain disadvantages to having a "hill top bastion" in game, and this is one example of such.

[DeathKnyte]

For a change of pace from slaughtering screamers at the outpost, I took out the Dark Sinners squad for some exploration in depth, of the immediate areas North, and North-West of the Shrieking Forest.

In the picture below, we are in the land of Berserker County.

This is quite the red land area, not as deep of red as the sea surrounding it, but red none-the-less. I suspect there are ferum deposits, or the semblance thereof in the terrain. If you've never swam in the sea around it, try it, and you'll see what I mean.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/n70GDqX


So we have encountered a group of Shek berserkers. Normally I would have outrun them, but these guys are faster than the regular Shek warriors. They have relatively light armor, with the heaviest piece of equipment being their fragment axes. Heavy by human standards, but not Shek standards (if you've ever read the description of Shek's and their weapon choices in game). Besides, we're here to actually get a feel of these areas, so I made a quick decision to engage.

I established a quick firing line with the Dark Sinners squad, while Elvyra and beep flanked out to draw and tie them in - away from the crossbowmen. Elvyra on Taunt command (drawing five Shek), while everyone else without commands.

At the time I snapped the picture, I was very concerned with my decision to actually engage these Shek, because with all those fragment axes flying around Elvyra, I feared potentially losing a limb (!). Kind of late to think about that now, I was getting to used to fighting screamers, where their damage potential, per blow, is much less than berserkers.

Any ways, it worked out in the end. One Shek broke for the line, but was contained with sustained fire from the crossbowmen, and Beep held off his partner until they could fire and dispatch that Shek. Elvyra did surprisingly well, by my standards, taking on five Shek, and not getting hurt too badly. She is now the most developed (stat and skill wise) character that I have ever had in Kenshi, to this point. So I'm breaking new ground, personally, in discovering the capabilities of such an experienced character.

After I was going through the screenshots of this play session, I noticed that one can see the Sanctum of Sanity in the background. Top center of picture, slightly to the left. You can see the station house, the wind generators and the iron drills on top of the plateau in the distance. We're quite far away actually, amazing.

[DeathKnyte]

Here, this is the area known as Purple Sands. Every time I've been in this area, there's always a sand storm, so visibility is restricted, depending on the strength of the wind. In the picture below, it must be during one of these strong wind conditions.




Direct Link: https://imgur.com/u74O3SM

I took the picture, not to display the prowess of the world's strongest swordsman (it looks like the Shek collapsed from crossbow fire), but more for the haze in the immediate background.

Look at the crossbowman figures being somewhat obscured by the blowing sand, and the cloud wisps on the right of the picture.

When in game, the dynamic effects this produces (especially with the sound of the howling wind turned up), makes one feel like they are immersed right in the midst of a khamsin. Really well done.

[DeathKnyte]

At the time, I was very excited with the following picture...

Originally it was for a case of fighting in a formation. I have the crossbowmen deployed in line, with Elvyra (on Taunt command) keeping the enemy busy, assisted by Beep (on Bodyguard command). It works well, because Elvyra is so experienced and with the hostiles attracted to her, it allows Beep to get in some hits without receiving too much attention in return - and the ranged characters can just plug away at their chosen targets.

However, what got me all excited when I looked at the picture, after the fight, was that for the first time - I managed to capture a volley of bolts - in flight (!).



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/mLiCe5K


Since I started taking screen shots, I was always hoping to see what they looked like in trajectory. Like, in game, I can see them flying about, but they move so fast (like they should), that I can't make out what level of detail the programmers had included. Now I finally got one. I was quite jubilant when I discovered this!

In the above picture, there are three individual bolts captured while in flight, can you locate them all?
You will have to go to the direct link and zoom in on the picture, because I can't make them all out myself with the size displayed in the forum here.

Spoiler follows below if you can't.










Spoiler:

Code: Select all

1.  Obvious in left of center of picture.

2.  Just above the arrowhead of #1.

3.  Just above the mouse cursor in the picture.

[DeathKnyte]

So now we are at the start of an epic battle, of which I subsequently dubbed as "The Battle of Boulder Irons."

We're around the Northern end of the Shrieking Forest, heading back to the Sanctum of Sanity outpost, with the Command and Dark Sinners squads.

We met a group of screamers, and I half-minded figured it was just more easy experience. However another group showed up while I engaged, and then another, and then a fourth came in.

Okay; this is too much for these members to handle, so again I half-minded figured we'll just take our licks, pass out from the damage, bind our wounds and be on our way.

People went down while Elvyra battled on, and then they'd get back up because at least one member was still fighting, and they'd get even more hurt, go down again, and so on. The problem boiled down to that Elvyra refused to go down, so I couldn't break the cycle.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/BnupoUp


So at the point that this dawned on my remaining half of mind - I realized that these characters were in real trouble. There was a real possibility of death, or dismemberment now.

I paused the game, which is the screenshot displayed above. I got these people in a predicament and had to think how to get them out, if I could. So I called the Jonin squad to the location, but they're quite a distance away, so I let the game run a bit and when they reached about one-quarter of the distance, I decided to call in everyone. I made sure that everyone was set to Full Run mode, and not the group speed mode. I needed people here as fast as I could.

See the big stone boulder in the top right? And the iron resource in the center? These two terrain features were where the near entirety of the engagement took place. Hence the idea behind the name I chose for the battle.

There are even more screamers beyond the edges of the picture, there were a lot - a surprising amount - really.

[DeathKnyte]

The five Jonin members got here and started taking on all the screamers, because the original members were all down, except for Elvyra.

When a few of the remaining two squads started dribbling in, I immediately set them to administer first aid, I had people actually displayed as "dying" in the status window. Next came the people who were close to losing an arm or leg. These first aid givers took hits, while hunched over the people they were treating, because there was just so many screamers, even with the five Jonin all on Taunt and spread out, they could not attract enough of the enemy onto themselves.

When the entire faction had arrived, was when I felt the situation would stabilize. I didn't figure we would outright win, but more hoping for a stalemate, because yet again, more groups of screamers came into the battle. Then, finally, Elvyra went down, and a pool of blood was quickly forming under her.

The picture below is when I felt the point of stabilization had been reached.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/BBaskFl


The battlefield is so spread out, I just concentrated on getting a shot of Elvyra being down, and Beep - who was in bad shape himself but at least conscious - was sent to administer first aid on her. He's a dedicated and loyal hiver, if you didn't all know already.

[DeathKnyte]

The battle raged on, and between even more groups of screamers, I would try and bind wounds and figure if we could extricate ourselves out - and head for the outpost. But they never stopped coming.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/ewhDJBc


I have the camera zoomed all the way out, and still can't get all the action in.

This battle would just not end.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/OCBglPh


And yet more groups.

And into the night.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/xcqxx7W


It's been like twelve hours now.

I must have happened upon the very spot, of an in-game group generator, or something.

[DeathKnyte]

Eventually, the enemy groups petered out, and I was able to withdraw back to the safety of the outpost, but only six members could carry people, so it took five trips of shuttling to finally get everyone home.

I snapped a picture the moment the last member of the faction got into a bed. So by the time stamp, a little over a day for the engagement and following withdrawal.

Ouf!

Lesson learned: I have new found respect for the shrieking bandits ability to swarm you in great numbers.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/AzJ5ng8


There's some interesting things in the picture, first is how neat and straight I can line the bed rows.

Okay seriously now, look at where my mouse cursor is, and what it's pointing at. I'm not quite sure what that is, but these things blow around near constantly. I can discern three types of leaves that blow around here too, but that thing is (what I'm guessing) looks like some kind of seed pod.

And by the way, the wind always blows, at least where I'm located, in the Shrieking Forest.

[DeathKnyte]

So after getting a good rest, and myself regaining my nerves (after the last epic battle), I decided to stay at the outpost for a bit, and work on gathering experience in a more controlled manner.

I refined the mounted crossbow battery position by inter-spacing hand held crossbowmen to the line. Hold plus Range commands and selective Taunt commands were utilized to give what follows in the picture.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/gpoMOlM


I must say, that this is quite impressive visually. It looks so regimented, don't you think?

[DeathKnyte]

And here's another, from the opposite side of the battery.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/kv9aw56


The whole concept of opting for a lighted mount was brilliant.

It's quite stunning with the lighting effects and the sound turned up.

[DeathKnyte]

Elvyra and Beep, keeping an eye on the action from above the battery position, both on Hold and Ranged commands.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/eID8Lfi


It was interesting having them this way, as whenever the enemy came close to the firing line, as shown in the picture (zoom in and look at the right flank), they would both raise their bows and start aiming. But invariably a volley from either the battery or the supporting bows would down the enemy, and then Elvyra and Beep would lower their own bows.

[DeathKnyte]

There would often be lulls in the waves the enemy threw at us. So to entice more groups from below, and thus have more consistent action, I moved Elvyra and Beep to forward positions.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/LOcilMk


Elvyra would select any nearby groups and hopefully draw even more into the my prepared kill zone.

I discovered that if I could locate the group leader and then order Elvyra to attack him, then the entire group would be drawn, as opposed to just selective members.

[DeathKnyte]

How far can an Old World Mk. II Specialist grade and, a Ranger Mastercraft grade crossbow shoot?

Pretty far, as shown in the picture below.




Direct Link: https://imgur.com/wzhTiGc


Elvyra and Beep, casting long shadows as they target bandits below.

By the way, for those of you not aware, the wind generators have different kinds of noises emanating from them when the camera is close - even when they turn as the wind shifts (!).

[DeathKnyte]

This is likely returning to the Sanctum of Sanity, from a resupply mission to Sin City.

In any case, there was an outpost raid event waiting for us, in the kind of scrawny cannibals.

I snapped a picture, because I found the light effects interesting.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/3D0ezez


Almost feels like a 3D perspective.

[DeathKnyte]

Shooting from range is good for dexterity experience, and sometimes I mixed in pitched close combat battles for toughness experience.

I found that the following system worked well; one squad in the fray, one squad on Rescue and Medic duty, and the last squad resting and ready to go in as a reserve if needed. After a while I would rotate the squad duties, so that the experience would be evened out some.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/jEFamKJ


In the picture, the Recon squad is currently assigned the Rescue and Medic duties.

The bottom of the road ramp meets a four way intersection, so there's usually enough traffic to keep us busy near all the time.

When I grew tired, the Jonin and Command group would go in and clear the field so that the rest of the faction could safely withdraw.

[DeathKnyte]

For those curious as to the exact location of the Sanctum of Sanity, I took a picture.

I also marked the spot of that epic battle of 'Boulder Irons', described earlier. So that others might wish to try and see if the game generates as many groups of shriekers as I had.



If you are not familiar with this area of the map, just zoom in on your map in game, all the way. Then line up the side scrollers like I have in the picture, and there you will be.

Visiting merchants were both types of hive (merchandise and farm supplies).

Outpost raid events included; scrawny cannibals, regular cannibals, and Great Canhead.

The only type of roaming, or random, groups I ever encountered were shrieking bandits.

[DeathKnyte]

Back at Sin City for a bit.

I was curious about a new technology, one called harpoon mounts. Theses can only be placed on structures, and not having any experience with them before, I tried a couple on the Y-House nearest the main gate to the outpost.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/d30TJ0Q


Here we are firing through the portcullis of the gate, and even though we can't see the targets, I know they're out there due to the red coloring of the stealth indicators.

So to cover the entrance here, I was seeing at which locations I could shoot with clear line of fire. All the positions in the picture were adequate. Two harpoons and three toothpicks on the Y-House, two atop the station house, and one on the wall (mainly used so that I could switch the camera, and actually see the enemy up close).

It is night so accuracy is adversely modified, but I have added some lights at the gate itself, as well as some search lights mounted on the buildings and facing to the entrance of the gate. You can see the reflection of such on the adjoining walls and the structure of the gate itself.

Conclusions was mixed, concerning harpoons compared to mounted crossbow Mk. II's. They definitely do more damage per hit, and perhaps the next technology that allows multiple barrels per mount will improve the fire rate. More experimentation is needed for me to come to a more definite conclusion.

[DeathKnyte]

Here's an interesting engagement happening in the distance, outside the walls of Sin City.

One of them traveling skeletons has encountered a group of scrawny cannibals.

Why they would fight, I don't know. Cannibals surely can't eat skeletons, and cannibals certainly would not report a skeleton to The Holy Nation.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/rFp5e9T


Still it made for an entertaining battle to watch. The game replicates the actions of combat well enough, it's like watching a movie. I often just stop what I'm doing in these occurrences, and observe what happens outside the outpost.

[DeathKnyte]

On the way to the Sanctum of Sanity, while in stealth mode, the game spawned iron spiders right in the midst of our formation.

That gave the Old Machines a free hit on many members of the faction before I could react. Danger is always present in the world of Kenshi.

Below is the winding down process of the engagement.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/zcWbaYN


The ones which caused the most damage had to be engaged in melee right away, I used Elvyra and near all the Jonin on those, you can see the hulk of one at the right, along with our blood on the ground.

A secondary group came from another direction, but I was able to form a firing line with one squad, while the least injured Jonin from the command group is engaging it in melee (top center of picture).

The rest of the faction is crouched down in the sparse shrubbery on the center left.

Other things that became apparent, when I was going over the screenshot, the Sanctum of Sanity is visible through the haze in the background (high left of picture). When the wind shifts, so does the direction of the smoke emanating from the ore melter. Nice touch that, coinciding with the swivel of the wind generators.

Blue skies with white wisps of clouds, sandstorm below the outpost, and rain at our location. Several weather effects all in one shot!

[DeathKnyte]

Here's a really good picture of the Sanctum of Sanity outpost, which gives a feel of "normal" operations - or in other words - when things were running smoothly.




Direct Link: https://imgur.com/qcFnDsA


We now have thirty full beds inside the station house, with ten sleeping bags deployed on the roof (this made it quicker to get hand held crossbowmen lined along the parapet of the roof edge if necessary).

The food store is central on the roof with ten mounted training crossbows (not depicted because I'm on the ground floor level in the picture).

Have four arrow making benches inside (maned by Adi, Digna, Reva and Knife), because I found that it lessened the trips back to Sin City for more ammunition. Besides, iron deposits are plentiful at the location, and one iron ore extractor with an iron plate processor (both manned by Pia) were sufficient to keep the benches supplied. Two bolt boxes on the lower floor, plus four general storage chests for sundry items, completes the indoor structures.

Mounted crossbow Mk. II battery (fourteen in total), seen in operation supported by ten inter-spaced crossbowmen (toothpicks) at the end of the road ramp leading to the outpost. Corpse incinerator, item furnace (not needed but I wanted to see how it worked), and four upgraded wind generators (top right, beyond the border of the picture) to finalize the outdoor structures.

One spot light (front door), three search lights (you can see the lighting arcs well in the picture), fourteen on the mounted crossbows, five ceiling lamps over the bed area (for the dimmer looking effect), and finally four electric torch posts for the arrow benches. Look at how the game not only projects the beams but also has different hues for each type of light.

I have near all machines in operation in the picture plus all the lights are currently on, and we're generating a little more power than required. The wind always blows in the Shrieking Forest. I never ran out of juice.

So if you gaze at the prior pictures posted of this outpost, you can relate to how I envisioned, and over time, refined the deployments, and organized the working and military operations of the Sanctum of Sanity.