Choice of Rebels: Uprising — Lead the revolt against a bloodthirsty empire!

The bloody revolution is the costly one.

I lost Kalt, Elery, Breden, and all my rebels but 10 (180 dead over the course of the game). I feel drained and defeated

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I’m not sure yet how much the game has been rebalanced since the open beta closed, but when last I played, the key to a well-fed rebel band was mules. Doesn’t matter how much money you have to buy food or how much you get on raids, if you don’t have enough mules to carry it all you’re up the creek without a paddle. Scout for places to steal mules from on the first week and make those raids a priority when they eventually come up, also send Breden on missions to beg for mules (tho this won’t work if you piss off the yeoman iirc). Raid yeoman farms if you’re desperate, but make it up to them as soon as you can. Around 15 mules can carry enough food to feed a large band on full rations, though you may want to keep around 20 depending on how many sick people you have. Any extra mules you don’t need, don’t hesitate to sell them. They bring in good money.

Try to offload as many children as you can onto the helot camps, they’re useless mouths and make the task of feeding everyone a lot harder.

Ways to get food without creating anarchy are begging missions to the helot camps (you can have them take care of some of your kids each time). Send the max amount of people led by someone with good charisma. This will account for a large chunk of your food supply on a low-anarchy playthrough. Supplement with strategically chosen raids focusing on getting money instead of food (rob temples, merchant caravans, and the architelone - make sure to have Bleys join your band), this way you can bring in most of, if not all your weekly food requirement by simply buying it. Creates less anarchy than stealing food, with the side benefit of freeing up more of your outlaws for other stuff.

Don’t hunt if you can avoid it. Hunting for bears doesn’t work a lot of the time and rabbits bring in very little. If you have some outlaws free that you can’t do anything else with, you can get a little food and money by having them hunt rabbits. Otherwise, don’t bother.

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I did it! I broke their army in open battle, no magic! And the only major character I lost was Kalt!

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How did you do such a thing?

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As far as I recall the benefits of having a COM2 character.

Congrats, @havenstone, on having our biggest opening day ever!

(Displacing The Hero Project: Redemption Season from the title.)

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Thanks to everyone at Choice of Games who had the patience to bring this ungainly beast of a story to the market. :slight_smile: And, again, to everyone on the forums whose advice over the years helped make it a better beast.

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I haven’t even started to read game itself yet, but from the looks of World Index section I guessing that your work likely goes straight into my list of favorites. After all, thoroughfull worldbuilding is one of my most favorite aspects of fiction(together with romance and engaging story).
I also must say that i amazed by your ambitions(considering amount of planned books and size of the first one) and equally afraid at prospect of how many years it could take to finish whole story.
Nonetheless, I wish you good luck, bottomless enthusiasm and enough of free time in your life to continue and, eventually, finish whole series.

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That helped.

But what’s important is building up a strong band (numbers and weapons), attracting experienced support, and keeping morale high. You probably won’t be able to do it (without magic) if you aren’t willing to get high anarchy, but even while you’re looting and stealing, you need some support, so don’t put the screws to everyone.

Can’t really do anything more detailed now, but that’s the broad gist of it.

And now, Breden speculation: she gives you a kryptast code that works (I can’t believe I have to lose the battle for that sword @Havenstone!). I don’t think it’s a question of if they’re a spy anymore, but how divided she is by internal conflict over the whole rebel situation. It depends a lot on the MC’s attitude towards them (Breden tries to save the MC, not the rebellion), and I’m curious to see how their goals will shift as the rebellion grows.

And I’m dragging them into Xaos.

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My own personal theory on Traitors and Krypasts

I feel like maybe Breden is actually brainwashed and they don’t even know they’re a spy but maybe I’m wrong. I feel like what Linos said where he claimed the Hegemony actually loves a rebellion because it’ll let them murder as many people as they want while claiming rebels is a good enough explanation for a Kryptast spy trying to gather an insurgency.

It might also tie in with the Yeoman uprising, A Kryptast spy convinces somebody to start a revolution but at it’s high does their best to make sure those rebels and anybody allying with them fall to doubt and infighting. The Hegemony then shows how rebellions don’t work, They kill anybody who tried to fight them and now they probably filled their blood storage to the brim

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You are right. I played the game with COM2 today and even then was unable to win the battle, so there is more to it than that.

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Awesome to finally see this released! Hope everyone enjoys this little (read: giant) masterpiece!

Been recommending it to as many friends as possible, hoping they too buy it. :slight_smile:

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Well, I can’t help you guys with the app store, but I bought the game regardless. Good work, @Havenstone

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My theory on the subject of spies:

Breden isn’t a kryptast, they’re exactly who they appear to be, that is to say a charismatic helot…whose job it was to quietly draw in subversive elements from the helotry to be culled in the harrowing. The rebellion itself was an unexpected outcome. Frame Breden’s actions as a small-scale spy way in over their head. Breden is highly suspicious and does little to allay those suspicions, so probably not a professional. Also explains why they get picked for the harrowing as well. The Hegemony wouldn’t execute a trained spy for doing their job, but some random helot, who may very well begin to sympathize with the dissidents they work against? Disposable. Toss them out with the rest of the trash and voilà, no loose ends.

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Yeah, that’s certainly plausible. I guess in the next game we’ll see if young Simon might be a Laconnier plant.
Given that the Laconniers seem to be a foreign (Hallasur) backed nativist Shayardene “noble” conspiracy, they are almost as bad news as the Hegemony itself to my mc.
My fear however is that Breden may not be the only Kryptast in our little merry band, particularly when the mc gets back from their sojourn into the Xaos lands, as there will at that point be some new and unfamiliar faces in the band, including most likely a more professional Kryptast spy then Breden.

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Are there any ways to improve the Noble relationship with you?

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The easy way is to be an aristocrat.

That said, yes you can, but only in small doses (you can’t just pay them off as if they were yeomen or helots). What they like most is low anarchy: if you work with the nobility and prove your bona fides, they’ll be more inclined to work with you in turn, particularly if they think that you won’t kill them once you’re in power.

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Congratulations @Havenstone! The final release is amazing and the additions since the open beta closed only made an already incredible game even better.

I’m fascinated about:

Talismans: a handful of immensely sacred, near-mythical objects that allow a Theurge to wield Angelic power without shedding blood. Used by some Eclect heroes in the stories of the Codex, and reportedly by the Thaumatarch and some Ennearchs today.

It might be helpful to perhaps merge this thread with the Author Interview thread. Similarly, the XOR Hints thread might benefit from repeated linking to the WIP thread which is helpful for both lore and strategies.

I only noticed one bug and it is after the fighting at the end so it does not affect the game mechanics.

@jasonstevanhill This may be a stupid question but does the full email address end in dot com?

Since I wasn’t sure, I’ll just append the pictures of the bug.

EDIT: Yes, it does. My apologies and I’ll email pictures of any bugs there.

The bug is that the number of casualties of food poisoning is given instead as the total number of people in the band at that point. It affects only flavor at that point so far as I know.

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Just because I feel like bragging:

This is the state of your leadership and the rebellion:

Kuria Alya Seriatou
Born a noble of House de Serin
Self-taught Theurge
Prophet of the common Angelic voice

Epithets
Called by your followers:
Open-Handed

Traits
Charisma: You are reasonably persuasive and charming.
Combat: You’re unlikely to win a fight or lead others to victory.
Intellect: You’re widely read on many topics, with an excellent memory and strong reasoning skills.

You are popularly seen to be:

Ruthless: 17% Compassionate: 83%
Skeptical: 23% Devout: 77%
Homelander: 24% Cosmopolitan: 76%
Followers
Your rebellion has 542 surviving followers, including 364 adults and 178 children.
Of these, 67 are literate.
Since the rebellion began, 94 of your followers have died.
Morale is exceptionally strong.

Resources
Wealth: 4932
Arms: 200
Mules: 18
Blood: 4
Anarchy: 22

HELOTS:
You are on the way to becoming a helot folk hero.

YEOMANRY:
You are on the way to becoming a folk hero to the yeomanry.

ARISTOCRATS:
Most aristocrats abhor your rebellion, but a handful are growing cautiously sympathetic.

PRIESTS:
Many Shayardene priests secretly believe the Angels are on your side.

MERCHANTS:
While most merchants think your rebellion is bad for business, a few of them see opportunities in working with you.

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Any tips? Trying my first playthrough right now!