Conquer Westeros and Essos with Dragons or a Terracotta Army (RAR!)

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Dragons or Terracotta Army?

Dragons
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100%
Terracotta Army
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Total votes: 5

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Zor
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Conquer Westeros and Essos with Dragons or a Terracotta Army (RAR!)

Post by Zor »

In this scenario you are sent to Essos (specifically 300 km south of Norvos) in the year 285 by ROB and have been given orders to conquer it and bring about an empire that would rival the Valayrian Freehold. As a start you have a fortress with 6 meter tall stone walls as well as a force of 400 Samurai and 1,600 Ashigaru armed with non-gunpowder weapons (katana, washazaki, naginata, yumi, yari, japanese plate armor, etc), all of which are loyal to you and can speak the langauges of westeros and western essos quite well. This is not a bad fighting force by ASIOF standards, but it's not up to the task of worldconquering. As such ROB offers you one of two options.

The first Option is Dragons. You have a dozen adult Dragons, a dozen six year old juveniles, a dozen year old hatchlings and a dozen eggs six months into their gestation. Each Adult Dragon is 30 meter wingspan and able to fly (up to 100km/h) and expel 30 meter long lances of fire from their mouths. They're not quite as invunerable as the great dragons of Valyria, but they their hides can take crossbow fire. They are strong enough to bare a human rider, with several of your samurai being trained to do. These dragons are also not finicky breeders. Female dragons lay an egg every two to three years, said egg needs to be kept warm (40-50 degrees Celsius ideally) during an year long incubation before hatching. Said hatching grow to adulthood in 12 years time. Since Dragons have a certain cultural association with the populations of this region having them gives you an advantage beyond their simple military applications, namely they're will be people who'll follow you simply because you have dragons and they have none.

The second force you get is one more removed from the Zeitgeist of the established civilizations, but one that has advantages of it's own. Basically in addition to your Samurai Squads, you got a force of 16,000 Terracotta soldiers...
Image
...only these ones are able to move. Each Terracotta soldier stands 1.8 meter tall, has four times the strength of a man, can march steadily day and night at a steady 5 km/h and charge at 12km/h over distances of up to 1 km (afterwards it will take 20 minutes for them to be able to charge again) and will follow the orders of the following people...
  1. You
  2. Your Samurai and Ashigaru, unless their orders contradict your orders
  3. People that you tell one or more of said Terracotta soldiers to obey, unless their orders contradict your orders or your Samurai's/Ashigaru's orders.
Each of them has inside their a small bronze chem about 10cm long which contains the spell which animates them. If that is removed or destroyed they become inert. If limbs are severed from the body they'll become still and if their hears are removed they'll become blind. Even so, as long as their chem remains intact they'll still attempt to carry out their orders. Damaged teracotta warriors can be repaired as long as their chem is intact. As for weapons, they're armed with Jian Swords, circular shields, Halberds and Crossbows. Their combat forms are, as mentioned, powerful but fairly basic in it's operation, limited to a few moves which they do automatically towards targets. Their crossbow marksmenship is alright if not exceptional. They need constant oversight and can't do much on their own besides defend themselves from attack. Even so they can do some basic tasks with oversight such as stacking boxes, digging holes and moving objects from point a to point b. Without orders they'll either form up into neat squares and stand at attention and wait for orders or, if a year passes, will return to your castle. They can not speak, but they can point, bow and clap their hands to make noise as an alert signal, though this is not good for their hands. However one of the most notable things about these guys is the fact that you can make more of them. You have four enchanted kiln in your fortress in which can each make sixteen terracotta warriors at a time, though it takes a fair bit of fuel and three days to properly bake them. You also have enough (highly specialized) mages to keep chem production up and potters to make soldiers for said kilns. Weapons production is another matter. You have artisans which can produce about two swords, two shields, two crossbows and four halberds a day along with a few dozen bolts, but if you want to have your armies armed with weapons beyond what you have so far you'll need to get more weaponsmiths.

Which is the superior asset for conquering Planetos?

Also the Faceless men have been paid off and won't assassinate you either way.

Zor
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Esquire
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Re: Conquer Westeros and Essos with Dragons or a Terracotta Army (RAR!)

Post by Esquire »

The Terracotta Warriors are superlative troops for set-piece battles. The dragons are an autowin condition.
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Solauren
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Re: Conquer Westeros and Essos with Dragons or a Terracotta Army (RAR!)

Post by Solauren »

Dragons.

I lay low for a while, and let my dragons breed, and take over smaller settlements, slowly expanding my army and territory, and any stories about Dragons will be attributed to Danny.

You see, when Danny leaves for Westros, she's leaving a power vaccum behind her. Slaver/Dragons' Bay has lost most of it's military, and the Dothraki are gone, and the only source of Unsullied are gone. The Second Sons/her garrison force would not be able to stop 12+ dragons.

There is also a good chance I can redevelop firearms which would give me an advantage. Charcoal, Sulphur and Saltpeter if I remember correctly. If not, a slow build up, covered by Danny, and then swooping in to the power vaccuum should give me an advantage.

....

Alternatively

"Hello, Queen Daenryrs. You have 3 dragons, I have 30. I have a small skilled army, and you have a big one. I think we should be working together. I dislike slavery except for criminal offenses, and I can imagine we have other things in common. Are you interesting in discussing an alliance?"
I've been asked why I still follow a few of the people I know on Facebook with 'interesting political habits and view points'.

It's so when they comment on or approve of something, I know what pages to block/what not to vote for.
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Re: Conquer Westeros and Essos with Dragons or a Terracotta Army (RAR!)

Post by SpottedKitty »

As a slight variation, what about the Terracotta Warriors as they appeared in one of the late Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld books? They came complete with a wristband-mounted control panel, and (I think) helmet-mounted magical goggles that let you see what they were doing.

Oh, and the description of the control interface sounded suspiciously like the Lemmings computer game... :wtf:
“Despite rumor, Death isn't cruel — merely terribly, terribly good at his job.”
Terry Pratchett, Sourcery
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