(Story) Sog It! Ch13

Prologue: I Reincarnated as a Colonial Bureaucrat

One fine night, I was watching a Youtube Video on Clockwork Empires

Me: Haha, he's picking Dauntless Dare for fun, madness, starvation and cannibalism. What's that?

From outside the window, one could hear an odd Electrical-sounding sound. Raising the blind showed a tall jet-black pillar that blocked out the sun outside. The sound reached a high pitch and then-

Colonial Bureaucrat has died due to Eldritch Energies

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Chap 1: Crash Landing



Ida Cogsbronze, the NCO of our expeditionary force, looked concerned. "Your Bureaucracy, are you alright? That looked like quite a tumble!"

Me: "Rather than that, what happened? We weren't scheduled to make landfall yet."
IC: "One of my lads screamed 'anti-air fire' and we just went down. Never heard of anything like it."

"Well I think I know where we are," added Wilbert Broadleaf, one of the overseers who was nearby. "We're only a short distance from the planned clearing... if I remember the reading on the Directional Director correctly."

IC: "We'll have to walk then. How unfitting for your station, but such is the Frontier. Can you walk?"
Me: "It'll take more than that to kill someone of the Upper Class."
IC: "Doubtless there's a lot of 'that' out here, let's hurry."

A while later.



Well, we were lucky to be alive. However, we only have some emergency rations and all our heavy construction equipment, Boxed Modules and weapons were lost.

And all the laborers but one (Ida's lad) died in the crash. However, all the overseers survived. As expected of the Middle Class.



Don't ever look directly at them... sounds like something important to remember...

Well, it is time for us to begin... wait what's that rumbling sound?!

 

Stories! Stories are good. Remember when Gaslamp used to write stories? There was that one about the poet who got turned into a [REDACTED]. That was good.

 

Chap 2: Meat and Maize



Myrtle GreenLand, our botanist, came running at a pace Most Unseeming for her station. But, more important than that was the - what the heck is that!

Ida: "Step back and observe Modern Firepower at work."

Stepping forward boldly, she raised her pistol and fired! *Bang!*

But the giant beetle-like monster kept on moving, only now it was headed towards where Ida and I were. Ida simply reloaded her weapon with amazing cool, and raised it again as the beetle was almost upon her.

Ida: *Bang* Hah!

Discharging her weapon at the last second, she smoothly stepped to the side as the beetle hurtled past before stopping. It did not turn around again.


Myrtle: "That's a lot larger than the beetles they said would eat our crops!"
Ida: "Although called the Giant Beetle, it is not simply a large beetle. However, this also means it makes good Steak."



And so we began working. Our order of business:

Farming: 1 of Maize Farming (Myrtle)
Woodcutting: 3 people cutting wood
Stone mining: 1 person mining Rhodolyte
Foraging: 1 person

Ida: "Are you quite alright? You look dead beat."
Me: "I won't be resting while you need my guidance to stay alive."
Ida: "It's heartening to know you'll be with us until the end."


The carpentry workshop bugged out, probably because it's made of literally three squares of floor and a door. The game refused to render the walls.

The plan was basically to make the workshop + workbench pronto. And then to make the kitchen (here I made it 7x2, but next time I'll just do 5x2).

With foraging, and people hauling overnight, this means everyone goes hungry tonight, but tomorrow I'll have an oven and cook food for everyone. (It worked FYI) The maize actually started producing the first crops as well.



By Day2 evening we had Maize Chowder, Coconut Stew and Roast Beetle Steak. Eugenia Delish was looking forward to the Beetle Steak, she is quite a gourmand apparently and will take good care of the kitchen.

Wilbert Broadleaf is our carpenter.

(I renamed people to make it easier to remember who is doing what)

 

Your carpentry workbench appears to be standing on the grass, and not in a Carpentry. That .. shouldn't work. Are they functional?

 

It's in a Carpentry, I watched it be built. Works just fine, somehow the building just doesn't show up at all.

You can see it has a door.

 

Chap 3: We Settle Down



You can see here the workshops as set up.
Carpentry: 3 squares+door
Textiles: 3 squares+door
Kitchen: 7x2 (space for 5 ovens + brewing vat)

That building underway is the next major project. A cothouse.
It's 4x9, and will fit 9 cots when fully filled. It'll also have maxed out quality



Some odd fishy people came by. The colonists seemed quite disturbed to see them (well except one, who just seemed excited). We tried to trade, but sadly there was no trade UI. While they left us some scrap iron and sand... wait, are those bits of our airship?!

Anyway, we tried to offer them some Maize Chowder but they didn't seem interested and left.


Our NCO began working on fortifications. Using sturdy logs we began to raise a set of citadel walls to protect the colony square. Note that the barracks building only has doors facing inside.




Lower-class colonists seem to max out (lavish comfort) at a Great building, which I think is +4 to +5.




A middle-class colonist sleeping in a cot will benefit from Wonderful (+6 quality).

As everyone sleeps, it's worthwhile maxing out quality of where they will sleep.




More fishpeople came by as we finished our citadel walls. Everyone was mustered to make a show of force. The fishpeople went around the walls and continued on their journey. Phew.

I like how all the windows of the kitchen face the stockpile, so you can smell the cooking food while you're eating.

Also, the windows of the bunkhouse facing outward are supposed to be like gunloops, but really that building was windows everywhere.


Note: Supposedly they will give gifts if you're starving or in lack? By day 9 though, I'm doing pretty well except for not having guns...

 

Chap 4: Enemies everywhere!

Since the forums helpfully en-Smallify large images, and scaling down can make the result look bad, I'll leave full sized ones. Click to see full size!




Our second week of survival out in these swamps. We were spotted by a passing airship that had been sent to sweep the area (the Empire noticed our airship had not returned on schedule).

Overseers and new lower class colonists have joined us. It seems nearby colonies have had issues with fishpeople and bandits.


We rounded out our construction efforts. Following the blue arrows, from left to right:
Textile Workshop
Metalworks (3x3, with a workbench, stone smelting kiln, stone charcoal kiln and forge.
Ceramics workshop (2x2 with a workbench and stone kiln for bricks)
Foreign office (2x2 with a standing desk. Could probably make it a 2x1 honestly)
Naturalist office (2x2, empty. Could have made it a 1square wonder)

To prepare my metalworks took 9 brick and 1 iron (and planks and stone).
Keep this in mind, no need to mine out a ton of clay.

We did however lack hematite nearby. Trouble..




We could've used some weapons, 2 bandits attacked us with rifles!


Ida sprung into action, exchanging rounds with one of them, while the other ran away upon seeing our redcoats, Our unarmed redcoats, by the way. Leola killed the second bandit with her fists. Jolly good!




After the fight we somehow obtained a musket, 2 rifles and a blunderbuss and a pistol off the two bandits. Or so my records say... but I did a check later on and saw two rifles being carried along with a blunderbuss.





We are in a pretty good situation. While considering our next long-term move I was reminded of way coconut trees work (which is, you forage them for a crate of coconuts, and with some chance the tree disappears, otherwise it will live and later be forageable again).

Why not? I sent out orders to venture beyond our walls to forage coconuts. Ida and her now-armed crew went out to observe and stand guard.




Yes, a number of soldiers were still just carrying around makeshift melee weapons, as I had more soldiers than we had guns. The observant will realize I must have started a second squad by now, these melee-armed soldiers will provide support for those with firearms. For now...

 

Life on the Frontier is hard, even the buildings are the type that Should Not Be Seen. It's actually somewhat annoying to click on the buildings, bad enough that the detection of where you're clicking is a bit messy. Plus I am constantly shifting a couple of overseers between all the workshops/offices as I need them.

Next time I'll put everything in one row with more space between, or else if in two rows with a lot of room in between the rows...


Also I should quit some of these crazier designs, I'm pretty sure 3-square or 4-square (2x2) carpentry is still 1stone+1log, and everytime I rotate the camera while looking at the textile workshop my brain goes "that building makes no sense" and my insanity meter goes up a little bit.

But I'll make the Chemist a 5-square +sign as it seems to be all you need to fit the Chemist workbench.

 

Chap 5: Operational Security



One of our allies marched in and started shooting bandits. Now, others (neutral and hostile) had also killed bandits, but this was special because...

Apparently the guns dropped by bandits killed by allied troops are yours for the taking. However, this bandit camp was REALLY~~~ far away so no one went out to gather them.




While we were training and making new red coats to wear, some sort of intelligence leak occurred...






You know, I just realized those guys have a rifle and a revolver, while we just have rifles we looted. And maybe a pistol or two. This is pretty bad...



The training is rigorous but necessary. Here you can see the completed bunkhouse, complete with gunloops allowing it to be used as a defensive fortification.

Also, if you try to move doors, the engine doesn't "cut out" the wall at the new location, nor does it close the wall at the old one. Graphical only, people just walk through the wall-covered doorframe.


As a side note, I soon started assigning off-shifts to ensure sleeping was spread out evenly throughout the day.




Livueta Sankisson who joined us just recently immediately noticed that we apparently had some extra resources?

I don't know, do we get some? It's hard to track with all the goods we're harvesting out in the wilds. Oh and it was when a local convoy was attacked? But how would the bandits have known, the Frontier is massive?


Hmm, well if you want then I'll let everyone know you wish to investigate this... though out here on the Frontier, paper is in short supply so I don't know how much you can get...




Apparently it's nothing to worry about? I suppose you're right. As a xenophobe, I know where your sharp eyes will be put to good use.

She became the NCO of the third squad.


**FYI these events are unrelated. I did the "reveal trade information" mission. At some point I got the random event "suspicious goods" and since my colony had enough stuff and were happy, I accepted. And then this new character joined and immediately this "oddities in the records" event fired off.

I think if people are happy, the colonist won't investigate. But it's amusing as this person just arrived 2 seconds ago....

 

Chap 6: 3-Fish Raid



Yes, yes I might do that. Starting with the Crop Post. It is "easy" to avoid a cannibalistic death-spiral if you have enough crops and people cooking the raw food. Mmm Maize Chowder and Sugarcane Stew.

I'll point out there's actually some surface nodes of Native Gold nearby we could mine but what for...




Our ten farmers should be able to easily feed 50 people, but we only have 30, so the surplus will help build up our food buffer.

The larger it is, the safer we are from future... attackers!!




It's a good thing we went on alert when the airship reported seeing fishpeople raiders. How did they know it was raiders specifically and not the other type (scout) who also carry weapons? Beats me...

Our squads scrambled and put down the attackers in a hail of bullets.




For our revenge, we will chop them into bits. For science! of course. Ahab Weaver, you're now our naturalist, take a cleaver to them...

For science!



Uh... huh...

As part of our Colonial Celebrations For Victory Over Fishpeople, here are two large jars of Rum. Chug them down and take tomorrow off...

 

I nearly had an OCD-attack while reading this thread

 

Chap 7: Clear Cut





We will cover these forests in Progress.

Which is to say we will remove the forest covering by clearing everything we can and then flattening what is left into a beautiful level plain.




The interior of our rough walls is crammed with various structures. It is stupidly annoying to try and select a building.

We need to expand, really.




Dinnertime turns the colony center into quite a lively place.




However, the fishpeople finally reached their limit and started to attack aggressively!

 

Chap 8: Total War



Ida: "Fishattackers spotted! First squad to the front!"

Attacks from the vicious fishpeople were coming about every other day. The smart monsters attacked at various times, but dawn and dusk were their favorites, they frequently came from directions such that the sun was in our eyes.

However, that didn't mean we were helpless, far from it. The military (all three squads worth by now) were on high alert during these danger times and one squad was always on patrol.




While the fishpeople quickly realized their coral clubs were at a disadvantage against our firearms, and attempted to use our own buildings as cover, we began knocking small gunloops in the walls.

Only some of the fishpeople had "guns" or "grenades" (of a weird and unnatural sort, these) and the small openings provided a great deal of protection.




Those fishpeople who made it past the guns at the very front found themselves funneled into a slightly open area where the third squad, the Close Combat Group would be waiting for them. Armed with a pistol and long warknife, the CCG would engage with a round of shot (aided by muskets from surrounding buildings) and charge in.

It was usually less of a "charge in" then a simple "slit the throats of the fallen", really. If possible we tried to preserve relatively intact specimens for science!




Their strange god, the Deity of Drowning Breaths, must have felt the loss of so many of his fishpeople. Perhaps even worse were the carefully preserved organs and various other specimens studied on the field, in our colony's lab, or even shipped back to the Empire for more extensive examination.




Although the attack continued, we continued to receive a steady flow of new colonists. Thanks to our skilled barber (Ida can attest to her skills) we did not lose many people, another victory for Progress, doubtless.

It got to the point that we were able to consider building some forward outposts to secure additional resources... however was it really that critical?

 

Chap 9: Assault on Sogwood


((A fishperson surveys the battlefield.))

It could not have taken long for the fishpeople to understand that rushing at our colony with their clubs was not going to work. However, they did not ease up on watching us from behind trees and the like.

As refugees from nearby colonies that had fallen began to trickle in, we redoubled our efforts in fortification and training. If the fishpeople, who had nothing if not numbers, were not using their strengths now, they would be soon. And they would find us prepared!




The attack came earlier than expected, just after dawn. The crafty fishpeople had noticed that one section of the forest had not been cleared as much, this was near a section of the colony wall that had been built earliest. Knowing we guarded the entrances carefully, they decided to emerge from this forest and then move along the wall using it as cover.

However, we were fortunate. Some of the fish people heard the sound of movement and people talking on the other side of the wall. Thinking they had been discovered, they threw their urchin grenades over the wall. The attack was on!


(Actually what they heard were farmers coming out to tend the sugarcane crop. Luckily the farmers were only lightly wounded as the crops absorbed much of the force of the blast).




The fishpeople closer to the front charged in with their clubs and were met by the defenders. Instead of catching us by surprise, instead the fishpeople were surprised when we came out strong.

Following the drill of point-blank shots and then melee, the battle was on!




We had started to improve our weaponry. While not much could be done about our makeshift firearms (not good metal, not good facilities, not good craftspeople) we resorted to the old standby - sabres.

Long cut-and-thrust swords were replacing the warknives of the Close Combat Group. Obviously those armed with muskets were using bayonets.




The brave swordsmen of the Empire carried on the sally into the fishpeople "gunners" but were repelled with heavy losses and withdrew into the colony.

The fishpeople had learned the power of ranged firepower and concentrated their unnatural weapons to fairly good effect. Moving forward they still had a hope to assault the colony.




As the fishpeople chased the survivors of our Close Combat Group into the colony walls. Once inside the walls, though, the balance shifted as our dug-in muskets took them apart. Although their fishy pistols were not ineffective weapons, they lacked range and couldn't penetrate a reinforced wooden wall.

They tried using the urchin grenades which were left but it wasn't enough as they had wasted a number of them earlier.




Our losses, though, were quite severe. Though the Close Combat Group had certainly made a bad tactical decision, the real issue was that the fishpeople had begun using ranged weaponry.

It was time to up our strategy.




We tried examining what was left of the fishpeople weapons. It seemed that they operated like crossbows, but organic in nature. Several researchers went mad, but in the end between that and field reports, we had a better grasp on the weapon's capabilities.

The projectiles were made from a variety of materials, but the most common looked like fishbone, but barbed. Though they certainly had a greater impact than a bullet, these projectiles were slower and lacked penetrative power against wooden defenses.

 

Do walls block gunfire now?

 

No, they don't. Incoming or outgoing. You'd have seen in changelogs if something like that actually happened.

Having walls that storywise don't do anything at all as fortifications is a bit silly though.

 

Chap 10: Expansion



One of our nearby outposts struck gold! Well, actually iron. We rapidly attempted to build out our walls in order to take advantage of this. We had come to Sogwood in order to find valuable resources like this and after fighting for so long, we weren't about to let go of it!

As another plus, this would allow us to make better weapons, the ore seems to be of a higher quality than what we had found elsewhere. While there were some ore close to the surface, the real treasure was yet to be dug out...




Outposts $1-3 were abandoned in order to rush as many guns as we could spare to Outpost #4, now called New Sogwood. The fishpeople, who did not use iron technology, hurried to destroy our abandoned outposts, in so doing allowing us time to properly fortify the growing settlement.

Kate Tingasket, a veteran of the Assault on Sogwood, was the NCO in command of the defense. (Ida Cogsbronze remained as head of Sogwood's military force)




Though fishpeople don't understand farming crops, if they had known how serious a sign it was, they probably wouldn't have allowed us to build up. However, New Sogwood was soon to eclipse Sogwood as the main colony in the area.

A barracks was built to house the defenders. A watchtower was attached to it to provide good sightlines for guards. A second barracks was built to house even more defenders.




As the fishpeople settled down into a pattern of destroying human settlements around, several bandits gave up their ways to join us, rather than risk the fishpeople in their tents.

They brought over a pair of interesting rifles as gifts. These belonged to dead bandits though, the defectors didn't know how to use these.




The fishpeople were always out there, just lurking in the deep forests. Under the watchful eyes of our guards, we began trying to clear the forest.

Fishpeople commanders soon would learn that being spotted in their leader's hat brought swift death if they were not behind a tree!




With the arrival of a skilled metalsmith, we began musket production. It was a multi-step process but with such artisanal direction and plenty of hard work, we began arming more and more people with muskets.

No more swords were made, though we did modify our bayonet design to be longer, the better to deal with the fishpeople's rather long coral clubs.




Harvest nature's bounty (especially the minerals)!




And then clear out anything left, in order to make room for Civilization!

 

Chap 11: Exploration and Exterminatus



We received word from more "defecting" (more like surviving) bandits of a camp that had just been overrun by the Fishy Menace.

This was excellent information, which we immediately passed on to the Empire. Hurrying out, we looted some useful things (mostly weapons) before withdrawing. Of course we left the tents and unneeded items for the fishpeople to loot.





Or so they thought! An Exterminatus Fleet arrived with a full load of firebombs.

For a people who live in the seas or boggy swamps around New Sogwood, the sight of liquid fire that could not be extinguished with water must have representing a horrifying level of escalation in our conflict.




We began experimenting with armor prototypes. Having fully fashioned ourselves with weapons, iron began to flow towards defenses.

The fishpeople's "pistols" were not as powerful as a musket (though perhaps more horrifying to an unprotected body). Taking inspiration from our Steam Knights we...



Next Time In New Sogwood: We need guns, lots of guns.

 

Chap 12: Bearing Arms



The static fortifications of New Sogwood contributed to its survival, but even more important than the defenses were the defenders.

Ida Cogsbronze's 1st New Sogwood Guards (formerly Her Majesty's 139th Infantry) were the last defenders of the colony square. Ida's squad had the Colony's only two carbines.




The 2nd Rifles Group was equipped with our four Jezail rifles. From atop the central guardtower (called the Keep) they provided valuable long-range firepower which kept the fishpeople at a healthy distance from us.





The 3rd Muskets Group were equipped with our new muskets. These were of very sturdy make and with a spike bayonet could penetrate a fishperson's scaly defense.

However, they would hopefully stay back because instead....




The 4th Close Combat Group has seen the most change. They now use a blunderbuss with a sword bayonet. It takes a brave group of fishpeople to charge into their opening hail of fire, but regardless of all that, survival is far from guaranteed.




A member of the militia group celebrates his promotion to Kate Tingasket's Close Combat Group. Members are generally drawn from the militia, but the ex-bandits who joined also take part in this front-line unit.

As can be expected, the fishpeople can now recognize them by the large swords attached to their weapon....




"Hey, you in the armor, quit pretending to be a crate of goods, the fishpeople are attacking again, get to the front!"

Our armored soldiers are also part of the 4th.






The fighting continues. It is very dangerous to be outside of the colony walls when the sun sets. Fortunately any fishperson attempt to scout or probe our defenses loses a few to the sharpshooters in the 2nd, meaning they have generally held back...

But we must remain vigilant!






Their fishy God of the Sea can try all he wants, we aren't leaving this land!

Long live the Empire, New Sogwood and Civilization in a land of trees and madness!!