False. We were in a far better position for a tit for tat situation, considering our larger, more cohesive army with better strategicians. Niselur is located in wide open plains, we are on the otherside of a natural choke point... holding our core lands should've been far easier than became evident.
We were in a better position to us some of our forces to protect our lands and the rest to raid. We actually don't have a choke point in the north. No matter what two regions need to be defended to keep Niselur out.
False. They are two regions apart.
Except the army wasn't actually in Walefshire. It's not like we were in Duil and I marched us blind into Itaufield. We were at least as close as Elets because I remember scouting Itaufield and finding it empty. So a total of one region was added to the journey. Walefshire wouldn't have been a cake walk either, I seem to recall that it had a ton of militia and fortifications.
Sacking Walefishire would deprive Asylon of its gold and fortifications. Refitting is not a problem for us, we have(had?) nearly endless gold. Not sacking Walefishire was the first of quite a few questionable decisions.
We sacked it before and it accomplished bubkis. Why sack it again? It's not as if it's a city where they can actually amass forces, it's a townsland, a nice pit stop to repair your equipment. With all the militia defending the place it wasn't producing much gold. I went for Itaufield for the chance to maybe hit Itau, because that would have really hurt Asylon.
Because you can't do the same thing twice, they would be expecting us. The plan was (as I recall) attack Niselur, fall back, attack Asylon, fall back, rinse, repeat.
On the contrary doing the same thing twice after consistently going back and forth is the perfect way to hit them with something they're not expecting. Its a common tactic, establish a pattern, then suddenly break it. They key is you have to break the pattern before they do. It just so happened that we instead broke the pattern at the same time. That's why Asylon's army was in the north.
If we had gone for Asylon after Niselur rebuffed us the first time we would have been ruined. Remember Asylon's army had just marched north then looped around south. What's more they actually vastly outnumbered us (we needed Moreks support to stop the attack). We would have had to spend additional time raising a large enough army to take them out. They would have annihilated everything north of Eidulb Outskirts by the time we got back from Asylon.
We had two defensible choke points, it shouldn't have been a problem. Niselur had a far less capacity than us to rebuild.
When I first took command it was actually Asylon that had multiple choke points. By treaty we couldn't cross into the Farronite Republic, so we only had a narrow strip of rogue lands to march through. From there they had Itaufield, then Upper and Lower Via. A fruitful incursion into Asylon from the north is not easy.
Also with respect to choke points and easily defended regions, I inherited a realm that wasn't taking advantage of them at all. I have no idea why Yggdramir was devoid of militia. Now that's a choke point! Only Eidulb Outskirts was well defended, and of course that counted for nothing once they all starved to death.
Niselur had a far less capacity than us to rebuild.
None the less they rebuilt amazingly fast. After their joint attack with Asylon they were about at full strength.
Fun for you, you've been fixated on Darfix since Dwilight opened!
Actually during the expedition I proposed that Darfix was too difficult to take and we should try instead for Itau or Echiur. Conquering it ended up being pretty fun. I've done it twice now. They say third time's the charm
The plan was always to wash around Gaston, loot Niselur's core so they starve, then deal with Asylon's weak army.
I tried to carry out that plan and it didn't work because Asylon and Niselur joined forces in the north and blocked my ability to enter Niselur's core.
We should've burned Asylon a year or two ago, when I said they will strike us when we are at our weakest. But nope, we accomplished our goals in that war
Yeah the biggest mistake I made was pushing for peace during the Southern War when I was king of Iashalur. I should have just helped crush them but Glaumring guilted me into speaking up or them.
All in all, this has been fun for Karibash and has given him a good opportunity to find a glorious death and finally let his saga come to a close!
Watch the war end and we're both still alive.
Additional fun facts based on statistics and intelligence gathering: Asylon produces approximately 86% of the food it requires while Niselur produces 106%. Together, they produce about 94.5% of their food requirements. Astrum alone produces 141% of its food needs. Based on military numbers, Asyloniselur requires ~100 bushels in addition, bringing their food supply to ~93.4%. Astrum's military atm requires about 22 bushels (lol), bringing their food supply to 140%... I estimate on historical data, with a renewed army we would be at ~135% supply...
Analytics, my friends
Are those the current figures? Astrum just lost two cities and Asylon just absorbed a half dead realm so that would account for the shift in production vs consumption. Also so many have died in Eidulb it's almost at equilibrium. I know for a fact Astrum ran a food deficit for years because they were always Iashalur's prime trade partner.