#the last time I went this hard was when I was learning the bozja duels in FFXIV

[cerastes]

Ok, post-mortem on Critical Contentions AKA Reclamation Algorithm's The Game Wants To Kill You Very Dead Mode, which I streamed yesterday.

The max amount of rewards are given by making it to Day 18, and it was fairly simple getting there, which is not a bad thing, it's so everyone can actually earn the rewards -- kind of like Risk 18 in Contingency Contract is also a feasible reward for every non-new player -- but you can keep going. My original objective, set completely liberally and without thought or prior knowledge of the game mode, was to make it to Day 100. With what I know now, I still hold that as a goal, but it'll take more preparation so I can more smoothly do it, as I can see where it can go Wrong. While Day 18 is simple, the way the stats start stacking, it will very much Not Be Easy after a good while. I especially dread having to fight a stat-stacked Al-Rafiq, as his particular mechanic can practically render him unkillable if you don't know what you're doing or have a silver bullet for him (I'm thinking Restanding Potion Ceobe). The -50% DP Generation on Day 18 and on also makes me want to raise Wanqing as my fourth Flagbearer so I can deploy at least 2 Flagbearers per Act.

So I'll stop this current run at Day 18, go back to the main game, and work on more ingredients: I want to secure more Forever Food to open up the mode, and as I go up, then I start using the stronger but temporary foods, that way I can meet the power spike head on, instead of blowing up my good ingredients early on and then needing them closer to Day 100.

I also have a greater expansion plan:

Something that wasn't an issue but that I noticed could very realistically become an issue is when you get very hazardous splash damage heavy hordes spawning right next to your Outposts -- and thus, just two turns away from your Main Base -- that you very very much want to fight outside of your Outposts and Base. Encircled is the Windswept Ruins, and extremely small map where the majority of my interceptions took place. I want to especially fortify it with high end structures, including Urban Barrier IIIs, so it can become an advantageous killbox of sorts. It posed me little trouble handling fights there, however, with the drastic increase in enemy power later, I can see it becoming a very very dangerous location that won't let me even thin out units if I don't prepare it for a fight properly.

All the nodes that you see up there, thus, I'll fortify and turn into proper defensive locations, that way I can properly intercept enemies at an advantage at each location without needing to spend useful time waiting for them to move to more advantageous maps and risk letting them merge with new horde spawns.

Basically, I need to properly become a Lord Ameer to make it to 100 Days and make that entire region into a fortified stronghold. I have the materials, I have the tools, and I have the Operators... Except, I think, Stone. I'll go into a large scale Stone acquisition drive, as it is the resource I find myself eating through the most. Every node in this planned fortification will have both strategic bonuses active, a Lv.3 Tower, and Urban Barriers set up beforehand for maximum DP efficiency. If I can put together 3000 Stone, I'll feel comfortable, but I can settle for less, and will likely, as I need less material if I properly fortify everything before hand, the extra material will be for replacements and fixes.

Lastly, I want to hunt/capture a lot more Exotics. Not just for more materials and, but I think the Neural Chains and Omni Umbrellas are going to come in absolute clutch when hitting high Days.

There's lot of preparations to be done! But I'll become the best Lord Ameer and hit those 100 Days, believe it!