Book 2 – Text Updates 034

[Terah]

Having more options to mix-and-match your armies can be beneficial.

They aren't your armies when they are FAQ's units.

Don King beggared his own kingdom in favor of FAQ. Throwing away power for an incommensurately small reward. Now he's invested so much into FAQ he needs to keep FAQ looking like a winner, what an amateur.

[badninja]

After reading five times I understand this update more. It seems that something is afoot in TV and it looks like Don King is going all in so to speak for this battle. It also looks like Don King is close to a coup but how will it all play out?

[BLANDCorporatio]

Hey I just blundered into a conclusion.

This update *puts glasses on* is all about the Benjamin.

[CorrTerek]

Like a number of the text updates in book 2 (the song one, the one about Ace hardware who we will never meet) this one really serves no purpose.

I wouldn't be too sure about never meeting Ace Hardware. Parson's heading to Jetstone right now, and Ace is building some sort of weapon for Tramennis to use. Odds are pretty good we'll see Ace pretty soon.

[oslecamo2]

Perhaps mishandling of Shmuckers affects moneymancers more. The earlier Don King text update did mention that Don was getting hassled by Benjamin over calling his warlords back, thus leaving his outlying cities unsupervised.

Indeed.

"That was not such a big deal, but it did waste Shmuckers. Benjamin was on his case about it.

The bigger deal was Caesar. He was more popular among Transylvito's commanders than Don himself was. Moving him aside once the heir popped would not be easy. A Ruler does not simply disband his top warlord in a time of crisis, or ever. And if a Ruler did disband a popular warlord, it could affect the Duty and Loyalty of all other units on the side. So he would have to work with Caesar, even once the new Prince or Princess was here."

Looks like Don dug his own grave. Caesar is more respected than him, and I bet the only reason the coup still didn't happen it's because, like Donhimself points out, the warlord isn't very good in politic subtelties, so he has managed to keep him under control.

But Benjamin surely is. I bet he'll start "sugesting" Caeasar that he would make a better side ruler.

[Fnsteve]

Probably the worst text update so far. God that sucked.

[DevilDan]

Would Benjamin be the King's Consigliere, officially?

[joosy]

Probably the best text update so far. God that was awesome!

[effataigus]

Probably the best text update so far. God that was awesome!

Probably the worst text update so far. God that sucked.

Probably the most polarizing text update so far. God, that was...

Wait, no, not even close to the most polarizing...

[quindraco]

Probably the best text update so far. God that was awesome!

Probably the worst text update so far. God that sucked.

Probably the most polarizing text update so far. God, that was... Wait, no, not even close to the most polarizing...

This thread needs more disagreement.

[kagato23]

Probably the best text update so far. God that was awesome!

Probably the worst text update so far. God that sucked.

Probably the most polarizing text update so far. God, that was... Wait, no, not even close to the most polarizing...

This thread needs more disagreement.

No it doesn't! This thread needs more harmony!

[Ilari]

It strikes me that this poem is similar in structure to the Declaration of Independence. A couple paragraphs of reasoning, a long list of grievances, and then a final paragraph describing some action taken as a result. It's not an exact match, but considering the context...

I also thought this was interesting:

And what, then, is the use?
He's only got so much juice!

And then two paragraphs later:

He incants, he
Cancels the antsy
With a rant
In Rhyme-o-mancy.

"Cancels the antsy" seems like an awkward line to me, but look at what it's paired with. He complained about running out of juice earlier, so did he actually cancel the -ancy? Is he now refusing to cast for the benefit of Don King? Forget foreshadowing the coup, this may BE the coup!

[fjolnir]

So you 5think benny boy has the treasury and is setting up his pinapple umbrella drink laden retirment fund?

[oslecamo2]

"Cancels the antsy" seems like an awkward line to me, but look at what it's paired with. He complained about running out of juice earlier, so did he actually cancel the -ancy? Is he now refusing to cast for the benefit of Don King? Forget foreshadowing the coup, this may BE the coup!

Well, ben has a somewhat creepy smile on his face, so I agree he's up to no good on the short term. Is he using that Rhyme-o-Mancy to lower the other warlord's loyalty and duty?

DANCE-FIGHT ON THE THRONE ROOM!

[Chit Rule Railroad]

So you 5think benny boy has the treasury and is setting up his pinapple umbrella drink laden retirment fund?

Moneymancy is the only way to convert the treasury into gems. Without gems, one is limited to the size of one's purse. Gems would allow a disloyal unit to carry a lot of wealth to the Magic Kingdom or to another side, or to sequester wealth out of reach of the Ruler (if a rebelling Chief Warlord is not subject to disbanding or order-following).

Bennie may be capable of moneymancy, and he might see Caesar as easier to influence...

[DevilDan]

So you 5think benny boy has the treasury and is setting up his pinapple umbrella drink laden retirment fund?

Moneymancy is the only way to convert the treasury into gems. Without gems, one is limited to the size of one's purse. Gems would allow a disloyal unit to carry a lot of wealth to the Magic Kingdom or to another side, or to sequester wealth out of reach of the Ruler (if a rebelling Chief Warlord is not subject to disbanding or order-following).

Bennie may be capable of moneymancy, and he might see Caesar as easier to influence...

Why wouldn't Caesar be amenable to at least listening? Caesar already suspects he was sent on a suicide mission, he has had to hide his relationship with Bunny, he got kicked as heir, he disagrees with Don King's changes in philosophy and with his strategic decisions.

[throwingrocks]

Hmm, aparently bad spending of your treasury is enough to drop your forces loyalty.

Altough I'm still wondering why exactly the Don is betting so much in Jillian when he cold've easily taken the FAQ cities for himself and then deploy his warlord+bat swarm combo.

I don't think he's betting on Jillian. I think he's doing what he can to keep her alive until FAQ pops the heir.

[Althernai]

I don't think he's betting on Jillian. I think he's doing what he can to keep her alive until FAQ pops the heir.

But he's still betting on her as far as this battle is concerned. I'm kind of curious what will happen if Jetstone loses -- can Caesar actually do anything against Don King? It looks like Don has angered a substantial fraction of his court, but what do you do against somebody who can erase you from existence with a thought? Does a rebellious unit become immune to disbandment?

[Dancingrage]

Hey I just blundered into a conclusion.

This update *puts glasses on* is all about the Benjamin.

YEAHHHHH!

With that over with, I'm intrigued a bit by this post. When I first read it, I almost had a Lord Buckley or Shel Silverstein sense about the poem, more oddball-ish than the classical stuff you'd normally expect someone from that particular era (Benjamin Franklin's) to sound.

As for Ol' Ben, he could do whatever he bloody well pleased, he hails from a time when a polymath wasn't just possible, but was a truly awesome thing...I'm looking forward to seeing how this works in Erf terms.

[Altima]

Having more options to mix-and-match your armies can be beneficial.

They aren't your armies when they are FAQ's units.

Don King beggared his own kingdom in favor of FAQ. Throwing away power for an incommensurately small reward. Now he's invested so much into FAQ he needs to keep FAQ looking like a winner, what an amateur.

Which raises an interesting question, since one of the text updates mentioned that you can produce unit types from conquered cities (Sizemore was out converting cities that didn't have particularly useful units). Plus Transylvito already has very good air capabilities (firebirds, flying warlords, force multiplying bats into flying heavies, skanks, etc.).

Maybe as a trade-off for flight is that Transylvito Warlords cannot mount any creatures, which in theory would make them weaker warlords in direct combat.

It's possible after the failure to croak Stanley when they had every advantage possible, Don did the mathmancy and figured that his forces would never be able to actually take a powerful, force multiplied dragon stack without overwhelming advantage.

Still, the whole thing makes no sense.