Book 2 – Page 68

[WaterMonkey314]

Does anyone still espouse the tinfoil theory that Charlie has veiled Archons parked in the SR airspace? That would allow an intervention... if somehow they got past Jack and the decrypted Archons. Never mind. Carry on.

Are you trying to start a new annoying intarwebz forum thing? Like so-

NEXT TO LAST POST!

Are you trying to start a new annoying intarwebz forum thing? Like so-

NEXT TO LAST POST!

Damnit man! (Also, LAST!)

EDIT: Just realized this would have been a lot funnier if I were a mod. inb4 "Mage isn't last."

Oh hai.

[Dr Pepper]

Well Boop! I was going to post about the current comic but i can't because some booptard already posted last.

Well then i'll just have to call FIRST! on the next comic.

Hmm, i should also comment on that comic as well. First, the art is amazing! And the content-- brilliant! And the way they mesh together is just, well genius. Expecially the parallel panels with Caesar throwing a dagger at Don, with Sizemore in the exact same pose, throwing a gardening fork at Isaac. And then the two of them, wearing the same sad expression, saying in a single speech bubble, "it had to be done".

And hey, the sequence with Prince Sammy was a welcome surprise. First they put him in a coffin marked "Rehab", then they pray over him, then he pops out with the sound effect "Comeback!", which fits perfectly with his hard rock motif. It also shows that no matter how many clues Rob drops, he's still way ahead of us.

Oh and nice bit of fanservice, with Ansom stripped and suspended like that. I don't think he's going to turn, even after Vanna has a chance to recharge, but you can see how determined Jillian is, when she draws back the whip. Plus, her facial expression is obviously an attempt to imitate Wanda.

All in all, a wonderful update.

[Kreistor]

Uhm... yeah... forget your meds today, Dr. P?

[Kreistor]

Does anyone still espouse the tinfoil theory that Charlie has veiled Archons parked in the SR airspace? That would allow an intervention... if somehow they got past Jack and the decrypted Archons. Never mind. Carry on.

Book 2, Text 6, aka page 18
"To minimize encounters, they'd flown a tortuous route over the most difficult terrain. Charlie didn't want either side knowing he had significant forces in the battlespace. But he had still gone to great risk to give her cover along the way, using veiled Archons to scout out safe routes. These were probably detectable only by a Foolamancer, another Archon, or a lucky/smart Warlord. Unfortunately, Gobwin Knob had all three of those things."

With two of three of those in airspace talking to Jillian, it is highly unlikely Archons in airspace would have gone undetected. Both sides should know that someone has units out there, since they would have to wait for Charlie to move for their Turn to start, but they're staying veiled and in nearby difficult terrain. They'll be a problem next Turn, if Parson doesn't land his Archons this Turn. Charlie can sweep his in, wipe out the remaining Decrypted Archons in airspace and leave, facing only air defenses set up in one evening. He might lose a couple, which would need to be caught before they hit Courtyard.

[zilfallon]

Oh and nice bit of fanservice, with Ansom stripped and suspended like that. I don't think he's going to turn, even after Vanna has a chance to recharge, but you can see how determined Jillian is, when she draws back the whip. Plus, her facial expression is obviously an attempt to imitate Wanda.

Epic prediction about the next update. That made me laugh

[Oberon]

No, he is right. If Charlie allied with someone to delay his Turn, and then allied with someone earlier in the Turn order and broke the other Alliance, he should be able to go with the new Allied Side, because Charlescomm units still have Move. [Edit... check that. that might cause problems with delaying the new allied side to the old side... if he breaks Alliance first, his Turn has already passed... not sure how this would resolve, now.]

You have a point, but not for the reason(s) you're thinking. Charlescomm is a side which has as its business model allying with many different sides at once. Charlie has expressed reasons which were purely based around his desire to retain future customers as the reason he won't swap sides during a conflict. Reasons which would seem to go out the window once Charlie decides that he is seeing a "no lose condition" situation. Charlescomm could conceivably be allied with several or even all sides within any given conflict, and this would play merry hob with the rules for when allies can act. It might be Charlescomm's greatest potential exploit, in the coming conflicts.

If Jack exerted his power in any way, would the GTTMA be able to sense it? Or would they have to read/monitor his mind to do it?

How would they not know? The forums speculated that Chewie was casting simply because he was speaking like a carny speaks. There has been a lot of this speculation surrounding casters and whether they are casting or not. If Jack speaks as Jack speaks, is he therefore casting because he is a foolamancer? If Wanda speaks as Wanda speaks, is she therefore casting naughtymancy? If Marie speaks as Marie speaks, is she therefore casting predictamancy? If Sizemore speaks as Sizemore speaks, is he therefore casting dirtamancy? This way lies madness. Casters cast when there is a noticeable effect of that casting. The more subtle schools of casting may get some kind of pass in the future, I won't argue the possibility. But I don't think we've seen this kind of pass to date (I do not count the temporary effect of the "dead" dwagon at the battle of the pass to FAQ, or the temporary effect of the flash mob, etc) which makes it more difficult for any particular tin foil hat theory to present substance over speculation.

Also, penultimate LAST! (Before the next update, I'm hoping.)

[Dr Pepper]

You do know that "penultimate" means "next to last", don't you?

[The.Healing.Mage]

You do know that "penultimate" means "next to last", don't you?

He did.

EDIT: Does this forum have a strikethrough effect?

[effataigus]

Oh and nice bit of fanservice, with Ansom stripped and suspended like that. I don't think he's going to turn, even after Vanna has a chance to recharge, but you can see how determined Jillian is, when she draws back the whip. Plus, her facial expression is obviously an attempt to imitate Wanda.

I would have liked some warning that this comic was about to take a turn for the soft-core, though. Did that shot of Jillian really have to be framed by the silhouette of Ansom's spread legs... and more? You have to trust that we would have gotten the parallels with Don's "re-erect the tower with this endowment of a pair of fist-sized jewels" comment even without that giant splotch blocking the view...

Honestly. Kids read this.

[MarbitChow]

I have to admit - I LOVED the Animated GIF effects in the new page. They're really subtle, too - Jillian blinks after about 20 seconds, and a single drop of sweat rolls down Ansom's forehead at the 45 second mark. Kudos!

[Kreistor]

Charlescomm could conceivably be allied with several or even all sides within any given conflict, and this would play merry hob with the rules for when allies can act. It might be Charlescomm's greatest potential exploit, in the coming conflicts.

One of the text updates (I think it was a Summer one) indicated that when even a single unit of a Side is in a potential combat situation, the entire Side operates on Natural Turn order, not just the unit under threat. The Side moves simultaneously.

You're talking about a potential chain of allies... Transylvito allies with FAQ, which allies with Charlescomm, which allies with Megacorp, which Transylvitop may not be aware even exists on the other side of the world. The only way for this to resolve is for all Sides allied through a chain to take Turn on the last Natural Turn order of all Sides in the Chain.

[gazes_also]

Well Boop! I was going to post about the current comic but i can't because some booptard already posted last.

Well then i'll just have to call FIRST! on the next comic.

In which case all I can say is:

Called It, my theory is vindicated. HA!

<polishes tinfoil hat to blinding gleam>

[WaterMonkey314]

Charlescomm could conceivably be allied with several or even all sides within any given conflict, and this would play merry hob with the rules for when allies can act. It might be Charlescomm's greatest potential exploit, in the coming conflicts.

One of the text updates (I think it was a Summer one) indicated that when even a single unit of a Side is in a potential combat situation, the entire Side operates on Natural Turn order, not just the unit under threat. The Side moves simultaneously.

You're talking about a potential chain of allies... Transylvito allies with FAQ, which allies with Charlescomm, which allies with Megacorp, which Transylvitop may not be aware even exists on the other side of the world. The only way for this to resolve is for all Sides allied through a chain to take Turn on the last Natural Turn order of all Sides in the Chain.

But if every side allied with Charlie to form United Erf... would everything go practically realtime? There'd be 3 turns left: barbarians, GK, and United Erf.

That would make Parson's job defending quite interesting - imagine trying to fight off a realtime force as an off-turn army.

[Xenon]

its fairly clear that parson will end up in jetstone eventually. im starting to wonder how fast hes going to level once he gets there, and if hes going to be able to do the practical 'execute prisoners for xp and decrytption' himself. he seems like the sort to have issues with killing prisoners in cold blood, for all that hes already shown an ability to kill enemy units in battle. logically he knows he needs the XP not just to help his side win, but also to stay alive in erfworld. i expect that to be a text update argument of philosophy and character development rather than a full art comic though. its a very wall of text sort of thing from any approach.

im also wondering when we get to see more signamancy. weve not seen spells of that group yet, just natural signamancy thus far.

[Kreistor]

But if every side allied with Charlie to form United Erf... would everything go practically realtime? There'd be 3 turns left: barbarians, GK, and United Erf. That would make Parson's job defending quite interesting - imagine trying to fight off a realtime force as an off-turn army.

How would that be realtime, or any different from Book 1, where nearly everyone in the region was allied against Stanley?

[Goshen]

I played a wargame that let you move in your allie's turn rather than your own. It was definitely nice to have the option, but it was not an overwhelming exploit. If you move your turn to go before your opponent, then they are going to get to turns back to back unless you *keep* moving your turn up, every time. otherwise they get to turns back to back.

Come to think of it, what made King world such a nasty spell that it was able end GK's turn prematurely and without warning.

[WaterMonkey314]

But if every side allied with Charlie to form United Erf... would everything go practically realtime? There'd be 3 turns left: barbarians, GK, and United Erf. That would make Parson's job defending quite interesting - imagine trying to fight off a realtime force as an off-turn army.

How would that be realtime, or any different from Book 1, where nearly everyone in the region was allied against Stanley?

Mm. Good point. Forget what I said then.