Summer Updates - 009

[BarGamer]

Allow me to make some predictions/observations:
(1) Parson can, in at least one area (use of profanity), break the rules of Erfworld at will, without even a second thought.
(2) Parson, through his treatment of his team-mates/subordinates/followers is capable of generating actually consensual free-will-style loyalty.
(3) Stanley, is completely dependent upon the non-free-will rules-of-Erfworld to maintain a semblance of loyalty among his followers.
(4) Stanley, without the non-free-will style of "loyalty" becomes a pint-sized pikeman with only a hammer and a few dragons. (Troops controlled indirectly through his subordinates are far more powerful than Stanley's dragon force).
(5) Stanley has no idea of even the concept of "leave well enough alone"... so, he without a doubt will push things with *someone* in his command staff to the point where there will be a rift, and he will attempt to disband whoever it is. I'm not sure whether it'll be Ansom, or Parson, or Maggie, or Wanda, or Sizemore.
(6) But the attempted disbanding won't work... leading to Parson being forced to take charge of the Gobwin Knob side. So what he feared to do for fear of having to end innocent lives senselessly, he'll end up doing in order to protect his friends.
Anyway... that's my best prediction =)

This has my vote! Stanley is doing the right thing, for the wrong reasons. Parson doesn't want to lead any more, Ansom has the highest leadership bonus, and this also removes the "high Duty" thing from Parson, not that those affect him anyways.

Personally, I speculate that at some point, Maggie is going to go too far, Stanley disbands Maggie, Parson gets pissed off and beats Stanley senseless, and finds himself Supreme Muckymuck of Gobwin Knob. Maggie comes back, Parson demotes Stanley to some sort of field officer position, they attack Charlie, Maggie gets the ArkenDish, and the rest of Erfworld falls to their collective knees, either by force or in worship.

[Welf von Ehrwald]

Sizemore smiled at even this pathetic recognition. He drew himself to attention. "Lord Stanley, welcome ba-"

lol. Stanley nearly earned himself half of a sympathy point from Sizemore.

"Right! And look how things worked out for her. Really, really well." Stanley looked distant. "Really well." No, more like lost. He shook his head. "What was I saying?"

I think Stanley starts to realize that he indeed is a tool. That actually Wanda and maybe Parson have a special fate, and he is only an instrument.

[Itzal]

Hmm, did Maggie lose loyalty to stanley and did it perhaps shift to parson? XD

It's not that she lost loyalty it more that they're allowed to tell their boss something is stupid if it's in his best interest that he knows it.

[BLANDCorporatio]

I think I wove Maggie

As to the five-point plan above, sure sounds plausible! It looks so much like there will be a rift somewhere, update by update, that the biggest surprise on the horizon would be that there won't be any rift at all. Only the Titans know, in their plans not always clear to us.

But yeah ... Go Maggie! I sure hope this is not some huge setup for a heroic sacrifice a few strips down the line.

PS: someone mentioned Maggie getting (and maybe implied becoming attuned to) the Arkendish ... nah. Insufficient foreshadowing, that Tool already has an attuned owner etc. You don't need an Arkentool to be an interesting character. All you need is a deep and surprising personality.

Failing that, red hair and armour help.

[hanglekuk]

My thoughts - for now Stanley is scared of Parson. That's why he wants him to be in remote location (remote in action sense). All the fighting will be carried out further and further away from capital.
Everyone (at least Maggie + Stanley + Parson) understands that Stanley had already admitted defeat and fled the city. I don't think he's very comfortable with Wanda too. Most likely he's gonna keep her on short leash too.

The next point will be after Ansom retakes all the cities from Stanley. The next update will jump to that period.

[moose o death]

no i disagree.

wanda is powerful...but only while she has corpses. by making ansom chief warlord and throwing him at city after city he stands a chance of recroaking. by throwing wanda out into lots of battles he may release the arkentool ( not going to happen storywise, but he doesn't want the power struggle) with any luck he may play on ansom's ego and get the forces thinned out attacking multople cities so wanda has less ability to decrypt. it is in stanley's interests (not gobwin knobs..just stanley's) to kill off the RCC troops who are probably very loyal to wanda and have a passing loayalty to her overlord.

by the time that's all passed stanley will have his own forces built up to resume the assualt using parson as chief warlord again.

this is my estimation of the events in stanley's head NOT my theory for the storyline.

Maggie did retaliate to the stupid move in what she felt was the inappropriate strategy. even if she thinks stanley is thinking like this, the strategy to dissolve the decrypted army one battle at a time and squander resources isn't a good one. so she would be compelled to react. or maybe she thinks the tool really is demoting parson. in which case she still would be compelled to react. either way for a caster, this strategy is ridiculous. for stanley it may be quite cunning to maintain his authority in gobwin knob. and for parson it's convenient so he doesn't care one way or another.

it's clear from the whole conversation stanley knows parson is a force to be reckoned with. and at 1000 schmukers a turn he doesn't need the perfect warlord anymore. he could just as easily disband him.he already has the warlord that took all his cities back. stanley knows he isn't as much in control as everyone thinks he is.

[jioan]

Parson has move. He went to the Magic Isle through the portal. That must take move because he's changing hexes by walking. (Even though it's not an adjacent hex.)

[moose o death]

he doesn't follow move rules, he follows "i'm exhausted, slow down guys" rules. but apart from the magic kingdom, which may have still counted as garrisoned, he's never been a field unit to need move. i'd love to see the dialogue as parson got stuck at the end of his move and was left standing around waiting for the end of turn.

[Welf von Ehrwald]

(1) Parson can, in at least one area (use of profanity), break the rules of Erfworld at will, without even a second thought.

(2) Parson, through his treatment of his team-mates/subordinates/followers is capable of generating actually consensual free-will-style loyalty.

(3) Stanley, is completely dependent upon the non-free-will rules-of-Erfworld to maintain a semblance of loyalty among his followers.

(4) Stanley, without the non-free-will style of "loyalty" becomes a pint-sized pikeman with only a hammer and a few dragons. (Troops controlled indirectly through his subordinates are far more powerful than Stanley's dragon force).

(5) Stanley has no idea of even the concept of "leave well enough alone"... so, he without a doubt will push things with *someone* in his command staff to the point where there will be a rift, and he will attempt to disband whoever it is. I'm not sure whether it'll be Ansom, or Parson, or Maggie, or Wanda, or Sizemore.

(6) But the attempted disbanding won't work... leading to Parson being forced to take charge of the Gobwin Knob side. So what he feared to do for fear of having to end innocent lives senselessly, he'll end up doing in order to protect his friends.

That sounds way too plausible to happen. Basically I would criticise that it assumes no development of Stanley. In this update he shows that he tries, maybe he will succeed. Of fail, which I don't hope.

I don't think he's very comfortable with Wanda too. Most likely he's gonna keep her on short leash too.

He probably will separate her from the decrypted. As long as Wanda is in GK and surrounded by "real" plaid troops, she can do nothing. Wanda can't fight a stack of dwagons or the KISS squad. And when she's out in the field she will be "protected" by 30 or 40 dwagons.

I wonder how long it takes to rebuild the dwagon force. It takes about 4 turns to pop a blue dwagon, so it should take 200 turns to pop 50 more dwagons, respectively 100 with 2 (big) cities, or 25 with 8 cities.

[HandofShadows]

Stanly has once again proven he is an idiot. But he does seem to be trying. It might be enough to keep him alive. Maybe.
I think the more Pason breaks the rules of Erfworld, the easier it will become to break them. A viciouse sycleas it where. sm

[Anton Gaist]

Aaaaand... wow.

So, Anson did get the job of Chief Warlord, and I do think this is a good idea. Parson can be much more effective in a, shall we say, consultant position, as long as he's got absolute control over what Ansom does.

But Maggie... I didn't expect that reaction from her. Quite unexpected... and definitely interesting. Can't have done much for Stanley's peace of mind, though. Is there a single unit left in GK that actually respects him?

[jtaylor]

Is there a single unit left in GK that actually respects him?

The Dwagons, but then they really only respect the Hammer.

Moving on, since Parson can break the rules of language, I am wondering if he can break other rules. Rules of loyalty, and perhaps rules of turns. I think Parson individually, could act when it isn't his turn. That combined with being able to break rules of loyalty, could make for a very interesting coup.

[SteveMB]

He probably will separate her from the decrypted. As long as Wanda is in GK and surrounded by "real" plaid troops, she can do nothing. Wanda can't fight a stack of dwagons or the KISS squad. And when she's out in the field she will be "protected" by 30 or 40 dwagons.

At the moment, there aren't any real (non-decrypted) Plaid troops -- it's just Stanley, Sizemore, and (presumably) Maggie. Vurp is the only surviving (non-decrypted) KISS unit. And he doesn't have "30 to 40 dwagons"; he has 7 (we've seen that popping a new one takes several turns, though perhaps he could put more in the production queue at once now that he has shmuckers to burn).

Stanley's position is actually quite precarious if the decrypted are loyal to Wanda, not him, and they come to a parting of the ways (note that Parson figures out from Wanda's story that she is not technically Loyal to Stanley). At the moment, he seems unsure enough to avoid pressing the issue, and Wanda also seems content to bide her time (perhaps wondering what to do now that the has an attuned Arkentool, as Predicted).

[Welf von Ehrwald]

At the moment, there aren't any real (non-decrypted) Plaid troops -- it's just Stanley, Sizemore, and (presumably) Maggie. Vurp is the only surviving (non-decrypted) KISS unit. And he doesn't have "30 to 40 dwagons"; he has 7 (we've seen that popping a new one takes several turns, though perhaps he could put more in the production queue at once now that he has shmuckers to burn).

Stanley's position is actually quite precarious if the decrypted are loyal to Wanda, not him, and they come to a parting of the ways (note that Parson figures out from Wanda's story that she is not technically Loyal to Stanley). At the moment, he seems unsure enough to avoid pressing the issue, and Wanda also seems content to bide her time (perhaps wondering what to do now that the has an attuned Arkentool, as Predicted).

If Wanda should rebel now or the next turns, Stanley wouldn't stand a chance. But sooner or later he will have cities, and then he can start to pop new units. Some of the cities will be smaller, so they can only produce basic units. He also can increase the number of his gobwin allies, because they only need moneymancy to reproduce. Sooner or later Stanley will have the troops to command respect from his less loyal underlings. Unless he does something stupid in the meantime or acts too soon. Which he will prolly do.

By the way: Stanley should upgrade all his new cities so they can produce dwagons. He has the money now, and dwagons are supposedly upkeep-free. Every turn 3 new dwagons is not bad.

[Ragn Charran]

and dwagons are supposedly upkeep-free. Every turn 3 new dwagons is not bad.

Ummm...what? Where does it say that? Just because the spawn of the arkenpliers are upkeep-free doesn't mean the spawn of the others are.

[gameboy1234]

Something that comes foremost to my mind.

"Duty is highest in Chief Warlords."

Parson is no longer chief warlord.

oooo... good one! I hadn't thought in that direction at all.

I made a prediction two updates ago that if Stanley replaced Parson, then Wanda would gank Stanley for it eventually. I think Maggie is loosing loyalty ("an unknowable stat") to Stanley. Sizemore did not have a lot of loyalty to begin with, and Wanda has basically none. There's now a cabal of casters who are loosing or have no loyalty to Stanley. All they need is an heir and a plan to deal with several suddenly rouge dwagons and they can stage a coup.

I wonder if the heir could come from outside, since it's unlikely Stanley will designate one. An outside force that's still weak enough where it could be controlled by the new little cabal. Jillian?

[BLANDCorporatio]

If Wanda should rebel now or the next turns, Stanley wouldn't stand a chance. But sooner or later he will have cities, and then he can start to pop new units.

Let us assume that a rebellion would happen. Then, who will the conquered cities obey, Stanley who stood in GK mentoring Parson, or Conqueror Ansom the puppet of Wanda?

[Spot]

I made a prediction two updates ago that if Stanley replaced Parson, then Wanda would gank Stanley for it eventually. I think Maggie is loosing loyalty ("an unknowable stat") to Stanley. Sizemore did not have a lot of loyalty to begin with, and Wanda has basically none. There's now a cabal of casters who are loosing or have no loyalty to Stanley. All they need is an heir and a plan to deal with several suddenly rouge dwagons and they can stage a coup.

I wonder if the heir could come from outside, since it's unlikely Stanley will designate one. An outside force that's still weak enough where it could be controlled by the new little cabal. Jillian?

Ooooh! Interesting... and I think you're right.

The whole Wanda/Jillian/Ansom triangle definitely has some legs left. Good call.

[gameboy1234]

Then, who will the conquered cities obey, Stanley who stood in GK mentoring Parson, or Conqueror Ansom the puppet of Wanda?

Well, whoever is the new Overlord, right? Cities have no choice, unless the city rebels.


Hmm, I wonder if our little cabal could all leave to a city and rebel from there? That would follow the rules, and eliminate the need for an heir (I think). I wonder if Parson's next job as warlord will be taking Gobwin Knob rather than defending it.

[Doctari]

Personally I wouldn't bet on KISS or GK rank and file against Wanda is it ever came to that:

http://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=/095.jpg

And that was before she got her hands on an uber powerful artifact (which may or may not have more powers, Stanley's can turn nuts into doves as well as control dwagons and fire lighting). Plus she has her stockpile of misc. spells etc (assuming they were not all used up). I'd say from a single character PoV she is likely one of the most powerful forces in Erf at the moment.

A side question: Did she, Maggie and Sizemore split the exp from killing the entire army and if so did they level (multiple times I would imagine.)