Summer Update - 033

[BarGamer]

Boopit, you might be right about the stack bonus. I just saw it on the wiki, and assumed it was Canon. Boop!

As for your other point... Unless those extra stacks in that hex allow you to "attack" more than once a combat "round." Those other stacks of bats and Warlords were just a screen so that Caesar could face off against Stanley, mano-de-mano. Mathamancy on it's own is pretty limited, it takes a bit of creativity (or Luckamancy) to really make them work for you.

[teratorn]

"It seems a bit more poorly defended than we expected"

This could be some sort of a suicidal trap. It would be neat to have Ansom being decrypted again and again.

[Welf von Ehrwald]

Also, the title "Chief" probably has something to do with determining bonuses. For example, according to Klog #4, Parson gives units "of [his] capital" a +2 bonus. Lets assume that this description is metonymy and not literal (capital refers to his side, not to the hex he is in, which is the capital). Ansom gives +3 to all units on his side. Currently, Ansom is the Chief Warlord, not Parson. So, all units get a leadership bonus of +3, not +5, as the Chief Warlord leadership bonus can (presumably) be applied only once. Otherwise, the update would have probably mentioned Parson's bonus. Also, if this were not the case, the side with the most warlords would by likely be the most powerful, as all warlords would grant a global bonus, which doesn't seem to make sense.

The difference between Parson's and Ansoms's bonus is more significant: When they determined Parson's bonus, they were in the same hex. So it is Parson's +2 compared with Ansom's +5. The difference is worth a small army.

A side note: The shief warlord of Unaroyal is a wimp. He only gives a general bonus of +1 to his side, assuming the minimum attack is +1.

[SteveMB]

"It seems a bit more poorly defended than we expected"

This could be some sort of a suicidal trap. It would be neat to have Ansom being decrypted again and again.

I doubt it; the garrisons left behind by the Coalition conquests haven't really had time to adjust to the new situation, so they'd be configured for the old one (just placeholders to maintain possession).

A side note: The shief warlord of Unaroyal is a wimp. He only gives a general bonus of +1 to his side, assuming the minimum attack is +1.

See above -- there was no reason to think that the forces left behind at Warchalking needed anything beyond a low-level warlord.

[Welf von Ehrwald]

I doubt it; the garrisons left behind by the Coalition conquests haven't really had time to adjust to the new situation, so they'd be configured for the old one (just placeholders to maintain possession).
[...]
See above -- there was no reason to think that the forces left behind at Warchalking needed anything beyond a low-level warlord.

I concur. They only let the weakest units there and sent the strong ones to Gobwin Knob, for the (not so) final battle. But that wasn't my point. The strength of the garrison units there is their base attack + the bonus from the chief warlord of the side of Unaroyal. When there are units with a strength of two, and the minimum is 1, the difference is the bonus if the chief warlord. And the difference is a lousy +1.

[Benementat]

Unaroyal most likely sent all their commanders worth anything to GK, and are busy popping quick units at the capital to replace their losses. As a minor state in the previous RCC, I think it likely they were pressured to send everything the could send in the timeframe Jetstone set. Alll the troops now in Unaroyal-held lands probably were popped or transfered in the interviening turns.

They haven't had time or the opposition to level at all, so they are mearly wet clay-clods to the steamroller that is Stanley's Decrypted Jugernaught.

[the_tick_rules]

So now he loves Wanda. I see a love triangle brewing.

[Winged]

Ok some thoughts this last bit gives me.

1) Wanda is still working for Stan, and everyone working under her is aswell, and yet what of the balence of power? If she was going to go against him (if she can)when? My thoughts are that until she herself has a side she can not lead troops against him, and as such would no doubt like to find a nice abandoned capital or somthing to call her own.

2) Whatayaknow! There happens to be such a place and as far as Wanda knows it's ripe for the takeing, not only that but it is her former home town, it's almost poetic.

3)Ansom has a big zombie crush on his zombie overlord, that's natural I suppose, erm unnatural...whatever, in any case Jillian and him have a history, Jillian and Wanda have a history, he and Wanda are currently on the same side, and the stage for battle between tham is all but set. Back when Wanda was controling Jillian, Jillain managed to wriggle free becase of her affections for Ansome, It will be interesting to see how things go when the roles are reversed.

4) Come on the comic's two most siginicant female charicters duke it out once and for all, One seeking power, another haveing it but never wanting any, a mage and a melee, "Good" and "evil", the clash is almost too fitting.

[MarchHatter]

I know they have loads of bonuses on them already but I want to see some dance fighting.
Just toss a guitar to ansom and a microphone to Wanda and you will have a crazy probably rock n roll-death metal mix.

Or maybe I just want more interesting dance fighting....hats. Wouldn't mind some hatmancy while we are at it.

Oh and I also hope that the to be caster in it so they can convert them. Can decrypted units still cast magic if they were casters? Archons can but can the casters as well...

[Arkenbomb]

It would be cool to see some music with the dancefighting, closest i've seen is the little tune the bats sang before their fight started. besides a stack of units with 30 as their weakest attack each + dance-fighting bonuses could likely take on a small army or more by themselves, but add in the other stacks and their bonuses? well you'll have doom for anyone really

[LordDarksea]

All i can say to this (art and text is)

Oh. Hel. yes.

that was fantastic

[Wren]

Any bets on the number of strips before wanda betrays Stanly, or that parson changes teams? There is no way parson can stay on the same side as this decrypted army and have it be any sort of fair fight.

[Infidel]

Hrm, most interesting thing to me about today's comic has nothing to do with today's comic. Rather, the news at the bottom of the page points to a revision to update 22. Somehow, even though I check this site several times a day, I never saw update 22 or the reaction to update 22. So I never saw the original.

[DevilDan]

Works for me. The description of Ansom's new slavish allegiance and devotion is just creepy.

[nerf-dweller]

Hrm, most interesting thing to me about today's comic has nothing to do with today's comic. Rather, the news at the bottom of the page points to a revision to update 22. Somehow, even though I check this site several times a day, I never saw update 22 or the reaction to update 22. So I never saw the original.

Update 22 didn't have any artwork originally. So you didn't miss anything.

[cloudbreaker]

The column was three hexes long. No unit within it had less than eighteen move. No unit within it had lower than six base attack. This was a strike force. It was several strike forces.

His leadership would add three attack to all units on his side, five to those in his hex, and ten to those in his own stack. His mistress would add one to all Decrypted troops on her side, four to those in her hex, and eight to those in her stack.

I'm wondering if by "all units on his side" Ansom meant within the column, or literally all units on his side, including the ones that are nowhere near his present location. The former seems more likely to me for some reason.

[Zeku]

This is an amazing update! Possibly the best one of the 'summer.' Ansom's reaction to Wanda's power is so authentic and appropriate.

Someone mentioned that Wanda is now a serious problem, and while that is of course true, there is no reason to think she needs to be put down quickly, or even permanently! Where's the drama, excitement, and intrigue in that? She hasn't even overthrown Stanley / had an obnoxious discussion about good and evil with Parson / encountered Jillian again in a wildly different ideological context / cat-fought with her / gone bat---- insane from unexpected personal problems / collected her own harem of thralls / had a mexican standoff with relevant characters / encountered the other Arkentools, and much, much more!

[Simons Mith]

I think the difference between 'thinking additively' and 'thinking multiplicatively' is a red herring. It's reasonable to assume that, having been shown by Parson, Ansom now understands how to fully exploit the Erfworld combat system. And if he doesn't, a short briefing by Parson and/or Wanda would quickly put him on the right track. But the very way he's thinking about stacking the bonuses together indicates to me that he's fully grasped the idea.

In other words, the Erfworld combat system has basically been 'solved'. Which suggests to me that Erfworld book II is going to be about the rest of the world belatedly learning to fight as effectively as the GK lot now do, and Parson is going to have a new challenge on his hands. That's why it's OK to give the job of Chief Warlord to Ansom; Parson has already been there, done that and gotten the t-shirt, and now he's going to be moving on to some new area of conflict. I can hardly wait to see what's in store for him. But I suspect it'll be more diplomatically focused, and will likely involve him crossing paths with some of his eral-world friends.

[shadowdemon_lord]

I for see conflict between GK and Transylvito/FAQ looming. Sure GK is going to steamroll Unaroyal. And that Ansom likely has been/could be taught anything Parson has discovered (Ansoms slavish devotion probably means that anything Parson teaches him will be taken to heart, especially considering that Parson bested him on the battle field again and again and that Ansom will recognize his superiority). I don't expect Transylvito to be such an easy fight, they are a powerful side with good intel, powerful allies, lots of casters, and seemingly interesting different ways of looking at the world (not caring about Royalty, merely results, etc). They will have their hands full dealing with the steamroller that is Gobwin Knob, but Vinnie's a very good very level headed warlord, and he's not the top. I expect to see big things from Ceasar Borgotta, who I think will prove much less susceptible to Parsons mind games then Ansom was. Also Don King will prove an asset to Transylvito, where as Stanley is a detriment to GK. So basically yes GK now has an unstoppable juggernaut of a force, but their leadership problems may have just been compounded.

[DevilDan]

Ansom was experienced enough to understand the advantages of bonuses; he just didn't think to exploit them properly; for all we know he wouldn't have purposefully targeted a commander directly in order to cancel out his or her bonus—for all we know he still considers such a tactic dishonorable.

What is Wanda's thinking now, I wonder? Fate put an arkentool in her hands; the Titans, Fate, or Erf or all three want her—and Stanley—to do something with these tools.