reignofevil wrote:Even inter-coalition intel sharing has to be pretty rare, given that the ultimate end of any alliance in Erfworld has to end with it breaking up and turning on itself. Combine that with the likely level of intel coming from non coalition members (None {snip}
That's almost accurate but-
it's also applicable to Earth, and look where we are. There is no such thing
as absolutely no intel. People will find ways of getting information, even when it's not consensually shared, be those ways spying, torturing captives, or hearsay and good old fashioned reverse engineering. Look at the flier relay. Tremennis had no problem figuring it out even though all he had going were rumours about a side that is impossible to infiltrate. Yet, he got the flier relay well enough. Pretty Earth-realistic.
Also looking at Earth history, it sometimes happened that a culture got a hang-up about war. Say, you got it in your head that war is supposed to be fought as a gentleman sport and we should take captives and hold them for ransom if they can afford it. Oh, and ranged weapons are bad, because they give those dirty peasants too much power.
When that happened, there was always another culture just around the next hill, who did not share those hang-ups, to knock the bum-pines out of you. Even if Jetstone does not have many types of units, surely by now it has faced pretty much everything Erfworld could throw at it. Except the Decrypted, which are a genuinely new thing.
And then moving on to-
Oberon wrote:So it appears that using units to their best effect is not widely understood, outside of the Sides which possess the units these tactics can be leveraged with. {snip} But it appears as though the lessons need to be personally learned in order to be internalized. And that strains the suspension of disbelief.
I'm not sure where you're going with this. I find it perfectly reasonable to expect a commander, or a side, to be better versed in some tactics rather than others, and aquiring new knowledge is not instant and effortless.
I think you mean that knowledge sharing within a side is pretty poor. Sure, Jetstone may have faced Dwagons before (for example, Stanley's side) but maybe Ansom didn't have access to all the Jetstone experience. I don't know, I rather think Ansom thought Stanley was an idiot and unconsciously lowered his game.
But you may be on to something here- read on, you'll love the next part of the rant.
In Erfworld, archives are rubbish. Parson read one and it was just a record of high scores. People pop fully formed. It is implied that learning is not something Erfworlders are good at. It's an interesting idea.
And just like the turn-based mechanism idea, it's an interesting idea that quickly becomes a narrative burden and is at least partially chucked away.
Turns- yes, we have a lot of effort from Mr Balder to clarify what can be done on a turn and such. But in the end, all the times we've seen two opponents encounter each other, it's real time, with the off-turners having some magical barrier stopping them from doing thing A or B. Every time people from the same side interact, it's real time. Why? Because showing one side literally frozen in place, a-la videogames, waiting to get its teeth kicked in would be silly. And it would be weird to have only one person from a side being able to move/act at a time.
So, Erfworld is very softly turn-based.
Likewise, the learning impediment idea is chucked away- if indeed, it ever was intended. Prime example, Tremennis immediately figures out the relay and shares the information to a skeptical, but understanding Ossomer. Another possible example, Jack. And in general, people on Erfworld are an average mix of smart and stupid just like Earth. Because anything else would be weird.
So given that, I do expect an old experienced side like Jetstone to not be surprised by tactical innovation, unless that tactical innovation involves genuinely new technology (Decrypted, some unknown spell whatever).
And for the most part, that's how the comic handles this. My beef here is not with the comic creators, it's with us, and our penchant to think that Parson is the sole innovation engine of Erfworld.
The whole point of this is lost if you keep it a secret.
