Book 2 – Page 43

[CorrTerek]

Umm... TV isn't a means of support. They are collasping. Have been ever since the battle for GK. They are yet another side that need to be rescued.

TV has been supporting Faq. This has been pretty well established. Hence, they are a means of support. A bad one, given their internal problems, but still a means of support. This just proves my point -- joining with Faq is just about the worst anyone from Jetstone could do.

[joosy]

Keep in mind that Transylvito is strongly hinted at undergoing a change of their own very soon. If things go south for Jetstone I believe Caesar may attempt a coup. If he is successful, I sense Faq that will soon be under attack or at the very least lose their funding. Without TV or Charlie supporting her, Jillian may have to make some serious decisions as well.

I predict some crazy alliances and pacts being made out of desperation and necessity very soon. The western side relationships of Erf may become as complicated as Melrose Place.

[Chit Rule Railroad]

i know of no mounted units that jetstone has that is faster than dwagons but lets say they have some. they MIGHT be able to move the king and tram far enough away to save jetsone (the side) but they have allready indicated that the vast majority of their forces are in and around spacerock and they would not have near enough mounts to get all their casters and warlords let alone troops to safty PLUS they are near broke.

I believe this discussion is about how JS can strategically survive a Pyrrhic victory at Spacerock that leaves the city razed, the GK strike force's dwagons croaked, and Wanda croaked or separated from the Arkenpliers. (The technical "victory" could go to either JS or GK with little difference.)

Here's one way that could happen:
GK executes its cheat.
JS sees the writing on the wall.
Most JS forces that survive GK's "cheat" flee the Spacerock hex, while leaving enough in one section of the garrison to slow down GK's taking of Spacerock.
Someone from JS flies on a unipegataur to the backup capital site and moves the JS capital there before GK takes Spacerock - they may already have a relay set up to facilitate this.
On Charlie's turn, which comes before GK's, he neutralizes the GK strike force's ability or motivation to hunt down the fleeing JS forces.
JS now has some time to rally and rebuild before another significant GK force shows up.

JS's rebuilding could include taking over Haggar with Charlie's support. By "taking over", I mean somehow using an appeal to Royalism, combined with overwhelming force, to capture rather than croak a lot of the defenders. Recall that when all seemed lost at GK, Parson seemed to think that he would be able to negotiate his capture (including turning) as part of the surrender.

If you make a city neutral by croaking the Ruler and then capture the non-garrison defenders by controlling the garrison (which I imagine could include capturing rather than croaking some of the garrison units), I wonder if you even need to "turn" the neutral units you've just captured - they have no Side to be turned from. (I believe Wrigley was captured, croaked and decrypted while Unaroyal still existed, so he was never neutral.)

A merged JS and Haggar, even if they are both weakened by the process, may be stronger than the individual sides ready to stab each other in the back.


By the way, the best strategy for dealing with GK may be causing a war between GK and a coalition of Charlie and the Magic Kingdom. There are already indications that GK has the unique potential of uniting the MK in opposition to it. This strategy could even be carried out after making a truce with GK.

[Sieggy]

Ya know, what's REALLY going to be amusing is how Stanley reacts to all of this . . . depending on when he makes it back from the kitchen, mind you. If he comes back and finds Parson & Maggie gone, will he be able to track events on the table? When he contacts Maggie, that ought to be . . . interesting. And if he comes back after all the fuss & feathers has settled down, it's going to be a major blow to his ego if Parson is just standing there, covered in blood, reporting that the battle is over and all is well, depending on your definition of well, of course. Either way, I suspect that either Stanley will stick his finger in and cock it all up somehow, or he's going to experience some major bogglement . . .

[Lamech]

Ya know, what's REALLY going to be amusing is how Stanley reacts to all of this . . . depending on when he makes it back from the kitchen, mind you. If he comes back and finds Parson & Maggie gone, will he be able to track events on the table? When he contacts Maggie, that ought to be . . . interesting. And if he comes back after all the fuss & feathers has settled down, it's going to be a major blow to his ego if Parson is just standing there, covered in blood, reporting that the battle is over and all is well, depending on your definition of well, of course. Either way, I suspect that either Stanley will stick his finger in and cock it all up somehow, or he's going to experience some major bogglement . . .

Naw... Stanley will probably say something like "Why the heck didn't you do that earlier? What a lazy fool. We lost a thousand decrypted because you didn't act sooner. And Ansom!!! Its a good thing my forcing you into action saved the day! Man I'm great." No mucking stuff up, just yelling at Parson and taking credit for stuff he din't do.

[effataigus]

Lets not underestimate Stanley. I'm pretty sure he'll muck stuff up, yell at Parson, and take credit for what does go well.

[Dr Pepper]

He's a strategic idiot-savant.

[zilfallon]

am i the only one who likes stanley?
I mean, i know he's an idiot, but i've felt so much hate here

[ftl]

ill he be able to track events on the table?.

Re: this part - no, he won't be able to track events on the table. It's not a magical table anymore - it's just a table with figurines, there's no lookamancy-thinkamancy-foolamancy linkup anymore to make it automatically show everything.

[teratorn]

But they can survive and join Faq.

Isn't Faq closer to GK than Jetstone is? And doesn't GK have several people who know where Faq is?

They just need to reach Jillian's group, probably they can do it during this turn.

[Swodaems]

But they can survive and join Faq.

Isn't Faq closer to GK than Jetstone is? And doesn't GK have several people who know where Faq is?

They just need to reach Jillian's group, probably they can do it during this turn.

Going after FAQ's capital is probably the best decision. Jillian's group has alot at its disposal. Directly hitting an overlord, a chief warlord, a caster that has been shown to end turns, (While we as readers know that was largely Charlie's doing, we as GK cannot be entirely sure) and several heavy fliers directly has the potential to be very costly. (However, the potential of gaining those assets may outweigh the risk.) Hitting the capital, however, means that those units are automatically destroyed when they lose their treasury and can no longer feed themselves. The units are also not there when we hit it. We would also stand to gain the output of 3 cities and a decent base of operations to use against Transylvito. An even better option may be simply to drop a line to Jitterati or Carpool and tell them where Faq is and offer support for a campaign against Faq and Transylvito alike. Ansom as Chief Warlord for GK was unable to recruit allies, but I bet Parson can.

[anaxx]

If I were Charlie, I'd send Vanna to go turn low-level Parson the second I found out he'd promoted himself to field unit. Outside the garrison, Parson is fruit waiting to be plucked...

[Chit Rule Railroad]

If I were Charlie, I'd send Vanna to go turn low-level Parson the second I found out he'd promoted himself to field unit. Outside the garrison, Parson is fruit waiting to be plucked...

I wonder if Parson has a subconscious pluckwish. That could be consistent with natural thinkamancy if his true loyalty is also to Fate.

[Sieggy]

If I were Charlie, I'd send Vanna to go turn low-level Parson the second I found out he'd promoted himself to field unit. Outside the garrison, Parson is fruit waiting to be plucked...

But how does Charlie know that Parson is now a field unit? As far as Charlie knows, Parson is still a garrison unit back in GK. (which he is, until he chooses to leave) Even then, unless he has assets in-hex, he's in the dark until it's too late. And Vanna now works for Jillian, who is going in entirely the wrong direction . . . by the time she got there, assuming that Jillian would go for it, there's no guarantee that Parson would be there, or she could get close enough to be effective.

And if there's any plucking to be done, it'll be between Tremmenis and Parson. (I'll leave the speculation as to the plucker and the pluckee to y'all, but SOMEONE is going to wind up plucked over this . . .)

[CorrTerek]

If I were Charlie, I'd send Vanna to go turn low-level Parson the second I found out he'd promoted himself to field unit. Outside the garrison, Parson is fruit waiting to be plucked...

Call me a skeptic, but I don't think Parson can be turned like most units can.

[teratorn]

And Vanna now works for Jillian, who is going in entirely the wrong direction . . . by the time she got there, assuming that Jillian would go for it, there's no guarantee that Parson would be there, or she could get close enough to be effective.

Even then it wouldn't work, Vanna is out of juice.

[Smoker]

am i the only one who likes stanley?
I mean, i know he's an idiot, but i've felt so much hate here

I love Stanley! So much personality crammed into one tiny man!

I know he's in completely the wrong job, but the little rocker is pretty gifted in some other areas, and gets some kudos from me for that. Plus I just love the way he talks. No matter how serious the situation, I always get the feeling he's been distracted from some greater purpose to deal with it... oh wait thats just impatience.. heh.

I hope he's enjoying his sammich ^-^

[asweethero]

am i the only one who likes stanley?
I mean, i know he's an idiot, but i've felt so much hate here

I love Stanley! So much personality crammed into one tiny man!

I know he's in completely the wrong job, but the little rocker is pretty gifted in some other areas, and gets some kudos from me for that. Plus I just love the way he talks. No matter how serious the situation, I always get the feeling he's been distracted from some greater purpose to deal with it... oh wait thats just impatience.. heh.

I hope he's enjoying his sammich ^-^

To be honest i love Stanly. well actually thats not quite accurate i love to HATE Stanly. most people at one point or another end up with a boss who you cant help but put Stanly face on. he has every bad quality you could ever have in a manager/boss and its all rolled up in a small megalomaniac with a Napoleon complex. who REALLY dose have the power of life and death. also i love Stanly as a plot device. having to walk the razors edge of manipulating a Mental midget that throws temper tantrums. while making sure he dose not catch on and knowing the consequences if he dose.

[Direcoyote]

If I were Charlie, I'd send Vanna to go turn low-level Parson the second I found out he'd promoted himself to field unit. Outside the garrison, Parson is fruit waiting to be plucked...

I used to have this strategy game where you could "turn" governors and if that worked, you took their province. There was one province behind enemy lines that was lead by a governor with an abysmal loyalty rating. I thought that if I could get him to turn, the province could be used to open up a second front. I did everything in my power to force him to turn from gifts, slander, and diplomats. Nothing worked. It soon got to a point where I realized I may have used more resources than if I had fought my way to his province.

As for turning, it took Jillian several turns with Vanna to make Duncan turn to Faq. All of her efforts to get Wanda and Jack to turn were rebuffed. Getting something to turn is not easy. I have the feeling that the only reason Wanda turned to Stanley was that Banhammer had no chance of winning and that she may as well go through with what her plan brought.
Just goes to show there are mechanics you know, and mechanics you don't know.

[Goshen]

To be honest i love Stanly. well actually thats not quite accurate i love to HATE Stanly. most people at one point or another end up with a boss who you cant help but put Stanly face on. he has every bad quality you could ever have in a manager/boss and its all rolled up in a small megalomaniac with a Napoleon complex. who REALLY dose have the power of life and death. also i love Stanly as a plot device. having to walk the razors edge of manipulating a Mental midget that throws temper tantrums. while making sure he dose not catch on and knowing the consequences if he dose.

Yes, my feeling exactly. I despise him, utterly, and that's part of why he makes the story so much more interesting for me.