can you attack/sacrifice your own troops?

[kineticdragon]

Maybe this has been asked already and I just missed it.

Ihttp://www.erfworld.com/summer-update-2009-archive/?px=/E046_NoIllustration.png

Faced for the first time with the question of how to deal with one, they had elected to treat Parson and any other warlord of Gobwin Knob as clients who had paid for "full service." This was an incredibly expensive option that few of Charlie's customers ever went for. It amounted to "the Archon(s) will act as if their Duty is to the client, and will follow any orders, including attacking Charlescomm units." There was also no penalty clause for losing them in battle. The client paid only while the Archons lived.

In theory could Parson hire out a small mob of archons, find someway to sac them, and then just raise them?

I've seen many D&D players do this with hired help. I've also seen similar things in board and strategy games. In Necromunda (turn based unit game) a special character had an extreme end of battle upkeep and our mutant league player would just feed him to the troops and avoid the payment phase (which was eventually banned.)

[ftl]

In theory could Parson hire out a small mob of archons, find someway to sac them, and then just raise them?

Sure, it's possible, I think - if Charlie was stupid enough to hire out archons at full service to GK. Given that he knows about decryption and the pliers, I think this is unlikely.

[Selexor]

I think it's entirely possible to croak your own units. This comic suggests it to me: Maggie and Sizemore are aghast that Parson could even think about croaking his own ruler. They're not even batting an eyelid at the suggestion of him attacking one of his own units. That, apparently, is perfectly possible.

So if you can croak your own units, you'd almost certainly be able to croak hired mercenaries, unless of course you were magically bound by a contract to ensure their survival or something like that.

But like ftl pointed out, no boopin' way would Charlie actually agree to it.

[the_tick_rules]

Wanda did ask to axe Jack and make him a decrypted. So yeah the bosses can do whatvever they want to their troops.

[charles]

Parson rolled his eyes. "Okay, then at the dwagon. Or...assume he's an invading enemy unit and I throw the brick. Could I hit him? Could I croak him?"

Sizemore looked back down over the edge. "You could. It'd be a million to one shot, though."

Parson frowned, and played with his bracer. With some basic touch commands and subvocalizations, he was able to build a scenario. This city, this tower, a unit like me attempts a missile attack on a unit like Stanley, on ground in courtyard. Odds.

"One in about 5400, it says. So, what, I'd be acting like a defending archery unit then? Even though I don't have archery as a special? Any of us could throw a brick and hit an enemy down there, even though we aren't archers?"

Sizemore shrugged. "If we had bricks."

So anyone with something to throw or shoot could be an archery unit. They'd just have to have the archery special to have any real chance of hitting a target. But maybe something like Luckamancy could be used to change those odds? Parson leaned forward and squinted at the tiny figure of Stanley, still mounted on his dwagon. "Good to know."

Hmmm, that section actually raises an interesting point. The theory about using rations to attack the ground troops isn't very sound if the chances of hitting are that incredibly low without luckamancy or something to assist in the chances.

What I'm really thinking here, if this is a possibility, is that instead of chancing it that the archers on the tower will hit just the dwagons and not the riders, the riders will kill their rides and fall.

[Smoker]

Hmmm, that section actually raises an interesting point. The theory about using rations to attack the ground troops isn't very sound if the chances of hitting are that incredibly low without luckamancy or something to assist in the chances.

What I'm really thinking here, if this is a possibility, is that instead of chancing it that the archers on the tower will hit just the dwagons and not the riders, the riders will kill their rides and fall.

Or the mounts could just stop flapping their wings, and have a chance at surviving the fall.

Wanda did ask to axe Jack and make him a decrypted. So yeah the bosses can do whatvever they want to their troops.

I think this is the best answer to the actual question. Interesting though, since prior to decryption you would just have them disbanded - is there any other reason you'd ever want to kill your own troops? Im trying to think about stopping unlead stacks from attacking, but you'd need a warlord in the hex to order it, so that already solves the issue, right?

[the_tick_rules]

I guess if your short on schmuckers for upkeep and don't want the bad PR of disbanding ordering them on a suicide mission works as a good scenario. I dunno if warlords have to be in the same hex to command troops. They keep them in the same hex for bonus purposes and well it's hard to command when you're far away. But I dunno there's an erf rule regarding command distance. I remember when Wanda and Ansom lead their stacks out just after getting dercypted and their force spanned hexes. But then again we dunno if there were warlords in each hex do we?

[ftl]

I dunno if warlords have to be in the same hex to command troops.

I would guess so - because we know that "unled troops automatically attack" and if it were possible to command troops remotely, then there wouldn't *be* any unled troops as long as you still have any living (or even uncroaked) warlords.

[the_tick_rules]

Or if their commanding ability has say a hex radius.

[charles]

Going on memory here, but I think the troops in the same stack as the warlord got his full bonus, those in the same hex got half his bonus and those in the army got a quarter. Not sure what it is for other warlords and units with leadership. At a guess, I'd say other warlords only grant half their bonus to their stack and a quarter the bonus those in the same hex (if they're the highest level). Those with just leadership probably only grant a quarter bonus to their own stack... if any.

[Guppy]

Wondering if sac-ing one of your own troops earns XP. If so, it might be worth it in certain situations. Trade badly wounded units for decrypted, and get XP at the same time while denying it to the enemy.

Hmm... do units get fully healed when they level (which happens in a lot of games)?