Summer Updates - 014

[SteveMB]

New one's up.

[DivineDragoonKain]

Feels kinda uneasy between Vinny and Jillian. This worries me...

[Kyouhen]

Awww, she looks so happy getting a hug from Big Al!

Looking forward to seeing if she manages to behave herself at the big meeting.

[Sareln]

You'know, though, much as we love the rough-uncultured facade that Jillian puts forward; Vinny has got something of a point. Politeness, and sometimes respect, will open doors for you, if you know how to play it.

Over the past couple of days, the threads have tried to scry into the future and deduce what's going to happen between the Don and Jillian, and not many have addressed the situation that Vinny is sorta on the hot plate now. His mission has failed, completely (Stanley the Worm isn't dead, the best personal contact Vinny made in the Royal Crown side is presumed dead, and TV might need, massive defense as quickly as possible.) and he's hauling home luggage which may or may not offer mortal insult.

I'll be very interested to see how Jillian behaves, if only for Vinny's sake

Oh, and that's a great sketch. Poor Jillian!

[Itzal]

anybody else wanna see Jillian get turned by Tv and go vamp? BP

[Carlan]

anybody else wanna see Jillian get turned by Tv and go vamp? BP

They could wind up losing a warlord or two before they turned her, and even then it might not remove the stake lodged firmly up her backside.

[MuthSera]

She will make them taste key lime pie.

[cloudbreaker]

I'm starting to think hex types are much more specific than they seem to be at first glance. i.e. scrubby hills, craggy mountains, foothills, alpine meadow, high mountains...

[Winged]

I would not worry too much for Vinny, after all during the final battle he was acting under orders while escorting jill and met up with other TVs for what turned out to be a winning battle, not a perfect victory perhaps, but a win none the less. Acctuly If I had to pick an mvp on the "Good Guy" side for book 1 Vinny would be the man, he was good for recon, he saved Ansome from a trap of two, he was trustable, one has to wonder how much he had personaly contributed to Ansomes earlyer victories. I realy hope to see him and Ansome go head to head in battle some time.

[Killer Angel]

I would not worry too much for Vinny, after all during the final battle he was acting under orders while escorting jill and met up with other TVs for what turned out to be a winning battle, not a perfect victory perhaps, but a win none the less. Acctuly If I had to pick an mvp on the "Good Guy" side for book 1 Vinny would be the man, he was good for recon, he saved Ansome from a trap of two, he was trustable, one has to wonder how much he had personaly contributed to Ansomes earlyer victories.

I totally agree.
Vinnie was the best strategic mind the Coalition had.
And no, his mission wasn't a total failure, not for him and neither for his side.
Transylvito had no significative troops involved in the siege when the volcano explodes, and the absence of Vinny it's a perfect excuse ("see? without our counseil, the coalition was doomed"). They losed few troops, and few shmuckers, not paying for the help of Charlie when he raised the price.
The battle against Stanley and the dragons is still a victory: Stanley escaped, and some transylvitan were croacked, but for the survivors, it was certainly a large amount of xp-equivalent.
And, most af all, now Don King knows about the existence of FAQ, a thing that certainly is greatly valuable.

[Maldeus]

If Don King is the good guy Vinny says he is, then Vinny isn't in any actual danger. He might get transfered to a tanker off the coast of Alaska, but he's not going to be executed.

[BarGamer]

We've seen that in this comic Jillian can be charming and polite. Granted, one small fish and a fat man's feelings are poor substitute for a bunch of dwagons when it comes to slaking one's bloodthirst, but maybe, JUST MAYBE Vinny can get through to her how much this means to him.

[Pax]

Did anyone else notice the mention of "minimum upkeep" ...? One wonders if there are different levels of Upkeep possible, and what their potential benefits (or penalties) might be.

[jioan]

I was actually disappointed with this update. Almost nothing happened.
However, the last one was good so I'm hoping the next one will be better.

[DivineDragoonKain]

Did anyone else notice the mention of "minimum upkeep" ...? One wonders if there are different levels of Upkeep possible, and what their potential benefits (or penalties) might be.

I have a feeling Al has quite a few benefits, if you know what I mean.

[Gez]

Awwwwwww

[Cmdr I. Heartly Noah]

I'm starting to think hex types are much more specific than they seem to be at first glance. i.e. scrubby hills, craggy mountains, foothills, alpine meadow, high mountains...

Yes, it's looking that way...

Did anyone else notice the mention of "minimum upkeep" ...? One wonders if there are different levels of Upkeep possible, and what their potential benefits (or penalties) might be.

I'd say it's a certainty. The details, of course, are lost to us...

But, by foraging for provisions, one can lower one's upkeep from Full down to Minimum, either by several levels or a simple numerical scale, reducing the necessary Shmuckers.

But what's really telling is there's a minimum; no matter how many provisions you have, you still have to pay at least 1 Shmucker/turn. So, for Barbarian units without a purse (non-Commanders), can they exist? Can they hunt or mine or farm enough each turn to pay the next turn's upkeep, or are they unable to carry over even that small amount of shmuckers without a Commander to lead them? It's interesting.

[Unclever title]

I'm starting to think hex types are much more specific than they seem to be at first glance. i.e. scrubby hills, craggy mountains, foothills, alpine meadow, high mountains...

Yes, it's looking that way...

Well looking between those things they still break down to hills, mountains, and meadows. I think that those would be in the terrain type of a hex and the scrubby, craggy, alpine, high, and "foot" would be either subclassifications or more simply values. Pairing a base type with a number, a "level" if you will. At least in terms of understanding Erfworld under game mechanics.

Clearly the end result is scrubby hills, craggy mountains, foothills... etc.

Did anyone else notice the mention of "minimum upkeep" ...? One wonders if there are different levels of Upkeep possible, and what their potential benefits (or penalties) might be.

I'd say it's a certainty. The details, of course, are lost to us...

But, by foraging for provisions, one can lower one's upkeep from Full down to Minimum, either by several levels or a simple numerical scale, reducing the necessary Shmuckers.

But what's really telling is there's a minimum; no matter how many provisions you have, you still have to pay at least 1 Shmucker/turn. So, for Barbarian units without a purse (non-Commanders), can they exist? Can they hunt or mine or farm enough each turn to pay the next turn's upkeep, or are they unable to carry over even that small amount of shmuckers without a Commander to lead them? It's interesting.

Actually I took "minimum upkeep" not to refer to the cost in shmuckers by what is needed to keep a unit alive. This makes me think that the system of popping food for units may be local to cities for a unit's side. I'd need to look over Book I again but I don't believe there was an instance shown where food popped outside of a city, so far I think they've all been related to Parson's meals.

This would translate as a cost in shmuckers for cities but solely as food (and water probably) for a unit. Varying values of upkeep in this sense would then relate to quality of diet, e.g. how much food, which would contain: enough to survive, enough to be comfortable, enough to make you as jiggly as Al Frappa. Of course it's entirely possible that Al just popped that way.

Parson might be a special case in this regard, he might have an exceptionally high cost in order to keep him bound to Erfworld and to make him "suitable as a unit," of it might be as simple as having to pop unusual food that may in fact be summoned from another universe (if a bit altered in transit).

Malnourishment would likely reduce stats, whereas overeating may do the same. I'm starting to wonder about exercise too...

Regardless of what it means, I have to say I smiled at the concept of varying levels of upkeep. It adds that much more complexity and intricacy to Erfworld.

[Kreistor]

Authors must have license to describe things. "Scrubby" did not come with any indication of different rules for hills, nor "craggy" for mountains. They are, for now, just adjectives. Did you think all mountain hexes would look the same? The same 1000' tall mountain repeated over and over? Or did you expect something more realistic with some mountain ranges steeper than others, and some snow topped, and others...

It's just an adjective. For the moment.

But this is the first update with no readily identifiable new rules or explanations. The one thing we can say is that Al is again shown as a vampire, and so we should probably rethink the conclusions in 13.

[HandofShadows]

Hmn. I wonder where Vinny EVER got the idea that Jillian didn't have any manners.
We should be seeing the TV capital soon and get a look at one of Erfworlds major powers.