Erfworld 157 - tBfGK 144

[lord of kobolds]

The most important part about Newsom is not his power, it's the psychological effect it will have on the RCC. Seeing their former leader charge into battle against them, they'll break.

[Mars]

Since no one got my Duncan Idaho (Dune) prediction i'm just going to say it.

Ansom will be used to fight against Jillian and Co.

Jillian and Co. will start losing

When all is about lost, Ansom breaks out of his uncroaked phase and becomes

un-uncroaked...thereby becoming regular Ansom again.

[chefsotero]

The most important part about Newsom is not his power, it's the psychological effect it will have on the RCC. Seeing their former leader charge into battle against them, they'll break.

Doubli-so for Jillian

Since no one got my Duncan Idaho (Dune) prediction i'm just going to say it.

if so it may happen with Erf the same that happened with Dune, the 1st book is aweson, the rest, not so much..... (and I would hate to see that)

[Pointyleaf]

Re: Duncan Idaho - We got it.. does he set off a bunch of explosives and kill Wanda, too? Plus don't forget he has to get his memories back first.

[kunsttyv]

Regarding the discussion on turn order, dawn and suchlike, I want to remind people of this:

...

• Every side gets exactly one turn a day.
• There is a natural turn order. When sides ally, their next turn is shared at the latest slot in the day of any of the allied sides.

...

More here:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...54#post5448054

[Vreejack]

Since no one got my Duncan Idaho (Dune) prediction i'm just going to say it.

Ansom will be used to fight against Jillian and Co.

Jillian and Co. will start losing

When all is about lost, Ansom breaks out of his uncroaked phase and becomes

un-uncroaked...thereby becoming regular Ansom again.

Well, that only worked dramatically because as a clone Duncan Idaho was nothing special. People of power were accustomed to clones and thought they knew how clones worked. Clones were only physical copies without any of the memories of the original. What made Duncan dramatic was that he revocered his "genetic" memories in a way that no one thought possible.

The warlord formerly known as "Prince" Ansom is an entirely new thing; no-one has any expectations of him whatsoever, so the Duncan Idaho trope doesn't really work. It could be that he is exactly what he was before, the heir of Jetstone, resurrected. But that would be stupid. If uncroaked are to be useful it is assumed that they should have some kind of bond with the necromancer.

Perhaps Prince Un-some will one day recover his free will in some distant story arc, but but having it happen right away would make attuning to the arkenpliers right about useless.

Besides, even uncroaked warlords had at least a weak memory of their former selves. Remember "Pie" ? Ansom very likely has all his old memories, in the nature of a greater sort of undead. Otherwise he would not be very useful, or special. Doesn't decay? Big deal. None of the other uncroaked warlords got a chance to decay either.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Well, back to stragery. What units should Wanda raise? The warlords, Scarlet, Sheroy and Noozles? Or the Archons, given there's something left to raise? Archons are cool units, but there is the possibility that Charley's artefact can chancel Wanda's.

Interesting question, but we don't have enough information about what GK can produce right now.

For instance, my first thought was that I'd make builders, and those golems proved tough in combat too ... then I realized Sizemore could just make more.

So, I don't know. GK needs builders and cannon fodder infantry, but if it can get that on its own, Wanda can focus on rezzing some powerful units - IF she can Decrypt more than once.

Remember Decryption is a time consuming process if you don't have the key ...

[DevilDan]

Thanks, Dr Pepper. I shall call him Unsom.

Given the creativity of the writer and artist, how did they resist the temptation to fudge with Ansom's look and restrain themselves to just a few changes in the costume? Plot may be involved in that decision.

I hope his new helmet has the decency of looking like a skull.

[Estelindis]

More than the insane grin on Wanda's face I'm worried about Parson's sarcastic grin...am I the only one noticing that?

No, that's disturbing me too.

Poor Ansom. He fought so hard to free his troops from undeath and now, whether he knows who he used to be or not, he seems powerless to free himself from it.

[El_Chupachichis]

How long before someone requests Fan Service in the form of a resurrected Scarlet?

[Goshen]

I guess Stanley doesn't need to find and tame Dwagons after all. And now Wanda can move through the ruins and revive all the best Gobwin/Coalition units, maybe even Archons...

Word. Any units that Wanda "Decrypts" could be a lot of things, but definitely NOT free-willed. Zounds! if she does a careful intense uber-uncroak of all the powerful units and then a mass uber-uncroak all the foot soldiers, GK suddenly has a BIG, powerful force--all under Wanda's thumb.

I think she has no reason to turn against Stanley, at this point. if she is not powerful enough to challenge him, she won't. If she is powerful enough, she won't need to. She's pretty confident in her ability to manipulate Stanley, and comes with an Arkentool, three top casters, and a brace of dragons.

Awesome, awesome strip.

[Stormthorn]

That about tears it. In the last comic when she said "I wished for you" i worried she was getting power drunk. Wanda has gone off the deep end.

[ishnar]

How long before someone requests Fan Service in the form of a resurrected Scarlet?

I would have if it wern't obvious that Scarlet is not to be found.

Wanda specifically moved Ansome so he would still be around when the new turn started. Any corpses that haven't been moved are not around to uncroak.

On the other hand, since no one has mentioned it, there is a buried corpse somewhere that might be resable.

[Drakron]

I think a lot are forgetting one thing.

You can un-croak a unit but it becomes uncroaked (undead) but what happened was Ansom was RESURRECTED, that was supposed to be impossible.

Also it seems Ansom was "reset", as if he just poop (remenber, everyone just poops as a adult, there no children or anything).

[ishnar]

I think a lot are forgetting one thing.

You can un-croak a unit but it becomes uncroaked (undead) but what happened was Ansom was RESURRECTED, that was supposed to be impossible.

Also it seems Ansom was "reset", as if he just poop (remenber, everyone just poops as a adult, there no children or anything).

Considering that Wanda said Ansom is something new, we can assume that he is NOT resurrected, since a living unit is not new.

But I like the term poop and think we should use it for all newly pooped units.

[SPoD]

I think a lot are forgetting one thing.

You can un-croak a unit but it becomes uncroaked (undead) but what happened was Ansom was RESURRECTED, that was supposed to be impossible.

The skulls on Ansom's costume strongly implies that even if this is a straight resurrection, it's one that has the side effect of converting him to Wanda's thrall. The difference between an intelligent non-rotting uncroaked and an enslaved resurrected Ansom may well be too fine a hair to split.

(remenber, everyone just poops as a adult,

I think my little nephew got that book to help with toilet training: Everyone Poops.

[chefsotero]

The skulls on Ansom's costume strongly implies that even if this is a straight resurrection, it's one that has the side effect of converting him to Wanda's thrall. The difference between an intelligent non-rotting uncroaked and an enslaved resurrected Ansom may well be too fine a hair to split.

Upkeep would be a big diference in those 2 scenarios, and any possible extra-special-uber-uncroaked powers too

[joosy]

That about tears it. In the last comic when she said "I wished for you" i worried she was getting power drunk. Wanda has gone off the deep end.

Wanda never said "I wished for you" she said "It <Erfworld> wished for you"

---------------------------
So we have a new type of 'decrypted' unit and a powerful former Chief Warlord to boot. He doesn't appear like the other uncroaked and has mental and vocal capabilities on par with a living unit.

So..

ArkenHammer has dwagons (assuming wild ones can be tamed as well as being added to the production queue)

Arkendish has Thinkamancy and the Archons - no word on whether they require upkeep or if they are difficult to produce. They would be a gamebreaker in themselves if there was no balance on production time/upkeep, I would think.

Arkenpliers has the decrypted unit. Requires a croaked unit. Appears to restore unit to its former strength AND mental faculties. We will see if all croaked units in an area can be 'de-crypted' in one action. Decrypting appears to be only possible during GK's turn. Interesting to see if this is a gamebreaker or not. (powerful units who don't decay that require no upkeep).

and then there is at least one more Arkentool out there.. I would agree with a previous poster that, given Rob's penchant for clever puns, it would be the Arkensaw. or ArkenShovel or ARkenrake or Arkenswissarmyknife or ArkenAllen(wrench) .. hmm.. this is fun. I think I'll go to Home Depot to see how many different type of Arkentools I can name :) Security is going to love me there.

[Spot]

A few thoughts:

(1) This comic just gets better and better!

(2) Wanda is definately a force to be reckoned with now... which, for Parson and friends, is a good thing.

Parson isn't going to survive on Erfworld by being on a side composed of wimps and pushovers... in fact, if Wanda and Maggie and Sizemore weren't all very accomplished casters, then Parson would already be dead.

(4) I'm guesing that Stanley is about to be very pleased with both Wanda and Parson and much more pleasant to be around.

He abandoned them to die in what he thought was a hopeless situation... and they managed to win the battle for him, by completely wiping out the enemy's field army.

Even Stanley will be able to understand why you listen to folks who can deliver those results.

(5) Stanley was right. His forces *aren't* the bad guys.

Erfworld is a wargame. To call Wanda evil simply because she reuses units that have been moved into the discard pile, while calling Jillian good when she activelly wanders around on peep-back causing units to go to the discard pile, is simply propaganda from the anti-Stanley folks.

[Amplify]

I for one really, really hope that Wanda tests if Ansom is bound to serve her every whim through a method such as "Bark like a dog!" in the next comic. The possiblities of such a power would be endless. The body was already broken, work on the mind next, and so forth.

[Goshen]

I just don't like him, skin sensation. Plus he fled to save his but and left them on their own in a critical battle situation, already sure GK was doomed. It's not good or evil factor, it's just antipathy.

Me too! I hate Stanley, because he is a classic callous abuser type. He is not out to hurt anyone, specifically, just generally willing to use people up in a personal and petty way. His incompetence and his human qualities, even his good qualities, make them more emotionally real. I suppose I'm biased because I suffered under a crazy boss who was similar enough. I think he is "scary" because he's the kind of villain that really is quite common in the real world, and very easy to get mixed up with.

Towards Wanda I have a mixture of attraction and fear. The only time we have seen her being "abusive" in the BSM games she and Jillian like to play. That's not the same thing. She has actually be fairly respectful to those around her, although she's ruthless enough to sacrifice anyone to get what she wants. Not admirable in a real person, but again it's a different kind of evil. Anyway, she is so sexy, so competent, and frankly classy I have to admire her.

[Aquillion]

Ew. Parson's hand has been mucked up in the second last panel. Maybe now he is double jointed?

No, look closer. His hand is mostly hidden behind Wanda (he's reaching for his sword) -- its her spikes that are confusing you; they overlap with his arm and make a skin-shaped area that looks like a thumb. But if you look closer, it's clear that his fingers and thumb are hidden behind Wanda.

[stupidface]

I'll bet the term battlespace refers to the area in which two sides can interact with one another. If you're in the middle of nowhere with no other sides to interact with, turns don't even matter. Your turn is the whole day. As you enter a battlespace your actions are then retrofitted to appear whenever is appropriate.

Like, say you have 30 move and are approaching someone else's side. Your turn starts at dawn and you move until you cross into a hex that the other side's units could interact with (perhaps due to them having sufficient move to interact with you).

From here the other side could see you in a few different ways. If the 'home advantage' is having their turn first, they would be ignorant of your presence until ending turn, and watch you appear on the horizon afterwards, as your turn arrived. If there were some other criteria for turns, then you might appear at dawn for them and they'd have a turn to react to it afterward.

Let's say you used 28 of your move reaching a battlezone hex. I think it would stand to reason that you'd still have 2 move remaining to do as much damage (or diplomacy, as the case may be) as you could.

And yeah, decrypt is totally uncroak+. And no one in erf says 'cwoaked.' He's a decrypted unit.

e: if it's true that the arkenpliers are not in Wanda's hands anymore, and that this isn't because of some art blooper, I can only assume that the essence of the arkenpliers have absorbed into Ansom somehow, making him the living incarnation of the arkenpliers, which are attuned to Wanda.

[Eraniverse]

Erfworld is a wargame. To call Wanda evil simply because she reuses units that have been moved into the discard pile, while calling Jillian good when she activelly wanders around on peep-back causing units to go to the discard pile, is simply propaganda from the anti-Stanley folks.

I call her evil because she enjoys her work too much, not because of any of the thematic issues that plague Stanley's forces. But she's the delightful kind of evil to have on your side.

[Krenn]

I assumed at first glance that the mechanical meaning to not being "in the battlespace" is that none of those sides have units close enough to GK units that they could conceivably meet this turn, so that it can't possibly matter which side goes first.

But in the case of the Transylvito group and the dwagon group, they should at least conceivably be able to meet again at the pass to Faq. So I guess it has more of a meta-definition where intent is included. Stanley intends to return to GK and the Transylvitoans intend to go on to Faq, so they won't meet this turn. Interesting.

maybe ansom and the bats moved in opposite directions at the end of LAST turn...? Your definition is about the same as mine.

[Soronhen]

maybe ansom and the bats moved in opposite directions at the end of LAST turn...? Your definition is about the same as mine.

The thing is, even if they did, (and I doubt the bats moved after fighting Stanley because they had already finished their turn) they should have the same amount of move this turn as last turn, and would be able to meet up again at the pass this turn if they wanted to.

[Stormthorn]

Wanda never said "I wished for you" she said "It <Erfworld> wished for you"

Your right. She gets half a chance back. She gets half a chance back. When i went back to check it looked to me like her eyes where glowing with power, so she gets half a chance back instead of a whole chance.

[Krenn]

The thing is, even if they did, (and I doubt the bats moved after fighting Stanley because they had already finished their turn) they should have the same amount of move this turn as last turn, and would be able to meet up again at the pass this turn if they wanted to.

hmm... you're right. for a minute I thought this was the SECOND turn since the battle at the pass, but it's only the first.

[joosy]

I believe Battlespace just refers to when someone is actively opposing you.

We have seen where Transylvito entered into the battle against GK but not as part of the RCC. That put their turn at dawn but at a distance far away from GK. Then it was Charlie's turn. THEN it was GK's turn. Then it was RCC's turn.

On GK's turn both Stanley and Parson got to act but they were separated by quite a few hexes.

Ergo, Battlespace is not a defined area, but a determining of turn order between opposing forces.

Since noone is opposing GK this turn (Transylvito is not moving against them) that puts GK's turn at dawn.

[Tarian]

Just in case it's not obvious. I love Wanda's smile. It's so sinister. Great comic! Looking forward to the updates.