Erfworld 159 - tBfGK 146

[Monan]

This brings a question to my mind about the creation of the Sides. What if... the Transylvitans were created by the Titans, using the Arkenpliers?

Interesting question. I wonder it the Transylvitans have upkeep costs.

Another interesting thing to note is Wanda has maintained her "friendship" with Parson. Maybe she is grateful, thinks that he is a good person to be in kahootz with, or something else. Any thoughts?

[Gez]

People, like you, expect a "gameplay" solution to this (perceived by me) problem of ArkenPlier UberPower (EDIT: more like GK uber-power, really). Wasn't Erfworld supposed to be not just a game, but a story?

And isn't that story coming to an end? One side has won, and they're getting the "happily ever after" ending, with newfound wisdom (for Stanley), newfound powers (Wanda), newfound army (Parson), and they'll get to conquer the whole world. THE END

Volume 2 will show us in detail why it didn't work that way actually. It'll be a different story. This one, the Battle for Gobwin Knob, is over.

[raphfrk]

Then you have to risk two casters, not one.

Using the shock troops idea, why not do something like

- send out troops from city to a hex
- wipe out everything in that hex and also along the path followed
- send Wanda along that path to the hex
- decrypt eveything in the hex
- send Wanda back to the city

That lets them cover any hex that is within 1/2 of a dragon's move of any of their cities.

In fact, if she stays one hex behind them, she can be decrypting units while they kill the next hex.

One potential risk is if an enemy foolamancer hides units in a hex, so the shock troops don't kill them and they wait for Wanda to arrive.

[BLANDCorporatio]

And isn't that story coming to an end? One side has won, and they're getting the "happily ever after" ending, with newfound wisdom (for Stanley), newfound powers (Wanda), newfound army (Parson), and they'll get to conquer the whole world. THE END

Volume 2 will show us in detail why it didn't work that way actually. It'll be a different story. This one, the Battle for Gobwin Knob, is over.

Waidaminnit- that could mean that we are actually in agreement. Who'd have thought?

**********************(end of reply)****************

Anyway, back to the business at hand ...

Due to repeated and heated popular request, here's a small list of tactics, each with a cutesy-name, that GK can employ for world domination! Feel free to add your own!

"Barbarian hunting": "Barbarian mercenaries wanted. Fat upkeep. Ignore the burly guys at the door."

We know there are such units as barbarians, nobody will miss them ... why not convert them to the cause?

"Workaholics Anonymous": with the new supply of decrypted Marbits and Gobwins, GK has the ability to dig for a lot of schmuckers fast. Stanley's coffers will be full in no time, so he could bribe the occasional neighbouring overlord for a respite. Though why it wouldn't be that overlord bribing Stanley to avoid ... accidents ... happening to the local mountain is beyond me.

Particularly since Marbits and Gobwins are better employed for

"Mambo Marbits of Doom": use a dance-capable unit (NOT necessarily Ansom or Wanda) and some Archons to lead a horde of dance-fighting Marbits. They have lots of those already anyway and can make more.

"Rock Insurance": convince other sides to pay to ensure that rocks don't fall and kill everyone.

"Village of the damned" (credit where it's due, a good name suggested by Gez!): attack village. Burninate. Decrypt. Leave it there as an annoyance to whoever happens to pass by, or save some units you find particularly useful. Then again, you might want the decrypted peasants to "Workaholics Anonymous" for Stanley and develop the village. Ultra-fast. All those free workers. Endless possibilities.

"Name, rank and number": it seems decrypted units remember things from their past life, and to Wanda's certain chagrin they are willing to share them. Will make up, somewhat, for GK's lack of lookamancy.

"Tardy Elves did it!": use foolamancy to disguise a small pack of troops as belonging to somebody else. Hey it worked in this world for WW2, and we don't even have Foolamancy!

"Stealth Decrypt/Uncroak": discussed ad-nauseam in previous posts. Whatever. It's possible.

"Diplomacy by Death" (ninjaed by raphfrk): conventional siege against encamped opponent/set battle against opponent, in which a retreat route is held by GK.

Start of turn: use units on the site to attack and inflict damage.

Then, fly Wanda in to decrypt anything that died. Stealth might not be necessary (she's not attacking, merely casting what amounts to a defensive (har-har!) spell- might not allow troops to defend out-of-turn). Retreat Wanda (stealth might be needed here to conceal her final destination).

Observation: it has been pointed out that we have seen Wanda decrypt only in hexes controlled by GK; it may not work on hexes still disputed, like in a battle. True, this remains to be seen. Pity, I was rather fond of "DbD".

Surely there are others. No mention on whether decrypted casters stay casters yet, or whether it is possible to disguise decrypted units as belonging to their previous side (not Foolamancy this time. Makeup). So many options tentatively lingering just beyond the horizon ...

[Wolfwood2]

Something to consider is that Stanley's goal is not "conquer the world" but rather "gather all the Arkentools to myself". Arguably it was abandoning the usual Erfworld strategy of conquering whatever you can get away with in favor of overreaching to try and get Arkentools that brought him to the state where we first found him.

This makes it likely that Charlescomm will be a high priority target and that we'll get to see the powers of the Arkentools truly pitted against each other. It's also likely that Stanley won't countenance a slow consolidation and build strategy for very long.

For narrative reasons, I don't think it's very likely that Wanda will turn against Stanley. Wanda has just accomplished her one big goal. Stanley, on the other hand, still has a far-reaching goal that is guaranteed to produce interesting conflicts if he continues to pursue it.

[HandofShadows]

Well Wanda has given us some more info. But we still don't have nearly the context we need to make full use of it. There has been a lot of talk about drawback for the Decrypted and here is one I have not seen: The Decrypted are no longer bound by loyalty and duty. Just a thought.
I didn't think that Bagroll would be back, but there was always an outside chance.

[BLANDCorporatio]

For narrative reasons, I don't think it's very likely that Wanda will turn against Stanley. Wanda has just accomplished her one big goal. Stanley, on the other hand, still has a far-reaching goal that is guaranteed to produce interesting conflicts if he continues to pursue it.

I get the same vibe- Wanda has no interest in being the power on the throne.

So I am rather flexible as to who will split off from whom. My guess, all the way back when the strip with the vulcan explosion was new, was that eventually Parson or the Trimancer (ok, at least one of the components) will say boop this and leave.

I wonder how Sizemore feels about Decryption. It makes a lot of sense to aggressively hunt weak packs, kill them, and decrypt them. That cannot sit well with the poor guy.

[DoctorJest]

That means that the pliers really wouldn't be all that powerful in most circumstances.

This is true. They are currently in a rather unique position, having the coalition's entire army laying dead with no opposition around. If anything was, in fact, the game-breaker it was still Parson's "uncroak the volcano" move. The pliers are only perceived as being game-breakingly powerful right now because they're taking advantage of the fallout from that earlier move. In NORMAL circumstances, the pliers seem to be considerably better than normal croakamancy, but by no means game-breaking.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Heck, here's another one-

"Picking a Fight": remember how in one of the first strips, the Math/Luckamancy combo was said to be powerful? Calculate which battles matter most, bring your luckamancers to them?

Something similar is possible for GK too. They've got Mathmancy, so Parson can calculate which battle, if there are several, is important enough to send Wanda for a "Diplomacy by Death" type of thing.

Surely whatever army Parson has at any one point can croak some opposition, right? With the Pliers, what the opponent loses becomes a more threatening target than a zombie. Even if decrypted-s need a turn to come to their senses, they act as decoys because the opponent now has to spend effort and action points to croak them again. Even if they can't be re-decrypted, that's still a gain for GK.

Then there's the issue of production. Dwagons or Archons can lay waste to a city, but the Pliers enable GK to restore production almost imediately to its prior levels, as opposed to bringing in their own hard-popped and payed workers.

The Pliers rule like a giant ruling thing, and remember Wanda's not alone. GK has plenty of resources and abilities right now.

[joosy]

I really like the stewardess hat on the skull logo on the decrypted archon's skirt.

I'm beginning to believe that Wanda is completely autonomous and she is in the middle of making her own army, to be controlled and led by her. The skull logo, which seems to be hers, seems to confirm that.

It does seem a possibility but killing Stanley without having an heir designate would turn them all Barbarians with no leader. According to Parson's notes they would freeze in place - not sure if that was just under battle conditions however.

The Gobwins were able to turn against King Saline IV as they were natural allies and can function without a designated Overlord, I believe. Stanley was able to return from his 'convenient special mission' along with the casters as he was now the Overlord of his side and retake control.

Wanda can't break alliance because she has no 'alliance' that we know of. She would have to break duy, obedience, and loyalty. That could outright disband her according to Parson's notes.

[DevilDan]

My theory is that they're under Unsom's command right now since he gives a higher bonus and is currently commanding them to gather for a speech.

I'd be very tickled if others follow in calling him Unsom.

Hey, wait a tick. Parson would have survived just fine if he didn't go through the portal, Wanda would have resurrected him. So why did he spend time in the magic kingdom? I see one of those fancy chevok's guns. Maybe.

I'm lost. No one knew that Wanda would attune to the pliers or what the effect would be. I assume that Wanda intuited or was somehow taught how to decrypt once she did attune but doubt that she had any inkling of their power before that.

So are these units loyal to Wanda rather then Parson or Stanley? Previously uncroaked units displayed Stanleys colours and Parson's heraldry. That these new units would display Wanda's colours and heraldry would imply they are separate from this.

From previous strips I considered it unlikely that Wanda would turn on Stanley...now I find it a distinct possibility.

Other fans have been trying to figure out the Duty mechanic; how could Stanley have committed regicide if duty bound him to his ruler?

I wonder if we're reading too much into the livery. Unrcoaking may follow one set of rules and uncrypting another.

I've always considered that Wanda would eventually betray Stanley. There's a lot more to all this than meets the eye, particularly with the whole prophecy bit and the questions surrounding Saline's death, Faq's fall, and Wanda's own willing service under Stanley. It's more interesting to assume that Wanda does have some plans beyond taking the 'pliers.

That said, Wanda isn't going to get rid of Stanley until he's a real obstacle or until she has someone else who she knows will be attuned and who will be easier to control. The big question is how Stanley will react to Wanda's mastery of the 'pliers; he's a hothead but, that little question aside, it shouldn't be too long before he's back to paying close heed to Wanda's advice.

Otherwise I would agree that it is entirely gamebreaking.

"Gamebreaking" when there is no game to break? It's reality, not a game. Plus, I think the point is to break Erf's established order. These are literally titanic upheavals—though perhaps they will not have as deep an effect as the introduction of Parson?

If this were a game, I'd be worried about "gamebreaking." As this is a story and as its writer has proven quite capable, I'm not particularly worried that current development or revelations will break the story...

[AngryAngel]

I'm not sure I see the Pliers as gamebreakers. A huge advantage, yes, but we don't know enough about what they can or can't do to yea or nay yet. To my mind they're more like a Civ2 Wonder of the World, like the Pyramids, or Adam Smiths Trading Company. Both confer great advantages, but they don't guarantee that you'll win, only that you'll have a much improved shot.

[teratorn]

This strip shows one important thing: Wanda plans to stay with Parson: «That would be well. You'll require a new one.»

It's quite fun seeing Wanda all happy and giddy. (Does she have a "crush" of some sort on Parson?)

The scariest part of this strip is that Parson now has siege. The ram-dogs, probably a few cloth golems. He can start attacking other sides immediately.

It's not clear that Parson'll get much out of it in the beginning. If Charlie still has a few archons he may be the one to profit the most: GK attacks city, Charlie asks how many archons and barbarians of kind X are needed to crush GK's army and Parson is compelled to say so.

[Sarissofoi]

I dont see Pliers as gamebrakers too. They look as one in first sight and they are realy big advantage but they are not gamebreaking.
Possibility to raise dead enemies and enlist into our ranks are great. Possibility to revive our units also are great.
I have only one question.
It is possible to uncrypted dead uncrypted unit?
If yes this is huge advantage. Personnnaly I think this is imposibble due to Ucncrypte <=== upgraded uncroaked units, but I can be wrong.
BTW Boogroll cant be revived. This mean if body taken too much damage you cant Uncrypted it.
This give te possibility to counter Pliers by burning/decapitatning dead bodies. Also Uncrypted units should be killed for sure(if you cant Uncrypted them again) if they died.
This mean killing and Uncrypted own units is not smart. If you Uncrypted them now if they die you lost them and their exp.
Pliers give you big advantage when you have strong elite force(high leveled and experiened) because enemy need kill them twice(minimum).
BTW Pliers should be great for barbarian. You are free. You can hit and run. Killed enemies strenghten your ranks.

[StClair]

Great comic.

To me, those last few panels say:
"A terrible thing has been brought into this world. Now evil will sweep across this land. And it's all because of you. Well done."

[BillyJimBoBob]

I find no fault in the Arkentools giving unmitigated boons: because they are divine, gods are all about unfair; and hell, the real world is all kinds of unfair, why would an alternate universe be any different just because it looks like a game to us?

[My bolds] Niven (I think it's Niven) has a quote which applies here: "The gods may answer your prayer. Or they may answer your enemies prayer. But they will always answer their own prayer."

Ok, now we can find out what the full powers of an archon are-- by asking one.

That would be too easy. I predict we'll never be told all up front, because all the GK folks will just know and won't need to discuss it amongst themselves. They may drop hints here and there as the need arises.

My theory is that they're under Unsom's command right now since he gives a higher bonus and is currently commanding them to gather for a speech.

No. Newsom is a Warlord. And the higher ranking units aren't jumping in to form up the new troops. It's only natural that he step in and pick up these kinds of duties, but that doesn't mean that Parson isn't the one in charge here as the Chief Warlord and ranking unit in the hex/city.

Also, it's interesting to see that Parson is sad for the impossibility to Decrypt Bogroll... this could means that the "ruthlessness", ends with the combat?

Parson is still ruthless, but that doesn't mean that he can't show feeling. Go back and look at his face in the panel after he told Bogroll that his mission was to stay with Maggy and do what she told him to do. Parson had already arranged the veiling of Bogroll for the ambush on Ansom, and he was Not A Happy Camper About It(tm). That is ruthlessness, doing what is needed despite your feelings.

======================================

On to the "The Arkenpliers are broken" argument discussion.

The Arkenpliers are not game breaking. And I don't care how powerful they are shown to be. They are powerful, and there is no denying that. They have a potent function in the decrypt ability, and lots of speculative uses for that potent function have been pointed out.

But that's in a vacuum. Power is measured against power, and we don't know who the Big Bad is for Book 2. Until we see who stands opposed, all that can be said is that GK is no longer weak compared to the forces we knew about. GK had been reduced to about 2 dozen units, tops, and a single city. Any sizable force would have overrun them with ease. Oh, they could just do the trimancer link again? Sure. That works until an opponent sends two or more forces with enough distance between them that the second is waiting for you to arrive when you take the portal back from the MK. And how often will the MK casters be willing to unravel your trimancer link for free? Or hold off on killing Parson outright for daring to return after his poor reception of the first visit?

So what we have now is a GK side with a single city but also with an army large enough to theoretically keep from being wiped out by any other side which decides to send an army their way.

And the rest remains to be seen, including the evaluation of just how powerful GK/Wanda/the Arkenpliers is/are in relation to whatever forces become arrayed against it in Book 2.

[BLANDCorporatio]

On to the "The Arkenpliers are broken" argument discussion.

*at the Argument clinic*

"The Arkenpliers are not overpowered."
"Uh, yes, they are."
"No they're not."
"Yes they are."
"No they're not!"
etc etc ...

[Gamebird]

I'm so happy to see so many updates and have so many questions answered.

The arkenpliers are awfully powerful, but I have faith in the author/artist that the story will remain awesome even if the protagonist has a bazooka added to his quiver.

[Name Lips]

Heyyy, nice page.

I really like the stewardess hat on the skull logo on the decrypted archon's skirt.

Also, I really wonder what's going to happen when Stanley gets back. I'm beginning to believe that Wanda is completely autonomous and she is in the middle of making her own army, to be controlled and led by her. The skull logo, which seems to be hers, seems to confirm that.

So that makes me wonder because Parson is under Stanley's control, since he's his perfect warlord. Will Parson be forced to act against Wanda under orders from Stanley because Wanda's army is not under control by Stanley and Stanley is the type of guy who likes control (and owning arkentools)? If that is the case, why did Ansom state that he will act as Parson's captain. He must be able to see whether or not a unit is a member of his own side.
If they ARE on the same side, why do these unit not have Parson's logo, the hamstard? All the other uncroaked units so far have.

I do not think that is the case. After all, when Wanda uncroaked the Jetstone troops they displayed the Hamster logo, and this DID mean that they were under his command. However, it did NOT mean that Parson was an independent agent.

At this point I'm inclined to believe that the skulls indicate that they are under Wanda's command, but I have no reason to believe that this means she's somehow no longer loyal to Stanley.

[fractal]

I do not think that is the case. After all, when Wanda uncroaked the Jetstone troops they displayed the Hamster logo, and this DID mean that they were under his command. However, it did NOT mean that Parson was an independent agent.

At this point I'm inclined to believe that the skulls indicate that they are under Wanda's command, but I have no reason to believe that this means she's somehow no longer loyal to Stanley.

Yeah, there's a good chance that Wanda can just choose the livery. Before, uncroaking was possible because Parson's strategy had tricked the troops into the tunnels, and then croaked them all. "Parson is awesome!".

This time, Wanda is decrypting the fallen masses because after ages of waiting, she finally acquired the Arkenpliers. "I'm awesome!"

[Anias]

...The pliers are more of an underdog weapon in some ways. The enemy will have the heavier hitters, but if you can survive that and win, all of a sudden you have them as well. And as long as you keep winning, then the stronger the forces you throw against the pliers, the stronger the plier-wielder becomes.

Good point. They follow the same principle as a counter-puncher in boxing: you can floor your opponent if you can survive his hits...but you have to get hit first. Wanda can't decrypt anything without corpses, and she's going to need to fight (and thus lose units) to get corpses. While it might be a good trade if she can sacrifice a couple dozen weak units to get a powerful one, it usually means that she gains only a small number of troops (I'm assuming that decrypted can't be redecrypted, and that croaked uncroaked troops cannot be decrypted - the first would be a cheap cop-out and the second pointless because the uncroaked are mindless).

...For each wild dwagon they get Stanley to, they get a dwagon. I don't know if the costs or upkeep of dwagons has been mentioned, but it's safe to assume that it doesn't cost anything to tame it at least. The upkeep is low or nonexistant enough for Stanley to keep a large number of dwagons despite his financial troubles...

It's likely that Stanley's dwagons have NO upkeep. First, it appears that Stanley, Wanda, and Charlie, the 3 attuned wielders, can create large forces of arkenunits without any serious money problems. Second, Ansom (I think it's Ansom...) points out that "As long as Stanley wields the Hammer, the Dwagons will defend him to the death." That's a far cry from "As long as Stanley keeps paying them, the Dwagons will defend him to the death." Stanley, as much as he loves his dwagons (and as much as he loves his money), would be a little more cautious about trying to pop new ones (like the blue that just appeared) if his already-near-empty treasury was being drained by the upkeep of dozens of extremely powerful units.

[Bookkeeper@Arms]

Lamech: You asked why Parson didn't stay in the Magic Kingdom. It's because as soon as he woke up, they ordered him to leave. Maggie stated that the MK "isn't a place for Warlords". I assume that the MK operates as a true neutral by never going to war and providing services to everyone else (a sort of magical Switzerland).

I'm still wondering - if Archons can be raised with their powers intact (the decrypted Archon was glowing and floating), then can casters? Like Misty and all those Healers in the RCC forces? And exactly how will the Magic Kingdom deal with that little fact? In our world, Magic Kingdoms are very touchy about their copyrights and perceived property being messed with by anyone. How's Erfworld's MK going to accept decrypted casters who owe their loyalty to someone besides the MK?

Still waiting to see if Stanley will go all Emperor Constantine on Parson.

[Mentok]

I see the use of having Wanda near the hex of conquest to decrypt as a risky gamble. Far safer it is to have your conquering side simply ship any croaked back to the defended capital.

As for 'neutrality' in Magic Kingdom, casters show an obvious fealty to their leader like any other unit, and not the MK. It just happens to be a massive and exclusive neutral ground, and if it's not a place for warlords, it's likely because Parson is not a caster and his continued existence poses a threat to the status quo while he's there.

[Doran]

I'm seeing a lot of interesting theories being generated in this thread and others, but in a month or two they'll be good as dead. So, to remedy this:

If you have an interesting theory, please post it to the wiki!

Seriously, there's tons of space, and resources on the comic itself, take
Word of the Titans: An ongoing collection of Jamie and Rob's erf posts.

There's also a page by page annotation project and even one for panel by panel!

[Lamech]

I'm lost. No one knew that Wanda would attune to the pliers or what the effect would be. I assume that Wanda intuited or was somehow taught how to decrypt once she did attune but doubt that she had any inkling of their power before that.

I'm talking from a writing perspective. Why would they have Parson be special and casterish. They had him spend two strips in the magic kingdom; no real reason, and violating the sanctity of it. He could have been decrypted, or just plain not been killed by falling rubble; parts of the portal room where intact. I just think that therefore Parson entering the magic kingdom had importance to the story. I could be reading too much into it, but smaller details have become important.

And the pliers having unlimited juice? That puts a new spin on the Van de Graff. I think Stanley may be able to spam it. Very painful.

[Bogardan_Mage]

They are harder to pierce when there's no one left in the hex to do the piercing. Plus, since there'd be no one left to retaliate, you don't risk Wanda being attacked, and there's a good chance she's not spotted by units further away. That's the idea.

Right. So you're assuming that Gobwin Knob will win every battle they fight from now on. Your argument basically hinges off this. So if they are unable to win every battle (because, for instance, they're only decrypting bloody marbits) the pliers will be basically useless?

Because, somehow, it seems both unlikely and unsatisfying. I have a fear that if the Pliers get nerfed in the following strip, there'd be some kind of rushed-balanced feeling to it.

Disallowing multiple decrypts of a single unit is one suggestion I and others have put forth, and it doesn't feel like "rushed-balance" to me. It's not something that could be shown yet, is it? There have been other suggestions. You have made no effort to comment on these. You seem to mistake not acting on information we do not yet have with assuming it doesn't exist.

Nope, not invincible. Recycled. It makes all the difference, because in so being they are dirt cheap, expendable, and immensely annoying to be on the business end of.

Again, not if they can only be decrypted once.

It looks like a (too) good idea to me because you can swell your ranks for no expense easily against whatever neutral units or small sides happen to be in the neighbourhood. Heck, with its new army which is almost all of RCC (considered a large force when in its prime), GK can mount conventional strikes too. But it doesn't need to limit itself to this anymore.

Nitpick: it's not the entire RCC. We don't know how many corpses were fit for decryption, but Bogroll demonstrates that it's not all of them. I rather imagine that Gobwin Knob will have exactly as many as the plot requires.

If they are defending, and it is GK's turn on the attack, I don't think this will work. Unless the other sides start strapping dynamite to their troops.

Then that's what they'll do. If you can make cheesy strategies so can your enemies.

Confusion is not lack of units. I say confusion because everyone in RCC thought they had the conflict in the bag, and in the end they lost everything. It would make everyone wonder what exactly happened there. It would make them interested in finding out, true ... Maybe, just maybe, also suspicious of others as well.

Nobody will attack Stanley while they have even a suspicion that he will be able to obliterate the attacking force again.

With that I will agree. But failing to attack Stanley does not mean Stanley can easily conquer all of them. These are powerful sides, their capitals are likely to be heavily defended, especially if they chose not to go back on the offensive.

[eminence_grise]

If you want my guess, I'm thinking that decrypted units turn to dust when croaked. Somewhat in keeping with the pliers' prior effect on uncroaked.

[MadScientistMat]

I do not think that is the case. After all, when Wanda uncroaked the Jetstone troops they displayed the Hamster logo, and this DID mean that they were under his command. However, it did NOT mean that Parson was an independent agent.

At this point I'm inclined to believe that the skulls indicate that they are under Wanda's command, but I have no reason to believe that this means she's somehow no longer loyal to Stanley.

I think the reason the uncroaked wore the Hamster logo was a completely different reason: to avoid tipping off the RCC about their plot. After all, Charlie controlled their airspace and it's possible some direct RCC units could see into the city too. And if they'd noticed that just Parson and Bogroll were wearing the Hamster logo, they might have suspected what would happen. But with everyone wearing the Hamster logo, it's easier to dismiss it as just a uniform.

[ishnar]

I think the reason the uncroaked wore the Hamster logo was a completely different reason: to avoid tipping off the RCC about their plot.

So you're saying that if they looked down on the city and saw only Parson and Bogroll wearing Parson's arms they would have suspected Parson was going to blow up the volcano?

That's just ridiculous. Sorry, but it is. The truth is, if parson put up a big sign saying, "If you attack we'll blow up the volcano." Ansom would have laughed, said "Yea, Right!" and attacked.

Saying that it protected Bogroll's attack is also no go. Bogroll wasn't chosen because he wore Parson's uniform, he was chosen for being Parson's size. They could have made any unit look like Parson in uniform, but if they were the wrong size, there might be problems with their motions not matching the apparent form.

Ansom isn't the type to suspect treachery when he's holding all the cards and Parson knew it.

[Natio]

BLANDCorporatio you create scenarios that would with the use of the pliers create advantages for gobwin knob. Based only on what you think the pliers might be able to do and yet you do not accept the argument from others that the hammer and pliers might have more powers available to them because we haven't seen them do it yet.

All your strategies require either a suposed fear of the dirtamancy trap, a decent amount of barbarians easily findable or that you can decrypt in a hex that has your enemy in it.

With a dirtamancy trap as the RCC saw it you'd need to have the dirtamancer in the hex/es setting up the trap so I don't think people are worried about their own mountains blowing up. With the barbarians Julian is the only one we have seen so far and because barbarians are without a city they'd be hard to pin down easily. Lookamancy works with checking a hex and expending juice. They might be able to get a whole lot of hexes checked but it isn't a point and click solution. We also haven't seen wanda uncroak anything in a hex that her side controlled and with how decrypting works so slowly it might make it obvious to anyone in the hex. So to take a large hex gobwin knob needs to throw everything it has at it and then decrypt everything and hope killed decrypted can be raised again.