Erfworld, The Thread.

[Killer Angel]

I think Marie is misinterpreting her prediction; she's obviously now realised that Wanda is going to be Faq's downfall, but assumes this will happen while she's still "employed" by Haffaton.

Interesting point. Yes, it could be very well true.
Or, even better, Wanda will be Faq's downfall, but given that now she's an Haffaton's caster, the prediction shows Haffaton.
aka: Wanda will be the Fate's instrument, but the prediction isn't so accurate to distinguish between the instrument and the Side this instrument is actually working for.

[Killer Angel]

Stupid forum glitches... I cannot see my previous post so I cannot edit it to add this.

No, I think it's because of Fate. Specifically, the fact that it's real and works despite any efforts to change it.

What I think might change your opinion, which we have yet to see, is a side with a powerful predictamancer, some major Fate involvement, and a ruler who truly believes in it all and works specifically to get the best outcome possible within the Fate constraints available.

It could be. When I'll see a faithful predictamancer, and a positive outcome, I'll buy it.
For now, I perceive the attitude they show, as something like "I won't tell you all I know, but only what I think it's best for you to know".
(note that this may or may not be true, but still it's my feeling on the matter)
This kind of "half truth" is possible, given that casters have some free will between the boundaries of their Duty (including Maggie casting a suggestion on Stanley to promote Parson).

[ChowGuy]

The only thing that occurs to me is that Jillian's plan is carried out and succeeds, so Faq take out Haffaton and thus "inherit" their casters.

I was thinking something alomg the same lines, as it would solve another nagging problem that's been bothering me, namely with Haffaton gobbling up kingdoms all around, how did GK manage to gain the position it once had? The FAQ court might go for knocking off Haffaton's capital, but not for "running it as a traditional side." They'd rather want to stay low I should think.

But that would leave a lot of barabarian cities around that someone else in the area - say Saline/Stanley - would be free to grab. In which case the raid on Haffaton would indeed have set up the scenario for FAQ's fall.

But are Sagan's plan and Marie's plan the same one?

We don't know, but there's no reason to presume they couldn't be. After all, for all we know Sagan may very well be a FAQ refugee as well. It only been suggested (here, not in canon) that Sagan's plan has anything to do with the downfall of Charlie.

The big problem that I would see, if New FAQ is the goal, is that when we last saw Jillian she was hardly inclined to accede to Banhammer's wishes that she stay true to his principles. And that may be where "the plan's gone wrong already."

[Killer Angel]

Poor Angels...

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But the taunt with the Hahaha carpet, was a masterpiece!

[MReav]

Wait, does the Dittomancer's attitude imply that it's the duplicate that survived? I wonder what the implication of that is.

[NEO|Phyte]

Wait, does the Dittomancer's attitude imply that it's the duplicate that survived? I wonder what the implication of that is.

Considering that lloyd was trying to tell him to wait, I suspect part of it is that the duplicate was finished very close to the regedit. Plus I suspect that even if you know he's doubled and thus safe, watching your king fall can be unsettling.

[Mobius Twist]

7 dead archons, at least on screen since the last book ended. One by Cubbins' spell, the others by arrows from the tower or king's scepter ("pewpew").

I thought that Jetstone needed 16 thousand to designate an heir - if so they got more than that in just this short engagement by way of Charlie's bounty.

No matter if the king lives or not, I'm assuming designating Tremennis heir would be a fairly instant "I am the king, I will it so" thing whether or not he's around to receive the honor. We saw Stanely get marked heir designate in a ceremony, but I assume that's not 100% necessary.

[Yana]

Wasn't Wanda declared overlord of Goodminton seconds before its destruction at the hands of Haffaton? Considering she was in the field at the time of her "promotion", I'd say the ceremony was completely unnecessary.

[Douglas]

Also, remember Parson's "I hereby promote myself to field unit. ... Wow, the stairs just got easier!" Oh, and his promotion of a bunch of units to heavies in the recent battle to force landing out of turn.

Any requirement for such promotions is limited to a declaration by someone who has the authority for it, and possibly some form of notification to the recipient of the promotion. I suspect the latter part is optional, though.

What's really uncertain here is whether Charlie's bounty processing is automatic or they'll have to call him up again to inform him of the slain archons and collect the money.

[Stegyre]

What's really uncertain here is whether Charlie's bounty processing is automatic or they'll have to call him up again to inform him of the slain archons and collect the money.

One sort of suspects that, in Erfworld, contracts are self-enforcing: if Charlie agreed to pay you x schmuckers for each archon downed and you then downed 6 archons, 6x schmuckers would automatically transfer from his treasury to yours.

(Query what would happen if a side entered into a deal that would bankrupt it. That's a question for another day. Maybe such deals are simply impossible.)

[Killer Angel]

One sort of suspects that, in Erfworld, contracts are self-enforcing: if Charlie agreed to pay you x schmuckers for each archon downed and you then downed 6 archons, 6x schmuckers would automatically transfer from his treasury to yours.

The "automatic payment" theory, could be supported by this hypothesis of contract.

[Stegyre]

The "automatic payment" theory, could be supported by this hypothesis of contract.

That is the sort of thing I was thinking about. Clearly, sides do not take each other to court to enforce their agreements. (There is no such court.) So enforcement must happen automatically.

[Miklus]

Todays update was just...shocking. And funny in an I'm-ashamed-to-be-laughing-at-this kind of way.

[Poil]

The more I learn about Faq the less I care that it was destroyed.

[Killer Angel]

eh... a tea set can be pretty dangerous in the right hands.

[Stegyre]

Todays update was just...shocking. And funny in an I'm-ashamed-to-be-laughing-at-this kind of way.

I suspect this is just the sort of thing that shockamancers are known for.

[Radar]

I suspect this is just the sort of thing that shockamancers are known for.

Considering the incantation that Sizemore used, it might be the case.

[Thalnawr]

Wait, does the Dittomancer's attitude imply that it's the duplicate that survived? I wonder what the implication of that is.

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Today's page seems to show exactly that...

[Stegyre]

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Wow! That's positively spooky: isn't that one of the Magic Kingdom thinkamancers in panel 9, suddenly in place of the dittomancer??

[HandofShadows]

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Bat in last panel! And yeah looks like it's the copy that survived. That does raise a few questions though.

[NEO|Phyte]

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Wow! That's positively spooky: isn't that one of the Magic Kingdom thinkamancers in panel 9, suddenly in place of the dittomancer??

That's the healamancer.

[Thalnawr]

That's the healamancer.

Lloyd's the dittomancer, you're thinking of Pierce.

[Miklus]

Yeah, I think Slately just bought it and they are all too polite to tell him. Both the dittomancer and Pierce the healomancer knows, I suspect. Ace...maybe not.

"Slately" just might dissapear at the end of this round... They better get Trammenis promoted to heir post haste.

It looks to me like Slately, double or not, does have some leadership after all.

And Pierce the healomancer was there all along, maybe you are thinking of that doctor Who lookalike from the magic kingdom?

[Stegyre]

That's the healamancer.

Ah, I think you are right: there he is again in panel 4. I stand corrected.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Alright, so just having finished the entire archives (except for book 0. I actually read Book 1 on this site a while ago, but didn't really pick up the interest to read past that, even though it was great), I have some thoughts.

Characters are nice. Parson is an excellent warlord, being able to think outside the box since he comes from a world with different rules and doesn't have the same attitude towards Erf's rules as the rest of the people there.

I liked Artemis' story, but then, that's because archery is one of my two favorite types of combat, and I like rebellious nobles too.

Ace Hardware is definitely one of my favorite characters. As opposed to most magic worlds, where technology seems stagnant, he's an inventor, and a caster to boot! Didn't really like that he turned the royal scepter into a phaser though, there are surely more subtle ways of implementing the ability to shoot lasers.

Cubbins' sacrifice felt a little forced. Seriously, giving his life for a few archers? AND letting a unipegataur fly away riderless, saving one less person? But it was still good enough not to create any big plot holes, and his final trick was great.

Dittomancers have some cool powers. That is all.

The art style has definitely improved.

It would be great if someone (after the comic is completed, so it wouldn't cut into the updates) could approach Rob to create the game. I'd love to play this, since if it were a "buy the D&D-style books, use coins/paper with symbols/cardboard tokens to mark units", it would be a lot cheaper than Warhammer.

[Gez]

It would be great if someone (after the comic is completed, so it wouldn't cut into the updates) could approach Rob to create the game. I'd love to play this, since if it were a "buy the D&D-style books, use coins/paper with symbols/cardboard tokens to mark units", it would be a lot cheaper than Warhammer.

Dunno, I have a feeling Rob would devise a system to make it a lot more expensive than Warhammer. But maybe I'm just too cynical about a man who thought it'd be a good idea to label paying fans his "tools", start a kickstarter for some pie-in-the-sky projects that are tangentially related to the comic at best, and ban everybody who wondered why the promised updates weren't coming anymore. Maybe.

[Radar]

(...) Didn't really like that he turned the royal scepter into a phaser though, there are surely more subtle ways of implementing the ability to shoot lasers. (...)

It was mostly to complete the reference to Mars Attacks (compare king's outfit and face paint to the martian ambassador).

[Stegyre]

Cubbins' sacrifice felt a little forced. Seriously, giving his life for a few archers? AND letting a unipegataur fly away riderless, saving one less person? But it was still good enough not to create any big plot holes, and his final trick was great.

I read it as 3 unipegataurs (for Slately, Ace and Cubbins). Ace took his; Slately did not need his (got a flying special); and Cubbins seated one archer each on his and Slately's, so no empty Unis.

I don't think I could point to documentation, but I had understood the reason for his sacrifice to be that archers would be more useful in a fight than a Hat Magician. A caster is probably a more valuable unit in the long term, but his particularly specialty may not have been as useful as a humble archer in the short term. If this short term failed, there would be no long term.

Cubbins' sacrifice worked for me. The Jetstone side is full of pompous prigs, but they also have units that really do embody their high ideals. Cubbins is presented as one of them.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Dunno, I have a feeling Rob would devise a system to make it a lot more expensive than Warhammer. But maybe I'm just too cynical about a man who thought it'd be a good idea to label paying fans his "tools", start a kickstarter for some pie-in-the-sky projects that are tangentially related to the comic at best, and ban everybody who wondered why the promised updates weren't coming anymore. Maybe.

Yeah, maybe.

And the promised updates did come. June 6th, just like he said. If I hadn't come into the game so late, and I wanted to join another forum just to make one post before I got deleted, I would've told him that he was going too far. That he was stressed, and his brain was filtering all complaints as personal attacks. And that he should just leave the forums until it was time for an update, because at least then he could have time to cool off, rather than turn into King Banhammer.

But it might be a good idea just to ask him if we can do it on our own instead. Or even just make one without his permission in the Homebrew section, since I don't really think any of us who are interested don't want to make it for the money anyway. A great writer doesn't necessarily make a great game dev, and it could have balance issues if Rob made it.


As for the archers being more valuable than Cubbins, the rabid bunnies he pulled out of his hat were pretty strong. Compare that to two archers. Of course, if they were high enough level, than they might've been more useful.

[NEO|Phyte]

As for the archers being more valuable than Cubbins, the rabid bunnies he pulled out of his hat were pretty strong. Compare that to two archers. Of course, if they were high enough level, than they might've been more useful.

They were powerful aye, but that'll happen when a caster novas their juice.