Erfworld Thread III: As the Erf Turns

[Gez]

Either way, Charlie very well knows what a 'wizard' is, even if he doesn't pick up on the HP reference.

According to this site, "U mad bro" became memetic after 2003. "You're a wizard, Harry" appears in the first Harry Potter book, The Philosopher's Stone, published 1997 and adapted to movie in 2001.

It's highly improbable Charlie would not know about Harry Potter.

[HalfTangible]

According to this site, "U mad bro" became memetic after 2003. "You're a wizard, Harry" appears in the first Harry Potter book, The Philosopher's Stone, published 1997 and adapted to movie in 2001.

It's highly improbable Charlie would not know about Harry Potter.

There are people who haven't seen Star Wars in the world, and plenty who haven't read the HP books or seen the movies in full. It's perfectly plausible Charlie wouldn't know about one specific line in one of the Harry Potter movies.

[Porthos]

There are people who haven't seen Star Wars in the world, and plenty who haven't read the HP books or seen the movies in full. It's perfectly plausible Charlie wouldn't know about one specific line in one of the Harry Potter movies.

It's one of the more famous lines from Harry Potter, though. Quoted lots and lots of times on the web, amongst other places.

Let me put it this way. Any time I start to type in a phrase into Google and I get 'meme' at the end of it as a suggestion, I think it is fair game.

And both 'Yer a wizard, Harry' and 'You're a wizard, Harry' have meme attached at the end as the either the first or second suggestion. For US Google at least.

[Bird]

Warning: big spoiler about a future plot point that Rob revealed a long while back...

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I'm sure this has been discussed to death, but --we know that Rob plans to bring Parson's real-world friends into the story, yeah? Maybe one of them is already there, talking to Charlie, giving him modern lingo.

[raymundo]

It's one of the more famous lines from Harry Potter, though. Quoted lots and lots of times on the web, amongst other places.

Let me put it this way. Any time I start to type in a phrase into Google and I get 'meme' at the end of it as a suggestion, I think it is fair game.

And both 'Yer a wizard, Harry' and 'You're a wizard, Harry' have meme attached at the end as the either the first or second suggestion. For US Google at least.

Im pretty fluent in internet memes, and yet I didnt know it was a meme. Though wizard and Harry made the reference pretty obvious..

(also, I have neither rewd the books nor seen the movies)

[TheEmerged]

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Okay, am I making overmuch of the detail, or do we see the GK archons walking around in the formation there?

[EnragedFilia]

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It could be worse. He could have called Charlie a Wizzard. Then we'd never figure out all the potential strategic implications!

[Aquillion]

Charlie insisted that Parson was worth everything Jetstone paid to capture or kill him, and failed to explain that, and Parson got away anyway. So Tramennis isn't seeing too much bang for his buck here. Trem's claiming "breach of contract" and Charlie doesn't have too much room to talk without divulging a lot of secrets for free.

Also, it's entirely reasonable for Tramennis to believe that Parson is not a priority target from Jetstone's perspective -- in fact, there's no reason to think that removing him from the field would have helped Jetstone in the short term, and it might not even help in the long term. (Gobwin Knob is entirely capable of crushing Jetstone with conventional tactics, and without Parson on the field Charlie has no real reason to oppose them the way he has. So if Parson died in this fight, it might not have helped and could have actually made Jetstone's position worse, because Charlie would back out with his objective accomplished.)

Charlie was fixated on Parson because of his fears of what Parson could do to Charlie, not to Jetstone. Tramennis' suspicions that they were played are at least partially accurate.


EDIT: Also, regarding the latest update: I'm surprised Parson didn't just do the prediction for "How would the battle have gone if Jetstone didn't personally use a giant spell?" (Which would be 100% because Jetstone itself didn't use any giant spell, meaning removing it wouldn't change the numbers.) Charlie's equivocation meant that he could interpret the request either way, forcing Charlie to waste a calculation.

[reignofevil]

I don't often weigh in on the actual story of Erfworld since I was called a piece of good tissue that was ripped out of the community with the cancerous tissue the flair for speculation kinda died in me.

But I do recall arguing as far back as part one of book two that Parson needed to just immediately make his next move on Charlie as soon as this bothersome affair at the bridge was completed. My reasoning was; and stands at; Charlie has basically no income; he has to sacrifice the actions of his units for the battles of others at various contract levels simply because he chose to be a one city side with no warlords. Every single turn he drops 200-500 schmuckers for every single archon*; and without a turnamancer he can't even get more than one out on a per turn basis. His whole economy is based on being neutral enough and imposing enough that merely the threat of him sending a mass of Archons at your capital and croaking you gets you to do his bidding; because as Parson was the only person who actually knew; if he actually had to DO it more than once in a blue moon his whole profit plan in that sector would collapse. Other things that keep him solvent include not often caring about an outcome beyond ensuring he remains loyal to the side who contacts him; and the sheer scope of this operation keeps anyone from seeing the whole picture while they pay.

*A reeeeealy rough number for his upkeep would be like 211,750 Schmuckers per turn; depends on if he has mostly crappy archons or a 50/50 mix or mostly good archons YMMV

Keep in mind that his archon army is expanding which means that this is an expanding problem as he is forced to dedicate at minimum the majority of his newly popped archons to the ever expanding warzone of Erf simply to continue increasing the number of archons that he can pop. He is playing a very dangerous balancing act.

Which means that if you had some ability to continue to threaten him in spite of terrible losses (Decryption); the ability to bear the financial burden (GK gem reserves; Decryption; Dragon Taming (maybe not while at war with Charlie at second thought!), then you could likely bankrupt him and simply by forcing him to defend a capital under siege you could probably starve out his defenders without even taking the walls.

Now admittedly Charlie has a few obvious points in his favor; Arkendish, "Murderous defenses" and that he damn well won't just let himself be starved by an army; he would be able to work out the best odds would be to just rush with his archons and hope he happens to win before a single turn of siege happened. But still these numbers are sound.

Now I admit; I am not watching Rob's stupid video; so I don't know what happened beyond that apparently Charlie got a lot of archons together to finally do some business.

Well I say; best of luck to Charlie because the economics of this fight have never been less in his favor; and that is even BEFORE Parson actually starts trying to be clever.

http://www.erfworld.com/summer-updat...lustration.png

[HandofShadows]

Sorry, going after Charlie right after the bridge would have been suicide. The forces we see would have still been guarding Charlie and Parson would have been walking into very advanced and heavy defenses with zip in the way of intel.

[reignofevil]

Correct me if I am wrong but we are still within a few turns of the end of the bridge engagement correct? As to the defenses; I reiterate that the normal course of popping units; decryption; and the massive amounts of cash they have to sustain both would be more than enough to grind any defenses down. I dunno I will retract if Rob gets around to putting the text of this thing up.

[Landis963]

Also, Charlie's a Carnymancer - a caster. Dollars to donuts he's got a portal he can dodge through once things go south. And if Parson uses it as a way in, Archons can cast any number of things Charlie can use to maneuver. And the Arkendish is still largely a mystery.

EDIT: not to mention the remaining calculations Parson's obligated to give him. And several other tricks I'm sure I'm forgetting.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Actually, I'm wondering if the best move Parson has at the moment is to use his allied Thinkamancer cabal to just call up every Ruler, Chief Warlord and Chief Caster and say 'You know what? Charlie's a carnymancer. Trust him if you dare!' and wait for one of his main revenue streams (mercenary work) so start thinning out.

[Anteros]

Actually, I'm wondering if the best move Parson has at the moment is to use his allied Thinkamancer cabal to just call up every Ruler, Chief Warlord and Chief Caster and say 'You know what? Charlie's a carnymancer. Trust him if you dare!' and wait for one of his main revenue streams (mercenary work) so start thinning out.

Seems a good idea in theory, but I'm not sure Parson has much credibility with the people he's at war with and has lied to multiple times before. He'd be better served by "leaking" the information out there, and letting it get back to them without them knowing he's the source.

[Landis963]

Seems a good idea in theory, but I'm not sure Parson has much credibility with the people he's at war with and has lied to multiple times before. He'd be better served by "leaking" the information out there, and letting it get back to them without them knowing he's the source.

Who exactly has he lied to? Ansom & Vinny ("I'll go down to my secret allies in your coalition."). Ansom again during the false surrender ploy. Tramennis and Slately by pretending to go along with the parley. Jetstone, Transylvito, Jetstone, Jetstone, and Jetstone. If anything, Parson's exploits (uncroaking the volcano, the food fight, escaping an inferno with no move, getting infantry into the Magic Kingdom) would give him the image of a very potent ally. Furthermore, Wanda's been more damaging to Gobwin Knob's credibility than Parson, IMO.

[Radar]

Seems a good idea in theory, but I'm not sure Parson has much credibility with the people he's at war with and has lied to multiple times before. He'd be better served by "leaking" the information out there, and letting it get back to them without them knowing he's the source.

That's why the Thinkamancers would distribute the information instead of Parson. They do have more credibility.

[Miklus]

Actually, I'm wondering if the best move Parson has at the moment is to use his allied Thinkamancer cabal to just call up every Ruler, Chief Warlord and Chief Caster and say 'You know what? Charlie's a carnymancer. Trust him if you dare!' and wait for one of his main revenue streams (mercenary work) so start thinning out.

I think it would be better for Parson to build on what the late king Slately said and claim to have an holy allience with Charlie. State that the Arkentools are proof of a Titanic mandate and that with all three Akentools on the same side, the Gobwin Knob - CharlesComm allience will rule the world! People would stop hirering Charlie in disgust and his side would collapse economically.

[Avaris]

Non-video version of the page is up... video itself seems to have disappeared, which is a shame as I wanted to compare the two.

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I'm sure that in the video the Archons at the end were red, which confused me (as that implied they were decrypted). Was going to point it out, but decided to wait for the actual image to go up. As it is, I think they've been corrected to blue: art boop-up originally!

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Non-video version of the page is up... video itself seems to have disappeared, which is a shame as I wanted to compare the two.

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I'm sure that in the video the Archons at the end were red, which confused me (as that implied they were decrypted). Was going to point it out, but decided to wait for the actual image to go up. As it is, I think they've been corrected to blue: art boop-up originally!

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When I watched the video, they were definately blue.

[Landis963]

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When I watched the video, they were definately blue.

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The Archons were blue with a red outline in the video, which is where the confusion sprang from.

[Kalrany]

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The Archons were blue with a red outline in the video, which is where the confusion sprang from.

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I also wondered the same thing. My recollection had a red glow from somewhere, which is likely where the confusion came from. Likely was changed for that very reason. Thanks!

[HandofShadows]

Non-video version of the page is up... video itself seems to have disappeared, which is a shame as I wanted to compare the two.

Video is back. Might have removed it to fix is a bit then reuploaded.

[MReav]

Retconjuration in action.

[Porthos]

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As I get a better look at the last picture now that it's not in video form, am I the only one getting something of a TRON vibe off of the Archon scene?

Maybe it's the glowing blue outline and the architecture of the buildings that is putting me in that frame of mind.

[XanKrieger]

Soo, any conversation on the incredibly advanced tech that CharlesComm seems to have. Specifically the fact that some of the Archons seem to be holding guns.

[Landis963]

Soo, any conversation on the incredibly advanced tech that CharlesComm seems to have. Specifically the fact that some of the Archons seem to be holding guns.

I'm thinking Dollamancy/[insert Naughtymancy school here] link-up. Dollymancy to create the guns, Naughtymancy to provide, well, stopping power. My guess is Dollamancy/Shockmancy, although you'd think those would provide laser guns or something.

[XanKrieger]

I'm thinking Dollamancy/[insert Naughtymancy school here] link-up. Dollymancy to create the guns, Naughtymancy to provide, well, stopping power. My guess is Dollamancy/Shockmancy, although you'd think those would provide laser guns or something.

It probably does shoot lasers, with the clip loading being mostly symbolic and giving CharlesComm the Stars Wars stormtrooper feel.

[Legato Endless]

It probably does shoot lasers, with the clip loading being mostly symbolic and giving CharlesComm the Stars Wars stormtrooper feel.

I just hope the archons themselves don't start to embody the cannon fodder archetype. There's a real danger of that plotwise since we should be seeing them in mass groups fighting in book 3.

[Killer Angel]

I just hope the archons themselves don't start to embody the cannon fodder archetype.

Yep, that would be really disappointing.
Of course, there's the fact that an archon's effective abilities, depend from the power it's given to it by Charlie (how much the client has paid for).
This could means that Charlie got to spend resources to give all those archons full powers, and probably this is not possible.

[Landis963]

Yep, that would be really disappointing.
Of course, there's the fact that an archon's effective abilities, depend from the power it's given to it by Charlie (how much the client has paid for).
This could means that Charlie got to spend resources to give all those archons full powers, and probably this is not possible.

I thought it was essentially random which Archons got which powers (i.e. Fate-run). Now Charlie could probably hack that given his area of expertise, but we don't know for certain.