Erfworld 115, Page 103

[SteveMB]

Oh, I'll bet he's glad that she doesn't laugh.

I sure did... I mean, really, he should have seen that coming....

[GryffonDurime]

Well, brightside: Charlie now has a vested interest in Parson's personal survival if he wants all his Mathamancy done.

[OctaviusIII]

I'm a bit confused, though: was Wanda going to go out to Stanley to reinforce him from the onslaught of next turn? Or did Charlie capture him, and she was going to rescue him from Charlie?

[Oracle_Hunter]

Man, that Charlie is a wheeler-dealer!

For everyone's reference: How Duty Works

I wonder how many extra Archons he'd need... and whether Wanda's forces were already in those calculations?

EDIT:
Charlie hasn't done anything yet - it's not Transylvio's turn yet, because Parson hasn't acted yet. Wanda realized that Stanley was in trouble because Jillian told her so. Since Wanda is also from FAQ she probably knows all about the choke-point too.

[SteveMB]

That "Can we please talk about strategy?" question sounded familiar.

[Lamech]

I wonder how many extra Archons he'd need... and whether Wanda's forces were already in those calculations?

I'm guessing no, and just having any airforce probably helps; those archers get to attack, the archons. All Parson has too do is move the airforce to the oppisite side of the hex, as the Archons enter, and the archons have to fly across the hex and then all the way to the garrison tripling the free shots the archers get.

[Oracle_Hunter]

That "Can we please talk about strategy?" question sounded familiar.

Jamie is clearly a fan of the Ironic Echo

[Frosty]

I love the artwork in panel 3.

[FoE]

Interesting twist, but I don't Charlie is going to invade Gobwin Knob. To what benefit is it to him? More likely he's just doing to screw with Parson.

Charlie is Erfworld's version of a Magnificent Bastard.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Interesting twist, but I don't Charlie is going to invade Gobwin Knob. To what benefit is it to him? More likely he's just doing to screw with Parson.

What benefit? He can capture Parson while the rest of Ansom's troops are getting pwn'd in the tunnels!

[Etheric]

I wonder how many extra Archons he'd need... and whether Wanda's forces were already in those calculations?

Yeah it was for BEFORE their turn starts tomorrow, so including all the units they have in GK.

It will be too many, given that battle strength moves at the speed of plot like everything else.

But yeah go charlie :D

[Geno9999]

CHARLIE YOU DOUBLE-DEALING SON-OF-A *ahem*
Hopefully this doesn't mean that Charlie himself will try to take GK.
Someone help Parson plzkthx.

[BRC]

Personally, I wouldn't mind Charlie and Parson working together, which may happen if Charlie takes GK.

I'm glad parson gets to keep the Mathamancy Gauntlet.

[Johel]

So, it's all up to Charlie, now.

-He goes on the paycheck of Transylvito ==> Team GK is magistrally screwed.

-He does not but don't join Parson either ==> Stanley might live (except Vito and Jill can still target him specifically during the fight). Sending Wanda in might be a good idea to insure the outcome.

-He allies with Parson ==> Jill and Vito get croaked. The Alliance is forced to launch the assaut on GK...and fall in the trap. Wanda can stay at GK and help with it.

-Charlie takes GK for himself (CAN HE DO THAT !!?!! ).
He know what it will cost him : A LOT !!
The Alliance only got 3 Archons and a communication device.
I expect them to cost a lot so Jetstone didn't wanted to pay for more than absolutely necessary. So... 14+ archons to capture 1 Warlord ?

[Etheric]

Hopefully this doesn't mean that Charlie himself will try to take GK.

It would be a decent finale. Charlie takes GK and captures Parson and the casters.

Stanley takes FAQ to come back in Part 2.

Ansom would be happy as he could then go home/go after FAQ. THey never wanted
GK, just to get rid of stanely.

Parson working for charlie is probably the story with the most long term viability.

[fendrin]

The crucial calculation that Charlie did NOT ask for was "How many Archons would die in the process". If he was serious about attacking, he would have asked that. I'm guessing that Etheric is right: the answer to Question 2 was too high for Charlie to even think about attacking, either becauseHe doesn't even have that many archons, or becaue he can't get them there fast enough.

[SteveMB]

The crucial calculation that Charlie did NOT ask for was "How many Archons would die in the process". If he was serious about attacking, he would have asked that. I'm guessing that Etheric is right: the answer to Question 2 was too high for Charlie to even think about attacking, either becauseHe doesn't even have that many archons, or becaue he can't get them there fast enough.

Note that he asked about 14 Archons; the latest Stupid Meal info lists Charlescomm units at 15 (14 Archons + Charlie himself?). Whether that represents units available to the mission or all units on that side, period, is not indicated.

[TheWombat]

It may be just me but I think Charlie asked for 12 mathamancy calculations on purpose. A normal person would ask for 5, 10, 20, or 50, or some other multiple of 5. He went 12 to have his 2 questions and then 10 more later. That is definitely Magnificent Bastard quality right there.

Also, in the latest Stupid Meal, Jaclyn wasn't dead.

[OnDroid]

The crucial calculation that Charlie did NOT ask for was "How many Archons would die in the process". If he was serious about attacking, he would have asked that. I'm guessing that Etheric is right: the answer to Question 2 was too high for Charlie to even think about attacking, either becauseHe doesn't even have that many archons, or becaue he can't get them there fast enough.

He gets this info, because Parson is bound to give him battle evaluations. Put simply : Unless some/all of the archons are warlords, they can't choose to withdraw from fight ... so put simply with answer NO it's simple to say ALL of the 14 archons would die.

And MAYBE he CAN get them there, but with high resource cost. Maybe the archons can also be summoned with some kind of spell and he simply asked "How much will it cost to get GK in time." ( Because why wouldn't he keep them in his capitol but out in the wild? ) - Ok, wild speculations here

[OnDroid]

Note that he asked about 14 Archons; the latest Stupid Meal info lists Charlescomm units at 15 (14 Archons + Charlie himself?). Whether that represents units available to the mission or all units on that side, period, is not indicated.

He had 15 archons and one of them recently died and joined ranks of GK Uncroaked.

[Vince3]

Um, if that 15 count in the Stupid Meal counts Charlie, then Charlie's down to 13 archons and himself...... remember the big nuke and the zombie archon that Wanda's now playing with, Jaclyn?

[BRC]

Wait, why bother asking of 14 Archons could take GK, if he could just ask "How manywould it take to capture GK". The second question would answer the first.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Wait, why bother asking of 14 Archons could take GK, if he could just ask "How manywould it take to capture GK". The second question would answer the first.

Mind games.

The first question was to get Parson thinking about Charlie invading, but realizing that, for this turn, he'd be safe. The second was to make Parson realize that, even if he Charlie couldn't knock him over this turn, he now knows how many troops he would need to take out Parson in the future.

Charlie is definitely a Magnificent Bastard.

[FoE]

What benefit? He can capture Parson while the rest of Ansom's troops are getting pwn'd in the tunnels!

To what end? Parson still owes him 10 calculations no matter what. And what's the use in a warlord who won't obey him?

[BarGamer]

Two comics in three days! SWEET! And such a tasty comic! Some of the speculation panned out, too. I bet that makes some people quite happy. I really loved the small poke at Transylvito. "An offer they couldn't accept." XDDD

Meanwhile, back at the ranch... Yeah, basically, Charlie has Parson over a barrel. I suspect that if Parson is in any danger of losing to Ansom OR if Parson wins too well against Ansom, Charlie is going to swoop in and capture Parson. No need to ask how many it would take to croak Stanley, that's probably sticky-noted next to Charlie's big-screen TV. And if Parson pulls another rabbit out of his hat, or tries anything funny with one of the evaluations, Charlie still has several more evaluations to play with. And it would only figure that Charlie is going to use each evaluation very wisely/profitably.

Heck, Parson might be asked to calculate something completely on the other side of the world. After all, Charlie was introduced as mentioning the "great western conflict." It's entirely possible Parson could be asked to Mathamancy something in the east. Too bad Parson doesn't still have the Eye-Table thing, Charlie would REALLY be interested in that. (At least, I think it's broken.)

[BRC]

Mind games.

The first question was to get Parson thinking about Charlie invading, but realizing that, for this turn, he'd be safe. The second was to make Parson realize that, even if he Charlie couldn't knock him over this turn, he now knows how many troops he would need to take out Parson in the future.

Charlie is definitely a Magnificent Bastard.

Ametures troll, Proffessionals conduct Psychological Warfare.

[OnDroid]

Wait, why bother asking of 14 Archons could take GK, if he could just ask "How manywould it take to capture GK". The second question would answer the first.

Because that kind of question is 2 or more Mathematicalamancical problems in one. But asking with the first solution, you can extrapolate the complete result (more or less - but one equation extrapolating ).

[SteveMB]

Um, if that 15 count in the Stupid Meal counts Charlie, then Charlie's down to 13 archons and himself...... remember the big nuke and the zombie archon that Wanda's now playing with, Jaclyn?

Oops. Apparently the 15 meant "15 Archons available".

OK, let's trot out another line of speculation, and try not to overlook anything obvious this time:

We know that Wanda was formerly a Faq unit, and is now in Stanley's service. Captured/turned units are notorious for weak Loyalty unless bound by a spell, which Wanda isn't.

And yet she was preparing to risk her neck to protect his little square head. Is even relatively weak Loyalty sufficient for that, or is Wanda acting for her own reasons (and simply allowing Parson to assume that it's forced by Loyalty)?

[BRC]

Oops. Apparently the 15 meant "15 Archons available".

OK, let's trot out another line of speculation, and try not to overlook anything obvious this time:

We know that Wanda was formerly a Faq unit, and is now in Stanley's service. Captured/turned units are notorious for weak Loyalty unless bound by a spell, which Wanda isn't.

And yet she was preparing to risk her neck to protect his little square head. Is even relatively weak Loyalty sufficient for that, or is Wanda acting for her own reasons (and simply allowing Parson to assume that it's forced by Loyalty)?

It's been a long time since Faq fell, plenty of time for her loyalty to go up, but the way they capitalized Duty makes me think that it's a game feature.

[TheWombat]

My guess since the Character List shows her of the Croatan tribe is that FAQ actually conquered her homeland at one time and she was taken prisoner by them.

This would give her low loyalty to that realm and would have allowed her to defect and possibly tell Stanley about them as revenge. Since Stanely wiped out FAQ and set her free, she would have more Loyalty to him.