Erfworld, the battle for Gobwin Knob, page 114/126

[Laurentio II]

Whats with the assumption that the dwagons are all lost? To deal with Stanley's dwagon it took an extremely powerful warlord, and a lot of support units. Translovitio is out numbered three to one for warlords and dwagons. And they just lost the chief warlord bonus.

At the start of the battle, Transylvito admitted that it was a tight chance of winning. And they lost the major bonus dealer in the first seconds. It's unlikely that they are going to win, if only Stanley stays in the battlefield enough to buffer his dwagons.

[fendrin]

We've already seen that there are units that don't have movement and are garrison only. Probably every base has some of those to make sure the city is always defended.

It seems like a pretty smart move, but Transylvito seems to have a different perspective on how to do things. They may have instead opted to produce units which can e multi-functional. We won't know for quite a while, if at all.

Also, I now remember this comic:
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/erf0116.html

It shows that Ceasar was already there waiting for them before they knew the archons weren't coming.

I fail to see how that page indicates that Caesar departed before Charlie made his ridiculous offer.

This page specifically says Caesar came out because of Charlie's actions.

[Sky_Schemer]

I just don't care for the addition of one single warlord, never mentioned before, making such a huge difference that it makes up, in large part, for the loss of all those archons.

Your starting assumption is false. I don't see anything that suggests that Caesar makes up for the loss of the archons, or even comes close to it. With the archons, it was implied that the battle was going to be a certain victory, if not a complete rout, both here and here. With just Caesar, "it'll be tight".

[DevilDan]

Your starting assumption is false. I don't see anything that suggests that Caesar makes up for the loss of the archons, or even comes close to it. With the archons, it was implied that the battle was going to be a certain victory, if not a complete rout, both here and here. With just Caesar, "it'll be tight".

In fact, Jillian isn't even sure that it is winnable. She specifically asks "how does Caesar think we can win this?" in that last linked comic. Transylvito's strategy was a rapid decapitation strike; Caesar failed, and Jillian was thwarted.

Why does everyone assume all the dragons are now dead? While it is likely that Stanley's was the most powerful dragon, Stanley's stack was also hit with the only almost-"heavies" on the entire Transylvito side, save for the warlords (who may not necessarily be as tough as Jillian or even Vinnie).

I had forgotten that Faq was only reachable by tunnel and air. That means that a warlord like Stanley, with a monopoly on dragons, can easily defend himself from any attacks that come in the next few turns. In fact, it's safe to assume that there are few flying units left among alliance troops (though there could be many defending the cities of the alliance's members) because, one, they would have been sent with Jillian and, two, because no one is considering an aerial assault on GK (or one would be, at the least, negligible even tactically).

By tunnel... a single tunnel or a few tunnels would be far easier to defend than, for example, the porous network of mine tunnels under GK. Stanley may not know that Jillian was from Faq, so he may in fact assume that the alliance doesn't even know about the tunnels... though he has to wonder now how the alliance knew to intercept him here (on the other hand, thinking is not his strong suite). At the least, it would take the alliance a while to get to the nearest tunnel.

[Sky_Schemer]

Me four (I think I'm the fourth person to express this opinion). Stanley's dragon died too easily.

You folks did actually read the previous page, right? The one where the combat strength of Transylvito forces was described in great detail?

Those dwagons, particularly Stanley's, have a lot of firepower being directed at them.

[Sky_Schemer]

Jillian is not a good judge of character. She tried twice to have Wanda leave Stanley and everytime she got a beating. She should know by now, Faq units didn't love her, they loved to beat her up...

I don't think it's that so much as she doesn't have enough information to make accurate guesses. She doesn't know why the casters have such high loyalty towards Stanley, and assumes it's the result of spells. So she is making decisions based on, essentially, bad data.

Neither she, nor we, know the whole story yet. There is obviously a lot more to the fall of Faq than has been implied.

[DevilDan]

Those dwagons, particularly Stanley's, have a lot of firepower being directed at them.

No doubt about it. We don't even know how many stacks Stanley broke through before facing Caesar. He could have even faced more stacks in between Caesar and Jillian, for all we know. Add to that Jillian's obvious skills ("stabbity" is one of her strengths, after all) and the possibility of critical hits.

Finally, consider that the death of the dragon made the comic more dramatic and allowed for the exciting exchange between Jack and Jill, culminating with Stanley's arkenhammer-powered flight with the foolamancer clinging loyally (?) to his side. I'll take a compelling, gripping story over one that hews perfectly to the "numbers."

[Welf]

And they lost the major bonus dealer in the first seconds.

Or not. It was looking as if he was only unconscious. If Stanley want's to win this fight he have to croak Caesar. If he stays veiled and directs the battle from the shadows his Chances are quite high. And because it's his move the transylvitos can't run away.

He even could capture some warlords. Caesar or Jillian as the new Chief warlord of the rebuilt FAQ. He just have to lock him/her away in some cellar and use their big bonuses