Erfworld 61 - Page 55

[BarGamer]

Maybe Parson plans on wrecking Jetstone's base with his builder units. XDDD (I got Starcraft on the brain.) Good work, Parson. You avoid getting disbanded for another turn. :-p

The next comic cannot possibly get here fast enough. Especially since Parson will probably use the Lucky Math mechanic, or we find out what's going on with Ansom and Co. Or a Klog of Awesomeness, but that's doubtful, as we already got one info-dump, we're probably not gonna get it (pretty much) twice in a row.

PS: I repeat, poor Misty. ;_;

[Vreejack]

I'm curious, though -- does this mean that Parson is not (yet) leveling up (much)? (And does it even matter?)

It's a mystery. I wonder if we will ever know. All we know for sure is that Parson does have at least some stats since they can calculate his command bonus, which seems to be based purely on presence and not on actual ability. I say that mainly because--unlike a "real" tabletop game--these units have actual personalities and mental abilities that can be evaluated separately, thus Stanley's insistence on physical appearance instead of an ability like "competence" which he is apparently incapable of measuring. If you don't have the numbers then you are invisible to Stanley.

As for numbers, given that Vinnie expected at least five or six stacks to be defeated, it seems that Parson had almost 10 times the number of battles that Wanda and Tool expected, and he did so with no losses on his end. What's also interesting is how Ansom and Vinnie never commented on (or possibly knew about) the VERY LARGE number of engagements that were fought. Is it possible the troops just returned the rosy news ("we won every engagement") rather than the hard truth ("we got pwned and didn't do much damage before our neighboring stacks also got pwned")?

More than we expected, too, considering that only two siege were shown being destroyed. Of course, it does explain why Vinnie was so suspicious. If Ansom received reports of enemy withdrawal from 25 stacks then there is no wonder why the Ewoks were celebrating while Vinny descended into a confused funk.

Oh, I also find it amusing the "wins" can start accruing on the defense side of the turn. (Assuming, of course, that defensive wins accrue experience.)

Assuming this is Parson's pan, of course. It was certainly part of his original plan to set up an impregnable defensive center, but we know that he modified something to take advantage of the ccc differential between himself and Ansom. He didn't change the attack, so something about the defense must be different. This is even more obvious from the fact that he is suddenly looking very devious as Ansom's turn is about to start.

Parson has done something very interesting and I cannot yet imagine what it is. For one thing, he has very little move left, so I do not see how the defensive formation can be modified very much.

[InfernusTribble]

"That's what you did?"

Hmmm, when Wanda gets her jaw off the floor again, Stanley can spend the rest of the day dancing with her celebrating his new Sith Lord's tactical leetness

Whereas poor Ansom gets to cry into his beer (Cry? More like sob like I did after Miko died) after losing about 50 siege and probably twice that number of battle bears if that openers comment from Parson was referring to them as well

[The_Alec]

I wonder what the next part of his plan is...we know it relies on the us of the enemy's lack of intelligence gathering...the fact that they need to use scouts...But does it involve the Dwagons still, or is he planning on hit and run attacks with other units...he does have 2 more warlords to play with. Manpower(or the archduke) and the Redshirt didn't take part in the raid..so they are available to go out with a strike team.

I’m guessing that it has something to do with ambushing Ansom’s air units when he desperately orders them back to the column to provide air support. Perhaps Parson has positioned his dwagons between the column and the incursion group so the air units will unsuspectingly run right into them.

[Ink]

Alright! Way to go Parson. But the Tool doesn't seem all that surprised though. Wanda's expression was more surprised than Stanley's.

[Inarius]

I've been thinking on stage two of Parsons plan and a thought occured to me. We know thatAnsom doesnt have the scouting abilities of Stanley which is why Ansom relies on scouts and magic hats and the like. Well in one of the original scenes you see the B dwagons hunkering down under the tree cover, basically theyre hiding themselves and using the terrain to their advantage.

Now in most war games when you have a unit hidden in forested terrain and an enemy unit tries to pass through that hex you get a chance to ambush with a high advantage. If Ansom calls his fliers back to the main column, which in my opinion he has good reason to if any of the siege survived, and Parsons dwagons are hidden in the trees on a direct path between the groups he could do some serious ambushing damage and possibly eliminate Ansoms fliers or a good portion of them from the equation.

*edit* heh Alec beat me to it

[Gez]

Cloth Golums

Nah, not Cloth Golums. They're too easy to control with the Arkenpwecious.

[Pronounceable]

Parson pwned them. I knew he had it in him. This is truly a pwn and not just an own.

Stanley should get an evilgasm right now.

[Grantwhy]

New comic.

So: 50 seige units -- for an opener.

And an important clue as to how warlords level up: by officially "winning" battles.

Hopefully the 'destroy & withdraw' tactic doesn't boost the opposition warlords levels to much.

[Gdrad]

For like the past 10 or so comics. Maybe more. We have been waiting for _this moment_. The moment that stanly is just floored by Parson's performance. That "Um" was the most satisfactory line thus far. I was laughing so hard...it was an evil laugh too.


PS: Alot of gamers are evil *Insert appropriate curseword*s. They will be happy, and they will laugh manically when they crush their enemies.

[Mr Wizard]

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Ehehehe... This looks like Ansom is going to catch the wrong end of the smashing, burning, and destruction.

[SteveMB]

I love the *warn* expression in panel 4 -- "Don't screw this up", and perhaps a dash of "You'd better have made this worth it, or you won't need to worry about what he's going to do to you."

I'm curious, though -- does this mean that Parson is not (yet) leveling up (much)? (And does it even matter?)

Perhaps the Tool's idea of sending him into battle was the hope that he might eventually be useful for something if he survived and leveled up a few times.

[Fenix]

I love the *warn* expression in panel 4 .

Yeah, me too


Btw I wonder why Stanley is so mean to Seizmore, concerning they come from the same tribe, "nearly-lost" even.

[rosebud]

Stanley should get an evilgasm right now.

I think that happened while his troops were moving.

[katana2665]

yep Parson's evil look says it all. Even Wanda was suprised by the plan. It's clear that Parson takes wargames extremely personal, of course we saw that in the beginning...wonder what he will do when faced with reality of death, instead of just killing a bat?

[DCR]

Nah, not Cloth Golums. They're too easy to control with the Arkenpwecious.

And Gez sticks the dismount! Very nice, Gez.



...honestly, I was hoping to learn what Ansom's mad about. Aaaaaand I'm hoping Hamster didn't end the turn prematurely. Dwagons vs siege, fine, but there's a kingdom/city to be run. Hope he didn't fail to do some potentially critical, if mundane, task.

[The Old Hack]

Hamster didn't end the turn. He said that he had moved, not that Turn had ended. Also, I suspect that only the commanders (Ansom and Stanley) have the ability to end Turn or to give the order to end Turn.

[InfernusTribble]

Stanley might be short-tempered, but he IS an overlord - promoted all the way up from infantry too, so I imagine he does know the basics of fighting pretty much down pat, but almost certainly lacks the tactical spark that Parson just used to set 50 siege on fire....

A 50+ - 0 kill count wasn't exactly what Stanley would be expecting from any rookie Warlord - let alone one who didn't know the full scope of erfworld combat mechanisms yet

Classic wrong footing of your boss by Parson here - looks like he's learned enough from Wanda about Stanley to demonstrate his huge list of technical defeats as the major success it is without getting any serious grief

[Waldgeist]

I wonder whether Battle Bears are siege units or whether the dwagons destroyed about 50 towers, catapults etc...

1. We haven't seen any catapults (have we) which would be vital when you want to breach GK's walls (unless you have titanium elementals ).

2. In that battle scene with Webinar on his "Scouting/Rescuing Mission" the Battle Bears throw rocks. They could be some kind of "short range artillery".

So "about 50 siege units" might also include the Battle Bears. Otherwise, Parson would have talked about "siege engines" or "machines".

Opinions on that?

[rosebud]

wonder what he will do when faced with reality of death, instead of just killing a bat?

Compared to the reality of dying, I think he'd chose life.

[jindra34]

My jaw dropped at the for an opener line... dude this is going to get brutal...

[Bakta]

Hopefully the 'destroy & withdraw' tactic doesn't boost the opposition warlords levels to much.

Maybe xp is killed-unit related. One engage foes, and get xp for destroying them, whether it's your turn or your foe's or your turn only according to rules. That'd fit with all the wargames I've known yet.

Yup, Parson impressed both his Toolness and Wanda. At this rate, his Toolship will soon switch attitude from "I got another incompetent warlord", to "how far this one can go, could he try to overthrow me?".

[Lord Zentei]

This business with leveling is presumably the reason hit and run tactics are uncommon in Erfworld, and why it was so unexpected: if warlords are as important as we suppose, it is crucial to have them level up during a campaign.

In other words, this Erfworld way of war (focus on the technical victories, since they are important) is not just because of abstract victory ratings or whatever, but the tradition has an actual practical reason for existing.

In any case, Ansom & Vinnie won't be so complacent next turn.

[Caledonian]

Fantastic. I love the shock on Wanda's face - she understands the implications of Parson's accomplishment, possibly even better than Stanley does.

[TheTurnipKing]

Alright! Way to go Parson. But the Tool doesn't seem all that surprised though. Wanda's expression was more surprised than Stanley's.

Offhand, I'd say that Wanda "gets" the longer term ramifications, Tool doesn't... yet.

Hopefully the 'destroy & withdraw' tactic doesn't boost the opposition warlords levels to much.

There's no indication that any of the stacks that were attacked had enemy Warlords with them, so they probably weren't eligiable for XP anyway.

Compared to the reality of dying, I think he'd chose life.

Actually. I wonder whether Parson has a lot of hitpoints or not. On the one hand, I'd think he'd be able to take a fair bit of damage, but on the other hand, it'd be just like a game of this kind to give an important unit a piddly little health score.

One more thing - if you prick an Erfworlder... do they bleed?

[Kanthalion]

Yup, Parson impressed both his Toolness and Wanda. At this rate, his Toolship will soon switch attitude from "I got another incompetent warlord", to "how far this one can go, could he try to overthrow me?".

QFT.

I can see being too competent as being almost worse for Parson's health than not being competent at all.

[TheTurnipKing]

QFT.

I can see being too competent as being almost worse for Parson's health than not being competent at all.

You can't get much worse than disbanded.

If I understood correctly, Parson and Wanda are dependent on Stanley as long as they're his warlords. Wanda only directly countermanded Stanleys orders when she was convinced they would lead to his destruction. It's almost like a geas.

There is some question as to how being disbanded would affect Parson, tho.

[jindra34]

You can't get much worse than disbanded.

If I understood correctly, Parson and Wanda are dependent on Stanley as long as they're his warlords. Wanda only directly countermanded Stanleys orders when she was convinced they would lead to his destruction. It's almost like a geas.

There is some question as to how being disbanded would affect Parson, tho.

You did not get it... too competent and Stanley may disband Parson for fear of him overthrowing Stanley...

[innovan]

In real life, people don't present their successes in such a back handed way. But for conveying the story to us, it was fun to draw out and entangle the delivery so much.

Stanley is not one to worry about a subordinate being too competent, or else he would would have disbanded Wanda already. He likes competent staff that handle things for him. Because he's a big picture man in search of the Arkentools, not just some ordinary ruler like everyone else.

Stalin, on the Eastern Front in WWII, when his Generals screwed up, would break them and place them in one of the prisoner brigades on the front.

Average lifespan in the prisoner brigades: 18 hours. If the General survived 3 days, Stalin would bust the General back to his former position.

Once the fighting gets going, it might be fun to see Parson busted to the front for the remainer of a turn as punishment. Although scenes like "Gladiator" where the advantage of great leadership is shown might be hard to pull off in the remaining pages, since it would involve even more micro-detail.

Looks like everyone's going to be on the front shortly anyway.

[Rollory]

PARSON PWNZ0RZ

I want a T-shirt with that on it. And Hamstard.

This one rocked.