Book 2 – Text Updates 056

[balder]

New One is up.

[Morni]

At least we know that one Archon will be missing for the full bonus to promote a new heir.

[Kaed]

This was a really sad update to read. While is was interesting to know a few more things about the Arkendish, I'm left wondering how long Parson will be cleaning this mess up.

Up until now he has mostly been concerned with 'the game', though he is trying to be a better person and behave in a courageous manner.

In a very real way he is facing a similar inner conflict to Slately. Realizing his actions in the past were not noble and trying to turn around.

Unfortunately, he's being blocked by selfish casters who care more about politics than what he's trying to accomplish.

I think the biggest loss here is not the battle or archons, but the confidence and loyalty of the Decrypted. They feel abandoned and this is not good for people who were fighting almost entirely based on faith in Wanda.

[Lamech]

A game like this would never have happened to Charlescomm. It never had happened. To lose this many in a single battle? Impossible.

Irony! So much delicious irony. Charlie would lose this many archons to a single spell. And give them to the enemy. And then lose some more because a few of the archons will survive here.

[fruityjanitor]

Someday, Mistress and Charlie would come together and be on the same side.

Just wishful thinking of a unit who loves both Wanda and Charlie? Or foreshadowing?

I really liked this update. I love when we get to peek inside the mind of the Decrypted. At this point I'm fairly certain that Charlie will be able to turn at least one Decrypted Archon back to his side (probably more). Perhaps Phoebe will be captured by Jetstone and given to Charlie?

[fjolnir]

The interesting factoid here is not the charlescomm info but rather that scouts do not need to autoengage without leadership, they can attempt to hide instead.

[ftl]

Mechanics that are relevant:

"But now Rachel was gone, and there was no-one to tell her what to do. Scouts don’t autoengage if they can hide"

So that answers one question about how scouting is possible when units autoengage. I guess this means that some units really do get designated as "scouts" (is there a special for that?) that makes them hide instead of fight if they can.

[fjolnir]

The other thing is that apparently there aren't many archons with a leadership higher than 3...

[Nnelg]

A game like this would never have happened to Charlescomm. It never had happened. To lose this many in a single battle? Impossible.

Irony! So much delicious irony. Charlie would lose this many archons to a single spell. And give them to the enemy. And then lose some more because a few of the archons will survive here.

Hey, at least he didn't abandon them.

[TheTuna]

This is only further confirmation that Wanda pulled a pretty boneheaded stunt leaving the battlefield.

Seems like troop morale is sinking fast. She and/or Parson need to get through that portal ASAP.

A game like this would never have happened to Charlescomm. It never had happened. To lose this many in a single battle? Impossible.

Irony! So much delicious irony. Charlie would lose this many archons to a single spell. And give them to the enemy. And then lose some more because a few of the archons will survive here.

That's an excellent point, actually. I guess she isn't counting Gobwin Knob erupting as a battle? Or ignoring it out of a need to continue glorifying Charlie and Charlescomm? Interesting.

[Whispri]

Charlie's bonus being 'just as powerful' as Wanda's bonus suggests Wanda's bonus is also an Artifact bonus. Makes sense, Decrypted aren't Uncroaked.

This is only further confirmation that Wanda pulled a pretty boneheaded stunt leaving the battlefield.

Seems like troop morale is sinking fast. She and/or Parson need to get through that portal ASAP.

You can thank Maggie and Jack for that one.

But yeah, Parson? Wanda? Charge already!

[cloudbreaker]

His leadership would add three attack to all units on his side, five to those in his hex, and ten to those in his own stack. His mistress would add one to all Decrypted troops on her side, four to those in her hex, and eight to those in her stack.

But through the Arkendish, Charlie could lend another 5 to any fight he was directing. It was just as powerful as Mistress Wanda’s bonus.

Looks like there may be a discrepancy here.

[Nueamin]

His leadership would add three attack to all units on his side, five to those in his hex, and ten to those in his own stack. His mistress would add one to all Decrypted troops on her side, four to those in her hex, and eight to those in her stack.

But through the Arkendish, Charlie could lend another 5 to any fight he was directing. It was just as powerful as Mistress Wanda’s bonus.

No discrepancy. It apparently adds one to all on the side and then four more to the ones in the hex for a total of five.

[0100010]

Hello long time lurker, first time posting...

It was nice to see this. I was wondering what happened to the friends Archons. At least until the last several comics when the image characters made it appear like some of them. It looked like Rachel was the one to say "This looks like a plan 9" on page 78, w/ Monica behind her saying "Ha Yeah" At first I though the one saying "Swarm" was Phebe but though her hair style looked wrong. It looked like Rachel getting dusted in the Zzrgrizz panel on page 79, Monica look like she got captured by Ace in on the next page. I was asking, well what happen to Phoebe?

The short curly haired archon on the 1st panel of Page 78 seems to be be the one showing the most confidence and leadership, Is she one of the leadership 3 units? (also given the use of the bellwether phrase) She was never given a name. Any thoughts? Maybe Amelia Earhart? That would make an awesome high leadership Archon refernece. This also makes me wonder, what would an Archon look like if they were promoted to warlord? This is something Charlie would never do, but Parson might, if enough Archons survived and they did so because of the critical leading actions of the promoted one, on top of killing Ossomer and Slately.

[Whispri]

Hello long time lurker, first time posting...

It was nice to see this. I was wondering what happened to the friends Archons. At least until the last several comics when the image characters made it appear like some of them. It looked like Rachel was the one to say "This looks like a plan 9" on page 78, w/ Monica behind her saying "Ha Yeah" At first I though the one saying "Swarm" was Phebe but though her hair style looked wrong. It looked like Rachel getting dusted in the Zzrgrizz panel on page 79, Monica look like she got captured by Ace in on the next page. I was asking, well what happen to Phoebe?

The short curly haired archon on the 1st panel of Page 78 seems to be be the one showing the most confidence and leadership, Is she one of the leadership 3 units? (also given the use of the bellwether phrase) She was never given a name. Any thoughts? Maybe Amelia Earhart? That would make an awesome high leadership Archon refernece. This also makes me wonder, what would an Archon look like if they were promoted to warlord? This is something Charlie would never do, but Parson might, if enough Archons survived and they did so because of the critical leading actions of the promoted one, on top of killing Ossomer and Slately.

Salutations.

The ha yeah Archon was shown being captured here. I'm pretty sure her friends were iced right at the start and she's been hiding the whole time, that's what I took away from reading this update.

Personally I'm wondering what would happen if someone tried to promote a Twoll to Warlord status. Then heir status. And then gave him a Capital Site to found a new Side.

[Raza]

Well, that helps explain the archon rout. I'm less dissatisfied with that now.

Also because it looks like one Archon is sticking around for Parson to use. Perfect spell-detection is just too good to be without once you've had it. I still don't get that Stanley authorized the use of more than half or so of the archons in an offensive strike, when they were so essential to his powerful dwagon collecting trick, but I guess he just didn't want to say no to Ansom.

[Turkey]

His leadership would add three attack to all units on his side, five to those in his hex, and ten to those in his own stack. His mistress would add one to all Decrypted troops on her side, four to those in her hex, and eight to those in her stack.

But through the Arkendish, Charlie could lend another 5 to any fight he was directing. It was just as powerful as Mistress Wanda’s bonus.

No discrepancy. It apparently adds one to all on the side and then four more to the ones in the hex for a total of five.

Or alternatively, Wanda has levelled since the battle of Warchalking.

[onlyme]

Nice how this describes the problem of "no free will for units without leadership":

She should fight, though.

She wasn’t thinking of the team here, which they always told her was the worst thing you could
do. This wouldn’t look very good on her next review. “Teamwork ethic still improving” would be
written there, and maybe, “confidence remains a deficit area for Phoebe.”

Even without watching, the shouts and blasts and last cries were so clear. That sound was a
sword hacking someone, ribs snapping. She should help. That was someone dissolving. She should
fly in and stack up with anyone else, and fight. And help.

But now Rachel was gone, and there was no-one to tell her what to do. Scouts don’t autoengage if
they can hide, and she could hide really, really well. Better than she could fight. So...she
should do that, right? Made sense. Made perfect sense.

The rules forbid her to engage. So she cannot, but she does not seem to credit the rules, but her fear to get caught...

[Oberon]

I still don't get that Stanley authorized the use of more than half or so of the archons in an offensive strike, when they were so essential to his powerful dwagon collecting trick, but I guess he just didn't want to say no to Ansom.

When your entire win condition is based around a decapitation strike by a swift, flying force, holding much back in reserve doesn't make a lot of sense. I'd keep enough to allow the dragon taming to continue, because every turn that's a nice boost to your forces and because it creates your reserve force for you, but other than that I'd be "all-in."

[querzis]

A game like this would never have happened to Charlescomm. It never had happened. To lose this many in a single battle? Impossible.

Irony! So much delicious irony. Charlie would lose this many archons to a single spell. And give them to the enemy. And then lose some more because a few of the archons will survive here.

That's an excellent point, actually. I guess she isn't counting Gobwin Knob erupting as a battle?

Well I woudnt count it as a battle either. They were winning the actual battle. Very easely in fact. And then the Volcano blow everyone up. You cant exactly blame Charlie for not seeing that coming.