Inner Peace (Through Superior Firepower) – Episode 060

[balder]

New One is up.

[Nueamin]

Very unexpected. Wow and some answers to voluntary turning. It just keeps making me wonder how do we get from A to E. We know the end but just how does it go from where we are to that point is beyond me at this point

[name lips]

Is there a plan... or is Banhammer really this stupid.

[bladestorm]

So.....
If Banhammer turns, does he maintain his Ruler status? Is he a ruler of Haffaton that Jillian is fated to slay? Does Wanda uncroak him and work with Jack to make the king still seem alive until Stanley shows up?

Or did Stanley even go to Faq?

[Chameon]

Been a dog's age since I felt my input would matter or provide some accurate thought. But then, this is the sort of normally needlessly cyclical and contrived path that its' been going on for ages.

Sooooo...Banhammer's namesake. Who else has thought to connect it? My thought is...rather simply....that Orwell just fell for a trap, not from Dame Branch to get them to join, but from Banhammer himself, a loyalty test to determine which side his people are on. Of course, I might be completely bat-boop insane, its' been accused before, but this has the flavor of another little story I read, A Game at Dinner. I'm sure it's easy enough to find.

Of course, it's 100% plausible, and indeed more likely, that Banhammer just fell head over heels for Dame Branches little half-promises and concepts, but something about that tastes off. Jillian never respected her father, but it never implied that she viewed him quite as an 'enemy' per se, just a worthless bugger.

[sheepfly]

To quote everyone's favorite dittomancer:

"It's... it's foolamancy. Foolamancy!"

[Man in the Mists]

I just had a wicked thought. Faq was a ton of casters, and casters tend to be expensive. Something tells me that Haffaton may not be able to afford a crapload of casters. Which means that when dawn comes, and the upkeep is paid. Or not paid...

[vintermann]

Smitten as he may be, I don't think Banhammer has missed that fact - his expectation and blessing for Jillian to turn barbarian shows he has already though of one way to reduce costs.

Bear in mind that Faq has a moneymancer (Moothfott) and a mathamancer (Adderall), as well as a bunch of other potentially useful casters. Banhammer is not a ruler like Slately or Stanley who has limited understanding of his casters' abilities - he will know how far his casters can get him regarding support. I bet Olive regrets letting the thinkamancer die, though.

[MonteCristo]

So.....
If Banhammer turns, does he maintain his Ruler status? Is he a ruler of Haffaton that Jillian is fated to slay? Does Wanda uncroak him and work with Jack to make the king still seem alive until Stanley shows up?

Or did Stanley even go to Faq?

What? First no i don't think Banhammer will keep his ruler status... its possible he might have enough of his former staus that he could go barbarian and start a side if he got a capitol, but while serving as a unit of Haffaton he would just be a regular warlord much like how Wanda is just a regular caster despite her former heir status. A side can only have one ruler and one heir and haffaton's is Judy and Olive

Also we know for a fact that Stanely went to Faq; he said so himself. We pretty much know how this will end with Banhammer and everyone else returning to Faq and serving their time just doing what they always did until Stanley shows up. No reason to think it will end anyother way... only question is HOW we get back there

I just had a wicked thought. Faq was a ton of casters, and casters tend to be expensive. Something tells me that Haffaton may not be able to afford a crapload of casters. Which means that when dawn comes, and the upkeep is paid. Or not paid...

Haffaton has lots of units in the field that they could also disband to help manage the upkeep... however I might expect that once she has all the casters under control, she's gonna weed out the ones she doesn't have much use for, just because haffaton would have too much trouble managing their upkeep. Heck I'd even guess that Banhammer may be the first too go; She doesn't exactly have much use for a warlord that doesn't fight. Though then again, without his ruler status he might be rather cheap to keep around, especially if he's never leveled; but considering how Olive works, Banhammer would be more of an annoyance than a source of insight.

[Hidden Sanity]

MY theory? Banhammer gets to be the heir....

[Noigel]

I'm so angry at Banhammer right now. Pretty sure he's just a fool through and through. I have what I believe to be large predictions but I don't dare share them entirely for fear I'm right and could ruin the surprises... I wish we could lock the hidden text in a spoiler tag... make it un-editable... and then inject it somehow into a future post/thread when the text becomes relevant or debunked.

Instead I'll openly propose something that I don't believe will have any huge effect but will be interesting:

What if Chillaxe only works on factions present in the hex when the song is sung? What if Jillian becomes a barbarian and thus the effects of Chillaxe are negated on her. I'm speculating that when Chillaxe is sung... it directly affects faction loyalty... but when that loyalty gets disbanded, the truce-effect of Chillaxe cease too.

Here's my gibberish-coded predictions below. They won't make sense... but when I'm proven right or wrong I'll reveal what they mean.

R----- w-- t--- b----- h----. J--- i- g---- t- d--. O---- w--- t--- t- f---- j------ t- c------ p--------.

W----- i---- d--- t----- t-- e---- h--- r---. T- s---- j------ f--- p-------- a-- b------ o- h-- o-- l---/g---- f-- h-- o-- f-----, w---- w--- k--- h-----.

J------ a-- w---- a-- g---- t- t--- s----- i- e--- o---- i- t-- a-------- ... boww-chicka-wow-wow.

[vintermann]

Banhammer won't be the heir. The side that survives will be named Faq, not Haffaton. It wouldn't be enough if Banhammer became king of Haffaton and moved back to the valley, because then the side's name would be Haffaton.

Related to that, we know Jack and Marie at the very least - but probably Orwell too - will survive and go back to Faq valley.

My speculation as to what has happened/will happen:

Spoiler: show

Banhammer has been told by Olive that the plan is to abandon all Haffaton's cities, and move back to the security of Faq valley. Faq will be back in everything but name, and they'll have a Hippiemancer and a Croakamancer added to their staff. This is of course a lie, Olive plans to have Banhammer disbanded the moment he turns, and most of the casters afterwards.

However, Marie will stop them by mentioning that Faq has unfulfilled predictions hanging on it (which is true). Banhammer will then go "Ah, I was willing to turn to your side as a gesture of good faith, beloved, but it seems then we have no choice but to do it the other direction." Very soon then Olive will refuse, and Banhammer will realize it was a trap. Very disillusionised with the world - can't you even trust the hippiemancers to want peace? - he will permit gross violence.

[oslecamo2_temp]

Banhammer has expicitly been stated as still being the king of FaQ, despite they having no cities left. Another proof that a side is not defined by having a capital or not.

Bear in mind that Faq has a moneymancer (Moothfott) and a mathamancer (Adderall), as well as a bunch of other potentially useful casters. Banhammer is not a ruler like Slately or Stanley who has limited understanding of his casters' abilities - he will know how far his casters can get him regarding support. I bet Olive regrets letting the thinkamancer die, though.

Stanley had a bigger understanding of his casters than most other rulers so far. He ordered tri-mancer links to gain massive tactical advantages, saved up big money by recycling his warlords, he even made sure the garrison's poop was used for creating more troops.

Oh, and also going forward with massive magic projects like summoning the perfect warlord while cuting up costs by filling in with his mancers instead of paying the outrageous casting fees of the Magic Kingdom.

Compare with Don, who is managing to drive himself into bankrupcy despite having a moneymancer.
Compare with Banhammer, who's nothing more than a puppet in Marie's hands (make no mistake on who's actually pulling FAQ's strings all this time until their demise at Stanley's hands), that is, when not falling heads over heels for enemy mancers. At least Stanley knows to be extra-suspicious of enemies adept at mind games like Charlie.

[LTDave]

"you have my acts"

Nice. I wonder if Foolamancers don't jump?

My guess is that Dawn Comes Unexpectedly (pollyanna style) and Jillian chops up the ChillAxe before the Hippie Mancer Lady sings - or even before dawn - Wanda theorized about breaking the chillaxe way back - it's not an attack if it isn't directed against a person - remember the broken pots?

Then it's off with the Hippie Mancers Head thanks to the expert fooling of Jack and the Foresight of Marie.

Here's another thought - Jack could fake it so the HippieMancer thinks the sun has already risen and the turn begun - Hippy Lady plays the Chill Axe too soon, and it's power is spent before the turn really beings.

[rlc]

Friend of Judy’s

I loled.

Actually, not true, I laughed internally and smirked a little.

[Saladman]

I'm guessing Orwell doesn't make it to the second fall of Faq. Though the wiki is unclear, and I don't remember.

I think Banhammer probably is just this foolish (willfully ignorant and idealistic being something even the clever can pull off). But I do think this is going to function as a loyalty test, whether its planned that way or not.

I have no firm prediction of how they get out of this. Obviously they must, to get back to Faq, but I expect they'll come back minus some casters as well as plus one. I don't see how to get around the chillaxe effect, though with a Predictomancer and a Foolamancer on the case they're well positioned to find an exploit.

[Urf]

"Poverty of Haffaton" -I wonder what the upkeep costs of Faq's Court will do to it?

[Goshen]

... but I don't dare share them entirely for fear I'm right and could ruin the surprises... I wish we could lock the hidden text in a spoiler tag... make it un-editable... and then inject it somehow into a future post/thread when the text becomes relevant or debunked.

Go ahead and predict publicly. It's very hard to get right and even if you are, few enough will believe you. I don't think predictions are spoilers.

I, myself, am confused! I really didn't think Banhammer would fall for Olive's BS. Sill hoping it's all a ruse, but it if is, it probably involves sacrificing Orwell. A glimmer of hope is that Marie indicated that she predicted something slightly different from "Haffaton will conquer FAQ". Again, either Banhammer is subtly lying to Olive or he's so under her spell that he's twisting things in her favor. Perhaps this is the knife edge currently making it difficult for Marie to see ahead.

[mortissimus]

So.....
If Banhammer turns, does he maintain his Ruler status?

What? First no i don't think Banhammer will keep his ruler status... its possible he might have enough of his former staus that he could go barbarian and start a side if he got a capitol, but while serving as a unit of Haffaton he would just be a regular warlord much like how Wanda is just a regular caster despite her former heir status. A side can only have one ruler and one heir and haffaton's is Judy and Olive

Yes, that he will stop being ruler if he turns is a given. His title would be interesting though, since he will not stop being a royal unit. "King without throne" perhaps. It is an interesting question if units that has ever been ruler or heir retains a ruler/heir flag that lets them split of at will. If so he could start Faq again after Jillian kills Olive and Jude lets them go.

[mortissimus]

... but I don't dare share them entirely for fear I'm right and could ruin the surprises... I wish we could lock the hidden text in a spoiler tag... make it un-editable... and then inject it somehow into a future post/thread when the text becomes relevant or debunked.

Go ahead and predict publicly. It's very hard to get right and even if you are, few enough will believe you. I don't think predictions are spoilers.

Even better, put some Schmuckers on your prediction. Here is the thread for that!