Erfworld

Red alert.

I was correct.

Well, Lilith's primary job is done. Now she just needs to get hurt by Charlescomm to give Gobwin Knob enough money to survive a couple more turns.

I'm still hoping she finds a way out of this, but I don't think there is one. Charlie keeps thinking Parson will walk through the portal, but I can't see how that would help Lilith at all (even ignoring the fact that Charlie would kill Parson instantly).

Unlead archons with a target in their sights? I'm wondering if they've been instructed WRT "behind the target" firing.

This is more than just Lilith achieving her objective. She has shut down Charlescomm. Whatever that Shockamancy nexus was, its destruction completely wiped out the main power supply of the tower, knocking out Charlie's life support system and his link to the Arkendish. Meanwhile, the portal room is sealed with the now-leaderless Archons outside, meaning Lilith can't be easily prevented from tossing all her loot through.

This is a catastrophic setback for Charlescomm. I might even go so far as to call it fatal, were it not that we aren't at the end yet. If the Archons at the portal go against orders and injure Lilith, it'll just be the icing on the cake.

edited 4th Dec '15 9:07:07 AM by Fighteer

The fact that Charlescomm still has emergency lighting probably means that they still have enough backup power to run Charlie's life-support. But yeah, the explosion ended up working out almost too well in GK's favor, what with the vault protecting the enemy archons from the blast and Lilith now having access to the portal.

...well, other than Marie getting caught in the blast. I wonder how that worked out.

It would be even better for GK now if the archons, having limited access to Charlie for now, decide to ignore previous orders and gun down Lilith...that would kinda suck for Lilith, but she doesn't seem to have a way out here anyway. (Hopefully without anyone on the other side of the portal being hit though.)

edited 4th Dec '15 9:24:15 AM by ashnazg

"Hopefully" in the sense that we don't want any characters that we know and love to be croaked, but it would also be quite a benison for GK's treasury if they were to do so.

Remember, she doesn't actually have to croak to get the payment, just get injured. The problem is that the guns do a lot of damage. And, of course, there doesn't seem to be a way out of this for her even if she manages to survive to the end of Charlie's turn.

I was correct too. It's not a catastrophic setback, because I don't see a way for GB to successfully attack here, but Charlie failing to realize that Lilith had access to a missile weapon was a very unfortunate oversight. Also somewhat out of character for him, IMHO.

I thought it was fairly clear that he was pressed for time and operating on less-than-complete information.

It means Charlie is off the grid for at least the rest of the turn, meaning he can't make any deals with anyone in the middle of a huge war situation. And since he's in a state of permanent incapacitation this may present a danger to his life, though he's obviously not going to die here. His archons are also moving about without orders and I really don't trust their judgment, especially given that they just, you know, let Lilith accomplish one of her primary goals and have no way to safely stop her.

It's not good, it's just not the end for Charles Comm. Unfortunately, GB also suffered. Looks like both sides have some serious wounds to lick.

I wouldn't say that. I mean, if the treasury stays done for GK then sure, this is a disaster, but that sounds like too much damage and kind of makes the entire Juggalo Elves subplot kind of pointless.

If Gobwin Knob doesn't make some money before the end of this turn, their side is over. Maybe not literally, but they won't be able to pay upkeep for any of their living units, especially Parson. If all else fails, they can order units to forage and harvest dwagons for rations, and the Thinkamancers might be able to cover Parson's upkeep, but it would still be a huge blow.

The most obvious way for them to suddenly make a lot of money is for Lilith to get hurt. Then they're five million schmuckers in the black, more than enough to be comfortable for a while. Unless they have a lot of gems squirreled away, that's really their only reasonable option.

Why are you assuming that they make a negative income? If their income is positive each turn after upkeep then they will be fine, and considering how much territory they have and how many no upkeep units they have they should be making a reasonable amount of money each turn.

I'm not sure if income is calculated before or after upkeep, but assuming they get their money before their bills, they should be all right. Of course, they were already getting close to the point of diminishing returns at the Battle of Spacerock, and now they have a strategically-unsound capital site and not a lot of free cash...

Yes, that sounds more reasonable, plot-wise. Puts them in a hard place, but not an impossible one. Of course, there's still the question of what's going to happen to Lilith.

Lilith can always get back into the crawlspace, out of the tower and try to bash her head against any leftover explosive traps.

If she lives to G Ks turn she can simply work her way out of the tower then fly back to GK territory.

Don't worry, guys, Marie has a handle on things.

Each page is a different piece of shit hitting the fan, and it's distributed equally enough between Parson and Charlie that it might go either way. I really like this part.

I like how the sound effect of falling guns is Kalashnikov.

I note that the Archons who saw Lilith do that are currently without orders.

They have standing orders to not shoot Lilith and wait for Parson to capture. They got hurt but that hurt is in their side's favour. They already failed to prevent the delivery, which they are very ashamed of, but violating orders in revenge for that is not how professionals roll.

Archons are zealots, though. Without direct supervision they may not behave properly.

Yeah, there's some chance they might take their own initiative here. On the other hand, Lilith technically doesn't pose much of a threat to them anymore at this point.

I'm curious though, when did the penalty to GK take place? If it happened when Lilith fired the RPG, then wouldn't Charlie have reclaimed her already? His conversation with Tondelayo suggests that he can specifically choose to claim Lilith.