18th century naturalist. Formulated the rule that populations tend to outgrow their food supplies and then collapse. In nature, that’s a cycle because there are always survivors to start again, but it has long been suspected that sapience changes that. On the one hand, we are so good at developing new resources that our populations grow way beyond what others can do, making collapse catastrophic when it comes. On the other hand the fact that we are good gives possible hope, also, our more developed, better off communities, tend to slower birth rates.
A world with multiple sapient species multiplies the complexity of the issue.
The alt text and the fact that the Savage Races probably wouldn’t sacrifice a bunch of landsharks to bomb a few medics and injured Gastonians that the landsharks were likely to kill anyways suggest that it was indeed a Gastonian bomb.
(Plus I am not even sure if the goblins brought that kind of firepower with them.)
It’s worse than that: The Gastonians have fake wounded-guys that explode, which would have been brilliant but nobody told the medics.
It’s like that movie Screamers, or that other movie Impostor!
Those humans were like three seconds from being eaten. At least the bomb made it painless. It would have been tactically better for the Gastonian airship to wait until the land sharks got to the medics before dropping the bomb, to make sure more sharks got caught in the blast, but it was more merciful to their own soldiers this way.
Speaking of landsharks (I should have posted this back when Hammerhead was introduced), I wonder how it’s possible for a landshark to become sentient. I mean, what conditions when met produce a thinking, understanding, independent, sentient, not-ruled-by-hive-mind-and-voracious-instinct landshark? To be more specific, how do you get a Player Character landshark?
It was very explicitly stated by HR at one point that the NPCs who spend time around the Five start to become sentient individuals in their own right. They begin deviating from their programming and following their own free will.
Now, as far as we know, CHAINSAWCALYPSE or whatever his name is had never met the Peacemakers before now. But that might not actually be the case. Maybe they fought each-other off-camera. Or maybe he simply met someone who met the Peacemakers.
Wait a minute… After reading the alt text, I got this thought: What if the medics were bait to lure in a large number of savage troops for a bomb drop?
On the other hand, those wounded and medics were essentially dead anyway, by shark attack. If there was enough time, one of the wounded may have pled “don’t let them eat me. Please kill me. Don’t let me die that way.”
At least, that logic helps numb the conscience that you just BLEW APART YOUR OWN CORPSMEN.
It’s even more sorrowful when you consider that the Gastonian military hired many of those medics and healers into the army, away from adventurers who needed the healing… only to kill them.
I don’t think that that was their intent while recruiting them. Instead, it was a oppurtunity to kill more than double of the opposite numbers than of their own, who are, regardless of what they would have done, moments away of being killed.
Well, even if YOU’RE the one to call in “friendly fire” upon yourself, it still isn’t “friendly,” is it? But then again, it’s been said that one’s worst enemy is invariably oneself.
Ah but that would only work if the other side is doing the same. If you aren’t using the resources to come up with ways to kill them but they are then they will just kill you and take your resources and inventions.
The repeated use of ‘shite’ removes any and all remaining doubts on the current narrator
And the sharks have just proven they are nothing but the lowest of the bottom-feeding scum (except maybe for HAMMERPANTS, but jury is still deliberating on his verdict), may they all be expunged with extreme indifference!!
You assume some form of morality, viciousness, or anything resembling actually decision making went into the landsharks attacking the medics and wounded? The landsharks (with the exception of Hammerhead and those, if any, that are similar to him) seem to basically be animals to me. They see food lying there they are going to eat it. Heck, I am not even sure if they realize they are on a battlefield rather than a buffet line.
According to Penk, they can distinguish, they just don’t bother to identify anyone past “Kill” (enemy troops) “Don’t kill” (allied troops) and “Need an excuse to kill” (other landsharks)
Oye, this definitely reminded me a lot of a certain book with a very similar happening, medics have a tough break. I wont mention it for fear of spoiling it for current/future readers. It was really hard to read then and I find myself feeling the same way for this. The intentional sacrifice of troops for furthering war agendas in this type of manner has always struck me as profoundly wicked. Though war in general really makes me sad, men and women with lives, hopes and dreams go off to die.
…I’ve yet to meet the landshark that I’d like to be chums with…Just from what is shown of them in this comic gives good reasons to avoid them altogether.
Fire support.
Nondiscriminatory Utilities Targeting Sharks = NUTS
Big Ass Bombs Everywhere…yknow, BABEs;D
I love my new Gravatar…Scip just looks so BadAss:D
Whereas I see your words coming from what looks like some random gnome…
A Gnome-Player Character.
Mutually Assured Destruction
There is a reason they call it MAD.
More like FUBAR
More like PERFECTION! (sorry, my face made me do it).
i like the way you think
Not sure if artillery or airdropped bomb.
I think a wounded soldier pulled the pin/detonated a satchel charge, selling themselves dearly.
Ominous shadow in panel three seems to tell another story
Yes, and both a medic and a wounded soldier are staring skywards.
Air-dropped artillery bomb…?
It seems the airships found their purpose.
“Maxim 5: Close air support and friendly fire should be easier to tell apart.”
Also, ouch.
^ This! I was about to say inb4 Schlock Mercenary air support maxims but I was beaten to it, it would seem
Two of these seem appropriate…”Murphy’s Laws of Combat”:
#19 — Incoming fire has the right-of-way.
#22 — Friendly fire — isn’t.
So, now we’re introducing Malthus as a character?
Who?
18th century naturalist. Formulated the rule that populations tend to outgrow their food supplies and then collapse. In nature, that’s a cycle because there are always survivors to start again, but it has long been suspected that sapience changes that. On the one hand, we are so good at developing new resources that our populations grow way beyond what others can do, making collapse catastrophic when it comes. On the other hand the fact that we are good gives possible hope, also, our more developed, better off communities, tend to slower birth rates.
A world with multiple sapient species multiplies the complexity of the issue.
I was wondering who the narrator was; probably Goblaurence.
Landsharks are scary but landsharks wearing armor is scarier.
War is hell, but if that was a Gastonian bomb drop then I’m going to be sick.
The alt text and the fact that the Savage Races probably wouldn’t sacrifice a bunch of landsharks to bomb a few medics and injured Gastonians that the landsharks were likely to kill anyways suggest that it was indeed a Gastonian bomb.
(Plus I am not even sure if the goblins brought that kind of firepower with them.)
It’s worse than that: The Gastonians have fake wounded-guys that explode, which would have been brilliant but nobody told the medics.
It’s like that movie Screamers, or that other movie Impostor!
That medic looking up hints at the airships dropping bombs.
Those humans were like three seconds from being eaten. At least the bomb made it painless. It would have been tactically better for the Gastonian airship to wait until the land sharks got to the medics before dropping the bomb, to make sure more sharks got caught in the blast, but it was more merciful to their own soldiers this way.
I doubt the guy dropping the bombs was think of this.
Speaking of landsharks (I should have posted this back when Hammerhead was introduced), I wonder how it’s possible for a landshark to become sentient. I mean, what conditions when met produce a thinking, understanding, independent, sentient, not-ruled-by-hive-mind-and-voracious-instinct landshark? To be more specific, how do you get a Player Character landshark?
Law school?
…Or Political Science studies…
I believe the phrase was, “thinking, understanding, independent, sentient, not-ruled-by-hive-mind-and-voracious-instinct”.
That lets out law school.
And Political Science.
What we have here is a student of philosophy… whether formal or not.
Evolution.
Oh, except, unlike the real world, Arkerra actually does have a creator.
Or was H.R. merely a discoverer?
It certainly has the provable influence of gods who continue to actively meddle in the world’s affairs, if nothing else.
As an Ignostic, I withhold judgment until “god” can be more closely defined.
so wait. the suffix “-gnostic” means “in a state of knowing”
did you mean “agnostic” to suggest that you dont know if a/some god/s exist?
or did you mean “iggnostic” to suggest you worship Tectonicus because you hold knowledge of fire?
Rather than playing with semantics it’s easier just to do a quick Google search and check the wiki page.
TL:DR version, as an extremely basic description, Ignosticism revolves around asking “What is meant by ‘God’?” before asking “Does God exist?”
It was very explicitly stated by HR at one point that the NPCs who spend time around the Five start to become sentient individuals in their own right. They begin deviating from their programming and following their own free will.
Now, as far as we know, CHAINSAWCALYPSE or whatever his name is had never met the Peacemakers before now. But that might not actually be the case. Maybe they fought each-other off-camera. Or maybe he simply met someone who met the Peacemakers.
Wait a minute… After reading the alt text, I got this thought: What if the medics were bait to lure in a large number of savage troops for a bomb drop?
Oh man, that’s awful.
It’s certainly in keeping with what we’ve seen from Gastonia, though.
On the other hand, those wounded and medics were essentially dead anyway, by shark attack. If there was enough time, one of the wounded may have pled “don’t let them eat me. Please kill me. Don’t let me die that way.”
At least, that logic helps numb the conscience that you just BLEW APART YOUR OWN CORPSMEN.
Disposable heroes, you served us well.
Heh! You’re avatar drinks to that. :D
Corpsemen
It’s even more sorrowful when you consider that the Gastonian military hired many of those medics and healers into the army, away from adventurers who needed the healing… only to kill them.
I don’t think that that was their intent while recruiting them. Instead, it was a oppurtunity to kill more than double of the opposite numbers than of their own, who are, regardless of what they would have done, moments away of being killed.
I don’t want Goblaurence to be right, but in this particular case I’m finding it hard to argue with him.
Calling an airstrike in on yourself when you are being overrun is the height of courage and can win you the MOH
Friendly fire ordered by you superiors on the other hand…
Your gravatar matches your words perfectly. :-)
….chugging ale is a perfect match for murdering your underlings?
Realizing your cannon fodder may induce alcoholism
Well, even if YOU’RE the one to call in “friendly fire” upon yourself, it still isn’t “friendly,” is it? But then again, it’s been said that one’s worst enemy is invariably oneself.
This is
SpartaGastonia. No way did they call it themselves :D :D :DOr you could use all the resources you’re throwing into this war to actually make things better. If you weren’t stupid.
Ah but that would only work if the other side is doing the same. If you aren’t using the resources to come up with ways to kill them but they are then they will just kill you and take your resources and inventions.
Honestly I’d rather get blown up instantly than torn apart and eaten by landsharks.
Friendly fire from the Friendly Skies.
The repeated use of ‘shite’ removes any and all remaining doubts on the current narrator
And the sharks have just proven they are nothing but the lowest of the bottom-feeding scum (except maybe for HAMMERPANTS, but jury is still deliberating on his verdict), may they all be expunged with extreme indifference!!
Going after the healers is an old tradition in RPGs. It’s also good strategy.
You assume some form of morality, viciousness, or anything resembling actually decision making went into the landsharks attacking the medics and wounded? The landsharks (with the exception of Hammerhead and those, if any, that are similar to him) seem to basically be animals to me. They see food lying there they are going to eat it. Heck, I am not even sure if they realize they are on a battlefield rather than a buffet line.
According to Penk, they can distinguish, they just don’t bother to identify anyone past “Kill” (enemy troops) “Don’t kill” (allied troops) and “Need an excuse to kill” (other landsharks)
They were drawn by the scent of blood from the wounded, probably.
Because sharks.
And this is why bombers don’t get the ‘Danger Close’ tastings. Of course I doubt Gastonia has developed AC130 Spectre Gunships so …
Re: War math
Technical win? According to one theory it would be an actual win. ;-)
The only good thing about winning, is that you won, so then you can write it however you want.
Other than that, winning sucks.
The best kind of wars are the ones that never end. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
It’s not the side that wins that matters, it’s the side that can afford to survive after the war…
Landsharks are always good if you want to show a lot of guilt-free carnage.
Get this guy in the group and make him philosophize some more and shit. Maybe he and Gravedust will be buddies!
anyone feeling a bit Pyrrhic?
I was just going to say that the war math is what’s called a Pyrrhic victory.
Oye, this definitely reminded me a lot of a certain book with a very similar happening, medics have a tough break. I wont mention it for fear of spoiling it for current/future readers. It was really hard to read then and I find myself feeling the same way for this. The intentional sacrifice of troops for furthering war agendas in this type of manner has always struck me as profoundly wicked. Though war in general really makes me sad, men and women with lives, hopes and dreams go off to die.
I think I know the book you’re talking about, it did come a bit out of the blue as well… Just like the bombs…
Si vis pacem, para bellum!
that gives a whole new meaning to shark chum
…I’ve yet to meet the landshark that I’d like to be chums with…Just from what is shown of them in this comic gives good reasons to avoid them altogether.
The reference to clothes : this is DEFINITELY Goblaurence speaking !
You have to imagine Goblaurence has been working the whole time he has been speaking, so I wonder what he has been making so far?
A jetpack with no off switch, if my experiences in WoW have taught me anything about goblin engineering.
(If an invention was made by gnomes, it explodes by accident. If an invention was made by goblins, it explodes on purpose.)
But it WILL definitely explode, no matter what. ;)
PS: Sorry for the duplicate post.
“Goblin products are built to blast!”
How much machine-oil can be extracted?
Depends on spawn rate and number of bots.
well at least they didnt get eaten alive by sharks while too wounded to fight back. yay for bombs?