Schlock Mercenary thread: The Tub is Full of Happiness Again

[Midnight Lurker]

After nearly two years of believing Petey betrayed the Toughs, Captain Tagon finally learns the truth (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-11-21)... from someone he actually trusts.

This has been today's Crowning Moment of Heartwarming. :smallredface:

[factotum]

I've been wondering why there isn't a Schlock thread on here...anyway, heartwarming as it is, surely it's a bit dangerous? If the UNS find out that the Toughs and Petey are friends again, they might assume they've remembered everything and will be out to make the memory loss a bit more permanent this time!

[HandofShadows]

That's only if they find out. Petey is doing his best to be circimspect. I wonder what Petey and LOTA will think of each other though. :smallconfused:

[mmorpc]

I'm not sure why but I just can't get into Schlock Mercenary. I've read hundreds of the strips in the effort and I'm a fan of Sci Fi stuff, I'm not sure what it is that's hindering my "fandom" for it.

[AstralFire]

Holy crap, the art's progressed in that comic.

[BRC]

Holy crap, the art's progressed in that comic.
With the possible exception of Gunnerkrigg,I think Schlock is the comic with the greatest level of art progression I've ever seen.

And theoretically, the Tough's could now work for/be friends with Petey, without raising too much suspicion. Also, they don't actually remember Project Lazarus, they just know that they forgot it.

[Gez]

For Gunnerkrigg, the art progression is more striking because it was over a shorter period of time.

But yeah, the art in Schlock went from bad to okay to nice to pretty good. The lesson here, folk, is that if you draw every day for several years, you get better at it. (It would seem obvious, but looking at Dominic Deegan, one may doubt.)

[factotum]

That's only if they find out. Petey is doing his best to be circimspect. I wonder what Petey and LOTA will think of each other though. :smallconfused:

Still a worry. As for Petey and LOTA, the latter has a nice pretty weapon that can shoot out a single target with ease. The former has control of thousands of ships and the resources of the Galactic Core. What they think of each other isn't going to be a problem! :smallwink:

[Saph]

Yep, today's was a fun strip. :smallsmile: I loved the battle, too - Schlock is great on action sequences.

[BRC]

Still a worry. As for Petey and LOTA, the latter has a nice pretty weapon that can shoot out a single target with ease. The former has control of thousands of ships and the resources of the Galactic Core. What they think of each other isn't going to be a problem! :smallwink:
Though this Does raise an interesting question. We now have two unstoppable cyber-despots running around. Petey, who could win a conventional war with any galactic power but probably wouldn't bother because he would just go for a non-conventional war (If he could spare the power to teraport-bomb their high command). And LOTA, who has what is pretty much the ultimate weapon, how are these two superpowers going to interact, because I doubt LOTA would be willing to merge with the Fleetmind.

Also, what is it with the Tough's seeding unbelievably powerful AI's everywhere they go. You've got Petey (used to be their ship), LOTA (Built from spare parts to Unload Cargo of all things), Lunnesby (More or less by accident). All of them are, or were, very powerful (Lunessby basically WAS the local government for most of Sol System). Next thing we know, Ennsby is going to end up with a pun-powered black hole generator, and Tailor is going to prove String Theory and then sew those strings into a Universe Sweater or something.

[HandofShadows]

Though this Does raise an interesting question. We now have two unstoppable cyber-despots running around. Petey, who could win a conventional war with any galactic power but probably wouldn't bother because he would just go for a non-conventional war (If he could spare the power to teraport-bomb their high command). And LOTA, who has what is pretty much the ultimate weapon, how are these two superpowers going to interact, because I doubt LOTA would be willing to merge with the Fleetmind.


One must remember that there is an enemy in another galaxy that is trying VERY hard to kill everyone in the Milky Way. Petey know about it and is the only reason the Milk Way is atill alive. But not many others know about it.

As for the Toughs and AI's there will be more on this coming up I think. There was a HUGE hint that some AI's where actually controling (or trying to) humanity (and maybe other species) from behind the scenes and not in a good way. They are the ones that want Lunnesby dead.

[Imgran]

Which means we may be seeing Judd Shafter again at some point. Naming the group (Shafter's Shifters) can't be anything but a Chekov's Gun that Howard wants to build a target for later.

As for Pete and King LOTA, I wouldn't exactly be shocked if they had already met. In fact I would be brain-stompingly astounded if they hadn't. They're both AI's with a lot of similar ideas, and communication in that universe is not difficult -- and neither is finding Petey, if you're really trying to do so.

[Midnight Lurker]

We can certainly guess that LOTA isn't part of the Fleetmind, since Petey would have then known that LOTA was planning to fire the Big Gun.

Also, Petey never tried to contact the Toughs before this... so it's probable that things have changed and he's now in a position to be able to tell them the truth without endangering them. What the new position is... since he's had to tie up so many resources lately, I'm guessing the Paa'nuri are on the offensive and keeping the UNS happy is just not that important at the moment.

[BRC]

We can certainly guess that LOTA isn't part of the Fleetmind, since Petey would have then known that LOTA was planning to fire the Big Gun.

Also, Petey never tried to contact the Toughs before this... so it's probable that things have changed and he's now in a position to be able to tell them the truth without endangering them. What the new position is... since he's had to tie up so many resources lately, I'm guessing the Paa'nuri are on the offensive and keeping the UNS happy is just not that important at the moment.
More that he was forced into things by circumstances. General Tagon and Kev1 were kidnapped. Petey intervened, both because they were his friends, and because having Kevyn's intellect in the hands of mobsters was not a good thing.
He got more involved in the mission than he intended to, when he hacked Ennesby to help salvage the Foxtrot, now that he's personally involved, he probably feels he needs to give the Toughs some answers, rather than just vanishing.
Also, the Memories the UNS gave the Toughs were specifically designed to make them not trust Petey, so if Petey wants to regain their trust, he needs to tell them the truth, that those memories are false. It's possible this is leading in to him having some job for the Toughs, or it might just be circumstances dictating his actions.
Personally, I think Petey may want the Toughs help, they are the only ones who really know LOTA, also, you now have Lunnesby running around somewhere, and Petey may need her help for something.
Remember, each of the three Commands gave us a dangling plot thread.

Credomar Command, Obviously, gave us LOTA and his unstoppable hyperspace super cannon.
Barsoom Command showed us that Lunnesby has been driven out, and while she is still free, she is no longer pulling strings in the UNS (Strings they may have prevented the UNS from trying to take Petey down while he's distracted in Andromeda).
And Mallcop Command gave us...well...nothing really, except for it started a pattern of Tagon getting silverware in his eye.

Also, is it just me, or is Howard going on a costume-changing kick. He's had the Toughs running around in bulletproof spandex for years, then he gave Tagon new duds, had them wear civillian clothes, gave them the Mallcop uniforms, and then their new Uniforms. This last mission had a motley combination of Power armor, old style uniforms, new style uniforms, and no uniforms. Plus, the way Tagon keeps losing his Eye makes me think an eye patch (or some sort of cybernetic implant) may become a permanent part of his character design. Maybe Tailor's jury-rigged surgery (his tools are built for making clothing, he was able to use them, but there may be lasting side effects) means Bunningus can't easily re-grow Tagon's eye (Even with the good equipment on board the TAG), so he settles for the Eye Patch until he can find time to get a new eye, which is never.

[HandofShadows]

And Mallcop Command gave us...well...nothing really, except for it started a pattern of Tagon getting silverware in his eye.


There was a thread dangeling there. Someone had a plan to bring in lowlifes (the Toughs where handy) to the station and go really overboard doing their job and casue a lot of damage and deaths. http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-06-21 Part of a long term plan that water breathing species has.

[Evil DM Mark3]

Yay! Another thread. Hopefully this one will stick around, Schlock threads have a tendency to loose steam, possibly due to the relatively slow pace of the story.

[BRC]

There was a thread dangeling there. Someone had a plan to bring in lowlifes (the Toughs where handy) to the station and go really overboard doing their job and casue a lot of damage and deaths. http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-06-21 Part of a long term plan that water breathing species has.


Yeah, but I don't know. Lunnesby and LOTA seemed more relevant than what looks like a sneaky cultural exchange program.

Yay! Another thread. Hopefully this one will stick around, Schlock threads have a tendency to loose steam, possibly due to the relatively slow pace of the story.
Well, the story moves plenty fast time wise, it's just that each individual update rarely kicks it along too much (seeing as how frequent they are). Each page (Well, Strip is more appropriate) tends not to have much to talk about, so threads sadly tend to die.

[Rockphed]

For Gunnerkrigg, the art progression is more striking because it was over a shorter period of time.

But yeah, the art in Schlock went from bad to okay to nice to pretty good. The lesson here, folk, is that if you draw every day for several years, you get better at it. (It would seem obvious, but looking at Dominic Deegan, one may doubt.)

But Howard doesn't draw everyday, he just draws a comic FOR everyday. And tends to have a crazy big buffer. Well, it is big by webcomic standards where most comics have a buffer size of negative five.

On the other hand, I am given to understand that Dominic Deegan is drawn every day at the last minute possible to maintain whatever schedule DD is trying to run on.

[John Campbell]

With the possible exception of Gunnerkrigg,I think Schlock is the comic with the greatest level of art progression I've ever seen.
I think I'd award that dubious prize to A Girl and Her Fed (http://agirlandherfed.com/) (if you go check that one, note that the "First" link goes to a redrawn strip now... click the little arrow in the lower right corner of the comic to see what it originally looked like), with CRFH!!! (http://www.crfh.net/) as first runner-up, and Schlock placing around third. Gunnerkrigg's way, way down on the list in improvement terms because it began at a much higher level.

[Tavar]

No questionable content? For Shame. As the creator himself said, if you don't like the art, wait a week and it will be different.

[BRC]

It's a gut judgement thing QC and A Girl and her Fed (both of which I read) more jumped Styles than anything (Especially AGaHF). The art is certain Better on both comics now, but in my head, it's more like a Stylistic shift than plain improvement, along with some considerable tweaking of course.
I would call Schlock the same art style as it was when it began, just vastly improved. Martin of QC#1 is basically unidentifiable as the Martin today, but Schlock...Bad example. Today's Tagon is still in the same general style as his first appearance, only drawn much better.
So, the Toughs are back on the U.N.S's Most Wanted list, isn't that fun. I think the UNS, more than any other group, is the most frequent antagonist for the Toughs. Which, when you consider that the majority of the Tough's seem like ex UNS soldiers.

Hrmm, come to think about it, how many of the toughs were Ex-UNS. They picked up Para, Aardy, and the Monkeys on a UNS battleplate, meaning they were probably millitary of some sort or another (Para was a civilian contractor, and battleplates are basically flying cities anyway, but still). I think most of the Humans are from Celeshul, Tagon certainly was, and I think it's mentioned that Elf and Der Trihs were as well. In my headcanon, most of the original Human Toughs (like Brad) are from Celeshul, since thats where Tagon would have started recruiting.

[Rockphed]

They picked up some humans on the battleplate in addition to their monkey, gorilla, and elephant acquisitions. I like how these days the majority of the toughs are human* background characters, just like in the beginning.

*Or human uplifted.

[Evil DM Mark3]

Ok. Turns out that the toughs have some kind of "friend quota", if they have more than a certain number old friends decide to murder them...

[Tavar]

Why do you say that?

[factotum]

Guess that answers my earlier question--if the UNS are hunting the Toughs down anyway they'd be better off re-associating with Petey since he can offer some protection!

[Midnight Lurker]

I like the Touch-and-Go, especially the new squashed version, but I'm hoping Petey can spare a good old-fashioned Thunderhead Superfortress for the Toughs. I miss the classic PDCL. :smallsmile:

[Seonor]

One of the reasons of the new/better art style of schlock mercenary is not only the improvments of Taylor, but also that he hired an coulorist a few months ago.

[factotum]

I don't think the new colourist explains more than a fraction of the improvement in the art, though--just check out a strip from a year ago (before he hired the new guy) and compare with the first strips he drew, and you'll see he'd improved massively even without the improvement in the shading.

[Midnight Lurker]

...Oh ho. Petey's giving them a refit. That could very well put the Touch-and-Go in an entirely new weight class. :smallbiggrin:

[Coidzor]

...Oh ho. Petey's giving them a refit. That could very well put the Touch-and-Go in an entirely new weight class. :smallbiggrin:

Now, now, you know better than to even let a woman think you're calling her fat. Especially if she has more ways to kill you than years you've lived.

[BRC]

Now, now, you know better than to even let a woman think you're calling her fat. Especially if she has more ways to kill you than years you've lived.
She's not Fat, just big superstructure'd

[John Campbell]

No questionable content? For Shame. As the creator himself said, if you don't like the art, wait a week and it will be different.
QC's pretty high on that list, too, but below Schlock, I think. Though I wouldn't argue too hard with anyone who wanted to call it the other way around. QC's one of the reasons I said "around" third for Schlock...


I like the Touch-and-Go, especially the new squashed version, but I'm hoping Petey can spare a good old-fashioned Thunderhead Superfortress for the Toughs. I miss the classic PDCL. :smallsmile:
I miss the Ob'enn in general. The militance, the arrogance, the cute fuzziness, the cool ships, and, especially, the Ship Names of Insurpassable Pretentiousness.

[factotum]

...Oh ho. Petey's giving them a refit. That could very well put the Touch-and-Go in an entirely new weight class. :smallbiggrin:

Not to rain on your parade, but he just said he was going to finish the refit that was interrupted by this mission, not do a whole new one from scratch--I don't think we're going to be seeing the Touch-and-Go changing shape *again* so quickly. (Don't forget they left the shipyard in a hurry, with weapons not installed and stuff like that).

[Midnight Lurker]

Not to rain on your parade, but he just said he was going to finish the refit that was interrupted by this mission, not do a whole new one from scratch--I don't think we're going to be seeing the Touch-and-Go changing shape *again* so quickly. (Don't forget they left the shipyard in a hurry, with weapons not installed and stuff like that).

That right there leaves some room for improvement. :smallamused:

[Rockphed]

Have we actually seen a picture of the new Touch-And-Go? I can't remember, and I stink at searching through archives...

[BRC]

Have we actually seen a picture of the new Touch-And-Go? I can't remember, and I stink at searching through archives...
Yes, right Here (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-06-27)

[Rockphed]

Thankee muchly.

[Evil DM Mark3]

Yes, right Here (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-06-27)Strange how I had forgotten what it looks like, its only been...

Holy smokes, 5 months?

You see, Schlock moves along smoothly and constantly allright, and then you realise that it has been months since that stuff that happened "recently."

[Seonor]

I miss the Ob'enn in general. The militance, the arrogance, the cute fuzziness, the cool ships, and, especially, the Ship Names of Insurpassable Pretentiousness.

If you want crazy names for ships try this list (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_%28The_Culture%29).

My favorites (not all of them are Culture)

Frank Exchange Of Views
Attitude Adjuster
Problem Child
Gunboat Diplomat
Just Read The Instructions
No More Mr Nice Guy
I Blame My Mother
I Blame Your Mother
Ultimate Ship The Second
I Said, I've Got A Big Stick
Falling Outside The Normal Moral Constraints
Abundance Of Onslaught.

[Rockphed]

Been reading through the archives again, and I just came to the death of TAG (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-01-17). Personally, I would prefer it to end in a "Goodbye", but it is one of the most powerful things I have read in a while.

[factotum]

Wasn't *really* TAG's death, considering we see him still responding to orders a few minutes later... :smallamused:

[Felius]

Nice to see new tag is still quite proficient in psychological warfare. :smalltongue:

[Rockphed]

Wasn't *really* TAG's death, considering we see him still responding to orders a few minutes later... :smallamused:

I had forgotten how long it took TAG to stop working. I was reading things in order, and that strip hit me rather squarely in the face. I still think a "goodbye" would have been appropriate at the end of it.

[BRC]

This talk of Tag's death made me realize, he "Died' From a rather similar situation to what is being discussed in Today's comic.

Tag had a crisis of identity resulting from being forced by situations to react instantly, killing hundreds to save millions. However, he'd been built as blank slate with little room for independent action. The fact that he had acted without orders brought on a crisis of identity that "Killed" him , but if he had waited for Tagon to tell him to do what he did anyway, millions would have died.

Tagii made the decision to save the Touch and Go by abandoning Tagon without orders, before Tagon could have ordered her to do it. It's not exactly the same situation, but it's similar, and Tagii takes it in stride.

[Evil DM Mark3]

Probably because Tagii is better programmed. I miss TAG and Tagii has yet to grow on me.

So, after all this, Petty is back in the comic, apparently the idea is that Petty with tied up resources is better than no Petty or Godlike Petty.

@V Pardon my dyslexia, I admit the slip is amusing.

[Gez]

Nicknaming Petey "Petty" is certainly amusing for the irony of it.

[Midnight Lurker]

Tag didn't die from a crisis of conscience. He resigned. He remained perfectly awake and functional until Ventura MURDERED him. :smallfurious:

On a lighter note, now there are two AI superpowers. Who don't get along...

[BRC]

And hey, look at that, a stare off with our favorite Meglomaniac AI's!
Of course, Lota might want to tone that ego down a little. He's got a big gun, Petey can probably build eight guns just as big within a month.

[factotum]

And in fact has promised to do so. What's kind of funny is that Lota, who is unquestionably the weaker one there, has the arrogance to believe he can be some sort of check on Petey's power!

[John Campbell]

Arrogance is pretty much Lota's defining character trait.

[Rockphed]

I thought that was the defining character trait of the people who built Petey.

[Gez]

I thought that was the defining character trait of the people who built Petey.

Their is a different arrogance; one laced with pompousness. Lota is not pompous, even though he wishes he could be, what with the self-styling as a king and the whole "puny pronouns" things.

[HandofShadows]

There are several difference between Petey and LOTA in my eyes. Petey can be ashamed and humble (as we have just seen when Targon got mad). I really don't see that in LOTA.

[Rockphed]

There are several difference between Petey and LOTA in my eyes. Petey can be ashamed and humble (as we have just seen when Targon got mad). I really don't see that in LOTA.

Wait, who is Targon? I assume you mean Tagon, but if there is a person named Targon, I want to know about it.

[Imgran]

And hey, look at that, a stare off with our favorite Meglomaniac AI's!
Of course, Lota might want to tone that ego down a little. He's got a big gun, Petey can probably build eight guns just as big within a month.

You're thinking too small. Petey can project the same amount of force as that gun, in the same way, without even building one, especially if he has the power to overwhelm TAD at will anywhere in a given galaxy.

Also I'm loving the wry, mature sense of humor Tagon's been developing recently. It was always there a little but it's definitely been coming to the fore a lot more in recent chapters.

[John Campbell]

I thought that was the defining character trait of the people who built Petey.

The people who built Sword of Inevitable Justice, perhaps, but Petey has a lot more influences going into his make-up than just the Ob'enn.

And I don't believe either Petey or the Ob'enn have ever claimed to be too good for pronouns.

[Midnight Lurker]

The Ob'enn suck at building AIs who sympathize with their genocidal agenda, so much so that they have to put loyalty programming in there -- programming that forces the AIs to obey their orders, not altering their personalities at all.

Also, today's strip? Yikes. The war is turning hot.

[Coidzor]

LOTA basically just struck me as a teenager's runaway science fair project in terms of personality. I mean, the puny pronouns? Playing with the Buranabots? Yeah... Not quite a child, not yet an adult.

[factotum]

The Pa'anuri have THIRTY-FIVE times the power available to them that Petey has? Oopsies! :smalleek:

[Rockphed]

The Pa'anuri have THIRTY-FIVE times the power available to them that Petey has? Oopsies! :smalleek:

No, their generator is 35 times the size. That might or might not equate to 35 times the power generation. It all depends on what Petey means by "35 times larger". Either way, it is pretty substantial.

Also, it seems that what with the Pa'anuri finally figuring out that stars are good for things other than super weapons, they might finally stop being jerks to all baryonic matter. Hmmmm, then again, I don't expect it.

[factotum]

No, their generator is 35 times the size. That might or might not equate to 35 times the power generation. It all depends on what Petey means by "35 times larger". Either way, it is pretty substantial.


I'd say 35 times as powerful is the MINIMUM he could mean by that, realistically. If he meant it was 35 times the length or something then you'd expect the power output to be around 42000 times as much (assuming a similar power output per unit volume as Petey's).

[Mr._Blinky]

The issue with LOTA trying to take on Petey is: what would he possibly target? Petey isn't a centralized intelligence like LOTA is, and as such can't be taken down in a single shot, or even hindered all that much. In order to seriously damage Petey, LOTA would have to take out a lot of different targets, probably in the hundreds, and Petey would almost certainly annihilate him before that could work. The only things LOTA could target that would do significant damage to Petey's plans are things Petey is using to fight the Pa'anuri, and that wouldn't exactly be in LOTA's best interests.

[BRC]

Concerning AIs, from what I noticed, AI's tend to be good morality wise. There is variation, but most of the AI's we've met tend to be, oddly enough, less sociopathic and "ends-Justify-the-means" then their organic commanders. Maybe whomever created the algorithms that everybody uses to Growpram (Grow+Program) AI's put in some hefty Morality subroutines to prevent a classic "Evil AI's Take over everything" scenario. Which is why whenever AI's like Petey or LOTA become unfettered (That is, without any obligations to obey somebody's orders) and gain lots of power, their first instinct is to become galactic policemen.
The Solar-sailing squidbots they ran into were made by a race that wasn't part of standard galactic civilization, so they don't have those algorithms.

[Rockphed]

And don't forget that Enesby was both derisive and hostile to the evil AIs we met barreling down way too fast to stop. I think he just thought of them as evil idiots. All things considered, our little boy-band is pretty awesome at what he does.

[Ganurath]

On AI morality, I think it's more a matter of consideration of long-term consequences. The squidbot sailors were simply too stupid to give something that important consideration, as demonstrated by the design of their vessels. LOTA knows that while he's a galactic power, he's put all his eggs in one basket and needs to act with consideration to the power(s) that can kill him, specifically Petey.

Petey, meanwhile, has the wealth of experience to enforce moral restraint. He has benefitted from cooperating with others throughout his history, whether he's rescuing billions of gate clones, waging war against the Care Bears From Hell, or ascending to godhood to wage a war against genocidal beings to its logical conclusion. Coupled with a wealth of experience from his gestalt state giving him an understanding of psychology, and it becomes practical to be a benevolent busybody.

[Evil DM Mark3]

All this seems to imply that our author thinks that there is an inherent justice to the universe and that, on the grand scale (a scale that AIs are able to percive) morality is inherrant and that it is not the artifical construct that many humans think.

Or, you know, not.

[lord_khaine]

Wow, Tagons new bodyarmor looks pretty mean, and i guess Enesby will finaly get an art upgrade?

[Radar]

All this seems to imply that our author thinks that there is an inherent justice to the universe and that, on the grand scale (a scale that AIs are able to percive) morality is inherrant and that it is not the artifical construct that many humans think.

Or, you know, not.
In one SF short story by Stanislaw Lem, there was a similar concept presented. The universe is in general civil - not military. So if you start building bigger and more complex AIs (or fusing them as it was the case), then even if they were the most fierce soldiers, they will become civilians after crossing a certain treshold.
It was used by two witty inventors to defuse a big war between some countries - they convinced rulers of both of them to fuse all their robotic soldiers into a single mind to increase their military effectiveness. Results were hilarious.

[HandofShadows]

Wow, Tagons new bodyarmor looks pretty mean, and i guess Enesby will finaly get an art upgrade?

Weather he want's it or not. :smallbiggrin:

[SlyGuyMcFly]

I love Nick. He's one of the few dumb-as-a-brick characters in fiction I actually find consistently funny.

[Rockphed]

I love Nick. He's one of the few dumb-as-a-brick characters in fiction I actually find consistently funny.

That is probably because, despite being as dumb as a brick, he is very good at his job. Furthermore, just because he is dumb, doesn't mean he doesn't get an inkling of what normally goes over his head. Like when he realized that Kathryn was a spy.

[Imgran]

He's an archetypal dumb-but-wise character. Superstitious and a little slow, but he's seen a bit of the world and unlike most stupid people, he's humble enough to know his limitations and does his best to stay within them. As thick as Nick is, he's on my short list of "guys I would want to have guarding my back when the crap hit the fan."

[Midnight Lurker]

Looks like Petey's been restoring Tagon's lost memories... cool.

[factotum]

Is that the case? A lot of the memories we were seeing there seem too old for the UNS to have messed with--the only ones they ought to have been fiddling with were the ones dealing with the whole Project Lazarus mission.

[Midnight Lurker]

Is that the case? A lot of the memories we were seeing there seem too old for the UNS to have messed with--the only ones they ought to have been fiddling with were the ones dealing with the whole Project Lazarus mission.

Look carefully. The memories in black and white that Tagon calls out? Those are the restored ones, everything else is Tagon free-associating with them.

[factotum]

Ah! Clearly too clever by half for my dull wits after a weekend mostly spent working... :smalltongue:

[Knaight]

I'd say 35 times as powerful is the MINIMUM he could mean by that, realistically. If he meant it was 35 times the length or something then you'd expect the power output to be around 42000 times as much (assuming a similar power output per unit volume as Petey's).

Its unlike Petey to treat one dimension as the size. That said, the core generator was practically 2d in respect to the core, so its quite possible that the thickness of both core generators is the same meaning that could be around 200 times as powerful. In any case, its powerful enough to pose a threat to Petey, meaning it is well above anything the UNS, Ob-Enn, or any number of other groups capacities to handle. The Fleetmind is a bit beyond them.

[Evil DM Mark3]

This is all assuming that the power output of the generator scales with size. It could be that to double output you need to quadruple size, or even raise it by a factor of ten. After all, if they had access to 200 times the power output of Petey, why is Petey still around? The amount of power Petey has, 200 times that and why is out Galaxy even here? Unless it takes a lot less power to defend oneself than to attack, but that would mean Petey has to be totally on the defensive in this war, which is very disturbing as an idea too.

[Radar]

This is all assuming that the power output of the generator scales with size. It could be that to double output you need to quadruple size, or even raise it by a factor of ten. After all, if they had access to 200 times the power output of Petey, why is Petey still around? The amount of power Petey has, 200 times that and why is out Galaxy even here? Unless it takes a lot less power to defend oneself than to attack, but that would mean Petey has to be totally on the defensive in this war, which is very disturbing as an idea too.
Most of Petey's energy output goes to teraporting to the other galaxy, which is immensly difficult. I guess, that any operation that needs to rally the energy from one galaxy to another is heavily taxed as well. With such an assumption, Petey might have enough power to defend our galaxy, but will lose everything in Andromeda, which means a complete wipe for all life in that galaxy (except Pa'anuri).

[Rockphed]

Were we recently talking about Corporal "I'm gonna wrestle (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-12-20) a homicidal elephant naked (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-12-23)" Nicholson?

[BRC]

Most of Petey's energy output goes to teraporting to the other galaxy, which is immensly difficult. I guess, that any operation that needs to rally the energy from one galaxy to another is heavily taxed as well. With such an assumption, Petey might have enough power to defend our galaxy, but will lose everything in Andromeda, which means a complete wipe for all life in that galaxy (except Pa'anuri).
I got the impression that he's just using a good deal of power in general. Overwhelming TAD systems, running his massive fleet of ships, teraporting too and from Andromeda, ect.
Now, I just realized the importance of this. In the Milky Way, Petey was the undisputed big dog, he has no need for the Toughs because anybody they could fight for him, he could probably swat without much effort. None of the other Milky way powers dared cross him, and his trump card was his ability to punch through TAD systems, to Terapedo anywhere in the galaxy in a way nobody could stop.

Now we learn that the war in Andromeda is taking everything he's got. Once the Galactic powers learn how thinly stretched he is, they are going to start moving in. He needs the Tough's again.

Also, apparently the Paanuri core generator just recently came online, considering that he was willing to do a T.A.D Punch to give Tagon a birthday present not that long ago.

[HandofShadows]

Now we learn that the war in Andromeda is taking everything he's got. Once the Galactic powers learn how thinly stretched he is, they are going to start moving in. He needs the Tough's again.


The Galactic powers but not do to much stupid stuff though. If Petey looses all life in the Milky Way is dead. :smalleek:

[BRC]

The Galactic powers but not do to much stupid stuff though. If Petey looses all life in the Milky Way is dead. :smalleek:
Which is why they probably won't declare all out war on the Fleetmind. They will play it carefully. They don't like Petey, but they don't want to die either.
Consider this, Petey's got a lot of holdings which are not contributing to the War in Andromeda. Petey's priority will be fighting the Pa'anuri, now he can't defend those holdings without pulling his focus away from a more important battle. A war of proxies and puppets, with powers playing a game of galactic blackjack, with the Milky Way as the pot. Each one trying to get as much as they can from the Fleetmind without annoying Petey enough that he will actually retaliate.
Obviously, this will be done indirectly. An untraceable black ops team raids a laboratory, a private corporation seizes control of a resource rich system. A planetary government is overthrown and replaced with somebody a little less friendly towards AI's with god complexes.
Not so long ago, Petey could stop this stuff with his usual application of overwhelming, yet finely tuned force, but he can't anymore, which is where our favorite mercenary company comes in, stopping the forces that would take advantage of Petey's distraction.

[factotum]

I think we're maybe giving the Toughs a little bit too much credit here. They're wanted by the UNS already, and they don't have anything near enough muscle to stop any reasonably-equipped black ops team; heck, they're not even the biggest mercenary group around--we know that Pranger's crew are bigger and more powerful. (Petey even went to Pranger to arrange for the rescue at first, but his offer was refused).

[Rockphed]

However, Petey's god complex is deep and long seated. (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-07-28) I didn't realize just how crazy he was when I first met him(which was significantly less than 9 years ago.:smallamused:

[tyckspoon]

Unless it takes a lot less power to defend oneself than to attack, but that would mean Petey has to be totally on the defensive in this war, which is very disturbing as an idea too.

This is probably true- after all, you can create a near-impenetrable TAD zone with the annie plant of one ship, but it takes the energy resources of the core generator to punch through it. That kind of disparity probably also shows up in the sort of warfare Petey is performing; it doesn't take too much energy to destructively interfere with an energy pulse, but you need tons of it to make your attack remain coherent in the face of a defensive scramble. I would guess, without the interference of some other actor or plot development, that the war would become a slow losing stalemate; neither side has enough power to actually strike a significant blow against the other, but the Paanuri will have enough of an edge to to nibble at the galaxy, piece by piece. They'll never be able to strike a blow at a really significant world, but maybe a space-mall somewhere will be destroyed, or a planet whose only notable trait is being a really pleasant place for a vacation will get twisted out of its star's nice-vacation-world zone.

[Rob Roy]

This is probably true- after all, you can create a near-impenetrable TAD zone with the annie plant of one ship, but it takes the energy resources of the core generator to punch through it. That kind of disparity probably also shows up in the sort of warfare Petey is performing; it doesn't take too much energy to destructively interfere with an energy pulse, but you need tons of it to make your attack remain coherent in the face of a defensive scramble. I would guess, without the interference of some other actor or plot development, that the war would become a slow losing stalemate; neither side has enough power to actually strike a significant blow against the other, but the Paanuri will have enough of an edge to to nibble at the galaxy, piece by piece. They'll never be able to strike a blow at a really significant world, but maybe a space-mall somewhere will be destroyed, or a planet whose only notable trait is being a really pleasant place for a vacation will get twisted out of its star's nice-vacation-world zone.
Couldn't the Paanuri just wait it out though? They seem to plot way in advance, so they could just wait until the Milky Way and Andromeda merge? It's not like their going anywhere. It seems without the intervention of forces other than Petey or them, they'd win, without really doing anything.

[Rockphed]

But if they try to wait it out, the tricksy humans might come up with something that could really kill them. Or when the galaxies merged, they would swiftly become extinct due to sudden influx of teraport denial systems.

[Rob Roy]

But if they try to wait it out, the tricksy humans might come up with something that could really kill them. Or when the galaxies merged, they would swiftly become extinct due to sudden influx of teraport denial systems.
Could you please provide a link to when it said that teraport denial systems will kill them and/or seriously mess with them. In my timezone, It's well past a decent hour of the day, so I'd overlook it even if I did find it.
Nevermind, I do believe I found it. (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-07-10)

[Midnight Lurker]

Oh wow. I got the black and white bits backwards --they're the fakes. :)

[factotum]

Actually, it's teraport activity that seems to harm the Pa'anuri--I don't think any mention has ever been made of TAD systems doing the same. (Although there has to be SOME reason that the Pa'anuri simply didn't use TAD to prevent their space getting "polluted" via teraport operations--Kevin managed to develop the TAD very quickly after developing the teraport itself, and I don't believe anyone else would have taken *that* much longer, brilliant as he is).

Anyway, I notice that Midnight Lurker was actually incorrect--it's the black and white memories that are the implanted ones! I suppose the clue there should have been the really old guy (whose name I forget) being a black-and-white image among the pictures of Tagon's dead friends, considering we know he's still alive and well.

[Rockphed]

Could you please provide a link to when it said that teraport denial systems will kill them and/or seriously mess with them. In my timezone, It's well past a decent hour of the day, so I'd overlook it even if I did find it.
Nevermind, I do believe I found it. (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-07-10)

Sorry about that. I could have found it fairly easily since I just read it a couple days ago.

In other news, look at what manner of foreshadowing (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-04-01) I found!

[Midnight Lurker]

...and, as of today, I was COMPLETELY wrong: all Petey can do is highlight the fakes. Oh well. :smalltongue:

This calls for a daring commando raid to retrieve their archived memories! ...If they were archived at all. And if that was a good idea, which it probably isn't.

[Mando Knight]

Apparently, I have some 31st-century movie-watching to catch up to.

[Midnight Lurker]

Zombies... redwood golems...?

This franchise is a revival of Inhumanoids, isn't it? :smallbiggrin:

[Imgran]

Is it just me or is Schlock getting smarter with experience? He's always been fast on his feet (or, well, you know what I mean) in response to a given situation, but lately he's been crafting and executing plans, demonstrating a level of forethought and competence (such as answering back to Kevyn when Kevyn tried to limit the rules of engagement too much in the first Credomar mission) and several times in the last few arcs set events in motion on his own that require a great deal more leadership and forethought than when he was force-fed into a sewage pipe to save his ship from food service commandos or responding to the Beetle Incident or hiding in air vents.

The incident with Shafter's Shifters is a zenith point of a significant bit of growth for our favorite poo-pile. Schlock was able, pretty much under the nose of a planetary intelligence agency, to simultaneously catch an assassain, identify the larger threat, and execute a mini Xanatos Gambit that freed Lunesby from Solnet, all at the same time, while at several points demonstrating a level of awareness that we hadn't seen too often before, such as identifying Zysk's death as an assassination. Compare that to the Ganj-Rho mission where they replaced Scholck's eyes, or even the Target Echo arc, where he was a virtual passenger for most of the mission.

I think Sergeant Schlock may be in line for a promotion the next time Tagon upsizes. We've already seen guys like Ebbirnoth promoted past him, he keeps up this new ability to think and plan, he might just be due.

Speaking of promotions, I really miss the Lt. Reverend. I think that was a real casualty of the time travel arc and I want it back so bad, I loved that "civilized badass" dimension that he exhibited during the rescue of General Tagon and he's really fallen by the wayside as a character since.

[BRC]

Is it just me or is Schlock getting smarter with experience? He's always been fast on his feet (or, well, you know what I mean) in response to a given situation, but lately he's been crafting and executing plans, demonstrating a level of forethought and competence (such as answering back to Kevyn when Kevyn tried to limit the rules of engagement too much in the first Credomar mission) and several times in the last few arcs set events in motion on his own that require a great deal more leadership and forethought than when he was force-fed into a sewage pipe to save his ship from food service commandos or responding to the Beetle Incident or hiding in air vents.

The incident with Shafter's Shifters is a zenith point of a significant bit of growth for our favorite poo-pile. Schlock was able, pretty much under the nose of a planetary intelligence agency, to simultaneously catch an assassain, identify the larger threat, and execute a mini Xanatos Gambit that freed Lunesby from Solnet, all at the same time, while at several points demonstrating a level of awareness that we hadn't seen too often before, such as identifying Zysk's death as an assassination. Compare that to the Ganj-Rho mission where they replaced Scholck's eyes, or even the Target Echo arc, where he was a virtual passenger for most of the mission.

I think Sergeant Schlock may be in line for a promotion the next time Tagon upsizes. We've already seen guys like Ebbirnoth promoted past him, he keeps up this new ability to think and plan, he might just be due.
Schlock has been getting smarter, everybody in the company looks up to him (what would Schlock do), and he's had some pretty smart plans under pressure. Maybe it's a side-effect of absorbing alt-timeline mini-schlock. Remember, Schlock is homogenous, all his amorph goop is at once muscle, brain, digestive tract, nose, tounge, ect. It makes sense that by getting more Schlock-goop he would become smarter.
However, he's not officer material above Sergent. Yes he's apparently somewhat charismatic, works well under pressure, and demonstrates decent leadership capability, he is simply too impulsive. Remember him reacting to the Sniper by walking his shots over several city blocks in Credomar? I think he's best as a Sergent with a superior officer waiting nearby. They can let Schlock lead the troops, but override him if he goes into "Trigger happy Murder-blob" mode.

[Radar]

(...)
True, there is always the risk of overpromotion. He is a good sergeant, but he might not perform well with a higher rank even if only because he likes to be in the front lines.

Also: when he was almost destroyed and all that was left of Schlock could fit into a rather modest trophy cup, he did get really childish.

[Rockphed]

True, there is always the risk of overpromotion. He is a good sergeant, but he might not perform well with a higher rank even if only because he likes to be in the front lines.

Also: when he was almost destroyed and all that was left of Schlock could fit into a rather modest trophy cup, he did get really childish.

Also, his appetite went to pot.

[Imgran]

Meh, I'd settle for the Reverand Lieutenant to come back.

[Knaight]

This is all assuming that the power output of the generator scales with size. It could be that to double output you need to quadruple size, or even raise it by a factor of ten. After all, if they had access to 200 times the power output of Petey, why is Petey still around? The amount of power Petey has, 200 times that and why is out Galaxy even here? Unless it takes a lot less power to defend oneself than to attack, but that would mean Petey has to be totally on the defensive in this war, which is very disturbing as an idea too.

Petey is known to be well beyond anyone else at logistics (particularly as regards information) (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2005-07-15). He can think incredibly quickly, every single ship is coordinated on his time scale, he knows war well enough to manage it better than any other entity, including psychological warfare. In short, Petey is extremely efficient, and it might well be enough to overcome a few orders of magnitude difference in raw power. It depends on what Andromeda can do with a watt.

[Rockphed]

Oh, dear. I foresee this being very bad. Are we about to return to the days when Buverend shippers were constantly moaning about the UST, or will they get a quick, "Well, we thought we were married, but those memories are fake, so, captain, marry us RIGHT NOW!"

Either way, I expect the reverend to angst about it for a week.

[factotum]

or will they get a quick, "Well, we thought we were married, but those memories are fake, so, captain, marry us RIGHT NOW!"


Er, the Rev and Doctor's marriage isn't a false memory--the Admiral married them on the Morokweng before their memories were tampered with. I suppose it's possible that memory got overwritten with a false marriage memory, though, guess we'll have to see!

[John Campbell]

Is it just me or is Schlock getting smarter with experience?
I'm not certain how long it was between Schlock leaving Ghanj-Rho as the merger of two amorphs that were mind-wiped down to nothing more than their instincts, and his joining the Toughs at the beginning of the comic, but I don't think it was terribly long. He left Ghanj-Rho as, mentally, a newborn baby, and joined the Toughs not all that long afterwards, so when he joined up, he was basically a toddler with a BFG.

I'm also not sure exactly what ten years of strips translates to in-comic, though I'm pretty sure it's a fair bit less than the time it's taken Howard to tell the story. But, even still, Schlock's piled up a serious lot of experience in that time (especially since he's one of the very few people (him, Captain Kevyn, and the few AIs whose gestalts were brought back) that experienced both timelines), especially relative to the amount of experience that he had at the start. And a lot of that experience was earned at the sharp end of the stick.

And he's basically an information storage matrix with an appetite. It'd be surprising if he hadn't retained some of that experience...

[Imgran]

Oh Petey, don't let Tagon catch you slandering him behind his back.

[Rockphed]

Er, the Rev and Doctor's marriage isn't a false memory--the Admiral married them on the Morokweng before their memories were tampered with. I suppose it's possible that memory got overwritten with a false marriage memory, though, guess we'll have to see!

It does depend a bit on what memories got erased and overwritten, but even if they decide that they really are married, then I expect the Reverend to be angsty for a while.

[Midnight Lurker]

I'm not certain how long it was between Schlock leaving Ghanj-Rho as the merger of two amorphs that were mind-wiped down to nothing more than their instincts, and his joining the Toughs at the beginning of the comic, but I don't think it was terribly long. He left Ghanj-Rho as, mentally, a newborn baby, and joined the Toughs not all that long afterwards, so when he joined up, he was basically a toddler with a BFG.
He wasn't exactly a baby, more a unique semi-adult. (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-12-23)

[BRC]

Er, the Rev and Doctor's marriage isn't a false memory--the Admiral married them on the Morokweng before their memories were tampered with. I suppose it's possible that memory got overwritten with a false marriage memory, though, guess we'll have to see!
It did. The Rev and Bunningus had a very brief orthodox Las Vegist (First church of the king, thankyouverramuch) wedding in their prison cell. After the false memories are implanted, we have characters reminiscing about an elaborate beautiful ceremony.

[John Campbell]

And Petey's just flagging false memories, not restoring the true ones - he can't without the original source. I think Schlock is the only source of true memories of what happened on Morokweng that's currently available to Petey, and I don't think he ever knew about the real wedding.

The Rev and Doc are likely to come out of this knowing that their memories of getting married are false, but not remembering the real wedding, and not even knowing that there was a real wedding.

[ChowGuy]

True, there is always the risk of overpromotion. He is a good sergeant, but he might not perform well with a higher rank even if only because he likes to be in the front lines.

Also: when he was almost destroyed and all that was left of Schlock could fit into a rather modest trophy cup, he did get really childish.Like a lot of good NCO's Schlock doesn't want to be an officer. Being in charge of the heavy weapons squad is way too much fun.

You may in fact recall that at the time of last last promotion (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-02-17) he owned "approximately sixty-two percent of the common stock" and could have demanded any rank he wanted. Not unlike "Admiral" Breya (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-06-20).

[Coidzor]

You links set me off and I found this comic mentioning aVentura, (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-03-13) perhaps a relative of hers?

[Rockphed]

I think when we first met Ventura some people speculated that SHE was the Ventura of Henke-Ventura. Personally, I figure Henke-Ventura is her mother or grandmother.

[factotum]

I think the current strip suggests that the "legit" wedding *was* overwritten--can't think what other memories they share that they'd need to be there for each other when they find out!

[Gez]

You know, I actually think this (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-12-08) would help. :smalltongue:

[Rockphed]

I wonder if their marriage certificate matches the memories, or the truth? I suspect it matches both. Then again, finding out you were living a lie is probably plenty distressing even if you later find out that the basis for the lie was a truth.

I agree with the captain and schlock showing up making the whole thing much more betterer. I feel that, while Tagon might come in around fifth on emotional stability and maturity, he does know how to deal with broken people. (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-02-07) Though in that case, they broke because of violence, and in this case they broke because of other reasons.

[BRC]

Of course, Tagon is a Captain, onboard a Ship. He has just as much ability to marry them as the Commodore did.

[Imgran]

Besides, one of the things those two need right now is good dose of "wake the heck up and start thinking instead of panicking!" Tagon's real good at that.

[Coidzor]

Indeed. And the proposal to just have a do-over since they're still legally married in some jurisdiction or another as part of the deception anyway would at least force them to stop moping.


Of course, Tagon is a Captain, onboard a Ship. He has just as much ability to marry them as the Commodore did.

Indeed, he even wanted to perform the ceremony back when it first came to light.

[Douglas]

I wonder, did Schlock find out about their real marriage before he did his memory backup? If so, he could help by telling them only the ceremony was faked, not the marriage.

[Rob Roy]

I wonder, did Schlock find out about their real marriage before he did his memory backup? If so, he could help by telling them only the ceremony was faked, not the marriage.
He wasn't there for the real wedding.

[Douglas]

He wasn't there for the real wedding.
Yes, but he might have heard it mentioned between that and the backup. A lot can come up in conversation when you have a couple of days (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-02-15) to wait with nothing to do.

[Rockphed]

Yes, but he might have heard it mentioned between that and the backup. A lot can come up in conversation when you have a couple of days (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-02-15) to wait with nothing to do.

Shlock was, shall we say, indisposed. (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-02-13) If he hadn't been indisposed, he might have done something rash, like eating his tormentor. (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-02-24) Well, he did that anyway, but he would probably have done it sooner if he hadn't been kept in a force field.

Edit: And they have come to grips with their problem, and will probably be asking the Captain to marry them any minute now.

[Imgran]

There's that self-aware humor from Tagon again. He's matured quite a bit as the comic's gone forward.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Vacation? I remember the Tough's last vacation :smalltongue:

[Evil DM Mark3]

It seems that they tend to need vacations to recover from their vacations...

[Imgran]

So do both Kevyns and both Schlocks.

[Rockphed]

Vacation? I remember the Tough's last vacation :smalltongue:

You mean the one where Tagon kissed elf and then cut her head off? Or the one where Tagon refuted Elf's advances and she broke his jaw?

[Imgran]

Or the one where they lost their "reD shirT" for good?

[SlyGuyMcFly]

And I only now realized what the sophont on the right of the 1st panel has as a pet. :smallbiggrin:

[Imgran]

All I want to know is, do they still have General Tagon, Captain Kevyn, and Kath with them or not?

My first ever Schlock ship, but I'm pulling hard for Kath/Tagon. I dunno, something about that chemistry seems like it might work, depending on how Kath's character matures (and if it gets a chance to which it could easily not, except that they went out of their way to keep her around at first after the MallOne adventure ended, which means.. something. Maybe.)

[Rockphed]

The general would approve of your shipping Tagon with just about anybody.

[Coidzor]

^: I don't think he's desperate enough for Schlock-shipping yet, though.
All I want to know is, do they still have General Tagon, Captain Kevyn, and Kath with them or not?

I'm thinking yes, as going near Celeschul would be suicide after the stunt the long-gunner of the apocalypse pulled.

[factotum]

The 28th November strip said Kath had to wait around for her bus for a few days, and the General and Other Kevyn were there as well. There's no indication they've changed location since then, so I think we can reasonably assume they're all still there--especially since there would be no reason to comment about Kath not being able to leave for a few days unless she still had a part to play!

[Imgran]

OK Bunni, let's review

-- your memory was changed in order to hide the Project Laz'r'us secret. You don't know that, but you DO know there was an important military secret they were altered to protect, which amounts to the same thing.
-- in the intervening time, you have fallen under further suspicion from the very body that changed your memory in the first place thanks to your company's involvement with LOTA, including the accidental creation of said sentient superweapon.
-- you have also fallen back under the sphere of influence of Petey, who is a persion the UNS knows is quite aware of Project Laz'r'us. Again you don't know the details here, but you do know the UNS has lots of reasons to be suspicious when your company and Petey get together in the same place.
-- and you are about to go and systematically hunt up everyone else who was a memwiped former witness to the Project Laz'r'us secret, and bring them to a place within Petey's territorial control. Under the guise of a wedding, no less, something they know they programmed you to believe had already taken place.

In short, you couldn't possibly be giving off more "I bucked the programming and I and my mercenary company have are now aware of The Plan and are major persons of interest for the UNS and its battleplates again" signals if you were deliberately trying to do so.

[Gez]

Good points. I wonder if this will be pointed out in comic. At the very least, the last point about reorganizing the wedding ceremony should be obvious to some of the characters there.

[Rockphed]

But they will also be gathering some people who weren't in the original ceremony. And this wouldn't have happened if the people involved hadn't relied so heavily on their brain programming.

[Midnight Lurker]

And at last we get some details of the history of Celeschul, Tagon's homeworld and one of the more important human colonies (or at least it seems that way, if only because so much of the action over the last ten years has involved it in various ways)...

[factotum]

I thought that the undersea creatures we saw the mall controller speaking to were unknown to humans, or something--it's interesting that they DO apparently know of each other, and even have a treaty! Wonder why the fishy dudes are suddenly distrusting their topside neighbours enough to send a spy into their heartland?

[Coidzor]

What I'm wondering about is the terraforming wars that occurred. Since the name along with natives implied native-colonist conflict...

[Midnight Lurker]

The most obvious inference is that in Tagon's lifetime, the treaty broke down as humans tried to make more dry land at the expense of chuul living space, and things haven't quite been right between the species since.

[ChowGuy]

I thought that the undersea creatures we saw the mall controller speaking to were unknown to humans, or something--it's interesting that they DO apparently know of each other, and even have a treaty!

And why would you find that surprising, seeing as Tagon himself refers to "a caste of human diplomats on Celeschul, raised among the Schuul natives (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-02-28)" which is what he (incorrectly) presumes Alyss to be.


Wonder why the fishy dudes are suddenly distrusting their topside neighbours enough to send a spy into their heartland?


Also, I should think the answer to that is fairly obvious. When the Teraport Wars first broke out (within the past year or so strip time) the Chelshul signed a "Joint Forces Treaty (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-03-01)" with the U.N.S. - no doubt under some duress. A U.N.S. that seems to have been taking an increasingly aggressive/possessive stance towards independent human worlds, as evidenced by the recent covert takeover bid at Credomere.

That's something that a "pathologically peaceful" species would find troubling. They do not wish to see their world dragged into someone elses Galactic war. Between that and the fact that sais treaty was brokered, and presumably monnitored and enforced by the Gatrekeepers who have now lost their Big Stick, I'd say they had reason to be concerned.

[Imgran]

Also remember that according to various strips, General Karl Tagon got his commission as a general thanks to an orbital bombardment of the command staff, Captain Kaff Tagon got his experience and pips as an officer, and met deR trihS and Thurl, all during something called the "Terraforming Wars" on Celeschul. It's all part of the backstory of how the Toughs got started, and it happened on Celeschul before it got itself forced back into UNS politics.

I would hazard that there was a near miss brought about by human shortsightedness and arrogance as the orbital industrials wanted... something and the planetbound folks (likely where the money is thus creating enough of a power balance to allow a war to be possible), possibly supported by or even defending the Schul, wanted.. something else. Likely involving exploiting Celeschul's natural resources in a way that endangered the Schul.

Either way it put the Schul on notice that they'd better have contacts among the human community if they didn't want a repeat with an even more disastrous result. And either way, given the backstory, it's fairly likely Karl, Kaff, deR trihS, et. al. were on the surface-dwellers' side of that speculative drawup of the war.

[Imgran]

BTW did anyone else just get what you wind up with when you spell "Der Trihs" backwards?

I've been reading this strip for literally years and the guy isn't even a character anymore. I feel freaking slow.

[Rockphed]

BTW did anyone else just get what you wind up with when you spell "Der Trihs" backwards?

I've been reading this strip for literally years and the guy isn't even a character anymore. I feel freaking slow.

Nope, never got that til you pointed it out. It does explain a lot about his character. I wonder if there are any other characters with meaningful names. So far we have:

Captain Tagon: Short for ___tagonist (whether he is a pro or an we can never be sure)
Doctor Lazerus: responsible for most, if not all, of the character death reversals, though his own death was never reversed
Der Trihs: Red Shirt backwards. Kept getting blown up, maimed, or otherwise inconvenienced. Also, always wore a red shirt.

[The Glyphstone]

BTW did anyone else just get what you wind up with when you spell "Der Trihs" backwards?

I've been reading this strip for literally years and the guy isn't even a character anymore. I feel freaking slow.

I didn't until about a week or two ago...

[Coidzor]

BTW did anyone else just get what you wind up with when you spell "Der Trihs" backwards?

I've been reading this strip for literally years and the guy isn't even a character anymore. I feel freaking slow.

I just thought it was a reference to the character from King of the Hill myself and just sort of glossed over it, partially because I just couldn't stand his appearances.

[factotum]

I didn't work the der Trihs thing out myself, but I've known about it for a while...wish I could remember where I read about it! Might even have been on a TVTropes binge.

[Midnight Lurker]

Doctor Lazerus: responsible for most, if not all, of the character death reversals, though his own death was never reversed

Also, his first name is Todd -- short for The Old, Dead Doctor.

[HandofShadows]

Also, I should think the answer to that is fairly obvious. When the Teraport Wars first broke out (within the past year or so strip time) the Chelshul signed a "Joint Forces Treaty (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-03-01)" with the U.N.S. - no doubt under some duress. A U.N.S. that seems to have been taking an increasingly aggressive/possessive stance towards independent human worlds, as evidenced by the recent covert takeover bid at Credomere.

Actually the UNS wanted Credomere because it was a superweapon against which there is no defence.

[Imgran]

Nope, never got that til you pointed it out. It does explain a lot about his character. I wonder if there are any other characters with meaningful names. So far we have:

Captain Tagon: Short for ___tagonist (whether he is a pro or an we can never be sure)

Oh he's a pro all right, but whether he's a protagonist or an antagonist sort of depends on who's doing the paying. There's things he won't do but they're almost always based on people he doesn't like rather than the objective itself.


Doctor Lazerus: responsible for most, if not all, of the character death reversals, though his own death was never reversed

His name was actually Lazkowitz if I recall correctly. Project Laz'r'us is probably a shorthand for a longer project name that he spearheaded. Wild guess: Lazkowitz Revival and Upgrade System


Der Trihs: Red Shirt backwards. Kept getting blown up, maimed, or otherwise inconvenienced. Also, always wore a red shirt.

Until he quit. And then he won.

Here's another one:

Reverend Theo Phobious. Literally the Greek roots mean something like "afraid of God" or "in fear of God." (the phrases sound similar but have 2 very different meanings and I'm not sure which one is more accurate)

[Imgran]

Essh, I know that the whole Ennesby-with-lips thing was supposed to be a major art upgrade but it just throws the character off IMHO. There was no really need of it, just that we see the "open mouth stance" now where we might have seen the "toothy stance" before.

So pretty much all that it looks like happened was that he got into a fistfight with Nick and lost badly.

[Rockphed]

Reverend Theo Phobious. Literally the Greek roots mean something like "afraid of God" or "in fear of God." (the phrases sound similar but have 2 very different meanings and I'm not sure which one is more accurate)

God Fearing. Often used as a descriptor for the highly religious.

[Gez]

Well, the concept of God is terrifying. Something that is all-knowing, all-powerful, all-everything, present everywhere, controlling everything, unbound by time and space, and which is especially interested by you and what you think. I mean, Lovecraft wrote about that kind of things.

[factotum]

There was no really need of it, just that we see the "open mouth stance" now where we might have seen the "toothy stance" before.


I have to agree--Ennesby is starting to look like a CTRL+ALT+DEL character who always has his mouth in same position when he's talking!

[Imgran]

I liked Ennesby. He was expressive enough to let us know what he was thinking. Taylor is very good at using half a quasi-human face to get emotions across. And the lack of facial expression actually forced the writing to convey some of the emotions which brought out the character more.

New Ennesby isn't bad, in fact he's practically the same guy, which kinda defeats the point of the "upgrade." If I had to guess, the only reason he was changed at all was because his design was a throwback to the bad art era and he wanted to make Ennesby into something a little more truly 3d-contiguous rather than just something that works on paper. IE change away from the Magic Sudden Teeth effect that was going on. I don't think it affects enough things to countenance the change myself, but that's from an outsider's perspective. The guy needs to be comfortable with his work after all.

It's not like I haven't countenanced an arbitrary change or two myself. Back when I was coloring FreeFall regularly (I claim no particular skill, I was just the chump that proved to the author it could be done without spiralling the file size out of control and increasing bandwidth costs) I sprung a couple changes on Mark Stanley that we had to talk about, particularly revolving around the coloring pattern of the character Sawtooth Rivergrinder, who was blood freaking red in a couple fanpics before I started coloring. We tried to go with that until it became clear to me that it wasn't going to work in the darkened hallway scenes we were about to take him into -- there would be no way to keep him visible, he'd just be a bloodstain with eyes in a situation where we needed more out of him. I floated him a copper-tone model that gradually morphed into construction-vehicle brown when Mark became comfortable enough with the coloring process to over the strip completely again.

[Gez]

If I had to guess, the only reason he was changed at all was because his design was a throwback to the bad art era and he wanted to make Ennesby into something a little more truly 3d-contiguous rather than just something that works on paper. IE change away from the Magic Sudden Teeth effect that was going on.

Not sure it was actually needed since holograms are so cheap in the Schlockiverse that you didn't even explain Magic Sudden Teeth in any way.

[Imgran]

True, but a hologram just for magic sudden teeth? He's done Ennesby for years, sometimes little things grate on you until you have to fix them even though they're minor.

[Kizor]

Well, the concept of God is terrifying. Something that is all-knowing, all-powerful, all-everything, present everywhere, controlling everything, unbound by time and space, and which is especially interested by you and what you think. I mean, Lovecraft wrote about that kind of things.

The point of Lovecraft's entities was that they didn't care about your kind at all, except Nyarlathotep. Otherwise you're quite correct. I think that's the point of the old phrase "God-fearing": You know that the Being is on your side, but nonetheless, holy balls. The source material has the same vibe: even people who witness angels - beings of the highest good, proof that the universe is on your side - usually react by FREAKING OUT.

Anyway, if slummers tried to mug the Doctor, could Schlock eat one, crush him into a ball, coat it with the owner's skin, and brain another mugger by spitting it out?

[Coidzor]

I mean, Lovecraft wrote about that kind of things.

Most Lovecraftian horrors at least have the decency to not be 24/7 voyeurs. :smallwink:


Anyway, if slummers tried to mug the Doctor, could Schlock eat one, crush him into a ball, coat it with the owner's skin, and brain another mugger by spitting it out?

In Soviet Slum, gun is schlock. Wait. wait. ... SCHLOCK GUN! :smallbiggrin:

[Rockphed]

Anyway, if slummers tried to mug the Doctor, could Schlock eat one, crush him into a ball, coat it with the owner's skin, and brain another mugger by spitting it out?

I think Schlock's tendency to eat lawyer drones before they can react, which is totally sanctioned by the UNS, proves that Schlock could do, at the very least, the eating part.

[factotum]

I think Schlock's tendency to eat lawyer drones before they can react, which is totally sanctioned by the UNS, proves that Schlock could do, at the very least, the eating part.

Him eating Colonel What's-his-face during the memory wipe incident is a better example, I think--he managed to eat him and absorb the remnants so rapidly that he was able to escape down the plughole of the shower! That's fast digestion right there...

[Coidzor]

Him eating Colonel What's-his-face during the memory wipe incident is a better example, I think--he managed to eat him and absorb the remnants so rapidly that he was able to escape down the plughole of the shower! That's fast digestion right there...

Yes, we know he can do that, but can he form his victims remains into deadly projectiles? That's the important question.

[factotum]

Yes, we know he can do that, but can he form his victims remains into deadly projectiles? That's the important question.

I think the pretty obvious answer is no, because if he could do that he would already have done it...there have been plenty of situations where he's been stuck without any weapons in a place where some sort of projectile death would have been very handy!

[Imgran]

The other answer is that Howard is trying to keep a story where the protagonist is a man-eating monster at least vaguely PG-13 so something that macabre is unlikely to happen.

[Radar]

He does however have a new trick up his proverbial sleeve - he learned Parkata Urbatsu and was said to be good at it, so his mobility should be improved.

[John Campbell]

On the topic of meaningful names: The Toughs' original ship, the Kitesfear, really should have been spelled "Kite-sphere".

And I don't think the origins of Ennesby's name are ever, er, spelled out... it's "N.S.B.", from his previous career as the boy-band New Sync Boys.

[Imgran]

THe thing with Ennesby is strongly implicit a in couple of different spots.

Good point about the Kitesphere

[Occasional Sage]

Re: the Sunday update, I HAVE been wondering for a long time why Schlock bothers to pull the cannon out before firing.

[Tavar]

~ Ominous Hummmmmmmmm~

[Mr._Blinky]

Re: the Sunday update, I HAVE been wondering for a long time why Schlock bothers to pull the cannon out before firing.

Because plasma has been shown to be one of the few things actually able to harm him. He could fire a regular gun without pulling it out, but his plasma cannon would fry any part of him it passed through.

[factotum]

And as Tavar points out, sometimes the *threat* of a large plasma cannon to the face is enough--why do you think Schlock uses such an antique monster of a weapon? We've seen in the strip that you can get much smaller guns that do as much or more damage!

[Neftren]

I don't think Petey would allow Schlock anything more powerful than that. Besides, it's all about the ominous look, more than anything else. Schlock so far has drawn his weapon a number of times more than he has actually fired it (of course, it would have to work that way).


I don't get why they didn't just leave with Glue Guns like the last time they went on a shopping trip. Petey in his infinite god-mode should have realized the uhh, dangers of the situation.

[Occasional Sage]

Because plasma has been shown to be one of the few things actually able to harm him. He could fire a regular gun without pulling it out, but his plasma cannon would fry any part of him it passed through.

Sure, but Schlock can reform himself easily. Why not just open a hole in his front and fire through it? Schlock seems to be thinking like a biped, not an amorph.

Though yes, there's the threat value to remember. I'm thinking of when he expects carnage, not when he's trying to stop it (has he ever?).

[NEO|Phyte]

Sure, but Schlock can reform himself easily. Why not just open a hole in his front and fire through it? Schlock seems to be thinking like a biped, not an amorph.

He's probably thinking "Man, this gun gets really hot when I fire it, maybe I should get it out of my tender mass first"

That said, he has fired it internally at least once, into the face of that mechanotentacled obenn bounty hunter guy

[Imgran]

It's still reasonable to get anything of yourself that is flammable as clear of the barrel as possible, as even the heat from the periphery of the plasma bolt has to be doing some serious damage.

[Coidzor]

Re: the Sunday update, I HAVE been wondering for a long time why Schlock bothers to pull the cannon out before firing.

A breath-weapon Schlock would be pretty nifty, come to think of it.

[Neftren]

It's still reasonable to get anything of yourself that is flammable as clear of the barrel as possible, as even the heat from the periphery of the plasma bolt has to be doing some serious damage.

I doubt it has anything to do with heat. Schlock uses his weapons to fly around remember?


You know what would be interesting though? If Schlock merely reformed his body around where he keeps the guns. He doesn't necessarily need to hold it to shoot right? He can just reshape his body into a sort of doughnut with the gun in the middle.

[ChowGuy]

Honestly, the answer is distressingly simple. He pulls it out foor the same reason that like most well-trained handgun users he usually holds it at "arms" length to fire it. He wants to be able to aim it, and he does so visually.

[factotum]

You know what would be interesting though? If Schlock merely reformed his body around where he keeps the guns. He doesn't necessarily need to hold it to shoot right? He can just reshape his body into a sort of doughnut with the gun in the middle.

I don't think we've ever seen him do anything like that, though, and there's presumably a reason he doesn't form himself into shapes with holes in them...

[Neftren]

I don't think we've ever seen him do anything like that, though, and there's presumably a reason he doesn't form himself into shapes with holes in them...

It's probably unnecessary and harder to draw.




Also ChowGuy, I think merely the appearance of the weapon is enough to scare someone into becoming *helpful*. Schlock seems to be more into intimidation than needless bloodslaughter, so...

[Rockphed]

I like how wonderfully Schlock handled this situation. I'm also surprised at the restraint he is showing. After all, doesn't he normally eat people by this point?

[Neftren]

I like how wonderfully Schlock handled this situation. I'm also surprised at the restraint he is showing. After all, doesn't he normally eat people by this point?

I just love the expression on his face.

I thought Schlock didn't like tasting people though... Hm.

[Imgran]

He's saying it for the benefit of the security guard. It doesn't need to be true.

[Imgran]

I doubt it has anything to do with heat. Schlock uses his weapons to fly around remember?

Any energy weapon worth the name has to be shielded in some way to prevent excess damage and heat going backwards into the person firing it. He holds those rockets the same way he holds them when he's firing a weapon, just at a different angle. The force is still directed outward. Any difference in shape when he rockets as opposed to when he's shooting is likely a result of air resistence.



You know what would be interesting though? If Schlock merely reformed his body around where he keeps the guns. He doesn't necessarily need to hold it to shoot right? He can just reshape his body into a sort of doughnut with the gun in the middle.

Which is likely more inconvenient than forming a hand to carry a weapon.

[Occasional Sage]

What's that guy's hand supposed to be doing in the second panel?

[tonberrian]

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates is no more. (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/blog/the-great-retcon-of-twenty-eleven) Now we have "The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries". Doesn't quite roll off the tongue the same way.

[Coidzor]

Doesn't quite roll off the tongue the same way.

I found myself thinking the same thing after reading that.

[Rockphed]

My only real beef with it is that now I need to update my facebook profile to include "Maxim 1: Pillage, THEN burn"

[factotum]

It works a bit better if you abbreviate the last word to Mercs...

[Coidzor]

Merc Maxims isn't too, too bad, no. Still weird to use the word maxim at all though.

[Radar]

Merc Maxims isn't too, too bad, no. Still weird to use the word maxim at all though.
I'd say it suits it's purpose (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_gun) well.

[Coidzor]

A bit steam-punky though, for the setting.

[Deuterium Dawn]

Aren't parodies(which this clearly was) specifically protected from this sort of thing?

[Tavar]

For copy-right, yes. I think trademark law is much, much more strict.

[blackjack217]

Also they need to "vigorously" defend their copyright or it goes away

[factotum]

It gets difficult when people start making money from the parody, though...Howard is clearly making money from the Schlock books, and since they contain this line, it's a problem. He says himself that he can't really use the "Seven Habits" thing for legal merchandise!

[Psyborg]

The trademark issue seems...pretty legit, I think. Sadly. I think Howard's handling it about as well as he could- get rid of it, find something at least somewhat humorous to replace it, and don't be stupid and try to take on Big Business. (Ah, if only the Toughs could be contracted to take down publishing houses...I think the fan fund would already be bloated.)

What I do wonder, however, is how sincere he can possibly be in claiming to believe that the name change is an improvement anyway? I mean...seriously. Everybody loved "Pirates". The new name is just. not. as. good.

But whatever. If claiming he prefers the new name anyway means the fans accept it (relatively) quietly, then good for him. Nothing to be done about it anyway. Sic est vitas.

[Rockphed]

And thus we see how schlock gets new, more better, guns. I seem to recall him getting a pair of multi-cannons this way. Muwahahaha!

[Radar]

The trademark issue seems...pretty legit, I think. Sadly. I think Howard's handling it about as well as he could- get rid of it, find something at least somewhat humorous to replace it, and don't be stupid and try to take on Big Business. (Ah, if only the Toughs could be contracted to take down publishing houses...I think the fan fund would already be bloated.)

What I do wonder, however, is how sincere he can possibly be in claiming to believe that the name change is an improvement anyway? I mean...seriously. Everybody loved "Pirates". The new name is just. not. as. good.

But whatever. If claiming he prefers the new name anyway means the fans accept it (relatively) quietly, then good for him. Nothing to be done about it anyway. Sic est vitas.
One superhero comics hinted similar problems in-comics (http://www.krakowstudios.com/spinnerette/archive.php?date=20101022) (I can't tell, if they actually had copyright problems or not).

[factotum]

And thus we see how schlock gets new, more better, guns. I seem to recall him getting a pair of multi-cannons this way. Muwahahaha!

Nice to see his newfound Parkatsa Urbatsu (spelling?) skill is paying off, too!

[BiblioRook]

Kathryn is awesome, I really hope she ends up sticking around as an addition to the cast (even if not by her own will)

[factotum]

The implication here is that Kathryn has an interesting secret past, given it says she didn't learn the trick of grabbing the guy's gun from her two years with the urban runners...and she sure seemed to be able to handle herself during the last fight they got into!

[BRC]

The implication here is that Kathryn has an interesting secret past, given it says she didn't learn the trick of grabbing the guy's gun from her two years with the urban runners...and she sure seemed to be able to handle herself during the last fight they got into!
I kind of got the impression that she was the criminal element amongst that PU group. The other guys were just runners, SHE was the one who hacked the cameras, tried to get information out of Nick, ect. She was the one who thought about reading up on Haven Hive before moving in. She's clearly familiar with less than legal operations.

She could just be a garden variety criminal, but, to be honest, my money is on former UNS black ops.

Or, perhaps, Tagon's half-sister neither he, nor his father, know exists, the results of a night General Tagon had back when he was first joined the army.

Of course, I have no evidence to back this up.

[Rockphed]

I kind of got the impression that she was the criminal element amongst that PU group. The other guys were just runners, SHE was the one who hacked the cameras, tried to get information out of Nick, ect. She was the one who thought about reading up on Haven Hive before moving in. She's clearly familiar with less than legal operations.

She could just be a garden variety criminal, but, to be honest, my money is on former UNS black ops.

Or, perhaps, Tagon's half-sister neither he, nor his father, know exists, the results of a night General Tagon had back when he was first joined the army.

Of course, I have no evidence to back this up.

If she is related to the Tagon's, I'm guessing she is Tagon's daughter, not sister. There is, after all, some sort of blackmail floating around on Kaff, and, furthermore, Tagon is nearly fifty. He could easily have a 30 year old daughter. Or a 19 year old daughter who is the result of the events that led to the 20 year old blackmail case. (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-11-26)

Edit: Do we know how old Kathryn is? The answer to that could make things much clearer.

[BRC]

If she is related to the Tagon's, I'm guessing she is Tagon's daughter, not sister. There is, after all, some sort of blackmail floating around on Kaff, and, furthermore, Tagon is nearly fifty. He could easily have a 30 year old daughter. Or a 19 year old daughter who is the result of the events that led to the 20 year old blackmail case. (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-11-26)
Ooh, yeah. I forgot how old Tagon is. Katheryn could be his daughter.

Also, if you remember, the Blackmail is 20 years old, that doesn't necessarily mean the pictures in question were taken 20 years ago. He could have left Katheryn's mother, then five or so years later (We don't know how old Katheryn is, but she seems young) he gets blackmailed.
Hrmm, if Tagon was on active duty, it may have been during his time in the Oatmeal Peacekeepers (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-08-09). If Katheryn's mother was a fellow Peacekeeper, that might explain where Katheryn's training came from.

[Coidzor]

Given Tagon's demonstrated attitudes towards women, Kaff having bastard sprog that then sprogged themselves seems more likely than Tagon having whelped anything.

[Rockphed]

Given Tagon's demonstrated attitudes towards women, Kaff having bastard sprog that then sprogged themselves seems more likely than Tagon having whelped anything.

I don't follow. Are you saying that Kaff having illegitimate kids that recruited themselves is more likely than Tagon having kids? Since the Tagon I refer to is the same as the Kaff I refer to, his name being captain Kaff Tagon, I am really confused.

[Coidzor]

I don't follow. Are you saying that Kaff having illegitimate kids that recruited themselves is more likely than Tagon having kids? Since the Tagon I refer to is the same as the Kaff I refer to, his name being captain Kaff Tagon, I am really confused.

It seemed like you were talking about the blonder one.

[BRC]

It seemed like you were talking about the blonder one.

okay, let's clear things up.
Tagon=Captain Kaff Tagon. He's the main Tagon in the comic, so "Tagon" usually just refers to him.
General Karl Tagon is usually refered to as Karl Tagon, or General Tagon, or Kaff's father, or a wide variety of other names to differentiate him from his son.

[Neftren]

Wait wait wait, so somebody please recap this discussion. Someone has speculated that Kathryn is (Kaff) Tagon's illegitimate daughter? Someone else has suggested that it is (Karl) Tagon's daughter, and thus, (Kaff) Tagon's illegitimate sister?

Is this purely speculation, or is there some shred of evidence beyond just twenty-year old blackmail?

[The Glyphstone]

I barely remember Tagon's first name at all. He's just Captain Tagon or Tagon for me. His dad is 'Tagon's Dad' or 'General Tagon'.

[Coidzor]

okay, let's clear things up.
Tagon=Captain Kaff Tagon. He's the main Tagon in the comic, so "Tagon" usually just refers to him.
General Karl Tagon is usually refered to as Karl Tagon, or General Tagon, or Kaff's father, or a wide variety of other names to differentiate him from his son.

Oh. And here I thought Kaff was the old one's name and just couldn't remember the young one's name.

But, yeah, much more likely for Tagon the Elder to have sprog that aren't known to us than Tagon the Younger, was what I was going for. What with Tagon the Elder wanting Grandkids out of Tagon the Younger.

[HandofShadows]

Lunch Time!

[Neftren]

So how does Schlock digest anyway? I mean, if he's all one amorphous blob of putty-like material... where are the fluids and stuff?

[memnarch]

So how does Schlock digest anyway? I mean, if he's all one amorphous blob of putty-like material... where are the fluids and stuff?

Converted into more of himself.

[Occasional Sage]

So how does Schlock digest anyway? I mean, if he's all one amorphous blob of putty-like material... where are the fluids and stuff?

I'd suggest that in questions like this, if you have to ask you probably don't want the answer.

[Neftren]

I'd suggest that in questions like this, if you have to ask you probably don't want the answer.

You know, you're probably right. Also, if Schlock eats so much, why does he never get bigger than a certain size? I mean, yes, he gets big, but... if he "burns" off part of himself (such as on the space liner), wouldn't he essentially be destroying his own memories?

[tonberrian]

You know, you're probably right. Also, if Schlock eats so much, why does he never get bigger than a certain size? I mean, yes, he gets big, but... if he "burns" off part of himself (such as on the space liner), wouldn't he essentially be destroying his own memories?

I assume there's a certain amount of redundancy involved.

[memnarch]

Amorphs can pass memories by handing around small chunks of themselves.

[factotum]

Yes, Schlock was able to regain his memory of what really happened before the memory wipe by storing a piece of himself in one of his spare eyes. Given they were designed for large-scale, long-term memory storage, it wouldn't be at all surprising that amorphs have a large degree of redundancy in this area!

[Occasional Sage]

I have trouble Ennesby wouldn't just dive through the net the way he did to find Shemp. Maybe talk to heer after as a test, but c'mon! He's too smug a maraca to not show off.

Also, why is he not more worried that she's a plant?

EDIT: never mind, got that now.

[Neftren]

I have trouble Ennesby wouldn't just dive through the net the way he did to find Shemp. Maybe talk to heer after as a test, but c'mon! He's too smug a maraca to not show off.

Also, why is he not more worried that she's a plant?

EDIT: never mind, got that now.

Who's a plant...? What? Is this like, Farscape or something? Or do you mean "Spy"?

[lord_khaine]

But, yeah, much more likely for Tagon the Elder to have sprog that aren't known to us than Tagon the Younger, was what I was going for. What with Tagon the Elder wanting Grandkids out of Tagon the Younger.

Well, but if Targon the Elder had more kids, then he would proberly not be quite as much after Targon the younger to produce some grandkids.

[BiblioRook]

Well, but if Targon the Elder had more kids, then he would proberly not be quite as much after Targon the younger to produce some grandkids.

Actually if you think about it, introducing a fully grown child of Targon's that he didn't know about it would probably be the best way to get the 'grandchild' thing out of the way. I can't really see Targon going through some sort of courtship/baby raising stage. :smallyuk:

[lord_khaine]

Also, it is possible that targon is aware of the existance of the child, we do have the unresolved 20 year old case of blackmail.

[Rockphed]

Also, it is possible that targon is aware of the existance of the child, we do have the unresolved 20 year old case of blackmail.

Why do you keep calling him 'Targon' rather than 'Tagon'(note the lack of an 'r')?

All speculations of dropping bombshells and other shoes aside, I like what Kathryn says. "Maybe who I seem to be is who I want to be". Sounds either really deep, or really shallow. Can't decide which.

[memnarch]

Looks like she was in one of the ones that made it (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-03-12).

[factotum]

Seems a bit odd to me that the experience of losing a ship is considered so bad that they'd let the people involved retire...at that rate Tagon's Toughs should have all been retired about three times over by now!

[Tavar]

Well, the crews are probably pretty big. And most of them died on the ship. If a, say, division was reduced to company size in one action, they might very well do it.

[Radar]

Seems a bit odd to me that the experience of losing a ship is considered so bad that they'd let the people involved retire...at that rate Tagon's Toughs should have all been retired about three times over by now!
Some of them stayed, some of them left. After all experiencing a situation, where a battleplate (the strongest class of UNS spaceships as far as we know) was effortlessly mauled by blunt gravitic forces of otherwise invisible entities, could well be considered a lifechanging event.

[Neftren]

Yeah I'd say that losing half your crew, probably a good deal of them being friends, well...

What I find interesting is that she decides to go back into a combat profession.


This might also tie in nicely with the "Kathryn as Tagon (Elder or Junior)'s Daughter" given the military profession.

[Knaight]

Well, the crews are probably pretty big. And most of them died on the ship. If a, say, division was reduced to company size in one action, they might very well do it.

The Tunguska was also way beyond most battle plates. What happened on it is closer to the scale of a reasonably large city being annihilated than a division. Plus, not only was it one action, it was out of nowhere with no capacity to fight back effectively.

[Tavar]

Even worse. Yeah, soldiers can be tough, but in that case it really would make sense to give them all honorable discharges. And those that didn't, well, I bet they're not on front-line duty anymore.

[Gnoman]

More importantly, their mission was extremely classified. Better to have them in various civilian jobs, where their military service need rarely come up, then going from position to position where there's always going to be the questions "Where did you serve before? See any combat in your last post?"

[Neftren]

More importantly, their mission was extremely classified. Better to have them in various civilian jobs, where their military service need rarely come up, then going from position to position where there's always going to be the questions "Where did you serve before? See any combat in your last post?"

Well on the flip side, what if civilian employers also ask the same questions? It would make sense to keep it all internal. Then again, given the scattered nature of the UNS, it probably just doesn't make a difference.

[factotum]

What I find interesting is that she decides to go back into a combat profession.


Er, what? She went into a profession where she's helping out a bunch of freerunners...what combat is involved in that? If you're talking about her current involvement with the Toughs, that's hardly through her own choices!

[Neftren]

Er, what? She went into a profession where she's helping out a bunch of freerunners...what combat is involved in that? If you're talking about her current involvement with the Toughs, that's hardly through her own choices!

I'm pretty sure she didn't HAVE to accept a job training people for Mall Security. And there's always a choice*.

[Tavar]

Well on the flip side, what if civilian employers also ask the same questions? It would make sense to keep it all internal. Then again, given the scattered nature of the UNS, it probably just doesn't make a difference.

Then you say it's classified, and have an official document to prove it. In the actual military, though, people would be trying to figure it out, and a whole mess of who has need to know and such. Nevermind the fact that they might not be combat capable.

[Seonor]

Then you say it's classified, and have an official document to prove it. In the actual military, though, people would be trying to figure it out, and a whole mess of who has need to know and such. Nevermind the fact that they might not be combat capable.


In the military some people would also know that the survivors were on board the Tunguska, mostly because they knew other people on it. If any of them wanted to know what happened, they could prabably track some of the survivors down and cause trouble. Better to send them into civilian life with new names and backgrounds (and monitoring to see if they talked to the wrong people. Which she just did.)

On the other hand the UNS seems ruthless enough to just send the survivors to a remote base and have them do duty there until the hole thing is no longer important.

[Riv Sonata]

This is one of the webcomics I read on a daily basis. Unfortunately, for some reason the page no longer loads on my computer at work, and I never have time to read webcomics at home, so I've been missing the last few weeks. :smallfrown:

[Neftren]

This is one of the webcomics I read on a daily basis. Unfortunately, for some reason the page no longer loads on my computer at work, and I never have time to read webcomics at home, so I've been missing the last few weeks. :smallfrown:

If your work has blocked it, you should still be able to access it via aggregators or RSS readers (e.g. Google Reader).

[Riv Sonata]

It's not actually blocked, the page just loads halfway and then has an error. I blame Internet Explorer (stupid work computers with their crummy browsers...). I'll definitely try Google Reader. :smallbiggrin:

[Midnight Lurker]

Today's strip reminds me of something I wanted to throw before the court.

The first time we ever meet the Paa'nuri, it's in the Zoojack system. So named because of the giant space stations it's crowded with, containing biospheres stuffed to the gills with ecosystems from all over the galaxy -- including at least one sentient race. And it's the location of the wormgate to Andromeda, which has since been destroyed courtesy Tiny Schlock's upsetting of Future Kev's calculations.

Thing is, while the Pa'anuri attack the Toughs and then the Tunguska, they appear to be the controllers of the Zoojack stations -- they're using dark matter gravity control to keep the stations from colliding. Constantly.

Why? They started the plan to trick the Gatekeepers into nuking the Milky Way a hundred thousand years ago. Why are they, only a year or so before the core explodes, shepherding a bunch of baryonic-life ark ships? Why were they, ever?

Might there be more than one dark matter species, with different opinions on the war with the light side?

[factotum]

I'm pretty sure she didn't HAVE to accept a job training people for Mall Security.

OK, I am now completely baffled. Which strip are you reading where Kathryn had a job training people for mall security?

[Radar]

Thing is, while the Pa'anuri attack the Toughs and then the Tunguska, they appear to be the controllers of the Zoojack stations -- they're using dark matter gravity control to keep the stations from colliding. Constantly.

Why? They started the plan to trick the Gatekeepers into nuking the Milky Way a hundred thousand years ago. Why are they, only a year or so before the core explodes, shepherding a bunch of baryonic-life ark ships? Why were they, ever?

Might there be more than one dark matter species, with different opinions on the war with the light side?
That, or they wanted some entertainment for this otherwise boring hundred thousand years wait. They needed to make sure, everything goes as planned.

[Occasional Sage]

OK, I am now completely baffled. Which strip are you reading where Kathryn had a job training people for mall security?

That was Tagon's solution to the runner problem. Or it was suggested to him, I don't remember which way it actually played out. Same dif.

[factotum]

It played out with Kathryn and the others becoming paid freerunners at Mall-One. I don't recall any suggestion she was going to be training mall security.

[Neftren]

It played out with Kathryn and the others becoming paid freerunners at Mall-One. I don't recall any suggestion she was going to be training mall security.

If I remember correctly, she was supposed to help train the Toughs in Parkata Urbatsu, if that's what it's called anyway.

[memnarch]

If I remember correctly, she was supposed to help train the Toughs in Parkata Urbatsu, if that's what it's called anyway.

She was part of the runner team that the Toughs took down at the end of the story arc.

[Neftren]

She was part of the runner team that the Toughs took down at the end of the story arc.

Tagon then decides to hire her. Or am I totally missing something and just making stuff up?