From: David Dunham (dunham@pensee.com)
Date: Mon 22 Apr 1996 - 22:13:17 EEST
Howard Fielding restated
> As i have stated before, i believe all Aldyrami weapons/armour are grown,
> not made. It occurs to me that the Elf Bow/Blowpipe and anything grown of
> copper would still be used in a live state ...
Yes, but... I suspect Elf Bows and Elf Strings are two separate objects.
The act of combining them is a Making.
> The leaves would
> be entwined/woven using techniques similar to those used by RW
> Bonsai-artists. Don't THEY use COPPER wire to manipulate their plants?
Weaving isn't Making? (Bonsai artists do use copper wire...)
Martin Laurie talks of
> my experience in many different martial arts including fencing and Muay Tai
> and I have sparred with many very tough women, some were high level
>competition
> winners and had been training many more years than I but they still lost.
>Why?
> Because I was stronger, faster and more aggressive.
Strength isn't that much of a factor in fencing; the best foil fencer I
faced was a woman. Even if your statement is true, it ignores the fact that
any strength differences would be much less important in auxiliaries.
Perhaps women-propelled slings, arrows, and crossbow bolts wouldn't have
quite the range, but they would still be mighty effective.
And cavalry might be another equalizer. We know there are Scythian burials
of women with combat equipment...
Peter Metcalfe responded to me
> >> This sort of tactic means it's not cost effective to teach them
> >> battle magic.
>
> >I'm not sure I believe this is their strategy, but even if it is, it makes
> >a great deal of sense to teach them battle magic. Firstly, it's extremely
> >cheap (especially in RQ3).
>
> I'd never thought I'd see you make an argument from the roolz and RQ3
> at that! Secondly I believe the primary factor that determines a troops'
> effectiveness on the battlefield is their equipment. The amount of magic
> known IMO is directly related to their experience and ability. Since
> IMO the Esrolians don't go in for elite spearmen, I believe that the
> spearman don't know much battle magic.
Well, you think it's expensive to teach battle magic. There is no source of
Your additional opinions don't address the basic question. Is it cost
information on the cost of learning magic, short of the rules. It seems
evident that there is some cost, but no Gloranthan documents shed much
light, so we're reduced to using RQ. RQ3 implies it's too expensive to give
every 20 year old 13 points of spells, but not so expensive that farmers
don't learn spells. (A conclusion so broad I'm sure you'll agree :-)
effective? I believe it is. It takes one day for a godi to give this
training. Arguably it's more efficient for a Spear Master to spend one day
training all the militia at once (in that it's a many to one situation, as
opposed to the godi who has to spend one day per individual), but this
militia training requires the entire group to muster, and (again by the
rules) one day's training isn't very useful.
So (assuming adequate supply of godi magic), it could be MORE cost
effective to teach battle magic. Besides, you've given your people spells
which are often useful in real life (i.e. Plowsharp).
As for equipment, that certainly costs real money, and it's probably not
cost effective giving expensive armor to someone unless you intend to train
them.
David Dunham Pensee Corporation dunham@pensee.com
Voice/Fax: 206 783 7404 http://www.pensee.com/dunham/
"I say we should listen to the customers and give them what they want."
"What they want is better products for free." --Scott Adams
------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.7 : Fri 13 Jun 2003 - 16:30:43 EEST