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Heart of the Wildfire strategy musings

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dpt
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phantaskippy wrote:
Yeah, solo that method is awesome, but on big maps you don't want to flip the blight card just to clear your board.  Going energy is slower clearing your own board, but you can end up being a positive force against blight.

That card play strategy is what I usually adopt, but again that may be related to my psychology. On a larger board it's less likely to actually flip the card, since there's a larger pool. You need to weight the tradeoffs of how much extra Blight would be added if you state at the 1-Fire level.

Katsue
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phantaskippy wrote:

Yeah, solo that method is awesome, but on big maps you don't want to flip the blight card just to clear your board.  Going energy is slower clearing your own board, but you can end up being a positive force against blight.

Going for extra plays first is the most conservative strategy in terms of managing blight.

Chaosmancer
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I played Wildifre tonight, it was a relatively easy game, but I quickly ran into a problem

 

There were no invaders close enough for me to hit. In fact, I never got to use Firestorm because where ever I had prescence, the invaders had already been cleared out.

 

It's a good problem to have, but it made me kind of sad.

 

Also, I think Guard the Isle's Heart is amost an easy mode of the game. Removing all towns after set-up is finished just makes the board so much easier to deal with, and if they aren't building in the inner lands (which are only those four that touch in a four player game) then you can even ignore the extra explorers for a turn or two.

Arcanist Lupus
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I haven't played any of the scenarios yet.  But I suspect that it depends.  Guard the Isle's Heart gives the spirits a significant starting handicap, but couples it with an instant-loss condition which isn't all the difficult for the invaders to achieve.  I would imagine this makes games more swingy - either you compound the early advantage and win quickly, or you lose control over the board and you lose quickly.


"Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?"

- Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

dpt
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Chaosmancer wrote:

I played Wildifre tonight, it was a relatively easy game, but I quickly ran into a problem There were no invaders close enough for me to hit. In fact, I never got to use Firestorm because where ever I had prescence, the invaders had already been cleared out. It's a good problem to have, but it made me kind of sad.

It's thematic to feel sad. Wildfire gets disappointed when it doesn't get to burn things down.

(It's also typical. The targeting restrictions are the hardest part of that power.)

Chaosmancer
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dpt wrote:

 

Chaosmancer wrote:
I played Wildifre tonight, it was a relatively easy game, but I quickly ran into a problem There were no invaders close enough for me to hit. In fact, I never got to use Firestorm because where ever I had prescence, the invaders had already been cleared out. It's a good problem to have, but it made me kind of sad.

 

It's thematic to feel sad. Wildfire gets disappointed when it doesn't get to burn things down.(It's also typical. The targeting restrictions are the hardest part of that power.)

 

I've noticed, doing a solo game right now and the fact I can never reach targets that need to be hit is frustrating me. I'm making it work, but every time I think I have a plan I see range 0 in a land with Blight and groan in frustration

BlueHairedMeerkat
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It's sad, being fire. I find myself playing blight-removal powers and then going, hmmm, do I really _need_ to remove this blight? This blight is fine. This blight is my friend.


“You gotta have blue hair."
-Reckless

phantaskippy
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You have to remember that sometimes you need to let blight go, so you can make new blight.  Being too sentimental can weigh down your artistic creativity.

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BlueHairedMeerkat wrote:

It's sad, being fire. I find myself playing blight-removal powers and then going, hmmm, do I really _need_ to remove this blight? This blight is fine. This blight is my friend.

Until you play against Sweeden haha. Wildfire has to be super careful against them due to the extra blight they create as you might find yourself losing by having no blight left on the health card.

Chaosmancer
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BlueHairedMeerkat wrote:

It's sad, being fire. I find myself playing blight-removal powers and then going, hmmm, do I really _need_ to remove this blight? This blight is fine. This blight is my friend.

 

I have totally done this, because if I remove the blight I have to somehow get it back if I want to use my powers there.

 

I think I like the idea of losing due to blight with Wildfire (if Wildfire causes the blight that loses the game) is the spirit finally just giving up being careful and just lighting the whole island ablaze.

tedv
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Chaosmancer wrote:
I have totally done this, because if I remove the blight I have to somehow get it back if I want to use my powers there. I think I like the idea of losing due to blight with Wildfire (if Wildfire causes the blight that loses the game) is the spirit finally just giving up being careful and just lighting the whole island ablaze.

The easiest way to do this is add your presence to an adjacent blighted land without your presence. This will cascade a blight into the land you wished had blight, but it won't destroy your presence because the blight was from you. That's a net +2 blight instead of +1, but it creates a land with 2 blight in it, which is very easy to clean up using your innate power.

Eric R
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BlueHairedMeerkat wrote:

It's sad, being fire. I find myself playing blight-removal powers and then going, hmmm, do I really _need_ to remove this blight? This blight is fine. This blight is my friend.

This makes me happy. :)

(The Blight that Wildfire puts down represents actively burning wildfires.)

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As I've tried to tackle a couple solo 4-spirit games, I'm finding that the biggest trouble I'm having with Wildfire so far is that the blight he spreads destroys other people's presence, and figuring out how to work around the combination of that and the (blight + your presence + invaders) requirements to some of his powers.

dpt
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jffdougan wrote:

As I've tried to tackle a couple solo 4-spirit games, I'm finding that the biggest trouble I'm having with Wildfire so far is that the blight he spreads destroys other people's presence, and figuring out how to work around the combination of that and the (blight + your presence + invaders) requirements to some of his powers.

I tend to just tally things up differently to help my mental models. I count any Invaders in blighted lands where Wildfire is as effectively destroyed already (and will be finished off at my leisure). Then I look for other things to do, and finish off those foolhardy invaders as I get a chance.
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Yeah... but then as I've looked for places to spread to, what I've found is that often the places I want to be have somebody else's presence there already, and I've got two Fire symbols on my track - so spreading there will place blight, which will destroy their presence.

I'm probably having more trouble with that than anything else.

phantaskippy
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Yeah, part of Wildfire seems to be other people leaving you space to deal with yourself.  Wildfire does not play nice with others.

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On the other hand, Serpent occasionally finds Wildfire a useful bedfellow; the odd destroyed presence means it can get more onto the board without having to nom on others.


“You gotta have blue hair."
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I had amazing game last night where minor spirits gave Wildfire the gift of the "+2 range" minor power. The invaders didn't last long when it could start flinging fire everywhere.

Eric R
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phantaskippy wrote:

Yeah, part of Wildfire seems to be other people leaving you space to deal with yourself.  Wildfire does not play nice with others.

Wildfire was originally rated High complexity for this reason - it changed the game for other players as well as yourself. But it doesn't do so as much as the other High-complexity spirits, and enough testers said it felt more Medium to them that I dropped it down a notch.

If you're in a game with Wildfire, it can sometimes be useful to follow them into hotspots - they'll already have Blighted, and it leaves the surrounding lands clear for additional Blight. Of course, this doesn't help if they heal and then re-Blight the land, but when playing with fire there's always the chance you'll get burned.

Also, if you're sitting down at a game with Wildfire, you can prioritize "get more Presence out" more highly, both because Wildfire's apt to destroy one or two along the way, and because the Blight card is likely to flip a bit faster which means your Presence is more at risk (from ongoing Blighted Island effects, or the "add Blight or destroy Presence" Events).

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BlueHairedMeerkat wrote:

On the other hand, Serpent occasionally finds Wildfire a useful bedfellow; the odd destroyed presence means it can get more onto the board without having to nom on others.

In the sense of Wildfire destroying Serpent's presence?

Or can Serpent nom on destroyed presence? (I don't think so, but don't have the power card in front of me, either.

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jffdougan wrote:

 

BlueHairedMeerkat wrote:
On the other hand, Serpent occasionally finds Wildfire a useful bedfellow; the odd destroyed presence means it can get more onto the board without having to nom on others.

 

In the sense of Wildfire destroying Serpent's presence?Or can Serpent nom on destroyed presence? (I don't think so, but don't have the power card in front of me, either.

It would mostly have to be with Wildfire destroying Serpent's presence.


Crush your enemies, drive them before you, and laminate their women! - Guise, Prime Wardens #31

 
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I found, at least in a couple 2-spirit games, that Wildfire pairs well with Rampant Growth.  (which actually makes a lot of sense if oyu think about it)

Rampant Growth really doesn't care too much about losing presence (unless there is a need to have a sacred site to prevent Invader actions in that particular land).  And, rampant growth always gets at least 1 presence out each turn, regardless.

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Ario wrote:

I had amazing game last night where minor spirits gave Wildfire the gift of the "+2 range" minor power. The invaders didn't last long when it could start flinging fire everywhere.

Reaching Grasp and Entwined Power are so good for Wildfire. Reaching Grasp is particularly good for clearing a land of Blight so that when you place Presence into it the Blight won't cascade.

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