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Best and worst heroes?

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awp832
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I guess I just don't get it.  If you have only Isothermic in play,  then dealing Zero fire damage is only marginally better than just dealing fire damage to the baddies, and at the expense of your hp.    EG:  What difference does it make if Ra deals Truth 3 damage with an Inferno or if he deals Zero 3 damage with an inferno which is elementaly changed to cold and channeled to truth?  Basically none, except you get to abuse buffing, if you have it.  Still,  4 damage to Zero in exchange for +1 real damage to Truth,  not worth it.

So its only really good if you have Coolant Blast.  And even when you do, the heroes that can deal fire damage are few and far between.  There is Ra (duh),  Tempest and Fixer, who can deal consistent fire damage if they want to.  Expatriette can deal it on rare occasion with her inferno rounds, and Fanatic can do some, but only with Absolution.  If Zero is supposed to be a synergy hero,  he certainly doesn't synergize with very many of his compatriots. 


"He robbed from the rich and he-
gave to the poor.
Stood up to the Man and he-
gave him what for. 
Our love for him now,
aint hard to explain,
the hero of Canton,
the man they call "Jayne""

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awp832 wrote:
I guess I just don't get it.  If you have only Isothermic in play,  then dealing Zero fire damage is only marginally better than just dealing fire damage to the baddies, and at the expense of your hp.    EG:  What difference does it make if Ra deals Truth 3 damage with an Inferno or if he deals Zero 3 damage with an inferno which is elementaly changed to cold and channeled to truth?  Basically none, except you get to abuse buffing, if you have it.  Still,  4 damage to Zero in exchange for +1 real damage to Truth,  not worth it.

I have always had problems with that combo as well, I guess the only thing that would make it better than +1 is multiple buffs, with both Galvanise and Focused Apertures in play it would make it +2... hmmm, any effects that increase damage to heroes would be another buff to the damage dealt out, but I'm still with you on this, not sure it's worth it to lose that much HP to inflict the extra damage (but I am happy to be proved wrong).


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McBehrer
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Well, it would do 3 + buffs to Absolute Zero. (let's say 2; 1 for Galvanize, and one for the staff) so 5. Then AZ does 5 + buffs (Galvanize and Focused Apertures) for 7. that's double the buffs.

Also, if AZ has Coolant Blast, any fire damage he takes is basically redirected double; once when he takes it, and again when he uses Coolant Blast.


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awp832
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Yes but its 5 damage to Zero for only +2 damage over what you would usually have. 

If you have coolant blast its worth it.  If you don't, I don't see how it can be.


"He robbed from the rich and he-
gave to the poor.
Stood up to the Man and he-
gave him what for. 
Our love for him now,
aint hard to explain,
the hero of Canton,
the man they call "Jayne""

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I do agree that "Friendly Fire" typically isn't worth it (except maybe in some rare case) without Coolant Blast.


Do good, I? No! Evil anon I deliver, I maim nine more hero men in Miami, sanitary sword a-tuck, carol I. Lo! Rack, cut a drowsy rat in Aswan. I gas nine more hero men in Saginaw. Reviled I, Nona, live on. I do... o, God!

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awp832 wrote:
Yes but its 5 damage to Zero for only +2 damage over what you would usually have. 

If you have coolant blast its worth it.  If you don't, I don't see how it can be.

If you're not worried about AZ ever getting to zero, then it becomes worth it again, don't you think?


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arenson9 wrote:

awp832 wrote:
Yes but its 5 damage to Zero for only +2 damage over what you would usually have. 

If you have coolant blast its worth it.  If you don't, I don't see how it can be.

If you're not worried about AZ ever getting to zero, then it becomes worth it again, don't you think?

Isn't that essentially treating a hero like a glorified Tony Taurus?


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arenson9 wrote:
If you're not worried about AZ ever getting to zero, then it becomes worth it again, don't you think?

I'm trying to think of a game where I have had someone die and we've won... I'm coming up blank. It's always been an all or nothing affair so I'm always worried about removing HP from a non-tank character.


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I remember a 3 hour Citizen Dawn on Mars game, where I believe only Absolute Zero died, and on his turn, he was able to use the "Destroy one target with 1 HP" to defeat Dawn.


Do good, I? No! Evil anon I deliver, I maim nine more hero men in Miami, sanitary sword a-tuck, carol I. Lo! Rack, cut a drowsy rat in Aswan. I gas nine more hero men in Saginaw. Reviled I, Nona, live on. I do... o, God!

Matchstickman
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Is that a typical game for you? If not, then isn't a corner case just a corner case?


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TheJayMann
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Matchstickman wrote:
Is that a typical game for you? If not, then isn't a corner case just a corner case?

You stated that you can't think of any games where you had at least one hero die and still win the game.  I simply decided to reply with one of the most memorable games where a hero died and still won the game.  And I'd say about a fifth or so of the games won had at least one character die.


Do good, I? No! Evil anon I deliver, I maim nine more hero men in Miami, sanitary sword a-tuck, carol I. Lo! Rack, cut a drowsy rat in Aswan. I gas nine more hero men in Saginaw. Reviled I, Nona, live on. I do... o, God!

awp832
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It is a corner case, but that's not to say dead heroes are without merit.  Sometimes they can be game winners, sometimes a dead hero can be better than a live one.    Dead Tempest can be particularly effective because he can make all heroes immune to an element type.  I called "toxic" against plague rat the other day and won a game that I don't think it would have been possible to win otherwise.

However, if you're not playing solo,  even though on occasion death is equally effective...  Well...  I certainly dont want to be the guy with the dead hero.  It's not as much fun.  Kudos to >g for giving a KO'd player something to do that is meaningful...  but who could argue that its *as* fun as getting to play your hero when they're alive? 

My point is that death is kind of something to be avoided at all costs,  so I don't feel that strategies that involve obliterating Zero are on the table.


"He robbed from the rich and he-
gave to the poor.
Stood up to the Man and he-
gave him what for. 
Our love for him now,
aint hard to explain,
the hero of Canton,
the man they call "Jayne""

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Ah.

So you have a fifth and I have none, anyone else want to offer up their results so we can get a broader sampling?

EDIT:

awp832 wrote:
My point is that death is kind of something to be avoided at all costs,  so I don't feel that strategies that involve obliterating Zero are on the table.

Couldn't have put it better


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ketigid
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In a fifth of my winning games, no heroes died.

In 1 memorable game, dead heroes allow Haka to play Savage Mana, Rampage, and then activate Savage Mana in the same round to down Matriarch. In that game, Wraith's death was orchestrated to setup the 1 round combo.

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I often find dead heroes instrumental to a victory.  A dead hero can really turn the game around.  My favorite was the game where Tempest returned Visionary's Telekinetic Cocoon every single turn, allowing her to completely destroy Grand Warlord Voss by herself.  (Well, and some significant help from dinosaurs.)

Re: Self-destructing Absolute Zero.  I don't find 1 for 1 damage especially useful, most of the time.  In this particular instance, I was highlighting the fact that the new guy picked up on the game nuance right away, and magnified Legacy's buff to get rid of Truth that turn.  I was sincerely impressed.  Of course, it would have been much better with Coolant Blast.  The dude didn't even know that existed, though. 

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I have played a lot of games. Some of my most memorable were the ones in which multiple players died. I have won a vast majority of these games. I don't always have heroes die, but it does happen, and I still usually win. (by me I mean me and my friends, btw, although my one-player-4-hero games are included)

One game had me as Tachyon or Wraith, Henry as Legacy, and Kris as AZ against Plague Rat at the Industrial Complex on advanced. (Henry was getting tired of us winning all the time) I don't remember a lot of the fight, but eventually AZ, I was at 1 HP, and Legacy was at about 3. Legacy had Lead from the Front and Next Evolution, so he had been soaking most of the damage, but he always had to let either the Melee or Toxic slip through. Once AZ died, though, he could use an extra power, making him immune to Melee and Toxic, which -- along with LftF -- completely neutralized Plague Rat.

Another one was just me, as either the Freedom Five or a team of 3 including AZ (I don't remember which) against Baron Blade at Primalis. Somehow, everyone died by AZ. He was at 3 HP and Blade was at 1. I could have easily killed him with Hoarfire, but I decided to heal instead and wait for the enraged T-Rex to eat him. I can imagine the scenario in my head:

AZ is surrounded by the dead and dying forms of his allies. Baron Blade shuffles towards him, barely hanging on to consciousness. His mech suit is barely functioning; it seems to have more missing pieces than pieces still attached. The look on his face is one of a madman; only one target remains, and the sight of it shrinking back before him and frantically healing doesn't pose much of a threat. He closes in on his apparently terrified prey, trembling in fear -- when it starts laughing.
It calls out, "hey, Blade! You're an inventor, right? Maybe you should invent a suit with some sideview mirrors next time!"

He whips around and doesn't even have time to scream before he is devoured by the angry dinosaur looming directly behind him.


McBehrer is the sole winner of this game... And McBehrer, I would step carefully should you find your way down dark alleys. More than one vote said simply, "McBehrer must die."

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arenson9
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I didn't mean that I don't care whether or not AZ dies, I mean that I'm not so worried about him losing HP, because he can heal!


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McBehrer wrote:
He whips around and doesn't even have time to scream before he is devoured by the angry dinosaur looming directly behind him.

This is exactly the kind of thing that makes me love the game. It's not just that we're playing it, it's that we can envision the encounters, how they play out, what's actually happening.

And all in comic form. ;D

Rabit


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My numbers fall somewhere in between.  I'd say in probably about 1/10 of our victories, at least 1 hero dies.  We had several victories with only 1 or 2 heroes standing.  We also arranged the "kill Dawn when she has 1 hp" thing, but I think we did it with Visionary.  We also had 1 game where only AZ survived, and he just let the Volcano eat everyone else :)


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We've also had quite a few incapacitated heroes. I haven't kept track - couldn't even tell you how many games we've lost or won, although I think we've usually won - but in the begining incapacitated heroes were far more common. As we've gotten to know the game better, it's happened a lot less. (Not counting playtesting, of course. ;) )

I vaguely remember one (this was just after GenCon last year, so we were still pretty new at SotM) in which everyone but Fanatic was dead, and Fanatic hit the villain with a Wrathful Retribution for ~25 to finish the game. We didn't expect to have a chance on that one. The heroes were dragging themselves home, that day...

We've also had situations in which we could only won because one of the heroes was incapacitated; in one case, we had no ongoing removal and the villain's ongoings were keeping us from doing anything effective. When the first hero was incap'd (don't remember who it was), they could remove an ongoing, so we suddenly had a chance. (We don't look at what an incap'd hero can do - we just do what we can once we're incap'd.)

A part of me wishes I've kept a log of games, like I've done for the original Lord of the Rings board game. It'd be even more fun for SotM, as there's more of a colorful story, there.


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I've had games like that. We were playing Legacy, Haka, Mr. Fixer, and Ra vs Citizen dawn and after she flipped she pulled both channel the eclipses and both return with the dawns. Realizing we had no ongoing or environment removal, we all looked at Ra and said sorry. Then beat him down.

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Now I can't say I have any games where the heroes have died but there are a few where a hero has become incapacitated and still won. I've had games where three of the four heroes have been incap. and was still able to pull a victory, usually just barely. Also usually those games the surviving hero is Absolute Zero (trust me I play hime fairly wildly too but if I see something going wrong soon I start keeping his HP a bit higher), Visionary, or NightMist but usually someone somehow falls before them and they are able to provide enough support to keep at least one of them kicking. The battles become some of the most intense thing because the team tends to cheer you on and tell you not to screw the whole thing up.

I've only had one game though where Fanatic was the last hero remaining (which is thinks to her having on her armor and not drawing martyr during the game until after everyone was incaped) and that is all kinds of crazyness since she is hard one to play without being able to damage herself.

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Oh well, looks like I am the aberration here, I will have to note what we are doing to get us death or glory results (or just remember better if it is not the case).


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Nobody's really talked about Wraith yet, except for some references to her at the top of the list, and some discussion about fanboys.  Well, I'm no Batman fanboy, at least as much as anybody isn't.  But I do have some very good things to say about the Wraith.

First, she has access to three of the most powerful cards in the game.  One is Infrared Eyepiece.  It's like Visionary's excellent Precognition, but, uh, every turn.  She can vet the top card of the deck, generally dodging all the "Oh crap" cards - you know, Forced Deployment, Devastating Aurora, Prison Break, Lab Raid, what have you.  And then she draws a card, because the first part wasn't good enough.

Next is Stun Bolt.  Reduce damage dealt by the target by only two?  I guess that's pretty situational.  The situation?  All the time, forever.  What Wraith does to Spite with Stun Bolts is well documented, but really, she reduces most villains to mewling kittens.  It's also good for hard-to-kill, high-damage targets, like the Flagships.  Evidently, she doesn't even need to damage the target in order to reduce the damage, unlike Hoist Chain, Liquid Nitrogen Rounds, or Hypersonic Assault.

Oh, and neither of the above cards are limited, for some reason.  So grab another and go to town with your Utility Belt, if you want.

The third card is Impromptu Invention.  I'm sure everybody has noticed that Impromptu Invention is ridiculously better than comparable cards Summon Staff and Onboard Module Installation, since it lets you put the card you searched for directly into play, and then play another card.  This is what makes her so resilient, and what helps her set up very quickly.  It would be a good card if it only let you find Stun Bolts and Infrared Eyepieces, but no, it lets you find any of the very useful equipment cards in her deck. 

Wraith is no slouch on damage - Razor Ordnance, Throwing Knives, and Microtargeting Computer, along with Utility Belt, allows her to belt out damage with the best of them.  Smoke Bombs and Mega Computer both provide excellent defense, depending on the villain and environment.

Further, she has excellent card drawing - Trust Fund, Infrared Eyepiece, Grappling Hook, Impromptu Invention, all make sure she has at hand what she needs.  Grappling Hook provides the necessary Ongoing and Environment control.  Suture Self even gives her healing.  I never find her without something interesting to do - in fact, I often accidentally skip some of the gratuitous draws, because she's got enough to do!  And don't forget Throat Jab!  Saved my skin against Plague Rat just the other day.

Drawbacks?  Well, yes, she has to have equipment in order to do anything.  But unlike Bunker or Zero, she has ways to protect her equipment - Infrared Eyepiece most importantly.  She can go lean if she wants - the Eyepiece and Stun Bolts are great alone.  Put them with a Utility Belt, and use Stealth if you must.  Utility Belt is the basis of most combos, but Wraith contributes to the team effort really well if she only has one power.  Impromptu Invention really helps her get back on her feet after something destroys all of her stuff.

She only has two other drawbacks I can think of - she can't attack everything at once, and she's overreliant on projectile damage.  Those really only come up against a few villains, though.  I'm confident putting Wraith as one of the very best heroes.

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flamethrower49 wrote:
Nobody's really talked about Wraith yet, except for some references to her at the top of the list, and some discussion about fanboys.  Well, I'm no Batman fanboy, at least as much as anybody isn't.  But I do have some very good things to say about the Wraith.

I am absolutely with you. The Wraith is the strongest hero.


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arenson9 wrote:

flamethrower49 wrote:
Nobody's really talked about Wraith yet, except for some references to her at the top of the list, and some discussion about fanboys.  Well, I'm no Batman fanboy, at least as much as anybody isn't.  But I do have some very good things to say about the Wraith.

I am absolutely with you. The Wraith is the strongest hero.

Although she has been slightly downpowered in the Enhanced Edition. I'd still say she's the strongest but she's no longer in another league altogether.


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flamethrower49 wrote:
The third card is Impromptu Invention.  I'm sure everybody has noticed that Impromptu Invention is ridiculously better than comparable cards Summon Staff and Onboard Module Installation, since it lets you put the card you searched for directly into play, and then play another card.  This is what makes her so resilient, and what helps her set up very quickly.  It would be a good card if it only let you find Stun Bolts and Infrared Eyepieces, but no, it lets you find any of the very useful equipment cards in her deck.

We had a shining example of this last night. Two players (four heroes) vs. Spite in Insula Primalis (not that the environment matters much vs Spite).

Game 1: Wraith, AZ, Legacy, and Visionary (all randomly chosen). Spite flips drugs like CRAZY in his first couple of turns and utterly destroys us. As the Wraith player, the only time I see an Impromptu Invention is when Spite mills me with his toxic drug (which was his first play), and by the time I drew Stun Bolt it was way too late.

Game 2: Wraith, Tachyon, Haka, and Ra (specifically chosen to fight vs. Spite). I have Impromptu Invention and a Stun Bolt in my opening hand. I knew this game was going to be a cakewalk from the word go. Between Wraith (Stun Bolt, Throat Jab) and Tachyon ("1 damage to everything and they can't do damage until her next turn") I think he might have hit us for maybe ten damage total. Maybe.

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Vyolynce wrote:

flamethrower49 wrote:
The third card is Impromptu Invention.  I'm sure everybody has noticed that Impromptu Invention is ridiculously better than comparable cards Summon Staff and Onboard Module Installation, since it lets you put the card you searched for directly into play, and then play another card.  This is what makes her so resilient, and what helps her set up very quickly.  It would be a good card if it only let you find Stun Bolts and Infrared Eyepieces, but no, it lets you find any of the very useful equipment cards in her deck.

We had a shining example of this last night. Two players (four heroes) vs. Spite in Insula Primalis (not that the environment matters much vs Spite).

Game 1: Wraith, AZ, Legacy, and Visionary (all randomly chosen). Spite flips drugs like CRAZY in his first couple of turns and utterly destroys us. As the Wraith player, the only time I see an Impromptu Invention is when Spite mills me with his toxic drug (which was his first play), and by the time I drew Stun Bolt it was way too late.

Game 2: Wraith, Tachyon, Haka, and Ra (specifically chosen to fight vs. Spite). I have Impromptu Invention and a Stun Bolt in my opening hand. I knew this game was going to be a cakewalk from the word go. Between Wraith (Stun Bolt, Throat Jab) and Tachyon ("1 damage to everything and they can't do damage until her next turn") I think he might have hit us for maybe ten damage total. Maybe.

This is totally awesome. Another reason why I feel like the theme really shines in this game is the unpredictability of things sometimes. In the first game, we see how the heroes can still get completely wiped out even with their best efforts and in the second game they can turn the table early and really stick it to the bad guy. Love it.


"One for Wrath... and one for Ruin."

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I played a game at one point versus the Chairman with Wraith.  I started with an opening hand that had 3 Impromptu Inventions.  I got Throwing Knives, Micro-Targetting Computer, Utility Belt, and drew into Stun Bolt as my fourth play... That was a silly game.

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msbq wrote:

Vyolynce wrote:

flamethrower49 wrote:
The third card is Impromptu Invention.  I'm sure everybody has noticed that Impromptu Invention is ridiculously better than comparable cards Summon Staff and Onboard Module Installation, since it lets you put the card you searched for directly into play, and then play another card.  This is what makes her so resilient, and what helps her set up very quickly.  It would be a good card if it only let you find Stun Bolts and Infrared Eyepieces, but no, it lets you find any of the very useful equipment cards in her deck.

We had a shining example of this last night. Two players (four heroes) vs. Spite in Insula Primalis (not that the environment matters much vs Spite).

Game 1: Wraith, AZ, Legacy, and Visionary (all randomly chosen). Spite flips drugs like CRAZY in his first couple of turns and utterly destroys us. As the Wraith player, the only time I see an Impromptu Invention is when Spite mills me with his toxic drug (which was his first play), and by the time I drew Stun Bolt it was way too late.

Game 2: Wraith, Tachyon, Haka, and Ra (specifically chosen to fight vs. Spite). I have Impromptu Invention and a Stun Bolt in my opening hand. I knew this game was going to be a cakewalk from the word go. Between Wraith (Stun Bolt, Throat Jab) and Tachyon ("1 damage to everything and they can't do damage until her next turn") I think he might have hit us for maybe ten damage total. Maybe.

This is totally awesome. Another reason why I feel like the theme really shines in this game is the unpredictability of things sometimes. In the first game, we see how the heroes can still get completely wiped out even with their best efforts and in the second game they can turn the table early and really stick it to the bad guy. Love it.

Man, that first fight was agonizing. We selected everything at random, so before we started we knew we'd be in trouble as we didn't really have any heavy damage output. So Plan A was to tuck as many victims as possible and hope that Spite didn't flip a Break-in. Then his first three plays -- over two rounds thanks to his extra card -- were all drugs: the toxic/mill one, the +1 damage/bounce stuff one, and Mindphyre. He was clearly pissed off about something and he took it out on us instead of innocent victims.

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Incidentally, it's pretty much never worth it to actually save the victims.

The best strategy I've found is to let them fend for themselves until Spite has 5 drug cards and then save all of them.  Or,  if he hasn't used his Forced Entry's yet,  then save as many as possible without playing cards from the villain deck, or you risk undoing all your progress.


"He robbed from the rich and he-
gave to the poor.
Stood up to the Man and he-
gave him what for. 
Our love for him now,
aint hard to explain,
the hero of Canton,
the man they call "Jayne""

Vyolynce
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awp832 wrote:
Incidentally, it's pretty much never worth it to actually save the victims.

The best strategy I've found is to let them fend for themselves until Spite has 5 drug cards and then save all of them.  Or,  if he hasn't used his Forced Entry's yet,  then save as many as possible without playing cards from the villain deck, or you risk undoing all your progress.

Interesting. Spite doesn't come up often enough in our random scenario generation, so we haven't tried that yet.

UXM266
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My favorite characters to play are Tachyon and Ra. In one case I like dealing out a whole crap-load of cards with Tachyon while Ra always seems to have a decent hand. He never disappointed me.

I tend not to like Mr. Fixit or ABsolute Zero. For the former, I just haven't played him enough, while for AZ, I still don't know how to play him (though there is a guide in the works).

I've yet to try Matriarch, and Rook city. (I don't know why I haven't gotten to them yet!)


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flamethrower49
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UXM266 wrote:
I've yet to try Matriarch, and Rook city. (I don't know why I haven't gotten to them yet!)

If it's your first time playing them, just don't try them together!

arenson9
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flamethrower49 wrote:

UXM266 wrote:
I've yet to try Matriarch, and Rook city. (I don't know why I haven't gotten to them yet!)

If it's your first time playing them, just don't try them together!

Word


Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel

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I find Rook City the hardest of the environments, except Mars for equipment heavy characters.  Rook City plays a ton of extra villain cards, at the worst possible time.

msbq
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Yeah, Matriarch is pretty horrendous when played in Rook City. My friends and I have only ever beaten her in Atlantis, oddly enough.


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My favorites to play are definitely Ra and Tachyon... 

Ra-  He ALWAYS manages to do steady damage.  There are always god choices in your hand with Ra, and epic things always happen!  (Big booms!)  If ever there was a super consistent character against almost any villain, it is Ra.  He WILL help you win with no drama or fuss.  Granted, I love his super-awesome set-up, which looks to be much easier to get with alt. Ra!

Tachyon-  I never get bored with Tachyon.  I love the fast pace and the great powers.  Getting rid of the environment and ongoing cards and doing MAJOR damage are both very helpful! 

On story challenges, I have different favorites:

Visionary-  I don't like to play as Visionary, but her control can be VERY useful when trying for specific goals.

Haka-  Savage Mana is a good plan sometimes.

My least favorites, due to play style and a big build up with not enough payoff, are Bunker and Expatriette.  They really both annoy me... 


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Riffian
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Thus far I've become a bit of a Tachyon fanboy, although I try to mix it up as often as possible.
I've had the least positive experiences with Bunker, but I think that's because I never draw anything heavy-hitting. I've never drawn Omni-cannon when playing Bunker.

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I have that kind of issue with Haka - I have never been able to actually use Savage Mana in a game. I've seen others do wonderful things with it, but I've never done it myself. Very disappointing, but I've still had some fun games with Haka.


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I have found that Expat actually has a pretty good payoff if you wait long enough. In our most recent game against Dawn, she did about half of Dawn's health in one turn.


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Not to mention that Unload is perhaps my favorite card to play ever.

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well, vs dawn is a bit skewed in Expatriette's favor... 

I dunno,  I feel she's weak.  Slightly weak,  not terribly weak, just a little weak.  Her weapons are quite good, Tactical Shotgun, Assault Rifle, Pride&Prejudice are all very great powers to have, and pretty much covers all situations.  My problem is what to do after that.

I mean, seeing as how you can only use one power/turn  (except for Unload, which I'll get to  in a second)  playing extra guns that you're not using is not especially fantastic.  So if you're not playing a gun, what are you playing?  Well, usually its ammo,  if you have it.  But it gets used up so quickly and usually the ammo effects are only mediocre.  I mean,  take Hollow Points.  If you put this on Pride or the Tactical Shotgun, its essentially a one-shot to deal 2 damage.  Slightly different where buffs and debuffs are concerned, but similar at least.  In other words,  its pretty lackluster unless you can put the ammo on the SMG or the Assault Rifle.  She has a ton of card draw problems, and Arsenal Access doesn't help enough.  It's very difficult to get what you want...  especially if what you want is Speed Loading or RPG Launcher.

There are basically 2 things expatriette can do after she's got guns out.  She can either play as much ammo as possible and blaze away,  or she can play as many guns as possible and prep for a devestating Unload.    The first way is only good if you have Speed Loading IMO, and the second way is very vulnerable to equipment destruction.    Besides that, I'm not convinced that Unload is that great.  Yes it can do a ton of damage in one turn,  however in order to get there you must fill up a bunch of your previous turns with mediocre card plays.


"He robbed from the rich and he-
gave to the poor.
Stood up to the Man and he-
gave him what for. 
Our love for him now,
aint hard to explain,
the hero of Canton,
the man they call "Jayne""

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In general, I agree with you.  Expatriette is not necessarily the most effective character, plagued with card issues and too many powers that probably won't do anything.  However, that doesn't stop me from getting this really stupid grin on my face when it's time to play Unload. 

Load is nice for prepping up, too, if the villain gives you time.  (Like against Spite.)

Vyolynce
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Expatirette, Fixer, and AZ really, really need some way to "cycle" redundant limited equipment (MTG-speak for "discard to draw a new card", for those not familiar). Oddly I don't seem to have this problem with Bunker, but that might be a side effect of his additional card draw (and being able to stuff extras in the Omnicannon).

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Ooh…a promo Expatriette with the power: Discard a Gun. If you do reveal cards until you get an ammo card. Put it in your hand.
Something like that would be great for her.

msbq
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Tegulus wrote:
Ooh…a promo Expatriette with the power: Discard a Gun. If you do reveal cards until you get an ammo card. Put it in your hand.
Something like that would be great for her.

Oh, man, this would be SO cool. :D

On a related note, I had a game this past weekend where we had both Expatriette and Tempest in play. Both of them had their "hair-trigger reflexes" type card (where any non-hero target entering the battlefield took immediate damage) and I have to say combining the two is really quite terrific.


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msbq wrote:
On a related note, I had a game this past weekend where we had both Expatriette and Tempest in play. Both of them had their "hair-trigger reflexes" type card (where any non-hero target entering the battlefield took immediate damage) and I have to say combining the two is really quite terrific.

Er, which card does Tempest have that does damage whenever a target enters play? I mean, there's Electrical Storm, which does each non-hero target 1 lightning damage at the start of each of Tempest's turns, but that's not exactly the same. Is that what you meant? *confused*


"Your goodness must have some edge to it — else it is none."
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Vyolynce
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Christopher wrote:

msbq wrote:
On a related note, I had a game this past weekend where we had both Expatriette and Tempest in play. Both of them had their "hair-trigger reflexes" type card (where any non-hero target entering the battlefield took immediate damage) and I have to say combining the two is really quite terrific.

Er, which card does Tempest have that does damage whenever a target enters play? I mean, there's Electrical Storm, which does each non-hero target 1 lightning damage at the start of each of Tempest's turns, but that's not exactly the same. Is that what you meant? *confused*

Yeah the only other card I can think of like that is Visionary's Demoralize.

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Technically Demoralize reduces the max HP by 1, and technically Enhanced Edition Demoralize won't do either of those.

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