Character Profile
- Best Attack: Charge
- Best Team Support: Grease Gun
- Best Personal Support: Dual Crowbars
- Primary Damage Type: Melee
- Secondary Damage Types: Projectile, Any
- Worst Card: Tire Iron
- Nemeses: The Chairman and the Operative
The martial-artist mechanic Mr. Fixer strives towards personal perfection. The undisputed king of irreducible damage Strikes with a variety of damage tricks. Allowing other heroes to get in on his irreducible damage is incredibly potent. Salvage Yard and Grease Gun supply some powerful team support for this unique, flavorful character.
To Strike!
Mr. Fixer has only one power, and that is Strike. Unimpressive at first glance, Mr. Fixer’s game is focused on applying all sorts of modifiers and enhancements to this single power, and using it as often as he can. Given the right boost, Mr. Fixer can overcome many of the problems villains and environments present.
Mr. Fixer has Overdrive and Charge that can let him attack more than once in the same turn. Charge is the more damaging of the two, but Overdrive has stronger utility in strange circumstances. It can be reused by Salvage Yard, and allows you two more attacks if played out of turn. If you get another power from somewhere, like the Rod of Anubis, you can play Overdrive, use the Rod, then Strike twice.
Before using these, make sure that your attacks are enhanced by something. Don’t just play them to play something. Getting out both a tool and a style allows you to use these cards to their full potential. If you don’t have a relevant style or tool in play or in hand, you would do better to pass on your weak power and draw two cards rather than play one of these.
Harmony is a very desirable boost, once Fixer has a tool and a style. Never leave home without it. Bloody Knuckles, on the other hand, is difficult to negotiate. It is sometimes a useful tool to overcome damage reduction or to deal enough damage to take down multiple things with Jack Handle or Dual Crowbars. The villain and environment can make you pay for it, so I generally avoid it. It’s a great thing to lose to card destruction, especially if the villain has yet to damage you. Definitely take the opportunity to play it if damage has been blocked by something.
Tools of the Trade
My favorite tool is probably the Dual Crowbars. It provides a much-desired boost to his damage, and lets it affect another target. Of note here is that target-specific damage increases affect the second target. If Fixer strikes the Operative, his damage is increased because she is his nemesis, and then he deals the same total damage to his second target. (All of the possible implications of this rule are currently up for debate. If we get an official ruling, I will update this.)
Jack Handle is the tool of choice for crowds, but be careful when there is something you don’t want to kill. The damage is weaker than the Crowbars, but the Jack Handle enjoys the same target-specific damage boost. Of further note is that Jack Handle and Dual Crowbars trigger whenever he deals damage. This includes things that make Mr. Fixer attack himself. With his iron discipline and a long stick, he can somehow overcome an Infection, and lash out at all of his foes an extra time. When self-damage comes up, as against Plague Rat, this is a powerful trick to have in your arsenal.
Hoist Chain features offensive damage reduction. I find this most useful against frequent attacks, especially if you can plan for them – the Matriarch, the Operative, Carrion Fields, the member of the Ennead with the fewest hit points. Unlike the above tools, this can only affect one target at a time. This is great with Charge or Overdrive, even alone. You can reduce a target’s damage twice, or apply it to two different targets. Alternating Tiger Claw is great with this as an easy way to break damage reduction to apply the effect, since the damage will never be high.
The handy Pipe Wrench is a mix between offense and defense. Other heroes usually have to play two different cards to get this effect. This is good when you need added defense. It’s especially desirable in the fights where you only care about attacking one target, since you won’t be able to use Dual Crowbars or Jack Handle with it.
Tire Iron gives Fixer a theoretical +2 damage, but only in very specific circumstances. It can only affect one thing at a time, and the relative rarity of the triggering circumstance means you won’t use Overdrive or Charge to good effect with it – which means, in turn, that you’ll want to swap the Tire Iron out pretty soon. It does change your damage type to projectile, if you really need that, but things that are melee immune are not cards you will kill in one hit. I say this is a waste of a play.
Style Network
Grease Monkey Fist is the most straightforward of Mr. Fixer’s styles. Damage boosts are always helpful, and this is a much more useful method of changing Fixer’s damage type than Tire Iron. You can’t go wrong with this one.
Alternating Tiger Claw is less straightforward. Irreducible damage amounts to a variable damage boost. Depending on the situation, that variable can be a big number. This card is tempered by Fixer’s generally low damage, but being able to guarantee damage in bleak circumstances is excellent. Obviously, the power of this depends on how often the villain deploys damage reduction. Pair it with tools that boost your damage.
Riveting Crane lets everybody get in on the irreducible party. Mr. Fixer has to overcome their damage reduction first. Other heroes or Bloody Knuckles are useful here. Then, the other heroes can unload freely. This is particularly effective against villains who can reduce damage by two or more. Against villains who reduce damage by one, this provides a target-specific boost similar to Legacy’s Galvanize. As with Alternating Tiger Claw, pair this with anything that boosts your damage.
Fixer’s last stance is Driving Mantis. This provides some clean defense, and a little bit of offense. The damage limit for the redirection is a little low, but this combines well with Pipe Wrench to ignore attacks of one damage, and redirect attacks of two or three damage. Don’t forget to remove the -1 modifier from Pipe Wrench after he directs the attack away from himself. Canny players use this with multi-targeted attacks from other heroes. For instance, Expatriette’s Assault Rifle deals three targets two damage each. If this hits Fixer, he can essentially let Expatriette attack one target twice. If you’re relying on this style, do not play Bloody Knuckles.
Use Meditation to get any of these. I tend to prefer Grease Monkey Fist, fetching Riveting Crane if I see a particularly good application for it. Meditation can get cards from your trash too, which is good. It may be worth searching your deck for a card, even if you have it in hand, in order to make it ever-so-slightly more likely you draw into some non-style card you want, like Grease Gun or Harmony.
Back at the Shop
Fixer rounds out his deck with some nice cards. Tool Box is his go-to card draw. It’s reusable, which is great, and it makes very good destroy bait if the heroes have to lose some equipment.
Grease Gun stops damage. Super good. This differs from Haka’s Ground Pound by saying that non-hero targets can’t deal damage. Therefore, damaging cards that aren’t targets, like Checmical Explosions or Rivers of Lava, still deal their damage. That has gotten in my way at very inconvenient times, but the card still rocks.
Salvage Yard is a team utility vehicle. While it’s obviously nice for heroes after an equipment wipe, this is a big boon for heroes who actively destroy their equipment, like Unity or Expatriette. This is best for equipment-heavy heroes who need a lot of cards in hand. Bunker or Nightmist on a team with Fixer should take every chance to discard extra equipment, knowing that Fixer can put them all back in one fell swoop. Try to have an Overdrive in your trash before you play this. Having a Grease Gun there wouldn’t hurt either.
Weaknesses
Mr. Fixer’s chief weakness is his relatively low damage output. He is a character strictly about manipulating damage, but he doesn’t necessarily do a lot of it. Strike deals one point of damage to one target. He can boost this up by three between various ongoings and equipment, manipulating the number of targets as well. If he wants to take advantage of his utility tricks however, like Driving Mantis or Hoist Chain, his damage and targeting potential take a hit. Damage reduction is a painful barrier for Hoist Chain and Riveting Crane.
This issue causes him to be a slow starter, as he tries to find a setup that allows him to actually start dealing damage before his field control can be helpful. Once you do find the right setup, his damage flexibility is very rewarding.
Another problem holding Mr. Fixer back is a lack of ongoing or environment destruction. While he is sometimes well-positioned to overcome the challenges these cards present, there are times these cards represent problems he cannot fix.
Teamups
Mr. Fixer loves damage boosts. They can make him hit like a truck even without relying on Grease Monkey Fist and company. Once he has found the right approach, extra power uses or plays of Overdrive allow him to Strike all over the place to amazing effect.
His main team options are Riveting Crane and Salvage Yard. Heroes specializing in a lot of hits, like Chrono-Ranger and Fanatic, appreciate Riveting Crane. Salvage Yard is nice for many, but it has the most to offer Bunker and Nightmist.
Nice guide.
This. This is particularly good advice. I played my first Fixer game like I'd play any other hero; where all equipment is good equipment. I was much less frustrated in my second game where I knew some of his potential and could work towards specific tool/style combinations. I find I take a turn out to draw 2 with Fixer more than any other character.
I generally find that I double-draw most often on Unity because she chews through cards like Mr Chomps chews through HP. I do find myself double-drawing on Fixer and Expat quite a bit as well. Either they have what they need or they don't, and if they don't you want to get to it as fast as possible.
Generally, I find that people have a tendency to undervalue the double draw option. They seem to think that it's a waste of a turn or a dead turn. I just think it lets me get to the stuff I need faster.
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I find sometimes when playing regular Tachyon, double drawing is also useful since she can play more cards with her Goggles and Pushing the Limit all she really need is more cards. Especially with DR is around, you might want to let your allies take out that target first since she has low damage similar to Fixer at the start of the game.
Very good guide as always, Flamethrower! :D There is a lot here I wasn't able to cover in my own guide, so maybe between the two of us, we were able to cover most, if not all, ground for Mr. Fixer. Stellar guide!
Great guide. Did you mean to write dueling instead of dual a couple of times?
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I just love the idea of someone challenging him to a duel with Crowbars. It would be fun.
Fixed.
I noticed that but forgot to comment on it. I thought maybe the crowbars were duelling each other, and that's why Mr Fixer is holding them above his head like that - he's trying to keep them from whacking each other ;).
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About Tire Iron : even if it's not always useful, keeping one in hand can be really useful to "finish" a target, especially one with a good DR when it is low on Hps. Players tend to neglect this card, and it sure is not your main Tool, but playing it can be very effective to finish a dangerous target. A favorite tool against the Periapt of Woe, for instance.
It is important to remember that played tools are not lost, but go back to your hand if you play another - a player should always begin his turn by asking himself if a tool in his hand can be used right now for big effect.
Bloody Knuckles : use it ! Not at any time, but don't be afraid to take damage when it can be useful - like when combined with Tire Iron against a powerful DR target :) It is a dangerous card, but it can boost Mr Fixer in big ways. I consider Mr Fixer to be a "self sacrife" hero like Fanatic or Nightmist...
When you can't draw the tools/styles needed, discuss with your team members how you can manage to end as the primary target for the villain/environment. Sometimes, doing a little damage to a friend can make you the highest HP target and save a more useful member from a high damage attack - you feel less useless ;)
Great guide, Flamethrower , as always ! ( Drakossozh, I like yours too, by the way!)
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A couple of clarifications I wanted on some of Mr. Fixer's cards:
1. Grease Monkey Fist + Tire Iron. Do you get to choose the damage type or is it always projectile? Does it depend on card play order?
2. To confirm what I'm pretty sure of...Riveting Crane and Tire Iron don't work if the target reduces Fixer's damage to zero, but Hoist Chain does. Right? What about Jack Handle? Say Voss has out a Gene-Bound Guard - if you Charge at him, you would deal 2 damage reduced to 1, but instead you deal 1 damage to everything, which is reduced again to 0? Or does it count based on the outgoing damage, then apply all reduction separately?
3. Driving Mantis triggers only the first time Fixer takes 1-2 damage, correct? So if he takes 3, then 2, then 1, it triggers on the 2 but not on the 1, and ignored the 3 completely?
As a note on teamups, I just wanted to briefly mention the possibility of using Grease Monkey Fist to Strike Absolute Zero for cold or fire damage, when the result will be more effective than having Fixer deal the damage directly (eg with Dual Crowbars and only one useful target, or when Zero has both an Isothermic Transducer and a Coolant Blast, not to mention the HP to spare).
Oh, and one more question:
4. Does Jack Handle make it impossible for Fixer to deal damage to a hero target, or does it let him damage all non-hero targets PLUS one hero if he wishes? (If the latter was true, I'd imagine it would also let him hit a non-hero target twice, wouldn't it? I can't remember the exact wording.)
"Is there beauty in a forest, if no creature stops and calls it lovely, now and then? Isn't that what 'sapience' is for?"
--David Brin, "Brightness Reef"
I think it would be best if we kept the comments in this thread about the actual guide. Most of the comments seem like general questions about how Mr. Fixer's card interact. I would suggest making a new thread for those, and keep the comment about teamups here.
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
-Robert E. Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant"
I was thinking more "put all questions about Mr. Fixer into one easy to find 'how to play Mr. Fixer' thread."
"Is there beauty in a forest, if no creature stops and calls it lovely, now and then? Isn't that what 'sapience' is for?"
--David Brin, "Brightness Reef"
While I understand your thinking, the consensus around here for a while has been that all comments in a strategy guide should be about the strategy guide only.
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
-Robert E. Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant"
I was not part of this "consensus". Should it not be reconsidered in light of my input?
How much discussion does the strategy guide itself require? Probably not much, if it's only a one-page thread after this much time. On the other hand, how many miscellaneous Fixer discussions are sprawled across the entire forum? There really ought to be a compilation of all information by topic. While I can see an argument for using a wiki (I've heard there is one) or something like that for such compilations, 1) I've found wiki software is less than user-friendly, and 2) the info is already right here on this forum, so wouldn't it be better to organize and cross-link it here, rather than copying it to somewhere else?
"Is there beauty in a forest, if no creature stops and calls it lovely, now and then? Isn't that what 'sapience' is for?"
--David Brin, "Brightness Reef"
Do not take this the wrong way, but no. Your input is not special. It is not worth more than anyone else's.
Quite frankly, no. If a community has settled on one way of doing things, and instead of asking if you can do something else, you simply do whatever you want anyways, your opinion shouldn't matter in the slightest. Even if if we would consider it, you have an incredible knack for only caring about your ideas and thoughts, and you cannot even comprehend another viewpoint. You have already come to a conclusion that you were right, without even considering any other possibilites. This is not a thread about Mr. Fixer, this is a thread about flamethrower49's guide to how you can play Mr Fixer. Any discussiojn about what he wrote would be great, anything else doesn't belong. I for one would not want to read a thread that is supposed to be about one person's strategy when it is filled with specific rule clarifications about the character's deck. The fact that you simply do what you want and say your opinion is more important is incredible.
As it has already been pointed out to you by the mods, everything works a lot better in separate threads with very clear titles (which you seem to ignore anyways). It is incredibly easy to search for a rule when it has a clear title. as wll as a short reponse. Then you know the answer is right there without having to dig through many responses. But of course, your opinion on how to setup this established community is the only one that matters, right?
I encourage everyone else on this forum to not respond to any of these questions here. Thank you!
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
-Robert E. Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant"
I will point out there are answers to at least one of those questions contained in a place that houses "a compilation of all information by topic", it's called Spiff's FAQ
Stop lurking, it makes you look like a villain target
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}
Envisioner, we've already had this conversation: When there is a rules question, it should go into a new thread - or, if there is an existing thread on that question/topic, it can go in that existing thread.
Corollary: When there is a thread about a specific topic (e.g., a guide to a hero), discussion in that thread is for that topic (e.g., the guide).
The search on the site works, and it works even better when we use subjects for the threads that are clearly what the thread is about. Also, it works better when the threads are focused, as a thread with many topics will end up coming back with all the searches...
Most people don't want to try to dig through a long thread to find the one point they are specifically looking for. Experience has shown that, when the threads are long, folks end up just posting their own thread (again) anyway.
Mind you, that's going to happen no matter what, but we want to try to reduce the instances as much as we can.
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I didn't say it was. I just said it hadn't been included in the calculation. Perhaps if you polled the forum, the "consensus" might have been 25% in favor, 24% against, and 51% not caring...I could be the swing vote.
I read Spiff's FAQ like three days ago, and still I have these questions.
That's precisely what I thought I was doing. This distinction between "a thread about Mr. Fixer" and "this particular thread about Mr. Fixer, which should only contain discussions of itself" makes no sense to me.
I've already pointed out why this is untrue.
Yes, and I don't want to dig through a long list of short threads for the same reason. I agree that with very precise thread titling, it might be more efficient to find the answers - but that would require a FAR more effective set of heuristics in the search engine. Earlier tonight, I typed in "pillars hercules take down" in order to find out about the interaction between those cards, and I did eventually find a thread where their relationship was described - but only very tangentially, not in the OP or the last post or anything, and it wasn't the first result on the search page, even though I had exactly the card names I was looking for! Frankly, what you have right now is a jungle, and the behavior on my part which you're complaining about, while perhaps not optimal, is almost unquestionably a step in the right direction.
So, how are you reducing the instances of people posting their own thread by telling them to post their own thread? Obviously I'm missing some critical component of the system of Logic you're using here.
"Is there beauty in a forest, if no creature stops and calls it lovely, now and then? Isn't that what 'sapience' is for?"
--David Brin, "Brightness Reef"
Because this is a Guide to Mr. Fixer, and not Questions about Mr. Fixer.
If you're having trouble with the site's search function, google "Greater Than Games [The topic you're looking for]" or "Sentinels of the Multiverse [Topic you're looking for]". I can tell you that method definitely works.
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That's an extremely specific set of Google terms, and I can never remember the syntax for getting it to work. Basically, I'm screwed.
"Is there beauty in a forest, if no creature stops and calls it lovely, now and then? Isn't that what 'sapience' is for?"
--David Brin, "Brightness Reef"
if [site][term] is specific, then I have no idea how to help you.
I don't know what makes me different and I don't care. Maybe it's not my problem, but why do they stare? - The Living End, Strange
Well if there was a poll (and I don't think there was), then I didn't cast a vote either.
And my vote goes to seperate specific threads with appropriate titles which are easy to search, accompanied by a collation of all relevant threads/posts (Spiff's FAQ works here, but I'd also like to see compilation thread or wiki for each hero/villain/environment as well). Plus I'm in agreement that the threads about Flamethrower's guides should not be used for general rules questions, rather they should be reserved for talking about strategy and discussion of the guide itself.
There. I believe that my theoretical vote cancels out Envisioner's. Carry on, people.
Just assume I'm always doing that.
Damn it, Ronway!
I think there's a better way to handle this other than through an endless back and forth accomplishing nothing other than cluttering the guide, and that is someone simply answers the question and we all move on.
I'll start,
1. The general rule is card order matters and the 1st card play has its effect happen 1st. So if the tire iron is played before grease monkey the damage can be of any type because grease monkey happens 2nd changing the projectile damage to cupcakes or whatever. Of course if the tire iron is out second its all projectile. I play more casually though so I normally just use grease monkey fist Willie Nillie.
2. No clue don't have them in front of me.
3. Driving mantis can happen the first time he takes two or less. It is optional to use though, the word may and all that.
4. Strike and charge let him damage any target so he could still hit 1 hero if need be.
About the thread there should be an option for a mod to simply move the offending questions from envisioner to a new topic called Mr fixer questions or whatever, then delete all the superfluous posts saying there's a difference between questions about character threadsnand guidesnto play the characters
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This is is not true. Card order only matters during simultaneous effects. Says so right in the rulebook. What "general rule" are you refering to?
Grease Monkey and Tire Iron do not have simultaneous triggers.
Page 8 of the EE rulebook: "In all situations, card effects that happen simultaneously occur in the order in which the cards were played." It then goes on to say "In any ambiguous situation, the players choose the outcome", citing tied HP values as an ambiguous situation.
It has been stated *officially* that when Mister Fixer has his Jack Handle available, that any time a card states that he is to deal a target X damage, to mentally replace that "Mister Fixer deals each non-hero X damage," where X is both a number and type of damage. This is meant to imply that Jack Handle has an implied 'instead,' and that it is in fact impossible for Mister Fixer to deal damage to hero targets while Jack Handle is in play.
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But doesn't fortitude and SHD ruling resolve that, A static and a trigger effect, and yet the ruling is they resolve in card play order.
Hard to tell when the Fort/SHD ruling never confirmed the outcome of SHD being played first (the ruling assumes Fort was first, and "card order" I think was misleading, not nessesarily inccorect).
Imbued Fire, for example, has you backtrack as you read the card effects due to the static nature of the effects right?. If you were unable to backtrack, the Heros would never get the +1 fire damage as that effect happens before the effect that changes all hero damage to fire. Static effects work different than triggered effects and are not subject to "timing" (which is the entire reason why the trigger clause is ommited in the first place).
Lets say SHD was played first followed by Fort. Lets also use Pauls answer of "card order". Legacy gets targeted by an instance of 5 damage. Read SHD first and it looks like it will trigger. But then you have read Fort, since it is in order, and now it looks like Fort will reduce that instance of damage below the threshold for SHD. "Card order" was used, but we reach different outcomes.
The issue is that we have no rulings on the topic of what does and does not constitue a "simultaneous" effect. Timing is conveyed through Trigger clauses. Simultaneous actions by definition happen at the same time. I just do not see how an effect with an explicit trigger clause and an effect with no explicit trigger clause can possibly happen simultaneously, or alternativly, how a player is supposed to deduce that on their own.
It really falls under the "ambiguous" situation as outlined in the Rulebook as far as I am concerned and is handled by player choice. That is most likely the reason >G has never addressed the issue directly, but will address things like "bountys" and "ammo" questions which have far less gameplay ramifications than does this.
Edit: It was Paul who gave the Fort/SHD ruling, not Christopher. Thread here https://greaterthangames.com/forum/topic/same-or-different. Jaymann pretty much says in that thread what I always assumed, and that is that damage count modifiers are nessesary components to figuring out how much damage "would" be dealt. I still believe the Fort/SHD ruling has been miss interpreted by the forums. Here is Paul talking about how "static" effects work https://greaterthangames.com/forum/topic/imbue-fire-cramped-quarters-combat. Notice he also mentions specifically how those "static" effects do not happen in any order (read: timing).
Edit2: Back on topic to Fixer, the damage type mod on Tire Iron, I beleive, is a static modifier. Grease Monkey's type mod is a triggered effect, so would take precedence and override Tire Iron regardless of play order.
Foote:
How I have believed it works, largely because of the two threads you linked:
Static triggers don't have a timing, as in they don't have a yes or no timing. Triggered responses (like win conditions on villain cards) have a moment where they trigger or not. If there aren't enough citizens in play second side Dawn doesn't flip, even if the next step is to put the last needed Citizen in play she won't flip, even though it is still the start of the villain turn, the time for that trigger has passed, it already failed.
Imbued fire does not work that way. Anytime the damage is fire it gets boosted, which is why it doesn't have timing, it does not have a yes or no check that can't be redone, like triggered effects have.
If both imbued fire's effects were worded to be trigger effects then only damage that started as fire would get the +1, damage changed to fire by Imbued fire would not get the bonus, because the check would have failed, and would be done.
Multiple static effects do not have timing problems. They can't.
Static effects can have timing problems with triggered effects, which is why Fort/SHD is resolved by the order they came into play.
The way this would work is static effects have timing of application, they do not trigger, but they do have to be applied.
If Imbued fire is out and Wraith has micro and would deal projectile damage (at a conditional +2) it is changed to fire, where it loses the +2 for projectile and gains a conditional +1 for being fire damage. If she had TtE on her and Visionary changed it back to Projectile damage it would lose the conditional +1 for fire and regain the conditional +2 for being projectile.
All of those events occured, and had timing of application. That is why fortitude and SHD can occur simultaneously, because as soon as the damage is being dealt to Legacy both would occur, Fortitude would be applied, and SHD would trigger, 2 effects simultaneously. This is the only way I can reconcile the rulings, and I think it is how they see the game.
Let me be clear this is why I do not like the official methodology. It forces keeping track of too many card timings, and in most of my games I let heroes decide the order of those interactions, because that much bookkeeping lowers the fun value for me, and more so for the people I game with.
I like your explanation better, and it follows the way I do my games, but I don't think that is the way they see it.
Christopher told us yesterday at the London meet that he had sorted out a new official ruling for the whole "Fortitude versus Superhuman Durability" thing, but I dunno if he wanted to announce that here himself or if it's okay for me to just say it...
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Please, for the love of sweet baby Jesus in a golden diaper and for my sanity, please tell me. The cognitive dissonance in my head around the current ruling gives me stomach ulsers haha.
Oh man, if it is a sensible and practical solution to this question Foote and I will lose half of our argument potentiality.
Oh well, I guess all good things must come to an end.
By and large we agree on the destination, just not the best way to get there. <3
Haha. This proves that the original ruling was in fact correct and official, regardless with how it fits into the other rules.
This is why we don't talk about rules in another thread.
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
-Robert E. Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant"
Unfortunately, there isn't. Only Admins have that level of permissions, and all of them are travelling in Europe. Otherwise we would have dealt with this when it first started.
"See, this is another sign of your tragic space dementia, all paranoid and crotchety. Breaks the heart." - Mal
Unicode U+24BD gets us Ⓗ. (Thanks, Godai!)
Anyone play with the Dark Watch Mr Fixer? It seems like it should be an overall improvement for him. Might make overdrive hard to play though.
Crush your enemies, drive them before you, and laminate their women! - Guise, Prime Wardens #31
DW Fixer really changes the way that his deck runs. Overdrive becomes a decided, calculated risk, while Bloody Knuckles becomes a great one-turn buff that you can destroy to avoid its bad effects. DW Fixer is really a beneficiary of out of turn plays, allowing him to get ahead of his destruction cycle.
DW Fixer gets really strong when he has his full complement of Tools and Styles out and Is firmly ahead of the destruction curve. Hitting all villain targets for 5 damage? Easily done! Its all a matter of managing risk/reward.
I'm actually working on a guide to promo characters, which I'll post in the coming days....
I assure you this is not the case. His damage output is certainly better on average. But for a deck whos main focus never was damage in the first place, there is more to the picture.
Original Fixer has the distinct advantage of keeping tool/style setups and can tailor them to the current situation while quickly adapting to sudden threats. Those characteristics are sorely missed with DW Fixer, and that becomes evident very quickly when you first play him.
I think we're going to have to slightly disagree on this one. If anything, DW fixer continues the vein of "use what you have" even more than the base card. He also doesn't have the annoying problems of overcoming damage resistance to trigger his "everyone gets irreducible damage" stance, and gets more mileage out of lesser-used tools such as the tire iron (being able to take out things with 5 HP in a single attack is quite nice).
The only scenario I've found where DW fixer is at more of a disadvantage than th base version is if you have a team that is unwilling to sacrifice anything, has nothing but one shots, or is composed of similarly setup-intensive heroes. Othewrwise, I've found him to be just as useful, with the added benefit of being a heavy hitter- which gives him added flexibility, if anything!
And exactly how often are you NOT in one of those scenarios? Pretty much every hero is either setup-intensive or has nothing but one-shots. The only hero I can think of who might be happy to spare stuff for DWMF is Haka, since he draws a lot of cards and often has duplicates of his equipment. Wraith fits those criteria too, but she likes to keep her duplicate equipment so she can Inventory Barrage mid-game and then recover. Expatriette has the duplicate Guns to spare but no way of drawing cards, and don't even think about asking Nightmist for anything. Unity might occasionally have more Equipment than Bots and be able to spare you a Supply Crate, but that's a pretty terrible situation for her to be in. Apart from perhaps Legacy, every other hero I can think of needs as much of their stuff in play as possible, except for Tachyon and maybe Ra or Fanatic, who are in the "almost all one-shots" camp.
"Is there beauty in a forest, if no creature stops and calls it lovely, now and then? Isn't that what 'sapience' is for?"
--David Brin, "Brightness Reef"
I'm with Foote here. Though I agree that, in general, DW Fixer seems to be a straight up improvement, it seems to me that vanilla and DW Fixer aren't even playing the same game. DW Fixer is more martial artist than mechanic, while Vanilla Fixer is more mechanic than martial artist, which kind of makes sense thematically. What do you care about fixing cars when you're risen from the dead?
Thats... not exactly true. let me explain.
There are several heroes, even ones who routinely rely on their equipment, who have cards and abilities that can benefit from DW fixer.
Let me preface this by saying that DW fixer should ALWAYS go first in the turn order to be of maximum benefit. This way he can eat all of the cards that normally go away at "start of turn". This helps him destroy other peoples stuff that would normally go away on its own, or stuff from heroes who do not/cannot pay its upkeep cost. This includes heroes like: Tachyon, Haka, Legacy, The Scholar, Fanatic, Ra, and more.
Even setup intensive heroes can synergize wonderfully with DW fixer in specific circumstances. Bunker can sacrifice his modes (if he is going to drop out of it anyway), or things like the Gatling gun/omnicannon (if he can't pay for it anymore/has no cards). AZ can even do things like sacrificing modules/equipment, so that he can get some fun out of cards like modular realignment that pulls them out of the trash (and then does damage).
Nightmist is a borderline case, in that she tends to always run her own game. but even she has things like the sabulet (which is useless once she has zero cards), mistbound (which goes away) and mist form (which she might want to come out of anyway).
Wraith does tend to need what she has, but I've certainly been in games where she gets several impromptu inventions and has a whole host of equipment- some of which she isn't using. While an inventory Barrage is good times, it might be worth it to let Mr Fixer eat something, especially if it is also coupled with a style/tool that provides a benefit to the group as a whole.
I'm not saying that it isn't possible for everyone else to always need everything that they have all the time. I've been in games where that has happened, but if you are willing to negotiate, talk with your partners, and think ahead- you can find a LOT of options.
And if I'm in a game where everyone needs what they have, when I'm playing DW Fixer, I go with the flow. I eat my styles, I use bloody knuckles as a one-shot, and if I really have a tool I want, I'll skip a power turn to get ahead of the destruction curve.
Braith, you have much more understanding friends than I do it seems. If I tried to blow everyone elses stuff up instead of my own every turn, I'd quickly be out of a group to play with. I know there are great cards to blow up due to Start of Turn destruction, but it really is not as common as you are suggesting in actual game senarios (it's the difference between practical and theoretical application of abilities and interactions). And this might just be me (probably is), but we always randomize player order. Having the same heros always go first can get stale pretty fast we have found.
Unless you are playing solo, the fact is that DW Fixer is going to focus on his own cards destruction for a large majority of the time. Given that truth, and the playstyle that inevitably emerges from it, the difference between the two Fixers will be very apparent.
When you really wish you hadn't eaten your Driving Mantis a turn ago to keep your Jackhandle out and are now getting pumled, or when you first get to that "ummm...where did my hand go?" moment, you will see what I mean.
I do have very understanding friends, and its one of the great joys of playing Sentinels (and any other game, really).
I'm not discounting your interpretation, but I do disagree. I find regular Mr fixer to be extremely frustrating because he is easily foiled by damage resistance, and relies on specific tools/styles to overcome this problem. And if you don't get them, you can spend the entirety of the game drawing card after card while your (understanding, wonderful) friends get to have fun.
With DW Fixer, you get to be effective, always. sometimes you have to make the hard choice to skip a power to get something you really want.
This might be a playstyle difference- I generally dislike playing a support character, and find DW fixer to be far more satisfying now that he can hit harder. I'll own up to my own biases in that area!
As for the scenarios where you wish that you hadn't eaten X to respond to situation Y... I've never run into that. If I have a style/tool that I want, I'll ask and see if someone can help me keep it and use a power. If no one can, then I put out something sacrificial (generally a style), or put out the tool if i have something that can be sacrificed next turn for more immediate benefit/synergy with that tool (like bloody knuckles). I'm not saying that it isn't possible, it just has not been an issue. In general, I've found it to be much the same as when Unity is playing. She never eats equipment without permission (though I do realize that this is possible, and some people do it), and she negotiates the destruction by what will benefit everyone the most. If its to get out Stealthy in Pike chemical (specially with those darn trisolvent vats!), then its an easy call. If its to get out a single raptor bot (that is likely to get destroyed), then its likely that Unity will not be getting anyone's OK.
the only aspect that I have found that mirrors what you are describing are when I am with a team that allows for out-of-turn power usage. It can get very difficult when the Adept is letting someone play a power to convince people to sacrifice even MORE of their things. But if you've got enough to offer, then maybe you can sway them.
It's also worth offering up things like The Staff of Ra, if Ra would otherwise throw it to get a new one out, and even Chrono-Ranger can make a valuable ally if up against, say, Iron Legacy, and thus having no use for several of his bounties. You also tend to get more damage out of destroying a useless bit of Wraithquipment instead of one of your own than the two damage Wraith will get from a Barrage.
“You gotta have blue hair."
-Reckless
I do not want to discount your own experiences, but this just has not reflected mine with DW Fixer.
I am still convinced that a vast majority of your turns will involve you sacking your own cards. Given that, power cycling your tools/styles with ones from your hand will deplete your hand within a few rounds especially as you start using your grease guns/charges/salvage, and Toolbox is not easily found when you need it. Every few rounds you will go 1-3 turns with not Striking depending on the luck of your draw. You are pretty much breaking even with original Fixer if we are talking about "down" turns waiting for another card to power cycle. And if you happen to draw a tool when you really like/need the one you have, you can either cycle it and deal damage and be worse off next round or wait another round and hope for a style to cycle. The same holds true with tools/styles reversed.
The reality here is that every tool/style is not well suited for every situation that you can be presented with, and thats where you start to see the chinks in DWFixers armor in real game settings. When you are forced into a tool/style setup you would rather not be in when Original Fixer would have had no trouble adapting quickly. Where as DW Fixer can be waiting a good while to draw the right card to continue an effective power cycle, OGFixer is sitting in the same position with a hand full of cards waiting to change and adapt.
I am not saying DWFixer isn't awesome (because he is!!). But there really needs to be a better understanding of his cons to shine a light on the pros of the original.
I'm with Braithwhite.... I find normal fixer to be a mix of cool combined with a frusterating lack of ability. I think the DW variant helps him immensely. I'd even go as far to say that the DW fixer card is the best promo card so far in terms of how much it benefits the hero in question. Probably the overall second-most-powerful promo card next to TL-Tach.
I guess I also have understanding fiends and approach team-stuff destruction in much the same way as Braithwhite. We tend to play to help the team. Even to the degree that people will deliberately play cards *just* so that DW Fixer can fuel his power. Even one-shot heavy heros do this. Take Ra's Living Conflagration as a perfect example. You can use it to do its 2 damage, and then get rid of it with Fixer. He can only use 1 power/turn anyway, unless something says different, and as often as not that is Pyre. Drawn to the Flame often is a fodder card as well. We once had a game (we won) where Ra pretty much did nothing but play Staff of Ra (heal-3), use pyre, and then lose staff of Ra to Fixer's power for several turns. Then Fixer played Salvage Yard and we repeated the process. It probably saved us the game.
Fixer's styles and tools are so much more potent with Bitter Strike. Jack Handle is a major beneficiary. Jack Hanlde on DW fixer does as much damage as jack handle, Grease Monkey Fist, and Harmony on classic fixer. With those extra buff cards DW fixer can deal 5 damage to all non-hero targets. With Bloody Knuckles and that, it's 7 damage to all non-hero targets. That's by himself, with no help from anybody.
But the best by far is probably Riveting Crane Style. Before this card was just increidbly difficult to make strong use of. Now, even with a lot of enemy Damage Reduction, it's fairly easy to get at least 1 point of damage in with Bitter Strike and make your entire team deal irreduceable damage that round. I'd say that's well worth the sacrifice of an ongoing or equipment card. If he's got Jack Handle out it could be all heroes irriduceable damage to all non-hero targets. Wow.
I've found that DW fixer is often well-served by opting out of power useage on his first turn. Most people are going to want to play their best cards, and you likely don't have the best tools yourself. Just play a card, choose not to use a power, and draw a card. It will make your setup go a lot smoother from that point forward.
Finally I'm much more likely to use all of Fixer's tools. If I don't need to use the Jack Handle this turn, I can play something like the Tire Iron, take the Jack Handle back into my hand, do my 3 damage to 1 target, and destroy the Tire Iron and still have my Jack Handle. I think this promotes a more fun 'mode-switching' kind of fixer. Style switching happens too, but you have to plan ahead a bit more.
"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""
Listing optimal and idealized situations is all well and good. But it doesn't offer an objective evaluation, especially if we are talking about DWFixer vs OGFixer. So you can understand my hesitation to agree with you.
Go play against any villain/environment with any small amount of discarding effects. Tell me how constantly effective he is. While Dawn is forcing you to discard your hand and destroying your teamates stuff, yeah, you will be doing a whole lot I'm sure. Say hello to at least 2-3 rounds of setup (assuming a good draw and not an overdrive or two).
He is a great promo character, he is not wholesale better than OGFixer. He has his own unique set of disadvantages that have to be addressed if you want to make any compelling argument toward that point (which has not happened by anyone making that claim).
If you want to make the argument that given both characters having great draws and ideal situations, that DWFixer would be much more effective than OGFixer, I would not hesitate to agree. However, trying to evaluate any hero on that basis has very little value to real gameplay.
Thanks for the replies. I expected it would be a few days before I saw anything.
Crush your enemies, drive them before you, and laminate their women! - Guise, Prime Wardens #31
@ foote
Any hero is at a disadvantage against a villain that blasts their hand and gear/ongoings. Its always painful. I do see what you are saying, in that in those specific situations, DW fixer would be at more of a disadvantage for rebuilding. however, I also think that in those specific situations, Regular Mr fixer would ALSO be in a terrible situation, and without a very good style/tool as backup, he'd be in even worse straits for helping the team.
I feel that this is a question of perspective, and I want to make sure that you understand the basis for my statements.
In the case of a total wipe (all cards gone, all ongoings/equips gone), DW fixer can put out 3 damage, no matter what he has in his hand (except an overdrive, but in the case of a full wipe...). If he has a few cards, or a few things remain on the table, then the equations shift. It all depends on who can be of the most use. I've never heard any complaints about sacrificing if it meant getting a specific citizen (such as Tears) out of play...which DW fixer is far better able to do. Of course, maybe one of your teammates is in a bettewr position to eliminate the threat that is causing the wipes or discards, and then it is their stuff that needs to be protected.
In the case of regular Mr fixer, a wipe (all cards/all ongoings/equips) puts him back even worse than DW fixer. he doesn't have to eat cards, but it is much less likely that he'll be able to eliminate the external threats that are eating your hand/cards in play. In the case of a threat that causes discards, Mr fixer is even worse off, because he is far less likely to be able to put out the damage necessary (given that his base damage is only one) without a tool/style that is of immediate use. So its entirely possible (and this has happened against dawn more than I enjoy) that Citizen Truth is laughing at you while Tears/Sweat strip your cards away and Mr Fixer punches fruitlessly, unable to do anything.
thats the major point that I feel that you are overlooking- DR (damage resist) of 1 has a terrible effect on base fixer's ability to influence combat. Riveting Crane and the hoist chain need you to get through that one point of damage in order to do anything. This, in turn, means that in order to maximize his battle control abilities, you need to have the tool/style that gives you enough of a damage boost to overcome any armor (or bypass it). You can build up, but it requires that you have the right cards- and given that he only plays 1/draws 1, you are very unlikely to get a large range of options without luck, playing the toolbox (and only the toolbox) for multiple turns, or team support. There is no question that he can be a master of flexibility. Please understand that Mr Fixer is one of my favorite heroes for just this reason! But it can also be an intensely frustrating experience.
With DW Fixer, I find myself much less fettered by what I have available. Even in situations where I only have one or two cards, I'm still hitting hard and helping the team. Yes, it can suck when everything is stripped away...but thats true of any hero. Its difficult to recover for any hero under those circumstances, and sometimes you just lose because of it!
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