The forums moved on March 1, 2021. Please read this page for more information.

Rampant Green as an analogue of TL Tachyon

4 posts / 0 new
Last post
Mezike
Mezike's picture
Offline
Last seen: 5 years 2 days ago
Joined: Nov 18, 2012
Rampant Green as an analogue of TL Tachyon

Just a relatively random thought.

We've been playing an awful lot of Spirit Island over the last couple of weeks and my son has particularly taken to Spread of Rampant Green so I've got to see it in action in many different permutations. One thing that particularly stands out for me is how this spirit facilitates putting out presence, both for itself and other spirits, and it's led me to a comparison with the way Team Leader Tachyon works in Sentinels.

One of the core gameplay pillars of Spirit Island is that the spirits are on the increasingly losing side until they hit a tipping point with growth that allows them to beat the invaders back faster than they are themselves growing. Victory often hinges on reaching that tipping point before becoming irrevocably overwhelmed. Putting out additional presence in the early game allows for faster growth and therefore technically brings that tipping point forward, effectively increasing the chance of victory. This reminds me of how victory in games of Sentinels can often become more assured with more card draws, as this adds more options and increases the chances of having more relevant or 'better fit' cards for any given situation, affectively advancing the game forward from the perspective of the heroes. Just as TL Tachyon spams card draws, Rampant Green spams presence, hence the parallel. Yes there are plenty of other considerations: playing power cards to enable growth means you are not doing something else, things can get a bit loopy at higher difficulty levels, and there are power cards that could potentially be gained in the first round that also put out additional presence, but I'm thinking in broad strokes here with Rampant Green being set up to do this from the outset.

Another interesting thing is that TL Tachyon is more effective with more players (due to more overall card draws) whereas I think that Rampant Green scales better; although I first thought it would be more valuable in a two player game (both players can be adding additional presence each or every other round as opposed to only half the players in a four player game) it works just as well with more as those spirits not benefitting from additional growth can help to cover the relative inaction on Rampant Greens board (although being able to stall the invaders with the special ability is hugely useful - we usually let them get away with the first ravage and block subsequent ones to prevent cascades, letting them build up as much as they like until they are nice and ripe for a big major power takedown). Rushing on presence has become a particularly effective tactic at mid/low difficulty levels and teaming Rampant up with Earth almost feels like cheating sometimes with the repeat power innate wink


carnilius
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 4 months ago
Playtester
Joined: Feb 11, 2014

I think you are referring to Team Leader Tachyon, not Super Scientific Tachyon, right?

Mezike
Mezike's picture
Offline
Last seen: 5 years 2 days ago
Joined: Nov 18, 2012

Yep, that I am!

Zalrus9
Zalrus9's picture
Offline
Last seen: 5 years 1 month ago
Joined: Nov 17, 2012

Yeah, I totally agree. I mainly play two player, and when I pick my main spirit, I always thinking "why not Spread of Rampant Green?" I feel like Spread might actually be my favorite spirit next to Shadows Flicker like Flame. Besides not being able to deal with explorers, Spread is really good at most other things, be it fear, destroying cities, playing defensivly, ect. I actually wonder how they'll do if I pair them with spirits I'm not so good with, like Fangs...


"An artist's responsibility is to be irresponsible. As soon as you start to think about social or political responsibility, you've amputated the best limbs you've got as an artist."

David Cronenberg