The issue with that is, if there isn't a second highest than damage wouldn't be dealt at all. There would also be the chance to have the Mask deal damage, which would just be odd.
As I understand it, Ambuscade is basically the biggest big game hunter in that he wants to take on the most powerful thing he can find, hence him considering Haka the "ultimate prey" or however it's phrased. So if some kind of gigantic planet-eating monstrosity turns up…well, that's probably a bit bigger than Haka, I would say ;). And if it destroys the planet/solar system/galaxy/universe, what will there be left for Ambuscade to hunt? You know, apart from the fact that Ambuscade himself would probably be dead at that point anyway ;).
I've been wondering if the giant-planet-crushing-monster-thingy will have the Nemesis symbol of everyone since it would seem to be a pretty universal threat, but that would probably take up quite a bit of space on his(?) character card ;).
I always get the feeling that Ambuscade hunts heroes because other game wasn't challenging enough anymore.
As for monstrous, he is that. Anyone who kills for sport with no care for anything but his own fun is monstrous, as is the effect they have on the ecosystems they destroy.
We don't know CON, but we do know CON is all about stopping the Final Wasteland from occuring. Someone like Ambuscade would definitely be a monster to something that prefers happy little trees and small animals to Death Worms and a ravaged Earth.
The real solution is to bring Ambuscade to the Final Wasteland, and just let him hunt and be hunted.
I bet he'd still settle for hunting down Haka, who'll have proven himself every bit the survivor he's always seemed to be (what with the long lifespan,and all) and will turn out to be living in what appears to be one of the last buildings standing on the planet (along with Con's bunker of course). It would probably make Ambuscade even more determined to get him ;).
The thing about Ambuscade is that he was an adrenaline junkie and hunter before his surgery- which he only underwent because he was losing his edge.
After the surgery, there was no thrill or danger in hunting animals anymore, so he switched to people. He obviously considers himself to be civilized, in that he is polite and cultured...but he is also perfectly willing to shoot out knees, strike from ambush, and go after people when they are eating delicious hamburgers.
See, I don't think he considers anyone else "people". He's gone to that horrible place where everyone else is either cunning prey (worthy of being hunted with all the tools at his disposal) or meat that talks (worthy of using as bait for the cunning prey). A complete sociopath, in other words. I think thats why he has no problems stalking heroes on their off days, during their walks in the park, or when they are surrounded by people. I'll bet that several of his altercations with heroes have been while they were occupied fighting other villains, and he took the opportunity to hit them when their guard was down (or wounded).
My take on him is that the politeness is a facade. A way of putting his prey at ease, so they are more willing to accept him as someone who follows the tenets of civilized society. But as soon as their backs are turned, or as soon as they drop their guards even the slightest bit, he vanishes or strikes. My guess is that he was in absolutely no danger during the Marsquake, and was playing on TL Tachyon's sympathies. And we certainly know how that ended for her...
He's a monster. If any sort of Grand cosmic thing were to happen, he'd be skulking around the edges. He'd be cloaked with all his devices and traps primed, just waiting for a hero who was too distracted by the world-ending thing.
Idk. I think there is too much confusion between what Ambuscades character is and what Spite is. Spite is the one that will lure you in feeling safe and then kill you. We see him do that with his victims. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that Christopher probably made these two characters different and not just the same people in different clothing. There is a difference between being a psychopath (Spite) and being a sociopath (Ambuscade).
I honestly can't even look at the tasty burger interruption card without getting angry. Civilized my donkey.
At least Haka is all, "I don't have time for you right now, I'm eating my Tasty Burger."
In fact I think that Haka of Shielding might just be an example of some higher power refusing to allow a classless rube from destroying a divine dining experience.
Imagine if Apostate went all "Apocalypse Now!" on Taco Tuesday. There'd be a whole deck of Wrathful Retribution right there.
Think about it though. There is NO way he would ever, EVER, be able to take on Haka head on, one on one. Just couldn't happen. How else are you supposed to get him? Plus we see how effective his little ambush turned out to be (hint: not very). Read the flavor text of Run and Gun. He is not going to win standing toe to toe and he damn well knows it.
As far as him killing innocent people in cold blood, I'd like to see proof that he does that in the same way Spite does. The only thing I can find is Hostage Situation where he is holding a dude off the side of a building. But look at the situation. Wraith has him cornered, and again, he just can't stand toe to toe with the other heros. So what does he do? He takes a hostage to try and get him out of the situation. His arm is outstretched to Wraith, as if to say "let me go, and this person lives. Fight me and he gets dropped".
Cold and calculating? Yes. Cold blooded killer of any and all life? Thats not his M.O. in the slightest.
@Braithwhite Doesn't Tachyon have the upperhand in Marsquake? To me it seems she has the high ground and offering to save Ambuscade. He says no thanks! If he was the kind of character to lure people in a false sense then strike when its convenient, why not say yes and stab Tachyon in the back right then and there? Thats not what he does.
Theres absolutely a difference.
Spite has a compulsion to make his victims trust him and only gets a truly satisfying kill through betrayal. If he can't get that fix, he'll kill, and kill, and kill. Its one of the reasons that (I suspect) he became so murderous when he was addicted to drugs- it became harder and harder to hide and stalk as he became more unhinged, so he tried to make up for it in bulk. He couldn't get his fix one way, so tried to replace it with others.
Ambuscade doesn't care about anything except the hunt. He'll take people hostage because it makes OTHER people care. He doesn't give a damn what they think about him, they are just useful things to be used in the pursuit of his goals. If he needs to affect a veneer of civilization, thats as much a tool as his various guns, turrets, or cloaking device.
As for cold-blooded…he fires high explosives from the tops of buildings, into burger stands in parks, and puts downs trapped coins and mailboxes. I really don't think he cares about civilians one way or another.
@ Foote (regarding marsquake)
I 'm honestly not sure. My guess is that he's got a plan to get down safely, or is revolted at the idea of being helped by prey. Or he's deliberately put himself in danger because he thinks that Tachyon will put herself in danger to save him, which will give him an advantage…
My only contention is that I am questioning his willingness to kill civilians. Sure he will use them as tools if need be, but motive and goal should be taken into account. If Wraith lets him walk away in Hostage Situation, I am questioning whether Ambuscade would drop the dude regardless. I don't think he will. That normal dude is not worth his time or energy to kill. He will use them as a tool to survive if cornered, but I do not see enough evidence to support the notion that Ambuscade is a cold blooded murderer in the same vein as Spite.
I don't think he's in the same vein as Spite at all.
I just think that he doesn't factor "normal" people into the equation when deciding about risk. If they are in the way, and he has a shot, he takes the shot. If they are around and he needs a shield, then they'll do. If putting them in danger flushes out the heroes....
I really wish we had like one random comic issue dealing with each villain. Would really make talking about nuances of character easier instead of blind guessing in the dark haha. I'm sure theres tons of things we don't know about each character. Look how much additional info we have been given over the years about Haka on Fanatic for example on the forums. So much about them we know now was just not possible to piece meal together from the cards and quick bios.
I don't think Ambuscade would drop the civillian either.
He's a hunter, and I imagine him an old school big game hunter taken too far, he wants to take on and beat the biggest and baddest prey he can. He lives for the thrill.
That doesn't make him mindless or animalistic. He's a strategist, he lays traps and vanishes, he uses every advantage he can. No way would he drop a hostage if his demands were met, that just undermines the usefulness of that strategy later.
He is monstrous because he has lost all the moral checks that stop people from hunting each other.
He doesn't murder squirrels or average people, but not because of a moral code, because they aren't worth it. He wouldn't get any rush or satisfaction out of dropping that man to his death, nor would he back down if the heroes tried to call his bluff. Everything he does is about the goal, the means are irrelevant except for their furthering of the end.
Ambuscade? You mean that guy who in a potential future kneecaps the scientist whose studies led to a cure for cancer?
He can't be ALL bad, right?
But seriously, I'm sure he's not a complete monster, but I personally don't see much humanity in the guy. Then again, I'm not terribly fond of big game hunters in the first place. He threatens heroes by dangling hostages over the edges of buildings. He shoots kindergarten substitutes. He utilizes a superhuman-charged arsenal in urban settings and drops explosives in mailboxes.
I don't feel too bad saying that he's kind of a prick.
The same potential future where the biggest and brightest beacon of humanitys moral compas, Legacy, is a ruthless dictator?
Clearly, in Iron Legacy's universe, Ambuscade is the leader of La Resistance against his tyrannical rule. He must maintain his cover at all costs as a ruthless hunter of superhumans, as he stalks the most elusive prey of all...Freedom!
And Fright train turns in his reality bending cow catcher to put on Bunkers hollowed out (and thus nearly useless) armor, lowering the official bad-assery score of the entire timeline by infinity?
Yeah, that timeline is all kinds of screwed up.
Yeah Ronway pointed that out already a post or two up.
Ninjas! I speculate that the next expansion will have ninjas. And here he did it again:
Not necessarily, it would frequently be the Mask of the Matriarch, or a Cohort (possibly you were including those as "birds", but they're not Fowl who are the main force of birds). To guarantee that it's always a Fowl, you'd use "lowest".
I actually think Spite is the more sympathetic character…lines like "I won't become a memory!" and "I'm not evil, I'm just ahead of my time" give me the idea that, while certainly a casual killer, he has some deeper motivations that I can relate to, a desire to make his mark on a world that he feels either rejected him or is beneath him. Ambuscade, though, is just a thrill-seeking jerk IMO. He used to be an action-movie star, so that suggests he was probably pretty shallow and vain in the first place, and then he went out trying to get superpowers to feed his hunting habit, got horribly scarred and ruined his career, and now is venting his displeasure at the consequences of his own idiocy on the people he stalks and harasses. The two are both evil (much as Spite himself may protest otherwise), but Spite to me is a more dramatic figure, while Ambuscade is the dickish one that I don't even love enough to bother hating him.
What, you think Ambuscade is more powerful than the things he hunts?
Human beings are, by default, less powerful than wolves. It's just that they're good at compensating for their inborn weaknesses. From a story standpoint, while Ambuscade is nowhere near the most powerful supervillain, he is the one I think is most likely to go out of his way to attack the heroes when they're at their weakest. (The "big game hunter" wants a challenge, but isn't suicidal, so he targets creatures that are deadlier than himself, only to catch them at an unfair disadvantage. This is part of why I consider the entire "sport" to be BS.) We see this on the card Unavoidable Explosive, his kneecapping of Team Leader Tachyon, and on his use of the Personal Cloaking Device to ambush Haka while he was chilling on his day off…he's not interested in a fair fight, but wants to hit the heroes when they have their pants down and can't really defend themselves. The fact that Ambuscade's deck doesn't really reflect this (too many of his cards hit the highest-HP hero) is, IMO, just a problem with mechanics; he was clearly a somewhat experimental design that I'm thinking didn't quite turn out as the designers hoped.
Actually, from what I've heard, no there isn't. Those are two different words for the same thing which can be used interchangeably.
I won't get into anything else, but I go ahead and let you know these are two different things. I think, and don't hold me too this, that sociopath's simply don't have empathy (they can't understand the pain of others) and can thrive in society (ie business moguls) while psychopaths don't see people as real, simply things in the area they live in, and thus tend towards doing horrible things to them.
[Med Student Alert!]
Psychopathy is essentially a subset of sociopathy. That is, psychopathy is associated with decreased (or absent) levels of empathy, high anti-social tendencies, etc, while sociopathy is any disorder that may lead to social dysfunction. A sociopath is much broader :D
Example! A serial killer with absolutely no remorse would be both a psychopath and a sociopath, while a recluse could be considered a sociopath, but definitely not a psychopath.
The ruthless businessman example given above is also valid; a sociopath, but not a psychopath.