My wife and I just got into this game and I have to say it's one of the most entertaining ones we have played in a long time. I am a table top wargamer (MERCS, Dropzone Commander) and I have to say this has taken some presidence a few times.
We bought the core set and the vengence set, along with the mini expansions. Last night I thougt I'd give Unity a try and I have a few questions on how to use her characture.
1) Can I just put a bot into play that is in my hand? Or do I have to discard a card in my had to play it.
2) If I have Bots on the table and take damage from a villan, can I redirect those hits to my bots?
Thank you in advance and I can't wait to collect all the other expansions.
1) You are unable to play any of Unity's bots during Unity's Play Phase. The main ways to get a bot into play on Unity's turn is Unity's innate power, Contruction Pylon's power, Modular Workbech's power, and playing a card at the start of your turn with Scrap Metal.
2) Stealth Bot is the only bot that can redirect damage.
> 1) Can I just put a bot into play that is in my hand? Or do I have to discard a card in my had to play it.
On Unity's turn bots can be played one of four ways from hand. The primary way is using her default power which has her destroy an equipment card and then you can play a golem from your hand. If you have Modular Workbench in play you can use it's power instead and it lets you discard a card from hand then you can play a golem card still in your hand. The card construction pylon can be played and on your power phase use it to put two golems from your hand into play then destroy construction pylon. Lastly, if you have scrap metal still in play from your last turn you can put a golem into play from your hand into play at the start of your turn and then destroy scrap metal.
If another player or card allows you to play cards on their turn you can put a golem from hand into play without any additional costs. Bottom line, unity can't play Golems from her hand during her play phase and typically will use a power to get them into play.
> 2) If I have Bots on the table and take damage from a villan, can I redirect those hits to my bots?
Only if you played Stealth Bot. Your bots are additional targets for the villain or the environment to potentially hit. So if a card says it hits all hero targets or it targets a hero target then the bots could be hit by that.
Edit: ninjaed oh well. Welcome to the forums as well
1) Unity's bots all share the same wording on their card that they cannot be played during her play phase. What this means from her deck is that you can use her base power to destroy an equipment card (does not have to be one of your own) to put one into play or you can activate a power on one of her equipments - Modular Workbench has you discard to play a bot, Constructions Pylon has you destroy it for 2 bots. Any that lets you play cards out of your play phase (other heroes, enivronment effects, etc) let you play them from your hand
20 Stealth Bot is the only bot that can redirect. It's important to note that Bots count as hero targets, so anything that affects hero targets includes them (ex: lowest hero target, all hero targets)
1) Neither. If you look at the Bot-cards themselves you will see that it says
"This card cannot be played during your play phase."
So you can't play bots directly from your hand into play*. If you look at Unity's card it says
Power: Destroy 1 Equipment card. If you do, put a Mechanical Golem from hand into play.
so Unity has a built in way for you to get a bot into play. There are other cards in her deck which will allow you to get bots into play (Construction Pylon is another power of hers).
2) Nope. Bots are hero targets just like Unity. If the Villain hits "The lowest HP hero target" then chances are it's one of your bots, and not a hero. Unity can't redirect damage to her bots just because she wants to, she programmed them with self preservation instincts too! Unity can redirect damage to Stealth Bot but only because the card itself says it can.
Unity and her bots are very vulnerable to "all hero target" damage, as each bot is a target and will get hit as well as her, but if you can keep them in play she can be devastating, just having 3 Raptor Bots in play means on her turn they will deal 3 lots of 4 melee damage, that's a lot of teeth!
*Expert tip! You can't play them during YOUR play phase, however if someone else made you play a card during their play phase you could play a bot!
Unity can be a bit tricky at first. You can't just play her bots on your turn like regular cards. They get played either by a)Using Unity's base power to destroy an equipment card (anyone's) to put a bot into play, b)Activate modular workbenches power to discard a card then put a bot into play, c)Activate construction pylon's power to destroy construction pylon and put 2 bots into play, or d)Someone else uses an ability that allows you to play a card out of turn.
As for the bots themselves, they are considered hero targets. If something damages a hero target they have to be taken into consideration. If something damages the hero target with the lowest hp, chances are it's going to be a bot.
Edit: Wow, four people got to that before while I was typing. Impressive.
The way Unity works is she must find ways to play bots outside of her play phase, as that is the restriction printed on all of her bots. While this seems impossible at first, she has ways of doing so, namely her power. She requires you to destroy an equipment and play a Mechanical Golem, a type shared among all bot cards. This is the easiest method of bringing out a bot, without relying on other ongoings or equipments, which I'll get to next. It might seem costly at first, but you'll find heroes like Bunker or Wraith don't mind too much, as long as you ask nicely. But Unity has her own equipments as well that can easily be turned into scrap metal for her bots.
She has two cards in her deck that help bring out bots outside of destroying equipments: Construction Pylon and Modular Workbench. As you already asked, Workbench does indeed work by discarding a card to play a bot. This is probably just as easy as using her power, but less costly. There is also Constructin Pylon, which instantly plays up to 2 bots, and destroys the Pylon afterwards. These two cards are amazing if you manage to draw them, or search for them via Flash Forge. Alternatively, Modular Workbench is also an equipment. If you don't have any safe discards, this is another method. Other equipments she usually doesn't mind destroying for a bot are Volitile Parts, Scrap Metal, and in some cases Supply Crate. So, as you can see, you have quite a few options.
As for your second question, Unity unfortunately must take all damage directed toward her, unless you have Stealth Bot.
That one card does stuff which in turn makes other stuff do stuff. Other stuff does a lot of damage, and you have to play that one card to prevent the bad guy from doing stuff.
Thanks for all the info. I saw that it did say you can not place the card on the play turn but just misinterpreted it. The info on Bots being heros helps too. The way I was playing it made her a beast in the game. It seemed wrong but boy was it fun :P
Again thank you for the crazy amount of quick responces. You guys are awsome!
One of the subtle (but occasionally important) distinctions is that the bots are not "heroes", but they are "hero targets". When something affects "heroes" it's talking about just hero character cards. When something affects "hero targets" that includes Unity's Mechanical Golems, Visonary's Decoy Projection, Captain Cosmic's Constructs, etc.
It's worth adding, as Mongoose (welcome, btw :D) has Vengeance and therefore the Sentinels, that hero character cards are not necessarily heroes - the Sentinels are four hero targets but only one hero. A hero target, meanwhile, is any hero target that's part of a hero deck. So other than the heroes themselves this includes the aforementioned bots of Unity, Visionary's decoy projection thingy, and Captain Cosmic's Constructs.
Unity loves heroes such as the Adept (complicated but really amazing hero in the Infernal Relics expansion) who can easily allow other players to do stuff outside of their own turns. If Unity can get out a few bots and keep them there, she kicks arse. All of the arses! You can have each copy of Mr Chomps (of which there are three) doing about sixteen damage a turn if you can get properly set up :D.