Rook City Renegades - announcement

Games Sentinels of the Multiverse
#41

They could choose to leave them for sure, but… some of them end up being just really weak one-shots.

Shock Rounds and Cryo rounds are really the only two I can see playing even if I have another good option in my hand, but Hollow Points and Incendiary rounds are very much “I have nothing better to do”. And the idea behind loading a gun and not firing it is… odd. It assumes you are going to be firing a different gun, but why not put the ammo in that gun?

Also, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone actually load two ammo cards into Pride and Prejudice, unless it was on Wagner maybe. Because Pride and Prejudice is a great set of powers, and so you are likely to be using them again and again, which means they can’t stay loaded.

I’m not trying to say they are never useful, or that there isn’t advantages to them, but I see it as a clear place they could improve her deck engine, especially since the gun part is the more important part of her deck, and the part I’d least want to see changed (though, maybe making Pride and Prejudice a single card)

2 Likes
#42

One thing I am looking forward to is Brian le Wolfhunt has YouTube videos where he discusses what he does not like about Expat and Spite and if they fix every issue he has I look forward to a video of him and Mr. Chomps doing a happy dance. Possibly one of those 1 hour loops some Tubers make.

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#43

Expatriette was one of a few characters I would actively discourage players from choosing. She was not fun, good, or well designed. I am convinced (even before the greatness that is DE) that Christopher can and will fix her so she can be the best she ever was. This expansion includes both in total and in percentage the most number of heroes in need of fixing so I can’t say if this makes me more excited than for DE, but at the very least just as.

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#44

I already asked him to do one on Captain Cosmic :slight_smile:

1 Like
#45

I never quite got all the criticism of Expatriette (and Mr. Fixer, for that matter). Both of them are generally reliable damage-dealers; usually not too flashy about it, but on par with core set EE heroes like, say, Tempest or Ra. And they each have a couple cool special effects. But both of them do have a card-draw reliance drawback: a bad draw can completely sideline that player, and I have seen things like Expatriette starts the game with a hand full of ammo, draws two, gets Reload and Speed Loading, next turn draws two, gets Unload and more ammo. That can be frustrating for sure, but it doesn’t happen all that often. Mostly I do find myself getting enough guns in play to do reliable damage to at least a couple targets, and then I spend my plays putting ammo in guns – sometimes the ones I’m planning to shoot that turn, and sometimes not.

So a “fix” for Expatriette might be as simple as making sure a few of her one-shots also Discover a gun, and making her power Discover ammo. Adding a couple multiple-powers-per-turn effects or Reaction power-use effects would really pump her up, and encourage players to use Load more frequently. I don’t really see them changing from her core mechanic of shooting guns, and using comic-book ammo to specialize the guns to the situation…unless what they’re doing is adding more special effect ammo types! (Let’s go, Gravity Ammo!)

Similar with Mr. Fixer, adding “Discover one Tool” to Tool Box would probably handle all his bad-draw cases.

4 Likes
#46

I certainly would never discourage use of her, but her usefulness is heavily dependant on what she gets and what the situation is. Put her on a board with DR, and her submachine gun, and she isn’t doing anything, but if she had the shotgun instead, she is much better off.

And I know that is true of everyone to one degree or another, but… I think it comes down to powers and options.

Every hero in the base game has a base power that is fundamentally useful except for Absolute Zero. Maybe not specifically super useful, but they all do something that is generally harder to shut down. Expat’s base power is only as useful as what she draws.

And, once she is flush with cards… she doesn’t really have a lot of secondary options. The only thing I can think of that isn’t part of a direct dealing of damage is the RPG launcher, which I think I would put forth as one of her best cards. Everything else she does is damage, and the usefulness of that damage is dependant on the board state, and what she draws. Submachine gun is useful against a lot of foes… though generally I prefer the assault rifle for higher damage. Which is generally not as good as getting both Pride and Prejudice.

She really lacks a secondary role or set-up, and her primary is very dependent on something she can’t control. So, yeah, if you get what you need, she does quite good. But if you don’t… you just sit there. I’ve had plenty of games with Dark Watch Expat where the most useful thing I did was play Quick Reflexes and use my power, because everything else in my hand was useless. Compared to powerhouses like EE wraith or EE tempest, she certainly felt un-finished.

And actually, thinking about this… I really do want a few new guns. I don’t mind if we keep the ones we have, but I want her to have a sniper rifle. It is something she does so much of once she is Dark Watch, and I’m sure she did it a lot as normal. I’m also all for gravity ammo, or even seeing some things like those Eclipse bombs. I want to have her feel more tricky and less “I just want to get a big gun and fire it every turn.”

1 Like
#47

Then you’ll definitely be pleased with Expat’s DE upgrades.

4 Likes
#48

Why gotta tease me? I’m already vibrating in place before hearing things like this.

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#49

I can’t speak for everyone, and Chaosmancer covered a lot, but here are my general issues with EE Expatriette.

First, as noted, she only really has two plays: ‘set up damage’ and ‘deal damage’. This isn’t necessarily a problem; Ra is essentially the same. But Expatriette is weirdly complicated given what the outcomes are, which narrows the range of people who like to play with her. IME, people who just want to hit things will gravitate towards less complicated decks, and people who like complicated things will gravitate towards decks with more options.

Expatriette’s second problem is that a huge potion of her deck is made up of cards that can be described as “cards from the core set, but worse”. SMG and Assault Rifle are both Grievous Hailstorm, but worse. Pride & Prejudice are Taiha, but worse. Flak Jacket is Synaptic Redirection, but worse. Reload is Decommissioned Hardware, but worse. All of her bullets are basically one-shots that are worse than what other people have access to, in exchange for the ability to be time-delayed by attaching them to a specific power. The result is that she just underperforms in general play.

Her final problem is the biggest, though. Her only card draw in her whole deck only lets her draw Pride or Prejudice. She has multiple effects that give her extra plays, but unless someone is constantly feeding her draws those effects become useless fast, and her bullets don’t do anything if she doesn’t draw a gun or it gets destroyed, with her ability to replenish smashed guns being almost nil. Even Speed Loading doesn’t actually let her draw ammo; it only puts it on top of her deck. The result is that instead of having a cycle of playing cards and then bursting damage, she builds up towards one burst and then slows down.

(My issue with Mr. Fixer is a quite different one, that being that he’s incredibly effective mechanically and I love using him as a team member when I play the video game, but he tends to settle into a single role and then just hit people over and over all game, so halfway through the game I’ve sort of stopped playing him and am more just automating him. He’s also a bit too fiddly for the folks that just want to settle into a single role and hit people over and over.)

3 Likes
#50

I just realized, not sure if anyone posted this here? Good pic to raise the hype since we are looking at only a few more days

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#51

NDA’s be like that.

#52

I just realized that the graffiti “Rook City Renegades” only has running paint on the “g” and it kinda bugs me, either more running or no running. NBD though.

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#53

The s also has some dripping paint if it helps.

#54

And the k, but in black, very hard to see.

#55

I think you nail all the major issues.

Expat is just too slow compared to everyone else. Specifically she needs cards that allow her to look for either specific cards and/or guns. Without that, she can have a lot of hard starts.

Mr. Fixer is too flexible. He can play nearly any role with the right set up. The problem as you mention is that once he is set up, nearly all of his cards are useless. I always felt each villain had an optimal build as far as which weapon and stance I should be using. The proble is that once I am there, my hand is usually worthless and I just repeat basic power over and over.

The major issues with most of the DW team is that so many of their decks felt limited. They all had essential cards (especially Nightmist) that needed to be out. Once out, their decisions felt very automated and uninteresting relative to the rest of the characters in the game. I am excited to see the changes.

1 Like
#56

The video for the KS got posted on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/posts/rook-city-63173811

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#57

The KS is live Sentinels of the Multiverse — Rook City Renegades Expansion by GreaterThanGames — Kickstarter

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#58

So… now that it’s launched, and with how cagey A&C have been about the last hero (revealing at the end of the campaign, and all), I had a thought that I haven’t seen come up. What if the hero… is Guise?

#59

It never came up since they confirmed it will be a new hero :slight_smile:

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#60

The fact that we’re gonna know what all those blanks are by the end of the month has me seriously jazzed up!

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