SotM Weekend - Villain Beatdown!

General GTG Events
1

I am officially declaring this weekend, SotM Weekend! Our goal is to get 200 points by the end of the weekend. We get points equal to the difficulty of a villain by defeating them. SImply put you name in the column with the villain you defeated, and the spreadsheet will add everything up for you.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AidOKG-M_yQmdGlzdUU3ZGdIb3h1Z08yQlJBTkdwNWc&usp=sharing

We have until Sun, November 3rd, 11:59 PM CST. The clock is ticking!

 

NOTE: I used the offcial difficulties, if anybody think I should change them, just say so. Also, if anybody know the difficulty of the villains in advanced mode, I will add those too.

 

2

Choose any heroes in any environment, just beat up on thsoe villains. Please post you game experiences in this thread, while posting your name in the spreadsheet.

3

Do games from the forum count?

Also, difficulties definitely could use adjusting.  Though I'm a relative newbie with just under 50 games behind him, I suggest the following.

> * Ambuscade is probably a 1 unless on Advanced and possibly even then, since one side of his advanced text does nothing in about half of matches.  He spends so much time getting blank plays off of his Traps that it's quite uncommon for him to pose a serious danger.

* Gloomweaver is almost never deserving of a 3; again, his advanced text is frequently irrelevant on one side, and he often won't flip to the other side anyway, since he has an alternate win condition built in for those seeking to defeat him.

* Some particular matches should be adjusted based on how well the villain and environment synergize.  Offhand, the ones that I know are likely to be worth a +1 are Omnitron in the Ruins of Atlantis and Akash'Bhuta in the Final Wasteland.  Rook City is probably worth a +1 difficulty to nearly all villains (maybe a +2 in the case of the Chairman; all those extra villain card plays go especially far when you start out with ten cards in the trash).  I'm tempted to say the same of Time Cataclysm and Tomb of Anubis, but I haven't tested those as often so I'll assume I was just unlucky.

* Advanced status is usually worth a +1, but there are some villains where it's especially nasty.  I think advanced Kismet is quite possibly more difficult than regular Iron Legacy, for instance; she might be a "low 3" on regular and a "high 4" on Advanced, but I think it might be reasonable to bring her up to a 5.  Citizen Dawn is another really mean Advanced version; she stays indestructible on her flip side much longer, and you have to leave the Citizens alone the whole time you're waiting for her to flip back, which with bad luck can be a very long and painful wait.  I'd very likely put her advanced version on a par with those of the 4-diff villains, though her regular mode is definitely easier than theirs.

* It might, but I stress again only might, be appropriate to adjust difficulty up a point if you have only 3 heroes, and down a point if you have five.  There would again be exceptions for specific villains - if they have a lot of H effects, they're probably balanced in all cases.  Omnitron really suffers against 5 and has it easy with 3, for instance (his components-destroyed value isn't dependent on H, nor is the number of targets he attacks), but Miss Information is nicely self-balancing, with large numbers of relevant H values (from the damage she deals to the number of Clues needed to flip her).  The Dreamer is a relatively rare instance of a villain that actually seems to be harder with more players (since the time needed to end the game is directly a function of H), and a few others might function this way as well, such as if they mostly deal damage in instances of H-2 to the highest HP heroes, rendering it easier for a single player to "tank" for the entire party.

* Ideally a comprehensive difficulty adjustment should account for the strengths and weaknesses of particular heroes, but such advanced analysis is certainly beyond the scope of a short-term project.

Regardless of whether these adjustments are made, I will definitely be participating.  Probably only have time for H games in such a short timeframe, though.  (As usual, H is a number from 3 to 5.)

4

Sure, forum games, count.

When I actually first posted it, I had AMbuscade and Gloomweaver lower, but I decided to go with the official stuff, and ask what people wanted.

The same thing for advanced, since nothing was official, I didn't put anything up. If people have an idea (like yours), then I will gladly add it.

For the purposes of this weekend, I think it would be too difficult to keep track of villain-environment combinations and number of heroes. For the first event, just choose what you want where you want.

Also, we can add the promos if somebody has the numbers for them.

 

5

Well, I'm going "camping" for the weekend. If we get any games in (which is honestly not likely, but I'm going to try), I'll log and report when we get back on Sunday. :slightly_smiling_face:

I think using the official difficulties is more, well, official, but it really doesn't matter too much to me. :sunglasses:

6

I guess I'm your first assassin.  Took out Ambuscade on Advanced, which as I said before doesn't really improve his difficulty above a 2 even if most villains would get such a bonus.  I actually forgot the game was advanced for the first couple rounds, so I dealt him a bit more damage than I should have; I refunded him 3 HP and called it a day, but he never did any healing, and at the end of round 5 he was down to 5 HP and didn't Vanish on his next turn, so I figured I was justified in calling it.  (The highlight of the game was when Mr. Fixer was tied for highest-HP hero with Haka, and had to work out how to deal exactly enough damage to Ambuscade that he'd also be tied for the same HP value, so that a Rat Beast who attacks the "second-highest non-environment target" would be able to hit Ambuscade instead of a hero for 3 damage.  Charge would have dealt too much damage and Strike alone not enough, so he had to play Bloody Knuckles and get to the exact "sweet spot", resulting in at least as much damage to Ambuscade as if he'd attacked all-out, but protecting the hero team by putting himself at risk.  It was very Zen.)

I wasn't 100% sure how you wanted the data inputted - I guess it's just "enter the difficulty number (listed in row 3) in the 4th cell under the villain's name (which is actually row 5)"?  So I put a 2 under Ambuscade; if someone else beats him, they would replace it with a 4, and then a 6, and so on?

7

I actually have the spreadsheet count how many entries there are under each name, then multiply that by the difficulty rating. This way people can just post there name down the list.

8

Ah, okay.  Welp, tomorrow I'll see whether I can add Iron Legacy to the list with the aid of my "easy" Environment.  And more games will come, including a "themed" Halloween game on Friday using Nightmist and the Tomb of Anubis.

Question: the Episode 16 Kismet game started before you posted the OP, but is still ongoing.  If it finishes by the deadline, can we count it?  And if so, whose name would it be under?  Should we just put "Forum" since it was a team effort?

9

Sure, it can count, and Fourm would be fine for the name.

10

Well, I managed to win a brutal two-round fight against Iron Legacy - he started with two Galvanised cards, which is not what you want... Chrono-Ranger, Fanatic, Expatriette and Ra pulled it off though (all without ever dealing 5 or more damage in one hit...)

11

That is an impressively fast victory.  Probably close to a record.

12

I wonder if this event would get an official endorsement from GtG...

13

Consider it officially endorsed! Also, in my opinion, count all Advanced modes as giving DOUBLE POINTS!

14

The tiny Christopher in my head now talks like a monster truck rally commercial.

Also, I need to get on this.

15

Thanks Christopher!

Foote has the right idea. If you defeat a villain in Advance Mode, just put your name in twice.

16

Ambuscade on advanced is really the only way to face him. He goes from punching bag to legit villain encounter. There was like 4-5 face-up traps in the deck, 2 Reactive Platings at one point, and a Rocket Launcher that did not want to be destroyed. 

17

Whew!  I think I've done my contribution to the project:  in honor of the holiday, I played advanced games against each of the Infernal Relics villains and managed to win each.  The Ennead in Pike Industrial is *not* to be trifled with!  Eeep!

18

Advanced Ennead in any environment is not to be trifled with.

19

Not trying to argue with Christopher as such, but I definitely don't feel as if all, or even most, villains are twice as hard on Advanced.  +1 on average (+0 for some weak villains, +2 for some especially nasty ones) seems about right to me.  I steamrolled advanced Akash'bhuta the other day for instance; she's not really "harder" so much as just "interesting" that way.  La Capitan's Advanced text barely matters in a lot of games (she destroys extra Ongoings and Equipment at the start of the game, when few of these have been played yet…and then she redirects damage away from her but only after she runs out of stolen cards and then only once per round).  Ambuscade has been mentioned - him on Advanced is definitely not equal in difficulty to The Chairman on regular.  And Gloomweaver Advanced is literally no different pre-flip unless you have a melee or projectile hero (nevermind that Gloomweaver being a 3 is pushing it in the first place; he definitely isn't worth 6 when Ra, Nightmist and O-X beat him up).

Interestingly, while my game in that environment with that villain was admittedly not on Advanced, it proved to be fairly easy.  Legacy loves a Cyclohexane Vat, and things that damage all targets do a nice number on the Ennead, since they're not much tougher than heroes.

20

La Capitain destroys a card at the begining of every villain turn on advanced. Are you arguing that an effect that happens every round "barley matters"?

On her flip side, its the first instance of damage that would be dealt each round. So it happens the first time you try to deal her damage regardless of whether she has cards still under her or not. So you are misplaying that slightly. The wording of "first time" is what gives it priority each round over the effect that removes cards under her.

Also Envisioner, I highly recomend trying Ennead on Advanced. It is certainly one of the hardest Advanced mode fights avaliable in the game.