Termi-nation Unity bot-playing problem?

Games Sentinels of the Multiverse
1

We played our first game of SotM in a long time tonight and our resident Unity-lover went for Termi-nation Unity immediately.  One turn in though, after ruminating over the new inherent power that has no mention of playing bots, she freaked out.  How was this Unity supposed to get bots into play so they could be destroyed and therefore recycled from the trash if she'd lost the ability to destroy an equipment to get out a bot?  Sure, she understood that she had a couple of cards which allowed her to play bots, and she understood that if she managed to discard some bots somehow, they'd be in the trash, but she was horrified by the indirectness of it all.  She wanted to play bots, not hope that she got lucky and indirectly managed to get bots into play.

I had no comfort to give her and she switched back to normal Unity for the rest of the game.  What was this player missing (if anything)?

2

Just seems like an inherent risk of playing that version of the character; just as Freedom Six Absolute Zero and both promos for Legacy play vastly different from their default counterparts.

3

Sounds like it is not the promo card for her!

4

Keep in mind that none of the parts of the power are conditional, so you don't need to destroy a golem to take one from your trash into play, and you don't need to do either of those to draw a card.  This means that at the very least you are drawing two cards per turn, even if you play one, which helps speed you into one of the cards that let you put a golem into play directly or discard a golem to put it into your trash.

5

Here's some numbers I did during playtesting.

Reconfiguration:

Using this promo you obviously have two problems:

  1. Getting your first Golem into play.

  2. Getting Golems into the trash.

You have 5 cards with powers that will help you get Golems into play, both are awesome, as 1 let’s you discard to put one into play, and the other gets you 2 into play.  You have 2 cards (flash forge) that will let you search for those equipment, it will also let you discard a golem and put it right into play that turn with Reconfiguration.  So that is actually 7 cards that will let you get a golem into play turn 1.  (Flash Forge is actually the best card in the deck for this promo)

At 7 target cards your odds of having a card that lets you play a golem are 55% first turn, 71% at 6 cards, and 91% at 11 cards.

Original Unity had 12 cards that would let you get a Golem into play first turn, giving you: 78% first turn, 90% at 6 cards. (not counting other player's equipment)

There are some allies that can work specifically well with this power.

1.  Argent Adept, Inventive Preparation:  can let Unity discard top of her deck.

2.  Captain Cosmic, Augmented Ally:  Discard a Golem to use Reconfigure to put it into play.  This one is awesome.

3.  Chrono-Ranger, "Just doing my Job.":  Let's you discard a Golem.

4.  Guise, Gimmicky Character:  works well for both.

5.  Setback, Cash Out, Fumbling Fool:  Good for both.

6.  Sky-Scraper, Micro Assembler:  Is amazing with this Unity.

7.  Super-Scientific Tachyon, Experiment:  if they don't enter play you still can get a Golem in the trash.

6

It seems like most of the new promos are about this kind of thing; making it harder to get going, but increasing the payoff when you do. Termi-Nation AZ doesn't have a base power to get his own redirection shenanigans going, Santa Guise will have turns of his power doing nothing but setup for a payoff down the line, and you've already covered Termi-Nation Unity. Termi-Nation Bunker is the only one that can start working more-or-less straight away.

7

Termi-Unity is going to be the "slowest" version. F6 Unity is the fastest with the cost coming at the expense of her health pool. Termi-Unity is a lot slower, but consider that due to the nature of her power she is far more insulated against board clears and bot destruction than the other versions are.

I feel that there are real interesting tradeoffs between all 3 versions on Unity.

8

What I like about Termi-Nation Unity is her ability to quickly recover from a bad draw. Getting that extra draw can make a huge difference. 

9

My daughter had a similar reaction. It is actually a really interesting brain development phase. The younger the child the harder it is for them to deal with delayed gratification. Especially when there is a complicated path to that gratification. Instead of her standard Unity selection my daughter opted to try Santa Guise. Still a delayed gratification character, but every turn she could see the piles building with her power and she could still be useful in her play phase. With the new Unity there is just uncertainty about when you will start to be useful which is a little too much for a younger player. 

10

Except with Golem Unity there is always a possibility of a delay in getting bots out.  I see this power being helpful against villains or environments which can cause discards like Citizen Dawn, Gloomweaver, or Ruins of Atlantis.   If massive destruction occurs this Unity can reclaim her bots out of the trash unlike the other versions.   Your best first turn is a Flash Forge with at least one bot in hand which allows you to discard that bot, get Modular Workbench or Construction Pylon, and then with your power use get a bot into play without sacrificing an equipment card or health along with a card draw.  

11

So is it true that if you use her power but don't put a bot in the deck or pull out of the trash you still get to draw an extra card? I would have thought they would start another line to separate effects if that were the case...

12

None of the effects are dependant on the others.  if you don't have a golem to destroy you can still play one and draw a card, if you don't have a golem in your trash you could still destroy Bee-Bot and draw a card, and if you have no Golem in play and none in the trash you can still draw a card.

13

But if you have a golem in play, you do have to destroy it...

14

I'm hoping there is a special sound effect in the video game for this power.  Like the transform sound from Transformers. 

15

I haven't had a chance to play with this yet, but it does seem designed for the long game, which I like -- standard Unity's biggest difficulty isn't so much getting her bots out of her trash, it's that by the late game, you've played and destroyed most of her equipment, so even if you use Robot Reclamation, you might be stuck without a way to get them onto the field.

Termi-Nation Unity, however, means that no matter how rough the Environment or Villain turn gets for her, even if her whole board is wiped, she can always put a bot out and get started again.

16

The effects being independent of each other is really key. I hadn't realized that. Once I explain this to my daughter I am sure she will bring her plushy Mr Chomps to the table again for a Unity game. 

17

After that initial shock once you've dealt your first hand, Termination Unity is like a huge toybox of mechanical destruction. This is likely my favourite Unity, if for no other reason than ensuring that each card I usually don't enjoy as much is put up to the next level. Flash Forge, Volatile Parts, Turret Bot. Good times!

18

With regard to the wording of the power (or, indeed, any power), if the second part of the power was reliant on you having been able to do the first part, there would be the phrasing "If you do..." present. So something like "Destroy a bot. If you do, play a bot from your trash", in which case you would need to have destroyed a golem in order to put out another one. And as there is no use of the word "may" (as far as I'm aware), if you choose to use this power you must do all parts that apply, so you must destroy a golem if any are out, then you must play one from your trash if any are there, and then you must draw a card (unless you've somehow managed to get all of them in-hand/in play, probably unlikely with Unity ;)).

19

There is a may on the card draw.

edit: You can see the wording from the wiki image http://sotm.wdfiles.com/local--files/heroes:unity/termunfr.png

20

TermiNation Bunker is a good example of required destruction to get the other benefits.