Useless Observations

General GTG General Discussion
1

I don't rightly know where to post this, so I'll just start with the General Forums and a mod can move it if need be.

 

Anywho, having played Sentinels for a long while and thought about it a lot, I just want to throw out a few tweaks and observations about some of the characters and hear what the community thinks.

 

Ex-Patriette

Basically, Ex-Patriette has such a large deck that it takes a long time to get her going. And even when she does get going, she's not always as effective as she could be. Our group came up with a house rule: if you don't use a Power or play a Card on your turn, draw an extra card at the end of your turn (2 draws total). That way you can shuttle her deck a little quicker to get good stuff out there and be more effective/useful quicker. We house ruled this same effect for Unity and Mr. Fixer, because those are characters in serious need of accelerated card draw to make them work better.

Having thought about it, I made a list of a couple suggestions for new Powers, rules of thumb, and Cards for Ex-Patriette that could make her a beast in any game:

[Ex-Patriette]

Basic Powers:
    Power 1: Play a Card.
    Power 2: Draw a Card.

Cards:
    * Reduce all Weapon Cards (Tac' Shotgun, SMG, AR, Pride, Prejudice) to only one Copy (already true for Pride and Prejudice).
    * Change all Weapon Cards to type "Equipment, Weapon"
    [2] "Call to Arms" (ONE-SHOT) Search the Trash or Hero Deck for any one Card with the Weapon keyword and put it into play immediately. If you searched the Hero Deck, reshuffle it.
    [1] "Gas Thrower" (EQUIPMENT, WEAPON) The Gas Thrower does nothing unless an Ammo Canister is played with it. Only Ammo cards with the Canister keyword may be played next to the Gas Thrower.
    [1] "Napalm" (EQUIPMENT, AMMO, CANISTER) Play only next to the Gas Thrower. Power: Ex-Patriette deals all non-Hero Targets 2 Fire Damage.
    [1] "Liquid Nitro" (EQUIPMENT, AMMO, CANISTER) Play only next to the Gas Thrower. Power: Ex-Patriette destroys any one Villain Ongoing or Equipment Card.
    [1] "Tear Gas" (EQUIPMENT, AMMO, CANISTER) Play only next to the Gas Thrower. Power: Ex-Patriette deals one non-Hero Target 1 irreducible Toxic Damage. That Target may not deal Damage until the start of Ex-Patriette's next Turn.
    [1] "Nitrite Gas" (EQUIPMENT, AMMO, CANISTER) Play only next to the Gas Thrower. Power: Ex-Patriette deals all non-Hero Targets 2 Toxic Damage.
    [1] "Ol' Painless" (EQUIPMENT, WEAPON) Ol' Painless cannot have Ammo cards played next to it. At the beginning of Ex-Patriette's Turn, you may place up to 3 Cards under this Card. Power: Destroy this Card and all Cards beneath it. Ex-Patriette deals all non-Hero Targets X Damage, where X = the number of Cards Destroyed this way multiplied by 2.
    [2] "Tactical Planning" (ONGOING, LIMITED) Ex-Patriette draws one extra Card per Turn.
...Where "Ol' Painless" is a minigun like what Ventura used in Predator, or Ahnuld in T2. Ex-Patriette just generally suffers from having a lot of Cards that do damage, but not any Cards that do Humongous Damage, or that can spin up to generate Humongous Damage, aside from Unload. Honestly, though, the most useful tweak we made to Ex-Patriette was to add the extra draws house rule, which speeds up her deck tremendously.

Mr. Fixer

Like Ex-Patriette, Mr. Fixer suffers from having too many Cards and taking too long to get to them.

[Mr. Fixxer]

Basic Powers:
    Power 2: Draw a Card.

Cards:
    * Reduce all Style Cards to only one Copy.
    [2] "Meditation is Key" (ONGOING, LIMITED) Mr. Fixxer draws one extra Card per Turn.
I don't remember his deck that well, so I don't know if he already has a Style or card that can accelerate his card draw naturally.

Bunker and Fanatic

They're both good, but they don't generally generate enough damage quickly enough to be particularly useful in most fights. Hence:

[Bunker]

* Bunker could stand to have some minor upwards Damage adjustments made to his Cards.

[Fanatic]

* Fanatic could stand to have some minor upwards Damage adjustments made to her Cards. Possibly even a new Weapon with a heavier Damage rating.
I could imagine a specific Sword or Chakram or Staff that could deal one Target 3 or 4 Damage from Fanatic that'd make her more useful in a brawl. There are times she just feels too finesse.

 

…And that's all I got for now. Flame away, folks, I'm wearing a vest made of firecrackers. :blush:

2

You already can draw an extra card if you don't use a power or play a card. That is in the existing rules. 

3

Also worth mentioning that all heroes' decks are the same size-- the newer ones just have thicker cards.

Be that as it may, I'm not one to pass up an opportunity to discuss different ways to modify decks. It's fun to experiment!

I've tried some stuff out with Mister Fixer and Expatriette, too. I'm pretty much happy with the heroes as-is, but like I said, this is fun.

Mister Fixer

Came up with this idea after reading other threads here and on the Rook City Playtest area. Some people felt like he needed more of a build-up, like maybe storing Chi energy and unleashing it later. If you modify Overdrive, you get something kinda neat:

"Overdrive"(Ongoing, Chi) "POWER: Use Mister Fixer's "Strike" power X times this turn, where X = the number of Chi cards in play plus 1. Then, destroy this card."

Mechanically it would do the same thing as before, but now multiple copies can be saved up for a series of "Flurry of Blows" strikes. I tried a game like this and it worked pretty nicely, though I didn't get to chain Overdrives together like I planned.

Expatriette

I just wanted Incendiary rounds to be more interesting than an elaborate way to deal 1 extra damage. We already have Hollow Points for extra damage; Incendiary Rounds should have their own unique thing to offer.

"Incendiary Rounds"(Equipment, Ammo) "Play next to a gun card. After that card's power is used to damage a target, destroy this card. The next time that target deals damage, it deals itself that much fire damage."

This was a lot more fun to use. Now we have a card that uses an enemy's own attack against it! This was useful against the Plummeting Monorail, because after we reduced it to 5HP, it simply dealt 5 damage to the villain, then 5 damage to itself, and burned up before it could hit one of us.

4

That Expat mod is sweet!  Cool idea for a mechanic. 

5

I keep reading that Mister Fixer is too weak, but in my games, he's repeatedly been a life saver. In fact, he was largely responsible for a recent victory over Apostate because he made the Relics vulnerable (by making the damage to them irreduceable) and joining Tachyon in essentially disabling Apostate for three or four rounds (his contribution being the Grease Gun) while Fanatic just WHALED on him.

6

I think a lot of it has to do with the sorts of playstyles someone finds appealing. I've always thought of Mister Fixer as the contingency plan specialist; he adapts to situations and gets around obstacles the others can't. He really is both a fighter and a handyman.

7

I am thrilled to see that there are people who get and enjoy Mr. Fixer. I know he gets a lot of flak, but he does perform as intended, and I always enjoy playing him. 

8

I’ve also noticed Mr fixer getting some love in the statistics. more people seem to be playing him and perhaps more people are getting the hang of him - he had gone up a couple of points in the last update. He is certainly a unique hero that requires a different sort of mindset to how to use him.

9

I don't mind playing Mr Fixer - he only needs three cards to complete his basic setup, the Grease Gun is very useful, and stuff like the Toolbox and Salvage Yard are pretty useful in various situations. I think whenever I'm considering playing Mr Fixer, the main reason that usually persuades me to play someone else is his lack of Ongoing/Environment destruction, in games where the rest of the team lacks it as well. Then I'll go for the Adept or someone who can destroy both :).

10

I agree, Fixer has always been very strong in my group but I do conceed that he can be a bit boring to play.  As someone in a different thread said once you get your favorite weapon and stance you just kind of stand there and never change them.  I really like the idea someone had about making his stances return to hand in the same way that his tools do and givng him +1 damage until the start of his next turn any time he changes stance or tool.  That and the overdrive change suggested here might give him more moving pieces to make him more interesting to play, which in my opinion he needs more than a power boost.

11

Depending on how you play him he might only need one card.  If I hit mantis early I know I will be strong.  Add a tool and you are in very good shape.  I VERY RARELY seem to get a harmony to add in but thats ok.  Honestly if you are playing villians that can destroy your setup NEEDING 3 cards is too much.  Maybe its bad luck, but I've mostly given up on three card combos because I never get all three early enough to matter.  I try for 1-2 and then if I hit a 3rd card to make even more awesome I smile and work it in.  If you NEED 1-2 but can be even stronger with 3+ thats cool, just remember you don't NEED 3.  Of course some heros and gear are immune to this due to having excellent search or draw (any of Wraith's gear and Ra's staff come to mind).

12

Yeah, I hardly ever get Harmony either. And sometimes the only tools and styles I get are the ones that aren't particularly useful against whichever villain I happen to be fighting at the time. Maybe "need" was the wrong word to use. I meant more that he only really has three cards that complete his "I've got all the good stuff in play now" setup, as opposed to someone like Ra or Legacy who has a whole load of cool cards - not all are needed, of course, but it takes a while before such heroes can say "Right, that's all my stuff out now…I might as well just play some one-shots".

Of course, if you're playing against Dawn or one of those other bastards who can destroy your stuff (or that bloody horrible Devious Disruption card in Blade's deck, grrrr), you probably don't want to have got a whole load of cards out. But still…

13

I sometimes find it relaxing to play Mr. Fixer. Settle into a stance and enjoy working with the team rather than focusing mostly on my own play.

14

I always use Spiff's randomizer in play, and I get a little giggly with Fixer comes up...in a four man squad he has repeatedly proved invaluable to me.

15

 

That might be the thing, then. I'm playing a LOT of solo right now…so I'm running all the heroes. So I'm not worried about "my turn" being "boring", I'm worried about Fixer taking care of business. I admit that I haven't used him in a multiplayer game yet in which that might be an issue.

16

I think this is a big issue when discussing certain characters or even playing certain villains.  I'm quite happy that you understand that solo play is vastly different than playing with a team.  If three of your five heroes you're playing are successful and two are repeatedly subjected to card destruction, discard, and damage, you will have a different perspective than the two players who were continuously denied the opportunity to be heroic in a five player game.  It is quite frustrating when someone cites having a good experience with a character in a solo game when other players have repeatedly had team games where they felt they didn't contribute anything with them.