Hey guys, Our group has been playing the game for a few weeks now, and we've completed the first three missions with a Party of Jazz, Cadin, Qiang and Rahman. We've had to come to a few decisions on most game nights and resolved to look them up properly later only to then find that there's no clear answer so I'm going to compile some of the interesting ones we've had here in hopes that someone at CB can give more of an insight. Q1) With respect to an enemy rolling a on the green dice what exactly does this cancel out? a) All rolled 's on the attackers dice at that point, preventing rolled 's being spent for switches as well (e.g. impossible to activate 2 Missile Launchers switch) b) All rolled 's on the attackers dice at that point, but still allowing them to be spent for switches (e.g. 2 Missile Launchers can still activate its switch if a [shield] is rolled by the defender) c) Prevents all 's including those generated from switches (e.g. a Pistol activating it's switch to add another to the roll will still be cancelled despite being added after the has theoretically been spent) A1) Consensus seems to be a), no proper answer from the Devs yet but a) is expected Q2) With respect to the placement of seed embryo's: a) What does a seed embryo do if it activates from the initiative deck? It seems to have no attacks, does it flip and shoot? Surprise Attack is confusing on this enemy due to a lack of an 'Attack' action. b) In Mission 3, the Charontid can accrue 15 damage in the middle of a players activation. Where are the seed embryo's placed in this case? Do they immediately detonate as it's a characters activation? Q3) Is the limitation of one purchasable weapon available for each type (e.g. singular SMG in the purchasable equipment deck) by design, or can we have multiples of the same weapon? Q4) Does Berserk 1 (Close Combat Specialist), make you gain 1 aggro each time that you use it, or do you gain 1 maximum aggro for your characters cap, or do you start with 1 aggro every mission? Q5) Can Palbots such as Gaspar be equipped with items before the game begins? (e.g. given a grenade that you held from the previous mission) In Gaspars specific case, can the palbot be given one of Rahman's Medikits? Q6) Does Rahman start every single mission with his 2 starting equipment Medikits or are they discarded forever once used? Is this answer the same for Trisha's starting equipment D-Charge? Q7) How does attacking structures work for both Aggro Generation and Stealth? If I only damage 'The Pit' on my activation do I gain an Aggro Token? If I damage a HMG turret with a CCW on my activation while Alert level is 0, and it survives until the end of the turn does the Alert Level increase? Q8) Does the blind state end or is it meant to last until the model dies or has states removed? A8) Q9) After Mission 3, when new characters join the ship (Rahman and Trisha) are they purely as allies, or are they technically bringing their characters starting equipment with them as well? For example are there now 2 additional pistols, 2 medikits and Trisha's work overalls in the Defiance inventory to select from when equipping characters? Q10) "The Pit" declares that you need to deploy 'Available Units' however in Mission 3 for example there are no units with the "Pit" keyword in the available units deck to deploy from "The Pit". Is this meant to instead say "Aligned Units Deck". If a unit deployed by "The Pit" dies, does it go into the Available Units Deck or does it return to the Aligned Units Deck to be spawned in again by The Pit? Q11) In what order should Minotaur Engine tokens be added to the Defiance Engine Track? Rulebook says that they are in numerical order, but there's no numerals anywhere near the Defiance Engine Track. A11) Q12) Cadmus Morphoscan, when does this activate? On the Cadmus' Activation or on a Character Activation? As a side note, I've been developing a program to do the calculations on what weapon combinations on certain characters will do the most average damage and I can provide their spread as well. This can encompass rerolls, switches and special character rules as well. If you have a burning question about what items are worth your expenditure of intel packs, just let me know. Current Hot Picks: SMG Heavy Pistol 2 Missile Launchers Armor with Contender Reinforced Armor Assault Helmet Hacking Device Plus If anyone has any interesting builds that they can share for Trisha, I'd love to see them, below are what I think are two really solid ways of building most characters, combining them in a party will generally allow a bit more flexibility though: Uma Sorensen (Author's note: If you got max Intel Packs on mission 1, prioritise getting the mission 2 Gwailo kill onto Uma, going into mission 3 with the Heavy Pistol is a huge boon) Silent Assassin: Equipment - Heavy Pistol (7), Silenced Pistol (5), MSV2 (5), Winterfor Cloak (4) Skills - Light Weapons 1, Dual Weapons 1, Camo 1, Dual Weapons 2, Camo 2-3, Dual Weapons 3-4 Skill Synergy - Cut line of sight to activate camo, activate free move, single tap separate opponents every turn. You can theoretically Move and shoot 3 times most turns with this build. Character Synergy - This class is self sufficient and doesn't get many additional bonuses from being focused or targeting enemies. Perfect for stealth scenarios, she can reliably pop 2 enemies each turn silently. High Cal SMG: Equipment - SMG (9), Heavy Pistol (7), Assault Helmet (6), Medium Armor (5) Skills - Light Weapons 1, Dual Weapons 1-2, Light Weapons 2, Dual Weapons 3, Light Weapons 3, Dual Weapons 4, Light Weapons 4 Skill Synergy - Store overkill from your damage on the skills to ensure you keep overkilling your enemies Character Synergy - This class is good on it's own, but the more buffed it gets the better at bringing down hard targets it becomes, add focus and targeted for even more damage Qiang Gao HMG Surgeon: Equipment - HMG (7), Armor with Contender (5), Deflector (4), Mobility Enhancer (3)/Repeater(2) Skills - Heavy Weapons 1, Leadership 1, Heavy Weapons 2, Leadership 2, Heavy Weapons 3, Leadership 3, HI Combat 1-2 Skill Synergy - Upgrading the Orange to Red and adding Armor with Contender helps to turn shields into damage on the attack to reduce overspending on shields Character Synergy - This class is good on it's own, but the more buffed it gets the better at bringing down hard targets it becomes, add focus and targeted for even more damage Missile Launcher Lieutenant: Equipment - 2 Missile Launchers (5), Reinforced Armor (9), Deflector (4), Mobility Enhancer (3)/Repeater(2) Skills - Heavy Weapons 1, Leadership 1, HI Combat 1, Versatile, Leadership 2-4, Heavy Weapons 2 Skill Synergy - You are a movement buffing platform for other characters and a splash damage and state dealer, utilise the shangxiao switch to move people out of the way of your missiles, target enemies to really ensure the missile goes off Character Synergy - This class is self sufficient and but get's more consistent at detonating missiles with buffs, combo's well with any class that needs to reposition often Jazmin "Jazz" UberHacker: Equipment - Hacking Device Plus (9), Contender (1), Work Overall (2) Hacking Programs - Skullbuster+ (5), Carbonite (3), Cat Burglar (3), Static Dome (7), Spotlight, Geist Aid, Owned Skills - Hacker 1, Controller 1, Billie (Spotter), Hacker 2, Versatile, Hacker 3-4, Controller 2, Billie (Deflector),Controller 3, Billie (ODD Field) Skill Synergy - Position well to cover team with a variety of bonuses, hack consoles, loot crates and use geist aid when not able to hack a huge target. Character Synergy - This build synergises well with any characters that benefit from focus, and heavily hackable teams Area Denial: Equipment - Hacking Device Plus (9), Chain Rifle (4)/Light Flamethrower (4), Work Overall (2) Hacking Programs - Skullbuster, Icy Touch (5), Cat Burglar (3), Geist Aid, Picklock, Vulnerable (3), Owned Skills - Hacker 1, Controller 1, Billie (Nullifier), Hacker 2, Versatile, Basic Combat (Aim), Basic Combat (Potent Leap), Hacker 3-4 Skill Synergy - Use Chain Rifle or Light Flamethrower to charge up !'s to pump into a nearly guaranteed Blinding and Immobilizing Hacking attack, this ruins hackable boss enemies, aggressively use Billie to shut down enemy hackers Character Synergy - This build synergises with other AoE builds to help with crowd control while also providing consistent powerful neutering of enemy hard targets Cadin "First Strike" Two Hander: Equipment - Claymore (9), Teseum Helmet (7), Martial Artists Armor (5), Nanoscreen (6) Skills - CC Weapons 1, Berserk 1, CC Weapons 2, Berserk 2, CC Weapons 3, Mobility 1, CC Weapons 4, Mobility 2 Skill Synergy - Control of adjacency to enemies is very powerful, Mobility 2 let's you proc Berserker Charge every turn, you should also be using this to proc Open defence often, practically becoming an ARO piece Character Synergy - Works wonders with other AoE focused characters, unfortunately doesn't synergise well with programmatic buffs from Jazz. Awful at stealth though Stop Axing Questions: Equipment - Axe (8)/Long Yuan(10), Teseum Helmet (7), Martial Artists Armor (5), Nanoscreen (6) Skills - CC Weapons 1, Mobility 1-2, CC Weapons 2, Berserk 1, Versatile, CC Weapons 3-4 Skill Synergy - utilise early free movement to attack hard and often with good guaranteed damage, from the first real stealth mission (Mission 5) you can move 10 and hit someone for 3* + OB, if that's not enough, on their activation, you can then hit them with CCW 2 Character Synergy - Works great with other stealth characters, less versatile than Two Hander, but is a very different play experience Rahman Rouhani Dr Wick: Equipment - Assault Helmet (6), SMG (9), Work Overall (2) Skills - Basic Combat (Aim), Medicine 1, Medicine 2, BioTec Combat 1-2, Versatile, Medicine 3-4 Skill Synergy - The best defence is a good offence, stun and immobilize enemies while dealing solid damage. Killing is your priority, but heal allies when it is most advantageous. Character Synergy - Useful in all Situations, but can really shine with an Uberhacker Jazz Combat Medic: Equipment - AP Rifle (5), MSV2 (5), Work Overall (2) Skills - Medicine 1, BioTec Combat 1, Medicine 2, BioTec Combat 2, Versatile, Medicine 3-4 , Basic Combat (Aim) Skill Synergy - Keep states on enemies with consistent (albeit low) damage, make use of Gaspar to do side objectives and focus + buff allies in late game Character Synergy - Useful in all Situations, but I don't know if I'd consider this a particularly strong build compared to the above Trishala "Trish" N33 Hacker Replacement: Equipment - AP Rifle (5), Reinforced Helmet (4), D-Charge (2) Skills - Loot 1, Engineer 1 (Spotter), Loot 2, Engineer 2, Loot 3, Aleph 1, Loot 4, Versatile (ODD Field) Skill Synergy - Remove the need for a hacker by bringing explosives and looting everything, allows for fast ship upgrades. Later game scaling seems item dependant however. Character Synergy - This build would work best in a party dedicating themselves to being unhackable, Uma, Cadin, Rahman and Trish. Amazonian: Equipment - Longyuan (10), Heavy Pistol (7), Assault Helmet (6), D-Charge (2) Skills - Loot 1, Aleph 1, Loot 2, Aleph 2, Loot 3, Aleph 3-4, Loot 4 Skill Synergy - In a single turn you can Attack 3 times, Move 4 spaces and Open a Container, AoE comes from looted Grenades, though the pulls are going to be somewhat random Character Synergy - ??? Edited to add new questions to the top
Thanks for gathering the questions and also the build ideas. Quick question: I thought Valkyrie is an NPC character??
Unless the wording had changed from the pdf to the printed rules the answer to Q1 is a. It cancels all rolled hit results, a cancelled result can't be used for anything including switches. It does not cancel any hit gained from switches after that (switching is done after canceling).
Obviously, these are just my thoughts but this is how I have been playing these questions. I am also playing solo, so I don't have anybody to sound off of. Question 1) I am going to play it as "a." I read the resolution as a series of steps and will complete each step in order. Question 2) a)I think that this is likely a rare situation. When told to deploy it, I have been putting the card in the deck at that point. When the card is pulled, I then deploy following the rules for surprise attack. From this point, I have not encountered it remaining on the table as an embryo until its initiative is pulled again. I have either shot it to flip form range or triggered it before. b) I placed them in response to the current activation. My thought was then, if the character continues to act, they activate. So, in my case it was Qiang Gao's first action. So he continued his action and the seed embryos exploded. If it had been the resolution of his second action, I would not have exploded them. Question 3) I don't want to keep track of where it is supposed to be or who has equipment, so I am going to just use it as a limit. Question 4) I have been gaining one aggro each time I use it. Since they kept the phrasing short, "gain 1 aggro" I followed the pattern of everywhere else they say to gain aggro. I would think they would say something like increase aggro if they meant to raise the cap. But I could see an argument for it. Question 5) I vote yes. It says that remotes can use equipment and have the slots for them and that they count as characters except for specific situations. Nothing super clear to go on, but I assumed yes. Question 6) I think they crossed something with disposable equipment. Somebody else brought up that Disposable and Discard are either redundant or punishing. I think I will allow them to be used once per scenario and reloaded every scenario. Question 7) I have been counting the structures as enemies for all intents and purposes. So if a character damages the Pit, I get an aggro, all target/specialties apply, etc. I have not looked at the HMG, but I would treat it like an enemy. Question 8) Answered by Devs above.
Thanks for your responses, I'm not sure I agree with you on all points, but most definitely make sense. I'd love to hear a response from one of the games developers though. Q9) After Mission 3, when new characters join the ship (Rahman and Trisha) are they purely as allies, or are they technically bringing their characters starting equipment with them as well? For example are there now 2 additional pistols, 2 medikits and Trisha's work overalls in the Defiance inventory to select from when equipping characters? Q10) "The Pit" declares that you need to deploy 'Available Units' however in Mission 3 for example there are no units with the "Pit" keyword in the available units deck to deploy from "The Pit". Is this meant to instead say "Aligned Units Deck". If a unit deployed by "The Pit" dies, does it go into the Available Units Deck or does it return to the Aligned Units Deck to be spawned in again by The Pit?
I'd be interested in where you don't agree. I've been playing solo, so there is a definite likelihood I have misinterpreted something. Q9) I think it depends on how you are playing. If you are taking them as options for characters (optional rule in the back), then you get the equipment. I think if you are just running your 4 characters through the whole campaign, then they are just allies. The "Cannot trade equipment with your name" rule may come up. It seems like a useless rule (since it only applies to Cadin's rippers), but I wonder if it was going to apply to all starting equipment. Q10) I played the Pit as it deployed the Taigha's that were in the mission and kept deploying them every round if they weren't deployed. I didn't pay too close attention to Aligned Unit Deck, Available Unit Deck, etc.
As for what I disagree with: In relation to Q2) a), I don't think that Seed Soldiers getting to the activate is a particularly rare situation, it's happened to us 100% of the time in every mission it can happen, we've managed to trigger them at the end of (or during) our last activation. In relation to Q2) b), That's exactly what we did, but it feels like it shouldn't have worked that way. Perhaps the Charontid rule should have said something like "At the end of the activation that brings the Charontid to 15 or more damage:" In relation to Q4) I feel that if Berserk 1 makes you gain 1 Aggro each time that you use it, why is it not worded like the rest? Most are worded like: "On some trigger you may gain 1 Aggro to do something." (ala Light Weapons 4, Camo 4, Heavy Weapons 4, HI Combat 2, Hacker 3, CC Weapons 2). However there exists other skills that are similar (Most of the Leadership Tree), however those have clear activations (Rotating the Card). I'm wondering if in errata whether it should be changed to "Gain 1 Maximum Aggro Capacity" or "When an adjacent Enemy Attacks you, you may gain 1 Aggro to use the modified Attack Roll of a CC Weapon you are equipped with instead of your Defence Roll." The others all pretty much make sense, but I'd love a Developer Response.
Thanks. For Q4, After your question, I started looking closer at it and the difference in wording/formating is definitely confusing. I have no idea what to make of it. For Q2a) In mission 3, the seed soldiers are added at the beginning of turn 2(?). So, at that point, I put their initiative card in the stack but did not put the model on the table. Then, when the card was pulled, I put them on the table, by the last activated character, and nothing else. So, they would have to sit on the table for the rest of that round without being attacked or exploding and at least one character activation the next round. This hasn't happened for me. I could be doing something off though. When they have shown up, I make targeting them a priority and try to get Uma or Qiang to get them to flip as fast as possible.
Q11) In what order should Minotaur Engine tokens be added to the Defiance Engine Track? Rulebook says that they are in numerical order, but there's no numerals anywhere near the Defiance Engine Track. Q12) Cadmus Morphoscan, when does this activate? On the Cadmus' Activation or on a Character Activation?
The images I can find (the one in the book where the far left is covered, and the one during the kickstarter where the top row is covered but shows a different star pattern), it's hard to tell for sure. I think it makes slightly more sense to go with a left-to-right W pattern (3-2-2-[*]*-3) rather than 3-2-3-2-[*]* for the coverage pattern. I will note that the example in the book for the jump roll has 6 * and 1 [*], which would be for two covered engine tiles (instead of the one covered tile in the diagram), and implies that the [*] symbol isn't spent to cancel any Block results or converted into **. So I'm sort of confused why it's a [*] at all.... Going off of the war-game, it should be the Cadmus's activation.
https://forum.corvusbelli.com/threads/numerical-order-of-minotaur-engine-tokens.39082/#post-388778 —> Q11 about the engine solved
