A.P.P.A. Lecture Series

Bio Hazard Zone, Offsite Conference
and the Sim Lord

by Ishtar™ DL

1. Bio Hazard Zone

Nowadays in Chron X™, as Anthony just said in his Construction Yard article, there are mainly 4 types of decks that dominate the competitive arena. Big stupid military, War Crimes, Disarmament Talks, and Speed. Bio Hazard Zone (a structure that must be played on your HQ, assets attacking your HQ cannot be blocked, kills all attacking assets who aren't immune to viruses at end of attack, start of your turn 2 damage dealt to all friendly bases) has the potential to stop all 4. Here's how.

The Deck - the deck must not only be able to kill enemy assets(mainly through Bio Hazard Zone) but also repair your headquarters and deny game breaking cards from the opponent. As for the repairing your HQ bit, use cards such as UN Corp of Engineers and Reconstructive Nanoprobes for long-term repair, as well as Construction Yards. Use Blinder Cannons as your main defense, reduce attackers firepower and then repair next turn. Ferro-concrete walls can also work well, to prolong your HQs lifespan. As for denial, nothing does that better than Holic Intuitive. Depending on what type of deck they're playing use her special on different things(outlined below). Lastly, try to stay away from using bases in this deck, instead use cards that produce resources, such as contracts and resource generating assets. Lastly, you need a way to take away enemy mechs since they're immune to viruses. Remember though, most mech decks use EM Scrambler or EMP Strike to remove programs, so rather use Ion Cannons to tap their mobile mechs every turn. You'll have plenty of resources due to Tobi Wongs. Lastly, have a way to win. This means asset generation, Aaron Kofler or Sim Lord is your best bet.

Fighting Big Military - against a very fast big military deck you might have trouble. But if they get only a decent or poor draw, you should be set. Use the Holic Intuitives to stop Napalm Strikes and Utopia Strike Forces. Utopia Gunships are stopped with your Ion Cannons or Luddite Revenge 3.0 or 2.0.

Fighting War Crimes - this deck is a bit easier to fight. Holic Intuitives need to be played against UN War Crimes Tribunal. That way they have no asset removal. A second one can be used on EMP Strike/EM Scrambler if you use programs to stop mechs. Once you have those cards in play, the War Crimes deck is done.

Fighting Disarmament Talk - this is also somewhat easy. The D-Talks won't hurt too much, just tap your UN Corp of Engineers. If you really want, just use Holic Intuitive to stop them from using it. The only good thing is that assets in this deck do less damage than in other decks. Only asset to be really scared of is Tantric Disruptor, at least until you empty your hand.

Fighting Speed - one thing to remember about this... get defense out early! Stop his early attacks, then use Bio Hazard Zone once you're ready. Use the Intuitive on any assets you see him use a lot. Playing against speed requires you to move as fast as possible.

2. Offsite Conference

While Bio Hazard Zone has a fairly easy time countering todays top decks, you need to work to play with Offsite Conference. Hopefully this article will help anyone who wants to play with this easily abused card.

The Advantages - You might think, 7 cards, that really sucks for the disadvantages involved. But think of it this way... with a little bit of help, you can draw most of your deck with one card, in two turns time. 4 Datastores means that, instead of drawing a measly 7 cards, you draw 15! Throw in Code Vault, and now programs don't count towards your maximum hand size. Mobile Base Construction, and bases don't count either.

The Disadvantages - now, to draw all those cards, you must skip your next turn. This gives your opponent two turns to kill you. How to stop this? Try using cards to stop programs, base deployment, etc... so that they have very little to do.

Finishing Them Off - now that you drew all these cards, you should be able to finish off your opponent. This works best with decks with unstoppable kill combos, which can be drawn just by playing Offsite Conference.

3. Sim Lord

There are currently many ways to generate lots of assets. Aaron Kofler gives you one of five different NoNames assets for 4 covert, and they can't attack or block unless a friendly Kofler is in the same city. Antonio Fuego gives you a Los Ladrones Biker for 3 military, and can only be brought into play if you have a Biker in the city. Womb Array gives you, every 3 turns, an Anceph Warrior (for 4 cyberops) or an Anceph Drone (for 2 cyberops). Sim Lord, on the other hand, gives you a Sim Lord every turn if the opponent has 5 or fewer cards in hand AND gives them all +1 max hit points and firepower. Obviously, Sim Lord is the most efficient way to mass produce assets.

Sim Lord - Sim Lord, costing 5 cyberops to deploy, is by itself a mediocre asset. But once your opponent has fewer than 5 cards in hand, he becomes an excellent asset. Each turn he produces an untapped Worker Sim in the same city, up to a maximum of 8. He also provides +1 max hit points and +1 firepower for each.

The Worker Sims - to start with Worker Sims are pathetic. Sim Lords boost them somewhat. But for full effect use other cards to boost them, such as Gaean Trainer. As soon as they come out, tap the Trainer and give them +2 more hit points, and +2 firepower. Suddenly those Worker Sims become beefy. You can also use them with Tomb of the 9th Master and Mountain Monastery, to make them unblockable by non-mechanical assets. Mountain Monastery also boosts their armor quite a bit.

Making the Sims come out to play - this is fairly easy in a deck that isn't all monastery, just run Datasqueeze. Then you get a Worker Sim every turn. As for an all monastery deck, good luck. Another advantage to using the Datasqueeze is that you can use Turem Centers and get resources easier. Throw in Grom Scribe to keep your hand filled and you're all set.

Abusing the Sims - As with all asset generators, Sim Lord can be easily abused. First of all you can use it with Birth Cry and Sentience. Birth Cry them, then Sentience them, and get a replacement next turn. Another option is Xing Master, just keep bouncing Worker Sims to your hand until you have 8 in hand, and 8 in play. Then swarm your opponent. Next, play with them in Pacifica. Use the Worker Sims as fodder for ES3, and draw lots of cards due to them. Just remember to have your Sim Lord 2 cities from ES3, then move the Workers into TDEP, so the Sim Lords won't die. Furthermore, use it with Cult of the Purification. Just have the Workers join the Cult, and provide you with those nice little Purifying Horrors.

Closing - overall, Sim Lord is a very powerful card that can fit into most monastery decks and some non-monastery decks. They allow for lots of defense, or lots of offense.


Last updated on 01/14/2008 by Crash