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'Nanodyne Outfitter combos' by Ian Schreiber 02/26/99 Escrowed Core Keys Potential combo: Birth Cry + Core Keys + Nanodyne. BC an asset, then Keys/Nanodyne to clear away the Lobotomy. Cheaper than an infinite-asset generator for BC, although once you get to the Sentience level (if you do) this doesn't help. Flaked Micro-Explosive Reusable big damage? Not bad. Multiple Outfitters could re-use this for multiple attacks in the same turn, I'm thinking maybe a pair of Field Tech Troopers, a pair of Outfitters, a Flaked and a mech with a cheap attack cost :) Media Frenzy Frenzy + Outfitter lets you tap an enemy HQ defender every turn. Reminds me of the old Portable Launcher / Sprawl Thief combo :) Restraining Goo Infinite Goo? Can't really complain about that one, can we?
'Offsite Conference to the max' by Birdwatcher 02/26/99 Code Vault and Mobile Base Construction. In the beta, playing a code vault and Mobile Base Construction deck with many bases and programs, I managed to draw 22 cards with a single Offsite before I reached my cap (no datastore). Of course, the larger the deck the more you may have to wait for Offsite itself, which is why it's not all that useful as a part of a fat deck (compared to quick-draw programs which can be drawn early).
'Restrictor Plate and Dresdner Bot' by Varchild 02/26/99 This is an item so it can be played on mechs, right? In that case you could deploy Dresdner Security bot and set the restrictor Plate on it, thus preventing opponent from tapping it.... Hmm now THATS a deck idea for speed america. Dodger: You may also want test this with Veteran Mercenary :)
'Power Play problems' by Fletch and Genghis 02/26/99 Fletch: Power Play in Pacifica: Two words, don't try it. Turns out that you even have to have a base in ES3, a patent impossibility. Genghis: And unless you're playing Mobile, you're out of luck if you're counting on Power Play to beat a Hive HQ.
'UN Trooper loops' by Gilmoy and Genghis 02/25/99 Gilmoy Faffle: Silly deck idea: I used to do this with Warrior Hunomes. But then the AI gets all those free Troopers. GenghisX: Death Mist the first UN Trooper. If you're out for a lot of fun, pack a UN Recruiting Center and Mindslaver. Your opponent won't get any benefit from the troopers unless he has some method of body bank manipulation, and your Mindslaver will have tons of counters in a few turns.
'EMP Strike and dead assets' by Pudgimelon 02/23/99 Hey here's a little gem of info not everyone may be aware of: EMP Strike does not tap dead mechs! "So what?", you say? Well, let's say I have a Bion Cell Drone sitting around defending a base I just dropped at your HQ. You attack with some meaties, confident that your pillox and Bion Guardian will spank my BCD counter-attack. I block with the BCD, it dies. Then on my turn, I EMP Strike FIRST, THEN I regen the BCD and attack you for eight. You say ouch, that hurt. And you start thinking about ways you can abuse this aspect of EMP Strike.
'Adrenaline Overload' by Ian Schreiber 02/12/99 Adrenaline Overload only kills the target if it's untapped. For some reason I thought of this like Banzai Cocktail where it killed if the asset didn't attack, but I was wrong. So the asset it's on can tap to move, search, use a special ability, etc. and it'll still survive (although it won't get stronger unless it attacks). Stupid Adrenaline Overload Tricks: 1) Concussion Grenade your own asset so it stays alive for a few turns without you paying for a move or search. 2) Put on a base-killer asset and move it around, until it's eventually so big it could take down a Prefab in one turn. 3) Play it on an enemy Viral Vines =)
'Black Army Post and Pack Crusher' by Ian Schreiber 02/12/99 Black Army Command Post: okay, so when you use its special ability, it actually gives an Enhancement card to all friendly non-mech Nonames in the city (the enhancement gives its target First Strike and leaves at end of turn). Now, The Pack Crusher bounces to your hand if it has any enhancements at end of turn... because of "first played first paid" that means that yes, you can use BACP as a reusable, sometimes free Deportation on your Rippers :) Dodger: Note that this also works with Dr.Rush. The addict enhancement makes the Crusher bounce at the start of the next turn (and since the crusher got played first you should not have to pay the upkeep for the addict thing :).
'Build Site' by Ian Schreiber 02/04/99 "This card breaks the game it's so good" Reason: put 3 in a deck. ANY deck (except some odd one-resource decks). First three turns, put them into play. On turn 4 you can sack the first to get resources of the exact type you want, ditto for turns 5 and 6. In the mean time... how many resources do you get from the first 3 turns? A total of 3/3/3, nine resources. Compare to just playing a Common Base on each of the first three turns, which gets you a total of merely six resources. And Build Site is guaranteed in your hand in the right proportions every game, while common bases aren't. And Build Site allows you to go lighter on bases in a speed deck, giving you a better average draw overall. And Build Site is top-deck so you can play it with any domain-HQ (which, aside from other things, means you can use it to get all 3 resources even if you use a "mono" HQ). And Build Site has the same HP as a common base. In short, Build Site is pretty much superior to a common base, *especially* in the early game. So not only is it a speed card, but it's an overpowered one.
'Jessica Silivir' by Genghis 02/02/99 Her (being) napalm proof is a major advantage. You're also protected from Shackles, Goo, Restraining Order, Hypnotic Worm, and any number of annoying enemy enhancements. Oh yeah, try dropping a Dirigible in the city with her before attacking. Perception 5 means there are exactly 11 different assets (only 5 of which I consider good enough to be included in a variety of decks) that can naturally block her: Of these, only 1 will kill Jessica in one block. 3 will die to her after blocking once, 4 will die to her after blocking her twice. In three turns, Jessica and Kaikei will kill each other. Tommy and Jaqueline can each kill Jessica in two blocks. Also consider that 7 of these possible defenders die to a Napalm Strike, and the others are all are reduced in HP so that they can only block Jessica one time before dying. The other major card that gives Jessica a boost is Kantor. When Jessica has the perception boost from him, the number of assets that block Jessica is a whopping total of 6. Only one of these is worth playing in a non-specialized deck (Raul). 4 of the 6 are killed by a single Napalm Strike, and the other two left to die to Jessica in one attack. Overall, I have to give the advantage to Jessica. She just kicks butt when played right, and both cards that are capable of boosting her perception quickly are good for other purposes. Dirigible provides military for the Napalm to clear some of the potential blockers, and Kantor is capable of running Taikun Raid Algorithms to boost Jessica's FP.
'12 Enhancements' by Anthony Shubert 01/29/99 Enhancements are only shown for the last 12 played on a card. So if you play 11 things on Sophie, and it's tokens are there too, you're ok. After that, you won't be able to see them (but they should still be there and still counted.)
'Cheap Pillboxes' by Gilmoy Faffle 01/22/99 Hmm, how about a list of 2-card no-upkeep super-Pillboxes ...
0/1/2 Marcus M5x
4/0/0 UNMF Fireteam
0/0/5 Grom Zealot
0/0/2 Hasaku Guardian Of course, any of the above guys could use XR8 too. UNMF Fireteam + XR8 becomes a pretty amazing 12-20-8 against other high-armor assets ... that'll kill everything except WarMachine-class assets. But XR8 is a Rare, even if it is "crap".
'Fun with Idolic Defender' by Gilmoy Faffle Idolic Defender can now beat Anceph Warrior 1-v-1: it either blocks twice, taking 7 damage for the first block and 0 damage for the 2nd block due to its FirstStrike, or it blocks once, then counter-attacks. Since Anceph has A-7, Idolic gets the +4 FP bonus against him, becoming FP-8, and thus inflicting 5 damage per block or hit. (Idolic always could beat Twilight and Montana in this way, because Twilight has A-8 but only 8 HP, and Montana has A-6.) Two Idolic Defenders can now "clean-block" an Anceph Warrior to death, i.e. without taking damage. (They clean-block Dolphin, too.) Or, Idolic Defender + Vow of Obedience stops Ancephs and Dolphins cold. Idolic Defender with XR8 Heavy Cannon becomes FP-18 FirstStrike against attackers with A-7 or higher, or FP-12 against attackers with A-{5,6}. Idolic/XR8 can clean-block Chandru, Raven, Gunship, Mauler Engine, Marcus, or Anceph to death. Two Idolic/XR8 can jointly clean-block Hellspawn, Golem, Indomitable, Prometheus, or Horror. To get Idolic up to A-7 to equip XR8, you can use Active Armor, Salvaged Combat Armor, or Powered Battlesuit, but the cheapest way is to invoke Organized Retreat. Unfortunately, Mountain Monastery's +4 leaves Idolic at A-6, just below XR8's required A-7, and Idolic in a Siege Bunker can't receive enhancements, so he can't equip the XR8.
'Finnegan sux' by Birdwatcher I still think all of the above is not enough to make Finnegan of much use. A better combo that achives the same affect (1 more covert to you, one less to the opponent) is - Anceph warrior & Razor academy. Deploy a razor acadamy, and destroy one of his covert bases. It's cheaper (0/0/5 compared to 2/3/1), and you end up with an anceph in play. Finnegan requires many conditions to work, in addition to play limitations - A. Finnegan only works if your opponent doesn't use a mech deck. B. Finnegan only works if your opponent relies on many assets in the same time to either attack or defend. Sparse decks, or decks that rely on inserting single programmers or saboteurs or something, will make Finnegan pointless. C. Finnegan assumes your opponent won't be using high stealth himself. If he hid 10 assets in your HQ and you can't find them, Finnegan is of no use. D. Finnegan assumes that stealing Covert from your opponent will hurt him. If he uses a Mil or Cyber deck, Finnegan won't do him any damage, and also he probably won't have all that much covert to steal in the first place. Given all that, and given that on the average Finnegan can produce more covert over time if he is sacrificed to a Covert Contract then if he is used until caught, you'll need a good excuse to use one.
'Radiation and Bleeding Plague' by Gilmoy and Dodger Gilmoy: Mauler Engine's text says that an enemy asset must be damaged for it to get Rad Sick. But tests reveal that a FirstStrike asset who clean-blocks Mauler to death, or an asset with Blast Coffin who blocks Mauler and takes no blocking damage, *does* get Rad Sick. In contrast, any non-Monastery asset that is *blocked by* Viral Vines gets Bleeding Plague; note the difference in wording. Hence, a FirstStrike asset who clean-kills a Vines should still get Plague (A FirstStrike asset who clean-kills a Mech that has been booby-trapped by Sapper Squad still takes the FP-12 from the booby-trap.) Dodger: Sensei Operative does not get Bleeding Plague from Viral Vines as long as he is not damaged. Same holds true for First Strike assets killing Vines flat. This is not a bug in Viral Vines - it is working according to the wording on Bleeding Plague (which can only be played on a damaged asset). |
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Last updated on 01/14/2008 by
Crash.
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