Is Random 1vs1 dead?

[TFJ]

So, it's pretty much impossible to find a match in the random 1vs1 mode.

Has everybody already moved on? Is the matchmaking system bugged? Wouldn't be surprised if both things are true... It doesn't seem that this game sold well and there a precedent of games with bugged matchmaking, such as Monaco (it would only show games by players in the same download region).

It's a pity, because I find the multiplayer pretty fun and I want those P&P cards. At least give us an alternate way to obtain all cards via single player.

By the way, if anyone wants to do some skirmish or nemesis maps, feel free to add me as a friend.

[HibouProfene]

If you insist, you can find people to fight with... sometimes.

[K. the Land-Surveyor]

I think there was a burst of people playing when it was first released simply to get all the P&P cards, but (speaking personally) there were some pretty glaring balance issues that weren't really addressed, that made it less fun. I love the mechanics of this game and would love to see a really robust mulitplayer community, but ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I got sick of seeing Skirmish Chassis with Mining Drills and Tactical Advantage.

No idea if it's been patched or not since.

[TFJ]

Now that you mention it, both Skirmish Chassis and Mining Drill need a nerf of some kind. Skirmish chassis is probably the best chassis in the game right now. Maybe decrease the VP points to 1 or increase the AP cost for it.

[K. the Land-Surveyor]

Yea, I'm of the opinion the Skirmish needs to lose either 1 HP or 1 VP, if not both.

I also think Mining Drill needs a reload worked in somewhere so it doesn't pair as well with Tactical Advantage. My issue with it was that for 4 AP, you could destroy every Ironclad in the game except the Heavy Chassis.

However, given that the last update was almost a month ago and I doubt there's enough multiplayer players to warrant the work, it probably won't happen until they roll out extra content.

[TFJ]

Manage to get a good amount of matches today :)
By the way, I noticed a small bug on versus mode. When player 2 captures an AP point, the games uses Dmitry faction symbol, not the confederate one.

[Guy McPants]

I'm afraid I disagree about the Skirmish Chassis and Drill. Remember that using Dodge is very AP-intensive when used repeatedly and takes up a card out of your hand, effectively reducing your hand size by one. I might agree that the Medium Chassis needs a slight buff, but compared to the other 4 AP Chassis, the Skirmish Chassis is on par with the rest.

A good counter to the Skirmish-Drill combo that's been mentioned is Jetpack-Sabre. The Drill does seem overpowered, but remember that it has a range of 1, and gives opponents plenty of opportunity to take your life down from a distance. In fact, infantry (especially with Vin Vitae) are a very good counter to most Chassis equiped with Drills. Even more so if there's a banjo in the mix.

[DogWalker]

Początkowo opublikowane przez TFJ:

Skirmish chassis is probably the best chassis in the game right now. Maybe decrease the VP points to 1 or increase the AP cost for it.

I agree, I think the VP points should be reduced to one.

Początkowo opublikowane przez Guy McPants:

Remember that using Dodge is very AP-intensive when used repeatedly and takes up a card out of your hand, effectively reducing your hand size by one.

I see it more as getting a free manuver card, Since you don't actually pick cards, the card that drops off the right of your deck was probably not useful anyway. The Jetpack is the closest card in functionality to the Skirmish (both having a chain card) and it is only 1 VP.

I wonder if Zach is looking at the win-loss and card statistics. I would love to see these published.

[K. the Land-Surveyor]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Guy McPants:

I'm afraid I disagree about the Skirmish Chassis and Drill. Remember that using Dodge is very AP-intensive when used repeatedly and takes up a card out of your hand, effectively reducing your hand size by one. I might agree that the Medium Chassis needs a slight buff, but compared to the other 4 AP Chassis, the Skirmish Chassis is on par with the rest.

A good counter to the Skirmish-Drill combo that's been mentioned is Jetpack-Sabre. The Drill does seem overpowered, but remember that it has a range of 1, and gives opponents plenty of opportunity to take your life down from a distance. In fact, infantry (especially with Vin Vitae) are a very good counter to most Chassis equiped with Drills. Even more so if there's a banjo in the mix.

The "drawbacks" aren't really drawbacks. Dodge isn't any more AP intensive than Maneuver. I mean, if you've got a Skirmish Chassis going down a lane towards another Ironclad and you decide you don't want to engage, you can just throw down Dodge and shift to another lane. Even if the opponent decides to chase you, he can throw down a Maneuver, but then... you just cast Dodge, again, and get back into your original lane. Sure, you spent 1 more AP than him, but he's down a Maneuver and you've still got Dodge in your hand. I'd even argue that AP is even less of an issue for Native, because you can easily snag AP tiles with Fox Runners, who's probably the best infantry unit in the game (For the record, I don't think Fox Runners are overpowered).

And you're missing the whole point of why Skirmish-Drill is such a pain in the ass. If it was a simple matter of just whittling down life before they approached, it wouldn't be such a popular strategy. No one marches their Skirmish under withering fire so they can get a 6 damage hit in, they march in a parallel lane so they're not damaged and then they Dodge into position so they're right in front of the Ironclad, and then they get their hits in.

All of this aside- the whole point of the game, with a few exceptions, is to march your Ironclads to the other side and rack up Victory Points. Skirmish Chassis have the easiest time of doing this, without a doubt. Every other Ironclad in the game has to be able to clear its lane in order to score (With the exception of the Jetpack), but the Skirmish is the only one that can choose not to and still score.

[Kezberg]

managed to get one game today, was good fun but I wonder whether the player base is just not enough for things to get going at the moment

[TFJ]

I wonder what the devs think of the current balance of the game.

I'm also suspicious of the Industrial Frame chassis... while it does not have VPs, it excels at controlling the board dues to it's low price. After that it's a slow death while you score VPs with other chassis. What people think of it?

That aside, managed to get some games. Most people seem to have made decks that encourage spawn camp with AOE weapons, such as the grapeshot and the arrow launcher.

[K. the Land-Surveyor]

It's hard to make a good call on the Industrial Frame. Maybe it could stand to gain an AP on cost? As is, it's pretty bulky and pretty cheap and locks you into P&P, which is more supportive than anything, but they can easily bog down the field since they're as cheap as infantry.

Completely off-topic, but if Zachtronics does continue to work on the mulitplayer aspect, I'd love to see matchmaking, and a lobby so I can see how many other people are online.

[Guy McPants]

I must still respectfully disagree on the point of the Skirmish Chassis. Dodge may be a "free" Maneuver, but it's specific to that one card, and keeping a card slot taken up with a Maneuver that only applies to one card is a big hinderance when you're trying to save up the AP to make a combo.

As to the point of the Skirmish-Drill combo, there are plenty of counters to it, the easiest of which being infantry. Letting a Skirmish Chassis jump around and only using maneuver to line up a straight shot is a losing tactic. Try deploying some infantry when a Skirmish chassis is deployed to harass them into staying out of that lane and use Fire at Will when you have a shot.

Overall, I agree that the Skirmish Chassis should only score 1 VP to bring it even with the other 4 AP Chassis, but I don't think it's so overpowered that it threatens to break the game.

Początkowo opublikowane przez Twitchblade:

Fox Runners, who's probably the best infantry unit in the game

It's interesting you say that. I actually regard the Raider as the best (at least the best scout) and would like to see a minor nerf for him.

Początkowo opublikowane przez TFJ:

After that it's a slow death while you score VPs with other chassis. What people think of it?

That aside, managed to get some games. Most people seem to have made decks that encourage spawn camp with AOE weapons, such as the grapeshot and the arrow launcher.

Right now, the surrender option is a jury-rigged mechanic to deal with slow death after one side has the clear advantage. The game is still balanced in terms of the first 10 or so rounds of a match, but after that the winner is usually pretty obvious. I'm curious to see what Zach develops over the months to come, because I know slow death is at the top of most people's list of complaints.

[TFJ]

I played more yesterday (and lost to the same guy about 9 times lol) and I agree that the game's biggest problem at the moment is the "slow death" thing. Most of the time I surrender 10 turns in, as GuyMacPants said. In my opinion this happens because of a couple of things:

1. The best strategy by far is to get board control and camp the opponents spawn point (not counting blitz and AP maps). You then just slowly build up troops to score VP points in rapid succession without giving the opponent time to recover. Rushing to get VP points is actually detrimental most of the time, because...

2. Scoring VPs make you lose map control and the opportunity to spawn camp.

3. Your opponent gains AP when you score. It's a comeback mechanic sure, but it reinforces point 1.

4. The snownball effect in this game is huge. Any small advantage you get just nets you more advantage.

I don't know how we would change it without reworking core concepts of the game. We also don't want to go back to a VP rush style game that happened before the saboteur hulk was nerfed.

[K. the Land-Surveyor]

As for infantry forcing the Skirmish out of lane- it's a good idea, but again, the problem I have with it is that I have to spend 3 AP that can't score me VP to force the Skirmish to use 1 AP to avoid it. But I have been too harsh on the Skirmish. They can leave the Skirmish as is, but make Dodge cost 0 AP with no chain. No AP to use Dodge, it doesn't take up room in the hand, Native still gets a good medium chassis. I'd call that even.

As for spawn camping- I was thinking about that today. The best solution I could come up with is that each side should get a staging area that's slightly off the map and out of the action, so your units can't act or get hurt. In the staging area, you can play units and equip them (if they're ironclads), and then whenever you're ready, you can hit a lever at the bottom and dump everything that's in the staging area onto the spawn tiles.

This won't do much about AOE spam, but it will give the player an opporunity to bust through a containment. I wonder how much that would change the dynamics of the game, though.

[Guy McPants]

The one reason I'm willing to excuse the fact that each match is basically over in 10 turns is the fact that the game appears to be built with the notion of matches being fast. I've been over and over the idea of slow death, and every time I try to think up an alteration to the existing mechanics, it breaks the game horribly. RIght now, the only idea I have that makes much sense is expanding the area units are unable to pause to the last 3 columns as opposed to the last 1 column. (I'm pretty sure there's a horrible flaw in that idea that just isn't coming to mind yet). Right now, it appears to me that the simplest solution is going to be something involving how units act spacially, rather than altering the way AP is generated.

I do have to say that the times I've experienced when one side or the other suffers slow death is when there's an imbalance in either skill or deck build. When I go against anyone I know that I'm evenly matched against, the average game length jumps up to about 80. Still, it's horribly frustrating to go online for the first few times and play against someone that slowly smothers you to death after only a few turns and that doesn't help to draw in more players.