Serpent Rouses in Anger Elemental Threshold Issue

[Shiztastic]

I recently picked up Spirit Island for iOS and came across an issue when disabling the Tier(2) effect of Serpent Rouses in Anger.

Tier(1) - 1(Fire)1(Earth): For each (Fire)(Earth) you have, 1 Damage to 1 (Town/City).

Tier(2) - 2(Moon)2(Earth): For each 2(Moon)2(Earth) you have, 2(Fear) and you may Push 1 (Town) from target land.

When disabling the Tier(2) effect, the Tier(1) effect becomes limited to dealing 1 Damage no matter how many total (Fire)(Earth) you possess. However, this is functionally incorrect as only the number of (Moon) should be reduced to 1 so that the Tier(1) effect can properly deal full damage.

As a follow up to this, a new interface prompt for imputing an exact amount for scaling Elemental Thresholds such as these would be useful in some situations. For example:

Serpent, BoDaN, and Ocean Spirits. Example is taking place in a Coastal land. Coastal land contains a City and a Town. Adjacent Ocean is in play.

Serpent uses SRiA while having 5(Fire)5(Earth). BoDaN has Rouse the Trees and Stones in play. Serpent could pretend to only have 3(Fire)3(Earth) dealing 2 Damage to the City and 1 Damage to the Town. BoDan then uses RtTaS to deal 2 “Nightmare” Damage, “Destroying” the Town and City, generating 7 Fear and Pushing the Town into the Ocean where it is Drowned by Ocean’s special rule, generating another Fear and potential Energy for Ocean.

A play such as this, convoluted as it is, is impossible with the current interface options. Serpent would be forced to deal 5 Damage, Destroying the Town and City for a measly 3 Fear instead of 8.

[WolfRowland92]

I see where your coming from but it also seems like it would really only matter for spirits with scaling damage when playing with bringer of dreams and nightmares. Maybe instead of a element scale allow to assign damage and then just waste any remaining damage as it would effectively do the same thing without having to put scales beside every element a spirit gains. Out of curiosity why would you omit the stage 2 of that innate. its literally just free fear and a option to push towns if need be.

[MigrantP]

Thanks, we're aware of this limitation and it's on our list for the future. It's a pretty edge case thing at the moment, so we have other things that are higher priority right now.

[Shiztastic]

Originally posted by WolfRowland92:

I see where your coming from but it also seems like it would really only matter for spirits with scaling damage when playing with bringer of dreams and nightmares. Maybe instead of a element scale allow to assign damage and then just waste any remaining damage as it would effectively do the same thing without having to put scales beside every element a spirit gains. Out of curiosity why would you omit the stage 2 of that innate. its literally just free fear and a option to push towns if need be.

At the time I discovered the issue, I was prolonging a game for achievements. Trying to use all Power Cards with Elemental Thresholds, and limiting the Fear generated while removing Invader pieces would stretch the game out.

A more practical example for it could be against England 6, where you really want to generate a Fear card each turn to disable the High Immigration double Build. So you purposefully skip on the extra fear, maybe you are 1 or 2 Fear away from earning the next card, to more easily generate a Fear Card in the next Slow Power Phase. This is highly situational of course, but we shouldn’t be limited by the interface when the rules of the game allow for such freedom of play and strategy.

As for the suggestion of an “Element Scale” as you put it, I don’t think it would be something that should pop up for every single Power. There are currently only a few with variable effects depending on Element count, and even less without a “may” or “up to” clause attached. Damage on this Innate Power is “forced” in the app.

Most of the time this doesn’t matter, but the game could simply have a box pop up when right-clicking(long press on touchscreen) which says, “How many (Fire)(Earth) do you have?”, or something equivalent. Allowing the player control over the Power’s effect as per the rules.

I think such an interface option will become necessary with Jagged Earth Spirits, as they have more complex Innate Powers. Implementing something like this now could make things easier down the road for Handelabra.

[Shiztastic]

Originally posted by MigrantP:

Thanks, we're aware of this limitation and it's on our list for the future. It's a pretty edge case thing at the moment, so we have other things that are higher priority right now.

Glad to hear it, you guys have clearly put effort into this adaptation. I’m looking forward to when Jagged Earth and Promo Pack 2 complete the package.