How do you pick leaders when playing online.

[Unembellished Genius]

I haven't jumped online yet but was wondering how games are set up. Do you guys draft your leaders, play random ones, or go in knowing which one you want to use.

[Trolleur_Durden]

Draft is the most balanced approach and afaik the most prevalent one online, for three reasons:

-Playing first and second gives a slight edge in this game, an advantage that is alleviated by picking leaders from last player to first.

-Some leaders are stronger in some specific positions. The Baron for example is much stronger in position 1 or 2 than in 3rd or 4th. So picking leaders randomly can add another disadvantage to players in addition to their position.

-You can check the Imperium row before picking a leader, which gives a situational edge to some leaders and rewards players able to pick accordingly. Helena for example is situationally a much better pick if there's strong 6+ cost cards on the IR.

[Unembellished Genius]

Originally posted by Trolleur_Durden:

Draft is the most balanced approach and afaik the most prevalent one online, for three reasons:

-Playing first and second gives a slight edge in this game, an advantage that is alleviated by picking leaders from last player to first.

-Some leaders are stronger in some specific positions. The Baron for example is much stronger in position 1 or 2 than in 3rd or 4th. So picking leaders randomly can add another disadvantage to players in addition to their position.

-You can check the Imperium row before picking a leader, which gives a situational edge to some leaders and rewards players able to pick accordingly. Helena for example is situationally a much better pick if there's strong 6+ cost cards on the IR.

Thank you for the reply. Ive since gone online and had maybe 7 or 8 matches so I have a better understanding now. I lost every single match and now Im pretty much soured on the game. Its just so random. After playing with humans I see that the game basically holds everyones hand till turn 9 or 10 then some random ♥♥♥♥ happens and the lead you thought you may have had disappears only to be left with a feeling like you just wasted 40 minutes of your life since its not like youre sitting around playing with friends and family.

It just feels like make it to turn 9 or 10 and then the dice is rolled and thats that.

[Trolleur_Durden]

There is indeed some RNG involved, but it affects you as much as it affects everyone else. Also, most games involving good players end on turn 7 or 8, so you shouldn't even reach turn 9 or 10 most of the time. Regarding "random ♥♥♥♥", I guess you are talking about 2 VP conflicts. Thos aren't random, they always appear from turn 7 to 10, only the order they appear change. There's always gonna be 3 conflicts for 2 VP and a conflict for 2 influence gain with a faction, so you should plan accordingly.

No one wins every game, but if you know what you are doing, you should win consistently. I suggest you practice against AI on hard difficulty, it will teach you the fundamentals. Once you are able to beat 3 hard AI 95%+ of the time (I can do it, and I'm by no means a great DI player), you can consider yourself ready to face other humans online.

[Unembellished Genius]

Holy cow I just won my first game. Ok yea I guess I'm hooked now.

[Ashcarr]

I prefer random. Draft just feels like it's always the usual suspects where everyone plays Baron and Helena. It's boring. I don't mind them, but I do mind them being in every game.

[Trolleur_Durden]

Originally posted by Ashcarr:

I prefer random. Draft just feels like it's always the usual suspects where everyone plays Baron and Helena. It's boring. I don't mind them, but I do mind them being in every game.

There's always 2 leaders randomly excluded from the draft pool, which allows for some variety.