GREMLINS, INC. – FAQ

[Qfasa]

Here you can find answers and explanations for the most common questions that were asked about the game in the course of its existence. Please feel free to ask your own questions if you haven't found an answer here, and please do point out on any mistakes that you may notice while reading – this topic is regularly updated.

Gameplay

Who wins at the end of a session if the score points are equal?

If the score points of two or more players are equal, the player who has more money wins. If both the score and the money are equal, then the least malicious player wins (i.e. player with the lowest among these players). If scores, money, and malice are equal, the the winner is decided by RNG.

Who wins a Player Conflict if the amounts bet by both players are equal?

The least malicious player wins. If malice is equal, the winner is decided by RNG.

Who wins Elections if the number of votes that each player has, is equal?

The least malicious player wins. If malice is equal, the winner is decided by RNG.

How can I get additional votes before Elections?

The least malicious player automatically receives 3 additional before every Election, whether scheduled or snap. If two or more players have equally low , then they all get additional (3 to each of them).

Why there are so many cards that have 3 move points?

This is by design. The whole board is designed in a way that quite often, the spots that everyone would like to land on would require you to use cards that have more rare options: 1, 2 or 4 move points (not to mention 5 and 6). This motivates the players to constantly balance their priorities: is it more important to move to where you want, and sacrifice a good card just to move there, or is it more important to keep that good card, while moving to a less convenient spot?

Why do bots in single-player challenges almost always play against me, instead of attacking each other?

This is also by design. In all the challenges, the goal of the bots is not to win a session, but to prevent the human player from completing the task of the challenge. This is what makes the challenges so challenging :slightly_smiling_face:.

Why certain cards just disappear off my hand? And why sometimes I get arrested without any warning?

Sometimes during the session, your opponents will get a chance to look at the cards in your hand (through a Misfortune, or by playing a specific card against you). During such inspection, you will be forced to discard every secret card that you have at that time (secret cards are marked with grey background) as well as every criminal card (these are marked with red background). Moreover, when your opponents spot any criminal cards on your hand, you will be arrested – in addition to having such cards discarded.

There is one more way to lose a card – "Second-hand". This card, when played for movement, forces a chosen player to discard a random card from their hand. If you suddenly lost one of your cards, please check the visual log at the bottom of the screen – it's very likely that one of your opponents used Second-hand to move and you were the target.

Also worth noticing that in that case the targeted player won't be arrested even if the card is criminal, because it isn't shown in the hand but discarded.

I’m a bit confused about the Jail mechanics, where I can find more information about this part of the game?

You can find the Jail description here – or in the Rules section available directly from the game. You also can find information about each specific Jail event in the in-game Gremlinopedia.

Where can I find more information about the rules of the game?

Beside the tutorial and the Rules section that are available directly in the game, you can read this section of the forums.

What is an "active permanent card"?

Permanent cards are the cards that players do not discard after they play them. Once a permanent card has been played for action, it remains active and continues to affect the game. Each permanent card has its own effect. To see whether a card is permanent or not, and to check its effect, take a look at its description symbol. If it looks like this , then this is a permanent card and it will affect the game as long as it remains active. Please note that for the card’s effects to come through, it’s not enough to have a permanent card on your hand – the card needs to become "active", which happens when you play it for action.

What is the principle of the Misfortunes that allow to choose what will happen to me? Why is it sometimes I can choose an option even if I don't have needed resources, but sometimes I am forced to do what the card says?

This is all about how do you read these Misfortunes. Basically each of them says: do the first thing otherwise the second thing happens to you.

If you don't have resources to do the first thing, you are forced to do the second one, because you can't avoid it. But if you have resources, you can choose what will happen to you, and sometimes it's more reasonable and safe to choose not to do the first thing even if you can, because the second one is harmless to you.

Eventually, extra resources give you the right to choose what will happen to you. You don't have this choice if you don't have extra resources. Just as in real life :)

Why stamps on Misfortunes have different colors and shapes?

Colors and shapes represent different effects of the Misfortunes.

• Green stamp – they are the least harmful from all.
  
• Blue stamp – they are bad but not terrible.
  
• Orange stamp – they can harm really hard.
  
• Red stamp – these are the worst.
  
• Vertical stamp – teleport the player who received them to another place.
  
• Horizontal stamp – affect everyone on the field.

Keep in mind that the colors don't represent an absolute power of Misfortunes – many of them aren't that straightforward. Some might be useful in the right circumstances or their effect can be mitigated, and this should be counted when you choose one for yourself or for another player. Their shape and color just make it easier to identify to which category each Misfortune belongs and what in general you can expect from it.

Tech questions

Why does the game require a server connection even in single-player mode?

Our servers process everything that the players do in the game, starting from the searching of opponents for ranked sessions, to rolling the dice in all sessions and reshuffling the deck. Also, all of the AI bots exist only on the server side as well as the in-game item, inventory and collection systems. Such structure protects players in both, single and multiplayer sessions from hackers and cheaters who otherwise would be able to easily manipulate with their resources and records. It also guarantees that all players use the same version of the game.

If you want to play offline, you can use Gremlins vs Automatons.

What is Gremlins vs Automatons?

This is a separate product that can be launched with no connection to any server or even Steam. Gremlins vs Automatons contains the same single-player mode and the same Challenges as Gremlins, Inc., but there are no functions that demand connection to the server or relevant only for the multiplayer (Inventory, chests, profile customization and so on).

Do I need to buy Gremlins vs Automatons separately?

No. Gremlins vs Automatons is not for sale, it exists only as the additional product that you get automatically when you buy Gremlins, Inc.

Can you please add "save game" feature to the single-player?

This feature already exists. Please read the next answer.

Can I return to my session after I’ve lost Internet connection?

In single-player sessions your progress is saved automatically at the beginning of each player's turn. If for any reason you’ve lost your connection, or the game was abruptly terminated on your side, you can continue your session after being reconnected. To load your saved session, please use the "Load session" button at the upper left corner of the single-player menu window.

Important note: in some cases, saved sessions might lose compatibility with the game due to major updates of the game – in which case you won't be able to load them. It is recommended to finish your saved sessions before every big update, just in case :slightly_smiling_face:

In multiplayer sessions, if you lose connection with the server or close your client for any reason, you may return to that session as long as it exists (i.e. at least one human player is still playing it). While you are disconnected, an AI bot will step in to manage your character until you return.

Why certain player names on avatars sometimes become red?

The red color indicates the fact that this player is now controlled by an AI bot. This could be because that player lost connection, had to temporarily step out to pick up a courier delivery, or they decided to abandon the current session for some other reason. The AI bot kicks in after their time limit ends. Once the human player returns to the game, the player name on the avatar will return its usual color.

How good is the AI bot that temporarily replaces disconnected human players?

Players are replaced by a more intelligent version of the AI bot, which is called: "Normal AI" (another version is called "Stupid AI"). The main difference between them is that Normal AI is capable to analyze its cards and build plans for a few turns ahead while Stupid AI just plays whatever it can at the present moment.

Why sometimes I can see how the player token moves from spot to spot with a noticeable delay?

Most likely, this is due to the high ping value between one of the players in the session, and the chosen server. Movements in the game are implemented in such a way that each spot is processed individually, which means that high ping value might cause a certain delay at each spot through which such player moves.

How can I take a screenshot of the game?

If you play with Steam Overlay, the default key to use is F12. You can change the key in Steam's settings.

Criminal and secret cards look very similar to me, is there a way to make them easier to distinguish?

These cards have background of different colors (red and grey), but if for you they still look similar, you can activate the colorblind mode in the settings of the game. In this mode, the background for all criminal cards shows additional symbols, and the background for all secret cards shows a symbol of an eye, which makes them distinctly different from each other.

The in-game font size is too small for my comfort, is there a way how I can increase it?

Not directly in the game. But if you use Windows, then you can activate the built-in "Magnifier"[support.microsoft.com] – a tool that allows you to zoom in on any part of the screen.

[Qfasa]

Inventory, Collection, Chests

What is a “chest” and what is an “in-game item” in the game?

During sessions that you play, you always have a chance to get a free in-game item. This might be a new emoticon, a phrase, a looby icon, or something more complex. To see all the different items that are available in the game, open your Inventory from the main menu and switch it to the Collection tab.

When you get an item during a session, it comes in a chest that you can open immediately – or send to your Inventory to open it later. Opening chests does not require any keys and has no other limitations or conditions.

How does it work and how can I get a chest?

1) Every time you play a card at a spot or location, you have a chance to get a chest drop. If you play a combination of cards (several cards one after another in one turn), your chances of getting a chest grow with each subsequent card played in that combo. Also, you get a higher chance of drop when you play one of the Chaos Cards.

2) At the end of each ranked session, its winner has an additional chance of receiving a chest drop.

3) When you win 3 ranked sessions on a specific server (does not need to be in a row, and can happen over a stretch of time), you become entitled to receive a seasonal chest. Limitation: the number of such winner's chests is limited to 1 chest per week, on each server, for each player.

4) Chests can be crafted from blueprints (you can find more about the crafting below).

5) The winner of a session where the Supercup has been used gets guaranteed chests. Spectators of such session have a chance to get chests too. More information about Supercup available here.

What type of sessions is suitable to get chests?

Generally, chest drops happen in any mode of the game (except when you use mods), but ranked sessions offer the highest chance of drop. Single-player sessions and custom multiplayer sessions have lower (but equal to each other) chance of drop.

Are there limitations to how many chests I can get per session?

No. It's all about luck.

When is it decided, what kind of item is inside of a particular chest – when I get the chest, or when I open it?

The server already knows what’s inside of your chest at the time when you receive the drop. Opening it sooner or later does not change its contents.

What types of items exist in the game?

Currently the game has regular, seasonal and tournament items. Regular items are available at any point of time without limitations. Seasonal items drop only during the season to which they belong (if the item is seasonal, it will be shown in its description). Tournament items can be acquired only during the official tournaments, that tend to happen every month (sometimes even more often).

What can I do with the items?

When you acquire an item from a chest, it goes to your Inventory. From there you can do one of the following:

1) Activate. This action removes the item from your Inventory and adds it to your Collection. You can't remove items from your Collection – once added, they will always remain there. If you are interested in collecting and expanding your Collection, the activation is the first thing that is recommended to do with any item that you get for the first time.

2) Add uses. If you already have this item in your Collection and it has limited number of uses, you can use duplicates to add more uses to this item. Each such action adds as many uses as the item has initially, and this action permanently removes the duplicate from you Inventory.

For example, the global effect "Rise of the Automata" can be used 10 times when granted. Each time when you spend a new "Rise of the Automata" from the Inventory to add more uses to the existing one, you give it 10 additional uses. If instead of the duplicates you want to use Charges, then you must spend 20 Charges to add 5 uses to your existing "Rise of the Automata" effect.

3) Convert. Any item in your Inventory can be converted into universal charges that can be used in crafting or to add more uses to the items that already exist in your Collection. How many charges you will get from a conversion depends on the rarity of the item as well as on your luck. The minimum number of charges that you can get from the items of different rarity is as follows:

Convert common item to receive at least 3 charges, or more.
Convert uncommon item to receive at least 7 charges, or more.
Convert rare item to receive at least 15 charges, or more.
Convert contraband item to receive at least 30 charges, or more.
Convert illegal item to receive at least 50 charges, or more.

4) Sell on Steam Community Market. All items in your Inventory (remember: items, not chests) are also accessible via your Steam Inventory. From there, you can put them on sell or offer a trade on Steam Community Market. Prices may vary and the actual prices are determined only by the players as we. You can also use Steam Community Market to buy new items for your Collection from other players. To learn more about it, go here.

5) Trade with another player. You can't do this directly in the game, but you can use Steam Inventory to trade between players. More details about how this works you can find here.

How do Inventory and Collection work, considering that there are two servers available in the game?

Inventory is the same for both servers. No matter on which server you received or opened a chest, its content will be visible, and can be used as described above, on both servers.

Collections, on another hand, are different for each of the servers. An item that is activated on one server (let's say, Amsterdam) will be available only on that server and can be used in the game only there. If you want to use it on the Singapore server, you have to obtain another copy of such item, and add it to your Collection there.

What is the crafting?

Crafting is a system that allows you to use blueprints and charges to create new items. Through crafting, you can get new items for your Collection (or for sale, or for trade with other players), and it also allows you to get seasonal items even if their season is already over.

How does the crafting system work?

To create an item, you should have its blueprint plus the required amount of charges. You can get blueprints from chest drops, or buy them from some other player via Steam Community Market. To get charges, you can convert spare items that you don't really need.

When you have everything assembled, open your Collection, click on the blueprint of the item that you want to create, and click on the "Craft" button. When you create an item, you only spend Charges – blueprints have unlimited number of uses, and can be used as many times as you wish.

Miscellaneous

How do I choose my character before the session starts?

It depends on the settings of the session or the current settings for ranked sessions that are set in the game. Three different options are available:

1. Random. You cannot choose anything – instead, you play with a random character that is assigned to you by the game.
   
2. From full set. With this option, player can choose any character that they want, as long as it's available (not claimed by another player). To choose a character, click on the portrait between your lobby icon and your name (with the question mark inside), and you will see all the characters that are available to you.
   
3. From random sets. Before the start of the session, each player gets a set of random characters from which they can pick one. The number of characters in the set depends on how many players overall participate in the session.

The first two options are available in both single-player and multiplayer sessions, the third option is available only in multiplayer sessions.

What happens when I choose "Random" character from the given set?

You will get a random character from all the characters available in the game at that time. This includes characters that are not only in your set, but also those that were rejected by the other players.

What does my choice of a character change in the game mechanics?

If Character Abilities are turned on in the session, the choice of a specific character might determine your whole strategy for the session. If Character Abilities aren't available, then the choice changes only your starting position and the priority of your turn among the other players (“player initiative”).

So, player initiative isn't random?

No. In any session, characters always take their turns in a pre-defined order, and this order is a part of the gameplay balance. The current order is as follows (you can also find it in the Rules section in the game; also, characters in the Gremlinopedia are listed in the sequence of their player initiative):

1. The Engineer (starts every round)
   
2. The Politician
   
3. The Manager
   
4. The Pauper
   
5. The Gambler
   
6. The Damned
   
7. The Banker
   
8. The Thief
   
9. The Secret Agent
   
10. The Merchant
    
11. The Prosecutor
    
12. The Collector (finishes every round)

You don't need to remember the order – when you choose a character to play, its initiative is shown on its portrait.

How can I participate in the official tournaments?

Currently, official tournaments implemented in such way that all the players participate in them automatically, as long as they play ranked sessions during the tournament. While official tournaments last, the rating is frozen for everyone. If you want to know your current position in the tournament, open Ranking Ladders -> Tournament Ladder.

Is there any way to buy a 2-pack (4-pack, 6-pack) of Gremlins, Inc.? I would love to buy the pack for me and my friends with a discount.

Currently Steam doesn't allow creation of such packs. If this option becomes available, we’ll definitely offer a double pack.

How do I get the emoticons that are displayed as unavailable?

It depends on the type of the emoticon. Some (Malice, Fairy, and Pile of Junk) must be unlocked through getting specific achievements. In the list of all the achievements, they marked by a special icon in the corners.

Some emoticons and phrases are available only as a part of a DLC. In order to get them you should get the corresponding DLC.

Many other emoticons and phrases available as the items that you can get from the free chests. Those you can acquire with time by playing the game, or just buy them from the other players on Steam Community Market.

What are the rating points?

As with any game that has a competitive element in it, rating allows you to brag about your success to all your friends. It also allows you to find players of the similar skill level. To earn rating points, you should play ranked sessions.

At the end of each ranked session, the rating of all participants is recalculated as follows: each player who didn't win loses the rating points. The number of points depends on the difference between the final scores of the winner and this player. The smaller the difference, the fewer rating points will be lost (up to no loss if the score was equal and the player has lost because of other parameters (money, malice)).

The winner of the session receives the rating points the number of which is the sum of all rating points that were lost by the opponents. In addition to that, the winner might receive bonus rating points if they defeated an opponent with a rating higher than theirs. This doesn't affect the losing player – they won't lose more rating points because of that!

This means that in a ranked session only the victory matters (only the winner improves their rating) but every losing player can mitigate the loss of rating points by getting the highest score possible.

NB: these rules apply to ranked sessions with 3 or more players. In duels (2-player sessions) the winner takes a bit of rating from the opponent. How many rating points will be taken in each case, depends on the difference between the rating of both players prior to that session.

What happens if I leave a multiplayer session before it ends?

If it is a custom (non-ranked) session, then after its end your stats will be updated (including the fact that you left it). If it is a ranked session, you won't be allowed to start another ranked multiplayer session as long as the session you have left is still active. Instead, when you will open the multiplayer lobby, you will see the invitation to return to your currently on-going session. If you refuse to do that, you will be returned to the main menu. As the result, players can't participate in more than one ranked session at once.

When the ranked session ends, player stats are updated according to its results however players who left the session aren't allowed to get any rating points. They still give away points to the opponents on higher positions (if there are any) which means that their rating can decrease but the points that they might take away from the opponents on the lower positions (if there are any) aren't added to their profile.

Important note: if every human participant leaves the session, it is cancelled. If a session is cancelled, its result won't affect its players in any way (their rating, number of played session, number of victories, and so on won't be updated).

If at least one human player remains in the session until its end, the stats of all participants will be updated according to the final results of the session.

What happens if I refuse to join the ranked session that the game found for me?

When a player refuses to play the ranked session that was found by the game, they cannot join any other ranked session for the next 10 minutes (the “join the queue” button won't be available to them). In this way, the game protects the community from the players who may try to manipulate the mathcmaking queue in order to play together.

What is the name of the music playing in the main menu?

This genre called "electro swing", and all in-game compositions (as well as all sound effects) were created specially for the game by A.Fruit ( https://www.facebook.com/fruitbass ). If you like what you hear, you can buy soundtrack of the game here.

I have an excellent idea for the game, where do I can send it?

Please read this topic – it is possible that the developers already have plans similar to your idea. If not, feel free to post your suggestion in that topic, or create a new one.

Gremlins, Inc. – the card game, what is this?

This is an "alternative" version of Gremlins, Inc. that is a real-life card game. Its rules are only slightly similar to the rules of the videogame and you can read them here. You can also buy our Print & Play DLC of this version to print everything that is needed to play at home, or try the game as a free mod for Tabletop Simulator if you have it.

Anything else?

Haven't found the answer to your question? Feel free to ask it here!

[riche]

why there are only 2 plays allowed in competitive match on singapore server, and why the goal is 35?

[Sheep]

As far as I know: Two Players, because the low population on that server. A ranking game with more players will take to long in finding a match. The high players are already suffering waiting times of 30+ minutes to find a match.
Why 35 points as goals? Well, I don't know that one, but I like this amount of points.I guess it is because 30 points are pretty easy to reach. 5 points more make a big difference and it brings a good amount of time for a game.

[riche]

just noticed that i typed wrong word, two players.

[Qfasa]

Originally posted by riche:

why there are only 2 plays allowed in competitive match on singapore server, and why the goal is 35?

The answer for the first half is here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/369990/discussions/0/135511379838215717/ Right now the part about being less populated is incorrect, the Singapore server is booming, but the part about the lower popularity of the ranked is still correct.

The second half. Points in duels are better than the rounds – if you fall behind, it is hard to make a comeback within the limited number of rounds. With points, chances for a comeback are much higher.

And we think that 35 is a good number. With 30 or fewer points the sessions lose their strategic part to some degree because for duels it's relatively low number which is easy to achieve, but with 40+ points the sessions could drag on for too long.

[Profounder]

Gremlins, Inc. completely meets the standards of the board game. (I don't mean card version, but full set)
Do you have plans to release a physical version, or game mechanics are still being updated?

[Qfasa]

Originally posted by Comrade_M.:

Gremlins, Inc. completely meets the standards of the board game. (I don't mean card version, but full set)
Do you have plans to release a physical version, or has the game mechanics still upgrading?
:lovecube:

The game is designed as a digital product, and even although technically it can be played as a physical board game, at the moment we have no such plans.

[小魚]

Originally posted by Qfasa:

Originally posted by Comrade_M.:

Gremlins, Inc. completely meets the standards of the board game. (I don't mean card version, but full set)
Do you have plans to release a physical version, or has the game mechanics still upgrading?
:lovecube:

The game is designed as a digital product, and even although technically it can be played as a physical board game, at the moment we have no such plans.

I'll add that there is the card game, which we produced a while ago and which is still available, and it's been designed to retain the character of the game but to allow for a quick session (30-60 minutes).

As to the real board game... it would be a major feat to adopt it to be playable in 2-3 hours. But never say never, so, after the Kickstarter for the updated edition of the card game, we should take another look at it!

[Silence]

Originally posted by Sergei Klimov:

Originally posted by Qfasa:

The game is designed as a digital product, and even although technically it can be played as a physical board game, at the moment we have no such plans.

I'll add that there is the card game, which we produced a while ago and which is still available, and it's been designed to retain the character of the game but to allow for a quick session (30-60 minutes).

As to the real board game... it would be a major feat to adopt it to be playable in 2-3 hours. But never say never, so, after the Kickstarter for the updated edition of the :cards: card game, we should take another look at it!

I would definitely like to see a board game version but several mechanics would need to be simplified. All money would need to be in easy numbers, for example have currency tokens worth $10 $50 and $200. Also malice would need to be eliminated, instead it could be replaced with a token that is constantly shifted to the last player who played a card with malice.

[AlfredWallace]

Hello, do you plan a new update with supporting 4K screens resolutions like 3840 x 2160 ?
Thanks for any answer

[Qfasa]

Originally posted by AlfrǝdWallacǝ:

Hello, do you plan a new update with supporting 4K screens resolutions like 3840 x 2160 ?
Thanks for any answer

Hi.

Here is the answer: http://steamcommunity.com/app/369990/discussions/0/492379159712884086/?ctp=10#c135511259335129318

[Ew|mp3]

Are there any details of how the ranked session matchmaker works? I sat in the queue for about 40 minutes, during that time two ranked sessions started even tho i was alone in the queue for a while before more joined.


I restarted and sat another 30 minutes, during that time another 2 ranked sessions started without me getting a game. It was mixed with players with similar rank to mine. The "wait for opponents with similar rating" is off for me, cant even turn it on in fact. Is this normal nowdays with fewer players active? On the Amsterdam server.

[Qfasa]

Originally posted by Ew|mp3:

Are there any details of how the ranked session matchmaker works? I sat in the queue for about 40 minutes, during that time two ranked sessions started even tho i was alone in the queue for a while.


I restarted and sat another 30 minutes, during that time another 2 ranked sessions started without me getting a game. It was mixed with players with similar rank to mine. The "wait for opponents with similar rating" is off for me, cant even turn it on in fact. Is this normal nowdays with fewer players active? On the Amsterdam server.

Sometimes this might be the case for the extreme high\low ratings 120+ or 90-, but in general this shouldn't be such a problem. I'll pass this to the team to check, thanks for the report.

[Dabiz]

I restarted and sat another 30 minutes, during that time another 2 ranked sessions started without me getting a game. It was mixed with players with similar rank to mine. The "wait for opponents with similar rating" is off for me, cant even turn it on in fact. Is this normal nowdays with fewer players active? On the Amsterdam server.

You can't (un)tick the box while you are in the queue. You have to get out of it first, to change it.

[夜空中最亮的星 - ICE]

1)Please let me know how many players are there outside when I creat a game. Why did u negative that function in previous update. I have to quit the game and check, then creat a multiplayer game again. So troublesome!!!
2) How come there is no 2v2 tournament... 1v1 is not balance (go see the win ratio wtf is that banker) During many 1v1 games, I feel so lonely. I want to play with my friendsssssssssssssss