Monster linking and Villain phase

[Kilmir]

So how does the monster linking work?
From the tutorial and initial fights I assumed a monster only gets a Villian phase in the turn of the linked character.

However every quest I now have several fights where multiple monsters spawn and initially they go on the hero who triggered them. But they seem to get extra Villain phases randomly from other heroes. Even when said heroes are 5 tiles away.
And it seems randomly as for instance if 3 monsters spawn, anywhere from 0 to all 3 get an extra Villain phase.

I understand that bosses get a Villain phase for every hero turn. Makes them super deadly if your party is spread and the boss gets 4 turns of pummeling on your discovering hero who can't even chug healing pots in between, but at least you know this in advance.

The random triggering Villain phases on tile and encounter monsters however makes me pull my hair sometimes. Is this working as intended and monsters can get random extra phases or is this a bug?

[tarmael]

If it is like the board game, if Artus have a zombie linked and Dragonbait have an other Zombie linked, both zombie active during Artus and Dragonbait turn. All the same type of monster activate when at least one of them is linked to the active hero.

[Player]

I believe that this is an area for improvement in explaining the rules of the game. I know the rules from playing the Wrath of Ashardalon board game but I did not see a clear place where this was explained within this game.

When a monster is deployed on the battlefield it is listed under the character whose turn it is when the monster showed up. Only after that character's hero phase does that monster activate (move and attack). However, if two different characters have a monster of the same type listed below them -- for example, if two different characters have a Chultan Zombie listed under them -- then both of those monsters will activate on each of those characters' turns.

Due to this, if there are two identical monsters on the board, then it's greatly advantageous to kill one of them asap (foregoing killing other monsters) to avoid both of them from activating multiple times in a turn cycle.

[Scrogdog]

It is explained in in the tutorial; the box is called "Monster Control" and it is one of the first few that you see in that mission.

"Monsters of the same name activate together regardless of who controls them"

[Player]

I now remember seeing that but it is such a succinct statement that I don't think it emphasizes the point enough, because in my view that's one of the most important strategic aspects of the game. I am glad it is in there, though.

[steftymo]

There are a few tutorial boxes that disappear quickly before you get a chance to read them. Is this one of them?

[Scrogdog]

Well I just took it again to be sure. There are only two ways that a tutorial box disappears. One is that you perform the highlighted action.

For example, if the tutorial wants the player to move, it highlights the tile and puts a big yellow arrow over it. The box then disappears when the player moves on to the tile or if the player waits for a while the box gets removed but the highlight remains. Didn't seem too fast to read to me, but I am a speed reader.

The only other way, and most of the boxes including Monster Control are just like this; the box does not disappear until the player presses the confirm button.

It sounds more and more like some players are taking the tutorial without actually paying much attention to it. Hey, we all do it sometimes; we just want to jump right in. But don't blame the game if we choose that route. :) But also, NFL might raise a good point here; I rather like the way that tarmael explained it above; "All the same type(s) of monster activate when at least one of them is linked to the active hero."

Devs I timed the disappearing box time; it's about 5 seconds to read one sentence. Perhaps that needs to be extended or have them need to be confirmed as well.

It is also well to note that the new changes we just got are reflected in the tutorial already. I don't believe this feature has been neglected, but there is always room for improvement.

[BKOM Studios]

Thank you we'll look at those boxes :-)

[Kilmir]

Thanks for the answers guys. I did follow the tutorial but I guess I missed the "same type all attack on all linked turns" as something significant. My bad.