CardBots: An Introduction

Brand new to CardBots? Gain card awareness, take some tips and learn a few powerful combos.

Card Awareness

Tech

Tech cards add Tech to your Resource Pool, which lets you build Components and Weapons. They also come with abilities that have 1–4 uses, depending on their strength. Some abilities are useful during the Build Phase, others during the Destroy Phase, and a select few are ready any time.

There are 64 Tech cards in the game. Of them,

• 46 give 25T (about 3/4)
  
• 15 give 50T (about 1/4)
  
• 3 give 75T

You can only play 1 Tech card per turn, so generally speaking, you’ll be adding 25T to your pool per turn.

Components

Component cards provide support for your fight in the form of either a major one time ability when they’re built (often a health increase), a moderate continuous defense ability, or a minor luck manipulation ability that lasts for as long as the card itself lasts.

There are 43 Component cards. Of them,

• 16 cost 25T (about 3/8)
  
• 17 cost 50T (about 3/8)
  
• 7 cost 75T (this and below combined about 2/8)
  
• 2 cost 100T (Both cards can at least double their own health)
  
• 1 costs 150T (Rivets, a massive one-time health boost to all cards)

This means that, based on Tech card play, a majority of Component cards can be built starting from the second build turn, and the 75’s can be built from the third turn.

Weapons

Weapon cards deal damage to take out your opponents, but they have limited uses. Without Weapon cards (or their charges), you’ll be forced to attack with a CardBot Punch (1d6). Many Weapons are “cookies & cream” weapons that run on minor modifications of 1d6, but several “vanilla” weapons simply deal guaranteed moderate non-rolled damage (the problem with these latter weapons being that your attacks can become predictable).

There are 45 Weapon cards. Of them,

• 12 cost 25T (about 1/4; none of these Weapons have abilities)
  
• 15 cost 50T (1/3; these Weapons at least guarantee low damage)
  
• 11 cost 75T (about 1/4; these have ≥4 health and solid dmg or ability)
  
• 5 cost 100T (this and below combined about 1/6; guaranteed big damage)
  
• 1 costs 125T (The Dismantler deals massive damage and life-steals)
  
• 1 costs 200T (Incineration Beam is the only Weapon to run on d20’s, but it damages itself by 1d6 every time it fires)

This distribution is comparable to the Components distribution.

Preview of Effects

Although not all-encompassing, this list shows you most of your options for getting things done.

Build Phase

• Draw cards
  
  • Tech: Tech-o-pedia, Search, Uplink, Intel
• Discard your opponents’ cards
  
  • Tech: Seek & Destroy, Probe, Sabotage
    
  • Component: Optical Sweep
• Take an extra build turn (Tech: Inspiration) or build for free (Tech: Robotics)
  
• Play more than one Tech card in a turn (Tech: Precision Instruments, Hand Tools)
  
• Stall the Destroy Phase (Tech: One Minute!, Delay Launch)
  
• Push for the Destroy Phase (Component: Loud Speaker)

Destroy Phase

• Modify your rolls (Tech: Decipher, Automata)
  
• Modify your opponents’ rolls (Tech: Signal Jam, Encrypt)
  
• Increase build card health
  
  • Of one card (Tech: Coffee, Donuts, Heat Sink)
    
  • Of several cards (Tech: Power Surge, Power Distribution, Expert Build)
• Decrease opponents’ build card health
  
  • Of one card (Tech: Drone)
    
  • Of several cards (Tech: Virus)
• Increase Initiative, which determines who gets to attack
  
  • Tech: Ace Pilot
    
  • Component: Carbon Fiber, Processing Boost, Efficient Wiring, Traction, Jump Jets
• Control which opponent card is targeted for an attack
  
  • by auto-targeting
    
    • Tech: Auto Target, Multi-Target
      
    • Component: Cockpit
  • by counter-targeting the attacker’s most recently used weapon (Tech: Radar, Heat Signature)
    
  • by Headshot attacking (Tech: Big Flashing Button, Coordinates)
• Increase damage dealt
  
  • Tech: Guidance System, Advanced Maneuvering
    
  • Component: Explosive Rounds, Piercing Rounds, Reinforced Fists, Steel Claws
    
  • by firing all weapons at once (Tech: Fire at Will)
• Reduce damage taken
  
  • in minor degrees across all build cards (Component: Absorbing Shield, Graphene Mesh, Nanobots)
    
  • in major degrees to themselves (Component: Massive Armor, Heat Vents)
    
  • by redirecting it (Component: Stealth Plating, Giant Shield, Forcefield)
    
  • by reflecting it
    
    • Tech: Reflector Shield
      
    • Component: Energy Spikes
• Heal damage taken (Tech: Repair, Field Repairs)
  
• Reset Weapon charges (Tech: Un-Jam; Component: Auto-Feed)

Any Phase

• Skip an opponent’s turn (Tech: E.M.P.)
  
• Refresh your Tech cards (Tech: Re-Wire, Reuse, Recycle)
  
• Use more Tech cards (Component: Sensor Array, Heads Up Display)
  
• Deplete or destroy your opponents’ Tech cards (Tech: Inside Guy, Reduce)

Tips

On your first build turn, play the highest Tech card you have available, then build something. Just about anything. Don't be afraid to otherwise discard your whole hand, because on future turns, as your resource pool grows, it will be easy to build most, if not all, of your hand. If you're going to go fishing for better cards, your best chance is discarding cards you couldn't build on the first turn.

When you rely on a Weapon/Component combo: if you lose the Component first then your Weapon loses some power or reliability, but if you lose the Weapon first and the Component has no other combo targets then the Component itself is also effectively lost.

Constantly ask yourself: How much better is this attack than a CardBot Punch (1d6)? Consider that, unmodified, Punch deals an average of 3.5 damage per turn over enough turns.

(6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1)/6
21/6
3.5

Do you need to use a Weapon charge to do what you’re trying to do?

The above said, use your Weapons early while you still have all your pieces in play, especially your high-powered ones. If you can hit the right opponent build cards fast enough, you can reduce your opponents to CardBot Punches.

9-Card Bots vs. 20-Card Bots

A 9-card bot with an increasing resource pool can easily be built in 5 turns.

Because a 9-card bot has the same size Control Panel as a 20-card bot, the Control Panel becomes comparatively more important to a 9-card bot. If you finish building but the Destroy Phase is delayed, try to find more Tech cards to complement your existing cards.

On 9-card Bots, auto-targeting isn't as useful as it is on 20-card Bots. Against a 20, every side of a d20 corresponds to only one card, so auto-target picks targets that count. But, as explored above, against a 9, some cards receive a disproportionate number of targets: cards 2–4, a third of the build, will get picked by Scans about half the time! Why waste a Tech or Build slot on an auto-target ability if you have other more potent options available?

On the 9-card Bots, because of the reverse count rule if someone Scans over 9, some card counts are more vulnerable than others. With the default d20 Scan rolls, a fully built 9-card bot will have

• minor vulnerability on 9,
  
• moderate on 1 and 5–8 (the 5–8 increasing in exposure as cards are destroyed and the higher die rolls push further down the line), and
  
• major on 2–4

1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9
17  16  15  14  13  12  11  10
    18  19  20* +   +   +   …

*A modified 20 would hit the #4 slot. A natural 20 converts to a Headshot attack per game rules.

Lessons learned: Put your heavy armor, high rank and expendable cards on 2–4. Put your prized possession on 9 and your second best on 8, but beware of auto-targets.

Burst damage vs. damage over time

Some Weapons have a few powerful charges that dish out a lot of damage at once — burst damage. Others have many weak charges that collectively inflict damage over several turns — damage over time. Burst builds need to protect their few weapons and help them land shots that count. They don't need to win Initiative many times because they only have to succeed one or two times to devastate an opponent. DoT builds need to amplify the damage that their weapons deal and help them win Initiative often so they can keep the pain flowing.

The Broken Stuff

Inspiration + Hand Tools
Take extra turns, play extra cards. Get ready to Declare Combat.

Auto-Feed + The Dismantler
Life-steal with no limit? Yes please!

Missiles or Sticky Bomb + Cockpit
Auto-target a card with lots of connections to maximize damage. Not as obviously broken as other combos, it might escape notice.

Giant Shield + Absorbing Shield or Nanobots
GS redirects attacks. AS or NBs cut the damage.

Grappling Hook + Drone
When your Scan targets something you like, weaken it with Drone, then destroy and steal it with GH.

Incineration Beam + Coordinates or Big Flashing Button
Auto-target with the potential to one-shot your opponent.

Search or Tech-o-pedia + Uplink
Fine-tune your hand for the strongest cards.

Virus + “Vanilla” Weapons
Scan, weaken all of an opponent’s cards with Virus, then pick the attack value you need to destroy the target.

Other Games

If you enjoy CardBots: Build & Destroy, you might enjoy Star Wars: Destiny and Fantastic Factories.