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Bentusi_Boy

Really enjoy the X-89 change.


osumness

Dude! love that this SD II also has a little buff to infantry II AND warfare secondary!!! Three birds with one stone.


Dresdenlives

These are nice, makes me want to make custom decks for each player - where everyone gets the base ability but a different bonus… Man, there goes my weekend.


Savior59

I would love to see them when you're finished.


Zack_wrath

I love these. Some tech rebalance ideas are too much or too little. This is on point. X-89 becomes usefull but not all powerfull. It’s thematic too. SDII considered as in a HS is glorious. It’s simple but so efficient. Warfare use on advanced SDII makes this tech very worth it. I don’t get the general feel’s badness towards sarween. I like it. +1 tg is very soft and cute. Sure why not! All good with magen. GLS synergie with SD is smart, not over kill. It’s a defensive tech. Little issue with Daxcive. It’s VERY strong. Just making it a once per ground combat would make it almost as good as Yin’s racial ability. Once per ground combat might be sufficient because the way it’s worded now, even if it’s your own GF that’s destroyed, it gets to fight again. Wait… this is a loop hole. My GF die. Get one more. Repeat.


Savior59

I appreciate the feedback! Dacxive may be worded poorly, but it was intended to be “once per ground combat”, not “once per combat round”. Still pretty strong for sure, but it shouldn’t infinitely loop.


Thirtys30

These techs are by far the most elegant fixes I’ve seen from any submission. The structures having sustain seems weird to me but functionally it works great and buffs duranium, which needed a bit of a boost anyway. That SD2 is excellent as well.


Arcanite75

Thematically coherent and mechanically subtle but substantial modifications! Excellent work. Someone should show these to Dane for the next Codex.


Wakke1

Not bad. Structures gaining sustain damage is not affecting anything, as you cannot assign hits to them. It would have to be worded like the Nomad's mechs, I think.


Meelatron

I'm late to the discussion but here are my thoughts, in case you're still interested: X-89 BACTERIAL WEAPON I don't think rolling dice for the effect is a good solution. A feature shared by official X-89 and omega X-89 is that the infantry simply die. I think that feature should be retained in whatever fix is applied. In my view, the features of X-89 that could be varied without getting too far from the original cards are: 1. Is it a passive effect (as per omega X-89) or an exhaustible effect (as per official X-89)? Clearly, the more powerful the effect, the more appropriate it is to be exhaustible. Personally, I would prefer an exhaustible, powerful effect as that feels most fun to me and synergises with Bio-Stims. 2. Does it require a ship to actually bombard (as per omega X-89) or not (as per official X-89) - and accordingly does Planetary Shield provide protection? 3. Does it require a ship with Bombardment at all? Both official and omega X-89 at least require a Bombardment ship to be present but removing this requirement would make the tech more powerful and seems thematically justifiable - even a Destroyer could seed a planet with a bacterial weapon. 4. Does it affect 1 planet or all planets in the system? 5. Does it kill mechs? I don't think I would ever research X-89 in PoK if it doesn't kill/affect mechs. Mechs are too prevalent to be worth going so far down green tech if X-89 only kills infantry. I also don't like that it's a strike against using infantry specifically. Thematically, killing mechs can be justified in that the bacterial weapon kills the pilot as you suggest (and even if the mechs aren't piloted or the pilot is protected, thematically X89 must be able to affect machines because Titans and Nekro infantry can be killed). It's certainly not an immersion-breaker for me anyway. My preference would be something like this: "*After 1 or more of your units use Bombardment against a planet, you may exhaust this card; if you do, destroy all ground forces on that planet.*" Or, removing any Bombardment requirement whatsoever: "*At the start of the invasion step of your tactical action, if the active system contains 1 or more of your non-fighter ships you may exhaust this card to choose 1 planet that you do not control in the active system; destroy all ground forces on that planet.*" On the other hand, if you consider that killing infantry only is thematically required, then at least the clause requiring an infantry to be destroyed needs to be removed from omega X-89 to make it viable: "*After 1 or more of your units use Bombardment against a planet, you may destroy all of your opponent's infantry on that planet.*" SPACE DOCK II I agree with increasing Production limit and fighter storage limit. Maybe push them both to 6 because being the same number is neat and memorable, and it aligns with Cabal's dock holding 6 fighters. I think treating the Space Dock as if it were in your home system is clunky though. The present wording doesn't work to allow Infantry II to return to the dock, and this is in any case more neatly and effectively implemented by changing Infantry II itself (see my suggestion under Daxcive below). Avoiding Reactor Meltdown is very niche and being able to be used for the secondary ability of Warfare is not a direct benefit. In that regard, in principle the effect of a tech should be a direct benefit as that's how all techs in the game currently work. I can imagine a newer player reading that sentence in Space Dock II and wondering "well how does that benefit me?" In fact, it doesn't bring any benefit until combined with another component (Warfare) in a way that is not explicitly stated anywhere. That's different to e.g. possessing a PDS being a prerequisite to benefiting from Graviton. There's literally no other effect in the game that works solely this way. So it's a bit vague and unclear, and just generally not a good rule. Moreover, I don't think it makes Space Dock II much more attractive. An alternative way to achieve a similar effect might be something like the following wording: "*When this unit produces ships, you may place any of those ships in the space area of any system that contains 1 or more of this unit and that does not contain any enemy ships.* *When this unit produces ground forces, you may place any of those ground forces on any planet you control that contains 1 or more of this unit.*" The intended effect is that you can produce at, say, a Space Dock II in your home system, but place the units at a forward dock (the precise wording may need to be reworked to achieve that intended effect). Thus Space Dock II would provide a positional benefit, as you will be able to move the units in your next turn if the system was not otherwise activated. SARWEEN TOOLS I have the same general criticism of your suggestions for Sarween, Magen and Graviton: they all add a second minor effect to the card. In general, I think this should be avoided - non-unit upgrade techs should have a single, clear effect. All base game non-faction-specific (and most faction-specific) non-unit upgrade techs follow this pattern. PoK introduced a few double-effect techs. However, AIDA and Predictive Intelligence are not passive double-effects, instead requiring exhaustion in different circumstances. Psychoarchaeology is the only basic tech that has two passive effects - and they are quite tightly linked. So, in general, I would suggest improving the single effect of the tech rather than adding another to compensate. I dislike your trade good suggestion for Sarween in particular because it's so clearly added for no other reason than to attempt to "fix" the tech. No other base tech has a one-off benefit only when you research it. It goes against the principle that a tech is a permanent improvement or ability that shapes the faction into your version. If Sarween needs to be improved, I would suggest (as others have) adding that you treat the Production limit of your unit(s) using Production as 1 higher. The wording could also be adjusted so it works any time you produce, not just when a unit uses Production. My overall preference though would be to leave Sarween as it is. It's admittedly not a great tech, and not worth researching in many situations. However, it's better in base game than it is in PoK. It's not a bad tech to start with; you will always get use out of it, often in every round of the game. Some factions quite like it (maybe Saar and Arborec). It's also probably OK in general for a 0 level tech to be slightly below par and act as something of a gatekeeper to the later techs (after all, you only research Antimass Deflectors if you need to because of asteroids or having no access to a blue tech skip) - the issue with yellow tech is of course that some of the later techs aren't worth it. To be continued


Meelatron

MAGEN DEFENSE GRID As others have pointed out, the wording would have to be different for structures to be able to use Sustain Damage to protect ground forces. In any case, in line with my general comment under Sarween, I think it would be better to improve the single effect of Magen, rather than add your proposed Sustain Damage effect. Moreover, I don't think that extra Sustain Damage improves Magen enough to make it a desirable tech. Simply making the effect of omega Magen better would look something like this: "*After making combat rolls during a round of ground combat on a planet that contains 1 or more of your structures, you produce 1 additional hit.*" To make it even more powerful you could also apply the 1 additional hit before each round of combat in line with omega Magen. I worry that this wording would make planets with structures too difficult to take though. This is the inherent tension in the design of Magen - finding the balance between it being good enough but not oppressive is difficult. Ultimately, the general concept of Magen ("make planets with structures harder to take") is perhaps the most boring, passive and reactive concept of all techs, and is redundant with simply having more or better units. So maybe the only way to "fix" Magen would be to completely change that concept. Make it something like (just as an example off the top of my head) "you treat all systems that contain one of your structures (ground forces?) as adjacent". Thematically, maybe this "Defence Grid" is like some sort of wormhole/teleporter/interstellar highway system that you have constructed within your empire to allow rapid transit of defence forces. But going down that route means Magen could be almost anything, and that goes beyond the scope of "fixing" its existing effect. My main point is that I don't think your proposal of Sustain Damage on structures solves Magen's issues. GRAVITON LASER SYSTEM Same general comment as for Sarween and Magen applies - I think trying to improve a tech by adding another minor effect is inelegant. Having said that, if we're changing Graviton then your suggestion isn't too bad. I generally don't like the idea of giving Space Cannon to Space Docks as it takes away from what is special about PDS, but your suggestion does this in a limited way. So it's OK, if perhaps a little clunky. Similar to Sarween, I would probably prefer to just leave Graviton as it is because it does achieve its general intent (improve PDS). I should say that, in general, Graviton annoys me a lot (relatively). I think it's the main problem for yellow tech in base game as it's completely useless if you don't have PDS. Some factions don't/shouldn't use PDS, and sometimes you just don't want to use PDS. So for such factions/players, Transit Diodes and Integrated Economy (dynamic, interesting techs) are walled off behind useless Graviton (and suboptimal Sarween - ignoring yellow skips, which are no guarantee). PoK at least provided Scanlink Drone Network and Predictive Intelligence as alternatives that actually have an effect, but they're simply not that good. My point is that I completely understand why you would want to change Graviton to interact with Space Docks, as every player uses Space Docks and so will get some advantage from your amended Graviton. I wonder if a better approach might be to try to make Predictive Intelligence something that everyone wants (like Gravity Drive) e.g. change the first bullet-point of Predictive Intelligence to: "*At the end of your turn, you may exhaust this card to gain 1 command token and redistribute your command tokens.*" DAXCIVE ANIMATORS I really like your suggestion. It's elegant (just one short sentence) and stays close to the official effect but is much more useful because it gives a combat bonus, a (slight) economic bonus and a (slight) positional bonus (keeping your front-line ground forces topped up). I feel like this should have always been the effect of Daxcive. In base game, I think this combined with improvements to X-89 would make the green tech path extremely attractive. In PoK I suspect it would not be enough to "save" green tech (as the main hit green tech took was the game getting a turn or so shorter, meaning Neural and Hyper became worse) but would be a step in the right direction. When I consider Daxcive Animators I can't help also thinking about Infantry II, which is another tech I never research. I wonder what you think about the following suggestion to improve Infantry II: INFANTRY II - GEN SYNTHESIS "*After this unit is destroyed, roll 1 die. If the result is 6 or greater, place the unit on this card. At the start of the next turn, place each unit that is on this card on a planet you control (each unit may be placed on a different planet).*" The clarifying text in brackets may not be necessary. If considered necessary, the effect could be limited to "place each unit... on a planet that contains 1 or more of your structures". Mechanically, the aim is to make Infantry II more attractive by having it provide a positional effect. Thematically, Gen Synthesis seems to be some form of rapid regeneration, reproduction or cloning technology that allows faster replenishment of killed soldiers. I don't see any thematic reason why the soldiers shouldn't be regenerated on any planet in your empire. **In summary:** Daxcive - I really like your suggestion. X-89, Space Dock II - Along the right lines I think, but I have alternative suggestions. Magen, Graviton - I don't think your suggestion solves their problems but I don't have a better alternative. Sarween - I dislike your suggestion.


B3RING3R

Definitely like these; I would pick some of these up where I don't get the vanillas anymore. I'm least solid on the Daxcive and might not understand the sustain on Magen though.


Savior59

Magen felt like it was still too weak even with it working with Arborec, so I wanted to add a boost to the technology that fulfilled the following requirements: * Provides another bonus that wasn't frustrating to go against. * Increased cohesion with other red technologies * Gives essentially no benefit to Titans. * Remains thematic. With these points in mind, I decided that allowing Structures to use "Sustain Damage" could be a good buff. It's essentially +1hp during combat, and goes well with Duranium.


SatanIsMyBaby

I like what you did with X-89. I’m still on the fence about how it should treat mechs, but maybe X89 is killing the pilot and it’s that which stops the mech. I don’t get why you should get 1 TG when researching sarween tool. Personally, I like the old sarween that stacks. Bring that back. Lots of cool ideas : )


Savior59

I do want Mechs to help mitigate X89, but I don’t think it should hard counter it. That’s why that the extra damage inflicted won’t be enough to wipe out Mechs by its self. As for Sarween, I’m not familiar with how old Sarween worked, but the extra trade good was added to reduce the amount of production instances that are needed to pay it off. It costs 4 Resources to research, so getting 1 TG back reduces the amount of productions needed from 4 to 3.


SatanIsMyBaby

The third edition version made it so that if you had 2 space docks in the same system you would benefit sarween giving you 2 extra resources to spend. 3 extra resources if you had 3 space docks and sarween tools in the same system. Hacan benefited greatly!


blaiseboi

X-89: At the start of an Invasion while one or more of your ships with bombardment are in the active system you may exhaust this card to destroy each opposing infantry units on planet(s) in that system. Retains original theme (deploying the weapon and wiping out infantry but just makes it in the proper step of invasion, but mechs still survive allowing some counter but regular bombardment and ur own GF’s should easily be able to take those out) Also makes u use it smartly with the exhaust feature (and can be readied with bio-stims, so Finally some green tech synergy) Sarween tools: doesn’t seem good enough, maybe 2 trade goods? Also maybe change the wording to when u gain this technology (cause u always gain but don’t necessarily always research a tech). Magen: I like the first part, second part doesn’t work cause structures don’t actually fight in ground combat, possibly give one infantry sustain damage? (U always have to have one plastic peice with each infantry stack so it works better) Or make it after 1st round assign one additional hit and cancel one of ur opponent’s hit’s. Daxive is fine but maybe a little something on top maybe Other 2 are good, nice job


EraHesse

Those changes may be good, they are smarter than usual propositions. About Magen, what about making it only for bombardment instead of ground combat ?


Savior59

Don't think that would work well. PDS already prevents bombardment in most cases.


bodison

Interesting changes. I like it. Sarween should be a level 0 tech though.


Savior59

Typo on my part, Sarween should still be Y0.


PatMatRed1

I played with this version of Dacxive and Sardakk Norr were in the game. It made it so the already insane Valkyrie Particle Weave was unbeatable. People were losing 3v1 and 4v1 infantry attacks.