I have been playing a 3 turn match almost every day with my friend ever since the Beta got out (you can also check that I was the first poster in here
).
Here's some things I noticed:
- There should be a timer when choosing a character and turn number, so that we know how much time we have before the game decides a character and turn for us;
- During battle, when I insert a "die" in the slot, I should be able to remove it in case I made a mistake;
- At this moment, rushing for the main quests and doing only sidequests if the opportunity presents itself is the best way to win, even in 3 turn games, this removes a lot of potencial strategy from the game since most players will do this to win;
- Related with the point above, at this moment the game is almost purely luck based, the player that gets the most rewarding quest cards will almost always win, not by skill or good choices, but because that player got the better cards.
Even if some 16 VP quest cards take more time to complete, a player with 8 VP or 12 VP quest cards will always end up with less points.
Since there is no interaction between players at the moment, the losing players are always dictated by luck.
I'm aware of the new update that will address co-op
- In all the times I've used Geralt (and those were a lot!) I only used Brew once, at this moment it serves no purpose, his other development cards that require no charge are more than enough to take on anything.
I expect this to be balanced with the new cards though
For the sake of the discussion below I will assume 2 development cards is a good start to fight battles, I'm also aware that the each character dices are different (have different sides) but since I don't know how different, I'm going with my battle experience in game (so I can be wrong about this).
Let's talk balance:
Dandelion - can Sing, which will give him 2 gold per turn, which can then be converted into 2 charges to use in battle.
Each development card comes uncharged, but he doesn't spend moves to charge them and he can charge them all at the same time and as many times as his gold allows.
Has 4 dice and from my experience his dice sides aren't very battle oriented, most of the time he cannot survive without cards.
This means he needs 2 turns to draw 2 development cards and charge them. For upkeep (in case he needs to use the cards again) he will need 1 aditional turn only if he needs to Sing to get the gold to charge the cards.
Exchange rates- 3 Purple / 5 Blue / 7 Red - 3+5+7=
15
Total turns (draw development and charge + upkeep)- 2=
2 OR 2+1=
3
Triss - can Prepare, which allows her to charge one of her development cards, these charged cards can be used if you get a success die, 1 charged card per success die. Only 1 die has the chance of success.
Her development cards come charged with 1 use, she can use them right away, but will eventually have to charge one by one to battle again with ease.
This means she needs 2 turns to draw 2 development cards. For upkeed she needs 2 turns to charge both cards again (1 for each card).
Has 4 dice and from my experience her dice are weaker than Geralt and Yarpen and stronger than Dandelion, most of the time she cannot survive without cards.
Exchange rates- 5 Purple / 3 Blue / 7 Red - 5+3+7=
15
Total turns- 2+1+1=
4
Yarpen - can Command, which will allow him to choose 2 of the following >> "
charge 2 development cards", "
get 1 gold", "
move the region foul fate" or "
roll to try and get a lead of any colour". One of these is luck based, the other 3 are immediate benefits.
His development cards come uncharged, so he needs to waste 1 turn to charge a maximum of 2 development cards, so he needs 1 turn per 2 cards.
This means he needs 2 turns to draw 2 development cards and charge them (since he can charge them on the second turn, charging on the first turn would waste a charge). For upkeep he will need an aditional turn to charge both cards, plus he will get one of the added benefits described above everytime he charges.
Has 4 dice and from my experience his dice are very defence oriented, most of the time I can defend without using cards.
Exchange rates- 5 Purple / 4 Blue / 4 Red - 5+4+4=
13
Total turns- 2+1=
3
Geralt - can Brew, which will charge 2 of his potion development cards (although when using it it's stated "charges all potion cards"), all his other development cards don't need charges and can be used if you get a success die, 1 card per success die. Only 3 dice have a chance of success.
The big majority of his cards doesn't need charges to be used, only his potion cards need charges and these are fairly unnecessary, so he doesn't need to waste turns charging cards, if he does want to charge potions he will need to waste 1 turn per 2 potion cards.
This means he needs 2 turns do draw 2 development cards, and one move of these 2 turns will only need to be used for charges if at least one of the cards is a potion (and only if useful). For upkeed he will not need to waste turns charging (this way he can do other things instead of Brew), unless, once again, he's using potions, in which case he will use 1 turn per 2 potions.
Has 6 (!) dice and from my experience his dice are very attack oriented, most of the time I can defeat enemies without using cards.
Exchange rates- 7 Purple / 5 Blue / 3 Red - 7+5+3=
15
Total turns- 2=
2 OR 2+1=
3
Conclusion:
-The current exchange rates give Yarpen an advantage over all the other characters, plus he can get a free lead using command, which in turn will also grant him another benefit of his choice.
-Some damaging card effects affect only Dandelion, which puts him at a disadvantage.
-All characters except for Triss have an average of 3 turns to battle (assuming you're only using 2 development cards), Triss has 4 turns, Geralt and Dandelion can even have 2 turns if no potions (which at this time are unnecessary) are used or gold is needed.
-While Yarpen has only 1 turn upkeep, Geralt and Dandelion have 0 or 1 and Tris has 2.
-Not only does Triss need to spend more turns/moves to be able to battle efficiently, but she also need to get a success die to be able to use those cards and she only has 1 die with chance of success, which means she can only use a maximum of 1 charged card per battle.
-Geralt doesn't need cards to battle efficiently, he only needs cards for some stronger foes, he doesn't waste turns with charges, but still needs to get success to use the cards, although he has 3 dice with chance of success, which means he can use a maximum of 3 cards.
-Yarpen can defend most of the time without cards, but needs cards to beat most enemies, he can use the cards as long as he charged them, which means he can use as many card as he has charged.
-Dandelion needs cards to survive, he can get gold and charge all cards several times if needed on the same turn and he can use them as long as they are charged, which means he can use as many card as he has charged.
-Geralt has a Medallion card which adds a success only die on top of the 6 dice, which means he can now use a maximum of 4 cards.
-A card can only be used once per battle.
-Triss has strong cards, but can't build her defenses fast enough, which means a "battle weak" character like Dandelion can have an advantage over her since he can build his defenses much faster without spending so many moves, wich will result in a better battle efficiency even if his cards are weaker.
-Triss is at a clear disadvantage in battle in comparison with all the others.
-Geralt has a clear advantage in battle in comparison with all the others.
-This way Yarpen is second only to Geralt when it comes to battle efficiency.
-Geralt and Triss special command (Brew, Prepare) is related with their development cards and battle, Dandelion and Yarpen special command is related with development cards, battle and special benefits (only gold in Dandelion case).
This is once again an advantage for Yarpen since he has other benefits (avoid foul fate, try to get lead), Dandelion needs gold too much to survive to be able to spend his gold in something other than charges.
-Yarpen has 2 extra wound slots, another advantage.
Geralt ~= Yarpen > Dandelion > Triss
Possible Solutions:
-Since Yarpen has 2 extra wound slots, one of the weaker characters (Dandelion seems the best lore wise) could have two extra Foul Fate slots, these slots would render the first 2 Foul Fate tokens useless.
-Triss could also heal poison on her own after a few turns (and have a counter of sorts on top of the poison icon).
-Triss Prepare command could charge 2 development cards at the same time (like the other characters).
-Yarpen could change his command options "roll to try and get a lead" into something else (fight random monster with or without reward), OR make it more of a gamble (roll twice to get lead).
-Or Yarpen could simply have 5 for all his exchange rates. Although I understand that you want to make some leads easier than others to get.
-Dandelion could get 1 automatic gold for Sing and then roll twice, each time he got the success he would get an aditional gold (up to 2 more beside the first automatic gold).
-Instead of 2 charges per Prepare as suggested, Triss could have 2 success dice out of her 4 dice, OR an aditional die besides the 4 she has.
-Geralt should lose 1 die.
-Geralt should have a lot more potions to make Brew useful and to make it less likely to get only development cards that exclusively require success to be used in battle. And he would still be too overpowered.
-Or Geralt could have only 2 dice with chance of success.
Just to reconfirm :
We are working on a update that will let you see yours and other players cards all the time
We will add new music and volume control
We will add new tutorial
We will add new cards that will focus on player interaction
I can't wait for that update! :laughing: