Posted: 25 March 2008 at 8:03am | IP Logged

-Howdy all. Played Scorpeads last night, i think i won one game and lost the next. The second game i didn't put a terrain in play for what seemed like 30 turns. I'm thinking it was actually closer to 5-10 turns without terrain, but anywho. I will likely save this deck for posterity but this will be my one and only foray into decks that exceed 80 cards. Up next for playin' is an 80-card Dragon/Orgon deck and a stab at the Tufor if i get up the nerve.

Terrain (20):

T1 Small Moon

T/H2 Plasma Field

T3 Crystal Planet

T4 Distant Sun

T4/6 Tranoan Moon (Reserve)

T5 Galactic Trade World

T6 Katryn

T7/3 Tranoan Homeworld x2

T7 Scorpead Dominated Moon x2

T7 Jozef x3

T8 Marine Depot x2

T9 Vinciennes x2

T10 Stefania

T10 Mayfair System

At first I thought too much, but that whole no drawing thing got me off that idea.

Luck (18):

R/L1 Lucky Crew Action (Actually got used in the second game)

R/L2 Phaser Malfunction x3 (All I got)

R/L3 Unlucky Targeting x2

R/L4 Miscommunication (Only included one as I don’t like the card but needed a 4)

L5 Ice Age (Should have included Defensive Overrides in retrospect)

R/L6 Lucky Maneuver x2

R/L7 Temporal Correction (maybe more if there is a next time)

R/L8 Targeting Error x2

R/L8 Twist of Fate x2

L9 Accelerated Timeline x2 (will remove if I play the deck again, didn’t like it)

L10 Galactic Armageddon (wanted to play it once and see what happened, see L9)

Base (5):

B1 Personal Base

B2 Ancient Ruins

B3 Planetary Shield: Growing Civilization x3 (Thought about including more)

Hazard (8):

H1 Divergent Anomaly x4

R/H2 Time Trap x4 (I really like this and the strength 5 trap cards)

Crew (13):

C1 Tax Collector

C2Cyber Programmer

C3 Cryo Convict

R/C4 Science Officer

R/C5 Mutineer x3 (came in handy yet again)

C5 Captain x2

C6 Rogue Couple (doesn’t work as well when you steal a ship but have no terrain to power it)

C7 Research Developer x3 (didn’t get to use in either game unfortunately)

Ship (23):

R/S1 Ship From the Future

S2 Scorpead Frigate

S3 Scorpead Destroyer

S4 Scorpead Science Ship

S5 Scorpead Scout Cruiser x3

S6 Scorpead Command Cruiser x3

S6 Police Cruiser x2

S6/4 Tranoan Battlecruiser (Reserve)

S6/4 Tranoan Command Cruiser x3

S7 Scorpead Battlecruiser x3

S8 Scorpead Dreadnought x2

S9 Scorpead Battleship x2

Equipment (12):

R/E1 Terrain Attack Shuttle

E2 Phaser Refit

E3 Heavy Shield Refit

E4 Heavy Phaser Refit

E5 Dual Launch Tubes

R/E6 Distortion Generator

E7 Phaser Magnifier Refit x3

E7 Extreme Phaser Refit x3

Monster (12):

M1 Research Defiler

M2 Planet Gouge

M3 Phase Rats x4

M4 Planet Gouge

M5 Power Leech x4

M10 Zaggoth Guardian (exception)

The Count: 111

The Plan: Blow stuff up, use the phase rats, power leech, mutineer, rogue couple, time trap to shut down ships, luck to protect my fleet. Standard really. I probably would have included more Phase Rats if i were doing over again and try focusing more on the ship shutdown aspect. I am unsure if other cards are out there for that strategy that would fit in this deck but i know i didn't look all that hard first time around.

Let me know what you think, have a good week all.....Lobo

Posted: 25 March 2008 at 4:15pm | IP Logged

-Well, i didn't forget the comet, i chose not to include it and instead put in the Jozefs for command points. If i had it to do over, i would probably eliminate the Tranoan element and sub in Council of Six or just more Police Ships for nice phaser power. That would also eliminate need for excess economy and the Tranoan terrains to consolidate resource output and sharpen terrain selection.

Thanks for looking.....Lobo

Posted: 26 March 2008 at 7:50am | IP Logged

-Good point about the monsters, and i think i'd prefer more anyway. i will modify the deck list a bit in case i ever play this again to note including more monsters that hit ships/bases/dragons/etc. wouldn't be a bad idea. 

Probably can pull at least the Research Developers to par the size with current count. Only having 5 bases makes those guys more of an afterthought. Add in there that i won't likely play the L9 Timelines or the L10 again and i have room to add more monsters without inflating deck size.

Thanks for the input, keep it coming.....Lobo

Posted: 26 March 2008 at 8:52am | IP Logged

I think you should replace the S9s with more of that soup you like so much and maybe a bagel or two...

J--

Posted: 04 September 2008 at 7:57am | IP Logged

-I'd be interested to know what your definition of 'fighting power' is in a duel. 5 phasers? 10 phasers? 40 phasers? I dunno how y'all play duels, but if you aren't at 'fighting power' when you slap something down on the table, it ain't gonna last. Just curious how long you are willing/think you can turtle in your typical duel to build up to 'fighting power' (my answer: no turtling allowed unless you just want to taunt an opponent that got a bad draw).

Scorpeads (in my limited experience) are one of the few races that hit the table ready to fight. J'xar is another great one if you have the energy available. The ability to magnify phasers for the Scorpeads right out of the gate and have heavy weapons for the price of energy resource is great efficiency for a duel. Additionally, the equipment that i use in the Scorpead decks are typically offensive in nature, so it does nothing to prevent their 'vaporization' if the opponent can amass enough firepower to do it.

Does this mean monsters should not be in the deck? Far from it, i love monsters and enjoy including them in decks. But generally luck and occurrence cards are better at protecting ships and also having alternate uses, so again the majority of monsters to be stocked in a duel are usually offensive in nature. Unless, i suppose, you went total defence in all your card choices. But generally luck and occurrence are better at the protection game for the card slots.

Have a good one.....Lobo

Posted: 05 September 2008 at 10:35am | IP Logged

-Okay, i'll bite...

"In our group, we all have decks that if you let us build for even
just a couple of turns, by the third turn, we're throwing 50, 60 pts of damage at you in one turn. "

I'll call yer bluff. You post a deck that can, reliably, generate 50 points of damage after a couple of turns (so, what, turn 3 or 4?) and i'll send you every card i have.....Lobo

Posted: 05 September 2008 at 1:22pm | IP Logged

-And that's kind of the point, in that A) a duel with a strong deck doesn't last long enough for you to be able to build up that much firepower without your opponent preventing it; and B) you don't have the command points to get that much firepower on the table. Any deck can generate 50-60 points of damage if given enough time and command points. Duels are a *much* different game than the one Mogwai seems to be referring to, at least as i have experienced them. Related thread to follow.....Lobo

Posted: 05 September 2008 at 2:24pm | IP Logged

with the right card combo scorpeads can do  that easily bu trun 3/4.  Look at Galactic wars turn 4  An S9 battleship with a sysop/future ship and extreme  phaser refit.  with a S7 battlecruser.  With the terrain to engage the S9 fully w/ x3 phaser mag and the S7 engaged allow the sysop to give the future ship to the S7 and The Comet of lore to allow the S9 to give the S7 the phaser Mag, you get 20 phasers doing 3 damage each for 60 points of damage.  The total number of cards needed are 8 or 9.

Posted: 05 September 2008 at 3:40pm | IP Logged

-I think i see yer points, and the deck i have slapped together for this monday's game actually does the command point thing pretty well now that i look at it. I may try to piece my Scorpead deck together again and tell Galaktische to break out his J'xar for an ol' style beat-down. We've been trying new and interesting things to stretch the use of our collections, but i forsee massive explosions in the near future.

Thanks for the replies all, and Mogwai remind me never to play with you if you can crank out 60 points of damage during one turn ;^)

Lobo

Posted: 05 October 2008 at 8:53am | IP Logged

I usually play with bases up to 10. Including the vektrean starbases (9 and 10), the b9 starbase and b7 academy usually gives me more than sufficient commandpoints (and damage) to wipe most opponents.

An added benefit of bases is the use of the quartermaster giving me extra card-draws.