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Storm King
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| Posted: 20 April 2008 at 10:00am | IP Logged
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Ok, so I got my crads from ebay and I'm looking at deck construction, acquiring additional cards, etc. As I'm browsing these forums I see several different "useful cards" posts which have them broken down by set...however, I'm not a complete noob and have played countless ccgs over the years so I understand combos, themes, etc that require cards that might not normally be useful.
So, what I would like to ask: What would be the absolute essential cards that can be the building blocks for deck building? You know, the "5 star" rated cards from the old ccg mags (I know that as mostly for MTG)? I would love to have the time to sit down and read every card text and play countless matches to try stuff out like in the old days, but that won't happen now.
Not to mention that for all of the game changers in the expansions, there must be cards from Primary, Universe, etc. that were put in all those base sets for a reason.
Thanks in advance for any responses.
Bruce
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RobPro
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| Posted: 20 April 2008 at 10:29am | IP Logged
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This forum doesn't like it when I do links, so search for my Vektrean deck and take a look at the cards in the last version of it (the more recent posts).
I'd consider a lot of those cards to be "building blocks" in that they are universally decent, but individual deck strategies may have you remove some to include others.
Edited by RobPro on 20 April 2008 at 10:31am
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Storm King
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| Posted: 22 April 2008 at 5:39pm | IP Logged
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Wow, kinda crazy with a whole lot of cards. Not sure I'll have one of ten of the stuff in your deck-hard to sort through 150+ cards and decide what is useful. Was thinking more of some obvious cards that people would start decks with. Thanks for the reply though...
Bruce
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RobPro
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| Posted: 22 April 2008 at 6:00pm | IP Logged
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Well, a lot of the cards I put in each section, aside from the ships and T/B's, are cards you might start with. The terrains especially have a general synergy with most decks, but also the Luck and Occurrence cards do, too.
Edit: I'll see if I can give what I would consider to be the 5 most "optimal" choices from each category a little later, working on three papers due tomorrow at the moment. :)
Edited by RobPro on 22 April 2008 at 6:00pm
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Galaktische
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| Posted: 22 April 2008 at 7:29pm | IP Logged
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If I were to pick 5 cards that I'd put into just about any deck they would have to be - in order (my notes are from memory so sue if they are slightly off).
5 : S10 Indirigan Battleship (in most decks it doesn't take a command slot, it is a beefy body, and it has decent weapons)
4 : T4 White Dwarf (Before all of the promo terrain hit it was essential for its increase in terrain strength, it still finds a use by doubling all of the combined terrains output)
3 : R/C9 Temporal Engineer (Allows the location to ignore one volley and allows you to draw 2 cards when played - simply awesome).
2 : R/L8 Twist of Fate (Really good for voiding a card your opponent just played)
1 : R/O1 Time Skip (The ultimate fix anything for one turn card. You can't count on them to win the game by themselves but they can certainly mess up your opponents combat math).
There are others I like as well the breakdown cards are surprisingly good, the peace treaties are useful for catching up when an opponent is winning, I also like the bigger, harder hitting monsters they can finish off a weakened ship or three when the foe least expects it.
Is this more like what you're looking for?
J--
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RobPro
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| Posted: 22 April 2008 at 8:24pm | IP Logged
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Here's Rob's school of GE deckbuilding theory. :)
Terrain
Helix Crystal - A way to kill that unkillable terrain, hard to get rid of once it's in play
T4 Reactionary World - Absolutely ridiculous, if you get to use it twice then it was easily one of the best deck choices you made
T5 Galactic Trade World - I usually stock one in my reserve fleet, a T5 that adds 2 strength to all crew on it, makes 5 economy, and has shields + half damage/card immunities... where's the flaw?
T7 Fantasy System - It basically gives you a free card play every turn. These add up FAST, this is a great way to use your extra card draws that you get from any of the "draw engines" you'll need to use to keep up in GE.
T8 Chronos - Easily the best terrain to stack your crew/ability/equipment/base/etc. cards because it is one of the hardest terrains in the game to kill or phase out due to it's "immune to time cards" ability, plus it makes great points. I usually put this in my reserve.
Occurence
R/O1 Time Skip - Saves you at least once in every game, or it screws your opponent horribly at least once per game. Amazing card that has nearly-unlimited uses.
R/O5 Stolen Technology - Everyone plays Technological Breakthroughs, this is a potential reserve fleet card because everyone at my table is running the max number allowed of each of these cards (the O6 and O8 tech breakthroughs, I'd put them on this list but they are no-brainers)
R/O8 Reserve Fleet Call Up - Read it closely folks, "moves two cards" into the fleet. Draw this in your opening hand, play a ship turn 1, and then move 2 more in from your reserve fleet to get 3 ships to turn on for turn 3. They don't count as played. Or you can use it to put two powerful combo pieces onto each other.
R/O8 Cessation of Fire - This card combats anyone who gets a ridiculous strategy in the early game so they can't wipe you out before you get some ships down. Also, it can stall late game if you force it through their "counters."
O10 Time Portal - If you time your card plays right, this lets you recur a Tech Breakthrough or other useful card -every turn.- You can't NOT use this kind of power, especially in a game that will drag on for a long time
Luck
R/L4 Miscommunication - This card can steal a game, using one opponent to wipe out another or come close to wiping out his (or her) own terrain so the next player can finish it off. This card is very very good, especially when nobody is expecting it or has a Luck Demon in play.
L7 Artifact - Star Gate - Amazing card, gives you an extra card play. Card plays are a HUGE part of resource management in GE, as the only cards that protect your HQ and can damage an opponents usually need to be played on your turn, and you'll need a lot of card plays to force some of your threats and defense to hit the table.
L8 Call it Good - Got a huge fleet but not enough terrain? Sometimes you get screwed like that, but you had plenty of command points to mass guys and nobody bothered to kill them because you can't turn them on. This card says "LOL, I win now thx" in that situation. Or if you had the resources, it allows you to apply the points to other things (enemy monsters, research developers, etc.)
R/L8 Twist of Fate/Vacuum Effect - These two guys are general purpose removal. These 4 cards aren't time cards and can get rid of any 1 card your opponent is throwing down, for a turn or potentially the rest of the game. You need these to get rid of pesky Scintillating Dragonesses and other annoying cards.
L9 Accelerated Timeline - This card can be amazing if you have 10+ cards of goodness on your 3rd or 4th turn, especially if you're holding a Discard Equivalency. It gets less useful later on because, while you may have better stuff, your opponents probably won't let it resolve. I find this card to be the "Black Lotus" of GE, not in value but in the way they operate.
Crew
R/C4 Marine - This guy is necessary because people will try to kill your screw, if you play them, or you'll want to kill your opponent crew at some point. I can guarantee you that if you are playing with 3+ people, someone will play that C10 War Prophet you just can't stand.
Cyber Mages -The C6 and the C4 are great draw engines, I recommend only running 1 C4 since he was usually be lower strength than a C6 and can get you a few extra draws/plays for some turns, but you should run max number of the C6. What I'll do is put him in my reserve fleet one game, and then the next game when everyone has a double agent or other card that kills him, I'll throw in a combo that gives me an extra draw that isn't a crew.
R/C9 Temporal Engineer - This guy does 3 amazing things: draws you 2 cards right away, saves a ship, and/or gets you back an amazing draw card. No reason not to run 2 of this guy, he's that good.
C10 War Prophet - This guy can wreck your opponents gameplan, and he gets better as there are more players in the game (though harder to keep alive).
C10 Spiritual Leader - This guy is the ultimate monster killer, and if you put him next to any other crew you get their functions twice. Two volleys ignored with the prophet, two cards negated with a time knight, etc.
Monsters
M4 Planet Gouge - One of the best ways to kill planets, very effective
M7 Astromorph - One of the best non-ship damage sources, works really well to eat your opponents ships up
R/M8 Time Defiler - Great way to negate occurrences, don't forget this guy can stop a stolen tech or time skip.
R/M9 Luck Demon - Easily one of the most powerful effects in the game, I always stock at least these two as exceptions even if I'm not using monsters.
Bases
B1 Pirate Outpost - Makes any terrain immune to attack from any ship that doesn't have police or pirate in its title, which can buy your reactionary world several turns of activations until people get hip to your jive
B10 Science Academy - Great way to shut down opponent monsters.
Ability
A6 Promotion - Two uses from a crew, pretty self explanatory
A6 Double Agent - Usually someone will be happy to let you share their crew than let you destroy it, so you can get some extra card plays/draws/negations until someone else kills it, and the best part is the guy you play it to may try and protect it. This is a good reserve fleet choice if you know people will play crew in theirs.
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Some types I only came up with less than 5, some I could have listed more, but I tried to pick cards that get across the "play theories" I use when I'm in a game.
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Storm King
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| Posted: 23 April 2008 at 6:38am | IP Logged
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Awesome, I'm now in a good position to start looking for cards. Thanks much!
Bruce
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RobPro
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| Posted: 23 April 2008 at 1:46pm | IP Logged
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Storm King wrote:
Awesome, I'm now in a good position to start looking for cards. Thanks much!
Bruce |
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Do you have any thoughts on what we posted above? Was this how you guys played it in the "golden years"?
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Storm King
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| Posted: 23 April 2008 at 7:06pm | IP Logged
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Yeah, my thoughts are that it was a big help- reading card text at this early point does not allow me to draw conclusions right away.
As far as remembering how we made our decks- the last thing I remember is New Empires coming out and then a couple guys dumped their cards for some other game and I as stuck with about 5000 cards and no opponents. And those years were probably tin anyway.
Thanks for all the work.
Bruce
Edited by Storm King on 23 April 2008 at 7:07pm
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Biegel
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| Posted: 29 April 2008 at 1:26pm | IP Logged
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Bumptiy Bump Bump Jist keepin in the now
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mostspaceman
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RobPro
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| Posted: 30 April 2008 at 5:11pm | IP Logged
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Don't be afraid to post a decklist once you have something, Bruce.
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Gekonauak
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| Posted: 01 May 2008 at 9:06am | IP Logged
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yeah, and maybe someday i'll create a list of useful cards for the core sets.
Maybe.
Edited by Gekonauak on 01 May 2008 at 9:06am
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RobPro
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| Posted: 01 May 2008 at 5:56pm | IP Logged
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While you did make lists, you didn't expand on them in a way I did. Do you think it would be worthwhile for us to list pros/cons to the cards in your useful cards threads, so you can edit the threads with our feedback on the card?
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Biegel
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| Posted: 02 May 2008 at 2:44am | IP Logged
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Geko don't forget to include Earth.
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mostspaceman
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Gekonauak
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| Posted: 02 May 2008 at 7:58am | IP Logged
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why do you think Earth is a useful card?
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Gekonauak
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| Posted: 02 May 2008 at 8:00am | IP Logged
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RobPro wrote:
While you did make lists, you didn't expand on them in a way I did. Do you think it would be worthwhile for us to list pros/cons to the cards in your useful cards threads, so you can edit the threads with our feedback on the card?
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Yes, that would be good.
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Storm King
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| Posted: 02 May 2008 at 9:46am | IP Logged
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I agree that it would be very helpful, but maybe not for old timers.
I guess it depends on how many newbs/returning players are visiting the forums, now or in the future. For the people that hang here regularly it is probably redundant and not of much value but to me it is indispensible. If the game is to ever appeal to anyone outside this small niche of people who are still paying attention- and I'm not saying it would or that this forum even catres to that reasoning- then please, please think about it.
And it doesn't matter what format, as long as it helps.
Bruce
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RobPro
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| Posted: 02 May 2008 at 1:36pm | IP Logged
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Yeah, but we could make these forums into a sort of "expert system" on those sets/cards, explaining why the cards are good and how they might be used.
This would let someone new know how we evaluate cards, so they'd be able to start making their own decisions about what to put into their decks and how to play them once they're in a game.
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Biegel
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| Posted: 03 May 2008 at 8:47pm | IP Logged
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Gekonauak wrote:
| why do you think Earth is a useful card? |
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Without Mother Earth most of us wouldn't be here. And it gives those desperate folks a way to end it all when your pulling their wings off after you drew them into your web. Du Dah../
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mostspaceman
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Gekonauak
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| Posted: 05 May 2008 at 9:00am | IP Logged
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It is also a joke. :)
The game does not end because the card is discarded.
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Gekonauak
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| Posted: 09 May 2008 at 9:15am | IP Logged
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RobPro wrote:
While you did make lists, you didn't expand on them in a way I did. Do you think it would be worthwhile for us to list pros/cons to the cards in your useful cards threads, so you can edit the threads with our feedback on the card?
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Anytime that you want to start this would be fine. :P
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RobPro
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| Posted: 09 May 2008 at 11:46pm | IP Logged
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I'm home for the summer now, so expect some posts throughout the week. ;)
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Biegel
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| Posted: 12 May 2008 at 8:06am | IP Logged
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Geko I was not aware of this fact that the game does not end because earth is destroyed. Could you direct me to some rule stated that in Earths case card rule does not overide game rule. I actualy believed this to be the case. I thought it was designed to use if you had many more points scored aginst your oppanant but suddenly were in deep due due
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mostspaceman
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Gekonauak
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| Posted: 12 May 2008 at 8:41am | IP Logged
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No, it was designed, like most of Comedy Club, to be a joke.
If Earth was destroyed, the game would surely end; since the people playing the game would, more than likely, be destroyed with it.
Edited by Gekonauak on 12 May 2008 at 8:43am
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Gekonauak
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Which is why we said "if at any time the Earth is destroyed" instead of using the familiar, "when this card is destroyed/discarded" or somethig similar.
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Galactic Empires : Deck Construction and Strategy
Topic: Building Blocks
