If you were in Slave 3m I would very much like to hear from you about the game. If you played one of the new characters which included Architect, Skip Tracer, Arms Dealer, Warlord or Scavenger I would appreciate your feedback.
For information about the setup of the new characters please look up the Forum Post titled 'Playtesting New Characters'.
1) Arms Dealer - scored very poorly and it takes too long to create ships. Basically in this game he needed 4 ships/4metal to create 1 ship to the homefleet. He gets 8 points per ship built. I think his susceptibility to being shot and his poor firepower are essential elements cuzz if he is powered up he can't be allowed to use his own ships for a military advantage. He must sell them.
I'm thinking that we shouldn't allow him to double or triple load metal because that makes him able to compete for the trader's business. But perhaps he should be able to create 1 ship for every 2 metal he has on board. Also he should probably get a few more points - let's say 10/ship built.
2) Architect - I played this one to 2nd place. In keeping with using my powers for Starbridge building I tried not to get directly involved in fighting. Unfortunately I did want to fight Roger and that probably cost me the game (one more bridge and I could have won). I figured out some good strategies for using the bridges to get closer to an enemy HW and to link allied HWs to improve firepower of my alliance. I don't think this position needs a boost.
3) Warlord - His 1.5 shots per ship makes him an impressive foe. This position has been tried now in 4 games and in a game where I've given it 2.0 shots/ship and resistance to being shot the position is a bit too powerful. Unfortunately our Warlord was in a very successful military alliance and was in 8th place with less than 1/3 the score. I think this position just needs a boost in points for his military ventures. I'm thinking of doubling his scoring so it looks like this.
Points Per Ship Destroyed = 10
Points Per Target Ship Destroyed = 20
Points Per Fleet Captured = 40
Points Per Target Fleet Captured = 80
Points Per World Captured = 150
Points Per Target World Captured = 300
4) Skip Tracer - Our Skip ran around the universe and was everywhere. He ranked 4rth and his score was only 1000 off the win. I noticed him running thru enemy territory with his drive to get more points for new worlds visited and his relative resistance to ambush. He fulfilled the role of being motivated to spy on unallied territory cuzz he couldn't maintain scoring by just flying thru his known allied area. I think this character was just right.
5) Scavenger - hard to say about this position. He was under fire from the winner of the game. Any position will look poor if it's losing a military battle. So it's hard to say whether he needs beefing up in score or power. But he does have the ability to scavenge ships he destroys and capture neutral keys. So he is better off in battle than an emperor, positronix, trader or collector. Despite this he ranked 9th and his scoring was all geared to capturing ships and keys at 10 a piece. My inclination is even if he loses a war he should have destroyed some enemy ships and died with a decent score. This doesn't appear to have happened. So I think I would boost this player to get more points. Let say 20/ship captured and 15/key owned.
It will obviously take a few playtests to get the balance of power and scoring correct. I'm giving this post about a week for feedback then I'm going to setup a new playtest. Perhaps sometime soon these characters will get a template by RSW and be offered as standard positions throughout their games.
Ok - now talk to me
.Elliot
Somnos
