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sniffnoy(NOTE: Added third-to-last paragraph shortly after writing this, as I meant to include it originally but forgot. Also minor edits.)
Or, mostly over. I may be home, but I still have a bunch of grad school apps to get in by tomorrow. (And even more by various later dates, but about those I am not worrying so much.)
Question 1: Who's home? Mickey, you're going to be home soon, right? Are you still going to be running that Paranoia game?
Jasper has started D&D in Tufts. I'm not playing, but I feel like this is a good sign that next quarter has the potential to be a lot more fun.
I have, however, brought home a lot of the games that I don't play so much anymore, as Mom has suggested I start clearing out my room. Unfortunately I never got around to selling any of my books last quarter; I'll have to do that. In the meantime I've brought home some of the ones that I don't want to sell but don't really have an immediate use for, either.
Still, most of the games that actually get played now will be there next quarter, I think Jasper intends to bring some more, and hopefully Youlian brings RoboRally. Also I introduced Bohnanza to Jasper, Winston, and Youlian, yesterday; I'm kind of surprised Winston and Youlian hadn't seen it at all before.
Speaking of next quarter, I have no idea what I'm taking next quarter, aside from algebra. I figure I'll take manifolds third quarter (because that's something I really need to learn), but next quarter? I have no idea. I just haven't had time to think about it.
Also: Nadja reports that Shuo intends to visit on January 5th! Which is Monday of 1st week. Unfortunately it takes people rather more than a day to become properly afraid of her. :)
So having read sirlin.net[0] for a while, I finally decided to try this "Kongai" game he designed. (Read a description, and a brief history of the game's design, here. I feel like there used to be more about the game on the old site, but maybe I'm misremembering.) (Wai Lee, this is the game you saw me playing that I said was based on Pokemon.)
So I started playing the game - I picked Rumiko, the Marquis, and Onimaru as my starters[3] - and at first I just played unranked matches. I started playing challenges to get cards (because hey, these games are actually kind of fun) and picked up a few random drops...
Well, eventually, after playing a while and seeing who I had trouble against, and also not getting many cards as random drops are rare and I had just started, I decided to go and buy some cards. Oh, crap, you can't just buy $1 worth of Kreds? You have to put in $5? Well I guess I'll buy 5 then - I just got some money for my birthday after all, I can afford it.
Well, this turned out to be kind of a good thing. If I had just bought 1, I would only have gotten Helene, but it turned out I didn't actually like Helene very much. (What I bought was characters with disruption moves - Helene, Popo, Higashi - and items to speed them up - Valkyrie's Charm, Quickening Powder.) I think at that time much of the problem I had against Helene was that I was only beginning to take into consideration how much energy the enemy had when evaluating what they might do, and so was attempting to avoid a Shield Bash at times when she didn't actually have the energy to use it. Or, maybe not. Either way, the deck I'm currently using only uses one of the 5 cards I bought, my last choice: Higashi. My current deck is the same as my starter deck, except with Higashi in the place of Onimaru. And, of course, with some items. If I buy more cards, that's what I want - some better items for my martial artists! Caltrops and Scroll of Inner Focus, namely. Currently the Marquis is equipped with the Phylactery, Rumiko has the Yellow Rock of Cowards, and Higashi has the Healing Salve. But I think Caltrops and Scroll of Inner Focus could really improve them - or possibly the Stoneheel Totem - and I suspect the Marquis might be better with the Necronomic Tome or the General's Insignia.
As for characters, I really like my current trio (Rumiko seems to be the weakest, but I don't really see any need to replace her, though perhaps I should be thinking about it). If I buy any more cards anytime soon, they're going to be items. But for now I'm sticking with what I can get for free.
Also, at first I was just playing unranked matches, figuring I'd switch to ranked matches once I got a little better. Well, finally I think I want to start playing ranked matches, but there's a problem - there's hardly anybody playing ranked matches! Fortunately, the people at Kongregate fixed that problem for me soon afterward by making ranked matches the default. Good old psychology. Now I'm skill rank 13, which before I started actually playing ranked matches, I thought was impressive. :P (Presumably because it takes quite a while to make it to "L13" under the "level" system.) But it's not till skill rank 29 that the ranking system stops going easy on you. Of course, now that ranked matches are the default, you always see people in the chatbox on the side asking "What happened to the 'leave' button?" They don't seem to realize the unranked option is still there, or exists at all if they're new, or perhaps they just don't realize the button that doesn't explicitly say "unranked" is, yes, ranked. (Previously it explicitly said "ranked match" instead of "Play 3-card".)
It is interesting to see how I had misevaluated some cards at first. For a long time, I assumed Andromeda had to be pretty bad - I mean, OK, -5 to maneuver costs, but that doesn't seem like enough. Maybe if it were -10 to maneuver costs, I'd consider it. Then I actually play against her - which for a long time, I hadn't; for a long time I had never seen anyone playing either Cornelius or Andromeda - and I realize, holy crap, her attacks are cheap! I mean, she can change range to far, and even if this uses up all her energy, she has a 0-cost attack she can use! (Provided she hasn't used it the previous turn.)
Also: This isn't listed in the rulebook, but apparently, if 5 turns pass with neither side attacking or switching, maneuvers become free for the next turn - but only for actually changing the range, not for keeping it the same. I found this out in a game just now, in a case of Marquis vs. Quarterback at far range. All of the quarterback's long range attacks are multi-hit dark magic, so the Marquis isn't affected (or if the quarterback does Voidstream enough times, the Marquis will then be affected a little). And I figured I had the advantage at close range as well, given the current situation. IIRC, he was at low enough health that I could kill him with a single Vampiric Touch, which I had more than enough energy to do, including after a Teleport, and, sure, I'd get hit by Tackle in return, but so what? So I intercept, and he rests. "Trying to be tricky," I think, and intercept again, and rest again. I figure, he's trying to get me thinking he's not going to switch out, when really he is - so I intercept again, and this time, he intercepts. I don't see why - it looks to me like I clearly have the advantage here. I mean, if I didn't think he was going to switch out, I'd just cast teleport, cancelling his attack, and then as I said I was pretty certain I had the advantage at close range as well. So next turn, guess what? I intercept. He intercepts. Figuring once again he's trying to fool me into not intercepting, I intercept, and he intercepts. At this point I figure, "OK, he really means it", and intend to cast Teleport, but then the notice comes up saying "Range changes are free this turn!" I pass, figuring I have the advantage either way; sure enough, he gets close, and I use Vampiric Touch, he uses Tackle, and he dies. What was he thinking? (He then proceeded to bring in Juju, eventually first intercept and then land a Touch of Doom on me; I kill him, he switches to his last character, Andromeda, gets far, kills me, I switch to my last character, Higashi (Rumiko having died much earlier), and he's in a position where there's absolutely no way for him to avoid a Chi Blast, making it one of the rare time I actually use that move; I kill him next turn.)
-Harry
[0]For those not familiar: David Sirlin is a game designer and a pro-level Street Fighter 2 player, and he did the rebalancing on Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo: HD Remix.
[3]Here's a listing of all the cards, or here's it showing which ones I currently have.
Or, mostly over. I may be home, but I still have a bunch of grad school apps to get in by tomorrow. (And even more by various later dates, but about those I am not worrying so much.)
Question 1: Who's home? Mickey, you're going to be home soon, right? Are you still going to be running that Paranoia game?
Jasper has started D&D in Tufts. I'm not playing, but I feel like this is a good sign that next quarter has the potential to be a lot more fun.
I have, however, brought home a lot of the games that I don't play so much anymore, as Mom has suggested I start clearing out my room. Unfortunately I never got around to selling any of my books last quarter; I'll have to do that. In the meantime I've brought home some of the ones that I don't want to sell but don't really have an immediate use for, either.
Still, most of the games that actually get played now will be there next quarter, I think Jasper intends to bring some more, and hopefully Youlian brings RoboRally. Also I introduced Bohnanza to Jasper, Winston, and Youlian, yesterday; I'm kind of surprised Winston and Youlian hadn't seen it at all before.
Speaking of next quarter, I have no idea what I'm taking next quarter, aside from algebra. I figure I'll take manifolds third quarter (because that's something I really need to learn), but next quarter? I have no idea. I just haven't had time to think about it.
Also: Nadja reports that Shuo intends to visit on January 5th! Which is Monday of 1st week. Unfortunately it takes people rather more than a day to become properly afraid of her. :)
So having read sirlin.net[0] for a while, I finally decided to try this "Kongai" game he designed. (Read a description, and a brief history of the game's design, here. I feel like there used to be more about the game on the old site, but maybe I'm misremembering.) (Wai Lee, this is the game you saw me playing that I said was based on Pokemon.)
So I started playing the game - I picked Rumiko, the Marquis, and Onimaru as my starters[3] - and at first I just played unranked matches. I started playing challenges to get cards (because hey, these games are actually kind of fun) and picked up a few random drops...
Well, eventually, after playing a while and seeing who I had trouble against, and also not getting many cards as random drops are rare and I had just started, I decided to go and buy some cards. Oh, crap, you can't just buy $1 worth of Kreds? You have to put in $5? Well I guess I'll buy 5 then - I just got some money for my birthday after all, I can afford it.
Well, this turned out to be kind of a good thing. If I had just bought 1, I would only have gotten Helene, but it turned out I didn't actually like Helene very much. (What I bought was characters with disruption moves - Helene, Popo, Higashi - and items to speed them up - Valkyrie's Charm, Quickening Powder.) I think at that time much of the problem I had against Helene was that I was only beginning to take into consideration how much energy the enemy had when evaluating what they might do, and so was attempting to avoid a Shield Bash at times when she didn't actually have the energy to use it. Or, maybe not. Either way, the deck I'm currently using only uses one of the 5 cards I bought, my last choice: Higashi. My current deck is the same as my starter deck, except with Higashi in the place of Onimaru. And, of course, with some items. If I buy more cards, that's what I want - some better items for my martial artists! Caltrops and Scroll of Inner Focus, namely. Currently the Marquis is equipped with the Phylactery, Rumiko has the Yellow Rock of Cowards, and Higashi has the Healing Salve. But I think Caltrops and Scroll of Inner Focus could really improve them - or possibly the Stoneheel Totem - and I suspect the Marquis might be better with the Necronomic Tome or the General's Insignia.
As for characters, I really like my current trio (Rumiko seems to be the weakest, but I don't really see any need to replace her, though perhaps I should be thinking about it). If I buy any more cards anytime soon, they're going to be items. But for now I'm sticking with what I can get for free.
Also, at first I was just playing unranked matches, figuring I'd switch to ranked matches once I got a little better. Well, finally I think I want to start playing ranked matches, but there's a problem - there's hardly anybody playing ranked matches! Fortunately, the people at Kongregate fixed that problem for me soon afterward by making ranked matches the default. Good old psychology. Now I'm skill rank 13, which before I started actually playing ranked matches, I thought was impressive. :P (Presumably because it takes quite a while to make it to "L13" under the "level" system.) But it's not till skill rank 29 that the ranking system stops going easy on you. Of course, now that ranked matches are the default, you always see people in the chatbox on the side asking "What happened to the 'leave' button?" They don't seem to realize the unranked option is still there, or exists at all if they're new, or perhaps they just don't realize the button that doesn't explicitly say "unranked" is, yes, ranked. (Previously it explicitly said "ranked match" instead of "Play 3-card".)
It is interesting to see how I had misevaluated some cards at first. For a long time, I assumed Andromeda had to be pretty bad - I mean, OK, -5 to maneuver costs, but that doesn't seem like enough. Maybe if it were -10 to maneuver costs, I'd consider it. Then I actually play against her - which for a long time, I hadn't; for a long time I had never seen anyone playing either Cornelius or Andromeda - and I realize, holy crap, her attacks are cheap! I mean, she can change range to far, and even if this uses up all her energy, she has a 0-cost attack she can use! (Provided she hasn't used it the previous turn.)
Also: This isn't listed in the rulebook, but apparently, if 5 turns pass with neither side attacking or switching, maneuvers become free for the next turn - but only for actually changing the range, not for keeping it the same. I found this out in a game just now, in a case of Marquis vs. Quarterback at far range. All of the quarterback's long range attacks are multi-hit dark magic, so the Marquis isn't affected (or if the quarterback does Voidstream enough times, the Marquis will then be affected a little). And I figured I had the advantage at close range as well, given the current situation. IIRC, he was at low enough health that I could kill him with a single Vampiric Touch, which I had more than enough energy to do, including after a Teleport, and, sure, I'd get hit by Tackle in return, but so what? So I intercept, and he rests. "Trying to be tricky," I think, and intercept again, and rest again. I figure, he's trying to get me thinking he's not going to switch out, when really he is - so I intercept again, and this time, he intercepts. I don't see why - it looks to me like I clearly have the advantage here. I mean, if I didn't think he was going to switch out, I'd just cast teleport, cancelling his attack, and then as I said I was pretty certain I had the advantage at close range as well. So next turn, guess what? I intercept. He intercepts. Figuring once again he's trying to fool me into not intercepting, I intercept, and he intercepts. At this point I figure, "OK, he really means it", and intend to cast Teleport, but then the notice comes up saying "Range changes are free this turn!" I pass, figuring I have the advantage either way; sure enough, he gets close, and I use Vampiric Touch, he uses Tackle, and he dies. What was he thinking? (He then proceeded to bring in Juju, eventually first intercept and then land a Touch of Doom on me; I kill him, he switches to his last character, Andromeda, gets far, kills me, I switch to my last character, Higashi (Rumiko having died much earlier), and he's in a position where there's absolutely no way for him to avoid a Chi Blast, making it one of the rare time I actually use that move; I kill him next turn.)
-Harry
[0]For those not familiar: David Sirlin is a game designer and a pro-level Street Fighter 2 player, and he did the rebalancing on Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo: HD Remix.
[3]Here's a listing of all the cards, or here's it showing which ones I currently have.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-15 09:41 pm (UTC)Incidentally, my public key is in my LJ profile if you lost it in your computer switch. :-P
no subject
Date: 2008-12-15 10:09 pm (UTC)Hm, it's possible. All you Tuftsians reading this, what do you say to a oneshot Paranoia game run by Mickey here when he's visiting Chicago during 2nd week?
Incidentally, my public key is in my LJ profile if you lost it in your computer switch. :-P
No, I have it. Now what was a problem was that for a while I didn't have my private key - it took me a while to determine just where that was located...