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(+1)

Love the artwork, and the free cardboard that's hostile to everybody is very cool!

I was wondering about their draw power and how the Bearcats get any cards from the shared deck. They draw three per turn, plus one per bulletin, but only from their own propaganda deck. Is there any way for them to get cards from the shared deck into their hands? It seems as though they will never draw standard cards, and so will also be unable to craft items or cards from the standard deck, as they won't draw them (outside of the Bearcat Justice card I guess).

That also makes me wonder what the purpose of bulletins is. If they never draw anything to craft, they aren't useful as crafting pieces. They are great to increase draw power (since it seems the bearcats basically take one action per card they start their turn with) but seem potentially very punishing to lose as they could banish a necessary action from the game.

I love the idea of deck building, but since a good deck in most deckbuilding games is consistent and gives the actions needed reliably every turn, keeping the Bearcat deck small (or matching your draw limit rather) seems most advantageous. However, the swarm deck will only grow over time as other players discard their propaganda cards, and you as the Bearcat player have no way to control which cards are removed from it, short of the bearcat justice, something they may not even draw consistently to begin with. Then you may not draw it on the same round that you play a card you want to remove from play! Then there's the random chance of losing this vital card to a destroyed bulletin! Since it seems to be both the only way to control their own deck building and the only way they can get any cards from the shared deck, it seems like an incredibly valuable card that won't be able to be used often enough to give the deck the consistency it needs to be effective.

Having said all that, I love the idea here! The theme is unique, the separate deck and action mechanics are cool, and I love the deck builder idea as it's something we don't really have yet in Root! Also the bad press tokens are inspired and give the Bearcats another way to increase their scoring consistency. I think this is a very cool faction!

(1 edit)

You're writeup is very much appreciated, I can tell you definitely put a lot of work into understanding these guys through and through, let alone articulating your thoughts on them. 

So that's totally my bad. The starting cards are included, and setup says you begin with those starting cards in the swarm draw pile... But I forgot to include the info that you actually get two of each in the starting pile. So usually you'll have both of those "draw a card (from the normal deck)" actions show up in your first two turns, and have the opportunity to "counterfeit" and do that action again. (Counterfeit is definitely getting nerfed, it's causing lots of issues lol). Hopefully you also get more of the upgraded "draw from the deck" cards during the game as well

Hopefully this ability to actually pull craftable cards also incentivizes the bulletins :P

On the subject of the deckbuilding... Bearcat justice can also be taken again using counterfeit, but I agree that even that isn't enough! I want to give em more opportunities to curate their deck, and use the cool mechanic of removing cards from the game. One change I may make is so you CHOOSE the card you lose when a bulletin is removed, but I'm also looking for other options as well. 

Thanks again for the feedback especially on the deck-building curation and mechanics, you've definitely got your finger on the pulse and given me a lot to consider moving forward!

(+1)

Oh awesome! I was sure I must have missed something. You're right that counterfeit can help with the consistency and make the justice more useful so long as it shows up in your hand after those first turns. Also, I'm realizing I misunderstood when you reshuffle, so that'll help a lot with consistency! Given you don't reshuffle the deck until it runs out, and never collect your revealed cards, your judge can just lurk out on the table between rounds and you can keep banishing/drawing with counterfeit for that time. I guess that makes the weakest point for the faction just after their first reshuffle, and then any point where they would draw and can't because the stack is empty, triggering an immediate reshuffle. The rounds after that they'll struggle with consistency because their "library" of actions on the table has been discarded.

What were you considering for the counterfeit nerf?

The banishing mechanic is super cool and useful for a deck builder, so if this faction continues building decks, I hope it survives!

Also, I don't think I've stressed enough how unbelievably cool your art is! It all looks great!

Yeah you're totally digging deep into some of the interesting quirks and thought experiments these Bearcats can lead to. Especially regarding when the shuffle will happen. I had been considering only allowing the reshuffle to happen at end of turn, but I landed on the current version just outta curiosity:P

For counterfeit nerf I was maybe considering having to spend a card MATCHING THE SUIT of the propaganda card (unless it's a starter). Just since for the draw, points and justice cards there's not really any limiter. Like you could technically banker your whole hand in a way...

I hope these guys survive too, but I've got a looooootta balancing left to do. I appreciate the help so much so far!

And thanks a ton about the art! I'm really happy with how they turned out, especially the Bearcat buddy on the faction board :) means a lot