Whenever one does any task for an extended period of time, a kind of automatic wisdom arises. Said person no longer has to think about the task at hand, and instead simply performs it. When asked “how did you know to do X?” the performer, often with a confused look on his or her face, replies “I don’t really know…it’s just natural. I didn’t think about it.”
I’ve been playing some form of a tabletop strategy game for over 17 years now. At a young age I was obsessed with Monopoly and quickly learned that it was more a game of manipulation than anything else. I tried Checkers, Connect Four, and similar “patterned” games, but quickly moved on.
I got into Pokemon for a stint, and then into Magic when I was around 11 and played fervently for a while before I got hooked on Mage Knight. After that, it was the Star Wars TCG. I played that competitively for a long time, and did quite well, but then it died. I picked up Star Wars Minis, but interest there faded as well – it just didn’t have the heavy strategic element that I was looking for.
Soon after, I found Chess, and became addicted for at least 2 years, probably longer. I read books, studied games from the 17-1800s (Morphy…the guy blows my mind), played at least 4 games a night, and even bought a program for my computer which allowed me to play ranked games whenever I desired. And yes, I read Sun-Tzu’s “Art of War” in order to be a better Chess player.
Once the Chess addiction had gotten a little more under control, Zach introduced me to this game called The Spoils, and after a few test games I was hooked. Here was a card game that was, beyond any doubt, the most tactical card game ever, yet is was simple, quick, and elegant. On top of all of that, the Spoils universe was captivating and undeniably entertaining. I played that competitively for years and did well (especially in Sealed), but then the Spoils died. I tried the Dragonball CCG for a few weeks but let’s face it, the game doesn’t hold a candle to Spoils, and it never will.
Then, this game called “Monsterpocalypse” was all the rage at GenCon and I told Zach that I enjoyed the idea of giant monsters destroying cities. He agreed and we picked it up – and now that consumes me. But, during the beginnings of Monpoc, the Spoils was picked up and is being resurrected through Arcane Tinmen. So, two gaming addictions are now at the forefront of my life. It’s great to find one incredible game that fulfills that strategy craving – but to find two at the same time? Heavenly.
Long story short, I’ve been involved with these kinds of games for a long time. I have, I would say, occasionally been too involved in them. When you get 3 hours of sleep every night because you are laying in bed for hours thinking about how best to synergize your army or deck, it is probably time to take a step back. But I never did, and honestly, that’s probably why I am here right now.
I wanted to write this article in order to impart what I feel to be one of the most important bits of wisdom for any strategic game, especially those that are collectible. This is wisdom that comes from playing these kinds of games for so long. It’s a concept that the best players of any game are going to adhere to. I call it “seeing through the shininess”.
What we’re talking about here is analysis – real analysis – of each figure from each set. We don’t care about what the miniature looks like, we don’t care about how beautiful the card is, all we care about is raw data. The stats, the abilities, and the cost. We are looking for the most optimized force in the game, and we cannot find it if we’re worried about fluff.
The concept is simple – look at the figure or card for EXACTLY what it is and what it is capable of RIGHT NOW in the format to which it will be played. Enough with this “If I have X, Y, and Z in my hand, then this card becomes awesome!” That’s how you lose. You have to evaluate each piece for its own merit. If any piece is only valuable if other pieces are on the table, you have to seriously question its place in your deck/army.
The most synergistic decks ALWAYS benefit from each card they draw. There are no “dead” cards. In the same way, the most synergistic armies ALWAYS benefit from the units they have in play, regardless of the circumstances.
Some evaluate a card or miniature with a specific formula, and for certain games this is possible. But what I am interested in here is the overarching concept, the one that precedes any formulas. So I do not have a checklist to go over when building a deck or army; all I have is a nagging voice in the back of my head that constantly asks “How circumstantial is this decision? Is this piece valuable in all situations? Is there something that would be more valuable in this slot?” You’ve got to constantly be asking yourself these questions.
Awareness of how games actually pan out is also extremely important. You might think to yourself, “Hm, this figure let’s me do X when I am within one space of an enemy unit, and X is amazing!” and then include this unit in your army. But what you failed to do is truly analyze the unit. What is its speed? Will it ever get to an enemy unit? What is its defense? Will it be able to survive the journey? Will the investment of moving this unit across the board be worth the effect? Is there a good chance that I will invest in the movement of this unit only to have it destroyed by my opponent’s units? These are the kinds of cold, unforgiving questions that you have to ask yourself. It may well be that “X” is awesome, but if the conditions necessary for “X” are unlikely in the context of actual gameplay, then the unit is worthless to you.
Along these same lines is awareness of the “metagame.” Metagame is a term used to describe the current environment of whatever game you are playing, such as the most common decks, armies, etc. If your force is susceptible to the kinds of decks/armies that you plan on seeing, then you’re going to lose. Evaluate pieces on their own and then evaluate them in light of the metagame. When you do both of these things, you will have the best force possible for the matches that you expect to see, but even if you do not see the matches that you expected, you’ll still have a good shot.
The best way to really dive into what I want to say here is to give examples based on my two favorite games, The Spoils and Monsterpocalypse.
The Spoils is one of the greatest game of all time. It’s the best card game that I’ve ever played. Zach and I have talked about what makes the Spoils “different” and what we keep coming back to is the fact that you look at a large majority of the cards and say “wow, this is a good card.” Almost every card has potential. There’s not one “I have to have this card to win” situation. Within each faction you can make a solid deck. With each splash you can add new, often powerful elements. The metagame reflects this because it is constantly changing – Schproing, 2D, Haze, SiN, Banker/Rage combo, Greed/Rage tempo, Elitism/Obsession combo, etc.
With all of these cards, it can be difficult to sort out the worthy from the unworthy, but after you play the game enough, it becomes easier. To start, let’s just look at a few cards.
So, keep in mind that Constructed decks can evaluate cards differently than Sealed decks can, but for the following, I’d just like to give a down-the-line analysis. It applies to both Sealed and Constructed, but just remember that with Constructed you have more freedom to “break the rules” of evaluation.
Circumspect Hijacker
With the Circumspect Hijacker, I want to point something out. Notice the “Retreat” ability. At first glance, it seems quite good – quite “shiny.” But of course we must delve further. First, at anytime, I can draw a card for 3 without destroying any of my characters, so paying 2 to draw is really not much of a discount. Of course, though, we would not just destroy the Hijacker for the card. There are three situations in which we would normally utilize this ability:
1) Attack with the Hijacker, knowing that all blockers are 2 health and 3 speed or less. The opponent blocks, both characters are headed for the discard pile, and I pay 2 to draw, effectively gaining an advantage from what would normally be an “even” trade.
2) Block with the Hijacker, destroy the blocking character, destroy the Hijacker to draw a card, again yielding an advantage.
3) Respond to a tactic played on the Hijacker in order to negate an advantage that my opponent might gain.
Now this sounds very nice. I can utilize the Hijacker to gain an advantage when both attacking and blocking. But things are not what they seem. When I am choosing to block, it is my opponent’s turn, so many times I will not have any resources undepleted. This makes the Hijacker just a 2/2/3 meat shield. If I do hold two resources, my opponent just chooses not to attack with any 2 health creatures. If this happens, I have wasted two resources, which gives my opponent a huge advantage. If I hold 3 resources, which is the most common play, then paying 2 to destroy the Hijacker is no better than paying 3 to draw a card. If I pay the two, I am just going to waste the 1 resource that is left. If I pay the 3, I waste no resources. Either way, I’m drawing a card.
One might say “but if I have a 1-cost card that I want to play, then that 2-cost draw is ideal” and yes, that is true. But you have fallen into the trap of shininess. If your deck has 5 one-cost tactics, all of which you will want to play when the Hijacker bites it, then “Retreat” is a great ability, as you will likely have the opportunity to do both. However, if you have 4 copies of a one-cost tactic, such as Brainbath, and you’re making the case that “Retreat” is good because you can use it and Brainbath with those 3 resources, instead of just drawing a card, you’ve been blinded by shininess. 75 card deck. 4 copies of Brainbath. 4 copies of Circumspect Hijacker. How often will it all line up? You do the math.
So the “Retreat” ability really only factors into the value of the card when it’s your turn, you haven’t spent any resources, and you can attack with Circumspect solo or in a party in such a way that any blocks are going to lead to an even trade. Sound a bit situational? I think so.
His threshold-driven ability, on the other hand, is wonderful. If I have 3 Greed, I get a free 2/2/3 character. I say free because the cost of drawing a card is 3, and the cost of playing Circumspect is 3, yet you also draw a card. So, by all means, if you are running a deck that consistently hits 3 Greed, Circumspect is a solid character. If you aren’t, he’s just a 2/2/3 with a shiny, yet somewhat useless, ability.
Contriving Engineer
I chose the Contriving Engineer next because I think him to be one fantastic card. 4 build for a 2/1/3 is lackluster, but you are getting those stats and that character for free. It costs 4 to play a resource, and it costs 4 to play a 2/1/3 that searches your deck for a resource and puts it into play. The only downside is that the resource comes into play attached, so you cannot immediately utilize it, but instead you get a 2/1/3 character who gives you resource advantage while not sacrificing too much tempo. Think about how this plays out – Turn 1, I play a resource, and play a 3 build character. My opponent does the same. Turn 2, I play a resource, play a 2/1/3 character, play another resource. My opponent plays a resource and plays a character. I now have 5 resources and they have 4. That’s HUGE in The Spoils. And Contriving is 1 threshold. Even though he might not fit your curve if you’re playing heavy aggro, he is the epitome of a beautifully efficient unit. Anytime I see Contriving, I am pleased. Whether it’s turn 2 or turn 20, resource advantage is always a good thing.
Scout
This is, hands-down, my favorite unit. If you’re looking for efficiency, he cannot be matched. So many people overlook Scout because there’s nothing fancy about him. But when is Scout bad? He doesn’t require anything. He is just a 3/3/4 for 4 build, and that’s unbelievable. There is something to be said for a card that is efficient AND useful regardless of circumstance. If I have character advantage, he’s good. If my opponent has character advantage, he’s good, if I have an even number of cards in my hand, he’s good, if I have no resources unattached, he’s good, if my opponent plays small characters, he’s good, if my opponent plays big characters, he’s good. If I could run a 75-card deck of nothing but Scouts, I would. Seriously. Paying 4 for a 3/3 with 4 speed is the best character cost/stat/threshold ratio you are going to find in this game. Goodbye Erotic Assassins.
So as you can see, you have to be aware of the shininess. You have to look at a card in the context of its actual ability. Some cards turn out to be as good as expected, while others become glaringly less-useful than first imagined. To further this analysis, let’s look at a few cards that do similar things.
All 3 cards require 2 Greed and are Tactics. If we had to include one in our deck, which one would it be?
Executive Poaching sounds nice. For 5 build, you destroy the highest cost character that your opponent controls.
This is terrible removal. It is way too restricted. See through the shininess. Feel the energy, flowing through you (cheers, Ken). There is nothing special here! The most expensive character on my opponent’s board is not always the one that I want to get rid of. What if I’m staring down Samuel Gristwalter + Union Leader? Poaching does nothing for me in this situation. What if my opponent has an out-of-control Slinking Bandido and I have no covert blockers? Poaching does nothing for me. Pluck? Nada. The simple truth is that often times the most game-changing cards are not the most expensive. You want a card that works in any situation, remember? Poaching isn’t that card.
So how about Anesthetizing Opulence? Much, much better. I can destroy any character for 4 build. The only downside is that my opponent gets to draw a card. When I value cards that give my opponent a benefit, I use a somewhat controversial system. I factor the cost that my opponent would have to pay for the benefit into the cost of the card I am evaluating. With Opulence, for instance, I see it as actually costing 7. My opponent would normally have to pay 3 to draw, so I’m effectively giving him those 3 points for free. If we’re dealing in a comparison between his resources and mine, him gaining three is the same as me losing three. The ratio stays true. So Opulence, when I’m looking at the scales of resource management, is a 7-cost card. Pay 7 -> Destroy a Character. It’s still not bad. It can be used on anything. It’s versatile, and because it only costs 4, it can be played early. That card that your opponent draws certainly does give them a leg up on tempo though, so it isn’t ideal. Also, let’s consider a troublemaker like Pluck. My opponent only spent 2 build to play him. If I then spend 4 build and give him a free card, I’ve put myself at a disadvantage. There’s got to be a better way.
Luckily, there is. Extravagant Contusion puts the other two removal cards to shame. Here we have a card that is efficient, versatile, and always useful. On top of that, your opponent gains nothing when you use it. If you need to remove a 4-cost character, pay 4. If you need to remove a 2-cost character, pay 2. If you need to remove a 10-cost character, pay 10. The worst case scenario? You cancel the resources that your opponent spent. He spends 4 to play Scout, I spend 4 to remove Scout. All is well. And the beauty of removal is that even if you’re just matching your opponent’s cost, you will almost always gain the advantage. Your opponent plays a fatty to block your fatty next turn? Attack, remove, swing through. Your opponent blocks with three characters, whose combined strength is just enough to kill your attacker? Remove 1 of them, kill the other two, go home unscathed. When removal is played correctly it gives you a huge advantage, so why bother with something that has a) conditions or b) a negative effect? Contusion is the king of these three removal cards because it is a solid card in any situation, against any deck.
For the final example, I want to look at two cards, both of which I have used in past decks.
Both are Rogue cards which allow you to draw cards. One, Early Retirement, gives you the potential to draw a ton of cards at the expense of a character. The other, Cashier’s Window, only allows you to draw one card, and you have to destroy one of your characters to do so. Let’s look at Early Retirement.
For 5 build, I can destroy a character and draw cards equal to the strength of that character. Immediately we think of what this could mean. For 5 build, I could draw 6, 7, even 20 cards. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Let’s approach Early Retirement as a combo card, just so we can get a taste. The first thing to realize is that in order for Early Retirement to be worth it in terms of resources, I would need to draw 4 cards. One to replace itself, one to replace the character I sac’d, and then two to account for the 6 build that I could have spent to just draw those two cards. If I draw 4, ideally I will destroy a character with 4 strength and a cost of 1. Why a 1-cost character? If I lay down a 1-cost character, then sac it with Early Retirement, I have spent 6 resources and two cards to draw 4 cards. My other option is to spend 6 resources to draw 2 cards. Both are equal. So in order to keep the card from being detrimental, I have to use a 1-build character. There are, of course, no 1-build characters with 4 STR. I will stop here to say that, of course, when playing Early Retirement, we will be playing it on a character that is going to die anyway. For now, though, let’s ignore that situation. We’ll come back to it.
I know that when I talked about evaluation earlier, I said that it wasn’t a matter of formula. I stand by that. Situational/Environmental/Tactical awareness all cannot be broken down to formulas, and they’re a big part of any game. But, when it comes to resource management, some method of evaluation is useful. The equation is very simple. If I am using Early Retirement as a combo piece I have to place a value on all of the pieces, place a value on the effects, and then judge whether or not the combo is worth it. The cost of Early Retirement (5) + the cost of the card itself (3) + the cost of the character (X) + the cost of the card itself (3) = Y*3 (the cost of each card itself). Y would be the STR of the character, and X would be its cost.
Let’s say Y = 4. That means that, in order to simply break even, X must equal 1. X cannot equal 1 because a 1-cost, 4 str character doesn’t exist, so let’s try for Y=5. If Y=5, to break even, X must equal 4. Is there a character that costs 4 or less with 5 STR. Yes! Berserker Corps (3 cost, 5 STR), Hulking Vigilante (3 cost, 5 STR), Plodding Brute (4 cost, 5 STR), Reckless Challenger (4 cost, 7 STR). Immediately we can see that Reckless Challenger is the best option here. If I play the Challenger and then Early Retirement him, I’ve spent 9 build, played two cards, and drawn 7. 9+(3*2) < (7*3). What I’ve done with this combo is given myself two free cards. But what an incredible process I have to go through to get them. I have to have Challenger in my hand. I have to have Early Retirement in my hand. I have to have 9 build. Ugh. I think we all knew that this wasn’t going to be worth it, but I just wanted to lay it out as bare as possible. Looking at the equation though, If I could spend 1 more build to get one more STR, the advantage gets bigger and bigger. Is it possible to really exploit this? Of course!
Thief Doyen – 4 Build (+3)
Mountainous Golem – Discarded from hand for Doyen (+3)
Ectological Hazard Suit – 3 Build (+3)
Early Retirement – 5 Build (+3)
Total Str? 28.
For 12 build, I could draw 28 cards. Let’s run the equation.
4 + 3 + 5 (3*4) = 24
28 * 3 = 84
A total gain of 60!!! I’ll take it!
But what do I need? I need 2 Rogue Threshold, 2 Arcanist threshold, 4 specific cards in hand, and 12 resources. Wow, how shiny, and how worthless.
It should be easy to recognize that Early Retirement takes a lot of investment to make it worth your time. As I said earlier, you will probably be playing it on a character that is going to die anyway, so that helps, but is this 5-cost, situational piece of cardboard worth the slot in your deck? Is the benefit of an extra card or two worth all of the situations in which you gain nothing from it? Are you always going to hold at least 5 resources so that it can be utilized? Unless you plan on running a lot of low-build, high-strength characters, no no no.
To make it easier to see, let’s look at Cashier’s Window. I pay 1 build to put it into play, and I get an effect for the rest of the game. Item removal is rare, but if they have it and want to waste it on a 1-build item, I surely don’t mind. Once a turn, if one of my characters dies, I draw a card. If this happens twice in a game, the card has given me an advantage. The first card I draw replaces Cashier’s Window. The second card I draw gives me an economy advantage of two: 3-cost of card minus 1-cost of Cashier’s Window. After that, every time I use Cashier’s Window I make a shear profit of 3. Incredible. And only 1 threshold?!
Which is more valuable: An extremely situational tactic with a one-time effect that costs 5 and rarely gives much of a benefit or a 1-build item that is almost always worthwhile and leads to huge profits throughout the entire game? I’ll take Cashier’s Window, thank you. Now it is possible that some insane combo deck will find a way to pump a character to 40-50 STR, play Gold Summit, play Early Retirement, draw out their deck and gain 50 life. But outside of this kind of a situation, there will almost always be better options. Cashier’s Window is one of them.
I hope that through these examples and their often long-winded explanations, I’ve provided a bit of insight when it comes to truly analyzing cards. Remember, you have to get past the surface. You have to look deep, deep down. Look at the costs. Look at how situational the card is. Look at what other cards are necessary to make said card valuable. Cut down on conditions. Cut down on X and Y and Z. Use the cards that are helping you win 100% of the time, instead of those that are unstoppable 10% of the time. Be versatile, be smart, and don’t be blinded by the shine.
Monsterpocalypse is an interesting game, because so much of it is about the shine. Many of us will play a less-effective monster or army just because we think it looks cool or because we like the idea of the faction. So, when it comes to analysis, just remember that there’s something to be said for playing what you like. I’ve been playing Planet Eaters for a long time, knowing that they are all shine and no substance – but that’s part of the beauty of Monpoc. Still, if your goal is to do better as a player, putting some critical analysis on your force is going to be necessary.
What a lot of people miss is how much Monpoc is a resource management game. Your ability to minimize the “push” is going to play a crucial role in your effectiveness mid-late game. Every one of those dice is a unit, a movement, an attack, or an action. If you utilize these 4 possibilities more effectively than your opponent, your chances of winning increase dramatically. Please, do not ever push on your unit turn. Spend your resources effectively.
I’ll come off my soapbox though. We’re here to talk about analyzing your force. What I’d like to do is start off with a pure analysis of the Planet Eaters faction. I’m going to use the Planet Eaters simply because I am most familiar with them, and because they are the kings of shininess.
What I’d like to do first is look at each unit and give a little standalone analysis. From there we can dive into a few monsters and perhaps gain some insight into the best force possible for the Planet Eaters, or at least a few of the best options.
Belcher
Speed: 4
Defense: 2
Brawl: 1
Blast: 2
Blast Range: Long
Unit Cost: 1
Ability: Indirect Fire
This is the standard ranged unit for the Planet Eaters. Immediately I notice a speed of 4 with no mobility abilities (Flight, Hover, etc.). The Defense of 2 is pathetic, and there is no native boost on the blast. Indirect Fire is quite useful, so that’s a plus, and the long range helps to negate that poor movement.
However, it is clear that the Belcher is just a subpar unit. Remember what I said about resource management? You really don’t want to spend your A-Die on an attack unless you absolutely have to. For every extra A-Die I pump into an attack, that’s a unit that isn’t getting spawned or advanced. This puts me at a board disadvantage in the long run unless that attack can clear more units than I’m sacrificing via A-Die.
2 Belchers + 1 Elite are rolling 3 A-Die and 3 B-Die. 70% chance to hit 4 DEF. 50% chance to hit 5 DEF. 27% chance to hit the average monster DEF of 6. That’s poor. If I use all 6 A-Die it becomes a 66% chance to hit a 6 DEF monster. That’s a bit better, but think of everything that I’m sacrificing to do it. Assuming I have to move the Belchers into position, my entire unit turn will be spent moving Belchers and attacking. That’s 4-5 units that I don’t get on the board. Sometimes this is worth it, but usually it puts me at a severe disadvantage. When compared to something like a G-1, Bellower, Vanguard, and Katana, the Belcher is obviously one of the weakest blasters in the game.
Indirect fire is one of those abilities that is misleading. The other two Belchers in the combined attack gain nothing from it. If I could lead with a Belcher and have it backed by two units that had more firepower, that would be great. But, when I’m relying on Belchers for all of my long range firepower, Indirect Fire is not as good as it sounds.
So the Belcher isn’t going to be my first choice in units, but it might be necessary to have a few. Let’s keep going.
Chomper
Speed: 5
Defense: 3
Brawl: 2*1
Blast: -
Blast Range: -
Cost: 1
Ability: Energy Cycle (Red)
Ability: Energy Sap
Ability: Feeding Frenzy (Red)
Again, we must immediately notice that this unit will have trouble getting around the map. SPD 5 is standard, and no mobility abilities. For a unit that needs to Brawl in order to do any damage, this is quite sad. Chompers can move 1 more square than Belchers, yet have a range of 1. It will easily take two turns to get anywhere worthwhile unless I can get my opponent’s monster deep on my side of the board. Also notice that the Chomper cannot damage any flying unit, so G-1s, Rocket Choppers, all of the Martians, Sky Sentinel, Mega Yasheth, Pteradax, etc. This makes the Chomper immediately less effective.
The abilities, however, are nice. Energy Cycle (Red) allows for some excellent A-Die efficiency. But is this just shiny? For units, yes. Because it happens during the attack phase, the only use I will get from those recycled A-Die is if I have two attacks lined up and I get an extra A-Die for that second attack. How often does this happen? I will say ocassionally I will line up both a Chomper attack and an Explodohawk attack, using that recycled A-Die to buff my Explodohawk – but that’s about it. The only other option I have is using them on an ability, but if I need to use an ability like Beacon or Tow, I can’t rely on one of three dice to come up blank in order to hit it. All in all, Energy Cycle is pretty worthless on units. It’s shiny, sure, but how often is it really going to help me?
Energy Sap can be useful, but the situations are very limited. If my opponent’s unit turn is coming up, I can move 1-2 of his A-Die to his Monster Pool, assuming that it’s early in the game and he or she is hoping to get units on the board. And that is nice – considering that you just made them waste two actions. At other times, though, you’re not going to want to use it at all. If you manage to hit a monster with your Chompers, it can be quite useful. In my experience, this only happens when the enemy monster is on my side of the board. Still, it’s nice when it happens, assuming they don’t have Shuffle or Fission to negate it.
Feeding Frenzy is interesting. It’s incredible, potentially. I can do Super Damage on a Brawl Attack…which is ok. But let’s consider how to get this done. If I move my Chomper next to target monster, and he or she has a monster activation coming up, he or she just moves. The one situation in which this is not the case is if the enemy is aligned for a power attack, I move the Chomper up, and they power attack me anyway. I would then be able to move back into place and get Feeding Frenzy. How often does that happen? The next situation is if I move the Chomper up and my opponent has a unit turn. They then have the opportunity to kill the Chomper(s) with their units. If they don’t, I get Super Damage. This is the ideal situation. The Chomper(s) will be sitting at 4 DEF with cover, and become quite a hassle. If that ground bound 5 SPD can get to the enemy monster, then things are quite good. Is this going to happen most of the time? No.
Even though the abilities by themselves are not incredible, the fact that one unit has them all makes the Chomper a very good unit. The only problem is that for a unit that NEEDS to be adjacent to be effective at all, 5 SPD with no mobility is dreadful.
Constrictor
Speed: 5
Defense: 2
Brawl: 2
Blast: -
Blast Range: -
Ability: Halt
Ability: Penetrator
This unit is a joke. Please don’t ask me why. 5 SPD, no mobility, no boost. No. I’m not wasting energy typing. This is one that just has me shaking my head. If Chompers were twice as bad, we would call them Constrictors.
Crawler
Speed: 4
Defense: 4
Brawl: -
Blast: -
Blast Range: -
Unit Cost: 2
Ability: Unstable
Ability: Dig In
Ability: Weaken
Ability: All Terrain
The Crawler is a nice little utility unit, but how shiny? Unstable – at worst you lose a unit. If you lose more than that, why did you position your crawler like you did? Anyway, it’s a disadvantage, so thanks PP. Dig In is quite good. The Crawler sits on a Power Zone and is hard to remove. That’s a nice ability to have. Next we have Weaken. What? You’re giving me a unit that sits on Power Zones, but that also is meant to be next to the enemy monster/units in order to make use of Weaken? So now I have to choose to either gain a benefit from Weaken or a benefit from Dig In. Think of the Brontox. It sits on a Power Zone and has the added benefit of Nesting. That makes sense. That’s what makes a good unit. With the Crawler, he’s either a 4 DEF, 4 SPD with Weaken, or a 5 DEF, 4 SPD sitting on a Power Zone with Dig In. Did I mention he costs 2? At least he has All Terrain. But 4 SPD? Why? Why are all of the units that need to be close to the enemy so slow? How often will I actually get to use Weaken?
It’s still all that I’ve got for utility. So it’s not as bad as it could be. At least the 4 DEF means that he’s unlikely to get destroyed on his slow crawl to the enemy.
Destructomite
Speed: 6
Defense: 2
Brawl: 3
Blast: -
Blast Range: -
Unit Cost: 1
Ability: Flank
Ability: All Terrain
Finally! A unit with a decent SPD and some mobility with All Terrain. He’s got Flank too, which is an extremely useful ability. But no boost. Let’s compare these guys to S-Types. Same SPD, S-Type has 3 DEF, S-Type has Cloak, S-Type has Jump and access to Skyscrapers. So I get another sub-par Brawler who cannot attack Flying units.
Let me take this chance to go on my tirade here. I’ve been fighting it back this entire time. I can just see the comments flooding in – “d00d! All you gotta do is get a destructomite and a crawler and then attack with a constrictor at like -3 lawl DEF! Planet Eaters 4 EVA!” SHINY. SHINY. SHINY. Let’s say I move a Crawler, Destructomite, and Constrictor up and attack. You want me to roll those 5 A-Die? You still only have a 44% chance of hitting Zor-Maxim. Congrats. A situation that has maybe a 10% chance of actually happening still isn’t even close to a guaranteed hit. Get your shininess out of here. Quit waxing your analysis. That isn’t to say that it’s unlikely to get a Weaken or a Flank in there every now and then, but to say that you just stack all of the disables up, and that this is the Planet Eaters’ strength, is absolutely wrong. Even if all of the stars align and you are able to mob the enemy with all of these abilities – it’s worth 1 monster damage. One. Other factions can do one monster damage consistently with no tricks at all. Don’t get blinded by the shine.
Glad to get that out of the way! Long story short, the Destructomite is another Brawler that is sub-par, especially when considering that it has a range of 1. Give it DEF 4 and it becomes a good unit. Give it a boost die and it becomes a good unit. As it is, though, it is lacking.
Compare it to the Chomper. 3 Chompers, 1 Elite, is going to roll 3 A-Die and 6 B-Die. 3 Destructomites, 1 Elite, is going to roll 3 A-Die 3 B-Die. Chompers – 75% chance on 6 DEF. Destructos – 48% chance on 5 DEF.
How about a pack of 1 Destructo, 1 Chomper, 1 Elite Chomper – 66% chance. Any way you look at it, the extra Chomper will be better than the Destructo with Flank, and that’s without Energy Sap, Energy Cycle, and Feeding Frenzy. It might be worth having 1 just to run out at the right opportunity, but as a go-to unit, it is completely dwarfed by the Chomper.
Explodohawk
Speed: 6
Defense: 2
Brawl: 6*3
Blast: -
Blast Range: -
Unit Cost: 1
Ability: Flight
Ability: Self Destruct
Ability: Solo Brawler
Finally a unit that is worthy of praise. The Explodohawk serves one job – take out high priority targets – and it excels at it. 6 SPD is respectable, it has Flight to get where it’s going, and it gets a nice 3 B-Die with 6 A-Die. These guys are fantastic for destroying infrastructure, and they even come in Shadow edition. You put the Hawks on the board, and your opponent must spend his or her unit turns destroying them. That keeps the heat off of your monster. 66% chance to hit a 6 DEF monster. That’s wonderful. This unit is incredibly worthwhile. They excel when you control Neutral Spawn Zones. Unfortunately they Self Destruct, but that’s a price I’m willing to pay. The Explodohawk is a solid unit.
Explodomite
Speed: 5
Defense: 4
Brawl: 3*2
Blast: -
Blast Range: -
Ability: Explosion (Brawl)
Ability: Self Destruct (Brawl)
Ability: All Terrain
Another good unit! SPD is a bit lower than I’d like, but the DEF 4 makes up for it. A nice 3*2 on the Brawl with the ability to combine is also fantastic. Explosion is aways good. Self Destruct, again, is unfortunate, but it seems that in order to get a good unit as Planet Eaters, they have to explode afterwards. The problem, again, is that they cannot attack Flying units. The sad thing? Explodomites excel at holding Power Zones and securing mid-map buildings. A couple of Explodomites also have a good shot at hitting an enemy monster, assuming it isn’t Flying. Solid unit. Nothing shiny here. Anything with 4 DEF will get the nod from me, especially when they are such a threat.
Scorcher
Speed: 5
Defense: 3
Brawl: 2
Blast: 2
Blast Range: Short
Cost: 1
Ability: Chain Reaction
Ability: Flight
Ok, 5 SPD and Flight is a start. That’s respectable. 3 DEF? Also respectable. Chain Reaction? Excellent. This gives me an option to deal with clumped units, even ones with Flight. Short Range makes the Scorcher less effective than it could be, and no boost again makes this unit sub-par for attacks. I wouldn’t call the Scorcher shiny, I’d just call it average. It serves a roll. Scorchers are great mid-field support. If they had a) natural boost or b) Low Flyer (this COMPLETELY fits the model…) Scorchers would be good units. As it is, they’re just average. Compare to Katana.
The Elite Scorcher brings a nice little surprise in (Red) Power Cycle. This makes them excellent screeners. It’s a decent boost to what would again be an average unit. It’s just 1 P-Die, but it’s something.
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So that sums it up for the Planet Eater units. I’m sorry that it was so pessimistic. I didn’t mean for it to turn out that way! As you can see, it’s easy to get lost in shininess. Do not get blinded. Much of what is initially attractive about a piece just isn’t practical in a real game. Stay away from “ideal” scenarios and plan for the worst.
With the analysis here, I’d have to conclude that the most worthwhile units are:
Explodohawks
Explodomites
Chompers
Scorchers
Crawlers
Let’s look at what happens with the monsters we have available. Xaxor and Rogzor are the only two that buff the PE units (I know Zorog has Blue Gang and Climb, but that is completely dwarfed by Xaxor’s Blue Charge and Blue Jump.)
*Note: I know that Teleport maps make the PE Brawlers much better, but I don’t want to go there. If I rely on a map in order to win then I am losing at least half of my games. You absolutely should be packing the map, but don’t rely on it. Use it as an advantage, not as a crutch.
Xaxor
Speed: 6
Defense: 7
Brawl: 6*2
Blast: 7*2
Blast Range: Long
Power: 6*3
Health: 5
Ability: Siphon (Blast)
Ability: Charge (Blue)
Ability: Jump (Blue)
Ability: Super Stomp
Ultra Xaxor
Speed: 7
Defense: 5
Brawl: 7*3
Blast: 8*3
Blast Range: Long
Power: 6*2
Health: 7
Hyper Cost: 3
Ability: Following Fire (Brawl)
Ability: Siphon (Blast)
Ability: Weapon Master (Blast)
Ability: Charge (Blue)
Ability: Jump (Blue)
Ability: Steady
Xaxor basically gives all of your Brawlers +1 B-Die and Jump. That makes them SO MUCH BETTER. In fact, without Xaxor, there’s not much use for Brawlers in your offensive force, since they are ineffective against a lot of the units/monsters you’ll be dealing with. But with Xaxor, the Brawlers rule! Or so we’d like to think. Chompers still only have 5 SPD. Jump helps, but with a range of 1, 5 SPD is just slow. Still, with Chompers having 2 boost and 3 DEF, it’s got potential. Definitely not shiny.
Xaxor as a monster is quite good, but he has some issues. The only non-unit abilities that he has on his Alpha are Siphon and Super Stomp. Siphon is nothing to write home about, but Super Stomp is an excellent P-Die generator. He allows your Explodohawks to get busy on the first turn because you aren’t forced to even bother with a powerbase. His 7 DEF is great, and though he’s a little slow, with Long Range blast and respectable stats, Xaxor is solid.
His Ultra, to put it lightly, is a giant pillow. He’s SOFT man, soft. 5 DEF? Sure, the 7 health helps, but 5 DEF? A pack of 3 Katanas, 1 Elite, has a 90% chance to hit him. Are you kidding? 2 Katanas, 1 Elite, has a 50% chance. Disgusting. This guy burns hot. Let’s see what he gets though. Following Fire, Weapon Master on his Blast, Steady (why?), and an extra B-Die on his Blast, but he loses Super Stomp. The 2 damage blast is wonderful, especially when combined with Following Fire. But let’s fight the shine. The Planet Eaters are not the Martians. They are not the Syndicate. They aren’t known for their incredible P-Die production. The usual strategy is to brawl a building and then shoot the opposing monster. In order to really abuse this, I need to fill the map with Office Buildings. I then need to be able to Brawl one of these Office Buildings while also being in range of the enemy monster, while also not opening up my screen. This is a rare occurence. I’m speaking from experience here. Following Fire -> Weapon Master blast is nice, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not as amazing as it might seem. It nets you 1-2 P-Die per turn, which is good, but not game-breaking.
What really makes Following Fire -> Blast less realistic than originally thought is the fact that Xaxor needs to Flex. If he stays in his Ultra for more than one turn, he’s taking a lot of damage. That 5 DEF is nothing. Throw on Spotter, Weaken, Flank, etc. and he’s done. 3 P-Die to flex every monster turn means that you just won’t have the resources to Brawl -> Blast a lot of the time.
So Xaxor is a good monster. He is solid. As long as you put on your sunglasses and play him realistically, he can do quite well.
Rogzor
Speed: 7
Defense: 6
Brawl: 6*1
Blast: 6*2
Blast Range: Long
Power: 5*1
Health:5
Ability: Explosion (Blue)
Ability: High Impact (Bue)
Ability: Hit & Run (Blast)
Ability: Disintegrate
Ultra Rogzor
Speed: 7
Defense: 6
Brawl: 6*2
Blast: 8*4
Blast Range: Long
Power: 5*2
Health: 5
Hyper Cost: 3
Ability: Explosion (Red)
Ability: Beat Back
Ability: Hit & Run
Ability: High Impact (Blue)
Ability: Anti-Air (Blue)
Rogzor’s unit buffing is so shiny. It’s the definition of shiny. High Impact AND Explosion! And Anti-Air on his Ultra! Ahhhh! He’s such an amazing buff for Blasters. So of all the Planet Eaters, there are two units he buffs. Belchers and Scorchers. Let’s see what he does.
Scorchers with one boost die become really good units. They become the units that they should have been naturally. 3 Scorchers, 1 Elite: 3 A-Die, 6 Boost Die. That’s what you’re looking for in a good pack of units. That 6 Boost Die is kind of the benchmark. Belchers hit it too, with Long Range and Indirect Fire. They still suffer from mobility issues, but all in all they become pretty good units as well.
Blue Explosion is…well…pointless. Remember Scorchers? They have Chain Reaction. They already deal with clumped units. They do the job. So Blue Explosion is a complete waste. The only thing that I can do with Explosion that I cannot do with Chain Reaction is attack a unit next to a monster and hit the monster as well. So Explosion can, in certain situations, net me 1 unit kill. That’s nothing to write home about. If I need to clear out units, I can send Scorchers. Explosion is really a let down when I already have a blaster that serves this role.
What Rogzor ends up actually giving me is High Impact, and then sometimes, against the right monster/units, Anti-Air. It’s not bad, but does it make the Planet Eater blasters above average? Let’s compare a Rogzor-buffed Scorcher to a Katana.
SPD – Katana wins.
DEF – Katana wins because it can gain cover.
Blast – Katana wins, long range.
Abilities – Both have High Impact, Scorcher has Flight over Hover, both have Chain Reaction. So Scorcher squeaks in here.
A Scorcher isn’t equal to a Katana, even when it is buffed. Why bother?
Maybe Rogzor himself is strong enough to justify it.
Alpha Rogzor has 7 SPD but no mobility, which is extremely detrimental to a monster. 6 DEF is average. Blast stat is average. The only abilities that he has outside of the buffs are Hit and Run and Distintegrate, the latter of which is useless. So all he has is Hit and Run without any kind of mobility. That’s not much. What about his Ultra?
Same issue with SPD and DEF, but he picks up Beatback, loses (Blue) Explosion and gains (Blue) Anti-Air. He also gains an above average Blast stat with 4 B-Die. Hit and Run still runs into the same problem. Beatback can be incredible, or it can be worthless. Without any consistent way to do 2 damage and a weak Power Attack stat, Ultra Rogzor just cannot do enough damage. Against healing factions, he will just lose. That’s what happens when you put the sunglasses on. Fight the shine. Hit and Run and Beatback and all my Blasters at +1 B-Die with Explosion THAT’S INCREDIBLE! No, it’s not. You’re staring at the glare. Fight it. Fight the urge.
Edit: This analysis of the Planet Eaters is not meant to be the “end-all” in Planet Eater tactics. It’s not even close. I didn’t want to get into how the Barreler makes Crawlers/Chompers incredible, how Lightning Attack makes Feeding Frenzy stand out, and the necessity of Pteradactix splash. Or even how Blue Riled changes some strategies completely. The point here is that if you’re planning on succeeding with the Planet Eaters, you’re going to have to realize that your units are, comparatively, weaker. That’s NOT to say PE are bad. The next step of this analysis would be to look at ways in which we can best utilize the good units that we have, but that will be next time, if ever…
—————
So there you have it. That’s an example of cutting the shininess out of your force. Go through each unit and think about whether or not that unit can actually do what you are wanting it to do. Look at your monster and analyze it in the context of actual gameplay. Is Hit and Run good when you don’t have Jump or Flight? Can you justify using a monster that doesn’t have a consistent way to do 2 damage? Are brawlers that struggle to get next to their target better than Blasters who can?
Fighting the shininess will be especially important when NOW! comes out. Look at your favorites but don’t get lost in their shine. I guarantee that some of these new monsters will have some SERIOUS glare.
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But then again, who really cares? The glare that burns your pupils is one of the most incredible things about Monpoc! Enjoy the game, and if you really want to optimize your force, put on those sunglasses.
Related posts:
Steven is a philosopher, spiritual guru, and avid gamer currently residing in the wonderful metropolis of Oklahoma. He helped start Covenant TCG a few years ago and has been doing a lot of the photoshop/design work ever since. If he's not building a debris hut in the wilderness he's behind a computer screen striving to make Covenant a little bit better each day! 
Steven, are you willing to weigh in on Gorghadra? I’m curious about him alone, as well as in combination with units (that is to say, knowing full well that your units are sub-par and will be destroyed and therefore using blue riled to your unconventional advantage).
Jeff, you might be interested in my next A Little Odd: Gorghadra and Riled are specifically covered…
Steven, excellent piece. It saddens me that the PE figures are so shiny and yet so relatively weak. However, with the next block maybe the Destroyers will get something that makes a PE monster more viable.
Jason… The suspense is KILLING me.
Jason, I’m definitely looking forward to it
Stephen, we really need to do a point/counterpoint article sometime. You and I end up almost diametrically opposed in viewpoint on almost all of your articles. You write well, to be sure, but that’s part of your “shininess” (to borrow your term). You seem to develop a form of tunnel vision when you think you know something, and rather than look at it from a “what am I missing?” point of view, you present it as gospel to the world.
Case in point, the whole Sky Sentinel saga before GenCon. Remember when Sky Sentinel got taken apart by a force that, to your way of anaysis, had no business even doing damage to SS? Even when guided by a veteran Sentinel player? Remember how different and aggressive you found games being played during Masters, and how that was radically different than what you had been played?
The factions in MonPoc don’t just play a little differently, they play radically differently, despite what seems to be small differences in the composition of individual figures. Even the addition of one figure, or even one ability to a figure can radically change a single faction. The most obvious example of this is With the Lords of Cthul. Before All Your Base, Cthul was a hide and wait, win a war of attrition faction. With the simple addition of the Towers of Corruption, they suddenly became a blitzing denial faction overnight. Even the Cthulabite is just a slightly modified Squix, but look at the impact it’s had on the game.
The point I’m driving (albeit slowly) to is that you seem to be analyzing the Planet Eaters as a Shadow Sun or GUARD player. Planet Eaters don’t work well with SSS or Guard tactics. They require an entirely different playstyle. And as such, individual analysis of the figures works very differently. In fact, I would go so far as to say that you cannot look at PE units as individuals, because they are so dependent on force of numbers and ability synergies. They are however, far less dependent on securing buildings and building a stable power base than other factions. PE belong in the middle of the board, swarming, presenting opposing monsters no good place to go to ground, either due to unit positioning, or stacked debuffs in the landing zone. Yes, they are low defense, but relatively high speed, so they can get back out in the middle of things quickly should some fire come their way. They aren’t a “build a fire team of 2 grunts and one elite and go hunting the enemy monster” force. They’re a “spread out, and wherever he lands, pile on!” That’s what the Comet shards provide with their red leadership. They’re SPACE BUGS, for cryin’ out loud. Battles with them should look like Lenningen vs. the Ants, or Europe’s Eastern Front in WWII. Your analysis treats them as though they should be individual mecha suits.
I will say this for you though, your writing gets me thinking and analyzing MonPoc more than anyone else’s. And it certainly gets me fired up enough to write long treatises on why I disagree with you. That can only be good for this site. Keep it up.
Andrew,
I’d love to do a point-counterpoint! And I appreciate the compliments on the writing. If nothing else I sure do enjoy stirring the pot =)
That said, you are absolutely right about the Planet Eaters’ style. It has to be different. But the strategy that you have given is, if I may say, shiny.
Unit synergy? Unit synergy is something like Long Range with mobile Cloak. What the PE have is, let’s see.
Energy Cycle
Weaken
Flank
Then you throw on Leadership, which I can already get from Elites, and I suppose that is the “synergy” that you’re discussing. I assume that your idea of synergy is applying Weaken and Flank to a unit and then smoking it. Fair enough. But let’s consider your strategy of “flood the board and wherever they land, pile on.”
If I’m flooding the board, as you said, I am not setting up a powerbase. But, I’m assuming that you’re still suggesting a decent first turn setup, so let’s say I spawn 3 units, secure with them, and then move the other two to “flood the board”. Assuming those two units don’t die, I can spawn 5 units next turn and fan them out over various parts of the board. Are you suggesting that I put a Crawler here, Destructo there, Chomper over there, etc.? I’ve now got 7 units on the board. So next my strategy is to see where my opponent lands and jump on him. This strategy might work in the fantasy land where PE units actually have “relatively high speed” =) But in the real world, my fastest unit is the Destructomite at 6 SPD with all-terrain. Crawler is 4 SPD. Chomper is 5 with no mobility. Scorcher is 5. These units are fast relative to what? Martians? No. SSS? 7 SPD Katana says no. GUARD? I think you know the answer.
So my opponent ends up somewhere and then I spend the A-Die to move, what, 4 units to him? I hope that he’s within 6 spaces of a Crawler, 6 spaces of a Destructo, and then what? Some Chompers? And then I also hope that he’s next to a Comet Shard so I can get Leadership? Do you understand how situational this is? I flood the board with 5 Shards, but counting on my opponent to be in a place where I can line up all of my Brawlers so that they are also getting Leadership is just silly. It happens sometimes, sure, but often enough to count it as “PE synergy”? No, of course not. And unless I have Xaxor, I’m going to be forced to Blast or Explodohawk. Which, regardless, is probably the best way.
I will say that in my experience the best PE force consists of Destructos, Crawlers, Explodohawks, and PDax. You fan out the Crawlers, Destructos, and PDax, then wherever they land, you tow a Crawler, move a Destructo, and smack them with a Hawk. If this is the strategy you were suggesting, then you’re correct in its value, but because of the talk about Comet Shards, I’m assuming otherwise.
You want to talk about synergy? Interceptors, Shadow Gates, High Impact, Cargo. Brontox, Nesting, Shadow Dax, Explosion. Saucers, Power Pods, Nullifier Pods. What is synergistic about the PE? They can get a monster to -2 DEF in certain circumstances?
I really like the idea of a PE army swarming the board and zerging any monster that comes nearby, but until they get the ability to spawn more units than their opponent, the strategy is a fairy tale.
I do agree with you that I may be putting too much of an emphasis on P-Die. Maybe it’s all about having a few Crawlers on Power Zones. I could also splash Saucer + Pod for some extra generation. With this kind of strategy, I would be able to sort of “flood the field” – so I’ll try it next time I play. Probably today.
As for Sky Sentinel – Sky Sentinel should not have lost, and I’ll stand by that. After talking to Robert, there were some mistakes made and some bad rolls, but I will play SS against Laser Knight any day of the week. I will not be convinced until he destroys me first-hand =) Sky Sentinel, played correctly, is one of the most destructive forces in the game. The only reason why he is less useful now is because of Maxim + Cloak. That COMPLETELY shuts SS down.
And finally, I do present what I know as the gospel truth, because it’s what I know! Had it been proven differently to me, I would write a different article. But after multiple, multiple, multiple games, this is how I feel about the Planet Eaters, and about the best way to analyze forces. I’m glad you’re disagreeing. Would you really be interested in a point-counterpoint article? Message team@covenanttcg.com and we’ll get it set up.
I really, really appreciate your comments. It’s discussion like this that breeds the best strategies for any game. Blow me out of my tunnel vision already!
And more than any other, the real question here is this:
What incredible synergy that you are talking about justifies most of the Planet Eaters’ units being subpar?
Steven, you touched on the thing I was going to bring to the table. Pterdactix splash! That would help with your mobility problem… some. But you’ve still got relatively little in the B-Dice department unless you bring in some of the Explodies. Really I think your best bet would be a Pterdactix combining with 1 or 2 Explodomites.
Granted, I’m about to use the ever treacherous “IF” but… if you can bring a Destructomite or Crawler into the picture with the Pteradactix and an Explodomite, you have a decent chance of hitting most monsters. Still not exceptional, but something to consider.
Another thing to consider is, rather than using Ptix to help your units do the damage, it could simply be used to put them into a position to help your monster. For instance, Tow that slow crawler over right after his monster activation and you’ll be set for your attack next turn.
Let me pull one line from your response, Bouti-man. Yeah, I just called you Bouti-man, wanna fight about it?
“If I’m flooding the board, as you said, I am not setting up a powerbase.”
With PE, I RARELY bother with a powerbase. Why? I can get all the P-Dice I want from my units. THAT is why the Planet Eaters are sooooo different from the other Factions: they usually don’t even need, or want, a powerbase. Bugs zerg!
P.S. I want a pony.
PP Building = Shadow Dax for 1!
I generally want to keep my Daxes out of the fray. If I can keep a Shadow Dax around the middle, he just serves to pull my units from their spawn points so that they get a free advance. This REALLY helps the PE. I’d say it’s a necessity.
Jason,
First, if we have the resources available down the road, and you keep coming up with fantastic armies, you will get your pony!
Second, I’d ask for you to justify why it is that the PE units are better at killing other units for P-Die. They are on the slow end, have limited mobility, and little natural boost. Unless you have Xaxor, at least half of them cannot attack. Tell me how this makes them better than Katanas G1s, etc. at destroying enemy units for P-Die.
Even if I’m throwing Hawks at my opponent, I’ve only got 6 SPD. I get 1 P-Die for destroying a building, and 1 P-Die for destroying a unit. Are you suggesting that I can just send out 5 Hawks and kill 5 units each turn in lieu of my powerup roll? I hope not…
First off, I want to clarify one thing. I’m not saying, insinuating, or endorsing the idea that Planet Eaters are a top tier force, and that people were silly to bring Shadow Sun to GenCon. Far from it. PE do have a lot of drawbacks, probably more than they should (I’d love to have seen them get a few more innate boost dice, and your point about the lack of anti-flight abilties is spot on). But, by the same token, I don’t think they’re the weakling of the playground, either. I’m just trying to stick up for a faction that I think gets dismissed out of hand far too often.
It’s not a matter of any one particular combo of synergy, it’s the fact that just about any PE unit will pair well with any other PE unit and be able to benefit from each other’s abilities (except for Belchers, but they and Rogzor are a whole other deal). For most armies, you need the 2G1E (2 grunt 1 elite) fire team to make the grunts effective. For PE, you can achieve almost the same thing with three different units, especially when you consider that to benefit from weaken and flank, the units with those abilities don’t even have to participate in the attack. In fact, they work just as well to augment your monster’s attacks as they do your units’.
Plus, those abilities each have a 2-space reach. To illustrate, a single crawler will weaken everything in a 5×5 square (yes, minus the corners, blah, blah, blah). The board is 15×15, and you can pretty much guarantee that 80-90% of the action is going to happen in about a 7×7 area. That means you can focus your “minefield” and get it built up fairly quickly in the focus area. Depending on your board and setup, you may even be able to dictate where that area will be. Given that your opponent cannot land on buildings, or your units, on some maps that can severely limit legal landing points, even for flying monsters. If those points are within 2 spaces of a crawler or destructomite, you don’t even have to move them.
As for your example game start, I may not even secure a building with my first 5 (or 3). If I’m playing Gorghadra, I may depend on a super rampage to build my p-dice pool. Any buildings I do secure will be in the “forward” buildings on my side of the map, and even then only if they make sense in other placement ways (also securing a power zone, or a neutral spawn point, or blocking a line of advance). With Planet Eaters, you have to be just as careful with unit placement as you do with monster placement. The goal is to force your opponent to take subpar positioning in order to be able to attack your monster. Will it always work out? No, of course not. The lack of movement abilities is a hamper there. But the ICNY Monsters grant movement abilities that can help offset that (Especially in a 2vs2 monster game).
Anyway, I’ve said my piece. While I think that PE units aren’t necessarily as good as other faction’s units (especially when taken individually), I do think they’re worth another look. Maybe I just have too much faith in Privateer Press, but I believe they’ve made a reasonably well balanced game. Anytime I doubt this, I always end up placing the burden of proof on myself first.
Now, Terrasaurs, however… Don’t get me started.
Andrew,
I appreciate the response! I too have faith in Privateer Press and have spent months trying to get the Planet Eaters to a level that I feel “should” be available. But look at their units. The Explodohawks are the only standout, always useful, attacking units. None of their Blasters have natural boost, and all the installation did was give me an ability that I can gain anyway. Comet Shards work best with Blasters, and, as we’ve stated, the PE Blasters are probably the worst in the game. If the Installations gave (Red) Armor Piercing, it would be infinitely better. Elites have +1 boost anyway, so providing me a reason to NOT run Elites is a little bit worthless, don’t you think? Abilities become synergistic when they stack, not when they replace each other.
It’s true that the strategy is to provide a “minefield” of well-placed units, but how is this different than other factions? The ability to stack Weaken and Flank easily would be a huge advantage if my force could then ATTACK, but as it is, I NEED Weaken and Flank in order to get to the same level as other forces WITHOUT it.
What I’m trying to establish here is that Planet Eater synergy is not an advantage, it’s an equalizer.
I don’t think Planet Eater units are better than the Katana. I actually don’t think any unit, for straight up killing, is better than the Katana. What I -am- saying is that Planet Eaters are -so- dissimilar to any other army that you honestly can’t have an accurate comparison between the Factions. The only similarities that PE units have with every other faction’s units is that they are all made to be played in Monsterpocalypse. You have to be a special kind of “touched in the head” to really force the Planet Eaters to work. Naturally, I am touched, so I enjoy making the little buggers do my bidding. I don’t usually win with them, mind you, but they really are different from every other Faction.
As for P-Dice? Gorghadra. That is all.
Again, Steven, you’re looking at units purely from an isolated, “attack the opposing monster”, point of view (back to one of our earlier arguments about PE units). Which, yes, the Explodohawk is the only standout unit in that regard. However, that’s just a small fraction of what units can do, as you well know. Take the Master’s finals, for example (a game I know you’ve looked at long and hard). How much damage was actually done to the opposing monster by units? How much was done by damage boosting abilities like weapon master and Annihilate? How much was done by good ol’ collisions and hazards?
As for Planet Eater synergy vs. other factions synergy, what happens to Shadow Sun when you take away their shadow gate? or the Interceptor? What happens to power pods when you remove the saucer? What happens to Meat Slaves or repair vehicles when they’re towed away from the enemy’s power base? How do a fuel truck and a G1 synergize? Or a G-tank and a G1, to use blasting units? Yes, synergies exist in every faction, but they’re most interchangable in a PE force. The crawler is probably the most targetable lynchpin in the synergy, but it doesn’t remove the synergy altogether, unlike the loss of some of the other faction’s lynchpins.
Andrew,
As it turns out, the unit best suited for hitting monsters is the unit best suited for hitting units as well. The Hawk can take out troublesome units without any help. This is why it is the standout unit – it does BOTH jobs exceptionally well. This is simply because it brings offense. Can a Scorcher with 2 A-Die reliably hit any other unit? Belcher? Chomper? Destructomite? Contrictor? No. The Hawk can. It isn’t a standout unit simply because it is the biggest threat to monsters. It’s THE standout unit for PE because it is the best at every offensive role that you want a unit to fill, with the only exception being Scorchers for the occasional Chain Reaction. The Hawk can clear infrastructure, damage monsers, and kill troublesome units. This is why it is the standout PE unit.
And when I praise the Hawk, I praise it because it actually gains from the abilities that the other PE units provide. If my Crawler and Destructo are teamed up to weaken a 4 DEF unit, they still need something to actually HIT said unit. This is the Hawk. It is the only unit that, when used with all of the other PE abilities, becomes fantastic instead of average.
There’s been all this talk of PE synergy, but I’ve yet to have an example provided. See my last response “What I’m trying to establish here is that Planet Eater synergy is not an advantage, it’s an equalizer.”
If you take the Shadow Gate away from SSS, Katanas still have (Red) High Impact, Sun Drones, C-Types, and Sun Industries, all highly synergistic.
What happens to Power Pods when you remove the Saucer? Well they become less useful because they rely on Cargo. What’s the point you’re trying to make? If you have Cargo units and a Transport unit designed to carry them, and you take away the Transport unit, yes, the Cargo units will be less useful.
Meat Slaves and Repair Vehicles, if towed, cannot serve their function as easily. Are you suggesting that if I tow a Repair Vehicle that I have shut down the major aspect of GUARD synergy? Hardly.
A fuel truck and G1 synergize beautifully. The G1s role is to damage the enemy monster, which allows Sky Sentinel to sit back and stay out of harm’s way. The Fuel Truck’s role is to keep SS out of the thick of the battle so that the G1s can do their job. You just described synergy.
The G-Tank and G-1 synergize in that the G-Tank is a nice, high defense unit that stays home on the powerbase, which allows the G1s to get out in the field and wreck the opponent. It’s not exactly synergy, but it’s two units who serve two distinct roles and excel at both. There’s not synergy between those units, but those units together provide synergy to a force.
With all of the talk about PE synergy, I feel like there haven’t been any examples. What is the PE synergy that you’re talking about? How does it work? Where does synergy exist in the Planet Eater force? And by synergy I mean the type of synergy that makes a PE force EXCEL. I’m not talking about synergy that takes a handful of bad units, puts them next to each other, and makes them average. I’m more curious here more than anything, as I may well be missing something huge!
An article that works for more than one game… :0 I’m impressed sir Wooley. Keep up the great work. I love the depth of your thought, not surprising for the philosopher type. Hope to be seeing more writings from you soon. Also excited for the podcast… Did I just spoil that?
Again, Steven, you seem to be trying to shoehorn the units into doing something that they don’t necessarily need to do. Or, at the very least, that they don’t need to do all the time. When was the last time you attacked a unit with a single unit in a game? As for the special synergy the PE units give, look at what they can do for monster attacks. -2 to defense, Energy cycle, power cycle, and super damage. Drop the super damage and power cycle and the same units can give those same bonuses to the explodohawks as well. I know your response already, as we’ve been down this path before. You don’t believe that it’s feasible to get enough of those bonuses in place to be effective. We’re right back at square one of our argument.
You also seem to think that every other unit in the game has flight, given your claim that Chompers/Destructomites/Explodomites/Constrictors can’t attack. Yes, Martian and Sky Sentinel armies present an issue if you aren’t running Xaxor, but even in those cases the units can debuff the enemy monster while the monster attacks.
In the end, I don’t see either one of us really changing the other person’s opinion, which leaves us but one remedy to the situation.
Pistols at dawn.
If I stick my thumb into this post can i stop the flood of the WALL OF TEXT?
See… this is why those forums need to be fully operational. Not that I mind the discussion here, but, face it, a wall o’ text is quite daunting when the casual reader sees. Someone going into a forum should EXPECT it.
Andrew,
Pistols it is! I enjoyed the discussion. I’ll make it a point to play the Planet Eaters in a more “in your face” fashion next time I get the chance, trying to push that synergy. You can be sure I’ll write up a piece about it once it goes down. I really hope that you’re right. It may be that I’m just not playing them as effectively as I could be.
Cheers!
Play my upcoming Gorghadra army next time.
Poor Philip: the suspense is giving him an ulcer.
It is. You should be expecting to receive my medical bills in the near future, Jason. Tell the fiancee it’s a business expense. Meanwhile, I’m going to revolt and play Deimos-9 instead of Gorghy just to keep my mind off it.
There will be a surprise on Team Covenant at 10:00 AM tomorrow, Phil.
Because I care about you as a human being.
While I see where Andrew is coming from I think that the dynamics of MonPoc are too simplistic to offer an army like PE or Cthul the means to do what they can do as well as they otherwise could.
The fact that this game “ignores” principles like Line-of-Sight, among other things, shapes the game far too much in favor of the fire-team strategies that are exemplified by an army like SSS. Reach is still King…. So much so that it is easy to find oneself shaping the play of an army that isn’t quite designed for that kind of fighting to function as one that is. It’s reminiscent of all the other times in history where one nation tried to bring it’s military up to date by modeling it after that other nation’s military that defeated theirs in the past.
To say in brief: Reaching fire-teams will continue to inherently shape tactics on the battlefield until such time as new abilities or elements are brought into play that mitigate their de facto supremacy.
Something that occurs to me. Wasn’t Jarimy (who finished 5th at Masters) running Mega Gorghadra in order to get into the top-8 in the first place? And running Mega Gorghy against players with SS, MZM, and other such beasts?
I’d be curious to see that army’s list and know what he was matched against.
Steven, give it a shot, and it’ll probably take a few games just to get the “feel” for what you should be doing.
Heck, kill two birds with one stone and take Vorgax to get a feel for the morpher. That -2 Defense, evergy cycle and Super Damage with 4 morphers brawling can put a hurt on a lot of things in a short window. The morphers will already get Flank from Chompapillar, and Barreller can bring in the Crawler for weaken, so the only challenge remaining is to get a Chomper nearby. Or, preferably, get the enemy monster near the Crawler, and summon the Chomper.
It’s essentially a small variant of the Osheroth/Cthulabite/Elite Corrupter combo, but without the 2 square reach or the need for the opponent to have 6+ P-dice. An 8 damage monster turn is not entirely out of the question, though.
I very much enjoyed the all too accurate segment that Steven wrote about the experience a person gains when performing a function that they’ve done for a long period of time. The same has certainly been true for me for a long time now in relation to MonPoc. Ken can vouch for this, but I remember the first time I read the stats and abilities of MPD (Mega Pteradax) I was instantly crying “NERF!!!”. Sadly, I was all too correct in my assessment of that particular figure, though perhaps not so much so as has been proven to me in game after game of playing against it and losing time after time. All the same, I have a sound ability to simply read about a unit on paper and see right then how it will play in the game and whether it will be effective or not. I do not say any of this because I wish to present myself as the final authority on the matter (which I am) but rather to explain the means by which I feel that I am able to judge the value of any given figure or theory by objective and reasonable means.
There are some types of armies/monsters/units that will simply function well regardless of the situation they are put in. This is typically going to be because they possess the “tool box”, a term I barrow from my friend and playing partner Ken. This means that they have the means to do what needs doing in a manner that is not only effective but efficient. First in this pantheon are the Terrasaurs. Need long range blaster to clear out packs of units? They have it. Need a unit to take out buildings with greater ease? They have it. Need a unit to augment the mobility of your army and disrupt the potential of your opponent’s? They have it. Just set it and? FORGET IT! Not only do the Terrasaurs have all of these things that do a tremendous job at their specific tasks but they also work well doing the two things that are the most important in MonPoc: Damaging Monsters and Killing Units. While not as stellar in the “tool box” department as the Terrasaurs, SSS and GUARD also perform admirably where it counts in the last two areas. Yes, they have too things that are solid abilities and capabilities but Terrasaurs reign on high; lead by a mighty winged behemoth soaring with terrible purpose in the lofty firmament, awaiting the moment that it chooses to dispatch its feckless opposition with a deft tow and resounding bodyslam…. Let it be duly noted that I do not play Terrasaurs, nor do I find them appealing in any way other than by virtue of their outright effectiveness.
That effectiveness stems from their ability, as well as that of SSS and GUARD to no lesser extent, to form small but lethal fire-teams that have a high probability of dealing damage to a monster with 2-3 units in a blast attack. No matter how cool I think my new Cthulabums are with their high DEF, Weaken, Multishot goodness, they are exceedingly poor at tangoing with monsters. They have no boost die whatsoever, and even with the benefit weaken functioning in a manner that far exceeds the use of a boost die, but what we’re looking at a critical shortcoming: they suck A-die like it’s going out of style. This is a huge shortcoming and perhaps the greatest one when we look at a unit like Cthulabum. All of his abilities are awesome: They synergize well and offer a goodly amount of support to everything else that Cthul likes to do these days. But, if I want to attack a monster with them they’re going to suck down my A-die like Kirstie Alley in front of a plate of fettuccini. Take for example an attack I performed with 2 Cthulabums, a Corruptor providing flank support against Ken’s MPD. Weaken and Flank bring MPD’s DEF down to 5 and my Mega Yasheth grants a B-die to each of my Cthulabum brawlers. To make this attack have any chance of hitting even that modest 5 DEF I needed to roll the maximum 6 A-die with the +2 B-die. And guess how many strikes I got? 6. Pretty much right on the nose of the statistical probability. What’s more is that I also had to get the Bums into position, there’s another 2 A-die. I also had to deploy one of them, there’s another 2. 6+2+2 = 10. Yes I got a point of damage in, but it cost me a lot. This would have all been a lot easier had I had the benefit of attacking a non-flying monster, but even so, Cthul is a tedious faction when it comes to damaging a monster with units.
As I said in a previous line of discussion though, economy is only part of the picture, and it’s always going to take a back seat to the pure tactics used on the map to overcome your opponent. As much as I wish I could sculpt a force that was singularly viable against all opponents without having to resort to using PP to slash out a Pteradactix the game continues to prove that with the exception of MPD, it’s a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, or whatever order of naming you know that same game by.
Steven,
A very good article. And the conversation has been thought provoking. As for the PE yes, they would be better if they could “zerg” in ridiculous numbers all over the map and swarm. Maybe they were supposed to get the Tower of Corruption. THAT would have created a Synergy we could all get behind. And some units with Manufacture. That would have helped generate the swarm that would have warmed the internal organs of every Planet Eater player. But they didn’t. Doesn’t change the reasoning that the PE don’t get it done. Can they win? Sure. Do they win regularly? Nope. Why not? To use the vernacular, too “shiny.” Too many woulda, coulda, shoulda.
Oh, and I’m a big fan of the PE. Would love to see them more effective.
Galactus, the question is: Why in the world were you trying to attack a monster with a Chtulabite? Even with supporting Flank, the Cthulabite is a support/denial unit, not an offensive power. It sits near clusters of enemy units to deny them boost dice with distract, and if they’re low defense units, maybe it’ll blast with Multi-shot to take some of them out/gain P-dice. It has no business attacking a monster straight up. That’s like trying to attack a monster with an Interceptor.
Sure, you want the Cthulabite near the enemy monster for Weaken, but not as an attack unit.
Like I said, the monster was Pteradax and it’s hard to do much else when he has flying.