Guest posts by Boret

25

Card Art / Re: Temples serie art request

« on: December 12, 2010, 11:15:42 pm »

Glad you liked it

For self-critique I'd say I don't like the upper part of the temple, but I was kinda lacking inspiration. Might update it later, probably along with the sparky thing which I find pretty flat.

I'll try to make a Life temple, though I'm not very good at designing organic things 

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Forge Archive / Re: Elemental Clockwork | Elemental Chronometer

« on: December 12, 2010, 09:00:09 pm »

OldTrees: Ok, now I understand better your explanation, and I agree with you. Yet, it's quite a hard job to evaluate an average game unfolding (maybe because there is no average game unfolding, after all...) vs a single card. At this point, the only thing that'll tell us is experience, or statistics. If people like the concept, I can make a macro that could calculate average quanta production within a specified deck. Since it is automated, I could do something like ~500 simulations so we could get an overview of how it combines with other cards.

joebob777: thanks There is just this thing I don't understand, but you're welcome anyways

thanks for the earlier english boret

The Mormegil: I don't agree. Yes, this card is not fit for speed decks (at least I don't think so, we should see what would 2~3 of these cards do). You say speed is only matched by versatility. But tell me, what's more versatile that a card potentially providing you 1 of each quanta every other turn + a fair amount of quanta?

About point 1. I'd say that this is not the only card that takes time to set up that can be screwed by the opponent (any growth, ablaze creature for instance). It's just the game, and should you fear your EC may be destroyed, protect them, then.

Your point 2. makes sense. But once again, bad draws are part of the game, too. Even with a 30 cards deck, you can have bad draws. Hence, as I said earlier, only experience will tell us if you're right or not. As it is, I personally think that I would put 3 of them in a "standard" rainbow deck, for 3 is still affordable.

About the min/max speed, I'm not fond of the idea of having 10 lines of instruction on the card. It's true it is probably the best way to balance it, but the easier the card is, (though analytical details are a bit complicated), the better it'll be.

P.S.: I answered to your Temple Art request (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,17315.0.html)

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Card Art / Re: Temples serie art request

« on: December 12, 2010, 08:22:51 pm »

I came across this topic, and somehow I got a little inspired for a water temple, though the pictures you chose put things on a hard level

Don't know if you'll like it, but as you said, I give it a shot...

Water Temple - 1st Shot (512x512 picture) sign on the bottom of the pool, though it may be hard to dinstinguish in 256x256?

So what you think?

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Forge Archive / Re: Elemental Clockwork | Elemental Chronometer

« on: December 11, 2010, 11:15:38 pm »

I know that changing the Max Speed won't affect the beginning of the production, which I find good too by the way (hence the "Max" thing ).

But I didn't understand the "relevant" end part. Do you mean it is the point when EC=1+ 2.33 QT? In what is it the relevant end?

Here, I added graph ratio for Max Speed 9, along with another one from max speed 6 to max speed 12, so you can have an overview of what we can tweak:








P.S.: Thanks I can't tell you precisely how to do gradients in graphs because I don't use an english version of Excel, but in the 2007 version, right-click on the graph zone (not the curves), then you should have something like Formatting... Then you can choose from a menu if you want plain, or gradient fill, along with some other options

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Forge Archive / Re: Maze Growth | Labyrinth Growth

« on: December 11, 2010, 07:40:35 pm »

What happens if several of these cards target the same creature? Is delay stacked? Can Quinted creatures be affected by it?

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Forge Archive / Re: Elemental Clockwork | Elemental Chronometer

« on: December 11, 2010, 07:35:18 pm »

The thing is, without Nova, this card will be pretty useless IMO, and I don't like very much the idea of having an initial speed of more than 1. But looking at your last table, it's true that EC-Q is way too high, but EC-Nova-Q is way too low. Also, I think that a ratio is much more relevant than a Delta. So, for a fist try, I set a max speed of 12, here it goes:





NOTE: Typo in title, the ratio is obviously EC Net. Prod/QT Prod


Basically, if speeded up every turn, this card is equivalent to
- 1 QT at turn +6
- 2 QT at turn +9
- 3 QT at turn +12
- 4 QT at turn +15
- 5 QT at turn +21

Considering its cost, I would say it'll be played in a rainbow deck at turn 2 in the best case, but overall I'd rather see turn 3-4. So, this card begin to become efficient (i.e. at least equivalent to 2 QT) around turn +11/+13. 2 QT isn't that much (even if it obviously count ) compared to the needed time to set it up.

About the stallbow thing, well I'm not sure. All I know is that EC = 1 QT at turn 8/10 (cumulative prod), for the time being, and I don't feel like it's too fast, but that's only my feeling...

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Forge Archive / Re: Elemental Clockwork | Elemental Chronometer

« on: December 11, 2010, 01:19:41 pm »

Card characteristics & mechanism updated, see 1st post.

OldTrees => Maybe you're right. I'll just drop the RT-combo thing to focus on balancing the card for now.

joebob777=> Thanks About the analytic things, I do understand that it's quite hard to get at first glance. Basically, most of the discussion was a comparison vs Quantum Tower production. However, I think that doing some maths here put up some facts, versus the feeling I had when designing this card.

True, it would be useless without Speed Up. OP with it, I'm not sure. Like you said, after turn +11, it's like a Nova every turn. But what I think is, a card is OP only within a context, and not in itself. For instance, I think that a 1|1  creature (cost  ) with a skill like ( : Generate  ) (like a  / Rustler) is, in itself, not overpowered. Within a Graboid context, it is way more questionable.

If you consider the average game length (I would say 15-20 turns for a 30~35 cards deck), +11 turns is a very long time to wait. But if I get more tangible facts about it being (un)balanced, the stackable probability of reverting its speed to 1 could indeed be a way to put something like a cap to the clock speed. I also thought making it a creature (0|3~5), which would make it "CC-compliant" by the opponent.

Anonymous => Thanks too That was an occasion to "un-dust" (?) my PS/3DSMax skills
I however think that a cap of only 2 Quanta will make EC completely useless (or maybe you mean something else). The idea behind this card is to have a slow-starting (of course, "slow" is kinda subjective, for it depends of your deck) Quanta engine with low stability (for elements at the end of the clock), which progressively becomes a Quanta factory.

Anyway, the more comments there are, the easier (well, I hope so...) it'll be to balance it.

32

Card Ideas and Art / Re: Conversion Series

« on: December 10, 2010, 09:52:40 pm »

That's a quite good idea, since you can suddenly change from a style to another one, this card is perfect for duo-Decks
But I don't understand how elements are connected between them. Are they supposed to be opposite (Dark/Light) ? Or making some known synergy easier? (Earth/Fire)?

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Crucible Archive / Re: Copycat | Elite Copycat

« on: December 10, 2010, 09:41:43 pm »

Will it also copy the skills and status (poison, gravity pull, ...) of the targeted creature?

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Forge Archive / Re: Elemental Clockwork | Elemental Chronometer

« on: December 10, 2010, 09:18:57 pm »

Well, about the RT thing, you can even Quanta production in early turns, which could sometime be an advantage, for an additional cost 2 . You could RT it as soon as you play, and the production would be something like this:

Compared Quanta Prod, using ,  ,  ,  as a cycle. Turn 2 EC CW 1EC CW + 1 EC CCW +0 2 2 +1 2 +2   +  + + +2 2 + 2 + 2 + + + + + +3 2 +2 + 2 + 2 + +  + +  + + + +4 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 (+2x Nova Effect) 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 (+2x Nova Effect, same as above because CCW/CW crossing) At a clockrate of 6, 1 EC CW+1 EC CCW is equivalent 1 Nova per turn, and you get the equivalent of 3 Nova the other turn. At the same clockrate, 2 EC CW needs 2 turns where you'll receive something like 2x( ,  ), and get the remaining prod at the other turn (i.e. equivalent to 4 Novas. It's just a matter of preference, but I think that sometimes, it could be useful to even your production so you're not waiting for the last missing Quantum another turn, or if you want to toss in specific creatures without waiting 3/4 turns. The only thing is, I don't want to make this card too complicated, but as it is, you can play it, speed it up, and harvest your Quanta in a simple way. I just though that it could be fun to add more advanced strategy, without ruining its "simplicity"...

35

Card Ideas and Art / Re: Simulacra|Simulacra

« on: December 10, 2010, 08:34:32 pm »

Nice idea, but there is something I don't understand.

1 Simulacra = 1 card + another one 1 (for you played 1 Sumulacra)
2 Simulacra = 1 card + another 2
3 Simulacra = 1card + another 3

Makes 9 of the same time at the cost of 27 (!!)  , where Fractal comes with up to 7 copies for 10 

The difference is, you could indeed make interesting strategies (play 1st one on a Dragon, 2nd one on an average creature, 3rd one on a low creature, 4th on a photon,..., for example), yet I think that the cost of this card is way too high to be effective. Maybe lower it to 7~6  ?

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Forge Archive / Re: Elemental Clockwork | Elemental Chronometer

« on: December 10, 2010, 08:07:01 pm »

So it takes basically +6 turns to the EC to be rentable vs a Quantum Tower. But after that, I think it really owns, I mean, having a Nova at almost every turn is kind of Oo
Yet, it still takes time to setup, so it should be compared to average duration of a game per category (rush/balanced/long setup). Considering it might overall take at least 2-3 turns to be able to get 3 , this thing would seriously heat up around turn 9~10.

How did you calculate the balanced cost? I just put 4/3 cause I had the feeling, but if you got a formula this might help for future designs.

Also, I just had an idea. Couldn't it make an interesting combo with Reverse Time? Here what I though:
-When a EC comes into play, the clock rate is 1. You can speed up the thing, then it'll become 2 (cycle 2 quanta per turn)
- If you RT it, the clock rate becomes -1, meaning the Quanta will be cycled counter clockwise.

So the formula for clock rate is:
- When Speed up => X + sign(X).
 Example: Clockrate (2) + Speed up => Clockrate (3) // Clockrate (-4) + Speed up => Clockrate (-5)

- When RT => X - 2 * sign(X).
Example: Clockrate (5) + RT => Clockrate (3) // Clockrate (-3) + RT => Clockrate (-1)

- If clockrate =0 (i.e. the card act as a pillar, generating 1 Quanta of an element depending of the position of the clock), RT will make it -1, and speed up will make it +1

That would make it easier for Elements positioned last on the clock (from 7 to 11), if you need them at the beginning of the game. And it would give your opponent a way to slow down your crazy Quanta generation after turns 10+
Obviously in this case, Nova should be triggered after one full turn, cause if not, RT + RT + RT at position 1 would create a Nova loop

Anyway, thanks about the art, I think that it could still be improved, but it's not the priority now ^^