It's still in closed beta testing, but I've been playing a fair bit of Prismata. It's a turn-based resource-building strategy game that's plays a bit like M:tG and borrows elements from traditional RTS titles like StarCraft. There are 11 units in the base set in every game and depending on format, another 5 or 8 additional random units you may play. The random units tend to be a bit stronger and more interesting, and they are usually what you will build your strategy around for the game. Your opponent also receives the same random units but it never really plays out as a mirror as most games you'll be looking to find counter strategies to your opponents. Since there you are playing with full information and there is no randomness involved it can be quite similar to SC with full scouting, minus the micro battles (I have terribad APM).
There are 3 main tech paths to take as units typically require at least one of 3 types of additional resources besides gold which you use for pretty much everything. Gold (1) is generated when you click (similar to tapping in M:tG) Drones.
Animus (6) provides TWO Red (R) resources that disappear at the end of the turn. Red is aligned to more aggressive units with very efficient attack for their cost but can be really vulnerable if those units are not well protected
Blastforge (5) provides one Blue (B) resource that dissipates at the end of the turn. Blue is aligned to more defensive units, with high shield (Shield damage is not permanent and units only die if they take lethal damage on their shields) values and prompt (Prompt means it can block on the round it is bought, i.e. no summoning sickness for blocking) blockers
Conduit (4) will supply you with one additional Green (G) resource per turn but are stored if unused. Green is somewhat more interesting, their units feel less permanent as they typically have health instead of shields and take permanent damage. Saccing units and health is also a big part of G, but as they are the only resource besides gold that can be banked, which means an early investment in G can give you an edge later on in the game.
Energy (E) generated automatically by Engineers. It is typically used on econ units like Drones but there are some interesting uses for E and Engineers in the random unit pool. Building an early Engineer may telegraph that you are going heavy econ and force an aggressive response from the opponent. They are also good sacrifices to reduce damage taken on shields to keep Walls alive (2 as opposed to 5B in cost).
By choosing to tech into any of the 3 main tech paths you may be telegraphing your strategy to your opponent, who may choose to build into a counter if they can find one within the set.
On combat, there are attackers and defenders.
Units that are defenders are denoted by the shield icon and contribute to your overall defense value shown to the left.
Some units generate attack automatically without having to be clicked, while others may be clicked for combat and cannot block in the same round. Some units even have a limited amount of attacks and it becomes important to decide when you want certain units to attack and when you want them to block.
Every turn, your total attack value for the turn is compared to the opponent's defense value. If it is lower, your opponent may choose which units block, and in what order. Any damage that does not kill a unit with shields will be negated as shields regenerate. If your attack exceeds your opponent's total defense value, you enter a special "breech" mode where you can assign your leftover damage (after killing all defenders) on ANY of their units (provided it is already in play). You may choose to disrupt their economy by destroying their Drone line, or go for their production tech (RGB) or go for their attackers hiding behind their walls. Spending a point of damage on a cheap attacker like Tarsier (4R) is almost always better than attacking a Drone (3E) which in turn is often superior to attacking a Gauss Cannon (6G) which has 5 health. While the above examples are generally true, there are situations where they may not be. If your opponent is low on G, destroying their Conduits (4), as cheap as they are, may be a winning move rather than wiping their drones or their forces.
By being the first player to build an Animus I may be saying that I am opting to go for an aggressive strat, my opponent may immediately choose to respond by building a Blastforge to prevent me from killing their workers and getting a lead early on. Since both R and B resources aren't stored if unspent, I may either go for a Rhino (5R) to force him to build a Wall(5B) which will be inefficient for a while because I will not attacking with the Rhino unless he chose not to respond with the Wall. Or I may simply not build anything with my R and instead tech to B or G, which has forced inefficiency in my opponent's spending by making him build a Blastforge and not spending B, unless he chooses to spend B on a unit which may be inefficient at worst and ineffective at offense at best. Depending on B or G I could be getting Scorchillas (7RG) or Hannibulls (9BRR) which are both very effective against early Walls. As you can see I can mindgame my opponent and force them to commit to a tech which might not be as great against my overall strategy just by building inefficiently or aggressively myself. He may have had another strategy in mind but was forced to abandon it to respond to what he thought I was going to build into. Similarly, knowing when to switch tech or strategies can give you a massive edge capitalizing on a weakness in the opponent's build. There is a really high skill cap as there is no random element and high level games can come down to the smallest decisions be it in purchasing, timing or assigning blockers or whether you attack with an optional attacker on a particular turn
The game will be completely free to play and they will probably use some supporter model like PoE, you can sign up for a beta invite on their
site (code is PJSALT). EDIT: Currently out of keys to giveaway, do sign up for the beta if you are interested!
Topic: [Misc] What are you playing now? (Video Games) (Read 314275 times)