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Humq: Missions: The Good, the Bad and the Powerful

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2021 8:03 pm
by Faithful Reader
It's Wednesday! We're more than halfway through the week. Since we are over the hump, let's look at a question!



Missions, missions, missions. Five, no more or less in your less and you can't play without 'em. You love them. You hate them.

And some are just so powerful.

Let us know which is your personal favorite mission of all time and why? Which is your least favorite mission of all time and why? Which mission is too powerful and why?

Re: Humq: Missions: The Good, the Bad and the Powerful

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2021 9:54 pm
by Armus
See the hall of fame list. Most of the really stupid ones are on there.

Re: Humq: Missions: The Good, the Bad and the Powerful

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2021 1:03 am
by TyKajada
.

I just don't like any of the 'referee' missions like Alpha Approach or Metron Arena. I think policing the game should have been done differently, like in the dilemma pile would have been my favorite.
They limit mission selection, are mostly boring and don't fit the deck theme.

Re: Humq: Missions: The Good, the Bad and the Powerful

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2021 1:14 am
by Armus
TyKajada wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 1:03 am .

I just don't like any of the 'referee' missions like Alpha Approach or Metron Arena. I think policing the game should have been done differently, like in the dilemma pile would have been my favorite.
They limit mission selection, are mostly boring and don't fit the deck theme.
So if you put the meta police cards in the dilemma pile, how do you prevent dilemma pile sniping from short-circuiting your meta controls.

I think that - to a certain extent - creating meta police missions has been good.

However, I think there have been times when it's been taken too far the other way and Designers just started throwing all kinds of uncancellable shit on mission cards that didn't necessarily need it.

At this point there should be some sort of cookie for running one [H] and 4 "clean" missions with no non- requirement game text (maybe make the Region keyword an exception, though I personally think that should not be the case. "Clean" means "Clean").

Maybe another cookie for running missions that all exceed a certain attribute threshold, though I'm not entirely sure what that looks like.

Re: Humq: Missions: The Good, the Bad and the Powerful

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2021 9:24 am
by TyKajada
.

The nice thing of meta police in the dilemma pile is you don;t know right away if it's there or not. Mission text is in your face from the beginning, no excitement there. You know you shouldn't be doing certain things/strategies this game.

Good examples are Timescape, Insurrection or The Seen and the Unseen.
You don't know if your opponent runs it or not, and if so, are you going to face it or not. I prefer it this way, the riskier you play the higher the benefit, or you might get stopped.

In addition there's also the risk for the other player to not be able to get that needed dilemma out at the right time, but that adds to the risk/benefit equation imho.

Same goes for those Ritual events, don't like them either... but that's another story.

Re: Humq: Missions: The Good, the Bad and the Powerful

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2021 9:26 am
by TyKajada
Armus wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 1:14 am

At this point there should be some sort of cookie for running one [H] and 4 "clean" missions with no non- requirement game text (maybe make the Region keyword an exception, though I personally think that should not be the case. "Clean" means "Clean").

Maybe another cookie for running missions that all exceed a certain attribute threshold, though I'm not entirely sure what that looks like.

I like this, good idea. :thumbsup:

One way to give a benefit for a "clean" mission selection would be adding game text to a card like "if you command 4 [Affiliation] missions..." since referee missions are "Any.." if remember them all correctly.

Re: Humq: Missions: The Good, the Bad and the Powerful

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 11:58 am
by Naetor
One of the most powerful missions is Historical Research, but it's also one of the worst. It was probably the first mission people played used for its gametext that was never attempted.

Pre-nerf Aid Legendary Civilization was the most powerful. Easy mission requirements, full points, and what it did for you (replaying personnel) while what it did to your opponent (essentially killing 3+ people) when you solve is game-winning.

I think putting the gametext that reads more like an interrupt ("when you start your turn...") or event ("plays on a mission, when you solve...") is rarely a good thing. There's a lot of examples beyond HR/ALC. Gametext that affects the actual mission attempts is more appropriate.

In terms of good missions, Bassen Rift is one of my favorite recent ones - with the gametext being the 4th most interesting thing about it after points, keyword, and span.

Re: Humq: Missions: The Good, the Bad and the Powerful

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:48 pm
by jadziadax8
I think my personal favorite mission is Ba'ku Planet, Safeguard Civilization. It is a perfectly flavorful TNG mission. It's not too hard and not too easy.

I also love every Nebula. All of them.

I think I dislike Commandeer Prototype the most. It's another example of the late-Decipher-era jank that proliferated in IaMD and WYLB. Hmmm, let's make the Phoenix! That should be hard to pull off!

Next set: let's make an easy mission that gets you the Phoenix!

I'll agree that pre-errata ALC was way too powerful. I don't mind Gateway. I don't use it, and it only goes off half the time, so *shrug*.
TyKajada wrote:One way to give a benefit for a "clean" mission selection would be adding game text to a card like "if you command 4 [Affiliation] missions..." since referee missions are "Any.." if remember them all correctly.
Design has been playing in this space lately, with some interesting results. Salvaged Attack Ship led to the new cycle of AR-558 cards and Locutus, Implacable Scourge could lead to some more interesting :borg: missions. I hope we'll get some more carrots to compliment the U.S.S. Enterprise-C, Yesterday's Enterprise, which I didn't even know existed until I was looking for bonus point options for my AR-558 deck!

Re: Humq: Missions: The Good, the Bad and the Powerful

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 6:33 pm
by Armus
jadziadax8 wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:48 pm I think my personal favorite mission is Ba'ku Planet, Safeguard Civilization. It is a perfectly flavorful TNG mission. It's not too hard and not too easy.
Very hard disagree on this point.

35 points is fine.

I'm borderline on that kicker. At least it can be exploited by a savvy dilemma player.

But that mission for 50 points is fucking bonkers. This card is probably the single biggest reason I nominated Personal Flagship for HoF this last time out.

That's way too easy for too high a payoff.