The next deck on the docket for redesign is my old "Custom Colicoid Droideka" deck. I remember designing this deck 3-4 years ago, and at the time depicting "shields" as realistically as possible was all the rage. I solved it following an old design of Nute and Droideka with Shield Track by PD Magnus. In any case, here is the original deck design:
| QUOTE |
| Major: Custom Colicoid Droideka HP: 9, Shield HP: 5, Yellow Minor: Droideka HP: 6, Shield HP: 5, Strong Power Combats REPEATER BLASTER x3 (Major) A3, Playing this card does not count as an action HIGH ENERGY BLAST x1 (Major) A7, If the target character defends this attack, they lose an action and cannot move on their next turn. DEFLECTOR SHEILD x2 (Major) D5, If Colicoid's shield has not been destroyed, then the attacker receives an attack from Deflector Sheild equal to the attack number on the attacker's card. This attack may be defended as normal. REPEATER BLASTER x2 (Minor) A2, Playing this card does not count as an action. ENGERGY BLAST x1 (Minor) A6, If the target character defends this attack, they may not move on their next turn. Specials SHIELD REGENERATOR x1 (Major) Restore and heal all damage on both Droideka shield tracks. Draw a card. WHEEL FORM x2 (Major) Move both Droideka up to 8 spaces each. Then heal up to 2 damage on each Droideka shield tracks. |
Now I haven't run this version through the gauntlet, but I don't think I need to necessarily. I did however, run 3 quick tests against Dooku and Obi-Wan, and the deck went undefeated...that says a lot right there.
So, there are several issues here with this deck that need to be addressed. First off, the wording is horrendous. There are inconsistencies between the two Energy Blast cards, and most of the Hasbro wording conventions are ignored (I must have made this before I became a stickler on wording!). Secondly, this deck is *very* powerful. Basically the shield mechanism forces an additional attack, and then there is a total of 7 points of healing for what is essentially a 14HP character once through the deck. This is akin to Palpatine level of HP/healing...but it's even better since it applies to both major AND minor. So, that needs to be addressed somehow. And also, it plays very similarly to Maul in terms of offense, but because of the stop movement and range, is probably a little better. And I haven't even mentioned the TWO Deflector Shield cards. These are just like Force Rebound, except with the ability to defend against yourself, and that is almost worse. Lastly, my intention from the very beginning was to have two equal Droideka...and that was never fully developed. So, I basically want to start over from scratch. I like the following elements and would like to keep them somehow:
1. Shield Track mechanic. I think this mechanic is a good one, and is the most accurate representation of sheilds, but it would need to be balanced with the right amount of HP and healing. I think what I have above is too strong. I remember PD Magnus' version was criticized for being too weak (although both his Droideka were minors...). Maybe something between the two? Maybe drop the healing altogether and just up the HP on the shields? This is worth some trial and error to get it right.
2. Non-action attacks. The one iconic thing about these droids is their ability to fire repeater blasts, and this is best handled with non-action attacks. It will be easy to put too many of these in the deck though.
3. Movement. These little buggers are fast when they're in Wheel Form, and I think that needs to be in the deck. Perhaps the healing coudl be dropped from this card...
So, the things I want to change are the Deflector Sheilds, Shield Regenerators and Energy Blasts, which amount to 5 of the 12 cards in the set, and since I'm tweaking the remaining cards, it's pretty much starting from scratch. I'd also like to try some shared cards, and try to make the two characters essentially equal, so that in team games, either one is an equal threat. I tried a similar concept with the Hands of Blue to great effect in the Serenifly expansion, and I think I'll apply it here as well. So, this is the new version I'm going to test:
| QUOTE |
| Destroyer Droid 1 HP: 8, Shields: 4, Yellow+ (4/1 is shared) Destroyer Droid 2 HP: 8, Shields 4, Strong (plus shared 4/1) Talent Cards Destroyer Droid 1 REPEATER BLASTER x3 A2, Playing this card does not count as an action. Destroyer Droid 2 REPEATER BLASTER x3 A2, Playing this card does not count as an action. Shared Cards WHEEL FORM x3 Move both Destroyer Droids to any empty space. If this card is played as your final action, then any attacks made on either droid until their next turn, must target the life track instead of the shield track. SHIELD REGENERATOR x1 Both droideka shield tracks recover up to 4 damage, even if they have been destroyed. TWIN CANNONS x2 A7*, *If the defending character is adjacent to the destroyer droid, the attack value is 3 instead of 7. |
Ok, so there is a fundamental shift in concept with this design. First, both droideka are completely equal in terms of their access to talent cards. They have almost identical "decks", the exception being in the basic decks, as Droid #2 has a 2/3 where Droid #1 has a 2/2. Droid #1 however, will still be considered the major and #2 will be the minor for traditional hasbro rules sake, so I will have to be mindful of that in testing, especially in 1vs1. Secondly, the design of the deck now revolves around attacking, period. There is movement and healing, but those exist solely as support to ranged basic, non-action and power attacks. As droids they are designed for one thing, and one thing only: firepower. I dropped the shield deflector card entirely, but kept the attack cards very similar. I have scaled back the shield mechanism and healing considerably. The shields can still be regenerated, but not as readily, and the HP has been trimmed back to 4HP. In terms of total HP (life track + shield track), you could view the shields like regenerating clone troopers, and then the life tracks like a shared major HP. Obviously it doesn't quite function that way though. I like this setup much better on paper, and I think all that it would need are tweaks to HP and attack values to find the right balance. But the design looks much simpler, and hopefully more effective.




