Breathing Plasma

[IanD]

Although the rules state that Rubium Dragons can breathe plasma into an adjacent space, it seems daft that they should be able to do this onto the monolith from an adjacent hex. Of course, breathing from the monolith would be possible. I think this gives the monolith an interesting combat function. Anyone alse agree?

[mk31bolo]

Seeing as Rubium Dragons are flying creatures, I see no reason why they couldn't torch the monolith.

So I guess I disagree. ;)

[StarvingWriter82]

I'd have to disagree as well... the fact that they can breathe to the monolith gives them interesting options in and of itself - it is the only way to kick someone off the monolith without simultaneously becoming public enemy number 1 (by taking it yourself).

A Rubium Dragon on the monolith is dangerous enough as it is (it's impossible for a unit to get there without taking a wave of plasma first).

[gryphon202]

Not quite impossible (rock striders can end up on the monolith by using their special rock plains ability, can't they?), but I am also inclined to agree with StarvingWriter82's line of reasoning.

The most effective way to battle a rubium dragon is with another rubium dragon, and the idea of breathing plasma onto the monolith from an adjoining hex opens up the possibility for all kinds of interesting strategies.

[StarvingWriter82]

It does open a lot of strategy - by posting a few rubium dragons not on the monolith, but outside it, it opens up an interesting issue for your opponent - either you get the monolith with little effort, or everything they send in gets torched.

As far as the Rock Striders moving in, they actually can't, since the monolith is not a rock space, and the spaces around it aren't either (the six single hexes are 3 lava, 1 crystal, and 1 forest). I'm sure this was intentional, as the lava leaper can't use his movement ability to get in either, as there are no lava spaces on the outside row. This means that the board is actually much less random that the idea of it being a hex game first appears, as the effect of the board terrain setup is fairly minor (much more influencing is the random placement of mines and units).

[gryphon202]

This seems like an interesting way of phrasing that strategy, given that each player can have a maximum of three dragons on the board at one time. ;)

The energize cards seem like they could make or break the game in many instances, particularly with fewer players. Given a choice, I would personally much rather take and hold the monolith with three rubium dragons instead of having them hover around it. Too much chance to get sniped by a pair or trio of nasty lava leapers. :D

[boylermaker]

Your posting Dragons outside the monolith wouldn't discourage me. I would send in a strider, take my two energize cards, and-after losing the strider and sending in another-repeat the next turn. Seems worth it to me.

[StarvingWriter82]

It all depends on your production - in a four player game, you could be collecting 10 or less resources a turn, if there are a few rock striders (rather than mines) near your base. If my opponents want to cut their resource production in half for a few energy cards, that's fine by me. (It also means your rock striders aren't going elsewhere and scoring victory points.)

As far as getting Rubium Dragons, it's not that difficult if you have mines near your base. (If you have rock striders, you should be buying more striders and scoring points quickly rather than worrying about the monolith anyway, as your opponents late game mining will overwhelm you). When I'm playing defensively, the first few buys involve miners, then usually one round of Rock Striders, then back to back dragons on turns four and five.

[boylermaker]

However, two rubium dragons will (probably) only hit one unit a turn, so I am getting energize cards at 3 rubium apiece. Meanwhile, my opponent (probably also with an income of ~10) has 24 rubium worth of dragons doing virtually nothing! And if I preserve my striders, I can make the few I get at the beginning of the game last quite a long time.

[StarvingWriter82]

To clarify, if I was getting in the neighborhood of 10ish rubium, Rubium Dragons would be a terrible buy. However, in a two or three player game, there is often one player that has a lot of the mines, and another player that has a lot of the free rock striders. Last night I played a game where my opponent was collecting around 10 resources a turn, but I was collecting in the 15-18 range. However, he had all but one of the free rock striders. In this position, I can afford to buy dragons, whereas he cannot afford to replace rock striders indefinitely, which is what makes the strategy viable. Dragons are good at wearing down opposing units without threat, but of course that strategy only works when you have the resource advantage.

Also in the case above, it's obvious I will win the long game with my 5-8 rubium advantage every turn, so it's imperitive that my opponent use his huge initial advantage to get enough victory points that I won't be able to catch up once my mining superiority has a chance to really matter.

Every rock strider heading to the monolith is one rock strider not out scoring victory points. Whereas a defensive player with rubium advantage will eventually have enough to buy two (or even three!) rock striders in a single round, a player who recieved free rock striders early on will end up spending half his production (or more) each turn maintaining the monolith.

The player I was against last night tried this strategy (moving a rock strider to the monolith each turn to grab the energy cards) when I had resource advantage. After he got to about six points (from smaller battles elsewhere) I only had three, but then my side of the board was busting with dragons and striders while his board was empty, and I swept over him. If he had used his rock striders on something else, he may have had 8, 9, or even 10 victory points, so by the time I had so much unit advantage, I would have been too far behind to win.

[boylermaker]

Well yes, in that situation you are perfectly correct.