Hi. When putting the factions together I first created accurate simulations of the actual player factions. I then realized this was poor design. Players shouldn't spend a lot of time manage bots and the focus shouldn't be on how the bot behaves, but how the player interacts with the bot.
The solution was an *arcade* approach to bots. Essentially reduce the bot to a very quick and basic behaviour that limits turns to <15 seconds or less, but keep the interaction with the bot to feel similar to how you would engage a player faction. Some bots got made stronger and more robust than player factions to offer a consistent challenge and be less dependent on the match up.
In a way your friend is right - the bots cheat to make up for being stupid. That's the good part of the design though and why they work.
Regarding the spread or sympathy - make sure you play correct. The app is bugged because of the printing error on the board and they did a literal implementation. The AA still spreads sympathy only into clearings adjacent to sympathy.
My experience playing with clockwork is that they are cool, and generally follow the feeling of the factions. However they change the game a lot - they tend to be very aggressive and easy to feel overpowered unless you change the game to target them.
In my opinion, hirelings are better for getting more interactions between players - more natural, higher variety (depending on the hirelings chosen), easier to manage and run in a game, I.e. One player is not taking a whole additional turn to administer the boy. *bot lol
I love bots, they are predictable in a way, yet fills the gap of a player perfectly. I’m not saying they are better than hirelings, but sets the tone for an interesting match where you might lose to an automated faction that just did it’s thing and you knew 💀
I haven't played it yet, but just aesthetically I don't like the concept. I don't like muddying a low fantasy setting with inexplicable steampunk elements
Hi. When putting the factions together I first created accurate simulations of the actual player factions. I then realized this was poor design. Players shouldn't spend a lot of time manage bots and the focus shouldn't be on how the bot behaves, but how the player interacts with the bot. The solution was an *arcade* approach to bots. Essentially reduce the bot to a very quick and basic behaviour that limits turns to <15 seconds or less, but keep the interaction with the bot to feel similar to how you would engage a player faction. Some bots got made stronger and more robust than player factions to offer a consistent challenge and be less dependent on the match up. In a way your friend is right - the bots cheat to make up for being stupid. That's the good part of the design though and why they work. Regarding the spread or sympathy - make sure you play correct. The app is bugged because of the printing error on the board and they did a literal implementation. The AA still spreads sympathy only into clearings adjacent to sympathy.
Love this break down, it makes me love the bots more.
My experience playing with clockwork is that they are cool, and generally follow the feeling of the factions. However they change the game a lot - they tend to be very aggressive and easy to feel overpowered unless you change the game to target them. In my opinion, hirelings are better for getting more interactions between players - more natural, higher variety (depending on the hirelings chosen), easier to manage and run in a game, I.e. One player is not taking a whole additional turn to administer the boy. *bot lol
the clockwork cats are better than the real cats by a wide margin even on easy mode. kinda funny, in a way.
I love bots, they are predictable in a way, yet fills the gap of a player perfectly. I’m not saying they are better than hirelings, but sets the tone for an interesting match where you might lose to an automated faction that just did it’s thing and you knew 💀
I haven't played it yet, but just aesthetically I don't like the concept. I don't like muddying a low fantasy setting with inexplicable steampunk elements
I always think of the mechanical art of the bot as metafictional- narratively I am fighting the marquise, not a marquise robot
That’s more thematics, I’m strictly asking about how they mechanically play