Playtest Spreadsheet

[IAmBatman]

Well, I'm volunteering, but I was wondering if you want me to pick out my own stuff, or if you want to assign stuff to volunteers?

[GreyOwl]

Oh, you can pick your own stuff. I'd prefer to finish up all of Raelin's testing first, but since we need all of them anyway it won't hurt anything if decided to start with something else.

[GreyOwl]

Since we didn't post the actual spreadsheet, I thought I'd put up an explanation of how it works, without getting into the details of all the formulas.

Setup
The first tab has setup information that you define about the figure you want to test. This includes:

• figure's name
• stated cost (the best guess to start with)
• life
• names of any assist-related abilities
• rarity (unique vs. common)
• whether it has any bonding abilities.

If there are bonding abilities, there is a Bonding Calculator that figures out what portion of the cost is due to that. This can be calculated statically because the worth of bonding depends on the figure(s) you bond with and not the figure with the bonding ability. This means that any figures that can be activated via bonding must already be tested and had their costs established. The Bonding Calculator requires the following information:

• # of Bondable cards (how many possible cards can the figure bond with)
• Average cost of bondable cards
• Bonding Type - take an additional turn or instead of this figure's turn
• Bonding Scope - move, attack, or both
• # of Bonds per turn - the number of cards per turn that can be activated

Once these are filled in, a static number is generated to be added to the suggested cost.


Ratings
After setup is done, the only other things that need to be filled in are the test data from the scoresheet above. Based on the results of playtesting, a figure is rated in 4 basic areas, called Efficiencies, which are displayed as a percentage:

• Attack Efficiency - how good the figure is at attacking
• Defend Efficiency - how good the figure is at defending
• Survival Efficiency - how good the figure is at surviving (lasting to the end of the game)
• Assists Efficiency - how good the figure is at supporting other figures

The idea behind these efficiencies is that almost all special abilities will have their effects show up in them, so there won't be any reason to model each ability separately. Only a few kinds of abilities require special consideration, and those are outlined in the testing guidelines (another tab in the spreadsheet).

These four efficiencies are combined to form a Total Efficiency. The Total Efficiency is then compared to the stated cost of the figure to create a Performance Efficiency. This is the most accurate rating of how well the figure performs for their cost. The Performance and Total Efficiencies are compared to the stated cost to come up with a Suggested Cost.

This process is done for all 10 games in a match and all efficiencies are displayed per match. Then all matches are averaged together to show the efficiency per type of match (1-on-1, 1-on-squad, team-on-team). Then all of those are combined to show overall ratings for the figure.

Now for some details about the efficiencies and what is taken into account in them...

Details of Efficiencies

• Attack Efficiency - accounts for wounds delivered per attack and kill points delivered per stated cost of figure
• Defend Efficiency - accounts for wounds received per attack received
• Survival Efficiency - accounts for survival points per game and percentage of games won
• Assists Efficiency - accounts for total assists per round

Please ask if there are any questions! We believe we accounted for all important aspects, but if we seem to have left something out let us know.

[IAmBatman]

So, if I want to volunteer to do some one on one tests for Captain America, would it be against those figures listed in the first post (Kaemon Awa, Krug, etc)? And ten times against each?

[GreyOwl]

Not necessarily against those figures. Try to pick figures as close as possible to Captain America in cost, and a variety of figures (as far as abilities). And yes, 10 games for each.

[IAmBatman]

Ah, OK, I was confused on that part - I didn't see that it was the new version of Raelin (thought she was battling a bit out of her league!). So for one on one's, I'm probably looking more at Jotun, Charos, and Braxas ... maybe Iron Man?

edit: I forgot about TKN. He'd probably make a better choice to round out the Jotun/Charos selections.

[GreyOwl]

Any and all of those would be fine. We need 5 different one-on-one matchups anyway. Just let me know which one you want to start with and I'll "sign you up".

[IAmBatman]

Guess I'll volunteer for the 10 tests of Captain America against Jotun to start. I don't play Jotun nearly enough.

[GreyOwl]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Guess I'll volunteer for the 10 tests of Captain America against Jotun to start. I don't play Jotun nearly enough.

Thanks! Just a reminder, please make sure to do the tests on an official or BoV map.

I've updated the first post to show the sign-up sheet.

[UranusPChicago]

Just kind of thinking out loud here, but isn't Captain America along with Major Q9 thought of as great deals for their cost (ie slightly undercosted)?

If that is the case, why would we be using Captain America as a figure with which to base playtesting off of? Would it not, as a result, slightly under value all the figures that are playtested against the resultant dataset?

I personally have not tested Captain America enough to say one way or another if he is slightly undervalued. At this point, I am just going on what I have seen in some other people's views.

If it is not the case, then please continue on with the regularly scheduled program...

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by GreyOwl

Thanks! Just a reminder, please make sure to do the tests on an official or BoV map.

I've updated the first post to show the sign-up sheet.

It might be worth it to put a link to those maps up here ...

[GreyOwl]

Good idea. Is there a link somewhere to official maps? I normally just look them up in the rulebook...