The Book of Brainiac 5 (II)

[IAmBatman]

I'm getting 220 on the calculator.

[MrNobody]

Originally Posted by japes

simple but nice.

I have two different Braniac 5 minis so I'm sure I have at least one that wasn't used for the first one if you need photos.

I’m planning on using this one since it’s based on the specific era I’m trying to capture:



Thanks for the offer though!

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

I'm getting 220 on the calculator.

Sweet, I was getting 190-220 as well. I might start at 200, since I feel like the calculator is overvaluing those stats like I said, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find him going up.

[Lord Pyre]

I don't think there's many figures at 6 life 7 defense at 200, so not sure it's overvaluing it here. That's hefty!

[MrNobody]

For sure, but I also think the power calculator assumes he’s the kind of unit that can actually do something with those stats. Brainiac 5.1 is mainly useful as a tie-down unit* and can’t do much offensively, I’m assuming this guy will be the same, but I have no problem starting him at 220 if needed.

*Obviously ignoring the main thing that unit does.

[IAmBatman]

There are four C3G figures with that life/defense combination (Tiger Shark (240, 7 attack), Wildfire (280, 6 attack), Metallo (290, 6 attack), and Bizarro (330, 6 attack)).

So 220 is significantly cheaper than all of them but Tiger Shark, who goes down to 5/5 attack and defense when he gets 3 wounds, but is probably still pretty juiced for his cost.

I'd guess 220 is a pretty strong estimate but he could certainly go down (or up!) 10-20 points.

Edit: Although I am a tad concerned that this guy is just a completely passive meat shield right now that exists in order to bring one other figure into the faction, place them once, and then have contingency plan. Like overall he feels less like an active part of the battle than Oracle. I have to wonder if that's ideal?

220 might end up feeling pretty pricy if he's not a guy you ever really want to activate.

[MrNobody]

Yeah, I think it's just hard to portray what the dude is actually doing in 99% of stories in a way that feels (a) accurate and (b) satisfying to play. "Brainy sits in the lab" and "Brainy strides around the battlefield impervious to attacks" are his two main modes, so capturing those feels essential, but so does making sure he feels fun.

Only idea I can think of is having something that allows/requires him to be more up in the action - like a tweak on Contingency Plan that has him wanting to be in the thick of things. But I'm not sure that's really going to feel like a more improved design.

[IAmBatman]

If the desire is to sit him in the back and not activate him and mostly have him exist as a contingency plan, does he need such solid life/defense stats? If all he's contributing on offense is an attack of 3, might be hard a lot of the time to take him over Oracle even in Legion builds.

[MrNobody]

Representing the force field in some manner does feel essential to the character. Booster has the same belt but is worse at using it, and he has 7 Defense. I personally don’t feel like the character needs 6 Life, but this is supposed to be a more experienced version than the first one, so lowering his life feels weird.

I guess I’d be more into making him a more active participant for that reason, cause I do think we’re uniquely hogtied by consistency on those stats.

[IAmBatman]

I'm not sure more experience has to equal more life necessarily, but I get your overall points here and do think a power that gives him more of a reason to be active seems nice. Right now he's more like a draftable DO.

[MrNobody]

How does this look?

COLUAN CONTINGENCY PLAN
For the entire game, when an Army Card you control has all of its figures destroyed, you may immediately remove an unrevealed Order Marker from that card and place it on any other card you control, or any number of Order Markers if the Army Card belongs to Brainiac 5 or a figure within 8 spaces of Brainiac 5.

[IAmBatman]

Seems like a lot of extra mechanics just to move him out of the start zone but without giving you any reason to want to activate him if you can avoid it. I honestly don't think Contingency Plan is the problem or solution here. I think he needs something to do on his turn (other than move forward to stay with his team), otherwise he's going to feel more like a DO or a glyph than a figure.

[tcglkn]

I don't mind that for Brainiac. He's closer to Oracle than a real fighter anyways.