The Book of Ultron (Drone)

[Karat]

For reference:

PROGRAM TRANSMISSION 20
After moving and attacking with Ultron, you may choose one figure within 10 clear sight spaces of Ultron. Chosen figures must be Androids, Cyborgs, or figures other than Destructible Objects that received at least one wound from Ultron's Encephalo Ray Special Attack this turn. Roll the 20-sided die, adding 1 to your roll for each wound given to a figure this turn with Encephalo Ray Special Attack. If you roll 20 or higher, destroy the chosen figure and Ultron. Immediately place Ultron on the space previously occupied by the chosen figure and remove all Wound Markers from Ultron's card.

[Karat]

Originally Posted by tcglkn

But he does have to be chosen to both move and attack right? A lot of the game Vs the Fan 4 he was rubber wrapped so I was moving 2 Drones and making feeble attacks on Mr. Fantastic with Ultron.

I believe so yea, but you could have chosen to move him 0 spaces and then attacked with him. I never even thought about using the move 2 drones and then attack with Ultron approach.

[tcglkn]

It made the most sense to me when Ultron couldn’t move. If I had realized I could have moved one Drone only and then attempted Transmission rolls I might have done that a couple of times. When you take a full turn with Ultron and don’t move him your default moved him 0 spaces so it counts, I didn’t consider that’s how it worked with Age of Ultron.

[Karat]

I hadn't contemplated your tactic, so I think another set of tests where someone plays him that way could be some good data.

[Lord Pyre]

I'm pretty sure the "After moving and attacking" wording only specifies timing, and not a trigger that you have to do both. Who's in charge of rules nowadays.

Otherwise, what is your intent, Tickle? We can easily clean up the wording to make it clear, but I want to know what you want it to do first.

[tcglkn]

I don’t have a strong preference either way. I was under the impression that he wasn’t able to use the Transmission if he was chosen with Age of Ultron but I’m fine if he is able to do that. I do think it’s a little ambiguous as it is worded currently. I’m leaning towards allowing him to use it because I want them to be at least as good with Ultron as they are with Brainiac 13. Which definitely comes from being able to keep multiple Drones close to Brainiac easily and his being a trigger when he would die instead of something you have to choose to do each turn. So I think giving Ultron more opportunity to roll Transmission and leaving Drones at +2 for that roll is the better strategy.

[Yodaking]

I would have played it the way Tickle just described. Use one of the 2 moves from Age of Ultron (even if it's a move of 0) and then have Utron use the 1 attack granted by Age of Ultron, and you have satisfied the 'after moving and attacking' requirement to roll for Transmission. If you moved two drones and attack with Ultron, you didn't move and attack with Ultron so you don't get to attempt Transmission. If it were just a timing trigger, it would only say after attacking with Ultron, moving or not moving is irreverent to the timing. Thus it's inclusion indicates it's a requirement as part of the trigger, Ultron must have used both a move and attack action to use Transmission, an attack only bonding power would not trigger it, nor would a move only bonding power. Ultron must both move and attack to use Transmision (even if it was just a move of 0), however it doesn't otherwise need to be full turn bonding though. If it required a normal full turn, it would have said after taking a turn with Ultron, so the pseudo bonding granted by Age of Ultron satisfies the trigger requirement.

[Karat]

Originally Posted by Yodaking

I would have played it the way Tickle just described. Use one of the 2 moves from Age of Ultron (even if it's a move of 0) and then have Utron use the 1 attack granted by Age of Ultron, and you have satisfied the 'after moving and attacking' requirement to roll for Transmission. If you moved two drones and attack with Ultron, you didn't move and attack with Ultron so you don't get to attempt Transmission. If it were just a timing trigger, it would only say after attacking with Ultron, moving or not moving is irreverent to the timing. Thus it's inclusion indicates it's a requirement as part of the trigger, Ultron must have used both a move and attack action to use Transmission, an attack only bonding power would not trigger it, nor would a move only bonding power. Ultron must both move and attack to use Transmision (even if it was just a move of 0), however it doesn't otherwise need to be full turn bonding though. If it required a normal full turn, it would have said after taking a turn with Ultron, so the pseudo bonding granted by Age of Ultron satisfies the trigger requirement.

that's how I would interpret that too.

[Lord Pyre]

I basically played it that way (Moving Ultron around was more useful than an extra drone), so I'm not concerned about that part.

I'm fuzzy on my rulings, but if that's correct then we should be good on that part!

[tcglkn]

Gonna try to run one more test tonight now that I understand how that should work better.

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Ultron Drones

Army Test
Map: X Marks the Spot
Units: Ultron, Ultron Drones x6, Gizmo, Mechanical Constructs x2 (1520) vs Captain America 240, Wasp II 160, Iron Man (Avengers) 270, Spider-Man 250, Hawkeye (Skycycle), Doctor Strange and Falcon (1520)

Spoiler Alert!

R1: Avengers init. On the second OM, Cap mows down 2 Mechs with his SA. Ultron puts a wounds on Cap with his SA and rolls 2 on Transmission.

R2: Avengers init. Cap deals 1 to a Drone. Gizmo triggers Spidey-Sense. Iron Man misses on his attack targeting a Mech but does get 1 auto wound on Ultron. Spidey Web Slings Ultron to have height advantage over Ultron and gets 1 wound in (didn't use the defense reduction part of Web Sling, almost did). Ultron leaves engagement w/ Cap and takes a wound so he can be same level as Spidey and deals him 3 wounds, rolls 3 on Transmission targeting a Drone.

R3: Avengers Init. Cap kills a Drone. Gizmo places a Mech adjacent to Iron Man and rolls 9 on Assault. Iron Man attacks twice killing a Mech and mission on Ultron. Ultron misses SA on Cap and rolls 7 on a Drone. Dr. Strange puts 2 wounds on Gizmo. Ultron wounds Cap with SA and rolls 10 on Transmission choosing Cap.

R4: Avenger init. Cap puts 1 wound on Ultron and kills both Drones he his engaged with using his SA (SAs very good against Tough and Adamantium Tough). Gizmo rolls 1 on Android Assault on Spidey. Hawkeye wounds Ultron. Ultron triggers Spidey-Sense. Dr. Strange kills Gizmo. Cap blocks Ultron's SA.

R5: Avengers init (Iron Man's ability is powerful with 7 Avengers). Cap wounds Ultron and kills a Drone using his SA. Ultron whiffs, rolls 4 on Transmitting a Drone. Iron Man puts 3 wounds on Ultron and kills a Drone. Ultron leaves engagement with Cap for 1 wound and misses on his SA targeting Iron Man, 4 on Transmission. Wasp misses on a Mech. Ultron puts 1 wound on Iron Man with SA then rolls 1 on Transmission.

R6: Avengers init. Cap moves to help Dr. Strange, whiffs on SA. Ultron SA misses and rolls another 1 on Transmission. Wasp kills a Mech with her SA. Ultron deals 3 to Hawkeye with SA and rolls a 12 when he tries to Transmit him. Spidey Web Slings Ultron and lands 1 wound on him, but then Ultron kills him with a 5 Skull attack.

R7: Avengers init. Cap kills Mech. Ultron misses. Wasp misses. Ultron kills Hawkeye. Iron Man wounds Ultron. Ultron wounds Iron Man with SA and then rolls 4 when he tries to Transmit him.

At this point we have 3 Drones, 2 Mechs and Ultron w/ 11 wounds VS Falcon, Wasp and Dr. Strange all healthy, Iron Man w/ 3 wounds and Captain America w/ 2 wounds.

R8: Drone init. Ultron misses attack, 8 on Transmission. Cap kills 2 Mechs and 1 Drone with his SA. Ultron kills Iron Man, 2 on Transmission. Dr. Strand and Ultron both miss. 7 on Transmission roll. Cap misses.

R9: Avengers init. Cap deals 2 to Drone. Ultron misses on his attack but rolls 19 with Transmission on the Drone that Cap just put 2 wounds on. Dr. S misses on last Drone. Cap blocks Ultron's SA, Ultron doesn't roll for Transmission since he has no wounds. Wasp misses on her SA. Ultron kills Cap with his SA.

R10: Ultron init. Ultron deals 1 with SA on Wasp and chooses to remove 1, 2 and X OM from her card instead. Ultron misses on his next 2 attacks, Falcon advances.

R11: Avengers init. Wasp puts 2 wounds on Ultron with SA. Ultron misses on Falcon and rolls 4 for Tranmission on last Drone. Dr. S puts 1st wound on the Drone. Ultron gives Falcon 2 wounds with his SA and rolls a 6 when he chooses Falcon for Transmission. Falcon and Ultron both miss their next attacks.

R12: Avengers init. Wasp misses on her SA. Ultron kills Falcon, rolls 13 on Transmission. Dr. S misses. Wasp takes 1 from Ultron's SA, 11 on Transmission. Wasp lands 2 wounds on Ultron with her SA. Ultron kills her after that, 17 on his Transmission roll.

R13: Ultron init. Ultron removes all of Dr. S OMs and then rolls 1, 4 then 18 on Transmission rolls, healing 4 wounds and killing the last Drone.

Ultron and Dr.S fight for a couple of rounds, Ultron wins with 2 wounds.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Ultron w/ 2 wounds

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: They definitely played differently when I could use Transmission after using Age of Ultron. I was still able to keep 1 Drone in the SZ for most of the game as their OM hub.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: They feel rather balanced to me and I like how they play with Ultron now that I understand how Program Transmission works with Age of Ultron

[tcglkn]

Updated with last test results.

[IAmBatman]

Sweet. Looking good. What are you thinking in terms of moving forward?