Solforge Catch-All

Stone Blade is going to have a booth at PAX East, and will supposedly have codes for credits (or a free starter deck) in their Solforge store. If I get any extra ones I'll gladly pass them along to any non-Coffee Grinders who weren't at the show.

I'll expect one in my pm box, then. Thanks!

I got the red and green decks as pert of my kickstarter reward, both have been really interesting so far. I particularly like the super aggressive style of the red deck, once it gets going its really hard to stop.
I also got to try the white deck due to some issues they were having unlocking things, but I didn't enjoy that one as much. The core idea there seems to be levelling more cards each turn, then trying to overpower the opponent with a lot of level 3 stuff late in the match. In practice I found this tough to pull off.

Cronox wrote:

I got the red and green decks as pert of my kickstarter reward, both have been really interesting so far. I particularly like the super aggressive style of the red deck, once it gets going its really hard to stop.
I also got to try the white deck due to some issues they were having unlocking things, but I didn't enjoy that one as much. The core idea there seems to be levelling more cards each turn, then trying to overpower the opponent with a lot of level 3 stuff late in the match. In practice I found this tough to pull off.

I really like Rageborn Hellion in the Tempys deck. The first time I played him I didn't realize he triggers for each creature that gets through. +3 to all your dudes from a L1 is pretty hot!

I like the Robot theme in the Alloyin deck. Tech Upgrade can create some very tough guys! (Armor stacks)

MitchellW wrote:

I really like Rageborn Hellion in the Tempys deck. The first time I played him I didn't realize he triggers for each creature that gets through. +3 to all your dudes from a L1 is pretty hot!

Yeah, early on the Rageborn Hellion and the Ashurian Mystics can really set you my for a very short match, as they keep piling buffs with each attack on the player. My favorite card in this deck though is cinderfist brawler. the text on the card is not that clear but he basically deals double damage if he hits the player. So at level 3 with no buffs he does 28 damage to the player per attack, add in the ability to move him with windcaller, make him swift with the sharman or clear out enemy creatures with either firestorm or uranti bolt and he becomes the perfect closer. I have had a number of games where the board has looked fairly tight at the start of my turn and my opponents health has been sitting in the fourties then a firestorm followed by a swifted brawler has ended the game.

Looks like the PAX codes are on those business cards, so might be kind of easy to pickup some extras. I've got the 4 starters already, and won't need more until my wife gets her own account in the distant future

I've had a chance to play all the matchups now and still very happy with the game. Depending on the matchup, different cards become much more important. And it's pretty cool to hear how someone else has a different strategy for a matchup that also works (and uses cards I had undervalued!)

Just got my code for the PC Beta. Anyone else get theirs?

Also, a reminder that I've still got a key for a free starter deck (Green faction) if any non-Coffee Grinder wants it.

PC beta is out but limited to two decks (random), and local vs. You guys weren't wrong about how fast the game escalates. At most, my games have been 15 minutes. That's great for casual play, but I'm worried I'll grow tired of the fast play and miss any deep strategy.

cyrax wrote:

PC beta is out but limited to two decks (random), and local vs. You guys weren't wrong about how fast the game escalates. At most, my games have been 15 minutes. That's great for casual play, but I'm worried I'll grow tired of the fast play and miss any deep strategy.

I just fired it up as well and was bummed to see it's the same feature set of the previous iPad demo version. But, it's a start.

The strategy comes from opportunity cost (as in Race for the Galaxy) and being limited to two plays per turn. I really like the fact games don't draw out into a 30-60 minute affair.

I got my code too, will unlock it at work during lunch. I'm pleased to see they are using steam as their distribution platform (I'm sure they had announced that before and I just wasn't paying attention).

I have been getting in quite a bit of time with the red and green decks on the ipad. After initially not liking it much the green deck is really growing on me. The one thing that really made it work with me is remembering that you have 100 health and their really is no need to sacrifice a new creature to block say 3-5 damage. With green most of the time your better off playing in a empty lane and building up your power with all the buffs you get.

The depth is there, promise. If you checkout Racecar0 and Hoywolf's match via the Forgewatch steam on twitchtv, you can watch some guys who are pretty good making long term strategic decisions.

I spend most of my think-time planning which L3s I want to have vs. their L3s, but that will change as the game plays out since the general plan will be adjusted by what is happening on the tactical level.

Cronox wrote:

I got my code too, will unlock it at work during lunch. I'm pleased to see they are using steam as their distribution platform (I'm sure they had announced that before and I just wasn't paying attention).

I have been getting in quite a bit of time with the red and green decks on the ipad. After initially not liking it much the green deck is really growing on me. The one thing that really made it work with me is remembering that you have 100 health and their really is no need to sacrifice a new creature to block say 3-5 damage. With green most of the time your better off playing in a empty lane and building up your power with all the buffs you get.

Agreed on the Uterra deck. In certain matchups (esp. vs. Alloyin), you have to buildup your dudes to go over top of theirs. Making trades early and often is a good strategy against Uterra on the other side of the coin.

I just tried out the PC version, I'm very impressed by how well it runs. Playing on my fairly non-gaming laptop it was noticeably much more responsive than the current build on my ipad 2. My biggest disappointment were the graphics, I was expecting much higher res/detail versions of the cards to suit larger screens but at least at the moment it looks like they have just used the ipad assets.

That said I'm very impressed overall, I'm sure this will be great for getting in a few turns while at work.

2.1 Update on iOS. Added a difficulty between Easy and Normal. Then renamed Normal to Hard. Looks like the gameplay is slightly smoother, and you can also choose to play with/against a random deck.

Solforge PC beta Steam key

FiveW9Q7-ZJZCF-0GK9K

cyrax wrote:

Solforge PC beta Steam key

FiveW9Q7-ZJZCF-0GK9K

Thanks! Or at least I think thanks...this looks like a money pit for me

Are the card purchases credited cross-platform?

Elycion wrote:

Are the card purchases credited cross-platform?

Should be. I bought a couple starter packs on their website and they showed up in the iOS app.

I have an extra steam key too if anybody is interested in checking it out:

0CWED-HN89T-PWQ42

Cronox wrote:

I have an extra steam key too if anybody is interested in checking it out:

0CWED-HN89T-PWQ42

Thanks! I can't wait to check this out.

So I totally missed this one, but they sent me a PC beta key for backing the Ascension online kickstarter I think it was. Is there any way for non-backers to unlock more than the 2 decks yet on PC? I see I can buy starter decks in the shop, do they give you a key that works on Steam with the demo? Too bad there doesn't seem to be a late-joining paypal option for this one as I'd be in on that.

Outlandish wrote:

So I totally missed this one, but they sent me a PC beta key for backing the Ascension online kickstarter I think it was. Is there any way for non-backers to unlock more than the 2 decks yet on PC? I see I can buy starter decks in the shop, do they give you a key that works on Steam with the demo?

PC version is a revision behind the iOS app. Hopefully the next update will allow you to use the starter decks you purchase.

Too bad there doesn't seem to be a late-joining paypal option for this one as I'd be in on that.

They had a "pre-order" up on their site until the starter decks and skins went live. All it got you was a better exchange rate on your buy-in amount (if you gave them at least $50), PC beta access, and a promo card.

They teased this yesterday:

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BIuUsmBCEAI0-mL.png:large)

Supposedly it "shouldn't be too long" until a build with deck selection is released.

Is there anything to the level indicator other than the max level of card you can play?

i.e. I just had a game where it went to level 8, does that increase the chances of drawing higher level cards or are they planning on having cards with more than 3 levels or something else?

I believe the way it works is that each time you level your deck is reshuffled, adding back in all the cards played, discarded and levelled on the current level. So yes at each level higher you should end up with a higher percentage of levelled cards in your deck.

A level 8 game is very impressive, I think the highest I have been is level 5.

Has anybody tried the new iPad version (the one from a week or two ago with the extra difficulty levels)? The AI on hard now seems easier than the old medium AI. I have been playing random decks and haven't lost a match yet when I was winning around 50% before.

Cronox wrote:

I believe the way it works is that each time you level your deck is reshuffled, adding back in all the cards played, discarded and levelled on the current level. So yes at each level higher you should end up with a higher percentage of levelled cards in your deck.

A level 8 game is very impressive, I think the highest I have been is level 5.

Has anybody tried the new iPad version (the one from a week or two ago with the extra difficulty levels)? The AI on hard now seems easier than the old medium AI. I have been playing random decks and haven't lost a match yet when I was winning around 50% before.

My record on Ipad 2.0

37-4

My record on Ipad 2.1

42-1

Total

79-5

At least since I started recording. My first 30 games or so on 2.0 I didn't record results since I wasn't familiar with any of the new cards. After I'd played the decks to feel I knew the cards I played each matchup (16 matchups each starter vs. each other starter) 5 times. With a couple extras thrown in when I did as poorly as 3-2 in a matchup.

Frankly, my results aren't conclusive enough to tell anything. My win rate went up, but it did too on the Ipad 1.0 AI. I know I've seen the 2.1 Hard AI Ferocious Roar before playing a creature in the same turn 3 times now and only remember seeing it once on 2.0. However, Kibler told us they really just renamed it. So it's not *intentionally* easier. But maybe during bug fixing the AI priorities got messed up accidentally?

Cronox wrote:

I believe the way it works is that each time you level your deck is reshuffled, adding back in all the cards played, discarded and levelled on the current level. So yes at each level higher you should end up with a higher percentage of levelled cards in your deck.

I think that's how it works based on what's in the ForgeWatch wiki as far as rules go (as Stoneblade hasn't issued an official rulesbook). The wiki also lists that the minimum deck size is currently 30 cards. This is kinda interesting as far as deckbuilding goes, assuming my in-my-head maths is accurate... In any given "level" (ie. the 3 turns you have between shuffles) you're only going to see 50% of your deck (5 cards per hand * 3 = 15), and you'll play 20% of your deck (2 plays * 3 = 6) assuming you stick to the 30 card minimum. Which you'll want to do anyways since that's good CCG strategy, but this certainly emphasizes how important it is to keep your deck lean and focused once deckbuilding is added to the client. You can't really go with a large deck as a viable strategy (unless they add the ability to search or draw through your deck) since you'll be constantly cycling your cards which decreases the chance of drawing specific cards you need on subsequent turns.

shoptroll wrote:

I think that's how it works based on what's in the ForgeWatch wiki as far as rules go (as Stoneblade hasn't issued an official rulesbook). The wiki also lists that the minimum deck size is currently 30 cards. This is kinda interesting as far as deckbuilding goes, assuming my in-my-head maths is accurate... In any given "level" (ie. the 3 turns you have between shuffles) you're only going to see 50% of your deck (5 cards per hand * 3 = 15), and you'll play 20% of your deck (2 plays * 3 = 6) assuming you stick to the 30 card minimum. Which you'll want to do anyways since that's good CCG strategy, but this certainly emphasizes how important it is to keep your deck lean and focused once deckbuilding is added to the client. You can't really go with a large deck as a viable strategy (unless they add the ability to search or draw through your deck) since you'll be constantly cycling your cards which decreases the chance of drawing specific cards you need on subsequent turns.

It's close. 4 Hands before shuffle. So you see 2/3s of your deck.

It also means that the odds are roughly 25% that any one hand during L2 will be an all L1 hand. Adding that up gives you about a 75% chance that at least one hand will be all L1 during L2.

MitchellW wrote:

It's close. 4 Hands before shuffle. So you see 2/3s of your deck.

It also means that the odds are roughly 25% that any one hand during L2 will be an all L1 hand. Adding that up gives you about a 75% chance that at least one hand will be all L1 during L2.

Currently I think this is my main problem with the game. Often when I lose it seems to be because I draw consecutive hands without a L3 during the L3 phase, or the single L3 I do draw is very unhelpful to the current situation. The latter will certainly be improved with deckbuilding, and I believe/hope the former will as well.

Outlandish wrote:

Currently I think this is my main problem with the game. Often when I lose it seems to be because I draw consecutive hands without a L3 during the L3 phase, or the single L3 I do draw is very unhelpful to the current situation. The latter will certainly be improved with deckbuilding, and I believe/hope the former will as well.

I have found this from time to time too, although I do feel like I am dealing with it better now that I am really thinking about the cards I am playing at earlier levels and also realising that some rounds the best you can do it try to minimise loses, both of health and of control of the board, and try to fight back in the next round. That said as with most deck building and CCG games sometimes you are going to get a run of really bad hands and no amount of skill or planning will help.

MitchellW wrote:

I know I've seen the 2.1 Hard AI Ferocious Roar before playing a creature in the same turn 3 times now and only remember seeing it once on 2.0. However, Kibler told us they really just renamed it. So it's not *intentionally* easier. But maybe during bug fixing the AI priorities got messed up accidentally?

I have seen that and similar things a number of times in 2.1 (firestorms when their are no creatures out, playing creatures into empty lanes then losing that same round because they block etc.) when I didn't really notice them in 2.0. Maybe there are some bugs or maybe I am just noticing these kind of things more as I play/understand the game more.

Great discussion about probability here. I've been out of the loop for a while now but I'm ready to try one of their pre-made decks. From what I've browsed I'm liking Uterra (green) as a single-faction starter deck for its life gain and the creature-boosting synergy. Have any of you picked up multiple decks and can comment on what you enjoy playing the most?