>>6855697

Excellent! Glad to see another Scientist on the boards. Honestly, the starters are all kind of crap... your friend has the right idea, as the Feynman's Revenge expansion really started to up the power curve. That said, the best starter is probably Galileo. Although it's weak against Dogma counters, it's got enough Observation resources to power you when you decide to upgrade. Best of luck!

>>6855697
Man, playing against Quantum decks can be a pain in the ass, especially if they combo the Wave Function of the Universe with Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle to use their entire card collection as their hand. Your best bet is to run a String Theory deck and disprove the Uncertainty Principle. That'll shut him down nicely.

Holy fuck, is this real?!

>>6855863
It's every bit as real as Polyhedron Conflict and Sandwich Spread Fantasy.

>>6855863
your new here aren't you

>>6855697
Oh shit, StH! Man, I got out of that a couple of sets back, back when Quantum decks were dominating tourneys - I hear the sets since have made for some really fucked up mechanics... something about really powerful decks if you can get you head round the rules?

>>6855863

No

Stay away from the Luddite Starter. They seem pretty straight forward but they get real tricky in later tech Epochs

sure they are ok in the early stages when the techs are low and behind the curve, but unless you know what you are doing its real easy to get overwhelmed real quick in later tech stages.

Of course once you get ahold of the game and start to learn how to run them, and pay paticular attention to your victory conditions(Especially the social requirements in later stages) and realise that to win you need to not only stop but destroy the other players-they can be devistating.

Fucking Luddites

>>6855863
As real as that English subway navigation game. Charington Cross, was it?

rolled 5, 1, 13 = 19

Quantum has been getting nerfed a lot recently, but it's not a problem unless you play competitively. Playing against a quantum deck is a pain in the ass unless you run a really fast deck because of all the disruption they have. I recommend biology and splash robotics for nanites.

>>6855978

MMmm...nanite decks....

>>6855988
They're great until somebody breaks out a Recall.

>>6855924
that was a joke deck you fool, it was released on April 1st for a reason


also, has anyone tried out the new dark energy line in Astronomy and Cosmology?

Is that legendary particle accelerator worth the cost? Sure it's powerful, but with all the development hate I feel like I'll kill myself by using it.

>>6855997

which is why you set up a Worldwide Network Social System and then impliment both "Alter the Input" and "Alter the Output" restrictions on the 3rd teir of Social Construction and you can usually negate Recall. But of course setting that Social up will take up to much of your research that may leave you behind the curve

>>6856023

tell that to the guy who keeps winning tourneys around here with them....

fucking luddites....

>>6856034
the LHC is well worth it if you can actually get it working properly

when the damn thing breaks it takes forever to it up and running again

I first turned killed my last opponent with the LHC.
Feels good man.

rolled 1, 3, 15 = 19

>>6856023
I try to stay away from space cards because almost everything is just a set up for something bigger. 90% of their win conditions are more like win-more conditions.

>>6856049

Virology his ass, and toss in a few Military Application aspect cards in your deck so you can weasel around some of his primitive excuses for defenses and ensure that most of his offensive tactics fall short

>>6856034
>>6856050
I keep Higgs Boson Future Bleed cards in my side deck just for LHC players, I fucking hate that card.

>>6856056
You were using albert.dec weren't you? Almost every card in that deck is restricted for a reason.

>>6856101
that card can be dangerous though, sometimes people will play the LHC just to get you to play that Higgs Boson Future Bleed so they use its effects for chaos theory

>>6856086

Not a bad idea but he runs "Scattered Cell Subversive" as his Goverment type, so any effect on any aspect of his framework wont have an effect on any other. (this does slow him down alot, but it seems to work for him) So unless i want to try and track down all his cells and droping virus bombs on EACH of them. He uses not a SINGLE tech card and makes sure to stay off the Legal and Military radar. Its very annoying

I can't believe they reprinted Electrical Shortage after having Static in its place for so long. Kind of mad they got rid of Improper Procedure for the strictly worse Miscalculation, but interference was overpowered anyway.

>>6856171
But now everybody is using demolition and unifying theory decks are suffering.

My advice: Contingency Plan, Geothermal Power, Subterranian Lab, Redundant Seals, and Paranoid Security, Remote Activation, and then the Endgame of your choice.

Contingency Plan lets you pull two defensive Lab upgrades. Geothermal Power is immune to most Events that Subterranian Lab isn't. Redundant Seals will counter most virology (barring Extended Incubation, mind). Paranoid Security should prevent most monkeywrenches (except for Outragious Bribes), and Remote Activation lets you set off just about anything without having to open up any of the previously mentioned defenses.

>>6856166

Subversive Cell pair with Luddite garbage just slows down the Luddite's awful research potential to almost nonexistent and the inability to communicate via technological means makes it where you will achieve a scientific victory long before he even makes a move you could consider anything beyond trivial

When the hell did everyone treating the mad science joke line as legal?

rolled 8, 6, 2 = 16

>>6856280
Who cares, this game is 99% casual anyway.

>>6856294
i just miss the days when SCIENCE VICTORY was the only victory

Anyone else run a Genetics deck? I'm having trouble making use of Mutations in earlier Tech stages. I really end up starving for Funding until I can pull out things like Super-Human and Genetic Terrorism.

Damn... a friend of mine has been using a broken Psychology deck with the Literary Theory/Freudian Psychoanalysis/Lacanian "Real" combo. It's as broken as the Nietzche's Wrath loop, lemme tell ya. The lack of an objective reality screws over everything that isn't a Quantum deck or Psych based.

rolled 7, 3, 3 = 13

>>6856324
Splash sociology for funding and run stem cell research to take full advantage of it.

>>6856324
there are some military application aspect card that will solve your funding problem, though a lot of them come with annoying restrictions and deadlines

>>6856324
Dude just play some Biological Warfare, it works alright and you get more Funding then god

>>6856331
that deck isn't legal in the slightest

rolled 5, 17, 4 = 26

>>6856361
The huge funding boost may seem good, but half of what you do won't be for your sake unless you run demolition as your main study.

>>6856267

you would think that....but set up the Luddites with "Independent Operations"(yes it does diseminate the resources but throw in some "Outside Funding" or manage to put a major player into a Funding Resource and that is not an issue) and then just work on sabatoge.

Thats the one thing people seem to forgett about Luddites-They dont need ANY research-all thier funding can go into stealing and bribing and sabatoge. Toss in "Fanatic Followers" from the Science is Religion expansion, and you start to have real issues.

Yes I know alot of the Sabatoge effect are devastating to everyone-"Chernobyl metldown" is a perfect example-the Luddite player doesnt need to care what the effects are on the whole playfield. Infact if they can get lucky enough to pull off a major catastrophy against 1 player then things start to steamroll downwards. Grey Goo comes to mind for the Nanite players. Have that hit and then soon everyone is being burned down and the Luddite players is laughing his way to victory

>>6856361
>>6856363


I try to avoid the Military Backing stuff for the most parts as it usually ends up getting "Research Appropriated" and "Top Brass" and their ilk played on me in no time flat.

However it is supremely satisfying when I win with the "Alter Genetics" + "Psychological Warfare" loop for infinite Mutant Slaves.

>>6856391
Suicide Luddite is such an annoying deck, but if you're lucky, you can Electrical Shortage when he's barely hanging on to snatch victory from his teeth.

>>6856391

Science Is Religion isn't a line for Science: The Hypothesis, its for its spin off game philosphy: the questioning or whatever its called where you can play crazy shit like astrology.

Hey what which Phil of Sci card is better, Karl Popper or Paul Feyerabend?
Popper's "Falsification" ability is pretty fucking awesome but I can't help but feel attracted by Feyerabend's "Epistemological Anarchism". Honestly that thing fucking messes up the game so much that when he's on the field it's hard to even think of a strategy on how to proceed but thats what makes it fun.

New to the game, why do I here so many people talking about how Einstein's Notes is so overpowered? You can do all your lost research again, but the initial investment of the notes seems like it would prevent too many shenanigans.

>>6856438
if a luddite is using any electricity, he's playing an illegal deck

>>6855807
>Gallileo Deck
Pff. Newton Deck 4ever.

I mean, sure Gallileo's got mad Observation abilities, but one Inquisition card and BAM, you're shut down. Shit sucks. I should know, my friend loved to play apologist decks.

i will pay exactly 100 beers to the first anon who gets this in print

>>6856534

The problem with Einstein's Notes is not the card itself.. but rather the opening it leaves for the user to power into Space Travel incredibly easy with Theory of Relativity as the starting point. Not to mention the Atomic Weapons.

>>6856534
Back when it was legal, there were a lot of low cost theories and cheap research acceleration that allowed you to play your entire shredded pile. Then, you play Researcher's Trance which turns that massive amount of cheap research into pure scientific advancement.

Is Insomnia too risky to use in the current meta? The massive boost in resource efficiency won't do me any good if they take advantage of low moral with Miscalculations or any kind of psychology.

>>6856578
Einstein's notes are easy to shoot down, just play any of the numerous cards that highlight the holes in his theories

Just about any cosmology card and a large number of astronomy cards will do it, especially things like the Age of the Universe, Cosmic Background Radiation, Cosmic Inflation, Pioneer Anomoly, Galaxy Rotation Curve, Dark Matter, or Dark Energy.

The new Emission Impossible expansion is retarded.

Dark Particle Radiation is seriously broken.

>>6856654
Yeah but you can't play those until later in the game. I remember Note Rush decks. Those sucked ass.

Math Deck rules. Pinoid Space + Mandelbrot Set for the fuckin' win.

>>6856654

Speaking of Dark Matter.. I've been wanting to make a deck using Dark Matter and the new Large Hadron Collider. Throw in cards like Man-Made Black Hole and Fabric of the Universe and I think it could definately go somewhere.

>>6856688
you've obviously never met Misplaced Decimal Point.

>>6856681
pioneed anomoly is a problem card that only requires a space probe to be in play

Galaxy Rotation Curve can be played as soon as you have a deep space telescope in play

Cosmic Background Radiation can be played as soon as you have a radio telescope in play

all of these can be put into the place as quickly as the notes can

rolled 2, 6, 1 = 9

>>6856719
Bullshit. It wouldn't be restricted if that was the case.

Mathematics deck (Old school I know) but it works and there are no ways to counter The Hodge conjecture or Hadamards Matrices. Research costs are low too.

>>6856688

math decks can only win via a research victory (a scientific breakthrough victory or science victory as it was called in earlier editions)

there are no practical victories, take down victories, or annihilation victories when playing with pure math which makes playing it a fucking pain in the ass

>>6856763
But if you are playing double-variable rules (two-headed giant for all you magic-fags) with a partner that knows how to play a math deck, your team will invariably win.

>>6856738
each of those things are just costly and not well known since no one really plays cosmology or astrophysics

you literally have to know your opponent if going to play einstein's notes so you have to do nothing but rush to set up those defenses against it and neglect the rest of your agenda while the guy with the notes can advance as he pleases till he draws the card since its easy as fuck to play

>>6856719
Yeah, now. But back in the day it was a pain in the ass. Once notes hit the table you couldn't do shit. I remember somebody putting down a turn two notes on me once before I even knew what the fuck was happening (not that my playing a Biochem deck helped). It's a bitch, but I at least like how the cards you mentioned CAN counter the notes. It's kind of eratta'd out the whole "can not be countered" phrasing on notes.

Don't forget to add Dark Energy Hypothesis and maybe Apotheosis of the Void. I know everyone didn't like the Pseudo-Science expansion but in this case it's a nice choice.

Also >>6856658 using this with Quantum Particle-Pair Creation for deck searching is trolltasitic.

>>6856801

While this is often true.. I find siding in cards like "Warp Reality", "Breaking the Laws", and the aforementioned "Misplaced Decimal Point" in my Physics deck can severely limit the Math deck's ability to function.

Kinda hard to make 1+1=2 when 1+1 now equals Infinity.

>>6856846
really math should stay as support cards for bolstering other fields instead of trying to take the stage itself

>>6856835
at least it isn't goddamn string theory

>>6856846
"Input Constant" and "Alter Variable", both could solve that nicely.

The Geometry/Mathematics hybrid deck I went up again last week was killer... I mean, I know that a lot of folks tend to bash hybrid decks as being weak, but I swear the guy practically oneshotted me when he combo'd Mobius Strip and Klein Bottle together and finished off with Hypercube. Man, I thought they made it illegal to have multidimensional and monodimensional cards in the same deck.

>>6856875
those are computer science you derp

>>6856886
no but yet again, all you need to do is play Empirical Review to slow his ass down so you can get to work on your own stuff

>>6856868
>at least it isn't goddamn string theory

Are the rules still out on whether I can use old String Theory cards in M-Theory decks?

>>6856904

Not everyone can afford a card that's so old it had to be "Carbon-Dated".

Lame joke I know but it's still a rediculously expensive out of print card.

>>6856891
They're playable in both. Constants and Variables are a major part in the Math series, the game editors decided it to be prudent to allow those and others out of CS deck into Math.

>>6856937
its a superstring theory so most of them are still legal

>>6856945
Agreed... last I saw it, some guy was auctioning it for more than most folks would pay for a whole computer, let alone a single obscure card.

>>6856945
it's still godly to this date for just slowing people down

>>6856966

Oh man... I remember hitting someone with that then right as soon as it wore off using "Plagarized Research" on him... He was fucking pissed!

>>6856846
Unless he's got Benoit Mandelbrot up his sleeve. 'It's All Up Here' prevents Misplaced Decimals and 'Fractal Mapping' can stop Reality Warping dead in it's tracks.

Let's not forget that math decks can drop Gross Miscalculations like nobody's business. My late, great Astrophysics deck was about to achieve Welcome To Barnard's Star, and suddenly I'm sitting there with an empty launchpad. He didn't even use it on the ship, he just fuxxored the shit out of my funding.

I still rage about it.

>>6856992
Falsified Research, Unrepeated Research, and Questionable Data are also good support cards

>>6857007

A good timing of "Political Pressure" followed up with "Assassination Contract" can can that before it happens if you're running someone with access to a Secret Society.

>>6856886
play Realworld Applications, that will at least double the goal research value he has to hit to make up for not having a practical victory

>>6857055
Weeeell.... yeah. If you want to get 'last refuge of the incompetent' about it.

Speaking of, how's Robotics doing lately? The last time I ran my old deck Nanites were still an endgame and Beyond The Uncanny Valley was broken.

Meh, call me brazen but I still like a good old straight forward Energy Discharge deck. It's bullshit that there are so many Black Project counters nowadays.

Synchrotron+Advanced Capacitor Discharge+Particle Beam Weapon is still one of my favorite research combos.

>>6857155

Nothing Brazen about enjoying the Classics.

I still enjoy using the good ol' Nuclear Holocaust deck. Even if half of it is fucked over by Moral and Political Restrictions.

Which is why I side into Mad Scientist and Private Funding against them. :D

>>6857141
nanotechnology is now a field of its own, with nanites (or nanomachines) being dual field of robotics and nanotechnology

you like playing theory or applied? Gray-goo is the endgame scenario end condition for an annihiliation win now.

>>6857218

i'm sure thats why mad scientist was released

>>6857264

Nothing like 'Disregard Humanity' and 'Morally Ambiguous' to get around cards like 'Think of the Children!'

>>6857264
that set didn't even release that many cards and it increased the number of potential decks several times

before if you wanted to win by destroying your opponent you had to do it with legal dickery cards and shit, make yourself the military's dog, or set up shop in a third world country and take scraps

>>6857281
its a gold mine for the psychology and sociology decks though if you try doing that

Wish this was real :(

>>6857334
we all do, but the thing is that it'd be impossible to make the game live up to the expecations of it

rolled 16, 19, 3 = 38

>>6857343
Maybe Magic will eventually have a technology block. Mirrodon doesn't count

>>6857313

Oh, I have no doubt about that. I once ran a Psych deck running Mad Scientist that used some shenanigans with Military Backing(Helloooooo Arms Race!) and Mental Conditioning that led to my victory ala Army of Mind Slaves.

I just prefer dropping large bombs on people is all.

>>6857367
Haste AND contraption doubling? What made them think this isn't broken?

>>6857370
i was refering to using psych against mad scientists

"Tell Me About Your..." can start off a chain that will lead the mad scientist player around by the nose

>>6857407

Ah... yeah.. that certainly will lead to a massive circle jerk.... Until I hit a Researching Frenzy to make him miss a few appointments.

>>6857430
you will still be hurting more than he will, but at least you'll be free of the cycle

>>6857370
>Mad Scientist

Tesla Coil is STILL one of the most amusing cards in the game. Great set.

>>6857445

I could potentially get him out sooner with "Meet the Deadline!" or "Show Me Some Results!" but it's far more risky to use those as they can potentially cost me my Funding.

>>6857466
Yes, by god yes. Especially with "Unleash the Fury", get rid of all research and funding.

>>6857466

You are now hearing the Red Alert troop death sound from getting zapped by a Tesla Coil..... Manually.

Did you hear about that new Edition? Religious Scientists is it called. I think I am so going to buy the shit out of that Edition. I saw some spoilers and especially Disbelieve of the masses or Scientists on a Paycheck are the best. But Intelligent Design is one of those Scrap rares.

>>6857491

Intelligent Design can lead to some massive hurting on your opponent via Religious Zealots/You Can't Prove It Doesn't Exist and it opens you up to Church Funding.

I fucking HATE YOU /tg/ I want this game so hard.

This game was much better when it was just the big sciences. Biology, (Newtonian) Physics, and Chemistry.

Bullshit sciences like Anthropology, Psychology, Aeronautics, Marine Biology (seriously what the fuck), and Sociology were just cash grabs.

>>6857610
I've been pissed ever since they added psychology. It has no internal consistency and they have to errata it constantly. Heck, if you showed a modern Psychology based deck to someone who hasn't played in a few years they'd have no idea what it was.

dont know about anyone else.. but zero point energy is worth all the research points you need to put into it.

Sure, the restrictions are annoying when dealing with string theory and thermodynamic decks, but the look on the other player's face when you're one step from free energy..

>>6857610
Marine Biology is/was bullshit. I'm glad it isn't a popular as it used to be. I've always just considered it a limited version of Biology. Though, Physics/Biology decks are fun. Using Breaking the Laws to put Legs of a Cheetah on a Shark. I know it's easier to just do straight up Biology with a Genetics focus, but I like the mental image that gives better.

Anyone tried the Hippocratic Medicine pre-release deck they have for the Alternate Reality line?

>>6857863
That's just an obvious money grab. Updating a bunch of old shit is boring.

>>6857876

I don't know, I really feel that Bile Imbalance combo decks can have some pretty powerful effects.

>>6857610
>Marine Biology (seriously what the fuck)

Marine biology can do alright as part of an Oceanography deck, with things like Fishery Collapse

>>6857911
i think it's just bullshit. It's just an attempt to pre-empt the secondary market. I've played since Alpha and that whole set completely devalues my cards.

I'm confused. Is this a real game, or is this one of those "ha ha let's pretend it's real and talk about it" things?