hector wrote:Still enjoying playing with the cube and tweaking it. The challenge is trying to make every character in the cube have a purpose, so it has a chance of being drafted in some situations. Not all characters have to be of similar power level as certain synergies can strengthen weaker characters. Rules like allowing multiple of a trooper to be used in a squad if a single trooper character card is drafted can help. Unfortunately, power creep has hit the cube which was inevitable if more characters were to be added while trying to keep it fairly balanced. Currently there are 130 cards in the cube with 2 people drafting from it. There is a trade off with using more or less cards in the cube. With more cards there is more variety and less chance of getting bored seeing too many of the same characters. With less cards though, synergies can be counted on happening more reliably.
The actual form of drafting with 2 people we are using is a version of a Winston Draft. This allows players to dig deeper for cards they really want for their squad, but in doing so they aid the other player by allowing them to select more cards which gives them more options. I know MTG started the cube drafting format, but I think it is a really neat way to make a contained playing experience for old games in people's collections. On that note I am possibly looking into to making a cube for the X-Wing miniatures game.
I have looked at some scenarios and would be interested in trying some with my brother in the future. I'll take any suggestions on balanced and interesting scenarios.
@Hector;
Thankyou for replying with your approaches to "relearning what you have unlearned"
in the SWMinis Cube Draft format.
"We use a version of Winston Draft"
fascinating strategy there; thanks for sharing your strategy for that learning approach.
thanks for suggesting that, as, it can be fun to 'emulate'
using SWMinisPlays, VASSAL, or Tabletop Boardgame Simulator;
I can use a 'chindogu controller', similar to what we use during ' VSETs Playtesting Statistical Distribution in
Wildcard Analysis of Meta-Combinatorics of a pieces likely costing rubrik"
this allows me to try and use the principles of "Qualitative Evaluation in Batch-Testing from Quality Control"
to test out a piece against possible squad combinations it is likely to be used in,
which in turn, is fed back into a 'rubber-banding" "self-attenuation Self Learning Neural Net Model"
which is a kind of babushka multivariate / N'th Multivariate,
which allows us to evaluate the fairness of a piece
without needing MILLIONS of playtesters etc.
If you are interested in these approaches, there are mathematical pre-print papers
in recreational mathematics for HASKELL / AGIXML to be found at
the Electronic Journal of Combinatorics, VIXRA, and my blogs etc.
Yes, that looks familiar because,
that is how Sophia the Gynoid learned to play SWMinis so quickly
in autogenous / multi-factor autonomous mode,
or, something similar and,
I have PaLM Hypothetical Generator from Google Dashboard/ Google Glass
which can also map SWMinis gamestates.... muahahahah.
"I know MTG started these formats"
Indeed, I am a crusty old barnacle who has some ye-olde original 70s Magic The Gathering original sets etc,
and, who, despite having lamented the 'pay-to-play' format in many games,
I was always at the Wizards of the Coast Forums back in the day,
still at the Tabletop boardgame simulator, the BoardgameGeek and here etc,
as well as Lead Adventure and yes, even still at AllScaleTrek (I couldn't stay away,
you could say "resistance was futile" hahahaha)
"I am possibly looking at |Learning Draft-Cube/ Formats for XWING / StarWarsAttackWing and StarTrekAttackWing?|
A: Woohoo, that will be a fun one to watch,
I hope you'll consider a format like Kezzamachine's "Save-20" magazines and their extra formats,
or CeruousMutor, Surf_Rider56 et als,
all the Zombies format SWMinis stuff etc.
"
I have looked at some scenarios and would be interested in trying some with my brother in the future. I'll take any suggestions on balanced and interesting scenarios. "
I recommend the DEAGOSTINI MAGAZINE series, and,
the original SWMinis League Kit Scenarios,
followed by "The Expanded Rule Book 2017" Scenarios from the rulebook, <---- I find myself using these,
and, the gamestates atlas from all previous Regionals and International Tournaments at GenCon, SizeCon etc,
I then recommend checking out Bloomilk's "Customs" threads and VASSAL PLAY
or the wayback archives of Wizards of the Coast forums / Game thread iirc,
those have a lot of specials.
And of course, Save20 Magazine etc,
there are a few podcasts too which cover SWMinis as well.
One day, I would like to see more coverage of SWMinis stuff
at Nebula and Youtube by gamers / the boardgame reviewer / Game-Modder Crowds etc,
I hope we continue to see Exhibition Matches played against folks
who play dynamic duos or 100pt SWMinis on extreme places like
submarines, mountains, and even the ISS! (Yup, they played SWminis there,
auctioned the space-played pieces for charities, which was awesome).
and then, the Gamestate Analysis "Beginner through Advanced"
SWMinis Moves Atlas, which was like the Chess Almanac and Chess Gamestate Compositions Atlas.
This can be used to make "solitaire / single-player model" training scenarios.
I have also modified YODA STORIES / RHEA STORIES to be used for a SWMinis format
VASSAL Scenario Series (Search VASSAL at Github or NexusModsManager and you'll find some mod-files links to Google Dropbox suite of things, there's just a few SurveyMonkey etc surveys to complete and you get
a free download for the files you need and nothing else etc.)
I have also modified
SWMinisPlays Browser-Based 2D-3D Base-Defender Top Down Game,
The Tabletop Boardgame Simulator / SWMinis,
and several other games to include a semblance of this,
based on Stephen Wolfram's original Electronic Journal Of Combinatorics things from Wolfram API/ Wolfram Net.
I have also modified 8bitgamemaker,
GameCreators 12026 Universal DarkBasic
and Texas Instruments TI 80s series graphing calculators etc
to all also make SWMinis as a calculator / "game-toy game" handheld version of
a semblance of SWminis.
Yes, that really is it in Fallout 4's "Pipboy" "game-cart" framework.
Yes, you can really play that from a 'holo-tape' in your 'pip-boy" etc...
Please be advised, all of those are ABSOLUTELY FREE to the end user under
CreativeCommonsAttribution C.C.A. 0.0 ShareAlike-Redistribute-Enhance-Remix frameworks
within the Shareware Alliance stuff, you are only allowed to charge
a minimal archival/establishment fee of not greater than $5USD in the redistributable case to make those,
and that is solely for the printing fee to make the hard-copy manual "telephone book" version of
"Tales From The Brink Virtual-E-Mag; Gamer / Hacker Edition" etc hehehehe.
Yeah, there's a "Books of the Wasteland" "Virtual Edition" of Tales From The Brink
which is nothing but 400 pages of "what if SWMinis had an actual Chess Almanac style book? What would that look like?" etc.