What are skills, exactly?

[Citibrat]

So I've been doing my best to keep up, but I have a question on the skills.

I'm wondering if they're something to be bought from resource piles, or if they'll be something entirely different. I ask because I'm getting ready to buy sleeves, and need to know if the skills should be sleeved differently than the resource piles, or if they'll be like the infection cards from Outbreak and sleeved the same.

Thanks in advance for any/ all answers!

[dolphinsays]

from what i understand they are assigned before a game starts just like characters. you activate them by exploring for points. 1 point per explore

as far as sleeves you could probably use the same as for characters or any new color you wish

[135forte]

I didn't quite understand the how of it, but you get three of them in a semi-random process at the start of the game. Check the rule book(under how to play) for more details.

[WailingJennings]

It works the same as if you have ever played in a sealed card game event or a "cube draft" of any game. Basically:

Each player gets a "pool" of 5 skills at random, each person chooses 1 and passes the other 4 to the left simultaneously and do so until all the skills are chosen. This lets you develop a strategy of character building much like selecting how to make your own deck for a card game.

Honestly, the best addition to this game in my opinion and helps remove most of the complaints about the game, being dealt inferior characters with set skills over better characters. Essentially most of the luck in the game being determined during game setup lol.

[Hero_guy]

It works the same as if you have ever played in a sealed card game event or a "cube draft" of any game. Basically:

Each player gets a "pool" of 5 skills at random, each person chooses 1 and passes the other 4 to the left simultaneously and do so until all the skills are chosen. This lets you develop a strategy of character building much like selecting how to make your own deck for a card game.

Honestly, the best addition to this game in my opinion and helps remove most of the complaints about the game, being dealt inferior characters with set skills over better characters. Essentially most of the luck in the game being determined during game setup lol.

Meh...Luck will still play a huge role during set-up. There are still characters that have better skills than others and there are some skills that are better than others (at least I'm assuming since I don't know all the skills). And then there are still a few characters that are made for certain modes of play (Excella and Alliance Josh for example) are already starting the game in a hole. I will agree that it will take much more luck for someone to start with a significantly better set-up than every other player, but then again, it also opens the door for someone to start the game so far ahead that you may as well just call him/her the winner and re-deal so as to not waste everyone's time.

A house rule (I saw posted somewhere else on these forums) where a printed ability on a character's card = 1 skill and giving the each player the option of dropping a printed ability in lieu of another skill might help. Also, cap the ability + skill (A&S) total to...say...4. Also, if you choose to drop printed abilities then you must start with the lvl 2 (or highest possible) ability and work your way down because the lvl 2 abilities are usually the best and it keeps the exploiting down. So for example I am dealt Alliance Josh. His first ability is not being able to use a weapon over 40 cost, iirc, and his second is to allow his partner to have 4 weapons attached. Well, I'm not playing partner mode. Since the A&S is capped at 4, that means I would normally choose 2 skills. I decide his second lvl ability is useless in non-partner games so I decide to drop the option to use that in-game and take an additional skill. Well, I really don't want to be handicapped by weapon costs and that ability is there mostly to mitigate his second ability anyways so I will drop that one as well and take a 4th skill. At the end of the skill selection I need to discard 1 skill, I will be have 4 skills and zero character abilities usable in-game.

[VoicesOfChaos]

Why would you ever play with Josh or Excella out of their respective modes? Once my group decides the mode I remove all unusable characters from the character selection pool. Why would you leave them in and who would select them?

Although I don't do random random draft. I set out all select-able characters then we roll a dice to see who picks first and we go around twice.

[Branden Travis Sprenger]

I take all the playable characters deal 3 to 5 characters to each player.

As for skills, we are going to house rule where characters with 2 levels will only get 2 skills, characters with 1 level will get 3 skills.

[Branden Travis Sprenger]

speaking of skills Bandai just put one up on their FB page.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

[SMaster777]

They also put one up yesterday that at first glance I thought invalidated Primer Claire. Then I read it closer and went "Oh, this only fires once per turn, Claire gets it for EVERY ammo card she plays."

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...77567903_n.jpg

[Hero_guy]

Why would you ever play with Josh or Excella out of their respective modes? Once my group decides the mode I remove all unusable characters from the character selection pool. Why would you leave them in and who would select them?

Why not? Some people like to use all their cards. I'm proposing a way that they might make it viable. You know...thought it might be helpful or something. But obviously, since they're abilities are useless outside their respective modes, we should put them in a box and bury them deep in the ground... Thanks for the tip!