The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
[Android: Netrunner] Creating and Controlling since 2012
Farangu
I am a beardy manWith a beardy planRegistered User regular
I am a beardy manWith a beardy planRegistered User regular
“Hey, man. You don't look too good. You alright?”
The bum's kind inquiry brought Ji back to his senses. Using the park bench as a brace to stretch his back and shoulder muscles, he looked at the old vagrant. Smelly, poorly clothed, too thin – this was one of the underclass.
One of the victims.
“I'm doin' OK, my friend,” he said. With a quick, practiced movement, he flicked the OFF switch for the modem installed in his lower neck, connected to his spine. His other hand hid the readouts on his PAD, brought up a more innocent, user friendly display. Couldn't risk the chance that the guy had some knowledge of what Ji was doing, no matter how remote. “Just getting some work done.”
The sun was starting to set over this New Angeles park, but nearby offices continued to buzz. The most prominent of them, the local Weyland Consortium branch, had a steady stream of workers going in and out.
“You don't look like a suit, man. What's your scene?”
Suddenly, the stream of people at the Weyland office turned to a flood. A mass of employees crushed out of the doors, as some kind of siren began to blare from inside. Security shutters began to descend over the doors.
“Nothin' serious, old man. Just making some noise.” With that, Ji stood up and began to walk away, tapping more on his PAD with a smile on his face.
“Just helping out.”
As he left the park, several men in suits began to follow him...
What is Netrunner?
Android: Netrunner is a living card game that came out in late 2012. In it, players will either take the role of a megacorporation, trying to advance their shadowy agendas of financial control and worldly power, or of a runner, an individual trying to steal the Corp’s agendas to either strike a blow for the people, make a profit, or because fuck it, why not?
The original version of this game, simply titled Netrunner, released in the mid 90's, and despite love from the fans, went into hibernation until Fantasy Flight picked it up and gave it a slight retooling.
How do you play?
The best way to learn that is to read the rules, but the extreme basics are as follows:
The whole game revolves around certain cards the Corp player has, called Agenda cards, with each Agenda being worth a certain number of Agenda Points and having a particular cost. The Corp is looking to play this card, and invest money in it equal to that cost. When they do that, they score the agenda, and get both the Agenda Points, and the usually-sweet benefit associated with it.
The Runner, on the other hand, doesn’t care about building stuff up. They just want to...liberate it. If a Runner accesses an Agenda, usually through one of their runs, they just outright steal it. They don’t need to pay the cost located on the card. They also don’t get the ability of it, just the points.
The first player to reach 7 Agenda Points wins the game. Each player also has a unique way they can LOSE the game:
For the Corp, business must go on, despite these intrusions. Spending all your resources to keep out one little script kiddy will make your Corp a laughing stock, and you will be dissolved. If the Corp ever has to draw a card, and they have none left to draw, the Corp has lost.
For the Runner, all of your software (and most of your hardware) is plugged into your head somehow. Electricity and internal organs (the brain, most notably) tend to not get along very well at all. If the Runner ever has to lose a card from his hand, and he has nothing left in his hand to lose, the Runner has FLATLINED, and loses.
The Corp protects their agendas with software called “Ice”, designed to keep out intruders or mess with their equipment. The Runner, naturally, can equip certain programs called “Icebreakers” to help them deal with the barriers in their way. Both players need money to get those programs up and running.
Go on...
There's a number of reasons why A:NR is worth your time and money:
Asymmetrical game play. The two factions in this game, while utilizing similar resources such as credits and “clicks” (actions), use them in radically different ways. The Corp is desperately trying to keep the Runner out of their systems long enough to bring their agendas to fruition, while not going broke in the process. The Runner is constantly attacking and probing the Corp's network, often toying with firewalls capable of destroying their hardware and melting holes in their brain. The key is that the Corp plays everything face down, with secrecy as their ally. @Rorus Raz describes it far better than I can:
The runner won't know kind of ice there is until they are actually going after something and the corporation pays the money to activate it. Even then, the runner doesn't know WHAT the ice is guarding until he or she reaches it. A savvy corporation may have set up three nasty pieces of ice to guard nothing more than a neural bomb designed specifically to make the runner's head explode. On the other hand, the runner can call the corporation's bluff, and it turns out that the ice they have set up is far too expensive for the corporation to activate, and you run past every piece of ice without any resistance.
Excellent usage of theme. I could describe it, but an example works much better:
Let's say that you are representing the Weyland Consortium, and you want your deck to focus not on the protective software to keep your servers secure, but on assets and contacts tailor-made to destroy the Runner and his equipment if you get the slightest whiff of his whereabouts. Well, there's lots of ways you can do that. You can overload his power grid, hoping the surge will fry some of his consoles...
Or perhaps you want to hire a team of professionals to hound him with bullets, making sure he can never rest easy...
Or...you know what? You don't want to think about him today. You're just going to blow up his city block.
Each of the 4 different Corp factions and 3 different Runner factions have loads of different tools and utilities like these. They really make you feel like you are a part of this world, this future.
Growing community. So you want other people to play this with? Well, aside from this lovely little program called OCTGN where you can play it online with all of us lovely folks here (ask @Tayrun for more information), there's a Regional program run by Fantasy Flight, where stores can apply to host a series of tournaments, and which often offer prizes to those that take part. Do well enough in them, and you can get to their World Championship event and get even more cool swag. Or you can just take part because HEART OF THE CARDS, that's fine too.
LCG, not CCG. What this means is that unlike Magic, in which every booster pack you buy contains random cards, all of Netrunner's “datapack” expansions contain the same cards, in equal numbers of copies. This makes deckbuilding less about the terribly boring “I just spent $TEXAS on this one card that'll make you lose”, and more about the interesting “I'm going to take these cards that everyone knows about and assumes to be terrible, and use them in a way that BLOWS MINDS”. Not only that, but if you aren't interested in doing competitions, then there's loads of variety in cards from just the Core set, and you don't even need any datapacks. (Although you'll see some of the cards in them and think OH GOD THAT'S COOL AND WOULD WORK REALLY WELL I COULD USE IT IN MY DECK and grab a few of them anyways.)
Be awesome. Play Netrunner.
Hey! Want to learn how to play Street Fighter? You should read this.
Chicago Megagame group
Watch me struggle to learn streaming! Point and laugh!
Chicago Megagame group
Watch me struggle to learn streaming! Point and laugh!
+8
Posts
In the spirit of friendly, non-ultra-competitive games with a friend of mine, I've created a Director deck for HB. NEXT Design, 19 ice (mostly Bioroid, mostly brain damage), Director Haas, Haas' Pet Project, Sentinel Defense Program, Project Wotan, etc. All the influence is Weyland splash; Punitive Counterstrike, Power Grid Overload and Beanstalk Royalties.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
I'm just thankful I don't own Opening Moves yet, because otherwise I be building a terrible Caissa deck for no reason other than I think Chess is cool.
I don't see how this is a disadvantage. Sure, a destroyer is more effective than Sherlock against a deck that doesn't use recursion, but Sherlock is 2cr cheaper than the equal strength Ichi 2.0.
I play mostly against Mac's that don't face check, so the subroutines never go off. Or if they do, I don't win the trace. And if I did, they'd Modded/Personal Workshop it back. Typically it's a 6 cred piece of ice that neither stops them nor slows them down, when I use it. Up against Ninja's or E3 Feedbacks, it's never been very cost effective for me.
I think I'll actually put up my decklists tonight when I get a chance to look at my actual decks and stuff. I'll be playing Reina Roja, swapping out Toolbox for Desperado (since multi-running with Medium is fucking bananas) and I want to find room for a Clone Chip (My gut tells me to not take out Deus Ex, so I'm not sure where I can get 1 influence.
My corp deck will be some NEXT Design bullshittery with Howler, Oversight AI, Awakening Center and other things that just try to tax out the runner. I think I like Tollbooth too much to keep it out of any deck ever again, but we'll see. May just run the 22 influence identity instead, since that lets me jam in Archers and/or Hadrian's Wall, along with other annoying things like Jackson Howard, Tollbooth, Poop-Up Window and Muckraker.
Reina:
Identity:
Reina Roja: Freedom Fighter (Mala Tempora)
Total Cards: (45)
Event: (12)
Deja Vu (Core) x2
Sure Gamble (Core) x3
Surge (Humanity's Shadow) x3
Forged Activation Orders (Core) x2 ■■
Emergency Shutdown (Cyber Exodus) x2 ■■
Hardware: (4)
Grimoire (Core) x2
Cortez Chip (What Lies Ahead) x2 ■■
Program: (11)
Datasucker (Core) x3
Djinn (Core) x2
Rook (Opening Moves) x2
Darwin (Future Proof) x2
Crypsis (Core) x2
Resource: (18)
Xanadu (Humanity's Shadow) x2
Raymond Flint (Mala Tempora) x2
Liberated Account (Trace Amount) x3
Kati Jones (Humanity's Shadow) x3
Armitage Codebusting (Core) x3
Compromised Employee (Trace Amount) x3 ■
Underworld Contact (A Study in Static) x2
Influence Values Totals -
Anarch: 38
Criminal: 15
Shaper: 0
Weyland:
Identity:
Weyland Consortium: Building a Better World (Core)
Total Cards: (49)
Agenda: (9)
Government Contracts (A Study in Static) x2
Hostile Takeover (Core) x2
The Cleaners (Second Thoughts) x3
Project Atlas (What Lies Ahead) x2
Asset: (8)
Melange Mining Corp (Core) x3
Dedicated Response Team (Future Proof) x2
Ghost Branch (Core) x3 ■
ICE: (20)
Ice Wall (Core) x2
Paper Wall (Mala Tempora) x3
Data Raven (Core) x3 ■■
Caduceus (What Lies Ahead) x3
Tollbooth (Core) x2 ■■
Bastion (Creation and Control) x3
Chum (Core) x2 ■
Draco (What Lies Ahead) x2
Operation: (12)
Scorched Earth (Core) x3
Restructure (Second Thoughts) x3
Beanstalk Royalties (Core) x3
Hedge Fund (Core) x3
Upgrade: (0)
Total Agenda Points: 21
Influence Values Totals -
Haas-Bioroid: 0
Jinteki: 2
NBN: 13
The Weyland Consortium: 29
Chicago Megagame group
Watch me struggle to learn streaming! Point and laugh!
So, having played some games with a buddy, I finally bit the bullet and bought Netrunner.
All of it.
Realizing that even just starting with the base components, it was going to take some doing to begin building decks, I essentially crafted up 2 on the fly (one corp, one runner, of course), and hope those that face them can keep their laughter to a dull roar.
Anyway, I thought I'd check in with you fine folks, and see if you had any recommendations for deck building resources? I'm not sure I have 12 hours a week to commit to all the various and sundry podcasts that I know are out there, but something I can read on the beginner and then advanced theories behind deckbuilding (current would be nice, but even older guides work, as I'm starting with just the core box for now).
Obviously my local metagame may differ from yours or the tournament scene, and the best way to dig in will be to shuffle up, draw some hands, and play as many games as we can find time for in our busy schedules, but I figured y'all might have some tips to share.
Think back a month or a year or however long ago. What do you wish people had told you about deck construction? Above and beyond the usual agenda limit, "have ice/breakers", what little things have you picked up that would've made life a lot simpler for you?
I'm sure someone will mention rounding out the "2 offs" and "1 offs" from the core at some point. I'm thinking that if another buddy picks the game up, we might split a 3rd core and that'd settle us both for the former, and give us some of the latter to split up. I've seen the ebay auctions for rounding out core boxes, and it'd be faster and generally cheaper to just buy a 3rd/4th/whateverth core box locally if I'm that desperate to snag those cards.
Fake Edit: I'm cautiously hopeful my girlfriend will be willing to learn how to play, as there's growing interest in the game at her office.
cortez chip is a LOT of influence for what it does
if you dropped both of them you could take three Crescentus instead
or, since you're using Darwin, E3 feedback implants
I don't like Compromised Employee in Reina--they're going to be rezzing less ice than normal so you're not really getting what you pay for
you've put two underworld contacts in but you don't actually have a way to increase your link to the necessary 2. instead of adding link I'd just take out underworld contacts and put in more money, like daily casts
because you're playing ice denial, a parasite or two would be very useful for you
I don't remember where the Underworld Contacts came from, thanks for the catch. Anything about the Weyland deck, though? That's the one I'm more unsure about.
Chicago Megagame group
Watch me struggle to learn streaming! Point and laugh!
I think he was asking about popular deck builds? I don't keep up enough with popular decks to know them off the top of my head, but if people send me some I'll throw them in.
Chicago Megagame group
Watch me struggle to learn streaming! Point and laugh!
But stuff like rush, fast-advance, tag-and-bag for corps? Katman, parasucker, ice destruction, noise shop, ice denial for runners?
Some of these sorts of things have been easy to figure out via googling, some have been harder to pin down.
But basically if anyone is in the know about popular deck archetypes it would be very useful to share, I think.
I've read the rulebook, watched the tutorial video, and I've been following the PbP thread here. I feel like I've got a good enough handle on the game that we could start playing. I do want to ask, though: are there any commonly missed/misinterpreted rules that I should be on the lookout for? I've already seen a few come up in the PbP thread, but I'm wondering if there are any other things that most new players miss that I could know about ahead of time.
Getting confused with all the different terminology
Corp installing cards face-up
Getting the timing for rezzing cards down
traces(just in general, there's an argument to be made for just not dealing with them your first game)
Runner only thinking they need to break an ICE once, or not realizing that their icebreakers' strength resets after use unless otherwise noted
Actually, just the running process in general
Chicago Megagame group
Watch me struggle to learn streaming! Point and laugh!
Chicago Megagame group
Watch me struggle to learn streaming! Point and laugh!
Common error: Corp thinking it costs a click to rez an asset. That combined with the rez timing windows before turn start means you should definitely take the time to explain that with things like PAD campaigns, Adonis campaigns, etc, you should install them and only rez them at the start of your next turn, before your mandatory draw - this way you get the money and the runner doesn't know what the card is during their turn.
I just have one question though, that I felt the rulebook was kinda vague about, but exactly when can I rez cards? I get that I can rez them at any time during my turn, and ice only when a runner hits it during theirs, but what about assets or upgrades during their turn? Can I, say, install an asset in my turn and then rez it at the end of theirs so I get any 'at the start of your turn' effects right away?
Look above you, @Anzekay
Yes, there is a rez window on your turn before "start of turn" effects come into play.
Best way to learn this is to grab the latest FAQ - there's a good diagram of run and turn sequences on the last two pages, which should make it clear when you can rez stuff. I agree the rulebook is crap for detail like this.
Also jakob you're clearly awake. OCTGN now.
The most thorough answer I can give you is to just link you to the updated timing charts from the FAQ on FFG's site:
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/android-netrunner/support/FAQ/Android-Netrunner FAQ.pdf
Page 13 and 14 of the FAQ. I would highly recommend just printing them out when you get the chance.
To answer your question specifically you could either rez the assets during the runner's discard phase or during your draw phase to get the effect right away.
+1ing that. I agree with the Quinns statement where that match-up is probably the closest to how Netrunner should be played by the basics. Build data forts, advance agendas in them, run data forts, use software to break ICE, steal agendas. Any other factions add in weird exceptions, like all of Criminals' events and Anarch's... anarchs. Weyland has some weird ICE and you have to worry about Scorched Earth, NBN is NBN and trace-focused (and a little weak out of the box with starter decks), and Jinteki... is whatever the hell Jinteki does.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
The reason I'm not constantly OCTGNing you is I ended up finding it too frustrating on this netbook with its tiny screen.
Once I get a real computer I will run all of the nets though. Possibly/hopefully soon.
fyi hth
PS: raven might just as well be a D&D thing as an SE in-joke. Who knows. But the Vanilla developer guy IcyLiquid hangs out in D&D chat sometimes, anyway. There's a thread about the change in Tube's Circus, but it doesn't really clarify well, anything. Tube moves in mysterious ways.
Hah, I had the post window up for a while and hadn't refreshed.
Thanks @Tayrun @Inquisitor
E: Just gonna print out that FAQ and stick it in my box!
If you know the play style you want out of the box I would just grab it, otherwise they are safe starting points.
I started as Criminal and have never really looked back because I want to be running multiple times from the first turn and never stopping.
Depends if you just want to have fun or you want to get good.
If the latter, starting with Shaper and HB is definitely the right move. You need strong fundamentals before you start seeing how you can break them.
I think you can learn the fundamentals just fine playing any of the factions, its not that complex of a game.
Edit: Besides, you can fall into quite bad habits playing Shaper, for example. Focusing too much on rig building and not applying pressure on the Corp at the start is a huge mistake.
Some of the things I or people I play with have made mistakes on:
New people I teach tend to think that ALL ice are capable of stopping a run just because it's rezzed and the runner was unable to break anything (definitely NOT the case).
Quite a few abilities that have "the first time each turn" wording in them (like Gabriel's ability)...I must have some kind of mental block because sometimes I forget it's there, and so do some of the people I play with. And we are talking months and months after learning the game.
Trying to use abilities that require a click without using a click (like hosting Caissas directly to an ice from your hand when no Deep Red is present).
Miscalculating how much money you need to make a successful run (barring any random surprises the corp might throw at you). Happens occasionally, and it's not a hard mistake to make.
Forgetting things like taking a credit for your Desperado ability when you successfully run, or forgetting to add a virus counter to your Datasucker.
Misreading certain limitations like Datasucker only gains counters from CENTRAL servers, while Medium only works on R & D.
I'm sure there are plenty more as there is quite a bit to keep track of in any given game, but it's time for my commute home!
You don't need an icebreaker installed to make a run.
He had just assumed that you needed one.
My original point with this isn't as much "Shaper vs. HB is the right way to learn the game full stop" as much as "playing as starter Jinteki during your first game is a really good way to get a terrible first impression of it". I agree that the Runners have a bit more flexibility and you could make the argument that any of them would not be super hostile towards a new player.
Chicago Megagame group
Watch me struggle to learn streaming! Point and laugh!
When you use a one-per-turn card, tap it, as in turn it sideways. I promise you're going to end up in "wait did I take from my Adonis?" situations otherwise. It's a great habit.
Also, especially when you're learning, SAY WHAT YOU'RE DOING. Literally narrate for your opponent: "Click 1: Draw. Click 2: Install..."
Chicago Megagame group
Watch me struggle to learn streaming! Point and laugh!
Good lad. Make your whole group do this. Great habit.
Part of the reason I really love Netrunner over say, MTG, is because the theme feels way more unified and cohesive. It seems like a disservice to not play with that in mind