Tumbleweed Tactics (BETA) - drop in/out western combat and teambuilding

Elvenshae

Queen of Clubs
9 of Diamonds

Whelk

Queen of Diamonds and 8 of Spades! (Always choose shovels.)

Delzhand

Everyone selected Queen of Clubs (I assume that's what you meant, Whelk), so that one is a lock.

1. 9 of Diamonds (elvenshae)
2. 9 of Diamonds (discrider)
3. 8 of Spades (whelk)

Geth, roll 1d3

1d3 2 [1d3=2]

Delzhand

Queen of Clubs! Emma Mae's raw SKL increases by 4!
9 of Diamonds! Grace's raw SKL increases by 3!

Neither of those pushes a stat to the next cutoff, but everything helps!

Delzhand

PATCH NOTES
Stop: Stop no longer sets a unit to Waiting, but causes the unit to waste a phase turn (letting the opposition go twice) when activated.
Shield: Shield HP is now based on user's SKL*3 instead of target MaxHP/5. A stronger shield will replace a weaker one.
LCK Up: LCK bonus increased from 3 to 10.
LCK Down: LCK penalty increased from 3 to 10 (min 0).
Evade is now modified by LCK.
Stride has been removed.
SKL Down has been removed.
MOV Up: MOV bonus increased to 2.
MOV Down: MOV penalty increased to 4 (min 1).
HP Down: Lasts 2 turns.
HP Up: Lasts 2 turns.

Brawler
Haymaker damage increased to STR*8 and now inflicts ATK Down instead of SKL Down
Bull Rush damage changed to STR*7, but deals +10% more damage for each tile between self and target.
Grapple has been replaced with Corkscrew.
Corkscrew: Deal STR*6 damage to adjacent target and inflicts Stop

Brewer
Rough Draught no longer applies LCK Up.

Guardian
Toughen Up no longer affects self.

Hunter
Snare now inflicts MOV Down instead of Stop.

Switchblade
Perforate damage changed to SKL*5
Knife Throw renamed to Throwing Knives
Throwing Knives no longer deals randomized damage, but can target up to 3 tiles. The same tile may not be targeted more than once.

Sneak
Sneakstep grants MOV Up instead of Stride.

Totema
Winter Wolf damaged decreased to SKL*3 and now affects all enemies in a 9 tile area within 3 tiles.
Red Hawk now grants Quick instead of MOV Up.

Harvester
Scythe damage increased to STR*6.
Bonfire damage increased to SKL*8.

Peacemaker
Stall now inflicts Stop on a single target within 5 tiles.

Delzhand

Sorry, had some life stuff going on, but we'll be back in the saddle this evening!

Delzhand

Emma Mae's horse lay on its side, its breath labored. Emma Mae stroked the mare's head gently. You looked away.

This was bound to cause all sorts of problems.

You walked over to where Isaac lay and nudged him with your foot. He groaned in pain. You pinned his sleeve to the ground with the heel of your boot and picked the pistol from his hand. As you did, ochre tendrils of energy peeled away from it, dissipating on the hot wind. After a moment, the Gun was dormant again. It'd never fire for you, but given enough time in its owner's possession, it'd reload and become dangerous again.

Sure enough, it was one of those two-barreled pistols. You were lucky it hadn't been a revolver. It'd been a hell of a gamble, since you didn't know squat about Guns.

Emma Mae approached, wiping her eyes. Behind her, the horse lay still.

"You need a minute?" you asked.

"Ain't nothing left to say. But we're a horse short now, and no way to reach the Sector on foot. I'm too heavy for any of us to double up. That means heading back into town."

You contemplated this. It was fair to say you'd already been contemplating this. Beating Isaac senseless would not endear you to the Abbotts. Or to the sheriff, for that matter. It seemed unlikely that the McKendricks were any better.

"We'll still be leaving on this road."

Emma Mae sighed.

"I'm sorry River. I didn't really think this through, and now we're in a heap."

You agreed, but saying so would only make her feel bad, so you kept it to yourself.

She looked towards the hills beyond.

"I don't know how big the Abbott clan is, but you can bet your last dollar this place will be crawling with pissed-off siblings and cousins by the time we get back."

You didn't like your prospects. Anyone riders you hired in town would be of suspect allegiance when the throwdown started. You also didn't know how many Guns you were apt to see...

The Guns.

"I think it's time we met Kingmaker," you said.

Kingmaker apparently made her home in a cave north of town. You and your riders approached cautiously, leading your horses on foot. The sun was making a break for the ground to your left. The road snaked back and forth as it rose to the hills, and as you came around a large boulder, you found yourself face to face with the cave entrance.

Just inside were two machine men. They looked like they were from another time and place, all hard lines, reflective black surfaces, and blinking lights. One hummed to life at your approach, a square light were a face would normally be flickering on. A thin woman's face, with tiny glasses and enormous hat, appeared on it.

"No guests!" she yelled.

"Are you Kingmaker?"

"Who else would I be?"

"We're trying to go west, past the Abbott's claim."

"Pfah. Good luck with that."

You held up Isaac's pistol. "Did you unbind this gun for one of them?"

She squinted at it, and the screen blinked off. The other machine man began to hum.

"Unit 64, unit 65, why don't you show our guests the door? Figuratively speaking."

Panels slid into recesses in the machine men's arms and appendages emerged, very much looking like metal snakes, but terminating in glassy red orbs.

"Nobody ever wants to do things the easy way", you lamented to no one in particular.

The 6X series are equipped with medium range spazers, which deal 78 damage to a single target within range 2, but reduce their own HP by 10. They are also able to self-repair 15% of their HP. At close range they can also Incinerate, dealing damage equal to their missing HP and inflicting HP Down on themselves.

Victory Condition: Defeat all enemies
Failure Condition: River and Emma Mae are both defeated

discrider

Maxwell Snare Unit 64
Oh.
That's not how that works

mrpaku

OK, so these mini-bosses are a pair of beefy boys, with a mid range attack similar to the Harvester's range, and up-close stuff that we want absolutely nothing to do with

Seems like this fight is gonna be about using our movement wisely, and dancing around our opponents at a distance? Maxwell's gonna be out star player this round; River should probably keep him Beserked whenever possible

Grace can get in there to land some decent hits and bait enemy movement, but the second either of these bots manages to box her in somewhere, she's knocked down to critical status. Emma Mae should probably stay close and watch Grace's back in case. Emma Mae should probably stay the hell out of any melee combat this fight, too: Shield and Defense only

Focus fire on one bot at a time whenever we can, but be quick to dance back into another corner to keep them from flanking Grace in particular

For turn one, I'd suggest River drop a Rough Draught on Maxwell, then move to back to C7

Delzhand

River uses Rough Draught on Maxwell!
Maxwell gains ATK Up.
Maxwell is afflicted by Berserk.
River moves to C7.
River gains 10 XP.

Unit 64 moves to G3.

discrider

Isn't Rough Draught extremely bad in this fight?
I thought Berserk made people get into melee range.

Delzhand

Nope, it just forces you to attack the nearest enemy.

mrpaku

Maxwell: "Arrow Shot" at Unit 64, Move to G7

Delzhand

Maxwell has to attack Unit 65 due to Berserk - I assume that's what you meant. And if not, well, let's keep things moving anyway!

Maxwell uses Arrow Shot on Unit 65!
Unit 65 loses 46 HP.
Maxwell moves to G7.
Maxwell's ATK Up and Berserk fade.
Maxwell gains 25 XP.

Unit 65 uses Repair!
Unit 65 gains 36 HP.
Unit 65 moves to E4.

Delzhand

Does this fight look unfair? Do you want to tweak classes and restart?

discrider

Eh.

1. Emma Toughen up
2. River Rough Draught Grace move to C7
3. Maxwell D6 and Snare 65
4. Grace either Scream or Wisp 64 and get out of dodge
5. Maxwell Snare 64
6. Do more stuff while keeping ahead of merciless robbuts

discrider

From where we are though, looks like we're getting pinned

discrider

Grace to D6 after screaming at F3.

Delzhand

Sorry, that's a lot of commands - do you want to start with Emma's Toughen Up, or Grace's Lunar Scream? Wasn't sure if that last post was meant as a follow up and you're just working ahead, or not.

discrider

Delzhand wrote: »

Sorry, that's a lot of commands - do you want to start with Emma's Toughen Up, or Grace's Lunar Scream? Wasn't sure if that last post was meant as a follow up and you're just working ahead, or not.

The first post was a revision to what had been done so far, moves 1-5.
The last post is making a move but expecting to take the loss.

Delzhand

Grace uses Lunar Scream on F3!
It's a critical hit!
Unit 64 loses 64 HP.
Grace moves to D6.
Grace gains 25 XP.
Grace levels up!
Grace's Max HP increases to 118.
Grace's SKL increases to 9.

(I forgot to do a screenshot here, sorry)

Unit 65 moves to E5.
Unit 65 uses Spazer on Grace!
Grace loses 78 HP.
Unit 65 loses 10 HP.

For what it's worth, I think this is still possible. Don't forget about the Quick effect on Pep Tonic!

mrpaku

River: "Smooth Medicine" on Grace, then beat it back to A6

Delzhand

River uses Smooth Medicine on Grace!
Grace gains 33 HP.
Grace gains HP Up (2).
River moves to A6.
River gains 15 XP.

* forgot to account for River's XP in this screenshot

Unit 64 moves to E4.
Unit 64 uses Repair!
Unit 64 gains 36 HP.

discrider

mrpaku wrote: »

River: "Smooth Medicine" on Grace, then beat it back to A6

It's Emma's turn though

Emma to D7 and toughen up on Grace and River instead

Delzhand

Oh, good point. Since the enemy didn't affect any player character, it'll be fine if these two player actions are out of order.

Delzhand

Emma Mae moves to D7.
Emma Mae uses Toughen Up!
Grace gains Shield (21).
River gains Shield (21).
Emma Mae gains 15 XP.

* No screenshot since it wouldn't make sense

Unit 64 moves to E6.
Unit 64 uses Spazer on Grace.
Grace's shield absorbs 21 damage and fades.
Grace loses 57 HP.
Unit 64 loses 10 HP.

Everything should be chronologically repaired now.

discrider

Grace Lunar Scream on E5 and move to B7

Delzhand

Grace gains 11 HP.
Grace uses Lunar Scream on Unit 65!
Unit 65 loses 36 HP.
Unit 64 loses 36 HP.
Grace moves to B7.
Grace gains 25 XP.

Unit 65 moves to B5.
Unit 65 uses Spazer on Grace.
Grace is KO'd.

In hindsight, while the action economy is preserved between you and the enemy team, I failed to take into account that a smaller team will be able to close distance a lot quicker. But now that that advantage is pretty much tapped out, I'm curious to see if you can eke out a win.

Personal strategy thoughts

Now that melee is unavoidable, Emma Mae is gonna have to start shield bashing these guys. If you can focus one (65 is probably the bigger threat) down with Wisp, Arrow, and Crushing Blow, that'll give you some breathing room.

discrider

Emma to B6, smack 65

Delzhand

Emma Mae moves to B6.
Emma Mae uses Crushing Blow on Unit 65!
Unit 65 loses 56 HP.
Emma Mae gains 25 XP.
Emma Mae is now level 4!
Emma Mae's STR increases to 8!
Emma Mae's Max HP increases to 190!

Unit 64 moves to F6.
Unit 64 uses Spazer on Maxwell!
Maxwell loses 78 HP.
Unit 64 loses 10 HP.

discrider

Max to D7. Snare 64

Delzhand

Maxwell moves to D7.
Maxwell uses Snare on Unit 64!
Unit 64 is afflicted by MOV Down.
Maxwell gains 25 XP.

Unit 65 moves to A5.
Unit 65 uses Incinerate on River.
River evades!
Unit 65 is afflicted with HP Down (2)

That's a tremendously lucky break.

discrider

Maxwell A7, Arrow shot on 65
Maybe not.

Idk
I don't want 65 to one shot the healer

discrider

We could snare 65 and move Maxwell so 64 has nothing to hit.
We could heal Maxwell and move River.
Or we could wake up Grace and move River, but then Maxwell bites the dust.
Or we could lay dmg on 65.

Delzhand

Another possibility, though I haven't gamed this out very far

Emma Mae to A7 and Defend to "castle" River. Waste of a shield but keeps 65 from Incinerating the healer

Edit: actually defend shields the user, I forgot

mrpaku

I vote wake up Grace, move River

Delzhand

River uses Pep Tonic on Grace!
Grace gains 1 HP.
Grace is no longer KO'd.
Grace gains Quick.
River moves to A7.
River gains 15 XP.
River is now level 4!
River's SKL increases to 9.
River's Max HP increases to 142.

* It is now Grace's Quick turn.

discrider

Oh.
Grace to A6, Wisp 65

Delzhand

Grace moves to A6.
Grace uses Wicked Wisp on Unit 65!
Unit 65 loses 54 HP.
Grace gains 25 XP.

Unit 65 loses 24 HP.
Unit 65 moves to B4.
Unit 65 uses Spazer on Grace!
Grace is KO'd.
Unit 65 loses 10 HP.

discrider

Maxwell to B7, arrow shot on 65