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The Upgrade Pack

What exactly is the Upgrade Pack?

It was back in August 2020 when our first Kickstarter for REDLINE: Tactical Card Combat launched. Though our campaign had a strong start, there was a slight problem. We kept hearing from backers they loved the game but wanted more cards!

This was kinda a problem, as an expandable card game, our initial backer rewards for REDLINE lacked extra cards that would help it expand right away. At this point our goal with the Kickstarter was simply to fund the project by staying small and nimble and we thought the Core Set would provide plenty of play in the box as is. And we were careful about bloat as it could jeopardize the entire effort if our funding goal became too large. But our backers had made their point clearly and we knew they were right. We should have added some extra cards in addition to the Core Set from the start and that was our mistake. So we quickly pivoted in those first days of crowdfunding to fix the situation and this is when the Upgrade Pack was born.

While designing REDLINE, we came up with quite a few cards that didn’t quite make it into the Core Set and so got left on the cutting room floor. It was an easy matter to collect some of those cards and bundle them as a special backer reward, which is exactly what we did and what the Upgrade Pack came to be. This would give our backers some extra cards to build or tweak their decks with while they waited for new ones to arrive later on. And it would be a neat incentive to support the game as well. The problem was these were cards we had every intention of printing in future expansions and so we didn’t want to offer them if they’d lose their uniqueness when they saw print again later. To avoid that we decided to print them with special alternate art that would never be used again to make the Upgrade Pack variants stand out.

So in the end, players got a nice little perk with the extra cards they wanted and we got to commission some extra art, which is always fun, and use the Upgrade Pack as a way to give back. We also got a chance to hint at some of the extra ideas that REDLINE had in store for future expansions, a sign of things to come! And finally, we offered the Upgrade Pack as a free bonus after successfully funding that comes with every initial copy of the REDLINE Core Set which limits these cards to just 500 copies so all REDLINE.

And now, as REDLINE gets closer to final production and shipping, we though it was a good time to finally spoil these designs and also share a little bit about how they came to be and what they are. You can also view the full spoiler for the 12 cards in the Upgrade Pack here!

54th Efreet Guards Vet

The Crimson Pact of Mars deck in the Core Set had a slight theme built around pilots. It’s General, Valya Serova, was an efreet ace who granted bonuses to all the pilots a player has in play. It only made sense then to add an extra pilot to the Upgrade Pack so players could have a chance to reinforce their CPM decks with extra help.

As a battle hardened pilot, the veteran has a special ability that allows him to help out a fellow rookie while losing some of his own focus on the fight in front of him. What stands out here is the fact the pilot himself expends to activate this ability, which is something we chose not to have equipment do in the Core Set for the sake of simplicity. True, missile cards will flip when used to represent empty racks. (Flipped cards in REDLINE are temporarily absent from the game and so cannot be interacted with.) But the 54th Efreet Guards Vet can still be destroyed if he is giving battle tips since expended cards are still in play. So be careful and keep him protected!

Migidae and Wind Shark

We also wanted to use the Upgrade Pack as a way to give players some new efreets to take for a test drive as well. This gave us a chance to quickly add two new ones to the game with the addition of the Migidae and Wind Shark. Both which happen to have a few things in common.

Each of these are the first neutral efreets in the game, which means they can be used with any faction in regards to deck construction. All the efreets in the Core Set belong to either the UNE or CPM so there is no way to add tp the efreet forces in each deck . Again, we did want to include some neutral efreets in the Core Set but because of space limitations, they got the axe. Neutral efreets are important as they allow players to mix and match units when it comes to force creation and we are planning the inclusion of more in the future for this reason.

Beyond being neutral, the Migidae and Wind Shark are both special in that they were designed entirely by REDLINE players. The Migidae was the end result of a month long social media contest where REDLINE fans got to vote on efreet attributes like weight class, weapons loadout, abilities and even it’s name. (A jumping trapdoor species of spider btw). And the Wind Shark was designed entirely by a Kickstarter backer. who wanted to see his personal design, a racing machine, made into an efreet in REDLINE. They both turned out as really strong designs that wouldn’t even exist if not for fan support and I personally love what they add to the game. I’d love to offer more possibilities for players to create efreets in the future if able as it’s great to add their contributions into the game to make it stronger.

Minefield and Provide Cover

Combat in REDLINE is unique among most card games because not only is it simultaneous, but it is also persistent. In most card games when two opposing units meet in combat, they exchange blows once and the game turn ends. That’s it. In REDLINE however, they keep firing until one side is destroyed or has retreated. It’s not an encounter. It’s an ENGAGEMENT! The tide of battle can swing to the other side in an instant so players must always be ready for the unexpected and adapt to momentum swings as damage begins to mount and units start to fall.

One way players can turn the tide of a battle to their favor is with tactics cards that provide an element of surprise when played. Tactics cards can alter a fight by increasing damage, helping to dodge incoming fire, or landing a critical hit among many other things. However, they are usually one time effects. Use it then lose it. We knew our combat system had room for sustained effects that last longer than a single round, but we were slightly weary of forcing players to remember them five rounds into a heated battle.

The solution was to develop tactics cards that left a counter behind as a permanent reminder of the effect in place. In a previous article on the Core Set mechanics, Provide Cover was the original implementation of the Cover mechanic. Cover as originally designed was quite strong in that any efreet with Cover could absorb all incoming damage, if a player chose to reassign it. As a free ability, it was too hard to beat when paired with efreets with large amount of armor as they became a brick wall that was too tough to get past in combat. Provide Cover fixes these problems by first placing the ability on a card with an increased cost so its no longer automatic or free. And secondly the effect is mandatory on the card so the efreet giving cover will quickly find itself a bullet sponge for better or worse. No longer can you pick and chose only favorable conditions to take the damage.

The minefield counter was a variation of an ability we had tested in various forms early during game design. REDLINE combat involves dice rolling and so we thought it’d be fun to add an extra lucky, or in this case bad luck, factor to that with a negative effect when rolling odd numbers. We tried the “unlucky” effect on a few different card types and in different forms, but in the end it made the most sense to attach it to landmines as a better way to show the senseless randomness and dangers of war.

XL-3 Plasma Splitter and XM-1 “David” Small Laser

In REDLINE, Heroic cards are very special in that they represent unique individuals and parts of the game world. As such, though players can have up to four copies of each card in their arsenal, they may only have one in play at a time. In the Core Set there are Heroic Generals, pilots, efreets, resources and pilot cards. The only cards types that didn’t get the heroic treatment are tactics and the other equipment card types, like lasers, cannons, missiles and systems.

The Upgrade Packs helps to fill in some of those gaps with a piece of Heroic equipment for both the CPM and UNE. The XL-3 Plasma Splitter is a powerfully frightening weapon prototype that deals massive amounts of damage and costs more than most efreets to deploy! While the UNE’s “David” laser system helps to dramatically increase accuracy and can overload itself for a small damage increase in a pinch. Both are powerful additions to any squad and by themselves can help sway the outcome of any battle if used effectively.

With that said, I’d say it’s safe to expect more Heroic equipment for each side in the future.

Pack It Up

While designing anything, it’s always difficult to have to get rid of the pieces you worked so hard on to create. The Upgrade Pack ended up being a lot of fun to put to together as it was second chance of sorts for us to get more cards into the REDLINE ecosystem for the players who helped to make that ecosystem possible in the first place. They should help players tweak their decks when they first get their hands on REDLINE and create new play patterns and strategies to plan around as our little expandable card game begins to grow.

But beyond that, we hope they are FUN to play and get players excited about even more new cards to come in REDLINEs future.

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.