Last week we introduced our first expansion for REDLINE: Tactical Card Combat, REDLINE Siege. The focus of that article was on the story behind and the goals we set out to meet with Siege. And it also gave us a change to share some sweet preview cards of the upcoming set too! However, the mechanics of Siege were kept under wraps as we wanted to devote an entire article to their development, which is what you are reading now. Read on then to learn about the design process behind the mechanics of REDLINE: Siege and see how we looked to expand gameplay in new and exciting ways.
Mechanically Speaking
One the the most exciting aspects of an expandable card game are the introduction of new mechanics, basically rules, that open the game up to new forms of play and create fun interactions with older cards. While developing the REDLINE: Core Set we had a lot of ideas for mechanics we wanted to add into the game. However, soon it started to feel too stuffed with them and so we made a decision to slow down and ease a few back. In a card game like REDLINE, there is only so much space to print new cards and cramming in mechanics created less space for the other ones in the game to shine. Sometimes less is more.
This was ultimately fine as we knew the first expansion for the game would give us another opportunity to bring these cut ideas back. Because of this, when combined with the Core Set, REDLINE Siege really encapsulates what we had envisioned when designing the original game. Siege not only stands alone as its own but adds a lot to the original REDLINE experience. The two go together like peanut butter and jelly.
Below are the 3 keyworded mechanics included in REDLINE: Siege along with the 2 counter mechanics that aren’t.
Intel
Intel is a special ability that allows a player to look at the top cards of their arsenal equal to the number given to the intel value on a card. After looking at the cards, a player can then decide to place them back in any order on the top or bottom of their deck. Intel is a UNE only mechanic.
This mechanic just happened to be one of the ones we originally intended for the Core Set. The problem was of course, available card space. While creating the cards in the set, there just never seemed to places to fit the mechanic in and while we always envisioned its inclusion eventually, it never really appeared on any designed cards. Instead of trying to shoehorn it in, we thought it best to wait and just include it at the next opportunity.
One of the UNE’s main focuses is precision. This is exactly what Intel gives UNE players by allowing them to look at their upcoming card draws to find the specific ones they need at that moment. Conversely, it also gives them the ability to set up bigger plays by rearranging them which also ties into another UNE focus. Battlefield control.
Intel appears on a variety of cards in REDLINE: Siege and is a deceptively powerful mechanic as skilled UNE players can eliminate the variance in their games through skilled manipulation of their decks . Something you can do repeatedly with Intelligence Center as a part of your base.
Rear Guard
We strongly believe, one of REDLINEs greatest strengths lies in its mission cards and our simultaneous combat system. Having players both plan and anticipate attacks at the same time can create a lot of tense situations where being able to outthink your opponent is more decisive than any card in hand or efreet on the battlefield. The right response to an enemy attack can create a blowout. However, sending efreets to the wrong spot can result in getting blown out in turn. High risk balanced with high reward.
This combat system only works with the use of hidden dials that lock in each players moves while keeping them secret from each other. During the mission planning phase, players simply dial in a number corresponding to the mission they want to attack and place the dial face down on the efreet making it. When ready, both players flip their dials to reveal their plans and begin to carry out their attacks. However, if you didn’t wish to send an efreet into harm’s way, players can also chose to set their dial to the “B” setting which keeps them on the baseline, safe and sound.
Though the system works great, guessing your opponents moves incorrectly or sending your efreets to the wrong mission during battle can feel painful. And while keeping your efreets back at base would save them from combat, there wasn’t much advantage to doing so. What we wanted was a way to smooth out some of the guess work within the combat system by giving players a way to respond to unexpected moves and add value to assigning efreets to stay on the baseline. The Rear Guard mechanic hits both birds with one stone.
A unit with Rear Guard has its ability activated when assigned to stay on the baseline during the mission planning phase. Once there, it can be reassigned to any mission once dials have been revealed as long as an enemy has attacked it and you have no other forces engaged there. An efreet using Rear Guard cannot attack a mission your opponent has not sent units to, and it cannot join with your other efreets in their attacks.
Essentially, Rear Guard allows players to hold forces back as a counter to any unexpected attacks their opponent may spring on them. This is a powerful because it allows for some flexibility in planning your own moves knowing you have assets able to respond to the unseen. And having Rear Guard around also opens up some of the mind games that come during mission planning by adding a subtle wrinkle to how efreets are now able to attack and defend.
Because efreets with Rear Guard are often the last ones left to hold the line against incoming enemy attacks, many of them gain additional bonuses while attacking alone. Efeets like the EF-27 Farstrider, which gains a damage bonus when fighting solo. Rear Guard can be found on both CPM and UNE efreets.
Swarm
Units with Swarm gain special abilities or effects when they attack alongside two other efreets in the same engagement. Swarm triggers at the beginning of an engagement and persists through the entirety of combat, even if squadmates are destroyed or retreat during the fight.
Because the CPM is more heavily centered around combat, we knew wanted to give them a mechanic that would help to blow up UNE efreets in a fight. And while the addition of Rear Guard often sent efreets off on missions alone, we thought it might also be nice to pull players in the opposite direction by forming squads. (A squad is any group of efreets you control engaged at the same mission.) And this is where the idea for Swarm came from, the anti-Rear Guard you could say. It was also the last mechanic added to REDLINE: Siege.
Swarm worked well for a number of reasons. First of all, the CPM deck in Siege had a minor focus on light efreets which naturally favored quick rushing attacks designed to overwhelm an opponent before they could respond. Swarm seemed a great fit in this play style where strength came in numbers. Also, as games develop, it is only natural for players to group their forces into powerful squads when attacking missions and so Swarm gave players a payoff for doing something they normally do anyways.
And because Swarm is so open ended, we were able to attach any effect to the trigger of attacking in a group of three. Take for example, the shiny new piece of CPM hardware below, Datalinked Cannons. By itself it grants a small damage bonus to the equipped efreet, but if you can get the squad together, it feeds incoming targeting data to everybody making them all more accurate with a +2 to their attacks.
Mine Counters
As mentioned in a previous article on the special Upgrade Pack cards that come with the first production copies of the REDLINE: Core Set, mine counters were originally part of the Core Set for the CPM faction, but also cut due to space at the last minute.
Which made us sad, as the mine counters were super fun and interesting to play with as you’ll see. But now they are back in Siege and better than ever! Rejoice!
Though there are a few different ways to create mine counters, they all work the same way. During an engagement a player may place a mine counter on a mission they control without any mines on it currently. Once there, anytime an opposing unit rolls an odd number for any reason while engaged there, they suffer 1 damage. All mine counters are removed from missions at the end of the combat phase.
The rolling of an odd number “mini mechanic” came up a few times during initial REDLINE design as a seamless way to incorporate bad luck into combat. It added extra tension to battles and was a really nasty surprise to spring onto enemies during a fight. Even better, it was a way for players to interact with mission cards by giving them the opportunity to fortify and protect the ones they already controlled.
Though there was no space in the Core Set for mines, we did hint at our intentions to bring them back by slipping the Minefield card into the Upgrade pack. And now that mine counters are a proper part of Siege, we also had room to expand on their use. Datalinked Mines is one such way to upgrade your mines. With it players can scrap a mine to do extra damage to an enemy during battle and make them go boom. Or use the new strategy card to replenish your mines to make sure you never run out! Step carefully!
Firebase Counters
Now that the CPM had their beloved mines back, we wanted to find a different type of mission counter for UNE players to use. Though we had a rough idea on what we wanted them to be, firebase counters took awhile to balance and get to play right.
We thought a theme players would enjoy for the new Siege UNE deck would be one built around the destruction of another players deck. For once a players deck has run out of cards, or the resources needed to continue waging war, they lose the game. Attacking an opponents deck is a staple of many other card games and happens often in REDLINE thanks to capture damage. Capture damage is dealt to a player when an enemy takes a mission under their control and is equal to the capture cost of that particular mission card. Siege presented an opportunity to expand upon deck destruction, but it was one we had to be very careful with.
The problem was, “razing” or as commonly referred to as “milling” in other games, is a natural part of REDLINE because of capture damage. Indeed, capture damage was added as a safety valve of sorts within the game as it creates a clock that ends stalemates. If you can’t beat your opponent on the battlefield you can always try to win the war of attrition and outlast them. What we wanted to do was change razing from the secondary win condition it already was and make it into the main one for the UNE if they focused on it. But if we gave razing too much juice and it could become overpowered easily since decks took damage naturally through gameplay. Make it too weak though and it would be a play pattern that felt dead on arrival.
How we balanced razing as a whole is a story for another week, but firebase counters are a part of that equation we can share now.
While mine counters last temporarily, we wanted firebase counter to stick around as a way for players to build upon captured missions and improve them. Thematically this also fit well within the UNEs background as they are trying to fortify and protect the displaced populations on Earth after the exodus of major governments, so they do a lot of building. Sticking around meant firebase counter effects would be constant and only removed if control of that mission was lost.
The intent was always for firebase counters to raze cards from the start. Since we knew what they did the first question was to figure out when? When you imagine what artillery is, thoughts of merciless shelling and bombardment come to mind and we wanted some of that dreadfulness to come across in how firebase counters worked. Because of that, they trigger at the beginning of a players deploy phase, turn after turn, slowly shelling enemy positions into the ground.
Secondly we needed to figure out how many cards would they raze? We played with different amounts but 2 was too little to care about and 4 was too much. 3 felt just right to be a threat if ignored, but also not one that could run away with games.
The final part of the puzzle was to decide how they would be deployed. Early playtests allowed players to stack as many counters as they wanted on a single mission and risk putting all their eggs in one basket. This was a problem though because as long as player built a fortress and defended it successfully, there was little the opposing player could do about it before getting razed away. We changed the rules to only allow one firebase counter per mission and only on missions you controlled, just like the mine counters.
The Final Counter Down
We’re really happy at how the new mechanics and both counters ended up playing. They do what a good expansion should do by opening up new play patterns and deck construction options for players while still being fun and useful to play with on their own.
REDLINE: Siege is an amazing addition to the REDLINE universe and we still have so much more of it to share. Come back next week for more reveals of new Siege cards as we get closer to spoiling the entire set and getting ready for our next Kickstarter campaign.
Siege the day.