Thursday, February 19, 2009

CE alien survey #20: VOID

First appearance: Eon base set.

Plain-English power: Win and throw your enemy's ships out of the game permanently.

Loved by: Guys who like being intimidating; evil people; masochists (and Masochist).

Loathed by: Aliens who otherwise don't mind losing (Warrior, Hacker); aliens whose ships are precious (Macron, Amoeba).

Three ways to win as Void:
  1. Be patient. Opponents will probably save their best cards for you, so try to bait them out before you play your best cards. You'll probably be ahead in ship count anyway.
  2. Others will likely be wary about allying against you, so they might just come to your side if you ask. Don't give away free stuff, though.
  3. Don't worry too much about losing your ships to the Warp. Once you start winning a few encounters, you'll pretty much always have an advantage in ships.
Three ways to win against Void:
  1. Be careful with your ships. Give serious thought to using fewer ships than you normally would against most other aliens.
  2. Winning against Void is dependent on the cards in your hand, since you'll probably risk few ships (as will your allies). Save your best cards for him, if possible.
  3. Avoid using the Mobius Tubes unless you really need it, since Void will probably have the most ships in the Warp.
At CE Online? Yes. Also, be warned that Void will eradicate your ships when he uses the Plague.

Anything else? While Void in previous versions could remove a player from the game by eradicating too many ships, CE Online and the FFG edition prevent a player from losing so many ships that they become unable to win.
— Submitted by Toomai Glittershine

13 comments:

TheDukester said...

Editor's note: Other than some minor edits, I've been pretty much running these articles just as the authors submitted them. I've also agreed, generally, with each of the six strategy points that the various authors have included with their entries.

But ... just for the sake of discussion ... I'll say that I'm not real wild about the last one presented here. I've never worried about using the Tubes when Void is in the game; it's not HIS ships I'm really worried about. I don't mind being down in the total ship-count as much as I mind trying to play out the endgame with something like 11 or 8 ships ... or, God forbid, even fewer. If I've got 'em, those Tubes are getting played.

But, either way, I'm certainly not going to edit it out just because I happen to disagree with it. For any potential authors out there who are uncertain about this, rest assured that unless a strategy point actually breaks the rules or makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, it will run pretty much as written.

Anyway ... thoughts on Void? On using the Tubes with Void in the game? Maybe there's something I'm not seeing here.

Adam said...

Generally, if I've been a victim to Void constantly, I want what few ships I have back in play. Sometimes though, if I see it'll benefit him more than me, yea, I'll reconsider. However, I'm a good CE player, so I never go to Warp. ;)

Unknown said...

So, who else got the joke with that picture accompanying the article?
Ah, memories.

TheDukester said...

Man, I'm glad **someone** got it -- I think we have too many of these young whippersnappers reading this thing. Get off my lawn, whippersnappers!

Unknown said...

I forget, does Void also eliminate ships during failed negotiations?

Anonymous said...

OK, I give up. It seems like I should get the picture joke, but I don't (and I'm hardly a whippersnapper). Please?

TheDukester said...

It's the "Horrible Black Void" card from Talisman (the Adventure expansion, technically). It meant insta-death for the unlucky player to draw it ... and hilarity would ensue.

Interestingly, it was part of the first alternate-ending rules for Talisman, which ties in a bit to some of the alternate-ending stuff we've been discussing here. Pretty rough ending in this case, though.

Unknown said...

Though I've always rooted for Zombie, at least it's finally clear that Zombie is not immune to Void. Zombie clearly states the ships have to be going to the warp to use his power. Void's power clearly states using the power prevents the ships from going to the warp in the first place.

Adam said...

Both aliens activate when the ships are supposed to be sent to Warp. Seems like a clear case for invoking the timing conflict resolution rules to me.

TheDukester said...

Without actually looking at the cards, I'd have to say that I agree ... it seems like a clear case of going to the timing rules.

I've also realized that playing so much CE Online has made me lazy. I don't want to have to move my own ships, and I don't want to have to refer to the rulebook too many times. I just want the computer to solve it all for me.

I'd forgotten how useful that timing tie-breaker can be for FTF games. I'm finding that many, many rules arguments come down to powers (or flares) that are activating in the same phase. I'm way past long, drawn-out CE rules arguments; just give me that tie-breaker, baby.

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