I’m actually fine with the brutal nature of experimental gadgets.
I just want to make sure that the power of them is in line with the risk, and that there are enough club-like effects to let the deck run clubless without losing too much (being able to start jobs is a good example from someone else in the thread).
My problem with that approach (brutal mishaps) is that I feel it loses nuance in deckbuilding. Clubless becomes a de facto archetype. Rather than there being a tensions of risk-versus-reward in deciding which clubs are worth including and how much risk you want to accept, you’re left with decks that just avoid the risk entirely.
Understandable.
I think my next deck may be clubless or club light (4 clubs total).
I can take the risk of 4 chances to pull something disastrous if I need to. I don’t find that prohibitive for the right clubs.
I also don’t mind running gadgets without experimental tags. There’s plenty of good ones out there…Telepathy Helmet, QUATERMAN, Holy Wheel Gun, Force Field…that could all have decks built with those in mind, and let you slot in plenty of clubs.
As far as clubless, i keep toying with the deck, but am never happy with it. I’m just so ingrained with needing good draw structure. Maybe club light with Boldman exp. + Asyncoil gun + point blank, for a 1-2-3 punch.
There are a couple forms of protection against exploding gadgets, though i’m not sure if it’s worth it. Doyle Hoyle is 3 gr but offers the best protection for that dude, guaranteeing the pull. Felix Amador can tell you what the next card will be, but you will need to boot a miracle on him.
As far as gadgets, I’m having a grand time fiddling around with a 6/8/K. Inventing Holy wheel guns, flamethrowers, force fields, and auto-cattle feeders. Specks makes free weapons and force fields. You can play a auto feeder + gadgetorium to gain a GR, then boot the feeder for another GR. R & D Ranch can blow itself up, that’s fine, I want those 6 of diamonds in my draw. I LOVE it when they run a low influence dude out to R & D, I play 1 or 2 Rumors on them, than watch as the ranch implodes on them.
Am a bit busy now but will link to it on DTDB after the weekend.
With these decks taking off this past weekend. Do you think it was a fluke is this a trend that is starting to happen? What are folks thoughts on gadgets?
It’s evidence of a fluid meta, with so many answers to control, gadgets were logically going to see an upswing in popularity. I’d be surprised if we saw anywhere near as many 4R decks this coming weekend. I already know what I’d be taking if I was going anywhere, and surprisingly, it involves meta-ing against gadgets.
I mean, a decrease in 4R control dominance is a given, since two whole new factions will be legal this weekend. I still don’t think gadgets are in a playable state.
Question about the general UK meta… how much 4R control is played there, and how close is it to the decks that either Nick and David used in the Marshal event?
until recently, a lot. and very close. I used Nick and Dave’s decks as part of my gauntlet for last weekend.
When I played in the Hudderfield Sheriff tournament, seven of my eight matches were against the Fourth Ring/Oddities (some shootier than others, but most/all featuring Paralysis Mark/Blood Curse), so that field was very Fourth Ring heavy. Edinburgh was more evenly split, with every faction represented in the top four. Sadly I couldn’t make Worcester, but it looks like the field there was more evenly mixed - various Morgan decks and Sloane in the top four alongside a Law Dogs winner. Nice to see fluid changes as people adapt (can’t make London this weekend, but on that subject, good luck to everyone there!).
We have Zoe now! We can actually reliably invent stuff!
I can’t get over how much I dislike Zoe. Just from top to bottom I’m disappointed with that card.
Really? MS 3 with the right start is amazing. We just need more weapons for some variance
So you’re going to turtle 4 dudes at a single location perpetually so you can reliably invent gadget weapons? No offense, but I’m not excited by that in the slightest.
My biggest complaint with Zoe is the double-whammy she took on her skill’s restriction. She not only has to stay near other dudes of a particular keyword but she also only invent weapons. IMO she would have been perfectly fine with only 1 of those restrictions and might have allowed the Arsenal to get off the ground more than it has. Heck, even if the Deputy-based bonus extended to adjacent locations and maybe capped at 3 or something so you could still defend TS and some of your deeds with your other starters.
No, she’s pretty bad.
When that location has a legal instruments (that no longer fails difficulty 7 pulls) pumping those deputies with enough inf to stay in the game long enough to set up?
Oh hell yeah!
It’s not the most competitive gadget deck out there, but it’s a long way from junk.
So the plan revolves around pulling a particular (Unique) card which is low enough of a value that it’s likely a risk to fail skill pulls for your other scientists? On top of that you’ll practically abandon all contention for any semblance of board position and let your opponent more-or-less play uncontested as well? Again, all just so you can reliably invent gadget weapons with low-value draw structure?
All of that sounds like a losing strategy against even a decent opponent.
You’d probably be better off in nearly any situation of just building a deck not centered around Zoe’s mechanic or reliant on it in anyway. Sure, it means you basically have to abandon 3’s which are as juicy as juicy gets, but thems the breaks. What that value gives you is simply not worth what you have to sacrifice to bring Zoe on board as a lead scientist.
If Zoe’s usefulness is to be redeemed we need to see something regarding MS skill scaling above-and-beyond simply deck construction. Something that benefits you by succeeding a MS pull by a certain amount or some kind of game effect that scales off skill rating. Then, depending on the effect, she might be a worthwhile starter.
P.S. We’re veering pretty wildly off topic.
No now we are on topic 
@Whizzwang with the Zoe build what values would you run it out of. I guessing 6s’ holy wheel gun and lite on 3s’ for the robocop. Just thinking on my end if Drew was a deputy with Zoe that would be a machine.
I like Drew, though really he should have Mad Scientist 2 for inventing Quaterman. Zoe is okay but as said above, she’s too restricted. Andreas is kinda boring but okay if you’re running the right values. Mortimer is a massive liability, and has the same issues as Andreas. Law Dog Blessed are finally getting going, but their scientists are still kinda lacking. I’ve found for an Arsenal gadget deck to really work, it really needs some way to generate bounties. It’d be nice to not have to splash in Confession or Ebenezer, and the Evidence competes for space with Flamethrowers and Force Fields. Andrew Burton can start you going, but against decks that want to avoid fights you need something more. A Crime-Predicting Compuatational Engine would be neat, possibly as an Improvement.
(As an aside, the art for the Ballot Counter shows it as being large as a building, yet it equips to a dude. What’s up with that?)
If you are trying to generate bounty wouldn’t the original outfit work. You lose the call out with the Arsenal, but you gain making bounty and you can splash confession. I just am hesitant to combo Gadget and Blessed just due to values on opposite sides and lots moving parts. I think we need a Blessed Mad scientist now that would be amazing. I think for story and accuracy they probably that wouldn’t happen. We do have Mayfair for huckster splashing so possibility in the future.