CBU General Questions Thread

[Adam Ryland]

Here's a thread for any general / small questions that people may have about the game.

[Thane of Fife]

What does Popularity actually do? Roughly speaking.

In CBH, it was basically a measure of how powerful a character was, but in CBU, my impression was that Stars/Rating were supposed to do that. But the default database seems to strongly correlate them, and Factions still seem to use Popularity as a power metric. I'm trying to get a better idea as to how I should be setting it in a database.

(My impression from the handbook is that a more popular character will be chosen to do stuff more often. So, all else being equal, a more popular character would be more likely to start a scheme or quest than a less popular character. Is that right?)

[Adam Ryland]

It is used primarily in relation to how often people are going to appear as a primary / focal character in an issue. It should be pretty easy to set it in a database, particularly a comic book one, as you're just looking at how often a character tends to get the spotlight in terms of comics and movies.

[LostInWeb]

A question about storylines and reactive events, of course:

Let's say for example, I set up a reactive event to be not run before or after Volume 1 Issue 6 (like in the default databse with the Mainframe Debut), but I have also set up some requirements like having a character at a location or something like that.

Would that event be triggered, even if the requirement isn't fullfilled, because it can only be triggered at that Issue or would it not trigger at all, because the reuirements are not fullfilled?

In short: would requirements be overpowered by the Issue-Setting or are the requirements always the important part and must be fullfilled in any case?

[Adam Ryland]

They can't run unless all requirements are met; as described in the handbook, that's a fundamental aspect of how storylines and reactive events function.

[Thane of Fife]

6 hours ago, Adam Ryland said:

It is used primarily in relation to how often people are going to appear as a primary / focal character in an issue. It should be pretty easy to set it in a database, particularly a comic book one, as you're just looking at how often a character tends to get the spotlight in terms of comics and movies.

Ok, that's about what I thought. Thanks.

[Sons of Kohral]

Are there any general strats for combat... I seem to be REALLY bad.

[djthefunkchris]

2 hours ago, Sons of Kohral said:

Are there any general strats for combat... I seem to be REALLY bad.

I believe it get's easier as you learn the characters strengths and weaknesses, getting to know how they best work. I run the AI most of the time for now. To learn, you have to teach yourself not to just 'spacebar/spacebar/spacebar' (at least I had to) and instead pay attention to what each character is doing. IF the AI does well, you know a human can do much better after they know the characters.

I've spent a whole lot more time in the editor than anywhere though, so hopefully others weigh in that have more play hours then I do.

[Adam Ryland]

2 hours ago, Sons of Kohral said:

Are there any general strats for combat... I seem to be REALLY bad.

It'd be almost impossible to give general strategies as it would depend entirely on who is on your team and who you're facing. There's a few things you can do to make it easier on yourself, however:

- Don't just stick with the team the AI creates for you. If you're struggling, you may be better off spending all your points on one or two heavy-hitters rather than several mid-level characters.

- It's worth looking at the opponent's characters and seeing if they have specific strengths of weaknesses. If they've got someone who spits out minions, it helps if you have characters who can do widespread attacks so that you can mow them down. If they've got someone who is particularly good at reducing physical damage, don't pack your team with people who can only do that type of damage - pick some people who do energy or fire damage so that you can cut through their defences. And so on.

- Picking characters with re-rolls available makes a lot of difference as it gives you two bites at the cherry.

- You can ease yourself into the game by using the Test Combat facility found in Options. Give yourself a powerful team and pick a weaker set of opponents and you've got a gentle battle where you can try things out without any pressure. Then work your way up until you're facing high-level enemies.

It's also important to remember that you're brand new to the database and don't know the various strengths and weaknesses yet; you have to give yourself time to get used to it. Once you've played certain characters a few times you'll know instinctively how to use them (or fight against them), but at first you're playing quite blind and so obviously will be at a disadvantage.

[Damien]

When characters are knocked out and have the consequence rolls what dictates the options that comes up? I've noticed different characters have different possible options come up in the same battles? 

[Adam Ryland]

3 minutes ago, Damien said:

When characters are knocked out and have the consequence rolls what dictates the options that comes up? I've noticed different characters have different possible options come up in the same battles? 

Their alignment and their capture / death settings.

[Damien]

14 minutes ago, Adam Ryland said:

Their alignment and their capture / death settings.

Cheers. Does the relationship between the hero and villain make any difference? 

[Adam Ryland]

No.

[The Jules]

When do re-rolls regenerate?
Is it automatically each fight? Each book?
Is it only when abilities or hero points give them?

Thanks!

Edited October 31, 2022 by The Jules

[Adam Ryland]

Re-rolls return to their starting level at the start of each encounter (i.e. combat or puzzle).

[Eternal Phoenix]

Is it possible for a character to be in more than one Faction? Specifically I'm thinking about big groups with subteams of varying strength inside them. Kind of like the X-Men, come to think of it. You have the X-Men as a whole as one Faction and then the various teams like Red, Blue, Gold, X-Force, New Mutants, New X-Men, etc as other Factions that may not quite measure up to the group as a whole. CBH couldn't do this, as there was a hard limit to how many characters could be on one team.

Edited October 31, 2022 by Eternal Phoenix

[Thane of Fife]

15 hours ago, Sons of Kohral said:

Are there any general strats for combat... I seem to be REALLY bad.

Don't ignore positioning. It's easy to forget about where your characters are or to feel that it doesn't make that much difference, but it really does. Try to keep your characters, even melee characters, out of the open as much as possible. The shadows aren't much better. There are a lot of nasty shockwave attacks, and if you're not in cover, they'll target you. Even worse, many such attacks will stun you, and once you're stunned, you're stuck.

Likewise, track where your opponents are. A shockwave attack won't target characters in cover. A great tactic can be using melee characters to get enemies into the open and then hitting them all with a big shockwave. For example, Monkey Girl can use Boink! Boink! Boink! to target three people in ranged cover. She gets a bonus to close with them, and then even if her attack misses, you've still moved three enemies into position for the rest of your attacks.

[Adam Ryland]

10 hours ago, Eternal Phoenix said:

Is it possible for a character to be in more than one Faction? Specifically I'm thinking about big groups with subteams of varying strength inside them. Kind of like the X-Men, come to think of it. You have the X-Men as a whole as one Faction and then the various teams like Red, Blue, Gold, X-Force, New Mutants, New X-Men, etc as other Factions that may not quite measure up to the group as a whole. CBH couldn't do this, as there was a hard limit to how many characters could be on one team.

Yes, they can.

[Asymptomatic]

Is the randomness in this game true?

It seems I have a lot of games where villains are comically lucky.

 

My last fight my opponent from an incredibly disadvantaged position hit double 6 4 times in 6 rounds. I rolled snake eyes twice in a row(them zero).

I've had fights where on defensive roll of 5-6 enemy has gotten it 5 times in a row without failure.

These are just really statistically improbable...

[Adam Ryland]

Yes, the dice rolls are truly random (as random as a computer can be). There are a lot of dice rolls in CBU, you will eventually see improbable results just by the nature of probability.

[Asymptomatic]

Alright I can just write if off as bad luck then(which after many years of playing card games is not abnormal for me).

Was just wondering if there was a secret AI advantage.

[The Masked Orange]

Maybe I'm just being a bit blind looking at the in-game guide, but what is the functional difference between a hero and an anti-hero? A character just moved from hero to anti-hero from a character progression roll and I'm curious as to what the full effects of that are. I looked in the in-game editor and it doesn't seem to have changed his killing stance which is one thing I was curious about. Is it just going to impact what missions he's available for and what relationships he forms, or is there more to it than that?

[Adam Ryland]

It just affects relationships and anything that refers specifically to alignments, such as team membership, what villain schemes are in play, etc.

[Damien]

How does the AI simulating battles you choose to skip work at a high level? I was experimenting to see what i could get to happen and if I could create a character that could destroy everything by giving them 5 levels of 12 health, 10 rerolls, and 25 everything as well as powers where every hit was 12 points but they would still lose to average heroes? I suspect it may be number of heroes vs number of villians? 

[Adam Ryland]

33 minutes ago, Damien said:

How does the AI simulating battles you choose to skip work at a high level? I was experimenting to see what i could get to happen and if I could create a character that could destroy everything by giving them 5 levels of 12 health, 10 rerolls, and 25 everything as well as powers where every hit was 12 points but they would still lose to average heroes? I suspect it may be number of heroes vs number of villians? 

It's explained in the handbook.