Are the Cordycephians broken?

[Artymysia]

Leech...leech...leech. It doesn't sound all that bad at first, but boy does this faction scale well. They don't need to beat anyone to the choicest spots of settling. They can take their time optimizing their engine, and just plop down a building right on top of you. Now if that isn't versatile enough; they can also count range from YOUR buildings. I've been beaten several times by this last minute action where they populate a tile I thought they couldn't possibly reach; using up a leech token.

Their other power is similar to a switch action where they can get the top/bottom benefit of any of your cards in the active area; also using up a leech token.

The obvious answer to countering this faction is: Don't give them leech markers! But I found it's almost impossible not to. Especially when they know to stick close to their opponents to take advantage. If they build on top of you, they earn a leech token. Or they can just be in your way when counting range, earning a token.

This faction is just SO versatile. I haven't been able to beat them ever. Granted, my number of games with the expansion is only 20; but the more I play, the more I'm convinced that they are overpowered.

What I want to know is if others have arrived at this conclusion. What other factions do you think also need a nerf?

[Simon600]

Yes, they seem incredibly overpowered ...

If they would at least have to SPEND a leech token to settle where other players already settles it would be more balanced

[Rtmason714]

I would say they are the 4th or 5th best faction. No faction is inherently broken, though Vunktur is probably consistently the strongest.

[Artymysia]

20 more games later after my initial post....

Yes, I agree. It's Vukuntur. A tribe ability that gets you an additional action is OP; not to mention the ridiculous natural range they can get form their board.

[Yule Log Fan]

Haven't played the expansion yet, but have just read the rules and this was my initial reaction to their section in the book. Would be curious to hear if you've found any decent counters!

I really like playing Vukunter. Is the sun side generally preferred because of the action economy it offers? I can see with the right setup that the combo is very useful: Play a tribe ability, grab a progress marker, benefit from slot modules AND build/populate/explore. But I can't get over how convenient throwing the raven across the board for access is. Especially when you pair it with the discount and resource generation techs.