Vukuntur tribe - too OP?

[nihonniirutomu]

Their whole board is ridiculous. An easy to grab early extra crate (which alone could be an extra 6 points in endgame scoring on the right board) and now all crates also come with a crystal, which if you have the right machine and/or slot module is the cost of an entire extra action, which, oh hey, now has a base +3 range if you need it. You're not even limited to five uses of the tribe ability.

They are beatable, I've won against them and lost with them on occasion, but it requires the other player getting some absurd combos/lucky starts of their own, in combination with the vukuntur player not having access to the helpful machines/modules/cards that would aide them early.

I think they're great in an IRL game when you want to give a new player a starting advantage though.

[shobalk]

Games with asymmetric powers are notoriously difficult to balance. Scythe and Barrage are prime examples. A common solution is to introduce a victory point bidding system to offset inherent power disparities. I think this game could benefit from a similar approach, particularly at higher levels of play, where a few factions consistently feel stronger than the rest.

For the sake of argument, how many VP's do you think the Vukuntur (sun) are worth?

[beerzon]

iMO it's not really an option to counter VukSun with victory points since the map layout and machines/modules can be quite different making the gap to other tribes very inconsistent.

We have a house rule that increases to the tribe ability cost with a crystal and you don't get a crystal with crates but a resource of choice. Still strong but toned done quite a bit

And to add to the reasoning of others of why VukSun is so good it's not just the comboing that makes it so strong. The fact that you can do your actions while playing cards and thus allowing you to Hibernate very aggressively is key. Hibernating without sacrificing tempo is very strong

[shobalk]

iMO it's not really an option to counter VukSun with victory points since the map layout and machines/modules can be quite different making the gap to other tribes very inconsistent.

You would get to see the board before making a bid, and that bid could naturally change from one game to the next.

I do not think they are nearly as board dependent as you describe. Chicken Smoothies estimates their win rate at around 90 percent, and LastGamerStanding has won 99 of the last 100 games with them.

[nihonniirutomu]

Yeah but how much they win by is hugely board dependent, and it's not just what's available at set-up but what comes out throughout the game.

[feedmm]

Definitively OP. Given that there are no balance changes to the factions, a ban would be more than ideal in the upcoming seasons.

[Phung7]

They are so overpowered, it's not even fun to play anymore

[beerzon]

It's not only Vuk tbh

After one season I'm done with this game. It's one big RNG fest. There is hardly any decision making when you are a decent player and then flip and module RNG kicks in.

Fun mechanics. Competitively its non existent imo

[ylathor]

I agree that Vukuntur is the most powerful tribe. If you have evenly matched opponents you will probably win. So in a really competetive setting it might have to be removed.
But I think the better player has enough of en edge to win regardless. So I think it is actually good for the game. I am challenged when I play against a weaker opponen who is playing Vukuntur. There are several players with very high winning percentages which proves to me it is not a game which is decided by RNG

[gtattle]

I agree with Ylathor, I enjoy the sweat of playing against a 300ish player when they are on Vuk.

However I do think it would be better for arena if sun side was removed from the pool. I recently played games against Rtmason and joshofthewilds that felt impossible with them on vukuntur.