Errata Earth Catapult

[landus]

It’s not that great. Certainly not game-defining. In my humble opinion it barely makes S-tier and is nowhere close to some cards in terms of ceiling. That comes from someone who plays exclusively Hellas, a map that favours playstyles utilising EarthCat.

S-tier isn't game defining? Then what is?

No card can single-handedly win you the game, and if I were to point to one, it wouldn’t be EarthCat. I should’ve emphasized „barely” in my previous statement. In my opinion, it barely makes S-tier on Hellas and falls out of S-tier on any other map. Players who argue it’s the best card only bring out cases where they found it early, which is obviously not always the case. It yields the best value with heavy-engine playstyles, which aren’t optimal and shouldn’t be forced (contrary to popular belief). Also, if we assume S-tier holds 10 cards, there are simply better ones, many of which can yield great value at any point in the game and aren’t bound to a certain playstyle. My favourites include OptimalAero/AdvancedAlloys/NitrogenRichAsteroid, and there are about 10 more I prefer to EarthCat. If not more.

[FrankJones]

Players who argue it’s the best card only bring out cases where they found it early, which is obviously not always the case.

I was under the impression the discussion was "best card in the starting hand."

[ft029]

@Frank: No, I'm doing 40*2 - 26 to account for the cost of playing earth cat.

[FrankJones]

@Frank: No, I'm doing 40*2 - 26 to account for the cost of playing earth cat.

Ah, I see. I misunderstood, my apologies. So, perhaps a bit less than 54, assuming a few 0-cost or 1-cost cards might get played.

[landus]

I was under the impression the discussion was "best card in the starting hand."

I believe quite a few people commented on its general value, myself included. Nobody has yet answered the main question about its rebalance (errata), so the discussion seems quite open. Most of what I wrote applies anyway. EarthCat is great (S/A-tier), but it isn’t as versatile as people think. There are games in which you simply don’t want to play enough cards to make its 26M€ initial cost worth it. It’s not a 100% gen1 pick with UNMI/Ecoline/Phobolog. Dare I say that sometimes I prefer BlackPolarDust in my opening hand — a card that isn’t even considered decent, and rightfully so. That said, you can’t deny it’s a great card, just not as good as people tend to believe. It’s certainly an S-tier card in an opening hand scenario, but so are the cards I mentioned earlier.

[xspuipuke]

You might want to try raising the cost to 29 and increasing the printed VP to 3. A higher upfront cost makes it a little harder to play and takes a little more time to return the investment.

[Yahyra]

Another 'smaller' nerf which, really, would change very little but make it a bit less strong... is to remove the 2 vp?

Another nerf idea - require 2 earth tags before you can play it? That's a much stronger nerf.

[Corvus Mortis]

@Frank: No, I'm doing 40*2 - 26 to account for the cost of playing earth cat.

Ah, I see. I misunderstood, my apologies. So, perhaps a bit less than 54, assuming a few 0-cost or 1-cost cards might get played.

Yes, a bit less than 54 because of <2 MC cost cards and some cards being discounted below 0 cost in combination with other discounts.

For reference, Acquired Company played gen 1 generates 17 MC of net value in a 10 generation game. Therefore, opening Earth Catapult generation 1 is approximately equivalent to playing Acquired + Sponsors + Cartel (with no other Earth tags) gen 1 + getting 2 free VP. A very strong opening, but certainly not anything that makes me consider forfeiting. The database tells me that Bogeyun has faced an opponent who played Earth Catapult in generation 1 50 times. In that stretch, he is 40-10 (ie, won 80% of the time). That's slightly below his average win rate of 84.4%, but sometimes you face strong cards and it's certainly not game-breaking.

This is a card game. It would be boring if there weren't a mix of relatively strong/weak cards. Sometimes those cards in combination can make a setup insurmountable, but combinatorial probabilities mean this only happens in a small portion of games. Learn to deal with bad RNG and move on.

Far fewer games are "unwinnable" than you think. Indeed, most people responding here have dozens/hundreds of players that are pulling out wins-from-behind far more frequently than they are. Rather than focusing on bad luck, focus on how you can win even when you're behind on luck.

[FrankJones]

Well, many games are unwinnable for me because I am not good enough to figure out the winning moves.

[StrandedKnight]

The statistic provided by Corvus is quite telling. Earth Cat is the strongest card on average when present in the opening hand, but a naked EC can usually be overcome with superior skill.

I would generally be more afraid to face AI Central, the card that can single-handedly produce the most broken game states, when facing lower-rated players.

And when facing strong players, an early NRA or Kelp Farming can be just as scary.