Transformers 3D Battle-Card Game
Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 11:52 amWell, I'm going to start off by saying that I've been looking for a way to design a miniature game that only uses two figures and still have the strategy require enough thought for it to be interesting. This is the only reason I've been paying attention to the card game after seeing the fugly card cutouts. After much squinting, I believe I have the gist of how the game is played.
Basically, it works like this: red beats green, green beats blue, and blue beats red. Yes, the Transformers 3D Battle-Card Game is the world's most convoluted game of Rock-Paper-Scissors. Why convoluted? Well, on each card, there's three text boxes. Each text box has two colored dots. The large color dots is the color you chose, and it has abilities that trigger when that choice is revealed. The smaller dot indicates how much damage you do to the opponent if they chose the color beaten by your color, and next to it are the abilities that trigger when you beat that color.
So on the one hand, you could look at all your abilities, look at all your opponent's abilities, and try to formulate an educated guess on which color is the best to choose for a round of combat. Or you could just choose them randomly and probably do just as good.
For example, Cliffjumper's robot mode has a blue ability called, "Let Me At 'Em!" which reads, "If you don't hit this round, take 10 damage." The attack does 50 if it hits, but if your opponent chooses blue, they tie the round and you take 10. Even worse, if the opponent chooses green, they'll hit you and you take an additional 10 damage. So choosing blue for Cliffjumper seems like a risky decision, and your opponent might assume that you are less likely to choose it. Supposing that you are going to choose red or green, the opponent's safest choice is to choose red, since red will either tie against your red or beat your green. However, the presumption means the opponent is choosing the color that is beaten by blue, meaning that blue is actually your best choice for beating the opponent! Again, the logic is convoluted and could simply be replaced by random choices.
The two most repeated abilities on the cards are "This figure may change form," and "This figure may move to long or short range." As far as I can tell, being at short or long range are the only two positions a robot can have, which is good considering you will have to occasionally remove the figure from the playing area to transform it and then remember where you took it from. For the most part, which form and what range you are at affect what damage bonuses you receive from special attacks. For example, Jetfire's robot mode has a red attack called, "Laser Razor." It deals a base damage of 20, but deals an additional 10 damage if at long range and an additional additional 20 damage if fighting against a robot form for a possible total of 50 damage.
One thing I haven't figured out is how the "Crit" abilities work. I would like to say that they are abilities that only trigger if the figure's health is equal to or less than the Crit value. This theory holds, except for Wreckage's Crit ability, which is also the most interesting: "First round the opponent fights, he can't choose green." I'm not sure if it means first round of the game, or first round after Wreckage becomes critical, but it would certainly be an advantage to play Rock-Paper-Scissors and tell your opponent they can't choose rock!
I'm not entirely certain of the multiplayer/multi-figure rules. If each player controls two figures, do they each have to choose different targets for their attacks or can they team up on someone? When a player chooses a color, does that color apply to all his figures, or does he choose a different one for each? If a figure is at short range to one figure and moves to long range, can that move also place him at short range of another figure? The answers to these questions might actually add some depth to the... well, card cutout game. However, I do not see myself investing a lot of money (any?) since I'll probably have all the movies toys for the figures I want to play and I can just print out the stat cards. Still, I might buy one pack to give it a try and support the brand.
Basically, it works like this: red beats green, green beats blue, and blue beats red. Yes, the Transformers 3D Battle-Card Game is the world's most convoluted game of Rock-Paper-Scissors. Why convoluted? Well, on each card, there's three text boxes. Each text box has two colored dots. The large color dots is the color you chose, and it has abilities that trigger when that choice is revealed. The smaller dot indicates how much damage you do to the opponent if they chose the color beaten by your color, and next to it are the abilities that trigger when you beat that color.
So on the one hand, you could look at all your abilities, look at all your opponent's abilities, and try to formulate an educated guess on which color is the best to choose for a round of combat. Or you could just choose them randomly and probably do just as good.
For example, Cliffjumper's robot mode has a blue ability called, "Let Me At 'Em!" which reads, "If you don't hit this round, take 10 damage." The attack does 50 if it hits, but if your opponent chooses blue, they tie the round and you take 10. Even worse, if the opponent chooses green, they'll hit you and you take an additional 10 damage. So choosing blue for Cliffjumper seems like a risky decision, and your opponent might assume that you are less likely to choose it. Supposing that you are going to choose red or green, the opponent's safest choice is to choose red, since red will either tie against your red or beat your green. However, the presumption means the opponent is choosing the color that is beaten by blue, meaning that blue is actually your best choice for beating the opponent! Again, the logic is convoluted and could simply be replaced by random choices.
The two most repeated abilities on the cards are "This figure may change form," and "This figure may move to long or short range." As far as I can tell, being at short or long range are the only two positions a robot can have, which is good considering you will have to occasionally remove the figure from the playing area to transform it and then remember where you took it from. For the most part, which form and what range you are at affect what damage bonuses you receive from special attacks. For example, Jetfire's robot mode has a red attack called, "Laser Razor." It deals a base damage of 20, but deals an additional 10 damage if at long range and an additional additional 20 damage if fighting against a robot form for a possible total of 50 damage.
One thing I haven't figured out is how the "Crit" abilities work. I would like to say that they are abilities that only trigger if the figure's health is equal to or less than the Crit value. This theory holds, except for Wreckage's Crit ability, which is also the most interesting: "First round the opponent fights, he can't choose green." I'm not sure if it means first round of the game, or first round after Wreckage becomes critical, but it would certainly be an advantage to play Rock-Paper-Scissors and tell your opponent they can't choose rock!
I'm not entirely certain of the multiplayer/multi-figure rules. If each player controls two figures, do they each have to choose different targets for their attacks or can they team up on someone? When a player chooses a color, does that color apply to all his figures, or does he choose a different one for each? If a figure is at short range to one figure and moves to long range, can that move also place him at short range of another figure? The answers to these questions might actually add some depth to the... well, card cutout game. However, I do not see myself investing a lot of money (any?) since I'll probably have all the movies toys for the figures I want to play and I can just print out the stat cards. Still, I might buy one pack to give it a try and support the brand.