We've been synthesizing data from our playtests and are testing out the following changes!
Note: these changes are not necessarily final; we're just scoping out potential areas of further improvement! We feel that Captain’s Gambit is already in a fine place for release, but all games can improve in one way or another, so we’re working to further optimize gameplay for everyone involved.
Iago
Old Iago: “You win if you’re alive and have the most blood whenever the game ends. (Ties are okay.)
New Iago: “You win if you're alive and have more blood than anyone else whenever the game ends."
The change here, which may seem difficult to notice at first, is that ties are no longer okay for victory. Iago must objectively have the most blood!
Iago is an interesting captain to think about, balance-wise, because at first glance it doesn’t seem like it matters how much he wins. After all, Iago’s victory rarely prevents other captains from winning, right?
But indeed, there is a collection of subtle influences that Iago has on the battlefield, and we’ve found that his persuasive power is slightly too strong even for the master of persuasion himself. In particular, we’ve found that he pairs up just a little bit too well with Lady Macbeth, causing her to win just slightly too easily. Because Iago can win alongside Lady Macbeth, when Lady M reveals, Iago provides a second layer of protection for her - this can make life slightly too difficult for captains who want to stop her.
Changing Iago, foremost, ensures that he has to stay on top of his game in order to win. A 1-ish blood difference may not seem like a big deal, but each attack requires one turn of gathering energy first, and so this means Iago will not be willing to pair with Lady Macbeth for an average of one turn longer (particularly if he needs four blood instead of three to outpace Lady Macbeth.)
So to be clear, it’s less about Lady Macbeth specifically being too strong, but rather, it’s the pairing of Iago and Lady Macbeth that makes wins come slightly too easy, or without as much counterplay on the part of other characters.
Changing Iago to require just a bit more blood has a few other advantageous effects that ripple across all captains:
Life is very slightly easier for captains such as Richard, Titus, Romeo and Juliet. These captains need the average health of the table to be lower, and if Iago has to attack at least one more time to feel comfortable with the game ending, that’s about 2 or 3 less health to deal with on the part of these domination characters.
These captains are harder to master than other captains, and that's by design - they're meant to be high-roll characters - but in this case we’d like to make victory just a strike or two easier to claim.
Because Iago needs just a bit more blood on average, this gives a window of opportunity for other captains to be a bit more violent. For example, a Titus player, or even a Hamlet player, can claim to be Iago to justify their carnage. Because Iago can win with others, other players may be comfortable with someone (who claims to be Iago) causing a ruckus around the table more than before.
Iago needs to be slightly more active around the table, dedicating more energy to harmful attacks instead of healing ones. In addition to literally dealing 2-5 extra damage over the course of the game, Iago is also losing energy that may have gone towards a shield or fortify before. This should have a net effect of further accelerating the pace of the average game just a little bit more.
Rosalind
Old Rosalind: “You win on round 8, or if someone wins before then. You lose if anyone else dies. The first time somebody would die, Reveal and prevent that damage. Then, set their health to equal yours.”
New Rosalind: “You win on round 8, or if someone wins before then. You lose if anyone else dies. Reveal at any time: Prevent target captain from taking damage this turn. Then, all captains gain 2 health, and each captain with 4+ energy discards down to 3 energy.”
This one is pretty experimental. The idea is that Rosalind currently wins quite a lot with Prospero and Lady Macbeth, but not as much on round 8. We’d like to increase the amount of round 8 victories, but in a way that doesn’t increase the number of Ascension victories.
The idea of making everyone lose energy may at first sound counter to what Rosalind wants to do, but it’s actually a secret method of lowering violence and bloodshed. If you take away energy from a player, not only are you preventing them from being able to barrage - you’re also making them have to spend a turn regaining their energy again. This means, as a Rosalind player, you can have an easier time stalling until round 8 for your timed victory.
We specifically chose players to discard down to 3 energy so that hoarders specifically are more encouraged to spend their energy, but not to the point of being completely empty. This also means if an ascension captain wishes to Reveal, Rosalind’s power doesn’t totally give them the victory. Indeed, discarding down to 3 (or theoretically 2 as well, if you include the free energy on your turn) is enough to still cause damage on that turn if you’d like. What Rosalind’s Reveal does is slow down the game for the following turn, while still giving agency to players in the immediate turn to do something about the turn of events. Ideally, this approach still gives Rosalind the powerful effect of slowing the game by a round, without players feeling like they’re forced to do a mandatory Overcharge if they don’t want to.
Removing energy and healing for 2 (instead of healing for 4 or more) means that captains like Titus and Richard III don’t need to worry about Rosalind completely destroying their gameplan. Diverting some healing into drain-like damage prevention means that Richard and Titus still have power with their Reveal abilities.
Viola
Old Viola: As you end your turn, you may Reveal and take a dead captain’s card. Place it face-down in front of you; this is your new role. (You have their win condition and Reveal effect.)
New Viola: During the Prologue, peek at which captains aren’t in the game. Once per game, whenever another captain dies, you may Reveal and take any dead captain’s card. Place it face-down in front of you; this is your new role. (You have their win condition and Reveal effect.)
We’ve so far enjoyed Viola’s gameplay of being able to shop around for captains, and we like the gameplay where she wants other captains to die (as this encourages more violence and keeps the game moving at a good pace). However, we’ve found their ability in its current state may prove to be a bit too difficult, even for an intentionally high-skill-cap captain like Viola. It can be difficult to make death happen, and even if it does, it might take another round or two until Viola can actually become whatever captain he wants to target.
This new change, foremost, lets Viola have a better understanding regarding who is or is not in the game, letting them plan accordingly for whether or not they should be gaining blood or trying to whittle people down, etc. For example, Viola does not see Lady Macbeth or Iago in the pile of “captains not in the game”, she knows that she can start collecting blood in case she gets the opportunity to steal their forms.
This change also lets Viola play in a more dynamic fashion; because the Reveal effect triggers immediately upon another captain dying, Viola doesn’t have to waste one turn becoming a captain, and can instead start their turn already set in their form. This should make mobilizing to a winning state just slightly easier than before.