Peer to Peer CX Works

Last night I got to play my first two games in a long while. ChinaCat was kind enough to talk me through how to set up to direct connect with him so we could play ChronX (CX) together. We got in two games (I won both which I suspect was due more to being rusty than skill).

It was really not as hard as I had feared. I had set up a while ago a shortcut and that made it easy to edit the properties to log in correctly.

Really just boils down to adding a /m at the end of the host and a /sxxx.xx.xxx.xx (the x's representing the host IP address) for the one connecting. Then once in the load screen inside click on shift and then left click the manage character button. Worked fine once he talked me through it all.

So while the server is down, The Core is not available, still the game lives on.

Corporate Enforcer: Asset Overview

Corporate Enforcer
One of the most useful Attacking oriented Assets in the Corporate Domain. Flipping it over to read the back of the card shows the special ability the card has:

Corporate Enforcer can only be blocked by assets with Perception great than or equal to Corporate Enforcer's Stealth
Which boils down to an easily unblockable card. With a Stealth of 3 it takes a decent Search Asset to be able to block the card. So without someone that can block, it is a game over with damage sort of card in play.

Any Card that improves the Corporate Enforcer's Stealth is a good card to have.
Gauze Weave was my initial Go To Card to enhance an Enforcer.

Other great, better, cards include:
Hasaku Skull Gun (Adds +1 to Stealth and Raises Base FP to 5 (the Enforcer starts with a FP4 so a good deal) This is the other card I used when I first started playing Corporate Enforcer oriented decks

Hasaku Baby Stroller 3000
One of the killer cards period. User gets +1 Stealth then gets a FP bonus equal to stealth. So if you are playing multiple enhancements, run this one last for the most FP increase possible.

Cranial Tutor (Ninjutsu)+2 to Stealth and after attacking or blocking the asset is hidden from the opponent. This adds a high survive factor to the Enforcer.

Any other Enhancement that increases FP helps of course
Caffeine Drip is nice, Spend 2 Covert to untap the asset, means 2 attacks with your enforcer.

The best program to run is Realtime Ops Control R4.1. For CA6 (Cranial Tutor Cyberops gives a base CA6) all friendly Covert Corporate Assets get +2 FP and +2 Stealth. Which increases the Enforcer in both main dimensions.

The Corporate Enforcer is a Overture Common Asset. Being an early card and common makes it a constant threat in a deck.

Note: The one win I had over Covell (Arguably the best ChronX player period, or at least the highest ranked) was with a Corporate Enforcer powered deck.
The map was Europe. He was in either Warsaw or Bucharest. I had a First Turn find. Put my Corporate Enforcer into play on the 3rd turn I think it was. Hit him 4th turn and he admitted he had nothing to stop it. I won. Never won (that I can recall) any other match against him.

Bion Guardian: Card Description

Defenders, gotta luv them. Sure Attackers win the game, taking out the Headquarters, still without Defenders to slow down the other player, it is just a who finds who first and Speed Deck it to Victory.

So without someone to slow down the Charles Dormans and the UN Troopers, the game would be over within 3 or 4 turns almost every single time.

Enter a great defender, with a nice special effect and great staying power. Not good against the Rauls or Jacquelines, but we already talked about that (Antiterrorism).

The Bion Guardian is a Monastery Asset, Mechanical, and cool looking art wise. Very inexpensive to deploy, only 2 Cyber, it can come out on the second turn with little difficulty at all.

The Guardian has a decent HP, able to take one or two hits, with a very low Firepower, but at least regardless of the Armor it will do a point of damage.

So not able to search very well, very expensive to attack with, all the Asset is good at is defending.

Which is where the special ability comes into play.

For a cost of 2 Cyberops, just like the Deploy Cost, the owner is able to regenerate (restore completly) The Bion Guardian.

So as long as a player has Cyberops they can keep bringing this asset back to life. Making it a good recurring defender.

If a player has mostly Military or Covert attackers, that leaves the Cyberops available for defense which the Guardian excels in.

Just always make sure you have enough Cyberops sitting around to regenerate all of the Guardians that are in play, and your game will last a while longer.

Bleeding Plage: Enhancement

Enhancements. One way to improve your assets or bases. Some times either one depending on the card. Some enhancements work against a player, such as contracting the Bleeding Plague.

Bleeding Plague Card Art

So the Text on the back of the card reads:
Monastery - Virus
Play only on wounded non-Monastery assets. At teh end of User's turn, User takes 2 damage.

The blood loss caused by the Plague usually is fatal.

This is an uncommon card from an early set (Overture).
I suspect it never saw a ton of use. The card art is awesome. Creepy, conveys the idea of the card and enhances the overall feel of the world and the flavor text of the ChronX Setting.
Think about it, a hemophage plague that only targets certain portions of the population. How devious is that right.

Taking 2 damage at the end of the turn and effective against Assets not immune to Virus for 4 of the 5 Domains means it should see more play. But the real kicker is that the asset has to be damaged already. If you have a direct damage dealer to wound a defender (most likely) then apply some Bleeding Plague then it could be useful.
I have added it to a deck I am making with a Toxic Theme. All the assets and gear are plague like, or have First Strike.
The deck is having limited success against the AI. Not enough AT in my deck to deal with the stock speed deck the AI has. Still it is a cool theme, which many of my decks over the years are, theme decks.

So for a little fun, to annoy other players, throw in some Bleeding Plague (Or if you have Viral Scythes use that as they cause Bleeding Plague after a hit) and slowly whittle down your opponents.

Looking over a Card: Silent Sentinel

Sabotage, one of the best and worst features of ChronX in so many ways. Many assets have this keyword (Meaning they can only be blocked by assets with the AntiTerrorism Keyword) and if you do not have the right defense, then they cannot be stopped.

So each Domain has their own AT assets to block and counter the Sabo assets that are out there. Some domains are better at the attack with these assets (Corporate and NoNames) while others are superior in defense (FUS and UN).  But really hands down the best defender against the Sabotage Asset is the

Silent Sentinel

Cheap, Common, an early Release (Defiance) and resilient.
With an 8 Armor  and 4 HP he can take a single shot from an Anceph Warrior and still be around. Pretty spendy to attack with at 3 Mil, the main advantage lies in the Silent Sentinel Special. They take no damage when blocking a Sabotage Asset. This makes them, not entirely, difficult to take out when that is the attack strategy. Against Jacqueline, Twilight Fugitive, Black Army Saboteur, Mother Earth Saboteur (Mom), or even Raul Grange, the Sentinel cannot be touched.

In the 15 some years of playing ChronX it still ranks in my top 5 favorite cards. For the simple reasons of cool card art, great special, fits in with my very defensive style of normal play.

By himself he is awesome. But paired with another of my favorite cards and it is killer combo.

Enter Poxing Gloves. Again some of the best art (it reminds me of the Yakusa cards rendered by B.J. Johnson) , with the best effect. It kills any asset not immune to Poison. So you have an AT Asset that cannot be hurt and then you add in an Instant Kill and it makes short work.

So check it out in your deck. Only 8 cards (4 of each) and you have a very hard hitter.

Card Art created from Print Screen out of the main client.

Taikun Cleaner: Deck Idea

As a main attack a Taikun Cleaner deck is difficult to pull off. Since they are Covert hogs as well as being restricted in when you can deploy them (not until your HQ is at 8 points or less) you have to take a beating, build up a ton of Covert, have a base ready, and drop them in.

A tough one to make work all by its self. More often a Cleaner or two is in a deck as a back up or last ditch concept. This one takes that idea one more step farther.

3    Taikun Cleaner
4    Taikun Enforcer
4    Corporate Regional Offices
1    Covert HQ
4    Taikun Security Expert
4    Taikun Security Officer
3    Dirigible
4    Covert Ops Submarine
4    CranialTutor (Combat)
4    Taikun Bodyguard
2    Hasaku Baby Stroller 3000
2    CorporateSoft(tm) DevCampus
2    Executive Assistant
4    Taikun Bravo
2    Ashraf Mobolade
2    Build Site
4    Covert Ops Contract

Cult of The Purification: CX Deck

Ever since I first saw the card art for the Base Cult of The Purification, I have had a thing for playing a Cultist Deck.

Here is the latest incarnation of it that I have. It is not the strongest version I have made, simply the smallest.

3    Andy Fingers
1    Angelica
1    Arell Cartel Arms Dealer
4    Arell Cartel Contact
1    Arell Cartel Hack
1    Arell Cartel Lookout
4    Beat and Rusher
1    Bob's Wife
1    Body Bank Bob
4    Codaholic
4    Codeslinger
4    Dominique Ruka
4    Lucia Hunter
4    Luciana
4    Ruka Dogs
4    Null Bomber Hit
4    Five-Finger Discount
1    Arell Cartel Encampment
1    Arell Cartel HQ
4    BitTap
4    Black Army Command Post
2    Bois Campground
4    Cult of the Purification
4    Family Restaurant
4    Jack-Ups Bar