BYOND Strategy

I'll still be posting links in Tech Tree, but the guild has yet to receive any developer submissions that I know of. Here's a post to get the keyword listed and take off the edge of being first.

Mind you, posts don't have to be this long or have this many pictures! Just follow the General Article Guidelines.

Flesh and Drone is a boardgame where players fight to be the last daemon standing. However, they can't harm each other directly. Instead, they must summon drones from a shared list of drone types. Each type has a power rating relative to itself and each other. Players adjust these values through the course of the game.



The most important change in the latest update might involve how drone type powers are modified.

Previously, power was increased by the blood spent to claim a drone type. There was no limit. The relative benefit of modifying a drone in the late stage of the game was quite small. It was even possible to increase powers just to end up with the same 50%/50% chances of success in battle.

Now, the total power of each drone type remains constant. Daemons can redistribute that power so that the drones are stronger or weaker against different types. The benefit of modifying a drone type is unrestricted by time and a drone's success in battle is always threatened. Players will be able to make decisions that are influenced solely by pieces on the board and their predictions.



I also focused on polishing the interface. For instance, I replaced my unnecessary grids with controls that would stretch better and require less explanation (like buttons). I also redesigned the HUD to be more symbolic since some people seem to find words relatively intimidating.

Here are some comparisons. These were taken from different matches so pardon the chat and the color differences of the pieces.

Old => New
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Here's the change log as posted in the game:

• When modified, drone type stats now swap points instead of merely increasing.
• The help file was updated with the above mechanical change, CSS changes, more concise language.
• Players who can't modify drone types now have their turns ended automatically during the Modify phase.
• The player limit is now displayed above the Join button.
• Hosts and single players on unhosted instances are now greeted with a note locating server options.
• Player options are now explained on the map with symbols instead of words.
• The Drones tab is now a simple table with buttons for summoning selection.
• The Bid tab now uses symbolic buttons and labels instead of a grid.
• The Modify tab now uses a separate tab of symbolic buttons and labels for each drone type.
• The Battle tab has been redesigned to explain the new HUD.
• The last winner should no longer look smushed when the window is resized.
• Various borders and colors were changed in the skin.
• Various tab icons were changed. Sometimes the tab titles were removed.
• The player logout timer was fixed.

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