When Will it be Time for Replicator?

Netrunner General
8

i think replicator will at least warrant another look when they introduce a way to search your deck for hardware. until then, it’s just not worth it.

9

i guess. i just dont think the runners need many more hard tutors. have you played with hostage yet ? maybe that double click is more costly than i think it is but sure doesnt feel like a unfair cost for being able to run a suite of powerful connections in my criminal deck.

10

Yeah, Narziss and I were just talking about Hostage. I think this is what I concluded:

Running Hostage to get Pro Contacts in play is worth it, as long as you’re not under pressure and plan to draw that turn.

Once you have PC in play, it gets much murkier – the opportunity cost is 3 credits and 2 draws to have the opportunity to pay to install, say, KJ. That seems pretty steep, and won’t recoup itself for several turns. It may just be better to just hit PC more.

11

Poking this dead thread. Anybody trying out Replicator + Bazaar?

Some half-assed goldfishing makes it seem maybe-not-terrible. General game plan is to get tech writers out ASAP, then dig for replicator, bazaar, and a spy camera. spy camera + replicator + bazaar = 1 click to install all six, netting you 6 credits per tech writer. Using your newfound spying skills, you can quickly put together the rest of the goods: aesop’s, another consumer-grade hardware chain (net chips), or cards that will actually help you win the game. If the top of the stack isn’t good, install some other cheap hardware and replicator + shuffle and try again.

Out of Kate, it seems like after ~4 or 5 turns, you can be sitting on 20-30 credits with 3 drip per turn from aesop’s, which should keep you going for a while. Plus your deck is nothing but good stuff, and arranged in a pleasing order. Hayley can probably go faster, but having an extra credit or two during the setup (for a second replicator if you don’t see bazaar early, or if you need to install something to trigger a replicator shuffle) makes it feel pretty consistent.

I’ll be focusing on this for a little while to see if it bears fruit, it’s certainly neat.

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12

Not tried it but it sprung to mind to try it earlier today when I was going through my cards putting together another deck. I’ll be interested to see how you get on with it.

13

I put up a list on the untested/non-competitive megathread. Once you’re set up, it’s reasonably strong. Setup can take between 4 and 15 turns, though :slight_smile:

14

I want to make this work in criminal, exactly because of the setup time. I feel a lot of the weaknesses of decks that like to set up can be mitigated by criminals access to things like inside job, and emergency shutdown. Oh but then you have 6 less inf. Perhaps Ken, Rebirthed into Leela then? I wish I was kidding.

15

Consumer grade could have been good with replicator, the problem is that they should have had a higher power level to justify the deck slots of them both.

16

They might release something in flashpoint that makes hardware better, we already have bazaar. While it’s not consistent, if you get bazaar, replicator and a consumer grade quickly enough, that powers through a lot of your deck, and that makes you find better cards sooner. The problem I see is not losing immediately, which with the right deck and cards, could be mitigated. I cannot wait for the future.

17

Spy camera x6 with replicator and bazaar is dynamite in a Geist + tech trader deck.

Lots of nice synergies here: you like to install lots of cheap stuff (to load up Technical Writers), the Spy Camera click ability is good for setting up for future clickless draws (via geist’s ability) when you have multiples installed, and once you’ve got a couple tech traders out, spy cameras become on-demand econ and flatline protection.

Plus, spy camera is pretty good on its own for in-faction R&D pressure.

Here’s what I’m on, still needs some tweaking.

Spy camera geist sans connections

Armand “Geist” Walker: Tech Lord (The Underway)

Event (7)

Hardware (12)

Resource (15)

Icebreaker (12)

15 influence spent (max 15)
46 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Salsette Island

Deck built on NetrunnerDB.

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18

The idea of replicating a sports hopper is hilarious! “You wouldn’t download a car! Would you?”

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19

when you’re a tech lord, you just dgaf

20

Shaper is the only faction that can really run the nonsense that is bazaar+consumer+replicator right now with any real viability. The simple fact that Aesop’s, Net-Chip AND Replicator are all in faction is pretty damning against almost all other options as of right now.

Spending 6 influence to enable to combo out of shaper is pretty good, albeit the cost of 12 deck slots is pretty steep.

Geist could maybe get it to work too, but I feel like crims need another hardware that can pop and isn’t hopper. Hopper is great, but 9 is crazy expensive without inside man to offset the cost.

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21

cough The Supplier.

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22

I gave Cortez Chip a long, hard look earlier today. Security Chip, too.

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23

Seems fine with tech traders in geist. I have been on and off 1-2 copies of security chip in geist with the B&E breakers. It can be clutch to have forger and sports hopper (or more than 1) installed and fire a security chip with few breakers installed. Also helps to amp up corroder vs Blue Sun or anyone running high str ice where you suddenly need 2 or 3 str added.

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24

Inside Man is neutral and doesn’t slow down your installs.

If you can take the influence hit, go for it. But I find I often am short on influence in shaper.

25

I thought we were talking about Crim!

One thing I have pondered is a Crim deck running 3 Career Fair, three Supplier. Because the Supplier can be busy, Career Fair isn’t dead, and it can help speed the setup. Hopper works with the Supplier, and turns on Underworlds.

But too slow, likely.

26

That is really the big thing about the supplier I have found. It is so freaking slow. Workshop is something you can force things out when you need them. The supplier is a trickle and while it can make you a large savings, it is also over the course of several turns, where your goods and connections are locked tight and out of play.

Hopper and Geist kind of change that equation a bit, since you can run cards that you can install and then pop for further draw, meaning you get the savings from your click + further draw.

I definitely wouldn’t bother with supplier unless I was Geist or was running the off campus apartments.

27

I’m thinking about geist primarily, since he benefits from the spy cameras before the whole engine is up and it gives you some in-faction R&D pressure. Spy cam + tech trader (+tech writer) can give you buckets of money very quickly, selling netchips to aesops just didn’t seem potent enough to be worth the slots.

Out of geist seems like you have the slots for 2 out of 3 of these packages:

  1. Cloud breakers
  2. Off-campus + connections
  3. spy camera + bazaar + replicator

Option 1 + 2 works pretty well and has a pretty consistent setup time (a little slow, leans on inside job/threat of siphon for early pressure). Option 1+3 is more variable but can be extremely fast, and can generate really outrageous amounts of money (to support your non-disposable breakers in the late game). I haven’t spent as much time with option 2 + 3, but it felt way too slow to set up (requiring special orders + a decent credit pool to make most runs… hostage is necessary to get TT on the board early).

On a related topic, I had a game against IG Bioethics lock last night that I lost primarily due to my crappy psi-game skills. Genetics pavilion only applies to runner turn, so it barely slowed me down (most of my draws were from firing off a hopper or spy cam on the corp turn). Spy cams were responsible for my steals from R&D, no snares or shocks hit. It felt pretty solid and wasn’t specifically teched against it, which was nice.