So this new HB Architects of Tomorrow (AoT) identity is pretty sweet, right? On the one hand you lose a bit of surprise giving away what your Bioroids are before the runner has to encounter them, on the other hand rezzing Eli for free, Ichi for 1 and various other large Bioroids for 4 less makes for beefy servers. So beefy in fact, that I wonder how cheap and how fast you could get a fully rezzed server of at least 2 Bioroids on each central and 1 remote. The servers must have 1 end the run at the bottom, or they aren’t very good servers.
Turn 1. Install Eli and Viktor and Markus 1.0 on each central. AoT at 5 credits. ETF 6 credits.
Turn 2. Install another set of those Bioroids over each other. AoT 2 credits. ETF 4 credits.
Turn 3. Anonymous Tip Lateral Growth install Eli and Viktor 2.0 on a remote. AoT 3 credits. ETF 6 credits.
Now, if the runner decides to run on a server during this time, ETF has the advantage 2nd turn because first turn, they could rez two pieces of ice of they must, and second turn they could rez anything at all. However, if the runner decides to run this 3rd turn AoT has the advantage of being able to significantly tax the runner and gaining up to 4 free credits rezzing Markus, or end the run. After a turn of clicking for credits, we will look at the AoT turn. AoT has 7 credits at this point, capable of defending the remote server entirely (barring runner tricks.) Each time the runner passes one of the first ice on a central server, they are effectively giving the Corp that many credits rezzing the other one for free. So that’s 10 free credits so far, just on centrals, with the caveat that the Corp must have at least the credits to match in the first place. Seems like a good ice ice hedge fund turn could set the Corp up for a good time. If they aren’t run before there’s another ice in front of course.
It’s going to be interesting theory crafting decks for this ID, it seems to me like rewarding the runner for breaking a few end the run subroutines with more end the run (and worse) subroutines seems like it fits a rush mentality.
I’ve been thinking since you can use so many bioroids, you might want to look at cards that benefit you when the runner clicks through like Ryon Knight. I also think Enhanced Login Protocol is good here, limiting those clicks and forcing runners to try to interact with the subroutines.
An important thing to note with AoT is that the Bioroid doesn’t have to be on THE SAME SERVER as the one they passed. This means you can ICE HQ and R&D, and rez both using the same run. Immense versatility here ^^
I was thinking it’d be a great home for Surat City Grid. The problem with Robocop was that it was slow to set up and if any of your pieces got trashed, you were kinda fucked money-wise. The ID power takes the Brain-Taping Warehouse power and more or less replaces it (although you could still use it as well, theoretically) so that you can use Surat to get some additional discounted rezzes off. Runner runs R&D, rez Surat in the remote; Runner passes R&D ICE, rez ICE on the remote at a discount, rez next ICE on R&D at a discount.
Might not be good enough, but seems like some potential synergy there.
not necessarily super important, but i think it’s worthy noting that the runner has to pass a rezzed piece of Bioroid ICE
turn one Eli 1.0 over HQ and R&D means the runner can poke one server, bounce, and then poke the other, effectively turning off your ability, so i think it’s important to include some taxing/porous Bioroids like Fairchild and Ichi, maybe even Sherlock, and definitely some etr Bioroids that can also punish face-checks like Viktor and Heimdall, and Markus 1.0 might actually be a bit better than Eli 1.0 here (less influence when you only have 12, plus they’re both the same to rez with AoT’s ability). the runner can’t just bounce off these ICE, so they have the choice of breaking one to two to prevent getting hosed with brain damage, trashing installed cards, etc., or breaking all and giving you an early chance to shore up your defences faster
also Ravana 1.0 seems like an almost immediate include, since it’ll likely have lots of subroutines to choose from, but you can also essentially rez it in the scenario of first turn ICE up HQ and R&D… where normally Ravana would be useless here, but with AoT, you can rez it, get the free rez on the other server, and open up some targets for Ravana. granted, they walked through the first time, but that’s pretty much worst-case scenario. later on, it’s pretty brutal, especially with stuff like Viktor, Fairchild, Heimdall, etc.
obviously this is all theory-crafting, but i think this might have some anti-synergy, since you’re rezzing ICE with Surat and thus lower potential targets for your own ability. my point is that, with Surat, you might be better off with the extra econ and influence from EtF
Mmmm, that’s actually a really good point. Probably not worth it, then. Considering the ID only has 12 inf, that’s probably not a bad thing to have influence to use elsewhere.
Howler should be fun there, too. Power draw and put interns ?
I can see my inf be 2x Jacksons, 2x DBS, 2x Eli, 2x AOYCR.
3 Interns, 2x Howler, Clearances, Gamble & Sub.
Adv concept hopper & 3/2s + 1x 2pts, 18-20 ices, some ash and roll. Attempt to score 2pts and AOYCR the runner would be my plan.
Oh, absolutely! Both Fairchild 1.0 and 2.0 seem to fit this ID like a glove, especially Fairchild 1. She’s innocuous, but if she also gained you 4 credits, she seems blatantly overpowered.
I think that’s the key thing that makes this ID actually playable. This “two ICE deep servers everywhere” looks interesting, but can be played around too easy, I think:
If the first ICE has some ETR, runners can just bounce off and run another server → nothing gained for AoT
If the first ICE doesn’t have ETR, it needs to have enough scary subroutines to make the runner actually break those, otherwise runners can just let them fire to prevent any advantage for AoT
DDoS prevents the two ICE plan (so does Inside Job), although they can’t do that all time.
I think an important point is also that you can rezz the ICE for free, but that does not mean the runner does encounter that ICE. If you rezz something scary, they can just jack out. Which still is an economic advantage and ends the run, but for the cost of giving information away.
Oh, and it might actually be a useful ability against Blackmail-Val: Whenever they run any server with unrezzed ICE, they give you the chance to rezz ICE on servers they planned to blackmail into.
Actually, read the ID again. “The first time each turn the runner PASSES a piece of Bioroid ICE…” They don’t need to break anything.
If the runner pays creds for Fairchild 1, you get it. If they Inside Job past one,you get it.
You’re right. That makes AoT much better than I thought. DDoS is still a problem, but apart from that you probably get the discount in most cases - you just need to take care where to place your ETR ICE.
Absolutely agree. We need to return to the RP mindset of making sure our servers have “teeth”, so to speak, be they Fairchild or Janus or Vikram No runner shall simply bounce: make it hurt.
Interesting point. Heinlein Grid might be a good include? If playing rush, event econ is probs the way to go so it wouldnt be competing with BBG. Though 3 to rez is a bit steep these days for something that dies easy to Wizz.
3 Jackson, 3 GFI 3, 3 ABT, 3 Vitruvius, 2 AOYCR, Markus instead of Eli, use Viktor 1 & 2. Seems like a reasonable place to start with, and all the 2 pointers help with the offer, since you’d want to check every remote for fear of never advance. If HB ever gets an unadvanced ambush, we got ourselves a winner.
It’s super niche at the moment, but something to keep an eye on: the ability can also be used to rez an asset or upgrade. Right now that’s only Ash, Ronald 5 and if you’re really desperate Alix, but who knows what else might come up in this cycle?
