This is pretty much why I think Gifting for 5 cards is almost always a mistake (if that’s your entire hand and you’re not keeping anything secret). Very rarely are the 2 additional credits worth the uncertainty on the runner’s part.
I disagree. I always gift for 5. If I don’t want to gift for 5, I wait to gift 95% of the time rather than gift for 4. It’s not like I was ever trying to surprise anyone with RP.
I don’t really have a good reason for why I think this is right other than MORE MONEY = MORE BETTER, because it’s hard to compare money to abstract notions like information. As soon as you Jackson, the information isn’t worth shit anyway.
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I’m going to disagree with this as well. I can’t recall the last time I didn’t gift for 5. Maybe it’s because I’m all about efficiency, but in simplified terms Netrunner is just a game of economy and 2c usually DOES matter a lot. Also if a Corp gifts for 4 and I’m a runner I know that the unknown card is an agenda or Caprice Nisei, so what does it really matter?
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Functionally, Jackson is a lot more like a shady guy sweeping dirty secrets under the rug than a happy-go-lucky toy maker.
I think he’s supposed to be a fall guy. Like, the corporation has all of these nefarious agendas on their plate, and then they realize they might get exposed, so they just blame it on Jackson Howard before word gets out.
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Doesn’t it make a huge difference for the runner, knowing whether you’re holding a Nisei or an NAPD? Knowing whether you have a Caprice or an Ash? Even knowing which ICE specifically out of your specific setup you drew is valuable information.
Yes, more money is undoubtedly better, but by giving the runner perfect information you’re helping them make less judgment call mistakes and making the game solely about efficiency (and luck of random accesses).
And sure, Jackson voids the info you give away… but this way you’re marrying yourself to using one sooner than you might have liked otherwise.
Unless it’s not - I’ve had people Legwork me because they thought the fifth card was an agenda when it wasn’t. I’ve had people slam Siphons into ETRs because they were convinced I installed the ICE I showed them. Often it makes sense to show the agenda and keep something else secret, especially if it’s at a stage in the game where it can be expected you’re holding one or two agendas and a run on HQ isn’t already the optimal play for the runner.
Maybe I have a different perspective because I play a lot more PE than I play RP, but a Celebrity Gift for 5 cards is much easier to leverage against you than one for 4 is. Forcing the runner to make judgment calls has got to be good, especially if commiting to a particular course of action has a high cost (like it does in glaciers).
Solution: Play Subliminal Messaging and show them those.
Yea but then you have a pretty damn marginal to bad card (subliminal messaging) in your deck.
Wouldn’t it maybe make more sense to play medical research fundraiser if you value your privacy over cold hard cash?
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Med Research gives the Runner money, which kinda works agains the whole RP Glacier/taxing idea. Other than that, you’re right; MRF is as efficient as CG: 1 click for 5 credits (or 2 for 10).
My games are all about building the following game state:
Caprice and Nisei Mk II in hand, two ice on a remote server (which usually contains Sundew until the time is right, and usually one of the ice is Eli), and money enough to rez both ice, rez caprice, play two psi games, and advance and score Nisei. If the 2 ice are Eli and Quandary (which is common), that’s 2 (Caprice) + 4 (two psi games) + 4 (scoring) + 3 (Eli) + 1 (Quandary - although sometimes I won’t bother) = 14, and against Criminal it better be 19.
It takes a while to get to this state, and Caprice and Nisei Mk II will sometimes sit in my hand for a couple turns on the way there.
If you hit either of them, it’s a setback for me.
I will gladly bleed an NAPD or Future Perfect off a Pup-protected R&D to get to this state more quickly.
I also always gift for 5. I mean, usually there’s just an NAPD or a Future Perfect in there. If it’s Nisei, the Gift can usually wait until after I score it (which, parenthetically, is often a time I really need to money up anyways).
It’s pretty good with Celebrity Gift and Enhanced Login in RP, definitely worth the slots.
Meh, I get that people like it, but I’m not a fan, simply because of the slot cost. Do you hold the gift until the SM’s pop back? Because if so, that’s a big turn off for me, I want to gift as soon as I can in most cases…not that I play normal RP much.
But it comes down to your priorities, and one could argue RP is better at taxing clicks more than raw credits. To that end, 3 credits is nothing to shake a stick at, given the runner didn’t have to draw or play it, or spend a deck slot, it’s way better than just an easy mark for the runner. However, you could also argue that by keeping more hidden information, you make that 3 credits back in wasted actions (especially worthless runs) over celebrity gift