I love some Temujin Contract like most people, but I have now practiced enough with the card to know I could be using it better. For example, today I threw my second contract of the game on a lightly guarded HQ when I could have put it on archives again to encourage corp to spread ice more thinly. I knew there was an agenda in HQ and I got it, but did I just lock myself out of more longterm access to HQ?
Generally, my first contract goes on archives, but if another open central is there, should I go for it? Instinct tells me HQ is best if undefended am I right?
Subsequent contracts are hard to call. Does contract on a taxing scoring remote make sense? Or should you always keep them on centrals.
I really like Temujin HQ on an empty HQ or easy to access HQ. You get unique accesses and even if there are no agendas, the information and chance to trash resources is valuable. If HQ gets locked off, that’s OK you played a Day Job that yielded 3 accesses.
Early Temujin R&D can be bad since if you hit an operation or ICE & don’t see fresh cards. Archives is better & I’d more often target that than even an unprotected R&D. I wouldn’t worry too much about locking yourself out of “more longterm access to HQ.” The corp’s going to ICE up eventually. Getting them to overcommit to any one server will pay off in the long run.
Also be wary of yee olde “use Advanced Assembly Lines to install ICE after the Temujin server is named” trick.
Temujin on a taxing remote is rarely if ever warranted IMO.
As a Corp, I’m rarely going to commit ICE to Archives just to turn off/delay a Temujin. I’ll just let you have your money and then try to exhaust it in some other manner. The exception is if I am flooded with ICE. Keep in mind I have almost exclusively played CTM for the past 4 months.
The third Temujin is pretty much always for RND, IMO.
Depends on your priorities in the matchup and your assessment of your role. Against NBN, for instance, you want a large cash cushion to soften the blow from Hard-Hitting News, so taking “money” Temujins that are click-inefficient (in the sense of not running places you actually want to go) but cash-profitable is just fine. At any point you want to be running a central to attack it, though (which happens earlier against, say, HB), putting Temujin on that central is click-efficient, because you’re getting paid for doing something you want to be doing in the first place, even if on net you’re making less money.
Later Temujins go on R&D, of course, because regardless of their strategy, late game involves finding agendas before they can. That’s the convergence point. But knowing when you’re in that late game and thus when to commit to the comparative expense (offset somewhat by Temujin) is a classic Netrunner skill-tester.
One thing to keep in mind with temujin is not closing off a future win condition. If medium, spy cams, or RDIs is your main win condition, putting temu on R&D is going to make that harder. If you want to siphon them, and they don’t know it (ie you’re not criminal), then maybe don’t put it on HQ. If rebirth to Omar is a common way of winning for you, then temu on archives may not be the greatest.
Interesting thing for me has been going from core only to flashpoint is how much more important securing all centrals seems to be. I used to try for a sneaky early 3/2 with only HQ iced up for certain, now I really need to shake that habit because it’s getting me in trouble.