Some Light Reading
While I call this a guide, it's less strategy and more of supplementary reading on a factual analysis without telling you what you should do. Regardless, this is written for new players as well as experienced players. I’ve got some points in approaches to fortress advancements, but I will add them at a later stage.
It’s well known your first major decision - which faction you're playing - is the biggest one that will influence your experience for the entire game. Therefore some understanding of what to expect will be beneficial. Now that the entire roster of 10 factions have been released, I thought it would be interesting to compare them side by side. The preamble talks about the importance of tech trees and why it can be perceived as complex. If you're just interested in the data, read from The facts below.
We can all agree Cloudspire is a long game, 3 hours+ even with 2 players. One of the challenges with that comes with the runtime is that most players will have one game and form their conclusions about it. Which, fair enough for the runtime, but many factions need more than just first impressions to have an accurate interpretation of it’s actual power, and I’ll explain why.
After interacting the community for some time, I commonly hear certain factions feel overwhelmingly complex and/or underpowered. And so I wondered if this had anything with the fortress advancements of those factions.
I want to posit that a faction's perceived strength is generally tied to its complexity. If it is too complex to pull off, it comes across as underpowered. A fair amount of complexity can be directly related with the fortress advancements, or as I call it - tech tree. The higher the complexity, the higher likelihood to ‘misplay’, i.e. non-synergistic advancements, or conditional advancements that end up wasting your source because it never fulfils its conditions. Misplay may sound like a harsh word, but it's a common term in games with higher level reviews of performance with a view to improve.
Brain Power
Something I learned somewhere about game design - say you have a finite amount of brain power. When playing a new game, you want as much brain power used to be actually playing the game, making player decisions. The problem is that understanding new rules uses up the same pool of brain power. And the more complex your ruleset is, the more brain power is used actually interpreting the rules as opposed to making player decisions.
A complex game like Cloudspire SINGS when the rules melt away and you're just focusing on the decision making part. But that comes with repeat play experience from familiarity with the rules + faction mechanics. The reality is you're juggling the rules, your faction, the landmarks, the terrain, and even the opposing factions, all in your the mind. And then in the build phase, you're often rushed for time to make up your time about advancements, simultaneously analysing the board state.
In fact let’s talk about the build phase. You take one action and it goes around before it comes back to you. If you formulate a plan in your head to do 1→2→3, you have to go 1, wait a whole round, 2, wait a whole round, then 3. I call it wanting to take a step but keep tripping because it’s not time to “go”. It can be a start - stop - start - stop feeling. The process isn’t necessarily intuitive for a complex string of actions such as picking important advancements. But so often that downtime is used to read what the advancements say so it’s okay. I’m just pointing out the ambient context in which the decisions for the advancements are made.
Anyway, from a visual information point of view, minions have coloured artwork, and they're tactile with health chips, so they’re easy to digest and remember. By contrast, the tech tree is a sea of words. Added to the fact they aren't laid out the same way on the base! Yet it's one of the key aspects for your game play.
What makes it more difficult is that most of the time it's an additional memory load. You're buying solutions to a situation in a battle that is yet to happen. So you have to visualise the effect, assess the strength, outweigh the cost, and then finally remember it when it is time to trigger it! It is no wonder it is often described as overwhelming, and visually the tech tree can come across as dry.
While I agree it is possible to completely ignore the tech tree, it is in your best interest to understand how the tech tree reads, as part of the faction's identity derives from it. EDIT* Crucial fact I forgot to mention: Each advancement purchased in 1 point at the end game for PVP! If nothing else, that counts for something! And thus an attractive factor to get advancements if you have the source.
Likewise It is possible to completely ignore building spires, but not advisable.
Naturally you’ll interact with either to some degree, and I believe the game is balanced around spending source across spires, market, and the tech tree in various degrees. Investing too heavily in one area as a result of completely ignore one major aspect of the game will probably end up underpowered, as you’ll get diminishing returns.
What's this guide for?
This guide is to add a broad awareness of key differences between faction tech trees, which ones you may struggle with, and which ones are good for learning. Nowhere does it say: This faction is more complicated. Well, I’m here to tell you! (at least when it comes to the tech tree).
I myself haven’t played all the factions. Admittedly I’ve just gone through the base solo campaign. But these findings don’t need in-game experience to qualify, just out of game time to peruse the sheets, which I’ve got the time since having young children and no table space.
I ultimately want there to be better players, discussing strategies and viable combinations. This is not about any strategy, but I hope it inspires others to write their own, especially about factions ranking in higher complexity. I’m trying not to take into consideration faction passive abilities, which may influence the rankings. Just solely on the tech tree.
I'm first presenting data. Whilst I’ve some thoughts about advancement combinations, I can add those at a later date. I think the the data first and foremost is very interesting.
THE FACTS:
All Factions have 6 tech tree lines.
Most have 16 upgrades. (Exceptions horizons wrath, uprising and shada 17) Each line has at least 2 upgrades. Averages about 3 per.
It helps to categorise the advancements into 5 general mechanics. A 6th category is for ‘Other’- any mechanic beyond these 5 that takes cognitive brain power to process:
- Gain Source/CP
- Promotes or boost minions
- Boost spires
- Interact with Market
- Fortress defence
- ‘Other’ effect
This ‘Other’ effects increases complexity. Generally human attention/memory load best deals with 4 decision points, so we’re really pushing it. Remember we have to interpret the effect and outweigh its cost/benefit, before we apply it in-game. The ‘Other’ often breaks out of the original ruleset and you’d need a good grasp of the rules first to know how it changes it.
With these classifications I have tried to be as objective as possible. Your mileage and opinion may vary, and I would love to hear from you.
I have ordered these tech lines - column by column, from top to bottom.
Determining complexity of a faction’s tech tree
Remember, this says nothing of the power level, the faction passive abilities and spire/unit strength. This is purely whether the fortress advancements are intuitive to read and understand, or not.
One big factor: Each tech line is not necessarily interacting with the same mechanic, and therein lies the hidden complexity. Switching mechanic to mechanic can be very jarring.
Tech tree lines are marked as Same or Different.
Same = generally related to one another, can be considered 1 mechanic.
Different = differing mechanics, and therefore more complex. Different is usually 2 mechanics, rarely 3 separate ones. You effectively have to deal with at least 2 mechanics in a tech tree.
Because of this, you sometimes have to figure out how to pair/group upgrades for effectiveness, and these are more complex when they are past the first purchase. You have to cross reference link them up through a sea of text.
Regarding 'Other' - these drastically increases the complexity as the more there are, it is another mechanic to understand on top of the existing 5.
These are my metrics in determining complexity. Remember you're not told any of these categories, or mechanics as 'Other'. You sort of have to figure it out on the spot, which is why intuitiveness is so integrated with the complexity.
So without further ado, here is my compiled data, starting from the LEAST COMPLEX to MOST COMPLEX
10. Brawnen - Has no Other
SD Same - Source
As Different - Minions/Spires
Str Same - Fortress Defence
HP Same - Minions
GP Same - Market
Sml Different - Spires/Minions
Remarks - Simplest to read and understand. The best thing is that minion upgrades and spire unlocks are incredibly straightforward, needing almost no time to process.
9. Heirs - Sanctuary (4) + 1 Other
AP Different - Spire/Minions
GP Same - Market
AS Same - Other- Deploy from spire
Sa Different - has 3 different mechanics (CP/Fortress/Spires)
St Same - Minions
KR Same - Spires
Remarks - Not overly simple and has room for various strategies. I think Brawnen vs. Heirs is perhaps the most common matchup, and that’s why Drang wave 1 is very valid.
8. Griege - 2 Others (Echri and Evolution)
HA Different - Merc units
GP Same - Market
TS Same - Tunnels
QC Same - Echri
EP Same - Evolution
LH Different - Fortress/Minions
Remarks - Evolution is a key aspect, so I think that needs to be digested. Echri line is a bit long and you will want to know all those abilities before investing in that direction.
7. Shada - 2 Others
SG Different - Minions/Other (bioweapon)
GP Same - Market
EF Same - Spires
SD Same - Source/CP
PC Different - Other (minion into spire upgrade)/minion
NG Same - Fortress
Remarks - Most advancements have more text and therefore more mechanics to digest. I might be wild for including one of the latest factions ranked here, but it really is less jarring when you just work your way down the line.
6. Grovetender - 2 Others (Ratify die, and Master Form)
GP Same - Market
S Different - Fortress/Spires
IO Different - Source/Fortress/Other (Ratify)
SG Different - CP/Spires
FG Different - Other (Master Form)/Minions
HS Same - Minions
Remarks - The Others are included in the Different, making it harder to understand the tech line. A step up in the number of Different mechanics.
5. Narora - 4 Others
GP Different - Market/Other (Landmark)/Market
FG Same - Other - Graves
AT Different - Fortress/Source/Fortress
P Different - CP/Fortress
PR Different - Other (Deploy minion)/Other (Return Hero)
FT Same - Other (FT Range)
Remarks - FT Range appears essential for any tech heavy build -, need it to understand combinations with other advancements. Yet the FT is at the bottom right, after you've read the rest of the lines. Most complex in the base game by far, due to the fact that 4 of the lines have different mechanics, and the other 2 lines are “Other” mechanics.
4. Horizons Wrath 4 others
GD Different - Other (fortress cannons)/spires
CQ Same - Other (minion becomes spire upgrade)
LB Different - Spire/Minion
CC Different - Other (CP growth)/Other (pulling plank)
GP Different - Source advantage/Market
H Same - Minion
Remarks - A lot of text for the gun deck! Also, pull the plank is in 4.2, which itself is a whole string of text on a card. I actually have trouble categorising some of these.
3. Graft - 3 Others, and Nucleus mechanics
HG Different - Other (infested source/infested damage)
GP Different - market/Other (nucleus or merc hero)
CA Different - Other (Rancor)/infest heroes
GS Same - Spires
MF Same - Nucleus
MB Different - Nucleus/Minion
Remarks - Most of the ‘Other’ is embedded in a ‘Different’ Line, meaning the you have to parse out the mechanics line by line. Thankfully, the two lines with 4 advancements are the same - one about spires, the other about the nucleus.
2. The Uprising - 3 Others, but even cp growth/spires/Minions mechanics have complexity
SR Different - Spires/Fortress
TD Different - Minions/Other (bounty)
HQ Different - Cp/Heroes
CO Different - Other (CP growth)/Other fortress sabotage
RG Different - CP/Market/Minions
RL Same - Spires
Remarks - 5 lines with different mechanics! Thankfully, they’re not squeezed with text. I think this could end up being ranked above the Graft but will need some more testing.
1. Keel - 4 Others, 5 different lines. No wonder people have been voicing that the Keel feel hard to use
DP Different - Other (gunnery)/market
GP Different - Other (merc minion defeat), merc minion
VT Different - Spire/market/spire/minion
SH Same - Source
VA Different - Other (Turret)/spire
AP Different - Spire/Other (spire protection)
All lines are spire related, a variable that will severely hinder if not developed. You must build spires or you will surely struggle. Void Turbine is problably the most complex line in the entire game, switching mechanics 4 times! And at the very end is a minion upgrade, which people tend to favour.
Conclusions
Not all factions are balanced on complexity. In fact, the faction expansions are on the more complex side, which makes sense. The designers expect the long term player base to want something more complex.
In the base game, Brawnen and Heirs are the most straightforward. Grovetenders is actually no slouch to comprehend, and the Narora is most complex of all, moreso than some faction expansions by my metric.
Given the levels of complexity associated with tech trees, I think it is reasonable, to do some preparation reading and even making notes, bringing your notes to the game for fortress advancements, especially for the higher complexity factions. Otherwise it is a LOT to sift through coming in blind to the table and reading the whole list of advancements, and then makes those spur of the moment decisions in the pressurising build phase. The different mechanics lines are not intuitive to find what you want, especially if you’re looking for synergies.
So if you struggled with Narora, that’s understandable! And if you compared to Brawnen, your tech tree has almost twice the number of mechanics, not to mention twice the number of minion types. I would not pitch Narora to a new player, or at least not without the forewarning that it’s a challenge.
And if you look at Keel, it is clear to see, the tech tree mechanics jump line by line. Not a surprise people have voiced difficulty in getting it to work.
Once again, I iterate that this is not an analysis of faction power level, or even the power within the fortress advancements. This is the just analysing the intuitiveness how the fortress advancements are laid out, which I think leads to why some factions being perceived to be harder to use.
I think understanding the challenge ahead is the first step to enjoying a more complex faction. I would go so far as to say they reward players who love pre-planning or strategising before they hit the table, because it can be more satisfying when you do pull them off.
