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Tech Talk - Notoriety
Jan 29 2013 06:00 AM |
Scud
in Android: Netrunner
Android: Netrunner Tech Talk Scud
Welcome back to Tech Talk, Tech Talkers. This week, we'll be discussing the hows, whens, and whys of using the new love-it-or-hate-it Shaper card, Notoriety (Trace Amount).DOCUMENTATION:
We begin with a scene from Tech Talk's newest play, a work-in-progress called "A Study In Static."
Scene: A crash space in the seediest part of New Angeles. Two runners, Fred and George, sit in ratty beanbag chairs, downing Diesel. They are awash in the soft glow of the many computer monitors scattered around the room. A blonde-haired Bioroid dressed as a naughty schoolgirl stands in the corner, face to the wall.
Fred: Hey, you hearda' this Scud-O guy? He cracked all'a HB's Central Servers in no time flat!
George: Seriously? Dude's got some chops, man!
Fred: Yeah. Skills like that, he musta' found something juicy in all that data, right?
George: Yeah. Musta'.
Pretty riveting stuff, no?
See, Runners are a curious lot. They use aliases, employ decoys, and generally try to keep themselves mysterious and unknown. But, man oh man, do they love themselves some fame. They crave the adoration of their peers, the fear of the Corps, the little thrill of seeing their name on the FBI's Most Wanted List. The recently released Notoriety gives Runners a way to make a name for themselves, so to speak, by successfully running all three Central Servers (HQ, R&D, and Archives) in one turn. If the Runner can pull it off, she can spend the fourth click (along with one credit) to play Notoriety, which gets added to her score area as a 1-point Agenda.
Normally, Agendas are only found in Corp servers. Now? Now you can have three of them in your Runner deck. Yes, they are tricky (and probably expensive) to score but, and this can't be stressed enough, YOU HAVE THREE AGENDA POINTS IN YOUR RUNNER DECK. You control when they get scored (well, after you draw them, of course). No more waiting around for the Corp to think he's ready to Advance one through, no more fishing through Central Servers hoping to find something worthwhile - you have Notoriety in your hand and you can set about scoring it.
"Yeah, but spending your whole turn for one measly Agenda Point is terrible, brah," you might say, if you were inclined to say things like, "Brah," out loud. And you would be right. Good thing you don't just spend your whole turn to score Notoriety, then, isn't it? See, the extra nice thing is that you don't have to sacrifice the results of the successful runs you make like you do with something like Account Siphon (i.e. steal credits INSTEAD of accessing a card). If you run HQ and pull an Agenda out, then run R&D and unearth another Agenda, and then dumpster-dive in Archives and fish out a stained and dog-eared copy of a third Agenda, you get to keep all of them and THEN score Notoriety. You didn't waste your turn, you scored one Agenda point for doing what you're supposed to be doing anyway - running servers.
(For the record, the above situation will only ever happen when Tech Talk is playing the Corp.)
Still not convinced? Okay, let's break it down, then. Take Breaking News (Core): the Corp spends three clicks (install, advance, advance) and two credits to score it. The Runner spends four clicks (run HQ, run R&D, run Archives, play Noteriety) and however many credits it takes to complete the runs plus one for Notoriety. But, as pointed out above, the Runner doesn't ONLY get an Agenda point for her trouble, she also gets the benefits of those three successful runs (accessing cards, bonus credits if she's a Criminal or running Desperado, whatever).
The run on Archives is probably the least useful part of scoring Notoriety. However, the Corp doesn't usually ICE Archives unless the Runner is playing Noise or she installs Sneakdoor Beta, so you'll probably only be out a single click for the Archive run the first time you score Notoriety in a game.
INSTALLATION:
Play Notoriety as soon as you can. That is the simple, best advice Tech Talk can give. If you're opening hand contains Inside Job, Inside Job, and Notoriety, and the Corp ICE'd up both HQ and R&D on turn one, spending the five credits to make the three runs (especially if you are Criminal, but we'll get to that in a minute) and score Notoriety is a valid play. (It isn't always the RIGHT play, but it is certainly a valid choice.) It will put the Corp off-balance, probably slowing down his build up of Remote Servers while he shores up the centrals to keep you from doing it again.
As a Criminal, you should, of course, always run HQ first, then R&D, then Archives. Remember, activating Sneakdoor Beta makes the run on Archives count as a successful run on HQ, so you can't run HQ directly and then use Sneakdoor and still score Notoriety. (This is pretty obvious but we've seen a lot of players make that mistake.)
If you can use tricky-tricks in your runs (Account Siphon, Maker's Eye, Medium, Vamp, etc.) and still have the scratch to play Notoriety with your fourth click, do it.
Tags are going to be the sticky wicket in your Notoriety plans. If the Corp is smart, once they see you're running Notoriety, they'll stick a Data Raven (Core) on Archives so that, in order to score it, you're going to have to remain tagged for a turn. Do not make this decision lightly. An Agenda Point is great, but if it is your first Agenda Point, it probably isn't worth the tag. If it is your sixth Agenda Point, it might be more tempting to ride that tag out.
Notoriety is a great one-of in a Shaper deck. Once you play it, the Corp is going to have to assume you have two more and will "waste" resources shoring up the defenses of his central servers to combat a threat that doesn't even exist. If you can get the Corp to drop a mid-game Data Raven (as in the example above) on an otherwise undefended Archives, Notoriety paid off with much more than a single Agenda Point.
IMPLEMENTATION:
Notoriety has a single pip Influence cost and that is great because it is actually better for Criminals than it is for Shapers. Yeah, Shapers tend to be able to go where they want when they want in the mid- to late-game, so it's nice to be able to guarantee an Agenda Point for your trouble. But Criminals LOVE running (especially once Desperado (Core) is out) and have plenty of answers to the most common problems with running three times a turn (i.e. tags). They also have Inside Job (Core) in-faction, which is a great Notoriety enabler. Also also, Data Dealer. Nothing like having a ready source of 9 credits late in the game.
Noise-based Anarchs running Mediums will also love Notoriety. Dig deep in R&D, take a look in the Archives at all those cards you trashed by installing Viruses, take a quick peek in the Corp's hand, then ALSO score an Agenda Point? Boo with a side of yah, as the kids say. It is umportant to note, though, that Wyldside (Core) messes the whole Notoriety thing up, since you need all four of your clicks to play it. Keep that in mind.
COUNTERMEASURES:
Build your central server defenses as carefully as you can. Make sure there are consequences for the Runner having their fourth click already spoken for. As stated earlier, Data Raven is great for making the Runner think twice about spending that fourth click on Notoriety.
If you can get the Runner tagged, keeping them poor is a good way to shut down Notoriety. Trashing economic Resources and playing Closed Accounts (Core) can really make it tough for the Runner to scrape enough cash together for three back-to-back-to-back successful runs.
Also, Notoriety is strong against the "single super-server" style of play. Build out more horizontally than you normally would - don't spread yourself TOO thin, but give the Runner more targets so that she'll have to start picking and choosing her runs more carefully.
- berto, Keiichi1337 and HaphazardNinja like this
82 Comments
I love this card for my 'decentralize' deck. If the 1 agenda point doesn't end up being that significant i can feed it to data dealer for a more important run later in the game.
Good point about the tags. They are a punk.
Having Sneakdoor doesn't mean you have to do all your Archive runs with it. You can run without using it. You can't decide AFTER the run is successful whether to sneakdoor or not, though.
Also, the runner has to run 3 centrals successfully - that means even one high-cost server would be enough to shut it down. I usually try to ice up R&D enough to break their bank if I'm going that route - since Notoriety is (currently as far as I can see) usually in-faction and Maker's Eye is scary too.
You're right though this card get's significantly easier to accomplish with sneakdoor.
Yeah but why would I, given a successful Account Siphon, run archive with Sneakdoor, when I can just run it straight up?
Or strong bioroids, that, in ordinary time, runner will break with clicks.
The point of breaking news is not to give the corp agenda points... It's usually set up with something devastating.
"The run on Archives is probably the least useful part of scoring Notoriety. However, the Corp doesn't usually ICE Archives unless the Runner is playing Noise or she installs Sneakdoor Beta"
You've never stacked desperado with datasuckers, have you. It's way more OP than sneakdoor.
"It will put the Corp off-balance, probably slowing down his build up of Remote Servers while he shores up the centrals to keep you from doing it again."
If you blow your pool of creds on an agenda point, the corp will probably use that opportunity to make a play and score an agenda point of his own.
"Once you play it, the Corp is going to have to assume you have two more and will "waste" resources shoring up the defenses of his central servers to combat a threat that doesn't even exist."
Well, see, he only has to protect one server to combat notoriety. If you're shapers, he covers R&D. If you're crims, he covers HQ. If you're anarchs, he chooses either.
Notoriety is great for polishing off your 7th agenda point, but it isn't worth the downtime you normally have to invest for it. If spend your *whole turn* running on 3 servers, you're going to be spent and out of action for a turn or two after that. The corp is going to react by scoring APs of his own.
Either score notoriety early for cheap, or score it late to win. Don't get distracted mid game trying to get a single agenda point for 10 creds. The corp will get 2-3 in response (plus text effects).
It's worth noting that you could conceivably bluff with stimhack in your hand - i.e. score notoriety, be penniless, the corp makes a move, and you swoop in to steal the agenda - but notoriety isn't necessary for this. You can run on central servers without notoriety...
Good splash card. Bad card to run 3 of.
And, luckily, you aren't FORCED to make all three runs. If you make a run and something goes pear-shaped or, say, you see something interesting in HQ, you can do something else. Notoriety rewards you for doing stuff you were already supposed to do. Like getting a cookie for not going to jail.
Personally, i think Notoriety is a great 3-of card. Score it if you can, don't if its too expensive, but I'll take the opportunity to score three out of seven Agenda points out of my own deck any day.
And then you're down for the count. You scored 1+X points, and now the corp is going to score 2-3 points + the agenda text. No one in their right mind would run on a reinforced R&D and HQ in the same turn. But that's exactly what notoriety wants you to do.
"And, luckily, you aren't FORCED to make all three runs. If you make a run and something goes pear-shaped or, say, you see something interesting in HQ, you can do something else. Notoriety rewards you for doing stuff you were already supposed to do. Like getting a cookie for not going to jail."
You're not supposed to run yourself down on central servers in the mid game... unless you're suicidal.
"Also, yes, Breaking News has additional benefits above and beyond its one Agenda point. Luckily, so does Notoriety."
No one's ever died because of notoriety.
"don't if its too expensive,"
It's a dead card in your hand. It's not like there's no downside to running notoriety.
"but I'll take the opportunity to score three out of seven Agenda points out of my own deck any day."
This is obsessive compulsive. Netrunner is about accepting that many things are out of your control. It is not economic to try and control everything.
Again, OC. If you want to "make sure" you're going to see cards, you need to include more copies. This is expensive and cuts down on your unpredictability. The corp can defend against 3 maker's eyes, 3 notorieties, and 3 bank jobs. He cannot defend against 2 ME's, 1 notoriety, 1 bank job, 1 stim hack, 1 inside job, 1 account siphon, etc. So what if you don't get to play a specific card every game? Most of these are devestating if they hit.
This economy of resources works both ways, too. If you are running a deck that targets R&D specifically (Mediums, for example), then maybe Notoriety isn't for you, since the Corp is going to over commit to defending that server. However, if you run a deck full of different tricks, the Corp has to spread out their resources more evenly, making EVERYTHING cost the Runner a little less. If the Corp drops ICE on the Archives because you just scored one Notoriety, well, that's a piece of ICE that they didn't use to reinforce a Remote. Heck, it might even be the last piece of ICE they see for a while because they draw a bunch of Agendas (please note, I am not saying that using your "last" piece of ICE to defend Archives after a Notoriety score is great play, it is simply a simple example).
The truth is that every card has a use and knowing what that use is and when it is best to use it is one of the main skills of the game. Tech Talk tries to give newer players a place to jump off in thinking about the uses of cards and how/why/when/where they might work because, and this is just something I believe, the design team for this game isn't putting out purposely crappy cards so every one of them must have a place.
This isn't a huge reason to play the card, of course, but it would make the difference in a lot of the matches that happen in our bi-weekly League, so it's certainly a consideration.
We cracked up for a bit since we've had many discussions about the card and he never expected me to have it in my deck.
And hopefully the corp isn't so stupid to be trying to score when there's an obvious chance you can nab it from him. In the mid/late game, the corp makes plays when you're down. Notoriety puts you down. Way down. You're handing him free plays if you try to score it for your 5th point.
Notoriety isn't even a huge delta. With normal agendas, you score them and deprive the corp from scoring. With notoriety, only you score it.
It's not a "consideration". You don't know what the corp has in his hand. You can't play as if he can't score when you give him the opportunity.
>> You go down on notoriety, scoring 1 point and losing 10 creds
>> Corp puts down a goodie - advance advance
>> On a good day, you have magnum opus installed, and the best you can do is make 6 creds and then run. Enjoy trying to break into a remote server for 6 creds.
>> Corp scores 2-3 points + text.
Because after you make the 3x run on central servers, you *won't* be able to make the run on the remote anymore. Unless you just stockpile 20 creds, it isn't viable to spend a whole turn in the midgame running yourself ragged on centrals. And a good corp isn't going to let you stockpile creds because he'll force you to run before you can charge up to super saiyan level 9000.
No, it's not. There aren't a lot of cards that cost you 10 bucks and your entire turn to use. Notoriety is probably the riskiest card in the game.
Notoriety is an extremely poor way to pressure archives. There are much more efficient ways to get him to drop ice there (as any faction). Against notoriety, he may as well drop the ice in front of HQ or R&D, and not archives, because you'll have to go through it anyway and at least this way he'll get extra use out of it when you run on those servers for non-notoriety purposes.
And cards like Maker's eye basically give you a 50% chance to score an agenda, which will probably be worth 2 points, so it averages out to be the same without hogging your entire turn or running down the other half of your resources.
Notoriety is just there when you absolutely need need need to score an agenda. Like when you have 6 points and can charge up for a couple of turns. Running 3 copies just so you can score it throughout the game is obsessive compulsive.
With notoriety, the answer is: not in the mid game.
It's not crappy. You just shouldn't put 3 of them in your deck and expect to score them efficiently.
The player who won our League's first season championship had a Corp deck that was incredibly strong AND he knew how to pilot the thing like some sort of WWII Flying Ace. He had a bit of luck in that he won the toss all three rounds and was able to choose to play Corp first every match. His narrowest margin of victory was 7 match points (10-3).
Now his Runner deck? It was okay. Streaky, capable of some big things, but inconsistent. Turns out that didn't matter. He just used Medium and Maker's Eye to hit R&D over and over and over again, looking to grab one or two Agendas and win the match. The Corp did what it could to make him pay, but when you only care about getting to one, two, or three points, you can be a lot more reckless.
I'm not a big fan of the match system, since it can be gamed this way, but while it exists, giving yourself almost-sure access to a few Agenda points is a solid move.
The fact that you use other cards you draw goes without saying.
Suffice to say, running a conservative runner deck on the assumption that you have a killer corporate is something most of us can't or won't do. You may as well just try to run two good decks. Any corporate deck can be hard-countered in the wrong matchup.
It's also implausible that someone would be really good at one faction and bad at the other. I think runner is way easier for noobs to play, but once you understand the rhythm of the game, it's all about "bets". I.e., "I bet you can't break into this server before I score", or "I bet I can run on R&D and still stop you from scoring if you try and make a play".
There's a lot of ways to guarantee that you score agenda points. It's just that you want a 100% chance and you're willing to pay anything to get it. But it should be trivial to build a runner deck where you score a couple of points before the corp can score 7. lol.
I love the points and counter points, but the bickering gets old really fast.
<insert comment about how I don't need to read posts if I don't like them>
Trust me, I know.
The way you make it sound is like your wasting your whole turn. Although unlikely you could get a 2pt agenda in every server then use notoriety to finish them off. Makers eye is not mutually exclusive to notoriety, in fact, I'd argue that they are meant to be used together.
If you run 3 central servers and the corp doesn't blink, maybe they should reevaluate their own strategy.
125% chance? What?
Chance to find an agenda in R&D or HQ is about 20%. Yes, it is very easy to run on these central servers and not score any points.
Going to need a lot of money to do this. It's only nice if it wins you the game. Otherwise you hand the corp a free slate to do whatever he wants for a couple of turns. That's the problem.
He's going to score an agenda of his own, regardless of what you score. On average, you'll lose the trade because he'll score as many (or more) agenda points AND get the card text from them.
I agree. The aGoT articles don't seem to be nearly as controversial. Perhaps those who don't appreciate the free information available here should write their own articles.
Honestly I've begun keeping my opinions and ideas for cards close to my chest for 2 reasons. 1) So that no one picks up on my tricks before they become widely known. 2) So I don't have to explain to everyone why I think it's a good idea.
Scud is offering free information on a game where information is a premium. Maybe his playstyle is different than yours. You don't have to play with a card, he was just giving situations where it might be useful. There's no reason to get fussy about free game tips.