Dev Blog - Naval Warfare Balance

Hello friends!

A new expansion is on the horizon, Naval Warfare, dealing with all things, uh… navally. As is the norm when a new expansion drops, a balance patch is included. The intention is to smooth out the meta by hitting some of the strongest decks, to give the new cards a room to breathe. Also, it also gives us a chance to adjust some cards that are thematically linked to the new expansion. Finally, as with all balance patches, we can address play patterns that we feel are antagonistic to the majority of the player base, as we have done in the past with draw and kredit denial strategies for instance. The balance patch for Naval Warfare has examples of all of these, so let’s stop naval gazing and get to it!

We will start with the nerfs as usual, followed by the buffs. We will then round things out by going over 4 cards returning from the Reserved Pool that are seeing some changes.

Card Balance Changes

CLAIM THE SKIES

Old: Your air unit with the highest attack gets +1+2, then Fights target enemy unit.
New: Your air unit with the highest attack gets +1+1, then Fights target enemy unit.

Claim the Skies can claim to single-handedly make Soviet-Italy control viable, alongside its best buddy Fiat G.50. Many aggressive decks have fallen victim to a turn 2 Fiat followed by a turn 3 Claim. This is still possible, but 1 less defense makes the affected air unit slightly easier to deal with. The Skies can still be Claimed, and will, but the current version is pushed a bit too high.

HONOR AND LOYALTY

Old: 3k, Shuffle target unit into owner’s deck. The owner then draws 2 cards.
New: 1k, Shuffle target friendly unit into your deck, then draw 2 cards.

All the honorable gentlemen happily providing their opponents with extra cards are now forced to provide said pleasure only to themselves. But as the saying goes - you cannot love others until you have learnt to love yourself. The shuffle strategy is something France is exploring in Naval Warfare, so it is fitting to adjust this card to lean into that more heavily.

SOMUA S35

Old: Operation cost - 1k
New: Operation cost - 2k

Somua S35 has become a lynchpin in several strong aggro decks, alongside its partner in crime 13e Dragons. Its power stems from its strong ability coupled with a very solid body for its cost. So of course we are changing the operation cost. Makes perfect sense, right? Well, we do want Somua to continue to be a strong card and retain the attributes that make it attractive. But it is slightly overtuned, so the operation cost is the best one to adjust to keep the card strong, but rein it in slightly.   

INFANTRY REGIMENT 36

Old: Attack - 4
New: Attack - 3

To the shock of no-one, this heavily pushed Finnish card sees a lot of play. It offers great value and highlights the strength of Shock paired with Blitz. So much so that it can promote non-interactivity on the battlefield, which is not something we like to see. So we are tuning this bad boy down a bit, by taking away one of its big guns (if you squint real hard it has been erased from the art).

AUNT FRIEDA (TANK MANEUVER and AIR SUPPORT)

TANK MANEUVER

Old: Give a friendly tank +2+2. Add AIR SUPPORT to your hand.
New: Give a friendly tank +2+1. Add AIR SUPPORT to your hand.

AIR SUPPORT

Old: Give a friendly fighter +3+3.
New: Give a friendly fighter +2+2. 

Crazy ol’ Aunt Frieda may pinch your cheeks and pat you on the head when she visits, but she will also crush you into the ground under the weight of all her buffs. While we dare not touch Aunt Frieda herself, we are kicking her sidekicks Tank Maneuver and Air Support. The overall buffs are still potent, but easier to live with, according to your Uncle Earnest.

ONE ROOF

Old: 5k, Draw 2 cards. Gain 2 kredits for each kredit slot you have lost this battle.

New: 4k, Draw 2 cards. Gain 4 kredits if you have lost 2 or more kredit slots this battle.

This is a very significant change that warrants some extra explanation. The SKD deck that came into existence in Covert Operations has seen a couple of nerfs since and has in the last few months only existed as a combo deck of sorts. Despite the deck having a very lackluster performance (it has a below 40% winrate on average), it remains popular with a portion of the playerbase, for its whacky gambling-like playstyle. It culminates in a single turn when the player tries to go “off” by playing multiple cards at once. However, this single-turn, OTK-style turn feels very confusing and frustrating to other players, especially newer or more casual ones, as it is impossible to keep track of what is happening. This is something we are not fond of supporting and want to change.

The issue is that while One Roof stays in its current form, it is impossible to develop the SKD archetype any further, because it would just exacerbate the issues mentioned above even further. The only way for us to do some SKD stuff in the future is if we start by changing One Roof. And that is what we are doing now. We realize that this change kills what little remains of SKD viability for the time being, but it does give us an opportunity to do more SKD stuff down the road, because it is an interesting archetype that is worth exploring more. Think of it as uprooting the weed to give breathing space for new seeds to grow. 

KM BISMARCK

Old: Deal 7 damage to target HQ.

New: Deal 8 damage to target HQ.

The crew of KM Bismarck has been hard at work making it all shiny and spiffy to celebrate becoming a Navy card, commemorated with a new KM prefix to help identify it. With all the gunk removed, the ship is now performing at optimal level, regaining the 1 damage it lost in an evil balance patch a long time ago.

7th SCOTTISH BORDERERS

Old: No Smokescreen.
New: Has Smokescreen.

The 7th Scottish Borderers prove that knowledge is power. Their issue has been that hoarding all this knowledge makes them prime candidates for bullying by other units on the battlefield. This constant abuse has slowly transformed them into grumpy recluses that like to hide and we are acknowledging this by giving them Smokescreen. Bullying is bad, people!

101st AIRBORNE

Old: 5k to deploy.

New: 4k to deploy.

With brand-new manufacturing methods we have managed to streamline the production cost of some cards, allowing us to print this old stalwart at a reduced cost. We could keep all the kredits saved for ourselves, but decided in our endless benevolence to pass the discount directly to you, dear player. An iconic unit like this needs to be accessible to the masses. 

IJN YAMATO

Old: 4k, Your Japanese units get: “Destruction: Deal 2 damage to the enemy HQ.”

New: 10k, Your Japanese units everywhere get: “Destruction: Deal 2 damage to the enemy HQ.”

IJN Yamato aka Yamato is seeing a facelift the same as KM Bismarck. The card is now much more expensive, because the previously limited ability is now, well, everywhere. This gives solid inevitability to burn decks, putting the enemy on a strict clock. Note that everywhere means your units on the battlefield, in your hand and in your deck. Units that are added later or that are currently removed from the battle (with Sendai for instance) are not counted.

TRENTO DIVISION

Old: No Blitz. Deployment: Destroy an enemy unit with 4 or more attack if you control another unit with 4 or more attack.
New: Has Blitz. Deployment: Destroy an enemy unit if you control another unit with 4 or more attack. 

Trento was burdened with an overly restrictive deployment ability. The new ability has been simplified a bit - now you can target any enemy unit, but you still need another 4+ attack unit. Trento is so excited to finally get a chance to get into decks that it broke out in a rash of Blitz in its hurry to become relevant.

16th TARNOW REGIMENT

Old: 5k to deploy, defense 7.

New: 4k to deploy, defense 6.

We have decided to brutally nerf 16th Tarnow Regiment by slashing its defense all the way down to 6. Admit it, it had it coming. But we are nothing if not kind-hearted so we are throwing them a bit of bone by reducing the cost to 4. But that savage defense reduction, sheesh! Will the Poles ever get a chance at a decent deck again?

That’s it for the balance edits to active cards. The final four changes are to cards returning from the Reserve Pool. These four cards were chosen to return specifically because of their thematic ties to the expansion and we wanted to make it even more explicit by tying them directly to some of the new mechanics.

Returning Reserve Card Reworks

SUNDERLAND Mk V

Old: 6k to deploy, 6 defense. At the start of your turn, draw a card.
New: 4k to deploy, 5 defense. At the end of your turn, draw a random Navy card from your deck.

Sunderland has lived in Neverland since it came into being. It has spent its time in purgatory to slim down into a lean, mean 4 cost machine and adopted a slightly changed ability that has thematic connection to Naval Warfare and, more importantly, triggers end of turn instead of start.

U-16

Old: Countermeasure. 1k, When the enemy gives an order, the enemy discards a random card.

New: Order. 2k, Retreat target unit. Draw a card if there is a Navy card on top of your deck.

Ah yes, sweet, sweet U-16, how we have missed you in all your glory. Sure, you are now an order, not a countermeasure, and your cost is now 2 instead of 1. And you have a new ability. Totally different ability. Related to the new Navy stuff. And you are now a Navy card yourself. But nevermind that, in our mind you are always the same pure, sweet U-16.

ROUT

Old: 2k, Destroy target unit with cost 1 or less. Gain 1 kredit.
New: 1k, Convert target unit with cost 2 or less into ROUTED TROOPS.

The sudden loss of Sudden Strike took the Germans by surprise and many predicted it would rout them. But they rallied by getting Rout back from rotation - a Rout that is connected with the new Routed Troops no less. A routing success, some would call it.

BLOCKADE

Old: 3k, Deal 1 damage to any target. Units in enemies hand cost 1 more.
New: 5k, Deal 2 damage to each enemy unit. Deal 3 instead if there is a Navy card on top of your deck.

Blockade has a history of being an annoying card, in all its many reincarnations. It is now (yet again) seeing some changes, this time (surprise, surprise) connected with the new Navy theme. The British have a long history of being interested in things being on top of other things, so it felt natural to fit it into that theme.

That is it, all done! These changes, alongside all the new expansion cards, will drop on June 18th. You can start your theorycrafting engines now to be ready to hit the ground running. Please continue to provide us with your feedback, it is invaluable to us. See you on the battlefield, commander!