Am I misunderstanding something about the mechanics or are game cards completely broken at the moment?

I have seen threads talking about geme balance but since there are more expansions incoming trying to balance the numbers of the different races seems to pale in comparison to the need to balance the battle cards properly.

Battle card balance is less disturbed by a lot of changes unlike the balance of an enitre race yet the cards seem broken beyond repair.

I think most people use the initial armor and shield defence cards.

So either the card balance is really compltely broken and requires immidiate attention from the devs or the information that would allow a player to easily judge when one card is better than another is not properly conveyed and needs immidiate work.

Well, first of all they need to better convey the bonus they give. When im told a card gives 55% boost to armor its much easier to pick than a card that vaguely tells me its better when the enemy has more or less ships..Also the cards that actually hamper you, like the ones that give no fighting bonuses but do give science points or dust need to be way better cause it essentially means im increasing my risk of compeltely losing the battle and loosing potential pressure and momentum....

If these cards make my fleets be worse at battle then let them be part of a strategy where i can get by even if i constantly lose battles. This requires them to give bigger boosts or for example depend on who is the one doing the attacking. If the enemy attacks my fleet then i can use these cards to give myself massive influence or dust boosts that are worth me losing the battle. On the other hand if the enemy knows im imploying this tratgey he can not initate attacks and siege my planets or blockade my routes and wait for me to be forced to attack him.

There is  a card that gives me bonuses and tells me to use it when i know im gonna lose the battle... if you do have a card that gives you bonuses when you know your forces are weaker than let it be useful under even more specific situations but let it grant even bigger bonuses so if you do use it in the right situation you can get a massive boost but its harder to get in that correct situation to exploit the card.

Cards need to require more specific situations but that give extreme boosts(this needs to be properly balanced of course). This would allow me as a player to prep better and focus on trying to lure my opponent into siutuations where i can turn the tide dramatically.

I dont know if the new espionage faction will also mean new espionage mechanics for every race but espionage can definately be part of the card system in some way as wekk. For example only allowing you to see what cards an enemy has and what ship builds they use and what types of ships or even how many if you have enough of whatever espionage points or power or abilites you have.

The thing is that information should be key and should allow, if you manage to get it or if you manage to get the enemy into a favorable situation, great battle results.

But again one thing for sure, cards need to have more details about how they work for those who bother checking.

I think perhaps there is room to consider cards to not give bonuses per se but simply change the position and actions of your fleets...

The problem with pure bonuses is that They are non interactive. They do not really mean anything for your enemy. If cards are tied more to the shooting and movement mechanics it could make card usage more interactive and allow it to create more emergent gameplay.

Lets say cards instead of simply making you do 20% more dmg... Would make your X type ships behave in a specific manner. For example a card that forces X type of ship to withdraw from battle at say, the half point. Or cards that increase the chances your ships will be arranged a certain way.

This would alos require the ability to use several cards at once.

 If cards are tied to the "physical" mechanics of battle resolution and ship behaviours based on the engine it might allow much more depth that is none the less pre planned. 

This can be tied with the espionage or diplomacy mechanics providing intel on how Enemy ships are gonna be arranged. 

For example you might have "espionage" tell you part of the enemy plan allowing YOU to make one card change(of of say 3 used cards) after both you and the enemy have locked your battle plans.

Father wrote:

I think perhaps there is room to consider cards to not give bonuses per se but simply change the position and actions of your fleets...

The problem with pure bonuses is that They are non interactive. They do not really mean anything for your enemy. If cards are tied more to the shooting and movement mechanics it could make card usage more interactive and allow it to create more emergent gameplay.

Lets say cards instead of simply making you do 20% more dmg... Would make your X type ships behave in a specific manner. For example a card that forces X type of ship to withdraw from battle at say, the half point. Or cards that increase the chances your ships will be arranged a certain way.

This would alos require the ability to use several cards at once.

 If cards are tied to the "physical" mechanics of battle resolution and ship behaviours based on the engine it might allow much more depth that is none the less pre planned. 

This can be tied with the espionage or diplomacy mechanics providing intel on how Enemy ships are gonna be arranged. 

For example you might have "espionage" tell you part of the enemy plan allowing YOU to make one card change(of of say 3 used cards) after both you and the enemy have locked your battle plans.

Absolutely. There are some quite interesting implications for a card that just says 'The bottom flottilla is unavailable for either side to deploy in'.  That's not to say it would be balanced, or doable, but it would be interesting.

(It would be more interesting if the morale bonus of a lane were higher....)

Dragar wrote:

1. Hard to evaluate

The +50% hull absorption and +100% shield efficiency are particularly hard to parse without a deep understanding tte combat system. I am not entirely sure what the first one does, and I know a lot about the combat system! And I know enough that the second one is effectively pointless. Diplomatic Immunity is extremely misleading: it does not make your unarmed ships invulnerable, though you would think so looking at the description!

They do in fact do what they say. I had originally been concerned that the absorption percent modifiers were flat additions, but they are not. They just increase your existing mitigation by the amount on the card. Yes, due to how shields work, Power to Shields is actually a debuff.

Also, Diplomatic Immunity's description does clarify: "Increases the defensive of 0 [offensive power] ships for both sides". They all have accurate advice on how and when to deploy them.

4. Not on the tech tree!

Some really interesting tactics are actually hidden behind anomolies. I don't mind finding tactics this way, but maybe some of the more specialised ones - perhaps the bonus resources per cp - could be found this way, rather than fairly interesting tactics (the doubling morale bonus is pretty interesting, albeit a bit weak). 

This is in my view the crux of the issue with the play card system: a lot of the most consequential and interesting cards are hidden behind curiosities. Not only can this provide lucky players a unique advantage, it means that some strategies - particularly close range ones - are missing the cards they rely on to be functional like Evasive Manoeuvres and Team Spirit. There is also probably not enough attention drawn to the decks that are already on the tech tree.

I would not say that the morale multiplier is weak, but that may be because I've been playing with my Combat Balance Mod that already addresses much of this: 

• Increased morale bonus
• Reassigned cards to tech tree; early access to short range cards
• Buffed recycling cards
• Rebalance for cards like Bigger is Better (Schell has also tweaked it in the G2G Balance Mod), Get Lucky, Power to Shields and By Any Means

The actual adjustments required for the cards are fairly minor, it's the accessibility that counts. When you have the full range of cards to choose from, assembling a diverse play deck starts to matter, and you gain more control over the combat system and your compositions.