Wheels

> "*I thought Wheels would be hard to get a grasp of, but I just played a couple of games and it all made sense.*"
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>      ― *Villager*
>
>

**Wheels** is a minigame in *Sea of Stars*. This game, which was invented by the Watchmaker, is played on a modified table that is similar to clockwork.

## Gameplay

### Overview

Wheels matches are first unlocked in The Humble Boast of Brisk. The player is given the Warrior and Mage Figurines and the Copper Wheel, which allows them to start challenging Champions. The player can choose a Casual game, where the Champion's figurines are somewhat randomized and the reward is 10 Gold, or they can choose the Championship game. For Championship games, the figures the Champion uses are always the same and the reward is either a better player wheel or a new figurine to use. In total, there are six figurines and six levels of player wheels. The player wheel is the wheel all the way to the right, or the 5th wheel. The first four wheels are always the same for the player. As they receive better player wheels, the more favorable the outcomes in the 5th wheel become. The player wheel levels are: Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, and Platinum. The goal of the game is to bring the enemy Crown's HP down to zero by way of Hero attacks and bombs.

The game starts by the player selecting what two figurines they want to play with, and assigns one Hero to Squares and the other one Diamonds. The player gets to see what figures the Champion plans to use for the match and can plan accordingly. The rest of the game is played in rounds in which the player spins their wheels up to three times. The first time each round, all wheels must be spun. The player can then choose to lock a wheel according to what panels are desired that round. The roll is finalized after the result of the third spin, or if the player locks all 5 wheels after the 1st or 2nd spin. Panels can show Squares, Diamonds, Hammers, or nothing (only on low level player wheels). Squares and Diamonds grant energy needed for the respective Hero to act, while hammers build Bulwark, a defensive wall that protects the Crown from damage in most cases.

### Hero Rank and XP

Some Square and Diamond panels also have a starry background; these each grant 1 XP to the Hero associated with the symbol. Additionally, each time a Hero acts, 2 XP is granted. Once a Hero's XP indicator reaches 6, the Hero either upgrades or sends a bomb. Note that XP does not carry over (e.g., rolling 3 XP points to a Hero who has 5/6 XP will still only receive the 1 XP needed). However, XP granted by acting is given at the very end of a turn. Reaching 6 XP for the first time upgrades the Hero to Silver rank, and a second time upgrades the Hero to Gold rank. Gold rank Heroes send a bomb every time 6 XP is reached instead of upgrading further. Bombs deal 2 points of damage to the opposing player's Crown, ignoring Bulwark. Not only does ranking up increase the effectiveness of Heroes' actions, but in some cases it decreases the amount of energy needed to for that Hero to act.

### Energy and Hero Actions

Energy is granted to Heroes when the final roll of a turn shows enough of a given symbol. Energy is calculated by subtracting 2 from the amount of symbols shown on the roll, so the player must obtain at least 3 in one turn in order to grant a Hero energy. A single panel can sometimes show 2 or even 3 of a single symbol at once. Just like XP, a Hero's action meter does not carry over if excess energy is earned. All Heroes but the Priest attack when they act. Another way for a Hero to gain energy is through the Priest Hero, which grants some energy instead of attacking. Heroes can also lose energy in a turn if the enemy's Assassin Hero acts. The damage an attacking Hero does to the Crown and to the Bulwark are indicated by numbers under the figurine. An Engineer does more damage to the Bulwark than to the Crown, whereas the Archer performs vice versa. Attacks that don't directly damage the Crown have another element to them which is height. An attack's height must be greater than the enemy Bulwark's height in order to attack the Crown; otherwise, the Bulwark takes the hit instead.

### Bulwark

Bulwark is built much in the same way Heroes gain energy. As opposed to Diamonds and Squares, a panel showing Hammers will build Bulwark, and follows the same subtracting 2 calculation. Bulwark health and height are always equal -- that is, a Bulwark with 1 health also has 1 height. Bulwark's max health/height is 5. Another way to build Bulwark is to deploy the Engineer Hero, who grants 2 Bulwark every action. There are three ways to damage the Crown ignoring any Bulwark height: 1) All assassin actions deal direct Crown damage, 2) All Mage actions include an attack of height 6, which always deals direct crown damage, and 3) deploying bombs by granting a Gold rank Hero 6/6 XP.

### Winning the Game

Each player begins with 10 Crown HP. The game ends when at least one player ends a round with 0 Crown HP. While there is a set order of actions after the roll is finalized, it does not matter which player reaches 0 Crown HP first within a round. If a round ends with both players at 0 HP, the game is considered a Tie. The only way to regain Crown HP is by deploying the Priest Hero, whose action heals the Crown by a set amount depending on the Priest's rank. Priests cannot heal a Crown beyond 12 HP.

### Turn Order

Once the roll is finalized, there is a set order in which the results are calculated. All stages only take place if applicable.

1. Panel XP, Level ups
2. Hammer panels added
3. Energy panels added
4. Assassin Acts
5. Priest heals + (If the second hero does *not have* enough energy from energy panels to act: Priest grants energy) + Action XP
6. Engineer Acts
7. Bombs
8. Rest of heroes act
9. (If the second hero *had* enough energy from energy panels to act: Priest grants energy)
10. Hero acts from priest energy
11. Bombs (if deployed after a priest caused hero to act and gain XP)
12. 0 HP Crown check (simultaneous)

Notes: For all stages except for the 0 HP Crown check, the player side is checked and applied first. Any time a hero acts, they immediately gain 2 XP and a level up check is performed. The square hero (left) will act before the diamond hero (right) within a given step.

### Statistics

Physically, the individual wheels used in the game are 8-sided. The player's first four wheels are consistent throughout the game, while the fifth wheel changes as higher ranked Player Wheels are obtained. The Champion's wheels are more random; the panels shown during gameplay are not chosen from a consistent 8-panel wheel. The values on the eight panels for the wheels on the player's side are (where + indicates an experience-granting panel).

###### Wheel 4

S → D → S+ → D → HH → S → D+ → HH

Notes: Each of these first four wheels contains three square panels, three diamond panels, two hammer panels, and two experience-granting panels (one for each symbol).

###### Wheel 5

Copper: S → D → H → Blank → Blank → S → D → Blank
Bronze: S → D → H → Blank → Blank → S → D → HH
Silver: S → D → H → Blank → D → SS+ → D → HH
Gold: S → DD+ → H → S → D → SS+ → D → HH
Diamond: S → DD+ → HH → SS → DD → SS+ → D → HH
Platinum: S → DD+ → HHH → SS+ → DD+ → SS+ → D → HH

## Champion Locations and Rewards

### Locations

The following list is the location of every NPC that allows the player to play the Wheels minigame. It should be noted that some of the locations listed won't have the Wheels minigame accessible on the player's first visit.

1. Port Town of Brisk
2. Stonemasons Outpost (after receiving the Copper Wheel)
3. Town of Lucent
4. The Vespertine
5. Mooncradle
6. Docarri Village
7. Mirth (once the inn is built)
8. Cloud Kingdom
9. Repine (after bringing the Deployable Wheels Table to the tavern)
10. Clockwork Castle (Watchmaker)

### Rewards

While the player can play any wheels table in any order, the rewards will be doled out in the same fashion, no matter where they win. This is the list of rewards the player receives for beating each champion match.

1. Archer Figurine
2. Bronze Wheel
3. Silver Wheel
4. Engineer Figurine
5. Gold Wheel
6. Priest Figurine
7. Diamond Wheel
8. Assassin Figurine
9. Platinum Wheel
10. Flimsy Hammer (and feat, for beating the Watchmaker)

## Trivia

* In the ARG, Wheels was first hinted at in aqua-colored text by the Clockwork Concierge on April 29, 2021.

## Gallery

*This section is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.*
## References

1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCyYq28lnsA&t=2990s