Simulators

## Overview

How do you know that you know what you know? That's the neat part; you don't. The Simulators deck revolves around playing Programs, a type of base modifier, that alters the reality of the bases they're on. Aspects of the game such as base abilities, VP awards, and breakpoints may all be in flux and constantly so. By mastering the abilities given to you, you may be able to harness the chaos to your advantage. Will you choose the blue jellybean, and go back to your lame non-base-manipulating ways? Or will you enjoy the red jellybean, because it's cherry-flavoured?

### Details

#### General

* Name: Simulators
* Author: Onassi
* Complexity: 5/5
* Version: 1.2
* Last updated: June 9th, 2023

#### Mechanics

* Storing
* Subtypes

### Breakdown

Simulators have the standard 10 minions and 10 actions with a total minion power of 30, with 3 power per minion on average. Among their actions, they have:

* 0 play-on-minion actions.
* 7 play-on-base actions (All of which are Programs): 2x Mr. Henderson, Simulation Replenished, Knowing The Path, The Rabbit Hole, Bullet Time, Bugs In The Simulation
* 3 standard actions, 2 of which directly affect one or more minions (in **bold**): **2x No Turning Back**, Walking The Path
* 5 actions that directly increase a minion's power: 2x No Turning Back, 2x Mr. Henderson, Bullet Time

### Minions (10)

* **1x Neil (5):** Ongoing: At the start of your turn, you may give this minion +1 power for each card in the base discard pile until the start of your turn. When a new base enters play, you may discard a card to discard that base and replace it with a new one.
* **2x Shifteus (4):** Search your deck and/or discard pile for a Program and place it on top of your deck. Special: Before this base scores, you may play a Program and activate any talents on it.
* **3x Trinfinite (3):** You may store the top card of the base deck under this minion. Talent: Reveal a base stored under this minion and change this base's ability to the ability of the revealed base until the start of your turn OR discard all bases stored under this minion and look at the top two cards of the base deck; store one under this card and return the other.
* **4x Agent Sniff (2):** Transfer one of your actions played on a base to or from this base OR return one of your actions on this base to your hand to place two +1 power counters on this minion.

### Actions (10)

* **2x No Turning Back:** Give a minion +3 power until the end of the turn OR move a minion of power 3 or less to a base with a Program on it. Special: Play this after you play a Program.
* **2x Mr. Henderson (Program):** Play on a base. Talent: Add to this base's ability, "During your turn your minions here have +1 power for each base in play with this ability." OR "Minions played here this turn have -1 power." until the start of your turn.
* **1x Simulation Replenished (Program):** Play on a base. Ongoing: When this base scores, the runner-up and third place get an extra VP. After this base scores, shuffle any number of bases in the discard pile into the deck.
* **1x Knowing The Path (Program):** Play on a base. Look at the top three cards of the base deck and return them to the top and/or bottom of the deck in any order. Talent: Choose a differently-named Program in play. This card has the same abilities as that Program until the start of your turn.
* **1x Walking The Path:** Special: Play before a base scores where you have a minion. Swap that base with the top card of the base deck and continue scoring. Place this card in the box.
* **1x The Rabbit Hole (Program):** Play the top card of the base deck and play this action on it. Ongoing: The breakpoint of this base is 10 and its printed ability is cancelled. When this base scores, the winner gets 1 VP and no other VP is awarded. Talent: Move one of your minions to or from this base.
* **1x Bullet Time (Program):** Play on a base. Talent: Add to this base's ability, "Before this base scores on your turn, other players' minions here gain +2 power until the end of the turn." until the start of your turn.
* **1x Bugs In The Simulation (Program):** Play on a base where you have a minion. Ongoing: Turn the top card of the base deck face up. While the top base is face up the breakpoint and VP rewards for this base are the same as that base.

### Bases

* **Mainframe (22 BP) 421**: The winner of the base that this one replaced chooses another base in play. This ability has the same abilities as that base. If this base is played during setup, replace it and shuffle it into the deck.
* **Reconfig.exe (25 BP) 111**: After this base scores, the winner may choose another base. That base scores immediately after this one.
* **The Simulation (19 BP) 211:** After this base scores, the winner may swap another base in play with "Harsh Reality".

**Bases that start out of play** (place them beside your deck to start):

* **Harsh Reality (16 BP) 241:** Minions here have +1 power each. After this base scores, "The Simulation" is shuffled into the base deck.

## Clarifications

* **Neil:** Neil may use his ability to choose a new base repeatedly, as long as the player is able to discard cards to repeat the effect.
* **Trinfinite:** When Trinfinite reveals a base card, the base's previous ability is overwritten until the effect expires.
* **No Turning Back:** After a Program is played, No Turning Back must be played immediately or not at all with its Special ability.
* **The Rabbit Hole:** When the extra base scores, replace the base as normal. Since only The Rabbit Hole's printed ability is cancelled, other cards that change or add abilities to the base still function as normal.
* **Bugs In The Simulation:** If a base is played from the base deck while Bugs In The Simulation is in play, the top card of the base deck is flipped once again and Bugs' ability now targets that base.

## Strategy

### General

Simulators can be fairly wild to play - your strategy revolves a lot about what's in the base deck and therefore knowledge of the potential bases you come across will be an asset. Their general strategy involves either "poisoning" bases by making them less attractive to play on, or seemingly sweetening the deal by increasing the rewards or lowering the difficult of playing on them. At the end of the day, you'll have some control over which bases have which abilities at which time. Cards like Trinfinite can completely wipe a base's printed ability and replace its ability with the base under her, and Shifteus can swing a base in phase 3 by playing a Program before a base scores. Agent Sniff can move the Programs around the field, making it difficult for opponents to anticipate which Program will end up where, or it could return it to your hand for power (and you could feasibly play it again in phase 2, or phase 3 if you have access to Shifteus. Neil, their leader, wants you to be getting through the base deck pretty rapidly to fuel his powerful start of turn ability, and Trinfinite's base discarding definitely helps with this.

The Program themselves can be very impactful. Mr. Henderson ("Mr. Aaaanderson") gets stronger as other bases gain the same ability, which within the deck can manifest as +3 power per minion on a base (with 2x Mr. Henderson and Knowing The Path). Bugs In The Simulation, providing a "Signs In The Stars" sort of effect, can alter the BP and VP awards a base has to offer. Simulation Replenished can make a bad situation a little less impactful by granting the runner-ups an extra VP. The Rabbit Hole acts somewhat as its own base, allowing you to move your minions to or from there and potentially gaining a VP if you score it. Other players may be hesitant to compete for Rabbit Hole, as they may not have the resources to spend there (and if you have a Shifteus in play, you can manipulate The Rabbit Hole's base even further by being another Program in phase 3). Simulators use the base deck as a bit of a toolbox, but not as reliably as other decks use their own as there's no guarantee you'll see each base in play.

To fight Simulators, you'll need to be able to manage the damage they can do with their Programs. Factions that rely more on blocking/destroying base modifiers or minions will be difficult for them to manage, as their extra plays are limited and they rely a lot on the chaos and uncertainty they bring to get ahead. Additionally, factions that can go 0 to breakpoint with the right amount of setup should stand to do well against Simulators, as they won't have time to manipulate the bases around them.

### Partner Suggestions

Simulators are unique in that they're almost more interested in what bases a partner can bring, rather than the partners' deck itself (although both are important, of course). They are primarily a play-on-base faction, and factions like Ancient Incas, Steampunks, or Kaiju will be excellent pairings for the modifier synergies and recursion.

#### Published

* **Robots**: This may not seem like an obvious pairing, but with all the wackiness happening with the bases in the base set of Smash Up, I would be remised to not mention a base set faction. Robots really appreciate Mr. Henderson which can easily provide enough power to the many Robot minions, and Zapbots can play Agent Sniffs which can cause a huge shift on a base with either the action transferal or power boost. Most importantly of all, bases like Homeworld, Factory, and Rhodes Plaza Mall exist in the base deck, making it a very scary situation for the other player if the base Robots just solo'd has the ability of Factory, for example.
* **Killer Plants:** Other than some of the crazy bases Awesome Level 9000 brings, including Field of Honor that can trigger from your Sprouts, you have Agent Sniff to move Overgrowth around multiple times much like Truckers. Kudzu is an insane titan as well, providing recursion that Simulators otherwise don't have, and that makes this combo quite scary to go up against.
* **Elves:** Elves have a lot of phase 3 manipulation for that extra controlled chaos factor. Alongside Shifteus, your opponent will have a difficult time predicting what will happen between a Program entering play, Run Away, Run Away More, and Helping Hands. Helping Hands is especially brutal if you manage to play Simulation Replenished on a base where the opponent was going to score one more VP than you were - suddenly they're scoring one less than you.
* **Dragons:** This combo seems mean. You can move your Dragon area control cards around with Agent Sniff to cause some major damage, search for a specific Program with Flank Attack, and have plenty of opportunity to play in phase 3 between Bring Down the Walls, Shifteus, Intimidating Presence, and Dragon Lands. The It's Your Fault bases are also quite useful, including using the Tornado bases to facilitate your own movement.
* **Wraithrustlers:** Not many factions want to destroy their own actions, but Simulators may want to for breakpoint reduction and to undo an ability that would otherwise hinder them. Agent Sniff transferring Wraiths can be an effective stall tool. Resurgence is a downright disgusting action in this context, allowing the Rabbit Hole to be moved to a scoring base for a huge waste play. The cherry on top is Funkman, who can continuously save a Program after a base scores (again, pretty disgusting with Rabbit Hole). We still don't know all of the Excellent Movies, Dude! bases but this combo still must be worth trying.

#### Custom

* **Space Realm**, by Sonus: Another faction that seeks to swap bases in play. Space Realm concerns itself with the base that was most recently played base and targeting it for benefit. Cards like Neil can allow the combo to be more selective about what comes into play next. Space Realm provides some good stalling options in addition to Simulators' 2x Mr. Henderson and Bullet Time. You have a lot of control over which bases show up in the game, and with Simulators and Space Realm only bringing a few bases themselves, there's a good chance you'll some bases in play more than once.

## Author Notes

I'd be lying if I said I thought this faction was up to the same level of polish as some of my others. I think conceptually, this was really difficult to pull off and I may come back to revisit it - right now it feels like it could be too chaotic and unfun for players up against this faction. I've had some wacky moments for sure. I would love to hear any feedback you might have for it.

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