ːcardsː players: 4 ːscoreː victory condition: 30 points ːcursecardː Chaos Cards: allowed ːhealth_powerupː Character Abilities: allowed ːtelegramː Impending Misfortune: hidden ːcheatdiceː Characters: from random set ːRatsClockː Timer: normal ːLocationː Field: Clockwork colony
Special rules
No.
Tournament points (place in session/points gained):
+150 tournament points
+45 tournament points
15 tournament points
0 tournament points
ːsteampunkː ASIA
ːcardsː players: 2 ːscoreː victory condition: 35 points ːcursecardː Chaos Cards: allowed ːhealth_powerupː Character Abilities: allowed ːtelegramː Impending Misfortune: hidden ːcheatdiceː Characters: random ːRatsClockː Timer: normal ːLocationː Field: Clockwork colony
Special rules
Changes in the deck:
-1 The Accelerator -1 An Award Ceremony -1 A Compromising Document -1 False Testimony -1 A Fraudulent Transaction -1 Judgement day -1 An Honest Exchange
Tournament points (place in session/points gained):
+60 tournament points
0 tournament points
ːvotesː RULES:
Sessions that count towards the tournament: ːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinː (8)
For each defeated opponent ("defeated" means that at the end of a session the player has a lower final position than yours), you receive additional tournament points. The number of points depends on the number of victories (1st places) of the defeated opponents in the current tournament. Important: these additional points also are added to your overall tournament score retrospectively, when the players previously defeated by you achieve victories in the tournament – even if you already have reached the limit of sessions for the tournament. What this means is that you keep getting tournament points as long as your previously defeated opponents continue to play, and win.
During this tournament, regular rating points will be frozen for all the players. Your tournament sessions will NOT affect your regular rating.
Players get tournament points for the first 8 sessions played in the tournament on each of the servers. Any subsequent sessions won't give any tournament points, and won't increase the number of defeated opponents who give additional points. Nonetheless, victories of all opponents who were defeated in the first 8 sessions will affect your final tournament rating.
PRIZE FUND:
Awarded: Top 10 players on each of the servers. In addition to the main prize fund, every player who finishes all 8 tournament sessions receives a special bonus player icon “Facepalm” (only if it has not been received before)!
In the case when at the end of the tournament two or more players will have equal number of tournament points, they will share the same (highest) place and get the same rewards. However, the award list will not be extended, and we will still award only the top 10 players on each server.
TOURNAMENT CHESTS – FAQ:
Q. Where do Tournament Chests drop? A. Only in tournament sessions, which are available via Multiplayer Lobby.
Q. If I've finished all my tournament sessions, can I get more tournament chests? A. Yes, as long as you will keep playing tournament sessions.
Q. Are the tournament items limited to this tournament only, or to tournaments in general? A. The tournament items are available via tournament chests, which drop during every official tournament in the game.
Q. Is there a full list of tournament items available via tournament chests? A. Yes, please see below:
Participants: 1,351 unique players participated in the tournament.
Involvement: 276 players completed 8 or more sessions. 124 players received the "Facepalm" lobby icon for completing all 8 tournament sessions for the first time. 479 players completed more than half (5+) of their sessions.
Sessions played: 2,021 tournament sessions were played in the course of the tournament.
Bans: 3 protests have been investigated and 4 players banned for the breach of the Fair Play Rules during this tournament.
Tournament chests: 3,148 tournament chests were distributed during the tournament (overall, including non-tournament sessions, 5,146 chests were distributed to players in this period).
The following rules become active on September 1, at 12:00 GMT, and will apply throughout September to all ranked sessions that are launched after that point.
ːsteampunkː EUROPE
ːcardsː players: 4 ːscoreː victory condition: 30 points ːcursecardː Chaos Cards: allowed ːhealth_powerupː Character Abilities: allowed ːtelegramː Impending Misfortune: visible ːcheatdiceː Characters: from random set ːRatsClockː Timer: normal ːLocationː Field: Clockwork town
* Special rules:
None.
ːsteampunkː ASIA
ːcardsː players: 2 ːscoreː victory condition: 35 points ːcursecardː Chaos Cards: allowed ːhealth_powerupː Character Abilities: allowed ːtelegramː Impending Misfortune: hidden ːcheatdiceː Characters: random ːRatsClockː Timer: normal ːLocationː Field: Clockwork town
* Special rules:
The following cards are removed from the deck:
ːcardsː The Accelerator ːcardsː An Award Ceremony ːcardsː A Compromising Document ːcardsː False Testimony ːcardsː A Fraudulent Transaction ːcardsː Judgement day ːcardsː An Honest Exchange
ːsteampunkːːsteampunkːːsteampunkː
In addition to this set of rules, we also are changing a few cards. The following changes are applied in all modes and will be active for at least 1 month. Please keep in mind that for the next season we might revert these adjustments or replace them with something else. It depends on the results of the tests and feedback we'll receive from the community.
A Prank
Reason: this card doesn't really need any extra money attached to it so we remove them. And we want to make it a bit more tempting to use it for movement, therefore it now has 4 move points.
A Set-Up
Reason: we want to make this card a bit more punishing, especially in the early game when extra malice plays a significant role.
Robbery!
Reason: yes, we nerf it again. Our previous change did not affect the popularity of the card too much and it's still one of the most playable cards in the game. So, the goal is the same: reduce the popularity of the card and make it less desirable to play. This time with extra malice instead of further money reduction.
A Deal with the Devil
Reason: we think that the versatility of this card should be accompanied by a bit more significant negative effect.
Forbidden Knowledge
Reason: we want to increase the popularity of this card by a bit. $50 probably won't do much but that's just for the start.
Diablerie
Reason: considering its double effect, this slight increase of the malice is very much justifiable.
Location: Gamble spot Cost: $50 Move points: 3 Type: Normal Special rules: Roll the dice. Get $50 for each card in your hand which move points are equal to the number that you rolled.
No, you don’t need to show your cards, we already know them.
Reason:
Just as Honorary escort, this card is the result of discussions with the community. We already have some cards in the game, the outcome of which changes depending on what a player has in their hand (Contraband would be the prime example here) but we want to explore new venues of such effects and Dice-roller does exactly that. With this card, you can ditch some spare money on gambling when you feel lucky or prepared, or risk $50 in a reckless attempt to multiply it because you desperately need money to play that other expensive card that you have. No matter the reason, the outcome will depend on both: your luck and your cards. ______
A new approach to the calculation of player rating in Gremlins, Inc.
The current formula that calculates player rating in ranked sessions is in the game for several years by now. We recently went through all the player feedback regarding ranked sessions that we received over the years, and decided that it’s high time to implement a rather radical change. Today we’d like to present our ideas to you and to discuss it in the time that is still left before we introduce the change with the Autumn update.
How does the rating system work now?
When a ranked session ends, each participant finishes it at a particular place (1st, 2nd, etc.).
Each player “takes” rating points from every opponent who has finished at a lower place than them.
Player at the 1st place takes points from 3 other players (if we look at 4-player ranked sessions on the European server). This player gets the most rating points.
Player at the 2nd place takes rating points from those who occupy 3rd and 4th places, while giving some of their own points to the player who took the 1st place. The exchange is almost always good enough for the player at the 2nd place to increase their rating points.
Players in 3rd and 4th places lose rating points, because they give away more than they take from others.
An additional nuance is that difference in rating between 2 players also makes a difference:
If you “win” against a player with a higher rating than yours (you scored higher than them in the session), you get more rating points from them. If they “win” against you, they get fewer rating points from you. However, this additional rule isn’t significant enough to, for example, enable the player in the 3rd place to finish with a positive rating, no matter who are their opponents.
So this is the formula that the game relied on for almost 5 years by now.
And here are its main drawbacks:
The relative position at the end of the session is more important than the victory
At its core, the system rewards all places in the session except for the last one.
A player can finish in the 2nd place and technically “lose” a session (because someone else has won it) but still increase their overall rating – which is considered as “victory” by many players.
This duality of the outcome does not encourage the play style “victory at any cost”. Instead, it encourages to play for the highest place that the player deems possible for themselves, because victory is good – but in no way necessary for the progression through the ranked ladder. A higher position guarantees a better result on its own, even if it is 3rd place versus 4th place.
It is possible to mitigate the loss of rating points – but this happens at the expense of other losing players instead of the leader
In order to save your own rating, sometimes you have to ignore the leader and instead join them in their attacks on someone else. There are cases when this is the right thing to do, and finding that moment of “betrayal” in a session requires skill and impeccable timing! But in many cases, poorly implemented strategy of the protection of one’s own position leads to nothing but a sub-par experience for other players.
This approach goes against the spirit of most competitive board games
In most competitive board games, anything but the first place is considered to be a loss. The current ranked formula of Gremlins, Inc., where “playing for 2nd place” is a viable strategy, is seen by some board game players as “unfair” and “unsportsmanlike”.
Changes that we plan to introduce
We believe that the new formula should emphasize victory and playstyle directed toward the 1st place. After all, Gremlins, Inc. is a game about prestige. For gremlins, there is no higher goal than accumulating a lot of prestige – represented by player score. The player with the highest score wins the session, everyone else loses – and the change in rating should reflect this.
Main principles:
Players who have lost the session do not take rating points from each other. Only the winner takes rating points from other players. This means that victory is the only way to progress higher on the ranked ladder. If you didn’t win a session, you almost certainly will lose some rating points, even if you ended at the 2nd place.
When you lose, you can mitigate the loss of rating points – but this doesn’t happen at the expense of other players. If you didn’t win, your final position doesn’t matter – instead, your final score matters. The closer you are to the leader, the fewer rating points you will lose (up to 0 if your score is equal and the victory was achieved by the second tie-break).
The formula ignores the difference in rating that the players had prior to the session. It doesn’t matter if you are a strong player who has won against a weaker player, or vice versa. All that matters is how well each one of you performed in this particular session. This is because the matchmaking and the game itself can be quite random at times. We prefer not to have an extra punishment/reward for victories and losses that happened at the whim of luck. We want an environment where the only thing that matters is the player’s personal performance i.e., the score that was achieved during the session.
The specific formula:
Rating loss by each loser = ( ːscoreː of the player - ːscoreː of the winner) / ːscoreː of the winner * 4 / number of players in the session. Rating gain by the winner = the sum of all rating losses.
What do we want to achieve with this change?
In sessions with 3 or more players, this eliminates any logical reason to play for any other place than the first one. If you cannot be the most prestigious gremlin in this session, you will lose prestige as the result. But even then, your best approach is to keep playing against the leader.
This addresses the issues of 3-player sessions. When 2 out of 3 places are guaranteed to lose rating at the end of the session, the only viable strategy to avoid it for the 2nd and 3rd places is to play against the leader instead of playing against each other (which often happens under the current system).
Sessions for rounds instead of sessions for points should become much more viable. The further the leader runs away with their high score, the bigger everyone’s loss of rating points gets. So it is in everyone’s interest to control the leader instead of hassling with each other for the 2nd or 3rd places.
With these fixes, the available sets of rules for ranked sessions will increase without compromising with the quality of gameplay.
Having a high rating would mean a lot! Since the only way to increase rating is to win sessions, players at the top of the ladder will prove that they are absolutely the best at winning, not just at seizing an opportunity of getting points at the 2nd place and minimizing their losses at the 3rd place. This will be true for all types of sessions, except for duels. Duels already are like that.
What are the possible issues with the new system?
If everyone but the winner loses rating points, ranked sessions might become somewhat discouraging. Success is hard to achieve and keep because anything but victory brings you down to a certain degree. Does this make the mode more competitive? Absolutely. More interesting? Mostly for those who are competitive, ready to play in such an environment, and most importantly are able to win often enough to move forward and raise their rating. But maybe this is exactly what the ranked mode should be: a competition among those who are interested in competing, and a competition for victory instead of a hassle for a higher place? We would love to put this theory in practice and see how this affects the game.
Griefing might become a bigger issue because players who do not care about their rating will be able to cause more harm by attacking their personal target instead of the leader. On the other hand, revenge makes no sense in such an environment because pushing an opponent under yourself will not affect your own rating. And it is quite possible that griefers will fastly drop to the very bottom of the ladder simply because it will be hard to keep your rating high when you obviously aren't playing optimally.
Griefing in duels. This issue is specific to duels. A player who is far ahead and has full control over the situation refuses to end the session and keeps playing for dozens of rounds just to boost their ego and/or humiliate the opponent? The new system might make such behavior more attractive, and technically it won't be against the rules. There are multiple ways to fix this, starting from the simplest: duels will be played for rounds instead of points, so each session would have an easily predictable end time. Other possibilities that are more sophisticated in design and implementation include the option for the players to surrender after a certain number of rounds has passed, or an option where sessions have two end conditions: the session ends if one of the participants reaches X points or after the fixed number of rounds.
As you can see, there are pros that can be very beneficial for the gameplay in ranked sessions, but there are also cons that have to be addressed in order to keep the game fair and interesting.
We definitely want to try the new formula for at least a few months, but we also are very interested to know your opinion about such a change: please share your comments here on Steam, or on the game’s Discord server, so that together we can create a better player experience.
Thanks for staying with us, and we look forward to the community discussion!
Location: Police spot Cost: $150 Move points: 4 Type: Secret Get: +ːmaliceː1. Special rules: Choose an opponent. Teleport to their spot or location.
Some meetings are not so easy to arrange, but their results make the cost and the efforts worth it.
Reason:
The idea of the effect of this card was born out of discussions that happen on our Discord-server and on Steam forums. It is a versatile card that allows to initiate a timely conflict, or to visit instantly a location that otherwise might be hardly reachable. But it isn't cheap, you have to rely on your opponents' actions, and you have to find just the right time to arrange your honorary visit to one of them. ______
ːcardsː players: 4 ːscoreː victory condition: 30 points ːcursecardː Chaos Cards: allowed ːhealth_powerupː Character Abilities: allowed ːtelegramː Impending Misfortune: visible ːcheatdiceː Characters: from random set ːRatsClockː Timer: normal ːLocationː Field: Clockwork town
Special rules
No.
Tournament points (place in session/points gained):
+150 tournament points
+45 tournament points
15 tournament points
0 tournament points
ːsteampunkː ASIA
ːcardsː players: 2 ːscoreː victory condition: 35 points ːcursecardː Chaos Cards: allowed ːhealth_powerupː Character Abilities: allowed ːtelegramː Impending Misfortune: hidden ːcheatdiceː Characters: random ːRatsClockː Timer: normal ːLocationː Field: Clockwork town
Special rules
Changes in the deck:
-1 The Accelerator -1 An Award Ceremony -1 A Compromising Document -1 False Testimony -1 A Fraudulent Transaction -1 Judgement day -1 An Honest Exchange
Tournament points (place in session/points gained):
+60 tournament points
0 tournament points
ːvotesː RULES:
Sessions that count towards the tournament: ːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinː (8)
For each win, players receive additional points that depend on the strength of the opponents over whom they have won. Important: your tournament points will continue to increase with the increase in the tournament score of your past opponents, over whom you prevailed – even if you already have reached the limit of sessions for the tournament. What this means is that the tournament is never over for you as long as your previously conquered opponents continue to play, and win.
During this tournament, regular rating points will be frozen for all the players. Your tournament sessions will NOT affect your regular rating.
Players get tournament points for the first 8 sessions played in the tournament on each of the servers. Any subsequent sessions won't give any tournament points, and won't increase the number of defeated opponents who give additional points. Nonetheless, victories of all opponents who were defeated in the first 8 sessions will affect your final tournament rating.
PRIZE FUND:
Awarded: Top 10 players on each of the servers. In addition to the main prize fund, every player who finishes all 8 tournament sessions receives a special bonus player icon “Facepalm” (only if it has not been received before)!
In the case when at the end of the tournament two or more players will have equal number of tournament points, they will share the same (highest) place and get the same rewards. However, the award list will not be extended, and we will still award only the top 10 players on each server.
TOURNAMENT CHESTS – FAQ:
Q. Where do Tournament Chests drop? A. Only in tournament sessions, which are available via Multiplayer Lobby.
Q. If I've finished all my tournament sessions, can I get more tournament chests? A. Yes, as long as you will keep playing tournament sessions.
Q. Are the tournament items limited to this tournament only, or to tournaments in general? A. The tournament items are available via tournament chests, which drop during every official tournament in the game.
Q. Is there a full list of tournament items available via tournament chests? A. Yes, please see below:
Participants: 1,352 unique players participated in the tournament.
Involvement: 300 players completed 8 or more sessions. 122 players received the "Facepalm" lobby icon for completing all 8 tournament sessions for the first time. 476 players completed more than half (5+) of their sessions.
Sessions played: 1,982 tournament sessions were played in the course of the tournament.
Bans: 5 protests have been investigated and 3 players banned for the breach of the Fair Play Rules during this tournament.
Tournament chests: 3,117 tournament chests were distributed during the tournament (overall, including non-tournament sessions, 4,776+ chests were distributed to players in this period).
On July 7 we have initiated a series of tests in order to improve connection for our Asia-based players.
Firstly, we moved our Asian servers from Singapore to Khabarovsk.
While for us, as a studio, Khabarovsk would have been better than Singapore for a number of reasons (it’s cheaper to run and we’re able to update and upgrade the servers there much faster), we decided against this change. Both the feedback of Asia-based players and our internal technical tests have shown no significant improvements over Singapore. And in some cases, it became even worse.
Secondly, we moved our Asian servers to Hong-Kong.
We’re happy to report that this transfer has achieved our goal: the hub in Hong-Kong provides better hardware than Singapore (albeit, substantially more expensive) and, more importantly, it provides a much better connection for the majority of our Asia-based players. The feedback from the community that we received after the transfer was very positive, and our internal tests show steady improvement across all the thousands of sessions that were played there.
To give you a better picture, we’d like to share some data:
In the week since the last transfer, over 5,000 sessions have been played in Hong-Kong.
The tests show that the number of sessions with any connectivity issues has decreased by 35% compared to Singapore. This means that hundreds of players now enjoy better player experience, which is the most important metric for us.
We are very grateful to our player community, especially to our Japanese, Chinese and Korea communities, for the patience that you have demonstrated while we were looking for a way to improve the server situation in Asia.
The first stage of the test is over. Both the community feedback and the data that we have received during the tests show no significant benefits of Khabarovsk in comparison with the Singapore location. With that in mind, we're moving to the next step of the test, and to the next location: Hong-Kong.
Please note: the transfer will happen on July 16, at 9:00 AM GMT (5:00 PM Beijing, 6:00 PM Tokyo), and will last approximately 3-4 hours.
During this time, only the Amsterdam server cluster will be available!
All your in-game stats, profiles, inventory items and so on, stays intact during and after the transfer. Additionally, the Amsterdam server cluster will remain available during the transfer, so you can continue playing there if you so wish. Once the transfer is done, both European and Asian server clusters will become available as usual.
We will be testing the new cluster for up to 2 weeks after the move: again by gathering player feedback as well as running our own tests on how the change affects lags and connectivity for different players.
Transferring Asian server cluster to a test location from July 7
Dear community:
As we mentioned in the recent Summer Update, we are exploring the possibility to improve connection of our Asia-based servers. Some players (mostly from mainland China and from a few regions of Japan) may currently experience lags when playing on the Singapore server.
Our next step is the following: on July 7, the Asian server cluster will be moved from Singapore to Khabarovsk. According to our server partner and to our preliminary tests, the new location may result in better connectivity for users from China as well as for users from Japan.
Please note: the transfer will happen on July 7, at 11:59 AM GMT (7:59 PM Beijing, 8:59 PM Tokyo), and will last approximately 6-8 hours.
During this time, the Singapore server cluster will be unavailable!
All your in-game stats, profiles, inventory items and so on, stays intact during and after the transfer. Additionally, the Amsterdam server cluster will remain available during the transfer, so you can continue playing there if you so wish. Once the transfer is done, both European and Asian server clusters will become available as usual.
We will be testing the new cluster for up to 2 weeks after the move: gathering player feedback as well as running our own tests on how the change affects lags and connectivity for different players. After that, we' will make the decision on whether we relocate the Asian server cluster to Khabarovsk permanently, or we need more tests in alternative locations (Hong-Kong and Tokyo are other possibilities).
We apologize for the inconvenience to those who will be affected by the move during July 7, and we hope that even if your own player experience is great right now on the Singapore server, you will understand our effort to improve the experience of players who are currently experiencing there lags from time to time.
Together, we can find the location that will make most of our players happier. Thank you!
ːcardsː players: 4 ːscoreː victory condition: 30 points ːcursecardː Chaos Cards: allowed ːhealth_powerupː Character Abilities: allowed ːtelegramː Impending Misfortune: visible ːcheatdiceː Characters: from random set ːRatsClockː Timer: normal ːLocationː Field: Clockwork town
Special rules
No.
Tournament points (place in session/points gained):
+150 tournament points
+45 tournament points
15 tournament points
0 tournament points
ːsteampunkː SINGAPORE
ːcardsː players: 2 ːscoreː victory condition: 35 points ːcursecardː Chaos Cards: allowed ːhealth_powerupː Character Abilities: allowed ːtelegramː Impending Misfortune: hidden ːcheatdiceː Characters: random ːRatsClockː Timer: normal ːLocationː Field: Clockwork town
Special rules
Changes in the deck:
-1 The Accelerator -1 An Award Ceremony -1 A Compromising Document -1 False Testimony -1 A Fraudulent Transaction -1 Judgement day -1 An Honest Exchange
Tournament points (place in session/points gained):
+60 tournament points
0 tournament points
ːvotesː RULES:
Sessions that count towards the tournament: ːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinː (8)
For each win, players receive additional points that depend on the strength of the opponents over whom they have won. Important: your tournament points will continue to increase with the increase in the tournament score of your past opponents, over whom you prevailed – even if you already have reached the limit of sessions for the tournament. What this means is that the tournament is never over for you as long as your previously conquered opponents continue to play, and win.
During this tournament, regular rating points will be frozen for all the players. Your tournament sessions will NOT affect your regular rating.
Players get tournament points for the first 8 sessions played in the tournament on each of the servers. Any subsequent sessions won't give any tournament points, and won't increase the number of defeated opponents who give additional points. Nonetheless, victories of all opponents who were defeated in the first 8 sessions will affect your final tournament rating.
PRIZE FUND:
Awarded: Top 10 players on each of the servers. In addition to the main prize fund, every player who finishes all 8 tournament sessions receives a special bonus player icon “Facepalm” (only if it has not been received before)!
In the case when at the end of the tournament two or more players will have equal number of tournament points, they will share the same (highest) place and get the same rewards. However, the award list will not be extended, and we will still award only the top 10 players on each server.
TOURNAMENT CHESTS – FAQ:
Q. Where do Tournament Chests drop? A. Only in tournament sessions, which are available via Multiplayer Lobby.
Q. If I've finished all my tournament sessions, can I get more tournament chests? A. Yes, as long as you will keep playing tournament sessions.
Q. Are the tournament items limited to this tournament only, or to tournaments in general? A. The tournament items are available via tournament chests, which drop during every official tournament in the game.
Q. Is there a full list of tournament items available via tournament chests? A. Yes, please see below:
Participants: 1,604 unique players participated in the tournament.
Involvement: 312 players completed 8 or more sessions. 146 players received the "Facepalm" lobby icon for completing all 8 tournament sessions for the first time. 554 players completed more than half (5+) of their sessions.
Sessions played: 2,253 tournament sessions were played in the course of the tournament.
Bans: 4 protests have been investigated and 7 players banned for the breach of the Fair Play Rules during this tournament.
Tournament chests: 3,394 tournament chests were distributed during the tournament (overall, including non-tournament sessions, 6,223 chests were distributed to players in this period).