Genre: Strategy, Turn-based strategy (TBS), Indie, Card & Board Game
Gremlins, Inc.
RANKED RULES FOR JUNE (AND MORE)
SET OF RULES FOR JUNE, 2021
The following rules become active on June 1, at 12:00 GMT, and will apply throughout June 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: hidden ːcheatdiceː Characters: from random set ːRatsClockː Timer: normal ːLocationː Field: Clockwork town (1st)
* Special rules for EU server:
None.
ːsteampunkː ASIA
ːcardsː players: 2 ːscoreː victory condition: 35 points ːcursecardː Chaos Cards: allowed ːhealth_powerupː Character Abilities: allowed ːtelegramː Impending Misfortune: visible ːcheatdiceː Characters: random ːRatsClockː Timer: normal ːLocationː Field: Clockwork town (1st)
* Special rules for Asia server:
The following cards are removed from the ranked deck on Asian server:
ːcardsː The Accelerator ːcardsː An Award Ceremony ːcardsː A Compromising Document ːcardsː A Fraudulent Transaction ːcardsː An Honest Exchange
ːsteampunkːːsteampunkːːsteampunkː
In addition to this set of rules, we also make an adjustment of just one card that we keep tinkering with because of its extreme efficiency. But this time it's actually a buff. Please keep in mind that all the previous changes are still intact.
CARDS
Investigation
Reason: despite the increased cost and malice the card is still played 4 times out of 5 when it hits the hand of a player. We still don't want to change its effect as it works rather well, so this time we'll make it more useful for movement to tempt you to spend it that way :)
Just as in April, this tournament will have a different set of rules. Bribes of all players increased and there are more cards that allow extorting bribes from opponents or to avoid paying them. Being the Governor now is more profitable than ever before but the position is harder to keep because elections happen more often! So, manage your ːmaliceː carefully, prepare to pay more bribes, and don't forget to collect ːvotesː.
Good luck!
ːsteampunkː EUROPE
ːcardsː players: 4 ːscoreː victory condition: 25 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 (1st)
Special rules for European server
default bribe is increased by 10 (30 instead of 20, The Pauper pays 15 instead of 5);
2 more copies of The Miracle of Bureaucracy added to the deck;
2 more copies of A Governor for an Hour added to the deck;
2 more copies of The Right Connections added to the deck;
Elections happen every 15 rounds instead of every 20;
The winner of each election gets ːscoreː2 instead of ːscoreː1;
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: from random set ːRatsClockː Timer: normal ːLocationː Field: Clockwork town (1st)
Special rules for Asian server
default bribe is increased by 10 (30 instead of 20, The Pauper pays 15 instead of 5);
2 more copies of The Miracle of Bureaucracy added to the deck;
2 more copies of A Governor for an Hour added to the deck;
2 more copies of The Right Connections added to the deck;
Elections happen every 15 rounds instead of every 20;
The winner of each election gets ːscoreː2 instead of ːscoreː1;
Other changes in the deck (Asian server only):
-1 The Accelerator -1 An Award Ceremony -1 A Compromising Document -1 A Fraudulent Transaction -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)!
ːHoly_Grailetː = Tournament Chest (limited, tournaments only) ːgreengemstoneː = Spring Chest (limited, Spring Season only)
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: 1,290 unique players participated in the tournament.
Involvement: 253 players completed 8 or more sessions. 82 players received the "Facepalm" lobby icon for completing all 8 tournament sessions for the first time. 424 players completed more than half (5+) of their sessions.
Sessions played: 1,893 tournament sessions were played in the course of the tournament.
Bans: 3 protests have been investigated and 6 players banned for the breach of the Fair Play Rules during this tournament.
Tournament chests: 2,411 tournament chests were distributed during the tournament (overall, including non-tournament sessions, 4,108 chests were distributed to players in this period).
The following rules become active on May 1, at 12:00 GMT, and will apply throughout May 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 (1st)
* Special rules for EU server:
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 (1st)
* Special rules for Asia server:
The following cards are removed from the ranked deck on Asian server:
ːcardsː The Accelerator ːcardsː An Award Ceremony ːcardsː A Compromising Document ːcardsː A Fraudulent Transaction ːcardsː An Honest Exchange
ːsteampunkːːsteampunkːːsteampunkː
In addition to this set of rules, we also make adjustments to quite a few cards including Chaos Cards. These changes are applied in all modes and will be active for at least 1 month to test the balance (please keep in mind that for the next season, we might revert these adjustments or replace them with something else; it all depends on the results of the tests and the feedback we'll receive from the community).
As you can notice, most of the changes have a similar base: money reduction and score reduction. This is, of course, for a reason. Years of development with regular updates that bring not only new features but new cards as well, lead the game to the state that one can call "inflation". There are much more resources (money, votes) that are available in sessions than it was 2-3 years ago and that affects all aspects of gameplay.
We want to take a step back and reduce the impact of some of the cards in order to change that. In almost every case this isn't about nerfing a particular card but about reducing the overall amount of money that circulates in sessions.
The Chaos Cards are changed for a similar reason: due to the increase of resources, it's easier now to play them so we want to make them just a bit less impactful (although in some case we also reduced the value of malice these cards give when they are played).
With this in mind, here is the list of changes for May (and, potentially, for the following months as well). Notice that this time we often don't mention reasons why a card is changed – this is because we already explained it above.
CHAOS CARDS
A Sacrifice
The Agent of Chaos
The Army of Chaos
A Diversion in the Astral Plane
The Allies of Chaos
CARDS
Eternal Mortgage
Toxic Waste
Reason: this is not just because of the reasons we already explained. This card is still one of the most playable cards in the game due to the combination of its effects. So, in this case, yes, it is a nerf of a specific card in order to reduce its effectiveness.
Racketeering!
A Fence
Prize Fund
Reason: 4ːvotesː or -4ːmaliceː is just too good in comparison to $100. It also has a significant impact, especially the malice reduction. So, we decided to nerf this card a bit.
A Bag of Money
Reason: as was noticed in the comments after the previous change of this card – no one cares how many votes it gives because no one plays it for votes. Fair enough. This time, let's make it more balanced in terms of what it gives :)
Corporate Scam
Reason: oh, hey, a buff. With this card, the effect works as intended but it isn't impactful enough. Well, now you can get up to 4 free points out of it while simultaneously punishing those opponents who didn't join you in this scam.
That's all the changes for this month! We are waiting for your comments both theoretical (what do you think about the changes) and practical (how was your experience after playing the game with these changes).
To spice things up this tournament will be a bit different. Each player starts with easy access to the Astral location which opens up plenty of possibilities to score points. But be aware that your opponents can do the same and that there are ways to destroy your Astral Elevator!
Good luck!
ːsteampunkː EUROPE
ːcardsː players: 4 ːscoreː victory condition: 35 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 for European server
every player starts with an active permanent card The Astral Elevator;
the number of all non-permanent Astral cards in the deck is doubled;
The Astral Elevator card is free to play but gives no points;
The Counterfeit and The Confiscation cards are removed from the deck.
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: 40 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 town
Special rules for Asian server
every player starts with an active permanent card The Astral Elevator;
the number of all non-permanent Astral cards in the deck is doubled;
The Astral Elevator card is free to play but gives no points;
The Counterfeit and The Confiscation cards are removed from the deck.
Other changes in the deck (Asian server only):
-1 The Accelerator -1 An Award Ceremony -1 A Compromising Document -1 A Fraudulent Transaction -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)!
ːHoly_Grailetː = Tournament Chest (limited, tournaments only) ːgreengemstoneː = Spring Chest (limited, Spring Season only)
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: 1,134 unique players participated in the tournament.
Involvement: 235 players completed 8 or more sessions. 77 players received the "Facepalm" lobby icon for completing all 8 tournament sessions for the first time. 378 players completed more than half (5+) of their sessions.
Sessions played: 1,737 tournament sessions were played in the course of the tournament.
Bans: 1 protest have been investigated and no players banned for the breach of the Fair Play Rules during this tournament.
Tournament chests: 2,261 tournament chests were distributed during the tournament (overall, including non-tournament sessions, 3,508 chests were distributed to players in this period).
The following rules become active on April 1, at 12:00 GMT, and will apply throughout April 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 colony (2nd)
* Special rules for EU server:
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 (1st)
* Special rules for Asia server:
The following cards are removed from the ranked deck on Asian server:
ːcardsː The Accelerator ːcardsː An Award Ceremony ːcardsː A Compromising Document ːcardsː A Fraudulent Transaction ːcardsː An Honest Exchange
ːsteampunkːːsteampunkːːsteampunkː
In addition to this set of rules, we also make adjustments to a few cards and characters. These changes are applied in all modes and will be active for at least 1 month to test the balance (please keep in mind that for the next season, we might revert these adjustments or replace them with something else; it all depends on the results of the tests and the feedback we'll receive from the community).
CHARACTERS
We have buffed two characters who, according to the current data, are underperforming on both servers.
The Damned
The Pauper
CARDS
Investigation
Reason: despite increasing its cost back in October of the last year, the card still has an extremely high 'play to move' ratio (meaning, it is rarely used for movement and almost always played). While some cards will inevitably have a higher ratio than the others, we want to change it a bit more.
An Inspection
Reason: the situation here is similar to Investigation, which is understandable – police cards are very powerful. In this case, we didn't want to nerf the card and instead made it more tempting to use it for movement.
Forbidden Knowledge
Reason: this is rather simple: we still want this card to be played more often. But this is probably its last buff in that regard.
Cold Deck
Reason: after testing it for some time we do believe that ːmaliceː1 works better for this card.
Gremlins, Inc. just celebrated the 5th anniversary of its full release on Steam.
Thanks to your continued interest, comments and suggestions we are able to keep improving the game with more features and expanding it with more content. You, our loyal audience, are the primary motivation of our development team – thank you so much for this amazing journey together!
Since late 2017, we’re working on our studio’s next game, Spire of Sorcery, which proved to be a bigger challenge. After spending 2018 and 2019 developing a product that was too broadly defined to be playable, we changed the direction and spent 2020 in a high stress, high output mode creating something much more specific– a turn-based tactical exploration game – that by now is finally getting more and more fun with every weekly update.
We hope to introduce you to the dangerous world of Rund, across which you must lead a party of the runaway mages, later this year – when Spire of Sorcery enters the general Early Access.
Finally, already in 2021, we started the pre-production on our third game that returns us to the roots of the digital board game genre. We cannot reveal what it is, yet, but let us share with you this fact: already last week, we were able to complete the first multiplayer session in that game – played by the three of us, from three different cities.
We’re going to use our experience to give you something that’s not only fun at its core, but also brings a lot of the most requested features such as team ranked play, built-in tournaments and peer-to-peer custom multiplayer sessions.
We do not have yet any estimate of when this game might enter Early Access, but we hope for the best – perhaps, it will happen already this year.
We thank you for being a part of this exciting period and for your generous support of our development efforts, and we with you all the best!
With warm regards from Vilnius, A city of many cultures and many languages, The team of Charlie Oscar
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 for European server
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 for Asian server
Changes in the deck:
-1 The Accelerator -1 An Award Ceremony -1 A Compromising Document -1 A Fraudulent Transaction -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)!
ːHoly_Grailetː = Tournament Chest (limited, tournaments only) ːgreengemstoneː = Spring Chest (limited, Spring Season only)
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: 1,433 unique players participated in the tournament.
Involvement: 300 players completed 8 or more sessions. 136 players received the "Facepalm" lobby icon for completing all 8 tournament sessions for the first time. 474 players completed more than half (5+) of their sessions.
Sessions played: 2,175 tournament sessions were played in the course of the tournament.
Bans: 2 protests have been investigated and 2 players banned for the breach of the Fair Play Rules during this tournament.
Tournament chests: 3,183 tournament chests were distributed during the tournament (overall, including non-tournament sessions, 5,298 chests were distributed to players in this period).
Due to multiple changes that we made in the Winter update in regard to characters' balance, there will be no changes in the rules for March. We want to have more time to see how characters perform within the same environment before we start changing it.
For example, the Politician, who looked rather weak in the first weeks after the update now looks much better since players learned how to take advantage of its new set of abilities. We don't want to rush any changes until the new meta becomes more stable.
The results of this month will define the changes that might happen in April.
SET OF RULES FOR MARCH, 2021
The following rules become active on March 1, at 12:00 GMT, and will apply throughout the whole month 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 for EU server:
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 colony
* Special rules for Asia server:
The following cards are removed from the deck:
ːcardsː The Accelerator ːcardsː An Award Ceremony ːcardsː A Compromising Document ːcardsː A Fraudulent Transaction ːcardsː An Honest Exchange
ːsteampunkːːsteampunkːːsteampunkː
There are no additional adjustments to the cards at the beginning of this season.
A number of improvements (and fixes) land with today's small update
Dear friends:
In the time since we released the major Winter Update, we identified a few areas where we could further improve player experience.
Here's what we change with today's update:
Mulligan's timer at the start of a session is increased by a further 15 seconds.
User interface now correctly indicates the Politician as the favorite candidate if "Connections at the Parliament" (+ːvotesː2 before the Elections) makes the difference.
The effect of "The Evil Statue" no longer triggers if player gets ːmaliceː from a Misfortune that was received from cards such as "Karma", "The Lesser Evil", etc.
The effect of "The Common Funds" is no longer triggered twice if player is arrested while skipping turn at the Plant or at the Astral.
The Banker's ability "Hedging the risk" is no longer triggered if player used "A Prank" to exchange place with another player.
Request window for the Banker's ability "Hedging the risk" now has the correct name.
Abilities that show a request window (such as "Hedging the risk", "Pickpocketing" or "Shaking the tail") no longer keep that window open if player didn't react in time and the decision was made by the bot.
The visual log after "Demon'stration" is played now correctly shows that player receives not only money, but also ːmaliceː for each ːscoreː that is taken from other players.
WINTER SEASON UPDATE 2021
THE UPDATE IS NOW AVAILABLE!
IMPORTANT: due to significant internal changes in the code, saves that are made in the current version of the game won't be compatible with the new version of the game – we apologize for the inconvenience.
Dear players:
We congratulate those of you who celebrate the Lunar New Year, and we wish everyone health and prosperity. May this year give you the strength, the resolve and the patience to change the world for the better, and to help those in need!
Traditionally, around this time of the year we release a major update for Gremlins, Inc., and this year is not an exception: today's update is especially heavy with balancing changes that touch upon characters, cards, and even locations – as well as with new features and quality of life improvements.
The new melody and the new background are also available to every player in the game for 2 weeks following this update (once this period passes, these items will remain available only to the owners of The Governor's Edition).
NEW FEATURE: IN-GAME PAUSE
It is now possible to play private multiplayer sessions with a timer, but use the pause function if something outside of the game requires your attention.
You can activate the pause at the beginning of your turn and the game (and your friends) will wait for your next action for as long as it takes.
Please note that this feature is limited to private sessions only, in order to prevent delays in sessions with random opponents.
NEW FEATURE: MULLIGAN SYSTEM
The new mulligan system gives players much more control over their starting hands.
At the start of the session, instead of receiving 6 cards with the ability to discard any of them and get random replacements, each player now gets 12 cards and chooses the 6 that they want to keep (the rest is discarded as usual).
This way, you can tailor your starting hand much better for your first few turns in the session. This also makes early inspections and arrests more justifiable, since it is now easier for other players to get a hand of cards that can be used very efficiently from the very first round.
Choose another player: they lose ːvotesː 4. If you use this card to move, lose ːvotesː 1 and ːmaliceː 1.
"No gremlin ever admits their fault, unless they find a way to hurt their competitor even more with such admission."
This card hurts your popularity but it damages your opponent's popularity even more!
NEW CARD: "CORPORATE SCAM"
“CORPORATE SCAM”
Location: Office Cost: free Move points: 3 Type: Secret, Permanent Copies in the deck: 2
Special rule:
When all copies of this card are active simultaneously: players who don’t own such cards lose ːscoreː1 per copy; players who own such cards get ːscoreː 1 per each copy that they own. All copies of this card are then discarded.
"The most reliable protection from being cheated is to affiliate yourself with the cheaters."
CHANGES IN LOCATIONS
THE OFFICE
This simple change slightly reduces the effectiveness of the Office, and makes its effect less impactful on the money of players.
THE CASINO
Over the years we got plenty of comments on the Casino's efficiency (or the lack of it). Here is the new Casino that doesn't limit your winnings, but will penalize you if you gamble for more than you can afford to lose.
Just to elaborate and make it clear: you can now gamble in the Casino even without any money, and you still have a chance to win up to $100. But if you lose, your ːmaliceː increases.
CHANGES IN SPECIAL CHARACTER ABILITIES
There are a lot of changes in the special abilities of characters that are based on server stats, discussions in the community and suggestions of top players:
THE BANKER
This change is a necessity: while it was a cool idea to have this ability on the Bribe spot, we actually can't keep it there as it creates multiple issues with the internal logic, some of which aren't fixable. Thus we move this ability to the Risk spot. The numbers won't change for now, but we can always adjust them later if needed.
THE THIEF
These changes should reduce the effectiveness of the Thief in session with multiple opponents – while keeping the character potent in the duel format.
THE COLLECTOR
These changes directly improve the character's performance, although one of them plays a bit different role. The change of "An Exhibition" adds to control of how much income the character can get from active permanent cards: now, if needed, we can change it so that every active permanent card increases the Collector's income by 30 which gives the character a much bigger boost in the early game – but with the limit of 90, it does not become overpowered in the late game when the Collector might have a lot of active permanent cards (because only 3 of them provide the actual boost).
THE POLITICIAN
Just as we have done with the Banker in the previous update, now it's time to bring in major changes of the Politician's abilities. The changes are meant to improve the character's ability to accumulate ːvotesː but provide fewer benefits during the Elections. Most importantly, the character no longer keeps ːvotesː after the Elections, which means that after each case of the Elections the Politician should work hard on re-gaining ːvotesː.
CHANGES IN CARDS
THE STASH
You can no longer use the Dump before you travel to the Treasure.
Two reasons: (1) this effect wasn't in line with all the other effects of teleportation; (2) this effect wasn't very useful in the first place, but created additional delays. Thus we streamlined the card a bit – now you go straight to the Treasure, without any delays.
EASY GAMBLE
Considering the change that we made to the Casino, the old effect of this card wouldn't make sense as there is no limit to your winnings anyway. So instead, the card now protects you from getting ːmaliceː when you lose too much money.
QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS
Thanks to player feedback, we identified two changes that can improve player experience:
Firstly, when a spectator leaves the session that they watched, they are now redirected to the multiplayer lobby – which makes navigation between different sessions that you want to spectate a bit easier.
Secondly, the drop of a new chest during the session is slightly changed so that it no longer blocks the Plant location on the Clockwork Colony playing field.
FIXES
It is no longer possible to use "Cheating" to move from the Astral to the Bank for the player who does not have active "The Astral Elevator" permanent card. Earlier, there was a very rare and very specific set of circumstances that allowed to "cheat with "Cheating"" this way, but now it is fixed for good.
Fixed a rare issue, where sometimes images of emoticons would have stuck on the screen if their hot-key was pressed while the emoticon is dragged with the mouse.
WHAT'S NEXT?
In a few weeks Gremlins, Inc. will celebrate its 5th anniversary on Steam (March 11, 2021).
In our wildest dreams, we never imagined that this native digital board game created by a small studio will reach 700,000+ owners on Steam, and bring together a community from pretty much every country in the world!
We'd like to use this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to continue updating the game, bringing new content and new features throughout 2021. We closely follow player feedback and community discussions, and we will keep making the game better with every major update!
A special "thank you" goes to the Japanese community of the game, and especially to our friend Standard of Ur, for providing early feedback on the upcoming DLC that is dedicated to the theme of Japanese Cyberpunk. This DLC is currently nearing the end of its production cycle, and will become available in the spring of this year.
Additionally, we are very close to finishing the custom modding tool that will allow players to extensively modify Gremlins, Inc. by changing the effects of cards, locations and general rules. The tool is now already in translation, we expect to release it around the game's anniversary in mid March.
Thank you for being a part of this friendly community, and we wish you all the best!
Team Charlie Oscar Vilnius Old Town, Republic of Lithuania.
