The decks that seem to beat the super powerful Red Starter are usually government decks. Blue is the color of the government faction. These guys have access to long-ranged minions, snipers. My first encounters with government players were rage-inducing. My opponent played a ranger on the first blue zone on second turn and kept sniping my face for the rest of it.
But the fix was simple: Expand straight towards them. Fast. If you’re second player, you also get the Urbanization card, which nets +2 money and one extra neutral zone. Play Urbanization on turn 2 and summon something big.
Read my official review of Neostesia 2200. Also read how to defend against aggro players. Start paying on Erogames.
These days, whenever I see a player open his game with a fucking blue zone, I start roleplaying a bull. Blue is my red cloth. I charge horns forward. Because soon it won’t matter whether you have a better economy than the government.
Most important is establishing zones on their side fast. You need neutral territories and a couple powerful neutral cards (neutrals don’t have special zone pre-requirements), so you’re not restricted from playing a big badass on turn 2.
Here’s my turn 2 against this asshole. I actually played Drugs Mobster, which is a red card, but anyway!
The special colored zones can be created at the pace of 1 per turn, which slows down territory expansion. If you need to be aggressive, you need cards with either zero pre-requisites, or just 1 zone pre-requisite. Drugs Mobster requires just 1 red.
Because you can create 2 neutral territories per turn, you will quickly have the logistics to deal with early-game rangers. Because rangers have one weakness. They cannot attack and move at the same turn. And all units move just one zone per turn (unless they have Charge).
I expanded on his side of the board, my 2/4 Party Prostitute was looting his bank. I do this, because I may need to sacrifice her. I’m expecting him to also play Armored Sniper and Particle-Beam Girl, and they have high health.
Important to note, when rangers attack an adjacent unit, they trade damage. My Drugs Mobster and Raygan Cop butted heads on next turn. Both died.
I’m only talking about what Red players should do, because I don’t play others right now. Green players have other tools, they can move their zones and they have jumpers. I haven’t played green decks, but I know they have these tools. But I’m sure the general rule applies: Just be decisive and aggressive, instead of sitting back to build an economy.
While a government player that employs rangers will be slower to take territory (because rangers are expensive and require special zones), his weak early economy is not a weakness to exploit. Maybe there’s a way to play slow against these types, but I haven’t bothered after my first experiences. Just go in guns blazing and fuck the system.
And yeah, he had Particle-Beam Girl… no wait, she’s called Gun? Whatever.
As you can imagine, a ranger with 7 power is almost unbeatable if left unchecked, unless your minions can very quickly close the distance. There are also cards that buff damage, which is why even low attack-value rangers must be dealt with quickly.
This guy was also playing Sniping Machine Gun. But when I’m already in your face, good luck with that.
