First Codex Games - Impressions

[countcb]

@LK4O4

which is why the site looks so plain

I hope it will stay this way. No clutter, all the relevant information good to read.
I like it the way it is. Good job, not only with the design but with the whole site.

Thanks!

[GRAG]

Yeah! It’s deliciously oldschool

[dontmindlosing]

Thank you for putting the database together. It is a great tool to have! I have not noticed any bugs. In practice, I find myself using a combination of three databases, depending on my need:

1. http://codexcarddb.com/ Your database for card rulings
2. http://jamie_ca.gitlab.io/codex/ This database to look up all cards with the same ability or the same cost or other keyword
3. http://sharp.moe:8000/red This database to see groups of cards on a single page in enough detail that I can read them and try to determine synergies. (This is for when I am away from my physical copy of Codex)
   I know it’s a big, complicated, vague ask, but it would be awesome if one database would be able to do all of these things: provide card rulings, let you search by keyword, let you display multiple cards, and keep adding/removing cards as you like. (Edit: Oh, and including token cards too would be great!)

[zhavier]

codexcarddb.com sorta lets you search by keyword. If you type haste into the search field a list of cards that have the word haste will appear as a dropdown list. Instead of a dropdown I would prefer hitting enter to take you to a page filled with all the cards that have haste on them, but it is still helpful as is.

[dontmindlosing]

…I did not previously notice that. Thank you.

There’s something incomplete going on with the search dropdown though. I type in “skele” and I get four cards: Skeletal Lord, Skeleton Javelineer, Skeletal Archery, and Summon Skeletons.

In the other database, searching for “skele” also brings up Lich’s Bargain, Bone Collector, and Necromancer.

Also, I’d love for token cards to be included and searchable.

[zhavier]

Garth Torken should also be listed in that search, imo.

There are no online images of token cards aside from the teaser images posted on kickstarter. But even without the images, wouldn’t it be better to find the cards that make the tokens, rather than the token cards specifically?

[Barrelfish]

The search only covers the card name and bolded keywords like haste. It doesn’t cover any other text as far as I can tell.

[Inkstud]

When I first found the site, what I wanted right away was a “next card” and “previous card” button that would let me advance to looking at the next card in order after looking at the current one. Right now I have to click on the card, then click the back button on the browser, then click on the next card in order.

Right now what I’m really trying to do is go card by card and read the rules text so I can hopefully avoid any weird interactions surprising me while playing.

Just a thought!

[dontmindlosing]

Ideally, I’d like both. Makes the database more complete.

And you’re right about Garth Torken! I missed that.

[LK4O4]

@dontmindlosing

Also, I’d love for token cards to be included and searchable.

Actually, @mysticjuicer has also asked a couple times for me to include info about token cards, so it’s definitely on my radar. I’ll see what I can do to at least make searching for token names bring up the relevant cards in the meantime.

Edit:
Things you can currently search by are: color, spec, type/subtytpe (like “upgrade” or “soldier”), tech level, and keywords. Searches should also combine, so you can search for “untargetable tech 3” or “green overpower” or something and that should work.

@Inkstud

When I first found the site, what I wanted right away was a “next card” and “previous card” button that would let me advance to looking at the next card in order after looking at the current one.

A few of the specs are in the wrong order (such as Law and Peace), but whenever I get around to fixing that and having an order defined, I can probably also implement forward and back buttons as well.

@zhavier

Instead of a dropdown I would prefer hitting enter to take you to a page filled with all the cards that have haste on them

Yeah, I do wish there was some sort of “search results” or “advanced search” page, but I’m still not quite sure what I’d want it to be or how I’d want it to work.

[ARMed_PIrate]

Citing Patreon supporters makes me think that you still don’t get what formal usability testing is. Patreon supporters tend to be the ones most likely to read all of your articles, so they’re going to be looking at any final rulebooks without fresh eyes. But the bigger issue is that if you don’t have someone sitting in the room taking notes without giving clarifications and corrections, say, if you rely on Patreon supporters to report their own problems and play experiences, you’ll get useful information, but a very skewed data set. Anyone giving feedback online is likely to focus on reporting only the issues they perceived as big or important (to them), and you’d miss a lot of little stuff that they might not consider an issue because they were able to eventually figure it out (though it took longer than you’d like), or they decided it wasn’t important.

But I take your point; this isn’t the place for lectures, and I’m sorry for the length of my previous post. I have a tendency to over-clarify without noticing or curbing my post length. I meant to inform, for those who had no idea what I was talking about, not lecture.

While I was making the post primarily because I think serious usability testing might help with your future games (including Fantasy Strike), I recognize that it won’t change anything about Codex.

So here’s some advice that can improve Codex now for a lot of players:
Offer a free (or very cheap) left-handed version of the Codex playmat via print-and-play. Just mirror image the original files except text, then move the text to the appropriate places. That would make a lot of left-handed players like Bomber happy with minimal effort and cost to you.

[Bryce_The_Rice]

That would be a nice solution, but with a deluxe set on the way with those beautiful playmats made out of luxurious mousepad material, I would not print a piece of paper to put over it.
Still a good idea though!

[LK4O4]

@dontmindlosing

3. http://sharp.moe:8000/red This database to see groups of cards on a single page in enough detail that I can read them and try to determine synergies. (This is for when I am away from my physical copy of Codex)

It’s not linked anywhere yet since I just added it today, but if you put /images at the end of a color or deck page (such as Codex Card Database), you’ll now get a layout similar to the one on http://sharp.moe:8000/red where it just shows you the image for each card. The images page is still in the works, but it’s being added by popular demand!

P.S. Token searching isn’t 100% working, but it’s slightly better now. Searching for “skele” still doesn’t get you Lich’s Bargain, but it gets you the others that were missing (Garth, Bone Collector, etc).

[dontmindlosing]

That’s looking great. Thank you for your continued work on the card database. You’ve just reduced the number of databases I need to refer to by one.

[zhavier]

You are awesome!

[Ryjak]

I highly recommend these three online resources (especially the Codex Card Database) be added to the Codex Rulebook PDF under the Further Reading section on page 18. I wouldn’t know about these resources if I hadn’t found this forum thread.

I and other new players have these same issues with the playmats, particularly the draw and discard piles. The way it’s presented in the Rulebook makes sense, so I’m surprised the mats don’t follow the same format. I’ll probably try making my own playmats and see if it helps.

[andrewgr]

(Original poster here)

A quick followup. I got together with one of the people in our original foursome, and we played for about 8 hours on Sunday.

While looking up some rules to a different question, my friend noticed one major thing I had gotten wrong, which basically invalidated all the games we had played to date: we had been giving cards in the Squad Leader position +1 armor vs. every attack, not just the first attack of the turn. Obviously this makes a huge difference.

We’ll be getting together again soon, and I’m also taking Codex to San Francisco when I visit some gaming friends for a long weekend later in the month, so I’ll have a new group of people to play with.

Oh, also, the suggestion of turning the discard pile sideways and putting the tech cards on top perpendicularly helped me a lot.

[Drakona]

I screwed that up at first, too. “Armor” to me suggested damage reduction, not temp hit points. I guess I’m used to it now, though.

[FineRedMist]

@Vel

I agree with most of what you have to say about the rules above. I don’t know, but I think the reason that new players are told to make tech decisions at the end of their turns is so that there isn’t incredible amounts of time wasted at the beginning of each turn deciding which cards to tech. If they do it during the other player’s turn things go smoother.

The problem I have with this approach is exactly what happened to me in my last game playing White versus Green. I was so consumed with my tech decision during my opponent’s turn that I made the fatal error of failing to register that he had played a second Deathtouch unit, which cost me my Squad Leader Rook and the game.

Fast gameplay is very much to be desired, but not if getting there requires the game to be even less interactive than it already is, or leads to dumb mistakes that could have been avoided by watching (and even enjoying) one’s opponent’s plays.

[FineRedMist]

@Inkstud

I agree with all of this. As someone with an MTG background, it took me a while to develop an intuitive understanding of how flying is supposed to work in this game. It makes a lot more sense if you think of flying units as flying units from Starcraft that all attack from long range, except that units with long range still can’t hit back, and… well, it helps anyway.

I’ve found myself surprised, in three or so games, how flyers simply aren’t as strong as I’d expected, especially in defense. It’s bizarre that all non-flyers can ignore patrolling flyers in exactly the way that flyers can’t ignore anti-air. I would have thought perhaps flyers could interact with attacking, non-anti-air ground units the way anti-air patrollers deal with flyers: a ground unit can bypass a flyer but takes damage from them as they pass by. Or something. But I found the flyers very weak since I was much more often in need of good defense than more offense.

But I know nothing about even basic strategy yet (where are those articles?), so I’m sure it’ll make more sense soon.