Gauntlet Throwdown & Limited First Impressions

A metric ton of information got dumped on us recently for the new Hex set.  Not only will the Armies of Myth patch feature Chest Opening and Extended Art, but we'll also be getting Gauntlet Tournaments, which are similar to Asynchronous Tournaments from Hearthstone.  The downside is that for Sealed Players you can't actually net any packs by going undefeated.  You play until you hit 5 wins or 3 losses, then collect prizes based on your wins.  Five victories earns you six boosters, while any other scenario nets you boosters equal to the number of wins you earned.  This means that unless you sell your packs (or the contents of the chests from those packs), you won't be able to "go infinite."  That's a small quibble compared to this patch basically giving me everything my little heart desires though.

The full card spoiler is out as well, with about 250 new cards to use and abuse.  I'd eventually like to do a full set review (obligatory eye roll), but for now I'll give my initial impressions on limited for this format, which from my understanding will be entirely done with Armies of Myth packs.  Now one larger point I think I should make is on reserves cards with the new Gauntlet Sealed, which uses one-game matches.  This means you don't get to bring your Vandalize in game 2 against your opponent's Syyn, which is a shame since there's a lot of nice situational cards that might not merit a spot on your opening forty but can be absolute blowouts against the right deck.

Quick Troops can gain prophecy buffs
while in your deck, making their surprise
appearance even more deadly.

One of the things I think will be overlooked is the number of Quick Troops in this draft format.  Quick troops can be particularly nasty since you reveal next to no information during the turn you plan to play them.  Having any resources up could make your opponent think twice about attacking with important troops they want to keep alive.  Many of the Quick Troops aren't exactly the hardiest, Snarling Ambusher being a fine example at a 3/2 for 3 resources.  But that three attack points will allow it to trade with many things early on.  And if you're fortunate enough to give a Quick Troop a Prophecy buff from a card like Nightsky Stargazer, a surprise speed bump can become a game changer.  

One of the things people are particularly worried about are the Spiderlings, due in large part to the frustrations with Xarlox int he Frost Ring Arena.  Now 1/1 troops with unblockable are undoubtedly annoying, particularly when your opponent gets them for free.  However, having played more than a few games with Booby Traps, I know how dicey relying on your opponent to draw them can be.  Sometimes your opponent will have a dozen in their deck and not draw a single one while your life is slowly chipped away by a Phoenix Guard Messenger.  Other times your opponent will draw them the instant they get put in (and if you're like me you instantly feel guilty for your fortune).  The upside to the infested player is that they won't lose their entire draw with Spiderling Eggs like they would with Booby Traps.  The bad news is that this means several eggs could trigger in a chain reaction of skittering menaces.  Now this isn't the end of the world, since a few cards can deal with these spidery threats pretty handily.  Though these cards might be too narrow to merit main deck status.

There's also a question of how deep in the infestation strategy to you go?  While a dedicated Spiderling Deck with Painbringer and Brood Baron would be interesting, it's a strategy that seems more likely to be abused in Draft than Sealed.  Many of the effects that produce Spiderling Eggs are tacked onto cards people will play based on the strength of the card outside of the Eggs they provide.  Parriphagy is expensive, but effective removal that could net you a few spiders if the game goes long.  Nazhk Webguard has decent defensive stats for a 2-drop, and becomes more valuable at messing up combat the more eggs you get into your opponent's deck.  Hatchery Priest on the otherhand has very poor stats to justify including it into the deck unless you are dedicated to the archetype, and Incubate does nothing to the board at all when it is played.

Finally we have removal, which is one of the first things I think people should look at when analyzing a new limited format.  For Blood, the most straightforward removal is the aforementioned Parriphagy, though at five resources the cost can be very prohibitive if the format is fast.  Rot Cast is solid 2-cost removal action for early drops, and doesn't discriminate Artifact Troops the way Murder did.  Taint on the other hand is all of the narrowness of Atrophy with none of the sweet, sweet card advantage.  I wouldn't be against using it if the situation called for it, but when the best case scenario is a 1-for-1, I won't feel good about it.  I suppose Merciless Culler is removal as well, though the Battle Hopper generation of past sets isn't present in Armies.  Sacrificing a Spiderling might make this guy not awful, but at the end of the day you still just have a 3/2.  Shadowblade Assassin has a lethal shift that should not be overlooked either.  This ability can be important for Necrotic decks, which will likely gravitate towards Blood-Diamond, and also provide a good chunk of Swiftstrike options to pair with.

Speaking of Diamond, they probably have the most interesting removal of any of the shards.  Pride's Fall is good (and cheap) for taking down the biggest and baddest of your opponent's troops, but will do little against a tempo rush.  Etherealize transforms a troop or constant into a 1/1 Phantom.  Unfortunately it's basic speed, so instead of being a combat trick, the best you can hope for is nullifying your opponent's strongest dude if you have aerial presence.  In dire straits it could give you a finisher if the ground is clogged, or a chump blocker for a turn if things are particularly grim.  Inflict Doubt is a dicey uncommon that acts as a cheaper Inner Conflict if you have more guys than they do.  If you have troop generation this isn't too bad, and it seems that Ruby-Diamond could be a decent shard combination to do this if you get some combination of First Blood or Veteran Raider.  Martyr (a rare) transforms a troop into a Monument of the Martyr, which will either allow you to swing through for the win or sacrifice one of your troops to have an on-board pump (I see this seeing some play in Constructed).  And finally Stinging Ambush is a decent reserves card against opposing Phantoms and Spiderlings, but not terribly effective against beefier fare.

I fully expect a Shakespearean Play
dungeon stage now.

For Ruby (and they have buffet of removal), Bombwright and Boomsmith are both four cost dwarves that can oust low defense troops, Boomsmith once for 2 when he comes into play and Bombwright every turn for 1.  Bombwright will likely be good for chewing up Spiderlings and Phantoms though potentially underwhelming against other decks.  Fiery Indignation is quality removal (with excellent artwork) that can ping something for 2 early game or roast something for five later in the game, when you have a 5-drop on the field.  Lunge is a cheaper version of Adrenaline Rush that only gives +2 Attack for the turn instead of 3, though that will likely be enough to topple whatever you're trying to kill.  Scorch is in the same boat as Taint and doesn't even have the courtesy of being a Quick Action (I wouldn't mind trying it out in my Kindling Skarn deck though).  Skewer is much better: 3-for-3 at Quick Speed that can bolt your opponent if you manage to snipe a low-defense utility troop like Windspeaker.  Staggering Blast is a reserves option against Spiders and a potential finisher for a speedy deck.  Volley of Arrows is incredibly expensive and situational, but it can be a stalemate breaker in a clogged board.  Tribal Warfare is a windmill slam, capable of gunning down every one of your opponent's troops in a single turn.  Playing with Fire is a unique pick that could really pressure your opponent on a curve or not do a single thing.  You have to draft/build around it, and in Draft that is much easier to do, but if you have a good chunk of 5+ drops in your deck it's worth considering.

For Sapphire, you have a couple options for dealing with raw damage but little for dealing with utility.  Cripple isn't bad if you plan on flying over your opponent but it doesn't deal with any toughness attached to that troop.  Incubation Webs is a quality removal card, particularly for control decks since it will serve you better the longer the game goes, providing the chance for chump blockers/win conditions every turn thereafter (if the Spider Eggs get shuffled in every turn it's even better against Prophecy).  Windspeaker is a bit like Wind Whisperer from Shards of Fate, though requires Sapphire-Diamond to start shutting opposing troops down every turn.  Suffocate is expensive for a Countermagic, and the extra eggs probably don't justify the cost, but if you have enough Quick Troops to justify passing with four resources up it might be worth considering.

Wild has more tricks than removal, but there are a few cards of note.  Predatory Prey is expensive as hell, but can remove a big troop of your opponent and give you two extra power on your attack in.  Return to the Soil is very strong if you can find a target for it, which may be a little more difficult without Construction Plans and Pterobots making the rounds, but the raw card advantage should give you strong consideration for including it in your Sealed main.  Stinkhorn Soup is a very nasty combat trick that readies and makes Lethal one of your troops for the turn, though unless you have decent defense or swiftstrike it's pure card disadvantage.  Vine Lash is good against Flight decks from the reserves, but is likely too narrow for Gauntlet Sealed.  In the rares there are some dinosaurs, Carnasaurus and Crocosaur, that can fight when they enter play, but require a heavy Wild threshold investment if you want to play them on curve.  Scorn of Oberon (another rare) can be a blowout in the right situation.  Quick Speed reversion, artifact destruction, or constant destruction is probably enough to at least justify the cost, but the ability to do two or even all three for only three resources is very enticing.

Overall I think there are some very strong removal options for many of the shards, and it will be interesting to see how they fare with the new mechanics of the set.  I'll be back next week with some card reviews, and maybe an update on Guild Wars 2 or Offworld Trading Company (which I snagged during the Steam Sale this week).  Have a great weekend!

The Telltale Stark

This article contains Minor Spoilers for the First Episode of the Telltale Game of Thrones video game and for the song of Ice & Fire series.

You may have first heard of Telltale Games through The Walking Dead series.  These games are essentially visual novels, where you are asked to make decisions for characters at certain points in time, often under the pressure of a timer.  Aside from the occasional quick time event, your "success" or "failure" often comes down to the consequences of these decisions.  I was never a huge fan of The Walking Dead so I passed on picking it up, but when I heard there was a Game of Thrones version coming out earlier this month it caught my interest.  The genre had finally been meshed with subject matter I could really get behind, and after the first chapter, I wasn't disappointed.

The game is broken down into six episodes which are released periodically to form the entire story.  During the first episode you take control of three characters related to the Forrester House, bannermen to the Starks during the War of the Five Kings which occupies the majority of the second and third books of the series.  Gared Tuttle, squire to Lord Gregor Forrester is serving alongside the Stark army when he is forced back to Ironrath, the seat of House Forrester, with a grim message for his Uncle Duncan, the castellan.  Gared is a young man of humble beginnings, relatively unskilled at swordplay but knowledgeable of combat from his time as squire.  Much of the swordplay and "combat" is concentrated in his storyline.  

However fans of Game of Thrones should know the tension in the series doesn't always come at the edge of a sword, but at the tip of a tongue.  Balancing diplomacy and deceit among a cast of characters that each have their own agenda is part of the political intrigue in GoT, and to play is first-hand got my heart racing.  While Gared's decisions often revolve around loyalty and honor, the duplicitous nature of Westeros politics takes precedence in the other two characters of the first episode.  

Ethan Forrester is the third son of Lord Gregor, but is forced into the role of leading the house in his father and elder brother's absence.  He is surrounded by competent men who each have their own opinions on the best form of leadership, including the diplomatic Castellan Duncan, the stoic Maester Ortengryn, and the stubborn master-at-arms Ser Royland.  Who you choose to take council from in critical moments will shape the young leader, and there are plenty of critical moments for Ethan and House Forrester as he tries to navigate his family through a sea of shifting alliances.

Mira is called before Cersei & Tyrion in King's Landing.

Ethan's older sister Mira is handmaiden to Margeary Tyrell, the betrothed of King Joffrey Baratheon.  While Ethan has the backing of his ancestral family lineage behind his decisions, Mira is in uncharted territory at King's Landing.  There are eyes and ears everywhere, and several characters have something to offer her... if she can trust them.  Her mother writes to her hoping she can pull some strings with Margeary to benefit House Forrester in these troubled times, but from the onset of her storyline it becomes apparent that task will be nowhere near easy.  Within minutes of adopting Mira's character she is called before Queen Regeant Cersei Lannister to vouch for her family's loyalty to the crown.  Cersei hurls volley after volley at Mira in quick succession, all in the presence of Margeary and Tyrion Lannister, Master of Coin.  It's one of the most tense moments in game, and the part I most want to replay for fear I may have inadvertently pissed of the wrong person, without even being fully aware of it.  So much is said in the sideways glances and the silence between decisions that even when I'm pretty sure I emerged unscathed, I'm left with doubt.  You may know if your answers pleased Cersei from the prompts in the upper-left of the screen, but what does Margeary really think of how you handled yourself?  Or Tyrion?  And what of your fellow handmaiden Sera, is she to be trusted?

One of the criticisms I've seen in the forums of the first episode is that none of your decisions bear consequential fruit right away.  The episode's thrilling end is the same regardless of your decisions, though with five more episodes to come, it's certain the choices highlighted at the end will affect the story in the future, such as Ethan's punishment for a man accused of thievery.  Even innocuous decisions such as whether to pocket a key weigh on my mind.  What implications could this have down the road?  Will I encounter some door I can't open without it?  Will someone notice the key is gone and suspect me or treachery?

An early concern I had about the game was that it would shoehorn in popular characters from the show just for the sake of having them in there.  However the retinue in King's Landing weaves itself perfectly into the personal plot of the Forresters, without detracting from the main plot set forth in the books.  The voice acting is solid and adds to the tension if you're a fan of the television adaptation, since you know the wrong word at a particular moment could mean a beheading (or debearding).  If you're concerned that the story will be mired in King's Landing and Ironrath, worry not.  There are still two more playable characters in the overall series that haven't been introduced, including the exiled Asher Forrester in Essos, where Daenerys Targaryen is becoming a rising star in Slaver's Bay.  There's also good reason to believe we'll be seeing the Night's Watch of The Wall, though more than that I won't say.

I picked the game up on sale over Steam, and I'm really eager to play the second episode, slated to release in January, in the hopes of finally seeing some of the consequences of my decisions.  Fans of the show to consider this game, particularly if they enjoyed The Walking Dead or visual novels, though those unfamiliar with Game of Thrones might be lost a bit regarding some of the more important events in the game.  The first episode clocked in around two-and-a-half hours for me, and with five more to go that means a full playthrough will be the better part of a day.  

Shattered Destiny Release Weekend Primer

Shattered Destiny is officially out for Hex!  Kickstarter Backers have received some free boosters to get a jump on their collections, and new items are available from Shattered Destiny chests on the Wheels of Fate, including sleeves, alternate art cards, PvE cards, and equipment!  In addition to all that, this weekend (Friday through Monday) there will be special promos given out for players who participate in Draft and Sealed queues, which will use Shattered Destiny boosters exclusively!  

If you plan on participating in a release tournament, here are some requisite links you'll want to check out to get caught up if you haven't logged in since the patch dropped Tuesday:

• Shattered Destiny Release Tournaments: Overview of the tournaments and prize payout, as well as the alternate art cards to participants and winners.
• Shattered Destiny Card List: All of the nearly 250 new cards found in Shattered Destiny, as well as five new champions available for deck construction.
• Known Issues Thread: Compiled forum post featuring all the bugs that have come up with the latest patch, including card specific bugs you should be aware of for limited play.

Even with the patch a few days old, there are already quite a few articles discussing card evaluation, strategy, and deck construction from various fan sites (Five Shards in particular has a very in-depth card review).  You can find links to these in the Hex subreddit or in the Strategy Forum on the official message boards.  Since the patch launched I've jumped into a handful of drafts utilizing the new general format (2-2-1).  Though drafts and sealed events this weekend will use only Shattered Destiny boosters, I thought I'd give returning players who maybe haven't logged in for a while an overview of some things they can expect from Shattered Destiny so as not to be at too great a disadvantage this weekend.  This isn't meant to be an exhaustive list, but some general tips and early impressions I've gathered from the time I've had to test the cards first hand.

1. Removal is much different in Shattered Destiny.

In Shards of Fate, players wouldn't hold too much attachment to their troops since an Inner Conflict, Repel, or Murder could easily nullify even the bulkiest of beaters.  In Shattered Destiny, the removal is much more number focused.  Diamond in particular has much worse options than it did in Shards of Fate, having to rely on Meek as their only common removal action, which won't be able to oust anything truly threatening.  Two of the best common removal actions, Crackling Bolt and Crackling Rot, are defense based and won't easily be able to deal with anything that has a particularly sizable rump, such as Bastion of Adamanth.  When you venture into the uncommons and rares, you get more general removal like Immortal Decree and Dishonerable Death, though these come with a high resource investment though, so don't rely on them for stopping your opponent's early aggression.  

One of the keywords featured in Shattered Destiny, Lethal, makes up for this a bit.  Cards like Killblade of the Milky Eye and Lethal Weapons are common cards that use the ability, which will allow the Letahl troop to destroy any opposing troop it damages.  This can be effective for punching through damage or forcing your opponent to hold back a big troop.  This makes evasion all the more important when facing off against decks that have cards like this in their arsenal.

2. Tri-Shard decks are more viable, and sometimes encouraged.

With the lack of threshold fixing in Shards of Fate players would often have to resign themselves to choosing two shards and sticking with them.  Shattered Destiny offers much more options for splashing a third shard into your deck with the cycle of uncommon Dual-Threshold Resources and cards like Immortal Tears that can search up a standard resource from your deck.  Getting the uncommon Resources later in a draft can be tricky, particularly the Shard of Innovation since both Dwarf and Human players have reason to take it.  Humans is at the front of the line among archetypes that most encourage you to spread into a third shard.  Uncommon troops like Royal Enforcer and Royal Valkyr can be devastating if you can manage your resources, and the Vanguards of Cerulea and Gawaine are solid troops to fall back on if you aren't super confident going full tri-shard and simply want to splash the third, relying on two main shards to get you through the majority of your games.

3. Familiarize yourself with Tunneling cards and costs.

One of the general things you want to do to prep for a big limited tournament is to familiarize yourself with Quick Actions and effects.  This lets you prepare for combat tricks and removal spells your opponent can play (given the resources they have available) so you can plan your attacks and plays effectively.  In Shattered Destiny, you not only want to familiarize yourself with Quick Actions, but also with tunneling troops.  This way, when your opponent sends something under on turn two you'll go from "That could be anything!" to "Okay, that could be one of a handful of troops."  There are about two dozen tunneling troops spread across four shards (every one but Diamond) and a few artifacts.  Most of them take between one and four turns to pop out from underground, and each of them will be able to attack the turn they emerge.  Prepping an attack or defense can be even more difficult with the effects that trigger when some of these subterranean saboteurs emerge from underground.  The Launchpad Specialist can give an allied troop +1/+1 and Flight when it emerges, and the Wakizashi Ambusher, which can eighty-six a troop with less defense than its power.  Additionally, cards like the Ambusher and Grave Nibbler can get stronger that they would have been when a troop above ground dies.  What might be a reckless attack by your opponent could really be a scheme to make their underground troops more powerful when they emerge.  The effects vary from shard to shard, so knowing what your opponent could have underground is incredibly important to your overall strategy.  

One other thing to note is that you can't seem to choose the order you want troops to emerge from underground.  This was frustrating to one of my opponents who tried to time a Launchpad Specialist and Excavation Hulk.  The Specialist emerged first and failed to use its ability, followed by the much less happy 4/4. 

4. Expect to see new Champions.

One of the things that caught me off guard in my first draft was how strong some of the new champions are.  The Shin'hare in particular are truly terrifying, with the Wild-based Fuzzuko giving all your troops a +1/+1 boost for five charges and the Blood-infused Bunoshi sacrificing a lesser troop to give another a +2/+2 boost for three charges.  Both of these effects are permanent, and put the buffs from previous champs you might be familiar with (like Palamedes) to shame.  There is also a renewed focus on champion powers through the number of cards that gain you extra charges or trigger effects whenever you gain a charge.  Charge Hulk and Inductocopter Bot, as well as an entire set of Crackling cards are just a few of the cards you can use to give your champion some extra mojo.  You might need these extra charges to afford some of the more expensive, but powerful charge powers, such as Daughter of Stars, which at the steep cost of ten charges will return every opposing troop to your opponents hand, giving you an opening to attack through for the win. 

5. You might deck yourself... or your opponent.

Milling was a bit of a wonky strategy in Set 1, usually requiring you to play cards that had little impact on the board outside of their mill effect like Twisted Fate or Spawn of Othuyeg.  In Shattered Destiny, there are some sizeable troops that can help you survive while you slowly chew your opponent's deck away.  Dementia Daisies and the Neophyte of Xarlox can play defense and resist most removal actions while also taking chunks away from your opponent's deck.  Murmurs From The Void is an expensive constant that can act as hard removal for a troop by bouncing it to the top of the deck and then forcing your opponent to discard the top five cards from their deck.  All of these cards could easily find their way into a Sapphire or Blood Sealed Deck, a much slower format than draft.  Drafters can harness the power of these mill effects and build around them with Typhoon Galleon, an uncommon troop that gets stronger whenever a card enters an opposing graveyard, be it from the battlefield or the deck.  Nin the Shadow is also still available as a champion for players who want to dedicate themselves to a draft strategy.

Of course, you'll want to have some luck on your side as well.  There are 18 legendary cards hiding in Shattered Destiny boosters, and more than a few are insanely powerful, including three dragons that can quickly end the game if not dealt with.  Good luck this weekend with your drafts, sealed pools, and the Wheels of Fate spins you will inevitably pour your hard-earned gold into!

Card images from Hex TCG Browser.

Build-A-Civilization Workshop

  One of the major changes to Civilization: Beyond Earth from its predecessor Civ5 is the wealth of diversity players get in crafting the bonuses they start the game with.  Previously your unique abilities, units, and buildings were all tied to your civilization, which can vary significantly in power level (Babylon, I'm looking at you).  In Beyond Earth however, you aren't following history, you're creating it!  As such, rather than being saddled with a package of unique abilities, players will choose from among a list of starting bonuses, including an augmented spaceship, specialized colonists, and helpful cargo to help them survive the alien planet.  Since the release of Beyond Earth is only about two weeks away, I wanted to theorycraft some ideas about how I want my start to look on my ventures into space opening weekend, which I will be streaming on my Twitch Channel.

One of the starting screens featuring spaceship augmentation options.

Sponsors

Sponsors are the eight major earth nations you can get to fund your expedition.  Each offers a strong passive ability that will influence your overall strategy throughout the game.

African Union: +10% Food in growing Cities when Healthy

The African Union has a simple but effective buff to growing your cities, increasing your population and the amount of land you can use.  This civilization will promote you to play tall, with a few heavily populated, well positioned cities.  Ensuring that your cities are well positioned will require careful consideration with you Spacecraft augmentation, such as Retrograde Thrusters or Tectonic Scanners.  I plan on picking the African Union for my first play through, just to ensure I can have a strong capital against the often front-settling AI.

American Reclamation Corporation: Covert Operations are 25% faster and cause 25% more Intrigue.

The ARC is all about using spies to gain advantages over their allies.  The intrigue level of a city increases the ease of covert ops, in addition to the types of covert ops you can perform, from stealing technology to staging a coup.  This seems like it will be a lot of fun in Multiplayer Games where you can just continuously hamper a particular opponent or pick off weak players.  While I won't get as much joy from wrecking the computer as I would my friends, the range of bonuses you can get from covert ops can be pretty beneficial in the long game, and the ARC bonuses can get you off the ground that much faster.

Brasilia: Units have +10% Strength in Melee Combat.

Here's the military sponsor, and the guy I will instantly be nervous about landing near me.  I typically don't like to play military, especially near the AI in Civ5 because they get bonuses to combat at higher difficulty, which makes up for their fairly bad tactics.  Whether the tactical decisions of the AI have improved or not, Brasilia can be very intimidating with the Might virtue bonuses tacked on.  Managing your technologies to get strong troops within your affinity will be very interesting for Brasilia, so if I plan on building a gigantic Alien Harmony Militia or a Cyron Supremacy Army I'll probably be rocking Brasilia while I do.  Weapon Arsenal & Lifeform Sensors seem like good bonuses if you want to impress your presence on the native aliens in the early game.

Franco-Iberia: Gain a free Technology for every 10 Virtues developed.

Franco-Iberia benefits from churning out heavy culture to get Virtues.  The free technology can be very helpful is you time your tenth virtue when your near the edge of an expensive technology you can just claim.  The bad part is you will probably only get to use this passive twice per game.  Since the Knowledge virtue tree seems to specialize in both Culture and Science, incorporating it seems very beneficial for Franco-Iberia, as is choosing Artists as your Colonists, granting you extra culture and health in every city.

Kavithan Protectorate: Outposts develop into cities 50% faster.

Outposts are 0-Population Cities that your Colonists found, and are very weak initially.  Getting these outposts off the ground and running into full-fledged cities is very important, especially in the early game, so the Kavithan's ability to do this quickly is strong for strategies that plan on gobbling up land quickly and spreading the arms of their empire wide.  The difficulty here will likely be health, which is the expansion ceiling in Beyond Earth.  Picking up Aristocrats or Artists as Colonists will aid the health of every city, while the Laboratory will give you the Pioneering Technology, and with it the ability to build colonists right away

Pan-Asian Cooperative: +10% Production towards Wonders, and 25% Worker Speed.

Because the tech web spreads your options, you might not be in a Wonder Race with other players as much as you would be in Civ5.  But since a majority of victory conditions require the building of wonders, this ability can shave precious turns of time away from achieving victory. The bonus to worker improvements is also very valuable for wide civilizations for cultivating the land quickly.  I'd probably combine with Engineers in Colonists you can generate a very strong production bonus.

Polystralia: Cities able to send Trade Routes may send one more Trade Route than normal.

Polystralia would probably like to be close to other civilizations, since their ability to generate extra trade routes will become more powerful the more Stations that are around.  The downside of this is that you don't always have control over the stations that pop up near you, and in the early game you will want to send your trade routes to these to reap the rewards.  This does fit into my general multiplayer strategy of trade my way to victory, so I can definitely see Polystralia becoming one of my favorite choices.  Since trade routes cannot go through Miasma, choosing an affinity that deals with that quickly will probably be key.  Continental Surveyor is good choice of Spacecraft since knowing how much continent you have to work with for your trade network will be important.

Slavic Federation: Orbital Units stay in orbit 20% longer; First satellite grants a free Technology.

Satellites are an interesting new mechanic of Civilization that can enhance the energy yield of tiles beneath your city, or be used offensively to cripple enemy units.  Since Satellites can be found by explorers early in the game, this free tech can come out very quickly, giving the Slavic Federation a powerful early game advantage while also saving them production turns since the satellites that are sent up stay up longer.  I haven't looked too much into the orbital options, but this seems like an interesting choice since it compliments many different play styles.

Colonists

Colonists are the type or class of citizens that will be boarding your expedition.  They will have great sway in your cities and will grant bonuses to each city.  These effects are persistent throughout the game, though they don't vary too much, so I won't go into strategies involving them.  I have referenced them in the other categories though as far as combining them to serve overarching strategies, such as PAC Engineers for excellent Production or African Union Refugees for incredible Food growth.

Scientists: +2 Science in every city.

Refugees: +2 Food in every city.

Aristocrats: +3 Energy and +1 Health in every city.

Engineers: +2 Production in every city.

Artists: +2 Culture and +1 Health in every city.

Spacecraft

Augmentations to your spacecraft will grant you a strategic advantage related to the map.  These will impact where you expand and how quickly you expand by giving you greater information or agency over the map.

Continental Surveyor: Reveals coasts on the map.

Knowing where all the coastlines are gives you early access to knowledge involving how much space you have to spread out to and in which directions there will likely be contested borders.  Coastal cities will also let you know if a city can be attacked from the coast or if you can establish sea trade routes.  Polystralia is a Sponsor that I think pairs particularly well with this augmentation, since they can spam trade routes, and will probably benefit from coastal cities.

Retrograde Thrusters: Wider area for choosing where to land your first city.

First impressions make Thursters seem like a very strong augmentation.  Normally when you start the game you have a space plus a single ring of space to choose where to land (7 hexes).  Thrusters gives you two rings worth of space to choose where to land, which I believe ups the total to 19 hexes, barring canyons or impassible terrain.  As much as I enjoy it, you're still working with limited information if you take one of the outer ones.  More often than not you're only identifying terrain you don't want to work in your city when positioning with Thrusters an positioning away from it.  If the prime capital is central to your plan, Thrusters is worth it, but I'm not totally sold on this being strictly better than other options.

Tectonic Scanners: Reveals Petroleum, Geothermal, and Titanium resources.

These are strategic resources that requires Ring 1 Technologies to reveal.  Finding them on the map from the outset can give you a pretty strong advantage in early scouting and colonization, knowing which areas you need to prioritize above others and giving you a jump start on your tech path.  It should be noted that you still need to respective technologies to build the Geothermal Wells and Petroleum Wells, but knowing what is nearby can let you prioritize them.  I actually like this augment a lot more than I should, and I'll probably end up starting with this the most often, just because I think it gives you the most important information early on.

Fusion Reactor: Start with 100 Energy.

This is pretty bland.  Most people will use early gold to either get a jump start on a building purchase or to buy some early land grabs.  Maybe this is good at high level play when you are micromanaging, but for most of my games I probably won't even consider it unless there's a particular building I want to rush. 

Lifeform Sensor: Reveals Alien Nests on map.

This is pretty good for knowing which areas on the map to avoid, or at the very least which ones you'll need to send the army in to pacify.  I could see myself picking it up when I want to go military and shove the aliens out of the way, or to check which borders I need to worry about.  I want to mess around with the aliens a bit and how best to exploit them before I weigh in on this heavily, but it seems up there with Tectonic Scanners for important information.

Cargo

Cargo will impact your start by giving you a straight up advantage over your opponents.

Hydroponics: Begin with one extra population in your first city.

Extra population is good, and this might actually be a reason to start Fusion Reactor since you'll want to make sure you have two good tiles for your citizens to work.  This can really help you jump-start a gigantic capital if you plan on going tall of just give you a head start.

Laboratory: Begin with Pioneering Technology.

Pioneering if the initial leaf tech that lets you produce colonists and trade convoys.  If you plan on going wide, or expanding early, this is a pretty solid choice since you'll save quite a bit of time on the tech investment.  Balancing health and aliens with early expansion will likely be difficult early games, so getting the full benefit will require some practice on my part.

Raw Materials: Begin with a Clinic in your first city.

The Clinic provides Health and Science, which will let you get through techs more quickly early on while also granting health to offset early growth.  Since you'll probably be building the Clinic early on anyways, this will mostly just save you the 60 Production Cost early on.

Weapon Arsenal: Begin with a Soldier unit.

Soldiers have a lower production cost than Workers or Clinics, but the additional man power will help you deal with aggressive aliens, or escort colonists and explorers outside you borders.  Aristocrats would help you fund an early army, which in turn will give you greater control over the map.

Machinery: Begin with a Worker unit.

This is another 60 Production saved, but you'll get to start cultivating the land immediately.  If you can defend the worker he'll probably be better than the Clinic since the bonuses you get from improved tiles will greatly outweigh the static benefits of the Clinic.

Potential Starting Strategies

Miracle Grow: African Union, Refugees, Retrograde Thursters, Hydroponics

This is the start for Hyper-Magan, a giant AU capital.  Depending on Health options early on, selecting the Clinic or Artists might be more prudent, but the ability to grow the city as quickly as possible is too tempting to avoid, particularly if you get a strong start.  

Super PAC: Pan-Asian Cooperative, Engineers, Tectonic Scanners, Machinery

This start focuses on improving the map as quickly as possible, abusing the PAC's increased Worker speed with a starting worker and increases to production to out-hammer your opponents.

Amazon Army: Brasilia, Aristocrats, Lifeform Sensor, Weapon Arsenal

Get your army off the ground quickly with funding from your aristocrats, find the aliens, and eviscerate them!  Can be combined with Prosperity/Might virtue trees for added growth and military power for a particularly scary early game foe.

Kavithan Sprawl: Kavithan Protectorate, Artists, Continental Surveyor, Laboratory

This start will probably let you spam out Colonists as quickly as possible, starting with the Lab and Artists to give you extra health to offset early expansion.  The artists will also increase your culture output so you can acquire free colonists and growth from Prosperity, or increased production bonuses from Industry.  

There's a bunch of cool strategies I can't wait to try out against the AI, and once I get a few games under my belt I'll share some of my starts and strategies, incorporating Techs, Virtues, and Affinities as well.  Next week I will try to sit down and write up a Hex article.  Hopefully tournaments will be back up for me to stream also.  If you have a starting combo you're looking to try out, share it in the comments.  Until then.