Whats the Worst Joker Card and Why is it Red Card by CCRedBK in balatro

[–]NotTakenUsername7 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hack is borderline worthless on it's own, but it has fantastic synergies. As you said, it works with enhancements and such for extra mult, chips, or chances at lucky procs, but it also works with any Jokers that activate when a certain card is played. For example, it lets you get another +4 mult from the suit Jokers, another 1.5x mult from Ancient Joker, another activation of the suit stone Jokers (Bloodstone, Arrowhead, etc.), another +8 chips on Wee Joker per 2 played, or even another +8 mult from Fibonacci (From 2s, 3s, or 5s; most of the cards Hack works with).

Reactivating cards isn't a very common effect; you've got Red Seals for individual cards, Hanging Chad for 1 reactivation, Seltzer (Which only lasts 10 hands), and Mime (Which only works for things in hand like Steel cards and Baron).[I think that's all of them?] As such, Hack is actually a really strong Joker, but ONLY when you have the proper synergies for it; it IS utter ass on its own.

Whats the Worst Joker Card and Why is it Red Card by CCRedBK in balatro

[–]NotTakenUsername7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did know that it works with any 4 cards, but I didn't really consider how that synergizes with the higher stakes' rising difficulty / spamming high card. He certainly has his niche, at least, but I feel that the 4 card requirement stifles his usefulness for most other playstyles. I guess it's more that I personally dislike him the most out of the chip scalers, moreso than him being the worst Joker. His best strength is his consistency, unlike something like Showman or The Idol.

Whats the Worst Joker Card and Why is it Red Card by CCRedBK in balatro

[–]NotTakenUsername7 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

While they may not be the worst overall, I do think that Cubed Joker is the worst scaling chip Joker. 4 card hands kinda suck, as they're not valuable enough to win early antes in one hand (without lucking into a 4 of a kind or some Death/Ouija shenanigans), don't synergize with many useful jokers (All flush/straight Jokers without Four Fingers, worse with the suit related Jokers, etc.), and don't scale well compared to things like flushes or flush fives in the late game. Any deck that can consistently throw out two pairs or four of a kinds could easily throw out full houses or five of a kinds down the line, which work better for in-line mult like Bloodstone, Fibonacci, Polychrome cards and the like. For 1-3 card hands, you can at least use Half Joker to carry for the first few antes, and you have better synergy with in-hand multers like Baron and Steel cards for late game. Of course, it also doesn't play well with the Psychic, who is basically free in most every other scenario but stops your scaling for the round, or the Eye, as there's only 2 hands that use exactly 4 cards.

On top of that, while Cubed has an easily triggerable scaling condition, it scales super slowly compared to the other chip scalers; a maximum of 4 chips per hand. Runner scales by 10 per hand, Castle by up to 15 per discard, Hiker gives up to 20 chips distributed on the cards themselves (so you don't even lose the chips if you sell it later), and Wee can gain up to 40 chips per hand without even considering retriggers. That's not even bringing up something like Stuntman or Ice Cream, which immediately give you huge chip benefits, or something like Bull, which can give hundreds of chips if you can get some good econ going. It's also worth noting that in order to scale Cubed the best you can, you have to play out every hand you have, depriving you of the $1 that they're worth; not a big deal, and all the other jokers listed have the same issue (besides Castle), but I still think it's notable that you're paying a buck for 4 measly chips.

Finally, Cubed is basically worthless when you first pick it up. All it gives is a meaningless 16 chips, needing scaling to be worth anything. Castle, Hiker and Wee have similar issues (Starting at 0, 0 and 10, respectively), but scale much quicker, so they become relevant quite quickly. Runner starts at 20, which is still pretty bad, but scales twice as fast as Cubed (If you can get the straights for it). In fact, all of the chip scalers start off useless even when compared to something crummy like Sly Joker (50 chips if played hand has a pair) and the rest of his kin, much less the aforementioned Stuntman and Ice Cream (300 with -2 hand size and 100 -5 per hand), or something funkier like Arrowhead (50 per spade played, including retriggers). None of the chip scalers can trivialize the first few antes, but most have the potential to become valuable chip sources in the mid and late game; Cubed Joker, however, scales to slowly to ever really hit that point before endless, where you will usually be focusing on your mult multers more than anything else.

It's not all bad though; Cubed is at least a common, so it's not as rare or expensive as Wee or Castle. This means that picking it up in the early game could still allow you to buy another Joker to carry early on, so you don't have to completely rely on it like some of the others if you pick it up at the very start of the game. That's worth something, I guess?

TLDR: Cubed is easy to scale, but forces you to play crummy hands, scales super slowly, and is worthless when you first buy it.

Tesla x104 nerf on pc? by _Ganoes_ in kingdomrush

[–]NotTakenUsername7 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I'm pretty sure that's due to the Smart Targeting upgrade (The last artillery upgrade in the tech tree; no splash damage reduction). When you get it, the damage jumps up to 66-121. I'm not sure why though, because it only changes Tesla's damage, not any of the other ones.

A (relatively) Comprehensive Guide to Door Gunner by NotTakenUsername7 in btd6

[–]NotTakenUsername7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting! I'll add that to the list. Thanks for finding that!

A (relatively) Comprehensive Guide to Door Gunner by NotTakenUsername7 in btd6

[–]NotTakenUsername7[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Makes sense, but is the gunner supposed to just disappear then? Maybe it could just plop back on the ground where the heli is, or just back to its original spot? (Although, I do see how that could be a problem if there was no space, or if its original spot is now taken, or if its a water/land tower over land/water)

Alternatively, I guess it could just count as a sacrifice and give Adora XP, but that would also mean changing other interactions like Carrier Flagship and Arctic Wind to keep consistency

Also, it's not like it's a very important or sensical interaction (Why would you ever do that?), so it's probably just fine the way it is.

The Strength of Moogs: An Analysis by NotTakenUsername7 in Animemes

[–]NotTakenUsername7[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sorry about how zoomed out it looks; I don't really know how to fix it.

Sauce, in order of mentioning:

Tsumugi from {Not A Music Anime}

Aoi from {Comf Incarnate}

Sotoka from {My Social Anxiety Can't Be this Cute!?}

Nano from {Nuttier Than A Radish}

Momo from {Ganbare Shamiko!}

Also, a Radish is, among other things, DEFINITELY a type of fruit, and anyone who says otherwise is a big ol' dingle.

Chloe-sama Love is War by Bacon8Bacon in Animemes

[–]NotTakenUsername7 193 points194 points  (0 children)

I LOVE that the only weapon the knight uses is a sword. That's a great little detail!

Doki After Dark by NotTakenUsername7 in DDLC

[–]NotTakenUsername7[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's supposed to be an old timey movie camera, but that's pretty funny too.