Influent
Overview
Influent is a strategic card game inspired by Gwent. As in the original game, the objective is to win rounds by scoring more points than the opponent by implementing strategies that include unit cards, special cards and abilities that affect your game or your opponents game, and powerful leader abilities.
The game takes up elements from Influence : factions, Arvad Leadership cards with special abilities, units cards with job titles, traits and classes influencing the way they can be played. Units can only be played on specific rows depending on their class (like miners on extraction row or merchant in shipping row, the exception being engineers that can be played on both extraction and production rows) and each unit card's job title is based on its class : for example most of Nurses are miners in Influence (as per the actual distribution) so a Nurse in Influent will be a miner that can be played on extraction row and its potential ability will correspond to traits that a miner could get when doing the Crew Assignments.
Gameplay
Each player start with the same number of cards (10) and will play them each turn until they pass or are out of cards. The score is calculated by adding the strength of all cards on each side of the battelfield. At the end of the round, the player with the highest score wins the round and the first player to win 2 rounds wins the game.
Board
The board is divided in two sides representing the player and their opponent, with 3 rows in each side :
- Extraction row, represented by a square icon. Miners and engineers can be played there.
- Production row, represented by a building icon. Engineers and scientists can be played there.
- Shipping row, represented by a ship icon. Merchants and Pilots can be played there.
Most cards can only be played on one of these rows except cards with Agile ability that can be played on 2 rows. The row on which each card can be placed is represented by its icon below the unit strength.
Cards
There are 3 different kinds of cards :
Leader Cards
Each deck has multiple leader cards but each player can choose only one of them for each game. The card is not placed on the battlefield, it stays on the left side of the board. Each leader has its specific ability that can be used once in the game by clicking on the leader card.
Unit cards
Unit cards are the most used cards in the game. Some of them have one or multiple abilities that can affect you or your opponents game. These abilities are represented by their icon next to the unit strength.
Arvad Leadership cards are neutral cards that can be used in every Alliances deck. Their visual is slightly different with a golden border around their strength and the addition of their name. Arvad Leadership units cannot be affected by any common effects (abilities, weather, special cards) thus their strength will remain the same. The only exception to this rule is specific leader abilities that can affect this kind of card. A maximum of 7 Arvad Leadership units can be used in a deck.
Unit cards are cards that are available for a specific faction. Unlike Arvad Leadership cards, they will be affected by any effect and they are often less powerful but their abilities allow for deadly combos.
Special Cards
Special cards are cards with powerful abilities that can have a significant effect on the game. Their effects can be instant or last during the whole round or unless another effect removes them. Most of these cards are Weather cards that will have an effect on all the units placed on a specific row.
Sensor Jammer: Swap with a card on the battlefield to return it to your hand.
Gravitational Anomaly: Discard after playing. Kills the strongest card(s) on the battlefield.
Dust Storm: Sets the strength of all Extraction row units to 1 for both players.
Meteor Shower: Sets the strength of all Production row units to 1 for both players.
Solar Flare: Sets the strength of all Shipping row units to 1 for both players.
Environmental Control: Removes all Weather Cards (Dust Storm, Meteor Shower and Solar Flare) effects.
Abilities
Abilities are at the heart of gameplay because they allow players to set up potentially different strategies for each game. The key to success is therefore to have a balanced deck that allows for combos, but also to be able to adapt one's strategy based on the AI's gameplay.
Agile: Allows the unit to be placed on the extraction or in the production row.
Builder: When played, find any cards with the same name in the players deck and play them instantly
Experimenter: When placed on the opponent's battlefield (counts towards the opponent's total), allows the player to draw 2 cards from his deck.
Hopeful: Allows the player to choose one card from his discard pile and play it instantly (no Arvad Leadership or Special Cards).
Righteous: When placed on the battlefield, adds +1 to all units in the row (excluding itself).
Communal: When placed next to a card with the same name, double the strength of both cards.
Mogul: Allows the player to draw a card from his opponent's discard pile.
Hauler: Allows the player to restore a card from his discard pile to his hand.
Surveyor: Allows the player to look at 3 random cards from his opponent's hand.
Buster: This unit kills the strongest card(s) on the battlefield.
Operator: When placed, the card will move agile units to whichever valid row maximizes their strength (don't move units already in optimal row).
Fierce: This card destroys the weakest unit(s) on the opposite row.
Alliances
Alliances are inspired by the real alliances formed in Influence. Each alliance has its own gameplay style with specific cards and a special ability that can be active or passive and that will have an impact on the course of the game. Deck balancing is based on the positioning of each alliance in Influence.
First Alliance: First Alliance aims to be the dominant alliance, thus relies most on strong cards and Communal and Hopeful units.
Ability: If a round ends in a draw, First Alliance wins the round.
Stoneguard: Stoneguard is not as powerful as First but compensates by relying heavily on special cards that can affect its opponent game.
Ability: Draw a card from your deck when you win a round.
United Explorers Collective: UEC likes to make cookies. That won't be enough to have any weight in the game.
Ability: 2 random cards from the graveyard are placed on the battlefield at the start of the third round.
