Achievement Rework
August 25, 2018
Hey everyone! I changed the achievement cards just a couple of weeks ago, but some of the new changes have made them due for a revision.
Stud Gov President used to have an effect that allowed you to take clubs from other players for 6 Friends. However, since taking clubs from other players is now a mechanic, it’s been changed to reduce the cost of clubs by 1. This is actually very significant as it allows the purchase of a lot of cheaper clubs to save Friends in the long run. I liked the idea of having stud gov president change possession, allowing players to invest in hoarding Friends to take Stud Gov President the next year. This creates an interesting decision because while Stud Gov President helps you buy clubs, if you buy too many, chances are that another player can take it from you.
The FUN used to cost 5 Stat the first time, and 3 Stats in subsequent attempts. However, it quickly became apparent that someone could get screwed over by repeated poor rolls. I actually kind of like this because it reflects high stakes standardized testing. However, it also meant that a lot of players chose to not take the FUN at all. To make it more worthwhile, I tried a couple of ways to make the FUN easier to take. Increasing the point value of the FUN simply exacerbates the luck problem, forcing players to take a gamble instead of being able to make a calculated decision to focus on other guaranteed areas of gaining RP. Removing the Stat requirement makes the FUN too trivial, and also removes a major Stat sink in Junior/Senior year where an abundance of Stats can be a problem anyway.
The ultimate change was to make the Stat cost to attempt the FUN much smaller after the first attempt. This serves a couple of purposes. Firstly, it will hopefully better reflect the fact that you can take the SAT/ACT as many times as you want until you get a good score. Secondly, it also makes someone who fails the FUN the first time around not have a huge disadvantage over someone who aces it on their first try. Finally, it will hopefully make it worthwhile to take the FUN even without bonuses from event cards or the cheat on the FUN influence card. This way, cards such as Cheat on the FUN or the FUN-boosting event cards aren’t as necessary as there is less to risk over failing.
This card used to have no effect and give 0 RP. A comment I got from almost any player who got that version of the Valedictorian card was that they appreciated the joke, but felt really disappointed that it was not worth any RP. At 3 Resume Points it is still a relevant bonus, but not spectacular enough to base a strategy around. Ultimately, it was always more of a thematic card and so I decided to throw in a joke effect since the card felt empty without it.
What do you think of these changes? Let me know in the comments below! Thanks for reading, and make sure to subscribe if you enjoy this content!