Lone Signal

Blog

  • Reboot

    I’ve decided on a more definite direction for this little blog, though I’m loath to erase the earlier blog posts on this site (few and scattered though they are). Those old posts will stay up; let’s tally those as the early steps in the endless process of a blog’s development.

    But what am I trying to turn this into, anyway?

    As early as the 15th century, people have kept commonplace books as a way not only to record but to digest ideas and influences. In what I’d like to believe is a continuation of this tradition, C. Wright Mills, writing on the subject of intellectual craftsmanship, stresses the value of keeping a file or journal for “systematic reflection.” Animating these practices is a simple but powerfully relevant idea: it is one thing to read1Or listen, or watch, or consume in any other way, as the case might be.; it is quite another to understand. These days especially, with the glut of information and material begging for attention and consumption, it’s easy to fall into the habit of skimming, of simply acquainting oneself with the surface of a concept or issue and calling that knowledge.

    But understanding, as I’ve come to realize, can’t be built from a collection of soundbites. People say that one can only give simple, clear explanations when there is full understanding of the large and complex issues to be explained; what we often fail to realize is that grabbing the catchiest points isn’t the same thing. I’d like this blog to be a document of the constant struggle to move from the latter to the former — of the attempt to probe deeper into ideas, concepts, matters that grab my attention, essentially.

    I am writing mostly for myself; as I noted above, the aim is to think out loud rather than to write for an audience. The fact remains, though, that this is all on a public blog. I don’t mind. Here’s hoping that sifting through my posts will also be worth some small fraction of any potential reader’s time.

  • Revisiting Netrunner

    In her Run Better tip on the Fetal AI website, Ohio-based competitive Android: Netrunner player Ellen Biscotti writes:

    Play your tournament decks consistently. … I usually play terribly the first few games with a new deck. After that, I play it pretty well, but it takes many games before I start to really feel confident with the nuances of a deck, like scoring windows, ice placement, or timing my runs. If I didn’t stick with decks, I would never know how well I could do with them.

    Since diving into earnest Netrunner play around a year ago, I’ve been playing the same factions and roughly the same decks. Biscotti’s advice agrees with my own experiences and underscores one of the things I love about the Living Card Game (LCG) format and Netrunner specifically: Unlike games like Magic: The Gathering, datapacks in Netrunner have standard contents, meaning players theoretically build from the same card pool. There are no “chase cards” or pockets of extraordinarily powerful/rare cards accessible only to players with the cash to spend, the occasional unavailability of certain data packs notwithstanding. As such, Netrunner game outcomes aren’t determined so much by specific cards or decks as they are by players’ piloting abilities; a beginner armed with a Tier 1 deck isn’t guaranteed a win against a Worlds Top 8 player who’s using subpar cards.

    I point this out because, as I’ve said earlier, I’ve been playing the same decks since starting Netrunner a year ago. This includes using an NBN deck that runs the Making News identity, which comes with the Android: Netrunner Core Set.

    NBN: Making News

    Agenda (9)
    3x AstroScript Pilot Program
    2x Priority Requisition
    2x Private Security Force
    2x Project Beale

    Asset (8)
    2x Daily Business Show
    2x Jackson Howard
    2x Marked Accounts
    2x PAD Campaign

    Upgrade (2)
    2x Red Herrings

    Operation (16)
    2x Closed Accounts
    3x Hedge Fund
    2x Midseason Replacements
    2x Psychographics
    2x Punitive Counterstrike ••••
    2x Scorched Earth ••••• •••
    3x Sweeps Week

    Barrier (3)
    3x Eli 1.0 •••

    Code Gate (6)
    3x Pop-up Window
    2x RSVP
    1x Tollbooth

    Sentry (5)
    3x Data Raven
    2x Guard

    15 influence spent (max 15)
    20 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
    49 cards (min 45)
    Cards up to All That Remains

    Deck built on http://netrunnerdb.com

    NBN as a Corporation faction has been one of the powerhouses in the recent meta, especially with the rise of NEH: Near-Earth Hub (an ID from the Upstalk datapack) and the attendant kill decks. The release of Data & Destiny also introduced new NBN IDs, each of which has seen frequent use and even the development of certain archetypes (see: Spark Agency and its brand of econ denial). My point is that there’s a wealth of decent-to-good NBN IDs out there, and — due to my limited card pool — I’m not using any of them.

    Has that harmed my Netrunner experience?

    It’s 2015 and I’m still Making News

    No. In fact, my Corp deck has had a good win rate since I’ve started using it, which I take as an example of how forgiving Netrunner is to people who play despite not having all of the released cards. Mine is not an optimal deck list by any means. My core strategies – score easily advanceable agendas, and/or kill the Runner who tries to steal them – aren’t novel or groundbreaking. I’m inclined to think this deck would work better with, say, a few agenda swaps, Fast Track subbing for Red Herrings, maybe even just a switch from Making News to NEH. But I’ve still won many of my games with this deck, and I cite that as one of the reasons why I love Netrunner. It’s a well-designed game, and the proof is in how players are allowed their successes even without having all of the cards (and certainly not all of the “good” ones).

    Granted, I’ve mostly played against the 3-6 friends with whom I’ve established a weekly Netrunner group (this doubles as our meta), but I’d like to think this situation also illustrates the truth of Biscotti’s advice. Thanks to our regular games, my opponents have seen all of my deck’s tricks and have had the opportunity to tech against those tricks. I’ve managed to keep winning because, in that same period, I’ve also had the opportunity to suss out the nuances of playing this particular deck and figure out how to play it beyond relying merely on unknown/unexpected cards.

    There’s a healthy competitive scene in the metro, and I’ve actually been to a Game Night once, though only as a spectator. I’m hoping to change that this year. I’d like to take an NBN deck, and will likely be taking this one, give or take a few tweaks. The addition of newer datapacks and deluxe boxes to our group’s common card pool gives me more options for improving this particular list, so I’ll be working on that. Keeping Biscotti’s advice in mind, though, I don’t think there will be any fundamental changes to the deck’s core strategies in the near future.