Psy Duel: the mini game

[KZ]

TSoG has a more complicated cards mini-game in it, and for those new to it, it might not be quite obvious how to play it and what strategies to use. Thus, some time ago I compiled a quick overview of the game:

"Given that Psy Duel is a bit more complicated to play than Psy War, here is a list of basic actions and a few tips for the strategies.

You start off with 5 cards and each new turn you're given an extra card (unless your pack is full, that usually means that you can't play the cards available and the best strategy is to discard some of them by clicking on the rubbish bin and clicking on the cards you want to dispose of, then clicking again on the rubbish bin, to go back into normal selection mode).
Your and your opponents HP is 15 at the beginning of the game.

First of all, you can play more than one card during a single turn. There are essentially three types of cards: 1/3 of the pack are "merchants" and "smugglers", they provide different types of money (gold and silver, it seems) with which you can buy minions who can deal damage to your opponent's health; minions, up to 5 of which you can place on the board (you can place more than one during a single turn if you have enough money for the minions available to you) typically deal damage to your opponent, and their hp and damage they can deal are displayed on the minon card or by scrolling over the minion when it's on the board (the text will be displayed at the top of the screen), there are also special minions who can either augument your hp (the "Healer") or who can deal damage to other minions ("Energy Golem" and "Bowman") and one minion ("Assassin") who dodges attacks aimed at minions by other minions; the PsP cards that either affect the player's hp or affect minions- Pyro Blast, Feedback and Mind Shield belong to the former whilst Cryo Blast and Rage belong to the latter, and if you have enough PsP and two identical PsP cards (e.g. two Mind Shields) you can use them both in one go. Another useful thing to know is that discarding a card will give you 2 PsP.

So, during your first turn use all of the "merchant" and "smuggler" cards availbale to you by clicking on them twice (first click selectes them out of the pack, second click uses the card, if you want to de-select a card just click on another card or the "re-order" arrow above your cards). You'll see number of smugglers and merchants you have oppoiste their heads in your stats section in bottom right corner. Each card provides one gold/silver per turn and the merchant/smuggler will start providing the money on the next turn after you've selected them.

The next step in your first turn is to try and use any PsP cards you migth have:
-Mind Shield costs 3PsP and adds 3 HP
-Feedback costs 5 PsP and removes 3 HP from the opponent and adds 3 HP to you
-Pyro Blast costs 7 PsP and it removes 5 HP from your opponent.
I'd advise using them all in the first turn to gain maximum difference between yours and your opponents HPs.
During the first turn you'd have no use for the other two PsP cards just yet:
-Cryo Blast costs 4 PsP and deals 2 damage to an opponent's minion's health
-Rage costs 2 PsP and incraeses a minion's damage by 1

Click on "Done" to end your first turn.

Then it will be the opponent's turn and Ali will go through the same machinations. Then it will be your turn again, you'll recieve one card per turn (unless your pack is full). Here comes the tricky bit that requires luck: Â the merchants/smugglers should provide you now with gold/silver and you should be able to buy (sometimes that takes a few turns) a minion who could attack the enemy. Just select a card that you can afford, double click and the minion will appear on the board. Say you have 2 gold and a "Bowman" available to you. What you do next is press the "attack" icon and click on the Bowman on the boards (a little sword will appear next to the minion), you have to do that, otherwise the minion will remain idle. Then you click the "done" button ending your turn and your minion attacks. You can select all minions to attack your opponent or none at all if you're experimenting.

These are essentially the basics of the game. Just a few points to note: if you have a "healer", when selected to attack, it will deal 0 damage to the opponent, but will give you two extra HP. A nice combination would be to get a "healer" and then use a "Rage" card on him- this way he'll be healing you and attacking the opponent. Another useful thing is to use an "Energy Golem" or a "Bowman" because what they can do is attack an opponent's minions: if after selecting the "attack" button you click twice on a "Bowman/E.Golem", a little bow and arrow will appear, then click on an opponent's minion you wish to attack. The minion will then attack the opponent's minion instead of the opponent. Only the "Assassin" can't be damaged in that way as it dodges minion's attacks. Don't forget to use "cryo blast" as well- together with a, say, Â "bowman" you can take out a "Psy Fighter" that deals 3 damage.

Last two points to make: currently the enemy doesn't use his bowmen or energy golems to attack your minons (however, it does use cryo blast) and, apparently, in the future it will be possible to cheat at this game.

You're welcome to add your own tips on difficult situations and share your expertise.

Game modification: from now on, you don't lose gold when you don't use it during your turn, it accumulates.
Also, there is now a new PsP card: Dark Vortex, costs 9 PsP and deals 2 damage to all of your opponent's minions."

Also, here you can find the original thread and find what others have said about the mini-game. Feel free to post your thoughts and suggestions on Psy Duel. ;)

For those wondering where to find the mini-game, go to the Ravinale Docks and talk to Ali the Incorrigible, and play the game with him.

[torugo]

its like a telepath version of yugioh except you cant customize your deck you just go with what you got

[cyso]

Actually, it would be nice if you could somehow customize your deck.

[Presentiment]

What makes Ali ante more money?

[Ertxiem]

I think it's personality (but it may be aptitude).

[KZ]

It's personality. With Personality 11, the stake is 55 gold. It increases by 5 gold each time you level up your personality. The maximum stake is around 500 gold, if I remember correctly (a users tried to play the game using the personality cheat).

[MikeW781]

I was dissapointed that Ali's ability to cheat has no effect. Prehaps it could be something minor, related to your Aptitude. For example, at aptitude of 0 Ali always had five cards, but as your aptittude increased he would become wary and steal cards less often

[CraigStern]

Hm?  Ali doesn't cheat.

[MikeW781]

sorry, i meant his shielded mind, which he developed to cheat

[Zhampir]

no he didn't develop it to cheat. It's not an attack. He uses it to keep from being cheated.

[MikeW781]

oops. my b.still, i like the idea that if your aptitude increases enough, the game becomes easier

[ArtDrake]

If you train several levels at the trainer in Psy Power, or Defense, then when you play Psy Duel (you can't close out the window), you either get a lot of Money cards, or a lot of Psy cards, or both. One stat helps one, the other the other. I could be wrong on this. It's just an observed quirk.

A very strongly correlated observed quirk.

[MikeW781]

I am fairly sure thats just random chance

[Ertxiem]

Do the cards in Psy Duel work on a probability basis? I don't see Psy Healers or Fury very often (not on my plate, at least).

There is an actual, virtual "deck" that the game shuffles every time Psy Duel is played; that deck contains a fixed number of each type of card. The deck contains two of every type of card, except for Merchants and Smugglers; the deck contains 9 each of those.

This is interesting because it may help us develop strategies depending on what was played. ;)

[Xemadus Echina]

card counting ftw?