odinsgrandson Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 Well, should I get a brass arachnid, or wait for the mobile toolkit. Also, if anyone feels strongly about pairing Ramos with the Essence of Power, Malifaux Child or Student of Comflict, you can chime in here too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoboStele Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 I honestly haven't used the Brass Arachnid much with Ramos. I own the model, but mostly use it to proxy the Toolkit for the moment, lol. However, the Reactivate is still solid. And if you pull the high enough tomes in the first couple of rounds, and can manage to Reactivate Ramos a couple of times for some extra Spiders, or reactivate a swarm....VERY nice. Once the toolkit is released though, based on the crews I like playing lately, I don't think I'd ever play the Brass Arachnid after that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tadaka Posted March 5, 2011 Report Share Posted March 5, 2011 IMHO tool kit for the win. Makeing all his spells cast much easyer is so nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharaoh Posted March 5, 2011 Report Share Posted March 5, 2011 I agree that the toolkit is nice, but for me the brass arachnid is great - it can advance amongst the swarms pumping out arcing screen, and if you get the cards for stoke it's really really good, and the psychological value of being able to stoke a swarm or a steamborg can make even mcmourning or lady justice worry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slayeriv Posted March 5, 2011 Report Share Posted March 5, 2011 i just switched from the brass arachnid to the toolkit (custome made) stoke is a dream like holding asia in Risk you hear everyone say they've done it but you've never seen it...I've done it twice lol...not a strategy to plan around stoking Ramos....can't wait to use the toolkit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redphantasm Posted March 6, 2011 Report Share Posted March 6, 2011 I think that the toolkit is a better get with Ramos. First, two things about the Brass Arachnid. A) He has a higher cast and therefore has an easier time casting Ramos's support spells (Combat Mechanic and Arcing Screen) He has reactivate, as has already been stated. The toolkit has a major advantage though, it can give Ramos a second book to his casting. This is far more important than it seems at first. A) Giving him a second book allows him to cast Construct Spider and Summon Electrical Creation with any card, not just a book one. This also saves you soulstones. giving him a second book gives you surge on every single cast. This lets ramos cycle out his bad control cards for good ones over the course of the turn. The tool kit is good, and makes Ramos play much more strongly than he did in the first book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slayeriv Posted March 6, 2011 Report Share Posted March 6, 2011 brother good tip i didnt evensee the surge bonus wth the toolkit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoboStele Posted March 6, 2011 Report Share Posted March 6, 2011 I played the Brass Arachnid for the first time instead of the Toolkit the other day, and I did manage to get Stoke off one time. So that was sweet to move Swarm 16" and still get two attacks. I think with Alyce the BA is still viable. The two extra cards to choose from to your hand makes the chance pretty good of getting high enough cards to still summon new spiders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HopelessHeretic Posted March 7, 2011 Report Share Posted March 7, 2011 I have lately been playing book one Ramos and loving it. I have firmly stated in the past that the mobile toolkit just puts training wheels on Ramos and doesn't make him better just easier to play. The brass arachnid on the other hand is one of the best totems in the game. If you run the brass Alyce is absolutely mandatory. If you can keep her alive and next to Ramos all game you can stoke 2-4 times. Ultimately when I have to decide which totem to take it is a decision based on what master the opponent takes. If I think they ar going to play Colette kirai or the dreamer I will take the toolkit otherwise I am all arachnid. -Heretic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoboStele Posted March 7, 2011 Report Share Posted March 7, 2011 I played the BA in a game yesterday. I only got Stoke off one time, but it was by simply using (2) Channel to cast Stoke, and it allowed me to Reactivate Ramos which was pretty slick. So I definitely agree, that having both the BA and Alyce, and two options for Reactivate is pretty brutal. I had really lousy card hands that game though. Only had like 2 hands where I actually picked up tomes to start with, and got very few Surges. The one time I stoked was complete luck of the flip. I did get LOTS of high Crows though, so half my opponent's crew ended up Paralyzed a few times, haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HopelessHeretic Posted March 7, 2011 Report Share Posted March 7, 2011 I did get LOTS of high Crows though, so half my opponent's crew ended up Paralyzed a few times, haha. This is exactly how I deal with resource management in my Ramos crew. If I have rams Alyce is going to truck stick something. Lots of crows? The swarm is going to wreck house, and if there are good tomes the arachnid and Ramos will do all the heavy lifting. -Heretic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Tezla Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 As a relativley new Ramos player (and player of the game in general) I've been going back and forth on this myself. I scratch built a Brass Arachnid using greenstuff and played my first game with him. He managed to kill a Canine Remains (saw Blade, a Rotting Belle (Electrical ray via Ramos), and reactivate Ramos Twice. I'm working on a toolkit, but the casting bonus compared to chance of reactivating seems an easy choice to make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G. Footman Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 yeah, it was a close game against that set up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waferthinninja Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 I'm waiting on the figure before playing the Mobile Toolkit, so this is a theoretical analysis rather than being based on real play. Take it with a pinch of salt. The Brass Arachnid suits using Ramos offensively, moving him up to the front lines and blasting away with his electricity. His armour, arcing screen and so on will be in constant use. You probably won't do much summoning, since your high :tomes will be used for Stoke, but you can still use those that aren't high enough for Stoke to reconstruct the odd dead steampunk arachnid or make an Electrical Creation or two to supplement your blasting. You could argue the case for using Essence of Power for this offensive role instead. on every single casting might be better than an occasional Reactivate? However, the threat of Reactivating is arguably as important as the times you actually do it... The Mobile Toolkit suits using Ramos defensively in a support role - sit him at the back, summon an Arachnid and a Creation every turn, and use the constant stream of Surges to cycle the guff out of your hand, benefitting the whole crew. So in short I don't think there is a "best" totem, its more about what role he is going to play, which in turn will be down to what the Strategy is, the terrain and so on. I think he's generally a bit too slow for the offensive role, though it does depend on how far you need him to travel to get into a good position - with a nice open area, you might only need to walk him for a turn or two to get into a nice spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adran Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 I often consider the Student of Conflict. Depending on the stratergy/layout I look to get 3-4 extra actions out of Ramos. This is somewhere between 1 and 2 reactivations, but easier to do. 4 soulstone to do that is a little expensive, but if I must get Ramos somewhere to effect the battle, that extra action can be worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tograth Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 I tried using the toolkit with ramos and alyce there recently, and its actually sick how much card control it gives you. For instance, Start of the first turn I had 1 11, a few 8's and the rest were 4s or less. Using Burnout, and just casting like a mofo with Ramos, I ended up cycling through my hand. Ended up getting a ton of good cards. With this, and the draw at the start of turn 2, I had 8 cards which were 11+, including the red joker. The only thing I can think of which would make it even more sick is if you could somehow get arcane reservoir in there, either using Jack Daw or a freikorp librarian maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odinsgrandson Posted March 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Hm... It sounds like Rusty Alyce might be the thing that everyone is bringing to the table. I don't have her yet, but I've been considering. Truth is, though, in order to play her, I might as well buy the Leveticus box. I need some abominations to summon, after all. One of the troubles I see with Ramos is that everyone of his arcanists want the same cards. Bringing Rusty Alyce will mitigate that quite a bit, as will bringing the toolkit. So I'm thinking I'll need at least one of those two things. By the way, do we have any word on when the Mobile Toolkit is going to be released? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Tezla Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Looking around at Battle Reports, pics of Ramos mastered crews, and just reading her rules, there does seem to be an advantage to having Alyce with Ramos. I've been considering getting a Leveticus crew (though some conversion/alt work for a character idea I have), but I don;t know if I'd hire Alyce onto my Ramos crew. I'm trying to stick more with constructs (I like the scientist theme both he and Hoffman offer) for Ramos, though have looked at adding a Arcanist Gunsmith to the crew myself. Talking with a friend and fellow Acranist player (Colette & showgirls), he's plotting a duo-mastered Ramos & Colette crew for Brawls, and plans on taking the toolkit totem choice to put Ramos in a heal/repair position for the most part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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