Aristeia! - Aristo Analysis - Shona Carano

"There can only be one left."

Shona Carano is a living legend of Aristeia! who has returned to claim what belongs to her in her own right: the Bahadur title.

SHONA CARANO: Weapon teacher and living legend

The audience ratings of the primal show Yajurveda dramatically dropped at the start of the fourth season. Vissiorama gathered all their brilliant minds to seek a solution. After some deliberation, the executive management of programming approved Jake Wilson plan, an ambitious young man who was the deputy director of Maya’s marketing department. Wilson offered himself as the executor of the operation and straw man, so that Vissiorama’s reputation wouldn’t be affected in case something went wrong.

Wilson gathered and studied the profile of several candidates whose common traits were youth, good physical condition, combat experience, and the mastery of some exotic weapon. He also valued the existence of moral principles that were easily manipulated. After an exhaustive screening process and a subsequent rejection of the first candidates, it was the turn of a neoterran fencing champion, Shona Carano, who didn’t hide her involvement with a pro-human movement that denounced the labor invasion of synthetics in various areas of the society, as well as in several Maya shows.

Jake Wilson, pretending to be an activist from another anti-synthetic group, contacted Shona to help them disrupt a Yajurveda battle. The plan was to sneak her in one of the shows, where she would defeat the synthetics before the cameras, and this way, demonstrate the superiority of humanity. To achieve such a feat, Shona needed an exceptional weapon. In addition to access to the show, Wilson gave her detailed information about the whereabouts of a sword, an almost mythical object, placed in the Caledonian mountains of Ariadna.

Shona managed to get a sword comprised of Teseum, and with Wilson’s help, stormed in during a Yajurveda broadcast - confronting all the synthetic fighters in a legendary epic melee that ended with Shona raising her victorious sword over a mountain of lifeless synthetic bodies. She was immediately arrested, and released after a short negotiation with Vissiorama. Jake Wilson incriminated himself, following his own script and disappearing from the scene. This had been Yajurveda’s touch of death. The audience cheered Shona’s performance, that was being reproduced over and again in the spectator comlogs all over the Human Sphere. No one wanted synthetic fighters anymore, and so Yajurveda would become Aristeia! and Shona, its first great addition. However, Shona was an consummate fighter who didn’t know how to cope with being a star in the world of entertainment. She decided to abandon the show after several seasons, tired of always being in the first position, but never champion because she didn’t stick to the rules of show business. However, leaving the competition didn’t mean leaving the sword aside. After her departure from Aristeia!, Carano focused on her career as a weapons teacher and became a trainer of the Aquila Guard, the elite of PanOceania’s NeoTerran troops.

Recently, Wally Tortollini, the scourge of Maya stars, has been pouring proven and very compromising information on Carano - evidence of her involvement of Vissiorama and its interruption in Yajurveda. That includes the telemetric data that shows that the parameters of the synthetics would have been reduced to magnify her most lauded feat.

Twenty years later and angrier than ever, Shona Carano has reappeared in the surprise presentation of a new team named after the five-times-Bahadur, Final Boss. As he explained, Carano showed up at the damn door of his mansion, with her old Tesseum blade with a new and modern PanOceanian grip. With her chin pointing at him defiantly, she said, “I’m on your team. Like it or not, I’m in”.

She went straight to training after the visit. She seeks now triumph without tricks. She’s motivated to claim what she lacks and belongs to her by right: the Bahadur title.

Shona Carano is an Aristo from the Legendary Bahadurs expansion for Aristeia! This makes her part of the second wave of Corvus Belli plastic models. These all feature deeper, crisper detail and more complexity in the design and textures than the original "core 8" plastics.

In the case of the Shona model the face, costume and detail tooling are all very good, with the only issue being her sword. Although the detail on the sword is good, the plastic material suffers from being too soft for these kinds of elements and it bends easily.

If the sword is replaced, or drilled and reinforced with a metal rod, then this miniature becomes an excellent piece, which will suit simple techniques for modestly skilled hobbyists but still reward the talent and effort of truly skilled painters.

At first glance Shona's attributes are not particularly impressive. Her Initiative, Speed, Energy, Brawn and Agility are all average. While her Hit Points are above average, her Defense is low for a Melee character.

Her universal Switch is useful, being able to Flip State tokens on her own card, but expensive at one Block and one Special. Her secondary Attack is relatively likely to fire it however, especially if you have a "Block" Tactic to add into the mix.

As a melee oriented Striker it's Shona's Attacks which are critical, and "Broadsword" is a cracking attack. With a Red, Orange and two automatic Successes it is the most reliable unmodified Attack in the game. The unusual range is usually helped by Shona's Automatic Ability, or liberal use of her secondary Attack. Note the Switch, which introduces solid control over all but Tanks, if you can get more Special results into your roll.

"Hit the Blade" has better flexibility in range, which helps keep Shona operating even if she gets Dazzled, noting also that it has a decent chance of allowing her to Flip that or any other inconvenient State. While low damage it will regularly fire its first action Switch, allowing Shona to Displace herself, and it can be worthwhile to trade two Successes to Displace your Target (especially if you won't deal Damage due to Blocks anyway).

Unlike many other Strikers Shona doesn't have an Ability to lean into, she's basically all about the Attacks. This makes her a particularly focused Striker, and more dependent on support than others. However the range of Attacks, and their Switches, give her solid Control.

As part of firing her primary Attack, Shona has an Automatic Skill which triggers at the beginning of the Actions Step of her Activation. This allows her to Displace, if she is Adjacent to an opposing Aristo and if she immediately afterwards declares "Broadsword". This has been FAQ'd to clarify that Shona can use another Action if the Displacement is somehow cancelled or reversed, leaving her unable to execute the Broadsword Attack.

Like most of the Legendary Bahadurs, Shona Carano is a purely "selfish" Aristo in terms of her Tactics. All of them fire only for her and most only during her Activation.

The first option which Shona offers for your Tactics deck is the excellent "Amputate". This is a Tactic which has the potential to be match shaping, so you should ensure that you have either drawn out your opponents "NO!", or any other Tactics which negate Successes or reduce the Dice pool, before play. Or, simply hold your own "NO!" in reserve.

This Tactic allows you to perform the "Amputate" Attack for no Action Points during Shona's Actions Step at Range 1-2 and throwing 3 Orange. If it inflicts a single Hit Point of Damage it immediately adds Damage tokens equal to the Targets Hit Points Attribute. In other words it immediately sends them to the Infirmary, regardless of their current health (barrng timely Tactics play).

Obviously adding extra Dice is useful, but particularly in terms of mitigating the cost, Imposing the -2 Energy State, as triggering Shona's universal Switch can mean the State is entirely cleared by the end of her Activation.

Our next potential pick is "Vigour", which also plays during the Actions Step of Shona's Activation. The value of this Tactic is entirely dependent on the other Aristos in your team, making it an interesting "team work" Tactic, regardless of it's "selfishness".

If you have a couple of opponents who are Stunned or Dazzled then Shona can really go to town on them, with "Broadsword" dropping to a cost of 2 Action Points, but ESPECIALLY "Hit the Blade" which now only costs 1 Action Point. Throw in Hannibal to up the damage output and you can MACHINE through opposition.

Don't overlook the advantage of ignoring Smoke either, as this can make all the difference against an opponent relying on Smoke to slow down your damage output, especially with "Broadsword".

The third option Shona affords her manager is excellent for handling opposing Melee Strikers. "Riposte" takes Shona's Defense and both improves and enhances it.

One of the best aspects of this tactic is the fact that you only have to drop it when your opponent declares an Attack on Shona. Note that it works at Range 2 as well as against Adjacent targets, so it can sometimes help against ranged attacks too.

With an extra Blue and two Orange Shona becomes both hard to hurt, very likely to trigger her universal Switch AND very likely to deal damage to the opposing Aristo. In fact there's a strong likelihood, against most other Melee Aristos, that she will take them down in their own Attack.

Best of all the protection runs 'till the end of the Round, making it even harder for opponents to put Shona down, and making it even more likely she'll put one of theirs down in return.

The last choice which Shona presents is a free Action, the only one available to her (other than the default "Move"). It only plays during the Actions Step of her Activation.

"Whirlwind" allows the "Whirlwind" Action, which throws a Blue and Yellow dice. Note that it doesn't have any triggered Effects, but only an automatic Effect, so you don't need to fish for Success results, just Blocks and Specials for the action Switch.

With an automatic Hit Point being dropped on every opposition Aristo at Range 1-2, and an extra one for every Block plus Special you can Switch out, this can be devastating against a concentrated group of opponents. Really only Smoke shuts it down well.

In terms of her selection, Shona is stronger in Scenarios where she doesn't have to be as mobile, as mobility isn't her strongest asset. This makes her a weaker pick for the moving Scoring Zone missions like Assault, but still solid in the Ziggurat Scenarios. Her damage output is both reliable and high, making her a strong pick for the likes of Carnage.

Shona is a good example of a highly focused Aristo, similar to Maximus, who is very strong in one aspect of the game but also commensurately weaker in others. This makes it important to be confident that her selection suits the needs you have for the Scenario.

This same consideration also feeds into team selection with Shona. She benefits a lot from defensive enhancement, making an effective Tank, or an Aristo who can help prevent opponents targeting her with Hidden or Smoke before she Activates, very valuable. And while her Defense isn't excellent, she does have enough Hit Points to benefit from good healing support.

Further driving up her damage and Switch output with the right Support Aristos, offering additional Orange or Yellow dice helps bump the already strong aspect of her game into the truly unstoppable. Few opponents will stand up to Shona backed by Hannibal or Laxmee.

Enhancing her mobility with Gaia or hEXx3r also adds a lot, and can help overcome that shortcoming and help her contribute more in a wider range of situations in the Hexadome.

So, that's the first Aristo, the woman who took down Yajurveda and ushered in the current age of Hexadome sporting combat.

If you are interested in more on Shona, check out the official write up here:

https://aristeiathegame.com/blog/item/630-in-depth-shona-carano

As always, we'd appreciate your thoughts. Not just on this article but on the series as a whole as well. Are these articles suiting what you want from Aristeia! content?  Is there something more you'd like to see from them?

But, also, do you use Shona?
What kind of Team do you like to run her in?
Have there been any Scenarios where you felt she was really strong?
Has she been effective for you?
What limitations have you run into?

Let us know your thoughts.

Aristeia! - Aristo Analysis - Oberon

"This life is nothing but a dream, and dreams are only dreams."

Oberon is a geist, a pseudo artificial intelligence with a great physical presence and programmed to defend his team from the malicious software of hackers.

OBERON: The undaunted Oniromant

The vast majority of the inhabitants of the Human Sphere have a geist installed in their comlog, a sophisticated personal compact wrist computer that allows a continuous and instantaneous link with Maya, and the local data network.

A geist is a pseudo artificial intelligence that acts as a quantum assistant and usually accompanies its host for their entire life. They specialize in storing the preferences and habits of their owners so they are able to anticipate their commands. They behave as an extension of the will of its human user.

Oberon was the code name for a geist developed by the company Aigletech at the request of Vissiorama. It was a very special assignment because the geist needed a physical presence in the HexaDome, and to behave like an aristo without reaching the quantum processing level of an Aspect of ALEPH ─the great Artificial Intelligence of Humanity─ as Miyamoto Musashi or Parvati.

It was the thirteenth season. Vissiorama had given the green light for hackers to enter Aristeia! to show off their “magic”. The host network of the show would provide access protocols to the Hexadome, so that they could alter the scenario and the battle conditions, within limits. This action wasn’t without its risks, as giving these cyberwarriors access to their systems also would allow them to find weaknesses in their network and sneak into places that they didn’t belong. As this was a very real threat, they decided to monitor and mute all system interaction activity out of the legal parameters by uploading the geist model Oberon.

All the teams were given the opportunity to have an Oberon, but only a dozen accepted, since they preferred to use a semi-autonomous AI that incorporated an aristo with their own skills. However, in just two seasons, the hackers were already integrated into the competition, putting to rest the worst fears of the organization. This caused the definitive termination of the Oberon program. All of the teams that had integrated one in their lineup returned it. The only exception was the Crimson Tide, Final Boss’ team that won the greatest title in the Group Category three times, all of them with their geist Oberon.

Now, the five-time Bahadur Final Boss has traveled into the past and rescued the last Oberon. He returned him, and maintained the elven appearance that characterized him during the fourteenth season called ‘Fantasy Medley‘. They say that his software has been updated, not only to be able to deal with extremely dangerous hackers like hEXx3r, Laxmee and Eclypse, but also to empower him and make him a hacker. Aigletech utterly denies this claim, but Final Boss doesn’t. It seems we’ll have to wait for this new season to find out the capabilities of this new Oberon.

Oberon is an Aristo from the Legendary Bahadurs expansion for Aristeia! This makes him part of the second wave of Corvus Belli plastic models. These all feature deeper, crisper detail and more complexity in the design and textures than the original "core 8" plastics.

In the case of the Oberon model the face, costume and detail tooling are all very good, with the only issue being his staff. Although the detail on the staff is good, the plastic material suffers from being too soft for these kinds of elements and it bends easily.

If the shaft of the staff is replaced, or drilled and reinforced, with a metal rod then this miniature becomes an excellent piece, which will suit simple techniques for modestly skilled hobbyists but still reward the talent and effort of truly skilled painters.

At first glance Oberon a fairly strong Aristo, with his Initiative, Speed and Energy all being solid. While his Hit Points are low, his Defense is average ('though far from strong) but there is little need to expose him at the same time.

Both his Brawn and his Agility are average, and his Universal Switch is expensive, costing a Block and a Special to fire, but fantastic as it allows a Tactic to be drawn, similarly to Wild Bill.

Oberon is another pure Support Aristo who does not have any Attack options beyond the generic "Contender", but that's absolutely not why you are putting him into the Hexadome.

His first Action, "You'll Remember When Dreaming",costing a full 3 Action Points, has no range and needs no target but has a reasonable chance of firing with an Orange and Yellow die being thrown. It allows you to Search your Deck for a Tactic and then put it into your hand, shuffling your Deck afterwards.

This allows Tactic based play with otherwise unprecedented reliability and this ability alone is reason enough to include Oberon in many Teams, especially those with strong Tactics around which their strategy will play.

Oberon's second Action, "You'll Forget When Waking", is quite complex due to the two separate Action Switches which can fire on top of the core Effect. It is, once again, relatively reliable with an Orange and Yellow die being thrown.

That core Effect is to apply the Silenced State to a target within 5 hexes, without needing Line of Sight. That last aspect is important, because Oberon really doesn't want to be exposing himself except when absolutely necessary for scoring, and that will likely get him put into the Infirmary when he is called upon to do it.

The first Action Switch requires a Block and a Special to fire, meaning that this Action benefits from adding a Blue Die where you can for both this and his universal Switch. Firing this Switch allows the application of an additional Silenced State to another Aristo within the same range.

The second Action Switch requires two Special results to fire, which is more easily achieved on the raw dice of the Action but does also benefit from adding additional Yellow Dice, as it is highly repeatable. This Switch allows either the Stunned or Dazzled State to be applied to a Target within the slightly more limited range of 4 hexes. However you still require no Line of Sight, making the whole Action easily employable from behind a Blocked Space or another Aristo.

Finally Oberon also brings the Automatic Skill "I'm
Hope", which helps make even more effective use of his additional card draw. This allows any Tactic to be discarded to add a single Yellow Die to a Simple Roll rather than its usual Effect. You can only play one Tactic in this way for each Roll, but even with that restriction it can be a tremendous assist for those Aristos who are thirsty for additional Special results to fire their Switches on Actions, including Oberon himself. But note that this doesn't work for ANY Face to Face Rolls.

Overall Oberon is a strong Control and Support Aristo, offering particularly good support for Tactics hungry teams, but also a good answer to other Controllers, or Aristos who depend heavily on their Automatic Actions. However, if he can reliably produce enough Special results Oberon becomes capable of Controlling any kind of Aristo very effectively. hEXx3r, for example, is VERY sad when she has Silenced on Vade Retro AND a Stunned State to slow down all her Actions.

Oberon isn't just great for getting out the strong Tactics which other Aristos have contributed to your Deck, he's also bringing a strong selection of his own. He's largely a "generous" Aristo in terms of his Tactics, with only one ('though VERY strong) "selfish" choice.

Speaking of "selfish" choices, it's up first! "Destiny" (yes, continuing the "Endless" theme from Sandman which you've no doubt already noticed in the design) is specifically restricted to the beginning of the Actions Step of Oberon's Activation, restricting your ability to drop other Tactics in that Activation.

It prevents any play from playing any Tactics from being played until the end of the Round. Note that Oberon's own Automatic Ability still fires, because it discards rather than playing Tactics.

Be careful with your positioning and timing when you drop this, because your opponent can shut it down by putting down Oberon, and it only gets played once no matter what other Tactics related fun you have going on.

Next up for consideration is "Delerium", which can be played during the Actions Step of any of your Aristos.

Firstoff this is useful for looking at your opponents hand of Tactics. It's worth considering playing it just for that even if there are no Silenced State Tokens in play.

Be careful with your timing, keeping in mind that you don't want to let your opponent draw into something problematic (like their "NO!") so ensure what you are discarding is valid.

Note that they are only shuffling the cards removed from their hand back into their deck AFTER replacing them, so they can't just cycle the same Tactics back out immediately.

The third Tactic which Oberon offers us as an option is "Despair". This also plays during the Activation of one of your Aristos, in their Actions Step.

This can be used on yourself for limited, but selective, draw in a needful moment. But it is most effective in preventing an opponent from accessing their most powerful Tactics 'till late in the game (if at all).

Most Teams don't shuffle their Tactics deck often, meaning that anything you put to the bottom with this card won't be a worry for a good long time.

For added psychological impact, play this right after you put an opponents Aristo into the Infirmary and give them a "Dodge" card. Trust me, the look on their face will be worth it.

As our final option for consideration, Oberon offers us "Desire". This allows you to re-play a Tactic which you have already used, and put into your Discard Pile.

This won't let you recycle a Tactic which has been removed from the game, and note the timing.

As the Tactic is placed next to your Control Panel your opponent sees whatever evil plan you have concocted coming, but there is little to nothing they can do about that in the vast majority of circumstances.

Even limiting our thinking to the likes of "NO!" it's obvious how powerful this can be. But also consider recycling "Adamantine", "Go All-Out" or "Hic et Nunc" and playing them for a second time.

In terms of Scenario there are few where the options which Oberon affords a manager will be unwelcome, thanks to his Tactics draw alone.

But given his ability to shut down Actions and Automatic Actions with Silenced, as well as his potential to throw out Stunned and Dazzled, he's worth considering for virtually any match.

It's in terms of team selection where Oberon is more demanding, nearly requiring a strong Tank in order to stay up. On the other hand he's unlikely to need much in the way of healing as if he's wounded then he's likely already in the Infirmary!

Given his lean into high Tactics draw Oberon is likely the most useful to Aristos who rely on additional Dice to get their Actions and especially Switches, firing effectively. Remember that literally any Tactic can become a Focus in his hands, for your Action driven Aristos.

Oberon also benefits from Smoke play, on both sides, more than most Aristos. He never needs Line of Sight, so he doesn't care if it becomes nearly impossible to draw! And boy, oh BOY does he love anyone who can give him the Hidden state.

So that's the King of Dreams, the "wizard" of the Hexadome: Oberon!

If you are interested in reading more about Oberon then check out his official write up here:

https://aristeiathegame.com/blog/item/617-in-depth-oberon

As always, we'd appreciate your thoughts. Not just on this article but on the series as a whole as well. Are these articles suiting what you want from Aristeia! content?  Is there something more you'd like to see from them?

But, also, do you use Oberon?
What kind of Team do you like to run him in?
Have there been any Scenarios where you felt he was really strong?
Has he been effective for you?
What limitations have you run into?

Let us know your thoughts.