Color change chart

GuntherBlobel

Northern Polarity and Turul have made wonderful MPQ simulators, so I thought I would make a plot that compared the effectiveness of different color tile changing abilities. Particularly since they don't all work by the same mechanic, as say, Iron Fist's . The plot below applies to max level abilities only (post-nerf).

In the plot below, the y-axis is the number of AP generated gained in the changed color(s) and the x-axis in the number of tiles changed by the ability. The gray line represents how much AP is generated by Iron Fist's mechanic as you increase the number of tiles affected by his ability. And finally, the size of each point represents their cost, so the smaller the point and the higher it is on the plot: the more efficient it is at generating AP! In terms of AP generating efficiency, "post-nerf" Iron Fist wins, IMO, rivaled only by Black Widow (with Human-like matching). For the most part, there won't be any surprises in this plot for those who have tried these abilities in the game, but it's still pretty nifty to see how much AP you can gain on average from ability for a measly 7 AP.

One thing you will notice in the gray line is how non-linear AP generation efficiency is. So, cheap AP generators like really should be fired twice (2X), if possible. On the other hand, you can see why you should never bother to save up for 2X . He definitely pays for that cheap ability in a way that simply doesn't. On another note, 1X isn't half-bad post-nerf, but 2X just doesn't quite keep up with most other abilities after multiple fires.

Did I make a mistake somewhere? Has any one else made some Power Plots that they would like to share?

Trisul

The line represents IF's tile generation curve, gotcha. Initially I thought the graph was saying Infiltration 2x was bad, but I think the graph just reveals that it's not so much that Infiltration is bad, as much as mono-color AP generation is just amazing.

GuntherBlobel

Trisul wrote:

The line represents IF's tile generation curve, gotcha. Initially I thought the graph was saying Infiltration 2x was bad, but I think the graph just reveals that it's not so much that Infiltration is bad, as much as mono-color AP generation is just amazing.

Right. Mystique should actually be making more tiles black/purple than she does to keep up with all the mono-colored AP generators. But unfortunately for her, one of the two colors she generates is , which is the best color that you could ask for to chain another AP generating power.

Mawtful

Infiltration x2 is poor for the same reason that Cyclops x2 is poor - there are less "source" tiles that can be converted. Cyclops only converts 1 tile type; after the first use there's an average 2-3 tiles remaining, so using it a 2nd time would hit full effectiveness. Infiltration hits a wider range of colours, but is still limited. Meanwhile, other abilities are usually only restricted from converting special tiles.

Iron Fist, Thor and Doom are all more or less in line with each other (even the double cast on Thor's abilities).

Unknown

Who the hell is Widow (Human)? Are you implying that Black Widow (Original) is some kinda robot?

Oldboy

Did you factor in the tiles that are matched away in the process, the cascades generated and the new tiles that are brought down?

morph3us

Lerysh wrote:

Who the hell is Widow (Human)? Are you implying that Black Widow (Original) is some kinda robot?

He's distinguishing Deceptive Tactics, where a real person chooses the tile placement, compared to random AI scatter (you'll see Widow (AI) further down). I like the idea of OBW as a Fembot, though

Unknown

Oldboy wrote:

Did you factor in the tiles that are matched away in the process, the cascades generated and the new tiles that are brought down?

I assume he did since he mentions 2 MPQ simulators in his post and MPQ simulators would simulate cascades.

I'm with him on Cyclops 2x being pretty wasted, which is why my Cyclops is 5/3/5 to begin with. And I still convert almost all TUs typically, since the AI loves them so much.

GuntherBlobel

Lerysh wrote:

Who the hell is Widow (Human)? Are you implying that Black Widow (Original) is some kinda robot?

I used Turul's simulator, which lets you use Deceptive Tactics in a Human- or AI-like manner. You can see Widow (AI) down by the gray curve, since its just random placement like the other powers. Oh, what a difference placing tiles makes.

Oldboy wrote:

Did you factor in the tiles that are matched away in the process, the cascades generated and the new tiles that are brought down?

Yes, that it is taken into account. In fact, I have another plot that shows the total mixed color AP generated from cascades, but I thought just showing the color changed AP would be more useful to people. For example, I just want to know how much I should expect the AI to get each time it gets to 7 AP. But you should check out the simulators; they're great!

Unknown

Are you only counting AP generated of one color?
Otherwise GSBW looks low, particularly considering you can place line clears for more AP, and the crits creating more AP. I remember with a good board regularly getting 18+ AP with MNMag's polarity shift.

GuntherBlobel

daibar wrote:

Are you only counting AP generated of one color?
Otherwise GSBW looks low, particularly considering you can place line clears for more AP, and the crits creating more AP. I remember with a good board regularly getting 18+ AP with MNMag's polarity shift.

It is just the AP of the color they create, so for example, Mystique's numbers are + AP generated. I posted this version because I thought that would be what most people would find most useful. Using Turul's algorithm, Widow generates >20 AP total, and only half of that is .

Another interesting thing is the non-linear curve to Iron Fist -like abilities. These abilities cost about 1 AP / tile changed and if you change >10 tiles (by firing multiple times), then you earn >10 AP. For example, changing 15 tiles to any color will generate a total of 20 AP. So, basically, Iron Fist -like abilities very easily earn more AP than they spend if fired 2X. Mystique won't. Also, Thor won't because it is expensive (because it's coupled to damage), so you won't likely net AP and you also can't fire it more than 2X because of the 30 AP cap.

Iron Fist is so cheap that it can be fired 6X as long as you have a ability to spend off excess AP. If you did, you could gain 44 AP and a total of 70 AP from 30 AP. I think the Devs forgot why they put a 30 AP cap in the game in the first place.

Here's the plot of total AP generated (see y-axis):

Trisul

Mawtful wrote:

Infiltration x2 is poor for the same reason that Cyclops x2 is poor - there are less "source" tiles that can be converted. Cyclops only converts 1 tile type; after the first use there's an average 2-3 tiles remaining, so using it a 2nd time would hit full effectiveness. Infiltration hits a wider range of colours, but is still limited. Meanwhile, other abilities are usually only restricted from converting special tiles.

Iron Fist, Thor and Doom are all more or less in line with each other (even the double cast on Thor's abilities).

Whoa, Infiiltration is in no way poor. It's like a grade A+ ability. Just that Thunder Strike and IFoKL are A+++++++ abilities.

You rarely run into the Infiltration tile limit because you have more source tiles to choose, which is why winfinite worked so well. And generating multi-colors is also an extremely powerful effect of Infiltration.

GuntherBlobel

Trisul wrote:

Mawtful wrote:

Infiltration x2 is poor for the same reason that Cyclops x2 is poor - there are less "source" tiles that can be converted. Cyclops only converts 1 tile type; after the first use there's an average 2-3 tiles remaining, so using it a 2nd time would hit full effectiveness. Infiltration hits a wider range of colours, but is still limited. Meanwhile, other abilities are usually only restricted from converting special tiles.

Iron Fist, Thor and Doom are all more or less in line with each other (even the double cast on Thor's abilities).

Whoa, Infiiltration is in no way poor. It's like a grade A+ ability. Just that Thunder Strike and IFoKL are A+++++++ abilities.

You rarely run into the Infiltration tile limit because you have more source tiles to choose, which is why winfinite worked so well. And generating multi-colors is also an extremely powerful effect of Infiltration.

Yeah, Infiltration is amazing because it generates AP, even if that's only half the AP earned. Devs take note. End of story.

Also, 2X Infiltration might not earn more AP than it spends, but it's close. All you need to do is move the board a little or find a match-5 and you've made out.