Wandering Apothecaries

[swilhelm73]

I was doing the math on Wandering Apothecaries and it seems like a really poor inducement, at least in terms of winning games.

To approximate the value, it gives you a 50% chance of getting an SI/Dead player not only alive with no permanent injury, but also back in the game.

This means that for 100k, the value of the player healed has to be 200k (200k*.5=100k) for the inducement to be worth it in game.

But that is presuming you get the full value of the player in all 16 turns.

Generally for matches you want to get an extra apoth for, there will be one score per half (roughly).

This means that when you use your extra apoth, even on T1, you aren't getting the player back until T8 or T9.

So, if you only get an extra half of the game out of the target player, you have to have a player worth 400k to make this inducement worth its value.

Now, obviously this ignores the long term benefit, as you can reroll another dead/SI result even if it is turn 16 and get a benefit out of it. But looking at just the in game numbers, this seems to not pay off. Thoughts?

[GalakStarscraper]

It is the only inducement that allows you benefit beyond the current game. It comes at a premium for that.

We tried to really get rid of all inducement type items that had after game effects but the insurance of the Igor and Apothecaries are important to better enjoy going into a match with a bruiser team.

Tom

[Gaixo]

In my admittedly limited experience, apothecaries are the most popular inducement in league games. Most of the coaches I play with would rather save their stars than win the game.

[Corvidius]

In my admittedly limited experience, apothecaries are the most popular inducement in league games. Most of the coaches I play with would rather save their stars than win the game.

I think for me the most common is Bloodweiser Babes and the most popular is Wizards. I generally like Star Players, particularly cheap ones like Eldril who is fantastic. I only tend to take Wandering Apos if I'm against a very bashy team and it's the very start of a league season or a friendly game. Wandering Apo does seem to have a variable value dependent on Av of the team nad bashiness of the opponent.

[ZanzerTem]

I've been enjoying taking Mercs to stick on the front line to get destroyed. If you can afford it, give 'em Block for a bit more survivability or if you want to be cheesy and lame take Leader for a free reroll.

Skills or no skills, I find that just having more bodies on your roster is more useful than Babes or Apos.

[Smeborg]

swil - a Wandering Apoth can also be used to bring back a Badly Hurt player to reserves automatically. In a bruising encounter, the likelihood of having a BH'd player is high. If it is a highly skilled player, so much the better. You still have the rostered Apoth to cope with the deaths and permanent injuiries.

It is this use of the Apoth that makes him cost-effective in winning a match, IMO. Not as good as 2 Babes, I suggest, but still cost-effective compared to Mercs, in the right conditions.

[swilhelm73]

swil - a Wandering Apoth can also be used to bring back a Badly Hurt player to reserves automatically. In a bruising encounter, the likelihood of having a BH'd player is high. If it is a highly skilled player, so much the better. You still have the rostered Apoth to cope with the deaths and permanent injuiries.

It is this use of the Apoth that makes him cost-effective in winning a match, IMO. Not as good as 2 Babes, I suggest, but still cost-effective compared to Mercs, in the right conditions.

True - though using an apoth on a BH'd player is always risky - presumably if you hired an additional one it is because you expect many injuries.

But even so, that still means that a 200k piece has to be injured in the first half to break even. I guess that's good for high TV teams playing very high TV teams, but I regularly see lowish TV teams taking the extra apoth.

[spubbbba]

I think it all depends on how important the game is.

I know some players prefer to use the apoth on BH players if it’s early in the game as it is guaranteed to succeed and you will get that player for the rest of the game. If it’s a bog standard league game then they tend to be kept to keep the team healthy for future games.

It’s always annoying when you suffer minor injuries such as –MA or AG on blockers or serious injuries on mediocre players as you are never sure if it’s worth risking the apoth as there is only a 50% chance they will be saved for that game.

[neverworking]

One problem with your math Swil is that you are comparing the inducement money to the actual value of the player, but inducement money is already inefficient across the board, though to varying degrees. A Merc with a skill costs 60k over the normal price and has loner (+30k+50k for skill - 20k for rostered player's normal skill). An induced RR costs 100k but no team has a natural cost of more than 70k. Inducements are supposed to level the field enough to keep the game competitive and fun not put the teams on truly equal footing.

I rarely go for the wandering apoth myself as I normally think there are better opportunities for me to win the match and I am usually playing to win. There are times though when its simply more practical to protect for the long haul.

[Hitonagashi]

Personally, the only time I've taken extra apos is when I got drawn against the WMD's a week before a major (for non FUMBBL'ers, the WMD's are a chaos team whose goal is to get claw mb po on all 11 players). They were quite good there, meaning I didn't lose any important players.

I'll usually go for 1 babe, and then a bribe(assuming I've got a spare player/loner I can foul with), and then maybe a wizard if I think that spilling the ball would be useful.

If I had over 1000k inducements(might happen in the tournament I'm currently qualified for), then I might take one extra apo.

[Piousman]

I would also say it depends if you have one of those game-changer players, like a S4-MB Beserker, or a AG4-5 player, that your current team revolves around. In that case, enven if the player is less thatn 200k, its net value is worth it.

In the case of the Igor, for example, I would use it on my S4/MB Werewolf or my Ag5 Leap Were, since she defines my offence/defence. Even on a BH. Maybe.

- Piousman

[mattgslater]

Funny enough, I like 'em on Orc teams. Helps me keep my numerical edge in the face of a Turn-1 KO. That's what I use 'em on. I apothecary the first KO/Cas I take, and then save the other one for something important.