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- Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2012 8:05 am
Wed Aug 01, 2012 8:54 pm
To win more in Dungeonbowl you need to know the official rules and you need to know the many undocumented rules and features of the Cyanide game. This thread is an ongoing attempt to document the secrets of Dungeonbowl.
Please help by posting any other secrets you have noticed and checking that the ones already listed are correct. I will gather the secrets into this opening post for convenience and easy access. Thank you!
THE OFFICIAL RULES:
Dungeonbowl Rules, 2002
Blood Bowl Competition Rules, 2010
The game program manual:
Dungeonbowl Manual, 2012 (included for convenience' sake, no new rules here -- but do check out at least the keyboard shortcuts on page 36)
THE SECRET RULES:
The colleges of magic: The race mixes of the magical colleges in the Cyanide game are not identical to the ones listed in the Dungeonbowl rules. The current allowed mixes are automatically enforced when you create a team.
The player categories: The player category (positional) limits do not apply. You can have e.g. as many Blitzers in your team as the combined races of your College offer. For example, an Amber College team can have 10 Blitzers (4 Dark Elf Blitzers, 4 Orc Blitzers and 2 Skaven Stormvermin).
Loners: You can have only two regular players with the Loner skill in your team. Star Players and Journeymen (who are all Loners) are additionally allowed.
Number of teams: You can store a maximum of 64 teams at one time on the Cyanide servers. Creating a new team will fail if you already have 64 teams.
Mercenaries: The Other race (6) and Last race (2) player number limits do not apply when hiring mercenaries for a match. You can have e.g. eight humans in a Grey College team this way.
Winnings: The winner of the match is not offered a chance to reroll his winnings.
Characteristic increases: If a player picks two increases to the same characteristic when leveling up, the second one does not increase his value. A player can thus have e.g. +2 ST for +50 k gold in player value.
Chests:
- If a player located next to a chest has the Mighty Blow skill and the chest explodes, the Mighty Blow skill is used on the player himself.
- Opening a chest requires and will use up one move but it will not cause a Going for it roll.
Precarious position:
- The precarious position rule does not apply when receiving a block or a hand-off, throwing a team-mate or picking up the ball.
- Failing the roll results in the player being lost for the rest of the match. There is no injury roll.
- Failing the roll does not end your turn.
Falling into things:
- The falling into things rule does not apply. Instead, if a player is pushed into a lethal trap (e.g. lava) an injury roll is made to see what happened to him. If a player is pushed into a safe trap (e.g. water) he is always considered to be Stunned for healing purposes even if he got KO'd or worse in the block that pushed him over the edge. See also "Healing injuries".
Healing injuries: If a player is KO'd or Badly Hurt he can be healed with the Magic Sponge and can later return to play. A player who was pushed into a pit and was only Stunned can't be healed and can't return to play.
Pushing into a wall or another player:
- If player A without the Stand Firm skill stands against the wall in such a place that he cannot be pushed away and player B is pushed against him, player B is pushed into the wall or into player A and he is considered fallen into a lethal trap. He's off the pitch and an immediate injury roll is made for him.
- If the push chain is longer, the disappearance happens to player C who is pushed against the unmoving player A standing next to the wall, even if player C is lying prone on the pitch. Also, if player C is lying prone, it seems that another player D he is pushed into does not even need to be completely boxed in from all sides, it is enough that player D is standing next to a wall.
Pushing through a wall: If two pieces of wall touch each other only corner to corner, a player will be pushed through this corner in a block in that direction if the map continues behind the corner.
Teleporting:
- If an opposing player is pushed onto a teleportation pad, on his next turn he has lost one move and can't block or blitz.
- If a player blocks while on a teleportation pad and does not follow a blocked-away player, the blocker will teleport away.
- If the ball lands on a pad for any reason it will not teleport, it will scatter.
Jumping over things: The jumping over things rule does not apply. Only players with the Leap skill can perform any jumps.
Bouncing balls off walls: The ball cannot be caught in flight or interrupted after it has bounced off a wall. It can only be interrupted before hitting a wall. It can only be caught after it has stopped moving from the original throw (it will scatter as normal if the first catch attempt fails and if it scatters to another player he will try to catch it in turn and so on).
Team equipment: Apothecary or Team Rerolls cannot be reduced in number. If you buy it, you keep it.
Missing players: If some players have received a Miss Next Game (MNG) injury, in the next match the player setup list will be missing the same number of (random?) players. They will appear in Reserve after the match has started, though. For example, if two players out of twelve are MNG, the setup list will have a) only four players on it no matter how many players the team actually has for the match or b) two players less than the number of players the team actually has for the match (in both cases including newly bought players, journeymen and mercenaries). Which is true, a) or b)? That is unknown at this point.
Warp in: It is not possible to warp in players after turn 16.
Warp out:
- At the end of turn 24 and every turn after that, one random player from the opposing team is warped out. The coach who runs out of players first loses -- and both MVPs and all gold winnings go to the winner. If one of the coaches has no players in the dungeon at the end of turn 24, they can do nothing on their turns but will win if the other coach runs out of players before scoring.
- If the ball carrier is warped out, the ball scatters. If a player from the same team stands next to the ball carrier and the ball scatters to him, he automatically tries to catch it. If the catch fails, the team's turn, which just started, ends immediately.
Pickup & Leap: If the coach preprograms a move onto the ball and an immediate leap, the ball pickup is never even tried, the player just leaps away. If the coach first moves the player onto the ball and waits for the pickup to happen and separately activates the Leap skill afterwards, the pickup works as normal.
Chainsaw: The Chainsaw +3 modifier is added to the Armour roll of a player falling down for any reason in the tackle zone of Looney or dodging out of Looney's tackle zone. For example, if a player fails a dodge or a Go For It next to a Looney, their armour has a greater chance of breaking.
Ball & Chain:
- When the player is next to a wall or another obstruction, he will never move towards the wall. He will always move either parallel to the wall or away from it. He can fall in a pit, though.
- If the turn timer runs out while the player is moving but before the player has moved the number of squares he must always move, he doesn't have to complete his move and in fact he cannot do so. The turn just ends.
Bombardier:
- A player in a suitable position is forced to intercept and/or catch a thrown bomb, he can't choose not to.
- If the Bombardier or a player who has caught the bomb fails Precarious position when they throw the bomb, the bomb explodes in the pit square the player fell into and the explosion can knock down other players standing next to that square.
- When a player knocked down by a bomb has the Mighty Blow skill, the skill is used on the player himself.
Interception: A player in a suitable position is forced to intercept a thrown ball, he can't choose not to.
Multiple Block:
- A player using the Multiple Block skill isn't forced to make two blocks. He will be asked if he wants to make the second block if he's still standing after the first block.
- If a player uses Multiple Block while standing on a teleportation pad, the game program will become stuck when the blocker teleports away after the first block. There is no way to continue playing. The coach who abandons the match or kills the program first loses and both MVPs and all gold winnings go to the coach who still has the game running.
Break Tackle: The Break Tackle skill is always used in the first dodge the player makes even if the dodge roll is high enough to succeed without using the skill. Break Tackle can never be used for the second, third etc. dodges the player makes during a turn.
Necromancer: Even if a suitable opposing player dies you will not get a free zombie in your Reserve during the match. You will only be offered a free player after the match and that player is a Skeleton, not a Zombie. You must "buy" the player the same way you would buy a Journeyman, but the cost is 0.
Please help by posting any other secrets you have noticed and checking that the ones already listed are correct. I will gather the secrets into this opening post for convenience and easy access. Thank you!
THE OFFICIAL RULES:
Dungeonbowl Rules, 2002
Blood Bowl Competition Rules, 2010
The game program manual:
Dungeonbowl Manual, 2012 (included for convenience' sake, no new rules here -- but do check out at least the keyboard shortcuts on page 36)
THE SECRET RULES:
The colleges of magic: The race mixes of the magical colleges in the Cyanide game are not identical to the ones listed in the Dungeonbowl rules. The current allowed mixes are automatically enforced when you create a team.
The player categories: The player category (positional) limits do not apply. You can have e.g. as many Blitzers in your team as the combined races of your College offer. For example, an Amber College team can have 10 Blitzers (4 Dark Elf Blitzers, 4 Orc Blitzers and 2 Skaven Stormvermin).
Loners: You can have only two regular players with the Loner skill in your team. Star Players and Journeymen (who are all Loners) are additionally allowed.
Number of teams: You can store a maximum of 64 teams at one time on the Cyanide servers. Creating a new team will fail if you already have 64 teams.
Mercenaries: The Other race (6) and Last race (2) player number limits do not apply when hiring mercenaries for a match. You can have e.g. eight humans in a Grey College team this way.
Winnings: The winner of the match is not offered a chance to reroll his winnings.
Characteristic increases: If a player picks two increases to the same characteristic when leveling up, the second one does not increase his value. A player can thus have e.g. +2 ST for +50 k gold in player value.
Chests:
- If a player located next to a chest has the Mighty Blow skill and the chest explodes, the Mighty Blow skill is used on the player himself.
- Opening a chest requires and will use up one move but it will not cause a Going for it roll.
Precarious position:
- The precarious position rule does not apply when receiving a block or a hand-off, throwing a team-mate or picking up the ball.
- Failing the roll results in the player being lost for the rest of the match. There is no injury roll.
- Failing the roll does not end your turn.
Falling into things:
- The falling into things rule does not apply. Instead, if a player is pushed into a lethal trap (e.g. lava) an injury roll is made to see what happened to him. If a player is pushed into a safe trap (e.g. water) he is always considered to be Stunned for healing purposes even if he got KO'd or worse in the block that pushed him over the edge. See also "Healing injuries".
Healing injuries: If a player is KO'd or Badly Hurt he can be healed with the Magic Sponge and can later return to play. A player who was pushed into a pit and was only Stunned can't be healed and can't return to play.
Pushing into a wall or another player:
- If player A without the Stand Firm skill stands against the wall in such a place that he cannot be pushed away and player B is pushed against him, player B is pushed into the wall or into player A and he is considered fallen into a lethal trap. He's off the pitch and an immediate injury roll is made for him.
- If the push chain is longer, the disappearance happens to player C who is pushed against the unmoving player A standing next to the wall, even if player C is lying prone on the pitch. Also, if player C is lying prone, it seems that another player D he is pushed into does not even need to be completely boxed in from all sides, it is enough that player D is standing next to a wall.
Pushing through a wall: If two pieces of wall touch each other only corner to corner, a player will be pushed through this corner in a block in that direction if the map continues behind the corner.
Teleporting:
- If an opposing player is pushed onto a teleportation pad, on his next turn he has lost one move and can't block or blitz.
- If a player blocks while on a teleportation pad and does not follow a blocked-away player, the blocker will teleport away.
- If the ball lands on a pad for any reason it will not teleport, it will scatter.
Jumping over things: The jumping over things rule does not apply. Only players with the Leap skill can perform any jumps.
Bouncing balls off walls: The ball cannot be caught in flight or interrupted after it has bounced off a wall. It can only be interrupted before hitting a wall. It can only be caught after it has stopped moving from the original throw (it will scatter as normal if the first catch attempt fails and if it scatters to another player he will try to catch it in turn and so on).
Team equipment: Apothecary or Team Rerolls cannot be reduced in number. If you buy it, you keep it.
Missing players: If some players have received a Miss Next Game (MNG) injury, in the next match the player setup list will be missing the same number of (random?) players. They will appear in Reserve after the match has started, though. For example, if two players out of twelve are MNG, the setup list will have a) only four players on it no matter how many players the team actually has for the match or b) two players less than the number of players the team actually has for the match (in both cases including newly bought players, journeymen and mercenaries). Which is true, a) or b)? That is unknown at this point.
Warp in: It is not possible to warp in players after turn 16.
Warp out:
- At the end of turn 24 and every turn after that, one random player from the opposing team is warped out. The coach who runs out of players first loses -- and both MVPs and all gold winnings go to the winner. If one of the coaches has no players in the dungeon at the end of turn 24, they can do nothing on their turns but will win if the other coach runs out of players before scoring.
- If the ball carrier is warped out, the ball scatters. If a player from the same team stands next to the ball carrier and the ball scatters to him, he automatically tries to catch it. If the catch fails, the team's turn, which just started, ends immediately.
Pickup & Leap: If the coach preprograms a move onto the ball and an immediate leap, the ball pickup is never even tried, the player just leaps away. If the coach first moves the player onto the ball and waits for the pickup to happen and separately activates the Leap skill afterwards, the pickup works as normal.
Chainsaw: The Chainsaw +3 modifier is added to the Armour roll of a player falling down for any reason in the tackle zone of Looney or dodging out of Looney's tackle zone. For example, if a player fails a dodge or a Go For It next to a Looney, their armour has a greater chance of breaking.
Ball & Chain:
- When the player is next to a wall or another obstruction, he will never move towards the wall. He will always move either parallel to the wall or away from it. He can fall in a pit, though.
- If the turn timer runs out while the player is moving but before the player has moved the number of squares he must always move, he doesn't have to complete his move and in fact he cannot do so. The turn just ends.
Bombardier:
- A player in a suitable position is forced to intercept and/or catch a thrown bomb, he can't choose not to.
- If the Bombardier or a player who has caught the bomb fails Precarious position when they throw the bomb, the bomb explodes in the pit square the player fell into and the explosion can knock down other players standing next to that square.
- When a player knocked down by a bomb has the Mighty Blow skill, the skill is used on the player himself.
Interception: A player in a suitable position is forced to intercept a thrown ball, he can't choose not to.
Multiple Block:
- A player using the Multiple Block skill isn't forced to make two blocks. He will be asked if he wants to make the second block if he's still standing after the first block.
- If a player uses Multiple Block while standing on a teleportation pad, the game program will become stuck when the blocker teleports away after the first block. There is no way to continue playing. The coach who abandons the match or kills the program first loses and both MVPs and all gold winnings go to the coach who still has the game running.
Break Tackle: The Break Tackle skill is always used in the first dodge the player makes even if the dodge roll is high enough to succeed without using the skill. Break Tackle can never be used for the second, third etc. dodges the player makes during a turn.
Necromancer: Even if a suitable opposing player dies you will not get a free zombie in your Reserve during the match. You will only be offered a free player after the match and that player is a Skeleton, not a Zombie. You must "buy" the player the same way you would buy a Journeyman, but the cost is 0.
Last edited by Reed on Fri Sep 06, 2013 5:24 pm, edited 70 times in total.
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