I only recently started playing. Crows are at the bottom of the viability tier list but the top of the fun tier list. Blow up marquise and have a good time #crowsforlife
It would be interesting to see what factions you like seeing at the table, not necessarily like playing. Example: I don't like playing as the cats, but I love it when the cats get picked. The Warrior in each clearing creates an immediate sense of tension that generally makes the games feel funner. Like Cats are probably my sixth favorite to play, but one of the my favorites to see in the draft. Or the moles I love playing as the moles, but hate playing against them. The burrows popping up somewhere leading to a small army of dark dwelling despots piling out and burning down a clearing is frustrating.
I’d love to see this data too! I do think at least a few of the respondents for this survey approached it in a general sense, rather than from the prompted perspective of playing as each faction being ranked. If I make more of an effort to clear that up for this hypothetical future survey though, I’m sure the data wouldn’t be too difficult to gather. 100% agree on the Cats adding a great tension to the game, by the way.
I love the presentation of this video. I particularly enjoy the music you chose for each faction, and that you were kind and thoughtful enough to credit each track. Thank you for tracking this data for us!
At first I thought it was a coincidence that my bf and I had literally the opposite order for factions, then I realized he just likes high reach/militant factions while I like low reach/insurgent factions
Thanks for your thoughts throughout and your list! Still think you’re crazy for having the cats at #1, but the game as a whole is awesome so I guess it’s okay. Got the otters right up top so you’ve got some priorities straight!
This is fantastic. I appreciate your qualitative/quantitative research. More if this for other board games/topics in board games would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.
Appreciate the effort of putting everything together Cole! I am one of the contributor that ranked badgers #1. Feel relieved when playing in a game against moles as badgers, while they receive so much heat and hate 😂. I always agree with the table “Yeah!! Get them!!!” 😌
10. Vagabond: it's not _un_fun to play, but it kinda feels dirty to play knowing that even with infamy house rules they're rather imbalanced. Those who police you gain nothing else in return, and when you're policed you just check out for a turn. 9. Corvid Conspiracy: on paper they're fun, but I kinda struggle to use them well, as most do it seems. 8. Riverfolk: I _really_ want to rank them higher, but I just suck as them. I've researched, I've tried to employ strats, it never seems to work out for me. I think the difficulty of getting warriors out is another put-off compared to other factions. 7. Eyrie: I actually really like them, and I don't have much to say other than that I just like everything else more. 6. Marquise: the cats have grown on me recently, they can have a particularly interesting endgame state depending on the factions and building slots in play. Like the moles, being able to quickly generate a swarm of kitties has its appeal. 5. Duchy: they feel somewhat like cats, but I prefer the ease of crafting and the ministers system. The ability to pop up anywhere on the map is always interesting. 4. Hundreds: while their gameplan is somewhat set in stone, doesn't make it any less fun. The mood choices can be surprisingly impactful, and it's always satisfying when the others fail to quell a mob before your next turn as their precious buildings turn to ash. 3. Lizard Cult: It says a lot that they're so popular despite having erratic action potential turn by turn. Their gardens causing rule headaches, and devilishly well-timed birdsong conspiracies like sanctify and convert make them refreshing agents of chaos. 2. Woodland Alliance: while they do become rather routine once you get used to them, they often put a very clear time bomb on the game, because unless the whole board works against you, you WILL explode in VP at some point. Card toll booths can be fun to mess with factions like Eyrie, Duchy, and Keepers, making them second guess their desired destinations. The game plan doesn't get old to me, I love collecting supporters and making everyone sweat about revolts. 1. Keepers: while they're incredibly complex to pull off well, the level of point economy they have, along with the interesting relic interactions (ignore a hit, but give away an extra point and have it tossed to a far forest if you lose it) make them both fair and satisfying imo. You often have to plan things out for the following turns, so while they can rocket ahead they also project hard what their intentions are. Messing with their card economy can really throw them off too. But anyway they're just so much fun to play for me, can amass a death wall of badgers...and I love the silver meeples :x
14:28 I would not call you a hypocrite for this. With the cats, while your actions are limited in number, they are yours to do with as you please. On the other hand, the lizards can get locked out of taking meaningful actions by opponents manipulating the lost souls. The cats have to weigh which course of action will be best for them. The lizards have to hope the rest of the table is kind enough to let the outcast shift to the suit in which all the important stuff is actually happening. (This is coming from someone who enjoys playing lizards) Also, love seeing the badgers so high on the list! They’re my favorite!
With how much you were insulting the moles at the end, I’m surprised they weren’t last for you Also, ranking lizards at 10th is heresy, but you ranked cats at #1 so you are forgiven.
Funny thing is, I never thought of Cats as my favourite faction, but my vast excel sheets say they are by far my most played faction. Revealed preference vs stated preference I guess... This all might just be because Rats are not implemented online yet and my IRL group hates them and will seriously go kill you dead 3v1 just for picking them... Otherwise... Blood for the blood god!
@@colesrootchannel Oh no, someone always ends up picking the odd WA or vagabond. I always avoid insurgent factions by design, except sometimes the lizards, or corvids if I want to prove a point or really have a devious mood that day. Lots of stuff on the board is the name of the game here :-D My surprise rather comes when I pick Cats over Birds and Moles (both quite often) , not entirely knowing why and wondering why I gave up on victory 😀
@@colesrootchannel since adset, the forcing of militant privilege is somewhat weak. I ran a simulation, it seems if we chose factions randomly, the ratio of militant to insurgent factions picked would be 1.025 to 1. Not a huge factor I would say.
Eyrie being number 1 was very predictable. Cats being so low threw me but I guess I get it. Militant factions all the way baby. Gimme them mountains of units to use and tough decision trees!
honestly the birds are probably my least favorite faction. also, I feel like this data states that the marauder expansion is the most worthwhile expansion to buy.
That’s why I love this game, it has something for everyone! It could be recency bias with the marauder expansion but I do like both of the new factions.
I haven't yet tried the underworld expansion but I just got the marauders and both the factions in it are my new favorites! I do understand how a lot of people could enjoy factions like the lizard cult more though. Root is my favorite board game for this exact reason! @@colesrootchannel
i've been enjoying playing the vagabond, but that is mostly playing on vs the AI in the steam version and friends. I feel if I were to go to a table that have a more meta understanding of the game would result on being attacked a lot harder to the point of making it not fun. I can see someone zeroing in on the VB just from experience and watching videos about it making it a very no fun allowed scenario.
Yeah, it tends to depend on which Vagabond specifically too. Some get no breathing room and others almost get ignored entirely, but most of them are somewhere in between.
I have not played with marauder expansion or the corvids yet. My personal favorite factions: 1. Cats 2. Birds 3. Lizards 4. Duchy 5. Alliance 6. Riverfolks 7. Vagabond The best designed factions: 1. Eyrie 2. Duchy 3. Woodland 4. Cats 5. Riverfolks 6. Lizards 7. Vagabond My 2 cents on each faction design Birds have the best design and balance Cats have the best potential but ends up too weak because they are predictable have hard time to come back and rely on lucky bird card draws Woodland have great design but can sometimes have very limited options and ends up with a boring gameplay Vagabond have a great potential but the fact that you get nothing from attacking him really messes up the fun of the game. Also starting every game with running around the ruins is the same every game. Underground amazing design but a bit overturned and require a beat down almost every game Riverfolk and lizards are too much at the mercy of other players to buy from them or not fuck up their outcast Otters though at awesome playability for the other factions in the game
I love Root, but I suck at strategy. It's just a fun game with a lot of replayability to me. I don't know any top strategies and if you tried to teach me one, I would probably forget it 2 minutes later. I think I average 3 turmoils per game when I play Eyrie. I was proud when I finished a game (in a loss) having only turmoiled once. I would rather play any other faction than the Eyrie. My favorite factions are Hundreds, Alliance, and Corvid mostly just because I like stirring the pot. Any time I face off against the cats, I do my best to board wipe them. I have board wiped the Cats three times as the Corvid alone. My favorite strategy in the entire game is Coalition, if you ever see me pick Vagabond at a table, I will be using coalition at my earliest opportunity because I love trying to hold back everyone else at the table while the underdog wins.
New players always seem to love the Corvids! Other more beginner-friendly choices might be Eyrie, Moles or Vagabond, depending on what type of player we’re talking about.
Wait are people ranking factions on how much they like to play for themselves or how much they like them as a game faction? In some games there is a mechanic I don't use or a faction I don't play, but I appreciate being in the game as an option.
Just how much they like to play for themselves in this survey. I might do another more general one some ways in the future - maybe after the next expansion comes out
@@colesrootchannel OK thanks. I'm not asking for a separate list. Do it if you want. I just wanted to understand what I was looking at. I'm a bit clueless about Keepers in Iron. For all players getting attacked is obviously not good. But this situation is recoverable. In the case of the Keepers if the Vagabound player attacks, I often find just running out of Warriors and is like a death spiral.
Keepers have very powerful recruiting, once you’ve filled out your retinue you can use your high card draw to plop a bunch of badgers down on the board. Their recruiting is so strong that they often can go from getting completely wiped to scoring a burst of points in a single turn. They do take a while to figure out, though, and I don’t claim to be a good badger player by any means😅
Yeah VB is banned in our tables. Some people sometimes picked it but they spend every second turn skipping in the forest, after that never picked it again.
No FFX to my knowledge - I pulled from a few Nintendo games as well as Hollow Knight, Minecraft, Spelunky 2, Mushroom Wars and The Adventure Zone for this video. Final Fantasy has some great tracks though!
That was one impressive adjusted mean formula. I didn’t know people could be so smart and talented.
Also, my oh my those mole quotes… I get it.
🤣🤣🤣
Crows are the mindgame faction where you only need 1% of your brain
“Maximum fun, minimum brain” was the crow quote that almost made the hall of fame
I only recently started playing. Crows are at the bottom of the viability tier list but the top of the fun tier list. Blow up marquise and have a good time #crowsforlife
As a Cat enjoyer, I feel that every game is improved by their presence, even if I’m not playing as them myself.
💯
Niko does not approve of you not playing Marquise.
Why? Niko is not a cat!
Returning to this thread to say I finished playing OneShot today. Loved it!
I feel like the designers of the game balanced assuming cats were in the board.
It would be interesting to see what factions you like seeing at the table, not necessarily like playing.
Example: I don't like playing as the cats, but I love it when the cats get picked. The Warrior in each clearing creates an immediate sense of tension that generally makes the games feel funner. Like Cats are probably my sixth favorite to play, but one of the my favorites to see in the draft.
Or the moles I love playing as the moles, but hate playing against them. The burrows popping up somewhere leading to a small army of dark dwelling despots piling out and burning down a clearing is frustrating.
I’d love to see this data too! I do think at least a few of the respondents for this survey approached it in a general sense, rather than from the prompted perspective of playing as each faction being ranked. If I make more of an effort to clear that up for this hypothetical future survey though, I’m sure the data wouldn’t be too difficult to gather. 100% agree on the Cats adding a great tension to the game, by the way.
the gap between first and last being only a littl eover two points is an incredible testament to how well designed root is
what a great video. Nice illustrations, great script, liked the different music choices for each faction
Thank you so much!😄
I love the presentation of this video. I particularly enjoy the music you chose for each faction, and that you were kind and thoughtful enough to credit each track. Thank you for tracking this data for us!
Thank you for the kind words and for watching!🙂
had so much fun watching this cole. so well done mate. can't wait to see more!
Thanks Luke😄
I'd love to see a similar poll for how fun factions are to play against.
Maybe that can be a project for this summer!
At first I thought it was a coincidence that my bf and I had literally the opposite order for factions, then I realized he just likes high reach/militant factions while I like low reach/insurgent factions
That makes sense! I tend to prefer the militants as well but it’s not such a clean line, a couple insurgents have made it into my top five
Thanks for your thoughts throughout and your list! Still think you’re crazy for having the cats at #1, but the game as a whole is awesome so I guess it’s okay. Got the otters right up top so you’ve got some priorities straight!
Thanks for watching! This was a lot of fun to put together😄 Long live the Marquise!
This is fantastic. I appreciate your qualitative/quantitative research. More if this for other board games/topics in board games would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.
Thank you for the kind words!
Bats and Radgers, you say? I guess frogs are radgers, then.
The Hollow Knight score was a top notch music choice!
Appreciate the effort of putting everything together Cole! I am one of the contributor that ranked badgers #1. Feel relieved when playing in a game against moles as badgers, while they receive so much heat and hate 😂. I always agree with the table “Yeah!! Get them!!!” 😌
Being player 3 or 4 in a Badger/Mole matchup is the worst😆
10. Vagabond: it's not _un_fun to play, but it kinda feels dirty to play knowing that even with infamy house rules they're rather imbalanced. Those who police you gain nothing else in return, and when you're policed you just check out for a turn.
9. Corvid Conspiracy: on paper they're fun, but I kinda struggle to use them well, as most do it seems.
8. Riverfolk: I _really_ want to rank them higher, but I just suck as them. I've researched, I've tried to employ strats, it never seems to work out for me. I think the difficulty of getting warriors out is another put-off compared to other factions.
7. Eyrie: I actually really like them, and I don't have much to say other than that I just like everything else more.
6. Marquise: the cats have grown on me recently, they can have a particularly interesting endgame state depending on the factions and building slots in play. Like the moles, being able to quickly generate a swarm of kitties has its appeal.
5. Duchy: they feel somewhat like cats, but I prefer the ease of crafting and the ministers system. The ability to pop up anywhere on the map is always interesting.
4. Hundreds: while their gameplan is somewhat set in stone, doesn't make it any less fun. The mood choices can be surprisingly impactful, and it's always satisfying when the others fail to quell a mob before your next turn as their precious buildings turn to ash.
3. Lizard Cult: It says a lot that they're so popular despite having erratic action potential turn by turn. Their gardens causing rule headaches, and devilishly well-timed birdsong conspiracies like sanctify and convert make them refreshing agents of chaos.
2. Woodland Alliance: while they do become rather routine once you get used to them, they often put a very clear time bomb on the game, because unless the whole board works against you, you WILL explode in VP at some point. Card toll booths can be fun to mess with factions like Eyrie, Duchy, and Keepers, making them second guess their desired destinations. The game plan doesn't get old to me, I love collecting supporters and making everyone sweat about revolts.
1. Keepers: while they're incredibly complex to pull off well, the level of point economy they have, along with the interesting relic interactions (ignore a hit, but give away an extra point and have it tossed to a far forest if you lose it) make them both fair and satisfying imo. You often have to plan things out for the following turns, so while they can rocket ahead they also project hard what their intentions are. Messing with their card economy can really throw them off too. But anyway they're just so much fun to play for me, can amass a death wall of badgers...and I love the silver meeples :x
Marquise is pretty fun. Not super amazing but cool ig. They're very vanilla, but in the best way. Very skill based.
I haven’t played the cats in a while, I think I’m experiencing withdrawal…😆
14:28 I would not call you a hypocrite for this. With the cats, while your actions are limited in number, they are yours to do with as you please. On the other hand, the lizards can get locked out of taking meaningful actions by opponents manipulating the lost souls. The cats have to weigh which course of action will be best for them. The lizards have to hope the rest of the table is kind enough to let the outcast shift to the suit in which all the important stuff is actually happening. (This is coming from someone who enjoys playing lizards)
Also, love seeing the badgers so high on the list! They’re my favorite!
Good showings for your Lizards and Badgers!
moles are quickly becoming one of my favorite factions... the end of this video really surprised me D:
Some people are quite opinionated on moles, as you saw lol. You hopefully shouldn’t have to worry about those complaints for a while, though😅
I did predict the #1 about half way through. The comments by top and lowest voters were interesting as well as your analysis and commentary.
Thank you!😄 Nice prediction!
With how much you were insulting the moles at the end, I’m surprised they weren’t last for you
Also, ranking lizards at 10th is heresy, but you ranked cats at #1 so you are forgiven.
That wasn’t me, I was just reading what someone submitted😆
24:35 mom im on youtube!
loved this video! what song did you use for the bgm for the corvids?? it sounds so familiar but i can't put a finger on where i heard it
Glad to hear you liked it😄 Pigstep by Lena Raine (from Minecraft)!
Funny thing is, I never thought of Cats as my favourite faction, but my vast excel sheets say they are by far my most played faction. Revealed preference vs stated preference I guess... This all might just be because Rats are not implemented online yet and my IRL group hates them and will seriously go kill you dead 3v1 just for picking them... Otherwise... Blood for the blood god!
Also because every game needs at least one militant, you’ll most likely end up playing more games with militant factions than insurgents
@@colesrootchannel Oh no, someone always ends up picking the odd WA or vagabond. I always avoid insurgent factions by design, except sometimes the lizards, or corvids if I want to prove a point or really have a devious mood that day. Lots of stuff on the board is the name of the game here :-D My surprise rather comes when I pick Cats over Birds and Moles (both quite often) , not entirely knowing why and wondering why I gave up on victory 😀
@@colesrootchannel since adset, the forcing of militant privilege is somewhat weak. I ran a simulation, it seems if we chose factions randomly, the ratio of militant to insurgent factions picked would be 1.025 to 1. Not a huge factor I would say.
I also prefer playing militant factions, makes sense that they don’t show up that much more frequently than insurgents now that I think about it
nice video bruv
Eyrie being number 1 was very predictable. Cats being so low threw me but I guess I get it. Militant factions all the way baby. Gimme them mountains of units to use and tough decision trees!
I love the vagabond!!!
WA SO LOW?! INSANITY!
It’s tough being a revolutionary these days✊😔
@colesrootchannel once the new world order is ushered in they'll understand. They'll aaaaaall understand...
honestly the birds are probably my least favorite faction. also, I feel like this data states that the marauder expansion is the most worthwhile expansion to buy.
That’s why I love this game, it has something for everyone! It could be recency bias with the marauder expansion but I do like both of the new factions.
I haven't yet tried the underworld expansion but I just got the marauders and both the factions in it are my new favorites! I do understand how a lot of people could enjoy factions like the lizard cult more though. Root is my favorite board game for this exact reason! @@colesrootchannel
chad content on this channel
i've been enjoying playing the vagabond, but that is mostly playing on vs the AI in the steam version and friends. I feel if I were to go to a table that have a more meta understanding of the game would result on being attacked a lot harder to the point of making it not fun. I can see someone zeroing in on the VB just from experience and watching videos about it making it a very no fun allowed scenario.
Yeah, it tends to depend on which Vagabond specifically too. Some get no breathing room and others almost get ignored entirely, but most of them are somewhere in between.
What xpac is keepers? I thought I had them all on the app but I have never seen them.
Marauder expansion, the newest expansion which hasn’t made it to the app yet.
I'm a simple man. I hear the Hollow Knight soundtrack, I click like.
I have not played with marauder expansion or
the corvids yet. My personal favorite factions:
1. Cats
2. Birds
3. Lizards
4. Duchy
5. Alliance
6. Riverfolks
7. Vagabond
The best designed factions:
1. Eyrie
2. Duchy
3. Woodland
4. Cats
5. Riverfolks
6. Lizards
7. Vagabond
My 2 cents on each faction design
Birds have the best design and balance
Cats have the best potential but ends up too weak because they are predictable have hard time to come back and rely on lucky bird card draws
Woodland have great design but can sometimes have very limited options and ends up with a boring gameplay
Vagabond have a great potential but the fact that you get nothing from attacking him really messes up the fun of the game. Also starting every game with running around the ruins is the same every game.
Underground amazing design but a bit overturned and require a beat down almost every game
Riverfolk and lizards are too much at the mercy of other players to buy from them or not fuck up their outcast
Otters though at awesome playability for the other factions in the game
Curious which factions get the most play online, rather than prefer to play as.
nice video
Thank you!
I love Root, but I suck at strategy. It's just a fun game with a lot of replayability to me. I don't know any top strategies and if you tried to teach me one, I would probably forget it 2 minutes later. I think I average 3 turmoils per game when I play Eyrie. I was proud when I finished a game (in a loss) having only turmoiled once. I would rather play any other faction than the Eyrie. My favorite factions are Hundreds, Alliance, and Corvid mostly just because I like stirring the pot. Any time I face off against the cats, I do my best to board wipe them. I have board wiped the Cats three times as the Corvid alone. My favorite strategy in the entire game is Coalition, if you ever see me pick Vagabond at a table, I will be using coalition at my earliest opportunity because I love trying to hold back everyone else at the table while the underdog wins.
Which faction would be the best for beginners?
New players always seem to love the Corvids! Other more beginner-friendly choices might be Eyrie, Moles or Vagabond, depending on what type of player we’re talking about.
my first was eyrie. never looked back. loved it
Wait are people ranking factions on how much they like to play for themselves or how much they like them as a game faction? In some games there is a mechanic I don't use or a faction I don't play, but I appreciate being in the game as an option.
Just how much they like to play for themselves in this survey. I might do another more general one some ways in the future - maybe after the next expansion comes out
@@colesrootchannel OK thanks. I'm not asking for a separate list. Do it if you want. I just wanted to understand what I was looking at. I'm a bit clueless about Keepers in Iron. For all players getting attacked is obviously not good. But this situation is recoverable. In the case of the Keepers if the Vagabound player attacks, I often find just running out of Warriors and is like a death spiral.
Keepers have very powerful recruiting, once you’ve filled out your retinue you can use your high card draw to plop a bunch of badgers down on the board. Their recruiting is so strong that they often can go from getting completely wiped to scoring a burst of points in a single turn. They do take a while to figure out, though, and I don’t claim to be a good badger player by any means😅
Wow, the people are so wrong. VB, Cats and WA in the bottom 3? That said, I like all the factions
Cats I’m sad about… VB and WA not so much.😆
Yeah VB is banned in our tables. Some people sometimes picked it but they spend every second turn skipping in the forest, after that never picked it again.
24:57 IM FAMOUS LFG
As a Corvid enjoyer sad to see them not at #1
The corvids have grown on me a lot since I made this video! They’ve probably moved up a couple spots on my list
Otters are the best because their meple is the cutest
Eat The Rich!!!
(And also anyone who put the alliance below #5)
Haha, who would do that?😅
@@colesrootchannel *Sharpens Guillotine*
Ohh im hearing FFX soundtrack? :P
And Hollow Knight!
No FFX to my knowledge - I pulled from a few Nintendo games as well as Hollow Knight, Minecraft, Spelunky 2, Mushroom Wars and The Adventure Zone for this video. Final Fantasy has some great tracks though!
*crying in molesaremyfavouritefaction 😢😂*
Justice for mole lovers✊😔
i disagree with *literally everything* said about eyrie dynasty
They’re not for everyone and that’s perfectly okay! That’s what’s so great about root!
Vagabond is fun as hell why would u dislike him!!!!
He is my 1st favorite but my least favorite to play against, he is too hard to police
If anyone tells me VG is their fav faction then I know they’re a psychopath and I’m not gonna interact with them anymore.
A simple litmus test😆
Capitalistic Warmongering is a contradiction in terms
Great video mate. That was enjoyable as. Proud to sub 🫡
Thanks so much!😄
Those brutal Cats responses... 🫠 I love them so much though. Nobody can take that away from meeee
Seeing someone say picking them felt like a guaranteed loss made me real life sad for a second🥲