Greetings,

We have played around 50ish games of Netrunner now. And most of our playgroup has decided that trap cards are not worth it.

With Snare! and Data Mine as the 2 that can be used.

But the others Project Junebug, Aggressive Secretary. and Ghost Branch not being playable. I think are we missing something?

I just find these games are to tight to spend actions and credits on this type of card.

So is there a play style that can make them work?

Is anyone had great success with these cards?

And How are you doing it?

Thanks for your time,

Rottencat

in my opinion there is only one situation where the ambush cards are usefull

conditions:

1st. the corp must be near to winning (4-5 agenda points)

2nd. the runner must be able to break the defense of the corp.

so the corp cant advance a agenda .. but can lead the runner in the trap …

otherwise if the corp is far away from winning the runner has no need to run the 3 time advanced card without infiltration….

if the runner isnt able to breakt the ices .. an agenda would be the win

If you're finding these cards are not working you've probably played enough games with each other that you're falling into predictable playstyle patterns.

Try putting an agenda out unprotected and advancing it twice. If they score it or don't either way they'll know you'll do it and will be less likely to ignore traps you put down on the table because it just might be an agenda.

The conditions malkavianprank mentioned are also a great opportunity. Have a strong fort but the runner is currently rich? Get them to burn their moeny on the trap and then put down your agenda for the win. You don't need to advance it to the point where it'll flatline them just enough to make them think they need to run it. Sure there will be times you'll advance it twice they'll never run it and you'll just have to trash it, but the mind games these cards let you play are definitely worth it.

The trap that gives tags is particularly good just to give the runner pause, if they know it's in the deck they'll be a lot less likely to run on 3rd or 4th action.

Well thank you for sharing your thoughts.

I will try adjusting play style to make a trap cards work.

I think I will add 2-3 traps for the late game play when I might be able to bait into a run.

Thanks again…

Rottencat

Try taking traps back from archives with Archived Memories. That totally **** up the mind of a runner.

Great question and nice tips. One more way to get the runner to bite on the Trap is to place an upgrade on the server.

That being said, it is WAY too expensive to advance a trap. It pretty much takes your whole turn to put it down and advance it AND once it is advanced, you only have the next round to bait them in. A server with an advancement token that is just sitting there is a dead giveaway that it is a trap. Nobody leaves an agenda partially filled and lets it sit there turn after turn.

My house rule is that traps automatically act as if they have been advanced one time. If you do advance it once, then it acts as if it has been advanced twice… This way traps have a purpose, and the runner may think it is an unrezzed asset.

I think the trap cards should be rewritten to reflect the above change OR more asset cards which gain a benefit for being advanced so the traps can better blend in. A trap is not a trap if everyone can tell it's a trap.

Khrull said:

Only if you always score your agendas as fast as possible. Especially if you have some player(s) you play against regularly, you need to play agendas like traps from time to time. You might lose an agenda some of the time when you do that, but you've managed to make it harder for the runner to guess what is what, which will be good in every future game.

Saturnine said:

Totally agree with this, and that's how I play them, to pretty good effect. A well played trap is devasting, and I'd say I personally have a blast with them.

Khrull said:

Thats not exactly true .. vs nbn and wayland you should be aware of cards with 3 advancements tokens just lying around..

thats the great mindtrick … obviously trap ? or finshed posted bounty and when i draw the 2nd scorched i score it?

and nbn .. i like to advance 2 breaking news to 3 .. so the runner thinks its a trap and than score them at once and pull than the psychographics of for 4 or if he is low on cards you can play scorched earth once to burn him ..

so nbn and wayland are such cards more than just a trap maybe^^

Also I would add that the corp player can extend the life of a trap by a turn if he follows these steps.

Turn 1. Install the trap as your last click in your turn. Act like there are other things you need to get done. With no advancement tokens on it, it might not be as effective, but if the runner runs on it he is still wasting time and money, which is a major win for you.

Turn 2. If the runner hasen't run on it yet, you can advance it. I like to advance mine 3. It's a larger gamble, but it also has a larger payoff. Advancing it to 3 makes the runner think that it is large scoring agenda, which might tempt him more. Also advancing it to three makes whatever the effect is generally more powerful. Finally, it gives you a legit reason not to "score" it this turn, as it is going to be scored next turn, forcing the runner to make one last decision whether to run it or not. If this is near the end of the game you pretty much all but force the runners hand, since he either gets it or you win.

Turn 3: At this point, if the runner hasn't run it, it's trash and time to throw it out and be sad. Although I have managed to trick a couple of unattentive runners into running on an overripe trap server, this is generally the exception, not the rule.