If you've never played the Schizoid before, you may be wondering what kinds of win Conditions would be good. Or, if you have played it before, you may be looking from some new and interesting strategies. Presented below are some of the methods that have been used by various players.
In our group, we have big arguments over Schizoid. They basically
always revolve over the interactions of Schizoid and other powers. For
example, if you are Symbiote/Schizoid, setting the extra condition to
"having at least 30 tokens in the game". Well, I guess this one is a bit
questionable since everyone can't necessarily meet it. The real example
case is the following:
Matt had the Sentinel/Schizoid. Sentinel allows him to at the
start of each turn place a special token around a planet or moon in the
system of the player whose turn it is - thus these tokens can theoretically
be placed anywhere. His condition was "Have a Sentinel token around the
center base in your system." Since he controlled Sentinel, this condition
was never going to happen for other players as he would not place Sentinels
on other players' center planets. However, it was theoretically possible.
My proposed solution to things like this was the following. The
extra condition can only relate to those things which are Guaranteed to be
in every game (thus since given powers, moons, flares only appear in certain
games, they can't in any way be referenced). We have still not really decided
how to handle this, though, and for the most part agreed to just get rid
of Schizoid. The Wild is in many ways just as bad, particularly in Eon where
it can be used multiple times.
Discussion about Schizoid from Mark Amidon
The Schizoid is one of my favorite powers (much to the consternation of
everyone else). House rules are not necessary to your situation, as the Power
Card plainly states that the winning conditions must be obvious to everyone
as they happen. So unless the Aura is in the game, conditions about cards are
generally not obvious; e.g., if the conditions are "have 3 external bases and
2 Edicts in your hand", this is INVALID.
However, the winning conditions can be as whacko as the general restrictions
allow. For another example, if everyone playing wears glasses, the winning
conditions can be "have two external bases and remove your glasses".
MORE INVALID CONDITIONS AND WHY NOT:
"Have 12 tokens in the Warp and tie your shoes". The number of external
bases must be one of the two conditions.
"Have 3 external bases and have asked the Schizoid two questions". This
requires remembering an historic event.
"Have 4 external bases and ooze completely out of a challenge". Only the
Amoeba can fulfill the latter condition, and everyone must have the chance of
winning. However, if both Amoeba and Changeling are in the game...
"Have 2 external bases and think evil thoughts about the Schizoid". NOT
OBVIOUS AS IT HAPPENS, no matter how probable.
"Have 4 external bases and no more than 2 home bases". The Schizoid cannot
meet this winning condition and keep their power, thus violating the "everybody
has to be able to meet the conditions" condition.
VALID CONDITIONS THAT WON'T WIN YOU ANY FRIENDS:
"Have 1 external base and say something in French".
"Have 2 external bases and know the winning conditions". Despite vehement
protests, this is valid, as everyone asks yes-or-no questions of the Schizoid,
and there are also several powers which allow for direct reading of them. It
can get ugly, but it is valid. As the condition must be obvious as it
happens, the conditions must have passed hands or be explicitly stated as
the yes-or-no question (though an argument could be made for this being "historic
knowledge").
"Have 5 external bases and Zap the Schizoid". This is the default winning
condition for any tougher conditions.
"Have 1 external base and be the Changeling". Valid only when the
Changeling is in the game, obviously.
Remember, if you have the number of external bases be greater than 5, the
default winning conditions generally become 5-&-Zap.
