Getting started with Rage on the Gatling engine

Note, this Faq refers to build 191. I try to keep on top of the patches, but they update frequently as glitches are discovered. If directions don’t exactly match, check to see what build you are using.

Getting the cards

How do I get the card images?
First download the program from CCG workshop. Create a gNet account. Once you have the engine installed, login. The game list will pop up automatically. Select Rage as your game.

It will probably pop an dialog asking you to download the card images. If it doesn't, do the following.

On the top left of the screen you will have a bar with two buttons. Select the smaller purple button with a gear on it. On the menu select Tools, then select Image Downloader.

When it brings up the image downloader, select “grab all”. On the dropdown menu, select what set you would like to download. (it defaults to “all”) Then hit the grab all button. Note: the image downloader requires you to run in a different 'mode' on the engine.

It will take about an hour to download all the cards over a broadband connection. It will take three or more over a dial up connection. If you’re disconnected at any time, just repeat the above steps, and it will pick up where it left off.

If you want to get started right away, download just the main set (Rage). The vast majority of the cards used by players come from this set. This will take about 15-20 minutes to download on broadband, 1 hour on dialup. You can play without images, but its hard. This will get you the majority of the cards quickly so you can play while the rest of the images download.

ARG! The image downloader keeps crashing on me!

You can get the cards as Zip Files here. Open the Zip file into the following location: C>Progams> CCG Workshop >gEngine >Cache >Rage. The zip files don't contain every single file you'll need, so you'll still need to run the image downloader. It will speed up the process considerably though as the downloader will skip over the Zip file images.

ARG! I can’t download that much stuff over my dialup connection!

If it really gives you trouble, send me an e-mail and I'll mail you a CD with all the images burned onto it.

 

Building a deck

Where’s the deck builder?
Login to gnet. Select Rage as your game. Your deck builder will automatically open on the right side of the screen

How do I create a deck?
In the deck builder, select Add a deck (its the + mark button). Name your deck. This will pop up a dialog box that will let you select cards for your deck. Hint: when you first name your deck, name it "Name-unfinished". Rename the deck to remove the 'unfinished' when you're truly done. This way if you get interupted, you won't accidentally forget to finish a deck.

How do I create a separate sept and combat deck?
You don’t. Put all your cards in one deck. When you go to play a game, it will automatically sort the cards apart when you start a game.

Do I need to put both the breed form and Crinos form of a character in my deck?
No, make sure to select the Breed form of your characters. The crinos form is displayed in Maroon. If you put both in, or the wrong one in, the Engine will start your character in the wrong form. They’ll automatically shift later without you needing to put the Crinos form in your deck.

Why does there appear to be a breed form and a Crinos form of Metis characters (or nonshapeshifting characters)?
Both sides are in fact the same. There's a "crinos" copy there just in case you accidentally try to flip a metis to Crinos or breed form. Pay no mind to it, its simply there to keep the gEngine from getting confused during such an error.

How many cards are supposed to be in my deck?
You need 20 renown of Characters. At least 20 combat cards, at least 30 sept cards. You may have no more than 2 of any combat card, no more than 3 of any sept card. Only one of each character.
EXCEPTION: Nameless Cannon Fodder and .38 Special's special ability lets you put up to 5 in your deck. The Engine has a special exception file written that lets you do that.

Are there any other restrictions to deck building?
If you are building a tournament legal deck, you may not include Battlefields.. If you want to play a game using Battlefields, it’s best to agree to that BEFORE the game.

What do I do about cards that “start in play” with a character? (example: King Albrehct may start with a Grand Klaive)
Put them in your deck. You search your deck for them at beginning of the game. Keep in mind that “start in play” cards count towards your deck limits. If you have a character that gets to start with something in play, the engine will display a red notice in the chat window saying "character X detected, Manual draw". This means you'll need to tell it to draw your starting hand AFTER you've searched for the card that starts in play.

How do I search my deck ?
Right click the sept deck. It will ask you how many cards to look at. Tell it the whole deck, find your cards and put them in play. Make sure to right click and shuffle the sept deck before drawing your starting hand. (right click to draw)

What happens if I have the wrong number of cards in my deck?
At the start of the game, it will display a big red warning notifying you (and your opponent) your deck does not conform to those standards. In most cases, you will want to restart the game and edit the deck. Then restart game.

I finished my deck, but it has no description. How to I give it a description?
In the deckbuilder, select the deck you want to give a description to. Select edit. In the pop up screen, type a description in the empty box in the lower left hand corner.
HINT: Put a note to yourself in this box if the deck has cards that start in play in it so you remember to put them in play at the start of the game. If you have any decks that aren’t tournament legal, put a note in the box to remind you which decks they are.

I edited the description of my deck, and closed deck builder, but it's not showing the change. What happened?
Select a different deck, then click on the one you just edited. It'll display the new description.

There seem to be come blank cards in the deckbuilder just labeled stuff like Caern 1, Fetish 2, Wyrm 3, etc. What are those?
Those are blank proxies that the playtesters use when testing new cards. They behave in the engine as if they were the type listed (Caern 1 has coding that makes it play as a caern) but have no game text attached to them. Only the playtesters know what the text is. If you want to be a playtester, contact Fenris Lorsrai, the head of playtesting.

Do I have to be logged in to work on a deck?
Yes and no. You have to be able to log in to get at the deckbuilder. Once in, select the purple gear in the upper left of screen. Select Tools> Offline deck Editor. That will allow you to work offline.

Finding a game

How do I find a game?
Login to gNet. See if anyone is online. Sometimes you get lucky and there’s someone ready to play that second. Often you have to wait for someone to show up.

You can increase your odds of finding someone to play with by either leaving a note on the Game Wall, e-mailing people, or logging on during a peak time. When you login to gNet, go to the Rage chat. If no one’s around, leave a note saying when you think you’ll next be on. It will be visible to whoever logs into the chat room for the next 12-24 hours, depending on how active it’s been.

What's the Game Wall ?
The game wall is currently in beta testing, so is little buggy. You can leave a note on it indicating when you will next be on to play. The Game Wall tab is on one of the tabs on the window displaying current news.

How do I e-mail people?
Go to the game wall tab. The "e-mail" button will let you send an "I'm on, come play with!" e-mail to everyone who's signed up. Check the box to make sure you get mailed when other players use the feature!

Are there any scheduled games?
There is a weekly tour Friday night at 8PM Engine time. This is aimed at new players who need a rules refresher or help getting used to the controls on the Engine, but experienced players are welcome too.

What's "engine time"?
The engine has an internal clock. It is set to US Central time, which is Greenwich Mean time -6.

I have people to play against, how do we actually start a game?
When you’re logged in, select the “Tools” button on the top left of the screen and select "Play a Game". It will pop up a window showing who’s offering games. If no one is offering, you can offer a game by naming the lobby and creating a new game. You need to name the lobby even if you’re the only one offering a game.

How do I join a game?
select the “Tools” button on the top left of the screen and select "Play a Game". Select a listed game. Click the “join” button. Once you’re ready, select your name in the box in the upper left and hit “ready”. The controller can then start the game once everyone who has joined has hit “ready.”

What are observers?
Observers are people who want to watch the game without actually playing. New players will frequently observe experienced players playing a game before actually trying to play.

How do I observe a game?
select the “Tools” button on the top of the screen and select "Observe a Game ". Select the game you want to observe.

I know there’s a game going on, but I can’t observe! Why can’t I see it?
Resumed games aren’t available for observation. Also, you can't observe a game after a certain amount of time has passed.

What’s a resumed game?
If for some reason you need to break off a game, the controller can save the game so it can be resumed later.

"X player" is supposed to be on, but I can't find him. Is there some faster way to find him than jumping into every chatroom?
Select a chatroom (example: Main) and right click it. It'll pop up a list of who's in that room, so you don't have to chase them 'round and 'round the gEngine.

Selecting and sharing decks

How do I share a deck?
In the deck builder, select the deck you want to share. Hit the “share” button. A window will pop up. Check the top box, then select the player’s name off the drop down menu and hit “send”.

How do I get a deck from someone else?
Have them send you a deck. It will then automatically appear in your deck builder listing. Select the shared deck as the one you want to use.

I sent a deck/someone sent me a deck, but it doesn't appear to be working? Is there some other way to exchange decks?
Sometimes the gEngine fouls up and won't send a deck correctly. If this happens, you want to send a deck to someone offline, or you want to send multiple decks, you can do so through e-mail.

Look in C> Progam Files > CCG Workshop > Gengine >decks. This where your decks are stored. You can send the files stored in there as e-mail attachments. To get them into the Engine, the recipient should drop the deck files into that directory on their computer. They will have to reboot the engine to see the new decks.

NOTE: You may want to sporadically create backup copies of your decks, particularly if you've had any problems with the Engine. Stick the copies in a file on your desktop.

How do I select a deck to play with?
In the deck builder, you’ll see your list of decks on the left. Select a deck. Click the huge green checkmark to use that deck. It will keep that deck in the slot until you change it.

How can I tell what deck I have selected?
In the top right, you'll see a box that says "slot- deck used". The name of the deck you're using is there.

How do I use a preconstructed deck?
Select “preconstructed decks” in the deck builder. Click on each deck to see a description. Pick one and click “use”. It will automatically change your deck to use that one

Can I edit the preconstructed decks?
Yes. Select it as above, but it sends you back to the deck manager, click the deck name and select “edit”. Then you can swap around cards.
HINT: If you’ve never built a deck before, select one of the precons and then edit it. It will give you a good idea of what a finished deck should look like. You should rename the deck.

How do I rename a deck?
Select the deck and click "rename". It'll pop up a dialog box that will let you rename it.

I picked a deck, edited it, and then went to join a game. It says I have missing card slots to fill. What happened to my deck?
The engine automatically removes your deck from active use when you edit it. Click the name on the list, and click the big green check to put it back where its supposed to be.

Playing a game

Set Up and Structure

How do I set up?
By and large, the gEngine does it for you. It shuffles your deck, puts your characters in play, and starts you with a 5 card sept hand. If you have any cards that start in play, search your sept deck for them and put them in play. If you start with more than five cards, draw the extra cards. Then hit the green “done” button in the bottom right hand of the screen to indicate you’re done with set up.

HINT: If you have cards that start in play, it is usually polite to type into the chat window that you have such cards so the other player doesn't think you're jumping the gun and already playing cards

What happens if I don’t hit done?
It messes up the turn counter. Everyone has to hit the done button after set up to make the counter work correctly.

Arg, I’ve got two copies of all my characters!? What happened?
You probably put both the breed form and crinos form in your deck. Only put the Breed form in. They’ll automatically flip later. To get rid of the spares in game, right click the extra character and select “DESTROY Garou!”

I got a red warning that says I have too many copies of X in my deck! What do I do?
Ideally you should end the game and go to the deck editor and figure out what card you have too many of. If your play partner would like to continue to play anyway, search your deck for the extra copies and discard them now.

How do I search my sept deck?
Right click the sept deck. Select “look through sept deck”. It will pop up a window that gives you an option of how many cards your want to search through. It will then pop up a window showing you the cards in the search. Right click them to put them directly into play.

How do I add cards to my sept hand?
Right click the sept deck. Select draw a card.

Do we hit done at the end of each phase?
Yes.

What are those Regen and Moot buttons in the Hunting Grounds for?
Frequently you end up having nothing to do in those phases for some reason. They default to "off". So long as those are off, you don't have to click done to get through those phases. If you click them to "on" those phases will reappear and you'll have to click done to get through them. If even one player has them checked on, all players will have them set to "On"

What are the red and green colored blocks on my play area?
This is your sept hand and combat hand size. Some effects will increase or decrease your hand size. Use these to increase or decrease the number.When you click refill hand, it will now do it to the selected number. The hand size defaults to five.

I can’t see the cards! What’s wrong?
There’s two possibilities. If none of the cards are visible and show up as white rectangles, you haven’t downloaded all the card images. You can hover your mouse over the squares to read the text.
If you saw a card announced in the chat dialog, but don’t see it on screen, hit Refresh. Sometimes the engine glitches and doesn't refresh the screen automatically.

I can’t see the other players! What’s wrong?
You can only “face” one player at a time. At the top of the screen, there’s a drop down menu box that has the name of the facing player in it. If you click the drop down menu, you can select a different player to face. Normally you'll start facing at least one player. If its a resumed game, you'll be facing an empty space.

I want to look at player X, but it keeps facing me towards player Y and I have to keep setting it back. How can I make it stop that?
On the grey bar at top, click on GatlingEngine. Select Options. Unclick “autoswitch upper view to current player”. The gEngine automatically switches the top view to whoever last played a card otherwise. This won't fix the problem entirely, but it will cut down on the number of switches.

 

Playing cards

How do I play cards from my hand?
Right click the card you want to play. Select Play>Face Up. When it’s out, drag and drop it on the target. If it’s an attachable card, a dialog saying “would you like to attach X to Y?” will pop up.

I want to play a card on someone else character. How do I attach it to that character?
Play it from your hand and drag it onto the other player’s play area. Right click it and select “Give up Ownership.” Have the other player right click the card and “take Ownership”. They then drop it on the targeted character.

How do I discard cards?
Right click the card you want to discard and select “Discard”> This Card. If you want to throw out several at once, right click and pick “select card” for each card. Then right click and select “discard selected cards.” Or you can right click and select “Discard” > Whole hand

Why would I want to select multiple cards instead of doing them one by one? It seems like more work.
If you select a card and then discard it, it doesn’t announce what cards you discarded. If you do them one by one, it announces which cards you discarded. While the top card is visible face up in your pile, the ones beneath it aren't. You don't always want other players to notice what's in your hand and what's not.

I lost my hand! How do I get it back?
On the top right side of the screen, there is a green button that says "hands". Click this to restore your missing hand. Select the hand you want to restore. If it doesn't come back on first try, try again. Sometimes the hand isn't "missing", its actually hiding under an application. Switching it on and off a couple times will return it to the top of all applications.

I have something that creates a clone of a character, how do I do that?
Drag and drop "clone" gift to target character, a dialog saying “would you like to create a clone of X ?” will pop up. Then, a duplicate copy of the creature, with a special "clone" token attached to it, is created with the gift card attached to him.

Combat

How do I play cards?
Just like sept cards. However, in combat, you should play the card face down instead. You'll flip it upright later.

How do I reveal combat cards?
Once you and your opponent have selected combat cards, you should both click "Ready!". When you both have, right click your combat card and select "flip face up."

Where's this "ready!" button ?
It's on the grey kibbitz menu under the chat box. It's dark grey with a white bubble on it. You'll find Ready, Ok!, Ok?, Still there?, and WAIT! on that menu.

If there's multiple targets in a combat, how do we declare which card it hitting who and who played it?
When you're laying out cards, put the card each creature is playing on it. When you've both hit "Ready!, either type in who's hitting what, (ie "My X targets your Y") or just drop the card on the target. You pick targets before revealing cards.
NOTE: You can hit the "ready!" button while still having stuff in the chat dialogue. You may wish to type your targetting info into the chat box and not hit Send (or Enter) immediately. Hit Ready! and when your opponent confirms they're also ready, hit Send and it will show the targetting info so nobody gets to see beforehand who hits what.

What if I want to play no card, or return a card to my hand instead of revealing it?
There is a play null card option. Right click your combat hand and select Play card>Null card. Do this instead of laying down a card and then returning it to hand. If you just want junk cards out of your hand (for example, a combat event you can't use) you can use that as your fake card instead. Reveal it and discard it as normal.

I'm attacking a creature in the Hunting Grounds, so all the other players can play combat cards for it. How is that handled?
The other players should use the chat window to decide who's playing a card each round. They should play the card face down, then move it to sit on the creature in the Hunting Ground that's playing it. A different player can play a combat card every round. HOWEVER, if the creature can play multiple cards per round, they must all come from the same player.

HINT: selecting the name of another player on the chat dialog box will allow you to send them a private message. This way not every player sees what you're plotting.

How do I transfer damage to an opponent?
Move the card onto the opponent's play area and drop it on the targetted creature. Then right click the card to give up ownership. They should then right click the card, take ownership and attach it to the creature. If you were attacking something in the Hunting Grounds, just drop it on the affected critter. Don't give up ownership of the cards.

How do we keep track of which combat cards belong to who?
Right click the play area. There should be an option to create a colored token. Drop the token on your combat card. This will make returning cards later much easier, as you just have to check colors. Make sure each player uses a different color! (no, you can't all have black! :P)

How do I reshuffle my combat cards?
It should automatically reshuffle your cards. You can also manually shuffle if an effect calls for it by right clicking the deck.

I played a pack action that lets me draw more cards. How do I do that?
Right click the combat pile. Select "draw selected number". It'll pop up a dialogue asking how many cards to draw. Type in the number you want.

My character frenzied. How do I draw extra cards?
Right click the combat pile. Select "draw selected number". It'll pop up a dialogue asking how many cards to draw. Type in the number you want.

I just got hit with something that makes me play cards randomly. How do I do that?
When your opponent has hit "Ready!", right click your hand and select 'play random card."

Does play Random Card only do Combat Actions, or both Actions and Events?
It does both. If you were playing real world, you wouldn't get to seperate the Events out either. If you play an illegal card from a play Random effect well... too bad for you.

I just hit something in the Hunting Grounds that makes it play cards randomly. There's multiple players that could play card for it. Now what?
First decide who will play for it that round. Use either the "flip coin" or "roll die" option to decide randomly between the players. Then the selected player will play random from their hand.

Flip coin? Roll die? Where are those?
Right click the playing area (NOT on a card) and you'll see both options. Before you can roll a die, you need to create one with the right click. Once it's there, right click the die and select "roll." You may also use these functions to break up ties for renown between alphas.

I just got hit with a combat card that was aggravated. Is there some way to mark it that way ?
Yes, once you have control of the card, right click it to bring up a menu. There should be an option to create an aggravated damage marker.

My frenzy just ended and I need to discard randomly. How do I do that ?
Right click your combat hand. Select discard> Random. It'll ask you how many to discard.

 

Victory Piles

I killed something, how do I get it to my Victory Pile?
Have the controlling player send it to your Victory Pile by right clicking the card. They need to be facing you at the time to send it to your pile.

How do I set the Victory Points?
Right click and select the number. You can also toggle it up or down one point at a time.

I got something in my victory pile I’m not supposed to have there. How do I get rid of it?
Right click the Victory Pile. Select “Return card to X ”. Pick one of the options of where to send it.

How do I deal with things that give +X Victory Points for killing something?
If it says you should put the card that gives you the bonus in your Victory Pile, do so. If it doesn’t say to do so, just adjust the number of Victory Points to account for the bonus.

 

Misc. functions

What are those colored blocks on creatures?
They're large versions of the creatures Rage, Gnosis, Health and Renown. Renown's in the upper corner and is green. The other ones go across the bottom in the order of Rage (red), Gnosis (blue), and Health(brown). You can right click them to adjust them as card effects flux them.

What are the red and green colored blocks on my play area?
This is your sept hand and combat hand size. Some effects will increase or decrease your hand size. Use these to increase or decrease the number.When you click refill hand, it will now do it to the selected number. The hand size defaults to five.

How do I select my Alpha?
Right click the creature you wish to use as Alpha. Select "make alpha."

What's Alpha Self Move ?
It automatically moves your alpha into the right spot on your board. Right click the play area to do so (NOT on a card). It will also announce your Alpha's name in the chat window so other people can see it.

How do I indicate I'm in the Umbra ?
Right click the card. select "create marker">"umbra" Right click the marker to get rid of it when you come back.

I lost my Umbra marker, where'd it go?
To the Umbra. Umbra markers sometimes get lost when a character flips forms. Just make a new one

I know I made a token, but can't find it. Where'd it go?
There's a small dot at the top of your play area that is the point objects autoplay to. If there's a card there (or very close to it) the token is under the card. Just move the card and you'll probably find your missing token or die.

How do I flip to Crinos?
Right click the character. Select "flip to Crinos" Same deal if you're forced back to breed form for some reason.

I flipped to Crinos. It looks the same, has the same stats. What happened?
Metis, 7th Generation, Pentex Executives and some fomori only have a single form. If when you flip to Crinos their stats don't change, you've got one of those single form characters.

How can I tell how many cards a player has in his hand?
On the top of the screen, next to the players names, there's a button labeled "info". Click that and it will give you how many cards the player you're facing has.

Bugs and suggestions

How do I report a bug?
If it's Rage specific, leave a message on the Rage forum at CCG Workshop. The more detailed the bug report is, the easier it will be to fix it.

If it is a general system bug, please report it on the problem report forum and/or file a Defect Report.

The card image and the text don't exactly match. Is that a bug?
Yes and No. Some cards changed wording between Limited and Unlimited edition

If the image shows a shiny hologram in the corner, it probably means the card image is from Limited, but the text file uses the Unlimited wording. Check Rageapocalype.comto find the Unlimited wording of a card to see it it's a bug or not. If it's from another set and text appears to be missing or wrong, report it as a bug.

 

Technical problems

The engine is doing some terribly weird thing! it's not letting me log in/select game/is crashing constantly? What do I do!?
Check the problem reports forum at CCG Workshop to see if your precise problem is listed. Before you do that, try these five things. They generally solve 95% of the problems with the engine.

  1. Reboot your computer
  2. Run your antivirus software and make sure you haven't picked up anything.
  3. Check to make sure you have downloaded the latest patches. Sometimes it will not automatically load them.
  4. Go into the master files. Go to C>Progam Files>CCG Workshop>gEngine>Cache. Delete any file that ends in CMP
  5. Turn off your Firewall or antivirus software. Norton Utilities is notorious for blocking access to the engine.

Ack! The tech guys said the only way to fix the problem is reinstall the Engine. Is there some way to save my decks and avoid having to download all the card images again?
Look in C> Progam Files > CCG Workshop > Gengine >decks. This where your decks are stored. Copy the folder to your Desktop. To copy the game images, go to C> Progam Files > CCG Workshop > Gengine >Cache and copy just the game folders in there to your desktop.

Reinstall the engine, and then drop those folders back in the same place. Magic, your deck and images are restored!