BetterRounds

BetterRounds is a draft-focused ROUNDS mod that combines a class-driven custom card ecosystem with built-in long-match settings.

The target is a real draft system:

class starters
later class-only payoffs
wildcard bridge cards
troll cards that are funny without being dead picks
about 100 total cards split across tiers and archetypes

The point of the pack is not raw stat inflation. The point is to create readable builds with obvious strengths, obvious weaknesses, and enough room for RoundsWithFriends and longer in-mod match settings to turn a short match into a bigger draft.

Current implementation

The code in this repo currently includes 12 prototype cards plus the first runtime draft layer:

automatic card discovery and registration
built-in rounds/points/card-offer settings with host sync
all host-facing rounds, points, cards shown, and cards selected settings exposed in the main-menu Mods tab with a 1-99 range
class-aware toggle categories
player build analysis from owned cards
a per-pick filtered card pool that starts broad and becomes more class-specific later
separate opening-draft and round-draft settings for cards shown and cards selected

Precision

Quickdraw: faster reloads and faster shots, but lower damage.
One in the Chamber: one bullet, heavy damage, fast reload.
Deadeye Rig: straight bullets and faster projectile speed, but less ammo and slower reloads.

Trickshot

Bank Shot: extra reflects and a little more travel time, but weaker direct hits.
Scatter Core: shotgun spread with lower per-bullet damage.
Hook Line: reverse knockback for pull-based control.

Mobility

Light Frame: faster movement and jump, but lower health.
Ballast: higher health, slower movement.
Moon Step: lighter gravity and faster movement, but less health and slower shots.

Defense and tempo

Backup Shield: one extra block, but a slightly slower cycle.
Stronghold: better survivability and block uptime, but slower movement and projectiles.
Siege Engine: a heavy build-definer with more output and less mobility.

Full design target

The full card plan is documented separately:

That catalog defines roughly 100 cards across classes, wildcards, and troll picks.

Design rules

Most cards are allowMultiple = false.
Every card must trade power on at least one axis.
Commons should create a nudge, not decide the game by themselves.
Uncommons should define a play pattern.
Rares should feel real, but still have a punishable downside.
Cards for big RoundsWithFriends lobbies should stay readable and avoid hidden exponential scaling.

Full balance notes live in docs/BALANCE_MODEL.md.

Recommended play profile

This mod is meant to sit in a profile alongside:

RoundsWithFriends

BetterRounds now owns the long-match and pick-count settings itself, so SetRounds is no longer required for the intended profile.

Profile setup notes are in docs/PROFILE_SETUP.md.

Build setup

This project builds against DLLs copied into Libs. The helper script scripts/Sync-RoundsLibs.ps1 copies the needed files from:

your ROUNDS install directory
your mod-manager profile directory

Once Libs is populated:

dotnet build .\RoundsPartyPack.sln

Publishing notes

Before publishing to Thunderstore, change:

plugin id and display name in RoundsPartyPack/Plugin.cs
website_url in manifest.json
package icon and any author-facing metadata

Use docs/RELEASE_CHECKLIST.md before cutting a real build.