- Probably not worth it if you take the 2 brain damage. At that point, you're spending 3 draws and an install and $1 on this card to gain 1 click/turn for the rest of the game and a penalty on hand size which makes things much harder against Jinteki, HB, and many Weylands. If you plan on using Hippocampic Mechanocytes to restore your hand-size, it's five draws and two installs and $1 to gain 1 click/turn. Ouch.
- Basilar looks alright if you can prevent the brain damage. Having a 5th click increases the expected # of agendas stolen on a Deep Dive by around 50%. On average the 5th click adds something like .75 - 1 additional agenda point per Deep Dive depending on the agenda suite. If your deck's entire gameplan builds to 2-3 super Deep Dive turns, working in $9 for Caldera costs might be worth it.
- Outside of Deep Dive Shaper, this might see niche usage in Apex, either using Heartbeat or Assimilator to avoid the damage. Apex's influence is extremely tight, but the amount of value Assimilator can generate from an additional click is promising.
(Parhelion era)
See this is why you need to prevent the core damage
— superheronation
Great analysis. But even outside of Deep Dive shapers, this can do a lot, since it is an additional click, which allow you to setup faster for something like Counter Surveillance or other shenanigagns. I think Esâ Afontov: Eco-Insurrectionist could use this to great effect also, even at the cost of one more Core damage than usual.
— Diogene