Top-Down Solutions

Top-Down Solutions 2[credit]

Operation

Influence: 2

Draw 2 cards. Install up to 2 cards from HQ (one at a time).

“The instability of human braintapes is directly proportional to the number of limbs on a given bioroid, so we’ve begun phasing them out for something better-equipped. A human braintape could be working beside an octopus for weeks and never have an inkling.”
—Maía Mínervudóttir, R&D
Illustrated by Martin de Diego Sádaba
Decklists with this card

Elevation (elev)

#44 • English
Startup Card Pool
Eternal Card Pool
Printings
Rulings
  • Updated 2025-06-29

    If the Corp uses Top-Down Solutions to install a card in the root of a server with a rezzed Tranquility Home Grid, can they draw a card with Tranquility Home Grid‘s ability before they decide the second card to install?

    Yes. The Corp does not have to choose the second card to install (or even whether to install another card at all) until the first installation is completed, including resolving abilities that meet their trigger conditions from that installation. The Corp could, for example, choose to install the card they just drew with Tranquility Home Grid.

Reviews

TDS pairs multi-install with (multi-)draw.

The problem with exclusive multi-install effects is that you need enough installables in hand. For example, [[Shipment from MirrorMorph]] has an implicit Play only if there are at least 2 to 3 assets, upgrades, and/or agendas in HQ. gate. And if you do, you still need to refill your emptied hand.

Other “Clearance” effects that draw multiple cards (like Red Level Clearance) can still only install a single card. Fast Break is an exception, but with an implicit Play only if there are at least 2 agendas in the Runner's score area. gate.

However, TDS lets us multi-install from smaller hands (with sub-optimal installables, even with only a single installable pre-draw). And it refills our hand as it empties.

For example:

  • Asset-Spam: Install two assets, while drawing one-or-two more. Like “DIY NEH”.

  • Fast-Advance: Install a multi-clicker/multi-advancer/clickless-advancer (like Bass CH1R180G4, The Holo Man, or any “new Calibration Testing”), alongside a 3/2.

NB. This compresses "install clicks", but only breaks even on "units of value"): 2[$], [click], CARD → 2×Draw, 2×Install. (As @Krams says below.)


Flavor:

  • Name: is a pun. Corporate headquarters plans out simultaneous construction projects ahead of time, which then join up; and building the space elevator from orbit downwards is literally the most "top-down" construction possible around Earth (any farther, there's no "up" or "down").

  • Art: shows creepy–cute “bioctoroids”. Being in outer space, they feel like aliens (despite us knowing they're terrestrials and built by Haas-Bioroid). Likewise, Sacrifice felt like an alien monolith (despite us knowing that Weyland built it). While exploited as much as Turtlebacks, maybe they have more labor rights than other Bioroids (because of how hard to reach they are).

(Rebellion Without Rehearsal era)

It's worth noting that, in contrast to clearances, TDS is not strictly economy-positive. You pay a click, a card and 2c for a total "cost" of 4 and gain 2 cards and 2 installs, also "worth" 4. You basically pay click-compression with credits.

@Krams 100%

"Inkling" in the flavour text is a pun as well

This is the poster child for click compression, better than its more versatile cousin Red Level Clearance.

For 2 (and 1 to play it), you get to draw 2 cards and install any two cards from hand. That is a full turn worth of actions! This makes it perhaps the card that accelerate the corp the most in the game since Rashida Jaheem rotated.

But this gets better, as it naturally combine with four powerful cards :

  1. Tranquility Home Grid, because it will gain you 2.
  2. Fully Operational, because installing a full new server (ice + something in the root) enable Fully Operational to give you 2 more.
  3. Spin Doctor, because you can then clicklessly draw 2 more cards.
  4. Humanoid Resources, because it then allows the installation of 4 cards, along with drawing 5 cards. The corp often double their board state in one turn with this.

At only 2 influences, it competes against Wage Workers and Humanoid Resources for click compression out of faction.

The art is fun and remind us of "lunch atop a skyscraper". Which hint at the effect of the card, pairing well with the name. The flavor text is cryptic for me, and seems to have puns that I am not able to decipher. Funny enough, the art for the octopodroid is similar to what we see on Humanoid Resources, which is another good click compression card. Incredible work!

(Elevation era)
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