I'm seeing those criticisms you posted and generally nodding. gonna kinda think aloud in response here.
I uh went the opposite of Aquila, for complex, and did a rainbow traveller line
I feel like the 2 most common pitfalls of traveler lines are weak starters and lackluster finishers.
Note that the 2 official starters of traveler lines are both $2, yet both are strictly worse than pawn. They're supposed to be overpriced compared to what they do when played, because of the benefit of being able to start the line. Meaning, the reason I get a page is not because of the +1 card +1 action but because I can eventually get a champion.
Even if pearl wasn't the beginning of a traveler line this could hold it's weight against silver. At worst it's a copper, but most of the time (especially considering the cards in this traveler line including itself) it will be a silver, possibly a gold or even $4. For $2 that sounds pretty good. For a $2 traveler, it's a steal.
I think I've got a fix for this - do an Iron* thing, change it to be
Reveal and discard a card from your hand. If it's an...
...Action: +1 Buy
...Treasure: +$1
...Victory: Put your deck into your discard pile.
-
exchange blah blah blah
This way it's got an antisynergy with Midnighter (thematic!) and you aren't getting a boatload of dollars, and it can only do the woodcutter*/pouch thing if you scrap a Crown (or Crown a Pearl, but then that costs two cards). The Chancellor effect should really be the stealth Useful Thing this card can do.
Also this way it costs a card on-use.
altho should it be the bottom card of your deck revealed? in homage to Pearl Diver? That scraps the "cost of a card on use" thing, which is kind of a shame, and also loosens its synergy with Fence (altho making it less useful is kind of the point right?)
On the flip side, I get the feeling Cartel will not usually be worth that much considering how much time and effort you have to put in to get one (note that the traveler line is a bit harder to get through because of fence). If you play it, even if you get one copy of each card in this line, it will only be worth 8 vp. If there aren't any other traveler lines, and you work even harder (stuffing your deck full of travelers) this could be ~12vp (25vp tops if you're uncontested). Compare that to being immune to attacks and having unlimited actions with an easier line to get through and not having to stuff your deck full of travelers.
The bottom part was meant to be a concession prize if the game ended before you were able to pop it. It's meant to be a Province-to-Colony tier point boost without a card slowing down your deck. I think I wanna make the bottom piece just a flat 3%/duchy, and change the top to be .... iunno, 2% per type? which should emphasize what you're supposed to do with it. 2% per type might be too much though. Maybe 1% per type, unique be damned?
Or maybe make it just like... +2 Cards, +2%/type .
My adhoc analysis says the best case 6 card hand, the most types you could come up with is 12 (Dame Josephine, Housebreaker, Idol, Hovel, and then any two that're a Prize / Looter / Ruin / Reserve / Gatherer / etc).
Might be broken in a Cultist-Draws-Your-Deck situation, but in a way you want a Traveller terminus to be broken; One of every (existing) type ends up at 22. That doubled should be game clenching but that's... Hard to pull off if you aren't in a ridiculous Black Market game, where you can somehow draw your entire deck and yet you aren't bogged down in Garbage.
As an aside, Fence sounds way too powerful as well. It'd be hard for this to be less than $2. It can easily be +$8 or more.
yeah i think i wanna make Fence terminal again. Or make it a Night card (and gainer)? so same deal as cartel - if you want it to be "Good" you'd have to wait through your turn with a mitt full of cards [or go hard on Hunting Grounds/Smithy] before using it (and then a card costing up to $1 per unique card name revealed)?
Midnighter and Jeweller seem ok tho?
(i think ima change Midnighter's name - turns out the Thesaurus lied to me, that it is not a synonym for Thief, but instead a comic book character)
Here's the fully revised versions, taking your feedback into account, and also re-ordering them a bit: