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jmzero posted:There's a twist, though, in that some of the "VP holes" only fit combat vps and some only fit diplomatic VPs (and this varies with races). The vanilla race, humans, has one slot that can only be filled by diplomatic VPs (I think, I haven't memorized the boards), so you're actually getting a small bonus for a bit of diplomacy rather than a hit. If you have no diplomatic-only VP holes, that means your race is themed as proud warriors or something, so it makes sense that diplomacy won't optimize your VP. In general, though, I'm glad the game rewards combat as well as it does - too many similar games make combat a black-hole for all participants. Most races have three to four spots that can be used for Rep or Ambassadors. Humans are if I recall the only race that can ally with everyone else in a six-player game. The punishment for breaking a treaty is fine. You lose the 1 point you had plus two more until someone else breaks a treaty, so you're unlikely to do better than break even unless you can beat the person you stabbed. You also open up a new front on yourself while simultaneously losing the ability to close other fronts.
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Jan 20, 2015 09:22
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BonHair posted:So, Dungeon Lords with only two people: Does it actually work? I might get more people occasionally, but mostly I guess it would just be the girlfriend and me.. It's actually better with 2 than it is with 3, believe it or not. My girlfriend and I played it nightly for like 3 weeks after we initially got it. 4 is still king, though.
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Jan 20, 2015 09:26
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Played Lords of Waterdeep (w/ expansion) for the first time. I enjoyed it, but I think I only won because of a couple well timed intrigue cards messing with my opponent. Despite that, I thought Lords was a pretty good game, I won't buy it, but I won't mind playing it if offered. However, one thing I did gleam while we were tearing down was that the expansion is a mandatory part of the game. Edit: have any of you fine folks had the chance to play Fief: France 1429 yet? Or at least been able to from an opinion about it? It gives me Crisader Kings vibes and looks like it could be a great deal of fun. Durendal fucked around with this message at 13:06 on Jan 20, 2015 |
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Jan 20, 2015 12:14
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Durendal posted:Played Lords of Waterdeep (w/ expansion) for the first time. I enjoyed it, but I think I only won because of a couple well timed intrigue cards messing with my opponent. Despite that, I thought Lords was a pretty good game, I won't buy it, but I won't mind playing it if offered. The expansion does make it a better game, however I would recommend taking out two problematic cards. The first is the "Open Lord" intrigue card, and the second is the "Xanathar" lord card. One of these days I'll actually come up with some house rules to fix them, but I don't really play enough to put that much effort into it at the moment.
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Jan 20, 2015 14:41
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Big McHuge posted:The expansion does make it a better game, however I would recommend taking out two problematic cards. The first is the "Open Lord" intrigue card, and the second is the "Xanathar" lord card. One of these days I'll actually come up with some house rules to fix them, but I don't really play enough to put that much effort into it at the moment. Also every "mandatory quest" card. gently caress those cards.
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Jan 20, 2015 14:51
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Sgt. Anime Pederast posted:I just played my first game of Eclipse And I was really loving impressed with it. The setup was a massive pain in the rear end, but it was a really easy game to learn. With all of your possible actions clearly listed on your player sheet. The biggest load of bullshit was the diplomacy though, with no shared victory it seemed like there was little reason not to throw away your ally at the first moment you could take advantage of it. Buy a GMT counter tray for the ship part tiles so you can pass it around the table. Then buy the expansion. It addresses the diplomacy thing.
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Jan 20, 2015 15:15
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I have a Tragedy Looper rules question (script 2 spoilers): If the key person is in the hospital, and the hospital has two intrigue, and the hospital incident triggers, it seems like the key person dies, but at the same time, so do the protagonists. Do you tell the protagonists that they've lost or that they've died?
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Jan 20, 2015 15:28
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I played Caverna for the first time over the weekend and compared to playing a lot of Agricola it was an easy transition. There are a lot more options and I felt like I needed to balance both the farm and the mines while still going on adventures. It is definitely easier to feed your family. I think the traumatic experiences I've had previously in Agricola made me build a decent food engine early so my dwarves won't suffer. One main advantage(in a casual setting), in my opinion, it has over Agricola is not having any cards. If you just want to play the game casually then you can be more comfortable playing Caverna since everything is in front of you. With Agricola, if you don't know all the cards or people in your group go over every card and such, the people who don't play as much or do their homework with cards might not have as good a time. This also applies to people who don't like drafting games. Both games can definitely exist in your collection. Agricola(with a draft in the beginning) is a more competitive game I think.
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Jan 20, 2015 15:41
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You guys are kind of making me want to take another attempt at reading the rules of the Agricola game I inherited.
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Jan 20, 2015 15:42
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sonatinas posted:I played Caverna for the first time over the weekend and compared to playing a lot of Agricola it was an easy transition. There are a lot more options and I felt like I needed to balance both the farm and the mines while still going on adventures. It is definitely easier to feed your family. I think the traumatic experiences I've had previously in Agricola made me build a decent food engine early so my dwarves won't suffer. You can play Agricola without the cards. It's called "family mode" you just flip over the board and it has different spaces for playing that way.  PerniciousKnid posted:You guys are kind of making me want to take another attempt at reading the rules of the Agricola game I inherited.  
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Jan 20, 2015 15:48
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Rutibex posted:You can play Agricola without the cards. It's called "family mode" you just flip over the board and it has different spaces for playing that way. We don't want to play a simplified version. It's really just a matter of taste on the cards. I would rather draft but people don't want to spend the time to do that in our group.
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Jan 20, 2015 15:53
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Has anyone played Machi Koro with the Harbor expansion yet? Does it make the game more fun or does it just have the added "benefit" of a market row now?
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Jan 20, 2015 16:00
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sonatinas posted:We don't want to play a simplified version. It's really just a matter of taste on the cards. I would rather draft but people don't want to spend the time to do that in our group. Give each player 10 and discard down to 7. Or, if you want a slightly easier game to start try dealing 7 and discard down to 5.
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Jan 20, 2015 16:16
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EBag posted:Give each player 10 and discard down to 7. Or, if you want a slightly easier game to start try dealing 7 and discard down to 5. We've done that and it helped in general. Agricola is a fine game but lately I rather play some of the other games we have.
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Jan 20, 2015 16:22
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I just scored Keyflower with the two expansions for 30€ at a sale. Are there any rules I need to pay special attention to or that need clarification?
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Jan 20, 2015 16:26
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EBag posted:Give each player 10 and discard down to 7. Or, if you want a slightly easier game to start try dealing 7 and discard down to 5. The last time I played we gave everyone 3 cards and then drafted the remaining 4. You're drafting more than half your cards, but it takes less than half as long because the draft packs are smaller and you have to read and compare vastly fewer cards.
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Jan 20, 2015 16:29
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Scyther posted:I have a Tragedy Looper rules question (script 2 spoilers): If the key person is in the hospital, and the hospital has two intrigue, and the hospital incident triggers, it seems like the key person dies, but at the same time, so do the protagonists. Do you tell the protagonists that they've lost or that they've died? The designer says, "All the deaths happen simultaneously, then immediate effects happen simultaneously." So in the case of a Hospital Incident going off with a Key Person, Time Traveler, Friend, Lover, and a Loved One in the hospital at the time, all the characters but the Time Traveler die, the Mastermind says, "You die," the Friend is revealed off the Loop End condition, go back to Time Spiral and collect 200 Yen. All "immediately" effects trigger after death is resolved, and they would also be simultaneous. Since the Protagonists were already dead, they get the luxury of seeing none of the Immediate effects (like Lover triggers or Key Person "You lose and you also die" weirdness).
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Jan 20, 2015 16:40
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I suddenly want a Horus Heresy re-theme of Skull with artwork for six (or maybe all nine) of the traitor legions instead of the biker gang/tribal theme.
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Jan 20, 2015 16:50
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GrandpaPants posted:Has anyone played Machi Koro with the Harbor expansion yet? Does it make the game more fun or does it just have the added "benefit" of a market row now? It depends on what you find fun about MK and what you felt was missing in the base game. Obviously it is still a game about being paid by rolling dice, so it's not going to improve on the core of the game. The key thing it adds is variety in the opening card selection. You'll still see a lot of the cards because they get replenished Ascension style (with the twist that copies of cards already out there stack up) but this makes the opening build up process a little less stale. What it trades for that is removing the static setup that let you plan ahead, and adds more of a luck element as the perfect card can flip for your opponents before you can buy it. The other thing it adds is more landmarks, which adds (a little) length to the game, but allows you to use your higher cost landmarks a little more during the end game. For me personally, I like the added variety (after being spoiled by Dominion I am huge on game to game variety), but the randomness makes it seem even more automatic and the added length pushes it just out of my range for "light filler" and into a medium length game where it just can't match up against the others we play.
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Jan 20, 2015 16:51
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I dunno if Watch it Played is hated around here or not, but they've started doing Yomi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8yb0C9yZBM
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Jan 20, 2015 17:25
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The online store I found in Europe that sells "Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends – Everfrost + upgrade pack" as a set had copies of Dungeon Petz and Dark Alleys. I was looking for them for so long, so I grabbed them as well. They still do have a copy of Dungeon Petz if anyone's interested.
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Jan 20, 2015 17:28
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S.J. posted:I dunno if Watch it Played is hated around here or not, but they've started doing Yomi. Nothing is "hated around here". We are not a hive mind that share the same opinions. Not to mention that Rodney there is a goon that posts here once in a while.
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Jan 20, 2015 17:30
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S.J. posted:I dunno if Watch it Played is hated around here or not, but they've started doing Yomi. I've used their vids a couple times for my group. The only thing I hate is how that guy says "cards"  By the by, has anyone tried playing 7 Wonders with all the expansions... I mean ALL of them? It kind of sounds awesome but also some what of a cluster gently caress, so I'm trying to see what might be a configuration I'll play with
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Jan 20, 2015 17:31
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echoMateria posted:Nothing is "hated around here". We are not a hive mind that share the same opinions. Dominion feels like a mechanic that someone forgot to put in a game. (I honestly feel like this, but I should probably try it again some day)
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Jan 20, 2015 17:37
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Dre2Dee2 posted:I've used their vids a couple times for my group. The only thing I hate is how that guy says "cards" I always use just cities and leaders. I hear too much conflicting reports about Babel to feel like it's worth a pickup.
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Jan 20, 2015 17:37
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BonHair posted:Dominion feels like a mechanic that someone forgot to put in a game. (I honestly feel like this, but I should probably try it again some day) You don't need to try it again. Seriously there are so many games out there now, don't waste time with something that doesn't have what you are looking for.
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Jan 20, 2015 17:52
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echoMateria posted:Nothing is "hated around here". We are not a hive mind that share the same opinions. Yeah I've been posting here for a while, I'm aware we're not a loving hive mind  . There is LOTS of poo poo that is hated around here, though, usually with good reason!Although there's no way I would've known Rodney is a goon, that's pretty cool.
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Jan 20, 2015 17:53
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BonHair posted:Dominion feels like a mechanic that someone forgot to put in a game. (I honestly feel like this, but I should probably try it again some day) This is a really fair assessment and I'd agree with you, except that literally every time somebody tried to add the rest of a game to it, it always turns out way way worse. It's like a bunch of dudes trying to figure out how to add doors, air conditioning, and a seatbelt to a motorcycle.
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Jan 20, 2015 17:57
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BonHair posted:Dominion feels like a mechanic that someone forgot to put in a game. (I honestly feel like this, but I should probably try it again some day) The problem is that it is such a robust and time consuming "mechanic" that incredibly few games have been able to successfully integrate it as part of another game. Mage Knight is one of the few that has, and it was made by one of the best game designers on the planet, and it still doesn't explore the full depths of the mechanic to the extent that Dominion has. Lorini posted:You don't need to try it again. Seriously there are so many games out there now, don't waste time with something that doesn't have what you are looking for. Do not listen to this man! Dominion is the gold standard of deck building games and worth the effort of playing a few times to see what you can get out of it. This doesn't mean you have to go out and buy the game and a bunch of the expansions but if the opportunity arises at a game meet or something then by all means try it again. It's like if you are having difficulty with an acclaimed novel. Don't just give up on it, see what you can get out of the experience, even if that thing is a better understanding of what you do and don't like about it.
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Jan 20, 2015 18:04
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Could you play Machi Koro with ten random stacks of cards instead of a market row?
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Jan 20, 2015 18:07
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I don't like playing Dominion, but it always felt to me that most of the attempts to redo dominion just seem to be outright lazy in terms of how they approach the mechanisms. To me the biggest example of this is the crappy 'random market' system of many dominion-clones: it's just a way to avoid having to playtest lots of different iterations of the market like a game like dominion has. People should play Salmon Rush. It has issues but it has some really interest design elements as well.
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Jan 20, 2015 18:10
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jmzero posted:Oh, and if you want to dumpster the Eclipse app AI, you can use the same strategy you use against humans in base Eclipse - rush Plasma Missiles, then turtle with complete immunity or push people off whatever you want. For whatever people say, they were totally a problem in the base game, and bullying the AI with them is a fun way to prove this to yourself. The AI has done this to me, it's where I first saw it happen. In a later game I tried more smaller ships with top-of-the-line avoidance, so when the AI fired their one swarm of missiles and it wasn't enough to kill me, the AI had nothing left to do except retreat from whatever I wanted. Then it was time to convert the alien unbelievers.... into base particles with my fusion bombs Maybe only the aggressive AIs try it? It's been a while.
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Jan 20, 2015 18:12
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Tekopo posted:I don't like playing Dominion, but it always felt to me that most of the attempts to redo dominion just seem to be outright lazy in terms of how they approach the mechanisms. To me the biggest example of this is the crappy 'random market' system of many dominion-clones: it's just a way to avoid having to playtest lots of different iterations of the market like a game like dominion has. You mean salmon run right?
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Jan 20, 2015 18:13
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Yeah, Salmon Run.
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Jan 20, 2015 18:14
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Schizoguy posted:Could you play Machi Koro with ten random stacks of cards instead of a market row? I thought about this. My guess is that this would cause gaps in numbers and make for some really lovely setups if you were constantly rolling a number that just flat out wasn't there, or where a few numbers dominated. Also it would probably throw off the balance between the single and double dice numbers, and each setup would have a clearly better path. I think a better solution would be to try to build customized setups, sort've like the pregenerated kingdoms in Dominion. You could probably start with the one from the base game and then swap in expansion cards for certain numbers, remove card, see what has synergy and whatnot. This way you could keep it somewhat balanced while still having some form of game to game variety.
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Jan 20, 2015 18:16
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So, a gamer in the neighborhood is coming over tonight and, after viewing my game collection, requested Magic Realm. I've taught MR to newbies a bunch before and it's always a challenge, he claims he likes complex games but I'm not sure he knows what he's getting into. I'll let everyone know how it goes tomorrow...
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Jan 20, 2015 18:20
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 Magic Realm is unironically #1 in my 
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Jan 20, 2015 18:27
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Broken Loose posted:This is a really fair assessment and I'd agree with you, except that literally every time somebody tried to add the rest of a game to it, it always turns out way way worse. It's like a bunch of dudes trying to figure out how to add doors, air conditioning, and a seatbelt to a motorcycle. Guy A. Person posted:The problem is that it is such a robust and time consuming "mechanic" that incredibly few games have been able to successfully integrate it as part of another game. Mage Knight is one of the few that has, and it was made by one of the best game designers on the planet, and it still doesn't explore the full depths of the mechanic to the extent that Dominion has. What man? Lorini is a woman, isn't she? Trains was way more enjoyable to me than Dominion, so I don't actually agree with this. I agree that it's a great mechanic, but in Dominion it just feels like (to go along with the metaphors) a steam engine that someone forgot to but wheels on and put on tracks. That thing is solid, but it just sits there and does nothing and then someone wins. Obviously This is just my opinion, but it's shared with the only other person in my group who does her research on games, so it's not likely to change due to no opportunities to play. I'm picking Trains because it is as close to a straight dominion clone with and actual game (board) attached, unlike the changing market stuff like Ascension. It may be less polished and the strategies are probably fewer and less varied, but it actually feels like you're doing something. So I guess it's mechanically strictly worse than Dominion, but the gameplay, to me, is strictly better. If only there was an Android app that had a minimum of polish (I tried Androminion, it was way to bare-bones) I would be able to give it a shot again.
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Jan 20, 2015 18:27
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disperse posted:So, a gamer in the neighborhood is coming over tonight and, after viewing my game collection, requested Magic Realm. I think it's time for my bi-annual failed attempt to grok Magic Realm. Last time I checked there were about two manuals and three different quickstart guides. Which one was the best to learn with, again?
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Jan 20, 2015 18:28
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BonHair posted:What man? Lorini is a woman, isn't she? OH! Maybe? If so I apologize! I need to remember to use neutral gender nouns/pronouns when I am unsure, that is my bad. My point was, if you are willing to try it again (which you stated) and don't have a lot of experience with it (which I admit I assumed), then it is worth it to at least see what you do and don't like about it. I tend to disagree with the philosophy of just moving on to something you enjoy more; I have figured out a lot more of what I like (and more importantly, why I like it) by playing and replaying things I don't like.
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Jan 20, 2015 18:32
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