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Krazyface posted:Finally got Space Alert on the table, ran through two training missions and a simulation. Holy poo poo guys. You disrupt its ionic field and disperse it, duh!
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Apr 14, 2015 01:30
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Games played last night: Diamonds A pretty standard trick taking game where you're collecting actual plastic diamonds. I liked that the value of winning a trick vs playing a card off-suit (which gives you the same bonus as winning a trick of that suit!) wasn't clear, but the hidden trackable information, the diamond suit just being way better than the others, and a high number always being better than a low were a bit poo poo. Also in a game with less than 4 players you apparently randomly exclude part of the deck which seems wrong for a trick taking game. Still, a shiny alternative to Hearts and I might suggest it to friends who prefer traditional card games. Valley of the Kings I was pretty skeptical of this - a market deckbuilder where scoring involves removing cards from your deck? It actually plays a bit better than I expected due to some smart design choices - the best cards are generally the ones worth the most points out of your deck so you do have a real decision of when to start 'greening', and the card supply is split in to two ages so there's not as much of an issue with someone snagging the only 8 cost card early and running away with the game. Random markets still kind of suck and occasionally caused issues where people couldn't buy anything and the game was more political than I'd like with 4 players, but I'm interested to try it with two. The card abilities and rules were a little bit lacking in clarity too. Has anyone played this enough to tell me if it ultimately avoids being another Ascension-style mess? Spyrium I'd wanted to play this for a while as I heard good things about it. It's clever and quick but ultimately just felt a bit dull. The basic victory point paths are pretty short and uninspiring, the theme is drab, and it all felt just a little too random. I'd probably play again but I'm not buying it. Texibus posted:How is Dues? i have no idea what it is or how it plays but I've head a lot about it recently. It's a solid engine builder/area control hybrid. Building involves both playing a card with an ability and placing a little building on the map. The next time you play a building of the same type you activate not only the new card but all previous cards of that type. Buildings on the map are mostly for powering card abilities or scoring and blocking other people from doing the same - there are some movement abilities but no direct combat. The other half of the game is essentially a souped up version of trading unwanted cards in - you discard a bunch of cards and get a bonus for each card you discarded, then draw back up to 5. It's a neat design that stops people from ever truly being stuck with a bad combination of cards and resources. The theme and presentation are only middling which kept it from really grabbing me but mechanically it was fun and has a very satisfying acceleration as you enter the mid-late game and start activating your cards for about 10 times as much as you were at the start. Bubble-T fucked around with this message at 02:14 on Apr 14, 2015 |
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Apr 14, 2015 02:03
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Last game I was drawing "we" and one of my friends only got it right because one of the people I drew was slightly frowny and he thought I had drawn "enemies" which happened to have the same number. He had to try draw catalogue (as distinct from a magazine, dictionary, notebook, or workbook.) while my wife drew "platelets" and my other friend had "Chemical Plant" from one card while another card had oil refinery and several varieties of power plant. The final player I can't remember what he drew because nobody knew what it was at the time and only one friend even wanted to hazard a (wrong) guess. Pictomania on hard mode is the best. Also, I got my three-year-old in on the fun. Guess what she drew!  
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Apr 14, 2015 02:06
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Shark Spider
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Apr 14, 2015 02:10
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Jimbozig posted:Last game I was drawing "we" and one of my friends only got it right because one of the people I drew was slightly frowny and he thought I had drawn "enemies" which happened to have the same number. He had to try draw catalogue (as distinct from a magazine, dictionary, notebook, or workbook.) while my wife drew "platelets" and my other friend had "Chemical Plant" from one card while another card had oil refinery and several varieties of power plant. The final player I can't remember what he drew because nobody knew what it was at the time and only one friend even wanted to hazard a (wrong) guess. Whale and Centipede.
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Apr 14, 2015 02:10
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Yeah that last one is definitely centipede, that or the artist is a fraud
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Apr 14, 2015 02:12
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Jimbozig posted:Last game I was drawing "we" and one of my friends only got it right because one of the people I drew was slightly frowny and he thought I had drawn "enemies" which happened to have the same number. He had to try draw catalogue (as distinct from a magazine, dictionary, notebook, or workbook.) while my wife drew "platelets" and my other friend had "Chemical Plant" from one card while another card had oil refinery and several varieties of power plant. The final player I can't remember what he drew because nobody knew what it was at the time and only one friend even wanted to hazard a (wrong) guess. Your three year old is a million times better at drawing than my four year old 
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Apr 14, 2015 02:15
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I'm expecting a curveball.
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Apr 14, 2015 02:15
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Bubble-T posted:Your three year old is a million times better at drawing than my four year old Don't be so hasty, you don't know what they are supposed to be yet.
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Apr 14, 2015 02:18
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Gonna guess Shark & Beetle
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Apr 14, 2015 02:52
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Jimbozig posted:Last game I was drawing "we" and one of my friends only got it right because one of the people I drew was slightly frowny and he thought I had drawn "enemies" which happened to have the same number. He had to try draw catalogue (as distinct from a magazine, dictionary, notebook, or workbook.) while my wife drew "platelets" and my other friend had "Chemical Plant" from one card while another card had oil refinery and several varieties of power plant. The final player I can't remember what he drew because nobody knew what it was at the time and only one friend even wanted to hazard a (wrong) guess. Dude, catalogue is easy. Just draw a cat and a log. Chemical Plant is also easy. Stick figures of Sonic and Tails running on pipes.
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Apr 14, 2015 03:15
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I got to try Alchemists tonight and it was quite interesting. I don't know how I feel about having to use an app to play (I understand you can do without, but it slows things down a lot) but it seemed like an interesting way to integrate technology with a game. I don't understand why you couldn't also have your scorecard paper as part of the app as well, it seems inelegant to write an app and still require pen + paper. On the whole, it felt pretty tight and I had to make semi-tough, meaningful choices each turn but I don't know that it feels as tight as some other games. I'm definitely going to give it another go, though. Maybe I'll remember how the symbols add up to make the right potion.
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Apr 14, 2015 03:38
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Jimbozig posted:Last game I was drawing "we" and one of my friends only got it right because one of the people I drew was slightly frowny and he thought I had drawn "enemies" which happened to have the same number. He had to try draw catalogue (as distinct from a magazine, dictionary, notebook, or workbook.) while my wife drew "platelets" and my other friend had "Chemical Plant" from one card while another card had oil refinery and several varieties of power plant. The final player I can't remember what he drew because nobody knew what it was at the time and only one friend even wanted to hazard a (wrong) guess. Snail Centipede
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Apr 14, 2015 03:56
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Shark and centipede
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Apr 14, 2015 04:22
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burger time posted:Shark and centipede You win!
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Apr 14, 2015 04:23
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That's a shark and a centipede if ever I saw one... or a beetle. I've heard that despite looking as exciting as a spreadsheet Brass is supposed to be a great game, and that the 2 player variant is supposed to be quite good. Does anyone have any experience with it(2 player specifically)?
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Apr 14, 2015 04:29
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Keyflower is delightfully vicious for an innocuous looking euro. I only play it 2 player (a lot) but I love it to death, it's a quick turnaround with two even counting setup time. If you're very obviously building up to scoring a huge winter tile your plan better include a way to actually secure it in winter. If you don't for example monopolize greens/take first player in autumn and/or don't just save a bunch of guys to secure your bid you're gonna get it hatedrafted out from under you, and there is no sweeter feeling. Unless they have boat 4a, "The SS Motherfucker". Every time that loving boat. Speaking of euros I picked up T+E on ios (and medici and ra since the bundle of all 3 was like a buck more than T+E) and I'm intrigued but overwhelmed. How do I not suck at this? The hint system in the app is counterproductive because ok obviously my planned move was dumb as hell but when there's no explanations I don't know why this particular move is much better. "You should place a black settlement at 14,2" or whatever is not super helpful for actually learning the strategy.
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Apr 14, 2015 04:39
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Ayn Randi posted:Unless they have boat 4a, "The SS Motherfucker". Every time that loving boat. If they have that you can still lock it to green, but that basically requires that you have more greens and get first player which can be hard to do.
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Apr 14, 2015 04:48
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Some Numbers posted:Cash-chew, makes sense to me. Yeah, I got cashew, it was fairy that made no sense. Regardless, I'm finding it hilarious that everyone suddenly started loving Pictionary when Vlaada Chvatil put his name on the box.
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Apr 14, 2015 10:09
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Jedit you are the most predictable of trolls.
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Apr 14, 2015 10:15
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EBag posted:That's a shark and a centipede if ever I saw one... or a beetle. The two player variant is OK but I'm inclined to say that it really needs more players to shine and there are probably better games for two players that will scratch the same itch depending on exactly what you are after. I haven't played Age of Industry (the brass remake) but I believe it has maps specifically for two players - might be worth looking into. Some people will argue to the death that Brass is far superior but I doubt the changes make that much difference - AoI seems to sacrifice the theme a bit for more variety/scalability, but as I said I haven't played it. If you don't have key flower it might be a better fit for two and hit what you are after, for example. All that being said, I feel Brass is a fantastic and relatively unique game which is both extremely tight and very thematically satisfying. Ideally needs 3-4 players who are willing to give it a few games to get their heads around the strategies. With experienced players it becomes a very tense highly interactive experience as the opportunities on the board are very much shaped by what everyone else is doing - you need to work with other player's infrastructure to execute strategies. This is why I feel you need more than two players. Even with the variant, it's too zero sum - the key stuff in Brass is how to use other players more than they use you. Some other games that are kind of similar in one respect or another that might be better with two are Le Havre, Keyflower as mentioned, Roll for the Galaxy, maybe a Feld game like Macao? Now that I think of it I guess I'm having a hard time thinking of a good two player equivalent as I'm not sure any of those are that similar. Keyflower, probably. Blamestorm fucked around with this message at 10:28 on Apr 14, 2015 |
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Apr 14, 2015 10:25
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Tekopo posted:Jedit you are the most predictable of trolls. lmfao rip your avatar
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Apr 14, 2015 10:48
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Broken Loose posted:lmfao rip your avatar
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Apr 14, 2015 10:53
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I'm not in the bad games crew and I'm not sure if I'm glad or not.
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Apr 14, 2015 11:49
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Broken Loose posted:lmfao rip your avatar I have better things to spend $10 on, like games. Just picked up Quebec in the Amazon TTD sale, it's quite clever. There's a free online implementation created by the game's designer; I'll link it in the relevant thread when I get the chance.
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Apr 14, 2015 11:55
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Jedit posted:I have better things to spend $10 on, like games. Just picked up Quebec in the Amazon TTD sale, it's quite clever. There's a free online implementation created by the game's designer; I'll link it in the relevant thread when I get the chance.
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Apr 14, 2015 12:05
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Anyone here ever play Republic of Rome? I've owned it twice but have never actually played it and was thinking of giving it a try next weekend. The politics and such always seemed potentially fun and interesting to me (my group likes that kind of thing), but it also seems bloated and way overcomplicated.
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Apr 14, 2015 14:55
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Blamestorm posted:Brass stuff Thanks, I guess I'll think about it and check out AoI. I have Keyflower and Race/Roll and Concordia(some of my absolute favorites) but I was thinking about something that is more purely economic but not overly heavy. Keyflower feels more like resource conversion with some WP and auctions, Concordia and RftG are pretty economic though. Le Havre is one i've thought of but I hear it can be sort of figured out, and that coke/steel(?) are pretty much straight up the best to pursue. EBag fucked around with this message at 15:05 on Apr 14, 2015 |
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Apr 14, 2015 15:03
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Jedit posted:I have better things to spend $10 on, like games. Just picked up Quebec in the Amazon TTD sale, it's quite clever. There's a free online implementation created by the game's designer; I'll link it in the relevant thread when I get the chance. I've played Quebec twice now; the first time was with 5 and I was very, very meh. The second was with 4 and I thought it was quite good, much tighter, decisions made sense. I guess what I'm saying is, try it with 4. My wife strongly disliked it in the 5 player game though didn't play the 4.
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Apr 14, 2015 15:04
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Bubble-T posted:Games played last night: Can't imagine this actually happening on the internet but I disagree, I didn't find it random. Yeah, you're putting cards out on the board to draft from a shuffled stack but they all come out and you can control the costs for the cards which interrupt a strategy you see coming by placing your meeples strategically. I played it for the first time last weekend and to me it felt like it was a really solid tight playing worker placement/engine builder with plenty of paths to victory. What felt random to you? The Market drafting, Event cards, both? Thanks for the Deus explanation I got a feeling I'll have plenty of shots to play it with all the buzz it's gotten lately.
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Apr 14, 2015 15:21
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Played Spector Ops for the first time last night. We played two 2-player games, switching off who was the agent. The first game took a little over an hour, and the second took 45 minutes. Plaid hat certainly did themselves a favor by publishing a third party game. The only weird unnecessary and unclear rules are easily ignored. For instance, the game says that the agent should put his last seen token and his minature on the place he was last seen. This is a relatively new addition to the rules because PHG didn't think the agents miniatures got used enough. This is a valid point, the agents' miniatures wouldn't be used much anyway, but it makes that part twice as confusing as it needs to be. Eventually we just stopped doing that and it didn't affect anything. I do think that exposing the agent sooner is a good effect that came out of this weird rule change. The hunters would have gone most of both games not knowing what agent they are facing, which is important information to know. Now they'll know within the first few turns if they are playing well. The game is walking a fine line between 'giving too much information so that the game is boring' and 'too little information that the agent's actions feel random.' So far, it is walking this line very well. The hunters have plenty of tools to determine where the agent is, in general. The agent has equipment whose function is to get them out of a tight spot. These cards may seem too random over time, but in our games they were used only when the agent would have been in serious trouble if the equipment wasn't used. I don't see the problem with this. Some of the equipment is there to give the agents false information, like the holo decoy or the smoke bomb. This can lead to frustrating play, but liberal use of the motion detector counters this. An final point of concern is that the hunter players might have some automatic, boring turns. For instance, it is very smart to post a hunter on street corners to watch for the agent crossing. Otherwise, the agent may cross secretly and you are stuck lookin in a corner they are no longer in. So the hunter just sits there and pings motion detector every once in a while. The first turn can be automatic as well. The hunters always have the same information the first round, so there is an optimal first turn for them. I imagine it is something like driving up to a corner and having a single hunter hop out, with the other left to ping the motion detector the next turn. Overall, I want to get a few more games in before I recommend it but I am feeling positive. This game certainly has the most streamlined rules of any of plaid hat's other games. There are no unnecessary rules, other than the aforementioned 'last seen token' rule. Both games, the agent won but both hunter players know that they made some mistakes that affected the outcome. It was tense most of the time and, for the most part, the hunters were right on the tail of the agent. And if there is one thing plaid hat can do right lately, it is make a pretty game. The board is very pretty and functional, with glossy slightly raised numbers giving information under most lighting conditions but not getting in the way. The miniatures are nice as well. It was very enjoyable, and I am looking forward to playing it again.
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Apr 14, 2015 15:35
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Texibus posted:Can't imagine this actually happening on the internet but I disagree, I didn't find it random. Yeah, you're putting cards out on the board to draft from a shuffled stack but they all come out and you can control the costs for the cards which interrupt a strategy you see coming by placing your meeples strategically. I played it for the first time last weekend and to me it felt like it was a really solid tight playing worker placement/engine builder with plenty of paths to victory. Random might be the wrong word, maybe directionless? It could certainly be a function of not having played the game before but there didn't seem to be much structure to it. Hard to put my finger on the issue without having played it more. Rusty Kettle posted:An final point of concern is that the hunter players might have some automatic, boring turns. For instance, it is very smart to post a hunter on street corners to watch for the agent crossing. Otherwise, the agent may cross secretly and you are stuck lookin in a corner they are no longer in. So the hunter just sits there and pings motion detector every once in a while. The first turn can be automatic as well. The hunters always have the same information the first round, so there is an optimal first turn for them. I imagine it is something like driving up to a corner and having a single hunter hop out, with the other left to ping the motion detector the next turn. If these issues are real we can just call it Spectator Ops
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Apr 14, 2015 15:59
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Ayn Randi posted:Keyflower is delightfully vicious for an innocuous looking euro. I only play it 2 player (a lot) but I love it to death, it's a quick turnaround with two even counting setup time. If you're very obviously building up to scoring a huge winter tile your plan better include a way to actually secure it in winter. If you don't for example monopolize greens/take first player in autumn and/or don't just save a bunch of guys to secure your bid you're gonna get it hatedrafted out from under you, and there is no sweeter feeling. Unless they have boat 4a, "The SS Motherfucker". Every time that loving boat. there's good post here about T&E strategy. my main thoughts:
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Apr 14, 2015 16:41
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Bubble-T posted:If these issues are real we can just call it Spectator Ops Bam! To elaborate on this concern a little more, in theory it will be a bigger issue with three players than any other player count. In 2-player games, the hunter player is controlling another dude to weave between crates and do things, so they aren't bored. In four or five player games, I feel like the patrol shift can be passed around more easily, and the extra eyes will make the agent slipping away less likely. But in three player games, one player might be assigned corner duty and not have much to do. I haven't played a three player game yet, so this is all theoretical. Another possible issue is that the agent might get a bigger advantage because he can hear tabletalk between the agents, but anything they say, he should be considering anyway. In 2-player games, the hunter keeps his plans to himself. Maybe this is countered by the 'more brainpower' of three players verses two, so less mistakes? Seems like a sketchy counter, but it's possible. I'll see if this comes up when I play with more players over the next few weeks.
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Apr 14, 2015 16:45
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Poison Mushroom posted:I'm not in the bad games crew and I'm not sure if I'm glad or not. it's pretty cool
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Apr 14, 2015 16:45
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Also quick EmDom question, if I'm playing 3p is the standard or the long variant better? I played the standard variant and it seemed like it ended way too quickly, but I'm not sure if the long variant would make the game shittier or something. Also how's the 5p play in the expac?
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Apr 14, 2015 16:47
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Who bought all these avatars anyway? Does Rutibex have an evil alternate personality or something? And when did he become Tom Vasel?
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Apr 14, 2015 16:49
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Someone copped to buying the second round in the other thread but I don't know who bought the first round
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Apr 14, 2015 16:53
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Dunno who bought my first, third or fourth avatar in the current wave.
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Apr 14, 2015 16:55
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Somebody went through and gave everyone the 'bad games crew' gangtag but idk who bought any of the other ones
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Apr 14, 2015 16:56
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