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Fat Samurai posted:Picking a faction based on facial hair awesomeness has worked for me since Pax Porfiriana. Ambiorix seems to have the best moustache, so Belgic. Caesar just looking out over Gaul, shaking his head at all these barbarians he's gonna turn into honest clean-shaven citizens.
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Jun 28, 2016 15:44
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MikeCrotch posted:Caesar just looking out over Gaul, shaking his head at all these barbarians he's gonna turn into honest clean-shaven citizens. Romans also considered pants barbaric. Guess Caesar is going to try and take those away, too. 
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Jun 28, 2016 16:59
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Are slots still open for Falling Sky? I always seem to be asleep at just the wrong time. (I would be happy to remind these barbarians that I am Caesar.) gutterdaughter fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Jun 28, 2016 |
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Jun 28, 2016 18:21
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I'm certainly going to watch. I might toss out neutral roleplay as some romans who dropped their bread in the cheese or something.
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Jun 28, 2016 19:02
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I think we have 4 gutter owl but I'll wait for everyone to confirm their choices first, so if they don't speak up you can take the Romans.
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Jun 28, 2016 19:29
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The only one I kinda didn't want was Belgae so I am good with whatever. i.e. I am comfortable getting my rear end kicked as the Aedui.
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Jun 28, 2016 19:36
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I guess that leaves me with the Romans?
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Jun 28, 2016 19:52
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Yep, will get the thread up.
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Jun 28, 2016 19:53
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homullus posted:Sekigahara is the P500 that I am most eager for, now that I have Falling Sky. Go for VQ, it's a beautiful game with enormous replayability. Granted you get 6 players, always count me in for online!
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Jun 28, 2016 21:26
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he1ixx posted:I compiled a list of links from my pinboard from my recent explorations through the world of ASL. They might be good to add to the OP. Some great stuff here, I might recommend checking out this Three Moves Ahead podcast on why it's so good as well: https://www.idlethumbs.net/3ma/episodes/advanced-squad-leader (which actually features the guys from The Two Half Squads listed above.)
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Jun 28, 2016 22:01
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Thread is up!
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Jun 28, 2016 22:18
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Looking forward to following this, wish I'd woken up sooner.
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Jun 28, 2016 23:03
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INinja132 posted:Some great stuff here, I might recommend checking out this Three Moves Ahead podcast on why it's so good as well: https://www.idlethumbs.net/3ma/episodes/advanced-squad-leader (which actually features the guys from The Two Half Squads listed above.) Good idea. That dragged me into this whole mess to begin with.
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Jun 28, 2016 23:43
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The ritterkrieg link redirects to some immotion website
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Jun 29, 2016 00:23
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Jobbo_Fett posted:The ritterkrieg link redirects to some immotion website It must have been down for a second. It is working for me!
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Jun 29, 2016 02:35
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Tekopo posted:Thread is up! Thanks, will post move tommorrow
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Jun 29, 2016 03:28
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he1ixx posted:It must have been down for a second. It is working for me! It was first linked as [url]https://[/url] which I think was the issue. Either way, link works now.
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Jun 29, 2016 07:09
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I think I am probably going to break down and buy another COIN game. I love Cuba Libre to death, though no one I've showed it to is too thrilled about it.  Of the current titles, the ones that most interest me are Andean Abyss, A Distant Plain, Fire in the Lake, and maybe Liberty or Death. But only ADP and Falling Sky are shipping. Is Falling Sky considerably more fun than ADP? Or I could get AA on ebay, which is tempting but it's $100 right now. I would be playing solo most of the time, but the more accessible the better because I might convince others to play. So FitL would be a bad choice I think.
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Jun 30, 2016 00:12
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It's hard to compare, they are such different games. ADP is my favourite because it has the funnest side in any single game ever, I just love playing the government in ADP.
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Jun 30, 2016 07:45
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Vivian Darkbloom posted:I think I am probably going to break down and buy another COIN game. I love Cuba Libre to death, though no one I've showed it to is too thrilled about it. For some COIN advice (my opinions, obviously) Andean Abyss - I'd avoid unless you are a completion or really interested in the current Colombian Civil War. Being the first game, it's the roughest round the edges for both solo and multiplayer, and doesn't really offer much over the other games, especially if you already have Cuba Libre (which is probably the most similar). A Distant Plain - As Tek said ADP is great, though it's the most political beast of the 4 due to the vast areas you can roam around in and the interactions between the groups. Solo play is weird - unlike the other games as the player you have to be beating the bots every propaganda phase, not just at the end, which means playing solo feels like a totally different game and not for the better. Fire in the Lake - This is the biggest in terms of size, scope and playtime, so it can be hard to get to the table. It's also more of a traditional wargame than the others (barring Liberty or Death) due to the size of the forces running around and their objectives. It's also one of the least political due to it being a relatively straight 2 on 2 fight. FitL is my favourite for solo play, since the non-political nature of the game works well for that and the bots are very sophisticated. Liberty or Death - Not played this, but consensus seems to be that it's the 'odd man out' of the COIN games, and is really a 2 player AWI game that's been shoved into the square COIN hole. In particular, the Indian and French factions don't seem to have a lot of interesting decisions to make. I haven't heard anything on solo play or what AWI aficionados think of it - i've only heard opinions from COIN series fans. Falling Sky - This is really a different beast to the other games due to the ancient setting, and handles common mechanics like bases & support/opposition differently. All the base actions are updated as well to match the era. The bots seem strong so far (I don't have a lot of experience yet) for solo play, though the game is quite political, particularly for the Aedui who have to balance all other factions while going for the win. It's also the smallest and least complex game apart from Cuba Libre so you might find it easier to get to the table.
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Jun 30, 2016 10:45
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One thing I noticed about Falling Sky is that if you crush a particular faction in the game, you can crush it hard. This is because of how few warbands you can actually build if you don't have an ally. If you destroy the allies of the Aedui or Belgae, for example, they are basically left to do single warband rallies in their home region, and that's it. The Arverni has some leeway since they can rally at their Leader, and they always rally +1 as well. It's much harder to get rid of opposition and do the same in non-FS COINs. It's pretty interesting how central allies are to the game.
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Jun 30, 2016 10:57
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Tekopo posted:One thing I noticed about Falling Sky is that if you crush a particular faction in the game, you can crush it hard. This is because of how few warbands you can actually build if you don't have an ally. If you destroy the allies of the Aedui or Belgae, for example, they are basically left to do single warband rallies in their home region, and that's it. The Arverni has some leeway since they can rally at their Leader, and they always rally +1 as well. It's much harder to get rid of opposition and do the same in non-FS COINs. It's pretty interesting how central allies are to the game. Belgae have 3 home regions though, so can at least get 3 warbands a turn (for a price) plus get the Germanics involved. Aedui are pretty hosed though, yeah. You're right about allies though. One of the things i've noticed is how narrow the victory condition windows are. If all the Gallic sides rally and place allies in one turn, Roman victory can drop like a loving stone. Conversely, some well placed battles and suborns from everyone (not just the Romans) can subdue a lot of tribes in short order and send roman victory skyrocketing. That's different to other games since usually one faction has to set up a big swing by getting control or terror/civic actioning some high population spaces, instead of a bunch of factions all creating the same situation by coincidence.
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Jun 30, 2016 11:04
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I liked playing Aedui when I played them: not having a Leader is both a curse and a boon: it means you don't have to rely on him for special actions, but it also means that you don't get that +1 loss in combat, which means that the Aedui are much weaker than most other factions on the attack. As well as that, they don't have that many warbands to throw around. Suborn is really central to the way that they get rid of enemies. Belgae are pretty good, especially if Ambiorix is still around: getting 1 loss per warband on the attack makes the Belgae a real offensive threat. Arverni just have pure numbers.
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Jun 30, 2016 11:14
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It's spaceships, but it's a GMT wargame, so probably this thread - is Talon even half as good as it looks? Because it looks very, very good. Simple, fast, with power management chrome and (apparently) a good ship design system available online. Phasers and wave motion guns and a campaign system? On-map missile tokens and fighters that are handled quickly and elegantly without bogging the game down? It has movement impulses like SFB & FC, but without the excessive grog. Rules for using it in conjunction with Space Empires 4X, even. I didn't even know it existed until I saw it in the LGS.
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Jun 30, 2016 17:15
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MikeCrotch posted:For some COIN advice (my opinions, obviously) That's an interesting detail on A Distant Plain's solo play, which makes me more hesitant to pick it up, even though CSI has it for $49. I just checked the rules and I see what you mean, it seems like kind of a weird change. Does it make for a playable solo game? Seems very challenging. Tekopo mentioned that the ADP Government is a ton of fun to play, but I get the impression from the rules that the bots aren't really designed for a solo player to play Government or Warlords, just like Cuba Libre has the bots unbalanced for a solo DR or Syndicate player.
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Jun 30, 2016 19:21
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chrisoya posted:It's spaceships, but it's a GMT wargame, so probably this thread - is Talon even half as good as it looks? Because it looks very, very good. I'm super excited about it! I picked it up but haven't played it. It's like my dream game. I so wanted FC to be an approachable alternative to SFB, but was hugely disappointed to find that it's still so ridiculous. Talon looks really smart. There's a VASSAL module that I want to try, since I don't have the space to actually set the game up right now.
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Jun 30, 2016 20:58
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Vivian Darkbloom posted:That's an interesting detail on A Distant Plain's solo play, which makes me more hesitant to pick it up, even though CSI has it for $49. I just checked the rules and I see what you mean, it seems like kind of a weird change. Does it make for a playable solo game? Seems very challenging. TBH I never noticed the solo play rules, there's probably nothing wrong with just playing it the classic way.
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Jun 30, 2016 21:10
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StashAugustine posted:TBH I never noticed the solo play rules, there's probably nothing wrong with just playing it the classic way. Playing all four sides yourself?
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Jun 30, 2016 22:37
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The General posted:Playing all four sides yourself? Admittedly I haven't tried that since I was a kid, but I'm confused as to how this would actually work. If faction A is planning to screw over B, wouldn't it affect B's planning to know about that, since they're played by the same person?
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Jun 30, 2016 23:20
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Mark Herman made a video about Pericles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KynXac71pCk
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Jul 1, 2016 02:49
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Vivian Darkbloom posted:Admittedly I haven't tried that since I was a kid, but I'm confused as to how this would actually work. If faction A is planning to screw over B, wouldn't it affect B's planning to know about that, since they're played by the same person? Maybe kinda, but I try to actively disregard any "plans" made by other factions and only try to play optimally. Plans are usually just "achieve victory conditions with what's on the board" for each faction anyway. Long term plans usually fall apart after two turns, and not being adaptive will sink a faction quickly. Dr. Lunchables fucked around with this message at 05:08 on Jul 1, 2016 |
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Jul 1, 2016 05:06
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Vivian Darkbloom posted:That's an interesting detail on A Distant Plain's solo play, which makes me more hesitant to pick it up, even though CSI has it for $49. I just checked the rules and I see what you mean, it seems like kind of a weird change. Does it make for a playable solo game? Seems very challenging. You are correct that ADP Goverment and Warlords are not intended for solo play - due to the way that the bots are set up, they will often preferentially go after Coalition/Taliban as they are expected to be the player faction, so playing Government would probably be pretty easy. Also, the reason Government is fun to play is that it's the most political faction in the series - you have reason to work with and screw over every other faction in the game, and likely will do so over the course of a game. ADP is playable solo, but it's a different solo experience to the others and not one of my favourites. It also doesn't give you a good taste of what it's like to play the game proper; for example, due to the fact that you have to be winning at all propaganda stages, as Coalition this basically means you will have 6 pieces on the board tops while you try to play whack a mole with the Taliban.
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Jul 1, 2016 09:50
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chrisoya posted:It's spaceships, but it's a GMT wargame, so probably this thread - is Talon even half as good as it looks? I haven't played it yet, but looking through the rules and reading reviews of it make it look pretty solid. You may want to decide soon though. Talon is sold out at GMT, so it may become difficult to obtain a copy if someone grabs your FLGS copies before you do. I don't think I'd merge it with Space Empires 4X though. That would require a lot of table space and time.
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Jul 1, 2016 12:58
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Ubik_Lives posted:You may want to decide soon though. Talon is sold out at GMT, so it may become difficult to obtain a copy if someone grabs your FLGS copies before you do.  Maybe next weekend, then! Oh, huh, I have more spending money than I expected this month. And there's a decently-priced copy online. Oh no.
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Jul 1, 2016 13:44
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I beat CL solo as M26! Final scoring was: M26: +2 Gov: -2 DR: -2 Synd: -2  It really is about economics when you're playing vs bots. You have to be beating on the Syndicate constantly to close casinos and steal cash, even more than you care about undermining the government. I went into the fourth campaign with 21 resources and managed some large-scale Terror to pull out a win. I wish the bots really supported play as DR or Syndicate; the bot author Örjan mentioned that he wanted to revise them for that purpose but that was a couple years ago.
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Jul 2, 2016 15:33
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A huge fight is brewing up in the Falling Sky PBP guys! Exciting stuff
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Jul 3, 2016 00:40
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I'm really not catching on fast enough to how different logistics feels- how your troops can forced march much faster but supply lines and retreat are huge considerations. I think I can get out of the current scrape but it's going to be difficult getting back to Provincia for the winter.
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Jul 3, 2016 00:44
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Yeah I almost thought that the wise choice would have been to retreat but this will definitely let you kill a lot of Belgae.
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Jul 3, 2016 00:46
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I also thought retreat would have been a good idea but I figured I need to stick around for a bit longer to disperse the Belgians. If I retreated we'd stalemate. Even as dark as some of the other COIN games got, none of them had ethnic cleansing as a main operation e: just started playing Cuba Libre too StashAugustine fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Jul 3, 2016 |
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Jul 3, 2016 00:50
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