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Ravendas posted:The expansion changed the haunt rules to something like 'roll one die per haunt card, 5+ triggers the haunt' or something, so the first few can't trigger it anymore. This is how the legacy game does it. It is distressing how often someone rolled a 5 on 3 of those dice.
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Sep 17, 2019 17:25
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Okay so I played Gaia Project finally. Had to ponder what about it made me not like it much. I like point salad mp solitaire just fine. So it feels like while playing it more would let me make better decisions, it didn't strike me as a game where playing more would let me make more interesting decisions. Think go, where every rank means you see the game in different ways. Feast, where you go from how to fill stuff to how to fill islands to which islands. Trajan, where seeing what everyone else can do transforms the game. Does GP have multiple layers of depth? Or is it really more one big starting decision and then just tactical decisions based on that? Obviously this is me having had one play, so I'm sure I don't see everything, but would like some thoughts from people who have played it a bunch!
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Sep 17, 2019 17:30
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FulsomFrank posted:Which version of Quartermaster General is the one people recommend? Or was it something with an expansion? I have 1914 and I really like it. It has a thing where cards are played normally and also a second card can be played face down to influence combat, which requires a bit more rules explanation (that and the whole two countries with one player thing) but adds a bit of depth.
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Sep 17, 2019 17:32
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I just read a bit about Watergate which both sounds like Twilight Struggle while also sounding very distinctly different. Anyone played it?
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Sep 17, 2019 18:34
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silvergoose posted:
It's mostly an optimization puzzle with many wrenches thrown in your way each game given the map layout, bonus/tech tiles, and other player's planet choices vs your faction's. Just like Terra Mystica, a new player will take a few actions per round and score very few points while an experienced player will somehow squeeze a ton of resources out of their actions and just keep going, grabbing all the bonuses and building up a big federation or two. If that's a satisfying puzzle or not and how much the added variability of the map, tech tiles, and bonus tiles add to the game is up to you, but I find it pretty engaging. Just having a variable map was enough for me to like the system again, and all the other additions and changes further improve it. Played a really great 2p FCM new milestones game last week of trainer vs RG (me). I was ahead most of the game and had a 100 reserve, but he did a 300 to balance that out. He ended up losing ~$360 to ~$510 by a round. He had a plane and radio tower dumping a ton of demand on garden houses and had snagged both chefs, so I couldn't possibly keep up with demand, and went with a luxuries manager to get some huge sales the last two turns. In future games with a trainer I think I'll have to rush up to a chef to be able to compete.
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Sep 17, 2019 18:57
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Jedit posted:Our record was the second move of the game, and it triggered the haunt which sucks the house into the void. Less than five minutes from start to finish. My group is playing through legacy and I wish each game was only 5 mins. My god is it so poo poo. Each time we play I am drawn into a nightmare of random bullshit where player agency is removed and someone spends a minute reading a card and weighing their odds before rolling a dice and finding out that nothing happens. Then after the game has shat random debuffs on you for having the audacity to explore, it starts a haunt, that due to the random board state means the end is already predetermined with the players flailing around pointlessly until one side or another concludes the game with a random gotcha because victory conditions are hidden info. It is a perfect replication of human misery in a box. Each time the lid opens I feel like I am being dragged into the gaping maw of hell. So 10/10 for realisation of theme.
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Sep 17, 2019 19:04
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silvergoose posted:Okay so I played Gaia Project finally. I really like GP in a way that most point salads don't satisfy me aside from Trajan. Played it a couple dozen times by now, but while I consider the starting board for my species choice, it's really just a first order consideration. It took a few games to understand, but I chatted with my friend who's really good at engine builder/optimization games when I realized that the real game is the timing of actions and tempo. It's rather subtle, which can be frustrating because it's not outwardly aggressive. This includes the passing action for first player. Sometimes, I've seen players who look like they were very much ahead doing actions when everyone else has passed, but it turns out they were flailing and would've been better off passing early and saving some of those actions for next turn. You can definitely overextend while building instead of getting cheap mines or leeching power with an appropriate building - either too much or too little. Admittedly, the later is a bit of a game of chicken, since you might build in this or that direction, and it depends on the initial map placement, but I really like this part of the game too.
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Sep 17, 2019 19:20
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I had the chance to play Tapestry last night and kind of liked it, but the way the turns go into a temporal lag between the players was really really weird. At the end of our game, three players finished almost at the same time, after that, the fourth player took like four or five actions alone because he also finished the third and fourth eras first and had more resources. Also, the buildings were way overproduced and not helpful at all. One of the players realized after the game ended that one building covered eight tiles and not six because the thing was so big it cramped up the player mat. Even with that, the game was really pretty and fun, kind of like a simplified version of Gaia Project with some extras. Still, I don't think I would buy it.
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Sep 17, 2019 19:30
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Chill la Chill posted:I really like GP in a way that most point salads don't satisfy me aside from Trajan. Played it a couple dozen times by now, but while I consider the starting board for my species choice, it's really just a first order consideration. It took a few games to understand, but I chatted with my friend who's really good at engine builder/optimization games when I realized that the real game is the timing of actions and tempo. It's rather subtle, which can be frustrating because it's not outwardly aggressive. This includes the passing action for first player. Sometimes, I've seen players who look like they were very much ahead doing actions when everyone else has passed, but it turns out they were flailing and would've been better off passing early and saving some of those actions for next turn. You can definitely overextend while building instead of getting cheap mines or leeching power with an appropriate building - either too much or too little. Admittedly, the later is a bit of a game of chicken, since you might build in this or that direction, and it depends on the initial map placement, but I really like this part of the game too. Interesting. So the real meat of the game, after you get a hang on the front loaded decision space, is mainly timing? Can you go into that a bit? Like, a couple examples.
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Sep 17, 2019 20:45
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I'll try: You might pass early to grab a specific booster tile that will help you next round or if you need to guarantee a planet and want to go earlier in turn order. As long as you aren't going to be capped on any resources and you have maximized the points you can get from the current round scoring tile you aren't giving up anything. The power actions are also a key bit of timing, taking them early each round is important if you're heavy on power or need a specific ability. The game of chicken analogy is apt, since mid game is all about walking the line of using your resources vs getting out early to get what you need or building up and sitting back until you can explode and abuse a scoring tile or tech combo. Here's a pretty in-depth thread about faction openings, which may look scripted and rote until you realize they're all about timings and availability of planets vs other players. https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1974293/standard-openings for example quote:7. Ivits (Der Swarm) Opening this is a pretty crazy round one play but requires both a strong initial placement and other players not getting in your way on the board or power actions, and the timing of when you do each step will vary a lot based on that. Bottom Liner fucked around with this message at 21:09 on Sep 17, 2019 |
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Sep 17, 2019 21:03
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silvergoose posted:Interesting. So the real meat of the game, after you get a hang on the front loaded decision space, is mainly timing? Can you go into that a bit? Like, a couple examples. Some examples: Waiting to make a building until after someone has made an academy/PI and split/used their crystals (now the crystals are at 1). Hogging booster tiles, possibly forcing an opponent to stretch turns to get you to quit first. Saving resources until someone else passes, then building around them. This allows them to supercharge for next turn, but maybe this turn was more important. Due to the way crystals work, if you have enough of them you can do piecemeal tiny actions or larger ones, with quite a bit of control. A lot of it depends on where people choose to build initially, but usually you want to leech as much as possible so people tend to have at least one initial building near the others if not both. I'm sure a lot of this overlaps with theory in TM, but I never got to play that much and it was years ago. I honestly don't think I've ever looked up faction openings other than what you might want to build early (usually it's early PI vs. early infrastructure) because of the variability of boards and initial placement. Chill la Chill fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Sep 17, 2019 |
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Sep 17, 2019 21:19
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Chill la Chill posted:Some examples: Cool, thanks (and thanks BL). I see there's no app; is TM good enough to warrant getting that app or wait for the indeterminate time GP app by the same developers? Playing against computer players would probably give me some satisfaction and learning opportunities.
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Sep 17, 2019 21:29
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Yeah the static map and lack of tech in TM made things far more scripted and while there was still interaction, it never felt as impactful as the choices that GP gives. That said, I'm far better at TM because the decision space was much more contained and the online site made it easy to play a lot of games quickly. https://terra.snellman.net/ is the place to play TM multiplayer. https://lodev.org/tmai/ for AI matches. This is what I use. Bottom Liner fucked around with this message at 21:33 on Sep 17, 2019 |
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Sep 17, 2019 21:30
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FulsomFrank posted:Which version of Quartermaster General is the one people recommend? Or was it something with an expansion? I also think 1914 has the best balance of smart additions and flow and if it's easy to find I'd automatically recommend that. A lot of people still enjoy WW2 the most. A new edition of WW2 with some fixes and balance changes is coming out, I wanna say in October. I rarely hear anything about Victory or Death and I think it's hard to find anyway. Cold War is meant to be poor (I still haven't played it).
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Sep 17, 2019 22:25
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I lost a game of Concordia tonight because I forgot to buy a new colonist when I used my Tribune. I had the resources, I just switched off and forgot to put one out. A precautionary tale about the perils of being a buffoon with a short attention span. Are there any goon recs for big player count (7-8) games? I've got a games weekend thing organised but it was more popular than I expected, I've got a few games to cover that number (Secret Hitler, Cash n Guns, Sushi Go!, makeshift Skull) but nothing really good. I figure we're better off splitting into 2 groups but people aren't initially keen on that. Maybe a PnP like Escape From the Aliens In Outer Space will help pad things out?
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Sep 17, 2019 23:36
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Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysium Quadrant
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Sep 17, 2019 23:41
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Redundant posted:I lost a game of Concordia tonight because I forgot to buy a new colonist when I used my Tribune. I had the resources, I just switched off and forgot to put one out. A precautionary tale about the perils of being a buffoon with a short attention span. The real answer is splitting into two groups. The real *real* answer is Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant Edit: beaten, but i appreciate we both referred to the game by its full name
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Sep 17, 2019 23:42
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broke: Sidereal Confluence woke: Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant bespoke: SidCon
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Sep 18, 2019 01:35
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My own thoughts on the Through The Ages expansion playing a ton of it against bots. - You can get to some absurd culture generation with some combos. way, way more than in the base game. Like 30+ culture per turn type combos, which I've done more than once already. I still haven't broken the 400+ mark in score but I've gotten drat close. Also worth noting that this applies equally well to the AI who I've seen rack up some crazy scores compared to the base game. - Similarly, strength bonuses can get equally absurd with so many extra yellows and resources hanging around, not to mention Manhattan Project being a thing. One of my almost-400 games was a game where I took about 160-180 of my final score from three straight culture wars after having 4 mobile artillery armies and 4 air forces with Napoleon. Shame Manhattan wasn't in that game. - All of the new leaders and wonders can be amazing in the right situation, and I like how much flexibility they add that wasn't there before. It's also funny how some of these new cards can really shine in situations you might not immediately think about, like how Isabella is a sneaky good wonder spammer because of the +1 rock and because her blues deal nicely with the dreaded corruption problem protracted wonder spamming can bring. Or using Eleanor in Age II for some sick nasty 'pick leader and/or government, replace and revolt' shenanigans. - On a more macro level, the expansion brings a rather fundamental change to the gameplay that I think takes a lot of getting used to. We've transitioned from a static meta into a dynamic one, and it's a pretty wild swing. In the base game, inherent randomness of the card row and event deck aside, the pool of available leaders and wonders was always the same so every game of TTA follows the same "rules" so to speak. Pyramids is always there, Hammurabi is always there, the Basilica is always up for grabs, Napoleon is an omnipresent threat that must be accounted for, Gandhi will always be the security blanket panic option for weak militaries everywhere, and so on. In the expansion, notwithstanding the options to play with original- or expansion-only games which are, to be frank, boring and terrible respectively, every play of the game will be entirely different. You'll get tons of shiny new options but that usually necessitates removing options you had become accustomed to in the base game, removing a lot of the combos with it. Even with full knowledge of what leaders/wonders are in play it's very easy to find yourself autopiloting and, for example, gearing up for Shakespeare shenanigans only to remember that he isn't in the game. Or counting on a non-existant Basilica to fix your happiness forever. That last thing I think is the biggest leap forward made with this expansion, as it's a pretty fundamental and radical change to the way the game is played session to session and greatly reduces the chance of a stagnating metagame. It also offers some fun in a casual setting by enhancing replayability, and it's not like the leader/wonder draw has to be entirely random. If you're sick of the Sword of  Following from that last point, the one thing I really hope they add to the app version is being able to truly customize your leader/wonder set. Allow us to lock in certain choices and randomize the rest, maybe set parameters like only X amount of expansion cards, stuff like that. Random mix is great but it sucks that the app is stuck with that when all that and more would be trivial to do in the tabletop version.
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Sep 18, 2019 03:19
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Bottom Liner posted:Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysium Quadrant Sidereal is wonderful, but be ready for a beast of a teach. Worse than Root if you're playing with the full head count. The graphic design really does not help. For something that sits 6-8, is much less of a beast to teach, is wild fun, and quick to play, check out Captain Sonar Lord Of Texas fucked around with this message at 03:43 on Sep 18, 2019 |
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Sep 18, 2019 03:41
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Redundant posted:Are there any goon recs for big player count (7-8) games? In addition to Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant, there's also Captain Sonar.
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Sep 18, 2019 04:22
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Don't forget advanced/mega Civilization! ...
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Sep 18, 2019 04:54
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Bottom Liner posted:
I recognize Antiquity - what's the other game?
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Sep 18, 2019 05:18
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Dirk the Average posted:I recognize Antiquity - what's the other game? Tapestry.
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Sep 18, 2019 05:23
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Redundant posted:Are there any goon recs for big player count (7-8) games? Mysterium and 7 Wonders are my go-tos for the large-player-count-game-that-isn't-a-full-on-party-game category.
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Sep 18, 2019 05:29
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Ojetor posted:Mysterium and 7 Wonders are my go-tos for the large-player-count-game-that-isn't-a-full-on-party-game category. This is why I hate 7 wonders. It's always pulled out at game nights when a bunch of people show up.
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Sep 18, 2019 06:10
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Incan Gold/Diamant. Plays up to 8, it gets more interesting the more players you have, and it's cheap. Between Two Cities/Castles is great, but only goes up to 7. A lot of the Roland Wrights/Bingo variants don't have their gameplay changed by adding more people, so a second copy would get you there. NMBR 9, Karuba, that sort of thing. Also, I'll throw in a recommendation that if you play Cash n Guns at the highest counts, play with the Team Spirit expansion. I suppose you don't even need to pay for the basic rules, really.
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Sep 18, 2019 06:15
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Redundant posted:Are there any goon recs for big player count (7-8) games? I've got a games weekend thing organised but it was more popular than I expected, I've got a few games to cover that number (Secret Hitler, Cash n Guns, Sushi Go!, makeshift Skull) but nothing really good. I figure we're better off splitting into 2 groups but people aren't initially keen on that. Maybe a PnP like Escape From the Aliens In Outer Space will help pad things out? Steampunk Rally But really be like king solomon and cut that baby in half
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Sep 18, 2019 06:43
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6 Nimmt! (then split to two groups)
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Sep 18, 2019 06:44
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Panic on Wall Street is fantastic with 6+
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Sep 18, 2019 07:16
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Blamestorm posted:Panic on Wall Street is $100
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Sep 18, 2019 07:22
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A sneak peek for the aFfO mini Expansion. So tiles that will cover one space (plums, something I can't identfy on the red side, a block of amber and a amber statue, although that is just a guess), a new grey tile (seems to only be available from the Island), a way to randomise the harvest Phase and the round tiles could maybe be drawn randomly and used for its printed ressource (again just another guess). https://www.unknowns.de/wbb4/index....wcm9tby5qcGc%3D They hope to have the expansion ready for Essen Spiel.
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Sep 18, 2019 07:26
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Selecta84 posted:A sneak peek for the aFfO mini Expansion. The red 1x1 is the egg that is a bonus in the bottom left of Mull, same as the blue 1x1 is the gullgubber bonus two rows above it. E: Picture of prototype Caithness here from Gernot Kopke: https://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/4924127/gernial It's since been tweaked to 24 points, and definitely has a large furs bonus. Also, there's a recommended banned profession list: 52 a Tutor (1st) 107 B Adventurer 115 b Princess 125 c Scribe 150 c Meat Buyer (obsolet function with Norwegian expansion) 163 a Farmhand (obsolet function with Norwegian expansion on the less player action board side and to good with getting an antler instead of a hide) 170 a Refugee Helper 189 B Seafarer Jedit fucked around with this message at 08:32 on Sep 18, 2019 |
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Sep 18, 2019 08:15
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Jedit posted:The red 1x1 must be the egg that is a bonus in the bottom left of Mull, same as the blue 1x1 must be the statue bonus two rows above it. Oh, that is an egg? I was pretty sure about the statue cause as you said there is a space on the Island for it but yeah, never thought of egg when I saw the red tile on the Island. I think I read somewhere that there will be chicken tiles in an upcoming Expansion (maybe the Danes which should come out in 2020) and it seems likely that they will produce eggs. Jedit posted:
Interesting. Gonna have to look it up at home cause BGG on blocked at my work place. Selecta84 fucked around with this message at 11:12 on Sep 18, 2019 |
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Sep 18, 2019 08:30
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Selecta84 posted:Interesting. Gonna have to look it up at home cause BGG on blocked at my work place.  Protip: no workplace blocks Google Cache
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Sep 18, 2019 11:41
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Rutibex posted:
I doesn't really load in my browser  Maybe I'm doing something wrong... https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:s4s06DpZ5xEJ:https://boardgamegeek.com/image/4924127+&cd=2&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=de
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Sep 18, 2019 11:51
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Wow google cache has failed miserably. Not surprising I guess, Google is pretty crap in general these days. Here is the pic, your workplace is dumb enough not to block the SA forums  
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Sep 18, 2019 11:57
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Thanks a bunch. Yeah, most forums seem to be okay as long as they are not games related, nsfw or something like that.
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Sep 18, 2019 12:01
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I just noticed something about that AFFO game. They're using the "Perform an occupied action" spaces from the base game, but I didn't think you were meant to use those with the Norwegian action board because it is already scaled by player count.
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Sep 18, 2019 12:24
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Jedit posted:I just noticed something about that AFFO game. They're using the "Perform an occupied action" spaces from the base game, but I didn't think you were meant to use those with the Norwegian action board because it is already scaled by player count. I'm pretty sure you're right.
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Sep 18, 2019 12:29
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