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Speaking of Civ games, the lads at SU&SD did a 9 player game of Western Empires and I still don't understand if they liked it or not. It sounds slightly painful because as far as I can tell no one had ever played Civ before and they were all learning for the first time so apparently it took 13 hours. I think the length of time was the main complaint as well as issues with randomness, which is interesting for people that enjoy TI:4, which I have only ever known to take at least 6 hours at higher player counts and is filled with dice chucking and disengagement. Also interesting hearing those thoughts on the heels of their Dune review.
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Sep 25, 2019 16:24
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Doctor Spaceman posted:Yeah it's weird you don't seed the deck like you do in Pandemic. Was seeding the deck a thing in the original release of Pandemic? In any case there's no reason you couldn't seed the sun cards, I'm pretty sure my friends and I ended up doing that after a while. The key to survival in Forbidden Desert is finding the caves and sheltering in them asap, as often as you can between expeditions out into the world. If you have enough bad luck and you don't end up finding them for a while, it's easy to get screwed.
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Sep 25, 2019 17:13
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Spirit island is heavy???
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Sep 25, 2019 20:04
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CommonShore posted:Spirit island is heavy??? 
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Sep 25, 2019 20:10
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So the new CMON kickstarter has complete pledges for Hate, Rising Sun, and a Zombicide, but the real appeal is that for $1 you could get access to their "time vault" and get some old and hard to get stuff. I wanted to grab Dogs of War and it's exclusives since it's always seemed like a unique euro that gets a lot of love, but turns out the vault will be locked for 48 hours except for the people that get the big full game pledges ($240+). Given the limited nature of these items and the fact that each pledge can buy 5 of each, that's pretty much a gently caress you to anyone wanting just the vault stuff. CMON, always finding new ways to be exploitative with KS 
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Sep 25, 2019 20:26
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Let's say you were designing a generic area majority game. Through some mechanism, you put pieces on different regions. All regions are functionally identical and give you an identical amount of points. Having the most pieces on a region gets you max points, having the second most gets you fewer. Which of the following should get you more points total: coming in first on two spots or coming in second on three? I played Bosk recently and it made me realize that I strongly prefer the first option. Bosk takes the latter, and I just found it unsatisfying.
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Sep 25, 2019 20:34
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Bottom Liner posted:So the new CMON kickstarter has complete pledges for Hate, Rising Sun, and a Zombicide, but the real appeal is that for $1 you could get access to their "time vault" and get some old and hard to get stuff. I wanted to grab Dogs of War and it's exclusives since it's always seemed like a unique euro that gets a lot of love, but turns out the vault will be locked for 48 hours except for the people that get the big full game pledges ($240+). Given the limited nature of these items and the fact that each pledge can buy 5 of each, that's pretty much a gently caress you to anyone wanting just the vault stuff. lol they're getting people to pay them for the privilege of having a chance to buy something and resell it at higher prices. Nice, CMON.
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Sep 25, 2019 20:35
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CommonShore posted:Spirit island is heavy??? Compared to Pandemic, sure.
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Sep 25, 2019 20:41
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pospysyl posted:Let's say you were designing a generic area majority game. Through some mechanism, you put pieces on different regions. All regions are functionally identical and give you an identical amount of points. Having the most pieces on a region gets you max points, having the second most gets you fewer. Which of the following should get you more points total: coming in first on two spots or coming in second on three? Yuck. Using Objectively the Greatest Area Majority Game of All Time(TM) El Grande as a template, the point differentials should be a fraction of each other e.g. if you have 1st/2nd/3rd then 2nd place is 2/3 of first and 3rd is 1/3 of first. Two second-places or three third places should get the same value as one first place.
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Sep 25, 2019 20:56
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Are there any new hotness games that came out in the past year and aren't flash in the pan hype trains? I need to fill out a csi order.
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Sep 25, 2019 20:57
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did you pick up the estates yet
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Sep 25, 2019 21:03
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Ok so here are my uneducated ramblings on new TTA stuff, with the disclaimer that I'm not very good and am mostly looking to start discussion. Gonna just start with age A: Ashoka- really strong but you have to play weird so idk how to evaluate Confucius- Aristotle trading power for reliability and needing civil for mil actions, does need to be played immediately though Cleopatra- pretty good, gives some reliable income and can do some neat tricks with accelerating wonders Sun Tzu- haven't picked him yet, looks nice for draws but eh Boudica- pretty much one of the best if you can lead, and the extra resources for units arent terrible since its a free warrior, but probably not great if you expect to be behind (ie someone picks Alex, Caesar, Sun) Hippocrates: yellow tokens are really good but he takes a while to pay out and doesn't do anything until age 2, not sure if he's that great Stonehenge: really strong. Library of Alexandria that pays half as much science over time, but pays it all up front (as early as turn 2) and provides a happy face instead of handsize Acropolis: doesn't really do much for you immediately, will in a normal game save you like 3 on monarchy and 6 ish on age 3 gov't- so less than LoA and less flexible. Cheap though Roman Roads: a pain to build, but provides a lot of nice bonuses over time. Kind of wants civil actions or masonry but idk whether you'd pick it blind Colosseum: pretty solid, military actions are nice especially if you miss an age1 govt and the science discount is ok, plus happy face is useful early on
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Sep 25, 2019 21:08
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Would you say the new cards make the game more about pivoting until you get a combo and pumping it hard or not? That was my initial impressions but I don't know the game nearly as well as some of you.
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Sep 25, 2019 21:10
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From last Gencon to now here's some good stuff that comes to mind: Root Teotihuacan Welcome To Railroad Ink Just One Shards of Infinity Air Land & Sea Valley of the Kings Premium Blue Lagoon Quest for El Dorado Pax Pamir 2E (best game of the year but not on CSI) Tiny Towns Res Arcana New Frontiers Men at Work Jaws Point Salad Watergate Camel Up 2e Q.E. Vast Mysterious Manor (should be out any day now) Inis expansion Dune Through the Ages expansion Nine Tiles Panic
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Sep 25, 2019 21:15
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Bottom Liner posted:From last Gencon to now here's some good stuff that comes to mind: Not on your list but I gotta ask: have you played Everdell?
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Sep 25, 2019 21:37
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Bottom Liner posted:Would you say the new cards make the game more about pivoting until you get a combo and pumping it hard or not? That was my initial impressions but I don't know the game nearly as well as some of you. Frankly that's basically what the game was always about, the xpac makes it so that both the combos and the infrastructure are randomly picked so that its a different mix each game
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Sep 25, 2019 21:42
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al-azad posted:Yuck. Using Objectively the Greatest Area Majority Game of All Time(TM) El Grande as a template, the point differentials should be a fraction of each other e.g. if you have 1st/2nd/3rd then 2nd place is 2/3 of first and 3rd is 1/3 of first. Two second-places or three third places should get the same value as one first place. Do you mean it should be 1, 1/2, and 1/3rd for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively? At 2/3rds two second places will be worth more than a first.
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Sep 25, 2019 21:44
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FulsomFrank posted:Not on your list but I gotta ask: have you played Everdell? Only once, but it's a mediocre tableau builder with nice art and theme and some big RNG issues. Would never choose it over RftG. Also messaging you on Discord about the FCM dry erase stuff (what's your username there?)! Bottom Liner fucked around with this message at 21:59 on Sep 25, 2019 |
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Sep 25, 2019 21:50
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StashAugustine posted:Frankly that's basically what the game was always about, the xpac makes it so that both the combos and the infrastructure are randomly picked so that its a different mix each game Agreed. Doing well in TTA is about transitioning between a series of transient combos. Expansion made it more interesting because A) The pool of combos available now changes every time and B) The newer cards open up lots more combos with previously dead end bonuses like blue cubes and arenas.
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Sep 25, 2019 21:57
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al-azad posted:I mean, Flow of History is the best of its class. At least compare Tapestry to something like Nations or Clash of Cultures idk Fair enough. I would play Gentes over Tapestry. There's a requirement of some degree of specialization, a strategic consideration when building on the map, and more passive aggressive interaction through the worker spaces.
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Sep 25, 2019 22:00
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Bottom Liner posted:From last Gencon to now here's some good stuff that comes to mind: Thanks for this! The Inis expansion and The Estates are unfortunately out of stock. Wasn't the latter supposed to get a reprint/versioning or am I making that up. But regardless, thanks!
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Sep 25, 2019 22:10
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GrandpaPants posted:Thanks for this! The Inis expansion and The Estates are unfortunately out of stock. Wasn't the latter supposed to get a reprint/versioning or am I making that up. But regardless, thanks! Yeah, I thiiiiink we're still waiting on that reprint. Capstone had plenty of copies at their convention booths so maybe they're arriving soon?
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Sep 25, 2019 22:13
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PJOmega posted:Do you mean it should be 1, 1/2, and 1/3rd for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively? At 2/3rds two second places will be worth more than a first. It's inbetween a half and 2/3. The basic idea is that to get the same amount of points as one first place you need to take second place twice or third place three times. A cursory glance at El Grande reveals this to be accurate where second place is 60% of first place.
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Sep 25, 2019 22:16
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GrandpaPants posted:Are there any new hotness games that came out in the past year and aren't flash in the pan hype trains? I need to fill out a csi order. Oh, to add to this Irish Gauge is back in stock at CSI, just got the email about it.
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Sep 25, 2019 22:43
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Bottom Liner posted:Oh, to add to this Irish Gauge is back in stock at CSI, just got the email about it. I forget the consensus on this vs Chex. Are they appreciably different? Also Flow of History looked interesting, but it's at 6.9 on bgg, which is sort of a score where I want a second opinion. Edit: What the gently caress there's a Machi Koro Legacy now?
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Sep 25, 2019 22:57
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Bottom Liner posted:Only once, but it's a mediocre tableau builder with nice art and theme and some big RNG issues. Would never choose it over RftG. Also messaging you on Discord about the FCM dry erase stuff (what's your username there?)! Agreed 100%. Totally gimmicky as well.
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Sep 25, 2019 22:58
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FulsomFrank posted:Not on your list but I gotta ask: have you played Everdell? I've played it three times with two wins. It's not very good: the problem is that the mechanism of being able to play a critter for free if you have the corresponding building is so powerful that the game is fairly luck driven and 'plays itself.' Do I have building / critter pairs? I guess I am trying to make those buildings then! Edit: also the games comeback mechanism isn't nearly strong enough, if you're the person who runs out of actions first in season one you are just going to lose. Edit: it does have like..three ridiculously powerful take that cards in the large deck though! Cthulhu Dreams fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Sep 25, 2019 |
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Sep 25, 2019 23:02
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Bottom Liner posted:Oh, to add to this Irish Gauge is back in stock at CSI, just got the email about it. Screw it, I need a game to test the waters before I order 1830 or 18Chesapeake. I've spent more money on much worse games.
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Sep 25, 2019 23:05
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Spiggy posted:Screw it, I need a game to test the waters before I order 1830 or 18Chesapeake. I've spent more money on much worse games. There is almost no relationship between Irish gauge and 18xx other than they both have trains in it FYI. Edit: if you want to test the water, get in the discord and we can play a game of 1830 online.
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Sep 25, 2019 23:08
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Cthulhu Dreams posted:Edit: if you want to test the water, get in the discord and we can play a game of 1830 online. I also bought Irish Gauge though because I feel like an 18XX game would be a once a year type thing (if I'm lucky), whereas Irish Gauge could easily be once every month or so. IG and Root are currently the top 2 games on my "hurry up and arrive so I can play you" list, I'm trying to not let the hype get to me. I might be failing though.
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Sep 25, 2019 23:34
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Cthulhu Dreams posted:There is almost no relationship between Irish gauge and 18xx other than they both have trains in it FYI. I didn't expect much in common other than planning routes, buying stocks, and hexagons. My group isn't opposed to playing heavier games but I'd rather see if they enjoy the general theme before going full 18XX on them. I'll shoot you a message on Discord but my scheduling is usually a nightmare.
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Sep 25, 2019 23:50
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If you really insist on trying an 18xx style game that isn’t 18xx, I’d recommend city of the big shoulders. It isn’t a perfect game but it mostly made good on its intention.
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Sep 25, 2019 23:51
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Spiggy posted:I didn't expect much in common other than planning routes, buying stocks, and hexagons. My group isn't opposed to playing heavier games but I'd rather see if they enjoy the general theme before going full 18XX on them. The route planning is totally and I mean totally different. The two sets of train games have hardly anything in common. Irish Gauge is (hopefully! I haven't played my copy yet) a good game, but it's no intro to 18xx. Chesapeake is probably your best choice, or 46.
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Sep 25, 2019 23:54
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Redundant posted:If it's possible, I would be interested in joining in with this if it goes ahead. Being in the UK and having some busy weekends coming up might make it difficult but no harm in trying. I'm happy for a PBEM style game on rr18xx.com if you can do a turn a day or so, that's my preferred style.
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Sep 26, 2019 00:00
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Doctor Spaceman posted:Yeah it's weird you don't seed the deck like you do in Pandemic. I've heard that the story behind it (for Forbidden Island at least) is that he wanted a version of Pandemic he could play with his children, so I have to guess that it was just to make it less complicated to set up for the target audience. As for the later, more complex games, they probably just kept it that way for continuity.
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Sep 26, 2019 00:04
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GrandpaPants posted:I forget the consensus on this vs Chex. Are they appreciably different? Flow of History is great. It's basically a cut down Through the Ages but replaces the tired and boring market row with an investment style setup. If you want a card, you put a bid on it: if it comes back around to your turn you can pick up the card but anyone else can snipe the bid which results in you getting all the money. What this means is that you want to pay only what you think the card is worth but if you go too low you'll get sniped. And card effects are tied to the cards so military actions happen immediately when someone buys a card. If you have the strongest military, you can put a massive bid on a card and hope a weaker player snipes it just to prevent you from punching them. And vice versa a weak player could put a bid on a strong military card hoping a stronger player will buy it and offset the attack. It's a ~60 minute card game with a strong core system and a lot of smart ideas which encourage direct competition. Looking at the reviews reveals a lot of bullshit and confirms my opinion on how the civilization "genre" is a terrible blanket term. People were disappointed that it didn't feel like you were building a civilization, that it was over too quickly, and it's not evocative of *insert laundry list of Civilization features*. I see a lot of the same rhetoric Tapestry pre-release where people review bombed it because it calls itself a Civ game but isn't actually, never mind that when the game actually came out people realized it wasn't good at anything it set out to do but I digress. Also a lot of people complaining it's advertised as playable with 2 but is hardly playable at 2, something I agree with this is an auction-adjacent game and needs at least 3 to be fun. Legitimate crit, there is no safety net in this game: you can stall indefinitely and like in Container it's possible to tank the economy but this is a hurdle that disappears after one play and you know the deck. So I highly recommend it as someone who likes clever tableau builders like the Pax series and games with weird little economic engines like Ponzi Scheme which is by the same designer. e: I saw a few reviews that really raged against Socialism, a card that forces everyone to pool their money then redistribute it. I love this card and try to buy it whenever I can. al-azad fucked around with this message at 00:33 on Sep 26, 2019 |
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Sep 26, 2019 00:26
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al-azad posted:
That and many other cards in the game are exactly why I'm interested in it. They're pretty thematic in ways that Innovation also did well, on top of the good mechanic base.
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Sep 26, 2019 00:46
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Bottom Liner posted:That and many other cards in the game are exactly why I'm interested in it. They're pretty thematic in ways that Innovation also did well, on top of the good mechanic base. I’m in the anti-Socialism camp. Socialism can exacerbate an end game issue that crops up from time to time. Flow of History has no forced game length; the game ends when the players drain the deck, but there’s no game enforced loss of cards. Given that you can buy cards that other people have bid on, when it gets to the end of the game, there’s little reason to bid on a card when you don’t have the most money (because someone else will snipe the card, and money isn't worth VPs so being sniped gets you nothing), so people get stuck in a harvest cycle. This isn’t always an issue; cards that let you bypass the bid to get a card are pretty powerful here, if the players don’t see the end coming there will be investments out for people to buy at the end, and if someone has a lead in cash, they can just make the bid. However, socialism wipes out any cash lead, and so it can cause a pretty draggy end to the game under those conditions. Socialism would work better earlier in the deck I feel. It’s also a little frustrating, because I feel you could fix the end game by having money worth something at the end, but then Socialism would be even more game changing.
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Sep 26, 2019 04:26
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CommonShore posted:Spirit island is heavy??? I'm going through the 'Pandemic list' with four other dudes. I tried playing Spirit Island with three of them once, and it went over very poorly because it was "too fiddly and complicated". I argue that it was the environment (a local brewery) and their moods at the time more than the game, as well as the fourth player dropping out early. I think it is great and that they are wimps, but hopefully after 35 variants of Pandemic, they are more equiped for Spirit Island.
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Sep 26, 2019 06:57
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Ubik_Lives posted:Socialism would work better earlier in the deck I feel. It’s also a little frustrating, because I feel you could fix the end game by having money worth something at the end, but then Socialism would be even more game changing. As it should be, comrade.
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Sep 26, 2019 08:54
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