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I actually just started playing the Terraforming Mars IOS app ($9) about a week ago. Like I felt when I played the game live a while back, the game is fine, maybe even good, but not great. And not worth the amount of hype people go on about it for sure. About the app though, I'm a little disappointed in it. It's great that it takes away all the tedious bookkeeping, of course, but now it's all just numbers flashing around on the too dark screen (I know, space) because things happened, and sure, if you wanted to you could check the log to see what your opponent really did or look at their cards but you probably won't. I hate that you can't (as far as I can tell) undo an action. Accidentally clicked the wrong line of text to put a microbe on a card? Well gently caress off you're putting a microbe on that card. Like the kind of thing that in real life would never happen because you're just putting a cube down on a card you can see right in front of you, and no opponent ever is going to go "dude I saw that cube roll onto that other card, it has to stay there!". And do I really need to be warned, every single time, that if I pass this turn I won't be able to take any more actions this generation? Doesn't seem like I can turn it off (at least you can make it auto pass when you are out of actions). Anyway, the real problem with both the game and the app, is that Through the Ages blows it out of the loving water in every possible dimension. The game itself is an amazing, cutthroat, thematic adventure of building a civilization, and the app is an absolute masterclass in translating a board game into digital. The biggest problem with the live game, like TfM, is the time and tedium of managing all the resources. The app takes care of that for you, but it's also displayed in a manner that you immediately understand what is going on, and what the result will be if you do what you are trying. You easily flick resources and cards around the board with swipes (just throw a cube up onto that card to train a new soldier!), but if you don't want to do that? Just click on it and you can manage the same through button menus, with all the additional info that provides. The board, by the way, is coolly reimagined from your tableau of cards into a visual map of actual buildings and soldiers. And if you want to see the cards the way they really are? You can! Want to see what specific cards are left in this round? You can. Want to see the cards that are upcoming next round? You can. Want to undo your actions infinite times because you messed up or just to see what would happen if you tried this, or that? You can. (To be fair this is an actual rule in the game). Unless that action changes something for an opponent in terms of revealing new knowledge of course, and the game knows that. The game also knows automatically how to apply bonuses from cards that you could play. Like just swipe the "discount this building" card from your hand and it will bring up the build that building menu, and if you try to build a building and there are 4 overlapping different bonus ways to apply it? Easily displayed all right there. Did I mention that this app also has the greatest tutorial of all time? Or that there is a scenario-challenge mode with like 30 different crazy scenarios to try to beat? I'm just gonna stop because I could go on forever. Get the Through the Ages app. I will give a warning though, TTA is much less of a "build whatever and the point salad will all work out in the end to be a close game" type game. If you gently caress up your early game, or you misjudge the ability of your opponent to suddenly raise their army 20 levels, you can get loving smoked. But that's one of the things that make it great. Your actions loving matter. You have to ride that perfect line of using your available actions to do as much as possible, knowing you can't possibly do everything you want. And the person who does that the best IS going to win. Elysium fucked around with this message at 17:17 on Nov 16, 2022 |
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Nov 16, 2022 17:06
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While we're talking about Terraforming Mars, maybe someone can answer this question for me. So, essentially, outside of a few specific card effects, the purpose of Steel (tools symbol) is to give you discounts on Building Cards (House Symbol), and the purpose of Titanium (Star symbol) is to give you discounts on Space Cards (Burst symbol). SO WHY THE gently caress DON'T THEY JUST USE THE HOUSE AND BURST SYMBOL FOR BOTH?
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Nov 16, 2022 18:07
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Rockman Reserve posted:the more Exit boxes we do, the more I am convinced the difficulty numbers on the box are just entirely arbitrary - the hardest ones always seem to be in the 2.5-3 star range The difficulty rating I think mostly refers to the non-linearity of the puzzles and the number of obfuscations of the wheel. Like the hardest ones by rating will have several threads of clues going at once and a wheel that you have to translate 2 times to get the real orientations. Any box can have stupid (and I do mean stupid) difficult random puzzles that make no sense but they’ve gotta mix it up somehow.
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Nov 27, 2022 20:46
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I feel like everyone is overthinking it. The answer is Carcassonne (+1 or 2 expansions). I guess it depends on your definition of interaction.
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Jan 18, 2023 15:47
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The answer remains Carcassonne.
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Jan 19, 2023 16:33
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I just checked and it’s been 10 years since the last good board game review. RIP UFBRT.
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Feb 10, 2023 17:47
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For 6, you definitely want something that plays somewhat simultaneously, like Libertalia, 7 Wonders, Sushi Go (which is just much simpler 7 wonders), or Pictomania. RFTG, sure, but good luck getting casuals to understand it and want to play. Would not recommend something like Viticulture, which sure, you CAN play 6, but adding more people just means it takes a lot longer. Literally just played a 4p game with 2 experienced gamers but new to Viticulture, and it took over 2 hours, can't imagine adding 2 more.
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Mar 9, 2023 21:04
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Autodrop Monteur posted:Flash Point: Fire Rescue and played two games on veteran difficulty, since two of the players had played the game a lot prior. The first game went okay, but after a series of bad chain explosions, we lost the game! So we tried again, this time with the two doors version of the board. Managing the fire went a lot smoother this time around, as I switched to the driver/operator and spent all my turns driving the firetruck around anddousing fires with the deck gun. I also played Flash Point somewhat recently, and in my extremely expert single play only opinion it seemed like the operator and firetruck are a bit of a design mistake. If you choose to go that role, you are of course vital to the success of your team, but it’s essentially ALL you do. “Oh my turn? I use my actions to move the truck to this quadrant and try to dowse the fire. You’re right, I did do that every single turn of the game so far, why do you ask?” It almost seems pointless to put a human person in charge of doing this, like, just have a ghost player who does it and the rest of the players can actually play the game. Elysium fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Mar 20, 2023 |
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Mar 20, 2023 22:43
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Best expansion is any of the Dominion expansions that have Landscape cards, which start after like the 10th (!) expansion and are split across the next few in several different forms. All Dominion expansions are good, new kingdom cards, hooray variety, occasionally some new mechanics some better than others. But one day, DXV woke up and was like “what if I turn the cards sideways?” and invented a new card type that has the capability of altering win conditions and allowable actions across entire kingdom sets, or creating powerful singular events that warp the dynamic of a round. So I take it back, the best expansion doesn’t exist, because it would be a Landscape-only expansion of all the currently released landscapes currently split across sets.
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Mar 23, 2023 20:03
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Even though it looks and feels similar, the current online version is MILES ahead of the first couple iterations, programmed by idiots. It’s hard to compare to isotropic now, because i’m not sure how feasible all the newest mechanics would be, especially with a bunch of them at once, in text only form. Elysium fucked around with this message at 15:51 on Mar 25, 2023 |
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Mar 25, 2023 14:26
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I played Moonrakers once. It was pretty fun at the early and middle stages, but the end became a slog of trying to find solo routes to victory because why would you ever negotiate to include someone who is obviously going to win by their inclusion otherwise why would they be trying to get included.
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Apr 5, 2023 23:15
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I haven’t bought a game in over 5 years because I decided not to buy any more games until I played everything I have at least once. Which isn’t a ton but I have a few games that can be hard to get to the table in my groups. I have one game left. (It’s Dungeon Lords.)
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Apr 27, 2023 18:09
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Sokani posted:What's not to get? Yes, you see in phase one you   unless you are picking other phase one in which case you more but same, of course. Then, clearly, when you  phase IV, you and only you , but everyone else and you also  which you must if you can. It’s so simple we don’t even need words on the cards!
Elysium fucked around with this message at 05:48 on Jun 18, 2023 |
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Jun 18, 2023 05:38
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PerniciousKnid posted:Yeah the newborn is gonna come to love feeding daddy to the sharks, my kids love Survive. Could get worse games. My biggest problem with Survive is the distribution of power ups and dangers under the tiles. Instead of getting bigger and crazier as you reach the end they get lamer and more irrelevant. Oh wow you added a shark 4 turns from the end of the game when none of those swimmers were gonna live, or a new boat that isn’t close enough to anything to get used.
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Jun 23, 2023 04:55
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My phases were Play games with friends, sometimes in small groups, sometimes large, sometimes planned game nights, sometimes impromptu And Sit at home and never play games because literally everyone I know now has small children and I’m lucky if I can get one scheduled game night in a year
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Jul 20, 2023 22:46
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Magnetic North posted:Got a few small light games played yesterday between 3 total players. Wait until you figure out the elite level strats, such as “count to 100 in your head”
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Sep 10, 2023 17:21
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I played Isle of Cats the other day. It was fine, but I just kept wondering why Patchwork needed so much tacked on to it.
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Sep 15, 2023 03:19
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What are the chances Spirit Island goes on sale for black friday, or any other near future sale/price drop/coupon?
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Nov 10, 2023 19:54
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JoeRules posted:Amazon has SI for $44 (and other expansions on sale too) today for their Pre-Black Friday sale.  I set a price notification on camelcamelcamel that didn’t trigger, I wonder if Amazon is loving around with the listings.
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Nov 17, 2023 19:07
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It actually triggered just now, so but of a delay, but at least it happened.
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Nov 17, 2023 19:56
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Played my first round of Spirit Island. 2 player, River Surges in Sunlight and Shadows Flicker in Flame. We played the beginner rules with no blight card and pre-set draws. Took us 3 hours not including rules and setup. Barely edged out a victory after blowing all our energy the turn before, but realizing if we got more fear this turn we would trigger terror level 3 and we took out the only city on the board during slow powers. I think I got *most* of the rules right, although I may have misinterpreted one or two minor powers in our favor, but to balance that I didn’t realize that killing buildings generated fear, so we were surely behind on where we should have been for fear the entire game. Now the true challenge begins, to see if I can actually get this to the table enough times to ever truly experience it’s different spirits and variations or if it will just languish on the shelf of 3 hour games people don’t want to learn and play.
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Nov 23, 2023 17:50
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Played another round of 2p Spirit Island. Finished this one in under 2 hours, maybe 90 minutes of actual playing. Still on easy mode with no blight card, this time Lightning Swift Strike and Vital Strength of the Earth. We made sure to generate fear for destroyed buildings this time. We won pretty easily I want to say, granted on easy mode, but Lightning seemed like a cheat code compared to the other low complexity spirits. I hope we weren’t playing it wrong but having the ability to make the slow cards fast seemed super OP, because almost all the power cards Lightning played had the element that let that ability be used, plus the other power card that let our other spirit use 2 slow cards fast. Basically right after we got to fear level 2 we slow rolled a turn to save up energy, then the next turn fast-played a bunch of cards that destroyed all he buildings on the board and that was all she wrote.
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Nov 26, 2023 20:54
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Just got Tuscany EE, and holy gently caress that is a large board. Not gonna be any coffee table plays of this game.
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Nov 29, 2023 16:10
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Serotoning posted:What kind of games do you tend to enjoy as a group? Ridiculous question. They should just play (my favorite game).
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Dec 5, 2023 19:28
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Here’s what you do, you grab yourself a copy of Space Alert, and optimally the expansion so you can play with the continuing experience track. Then you set the game up on a table somewhere it can stay set up all weekend. You then set up a laptop connected to wireless speakers around the house, and you program it to play through the tracks at random intervals of about once every 2-3 hours or so, and no less than say 45 minutes since the previous trigger. You then go about your day, eating, drinking, playing other games, and then whenever you hear that Siren go off, you immediately DROP EVERYTHING and strap in to fight off that space octopus. When you have finished you immediately reset everything to be ready for your next mission. Thus you accurately roleplay the life of a member of the crew of a sitting duck class spaceship, going about their day until they warp in to map a new sector of space. Taking a poo poo? Too bad. That mouse isn’t going to wiggle itself. Elysium fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Dec 5, 2023 |
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Dec 5, 2023 21:50
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Is there a recommended generic assortment of plano boxes or similar for repackaging board game bit in boxes? Just looking for cheap and useful that could be applied across various games, not looking for a specific storage solution for any given game.
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Dec 7, 2023 17:22
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dishwasherlove posted:20x5 what the hell dude why would you do that to yourself. 20x5? I’m not sure I got in 10x1 legit plays of non-filler games with other people outside my household 
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Dec 21, 2023 14:56
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Ok so, Camel Up, I get that it’s just a luckfest filler game, which is totally fine with me, I just want to make sure I’m assessing the scenario correctly. Since leg win tickets are worth so much, you should basically just gamble on the most valuable 2 as early as feasible in the colors that are likely to win the leg, and refuse to ever roll the die which gives other players info while locking you out of taking a betting ticket that turn. Sure, you miss the bets sometimes, but the alternative seems to be, roll the dice and make $1, while every player after you empties the bet slips for the camel that is probably going to win now. Does that sound at all accurate?
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Dec 21, 2023 22:10
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I’m watching a video of Stonemaier explaining how to play Wyrmspan, and even though I’ve played much more complex games, it sounds exactly like Adam Scott trying to explain “The Cones of Dunshire” to people in Parks and Rec. “Well you see, first I spend a coin to send my Adventurer to the Golden Grotto, where my dragon is just a Hatchling, so since I’ve collected several Milk tokens, I can advance my position on the Dragon Guild board which…”
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Jan 5, 2024 02:46
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In my general experience everyone will have 1 big scoring round, especially with the way the platform works, and it doesn’t necessarily matter which round it’s in. Someone who takes a big early lead might not get a good chance to go for another one and will have to ride out smaller gains while getting shut out early just means you have a chance to build for your later big turn.
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Feb 11, 2024 18:52
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 Ok Bunny Bunny Moose Moose is a bit of a stretch, but pretend I own Mage Knight.
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Feb 26, 2024 00:52
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Played a 4 player game of Through the Ages on the table today. 2 brand new players, one that’s played 2-3 times, and me who’s played that many on paper and hundreds of times on the app. Clocked in at just under 7 hours. Not including rules explanation and food breaks. Worth it.
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Mar 24, 2024 04:55
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Mr. Squishy posted:This is what makes it great. One of my least favorite things is explaining all the cards and how they function as all the things your actions, your money, your goods, and that keeps the game compact and kind of elegant design wise… and then every turn you have to put down those cards and pick up an entirely different set of cards to rifle through and choose the phase for the round. It just results in this dumb loop of picking up and putting down cards all the time. That really should have been some kind of dial to choose the phase.
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Mar 26, 2024 13:58
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There is a new Dominion app. The AI is insanely good (outside of occasional quirks). The expansions are expensive so I just play the free daily game each day and talk about it with some other buddies.
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Mar 28, 2024 14:48
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I play TfM solo mode on the app, that way I don’t even have to wait for the AI to take its turn. It’s just always my turn.
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Mar 28, 2024 21:35
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Only the base game is included for general play. The daily game is a mix of sets and you can only play it a single time unless you own all the sets included in that days mix. I believe if you own at least 3 sets you can play ranked and be matched against players that own more sets.
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Mar 30, 2024 20:10
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The digital version is the second edition which includes 5+ new cards from the original base. If you owned sets on the old digital version and used the same email to register they also honored those purchases.
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Mar 30, 2024 20:23
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I know a lot of people who like board games, but I don’t know a lot of people that actually want to sit down and play board games instead of doing… anything else.
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Apr 4, 2024 22:49
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Played Ark Nova yesterday. It was OK. Kind of hard to know what you are going for or could be capable of on a first play. It felt kind of like complicated Wingspan to me, at least in tone. I didn’t seem to get decent synergies early on, or did and didn’t realize it, so while the other players were like “I play a sponsor, which builds this building, which covers this bonus, which moves me on this track, which flips one of my cards” I was like “I build a building. Your turn.” “I play an animal into that building I built last turn. Your turn.” It’s not like I didn’t want to or couldn’t conceive of combo plays, I just didn’t feel like I had any. Probably the most interesting thing I did was play a card that let me release an animal, opening up a 5 enclosure to put another 5 animal in, but that seemed way weaker than the other things people were doing, since losing the tickets for releasing the animal seems to offset the other gains. Anyway, I lost. I want to play this game, but designed by Vlaada.
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Apr 6, 2024 14:41
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Elysium posted:It’s not like I didn’t want to or couldn’t conceive of combo plays, I just didn’t feel like I had any. Obviously I’m sure there were opportunities that I missed, but my initial cards and early draws didn’t seem well suited to cohesiveness, and I got behind early on upgrades. I did only finish 5 or 6 points behind the other new player despite him doing a lot more “stuff”, both of us in the negative. Elysium fucked around with this message at 15:58 on Apr 6, 2024 |
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Apr 6, 2024 15:40
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