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jivjov posted:How viable is one-handed solo play? I don't have the brain to want to set up two spirits and two island boards but want to play Fine and normal.
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Dec 11, 2023 22:40
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jivjov posted:How viable is one-handed solo play? Extremely
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Dec 11, 2023 22:43
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Some spirits play quite a bit differently in pure solo but they're all functional. Make sure you're up on the blight pool errata (you should start with 3 in the pool if you're using a blight card, not 2 as the original printed rules tell you) as the original rules do make solo dramatically harder for any spirit that's blight-prone.
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Dec 11, 2023 22:57
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There are some support spirits that need to find a way to do their thing on their own, and cards that target another spirit can be a little wonky targeting yourself, but it just works because it's just the regular game scaling in the regular way. Not a degenerate case at all.
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Dec 11, 2023 23:00
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Efb Perry Mason Jar fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Dec 11, 2023 |
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Dec 11, 2023 23:00
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Yea I'm good on rules and such, my concern was spirits not working at All or something without allies. Most solo play accounts I've seen mention playing 2/3 handed and I'm feeling dumb as rocks today
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Dec 12, 2023 00:39
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jivjov posted:Yea I'm good on rules and such, my concern was spirits not working at All or something without allies. Most solo play accounts I've seen mention playing 2/3 handed and I'm feeling dumb as rocks today Some function differently without others around (eg Snake), some require specific approaches to deal with their weaknesses or are a bit swingy (eg Ocean, BoDaN) but everything works well enough to be worth playing.
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Dec 12, 2023 00:52
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Yeah true solo is a bit harder than two players but it's definitely manageable
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Dec 12, 2023 01:12
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jivjov posted:Yea I'm good on rules and such, my concern was spirits not working at All or something without allies. Most solo play accounts I've seen mention playing 2/3 handed and I'm feeling dumb as rocks today A lot of people do play multi-handed, so much so that I think it's the most commonly posted about way, but you can deffo play single solo.
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Dec 12, 2023 01:18
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Doctor Spaceman posted:Some function differently without others around (eg Snake), some require specific approaches to deal with their weaknesses or are a bit swingy (eg Ocean, BoDaN) but everything works well enough to be worth playing. Coincidentally I just tried both of these spirits (for the first time) solo single handed last night. I think Ocean went fairly well, it’s obviously tough not being able to reach half the board but eventually I was able to do some things that could at least push and gather things closer to the shore and I generated a fair amount of fear so at one point I just looked up and it was terror level 3 and there was only one building on the board and easily took care of that. BoDaN was a bit of a different story, obviously i tried to just generate as much fear as possible but it was very unclear to me which powers to use and where to put presence and from what track. I was not particularly successful in “destroying” things in ways that would push them where I wanted, so I ended up pretty overrun when my invader cards went Mountain, Mountain, Coastal (with a coastal mountain). But it turns out that at normal difficulty, being overrun doesn’t actually mean that much except one or two more blight, and even though it seemed like I was completely losing I still managed a fear victory with a couple blight left.
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Dec 12, 2023 16:05
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I feel like any game with BoDaN is doing a ‘Feelin Lucky, Invaders?’ speech while you grab your major power draft “This is the 6 energy Tsunami, one of the most destructive majors in the deck. But in all this confusion, I forget whether I generated three waters or two… so…” At least true with Violence aspect which is just BoDaN speedrunning the fear deck while everyone else desperately tries to hang on
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Dec 13, 2023 21:36
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Elysium posted:Lol I’m an idiot. Continuing this theme, I’ve played several games now on board and last night I downloaded the app. I was quite surprised when on the first turn build, a land with only a town in it built a city, because I had convinced myself for some reason that only explorers built, which of course is not true. And yes, I have read the official FAQ common mistakes page, after my first game where I forgot to add fear for destroying buildings, and it is in there I just checked again. Guess I was playing on -1 difficulty the last few games…
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Dec 20, 2023 17:03
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It happens! Game has lots of rules yo My JE journey so far: (2 plays) Many Minds Move as One - I like spatial-oriented spirits and I like beast tokens. But Many Minds feels overly-fiddly in its beast and movement rules, which is less a problem than once you do have them down it's somewhat overtuned. The theme is mostly successful but the spirit hasn't felt satisfying to me. It feels like a sister to Sharp Fangs - probably my favorite spirit - and I'd rather just play Sharp Fangs (2 plays) Shroud of Silent Mist - counting highly among, if not taking the top spot for, thematic spirits for me. Just crazy awesome thematically with respect to its movement rules. A little strange to figure out at first and generally weak after you have, it's still a fun spirit coming off its strong theme. The aspect improves it noticeably with the free Isolate, but it probably still ends up on the weaker side. Fun spirit though, happy to play it whenever. (2 plays) Grinning Trickster Stirs Up Trouble - love, love, love. Thematically in sync and thematically up my ally. Love a little trickster guy. Pretty strong once you embrace the chaos and fun the whole game through. Only complaint is that I usually end up with barely uncovered presence tracks due to the right innate loving reclaim so much. (2 plays) Lure of the Deep Wilderness - probably not to my style but still plenty fun. I think once I get the style down a bit better it'll really grow on me but currently I struggle just a bit too much to really like the spirit. Versus Russian Level 2 especially due to the explorer push rule and the Level 1 +1 dmg from explorers. Haven't played it against a different adversary so therein may lie the problem. Still, Level 2 isn't a particularly high Invader level... (1 play) Vengeance as a Burning Plague - proper utilization of badlands still generally escapes me and it never really came into play during the game. Blighted and diseased all over but never felt like the spirit became noticeably more powerful as a consequence. Could just be how that particular game played out. Currently, not sure. Will need a second or third play to know if I like the spirit much, I think. First play verdict is eh, kinda boring, fine, nothing special. (1 play) Volcano Looming High - again, the badlands thing, but really it didn't matter a whole lot in this game either. The Spirit is fun and thematically excellent (on par with Shroud) and my only complaint is that it's too, too strong (?). If I remember correctly they didn't even flip a Stage 2 card before I'd won. Low level adversary, sure, but nonetheless far stronger and more efficient than any other spirit I've played from JE (possibly of any spirit period). All games played with Russia or Habsburg, Level 1 or Level 2. All games played solo with the exception of one game as Grinning Trickster, which was 2p game vs Level 1 Russia. Grinning Trickster demolished in the game and had a totally clean board come mid or end of Stage 2 while Many Minds struggled mightily on their side of the island. Eked out a Terror 3 victory with an ace slow Major from Grinning Trickster cleaning up what remained of cities on MM's board.
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Dec 20, 2023 17:27
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Definitely agree, Grinning Trickster is a very powerful and fun spirit. Let's See What Happens is quite powerful most of the time as long as you're careful about putting it in a good land, and Overenthusiastic Arson is amazing even when it blights. I'm also personally a big fan of strife tokens and he just prints them out. He feels overtuned to make up for his randomness, which is great! I don't think he'd be that much fun if he was both random and balanced. Incidentally, does anyone have opinions on the Horizon spirits? I'm sure they're fine, but I pass over them every time in favor of a more complicated and interesting spirit from Jagged Earth or Nature Incarnate.
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Dec 20, 2023 20:15
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For Horizons spirits, I really love Mud. I can’t even tell you why. He’s just fun.
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Dec 20, 2023 20:22
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ConfusedUs posted:For Horizons spirits, I really love Mud. I can’t even tell you why. He’s just fun. 1. It's an adorable otter. 2. The invaders trying to build towns that keep sinking into mud is funny and never gets old. 3. The push and pull between needing sacred sites for the special rule and splitting them up for the innate is a fun positional minigame for a low complexity spirit. 4. It always feels good to carve out a pocket that doesn't get explored and Mud does it very well.
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Dec 20, 2023 20:34
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Mud is my favorite out of the bunch. Eyes Watch a close second. Devouring Teeth enters a reclaim loop early and while fairly strong, is extremely boring. Least favorite. Sun-Bright is basically River but less fun. Rising Heat I think also wants reclaim but I don't remember - another pretty strong spirit that is wildly boring to play, to the point I can't really remember the games I've played with them.
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Dec 20, 2023 20:46
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Arzaac posted:Incidentally, does anyone have opinions on the Horizon spirits? I'm sure they're fine, but I pass over them every time in favor of a more complicated and interesting spirit from Jagged Earth or Nature Incarnate. They're all kind of boring if you've played the game with more complicated spirits 
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Dec 20, 2023 21:33
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I had an odd game the other day. Was teaching a friend, so we kept it at base difficulty and played as Lightning and Green. He pulled that Minor power that gives energy to a player; 1 by default, +1 if you have enough sacred sites (he did), and +1 if you choose not-yourself. I pulled one that lets another player and yourself both repeat the cheapest power you have in play by paying the cost again. Anyway, this led to repeated turns where he would give me six energy, and I would repeat that starting power of Green's that lets a player add a presence, giving him two presence every turn. We both went into a Reclaim loop in like turn 3, started drawing Majors, and just blew past the Invaders in terms of presence and power. Wish it'd happened on a proper difficulty. Still, it was cool to see how even straightforward spirits can do incredible things when the right engine comes together.
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Dec 21, 2023 04:16
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Arzaac posted:Incidentally, does anyone have opinions on the Horizon spirits? I'm sure they're fine, but I pass over them every time in favor of a more complicated and interesting spirit from Jagged Earth or Nature Incarnate. Eyes Watch and Fathomless Mud are also my favourite. Eyes' ability to gather Dahan from Defend powers makes it an army manipulator almost on par with Thunderspeaker, but with enough difference in how they play to be interesting. And it's always fun denying invaders their towns and cities as they sink into the mud. The others are all pretty boring and straightforward (good at damage, good at damage, good at moving) though sometimes when I want a lazy game it's fun to pick one of them, pair them up with Lightning's Swift Strike or Rampant Green and utterly crush the invaders without them ever gaining a foothold.
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Dec 21, 2023 04:49
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Defense + Dahan movement and defense + fear are both very efficient combos, so yeah Eyes Watch is just very straightforwardly effective. (That's a big part of what makes Grinning Trickster so strong too, since you get free Dahan movement every turn and can throw strife around liberally.)
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Dec 21, 2023 05:30
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Got obliterated on turn 3 by Brandonburg-Prussia in the ultimate edge case of an initial explore to sands on board H, Increasing Aggression turn 2, Years of Little Rain turn 3 triggering Tipping Point. I'll be glad once TP is gone from the app.
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Jan 5, 2024 14:14
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Jonas Albrecht posted:I'll be glad once TP is gone from the app.
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Jan 5, 2024 15:14
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I’ve been playing on the app a bunch. Starting to get real sick of the same events over and over. I think there’s like 20 events but it feels like I see the same 5 every game. Speaking of which, even though I’ve seen it like 30 times I still don’t understand how Guard Them Yourself, For Well or Ill works. Why would I ever destroy presence instead of doing damage? Why does it prompt me to keep paying? I just skip it and do the other one… Also, I do not get Serpent at all. Maybe because I play 95% of the time single board solo. Playing 2 handed just seems so tedious, even though finding opportunities for synergies seems like such a fundamental part of the game. Anyway, I’m pretty sure I’m a Keeper main now? Elysium fucked around with this message at 20:49 on Jan 5, 2024 |
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Jan 5, 2024 20:46
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Guard Them Yourself, For Well or For Ill is different from all other "pay energy, aided by [element]" events. All the others are "pay N energy per player", but this one is "pay 3 energy per land where you chose the damage-invaders option instead of the lose-a-presence option". You might choose destroy presence in some lands instead of dealing damage because you don't want to (or can't afford to) pay so much energy. The app not having the Jagged Earth powers/events is the only reason I haven't picked it up yet. I plan to buy the whole thing in ~March when the first stage of Jagged Earth releases.
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Jan 5, 2024 20:58
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I guess the part that was really confusing me is that you still have to pay even if you don’t care if it does damage because there is nothing there to do damage to, so in my mind it’s like “ok, sure, don’t do damage there and I won’t pay” but it’s prompting you to pay anyway (by design). It’s just worded really weird. It should say “For each sacred site you have with invaders, pay 3 and do 2 damage, or destroy a presence.” vvv You are right, but I still think the way it’s worded is super awkward. Elysium fucked around with this message at 22:02 on Jan 5, 2024 |
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Jan 5, 2024 21:53
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It's specifically every sacred site with an invader, presumably to limit the empty choices.
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Jan 5, 2024 21:55
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Pulled out my ipad to play on a flight, locked out of my subscription without internet :/ Great solo board game app Handelabra.
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Jan 11, 2024 20:09
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Finder/Downpour gameplay in two images (vs Scotland 6)  Full board image: 
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Jan 13, 2024 16:20
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If I was the kind of person to get pissed off at such things, I think I would be pissed that I still haven’t got my copy of the new expansion while it has already been in shops here for ages.
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Jan 20, 2024 17:44
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Got an email about Nature Incarnate Kickstarter deliveries in Europe. The container will arrive end of March in Poland. Pretty sad how big the delay is, considering it's available in retail already for months.
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Jan 20, 2024 19:02
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Had a hilarious duo game against Sweden 6 + Varied Terrains last night. Played Starlight Seeks its Form and my partner tried Regrowth Rampant Green for the first time. It turns out that Regrowth starting with a pool of 13 destroyed presence made for a ridiculous combo when I yolo'd a major first turn and got Solidify Echoes of Majesty Past, giving us an absurd number of skips across the entire board and even more proliferation from the extra card plays given by the threshold effect. Then Green pulled Transformative Sacrifice, dumping extra destroyed presence fuel into the combo. Solidify Echoes also has a great combo with Starlight, you can activate the bonus effects on your uniques at the cost of forgetting them and then just keep playing them again anyways. Amazingly dumb game, very fun.
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Jan 21, 2024 21:51
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Just played a game on the app, Guard the Isle’s Heart vs. BP6 as Keeper My 2 free cards were Growth Through Sacrifice and Unlock the Gates of Deepest Power. 
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Jan 23, 2024 00:45
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Rules question! If an event has a Healthy Island/Blighted Island effect that doesn't trigger until after the ravage (build/explorer), does it trigger the Healthy or the Blighted effect if the ravage caused the Island card to flip to Blighted on that turn? In this case it triggered during Explore and we had flipped to Blighted by the time it triggered. I ruled it that it maintains the Healthy effect since that was the board state when the card was drawn - this was less desirable but seemed more correct. We lost but probably not cause of that. Thanks!
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Jan 30, 2024 04:04
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The event resolves in the state the island was in when flipped, even if its instructions are carried out later.
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Jan 30, 2024 04:12
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Makes the most sense to me, yeah, couldn't find an answer though so figured I'd double-check. Cheers
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Jan 30, 2024 04:15
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I do not get Wildfire. Either I can’t do poo poo because there’s no blight to on the board to target, or I’m dead because doing literally anything results in a blight cascade that ends it.
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Jan 30, 2024 22:11
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Elysium posted:I do not get Wildfire. Either I can’t do poo poo because there’s no blight to on the board to target, or I’m dead because doing literally anything results in a blight cascade that ends it. I find Wildfire to be difficult to play solo. Much easier with other players so you have a blight buffer. Just to check -- are you playing with the blight errata? (Calculate your total blight pool, then add 1. Do not add one for still healthy or blighted island flips, just for the initial blight pool.)
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Jan 30, 2024 22:32
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I don't play true solo so the math is probably different, but Wildfire should be creating enough blight on its own to do whatever it wants with its innate. I usually have no reservations about just laying down blight wherever whenever, even to cascade if necessary. Their capacity for damage is near unrivaled.
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Jan 30, 2024 22:42
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Same, Wildfire feels absolutely miserable to me against any serious challenge. I keep trying to make it work but it just feels bad against every level 6 adversary. You have to flood the board with blight but you get inordinately punished if the blight card flips to any presence removal effect. You place presence, blight, lose presence, and then can't move back in without cascading. Your blight removal is range zero so it can only remove blight where you already are, it can't help you move in somewhere you need to be. If other spirits support you to bail you out that support feels like wasted card plays that could have been better used elsewhere because the payoff is that you'll be in the exact same bad spot again next turn. It absolutely needs something more to manipulate or move blight like Wounded Waters' blight gathering. Having to dig through the power deck to fix your problems feels bad because most of those powers don't have elements you need. Maybe these problems are exacerbated for me because I mostly play duo games, it doesn't feel quite as punishing in a 4 player match with a bigger blight pool but anyone who takes Wildfire still feels like a liability. The only time Wildfire's mechanics feel good are when you have no real opposition, as soon as something goes wrong you just don't have the tools for making a comeback. The best I ever did against a level 6 I lost against England to timeout because I spent half my card plays fixing problems I'd caused myself instead of actually advancing a win condition. And that was my best game.
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Jan 30, 2024 22:49
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