by Eric Brosius
evidence wrote:
I want everyone to have an equal chance of winning.
"Balance is for wimps."
-- Designers of Cosmic Encounter
"Balance is for wimps."
-- Designers of Cosmic Encounter
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Reply: Agricola:: General:: Re: To Draft or Not to Draft
"Balance is for wimps."
-- Designers of Cosmic Encounter
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Reply: Agricola:: General:: Re: To Draft or Not to Draft
evidence wrote:
Drafting is fun to me. So is combo creation. So is watching a good combo unfold on the table. Key word--FUN. Is a higher score more satisfying? Definitely, but it's not why I draft (or do the 10-7 variant). I just want Agricola to be fun.
On the flip side, without using the drafting or 10-7 variant, Agricola can allow you to be the crusher, the crushee, or somewhere in between. Getting crushed isn't fun. Neither is crushing others because I had a better hand. Also, watching a table flailing where everyone is struggling isn't fun either.
Honestly, Agricola scores are indicative of fun (IMO). If I finish Agricola with 25 points I can guarantee I didn't enjoy myself. However, if my score is 40+, I feel pretty good and I enjoyed the experience even if I lost.
On the flip side, without using the drafting or 10-7 variant, Agricola can allow you to be the crusher, the crushee, or somewhere in between. Getting crushed isn't fun. Neither is crushing others because I had a better hand. Also, watching a table flailing where everyone is struggling isn't fun either.
Honestly, Agricola scores are indicative of fun (IMO). If I finish Agricola with 25 points I can guarantee I didn't enjoy myself. However, if my score is 40+, I feel pretty good and I enjoyed the experience even if I lost.
Got it. So, higher scores are more fun for you.
What if that game of 25 points was a knock-down, drag-out battle for WP spots, had tighter food issues for all AND was decided on the last move or yours where you got to 25, 1 more than the previous leader? Is that fun to you or just a hassle?
Andy
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Reply: Agricola:: General:: Re: To Draft or Not to Draft
ousgg wrote:
evidence wrote:
Honestly, Agricola scores are indicative of fun (IMO). If I finish Agricola with 25 points I can guarantee I didn't enjoy myself.
I once played a weird-ass combo with a bunch of cards from - I think - G2 and the Belgium deck, along with the Tavern, which I hit every round from 3 onwards. My 24 points off the Tavern contributed to my total score of 26, which was good enough for fourth place out of five. I had a hoot!
I would have as well!
:devil:
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Reply: Agricola:: General:: Re: To Draft or Not to Draft
by evidence
If I wanted a battle I would play Blood Rage, I wouldn't look for it in a farming simulation.↧
Reply: Gaia Project:: General:: Re: Curved Cardboards after 2 hours of playtime
by feartheclown
Mine all straightened out after a couple of days. Didn't do anything special, just played them and put them back in the box.↧
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Reply: Gaia Project:: Reviews:: Re: Gaia Project Review — more than Terra Nova
by ErsatzDragon
jschlickbernd wrote:
You mean "more than Terra Mystica"? I've never heard of the game being compared to Terra Nova.
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Reply: Pandemic: Rising Tide:: Rules:: Re: Warehouse Manager ability?
by osaekomi
Thanks, thought so!↧
Thread: Pandemic Legacy: Season 2:: Rules:: Establish Supply Line Question!
by Reihon
Hello,We've just played through January and...
[o]Various cities are now available to reach through the establish supply line action. If we were to establish a supply line from Washington to Los Angeles, lets say, would Los Angeles be able to trace a sea route back to the other locations, like Lagos, since it's got an Anchor icon?[/o]
One other question, can you recon locations that are not an objective? Like if we are having a very good month can we recon other areas to explore more of the board "early."
Cheers!
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Reply: Carcassonne:: Variants:: Re: Carc-a-trois Variant
by powerofzero
birdsong703 wrote:
I've only tried this with 2 players
And yet this is a variant about the number :d6-3:!
vir3ns wrote:
How do you score farms? :meeple:
Maybe the towns on the crossroads count as cities?
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Reply: Pandemic Legacy: Season 2:: General:: Re: I Preferred - Season 1 or 2 The POLL
by PapaDeWald
avelak wrote:
I'm baffled that there are so many people that like Season 2 better or like them equally...
IMO Season 1 was a much more balanced game with more interesting decisions and a better structure to the story flow. Season 2 is just too swingy, and either becomes way too hard or way too easy just depending on what order you decide to do certain objectives (which also ties into luck as well).
It just feels like Season 2 is a nice concept that wasn't as thoroughly playtested, whereas Season 1 is a great evolution of a tried-and-true formula.
IMO, Season 2 would be better if they did more of what Season 1 did and gifted more key objectives to players in a timely manner (with a game-end points penalty). [o]For example, we found April/May to basically be unplayable since we hadn't drawn the right searches for the Haven yet, and the games ended incredibly early (only 2 of our 4 players even got to take a second turn), but we had done the NA/SA recons so we were just stretched too thin. It would have been very nice to just be gifted the Haven after the first game of April and take a hit on points at the end of the game. We would have enjoyed the game way more, while still getting the flavor of the change in epidemics for the first part of April.[/o]
IMO Season 1 was a much more balanced game with more interesting decisions and a better structure to the story flow. Season 2 is just too swingy, and either becomes way too hard or way too easy just depending on what order you decide to do certain objectives (which also ties into luck as well).
It just feels like Season 2 is a nice concept that wasn't as thoroughly playtested, whereas Season 1 is a great evolution of a tried-and-true formula.
IMO, Season 2 would be better if they did more of what Season 1 did and gifted more key objectives to players in a timely manner (with a game-end points penalty). [o]For example, we found April/May to basically be unplayable since we hadn't drawn the right searches for the Haven yet, and the games ended incredibly early (only 2 of our 4 players even got to take a second turn), but we had done the NA/SA recons so we were just stretched too thin. It would have been very nice to just be gifted the Haven after the first game of April and take a hit on points at the end of the game. We would have enjoyed the game way more, while still getting the flavor of the change in epidemics for the first part of April.[/o]
I haven't played Season 2 yet (expecting it for Christmas), but it would seem that opinions are based on if you have "rose-colored glasses" from Season 1. I firmly rated it a 6, as the last half was a big let down, so hopefully that means I will be pleasantly surprised with Season 2.
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Reply: Pandemic Legacy: Season 2:: Rules:: Re: Establish Supply Line Question!
by KoolKow
Reihon wrote:
Hello,
We've just played through January and...
[o]Various cities are now available to reach through the establish supply line action. If we were to establish a supply line from Washington to Los Angeles, lets say, would Los Angeles be able to trace a sea route back to the other locations, like Lagos, since it's got an Anchor icon?[/o]
We've just played through January and...
[o]Various cities are now available to reach through the establish supply line action. If we were to establish a supply line from Washington to Los Angeles, lets say, would Los Angeles be able to trace a sea route back to the other locations, like Lagos, since it's got an Anchor icon?[/o]
[o] The establish supply line action is specifically for land routes. You don't have a way to establish sea routes. [/o]
Reihon wrote:
One other question, can you recon locations that are not an objective? Like if we are having a very good month can we recon other areas to explore more of the board "early."
Cheers!
Yes.
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Reply: Agricola:: General:: Re: To Draft or Not to Draft
astroglide wrote:
Another level of scoring? This is what I tend to hear from the play-agricola crowd more than anything. They’re not satisfied unless they’ve got a combo that will let them score 55+ points and pretty much guarantee the win before they’ve even started. They’ve even gone ahead and designed bunches of broken cards and little custom decks that will maximise their scores. This seems like little more than elaborate dick-measuring to me, and I can’t believe it was the intention of the design.
Based on the level of intensity and judgement you're piling into this I'm not sure you'll hear me, but it's really about reducing variance to make the game as much of a skill-test as possible while still retaining variation and surprises (aka fun). They perform statistical analysis on cards to assess their power levels, with an explicit goal of making them more balanced, not more broken. This is why Uwe Rosenberg himself has selected the Play-Agricola card testers and designers to source the new decks for the new editions of the game, because the standard cards have wildly varying power levels.
Quoting Uwe from the link: Without the "power value" data [Play-Agricola] collected over countless of plays, we couldn't possibly justify an Agricola Deluxe to retailers. Thanks to the power values, we can realistically publish a game with a vast amount of balanced cards. If it's intent of design you're seeking, it doesn't get more authoritative than that.
So, power drafting or value data does the same thing incorrectly that I think is being stated here. CARDS are the most important thing, and thus combos. I read some of the power value/drafting post on peoples killer decks. LOL! They are making Agricola into Netrunner or something. Fine. But, that is not the game. A variant offers this... but why even draft?
Why not come to a game night with your killer vegetable deck and play it against someone's killed animal deck?
And to Uwe's quote- he's talking about the justification and creation a DELUXE version which may have this drafting rule as a main rule. Or maybe, he wants to use the data (the THOUSANDS of games played as evidence the retail store will be able to sell a 'different' version to players- balanced cards in a draft. Perhaps, so what? He wants to sell more games of Agricola. He needs data to justify a new version. How is that applicable to drafting or not?
Andy
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Reply: Pandemic Legacy: Season 2:: Rules:: Re: Establish Supply Line Question!
by runtsta
[o]Sea lanes are not supply lines, so you are unable to create them with the rules you have. Even if you wanted to, it would be impossible to draw a supply line as a sea route without crossing water, another supply line, or unexplored territory (which are all restrictions on supply lines.)[/o]Yes you can recon any region you qualify for, even if it's not a current objective.
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Reply: Merchants & Marauders:: General:: Re: Prepare for first game
by Indenture
There is a 'Spinner App' in the Google Play Store.It is a great game and after a few rounds you will fall into a rythme
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Reply: Gaia Project:: Reviews:: Re: Gaia Project Review — more than Terra Nova
by KawaiiSocks
JaydedOne wrote:
"The above quote interests me - what is it you feel it solves? I don't disagree; I just haven't had the light bulb go off for me the way it has for you as I've considered it.
One of the things that could happen in Terra Mystica was a crazy good start for certain races, where they could end up with a Temple/Stronghold and an extra dwelling on top of what other players would get in the first turn. That would allow them to snowball completely out of control, since it at the very least translated in 5 extra workers throughout the game. Catching up to Darklings or Nomads with this kind of start was close to impossible, since they simply had more resources than you at every point in the game and had an extra choice between blocking you or building themselves.
Third missing mine income ensures that if you go wide from the start you have to commit to it by at least an extra Mine/Dwelling, for it to pay off. Tall play therefore became more viable and currently I feel like the balance is in a really good spot.
Additionally, there are no hard-coded Terraform races except Geoden and Ivit, and both have extra resources (2 extra workers from free terraforming level for Geoden and a starting PI which saves 6 workers for Ivits).
So, it solves the problem of terraforming-heavy strats (which are 12 science investment for full effect more or less), while keeping them viable.
ErsatzDragon wrote:
jschlickbernd wrote:
You mean "more than Terra Mystica"? I've never heard of the game being compared to Terra Nova.
Yup)
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Reply: Merchants & Marauders:: General:: Re: Prepare for first game
by Braffe
amanwing wrote:
senorcoo wrote:
My spinner is garbage. Picked up a direction die. WAY better.
I just wanted to ask if there is a trick with this spinner because it in fact is garbage.
Any old 8 sided die will work. Or you can buy dice with the compass directions already on them.
Myself, I use the spinner, because maybe I just got really lucky, but mine works flawlessly!
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Reply: Gaia Project:: Strategy:: Re: Firak strategy
by SpaceTrucker
Firaks have a strong planetary institute. Usually you'll want to quickly get their upgrade->downgrade->upgrade->... machinery going and use it every round from this time on.Easiest is probably to open up with a research lab and at least one extra mine, with tech advance ensuring that you can build the Plantary institute in round 2. A very nice opening would be e.g. 1 Research lab + 1 Trade Center + 2 Mines (good economy and very easy to upgrade to PI in round 2).
Once you get the upgrade/downgrade going, you're quite flexible about which tech paths you want to follow.
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Reply: Onirim (second edition):: Rules:: Re: Incantation with less than 5 cards in the deck
by ipreuss
xipuloxx wrote:
danissimus wrote:
Can I perform incantation with less than 5 cards in the deck? In my last game I had 2 gates left to find, two "incantation" cards and four cards in the deck.
Was this situation a lost game since I couldn´t reveal 5 cards or could I continue to reveal ony as many cards as needed?
thanks for the replies.
Was this situation a lost game since I couldn´t reveal 5 cards or could I continue to reveal ony as many cards as needed?
thanks for the replies.
You mean Glyph cards, right? They're the ones that trigger incantations when you discard them.
I can't find a specific answer about them, but the designer has said that you can perform a prophecy with less than 5 cards in the deck.
I don't see why this would be any different.
In the ios app, it isn't. Any different I mean.
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Thread: Pandemic: Rising Tide:: Rules:: The Last Dike
by Jejoma122
On page 7 of the rule book, under the section describing DIKES FAIL, I'm confused as to how the dike removed in the associated image is actually the last dike.In the example, when the Flevoland card is drawn the region must be degraded once, and of course that means if there are any dikes bordering that region one is removed. The rules state if there are multiple dikes to choose from when resolving this, the group can choose which one to remove. In the image though, it appears there were two other possible dikes that could have been removed: one between Flevoland and Noordoostpolder, and another to the east bordering an orange region.
What makes the dike between the two purple regions the 'last' dike in the Flevoland region? I have a few guesses, but any help is appreciated.
https://images-cdn.zmangames.com/us-east-1/filer_public/ef/d...
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Reply: Pandemic: Rising Tide:: Rules:: Re: The Last Dike
by jmdsplotter
I think that's mainly an oops - it's the last dike from the Markerwaard region, the other two dikes were possible choices for removal as well.↧