Let's talk STAR REALMS

I got the pc version yesterday and played through the campaign and about 10 games online. It works great for live play, even multiple games at once. If anyone wants to play my nickname is Divino there, please challenge me.

The game is free to play the tutorials, easy AI and first part of the campaign.

I've played a few games in person and a number of them online (Legomancer), but I'm already feeling like I've sort of exhausted what's there. It's fun, it's certainly a great package at the price, but as Bull said, not only are there no choices for a defender to make, the choices for an attacker aren't that exciting and usually are pretty obvious. As with Ascension, I'll probably play the hell out of it on the iPad, but if I'm sitting down with a live opponent I have tons of other 2p games I can pick from that are more interesting.

Amazon has it for fifteen bucks with free Prime shipping

Legomancer wrote: I've played a few games in person and a number of them online (Legomancer), but I'm already feeling like I've sort of exhausted what's there. It's fun, it's certainly a great package at the price, but as Bull said, not only are there no choices for a defender to make, the choices for an attacker aren't that exciting and usually are pretty obvious. As with Ascension, I'll probably play the hell out of it on the iPad, but if I'm sitting down with a live opponent I have tons of other 2p games I can pick from that are more interesting.

Yeah, in two days it's already feeling kind of samey, it plays so fast online that you burn out way quicker. This game desperately needs expansions.

What two player games do you recommend that are not very language dependent and more interesting?

Michael Barnes wrote: Ok, I played his twice tonight, both two player games. I think it's pretty great. Definitely an Ascension descendant, but it sands that game down to a fine point and increases the card combos while decreasing complexity. It's more accessible and plays smoother. The direct damage thing totally works and there is a clear sense of escalation as the damage starts to pile up and your deck gets better at dishing it out. Looks really good too. $10 street is outrageous, this game would have been $40 in a jumbo box just a year or two ago.

I have the gambit cards and solo challenges from Amazon, I'll try those tomorrow.

Could be the best deckbuilder yet.

Rafael Silva wrote:

Legomancer wrote: I've played a few games in person and a number of them online (Legomancer), but I'm already feeling like I've sort of exhausted what's there. It's fun, it's certainly a great package at the price, but as Bull said, not only are there no choices for a defender to make, the choices for an attacker aren't that exciting and usually are pretty obvious. As with Ascension, I'll probably play the **** out of it on the iPad, but if I'm sitting down with a live opponent I have tons of other 2p games I can pick from that are more interesting.

Yeah, in two days it's already feeling kind of samey, it plays so fast online that you burn out way quicker. This game desperately needs expansions.

What two player games do you recommend that are not very language dependent and more interesting?

Barnes: Best deckbuilder ever!

Legomancer: Kind of samey and limited.

Barnes had played only two times when he said it. I think it is fun, lasts more if you play it live and could be great with more cards.

Yep, totally my favorite deckbuilder after...I dunno how many more games. I've gotten over the IOS version's crummy interface and I've really enjoyed the campaigns and the reasonably challenging AI. Haven't really gone down the multiplayer route much though. I kind of don't want to get into that Ascension phase where I had literally 30+ games running at once.

It's weird to me to see people complain that there's "not much there"...it's a 20-25 minute card game with a fixed card pool, in the end. That costs $15. Of course there's not going to be a vast game there to explore. There are limited options that you see after 20+ games or so, but that's fine for the scope of it. Deciding which factions to really invest in is a fun choice and it can be highly situational. Odds are you'll almost always wind up going Blob, but finding synergy with the other cards and pulling off those MASSIVE turns is always fun.

I think this is the tightest and most focused deckbuilder, and the direct combat coupled with the sense of escalation makes it feel more competitive- which is why I think the game has really distinguished itself from the pack.

Of course, it needs more cards. All deckbuilders do. Valley of the Kings is probably the only one I've ever played where I felt that it was 100% complete and really needed nothing else.

I really like Star Realms. I've played a handful of live games and probably over a 100 games on the Android app. Maybe I'm a bit dense, but even after playing the Star Realms app a lot I'm still getting better at it. The limited number of cards are well chosen and there are a lot of different strategies to try, which admittedly are dependent on what cards come up for purchase.

The red cards are great for slimming down your deck and if the right ones come out they make for a good drawing/damage combination as well. Mixed with yellow you can get a really lean deck that forces your opponent to discard, reducing his options. Mixed with the right green cards you can get really draw-heavy deck and do some serious damage. Mixed with blue you can build a good healing/damage combination deck. If you're doing well with a red/other combo you can start trashing weaker red cards near the end as well to fully commit to your other color.

The yellow cards are hard to build a deck around, but doing so can be pretty effective. They're great with blue when you're forcing your opponent to discard while building up your own purchasing and healing ability. I don't like a yellow/green mix much, as often as I've tried I've had a hard time building an effective yellow/green deck.

Green are big on damage and work best with red or blue in my experience. Blue are big on healing and work best with yellow or red. I don't often push into 3+ colors unless I already have a lot of cards with card draw bonuses. Too hard to get the ally effects when you're drawing rainbows every hand.

On top of that you can take alternate routes and go with a base-heavy deck. I like this option when the available cards aren't letting me go heavy into one or two colors. Stock up on bases and let the benefits accumulate. It isn't easy to do, because most of the bases don't really give good money bonuses, but it's doable and powerful.

There's a lot to explore for such a small package, and the tension builds as the game goes on. I dig it.

Yeah, there really is more to look at than it seems at first...I really like how there is actually some character built into each faction and it's tied to four key strategic approaches.

The Mercenary card is one of the best in the game, it's one of the only cards that is almost ALWAYS a must-buy since it gives you an ally bonus for anything.

It is really awesome when you get a really lean deck that's just hammering every turn...and there is definitely some skill involved in card selection, you don't get up to 30+ damage per turn just by buying any old cards.

I totally agree with Wadenels: this game has really kept my interest.

I played many, many games with my wife, and they were great. I bought the iPhone app, and I've played tons on it as well. Even though I know the strategies, I still really enjoy it. I love trying or discovering new combos and tactics.

The campaign has been fun, but I'm really pissed off about Mission 5, Chapter 2, Hard Setting. It's friggin' impossible. It's amazing to me what a difference it makes for the computer to start with 9 cards instead of 10 (yeah I know, having the Imperial Frigate is huge, too, but that's a given).