Let's Talk: Scythe

I also just realized that I didn't place my upgrade star. I had 7. Never put the star up. Cost myself 3 points. whoopie.

I think attacking a space with 4 workers is a huge mistake and not worth it. If the opponent is going to bunch up like that then just take the middle and take territory intermixed with your own producing actions. If you go into areas first, they'd have to fight you to move into them and couldn't spread out at the end.

I don't think you'd win many games turtling near your start and produce/upgrading over and over (maybe if all players did that, sure). I could be wrong but that didn't seem viable in any game I played.

You realize taking the middle would have been like a $24 money swing between you and that guy? And it sounds like you wouldn't have lost any popularity. I know that alone wouldn't have made a difference in your game, but the fallout and you not spending actions attacking spaces with four workers may have been the difference.

Plus, you would have gained one of the amazing factory cards which encourage more moving/around gaining territory/encounters due to the double move.

One other thing, if the opponents were moving about the map to do the exploration tokens, producing goods, and bolstering, they were doing every single thing in the game but fighting? That's not exactly turtling on two spaces, right? Their leaders were out doing explores naked I'm guessing, you could have fought them and lost nothing.

I don't really care if you don't like the game, that's fine. I'm just trying to understand why our experiences differ and what I could be missing.

Their leader was moving. The other guys were sitting on resources 4 deep and just producing.

I think it's how you play. If you jump in and do lots of varying shit that I did, and EVERYONE played like that, it'd be OK. Next time you play, or if you want to Solo experiment, start with wheat and metal production. Then get Riverwalk. Then produce max guys and place them on oil/wheat. then just upgrade, bolster for rest of game. Last 2 turns, spread out to 8 territories with 6 guys to get bonus.

You end up with, In 20 turns, literally 18 popularity, 8 hexes, 8-10 upgrades, 4 mechs, 4 sergeants. Maybe special bonus and hidden goal too.

And if anyone fucks with you, they lose popularity and damage themselves.

We disagree on this game, and that's what I do like about our dynamic. We can disagree and not be dicks

SuperflyTNT wrote: Their leader was moving. The other guys were sitting on resources 4 deep and just producing.

I think it's how you play. If you jump in and do lots of varying shit that I did, and EVERYONE played like that, it'd be OK. Next time you play, or if you want to Solo experiment, start with wheat and metal production. Then get Riverwalk. Then produce max guys and place them on oil/wheat. then just upgrade, bolster for rest of game. Last 2 turns, spread out to 8 territories with 6 guys to get bonus.

You end up with, In 20 turns, literally 18 popularity, 8 hexes, 8-10 upgrades, 4 mechs, 4 sergeants. Maybe special bonus and hidden goal too.

And if anyone fucks with you, they lose popularity and damage themselves.

We disagree on this game, and that's what I do like about our dynamic. We can disagree and not be dicks

I may try that, although probably won't get to play again for awhile.

Although if you're facing Pelonia, you could be screwed. They don't lose popularity for beating workers.

We played red, white, yellow.

I was red

Polania is white. One of their mech upgrades means they suffer no popularity loss from battle. Their lake movement is awesome too. The choose two options on the encounter cards is downright amazing, but it also can be completely nullified if others go for the encounters or block them.

Red's big thing is they can get to the factory way quicker than anyone else.

I've been enjoying the back and forth, btw. Informative.

Gary Sax wrote: I've been enjoying the back and forth, btw. Informative.

It's even more enjoyable if you imagine that it's a back and forth between The Dude and Steve McQueen.

Gregarius wrote:

There is definitely a lot of resource/action management, but it's done in an engaging way. I agree that it's definitely full Euro and not at all 4X (although for the latter, I don't think it's claiming to be).

I read somewhere (BGG?) where the designer was kind of bending the definition of 4X to make Scythe fit. I wouldn't call Scythe a 4X. If this is important, you can get two of the X's.

I dragged it out yesterday and played a couple of games solo, so I can get how the rules work. Automa has no problem whatsoever with sending mechs after your stuff. So far I've liked it. I'm in charlest's camp in that Eclipse is probably a better game, but Eclipse is definitely short in the Wotjek the Bear department.

Eclipse is a masterpiece. @TheelCharlie and @RealSuperflyTNT have been talking back and forth with @e3kamouse about how awesome Eclipse is, on Twitter.

Also really enjoying the back & forth. Seems like the game is pretty mathy and looks like it slots directly into middle-heavy-weight Euro territory? If so, that's a pretty crowded space to be in.

No, it's not mathy at all and it's not heavy at all. It's light-medium weight and the only math at all is at the end, and it's very basic.

It's just an efficiency engine game.

I want to like Eclipse much more than I do. I don't like the random VP tiles, and I don't like that you can send a guy with a pointed stick into a space battle and get a VP pull just for showing up. I don't like the endgame where everyone just builds tech they don't care about for VPs. Eclipse strikes me as a game that claims to be competing with TI3 but is actually competing with Nexus Ops; it's just added a bunch of pointless bling on top to disguise it.

I haven't research Scythe much, but just seeing it on a table at Geekway made me not terribly interested. Hearing it compared to Eclipse kind of kills it even more for me.

Legomancer wrote: I want to like Eclipse much more than I do. I don't like the random VP tiles, and I don't like that you can send a guy with a pointed stick into a space battle and get a VP pull just for showing up. I don't like the endgame where everyone just builds tech they don't care about for VPs. Eclipse strikes me as a game that claims to be competing with TI3 but is actually competing with Nexus Ops; it's just added a bunch of pointless bling on top to disguise it.

I haven't research Scythe much, but just seeing it on a table at Geekway made me not terribly interested. Hearing it compared to Eclipse kind of kills it even more for me.

Yeah, I think you'd hate it.