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Star Trek: Ascendancy
- SuperflyPete
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Ken B. wrote: I've never watched a single episode of the show. I rarely have trouble selling it to folks as a game where you run drugs, guns, make money, and shoot people. That is the definition of fun in a box.
I really need to send you a copy of Hoodrats.
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- Michael Barnes
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Gary Sax wrote: Yo, anyone played this more? 2p?
I thought about putting it in a preorder but it's competing with another dumb size tranche of Armada ships which will probably win out.
I have 4 complete games in, 2 soloed. Another game didn't finish and I'm not counting a learning setup. It actually solos well- there's not as much to keep track of as you might think, you just kind have to improvise with the trade agreements/diplomacy angle.
I think two players, likewise, will actually work ok as long as you aren't concerned about the loss of dynamism the "third wheel" brings to the table.
I think it's going to win a prize.
But yeah, tough call between this and wave 4, very different things of course. Times like these I'm glad to get some stuff comped!
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- hotseatgames
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Ken B. wrote: I've never watched a single episode of the show. I rarely have trouble selling it to folks as a game where you run drugs, guns, make money, and shoot people. That is the definition of fun in a box.
First, don't waste your time with the show, it's terrible.
Second, you would think so... but I have, more often than not, found the game to be rather dry.
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First impression: fan-fucking-tastic. At first blush I think I still prefer Eclipse if I had to choose one 4x game to keep in my collection, but this game has the best exploration mechanisms I've ever seen (planets placed free-form, dramatic cards dictating events) and the Warp system is so damn cool. I really love the fleets as well.
Just so awesome. If it could shave a half hour off playtime and if player actions were interwoven and more granular (each player taking one action in turn instead of a player taking ALL of their actions at once with lots of downtime), this game could be a top 10er for me. The length and downtime though will likely keep it just out of reach.
Just first impressions though. Loved it. Everyone loved it, even hard to please guy.
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- southernman
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charlest wrote: Hol-y shit. Finally played my copy last night. Wow.
First impression: fan-fucking-tastic. At first blush I think I still prefer Eclipse if I had to choose one 4x game to keep in my collection, but this game has the best exploration mechanisms I've ever seen (planets placed free-form, dramatic cards dictating events) and the Warp system is so damn cool. I really love the fleets as well.
Just so awesome. If it could shave a half hour off playtime and if player actions were interwoven and more granular (each player taking one action in turn instead of a player taking ALL of their actions at once with lots of downtime), this game could be a top 10er for me. The length and downtime though will likely keep it just out of reach.
Just first impressions though. Loved it. Everyone loved it, even hard to please guy.
On the interwoven turns suggestion, after your initial play (and Mike's few plays) would it be feasible to do this as a house rule or would it affect game play (and strategy, balance) too much ? For a 3-player game we could probably put up with big downtime but after being used to games like Runewars and Forbidden Stars that do threaded turns or shorter turn games as in Firefly it will probably reduce table time.
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I do think it would likely affect balance. Turn order leads to some interesting opportunities because if I go last I can respond to what you do or if I go first I can clog space lanes or initiate a fight before you get to go, etc.
I trust GF9 and my inclination is that the current turn structure is an important part of the game.
If you have three hours to kill and some willing participants it may be worth a shot to test it out.
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I can see downtime shrinking a little bit but not sure how much. Will play a few more times and see.
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Another option to the "one or two actions per turn" rule might be to allow for simultaneous turns where regions of the galaxy have not yet made contact. For example, at the beginning of an 8-player game, before anyone has made first contact, players 1 and 5 might take their turn at the same time, then 2 and 6, etc. Later, in the mid-game, you might separate players into two groups--those that have made first contact and those that have not--and then have those two groups working concurrently. I don't know, it sounds pretty messy, really, but they'll have to do something if they really are planning to increase the player count with each expansion.
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- Michael Barnes
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Michael Barnes wrote: There are numerous options in the rules for accelerating the early game including simultaneous turns when no one has made contact. I think a couple of these options will help the time a lot and actually be critical for higher player counts.
A lot of games can benefit from "simulcast" turns as long as players agree not to fuck with other players. The OCS wargame system has this in several games where there are long stretches of pre positioning supplies, moving up rear area units, etc.
But I do agree with whoever upthread mentioned that as player counts increase, the lack of threaded SOP will start to drag games down.
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