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American Megafauna impressions
I soloed the game (2 player) with one player. It was a particularly difficult and mindbending solo game since American Megafauna is all about action/reaction between the different players. Next time I'll try the real solo version, but I just wanted to get the rules down a little bit so I can play with somebody else
I must say I'm incredibly impressed. It captures evolution *perfectly.* There are big swings, no question, but they're only really bad if you've made a really specialized and extreme animal that you thought was the bomb shit. I had a dolphin with extra marine skills that was size 5 (a really fast whale basically) and the earth cooled leaving what was a winning combination up shits creek. The sized 3-4 very unspecialized land animals survived this ice age far better.
In additions, immigrants are fucking brutal. They have tons of skills/adaptions to outcompete the fuck out of your species *and* the predators have 1 tooth and the herbivores have like 5-6, meaning they break ties in their favor even if you do match up with them.
Anyway, it was just a really interesting session and an incredibly thematic game for someone whose dad is an evolutionary biologist. It captures the adaption tension perfectly. The predator-prey interaction is really interesting as well.
I'm really looking forward to playing it with my girlfriend. I can see the game would work even better with more players but I'm just not sure that would happen. Anyway, curious to hear all your thoughts on this game. Really unique, glad I bought it. Designer is one of kind and I haven't even tried Origins yet.
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- metalface13
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- Space Ghost
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- fastkmeans
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It's actually a fascinating commentary---making a game where you recreate an agentless system (natural selection) by giving an agent (the ``god'' player) the right incentives. Very cool.
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Gary, you should actually give American Megafauna a spin with the girl friend. One player you needs to know all the stuff about the game but for the other players it's a fairly easy game. Also, the game isn't really that cut throat because it simulation. Last my turtle creature got completely wiped out by the red tide which was awesome just to see what effect it had on everything else in the game.
I agree with Pete here, though I suspect we were both taught the game by a guy who is universally known as "Megafauna Dan," which may skew one's perspective for how easy it is to pick up around the table.
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- southernman
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- Sagrilarus
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It basically forces you to act as the agent in evolution.
Oh my.
S.
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But that doesn't mean that the concept itself is not a playful and interesting take on evolution, of course.
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I'm a god hating, pro-science atheist so I'm not arguing against his view of evolution.
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- Sagrilarus
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Given the choice read Sturgeon instead of Renfrew.
S.
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- Michael Barnes
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It looks absolutely fascinating. Mr. Eklund is truly a singular designer in our hobby, and I really appreciate that his games not only have a foundation in science and history but also that they present his particular viewpoints and interpretations of facts. It really shows that games can have very complex themes as well as _ideas_ and communicate them.
Rules and graphic design are a mess, as expected. If he could just get this stuff organized a little better visually...
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