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Through the Ages Learning Game Discussion Thread

2

Posts

  • jakobaggerjakobagger Copenhagen, The Iron IslandsRegistered User regular
    I'm not a fan of masonry, but architecture or engineering are great. Without them, a lot of wonders take far too many actions to build (but if you have architecture, none will take more than two), and the small savings per urban building add up too. A lot of late urban buildings I only build if I have one of the building techs.

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  • TayrunTayrun Registered User regular
    poshniallo wrote:
    Tayrun seems to be doing very well at this point, but perhaps I am missing something.

    Chill, I tend to feel like I'm doing well at the beginning, right until the point where Darian stomps me. He's always the real threat.

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    Evil had finally slain the forces of Justice. There would be no symbol for children to look up to anymore.

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  • jakobaggerjakobagger Copenhagen, The Iron IslandsRegistered User regular
    Tayrun wrote:
    poshniallo wrote:
    Tayrun seems to be doing very well at this point, but perhaps I am missing something.

    Chill, I tend to feel like I'm doing well at the beginning, right until the point where Darian stomps me. He's always the real threat.

    Words to live by.

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  • GoodOmensGoodOmens Registered User regular
    poshniallo wrote:
    I need a better leader so that I can get back into the military side of things. I have only played 2p up until now, so I am still learning about Agreements etc.

    A different Tactic will help too. Heavy Cavalry is really hard to get into play; the bonus strength is great, but you really need to prioritize cavalry to make it worthwhile. Of course, so much of that is the luck of the draw.

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  • DarianDarian Registered User regular
    Heh.

    I've got a mini-revolution going here with an opportunity to pick up both Code of Laws and Warfare, so I jump on that. Falling a bit behind on the military, but my infrastructure seems to be developing well. Missing out on Knights has hurt my ability to keep up with the strong armies.

  • TayrunTayrun Registered User regular
    I was initially intending to B&C, see what else was good, but checking the discards I see you lot have taken all three alchemy. I reprioritise to grab Printing Press so I don't fall quite so far behind in the tech race. B&C wouldn't really affect me at the moment, it'd be putting me further ahead in things that are already fine. I feel like I should address my weaknesses in this game rather than pump my strengths.

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    Evil had finally slain the forces of Justice. There would be no symbol for children to look up to anymore.

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  • TayrunTayrun Registered User regular
    Again, not a great turn. Nothing I particularly want in the card pile, so I finally get B&C researched and fill out my quota of printing presses.

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    Evil had finally slain the forces of Justice. There would be no symbol for children to look up to anymore.

    Oh, cute, you think you're a Netrunner? Come join us!
  • poshnialloposhniallo Registered User regular
    Sorry about the slow turn - entirely my fault. I was thinking to myself 'I haven't got an email!' who's dawdling?'

    ... and it was me and I must have gotten an email and looked at it without taking my turn.

    Edit: BAD BOY!

    poshniallo on
    Neal Stephenson wrote:
    It was, of course, nothing more than sexism, the especially virulent type espoused by male techies who sincerely believe that they are too smart to be sexists.
  • DarianDarian Registered User regular
    That's actually against the rules, to "offer" pacts verbally without first spending your action to do so.

  • poshnialloposhniallo Registered User regular
    Darian wrote:
    That's actually against the rules, to "offer" pacts verbally without first spending your action to do so.

    Oh yeah sorry - I did read that, but this is my first non-2P game so I forgot.

    Nothing to see here... move along... post redacted.

    Neal Stephenson wrote:
    It was, of course, nothing more than sexism, the especially virulent type espoused by male techies who sincerely believe that they are too smart to be sexists.
  • DarianDarian Registered User regular
    Finally manage to get my military in order; I also grab Newton so that I'll have a solid leader for this age. Still hemorrhaging food for now, but hopefully I can take care of that soon.

  • TayrunTayrun Registered User regular
    Meh turn is meh. Nothing strikes me as particularly good, so I settle for getting my military upgraded. Maybe it'll let me bully Darian later, in retaliation for what's going on in our other game. :P

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  • GoodOmensGoodOmens Registered User regular
    I opportunistically decided to grab Robspierre and go for the revolution. I'm not sure if the cost (3 civil actions and 3 military actions) was worth the reward (7 science and a military action per turn as long as I keep him as my leader). I would have gone for ConMon anyway, hopefully the saved science will help. Then farm upgrade, and grabbed Opera because I need to start getting some Culture somewhere along the line.

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  • TayrunTayrun Registered User regular
    Finally something better than bronze. How many mines does one generally upgrade to coal? I've only ever used iron and bronze mines before.

    Other than that, grabbing napoleon seemed a good move. I'm tired of Darian's bullying.

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    Evil had finally slain the forces of Justice. There would be no symbol for children to look up to anymore.

    Oh, cute, you think you're a Netrunner? Come join us!
  • DarianDarian Registered User regular
    What bullying? I'm the one who's had to defend against multiple attacks here.

    edit: I should mention my last turn; finally had a chance to pick up a wonder that I like, snagging Ocean Liner to make up for my inability to produce food.

    Darian on
  • jakobaggerjakobagger Copenhagen, The Iron IslandsRegistered User regular
    Personally, if I can swing it I like to skip coal and upgrade at one or two iron to oil. I mostly go for coal when I didn't get iron.

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  • DarianDarian Registered User regular
    jakobagger wrote:
    Personally, if I can swing it I like to skip coal and upgrade at one or two iron to oil. I mostly go for coal when I didn't get iron.

    Coal is also worth grabbing if you have the Railroad.

  • jakobaggerjakobagger Copenhagen, The Iron IslandsRegistered User regular
    That's true. On the other hand, Oil and Railroad is even awesomer, and getting both Coal and Oil is probably a waste. These are more my preferences than really thought-out strategic principles though.

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  • TayrunTayrun Registered User regular
    Is it just my connection, or does the boardgaming-online server continually crap out for you lot too?

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    Evil had finally slain the forces of Justice. There would be no symbol for children to look up to anymore.

    Oh, cute, you think you're a Netrunner? Come join us!
  • admanbadmanb the bored genie Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    It definitely craps out.

    twitter, github, resume/portfolio, if you like to play or host boardgames online, check out handtracker
  • DarianDarian Registered User regular
    If I recall correctly, I set up a path for it in hosts and it still gets lost occasionally.

  • DarianDarian Registered User regular
    Lykouragh wrote: »
    To fix BGO not loading ever, do the following:

    Paste the following line into the file C:/windows/system32/drivers/etc/hosts, which you can open with Notepad

    199.16.130.19 boardgaming-online.com www.boardgaming-online.com

    Then save.

    My wife created an open game just now, named something like "Open game slow is fine", that everyone is welcome to join.

  • GoodOmensGoodOmens Registered User regular
    Sorry, I've been doing a poor job updating in the thread.

    At any rate, I finally decided to get into the military game. Invested in a couple of Swordsmen and Classic Army to get a stronger position; hopefully I'll at least be able to get one or two attacks in while on top. Grabbed Breakthrough (a favorite card of mine, and I was VERY happy to see it for 1 action), Engineering Genius to help with my train. Took Journalism, I always like having a nice science/culture source, and it helps in case I can't take First Space Flight and have to settle for the Internet instead.

    Next turn I'll just be able to squeak out finishing the Train. I hope that will solidify my military position, then I can start focusing on culture.

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  • DarianDarian Registered User regular
    I'm still floundering militarily, but was able to finish up the Ocean Liner to take care of my population needs and grabbed/built an Opera house for culture.

    edit: A note on military--I've been trying to not be last place while these Age I events go through. Once he hit Age II, though, a lot of the events punish the last two places instead of just last.

    Darian on
  • TayrunTayrun Registered User regular
    Finally, some science!

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    Evil had finally slain the forces of Justice. There would be no symbol for children to look up to anymore.

    Oh, cute, you think you're a Netrunner? Come join us!
  • poshnialloposhniallo Registered User regular
    Alright, I'll try some of this diplomacy stuff. I've been limping along horribly, possibly due to the depredations of The Dark One, Tayrun I.

    Losing Joan of Arc was a huge blow. How do you tell when the Age is going to change and therefore obsolete leaders, strategies etc?

    Neal Stephenson wrote:
    It was, of course, nothing more than sexism, the especially virulent type espoused by male techies who sincerely believe that they are too smart to be sexists.
  • TayrunTayrun Registered User regular
    poshniallo wrote: »
    The Dark One, Tayrun I.

    <3!

    Mind if I add that to my sig or somesuch? I love that so much.

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    Evil had finally slain the forces of Justice. There would be no symbol for children to look up to anymore.

    Oh, cute, you think you're a Netrunner? Come join us!
  • DarianDarian Registered User regular
    poshniallo wrote:
    Losing Joan of Arc was a huge blow. How do you tell when the Age is going to change and therefore obsolete leaders, strategies etc?

    The Age ends as soon as the Civil deck runs out

    Currently:
    Decks:
    Civil cards: 45
    Military cards: 38
    Current events: 3 (Age I: 1 - Age II: 2)
    Future events: 3 (Age II: 3)

    So we just started Age III, which will end when 45 cards have been taken/discarded.

  • GoodOmensGoodOmens Registered User regular
    With my newly created military, I think it's time to throw my weight around, specifically in Darian's direction. Military is obviously powerful, but only if you get a chance to use it; I happen to love War over Territory. Architecure and an Engineering Genius help me finish the train; more resources, more military, easier to shuttle troops to the front lines. And a Journalism school will provide photographers to document the violent atrocities.

    Of course, Wars are always a gamble. I'm hoping that Darian has so few resources available this turn that he won't be able to build up much, especially with the lack of food; that's why I targeted him over Niall, who has a somewhat better chance of responding. Few things in this game are worse than declaring a War only to have your opponent defeat you.

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  • DarianDarian Registered User regular
    I may lack food, but I do have a worker ready to go and the Ocean Liner. Prepare for response!

    Once I hear back from poshniallo on this treaty.

  • DarianDarian Registered User regular
    I happened to have a decent Age II tactic in my hand (Defensive Army), along with enough science saved up to research Cannons. So I grab that and get my military in order, jumping to within 5 points of GoodOmens and second place overall. That turns out to benefit me shortly later, as an event triggers for the top two militaries to get some bonus production.

    Still sitting over 30 culture behind Tayrun, though, so I'll need to start bridging that gap soon. Tried to talk poshniallo into a treaty that would protect him from any Wars while giving me a bit extra culture, but he didn't accept.

  • poshnialloposhniallo Registered User regular
    Darian wrote: »
    I happened to have a decent Age II tactic in my hand (Defensive Army), along with enough science saved up to research Cannons. So I grab that and get my military in order, jumping to within 5 points of GoodOmens and second place overall. That turns out to benefit me shortly later, as an event triggers for the top two militaries to get some bonus production.

    Still sitting over 30 culture behind Tayrun, though, so I'll need to start bridging that gap soon. Tried to talk poshniallo into a treaty that would protect him from any Wars while giving me a bit extra culture, but he didn't accept.

    Well I thought that Treaty was essentially saying 'I'm not going to win' by giving up that culture. Now, I don't think I'm going to win - probably I'll come last, in fact. But giving up at this point seemed dull.

    Neal Stephenson wrote:
    It was, of course, nothing more than sexism, the especially virulent type espoused by male techies who sincerely believe that they are too smart to be sexists.
  • GoodOmensGoodOmens Registered User regular
    Similarly he didn't accept my Supremacy. I don't think I'm going to win here either; I pushed too hard for military and it hasn't paid off the way I was hoping it would.

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  • poshnialloposhniallo Registered User regular
    The games I played before this didn't use military very much and I won handily.

    Do you guys always find that military is an integral part of your strategy? Do you have any/many games where a militarily-weak player wins?

    poshniallo on
    Neal Stephenson wrote:
    It was, of course, nothing more than sexism, the especially virulent type espoused by male techies who sincerely believe that they are too smart to be sexists.
  • GoodOmensGoodOmens Registered User regular
    There are certainly games where military is not a factor, but if one person decides to build military, everyone else is sort of forced to. Of course, if the warmonger doesn't get useful Aggressions/Wars at the right time, the lack of culture generation is a killer. Military is a high risk/high reward strategy. If you build an Opera, you know exactly the benefit it gives you. Build a Cannon, and it's either worthless or a huge factor in the game.

    High military games tend to be low scoring (for obvious reasons), and you can sometimes win with like 90 Culture.

    I don't often go military because it's not in my nature (in any sort of Civ-type game I'm almost always a builder, not a warrior) but I'm consciously trying to add more of it in TTA.

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  • jakobaggerjakobagger Copenhagen, The Iron IslandsRegistered User regular
    Edit: well, that ended up rather rambling and rant-y. Hope it makes some sense at least.

    I think even if you're going for military, throwing all your early resources at military units is unwise - the point is to build an infrastructure of rock and science generation in the early stages, while trying to draw three military cards each turn. And trying to be among the two strongest players. Then if you get good tactics and aggressions you can cash them in in the late game, and if not the infrastructure should make you able to make a late push for culture instead (and the amounts of culture generated in age 3 and 4 are so much larger than in age A and I, and of course culture could be said to even more than military be something that doesn't directly benefit you, so it's best to build it as late as possible.

    Against an opponent ignoring or under-prioritizing military, I think a competent military-heavy strategy will always win. As soon as everyone learns how important military is, and to keep up with each other, the game becomes about who can build the most efficient culture machine.

    I generally tend toward peaceful building as well, in computer and board games, but repeatedly getting my ass kicked by more aggressive friends in various games made me change that - I'd never won a single TtA game until I started going heavy military. And while I like building stuff, it's not like I have a problem being a dick (favourite Chaos god Tzeentch).

    jakobagger on
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  • DarianDarian Registered User regular
    Speaking of military, tossing an aggression Tayrun's way to try to close his lead a bit.

  • TayrunTayrun Registered User regular
    I find I have difficulty knowing how much military to build. I either overbuild and don't get the cards to exploit it or I underbuild and Darian takes me out of the game.

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    Evil had finally slain the forces of Justice. There would be no symbol for children to look up to anymore.

    Oh, cute, you think you're a Netrunner? Come join us!
  • DarianDarian Registered User regular
    Whee!
    Managed to grab and build a computer on that last turn, so Einstein will actually give me a bit of a benefit from here on out. Have to wait and see if it will prove to be too little, too late. Keeping an eye on the cards, everyone will get at least two more turns starting from Tayrun's current go. We get 3 turns if we don't pick up many cards this round.

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    Darian on
  • DarianDarian Registered User regular
    Use most of my actions on the penultimate turn to grab First Space Flight, just so that GoodOmens won't get to build it.

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