Man the actual case solving in consulting detective is a blast but holme's conclusions have just been getting more and more rubbish.
For the case my group just did literally the only way you can know who did it between two candidates is because holmes tells you at the end, he doesn't even give supporting evidence.
Oh well, still a great game I just wish cases closed on a higher note.
0
Options
FairchildRabbit used short words that were easy to understand, like "Hello Pooh, how about Lunch ?"Registered Userregular
Man the actual case solving in consulting detective is a blast but holme's conclusions have just been getting more and more rubbish.
For the case my group just did literally the only way you can know who did it between two candidates is because holmes tells you at the end, he doesn't even give supporting evidence.
Oh well, still a great game I just wish cases closed on a higher note.
(Only the case number is behind the spoiler.)
Did you just do Case
Man the actual case solving in consulting detective is a blast but holme's conclusions have just been getting more and more rubbish.
For the case my group just did literally the only way you can know who did it between two candidates is because holmes tells you at the end, he doesn't even give supporting evidence.
Oh well, still a great game I just wish cases closed on a higher note.
(Only the case number is behind the spoiler.)
Did you just do Case
#3
?
It was case number
6, the mummy one.
0
Options
Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
It desperately needs to be replaced by a TI4, though.
Really? What would you update?
I think combat is an embarassment. The number spread is too large for binary results. You either destroy a ship or nothing happens. And this nothing tends to happen far too often, needlessly dragging out a very simplistic part of the game. Either add more decision-making to combat or make it resolve faster. Something like Fury of Dracula's stalemate rules would already be a big improvement.)
Some typical 4X actions are long-winded for no apparent reason. Why should it take 4 turns to increase your ship output? A friend of mine is convinced that this kind of sloppy design is the reason that TI3 takes ages to play.
The tech tree is hilariously obtuse. If you look at a game like Civilization, there are far more elegant ways to handle such a mechanism.
The original Imperial strategy card is a very clunky way to keep the game from stalling. The expansions do away with it but don't really improve the game's sluggish momentum. The game shouldn't be dependent on players playjng optimally or aggressively for things to move forward.
Finally, TI needs to have a more flexible and variable winning condition. Allow for alliances to win the game together or at the very least for multiple people to win independently and non-exvlusively. (Like in Dead of Winter.)
I think the politics elements from the second expansion NEED to be made into an essential part of the base game. This is the thing that makes TI stand out from a lot of other space games and what makes it feel unique and exciting despite its flaws. The more depth and attention it's given the stronger the gameplay becomes.
I'm also very fond of the VP cards but they would be even better if the secret VP cards were race-specific.
I think legacy games need to become more standard. They are a built in solution to kingmaking and also allow you to design a game with shorter individual plays because the entire arc of your play experience doesn't have to be contained in one sit-down
Groups that can get the same people together repeatedly to play the same game are always going to be a niche market though.
I mean I love the idea of a legacy game, but there's no point me buying one currently as it just wouldn't get played.
+6
Options
AstaerethIn the belly of the beastRegistered Userregular
Legacy games introduce problems of their own:
-they cost as much or more as the same non-legacy game, but you use them up
-if you're not careful, winning gives players a positive feedback loop--the victor of of match gets to warp the next match in their favor, and so on
-secrecy divides the overal conversation between enthusiasts
-you get locked into a single play group (who now have to commit to a large number of plays)
I think they're really cool, but they're by no means a panacae.
Anyone know if the other IP's for dice masters are compatible with the marvel ones? Specifically are they balanced around all coexisting? I only recently noticed the non-marvel ones exist and I think iy would be amusing to throw them all together. I'm assuming they all follow the same rule set and would work, buy if the d&d ones are vastly overpowered compare to the marvel ones (or the other way around) it naturally defeats the point.
It desperately needs to be replaced by a TI4, though.
Really? What would you update?
I think combat is an embarassment. The number spread is too large for binary results. You either destroy a ship or nothing happens. And this nothing tends to happen far too often, needlessly dragging out a very simplistic part of the game. Either add more decision-making to combat or make it resolve faster. Something like Fury of Dracula's stalemate rules would already be a big improvement.)
Some typical 4X actions are long-winded for no apparent reason. Why should it take 4 turns to increase your ship output? A friend of mine is convinced that this kind of sloppy design is the reason that TI3 takes ages to play.
The tech tree is hilariously obtuse. If you look at a game like Civilization, there are far more elegant ways to handle such a mechanism.
The original Imperial strategy card is a very clunky way to keep the game from stalling. The expansions do away with it but don't really improve the game's sluggish momentum. The game shouldn't be dependent on players playjng optimally or aggressively for things to move forward.
Finally, TI needs to have a more flexible and variable winning condition. Allow for alliances to win the game together or at the very least for multiple people to win independently and non-exvlusively. (Like in Dead of Winter.)
I think the politics elements from the second expansion NEED to be made into an essential part of the base game. This is the thing that makes TI stand out from a lot of other space games and what makes it feel unique and exciting despite its flaws. The more depth and attention it's given the stronger the gameplay becomes.
I'm also very fond of the VP cards but they would be even better if the secret VP cards were race-specific.
I don't actually know any of the games you referenced here. Could I bug you to give more detailed modern alternatives to the mechanics?
The only flaw I find with ti3 (beyond the time commitment for anything but a 3 or 4 player game) is that the politics deck is a bit weedy. The politics 2 card tries to fix this but it's a very rough solution. Maybe the game needs one politics card a turn regardless so that the rubbish ones matter less.
Or I could just filter the deck
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
-they cost as much or more as the same non-legacy game, but you use them up
-if you're not careful, winning gives players a positive feedback loop--the victor of of match gets to warp the next match in their favor, and so on
-secrecy divides the overal conversation between enthusiasts
-you get locked into a single play group (who now have to commit to a large number of plays)
I think they're really cool, but they're by no means a panacae.
Clearly, the solution is to have a separate "Legacy" module that you can tack onto a base game with customized rules and content for the "Legacy" portion. Best of both worlds! You have the base game when you want to play normally, and the Legacy game when you want to run a persistent campaign over multiple sessions.
I ran a persistent Flash Point: Fire Rescue campaign that had a separate board (well, sheet of paper, but it was like a board) with check boxes where you can mark XP and tech trees and stuff. It was basically like playing X-Com, but with Firefighters that level up instead of Marines. We even had our "Memorial Wall of the Fallen".
It desperately needs to be replaced by a TI4, though.
Really? What would you update?
I think combat is an embarassment. The number spread is too large for binary results. You either destroy a ship or nothing happens. And this nothing tends to happen far too often, needlessly dragging out a very simplistic part of the game. Either add more decision-making to combat or make it resolve faster. Something like Fury of Dracula's stalemate rules would already be a big improvement.)
Some typical 4X actions are long-winded for no apparent reason. Why should it take 4 turns to increase your ship output? A friend of mine is convinced that this kind of sloppy design is the reason that TI3 takes ages to play.
The tech tree is hilariously obtuse. If you look at a game like Civilization, there are far more elegant ways to handle such a mechanism.
The original Imperial strategy card is a very clunky way to keep the game from stalling. The expansions do away with it but don't really improve the game's sluggish momentum. The game shouldn't be dependent on players playjng optimally or aggressively for things to move forward.
Finally, TI needs to have a more flexible and variable winning condition. Allow for alliances to win the game together or at the very least for multiple people to win independently and non-exvlusively. (Like in Dead of Winter.)
I think the politics elements from the second expansion NEED to be made into an essential part of the base game. This is the thing that makes TI stand out from a lot of other space games and what makes it feel unique and exciting despite its flaws. The more depth and attention it's given the stronger the gameplay becomes.
I'm also very fond of the VP cards but they would be even better if the secret VP cards were race-specific.
I don't actually know any of the games you referenced here. Could I bug you to give more detailed modern alternatives to the mechanics?
Sure.
Fury of Dracula has a stalemate mechanic wherein a combat ends in a draw, if three attacks in a row produce no effect. The two parties each play an attack card and roll a die, the higher attack card is resolved and depending on what the opponent played it results in either an intended effect or no effect at all. If three turns in a row result in no effect combat simply ends.
FFG's Civilization game has a tech tree that gives each participating player his own tech deck. The individual cards are separated into different levels (1-4). In order to research a level 2 tech card, you need two level 1 tech cards. In order to research a level 3 tech card, you need to have two level 2 tech cards and so on. The idea being that you're building a kind of pyramid with level 1 techs providing the foundation of your pyramid. Each tech card "rests" on two tech cards of its preceding level eventually forming a pyramid of tech cards. It's simple and elegant and does away with a lot of the complicated pre-requisites that TI3's tech tree uses. (I will admit though, that Civ's tech tree rule also lacks the utter nerdiness of TI3's fluff-based interrelation of technologies.)
Dead of Winter gives each player an individual winning condition and the group as a whole a shared winning condition. In order for any one player to win the game, both conditions must be met. So the actual number of winners can range from 0 to all of them. With the exception of the betrayer all winning conditions are non-exclusive and AFAIK compatible. One player may need to collect a resource of a certain kind, another may need to have the most characters in his stable and so on. This gives each player an individual goal to pursue, but allows for players to choose whether they want to work together or not. And this purely "optional" (i.e. not rules-driven) decision to ally with another player is something that TI3 lacks.
Ugh. Not a fan at all of Plague Rat in Sentinels. You either run a specific setup (heroes who can destroy on goings) or you're totally screwed.
To be fair any group with no Ongoing destruction is going to have an uphill battle against most villains. Almost all of them have some really nasty ones.
I just don't see how you beat Plague Rat barring a very, very specific setup. Every other card infect almost your entire team. You're screwed if the infections stick, you're screwed if you discard the infections since Plague Rat automatically inflicts 4 damage to every hero for each infection removed, and then you just get reinfected next turn! I got wiped out by the THIRD round. I've never had a villain win that fast, even the insanely difficult Chairman.
Only realistic way I can see is loading up on heroes with a ton of ongoing destruction cards, plus cards that prevent damage like Tachyon's Hypersonic Assault. Or getting lucky and surviving long enough for Legacy to get Next Evolution + Lead from the Front up. Or super cheesing it and leaving the Mars Base meteor shower in play until you're totally prepared.
I keep trying to get some use out of Mr. Fixer but he's sucked every game and is always worse than just taking one less hero. He feels like someone averaged out Absolute Zero where he's not quite as useless to start but also not as useful once you do manage to get 4+ cards in play.
That would be hilarious. Most unplayed game in history
Arkham Horror: Legacy.
You could do some cool stuff with this. Basically have every session take place a few game-time decades after the last one. The town changes depending on what you choose to do, etc.
That would be hilarious. Most unplayed game in history
Arkham Horror: Legacy.
You could do some cool stuff with this. Basically have every session take place a few game-time decades after the last one. The town changes depending on what you choose to do, etc.
Every game starts with you visiting the asylum and talking to your now insane character from the previous game.
MrBody on
+4
Options
FairchildRabbit used short words that were easy to understand, like "Hello Pooh, how about Lunch ?"Registered Userregular
Ugh. Not a fan at all of Plague Rat in Sentinels. You either run a specific setup (heroes who can destroy on goings) or you're totally screwed.
To be fair any group with no Ongoing destruction is going to have an uphill battle against most villains. Almost all of them have some really nasty ones.
I just don't see how you beat Plague Rat barring a very, very specific setup. Every other card infect almost your entire team. You're screwed if the infections stick, you're screwed if you discard the infections since Plague Rat automatically inflicts 4 damage to every hero for each infection removed, and then you just get reinfected next turn! I got wiped out by the THIRD round. I've never had a villain win that fast, even the insanely difficult Chairman.
Only realistic way I can see is loading up on heroes with a ton of ongoing destruction cards, plus cards that prevent damage like Tachyon's Hypersonic Assault. Or getting lucky and surviving long enough for Legacy to get Next Evolution + Lead from the Front up. Or super cheesing it and leaving the Mars Base meteor shower in play until you're totally prepared.
I keep trying to get some use out of Mr. Fixer but he's sucked every game and is always worse than just taking one less hero. He feels like someone averaged out Absolute Zero where he's not quite as useless to start but also not as useful once you do manage to get 4+ cards in play.
In my experience, the key to defeating Plague Rat is to remember that almost all of his damage is Toxic. Villains with one damage type can be fairly easily defeated by rolling out the heroes, of which there are several, that can make themselves immune to that damage.
Ugh. Not a fan at all of Plague Rat in Sentinels. You either run a specific setup (heroes who can destroy on goings) or you're totally screwed.
To be fair any group with no Ongoing destruction is going to have an uphill battle against most villains. Almost all of them have some really nasty ones.
I just don't see how you beat Plague Rat barring a very, very specific setup. Every other card infect almost your entire team. You're screwed if the infections stick, you're screwed if you discard the infections since Plague Rat automatically inflicts 4 damage to every hero for each infection removed, and then you just get reinfected next turn! I got wiped out by the THIRD round. I've never had a villain win that fast, even the insanely difficult Chairman.
Only realistic way I can see is loading up on heroes with a ton of ongoing destruction cards, plus cards that prevent damage like Tachyon's Hypersonic Assault. Or getting lucky and surviving long enough for Legacy to get Next Evolution + Lead from the Front up. Or super cheesing it and leaving the Mars Base meteor shower in play until you're totally prepared.
I keep trying to get some use out of Mr. Fixer but he's sucked every game and is always worse than just taking one less hero. He feels like someone averaged out Absolute Zero where he's not quite as useless to start but also not as useful once you do manage to get 4+ cards in play.
Plague Rat is, by far, the easiest villain in Rook City. You either go on all-out DPS, racing Plague Rat to kill him faster than he can kill you (in which Plague Rat actually helps you kill him, since infection increases your damage) or mitigate the plague ongoings when you can (deck scouting helps, so bring Wraith or Visionary). You can also use damage prevention to prevent the Plague explosion damage when you remove them.
Does Mr. Fixer's Grease Gun stop the Plague Explosions? I don't recall if the wording allows him to do that. Same with Ground Pound (Haka). I know that Hypersonic Assault works, as does Throat Jab (Wraith).
I'll never play a legacy game if it involves actual change of components, like writing on them or whatever. Changing contents of decks or available locations or what have you? Fine.
But writing on components or using permanent stickers is just so so incredibly dumb I can't even believe it.
I'll never play a legacy game if it involves actual change of components, like writing on them or whatever. Changing contents of decks or available locations or what have you? Fine.
But writing on components or using permanent stickers is just so so incredibly dumb I can't even believe it.
That seems like a bit much. You don't like it, fine. No need to go around calling people who might enjoy it names.
If we use movies as our entertainment to dollar metric, at $50 for Risk Legacy we're still getting more bang for our dollar and we're getting a unique experience no one else will ever have.
I'll never play a legacy game if it involves actual change of components, like writing on them or whatever. Changing contents of decks or available locations or what have you? Fine.
But writing on components or using permanent stickers is just so so incredibly dumb I can't even believe it.
Well, in my imaginary "Legacy" module that you'd tack onto an existing game, you'd use vinyl stickers which stick fairly well, but are easy to peel off most surfaces without residue, and any permanent marker that you'd apply would be on a blank sticker. That way, the "Legacy" module elements can be discarded, but the base game is not. I think that would be the best compromise.
One of the objections to Shadowrun: Crossfire was the stickers that go on the character cards feeling "permanent". It turns out that they peel off fairly easily from the character cards and they can be reused. Also, I can just print out a Character Card (they provide these materials on Catalyst's website) and just write on them, if I was squeamish about wrecking my pristine laminated cards.
To me, it's no different than using a paper battlemat and drawing with crayons or markers or whatnot in a pen and paper RPG. I guess I go into playing a "Legacy" game with a different mindset than I do with other board games. Much like playing the Play-Doh arena at Gen-Con (where you make monsters out of Play-Doh, knowing that they are going to be torn apart during play).
+1
Options
ChaosHatHop, hop, hop, HA!Trick of the lightRegistered Userregular
I'll never play a legacy game if it involves actual change of components, like writing on them or whatever. Changing contents of decks or available locations or what have you? Fine.
But writing on components or using permanent stickers is just so so incredibly dumb I can't even believe it.
Well, in my imaginary "Legacy" module that you'd tack onto an existing game, you'd use vinyl stickers which stick fairly well, but are easy to peel off most surfaces without residue, and any permanent marker that you'd apply would be on a blank sticker. That way, the "Legacy" module elements can be discarded, but the base game is not. I think that would be the best compromise.
One of the objections to Shadowrun: Crossfire was the stickers that go on the character cards feeling "permanent". It turns out that they peel off fairly easily from the character cards and they can be reused. Also, I can just print out a Character Card (they provide these materials on Catalyst's website) and just write on them, if I was squeamish about wrecking my pristine laminated cards.
To me, it's no different than using a paper battlemat and drawing with crayons or markers or whatnot in a pen and paper RPG. I guess I go into playing a "Legacy" game with a different mindset than I do with other board games. Much like playing the Play-Doh arena at Gen-Con (where you make monsters out of Play-Doh, knowing that they are going to be torn apart during play).
I would think that the stickers unsticking and resticking would be pretty annoying. Just make the board double sided and keep one pristine. Make the player cards double sided too, a default and the one you use. Then new players could flip it over and see what you've done and accomplished.
I'll never play a legacy game if it involves actual change of components, like writing on them or whatever. Changing contents of decks or available locations or what have you? Fine.
But writing on components or using permanent stickers is just so so incredibly dumb I can't even believe it.
Well, in my imaginary "Legacy" module that you'd tack onto an existing game, you'd use vinyl stickers which stick fairly well, but are easy to peel off most surfaces without residue, and any permanent marker that you'd apply would be on a blank sticker. That way, the "Legacy" module elements can be discarded, but the base game is not. I think that would be the best compromise.
One of the objections to Shadowrun: Crossfire was the stickers that go on the character cards feeling "permanent". It turns out that they peel off fairly easily from the character cards and they can be reused. Also, I can just print out a Character Card (they provide these materials on Catalyst's website) and just write on them, if I was squeamish about wrecking my pristine laminated cards.
To me, it's no different than using a paper battlemat and drawing with crayons or markers or whatnot in a pen and paper RPG. I guess I go into playing a "Legacy" game with a different mindset than I do with other board games. Much like playing the Play-Doh arena at Gen-Con (where you make monsters out of Play-Doh, knowing that they are going to be torn apart during play).
I would think that the stickers unsticking and resticking would be pretty annoying. Just make the board double sided and keep one pristine. Make the player cards double sided too, a default and the one you use. Then new players could flip it over and see what you've done and accomplished.
The idea is that you can tack on the Legacy module to an existing non-Legacy game, which wouldn't be double-sided by design. EDIT: It's just a pie-in-the-sky thought in my imagination, nothing more.
Hahnsoo1 on
0
Options
FairchildRabbit used short words that were easy to understand, like "Hello Pooh, how about Lunch ?"Registered Userregular
Ugh. Not a fan at all of Plague Rat in Sentinels. You either run a specific setup (heroes who can destroy on goings) or you're totally screwed.
To be fair any group with no Ongoing destruction is going to have an uphill battle against most villains. Almost all of them have some really nasty ones.
I just don't see how you beat Plague Rat barring a very, very specific setup. Every other card infect almost your entire team. You're screwed if the infections stick, you're screwed if you discard the infections since Plague Rat automatically inflicts 4 damage to every hero for each infection removed, and then you just get reinfected next turn! I got wiped out by the THIRD round. I've never had a villain win that fast, even the insanely difficult Chairman.
Only realistic way I can see is loading up on heroes with a ton of ongoing destruction cards, plus cards that prevent damage like Tachyon's Hypersonic Assault. Or getting lucky and surviving long enough for Legacy to get Next Evolution + Lead from the Front up. Or super cheesing it and leaving the Mars Base meteor shower in play until you're totally prepared.
I keep trying to get some use out of Mr. Fixer but he's sucked every game and is always worse than just taking one less hero. He feels like someone averaged out Absolute Zero where he's not quite as useless to start but also not as useful once you do manage to get 4+ cards in play.
Plague Rat is, by far, the easiest villain in Rook City. You either go on all-out DPS, racing Plague Rat to kill him faster than he can kill you (in which Plague Rat actually helps you kill him, since infection increases your damage) or mitigate the plague ongoings when you can (deck scouting helps, so bring Wraith or Visionary). You can also use damage prevention to prevent the Plague explosion damage when you remove them.
Does Mr. Fixer's Grease Gun stop the Plague Explosions? I don't recall if the wording allows him to do that. Same with Ground Pound (Haka). I know that Hypersonic Assault works, as does Throat Jab (Wraith).
Also note that one of the Infected powers is "damage a Hero target to heal yourself". Choose one of the damage-blocking heroes like Legacy or, even better, a damage-redirecting hero like Mr. Fixer to ignore or redirect that damage while the Infected hero heals. It's much like cheating to play Mr. Fixer in that situation, frankly, since he's redirecting all of the Infection damage to Plague Rat while the heroes heal themselves every turn.
Ugh. Not a fan at all of Plague Rat in Sentinels. You either run a specific setup (heroes who can destroy on goings) or you're totally screwed.
To be fair any group with no Ongoing destruction is going to have an uphill battle against most villains. Almost all of them have some really nasty ones.
I just don't see how you beat Plague Rat barring a very, very specific setup. Every other card infect almost your entire team. You're screwed if the infections stick, you're screwed if you discard the infections since Plague Rat automatically inflicts 4 damage to every hero for each infection removed, and then you just get reinfected next turn! I got wiped out by the THIRD round. I've never had a villain win that fast, even the insanely difficult Chairman.
Only realistic way I can see is loading up on heroes with a ton of ongoing destruction cards, plus cards that prevent damage like Tachyon's Hypersonic Assault. Or getting lucky and surviving long enough for Legacy to get Next Evolution + Lead from the Front up. Or super cheesing it and leaving the Mars Base meteor shower in play until you're totally prepared.
I keep trying to get some use out of Mr. Fixer but he's sucked every game and is always worse than just taking one less hero. He feels like someone averaged out Absolute Zero where he's not quite as useless to start but also not as useful once you do manage to get 4+ cards in play.
Plague Rat is, by far, the easiest villain in Rook City. You either go on all-out DPS, racing Plague Rat to kill him faster than he can kill you (in which Plague Rat actually helps you kill him, since infection increases your damage) or mitigate the plague ongoings when you can (deck scouting helps, so bring Wraith or Visionary). You can also use damage prevention to prevent the Plague explosion damage when you remove them.
Does Mr. Fixer's Grease Gun stop the Plague Explosions? I don't recall if the wording allows him to do that. Same with Ground Pound (Haka). I know that Hypersonic Assault works, as does Throat Jab (Wraith).
Speaking of which, they only way I've seen to beat Chairman is taking Haka and use his "damage everything a lot" card then shove all the discarded thugs under Savage Mana. I've yet to even kill The Operative in any of the fights, even taking the strongest heroes I can think of (Legacy, Tachyon, Tempest, Wraith) with the easiest environments (Mars Base, Silver City). The thing is that he doesn't really have any "fuck you" cards so deck manipulation doesn't help much, and he doesn't have a single ongoing card so being able to destroy those is also useless.
I'm also not sure if it's a bug or a feature against The Chairman. You play something that says, "Villain cards cannot be played" like Legacy's Takedown, and only the regular villain play phase is skipped. The Operative and Underbosses still get to use their abilities to play cards. The literal text of Takedown says otherwise.
The thing is that he doesn't really have any "fuck you" cards so deck manipulation doesn't help much, and he doesn't have a single ongoing card so being able to destroy those is also useless.
Doesn't he have a card that jailbreaks everyone out of the trash? I think it's called Prison Break.
EDIT: Also, I just remembered that the entirety of The Operative/The Chairman fight is either melee or projectile damage, which is something that can be exploited.
Also note that one of the Infected powers is "damage a Hero target to heal yourself". Choose one of the damage-blocking heroes like Legacy or, even better, a damage-redirecting hero like Mr. Fixer to ignore or redirect that damage while the Infected hero heals. It's much like cheating to play Mr. Fixer in that situation, frankly, since he's redirecting all of the Infection damage to Plague Rat while the heroes heal themselves every turn.
Fairly certain that if the targeted hero doesn't actually take the damage than the infected hero doesn't heal, but it's been a long time since I went up against Plague Rat.
Marking up the board in Legacy games is actually a selling point for me......it's kinky.
+6
Options
AuralynxDarkness is a perspectiveWatching the ego workRegistered Userregular
I've actually found the Chairman sort of easy by comparison to Citizen Dawn on the PC app now that I've got his gimmick sorted out, which I think isn't usual. Ra and Expatriette are my go-to picks for targeted removal of underbosses, there, and it's not usually too difficult to blow up non-critical gear when the thieves hit.
I'm having a great deal more trouble with Spite, but I think he pretty much demands GI Bunker or Mr. Fixer to deal with his damage-reduction drugs for convenience's sake.
I'll never play a legacy game if it involves actual change of components, like writing on them or whatever. Changing contents of decks or available locations or what have you? Fine.
But writing on components or using permanent stickers is just so so incredibly dumb I can't even believe it.
Counter-points:
Signing your name on the board when you win is awesome.
Getting to name a continent is awesome.
Getting to tear that one card up because John keeps turtling in that territory is awesome.
Discovering when you open up a new packet just how much of the game has changed, and that you are directly responsible for this happening is awesome.
Played Agricola for the first time tonight. 5p have, 2 first timers. Took 4 hours but it was a lot of fun. I ended up in 3rd with 36 points, which I feel was an alright first showing. Nothing much to add aside from really liking it, and falling hard on the Agricola side of the caverna/Agricola split having now played both.
Edit: forgot to say we played with the WM deck, maybe another one? I have no basis for comparison there, but it was... Interesting to try to pick cards without having played before
I've actually found the Chairman sort of easy by comparison to Citizen Dawn on the PC app now that I've got his gimmick sorted out, which I think isn't usual. Ra and Expatriette are my go-to picks for targeted removal of underbosses, there, and it's not usually too difficult to blow up non-critical gear when the thieves hit.
I'm having a great deal more trouble with Spite, but I think he pretty much demands GI Bunker or Mr. Fixer to deal with his damage-reduction drugs for convenience's sake.
Checking the Sentinels difficulty ratings chart, Mr Fixer is the 3rd weakest out of all the non-variant heroes, just below Bunker and Absolute Zero. Oddly, Expatriatte is 4th. She never felt that weak when I used her. She does seem to have an issue though where she has just as many ammo manipulation cards as she does ammo cards, leading to common situations where you have ammo you can't manipulate or manipulators with no ammo to juggle. Sort of the same deck dilution problem Bunker has with too many mode cards. She'd be better off with something like 3 ammo cards to every ammo manipulator one.
Also, The Chairman is the only villain in the game who apparently gets easier in advanced mode!
Also trying Spite for the first time. Good lord. Rook City is already grim enough. Spite turns that up to 11.
Spite's gameplay follows the same trend of the other Rook City villains "you MUST have feature X on your team or you lose, badly". In Spite's case it's damage preventing or reducing the damage of a target (Wraith's stunbolt, Tachyon's Hypsersonic Assault), and a much narrower version at that since he inflicts all sorts of different damage types. It's a shame because it really does away with the idea that any team can win in any situation. You can't just pick a team based on who you want to play with Rook City; you have to design a specific team to win.
MrBody on
0
Options
Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
I sort of agree that the idea of destroying game components upsets me at some base level, but Risk Legacy really does sound like something special. I don't know if that's because it's such a standard gateway game that you're happy to see it evolve or if it's just the way that those evolutions occur (it's less about a narrative and more about the game itself mutating)
What I've read about Pandemic legacy seems to miss that potential attraction for me. It's more Pandemic: Campaign mode that you can only play once.
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
0
Options
AuralynxDarkness is a perspectiveWatching the ego workRegistered Userregular
I've actually found the Chairman sort of easy by comparison to Citizen Dawn on the PC app now that I've got his gimmick sorted out, which I think isn't usual. Ra and Expatriette are my go-to picks for targeted removal of underbosses, there, and it's not usually too difficult to blow up non-critical gear when the thieves hit.
I'm having a great deal more trouble with Spite, but I think he pretty much demands GI Bunker or Mr. Fixer to deal with his damage-reduction drugs for convenience's sake.
Checking the Sentinels difficulty ratings chart, Mr Fixer is the 3rd weakest out of all the non-variant heroes, just below Bunker and Absolute Zero. Oddly, Expatriatte is 4th. She never felt that weak when I used her. She does seem to have an issue though where she has just as many ammo manipulation cards as she does ammo cards, leading to common situations where you have ammo you can't manipulate or manipulators with no ammo to juggle. Sort of the same deck dilution problem Bunker has with too many mode cards. She'd be better off with something like 3 ammo cards to every ammo manipulator one.
Also, The Chairman is the only villain in the game who apparently gets easier in advanced mode!
Also trying Spite for the first time. Good lord. Rook City is already grim enough. Spite turns that up to 11.
Spite's gameplay follows the same trend of the other Rook City villains "you MUST have feature X on your team or you lose, badly". In Spite's case it's damage preventing or reducing the damage of a target (Wraith's stunbolt, Tachyon's Hypsersonic Assault), and a much narrower version at that since he inflicts all sorts of different damage types. It's a shame because it really does away with the idea that any team can win in any situation. You can't just pick a team based on who you want to play with Rook City; you have to design a specific team to win.
Yeah. I'm not trying to tell you Fixer's strong (or Expat, for that matter), just that they've got relevant specialties. As good - and I'm a believer in it - as the comparison-project stats are for judging relative strengths, even the relatively bad heroes can be leveraged and have sOme unique-to-them strengths.
Expat's single-target output is comparable to Wraith or Ra's with minimal set-up, which is great for Underboss removal. You're absolutely right about the ammo situation.
Mr. Fixer and the Bunker variant you can unlock have the ability to remove damage reduction from guys. Nobody else we can get at now has that; there's probably someone with it in the physical game. I've beaten Spite, the one time I did, largely because Fixer had a good draw and I could manipulate Spite's output and remove his damage reduction.
IMO Fanatic and Mr. Fixer could both benefit from being redesigned as more utility-oriented decks. Fanatic just needs to drop the weird hand-manipulation cards and maybe have a couple of the damage one-shots amped up to be very helpful, imo. Mr. Fixer needs a bomb card other than Grease Gun. It's ridiculous that Tachyon can have Fleet of Foot, her redirect, and Lightspeed Barrage and Fixer's expected to spend several turns building a board in order to debuff effectively.
Posts
I've played Absolute Zero twice now tonight...
For the case my group just did literally the only way you can know who did it between two candidates is because holmes tells you at the end, he doesn't even give supporting evidence.
Oh well, still a great game I just wish cases closed on a higher note.
Oh dear..
I should have stuck with Tempest. We played Dreamer, Iron Legacy, and The Ennead.
Absolute for the last two.
(Only the case number is behind the spoiler.)
Did you just do Case
It was case number
Really? What would you update?
I think combat is an embarassment. The number spread is too large for binary results. You either destroy a ship or nothing happens. And this nothing tends to happen far too often, needlessly dragging out a very simplistic part of the game. Either add more decision-making to combat or make it resolve faster. Something like Fury of Dracula's stalemate rules would already be a big improvement.)
Some typical 4X actions are long-winded for no apparent reason. Why should it take 4 turns to increase your ship output? A friend of mine is convinced that this kind of sloppy design is the reason that TI3 takes ages to play.
The tech tree is hilariously obtuse. If you look at a game like Civilization, there are far more elegant ways to handle such a mechanism.
The original Imperial strategy card is a very clunky way to keep the game from stalling. The expansions do away with it but don't really improve the game's sluggish momentum. The game shouldn't be dependent on players playjng optimally or aggressively for things to move forward.
Finally, TI needs to have a more flexible and variable winning condition. Allow for alliances to win the game together or at the very least for multiple people to win independently and non-exvlusively. (Like in Dead of Winter.)
I think the politics elements from the second expansion NEED to be made into an essential part of the base game. This is the thing that makes TI stand out from a lot of other space games and what makes it feel unique and exciting despite its flaws. The more depth and attention it's given the stronger the gameplay becomes.
I'm also very fond of the VP cards but they would be even better if the secret VP cards were race-specific.
Twilight Imperium: Legacy.
Yeah, I'd be all over that if it wasn't 2 player only.
I mean I love the idea of a legacy game, but there's no point me buying one currently as it just wouldn't get played.
-they cost as much or more as the same non-legacy game, but you use them up
-if you're not careful, winning gives players a positive feedback loop--the victor of of match gets to warp the next match in their favor, and so on
-secrecy divides the overal conversation between enthusiasts
-you get locked into a single play group (who now have to commit to a large number of plays)
I think they're really cool, but they're by no means a panacae.
WoWtcg and general gaming podcast
WoWtcg and gaming website
That would be hilarious. Most unplayed game in history
I don't actually know any of the games you referenced here. Could I bug you to give more detailed modern alternatives to the mechanics?
The only flaw I find with ti3 (beyond the time commitment for anything but a 3 or 4 player game) is that the politics deck is a bit weedy. The politics 2 card tries to fix this but it's a very rough solution. Maybe the game needs one politics card a turn regardless so that the rubbish ones matter less.
Or I could just filter the deck
I ran a persistent Flash Point: Fire Rescue campaign that had a separate board (well, sheet of paper, but it was like a board) with check boxes where you can mark XP and tech trees and stuff. It was basically like playing X-Com, but with Firefighters that level up instead of Marines. We even had our "Memorial Wall of the Fallen".
Sure.
Fury of Dracula has a stalemate mechanic wherein a combat ends in a draw, if three attacks in a row produce no effect. The two parties each play an attack card and roll a die, the higher attack card is resolved and depending on what the opponent played it results in either an intended effect or no effect at all. If three turns in a row result in no effect combat simply ends.
FFG's Civilization game has a tech tree that gives each participating player his own tech deck. The individual cards are separated into different levels (1-4). In order to research a level 2 tech card, you need two level 1 tech cards. In order to research a level 3 tech card, you need to have two level 2 tech cards and so on. The idea being that you're building a kind of pyramid with level 1 techs providing the foundation of your pyramid. Each tech card "rests" on two tech cards of its preceding level eventually forming a pyramid of tech cards. It's simple and elegant and does away with a lot of the complicated pre-requisites that TI3's tech tree uses. (I will admit though, that Civ's tech tree rule also lacks the utter nerdiness of TI3's fluff-based interrelation of technologies.)
Dead of Winter gives each player an individual winning condition and the group as a whole a shared winning condition. In order for any one player to win the game, both conditions must be met. So the actual number of winners can range from 0 to all of them. With the exception of the betrayer all winning conditions are non-exclusive and AFAIK compatible. One player may need to collect a resource of a certain kind, another may need to have the most characters in his stable and so on. This gives each player an individual goal to pursue, but allows for players to choose whether they want to work together or not. And this purely "optional" (i.e. not rules-driven) decision to ally with another player is something that TI3 lacks.
Arkham Horror: Legacy.
I just don't see how you beat Plague Rat barring a very, very specific setup. Every other card infect almost your entire team. You're screwed if the infections stick, you're screwed if you discard the infections since Plague Rat automatically inflicts 4 damage to every hero for each infection removed, and then you just get reinfected next turn! I got wiped out by the THIRD round. I've never had a villain win that fast, even the insanely difficult Chairman.
Only realistic way I can see is loading up on heroes with a ton of ongoing destruction cards, plus cards that prevent damage like Tachyon's Hypersonic Assault. Or getting lucky and surviving long enough for Legacy to get Next Evolution + Lead from the Front up. Or super cheesing it and leaving the Mars Base meteor shower in play until you're totally prepared.
I keep trying to get some use out of Mr. Fixer but he's sucked every game and is always worse than just taking one less hero. He feels like someone averaged out Absolute Zero where he's not quite as useless to start but also not as useful once you do manage to get 4+ cards in play.
You could do some cool stuff with this. Basically have every session take place a few game-time decades after the last one. The town changes depending on what you choose to do, etc.
Every game starts with you visiting the asylum and talking to your now insane character from the previous game.
In my experience, the key to defeating Plague Rat is to remember that almost all of his damage is Toxic. Villains with one damage type can be fairly easily defeated by rolling out the heroes, of which there are several, that can make themselves immune to that damage.
Does Mr. Fixer's Grease Gun stop the Plague Explosions? I don't recall if the wording allows him to do that. Same with Ground Pound (Haka). I know that Hypersonic Assault works, as does Throat Jab (Wraith).
But writing on components or using permanent stickers is just so so incredibly dumb I can't even believe it.
That seems like a bit much. You don't like it, fine. No need to go around calling people who might enjoy it names.
If we use movies as our entertainment to dollar metric, at $50 for Risk Legacy we're still getting more bang for our dollar and we're getting a unique experience no one else will ever have.
One of the objections to Shadowrun: Crossfire was the stickers that go on the character cards feeling "permanent". It turns out that they peel off fairly easily from the character cards and they can be reused. Also, I can just print out a Character Card (they provide these materials on Catalyst's website) and just write on them, if I was squeamish about wrecking my pristine laminated cards.
To me, it's no different than using a paper battlemat and drawing with crayons or markers or whatnot in a pen and paper RPG. I guess I go into playing a "Legacy" game with a different mindset than I do with other board games. Much like playing the Play-Doh arena at Gen-Con (where you make monsters out of Play-Doh, knowing that they are going to be torn apart during play).
I would think that the stickers unsticking and resticking would be pretty annoying. Just make the board double sided and keep one pristine. Make the player cards double sided too, a default and the one you use. Then new players could flip it over and see what you've done and accomplished.
Also note that one of the Infected powers is "damage a Hero target to heal yourself". Choose one of the damage-blocking heroes like Legacy or, even better, a damage-redirecting hero like Mr. Fixer to ignore or redirect that damage while the Infected hero heals. It's much like cheating to play Mr. Fixer in that situation, frankly, since he's redirecting all of the Infection damage to Plague Rat while the heroes heal themselves every turn.
Speaking of which, they only way I've seen to beat Chairman is taking Haka and use his "damage everything a lot" card then shove all the discarded thugs under Savage Mana. I've yet to even kill The Operative in any of the fights, even taking the strongest heroes I can think of (Legacy, Tachyon, Tempest, Wraith) with the easiest environments (Mars Base, Silver City). The thing is that he doesn't really have any "fuck you" cards so deck manipulation doesn't help much, and he doesn't have a single ongoing card so being able to destroy those is also useless.
I'm also not sure if it's a bug or a feature against The Chairman. You play something that says, "Villain cards cannot be played" like Legacy's Takedown, and only the regular villain play phase is skipped. The Operative and Underbosses still get to use their abilities to play cards. The literal text of Takedown says otherwise.
EDIT: Also, I just remembered that the entirety of The Operative/The Chairman fight is either melee or projectile damage, which is something that can be exploited.
Fairly certain that if the targeted hero doesn't actually take the damage than the infected hero doesn't heal, but it's been a long time since I went up against Plague Rat.
I'm having a great deal more trouble with Spite, but I think he pretty much demands GI Bunker or Mr. Fixer to deal with his damage-reduction drugs for convenience's sake.
Counter-points:
Etc.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Edit: forgot to say we played with the WM deck, maybe another one? I have no basis for comparison there, but it was... Interesting to try to pick cards without having played before
Checking the Sentinels difficulty ratings chart, Mr Fixer is the 3rd weakest out of all the non-variant heroes, just below Bunker and Absolute Zero. Oddly, Expatriatte is 4th. She never felt that weak when I used her. She does seem to have an issue though where she has just as many ammo manipulation cards as she does ammo cards, leading to common situations where you have ammo you can't manipulate or manipulators with no ammo to juggle. Sort of the same deck dilution problem Bunker has with too many mode cards. She'd be better off with something like 3 ammo cards to every ammo manipulator one.
Also, The Chairman is the only villain in the game who apparently gets easier in advanced mode!
Also trying Spite for the first time. Good lord. Rook City is already grim enough. Spite turns that up to 11.
Spite's gameplay follows the same trend of the other Rook City villains "you MUST have feature X on your team or you lose, badly". In Spite's case it's damage preventing or reducing the damage of a target (Wraith's stunbolt, Tachyon's Hypsersonic Assault), and a much narrower version at that since he inflicts all sorts of different damage types. It's a shame because it really does away with the idea that any team can win in any situation. You can't just pick a team based on who you want to play with Rook City; you have to design a specific team to win.
What I've read about Pandemic legacy seems to miss that potential attraction for me. It's more Pandemic: Campaign mode that you can only play once.
Yeah. I'm not trying to tell you Fixer's strong (or Expat, for that matter), just that they've got relevant specialties. As good - and I'm a believer in it - as the comparison-project stats are for judging relative strengths, even the relatively bad heroes can be leveraged and have sOme unique-to-them strengths.
Expat's single-target output is comparable to Wraith or Ra's with minimal set-up, which is great for Underboss removal. You're absolutely right about the ammo situation.
Mr. Fixer and the Bunker variant you can unlock have the ability to remove damage reduction from guys. Nobody else we can get at now has that; there's probably someone with it in the physical game. I've beaten Spite, the one time I did, largely because Fixer had a good draw and I could manipulate Spite's output and remove his damage reduction.
IMO Fanatic and Mr. Fixer could both benefit from being redesigned as more utility-oriented decks. Fanatic just needs to drop the weird hand-manipulation cards and maybe have a couple of the damage one-shots amped up to be very helpful, imo. Mr. Fixer needs a bomb card other than Grease Gun. It's ridiculous that Tachyon can have Fleet of Foot, her redirect, and Lightspeed Barrage and Fixer's expected to spend several turns building a board in order to debuff effectively.