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[Board Games] Space Alert owns. Like, a lot.

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  • AthenorAthenor Battle Hardened Optimist The Skies of HiigaraRegistered User regular
    One of my biggest annoyances right now is that my LGS refuses to order the Print on Demand Mansions of Madness components due to the low profit margin, or something. I don't want to pay FFG due to the insane $10 shipping, but there isn't enough demand around here for him to place a bigger order.

    Sucks, too, because I'm really wanting to try the new scenarios.

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  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    Darkewolfe wrote:
    I probably will at some point, but from what I understand, the cards you buy in Dominion aren't randomized and that's one of the elements I really liked from Ascension. I played the Penny-Arcade deck building game at PAX and I didn't like how you only got a selection of like 12 cards for an entire game (aside from the boss loot.)

    In Dominion, there's some 100+ different TYPES of cards if you have access to all the expansions. Each of those types comes in stacks of ten, and you randomly select ten of those types for each game. So it's very varied.
    Yeah, every game you play is different. The difference between Dominion and Ascension is that in Dominion, you never get screwed because someone else got to draw the Arbiter of the Void first, and you never had access to it.

  • descdesc Goretexing to death Registered User regular
    Yes, freemarket!

    Ouch $75?

    Has anyone played this one? I forgot it existed until seeing it in the indie room.

  • InfidelInfidel Heretic Registered User regular
    desc wrote:
    Yes, freemarket!

    Ouch $75?

    Has anyone played this one? I forgot it existed until seeing it in the indie room.

    For the box set yeah, I was looking at the PDF only and while it points out that you'd need the cards and blah to play it it isn't clear whether they give you all the details to make your own or what in the PDF. (Full text and such.)

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  • descdesc Goretexing to death Registered User regular
    Infidel wrote:
    desc wrote:
    Yes, freemarket!

    Ouch $75?

    Has anyone played this one? I forgot it existed until seeing it in the indie room.

    For the box set yeah, I was looking at the PDF only and while it points out that you'd need the cards and blah to play it it isn't clear whether they give you all the details to make your own or what in the PDF. (Full text and such.)

    Yeah, the description is vague but not encouraging in that regard. Maybe I'll take the plunge on the PDF. hmm.

    Speaking of PAX games: I liked Sentinels of the Multiverse. I'd like to give it another whirl as it's on my "maybe" list.

  • InfidelInfidel Heretic Registered User regular
    When I asked Sage about FreeMarket, he described it basically as a social networking game. You are vying for the attention and whims of people who live forever and have all their needs covered, so it is all about capturing desire and interest, and the mechanics/tokens are apparently very social networking style like/dislike/etc.

    Which seems kinda cool as a different sort of RPG than I'm used to. He said it really shines as an ongoing game rather than a one-shot so I didn't press anyone to run it for us heh.

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  • DracilDracil Registered User regular
    Now that PAX is done, I'm looking forward to BGG.Con. Should probably get my planet tix.

    Also got an iPad2 for more boardgaming fun (cuts down on stuff to carry).

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  • InfidelInfidel Heretic Registered User regular
    I just got a huge paycheque and am considering picking up an iPad2 for gaming and development purposes.

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  • PMAversPMAvers Registered User regular
    Infidel wrote:
    When I asked Sage about FreeMarket, he described it basically as a social networking game. You are vying for the attention and whims of people who live forever and have all their needs covered, so it is all about capturing desire and interest, and the mechanics/tokens are apparently very social networking style like/dislike/etc.

    Which seems kinda cool as a different sort of RPG than I'm used to. He said it really shines as an ongoing game rather than a one-shot so I didn't press anyone to run it for us heh.

    And one of the writers is Jared. A Sorensen. (If you're familiar with InSpecters or Parsely sessions run at conventions like PAX, you're familiar with his work.)

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  • simonwolfsimonwolf i can feel a difference today, a differenceRegistered User regular
    So Tanto Cuore is pretty much the best. I played a demo at PAX and immediately bought it, played three games over the weekend or so with various people (including @Infidel) and had a different game every time, even when using the recommended starter set of cards.

    Recommended for anyone who can get over the art design of the cards and recognize excellent mechanics!

    Now I just need to figure out who I can play it with when I get back to Australia...

  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    simonwolf wrote:
    So Tanto Cuore is pretty much the best. I played a demo at PAX and immediately bought it, played three games over the weekend or so with various people (including @Infidel) and had a different game every time, even when using the recommended starter set of cards.

    Recommended for anyone who can get over the art design of the cards and recognize excellent mechanics!

    Now I just need to figure out who I can play it with when I get back to Australia...

    Ugh, no. I can get over bland design, ala Euros, but creepy rape design? Pass, thanks. I'd rather not have that shit start popping up more often in my boardgames. That's morally reprehensible shit.

    What is this I don't even.
  • InfidelInfidel Heretic Registered User regular
    Nerds judging nerds!

    Your loss, I like it more than Dominion.

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  • simonwolfsimonwolf i can feel a difference today, a differenceRegistered User regular
    Man if you think the cards have "creepy rape design" that is a whole set of issues you need to work on.

  • DracilDracil Registered User regular
    edited August 2011
    +1 Infidel/Simonwolf

    Personally I'm burnt out on all X-building games, but definitely with you on the nerds judging nerds thing. It's the equivalent of fundamentalist Christians screaming about D&D being Satan's work, except they at least have an excuse for not knowing better. It's just pretty art that my female anime friends enjoy looking at too. Also Tanto Cuore will be awesome for next year's anime convention for luring people into board gaming.

    Dracil on
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  • simonwolfsimonwolf i can feel a difference today, a differenceRegistered User regular
    I really disliked Dominion when I first played it, partially because of the way it was taught to me (aggressively), but I'm really enjoying Tanto Cuore. I may have to retry Dominion at some stage, if I get a chance.

  • RyadicRyadic Registered User regular
    What do you mean by "aggressively"? I'm just confused how that would influence your view on the game. Seems to me that you would either like it or not.

    Now I could understand someone teaching the game wrong or poorly causing you to dislike it. I've had that happen. But aggressively?

    And Dominion is such an easy game, I wouldn't see how someone could explain the rules so that you don't get them and play the game improperly.

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  • simonwolfsimonwolf i can feel a difference today, a differenceRegistered User regular
    Perhaps what I mean is hostile, which I assume is tied with aggression? The manner in which I was taught was that, if I made a mistake or asked a question, I was treated as though I was a complete idiot and that I should feel bad - there was no real room for that kind of thing, you see. It left me with no desire to play the game again.

    Does that fulfill your query?

  • WylderneedshelpWylderneedshelp Registered User regular
    Ok, so based on some tips a couple of pages ago, I've just ordered Space Alert and Chaos in the Old World.

    Question about CoitW though. On boardgamegeek there were a couple of threads bemoaning that Khorne has a tendency to win against new players, and that this remains until all of the opposing players start acting to blunt Khorne's initial strength in the first turn or two, in order to prevent an easy runaway victory by Khorne.

    Is this a real thing? Should I warn my table to be wary of Khorne in early games? Or should we just go with it and see how the game evolves? I won't be playing Khorne myself in the first games, since one of my friends is very keen on providing blood for the blood god. I don't mind losing of course, but if the game is likely to seem unbalanced in the first couple of playthroughs and leading to everyone wanting to be Khorne though, I'd like to warn people to pay attention and not let him grab runaway victories for several games.

    I'm perfectly aware that this might just be an isolated case of people whining about perceived imbalance that doesn't exist, but I don't find that sort of thing on boardgamegeek much, so I thought it'd be worth asking.

    What are your experiences with this?

  • SeGaTaiSeGaTai Registered User regular
    Khorne has the most straight forward strategy-while the others I think rely more on knowing your cards and what you can do with them as well as your opponents cards and what they are likely to do with them.

    I don't think you need to warn everyone before hand that they should gang up on Khorne before the game has even started, seems like it might take the fun out of it. Specifically if you plan on not playing Khorne, during the game feel free to point out ways you think they should stop him-estimate how quickly he might win and let them judge that they have to stop him. Easiest way he runs away with it is not periodically killing his warriors and letting him flood the board-but the same can be said for any god really

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  • RyadicRyadic Registered User regular
    simonwolf wrote:
    Perhaps what I mean is hostile, which I assume is tied with aggression? The manner in which I was taught was that, if I made a mistake or asked a question, I was treated as though I was a complete idiot and that I should feel bad - there was no real room for that kind of thing, you see. It left me with no desire to play the game again.

    Does that fulfill your query?

    Oh. :(

    That's a terrible way to play a game. No one should ever feel like that. Yeah that completely answers it. Definitely give Dominion a try again.

    I was taking aggressive to mean an aggressive style of play. Which in Dominion would be to purchase a lot of attack cards. Which can certainly make some games pretty bad, but never to the point where you hate it (in my opinion at least).

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  • MrBlarneyMrBlarney Registered User regular
    Yeah, I was the one who brought Dominion to PAX last year and tried to teach simonwolf, but I kind of threw him into a fully random set and didn't take the time to slow things down enough. :( I do think Dominion is a great game, and I'm sorry I left such a bad impression of it.

    I kind of wish I had tried out Tanto Cuore at PAX, if only to see how the twists in the setup and rules affected the gameflow.

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  • simonwolfsimonwolf i can feel a difference today, a differenceRegistered User regular
    If I ever get a chance, I will try Dominion again, but considering how insanely expensive board games can be here in Australia, it'll have to be with someone else's copy.

    Tanto Cuore is excellent, and if it is categorized as a "Dominion-like", I suppose Dominion must have some redeeming value!

  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    SeGaTai wrote:
    Khorne has the most straight forward strategy-while the others I think rely more on knowing your cards and what you can do with them as well as your opponents cards and what they are likely to do with them.

    I don't think you need to warn everyone before hand that they should gang up on Khorne before the game has even started, seems like it might take the fun out of it. Specifically if you plan on not playing Khorne, during the game feel free to point out ways you think they should stop him-estimate how quickly he might win and let them judge that they have to stop him. Easiest way he runs away with it is not periodically killing his warriors and letting him flood the board-but the same can be said for any god really

    A runaway Khorne win can also be a lot harder to stop than other runaway situations. Most big early leads have a natural limiter (ruining their point zones, usually) whereas Khorne gets more and more murderous.

    That said, it's really not a huge problem. Forum posters, as usual, tend to exaggerate the degree of problems.

  • EndaroEndaro Registered User regular
    edited August 2011
    Dracil wrote:
    +1 Infidel/Simonwolf

    Personally I'm burnt out on all X-building games, but definitely with you on the nerds judging nerds thing. It's the equivalent of fundamentalist Christians screaming about D&D being Satan's work, except they at least have an excuse for not knowing better. It's just pretty art that my female anime friends enjoy looking at too. Also Tanto Cuore will be awesome for next year's anime convention for luring people into board gaming.
    Man if you think the cards have "creepy rape design" that is a whole set of issues you need to work on.

    I just wanted to point out that at no point was Darkewolfe judging you guys, but instead was judging the game. I cannot say the same for some of you.

    Also, you can't pretend there isn't a noticeable sexual side to the game.
    They describe their own game as:
    Tanto Cuore is a deck building card game for 2 - 4 players.

    The players take the roles of "masters of the house", employ a lot of cute maids, and are served by them while slowly filling out their house (card deck).

    To what degree the master is "served" by these cute maids and the degree of consensuality is open to interpretation, but it's not like Darkewolfe is pulling his impression from no where.

    Endaro on
  • RyadicRyadic Registered User regular
    simonwolf wrote:
    If I ever get a chance, I will try Dominion again, but considering how insanely expensive board games can be here in Australia, it'll have to be with someone else's copy.

    Tanto Cuore is excellent, and if it is categorized as a "Dominion-like", I suppose Dominion must have some redeeming value!

    I know you can play Dominion online. Maybe some forumers will play with you to teach you. Allows you to play for free as long as you like, as well as know if Dominion is a game worth of your purchase. Contrary the belief of some people in this thread, it is possible to not like Dominion. I am an example of that.

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  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    I agree that it's unfortunate and deeply misogynist in the way that only the Japanese know, but "creepy rape design" and "morally reprehensible" is much farther than I'd go.

  • Undead ScottsmanUndead Scottsman Registered User regular
    edited August 2011
    Darkewolfe wrote:
    I probably will at some point, but from what I understand, the cards you buy in Dominion aren't randomized and that's one of the elements I really liked from Ascension. I played the Penny-Arcade deck building game at PAX and I didn't like how you only got a selection of like 12 cards for an entire game (aside from the boss loot.)

    In Dominion, there's some 100+ different TYPES of cards if you have access to all the expansions. Each of those types comes in stacks of ten, and you randomly select ten of those types for each game. So it's very varied.

    It's not the overall setup that bugs me, it's the per game setup: in that once the game starts, it's the same group of cards for the entire game. I love how I can never be sure what's coming next in Ascension for most of the game. Dominion sounds like because of the set groups of cards at the start, that it relies heavily on strategy, which isn't something I'm personally huge on. Nothing against those who like it, but I don't like having to think a lot when I'm playing games, especially against other humans. Probably why I prefer shooters to RPG's.

    Undead Scottsman on
  • DarianDarian Yellow Wizard The PitRegistered User regular
    Ok, so based on some tips a couple of pages ago, I've just ordered Space Alert and Chaos in the Old World.

    Question about CoitW though. On boardgamegeek there were a couple of threads bemoaning that Khorne has a tendency to win against new players, and that this remains until all of the opposing players start acting to blunt Khorne's initial strength in the first turn or two, in order to prevent an easy runaway victory by Khorne.

    Is this a real thing? Should I warn my table to be wary of Khorne in early games? Or should we just go with it and see how the game evolves? I won't be playing Khorne myself in the first games, since one of my friends is very keen on providing blood for the blood god. I don't mind losing of course, but if the game is likely to seem unbalanced in the first couple of playthroughs and leading to everyone wanting to be Khorne though, I'd like to warn people to pay attention and not let him grab runaway victories for several games.

    I'm perfectly aware that this might just be an isolated case of people whining about perceived imbalance that doesn't exist, but I don't find that sort of thing on boardgamegeek much, so I thought it'd be worth asking.

    What are your experiences with this?

    There's a two-page spread at the back of the rule book which gives quick strategy tips for the powers; all of them who are not Khorne are cautioned to give him easy targets. Let your players read through those briefly before the game starts.
    Really, though, what you need to make clear is that it is dangerous to let any god double-tick early in the game and they should all be keeping an eye out for how many DACs each player is likely to get.

  • GaebrilGaebril Registered User regular
    As far as I can tell, Tanto Cuore and Dominion are almost the same game. Whoever tried (and failed) to teach you Dominion was a jerk!

    Played Merchants and Marauders a couple of times over the weekend. It's pretty good! Very rich and thematic, like Arkham Horror crossed with Traders of Genoa. You wander around the Carribean, raiding merchants, trading goods, hunting rumors, and trying to sink the other players. Now, I'm not usually a fan of games that have lots of little rules, but everything in Merchants and Marauders fits together and makes sense perfectly. Highly recommended.

    On the topic of Chaos in the Old World, is the Horned Rat expansion any good? Browsing BGG and our own PA thread, it seems like Horned Rat is much less well balanced than the base game, and the Morrslieb chaos cards are both very rules-lawyery and poorly worded. Is my impression correct, or are the complaints all just coming from a vocal minority?

  • TrynantTrynant Maniac Brawler Rank 20.100 and full WildRegistered User regular
    New boardgames acquired! Really good ones: Through the Ages and Space Alert!

    I honestly didn't know they were designed by the same guy (Vlaada Chvatil with an accent on the 'a' in the second word). Anyways, I can't say much about these games due to just bought and unplayed; but holy shit both have a ton of rules and holy shit Space Alert's flavor text is awesome.

    So yeah, good stuff.

  • DarianDarian Yellow Wizard The PitRegistered User regular
    Regarding the Horned Rat: The Morrslieb chaos cards are more complex than the base cards and somewhat badly worded, yes. But with the FAQ out (less than two weeks now), most of the questions have been answered definitively so that's no longer a major complaint.
    Balance is different than the base game (it seems a bit harder to win on the dial, but all the gods have strong VP-track options), but I'd still say it's a very well-balanced game, so I'm not sure where you're getting that from.
    Overall, a good expansion to a great game, in my opinion.

  • Alistair HuttonAlistair Hutton Dr EdinburghRegistered User regular
    King's Court + Mine in a Platinum game == Happy fun time.

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  • jakobaggerjakobagger LO THY DREAD EMPIRE CHAOS IS RESTORED Registered User regular
    Trynant wrote:
    New boardgames acquired! Really good ones: Through the Ages and Space Alert!

    I honestly didn't know they were designed by the same guy (Vlaada Chvatil with an accent on the 'a' in the second word). Anyways, I can't say much about these games due to just bought and unplayed; but holy shit both have a ton of rules and holy shit Space Alert's flavor text is awesome.

    So yeah, good stuff.

    Czech always has stress on the first syllable, in fact. Themoreyouknow.jpg.

    I love Through The Ages (and seem to be learning slowly to actually sometimes win at it), but was kind of dismissive of Space Alert until I learned it was designed by the same guy. I guess I'll have to try it some day.

  • GaebrilGaebril Registered User regular
    Horned Rat: The imbalance comment, you can blame on this thread. In 5p, Khorne wins 34% of the time, vs Nurgle at 14% and the Rat at 12%. And yeah, Dial wins only 26% of the time. Obviously the sample size is small, but it makes me wonder if I should just stick with the old cards. I haven't played it myself though, so maybe I'm missing something - I'd love to be wrong!

  • antheremantherem Registered User regular
    The Alien Frontiers expansion is up on Kickstarter. $30 for a copy of the expansion, $35 to also get the "faction pack".

  • LykouraghLykouragh Registered User regular
    I think it's way too early to judge the balance on The Horned Rat. CiTOW's balance didn't become apparent until the community had played each of the roles for a while; it's very believable that the same will happen for the expansion.

    I like the expansion, but I imagine I will continue to want to play the base game sometimes.

  • Custom SpecialCustom Special I know I am, I'm sure I am, I'm Sounders 'til I die!Registered User regular
    So guys, I was looking at picking up Small World. It looks like it's really fun and a LGS has it for like $34 or something ridonks. I want to like it, and I want my friends to play it and like it, but I'm just not sure. Any recommendations for/against? The most popular game we've got in our group is Carcassonne (as in, everyone owns a copy at home).

    When I went to my LGS, I instead found out they've reprinted Formula Dé as Formula D (inventive, I know). And I snatched that up so quick. I knew it was fun already, and plays up to 10 (at least give me 6 instead of just 5:(). Played a beginner round with 6 of us after dinner and everyone enjoyed it, even the girls. I ended up winning and blasting across the finish line in 6th gear, but it was a tight race which was fun.

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  • DracilDracil Registered User regular
    Small World can be fun. But I'm a big hater of Death By Expansions (also looking at you, Dominion and Carcassone)

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  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    Small World's expansions worked pretty well, since they just add variety and not really complexity. The balance of Small World is already *throws arms in air* so the expansions can't really fuck it up.

    Dominion suffered Death By Oh God Not Fucking Dominion Again, in my group. I played Prosperity for the first time at PAX and it felt a lot different, but I dunno that I want to drop the cash for Fucking Dominion Again.

  • RyadicRyadic Registered User regular
    Small World got old fast for me. Like, I don't have a desire to ever play that game again.

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