[Pandemic] - Game 10 - Game Over - Mutations Sent Away

stever777

Welcome to Pandemic, Z-Man Games' game of global disease containment. In this game, players take the roles of five Center for Disease Control (CDC) operatives, racing against time to cure outbreaks.


You and your companions are highly skilled members of a disease-fighting team waging a battle against five deadly diseases. Your team will travel across the globe, stemming the tide of infection and developing the resources you'll need to discover the cures. You must work together, using your individual strengths to destroy the diseases before they overtake the world. The clock is ticking as outbreaks and epidemics accelerate the spread of the plague. Will you find the cures in time? The fate of humanity is in your hands!

Five diseases have broken out in the world and it is up to a team of specialists in various fields to find cures for these diseases before mankind is wiped out.

Players must work together, playing to their characters' strengths and planning their strategy of eradication before the diseases overwhelm the world with ever-increasing outbreaks. For example, the Operation Specialist can build research stations, which are needed to find cures for the diseases. The Scientist needs only 4 cards of a particular disease to cure it instead of the normal 5.

But the diseases are breaking out fast and time is running out: the team must try to stem the tide of infection in diseased areas while also towards cures.

A truly cooperative game where you all win or you all lose.


This will be a Play-By-Post Mutation Variant Game of Pandemic for 5 players, participants from the discussion sign ups.

[RULES]
[EXPANSION RULES]
[RULES SUMMARY]
[Discussion and Sign-ups]

stever777

A QUICK TUTORIAL ON PANDEMIC

Pandemic is a cooperative game. You and your fellow players are members of a disease control team, working together to research cures and prevent additional outbreaks. Each of you will assume a unique role within the team, with special abilities that will improve your team’s chances if applied wisely. The object is to save humanity by discovering cures to five deadly diseases (Blue, Yellow, Black, Red and Purple) that threaten to overtake the planet. If you and your team aren’t able to keep the diseases contained before finding the necessary cures, the planet will be overrun and the game will end in defeat for everyone.

The Board & Cards

-The Turn Phases-

Each turn, the current player must:

1. Take 4 actions
2. Draw 2 cards to add to his hand
3. Take on the role of the Infector (cards drawn & tokens placed by Host)

After the Infector has gone, the player’s turn is over and the next player begins his turn.

-Actions-

A player gets 4 actions to spend on her turn. A player may select from any of the available Basic and Special actions and spend 1 action to perform it. A given action may be performed more than once during a turn, so long as 1 action is spent for each instance. Each player’s Role will grant them special abilities that are unique to that player. Players may also pass if they have nothing else to do. Unused actions may not be saved from turn to turn.


BASIC ACTIONS

Charter Flight
Play the card corresponding to your pawn’s current location, and move to any city on the board. Discard the card to the Player Discard pile.

Shuttle Flight
If your pawn is in a city with a Research Station, move it to any other city with a Research Station. (See below for details on building Research Stations.)

Direct Flight
Play a card from your hand and move your pawn to the pictured city. Discard the card to the Player Discard pile.

Drive (or Ferry)
Move your pawn to an adjacent city. Cities are adjacent if they are connected by a red line. Red lines that go off the edge of the board “wrap around” to the opposite board edge and continue to the indicated city. (For example, Sydney and Los Angeles are considered to be adjacent)

The Dispatcher may move other player’s pawns on his turn (using any of the available Basic actions) as if they were his own pawn. He may also spend an action to move a pawn to any city that contains another pawn. He may only move other players’ pawns if they permit him to do so.
Note: For the Charter Flight action, the Dispatcher must play the card corresponding to the current location of the pawn he wishes to move.

Pass
A player may also elect to pass (and do nothing) for an action.


SPECIAL ACTIONS

Discover A Cure
Once your team has discovered all four cures, you win!
If your pawn is in a city with a Research Station, discard 5 cards of the same color to cure the corresponding disease. Place the spent cards into the Player Discard Pile.

The Scientist only needs 4 cards of a color to discover the cure of the corresponding disease when performing the Discover Cure action.

Build A Research Station
Building Research Stations helps your team move from place to place.
Research Stations are also required for discovering cures. Play the card corresponding to the city your pawn currently occupies, then place a Research Station in that city. Discard the card to the Player Discard Pile. If there aren’t any Research Stations left in the supply, select one of the Research Stations already in play and transfer it to the city your pawn occupies.

The Operations Expert does not have to play the card matching the city his pawn occupies when performing the Build A Research Station action. He simply spends an action to add a Research Station to his current city.

Treat Disease
Over the course of the game, your team can treat diseases to buy the time needed to discover cures. Remove a disease cube from the city your pawn occupies. (Each removed cube costs one action.) Place the removed cube back into the stock by the side of the board. If players have discovered a cure, instead of one cube, remove all cubes of a cured disease in your current city for one action.

Eradicating a Disease
If a cure for a given disease has been discovered and all of the disease cubes of that color have been removed from the board, flip the Cure marker for the disease to the “Sunset” side. From now on, cards of this color have no effect when drawn on the Infector’s turn. Cubes of the eradicated color will not be used again for the rest of the game.

The Medic may remove all the cubes of a single color (instead of 1) when performing the Treat Disease action. Also, if the Medic at any time finds herself in a city that contains cubes of a disease that has been cured, she may immediately remove all of those cubes. This unique ability is in effect during all players’ turns and does not cost any actions to perform.

Share Knowledge
Sometimes it’s hard for one player to get the cards necessary to discover a cure. The Share Knowledge action (while difficult to perform) can be useful in these cases. Transfer a card from one player to another. Every card transferred costs 1 action. Both your pawn and your fellow player’s pawn must be in the same city, and you may only transfer the card of the city that you are in together. (For example, if you are together in Moscow, only the Moscow card may be transferred from one player to the other.) If either player holds more than 7 cards as the result of a transfer, the excess cards must be immediately discarded to the Player Discard Pile.

The Researcher may give a fellow player any card from his hand when involved in a Share Knowledge action. He is not restricted to giving the card of the current jointly-occupied city, like other players are. This freedom only applies when the Researcher is giving a card—he always receives a card with the same restriction as other players. The Researcher can utilize this ability when involved in Share Knowledge actions on any player’s turn.

-Special Event Cards-

The Player Cards deck contains some Special Event cards. These cards may be played at any time (even on a fellow player’s turn) and do not require an action to play. When you play a Special Event card, immediately follow the instructions on the card, then discard the card into the Player Discard Pile.

-Hand Limit-

Players have a hand limit of 7 cards. If the number of cards in hand ever exceeds 7 as a result of drawing cards (or performing the Share Knowledge action), the player must immediately discard cards in excess to the Player Discard Pile. Players may choose which cards to discard. Players may play Special Event cards (including any they have just drawn) instead of discarding them, to help reduce their hand to 7.

-Sharing Information About Cards-

Players may openly discuss strategies during the game, but like the real world, the players do not immediately know everything that the other players do. To simulate this, if you are playing the Normal or Heroic Games, players may not show the contents of their hands to their fellow players during the game. Players may however, freely tell each other what cards they have. The Introductory Game has no such restriction and players may decide to play their hands openly. Because Pandemic is a test of cooperation and mettle (and not of memory), players may freely examine the contents of the Player Discard Pile and the Infection Discard Pile at any time.

-Infector Phase & Outbreaks-

Draw cards from the Infection Draw Pile equal to the current Infection Rate and add one cube to the pictured cities, using a cube of the same color as each card. Resolve the cards in the order you draw them. If, however, the pictured city is of a color that has been eradicated, do not add a cube. If a city already has 3 cubes in it of the color being added, instead of adding a cube to the city, an outbreak occurs in that color. When this happens, instead of adding a 4th cube, add a cube of the outbreaking color to each adjacent city. Each time a city outbreaks, move the Outbreaks Marker up one space on the Outbreak Indicator. If the number of outbreaks ever reaches 8 (and the Outbreaks Marker reaches the skull symbol), the game immediately ends in defeat for all players. Also, if there are not enough cubes to add to the board when infecting, the game immediately ends in defeat for all players.

Chain Reactions
If any of these new cubes would cause the total number of cubes of that color in an adjacent city to exceed 3, additional outbreaks may occur, causing a chain reaction. Note that each city may only outbreak once in each chain reaction.

DEFEAT OR VICTORY!

The game ends immediately in defeat for all players if any of the following conditions occur:
-A player needs to add disease cubes to the board and there aren’t any left of that color in the supply.
-The eighth outbreak occurs (the Outbreaks Marker reaches the skull symbol on the Outbreak Indicator).
-There are not enough cards in the Player Draw Pile when a player must draw cards.

Players collectively win the game immediately when the cures for all five diseases (Blue, Yellow, Black, Red and Purple) have been discovered OR cures for the standard four diseases have been discovered and there are zero Purple cubes on the board. Players do not need to administer cures to every infected city in order to win the game—victory is instant when any player discovers the fifth and final cure or fourth cure with no Purple cubes on the board.

The purple disease can be cured if a player, for an action, discards 5 city cards (in any combination of colors) at a research station.
At least one of these cards must depict a city which currently contains one or more purple cubes.

stever777

We will let the group decide on how many Epidemic cards will be in this game.
4 (Introductory), 5 (Normal), 6 (Heroic - really NOT recommended) or 7 (Legendary - Are you nuts??!!)
Please indicate choice in bold limegreen!

@SeGaTai
@Farangu
@jdarksun
@CesareB
@Auralynx

You may then choose your roles in that player order.
I know, there are 2 Operations Experts shown.
Only one is available.
Also, the Bio-Terrorist is not available.

jdarksun

I think we lost he last one, so let's do Normal.

Auralynx

Seconding Normal.

stever777

@SeGaTai
@Farangu
@CesareB

Farangu

Oh wow, didn't even see that I got in this game.

I'll vote for Normal.

Farangu

On second thought, I'm going to withdraw.

Don't want to get too overwhelmed with games on here.

stever777

No prob.
Believe me, I understand.

Faraz

If there's an open spot I'll join in. Normal.

stever777

You're in Faraz!

CesareB

Normal as I haven't yet played Mutation.

stever777

OK.
Normal it is.

@SeGaTai
@Faraz
@jdarksun
@CesareB
@Auralynx

Choose your roles in player order.
Bio-Terrorist is not available.

CesareB

So should we talk this through a bit? I'm looking at the new cards and I'm not super impressed TBH. I really feel like we'd be hurt a lot by the absence of the Ops Expert and Dispatcher. I'd guess that the Medic is generally superior to the Containment Specialist but they both seem to fill the same slot. I suppose the Field Operative or Archivist could replace the Scientist without much loss. And obviously the Generalist looks useful, if not particularly exciting. The Troubleshooter looks cool but I'm not certain how well those abilities mesh with the others'.

Also, will we use the same player order when we start taking turns? If so, we should consider what kind of turn order would be most beneficial.

Faraz

Well, of the new roles the Field Operative and the Troubleshooter seem the most interesting and useful to me. Though the troubleshooter is obviously very heavily focused on preventing outbreaks since he knows where they'll hit and should be able to get there without losing any cards. The dispatcher and medic are always very useful. Generally speaking, if you're picking roles you want to go for a balance between characters that can help cure, characters that can help treat, and characters that help with movement.

stever777

CesareB wrote: »

Also, will we use the same player order when we start taking turns?

Yes, sir.

Auralynx

I'm picking last, but I'd really like to give Field Operative a shot fwiw.

jdarksun

I generally feel that the Op Expert is on the weak side, but I'm happy to play Dispatcher if we feel it's needed. Otherwise, I'll play whatever. Or /random.

CesareB

jdarksun wrote: »

I generally feel that the Op Expert is on the weak side, but I'm happy to play Dispatcher if we feel it's needed. Otherwise, I'll play whatever. Or /random.

Hm. It's quite possible I just overvalue the mobility that an Op Expert gives us. I guess with a Dispatcher it might not be necessary. I think as long as we have a Medic, a Dispatcher, and a Scientist or Field Operative we probably have what we really need.

Faraz

I wouldn't mind giving Troubleshooter a shot if we feel the other important roles are covered.

CesareB

Friendly reminder @SeGaTai, you're up to pick.

SeGaTai

wow somehow i missed the first 3@s, I blame stever's bbcode skills

I'll take field operative

SeGaTai

@Faraz since I've probably delayed this past people checking regularly

Faraz

Troubleshooter

Faraz

@jdarksun Your turn to pick.

jdarksun

Medic. @CesareB is up.

CesareB

Dispatcher @Auralynx to finish role selection.

Auralynx

Operations Expert, I guess.

stever777

@SeGaTai - Field Operative Turn

You all start in Atlanta, at the Research Station, (red cross icon).

3 cities received 3 disease cubes.
3 cities received 2 disease cubes.
3 cities received 1 disease cubes.
These cities are not in danger of receiving more cubes until an Epidemic card is turned over from the Player Deck.
Then, those card are shuffled and placed on top of the Infection Deck and that's when the trouble starts, as outbreaks begin to occur.
Obviously, the 3 cube cities are the most dangerous, as they could outbreak the fastest.

The purple cubes will begin appearing on the board as Mutation cards are drawn from either deck.

You can click on the board to see it enlarged to read the cities and texts.

SeGaTai has 4 actions to play.


Starting hands -
Roles, locations, current hand sizes & cards -
SeGaTai - Field Operative; Atlanta; (2) - Kolkata; Istanbul
Faraz - Troubleshooter; Atlanta; (2) - Taipei; "Rapid Vaccine Deployment" Special (Play immediately after a cure is discovered. Remove up to 5 cubes of that disease in connected cities.)
jdarksun - Medic; Atlanta; (2) - Madrid; Khartoum
CesareB - Dispatcher; Atlanta; (2) - Johannesburg; Mumbai
Auralynx - Operations Expert; Atlanta; (2) - Karachi; Osaka

Once you decide on your final actions, post them in the color of your pawn on your turn.

SeGaTai - gold
Faraz - red
jdarksun - darkorange
CesareB - mediumorchid
Auralynx - limegreen

Auralynx

Can I be regular green? Lime bugs me.

stever777

Sure.
You just don't like it 'cuz it looks like phlegm!

SeGaTai

Based on previous games I've been in I'm pretty bad at this game.

London looks to be in the worse shape to start off. I can get rid of 2 cubes in LA or 1 in London. Anyone have suggestions/plans for their turn that would change what I do.

jdarksun

We have three emergencies to deal with: Cairo, London, and LA.

Anybody can get to London and LA in one turn, but you're the only dude who can get out to Cairo.

My suggestion is to direct flight to Istanbul, drive/ferry to Cairo, take a black cube and put it on your card, and treat disease.

CesareB

Obviously a lot could change by the time it gets to me but I was thinking I would fly to Black and probably bring you and Aura along; I can get you both into Karachi so you'll have 3 black cards then it's just a matter of you picking up the blocks to cure Black.

I would probably go to LA since Blue is really the only area where jdark's abilities will be particularly useful. Taking 2 blocks off LA gets it out of our hair for a long time; for London it would only be a stopgap. And while stopgaps are going to be needed, between Faraz and jdark we probably have that covered for the time being.

SeGaTai

Thought about that but never sure when I should use/save cards this early, would like to start getting black cubes with my hand so.

Charter flight to istanbul
Drive to Cairo
Place 1 black cube on player card w/ Field Operative ability
Cure 1 black cube

SeGaTai

Posted before I read your comment cesareB, could edit but I think I like this one better-your turn is kinda a ways away

CesareB

jdarksun wrote: »

We have three emergencies to deal with: Cairo, London, and LA.

Anybody can get to London and LA in one turn, but you're the only dude who can get out to Cairo.

My suggestion is to direct flight to Istanbul, drive/ferry to Cairo, take a black cube and put it on your card, and treat disease.

Kind of funny to me that you would say that since both of your cards are within driving distance of Cairo

Auralynx

CesareB wrote: »

jdarksun wrote: »

We have three emergencies to deal with: Cairo, London, and LA.

Anybody can get to London and LA in one turn, but you're the only dude who can get out to Cairo.

My suggestion is to direct flight to Istanbul, drive/ferry to Cairo, take a black cube and put it on your card, and treat disease.

Kind of funny to me that you would say that since both of your cards are within driving distance of Cairo

He should probably be handling London, though, since LA is in spitting distance of the rest of us. I am going to start putting up research stations, myself.

jdarksun

CesareB wrote: »

jdarksun wrote: »

We have three emergencies to deal with: Cairo, London, and LA.

Anybody can get to London and LA in one turn, but you're the only dude who can get out to Cairo.

My suggestion is to direct flight to Istanbul, drive/ferry to Cairo, take a black cube and put it on your card, and treat disease.

Kind of funny to me that you would say that since both of your cards are within driving distance of Cairo

I blame yellow text.

Faraz

@stever777 Just a reminder that I'll of course always will use my special ability at the beginning of my turn. So you can just go ahead and let me know what those cards are going to be when you finalize SeGaTai's turn.

stever777

@Faraz - Troubleshooter Turn

Roles, locations, current hand sizes & cards -
SeGaTai - Field Operative; Cairo; 1 Black Cube; (3) - Kolkata; Riyadh; "Gov't Grant" Special (Build Research Station in any city for free.)
Faraz - Troubleshooter; Atlanta; (2) - Taipei; "Rapid Vaccine Deployment" Special (Play immediately after a cure is discovered. Remove up to 5 cubes of that disease in connected cities.)
jdarksun - Medic; Atlanta; (2) - Madrid; Khartoum
CesareB - Dispatcher; Atlanta; (2) - Johannesburg; Mumbai
Auralynx - Operations Expert; Atlanta; (2) - Karachi; Osaka

Troubleshooter Infection Card Preview (Placed in upper-left corner) -
Chicago; Mexico City