[twelve]

So would there be side by side GCers? Can you imagine if in Game 3 I had a chance to take two GCs by round 4? If someone could take them both and defend them I don't know if that is very fair to the rest. Though I guess if there are alliances that would counter someone from getting too far ahead of everyone else.

You also have to consider that the tech available in the game isn't designed for 10 players. You'd have to include more tech tiles to even that out. You'd also probably have to include all tier 3 tiles in the game as well. Plus the races, there are only officially 9 boards though we could do what we did in the latest game and just have extra terran and Magellen as options. I'm not sure if I'd be okay with a 10 player game to be honest.

[D'rek]

twelve, on 13 September 2013 - 06:33 PM, said:

So would there be side by side GCers? Can you imagine if in Game 3 I had a chance to take two GCs by round 4? If someone could take them both and defend them I don't know if that is very fair to the rest. Though I guess if there are alliances that would counter someone from getting too far ahead of everyone else.

You also have to consider that the tech available in the game isn't designed for 10 players. You'd have to include more tech tiles to even that out. You'd also probably have to include all tier 3 tiles in the game as well. Plus the races, there are only officially 9 boards though we could do what we did in the latest game and just have extra terran and Magellen as options. I'm not sure if I'd be okay with a 10 player game to be honest.

I guess you would put the GCDS in one center hex and the Ancient Dreadnaught in the other. Though since the GCDS is fairly weak I would lobby for either one Ancient Dreadnaught layout in each or using the more powerful Advanced GCDS from the next add-on. If each of the two middle thingies have very different weaknesses it'd be hard for someone to take both out rapidly. But yeah, that is a possibility. Hopefully if that happened no one would ally with them and a big alliance of 3 people could gang up on them.

re extra Races - the next add-on is supposed to include Terran/Magellan board, so that could be the 10th board option.

[Khellendros]

Gnaw, on 13 September 2013 - 04:45 AM, said:

Khellendros, on 16 August 2013 - 07:14 PM, said:

I enjoyed RPing as the ascended, enlightened Lyra. The Hydrani persona as techno-wizards quickly dissolved under the barrage of squid insults.

File this under semi freaky coincidence.

Short story: I bought a monitor and then looked at the reviews for it. Backwards no?

I'm monitor shopping within a fairly strict budget. Looking to run dual monitors. Rather than go with 2 identical monitors, I decided I'd be better with one good screen and one 'meh' screen as a secondary. As long as they're both the same resolution I'm good. Newegg and MacMall send me 'special deal' emails daily. Sometimes hourly. I keep subscribed to them solely because when I am looking for stuff, they're two good sources. I check my email, see macmall has a "refurbished monitor' deal. Click. Samsung syncmaster for 1/3rd retail because it's not only refurb but open box.

Anyways, looking at this review. Almost all the way to the bottom they get to the screen shots of DVD reproduction. And look who shows up:





And here I had spent an hour last month getting that same screen shot for a joke on Khell.

That's Friday 13th for you.

[Gnaw]

3 potential layouts for a 10 person game. I'm not addressing the issues Twelve had with tech, discoveries, etc. I.e. Balance. This is just to get a visual on how we could lay one out if we want to do so.

In all cases, I've used numbered hexes simply to keep track of how many I used. They would all be randomly drawn per usual. The home worlds are shown with their reverse side next to them.



The option already discussed once: Add a second hex in the middle to lengthen the board to add a 10th player spot.

Spoiler

Move the home worlds from layer 3 to layer 4. This creates an outer layer with room for 12 players. Randomly assign two of the spots with ancient homeworlds. This creates a severe shortage of hexes available for exploration outwards.

Spoiler

Add a super-sector around the center. Creates spots for 12 players; randomly assign unused home worlds to those two spots or just leave them empty. There is still a shortage of hexes available for outward expansion, but not as bad as the previous layout.

Spoiler

[twelve]

Options 2 and 3 are problematic as you are relying on tier III hexes to connect to Tier II to Tier I before you get to the GC. Tier III hexes have the fewest number of wormhole connections so a couple of bad draws and you have no way to connect to the center and you could find yourself in a bubble. These options also force players to use more explore actions than they would have done otherwise through necessity. I think if you were to go with a 10 person layout as much as I dislike it your first options is probably the best.

[Gnaw]

Quote

Eclipse: Ship Pack One


Components

• 108 plastic ship models: a full set of Ships (18 Ships) for each of the six base game Alien species.
• 1 Player Board (two-sided, with Terran Separatists on one side and Guardians of Magellan on the other)
• 1 Starting Sector Hex (#239/240) and 3 Ambassador Tiles for the new species
• 1 Outer Sector hex (#325)
• 1 Tractor Beam Rare Technology Tile
• 1 Security Council Development Tile
• 2 Ancient Interceptors Discovery Tiles
• 1 Advanced GCDS Tile
• 6 +40 Storage Markers
• 2 Turn Order Boards
• 10 Turn Order Markers
• 9 Next Turn Order Markers

FROM ASMODEE WEBSITE:
The expansion contains a full set of ships (Interceptors, Cruisers, Dreadnoughts and Starbases) for the six base game aliens. The ships are plastic and come in the same colours as in the base game. The ships were designed to represent specific species, and their colours are thus tied to them -- the Eridani Empire ships are red, and so on -- but you can still of course use the ships of the "wrong species" if you wish to play a certain color and species combination.

The final size of the ships is roughly 15, 35, 50 and 30mm lengthwise for Interceptors, Cruisers, Dreadnoughts and Starbases, respectively. The other species' ships are roughly the same size as these, depending a bit on the specific design, so they will be easy to tell apart just by size.

The main content of the expansion is the new miniature set. We did not want to include any big new game mechanics so that the people who do not wish to invest in new models will not be left out of new game play options. However, the expansion does contain some new exclusive cardboard components:

Tractor Beam Rare Technology: When you have the Tractor Beam Rare Technology, your opponents cannot retreat from a battle against you. Note: The Tractor Beam is exactly the same Tech that was included in the Rise of the Ancients 1st edition fix sheet. However, as customers who buy the subsequent editions won't receive that, we decided to add the Tech to the Ship Pack as well.

Security Council Development: At the end of the game, the Security Council scores you 1VP, plus 1VP per Ambassador on your Reputation Track.

Ancient Interceptor Discovery: You can place one or more Interceptors in the hex, without paying any Materials for them (just as with the base game Ancient Cruiser). The catch is that their maximum total Material cost can be 6 Materials. For example, The Rho Indi Syndicate can only place one Interceptor, as their Interceptors cost 4 Materials, while the Mechanema can place three.

Advanced GCDS: A two-sided Advanced GCDS tile, with a bit stronger GCDSs than in the base game. This can be used instead of the vanilla GCDS, if you prefer a slightly different rhythm in when the Galactic Center is conquered.

Outer Sector hex: An additional hex (#325) for the Outer Sectors. Adding this, you can play the 8-9 player game with just the basic Outer Sector hexes.

+40 Storage Markers: Use the +40 Storage Markers to help track Storage of Resources over 40 units. Most of these have Science on one side and Materials on the other, but there is also one +40 Money marker for those rare occasions..

Crowded Hex Boards: These are counterparts for the base game Crowded Hex Tiles -- you can place the ships from the crowded hex on these.

Turn order variant: Due to popular request, there are now official components for the variant where turn order is based on the passing order. The box includes a six player turn order board with an addition for up to nine players, plus tokens for tracking the turn order for the current and upcoming round.

New species: The box also contains a player board with a new Terran species on one side and a Magellan on the other, plus Ambassador tiles for them. These function just as the base game Terrans and RotA Magellans, giving you a bit more flexibility on the species mix.

Definitely in:

• The new Terran/Magellan option.
• 325 hex.

I'd like to be in:

• Ancient interceptor discovery - the 6 mat cap is sorta cool

Don't care:

• Security council dev

Worth discussing:

• Turn order variant.
• Galactic center

[twelve]

The secruity Council should definately be in. It gives those pacifist a chance to gain extra VP from maxing out their Ambassador tiles instead of gaing a bunch of rep tiles or a chance for someone who got shit luck for rep to gain a little bit more points.

I also like the ancient interceptoy discovery tile. Can give someone a serious leg up early in the game.

It sounds like the turn order variant is mainly a component for the standard board game and isn't needed for our on-line version. The Galactic Center tile could come into play if you use your moddified 10 person player board though still for the record I'm not a fan of. Or you could use the Advanced GCDS instead of the ancient Dreadnaught. Mix things up a little. I'd be okay with that.

[cerveza_fiesta]

Disco tile sounds good and the 6 material cap makes a good game balancer. If Rho Indi could get 2 interceptors from the deal, it would be a bit unfair since 2 shielded interceptors beat the piss out of 2 regular interceptors from any other race, hence their high cost.

though thematically it's a bit weird to find a tiny interceptor in the depths of space - whatevs though. I guess when you're comparing something on the scale of "ship" with something on the scale of "deep space", it doesn't really matter how big the ship is. The ratio is essentially unchanged.

But gameplay wise I'm fine with it; it's not going to win or lose the game for anybody. Just a sweet bonus of VPs or desperately needed ships.






EDIT


Whats the deal with the new ships. Is it just a full set for everyone or what? More ships than were in the core game, allowing bigger fleets?

RE the advanced GCDS, I'm fine with whatever the group wants to do here. I haven't seen enough games to know whether it's a good idea or not. I guess it just delays GC capture by a round or 2 at most. It also encourages alliances since you'd need someone watching your back to commit the necessary firepower.

Also RE alliances, what's the final word with those. Do you need to be in diplomatic relations with someone for a full turn before forming an alliance or are we going with the regular alliance rules? I would so love to see 2 mega alliances. One half of the board vs. the other. It would be glorious! Even though I'm not sure that's allowed by the rules...

This post has been edited by cerveza_fiesta: 01 October 2013 - 07:33 PM

[Imperial Historian]

It's just new plastic model designs, so the alien ships look different from terrans. Normally I'd be tempted to buy this, but it doesn't really add much in terms of gameplay to the base game, so unless it's cheap I probably won't get it.

I'd be up for including the new developments (if we did a development draw for 9 total developments), new tiles and discovery tiles are fine with me to.

I'm not a huge fan of turn order variants, it's already hard enough for people to keep track of when they are going! New galactic centre I'd say is more suited for the 6 player game, 9 player with alliances if the galactic centre is weakened you could see it fall in turn 2 (or even turn 1 if 2 of orion/rho indii/eridani allied and wanted to push for it). Ancient dread discourages that sort of play

[Gnaw]

twelve, on 01 October 2013 - 06:13 PM, said:

The Galactic Center tile could come into play if you use your moddified 10 person player board though still for the record I'm not a fan of. Or you could use the Advanced GCDS instead of the ancient Dreadnaught. Mix things up a little. I'd be okay with that.

I think I've found a way to do the 10 player that addresses most of the concerns that Twelve raised. Instead of GCDs, we use two of the ancient home worlds. We add one wormhole to each one to bring them up to five. But they do not connect directly which should minimize the chances of one power taking both.

 game 4 potential board-03 copy.png (219.06K)
Number of downloads: 0

Spoiler

 game 4 potential board-03.png (783.75K)
Number of downloads: 0

[twelve]

Except that now the hexes that you are taking aren't as valuable. As in they only have 3 slots to colonize instead of 6. Plus they would each be one point less but that is less of a concern. I do like the idea of making those two center hexes unconnected. Another thing is that you didn't address the tech balance at all. There is one more player in the mix so do we adjust the number of tech tiles or will there just be a shortage of available tech for everyone?

[Imperial Historian]

don't worry about a 10 player game gnaw, just do a 9 player. I can't really commit to playing beyond christmas (I'm going on a RTW trip for 9 months, and I imagine internet access will be sporadic at best), and at this point I thinks it is fair to say a 9 or 10 player game won't be over by then!

I may mod a small up to 6 player game between handing my thesis in, and heading off, but it would have to be on a everyone submit moves promptly basis.

[Gnaw]

twelve, on 01 October 2013 - 11:55 PM, said:

Except that now the hexes that you are taking aren't as valuable. As in they only have 3 slots to colonize instead of 6. Plus they would each be one point less but that is less of a concern. I do like the idea of making those two center hexes unconnected. Another thing is that you didn't address the tech balance at all. There is one more player in the mix so do we adjust the number of tech tiles or will there just be a shortage of available tech for everyone?

I've got more coming; I got sidetracked with the rules pdf. I opened it in Adobe Illustrator and found out I can take it apart to get the graphics from it. Much better source for those than the scans we've been working with.


And we can adjust VPs and planets. The tech balance is going to be a problem. We can extrapolate numbers for the draws. But that doesn't address the balance.

[twelve]

I'd play two games at once. Count me in for your smaller version there IH. I always enjoy going head to head with you.

[D'rek]

In case anyone's interested in seeing what some of this stuff looks like:


Terran Separatists:




Guardians of Magellan:



Scary!


New tiles:





Advanced GCDS:





New Outer Hex:

[D'rek]

And the new ship models (not yet coloured I guess):



Eridani:





Planta:





Mechanema:





Hydran:





Descendants:





Orion:

[Morgoth]

Those are pretty awesome.

[Tattersail_]

Imperial Historian, on 02 October 2013 - 12:26 AM, said:

don't worry about a 10 player game gnaw, just do a 9 player. I can't really commit to playing beyond christmas (I'm going on a RTW trip for 9 months, and I imagine internet access will be sporadic at best), and at this point I thinks it is fair to say a 9 or 10 player game won't be over by then!

I may mod a small up to 6 player game between handing my thesis in, and heading off, but it would have to be on a everyone submit moves promptly basis.

I would love to be part of that but wouldn't mind watching a game with Morgoth, Twelve, IH, Tapper, D'rek and Khell for example.

[Morgoth]

Ganoes Paran, on 02 October 2013 - 09:05 AM, said:

Imperial Historian, on 02 October 2013 - 12:26 AM, said:

don't worry about a 10 player game gnaw, just do a 9 player. I can't really commit to playing beyond christmas (I'm going on a RTW trip for 9 months, and I imagine internet access will be sporadic at best), and at this point I thinks it is fair to say a 9 or 10 player game won't be over by then!

I may mod a small up to 6 player game between handing my thesis in, and heading off, but it would have to be on a everyone submit moves promptly basis.

I would love to be part of that but wouldn't mind watching a game with Morgoth, Twelve, IH, Tapper, D'rek and Khell for example.

I've surely shown the sort of impressive play that deserves the above recognition.

[Tattersail_]

Morgoth, on 02 October 2013 - 10:21 AM, said:

Ganoes Paran, on 02 October 2013 - 09:05 AM, said:

Imperial Historian, on 02 October 2013 - 12:26 AM, said:

don't worry about a 10 player game gnaw, just do a 9 player. I can't really commit to playing beyond christmas (I'm going on a RTW trip for 9 months, and I imagine internet access will be sporadic at best), and at this point I thinks it is fair to say a 9 or 10 player game won't be over by then!

I may mod a small up to 6 player game between handing my thesis in, and heading off, but it would have to be on a everyone submit moves promptly basis.

I would love to be part of that but wouldn't mind watching a game with Morgoth, Twelve, IH, Tapper, D'rek and Khell for example.

I've surely shown the sort of impressive play that deserves the above recognition.

Maybe you were unlucky early on this game but the game before you showed yourself to be a good tactician.