[twelve]

And I need to Thank Blend for nixing the Aeitherstream bonus to prevent IH from bringing his other two mechs to the fight in Winnu. I do say the expansion upgrades for Winnu make them a playable race. I still think they are a weak race because they are easy to stop early even with the bonus 2 to production every round but if they can get a few mechs and PDS down in the first couple of rounds they aren't quite the pushover they used to be. AND by God that +2 bonus is a thing!

Thanks D'rek for modding this for us. Much appreciated.

[D'rek]

That's a wrap, folks!

Congratulations on the win, Twelve! Well played!

Feel free to post your would-be status phase posts here in the chat thread, if you are so-inclined. Also feel free to smack-talk and wax lyrical with your thoughts on the game here, too!

If you want to do some serious analysis, discussion, or propose any changes, I made a separate post-game thread for that.

[Khellendros]

Yes, thanks very much D’rek for a really fun game!

[Blend]

If somehow none of Tatts, IH nor Twelve could have scored, I had enough to win the game with my SO. Lots of ifs there though!

Great game, though the endgame dragged a bit for my taste. Congrats Twelve!

[Blend]

Oh and thank you Drek for your infinite moddy patience!

I'll get a signup thread for the next game up soon!

[Morgoth]

twelve, on 14 April 2021 - 10:26 PM, said:

Whoa! Morgoth would have won if I hadn't taken the Rigel planets!!! I feel a whole lot better about getting this win. I had a sneaky suspicion he was a threat but didnt think it was this close.

I told you that attack ruined everything!

Well done, twelve! It was about time you got the Winnu their due.

[Morgoth]

Thanks a lot for modding, D'rek! This was a monster of a game, with so many new mechanics and moving parts, and yet you kept it going throughout.

I am very much ready for a new game

[Morgoth]

At any rate, I would have gotten to 11 points in total this status phase. Alas, my last SO was to control a legendary planet, which didn't go so well with my relic.

[Morgoth]

I dunno how to manage without these awesome mechs though! I felt I got about as much mileage out of my faction as I could. I would have preferred to take more systems to take advantage of the explore / refresh combo, but with the Saar as my closest neighbour that became too risky. Still, cool race all in all.

It was a shame I didn't get the opportunity to try out the mechs with the flagship, that would have been absurd.

This post has been edited by Morgoth: 15 April 2021 - 05:48 AM

[Imperial Historian]

That was hugely fun. I didn't think I was in the running early game as argent felt like they didn't have much of a mechanism to gain extra points, and tatts, khell, twelve and morgoth all seemed to be in position to win last round, but late game having two war suns was awesome. Think argent are definitely more suited to a 14vp game.

MVP for blend whose actions stopped me, tatts and khell winning.

Winnu definitely seem like the most boosted race, it feels like if they are not under pressure from the start they will always be close to the win.

The new races are all awesome, and in general race balance seems to have improved, especially with the new POs, there are no longer any races I don't want to play.

[Tattersail_]

Yeah Blend the Destroyer of hopes and dreams.

I think I could have carried on last round and even attacked Twelves homeworld myself with the Ministry of War Card but that turn took ages to work out and I felt I held up the game too long so just passed.

A 14 point game would have been a lot different. 10 felt too short and the SO's I drew had me turtle instead of expand.

Whoever plays these guys next will hopefully use the upgraded cruisers because they are awesome. Sustain damage, plus 3 movement plus 2 capacity. Very good ship.

Gutted I didn't get to use them but technology was not a requirement in the short game compared to what it would have been in a14 point game.

[Khellendros]

Blend, on 14 April 2021 - 11:53 PM, said:

If somehow none of Tatts, IH nor Twelve could have scored, I had enough to win the game with my SO. Lots of ifs there though!

Great game, though the endgame dragged a bit for my taste. Congrats Twelve!

Not before I scored my PO and SO

Agree with others on the 14 point game, though with better play I’m sure I could have won this one too. That’s what made this game feel good, with all the expanded options and actions it always felt like there was a chance for the game to swing your way.

I’m really looking forward to actually trying out one of the new factions now!

[Blend]

Khellendros, on 15 April 2021 - 08:50 AM, said:

Blend, on 14 April 2021 - 11:53 PM, said:

If somehow none of Tatts, IH nor Twelve could have scored, I had enough to win the game with my SO. Lots of ifs there though!

Great game, though the endgame dragged a bit for my taste. Congrats Twelve!

Not before I scored my PO and SO

Agree with others on the 14 point game, though with better play I’m sure I could have won this one too. That’s what made this game feel good, with all the expanded options and actions it always felt like there was a chance for the game to swing your way.

I’m really looking forward to actually trying out one of the new factions now!

Definitely meant Khell, Twelve and Tatts, you three had higher initiative than me. Not sure why I put IH, who had Imperial. LoL

[D'rek]

Imperial Historian, on 15 April 2021 - 07:45 AM, said:

That was hugely fun. I didn't think I was in the running early game as argent felt like they didn't have much of a mechanism to gain extra points, and tatts, khell, twelve and morgoth all seemed to be in position to win last round, but late game having two war suns was awesome. Think argent are definitely more suited to a 14vp game.

Interesting, my takeaway was the opposite. Argent feel to me like they grow super fast and will easily have more planets and firepower than anyone else in the first couple rounds, but that steadily tapers off as other players catch up and the Argent abilities aren't as impactful in the late game, so 14 VP would just extend their late-game disadvantage even more.

[D'rek]

Tattersail_, on 15 April 2021 - 07:50 AM, said:

Gutted I didn't get to use them but technology was not a requirement in the short game compared to what it would have been in a14 point game.

Tech seemed to be a lower priority overall in this game. Lots of rounds where one or more players didn't research anything, compared to previous games where tech was almost always a get-at-all-costs. I wonder if that's a PoK thing or just this game in particular.

[Blend]

D, on 15 April 2021 - 01:33 PM, said:

Tattersail_, on 15 April 2021 - 07:50 AM, said:

Gutted I didn't get to use them but technology was not a requirement in the short game compared to what it would have been in a14 point game.

Tech seemed to be a lower priority overall in this game. Lots of rounds where one or more players didn't research anything, compared to previous games where tech was almost always a get-at-all-costs. I wonder if that's a PoK thing or just this game in particular.

From what I've read, it's a PoK thing. As tech objectives no longer exist, it's less important to tech up, particularly with everything else in the game, so you see it a lot less in general!

[Khellendros]

Blend, on 15 April 2021 - 01:36 PM, said:

D, on 15 April 2021 - 01:33 PM, said:

Tattersail_, on 15 April 2021 - 07:50 AM, said:

Gutted I didn't get to use them but technology was not a requirement in the short game compared to what it would have been in a14 point game.

Tech seemed to be a lower priority overall in this game. Lots of rounds where one or more players didn't research anything, compared to previous games where tech was almost always a get-at-all-costs. I wonder if that's a PoK thing or just this game in particular.

From what I've read, it's a PoK thing. As tech objectives no longer exist, it's less important to tech up, particularly with everything else in the game, so you see it a lot less in general!

I think tech objectives still exist, it's just that no new ones were added to PoK, so the likelihood of them coming up is reduced. However, in this game I would have definitely liked to have researched more, but in a few rounds Tech just seemed to be played at moments when I could not use it. Having no unit upgrades whatsoever at the end doesn't feel right, and were it not for Blend's Aether abilities, movement would have been a huge problem.

[Blend]

Yeah, I guess you're right, I thought we were meant to take out the tech objectives as part of Codex, but I guess not!

But yeah, now instead of 2 out of like 10 being tech objectives, it's like 2 out of 20, so less likely to be important.

[D'rek]

Khellendros, on 15 April 2021 - 01:41 PM, said:

Blend, on 15 April 2021 - 01:36 PM, said:

D, on 15 April 2021 - 01:33 PM, said:

Tattersail_, on 15 April 2021 - 07:50 AM, said:

Gutted I didn't get to use them but technology was not a requirement in the short game compared to what it would have been in a14 point game.

Tech seemed to be a lower priority overall in this game. Lots of rounds where one or more players didn't research anything, compared to previous games where tech was almost always a get-at-all-costs. I wonder if that's a PoK thing or just this game in particular.

From what I've read, it's a PoK thing. As tech objectives no longer exist, it's less important to tech up, particularly with everything else in the game, so you see it a lot less in general!

I think tech objectives still exist, it's just that no new ones were added to PoK, so the likelihood of them coming up is reduced. However, in this game I would have definitely liked to have researched more, but in a few rounds Tech just seemed to be played at moments when I could not use it. Having no unit upgrades whatsoever at the end doesn't feel right, and were it not for Blend's Aether abilities, movement would have been a huge problem.

Ahh that's a good point. Who needs gravity drive or dreadnought II when you've got Aetherstream/passage available to you.