I’ve got a complicated relationship with takeovers. On the one hand, I don’t dislike them like the general consensus. On the other hand, they have so many requirements to make them fire, it seems like it is always a bad idea (or rather, a pull of the slot machine) to invest in a takeover machine when you may likely never get a board state that pays off.
Games seem to play the same whether takeovers are on or off.
That said, I also win more when I ignore the goals, so…
That seems to tie into my point: you can’t really play for them, they just provide a points boost to whoever happens into them.
That said, I usually just play AA or XI these days. If I play the first arc, I’m content to go with the majority regarding takeovers and/or goals (after stating my weak preference to have takeovers on, and goals… er… off, I guess, maybe? No, I don’t care).
I’m starting a chant…
Orb!
Orb!
Orb!
Is there any online implementation where the orb can be played? Async would seem ideal for it.
Well, actually this one. Next game? I am in fact a closet orb fan. I do lose every time the orb is out because I can’t hold myself back, but what is gaming if not losing while exploring an abstracted alien artifact??
I’ve never played with orbs because I was too lazy to figure out the rules for them, so if somebody wants to play an orb game on BGA, I’d like to try it.
Understanding legal placements for orb cards is actually pretty easy, I get the impression it’s just a nightmare to craft correct airtight legalese to describe it perfectly. So, playing with rule-enforcement online is probably an easy way to learn.
That’s what I was thinking. I think my issue was mainly with the written rules for orbs but that applies to the RftG rulebooks as a whole.
In brief, iirc, a card cannot cover all 6 squares of another card, and where card edges are superimposed, you cannot downgrade the difficulty of passing through the card edge (so a wall must remain a wall, but a passage can become a barrier or wall). You can’t cover up tokens or player pieces.
That’s pretty much all there is to it.
So, it’s really easy to place a card that covers, say, 1 square of another card, because there are no card edges that match up, but it’s trickier to place a card whose external walls are the only overlap with other card(s).
Would be keen on the other expansion arcs if we are playing after this one
I’d play an orb game, my meatspace RftG is Base+AA as I’ve hammered Base+GS on the app.
Personally not keen on the full first arc from my plays in the app, but happy to play it here
Lehmann & co are either the best or the worst manual writers, depending on how you look at it. There is never an exception, omission, or vagary. But they accomplish this by writing it like a legal contract that requires active study to detangle and extract.
I usually make an outline while reading a Lehmann rulebook and after that, it’s suddenly simple.
It’s been a while since I last took a look at the rulebook, but I remember there being a lot of minor rules hidden in blocks of text. I know that I had enough trouble to look up some edge cases that I decided to wing it and actually never went back to figure out what the correct ruling was. So I think a lot of it comes down to unfortunate layout.
…trying to remember how to play Terra Mystica.
Doing the opposite of me is a good start
@Yashima needs to assess whether or not to keep Isle of Skye. Anyone have the app and want to have an asynch round?
I think it can cross the IOS/Android wall.
The problem with the app is it doesn’t have the expansions–at least not that I was able to find them right now. I have played the base game a few times iRL and on the app… which is the reason it’s on my almost-going pile. But I have repeatedly heard that the druids expansion is what makes 2 player really good and I just cannot bring myself to ask my partner to get it to the table… he is not that keen on boardgames with 2 after 2 years of pandemic. And we still have campaign games that he enjoys.
Yeah - if you need it to justify its existence on the basis of 2p, you need Druids, and that requires people. If it can survive as a 3-5 player game, base game is sufficient.
There is a new implementation of Tigris and Euphrates in alpha on BGA. No idea if it’s any good but if anyone wants to try it async let me know.
I can’t remember the rules, but I know Yellow and Yangtze so I’m sure I’ll pick it up
Given the Top 10’s being posted in the other thread I thought it was time to invite people to a game over at triqqy. I’d be down to do the BGA alpha as well. @lalunaverde?