The King of Cups expects a picnic. But this is not his birthday!

Drusilla ,'Conversations with Dead People'


Gaming 1: You are likely to be eaten by a grue

A thread for the discussion of games: board, LARP, MMORPG, video, tabletop RPG, game theory etc. etc. and all attendant news, developments and ancillary subjects thereof, as well as coordinating/scheduling games either online or IRL. All are welcome to chime in, talk about their favorite games or learn about gaming of any sort.

PLEASE TO WHITEFONT SPOILERS for video games, RPG modules or anything for which foreknowledge of events might lessen one's enjoyment of whatever gaming experience.


Connie Neil - Feb 11, 2016 12:35:46 pm PST #24958 of 26133
brillig

RftG

I will be unavailable from late 2/16 to early 2/19, as I will be in Vegas in a hot tub.


billytea - Feb 13, 2016 1:08:54 am PST #24959 of 26133
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.

RftG

I will be unavailable from late 2/16 to early 2/19, as I will be in Vegas in a hot tub.

I approve of these priorities.

Meanwhile! I have everyone's orders:

Connie Neil: Phase IV (x2) - Consume (double VPs)
Laga: Phase IV ($) - Consume (Trade)
omnis: Phase I (+1/+1) - Explore (draw +1 card, keep +1 card)
chrismg: Phase III - Settle

Three phases in four different Action cards. Explore is up first.

Laga and chrismg look at 2 cards and keep 1.

Connie gets an extra peek from Expedition Force. She looks at 3 cards and keeps 1.

omnis chose this phase, and both looks at and keeps 1 extra card. And then, both Separatist Colony and Galactic Survey: SETI add two extra peeks each. That's look at a total of 7 cards, keep 2 cards.

Everyone, please let me know what you keep. If you haven't done so, you can also send me COs for Phase III. (Or let me know if your Explore draw changes your orders.)


billytea - Feb 14, 2016 12:23:20 pm PST #24960 of 26133
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.

RftG

Everyone's sent me their choice, and orders for Phase III (Settle) as well:

Connie plays Alien Robot Sentry. This is a 2-strength military Alien windfall world. Her strength of 2 is just sufficient to play it. With this play, she has 3 goods on her layout, one short of the number needed to claim the "4 goods" goal. (It also puts her two Alien cards short of claiming the "3 Alien" goal.) She then draws a card due to Terraforming Robots.

Laga passes.

omnis plays Outlaw World. This is a 1-strength military world, which his strength matches. It has a power allowing him to consume 1 good for 1 VP and 1 card.

chrismg plays Gem World for 2 discards. This is a Blue production world, which gives him 1 card draw whenever he produces on it. This also extends his lead in Blue/Brown worlds; he now has 4 such worlds, while everyone else has 2. He then draws 1 card for choosing this phase.


billytea - Feb 14, 2016 12:31:37 pm PST #24961 of 26133
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.

RftG

We finish up the round with Phase IV (Consume).

Connie chose this round, and opted to double her VPs. She consumes her 2 Brown goods on Epsilon Eridani and New Earth, for 1 VP and 1 card each. That's 2 VPs and 2 cards, which doubled becomes 4 VPs and 2 cards. She has one good left, the Yellow good on Alien Robot Sentry; she also has one Consume power left, on Terraforming Robots. But that can only consume Brown goods, so her Yellow good goes untouched. (Note that she could have arranged things differently, to consume all three; but players may choose the order in which to resolve Consume powers and which goods to assign to them. She chose to allocate goods so as to keep this one.)

Laga also chose Phase IV, but she chose to trade a good. She trades her Brown good for 3 cards and consume the Blue good on Secluded World for another 1 card, 4 cards total.

omnis has 1 Blue good, which he consumes on his new Outlaw World for 1 VP and 1 card.

chrismg has 1 Brown good, which he consumes on Mining Conglomerate for 1 VP.

Cards are going out now. Everyone, please send me your choice of Action card for Round 7.


billytea - Feb 14, 2016 12:38:00 pm PST #24962 of 26133
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.

RftG

End-of-round summary:

Round 6
Goals
Largest Industry - Most Blue/Brown Worlds (chrismg)
Greatest Military - Most Military Strength
Galactic Riches - First to 4 goods
Overlord Discoveries - First to 3 Alien cards
Budget Surplus - First to discard at round end (Laga, omnis)
Galactic Status - First to play 6-cost development (Laga, omnis)

Connie Neil
Layout
Epsilon Eridani (Non-Military World)
Expedition Force (Development)
New Earth (Non-Military Brown Production World)
Terraforming Robots (Development)
Rebel Miners (Military Brown Production World)
Alien Robot Sentry (Military Yellow Windfall World) + good

Cards in Hand: 5
Victory Points: 5
Layout Value: 10
6-Cost Developments: 0
Goals: 0

Laga
Layout
Ancient Race (Non-Military Green Windfall World)
Secluded World (Non-Military Blue Production World)
Comet Zone (Non-Military Brown Production World)
Mining League (6-Cost Development)

Cards in Hand: 7
Victory Points: 0
Layout Value: 4
6-Cost Developments: 2
Goals: 6

omnis
Layout
Separatist Colony (Non-Military World)
Pirate World (Military Blue Windfall World)
New Survivalists (Military Blue Production World)
Investment Credits (Development)
Galactic Survey: Seti (6-Cost Development)
Outlaw World (Military World)

Cards in Hand: 6
Victory Points: 1
Layout Value: 6
6-Cost Developments: 6
Goals: 6

chrismg
Layout
Imperium Armaments World (Non-Military Brown Production World)
Alpha Centauri (Non-Military Brown Windfall World)
Mining Conglomerate (Development)
Radioactive World (Non-Military Brown Windfall World)
Gem World (Non-Military Blue Production World)

Cards in Hand: 6
Victory Points: 2
Layout Value: 6
6-Cost Developments: 0
Goals: 5

VP Pool: 40


billytea - Feb 15, 2016 9:46:42 am PST #24963 of 26133
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.

RftG

Orders are in, and we have an interesting situation:

Connie Neil: Phase II - Develop
Laga: Phase II - Develop
omnis: Phase II - Develop
chrismg: Phase II - Develop

Yes, everyone chose the same phase this time round. Everyone has a development to play (at -1 cost), and nothing else.

Connie plays Space Marines for 1 discard. This gives her +2 military, for a total now of 4.

Laga plays Terraforming Robots for 2 discards. This gives her an extra card draw whenever she plays a world, and she may consume a Brown good for 1 VP and 1 card. (Connie has this in her layout too.)

omnis gets an extra -1 cost from Investment Credits, and plays Replicant Robots for 2 discards. This gives him -2 cost on any non-military worlds.

chrismg goes all out, and plays Galactic Renaissance for 5 discards (the rest of his hand). This 6-cost development has an Explore power: look at +2 cards, keep +1. At game end it's worth a third of all his VPs from consumption, plus VPs each for some specific cards. At present it's worth 0.

And that concludes Round 7! Time to do it all over again. Everyone, please send me your choice of Action card for Round 8.


billytea - Feb 15, 2016 9:47:37 am PST #24964 of 26133
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.

RftG

End-of-round summary:

Round 7
Goals
Largest Industry - Most Blue/Brown Worlds (chrismg)
Greatest Military - Most Military Strength
Galactic Riches - First to 4 goods
Overlord Discoveries - First to 3 Alien cards
Budget Surplus - First to discard at round end (Laga, omnis)
Galactic Status - First to play 6-cost development (Laga, omnis)

Connie Neil
Layout
Epsilon Eridani (Non-Military World)
Expedition Force (Development)
New Earth (Non-Military Brown Production World)
Terraforming Robots (Development)
Rebel Miners (Military Brown Production World)
Alien Robot Sentry (Military Yellow Windfall World) + good
Space Marines (Development)

Cards in Hand: 3
Victory Points: 5
Layout Value: 11
6-Cost Developments: 0
Goals: 0

Laga
Layout
Ancient Race (Non-Military Green Windfall World)
Secluded World (Non-Military Blue Production World)
Comet Zone (Non-Military Brown Production World)
Mining League (6-Cost Development)
Terraforming Robots (Development)

Cards in Hand: 4
Victory Points: 0
Layout Value: 6
6-Cost Developments: 2
Goals: 6

omnis
Layout
Separatist Colony (Non-Military World)
Pirate World (Military Blue Windfall World)
New Survivalists (Military Blue Production World)
Investment Credits (Development)
Galactic Survey: Seti (6-Cost Development)
Outlaw World (Military World)
Replicant Robots (Development)

Cards in Hand: 3
Victory Points: 1
Layout Value: 8
6-Cost Developments: 6
Goals: 6

chrismg
Layout
Imperium Armaments World (Non-Military Brown Production World)
Alpha Centauri (Non-Military Brown Windfall World)
Mining Conglomerate (Development)
Radioactive World (Non-Military Brown Windfall World)
Gem World (Non-Military Blue Production World)
Galactic Renaissance (6-Cost Development)

Cards in Hand: 0
Victory Points: 2
Layout Value: 6
6-Cost Developments: 0
Goals: 5

VP Pool: 40


Connie Neil - Feb 16, 2016 5:42:37 am PST #24965 of 26133
brillig

RftG

I will probably not respond to game things till Friday. But I'll be thinking of all of you from my Vegas hot tub.


billytea - Feb 16, 2016 8:05:26 pm PST #24966 of 26133
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.

I can't help feeling that that would be making suboptimal use of Vegas hot tubs.


megan walker - Feb 17, 2016 12:13:06 pm PST #24967 of 26133
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist

FYI for anyone with old Magic cards about:

I had my revised edition collection out for my friend's kid and out of curiosity checked the price of dual lands. Any one with blue (Tundra, Tropical Island, Volcanic Island, Underground Sea) is going for well over $100 on eBay. Before I was done even listing the four duplicates I had (and I priced on the high end), my Volcanic Island sold for the "Buy It Now" price of $225. Within 30 minutes a local offered to meet me and buy the other 3 for $450 cash. Makes me wish I bought more when I was filling out my collection and they were priced around $15-20.