RftG

Gulp t burp

RftG

As usual, we'll break the points out by category.

Consumption VPs
Connie Neil: 5
Ryan: 9
omnis: 17
Laga: 4
chrismg: 3

This is omnis' main strength, fittingly given his starting world of Earth's Lost Colony. However, by game end Ryan had overtaken him in consumption potential at least (baseline consumption of 5 VPs vs 4).

Layout Value
Connie Neil: 10
Ryan: 16
omnis: 13
Laga: 10
chrismg: 27

This one, of course, belongs to chrismg. Military strategies tend to dominate here, as high-defence military worlds have the highest values in the game.

Status Developments
Connie Neil: 12
Ryan: 13
omnis: 0
Laga: 0
chrismg: 13

There's quite the gap in this one. Status developments were thin on the ground this game, with only four played. Neither omnis nor Laga got one on the table. Ryan and chrismg were particularly fortunate here, in that they both managed to draw the single most valuable status development for their particular layout.

However, you'd have to say Ryan was especially fortunate. He only picked up Galactic Exchange about two rounds before the end of the game, and it was worth 5 VPs more than any other card on offer for him. Conversely, chrismg got Rebel Alliance in his starting hand, and held onto it for the entire game. That gave him the option of shaping his layout to maximise its value. Also, any of Galactic Imperium, Imperium Lords or Imperium Seat (there's a bit of a theme developing here) would have been worth almost as much to him.

Goals
Connie Neil: 8
Ryan: 6
omnis: 6
Laga: 5
chrismg: 0

Last game, Laga dominated the field here. This time around the points were more evenly spread.

Next up, we'll put it all together.

RftG

So let's see where everyone lands.

Closing Summary

Connie Neil
Victory Points: 5
Layout Value: 10
6-Cost Developments: 12
Goals: 8
Total: 35

Ryan
Victory Points: 9
Layout Value: 16
6-Cost Developments: 13
Goals: 6
Total: 44

omnis
Victory Points: 17
Layout Value: 13
6-Cost Developments: 0
Goals: 6
Total: 36

Laga
Victory Points: 4
Layout Value: 10
6-Cost Developments: 0
Goals: 5
Total: 19

chrismg
Victory Points: 3
Layout Value: 27
6-Cost Developments: 13
Goals: 0
Total: 43

VP Pool: 25

There's just a single point in it, but:

Ryan wins!

chrismg is in second place with 43. omnis' final consumption binge just edges out Connie for third place.

Wow! It was close a round ago. That's quite a last round.

Good game everyone! Congratulations to Ryan!!

And special thanks to our Game Master extraordinaire, BillyTea!

RftG

This time I had military strength but no military assets.

RftG

thanks again, billytea!

I never did figure out a plan for this game. Well played, everyone else!

It did feel like it zoomed by a lot faster. Not sure if that was us all responding in a timely manner. Just felt like less rounds. I know I didn't develop fast enough. I was feeling the pressure that the end was near, so I was going to focus more on phase IV & V for the rest of the game. And just as I formulated that adjustment, it was the end of the game.

RftG

it zoomed by for me too.

I'LL GET YOU NEXT TIME, RED BARON-

Er, I mean, good game Ryan! We took it right down to the wire. Thanks again bt.

RftG

As always, it is my pleasure to run the game. Ryan is feeling pretty chuffed, although, as I pointed out to him, he was very lucky to make it. Ultimately he hit first place on the strength of just one card, Galactic Exchange; there was no other card in the deck that was particularly close in value for him. (He could've turned his layout into a decent Consumption engine with more Consume powers, but time had run out to crank it up.)

Commendations go to chrismg and omnis, who managed to get the elements in place for a strong military and a Consumption strategy respectively.

Race is, of course, a card game. Luck of the draw is a Thing. And that's my lead-in to start to talk about the third expansion, Brink of War. I'm not proposing to introduce it for a while yet. The third expansion introduces prestige points, which I think are pretty awesome but definitely make things more complicated. This is a good point to settle for a bit. However, there is a mechanism from the third expansion that I might suggest we introduce a couple of games down the road. It's one part of a bigger, more complicated mechanism. But this simpler bit can (I think - haven't really tested it) be broken out and used on its own.

What happens: each player, once during the game, can forego choosing a phase for the current round. Instead they choose Search (Phase 0, effectively). When a player chooses Search, they choose from a list of eight criteria. They then flip through the deck, one by one, until they find a card that matches their chosen criterion. The first time they find one, they have the option to accept or reject that card. If they reject it, they keep flipping, and must accept the second card.

Why introduce this? Because it's a way that players can try to turn things around when you just can't find the card you need. Essentially, the kinds of card you can look for are either cards that you need just to get started, or cards that are good value in the end game. For instance: want to go military, but can't find any actual military? Search for a development that gives +1 or +2 strength. Don't see a way to get your card flow going? You can look for a cheap windfall world (1 or 2 cost, or for military, 1 or 2 defence). If you've held off till later in the game, you could looks for a high-defence military world or a status development, among others.

Anyway, I'm not planning to introduce it in the next game, but let's put it under consideration.