Firefly the game. You can't take the hype from me

Games
21

Had our local meetup last night and despite the small crowd, it looks like we’ve got at least 3 copies among us (including mine).

This was the first play through for 3 out of the 4, and #4 I think has played once. It wasn’t a great experience, and I have a feeling it’s going to be hard to convince several of the folks to try it again. We played for about an hour, and it was apparent that there wasn’t much fun being had, and we ended up stopping the game without anyone accomplishing a single goal on the card, and only maybe 3 jobs total completed.

Some of it is the goal card. Most of the goal cards seem to be pretty rough for an inexperienced group. I’ve seen at least one user-submitted “starter” card over at BGG that might even be from GF9 which would have been a much better introduction to the game’s mechanics. I think this would have helped a lot, because we had one player who basically got into a situation where they were just trying to pass a misbehave check for something like 4 or 5 turns in a row. They didn’t seem to be badly geared/crewed, but probably needed to gather a few more things before starting the job.

There are also a number of rules or situations that don’t seem to be clearly handled by the rules. I found a FAQ over at the game site which goes a long way towards explaining those situations, and does a little better job of handling the Work and Deal actions.

My run actually started out ok, but got ugly after about 15-20 minutes. I finished a milk run at the start for some quick cash and had two more job cards in my hand that both started in the same place. I stopped on the way to the start to load up on fuel, parts, and bought some crew and gear. I had no problems starting the two jobs (misbehave checks went well) and loaded the contraband for both in my stash. The drop offs were both on the other side of the board, so I decided to risk it and run through Alliance space. Two spaces into my burn I pulled the Alliance cruiser card, which means I lost my contraband (despite it being in my stash).

At this stage, I’m unsure what to do. I can’t go back to the start of the jobs and reload the contraband there. There’s no way to buy contraband directly to replace it. I understand (now) that there’s cards in the navigation decks that let you do a skill check to possibly steal some contraband, but that’s totally chance-based (two-factor even) making it extremely unlikely, and it doesn’t help that my crew is all moral as well. I can’t just discard the jobs in any way. So my only option seems to be to try and do one additional job at a time and try to just slowly work my through it and hope for the rare chance to steal some while flying. Oh, and I’m almost out of cash.

We ended up stopping shortly after that, so I didn’t get to play it through, but I could tell it was going to be a long, long time before I could even attempt the first goal (2 or 3 misbehaves + negotiation skill check + at least 5,000 cash).

One of the things I noticed was that the navigation decks are probably a little too brutal for my taste. It may have just been bad luck, but I ended up stopped almost every turn usually no more than two spaces into my burn, and they really interfere with working the jobs. I know that’s the kind of the point (flying is supposed to be risky and not boring), but until we have the game a little more in hand I’m also considering proposing a house rule to reduce the number of nav cards you flip (maybe once per area type entered) until we understand the game better. I think once people actually start completing jobs, they’ll start enjoying the game more and we can always ease that back once we’re more familiar with the risks of traveling and how to counteract them.

I think 1) that slight change combined with 2) using an easier goal card and 3) clarifying some of the ambiguous mechanics could really be the help we need to get the game moving and fun until we get our feet under us.

22

Sorry to hear it did not go as we’ll as hoped. That ‘King of all Londinium’ card has come up quite a bit as a source if consternation. There are three goals on the card and they require different skill sets to get through. Also it seems like the time spent on the first goal is going to be the majority of your game. This may not be immediately obvious to some players. Best case scenario you need at least 5000 on hand and you’ll probably want to be able to cover the 7000 level. These amounts are huge, on other game objective cards players end the game at the 12000 level.

Getting stuck on a job I can see being another big problem. It isn’t easy at all to replace lost contraband, cargo or passengers(Ammon can help you here). Smuggling is dangerous but that is small solace when it seems like you’ve got a worthless job in your active queue. Exercise a huge amount of discression in the jobs you start and remember that jobs in your hand can be cycled out until you find a good match.

Also remember the ‘make work’ action. You can collect 200 doing work on any planet no job or anything required. If you’re on your way from one point to another and you need at least two turns see if you can squeeze any opportunity in you can.

Tom M

23

My 13 yr old son and I played it at Gencon. He liked it and did well (he has not watched the show). I enjoyed it and look forward to playing again. We played at different tables and at mine there was one guy who would take a long time on his turn, as has been mentioned the downtime can be much depending on who you play with.

24

When it isn’t your turn that’s the time to go through the discards and plan out your turn as much as you can. If you wait till its your turn to start planning things look like they’ll drag. In the Merchant of Venus reprint not many people were upset that the player count was cut to four for this reason.

Tom M

25

Getting stuck on a job I can see being another big problem.

Yes, pretty much every review or commentary I’ve seen has mentioned this (along with the iffy rulebook). Most have suggested using a house rule to allow discarding jobs you can’t complete, maybe with some sort of penalty.

26

Yeah, when I walked up to the table they were just about done getting setup and had already put that card down as the one to work towards. When I looked over it I knew we were in for some trouble right away. When I looked over the rest of the story cards I realized it’s probably the hardest one to complete (and I just saw that it’s the one suggested by the rulebook as a good introduction…crazy).

While we’re talking about it, completing the goals on that card are all about doing some number of Misbehave checks and then a skill check. If I understand the rules correctly, that all has to be done on one turn, right? I think the FAQ that’s out specifically mentions you can’t “save” passed Misbehave cards. If that’s right…ouch. I’ll wait until I get a few more games under my belt, but passing multiple Misbehave and/or Skill checks in one turn seems really, really challenging. I know you can mitigate some of it by having a diverse crew/items, but at some point the die (as far as I can tell you only ever roll one) is going to fail you.

One of the cool things about this game is that it seems like there’s a lot of potential for house rules to customize the game’s difficulty and overall speed. I thought of several rule tweaks last night (some of which I mentioned above) that would have made the game a little easier/quicker without sacrificing the atmosphere. I know there are people out there that would scoff at doing anything other than the rules as written, but I really like it when a game can be tweaked to suit (and bonus points if the game designers though enough ahead to add some variations to the rule book). There may be times when you just can’t sit down and play for 3+ hours, or when non-board gamers would love a game for the theme and mechanics if given the chance.

27

So I played the first solo goal/game on Friday night (I know…super exciting!) and it was a much better experience. I know this is kind of a duh moment, but the main thing I learned is that having a good mix of crew, which you can get at the start of the solo game, makes a huge difference it your ability to do just about everything in the game. There were plenty of skill checks that I didn’t even need to roll for because of the bonuses from crew I had (and that’s without a whole lot of gear even). I also realized it’s a good idea in general to carry an expendable crew member for the inevitable failed check (or being solid with Niska) that requires you to kill someone off.

The game took me quite a bit of time to play (probably 90 minutes) because I was checking the rules a lot, but was a lot of fun in general.

The solo rules also made me realize another variant to make the game a little easier and shorter in group play would be to do some number of rounds of drafting from the supply decks for a starting crew, with the number adjustable to the skill/time for the group. It fits a lot better thematically than some of my other ideas (like modifying the nav deck mechanics).

28

I played this with my friend the other night. Not really impressed. Some systems seem unnecessary. For example, we never used a single part. It’s not clear why we need to “equip” equipment, as opposed to just having it in your hand. Why not just give an equipment cap based on on the number of crew you have?

The 12+ decks of cards are a real pain to shuffle. The movement cards feel like they should have been a die-roll with a lookup table instead of a deck. Moving the Reaver and Alliance cruiser was supposed to be a bit like the robber, I guess, but in a two player game we both felt like they were more annoying than anything and just kept them out of play as much as possible.

Ultimately we screwed around a lot hiring crew, equipment, and stockpiling cash. Once we hit critical mass, we blew through the Goal objectives and the game was over.

29

I haven’t played much since the first month or two after I picked it up. I still enjoy the game, but it’s somewhat difficult to teach quickly, and can take a long time to setup and play through.

For example, we never used a single part.

That’s pretty amazing. I’ve had players who almost never did a full burn, preferring to mosey everywhere, but I almost always end up needing to buy parts because of events in the full burn decks.

It’s not clear why we need to “equip” equipment, as opposed to just having it in your hand. Why not just give an equipment cap based on on the number of crew you have?

It does generally seem that way, but the idea is that if someone in your crew dies or is injured in the course of doing a job, you’ve also lost whatever equipment they had, and therefore whatever bonuses. I think part of the design intent too was that you wouldn’t always send everyone on a job (other than the times when you can’t) so you don’t risk valuable crew members (like Kaylee/Wash), but it didn’t really work out that way.

It’s probably also supposed to help in the storytelling/theme aspect, but if that’s not your thing, then it does make less sense.

The movement cards feel like they should have been a die-roll with a lookup table instead of a deck.

I don’t mind the movement cards, mainly because you can keep a rough count in your head of what events are left in the decks. It also makes it easier to work with the mechanic where you don’t get the Alliance Inspection and Reaver Attack (or whatever the names are) cards until the nav decks have been run through once.

Moving the Reaver and Alliance cruiser was supposed to be a bit like the robber, I guess, but in a two player game we both felt like they were more annoying than anything and just kept them out of play as much as possible.

The Reaver/Cruiser moving cards definitely don’t feel like they worked out as designed, especially in a two-player game. It works a little better with four players, but there’s still very little tension involved with them. I’ve only had one game where someone ended up moving the Reaver into a sector I needed to get into in order to finish a job, and it basically stayed there for 6 or 7 turns. I think this was supposed to be one way to make up for the lack of real player interaction that happens, but it kind of falls flat.

Ultimately we screwed around a lot hiring crew, equipment, and stockpiling cash. Once we hit critical mass, we blew through the Goal objectives and the game was over.

That’s definitely one of the better ways to play in my experience. It can be suicide if you try to do much other than milk runs before getting some gear and crew to help with the checks. Still, I don’t mind that part much as it makes sense with the theme.

The game definitely has a lot of problems with it, and I hope the next expansion is able to fix some of them (I haven’t played Breakin’ Atmo, but I doubt a few cards does much to the mechanics). But ultimately if you don’t enjoy Firefly and the idea that you’re out there in the Verse building up a crew and taking on jobs, it’s going to be very hard to overlook the issues.

30

I don’t understand the complaint about equipping. The point is that you can have as much equipment as you want. But you can only use as many pieces as you have crew. So there’s no “hand size” limit, but there is a limit to how many you can use in any encounter. As for not needing parts, I encourage you to have a look at some of the improved engines and then tell me you don’t need parts. :) We’ve had a fair number of games that seemed like they were decided by a particularly nice toy acquired as the Osiris Shipyards. And we’ve had plenty of crucial smuggling runs that would have outright failed were it not for a Cry Baby. In fact, I’d say Cry Babies are a necessary part of the lategame, which is why it’s important to know where you can find them (i.e. all over the place, IIRC).

I think the movement deck is brilliant for how getting jumped by the Alliance Cruiser or the Reavers is always a possibility. Always. As soon as it’s resolved, it gets shuffled back into the deck so it could theoretically come out the very next turn. And the longer it stays in there, the more likely it is to come out. A die roll wouldn’t work that way. Also, Balasarius, take a look at the cards when you get a chance. There’s some cool stuff theming and gameplay stuff in there. For instance, you’ll see that gadding about in the outer area for salvage is a viable way to make money considering the number of salvage opportunities. Just make sure to have a pilot and a mechanic.

Keep in mind as a multiplayer game, it’s a race. Not always an interactive one, but still always a race.

-Tom
31

Well I saw the Pirates and Bounty Hunters expansion in the store and I should have picked it up right then.

While I’m kicking myself and planning to head back does anyone have any opinions on it? It adds Pirate and Bounty Hunter ships, one each I think, and Captains. It looks like a couple new job stacks for those new career options. Rumor mill says this increases the interactivity as players are hitting each other now, I don’t know how it works in practice.

Tom M

32

Don’t have it yet, and am keen to try it, but I’m not sure when I’m going to. I’ve had two games of Firefly recently and my gaming group have a bunch of games we’ve just played once and are likely to play again a couple of times before Firefly. Not to mention ongoing Pathfinder ACG sessions.

33

I thought the Drive Through Review for it does a pretty decent job of explaining the bulk of it. There are now bounties, and a the bounty hunter player seems to focus on doing those (though others can do them as well) because of their smaller ship. As far as I can tell, the new mechanic for both bounties and the new jobs is boarding actions, which boil down to doing and passing skill tests.

It looks interesting, but I don’t think I’ll be getting it. No one at my game group seems to care for the game, and I doubt adding in a bit more player interaction is going to convince them to give it another shot.

34

Whoa, this is out?

I have to say I don’t mind the lack of player interaction as much as some people. It’s ultimately a racing game to see who can get to the finish line first. And the morale system gives players a way to seriously gank each other if you’re not careful. In fact, morale is more of an interactive system than the Alliance Cruiser or Reaver ship.

That said, I look forward to trying Pirates and Bounty Hunters.

-Tom

35

That reminds me, I should add that most, if not all, of the new story cards appear to focus on either boarding other people’s ships or doing more “bad” type jobs (like piracy).