Thanks, magnet. Exactly what I was hoping to read. #3 and #4 are part of what killed the game for me, and I disagree pretty strongly about #5, but that’s a great breakdown for why you like it and far more thorough than what I could offer from the time I’ve spent with it.
Certain games of certain genres offer certain kind of experiences. Furthermore, some of them are worth comparing because the experiences they offer are so similar. When there are already a few good sci-fi 4X games, the issue with Ascendancy isn’t that it’s 99 cents. The issue is that it can’t hold a candle to other games of the same genre already available on the platform. Also, if you only have time for one game and you’re not playing Ascension on the iPad, you’re missing out. Chess? Dude.
-Tom
The May Ascension league is underway as of today! No problem if anyone wants to join in at any time. :) :) :) :) (That’s us.)
Egad, I had to read that three times before my brain stopped parsing it as the May Ascendancy league!
-Tom
nKoan
1664
If you don’t already have Bastion on iOS, its one sale for $0.99
Le Havre 1.4 update coming next week:
- new “Auto Loan” and “Auto Feed” options to speed up (online) play
It might be time to try another 4 player game again. There should be less time wasted on stupid shit now.
I hope Eclipse does the same…
Agricola has been submitted by Playdek and should be available within 2 weeks, for anyone that cares. (I just traded away my copy of the board game.)
I’m excited about this, I think. It’s Playdek so it should be pretty slick with good multiplayer. I’ve enjoyed exploring classic Euro games like Puerto Rico and Le Havre. I know nothing about the game itself, so I’m not sure how much different it will be compared to those two.
opkopk
1668
Here’s a question which probably belongs on this thread…
I’ve got a backlog of games that I haven’t had the time to learn properly. Maybe some suggestions from the masses?
I play a bunch of and feel like I know: Ascension, Penny Arcade, Neuroshima, Lost Cities, TTR, Puerto Rico, San Juan, Eclipse, Food Fight…
I know plenty about and should probably play more of Carcassonne, Catan, Dominion, SolForge…
But there’s this list of games I have and have maybe played once or twice, but want to put the time in to learn more about. Maybe you guys can suggest where to focus?
Battle of the Bulge, Tigris & Euphrates, Caylus, Le Havre, Cabals, Nightfall, Tikal, Medici, Ra, Summoner’s War, Outwitters?, Dominant Species?
Honestly some of these I don’t even remember buying…
Of the games you mention, I’ve played Tigris & Euphrates, Caylus, Le Havre, and Nightfall.
I didn’t care for Nightfall.
Tigris and Euphrates is a great board game, but the adaptation is clumsy. It’s hard for me to recommend. It’s also a very, very abstract game.
I had a good time with both Caylus and Le Havre. I think the Caylus adaptation probably works best if you have the rulebook for the real board game, because the adaptation is a decent enough job, but doesn’t explain the game well enough.
I don’t have a physical copy of Le Havre, and had little trouble learning it from the iOS app. I am familiar with the genre though, and had played Ora et Labora just a short while before, which is a very similar (and better) game.
@opkopk
Just curious, which game do you like better Puerto Rico or San Juan?
I do like Summoner Wars and the adaption is awesome but I believe many got tired of playing it.
Outfitters is a fun little game and probably deserved to get more media attention than it did, and I think they are still updating it so kudos to the devs.
Get Summoner Wars ASAP! Fantastic multiplayer you won’t regret. It’s an easy to learn hard to master type of game that may discourage you if you aren’t willing to invest the time to get good at it against others.
opkopk
1672
I think Puerto Rico is a better game and is more fun to play on the pad than IRL. San Juan is more fun to play IRL as its quicker and the iOS translation makes it hard to tell what’s going on. Also it’s impossible to play asynchronous.
They’re both great games. I think PR is beautifully designed and balanced. San Juan is almost as good but still feels like PR junior.
opkopk
1673
Ok, ok. I’ll try to learn some and maybe hit you up for funs and learnings after I feel like I won’t embarrass myself.
BTW. All those I listed are games I already own and just don’t have time to play.
If you have kids, boys in particular, they will probably really like Summoner Wars too.
I am Geetop on Game Center and I am not great so feel free to play me when you are ready.
Multiplayer is just going to take more time. Run through the singleplayer stuff first to shrink your list, and stop buying so many games in the meantime.
Summoner wars is still my favorite IOS board game. I think it has fallen into disfavor around here because of three things:
- The Magic Drain mechanic. Too many factions have this ability, and while you can counter it, it’s not a particularly fun mechanic to deal with. I always wonder if a house rule where you can’t magic drain unless you have 2 cards in your discard pile (like summoning surge) would alleviate some of the damned turtling. Maybe only for the dwarves and elves. Any thoughts? Pacman? Trung?
- Balance between the races. It’s actually pretty good considering how differently the races play, but some are scientifically better than others. Maybe some sort of a match up chart (similar to what Dave did for NHex – great idea btw) would help.
- Learning curve. The AI is terrible and no help at all beyond learning the basic rules, so you really have to prepare to lose a fair bit in the beginning to other players. Experience counts for more with SW than in either Ascension or NHex.
I wouldn’t mind manning the spreadsheets for a league here again if there is enough interest (I think banana has fallen out of love with SW.)
I think the Neuroshima Hex matchup chart would help a Summoner Wars league thrive again!
Thraeg
1679
Yeah, I liked Summoner Wars a lot, but eventually burnt out on it (Magic Drain was definitely a big part of it). I had planned to come back when they added the rest of the factions, but haven’t heard anything new on that front, so who knows if it will happen.
I remember really liking the original PC release of Ascendancy, and also explicitly remember eventually not liking it, but I don’t remember why. Maybe it was the AI, since that seems to be the most common complaint with it, looking back.
