CORRECTIONS: 27:01 - To clarify, the strain token reduces the amount of the resource associated with that tile by 3, it doesn't actually affect the tile itself. You can only stop the strain from activating by placing a matching die on that tile.
Fabulous tutorial. Thank you. I played a round with a family member and then purchased the game and expansion pack from Kickstarter. We played a two person game. Fun! Your tutorial clarifies some of the instructions that I initially did not pick up on. Excellent.
As always, the dedication that you put to your tutorials is amazing. Great work. Regarding the game, it looks quite cool! Sadly, I have far too many games right now. One day you should make a tutorial on "how to engage your friends to play board games with you three times per week" :-p
Thanks for this! This was a much better experience than trying to just read through the manual. I'm having a game night tonight and one of my friends requested this game, so now I feel prepared to play and teach it to everyone tonight!
Update: I taught it less well than you, but my wife and the other couple loved the game! I definitely couldn't have explained it so well without you. Thanks Jon!
Seems like a really cool game! I love assymetrical powers/play and dice games, so it seems up my alley. It also looks like an incredibly hard game to teach though with all those little submechanics and important individual quirks, so I have huge doubts i would get it to the table. Will have to think on this one! Great guide/playthrough btw!
Backed this game and it arrived las week. Played it for the first time on Sunday and my group really enjoyed it. Really puzzley and we are looking forward to doing the missions proper now (after having played the training sim only for now)
Before I became a backer for Merchants of the Dark Road I watched your tutorial playthrough a couple times and then put an order in with my local game store. This could possibly be another situation here too! Where I'm struggling is if I want another space-themed game after buying Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy and backing ISS Vanguard, getting the cooperative game The Loop, or finally picking up Kanban EV or Barrage. Tough decision (I should probably just buy all three!). Great video and great job!
Hi Jon. Thanks again for a great tutorial. It is always great watching Your Playthroughs. Though I have to say that Intrepid isn't my game. :-). I am looking forward to Your next Tutorial.
@1:07:10, not sure if I'm missing something, but is there any reason for the Japan player to not activate the two slots he have available? Both will give him a die back, so nothing will really change in that regard
This game seems TOUGH! I typically don’t enjoy dice games, but there’s enough ways to modify the dice that the randomness doesn’t seem to be as big of a problem as in other dice games. There’s so many competing decisions; I wouldn’t definitely get analysis paralysis. Seems like a great game! Thanks for another wonderful playthrough
Hi @JonGetsGames, thanks for a thorough walkthrough. One question: at 26:53 you say that strain tokens only deplete the time they're on, but the rulebook says "If there is a Strain token on a Station tile, and there are no dice on that tile that match the Strain token (or no dice at all), the total number of ressource depicted on the tile generated by all players is reduced by 3 for that round.", which would seem to imply that strain applies globally?
Crap, I did say that poorly. I meant to say what the rulebook says, but instead of saying it reduces the resource of the type of that tile I said "that that tile makes" which is confusing. I've added a Klingon correction, hopefully that helps clear this up.
Thinking about some other games you have played through as well... Theme matters. It's part of us big kids playing what we want to "play". Not everyone likes the same things. Now I don't hate this theme but I can't say I have been looking for an international space station game. Plus, generally speaking, I have a lot of space and sci-fi theme games (anything from Eclipse to Space Corp to Star Realms). Mechanically - very loosely - this game brought two other games to mind - Dice Hospital and Police Precinct - Not because they are close to the same game as this, but because they are also roll-and-assign or roll-and-complete-tasks games with themes I specifically sought. I didn't know of either game when I set out to look for them, but in both cases I was looking for themes that I wanted to "play" (medical and police) and I didn't have any games of those themes at all. So when someone is designing a game I suppose it is a question of both choosing a theme that will interest others enough plus also not have too many games in that specific niche. Anyway, I'm very thankful for games that have been designed in very nichey niches that I enjoy, whether or not they are tremendously popular.
Curious that you find the Hospital and Police themes to be more attractive than a Space Station. Personally I find the Space Station theme to be much more interesting, but I agree that it's subjective and it's good we have so many games with different themes so everyone can get a bit of everything.
I was thinking to back it, but in end didn't. It looks very puzzly and better than I remember seeing on campaign, theme really shines in mechanisms and gameplay! Now will need track it down and get in my hands to play. Only thing that I am bumped about is that video, even if 1h 30min, felt too short and I want see more :)
Hi Jon, At 28:20, you perform the check minimum resources step. And then at 30:15, you talk about the trigger resource bonuses step. In actuality, the trigger resource bonuses step happens BEFORE the check minimum resources step (as confirmed by Uproarious and as shown in the rulebook on pages 22 and 23). Unfortunately, there's an error in the rulebook on page 21 that indicates the steps are performed in the order you explained them (so it's not your fault that you got it backwards). Page 21 is wrong and pages 22-23 are right. One more minor note: It would help if you actually mention the trigger resource bonuses step by name in your time indexes above. I think you identified all the other major steps, but you talk the trigger resource bonuses step in the how to win the game section, and it sort of gets lost there. I actually had a problem finding it after I watched the video all the way through because I was looking for it before the check minimum resources step, and it wasn't called out in your time stamps. Great video as always!
Huh, this is all quite confusing. Uproarius warned me about the steps being wrong in an email, but even with that warning and the rulebook plus player aides I got quite confused as to what was right or wrong. I filmed it with the bonus first, then thought that was the incorrect way and did some editing to swap it around. They didn't mention it being backwards when I sent it to them for error checking, so this all surprises me. I'm glad you did enjoy the video, through all this :)
@@JonGetsGames Very weird. After I saw your video, I thought perhaps I had it wrong all along and checked online. The message from Uproarious was, “The Trigger Resource Bonuses step happens before Checking Minimum Resources. We want all of the Mission cards’ steps to be done together, in order, then when Mission steps are all complete, you can Check Minimum Resources.” So Trigger Bonuses first, then Minimum Resources second. Maybe Uproarious had it wrong initially at their end, which might explain the rule book error and their not catching the error in your video. In any event, I think it might be worthy of a Klingon. Your call though.
Regarding the 'mission specialist' career badge. Can you give the capacity to yourself? In the appendix it says "to another player", but the badge says "a player".
Thanks for this John! I should be getting this delivered next week. Are we likely to hear your thoughts on it or if this unlikely to appear on the good games blog? ;)
I must say... that doesn't look like a lot of fun. Kind of a big tease: here's a bunch of fun tiles, until the game blocks them or weakens them. Also looks very math-y. But very clear tutorial!
Not that I can think of, I imagine if it doesn't work well for a player they can simply use a different country. It's an extra layer of challenge when planning out the various stilt options you have to get to the values you want.
Just to ask, when you record your tutorials, do you find the corruptive ones easier to do since you can play as all of the players since you're working with each other to win the game, or are the competition ones easier since each play is playing against each other to win? I thought I ask, since I see for myself that you play all of the tutorials by yourself, and wanted to know if it's easier on one type of game over another when you're playing as multiple people for the tutorial videos.
I find competitive games to be far easier to film vs cooperative. In competitive I just have to think about self-serving moves for the players whereas for coop I have to think as if I was multiple people collaborating and working as a team. cooperative games take much longer to film for sure.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
CORRECTIONS:
27:01 - To clarify, the strain token reduces the amount of the resource associated with that tile by 3, it doesn't actually affect the tile itself. You can only stop the strain from activating by placing a matching die on that tile.
To go with this, what about strain/amplify on dual resource pieces? Does it affect both or do you pick one? Ie. the boost pieces?
Fabulous tutorial. Thank you. I played a round with a family member and then purchased the game and expansion pack from Kickstarter. We played a two person game. Fun! Your tutorial clarifies some of the instructions that I initially did not pick up on. Excellent.
As always, the dedication that you put to your tutorials is amazing. Great work.
Regarding the game, it looks quite cool! Sadly, I have far too many games right now. One day you should make a tutorial on "how to engage your friends to play board games with you three times per week" :-p
I can relate on so many levels !
Jon gets it again…..Superb!!! It must take a lot of hard work to be seen to be so smooth.
Thanks for this! This was a much better experience than trying to just read through the manual. I'm having a game night tonight and one of my friends requested this game, so now I feel prepared to play and teach it to everyone tonight!
Update: I taught it less well than you, but my wife and the other couple loved the game! I definitely couldn't have explained it so well without you. Thanks Jon!
Just received my copy not long ago and was looking for a tutorial, instead of reading the rulebook. Another great video. Thank you!!
The publisher asked that I release the video now to time it with backers getting their copies :)
Seems like a really cool game! I love assymetrical powers/play and dice games, so it seems up my alley. It also looks like an incredibly hard game to teach though with all those little submechanics and important individual quirks, so I have huge doubts i would get it to the table. Will have to think on this one!
Great guide/playthrough btw!
Oh man, what a puzzle! My eyes got so wide when you first showed the components.
It was hard to fit it all on the table!
Great video Jon. Your content is tremendous. Thank you for your hard work.
Backed this game and haven't got it yet! Can't wait to try this out!! Thanks so much, Jon!
Backed this game and it arrived las week. Played it for the first time on Sunday and my group really enjoyed it. Really puzzley and we are looking forward to doing the missions proper now (after having played the training sim only for now)
fantastic guide as always, it seems a nice game!
This is my kind of game, i backed it. Thank you so much for the tutorial
Before I became a backer for Merchants of the Dark Road I watched your tutorial playthrough a couple times and then put an order in with my local game store. This could possibly be another situation here too! Where I'm struggling is if I want another space-themed game after buying Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy and backing ISS Vanguard, getting the cooperative game The Loop, or finally picking up Kanban EV or Barrage. Tough decision (I should probably just buy all three!). Great video and great job!
Hi Jon. Thanks again for a great tutorial. It is always great watching Your Playthroughs. Though I have to say that Intrepid isn't my game. :-). I am looking forward to Your next Tutorial.
@1:07:10, not sure if I'm missing something, but is there any reason for the Japan player to not activate the two slots he have available? Both will give him a die back, so nothing will really change in that regard
I suppose that's true, though as you said it wouldn't have actually had an effect.
This game seems TOUGH! I typically don’t enjoy dice games, but there’s enough ways to modify the dice that the randomness doesn’t seem to be as big of a problem as in other dice games. There’s so many competing decisions; I wouldn’t definitely get analysis paralysis. Seems like a great game! Thanks for another wonderful playthrough
I agree, it does look to be a difficult game. I haven't played more than you saw here, but I feel like we were not on a winning trajectory :P
Great Guide!!
Hi @JonGetsGames, thanks for a thorough walkthrough. One question: at 26:53 you say that strain tokens only deplete the time they're on, but the rulebook says "If there is a Strain token on a Station tile, and there are no dice on that tile that match the Strain token (or no dice at all), the total number of ressource depicted on the tile generated by all players is reduced by 3 for that round.", which would seem to imply that strain applies globally?
Crap, I did say that poorly. I meant to say what the rulebook says, but instead of saying it reduces the resource of the type of that tile I said "that that tile makes" which is confusing. I've added a Klingon correction, hopefully that helps clear this up.
Thinking about some other games you have played through as well... Theme matters. It's part of us big kids playing what we want to "play". Not everyone likes the same things. Now I don't hate this theme but I can't say I have been looking for an international space station game. Plus, generally speaking, I have a lot of space and sci-fi theme games (anything from Eclipse to Space Corp to Star Realms). Mechanically - very loosely - this game brought two other games to mind - Dice Hospital and Police Precinct - Not because they are close to the same game as this, but because they are also roll-and-assign or roll-and-complete-tasks games with themes I specifically sought. I didn't know of either game when I set out to look for them, but in both cases I was looking for themes that I wanted to "play" (medical and police) and I didn't have any games of those themes at all. So when someone is designing a game I suppose it is a question of both choosing a theme that will interest others enough plus also not have too many games in that specific niche. Anyway, I'm very thankful for games that have been designed in very nichey niches that I enjoy, whether or not they are tremendously popular.
Curious that you find the Hospital and Police themes to be more attractive than a Space Station. Personally I find the Space Station theme to be much more interesting, but I agree that it's subjective and it's good we have so many games with different themes so everyone can get a bit of everything.
I was thinking to back it, but in end didn't. It looks very puzzly and better than I remember seeing on campaign, theme really shines in mechanisms and gameplay! Now will need track it down and get in my hands to play. Only thing that I am bumped about is that video, even if 1h 30min, felt too short and I want see more :)
Hehe, sorry to cut it off. This video took twice as long as a normal video already, I can't imagine how long it'd have taken to do a full playthrough.
@@JonGetsGames all fine, just looks as very exiting game! :)
Hi Jon, At 28:20, you perform the check minimum resources step. And then at 30:15, you talk about the trigger resource bonuses step. In actuality, the trigger resource bonuses step happens BEFORE the check minimum resources step (as confirmed by Uproarious and as shown in the rulebook on pages 22 and 23). Unfortunately, there's an error in the rulebook on page 21 that indicates the steps are performed in the order you explained them (so it's not your fault that you got it backwards). Page 21 is wrong and pages 22-23 are right. One more minor note: It would help if you actually mention the trigger resource bonuses step by name in your time indexes above. I think you identified all the other major steps, but you talk the trigger resource bonuses step in the how to win the game section, and it sort of gets lost there. I actually had a problem finding it after I watched the video all the way through because I was looking for it before the check minimum resources step, and it wasn't called out in your time stamps. Great video as always!
Huh, this is all quite confusing. Uproarius warned me about the steps being wrong in an email, but even with that warning and the rulebook plus player aides I got quite confused as to what was right or wrong. I filmed it with the bonus first, then thought that was the incorrect way and did some editing to swap it around. They didn't mention it being backwards when I sent it to them for error checking, so this all surprises me. I'm glad you did enjoy the video, through all this :)
@@JonGetsGames Very weird. After I saw your video, I thought perhaps I had it wrong all along and checked online. The message from Uproarious was, “The Trigger Resource Bonuses step happens before Checking Minimum Resources. We want all of the Mission cards’ steps to be done together, in order, then when Mission steps are all complete, you can Check Minimum Resources.” So Trigger Bonuses first, then Minimum Resources second. Maybe Uproarious had it wrong initially at their end, which might explain the rule book error and their not catching the error in your video. In any event, I think it might be worthy of a Klingon. Your call though.
Wow, those dials 😱
Regarding the 'mission specialist' career badge. Can you give the capacity to yourself? In the appendix it says "to another player", but the badge says "a player".
I believe you can give it to yourself, but I am not the final authority for the game's rules so I can't be sure.
Thanks for this John! I should be getting this delivered next week. Are we likely to hear your thoughts on it or if this unlikely to appear on the good games blog? ;)
It's unlikely it'll show up any time soon. I'm not really playing games with friends IRL right now due to the Delta variant unfortunately.
I must say... that doesn't look like a lot of fun. Kind of a big tease: here's a bunch of fun tiles, until the game blocks them or weakens them. Also looks very math-y. But very clear tutorial!
I can see that perspective, this one certainly won't be for everyone.
The orientation of the dice mechanic seems a bit clumsy,wondering if there is a cleaner way of achieving same result?
Not that I can think of, I imagine if it doesn't work well for a player they can simply use a different country. It's an extra layer of challenge when planning out the various stilt options you have to get to the values you want.
I wonder if this one works well and is enjoyable with 2 players?
Just to ask, when you record your tutorials, do you find the corruptive ones easier to do since you can play as all of the players since you're working with each other to win the game, or are the competition ones easier since each play is playing against each other to win?
I thought I ask, since I see for myself that you play all of the tutorials by yourself, and wanted to know if it's easier on one type of game over another when you're playing as multiple people for the tutorial videos.
I find competitive games to be far easier to film vs cooperative. In competitive I just have to think about self-serving moves for the players whereas for coop I have to think as if I was multiple people collaborating and working as a team. cooperative games take much longer to film for sure.
That's a good question and got the answer i was expecting.
Nice
thank you for the video, I was going to buy this game. I really don't like it