The variety is pretty huge. Between the different AI difficulties and the randomized tile setups that guide you towards a different strategy each game, I'd say that this is a highly replayable game. Not to mention the mini-expansions.
@@JohnLaRuffa just played on medium perfectly following all rules (base game only). Lost 170 to 179. What an amazing game! So thrilling and quite an endorphin rush while doing the final scoring. When I see bot scores like this, you have a keeper on your hands. The only way me or you can ever part with this is if we need to sell all our games because our lives bottomed out.
Played this awesome game yesterday for the first time, was super-fun! Bot is just so well done and actually not that hard to run, certainly one of the easier bots from D. Turczi.
I'll have to see about that. After reading the rules, this bot seems more complex than what I'm used to from Turczi, but I'll have to play my first game in order to see how it flows. The bot's moves in this game seem very, very sensitive to the point where one little mistake can be game-changing. Honestly, that's not my type of solo game with rules like that, but we'll see how it goes.
My first play actually made me rage-quit. The AI was maxed on coins and then a perfect storm hit which caused it to gain like twenty poins, doing laps on the Bonus track. All started with a simple Explore twice on the island board. Possible I misplayed something. I need to give it another chance as I was liking it up until that happened. The AI had previously taken my planned spot on the board twice prior to that so I was already irritated lol.
It gets a power move every now and then, but I don’t think it cannot be beaten even with that because like in my video, it will have some dud turns too.
@@realdealastrology9 I never went back to it and I sold it. I know the Dice Tower eventually loved it too. I sold Voidfall as well and I wanted to love it so bad. In general, I am growing increasingly weary of Turzci's solo modes. I find that they either make the game too difficult, or they change the game entirely.
@@stevebillups9238 I haven't found that they make the game too difficult at all. I know it's more difficult to learn his solo modes, but I'm pretty good at understanding them. Only a couple of his solo modes I didn't really enjoy and sold them off. Fossilis and Terracotta Army come to mind. He rushed through them, which is why they are subpar. In his early designing days, his solo modes were superior (Trickerion, Teotihuacan, all the T games basically). Now, he's in very high demand, and the more work he needs to get done, the less focus he puts into his solo modes and the more the quality goes down. Here and there, he does come out with amazing hits (Castles of Burgundy Special Edition, for example), but he's getting some duds too. Gone are the days of him having solo hit after solo hit.
I outlined the rules, and I'm now ready for my first play. I will say that reading the bot's rules was rather intimidating and convoluted. I cringed through some of them because of how picky some of the rules sounded. I'll see how this goes. I know people have corrected you a few times on your playthroughs of this one, and I don't blame them. I highly doubt that any solo player will get this game completely right in every single playthrough. The placement priorities and seal stuff is rather overwhelming. I know you just go with your gut, but with me, I need to make the right decision or I get frustrated. If I don't make the right decision for the bot, then I feel like everything else after that is played wrong. I'll get a better idea of where I stand with this game after my first play. Games always live or die with me after the first play...IF I even get through the first play (Spirit Island, for example, didn't even make it through the first play before I sold it off).
I love this type of game and the choices it gives me that I don’t mind a couple of mistakes if they happen. I understand where you are coming from and you are right that the bot has a lot of ifs and thens…just muscle through it but expect your second play to be much smoother!
@@JohnLaRuffa Just played my first game on easy using the recommended tile setup. I won 169 to 128. Played by the rules with no major mistakes. Didn't find the rules too hard to learn. The hardest thing was knowing which Main Diary location the AI workers should go to based on their seals, particularly when a worker has 5 or 6 of them. Overall verdict: 10 out of 10 and permanent keeper! I love the AP it gives me. There's a limit to how far you can plan ahead, and you're sometimes confronted with two choices that seem equally strong and viable. That's the tensest part of the game for me, and I love that when it happens. The AI boards are interesting. You can kind of tell what type of strategy the AI will focus on, so you should try to capitalize on what it's weaker in while working around the objective tiles and crew cards. Overall a great game so far.. Now to play my second game on "normal" with randomized tile setups. After that, I'll buy some upgrades for the components, then move onto some new games.
@realdealastrology9 so happy to hear that you liked this one since you bought it on my recommendation 😅. Don’t worry about it being too easy. As you move to the next level or two, the Bot gets pretty tough. If you want an expansion, I would just go with the Firelands expansion. That provides a lot of interesting gameplay without overdoing it. To be honest, I have not even tried the other modules that came on the kickstarter yet as I already felt there was plenty to consider.
@@JohnLaRuffa Yep, I bought the Firelands expansion when I bought the base game. Still unopened. I'll add that a little later on. Now that the online publisher's store has everything in stock, I'm going to buy a couple of mini-expansions (Darwin worker, Great Ships to give a small boost at harder difficulty levels, and the scenarios expansion for extra cards). I'll also get the plastic wax seals because handling those tiny cardboard seals is a pain.
Игры
The board is huge! And it’s the most elaborate board to fold.
Looking forward to getting this played.
I’m loving this game. I’ve been playing it all week and there’s a good amount of variety. Plus I really like how the theme comes through.
I completely agree with you!
The variety is pretty huge. Between the different AI difficulties and the randomized tile setups that guide you towards a different strategy each game, I'd say that this is a highly replayable game. Not to mention the mini-expansions.
@@JohnLaRuffa just played on medium perfectly following all rules (base game only). Lost 170 to 179. What an amazing game! So thrilling and quite an endorphin rush while doing the final scoring. When I see bot scores like this, you have a keeper on your hands. The only way me or you can ever part with this is if we need to sell all our games because our lives bottomed out.
Thanks for your take on this one John, looks great.
It is great!
Thanks for the video, John. I got my copy last Saturday and look forward to giving the solo mode a try.
It is good stuff!
Played this awesome game yesterday for the first time, was super-fun! Bot is just so well done and actually not that hard to run, certainly one of the easier bots from D. Turczi.
I agree and I cannot wait to play it again!
I'll have to see about that. After reading the rules, this bot seems more complex than what I'm used to from Turczi, but I'll have to play my first game in order to see how it flows. The bot's moves in this game seem very, very sensitive to the point where one little mistake can be game-changing. Honestly, that's not my type of solo game with rules like that, but we'll see how it goes.
My first play actually made me rage-quit. The AI was maxed on coins and then a perfect storm hit which caused it to gain like twenty poins, doing laps on the Bonus track. All started with a simple Explore twice on the island board. Possible I misplayed something. I need to give it another chance as I was liking it up until that happened. The AI had previously taken my planned spot on the board twice prior to that so I was already irritated lol.
that's a fast comment! Only 15 minutes after this video dropped and BAM...comment
It gets a power move every now and then, but I don’t think it cannot be beaten even with that because like in my video, it will have some dud turns too.
Have you given it another chance? If so, what did you think?
@@realdealastrology9 I never went back to it and I sold it. I know the Dice Tower eventually loved it too. I sold Voidfall as well and I wanted to love it so bad. In general, I am growing increasingly weary of Turzci's solo modes. I find that they either make the game too difficult, or they change the game entirely.
@@stevebillups9238 I haven't found that they make the game too difficult at all. I know it's more difficult to learn his solo modes, but I'm pretty good at understanding them.
Only a couple of his solo modes I didn't really enjoy and sold them off. Fossilis and Terracotta Army come to mind. He rushed through them, which is why they are subpar. In his early designing days, his solo modes were superior (Trickerion, Teotihuacan, all the T games basically). Now, he's in very high demand, and the more work he needs to get done, the less focus he puts into his solo modes and the more the quality goes down. Here and there, he does come out with amazing hits (Castles of Burgundy Special Edition, for example), but he's getting some duds too. Gone are the days of him having solo hit after solo hit.
I outlined the rules, and I'm now ready for my first play. I will say that reading the bot's rules was rather intimidating and convoluted. I cringed through some of them because of how picky some of the rules sounded. I'll see how this goes. I know people have corrected you a few times on your playthroughs of this one, and I don't blame them. I highly doubt that any solo player will get this game completely right in every single playthrough. The placement priorities and seal stuff is rather overwhelming.
I know you just go with your gut, but with me, I need to make the right decision or I get frustrated. If I don't make the right decision for the bot, then I feel like everything else after that is played wrong. I'll get a better idea of where I stand with this game after my first play. Games always live or die with me after the first play...IF I even get through the first play (Spirit Island, for example, didn't even make it through the first play before I sold it off).
I love this type of game and the choices it gives me that I don’t mind a couple of mistakes if they happen. I understand where you are coming from and you are right that the bot has a lot of ifs and thens…just muscle through it but expect your second play to be much smoother!
@@JohnLaRuffa I'll report back to you about it!
@@JohnLaRuffa Just played my first game on easy using the recommended tile setup. I won 169 to 128. Played by the rules with no major mistakes. Didn't find the rules too hard to learn. The hardest thing was knowing which Main Diary location the AI workers should go to based on their seals, particularly when a worker has 5 or 6 of them.
Overall verdict: 10 out of 10 and permanent keeper! I love the AP it gives me. There's a limit to how far you can plan ahead, and you're sometimes confronted with two choices that seem equally strong and viable. That's the tensest part of the game for me, and I love that when it happens. The AI boards are interesting. You can kind of tell what type of strategy the AI will focus on, so you should try to capitalize on what it's weaker in while working around the objective tiles and crew cards. Overall a great game so far..
Now to play my second game on "normal" with randomized tile setups. After that, I'll buy some upgrades for the components, then move onto some new games.
@realdealastrology9 so happy to hear that you liked this one since you bought it on my recommendation 😅. Don’t worry about it being too easy. As you move to the next level or two, the Bot gets pretty tough. If you want an expansion, I would just go with the Firelands expansion. That provides a lot of interesting gameplay without overdoing it. To be honest, I have not even tried the other modules that came on the kickstarter yet as I already felt there was plenty to consider.
@@JohnLaRuffa Yep, I bought the Firelands expansion when I bought the base game. Still unopened. I'll add that a little later on. Now that the online publisher's store has everything in stock, I'm going to buy a couple of mini-expansions (Darwin worker, Great Ships to give a small boost at harder difficulty levels, and the scenarios expansion for extra cards). I'll also get the plastic wax seals because handling those tiny cardboard seals is a pain.