Thanks for this video! I was excited about this game but the bad press, particularly from The Dice Tower really cooled me on this and it's just sat on my shelf waiting to be paid. With the upcoming Kickstarter for the expansion, I really wanted to get this to the table. Your videos usually help me pick up a game much quicker and I was glad to see you had covered it and your positive opinions make me a bit more excited to finally get it to the table.
I think it depends on what you are looking for in a game. The shapes and building to fit things in are a little underwhelming if that is why you bought it. However, the logistics and productions chains are really cool and that is what I like about it, so I am lucky in that regard. Glad to be of help to you either way!
@@JohnLaRuffa the shapes seemed like an added wrinkle that I definitely liked the concept of but really it was the mechanics I was excited about. Plus the designer, of course!
Thanks for the overview & review! Glad you enjoyed the game! Few solo rules notes: 9:35 - it would build a road if it can, even if it doesn't NEED to to score a tile, as it still gets points for roads (and poss. extend its longest road) - same as a player COULD build a road there if they really wanted. So at this point, it *would* have built a road, IF there was 2 ore available (but I think there was only 1 ore available at this point). 12:30 - when you refilled its draw 'cup', it should have gained a coin. 13:04 - when it gains coins, it gets VP instead, as you said, but it only gets 1VP per coins-reward it triggered (so if it got say 4 coins as a reward, it only gets 1VP total; if it got another 2 coins from a secondary effect (like using a refined good) it would get 1VP more, for that other 2 coins, etc. Giving it a 1:1 coin to VP ratio would be way too powerful. Why the 3D church: A vocal majority of kickstarter backers REALLY wanted it, and thus it did indeed help increase backer numbers. :) I never use it, as it does indeed block the view too much.
Thank you very much for the help where I made a few mistakes! I appreciate it. I also figured that the 3D church was for increasing the number of backers and I certainly respect that. I just don’t need it. I also hate the obelisk in Tekhenu for the same reasons :).
@Father Paolo, O.Pa. it is a keeper for me because I like the mechanics of the game but I don’t know if I would say it is a Turczi classic yet. I beat the bot both times by a sizable amount playing on the normal mode, so I need to up the difficulty a bit and try it again. I very much enjoy playing the game and think it is really fun.
I find this one super-fun BUT dragging a bit, game feels a little bit too long - the beginning is very slow, one meeple only, does not allow you to do a lot so it's back and forth with the bot.
I felt like that for my first game, but not my second one. I was able to raise money quickly and get a few workers going faster. The second game came in under an hour for me which felt just fine. My personal opinion is that the game clicked with me at that point and I was able to make much more efficient choices (and I clobbered the AI too).
Thank you for the video. I'd already played this 3 player and was looking for solo rules to cement what I was reading. One suggestion, either caveat your solo play with "This is how I play it, not necessarily the strict ruleset" or, actually use the full solo ruleset. You kind of fudged some stuff. I understand mistakes being made, but you chose not to use/fully know rules, and that is different. If you are teaching the rules, use/know the rules. Otherwise, everything was pretty good. *Side note, the background noise (some thumping, etc), actually made me pause the video, take my ear buds out and listen to my quiet house. I thought someone opened my front door or my house creeked/popped in an unusual way. Good luck with your channel.
Thanks for the suggestion. I try to make it clear when I deviate from the solo rules. Sorry I was not more clear about that. As for the thumping, if I waited to get a perfectly silent house before making a video, it would never happen. I have 4 kids, one of which walks like an elephant.
@@JohnLaRuffa About the thumping, I totally guessed it was family or animals, no worries there. It was just the perfect nose that made me think something happened in my house. I thought it was me going crazy. I backed up the video after I checked out my own house. I thought it was funny. As for the ruleset, you mentioned sort of some stuff you were doing, but in solo, if you want to take advantage of knowing what the bot is going to do, you actually might need to pay attention to where the maple is, which one you activate, etc. I won my game by only two points, but throughout the game I used the bot actions to my advantage. Even at one point, just not taking actions on two of my three workers, so that I didn't refill the wood and stone (nothing else I could do). If I had, the bot would have beat me by a lot. The rules are very particular about when and how the bot takes actions, places tiles, etc. Anyway, it's all good and I plan on checking out some of your other videos.
@@billkennedy1410 that makes sense. I think sometimes I don’t take advantage of the rules that control the bot in some cases, and it does cost me some points. Most of the time though I try to play it by the book. Thanks again for the feedback and I hope you enjoy other videos on my channel.
Thanks for this video! I was excited about this game but the bad press, particularly from The Dice Tower really cooled me on this and it's just sat on my shelf waiting to be paid. With the upcoming Kickstarter for the expansion, I really wanted to get this to the table. Your videos usually help me pick up a game much quicker and I was glad to see you had covered it and your positive opinions make me a bit more excited to finally get it to the table.
I think it depends on what you are looking for in a game. The shapes and building to fit things in are a little underwhelming if that is why you bought it. However, the logistics and productions chains are really cool and that is what I like about it, so I am lucky in that regard. Glad to be of help to you either way!
@@JohnLaRuffa the shapes seemed like an added wrinkle that I definitely liked the concept of but really it was the mechanics I was excited about. Plus the designer, of course!
@@ChadHensley and that is how I feel about them as well.
Thanks for this video it really helped!
Very glad to hear this!
Thanks for the overview & review! Glad you enjoyed the game!
Few solo rules notes:
9:35 - it would build a road if it can, even if it doesn't NEED to to score a tile, as it still gets points for roads (and poss. extend its longest road) - same as a player COULD build a road there if they really wanted. So at this point, it *would* have built a road, IF there was 2 ore available (but I think there was only 1 ore available at this point).
12:30 - when you refilled its draw 'cup', it should have gained a coin.
13:04 - when it gains coins, it gets VP instead, as you said, but it only gets 1VP per coins-reward it triggered (so if it got say 4 coins as a reward, it only gets 1VP total; if it got another 2 coins from a secondary effect (like using a refined good) it would get 1VP more, for that other 2 coins, etc. Giving it a 1:1 coin to VP ratio would be way too powerful.
Why the 3D church: A vocal majority of kickstarter backers REALLY wanted it, and thus it did indeed help increase backer numbers. :) I never use it, as it does indeed block the view too much.
Thank you very much for the help where I made a few mistakes! I appreciate it. I also figured that the 3D church was for increasing the number of backers and I certainly respect that. I just don’t need it. I also hate the obelisk in Tekhenu for the same reasons :).
No, but he has responded to questions from me on BGG before. So that is pretty cool!
@Father Paolo, O.Pa. it is a keeper for me because I like the mechanics of the game but I don’t know if I would say it is a Turczi classic yet. I beat the bot both times by a sizable amount playing on the normal mode, so I need to up the difficulty a bit and try it again. I very much enjoy playing the game and think it is really fun.
I rarely comment on value, but this game is seriously overpriced. Thank you for your review! Great as always!
I find this one super-fun BUT dragging a bit, game feels a little bit too long - the beginning is very slow, one meeple only, does not allow you to do a lot so it's back and forth with the bot.
I felt like that for my first game, but not my second one. I was able to raise money quickly and get a few workers going faster. The second game came in under an hour for me which felt just fine. My personal opinion is that the game clicked with me at that point and I was able to make much more efficient choices (and I clobbered the AI too).
Thank you for the video. I'd already played this 3 player and was looking for solo rules to cement what I was reading. One suggestion, either caveat your solo play with "This is how I play it, not necessarily the strict ruleset" or, actually use the full solo ruleset. You kind of fudged some stuff. I understand mistakes being made, but you chose not to use/fully know rules, and that is different. If you are teaching the rules, use/know the rules. Otherwise, everything was pretty good. *Side note, the background noise (some thumping, etc), actually made me pause the video, take my ear buds out and listen to my quiet house. I thought someone opened my front door or my house creeked/popped in an unusual way. Good luck with your channel.
Thanks for the suggestion. I try to make it clear when I deviate from the solo rules. Sorry I was not more clear about that. As for the thumping, if I waited to get a perfectly silent house before making a video, it would never happen. I have 4 kids, one of which walks like an elephant.
@@JohnLaRuffa About the thumping, I totally guessed it was family or animals, no worries there. It was just the perfect nose that made me think something happened in my house. I thought it was me going crazy. I backed up the video after I checked out my own house. I thought it was funny.
As for the ruleset, you mentioned sort of some stuff you were doing, but in solo, if you want to take advantage of knowing what the bot is going to do, you actually might need to pay attention to where the maple is, which one you activate, etc. I won my game by only two points, but throughout the game I used the bot actions to my advantage. Even at one point, just not taking actions on two of my three workers, so that I didn't refill the wood and stone (nothing else I could do). If I had, the bot would have beat me by a lot. The rules are very particular about when and how the bot takes actions, places tiles, etc. Anyway, it's all good and I plan on checking out some of your other videos.
@@billkennedy1410 that makes sense. I think sometimes I don’t take advantage of the rules that control the bot in some cases, and it does cost me some points. Most of the time though I try to play it by the book. Thanks again for the feedback and I hope you enjoy other videos on my channel.