iOS Board Games: 2013 XL Edition

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Bottom Liner: Feb 15, 2006; a specific vein of lasagna

Agricola is actually pretty simple to play, just kinda hard to figure out how to do well. It helps if you spend sometime learning what different things cost so you can make a basic strategy of what you want to spend your turns collecting. Start really small, and every game try to add something new to your farm without giving up what you were building towards before. It's kind of like Dominion in that you can figure out combos, for lack if a better term, and different strategies to win different ways.

For the first couple of games, try to focus on getting a bigger family 4-5 members, and feeding them all.

Then start with fields and veggies.

Then add animals, fences, and stables.

It's a really fun "Sim-farm" mechanic hidden inside a really clever worker placement game.

Bottom Liner fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Aug 15, 2014

# ? Aug 15, 2014 16:00

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# ? May 29, 2024 13:51

Owlkill: Jul 1, 2009

Does anyone have any general tips on how to not be awful at Lords of Waterdeep? I picked this up recently and really like it, but even against the easy level AI I've yet to place higher than second in three-player games.

# ? Aug 15, 2014 16:13

jubelio: Dec 10, 2003; if you can balance a tac-hammer on your head, you can head off your opponent with a balanced attack

Owlkill posted:

Does anyone have any general tips on how to not be awful at Lords of Waterdeep? I picked this up recently and really like it, but even against the easy level AI I've yet to place higher than second in three-player games.

Quests that give bonuses for completing other quest or allow you to place a guy on previously occupied spaces are amazing as long as you can complete them before round 4-5. You have to remember that, in general, you will be doing the same number of actions as your opponents, so you need to make sure to play to the strengths of your character as much as possible and be aware of quests and player buildings that give more than typical board value[2 orange/black - 1 purple/white - 4 gold etc etc]. Also, not all quests are created equal. Dont grab crap 10-15 point quests unless you know they have a 2nd reward that will help you out in a very specific way. I usually will grab a 20-25 pointer after I have one or two of those early game gems that I mentioned earlier.

# ? Aug 15, 2014 18:21

Agronox: Feb 4, 2005

Owlkill posted:

Does anyone have any general tips on how to not be awful at Lords of Waterdeep? I picked this up recently and really like it, but even against the easy level AI I've yet to place higher than second in three-player games.

I've been playing the poo poo out of this during my commute, although usually 4 player games. Some things to take into consideration, at least versus the AI:

1) All other things equal, it's better to buy buildings earlier in the game than later, as you'll get more bonuses out of them. For instance, if you can grab a first turn Waymoot, you're probably getting at least 10 VPs out of it. The Yawning Portal will almost certainly get you at least 8 of whatever you want.

2) Although the Intrigue cards can affect the economy, it's buildings that are going to be the primary way surpluses of resources enter the game. So when you're deciding what quests to take, factor that in. So, for instance, if it looks like the only way you're going to get purple is through Blackstaff Tower, you might want to avoid Arcana quests. Likewise, if something like Smuggler's Dock is out, you might want to pick up a quest like Bolster City Guard (9O, 2B for 25 VP) even though you don't have a Warfare hidden lord.

3) Unless they're plot quests, you generally want to complete quests as late as you possibly can. That way the AIs will be less likely to spam Mandatory quests at you. (Something like Aid the Harpers should practically never be completed any earlier than round 8.)

4) Actions in later rounds will probably net you more resources than actions in earlier rounds, because more buildings will be in play. Therefore it's a better idea to grab quests in early rounds rather than later. And don't be afraid to flush the quests if there's nothing you like. Sometimes having first pick at a random 4 quests is much better than a pick + Intrigue or whatever.

5) Speaking of that, as time goes by you'll see that some quests are much better than others. Pay close attention to the 25 point quests; these are very efficient if you have enough time to complete them. Others that provide a bunch of resources (Thin the City Watch, for example) may be extremely helpful too, particularly if the board has a shortage in them.

Agronox fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Aug 15, 2014

# ? Aug 15, 2014 23:46

panko: Sep 6, 2005; ~honda best man~

I challenge everyone to Agricola. No One Will Beat Me

by the way. Star Realms is out. If you like Ascension 2-player, you will love this game. I garontee.

# ? Aug 15, 2014 23:52

Eschatos: Apr 10, 2013; pictured: Big Cum's Most Monstrous Ambassador

Owlkill posted:

Does anyone have any general tips on how to not be awful at Lords of Waterdeep? I picked this up recently and really like it, but even against the easy level AI I've yet to place higher than second in three-player games.

In the first two rounds, get as many buildings and useful plot quests as possible. Higher point quests are better unless you have one of those point increasing plot quests. That's really the foundation of decent strategy.

# ? Aug 16, 2014 00:01

Quickpull: Mar 1, 2003; We're all mad here.

If anyone is looking for more Star Realms games, send a challenge to Quickpull

# ? Aug 16, 2014 00:09

Bullbar: Apr 18, 2007; The Aristocrats!

MizuZero posted:

I challenge everyone to Agricola. No One Will Beat Me

by the way. Star Realms is out. If you like Ascension 2-player, you will love this game. I garontee.

User name Bullbar, hit me up

# ? Aug 16, 2014 00:21

The Nastier Nate: May 22, 2005; All aboard the corona bus!

HONK! HONK!; Yams Fan

MizuZero posted:

I challenge everyone to Agricola. No One Will Beat Me

Admiral Cool on Playdek...you will definitely beat me.

# ? Aug 16, 2014 01:20

Beelzebozo: Nov 6, 2002; I don’t mean to sound bitter, cold, or cruel. But I am, so that’s how it comes out.

Looking for more Star Realms victims. In as Beelzebozo.

# ? Aug 16, 2014 15:00

durty: Jan 28, 2009

Oh god. Most exciting news ever....

Racer feud 2 is being made at the moment!!

GOTY. I'm calling it now

# ? Aug 18, 2014 10:22

Bullbar: Apr 18, 2007; The Aristocrats!

MizuZero posted:

I challenge everyone to Agricola. No One Will Beat Me

by the way. Star Realms is out. If you like Ascension 2-player, you will love this game. I garontee.

Yo what's your playdek name

# ? Aug 18, 2014 11:15

Lawen: Aug 7, 2000

Obsidian (the Fallout New Vegas devs) have a tablet port of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game in the works. They had a beta running on iPads at GenCon and it looked pretty awesome. More info here but no release date yet.

# ? Aug 18, 2014 12:54

Mandatory Assembly: May 25, 2008; it's time to get juche; Lipstick Apathy

Fantasy Flight doing BattleLore for iOS. There's a video and images at Pocket Tactics.

# ? Aug 18, 2014 13:16

Paradoxish: Dec 19, 2003; Will you stop going crazy in there?

So, Star Realms is feeling pretty crazy random to me. Like, Ascension is plenty random, but this takes things to a whole new level. I've won (and lost) games by a huge margin based on one or two really lucky draws. Faction combos just feel unreasonably powerful for how easy they are to put together.

# ? Aug 18, 2014 19:22

Serotonin: Jul 14, 2001; The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of *blank*

UncleSmoothie posted:

Fantasy Flight doing BattleLore for iOS. There's a video and images at Pocket Tactics.

I was hoping it was going to use 2ed setting but this looks like 3rd edition. Still a mus buy. On that note why on earth hasn't someone done the other Commands & Colors games yet for iOS? Memoir 44 would be great and pull in the ww2 fan demographic, but the Ancients or Napoleonics would work well too.

# ? Aug 19, 2014 08:06

Mandatory Assembly: May 25, 2008; it's time to get juche; Lipstick Apathy

Serotonin posted:

I was hoping it was going to use 2ed setting but this looks like 3rd edition. Still a mus buy. On that note why on earth hasn't someone done the other Commands & Colors games yet for iOS? Memoir 44 would be great and pull in the ww2 fan demographic, but the Ancients or Napoleonics would work well too.

Playdek has the license for Commands and Colors Ancients, they just haven't built it yet.

# ? Aug 19, 2014 12:15

AMISH FRIED PIES: Mar 6, 2009; by Nyc_Tattoo

durty posted:

Oh god. Most exciting news ever....

Racer feud 2 is being made at the moment!!

GOTY. I'm calling it now

Ahahahha.

Hah. :smith:

# ? Aug 19, 2014 13:57

Spincut: Jan 14, 2008; Oh! OSHA gonna make you serve time!
'Cause you an occupational hazard tonight.

Serotonin posted:

I was hoping it was going to use 2ed setting but this looks like 3rd edition. Still a mus buy. On that note why on earth hasn't someone done the other Commands & Colors games yet for iOS? Memoir 44 would be great and pull in the ww2 fan demographic, but the Ancients or Napoleonics would work well too.

Oh wow, I just imagined playing Memoir '44: Overlord (the giant 6-player game) on iOS and got giddy. I hope that happens.

# ? Aug 19, 2014 18:08

Dre2Dee2: Dec 6, 2006; Just a striding through Kamen Rider...

Star Realms is a thousand times better than Ascension but... I'm already kind of bored of it.

# ? Aug 19, 2014 23:02

quiggy: Aug 7, 2010; [in Russian] Oof.

Dre2Dee2 posted:

Star Realms is a thousand times better than Ascension

Your opinion is wrong :colbert:

# ? Aug 19, 2014 23:04

LifeLynx: Feb 27, 2001; Dang so this is like looking over his shoulder in real-time; Grimey Drawer

Dre2Dee2 posted:

Star Realms is a thousand times better than Ascension but... I'm already kind of bored of it.

Unless you're on an iPhone. My eyes can only take so much.

# ? Aug 19, 2014 23:07

panko: Sep 6, 2005; ~honda best man~

Playdek moniker:

khailautomatic

add me if you dare!!

# ? Aug 20, 2014 03:23

Crackbone: May 23, 2003; Vlaada is my co-pilot.

Dre2Dee2 posted:

Star Realms is a thousand times better than Ascension but... I'm already kind of bored of it.

Then it's not really better than Ascension.

# ? Aug 20, 2014 03:54

Bottom Liner: Feb 15, 2006; a specific vein of lasagna

Yeah, even two years later I can still play and enjoy the hell out of any expansion or the base set of Ascension. All time top iOS game for me, with Carc in 2nd. Agricola has been inching up there now that I'm getting more comfortable with it. I want to try the expansion decks but I don't really understand what they change about the game.

# ? Aug 20, 2014 04:54

Serotonin: Jul 14, 2001; The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of *blank*

UncleSmoothie posted:

Playdek has the license for Commands and Colors Ancients, they just haven't built it yet.

Oh fuuuuuuck want so bad

# ? Aug 20, 2014 11:32

Owlkill: Jul 1, 2009

Getting in on the Star Realms action, my username is Owlkill if anyone wants some of this noise.

# ? Aug 20, 2014 13:55

Bottom Liner: Feb 15, 2006; a specific vein of lasagna

Which Carcassonne expansions should I get? Can anyone give a simple rundown of what they add, fun-wise?

# ? Aug 22, 2014 18:45

PJOmega: May 5, 2009

durty posted:

Oh god. Most exciting news ever....

Racer feud 2 is being made at the moment!!

GOTY. I'm calling it now

I really want a good ~~Formula De~~ Racer Feud simply because portability and asynchronous play would actually see play in my real life playgroup.

# ? Aug 22, 2014 19:09

Beelzebozo: Nov 6, 2002; I don’t mean to sound bitter, cold, or cruel. But I am, so that’s how it comes out.

Bottom Liner posted:

Which Carcassonne expansions should I get? Can anyone give a simple rundown of what they add, fun-wise?

I feel like we've answered this before, but sure. Here are my answers to your question of what is added as well as my personal opinions, listed in order of release, as a frequent player with a 1417 quickplay Elo and 1316 friends Elo. The number I list in brackets is the order in which I would recommend purchasing the expansions, assuming you're willing to purchase some number of them less than the total number offered.

River: This is a separate set of tiles that is played before the other tilesets you choose. It is a boring phase of the game taken on its own, but it can set the table for more interesting segregation plays later on. I prefer not using it. [4]
Inns & Cathedrals: This adds a double-strength meeple as well as two kinds of tiles that can be used either offensively as point multipliers or defensively as point negaters. This changes the game dramatically in a way that I quite like but that you might not want to use every time. [2]
Traders & Builders: This adds two new workers, one that grants extra turns in unfinished features and another that acts as a farm point multiplier, as well as new tiles that give you a reason to complete a city in which you have no equity, which is interesting. I really love every aspect of this expansion. [1]
Princess & Dragon: This adds a hodge-podge of new mechanics, each of which is more or less reviled for various reasons. The fairy is a frustrating tug of war that rewards you for tiles you'd otherwise be throwing away. The dragon feels way too random and hard to play around, especially given that you can move the fairy (immunity) on the same turn in which you activate it. Kicking people out of features is too harsh for something that can't be guarded against. And portaling meeples to uncashed fields is too strong for a random draw. This expansion is a great way to help weaker players win matches against stronger ones. Recommend avoid. [5]
Phantom: This adds a meeple that can be placed on the same tile in the same turn as another meeple. It captures those free road points you used to pass on when laying a multi-feature tile on which you preferred to stake a city. It's a nice option to throw on any other game for only a buck. I enjoy it. Just don't "save" it so much that you forget to use it, just like you did with that double-meeple above. [3]

Now this is where everyone from GroupMe comes out of the woodwork to disagree with me.

# ? Aug 22, 2014 19:50

Zigmidge: May 12, 2002; Exsqueeze me, why the sour face? I'm here to lemon aid you. Let's juice it.

Don't get the river because they didn't include River 2. River 1 on its own creates huge lopsided victories based on megafarms alone. It's not great and 2 was created exclusively to fix that.

# ? Aug 22, 2014 20:06

durty: Jan 28, 2009

Beelzebozo posted:

Now this is where everyone from GroupMe comes out of the woodwork to disagree with me.

Incorrect.

Stompy the dragon is the best thing ever added to this game

And my ELO is 1198 so you know I am qualified to say what is good

# ? Aug 22, 2014 21:13

Beelzebozo: Nov 6, 2002; I don’t mean to sound bitter, cold, or cruel. But I am, so that’s how it comes out.

It may be of interest here to point out that TheCodingMonkeys recently confirmed to Owen Faraday that their next release is another Carc expansion (after they just put out the excellent, if not tabletop related, Rules!).

# ? Aug 22, 2014 21:15

Zigmidge: May 12, 2002; Exsqueeze me, why the sour face? I'm here to lemon aid you. Let's juice it.

I wish they brought The Tower into the digital version. It's my favourite mechanic - it forces aggressive and vengeful play.

# ? Aug 22, 2014 21:54

Bummey: May 26, 2004; you are a filth wizard, friend only to the grumpig and the rattata

The dragon is dumb and adds an extra 120 turns to the game. It's fun in the beginning when you can eat meeps and ruin cities, but when you're late in the game with a lot of complete cities and roads, you waste a shitload of time moving that dragon around empty spaces. It's painful to play an async game with more than 2 people when you have that expansion enabled.

# ? Aug 22, 2014 22:27

Tezzeract: Dec 25, 2007; Think I took a wrong turn...

Paradoxish posted:

So, Star Realms is feeling pretty crazy random to me. Like, Ascension is plenty random, but this takes things to a whole new level. I've won (and lost) games by a huge margin based on one or two really lucky draws. Faction combos just feel unreasonably powerful for how easy they are to put together.

The combos for Blob get pretty insane. The other factions don't get quite as much of a blowout draw with combos - usually just a bit of extra damage.

As for randomness, Machine Cult is the 'fixer' for Star Realms. Scrapping your deck is a bit slow to start out with, but gives you a great deck as the game goes on. Plus their permanents/space stations are gamebreaking - Brain World can practically win you the game on the turn it comes out. Machine World is great for 'rainbow' decks.

# ? Aug 22, 2014 22:55

Bottom Liner: Feb 15, 2006; a specific vein of lasagna

Should I get Star Realms or the newest Ascension expansion? I skipped coffee today, so I'm ballin' with this extra pocket money :smug:

# ? Aug 22, 2014 23:00

Paradoxish: Dec 19, 2003; Will you stop going crazy in there?

Tezzeract posted:

The combos for Blob get pretty insane. The other factions don't get quite as much of a blowout draw with combos - usually just a bit of extra damage.

As for randomness, Machine Cult is the 'fixer' for Star Realms. Scrapping your deck is a bit slow to start out with, but gives you a great deck as the game goes on. Plus their permanents/space stations are gamebreaking - Brain World can practically win you the game on the turn it comes out. Machine World is great for 'rainbow' decks.

The problem is that you're still at the mercy of the center row, just like Ascension. There's no guarantee that you'll get enough red cards to make a difference, or that you'll get them early enough to get a trash strategy moving. I actually just played a game a few hours ago where the poor guy I was playing against couldn't buy anything except for explorers for five turns, while I managed to grab a freighter and a federation shuttle on my first turn. I ended up winning that game with something silly like 70 authority.

# ? Aug 22, 2014 23:22

cbirdsong: Sep 8, 2004; Commodore of the Apocalypso; Lipstick Apathy

Bummey posted:

The dragon is dumb and adds an extra 120 turns to the game. It's fun in the beginning when you can eat meeps and ruin cities, but when you're late in the game with a lot of complete cities and roads, you waste a shitload of time moving that dragon around empty spaces. It's painful to play an async game with more than 2 people when you have that expansion enabled.

It's extra dumb that they don't just automatically advance the dragon when there's only one valid direction.

# ? Aug 22, 2014 23:33

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# ? May 29, 2024 13:51

quiggy: Aug 7, 2010; [in Russian] Oof.

Bottom Liner posted:

Should I get Star Realms or the newest Ascension expansion? I skipped coffee today, so I'm ballin' with this extra pocket money

The first chapter of the Star Realms campaign is free-to-play, so I'd download that and see if you like the gameplay. From what I understand the full game is basically more of the same so if you like it better go for that, otherwise I'd go for the Ascension expansion.

# ? Aug 23, 2014 00:13

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