What is everyone up to?

[Fayde]

We're off to Sakura-Con tomorrow! We'll get to Seattle around 5pm Thursday, and we go to Sakura-Con on Friday morning at 8am! Corey is coming with us too, so we should have lots of fun!

[Waspman]

Awesome, hope you guys have fun.
Also, I don't know if this crap's still popular but keep an eye out for random retards yelling Girugamesh/I love Sushi/I love Japan period/etc. Last year, Sakura Con aired a really bad TV commercial that become an internet phenomenon for some reason.

[Fayde]

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I HATE MY MATH CLASS RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've seriously spent 4 or 5 hours just studying 2 sections (one day's worth of homework), and I'm only half way done!!!!!!! The cool part is I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Plus to make things cooler, I have a test on Monday!!!!!! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Here's a example of the 30-40+ problems I get to do in a single section...



Wish me luck!

[Fayde]

First you have to find the common multiple of all the denominators, then, magically transform them into whole numbers (I seriously don't understand logically how one can wave their hand and literally turn a massive fraction into a whole number), then you have to multiply by other whole numbers, remembering to carry X across the equation. Then you get to do a whole bunch of flipping, turning multiplying into dividing, addition to subtraction, division into quantum mechanics, and finding out Mr. Mustard murdered so-and-so with the Candle Stick in the Lounge. THEN you have to go back and reverse everything back to the way it was before, wave your hand magically again and hope to materialize a random (yet somehow correct) answer, all the while asking yourself "What the heck just happened?"

And guess what, when you're all done, you get to do another one.

[Fayde]

Oh, and the best part of it all is, the tutor at the school knew about as much as I did...

[Waspman]

What's amusing is that a lot of this crap won't ever, EVER be used in real world situations. Only except would be professions that require it, which is actually a very small percentage.

[Fayde]

Indeed! Though as a nurse I will be using a lot of BASIC fractions and conversions from metric to standard, but that's about it as far as "higher math". Not x and one half times the dividend of n multiplied by the square root of 7.9283. It's just not going to happen.
Indeed, 90% of all math is just abstract problem solving. Nothing to do with the real world at all unless you research physics or go into architecture/engineering. Sad to see so much energy go into something that most forget within a year... -_-

[Fayde]

So I just done playing 3 games of my SoaSE board game, and it turned out pretty good. It takes less time to play the board game than it does to play the darn PC game...
Anyway, I did boil it down to it's bare bones and stripped each race down it it's very distinct features.
TEC = economic, average
Advent = Culture, psychic
Vasari = Colonizing, defense/power
Also, I do pride myself in the idea that your fleet strength is hidden through-out the game. While you can generally keep track of players fleet sizes through out the game, it makes things a bit interesting to wonder if a player has researched specific things and ways to counter-act them.
I did finally get a huge pack of 50 dice for 3 bucks. That brings my total to about 135 dice. Sadly, we still ran out of Frigate dice about half way through the game (40-50 dice), but a turn of luck was that Frigates became pretty obsolete about that point and everyone was stocking up on Cruisers and research...

Anyway, I'll probably post a couple pictures of the game as is so far. But we'll see.

[Waspman]

Is it up on Boardgamegeek? Also, I don't understand why you need so much dice? Do you get a dice for every unit you own? So like, if you attack a planet with 60 frigates and 3 Capital Ships, you roll 63 dice?

[Fayde]

Yup. The dice represents the "power" or basic strength of a given fleet. While it seems outrageous, it is a lot easier than it sounds. It saves a TON on time. Otherwise it would just seem impossible to get the feeling of a massive fleet that you control in the PC version.
However, the way the game is designed, it would be extremely hard (or just ineffective) to have 60-some dice on hand. The biggest I've seen is about 30 ships, which included all three ship types. Also remember there is going to be several players playing. 4 divided by 120 is only 30 dice per player...
There are three classes of ships as well, Frigates, Cruisers and Capital Ships.
Basically, Frigates take 1 hit to kill, Cruisers 2 and Capital Ships 5. Every class of ship has a "to-hit" number, that when rolled, the score a hit. Frigates have to roll a 5 or 6 to hit, Cruisers a 4-6, and Capital Ships can make several hits and use abilities. Hope that gives you an idea...

It should be up on Boardgamegeek soon. I'll post a link when it is. ^_^

[Fayde]

Since you seem interested, here are direct images of the game files:
The map (I have designed several, but this is the only one I have printed). It is printed on a 8x10 photo, which it ends up being 8"x8" total. I mounted it to black form-core, so it looks pretty nice.
It is designed with the idea of having phase lines, so I needed to have "set" planet positions (the little circles), but the planet types are modular, and you can "design" your own map, or you can play random.

Like the PC game, these planets will not be revealed until you explore them. They stay face down until you defeat the Pirate forces that occupy each planet.
The different colored phase lines are for different levels of difficulty. The blue lines are for basic games, which limit the spread of culture, and they're easy to defend, but tough to take other players out for the same reason.
The red lines are for harder, more... strategic games where your culture development can really make or break you.

Unlike most board games, you do not move a vast amount of pieces, placing them in strategic positions and try to flank, out maneuver and out-think your enemy. Sadly, to keep the massive scale of the PC game, and the time it would take to maneuver 20-30+ ships would take ages and ruin the fun of it all.
I took the approach of maneuvering groups of ships/fleets, making a counter with a colored number on it, and a corresponding fleet (the dice). To attack, you must have 2 opposing fleets occupying the same system.
The dice work as such:
Frigate dice are tiny. They are cheap, easy to kill, but can overwhelm smaller enemy fleets fairly easily if luck is on your side. Each frigate dice scores a hit when a 5 or 6 is rolled. A miss for any other number.
Cruiser dice are average sized. They are most costly, but more powerful. They take 2 hits per Cruiser to destroy, and can hit on a 3,4,5, or 6. (very good chance of scoring a hit).
Capital Ships have big dice, and have 2 abilities according to the race the player is. I took the 2 more popular or diverse abilities. Capital Ships also have a chance of scoring 1 or 2 hits.
Tactical dice are REALLY tiny, and are limited by the amount of planets you have. These count as your orbital defenses when an enemy attacks your planets. They work the same as Cruisers, but are pretty limited in number.

Here are the other 2 image files for the pieces:


(The player colors/symbols are control markers to track which planets you control)

Culture is also used in the game. Culture is spread through phase lines in percentages. You're homeworld "generates" 100% Culture. You can upgrade this higher. Enemy worlds are automatically lost if they are more influenced by your Culture than their own.

The races and upgrades have also been boiled down to the basics. Each race has a double-sided card with upgrades and abilities on it. You can buy upgrades and apply it to your fleet.

There is still Credits, Crystal and Metal, but I had to limit it to their specific planets giving only a single resource type. Ice gives Crystal, Volcanic metal, Terrain/Desert Crystal.

I'm still unclear about points or victory conditions. We've so far played till 1 player has been eliminated, then total up the planets upgrades and fleet strength into a point value. But I plan on changing it later.

[Waspman]

Interesting. You also said something about research, didn't you? What does researching do in the game?

[Fayde]

more or less just make your military stronger, but there are a variety of different things.

For example, the TEC have Metal Refineries, which allow the player to gain +1 Metal per metal yielding world.
The Advent has the ability to see other players fleet strengths and research they've done.
The Vasari can colonize worlds cheaper due to their scouts being able to colonize.

Each race has some similar researches such as the ability to siege worlds, navigate worm holes and jump between star systems.

If you want to know more, I can telling you later, I'm not at home... ^_^;;

[Fayde]

To answer your question, the research you do in the game is a bit specific toward the different kinds of defining units you can build as well. Such as the Serevun Overseer, which allows Vasari players to force their opponents to take longer while jumping into a Vasari owned Planet. While the PC game's ability is different, it didn't work as well as this one. It's really annoying to have it happen to you while the Vasari player then spends this extra time re-calling all it's forces and building extra Tactical dice. Very difficult to beat a fully upgraded Vasari player...
Or you can research Gravity Mines, which add more Tactical Dice when you defend your world.

The Advent have the Iconus Guardian, which makes the first ship to die in combat gain +1 any ships defense, every combat round (may not sound like much, but it is really annoying when you're the one fighting it)
Also the Advent have the ability to upgrade their star bases to spread culture in very small amounts, but it can make a world of difference if used correctly.

The TEC have Advanced Weapons Training, which allows the TEC player to re-roll 2 missed combat dice per round. I've never been on the receiving end of this yet, but boy is it fun to crush a Capital Ship with a small fleet, lol.
They also benefit of having the Hoshiko Robotics Cruiser, which returns 2 lost ships to you as long as you have a active Cruiser in your fleet. I've found this a good counter to a well established Vasari player.

Those are some high-lights of the research. It's nice to just spout this stuff anyway.
Again, many of the research you can do is more or less the same for each race, but there are 3 or 4 major differences in technology. The other main differences are in the Capital Ship abilities and the Home World advantages, which provide extra income to that player, and lots of extra end-game points.


Aside from some cost adjustments, I'd say it's a pretty balanced and functional game. It's flippin' easy as pie to learn/play too. It may not sound like it, but I basically have described at least 75% of the rules right here on Blue Bridge. It's also really cheap to print/build. I put a lot of time and love into mine, but you could make it with a budget of 6 or 7 dollars (except for those blasted dice, which were still really cheap, but annoying to buy)

[Waspman]

Sounds interesting. Maybe we'll get to play it some day!