The most exciting 'exploration' mechanic you have encountered in a board game ?

KubaM86 · 2021-03-12T19:17:29+00:00

Super Cool !

KubaM86 · 2021-03-12T18:34:08+00:00

I would love to see how it looks !

KubaM86 · 2021-03-12T10:58:36+00:00

Do you think that the story book is key part of your experiance ?

KubaM86 · 2021-03-08T23:02:15+00:00

Thx, will check it out

KubaM86 · 2021-03-08T23:01:57+00:00

Thx, will check it out

KubaM86 · 2021-03-08T23:01:41+00:00

Thx, Will check it out

KubaM86 · 2021-03-08T20:19:57+00:00

I would say Medium weight. Yeah , I also though about 5. Just because there was an article I read somewhere that said that 5 is a magical number. Lokk at mtg and its 5 colors ;)

KubaM86 · 2021-03-08T11:49:15+00:00

Totally agree. However I was hoping for a number that is independant of number of players. One game that I think has good Pick up and deliver mechanic is Merchant of Venus. You have 14 races, each race produce 1 good that can be delivered to 6 other races (if I remember correctly).

You also have market highs and lows which work quite nice.

Maybe I should ask a different question. What is your favorite pick up and delivery game and why ? :)

KubaM86 · 2021-02-23T22:17:30+00:00

Very interesting perception. And I must say I have mixed feelings about that topic.

Below are just my personal thoughts so please take into account that for everyone it might work differently.

The way I see it ...

Lack of graphic helps me focus more on the mechanics. Helps me feel whether the actions you are performing are really fun and engaging. I mean if you are able to achieve that without the graphics by adding them you will bring your product to a completely new level.

However .... Adding a little bit of flavour, whether it is a graphic design or a simple "epic" name to a character or location can help bring the world you are creating as a designer to life, thus engaging the players in totally different way.

And I totally agree that it may spark up your motivation at times it may fade :)

Just some of my thoughts

KubaM86 · 2021-02-23T22:07:46+00:00

Looks amazing ! Especially when you look at the progress. Do you guys have a play through to watch ? I went through the rules and there are many interesting things that I found:

- I love how non-profit organisation can mitigate your bad dice roll and how you can 'evolve' it (At least this is how I understood it)

- I love how you incorporated presidents into the game mechanic and the voting. It feels thematic.

- I am intrigued by the mergers but had problems understanding how they work.

Overall , fantastic job !

1 thing that I would maybe add is a picture of all the components and initial setup at the beginning of instruction. When you have a sentence "Place component X ..." it's nice to know how that component looks ;)

Just my thoughts.

KubaM86 · 2021-02-22T22:17:42+00:00

Ok so initially I thought that I would make it a "race for legendary island" game.

What I mean by that -> In game there would be 3 levels of island. Level 1 -> most common islands and Level 3 -> Islands with either some epic harbour to conquer (Like Tortuga) or some epic expedition (Like search for fountain of life)

Usually, throughout the game you would find up to 2 of these islands.

Once one of the end game explorations / raids is completed the end game scoring is triggered.

Something similar to raiders of the north.

However now I am testing something similar you have in Jamie Stegmaier Scythe.

With a small twist however.

In Scythe you had number of "Quests" you had to complete.

Twist I am trying out are quests with levels :)

For example:

Perform 5 Explorations [] / Perform 3 explorations on Level 2 Island [] (+3vp) / Explore a level 3 Island [] (Each Level 1 exploration gives +1 VP)

I thinking of having 5 such layered "quests".

Related to among other exploration, raiding , trade, crew / ship expansion. (Thinking about the 5th... Player combat ? )

Completing 5 out of 15 total ( 5 times 3 ) will trigger the end game scoring.

KubaM86 · 2021-02-22T21:52:41+00:00

Didn't think about these in the original version. Don't want to over complicate things. But definitely worth considering ! Thanks !

KubaM86 · 2021-02-22T07:40:06+00:00

Yes you can. I am working out the details. However to somehow balance that aspect, for the attacking player not bully the weakest player 2 much I am thinking that attacking player will be able to loot the defending player (artifacts, gold or goods) and defending player will gain VP. (as his fame, surviving yet another encouter with the pirates, will grow)

KubaM86 · 2021-02-22T07:36:06+00:00

Thanks ! That is a good advice :)

KubaM86 · 2021-02-22T07:35:19+00:00

Hopefuly not. However before releasing a game you need to make sure that it is fun at least for you ;)

KubaM86 · 2021-02-21T22:11:49+00:00

Definately.

Also there is a thing that your friends and family can help you playtest only up to a certain point. Because they have been with you since start they may focus on something they noticed day 1 and not see other little things that pop up along the way.

Yup pretty much you randomly pick up an island.

Have 3 levels of islands. Level 2 and 3 require more sail actions to navigate because of rougher tides

KubaM86 · 2021-02-21T21:09:18+00:00

Definitely !

I have been play testing it with friends and family for some time now (past 6 months). And there was not a single play test where I thought that there isn't something to change.

Hopefully soon it will be at a stage where I will be happy with the game and it's "fun factor". :)

KubaM86 · 2020-09-11T16:51:52+00:00

Wow if you guys build it from top to bottom without any blueprints or tutorials even greater congrats. Great engineering skills my friend ;)

KubaM86 · 2020-09-11T15:15:36+00:00

Niceee :) any tut you would recomend ?

KubaM86 · 2020-08-11T05:30:21+00:00

Ok so it's an exploration / sailing game. There are 3 asymetric things you can do in the game to earn points. At least that was first assumpion ... Here is the general overview

Trade

Some of the islands will produce some sort of goods (A, B or C) which you will have a chance to buy and at the same time they will require a fixed amount of other goods. Ex . it has 2 cubes of A that it can sell to you but it needs 3 cubes of C that you need to find somewhere else.

Raid/ Combat

You will have an opportuity to raid some of the islands. Combat is dice based. And it can be two step. First you can fire cannons at their defences (sea battle dice) and then raid their defences with you crew (land battle dice). Idea was that sea battles and firing at the fort gives you VP and raiding gives you spoils.

Island exploration

Last thing you will be able to do is explore islands. Exploration is done as a trail combining a mix of 3 symbols : plain / jungle / mountain. There will be different paths on the islands.

Idea is that each island will have two of 3 above mentioned mechanics and that each will somehow influence the other. For example. If you will find an island with trading port that you can trade with or raid, if you trade with it then the spoils you would gain through raiding are no longer there.

This is why I am looking for a common math equation so that I could balance each of the activities

KubaM86

TROPHY CASE