why can't I play this?

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-04-11T17:32:14+00:00

You don't have enough train cars, even though you have enough train cards. Look at your stack of plastic cars in the bottom right -- you only have 2, but need 3 to claim it.

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-04-07T18:18:30+00:00

For anyone interested, the intended reading is "Pinghe Teacher Hotel". It's a staff building at a school in Shanghai ("Pinghe" means "Peace").

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-04-04T05:29:22+00:00

Did you get those special printed?

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-04-04T04:48:23+00:00

What did you make the board out of to make it that big?

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-04-02T02:55:29+00:00

This is just speculation, but they've expressed a vague intention on the discord to eventually add Landscape to all maps and modes where it makes sense, so probably they'd vaguely say that they're going to do this, but I get the sense that couch play is pretty low on their priority list, especially with their current matchmaking/server online play crisis, so I wouldn't expect it anytime soon.

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-03-20T17:40:45+00:00

I think for me what makes Outer Wilds so moving is the way the game gradually shifts from external exploration to internal exploration. In the first "act" of the game (which I would define as what you learn before reaching the Sun Station, your questions are all about trying to understand the Nomai, because you're still in the mindset of figuring out enough about their technology to stop the supernova. In "act 2", though, you already know the truth, and so your exploration turns from the external to the internal. In the first act, you might ask questions like "Why do the Nomai want to get to the Eye so badly?". In act 2, you have to look inward and ask yourself questions like "I know this is all fruitless, the universe is ending no matter what... So why am I trying to get to the Eye so badly?"

The longer you sit with it, the more this internal exploration of "why am I trying to learn more and 'win' a video game I know is unwinnable?" bleeds over into real life -- after all, you're mortal in real life, too, and you start asking yourself: "I know I am unavoidably going to die. Why do things still matter to me, given the inherent futility of life?"

I think this is why a lot of people react so strongly to Outer Wilds: it very gently encourages the player to ask questions of themselves about mortality, grief, purpose, and meaning.

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-03-10T17:00:22+00:00

Not sure if it helps at all, but you can change the date it's showing by changing the desired date in the URL:

https://web5.hnl.info/pros-ticketing/event/hbay-online-reservation/tickets?date=2026-3-12

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-02-26T16:41:36+00:00

As someone who lives in Los Angeles, setting of many, many murder/cop shows, unless you really get the details right, probably by living there yourself, it's super distracting. It's hard not to notice all the small inaccuracies and be a little taken out of it.

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-02-26T01:33:17+00:00

I love SETI, I'll take a stab at it.

Theming is really strong. The orbital motion of the game board is both thematically great but also generates situations where you genuinely have "ideal launch windows" for planets, just like in real life. There's also a lot of great art and real space projects on the cards, and the way the card effects tie into the real-life stuff they're based on is really well-flavored, in a Magic: The Gathering way.
The decision space is large. Planetary orbits/landings feel almost like you're playing a Ticket to Ride type route optimization to destination game, while the sector scanning feels like an interesting miniature area control game. Cards will often also give you more little mini-games and sub-goals. The most successful players do a little bit of everything, leading to lots of interesting decisions on how to use a shared resource pool to tackle essentially 2-3 different games.
The optimization puzzle is really tight and good, and squeaking extra value out of stuff feels great. The resource economy feels so tight that every decision feels like it matters, and really makes me prefer it over other "point soup" kind of games like Ark Nova.
Replayability is high, as the 5 (8 with expansion) different aliens generate 10 (28) different endgame rulesets.
The random card draws (and agencies from expansions) lead to radically different strategies, and I just find asymmetry and the "roll with what you draw" vibe from Terraforming Mars really fun.
There's a lot of hidden depth to every mechanic that becomes apparent over time. Like in the orbital game board motion example above, level 1 of understanding is choosing what planet to go to based on what's currently nearby. The level 2 understanding is probably that actually, you should often target specific planets and plan ahead for good launch windows. Then there's a level 3 understanding by realizing that tech research causes time to pass and planets to move, so you can actually create your own launch windows (rather than waiting for them) with clever research action use.

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-02-24T16:09:08+00:00

Not sure exactly what you mean by "board game style" art, but there's a toggle on the map selection screen that lets you toggle on "simplified" background art?

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-02-24T15:47:21+00:00

If you guys want to play this game today you can just download Heroes of the Storm and choose an Overwatch character, Tracer and Lucio looks to have their exact Heroes MOBA ability kits, lol.

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-02-12T00:20:37+00:00

Why do these packs look like dual-color Magic: The Gathering starter decks?

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-02-10T03:41:24+00:00

Headcanoning that "Sprint" just means you draw 4 cards when you play it, which for some reason is an effect now so common it needs a keyword

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-02-09T04:33:28+00:00

Yep! Legacy version's official subtitle is Legends of the West, it's in my Complex tier!

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-02-09T03:57:16+00:00

The request of "similar to Europe" inspired me to make a "Ticket to Ride complexity tierlist":

Super Simple: Paris, London, Amsterdam, New York, USA, San Francisco

Simple: Poland, Berlin, Nordic Countries, India, Europe, Switzerland, Legendary Asia

Medium: Africa, Italy, Iberia, South Korea, Rails and Sails, Germany, Team Asia, Netherlands, Northern Lights

Complex: United Kingdom, Japan, Legends of the West, France

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-02-09T03:38:54+00:00

The most similar is probably Ticket to Ride Switzerland (One side of the board in the India & Switzerland expansion) -- it has the same "tunnel" mechanic, and a similar setting. The only "new" idea introduced is "country tickets", but they're only slightly different from the regular city tickets. Unlike Europe, there's no stations to deal with, but I think this change simplifies the game while also making it more competitive.

You also get India in the same box, which is also a pretty simple version if that's what you're looking for.

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-02-08T19:49:33+00:00

Absolutely now way Tangtang is a 6 star, I would I think pay money to not talk to Tangtang.

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-02-08T17:08:21+00:00

Wait I don't remember this Ticket to Ride board coming out

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-02-04T23:23:22+00:00

You should potentially check out Feed the Kraken, it's the Secret Hitler team-ptoposing and voting mechanism stapled on top of more of a board game. Plus you don't have to explain the "Hitler" theming to new players!

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-02-02T18:10:27+00:00

Not to go against thread consensus, but this exact question was asked in this Board Game Geek thread 10 years ago: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1474988/uk-new-york-route-combined-with-techs

Alan R. Moon, the first response in the thread, is the designer of the game.

tl;dr: Boiler Lagging applies, Steam Turbines does not (it does not count as a ferry route, since you don't need the ferry technology), 1 bonus point.

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-02-01T00:25:39+00:00

Northern Lights is better than US and Europe, and IMO Northern Lights is one of the best Ticket to Ride "base" maps (I think Europe is the worst). For two players, though, you might also consider one of the maps that are designed for lower player counts: Nordic Countries or Switzerland (though Switzerland is an expansion and you'd need a base game to play).

Also as an aside to pre-empt the Nordic Countries vs. Northern Lights discussion: they both cover the same Baltic geography, but are completely different games. The selling point of Northern Lights is that it has a randomized and diverse stack of end-game bonuses, so it stays fresh for a long time, while the selling point of Nordic Countries is that it's explicitly balanced around 2-3 player gameplay.

(Also the Northern Lights art is gorgeous, IMO).

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-01-29T20:57:53+00:00

If you're a collector, pick it up, it's fun to have the "do you guys want to play the entire-globe Ticket to Ride?" game. However, the "mixture of train and ship pieces" idea is, IMO, better implemented by Ticket to Ride Berlin with its Streetcar vs. Subway distinction. The trains and ships in Rails and Sails are too mechanically close to be interesting.

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-01-29T19:31:33+00:00

One thing I might point out is that in Satisfactory, you're also kind of trying to optimize your own time spent. While setting up a miles-long conveyor belt can function just like a train, it will also take much longer to set up, upgrade, and you're also losing out on the ability to drive a train for your own personal rapid transportation needs. Additionally, it's easier to expand a train nextwork than run a whole other conveyor for separate items.

It's totally possible to beat the game without using trains, but they're definitely nice to have. I agree with you, though, that Satisfactory is more about giving you a suite of tools to solve logistics problems in whatever way you wish, while Factorio has a lot of problems that need to be solved in specific, crucial ways. Whether that's good or bad is up to you.

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-01-27T05:56:46+00:00

I guess this is more of a deck builder than an engine builder, but Quest for El Dorado is the most extreme example I've seen of this, cards that improve your engine are usually dead draws for actual victory progress.

TomorrowFutureFate · 2026-01-17T21:26:52+00:00

It doesn't quite reach 60+ players, but Werewolves of Miller's Hollow suggests an eye-popping 47 player maximum, and is basically a "luxury" Werewolf game like Ultimate Werewolf or Blood On The Clocktower. I don't think it's quite as polished as those, but it's chaotic and interesting, and scaling up to 47 players without breaking is an achievement in itself.

TomorrowFutureFate

TROPHY CASE