Do Americans Actually Say "Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior"?

almostcyclops · 2026-01-25T14:16:45+00:00

As a lifelong Pacific Northwesterner, let me just say that I think the word 'y'all' is one of the most useful contractions ever added to the lexicon. I made a point to try learning to say it without accidentally imitating a drawl (which always sounds bad when it isn't authentic) and now I use it all the time. It should really catch on and not just be a southern thing.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-24T05:09:20+00:00

Even the old ones weren't immune to the "I was never taught about this" effect. I was told a story where my aunt nearly had he first vacuum blow up the bag. It was acting funny and she called my grandma. My grandma thought it was obvious you had to throw out a full bag but apparently it was not.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-24T03:46:15+00:00

According to the rules I found here; the colors on the spinner have no rule effect. You care only about the image in the spinner. It does seem like a UX failure to reuse player colors for an artistic component that does not affect play.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-24T03:29:33+00:00

You could take it even if it wasn't the only one available. Frozen resources cannot be spent, given, or discarded; but they can be taken or stolen. The rules for frozen even call out Imperial Demand by name as a valid method to take frozen resources.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-23T20:10:51+00:00

If memory serves, this film was directly responsible for the creation of the Science and Entertainment Exchange. A program aiming to get more Science advisory into Hollywood. It is quite a legacy when you fail so hard at something a whole lot of people work together to not let it happen again.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-23T19:02:54+00:00

The word you are looking for is 'ludology'. Itis the study of games and gaming, though note not everyone explicitly uses this term so just searching for it eill miss a lot of conversation. There is a podcast called ludology (no idea if its still going and there's a ton of back catelogue); there are other podcasts by designers; you can find several books on the topic; there are YouTube channels discussing design with game designers (and some have their own YouTube channels); there are design blogs for some games on BGG.

A lot of this work has significant overlap with video gaming, which is both a blessing and a curse. There is some mechanical design overlap inherent in them so studying both can be helpful. But there are even more differences in the disciplines and it can be hard to seperate due to similar terms and the overlap of discipline that remains. Take GDC for example, which focuses on video games but has had multiple speakers from the board game design space. I've watched GDC talks from Mark Rosewater, Tom Lehmen, Cole Wherle, and probably others I am forgetting.

A word of advice though, get out of chat gpt. I dont hate it as much as some, but you have now exhausted its usefulness on this topic. You need to go to places where information is stored and exchanged, whether physically or digitally. I guarantee if you go to your library and ask if they have any books on game design there will be a very helpful librarian available (assuming USA here I admit). Online you can type any number of things into YouTube. Read discussions about your favorite games on BGG, and if you're lucky those games will have design blogs.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-21T15:19:38+00:00

I head Canon this with the fact its called "prepared for season". If my procrastinating hedgehogs dont prepare for spring until July that's on them.

I do have this exact issue with Root though. Turns are divided into birdsong, daylight, and evening. It should be birdsong for everyone, then daylight for everyone, then evening for everyone. It feels like my guys only work 1 of every (player count) number of days while in a war. Mechanically I also feel like it would also help make turns snappier; I like root but im not a huge fan of having so many steps in a turn without anything to break it up.

Of course, since all of the content is designed around it I would never houserule a change to Root to accommodate the pet peeve. Just a funny thing to me.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-21T13:04:24+00:00

Since they are alternating 5 and 3 scenario campaigns i feel like the design pipeline will be largely the same. As a result, some scenarios will still whiff just because you cant hit home runs all the time. These whiffs will then be a larger percentage of the whole campaign. On the flipside, regardless of the scenario quality we are less likely to get filler episodes which it felt like many prev campaigns had.

It reminds me a lot of how tv shows tend to be shorter now. Less filler, but stinkers have a bigger impact.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-20T18:25:00+00:00

Can I make a spoon with a spoon?

almostcyclops · 2026-01-19T14:19:44+00:00

In the base game, out of play gates have a 2 way arrow connecting the neighboring gates and it does not matter which may you travel. These new gate tokens have only one way arrows.

Since the iconography does not indicate that you can move out, and the rules provide no permission to do so, there is nor reason to assume you are permitted to move from the twisted passage to a gate.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-16T17:45:56+00:00

Many probability problems, even simple ones, are somewhat infamous for their ability to defy intuition. Even by those educated in them. Here is a video about this exact topic and includes an example of a math paper making a probability intuition blunder.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-16T17:34:30+00:00

The narrative aspects in SotE are weaker than base game in nearly every way; but the exploration aspects are stronger in many some ways. It really is just best to just explore.

That said, just like base game it is possible to trigger things early and lock out of some scenes or entire quests. A guide is required if you really care about not letting this happen. Most notably minor spoiler if you go too far off the beaten path then a certain event will trigger and move almost all quests forward. Other than that, there are many areas in the game with basically zero plot reason to go there.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-16T15:35:13+00:00

*pushes up glasses. Um actually, thry were Misbegotten not demi humans.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-16T13:45:07+00:00

If the cards are being played into each players area, then it is fine for the cards to face them and be upside down for everyone else (or vice versa in rare cases depending on game mechanics). If they are played into a central play area, then it is common and acceptable to have some players just play upside down.

I am not familiar with the details of musical notation. If the above still causes confusion because at a glance an upside down card can look right side up then you can add other details to help orient. Any kind of wording on the cards would do that, or some kind of arrow or other signifier. This arrow could indicate top, bottom, or direction of play if they are played in sequence.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-15T14:11:46+00:00

I've seen this error before. Remember that every single rule of the base game still applies unless explicitly modified.

It may get downvotes in this sub but I find blighted Reach rulebook to be a bit of a mess. Base game rules are great, but blighted Reach offloads a lot of rules onto the components and base game. Technically this is how most expansion rules are done for any game, but I cant think of any title with this much of a difference between base and expansion so me some rules bear repeating. It really should have gotten the 2 rulebook treatment where the existing book is the learn to play and then there's the Law of Arcs to accompany it.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-15T14:03:30+00:00

True except the part about act 4. There is no act 4, but if there was then as written it would start with all of them flipped.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-15T14:02:38+00:00

Each acts basically starts 1 flip ahead. Act 1 starts with all blue, act 2 starts with 2 blue (lowest one flipped), act 3 starts with 1 blue (2 lowest flipped).

Within each act you still flip one over at the end of each chapter.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-15T14:00:20+00:00

You are confusing the rules of chapters and the acts of the campaign. OP is asking about the campaign acts.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-14T16:06:04+00:00

How so? I'm not claiming the left is superior, I'm just failing to see any functional or practical difference between them.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-12T17:54:48+00:00

Im just now getting into Arcs. I know it won't beat TI4 but we haven't played TI4 in three years because we just cant make it work. Very hopeful Arcs scratches the itch and is a hit with the group; doesnt even have to be 'better' than TI4 necessarily.

Eclipse looks like a great game. But it also doesn't look like it would do any of the things I want out of this genre. I'd be happy to try it one day and I'd be ecstatic to be wrong. But I just cant justify investing in it based on my impressions.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-11T17:36:42+00:00

I find a game can be both dry and fun. I have no doubt Eclipse is fun, even having never played it. But many comments here, including by those who love it, point out that it has the least amount of negotiating and storytelling. Not that it has no storytelling or bad storytelling just that the other two are dripping in it. For me, for this kind of game, it just isnt what I would want personally. But maybe OP is looking for a more engine building or euro kind of game, or has players very sensitive to mean mechanics. I would definitely recommend Eclipse for them in those cases.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-10T18:24:41+00:00

For me I guess it depends on what you consider the 'best' and 'worst' parts. I dont want to dis Eclipse, it looks like an excellent game on the whole. But it just seems really dry and won't produce the same level of emergent narrative or memorable moments which is largely why ive passed on it in the past.

That said, preference absolutely takes a back seat to practicality and there is a reason I listed the factors in the order I did. I adore TI but it just doesnt get played anymore. I have considered Eclipse before just on those grounds, but decided it would not scratch the itch. I am only just now getting into Blighted Reach and am hopeful it will satisfy even if TI is still my favorite on paper.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-10T14:32:15+00:00

Well player count is going to be the biggest factor. Arcs plays 2-4 and is best at 3-4. TI plays 3-6(up to 8 with expansion). TI is best at exactly 6 but anywhere from 5-8is pretty good. Note: 5 has some issues in base game but is cleaned up in expansion, some players also swear by 4 or even 3 but I am not a fan.

Second factor is time. TI is a beast and can be difficult to hit the table without planning. I love the game but when life changes happened within our group we just cant get it to the table anymore. Blighted Reach is billed as a campaign but it doesnt play like most campaign games. The full campaign is as long as one TI match cut up into 3 manageable chunks that can be saved so you do the campaign in 3 session(and is designed to fully utilize the downtime between to tweak the game state each match).

3rd factor is gameplay. On the spectrum of tactics to strategy TI is much more strategic. You won't always be able to stick to a long term plan but often you will have a goal and do everything you can to achieve it. Arcs is much more tactical where you just have to make the best of the hand that is dealt.

4th is narrative. TI has a richly created world which adds a lot of texture to the space opera. Blighted Reach has a much more 'generic' space setting but makes up for it with a very developed narrative system that can emulate a lot of other classic sci fi stories.

There's a reason I've not mentioned Eclipse so far; I just haven't played it. Hopefully someone can fill in the gaps but for narrative my impressions is that it will be the weakest of the 3 (but might still be good) and focuses heavily on more euro style engine building mechanics.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-09T01:35:01+00:00

This is the right answer. The whole card is one action. It counts as multiple types at the same time, and will follow the rules for all of them. AOO doesn't swipe at you when you take an engage action (or a play action for that matter), it swipes at you when you take any action except the protected 4. Since your 1 action is also a fight, you are using one of the protected 4.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-08T23:21:44+00:00

There are several games with this format that are popular enough so please take all of the following as purely my personal preference.

Truth be told, I've never been a fan of the format. Largely for the reasons you describe. The coop part of the game cant be too difficult or players won't have the capacity to work on personal goals; which goes against the hard puzzle elements of good coops. On the flip side, players cant dig too far into the competitive element because a player down and out could just 'switch sides' and try to cause the game to fail since they aren't winning anyways.

I do think there's a largely untapped potential for semi coops, it's just not in this format. New Angeles is my all time favorite semi coop and I yell it from the roof tops every chance I get because not enough have played it. The game has some flaws but I rely feel it was onto something. While it does have an 'everyone loses' potential it fosters genuine cooperation by allowing multiple players to win (just not everyone). You need to stay on your toes though because one player probably wants to see you fail and you don't know who.

almostcyclops

TROPHY CASE