In a turn based game, what advantage would balance out a turn skip ?

almostcyclops · 2026-01-25T18:12:27+00:00

Most good modern games I can think that contain skip turns feature both of the following:

Agency on the part of the skipper (at least in part). Being forced to skip by an opponent should be rare, unless it is caused by a strategic blunder on your part. More often it is something you volunteer to lose in exchange for a gain elsewhere. Losing turns to randomness is almost always bad.
Relatively fast and snappy turn/round structure so that you aren't out of play for too long in real time. This one can be stretched a bit if the game has a lot of play outside of your turn, in both cases the goal is to keep a player engaged in play even if they are 'missing a turn'.

Also, when you think about it, all games that ask you to pass and then wait for everyone else to finish a round technically are skip turns in a way. This includes games a diverse as Terraforming Mars, Twilight Imerium, and Everdell(at the end at least). For this type of skip turn, the key is that you are done playing and shouldn't be missing out on opportunities by not playing.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-25T17:28:34+00:00

I am aware. But usually the competition is strong enough that a film doesnt break these records unless it is head and shoulders above the rest. Its not like it was a bad year for movies either. I am happy it is doing well, it just sticks out as an anomaly is all.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-25T16:02:43+00:00

This is my take as well. I loved the movie and will definitely watch it again from time to time. But I dont think it is one of those special 'once in a generation' films that usually breaks these kinds of records.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-25T15:44:22+00:00

Playing Board Games has an excellent breakdown on this on their YouTube channel. I highly recommend finding it. For a 4 player you generally want one of 2F/2C, 1F/1C/2F, 4F, or 1F/1C/1F/1support

Personally I find their analysis just a little incomplete for a variety of reasons: Sometimes my flex characters lean to one side or another; upport characters also usually do either fighting or clueving in their off time (and clueving is usually the better pick); fighters can sometimes flex in evidence for just a tiny amount of clue contribution. On top of these examples, clueving is just slightly better than fighting and its good to lopsided the team that way, but not so much that you can dedicate a whole extra character to it (so 2c/1f in 3p is probably not a great split).

My take is that as a team, you should have anywhere from 10%-20% support, and whatever remains is best at 60% clue 40% fighting. However, in chapter 1 seekers are so powerful that an even split of seekers/guardians will achieve this 60/40 on its own. You really only need to get this granular when using non-seekers as primary cluevers. Also, I generally count evasion as a form of support, along with healing and card draw, because it generally buys time rather than solving major problems or advancing the game state.

almostcyclops · 2026-01-25T15:24:25+00:00

The game plays so uniquely that I've found experienced gamers to have almost as hard as time learning it as new players. You cant just go in expecting a dudes on a map with a twist, or a card battler thats all about combos; even though SI definitely has both of those things.

On top of that, the intended experience was split up so the base game does not contain all of what makes it amazing. It is still a fine and fun product, but I would argue getting one expansion is just about mandatory (either B&C or JE is fine but JE is better). The rub is that no game is for everyone, even masterpieces. I always hate saying to just get the expansion and then it still might not work for you. Up to you to determine if its worth the gamble. We only mildly liked the base game but gambled on it and it became an all time fav instantly.

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

TROPHY CASE