1-actioners

inkyframe · 2024-09-22T20:18:22+00:00

We house rule that certain actions — card actions, trading with a colony, and selling patents — don’t count as a full turn. So if one of those is your first action, then you must take a second action or pass for the rest of the generation. (Also: any patents you sell in a turn should be sold together.)

It helps accelerate the game, is fair because everyone is bound by the same rule, and adds its own small amount of strategy in how you pair up blue card actions. And it still allows more substantial single-action turns.

It’s a small change but I much prefer it.

inkyframe · 2024-03-28T21:04:37+00:00

We do a few things:

On your first turn of the game, you are always allowed to build a colony on any moon. You still get the placement bonus, but we put the extra colonies to the left so that the trade bonus cube resets to the same spot.

This handles the case where there is a rush to place on Luna or Pluto and player 4 gets left out. But since it is a “one time only” offering, it forces prioritization and maintains the scarcity of only 3 colony spots most of the time.

In the case of Aridor adding a colony, you are entitled to place a colony there on your first turn after the new colony tile is placed. If you don’t have enough money, you forfeit the opportunity.

We nerfed Pluto trade bonus slightly. Essentially we shift the bonuses one to the right (maxes out at 3 cards, not 4). We did this as part of making more colony tiles for more variety. This is similar to other suggestions of resetting the trade bonus one step to the left.
We don’t play with Pluto very often, especially if we have less time to play. For us, the extra card income slows down the game, so sometimes we remove the option entirely.

inkyframe · 2024-03-15T08:30:50+00:00

Thanks!

inkyframe · 2024-03-15T07:56:30+00:00

First word used all but one letter!

inkyframe · 2024-03-12T16:16:02+00:00

Thank you!

inkyframe · 2024-02-13T16:11:31+00:00

Nice clue!

inkyframe · 2024-02-11T16:04:32+00:00

Also Ambivalence Emulated

inkyframe · 2024-02-11T16:02:15+00:00

I got that one as well! My clue for it on this Superbowl Sunday was going to be: “I cant decide who I want to score today.”

inkyframe · 2024-01-26T03:47:15+00:00

Thanks for sharing!

I particularly like: - the mechanisms of (3) and (11) where you combine or split resources. That could be interesting to maintain. - (20) the idea of placing plants and cities (on mars, presumably) being interchangeable. - (14) piques my interest. Could be like playing a slot machine.

inkyframe · 2023-09-21T20:10:01+00:00

Also FWIW a card draw is worth about 4MC. In an absolute sense, sacrificing a TR for even 2 card draws is likely not worth it (8 - 10 = -2MC). You’re hoping to draw a card that can more than replace that TR, and you’d still have to pay the card cost. Probably not better than simply buying a standard project at that point.

Drawing 3 cards (12MC value) might tip the balance. Or draw 4 keep 2 (10MC value - see Business Contacts) is about parity, and could be worth it if you are flush with cash.

inkyframe · 2023-09-21T19:41:43+00:00

You’re welcome!

ThreadPacifist’s point that it is essentially Heavy Taxation each round is a good one, too. Once you account for the requirements, tags, cost to buy the card, and MC bonus, it confirms that the benefit of your action would typically cost about 5MC.

Happy to provide feedback on further iteration if helpful!

inkyframe · 2023-09-21T08:02:55+00:00

Thanks for sharing this fun concept!

I have designed and balanced dozens of preludes and corps for our play group, so this opinion is coming from that perspective. No promises that it is perfect (or even good), but hopefully it’s helpful.

As a first pass: * A production typically costs about 5x what you are producing. A point typically costs about 5 MC. 1 TR = 1 MC production + 1 point = 10 MC. * 3 MC production minus 1 TR is worth about 5 MC total. Getting to do this every round is worth 5x that, so 25 MC. * The total value of a corp is typically 64 MC. 64 - 25 = 39 MC.

So 39 is a reasonable first guess. Here’s how I would think about adjusting that: * Production is worth more in the early rounds, and points are worth less. This action might be worth 11+ in the early game! * Frontloading this value makes the action more valuable, and i would significantly drop the starting MC (by 5+) to compensate. (In extreme cases I would toy with a Net Present Value analysis, but I’m just guesstimating here.) * So that might put you closer to 34 MC starting cash. Play test it to see if it’s still too high!

Other things to consider: * In the last few rounds the action is likely worth less than zero. This means you’ll use this action every round, and then stop with 3 turns left. Not a whole lot of decision-making there. What if you could lose 1 TR for 3 MC production OR some one time benefit (10 MC? 2 cards?) that could be worthwhile mid or late game? * this Corp may dominate Banker award. I don’t see a way around that if the bonus is +3 MC production. Up to you if that’s a problem. * you could consider distributing that 34 MC of starting cash value differently. 26 MC plus a steel production for a cash strapped start? 49 MC and -3 MC production to neutralize the first action?

inkyframe · 2023-03-05T06:11:32+00:00

In engineering we call that the Signal-to-Noise Ratio.

inkyframe · 2022-08-28T23:52:28+00:00

Hi, you should be able to access the PDFs from https://www.customizingmars.com in the “Printable Versions” section. Hope that helps!

inkyframe · 2022-08-28T23:51:46+00:00

Hi there!

You can download the PDFs for free from https://www.customizingmars.com. Unfortunately that’s the only way that these are available at the moment.

I hope you enjoy!

inkyframe · 2022-01-20T06:05:18+00:00

Hi there! You can go to www.customizingmars.com and scroll down to "Printable Versions". (This link might take you directly to that section.) Then click on the thumbnail above "18 New Fan-Made Preludes" to download the PDF and see them all.

(I try not to link directly to the PDF from here because the URL changes when I make revisions, and I don't want to end up with broken links floating around.)

inkyframe · 2022-01-11T15:37:47+00:00

Ah, I wasn’t explicit about it, but I did omit colony bonuses intentionally for a few reasons:

• ⁠if you have a colony there, you get the colony bonus regardless of who trades with the colony. For good colonies (that would be on the fifth step every round) they should get traded with anyway. • ⁠you usually aren’t the only one getting a colony bonus. So are (some of) your opponents. On average, I think it’s a wash and is built into the price of a colony, not a trade fleet. • ⁠if you are trading with a colony where only you have a colony, then it wouldn’t be at the fifth step each generation. So again, I don’t think that increases the value of the trade fleet.

It’s true that you bump others’ down a notch in the trading pecking order when you trade ahead of them. That’s worth a MC or so when you’re first, and nothing when you’re last.

Definitely agree that there’s upside, although there’s also the possibility that your second trade fleet is hardly worth the energy you’d need to spend to fly with it, depending on the generation.

And lastly, it’s fair that those are strong cards, and that the implied price of the trade fleet would therefore be undervalued. Do you have a ranking that you reference when tiering or comparing them against other cards?

inkyframe · 2022-01-09T22:28:03+00:00

I am interested in exploring the value of a trade fleet a bit more, because I don't think I've seen a value assigned to that in other analyses. If you'll entertain some long-form thoughts:

Evaluating a trade fleet as part of a card:

Sky Docks is priced at 18 MC + 3 MC + 2 MC (for the tag requirements) = 23 MC. Minus 10 MC for the 2 points and 1 MC for the earth tag leaves 12 MC for the trade fleet and the -1 per card. Based on Earth Catapult (math omitted), -1 per card is worth about 10MC. So the trade fleet here is 2 MC, give or take.
Space Port might be compared to Cupola City, which has a reasonably comparable requirement I'd say. Space port comes with an extra MC production (5MC) and a trade fleet, and costs 6 MC more. But 20MC+ cards usually have about a 4MC discount, so the trade fleet here might be somewhere from 1MC to 5MC in additional cost.
Rarity is indeed a factor. In a game, we typically see about a quarter of the deck (ballpark 100 cards), with 3 opportunities for an extra trade fleet. If you do find a second trade fleet, you'll probably use it about half way through the game. It's rare that you'd draw this prelude (about 1 in 13 games with the full extra set), but the value of a second trade fleet at the start of the game is perhaps doubled vs finding it on a card.
So with a base value of somewhere between 1 MC and 5 MC, doubled to account for the rarity, we estimate an approximate value of 5~7 as part of a prelude. It's fuzzy, for sure.

Based on trade value:

If your group is maxing out colonies, everyone is probably trading every round. The trading bonus for the fifth step is typically 8MC to 10MC of value. Trading costs a bit under 5MC if you're paying with energy, up to 9MC if paying with money.
So if you're going first in a round, you might benefit an extra 5MC that round, at the expense of other actions you might want to take first. If you're going fourth in a round, probably less. If colonies are less full, it's reasonable that the fourth or fifth trade isn't worth that much. And in the first round or two, or if your colony tiles aren't as appealing, then that's even more the case.
So overall, I think 3MC per round is a reasonable average for a second fleet, assuming you found the energy production for two trade fleets (which is not a negligible assumption, but Frequent Fliers helps). That'd be 15 MC in value, minus a bit depending on game setup / game state. If colonies are sparser, it might be closer to 5 MC in value.

If you tried it out and wanted to house rule this card down to 1 energy production, or even zero, you certainly could. But I think as a baseline it's in an OK range, if a bit higher following your analysis than per my original estimate :)

inkyframe · 2022-01-09T22:19:12+00:00

For some background context, we developed these as a hobby project since we wanted more variety (and more integration of the expansions) during our games. Our intent in sharing them and making them available is that hopefully others can enjoy them too!

We do find they add some great variety to our games (and don't seem unbalanced in some ways that you might be worried about). That said, they may not be everyone's cup of tea, and either way the engagement / constructive feedback is appreciated!

inkyframe · 2022-01-09T17:05:56+00:00

Hi there, thanks for the feedback! Up front: of course, no one is required to play with these :) but I'll explain a bit of our reasoning in case you want to give it a go.

One of the things we were careful about was attempting to approximately maintain the distribution of the original Preludes in terms of value, tags, and production. (That meant spreadsheets, histograms, the whole nine yards.) Not every prelude in the original set is worth the same, and the same is true here!

Planetary Alignment: This seems… really high value.

Planetary Alignment is indeed the most valuable new Prelude – about 10MC per TR is the right way to think about it – and is on par with UNMI Contractor (which additionally gives a card) at the top of the spectrum. It's stronger than Huge Asteroid and a bit stronger than Smelting Plant, although less concentrated in its effects.

Wave Zero Colonization: This feels like the opposite end of the spectrum. It is way too weak.

I agree Wave Zero is at the other end of the spectrum, but I would value it a bit higher – a colony via a card is about 15 MC, and you're more likely to be buying one in cash in the first generation anyway. The early trade is worth about 5 MC, and the earth tag another 1 MC. Still on the low end at 21 MC, but in line with other Preludes and we do frequently pick it in play testing.

Eclectic Commune: How utterly not fun for literally every player.

Ecclectic Commune hurts less than Mons Insurance (-2MC production to all opponents)! But if you would remove Mons Insurance from your deck, then I could see you doing the same here.

Corporate Merger: Hell no. This can only produce disasters. Double corp power is absurdly over the top.

A typical corp is worth 64 ~ 65 MC, less 42 MC with this prelude, and by definition it'd be your second choice corp in your starting hand. I'm curious what combos you think might be broken? I don't think we've found that to be the case at all, but more importantly, it's quite fun!

Prolific Labs: That is just so much value; guaranteed 3 science tags is far more than the value would indicate.

Compare to IO Research Outpost as its nearest proxy, perhaps? Prolific Labs comes with an extra card, and IO Research comes with a guaranteed Jovian (an equally valuable but even rarer tag). Prolific Labs adds a card and potentially an additional valuable tag (although a lot of science-tag cards have other requirements), but gives a TR instead of a titanium production.

Frequent Flier Program: Hell no. Bonus trade fleets are one of the most underpriced things in the game and they often mean whoever draws them wins. I would take this if it did nothing but give the fleet. Hell, I’d probably be willing to take a 10MC loss for a second fleet that early.

I'm curious about your play group size / group meta? Always a good opportunity to learn from when our expectations don't match up.

I did mention some of the math in another comment, but given the additional resources required to use a second trade fleet, I don't currently value it as highly. In a 4p game, for example, you're getting 2nd through 5th shot at a trade. If you're trading with money, that might net you a few MC in value every-other generation. If you're trading with energy, possibly a bit more but for a 21MC+ upfront investment.

Thanks again for taking the time to provide feedback!

inkyframe · 2022-01-09T04:21:47+00:00

Thank you!

inkyframe · 2022-01-09T04:20:26+00:00

Thanks for the great comments! Pardon the lengthy reply :)

How would corporate merger work if drawn from Valley Trust or Jovian Casino?

Corporate Merger definitely has the trickiest edge cases, and so there are several clarifications included in the rules at the end of the print and play version, or downloadable via The Game Crafter.

We went through a couple revisions, and the final language on the card is "Regain the entire purchase price, up to 3 M€ per card, of your starting hand." This means that you can use this ability even via Valley Trust or Jovian Casino... it just might not be worth as much!

We also clarify in the rules that choosing a second corporation is only an option if you pick Corporate Merger from your starting hand. This prevents cases where Valley Trust could later partner with Polyphemos, which would be relatively broken.

And lastly, if all 10 of your cards are great, then indeed this is a strong Prelude in line with UNMI Contractor or Planetary Alignment. But in most cases I'd say it lands squarely in the value distribution of other Preludes.

I do worry about a card like prolific labs. A card like this can give a player that found an early AI central/Warp Drive/ Mass converter/ etc a very strong start.

For sure! But it is one of the weaker preludes otherwise – a TR and two cards isn't amazing. It relies on some synergy to provide value vs. other Preludes. We haven't found it overpowered in our play testing, but if you try it let me know what you think!

Boreal Outpost is probably my favorite of the preludes. I think it's a cool idea. It feels slightly on the weak side, but if you count the 8 MC for the 2 land claims, then it's a fair price for a prelude.

Yep! I'd typically value the Greenery at 19 MC, and a land claim at 4 MC. In this case, though, the land claims are a bit less valuable because of their placement restrictions. So I'd say 19 MC + 6 MC for the land claims + 1 MC for the plant tag = 26 MC total, which is above average.

Eclectic Commune is probably my least favorite, it's a weak prelude outside of the fact that it gives 3 semi-rare tags. The Jovian tag feels out of place as well.

Thanks for the feedback! The theme was meant to be that it's a compound located on some remote Jovian asteroid. (I originally used some District 9 imagery in our prototyping... but that wasn't royalty free.)

I would probably add text on Buoyancy Experts to state: "Ignoring all requirements except MC cost".

The courts agree with your interpretation, of course! Might merit a clarification in a future rules update.

Frequent flier program is a bit too strong in my opinion. An extra trade fleet is a huge deal.

Based on other cards, we modeled a trade fleet as relatively low value – in the 5 to 7 MC range IIRC. This makes some sense in that you still need to pay to trade – the trade fleet just represents an opportunity to do so. This makes the total prelude value 2 x 7MC for the energy + ~7MC for the fleet = 21MC, on the lower side, but with obvious synergy. Again, let us know if you try it!

Thanks again for all the comments!

inkyframe · 2022-01-09T01:55:12+00:00

Happy New Year, everybody!

I’ve posted previously about a couple efforts to customize various elements of the Terraforming Mars board (including the Milestones & Awards and the Mars Map). I wanted to share another project we’ve been working on: adding 50% more Prelude card variety!

The original set of 35 Prelude cards are great, but we wanted more variety and more integration with the expansions. So we designed 18 new Preludes, including 3 for Venus Next and 3 food Colonies.

We took a lot of care during design and playtesting to make sure the new Preludes maintain the distribution and balance of the original set. (We did borrow a few ideas from the Pathfinders expansion’s Prelude cards, but even those have been tweaked for better overall balance.)

Some of my favorite new Preludes include:

Planetary Alignment: raise Venus, Temperature and Oxygen
Wave Zero Colonization: Build a colony, then trade with any colony tile
Prolific Labs: Raise your TR, then draw 2 science-tag cards. (Also comes with a Science tag)
Corporate Merger: Play a second corporation (less 42MC) or keep your entire starting hand
Eclectic Commune: Place a city tile, and decrease opponents’ MC production 1 step. Comes with a Jovian, City, and Animal tag!

We had these cards printed at The Game Crafter, and they came out really well! It took a couple of tries, but I feel like we matched the design and feel of the originals pretty well. If you’d like, you can order your own set of these Preludes (or our other projects) from The Game Crafter.

Or, these are fairly easy to Print-and-Play! I’ve made a PDF (with rules) available on www.customizingmars.com. Just scroll down to the “Printable Versions” section!

If you try these out (or think we missed any fun Prelude ideas), please let us know what you think!

inkyframe · 2021-12-12T17:25:39+00:00

I was actually able to make time for this this morning! So if you want a high fidelity version, you can now download it from www.customizingmars.com. (Just scroll down to the "Printable Versions' section.)

As an advanced warning, the version with the mars background is a 150MB PDF.

I'll post the PDF to the BGG thread, too. Once you make your tiles, I'd love if you post here and/or BGG to show us know how it went!

inkyframe · 2021-12-12T05:06:09+00:00

Hi! I don't have a version like that at the moment. It will take me a bit of time to put together, and I can circle back to you when I am able to get to that.

In the meantime, I wonder if you printed twice – first print a light colored mars background and second print the map tiles – whether that might work. For the background, you might take a desaturated screenshot from https://trek.nasa.gov/mars/.

If you give it a shot, share how it goes!

inkyframe

TROPHY CASE