Dominion Strategy Forum

Miscellaneous => Other Games => Topic started by: Kuildeous on December 24, 2012, 11:42:53 am

Title: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on December 24, 2012, 11:42:53 am
Starting a new topic based on discussion elsewhere.

If you have a hard time finding the time to play a full game of Through the Ages (or you want to see what all the hoopla is about), there is a web site where you can play the game: http://www.boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=1

As far as I can tell,  it's designed to handle a game over the course of days/weeks/months. Hell, if everyone is online at the same time, I suppose you could complete a game within a day.

The interface is not 100% intuitive or really even documented. For that reason, it's been suggested that you play a game with yourself first so you can get used to the interface before diving into other games. It does help. You create a game and then add other players, only the other players are yourself. So, you can have a game with four players all named the same. It can get a little confusing, but the interface also designates by color, so it's all good.

I still like the online forum because I can access it with my phone, and I'm not always working on a computer where I should have nontext elements; this forum is stretching it. However, I can play on BGO at home as well and get my TtA fix.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 24, 2012, 12:13:46 pm
I'm thinking I might join a game or two on there. I notice Galzria appears to be about to start a game.

Okay I'm starting a game for anyone from here who wants to join. Password is DominionStrategy. I'll set it to 3 player to be optimistic but not too optimistic. If anyone wants help with rules etc. I can probably help (but I've been known to get things wrong, in the game I'm moderating...)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 24, 2012, 12:47:45 pm
I'm thinking I might join a game or two on there. I notice Galzria appears to be about to start a game.

Okay I'm starting a game for anyone from here who wants to join. Password is DominionStrategy. I'll set it to 3 player to be optimistic but not too optimistic. If anyone wants help with rules etc. I can probably help (but I've been known to get things wrong, in the game I'm moderating...)

Yeah, I've been fiddling with the setup, trying to get a feel for it. It's a bit difficult to follow, and it really helps to know the cards. But it's not impossible. Military/Political Actions seem the hardest to wrap my head around on the site.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 24, 2012, 12:51:01 pm
Any idea what the best way to delete games that I'm in and no longer want to be? (I've got two self-filled games that I would rather not have on my list anymore, and I can't figure out how to resign/leave)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 24, 2012, 12:55:18 pm
No idea here, I'm afraid. I'm tempted to say if you start the game, there should be an option to resign for each player's turn.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on December 24, 2012, 01:54:13 pm
I'm thinking I might join a game or two on there. I notice Galzria appears to be about to start a game.

Okay I'm starting a game for anyone from here who wants to join. Password is DominionStrategy. I'll set it to 3 player to be optimistic but not too optimistic. If anyone wants help with rules etc. I can probably help (but I've been known to get things wrong, in the game I'm moderating...)

Do you have the game ID?

Found it.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 24, 2012, 10:42:40 pm
I've got another set up. Open for two more - 4 total:


ID: 150252

Name: DominionStrategy

PW: DominionStrategy1
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on December 25, 2012, 01:52:29 am
I wish it could send e-mail or something when it's my turn. I have to constantly check back, which is fruitless if nobody has made a move lately.

So, for that, I am appreciative of the forum format. At least when TtAI starts back up again, I'll receive notification.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 25, 2012, 06:49:25 am
Maybe I shouldn't have joined that game Galz made. Now us three are in two games...

Yeah, I was disappointed there isn't email notifications. I pressed the button to turn them on, but it looks like it's for something else.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on December 25, 2012, 02:33:56 pm
I just want to follow this thread, I'm too busy to play more games right now, but I will probably eventually.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on December 26, 2012, 09:18:21 am
Can you provide links to the games for watching?

Also, as mentioned somewhere else, I'm in for a game in about 2 weeks.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 26, 2012, 12:08:45 pm
I dunno if these will work but:
http://www.boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=150183&nat=2
http://www.boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=150252&nat=1
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on December 26, 2012, 12:28:02 pm
They do.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on December 26, 2012, 01:39:40 pm
Great, now my horrible gameplay is open to all to laugh at…especially my mistaken Promise of Military Protection.

Don't judge!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 26, 2012, 01:45:45 pm
I dunno... I'm terrified you're both not going to play aggressions against each other, and leave me in the dust :(. Then again, it is beneficial for both of you to target aggressions against the other in a pact, so... I dunno
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 26, 2012, 01:49:47 pm
I find the lack of banter to be a major drawback of the site. It's not that the Chat function is difficult to use, but it feels like an extra step. Especially compared to the PBF format.

That, and I generally don't take the time to click through and look back at each of your turns, so I rarely know what's going on outside my Civilization. (Except to note that both the Irons were taken on me... Again.)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 26, 2012, 01:53:08 pm
I've been reading a little TtA theory, saying Iron is overrated. And I can see where they're coming from. Sure, resource production might be vital in just about every strategy, but Iron itself is expensive (5 science is more expensive than any age I tech except peaceful change of government and Code of Laws, AND it's 5 resources, less efficient than Bronze). You just need to be a little more clever, because you can't just stick 5-6 guys onto Bronze and expect to have no problems whatsoever.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on December 26, 2012, 01:55:18 pm
Yeah, I agree. I like bantering. I am grateful for the Chat feature, but it doesn't seem to be first and foremost in my mind.

And yeah, I don't follow the journal either. I'm in three different games right now. When I begin my turn (or make a decision based on someone else's turn), it feels almost like I'm starting in the middle of some board game. I don't quite have the same connection to my past history and definitely not the past histories of others. I'm playing one game where I watched these other players shoot up to the 20s in terms of military while I'm lagging behind. It's always a surprise to me when I hover over their names and go, "How did he get so high?"
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 26, 2012, 01:56:31 pm
I've been reading a little TtA theory, saying Iron is overrated. And I can see where they're coming from. Sure, resource production might be vital in just about every strategy, but Iron itself is expensive (5 science is more expensive than any age I tech except peaceful change of government and Code of Laws, AND it's 5 resources, less efficient than Bronze). You just need to be a little more clever, because you can't just stick 5-6 guys onto Bronze and expect to have no problems whatsoever.

Yeah, I played a solo game running high-happiness, with lots of farms/bronze. It's doable, but very touchy. Leaves you strong in the switch to Age 3 though since your people are in place already.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on December 26, 2012, 02:03:05 pm
The big advantage of bgo over forum play is that you don't have to have a mod who you have to wait for, and who can make mistakes, I guess.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on December 26, 2012, 02:08:38 pm
I've been reading a little TtA theory, saying Iron is overrated. And I can see where they're coming from. Sure, resource production might be vital in just about every strategy, but Iron itself is expensive (5 science is more expensive than any age I tech except peaceful change of government and Code of Laws, AND it's 5 resources, less efficient than Bronze). You just need to be a little more clever, because you can't just stick 5-6 guys onto Bronze and expect to have no problems whatsoever.

I played around on my solo games and found myself being better able to manage resources even without Iron.

I still think that it's damned handy, but I can believe that it's overrated. What could you do in place of the action used to discover Iron and upgrade one mine to gain 1 Resource/turn in Age I and beyond?

Take and play Engineering Genius to gain 3-5 Resources
Take and play Mineral Deposits to gain 2-4 Resources
Take and play Ideal Building Site to gain 2-4 Resources
Take and play Patriotism to gain 2-4 Resources
Discover Masonry and gain 1 Resource/urban building built
Discover Architecture and gain even more Resources for urban buildings built


I guess it depends on opportunity. Getting it early in Age I is of a great benefit, because that 1 Resource/turn easily earns you double-digits. It's still pretty handy at the end of Age I, but I could see how someone may want to save his Science for Coal.

Part of the game is also card management. I've gotten caught up in taking technology cards, but they do no good if your Science isn't strong. The action cards can help you out with those.

I do get a little annoyed at how I feel like I'm falling backward when upgrading mines. I spend 3 to upgrade. I then gain 1 extra. So, I net -2 Resources every time I upgrade a mine. I won't see that investment again for another 2 turns. In the meantime, I could have built a Lab or more military or completed my Basilica.

I may have to read up on some of these theories. It'll drive my wife nuts. She already doesn't like that I've improved my understanding of the game by playing it online.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 26, 2012, 02:10:20 pm
Yeah, I agree with you Watno. It feels a little less personal though. I'd like the chat to be slightly more active, oh well.

Incidentally, Kuildeous, I think it's your turn in both the games I'm in.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on December 26, 2012, 02:13:21 pm
The big advantage of bgo over forum play is that you don't have to have a mod who you have to wait for, and who can make mistakes, I guess.

This is verging on the absurd here, but I suppose the mod could create a solo game of his own on BGO and run the game from there. That way, the mod cannot make mistakes because the system won't let him. When that happens, he goes back to the forum and says, "Oh, hey, that doesn't work because you need 7 Resources to pull that off, and you only have 6."

Why wouldn't those players go to BGO instead? Well, like I said, I like the forum for chatting and e-mail notifications. I'm willing to endure moderator delays as long as the moderator has the time to keep on top of things. I suspect that most of us in the forum games are obsessive enough about games that we have no problem there. The forum and spreadsheet format works better for me 24 hours a day, rather than when I'm only on my desktop.

But, I don't see a problem with a mod using BGO to run the game. It's all randomized for him and everything.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on December 26, 2012, 02:14:32 pm
Incidentally, Kuildeous, I think it's your turn in both the games I'm in.

I'm sure that's true, but I won't be logging into that until I get home. Another downside to BGO for me. I have to be less obsessive with that site than the forum.

But I'll play my moves in a couple of hours.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 26, 2012, 02:38:16 pm
The big advantage of bgo over forum play is that you don't have to have a mod who you have to wait for, and who can make mistakes, I guess.

This is verging on the absurd here, but I suppose the mod could create a solo game of his own on BGO and run the game from there. That way, the mod cannot make mistakes because the system won't let him. When that happens, he goes back to the forum and says, "Oh, hey, that doesn't work because you need 7 Resources to pull that off, and you only have 6."

Why wouldn't those players go to BGO instead? Well, like I said, I like the forum for chatting and e-mail notifications. I'm willing to endure moderator delays as long as the moderator has the time to keep on top of things. I suspect that most of us in the forum games are obsessive enough about games that we have no problem there. The forum and spreadsheet format works better for me 24 hours a day, rather than when I'm only on my desktop.

But, I don't see a problem with a mod using BGO to run the game. It's all randomized for him and everything.


If I had the knowledge to write some short script to scrap information from a BGO page and convert it into an easy to use text output, I would love to do that. It has the secondary benefit of the mod not knowing what's coming next either.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 26, 2012, 05:05:58 pm
This was very tempting in our game on my turn...
(http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/32493361.jpg)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on December 26, 2012, 07:41:53 pm
I've started a four-player game, if any of you want to join it. Game name is Dominion Strategy, password is Dominion.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on December 26, 2012, 11:54:39 pm
I've started a four-player game, if any of you want to join it. Game name is Dominion Strategy, password is Dominion.

I'm in three games already on there.

But if you find yourself lacking a player, hit me up. I'm sure I can add a fourth.

Well, and one game will be over soon. I think there are 12 cards left in Age III.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on December 27, 2012, 03:15:33 am
I find the lack of banter to be a major drawback of the site. It's not that the Chat function is difficult to use, but it feels like an extra step. Especially compared to the PBF format.

I don't really like how sending a message in chat takes you immediately back to board view. I understand it is most efficient, but it feels odd that you don't get to look at your message after submitting it.

PS. Joined DominionStrategy game (id 150587). Is your gameplay really of King *** size? Because mine isn't.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 27, 2012, 10:48:58 am
Alright, I've got a question:

I'm in the middle of my turn. I started with 4 CA, and discovered Alchemy for my first action. I've now got 3 CA remaining. I've got 3 Workers in my Pool, and 7 Bronze in my supply.

The system won't let me build Alchemy. Why?

Complete Stats:

Agriculture (0 Workers): 2 Chips
Irrigation (2 Workers): 4 Chips

Bronze (3 Workers): 7 Chips

Philosophy (2 Workers)

Religion (1 Worker)

5 Blue Chips in supply
17 Yellow Chips in supply

Own Fertile Territory I

1 Civil Card in Hand (Masonry)
2 Military Cards in Hand (Enslave, Heavy Cavalry)

Aristotle is elected leader.

http://www.boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&msg=400&pl=150716&nat=4

So, what am I missing here?

**Edit: For the record, I CAN individually upgrade each of my current Philosophic Workers (at 3R each) to Lab Workers, leaving me with 1 Resource. But I don't WANT to do that, because I want to burn resources here, and I want the extra CA to increase population.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on December 27, 2012, 11:07:48 am
Are you still in Despotism? You can only have two urban buildings of the same type. You already have two labs, so you can't build a third one.

If you're no longer a despot, then I am at a loss.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on December 27, 2012, 11:11:11 am
Incidentally, I find myself less worried about corruption nowadays. I worked my tail off to prevent corruption, but I think that sometimes it's just something worth doing.

In your case, you want to burn 6 out of 7 Resources to build a new Alchemy, leaving you 1 Resource plus Production. If you cannot do that, then you have to instead upgrade a Philosophy to Alchemy for 3 out of 7 Resources. That leaves you with 4 Resources plus Production. Even if you hit corruption, you'll still be one ahead.

I'm becoming more comfortable with that idea. I always fought to have 0 corruption before.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 27, 2012, 11:14:06 am
Are you still in Despotism? You can only have two urban buildings of the same type. You already have two labs, so you can't build a third one.

If you're no longer a despot, then I am at a loss.

Ah! Indeed! I'm not used to running into that wall.

Wait... then how do I have 2 Lab's and a Religion?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 27, 2012, 11:15:20 am
Incidentally, I find myself less worried about corruption nowadays. I worked my tail off to prevent corruption, but I think that sometimes it's just something worth doing.

In your case, you want to burn 6 out of 7 Resources to build a new Alchemy, leaving you 1 Resource plus Production. If you cannot do that, then you have to instead upgrade a Philosophy to Alchemy for 3 out of 7 Resources. That leaves you with 4 Resources plus Production. Even if you hit corruption, you'll still be one ahead.

I'm becoming more comfortable with that idea. I always fought to have 0 corruption before.

Yeah, 1 set of Corruption (2 lost resources) isn't always the end of the world. Hitting double corruption hurts though, especially when you're still producing Bronze.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on December 27, 2012, 11:20:55 am
Are you still in Despotism? You can only have two urban buildings of the same type. You already have two labs, so you can't build a third one.

If you're no longer a despot, then I am at a loss.

Ah! Indeed! I'm not used to running into that wall.

Wait... then how do I have 2 Lab's and a Religion?
You can have two of each type of building
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 27, 2012, 11:30:57 am
Are you still in Despotism? You can only have two urban buildings of the same type. You already have two labs, so you can't build a third one.

If you're no longer a despot, then I am at a loss.

Ah! Indeed! I'm not used to running into that wall.

Wait... then how do I have 2 Lab's and a Religion?
You can have two of each type of building

Ah. Good to know then.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on December 27, 2012, 11:32:37 am
That seems to be a common mistake, right up there with the rule that discovering a military tech is still a civil action.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 27, 2012, 11:41:47 am
That seems to be a common mistake, right up there with the rule that discovering a military tech is still a civil action.

That one doesn't bug me. MA's are any Military Card (PA's or Formations), and building Units.

Actually, I'm probably more likely to forget that building units is a MA, not a CA, since it's spending my resources.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on December 27, 2012, 11:45:45 am
Yeah, I've made that mistake a few times too. At least that is usually a mistake I don't mind because then I realize that I have more civil actions than I planned for. It's like Christmas!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 28, 2012, 04:29:31 am
Whelp, looks like our games have been broken.

Quote from: BGO
There has been a major incident due to a program change that was done yesterday. All games that have been played during the last 12 hours have been irreversably damaged. I am currently working on restoring the database from yesterday morning. I will keep you updated when the site is ready.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

Edit: On the plus side, as best I can see, our games *might* be unaffected by this. Apparently the issue was with cards added in the expansions and/or changed in the expansions (including Bach, Hammurabi, Kremlin, Classic Army, Napoleonic Army and probably others), they've all disappeared. So... we might have escaped. Or the game might be reset to a previous state.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 28, 2012, 09:08:09 am
Nooo.... What am I to do now?


..... I guess I can attend to my Mafia games...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 28, 2012, 09:59:53 am
We're wiped.

Going to launch two games:

f.DStrategy.1 & f.DStrategy.2

Password on both will be Dominion
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 28, 2012, 11:33:11 am
That's a shame. I've joined both games, I'm also going to launch a global game with unrevealed removed leaders/wonders (this has new wonders and leaders and I think a few tactics are changed)

Edit: Name is F.DS Global Game. Password is Dominion
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on December 28, 2012, 11:40:54 am
We're wiped.


Pity. I felt actually kind of competent in one of those.

I really need to work on becoming a military juggernaut somehow. It felt kind of nice to initiate a Raid with no repercussions. Well, not immediately anyway. I'm sure there would have been retribution in my future at some point.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 28, 2012, 11:43:21 am
Being strongest in military has it's own advantages. Events tend to favor you, and you're basically immune to aggressions. If you're strong enough to launch aggressions of your own, even better, but the military action cost is surprisingly high.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: cayvie on December 28, 2012, 02:15:01 pm
what does Global mean?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: cayvie on December 28, 2012, 02:15:23 pm
what does Global mean?

oh it's an expansion
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 28, 2012, 06:51:35 pm
I'm not 100% sure myself but I think it includes BGO 2.0, Polish and Czech expansions
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 28, 2012, 06:58:58 pm
I'm not 100% sure myself but I think it includes BGO 2.0, Polish and Czech expansions

All I know is that Confucius + Parthenon = Age 1 Drama on crack. Seriously, each Age A Religion becomes worth 2 Culture, 1 Science, and 1 Happy Face. And at a price per that's 2 Resources cheaper than Drama? And no science discovery cost? Delicious! (Wonder must built though)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 28, 2012, 07:29:34 pm
Heh, well, the issue here is once Confucious dies, they lose that 1 science, and become just Dramas, and Drama isn't great (Opera and Movies can be, Drama... less so). And of course, this is all contingent on also getting both of them, AND building the Parthenon.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on December 28, 2012, 07:35:45 pm
I hope there will be people left to play with me when I'm back to full availability in a week
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 28, 2012, 07:39:29 pm
Heh, well, the issue here is once Confucious dies, they lose that 1 science, and become just Dramas, and Drama isn't great (Opera and Movies can be, Drama... less so). And of course, this is all contingent on also getting both of them, AND building the Parthenon.

Yeah, but it's not meant to be a staple for the game, just a damn good leg up early - and it's not like those Religion's can't be upgraded to Theology later, to set yourself in Happy for the game. I mean, even with just Confucious, while he dies eventually, killing two birds with one stone (Science/Happy) lets you really conserve early resources. Yeah, the Parthenon in just a nice add on. But the strength comes from Science+Happy together, early in Age A.

It's not dominant, but I think it stands quite strongly against almost anything else that was offered in just the Base game.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 28, 2012, 07:39:39 pm
I hope there will be people left to play with me when I'm back to full availability in a week

/in
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on December 28, 2012, 07:42:09 pm
Btw, you really don't need happy faces early in age A
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 28, 2012, 07:44:04 pm
Btw, you really don't need happy faces early in age A

No, but having them in Age I without having to go out of your way to get them, is particularly nice, especially if those faces come with free Science attached.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 28, 2012, 07:54:20 pm
Btw, you really don't need happy faces early in age A

Also, I often find that I don't like leaving workers sitting unused in my pool, and find places to use them. So without early Happy, I have Civil disorder. I don't usually need more that ONE in Age A, although occasionally 2 Happy doesn't go amiss if increasing my population is easy (Leader, Frugality, whatever).
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on December 28, 2012, 08:10:35 pm
Can you provide links to the new games for watching?
Also, how many games have you played already, Galz?
Three Weeks ago you didn't even know the rules, and now you're already talking about what you usually do.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 28, 2012, 08:13:21 pm
Can you provide links to the new games for watching?
Also, how many games have you played already, Galz?
Three Weeks ago you didn't even know the rules, and now you're already talking about what you usually do.

Way too many. I've got 13 completed, ranging from 2-4 player games, since BGO lets you load each game with copies of yourself. So it's easy to test out heavy Military vs Heavy Science vs Heavy resources vs What happens if you miss Iron vs etc.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 28, 2012, 08:23:59 pm
Interesting note, although I guess it makes sense... but if you have Forefather Czech, and you're building a Wonder who has a Stage at cost "1" - while you CAN build it for "free", it DOES still steal a token marker from your bank - So if that single Token is the tipping point to Corruption, it doesn't exactly cost you "nothing" after all. :P
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on December 28, 2012, 08:26:05 pm
Same applies for engineering genius.
I found the normal game, can I get a link to the global one?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 28, 2012, 08:27:24 pm
http://www.boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=151025&nat=2

Not sure if that'll work.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on December 28, 2012, 08:29:49 pm
It does, thanks
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on December 28, 2012, 08:34:29 pm
It does, thanks

I'll admit, this was the first game that I expanded to, well, expansions. So maybe it's "grass is greener" syndrome, but man do some of those cards look nice. The change to Hammurabi, for example, may seem small, but not loosing that Military Action... just feels like such an upgrade. I don't know. I'm running solo games now to play around with the new cards/changes, but it just... feels stronger all around.

But I guess that's true with any game and expansions at first. The real test is if they overshadow the original, or meld in nicely. /shrug. Time will tell I suppose.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on December 28, 2012, 08:41:20 pm
It's an insane buff. from what I've read, consensus is that it takes him from totally useless to insanely overpowered.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 28, 2012, 09:00:14 pm
I believe the spanish expansions makes his military units cost one more instead, but that isn't on BGO (maybe it's not out IRL yet?). He is supposed to be one of the best leaders without his loss of military action.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on December 29, 2012, 02:26:38 am
I have printed myself some cards using Jonas Havreglids' (http://"http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/556541/new-leaders-and-wonders-version-3") suggestions as well as BGO 2.0. I modified Hammurabi such that instead of -1 MA, you can hold one military card less in hand. Not enough playtesting so far, but this slightly less impaired Hammy should be in the range of the other Leaders' prowess.

Also, I have to actively avoid both Confucii entering the game.

Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on January 04, 2013, 12:43:55 am
Ooh, I can navigate BGO fairly well on my phone. That'll speed up my games now.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on January 04, 2013, 05:27:10 pm
So, I'm back now and want to play a normal game. How many people would be in?
Also, is anyone up for a blitz 2 player game tomorrow (meaning playing it in one rush)?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on January 04, 2013, 05:28:41 pm
I'd be up for a normal game. Not so much a blitz. My wife would kill me if I played an online blitz game and not a real game with her.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on January 04, 2013, 05:35:03 pm
I can't commit to a blitz either, but count me in for a normal!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on January 04, 2013, 05:42:07 pm
Yeah, I'll gladly join more games :D
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on January 04, 2013, 05:43:50 pm
Ok, 4 player game hosted.
Maybe I should mention the name is f.DStrategy.5 and the passowrd is Dominion
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on January 05, 2013, 05:55:32 am
My wife would kill me if I played an online blitz game and not a real game with her.
Sometimes I covet my neighbour's wife. My wife, after three games (and my assassination of her Napoleon), quipped that she doesn't need to play a game to try to make the best out of limited resources. (She does like Village and Terry Mystica, though.)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on January 05, 2013, 07:59:03 am
hosted a Blitz gaem in case someone wants to play one, password is Dominion again.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on January 05, 2013, 04:55:55 pm
cancelede blitz game for now, might try again tomorrow
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on January 14, 2013, 06:04:04 am
Ok, 4 player game hosted.
Maybe I should mention the name is f.DStrategy.5 and the passowrd is Dominion
Done after about a week, next game f.DStrategy.6 hosted with same password.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on January 14, 2013, 06:48:35 am
Ok, 4 player game hosted.
Maybe I should mention the name is f.DStrategy.5 and the passowrd is Dominion
Done after about a week, next game f.DStrategy.6 hosted with same password.
/in, game has started with Galzria and Tables.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on January 14, 2013, 01:48:53 pm
I started a new one titled f.DS.7 if anyone feels like playing another game simultaneously. If not I'll just wait until it fills or dies and try again. (same password as above).
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on January 14, 2013, 05:56:07 pm
hey, you started without me :(
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on January 14, 2013, 05:57:30 pm
hey, you started without me :(

I blame Kuildeous.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on January 14, 2013, 06:04:08 pm
So i created f.DStrategy8 (PW: Dominion) as 3 player to mix things up a bit.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on January 14, 2013, 06:06:37 pm
I might not join this one just to also mix things up a bit :P.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on January 15, 2013, 03:58:17 am
Three players hits the sweet spot for me, especially face-to-face but also over bg-o.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on January 15, 2013, 09:28:57 am
hey, you started without me :(

I blame Kuildeous.

It's true. I'm a bad person.

I missed out on the last one, so I made sure to jump into this one.

That puts me at two games, which is about in my comfort range. I was at three games at one point, and I was mostly okay with that, but I was definitely getting a little confused.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on January 15, 2013, 11:31:42 am
I did get a little confused when I had something like 5 games, 3 of which I was running super-heavy military in age III with Napoleon.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on January 16, 2013, 11:45:01 am
Come on, need one more
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on January 16, 2013, 11:47:00 am
Come on, need one more

/in
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on January 17, 2013, 02:25:43 pm
Message redacted.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on January 17, 2013, 02:30:11 pm
Did I see that Cayvie is "-----" on BGO? I thought so, but I'm confused because Cayvie has been inactive on these games, but ----- is still chugging along on BGO.

This is correct - but she isn't joining new ones there (that I've seen), only finishing up the games that she's in.

I think.

Forums are harder when life gets you busy. They keep moving, and the further behind you get, the harder it is to find the time/desire to catch back up.

BGO stops and waits every time it's your turn.

Still, it is a little bit strange that she's consistently active there but not a word here. :(
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on January 17, 2013, 02:38:46 pm
Maybe we need to prod her there.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on January 17, 2013, 03:04:54 pm
I think she has been prodded in some games.

Not sure what to do about it, but she doesn't seem interested in returning right now, which we have to respect. I think the best thing to do is just try and replace her in ongoing games, and welcome her back if she ever returns.

Speaking of BGO though. coughKuildeouscough
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on January 17, 2013, 03:09:09 pm
Well, true, it's not like she doesn't know the games are happening. So, it's a deliberate for whatever reason, and we don't know what that reason is. I'll leave it alone.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on January 18, 2013, 03:45:44 am
Did I see that Cayvie is *** on BGO? I thought so, but I'm confused because Cayvie has been inactive on these games, but *** is still chugging along on BGO.

Given that this forum is public and searchable and everything while BGO is password protected (and people seem to be much more willing to play under real name there) I would rather not see associations between their BGO names and the f:DS or isotropic names posted here.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on January 18, 2013, 08:35:01 am
Given that this forum is public and searchable and everything while BGO is password protected (and people seem to be much more willing to play under real name there) I would rather not see associations between their BGO names and the f:DS or isotropic names posted here.

That's fair. Redacting relevant posts now. Asking Galzria to do the same, since he quoted me.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on January 18, 2013, 08:59:42 am
Name removed.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on January 18, 2013, 06:54:00 pm
I've noticed I'm only in 1 game currently, which is far too manageable, so I've made two more.

F.DStrategy 9 is a 3 player, BGO 2.0 game, id 157494
F.DStrategy 10 is a 4 player, base game, id 157495
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on January 18, 2013, 06:59:31 pm
I joined the 3P one. :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on January 20, 2013, 01:45:19 pm
I'm not sure if I just missed it before or if it was added (didn't see in developer notes), but you can edit your profile, and it will in fact send you e-mail updates when it's your turn. Neat!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on January 23, 2013, 07:28:19 am
Joined this one:

Quote
F.DStrategy 10 is a 4 player, base game, id 157495

It's my first ever game. I read the rule book last night. Go easy on me and I apologise in advance for any rediculous n00b plays and/or ruining the game.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on January 23, 2013, 08:51:07 am
Joined this one:

Quote
F.DStrategy 10 is a 4 player, base game, id 157495

It's my first ever game. I read the rule book last night. Go easy on me and I apologise in advance for any rediculous n00b plays and/or ruining the game.

Bwahaha! Fresh meat!

In all seriousness, it's a pretty good game that allows you to play in a quasi-solitaire fashion. Just keep in mind that it's not solitaire. Of course, you have to consider whether you should take something from the card row before someone else does or let it move to the cheaper area. And you could deprive someone of a useful card.

And don't neglect your military. You'll be tempted to; I know I am. After all, everything else you build you see an immediate benefit. Build a farm/mine, and you see production. Build arenas, theatres, and philosophy, and you see happiness. Build libraries and labs, and you see science. Building a warrior seems so insignificant in comparison, but strength can be important in many regards. It makes other civilizations less likely to attack you. In fact, if someone else does ignore military, then you can attack him. It can also be important for certain event cards. There are not as many as I thought, but there are still plenty of cards out there that reward strong civilizations or punish weak civilizations. There is (IIRC) no card that throws a bone to a weaker civilization, a fact that drove my wife nuts the first couple of times she played it. And hey, that warrior can be more than just a +1 to your strength. If it gets close, you can sacrifice him for another +1.

That's not to say that strength is the end-all. In another game, I won a War over Culture 17 to 1. I gained 16 culture while he lost 16 culture. Sounds like a nice 32-point swing, except that he's still way ahead of me in culture. We'll see if I can overtake him toward the end. I'll hope for more opportunities to declare war on him. Heh.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on January 23, 2013, 11:39:45 am
Joined this one:

It's my first ever game. I read the rule book last night. Go easy on me and I apologise in advance for any rediculous n00b plays and/or ruining the game.

And don't neglect your military. You'll be tempted to; I know I am. After all, everything else you build you see an immediate benefit. Build a farm/mine, and you see production. Build arenas, theatres, and philosophy, and you see happiness.
Happiness is a bit like strength: It just sits there and doesn't produce anything.

Quote
... strength can be important in many regards. It makes other civilizations less likely to attack you.

In two-player games, strength is central. In four-player games, it is important not to fall behind in strength. Someone raids you, you sacrifice a Knights and play a Defense card. The next one plunders you cause you are weaker for the scarifice. Your turn. Oops, no resources to replenish. The third one plays War over Territory. One turn later and you lack three yellow pips so your workers frantically multiply and idle just to avert civil disorder. From then on, you are like a jeweller's shop with a smashed window.

If you are last but trailing the leader by not more than a Defense card you may be fine for a turn. If you are better than last, you may seed events and collect the bonus (and maybe even bid for that territory that comes up). You may skip building strength but have to watch the strength score closely. If you are leading in strength, you may even seed and profit from the upcoming event. If you are leading by a bit of a margin ... hey ... is that a Raid card in your hand?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on January 23, 2013, 11:16:10 pm
Man, now I want to get in on one of these games, probably after playing a few 2P solitaire games against myself.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on January 23, 2013, 11:39:13 pm
I might make a new one in the morning maybe.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on January 24, 2013, 03:58:39 am
I would join another one now that my last game is close to the end.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on January 24, 2013, 10:35:04 am
Sure. We're onto #11 now right?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on January 24, 2013, 10:36:12 am
Game id: 159066
Password is Dominion, as normal.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on January 24, 2013, 12:09:52 pm
If it doesn't fill, let me know. I've got a few ending soon so could pick up another.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: mith on January 24, 2013, 01:05:23 pm
I took the last spot.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on January 24, 2013, 05:40:42 pm
Question about the interface:

What's with the unhappy faces at the top of the screen with the mouseover text of "Corruption"? As far as I gather, I've got no corruption until I use enough blue discs to pass the -2R symbol on the blue bank. Is it just a warning that I'm getting close?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on January 24, 2013, 05:41:32 pm
It means that if you spent no more resources, you will have corruption.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on January 24, 2013, 05:42:39 pm
Oh okay. So it is just a warning. Thanks.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on January 25, 2013, 05:05:50 am
I've made number 11 (ID:159512). It's only a two player game and I'd appreciate if you only joined if you're able to check back every few hours most days. My first game's going a bit slower than I'd have liked for my first (learning) game, so I intend this one to go a bit faster and probably overtake my first game quickly. I'm hoping to be able to play at least 2-3 turns each day, but obviously it's okay if there's the odd day you can't manage to make that many, I'll have a few days like that too (for example today, if the game started immediately I'll probably only be able to play 1-2 turns today).

Password is Dominion, obviously.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on January 25, 2013, 05:13:27 am
I'd join, as I haven't played a two player game yet.
I'm able to make several turns per day in general, but I'm not sure about my availability this weekend.
Is this ok?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on January 25, 2013, 05:24:01 am
I'd join, as I haven't played a two player game yet.
I'm able to make several turns per day in general, but I'm not sure about my availability this weekend.
Is this ok?

If you've not played 2 player yet that'll put us on a (kind of) even footing so it sounds good to me. It's fine if you can't do too much at the weekend as long as we pick up the pace a bit next week. Go for it. Thanks.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on January 25, 2013, 05:49:01 am
Either of you can rename this game to f.DStrategy 12 if you like (play -> rename game).

It's good if we keep the same prefix so we can filter for all those forum matches.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on January 25, 2013, 05:54:12 am
My bad, didn't think we were on 12 yet.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on January 25, 2013, 10:49:04 am
And I've posted lucky 13.  Prefer newish players, will be semi-slow.

Edit:  Of course the password is Dominion.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on January 26, 2013, 10:43:46 am
I can't see the board in f.DStrategy.6 anyore, it just shows me the navigation bar with a big white emptyness where the game is supposed to be. Can you still see it? Anyone know how to fix this?
I can still see the boards of other games, switching browser doesn't help, and i can still se the journal and the discard pile via the play tab

Ok, now it says its under maintenance
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on January 26, 2013, 10:45:37 am
I can't see the board in f.DStrategy.6 anyore, it just shows me the navigation bar with a big white emptyness where the game is supposed to be. Can you still see it? Anyone know how to fix this?

I searched for the game and got "Maintenance on site. Site will be back in a few minutes.".
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on January 26, 2013, 11:02:06 am
Appears to be back up now.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on January 26, 2013, 06:56:08 pm
And I've posted lucky 13.  Prefer newish players, will be semi-slow.

Edit:  Of course the password is Dominion.

Anyone interested?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on January 26, 2013, 08:18:44 pm
I'd join, but I'm a little more experienced by now I think.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on January 26, 2013, 08:21:56 pm
I'd join, but I'm a little more experienced by now I think.

I suppose I'd rather get schooled than not play at all! :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on January 26, 2013, 08:35:57 pm
Joined. I dunno if I'll school you, I think my opening play is pretty solid but I'm really bad at working out what to do in age II onwards.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on January 26, 2013, 08:37:57 pm
I joined. I'm still in the learning phase, so it should be fine.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on January 28, 2013, 09:40:04 am
My bad, didn't think we were on 12 yet.

*looks at score* I hope you've learnt a bit, it's quite frustrating when the other civ walks all over you, but it has happened to me more often than not.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on January 28, 2013, 09:53:18 am
My bad, didn't think we were on 12 yet.

*looks at score* I hope you've learnt a bit, it's quite frustrating when the other civ walks all over you, but it has happened to me more often than not.


I don't think it was as bad as the score looks. I felt like I was doing well up until age 3, and then one aggression just destroyed my military and I fell apart after that. I should have resigned, but I played it out as there was only 1 age left and I wanted to see what there was and just play about a bit since it was my first real game. The fact that I stayed in the game to play it out allowed the scores to become what they did.

But yeah, I did learn a bit. I thought I understood the whole "don't get left behind in military" thing, and I did try. My military tactics just weren't enough and my lack of diversifying from soldiers for my army meant I was unable to play new tactics in later rounds. I've definitely taken the value of other units away from that game. (My reasoning in that game was "well they cost the same and give the same strength, but I already have soldiers so I can upgrade them for cheaper than buying a whole new type of unit", little did I know the true value of your units comes from the tactics cards, not the units themselves.)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on January 28, 2013, 09:56:26 am
My bad, didn't think we were on 12 yet.

*looks at score* I hope you've learnt a bit, it's quite frustrating when the other civ walks all over you, but it has happened to me more often than not.


I don't think it was as bad as the score looks. I felt like I was doing well up until age 3, and then one aggression just destroyed my military and I fell apart after that. I should have resigned, but I played it out as there was only 1 age left and I wanted to see what there was and just play about a bit since it was my first real game. The fact that I stayed in the game to play it out allowed the scores to become what they did.

But yeah, I did learn a bit. I thought I understood the whole "don't get left behind in military" thing, and I did try. My military tactics just weren't enough and my lack of diversifying from soldiers for my army meant I was unable to play new tactics in later rounds. I've definitely taken the value of other units away from that game. (My reasoning in that game was "well they cost the same and give the same strength, but I already have soldiers so I can upgrade them for cheaper than buying a whole new type of unit")

I agree that it was much closer. You probably shouldn't have defended the aggression because that gave me an open door for the war. You did pretty well otherwise. Military is pretty important in two-player games as I can put pressure on you without having to fear that another player gets benefit from it.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on January 28, 2013, 10:05:04 am
Oh, and I've also made f.DStrategy 14 (Dominion). 2 player again, hoping to get better at this game soon because I've got a 2 player IRL game organised for Saturday with a TTA veteran.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on January 28, 2013, 10:13:09 am
Oh, and I've also made f.DStrategy 14 (Dominion). 2 player again, hoping to get better at this game soon because I've got a 2 player IRL game organised for Saturday with a TTA veteran.

/in
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on January 28, 2013, 07:21:15 pm
All my current BGO games seem to be going wrong :(. I've developed a slight intuition for what I tend to see, but I always seem to currently be unable to get things I need.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on January 28, 2013, 07:24:10 pm
All my current BGO games seem to be going wrong :(. I've developed a slight intuition for what I tend to see, but I always seem to currently be unable to get things I need.

I'm confused. I expect you to win Game 11 at the current state.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on January 28, 2013, 07:26:45 pm
Dude, I have Napoleon and I'm losing military.

Well, not quite losing, but hardly winning. And my military draws have been pretty bad.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on January 28, 2013, 07:55:22 pm
All my current BGO games seem to be going wrong :(. I've developed a slight intuition for what I tend to see, but I always seem to currently be unable to get things I need.

Pretty certain you're doing all right against me. :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on January 29, 2013, 03:40:18 am
My bad, didn't think we were on 12 yet.

*looks at score* I hope you've learnt a bit, it's quite frustrating when the other civ walks all over you, but it has happened to me more often than not.


I don't think it was as bad as the score looks. I felt like I was doing well up until age 3, and then one aggression just destroyed my military and I fell apart after that. I should have resigned, but I played it out as there was only 1 age left and I wanted to see what there was and just play about a bit since it was my first real game. The fact that I stayed in the game to play it out allowed the scores to become what they did.

But yeah, I did learn a bit. I thought I understood the whole "don't get left behind in military" thing, and I did try. My military tactics just weren't enough and my lack of diversifying from soldiers for my army meant I was unable to play new tactics in later rounds. I've definitely taken the value of other units away from that game. (My reasoning in that game was "well they cost the same and give the same strength, but I already have soldiers so I can upgrade them for cheaper than buying a whole new type of unit", little did I know the true value of your units comes from the tactics cards, not the units themselves.)
*gets raided by TINAS* Yeah, you seem to have learnt that bit. Thought I could try some opening strategy out against a beginner, not a good idea.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on January 29, 2013, 09:55:41 am
Games 15+16 created. One 3p global, one 2p normal. Dominion is the password, as normal.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on February 01, 2013, 02:56:50 pm
For Tables:

From the Spanish Edition:

Actions:

Falles (Age II): Remove a card from the card row. When you play Falles, you get 1 civil action back.
La Porxada (Age II): Pay 2 Food to Produce 4 Resources, or pay 2 Resources to Produce 4 Food.

Wonders:

Sagrada Familia (Age III): Cost: 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4...4
Sagrada Familia has unlimited steps. At the end of the game, you score 4 culture for each step built.

Leaders:

El Cid (Age I): Military unit technologies cost you 2 science less. While all players have a higher strength than yours, your military units cost you 1 resource less.
John Amos Comenius (Age II): Special technologies costs you less science equal to their level. Your libraries produce an extra 1 science or an extra 1 culture (your choice).
Santiago Ramón y Cajal (Age III): One of your best library produces double culture and science. Your libraries cost you 2 resource less to build.

Events:

Inquisition (Age II): Each civilization scores 1 culture per level of each of their temples. The urban building limit for labs and libraries is reduced by 1 for each player until the active players next political phase. Players must immediately destroy any exceeding urban building.
Impact of Politicians (Age III): Each civilization loses 2 culture for each empty slot on its blue bank.

Tactics:

Tercios (Age II): Infantry x3 = 5(2)

All of these are cards that are added as listed by BGO's Civilopedia in the GLOBAL version, but come from the Spanish. I'm not sure atm if there are more cards in the Spanish version that are not included in the Global - and I know for a fact that the Spanish version has some changes to current cards that are NOT carried over to the Global (for example, in the Spanish Version Hammurabi gives an additional CA while making Military Units cost 1 more). I'm not sure what that complete list of changes is.


Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 01, 2013, 03:51:47 pm
Thanks. Don't know why I can't check the civilopedia currently. Kinda annoying, might try opening BGO in Firefox or something. Regarding Hammurabi, I saw a poll on the forum for which version should be kept in the Golbal version (posted by the webmaster), the overwhelming response was to use the spanish version.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on February 02, 2013, 12:44:01 am
Sagrada Familia (Age III): Cost: 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4...4
Sagrada Familia has unlimited steps. At the end of the game, you score 4 culture for each step built.

Impact of Politicians (Age III): Each civilization loses 2 culture for each empty slot on its blue bank.


Sounds as if politicians don't like Goudy.

Nevermind, I put up f.DStrategy 17, a three-player match in the Spanish variety. I'll be at home over the weekend (GMT + 1h) quite a lot and would like to nearly complete the match over the weekend.
 
Password as usual.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on February 02, 2013, 02:01:04 am
I'd be up for the Spanish version. I will be around this weekend but not 100%, so I'll leave it alone for now. If I see that there's still an opening,  I'll hop in. Odds are likely that if you can't fill the game up soon, then it's not going to finish this weekend anyway.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on February 02, 2013, 02:02:35 am
Galzria has joined, which means a match across nine time zones. Not so optimistic about a fast game anymore so you might as well join, the more so as I will have some dead hours (household chores, kids) too.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 02, 2013, 10:29:48 am
YOINK
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on February 02, 2013, 11:06:51 am
Galzria has joined, which means a match across nine time zones. Not so optimistic about a fast game anymore so you might as well join, the more so as I will have some dead hours (household chores, kids) too.

Take a peek at my "time online" on these boards, and you'll have no concerns about time-zone differences. :P
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on February 02, 2013, 11:11:48 am
Don't you do this sleeping thing Galz?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on February 02, 2013, 11:14:45 am
Don't you do this sleeping thing Galz?

Uhhhhhh
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 02, 2013, 01:29:51 pm
My schedule gets pretty whacky as well. Depending on when in the week it is you could get me doing things as early as 8am and as late as 4am. And in the holidays, even that 4-8am shift might get covered.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 02, 2013, 03:54:06 pm
Santiago Ramón y Cajal (Age III): One of your best library produces double culture and science. Your libraries cost you 2 resource less to build.

I never would have expected to see this name in a board game.  That is awesome.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 03, 2013, 05:41:11 pm
18 is up, 4-player, usual PW.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on February 03, 2013, 05:42:14 pm
joined
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on February 04, 2013, 11:09:27 am
(f.DStrategy 10:)

See, Tables, it does not pay when you try not to be too hard on the beginners. Soon you are on the receiving end of a Raid II.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 04, 2013, 12:47:34 pm
Yeah, that wasn't pretty. Defence choices were, lose all my military actions and 8 resources, or lose two Scientific Methods. The latter seemed worse. Should be better for the other guys as defence cards will cover me.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on February 04, 2013, 12:52:27 pm
I'll call your defence cards bluff.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on February 04, 2013, 04:47:19 pm
I just have to share this game.

Where I feel pretty good about triumphing with a 64-point wonder:
http://www.boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=160885&nat=3

Only to have victory snatched from me by crooked politicians.

The more relevant thing is to see green's wonder and then read the journal to see how the points changed.

I shake my tiny fist.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on February 04, 2013, 04:54:29 pm
I just have to share this game.

Where I feel pretty good about triumphing with a 64-point wonder:
http://www.boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=160885&nat=3

Only to have victory snatched from me by crooked politicians.

The more relevant thing is to see green's wonder and then read the journal to see how the points changed.

I shake my tiny fist.

Cool game. Thanks for sharing. Who seeded this event? Tables?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on February 04, 2013, 04:55:52 pm
Galzria
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 04, 2013, 07:10:07 pm
I was getting really terrified. I figured that Kuildeous wasn't going to go for the Sagrada without Politicians in hand. Turns out he took the risk, and boy did he pay the price.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on February 04, 2013, 11:39:50 pm
I was getting really terrified. I figured that Kuildeous wasn't going to go for the Sagrada without Politicians in hand. Turns out he took the risk, and boy did he pay the price.

Well, netting 32 culture is still pretty good for any of the wonders. Politicians definitely blunted its teeth a lot.

I'm sure Galzria was just cackling every time I built up that wonder.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on February 04, 2013, 11:45:08 pm
I was getting really terrified. I figured that Kuildeous wasn't going to go for the Sagrada without Politicians in hand. Turns out he took the risk, and boy did he pay the price.

Well, netting 32 culture is still pretty good for any of the wonders. Politicians definitely blunted its teeth a lot.

I'm sure Galzria was just cackling every time I built up that wonder.

Heck no! I spend my days writing about how crooked these people are! I know better!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 05, 2013, 06:26:12 pm
I was getting really terrified. I figured that Kuildeous wasn't going to go for the Sagrada without Politicians in hand. Turns out he took the risk, and boy did he pay the price.

Well, netting 32 culture is still pretty good for any of the wonders. Politicians definitely blunted its teeth a lot.

I'm sure Galzria was just cackling every time I built up that wonder.

32 culture is good, yes, but most of the wonders cost 16 resources, not 64.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on February 05, 2013, 09:15:06 pm
I was getting really terrified. I figured that Kuildeous wasn't going to go for the Sagrada without Politicians in hand. Turns out he took the risk, and boy did he pay the price.

Well, netting 32 culture is still pretty good for any of the wonders. Politicians definitely blunted its teeth a lot.

I'm sure Galzria was just cackling every time I built up that wonder.

32 culture is good, yes, but most of the wonders cost 16 resources, not 64.

That's true; not a very efficient use of resources. That just means the Politicians card is so aptly named.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on February 05, 2013, 11:09:51 pm
I discovered to my horror that I'm in only one game now on BGO. I have rectified this by creating 19. Using the Spanish version because they're funky fresh.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on February 06, 2013, 06:55:25 am
Created 20 because I apparently missed out on 19. Gone for Polish because I have no idea what the difference is between the versions but I've played standard a few times now and want something slightly different. 3p.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 07, 2013, 01:24:40 pm
Do we have enough TtA players here for a mini tournament? Say, 9 person, 3 player games (all base probably), 2 points for a win, 1 point for 2nd, swiss style, say 3 games each? Any interest?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on February 07, 2013, 01:26:49 pm
/in
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on February 07, 2013, 01:37:46 pm
/in!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on February 07, 2013, 01:38:01 pm
Yes, why not?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on February 07, 2013, 02:16:23 pm
/in
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 07, 2013, 02:54:49 pm
Heck, why not?  I look forward to last place.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on February 07, 2013, 03:02:36 pm
/in
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 07, 2013, 03:19:31 pm
Well, that was quick.

Tables
TINAS
Jorbles
Qvist
Galzria
Kirian
Jack Rudd
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on February 07, 2013, 03:21:26 pm
I'm sure Kuildeous will want in too. Maybe Watno? Ipofanes?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on February 07, 2013, 03:22:08 pm
Watno will be banned, he has won every game so far.  ;D :P
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: mith on February 07, 2013, 03:35:43 pm
I'd play.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 07, 2013, 04:11:47 pm
Tables
TINAS
Jorbles
Qvist
Galzria
Kirian
Jack Rudd
mith
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on February 07, 2013, 04:23:43 pm
Galzria is right. I'm \in.

I may have to actually pay more attention to this particular game's journal.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on February 07, 2013, 04:25:14 pm
I feel a tournament might be too much for me at the moment, so have fun!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on February 08, 2013, 04:43:44 am
As I had never played TTA before joining f.DStrategy 10, I would like to invite you all to join in the (probably premature) celebrations of me winning my first ever game of TTA. I bet that doesn't happen a lot.

Thank you very much.

No, f.DS 12 and 14 don't count. They come AFTER 10 ;)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on February 08, 2013, 04:51:35 am
I would like to thank my friends and family. Also Tables for supplying my civilization with plentiful resources in the midgame. Jack Rudd provided me with excellent support by triggering an event to slaughter all leaders except Mahatma Gandhi and I am truly grateful for that. I would also like to thank the wonderful discovery of Fast Food Chains that gave me the much needed boost from "playing for second" to "playing to win". Last but not least I would like to thank Kuildeous for destroying his military and along with it any possibility of a last minute comeback for a completely unnecessary territory.

Thank you all. I would not have been able to do this without you.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on February 08, 2013, 07:24:37 am
You are welcome, but I take it you don't rate this (http://boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=160515) as a game. But you are right, when I found myself winning a multiplayer game, I think of all the things that came my way just when I needed them, or events that are triggered just at the right time to hose everyone but me.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on February 08, 2013, 07:29:05 am
You are welcome, but I take it you don't rate this (http://boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=160515) as a game. But you are right, when I found myself winning a multiplayer game, I think of all the things that came my way just when I needed them, or events that are triggered just at the right time to hose everyone but me.


I think you will find I addressed the matter of f.DStrategy 14 in the small text of the first of my double post. 10 started before 14, therefore 10 is my first game  ;D
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on February 08, 2013, 09:15:26 am
I can only lose here, but /in, limited availability until next weekend though.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on February 08, 2013, 10:42:27 am
I would like to thank my friends and family. Also Tables for supplying my civilization with plentiful resources in the midgame. Jack Rudd provided me with excellent support by triggering an event to slaughter all leaders except Mahatma Gandhi and I am truly grateful for that. I would also like to thank the wonderful discovery of Fast Food Chains that gave me the much needed boost from "playing for second" to "playing to win". Last but not least I would like to thank Kuildeous for destroying his military and along with it any possibility of a last minute comeback for a completely unnecessary territory.

Thank you all. I would not have been able to do this without you.

Yeah, that game was just full of awkwardness for me. I built up a decent Shakespeare engine, but I had to lose my opera for some reason. I don't even remember why, but it was probably aggression or terrorism. I was never able to build up my theatre. Although, I also was focusing on keeping my military up since Shakespeare is such a big target. Poor Shakespeare died off without seeing the joys of a fully restored theatre.

And I thought I would be able to draw military cards with that strategic territory so I could at least pick a better Age III event. I guess you don't draw military cards in Age IV, so that lesson is learned. I was already last in military anyway, though I could have scored better in Impact of Competition. I wondered if that was in there when I saw two people building up their arenas, so I built my token Rifleman with my leftover resources.

I was doomed from Age II. I started off great but lost a lot of momentum. It was still a fun game, though. I was struggling as best I could.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 08, 2013, 03:43:38 pm
Tables
TINAS
Jorbles
Qvist
Galzria
Kirian
Jack Rudd
mith
Kuildeous
Watno

Which makes... 10. Darn it!

Well... anyone got good ideas to manage a tournament with 10 players and 3 player games, and probably 3-4 games each? I could probably do a swiss-like thing, I guess.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 08, 2013, 03:56:49 pm
Tables
TINAS
Jorbles
Qvist
Galzria
Kirian
Jack Rudd
mith
Kuildeous
Watno

Which makes... 10. Darn it!

Well... anyone got good ideas to manage a tournament with 10 players and 3 player games, and probably 3-4 games each? I could probably do a swiss-like thing, I guess.

Yep, do a Swiss-like, with the person who gets the first bye playing in round 2 against the two highest players (he will have "won" his bye), etc.  "Seed" people in signup order; Watno gets the first bye.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on February 08, 2013, 04:11:38 pm
Not only has he won every game, now he's winning without even playing! ;)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 08, 2013, 06:29:52 pm
Sounds good. I was thinking the bye would be 1 point instead of 2 (so it counts as a second place), or something, after that byes going to the lowest player who hasn't had one. I guess first bye could be 2 points?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 09, 2013, 12:38:03 am
I have to admit I'm not certain how a bye will play out in a 3-hand Swiss tournament.  I mean, if you Google for ideas on doing a Swiss tournament with three-players games, you get wiki and chess links about 2-player Swiss, and on the second page you start getting threads from this forum.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 09, 2013, 03:32:16 am
I've had a better idea though. I'm doing too much games stuff already, so I'll drop out, making it a nice 9 player tournament.

Game 1:
mith
Watno
Kirian

Game 2:
Jack Rudd
Kuildeous
Qvist

Game 3:
Jorbles
TINAS
Galzria

Round 1 as above. Ties share/halve points e.g. 1st/2nd tie gives 1.5 points. Each subsequent round, take the current leader (randomly if multiple), match them up with the two highest opponents they have not played yet. Then do the same for the next highest, and the bottom three will be left. If this process gives a game with exactly the same three players, do a thing to fix it so that doesn't happen. 4 rounds. Sound okay to everyone?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on February 09, 2013, 06:32:58 am
I've had a better idea though. I'm doing too much games stuff already, so I'll drop out, making it a nice 9 player tournament.

Game 1:
mith
Watno
Kirian

Game 2:
Jack Rudd
Kuildeous
Qvist

Game 3:
Jorbles
TINAS
Galzria

Round 1 as above. Ties share/halve points e.g. 1st/2nd tie gives 1.5 points. Each subsequent round, take the current leader (randomly if multiple), match them up with the two highest opponents they have not played yet. Then do the same for the next highest, and the bottom three will be left. If this process gives a game with exactly the same three players, do a thing to fix it so that doesn't happen. 4 rounds. Sound okay to everyone?

Are you sure you want to drop out? That would be sad. :(
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on February 09, 2013, 08:41:21 am
I've created "f.DStrategy tournament 3".

Used a slightly different password just incase anyone tried to join without realising the matches. Will PM my opponents the password now.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on February 09, 2013, 11:27:54 am
I've had a better idea though. I'm doing too much games stuff already, so I'll drop out, making it a nice 9 player tournament.

Game 1:
mith
Watno
Kirian

Game 2:
Jack Rudd
Kuildeous
Qvist

Game 3:
Jorbles
TINAS
Galzria

Round 1 as above. Ties share/halve points e.g. 1st/2nd tie gives 1.5 points. Each subsequent round, take the current leader (randomly if multiple), match them up with the two highest opponents they have not played yet. Then do the same for the next highest, and the bottom three will be left. If this process gives a game with exactly the same three players, do a thing to fix it so that doesn't happen. 4 rounds. Sound okay to everyone?

After four rounds, everyone could have played everyone else once. Would that be preferrable to Swiss-style?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 09, 2013, 05:59:16 pm
Created Tourney game 1.  Put your names in the game name so you know which to choose--normal PW.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 09, 2013, 06:26:38 pm
I've had a better idea though. I'm doing too much games stuff already, so I'll drop out, making it a nice 9 player tournament.

Game 1:
mith
Watno
Kirian

Game 2:
Jack Rudd
Kuildeous
Qvist

Game 3:
Jorbles
TINAS
Galzria

Round 1 as above. Ties share/halve points e.g. 1st/2nd tie gives 1.5 points. Each subsequent round, take the current leader (randomly if multiple), match them up with the two highest opponents they have not played yet. Then do the same for the next highest, and the bottom three will be left. If this process gives a game with exactly the same three players, do a thing to fix it so that doesn't happen. 4 rounds. Sound okay to everyone?

After four rounds, everyone could have played everyone else once. Would that be preferrable to Swiss-style?


Good point. I expect so.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on February 10, 2013, 09:34:46 am
One set of triplings might run thus:

Round 1: 1-2-3 4-5-6 7-8-9
Round 2: 1-4-7 2-5-8 3-6-9
Round 3: 1-6-8 2-4-9 3-5-7
Round 4: 1-5-9 2-6-7 3-4-8

If I'm not mistaken, everyone plays everyone else once.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 10, 2013, 08:25:12 pm
Yup, that works. Let's do that.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on February 11, 2013, 03:15:21 am
Any tie-breaker planned, for instance percentage of winner's culture points?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on February 11, 2013, 03:52:59 am
BGO seems to be currently down.

Edit: It's back online.

And I created the Tournament match.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: mith on February 11, 2013, 04:25:51 pm
Sorry for the delay, game 1, forgot to check this thread over the weekend.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 11, 2013, 06:22:17 pm
No problem, we're cruising along now.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 14, 2013, 11:33:11 am
I've been PMing some of the regulars, and Tables had a crazy idea... in short, 4 player TtA (PBF) game where each player creates (pre-game) one leader and one wonder for each of the four ages, which replace leaders/wonders from the base game. Since I've already got three people interested, I can only take one more, so whose up for something involving a little creativity, a little extra craziness, and no guarantee of balance?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on February 14, 2013, 02:36:32 pm
Oh, I totally misread it as just picking a leader or wonder. I didn't realize it involved creating those.

But, cool. I'm still up for that.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on February 14, 2013, 02:52:00 pm
Oh, I totally misread it as just picking a leader or wonder. I didn't realize it involved creating those.

But, cool. I'm still up for that.

I made the same error, but it seems fun too.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on February 14, 2013, 02:59:43 pm
As a German: Chancellor Bismarck.

You may put the current age draw pile into the discard pile.

 ;D
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on February 14, 2013, 03:26:38 pm
Do you spend an action or is it free?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on February 14, 2013, 03:30:19 pm
Leader: Scout (Age A)
As your political action, you may reveal the top 4 cards of the Civil Deck. Take all victory cards in your hand, put the reat back in any order.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 14, 2013, 03:49:40 pm
What is this monster that I've created?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on February 14, 2013, 03:50:19 pm
More seriously:

Otto v. Bismarck (Age II)

Each idle worker evens out the lack of two happy faces. An opponent turning down a pact offered by you loses as many military actions on his next turn as the age of the pact card. You may introduce new government technologies only peacefully.

Background: v. Bismarck was known a) for introducing sth which you 'mericuns would call Obamacare now, along with compulsory pension funds, all to appease the populace "or else they are going to see the socialist mountebank", b) for outlawing socialism and c) for wielding the balance of powers in the oligopoly which was Europe. After he was retired German diplomacy quickly descended into what became WWI.
 
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 14, 2013, 04:01:01 pm
ipofanes, would you be interested? I don't really see the need for a signup thread, but I think Galz, Qvist and Kuildeous would be willing to play.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on February 14, 2013, 05:08:59 pm
f.DStrategy tournament 3 has finished:

http://www.boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=164553&nat=3

Such a good game. Ending was so tense. 1 point in it for first place, 4 points from first to third.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on February 14, 2013, 05:11:30 pm
f.DStrategy tournament 3 has finished:

http://www.boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=164553&nat=3

Such a good game. Ending was so tense. 1 point in it for first place, 4 points from first to third.

That one will haunt me. Well done.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on February 14, 2013, 05:21:05 pm
yeah, it'll haunt me too ( :( 1 point! ). Who is TINAS going to face?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on February 14, 2013, 05:23:11 pm
We all get to play again. It's some kind of swiss/everyone-plays-everyone kind of thing. I think.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on February 14, 2013, 05:32:26 pm
Oh right it's Swiss. I forgot and thought it was some sort of knockout-ladder tournament. That means 2nd place wasn't a total waste, which is great. The 1 point loss still stings though.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 14, 2013, 05:51:19 pm
Well I think we decided on a play everyone else format over 4 games. So go ahead and start game 2s once the game 1's have ended.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on February 14, 2013, 05:58:45 pm
In this setup:
Quote from: ipofanes
Round 1: 1-2-3 4-5-6 7-8-9
Round 2: 1-4-7 2-5-8 3-6-9
Round 3: 1-6-8 2-4-9 3-5-7
Round 4: 1-5-9 2-6-7 3-4-8

Does that make the following numbering system?
Game 1:
1. mith
2. Watno
3. Kirian

Game 2:
4. Jack Rudd
5. Kuildeous
6. Qvist

Game 3:
7. Jorbles
8. TINAS
9. Galzria

(Numbers added by me.)

So my next game would be against mith and Jack Rudd?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on February 15, 2013, 12:11:58 am
ipofanes, would you be interested? I don't really see the need for a signup thread, but I think Galz, Qvist and Kuildeous would be willing to play.

I am afraid not, the user interface makes it considerably less fun for me than boardgaming-online.com
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 15, 2013, 02:16:35 am
ipofanes, would you be interested? I don't really see the need for a signup thread, but I think Galz, Qvist and Kuildeous would be willing to play.

I am afraid not, the user interface makes it considerably less fun for me than boardgaming-online.com

Well, hell, I'll jump in and get stomped.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on February 15, 2013, 03:52:37 am
101 - 100 - 97  :o
Wow, cool game.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 15, 2013, 09:55:35 am
ipofanes, would you be interested? I don't really see the need for a signup thread, but I think Galz, Qvist and Kuildeous would be willing to play.

I am afraid not, the user interface makes it considerably less fun for me than boardgaming-online.com

Well, hell, I'll jump in and get stomped.

Should we post our creations here, PM them, or what?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on February 15, 2013, 09:59:07 am
I'd like to see what you all come up with. I'd have joined in but, like ipofanes, I much prefer playing on a system designed to play the game than a forum.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on February 15, 2013, 01:03:55 pm
(http://i.qkme.me/3t0clt.jpg)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 15, 2013, 01:28:14 pm
(http://i.qkme.me/3t0clt.jpg)

Why hello there Napoleon, Michaelangelo here... ARGH STOP STABBING ME!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 15, 2013, 03:17:00 pm
Yeah, unfortunately Michelangelo came out at the very start of age I, and Napoleon near the end of age II.

This was not a pretty game.

Edit: oh, at Michelangelo got a lot of the defense cards.  A lot.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: mith on February 15, 2013, 03:28:44 pm
Game 1 final scores:

Watno - 195
Kirian - 123
mith - 115

I had a 30 strength advantage over both at one point, and failed to draw any attack during Age III. I'm just proud I broke 100, after not producing any culture the entire game.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 15, 2013, 03:49:56 pm
Game 1 final scores:

Watno - 195
Kirian - 123
mith - 115

I had a 30 strength advantage over both at one point, and failed to draw any attack during Age III. I'm just proud I broke 100, after not producing any culture the entire game.

You had a heck of a last turn!

http://www.boardgaming-online.com//index.php?cnt=202&pl=164684&nat=2
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 15, 2013, 04:50:20 pm
Game 1 final scores:

Watno - 195
Kirian - 123
mith - 115

I had a 30 strength advantage over both at one point, and failed to draw any attack during Age III. I'm just proud I broke 100, after not producing any culture the entire game.

I've had military drawing luck like that before. Last weekend, was playing an advanced game with a new player (but one whose very good at learning new games and beating you at them). We had the four impact events - science, agriculture, (urban buildings one) and colonies. He grabbed the Colossus and cartography and used Homer to build lots of Warriors, at which point I told the other guy playing, don't seed any territories, he'll basically win them easily, and he agreed. So the Age A deck went, age I started... and a territory came up right away. Kinda annoying. I columbused for one, and more events went down... more territories came up. And more. I eventually noticed, 5 of the 6 age I territories were in play, and commented on that. "There are only 6 Territories?" the new player asked, "Okay, yeah, I seeded four of those. Guess I did get lucky..."

Of course, this wouldn't have been so bad. Except he then went on to seed another 4 in age II. And bear in mind he only had 2 MA in most of age I and 3 MA in age II, and probably spent about 1 per turn building units. It was obscene :(. He ended up winning by 9 points.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on February 15, 2013, 06:25:14 pm
Did he get James Cook too?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 15, 2013, 07:41:46 pm
I've generated round 2 for players 3-6-9.  Because we have names I figured I'd just auto-add people, so the game's already started.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 16, 2013, 01:39:08 am
Did he get James Cook too?

He would have but I sniped it for 3 CA (it cost me relative to the third player, but he was DOA after I raided his Dramas).

...Because we have names I figured...

That's all lies, number 3.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on February 16, 2013, 06:18:29 am
I think I got insanely lucky in that Michelangelo game. Everything just lined up for me.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on February 16, 2013, 06:37:38 am
Where are you Jack Rudd?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 16, 2013, 03:23:45 pm
I've realized that under no circumstances should I play this game at a table.  The other players would kill me because of my AP.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on February 16, 2013, 05:05:17 pm
Yeah, not an AP-friendly game. I saw someone claim that a game should take 90 minutes for 2 players with an extra half hour for each additional  player. I just can't see that, even without AP folks.

Although, table talk can be fun, especially when aggressions happen, though I could do without one guy whining like a bitch when I played Spy on him.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on February 16, 2013, 05:41:31 pm
Yeah, not an AP-friendly game. I saw someone claim that a game should take 90 minutes for 2 players with an extra half hour for each additional  player. I just can't see that, even without AP folks.

Although, table talk can be fun, especially when aggressions happen, though I could do without one guy whining like a bitch when I played Spy on him.

I hate Spy.  >:( Mainly because it's the one Aggression that often seems to hit for more than I make in a turn, thus it often takes multiple turns to recover from.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on February 17, 2013, 05:28:49 pm
hosted round 2 game for Kuildeous, TINAS and me.
Password Dominion
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on February 18, 2013, 11:47:18 am
Round 2, game 3: Overall quite peaceful so far, both Knightses dropped off the card row.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 18, 2013, 03:11:30 pm
Round 2, game 3: Overall quite peaceful so far, both Knightses dropped off the card row.

*cough* Aggression in Round 7 *cough*
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 18, 2013, 03:50:08 pm
That's nothing. Turn 3 burning down your philosophy is where it's at.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on February 18, 2013, 03:55:50 pm
That's nothing. Turn 3 burning down your philosophy is where it's at.

I hit TINAS in turn 3 in the first tournament game.

He still eked out the win.

:(
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 18, 2013, 04:18:00 pm
The real trick is to have players 1+2 grab Alexander and Ceaser, then hit player 3 with a raid and a plunder once each. I think I might do this to the next person who I teach the game to, they'll love it!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on February 18, 2013, 04:22:45 pm
The real trick is to have players 1+2 grab Alexander and Ceaser, then hit player 3 with a raid and a plunder once each. I think I might do this to the next person who I teach the game to, they'll love it!

I had Ceaser. TINAS actually had Alexander, but didn't get him played. And my aggression was a Plunder, not a Raid. But I had position on him compared to Jorbles, so I knew he only had his first set of cards instead of two, decreasing the chance he could defend.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 20, 2013, 09:01:31 pm
Round 2, game 3:

Qvist 191
Galzria 136
Kirian 104

Qvist dominated this early; I was, as mentioned earlier in the thread, crushed by an early Plunder from which I never recovered.  Losing 6 resources (because I couldn't finish my wonder before Age II) was a death blow; I'm surprised I was even this close.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on February 20, 2013, 09:05:20 pm
Round 2, game 3:

Qvist 191
Galzria 136
Kirian 104

Qvist dominated this early; I was, as mentioned earlier in the thread, crushed by an early Plunder from which I never recovered.  Losing 6 resources (because I couldn't finish my wonder before Age II) was a death blow; I'm surprised I was even this close.

Yeah, I cost myself ~45 Culture in the final two rounds, but I wasn't going to catch Qvist. I just started a little to late.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 20, 2013, 09:08:53 pm
Is it just me, or is Round 1 Game 2 still running?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on February 21, 2013, 01:37:46 am
Maybe? My round 2 hasn't started yet. I never received confirmation that I was playing against the right people. I could see this happening if one of my opponents was still playing a game.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on February 21, 2013, 12:52:27 pm
Is it just me, or is Round 1 Game 2 still running?

Jaaaaaaaaaaaack!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on February 22, 2013, 06:26:01 am
I think I was really lucky this game. I drew especially lucky the right Event cards.
The first game is nearly over now and the outcome really depends on the war outcome, but I think I will be last either way.

What are the Round 3 matches? Those could already start, right?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on February 22, 2013, 06:52:13 am
Round 1
Game 1: mith - Watno - Kirian 0:2:1
Game 2: Jack Rudd - Kuildeous - Qvist (last turn)
Game 3: Jorbles - Thisisnotasmile - Galzria 1:2:0

Round 2
Game 1: mith - Jack Rudd - Jorbles (not yet started, why?)
Game 2: Watno - Kuildeous - Thisisnotasmile (Round 17)
Game 3: Kirian - Qvist - Galzria 0:2:1

Round 3
Game 1: mith - Qvist - Thisisnotasmile
Game 2: Watno - Jack Rudd - Galzria
Game 3: Kirian - Kuildeous - Jorbles

Round 4
Game 1: mith - Kuildeous - Galzria
Game 2: Watno - Qvist - Jorbles
Game 3: Kirian - Jack Rudd - Thisisnotasmile

3 out of 12 games finished with 2 close to finish.

NameGames playedPoints
Thisisnotasmile12
Watno12
Qvist12
Jorbles11
Galzria21
Kirian21
Kuildeous00
Jack Rudd00
mith10

I create Round 3 Match 1 now.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on February 22, 2013, 07:25:56 am
Round 1, Game 2: Kuildeous just about enough resources to complete his last turn wonder.

Round 2, Game 2: TINAS currently under Attack and sans Science increment. Was one resource short to build Churchill's (air enforced) 2nd Phalanx.

Very entertaining games.

Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on February 22, 2013, 08:03:12 am
Yeah. In my head I had enough but in my head an airforce cost 5 resources because for some reason I was paying attention to its strength rating rather than resource cost. At least I'm only 1 strength off the pace so I should be okay seeing as it's Holy war. Watno is really keeping the pressure on with the back to back wars. Luckily, most of my culture is coming from wonders so they're pretty safe. Doesn't look like I'm going to get much of a chance to do much else though and with Watno about to enter space it could be a tight finish.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on February 22, 2013, 11:55:25 am
I missthought so much in this game. I wanted to overbid Kuild on Developed II, but missclicked. In the resource war, I missed Air force being in the card row. And then I forgot that Churchill would make Warriors free. Luckily though, Kirian made peace with me, so I still won. YAY!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on February 22, 2013, 01:53:16 pm
Round 2
Game 1: mith - Jack Rudd - Jorbles (not yet started, why?)
It hasn't started because we hadn't heard anything from Jack Rudd, presumably because he's still finishing his first game. I'll start it up though.

f.DS Tournament Round 2 Game 1 password DonaldX
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on February 22, 2013, 03:07:10 pm
I just eked out a narrow victory in Game 1, courtesy of a War Over Culture declared by Einstein on Sid Meier.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Sigismundo on February 26, 2013, 05:12:57 pm
I've been becoming obsessed with this game recently.  I have had a hard time getting to play IRL due to length and my wife being in school full time, so I've been playing a bunch of games on BGO.  Still pretty new to the game, but I've played maybe 15 or so now.  Hoped right into the BGO Forum league games and got 4th in 3/4 of my 4 player games haha.  I feel like I learn new stuff pretty much every game.  Freaking love this game. 

Feel free to invite "Sigismundo Celine" to any game, if you direct invite you don't even need the pw and I'm in enough games that I'll see it pretty quickly.  I'll try and check in on the thread too though to join you guys. 
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on February 28, 2013, 06:40:16 am
I feel you bro. I'd be open for a 3p game. Who'd be in?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 28, 2013, 08:29:25 am
I'm not in any games currently, so sure
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on February 28, 2013, 08:35:37 am
Yes you are, current PBF hasn't finished yet.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on February 28, 2013, 08:46:27 am
Started, as Global game, hope that's ok.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Sigismundo on February 28, 2013, 10:13:49 am
Global's fun.  I have only played a handful so it is still new too me.  It is fun that each game can be way different  due to the different cards being in/out of the game. 
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on February 28, 2013, 10:32:42 am
What is global? Is it just a different expansion or is it all expansions mixed together?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on February 28, 2013, 10:34:19 am
What is global? Is it just a different expansion or is it all expansions mixed together?
All expansions mixed together.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 01, 2013, 01:23:53 am
I've put up the Round 3 match, as well as f.DS 23, figured I'll try a global game.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on March 01, 2013, 01:52:35 am
Man I'm terrible at 4p.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on March 01, 2013, 08:55:20 am
I also hosted up the round 3 game for Galzria, Jack Rudd and myself. PW is Dominion.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: mith on March 01, 2013, 05:26:34 pm
Round 3, Game 1 Final Scores:

Thisisnotasmile - 112
mith - 111
Qvist - 75

So close... :(
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: mith on March 01, 2013, 05:37:17 pm
Round 1
Game 1: mith - Watno - Kirian 0:2:1
Game 2: Jack Rudd - Kuildeous - Qvist 2:1:0
Game 3: Jorbles - Thisisnotasmile - Galzria 1:2:0

Round 2
Game 1: mith - Jack Rudd - Jorbles (Round 14)
Game 2: Watno - Kuildeous - Thisisnotasmile 2:0:1
Game 3: Kirian - Qvist - Galzria 0:2:1

Round 3
Game 1: mith - Qvist - Thisisnotasmile 1:0:2
Game 2: Watno - Jack Rudd - Galzria (Round 1)
Game 3: Kirian - Kuildeous - Jorbles (Not started)

Round 4
Game 1: mith - Kuildeous - Galzria
Game 2: Watno - Qvist - Jorbles
Game 3: Kirian - Jack Rudd - Thisisnotasmile

6 out of 12 games finished with 1 close to finish.

NameGames playedPoints
Thisisnotasmile35
Watno24
Jack Rudd12
Qvist32
Jorbles11
Galzria21
Kirian21
Kuildeous21
mith21
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on March 01, 2013, 06:10:56 pm
TINAS close again.

My bet's on Watno though. He has it figured out.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on March 01, 2013, 07:10:53 pm
Watno is scarily good at this game.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: eHalcyon on March 01, 2013, 07:48:27 pm
Watno is scarily good at this game.

Does TTA skillset transfer to 7 Wonders? ;)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 01, 2013, 07:51:06 pm
Watno is scarily good at this game.

Does TTA skillset transfer to 7 Wonders? ;)

The only thing those two games have in common is the theme and the fact that they use cards and tokens like most other eurogames.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on March 01, 2013, 11:55:40 pm
I think 7 Wonders is swingier.

Of course, Through the Ages has some luck too based on the card row, but that luck can be mitigated very well by skillful players.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on March 02, 2013, 04:59:47 am
I'm all about the efficiency. A win by 1 point is a win. Why put in more effort than necessary?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on March 04, 2013, 06:51:28 pm
Quote
End of game

Check the journal to get the final impacts effects :
Impact of Wonders
Impact of Strength
Impact of Happiness
Impact of Colonies
Impact of Agriculture

WINNER IS mith AS PURPLE (168 PTS)
2nd is Jorbles as Green (105 pts)
3rd is Jack Rudd as Orange (85 pts)

mith totally destroyed us once he elected Gandhi and disbanded his military. mith was ahead going into Age III. He really locked down his lead with Gandhi though and Jack and I could only squabble over second place. I got Winston Churchill and managed to hold off Jack who had Napoleon and Air Forces. Jack's board looked way nicer than mine, but the culture investment I'd made earlier in the game let me hold onto second. (I built wonders with small culture bonuses, Great Wall and Hanging Gardens, and he built the stronger, but less culturally beneficial ones, Ocean Liners and Pyramids)

Edit: Here's the actual game link. http://boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=168408&nat=3
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: mith on March 04, 2013, 06:59:19 pm
I spent most of Age III with no military units (but ~17 strength), after spending the early game grabbing colonies like crazy (Cartography + Colossus + a cycling Swordsman), then grabbing Newton for some short term research advantage instead of waiting on Cook. Gandhi coming out early and Jack not having enough military actions to destroy me anyway saved the day.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: mith on March 04, 2013, 07:01:29 pm
Round 1
Game 1: mith - Watno - Kirian 0:2:1
Game 2: Jack Rudd - Kuildeous - Qvist 2:1:0
Game 3: Jorbles - Thisisnotasmile - Galzria 1:2:0

Round 2
Game 1: mith - Jack Rudd - Jorbles 2:0:1
Game 2: Watno - Kuildeous - Thisisnotasmile 2:0:1
Game 3: Kirian - Qvist - Galzria 0:2:1

Round 3
Game 1: mith - Qvist - Thisisnotasmile 1:0:2
Game 2: Watno - Jack Rudd - Galzria (Round 15)
Game 3: Kirian - Kuildeous - Jorbles (Not started)

Round 4
Game 1: mith - Kuildeous - Galzria
Game 2: Watno - Qvist - Jorbles
Game 3: Kirian - Jack Rudd - Thisisnotasmile

7 out of 12 games finished with 1 close to finish.

NameGames playedPoints
Thisisnotasmile35
Watno24
mith33
Jorbles22
Jack Rudd22
Qvist32
Galzria21
Kirian21
Kuildeous21
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on March 05, 2013, 02:56:59 pm
I won somehow, not sure where all those points came from.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on March 05, 2013, 03:06:04 pm
Well... There was 17 from your Wonder... And 24 from Impact of Colonies...  Not to mention IoScience, IoIndustry, IoCompetition and IoGovernment, totaling 32 more. :P
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on March 05, 2013, 03:10:26 pm
And 40 from cook :P
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 05, 2013, 03:14:03 pm
Still waiting on Jorbles to get our Round 3 game moving...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on March 05, 2013, 03:23:24 pm
And 40 from cook :P

I couldn't get the events to flip fast enough in Age III to kill off Age II leaders. I seeded the darn event as soon as I saw Cook hit the board, but it was my last event to go through... And for the life of me even with a gazillion MA's, I could not draw event cards. I only ever saw a single Impact card. So I had nothing to seed! Even worse, I never saw any of the wars! My hand was constantly filled with tactics cards I didn't want/need!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on March 05, 2013, 03:25:09 pm
Yeah, I was quite surprised I didn't get attacked more.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on March 05, 2013, 03:29:47 pm
Yeah, I was quite surprised I didn't get attacked more.

There was one point I considered attacking you, when you were down at like, 10 strength... But it was an Age III Raid, and you didn't have two of ANY Urban buildings (much less 3...), so my 10 strength advantage over Jack at that point looked much more appealing, especially since he had 2 Scientific Methods.

The following turn you were up to 24 strength, just 2 shy of me, while Jack was still 8 back... And he had burned two Age III defense cards on the Raid. I had two Armed Interventions that I would've loved to throw your way but really couldn't then.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on March 05, 2013, 04:03:12 pm
Still waiting on Jorbles to get our Round 3 game moving...

What's the password?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 05, 2013, 06:12:33 pm
Still waiting on Jorbles to get our Round 3 game moving...

What's the password?

Same as always.  Dominion.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on March 05, 2013, 06:16:19 pm
Still waiting on Jorbles to get our Round 3 game moving...

What's the password?

Same as always.  Dominion.

Ahhhh I forgot the capital D. Started.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: mith on March 05, 2013, 10:36:07 pm
Round 1
Game 1: mith - Watno - Kirian 0:2:1
Game 2: Jack Rudd - Kuildeous - Qvist 2:1:0
Game 3: Jorbles - Thisisnotasmile - Galzria 1:2:0

Round 2
Game 1: mith - Jack Rudd - Jorbles 2:0:1
Game 2: Watno - Kuildeous - Thisisnotasmile 2:0:1
Game 3: Kirian - Qvist - Galzria 0:2:1

Round 3
Game 1: mith - Qvist - Thisisnotasmile 1:0:2
Game 2: Watno - Jack Rudd - Galzria 2:0:1
Game 3: Kirian - Kuildeous - Jorbles (Not started)

Round 4
Game 1: mith - Kuildeous - Galzria
Game 2: Watno - Qvist - Jorbles
Game 3: Kirian - Jack Rudd - Thisisnotasmile

8 out of 12 games finished.

NameGames playedPoints
Watno36
Thisisnotasmile35
mith33
Jorbles22
Galzria32
Jack Rudd32
Qvist32
Kirian21
Kuildeous21
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on March 06, 2013, 08:37:14 am
I cry every time I see those rankings.

I need to learn to be a better bully, like Watno.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: mith on March 06, 2013, 12:01:19 pm
Started round 4 game with Galzria and Kuildeous.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on March 06, 2013, 03:17:38 pm
Created f.DStrategy 24. 3 players because 4 players is too slow :(.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: mith on March 12, 2013, 03:30:56 pm
Round 4 Game 1 is on its last turn. Slackers. :P
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: mith on March 12, 2013, 04:02:04 pm
And final scores:

mith - 188
Kuildeous - 177
Galzria - 175
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: mith on March 12, 2013, 04:03:49 pm
Round 1
Game 1: mith - Watno - Kirian 0:2:1
Game 2: Jack Rudd - Kuildeous - Qvist 2:1:0
Game 3: Jorbles - Thisisnotasmile - Galzria 1:2:0

Round 2
Game 1: mith - Jack Rudd - Jorbles 2:0:1
Game 2: Watno - Kuildeous - Thisisnotasmile 2:0:1
Game 3: Kirian - Qvist - Galzria 0:2:1

Round 3
Game 1: mith - Qvist - Thisisnotasmile 1:0:2
Game 2: Watno - Jack Rudd - Galzria 2:0:1
Game 3: Kirian - Kuildeous - Jorbles (Round 11)

Round 4
Game 1: mith - Kuildeous - Galzria 2:1:0
Game 2: Watno - Qvist - Jorbles
Game 3: Kirian - Jack Rudd - Thisisnotasmile

9 out of 12 games finished.

NameGames playedPoints
Watno36
Thisisnotasmile35
mith45
Jorbles22
Jack Rudd32
Kuildeous32
Qvist32
Galzria42
Kirian21
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on March 12, 2013, 04:06:25 pm
2 seconds and 2 thirds.

:-/

Although a couple of the games were really close. Still. :-/

Getting hit for 12 Culture worth of Civil Unrest was a first this game. I don't think I've ever had such a major happy problem before.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on March 13, 2013, 10:12:01 am
I cry every time I see those rankings.

I need to learn to be a better bully, like Watno.

http://boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=170266 (http://boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=170266) Napoleon + Classic Army roughing up other civilisations. Learning fast.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on March 13, 2013, 10:33:22 am
Looks like he's getting great use out of the Scientific Theft Pact too.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 13, 2013, 10:35:43 am
Looks like he's getting great use out of the Scientific Theft Pact too.

To be fair, Jorbles benefited heavily from that initially.  But yeah, it's probably time for him to cancel it.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on March 13, 2013, 10:46:56 am
It's only 2 turns old and both civilisations discovered 3 techs each with it!

But yes, with a +8 vs. +4 science increment I'd also expect purple to get the bigger slice.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on March 13, 2013, 11:34:41 am
Looks like he's getting great use out of the Scientific Theft Pact too.

Mmm, one of my favorites!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on March 13, 2013, 11:39:32 am
Quote
Omnis enim res, quae dando non deficit, dum habetur et non datur, nondum habetur, quomodo habenda est
- Augustinus (354-430)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on March 13, 2013, 12:06:30 pm
Looks like he's getting great use out of the Scientific Theft Pact too.

Mmm, one of my favorites!

I'm sure it's not such a terrible Pact in face to face play, but online the only chance you get to cancel it is right at the beginning of your turn when you've not been paying attention to the game for the past 12 hours and have forgotten it exists. You play an event/aggression from your hand because that's what you do on your political action and then only when it's too late do you remember that you needed to cancel that pact because it no longer benefits you.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on March 13, 2013, 12:16:12 pm
Looks like he's getting great use out of the Scientific Theft Pact too.

Mmm, one of my favorites!

I'm sure it's not such a terrible Pact in face to face play, but online the only chance you get to cancel it is right at the beginning of your turn when you've not been paying attention to the game for the past 12 hours and have forgotten it exists. You play an event/aggression from your hand because that's what you do on your political action and then only when it's too late do you remember that you needed to cancel that pact because it no longer benefits you.

I agree, it can be quite rough if you're not sitting there watching your science get drained. It's not terrible in PBF, but on BGO where you just "check-and-go", it can be quite easy to miss.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on March 13, 2013, 01:34:32 pm
I sometimes feel like Leonard from Memento when I play on BGO. I just kind of wander in, look at the current game state, and move pieces around with no concern for what happened earlier.

Although, at least Leonard is smart enough to tattoo his life on his body. I don't even use the notes section on BGO.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on March 13, 2013, 06:27:39 pm
Started Round 4 game for Qvist, Jorbles and me.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 14, 2013, 04:21:55 pm
Typing something resets everything in other tabs.  Including the units you were going to sacrifice to turn a four-token loss into a two-token gain.

I won't even be playing that one out, so you two be prepared for discards to increase to three per round.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 18, 2013, 04:13:04 pm
I put up my 4th-round tourney game, as well as f.DS 25 Global, 4P, we'll see if we have takers.

Meanwhile, I've decided I'll stick out the third tourney round, though my prospects are dim.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on March 18, 2013, 04:42:55 pm
Should be F.Dstrategy 26, I'm already playing in #25 :P.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on March 18, 2013, 05:21:53 pm
Also, currently playing my housemate on TtA... I'm at 33 yellow tokens currently. It's a no wars/aggressions game, but I was seeding those territories...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 18, 2013, 09:42:13 pm
Should be F.Dstrategy 26, I'm already playing in #25 :P.

Well damn.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on March 22, 2013, 05:51:14 pm
Quote
End of game

Check the journal to get the final impacts effects :
Impact of Wonders
Impact of Progress
Impact of Architecture

WINNER IS JORBLES AS GREEN (130 PTS)
2nd is Kuildeous as Purple (109 pts)
3rd is Kirian as Orange (84 pts)

Hooray! I got pretty lucky I admit. Kuildeous and Kirian made some mistakes, Kirian misclicked during a war with Kuildeous and Kuildeous fumbled finishing Fast Food Chains, which if he'd finished he would have gained more than enough to beat me. I'll take it though!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on March 22, 2013, 05:53:02 pm
Link:
http://boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=52&pl=170266&nat=3
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: mith on March 22, 2013, 06:23:49 pm
Round 1
Game 1: mith - Watno - Kirian 0:2:1
Game 2: Jack Rudd - Kuildeous - Qvist 2:1:0
Game 3: Jorbles - Thisisnotasmile - Galzria 1:2:0

Round 2
Game 1: mith - Jack Rudd - Jorbles 2:0:1
Game 2: Watno - Kuildeous - Thisisnotasmile 2:0:1
Game 3: Kirian - Qvist - Galzria 0:2:1

Round 3
Game 1: mith - Qvist - Thisisnotasmile 1:0:2
Game 2: Watno - Jack Rudd - Galzria 2:0:1
Game 3: Kirian - Kuildeous - Jorbles 0:1:2

Round 4
Game 1: mith - Kuildeous - Galzria 2:1:0
Game 2: Watno - Qvist - Jorbles (Round 9)
Game 3: Kirian - Jack Rudd - Thisisnotasmile (Round 12)

10 out of 12 games finished.

NameGames playedPoints
Watno36
Thisisnotasmile35
mith45
Jorbles34
Kuildeous33
Jack Rudd32
Qvist32
Galzria42
Kirian31
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: mith on March 22, 2013, 06:25:39 pm
That tab-reset thing is really unfortunate. Kirian is my new hero for sticking it out.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 22, 2013, 06:44:54 pm
That tab-reset thing is really unfortunate. Kirian is my new hero for sticking it out.

Yay!  I win at something!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on March 26, 2013, 12:25:39 pm
Round 4 game 3, looks very close. And TINAS' tactic seems to be at odds with his actual troops.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on March 26, 2013, 01:34:55 pm
Sometimes you just don't draw a good tactics card (http://www.boardgaming-online.com//index.php?cnt=202&pl=172161&nat=1)

(Note: I didn't draw a tactics card in age I)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on March 26, 2013, 03:53:58 pm
Sometimes you just don't draw a good tactics card (http://www.boardgaming-online.com//index.php?cnt=202&pl=172161&nat=1)

(Note: I didn't draw a tactics card in age I)

This is pretty much what's happened. I only played a tactics card at all because I had one in my hand, my hand was at it's limit and I had 4+ MAs left after I'd done everything I wanted to in the turn. It was either play one, or discard it. Figured I may as well play it just incase it helps in future.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 26, 2013, 03:55:31 pm
Sometimes you just don't draw a good tactics card (http://www.boardgaming-online.com//index.php?cnt=202&pl=172161&nat=1)

(Note: I didn't draw a tactics card in age I)

This is pretty much what's happened. I only played a tactics card at all because I had one in my hand, my hand was at it's limit and I had 4+ MAs left after I'd done everything I wanted to in the turn. It was either play one, or discard it. Figured I may as well play it just incase it helps in future.

And in the end, hey, I'm running with an Age I tactics right now.

I'm still trying to figure this game out in general... feeling *soooo* bad at it.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on March 26, 2013, 03:58:00 pm
Sometimes you just don't draw a good tactics card (http://www.boardgaming-online.com//index.php?cnt=202&pl=172161&nat=1)

(Note: I didn't draw a tactics card in age I)

This is pretty much what's happened. I only played a tactics card at all because I had one in my hand, my hand was at it's limit and I had 4+ MAs left after I'd done everything I wanted to in the turn. It was either play one, or discard it. Figured I may as well play it just incase it helps in future.

And in the end, hey, I'm running with an Age I tactics right now.

I'm still trying to figure this game out in general... feeling *soooo* bad at it.

But you're still going to win. Even with your epic miscount.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 26, 2013, 04:04:22 pm
Sometimes you just don't draw a good tactics card (http://www.boardgaming-online.com//index.php?cnt=202&pl=172161&nat=1)

(Note: I didn't draw a tactics card in age I)

This is pretty much what's happened. I only played a tactics card at all because I had one in my hand, my hand was at it's limit and I had 4+ MAs left after I'd done everything I wanted to in the turn. It was either play one, or discard it. Figured I may as well play it just incase it helps in future.

And in the end, hey, I'm running with an Age I tactics right now.

I'm still trying to figure this game out in general... feeling *soooo* bad at it.

But you're still going to win. Even with your epic miscount.

Nah, I have a feeling that, like my last game when it ended, I'll be crushed by events.  Given that all the events have been played by Jack.  It also comes down to this last territory.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 26, 2013, 09:33:15 pm
Wow, I really expected the Impacts to have more of an... impact, I guess.

I was quite worried that you had a Plunder or Raid in your hand as I was bidding that territory up... I had one of each, so I figured you had a good chance of not having one.  And I had no bonus cards... that last bid of 14 was the highest I could go.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on March 27, 2013, 05:14:38 am
I had an Armed Intervention. If you bid any higher I was going to let you have it and take 7 instead. I really should have rebuilt that Cavalryman to block the retaliatory aggression, though. My Journalism -> Multimedia upgrade cost me 4 of 5 resources I had at the time and gained me 1 culture. I should have disbanded  my, at that point unnecessary, Philosophy and built a Cavalryman instead. For me that's a net gain of -1 Culture, -2 Science (and I was almost certain Jack had seeded Science based events... although I should have known he hadn't because I had IoScience in my hand and had played IoTechnoloy myself...). For that loss you would never have been able to finish your wonder and score 19 culture.

I would have had it by 4 points. Well played though, I don't deserve the win. I didn't play well at all that game (and it wasn't helped by my planning an aggressive start and then not drawing a single helpful tactics card all game).
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on March 27, 2013, 05:24:29 am
Round 1
Game 1: mith - Watno - Kirian 0:2:1
Game 2: Jack Rudd - Kuildeous - Qvist 2:1:0
Game 3: Jorbles - Thisisnotasmile - Galzria 1:2:0

Round 2
Game 1: mith - Jack Rudd - Jorbles 2:0:1
Game 2: Watno - Kuildeous - Thisisnotasmile 2:0:1
Game 3: Kirian - Qvist - Galzria 0:2:1

Round 3
Game 1: mith - Qvist - Thisisnotasmile 1:0:2
Game 2: Watno - Jack Rudd - Galzria 2:0:1
Game 3: Kirian - Kuildeous - Jorbles 0:1:2

Round 4
Game 1: mith - Kuildeous - Galzria 2:1:0
Game 2: Watno - Qvist - Jorbles
Game 3: Kirian - Jack Rudd - Thisisnotasmile 2:0:1

11 out of 12 games finished.

NameGames playedPoints
Watno36
Thisisnotasmile46
mith45
Jorbles34
Kuildeous43
Kirian43
Qvist32
Galzria42
Jack Rudd42


Am I right in thinking the final game hasn't started yet? I can't find it anywhere. (Qvist > Jorbles > Watno final scores please) Found it. Could someone in the game change the name so it follows our convention?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on March 27, 2013, 06:24:01 am
And just to triple post, I would like to propose a challenge. Watno, I challenge you. The rules of the challenge are thus: Myself, Watno and one other player will play a game. Watno can choose the rules of the game (i.e. set the game up how he pleases). Watno will succeed in the challenge if he wins the game. Watno will fail in the challenge if he does not win the game (for the first time ever). Myself and "one other person" will jointly succeed or fail in a similar fashion. We will play the game with the goal of "Do not let Watno win" in mind, not caring who wins between us.

Do you accept?

If so, we need a "one other player".
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on March 27, 2013, 07:52:33 am
I'd gladly volunteer as the "one other player".
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on March 27, 2013, 10:09:37 am
Renaming done, will think about that challenge.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on March 27, 2013, 10:15:08 am
Depends on the game if that is a fair proposal, isn't it? A guaranteed truce and pacts between TINAS and me should be able to offset Watno's skills. Or are you free to pick any game at all? In which case there'd be lots of games with even less politics than TtA.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on March 27, 2013, 10:17:20 am
It has to be TTA, but he can pick any expansion he likes, hide/reveal upcoming cards to his own preference and... if he's not up to the full challenge... can disable wars/aggressions if he wants. Edit: And choose player order.

In the mean time, f.DStrategy 27 is up for anyone who wants to play a game!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 27, 2013, 10:54:27 am
I had an Armed Intervention. If you bid any higher I was going to let you have it and take 7 instead. I really should have rebuilt that Cavalryman to block the retaliatory aggression, though. My Journalism -> Multimedia upgrade cost me 4 of 5 resources I had at the time and gained me 1 culture. I should have disbanded  my, at that point unnecessary, Philosophy and built a Cavalryman instead. For me that's a net gain of -1 Culture, -2 Science (and I was almost certain Jack had seeded Science based events... although I should have known he hadn't because I had IoScience in my hand and had played IoTechnoloy myself...). For that loss you would never have been able to finish your wonder and score 19 culture.

Granted, I also played poorly at the end; had I not disbanded that Bronze, the entire thing would have been moot, as I would have had my 9 Resources without Plunder.

Quote
I would have had it by 4 points. Well played though, I don't deserve the win. I didn't play well at all that game (and it wasn't helped by my planning an aggressive start and then not drawing a single helpful tactics card all game).

In all truth, I'm still not sure how I won this game.  I mean:

Round 4, I get attacked, and forced to sacrifice big time.
Round 5, Plundered, and forced to concede.
Round 6, Foray, both other players got 3 Food/Res
Round 6, Border Conflict, I lost a building

As I said in the chat on the game, I felt like I'd had my Sea Hag discarded by my opponent's Sea Hag two shuffles in a row.  I have no clue how I won.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on March 27, 2013, 11:00:04 am
Usually I build an early culture lead and just try to create a big enough gap before the endgame where I inevitably can't keep up in military and have to take a few hits. In this game I went the other way planning to build a militray and constantly keep chipping away at you two and then hit you big at the end. The military never happened and I had no culture coming in from else where. That was my problem.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on March 27, 2013, 11:23:46 am
In the mean time, f.DStrategy 27 is up for anyone who wants to play a game!

Yoink!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on March 29, 2013, 10:51:35 am
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand 28's up too.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on March 29, 2013, 09:27:19 pm
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand 28's up too.

what's the password for it- i think i knew it before, but can't remember it!!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on March 29, 2013, 10:29:45 pm
They're all Dominion, usually
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on March 30, 2013, 03:22:02 am
They're all Dominion, usually

Not this one. The password for this one is Dominion.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on March 30, 2013, 05:21:11 pm
Ooh, clever.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on April 02, 2013, 04:20:18 pm
Yay, I won #25, courtesy of a Holy War waged by Bill Gates.  ;D
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on April 02, 2013, 04:23:45 pm
Yay, I won #25, courtesy of a Holy War waged by Bill Gates.  ;D

Yeah, that was an interesting game. I felt pretty confident until you suddenly were all way ahead of me in military strength. I didn't got what I needed to catch up there and then you all ganged up on me.
That was sad  :(
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on April 02, 2013, 04:33:35 pm
*fingerpoint* that was all Jack Rudd's fault, who had the infamous Napoleon - Classic Army in mid of age II. I went happiness and colonies early, at the expense of science, which I didn't expand up until turn 6. A tactic I will not likely pursue any time again soon. That Jack's first two attacks were both at the expense of my science didn't help either.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 03, 2013, 10:15:40 am
Two days ago I was in about four games, so didn't join any. Now I'm suddenly in none... so yeah, F.DStrategy 29 is up now. Global game.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on April 03, 2013, 10:36:10 am
BGO is down. FML.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on April 03, 2013, 10:47:49 am
BGO is down. FML.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on April 03, 2013, 10:51:09 am
BGO is down. FML.

Yikes.  We might have to play Dominion.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on April 03, 2013, 11:04:14 am
You mean on Goko? Oh noes!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on April 03, 2013, 11:08:08 am
You could always pull out your actual cards.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on April 03, 2013, 11:44:34 am
BGO is down. FML.

it's back up now, and 2 places left on f.DS 29
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on April 03, 2013, 11:48:51 am
Yay me!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on April 03, 2013, 11:50:22 am
BGO is down. FML.

it's back up now, and 2 places left on f.DS 29

Swiped!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on April 03, 2013, 12:00:58 pm
I see more people wanting to join games, so I have pre-emptively got in on 30 by creating it.

(Inb4 it gets filled by people who already got in 29)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on April 03, 2013, 01:49:55 pm
Damn, missed out on both.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on April 03, 2013, 01:56:53 pm
I did NOT sign up for 30 though (see? I've got SOME restraint!), so would be open to the idea of 31....
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on April 03, 2013, 01:59:01 pm
I did NOT sign up for 30 though (see? I've got SOME restraint!), so would be open to the idea of 31....

In fact...

Created.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on April 03, 2013, 02:00:23 pm
Hello.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on April 03, 2013, 02:09:52 pm
Damn, missed out on both.

Yeah but it's your go in 27 so you can still get your fix!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on April 03, 2013, 02:14:40 pm
Damn, missed out on both.

Yeah but it's your go in 27 so you can still get your fix!

Yes, but my phone has been acting weird and timing out. Not sure if it's the phone, the signal, the website, or the dog down the street. I may have to get that fix at home for the time being.

*shakes tiny fist at technology*

Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on April 04, 2013, 03:00:39 am
*shakes tiny fist at technology*

Looks more like a pair of tweezers or pliers to me.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on April 07, 2013, 08:43:38 pm
Well, 29 is almost over (thank goodness, as I lost all my culture to wars against culture), anyone want to play a peace game for the next f.ds game??
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on April 07, 2013, 08:52:35 pm
Round 1
Game 1: mith - Watno - Kirian 0:2:1
Game 2: Jack Rudd - Kuildeous - Qvist 2:1:0
Game 3: Jorbles - Thisisnotasmile - Galzria 1:2:0

Round 2
Game 1: mith - Jack Rudd - Jorbles 2:0:1
Game 2: Watno - Kuildeous - Thisisnotasmile 2:0:1
Game 3: Kirian - Qvist - Galzria 0:2:1

Round 3
Game 1: mith - Qvist - Thisisnotasmile 1:0:2
Game 2: Watno - Jack Rudd - Galzria 2:0:1
Game 3: Kirian - Kuildeous - Jorbles 0:1:2

Round 4
Game 1: mith - Kuildeous - Galzria 2:1:0
Game 2: Watno - Qvist - Jorbles (Round 9)
Game 3: Kirian - Jack Rudd - Thisisnotasmile (Round 12)

10 out of 12 games finished.

NameGames playedPoints
Watno36
Thisisnotasmile35
mith45
Jorbles34
Kuildeous33
Jack Rudd32
Qvist32
Galzria42
Kirian31

Did that last game ever complete?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on April 07, 2013, 08:54:11 pm
currently waiting fo Jorbles' last move
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 07, 2013, 09:13:57 pm
Well, 29 is almost over (thank goodness, as I lost all my culture to wars against culture), anyone want to play a peace game for the next f.ds game??

I really would have thought you'd have learnt to military by now...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on April 07, 2013, 09:20:09 pm
Well, 29 is almost over (thank goodness, as I lost all my culture to wars against culture), anyone want to play a peace game for the next f.ds game??

I really would have thought you'd have learnt to military by now...

He needs to play with Watno.

Certainly taught me...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on April 08, 2013, 06:17:56 am
Well, 29 is almost over (thank goodness, as I lost all my culture to wars against culture), anyone want to play a peace game for the next f.ds game??

I really would have thought you'd have learnt to military by now...

Or resign. It would have been the fairest thing to do but still, seeing someone with a population of 0 and 0 culture was a beautiful thing. It was worth losing first place to Galz.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on April 08, 2013, 06:19:03 am
Also, I will play in a peace game. I've never done so before so I'm interested in how different it will play.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on April 08, 2013, 06:59:45 am
I've started a peace game (called F.DStrategy Peace)- usual password
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on April 08, 2013, 10:07:46 am
I fear I am not the appropriate partner for the Beat Watno challenge. We two can't even keep Kirian at bay.

(No offense, Kirian, just judging from the tournament score. I think you played a nice early culture approach with an Iconoclasm that hurt the rest of us hard.)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on April 08, 2013, 10:47:40 am
I fear I am not the appropriate partner for the Beat Watno challenge. We two can't even keep Kirian at bay.

(No offense, Kirian, just judging from the tournament score. I think you played a nice early culture approach with an Iconoclasm that hurt the rest of us hard.)

I actually am not sure which game you're talking about...  30?  I don't think I played it well.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on April 08, 2013, 10:53:47 am
Just reconsidered and saw that you didn't seed Iconoclasm, which made a lot of difference in the game.

It started out very peaceful. One cannon ignored, the second available for 1 CA, as was Napoleon.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on April 08, 2013, 11:00:23 am
30 was a lot closer than you were expecting. Shame I couldn't quite pull it off, though.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on April 08, 2013, 01:20:03 pm
Round 1
Game 1: mith - Watno - Kirian 0:2:1
Game 2: Jack Rudd - Kuildeous - Qvist 2:1:0
Game 3: Jorbles - Thisisnotasmile - Galzria 1:2:0

Round 2
Game 1: mith - Jack Rudd - Jorbles 2:0:1
Game 2: Watno - Kuildeous - Thisisnotasmile 2:0:1
Game 3: Kirian - Qvist - Galzria 0:2:1

Round 3
Game 1: mith - Qvist - Thisisnotasmile 1:0:2
Game 2: Watno - Jack Rudd - Galzria 2:0:1
Game 3: Kirian - Kuildeous - Jorbles 0:1:2

Round 4
Game 1: mith - Kuildeous - Galzria 2:1:0
Game 2: Watno - Qvist - Jorbles 2:0.5:0.5
Game 3: Kirian - Jack Rudd - Thisisnotasmile 2:0:1

12 out of 12 games finished.

NameGames playedPoints
Watno48
Thisisnotasmile46
mith45
Jorbles44.5
Kuildeous43
Kirian43
Qvist42.5
Galzria42
Jack Rudd42

What do I win?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on April 08, 2013, 01:43:09 pm
I AM KING OF THE MEDIAN!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on April 08, 2013, 01:52:45 pm
At least I never got last place. That's something.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on April 08, 2013, 02:17:57 pm
Oh man, what a dumb game. Again I made a big error what costed me around 20 culture. At least it didn't cost me the win, but oh well. Congrats Watno. I'm still waiting for the guy who is able to beat you.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jorbles on April 08, 2013, 02:44:18 pm
Yeah, I was trying really hard to not let you get too far ahead of me, but Watno really outplayed us.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 09, 2013, 06:40:35 pm
Having decided that zero is not enough games to be in at once, F.DStrategy 32-34 have all gone up. There's a four player, a four player global, and a three player.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on April 09, 2013, 06:44:04 pm
Must...... resist...... temptation......

Okay, but I only joined one (for now).
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 09, 2013, 08:31:23 pm
For those who care, I've recently started questioning the way BGO implements Raid, as I feel it's not consistent with the wording of the cards with regards to construction techs.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/959610/two-questions-about-raid-vs-contstruction-tech-ro
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 11, 2013, 10:37:09 am
That's getting kind of interesting now. Lots of people are telling me Architecture doesn't apply, but the best arguments people are coming up with are "" and "Pretend the card says printed cost". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_popularity
everyone is telling you it doesn't[/url)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on April 14, 2013, 10:31:56 am
F.DS Game 34 online now.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 14, 2013, 11:06:07 am
F.DS 34 has already finished a few days ago, actually.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on April 14, 2013, 11:19:23 am
F.DS 34 has already finished a few days ago, actually.
well, the next F.DS 34 is up (apologies for the naming confusion).
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on April 14, 2013, 05:24:59 pm
You can rename the game.

Also, before picking a name you can search for the substring "f.DS" in all games in progress or finished games.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on April 15, 2013, 06:39:59 am
You can rename the game.
I have now done that.
Also, before picking a name you can search for the substring "f.DS" in all games in progress or finished games.
I did check this before naming it, but still managed to stupidly give my game the wrong name!!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on April 16, 2013, 05:59:02 pm
I've gone for the Michelangelotron in f.DS #32. It remains to be seen whether it will work.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on April 17, 2013, 09:23:33 am
So this happened:  By sacrificing my entire army, I just scored 80 points in a War over Culture. (TTA V in the forum games).
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 17, 2013, 09:56:50 am
I have to say, it's the highest I've seen (in a legitimate game at least). Holy War can be a lot funnier, though. Making an opponent disband everything is fun.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on April 17, 2013, 10:06:53 am
I have to say, it's the highest I've seen (in a legitimate game at least). Holy War can be a lot funnier, though. Making an opponent disband everything is fun.

Joe having Holy War and 2x War over Culture declared on him at the same time was the greatest TTA moment I have experienced yet. http://www.boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=180027
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on April 17, 2013, 10:34:14 am

Joe having Holy War and 2x War over Culture declared on him at the same time was the greatest TTA moment I have experienced yet. http://www.boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=180027

That wasn't so fun, although I guess I had it coming, as I built no military :(
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on April 17, 2013, 10:58:02 am
I have to say, it's the highest I've seen (in a legitimate game at least). Holy War can be a lot funnier, though. Making an opponent disband everything is fun.

Joe having Holy War and 2x War over Culture declared on him at the same time was the greatest TTA moment I have experienced yet. http://www.boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=180027

OMG wow.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on April 17, 2013, 11:18:08 am
I have to say, it's the highest I've seen (in a legitimate game at least). Holy War can be a lot funnier, though. Making an opponent disband everything is fun.

Joe having Holy War and 2x War over Culture declared on him at the same time was the greatest TTA moment I have experienced yet. http://www.boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=180027

OMG wow.

The best thing about it was in my head I was cursing Galz for declaring war on Joe the turn before I was planning to do so. For some reason I thought each person could only be the target of 1 war at any time. I selected the option on my political phase expecting an error message telling me I can't declare war on Joe while he is already at war but it worked. I frantically checked the rule book because I thought it had just let me do something horrendously ilegal but it turns out it's just one of the "nice" variants listed at the end of the rules that for some reason I thought was the main rule.

Then Tables declared war. I wish I'd taken a screenshot of Joe's page header at that point.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 17, 2013, 11:20:07 am
I declared war not because I thought I'd get a lot of culture, but just because it was funny :P.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on April 17, 2013, 11:23:43 am
I declared war not because I thought I'd get a lot of culture, but just because it was funny :P.

Oh, now that's just plain mean.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on April 17, 2013, 11:25:27 am
I declared war not because I thought I'd get a lot of culture, but just because it was funny :P.

Oh, now that's just plain mean.

No... No, it was just awesome.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on April 17, 2013, 12:00:44 pm
I have to say, though... I think both Franklin and the Catedral may have been overpowered.  Franklin (Age II leader) gave me on average +6 Sci per turn for 8 turns, with everyone else getting about 1 Sci per turn from him.  That's pretty huge.

The Cathedral (Age II wonder), for 13 Resources, turned each of my Age A temples into an Age I theater+lab, at a cost of 1 Resource each.  I don't think it's quite as OP as Franklin, though.  Franklin + Impact of Science, or Progress, *or* Technology...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on April 17, 2013, 12:19:56 pm
Ah, the fun of fan-made cards. I don't remember if I originally had +2 Sci with Franklin or not. It's seen some modification, but I don't remember if it to add teeth or take some away.

Tables told me about how I could have possibly gotten 45+ culture with Credit Cards. I honestly didn't bother to calculate it, but I was suffering 4 Corruption, so I apparently could have made off like a bandit. I said that if the wonder could get 45+ culture, it's probably best that I didn't exploit it. That was before the 80-culture war.

May be interesting to tweak our creations and run another game with them. I almost wish that TtA was modular where you could use different wonders and leaders. I mean, we kind of have that now with boardgaming-online.com. Just choose the ruleset you wish to use. But mixing and matching could be fun (and probably unbalancing as hell).
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on April 17, 2013, 12:33:49 pm
Are there any other new players interested in learning how to play who want to make a new game?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on April 17, 2013, 12:40:12 pm
Are you after a no agression/war game or are you willing to jump straight in? I'm not new (although I have only been playing for a few months) but would play if you wanted me to.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on April 17, 2013, 02:13:39 pm
I've played only the learning game in person. I'd be willing to play either the advanced game or the full game
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 17, 2013, 06:41:11 pm
Unfortunately, BGO doesn't offer advanced game, but it does offer the no wars & aggressions variant, which can be good for learning the game (and it's still fun and challenging)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on April 18, 2013, 05:15:04 am
So like... This happened:

(http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/7643/12cas.png)

I was only able to use 6 CAs on my final turn and 7 on my penultimate turn, but it happened.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on April 18, 2013, 05:29:47 am
Unfortunately, BGO doesn't offer advanced game, but it does offer the no wars & aggressions variant, which can be good for learning the game (and it's still fun and challenging)
Theoretically one could jot down the culture at end of Age II, then keep passing and add the bonuses of the next n+2 impacts that come up.

Practically one may just keep on playing.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on April 18, 2013, 08:26:22 am
So like... This happened:

(http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/7643/12cas.png)

I was only able to use 6 CAs on my final turn and 7 on my penultimate turn, but it happened.

Yeah, that's just a bit crazy.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on April 18, 2013, 08:52:49 am
Unfortunately, BGO doesn't offer advanced game, but it does offer the no wars & aggressions variant, which can be good for learning the game (and it's still fun and challenging)
Theoretically one could jot down the culture at end of Age II, then keep passing and add the bonuses of the next n+2 impacts that come up.

Practically one may just keep on playing.


Aren't the Impact cards revealed ahead of time so that you can plan for them?

I only played the Advanced game once, and the people involved admittedly were not as savvy with the rules as I thought (they were surprised when I advanced my Culture after playing an event card). But the one time I played, we had the Impact cards sitting out.

Although, this could be accomplished by having someone randomly pick cards and post them in the Chat. Then stop the game at the end of Age II.

But, really, a Full game isn't much harder to play. What makes the Full game really challenging is that attacks can have greater impact, which is, of course, nullified in a no-aggression game.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 18, 2013, 10:01:35 am
Yeah, the Advanced game has four impacts visible at the start of the game. I find it actually really changes the game - you need to plan for them and work towards them, unless you have a good strategy to score well outside of them.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on April 18, 2013, 10:13:40 am
I'd like to nominate f.DS 31 as the filthiest world ever. Not just because I lost horribly, even though any world not ruled by me as benevolent dictator is indeed a sad place to live, but because in modern society, we still get rats in age IV. Gross!

And I lost all my beer!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on April 18, 2013, 10:16:01 am
Age 4 Rats was pretty awesome, especially as I was player 1 and it came straight after I played my last turn in the game and no longer needed that food.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on April 22, 2013, 09:48:04 pm
35 is up now.  Because apparently I can't get enough.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on April 22, 2013, 10:00:21 pm
I've been in 0 games for a few days now. It's been... Weird.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on April 23, 2013, 03:11:45 am
Late-game attacks trumped early culture again in f.ds33.

Wait ... is this a rematch button I am seeing up there?
 
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on April 26, 2013, 10:12:30 pm
I have a rule question.

We played our first full game tonight. However, how does one lose colonies? Once you have one in play, is there ways you can lose them? The rulebook states that they can be lost through events or aggression. Are there specific aggression cards that say "take a colony" or something such as that?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 27, 2013, 03:10:18 am
Yes, exactly: Annex aggression takes another player's colony (you gain and they lose the permanent bonus, the one time bonus is ignored). And Independence declaration makes the weakest player lose a colony (along with it's permanent bonus)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on April 27, 2013, 03:53:02 am
Thanks for the answer tables!

We paused until tomorrow just after reaching age II. We're playing with the advanced rules but with no war and it just feels like we're all playing sooooo inefficiently. Really need to watch someone who's good at this game to try to pick up more on the tempo / what we should be doing better. We're all having a blast though!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 27, 2013, 10:30:27 am
No war, or no wars or aggressions? Aggressions are the brown cards that resolve immediately, and give a fixed reward/penalty if you winner is stronger. Wars are the black cards that last a turn and have an effect that scales depending on the strength difference.

The normal advanced game has no wars, but has aggressions.

As for efficiency, that's definitely a normal thing in the first few games :D. You get the hang of things after a few games, as you begin to learn, some technologies are more backbone that you really want early, while others are more flair you can get once you have your infrastructure up.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on April 27, 2013, 11:31:44 am
No wars. We are playing with aggression a but we've only had one successful one so far. It's interesting to see how the small differences in building up our civilizations have led to each of us to take very different paths on what were doing.

Out of curiosity, what's a good goal for culture by the end of the game?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on April 27, 2013, 11:47:11 am
Out of curiosity, what's a good goal for culture by the end of the game?

100, 150, 235, or 368 depending on the order the cards came out, how aggressive the game has been, what events get seeded and pretty much everything else that could happen differently from game to game. This is one of the reasons I love this game so much.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 27, 2013, 11:50:57 am
It's impossible to say, basically, because a LOT of culture depends on endgame events, how many turns the game lasts, and how aggressive people are. A lot like Dominion in that way. 40 is a great score with no alt. VPs, but if it's a Goons megaturn board, it looks pretty poor compared to your neighbours 150.

In the advanced game, I'd tailor your civilisation to your impact events, but also grab some from Libraries and/or Theaters (as well as any small trickles from things like Wonders, Temples etc). Occasionally you can pull of something crazy like Michelangelo+St. Peter's Basilica, but usually you're looking primarily at endgame events. And depending on what ones are there, anything from 40-100 is plausible.

In the Full game, things get even more insane. Because of Wars, you can have people producing very little culture, who just suddenly steal 30 from you in the last few turns. Or you might have four people scoring 15 per turn with a wad of Theaters and the like. And each Impact event is about 10-20 culture each on average, so if you get a game with lots of people drawing the right ones for themselves, and compare to an almost identical one where people draw lots of the wrong ones for themselves, the score can be different by an order of magnitude of over 100.

For reference, looking over my recently finished BGO games, I've won a 3 player game with 95 culture, and come 3rd of 4 with 197. Usually my score's in the 170-230 range though.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on April 28, 2013, 02:15:51 pm
Rules Question: On end of game impacts, do they include bonuses of Age III leaders or not? Or do all leaders get discarded before doing end of game impacts?

i.e. Bill Gates gives extra resources, so are these resources counted in Impact of Industry?
i.e. Sid Meier increases culture, but decreases science, so would these changes be reflected if Impact of Science came up?

Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 28, 2013, 02:25:51 pm
Your leader stays in play. Why wouldn't they?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on April 28, 2013, 02:28:20 pm
Your leader stays in play. Why wouldn't they?
Because the last turn, is technically Age IV, hence at the end of the game, Age IV ends and so I was thinking leaders from Age III die. Also, this is good to know, gets me some extra culture in a game I'm playing.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 28, 2013, 02:31:20 pm
Age IV doesn't end though. Or everyone would lose 2 yellow tokens, all pacts would end, etc. and that doesn't happen.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on April 28, 2013, 03:06:58 pm
Indeed, Age IV is still going on even outside the game!  At least, I suspect Bill Gates and Sid Meier think so.  Maybe not Gandhi.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on April 28, 2013, 03:13:12 pm
In a few generations' time age IV will end and an age V expansion will need to be released for TTA.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on April 28, 2013, 03:36:35 pm
I think that expansion will be released about the time space travel becomes common.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on April 28, 2013, 03:58:21 pm
Space Travel is a new urban tech and there is an errata to remove First Space Flight as it is no longer wonderous.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on April 28, 2013, 08:14:14 pm
Just finished our first game! I won with 180, while my roommates had 121 and 63.

Overall, it was pretty competitive -- I won because of my steady culture point trickle -- I was getting 4/turn as soon as Age I. One other person went heavy into science, and was getting new technologies basically every turn. However, he didn't start building up culture points until it was too late.

The player in third place got pretty unlucky, and didn't have a chance to build up his infrastructure -- he never saw an iron card, and the two coal cards were both near the very end of Age II. He just fell too far behind, and couldn't build the military to avoid pretty frequent aggressions against him.

It was really fun, and definitely inefficient, even playing without the rule to lose two population per age. Happiness would have been a serious problem for all of us if we kept losing workers.

Looking forward to playing again, and I'll probably want to join games with other F.DS people after my finals are over
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on April 28, 2013, 08:28:20 pm
It was really fun, and definitely inefficient, even playing without the rule to lose two population per age. Happiness would have been a serious problem for all of us if we kept losing workers.

Remember that you don't lose workers; you lose cubes from your yellow bank.  Otherwise, the game would become rapidly almost unplayable.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 28, 2013, 08:49:27 pm
Just finished our first game! I won with 180, while my roommates had 121 and 63.

Overall, it was pretty competitive -- I won because of my steady culture point trickle -- I was getting 4/turn as soon as Age I. One other person went heavy into science, and was getting new technologies basically every turn. However, he didn't start building up culture points until it was too late.

The player in third place got pretty unlucky, and didn't have a chance to build up his infrastructure -- he never saw an iron card, and the two coal cards were both near the very end of Age II. He just fell too far behind, and couldn't build the military to avoid pretty frequent aggressions against him.

It was really fun, and definitely inefficient, even playing without the rule to lose two population per age. Happiness would have been a serious problem for all of us if we kept losing workers.

Looking forward to playing again, and I'll probably want to join games with other F.DS people after my finals are over

180 is a seriously good score for an advanced game! Did you play 3 ages instead of 2 by any chance? If not... I'm scared, I don't think I could ever get anywhere near that in two ages.
Or you might have made some other errors along the way, but eh, not that significant. You learn the mistakes while playing online.

As for the third person... Iron and Coal aren't that good. Missing Iron isn't good, but you can easily work around it - build an extra bronze mine or two, grab useful yellow cards, research Architecture or Masonry, get a leader who helps etc. If you're doing the proper Advance game (age II end), then I'd be fine with missing Iron. In a full game, seeing Coal that late would definitely be a big blow, but not terrible. Especially if, judging from your wording, I'd say you took Iron for 3 CAs each? That's a huge tempo loss for you two he didn't have.
Still, for a beginner I can definitely see the issue. Experienced players can easily work around not having Iron, and can even be in situations where Iron would be actually detrimental to them (I've had one 4 player game where nobody researched Iron). Less experienced players though, it's definitely good to have.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on April 28, 2013, 09:29:34 pm
Kirian -- yeah, that's what I meant. Two from the worker pool would be much worse!

Just finished our first game! I won with 180, while my roommates had 121 and 63.

Overall, it was pretty competitive -- I won because of my steady culture point trickle -- I was getting 4/turn as soon as Age I. One other person went heavy into science, and was getting new technologies basically every turn. However, he didn't start building up culture points until it was too late.

The player in third place got pretty unlucky, and didn't have a chance to build up his infrastructure -- he never saw an iron card, and the two coal cards were both near the very end of Age II. He just fell too far behind, and couldn't build the military to avoid pretty frequent aggressions against him.

It was really fun, and definitely inefficient, even playing without the rule to lose two population per age. Happiness would have been a serious problem for all of us if we kept losing workers.

Looking forward to playing again, and I'll probably want to join games with other F.DS people after my finals are over

180 is a seriously good score for an advanced game! Did you play 3 ages instead of 2 by any chance? If not... I'm scared, I don't think I could ever get anywhere near that in two ages.
Or you might have made some other errors along the way, but eh, not that significant. You learn the mistakes while playing online.

As for the third person... Iron and Coal aren't that good. Missing Iron isn't good, but you can easily work around it - build an extra bronze mine or two, grab useful yellow cards, research Architecture or Masonry, get a leader who helps etc. If you're doing the proper Advance game (age II end), then I'd be fine with missing Iron. In a full game, seeing Coal that late would definitely be a big blow, but not terrible. Especially if, judging from your wording, I'd say you took Iron for 3 CAs each? That's a huge tempo loss for you two he didn't have.
Still, for a beginner I can definitely see the issue. Experienced players can easily work around not having Iron, and can even be in situations where Iron would be actually detrimental to them (I've had one 4 player game where nobody researched Iron). Less experienced players though, it's definitely good to have.

We played all 3 ages, so yeah, 180 is slightly less impressive :P I'm pretty sure we didn't make any errors -- it's impossible to know for sure, of course, but as far as I can tell there were no screw-ups.

We did take the Iron for 3 CA's each -- probably not the wisest move, and definitely losing the 3 actions hurts, but we all really needed the resources. It makes sense about the tempo, though, and it's something we'll all definitely get better at. Masonry seems really good, and it was useful. It was difficult to strike the balance between having enough actions / having enough resources to actually do useful things -- something that I'm sure we'll get better at.

Thanks for the advice, it's really appreciated. I can see why you all love this game so much!

Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 28, 2013, 09:41:27 pm
Ah, yeah, Advanced Game is designed for two ages (mainly the endgame impacts wise) but it'd work fine with 3 ages, I'd say.

Yeah, I don't think I've taken a card for 3CA in age I for a while. 2 CA I often do for the really nice cards and you eventually form an opinion on what those are, the more you play. But spending 3/4s of your turn for one card? That's tough, especially if it causes corruption.

One of the things that's really fun with this game is balancing all the different factors of your civilisation - strength, resources, food, science, CAs, MAs, happiness, culture. Some of them you can make do lacking, but generally you need to develop all 8 if you want to win.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on April 28, 2013, 10:11:57 pm
Yeah, we just extended it to 3 ages-- it seemed to work fine. Played with the normal bonuses for the full game. I'd really just recommend jumping to the full game to anyone who was in the same boat, it's not much more than the advanced game.

The opportunity cost of every decision blew my mind in this game -- I've never seen anything like it before in a game.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on April 29, 2013, 04:28:20 am
The opportunity cost of every decision blew my mind in this game -- I've never seen anything like it before in a game.

+1. This is why I love this game.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 29, 2013, 06:42:42 am
Yeah, we just extended it to 3 ages-- it seemed to work fine. Played with the normal bonuses for the full game. I'd really just recommend jumping to the full game to anyone who was in the same boat, it's not much more than the advanced game.

The opportunity cost of every decision blew my mind in this game -- I've never seen anything like it before in a game.

The main issue is time, and because you were able to stop and start again, you somewhat avoided that as an issue.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on April 29, 2013, 08:54:41 am
I way overvalued Iron and Irrigation when I first started playing. At first, I was all, "OMG! If I don't get these advances, I'm going to drown in corruption and be unable to do anything!"

I've learned that while they are very useful in maintaining your civilization, they aren't the end-all. It's possible to wait for the Age II advances. The upgrade from Age A to Age II mines/farms is not pleasant, but it's doable, especially if you snag an Efficient Upgrade or two. Having only the basic cards in Age III would be ugly, though. I don't think I've played a game like that. It would be difficult.

Another thing I've learned is how to use yellow cards to manage your action pool. Efficient use of actions: Rich Land, Ideal Building Site, Breakthrough, Frugality. These cards allow you to save resources (note lower case) while advancing your civilization in some way. Inefficient use of actions: Revolutionary Idea, Bountiful Harvest, Mineral Deposits. These cards give you resources, but you need to spend another action to do something with them. That's not to say I won't play them, especially if I have a Republic, but I keep in mind that I need two actions to accomplish my task instead of one.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on April 29, 2013, 01:59:53 pm
Yeah, that's definitely the mindset I was in - I made grabbing it my first priority, when really I should have held off, and then possibly focused more on military or something else.

The yellow cards seemed really good to me, as well, especially the ones that don't burn up another action, like Kuildeous says.

We probably over-emphasized the importance of civil actions as a group -- there was an emphasis on getting cards such as Code of Laws and Pyramids.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on April 29, 2013, 04:15:37 pm
So in a four player game there's two of each in age I and age II... So you really want to be able to grab one of the four without paying too much for it?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on April 29, 2013, 04:18:56 pm
There's 3 Iron and Irrigation in a 4 player game. I think Alchemy is the most important Age I tech though.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on April 29, 2013, 04:20:25 pm
Ah, ok, thanks!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on April 29, 2013, 08:34:03 pm
I really just cannot click the right things on the online site!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on April 30, 2013, 12:29:05 pm
It's been a while but I think it's time.

F.DStrategy n+1 created.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 30, 2013, 01:03:03 pm
I believe n is 35.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on April 30, 2013, 01:56:15 pm
Nooooo it's gone!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on April 30, 2013, 03:10:40 pm
I believe n is 35.

Dude, you're in 35 right now.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on April 30, 2013, 03:30:07 pm
That's why the next is 35+1, I assume.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on April 30, 2013, 06:23:19 pm
I believe n is 35.

Dude, you're in 35 right now.

That's why the next is 35+1, I assume.

Ahh, the number of jokes this opens me up to make about Kirian and basic maths...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on April 30, 2013, 06:34:00 pm
Kirianic induction: if A(n) is true, then A(n) is as well.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on April 30, 2013, 07:02:43 pm
Kirianic induction: if A(n) is true, then A(n) is as well.

The first rule of Tautology Club is the first rule of Tautology Club.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on April 30, 2013, 11:56:20 pm
Kirianic induction: if A(n) is true, then A(n) is as well.

You owe me one coffee; therefore you owe me one coffee.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on May 05, 2013, 03:27:22 pm
TTA has made all of my other games pale in comparison :( Just played another game yesterday, and now all I want to play is TTA and none of my other games.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on May 05, 2013, 05:34:13 pm
TTA has made all of my other games pale in comparison :( Just played another game yesterday, and now all I want to play is TTA and none of my other games.

I had that problem for a while. I've learnt to get over it because it was annoying other people :P.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: liopoil on May 05, 2013, 05:36:03 pm
same thing happened to me at one point for dominant species. then I didn't play it for a while and it went away :P
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on May 06, 2013, 12:36:29 am
Yeah my roommates don't feel like setting aside an entire evening as much as I do. I'm sure it'll pass after I get another game or two in.

Liopiol how intensive is dominant species? I've been wanting to try that one too
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: liopoil on May 06, 2013, 03:26:27 pm
dominant species is VERY intensive... 3 hours if you play the short version, and I've never played the long version...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Lekkit on May 07, 2013, 05:15:28 pm
TTA has made all of my other games pale in comparison :( Just played another game yesterday, and now all I want to play is TTA and none of my other games.

Dominion made this to me. Innovation too. SET did it before that. And RFtG has been really close to doing it. I think it's common for games that you like. And that will most often be "good" games.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on May 16, 2013, 08:17:31 am
Just opened a new 3p and 4p game. Let's start playing again.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on May 16, 2013, 08:30:19 am
Oooh, two of them. I'll wait before joining the second game. If it's still open later, then I'll take it.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on May 16, 2013, 10:00:14 am
3p game set afloat.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on May 16, 2013, 12:54:22 pm
What's the game ID / how do I find it?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on May 16, 2013, 12:58:35 pm
Search games in progress for "f.DS" to find all of our ongoing games. Both the games I opened have started now, but if you want to play I (or you) can start a new one. The next game will be f.DStrategy 40.

Edit: For future reference, to join a game that hasn't filled up go to Games -> Join game and it will be listed under "Private games". Password is usually Dominion.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on May 22, 2013, 08:06:03 am
Did I see that Cayvie is "-----" on BGO? I thought so, but I'm confused because Cayvie has been inactive on these games, but ----- is still chugging along on BGO.

This is correct - but she isn't joining new ones there (that I've seen), only finishing up the games that she's in.


At the moment she's busy with 13 games on BGO ...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Galzria on May 22, 2013, 01:14:27 pm
Did I see that Cayvie is "-----" on BGO? I thought so, but I'm confused because Cayvie has been inactive on these games, but ----- is still chugging along on BGO.

This is correct - but she isn't joining new ones there (that I've seen), only finishing up the games that she's in.


At the moment she's busy with 13 games on BGO ...

Perhaps, but that was a long, long time ago that I said that. ;)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on June 05, 2013, 01:13:34 am
I am probably going to make a game of this tomorrow I've been itching to play.

What do the stars mean (warlord, etc)? Is there a good choice as to which one to use?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on June 05, 2013, 02:23:51 am
It just gives a general idea of the level of play. I usually just leave it at one star for f.DS games because it's just us anyway, but it's useful for public games to basically say "I want a beginners game" or "Experts only" or whatever. They don't actually restrict any players though. It kind of works on an honour system, and its down to each individual player to decide what level they are at.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on June 05, 2013, 07:21:32 am
f.DStrategy 40 is up - 4 players, global. Come kick my butt guys :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on June 05, 2013, 08:08:02 am
/in
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on June 05, 2013, 09:13:56 am
Yoink!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on June 05, 2013, 09:57:39 am
/in and started
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on June 05, 2013, 09:58:59 am
And Twistedarcher's up.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on June 05, 2013, 05:34:49 pm
/in... wait... darn. Eh... maybe I shouldn't make any new online games for a while. Being exam season, I've been avoiding them for a reason...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on June 06, 2013, 01:45:02 pm
F.DS 41 up now, if anyone wants to play :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on June 06, 2013, 02:00:07 pm
I wonder if that's really Notch playing with Bad Horse.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on June 06, 2013, 03:39:53 pm
I wonder if that's really Notch playing with Bad Horse.

The Thoroughbred of Sin?!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on June 06, 2013, 05:15:08 pm
I wonder if that's really Notch playing with Bad Horse.

The Thoroughbred of Sin?!

I'm sure he meant Gandhi.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on June 07, 2013, 04:05:59 am
F.DS 41 up now, if anyone wants to play :)
Round 4 already. I'm so jealous.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on June 07, 2013, 07:24:39 am
#42 also up.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on June 16, 2013, 02:19:40 pm
#43 is up.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on June 16, 2013, 04:02:09 pm
#43 is now full, but #44 is up
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on June 16, 2013, 04:29:36 pm
#43 is now full, but #44 is up

Always willing to hand you another beating.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on June 16, 2013, 04:53:29 pm
#43 is now full, but #44 is up

Always willing to hand you another beating.

Beatings are good for morale.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on June 16, 2013, 05:22:21 pm
#43 is now full, but #44 is up

Always willing to hand you another beating.

LIKE LIKE LIKE
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on June 16, 2013, 06:19:22 pm
It appears people have this crazy idea that I'm an easy target for wars & aggressions :(
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on June 16, 2013, 07:00:43 pm
This'll be the game where you get to 60 strength in age II then proceed to war/aggression me every turn, won't it?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on June 17, 2013, 02:16:18 am
This'll be the game where you get to 60 strength in age II then proceed to war/aggression me every turn, won't it?

I honestly thought that's what was going to happen in f.DS41. Joe built up military early and was ahead (in strength and culture) for most of the game. Somehow I got an opportunity to raid his 2x Movies early in age three though, and that was pretty much the end of it.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on June 17, 2013, 05:17:20 am
Raid II is the nastiest Aggression in the whole game. Quite a bit more powerful than Raid III in usual circumstances.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on June 17, 2013, 10:59:49 am

I honestly thought that's what was going to happen in f.DS41. Joe built up military early and was ahead (in strength and culture) for most of the game. Somehow I got an opportunity to raid his 2x Movies early in age three though, and that was pretty much the end of it.

Was slightly disappointed to be doing well in military for so long, and then let it slip, raiding 2 movies was basically the end of my chances :(

On a random,, unconnected note, is it possible to produce less than 0 culture a turn? If you are producing 0 culture, and then play a pact where you produce 1 less culture per turn, do you now produce 0 or -1 culture?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on June 17, 2013, 12:28:03 pm
0 is the lower limit, 30 is the upper limit. Same for science. Max science held is 40, while Culture is unlimited. Strength is 0-60.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on June 18, 2013, 02:40:22 am
0 is the lower limit, 30 is the upper limit.
For what?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on June 18, 2013, 02:46:32 am
0 is the lower limit, 30 is the upper limit.
For what?

Culture production per turn. (Science too)

On an unrelated note, Agricola has knocked TTA out of the #2 spot on BGG. Sad times.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on June 18, 2013, 03:08:03 am
0 is the lower limit, 30 is the upper limit.
For what?

Culture production per turn. (Science too)

Ah, but there is only one pact that lets you bleed culture (Loss of Sovereignity) with the upside for the bleeding nation that it cannot be attacked. If you feel you have to pull a Gandhi and have a culture production of less than 2, then quitting would be the way to go.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on June 18, 2013, 03:28:31 am
0 is the lower limit, 30 is the upper limit.
For what?

Culture production per turn. (Science too)

On an unrelated note, Agricola has knocked TTA out of the #2 spot on BGG. Sad times.

This is fairly normal. They jump around each other quite often.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on June 18, 2013, 08:20:47 am
0 is the lower limit, 30 is the upper limit.
For what?

Culture production per turn. (Science too)

On an unrelated note, Agricola has knocked TTA out of the #2 spot on BGG. Sad times.

What's number one?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on June 18, 2013, 08:36:46 am
Twilight Struggle. (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgame?sort=rank&rankobjecttype=subtype&rankobjectid=1&rank=1#1)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on June 18, 2013, 09:05:55 pm
#45 is up.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on June 19, 2013, 07:25:28 am
Could someone of the participants rename the game in order to get consistent with the others? Facilitates searching.

Thanks.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on June 19, 2013, 10:16:47 pm
Now that exams are done, time to play somet TtA.

Have games 47 and 46. A 4 player Global and a 3 player Base.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on June 24, 2013, 07:26:49 am
How would you handle Biskupin when the total strength is so high that it is capped at 60? bg-o.com deducts two strength points from the capped value down to 58, even if your strength constituents add up to, say, 67. I find this a bit harsh as you could easily deduct the 2 points Biskupin provides from the 67 total and then cap.


Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on June 24, 2013, 08:47:38 am
Mmm... that doesn't sound right to me. Biskupin says the strength bonus doesn't apply during aggressions, not -2 strength during aggressions. If you have 62+ strength, then during aggressions you should have 60 strength, and be capped.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on June 24, 2013, 11:35:34 am
Mmm... that doesn't sound right to me. Biskupin says the strength bonus doesn't apply during aggressions, not -2 strength during aggressions. If you have 62+ strength, then during aggressions you should have 60 strength, and be capped.

This is exactly what I thought.. also, F.DS 48 up :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on June 25, 2013, 03:40:08 am
Mmm... that doesn't sound right to me. Biskupin says the strength bonus doesn't apply during aggressions, not -2 strength during aggressions. If you have 62+ strength, then during aggressions you should have 60 strength, and be capped.

This should go into a bug report. Does anyone have write access to the bg-o forum? I don't feel like extending the number of passwords I have to handle.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on June 25, 2013, 11:11:02 am
I do, can someone give me a link to a game where it lowered your strength to 58?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on June 25, 2013, 12:02:37 pm
Thanks. http://boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=52&pl=201832&nat=1 Aggression played at 2013-06-20 11:06:00

It was my opponent actually who got hosed, and I was too inattentive to notice that he had, in fact, >60 strength, otherwise I would have GGG'd and sac to match up at 60.

He still won :-P
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on June 28, 2013, 02:44:14 am
Thanks for reporting, and thanks for mentioning me as a "friend" and not "victim".

That SirDusk gentleman is quite stubborn, I almost feel like setting up an account on this ad-ridden forum myself.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on June 28, 2013, 08:30:04 am
That SirDusk gentleman is quite stubborn, I almost feel like setting up an account on this ad-ridden forum myself.

What is SirDusk saying? Could someone post Cliff's Notes about that here?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on June 28, 2013, 08:39:53 am
http://boardgamingonline.freeforums.org/biskupin-penalizing-strength-when-strength-is-62-t1639.html

Up to now SirDuks is quite alone in his opinion. Seghillian tries to find some common ground or neutral point of view, but I guess part of it is protecting Nicholas from too many bug-fixing chores.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on June 28, 2013, 08:41:39 am
Decided I played to carelessly recently, and set up f.DS #49 (http://"http://boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=10&msg=203") where I vow to donate $20 to Nicholas should I end up at the bottom again.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on June 28, 2013, 10:06:52 am
Now that I've read that thread, I would say that "stubborn" is a very polite way of describing it. I cannot see justification in his stance either. It's actually quite simple. Add up all bonuses to strength. Are you defending? Add 2. Are you attacking? Don’t add the 2. Then at the end, apply the cap. Add sacrifices later. I don't know how this guy can even justify capping strength at 58.

I'm not even sure that it's an attempt to avoid additional work for Nicholas. I'd be perfectly willing to accept an answer of, "Oops, that was coded wrong. The coder doesn't have time to address something that will rarely come up." It'd be a bummer, but I can certainly understand where he'd be coming from. Although, I hope that reason doesn't hold, because I did contribute some money to him for his effort. I don't know if the donations surpass the costs to host this site or not, so he might not even get to keep that money.

I can agree that it's an edge case that likely has no to little impact on the game, but it still doesn't justify someone's claim that max strength is 58.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on June 28, 2013, 11:57:58 am
Well, in this particular game I managed to equalise a 22 points difference after an aggression with four Defense cards, two of which I had drawn just the turn before. I am picturing my opponent had some froth to wipe off his keyboard.

Any other interpretation of this case would imply that strength is calculated by adding up all contributors in an untoward sequence (maybe in the sequence the cards came up, although that never should play a role in a game where everything is inferred from the board situation), not counting anything that would raise strength above 60, then notice an aggression is played and deduct one of the contributors. This is ludicrous.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on June 28, 2013, 02:02:05 pm
Yeah, I can imagine the pseudo code for this.

Before this expansion was added, it was a very simple:
SUM(everything that adds or subtracts Strength)
If(Strength > 60) then Strength = 60

Then this wonder was added. Aw man. Okay, so the Strength is still done the same, but there needs to be a conditional to remove the +2 if the wonder's owner attacks. Great, I'll through in -2 to offset the +2 the owner got.

But the modification was placed incorrectly. The pseudo code probably looks like:
SUM(everything that adds or subtracts Strength)
If(Strength > 60) then Strength = 60
If(Attacker.Biskupin) then Strength = Strength – 2

If that's the case, then it could be an easy fix to move the negative up top. A more robust solution would be to not add in the Strength when attacking, but it's not my code, man.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on June 29, 2013, 08:45:25 am
#50 is up. I fear losing $20 in #49. ._.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on June 29, 2013, 10:39:45 am
#50 is up. I fear losing $20 in #49. ._.
No need to commit, it's only that if I lose I get to donate.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on July 01, 2013, 02:07:22 pm
Rules question. You can't take a technology card from the card row that is the same as a card on your hand or on the table infront of you. What happens if you have, for example, Code of Laws in your hand and you win a War over Technology against someone else who has built Code of Laws? Presumably you can't take their Code of Laws but this isn't technically covered in the rules.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on July 01, 2013, 04:35:19 pm
I believe you can't take it. It's vague on what happens if you have a more advanced version.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on July 02, 2013, 12:08:00 pm
Warfare: 4 Science
Cartography: 4 Science
Knights: 4 Science
Swordsmen: 3 Science

Stealing Napoleon's Inhabited Territory II with an Annex: Priceless.

There are some things science points can't buy. For everything else, there's Alchemy and Journalism.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on July 02, 2013, 02:29:48 pm
Warfare: 4 Science
Cartography: 4 Science
Knights: 4 Science
Swordsmen: 3 Science

Stealing Napoleon's Inhabited Territory II with an Annex: Priceless.

There are some things science points can't buy. For everything else, there's Alchemy and Journalism.

In fairness, this wouldn't have happened if I could count when colonising the Inhibited Territory :(
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on July 02, 2013, 02:55:11 pm
Warfare: 4 Science
Cartography: 4 Science
Knights: 4 Science
Swordsmen: 3 Science

Stealing Napoleon's Inhabited Territory II with an Annex: Priceless.

There are some things science points can't buy. For everything else, there's Alchemy and Journalism.

In fairness, this wouldn't have happened if I could count when colonising the Inhibited Territory :(

Hey Napoleon, that's a nice pair of Alchemies you've got there... Oh wait, my mistake... That's a nice pair of piles of rubble you've got there.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on July 02, 2013, 07:08:49 pm
Thanks for the science, Napoleon!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on July 02, 2013, 09:11:02 pm
Are you guys picking on Joe again?

I approve.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on July 03, 2013, 01:23:42 am
f.DStrategy 40 is up - 4 players, global. Come kick my butt guys :)

We kicked up everyone else's so you remain victorious. Congratulations!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on July 03, 2013, 02:52:50 am
And now 51 is up for your playing pleasure.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on July 03, 2013, 03:17:22 am
f.DStrategy 40 is up - 4 players, global. Come kick my butt guys :)

We kicked up everyone else's so you remain victorious. Congratulations!

Thanks :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on July 03, 2013, 04:03:34 am
Quoting Twistedarcher from the closing chat over f.DS #40:
Quote
How do the scores in this one compare to most 4 player games? This is on the higher side of most of my games.
4P games tend to last more rounds than 3P so you have more opportunity to rake in culture (and early culture gainers like Taj Mahal are slightly better). With 2P the focus is on strength so yes, I'd say that 4P games gain more culture.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on July 03, 2013, 10:19:09 am
Yeah. I'm not sure exactly how many turns games go on average, but if I had to guess I'd say 2P and 4P typically go 20 turns, while 3P is more like 18. But I also agree with ipofanes. 2P is zero sum, so hurting an/your opponent is just as good as helping yourself. 3P is shorter and military less effective, but alright, while 4P is even less military focused (well, it's more important than 3P to not fall behind, but less valuable to get ahead) and longer.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on July 03, 2013, 10:59:36 am
Are you guys picking on Joe again?

I approve.

Joe's Napoleon will be picking on them soon....
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on July 03, 2013, 11:03:23 am
Joe's Napoleon will be picking on them soon....

That's my Napoleon. You stole it.  >:(
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on July 03, 2013, 01:34:30 pm
Joe's Napoleon will be picking on them soon....

That's my Napoleon. You stole it.  >:(

I would normally advise against arguing with Napoleon but seeing as I'm also a potential target I think you should keep going...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on July 03, 2013, 04:22:52 pm
No, see, we're buddies. That why I give him the +5 military, and he gives me the points. I trust him from here to Elba.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on July 03, 2013, 08:16:34 pm
No, see, we're buddies. That why I give him the +5 military, and he gives me the points. I trust him from here to Elba.

I've definitely lost that game, no military and basically nothing else useful :( although I'm doing well on F.DS 44, where I also have Napoleon- I think I'm slightly Napoleon-obsessed at the moment on TTA!!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on July 07, 2013, 01:29:01 pm
#52 is open!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: rspeer on July 10, 2013, 01:30:01 am
I've finally learned how to use BGO and I'm interested in joining a game.

I know that means I should just be sure to join the next game that's posted. So actually I'm posting here so that this thread's on my "new replies" list.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on July 10, 2013, 01:46:11 am
You could always start a game.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: rspeer on July 10, 2013, 02:08:59 am
Good idea. Do you suggest 3 or 4 player?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: rspeer on July 10, 2013, 02:48:44 am
Ohhh wait. I should probably do this after the weekend where I travel somewhere with no Internet. I'll totally start or join a game a week from now, though.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on July 10, 2013, 02:53:04 am
Good idea. Do you suggest 3 or 4 player?

I find 3p is the ideal number for TTA but most of our games are 4p.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on July 10, 2013, 04:25:53 pm
I think 4p is best for online play, although it's a pretty small difference.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on July 10, 2013, 04:44:00 pm
4p would be fine apart from the fact that there's always one person who takes 2 days to take each of their turns. I find it doesn't happen so much in 3p.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on July 10, 2013, 04:49:03 pm
4p would be fine apart from the fact that there's always one person who takes 2 days to take each of their turns. I find it doesn't happen so much in 3p.

I agree, 4p games seem to take considerably longer; I personally prefer 3p.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on July 16, 2013, 01:26:00 pm
F.DS 52 up, 3 player global game (because 3p is best). One of these games I will prove I'm good at using my military, hasn't happened yet...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on July 16, 2013, 01:37:30 pm
F.DS 52 up, 3 player global game (because 3p is best). One of these games I will prove I'm good at using my military, hasn't happened yet...

52 is already going, you're 53
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on July 16, 2013, 01:40:57 pm
F.DS 52 up, 3 player global game (because 3p is best). One of these games I will prove I'm good at using my military, hasn't happened yet...

52 is already going, you're 53
Awesome, F.DS 53 is up then :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on July 16, 2013, 10:20:00 pm
F.DS 52 up, 3 player global game (because 3p is best). One of these games I will prove I'm good at using my military, hasn't happened yet...

(http://i.qkme.me/3v7duo.jpg)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on July 17, 2013, 07:06:16 am
F.DS 52 up, 3 player global game (because 3p is best). One of these games I will prove I'm good at using my military, hasn't happened yet...

(http://i.qkme.me/3v7duo.jpg)
Think it should say "Led by" not "Led Be", also Napoleon is best, unfortunately he isn't in the game in question :( he's my favourite leader at the moment :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on July 17, 2013, 12:06:56 pm
Eh I did it at 3am, I think you can forgive the typo :P.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on July 18, 2013, 02:32:30 am
F.DS 52 up, 3 player global game (because 3p is best). One of these games I will prove I'm good at using my military, hasn't happened yet...

(http://i.qkme.me/3v7duo.jpg)
Think it should say "Led by" not "Led Be", also Napoleon is best, unfortunately he isn't in the game in question :( he's my favourite leader at the moment :)
Shouldn't that be "lead by", or has the phonetic transcription become accepted since Led Zeppelin?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ftl on July 18, 2013, 03:00:41 am
No, led is correct. I don't know whether it has anything to do with led zeppelin, likely not.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on July 18, 2013, 03:15:16 am
No, led is correct. I don't know whether it has anything to do with led zeppelin, likely not.

ok my English lessons are a thing of the distant past, for some reason I thought that "led" would, just because it rhymes with "read", follow the same spelling.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on July 18, 2013, 03:32:41 am
Your fatal mistake was assuming the English language would follow any kind of sensible structure or pattern.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on July 18, 2013, 03:56:24 am
Your fatal mistake was assuming the English language would follow any kind of sensible structure or pattern.
I doubt there is any other language using the Latin alphabet which such a loose association between spelling and pronounciation. Case in point: through, though, trough, tough. Four different pronounciations.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on July 18, 2013, 06:42:57 am
There's French.
You can deduce how a word is pronounced from the spelling (by simply ignoring the last 1-3 letters), but not the other way round.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on July 18, 2013, 09:04:40 am
Your fatal mistake was assuming the English language would follow any kind of sensible structure or pattern.
I doubt there is any other language using the Latin alphabet which such a loose association between spelling and pronounciation. Case in point: through, though, trough, tough. Four different pronounciations.


You missed bough and hiccough... and I think there's one more I'm missing.

English spelling vs pronunciation is awful.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on July 18, 2013, 11:23:49 am
Your fatal mistake was assuming the English language would follow any kind of sensible structure or pattern.
I doubt there is any other language using the Latin alphabet which such a loose association between spelling and pronounciation. Case in point: through, though, trough, tough. Four different pronounciations.


You missed bough and hiccough... and I think there's one more I'm missing.

English spelling vs pronunciation is awful.

Is it really hiccough? I've gone through my entire life thinking that it's spelled "hiccup".
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on July 18, 2013, 08:33:45 pm
Your fatal mistake was assuming the English language would follow any kind of sensible structure or pattern.
I doubt there is any other language using the Latin alphabet which such a loose association between spelling and pronounciation. Case in point: through, though, trough, tough. Four different pronounciations.


You missed bough and hiccough... and I think there's one more I'm missing.

English spelling vs pronunciation is awful.

Is it really hiccough? I've gone through my entire life thinking that it's spelled "hiccup".

It can be spelled both ways.  "Hiccough" is the original spelling, but most spell is "hiccup" now because of the pronunciation.

Also: Game 54 is up!  4 Player global.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on July 18, 2013, 09:54:26 pm
I'd join, but I think I've taken enough beatings for a bit...

Four wars in 3 rounds...grumble...lesson learned!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on July 19, 2013, 09:35:37 am
Four wars in 3 rounds...grumble...lesson learned!

3 in 1 round is worse though, had that on F.DS game before :(
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on July 19, 2013, 11:30:25 am
Yeah but I only declared the war because it was funny
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on July 19, 2013, 12:31:47 pm
it was funny
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: rspeer on July 19, 2013, 08:37:06 pm
Also: Game 54 is up!  4 Player global.

Cool. I just claimed the fourth seat.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on July 26, 2013, 11:28:43 am
F.DS 55 up, 4 player global. Would like to be finished within 8 days, going on holiday next Saturday :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on July 26, 2013, 12:01:46 pm
F.DS 55 up, 4 player global. Would like to be finished within 8 days, going on holiday next Saturday :)

8 days seems... unlikely.  Especially for 4 player.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on July 26, 2013, 05:03:40 pm
Game #56 is now up!  Global 4P.  Because 54 became untenable for me.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on August 06, 2013, 09:22:09 am
#57 is up. 3 player global.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on August 06, 2013, 09:28:39 am
#57 is up. 3 player global.
I'll join. I've only played a few times IRL, and only once the full game, is that alright?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on August 06, 2013, 05:52:46 pm
Should be. Feel free to ask here or there if you have any questions. And feel free to PM someone not in the game (I won't be, so me maybe) if you have particular questions which might compromise your position (e.g. reveal strategy/secret information)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on August 06, 2013, 06:48:34 pm
Well, I couldn't figure out the password :P So I didn't get in.  So I guess I'll start my own game! #58 started, 3 players, standard, password: Dominion

Quick question: What are the differences in game version?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on August 06, 2013, 06:52:26 pm
They include different leaders and wonders.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on August 06, 2013, 11:40:36 pm
They include different leaders and wonders.
is there a link anywhere to the differences? Because I couldn't find on on the TTA site
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on August 07, 2013, 12:15:31 am
I know in game under the play link the civilopedia has all the cards.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on August 07, 2013, 02:56:14 am
They include different leaders and wonders.

And yellow cards! Tactics too, I think. Possibly events?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on August 07, 2013, 03:40:44 am
Sure. Falles and Impact of Politicians are among the most hated ones.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on August 07, 2013, 03:46:20 am
My most hated expansion card is Tercios because the guy with Swordsmen/Knights/Cannon always seems to get it, AND use it, when I'm stuck with Swordsmen/Riflemen and Legion or Fighting Band.

In fact, I don't think I've ever had Tercios in my hand and I play almost exclusively global.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on August 07, 2013, 05:40:05 am
My most hated expansion card is Tercios because the guy with Warrior/Knights/Cannon always seems to get it,

FTFY

Don't get me started on tactics. The last game I resigned before two other civilisations could reap the spoils of War (over yellow pips and culture) from me. This was the game where my Phalanx was not replaced for all of Age II and most of Age III. I built Cannon and Riflemen (but had only Knights for Cavalry) to just about keep up and make quick use of a tactic just in case I'd draw one. Then, four turns befor end, I drew my first tactic after the dusk of Age I: Shock Troops.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on August 07, 2013, 11:29:47 am
Well, I couldn't figure out the password :P So I didn't get in.  So I guess I'll start my own game! #58 started, 3 players, standard, password: Dominion

It has in fact now started. Good luck to you, and yeah, totally ask questions!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on August 07, 2013, 12:23:23 pm
In another game I'm playing online, I just won a Strategic Territory, and drew five military cards. They were all tactics cards, when I already had a good one in play.

I wasn't too happy about it.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on August 07, 2013, 12:24:00 pm
On the plus side, that's five tactics cards you just denied to the opponents. If you saw many of the good ones, that's pretty sweet. Even if you didn't, unless they already have a good tactic (tactics?) their chance of getting one just plummeted.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on August 08, 2013, 03:55:38 am
In my situation I tried to find comfort in the fact that all those useless Raid II, Sabotage cards I drew in lieu of tactics could not be used against me. Eventually the Wars got the better of me.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on August 25, 2013, 04:59:21 am
60 and 61 are up, by the way.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AdamH on August 27, 2013, 11:21:22 am
Rules question:

Napoleon and Air Forces. Let's say someone has Napoleon and one Air Force. They have enough other military for one "army" with a tactic in play. Let's say the base units give you 10 military strength and the tactic is worth 6.

I would calculate military strength as follows:

10 base
6 for tactic
6 for Napoleon
6 for Air Force
28 total

I read it this way because Air Force reads "add again" and not "double". The online version does it this way:

10 base
12 for tactic (doubled by Nappy)
12 for Air Force
34 total

So I'm just reading the rules wrong? If that's the case then we've been playing it wrong IRL.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on August 27, 2013, 11:26:35 am
"An Air Force unit doubles its Army's bonus from the Tactics card" - page 17.

"If you have some [Armies] with Air Force and some without, then they will have different Tactics bonuses. In this case, take the best bonus" - page 20 (Napoleon Clarification).

So yeah, Napoleon + Air force = 4 times bonus.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on August 27, 2013, 11:27:25 am
BGO does it right:
Air force doubles the tactic bonus of one army.
Napoleon adds the tactics bonus of your best army again. You're best army is the one which had its tactic bonus doubled.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AdamH on August 27, 2013, 11:29:15 am
OK I'm just an idiot then. Oh well, I was the one not getting the advantage from it in that IRL game and I was arguing that side, so I... uhh... I'm an idiot. Oh well.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on September 01, 2013, 06:52:04 am
Assuming I'm on the right number, 62 is up, pass. Dominion
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on September 05, 2013, 12:42:39 pm
F.DS 64 up now :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on September 06, 2013, 01:55:51 pm
Just wanted to let you know I'm going on holiday this weekend for 2 weeks. I will have internet access but I probably won't be as active as I usually am.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on September 06, 2013, 02:29:02 pm
Just wanted to let you know I'm going on holiday this weekend for 2 weeks. I will have internet access but I probably won't be as active as I usually am.
Sorry, but what is your name on BGO?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on September 06, 2013, 03:15:24 pm
Paul Oakley. I'm only in f.DS 63 at the moment.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on September 06, 2013, 05:44:20 pm
Alright.  I just never know who the people I'm playing with actually are :P  Except Kirian
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on September 06, 2013, 10:03:07 pm
Alright.  I just never know who the people I'm playing with actually are :P  Except Kirian

I know, right?  All these crazy people using handles here, and their real name on TTA.  We need like a translation table.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on September 06, 2013, 10:47:51 pm
I have my real name on here.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on September 07, 2013, 03:00:55 am
Alright.  I just never know who the people I'm playing with actually are :P  Except Kirian

I know, right?  All these crazy people using handles here, and their real name on TTA.  We need like a translation table.
When I created my account there I used Thisisnotasmile for my "Login", assuming that would also be my display name. I supplied my first and last name because they were mandatory fields, and I figured they'd be used on emails sent to me. I had no idea it was going to use my real name as my display name until it did it. I'm guessing other people thought the same.

But yeah, a translation table would be cool. I could live without one though.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on September 07, 2013, 03:52:02 pm
Alright.  I just never know who the people I'm playing with actually are :P  Except Kirian

I know, right?  All these crazy people using handles here, and their real name on TTA.  We need like a translation table.
When I created my account there I used Thisisnotasmile for my "Login", assuming that would also be my display name. I supplied my first and last name because they were mandatory fields, and I figured they'd be used on emails sent to me. I had no idea it was going to use my real name as my display name until it did it. I'm guessing other people thought the same.

But yeah, a translation table would be cool. I could live without one though.

Unless it's changed, you can change the name that is displayed.  Click on "Edit Profile" at the top.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on September 07, 2013, 04:55:57 pm
Alright.  I just never know who the people I'm playing with actually are :P  Except Kirian

I know, right?  All these crazy people using handles here, and their real name on TTA.  We need like a translation table.
When I created my account there I used Thisisnotasmile for my "Login", assuming that would also be my display name. I supplied my first and last name because they were mandatory fields, and I figured they'd be used on emails sent to me. I had no idea it was going to use my real name as my display name until it did it. I'm guessing other people thought the same.

But yeah, a translation table would be cool. I could live without one though.

Unless it's changed, you can change the name that is displayed.  Click on "Edit Profile" at the top.

You can, but I don't have a problem with my real name being displayed. It's just not what I expected when I signed up. It's handy when I'm playing IRL friends this way, though.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on September 08, 2013, 05:55:08 pm
F.DStrategy #65 up.  PW=Dominion
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on September 09, 2013, 04:05:48 am
Well, I couldn't figure out the password :P So I didn't get in.  So I guess I'll start my own game! #58 started, 3 players, standard, password: Dominion

It has in fact now started. Good luck to you, and yeah, totally ask questions!

This grasshopper didn't need to ask questions, he gave us a good pounding.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on September 09, 2013, 05:08:35 am
Not on my second game :P I got militaried to death (I'm going to make that phrase a thing now). 
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on September 09, 2013, 07:35:33 am
Not on my second game :P I got militaried to death (I'm going to make that phrase a thing now).
please no. "Attacked" is perfectly fine.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on September 09, 2013, 08:31:41 am
Not on my second game :P I got militaried to death (I'm going to make that phrase a thing now).
please no. "Attacked" is perfectly fine.
Ok fine, I was attacked to death :P  Never underestimate military...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: thespaceinvader on September 09, 2013, 09:16:33 am
For the record, I use the same name here and there.  But I was never wildly active here before Iso closed, and now even less so...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on September 19, 2013, 11:00:56 am
66 up, 4 player global :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on September 25, 2013, 07:24:52 am
68 up, 4 player global.  Pass: Dominion
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on September 25, 2013, 09:23:51 am
/in
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on September 29, 2013, 06:07:48 am
New games for all!

69, 70, 71 are up. Password: Dominion for all games. All global. 2 3p's and a 4p.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on September 29, 2013, 08:14:08 am
New games for all!

69, 70, 71 are up. Password: Dominion for all games. All global. 2 3p's and a 4p.
I so want to join but BGO is down for me :(
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on September 29, 2013, 08:15:51 am
Down for me too ATM. Last I saw only Tables had joined two games, so there should still be 5 spots up for grabs. Keep hammering F5.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on September 29, 2013, 01:18:49 pm
Down for me too ATM. Last I saw only Tables had joined two games, so there should still be 5 spots up for grabs. Keep hammering F5.

BGO up now, still 5 spaces up for grabs.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AdamH on October 03, 2013, 01:37:44 pm
Sooo... I've played a few games, I wouldn't say I'm amazing at TTA, but there's something I think I've "discovered" about the game that doesn't seem to be the consensus so maybe some more skilled players here can tell me why I'm wrong? Disclaimer: I really don't play 4P games anymore, they just take too long for me.

Early military: I don't think it's worth it. Let's start with the thing I'm most confident about: the event where you get to build a free warrior. I think that it's only worth doing in edge cases, and most of the time it's actively harmful to you. Sure, if you have Moses or a ton of early food/people it might not be so bad but I just think there are much better things you can do with that person.

The next thing: investing in age 1 military techs (the red ones, not necessarily Warfare/Cartography and the like) and tactics is always a waste. You could be using that science and those people and resources to build up, even if it's just for Age 2 military stuff. I feel like you're stunting yourself at such a high cost by investing in Age 1 military that it can't possibly be worth it. I'm fully aware of aggression cards and events, but aggression is such a small penalty to have played on you, and it costs so much to build up and play and you get so little out of it that it's not worth it, and even the worst Age 1 events don't hurt the weakest player that much. I'd rather be hit by aggression/events once each turn than have my guys locked up in military, and even then most of the time I can draw enough defense cards to not be affected anyways.

Once it gets to Age 2 things change. The Age 2 tactics can provide an actual benefit that's relevant. Getting the full bonus from these can be huge because of Napoleon and Air Forces later, and Age 2 military techs allow you to get the full tactics bonus for every good tactic in the game. In fact, I think that you become even more of a military threat by building up to take advantage of this quickly than you would be if you started building in Age 1. The difference is that you get to wait until Age 2 to see how much you want to invest in it and you get additional flexibility.

It seems important to me to try and draw as many military cards as you can so you can seed events that aren't very harmful to the weaker players. Drawing 3 Age 2 cards each turn you can is also very important so you can get a good tactic and figure out which military techs to take.

I mean, I don't win all of my games, so maybe there's something I'm missing here?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on October 03, 2013, 02:15:59 pm
I think the free warrior event is mostly worth it. There aren't many awesome things you can use your workers for in Age I.

I hugely disagree on Age I military techs: Knights are awesome. I really don't see how you can consider getting hit by a successful agression small penalty. The effect of a single negative event might not be that bad, but if you're hit by multiple that really sets you back. And there's quite a lot of events that care about strength, not to mention colonies.
Furthermore, you don't really need Age III tactics usually. So with Knights, you can not only get a significant strength advantage in Age I, but also only need one other military tech to enable lots of awesome Age II tactics you can potentially keep all game.

Drawing military cards is indeed very important, making Caesar and Warfare so awesome.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on October 03, 2013, 02:27:54 pm
In my opinion, Age I military is very important.

Firstly you say the events 'don't hurt much' but I disagree. Suppose in an average 4 player game 8 age I events get resolved, and say perhaps 6 of those will be during Age I. I dunno if that's really an accurate figure, but I think it seems reasonable. Even excluding territories for now, 7 events out of 15 care about strength - and naturally, every territory indirectly cares about it as well. So really that's around 13/21 events, or about 2/3rds which care about strength. In a typical game that means if you neglect strength, you're willingly either taking a penalty or giving away a reward around four times.

Secondly is the fact that neglecting military completely leads to a big problem with aggressions. You say those Age I aggresions don't hurt much, well, they still hurt somewhat AND give a reward to the aggressor. Enslave costs you 2-3 food and a CA typically (to get that Pop back), much more if you need to disband. That's around a turn's tempo of pop production lost, as well as a valuable earlygame CA. Raid varies, but at the very least losing a Philosophy is going to set you back 1 CA and 3 resources if you want to rebuild it (and most likely you will), which is around a turn's tempo of resource production, and again also the valuable earlygame CA. That also only costs 1 MA to play, making it doubly dangerous, AND if you've upgraded to Philosophy or other Age I urban buildings, it's even more damaging. Plunder is a little less scary - 3 resources/food is, again, around a turn's tempo lost but you don't lose a CA rebuilding, and it's 2 MA.

You say you often have bonus cards, but this won't always be the case. There are 6 bonus cards in the Age I military deck - the same number of aggressions. In a four player game, if you're weakest, you can't expect to consistently defend yourself this way.

Secondly you don't need to invest a huge amount in Age I to have a 'decent' military. One military tech, one tactics and one-two units in military keeps you up to a decent strength. And of course, these investments stay as a bonus to your strength in Age II and beyond, as well as giving you the techs. You don't need Cavalrymen if you have Knights, or Riflemen if you have Swordsmen, since you can make Age II tactics with those. This also lets you get onto the Age II tactics quicker - you might only need to snatch up one age II military tech to make your tactics, instead of two, and you might be able to make an antiquated unit much more easily (especially the case with e.g. Conquistadors and Classic Army).

I could say more in defence of Age I military but I really need to go out shopping now...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AdamH on October 03, 2013, 02:46:49 pm
I agree on Cćsar and Warfare, those are quite good. Drawing military cards is really important regardless of what age you're in.

I remember counting through my IRL set to see all the event cards. I looked through Age 1 events only, and if I remember correctly a little less than half of them even cared about strength. Of those, the worst one I could find was one that made you decrease your population, or one that made you destroy a building. The cost of these things is one civil action and some food/rock, which I see as less than the cost of committing one of your guys to be military.

I don't think I agree with the idea that there aren't awesome things your people can be doing in Age 1. I think Printing Press is pretty good, so are Ag and Bronze...

What you say about Knights (and Swordsmen too I guess) is interesting. There may be a case where it could be worth it to take the tech in Age 1 and see if you draw an Age 2 tactic to go with it, that might save you from having to wait for it in Age 2. Playing it and building it, though, I don't see the benefit of that. Perhaps I should try and take a closer look at Age 2 and Age 3 tactics and see if it's feasible to try using Age 1 Military techs through the end of the game.

-- reads Tables' post --

Perhaps the problem is more exacerbated in 4P games? Maybe it's a function of the people I play with? Most of what you're saying goes against my "feel" of the game. Do you think this same stuff applies in 2P or 3P games?

Some of the Age 2 events are pretty harsh on weaker players, I agree. Seeing Age 2 events come up in the current events is one of the catalysts for making me want to start building military.

Regarding territories, sure if I end up seeding some I will try to get some bonus for colonizing and I'll usually replace my starting Warrior if I know some territories are coming up, and this usually accomplishes my mission. I see that more as an economic investment than a military investment, I guess? Hmm... In a 3P game even if I don't seed any territories I usually end up with one without going out of my way at all. Sometimes I even feel safe playing my defense cards for this purpose.

I've done early military investments before -- usually my attacks are defended and it's very difficult to get them to connect. If I do, I feel like my reward is just not very good. If I'm being attacked, most of the time I'm able to defend, and I find myself asking if it's even worth it to do so, just because I don't care very much about what I'm losing. I can't remember a single time I've ever been hit by an aggression and felt like I was really screwed over by it.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on October 03, 2013, 02:51:36 pm
Printing Press is pretty terrible. The only time I've used it in a recent game is when I've had Leonardo and exactly 3 Science, and needed to find some way out of a research hole.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on October 03, 2013, 03:39:25 pm
Perhaps the problem is more exacerbated in 4P games? Maybe it's a function of the people I play with? Most of what you're saying goes against my "feel" of the game. Do you think this same stuff applies in 2P or 3P games?

In 2P thanks to being a zero sum game, military is the single main thing in the game. If you're ahead on military, attacking forces your opponent to either defend, sacrifice units or lose - all three are great things for you, and coupled with the advantages from events from being ahead, strength becomes hugely important. Well, forcing them to use bonus cards isn't quite so good, but it does leave them fewer bonuses for e.g. territories.

Regarding territories, sure if I end up seeding some I will try to get some bonus for colonizing and I'll usually replace my starting Warrior if I know some territories are coming up, and this usually accomplishes my mission. I see that more as an economic investment than a military investment, I guess? Hmm... In a 3P game even if I don't seed any territories I usually end up with one without going out of my way at all. Sometimes I even feel safe playing my defense cards for this purpose.

I think the thing in bold is key. Yes, they're an economic investment, but how do you win them? By military strength. How do you pay? You lose strength. And losing strength when you're already weak, especially if you also pay bonus cards, opens you up to easy aggressions, especially if the territory wasn't won on your turn.

Quote
I've done early military investments before -- usually my attacks are defended and it's very difficult to get them to connect. If I do, I feel like my reward is just not very good. If I'm being attacked, most of the time I'm able to defend, and I find myself asking if it's even worth it to do so, just because I don't care very much about what I'm losing. I can't remember a single time I've ever been hit by an aggression and felt like I was really screwed over by it.

For the most part, early military investment isn't primarily about setting up to try and attack, but a means to set yourself up with a solid early strength for events, transitioning into age II, winning territories, and in addition as a means to harass weaker players. A lot of players are actually quite irrational about defending from attacks in age I - for example, against an Enslave, they'll happily sacrifice a Warrior to defend when they have an unused worker - meaning they chose to disband a warrior and lose one pop over losing one pop. They deny the winner 3 resources, but hurt themselves more than that in the process. Similarly for a Raid, sacrificing a Warrior is a 2-3 food, 2 resource, 1 CA and 1 Ma investment, just to avoid losing a total 3 food+resources. These moves are often okay in a 2 player game but rarely in 4 player. Now this might make it seem as though age I military is less worthwhile, but you do severely hurt a player who defends this way - and if you ARE that player, then you're crippling yourself for no reason!

As for being hit and screwed over, that's rare. You'll often be hurt, and set back a bit, and that's what it's about. Early military isn't about trying to take a player out before the game even begins but about setting yourself up for later. The thing with Military is that it doesn't give instant rewards like other investments do, but instead provides you with chances to get things from semi-random events.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on October 03, 2013, 04:15:43 pm
I'm really liking this discussion because I'm super lost when it comes to military. I would listen to tables.  He likes to screw people up with military :P
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on October 03, 2013, 04:33:30 pm
Some of the Age 2 events are pretty harsh on weaker players, I agree. Seeing Age 2 events come up in the current events is one of the catalysts for making me want to start building military.

This part particularly stood out to me, because I play completely the opposite. If I'm weakest and the next event is from age 1 (and I don't have good odds of knowing it's okay), there's no way I'm seeding an event for my political action. If it's an age 2 event I'll play mine anyway. There are just so many more "the weakest player gets hurt" events in age one than there are in age two, and if you do end up getting hit in age two, the likelyhood is that you'll have a stronger economy to build back up then anyway.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on October 03, 2013, 05:22:38 pm
Yeah, I agree with TINAS. There's a few really nasty ones in age II but they mostly aren't that bad. Independence Declaration can be horrible, or sometimes barely painful at all. Missing out on Cold War is often costly. Refugees is sometimes unpleasant. I count a total of 11 strength dependent events in age II including territories, out of 20, and they're overall relatively less damaging than the Age I events I'd say.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AdamH on October 04, 2013, 10:29:27 am
OK I'll have to take a closer look at the Age 2 events to see how nasty they are. I mean the worst ones are a lot worse, I'm thinking of independence declaration and one that takes a yellow dot away from the weakest player and gives it to the strongest. In any case I think if Age 2 events are coming up and you don't have a plan for military strength yet then you have bigger problems, right?

So let's say you draw a bunch of events that don't care about military (or aren't a huge deal, like bad territories or something) and you can play them. Now you know that early military isn't very important, right? So would you say it's safer in situations like these to ignore Age 1 military? Maybe if I draw nothing but tactics and aggression cards in Age 1 I should look into building up? Would you say this is closer to "sound strategy"?

Printing Press. Terrible? Really? I'm of the opinion that there is no such thing as enough science and Printing Press is the only way you can get more than 4 Science per turn in Age 1 without upgrading to an Age 1 government (which I'm quite sure is pretty terrible). I'd probably still do Printing Press if it didn't give me the extra point per turn.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on October 04, 2013, 01:35:25 pm
OK I'll have to take a closer look at the Age 2 events to see how nasty they are. I mean the worst ones are a lot worse, I'm thinking of independence declaration

As the weakest civilisation, Independence declaration will often not even affect you. There's a decent chance you haven't won a territory, and depending on what ones you have won if any, it might not be that bad - losing Wealthy territory (blue tokens) won't hurt much, losing a Historic territory (Happy face) will likely be easily fixed, and if it's your turn, losing a Strategic Territory (2 strength) can be dealt with quickly.

Quote
and one that takes a yellow dot away from the weakest player and gives it to the strongest.

That's an age I event.

Quote
So let's say you draw a bunch of events that don't care about military (or aren't a huge deal, like bad territories or something) and you can play them. Now you know that early military isn't very important, right? So would you say it's safer in situations like these to ignore Age 1 military? Maybe if I draw nothing but tactics and aggression cards in Age 1 I should look into building up? Would you say this is closer to "sound strategy"?

Hmm... if you draw a lot of non-military stuff from the military deck, then your neighbours are more likely to be drawing aggressions, tactics and strength based events. So I don't really think it works like that necessarily. Conversely if you draw nothing but, THEN I'd consider doing less military wise - you can still only hold on to a very limited number of military cards per turn, so you might only keep one of those useful aggressions. But you would know you've seen and discarded some decent number of them already. It sounds backwards but yeah, that's what I would consider. It would likely depend on leader/wonder/tactics and what's on the card row though.

Quote
Printing Press. Terrible? Really? I'm of the opinion that there is no such thing as enough science and Printing Press is the only way you can get more than 4 Science per turn in Age 1 without upgrading to an Age 1 government (which I'm quite sure is pretty terrible). I'd probably still do Printing Press if it didn't give me the extra point per turn.

I'd say Printing Press is one of the weakest age I techs. It's ahead of Theocracy, and... uhh... that's probably it. Maybe Monarchy but Monarchy is alright. Now I agree with the sentiment that you can't get enough Science. But in Age I, you start weak - you need to build up food, resources, science, military, a wonder and sometimes happiness. Science is only on facet of what you need, and you can't spend all of your time getting it. Two Alchemies takes up 9 extra resources to build, and takes two population (one starting) to give four science. That's a good amount. To get higher with a Printing Press requires: 1) Spending the three science to develop the tech and 2) Putting an extra worker (likely a somewhat limited resource at this point) into work on science and 3) Spending the four resources to get that one worker there. It's a big cost, and puts you behind on improving all the other aspects of your civilisation.

Probably the only time I'd really consider Printing Press (asides from the Advanced Game at least) is when I miss out on Alchemy and really need to get my science up to 3-4 per turn. But even then, I'd need to know I was doing well on pop before I did it (maybe because of events or Moses making things easier pop wise).

Oh and you can get past 4 science per turn through Wonders (Library of Alexandria is an Age A +1, University Carolinas is an Age I +2, Kutna Hora Silver Mines and Ankor Vat are Age I +1) and Leaders (Aristotle gives an indirect bonus, Confucius can give +1-2, Leonardo gives +1 with Alchemy, Copernicus can give +1 with temples (but he also likes Libraries), and a number of leaders give indirect bonuses like lowering certain tech costs or giving more science from yellow cards), so Printing Press isn't the ONLY way to beat 4/turn.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AdamH on October 04, 2013, 01:42:19 pm
So you're telling me that there are more important things than science? Do I really need to re-think my entire life here?

And just to be clear, you're also telling me that if I draw a ton of tactics/aggression cards in Age 1 that that's the most conducive thing to me ignoring early military? Just trying to make sure I understand you correctly.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on October 04, 2013, 02:06:05 pm
OK I'll have to take a closer look at the Age 2 events to see how nasty they are. I mean the worst ones are a lot worse, I'm thinking of independence declaration and one that takes a yellow dot away from the weakest player and gives it to the strongest. In any case I think if Age 2 events are coming up and you don't have a plan for military strength yet then you have bigger problems, right?

So let's say you draw a bunch of events that don't care about military (or aren't a huge deal, like bad territories or something) and you can play them. Now you know that early military isn't very important, right? So would you say it's safer in situations like these to ignore Age 1 military? Maybe if I draw nothing but tactics and aggression cards in Age 1 I should look into building up? Would you say this is closer to "sound strategy"?

I think it's pretty irrelevant how many non-strength events you play. Your opponents are still going to be playing the strength events and the fact that you keep playing events means their events are just going to get drawn quicker.

Quote
Printing Press. Terrible? Really? I'm of the opinion that there is no such thing as enough science and Printing Press is the only way you can get more than 4 Science per turn in Age 1 without upgrading to an Age 1 government (which I'm quite sure is pretty terrible). I'd probably still do Printing Press if it didn't give me the extra point per turn.

Printing Press isn't the worst Age 1 card, but I won't pick it up unless I've missed out on all the Alchemies. 4 Science is plenty each turn in Age 1, but 2 is nowhere near enough. Don't forget there are a number of leaders, wonders, actions and events which can provide Science too.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on October 04, 2013, 02:25:56 pm
So you're telling me that there are more important things than science? Do I really need to re-think my entire life here?

And just to be clear, you're also telling me that if I draw a ton of tactics/aggression cards in Age 1 that that's the most conducive thing to me ignoring early military? Just trying to make sure I understand you correctly.

I think point for point, science is the most valuable resource in age I. But would you rather be producing 3 resources and 5 science, or 6 resources and 4 science? I would definitely lean towards the latter.

And well... kinda. If I have to discard lots of aggressions and/or military events then likely I'll build only token military strength, such as a Medieval Army and nothing else. But if I have e.g. Ceaser or Warfare so I can hold on to more stuff, I might well go for a more military route. It's all based on what I can achieve with my military cards versus what I think others could achieve with theirs.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Sigismundo on October 04, 2013, 02:31:56 pm
So you're telling me that there are more important things than science? Do I really need to re-think my entire life here?


No, science is the key resource of course (not counting military as a resource).  But due to all the things you need to get done in Age I with a limited amount of resources and population you just can't afford to put that into Printing press generally ever if you are playing against good players.  You will need one happiness tech populated (unless you got HG) and typically around 4 or more military people or else you will start getting pummeled by aggressions and/or events.
4 science is plenty in age 1.  If you need more than that you are probably taking too many techs in general and not enough yellows.

Printing press is terrible due to how the game plays out.  By age 2 you might be able to afford to put someone on Journalism, but even that isn't a given.  It get's much better if you missed alchemy and/or have Newton though.

I'd recommend going through some of the Div 1 league games on BGO some time.  They can be quite a useful tool to go through the logs and read the journals to try and pick up some good info.

EDIT:

Noticed I don't think anyone mentioned this specifically about Age 1 military techs and another reason why they are so huge.  If you grab them it makes it that much easier to swap to any of the better age 2 techs.  Otherwise not only do you have to grab the tech, but you have to hope to get Riflemen and/or cavalry men at a minimum as well as the tactic.  There are less of these in the deck than the age 1 techs.  Skipping them can put you in a whole that you can't recover.  Both Knights and Swordsmen are some of the most important techs.  If you invest heavily in strength Iron becomes much less important.  You can still win games with only 3 bronze workers for the entire game. 
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on October 04, 2013, 03:47:16 pm
So you're telling me that there are more important things than science? Do I really need to re-think my entire life here?


No, science is the key resource of course (not counting military as a resource).  But due to all the things you need to get done in Age I with a limited amount of resources and population you just can't afford to put that into Printing press generally ever if you are playing against good players.  You will need one happiness tech populated (unless you got HG) and typically around 4 or more military people or else you will start getting pummeled by aggressions and/or events.

4 people in military in age I is about the maximum I could see you reasonably putting on, not the minimum, in a 3-4 player game. Perhaps towards the end of the age 4 would be normal but that takes a while. I also disagree with needing a happiness tech in Age I - I usually get by without one, one guy on Religion or a happiness Wonder (even a one happy face one like Colloseum or Great Wall works) is enough in age I - heck often you can just have a discontent guy and be okay.

Quote
Noticed I don't think anyone mentioned this specifically about Age 1 military techs and another reason why they are so huge.  If you grab them it makes it that much easier to swap to any of the better age 2 techs.  Otherwise not only do you have to grab the tech, but you have to hope to get Riflemen and/or cavalry men at a minimum as well as the tactic.  There are less of these in the deck than the age 1 techs.  Skipping them can put you in a whole that you can't recover.  Both Knights and Swordsmen are some of the most important techs.  If you invest heavily in strength Iron becomes much less important.  You can still win games with only 3 bronze workers for the entire game.

I think I mentioned the whole tactics and age II techs thing, but yeah, I think that's a really key part of age I strength. I think Swordsmen is a lot less important though - Knights alone gives you access to all Age I techs and while both is good, it's a much diminished bonus. And while you can win with 3 guys on Bronze, I think it's generally unlikely - you probably want at least a fourth guy on Bronze and maybe even a fifth, if you never get a resource tech.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Sigismundo on October 04, 2013, 04:11:36 pm
And while you can win with 3 guys on Bronze, I think it's generally unlikely - you probably want at least a fourth guy on Bronze and maybe even a fifth, if you never get a resource tech.

I think you may need to be pretty good to do this.  But seriously check out games played by "Petri Savola" on BGO.  He basically has dominated D1 consistently in every league (2,3 and 4player), though appears to have stopped in the last few seasons and is playing TM now. 

For a while now I have been not obsessing about Iron and playing around with not grabbing it.  It has been pretty eye opening.  If you can focus more on military and yellow cards you will have plenty of rocks coming in regardless.

This game is so amazingly deep that it keeps surprising me.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Sigismundo on October 04, 2013, 04:27:22 pm


4 people in military in age I is about the maximum I could see you reasonably putting on, not the minimum, in a 3-4 player game. Perhaps towards the end of the age 4 would be normal but that takes a while. I also disagree with needing a happiness tech in Age I - I usually get by without one, one guy on Religion or a happiness Wonder (even a one happy face one like Colloseum or Great Wall works) is enough in age I - heck often you can just have a discontent guy and be okay.


I didn't mean you need a tech necessarily, I meant that you need one of your population on a tech.  And hence that you have 1 less population that you can spare for something like a library.  Hopefully Religion pops and you are good to go, but if not you might grab TS and use that.

I think the games you play are a lot less aggressive than the league games if you think 4 military workers is the maximum you will use by the end of Age 1.  If so perhaps you can get away with less than 4.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on October 04, 2013, 04:41:36 pm
Well, I think I'm one of the most aggressive players in our group in general, and it's been pretty successful. I'd say 4 guys on military by the end of age I seems probably a little higher than I usually get, but I do reach 3 guys usually and 4 sometimes.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Sigismundo on October 04, 2013, 04:53:26 pm
Well, I think I'm one of the most aggressive players in our group in general, and it's been pretty successful. I'd say 4 guys on military by the end of age I seems probably a little higher than I usually get, but I do reach 3 guys usually and 4 sometimes.

That would make sense then if you are the one driving the action and typically have the military lead.  You might not need 3+ and can still do fine.  The other players are not driving you to keep up by keeping lower priority on military themselves.

I would wonder how you would do in these games if you went even harder though.  If people focus too much on infrastructure and you say have 2 Medievil armies or even more you should really be able to put them in a situation that will be hard for them to recover from.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on October 04, 2013, 05:11:51 pm
I think the issue is that in 4 player, it's hard to pressure every other player reasonably. There aren't that many aggressions in age I and with one of me beating out three of them, I'm not going to attack much.

In general with military, being the strongest player by a reasonable margin gives you a moderate advantage, but being the sole weakest by by a reasonable margin gives you a huge disadvantage, I'd say.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AdamH on October 08, 2013, 11:06:36 am
OK so I've tried to +1 as many of your posts as possible, I guess what I've never had is a situation where build Age 1 military has worked out for me and what I should do is try and search for it by going for it more often. That plus I think my TTA game has many other shortcomings, but one at a time for now. Thanks for all the feedback. Someone should start a site on BGS for TTA or something... anyone? :P
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on October 08, 2013, 11:16:43 am
Someone should start a site on BGS for TTA or something... anyone? :P
If there only were a councilroom/scorepile for BGO. I have only seen an analysis covering a selection of 100 games.
 
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on October 23, 2013, 02:53:21 am
I feel I had to start a new game. Vanilla, attacks allowed, four player, name: DStrategy #71, password as always.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on October 23, 2013, 03:24:04 am
71 already exists but /in.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on October 23, 2013, 05:10:11 am
I'm in too many games... but I can't resist... /in
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on October 27, 2013, 07:00:37 pm
I am glad to see you've caught the TTA bug, Ahoppy. I told you it was a great game! :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on October 27, 2013, 07:34:49 pm
Hahaha oh it is, I just wish I could play IRL :P  I'm still not good at it, but it is probably my favorite game right now.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on October 27, 2013, 08:13:15 pm
Did you get a chance to play it IRL at all?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on October 27, 2013, 08:23:19 pm
I played the full game once before I left for France.  And I didn't bring it with me :(  I also lost that first full game pretty badly
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on October 31, 2013, 01:45:36 pm
#73 up
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on November 01, 2013, 02:52:56 pm
#73 up

And full, apparently.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on November 10, 2013, 04:54:04 pm
#74 Up, 3 player, standard
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on November 11, 2013, 03:47:31 am
#74 Up, 3 player, standard
in and running
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on November 11, 2013, 08:02:41 am
So are you Paul? :P
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on November 11, 2013, 12:52:25 pm
So are you Paul? :P

Nope. That's me :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on November 11, 2013, 03:11:39 pm
Ah... so ipofanes is Johannes.  Got it :P
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on November 12, 2013, 12:30:53 am
#75, 4p global
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on November 12, 2013, 03:13:52 am
So are you Paul? :P

 :)
This can easily be mistaken for a smile.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on November 12, 2013, 01:04:29 pm
So are you Paul? :P

  >:(
This can easily be mistaken for a smile.


Take a closer look.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on November 13, 2013, 06:44:42 am
So I want to talk some strategy in here... Again, it's going to be mostly about military.  How does one build up enough military to just defend?  If I'm not planning on going on the attack and I just want to make sure my Civ is safe, when do I focus on military, how much is enough?  Also, how do you effectively use territories?  I still can't seem to figure that out.  When should I be seeding them and should you keep some units not in your tactic just to go after colonies?  Is it viable to have a strategy that specifically goes after a bunch of colonies?  If I were to go for a military domination strategy, how do you then win the game?  It seems like if you tie that many resources up in military, you then don't have enough to score culture.

Also, I feel like I get caught up in building wonders.  An age 3 wonder seems like a great way to score points, but is it worth building other wonders? 

I just kind of feel like when I play, I build things that I think are good, but I don't really have much of a plan for my civilization going into the end game and the end usually surprises me.  Should I plan out a direction to take my civ from the beginning, or just do what's best as it comes up?  Sorry for all the questions, but I just want to know what you guys think.  Thanks!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on November 13, 2013, 07:12:21 am
It's hard to have a strategy that specifically goes after colonies because if you have, say, the Colossus and Cartography, and the other players are reasonably competent, they are not going to be seeding any colonies. At least not any good ones.

How much is enough military? Enough to not be last in military. It depends on the table, and how much they're building up. Generally I try to get either Swordsmen or Knights and a tactic by the end of Age I. Ideally you'll get Swordsmen and Knights, because they're cheap and give you a ton of flexibility in age II to match with a new Tactic. Being within one Defense Card of the leader is a nice safe second place (even if you don't have the defense card).

Effectively using territories -- the ones that give Yellow tokens are generally the best. They let you spend way less effort on food for the whole game. Fertile and Inhabited territory are often worth throwing all your military and cards at, and you should never be seeding them unless you expect to have a good chance at winning them. You can generally rebuild at least part of your military the next turn because they give you dudes (/food) back, and you should have a reasonable rock supply from somewhere by the time age I events start popping.

Developed and Strategic are both good too, but second tier compared to the first two. Developed gives you yellow token still, the science and blue token are just bonus. Strategic helps you find more events, and gives you a permanent military boost to make those events better, and also helps cover your butt for the round after you win it when your military is low.

Wealthy and Historic are not a big deal. Blue tokens are mostly unimportant, so Wealthy just let's you convert food, rocks, and military actions into rocks. Sometimes this is reasonable, sometimes not. Historic is points and a little happy, it can be worth throwing a dude at for the happy face, or at the end of the game points are reasonable.

Wonders are worth it when they're worth it. (Ha, depends on the kingdom) Obviously they're better if you're making lots of rocks and worse if you aren't. They are a big time investment too, to pick up and to finish, so make sure you're getting something decent out of the deal. Age III wonders can be worth tons of points, but points are worth just the same as log as you finish by the end of the game, so don't feel like you have to scramble to finish one unless you need to pick up another age III wonder.

Military domination and winning the game -- it's hard to convert being 1st in military into winning, but it's easy to covert being last into losing. Being 1st in military mainly means that you get the freedom to seed all the events that benefit you, you can take potshots with aggressions, and no one can ruin YOUR day with Raid II. A big war for points can be a nice windfall, but you can't win off the back of that alone.

If I'm playing Global, I like to take a look at the available leaders and wonders before my first torn, to get a general feel of what will be available. I especially look to see A. If Napoleon is in the game, and B. What age III wonders will be there. Knowing the Olympic Games will be out and John Paul II won't, or vice versa, may help inform whether you pick up Bread and Circuses or Theology, for example.

All this is with the caveat that I'm not expert at through the ages. I win occasionally. But it's a fun game, and I enjoy playing it reasonably competently. :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on November 13, 2013, 09:50:03 am
When Hammurabi is in the game, does anyone else think that the game should also contain Sargon, Ashurbanipal, and Gilgamesh?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on November 13, 2013, 10:30:51 am
Disclaimer: Not an expert by a long shot.

It's hard to have a strategy that specifically goes after colonies because if you have, say, the Colossus and Cartography, and the other players are reasonably competent, they are not going to be seeding any colonies. At least not any good ones.
If colonies are your only green cards and you refrain from seeding them, you miss out on culture points and being the first to benefit from Age A events.

Forefather Czech complements a Territory Strategy nicely as it is more likely you seed the good ones yourself.

Other leaders to consider are Moses and Barbarossa who are better at replenishing your colonists.

Colonies, like Military, don't eat your wonder civil actions or building limit. So they are an attractive way to expand.

As for military: Being second and not trailing more than a Defense card worth is comfortable, but sometimes you have to settle for less. Not being last at the end of your turn should be a high priority, as event attrition can be hard. A solid military lead which allows you to dash out attacks which hand you resources may let you stay at Bronze until the end of the game.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on November 13, 2013, 03:35:05 pm
When Hammurabi is in the game, does anyone else think that the game should also contain Sargon, Ashurbanipal, and Gilgamesh?

Well, yes, except for Ashurbanipal, who says my haircut makes me look like a Mohenjo-daroan.

No gum for him!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on November 24, 2013, 01:03:42 pm
With the last game just finishing, I noticed I wasn't in any more TtA games.

This is now being rectified. 79 and 78 up.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on November 24, 2013, 02:23:06 pm
Disclaimer: Not an expert by a long shot.

It's hard to have a strategy that specifically goes after colonies because if you have, say, the Colossus and Cartography, and the other players are reasonably competent, they are not going to be seeding any colonies. At least not any good ones.
If colonies are your only green cards and you refrain from seeding them, you miss out on culture points and being the first to benefit from Age A events.

The culture points you miss out on are not going to be nearly as significant as the advantage you're giving to whoever ends up with the colony most of the time. At least not when we're talking about the good colonies. You can seed historic all day, that's fine, but I would never seed Fertile or Inhabited unless I felt I had a very good shot at winning it. And someone else having +3 colonize means I don't think I have a good shot.

Quote
Forefather Czech complements a Territory Strategy nicely as it is more likely you seed the good ones yourself.

Other leaders to consider are Moses and Barbarossa who are better at replenishing your colonists.

Colonies, like Military, don't eat your wonder civil actions or building limit. So they are an attractive way to expand.

Certainly colonies are overall attractive. That's why you shouldn't seed the good ones unless you expect to win them, or have a good shot at doing so.

Quote
As for military: Being second and not trailing more than a Defense card worth is comfortable, but sometimes you have to settle for less. Not being last at the end of your turn should be a high priority, as event attrition can be hard. A solid military lead which allows you to dash out attacks which hand you resources may let you stay at Bronze until the end of the game.

Certainly, being second and close is a goal, not the absolute you must do this point. That's what I aim for. Sometimes you end up with less military, and sometimes more. If you have the most, you get to be the bully, and if you have less, at least you're not in last. Don't be in last.  :(
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on November 25, 2013, 09:23:48 am
Disclaimer: Not an expert by a long shot.

It's hard to have a strategy that specifically goes after colonies because if you have, say, the Colossus and Cartography, and the other players are reasonably competent, they are not going to be seeding any colonies. At least not any good ones.
If colonies are your only green cards and you refrain from seeding them, you miss out on culture points and being the first to benefit from Age A events.

The culture points you miss out on are not going to be nearly as significant as the advantage you're giving to whoever ends up with the colony most of the time. At least not when we're talking about the good colonies. You can seed historic all day, that's fine, but I would never seed Fertile or Inhabited unless I felt I had a very good shot at winning it. And someone else having +3 colonize means I don't think I have a good shot.
The strength sacrificed for colonising deducts from the advantage the colony provides, so the net gain may amount to not (much) more than the seeding bonus. If I can predict there will be plenty competition for the territory so it will drain a fair share of ⚔⚔⚔, I may seed the territory even if I don't see it will be me competing. In a 2p game it would be a giveaway to my opponent, in a 3p game it would be iffy, but in a 4p game I'd consider it viable.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on December 05, 2013, 05:07:40 pm
80 up, 4 player global
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 05, 2013, 05:08:40 pm
Mmm... we're slowly edging our way towards game 100. I have some ideas for what we could do for that (but no, saying what they are would be telling at this point!)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on December 05, 2013, 07:45:58 pm
Mmm... we're slowly edging our way towards game 100. I have some ideas for what we could do for that (but no, saying what they are would be telling at this point!)

Hack the server. 10 player game.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 05, 2013, 09:08:36 pm
I was actually thinking of having a team game, 2 v 2, combined culture wins.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on December 06, 2013, 02:04:54 am
Mmm... we're slowly edging our way towards game 100. I have some ideas for what we could do for that (but no, saying what they are would be telling at this point!)

Hack the server. 10 player game.

We'd have to wait weeks between turns. I'm out. 9 player game.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: thespaceinvader on December 09, 2013, 09:40:35 am
I was actually thinking of having a team game, 2 v 2, combined culture wins.
Eh, 2v2 is pretty degenrate unless you apply some major houserules.  All the same problems with 1v1, but compounded by the fact that you can afford to do things like one high/one low military, potentially ignoring otherwise high-priority cards because your second player can grab them for fewer actions, and above all, Pacts.

These are all house-rulable issues, but not necessarily easily so, and not enforceable online, (in particular, the seating should alternate between teams with one team even, one team odd, rather than one team 1&2, the other 3&4, and pacts shouldn't be possible between two members of the same team).

(I speak from experience of having tried it a couple of times)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 09, 2013, 10:02:43 am
That all makes sense. Oh well.

In other news, all 6 age I territories in a single game, and I don't think I paid more than 1 unit for each one.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on December 09, 2013, 04:53:26 pm
Is there a list anywhere of high scoring games? I got more this game than I ever have before.

http://www.boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=7127831&nat=2

Also I don't know if this link works.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on December 09, 2013, 05:09:26 pm
Highest I've gotten is 243. My game was 2 turns shorter than yours though.
http://www.boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=153211
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 09, 2013, 05:22:54 pm
Often the score from a game fluctuates a lot depending on various factors. It's more the relative edge than the absolute one which matters, I feel.

Highest I've gotten is around 300 I think.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on December 09, 2013, 07:16:55 pm
I got 312 once, but it was a peace game (no wars = more culture). My highest proper score is 225 (although I didn't win that game, I lost by over 50 culture); my highest proper winning score is only 215 :(
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on December 09, 2013, 07:20:31 pm
http://www.boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=7127963

My friend got 353 in this game. But the game was seriously unbalanced by the fact that it was one of the players' first time and she didn't always make the optimal card choices, leaving the player after her to get almost every card he could have wanted/needed.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on December 10, 2013, 03:22:15 am
Apparently I played a peace game once.

http://www.boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=181322

382 points and 12 CAs!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on December 10, 2013, 05:33:41 am
#81 is up.  3P, normal
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on December 15, 2013, 11:15:25 am
#82 has 1 more space, #83 is full.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on December 15, 2013, 12:04:15 pm
And apparently 45 minutes took care of that!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on December 15, 2013, 12:07:35 pm
Not quite. They'd been up since yesterday, I just didn't advertise them. But yeah, they're both full now.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on December 15, 2013, 02:58:05 pm
Well then, 84 is up, 4P global.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: thespaceinvader on December 17, 2013, 06:02:00 am
Often the score from a game fluctuates a lot depending on various factors. It's more the relative edge than the absolute one which matters, I feel.

Highest I've gotten is around 300 I think.

Scores vary wildly, particularly depending on whether the beneficial or the painful age events are seeded.  If everyone's super-nice to each other, even without aggressions, then scores can get ridiculous.  I don't have a link, but I recall a 4p game where the winner had over 300 and the loser had over 200.  Whereas some of my tournament games the winner has had <100 points.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on December 26, 2013, 12:09:17 pm
85 is up, 3 player standard
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on December 26, 2013, 12:32:03 pm
78 finished in a tie for first, which is very unusual. It might not have done had Tables not kindly seeded Impact of Technology for me when I'd researched eight level III techs. :D
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on December 26, 2013, 01:22:38 pm
I think I seeded that one, actually. And I'm pretty sure I seeded it before you had computers. ._.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 26, 2013, 05:59:10 pm
78 finished in a tie for first, which is very unusual. It might not have done had Tables not kindly seeded Impact of Technology for me when I'd researched eight level III techs. :D

I seeded impact of Competition - which I did reasonably on - but it caused Impact of Strength to come up, which I would have gotten 5 culture more had it come up later. I didn't seed Technology - I had 4 science production at best in age III :P.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on December 26, 2013, 08:45:40 pm
Just looked back on that game, and, wow, Drab really gave you the game there. You got 34 culture over me just from the events he seeded. In fact, you got 34(!) more culture out of his events than he got himself.

Well, I still won, so I can't complain too much. But I'll be sure to line a few aggressions up for you next time Drab :D.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on December 26, 2013, 09:47:52 pm
Just looked back on that game, and, wow, Drab really gave you the game there. You got 34 culture over me just from the events he seeded. In fact, you got 34(!) more culture out of his events than he got himself.

Well, I still won, so I can't complain too much. But I'll be sure to line a few aggressions up for you next time Drab :D.

I promise, I never seeded an event that gave other people more points than it would have given me, at that time anyways. What am I, a Soothsayer?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on December 26, 2013, 10:37:04 pm
Just looked back on that game, and, wow, Drab really gave you the game there. You got 34 culture over me just from the events he seeded. In fact, you got 34(!) more culture out of his events than he got himself.

Well, I still won, so I can't complain too much. But I'll be sure to line a few aggressions up for you next time Drab :D.

I promise, I never seeded an event that gave other people more points than it would have given me, at that time anyways. What am I, a Soothsayer?
I will seed an event that gives no more than 3 to someone else.  Because I still come out ahead
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on December 27, 2013, 01:39:19 pm
2013-12-27 12:37:25
Luther Hendricks   
Sagrada Familia scoring
Purple scores 40 culture
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on January 11, 2014, 05:56:44 am
Noticed there's only F.DS games on at the moment, and both should be finished within a few days, so lets make a new one:
F.DS #86 online, 4 player global. I will win an F.DS game (eventually).
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on January 30, 2014, 05:41:01 pm
F.DS #87 is up.  4 Player global
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on January 31, 2014, 05:11:58 am
Noticed there's only F.DS games on at the moment

As someone currently playing a league game I can testify this is not true.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 01, 2014, 12:12:28 pm
So the highlight of the game we're about to finish (http://www.boardgaming-online.com//index.php?cnt=52&pl=7148132&nat=3) was this, in my opinion:

2014-01-29 18:50:37     Kirian K     End turn
Green scores:
8 food - consumption: 2 (now 35)

It was just a ridiculous amount of food to have.  I ended the game with 19.

Also amusing a bit earlier was: Tables takes and plays Newton and causes Age III to start.  I take and play Comenius.  Next turn, Iconoclasm revealed, both of them die, each having given their bonuses once.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on February 01, 2014, 01:22:38 pm
Pretty proud of playing Iconoclasm for that :)
(Not that I could have planned for that to happen, but still...)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 01, 2014, 01:30:06 pm
Kirian's easily won this game though. That raid against me gave him too many resources.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on February 02, 2014, 05:52:43 pm
I figured we needed another game.  #88 up, 3 player global
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 02, 2014, 07:12:44 pm
Kirian's easily won this game though. That raid against me gave him too many resources.

I think I would have had it without that, in the end.  Like I said over there, I need to figure out what I did right, because I'm not entirely certain how I won that.

That said, a 16 Resource raid is pretty ridiculous, though not the absolute best possible.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 02, 2014, 10:26:48 pm
Well, just looking briefly at your board I'd say...

Your military strength is great. Let you attack anyone, when you needed or wanted. Not sure exactly when and for how long you had this strength (I don't remember you being notably ahead of me earlier on), so this might have just been something you leveraged late with Air Force
Your late culture production is pretty good. 6 buildings producing 3 culture each. Again, I don't know how long you had most of these - but I suspect your culture production was pretty good throughout age III.
You managed to get a ton of good culture builds on a low rock production. That's quite impressive.
Very powerful Wonder for the buildings you had, synergised very well to give big wads of points.
You had some good Impacts seeded, and were in a position to score well from many of them.

Of course, how you managed to reach those good positions is entirely a different matter, but... those are my first thoughts.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on February 04, 2014, 07:59:17 am
I figured we needed another game.  #88 up, 3 player global

/in and started
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on February 06, 2014, 01:04:45 pm
Is there any way to get rid of inactive games? It's slightly annoying to see my inactive games when I log in every time, even though there's been no progress since September..
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on February 06, 2014, 02:38:35 pm
Doesn't a force-resign button pop up after a month or so?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on February 06, 2014, 03:29:07 pm
Nope, I've got one from September too, that people gave up playing
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on February 06, 2014, 03:59:14 pm
The "Latest News" on the Home tab states:

Quote
Jan 6 2011 15:13 No longer remain stuck in games
After 15 days where nothing occurs on a game, you have the opportunity to either delete the game or force the player you're waiting for to quit.
These options are available in the PLAY menu.

I'm also pretty certain I've seen this option available to me in the past.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on February 06, 2014, 04:18:57 pm
Ah, got it. Thanks!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on February 06, 2014, 07:04:25 pm
Great thanks, I've officially won a game that hadn't moved since September now :) Unofficially, I was winning it, but the 3 people playing just started another game instead. :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: eHalcyon on February 06, 2014, 09:04:49 pm
The "Latest News" on the Home tab states:

Quote
Jan 6 2011 15:13 No longer remain stuck in games
After 15 days where nothing occurs on a game, you have the opportunity to either delete the game or force the player you're waiting for to quit.
These options are available in the PLAY menu.

I'm also pretty certain I've seen this option available to me in the past.

Came here from the "unread posts" page without looking at the thread title.  I thought this was about Goko at first.  15 days...  :o
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: heron on February 06, 2014, 09:46:50 pm
The "Latest News" on the Home tab states:

Quote
Jan 6 2011 15:13 No longer remain stuck in games
After 15 days where nothing occurs on a game, you have the opportunity to either delete the game or force the player you're waiting for to quit.
These options are available in the PLAY menu.

I'm also pretty certain I've seen this option available to me in the past.

Came here from the "unread posts" page without looking at the thread title.  I thought this was about Goko at first.  15 days...  :o

It's the ultimate slow-roll. The secret is to know when goko's time-out timer is lagging and you can keep your opponent waiting for another minute before playing your next copper.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: thespaceinvader on February 07, 2014, 05:47:03 am
The "Latest News" on the Home tab states:

Quote
Jan 6 2011 15:13 No longer remain stuck in games
After 15 days where nothing occurs on a game, you have the opportunity to either delete the game or force the player you're waiting for to quit.
These options are available in the PLAY menu.

I'm also pretty certain I've seen this option available to me in the past.

Came here from the "unread posts" page without looking at the thread title.  I thought this was about Goko at first.  15 days...  :o

It's the ultimate slow-roll. The secret is to know when goko's time-out timer is lagging and you can keep your opponent waiting for another minute before playing your next copper.
It went down to a week some time ago.

But this is explicitly intended to be a PBEM game.

You could slow-roll to the point of taking a single action per week, I suppose, but I don't think there's that sort of culture as yet.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on February 20, 2014, 11:07:51 pm
#90 up, 3P global
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 21, 2014, 02:33:44 pm
#91 up, 4p global
#92 up, 4p base
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 24, 2014, 01:18:40 pm
BGO appears to be down. Unless I manage to remember otherwise, I'll probably need a kick to take my turn(s) once it's back up.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on February 25, 2014, 12:21:45 am
Still down for me :(
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on February 25, 2014, 09:35:55 am
Up for me now :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on March 02, 2014, 05:07:59 pm
I need to check things more carefully before declaring war. Sorry AHoppy :(.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on March 02, 2014, 05:26:27 pm
:(  Big bully :P
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on March 02, 2014, 06:18:44 pm
Kirian would have been a way nicer target as well. All that culture, even fewer resources to build up with. I think the best he could have reached is 29 strength.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on March 02, 2014, 06:45:42 pm
Don't forget less science... Ugh... You're just securing my loss :P  Next game tables... next game...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on March 02, 2014, 07:29:09 pm
Yeah... I was kinda surprised I wasn't allowed to go back and change the target of my war, but I guess it possibly makes sense, revealing information that I have the card etc.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 02, 2014, 07:32:45 pm
Kirian would have been a way nicer target as well. All that culture, even fewer resources to build up with. I think the best he could have reached is 29 strength.

Yeah.  And then Jack Rudd a raid on me, and the best I could have mustered for the war ends up even lower.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AdamH on March 04, 2014, 12:00:14 pm
So I've been playing a good amount of TTA recently, particularly 2-player games. In total I've played maybe 30-40 games of TTA, most of them 2-player, quite a few of them 3-player. I've played like 2 4-player games; never again. TTA is already long enough with 2 or 3 players, 4P is just too long and I stop having fun after a certain amount of time.

I play a lot of 2P with an IRL friend of mine. Recently he's been beating me convincingly every game, which mean's he's better than me. It's time for me to take a look at the way I play the game and see if I can improve on it, but it's also time for me to take a look at whether or not I want to continue playing TTA or just move on to other games.

Don't get me wrong, TTA is really addicting and there many things I like: the "engine building" feel of the game, strategic depth, high-skill/moderate-luck. But there are some hurdles I've had to overcome, and I should assess the good vs. the bad.

Things I don't like about TTA:

- It's a long game. I prefer shorter ones. All things being equal, I'll play other games over TTA. There's a lot of "take your turn, then wait for a while for other people to take their turns" so there's a lot of downtime.

- It's possible to screw up relatively early and then effectively be out of the game. Yeah this is fine for shorter games, but TTA is not short. You can resign within the game rules but that's still not very good. That's tough for me to get past, because it makes learning from your mistakes a longer, more exhausting, less clear-cut process. I have like 6 video games I got for Christmas that I haven't started yet, so if there's no way for me to see what I did wrong and learn from it without being miserable for two hours, I'd rather just play my new Zelda game that I haven't started yet (how do I even live with myself? It's a Zelda game!)

Then there are some things I'm questioning, related to what I like about board games. I used to be REALLY into Power Grid, enough that I put up a blog devoted to it and there's a whole subforum here. Now, I just don't like the game anymore (I feel like theory and Dominion, it's funny, really). Why? Well I think it's a great game and I would recommend it to anyone, but it takes at least an hour to play and I think my group has exhausted the strategic depth of it. Once everyone is playing on the same level, the game becomes very chaotic and not my cup of tea anymore. I've been trying for a few months to convince myself that I'm wrong here but haven't come up with anything.

I really like focus on synergies, I really like games where at the beginning you are thinking about anything except scoring points because that's the right play. Is there a focus on synergy in TTA, or is it best to diversify as much as possible? I mean, some people say Agricola is about getting a little bit of everything but that game focuses on synergy to get your engine going, THEN you diversify for points later -- is TTA more like that?

I don't think I'm close to understanding the strategic depth of TTA... or am I? How deep could it possibly be? Is it possible to ignore any of (food/rock/science/happiness/military) up through Age 2 and have any chance at winning? Is this just a 2P thing? I mean, you can seed events to help you know what to prioritize, but still, if you end up missing one of these things I find it extremely hard to recover.

I'm not sure what I want to hear to make me feel better about the game. Maybe I'm just really off in terms of what actually helps me win and that's the source of my frustration. My IRL group just started playing Nations and that seems like a lot of the good things about TTA with a lot of the bad things taken out. What is it that people like about TTA?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on March 04, 2014, 12:22:30 pm
Well for me, I really like the TTA system.  I think it's so clever how everything works and that's a big part of why I love it so much.  As far as strategy, I still don't really get a lot of the strategy in the game, but I rarely play 2P games.  Granted, I rarely play IRL (Having only played I believe 4 full games IRL) but playing online gives you a lot more opportunity to screw up and not feel like you're wasting hours of your life.  I do find I enjoy Agricola much more.  I feel like Agricola changes more game to game than TTA and I understand it better :P
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on March 04, 2014, 12:35:31 pm
Well, there's a lot there to respond to, I'll just give some immediate thoughts that come to mind.

TtA is a very different game 2 player compared to 3-4 player. 3 player seems to be far and away the most popular for IRL play, 3-4 player are both common in online play. The main thing with 2 player is that it's a zero sum game, and that makes military hugely important. Pretty much if you're ahead of the opponent, attacking them will be a good thing. In 3 player, attacking can often be a bad thing for both players involved, if you don't have a significant lead. In 2 player you might lose some MAs failing an aggression, but you'll also waste your opponents bonus cards and/or force them to sacrifice, which often means you still come out ahead. On top of that the number of events which penalise the player whose weaker, especially in age I, encourages something of an arms race.

There are lots of ways you can build up in TtA, but in Age I, I think the most important things to improve are: Science first, then rocks and military, then food, and finally Happiness if you need to. You can easily get through the entire age I without taking a happiness tech, and often all you need is one Religion (or the Hanging Gardens) for the age. Science is really important in age I - you really want to get as many of those age I techs into play to start building your economy and military quickly, and the big chokepoint for that is science. It's for that reason that most experienced people will build a second Philosophy on turn 2 or 3, and also be willing to take Alchemy for 2 CAs.

After science, you need strength. This is more important in 2 player and slightly less in 3-4, but if you fall too far behind you're in big trouble. It's not too unusual to see good players sitting at around 10 strength by the end of age I. Resource production is also important - you can't put too many people on Bronze (4 is about the limit, but ideally you'd probably stop at 3) due to blue tokens and population being expensive. That makes Iron valuable. Iron is also one of the most expensive techs in age I at 5 science, and for good reason. It's a great tech to have, but you CAN skip it so long as you have a plan for resource production (which could be e.g. pacts, yellow cards, or just hope to grab Coal early...).

There are still three more 'resources' you can get in age I - civil actions, military actions and culture. Civil Actions are great - the Pyramids are arguably the best age I wonder, because having a 5th CA makes things a lot easier to manage late in age I. A 3rd military action is just as good though, it means you draw one more military card, significantly increasing your chance of getting a good tactics/seeing useful events/getting aggressions you want/drawing bonus cards - all valuable things. Warfare is a really nice tech for that reason. Finally, culture. I tend to barely even look at my culture during age I and not much during age II either. When you can easily be scoring 10-20 culture per turn in age III, with an extra 20-30 possibly from a wonder and big amounts from endgame scoring, a trickle of an extra 1 per turn in age I doesn't usually amount to much compared to the possible economic improvement you could have invested in. There are exceptions - the 'Michaelangtron' of Hanging Gardens/Theology/Organised Religion plus St. Peters Bascilica plus Michaelagelo generates absurd amounts of culture, as long as you can invest in your military enough to not get attacked too much, and can transition out comfortably into age III.

And well that's just an overview of age I (and a little age II) I suppose. It's a great game, although it's a little rough around the edges, and the way military is handled isn't the best, but there's a lot of tactical and strategic play possible.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AdamH on March 04, 2014, 12:43:11 pm
Fascinating. Would you say, though, that at the end of Age 2 you are OK if you haven't upgraded all of (food/rock/science/happiness/military) under any circumstance? In any player game? I'd sort of like to hear that it's possible, and maybe not even an edge case.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on March 04, 2014, 02:28:07 pm
It's possible to do okay without upgrading SOME things, but it's not really common. TtA is a game that rewards you for being at least moderately diverse. You can easily focus on one factor, but you need some of everything to do really well. That includes CAs and MAs (which I think you should consider just as much of a resource as everything else). It's not quite the level of some Knizia games where you're only as strong as your weakest category, but it's not too far off a lot of the time.

By the end of age II you will occasionally be missing out on something important, and ultimately it depends on how you compensate. For example, if you don't get Iron and miss out on Coal, then you'll often still be okay if you have good food production (for extra workers) and a wealthy territory or similar (for blue tokens). Alternatively, if you have lots of CAs, then you can compensate by taking extra action cards to you. But not everything is so easy to work around. If you have almost no military going into age III, you are going to get destroyed, unless your opponents suck. If you have little in the way of science production, chances are you're in a very bad spot. You need some science to research the science producing techs, and if you've been chugging along on just 2-3 Philosophies, then you probably don't have great tech elsewhere.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on March 04, 2014, 05:06:34 pm
I think not upgrading resources and/or food except for a third mine can be viable if you have a high surplus of actions so you can compensate with yellow cards.
Not having military can work if noone else does.
Not upgrading happiness and food can be especially viable if you have loads of yellow tokens due to territories or a landslide War over Territory
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AdamH on March 05, 2014, 02:34:33 pm
Hmm, so let me try and put this in some different terms and maybe things might be clearer for me. Please correct me if I'm mistaken on something.

Define "have a solution for": Let me use examples here, over the course of the game, you're not going to be able to cut it with just two guys on Agriculture; you consume more food and your dudes cost more. One solution is to generate more food by upgrading your food techs and/or putting more guys on them. Another solution is to build Ocean Liner Service. Another solution is to get extra yellow dots. Maybe another solution is to get lots of yellow cards but I don't think that's really all that viable. "Have a solution for" food means you have at least one of these things (or any other one I forgot)

Maybe it will be helpful to cover all of the possibilities for "having a solution for" all of the things you "need" over the course of the game. When I started thinking about things this way I came across the revelation that taking a bunch of yellow cards AND generating a bunch of rock is redundant and not really that good of an idea: something that seems obvious but had never occurred to me before. Maybe more such discoveries will become apparent.

We did food already.

Rock: You can upgrade your rock techs and/or put more guys on rock production. You can get more civil actions and take more yellow cards. You can research certain blue techs that decrease your need for rock; maybe that means an abundance of science? Is there really anything else here? Will military strength sufficiently compensate for this?

Science: You can upgrade your science techs and build up to your Urban Building Limit on all of the stuff that gives you light bulbs. You can take leaders that provide extra science per turn. A temporary fix is to revolt to a new government when it comes time and save the science cost that way. Really, it seems like any opportunity to get more light bulbs is something that's worth investing in, right?

Happiness: You can upgrade your temples/arenas and get more happies that way (more than one happy per dude), you can just make a lot of dudes and have half of them be discontent (probably not such a great idea long-term), you can get more yellow dots to decrease your need for happiness, you can build a wonder or get a territory that provides enough happies until in the endgame you're building Theaters with all your guys anyways (living with one happy per dude).

Military: Uhh, get lots of defense cards and hope war isn't declared on you? I've heard the school of thought that you don't have to actually build up your military to defend yourself, you just have to be able to build up your military next turn if you have to and that's usually sufficient, but I haven't had much success with this. I mean researching military techs can only get you so far, it seems the only "have a solution for" available here is to research better military techs and put lots of guys on them. Is there anything else here?

Civil Actions: It's clear to me that four civil actions isn't enough for the game, you need to get more. I don't know that there's a substitute for this other than just to get more white dots however you can. How many CAs do you need to "have a solution" for Civil Actions? This assumes you aren't using an abundance of CAs to cover up for another problem you might have.

Military Actions: Yeah you need 3 or 4 of these eventually.

Points: I realize that these are the point of the game (see what I did there?) but I would hope these are just a metric to show you how well you did at all this other stuff. Otherwise, why are they there? So I don't necessarily think that this discussion applies here.

So the theory here is that one must "have a solution for" all of these things if they want to have a chance to win the game. Some of them have limited options for how you do it, but other ones can be made up for by excelling in other areas and are more flexible. Does that sound reasonable?

Here's another idea: one solution for almost all of these things is "make more dudes and put them on it and/or upgrade your techs." Would you say it's true that if this was your solution to all of these things, that you won't be able to keep up? Would you say that you have to go out and find something else to help you with your life, whether that's military strength or a good wonder you really need, or some extra yellow dots?

Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on March 05, 2014, 03:48:24 pm
Military: Uhh, get lots of defense cards and hope war isn't declared on you? I've heard the school of thought that you don't have to actually build up your military to defend yourself, you just have to be able to build up your military next turn if you have to and that's usually sufficient, but I haven't had much success with this. I mean researching military techs can only get you so far, it seems the only "have a solution for" available here is to research better military techs and put lots of guys on them. Is there anything else here?

Draw Classic Army.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 05, 2014, 04:04:53 pm
Military: Uhh, get lots of defense cards and hope war isn't declared on you? I've heard the school of thought that you don't have to actually build up your military to defend yourself, you just have to be able to build up your military next turn if you have to and that's usually sufficient, but I haven't had much success with this. I mean researching military techs can only get you so far, it seems the only "have a solution for" available here is to research better military techs and put lots of guys on them. Is there anything else here?

Draw Classic Army.

A whole lot of this.  Mobile Artillery is also a good choice if you can grab Cannon early.  Both require only two techs and provide >2 per unit.

I really feel like this is one of TTA's major, major faults.  It's possible to never get a tactic that works for the techs you have, or to get a good tactic but get locked out of the tech cards.  Yet the tactics cards can more than double the strength of an army's units!  If you never get a good match, you end up playing most of the game with a half-strength military... and if an opponent grabs a good match and then gets Napoleon... well, yeah.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 05, 2014, 04:06:06 pm
Anyway!  #93 is up, 3P global.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on March 05, 2014, 08:03:05 pm
Hmm, so let me try and put this in some different terms and maybe things might be clearer for me. Please correct me if I'm mistaken on something.

Define "have a solution for": Let me use examples here, over the course of the game, you're not going to be able to cut it with just two guys on Agriculture; you consume more food and your dudes cost more. One solution is to generate more food by upgrading your food techs and/or putting more guys on them. Another solution is to build Ocean Liner Service. Another solution is to get extra yellow dots. Maybe another solution is to get lots of yellow cards but I don't think that's really all that viable. "Have a solution for" food means you have at least one of these things (or any other one I forgot)

I think that it's very rare that you'll get away with no extra food production. 3 food per turn plus something like Ocean Liner Service/extra yellow tokens might just take you through, but that's a pretty rare set of circumstances (OLS is an age II wonder... what are you doing until then?). I think that a good benchmark minimum to aim for is (effectively) 4 food production per turn. So e.g. 2 guys in Irrigation (Age I food tech) will do that, OLS will kinda do that, lots of extra yellow tokens might just do that, you get the idea. And I said minimum, because that's probably not quite enough most of the time. If I win a nice yellow token territory, 2 Irrigation guys is often enough, but if not, then I'd often want a third or perhaps to grab Selective Breeding/Mechanised Agriculture.

Quote
Rock: You can upgrade your rock techs and/or put more guys on rock production. You can get more civil actions and take more yellow cards. You can research certain blue techs that decrease your need for rock; maybe that means an abundance of science? Is there really anything else here? Will military strength sufficiently compensate for this?

I think that, far more than any other resource, rocks are the easiest thing to substitute. There are loads of action cards which give extra bonuses to resouce production - Mineral Deposts (produce X), Ideal Building Site (build a building for -X), Efficient Upgrade (upgrade for -X), Patriotism (+X for military and 1 MA), Engineering Genius (build wonder stage for X+1 less), Rich Land (build mine or farm for -X) and some specialised ones giving resources for military. X is the age you're in plus 1 in each of these. Oh and a lot of those have multiples in each age. That's... actually a surprising amount of the deck which is just cards giving extra resources. If you don't get a resource tech, then taking one of these per turn gives you effectively around 2-4 extra resources per turn, at the cost of some CAs per turn. There's also the other things you mention - construction techs to reduce costs, military to take opponent's resources (this one is mega unreliable of course though), also events give rocks not too infrequently etc.

Quote
Science: You can upgrade your science techs and build up to your Urban Building Limit on all of the stuff that gives you light bulbs. You can take leaders that provide extra science per turn. A temporary fix is to revolt to a new government when it comes time and save the science cost that way. Really, it seems like any opportunity to get more light bulbs is something that's worth investing in, right?

Science is pretty tough to get extra of, you pretty much need to get a science tech in age I or II. Fortunately there are a decent number of those in the decks, so especially in 2 player you should be able to get one, but there's always a chance you won't. There aren't many science providing actions, but they do tend to give a lot each.

Quote
Happiness: You can upgrade your temples/arenas and get more happies that way (more than one happy per dude), you can just make a lot of dudes and have half of them be discontent (probably not such a great idea long-term), you can get more yellow dots to decrease your need for happiness, you can build a wonder or get a territory that provides enough happies until in the endgame you're building Theaters with all your guys anyways (living with one happy per dude).

I dunno if I'd say endgame Theaters is something that happens THAT frequently, but otherwise, agreement here more or less. I would say it's uncommon to go the entire game without a happiness tech, although if you get a few extra happy faces you can manage it (I think I did that once). I think I normally grab a happiness tech in age II, sometimes in age I though. Which one is usually just whichever is there when I need it.

Quote
Military: Uhh, get lots of defense cards and hope war isn't declared on you? I've heard the school of thought that you don't have to actually build up your military to defend yourself, you just have to be able to build up your military next turn if you have to and that's usually sufficient, but I haven't had much success with this. I mean researching military techs can only get you so far, it seems the only "have a solution for" available here is to research better military techs and put lots of guys on them. Is there anything else here?

Military is something I just don't think you can reliably skip. Sometimes you can luck out and have low strength but no-one else can draw a war (or only other relatively weak players), or maybe nobody goes military (but in that case if you had gone military chances are things would have worked out better for you). But usually, I think you need some strength on the board.

Quote
Civil Actions: It's clear to me that four civil actions isn't enough for the game, you need to get more. I don't know that there's a substitute for this other than just to get more white dots however you can. How many CAs do you need to "have a solution" for Civil Actions? This assumes you aren't using an abundance of CAs to cover up for another problem you might have.

I think 6 CAs is enough that you can do what you need without serious issue, but I would generally prefer to have 7 or so. More is obviously better, but obviously, each extra CA you get will have a cost of some form, be it a played leader in lieu of a different leader, a wonder that cost resources, a tech which cost science to play etc. and those costs might have gone towards something else. I guess what that means is, if I get Constitutional Monarchy, I'd like one more CA, but if I get Republic, I won't care too much. And well often it's actually the other way around, I have an extra CA so Const Mon appeals more etc. If really necessary, I feel like you could probably get by with only 5 CAs.

Quote
Military Actions: Yeah you need 3 or 4 of these eventually.

ASAP I would say. Warfare is a tech I very often take for 1 CA and will consider at 2 CAs. Getting a good tactics card can make a big difference, as can better event and aggression control.

Quote
Points: I realize that these are the point of the game (see what I did there?) but I would hope these are just a metric to show you how well you did at all this other stuff. Otherwise, why are they there? So I don't necessarily think that this discussion applies here.

Yeah, kinda. Culture does sometimes matter earlier in the game (e.g. Terrorism event, National Pride event), but it's more kind of, you can sacrifice some tempo to score good points earlier on in the game, and that can sometimes be a good thing and sometimes a bad thing. E.g. Libraries compared to Labs, Theaters in general. Usually though, everything kind of comes down to 'how will my strengths score me points/how will my weaknesses prevent me scoring?'

Quote
So the theory here is that one must "have a solution for" all of these things if they want to have a chance to win the game. Some of them have limited options for how you do it, but other ones can be made up for by excelling in other areas and are more flexible. Does that sound reasonable?

Hmm... I'm not quite sure how to respond to this but let me put it this way: If you sit with only three resource income per turn, and never take action cards, what's going to happen? If I sit with just two guys on Philosophy and refuse to upgrade my science production or fight for science bonuses, what's going to happen? In both of these cases I think the answer is, those things will become a bottleneck for me getting things done, no matter what I try and do. So I guess that kind of means, you don't so much as need to try and find a solution to try and win, but you'll find yourself more or less forced into dealing with the issue until you can resolve it. And sometimes, the issue can cripple you. I've had a game IRL where I missed out on Iron in age I, which is fine, but then the two Coals were in the three last cards of age II. I found myself forced to take action cards repeatedly, simply because I couldn't afford to keep growing any other way, and it was repeatedly obvious what I needed was more resources.

Quote
Here's another idea: one solution for almost all of these things is "make more dudes and put them on it and/or upgrade your techs." Would you say it's true that if this was your solution to all of these things, that you won't be able to keep up? Would you say that you have to go out and find something else to help you with your life, whether that's military strength or a good wonder you really need, or some extra yellow dots?

To some degree I think a large part of the game is that you more or less need to upgrade everything, at least a little. But you can't keep everything in the most up-to-date form possible, that's generally impossible. It's not unusual for example to end the game on Irrigation as your only source of food (so that's an age I tech, providing for you in age IV). For example here's a recently finished game from BGO: http://www.boardgaming-online.com/index.php?cnt=202&pl=7160648. You can see what I have there for each type of thing:

Food - Mechanised Agriculture (Age II). I didn't get an Age I food tech.
Resources - Coal (Age II) plus Iron (Age I), plus Transcontinental Railroad. I had really high resource production in this game (12 rocks through most of age III), which meant I also have a lot of expensive (resource wise) other things.
Science - Alchemy (Age I), and then Journalism (Age II), with Journalism not played until age III IIRC.
Happiness - Team Sports (Age II). Religion kept me going until then, and also Movies (age III) later on.
Military - This one I think you usually need probably a tech from most ages, to keep up. I have one from each age, giving a respectable 45 strength including other bonuses.
CAs - Constitutional Monarchy (Age II) was my government, with Code of Laws (Age I) providing an extra CA.
MAs - Again Constitutional Monarchy (Age II) providing 4 MAs. Military Theory (Age III) is a little misleading here since I played it last turn to power my Wonder up (it's an expansion wonder).

Well in a way this game is a little odd. I seem to have an unusual number of age II techs, but I think that's because I played a good number in age III. I also had a few other special techs like Cartography and Architecture. Hopefully what this demonstrates is that you can get by on a single upgrade to a lot of things - although two upgrades is often better.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on March 05, 2014, 08:35:29 pm
Hmm, so let me try and put this in some different terms and maybe things might be clearer for me. Please correct me if I'm mistaken on something.

Define "have a solution for": Let me use examples here, over the course of the game, you're not going to be able to cut it with just two guys on Agriculture; you consume more food and your dudes cost more. One solution is to generate more food by upgrading your food techs and/or putting more guys on them. Another solution is to build Ocean Liner Service. Another solution is to get extra yellow dots. Maybe another solution is to get lots of yellow cards but I don't think that's really all that viable. "Have a solution for" food means you have at least one of these things (or any other one I forgot)

I think that it's very rare that you'll get away with no extra food production. 3 food per turn plus something like Ocean Liner Service/extra yellow tokens might just take you through, but that's a pretty rare set of circumstances (OLS is an age II wonder... what are you doing until then?). I think that a good benchmark minimum to aim for is (effectively) 4 food production per turn. So e.g. 2 guys in Irrigation (Age I food tech) will do that, OLS will kinda do that, lots of extra yellow tokens might just do that, you get the idea. And I said minimum, because that's probably not quite enough most of the time. If I win a nice yellow token territory, 2 Irrigation guys is often enough, but if not, then I'd often want a third or perhaps to grab Selective Breeding/Mechanised Agriculture.
I think the 2 starting people in Agriculture are usually enough at least until mid-AgeII. I very rarely take Irrigation.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 05, 2014, 09:33:35 pm
Hmm, so let me try and put this in some different terms and maybe things might be clearer for me. Please correct me if I'm mistaken on something.

Define "have a solution for": Let me use examples here, over the course of the game, you're not going to be able to cut it with just two guys on Agriculture; you consume more food and your dudes cost more. One solution is to generate more food by upgrading your food techs and/or putting more guys on them. Another solution is to build Ocean Liner Service. Another solution is to get extra yellow dots. Maybe another solution is to get lots of yellow cards but I don't think that's really all that viable. "Have a solution for" food means you have at least one of these things (or any other one I forgot)

I think that it's very rare that you'll get away with no extra food production. 3 food per turn plus something like Ocean Liner Service/extra yellow tokens might just take you through, but that's a pretty rare set of circumstances (OLS is an age II wonder... what are you doing until then?). I think that a good benchmark minimum to aim for is (effectively) 4 food production per turn. So e.g. 2 guys in Irrigation (Age I food tech) will do that, OLS will kinda do that, lots of extra yellow tokens might just do that, you get the idea. And I said minimum, because that's probably not quite enough most of the time. If I win a nice yellow token territory, 2 Irrigation guys is often enough, but if not, then I'd often want a third or perhaps to grab Selective Breeding/Mechanised Agriculture.
I think the 2 starting people in Agriculture are usually enough at least until mid-AgeII. I very rarely take Irrigation.

That seems... off somehow.  You start with 7 Population.  The maximum you can get to without boosting food production somehow is 13--and that would take 10 rounds, by which time you will have lost two of those yellow tokens to getting into Age II.  So realistically, without adding other food production, you have a total max population of 12 (depending on when the Age II barrier hits).  Five of those are production buildings, and by mid-Age II at least four had better be military and two science, leaving you with... one guy to do something else, if you're lucky.

Now, if you can land a Fertile or Inhabited Territory very early, that could easily last until even Age III (I just came in second in a game where my first upgrade in food was from Agriculture to Mechanized... but I had an early Fertile).
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on March 06, 2014, 08:38:39 am
So what else do you need to have in the middle of Agr II?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on March 06, 2014, 12:29:58 pm
I think the 2 starting people in Agriculture are usually enough at least until mid-AgeII. I very rarely take Irrigation.

I can't say I'm convinced, although I suppose it's something that might be worth trying intentionally (although I have been forced into doing it, for sure, sometimes). Irrigation is a cheap tech and there are three of them, and 2 food production means you get new workers pretty slowly in age I without something like Moses (you get up to 9 over the first two-three turns, get the 10th at around turn 4-5, then an 11th just as age I is ending maybe?). And like Kirian said, 11-12 guys just isn't really enough at that point. 2 guys on Agriculture, 3 on Resources, ~3-5 in military, ~2-3 in science, 1 in happiness, that's... 11-14 people you probably want. And at that point, you need 2 happy faces and are eating the 2 food you produce each turn, so you probably aren't getting new workers until you increase food production. What if you can't get Selective Breeding? There are only two in a four player game after all.

Of course, there are other things that can help food production. Extra yellow tokens help it out, as they reduce consumption. Events can provide food and population - although they can also take both away, but the ones that provide are more likely to come out early, so I think that's a net positive. There's a few action cards which give extra food, which might get you an extra worker. And then there's things like the Hanging Gardens which reduces your need for a guy on happiness, Moses to help you get extra workers more quickly... is there much else? It seems like it'd be a much more difficult and risky way to build your civilisation, since if you don't get Selective Breeding or Irrigation, you're likely to be very limited population wise.

So, Watno, what do you usually do about that?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on March 06, 2014, 12:53:06 pm
I haven't really played lately (only half a game a week ago)
so I checked back and it appears I usually end up taking Irrigation much more often than I thought. I don't prioritize taking it though, but with there being one for nearly every player, I usually just end up picking one up when it's cheap.

Still I don't think I usually upgrade Food production until the middle of Age II. I try to have ~2-4 military guys, 2 farms, 3 mines and 2 labs + 1 clown. Age A events usually gets you enough food for that. Then my first priority in Age II is building my happiness tech, and only then I need to start thinking food. I don't really need another guy before I can build a third lab, because where would that one go?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on March 06, 2014, 02:57:15 pm
I think that makes sense. Something I think it's worth noting though is that, you don't just increase food production and then suddenly have enough workers. Plus, improving food production early means you don't have to worry about it in age II, and you have extra food and workers for that time to invest however necessary. The ebbs and flows caused by events, aggressions and whatever techs you do/don't get I feel mean that extra flexibility can be valuable.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on March 08, 2014, 08:25:25 am
#94
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on March 08, 2014, 12:04:15 pm
Join ALL the games!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on March 10, 2014, 05:17:14 am
So I've been playing a good amount of TTA recently, particularly 2-player games. In total I've played maybe 30-40 games of TTA, most of them 2-player, quite a few of them 3-player. I've played like 2 4-player games; never again. TTA is already long enough with 2 or 3 players, 4P is just too long and I stop having fun after a certain amount of time.

Kids these days. Never have savoured the weariness after a Francis Tresham's Civilisation night.

Quote
Things I don't like about TTA:

- It's a long game. I prefer shorter ones. All things being equal, I'll play other games over TTA. There's a lot of "take your turn, then wait for a while for other people to take their turns" so there's a lot of downtime.

Hrm. In a two-person game I can barely go through the motions of end-turn production and plan my next move before I am up again. Downtime is a bit of an issue in a 4-player game. "All things" includes total playing time?

Quote
- It's possible to screw up relatively early and then effectively be out of the game. Yeah this is fine for shorter games, but TTA is not short. You can resign within the game rules but that's still not very good. That's tough for me to get past, because it makes learning from your mistakes a longer, more exhausting, less clear-cut process.

Resigning should mend the early screwage problem quite nicely in th 2p matches you prefer. I mean there is no point continuing a Go match after forfeiting a large corner group. Start another one and learn from your mistakes.

Quote
Then there are some things I'm questioning, related to what I like about board games. I used to be REALLY into Power Grid, enough that I put up a blog devoted to it and there's a whole subforum here. Now, I just don't like the game anymore (I feel like theory and Dominion, it's funny, really). Why? Well I think it's a great game and I would recommend it to anyone, but it takes at least an hour to play and I think my group has exhausted the strategic depth of it. Once everyone is playing on the same level, the game becomes very chaotic and not my cup of tea anymore. I've been trying for a few months to convince myself that I'm wrong here but haven't come up with anything.

I think there is less chaos in the card row at TTA then at Power Grid, and that the chaos can be leveraged better by skilled players than "just the right plant" that comes up after you have passed in Power Grid. It will take you some time to catch up to your friend and much more time to ultimately exhaust the tactical depth of the game.

Quote
I really like focus on synergies, I really like games where at the beginning you are thinking about anything except scoring points because that's the right play. Is there a focus on synergy in TTA, or is it best to diversify as much as possible? I mean, some people say Agricola is about getting a little bit of everything but that game focuses on synergy to get your engine going, THEN you diversify for points later -- is TTA more like that?

I don't think I'm close to understanding the strategic depth of TTA... or am I? How deep could it possibly be? Is it possible to ignore any of (food/rock/science/happiness/military) up through Age 2 and have any chance at winning? Is this just a 2P thing? I mean, you can seed events to help you know what to prioritize, but still, if you end up missing one of these things I find it extremely hard to recover.

This has been addressed by Tables. My rough goal is to have three of four (Philosophy, Knights (Swordsmen being consolation prize), Irrigation, Iron) upgrades until the end of Age I. If I get all four upgraded I am prone to obsolescence by end of Age II.


Quote
I'm not sure what I want to hear to make me feel better about the game. Maybe I'm just really off in terms of what actually helps me win and that's the source of my frustration. My IRL group just started playing Nations and that seems like a lot of the good things about TTA with a lot of the bad things taken out. What is it that people like about TTA?

I feel that a civ game that takes you all the way from Antiquity to the Digital Age is not too long at 70-100 minutes per person. (Although a devoted follower of Innovation, I would not rate it as a Civ game.) It is hard to base progress on so many pillars (happiness, resources, food, science, strength, civil/military actions, yellow/blue pips) and have them all upgradeable. Some time can be saved by leaving the accountancy to the computer. No experience with Nations so I cannot say where the game cuts corners without taking away from the enjoyment of developing your economy.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on March 16, 2014, 05:13:55 pm
#95 is up!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on March 18, 2014, 12:34:19 am
#95 is up!
bump, 1 more
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on March 22, 2014, 03:22:43 pm
#96 up :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on March 22, 2014, 03:23:28 pm
/in as always.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 22, 2014, 04:27:50 pm
/in and started!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on March 30, 2014, 01:25:40 pm
Disaster struck as my last game finished and I realised I no longer had any TTA to play. I had a look at the games in progress to find the next F.DS number and what I saw was horrendous. ZERO F.DS games in progress? What is this I don't even?

#97 and #98 up in attempt to rectify the situation. Both global, one 3p, one 4p.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on March 31, 2014, 02:52:15 am
4p /in and started
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on May 01, 2014, 02:13:46 pm
#99 up!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on May 03, 2014, 04:07:57 am
Aaaaaaaaaaand #100...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on May 23, 2014, 11:27:06 am
Game 101 is up!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AJP82 on July 14, 2014, 10:35:28 pm
Are there likely to be more of these in the future?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on July 15, 2014, 12:47:55 am
Are there likely to be more of these in the future?

Yes, as soon as anyone decides to start them. Anyone can do this!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on July 15, 2014, 02:49:56 am
#101 is up. Password: Dominion
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on July 15, 2014, 06:54:17 am
#101 is up. Password: Dominion

I think is is the first message on the board where this single word is blackened.

/in
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on August 30, 2014, 03:21:48 am
Anyone up for some more TTA?  Just played an IRL game and want to get another game in.  #102 up
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on August 30, 2014, 05:36:01 am
Yes yes yes yes yes yes. I thought I was the only one who wanted to play any more and the withdrawal symptoms have been kicking in. I am so in.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Joseph2302 on September 26, 2014, 09:43:43 am
Are people still playing TTA Online? Guess I'll see, TTA #103 is up :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on September 26, 2014, 10:07:00 am
Yeah, this is our third game (104) :) feel free to start another or  join the next one
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on September 27, 2014, 05:47:00 am
Game started (and renamed to 105).
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on October 03, 2014, 10:20:36 am
#106 is up!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on October 03, 2014, 12:46:30 pm
#105 is up!

FTFY. Started and renamed :)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on November 10, 2014, 05:08:37 am
My apologies to my fellow players in #106; the game appears to have got stuck. I've put a bug report up on the BGO forums.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on November 10, 2014, 08:38:25 am
Would it be possible for us to figure out final scores?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Drab Emordnilap on November 10, 2014, 01:18:38 pm
#107 is up.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on November 10, 2014, 07:23:21 pm
My apologies to my fellow players in #106; the game appears to have got stuck. I've put a bug report up on the BGO forums.

It was so sad that I left and didn't want to figure out the final score without me..
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: baassiia on November 22, 2014, 04:41:47 pm
Hi, Does any of you already play android app that seems to be a clone of TTA? It's name is civilization race of nation. It cost $5 so not sure if it's worth it?

Thanks
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on December 19, 2014, 01:49:15 pm
Hi, Does any of you already play android app that seems to be a clone of TTA? It's name is civilization race of nation. It cost $5 so not sure if it's worth it?

Thanks

So I just happened to run across this app when browsing.  Given that CGE already has a TTA app in the pipeline, likely for summer, I'd say you shouldn't expect multiplayer on that clone to last long.  I'm surprised CGE hasn't already sent C&D at this point.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on February 23, 2015, 08:11:32 pm
So I would start another f.DS game of TtA...

...except my computer doesn't like the "Create New Game" page and tries to download it. Anyone else up for playing another game and creating it?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on February 23, 2015, 09:24:45 pm
#108 is up
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on February 23, 2015, 10:27:30 pm
Yay!

Playing TTA on BGA has been an underwhelming experience, but at least public games are common there...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on March 04, 2015, 09:00:48 pm
#109 up. Password is the usual one.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on March 05, 2015, 08:26:09 am
/in
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on April 14, 2015, 04:18:00 am
Requests to bgo are now redirected top the webhost's default page. This doesn't look good.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on April 14, 2015, 07:21:35 am
It's back up now.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on April 14, 2015, 10:01:05 am
Game 113 up
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AJP82 on April 22, 2015, 12:32:31 am
I just found myself wondering what would happen if two players played a 4P game in which each player controlled two boards. Something tells me it sounds more fun in theory than the sheer tough-to-manage chaos that would ensue in practice, and I kind of also wonder what the most balanced arrangement of boards would be.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on May 12, 2015, 08:54:22 am
(https://i.imgflip.com/le3dg.jpg) (https://imgflip.com/i/le3dg)via Imgflip Meme Maker (https://imgflip.com/memegenerator)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on August 07, 2015, 07:29:05 am
http://boardgamegeek.com/blog/164

Coming out with a 4th edition where when you get a tactics card, it counts for you for 1 round, then anyone can use it.  *PFFFFFFFF* mind blown
App being released later this year (after essen), 4th edition at Essen

Also, 115 up
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Twistedarcher on August 12, 2015, 07:10:32 pm
I have a rules question that I'm only finding ambiguous answers to on the internet.

I have a promise of military protection pact where I'm protecting another player. I have 15 strength, he has 7+5=12 strength.

If I do an aggression vs. him, is it 15 v. 12, or 15 v. 7? Anyone know?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on August 17, 2015, 05:16:52 am
Haven't found a game on BGO to support my claim but I am sure B loses 5 strength the instant he is attacked. The wording is the same "if" as the "if" in Open Borders Agreement.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: thespaceinvader on August 26, 2015, 08:06:04 am
I have a rules question that I'm only finding ambiguous answers to on the internet.

I have a promise of military protection pact where I'm protecting another player. I have 15 strength, he has 7+5=12 strength.

If I do an aggression vs. him, is it 15 v. 12, or 15 v. 7? Anyone know?
15 vs 7 is my understanding, corroborated by how it works on BGO.  He loses the strength when you declare the aggression or war, which happens well before it's resolved.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on September 06, 2015, 03:30:50 pm
#116 up
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on October 18, 2015, 09:31:15 am
So, there's a new edition of Through the Ages out, for those who haven't seen yet - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilisation (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/182028/through-ages-new-story-civilization), which isn't just a small update, hence being it's own new entry on BGG. It fixes/changes many mechanics from the old editions - although the overall feel and rules are the same, many details are refined and rebalanced. Here's a list (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1452204/list-rules-changes) detailing most or perhaps all of the changes.

Would anyone be interested in a PBF with the new rules?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on October 18, 2015, 01:42:49 pm
So, there's a new edition of Through the Ages out, for those who haven't seen yet - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilisation (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/182028/through-ages-new-story-civilization), which isn't just a small update, hence being it's own new entry on BGG. It fixes/changes many mechanics from the old editions - although the overall feel and rules are the same, many details are refined and rebalanced. Here's a list (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1452204/list-rules-changes) detailing most or perhaps all of the changes.

Would anyone be interested in a PBF with the new rules?

Me me me me!!!

Edit:  The major problem is that we don't know the changes in the yellow cards, which are aparently extensive.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on October 18, 2015, 01:44:45 pm
So, there's a new edition of Through the Ages out, for those who haven't seen yet - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilisation (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/182028/through-ages-new-story-civilization), which isn't just a small update, hence being it's own new entry on BGG. It fixes/changes many mechanics from the old editions - although the overall feel and rules are the same, many details are refined and rebalanced. Here's a list (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1452204/list-rules-changes) detailing most or perhaps all of the changes.

Would anyone be interested in a PBF with the new rules?

Me me me me!!!

Edit:  The major problem is that we don't know the changes in the yellow cards, which are aparently extensive.

I've seen a decent number of them online...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on October 18, 2015, 01:52:21 pm
I played half a game on Friday (sadly we didn't have time to play to the end), and the changes all seem very well thought out.

I wonder if this is going to be on BGO soon. The new edition was playtested there as far as I know, so there should already be an implementation.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on October 18, 2015, 02:00:59 pm
So, there's a new edition of Through the Ages out, for those who haven't seen yet - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilisation (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/182028/through-ages-new-story-civilization), which isn't just a small update, hence being it's own new entry on BGG. It fixes/changes many mechanics from the old editions - although the overall feel and rules are the same, many details are refined and rebalanced. Here's a list (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1452204/list-rules-changes) detailing most or perhaps all of the changes.

Would anyone be interested in a PBF with the new rules?

Me me me me!!!

Edit:  The major problem is that we don't know the changes in the yellow cards, which are aparently extensive.

I've seen a decent number of them online...

I was wrong as it turns out:

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/123302/tta-new-story-civilization-card-reference
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on October 19, 2015, 07:55:19 am
So, there's a new edition of Through the Ages out, for those who haven't seen yet - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilisation (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/182028/through-ages-new-story-civilization), which isn't just a small update, hence being it's own new entry on BGG. It fixes/changes many mechanics from the old editions - although the overall feel and rules are the same, many details are refined and rebalanced. Here's a list (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1452204/list-rules-changes) detailing most or perhaps all of the changes.

Would anyone be interested in a PBF with the new rules?

I haven't been active in the forum games in a long while, but I'd be willing to come out of retirement for this.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: thespaceinvader on October 19, 2015, 09:15:39 am
I played a full game in person yesterday and was pretty happy with the changes generally.  The military game has been depowered a bit and simplified a LOT, and the corruption/consumption has been much simplified too.  The balance changes are similarly generally well-thought-out after a long period of essentially beta testing at least some of them on BGO.

Overall I was pleased with the changes.  BUt I still lost, it's been FAR too long since I played.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on October 19, 2015, 09:55:01 am
Now I'm sad that someday I'll have to buy the new version. But my current version isn't even being used right now. I'm sure the new version will likely not see much use. After all, it takes quite a bit of commitment to get into a TtA game.

I mean, I could do it to support the designer, but I could also buy other games of his.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on October 20, 2015, 02:52:46 pm
Anyone else?...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on October 20, 2015, 02:56:21 pm
Also:  Search for "2.4" in the finished games, you can see what BGO will look like... when they decide to make it public.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: XerxesPraelor on October 20, 2015, 03:51:57 pm
I'd play, but I don't quite understand the format. I've played on bgo, but this would be a Play-by-forum?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on October 20, 2015, 07:08:21 pm
I'd play, but I don't quite understand the format. I've played on bgo, but this would be a Play-by-forum?

Yes.  See, for instance:

http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=6951.0
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: XerxesPraelor on October 20, 2015, 10:21:40 pm
I'll play - that looks reasonable.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on October 21, 2015, 03:44:10 am
I'd be eager to try it, but I fear the additional hassle of the interface. My hope is in BGO.

Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on October 22, 2015, 04:46:53 pm
The interface isn't as good as BGO, sure, but it works. Anyway, I'm going to work on updating my sheet for the new version at... some point? Maybe Saturday. So hopefully game can start this weekend.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on October 22, 2015, 05:08:54 pm
/in
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on October 24, 2015, 07:34:06 am
I am also interested in "coming out of retirement"* from F.DS to take part in new edition games of TTA once it's up on BGO. Not interested in PBF one bit I'm afraid.

*Not that I ever retired, I just lost interest in Dominion and then the TTA games dried up so I had no real reason left to come here.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on October 26, 2015, 02:52:53 pm
Okay, so unfortunately (for you lot, less unfortunate for me) I had a bunch of fun stuff going on this weekend, so uh obviously the game hasn't started yet. But I have been working on changes and updates to the spreadsheet. I think I'm almost done, but won't be starting tonight. Here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wPrV-OC8wbqbciQakxtMMXlRnUJG8CGYXx7KPx2bnfE/edit?usp=sharing)'s what I have currently (ignore the names at the bottom, they're names from the... first ever game? Not certain but also have no reason to change them). Right now I've implemented the tactics board on the overview page, and have updated the civil cards. Military deck might take a while. I've also updated a bunch of other things like corruption trackers on the first board, Watno's I believe - but the other boards shouldn't take too long to fix up as well.

Anyway, there's still space for one more if anyone is interested. Right now I see Kuildeous, Xerxes and Jack Rudd as /in, if anyone else whose expressed interest wants to be now is your chance.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on October 27, 2015, 05:06:52 pm
Alright, I have everything ready. There's still one or two cards I want to be checked (mainly Plunder which might only cost 1 MA in all ages now, not 100% certain) before I start, but otherwise, this is pretty much a last call to join.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on October 27, 2015, 06:36:05 pm
Wooooooooooo!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on October 27, 2015, 06:37:29 pm
Alright, I have everything ready. There's still one or two cards I want to be checked (mainly Plunder which might only cost 1 MA in all ages now, not 100% certain) before I start, but otherwise, this is pretty much a last call to join.

According to the doc I linked earlier, Plunder is 1/2/2 MA in Ages I/II/III respectively.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on October 27, 2015, 06:39:23 pm
Alright, I have everything ready. There's still one or two cards I want to be checked (mainly Plunder which might only cost 1 MA in all ages now, not 100% certain) before I start, but otherwise, this is pretty much a last call to join.

According to the doc I linked earlier, Plunder is 1/2/2 MA in Ages I/II/III respectively.

Yes, that's what I've been using for the most part. But it's not 100% accurate (https://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/2706326/through-ages-new-story-civilization) and that's why I want the age I and II checked in particular.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on November 23, 2015, 10:29:01 am
Game 118 up
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on January 01, 2016, 05:19:09 pm
I am also interested in "coming out of retirement"* from F.DS to take part in new edition games of TTA once it's up on BGO. Not interested in PBF one bit I'm afraid.

*Not that I ever retired, I just lost interest in Dominion and then the TTA games dried up so I had no real reason left to come here.

It's here!  It's here!  It's like a bonus Christmas!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on January 01, 2016, 05:20:39 pm
New game 1 is up!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on January 01, 2016, 06:11:30 pm
As promised, I'm in!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on January 02, 2016, 12:36:19 am
Me too me too!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on January 02, 2016, 06:07:04 am
Hosted game 2
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on January 03, 2016, 05:58:59 pm
Need one more player
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on January 14, 2016, 11:26:06 am
With game 2 in Age III, i hosted game 3, for 3 players this time.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on January 14, 2016, 07:46:07 pm
I accidentally hosted 2 games and can't delete one. ipofanes already joined "Watno W's game", so please take this one and ignore "f.ds New #3"
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on January 19, 2016, 07:19:13 pm
The game timed out due to not filling, I hosted it again.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on January 20, 2016, 04:22:04 am
/in and started.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on January 21, 2016, 05:28:58 pm
Some weired things happened at the end of our game. Repeatedly clicking the "Return to latest breakpoint" option revealed all Impacts.
It has me scoring after TINAS turn, instead if him, so I should have 15 points less, and TINAS 7 more. I double checked everything, and I think these are the correct scores:
Before Final Scoring:
Watno 141
Tables 105
Kirian 74
TINAS 129

Impacts and Bill
Watno 40
Tables 32
Kirian 29
TINAS 50

Total:
Watno 181
Tables 137
Kirian 103
TINAS 179

Phew, I still win. Good game everyone.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on January 21, 2016, 06:09:43 pm
Yep, that seems right to me. A couple of odd things happened in the game so it's not a "true" score, but we managed them the best we could. Didn't think it would be that close at the end, but I'm happy to come second with that score as I've now played three games of new TTA and scored 179, 179, and 179.

Good game all.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on January 21, 2016, 06:47:09 pm
Yep, that seems right to me. A couple of odd things happened in the game so it's not a "true" score, but we managed them the best we could. Didn't think it would be that close at the end, but I'm happy to come second with that score as I've now played three games of new TTA and scored 179, 179, and 179.

Good game all.

And now you will never have a different score in new TTA.  Ever.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on February 01, 2016, 06:25:26 pm
hosted new game 4
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on February 10, 2016, 07:38:51 am
There are some bugs in the implemenation at BGO like
1) Homer attaches to a wonder if he dies
2) Wealthy territory I gives 6 resources instead of 5.

I think these bugs can be worked around by pretending you have 1 less happy face/resource, however that runs into problems with events like Immigration (happiest civ increases pop) or corruption. How do people think we should handle this?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Tables on February 10, 2016, 04:14:12 pm
I would say just let it slide, inform the admin and let him sort it out. Or use the edit tool.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on February 10, 2016, 04:30:09 pm
The admin seems to be missing in action lately.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on March 07, 2016, 08:17:06 pm
Game 5 is up!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on March 24, 2016, 06:00:14 pm
Homer seems to have been fixed without documentation. Messed up my plans in my current game pretty hard :(
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: AHoppy on August 24, 2016, 02:05:23 pm
Game 7 up, if anyone wants to play still
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: popsofctown on August 25, 2016, 11:54:57 am
Is this kind of like snellman Terra mystics where I could play from work
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on August 25, 2016, 12:53:58 pm
Is this kind of like snellman Terra mystics where I could play from work

Exactly like it, yes.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: popsofctown on August 25, 2016, 04:50:03 pm
i hate tta but i'm down to pbf a board game with dominion bruhs
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: popsofctown on August 25, 2016, 04:50:20 pm
Sign me in
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on August 25, 2016, 05:02:20 pm
The game seems to already have started.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on August 25, 2016, 05:03:29 pm
You can join in #8 instead, if you like. I've just created it.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: popsofctown on August 26, 2016, 10:31:24 am
Surely I need more identifying information than 8. To find the game
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on August 26, 2016, 10:34:32 am
f.DS New Game 8

#7338606

Password "Dominion"
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: popsofctown on August 26, 2016, 10:41:30 am
ok.  are the dudes that let you take bonus actions like napoleon and lincoln errata'd like my friends claimed they were?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on August 26, 2016, 11:25:50 am
This is a rebalanced new edition.
Napoleon was among them redesigned cards (but him giving military actions wasn't the problem). I don't know any Lincoln leader.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: popsofctown on September 27, 2016, 04:37:19 pm
PM me if the game I queud for is gonna fire
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on September 28, 2016, 09:24:26 am
Too late, I guess.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on September 28, 2016, 09:27:38 am
f.DS New Game 10 created. Password "Dominion".

ETA: ...whichever of the two simultaneously created games with that name you choose to join.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: popsofctown on September 29, 2016, 04:57:14 pm
I forgot my password, and the password recovery doesn't work right, and I thus can't reuse my actual email account.  I think it's inconvenient enough that I'm out.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on November 28, 2016, 12:07:39 pm
I just revolutioned, played 2 cards, and took 2 cards from the card row in the same turn. The only reason i couldn't take a card from the 3 CA slot was that I am currently building the Pyramids.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Jack Rudd on November 28, 2016, 12:40:46 pm
I just revolutioned, played 2 cards, and took 2 cards from the card row in the same turn. The only reason i couldn't take a card from the 3 CA slot was that I am currently building the Pyramids.
OK, how did this happen? The only ways I can think of to do that involve Newton and Robespierre, and neither of those is going to be around while you build the Pyramids.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on November 28, 2016, 02:11:29 pm
I had Hammurabi in play, played Breakthrough for the Revolution, then took a leader for free, played it with a military action, for which I got a civil action back, which I sued to take another card.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: ipofanes on November 29, 2016, 02:53:02 am
You sued the action at a civil court, I presume.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on September 12, 2017, 02:43:36 pm
https://twitter.com/czechgames/status/907675370844979201
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on September 13, 2017, 01:14:17 am
https://twitter.com/czechgames/status/907675370844979201

Do we know if iOS only or also Android?
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on September 13, 2017, 09:23:37 am
https://twitter.com/czechgames/status/907675370844979201

Do we know if iOS only or also Android?

Somebody on the Facebook page said it's for both. But this is the internet, so I don't trust it 100%. Still, I trust it at least 90% considering it was on the Czech Games page. I don't know if the person posting was anyone in authority though.

But I'm hyped.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on September 13, 2017, 12:17:01 pm
https://twitter.com/czechgames/status/907675370844979201

Do we know if iOS only or also Android?

both, I asked on Twitter.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on September 13, 2017, 02:46:22 pm
https://twitter.com/czechgames/status/907675370844979201

Do we know if iOS only or also Android?

both, I asked on Twitter.

Heh, as did I, and got a response this morning.  I just hope it's reasonably priced...
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on September 14, 2017, 04:26:22 pm
Played it during testing, it's pretty good. The only thing that's missing is a campaign like Galaxy Trucker (it does have solo scenearios though)
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on September 14, 2017, 04:55:04 pm
It costs $10 btw.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on September 14, 2017, 07:41:36 pm
So 10 bucks is high but not terrible... how many of y'all are likely to get it, so I know if I'll have people to play against?

And I assume play is asynchronous? 
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on September 14, 2017, 07:47:04 pm
I'm thinking about it
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on September 15, 2017, 08:19:51 am
I was hoping for an introductory price like they did with Galaxy Trucker. They probably know that they don't need much enticement to get people to buy the app. The game itself is plenty enticing.

I'll probably pull the trigger because I like to reward brilliance. I haven't yet though.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kirian on September 15, 2017, 04:56:28 pm
OK, screw it.  I've pulled the trigger.  I'll let y'all know whether I show up as Kirian or what :)

OK, the tutorial is brilliant so far.

"You don't have any resources to build the pyramids, but you can spend 5 [crystals] to speed it up.  Do that now!"

"Ha, no, this isn't THAT sort of game."

Also, Vlaada is a leader for the tutorial, and is bickering with Aristotle.

--------

Also, the interface is actually really slick and intuitive in a way I hadn't expected.  Even on a small phone screen.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Watno on September 16, 2017, 03:55:51 am
I also have it, username Watno
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Kuildeous on September 18, 2017, 08:45:00 am
"You don't have any resources to build the pyramids, but you can spend 5 [crystals] to speed it up.  Do that now!"

"Ha, no, this isn't THAT sort of game."

Lovely. I still haven't pulled the trigger yet, but I may do so rather than wait for a sale since Vlaada's gotta eat. And those other people who worked on it too.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Qvist on September 24, 2017, 11:41:08 am
It seems like it has gotten good reviews, German version will be released next month, I will probably wait until then.
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: blueblimp on September 27, 2017, 07:42:19 am
I got the app because CGE's Galaxy Trucker app was so good. (I hadn't played TtA before, because I wouldn't normally play a game of this weight.) It's great of course. I don't know if I'll ever make use of the online function, but it's still nice to play vs AI to see what the game is about.

There are so many things about CGE's digital strategy that I like. Some that I wish Dominion would've done:
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: Thisisnotasmile on September 28, 2017, 01:49:08 pm
Hello again.

I am there also. Same username as here. Feel free to send a friend request and/or game invites if you remember me. Thanks Watno for reminding me this place exists!
Title: Re: Through the Ages online
Post by: GendoIkari on October 03, 2017, 01:40:19 pm
Hello again.

I am there also. Same username as here. Feel free to send a friend request and/or game invites if you remember me. Thanks Watno for reminding me this place exists!

Where have you been!?