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« on: April 02, 2013, 05:10:46 pm »
Lookout Post: I'm not sure if anyone would ever choose to transfer all cards, since revealing a card only means the demander only gets to draw 1 card (possibly of a higher age). There's also probably a better way to phrase the bottom part...
T: If any card was revealed due to the demand, draw and reveal [1]s until you reveal a card that shares an icon with a card revealed by the demand. Put that card into your hand and return the other revealed cards.
That said, I'm still having trouble seeing when "transfer all cards" is ever going to be chosen, unless they have only 1 card or something. (If they have 0 cards, the "reveal a card" option will fail too, so it makes no difference)
A perhaps-more-interesting option would be the following:
T: I demand you reveal your hand!
T: Draw a [1].
Ramps: It's pretty similar to Road Building minus the red-green transfer shenanigans. There are probably some fun things you could do by intentionally sharing this late in the game.
(Now that I say that, shouldn't this be true about Road Building as well? Actually, it's rare to be able to share a tower card lategame while having a top card with 3 towers on it. Hmmm....)
Crop rotation
L: If you have at least one card in your score pile, ... (gotta remember those bonuses, unless you really do mean you can draw two [1] if you have a bonus)
Ingenuity: Reminds me of mathematics. I question how useful it will be in practice though, since many cards with a B on them allow you to tech up by themselves anyway.
Storytelling: I feel this is really strong. Early, it develops your board while scoring (since tuck==meld when your color is empty), similar to clothing. Unlike clothing though, it's still useful late. It's probably better than agriculture most of the time.
I'd consider
L: Tuck a card from your hand. Score the top card of its color.
Mostly weaker but maybe has some fun shenanigans if strong things get tucked.
Territorialism: Seems incredibly situational. I'd probably only use it if I can get to an achievement before my opponent, but otherwise it seems that it will generally help your opponent especially since he gets to choose which card to meld. If your opponent doesn't have much of a choice, he either has (a) not many points, so why are you attacking his score pile, or (b) has only a couple of high-value cards in his score pile, in which case you're just giving him a powerful top card.
It's also interesting to note that no card actually lets you meld a single card from your score pile currently, what age would that be in?
Messengers: A potentially scarily fast scoring engine (that doesn't even slow you down, like agriculture/pottery!) once the low age cards are depleted. Compare to pottery: If N is your current age and all cards <N are depleted, pottery is score an [N] and net 0 cards in your hand, while this card is score an [N] and net 1 card in your hand. Sure the card you net is the worse of two options, but there are always uses for cards in hand.
Staves: Play it when the [1] deck has 1 card in it, instant monument.
Swimming: Why the clothing hate? It seems out of place.
The two other effects should be reversed, so that it's not possible for a player to end the action with zero top cards. No other age 1-2 card has the ability to leave a player with zero top cards.
Scrolls: I think it should just be "If any card was drawn due to the demand, draw and meld a card of value one higher than the last card drawn due to the demand". It's cleaner.
It's worse, yes, but age 1 cards aren't supposed to be amazing or anything.
Trading:
C: Claim a standard achievement, if eligible.
C: You may return a top card from your board and draw two cards of value equal to the returned card.
C: You may return two cards of from your hand and draw and meld a card of value equal to the lower of the two returned cards
I think the third effect should be "You may return two cards of equal value from your hand and draw and meld a card of that value". It's minor.