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[Kirian]

So this game has been the headliner at our game group for the last few months as an alternative to Dominion.  As a deck-building game, it does not have the randomness problems that Ascension and Thunderstone suffer from, instead adding a lot of non-deck mechanics that cause it to feel slightly like a 4X game.  In addition, it has a bit of Puerto Rico flair in terms of deck-use mechanics (for those who haven't played Puerto Rico, think of the Governor card).

Anyone else been playing this lately?

[Brando Commando]

I've played this, and in fact my friend seems to be buddies with the designers. I only played a couple of games but saw the potential.

I do wonder about the long-term replay value (discounting any expansions, which I don't think this game even has yet). In general, I think Dominion has sort of jaundiced me to other games since its inherent system of switching things up makes it so dynamic. I see chess players now and sincerely wonder how they could play a single board over and over, though I know it's a great game with a lot of subtlety.

Anyway, having played many games, do you have insights on the two different methods of getting planets up and running (I can't remember the terminology) -- do you need to specialize in one of the two methods? Is one mostly superior to the other?

[popsofctown]

Bobby Fisher liked to play Fisher random (sp?) so Chess players like to change things up.

[Kirian]

Sorry for taking a while to reply, multiple reasons I haven't been able to.

It doesn't have the extreme versatility of Dominion, obviously.  Instead the replay value is provided by two things:  larger variance and player interaction.

Let's face it, in Dominion there are two possible starting game states.  On many boards, no matter the variety of cards available, there are only one or two viable openings.

In EmDo, there are a large variety of starting states, and your starting hand and planet will start to determine your initial strategy, with your first Survey likely forcing you to choose a direction.  Other players' role choices will determine a lot of what you can and can't do, and in many cases what you should and should not do; this is similar in scope to Puerto Rico, but without the fully-open game state of PR.

As to the other question:  undoubtedly you must specialize in one planet-taking method or another... if you're going to base your win on planet points.  If you're going for a Research or Trade strategy, you can often get away with just three to five planets.  In that case, you may be able to hybridize your planet-acquisition... I'll have to try it sometime!

[Brando Commando]

Let's face it, in Dominion there are two possible starting game states.  On many boards, no matter the variety of cards available, there are only one or two viable openings.

Yeah, fair enough. I probably really need to just play more Eminent Domain to see how it feels after several plays.

As to the other question:  undoubtedly you must specialize in one planet-taking method or another... if you're going to base your win on planet points.  If you're going for a Research or Trade strategy, you can often get away with just three to five planets.  In that case, you may be able to hybridize your planet-acquisition... I'll have to try it sometime!

Good to know. I probably won't get a good chance to play this again soon IRL but I'll keep this in mind if I do.