Dimanche 13 janvier 2008
So, as I detailed in the last entry, there were some clear issues with the CCCP map after the first playtest, the most glaring ones being the weak east, the not as compelling as I
would like auction, and the not-yet-satisfactory goods growth pattern. All of these were addressed for playtest #2, on what is the 1.5 revision of the map.
Major changes:
- Moscow increased to two hexes in size
- Two black cities added, one in the east, one in the NE
- Obligations changed to force players to use only their own track to ship to Moscow
- Auction changed to "Winner selects two roles" and a simple role called Corruption, which grants the player taking it money outright added.
- Locomotive action changed to "Buy Locos first, buy anything on the display" (stronger)
- Goods Growth changed yet again. The idea now is exerting personal influence. A die is lain next to each row on the growth chart, and at the end of the round each player, in order, must move one of the dice up a notch, and can pay for additional notches at $5 per if they so desire.
So on to the playtest...this is the map with nothing on it...
Here is the first round, 3 of us (Sean, Alex, and myself) started in the north this time, with Jesse left to himself in the south.
This makes it evident that the introduction of the black cities has made the north viable...perhaps too viable.
By round two the complex tiles are already coming out in force, partially driven by the need to get into Moscow, which is surrounded by the ever-inconvenient rivers, which require the engineer to get over.
By round 5 the north was getting very crowded, but Jesse was still being left to his own devices in the south, generally a bad idea in AoS. Despite this, his delivery options weren't good, and his engine was screwing him repeatedly.
Moscow was blighted by this point, perhaps double blighted.
Round 6, the track ball that occurred in the first playtest is here occurring up in the north by this point. I (red player) found the 2nd edition rules where one can lay a complex tile as an initial build quite useful at several points in this play.
End of the game, final reductions taken into account.
Playtest comments: most of the changes are for the better. The auction had several pathological rounds because of the double role selection, and one particularly poor auction early in the game hurt Jesse for several rounds. The Corruption role, where you simply get cash back functions much like the Engineer does in Lawrence's Sun to that end, creating inflated bids and pulling money out of the game.
In terms of weaknesses, in this particular playtest the most notable one was the lack of impact of the split level engines. This is partially because of the extra cities, partially because of the track building rules, and partially because of our increased familiarity with the map. I think they might be an issue, but I have to brainstorm how to use them differently, or how to handle them. The engines on cards and buying Loco phase are the most original idea in this map, and I want to find some way to make them work. They do function, they just aren't quite what I'm looking for yet.
The changes all seemed positive: the auction is more interesting, the goods growth works better, the larger Moscow is nice. The obligations could still use some tweaking, but they are getting closer to what I want. Progress, in essence.
Major changes:
- Moscow increased to two hexes in size
- Two black cities added, one in the east, one in the NE
- Obligations changed to force players to use only their own track to ship to Moscow
- Auction changed to "Winner selects two roles" and a simple role called Corruption, which grants the player taking it money outright added.
- Locomotive action changed to "Buy Locos first, buy anything on the display" (stronger)
- Goods Growth changed yet again. The idea now is exerting personal influence. A die is lain next to each row on the growth chart, and at the end of the round each player, in order, must move one of the dice up a notch, and can pay for additional notches at $5 per if they so desire.
So on to the playtest...this is the map with nothing on it...
Here is the first round, 3 of us (Sean, Alex, and myself) started in the north this time, with Jesse left to himself in the south.
This makes it evident that the introduction of the black cities has made the north viable...perhaps too viable.
By round two the complex tiles are already coming out in force, partially driven by the need to get into Moscow, which is surrounded by the ever-inconvenient rivers, which require the engineer to get over.
By round 5 the north was getting very crowded, but Jesse was still being left to his own devices in the south, generally a bad idea in AoS. Despite this, his delivery options weren't good, and his engine was screwing him repeatedly.
Moscow was blighted by this point, perhaps double blighted.
Round 6, the track ball that occurred in the first playtest is here occurring up in the north by this point. I (red player) found the 2nd edition rules where one can lay a complex tile as an initial build quite useful at several points in this play.
End of the game, final reductions taken into account.
Playtest comments: most of the changes are for the better. The auction had several pathological rounds because of the double role selection, and one particularly poor auction early in the game hurt Jesse for several rounds. The Corruption role, where you simply get cash back functions much like the Engineer does in Lawrence's Sun to that end, creating inflated bids and pulling money out of the game.
In terms of weaknesses, in this particular playtest the most notable one was the lack of impact of the split level engines. This is partially because of the extra cities, partially because of the track building rules, and partially because of our increased familiarity with the map. I think they might be an issue, but I have to brainstorm how to use them differently, or how to handle them. The engines on cards and buying Loco phase are the most original idea in this map, and I want to find some way to make them work. They do function, they just aren't quite what I'm looking for yet.
The changes all seemed positive: the auction is more interesting, the goods growth works better, the larger Moscow is nice. The obligations could still use some tweaking, but they are getting closer to what I want. Progress, in essence.
