Ok, game is growing on me now. I can definitely see there's some depth to it. It's not as strategic as something like Assassin's Creed Recollection, but at least I don't have to spend hundreds of dollars to be competitive in Ascension. I imagine the balance of the game changes a lot with 4 players though. Luck probably plays a bigger role in these cases, since managing the center row considering 3 other players would be extremely tricky.
I would pick anything that lets me cycle the deck fast. Aesetic of the Lidless Eye would be my first pick anytime! On any round except in the honors building phase. To add on who says that banishing is important, another important aspect of the game is to leave the table in a not attractive way for the opponent. I keep of being surprised by people fetching cards from the table just for using ups everything they drew in fear of loosing by that one point they did not fetch from the table. By fetching all they can, the table gets easily fluid and never unattractive for more than a round. And I want to take this opportunity to thank everybody who is playing with me lately and putting up with my erratic games sometimes (I like to experiment). I am having lots of fun, win or loose.
I used to feel the same way but now I have no reservations about leaving an unspent rune if a 'meh' card like Guardian or Mechana I is on the table. I'd rather keep that center slot filled rather then bloat my deck with a mediocre card and give my opponent an opportunity to obtain an excellent card that flips.
I would like to put together some three and four player games, but don't want to blindly invite people who may not enjoy that style of game. Leave a reply if you want to give 4 player a try
I just take an AWOL on this thread for 2 mere days and wow, we have... I think this game has a lot of depth than what it appears to be. You really have to read and learn every gorram card and learn them well. Moreover, the actual flow of the game and every card you throw out lands you on the winning side or losing side. Simply put it -- what you do in one round affects what you get in the rounds afterwards. So be very careful with that "Play All" button. Say, in my last game with Camzy, I simply let him walk away winning by 1 point. Why? In the last round, I am simply do away all my powers (9, irrc) on HI cards first and when I have spent the last rune, the notorious Sordid Asp appears... If you have problem remembering your "work" on async games, I would: 1. Cut down the number of MP games to make them more manageable, so that you can recall how the games roughly go. I now restrain myself to 5-6 games going on at a time; 2. Read the log of what your opponent has been doing; and 3. Check the cards you have (on the lower left) and give you any idea the path you have taken up and consider if it is time to fine tune it a bit.
Yep. You lost that game on the last turn. You had a lot of choice that turn, and didn't play it all that well. Playing Druids before Master Dhartha is another thing to consider. It means you can know exactly what one of the next three cards will be. Never banish your power on cultists until you know for sure you've exhausted all center row options.
Erratic? nah, love the games we're having. Though i myself keep toying with different strategies. I think it might help if i actually learn the names of cards to follow discussion better
I actually dont mind mechana, it's quite versatile early on. I'm not a fan of hectic scribe though. Especially early on, maybe my yugioh roots keeps reminding me about that -1. I think it works great in the later part of the game where you have better cards so the -1 is negligible but yea not a big fan. Can someone plesase explain to me when Dhartha's Retreat would be useful? I can see you using Yggdrasil Staff and use it that way but aside from that...i dont really see its use...I feel like I'm missing something though
It's not very useful 90% of the time. Use with Yggdrasil Staff on a tired center row, or when you're forced to discard because of Duke of Scorn or Fire Tyrant. I've never actually gotten around to using it in the latter scenario though. Worth it for the end game honor more than anything else. Hectic Scribe is really growing on me. It gets better the longer the game goes on. It's also great with discard banishers i.e. Blackwatch.
Ah ok I see what you mean now. It does a good job b/c you get cards into your discard pile and then banish them. I can't believe i hadn't thought about that, dont i feel smart . Yea that card just feels really wasteful, its too specific to be useful.
I don't think Hectic Scribe is that bad, it is better than the next-to-usless Arha Initiate, it may not be as cute-and-flashy as Lifebound Initiate, it helps to give you a chance to fine tune your hand when the table is not so desirable. Well also, keep in mind it is a fail if this card shows up as the last extra...
Some more readings in addition to BGG and the official forum: http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/ (search for Ascension) http://ascensionstrategy.blogspot.com/
picked this one up, with the expansion pack without even playing the game... so i dunno what's new or what's different, but been having a lot of fun it's easier to learn than what i thought it would be... the $8 seem to be very much worth it (specially considering when a real life UNO card deck costs like $6, and then you have to spend like an hour shuffling the damn thing) in a few days i might start playing online, once i start playing this one a bit more, learn more about the different cards and when i stop playing my other games xD
Happy to play a four-player with you. I've only played in one before. Camzy organized it. She might be up for it...
I should have lost this one (the third) because of the Stone Circle. I chose to put a mystic on my deck so you manage to get Samael. Edit : Low battery atm. I will challenge you next time
Good games. I'm coming up 1 point short But you had first move both times, and that really helped with the opening boards. That 4th game you should have won by more. If you had taken Black Hole before Grand Design, I would have lost by more.
