Just a noob question. I have enough materials to build a ship, but the game does not allow me t build it. What is that I am missing?
You may have already reached the maximum allowed number of ships of a given kind (8 for Int, 4 for Cruiser and 2 for Dread). Other possibility is you don't control any sectors (which is unlikely).
My sole issue at this point is the lack of a log in async games. I find myself looking at the opponents stats to see what action they might have taken.
Just posting to say that I'm loving this game! Great job BDC, I've given it a 5-star rating. Suggestion for the long term - you have a great basis here for an async cross-platform game, if you'd ever think about going down the Steam (PC) and Mac route like the devs of Leviathans did....
Played the tutorial last night. Mind exploded. I'm not sure the tutorial is all that great. I don't even recall it explaining how the game is won, though maybe it did and I just missed it? But I realize there is a lot to teach, so a tutorial is only going to be so helpful without being epically long. I will read the rules and check BGG. I'm sort of amazed that this is also an actual board game. There must be an awful lot of fiddly bits to deal with.
Wow...loving this game. I had to play through the tutorial twice to catch things I missed the first time. I think the hardest thing for me that finally clicked was managing the amount of my "actions" within a round so that my influence doesn't cost more than the money I have. At first, as a player of 4x games in the past, I wanted to do everything I could within a round. That was causing me to go broke. Now I get the finesse of knowing when to stop and passing my turn. It is a fine balance. I actually love the fact that it is 9 rounds. For mobile that is fantastic. It was always hard to put down a 4x game and trying to come back a few days later 7 hours into a campaign. What was going on? What was my strategy with this planet? Nice job with the UI too. Very functional.
Yeah, very classy, keeps things tight. By taking out the usual tedium in a 4X game since the later stages usually have a clear winer with just a lot of mop up of the losers final bases.
It's funny, because all of the arguments about this not being a "true" 4x make me convinced that I probably have no interest in "true" 4x games. I love the fact that this is done in 9 rounds. I like the pressure of knowing that I have a finite amount of time to get things done. I also like knowing that I don't have to wait 2-3 hours to get to the endgame conditions. I believe that the physical version times out at ~30 min per person playing, and from the pictures I've seen, there is a TON of set up and tear down, and a lot of book keeping and bits to keep track of. As much as I enjoy this game, I have no need to own the physical version, and would likely only play it if someone else owned it, and felt comfortable with the set up/tear down responsibility. I love the fact that I can play this $99 retail game whenever I like in about 20-30 min, and get the full experience for 7 bucks. Also, I'm one of those weirdos who has ZERO interest in async multiplayer, so I'm completely happy with it as is. I really have no complaints about the tutorial, because I was completely unfamiliar with this genre and after one playthrough of the tutorial and one reading of the rulebook (which isn't as long as I was led to believe), I felt like I had what I needed to get started. Now, that being said, I lost a LOT and I still haven't messed around with Diplomacy, but I think it's perfectly adequate for a noob like myself to get up and running.
Ok. Now i worry something weird is happening. Of course I had sectors u der my influence. Ad this was the first ship I wanted I build. In fact even if I have enough materials, I am allowed to build a dread only on even turns ..... Weird.
Little bit, yeah. ^_^ The thing about digital 4X games (and many TBS & RTS games in general) is that a significant part of the endgame usually involves a runaway leader trawling around the playfield for an extended period of time, mopping up clearly inferior opponents, which just wouldn't fly with most board games; the firm turn limit and vague victory point range information in Eclipse work to keep people involved right up to the end, rather than have them spend time doing nothing simply because there's nothing of consequence that they can do. The average price of the physical board game here in NZ is $149, while the app is $9.99. There's a pretty massive statement to be made about "value for money" in this instance, which is why the "Too expensive/wait for sale!" troglodytes have already been lovingly persuaded to kindly go get stepped on by a Big Daddy.
One thing I'm sure of is that initially you can't build the other ships - you need to research the tech required to build the other ships before you can build them. And holy crap that physical version of the game looks insane. I definitely don't need to buy it, though maybe eventually if I really get into this game, perhaps I'll get it anyway. Once you get past the setup I'm sure it's a lot of fun to play the real thing.
I am getting better at game , looks like hull research is most vital one at beginning that can determine whole game course.
Get both. Play Talisman HD on iphone while waiting for your online opponents in Eclipse to finish their turns!
Smooth sailing until hit the crash bug : explored inner hex, was about to place two colonies, closed and crash on resume game. Also sometimes seems like i dont have research option at the start of a turn?
Not weird at all - I too have no interest in on-line play. I found an interview that Pocket Tactics ran with Campfire Creations (who made the superb Stone Age app) very interesting; they found that their (Campfire) analysis of their users shows "the vast majority of people continue to play Stone Age (and Ive seen from other interviews with other companies) that the vast majority of Apple users play solo." There was a follow up post in the comments section of this interview that says" Ever since the Internet was invented, game developers expected that everyone would play multiplayer and were subsequently amazed that most people stubbornly continued to play solo. I've heard this from countless developers on multiple platforms going on to 20 years now..." You are not alone!!!
Good to know I'm not alone on this (pun intended). Honestly, the whole idea of async multiplayer is foreign to me for most games. To me, it takes away any sense of flow in game play. I like for my board games to take place in one session. The idea of taking a turn and then waiting hours for a response is an exercise in tedium in my opinion. I'm slightly more interested in real time multiplayer, but even then only slightly. When I want to play other people, I tend to play physical board games or video games with people in the same room. That's just how I roll.
I will use the async, but only if it shows what my opponents did on their turn, and it sounds like it doesn't do that from what others are saying here. That is disappointing. Hopefully in an update? As far as taking a turn and waiting hours... the idea is you have a variety of different games going at once. Perhaps several in one game and several in other games. Usually when I check my iPad I have multiple turns to take. It works better in some games than it does in others.
