Any strategy tips? I tried only picking quests that I get bonuses for, or quests that need few meeples, but always do not have enough meeples to complete them...
Intrigue cards are very important, so is buildings. It's hard to give advice because you have to do with what you have in hands. But if you only focus on quests and the normal places where you gather resources, you might run into the problem of not having enough meeples. Buildings are way better to gather them, even if the owner get some benefit.
Just played my best game, I lost against the easy AI but I was only 19 points behind Am getting to grips with the game now, highly recommend it!
I don't mean to brag but I don't understand the problems people are having with the AI. How many opponents are you playing? I've been playing mostly against 2 others, sometimes on hard sometimes on easy. I absolutely love intrigue cards. There effects seem so minor, and they often are. But the critical point is that you get to use that meeple twice that round. I even find myself collecting cubes I don't need right now, usually wizards, because I am always going to need one or two down the line. Because I've got a handful of odd cubes I can pick up cheap and easy quests, I don't get screwed by mandatory quests either. Most games against the AI I'm completing 10+ quests and I'm sure it's because they feed me by using my buildings and because I use intrigue.
I have played most of the Playdek lineup and have pretty much zero complaints. Great games and MP implemantation.
Does that mean that you don't agree with any of the (plentiful) criticisms levelled at Playdek, or that they simply don't apply to you? (If the latter, your advice might be less useful for many players, if the issues are such that they might affect more than just a handful of us. Which I believe they might be, all the excellence of same titles notwithstanding. I still play buy and play nearly every Playdek release. But I do it because they are excellent in spite of the issues, not because there are none.)
My Playdek username is, well, unsurprisingly, as you may well aware that it is by now: currymutton, email: [email protected]
(New games need a lot of time to figure out) To all attempted to play online with me: do not, I repeat, do not attempt to start a game anywhere less than 7 days. You know you can beat me normally, since I am a noob. But beating me by-the-clock is not considered as good sportsmanship!
Probably the later and the former. I had not heard of the complaints (albeit new to these boards). At least they aren't as bad as Queen releases
Just had a great game in multiplayer. Each player stayed at the board for the length of the game so it was nice and fast (each player ended with 10+ minutes on the clock). There was a lot of pressure to get meeple in the harbour. I figured one player had skulduggery so when the skulduggery completion quest came up, I wiped the quests immediately. He hit me next turn with a mandatory quest confirming by belief My key quest was the arcane quest that gave me an intrigue card for each wizard I drew. I spent the last turn checking my opponents quest cards and blocking them from completing them as best I could. Elo seems fine for me
Added and invited you for a 21 day game. I hope that's enough for you What are the criticism? Nobody said anything since first mentioned and I asked. I never found a single problem in their games. They work fine, the AI is ok, the online works, notification works, their latest games that have boards that looks gorgeous (this and Agricola), and they even released a pretty niche game (Tanto Cuore). So, what's up?
* Brain-dead Summoner Wars AI, limited AI factions, somewhat competent Ascension AI * Minimal upgrades to online infrastructure in over 2 years, no sign of chat, turn timers, nudges etc * Extremely slow post-release support (Summoner Wars had one broken card for an entire year, Nightfall has only received one expansion and no updates in over an year with no indication of any more to come) * Agricola released incomplete (I & K decks are part of base set, and this is after Agricola spent over 18 months in development) * Tanto Cuore over Smash Up!, really? Or even Unsung Story and Far East of Eden, even if US has Matsuno.
In reality, there are only a few criticisms aimed at Playdek, and even fewer of those are legitimate. Right now, the only actual critical issue is Playdek's trouble with the IAP decks for Summoner Wars, as many people who bought those now cannot access them no matter what they do. Playdek do seem to be at a loss with this one, and don't seem to be any closer to resolving the issue even though it has been going on for a while. Losing access to something for which you've paid real money is unacceptable, and complaints about this are absolutely justified. Other than that, what you'll usually see is: A) Somebody complaining that Playdek doesn't release expansions fast enough for their liking (usually with that person specifically referencing their favoured game), which is simply impatient whining. B) Somebody complaining that Playdek is choosing to port the "wrong" games (i.e. not the specific ones that person wants), which again is just whining. C) Somebody complaining that Stone Blade Entertainment took the reins of the iOS version of Ascension back from Playdek in order to continue development, which was entirely SB's call to make, and largely happened because Playdek had to split their focus between a number of titles and couldn't devote all their time to Ascension. Playdek are still supporting their version of the game, but once they shut down the online element later next year, people will need to switch to Stone Blade's own Ascension Online (and repurchase any expansions) if they want to play versus other people. D) Somebody complaining that the ultra-mild Tanto Cuore is a game for perverts and sexual predators, and that Playdek shouldn't have ported it, which is idiocy that doesn't need to be dignified with a response. E) Most recently, somebody complaining that the AI in Lords of Waterdeep appears to hold a grudge against the human player and will play unfairly (e.g. it will always give any bonus resource to another AI player, and never once to the player). To be fair, many people have experienced the AI doing just that, and the folks at Playdek are already looking into this. The IAP issue is the only one Playdek can really be taken to task on at the moment: AI issues and rule glitches are routinely ironed out, and complaints or demands relating to Playdek releasing the "wrong" games or taking too long to release games/expansions can be and are quite rightly ignored.
The criticisms are illegitimate in your opinion, the factual legitimacy of either opinion can only be verified to its fullest extent by Playdek. Nightfall launched with existing icons for three expansions, of which only one was released over an year ago. Since then there has been no word of any further updates and the most recent query was answered with "Unfortunately I haven't heard much about this expansion right now". This isn't a case of not being fast enough, it's just plain late beyond reason. Summoner Wars has also received only one content update in an year, and who knows when more factions might show up. And I & K decks aren't even expansions, but even those are late. It's hard to see how complaining about incomplete games and broken promises are whining. Smash Up! is not a case of wrong games being ported as much as a project being shelved (given the deathly silence from Playdek) over other projects. Again, not a case of them picking up wrong licenses but rather letting go of a vastly superior game. But yes, final calls on licenses are their own choice and who knows why things have turned out this way for Smash Up!. You can read this as whining or customer feedback. Playdek bit off more than they could chew, on a number of titles, leading to a situation where resources are being shuttled around and only the project at hand gets some love. Even a flagship project like Agricola had to be released incomplete so as to meet deadlines and move onto newer projects. Stone Blade can't be blamed for wanting the digital counterpart of it's flagship to move at a similar speed as the physical one. This is one of the unfortunate results of digital "ownership" and online components, I'm sure Stone Blade will try to make things right in some way to ensure their launch goes smoothly. Tanto Cuore is certainly not ultra-mild, those Love cards are fairly suggestive and it's hard to argue that the intent was not to be suggestive given the same publisher's Barbarossa, but it's also not the lewd monstrosity some people make it out to be. At the end of the day the choice of license did Playdek no favors in the western market but I'm sure they accomplished what they wanted to in the target market. I haven't played LoW but if the AI does do this I wouldn't be surprised if this was intentional. It's a cheap way to get a more "challenging" AI, Clint did the same thing for Alien Frontier with the Pirate AI. Playdek hasn't had the best of AIs over the years. Ascension launched with two levels of AI and the third level blocked, with the promise of it being added later. But eventually the third level was junked and now the game has only two levels, the higher level still routinely makes completely stupid decisions. Same goes for Summoner Wars, the AI for that game isn't even useful for learning the game. The rules glitch in Summoner Wars, Leah having one less health, wasn't "ironed out" for nearly an year. The AI issues in SW and Ascension were not "ironed out", unless you call removing the promise of a higher level ironing out. Playdek will release the remainder of the Agricola base set over six months after the launch, that is not an illegitimate complaint and same goes for Nightfall. Then there are games that were announced and then forgotten like Tank on Tank (August 2012) and Command & Colors (March 2012), but Smash Up! is the biggest absentee in that list. These are not complaints that need to be ignored. And finally the iAP issue, such terrible timing for Playdek, but then I don't think they ever have time for anything other than their latest sweetheart project. The most recent response to this after about three months is the show of good faith online-only freebie to make sure the LoW launch goes fine, with the PR rep at Facebook saying that they will be trying something over the new few weeks that might help them figure things out. But it's hard to see them putting time towards this with the I & K deadline hanging over their heads. I do however sympathize a little with them since iOS7 has been reported to break iAPs in a few other apps.
I regret asking... No nerdrages please, the thread was going fine. For those who are playing with me, how about setup a chatroom over app.net? An account there is free and there are apps or the web interface to use. Or... Use iMessage.
Sounds like you're sorely in need of a frank talk with Playdek's people, then (and not Shyla), considering that my view in this regard is their view. As I said, they're quite rightly not interested in people bitching and moaning that they're not releasing the "right" games, or are taking too long to release the specific expansions people want, largely because they're busy working on their various projects, and they don't have the unlimited resources people apparently think they do. Well, no, that's dishonesty on your part. The actual response was, "Unfortunately I haven't heard much about this expansion right now since everyone has been focused on Summoner Wars, Lords of Waterdeep, and Agricola. But I'll be sure to bring it up." Contrary to your attempt to spin this into Playdek sitting on their hands and being lazy, it should be obvious to any reasonable person with no agenda that they've been busy with enough projects (ones likely to make them money and justify their development) that less popular (and profitable) projects unfortunately don't get limited resources allocated to them. This is pretty much the reason SB took Ascension back, in fact, and fair enough in that case. So you're complaining that they're not releasing the expansions you want quickly enough. Uh-huh. No, they're not. From the very outset Playdek openly stated that the I and K decks would be available in autumn, and they very recently confirmed that these decks should indeed be arriving in the specified timeframe. They're not late in any sense of the word: we knew in advance that they wouldn't be included in the initial release, and they're scheduled to arrive exactly when Playdek said they would. If they miss that deadline (basically the Christmas app store shutdown at this point), then we can talk about them being "late". Not really, considering that's what it is. You're complaining that expansions you were never given a firm release date for or even a tentative one, for that matter are "late". They're not, by definition. That's the extent of it. Being upset because Playdek had the audacity to work on games you didn't personally sign off on doesn't constitute a legitimate complaint. No, they just chose to dedicate their resources to more than one particular game, and by all accounts have done a fantastic job with each of the titles they've focused on and released this year. I don't believe anybody is blaming them for this. It certainly is. There are 29 maids depicted in the game, and the one on the love cards and Milly Violet are the only two that could be considered even remotely suggestive. If you find fully-clothed young girls in general sexually provocative, best keep that to yourself, but I find it hard to believe any normal male would find the game itself even remotely titillating. Now, not actually being male, I can't contribute from personal experience, but I'm sure there are enough guys here at TA who could help out by letting us know if they've found themselves sexually excited by the images in this game. I'm pretty sure very few have; I've certainly never met one in real life who has. Congratulations: you may be the first. Considering that the reviews for TC have actually been very positive across the board, I don't think Playdek are worried about your snide and misinformed disapproval. Its success is not surprising, given that the game is basically Dominion reskinned, and the moral outrage appears to have been largely for show. Many people disagree about your view on the AI of Playdek's games; outside of recognised, reproducible bugs, there's never going to be a consensus in that regard. So Playdek actually fixed what is a very minor issue, and your response is that they didn't do it fast enough. Uh-huh. What specific issues? "Too easy" or "makes stupid mistakes" isn't precise enough, because many people disagree. An AI deliberately spurning the human player, on the other hand, is something that can be proven and demonstrated. It certainly isn't a legitimate complaint when Playdek made it known well before the game was released that the I and K decks would be released in autumn this year. They recently confirmed that this is still the plan. Nobody was misled. Sure they are. If Playdek are no longer working on specific titles, it's for a very specific reason. Bitching at them because they're not working on a game you want isn't suddenly going to make them start working on it again, and if they've not openly stated why that product is no longer in development, the very strong likelihood is that they're not in a position to do so. Your conspiracy theory aside, every response Playdek made before that was to state that they're trying to pin down the cause of the issue, but that they've had trouble because it isn't affecting everybody, and there's no straightforward reproducible combination of device, OS, account location, or purchase that reveals the source of the issue. You've no evidence that they've just been sitting around up until now, as you've been intimating; it certainly doesn't make sense that they'd let this particular very real issue of all possible issues remain for the fun of it.
Stupid question: LoW is Universal, right? I bought it on my iPad, but when trying to download it on my iPhone (same iTunes account) it's telling me I need to pay for it again. I rarely download on both devices, so maybe there's just something I'm missing...
Yes, it is Universal. Try to find it in your purchase section in the appstore and then tap on the cloud button.
I summarized my issues with Playdek concisely to answer your question, but it's hard to not defend myself when being labeled a whiner. But you're right, conversing with Appletini in wall-of-textese isn't particularly good for the thread, so I'll let her have the last word And to make sure this post doesn't end up being declared off-topic, I'm highly tempted to pick this up despite my protest simply because of how much trouble people are having with the AI. I rarely play board games offline because most AIs don't pose much of a challenge (one exception being Neuroshima Hex), it would be fun to have a challenging offline component that isn't based in achievements or a campaign like in Agricola.
Something wrong with the App Store. I bought Kemco's Bonds of the Sky a few days ago and now the App Store is showing it as not bought, with the price tag instead of the install button.
