Ra version 1.1 in the queue An update for Ra was submitted to Apple yesterday, which means (depending on how distracted they all are with today's mystery announcement ) it should be approved within a week or so. Here's an advanced peek at the "change list"... Added/updated: - glorious Retina graphics! - fast app switching for iOS 4 - more detailed player stats - "Reset" button for player stats - iPhone rules and instructions darkened to improve readability - lowest valid sun auto-selected as final bid rather than forced to be final bid - AI more cautious when drawing tiles at end of Epoch - removed constant wind noise during auction - improved sundial indicator - various visual tweaks Fixed: - loss of player stats - AI "flushing" full tile track needlessly - problems with resuming game that was previously in the middle of scoring - zero value sun scores when reviewing final Epoch score - "0 more Ra tiles" message during scoring summary - "Pick 1 tile" text appearing above player detail display during God mode - possible crash related to changing starting player - iPhone status bar not hiding after "My Music" selection Up next is an update for Medici and the much anticipated online multiplayer support (hopefully for both games.) As mentioned before, we hope to have that ready for Christmas. Happy gaming!
I actually thought the graphics were already RD supported. They look outstanding on my 4G Touch. This seems like such a complicated game compared to Medici. I was able to pick up and play Medici as a newcomer and almost immediately feel like I had a good grasp of it but this one has more depth and seems more challenging. I am loving Medici; I need to put more time into Ra.
I still am far from a master myself but I see it as several mini tile collecting games all in one as each tile set seems to have their own rules (Suns, Pharaohs, Nile, People, Monuments, etc.) that all somehow get added together into the basic auction gameplay.
This game causes brain cramps and I definitely haven't figured it out, but I like it a lot and can't wait for online multiplayer (so I can get trounced by real people too ) In the mean time this update sounds great. I also thought it looked great as-is on my iPhone 4. It's going to look even better? Wow.
True enough. In the few games I've won against the easier AI opponents I just focused on a couple of collections I seemed to start off well in, and didn't pay that close attention to what my opponents were doing. Some random tile facts I caught onto: Pharaohs: They have no value on their own, you just want to avoid having the least in a round and if possible shoot for having the most. This total will carry over to future rounds. Nile: The Nile bonus only happens if you have a river and flood tiles so my own rule of thumb here is to not give it a lot of attention unless I see I already have both a river and at least one flood. These tiles will be tossed out at the end of the round. People: The people won't mean much unless you have most of a set, like 4 or 5 different type of people (not sure if there are also bonuses for having many of the same type as well). These tiles will be tossed out at the end of the round. Monuments: This collection won't kick in until the end of the game but whatever you had gathered from round to round will carry until the end. The points are gained here by having over 3 of a specific type of monument and by managing to collect at least one of each type. Disasters: Realize that they can't do anything to you if you don't have the tiles they apply to, so if you see, for example a big lot with the drought disaster and you weren't even trying to collect river/flood tiles this round, you have nothing to fear from taking the lot that contains it. I know I'm missing out on a few other types but these were the main players as far as I recall. So try to figure out which collections you lucked into early on and do whatever you can to then further it. The only exception I guess would be the Pharaohs. If already well in the lead or far from the lead but not anywhere close to last place, you might not want to spend a lot of energy trying to get more.
The "river" tiles are not tossed out. Just the flood tiles. You can therefore keep amassing "river" tiles and as long as you get a flood each epoch you can get those points. ( An aside: *any* tile edged in gold is kept through all epochs. ) You need three different "people" tiles for points. You need *at least* one "people" tile or you get minus points at the end of an epoch. One nuance to this game comes with handling the "sun" tokens that you use for bidding. When you win an auction, you exchange your winning token with the last winning token. You need to think about what that token is that you will get ( ie: if you win with a 15 value token, is it worth it if you get a 2 value token in exchange for the next epoch?? ) Incidentally, the rules are all there in the app You don't have to try and puzzle them out yourself heh.
Thanks for the clarification on the rules there! Yeah, everything is covered but I think it can be a bit much to absorb all at once. As stated before, I understand most of the rules for the tile sets individually (well, as you saw, not completely) but then knowing how to put all of these mini-tile collecting games together can be a little overwhelming ("Wait, did I need to end the level with the most Pharaohs or People to avoid the penalty...).
How does the different AI player selection work? They all have different ratings starting at 1200. Is that the weakest AI? The strongest AI is the highest number at 1800? I can't find an explanation for this. What does ELO mean? What are those numbers about? I can't find anything about this in the rules either.
I think this is what is known as the "Chess Ranking System" (no clue what the ELO actually stands for) by many of us. Here is it broken into more detail: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system
Thanks LordGek. "The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-born American physics professor."
Ahh, well I just like when a game tracks this for you AND the AI guys (although it can be crappy when you are the one that causes the AI player already with some 1800 rating to shoot up much higher as you keep losing to him).
Happy holidays! We've dropped the price on Medici and Ra to celebrate the holidays and this big announcement we made yesterday: http://sageboardgames.com/?p=115
Any word on a Ra update with online?? Looking forward to Medici with online in the new year, but no word on Ra?
Ra will actually have online multiplayer first. It should be ready for the beta testers before the end of the year and out as a free update as soon as possible after that.
Well, it's been too long in coming, but we have finally sent the latest Ra update for testing! This release incorporates OpenFeint, which is a widely adopted service that provides: 1) Leaderboards 2) Achievements (there are over 40 you can unlock in Ra!) 3) Turn-based (asynchronous) online multiplayer play OpenFeint currently only supports two players (devices) for online multiplayer, but we've managed to set things up so that the host player can add AI to the game so it doesn't have to be all 2 player games! You'll need to create a free OpenFeint account (you'll be prompted to do this the first time you run the new version) and then you will be able to challenge other OpenFeint players to play Ra online with you (an internet connection is required, of course.) Tapping "Play" on the main menu will now give you the choice to play "local" or "online" games. You can start up to 12 simultaneous online games. Once OpenFeint is enabled, playing solo, local multiplayer, or online multiplayer will allow you to unlock the achievements which range from the very simple (win an auction with a full tile track) to Herculean tasks (score 15 Pharaohs.) You will also post your score and ELO rating to the online leaderboards when completing a game. Stay tuned for another posting when this update makes it through the testing and review process and is available in the App Store! In the meantime, buy Ra now (if you haven't already) so you'll be ready to "put the Ankh" to friends, family and even strangers across the globe! (PS In case you're wondering, yes, we're looking at GameCenter support next. )
Wow, now THAT is something to get excited about! Thanks for all your hard work on these titles Codito, it has really shown!
