@KittyMac, one quick thing i'd like to make you aware of as these kinds of things bug me. it's nice the game presents in both landscape and portrait but in landscape (my preference), the top of the opponent avatar and their deck display is clipped (chopped off) by the top of the screen. if you turn it to portrait it looks fine. if possible maybe you could move it down a little in landscape mode so it "fits". thanks!
Uhm, the strategy I guess would be in the size of the forces and where you move them on the map one space at a time. Do you invest in huge ships or several smaller ones? The game boasts several AI opponents you must work your way through, not sure if they also each come with their own maps (which would there for have its own configuration of stars which are the only places you can spawn reinforcements). The game also had some interesting means of tabulating victory points as bonuses were given for different things like the most victorious space battles and or who captured the most Humans (one of the game's 4 suits of 1-10 valued cards). There was even something significant about the game's valued 7 cards, called the Diplomats, but other than an end game bonus, I'm not sure what that was. This was DEFINITELY NOT Starbase Orion in cards.
Most definitely not! Starbase Annex is its own beast Further clarifications: Yes, each opponent has its own distinct map, outside of the first two (the first one being the tutorial level without a real AI, and the second one being the same map with a real AI (although easier than the later AIs) ). Strategic thinking is required to succeed, especially against the later level AIs. - The game has four suits, each suit with 10 cards in it. At the beginning of the game each player is dealt 20 of those cards randomly. What is in your hand will impact how you play. You only got dealt one of the Mammoths (10)? Then your opponent has the other three, and you may want to consider an aggressive expansion tactic to deny your opponent hexes (which provide resources) to keep them from getting enough resource to put them into play. - There are five victory points for each game; you need to earn more VP than your opponent to win. One of those victory point can be earned by capturing more cards than your opponent, so you might decide to capture cards aggressively to earn that point. However, some cards (like the Human Diplomat (7) and the Human Mammoth (10) ) are worth a whole point in themselves. Will decide not to play them in hopes of keeping them from being capture, or will you play them and outmaneuver your opponent such that you capture them? - Each map is different, from small to large with different choke points. This may influence which cards you decide to play (a cheap card to capture hexes on the weak left flank while playing stronger cards to hold the right flank)? - Resources are important, as you are required to put at least one card in play per turn. If you don't have enough resources for that, then you cede a card directly to your opponent's capture pile.
@KittyMac, thanks and wanted to include that my device is an iPad2 and i'd also like to add one more thing. for some apps i've had, the developers have, upon request, have been able to do something to improve text that is blurry on non-retina devices (my ipad2). it may just be that the text in this game is small but it looks a little blurry on my device. if there is anything thing you can do on your end to improve the text displays for non-retina devices i'd appreciate it. thanks again! for 2 bucks i wouldn't think so and i never thought so, why did you? anyway, i've only done the tutorial so haven't gotten into the meat of the game to comment fairly but it looks like a fun little card game. nothing you'd consider mind boggling but in the vain of Yardmaster which costs a buck more.
It's an awesome dev who has given Starbase Orion a lot of updates so I'll give this a shot and post a review asap.
@KittyMac, sorry for this long whiny post everyone but even with a college degree, something here is not clicking. if this is all too much to explain then just tell me to keep playing and i'll figure it out eventually. need some clarification. still in the tutorial - Place New Cards: 1. it says "new cards can be placed at the red, yellow, or blue stars which you control". stars? or do you mean spaces, sectors? i am the blue player, when would i ever control a red space (star)? are yellow stars (spaces) the ones where that large "yellow" fireball thing is? if so, what do those 2 smaller fireball things represent? in the tutorial there is the one large fireball in end center sector and 2 smaller fireball things 2 sectors over on each side. what are these? 2. it says "the red and blue stars can only gain one card each turn while the yellow star can gain unlimited cards". by gain one card do you mean contain one card? i can only put one card in a blue space? again, when would i ever control a red space (i take over a space and it becomes blue) and again, are these yellow stars (spaces) those big fireball things? 3. (sorry) i have 2 cards of same suit, a 5 and a 1 in the big fireball space. again, this is in the tutorial but why won't it let me combine these into a 6 card? nothing prompts me to do it nor do i see anything to trigger a prompt? is the combine cards just not in the tutorial? 4. and finally, it would be nice to see what cards are in each Capture pile. 5. no, not finally. i'm just gonna tell ya that i'm flat ass confused about where cards can move to and how many can pile in one sector. sometimes it lets me move a card to a sector i own without a card in it, sometimes it won't (but it doesn't say why). for instance, earlier in my game i could NOT move 2 cards into a "just blue" sector, it had to have one of those fireballs in it. now, further along, i can put 2 different value, different suit cards into a "just blue" sector. why now and not before? thanks!
Oh! While still not entirely my thing, it gets several points for the initial random deal of 20 cards. I had assumed both my opponent and I had identical full sets of cards. Getting a RANDOM 20 definitely adds some replayability!
Star == fireballs Space == hex Each turn you purchase new cards, move cards you already have on the board capturing spaces or opponent cards, then upgrade cards (specific criteria must be matched), then place the cards you bought at that start. When placing the cards you bought, you can put an unlimited number of cards on the yellow stars, but a the red/blue stars you can only place one. Simple example: you start the game with 4 resources, you buy two colonies (1) and a scout (2). You control one yellow start and two blue stars. You can put all three cards at the yellow start, or you could put one on a blue star and the rest on the yellow star, but you can never place two on the blue stars. Later in the game you could capture a red star, in which case you could place one card there as well. You can only upgrade cards in the upgrade phase, which is after the movement phase. If the five and the one are on a star space, and you're in the movement phase, tap next and it should switch to the upgrade phase. Cards which are not eligible for upgrade will be flipped over, any cards face up you can tap to see a list of possible upgrades. If you have no cards eligible for upgrade, then that will will be skipped automatically. if you tap on the circle/square/hex/diamon/triangle score indicators in the top right it will show a summary for each score and how far along each side it to that point. In other words, its all there tabulated for you so you shouldn't need to waste time searching through the capture pile. A card can only move into one adjacent hex per turn. You can have unlimited cards stacked in the same space. What your describing sounds like maybe you picked up a card you had already moved once this turn?
thank you!! i haven't read it all thoroughly but i noticed you're still logged in so another thing on these yellow stars. clarify - in the tutorial, there is only 1 yellow star, at the bottom, which is blue. right? then to each side of it there are 2 blue stars, correct? my enemy has the same set up but he is red. when i capture his guys and take that sector, it turns blue. you keep mentioning red stars but i don't have any and never will. red is the enemy and the sector tuns blue when i take it over so i can never place a card on a red star except to capture? you're saying if it's empty of any of his cards i can place minethere? and again, where is the combine cards "tutorial" and why couldn't i combine that 5 and 1 of same suit on a yellow star to make a 6 in the tutorial? thanks again and i'll stop pestering you after this.
There are two yellow stars on the tutorial map, one at the top and one at the bottom. There are two blue stars on the bottom left and right. There are two red stars on the top left and right. If you capture a red star space, the star itself will stay red but the space will turn blue. Hence, you will indeed have captured a red star. If the 5 and the 1 were on a star space, and you were on the "move" phase, and you tapped the "next" button, then the "upgrade" phase would have been next. Once there, the tutorial information for the upgrades should have popped up. It is accurate to say that unless you happen to end the move phase with a valid upgrade combination, the tutorial portion for upgrading does not pop up.
ok, i think i got the star thing straight so now i'll review the rest. thanks again for taking the time to help me! tap on the ... score indicators in the top right it will show a summary for each score and how far along each side it to that point. that is good to know!
Oh, I missed this upgrading bit entirely. Are these upgrade mechanics explained outside of the tutorial?
It's in the help section off the main menu (the "?" button). Scroll over to the "Upgrade your cards..." bit, the three conditions are listed there.
hmmm, i know i was in the yellow star space with a 5 and 1 of same suit and can't recall what MOVE i did but i know i didn't move one of them out of that space and i had to have clicked NEXT to continue the game but never got any upgrade dialogue. oh well, guess i'll test it again. damn, one last question. at first i couldn't seem to put two cards in just a plain blue sector at the bottom of the board at the start of the game. as i moved up the board and got closer to the top and started capturing his men, i seemed to be able to put 2 cards in a plain blue sector. i remember i could because i would move (stack) a couple of heavy hitting cards into a blue sector next to his card which was in a red sector. again, why couldn't i do it at the start of the game and could later on? hope i'm making sense as this is the last thing i'm confused about!
The only thing I can think of is perhaps you had already moved one of those cards that turn. The cards you have already moved do not look visually any different from the cards you have not yet moved, so it can be somewhat easy to accidentally pick up a card you've already moved and then be able to move it ( since it had already been moved that turn)
no, my question is can you place more than 1 card in a plain blue sector. example, in the tutorial there are 2 empty blue space sectors on either side of the yellow star. i could not place 2 purchased cards or move 2 cards into one of those sectors. later on in the game, i was able to move 2 cards into an empty blue space sector higher up the board. why?
Yes, I am confused If you are referring to "placing cards that I bought at the beginning of the turn", then just remember new cards can only be introduced onto the board at a star space. You cannot add a new card to the board on an "empty blue space". Now, during the movement phase you can move two cards already on the board into an "empty blue space". The only reason I can think of why that would fail non-intuitively would be in the case mentioned above.
