I wonder if Twilight Struggle will appeal to mobile gamers who tend to be more casual. This is a very complicated game which takes a lot of time and reading to learn. It is not something you play at the bus stop. I had it on Steam but got a refund because I could not get my head around all the rules, and exceptions to the many rules. Anyway it is dollar cheaper on Steam right now because of the Summer Sale.
You're welcome! Found not on Google but on BGG to which I linked earlier. THE resource for all board games, and certainly for Twilight Struggle.
As much as I'd like to see the game succeed, it is definitely not for the casual gamer. I'm a cardboard player of TS, and it was work to "get it." I couldn't say how getable it is digitally if you've never played it in real life. I suspect it would be a real chore. It is, however, an outstanding game, one of my top favorite games of all time. Then, of course, I am a child of the Cold War, War Games, and The Hunt for Red October. So, TS was right up my alley. Don't know how meaningful the subject is for those under 30 for whom 911 is a vague, faded memory, and to whom history and geopolitics was never substantively taught.
Another voice to confirm that yes, iPhone is in the cards, mentioned during the Kickstarter campaign and post-updates, and confirmed in yet another backer update a few hours ago. I doubt TS will appeal to most casual gamers, regardless of platform. But I also think it will appeal to many hardcore gamers, regardless of platform.
From what I recall after my brief time with the Steam version some time ago, getting the basics on the game's 4 types of actions or so wasn't too tough but the having any clue how all of the game's many events interact or knowing when they might appear is a whole other level I hadn't achieved yet.
So I TOFTT'd and bought this to then force install on my jb iPhone 6+, and guess what..... It works! Has black bars on the side but then using forcegoodfit tweak makes it fit perfect. I Scratched some of the tutorial just to see card text size, and you know what, it's actually reasonable as is. Can just add the stock iPhone zoom function at the ready for anything too small, but it actually does read reasonable. I was initially worried about the countries in the background (I don't know this game so don't know what else to expect), but it turns out you can zoom in on them within the app at any time, as if that's how it was intended anyway on the iPad. So, so far on a 6+ it seems reasonable. Now I'll just keep this on my device along with all the others and pretend I'll have time some day to dive head on into it.
For iPhone support, the latest letter from GMT to Kickstarter backers confirm that "the final form will be universal". No ETA yet. I am still waiting for my redemption code. The game is not hard to pick up. But it is very hard to play well given the number of strategies and the complex intervention between events and cards. But once you grab hold of it, it is addictive! Some over BGG complain about not able to go through the tutorial, but I have gone through it without any issue And there is a bug that in Round 1, the (Soviet) AI holds the Score Card leading to immediate lose is noted and fix has been submitted. My Playdek ID is "currymutton", see ya all online.
Just learning the rules and I am not finding them complicated. But I think playing and winning the game will be hard and complicated. I have already bought 'Eclipse, New dawn' and 'Brass'. Those rules are much more complicated imo. 'Ghost Stories' and 'Neuroshima Hex' have simple rules but are very hard to win. I have just began with TS, will give it a score in a few weeks. TS is imo more appealing than a game like 'Carrier Battles' wich is even too complicated for my taste.
http://thepenskyfile.com/the-twilight-struggle-beta-a-i/ He has 5 videos against the AI and about 25 against online opponents worth a watch for how to play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgCTEVYFuyI
Also for people new to this fantastic game here's a great link of twilight struggle gameplay strategies https://twilightstrategy.com/
I have just win with the USA in early war and I don't understand why... (I leave the victory screen by mistake without reading it) I scored 11 VP, no control of Europe and USSR IA must not have decrease defcon to 1. Generaly I don't understand why I am losing but here... Any idea someone ?
You are right, it happens again : the AI kept a scoring card indeed. Thank you On another game I win with USSR at the beginning of the second turn, and this time I know why : total control of Europe ! This game is really great, however the IA seems to be a little weak I should play online but I am not confortable enough with english : I play very slowly to fully understand the effect of each cards and chat talk is a problem... I hope the IA will be upgraded somehow.
Curry: Hello there! Mutton: This is our take on Twilight Struggle Curry: One of the best boardgames ranked over at the Boardgame Geek site and praised by many. Mutton: So there is not much here we can introduce, right? Curry: If you still need one: Twilight Struggle (TS) is a game about global politics during the Cold War era, from the point-of-view of two super powers at that time: US of A and the Soviet Union. So it is a 2-player game. Your goal is to spread your influence into countries/regions and when you have more influence than your opponent, you "control" that country/region. Mutton: Which is similar to another classic computer game about the Cold War known as "Balance of Power". (Cough) I am not that old, I am just a computer game historian. Curry: Okay in TS, countries/regions are grouped together into areas, which is basically continent/sub-content and the points are scored according to how many countries/regions each side has control of when the special "Score Card" is play, which will be mentioned later. Mutton: Your influence power comes from the operation points of the cards in your hand, just like currencies spent as in "Balance of Power". However, each card also has an event coming with it. Each card event is either favorable to US, to USSR or neutral. If the player plays a card favorable to the opponent, the event is played accordingly. Curry: And there is a set of special cards called the Score Card of which when played, determine to scores of each player over the continent the card represents. Mutton: So when a player plays the score card, say Asia, the influence of both side on Asia is calculated and the score is awarded. Curry: TS does not gives you the absolute score of each player, but rather, the difference in score between the players. The points on the cards can be spent, other than the event stated on each card, it can be used to simply place influence on each country/region. Mutton: Which can be painfully slow since you cannot place wherever you like to. Your target must be connected with the country you already have influence on. Curry: Instead you may spend the points to do some exciting things like staging a coup d'état. But it is risky, the outcome is random and partly determined by the points you have and the amount of influence your opponent has. Mutton: The most exciting part is such attempt raises the DEFCON level. Going to DEFCON 1 means full nuclear exchange and automatically means game over. Curry: Or you may "re-align" that country/region to lower the influence of the opponent. Or the points can be invest into "Space Race" which gives you scores or some other benefits. Mutton: So much for the basic of the game. Let's get to the real deal. Curry: For the digital version, Playdek releases the game earlier in May on PC/Mac. Mutton: I hate to call the iOS version "mobile" version, for I also have the Mac version on a Macbook Pro which is pretty mobile also. Curry: The app works with iPad with retina display only Mutton: Which means if you own a device older than iPad Mini 2 or iPad 3, you are pretty much out of luck. This causes dismay to many backers out there. Curry: The installed size of the app is 337MB, which is quite small. Mutton: As expected from all Playtek iOS games we have seen so far: great UX, great tutorials, excellent online multi-player. Curry: With one very important exception: this is the first Playdek game on iOS with in-game chat! Mutton: Wow! Curry: I think this is the most requested feature for Playdek games. Mutton: If you have the "desktop" version, the UI is identical Curry: Playdek manages to squeeze all the important information into one screen, without clotting it nor making it confusing, nor making information hard to find. Playdek manages to adopt to make touch screen as natural as point-and-click interface. Mutton: Which deserves a design award already. Curry: The main portion of the game board is the world map, which you can see the distribution of influence among the countries. And also small icons so that the players are aware of the effects, caused by the cards played, are in play. Mutton: The DEFON level, scores, Space Race status, and current turn, etc are shown in the top. The player current cards in hand, discarded cards or played cards are listed on the bottom. Curry: Playdek even manages to squeeze the game log into the same screen! Mutton: But I don't think I will like it on iPhone screen. Curry: You can still move the card around and zooms into when it is not your turn or when the "dialogue" box is shown, which is quite distracting and even confusing at first. This happens to "desktop" version as well. Another problem with the interface is that: the world map can be zoomed in or out, but it is not as smooth as the "desktop" version. Mutton: One nice touch in TS is the "undo" button, which is basically the Omega 13 device. Now I really hope Playtek adds it back to Ascension. Curry: Just how many Ascension games have you lost due to what you call "accidents"? Mutton: I lost count long time ago. Curry: As for TS itself, it is very complex in terms of strategic options to the players. Not only the cards have different effects and some even intervene with other cards. Some cards only appear at certain turns of the game. Playtek not only makes the cards zoom-able, which is standard nowadays, faithfully reproduces the physical cards, and they read clearly even on the small iPad Mini 2 screen. Mutton: Playdek also lists the effects made by these cards as tiny on screen icons, which we have already mentioned. And the game has minimal animation effects which saves the player from distraction and also device battery life. Curry: The tutorial is very nicely done. It reminds me a lot of the tutorial of Ascension. One single tutorial does it all. Mutton: Not breaking it down into smaller sections. Curry: The tutorial guides you from the start of a game to the first few rounds, explaining all the game elements as you go. And then leaves you play your first game after the tutorial ends. Mutton: TS also follows the tradition of all other Playdek games, the online multi-player is async and goes through the Playdek service. Curry: Which means you can still use your Playdek account, or create one if you are new to Playdek. Unlike the new Ticket to Ride which forces you to wait until another player to pair up a game you started, you can just create your game, leave the app until another player joins in. Mutton: It is known the AI takes quite some time to make a move. But from my experience on the iPad Mini 2, the game load time is a little worse the MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) with 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 and 16GB 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM. But the AI decision time is noticeably quicker. Curry: Let's come to the dark side. I am afraid the game is not perfect. Mutton: First, some experience crashes when playing the tutorial Curry: Which we are lucky not catching it. Mutton: Problems are found with the AI when the computer loses automatically when it does not play the Score Card before the end of turn; and when "De-Stalinization" card is played as Headline, the AI seems to enter very "deep thinking" and hang up. Curry: We are told that Playtek is aware of these problems and a fix has been submitted to Apple for review. Mutton: We are still digging the game, but I can say to a new player, the AI is pretty strong, but it will never match a human player in long run. Curry: In short, we would wholeheartedly recommend this game to all strategy game or board game players, even if you have never played the physical version at all. Mutton: Just like me and Curry. And if we come across anything else interesting, we will post it up here. Curry: Define: interesting. Mutton: Oh my god, oh my god, did the AI blow itself up again? Curry: Thanks for reading.
Thanks Mr Curry and Mr Mutton for the comprehensive review. I hope that split personality of yours doesn't get you into too much trouble.
I think there is a big bug making the AI very confused in regards to these score cards and thus allowing these silly wins.
