I Aten't Dead

I took a few weeks off from anything board games because after a reorganization at work, I suddenly found myself working on a far less desirable technology. All is well now, though. I went on a job hunt, and through the hand of providence secured a better paying job closer to home that allows me to set my own hours and work from home some times. I start next Friday.

I played two games of The Citadel of Madness on Friday, and had a pretty good time. Here are my notes from the games (and my explanations of them):

• Name should be printed on both sides on part cards (I need to make it visually obvious that cards can be rotated 180 degrees, and making opposite facing names would do this. This is a really obvious solution to the issue, so I am happy that it was arrived at).
• Return all active workers to your mat (somehow the refresh action on the mat didn't say that, so I need to modify the action)
• Any ability that had an arrow takes your turn (this needs to be added to the rule doc, because it is true.)
• Run multiple devices by spending time with a room card (this is a cool ability that should probably be possible. It seems like more room cards should be available so that ones with these abilities should be possible.)
• Retooling is hard (this was a complaint - I sort of like that it is hard, so I am not super excited to change this. Perhaps, though there should be a room that allows you to tuck a part in the leftmost position of the right side of the device.)
• There is no reason to build multiple devices (This is probably the biggest problem with the new game - the basic rules removed one constraint - the need to gain specific energies in order to build your economy up.)
• Run all your devices as one action (This was a suggested way to make multiple small devices more valuable to create relative to one large device.)
• Minions required for actions- refresh them to regain ability to use them (they wanted every action to cost a minion because once you had the minions, you didn't really do much with them. The guy that did this had built a device that produced way too much time, so it makes sense that he felt that minions didn't really move around that much.)
• Add more core cards to a device make more cards that have effects doubled/multiplied (This is the first time that someone that wanted bigger devices also had a reasonable way to do it. Basically, a player may tuck another core card to the right of a device to make the device require a second minion, and multiply another output card by the second core's level.)
• Devices can be in a room to operate that room s ability (some abilities require devices to run them.)
• Room that claims extra cards from the heap (as an ability - claim 2 or more cards, perhaps paying to get them?)
• Rooms that reduce cost of rooms (as a passive ability.)
• Diminishing returns on later cards in machine (this was a way to make leveling up machines more powerful, and make machines have a maximum size.)
• Combine this idea with tuck more core cards (to make devices unlimited in size again.)
• Hybrid output types (rotate a tucked card 90 degrees to make an either/or part of your device. It could serve as a branching point in the device, it should cost more when calculating balance).
• Market for energy trades (so that a player can gain an otherwise inaccessible energy.)
• 2:1 energy trades once per turn
• The rule to prevent a player from taking all of the energy is broken. Fix it.

Here is the notes from the second game:

• Prisoners dilemma is too powerful (it should be 2 energy of your choice, not 3)
• Singularity is too weak (it cripples your economy. Perhaps make it trap your mad scientist some way, so that you always need to pay a time to get him off if you ever use him).
• Colors on rooms shouldn't match always (ever? This is a really good point.)

Now, the plans that I have in the immediate future:

• Name in both sides on part.
• Return all active workers to your mat
• Any ability that had an arrow takes your turn
• New room abilities:
• Run multiple devices by spending time.
• Retool a device by spending energy
• Tuck another core card to a device by spending energy
• Claim 2 (or *) cards from the heap by spending energy
• Reduce all future rooms cost by 1 energy of a specific color.
• Tuck a splitter by spending energy (the hybrid idea above)
• Trade 1 for 1 energy.
• Reduce prisoners dilemma to 2
• Improve singularity
• Remove matching colors on rooms.
• Balance multiple devices against one large device.
• Fix the rule to prevent one player from getting all of the energy.
• Perhaps the answer to this is to make it so that if you want more than is available, then you take from the player with the most of that type of energy (and if it is yourself, tough nuggets).
• Make fewer basic actions, and make your mad scientist visit rooms to activate them.
• If you visit a room owned by another player, you pay them the energy.
• Mad scientists do not block other mad scientists.
• Make cards that always are available (to add the required actions)
• Those cards should cost a ton.

This is a bunch of changes, but I think that they all seem to fit together, and will probably be good for the game.

Things that I am considering for a later date.

• Diminishing returns on later cards in machine (this was a way to make leveling up machines more powerful, and make machines have a maximum size.)
• Combine this idea with tuck more core cards (to make devices unlimited in size again.)

Also, I finally finished my recent modifications to Micronesia. I played another game, and it still is not really well balanced. The latest changes are really cool, but a lot of things need to be revisited, and a lot of abilities need to be refined. I also think that perhaps I need more resource cards.

Is is possible that I could finish this game before the contest is over? Probably not.

I'm gonna try it, however.