(no subject)
Aug. 13th, 2012 10:16 amJust a note that Kaleidoscope nominations are open. Kaleidoscope is a rare fandom fanwork exchange (a la Yuletide) for works by nonwhite creators featuring nonwhite characters. Last year was the challenge's first year, and I wrote fic for NK Jemisin's "The Effluent Engine" and received fic for Samuel Delany's Dhalgren. And had a lot of fun.
Note that unlike Yuletide, Kaleidoscope is a fanwork exchange, not a fanfiction exchange. You can fulfill your exchange obligation with a story, but also with a work of fanart, a short fanvideo, a podfic, and conceivably with other forms of fanwork. I intend to participate by writing fanfiction, but if writing is not your primary way of interacting with texts, there are other options available.
dark_agenda
Yesterday
freeradical42 got word that an event called "Biggest Group of People to Play a Variety of Board Games in a Park" was scheduled for yesterday afternoon, at a park in NYC. We went there, found nobody there, and played Thurn and Taxis: Power and Glory for a while. It was fun, though the game itself is I think ultimately unsatisfactory as an expansion. The new map is interesting, but the new rules it offers to replace the base game's carriage mechanic make the game slower, less resource-tight, and less punishing to tactical errors. And I say that despite the fact that I won reasonably easily.
My essential strategy was to play fast and aggressive, to close routes quickly even if it meant not going for the longest routes. This came from a recognition, initially subconscious and then increasingly conscious, that closing routes quickly carried several advantages: First, often building routes that covered multiple provinces and pushed me closer to the All-Provinces bonus tile also brought me closer to covering individual province bonus tiles, so that the strategy of trying to quickly build houses brought me constantly closer to multiple point sources. Additionally, being first to run out of houses put me in line for several other point sources- the bonus tile for finishing, the penalties for unused houses, etc... On the other hand, I closed myself out to some of the long-route bonuses, so it was a gamble based on a quick read of the board. I think for
freeradical42, the freedom and temptation the horse mechanism gave him to continue building ever-longer routes made him lose sight of the value of actually establishing houses. He chose to fish and fish for the city that would make his one route more valuable rather than closing his route and looking for other ways to reach those missing destinations. I think base game is more about tight resource management, and the expansion is more about speed and grabbing whenever possible the top tile on a stack. That speed and aggression matter in the base game, but the carriage mechanic and the constant risk of failing to complete a route make those at times secondary concerns. Also, Preusse being virtually impossible to complete makes doing all-provinces that much more important. I'd be stunned to see a game on that board where someone completed Preusse before all-provinces.
I'm typically a quiet player who tries to skate under the radar as much as possible. One of my best-played Puerto Rico games had me sitting quietly in the catbird's seat while
freeradical42 advanced the arguments that he thought would lead to him winning the game, but which I knew would really let me win because he didn't realize how well positioned I was to take advantage of his moves. In this Thurn and Taxis game I gave away my endgame about two turns early and still won. I like winning, but this was a little unsatisfying.
In the future, I'd like to see us play with the Power and Glory Northern Europe board and the base set rules. And I'd also like to acquire another set of postal houses and see if we can jury-rig a two-boarded game. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) there's only one point of contact between the two boards. I'm not sure how interesting the two boarded version would be, but it has to be worth a try. I don't understand why the expansion didn't come with postal houses.
Note that unlike Yuletide, Kaleidoscope is a fanwork exchange, not a fanfiction exchange. You can fulfill your exchange obligation with a story, but also with a work of fanart, a short fanvideo, a podfic, and conceivably with other forms of fanwork. I intend to participate by writing fanfiction, but if writing is not your primary way of interacting with texts, there are other options available.
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Yesterday
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My essential strategy was to play fast and aggressive, to close routes quickly even if it meant not going for the longest routes. This came from a recognition, initially subconscious and then increasingly conscious, that closing routes quickly carried several advantages: First, often building routes that covered multiple provinces and pushed me closer to the All-Provinces bonus tile also brought me closer to covering individual province bonus tiles, so that the strategy of trying to quickly build houses brought me constantly closer to multiple point sources. Additionally, being first to run out of houses put me in line for several other point sources- the bonus tile for finishing, the penalties for unused houses, etc... On the other hand, I closed myself out to some of the long-route bonuses, so it was a gamble based on a quick read of the board. I think for
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I'm typically a quiet player who tries to skate under the radar as much as possible. One of my best-played Puerto Rico games had me sitting quietly in the catbird's seat while
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
In the future, I'd like to see us play with the Power and Glory Northern Europe board and the base set rules. And I'd also like to acquire another set of postal houses and see if we can jury-rig a two-boarded game. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) there's only one point of contact between the two boards. I'm not sure how interesting the two boarded version would be, but it has to be worth a try. I don't understand why the expansion didn't come with postal houses.