4X: Rethinking

The possibilities of a 5th path bothered me, as I tried to come up with ideas that would stick.
Maybe a terraforming module could work, in which you could colonize more planet types as well as improve existing colonies came to mind (still need to do some serious thinking about the map.)
Another idea was to add a finance track, adding another form of currency to the map with it's own set of capabilities.

As I thought on this, another idea came to me which restructures research, in which colonies will produce major projects with long term effects, while ship research will allow you to use one-time effect. Or perhaps colonies and a player's ship could combine their effort to produce research.

Originally I had thought a player would be able to pick up at least one research card each turn, and once enough were collected, to be able to purchase a "super project" with game ending abilities (i.e. 5 construction + 5 research + 2 politics for a "fold space" card allowing you to move instantly anywhere on the map, even during combat.) with the reworked system, you might need 5 blue cubes, 3 green cubes and 7 coins to pick up a major card, less for minor.

4X: Paths to Victory

I would like each path to be supported by it's own research deck, to be mixed and matched. If I could have 5 of these paths, I could make correspond with a section of the player's ship, and adding another section as the bridge/life support, determine combat results with a die roll. I already talked about Combat, which could correspond with a fire control or gun bay section of the ship. With that disabled, a ship could no longer attack others, and its damage dealing cards would be ignored. It could still be attacked by others. Another path would be research/computers/information. This deck would allow a player to draw more cards from the decks, perhaps draw two, returning one to the bottom of the deck, the ability to choose an extra card from a different deck for the rest of the game, or drawing 5 cards from a single deck, keeping one and returning the rest in any order. Combat wise, a player could build smart weapons, which could modify the combat dice. I would have a politics deck, which will include cards allowing you to steal research from other players (as spies) or make allies to share technology, use their colonies to repair, or combine forces in combat. A construction deck to improve the sections of the player's ship and colonies. Again, this could have combat deck potential. (I could have a number of cards set aside, that would be added to the combat deck once a player uncovers the correct card.) Still thinking about my final deck.

4X: Combat System

I wanted to have a combat system different from the usual dice rolling I see in similar games, and having card based research naturally brought me to card based combat. Currently thinking of a system based on Donald X. Vaccarino's Dominion. A played would start with a basic hand, Say (x2) 1 damage dealing cards (Basic Laser) (x5) 1 damage preventing cards (Basic Shield) and (x3) Misses to foul up the hand. When facing another player, each will draw 5 and compare - lasers will deal damage, unless negated by a shield. Damage will be dealt both ways, and an attacker may regret his decision. The defender may choose to continue the attack, or may choose to disengage. Through research, better cards may be added to the deck, from pure damage dealing or prevention (advanced laser, advanced shield) as well as special effects, such as a tractor beam to prevent enemy disengagement or guided missiles to target specific systems on enemy ships (something I'll expand on in a future post) Combat may also be engaged against assets belonging to other players (colonies) or to the set up of the game. These could have a set power (i.e. deal 3 damage, counter 4) and the player would need to draw a hand able to defeat it to gain control. After hands have been drawn, they will be placed in a discard pile, and a new hand drawn from the player's deck during the next phase. The discard would be shuffled back into the deck whenever the player needs to draw more to complete a hand of 5 (or more, if he has picked up a card that lets him do so from the appropriate research stack.) A player be able to rearrange his or her deck at a friendly location, replacing cards he doesn't want (such as 'miss' cards) for those he has drawn from the combat research deck. I would need some play testing, but I assume limitations could help the game, such as only replacing 2 cards per turn while in a docking station, with research improving this statistic, or allowing to do so without docking. I think I need to give some more thought on disengaging, and whether an attacker can simply reengage when it is his turn again.

4X Board Game - First thoughts

I am a gamer. Video are my entertainment, inspiration, and I hope that someday soon I can make a career out of creating art for games. About a year ago I was introduced to Settlers of Catan, and I feel in love. It was such a different experience than the Monopolies, Trivial Pursuits and other Ameritrash and I started looking for more of these experiences wherever I went. Snakes and Lattes was practically the only thing I went out for when I last visited my family in Thornhill, ON for 10 days. As someone who enjoys these forms of entertainment so much, I have my own ideas on what I would like to experience, and rather than keep it to myself, I figured it couldn't hurt to write it somewhere, even if no one is likely to see it, judging from my main art blog with it's 19 subscribers. ;) The latest idea floating in my head is about translating the 4X in space computer game experience into a board game. Conquering space is nothing new to board games, and I've played a few: Eclipse, Ad Astra, Galactic Encounters and Star Trek: Fleet Commanders come to mind. None of these, or others I've heard of, have a satisfying research system (with Eclipse being the closest) so I started thinking on how I could do it. Down to business: I think cards would give me the best solution for research. There would be several stacks to choose from, representing different fields of research with a general idea of what advantages these cards would have for the rest of the game. The game would have different victory conditions, such as focusing on combat or research, and these could be mixed and matched to adapt to other players or the cards you have been dealt.