Robo Rally-Turn 18 complete- REMUS WEST WINS!!!!!

[Isgrimnur]

Squash Bot (Remus West) wins the inaugural Robo Rally!!!

[LordMortis]

If you can make it happen, I'd love to play. This is a game that could take six months and still be fun if is could be done.

[Isgrimnur]

And for those in the know, I have the full game and all of the expansions from the Wizards of the Coast run, not the new AH. This means 6 boards from the full game, 6 for Armed and Dangerous, 3 for Grand Prix, 2 for Crash and Burn, and 3 for Radioactive for a total of 20 boards. (We won't discuss my dream of playing in a game that has all 20 in play...)

Here's the current (AH)rulebook in its entirety, which I not reviewed for changes yet.

[SpaceLord]

Oh man, Robo Rally is the bomb. Would be great!

[Grundbegriff]

Looks neat. How would we do it?

[Isgrimnur]

I would PM out the card sets each round, you would PM back the 5 registers you are using. We would certainly track the card priorities to track pushing, etc. board postings would be for smack talk, declarations of shut down, awarded options, etc.

To reference individual phases, I would post each movement and result against coordinates and could post pictures of the board at each phase. Since I have all the materials, I would basically set it up IRL and play it out in absentia the way PBM chess games used to be done.

[Grundbegriff]

Do you have scans of the board segments?

[Isgrimnur]

No, but I have a nifty camera. We can play in isometric view...

[Remus West]

How many players are you looking for?

[SpaceLord]

I know from running a board game on here, it's a lot of work. You could use [url=http:www.gliffy.com]Gliffy[/url] if you want a visual version of the game. It's free, and its Visio-like nature could allow you to move everyone around. I used it, and it was awesome. I just created a board, created icons for everyone, and moved them around. When a turn was done, I downloaded a copy of the jpg, and hosted it on photobucket.

An example, from several turns in. It also has the awesome ability to do image searches, and directly drop them into the image:

[Remus West]

I know from running a board game on here, it's a lot of work. You could use [url=http:www.gliffy.com]Gliffy[/url] if you want a visual version of the game. It's free, and its Visio-like nature could allow you to move everyone around. I used it, and it was awesome. I just created a board, created icons for everyone, and moved them around. When a turn was done, I downloaded a copy of the jpg, and hosted it on photobucket.

An example, from several turns in. It also has the awesome ability to do image searches, and directly drop them into the image:

Fun game not playing anymore.

[SpaceLord]

Sorry, Remus. I'm not the greatest person at bookkeeping, and each turn took a while on my end. And I lost my job and moved 1000 miles away during the game.

[Isgrimnur]

The game is for up to 8. The new rules have a launching bay, but I like the old set where everyone starts from the same space. Makes the early game mayhem that much more fun.

I suppose since the cards are secret, I would run rather than play. I imagine it will be enough to keep me entertained pulling the strings and watching the fun.

Gliffy looks cool, but a fair amount of work for this game. We're talking 20 boards with a 12*12 grid. 144 icons per board, 2,880 separate spots to drop for all. I can see it working much better for more traditional board games.

What I can imagine for pieces is that once I have the board pictures, I can just use icons to drop over positions so that it shows up better on the photos. Like I said, I'll keep it set up IRL anyway. For tokens, each person could submit a square graphic to use. As long as they have a definitive orientation, that would work fine. I can certainly re-size as needed for the viewpoint (as constrained by the flash, of course).

Time-wise, I can see running 5-7 turns a week. With a daily deadline, I can run the turns when I get home in the evening and push out the new cards shortly thereafter. Heck, with a bit of planning, I could have several hands pre-dealt and just remove whatever cards are needed based on damage counts.

[SpaceLord]

The game is for up to 8. The new rules have a launching bay, but I like the old set where everyone starts from the same space. Makes the early game mayhem that much more fun.

I suppose since the cards are secret, I would run rather than play. I imagine it would be enough to keep me entertained pulling the strings and watching the fun.

Oh man, I really enjoyed running Arkham. And it lends itself to actually playing *and* running. Since I don't believe I have seen Trikane around lately, if I ever did get the band back together, I would probably play his character.

[Remus West]

Sorry, Remus. I'm not the greatest person at bookkeeping, and each turn took a while on my end. And I lost my job and moved 1000 miles away during the game.

Thus the wink. I knew you had more (much more) important things going on than running that game.

[Isgrimnur]

List moved to initial post.

Also, once the game gets going, piece identification will be easy, since it's only in the opening moves that any two people can be in the same space.

[stessier]

I still have to read all those rules, but as of now, IN.

[The Meal]

This is a board game I'd love to play, but I fear my online time is going to evaporate in the months ahead.

Thanks for the offer, and I hope I'll be able to pop in every now and then to eavesdrop.

[Grundbegriff]

Also, once the game gets going, piece identification will be easy, since it's only in the opening moves that any two people can be in the same space.

That's probably why the new rules allow different starting points in the staging dock. Otherwise, it's unfair to the folks who come later in the sequence; they're crowded out by the folks who came before.

[Isgrimnur]

Also, once the game gets going, piece identification will be easy, since it's only in the opening moves that any two people can be in the same space.

That's probably why the new rules allow different starting points in the staging dock. Otherwise, it's unfair to the folks who come later in the sequence; they're crowded out by the folks who came before.

Actually, the first round, everyone is "virtual" and there is no interaction between players until everyone is on their own slot. So for the first round, the card priorities mean nothing. And if two or more players end on the same spot, they stay virtual through the next turn as well.

[Grundbegriff]

Also, once the game gets going, piece identification will be easy, since it's only in the opening moves that any two people can be in the same space.

That's probably why the new rules allow different starting points in the staging dock. Otherwise, it's unfair to the folks who come later in the sequence; they're crowded out by the folks who came before.

Actually, the first round, everyone is "virtual" and there is no interaction between players until everyone is on their own slot. So for the first round, the card priorities mean nothing. And if two or more players end on the same spot, they stay virtual through the next turn as well.

How clunky. Hard things should be hard; vaporous ones vaporous.

[Isgrimnur]

Probably why they went to the launch bay boards, but then that comes with an advantage for some players, as they may be closer to the first flag or have an easier path. Starting from the same location ensures fairness at the start. While I don't always agree that a fair start is necessary, I do believe that in this game, it works out better for everyone.

Above are the full set of boards from the original releases. Again, I own them all. The difficulty ramps up as you go down the list, adding more and different board elements. I can put both decks of option cards will be in play and I can scan those and post them into the threads, since they are public knowledge.

Given the possible difference in levels of experience, I figure starting with four of the original 6 boards in a 2*2 configuration and using only the original deck of option cards. That way, things will start out at a reasonable level of difficulty. As you progress down the list of boards, you start adding even more elements, more rules, more freaky weapons, and the difficulty level for the players (and administrator) ramp up quickly.

*Edit - after review, some of the options are conditional in their activation, considered run-time decisions and optional weapons. This would mean that there would need to be decisions made by some players after each phase. This would of course, slow things down once these options are awarded. This raises the question of whether to play with them for the sake of accuracy or without them for the sake of speed.

[Grundbegriff]

You may be right about the fairness issue. I've never played (nor heard of) the game, so my opinions on what's fair are not strong.

Your idea about starting simple is good.

We're all experienced gamers, even if not in relation to this game, so my first instinct is to suppose that special powerups wouldn't really slow the pace too much, and would add interest to the game.

Any chance you could take higher resolution snaps of the 4 boards we'd use? I'm having trouble making out the detail on that overview from bgg.com.

[Isgrimnur]

Click for bigger.

[redacted]

[Grundbegriff]

Perfect. Thanks!

[mipe]

I could come, but 1a), I live in Europe, 1B) I have never heard of the whole game, and know nothing about it (this part gets erased when I fully read the rulez )

Isn't the game on the forums/some other place? Only thing seems that because I'm from Europe, My clock is 8-12 hours after yours, so when you start playing, I have already gone to sleep :/

[Isgrimnur]

I expect to basically run 24 hours between turns/phases that need attention. While I may be able to participate in a game from work, running something like this from there would be out completely. A full day window would give everyone an opportunity to respond in a timely manner at their leisure. If you'd like a slot, I'd be glad to have you.

I would basically run out the results/cards after work each evening, possibly making a full turn (5 phases) barring any conditional actions such as the option cards that I mention above. These are things such as using a different weapon, which I suppose could be made a pre-turn declaration, but others are on the fly movement mods (back 2 instead of back 1, move 4 rather than move 3, etc.).

Once enough options are distributed, it could easily slow to one movement per day with the original rules as I wait for responses, so the game would be fairly slow-paced. I can see it getting to the point as the game progresses where cards go out on Friday, wait for Monday to run phase 1, and it taking to Friday to get to the end of phase 5. But to start, it should be easy to run a full turn as quickly as every day. We can certainly slow it down if needed. So in the later stages, someone with no conditional options could easily post their moves by Monday and have no need to check back until the end of the week.

[stessier]

Just finished the rules. Sounds like a lot of fun!

I have a question though. In the map below, if the upper left hand square is A1 with the Columns being A-L and the Rows being 1-12, what are the symbols in I6 and I7? They look like bumpers and have the numbers 1,3,5 in I6 and 2,4 in I7. I didn't see that explained anywhere.

Click for bigger.

Also, have you thought about how you are going to display all the information for each turn? OO doesn't have tables. Have you thought about using Google Docs spreadsheet (for the registers and options and so forth)? Then again, I've never played before, so maybe you only need to know the current card being played in which case it is pretty easy to do here.

[mipe]

Oh well.. I think I could.. But I would prefer to do it on OO :/ I already am too late on Axis & allies for my bad memory of checking E-mails... But I could be in...

PS. I didn't see it clearly on the rules, but if you wait on the conveyour (sp?) belt, how many moves you take?

[Grundbegriff]

PS. I didn't see it clearly on the rules, but if you wait on the conveyour (sp?) belt, how many moves you take?

The best way to learn the basics is to watch the animations and play the demo by following the link in the first post. I did that, and found it helpful.

[Isgrimnur]

stessier: Those are indeed bumpers that trigger on the numbered phases.

mipe: I would do it through OO PMs to keep it contained on the boards.

As for the board elements, the blue hollow belts are express and move 2 per phase, the red solid are normal and move one per phase. Once phase movement is complete, the board elements move followed by the laser fire

1. Express belts move 1 square
2. All belts move 1 square (2nd for express, 1st for normal)
3. pushers activate, moving robots one square over if open
4. Gears turn
5. Crushers activate (the round elements on Cannery Row on columns E and G)
6. Resolve board and robot laser/weapon firing

[Isgrimnur]

A quick note about movement card priorities (pending verification):

Movement cards always take priority over rotation. As such, I will not be providing priorities for these cards.

Higher movements take precedence over lower. A Move 3 will always be executed prior to a Move 2 > Move 1 > Back Up (pending verification)

Once I have the opportunity to review the cards this evening, I will verify the above as well as post the ranges of priorities for each card for informed decision-making.

If you know of anyone else who might be interested in filling the last two slots, please go recruit them.

[Chaosraven]

Basic synopsis:

you control a robot by programming its moves based on available cards
damage reduces your card pool (hand) to choose from
Some spaces on the board do things

One player nudging you a single space during the turn will wreck your whole plan

you try to touch the flags (in order)

it's an awesome game

So for the most part, you're turning in your entire "turn" and it gets played out by Card Priority and resolution of Move and Shoot.

[Isgrimnur]

You up for it, CR?

[Chaosraven]

You up for it, CR?

Wish I could commit to a daily order and the chance to review the board, but I am stuck in a 15 day stretch of odd shifts and extra hours (only got to hang out from 1am to 5am over the weekend).

Slower pace would suit me better but shouldn't drag others down if they can do the day to day upkeep.

I'll cross my fingers that you can't get this going for 2 weeks

[srdaniel]

1) Are you playing with wrenchs or any expansion packs?
2) What happens if someone misses a day/turn, do they play the same register sequence or nothing at all?
3) Are you full on players?

[Isgrimnur]

We're going to start with the initial set only for my first run. Wrenches are to standard rules. One to heal, two to heal or get an option.

Missed turn will follow the rules under time limits, which is 5 cards dealt out of the hand at random.

I think I may check for three turns a week to start, giving a 48 hour turnaround time to allow ample opportnity for check-ins. If things need adjustment after that in either direction, we can certainly discuss it.

We've got two slots. One's yours if you want it.

[srdaniel]

Count me in.

[Shinjin]

Me! Pick me!

I haven't played this game for probably 10 years and remembering having a blast with this. Going to have to review the ruleset. Maybe dig out my own copy of the game + Armed & Dangerous...

[Isgrimnur]

Count me in.

Done.