Colonial Boardgame Thread: Turn 3 Action 4 Begins

[Qantaga]

Qantaga will take a Loan, I suppose.

Yes, please.

[SpaceLord]

The adjacency bonus of +1 doesn't stack, right? No point in aiming for multiple adjacency?

Yes.

Yes, it stacks, or yes, it doesn't stack. Yes there's a point, or yes, there's no point?

You cannot receive more than a +1 for Adjacency.

[SpaceLord]

Vorret needs to decide where's he's going to Explore.

[Grundbegriff]

The adjacency bonus of +1 doesn't stack, right? No point in aiming for multiple adjacency?

Yes.

Yes, it stacks, or yes, it doesn't stack. Yes there's a point, or yes, there's no point?

You cannot receive more than a +1 for Adjacency.

So there's no point because there's just one point!

[Vorret]

The great nation of Spain will set foot in Africa and explore West Africa.

[SpaceLord]

The great nation of Spain will set foot in Africa and explore West Africa.

Difficulty - Navigation score + 1 for Adjancency
3-1 = Target of 2


Success! Spain gains 1 Prestige.

Vorret, you have two options:
1. Place a Merchant fleet in one of the two resource spaces(Black or Gold). This will drop you to one Fleet, meaning you will ship one less good to Market with the Merchant action.
2. Place a Treasury token in one of the two resource spaces. Also place an unrest token in the territory.

El Guapo, you can decide what you'd like to research.

[SpaceLord]

Once Vorret and El Guapo make decisions, we'll move on to Action 3. I'll have an updated spreadsheet as well.

[Vorret]

I'll place a merchant.

[SpaceLord]

I'll place a merchant.

On gold, or black?

[Vorret]

Gold.
The great nation of Spain is against slavery.

[El Guapo]

Bad move. You ALWAYS bet on black.

The great nation of Holland will spend 2 to improve their logistics. Now we have faster bicycles!

Also, one question: once someone explores a territory, that territory counts as 'explored' for everyone, right?

[El Guapo]

The great nation of Spain will set foot in Africa and explore West Africa.

Difficulty - Navigation score + 1 for Adjancency
3-1 = Target of 2


Success! Spain gains 1 Prestige.

Vorret, you have two options:
1. Place a Merchant fleet in one of the two resource spaces(Black or Gold). This will drop you to one Fleet, meaning you will ship one less good to Market with the Merchant action.
2. Place a Treasury token in one of the two resource spaces. Also place an unrest token in the territory.

El Guapo, you can decide what you'd like to research.

It doesn't matter for the outcome since he rolled a 4, but quick question: he got an adjacency bonus here? What is it adjacent to? I thought you had to have a resource token in an adjacent territory to get a bonus.

[SpaceLord]

He didn't get a bonus, so I didn't add +1. You must control an adjacent resource to get the bonus.

[SpaceLord]

Turn 1 Endeavor phase - Action 3:

Each player reveals:

Grundbegriff:
Explorer/Ambassador

SpaceLord:
Explorer/Ambassador

Qantaga:
Explorer/Ambassador

Vorret:
Viceroy/Rebel

El Guapo:
Explorer/Ambassador

AI Player:
Viceroy/Rebel

[El Guapo]

The great nation of Spain will set foot in Africa and explore West Africa.

Difficulty - Navigation score + 1 for Adjancency
3-1 = Target of 2

Gotcha. I took the "+1 for adjacency" part as saying that he might have been getting the bonus (it didn't show up in the die roll, but maybe you would've added it if needed).

[Grundbegriff]

I took it the same way, and was also confused.

What does the "-1" in "3-1 = Target of 2" refer to?

[Vorret]

Probably my attack bonus?

[Grundbegriff]

Probably my attack bonus?

Let's push the question back: why do you have an attack bonus?

I'm not contesting it; I just want to understand.

[Qantaga]

We'll let SpaceLord explain it, but my guess is:

West Africa's explore difficulty = 3
Vorret's Seafaring = 1

So 3 (West Africa difficulty) - 1 (Seafaring) = 2 means that he needs to roll a 2 or better to successfully explore West Africa. Obviously, a roll of 4 met that condition.

While SpaceLord listed the Adjancency bonus in the heading, he did not include it in the equation (which would have been 3 - 1 - 1 = 1 or better for a successful exploration).

[Grundbegriff]

Ah. I missed his purchase of Seafaring. I think I mistook his comment about 'having the idea first' as merely a joke.

All makes sense now. I'm going to go polish my astrolabe.

[El Guapo]

So everyone starts with seafaring 0 rather than seafaring 1, I take it?

[Grundbegriff]

So everyone starts with seafaring 0 rather than seafaring 1, I take it?

That appears to be the case, yes:

Code: Select all

Scales:
Seafaring: 00 01 02 03
Logistics: 01 02 03 04
Navy:      01 02 03 04
Economy:   02 04 06 10

[SpaceLord]

Ack, sorry. My attempt at being helpful only succeeded in confusing everyone.

If you look at the game board, the Seafaring track has spots marked 0,1,2 and 3. This is the bonus/reduction in Difficulty for Seafaring. I didn't include any adjacency bonus earlier because there wasn't one. So he did need a 2+ to succeed.

So Grund, where will you be Exploring?

[Grundbegriff]

Another note on money: Players can trade only Treasury during the game. Deals made for the future are not binding.

What does "trade only Treasury" reference? And what does your warning mean?

Is this in regard to a particular part of the rules, or to house rules?

[Grundbegriff]

I'll roll for the Levant, please.

[SpaceLord]

Another note on money: Players can trade only Treasury during the game. Deals made for the future are not binding.

What does "trade only Treasury" reference? And what does your warning mean?

Is this in regard to a particular part of the rules, or to house rules?

The rules, near the end, mention you can trade Treasury tokens. In the games I've played, I've told the players that if you and another player make a "loan" or extortion attempt, nothing prevents that from being reneged later.

[SpaceLord]

I'll roll for the Levant, please.

I've mentioned it before, but it probably got lost in the wall of text. The Levant is already Explored, as is Egypt. So you'll need to choose somewhere else.

[Grundbegriff]

Sorry.

Since the map shows an image of the famous Mechanical Turk Chess Player, I'll go for Arabia.

[SpaceLord]

Sorry.

Since the map shows an image of the famous Mechanical Turk Chess Player, I'll go for Arabia.

Difficulty of 4 - Sailing Progress of 1 gives a target number of 3:


Success! France gains 1 Prestige.

Grundbegriff, you have two options:
1. Place a Merchant fleet in one of the two resource spaces(Black or Gold). This will drop you to one Fleet, meaning you will ship one less good to Market with the Merchant action.
2. Place a Treasury token in one of the two resource spaces. Also place an unrest token in the territory.

[SpaceLord]

Strategy Note:

Grund could have tried for Barbary or Angola instead of Arabia. If he'd went for Angola, I'd moved into Barbary, getting an early Monopoly in Orange. Of course, I'd expect said Monopoly to vanish quickly, but it would cost any other player 1 spot on the Diplomacy track due to Monopoly breaking.

But I see that Vorret has a face-up Viceroy. I'd imagine he wants to add a token to West Africa's black Resource slot. Since I can't get a Monopoly on Orange now, and taking Barbary would drop me in Diplomacy, I'll risk an Explore in Angola:



Success! Portugal gains 1 Prestige.

I'll place 1 Fleet into Angola. I have a Monopoly in that resource now.

Target number needed was a 4, and I got a 6. All was not lost if I failed, however, because I have a Logistics of 2, and can automatically overtake a resource with a single token placed on it.

Now, Vorret has a dilemma. To found a colony in West Africa, he needs to control both Resources. If he takes over the Black Resource, he can get that Colony built later, but will drop down on the vital Diplomacy track. You can hate me, Vorret.

[SpaceLord]

Qantaga, it's on you. Where do you want to Explore today?

[Grundbegriff]

Strategy Note:

Grund could have tried for Barbary or Angola instead of Arabia. If he'd went for Angola, I'd moved into Barbary, getting an early Monopoly in Orange. Of course, I'd expect said Monopoly to vanish quickly, but it would cost any other player 1 spot on the Diplomacy track due to Monopoly breaking.

This was precisely my thinking in going for an orange resource. The next person to take an orange loses a step on the Diplomacy track, right?

[Qantaga]

England will send an exploration party to the West Indies.

[Grundbegriff]

Success! France gains 1 Prestige.
Grundbegriff, you have two options:
1. Place a Merchant fleet in one of the two resource spaces(Black or Gold). This will drop you to one Fleet, meaning you will ship one less good to Market with the Merchant action.

I believe there's only one resource in Arabia. I'll use a fleet to establish a trading post on coffee.

[Grundbegriff]

England will send an exploration party to the West Indies.

You'll need a 4. Ambitious!

[Qantaga]

England will send an exploration party to the West Indies.

You'll need a 4. Ambitious!

At the risk of showing my utter misunderstanding of the rules, what is it that adds +2 to the West Indies 3 difficulty? Ocean travel?

[Grundbegriff]

England will send an exploration party to the West Indies.

You'll need a 4. Ambitious!

At the risk of showing my utter misunderstanding of the rules, what is it that adds +2 to the West Indies 3 difficulty?

All nations in the Americas start out with +2 difficulty until someone pulls a Columbus. (Rules, p. 10)

FWIW, you correctly identified the easiest foothold, and your exact move is given as an illustration in the sidebar.

[Qantaga]

England will send an exploration party to the West Indies.

You'll need a 4. Ambitious!

At the risk of showing my utter misunderstanding of the rules, what is it that adds +2 to the West Indies 3 difficulty?

All nations in the Americas start out with +2 difficulty until someone pulls a Columbus. (Rules, p. 10)

FWIW, you correctly identified the easiest foothold, and your exact move is given as an illustration in the sidebar.

Ah, thanks for the explanation.

I'm nervous because of the fact that a 4, 6, and 6 have already been rolled, but at least it's not Remus rolling the dice.

[SpaceLord]

Strategy Note:

Grund could have tried for Barbary or Angola instead of Arabia. If he'd went for Angola, I'd moved into Barbary, getting an early Monopoly in Orange. Of course, I'd expect said Monopoly to vanish quickly, but it would cost any other player 1 spot on the Diplomacy track due to Monopoly breaking.

This was precisely my thinking in going for an orange resource. The next person to take an orange loses a step on the Diplomacy track, right?

Yes, you drop one step on Diplomacy any time you:

a)Break a Monopoly via taking a new Resource color that was previously controlled by only one other player
or
b)Take over another player's Resource via having more tokens in the stack.
(You cannot, however, lose 2 Diplomacy spots with one action)

[SpaceLord]

England will send an exploration party to the West Indies.

You'll need a 4. Ambitious!

At the risk of showing my utter misunderstanding of the rules, what is it that adds +2 to the West Indies 3 difficulty?

All nations in the Americas start out with +2 difficulty until someone pulls a Columbus. (Rules, p. 10)

FWIW, you correctly identified the easiest foothold, and your exact move is given as an illustration in the sidebar.

If you succeed, you'll not only have a Monopoly on Beige resources, you'll also get 2 Prestige. It'll also allow inroads into the Americas...for everyone.

If you want to make a different choice, go ahead. Notice that the EAST Indies have a lower difficulty than the West, and they are the only red Resource spot in the game. They'll also make the eventual Exploration of Australia and East Asia easier for you.