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Author Topic: Distant Colony v3 - Boardgame  (Read 22397 times)

Mephansteras

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Distant Colony v3 - Boardgame
« on: December 02, 2016, 12:33:07 am »

A good while back I did a Forum version of a boardgame I'm working on. I finally dusted it off recently and starting working on it again, and I'd like to try out another Forum game. The last two runs were quite helpful!

Game 1
Game 2

I've done a bit more tweaking and streamlining to the game which I think will help a good bit. Especially since I've removed the rather clunky Turn Order mechanics so everything is just Phase Based now and people don't have to wait on each other to decide stuff as much.

I'm still working on tweaking the write-ups a bit for forum play, but I figured I'd at least get the ball rolling and see how many people would be interested.

The game can hold up to six people.

Players

  • hector13
  • S34N1C
  • Kashyyk
  • Tiruin
  • Gwolfski
  • Felissan - Dropped for inactivity
  • Roboson - Dropped for inactivity

Reserve:
VoidSlayer





Space Station
Colonist Pool: 54
VP Pool: 81
(Dropped pools down to 6 player levels)

Trade Environment: War
  Food              Costs 3 and Buys for 2     
  Basic Raw         Costs 4 and Buys for 3     
  Rare Raw          Costs 6 and Buys for 5     
  Basic Goods       Costs 6 and Buys for 5     
  Rare Goods        Costs 8 and Buys for 7     
  Machinery          Costs 8 and Buys for 7     
  Soldier                               Buys for 4VP
  Officer           Costs 6VP and Buys for 5VP




hector13
VPs: 1
Temporary Housing: 2 Unskilled, 1 Expert
Military Housing: 0/2
Wealth: 0
Resources: 7 food, 2 basic goods, 2 rare goods, 2 machinery
Colony Cards: 0
Warehouse: 13/15
Size: 8/15
Colonial Center - 1 Unskilled
Farm Complex  - 2 Unskilled
Farm Complex - 2 unskilled
Rare Harvester - 1 Skilled
Warehouse Complex


S34N1C
VPs: 0
Temporary Housing: 3 Unskilled
Military Housing: 0/2
Wealth: 5
Resources: 3 Machinery, 1 Basic Good
Colony Cards: 1
Warehouse: 4/5
Size: 7/15
Colonial Center - 1 Skilled
Farm - 1 Unskilled
Farm - 1 Unskilled
Harvester - 1 Unskilled
Basic Goods Factory - 1 Unskilled
Warehouse Complex


Kashyyk
VPs: 0
Temporary Housing: 2 Unskilled
Military Housing: 0/2
Wealth: 11
Resources: 4 Basic Goods, 1 Rare Goods
Colony Cards: 1
Warehouse: 4/5
Size: 7/15
Colonial Center - 1 Unskilled
Farm - 1 Unskilled
Farm - 1 Unskilled
Rare Harvester - 1 Skilled
Market - 1 Unskilled
Market - 1 Unskilled
Rare Goods Factory - 1 Skilled


Tiruin
VPs: 2
Temporary Housing: 2 Experts
Military Housing: 0/2
Wealth: 4
Resources: 1 Machinery, 1 Food
Colony Cards: 3
Warehouse: 7/10
Size: 9/15
Colonial Center - 1 Skilled
Farm - 1 Unskilled
Farm Complex - 2 Unskilled
University - None
Goods Factory - 1 Unskilled
Warehouse
Laboratory Complex - None


Gwolfski
VPs: 2
Temporary Housing: 3 Unskilled
Military Housing: 0/2
Wealth: 10
Resources: 1 Basic Raw Resource, 3 Basic Goods
Colony Cards: 1
Warehouse: 4/5
Size: 5/15
Colonial Center - 1 Expert
Farm - 1 Unskilled
Farm - 1 Unskilled
Harvester - 1 Unskilled
Basic Goods Factory - 1 Unskilled


Spoiler: Dropped (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: June 15, 2017, 10:36:12 am by Mephansteras »
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Mephansteras

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Re: Distant Colony v3 - Boardgame - Interest Check
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2016, 12:34:29 am »

Distant Colony is a game of settlement building. Colonists from the home worlds will arrive on a regular basis, as will trade ships looking to buy and sell raw materials and goods. On the planet itself your settlements will grow as you add colonists, build buildings, and go from a tiny subsistence center to a thriving city.

Your Goal is to have the most Victory Points at the end of the game. You gain victory points from certain buildings throughout the game as well as from the buildings you have staffed at the end of the game.

The Game will end when all Available Colonists have been used, all available VPs have been used, or a player has completely filled all of the space in their Settlement. Once a game ending condition is met, the Round will go through to its completion and then game will then end.

The game is split up into Rounds. Every round each player will secretly choose one of the six Phases that they want to have happen that turn and PM me their choice. Once all players have chosen, I will start the Round. All of the phases chosen by the players will happen that round, with the players who chose a given phase getting an advantage during that phase.

Phases

The Six Phases are as follows:
  • Survey: Alien planets have a great deal of data that can be gathered on them and sold, generating Wealth.
  • Colonization: Colonists from the home world arrive
  • Build: Each Player may construct a new facility in their settlement
  • Produce: Facilities produce resources, goods, wealth, or Victory points
  • Trade: Players may buy and sell goods with the trade fleets that visit the planet
  • Organization: Players my reorganize where their colonists are working

The Phases happen in order, and are done simultaneously. A full breakdown of the phases and what they do will be presented later.

Players may Trade amongst themselves freely, regardless of Phase. Wealth, Resources, and Colonists may all be traded.

Colonists

There are four kinds of Civilian Colonists: Unskilled, Skilled, Expert, and Criminal.

Unskilled can only work on the more basic jobs of the colony. They are abundant and make up the majority of colonists that will be arriving.
Skilled can perform most jobs on the colony and are required for some of the more advanced jobs. They are more difficult to acquire than the Unskilled colonists.
Experts can perform nearly any job on the colony and are required for the most advanced jobs. They are the most expensive to acquire.
Criminals are, for the most part, simply a drain on your resources and cannot be assigned to work in the majority of buildings. There is, however, a small Wealth incentive to taking them on.

There are also two kinds of Military Colonists: Soldiers and Officers
  Unlike Civilian Colonists, Military cannot be kept in Temporary Housing. Your colony starts with 2 open Military slots, and you can build Military Housing to hold additional Military Colonists.

Resources

There are 6 types of Resources in the game: Food, Basic Raw Resources, Rare Raw Resources, Basic Goods, Rare Goods, and Machinery.

Resources are physical items that take up space, and therefore must be stored. They are also physically bought and sold to Traders and can be traded between players. Resources are fairly expensive to ship in, so the colonies must produce much of what they need themselves.

Food: The most common resource produced by any settlement, and also the most vital. Without food, no other work on the colony can get done.
Basic Raw Resources: Wood, Metals, Silicates, Gases, and the like. Useless by themselves, but can be refined into Basic Goods.
Rare Raw Resources: Precious Metals, Rare Earth Elements, Radioactives, and the like. Useless by themselves, but can be refined into Rare Goods.
Basic Goods: Everything from Building materials to Furniture to Office Supplies. They represent the common materials and items needed for civilized life and are needed to Build buildings or Machinery.
Rare Goods: Luxury Goods, Advanced Circuitry, and other components needed for a higher standard of living or advanced manufacturing. They are needed for a few buildings.
Machinery: From farm equipment to forklifts, Machinery presses, and electronics, Machinery make all Industry work. They are required for many buildings.

Buildings

There are six different category of Buildings: Colonial Infrastructure, Farming, Harvesting, Manufacturing, Scientific, and Military.

Colonial Infrastructure includes your starting Colonial Center, Warehouses, Universities, Markets, Resorts, and Prisons.
Farms provide food for the colony. There are basic Farms, large Industrial Farms, and specialized Xeno Farms to cultivate alien life forms for study.
Harvesters gather the raw resources of the planet. There are basic Harvesters, large Harvester Complexes, and advanced Rare Harvesters to extract Rare resources.
Manufacturing buildings produce Goods or Machinery. There are basic Goods Factories and Machinery Factories, large Goods Factory Complexes and Machinery Factory Complexes, and specialized Rare Goods Factories.
Scientific Buildings produce Victory Points. There are basic Laboratories and large Laboratory complexes.
Military Buildings are used to train civilians into Soldiers and Officers. These are worth Victory Points when shipped off planet.

All buildings that have Staff will only work if their Staff is fed during the phase that the building is used.

Buildings also have a Size, generally 1 or 2. You have 15 total spaces in your Settlement available. One is already used by your Colony Center and one more by your starting Farm, leaving you 13 spaces to use during the game.

Spoiler: Buildings List (click to show/hide)

Wealth
Wealth is used as a general trade medium. Resources are bought and sold with wealth, and it can be traded amongst players.


Phases: Detail
Survey
  Basic Effect: Each player gains 1 Wealth
  Played Effect: You gain 2 Wealth instead of 1

Colonization
  Basic Effect: Each player takes 1 available Unskilled Colonist
  Played Effect: In addition to the Unskilled you gain from the phase, you may also acquire a second Colonist of any type. Criminals provide 1 Wealth, Unskilled are free, Skilled cost 1 Wealth, and Experts cost 2 Wealth
  Note: Colonists go into 'Temporary Housing' during this phase, not assigned to buildings.

Build
  Basic Effect: Each player may build one single-space size building, paying the appropriate costs to do so, and staff it immediately. If the building can hold more than one colonist, you may staff it to full capacity. Staff may come from Temporary Housing or other buildings, but colonists taken from buildings are not replaced.
  Played Effect: You may Build and Staff one additional single-space size building this Phase OR build a Complex (2+ space building).

Production
  Basic Effect: Each player may use any buildings with a Production Action (Farms produce food, Factories convert raw resources to good, etc.). They may be used in any order the player wishes.
  Played Effect: One colonist you activate this turn is Free (does not cost Food). Note this is Colonist, not Building, so additional Staff still require Food.
 
Spoiler: Production Example (click to show/hide)

Trade
  Basic Effect: Each player trades with the Station, buying and selling items in any order. In addition, Soldiers and Officers may be traded to and from the Station for VPs. You may not go below 0 VP through trading.
  Played Effect: You may look at the next two Trade Environments prior to Trading.

Spoiler: Trade Environments (click to show/hide)

Organization
  Basic Effect: Each player may reorganize their colonists, moving them as needed between buildings and temporary housing. All building restrictions must still be met.
  Played Effect: In addition to reorganizing colonists you get to draw a Colony Card.


Colony Cards: These are single-use cards that give the person playing that card a special bonus or action that round.

Spoiler: Possible Colony Cards (click to show/hide)



End Game Scoring

At the end of the game, each player tallies up the following to get their final score:
   All VPs gained from Staffed Buildings at the end of the game. Unstaffed buildings only give VP if they do not take staff (ex, Warehouse)
   All VPs gained during the game from Production
   -1 VP per unemployed Colonist, except Criminals, Soldiers, and Officers
   -2 VP per unemployed Criminal
   0 VP per unemployed Soldier and Officer
   1 VP for every 10 Wealth, rounded down. Convert all remaining Resources to their Wealth sell value using the Standard Trade Environment before doing this step.




Turn Information:

We will start each turn by having everyone PM me their Phase Choices for the round. Once all phase choices are in, I will reveal the Phases for the round and people can then post their turns. In general, unless your actions effect someone else or are effected by what other people do you are free to post your without waiting on anyone. You are welcome to PM your Phase choice to me early if you know what it will be.

Turn Post:
  Please post your Turn in the following format. This will make it much easier for me to process the turns without errors. You may omit any Phases not occurring this turn.

Survey: Wealth gained, Resource Change (if you have a Survey Station)
Colonisation: Colonist(s) claimed. Wealth changed
Build: Building(s) built
Production:
   Farms: +X Food
   Harvesters: -x Food, +x Raw
   Factories: -x Food, -x Raw, +x Goods/Machinery
        Labs: -x Food, +x VP
        Others: As necessary (- Food, Colonist changes, etc)
Trade: +/- x Resources, +/- x Wealth
Organization: Colonist moves

Player Trade:  X Resources/Wealth/Colonists To/From Player

Net: +/- Resources, +/- Wealth, +/- Colonists, +/- VP
« Last Edit: December 16, 2016, 06:03:05 pm by Mephansteras »
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hector13

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Re: Distant Colony v3 - Boardgame - Interest Check
« Reply #2 on: December 02, 2016, 01:01:39 pm »

I think I'm interested in this... reading through the other games just now.
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S34N1C

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Re: Distant Colony v3 - Boardgame - Interest Check
« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2016, 01:14:53 pm »

I might be interested
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Roboson

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Re: Distant Colony v3 - Boardgame - Interest Check
« Reply #4 on: December 02, 2016, 01:17:16 pm »

I am interested.
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Mephansteras

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Re: Distant Colony v3 - Boardgame - Interest Check
« Reply #5 on: December 02, 2016, 02:39:17 pm »

Excellent!

I've got the rules up in the second post now.

I definitely suggest reading at least the 2nd game to get a feel for how everything works. However, there are a few significant changes this time around.

1) Turn Order is gone! It was only used in two places and felt really clunky, so I've found ways to streamline that out.
  Because of this, a few things changed.
    a) Colonists are no longer randomly picked. Instead, everyone gets Unskilled by default and whoever played Colonize can purchase a second colonist of a specific type
    b) Trade is no longer restricted. You can buy and sell to the External markets as much as you'd like. Contracts are gone, and instead whoever plays Trade now gets to look at the next two Trade Environments so they can plan more effectively.
    c) First player is no longer a thing. Instead, whoever plays Organize gets to draw one of the new Colony Cards.

2) Colony Cards are now in the game. These single-use cards give you a bonus when you play them. Everyone will start with 1 and can get more play playing the Organize phase.

3) Military colonists now require specific Housing. Your colony starts with 2 slots and you can get more by building Military Housing. If you do not have available space you will not be able to train more Military until space becomes available.
« Last Edit: December 02, 2016, 02:55:59 pm by Mephansteras »
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Kashyyk

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Re: Distant Colony v3 - Boardgame - [SIGNUPS 3/6]
« Reply #6 on: December 03, 2016, 05:15:07 am »

I'd like to play this again.

One question, the "recycle" colony card. Does it provide a rare or a basic raw?
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Tiruin

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Re: Distant Colony v3 - Boardgame - [SIGNUPS 3/6]
« Reply #7 on: December 03, 2016, 05:17:07 am »

Newbie with interest here :D Please In me!

About the:
Quote
The Phases happen in order, and are done simultaneously.
Do we have a time limit per phase if, say, someone is busy?
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Felissan

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Re: Distant Colony v3 - Boardgame - [SIGNUPS 3/6]
« Reply #8 on: December 03, 2016, 08:13:00 am »

I'll read the rules when I'm done with a train ride, can a spot be kept for me?
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Gwolfski

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Re: Distant Colony v3 - Boardgame - [SIGNUPS 3/6]
« Reply #9 on: December 03, 2016, 08:49:42 am »

I'm interested. gonna read the rules now.
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Mephansteras

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Re: Distant Colony v3 - Boardgame - [SIGNUPS 3/6]
« Reply #10 on: December 03, 2016, 11:22:33 am »

I'd like to play this again.

One question, the "recycle" colony card. Does it provide a rare or a basic raw?

Basic Raw, sorry. I'll clarify that in the rules.

Newbie with interest here :D Please In me!

About the:
Quote
The Phases happen in order, and are done simultaneously.
Do we have a time limit per phase if, say, someone is busy?

Um...not a hard limit per se. And for the most part you can just sort of list out everything in one post. Since the primary interaction between players is trades (which can happen at any time) we don't need to wait on everyone to do their Colonize before people move on to Build or whatever. The Phases-in-Order is more important per person, really. You can't do Production and then Build or anything like that.

There will be some cases when we'll have to wait for someone to reply or do something, or people may need to backtrack a little bit based on what someone else does, but it'll be rare. And since the game moves at a pretty slow pace on the forums you can plan out a few turns in advance if you know you'll be busy and just send me sort of an 'expected game plan' if you don't think you'll be able to post for a bit.


Ok, that is 7 people interested!

I suppose there is no reason I can't bump up the player count slightly, since the forum version is going to be a slowly paced affair anyways.

Everyone read over the rules and please confirm that you want in by Monday. We'll start the game then.
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Felissan

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Re: Distant Colony v3 - Boardgame - [SIGNUPS 7/6]
« Reply #11 on: December 03, 2016, 12:41:59 pm »

Alright, I'm done reading.

Complexes produce 2/3 resources if they're staffed with 1/2 colonists, right? And if a complex only has one colonist in it by the endgame, does it still count towards the VP total?
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Mephansteras

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Re: Distant Colony v3 - Boardgame - [SIGNUPS 7/6]
« Reply #12 on: December 03, 2016, 12:57:30 pm »

Correct.  And, yes, as long as a building is staffed, even if not fully, it counts towards end VPs.
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hector13

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Re: Distant Colony v3 - Boardgame - [SIGNUPS 7/6]
« Reply #13 on: December 03, 2016, 01:30:59 pm »

I'm confirming. I'll read the rules and such tomorrow.
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VoidSlayer

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Re: Distant Colony v3 - Boardgame - [SIGNUPS 7/6]
« Reply #14 on: December 03, 2016, 02:14:00 pm »

I'll jump in as a vulturereserve, mostly posting to watch.
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