Two posts in a week? What's the world coming to? :)
This is an idea that came out of a recent online playtest I did. One of the players commented that the objective system I had before, where certain colors of ship sections would get boosts to their victory points, felt like a wasted opportunity. As in, while the objectives before accomplished the purpose of giving the player some sort of direction at the beginning of the game, there wasn't actually all that much incentive there; under some circumstances the players could simply ignore the point value of the objectives and just pursue whatever scores them the most on the map.
Now, in way that makes sense. I originally designed the objectives to be simple to understand, and to provide the players with a nudge in a particular direction, one that they could ignore if the so chose. But, after thinking it over a lot, I realize that the player had a point; there was an opportunity to do something more interesting.
And so, here is the result.
There are two parts to this new mechanic. The four colored boxes on the left correspond to the ship section colors. The number of checks in each box denotes the number of ship sections of that color that the game wants you to repair. Each time you repair a section of one of those colors, you are considered to have 'scored' an objective, up to the number of checkmarks on that color.
For each objective you score, you gain a mark on the track on the right side. This has two effects: this gives you victory points at the end of the game (listed below the track), and unlocks the ability buttons in the gold area below. Each padlock gives you the ability to use one of the buttons, but the buttons are not in any order; each padlock lets you use any one of the three buttons, still subject to the rule that you can't press a button more than once. (So with three padlocks checked off, you can use all three abilities one time each, but you pick the order in which you use them.)
I haven't played this version with playtesters yet, but I have played it solo many times. This new version is significantly more challenging. Since you know how many of each color of section you're going for, it really forces you to plan out your possible routes through the ship at the start of the game. Of course, the colors of cubes you draw from the bag don't always align with what you need, so there's also the puzzle of trying to figure out how to accomplish your objectives with the resources you have. I think this take on it requires more strategic planning for the players.
Once big drawback is that I'm having trouble actually describing how the mechanic works to other people. And one of the rules I've heard about game design is that if you can't properly explain a mechanic to the players, then it shouldn't be in your game. (If you understood the paragraph above that describes how many of what section colors you should repair, then congratulations! It doesn't seem like everyone gets it on the first try.) I hope it's just a matter of finding the right wording and sticking to it, but I think that will take some work and maybe a little bit of luck.
Regardless, I'm happy with this new direction for the game. The points need balancing, and the abilities might change a little, but overall I think it's an improvement.
This is an idea that came out of a recent online playtest I did. One of the players commented that the objective system I had before, where certain colors of ship sections would get boosts to their victory points, felt like a wasted opportunity. As in, while the objectives before accomplished the purpose of giving the player some sort of direction at the beginning of the game, there wasn't actually all that much incentive there; under some circumstances the players could simply ignore the point value of the objectives and just pursue whatever scores them the most on the map.
Now, in way that makes sense. I originally designed the objectives to be simple to understand, and to provide the players with a nudge in a particular direction, one that they could ignore if the so chose. But, after thinking it over a lot, I realize that the player had a point; there was an opportunity to do something more interesting.
And so, here is the result.
There are two parts to this new mechanic. The four colored boxes on the left correspond to the ship section colors. The number of checks in each box denotes the number of ship sections of that color that the game wants you to repair. Each time you repair a section of one of those colors, you are considered to have 'scored' an objective, up to the number of checkmarks on that color.
For each objective you score, you gain a mark on the track on the right side. This has two effects: this gives you victory points at the end of the game (listed below the track), and unlocks the ability buttons in the gold area below. Each padlock gives you the ability to use one of the buttons, but the buttons are not in any order; each padlock lets you use any one of the three buttons, still subject to the rule that you can't press a button more than once. (So with three padlocks checked off, you can use all three abilities one time each, but you pick the order in which you use them.)
I haven't played this version with playtesters yet, but I have played it solo many times. This new version is significantly more challenging. Since you know how many of each color of section you're going for, it really forces you to plan out your possible routes through the ship at the start of the game. Of course, the colors of cubes you draw from the bag don't always align with what you need, so there's also the puzzle of trying to figure out how to accomplish your objectives with the resources you have. I think this take on it requires more strategic planning for the players.
Once big drawback is that I'm having trouble actually describing how the mechanic works to other people. And one of the rules I've heard about game design is that if you can't properly explain a mechanic to the players, then it shouldn't be in your game. (If you understood the paragraph above that describes how many of what section colors you should repair, then congratulations! It doesn't seem like everyone gets it on the first try.) I hope it's just a matter of finding the right wording and sticking to it, but I think that will take some work and maybe a little bit of luck.
Regardless, I'm happy with this new direction for the game. The points need balancing, and the abilities might change a little, but overall I think it's an improvement.
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