Tonight Sam and I had plans of writing, but at the same time, Sam had brought Ascending Empires with him. I was easily swayed to play the flicky game of intergalactical invasion. We set up, with it sitting snugly on my table and began well.
I thought it was quite evenly matched at first, comparing my spread of different tech levels to Sam's specialisation, but before long I discovered that his level four in grey technologies gave him effectively two goes to my one, and I saw him speed off into the distance. And when you're in space, "into the distance" is a very long way.
I think this was the first time that I've played when someone got level four grey so soon, since it rendered the game unplayable. By the end, I was grimly watching him fly about and then perform another action, leaving me largely trapped where I was. I can't see me playing Ascending Empires any time soon. Not now that I know it's busted.
Got a nice pun out of it, though.
I'm not sure I agree it's busted, but with two players the level four grey tech did seem an extraordinary advantage. As level three gives you 4 movement points, it was possible for me to launch, fly out and blow up Andrew's spaceship, then return to the same planet and land again. And then have another turn.
ReplyDeleteI think with 3 or 4 players there'd be more competition for planets for a start, and if one player did get level four tech at least there'd be two opponents to counter-balance it. With two it could become a game within a game - who (if anyone) can get to it first?