Thread: Atlantis and Army Cubes Revisted

discoking7 — 2008-07-03T07:51:56+00:00

First off, I like Tempus just fine as written. However, I've become intrigued by the Atlantis and Army Cube variants. I haven't been too happy with them as presented by Pro Ludo and others here on the Geek. The Pro Ludo variants seem flippant, and not very well thought through. So here's my solution.

Atlantis:

Players set up Tempus as per normal rules. After everyone has placed their tokens, we add one last step to the set up. The last player to place his tokens picks up one Atlantis (the Blue 5 strength city) tile, and places it anywhere adjacent to the island of Tempus. In a 4 or 5 player game, the player who placed 2nd to last may also play an Atlantis tile.

These tiles represent ports of trade to the fabled Atlantean Empire. This empire has advanced technology, but is falling into decline. The tile counts as part of Tempus, and as such can create lakes, and even be moved through (but not on as with any friendly city). They do count as cities, so you may not build a city adjacent to them.

Atlanteans are a failing race, with a low birth rate. They will trade some of their advanced technology with you for some of your people. When executing a move action, move one or more (if you can) of your tokens onto an Atlantis tile. Return the token to your supply and draw one idea card. You must follow all movement rules to do this (i.e. your token(s) must be able to reach the Atlantis space), however you may cross a lake directly to Atlantis as if it were a space and not a city (but only for the purpose of exchanging the token for an idea card). A player with navigation may execute a sea movement to do this exchange.

These Atlantis ports may be conquered for points. The tile must be attacked like any other city. Another player will draw 3 cards from the top of the idea deck, which will be used to defend the city, and then declare which terrain the Atlantis port will defend. If the attacker wins, he takes the Atlantis port as his prize (worth 5 points at the end of the game). The attacker may claim one of the defense cards for every point that he exceeded the defense. In a game w/ both ports out, you may choose to have the other port go away at the end of a turn in which one is conquered (as a variant to the variant). Another variant is to have the attacker lose all attacking tokens.

The purpose of the variant is to give the players who initially have the worst position some flexibility. Is a token better than an idea card. I think that they're pretty close. There are definitely times when one can be preferred over the other, so it's not a game breaking advantage. However, how often do you have a move 2 token movement where you really only have one move? This might give you the flexibility you need by making the move action more dynamic. Or, it might be completely ignored. Another variant to this is to allow some advantage to players who have tokens adjacent to Atlantis during a Have Ideas action. Perhaps have that player exchange one of the adjacent tokens for an extra idea card. A player with navigation may consider any coastal space adjacent to the Atlantean ports for this purpose.

The attack Atlantis option allows for a very viable scoring threat in the late game. Taking down a 5 city will be hard. It is unlikely that a player will be able to count on doing it, but this gives players who've fallen behind a desperation move that does not result in kingmaking (like attacking the leader's city in order to throw the game to another player).

The army cubes:

As in the Pro Ludo variant, when taking a Have Babies action, players may choose to substitute one of the new tokens for a cube (army). Armies count as 2 tokens in combat. However, armies can not build cities (if they are in a stack that you want to use to build a city, you may do so, but they won't count towards the city, and they will be removed to your supply as if they were extra tokens).

Additionally to the Pro Ludo rules: armies may not breed, they do not count for progress points at the end of a turn, and they do not count as victory points at the end of the game. During a Have Babies action, you may choose to have one or more of your armies conscript. Conscription can take place in any space (not just grasslands) where you have both an army and a population token. To do it, replace one token with an army cube. This counts against your Have Babies limit, and may be augmented by medecine.

The idea here is to make army cubes more of a strategic choice than a necessity. In the Pro Ludo version, the negatives are overwhelmed by the positives of army creation. In my variant, players must weigh their options carefully. Most of the time, the token will be a better bet than the cube. However, there are definitely situations where the cube will be better. It can make the end game very interesting indeed, as the 4 cities will be more vulnerable. On the flip side, using a stack of cubes to take down a 4 city will not immediately set that player up to make a city of their own. This will probably lead to lower scoring games. Idea cards will be more in demand for defending cities from armies. This should dovetail nicely with the Atlantis variant above.

That's it for now. I'll give it a try, make some tweaks, and see how it ends up.

Game: Tempus

Thread: Atlantis and Army Cubes Revisted