Game: Teraforming

Thread: Re: We cooperated at first, but then...

onekccs — 2006-09-08T23:52:14+00:00

Gary,

I remember that game, and I think DESTROYED is a better description of what you did to me

Sean

Thread: Re: We cooperated at first, but then...

crazyyog — 2006-09-08T21:51:54+00:00

Spielfreak wrote:
Unlike Carcassonne, cubes can be placed on any landmass on the table, so long as the card does not already have a cube on that landmass. So it seems wise to hold onto cubes until later in the game, unless there is a completed island for which you want to fight for ownership. Each player cannot hold more than 5 cards at the end each turn.

This tactic worked for me when I when I demoed it at GenCon. I trounced the creator (Sean Brown) who had committed all his cubes very early in the game. Sean was a good sport about it though...

Gary

Thread: Re: Landmass scoring in a 4-player game

onekccs — 2006-09-08T02:42:28+00:00

Phil,

Glad to hear your group gave this another try!! Sounds like the scores came up too! I am uploading an oficiall FAQ this week with examples of legal plays/boarders.

I noticed you refered to being limited to only 2 sides of play with the cards. I believe their may be some confusion. cards can be "flipped" upside down, therefore all 4 sides can be used. There are some pictures uploaded with this example.

To answer your scoring question, The 3 tied players would split 7 (divieded by 2 rounded up as per the rules) In this instance, you are correct that player D would score nothing.

The other 4 player scenerio that may arise is a tie for first and second. in the same example, players A and B would split 7 (rounded up 8/4)
and players C and D would split second place 4/2

Hope this helps and I am glad you guys keep playing!!

Sean

Thread: We cooperated at first, but then...

Spielfreak — 2006-09-05T03:08:51+00:00

TERAFORMING: Bob.C, Phil, Bob.M., Bruce

This is a recently released card game in which players form continents and place cubes on landmasses, with the goal being to have more cubes than others on completed continents and thereby score points equal to the number of cards that comprise the continent. It is very much like Carcassonne (with just the city scoring) and El Caballero (without the cabs or water scoring). However, as this game uses cards instead of square tiles, there are only two ways of using each card instead of the four ways afforded by the other games. This severely restricts card placement. The cards include numbers/letters and suits on them, so the game may be used as a regular deck of cards. For the most part all card types are the same for all suits -- that is, all fours have the same landmass, all tens have the same landmass, etc. Shrewd players will take this into account while playing.

Each turn a player gets 4 action points which may be spent in any combination of 3 actions: Play a card, draw a card, or place a cube. A card may be placed at the diagonal or along the side of existing cards, but it cannot be placed away from existing cards. There is room for cooperative play as well as for dastardly play in placing a card that would make an island impossible to finish. Unlike Carcassonne, cubes can be placed on any landmass on the table, so long as the card does not already have a cube on that landmass. So it seems wise to hold onto cubes until later in the game, unless there is a completed island for which you want to fight for ownership. Each player cannot hold more than 5 cards at the end each turn.

Our session started with cooperative play, as we all contributed to a star-shaped continent that wound up netting Bob.C 10pts. Bruce and I tied for second, and so split the 5pts (each earning 3pts). Thereafter things got a little testy, with several cards placed such that islands could never be completed. Bruce was especially victimized, as he had three cubes on one such island (and since one only gets 8 cubes for the whole game, this was a considerable blow to his chances for victory). Most of the other islands that were completed were of the 2pt or 4pt variety. This was not enough to catch Bob.C, who held on for victory. Final scores were: 15, 11, 8, 7.

Thread: Landmass scoring in a 4-player game

Spielfreak — 2006-09-05T01:31:54+00:00

In a 3-4 player game the rules state that points are awarded for first and second place, with second place receiving half the points of first place (rounded up). In case of a ties, then the points are split, rounding up.

I am unsure what to do in the following situation. There is a 7pt island (first place = 7pts, second place = 7/2 = 4pts) that players A, B, and C each have two cubes on, and player D has one cube. How are the points allocated?

a) Players A, B, and C each receive (7 + 4) / 3 = 4pts, and player D gets nothing.
b) Players A, B, and C each receive 7/3 = 3pts, and player D gets 4pts.
c) Players A, B, and C each receive a first place split 7/2 = 4pts, and player D gets 4pts.
d) Either b) or c), except that player D gets nothing.

Thanks!

- Phil

Thread: Tacticon 2006 Report

onekccs — 2006-09-03T15:28:05+00:00

So another tacticon has come and passed... and this year it was a great one!!

I had the honor of running Teraforming 16 times in the dealers room!!
All of the venders in the room were great, and 6 of them bought the game outright to sell during the show. All but one vender moved the game and re-ordered before I left!

So far the early buzz has been great, and the local area gamers have been GREATLY supportive. The game is selling better than I ever dreamed!

Ok, enough hype, lets talk tacticon!

The show seemed bigger this year than years past. more dealers, bigger miniatures area, more boardgamers, and games scheduled. Railcon was here this year too, which helpped attendance. This was one of the smoothest running shows I can remember from years past. Great job DGA!

as a result of the free demos and drop in tournament I ran for Teraforming, I was only able to play 1 game not about planet building

But...it was a great game!! Vegas Showdown. If you have not played this, you need to. It is NOT a gambling game. It is a game of casino building, with lots of decisions and bidding/money management. AWSOME

Randy, Lars and I finished within 5 points of each other and had three lead changes during final scoring, for a super close finish that literally was any mans game. I pulled out on top with my 2 diamonds in the end (no one else had any) this was due to a remodeling action I took on the game end turn!

Results for the Teraforming Tournament were:

1st Lars 57 points (this is not a typo!!)
2nd Youseff 44 points
3rd Rick 40 points

All 3 players won a Free copy of the game, and Lars Joins Karl(release party winner) as the only other person to have the hand-made wood scoring track!!

Thanks for reading!!

Sean

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onekccs — 2006-09-01T06:56:41+00:00

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onekccs — 2006-09-01T06:56:23+00:00

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onekccs — 2006-09-01T06:36:01+00:00

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onekccs — 2006-09-01T06:13:13+00:00

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onekccs — 2006-09-01T06:13:08+00:00

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onekccs — 2006-08-30T16:44:19+00:00

Legal use of a Jack to finish a continent

Thread: Teraforming Tournament

onekccs — 2006-08-30T16:22:02+00:00

I was surprised that we had as big of a turnout as we did! 26 friends all in the same place! We had Three tables going and I had to make a run for more chairs! Some friends were even playing on the grass!

We had a bbq and played several games. Teraforming was the feature game as we ran an all-day tournament. I took your total scores from every hand played and divided it by the number of plays you had. (min. 2 plays) The player with the highest average won. The top three were very close, but Karl was able to pull out on top.

Teraforming

1st Karl Fenner 20.2
2nd Jamie Lynn 19.8
3rd Leslie Fenner 19.6

A game of Shadows over Camelot started on one of the other tables and Vegas Showdown went off as well

I did not play in either, but know that the good guys one (barely) in shadows.

Vegas showdown saw a first time player best a couple of veterans. Nice strategy by my brother(taught him everything he knows!!)
He mirrored the play of the most experienced player at the table until the end when he had a handle on the game, then he switched it up for the win.

We closed the night out with a game of Wench!
Although we ended this short and determined no winner, it still was a blast!! especially watching the girls tickel each other in an attempt to stop each others challenge! oh, and putting tape on angelos glasses and face was fun too!

We are going to have another session very soon before a good friend of ours leaves the country. I will post that session report soon!

Sean

Thread: LEGAL Card Placements

onekccs — 2006-08-30T16:00:22+00:00

I have uploaded a few new pictures to show some of the questionable cards in legal use.

The golden rule of Teraforming is: all landmasses are either half of a card side or a whole card side. as long as they line up close, its legal

The Royalty cards (jack,queen,king,ace) seem to be the most questionable. Check out the pictures if you have any questions about them.

Thanks for playing!!

Sean

Thread: Re: 5-6 player Expansion

onekccs — 2006-08-21T23:03:35+00:00

The 5-6 player expansion is ALMOST here!

as soon as it is available I will post it at www.eaglegames.net

The set will include 2 new colors of cubes, another 52 card poker deck, 2 more jokers, and 2 alternate "mirror" 10's.

There were a number of 5-6 player expansions sold at GenCon, and if you were one of the lucky folks who got one, I will send you the alternate "mirror" tens for FREE. Email me with your address, and when I get the cards in, I will mail them to you. sorry for the inconvience.

Sean

Thread: Re: Frustration

onekccs — 2006-08-21T22:37:51+00:00

I agree with your frustration.

The mirror Tens are included in the 5-6 player expansion packs.
These expansion packs was SUPPOSED to be ready for GenCon, but was not. I had to open boxes and take out extra decks (along with hand pack 2 more colors of cubes) just for the show.

My printer has the Expansion packs (with the mirror 10's) on the way and they WILL be issued in all expansion packs.

For everyone who bought the expansion at Gen-Con (The show special)
I will be mailing out these cards free of charge.

I appoligize for this, but hope your frustration has subsided since the pieces you wished for are on the way!!

I hope this helps, and thanks for your questions

Sean

Thread: Re: What is a landmass?

onekccs — 2006-08-21T22:25:15+00:00

Phil,

Great question!

First off, every card in Teraforming has a landmass on it. The exception are the Queens which have 2 landmasses on them.

To Answer your question, YES! you can play a cube down on the card you just played. A island or continent is made up of several cards (not counting the Mr. B joker)

Example. If you played a card that finished a continent that was made up of 4 cards, then 4 cubes could be played on that continent. One cube on each landmass (card) Also, you could play cubes on landmasses at any time during the game, not just when a continent is complete.

I hope this helps. I am going to post some pictures and examples in the FAQ section at www.eaglegames.net by the end of the month.

Thanks again for the question!

Sean

Thread: Frustration

Spielfreak — 2006-08-21T02:40:58+00:00

Most every card has a mirror image available, except for the 10's. Why oh why aren't there any cards that show land that occupies the upper left to middle bottom of a card?!! One is already limited with card placement due to a 52 card deck and only two ways of placing cards. To exclude a basic land type is crippling to island completion. I suppose I'll have to encourage players to memorize the land-types, but this is a nuisance that bugs the heck out of me.

Thread: What is a landmass?

Spielfreak — 2006-08-21T02:32:43+00:00

In the "Placing Cubes" section it states that a player may place a cube on any unoccupied landmass. Is a landmass a single card, or all cards that are interconnected by land? That is, if I place a card that connects to another card via a land border, and that other card already has a cube on it, may I place a cube on the card I just played?

Thread: Teraforming: Lightweight, portable fun

gbohrer — 2006-08-19T13:59:01+00:00

Well, I got my copy of Teraforming, and my wife and I had been looking forward to it. For the price ($14.95 from eaglegames.com), I've gotta say that the value is pretty good.

A word about spelling: One of the things that seems to make people hesitate about this game is the spelling of the name (I suppose on the theory that if the title of the game is misspelled, the game itself is likely to be of poor quality). My understanding from correspondence with the designer is that the spelling is intentional; sort of a "coined" term to distinguish the game. Certainly, I didn't find any misspellings or grammatical errors in the rules.

The Game: Teraforming is a Euro-style card game. The game is based on a 52-card deck; the point of the game is to assemble the cards into continents and populate them.

Components (8/10): When you open the package, the first thing that will strike you is the small size of the game (the package is the size of a double deck of cards). Well, you haven't paid for a "big box" game. The box is beatifully illustrated, with a heavy gloss plastic finish. (Sean has also signed the first 250 copies; however, these may well be gone by the time this gets read.) The cards themselves are packed in shrink inside the box. These cards are simply beautiful; the colors and artwork are vibrant, and the cards are heavy-weight and plastic-coated. The backs reprise the box cover art, also in vibrant colors. The best part of the cards, to me, is that they are also printed with traditional playing-card values. This allows you to play traditional card games with them; it also leads to the possibility of suckering your card-game opponents into the slightly more complex game...
The blocks used for population are standard 3/8 inch painted wood blocks. The rules themselves are a single, two-sided letter sized sheet. They are clearly printed, grammatically correct, and well presented (especially for Euro-style rules, which I generally find poorly organized).

Play (7/10): Play is simple and light, but fastpaced and fun. The rules are generally pretty clear within the first two turns (turns take maybe five minutes, maybe two). A player's turn is based on action points (no surprise). In general, I'm not a fan of AP systems; they tend to feel too "ruley" for me. But Teraforming's 4 AP per turn are easy to keep track of, and let a certain tension to the turn; by the time you're ready to make the gamewinning play, you don't have enough AP to do it. You need to have a good-sized playing surface, as you can build your planet up 21 x 30 inches. And the liberal rules about where cards can be played mean that you very rarely "paint yourself into a corner".

Drawbacks; The printing precision on the cards is a little confusing; your continents will sometimes have slightly jagged coastlines, and disputes may arise at first about whether a card can be played.

Overall: (8/10) Buy it!

Thread: Re: Cards or tiles?

onekccs — 2006-08-15T22:11:17+00:00

Todd,

Thanks for the post. I think you would really enjoy the game, and assure you that the production quality is very nice. Geoff put a link to the spelling debate, and I encourage you to read it.

I apreciate your time and opinions on the game!!

Sean

Thread: Re: Cards or tiles?

onekccs — 2006-08-15T22:04:40+00:00

Geoff,

Thanks for the order and future review!!

Sean

Thread: Re: Cards or tiles?

gbohrer — 2006-08-15T19:07:27+00:00

For a discussion of the spelling, look here:

http://eaglegames.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=6659

I've ordered this game and plan on reviewing it when I get it. Bear in mind that the cost is significantly different from a tile game.

Thread: Cards or tiles?

Sir Loin o Beef — 2006-08-15T17:20:51+00:00

Man, I'd really like to try this game but doubt I'll buy it first. If it had tiles like Carcasonne (and the correct spelling of Terraforming), I'd probably go out on a limb and buy it. Cards are just so hard to line up and to keep them from moving.

This isn't a "dis" of the game just a wish for better components (and spelling) on the next print run.

Thread: Report from Gen Con

onekccs — 2006-08-15T04:09:54+00:00

Hi everyone. Let me say that if you have never been to gencon, you need to. This year was AMAZING!!!

Teraforming was recieved quite well, and demos ran constantly all weekend long. It sold very well and even generated interest from other publishers.

The website has both the core game and the expansion available NOW!!!

www.eaglegames.net for more details.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by, played, commented and wrote reviews!!!

Sean

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onekccs — 2006-08-11T20:47:13+00:00

Thread: Re: Teraforming

onekccs — 2006-08-08T23:04:36+00:00

Phil,

thanks for the question. I just uploaded an image from the promo shoot to the pictures section. it should be approved by tomorrow. I Just got the game in on friday, and am gearing up for Gencon, so my appoligies for not getting all the pictures up.

I should have more images available next week. If your at Gencon, stop by and play a hand with me!

Regards,

Sean

Thread: Re: Teraforming

onekccs — 2006-08-08T22:59:53+00:00

I personally will be running demos of the game all weekend at Gencon. We will be sharing space with the good folks at Gamestation. Their booth is 229, and is rather large!

come by and say hi, or play me a game!

Sean

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onekccs — 2006-08-08T22:56:16+00:00

Thread: Re: Teraforming

Spielfreak — 2006-08-07T17:31:08+00:00

The game sounds intriguing, but I am having trouble picturing it. Could you post some images of representative cards onto Boardgamegeek?

Thanks,

- Phil

Thread: Re: Teraforming

crazyyog — 2006-08-07T17:11:51+00:00

Hi, can you tell me what booth you will be at at GenCon? Thanks!

Gary

Thread: 5-6 player Expansion

onekccs — 2006-08-07T16:22:52+00:00

The 5-6 player expansion is now available. I will have a limited supply at GenCon, and more later to be sold online at the eaglegames.net webstore.

Sean

Thread: Teraforming

onekccs — 2006-08-07T16:20:52+00:00

Great news evryone. I have the game in hand ready for GenCon.
Feel free to stop by and demo it if any of you are attending.

The eagle forums are starting to heat up. if interested check out the link.

http://eaglegames.zeroforum.com/zeroforum?id=34

as for other news...

The first 250 copies will be numbered and signed by the author.

We are anticipating these to go quickly (probably by end of GenCon) but may number another 200 in a different color.

Sean

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onekccs — 2006-06-26T05:59:16+00:00

Box art

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onekccs — 2006-06-26T05:57:47+00:00

Back of box