Game: Clippers

Thread: Replacement Pieces

Number 6 — 2008-08-02T22:37:26+00:00

My game is missing a purple route marker. Does anyone know who I could contact to acquire the missing piece?

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siuchak — 2008-06-24T17:30:07+00:00

backside of the box

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siuchak — 2008-06-24T17:27:38+00:00

colorful rule book and the cards

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siuchak — 2008-06-24T17:25:51+00:00

all four types of card

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siuchak — 2008-06-24T17:24:40+00:00

The sequence of play and my deploy card

Thread: Re: Ideal number of players?

clearclaw — 2008-03-26T20:12:51+00:00

kevinb9n wrote:
Erm.... yeah. So, how bad do you suppose the game would be for 3 or 4 players who have absolutely no clue what any of what you just said means?

The really short version is Don't Do That.

Look at it this way: The game consists of three forces in uneasy balance. 1) Players want to get their ports on high value islands, 2) Players want to get shipping lines to where their ports are, and 3) Players want to prevent the other players from accomplishing either of the previous two. That much is simple and standard. The game consists of a heavily asymmetric map of islands and routes among them. All shipping lines start at the east edge. Each player starts with a scattering of ports about the map (fixed and determined by the game) and with two ports on an 8pt western-edge island. Each player has a natural incentive to get shipping lines to those 8pth islands and the other players to stop them. Given the asymmetry of the map plus the scattered initial ports, the incentives for each player to lead the shipping lines in various direction vary in strength based on where they can, or might get points and what that means to the other player's possibilities. There is a constant tension driving shipping lines toward the 8pt islands plus an even larger force from the other players to prevent them from getting there. With less than 5 players some countries are not in play, creating holes in the row of valuable western islands. Those holes reflect back into the interior islands. Now some interior islands are much less interesting as there's no or broken player incentives to pull the routes "through" them. Likewise, the number of ships and route markers per shipping line (also asymmetric) starts becoming disjoint with those disjoints in incentives making some countries far more viable (scoring) than they'd otherwise be. More generally, the game balance breaks with less than 5 players as some players have naturally large advantages in the game and others have naturally huge disadvantages. Exactly which players are which depends on things like turn order, which specific countries are out of play and very early game decisions that dictate the late game in ways that very difficult to understand.

Thread: Re: Ideal number of players?

kevinb9n — 2008-03-26T08:20:48+00:00

clearclaw wrote:
With lower player counts one of the island sets in unoccupied. This results in a positional value imbalance on the map as to which players want the shipping lines to go where, and which islands are comparatively worth more or less to them. With less than 5 players the balance of incentives versus counter-incentives are uneven.

Erm.... yeah. So, how bad do you suppose the game would be for 3 or 4 players who have absolutely no clue what any of what you just said means?
That's not a snark, I really appreciate your reply. But in earnest, I have not an inkling what it means.

Thread: Re: Ideal number of players?

clearclaw — 2008-03-26T07:41:49+00:00

kevinb9n wrote:
clearclaw wrote:
Play Clippers with exactly and only 5 players. All other player counts suffer significantly both in game play and balance.

Well, glad I asked! Willing to elaborate a little?

There are 5 islands on the Western edge for 5 players, With lower player counts one of the island sets in unoccupied. This results in a positional value imbalance on the map as to which players want the shipping lines to go where, and which islands are comparatively worth more or less to them. With less than 5 players the balance of incentives versus counter-incentives are uneven.

Thread: Re: Ideal number of players?

kevinb9n — 2008-03-26T07:18:56+00:00

clearclaw wrote:
Play Clippers with exactly and only 5 players. All other player counts suffer significantly both in game play and balance.

Well, glad I asked! Willing to elaborate a little?

Thread: Re: Ideal number of players?

clearclaw — 2008-03-26T06:54:32+00:00

kevinb9n wrote:
When playing a new game in my group I want to give it every chance to shine so people will be interested to play it again. Does Clippers have a "sweet spot" number of players that it works best with?

Edit: Conversely, is there a number that it really shouldn't even be tried with?

Play Clippers with exactly and only 5 players. All other player counts suffer significantly both in game play and balance.

The other big clue to playing Clippers well is to actively work to ensure that no shipping line reaches the western islands. Just keep turning those ships back! Watch the turn order timing carefully .

Thread: Ideal number of players?

kevinb9n — 2008-03-26T04:36:41+00:00

When playing a new game in my group I want to give it every chance to shine so people will be interested to play it again. Does Clippers have a "sweet spot" number of players that it works best with?

Edit: Conversely, is there a number that it really shouldn't even be tried with?

Thread: Re: Purple Route

barbate — 2008-03-17T17:12:43+00:00

Thx for the fast answer...

Thread: Re: Purple Route

clearclaw — 2008-03-17T15:55:07+00:00

barbate wrote:
.
A. Any number of purple routes may start from Am.Samoa. (up to five!?)

True, and on reaching an island may firk/split as many times as wished -- there is no limit on ships.

B. Any number of white routes may start from (for example) Tahiti.

Only if there are enough ships.

- Partial touts between two islands may be built."
How is it necessary to interpret the latter one?

The purple line, which only starts in about 25% of games, frequently ends with multiple connections to multiple islands only partially build before it runs out of route markers.

Thread: Purple Route

barbate — 2008-03-17T11:24:11+00:00

Hello...

I would ask for a little help!

True or False...
A. Any number of purple routes may start from Am.Samoa. (up to five!?)
B. Any number of white routes may start from (for example) Tahiti.

Detail from the rule!
" Players may place the Purple Route Segments according to the normal rules, with the following exceptions:
- Any number of different routes may be started from American Samoa.
and
- Partial touts between two islands may be built."
How is it necessary to interpret the latter one?

Thank you for the help.

Thread: Re: Port Card

clearclaw — 2008-03-12T23:22:27+00:00

A

You may move a port marker, you cannot place a new one.

Thread: Port Card

barbate — 2008-03-12T22:55:10+00:00

Hello...

I have a question about the "Port" card.
I bought the "Port" card and...

Phase 2.
... I place one Trade Route Segment.

Phase 3.
A. I place one Trade Route Segment and I may move one of my Port Markers on the board.
B. I may move one of my Port Markers on the board but I cannot place one Trade Route Segment.
Which one is correct? A or B?

Thanks for the help.

Thread: Re: Language dependent?

clearclaw — 2008-02-06T19:03:29+00:00

Yes, the tiles contain minor language. It is almost completely ignorable. I also have the German version and have never once had a player even pause over it in many many plays.

Thread: Language dependent?

pitris — 2008-02-06T14:12:32+00:00

Hi,

I'm considering buying the German edition. Does this game have any language dependent components?

Thanks in advance!

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2008-02-02T19:46:15+00:00

back of box

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2008-02-02T19:42:09+00:00

box cover

Thread: Re: France in disadvantage

clearclaw — 2007-09-03T04:34:57+00:00

marioaguila wrote:
Ok, in my last game I played France (I said to my friends that in BGG there is not support to the idea of some kind of disadvantage to France). Following our group-think I thought I was in troubles so I tried to avoid that the lines reach the west. I succeeded. After 30 minutes of play, all other players were concentrated in 4 and 5 point island, and I also received some help from other players, blocking some lines. Only Japan reached is base with 2 lines (I can't avoid it and for that reason I lost the game).

I reach the second place.

It is suddenly a very different game isn't it? Perhaps next time the other players will realise the strong advantage of keeping lines away from the western isles, or of only letting them reach there if they get to their island and nobody else's.

Great change in our group. I think it was a surprise the style I implemented....every time I had the opportunity to reverse a line, I did it, very aggressively (using 5x or 3x at the proper time)....

Bingo!

Did you forget Australia? They asked to me. Yes!. I concentrated in the middle of the map to take chances.

That sounds about right.

I think our next game will be more closed and interesting.

Yup! I hope it goes very well.

Thread: Re: France in disadvantage

marioaguila — 2007-09-03T04:05:15+00:00

Ok, in my last game I played France (I said to my friends that in BGG there is not support to the idea of some kind of disadvantage to France). Following our group-think I thought I was in troubles so I tried to avoid that the lines reach the west. I succeeded. After 30 minutes of play, all other players were concentrated in 4 and 5 point island, and I also received some help from other players, blocking some lines. Only Japan reached is base with 2 lines (I can't avoid it and for that reason I lost the game).
I reach the second place.

Great change in our group. I think it was a surprise the style I implemented....every time I had the opportunity to reverse a line, I did it, very aggressively (using 5x or 3x at the proper time)....Did you forget Australia? They asked to me. Yes!. I concentrated in the middle of the map to take chances.

I think our next game will be more closed and interesting.

Thread: Re: France in disadvantage

clearclaw — 2007-08-23T19:00:52+00:00

marioaguila wrote:
Yesterday we played this game. All lines reached the west. New Guinea with 4 lines (I got 64 points in that island).

I would encourage your players to be more competitive.

I think it is not so difficult, at least in our group, to reach the east.

I would strongly encourage your players to be more competitively zero sum.

Almost from the beginning players start putting flags in 8 point island, so, nobody try to block sea lines to reach the east.

If players are putting ports on the western islands early then you can bet your bippy that I'm going to do my damnedest to ensure that no line ever reaches their western island. They wasted a whole action card to place a port. The least I can do is reward them by making it valueless.

The strategy is to know, before the other player, which of those 8 or 6 points island are the best.

Or to simply ensure that they're wastes of time.

To give a quick idea how a typical game for us goes:

How often do you use the Niederlassung (more a port) card? Here it is heavily fought over.

I won (England) with 250 points; second place (Japan) 212, 3rd. 8USA) with 190 and 4º (France) with a little less than that.

Winning scores for us are typically between 130 and 180.

In fact, nobody want to play France in our next game and probably we will exclude that country.

This is classic groupthink. The weakness isn't in the game but your player's perceptions. Clippers is played often here (6 times so far this year) and I have won and lost Clippers with every country over the years and don't consider any of the countries particularly better or worse than the others (though I find Great Britain the most subtle of the countries to play well). I would never play Clippers with anything but the full compliment of 5 players.

Thread: Re: France in disadvantage

marioaguila — 2007-08-23T17:22:02+00:00

Yesterday we played this game. All lines reached the west. New Guinea with 4 lines (I got 64 points in that island).
Many 48 points also for one island.

I think it is not so difficult, at least in our group, to reach the east. Almost from the beginning players start putting flags in 8 point island, so, nobody try to block sea lines to reach the east. The strategy is to know, before the other player, which of those 8 or 6 points island are the best. At the end of the game, we fight for 5-points island.

I won (England) with 250 points; second place (Japan) 212, 3rd. 8USA) with 190 and 4º (France) with a little less than that.

In fact, nobody want to play France in our next game and probably we will exclude that country.

Thread: Re: France in disadvantage

clearclaw — 2007-08-23T16:12:26+00:00

marioaguila wrote:
Because green and white companies are the first ones to be developed in the north (easy money-bonus), and because the black company in south has less segments, the north part of the map reach the west with ease.

I've not found green or white particularly easier in this regard, specially given the very small number of ships for both lines. Red is the more potent colour given how many ships it has.

How many of your games end without any shipping line reaching the western 8-point islands? About a fifth of our games end this way and it is the rare game when more than one shipping line gets to the western islands. The default pattern is that any shipping line that is a three segments from its starting location deserves to head back east instanter.

For that reason Australia has a more difficult south corner than Japan in north.

To give a quick idea how a typical game for us goes:

In our last game green and white were the first lines to die, with red soon after. None of the three of them even got as far west as American Samoa. Instead they all tangled the eastern routes and died there. Blue and Black managed, just, to open American Samoa before dieing. Blue made it to Australia but no further. No other colour got particularly close to the western 8-point islands. The most valuable island in the game was the Flint Islands (just east of American Samoa) with 5 colours of shipping line for 20 points per port. Germany won the game.

Thread: Re: France in disadvantage

marioaguila — 2007-08-23T11:58:51+00:00

Because green and white companies are the first ones to be developed in the north (easy money-bonus), and because the black company in south has less segments, the north part of the map reach the west with ease.
For that reason Australia has a more difficult south corner than Japan in north.

Thread: Re: France in disadvantage

clearclaw — 2007-08-23T08:59:01+00:00

I've won several times with France and find Great Britain far more difficult to play due to small aspects of the graph around American Samoa. Others in the local group find Japan the most difficult.

Thread: France in disadvantage

marioaguila — 2007-08-23T04:48:16+00:00

In all my games (6) France has had a disadvantage in play, because it's very difficult to bring companies to Australia. It's a common experience?

Thread: Re: The game ends when...

clearclaw — 2007-07-24T17:31:45+00:00

No, the game has already ended.

Thread: The game ends when...

marioaguila — 2007-07-24T14:30:49+00:00

It's my turn, Phase 3: could I use the Port Card to move one of my markers in spite of the fact that I am not able to put a new Route marker?

Thread: Re: Partial route

clearclaw — 2007-07-10T07:51:51+00:00

I usually explain this as, The purple line has infinite free ships.

Thread: Re: Partial route

Great Dane — 2007-07-10T07:22:17+00:00

All other compagnies has a ship counter which is placed at the front of the line - indicating where the line MUST be progressed if at all.

The purple line doesn't have a ship marker, and thus you are not obliged to extend the existing route.

Thread: Re: Partial route

clearclaw — 2007-07-10T07:21:44+00:00

marioaguila wrote:
Partial routes are permitted only in this company?

No, they are permitted with all companies.

I understood that if you can put only 1 segment per phase, there is a high probability to build partial routes (apply for all companies).

Yes.

Thread: Partial route

marioaguila — 2007-07-10T04:11:19+00:00

THE RULES:

Partial routes are permitted only in this company? I understand if you can put only 1 segment per phase, there is a high probability to build partial routes (apply for all companies).

Thread: Re: How much screwage?

clearclaw — 2007-05-19T18:38:56+00:00

cull wrote:
My wifes hates games that are confrontational or where you mess with your opponents' plans. How much screwage does this game have?

Rather a lot of of it. In particularly aggressive games no shipping lines will reach the west coast 8 point islands, thus foiling all player's plans.

Can the game be played like multiplayer solitaire?

It can but it would make a rather poor game.

It looks like the Purple ship company can be used to block.

That is the primary use, along with a control of access to the 8 point islands.

Do you have to do this to make the game work, or can you ignore this apsect?

Clippers only really works with exactly 5 players, and yes, needs a fairly high level of screwage to work well: just ask Rusty Balinger about our last game of Clippers...

Thread: Re: How much screwage?

cull — 2007-05-19T16:42:35+00:00

Thanks, Mik. That's exactly what I needed to know.

Thread: Re: How much screwage?

Great Dane — 2007-05-19T15:06:25+00:00

Any ship company can be used to block - or they can be forced out of the way the opponent was hoping it to move.

The game does contain elements that lends itself to "screw" the other players - kinda like Elfenland does.

I see that you have removed some of the confrontational cards from Settlers of Catan Card Game. That would still leave you with a 'building' game which I guess can still be enjoyable, but I don't think you can do the same with this game.

Think of it as a kind of 'musical chairs': remove the chairs and the game is not fun anymore. Same with this game: one player wants to visit this island, which naturally makes it a goal for the other player to prevent it.

Thread: How much screwage?

cull — 2007-05-19T13:49:38+00:00

My wifes hates games that are confrontational or where you mess with your opponents' plans. How much screwage does this game have? Can the game be played like multiplayer solitaire?

It looks like the Purple ship company can be used to block. Do you have to do this to make the game work, or can you ignore this apsect?

Thread: Re: How does this game play with two?

rschmucker — 2007-03-13T21:56:51+00:00

So far, I've only played Clippers with two and it seems to work just fine. Clippers plays a little bit like an abstract with two. You can analysis what the next moves ought to be and there are some zero sum moments. It's still fun to play.

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boardroomgames — 2007-03-03T21:01:44+00:00

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spearjr — 2006-12-14T14:20:12+00:00

The red shipping company goes everywhere

Thread: Re: Rules in English?

keepmesane — 2006-10-27T11:06:32+00:00

Mark

Many thanks for that.

Thread: Re: Rules in English?

craniac — 2006-10-24T16:16:46+00:00

After I traded the game someone sent me this link:

http://brettboard.dk/games/rules/clip.htm

It looks fairly complete.

Thread: Re: Rules in English?

keepmesane — 2006-10-24T16:07:12+00:00

Curt

I also have only a German copy of this game and would be very grateful if you would scan the English rules.

Simon

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fenwic — 2006-10-19T16:30:55+00:00

A completed game.

Thread: Re: In-Game Scoring Question

Faithful — 2006-10-18T16:31:16+00:00

This is a wonderful community of very helpful people. Thank you.

One last question; how in the world did you figure out that this was the way money payout was intended to work?

You guys are brilliant!

Thanks again

Faithful

Thread: Re: In-Game Scoring Question

GaryP — 2006-10-18T16:22:30+00:00

So, for every new island connected, that player receives $2 plus any bonuses that would apply. And the next person to connect a different color route would receive $1 plus any bonuses that would apply.

The 2X card would earn the player either $4 or $2 while the 3X card would net the player $0 dollars for connecting any island, and the 5X would gain the player the $2 or $1 only. IS this correct?
Correct on all counts.

Let me ask. Are the payouts cumulative? That is, I connect one island and gain $2, and the next turn I connect another island and gain $2. Do I then receive $4 for connecting two islands or only the $2 for connecting a new island?
You only receive money for whichever islands you connect to on that turn. (So, in your example, just $2 in both turns.)

Thread: Re: In-Game Scoring Question

Faithful — 2006-10-18T15:25:07+00:00

Lewis Igo, Thank you for the reply.

I think I get it now. I thought the $2 and $1 payouts were one time events for the first and second routes of the game only.

So, for every new island connected, that player receives $2 plus any bonuses that would apply. And the next person to connect a different color route would receive $1 plus any bonuses that would apply.

The 2X card would earn the player either $4 or $2 while the 3X card would net the player $0 dollars for connecting any island, and the 5X would gain the player the $2 or $1 only. IS this correct?

Let me ask. Are the payouts cumulative? That is, I connect one island and gain $2, and the next turn I connect another island and gain $2. Do I then receive $4 for connecting two islands or only the $2 for connecting a new island?

Thank you for the help. I have had this game setup waiting to play but had no idea how to earn money.

Faithful

Thread: Re: In-Game Scoring Question

Igloo cool — 2006-10-18T15:07:56+00:00

The number on the island has nothing to do with earning money during the game, that is used only for end game scoring.

The rules refer to income earned during the game as bonuses. One receives a bonus when a player connects a trading company (colored sticks) to an island for the first time.

If a player is the first to connect a trading company to an island(i.e. the first player to connect any route to an island first), the player would earn a bonus of $2.

For every new trading company after the first to connect to the island, the player would earn $1. For instance, after the first player connected the black trading company to an island, another player connects the blue trading route to the island. That player would earn $1.

If a player connects the island with a trading company that is already there, that player would earn $0. For instance, if after the first player connected the black trading company to the island, if another player connects the island with the black trading company again, that second player would earn $0

This bonus is then altered based on the option card the player has chosen. Some will score as described above, some will give a X2 bonus, (new islands would score $4, already connected islands would score $2), some will negate any bonuses.

This income (bonus) is collected right away. Also, if a player connects multiple islands, that player would earn the bonus as it applies to each island.

Thread: Re: In-Game Scoring Question

Faithful — 2006-10-14T21:48:19+00:00

Thank you for the reply.

Can you explain by way of an illustration as if playing the game?

As I read your mail it appears you are saying...

I connect say, the Black starting position to Gambier (which has a Number 3 in the circle at the island) I would gain either 6 dollars if I had the 2X Card. If I had the 3X card I would receive no money, and the 5X I would receive 3 dollars.

Is this correct?

Also if I go on to connect from Gambier (has a 3 in the circle at the island) to Rurutu (has a 4 in the circle at its island) would I receive say 7 dollars for both islands, or just the 4 dollars for connecting Rurutu?

I can not even fathom how people are knowing what to do and how to do it. This seems like a glaring oversight in the Rules and not a word has been mentioned before about this.

Thanks again for the help.

Thread: Re: In-Game Scoring Question

clearclaw — 2006-10-14T21:23:27+00:00

Depending one what action cards they choose, players receive various amounts of money when they connect shipping lines to islands which that line has not previously reached. This is the only way money comes into the game.

Thread: Re: In-Game Scoring Question

Faithful — 2006-10-14T11:31:11+00:00

If this is true then I am even more confused.

How do players get paid any money through the course of the game to buy ships and bonus cards?

I can not find anything that tells how one earns money in the game.

Please help.

Thread: Re: In-Game Scoring Question

clearclaw — 2006-10-14T06:26:35+00:00

There is no scoring during the game. All scoring occurs at the end of the game.

Thread: In-Game Scoring Question

Faithful — 2006-10-13T21:15:17+00:00

I am new to the game and have read and re-read the rules but I am just not sure how one gets paid during the game.

I know the rules talk about "Scoring & Winning," however it really does not say how the in-game score is handled.

Point 1 and 2 under the line; "Once the game ends, points are awarded as follows:" never really talk about scoring during the game itself.

It clearly speaks to "Once the game ends" here is how the scoring works.

So, is the scoring during the game take place at the end of Phase 3? If so, is it handled the same "exact" way as end game scoring?

This is the most confusing part of the game for me and has thus not allowed me to play it as of yet.

I really need clarification on this aspect of the game.

Thank you in advance.

Faithful

P.S. Also, under Components it says there are 18 Black Route Segments and 13 Purple. Is this correct as I received 17 Black and 14 Purple Route Segments?

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aceraxon — 2006-10-11T02:29:16+00:00

Thread: Re: First play - 5 players

clearclaw — 2006-08-28T05:37:19+00:00

jcurtis55 wrote:
This is a re-theming of Santa Fe.

Clippers is a reworking of Santa Fe Rails, removing several random and luck mechanisms and in general cleaning up and significantly tightening the game. As a result it is a different (ie far better) game than Santa Fe Rails.

Eventually, two clipper ship companies connect to American Samoa and the 6th, purple, company comes into play.

Frequently the purple shipping line never comes into play as not enough shipping lines connect to American Samoa.

1. The rules say that once a company has started building a route, no other company can build on that route.

Correct.

In other words, two different companies can start building the same route from different ends.

False. They may NOT start building from opposite ends unless they are building on opposite sides of a double route.

This would dead-end both clipper ships.

Which is why it is not allowed.

However, when the purple company comes into play it says the purple company can build partial routes.

Yes. For instance a player could lay multiple single links out of the various islands it connects to, thus preventing any other shipping line from using those links.

Does this mean the purple routes can go down a route already started by another company, blocking off that clipper ship?

No.

We played that the purple route could do this.

Ooops.

2. I questioned if the purple route counted as a connection for the final point tally since their were not purple clipper ships, just a route.

Yup, they count for VPs.

The rules do not state that the purple company does not count as a connection so we included those connections in the points calculation.

You were correct.

As for the map, Tom Vassel in his excellent review really blasted the map for having the route markings in light blue and for having the double routes too close together. I do not think any of use had any problem seeing where the routes were going, but the islands that had two routes between them did get pretty crowded. Separating the two routes a bit more would help. Still, I thought this was a minor nuisance.

Agreed.

As a matter of protocol when laying routes on a double route we lay the sticks crossways until the secound route has been built. Then we put the sticks inline with the route. This way it is very clear to all players where routes may be built.

Thread: First play - 5 players

jcurtis55 — 2006-08-28T01:45:45+00:00

I picked up Clippers at Gen Con since the Asmodee Booth was selling it for $10 on the last day. I assumed any Alan Moon game was likely worth at least $10. This is a re-theming of Santa Fe. Although I had never played Santa Fe, I recalled it had a decent rating on BGG.

Our gaming group in Indy broke out Clippers today and five of us jumped right in. None of the other players had ever played Santa Fe nor Clippers.

Clippers is a route-building game. The players will build the routes for 5 clipper ship companies (a sixth company enters the game later on. More on that to come). The players have no ownership in the shipping companies. Instead the players own ports and try to get as many of the clipper ship companies as possible to run routes to the islands where you have ports.

Each nation starts the game with 7 ports already on the board and five more that may be placed on the board during the game. This takes us to the first phase of each turn, where players face a difficult decision.

The board is a map of the south Pacific, where the island names are accurate even if their placement relative to the other islands is not. Possible routes are represented on the board by light blue lines. Some routes have arrows indicating they may only go one way. Between some islands are two lines indicating two routes may connect these islands, although the same clipper ship company may not build both routes between the same two islands.

In general players take turns placing retangular blocks on the map to extend shipping routes. If you place the piece the connects the first company to an island, you receive $2. If you connect a new company to an island, but one that is not the first company to reach the island, you receive $1.

Each company has a specified starting point on the east side of the map. Each nation has an island with two ports on the west side of the map. Points are garnered at the end of the game by applying the following formula to each island. Points awarded = base value of the island X number of clipper ship companies connected to the island X number of ports you have at the island. The base values of the islands are between 3 and 8. The number of ports an island may support is between 2 and 4. So in an ideal world, if you could get all 5 companies connected to a value 8 island where you had 4 ports, you could score 160 points.

Needless to say, other players are not going to make it easy to connect all 5 companies to your islands. The number of blocks available to build the routes vary by company. The black clipper ship company only has 18 blocks to build routes, while the red company has 32.

During phase 1 of each turn, the players have the choice of placing one of their 5 remaining ports on the board, passing, or buying one of the available cards. There cards are:

2X - costs $2 and allows the player to place two route blocks on the board instead of one. Any bonus money paid for connecting to an island is also doubled. These are very popular cards. In a 5-player game there are 3 of them

3X - Allows a player to place 3 route blocks. However, the player does not receive any bonus money. The lack of bonus money is really bad, but you may need to play 3 route pieces to connect to one of your islands. This is especially true towards the end of the game when everyone is trying to maximize their points.

5X - It should be noted that each player get two opportunities per turn to extend a shipping route. The 5X card costs $1 but allows the player holding it to place five route pieces on the board in one of those two phases. The 2X and 3X piece allow 2 or 3 pieces to be played in both of the route building phases. The connection bonuses are paid normally with the 5X card.

Port - Costs $4 and allows you to move any one of your ports to a new location. There is little use for this card until all 5 of your unplaced ports are out on the board.

A player can also pass during phase 1, but that never happened. While getting your ports out on the table would seem to be crucial, it is quite painful to not acquire a 2X or 5X card if they are available to you when your turn comes up. In our game no one got all of their ports out on the map, which I suspect was a mistake. Still, money also counts as victory points at the end, so placing the extra pieces to make connects is hard to pass up. It is also crucial to the direction the routes will take when departing an island. You can play defensively this way by turning a route away from others islands. This is expecially true as the routes make their way across the board and get close to the home islands where each player has two ports on an 8-point island.

In addition to placing a port, buying a card, or passing; players may also buy a new clipper ship for $3. There are a limited number of these available. When you buy a clipper ship you must start a new route and place it on the map during one of the two phases where you will extend the shipping routes. Here is another opportunity for defensive play. As the number of route blocks for a company grows low, you can prevent an opponent from completing a route by starting an alternative route and using up the remaining blocks. Alternate routes can be started from the clipper ship companies starting position or from any island where that company has a route connected.

Our game started off with most players extending the white and black routes, usually being able to connect to a couple of islands a turn. This allowed all of us to build up some cash. White quickly used up all of its 25 route pieces, without either of the other white clipper ships being purchased. Black starts with just 18 pieces and those were quickly expended as well. The 2X and 5X pieces were always bought. The 5th player each turn would then either take the 3X or place a port on the map.

Eventually, two clipper ship companies connect to American Samoa and the 6th, purple, company comes into play. This company has no ship pieces, just the blocks for building routes. So you do not need to buy ships to start alternate routes. Purple routes start at American Samoa, but any number of routes can be started from any island purple connects to. This also allows players to block off other routes that would be beneficial to the other players.

Being our first game, we only realized after a few turns that we could buy a card and a clipper ship on the same turn. I made a crucial error towards the end of the game by obtaining the 5X card, but forgetting to purchase the last blue clipper ship. This allowed Todd to grab the last blue ship and create an alternate route. This used up all but the last blue route piece with the other blue route two spaces from Australia, where I had two ports waiting. I had to connect through Carl's home port to head towards Australia, giving him 16 points.

Early on we all played to create maximum connections to build up our cash, not really worrying about whose ports were on the islands. Later in the game there was a definite shift to routing the lines away from others ports. Carl was the only player who placed one of his extra ports on the board early in the game. This ended up being a difference maker in the final scoring. Kevin in particular took great delite in making it difficult to connect routes to their ports.

As the routes extended and it became obvious there were very few turns remaining, the extra ports began to be placed, but no player got all their ports on the map. Two of use never got a single company connected to our homes ports.

In the end the scores stood as follows:

Carl 123, Todd 121, Kevin 103, Dave 99, Jeff 98.

Todd had the highest value port at a 40. I believe this was a 5-point island with 4 company connects and Todd had two ports there.

In all, everyone enjoyed the game. I can say it left me really wanting to play again to correct some of the obvious errors I had made in my play. I would rate it a 7 at this point and would gladly play again.

We had a couple of rules issues we felt were unclear, and one complaint with the map.

As for the rules here were our questions:

1. The rules say that once a company has started building a route, no other company can build on that route. In other words, two different companies can start building the same route from different ends. This would dead-end both clipper ships. However, when the purple company comes into play it says the purple company can build partial routes. Does this mean the purple routes can go down a route already started by another company, blocking off that clipper ship? We played that the purple route could do this.

2. I questioned if the purple route counted as a connection for the final point tally since their were not purple clipper ships, just a route. The rules do not state that the purple company does not count as a connection so we included those connections in the points calculation.

As for the map, Tom Vassel in his excellent review really blasted the map for having the route markings in light blue and for having the double routes too close together. I do not think any of use had any problem seeing where the routes were going, but the islands that had two routes between them did get pretty crowded. Separating the two routes a bit more would help. Still, I thought this was a minor nuisance.

If not for the tight confines where the routes are laid, exchanging the wooden blocks used for clipper ships to a nicer sculpted ship would be very cool. The 1/2400 GHQ ships would just take up too much room though.

I think with a play or two under our belts the scores would be higher. Our defensive play also had something to do with that.

All in all, a good game I'm looking forward to playing again.

Thread: Re: Replacement Port Markers

1Aspielerin — 2006-08-21T13:01:48+00:00

i use the tokens from Targui - you have 6 colors - more than enough. it works very well

Thread: Re: Making board state more obvious

1Aspielerin — 2006-08-21T13:00:28+00:00

thanks for this tip - i tried it twice and it worked well

Thread: Re: Rules in English?

craniac — 2006-08-02T23:14:22+00:00

I've seen partial rules. I traded for the german edition. I have a gamer friend who is German, so I can probably get her to teach us if worse comes to worse.