Game: Formula Dé Mini

Thread: Re: Formula De Mini using Formula De tracks - A Complete Variant

Almalik — 2008-05-18T19:14:01+00:00

Quick question: what results range does the 6th gear die give (if I want to fake the die in order to use regular tracks)? Is it 20 - 30? In that case, I could just use the 5th gear die + 10.

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goldenboat — 2008-05-17T15:33:49+00:00

all components

Thread: Re: THE Variant

franklincobb — 2008-05-13T21:35:44+00:00

malloc wrote:
Sounds cool, maybe we can try it in a few weeks

-M

This would make a great quick-playing game to squeeze in. It works pretty well. The more players you have, in fact, the better it works, because it forces you to be more cautious. And this is thematically correct--if there are more drivers on the track, you have to drive more carefully!

Say if you've got six, you peel around a corner and overshoot by 4, then someone pegs their engine and you take two more, then someone pulls along side you and scrapes your paint....you're out! In that size game, you almost have to keep overshooting down to 3 or 4 maximum or you run the risk of elimination. And I think that's a very reasonable number.

You also get more of the risk/reward payoffs that you see in regular Formula De...instead of the small risk/big payout you get with the regular Mini rules as written.

Thread: Re: THE Variant

Floydski — 2008-05-09T02:08:48+00:00

Sounds like an interesting and simple way of balancing your resources.
I'll give it a shot when we play this weekend.

~Floyd

Thread: Re: THE Variant

malloc — 2008-05-08T20:22:43+00:00

Sounds cool, maybe we can try it in a few weeks

-M

Thread: THE Variant

franklincobb — 2008-05-08T18:24:39+00:00

So everyone pretty much agrees that the rules as written don't work very well--they encourage rampant overshooting of curves and the 'blocking' rule doesn't work because you can just brake for 7 instead, if need be.

Some responded by making the game more like its big brother, but there are others who didn't want to do that because they wanted to keep the game a faster, simpler version. I agree with that.

We played the following variant yesterday and it worked like a CHAMP. If someone has suggested this before, forgive me.

1. First, make sure you keep your life chips in front of you, in between yourself and your dashboard. This is just to keep clear what is your current life chips and which are your current damage chips.

2. At the start of your turn, remove all chips that are above your dashboard and put them in the reserve pile.

3. During your turn, damage you take from overshooting, braking, blocking, etc. is not placed directly in the reserve pile but instead is placed above your dashboard. Damage you take on other player's turns due to collisions, engine damage, etc. is also added to this tally.

4. If at ANY TIME you have 7 or more chips in your damage area, your car is immediately eliminated. Remember that at the start of the turn you clear this accumulated damage area.

Keeps things simple, with only essentially one additional rule (damage is tracked for a go 'round, and 7 eliminates you). Since turns would be occuring almost simultaneously in a "real" race, it makes sense to track damage for the whole round, as we're talking mere seconds (or less) during each turn.

Now you can't drive like a maniac. Overshoot a curve by 6? If someone scrapes your paint, you're out.

When we used this rule, everyone was forced to drive much more carefully. No one triggered the 7 rule, but some came close. We played a four-player game on the two-lane track. Even with everyone being more mindful of their current damage during a turn, we were all down to the wire in the end, two cars got eliminated on curves due to being out of life chips, and I had one life point left to my opponent's none, and I kept trying to trigger a collision with him to eliminate him. I was able to blow past him in the final curve and race to victory.

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pdclose — 2008-03-23T18:37:58+00:00

How do you store 200 lifepoints? I made a custom lined bag for mine!

Thread: Re: Question about Collisions

caffeinehead — 2008-03-03T19:03:17+00:00

Not an official answer, but we play that collision occurs after all slipstreams.

Thread: Re: Session Report...dad and a 4 year old give it a go

ltbaxter — 2008-01-15T14:39:01+00:00

Don't ya love it when your lil guy ignores your advise and destroys you?! (Been there ) Thanks for the nice report.

Thread: Session Report...dad and a 4 year old give it a go

garry_rice — 2008-01-15T01:04:30+00:00

Just received this game today after purchasing it from another user here on BGG. My soon to be 4 year old son Caleb is ALWAYS fascinated by any new boxes that come in the mail or UPS and always inquires what new game daddy got. He then naturally wants to play the game, so daddy and son will usually sit down and "play" the game, and this game was no exception.

I pulled it out of the box to sort everything and he immediately wanted to play, so I gave him a green car and he gave me a blue car and off we went, with Daddy giving a assistance in deciding when to shift up or down. The first lap was pretty uneventful and I was leading after the first lap. The second lap was quite a different story. We were coming up on a curve but still had what I thought was a pretty large distance to cover and I recommended to him to roll the purple die (5th gear), but he was quite adamant that he wanted to roll the green die (4th gear)...so he rolled the green die - and naturally got just the right number to hit the turn without blowing past...which daddy then proceeded to do when he rolled the purple die - not only did daddy blow by, it also put him right up against the next curve so that dad had to downshift 2 gears and roll the red die. During this time, Caleb just kept right on rolling the green die and quickly left dad in the dust. To put further injury to it, the dice rolls kept leaving dad right in front of the curves instead of inside, forcing an additional roll in the lower gear. Dad also lost alot more life tokens than Caleb did...

Thread: Re: Little cars

garry_rice — 2008-01-15T00:53:48+00:00

yep...de mini' just uses generic life points for damage tokens - it doesn't get specific with damage to certain parts of the car like I understand the original game does.

Thread: Re: Little cars

Karlsen — 2007-12-23T22:27:05+00:00

Life points? Or is that something that is in Formula Dé Mini and not in Formula Dé?

Thread: Little cars

Paul Mackie — 2007-12-23T12:06:51+00:00

Little racing cars as something ’short’ to end the evening with for those gamers who had to bail out. Originally this was being set up for 3 or 4 players but as we learned it could accommodate more, eventually everyone but the Power Gridders had themselves a car, to provide race fans with a crowded 8p field.

It was decided we would only do one lap, and there was some discussion of how many life-points we were to all get. Life points were handicapped inversely to starting positions, and the latter were not subject to negotiation - instead start position was determined simply by a first-in, law-of-the-jungle approach. So Alex grabbed himself position 1 before anyone could blink, and I wasted no time in taking number 2. Neil F. chose last place and everyone else then filled in the spaces in between. Alex got off to a comfortable start, as did I alongside him. ‘Touching’ cars have to roll for collision damage, and we took one or two hits in the early corners. However, not as many it seems as most of the other players bunched up in the middle of the pack. Marcus in particular seemed to bear the brunt of this.

Apparently with the benefit of historical knowledge, Neil F. employed a ‘hang back’ strategy, staying in first gear and last place until most of the pack had cleared the first bend. We speculated that he might just cruise past the wreckage of seven other cars at some point…

As the field opened up things got more interesting. Alex got into trouble on the third bend and I was able to fly past him. Before the fourth some of the other racers were gaining ground on him, although Neil was still trailing comfortably and collision-free in last place.

My lead continued to grow and I was looking pretty good for the win provided I could negotiate all remaining corners comfortably. Alex managed to get himself back on track and seemed to be repositioned for 2nd place again, until disaster struck on the final curve. A spin-out had him facing the wrong way and having to re-start his car from 1st gear. In the meantime I crossed the line for an easy win, and as Alex took off again he was passed by Richard and Euhan who took 2nd and 3rd respectively. A blockage by late-running Neil meant that he was further denied the dignity of fourth, as Brian then Nick made it home. Alex was therefore able to claim 6th place, followed by the limping Marcus in his battered car and the cruising Neil. Funny stuff.

10 mins setup, rules and variant negotiation; 30 mins game time.
Results summary: Paul 1st, then Richard, Euhan, Brian, Nick, Alex, Marcus, Neil F.

(Originally posted in The Mine Shaft Gap.)

Thread: Re: How many Life Point Tokens for a regular FD track?

Ghostman — 2007-12-09T03:48:19+00:00

As a house rule we play with a standard set of rules based on the Mini rules.

10 LP's PLUS one PER CAR in the race.
ex: 2 cars, 12 LP's, 10 cars, 20 LP's

Also, we implement an 'over 6' rule. Since we have a lot of LP's, sometimes over shooting a corner gets a little out of hand, so we rule that if you blow over a corner by 6 or more, you cannot spend them on tires, you must spend 1/2 on brakes. This makes no difference in the chip cost, but does limit the distance of the over shoot.
ex: 8 spaces over? Sorry, 8 LP's, but only 4 spaces out, because the other 4 LP's are for breaks.

Pit Stops, what you roll is how many you get back, up to the max of the initial level.
ex: 6 car race, 16 LP's. in the pit, roll a 6, get 6 LP's and add them to your stack (no matter how many you rolled into the pit with). Roll a 20, you max out to the 16 chips you started with, same with any number higher than the total number of starting LP's.

In the regular FD listing, there is a mini rules reference sheet that I find VERY handy.

Happy racing!!

Thread: Question about Collisions

d172 — 2007-11-25T16:44:29+00:00

I understand that everytime a movement stops behind another car a player has to roll for a potential collision.

Am I understanding correctly that before a car can "slipstream", it has to roll for possible collision since in order to do that you have to "stop" behind another car?

Or is it considered that the car is still "moving" and if it chooses to "slipstream", it avoids having to roll for possible collision?

Thanks
Darryl

Thread: Lucky me!

KaneBlaireau — 2007-10-21T17:37:32+00:00

Just found a copy of this at Value Village...for $1! Its missing the black D20 (has the purple one) and one gear-shift counter. Other than that, its all here! WOOHOO!

Thread: Has anyone tried LPs based on the sum of the corner ratings?

paulfish1963 — 2007-09-18T19:09:42+00:00

Our group was playing on Monaco last weekend and thought that 20 LPs was too much for a 2 lap race. It allowed someone to be very fast and loose running the track, trying things that are borderline suicide because you can pay up to 7 LPs at the same time and recover from pretty much anything.

Someone suggested having 1 LP for each required stop in the curves on the track. So you'd sum all of the curves, and get that many LPs for the race. If you pit, you'd restore up to that initial max as per the rules. (Our house rule on the pits is you get LPs equal to a roll of 4th gear when pitting, can stay one extra turn to gain the rest of them, and can't leave the same turn you enter the pit.)

Has anybody tried limiting the number of LPs based on the track? It seems like a reasonable idea. We had moved on to another game, so we won't be trying it for a few weeks.

Thanks,

Fish.

Thread: Damage tracking sheets to make FD Mini like its big brother

riledguy — 2007-09-01T03:51:05+00:00

For some this defeats the purpose of having the Mini game ... so ignore.....for others including myself it can make things a bit more fun.

I made some sheets that work like those in regular full sized version but instead you can just use the stacks of gold chips to keep track of the wear and tear on your car. So the all you have to add is 8 strips of paper to the box. (Maybe 8 strips of oak tag if you are more fancy pants.)

Also you can build the cars as you would in the Main game if you wanted to .. or were racing more then 3 laps.

Not included is the weather based tires.

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chiplee — 2007-08-03T01:43:04+00:00

Back of Box

Thread: Re: I redline, you redline .. we all redline ... why?

riledguy — 2007-07-23T04:19:17+00:00

All good points. We are often playing with 6-8 cars so the engine checks would come up all the time. Anyhoo that is the great part about board games. If we don't like the rule we change it so that we do.

Thread: Re: I redline, you redline .. we all redline ... why?

DarrellKH — 2007-07-20T17:38:55+00:00

While Wiki might tell you how often cars were retired due to engine failure for a given season, what they don't tell you is more to the point.

For at least ten years, Formula One cars have had "governors" in the form of RPM limiters installed on them. What this means is that engine failure can almost never be attributable to the driver of the car. (The notable exception to this was the BAR-Honda car, which for a couple of years recently gave the drivers a "hot button", which would temporarily lift the governor by a certain amount - say from the standard limitation of 19,500 RPM up to 20,000 RPM or perhaps a little more. However, the drivers were under extreme pressure by team management to use this only when instructed by the pits.)

What more often happens with a blown engine in Formula One is a manifold has some tiniest impurity in its alloy, which responds to heat gain and loss differently than the surrounding material, and thus causes that portion of the plate to expand or shrink at a different rate, resulting in a weakness of the material, and then a crack. The other most likely cause is loss of oil from the engine, as this can also be caused by vibration on a gasket, shaking of the frame over turn bumps, etc.

However, absolutely none of this supports any contention that engine failure incidence will increase, simply because more drivers are pushing their cars harder. In point of fact, you don't last long as a Formula One driver if you aren't pushing your car all of the time. (Tire wear or instructions from the pit notwithstanding.) If you won't push your car, there are ten someones waiting (in GP2 and F3000) to get your seat, who will.

*-Edited for punctuation

Thread: Re: I redline, you redline .. we all redline ... why?

Spacehulk — 2007-07-20T16:36:41+00:00

The rule is pretty retarded if you ask me. The chances of my engine blowing up shouldn't depend on how many other cars are in the race. Which is exaclty what happens when everyone starts going fast. It is simply a dumb rule. They should have made it only affect the car that made the roll. If they wanted more damage to take place, simply increase the odds of it occuring like take damage on a 1-10 instead of a 1-4 or whatever.

Thread: Re: I redline, you redline .. we all redline ... why?

riledguy — 2007-07-20T15:36:12+00:00

RPardoe wrote:
....But another issue is that engine damage roll is more likely in FD Mini than in the original game. In FD Mini the two top gears are 12 and 20 sided dice. In the big game, the top gears are 20 and 30 sided dice. So FD Mini is likely to have more engine checks than the original FD as the top number is more likely to come up in 4th than in 6th gear.

The engine checks come up plenty enough that I don't think really don't need to have everyone roll on the check. We just played a game where you roll on only your own check and out of six cars four made it across the finish line so even without the ton of engine checks folks still took plenty of damage. What also makes the engine check on someone else's roll so brutal is that you loose 2 points which is big.

Fun game though and even though there are no 2 stop turns the mini courses offer their own challenges.

Thread: Re: I redline, you redline .. we all redline ... why?

RPardoe — 2007-07-12T19:33:42+00:00

riledguy wrote:
The problem is I am not pushing ... the dice happen to come up high.

In my mind, you are pushing as you have decided to upshift into one of the two top gears so are exposing yourself (and your engine) to more wear and a greater chance of some engine damage. This is a chance you have to face as you decide to upshift.

As for "how often" - I did some very simple checking on Wiki of the 2006 results. Suzuka, Monaco, Monza, Magny-Cours all had at least one car that did not finish due to Engine failure of some sort. So I am not inclined to believe that engine failure is that uncommon.

Edit: So given that engine failure of some sort is an occurance while racing. And likely to be for the multitude of reasons that Will lists above. If not the top gear risk/reward system that the game currently has - what should be used to add simulate (in some form) engine damage in the game?

FWIW - We tend to lose cars more due to collision point damage, yet the same results show that accident or body damage is a very uncommon occurance in Formula 1 (at least in the few races I looked at). Yet no one complains about that.

If the complaint is about a "lack of control" over a purely random event, I would respond that stuff beyond our control happens all the time.

But another issue is that engine damage roll is more likely in FD Mini than in the original game. In FD Mini the two top gears are 12 and 20 sided dice. In the big game, the top gears are 20 and 30 sided dice. So FD Mini is likely to have more engine checks than the original FD as the top number is more likely to come up in 4th than in 6th gear.

Thread: Re: I redline, you redline .. we all redline ... why?

riledguy — 2007-07-12T19:17:58+00:00

GeoMan wrote:
To make it more risky if you push hard your engine. With this rule you never know how many times you will have to check for engine damage (because it also depends on your opponents).

If you only check when the leader does, you could push your engine without much risk whenever the leader is not pushing his engine.

Also if more players push their engines it is more likely that someone's engine will get damaged, which is more realistic.

The problem is I am not pushing ... the dice happen to come up high. I feel like "pushing it" should be something I control. Such as going into a corner hot hoping I roll low. That is my risk. To keep taking damage because someone else keeps rolling a 20 or 12 just seems silly. What does that have to do with my car?

Thread: Re: I redline, you redline .. we all redline ... why?

tyvek — 2007-07-12T19:08:46+00:00

Yet, I wonder, in Formula One racing, how many engines actually 'blow-out' based on 'pushing the engine in this manner'? I imagine engines 'go out' in the races, more because of fuel intake problems, or cooling systems, or computer-coded specific minutiae, rather than 'straight-up' redlining the engine.

Our league, that really dislikes this rule, tosses it out, and let's the racing and the drivers do the talking, rather than the fates of Big Gear Engine Blowouts, that suck the fun out of the game....at least for us.

Thread: Re: I redline, you redline .. we all redline ... why?

GeoMan — 2007-07-12T18:49:19+00:00

To make it more risky if you push hard your engine. With this rule you never know how many times you will have to check for engine damage (because it also depends on your opponents).

If you only check when the leader does, you could push your engine without much risk whenever the leader is not pushing his engine.

Also if more players push their engines it is more likely that someone's engine will get damaged, which is more realistic.

Thread: I redline, you redline .. we all redline ... why?

riledguy — 2007-07-12T17:09:02+00:00

Why did they put in the rule if someone redlines (max roll in 4th and 5th) that everyone in that gear needs to check for engine damage?

I could sort of see that being the case if everyone checked when the leader does it, implying they are pushing to catch up, but as stated it really does not make sense to me.

Part of the reason is bugs me is that I took more damage last night from other people redlining then I did from my own or from collision.... which just seemed silly.

Thread: Re: Formula De Mini using Formula De tracks - A Complete Var

Floydski — 2007-07-01T20:47:16+00:00

The need for all the bookkeeping is eliminated in Mini. (You only have a set amount of chits/chips for such things as over shooting a corner, etc.)
Also, the tracks with mini are much shorter (and only 2 lanes) than those that were designed for the full(or Maxi)edition. There is no 6th gear in mini, as they aren't needed for such short tracks.

~Floyd

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mdu2boy — 2007-06-15T14:10:55+00:00

From Bobby Tweak's game night

Thread: Re: Slipstreaming in a corner

kimbo — 2007-05-28T05:59:30+00:00

This situation came up in a game I played yesterday. As far as I can tell, the rules do not address the question.

We decided to rule that if a car slipstreams out of a turn, the stop rule had not been met. Since if a car slipstreams, they never really "ended a turn" or "stopped" in the curve.

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moorwild — 2007-05-12T12:39:55+00:00

How the cars come out of the Formlua De Mini box

Thread: Re: Formula De Mini using Formula De tracks - A Complete Variant

Groove74 — 2007-04-10T09:23:11+00:00

Hi all,

My group really loved Formula De (Maxi) last time we all got together (been on my shelf for years!) and we're meeting up again in a couple of weeks... however, I am concerned about time as we only ever play single lap races and it'd be far more fun to do a couple of races of 2 or 3 laps...

What are the main differences between mini and maxi - why is mini so much quicker?

Thanks!

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tatewu — 2007-02-22T17:09:42+00:00

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tatewu — 2007-02-22T17:05:54+00:00

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tatewu — 2007-02-22T17:04:11+00:00

Thread: Session Report: Formula De Mini (4 Player)

Huxley — 2006-12-21T19:28:01+00:00

I was introduced to this game by 3 veteran players at our weekly game night. Having been on my wishlist for over a year, I was pumped to try it out.

The rules explanation took around 1 minute, as the game is pure simplicity. I count spaces, look at the different dice available to me, and choose the dice that will most likely result in me landing in the space I want. In the event I don't, I burn off these gold chips as a penalty. Pure genius.

I was trailing by a fair amount going into the end of the first lap, but had used only 1 or 2 Life Tokens. The player who was in the lead had burnt out something like 10 Life Tokens, and was forced to pit. The other players were cursed by some poor die rolling and I was able to catch them coming into the first turn of our second lap. From that point on, I continued to pull away and established a healthy lead going into the final lap.

The game ended with Richard and me sitting side by side in the final turn leading into the straight away. I was within striking distance of the finish line, as was Richard. We were both flying out of the turn in Fifth gear, throwing the 20 sided dice and praying for big numbers. I needed a 14 to win, Richard a 15. I got to roll first, and BAM! 20. Game over I win WOOHOO! Richard took second. Daniel took third and Aaron blew his car out, failing to finish.

A great game, and one that I have now placed firmly on my To Buy list.

Thread: Re: Portuguese review/crítica em português

pitris — 2006-11-10T16:32:48+00:00

Obrigado eu, pelo comentário simpático.

Thread: Rules translation

fs1973 — 2006-10-23T21:48:10+00:00

Hi,

Can anyone tell me where can i find a english language set of rules for this game?

Thanks

Thread: Pimp my ride

leyton — 2006-10-16T12:26:46+00:00

Formula de mini has always seemed a passable game to me; its intuitive, has a mechanic that fits with the theme and appears to achieve its goals of a quicker, simpler Formula De. A Renault Clio compared to A Renault FI. But through stripping Formula De down to its basics they have seemed on some points to have thrown out common sense (a bizarre pit stop system, a disadvantageous starting sysyem, a competition to see who can stay in the 5th gear the longest etc). On the few occasions I play FdM it seems ripe for alteration - a 101 class on game varients. As you will quickly see I would not be the teacher of the class but I would greatly appreciate your feedback - some of these ideas have come to me on the trip to work and havent been playtested.

Possible changes

Basic set-up

1) Number of players 2 - 4; each player gets two cars. Its horrible having just one car trailing at the back of the pack, two cars mean that there is a greater chance of being competitive right to the end.

2) Starting Life Points are reduced to 15 (this has been suggested on several occasions and has been written about by Greg Schloesser)

In a league system maybe the winner of the race can get one extra LP as prize money (to use in future races)

3) The board - Change the longest corner to a 2 stop corner this is wonderfully illustrated and suggested by Chris Malme http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/75628

Course Rules

4) Straights - Zigzagging unless an overtaking movement is as the game still forbidden. However the line in the rules

'In all cases, when moving in a straight, drivers must follow the shortest possible route (in number of spaces) to the next corner'

feels too automatic - removes a lot of choice from the player - and ignores the reality of racing when drivers search for the best line and often enter a corner wide. Therefore I suggest a player if following all the rules of the game can move to the outside lane but as before can then not choose to zig zag back.

5) Corners - you cannot overshoot a corner. In racing when you overshoot a corner you invariably go wide onto a poor surface - a real disadvantage. At present there is no facility for this in FdM (until someone designs a FdM course with sandpits)and you continue on the course ... except for the paying of LPs it can be an advantage and a legitimate tactic (stay in the highest gear for as long as possible). My version you stop at the furthest point of the corner following the rules of the black arrows and pay the amount of LPs that you would of overshot by e.g. If the furthest point is a five and you roll an 8 you would move 5 places and pay 3 LPs.

6) The race - Flying Start & Bad starts. If you are on the fourth row of the grid and roll a bad start potentially, as the rules stand, within one turn you could possibly be 12 spaces behind the leader (if they have thrown a flying start) and still in first gear. Its a roll and move game and you should embrace the dice but this seems harsh. I propose therefore if you are in the front row (Pole position and second spot) if you have a flying start you roll your 1st gear die and add 1. If you are in the second (positions 3 & 4) and get a flying start roll your 1st gear die and add 2, add 3 for the third row (positions 5 & 6)and add 4 for the fourth row (positions 7 & 8). This will then not punish two consecutive dice rolls. You may want to overule any bad start roles on the back row if you are feeling generous.

7) The race - Pit Stops. The most obviously flawed part of the game and possibly the hardest to explain without graphics. I propose a pit stop consisting of two lanes and three sections. The first section the entry corner into the pit (first 2 squares on the curve of the pit lane), the pit section (two lanes - allowing cars to overtake in the pit lane ... first in is not always first out) and the exit corner out of the pit (the last 2 curved squares on the exit from the pit).

The pit system will consist of two distinct moves.

Part 1 As before you can enter the pit on any gear - once you have passed the 2 squares on the entry corner you have reached the pit. Turn over.

Part 2 Roll 4th gear (3rd gear if playing hardball) to ascertain how many LPs you have gained and exit in 2nd gear. If you are not happy with your dice roll for LPs you can stay wait for your turn to come round again (risky but might be rewarding).

With the two lanes in the pit stop a car that enters the pit second can exit first which is common in F1 when a bad pit stop for a leading team occurs.

Also in the round of turns where you are in the second phase of the pit stop you roll last irrelevant of your actual position in the race - every car on the course goes before you - even if they are behind you in race position as you are temporarily out of the race and the cars on the track are moving quicker than you. It then becomes a race to see if you can get out of the pit before your opponents overtake you.

I hope some of this makes sense and I would greatly appreciate your feedback as I do enjoy FdM but think I could enjoy it more.

Yours

Leyton

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Mosse — 2006-10-08T22:14:01+00:00

Thread: Re: Portuguese review/crítica em português

Ronaldo — 2006-09-28T00:35:34+00:00

Review bacana esta. Eu prefiro o FD mini mas a falta de pistas eh um problema grave. Eu acho que novas pistas nao serao publicadas pois este deve ser considerado um jogo introdutorio ao "full FD". Por isso tenho tentado as regras do mini (com algumas mudancas) nas pistas grandes e tenho tido sucess. Obrigado pela review.

Thread: Re: Formula De Mini using Formula De tracks - A Complete Variant

Ronaldo — 2006-09-28T00:28:39+00:00

Sorry I didn't see this post sooner. What I do (and I believe someone had suggested here before) is to roll the red die (8-sided die) and add the result to the current LPs. For example, you go to the pits with 3 LPs, spend a turn, roll the red die and get a 6. Now you have 9 LPs, and you may leave the pits or stay one more turn to gain more LPs. Lets say you stayed one more turn, rolled the red die and got a 5. Now you have 14 LPs and will leave the pits. You can never have more than 15 LPs.

Please let me know how this plays for you.

Thread: Re: Formula De Mini using Formula De tracks - A Complete Var

Werebear — 2006-09-18T17:25:19+00:00

I've just printed up your suggestions - I was asking this question recently (and perhaps you responded? I think you did)...

Anyway - I'll try this out, probably tonight, and let you know how it goes.

One point #4, what do you mean by "use the red die" - are you talking about the eight sider? Do you just roll that many points in additional LP - or do you do something different?

And are you checking against current LPs, or against something else? I see you saying that you might spend one or more turns in the pits - are you using the same rules as FD Mini, but just using a different sized dice?

In other words, do I roll the red die (the d8), compare the value to my current LPs, and if it is more, I move out (next turn), with that amount on my die roll as additional LPs?

Thanks!

Russell

Thread: Portuguese review/crítica em português

pitris — 2006-09-14T17:51:40+00:00

Review originally posted in the portuguese boardgameblog http://jogosdetabuleiro.blogspot.com.

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Desde que conheço o Hugo, que temos mantido um relacionamento Mestre/Discipulo. Se a vida fosse o Karate Kid, eu seria o sábio, experiente e sexy mestre Mr. Myagi, enquanto o Hugo seria o jovem, impetuoso, esforçado, mas pouco brilhante estudante de Karate a quem eu mandaria pintar a cerca, encerar o carro, ou apanhar moscas, para que aprendesse os mistérios do karaté. Hmmm, agora que penso nisso, devo dizer que não é só com o Hugo e os jogos de tabuleiro que assumo esta posição de de sabedoria e superioridade, mas pronto, isso são contas de outro rosário.

Ou seja, e no que a jogos de tabuleiro diz respeito, eu assumo o papel do sensei, aquele que tudo sabe e que quase sempre ganha, enquanto o Hugo fica relegado para o papel de jovem obediente e permanentemente maravilhado com a vastidão da inteligência e dos conhecimentos do mestre.

Infelizmente, por mais cercas que eu o mande pintar e por mais vezes que ele me encere o carro, continua com uma dificuldade extrema em perceber porque é que é sempre pisoteado quando jogamos Tigris, ou porque é que não gastar dinheiro para comprar acções no Löwenherz não é uma boa ideia. Enfim, nem todos os discipulos têm a mesma qualidade e, neste caso particular, devo dizer que o Mr. Myagi teve imensa sorte em lhe ter saído o jovem Daniel...

Mas, o que estou a tentar dizer é que, normalmente, eu seleciono os jogos, compro-os e depois permito que o Hugo os jogue para a seguir vir aqui colocar as suas patéticas tentativas de imitar os meus magnificos session reports e as minhas interessantes e acertadas reviews.

Ora, há relativamente pouco tempo, a formiga ganhou catarro e resolveu experimentar um jogo, longe da asa protectora do mestre. Reuniu-se secretamente com meia dúzia de latagões de um dojo rival, que ainda por cima não percebiam absolutamente nada de karaté, e foi jogar Fórmula Dé com eles. Como se isso não fosse suficiente, ainda teve a lata de escrever um post aqui no blog sobre o assunto!

Apesar da fraca qualidade da review me dar vontade de rir, devo confessar que o petiz conseguiu despertar a minha atenção para um jogo que tinha, até aqui, passado completamente despercebido. E, devo confessar, que achei piada a algumas das ideias - nomeadamente a de usar dados com um numero de faces e uma gama de valores diferentes para emular as mudanças de um carro - e reconheci imediatamente um grande potencial para introduzir gamers mais casuais a esta vida dificil.

No entanto, o Fórmula Dé tem um grande problema: a duração!

Se 3 horas não são demais, quando se está entretido a dominar a bacia do mediterrâneo exterminado sem piedade os adversários e deixando os filhos dos seus soldados orfãos, ou a construir um império de transportes ferroviários, levando os rivais à falência e à miséria, deixando os filhos dos seus trabalhadores com fome, a verdade é que quando se está a lançar dados para se fazer uma corrida de carros, 3 horas são claramente um exagero dificilmente aceitável, como qualquer pessoa minimamente atenta imediatamente notará!

Claro que o Hugo não notou, como seria de esperar, mas felizmente os designers do jogo não andam a dormir e, não contentes com isso, resolveram fazer alguma para alterar a situação...e foi assim que nasceu o Fórmula Dé Mini.

Basicamente é uma versão do Fórmula Dé - com o mesmo brilhante mecanismo dos dados a simular mudanças - mas bastante simplificada, principalmente na parte do jogo que não lida directamente com a corrida.

Ou seja, em vez da parafernália de pontos a que é preciso prestar atenção no jogo base (estado dos pneus, estado do motor, estado dos travões, estado da máquina de calcular que é usada para efectuar as 1670 operações aritméticas necessárias a cada jogada, etc), tudo é abstraído para "pontos de vida". São estes pontos que o jogador gasta quando entra demasiado rápido numa curva, quando faz uma redução de caixa demasiado abrupta, quando conduz demasiado próximo de um adversário, etc. Também são estes pontos de vida que, ao acabarem, determinam a eliminação de um carro e que podem ser "recarregados" com uma ida à boxe. Por outro lado, as pistas também são mais pequenas e, tudo isto conjugado, permite que se faça uma corrida com 3 voltas em mais ou menos 1 hora, com 4 jogadores (cada um com 2 carros).

E isto meus amigos, faz toda a diferença!

Passa-se assim de um jogo monstro que, não só demora imenso tempo, como ainda deve reduzir o cérebro dos menos habituados a uma papa fumegante, tal a quantidade de contas que é preciso fazer, por jogada - leia-se, só vais jogar isto com os mais geeks de entre os geeks - para um jogo giro, divertido, que se joga numa horita e, apesar das simplificações, nunca dá a ideia de ser demasiado aleatório. Ainda por cima, com o aspecto "brinquedo" que tem, desperta imediatamente a curiosidade e dá ideia de que nunca vai ser dificil arranjar adversários para o jogar. Aliás, se tenho dúvidas que fosse jogar Fórmula Dé muitas vezes, tenho a certeza que este Fórmula Dé Mini vai sair do saco com muita frequência.

A única desvantagem em relação ao original são as pistas! Se é verdade que há dezenas de pistas adicionais disponíveis para o Fórmula Dé, para esta versão Mini só estão disponíveis as pistas que vêm com o jogo (e são duas). Mas pode ser que sejam publicadas mais algumas, nunca se sabe...

Thread: Formula De Mini using Formula De tracks - A Complete Variant

Ronaldo — 2006-08-28T03:40:28+00:00

This variant for using the "Maxi" Formula DE tracks with the Formula DE Mini rules/frame has worked well in the few races we playtested them. I believe the initial LPs and the Pit rules are the same gschloesser reported elsewhere which his group uses for their regular Formula DE Mini games.

1) 2 laps.
2) 15 LPs.
3) Use the 6th gear
4) Roll the red die to regain LPs per turn spent in the pits (1-2 turns). The cars have to spend at least 1 full turn in the pits.
5) Leave the pits in 4th gear or lower.
6) Slipstreaming (4th gear or higher) and Engine Damage (5th or higher)are updated to reflect the presence of the 6th gear.
7) A driver is automatically eliminated if the combined loss of LPs for blocking, breaking and overshooting a corner is 7 or more in a single turn.

Suggestions for a league:
1) Grid on the 1st race is decided by a die roll.
2) 2nd race on: inverted finishing position from the prior race. DNF cars go in the first positions, then, from the cars that finished, the last goes first and the first goes last and the people/cars that did not show up complete the final positions of the grid.
3) Points are given as per F1 rules, except that the DNF cars receive 0 points.

Feedback will be appreciated.

Thread: Re: How many Life Point Tokens for a regular FD track?

Ronaldo — 2006-08-27T05:22:49+00:00

Ok. Played a 4 car Interlagos race with the rules I mentioned above, except: instead of eliminating a car that lost 7 or more points in a single turn, the automatic elimination was for a car that lost 7 or more points in any combination of blocking + breaking + overshooting a corner in a single turn. Also, I didn't mention above that engine damage happened only on 5-6th gears rather than 4-5th.

Impression: 15 life tokens for 2 laps felt just about right. 2 cars went to the pits and 2 did not. The pitting rules seemed harsh on the car stopping but we had pretty bad pit rolls. I think the way I mentioned is probably the best option but a quick stop with the car returning on the same turn if a 1-10 was rolled on the black die could be an option. The other rules worked very well.

Thread: Re: How many Life Point Tokens for a regular FD track?

Werebear — 2006-08-21T14:02:03+00:00

Ronaldo wrote:
I am thinking to do 15 tokens for a 2-lap race. Also, using the pitting rules suggested elsewhere: no leaving the pits in the same turn you entered and, staying at most for 2 turns and each time rolling the red die and receiving that many life points. Other changes to play on the regular FD tracks: use the 6th gear, leave the pits in 4th gear or lower, slipstreaming needs to be on 4th or higher and, a driver is eliminated if it loses 7 or more tokens in a single turn.

This is how I am going to try.

Ronaldo;

Those all sound like excellent ideas - I'll give them a try next time I play. Please check back in and let us know how that works for you?

Thanks!

Thread: Re: How many Life Point Tokens for a regular FD track?

Ronaldo — 2006-08-21T06:11:09+00:00

I am thinking to do 15 tokens for a 2-lap race. Also, using the pitting rules suggested elsewhere: no leaving the pits in the same turn you entered and, staying at most for 2 turns and each time rolling the red die and receiving that many life points. Other changes to play on the regular FD tracks: use the 6th gear, leave the pits in 4th gear or lower, slipstreaming needs to be on 4th or higher and, a driver is eliminated if it loses 7 or more tokens in a single turn.

This is how I am going to try.

Thread: Re: How many Life Point Tokens for a regular FD track?

JonBen — 2006-08-14T23:41:02+00:00

You may need to change the pitting rules as well, since in the mini version the pitting efficiency changes with the number of LP you have, I can't remember the specifics so I can't give you my thoughts on revising this rule.

Since a lot of the extra boxes in a 2/3 lap race have to do with engine, body, and suspension work it becomes a little difficult to draw a one-to-one correspondence between LPs and boxes. If you take a few points of body damage in the full game it changes the way you drive because you want to avoid damage rolls. However in mini you just loose some LP (right?), so the only thing you need to worry about is having LP at all. Plus there will be less collisions on a big map than on the small one, so those boxes are meant to be generous and last an entire race.

I have a feeling that 10LP on a big track should be enough for any amount of laps. This will ensure some tough pitting decisions for all but the most cautious of drivers.

Thread: How many Life Point Tokens for a regular FD track?

Werebear — 2006-08-14T21:15:42+00:00

I really like Formula De - both versions... but I've seen some resistance to the complexities of the big box version.

I was really happy to get the Mini version, and I also really like it.

Last night I tried (for the first time) to use the FD Mini rules with a big track, and I realized that I really had no idea how many Life Point Tokens to use.

Arbitrarily, I decided 20 - that's the count (I think) for a three lap Mini race. But that seems like a lot of points for a regular track (It was Brasil). Most people had at least ten tokens left over, so clearly that's too many.

I counted the record sheet from a regular game, and it has 10 different boxes for a one lap race (not counting spinout for tires, or crashing from bodywork or engine damage).

My thought is that I can use 10-12 tokens for a regular single lap race, and probably increase the count a bit for multiple laps (knowing that people will likely pit in multiple laps).

In theory, the record sheets for 1, 2, or 3 lap races should provide some guidance here - and knowing that LPs more or less correspond to those boxes, I'd like to try and come close to the same feel, without having to worry about marking off tires, brakes, fuel, etc. Also - since the record sheets should be usable with any of the tracks, I suspect that there is a good general rule of thumb to be used in these situtions.

Does anybody have some guidelines, advice, or experience?

Here's a rough stab at it:

1 Lap: (10 boxes w/o spinout or crash) so 12 LP Tokens?
2 Lap: (16 boxes w/o spinout or crash) so 18 LP Tokens?
3 Lap: (no idea - but probably just use the full rules, right?)

Any ideas and discussion will be much appreciated!

Thanks!

Russell

Image

Marky — 2006-07-09T01:05:47+00:00

Gold Gold Gold

Thread: Re: Question about the racing game

ja_n — 2006-06-02T09:48:10+00:00

macron wrote:
This means you could move up to 28 spaces in a single turn if you moved 20 spaces in 5th gear to enter the pits, high enough to exit, and finally rolled an 8 in 3rd gear while leaving. Something similar can happen in the full game (30 spaces in 6th gear plus 5 bonus spaces for a quick stop).

Well not really. To run into the pits on 5th gear and actually use the 20 rolled spaces you would have to overshoot the corner before the pitlane. When you overshoot you cannot change lanes so you cannot enter the pits.

Thread: Re: Life Points - Brakes/Tyres/Blocking

Tulkas — 2006-06-01T20:02:20+00:00

Chris__M wrote:
I think one of the reasons I stopped at just tyre points was that I had had the idea of using little tyres to make this self-explanatory. If I had found a source of little plastic engines, I may have taken it further.

LOL! The reason I included fuel was because the set of wooden block I bought from Eagle Games included a yellow cube!

Thread: Re: Life Points - Brakes/Tyres/Blocking

Chris__M — 2006-06-01T08:59:01+00:00

Tulkas wrote:
Chris, thank you for your original variant! It address the biggest problem. Please do not take my additional (and very minor) tweak as anything other then copying being the sincerest form of flattery.

Oh, don't worry, I won't. Your version of this variant is just as valid as mine.

Tulkas wrote:
Chris__M wrote:
I liked the simplicity of Mini, but felt that the game fell down with regard to braking/overshooting - there is no real incentive to break going into a corner, as far as I can see.

Totally agree! Your modification was enough in and of its self; but I wanted just a little more. The addition of two more types really does not add much in the way of complexity but adds a lot in strategy and, almost more importantly, it restores corollary between events and effects (which is good for kids and sufferers of OCD).

I think one of the reasons I stopped at just tyre points was that I had had the idea of using little tyres to make this self-explanatory. If I had found a source of little plastic engines, I may have taken it further.

Chris

Thread: Re: Life Points - Brakes/Tyres/Blocking

Tulkas — 2006-05-31T18:36:14+00:00

Chris, thank you for your original variant! It address the biggest problem. Please do not take my additional (and very minor) tweak as anything other then copying being the sincerest form of flattery.

Chris__M wrote:
I liked the simplicity of Mini, but felt that the game fell down with regard to braking/overshooting - there is no real incentive to break going into a corner, as far as I can see.

Totally agree! Your modification was enough in and of its self; but I wanted just a little more. The addition of two more types really does not add much in the way of complexity but adds a lot in strategy and, almost more importantly, it restores corollary between events and effects (which is good for kids and sufferers of OCD).

Chris__M wrote:
I also preferred the mechanic of having a stock of counters that are discarded, rather than keeping a written record of my resources. As well as being easier, there is a certain satisfaction in throwing a counter across the table into the pile, when you have just had a collision.

Bingo! Well said!

Thread: Re: Life Points - Brakes/Tyres/Blocking

Chris__M — 2006-05-31T18:23:01+00:00

franklincobb wrote:
I know this is going to sound a bit silly--but it sounds like you guys want to convert this to the full version of the game in an end-about way. Not that there's anything wrong with that, and I can see the appeal of using the full system on a smaller board.

It really does depend on how far you take it. I introduced just one extra counter type, but others are taking it a little further - as they are entitled to, of course.

I liked the simplicity of Mini, but felt that the game fell down with regard to braking/overshooting - there is no real incentive to break going into a corner, as far as I can see. My tyre points idea addressed this. For counters, I bought a bag of rubber toy car tyres, about half-inch in diameter. So in play, it is pretty obvious what they are for, and you don't have to remember what counter does what.

I also preferred the mechanic of having a stock of counters that are discarded, rather than keeping a written record of my resources. As well as being easier, there is a certain satisfaction in throwing a counter across the table into the pile, when you have just had a collision.

Chris

Thread: Re: Life Points - Brakes/Tyres/Blocking

Tulkas — 2006-05-31T14:43:10+00:00

ixnay66 wrote:
I'm with Ken. Get Formula De and play the full version.

In addition to the aforementioned reasons I want to say that even with all of these modifications the mini game is still a fair bit simpler then the full game and is cheaper, smaller, and takes less time to play, to boot.

Thread: Re: Life Points - Brakes/Tyres/Blocking

Tulkas — 2006-05-31T14:40:29+00:00

Ken, thank you for your considered reply. I am most pleased that you have experience with the full game as I do not. So it was good to here you say, "The changes suggested here actually sound pretty reasonable while still keeping it simple."

My reasons for even wanting to tweak the game was one, it is difficult to get the full game, two, I will be playing with my young son and taking and giving colored cubes is a more direct and a less abstract concept, and three, I felt that the lumping of every type of damage in to one type actually breaks most of the game.

Thread: Re: Life Points - Brakes/Tyres/Blocking

ixnay66 — 2006-05-31T14:37:11+00:00

I'm with Ken. Get Formula De and play the full version.