Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery | BoardGameGeek

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Scoring Buildings

ColtsFan76 — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:07:40 +0000

briand72us wrote:
I've read the FAQ and a lot of the posts on this game and still never found a clear and definitive answer to this question.

Did you try reading the rules? :)

He recieved no answer or response to his post. Can someone please clarify for me:

A.) Do you score bonus points based on a condition every turn and only score the red vp on the tile at the end of the game? or

B.) Do you score all building vp's red and otherwise ONLY at the end of the game?

The answer is B as stated on page 9 of the rules.

Victory points are earned three times during the game. New
World colonies score victory points at the end of Age I (end of
turn 3), Age II (end of turn 6) and Age III (end of turn 8, the
end of the game.).

End-game scoring:
The game ends at the end of Turn 8. When the game ends, each
player tallies his or her victory points (see below) and the player
with the most accumulated victory points wins. Victory Points
are awarded for:

Capital Buildings: Some Capital Buildings are worth Victory
Points for their owner. These are either a number in red or points
for an accomplishment. (For example the capital building “Navy”
grants 3 VPs per Merchant Ship owned by the player with the
“Navy” capital building.).

(emphasis added)

Scoring happens 3 times. During the game, you only score the New World Colonies. At the end of the game you do your final scoring. Capital Buildings are scored once at the end of the game. The example in the rulebook even uses the example you asked about.

So it never appeared in the FAQ because it is clearly stated in the rules.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Scoring Buildings

Unitoch — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:10:44 +0000

by Unitoch

Lukas is right, they're only scored once, at the end of the game.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Scoring Buildings

Rukasu — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:39:28 +0000

by Rukasu

We score all the building bonuses at the end of the game, not the turn they were purchased. You certainly don't score them every turn. Sorry I can't quote you a rule book or anything, but I am almost positive that is how it works.

Thread: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Scoring Buildings

briand72us — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:59:44 +0000

by briand72us

A user named budsbalkan posted this in June of 2007.

Hmm then i think we played it wrong.
I did understand the rules, that the red VP on the tile will be scored at the end of the game. But the bonus points based on a condition (e.g. Navy for every Merchant ship 4 VP) we scored in phase D Capital Building Benefits in that round it was picked up (e.g round 7)

But if i understand it right all VP Bonuses will be scored at the end of the game!

-------

He recieved no answer or response to his post. Can someone please clarify for me:

A.) Do you score bonus points based on a condition every turn and only score the red vp on the tile at the end of the game? or

B.) Do you score all building vp's red and otherwise ONLY at the end of the game?

I've read the FAQ and a lot of the posts on this game and still never found a clear and definitive answer to this question.

Thank you

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: Pizarro overruns the New World!

gopher37 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:50:45 +0000

by gopher37

Great session report! Love all the pictures that you intersperse in it.

That is amazing that you got 74 points alone from colony scoring, that is the highest total that I've ever heard of =) I'm assuming that you used the trading post money to help purchase additional missionaries and soldiers to help your strategy of flooding the new world? And I'm assuming that you went for the missionary and soldier specialist as often as possible?

And among those opening capital buildings, I likely would have taken the merchant, but those are all pretty good buildings. Navigator and training grounds are solid too.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: Pizarro overruns the New World!

Raharanor — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 07:10:20 +0000

by Raharanor

UnknownParkerBrother wrote:
Page 4 of the rules (5 if pdf)

III. Gameplay
...
The nations are:
Red: England
Blue: France
Yellow: Spain
Green: Portugal
Orange: Holland

Thanks for the info. Most of the rules explaining tends to be done by my friend Merric, of whom you're probably familiar with his session reports and so forth (his username is merricb). Thus, I rarely read the rules and simply go by what I know when I actually do explain rules when Merric or Randy (genesteeler) are playing.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: Pizarro overruns the New World!

UnknownParkerBrother — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:42:34 +0000

by UnknownParkerBrother

Page 4 of the rules (5 if pdf)

III. Gameplay
...
The nations are:
Red: England
Blue: France
Yellow: Spain
Green: Portugal
Orange: Holland

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: Pizarro overruns the New World!

Raharanor — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:05:56 +0000

by Raharanor

Corwin1980 wrote:
Raharanor wrote:
Randy: Dutch/Orange
Richard/Rich: Spanish/Red
Merric: English/Green (?- correct me if I'm wrong on this!)
Laurie: French/Blue
Ian: Portuguese/Yellow (?-correct me if I'm wrong on this!)

I haven't checked, but my understanding: Orange = Dutch, Yellow = Spanish, Red = English, Blue = French, Green = Portuguese.
Anyway, this isn't even worth mentioning, in my opinion, as they didn't even bothered with differentiating them in any way.

Well my understanding of the different nationalities is reflected in my initial post. Thanks for your alternative view on the nationalities, you could well be correct.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: Pizarro overruns the New World!

Corwin1980 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:06:19 +0000

by Corwin1980

Raharanor wrote:
Randy: Dutch/Orange
Richard/Rich: Spanish/Red
Merric: English/Green (?- correct me if I'm wrong on this!)
Laurie: French/Blue
Ian: Portuguese/Yellow (?-correct me if I'm wrong on this!)

I haven't checked, but my understanding: Orange = Dutch, Yellow = Spanish, Red = English, Blue = French, Green = Portuguese.
Anyway, this isn't even worth mentioning, in my opinion, as they didn't even bothered with differentiating them in any way.

Session: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Pizarro overruns the New World!

Raharanor — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:35:49 +0000

by Raharanor

13/6/09

It had been a long day of boardgaming (of which I was part of for only the evening due to a long day of planning for my teaching placement) and we were unanimous in bringing out one of our old favourites, Age of Empires 3: The Age of Discovery.

Having lost narrowly to Merric in our last game as the Spanish, I was keen to redeem myself. We had one new player, Ian (who Laurie brought along), who was keen to give the game a try due to it's seeming resemblance in name to the well-known PC game but being a great deal different! After explaining the rules to Ian we selected our nationalities:

Randy: Dutch/Orange
Richard/Rich: Spanish/Red
Merric: English/Green (?- correct me if I'm wrong on this!)
Laurie: French/Blue
Ian: Portuguese/Yellow (?-correct me if I'm wrong on this!)

The game thus began, with the usual selection of capital buildings as our first action and then proceeding to flood the Caribbean with colonists. Merric made an early grab for trade goods as per usual, and Randy did also. I proceeded to get a missionary ready for the next turn to flood the Caribbean; Laurie went for his usual soldier in discovery or colonies strategy, and Ian went discovering! Here are the starting capital buildings:

]]>
What would you choose?

Once the Trading Post was taken by Randy(?) I decided between Trade Routes and Training Grounds, with the latter being taken with obvious intent. Navigator went to Merric with his intent of following a Discovery-oriented strategy. I'm not entirely sure about who out of Ian and Laurie got Trade Routes and Conquistador, but with our capital buildings and strategies in place, we continued forth!

My colony-hungry Spanish Conquistadors began sending missionaries (later courtesy of the Monestary) and soldiers to the New World to enforce the conversion of restless natives! Merric's English built up their economy in the First Age as well as he and Randy's Dutch building up their trade good base collaboratively with the odd interjection by Laurie, Ian or myself. Ian's Portuguese went discovering and ventured into the New World as well.Laurie's Frenchmen also went discovering as well as attaining a fair bit of money from sending soldiers and captains to the New World with the help of Navigator.

]]>
End of the First Age.

The First Age scores were:
Rich: 12
Merric: 0
Laurie: 0
Randy: 2
Ian: 2

The Second Age saw the continuation of the discovery strategy by Ian, Merric and Laurie. Merric's Englishmen maintained a very solid economy with their sugar and fur trade goods. Randy's Dutchmen strived to gain some sort of advantage in the New World with a varied degree of success, with my Spanish colonists/missionaries/soldiers strategy blunting his ambitions as well as in one turn declaring warfare on all four of the available positions! Laurie continued to send soldiers to the New World and to the Discovery Box, as well as selecting the soldier specialist virtually every turn. With the taking of the Fortress capital building by yours truly, the stage was set for a showdown in the new world!

]]>
End of the Second Age...boy is this board red!

The Second Age scores were:
Rich: +26 (38)
Merric: +12 (12)
Laurie: +2 (2)
Randy: +6 (8)
Ian: +12 (14)

As the Second Age scores suggested, I was getting a crazy amount of points from the New World colonies. I was feeling more confident about actually maintaining my prominent positions in the New World instead of being shot to pieces by the likes of Randy, Laurie or Josh! Ian was doing nicely for his first game too, though he was behind in economy and Laurie had no economy at all despite getting his income from discoveries/soldiers and such.

The Third Age saw Ian's Portuguese realising that Economy is actually scored at the end of the game and henceforth delving deep into what was left of the trade goods to get his income above $1! Randy's Dutch colonists made some heavy forays into the New World to gain some more VPs and Laurie sent some extra soldiers into the Discovery Box as well as the New World (he took Power from me!). Merric's Englishmen experienced some severe difficulties with my Spanish and Randy's Dutch in the colonies but made up for it with his exceptional economy (Wealth capital building- again!) and discoveries! With the Third Age complete, it was time for Merric to tally the final scores...

]]>
End of the Third Age- Thus the world was flooded with the enterprising Dutch and the ruthless Spaniards!

Final scores:
Rich: 96 (12 first age colonies, 26 second age colonies, 36 third age colonies, 12 economy, 6 discoveries, 4 Navy)
Merric: 83 (0 first age colonies, 12 second age colonies, 4 third age colonies, 19 economy, 20 discoveries, 23 Wealth, 5 Factory)
Laurie: 65 (0 first age colonies, 2 second age colonies, 6 third age colonies, 0 economy, 31 discoveries, 4 New World Cartography, 14 Prosperity, 8 Power)
Randy: 62 (2 first age colonies, 6 second age colonies, 24 third age colonies, 10 economy, 0 discoveries, 2 Taxation, 18 Glory)
Ian: 49 (2 first age colonies, 12 second age colonies, 2 third age colonies, 7 economy, 21 discoveries, 5 Population)

Thus the victory went to the Spanish Empire headed by Pizarro and his successors!

The game itself was dominated by a Missionary/Soldier strategy employed by me, but credit has to go to Merric for his consistency in building up exeptional amounts of wealth and discoveries, which did wonders for his score! Randy had an unusually low scoring game by his standards, whether it was due to my tactics, pure tiredness or both. Laurie's discoveries helped him attain a fair few VPs but his lack of economy hurt him. Ian did well early on, but needs more games of this to expand his experience in AoE 3.

Soldiers...and Missionary Man!..'

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: 3-player match, worked great

Cadu Carioca — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:38:10 +0000

by Cadu Carioca

mark.gamer wrote:
Cecrow wrote:
On top of that, I secured two out of the four warfare boxes on the last round - even though I didn't have a single soldier in the colonies - just to stonewall the others. I hope that wasn't illegal; it doesn't appear to be.

I believe that you are free to place workers in any number of the warfare track boxes regardless of whether you have soldiers - I've played several games where this has been utilized as a defensive measure.

Yes, its a commom move in our sessions and legal. Similar is, in the last round, players secure places in "Capital Buildings" to prevent from a rich nation to go on it.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Max soldiers on discovery

schmanthony — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:20:30 +0000

by schmanthony

If someone managed to save up all ten soldiers in discovery and then send them all to the discovery deck - more power to him I say. That sure would be a huge investment to get to that point, taking most of the game to the detriment of almost everything else. I'd hope that strategy would deliver some kind of payoff. The $37 at the end of the game might not even count for that much. You'd still have to have the opportunity to buy the right capital buildings with that money - or be able to buy Wealth and be done with it. If I saw someone loading up on soldiers like that near the end of the game I'd be extra sure to be in a good position to buy those level 3 capital buildings.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Expansion:: News:: Re: Expansion

schmanthony — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:42:53 +0000

by schmanthony

I will be spray painting mine black to match the 6th player set that I already own. :(

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Expansion:: News:: Re: Expansion

otha62 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:16:12 +0000

by otha62

It's a miniature and it'll be done in the 5 standard colors and in purple...the builders will be included in the expansion...not sure if the purple builders will be in the expansion or if they'll be in the purple playing pieces set that'll be sold separately...

Thread: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Expansion:: News:: Expansion

jrcatania — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:44:03 +0000

by jrcatania

Good Evening.

Can someone who has inside intelligent please inform us if in fact the Builder is a new miniature or will it be a token type..
If Miniature, will the other nations (colors) Builder
miniatures be available in the expansion ?

We have been playing every Wednesday night for the past three years
, we document all the events, details, we provide points for all eight participents...we have a annual winner.

Same individuals representing the eight colors.
Yellow, Black, Red, Blue, Green, Orange, White, Purple,

Purple is the best looking nation.

Regards, John

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: 3-player match, worked great

mark.gamer — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:18:12 +0000

by mark.gamer

Cecrow wrote:
On top of that, I secured two out of the four warfare boxes on the last round - even though I didn't have a single soldier in the colonies - just to stonewall the others. I hope that wasn't illegal; it doesn't appear to be.

I believe that you are free to place workers in any number of the warfare track boxes regardless of whether you have soldiers - I've played several games where this has been utilized as a defensive measure.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: A question about scoring colonies & tie

ardashir — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:12:58 +0000

by ardashir

BRIAN,
MANY THANKS FOR YOUR CLEAR EXPLANATION!!!:D

Session: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: 3-player match, worked great

Cecrow — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:52:41 +0000

by Cecrow

I'm always happy with returning to "Age of Empires III"; this is one of those rare games I can say that I don't play often enough. It's high on strategy, just enough rough-and-tumble combat to distinguish it from conflict-avoidance euros, easy rules that generate a lot of tough decisions, and quickly played.

Last night offered proof that the three-player game works just fine. Remembering my previous session last winter, I vowed to focus more closely on colonization this time. Still, it's only coincidence that I picked up the free Missionary as my first building; it was simply the best of the choices offered. In the turns that followed not only did that give me an edge in colonizing, but the other two players went unexpectedly light on filling the dock so I took advantage. In the first round I easily outscored them, and in the second I was still leaving one of them well behind.

Money is a major problem in the early game. I addressed this with initiative to get an edge in merchant ship bids, and my second building was a free merchant every round. Trade good purchase strategy depends a lot on predicting which ones the others are going for; that will determine what position you have to capture in the purchasing order. Lucky for me the table talk was pretty open, which saved me some guesswork. Fairly quickly I had some really good income per turn (another good improvement over my previous session).

Normally I pay a lot more attention to using soldiers than I did this game. My closest competitor took advantage, grabbing soldiers whenever possible on top of collecting a free every turn thanks to a building. This narrowed my scoring lead in the colonies since I became the favourite target, but Militia in the end game saved my bacon. I managed to secure it by collecting the University in an earlier round and saving it for that critical final round building grab. On top of that, I secured two out of the four warfare boxes on the last round - even though I didn't have a single soldier in the colonies - just to stonewall the others. I hope that wasn't illegal; it doesn't appear to be.

I secured the win by ten points, largely thanks to good early colony scoring and some nice building bonuses at the end. Something helping me there was that several of the buildings available helped me equally well, giving me some breathing room as others made a grab for them. I was also the only player who could afford two of them on the last round.

Takeaway lessons-learned for me this time out: I need to pay a bit more attention to where I'm placing my colonists, since I ended the game with more than enough in some uncontested areas (one in particular, where I had eight and 2nd place had only four). Those obviously would have gone to better use in colonies where I was being threatened by soldiers. I found it interesting that no one ever chose to spend $5 for an extra specialist this time; that's always been popular before. Maybe we've become more studious money managers? I've also had it amply demonstrated to me that the colonist dock X and Y spaces are very useful for upsetting the power balance. Each of my opponents held one of these, and they were a constant threat to my colony control. But I'm still the most enthused about securing free specialists.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Strategy:: Re: Different strategies, different results

WhiteKong — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:13:54 +0000

by WhiteKong

Really, you have to do two things moderately well to win, at least with four or five players. Pick two of the following things. Do one of them all out, then do the other one halfway. You probably can't afford to completely ignore the third, but only give it a half-hearted effort.

- Colonize the new world: Try to maintain a stranglehold on three regions. At a minimum try to win two outright, with second place in a couple of others. If no one is challenging your lead in certain regions, start expanding into their regions. Don't be afraid of soldiers, that is what missionaries are for. If you don't plan to use colonization as part of your strategy, at least try to get one region under your control for two of the scoring rounds - it's twelve points and it would be hard to make it up otherwise.

- Discovery: Attempt to discover at least six regions. This can be tough. If you do discovery, you really need to be risky. You can't send five in every time. You may even want to scout ahead by sending a single unit on the first turn, then the exact number thereafter. Wasting five colonists on a region that requires only two can be devastating.

- Economy: Remember, you get victory points for the value of your trade goods/ships at the end of the game. If you get an economy score of 18, that is worth three regions. Start by taking as many trade goods as you can, even if they don't match up. They'll start matching up later. The economy strategy works well with purchasing capital buildings. Make sure you get start player for round 7 and/or round 8.

If you try to balance all three, you'll likely wind up with capital building benefits on the last turn that don't do you a lot of good. Much nicer to pick from one or two that may score you huge points.

Most of all, don't try to change horses mid-stream. Your first two or three capital buildings will determine how you should be playing. Keep after it. If you switch it up at the end, you're likely to get pummeled. If you purchase a capital building like cathedral, do everything in your power to make it useful as often as possible, otherwise it is a huge waste. Buying the piracy capital building and then losing out on all of the navies is another example of what not to do.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Strategy:: Re: Different strategies, different results

btizo — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:52:06 +0000

by btizo

You cannot win without Age III buildings. Well, I'm sure you could win if you scored first in every colony all 3 scoring rounds, but that's impossible.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: News:: Re: Pre-Order Info for the Expansion?

oculona — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:32:40 +0000

by oculona

princemousey wrote:
Budley wrote:

The expansion should actually be ready to ship by June or July.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/3267001#3267001

That quote was from March 24th. Also in that quote preorder info was coming in 3 weeks.Things did change...

Budley wrote:
Sorry for the gap in "sizzle'. I didn't really want to start the REAL sizzle until the Expansion could be ordered.

Now that it looks like a real publisher is going to do this rather than just a solo effort vis a webstore, I need to wait for the agreement to be finalized and for them to start their marketing (which I'm sure will include ads on BGG).

I've been travelling for work quite a bit over the last few weeks, so I have only been able to get on the geek very occasionally lately.

The hype and the sizzle will be coming soon. And the expansion will be worth the wait. :)

I am as surprised as Condor at so little info. I was patiently waiting, but I am starting to wonder myself.

Goodluck,
Darrell

Edit: Looks like Glenn beat me to the thread. Excellent news....I hope :)

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: News:: Re: Pre-Order Info for the Expansion?

Budley — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:28:04 +0000

by Budley

Thnaks for your patience. As always in business, things take longer than you expect.

As soon as I have final information and go-ahead from the publisher, I'll start blitzing the airwaves (read: BGG) with information.

My best guess on a potential ship date is now September/ October, but pre-ordering could start as early as mid-July.

Cheers,

Glenn

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Strategy:: Re: Different strategies, different results

Emperor JD — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:10:15 +0000

by Emperor JD

Both good points.
I was thinking about focussing on just discoveries too. Maybe that combined with point buildings, as you say, would be a good idea. I was just very frustrated that I sent so many colonists to the New World just to get mowed down by soldiers.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Strategy:: Re: Different strategies, different results

Teeaniknik — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:57:56 +0000

by Teeaniknik

Did anyone else collect trade goods? Usually in my group 2 people vie for trade power house and have to try a double route to victory. If your friend got any trade good he wanted, then that will just let him walk to capital building victory points with all the cash he would accumulate and any bonus discovery points.

One of my favorite strategies is to go trade goods and discovery till I can buy victory point buildings at endgame. Its too easy for soldiers to pick you off if you try for New World Colonization points.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Strategy:: Re: Different strategies, different results

otha62 — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:52:53 +0000

by otha62

In our games thus far (about 20 or so), going strictly for cash has been a losing strategy. I can recall only once when a person in one our games did this and won (and that was our first or second game, when we were still learning). Buildings that provide income earlier in the game (Trading Post, Trade Routes, Conquest of the Incas, Marketplace, Taxation, & Privateers) are also usually highly competitive and we try not to let one person acquire too many. While having cash is good for buying buildings, it probably needs to be balanced with other strategies, particularly Colonization or Discovery to get enough VPs to win. Colonization points can be huge since they are scored 3 different times during the game. That's what I love 'bout this game...there's so many different paths to victory. Most of our games are won by being balanced in 2 or 3 areas, with Colonization usually (but not always) being one of those areas...

There's an expansion that's due out later this summer that'll probably add new strategies and alter existing ones...

Thread: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Strategy:: Different strategies, different results

Emperor JD — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:56:55 +0000

by Emperor JD

Just had my first or second 4 player game of Age of Empires last night. Three of us had played before and one was new.

The thing about this game is that people can try to win by using very very different strategies. Interestingly, each of us tried something different and for one person, it really paid off.

Orange strategy: None. He was playing for the first time. And his score was so low he didn't make it around the first corner in the scoring track.

Green strategy: My plan was to fill the New World with colonists and to try for territory scoring points. I bought the Cathedral (missionaries add two colonists) but without a guaranteed steady stream of missionaries (from a building or the missionary space) this was a complete mistake. My secondary goal became to score second in every space. This I did in all but two areas, and I scored first once. I was just a couple points behind the person in second.

Yellow strategy: Kill. Off the bat, yellow bought the soldier-producing building and tried to put as many soldiers as he could in the New World, having at least one, but usually two or more, battles per round. He killed a lot of my people before he started killing others. He came in second place, a couple points ahead of me.

Blue strategy: Buildings and money. Blue got lots of trade goods, most of the ships, and bought all the money-producing buildings. With an income of well over $20 a turn (he had $60 in the last round) he bought four of the Age III buildings, giving him a massive scoring powerhouse. Interestingly, he only scored points for two regions in the New World (one first and one second). The complete opposite of me. And he won by a large margin.

Verdict? Next game I'm going to focus on getting more money so I can buy Age III buildings. These seem to make all the difference in the final scoring. Having people on the map doesn't even seem that important if the points are so small and they don't get you any money! I'm sure people can find holes in this strategy, but based on last night's game, I want to see if I can ensure a victory by focussing on cash, cash, cash.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: The Aztec 'building' and 'immediately'

Cadu Carioca — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:47:23 +0000

by Cadu Carioca

gische wrote:
Perhaps this is why I don't understand the complaints about this tile. I've never played with fewer than 4 players, and when you choose to get the $20, you are typically then getting the 4th or 5th best tile to go along with it on turn one, rather than getting the best tile. Sure, it gives you a leg up on the tiles for turn 2, but that delays your benefit, and there's no guarantee you'll get first dibs on turn 2 either.

I agree. To add your comments, in our sessions i often choose another building when Inca Gold comes up in the first round. Off course if theres no building better than Inca Gold.

These are "better" buildings (in my opinion) to purchase istead of Inca Gold:

a) Trade Routes
b) Monastery
c) Training Grounds

So, after more than thirty sessions i can say that owner of Inca Gold building wont win often. But the other players must to pay attention the progress of this player.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: News:: Re: Pre-Order Info for the Expansion?

princemousey — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:56:49 +0000

by princemousey

Budley wrote:

The expansion should actually be ready to ship by June or July.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/3267001#3267001

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Where can I find the original PDF of the English rules?

camus_dvd — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:16:11 +0000

by camus_dvd

bwingrave wrote:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/22472

Thx,my buddy
It seems that BGG is more reliable than the publisher:D

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Where can I find the original PDF of the English rules?

bwingrave — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:10:48 +0000

by bwingrave

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/22472

Thread: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Where can I find the original PDF of the English rules?

camus_dvd — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:01:09 +0000

by camus_dvd

120min is a great time for this series.

But I can't find the original PDF of the English rule....
Any help will be appreciated

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: The Aztec 'building' and 'immediately'

ackmondual — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:48:45 +0000

by ackmondual

bpowers wrote:
This seems pretty obvious. The building says 'immediately get 20 gold', but this lets the buyer purchase 2 more building immediately (assuming he put 3 settlers in there). Seems this is a huge advantage early in the game.

Does anyone know the justification for this? All other building have to wait for their phase. Why is this one special?

Just curious,
Bill

I do clearly remember this tile. Yeah, all of my games have been with 4 to 5 players, so while this was a good building, it wasn't THAT GOOD as you're describe and make it out to be.

I also remember in my most recent game as of this post, the guy who took this tile also didn't win. However, you coudl say the guy who won got lucky since he accumulated many merchant ships and was able to buy the Navy (4pts per merchant ship). Otherwise, it probably woudl've gone to the other player (not the same one who bought the '$20 building') since if the capitol building giving points for trade goods would've boosted her score considerably. She had 18 or them or so IIRC.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: The Aztec 'building' and 'immediately'

gische — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:37:34 +0000

by gische

WhiteKong wrote:
It isn't that overpowered if it doesn't come out on the first turn. It also isn't that overpowered when you get more people playing, particularly if the missionary and merchant, and trader get taken by other players.

If you have five players, and you're letting a guy put three people in the capital building area, then that fault lies with the ones who let him go there.

In two or three player, I usually just have a house rule for two or three player games that it can't come up on turn one. If I flip that one over, I just reshuffle it in. Problem solved.

Perhaps this is why I don't understand the complaints about this tile. I've never played with fewer than 4 players, and when you choose to get the $20, you are typically then getting the 4th or 5th best tile to go along with it on turn one, rather than getting the best tile. Sure, it gives you a leg up on the tiles for turn 2, but that delays your benefit, and there's no guarantee you'll get first dibs on turn 2 either.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: The Aztec 'building' and 'immediately'

bpowers — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:07:37 +0000

by bpowers

Gentlemen,

Thank you for you comments. We have only played 3 player so far, so my opinion was biased. I see how it would be less important in larger games. Guess we need to find some more players!

Bill

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Strategy:: Re: What is your very first move?

Flashcubes — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:58:27 +0000

by Flashcubes

Budley wrote:
Early in the game there are 3 imperatives:

Capital Buildings that add to your income or your specialists (+1 Merchant does both).

Specialists: They give you the ability for more actions next turn, and give you leverage in the race for colonies and the merchant ship

Trade Goods: These build your economy and get your cashflow going early. They also equate to VP's at the end of the game and getting off to a good start is pretty important.

That said, I'll usually go with a Capital Building, forcing the other players to follow suit...so I get first choice on Specialists or Trade goods with my second action.

I could not agree more here! As a first player you should have a very good look at what is out there. As a rule I go to Capital building first if Merchant is available, he will produce 40 dollars, if people follow you there (to capital buildings) then next step is trade goods
as you want a source of income established early in the game. Specialist is also a good option as a merchant will bring money or missionary will populate quickly once a country has been discovered.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: 6 player expansion, any advice?

Flashcubes — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:50:22 +0000

by Flashcubes

3 months ago I place an ad to buy a 6th player set. offers came flooding in and I got myself a set for 10 dollars (plus shipping) :-)

BTW the 6 player game is the greatest... much more strategies involved and more cut throat LOL

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: The Aztec 'building' and 'immediately'

Flashcubes — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:43:11 +0000

by Flashcubes

I used to think that it was a powerful building as well... but in a 2 or 3 player only. We now play 5 or 6 players only and this card lost its appeal a little. The missionary each turn or the merchant each turn are way more powerful especially in the 1st turn. I've even seen the soldier each turn become very successful. Yeah it gives you money ( 1 time) where the merchant gives you 5 per turn for 8 turns (40). the more the players the less efficient it becomes to me.

My opinion only of course :-)

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: The Aztec 'building' and 'immediately'

WhiteKong — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:41:32 +0000

by WhiteKong

It isn't that overpowered if it doesn't come out on the first turn. It also isn't that overpowered when you get more people playing, particularly if the missionary and merchant, and trader get taken by other players.

If you have five players, and you're letting a guy put three people in the capital building area, then that fault lies with the ones who let him go there.

In two or three player, I usually just have a house rule for two or three player games that it can't come up on turn one. If I flip that one over, I just reshuffle it in. Problem solved.

Thread: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: The Aztec 'building' and 'immediately'

bpowers — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:29:16 +0000

by bpowers

This seems pretty obvious. The building says 'immediately get 20 gold', but this lets the buyer purchase 2 more building immediately (assuming he put 3 settlers in there). Seems this is a huge advantage early in the game.

Does anyone know the justification for this? All other building have to wait for their phase. Why is this one special?

Just curious,
Bill

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: News:: Re: Pre-Order Info for the Expansion?

otha62 — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:30:05 +0000

by otha62

I'm also anxious for the release of the expansion...I hope I'm wrong but I'm thinking that it still may yet be a while. I was glad that Glenn was able to find a publisher for the expansion but I've noticed that some times when a major publisher comes on board that this can somewhat delay the release...especially if it's released in multiple languages and/or if they're partnering up with publishers/distributors from other countries. I'm thinking it'll be worth the wait...but, like you, it would be nice to hear an occasional update every now and then though...

Thread: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: News:: Pre-Order Info for the Expansion?

CondorTheMerciless — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:46:10 +0000

by CondorTheMerciless

The talk was that supposed publisher was going to working on producing the much heralded game expansion this summer. Well, yesterday was the first day of summer!!!

I haven't seen any specific information on how to order and when it was going to be released. Just wondering as I went to the Tropical Games site and they have nothing. Glenn Drover is our only source of info... so I'm just picking up the thread again here. Nothing on the BGG AofE III expansion page either.

Let us know... need a directive to find/purchase, thanks.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: 50 dollars to train a specialist of your choice?

schmanthony — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:28:03 +0000

by schmanthony

cferejohn wrote:
Also, you will find your life is easier (or at least tidier) if you use $1/$5 denominations with the coins instead of the recommended $1/$10.

True, but you might run out of gold coins for 5 or 6 players. Maybe even 4.

New Image for Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery

ardashir — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:18:59 +0000

by ardashir

Columbus & Spaniards in New World!!!

]]>

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: For 2nd place in the colonies do you need at least 3 colonists?

UnknownParkerBrother — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:59:20 +0000

by UnknownParkerBrother

Nope, the rules are very clear on that:

"At least one player must have three or more colonists or specialists in a colony for that colony to be scored."

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: For 2nd place in the colonies do you need at least 3 colonists?

ackmondual — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:41:39 +0000

by ackmondual

newrev wrote:
Yes, since one of the nations have at least 3 colonists there.

I thought it was 3 colonists between everyone combined, or put together?

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: For 2nd place in the colonies do you need at least 3 colonists?

gopher37 — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:24:24 +0000

waza — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:57:30 +0000

by waza

Budley wrote:
The new color will be purple.

Cool Purple. This is good for two reasons:

1) More chance of getting my wife to play if she can be purple

2) If I want to get really crazy I can try an 8 player game.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Expansion:: News:: Re: Complete Lack of Expansion Hype for weeks... Blah!

Liumas — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:19:59 +0000

by Liumas

*You* had it so very easy there, Glenn.

:shake:

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Reviews:: Re: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Game of the Month Review

bigeeh — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:56:31 +0000

by bigeeh

btizo wrote:
Yikes! You really need to play 2 players with just 1 nation each. The New World is HOTLY contested all game long because there are only 3 spots(!!) on the boat!

Yes, it's true that you can get 2 trade goods each turn, possibly more, if you wanted, but that means your opponent is getting Specialists or Initiative or a better Capitol Building.

The 2p game in AoE is VERY tense and extremely fun. Go for it!

Well... I must try it then; especially since your suggestion is so enthusiastic :D.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Reviews:: Re: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Game of the Month Review

btizo — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:45:51 +0000

by btizo

bigeeh wrote:
elfrododumbo wrote:
Is this a game that can be played with 2 players without losing much of the gameplay ? Seems a lot of things to consider and with only 2 players, less clattering of items on the board might be beneficial rather than it appears to be with a 4 player game, for example.

The only time I played with 2 players we each took 2 nations. This worked well. I don't recall how we scored things but I would suggest scoring the lower of the two nations you play. That way you work hard on making both of them successful.

I think having only two nations on the board would take away the scarcity of resources which is where a lot of the tension and (for me) the enjoyment of the game is found.

Yikes! You really need to play 2 players with just 1 nation each. The New World is HOTLY contested all game long because there are only 3 spots(!!) on the boat!

Yes, it's true that you can get 2 trade goods each turn, possibly more, if you wanted, but that means your opponent is getting Specialists or Initiative or a better Capitol Building.

The 2p game in AoE is VERY tense and extremely fun. Go for it!

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Capital Building benefits on same turn or next?

Kneebyter — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:39:48 +0000

by Kneebyter

Thanks - I think I got it, and believe we're playing correctly.
Just that the wording in the FAQ was confusing.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Reviews:: Re: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Game of the Month Review

bigeeh — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:38:20 +0000

by bigeeh

elfrododumbo wrote:
Is this a game that can be played with 2 players without losing much of the gameplay ? Seems a lot of things to consider and with only 2 players, less clattering of items on the board might be beneficial rather than it appears to be with a 4 player game, for example.

The only time I played with 2 players we each took 2 nations. This worked well. I don't recall how we scored things but I would suggest scoring the lower of the two nations you play. That way you work hard on making both of them successful.

I think having only two nations on the board would take away the scarcity of resources which is where a lot of the tension and (for me) the enjoyment of the game is found.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Capital Building benefits on same turn or next?

WhiteKong — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:56:05 +0000

by WhiteKong

Kneebyter wrote:

Q. Can the Age III buildings that give variable VPs be used on both the 7th and 8th turns, or only at the end of the game?
A. The ones that give a varied amount of VP's based on say your gold amount or how many buildings you have etc. you can buy during the 7th turn and so you would only be able to use them on the 8th turn anyways.

Look at the tur order on the back of the manual. Unit placement, then resolution, then income, then capital building benefits. Meaning, if you buy the factory on turn 7, it pays twice. You can't use any of the money you get on turn 8, however, as there are no more turns left. The money may be useful if you have the Wealth capital building, though.

The bonus points only pay once ever, no matter when you get the capital building.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Reviews:: Re: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Game of the Month Review

elfrododumbo — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:56:19 +0000

by elfrododumbo

Is this a game that can be played with 2 players without losing much of the gameplay ? Seems a lot of things to consider and with only 2 players, less clattering of items on the board might be beneficial rather than it appears to be with a 4 player game, for example.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Capital Building benefits on same turn or next?

btizo — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:00:51 +0000

by btizo

Yes, the buildings activate during the turn you buy them. You are the owner of the building during the Capitol Building Benefits Phase so you get the benefits.

Think of "New World Cartography" which gives you a free discovery. That discovery takes place immediately. If it didn't activate during that turn, you'd have to wait a whole turn before discovering.

Now, the Age III buildings ONLY give you VPs at the end of the game during Final Scoring. Note however that Factory and Militia activate immediately after you purchase them.

Thread: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Capital Building benefits on same turn or next?

Kneebyter — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:49:06 +0000

by Kneebyter

Do the capital building benefits happen during the same turn that you buy the building, or do you have to wait until the next turn for them to apply?

Say I buy Trading Post (extra $5 per turn) during the capital building part of the Resolution phase.

On the Capital Building Benefits phase, do I get the $5 then or do I have to wait until the next turn?
We have been playing you get the benefits the same turn that you buy the building.

However, in reading over the FAQ , it seems to imply you have to wait until the next turn to get the benefits (ie having to wait until turn 8 to use something bought in turn 7). Is that true?

Q. Can the Age III buildings that give variable VPs be used on both the 7th and 8th turns, or only at the end of the game?
A. The ones that give a varied amount of VP's based on say your gold amount or how many buildings you have etc. you can buy during the 7th turn and so you would only be able to use them on the 8th turn anyways.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Age of Empires III - Printings

Budley — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:59:55 +0000

by Budley

True. Barnes & Noble purchased their entire inventory before the 2nd printing.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Stable and Migration questions

Magritte — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:39:31 +0000

by Magritte

Colonists can be moved. Does that include colonists of the oponent or can you move only your own colonists?

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Age of Empires III - Printings

Sarcasmorator — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:13:31 +0000

by Sarcasmorator

Some of the old ones were still in stock at Barnes & Noble as recently as January. That's where I got mine.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: An astonishing five-player game

GazPAge — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:16:20 +0000

by GazPAge

Thanks. I'd totally forgotten about the money for initiative.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: An astonishing five-player game

MerricB — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:07:38 +0000

by MerricB

Prodromoi wrote:
GazPAge wrote:
I haven't played AoE III in ages so I may be misremembering the board / rules, (Must get it back to the table soon!), but in your third picture down, is the entire initiative box filled? Why would the last player put a piece there?

For the money...

Quite right. Getting $5 from placing last in the initiative box is generally well worth your time. It's getting everyone else to place in 1st through 4th that is the trick...

There's many a game where the money from the initiative box is all I've needed to build a capital building in the turn.

Cheers!

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Kosher to save colonists for later? Plus other questions...

Budley — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:11:10 +0000

by Budley

All correct answers. :)

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: An astonishing five-player game

Prodromoi — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:45:53 +0000

by Prodromoi

GazPAge wrote:
I haven't played AoE III in ages so I may be misremembering the board / rules, (Must get it back to the table soon!), but in your third picture down, is the entire initiative box filled? Why would the last player put a piece there?

For the money...

erein — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:21 +0000

by erein

Great, makes sense, thanks!

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Kosher to save colonists for later? Plus other questions...

dshortdesign — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:41:18 +0000

by dshortdesign

erein wrote:
3) Another related issue. Regardless of the answer to # 1 above, it is common for players to have different quantities of pieces in their usable pool when a turn begins (from Capitol Buildings and Specialist placements from the turn before). There is an advantage to the guy with the most, who can save up a group of pieces for after everyone else has used theirs up -- I am thinking esp. of the Merchant Ship action here. Is the round order the same under these circumstances, or can a player with an earlier initiative order but fewer pieces left to place pass until the number of pieces remaining for each is equal?

Unless you just added this question during your last edit, it appears this hasn't been answered yet.

To answer your question, turn order is the same and therefore you cannot pass. You are correct that the player with more pieces has an advantage. The game is designed that way. This means that toward the end of the round, they may potentially place several pieces in a row without any other player getting in their way.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Kosher to save colonists for later? Plus other questions...

erein — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:51:00 +0000

by erein

Wow, three consistent answers within 15 minutes. I love the BGG. Thanks, folks!

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Kosher to save colonists for later? Plus other questions...

jrodgersh — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:43:15 +0000

by jrodgersh

Quick answers to your questions:

1. The only colonists/specialists that can be retained from one turn to the next are those in the Discovery box.
2. See 1.
3. Buildings are retained throughout the game. In some cases they are worth VP at game end. Their effects are used every turn from purchase to game end except for single use buildings like "Conquest of the Inca Empire".

Have fun with the game!

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Kosher to save colonists for later? Plus other questions...

ColtsFan76 — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:35:26 +0000

by ColtsFan76

1) No, you can't save them for the future. The exception to this is if you put anyone in the Discovery Box. That is the only box that is not cleared out at the end of the turn.

2) Yes. You can even send a partial group and save some guys for the future expeditions.

3) Yes, you gain the benefits af all of the capital buildings you control. If they have a benefit, you continue to get that benefit unless specifically stated in the rules (my memory doesn't serve me at the moment if there are exceptions or not - Oh, I think there is one that gives you $20 once). Things that grant VPs only grant them once at the end of the game.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Kosher to save colonists for later? Plus other questions...

WhiteKong — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:35:18 +0000

by WhiteKong

erein wrote:
Just finished my first game of AoEIII and a few rule questions came up. Forgive me if these are somehow covered in the rulebook -- but my review of the book and the threads here didn't turn anything up on these....

1) Can you decline to use a colonist or specialist on a given turn in order to keep it in your 'usable pool' (not the unused pool), to be used in a future turn?

I believe you have to place them all. You can't sandbag them. I am not 100% certain on this, but pretty sure. I am for sure on the next two answers.

erein wrote:

2) Similarly, can you place guys in the Discovery box and not spend them, SAVING THEIR DISCOVERY MISSION FOR A FUTURE TURN, when it comes time to 'resolve' the Discovery box? That way you can accumulate enough guys to be safe when going on a mission, even though on a given turn you don't have enough to send them out yet.

Yes, you can definitely hold back. You cannot, however, discover two territories in one turn. Sometimes as a result of holding back, you get enough to send two expeditions, but this is not permitted. The remaining guys need to wait until the next round.

erein wrote:

3) Can you have more than one active Capitol Buildings at a given time? Do you retain as active any Capitol Building from a prior Age when you move up to a new Age?

Yep, that's part of the fun. Any capitol building that gives a benefit every turn gives it from the turn you buy it until right before scoring at the end of the game. If you look at the back of the scorebook, you'll notice that capitol building benefits happen on the same turn you purchase them, meaning that even if you bought the factory on the very last turn of the game, it would still provide you with $30 (can be important to have this pay if you own the "Wealth" card).

Buildings that are used once still remain in your possession, but don't have any additional function until the end of the game when they may count for additional points. In my group, we turn these one time use buildings face down when they've been used, then flip them back over for the end of game scoring.

Thread: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Kosher to save colonists for later? Plus other questions...

erein — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:28:43 +0000

by erein

Just finished my first game of AoEIII and a few rule questions came up. Forgive me if these are somehow covered in the rulebook -- but my review of the book and the threads here didn't turn anything up on these....

1) Can you decline to use a colonist or specialist on a given turn in order to keep it in your 'usable pool' (not the unused pool), to be used in a future turn?

I can think of several ways to do this fairly: e.g., if you want to save it, on a given round in this turn, identify the piece you want to save for a future turn and stick it aside, so it can't be used for the rest of THIS turn. But it just wasn't entirely clear either way.

2) Similarly, can you place guys in the Discovery box and not spend them, SAVING THEIR DISCOVERY MISSION FOR A FUTURE TURN, when it comes time to 'resolve' the Discovery box? That way you can accumulate enough guys to be safe when going on a mission, even though on a given turn you don't have enough to send them out yet.

3) Another related issue. Regardless of the answer to # 1 above, it is common for players to have different quantities of pieces in their usable pool when a turn begins (from Capitol Buildings and Specialist placements from the turn before). There is an advantage to the guy with the most, who can save up a group of pieces for after everyone else has used theirs up -- I am thinking esp. of the Merchant Ship action here. Is the round order the same under these circumstances, or can a player with an earlier initiative order but fewer pieces left to place pass until the number of pieces remaining for each is equal?

4) Can you have more than one active Capitol Buildings at a given time? Do you retain as active any Capitol Building from a prior Age when you move up to a new Age?

Thanks!

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: Colonising @ Good Games Ballarat

Budley — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:38:06 +0000

by Budley

Like most gamer games, AoEIII is really hard to win the first time you play, especially if you're playing against good players. However, once you cut your teeth with a learning game, the next time around players are usually right in the thick of it (especially if they are boardgamers already).

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Expansion:: News:: Re: Complete Lack of Expansion Hype for weeks... Blah!

Budley — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:34:55 +0000

by Budley

No, but I am related to Lan Drover :shake:

That Ben joke is going to dog me my entire life! Even Ben Drover sounds like bend her over.

And Imagine being 5 years old and playing Red Rover...

Red Rover Red Rover let Glenn Drover come Over! man, what a beating.

File: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Age of Empires III TUckboxes. Not for sleeved Cards.

hholzgrafe — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:58:52 +0000

by hholzgrafe

Age of Empires III TUckboxes. Not for sleeved Cards. for Board Game: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery ]]>

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: Colonising @ Good Games Ballarat

Teeaniknik — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:14:15 +0000

by Teeaniknik

I do not like to say that one strategy will win every time, but in a 5 player game if I focus on colonization and collecting Missionaries, my odds rise to about 4 wins out of 6!

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: Colonising @ Good Games Ballarat

gopher37 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:37:48 +0000

by gopher37

Wow, those are some massive score differentials between the guys that have played the game before and the guys that haven't. I'm assuming that you tried to also provide strategy to the new guys during the game to help them out? I remember when I played my first game the other players helped me out, otherwise I would have been overwhelmed. Sounds like Jordan would have done way better if he had just got some trade goods to go with his ships. Good work on the win!

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Reviews:: Re: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Game of the Month Review

Troymk1 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:03:01 +0000

by Troymk1

I have found this game QUITE scale-able with player numbers. It just plays Different.

My favourite Drover so far

Session: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Colonising @ Good Games Ballarat

MerricB — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 03:36:06 +0000

by MerricB

As part of my quest to introduce more people to good boardgames, I took my new copy of Age of Empires III to Good Games Ballarat last weekend where I had an interesting 5-player game with three players who hadn't played it before, and Rich, who had. Quite a bit.

The most surprising feature about this game was how much the colonies featured in it, particularly Rich's colonies: he managed to get a very nice secure base of colonies and, over the three ages, managed to score 50 odd points from them! When you score that many points (including 24 from the final turn), you're doing quite well.

James, one of the first-time players, was the exploration-boy. Jordan picked up three merchant ships, Privateers and the Navy, but - alas - didn't score well apart from them, not even picking up a single trade good. Neil, the third of the new players, had a much more balanced game and did nicely in the colonies, picked up some good trade goods and age III VPs.

However, the game was really between Rich and me. If there was a key difference on which the game turned, it was this: I had a good economy, Rich managed to get nine Trade Goods before he finally got his first set - with his tenth! With an economy of $6 compared to mine of $18, that was enough of a difference so that I could bridge the gap and win the game... but only just!

Final scores:
Merric 85, Rich 83, Neil 61, Jordan 47, James 36.

]]>

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: 1st vs 2nd Edition

Jim K — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:23:28 +0000

by Jim K

Quizoid wrote:
What's the difference in the Colonist Dock? I can't seem to notice one.

they just moved around the numbers a little, apparently to make more room for the figures.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: 1st vs 2nd Edition

Quizoid — Sat, 30 May 2009 13:56:38 +0000

by Quizoid

The picture of the 2nd edition board has the caption, "version 1.5 ? notice the scoretrack and the colonist dock"

What's the difference in the Colonist Dock? I can't seem to notice one.

I'm sad they didn't take the chance to put Merchant $5 and Missionary +1 Colonist on the Colonist Dock.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Expansion:: News:: Re: Complete Lack of Expansion Hype for weeks... Blah!

Superhawk2300 — Fri, 29 May 2009 19:49:42 +0000

by Superhawk2300

Thanks Glenn!

Just remember the complaints about lack of info mean you guys did really really good the first time around!!!!!

BTW - are you related to a Mr Dover? First name Benjamen? :p

Sorry, I'll take care of it myself ......:shake:

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Strategy:: Re: Capital Buildings for Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery

MisterBond — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:26:27 +0000

by MisterBond

Dirt2 wrote:
Thanks for starting a great thread. You have done a good job, but I do disagree with a couple of your ratings.

In Age I I think you badly underrate Indentured Servitude and Settlers. Ind. Svt. is every bit as useful as Monastery, it just plays differently. Monastery serves more of a side effort in trade, because the missionary on the regular dock can often nab the "first-to-three" race for the regional trade good. However, Ind. Svt. actually puts you in better position to maximize colonial control, because each turn you get to put in that last guy AFTER every one else moves. I have seen games decided by that last colonist.

Settlers, in my book, is also Tier I. You want to play a subtle, pragmatic game with this building. Use it to play a contrarian strategy (i.e. focusing on whatever pursuit it appears that other people are not fully utilizing in a given game). I like to use it to take the second available specialist each turn as an indicator of where other players are not focusing. Actually, this is probably my favorite style and produces a very high winning percentage. I don't go in to the game with any given strategy, but use the extra "bid" each turn to focus on an area no one else is exploiting.

In Age II I think you underrate Colonization Laws and overrate Cathedral. The combo of Ind. Svt. and Col. Laws is easier to get than the Monastery/Cathedral combo, and works just as well. Also, Col. Laws without Ind. Svt. works far better than does Cathedral w/o Monastery.

Cathedral is Tier I only IF you already have Monastery. Without Monastery, Cathedral drops to Tier II or Tier III. Without Monastery you will often face a collusive effort by the rest of the table to grab the Missionary specialist before you get it.

Finally, watch for the "Spanish option" at the start of the game. If Inca empire comes out with navigator and conquistador, try to get all three in turn one (assuming you don't use the auction approach). You can then run a monster game of exploring and still have manpower left over to do other things. I have never actually pulled this off, but someday...

Thanks very much for the ideas. If you look at my comments for Indentured Servitude and Colonization Laws, you'll see that I like them and value them enough that I buy them fairly often. These are good solid, underated buildings.

I do stand by my evaluation of Settlers, Navigator, Conquistador, Monastery, and Cathedral. Settlers, Navigator and Conquistador are just bad in comparison to the other buildings available. Tell me something useful to do with your 6th colonist? Merchant Shipping or Discovery are probably the only spots left and there are other buildings that better maximise these spots. As for Navigator and Conquistador, even if you get the Captain and Soldier in the discovery box, it still doesnt work. There are better ways of getting points and money. Monastery is better than Indentured Servitude and Cathedral is still better than Colonization Laws. Monastery allows you to send 2 colonists to the new world each round, right? Also, Cathedral can still be great without the Monastery.

New Image for Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery

ZoRDoK — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:16:41 +0000

by ZoRDoK

Young player

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Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Expansion:: General:: Re: Does this include all the pieces necessary for 6 players?

Flashcubes — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:01:44 +0000

by Flashcubes

dshortdesign wrote:
Bronxuk wrote:
What i as wondering is will the expansion include the black and is it white piece builders for those who have them 6th player sets as i understand quite a few players have them.

Unfortunately, the 6th player color will be purple, not Black or White, even though Black won the BGG color poll. :angry:

Darn I have the Black 6th player expansion already LOL oh well bring it on folks!

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Expansion?

Flashcubes — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:07:52 +0000

by Flashcubes

Teeaniknik wrote:
Any news on the announced expansion that was dated to be out this month?

where can I get the information for this expansion?

This is totally news for me :)

I have the 6th player expansion already and I must say it does change your strategy. If you think it was fun but difficult to play it with 5,
6 players is so cut throat... I love it :star::star::star::star::star::star::star::star:

New Image for Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery

ardashir — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:31:50 +0000

by ardashir

Spanish Specialists details

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New Image for Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery

ardashir — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:30:06 +0000

by ardashir

3 nations ready for conquests!

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Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Militia Building

ColtsFan76 — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:57:53 +0000

by ColtsFan76

Militia gives you a temporary Soldier in your colony if you are attacked. But the Person owning the Soldier getrs to decide what he hits.

So in your example, Player A can hit the two workers. Blayer B will be left with 2 Soldiers (1 of which will disappear at the end of the battle anyway) and 1 Worker. So the end result is 1 Soldier and 1 Worker for Player B.

If Player A choose to target Soldiers, then both Soliders would be reomved (including the Militia that would be removed anyway). So the end result would be 3 Workers for Player B.

If A went to attack again, the Militia would again "pop up" as a free soldier to fight again.

Thread: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Militia Building

Cadu Carioca — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:01:41 +0000

by Cadu Carioca

According the rules you can choose the casualties in battle.
So, if the defender has militia, could you choose to shot only in workers (not soldiers)?

Example (Player A attacks Player B):

Player A has 2 soldiers and 2 workers.
Player B has 1 soldier and 3 workers and militia.

If player A choose shot only workers the result will be:

Player A = 2 workers (soldiers was killed)
Player B = 1 soldier and 1 worker (2 workers was killed)

If player A choose shot soldier the result will be:

Player A = 2 workers (soldiers was killed)
Player B = 3 workers (soldier and militia soldier was killed)

Is it correct?

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: An astonishing five-player game

cmcdougall — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:45:48 +0000

by cmcdougall

5 astonishing's in the one session report. Thats astonishing! Seriously though, you're reviews are brilliant. The photos are a great addition too. I have read many of your session reports and its good to put names to faces to Randy and the boys. We hear so much about them.

Please keep them coming as I often will read your session reports before purchasing a game. Your reports give additional insight into game play.

I finally got this one last month and love it.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: A question about scoring colonies & tie

ColtsFan76 — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:08:36 +0000

by ColtsFan76

Page 9 in the rules:

New World colony scoring:
At least one player must have three or more colonists or
specialists in a colony for that colony to be scored. The player
with the most colonists (including specialists) in a colony receives
six points and the player with the second most colonists (once
again including specialists) receives two points.

If there is a two-way tie for first each player receives two points
(and no second place VP’s are awarded).

If there is a three-way tie for first, all players receive zero points.

If there is a two-way tie (or more) for second place, those players
receive zero points.

If only one player is in a region and has three or more colonists,
that player scores six points (for first place), and no one gets the
two points for second.

Thread: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: A question about scoring colonies & tie

ardashir — Tue, 26 May 2009 09:53:20 +0000

by ardashir

What happens when at the scoring of the colonies 2 or more
players have the same number of colonists?

Budley — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:47:31 +0000

by Budley

Noonespecial wrote:
xeonrf wrote:
You do get the bonus for each solider you send, so if the zone gives say 3 money for a soldier but you sent in 3, you would get 9 for soldier money. Also when you discover a zone it doesn't matter how many units you send in they all go away execpt for one which will stay on the map as the discovery unit. All the rest back to your stock. The exception of course is if you are drawing a card and not discovering a zone on the board then they all go back to your stock. I hope this helps.

After a successful discovery then you remove anyone associated with the discovery from that zone and replace them all with a single colonist.

So, if you made a successful discovery with, say, 3 soldiers and a captain, then you would remove all of them and then place a single (normal, non-soldier) colonist onto the space. This is an important distinction because leaving a soldier on the space would leave very obvious benefits.

Correct.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Max soldiers on discovery

Noonespecial — Mon, 25 May 2009 14:49:13 +0000

by Noonespecial

xeonrf wrote:
You do get the bonus for each solider you send, so if the zone gives say 3 money for a soldier but you sent in 3, you would get 9 for soldier money. Also when you discover a zone it doesn't matter how many units you send in they all go away execpt for one which will stay on the map as the discovery unit. All the rest back to your stock. The exception of course is if you are drawing a card and not discovering a zone on the board then they all go back to your stock. I hope this helps.

After a successful discovery then you remove anyone associated with the discovery from that zone and replace them all with a single colonist.

So, if you made a successful discovery with, say, 3 soldiers and a captain, then you would remove all of them and then place a single (normal, non-soldier) colonist onto the space. This is an important distinction because leaving a soldier on the space would leave very obvious benefits.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Expansion:: News:: Re: Complete Lack of Expansion Hype for weeks... Blah!

princemousey — Mon, 25 May 2009 13:32:25 +0000

by princemousey

End of July 2009!

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Max soldiers on discovery

Bronxuk — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:43:17 +0000

by Bronxuk

Ok ive reread the rules and it does seem its for each soldier, its not in the discovery section of the rules but in the specialist descriptions were it says "plunder for each soldier sent on an expedition".

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Max soldiers on discovery

ColtsFan76 — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:27:42 +0000

by ColtsFan76

davedanger wrote:
Not what I asked.
I asked if the intention was to be able to stick 8 soldiers and overharvest a region.
And I disagree- I've seen China havested by 8 soldiers for 24 dollars
by SEVERAL players.

This comment has bothered me a bit. I know the OP has quite a few plays recorded and I assume he has played with larger number of players to be able to regularly tap the Discovery Deck.

I just want to point out that the card draw is random. And if the discovery fails, the card is shuffled back into the deck.

So you cannot deliberately target goiong after China (or any card for that matter). But perhaps he just meant he saw it happen a lot.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Max soldiers on discovery

ColtsFan76 — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:23:44 +0000

by ColtsFan76

Bronxuk wrote:
As far as im aware it does'nt matter how many soldiers you send on a discovery you can only claim the plunder once, you cant take the plunder for each soldier you send, this is how we play it but anyone want to put me right on this feel free, its an interesting point. it certainly does'nt suggest it in the rules and i would think it would make the use of other colonists redundent in the discovery box if you got plunder for every soldier.

Consider yourself corrected! :D

]]>

There are two "types" of plunder when you discover something. First there is the "discovery" plunder if you will. It is the amount you get for successfully discovering the territory. It is a aset amount based ont he token/card and is not dependent on the number of people you send.

In the above example of Circumnavigate the Globe, you get 8 silver.

The next reward is based on teh number of soldiers you send. Same example, you get 3 silver for each soldiers sent. So if you send 1, you get 3. If you send 8, you get 24. So sending more is better in that you get more coin from it.

The reason why people don't stock up is that it is harder to get soldiers in the Discovery box vs. regular colonists. So you end up spending more to get the soldiers there and the potentially risk getting a per "per capita" reward.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Max soldiers on discovery

xeonrf — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:22:38 +0000

by xeonrf

You do get the bonus for each solider you send, so if the zone gives say 3 money for a soldier but you sent in 3, you would get 9 for soldier money. Also when you discover a zone it doesn't matter how many units you send in they all go away execpt for one which will stay on the map as the discovery unit. All the rest back to your stock. The exception of course is if you are drawing a card and not discovering a zone on the board then they all go back to your stock. I hope this helps.

oculona — Sun, 24 May 2009 23:21:25 +0000

by oculona

I appreciate that Glen does keep up with the forums and am sure he will answer your question about the 6th colonial power soon enough.

He has mentioned several times that they are still play testing the expansion.
I am still excited about it and check here daily. Patiently awaiting any new information that I know will come when Glen feels the time is right.

Goodluck,
Darrell

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Max soldiers on discovery

StocktonDave — Sun, 24 May 2009 21:42:39 +0000

by StocktonDave

Okay, There were only a few discovery cards drawn in our game toward the end and most of them killed off the "explorer". It was "well I got three settlers in discovery, might as well take a chance". Thanks for the clarification. Guess I need to play the game a little more!!!! :D

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Max soldiers on discovery

ColtsFan76 — Sun, 24 May 2009 17:40:18 +0000

by ColtsFan76

StocktonDave wrote:
Now I'm confused. What does harvesting in China have to do with this game? I thought this was about discovering the NEW World (North and South America?) Only played it once but I don't remember China on the board.

]]>

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Max soldiers on discovery

Noonespecial — Sun, 24 May 2009 16:08:49 +0000

by Noonespecial

China is on one of the discovery cards - along with India and other locations not in North America. The discovery cards are only used once all discoveries have been made on the board.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Max soldiers on discovery

StocktonDave — Sun, 24 May 2009 16:04:12 +0000

by StocktonDave

Now I'm confused. What does harvesting in China have to do with this game? I thought this was about discovering the NEW World (North and South America?) Only played it once but I don't remember China on the board.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Max soldiers on discovery

ColtsFan76 — Sun, 24 May 2009 03:36:42 +0000

by ColtsFan76

You can place as many soldiers as you want. The exception being you can't go over the 10 plastic soldiers you have. I am not sure how Chris didn't answer your question unless I don't understand what you are asking either.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Max soldiers on discovery

davedanger — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:26:30 +0000

by davedanger

Not what I asked.
I asked if the intention was to be able to stick 8 soldiers and overharvest a region.
And I disagree- I've seen China havested by 8 soldiers for 24 dollars
by SEVERAL players.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Max soldiers on discovery

Teeaniknik — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:05:27 +0000

by Teeaniknik

Nothing wrong with loading up on discovery with soldiers. Take as many as you want to the Discovery zone. But taking 10 soldiers to a single region is usually not as worthwile as 5 soldiers to 2 different regions (different turns of course).

Thread: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Max soldiers on discovery

davedanger — Sun, 24 May 2009 01:01:15 +0000

by davedanger

Is it intended/legal to overload discoveries with more than the maximum
needed?
Asked because it may be intended that a region only has 6 or 4 times the wealth on it.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Expansion:: News:: Re: Complete Lack of Expansion Hype for weeks... Blah!

CondorTheMerciless — Sat, 23 May 2009 14:31:44 +0000

by CondorTheMerciless

That's the same general information we heard on here a month and a half ago. It's coming... and it would be available at Origins. I notice it says available this "summer." So, my rant continues...
:p

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Expansion:: News:: Re: Complete Lack of Expansion Hype for weeks... Blah!

jrodgersh — Sat, 23 May 2009 03:34:41 +0000

by jrodgersh

If you had checked the regular Age of Empires III BGG forum you would have found the following from Glenn Drover:

"It's coming! Working on actual distribution details (rather than just a guerilla website offering)...thus a bit of delay on the pre-order.
But it's totally on-track and playtesting well.
I actually have the sculpt of the 'Builder' specialist in hand now too. We're nearly ready to start the plastics production.
So, Summer availability is still looking good."

It was posted on Wed May 20, 2009 at 11:02 pm

Admittedly it would have been nice if Glenn had posted to this forum as well, but you might try doing some research before you start ranting. :shake:

Thread: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Expansion:: News:: Complete Lack of Expansion Hype for weeks... Blah!

CondorTheMerciless — Sat, 23 May 2009 03:19:38 +0000

by CondorTheMerciless

I sense absolutely no sizzle about this upcoming expansion. You guys haven't posted much in weeks. Plus, the developers have left us completely hanging now for weeks. I wrote Glen and asked directly a simple question about the 6th nation for the game. He didn't respond and he reads this site daily.

So... there you go folks... that's the love we get here. Have your purple figures which we didn't vote for as well!

Too bad, this is a fun game that bridges the blah euro games, but it's hard to get anybody to play it in my area. It's uninspiring for us that they are so ho hum about their upcoming expansion. Can we even be stoked when they ignore us?

Lame!

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Expansion?

princemousey — Sat, 23 May 2009 03:04:23 +0000

by princemousey

kronic24601 wrote:
I don't mind if you combo it, just make sure it is ALSO available separately. I am NOT buying a whole new version of th egame to get the 6th player expansion.

The sixth player expansion WILL be available seperately. It won't be bundled with the main game. What we're referring to, however, is the expansion which adds buildings and the builders.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Expansion?

kronic24601 — Fri, 22 May 2009 22:12:42 +0000

by kronic24601

I don't mind if you combo it, just make sure it is ALSO available separately. I am NOT buying a whole new version of th egame to get the 6th player expansion.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Reviews:: Re: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Game of the Month Review

kilroy_locke — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:36:34 +0000

by kilroy_locke

bigeeh wrote:
I can understand how this might feel frustrating. I personally don't mind this part of the game because it adds to replayability (each game is a little different based on what buildings come out) and it forces you to be flexible with your strategy; you may need to change from what you initially started out with.

All in all, an excellent review on one of my favorite games.

Thanks for the compliment!

But again, how can you really change your strategy in the last turn? Because you don't know for certain that the VP-generating Capital Building you need isn't going to come out until the last ones are flipped up right before Turn 8.

I suggested to my group that we actually reveal the order of the Age III Capital Buildings at the beginning of the game, just so that players could have the information they needed either to choose more viable strategies based on that order, or to work on pushing how many Buildings were purchased in the last Age to make sure that their Building of choice came up. But they didn't go for it, so I don't know if it'd work any better or just cause more problems.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Reviews:: Re: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Game of the Month Review

bigeeh — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:27:40 +0000

by bigeeh

kilroy_locke wrote:

But as I mentioned, there are still a few things that keep it from being perfect for me. The first one I'll cover is simply the random nature of the Capital Buildings. In the strategy section, I mentioned that getting one Capital Building can often make the difference between winning and losing. And if I don't get the building I need because I ignored the initiative action and someone stole it out from under me, I'm okay with that. But on the other hand, if I can't get it because it just doesn't come out in a game, then I'm going to feel cheated. Because at the beginning of the game, when you're choosing which strategy to pursue, there's absolutely no way to know if the big VP-scoring building you will need is at the top or bottom of the Age III stack, so it's ultimately a crap shoot in what you pursue. While there may be some house rule that could mitigate this, the game as written can be quite annoying.

I can understand how this might feel frustrating. I personally don't mind this part of the game because it adds to replayability (each game is a little different based on what buildings come out) and it forces you to be flexible with your strategy; you may need to change from what you initially started out with.

All in all, an excellent review on one of my favorite games.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Reviews:: Re: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Game of the Month Review

kilroy_locke — Fri, 22 May 2009 18:15:17 +0000

by kilroy_locke

Sounds like I need to play with you guys sometime! :surprise:

But seriously, most of our 4-player games run in the 90-120 minute range, which is still very appropriate and lots of fun. But even one slow player, especially in a 5-player game, and all the sudden you're pushing 2.5 to 3 hours, and that's just too long for the game.

For me, the pace of the game is best with 3-4, but (like I said) I like the extra tension and competition with the 5-player game, as long as it doesn't drag on too long. But I don't even want to think about a 6-player game!

(Edit for typo!)

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Reviews:: Re: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Game of the Month Review

Cadu Carioca — Fri, 22 May 2009 18:14:08 +0000

by Cadu Carioca

kilroy_locke wrote:
• GamerChris’ Rating: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery is solid game with a lot of depth but a few nagging problems. For three players, I'd give it upwards of an 8, but overall I have to rate it a 7.5.

My favorite play of the Age of Empires III so far was this three-player session.

Nice Review. The better number of players for me in AoEIII is 4 players. But its true that is awesome with other configurations too. A 7.5 is a bit unrated for a work placement fan, but im talking with more passion than reason (this is my favorite game).

I didnt play it with 6 players, but i think the game will be more interesting to try this number in expansion that are coming soon.

[]s

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Reviews:: Re: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Game of the Month Review

otha62 — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:45:39 +0000

by otha62

Nice review. While I think the game scales well and plays well with 3 or 4, I really think the game shines with 5 or 6...the board gets really tight and you have to put more emphasis on prioritizing your placements. The game may play a bit longer with 5/6, but the game flows so well that we don't notice much down time and even in some of our early 6-player games, which ran around 3 hours, we didn't feel like it played that long...the time just seemed to fly by...

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Reviews:: Re: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Game of the Month Review

Grudunza — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:15:49 +0000

by Grudunza

Nice review, but...

kilroy_locke wrote:
And the other scalability factor fighting the excitement and flow of the game is the fact that it gets considerably longer with more players. While a 60-minute game with 3 players is an absolute blast, a 150-minute game with 5 is near purgatory. All those minute but difficult decisions made multiple times by each player each turn all have the opportunity for thought and potentially some level of analysis paralysis, and when you multiply that by 5 players, the game can get out of hand.

I played this at a recent game night, with 4 players, only one of which had played before, and it was only my second time playing the game and I was teaching it... and the whole game, including set up and teaching, took 1:45. Here's the official record, which we are bound at the threat of death to keep meticulously and accurately: http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/41572/item/915506#item9155... I can't imagine adding a 5th player would add another 1:15 to that time, especially if the players know the game already, unless you have some seriously AP prone players.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Reviews:: Re: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Game of the Month Review

kilroy_locke — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:10:04 +0000

by kilroy_locke

jrodgersh wrote:
Excellent review! I would like to point out that one of the items in your summary might be misinterpreted. The rules state that in order for anyone to score in a region there must be at least three workers there from one single player rather than in total for all players.

Thanks! I made the clarification in the review. Since people usually race to get three workers there to claim the Trade Good, I didn't even think about there being confusion, but you're totally right.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Reviews:: Re: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Game of the Month Review

jrodgersh — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:34:32 +0000

by jrodgersh

kilroy_locke wrote:
For each colony containing at least three workers, points are given based on majority.

Excellent review! I would like to point out that one of the items in your summary might be misinterpreted. The rules state that in order for anyone to score in a region there must be at least three workers there from one single player rather than in total for all players.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Reviews:: Re: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Game of the Month Review

cvandyk — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:49:45 +0000

by cvandyk

Very thoughtful and carefully organized review!

I especially like your nuanced comments at the end. I agree that the game is much tighter with more players, but I'm not sure I see this as a problem actually. I find it more of a challenge. Certainly, there is more frustration, and ultimately less control, but there is also more of a need to be "flexible," as you point out in your thoughts on strategy.

The thing that bothers me about the game actually - despite the fact that I rate this game very highly - is that there's not enough to do on the left side of the map. What I would like to see is another phase in each round in which players can do things in the new world (move stuff around, build forts, maybe trade, etc.). That would require quite an overhaul, or a different expansion than the one coming out (as far as I know), but it would be good I think.

Again, thanks for the review - makes me want to play again!

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Reviews:: Re: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Game of the Month Review

kalevi1999 — Fri, 22 May 2009 07:28:58 +0000

by kalevi1999

Our first 2-3 games of Age of Empires were up to 2:30 h. Nowadays even if we play it every 2-3 months (and we may forget some rules sometimes) we always fit in 2 hours spot (usually less, even 1:40). I played only 2 players game and a 4 players game. The rest were always 5-6 players games ;) and 2 hours is ok :D (we got plenty of Analys paralysis players!)

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Expansion?

princemousey — Fri, 22 May 2009 07:11:29 +0000

by princemousey

Veridiana wrote:
will it be available together with the new edition of the whole game? or only separately?
because, there's going to be a new edition, right?
greetings

Please make it available together with the game. The box currently contains to much empty space, so having the expansion together would help fill it out. Also, having to ship another game would just push up shipping costs.

Please make it available together with the main game, Glenn!

Review: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Game of the Month Review

kilroy_locke — Fri, 22 May 2009 05:18:43 +0000

by kilroy_locke

Age of Empires III:
The Age of Discovery

]]>
Designer: Glenn Drover (2007)
Publisher: Tropical Games
# of Players: 2-6
Play Time: 120 min
BGG Rank/Rating: #31/7.65
Weight: Medium

(This review originally appeared on www.gamerchris.com)

In Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery, players take on the roles of the great colonial powers beginning at the end of the 15th century. It is a worker-placement game where players choose 5 or more actions each turn from things such as discovering new colonies, sending colonists over to the new world, developing trade networks, and waging war. Overall, it is an interesting and complex game with multiple viable strategies and paths to victory. It was the Game of the Month! in April for the Hypermind BoardGamers, and these observations are based on both my experiences with the game as well as the overall opinions of the entire game group.

Components and Setup

Well, when you open the inordinately large box, the first thing you see is a huge plastic bag filled with tons of plastic game pieces. There are 300 little dudes, split up between 5 different sculpts in 5 different colors, 10 miniature Merchant Ships, and 90 coins. On top of that, there are a few punchboards of tiles (Capital Buildings, Discovery tiles, and Trade Good tokens), a small deck of Discovery cards, and a large game board. For the most part, all the components are nice quality and attractive, although some have complained that a few of the different sculpts for the different specialist miniatures are a bit too similar for easy recognition (but I'd tend to call those people "whiners"). The board is nicely illustrated with a stylized map of the New World on one side and a column of action spaces on the other. And if it weren't for the too-large and somewhat flimsy box (and the fact that there's no insert at all to lend it strength), I'd be totally thrilled with all the "stuff" in the game.

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To set up, each player takes all the workers of one color and pulls out 5 Colonists for use each round. The Capital Buildings for the first Age (which all have a big "I" on them) are shuffled and the first five are turned face up next to their action box. Each region in the new world has the appropriate Trade Good placed on it (based on the illustration on the board), and all but the Caribbean have a facedown Discovery tile placed on it as well. The rest of the Trade Good tokens are shuffled and four are revealed and placed in the Trade Goods action box. Based on the number of players, some of the spots on the Colonist Dock will be blocked using one of the Merchant Ships, and another Ship is placed on the Merchant Ship space as well. Finally, initial turn order is randomly determined, and players are given $10 plus one extra dollar for each position after first they are in (so the player going third will get $12).

Basic Gameplay (click here for complete game rules)

Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery is played over 8 turns, which are grouped together into three "Ages" (turns 1-3 are Age I, 4-6 are Age II, and 7-8 are Age III). The only real difference between Ages is the selection and price of available Capital Buildings, but at the end of each Age there is an area-majority scoring in each colony containing at least 3 colonists (which is one of the main ways to score.

In each turn, there are 10 or 11 phases. But it's really not as complicated as that might indicate, because all the important action happens in the first two phases, and the rest are all just housekeeping stuff. To start, in the Colonist/Specialist Placement phase, players take turns (in turn order, of course) placing one of their workers into available action spaces. The second phase is then the Resolution of these actions. So to understand the game, you really need to have a good handle on the different actions that can be chosen. Here they are, presented in the order that they will be resolved:

• Initiative - This determines the turn order for the next turn. Obviously, going first gives you first choice of actions to take, but it also breaks ties in the Merchant Shipping space below. During resolution, players get extra money equal to the value of the space they claim ($1 for the 1st space, $2 for 2nd, etc.). Each player can only put one worker in this area, and must choose the lowest unclaimed space (so you couldn't put a worker on the #3 spot just to get the extra $3 is #1 and #2 were empty). The turn order is not changed until the New Turn Order phase.

• Colonist Dock - Colonists and Specialists placed here will be sent over to New World Colonies. There are a number of spaces available equal to one less than double the number of players (2xPlayers-1), which are numbered to indicate the order that the workers will be moved into discovered colonies during resolution. This order can be important because the first player to get three colonists into a region claims the Trade Good token placed there. Merchant and Missionary specialists also have some extra effects when they are placed here (which I'll get to when I talk about Specialists).

• Trade Goods - There are four spots in this box, and during resolution, players will get to choose one of the four revealed Trade Good tokens in the order that their workers were placed here. Trade Goods are one way to make money and score points at the end of the game. During the Income phase, players get $1 for a set of any three Trade Goods, $3 for a set of three Trade Goods of the same kind, and $6 for each set of four Trade Goods of the same kind. Up to one Merchant Ship (see below) may be used to form any one set.

• Merchant Shipping - There is no limit to the number of workers that may be placed in this box, because it is essentially an auction for the Merchant Ship available each turn. Whoever places the most Colonists here each turn will get the ship, which can be used as a wild card in assembling sets of Trade Goods (and also have some interaction with a few Capital Buildings). Ties are broken based on turn order, and both Captain and Merchant specialists placed here count double.

• Capital Buildings - There are five spots which allow players to buy one of the four revealed Capital Buildings during resolution. These buildings give special powers to the player, such as having extra colonists or specialists to place each turn, getting extra income, scoring extra Victory Points, and other cool stuff. In Age I, the cost is $10, which rises to $14 in Age II and $20 in Age III. Since Capital Buildings can have a huge effect on strategy, being the first to place here each turn (and therefore getting first choice of buildings) is a huge deal.

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                              Placing workers... and examples of Discovery Cards and Tiles

• Discovery - This is a unique action, and there is no limit to the number of workers that can be placed in this box. During resolution, players choose (in turn order) whether or not they want to attempt to discover a new colony. Of the workers they have placed in this box, they choose how many to risk. Then, they choose an undiscovered colony and flip over its Discovery Tile, which will show how many natives are in that area. If the number of workers are equal to or greater than the number of natives, then the player puts one colonist in that colony, gets the income indicated on the tile (plus extra money for Soldiers used, which I talk about in the Specialist section), and keeps the tile for scoring at the end of the game (because each tile also have a VP value as well). If there are more natives, then all the workers risked are lost (and returned to the player's supply). If all the colonies on the map have been discovered, discoveries are then randomly chosen from the deck of Discovery Cards, which give all the same benefits except for getting to place a Colonist on the board. Any workers not used to attempt a Discovery are left in the Discovery box for use in future turns.

• Specialists - In this box, there are five spaces available for worker placement. The first four correspond to the four different types of Specialists (Captain, Merchant, Missionary, and Soldier) and the fifth is a "wild" space. In resolution, players get the specialist indicated on the space they've taken, which will be available for them to place during the next turn. To use the "wild" space, that player must pay $5, but gets to take any type of specialist they want. I've talked a lot about workers, Colonists, and different specialists so far, and not done a good job in defining what I'm talking about, so let's do that now:

- Worker is a term that isn't really used in the rules, but which I'm using to mean "any little plastic dude that you're putting somewhere on the board".
- Colonists are the "generic" workers. Players get five of them each turn to place on the different action spaces. They are also the bulk of the workers that are sent to the New World and are used to determine area majority at the end of each phase.
- Specialists are extra workers that a player gets either from the Specialist actions or from Capital Buildings each turn, which are placed exactly like Colonists, but that give some extra benefit.
- Captains are specialists that count as two Colonists in the Merchant Shipping box and when attempting a Discovery.
- Merchants are specialists that count as two Colonists in the Merchant Shipping box, and which give the player an extra $5 when sent to the New World from the Colonist Dock. Note that once sent to a colony, the Merchant has no other function, so it is usually replaced by a regular Colonist there.
- Missionaries are specialists that count as two Colonists when sent to the New World via the Colonist Dock. Again, these are usually just replaced by two regular Colonists when sent to a colony.
- Soldiers do a couple of special things. First, when used as part of a successful Discovery expidition, they generate extra money. As indicated on each Discovery Tile/Card, a certain number of dollars are paid per Soldier in the group. Second, Soldiers sent to the New World can be used to attack other Colonists using the Warfare action described below.

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• Warfare - Again, there are four action spaces available in this box each turn. During resolution, players may either start a Battle of wage War. In a Battle, the active player chooses one colony where he has at least one Soldier, and a target player that has at least one worker there as well. Simultaneously, both players choose one of each others' workers to eliminate for each Soldier they have in the colony. If the defender has no Soldiers, then the attacker will lose no workers. To wage War, the player must pay $10, but then chooses one opponent and carries out a Battle in every colony where they both have workers and at least one of either of their Soldiers.

After these first two phases, the rest of the turn ends with a number of cleanup phases:

3) Income - Money is collected for sets of Trade Goods (see above)
4) Capital Building Benefits - The special powers of Capital Buildings are used
5) Refresh Capital Buildings - New Capital Buildings are drawn to replace any bought in the turn. At the end of an Age, however, all the buildings are removed and five buildings from the next Age are revealed.
6) Refresh Trade Goods - Any Trade Goods not chosen in this turn are reshuffled into the pile and four new ones are revealed.
7) Refresh Merchant Ship - If the Merchant Ship was taken by a player in this turn, a new one is placed in the box.
8) Take Starting Colonists - Each player takes a new set of 5 Colonists from their supply for use in the next turn. They may also have extra Colonists or Specialists from Capital Buildings of from using the Specialist actions.
9) New Turn Order - The turn order is adjusted based on how workers were placed in the Initiative box. Players who did not place a worker there have their markers pushed back in their current order to make room for those who did.
10) Advance Turn Marker - The turn marker is then moved forward and a new turn begins.

Scoring

Scoring happens at the end of each of the three Ages. For each colony containing at least three workers from one single player, points are given based on majority. The player with the most workers in a colony gets 6 VP and the second place player gets 2 VP. Ties are pretty unfriendly, but you can read the full rules for that.

At the end of the game, in addition to colony scoring, VP are also awarded for a few other things:
1) Discoveries - the number of VP on each Discovery Tile and Card completed by the player
2) Capital Buildings - any VP given by Capital Buildings (either in red on the tile or calculated based on the requirements of the building)
3) Economy - VP are given equal to the income the player received on the last turn from sets of Trade Goods and Merchant Ships only (not including additional income from capital buildings)

Whoever has the most VP wins!

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                    Here's what I accumulated in one game that I managed to win.

Strategy and Tactics

First of all, I do not claim to be an expert at Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery. I won a couple of games, but not against our best players (which would be Alton and Britt). That being said, I do have a good, basic understanding of strategy, and I'll pass on at least some introductory ideas to get you started with the game.

Starting in the vein of "solid random tactics", here are a few things you can try:

1. Sending Merchants to the New World is arguably the best way to make money in the early game, so pick them up either in the Specialist box or from Capital Buildings whenever you can.
2. Remember that scoring happens after turns 3, 6, and 8, so focus on getting colonists into position during those turns.
3. New Capital Buildings come out at the start of a new Age, so consider how important getting the one you want might be, and potentially grab the first player spot in turns 3 or 6 to set yourself up.
4. Look at the other players and figure out which actions you will be competing for. Always place workers in those places first and leave areas with no limits (Discovery or Merchant Shipping) or that only you would care about until later.
5. Be flexible! Especially in the early turns, be aware of what the other players are doing and try to do something different. Don't lock yourself into a strategy too early, especially if you can't get ahold of the tools (mainly Capital Buildings) to get it done.

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So then it comes to actual strategy, and one of the coolest things about Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery is how many viable options you have. The main ways to score points come from Colonizing, Discovery, Trading, and Capital Buildings/Money. I've seen all of these win people games, but the biggest thing to remember is that no one strategy can stand alone. You must do at least two of these pretty well in order to have a real shot at winning. I've even seen a "jack of all trades" strategy where a player did very well dabbling in all four. So look for opportunities where they present themselves, and drive towards building points in these areas. And Capital Buildings are incredibly important to every strategy, so they must always be considered in addition to the other actions that I mention below. Getting even one building related to your strategy can make the difference between winning and losing, so always keep track of which ones are available now and what might be coming up in the next round.

Colonizing

Points are scored by having colonists in the New World during the three scoring opportunities. While you certainly want to have the majority in at least a few, positioning yourself to come in second in most of the others is important as well.

Actions to focus on include filling up the Colonist Dock as much as possible and getting Missionaries (and to a lesser extent, Merchants) from the Specialist box. Important Capital Buildings include the Monastery (Age I, extra Missionary each turn), Trade Routes (Age I, extra Merchant each turn), Indentured Servitude (Age I) /Colonization Laws (Age II, extra colonist in the Colonist Dock each turn), Cathedral (Age II, Missionaries are worth 3 Colonists), Population (Age III, VP for colonists in New World), and Glory (Age III, VP for each colonized region). In addition, a more militant form of colonization can be very effective by sending lots of Soldiers to the New World and using the Warfare actions just before scoring.

Discovery

Points come directly from the value of Discovery Tiles and Cards. It's possible to get up to 9 discoveries, but 7 is a more reasonable expectation. The biggest flaw with this strategy is that there is randomness in which tiles or cards you will get. To ensure success, you need to send 5 colonists for tiles and 6 for cards, but then you can never be certain of the payout, either in VP or money.

Actions to focus on include getting Soldiers and Captains from the Specialist box and, obviously, sending lots of workers to the Discovery box. Important Capital Buildings include the Training Grounds (Age I), Conquistador (Age I), Fortress (Age II) and Military Academy (Age II), all of which get you extra Soldiers each turn, as well as the Navigator (Age I)/Ship Yards (Age II, extra Captain each turn), New World Cartography (Age I, get a free discovery), and Glory (Age III, VP for each colonized region).

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                                    Examples of what the Discovery and Trading strategies might do

Trading

Points come from sets of Trade Goods as well as related Capital Buildings.

Actions to focus on include getting Trade Goods, Merchant Shipping, and getting Merchants or Captains from the Specialist box. Important Capital Buildings include the West Indies Co. (Age II, get a random Trade Good each turn), Rum Distillery (Age II, +$3 income per Sugar Trade Good you have), Privateers (Age II, other players give you $1 per Merchant Ship you have), Mercantilism (Age III, VP for Trade Goods), and Navy (VP for Merchant Ships).

Capital Buildings/Money

Points come from gathering as much money as you can and using it to pick up lots of Capital Buildings to do cool stuff and score.

Actions to focus on include getting Merchants from the Specialist box, Capital Buildings, Initiative, and Trade Goods. Important Capital Buildings include Conquest of the Inca Empire (Age I, +$20 immediately), Trading Post (Age I, +$5 income each turn), Trade Routes (Age I, extra Merchant each turn), Rum Distillery (Age II, +$3 income per Sugar Trade Good you have), Prosperity (Age III, VP for Capital Buildings), and Wealth (Age III, VP for money).

What I think...

Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery is a good game. But for a few little things, it could actually be great. First of all, I'm pretty fond of worker placement in general, because I like the granularity of choosing single actions in turn with the other players. That mechanic creates lots of tough choices and forces you to prioritize both what's most important to you and predict how others at the table will prioritize their selections. And while many other worker-placement games force only indirect conflict through efficiency and optimization, Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery also introduces some real direct conflict in its area majority and warfare elements.

And I also like the breadth of choice avaiable in how you play the game. Like I mentioned above, there are lots of different core and secondary strategies that are, as far as I can tell, all relatively viable. Even after playing a half a dozen times, I can still think of several different plans that I'd like to try out. More than anything else, this "multiple paths to victory" quality in a game will captivate me and have me thinking about it both at and away from the table.

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But as I mentioned, there are still a few things that keep it from being perfect for me. The first one I'll cover is simply the random nature of the Capital Buildings. In the strategy section, I mentioned that getting one Capital Building can often make the difference between winning and losing. And if I don't get the building I need because I ignored the initiative action and someone stole it out from under me, I'm okay with that. But on the other hand, if I can't get it because it just doesn't come out in a game, then I'm going to feel cheated. Because at the beginning of the game, when you're choosing which strategy to pursue, there's absolutely no way to know if the big VP-scoring building you will need is at the top or bottom of the Age III stack, so it's ultimately a crap shoot in what you pursue. While there may be some house rule that could mitigate this, the game as written can be quite annoying.

Second of all, I'm going to say that Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery has some significant issues with scalability. With the exception of the Colonist Dock, none of the other action boxes varies in number of spaces between 2 to 5 players. To do the math, there is a huge difference between having 10 Colonists competing for 25 spots and 25 colonists competing for 29 spots. And while I'll concede that more competition can increase the tension and excitement in the game, it also breeds a crapload of frustration when you're not able to effectively put your plans into effect.

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                    Britt, Chip, Alton, and Chris fight for control of the New World!

And the other scalability factor fighting the excitement and flow of the game is the fact that it gets considerably longer with more players. While a 60-minute game with 3 players is an absolute blast, a 150-minute game with 5 is near purgatory. All those minute but difficult decisions made multiple times by each player each turn all have the opportunity for thought and potentially some level of analysis paralysis, and when you multiply that by 5 players, the game can get out of hand.

But again, please don't think that this is a bad game. On the contrary, its depth, theme, and play time still make it very appealing even at our weeknight gaming sessions. Unlike some other games, I'm no where near feeling that I'm done with or have seen all that Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery has to offer, and I hope that it continues to see some regular play far into the future.

The Verdict!

Fourteen different people in the Hypermind BoardGamers have played Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery, with their lowest rating being 6 and the highest being 9, averaging out to an 7.79 out of 10.

• Rules: The flow of play is relatively simple, but the specialist abilities, Capital Building powers, and multiple strategies take some time to figure out.
• Downtime: Heavily dependent on the number of players. In general, though, making single worker placements in turn keeps this low.
• Length: We've played 10 games that averaged just over 116 minutes and with an average of 4.2 players per game. For 3 players and maybe four, the time is appropriate. With five, however, it can drag on and wear out its welcome.
• Player Interaction: Bunches! Both indirectly through competing for actions and resources and directly through battles and area majority.
• Weight: Medium
• GamerChris’ Rating: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery is solid game with a lot of depth but a few nagging problems. For three players, I'd give it upwards of an 8, but overall I have to rate it a 7.5.

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My favorite play of the Age of Empires III so far was this three-player session.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Expansion?

oculona — Fri, 22 May 2009 04:04:44 +0000

by oculona

Budley wrote:
It's coming!
So, Summer availability is still looking good.

Thank you very much. I am so excited about this expansion.

Best of luck,
Darrell

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: An astonishing five-player game

otha62 — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:03:43 +0000

by otha62

While I like Incan Empire, I still prefer Trade Routes in this situation. Not only do I get an extra piece to place but with the income from the extra Merchant, I can still come out of Age I with a couple of capital buildings. With Incan Empire, I'll get 2 more buildings but not until at least the next turn...and it looks like most of the better Age I buildings came out in turn 1...

Really looking forward to the expansion...

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Expansion?

Veridiana — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:34:34 +0000

by Veridiana

will it be available together with the new edition of the whole game? or only separately?
because, there's going to be a new edition, right?
greetings

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: An astonishing five-player game

Budley — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:10:24 +0000

by Budley

Trade Routes is good, but I actually like plundering the Inca Empire. While this building isn't as dominating as it seems at first blush, I really like the ability to snag two Capital Buildings in ages 1/2. If you can grab 2 decent buildings (which seems very possible with such a strong draft as this one), you can get the benefit of them for the whole game.

We've been playing/ testing with the expansion buildings (and 'Builder' specialist) lately and it's really giving this game new life for me after nearly a hundred plays. :)

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Expansion?

Budley — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:02:21 +0000

by Budley

It's coming! Working on actual distribution details (rather than just a guerilla website offering)...thus a bit of delay on the pre-order.

But it's totally on-track and playtesting well.

I actually have the sculpt of the 'Builder' specialist in hand now too. We're nearly ready to start the plastics production.

So, Summer availability is still looking good.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Expansion?

oculona — Thu, 21 May 2009 02:19:31 +0000

by oculona

Nothing new yet. I check every day hoping there will be pre-order info.

Here is the official expansion link.. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/41261

Goodluck,
Darrell

Thread: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Expansion?

Teeaniknik — Thu, 21 May 2009 01:20:13 +0000

by Teeaniknik

Any news on the announced expansion that was dated to be out this month?

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: An astonishing five-player game

gopher37 — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:37:48 +0000

by gopher37

Great session report! Love the pictures mixed in with the game description.

Sounds like it was indeed a very competitive game!

I'm a little surprised at someone using warfare in the 1st age, that is really rare - do you think that guy would have been better used in the discovery box? That's generally where overflow colonists get placed in our games.

I'm a little surprised that Josh had zero Age III colony scoring. Having both navigator and conquistador capital buildings led him down an amazing discovery path. Did he not either put a guy on the missionary specialist or the $5 missionary specialist every turn? Then he would be setup to discover and take the trade good in the new territory every turn. Sounds like he was discovering every turn like he should have been, but sounds like he didn't do enough work in the new world to stake claims to his territories.

If I were him I would have put at least 1-2 guys in discovery box every turn (to discover with either 4 or 5 guys each turn), put a guy on either missionary specialist or buy a missionary, and then the other 2-3 guys could be used elsewhere for whatever he wanted (preferably soldier capital building to help protect his territories). I think this could have led him to have a huge presence on the board in terms of colonizing, and he would have a nice economy with the conquistador via discovery, allowing him to buy another capital building every other turn or so. Seems like he would have done much better in the game if he had gone more down this route.

Oh, and I would have gone with trade routes as well for the first capital building. But those were all amazing capital buildings.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Age III Militia capital building question

vinniebrasco — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:07:00 +0000

by vinniebrasco

Just think of it as hiring a mercenary, The soldier gets paid to fight one battle, if he dies, so be it, ...if he lives, he goes back to his homeland.. That way you won't play at a disadvantage doing it your way...But hey, do what makes you enjoy the game....I change rules all the time to fit my needs.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Re: Age III Militia capital building question

Dirt2 — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:58:05 +0000

by Dirt2

Good point, Vincent, as far as the letter of the rules goes you are correct. However, practically speaking how often does that happen as you describe it? My guess is that you'd have to play the game for years before you encountered a situation where one player met all the prereq's you bring up: one, they buy the Militia cap. building; two, they put a single colonist in somewhere on turn 7 or 8 AND that colonist is a soldier; three, someone then declares a battle against them in that region. Furthermore, from a realism perspective, how does one envision a soldier who is also a militia-man? Your point made me see that I like my revision even better now than I did when I made my first post. Thanks.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: An astonishing five-player game

otha62 — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:15:38 +0000

by otha62

Nice report. This has been my game of choice for the last couple of years. While I think it scales well with any number, I particularly like it with 5 or 6 as the game plays tighter with more players. We played a 6-player game a couple of months ago where less than 10 points separated first place from fifth place...

As for your question on the initial buildings, I would've selected Trade Routes from among those available...

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Expansion:: General:: Re: Any update on preordering?

Ploedminka — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:20:45 +0000

by Ploedminka

Surya wrote:
Pink is an excuse to draw women in :)

Well, as long as it works :D

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Expansion:: General:: Re: Does this include all the pieces necessary for 6 players?

Ploedminka — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:20:07 +0000

by Ploedminka

I don't have the 6th player set because it was hard to get and expensive, at least here in germany. I'd really love to see it IN the expansion, otherwise it's going to be too rare and expensive, i guess.

New Image for Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery

Jim K — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:03:11 +0000

by Jim K

My 5-year old girl...although she prefers AofE. :) Proudest moment i...

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Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Question about the turn length of the game.

princemousey — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:38:10 +0000

by princemousey

I think it's more of a design/balance issue rather than due to aesthetics.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Question about the turn length of the game.

Bronxuk — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:54:01 +0000

by Bronxuk

No problem, its not a big issue i just wonder why the ages are'nt more uniform by being 3 turns each, there must be a good reason why the third age was limited to 2 turns, maybe its just because it would'nt fit on the board :D. It would be interesting to try a game with a ninth turn to see what happens.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: An astonishing five-player game

MerricB — Tue, 19 May 2009 04:26:53 +0000

by MerricB

dhaeman wrote:
This is the only game I feel plays well 2-6. There are better 2 player options but at 3-6 it's a different game from the other number of players and equally good.

Agricola is another game (also in my Top 5) that I think plays very well with 2-5.

My brand new copy of AoE3 should arrive today. O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

Cheers,
Merric

Thread: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Variants:: New (?) Starting Variant

dhaeman — Tue, 19 May 2009 04:01:28 +0000

by dhaeman

I have had only one problem with this game and that's the advantage of going first. The coins don't really make up the difference. After a game tonight we brainstormed a bit and thought up this for the next play:

Snake the first turn of the game. So in a 5 player game the "first" person goes 1st, 10th, 11th, 20th, 21st instead of 1st, 6th, 11th, 16th, 21st. I'll let you know how it goes but if anyone is interested more testing is always a good thing.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: An astonishing five-player game

dhaeman — Tue, 19 May 2009 03:57:52 +0000

by dhaeman

This is the only game I feel plays well 2-6. There are better 2 player options but at 3-6 it's a different game from the other number of players and equally good.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Sessions:: Re: An astonishing five-player game

EmperorJacob — Tue, 19 May 2009 02:51:32 +0000

by EmperorJacob

This is one of my favourite 5-player games to play. I used to think it was best with four because that was all I played with besides my very first game being a five player . . . after playing the heck out of it with four, we unexpectedly had five people one night. That outing was so good I was surprised to realize how much better it was with five.

I used to only play Hollywood Blockbuster with four players until I tried it with three recently. We were all experienced and the game was more fun than I ever remembered it with four.

It makes me wonder if my preferred number of players for any particular game could be corrected once everyone is experienced and we try it with a different number of people.

Session: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: An astonishing five-player game

MerricB — Tue, 19 May 2009 00:32:10 +0000

by MerricB

I've played at least ten games of Age of Empires III. By now, it is sitting firmly in my top 5 games and I'm delighted to say that I'll soon actually own a copy as well of this excellent game.

The five-player game we played on Sunday was the most astonishing and enjoyable game of AoE3 that we've played so far. Randy and I both felt that it'd been a great game, and a large part of that was due to the opening capital buildings available. Look at these buildings, and tell me which one you'd choose:

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All of those are astonishingly strong choices. The initial turn order placed Randy first, followed by Rich, Josh, me, then finally Sarah. We took:

Randy - Trade Routes
Rich - Conquest of the Inca Empire
Josh - Navigator
Merric - Monastery
Sarah - Indentured Servitude

From there, the game was on!

]]>Randy, Josh and Rich ponder the first turn

The first Age saw us all entrench in our primary strategies for the game. Astonishingly, I was able to gain a number of extremely good trade goods in the first Age: I think I may have picked up three in the first turn. My Monastery also allowed me to gain access to the New World quite effectively (occasionally taking a trade good from there as well).

Josh ended up supplementing his Navigator with a Conquistador, which gave him a free Captain and Soldier in the discovery box every turn. The result of which was he gained a large number of discoveries over the game and gained his money thereby; for the first two Ages, he was terribly short of trade goods.

Rich went hiring Missionaries and supplemented them with soldiers from the Training Ground. Then he started moving in on the New World, whilst gaining New World Cartography as well.

Sarah took the first Merchant Ship, and also sent a lot of people into the new world by virtue of Indentured Servitude. Her second strategy involved discoveries - though not to the same extent as Josh.

Randy, after a couple of turns setting up everything, started taking almost every Merchant Ship that came up. He also had a lot of specialists. Money came from his Merchants, and soon soldiers were following them to the New World. The Warfare action was being chosen in the first Age by Rich - we'd never seen that before - and it was effective.

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As the first Age ended, we counted up the points we'd made for our colonies. For the first time ever, I'd sent a lot of people to the Caribbean and took the points there. It was Rich, however, who scored the most in this initial stage:

Age I scores: Rich 8, Josh, Sarah & Merric 6, Randy 2

Age II saw Randy come to the fore. At one point he had an astonishing ten workers to place! My missionary was the only extra specialist I always had, although I did hire a captain from time to time.

Where I was excelling in was my economy. By the end of the second age, I had built it up to $18 a turn - an astonishing $30 a turn once my Rum Distillery was taken into account! However, I wasn't the only person to do well at making money. Sure, they weren't doing as well as me, but they certainly were making enough so that most of the capital buildings were sold. How many? Well, in the entire game, only two buildings were unsold at its end! One was the Privateers which Randy decided not to buy (on account of his economy already being really good).

Sarah picked up Colonization Laws and was suddenly sending two free colonists to the New World every turn. Rich was the one who was really doing well in the New World, though: Missionaries backed up with Soldiers is a scary combination.

Randy also was sending soldiers to the New World, and took two to the Caribbean, thinking to destroy my lead there. However, I took the Indian Allies capital building, and the two free soldiers scotched his plan there!

By the end of the second Age, Josh (with some other help) had discovered all the board regions and had started on the deck of other discoveries. Sending a Captain and two soldiers on most of his expeditions gave him a lot of money and a fair few VPs!

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It was still Rich in the lead by this stage, aided by just a few soldiers... and he had the University to take the "best" VP building in the final age. The gap opened up here between the rest of us and Josh: Josh may have discovered the New World, but he didn't have many people there (and many of them were dead, thanks to Randy and Rich!)

Age II scores: Rich 28 (+20), Sarah 22 (+16), Merric 20 (+14), Randy 18 (+16), Josh 8 (+2).

The final Age was a turbulent one, fought on the battlefields of the New Age. Sarah and I were taking positions on the Warfare track just to stop Randy and (especially) Rich wiping us out! I was hoping that my economy - which moved up to $40 a turn by virtue of the Factory - would allow me to pick up two Capital Buildings a turn, but everyone had a great economy! I did make sure I was first in initiative for the final turn, so I could be sure of getting the Wealth bonus.

(In fact, Randy did take two buildings in the penultimate turn; the second one wasn't particularly useful, but he took it anyway).

Rich used the University to take Prosperity, I took Glory and (finally) Wealth. Sarah went for Population, and Randy took Navigation and Power... and the combination was scary indeed.

Josh, by now in possession of the West Indies Company, was looking for Trade Goods and acquiring them. He wasn't getting sets, but they would give him some VPs, especially in combination with Mercantilism. He also took the Factory.

The final moves were made, Rich attacked twice in the last turn to secure some extra points, and the game was over. Now, for the final tallying of points!

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Age III Scoring
Colonies: Randy +24, Merric +20, Sarah +18, Rich +10, Josh +0.
Economies: Randy & Merric 19, Rich 7, Josh 5, Sarah 4
Discoveries: Josh 34(!), Sarah 17, Rich 10, Merric 9, Randy 4
Capital Buildings:
Randy +40 (Navy 24, Power 16)
Merric +31 (Glory 8, Wealth 21(!), Taxation 2)
Rich +23 (University 5, New World Cartography 4, Prosperity 14)
Josh +15 (Factory 5, Mercantilism 10)
Sarah +9 (Population 9)

Final Scores:
Randy 105, Merric 99, Rich 77, Sarah 71, Josh 62

Without a doubt, this was our highest-scoring game, with all players doing very nicely. There have been other games where the winner has scored over 100 points, but two players up around that mark? That we hadn't seen before.

The initial draw of buildings was fantastic, and really allowed us to then do a lot more through the rest of the game. The game felt tight all the way through and was extremely enjoyable.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Question about the turn length of the game.

princemousey — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:02:28 +0000

by princemousey

Thanks for your reply. I'm sorry that I'm not able to help you with your question.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Question about the turn length of the game.

Bronxuk — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:07:59 +0000

by Bronxuk

Yes i know but the $30 from the factory coupled with his trade income allowed him to do this.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Question about the turn length of the game.

princemousey — Sun, 17 May 2009 13:59:20 +0000

by princemousey

You can't buy two buildings off the back of the Factory as it only generates $30 of income, and an Age 3 building costs $20.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Where can I find out the second revised edition ?

otha62 — Sat, 16 May 2009 23:25:06 +0000

by otha62

Like David said, it doesn't appear that the purple 6th player pieces will come with the expansion. When I mentioned compatibility I was talking about the new specialist piece, the Builder, which will be included in the expansion. As I understand it, there will be Builders for each color in the base game (red, blue, green, yellow, & orange), and also in purple. The standard playing set of purple pieces will be sold separately (around the same time that the expansion comes out) and thus will be "compatible" with the purple Builders from the expansion. At least, I think that's how it's going to be, but I could very well be wrong...

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Question about the turn length of the game.

Bronxuk — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:34:02 +0000

by Bronxuk

We were playing a four player game, and the players were first timers but we still seemed to fly through the game, i know what you mean about the balance of c-buildings and income but i dont see how adding the third turn to the 3rd age would adversly effect it. One of the players bought the factory c-building and was a bit dissapointed when he didnt reap much of a benefit from it a third turn would of made it more worth it for him, he did as i remember manage to buy two c-buildings off the back of it in the last turn but not to much benefit in the final vp count. I just find it strange the ages arn't 3 turns each and personally i think a third turn in the last age would of made for a more tense ending to the game, its only at this point that players really have a settled income coming in and its at this point that options really open up for players to pinch the win, i still love the game and its nice to have a game we can play in an evening i just think there must be a design reason behind it maybe in the balancing that i have missed. It cant be a time thing as one more turn would'nt add much to the game.

Thx for the reply.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Question about the turn length of the game.

dagibbs — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:18:36 +0000

by dagibbs

How many players were you playing with?

I think with 2 or 3 players, the end might feel like it comes quickly. But with 5 players it definitely doesn't. With 5 players we're into the explore deck, instead of the new world, for the last couple turns, which is about right. Going longer would be too much.

With 2 players (and even 3), exploration will definitely be quite a bit slower.

As for 2 turns in the 3rd age, rather than three -- again it comes to the acceleration. You're getting more done in each turn by the 3rd age.

In the first age, I'll generally have 5 or 6 people to place -- probably a total of 15-17 actions. By the 3rd age, I'll likely have 7 or 8 to place -- 14-16 actions in two turns, rather than 15-17 actions in 3 turns. I'll also generally have more (far more) income total over those two turns than in all 3 turns of the first age.

And, some of the buildings would have to be rebalanced.

Thread: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Question about the turn length of the game.

Bronxuk — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:18:06 +0000

by Bronxuk

Hi everyone, i have a question about the turn length of AOE, in a recent game with some friends the question came up, although everyone enjoyed the game several thought it ended a bit quickly. Another point was the allocation of victory points that mostly came at the end of the game. Personally i thought the vp allocation at the end would be to stop players being picked on early on for accrueing too many vp's and taking a lead other players felt needed stopping, as for the game length i like that it can be played in an evening but wonder why the third age is'nt 3 turns like age 1 and 2, i assume the designers had a good reason for this any answers would be appreciated, apart from that all players loved the game and cant wait for the expansion.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Where can I find out the second revised edition ?

dshortdesign — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:13:57 +0000

by dshortdesign

itiswon wrote:
Do you mean the new expansion includes 6th Purple figures ?
If it is, that's really nice !!
I am going to wait for that.

Thank you very much, Mitch !:laugh:

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the expansion will include all the 6th Player pieces.

Read more here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/404426

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Where can I find out the second revised edition ?

itiswon — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:48:13 +0000

by itiswon

Do you mean the new expansion includes 6th Purple figures ?
If it is, that's really nice !!
I am going to wait for that.

Thank you very much, Mitch !:laugh:

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Where can I find out the second revised edition ?

otha62 — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:12:05 +0000

by otha62

The white/black pieces used to be available at http://www.eaglegames.net/ but I'm not sure if they still are...you might want to wait until the new 6th player purple pieces are available as they'll be more compatible with the upcoming expansion. You can find out more on the BGG expansion page (Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Expansion)...

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Expansion:: General:: Re: Does this include all the pieces necessary for 6 players?

Bronxuk — Fri, 15 May 2009 06:08:24 +0000

by Bronxuk

Personally i dont have the 6th set (Billy no mates), i find it hard enough to organise a session that 5 of my friends can attend with family commitments and such, but i will be getting the new 6th set as it has come up lately as more of my friends have played and enjoy the the game. I too would of preferred to have a black set as in europe it is the most common colour used for the Austrian or German Empires.

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Expansion:: General:: Re: Does this include all the pieces necessary for 6 players?

WalMal — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:31:10 +0000

by WalMal

I can't see what the decision for purple has to do with fortune.
Seems to me more like an idea to sell more plastic.
If I think of some Eagle "games" ...

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Where can I find out the second revised edition ?

itiswon — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:10:41 +0000

by itiswon

Thank you very much.
Do you also happen to know where can I get the 6th player figures set?

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Expansion:: General:: Re: Does this include all the pieces necessary for 6 players?

dshortdesign — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:11:43 +0000

by dshortdesign

Bronxuk wrote:
What i as wondering is will the expansion include the black and is it white piece builders for those who have them 6th player sets as i understand quite a few players have them.

Unfortunately, the 6th player color will be purple, not Black or White, even though Black won the BGG color poll. :angry:

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: General:: Re: Where can I find out the second revised edition ?

otha62 — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:14:55 +0000

by otha62

Fair Play Games has the 2nd edition listed as in stock at this link:

http://www.fairplaygames.com/gamedisplay.asp?gameid=4314

This does not include the 6th player expansion pieces, however...

Reply: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - Expansion:: General:: Re: Does this include all the pieces necessary for 6 players?

Bronxuk — Thu, 14 May 2009 09:23:37 +0000

by Bronxuk

What i as wondering is will the expansion include the black and is it white piece builders for those who have them 6th player sets as i understand quite a few players have them.