Disclaimer: I designed the game, so this is not necessarily an impartial Q&A. Please keep that in mind. Also, this was originally posted on my blog: http://www.stillunpunched.com/2008/01/25/q-and-a-about-super...
. Enjoy.

I haven’t written about Supernova much lately. It’s likely due to the fact that I haven’t played it much either. This, however, is because the prototype is off getting all fancified. And by ‘fancified’, I mean done up right and proper by Mike Doyle. I feel simultaneously excited, nervous and a bit pukey about it, kind of like how many feel just before opening the door when set up on a blind date. That being said, I know it’s going to turn out fantastically. Mike puts so much time and effort into the details of his creations, I simply can’t wait to see what he comes up with.

On with the Questions and Answers!

What is the point of the game? How does it play?

Well, the point of the game is to become the galactic grand poobah (my term). That, and to lay the smack down on your friends. This, of course, differs from what the rules (read the rules here: http://www.supernovagame.com/Supernova_Rules.pdf) say, but I have to be more ‘professional’ in the rules. As for how it plays, if you haven’t already read the rules, I’ll summarize.

Each player represents a space-faring civilization, attempting to colonize new worlds and expand their influence across the galaxy when they learn their co-habited solar system is about to be blown to smithereens by the upcoming supernova of their Sun. You lay tiles onto the board each turn, each of which represents your influence in that region of space. The more space that you have influence over at the end of the game, the more points you get. The civilization (player) with the most points wins and becomes the aforementioned poobah. Ahhh, but it’s not that simple. Over the course of the game, you may spend some money to increase your technologies. You can boost Shields or Weapons to intimidate and/or blast your opponents, or you can raise your Engines or Comms, with which you can expand faster or hold more Battle Cards, respectively. What’s this about Battle cards? Oh, right. Anytime you want to take a spot on the board which one of your friends have already taken (or vice versa), you have to fight over it (the more smack talk, the better). For this, you use Battle Cards. You may use them in a variety of combinations to try to win the Battle. You then take into account each player’s level of Weapons/Shields and the height of their stack of tiles to determine the winner. Planets and Moons are valuable as they convey extra points during and at the end of the game while also providing a bonus and income (respectively).

So what’s fun about that? Why should I look at this game instead of Nexus Ops or Twilight Imperium? How is this different?

Well, I haven’t played Twilight Imperium, but I have played Nexus Ops. Nexus Ops (from now on referred to as “NO” is pretty cool cause it has little smelly alien guys that kinda look like gummi candies. Nice. The thing about NO is that although you get some pretty nice miniatures, you don’t every really get the feeling that you are expanding and growing an empire. Supernova gives you that feeling, at least to a degree. Plus, when you take control of a solar flare and obliterate 4 of your friend’s tiles, well… that’s just cool. I really like how the choices you AND your opponent’s make in Supernova changes the dynamic of the game. If my opponents all start to boost their engines in lieu of other techs, I might want to do the same. Or, I can increase my Weapons to take out their planets as they have less shields to defend with. If I decide instead to spend my money on Research (cards), it can give me more options on my turn. I could also change tactics within the course of a game, which is always a good plan. Often, you may want to be aggressive early to get the points for a planet and as many moons as you can hold onto at the end of the first Phase. Then rest on your laurels and build up your resources a bit until the third phase when you again go hard at a planet for final scoring.

As for how Supernova compares to TI, well, it’s shorter. That’s about all I can tell you about that.

What are some of the different Research cards you can buy?

There are 20 different Research cards in the game, and there are 2 of each for a total of 40 cards. The following is a selection of those cards.

Teleportation – Trade places with one of an opponent’s tiles, up to two hexes away from your own. The opponent’s tile must be of equal height or lower.

Call for Reinforcements – Fortify any two of your tiles with tiles from your reserves.

Fleet Academy Recruits – Draw 4 Battle Cards. Choose up to 2 cards to keep. Discard the same amount of cards from your hand.

Battlestations – Increase your Battle Hand by one card until the end of this turn. If unused, the card must be discarded.

Surface Eruption – Add 1 to the distance of a Solar Flare that you have won control of. You must display this card upon winning the bid.

Space Vacuum – Remove one tile from the bottom of any stack of tiles. This MAY be used to remove a single tile.

Lunar Acceleration – Move a moon one space forward or back in its current orbit, maintaining its current direction.

Research cards are designed to give you a few extra options. They aren’t excessively powerful, nor were they designed with ‘take that’ play in mind. There is some of that, but for the most part, I tried to make them be more about helping yourself than drastically harming your opponents. This keeps the game from changing so much between turns that there is zero planning involved. That being said, the game changes enough that Supernova is definitely a tactical game, not a strategic one.

Who would like this game? What type of game is it?

Although I think the debate between Euro and American styled games is a bit overboard, if I must qualify Supernova within those boundaries, here’s my consensus: it’s a bit of both. Don’t call me a fence-sitter too quickly. It really is. There is some very ‘euro-esque’ resource management and decision-making involved. However, the game quickly becomes about conflict as you try to expand within the boundaries that your friends/opponents are confining you to. If you’re looking for a ‘why can’t we all get along?’, no-conflict euro, this isn’t your game. Well, I suppose it could be, but MAN is it ever dull when people aren’t attacking each other. That doesn’t mean it’s entirely a bash-the-leader kingmaker game either. There is a certain amount of that, but mostly to just keep the obvious leader from running away with the game. But the thing is, the leader isn’t always obvious… unless you spend the downtime counting people’s tiles on the board. But how much fun is that?? Supernova is at it’s best when you and some friends want a game to play while having a bevvie and snacks and want something that gives you some interesting decisions as well as some conflict and a bit of nastiness. It’s fun, pretty lightweight, and aimed at that gamer who has likely grown up on Risk and is starting to explore the broader world of boardgames.

What about theme!?! I know it’s about these races and an exploding sun, but give me CHROME!! (see: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Glossary#toc32)

Gotcha. We’re working on that. As you read, there is a published author working on the backstory for the game. It will be available (most likely) as a downloadable PDF from the official site once the game is released. There will also be much more theme-related flavor text both in the rules and on the research/civilization/desperation cards than there is now. Have no fear, it will make you feel space-faring and galac-tastic.

Thanks for reading. I hope I’ve helped answer some questions about Supernova. If you have more, post here or feel free to geekmail me. I always enjoy chatting about Supernova.

OK, you've convinced me that I have no interest in this game.

Ok, well thanks for reading.

I found your post well written and informative. I'm definitely keeping my eye on this as I enjoy the theme and hope the game play is there.

Thanks, Anarchosyn.

As people seem to be reading this, I thought I'd add some more...


So, you've given an overview of the game.. could you explain your turn in more detail?

Sure. Each player gets 4 tiles of their color and a starting hand of 4 Battle cards. The Battle cards are (initially) chosen by the players in a similar fashion to Fairy Tale; you start with 5 cards, select one to keep, then pass the remaining cards to your left. This continues until all players have 4 cards they have chosen. Not only does this allow you to 'build' your own starting hand (thus ensuring it isn't horrible), it also can give you something of an idea of what your opponents' have, which is good information.

So on your first turn, you have your Battle cards and tiles to place. You also get 3 RUs to start the game. That's your money. They are pretty scarce throughout the game, so you have to be cautious about how you use them. Resource management certainly plays a part here.

You get a play aid, which indicates that all of your technologies - Weapons, Shields, Engines and Comms - are at 0. This means you get no bonuses to begin with. Shucks. These techs aren't complicated tech trees; they rise in a linear fashion, with the higher the tech, the bigger the bonus. The techs mostly do exactly what they sound like the do; Weapons gives you a bonus to your hand when you're the attacker in Battle. Shields give you a bonus if you're the defender. Engines let you place extra tiles on the board on your turn, Comms let you draw extra battle cards. The cost of each tech is the same as its level. So if I want to raise my Engines to level 3, not only do I have to have the preceding level, but it will cost me 3 RUs for that level. In order to keep them balanced (as Engines is really an attractive option), Weapons and Shields each give a bigger bonus that Engines or Comms. So while Comms gives you 3 extra cards for level 3, Weapons and Shields will each give you a bonus of 4 for their level 3s, respectively. Get too far behind on those and you could get blown up, but good.

Right, I was discussing your turn. Tangent... sorry. I'll outline the turn order as it's pretty clear about how you go about becoming Master of the Galaxy..
1. Replenish your battle hand to the maximum.
- On turns other than your first, you may have Comms higher than level zero. If this is the case, draw enough Battle cards to bring your hand up to your allowed max.
2. Take income.
- You don't get any on your first turn (you already got 3!? whaddya want for free? ) but on all subsequent turns, you get 1 RU just for being the swell being you are. This is in addition to money you would earn for any moons you currently own. Moons give you an addition 2 RU of income, unless you have to pay 1 RU in tax to the player that owns the planet.
3.Take alloted tiles.
- Count out the amount of tiles you get to place this turn.
3a) Place fortifications.
- This is first in your placement phase by necessity. Often people would want to place fortifications later on and forget where they had initially placed tiles. Since you can only fortify tiles you owned at the beginning of the turn, this rule clears up any confusion.
3b) Place your other tiles. Resolve Battles as necessary.
- When you're placing your tiles into unoccupied space, no problem. However, if your buddy already owns that spot, you gotta battle for it. Sweet. Talk big about how you'll crush them, mention how many massive Battle cards you have, glare at each other some and go to it. The winner then usually gloats about how powerful they are.
3c) Replenish your Battle cards up to 4.
- If you've battled, and if your battle hand was reduced to less than 4 (guaranteed on your first few turns), draw some to go back up to 4. This goes for your opponents, too.
4. Purchase or play Research Cards, Purchase Battle Cards, Purchase Technologies
- Yes, it's the shopping phase of your turn. Everyone loves shopping.
5. Exchange Battle card, if no Battle has occured.
- If you attacked someone (you space pirate, you) no tradesies for you. If not, dump off your crappy stuff and cross your fingers.

So that's what you're going to be doing. When you're expanding your intergalactic empire, be sure to take advantage of the encounters that are scattered around the board. Those ones are freebies. You take the tile, you get the encounter. Not all are good though, so think hard about whether or not that's what you want to do. You can also choose to have an encounter without being forced to take those specific tiles. You send out a scout ship (by discarding one of your alloted tiles that turn) and draw one of the encounter tiles from the side of the board. Encounters are good things to have as they do a variety of good things. Most of them are beneficial too, so keep that in mind.

Taking planets and/or moons is also highly recommended. The planets give you a permanent bonus to your techs (or other neat things like Resource Mining or fortifications) and the moons give you more money. However, the moons are always orbiting the planets (so plan ahead) and the planets... well they're worth big points, so make sure you can keep them once you've grabbed 'em.

There's more stuff too, that I won't go into detail about right now.. like your Special Power, Desperation!, and exactly how Battle works.

Once we're done, how do we know who wins?

Win, win, win. That's all you ever think about. Isn't it about the fun of playing the game?

No. I want to kick [insert person's name here]'s butt. Tell me how.

Okee dokee. Well I mentioned about how engines were a big deal. That's because every tile you have showing on the board at the end is worth one point. The ones underneath stacks with someone else's tile on top aren't worth diddly, so tough. On top of that, your planets are worth 4, any moons you own are worth 2 (both of those are in addition to the tiles they're sitting on), your Special Power is worth 4 (if you didn't use it) and each RU you still have is worth 1.

On top of those points, you score at the end of the first 2 phases - there are 3 in the game, with the final phase ending in the Supernova - but only for the planets and the moons. Those points are added to your end-game total and the person with the most points gloa.. err... thanks his/her opponents for a good game.


Thanks again for reading... I have a lot of fun writing these up.

Oliver

One question I don't believe has been answered: When, where, and how do I order?

I had heard of Supernova quite some time ago, and I've been watching for it ever since. Interesting write-up, I'm looking forward to your game

I had originally envisioned some sort of massive land-grab/resource-grab as the supernova gradually overflowed into living space, I'm quite interested in trying this out.

Hey J D,

When... hopefully soon. This spring is the target.
Where... your dining room/living room?
Ordering... once the prototype from the printer has been approved, it will be available for preorder from www.valleygames.ca. At that point, it shouldn't be too long.

Please keep in mind that I am not part of Valley Games, so my response is not based on cold hard facts, just my last update.

Oliver

Should this be "5. Exchange Battle card(s), if no Battle has occurred."?

Anyway, thanks for the post. Looking forward to more.

(Whispering to everyone else in the room)

Why did he come in here and say this? Why does he jump in to say he's not interested . . . why didn't he just leave?

(Back to normal)

Thank you for the Q&A! Comparisons to other well-known games are quite useful. You ought try TI3 just to answer the faq question . . .!

KJ

Hey Richard,

Nope, you actually only get to exchange one card, even if you didn't engage in Battle. Cards are valuable, so the ability to freely flush your hand is pretty big. However, you can BUY a better hand - for 1 RU, you can draw 3 cards and choose 2 to keep; you still have to discard 2 as well, so your hand doesn't grow, it just gives you a possibly better set of combinations. So that helps a player out if they just continually get poor draws.

Oliver

You're welcome! I'd love to try TI3 sometime, so will fill you in once I've done so.

Gotcha. I think i took "dump off your crappy stuff" to be possibly plural.

This game look really interesting so far. I'm a huge fan of sci-fi games. I'm a little curious about the scale, just from looking at the pictures. If that sun goes supernova isn't it going to wipe out everything the players have been doing all game (or at least remove their energy source)? Thanks! =-)

Hi Chris,

The board is definitely not to any sort of scale. In fact, the planets and moons seen on the board are not even in the same solar system as the sun that's approaching Supernova. So the Sun does wipe out a significant amount at the end of the game, but thankfully, not enough to make all of your ingame efforts pointless. What fun would that be?? :P

Oliver

Great description...i'll be picking this up.