Has anybody tried playing the four player variant much (or at all)?

I tried it the other day for the first time in a three way game. I liked it, and will argue for playing that way the next time there are three of us. I think I still prefer the regular rules in a four way game.

What do you think?

I have not played with 4 planets- but I'm a bit of a traditionalist with CE. I expect people that play a lot of CE Online are more likely to tinker with the 4 planet variety, as that is how it works online.

Despite having a two or three hour game recently, most of our games are pretty quick. So while I am a Cosmic Online veteran, I never felt the need to try the 4-planet variant. I will eventually though, I'm sure.

Adam said:

Am I to take it the four planet option comes from CEO? I tried to play there once years ago but was confused (I am not computer savvy).

I played the variant more for variety than speed. It's definately different.

Yes, the four-planet variant comes form CEO. They originally made it like that to reduce game length and screen clutter.

4 planets works *very* well with 3 players. It's quick, still very balanced and you get the fun of CE without the major time investment (which lets you get on to another CE game quicker! . 5 players it's not so good. Needing only 4 planets to win, there's a good chance that the game goes around and someone has won before the 5th player even gets a turn to play! 4 players it's give-and-take. Most games are okay, though some games are over too quickly.

IMHO, it's a great variant for 3 to 4 players. If you wanted to keep it for 5 players, I'd recommend removing the second challenge/encounter. (i.e. every player gets one encounter, instead of 2 per turn).

-shnar

Great ideas, Shnar. Thanks. I never thought about using it to make the 3-player game more interesting, but I could see that working. I always refuse to play three-player games, but I'm going to try that next time we can't find a fourth. And we have had some 5+ games really drag, so using four planets and one encounter per player sounds like a good idea, too, for when everyone is getting tired but I want to push one more game on them.