From a predictive sense. I'm not sure if FFG would want to release APP news before HotE is released.

Pro: If they announce an app, it will probably build a lot of excitement throughout the gaming world. More excitement = more sales of all IA products.

Con: Releasing news of an app-driven campaign before/during the release of a non-app driven campaign might have people lose some interest in HotE.

Maybe they'll just tease us with some app news without a full announcement? Not sure how that would work or if it's really FFG's style.

4 hours ago, VadersMarchKazoo said:

I don't remember if that was the JR announcement specifically. But here's a link to a previous posting of the report (previously posted by Professor A1bert) -

I'm pretty sure that it was, since I remember seeing a powerpoint slide featuring that sweet, sweet rancor.

3 hours ago, Swusn said:

I couldn't disagree more, My group was struggling to get through an IA campaign when the Descent app was announced. We all preferd a co-op experience to the 1 Vs many aspect of IA. When the descent app was announced we figured we enjoyed the basic mechanics of IA so why not give Descent a try. We bought the basic box and played the tutorial and instantly all agreed to put IA on hold until the IA version of the APP was released (although nothing was mentioned at the time it seemed pretty obvious it would come eventually.) Since then we've played been getting in regular campaigns of RtL in and IA only hits the table on the rare occasion only two of us show up and we feel like a skirmish.

The App made tracking your campaign and setting up a breeze while eliminating the need for one of us to be the odd man out. It also made it easier to get on the table because you only needed 4 instead of 5 which is the amount of reliable people we have in the group. I'm pretty much on hold for buying anything else IA until the app comes out so I hope it is at least mentioned at Gencon (preferably with a release date)

You can find a couple programs or cards for simulating the Imperial player on BBG that do as good or better of a job as Road to Legend does for Descent. But really, if you're looking for a fully co-operative experience, games made to be fully co-operative are generally better at being fully co-operative than ones with a post-design bolted on app.

1 hour ago, TallGiraffe said:

I don't want to mess around with an app I have no idea how it works, I just want to know how it effects the game.

I dunno maybe you could click a couple of links on this site and read about to your hearts content.

8 hours ago, TallGiraffe said:

I don't want to mess around with an app I have no idea how it works, I just want to know how it effects the game.

There are a number of changes to the game like reducing amount of gold you get, changing selling to be full value rather than half, reducing blast damage to half, alternating activations, and areas get revealed as you open doors or trigger events rather than the entire map being displayed.

It does not track positions, roll dice etc. The player indicates when a group is destroyed, a door is opened, a location searched and when a character is done an activation. It randomly selects which monster activates, gives it a special bonus for the turn like extra movement or damage, and a list of things for it to do that the player has to read through and select based on rules. Again, it doesn't roll dice, so you do, and again, it doesn't track position, so there is no AI at all,it simply gives you a list. To keep things simple and fast the list is short and while reasonably well thought out, it can still result in a lot of wasted activations for the monsters.

13 hours ago, VadersMarchKazoo said:

From a predictive sense. I'm not sure if FFG would want to release APP news before HotE is released.

Pro: If they announce an app, it will probably build a lot of excitement throughout the gaming world. More excitement = more sales of all IA products.

Con: Releasing news of an app-driven campaign before/during the release of a non-app driven campaign might have people lose some interest in HotE.

Maybe they'll just tease us with some app news without a full announcement? Not sure how that would work or if it's really FFG's style.

I do not see how the app could lower the game sales, since the game itself is still played without the app. The app for me would be a plus for sales since it would allow a solo game or totally coop.

Sorry my english I'm using google translate

6 hours ago, Union said:

There are a number of changes to the game like reducing amount of gold you get, changing selling to be full value rather than half, reducing blast damage to half, alternating activations, and areas get revealed as you open doors or trigger events rather than the entire map being displayed.

It does not track positions, roll dice etc. The player indicates when a group is destroyed, a door is opened, a location searched and when a character is done an activation. It randomly selects which monster activates, gives it a special bonus for the turn like extra movement or damage, and a list of things for it to do that the player has to read through and select based on rules. Again, it doesn't roll dice, so you do, and again, it doesn't track position, so there is no AI at all,it simply gives you a list. To keep things simple and fast the list is short and while reasonably well thought out, it can still result in a lot of wasted activations for the monsters.

I have the mansions of madness and I confess that the game app surprised me a lot. I liked the app and I imagine there should be something similar, like the map opening and the selection of enemies. I think this app coming will be pretty cool.

18 hours ago, Union said:

You can find a couple programs or cards for simulating the Imperial player on BBG that do as good or better of a job as Road to Legend does for Descent. But really, if you're looking for a fully co-operative experience, games made to be fully co-operative are generally better at being fully co-operative than ones with a post-design bolted on app.

Have you used the app? It is far superior to the automated emerror variants that can be downloaded (not disparaging those as they are great but they do have drawbacks.) For one the app makes setup a breeze. Our group can set up the board very quickly and hop into actual gameplay where as the normal setup requires a lot more preparation and the automated emperor even more, the app tracks all our skills and items and throws in randomized finds that come back into play in later missions. The app is very good. It may not be your cup of tea but it made Descent go to a game I couldn't care less about to my current favorite board game. I imagine it will make IA, a game I like, become so much better.

18 minutes ago, Swusn said:

Have you used the app? It is far superior to the automated emerror variants that can be downloaded (not disparaging those as they are great but they do have drawbacks.) For one the app makes setup a breeze. Our group can set up the board very quickly and hop into actual gameplay where as the normal setup requires a lot more preparation and the automated emperor even more, the app tracks all our skills and items and throws in randomized finds that come back into play in later missions. The app is very good. It may not be your cup of tea but it made Descent go to a game I couldn't care less about to my current favorite board game. I imagine it will make IA, a game I like, become so much better.

Yes, I've used the app. Tracking of skills like you say is meaningless since you have to have the cards anyway. Likewise for items you have to have the item cards, it won't even preview them for you so you have to go and find the cards to decide if you want to buy them. All it's really doing there is saving us having to write down how much gold we have.

I also have the "Forgotten Souls" expansion which is the card version of the app and it's pretty much identical in how it works.

@Union I don't want app to take away "the board game". I want to play the board game. I want to roll dice, I want to draw and search cards (I agree, the preview of items to buy would be welcome). I just don't want to play campaign 1vs1 (as I can count on only 2 players) and app allows for that.

58 minutes ago, Union said:

Yes, I've used the app. Tracking of skills like you say is meaningless since you have to have the cards anyway. Likewise for items you have to have the item cards, it won't even preview them for you so you have to go and find the cards to decide if you want to buy them. All it's really doing there is saving us having to write down how much gold we have.

I also have the "Forgotten Souls" expansion which is the card version of the app and it's pretty much identical in how it works.

I would say that the app is fairly different from Forgotten Souls. It is similar to the Delve Mode, but the app also allows for campaign play, just to clarify for the original person wondering.

For myself, I love the app. I really want it for IA, but if we don't hear about it at Gen Con I think we may not get it.

-ryanjamal

29 minutes ago, ryanjamal said:

I would say that the app is fairly different from Forgotten Souls. It is similar to the Delve Mode, but the app also allows for campaign play, just to clarify for the original person wondering.

For myself, I love the app. I really want it for IA, but if we don't hear about it at Gen Con I think we may not get it.

-ryanjamal

i agree

If you're running multiple campaigns, gear and skill tracking is a huge blessing.

And I totally agree with @Mortalo . If we can play the whole game on the tablet, why even own the minis?

1 minute ago, subtrendy2 said:

If you're running multiple campaigns, gear and skill tracking is a huge blessing.

And I totally agree with @Mortalo . If we can play the whole game on the tablet, why even own the minis?

Or pay hundreds to have them painted

18 hours ago, Belvasques said:

I have the mansions of madness and I confess that the game app surprised me a lot. I liked the app and I imagine there should be something similar, like the map opening and the selection of enemies. I think this app coming will be pretty cool.

Mansions of Madness works because it's a more story based thematic adventure with simple rules around movement.

I'm not sure about Descent... But Imperial Assault with its movement rules, line of sight, complex interactions of abilities... Its a tactical war game more than a role playing adventure game... The simple ai from the app used in Mansions might work but it won't do justice to a competent Imperial player.

2 hours ago, neosmagus said:

The simple ai from the app used in Mansions might work but it won't do justice to a competent Imperial player.

That is true also for Descent.

I love the app, I really appreciate that it offers new game mode - full cooperation. I also like that it is not replacing physical components of the game. But I also see some bad things in it. The most important one, for me, is poor AI. App has to compensate for it by giving monster groups various bonus abilities. I also dislike lack of using Overlord cards by the app. I wonder if IA app will use Imperial Player powers...

2 hours ago, Jarema said:

That is true also for Descent.

I love the app, I really appreciate that it offers new game mode - full cooperation. I also like that it is not replacing physical components of the game. But I also see some bad things in it. The most important one, for me, is poor AI. App has to compensate for it by giving monster groups various bonus abilities. I also dislike lack of using Overlord cards by the app. I wonder if IA app will use Imperial Player powers...

We might see something like the mythos events from Mansions doing what the Agenda cards do. But it likely won't replicate the Imperial classes or any of the current campaign missions. I'll likely play it for when we do want to coop, but I think I'm one of the few players who actually enjoys being the Imperial player over a Rebel...

I think the idea of the app can not be to override the overlord. I think the idea is to add another way of playing.
 I do not know the decent app, but I've heard that it's legal. I also think that the app of ia we have to make some
 decisions for the empire, as in the app of the mansions where we have to see which investigator has less agility
 to receive the attack of the monster for example.

We will probably have to choose the agenda cards that will be bought, as well as the empire class card. Which character will be targeted by the empire's onslaught and some trigger of the app will activate powers and abilities of agenda, class cards and so on

4 hours ago, neosmagus said:

Mansions of Madness works because it's a more story based thematic adventure with simple rules around movement.

I'm not sure about Descent... But Imperial Assault with its movement rules, line of sight, complex interactions of abilities... Its a tactical war game more than a role playing adventure game... The simple ai from the app used in Mansions might work but it won't do justice to a competent Imperial player.

I think we will have to make many decisions for the empire side. But I do not see it as negative.

From the Descent forum in response to a question about Road to Legend:

any2cards 1,803

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Someone on the French version of this forum (Edge Entertainement) created a French home-made app most certainly based on the RAEV system (I think). If you know a little bit of French here's the link of the forum : http://www.fantasyflightgames.fr/sujet/55669-compagnon_numerique_pour_mode_solocoop

Here is the download link he provided for his latest version : https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0et9s6KLsx5ME9ZMkxhU0xOeWs/view

The app is decent (no pun intended!) but it sometimes make some really awkward selections for the open groups. For instance it once selected snowtroopers on a board using strictly desert tiles. Unlike wampas who have the environment restriction, it is not an illegal move but for me it is highly anti-thematic.

37 minutes ago, IanSolo_FFG said:

The app is decent (no pun intended!) but it sometimes make some really awkward selections for the open groups. For instance it once selected snowtroopers on a board using strictly desert tiles. Unlike wampas who have the environment restriction, it is not an illegal move but for me it is highly anti-thematic.

That's awesome, thanks for sharing! I played around for a while once with a different Redjak implementation (I haven't opened this one yet, but it sounds similar) and I actually had the opposite problem from what you're describing here. No matter what you owned, that program only chose open groups from the core set. While everything ended up staying fairly thematic, it was also pretty uninteresting to fight the same enemies over and over.

So if we dont hear news on the app during GenCon, is it time to give up hope?

48 minutes ago, jconway2002 said:

So if we dont hear news on the app during GenCon, is it time to give up hope?

That's pretty much where I am at on it. I can't imagine them staying silent on it if it is supposed to release in 2017. I know a lot of the community have been speculating the there are some licencing issues for an app due to the legal minefield that is the agreements between FFG, Hasbro, EA and Lucasfilm. Personally I hope that is not the reason the app has been delayed but I honestly cannot think of any other reason it would take so long to throw a Star Wars skin over an app that has already been released for 2 other games unless they are doing a complete rework of the AI.