The title says it all. I love epic games and I wanna try out something new so I'm thinking about picking up some new epic board game. Which one would YOU recommend? I played Empire and Federation. Oooold FASA Star Trek game, awesomely detailed, beautifully balanced and takes forever to finish. Great fun
I also played Twilight Imperium. It's less generic and has more options than F&E, takes shorter to finish. Great game too.
Now I need something new.
Federation and Empire is Task Force Games, the strategic companion to Star Fleet Battles . A full game could take months to complete. FASA had a tactical game that was fun and had amazing minis.
Space Empires 4x is probably the best 4x board game I've ever played.
Star Trek: Fleet Captains
is great fun. It plays out like a season of the TV show.
Eclipse
is a faster playing Twilight Imperium.
High Frontier
is set in our solar system in a very near future. Great learning game and the prettiest game board ever.
Small World
is a fast-paced fantasy game where Flying Dwarves can battle Mercenary Pygmies.
The Succession Wars
is set in the Battletech universe, where each player is the head of one of the 5 great houses and all their armies.
Eclipse is my favorite 4x game. That being said, I haven't tried *any* of the ones listed above.
We used to play Federation and Empire long into the night. Takes around 4 days solid to get to when the Gorns get into the action. Turn 20 was as far as we got with Earth under siege. It is such a good game but beware the expansions. They are all fine and balanced etc. but they do slow things up by introducing new phases into each combat procedure. For this reason, even though I own the expansions, we still just play the basic F&E set.
At university in the 90s we enjoyed playing Succession Wars. Reminds me of playing diplomacy, forging alliances is very important particularly for the weak House Liao.
I'll second those mentioning Succession Wars. Back in the early 00s I designed and ran a 30-player online game inspired by it but going much, much deeper. Some players would play the House Lords and handle primarily diplomacy and grand strategy, others would play the regional nobles and handle mostly spies, subversive actions and logistics, while others would play generals who would actually fight out each engagement with full BattleTech rules. Mercenary players could be hired to fight key battles, and ComStar players would referee and help me (as the GM) to keep the narrative going. It was glorious ... and so time-consuming it almost cost me my career.
1 hour ago, DiabloAzul said:I'll second those mentioning Succession Wars. Back in the early 00s I designed and ran a 30-player online game inspired by it but going much, much deeper. Some players would play the House Lords and handle primarily diplomacy and grand strategy, others would play the regional nobles and handle mostly spies, subversive actions and logistics, while others would play generals who would actually fight out each engagement with full BattleTech rules. Mercenary players could be hired to fight key battles, and ComStar players would referee and help me (as the GM) to keep the narrative going. It was glorious ... and so time-consuming it almost cost me my career.
Sounds awesome!
22 hours ago, Rocmistro said:Eclipse is my favorite 4x game. That being said, I haven't tried *any* of the ones listed above.
Eclipse is space taxes. I was going to invade you, but won't until next turn, because space taxes. A dry affair, even by a euro gamers standards. It is an economic engine builder at the heart, not a space opera.
Dominant species can be interpreted as 4x, a slight stretch, but no more than eclipse and a lot less than other garbage like scythe thay claims 4x(small world might have 2x at best).
TTA is my favourite civ builder and they often get lumped unto 4x. Explore is heavily abstracted, but no more than eclipse really. Kind of 3.5x.
Edited by DarthainI second @Democratus in saying you need to try Space Empires 4X. It is AWESOME.
11 hours ago, Maturin said:I second @Democratus in saying you need to try Space Empires 4X. It is AWESOME.
We like the game so much, we have created our own customized game pieces and game board.
https://goo.gl/photos/ijGkpwtDnsB97NNo6
Yes my friend who owns it has blinged his up too, similar to this:
On 8/15/2017 at 0:32 PM, Darthain said:Eclipse is space taxes. I was going to invade you, but won't until next turn, because space taxes. A dry affair, even by a euro gamers standards. It is an economic engine builder at the heart, not a space opera.
Dominant species can be interpreted as 4x, a slight stretch, but no more than eclipse and a lot less than other garbage like scythe thay claims 4x(small world might have 2x at best).
TTA is my favourite civ builder and they often get lumped unto 4x. Explore is heavily abstracted, but no more than eclipse really. Kind of 3.5x.
Maybe I like Space Taxes!
Seriously, though, I don't have a problem with that. It just means to me, planning several turns in advance about what you intend to do, which, if you're paying attention, means you have some advance warning against getting sneak attacked. I like Eclipse precisely beause it's difficult to prosecute unrestricted war against another player. Usually, for us, it comes down to skirmishes over a key sector.
Has anyone played Star Trek Ascendancy? I'm really dying to get that one.
As for one I have/have played? The old Sid Meyer's Civilizations board game (the huge epic one, there have been at least two since) and the Babylon 5 Component Game System game (random space tiles, customizable deck, economy tracking, unique racial traits, diplomacy, Babylon council votes (which LoNAW players get to break ties on), etc, etc) are both ones that I love.
I tired it. Not my thing. Too complex, too much micro management, not enough action. That of course only from a half game of experience. But I prefer F&E.
10 hours ago, Admiral Theia said:Has anyone played Star Trek Ascendancy? I'm really dying to get that one.
There is a big thread discussing it in the x-wing off topic board
https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/231890-star-trek-ascendancy/?page=5#comment-2955333
ive played it a couple times now and found it a really interesting game, but the two 3-player games I've played didn't encourage players into conflict enough. That might just be the people I was playing with though.
6 hours ago, Norell said:I tired it. Not my thing. Too complex, too much micro management, not enough action. That of course only from a half game of experience. But I prefer F&E.
did you just claim Star Trek Ascendancy is more complex than Federation & Empire? F&E is 10x more "complex" than Ascendancy, no?
Indeed it is. But it's complex in a good way. It offers you more strategic depth so I can accept it. Ascendancy felt like a drag with less strategic options.