I picked up Android over the weekend and had my first chance to play tonight, and it was a bit weird. We had 3 players, and the other two went straight for the conspiracy puzzle. By day 5 the entire box was full, and there were a total of 3 evidence markers on suspects. One of the suspects got completely ignored, because no one drew him for either of their hunches. Here is the truly strange part-he ended up being guilty. The other 3 characters has totals of -1, -3, and -8!

Apparently there was no evidence that anyone actually did it. Police just arrested the one guy who had no exonerating evidence.

Joe

Well, it´s not unheard of innocent guys ending up in the cell (or gas-chamber). Going for conspiracy is your grasp of the game... myself I do it quite seldom in the first week, only go for it in the second one.

And not putting "plus" evidence on your guilty hunch is simply strange (only for the fact it is worth 3-times as much as an innocent one, if it turns out to be true). But as I said earlier, this is your grasp of the game (and we can only ask if the designers intended it to be this way).

Well, I think by a quirk of the random drawing process we drew about twice as many negatives as positives. Also, the way the hunches played out, I and another player had exact opposites, and the third player was obsessed with a third suspect. So two of us had a little war over two suspects, and the other two ended up being ignored because the third player decided to focus elsewhere. He did end up with over 50 VP by ignoring the actual case; there may be something to that.

I am not saying it´s impossible, but blasting all the conspiraci during the first week? Dunno. Of course, you would do it with Caprice or Floyd who have instant accest to their respective creators´ tokens, but for other characters it seem easier to prove their hunch being guilty. But Android is a bluff game, and taking a really different approach can pay off (your third player).

But a small balancing process, which I can see (and which is often overlooked in first games - my own experience), is working on the other players plot´s worse endings (that way you are hardly able to get 50 points, even without getting the innocent hunch correctly).

Zion said:

Clearing out the conspiracy puzzle in the first week is very easy and profitable. The definite advantage +4 tokens provide is usually better than sinking turns into racking up evidence on a suspect (who could get alibis or possibly killed).

I know the Consp. tokens 4 VP value, but as I remember the games with my brother, we were both very cautious to place a tile so that another player would get any points on their subsequent turns.

And still there is not 100% guarantee you would get a piece that lets you finish the line/column/diagonal anyway. But this is definitely one of the plus-points of the game... as many playing approaches as different players

I personally believe that the conspiracy stuff is a bit unbalanced. I've played 4 times, and placing puzzle pieces is way too powerful. Not just for the placing of the piece, but all the bonuses that you get (the shift / free favour / free baggage), and then all the cool stuff on the back, like a free dropship or the ability to move a lead. Way too powerful.

In the last game, I was Louis (who is supposed to be good at solving the case). I got no points from the case and hardly bothered placing evidence and just hammered the conspiracy. It was all done by Day 7 and I won by quite some margin.

Faced with a choice of placing a puzzle piece, getting lots of good stuff, or drawing 1 piece of potentially useless evidence and playing the bluffing / guessing / random game for possible points at the end seems no contest.

Well, and in the tips it says Louis is weak at solving the conspiracy...

I fully understand the conspiracy is a little overpowered... but as I usually play just for fun (with my gf, bro...), I don´t take it that seriously. I am simply trying to prove my hunch guilty, no matter I lose in the process.

In our game, a player was routinely able to place 2-3 puzzle pieces in one turn, often netting 2 +4VP tokens. Also, it seems really tough to make the last player in a round lose his plots if he's careful, and we never had the first player shift because nobody thought it was worth time. I'm starting to get the impression that those little advice sheets aren't super accurate, as going with the flow seesm to be much more powerful than playing your "strengths."

Ryric said:

We noticed this problem after our first game. We all felt that we would much rather go last than first. So we house ruled that visiting the scene of the crime allowed you to choose who became the start player the next round. Much, much, better. Those people who think it is great to go first can still go there and choose to go first. Those players who are completely screwed by going first because just when they have sorted their plot out, someone goes and puts that 1 extra baggage token on you to mess you up can now choose to go last.