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David Gregg
United States
Asheboro
North Carolina
NightfallGame.com/FAQ
BoardGameGeek.com/Blog/193
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Just in Time
Finally got to playtest Just in Time today, this time with quite a few tweaks. So, first up, the (many) changes:
● Action points are now "Essence"
● Essence per player is still 10
● Players start the game with 1 essence on each day in timeline
● Essence is returned to the player after the timeline shifts, but only from the day that is now aligned with the player's current day
● Each day now has 3 "hour" spaces, which is where tasks are placed
● When a task is first placed on a day, it is placed in the first hour space near the top of the day card and is given a disc matching the color of the player whose turn it is
● At the end of a player's turn, they complete 3 steps in the following order: all tasks matching the player's color shift down 1 hour, they roll the d8 to place a new task on its day (8 = task on current day, then roll again, repeating as necessary) and finally shifting the timeline, giving back essence to players appropriately
● All tasks now require you to be on their day to complete them (no more "1 past to 2 future" mess)
● When a player completes a task, they place a disc matching their color on the task and these can no longer be taken away by another player
● When a task shifts off from the 3rd hour, it either A) is incomplete and thus destroys its indicated building, removing all discs from it or B) is complete and the player who completed it get both discs from the task as well as the task itself
● Completed tasks are used for scoring by squaring the number of each type that you complete (health, crime, storm or fire) as well as an additional 5 points per set of all 4 types that you collect
● All buildings are now completed by a single build action to unlock their special ability
● Building a building still awards a disc matching your current day
● Players time travel by spending a single disc of any color and can modify any results by +/-1 by spending discs matching their player color
Some of these changes were made mid game as we were discussing things while playing. Making both tasks and essence cyclical to match the way the time discs move was a great change and everyone enjoyed the overall time mechanic. The others requested some sort of place on the board to place tasks that went uncompleted and have a simple chart describing a different penalty for each one. So for example, the first failed task might cause each player to lose a disc, the 2nd to lose all discs, the 3rd to permanently lose 1 essence etc. I need to toy with ideas for this as I think I still want the tasks to destroy their respective building (probably will flip it over to a rubble side with no name or effect). During the time we played 3 tasks went uncompleted, so I'm thinking that 5 will be a good number of tasks to fail before the game wins.
Another thing that was brought up was the way building effects are currently worded. I knew that they needed recosted with the major tweaks that I made, but the testers brought up a good point: let the buildings still allow multiple levels of building with each step improving the effect. So, the air port might start off as 3 Essence to fly to any space, but for each build action taken on it, the cost could be reduced by 1. So not only are you improving your abilities to use the board to your advantage, but you'll also be generating a lot of discs to use in time traveling, which you'll need to get to those hard to reach tasks and position yourself well to recollect your essence for your next turn.
The last issue that was brought up was the scoring / game end condition. We played that each player received a free task at the start of the game to keep face down, then play until someone has 25 visible points, at which point that extra task is turned face up to add to your score and a final score is calculated to determine a winner. This was pretty anti-climatic and doesn't do much to explain why the time vortex has stopped, so I need to think of something else.
TL;DR: Tweaks were good, need to add more bad things that happen when tasks go uncompleted, need to recost the way building upgrades work and need to reword the scoring system as well as the game end scenario.
Ton of new stuff
Between a math trade, Games for GeekGold raffle, an AEG shipment and an order at CoolStuffInc, I've got a ton of stuff headed my way, which has me pretty excited. So far I've already received Coloretto and have played three 2 player games as well as two 5 player games. Everyone that's played it so far has really liked it, so it'll likely make a good standing in my filler category. Also on the way is: Eaten By Zombies!, Nightfall: The Coldest War, Thunderstone: Heart of Doom, Thunderstone Advance: Towers of Ruin, the new Nightfall Deluxe Promo Pack, a Premium Euro Token Box Set to pimp my copy of Agricola, a Premium Token Storage Box to keep them in, Hive: The Ladybug, Dungeon Run, Troyes and Eminent Domain.
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NightfallGame.com/FAQ
