Temporary Emergent Alliances (or Manipulating Others' Incentive Structures)
Richard S
United States
Rensselaer
New York
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A while back, Clearclaw was geek of the week. While I normally find the geek of the week threads a little time consuming to read, I happened to catch part of the conversation and it has had a big effect on my game purchases and play. There is a certain effect within some games that I find very interesting, but had not, at that point, thought through very well. I realized that Clearclaw had described in perfectly:
"Quite possibly the one pattern I enjoy more than any other in gaming is to setup another player so that their primary in-game interest is to help me win (or to be setup that way myself). In short, Set it up so that the best way to improve your game position is to help me win." -Clearclaw
I like this idea and I like it alot. At the same time, I greatly prefer games where everything develops out of the game without recourse to open negotiation. Hence, I am not a big fan of games like Traders of Genoa though you could include such a game under this heading. Looking around I could not find a geeklist devoted to this topic and thought it might be a useful resource for myself and others.
So, please add games to this list wherein the ability to manipulate another player's incentive structure such that their best move helps you win is a prominent feature of the game, but please exclude any open negotiation games.
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Richard S
United States
Rensselaer
New York
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I think I came across Wabash due to a comment in Clearclaw's geek of the week thread. Wabash is one of the best games, to my knowledge at embodying the idea of emergent alliances. The game is basically about who has the incentive to do what and when.
I haven't had a chance to play the other games in this series yet but I have read the rules and it looks to be some of the same traits in the others though expressed quite differently.
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Board Game: Imperial
[Average Rating:7.72 Overall Rank:47]
Richard S
United States
Rensselaer
New York
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As one of my friends points out, this is not a war game. Play it like a war game and you will lose. He then proceeded to win without controlling a country.
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Richard S
United States
Rensselaer
New York
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Pampas Railroads in the only one in the Prairie series that I own. While the emergent alliances are not as in your face as in Wabash they are still incredibly important.
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Richard S
United States
Rensselaer
New York
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There are lots of different games in this series with two distinct trees: stock manipulation games and train games. Still I think the potential for alliances both overt in owning the same stock and less obvious such as building track in common geographic areas are vital in many of them.
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Ben Lott
United States
Mason
Michigan
It's a gift...
...and a curse!
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I'm not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for, but I noticed something similar to what you are talking about in my first game of Aquädukt. In order to get all your houses irrigated often it is advantageous to place the houses between a spring and an opponent's houses. This forces them to irrigate your land for you as they try to make an aquadukt reach their own house.
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Sheamus Parkes
United States
Indianapolis
Indiana
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Yes, there is strategy. It's all about manipulating other people to do your work for you.
Of course, this one may even be a little simpler in that you just want to do things that help you the most.
Still, I sure try to get into the other players' thoughts when I played this.
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John Bohrer
United States
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
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Alliances emerge and recede very quickly in this game, largely based on the turn order, which itself changes often. This game shares some aspects of Wabash, but is quite a different animal due to the new Dividend conditions, the eight railroads and the expansive territory.
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J C Lawrence
United States
Campbell
California
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The game poses the key question: How can you win when your primary activity is improving other player's positions?
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Davido
United States
Mather
California
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Cosmic Encounter w/its ever changing destiny disks/deck and request for allies is ALL about getting 'others do the dirty work for you'.
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John Brier
United States
Aventura
Florida
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Deciding which paintings to auction, which paintings to win, and when to let who win which painting are all tied to manipulating others' incentive structures. And all in about an hour. A true classic.
I would also say Container has some of these aspects, perhaps not as saliently.
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I think this one fits the bill also. You win by setting yourself up to be the one that's offering the right stuff at the right time. That way the other players will be "forced" to buy stuff from you and, eventually, carry you to victory.
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This is a build your economy game a la Puerto Rico. Instead of planting stuff to get goods, however, players have to build canoes and use them to fish. The bounty can later be traded for money (shells, in the game currency), or exchanged for victory points in a celebration.
The catch is that players can only sell the fish to the opponents (who can later exchange it for VPs). When players deliver the fish to their own huts they get no money out of it. Selling fish is the only way to get money in this game and money is crucial to be able to improve the infrastructure. This in combination with a very cutthroat positioning sub-game on the map, makes for very viable you-all-must-carry-me-to-victory types of strategies.
Great game!
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Teacher Fletcher
United States
Chicago
Illinois
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Acquire absolutely has this.
Most games you will get into a situation where you and another player both need a chain to merge so you can both receive your bonuses.
Often I find it profitable to be the minority holder, instead of the majority holder, so that the majority player has greater incentive to make the tile plays toward a merger, thereby freeing me up to make other tile plays, found new companies, or diversify my portfolio.
I like this Geeklist, and Clearclaw's thinking on this has been especially illuminating. This is my FAVORITE element in gaming -- the temporary alliance, shaking hands with your opponent to advance a mutual cause while remaining opponents.
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Posted Mon Aug 25, 2008 7:33 pm
Greer
South Carolina
Arizona
Geekbuddied!
In my opinion a game cannot be truly thematic without accomplishing this notion.
Campbell
California
Campbell
California
I suppose that someone will get temporary emergent alliances listed as an official game mechanism...
Rensselaer
New York
As I was thinking about this list, I realized the same thing which was why I tried to limit it to situations where it is a prominent feature of the game.