Sam Butler
United States
Fort Walton Beach
Florida
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I am a bit concerned about Jihad in the 2nd edition rules. It seems to me like this is extremely powerful -- the Islamic Fundamentalists can essentially swap out 1 card of any opponent (as long as diplomacy is set properly) with no possibility of defense. This is essentially a free victory on conflict once per turn that cannot be defended against. The only counter is that your opponent draws a card. In particular, it seems to negate the Capitalist special ability completely -- the Islamics will just Jihad against Culture instead. Heck, the Capitalists can't even stay at war with the Islamics as retaliation...
This seems so much more powerful than any of the other special abilities. Furthermore, the drawback of the Islamic Fundies has also been nerfed to be about the same as the other drawbacks for other ideologies.
What are some good tactics against the Islamic Fundamentalists to keep them in line?
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Andrew Parks
United States
Somerset
New Jersey
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Hi, Sam.
You are correct that the new Jihad ability is indeed powerful. However, this is intentionally so. Over the course of years of player feedback, both online and at tournaments held at conventions, we knew that Islamic Fundamentalism was simply not powerful enough in its past incarnation. In fact, their ability to win seemed severely limited.
One of the reasons for this, we later understood, was that they needed a very strong ability that could be used early on in the game to help them out because they started off going last in the turn order. The previous version of Jihad was really only effective if they happened to either be winning or to be close behind the winner.
That said, I can promise you that we playtested this ability quite a lot. Here are some of its weaknesses:
1) Since the opponent gets to draw a card in response to the use of Jihad, he can sometimes undo the effects of Jihad without losing any resources. Although the opponent might have to pay a distance or Advancement penalty to retaliate, remember that the Jihad ability also requires the Islamic Fundamentalist to pay distance penalties. So this is a bit of a balancing factor.
2) Since the Jihad ability is used during the Foreign Phase, the other players do not have to worry about it occuring as a surprise towards the end of the Conflict Phase. As you know, one of the tough things about Conflict in Ideology is worrying about holding onto defensive cards during the Conflict Phase in case the opponent suddenly strikes. This is not an issue with Jihad.
3) The Jihad ability is subject to diplomacy. That means that the Islamic Fundamentalist cannot use it to replace a Military card without being at war with that player. This helps soften the issue regarding Capitalism's inability to declare war.
4) Although I agree that the Jihad ability can be an effective countermeasure against Capitalism's Attractive Culture, Jihad only works against Independent Regions. Since Jihad can't be used against Controlled Regions, the Capitalist's defensive ability is not completely negated, especially towards the end of the game when defending Controlled Regions is much more important.
We were careful to make this an "early game advantage" ability, much like the Imperialist's Global Colonization. Jihad helps the Islamic Fundamentalist player move out of his 5th position slump early in the game, but later in the game, when acquiring new Independent Regions decreases in importance, the Jihad ability is not much help.
Remember as well that, even reduced, the Radical Fundamentalism really hurts the Islamic Fundamentalist's ability to move around easily during the last few turns. Without Innovation, the Islamic Fundamentalist is going to have trouble competing strongly during the game's final turns.
Thanks!
Andrew
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Sam Butler
United States
Fort Walton Beach
Florida
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Thanks much for the fast response!
Two things I misunderstood that made me think it was too powerful...
First, it must be an independent region, and second for some reason I missed the "Foreign Phase" text. Those two things are huge!
Thanks! Not nearly as concerned now. I played last night w/o the Fundies, and have played using 1st Ed rules before as well. Hopefully another game tonight, probably with the Fundies involved this time...should be interesting!
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Andrew Parks
United States
Somerset
New Jersey
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butsam wrote: Thanks much for the fast response!
No problem, Sam. Good luck with your next game! 
Andrew
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Sam Butler
United States
Fort Walton Beach
Florida
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Played again with the Islamic Fundies, and it does seem like they are balanced with the others.
That said, I need to figure out how to deal with the Imperialists, who did extremely well yet again, and pulled out a victory while the others were in the 7-8 point range. I think the Jihad may be a good way to block the Imperialists from placing a ton of cards on the 1's.
Great game! I think next time I'll take away the Imperialists so we'll play with the other 4...then we can try with the Imperialists again after that.
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Andrew Parks
United States
Somerset
New Jersey
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One of the weaknesses of the Imperialists is that their main power involves grabbing the Level 1 Independent Regions, which can only be upgraded to Level 2. Since these are relatively easy to steal away, it can often give the Imperialists a tough time during the endgame.
Andrew
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Juan Carlos Goyes
Colombia
Bogota
Cundinamarca
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Andrew Parks wrote: You are correct that the new Jihad ability is indeed powerful. However, this is intentionally so. Over the course of years of player feedback, both online and at tournaments held at conventions, we knew that Islamic Fundamentalism was simply not powerful enough in its past incarnation. In fact, their ability to win seemed severely limited.
Andrew
Hello! I played yesterday for the first time and I Liked the game. I will play with these new rules the next time. I wanted to ask you where can I play Online?
Thanks for the info...
JC
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Andrew Parks
United States
Somerset
New Jersey
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Hi, Juan.
There is no online version of the game, although I wish there were! When I mentioned receiving feedback online, I was referring to here on BGG and by email.
Thanks,
Andrew
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Posted Sun Sep 5, 2010 4:27 pm
