Matthew Tadyshak
United States
Allen
Texas
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How is this game with two players?
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Andrew Miller
United States
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
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Not recommended. The fun and strategy of the game revolve around adapting to the current situation. With two players, so few actions occur that very little changes each turn. Three's halfway decent, but hold out for four (or ideally, five) if you really want a good game.
--ElSoy
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quohog the great
United States
Tennessee
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I would disagree. I think that this game scales well for all players. With each number of players adding a different experience.
in two player
you get either 2 roles or 1 role + gondola. it becomes a game of efficency and opponent manipulation not much changes as was already said but at the same time its more difficult to change gears at the drop of a hat, so it becomes more a game of decpetion and misdirection.
i had played a 2 player game in which both of players needed to fill a guild order or go to shops for extra cash/victory and possibly an extra guild order. we were just completed the second 3rd bid and our action selection was shipping/shipping stockmarket/marcado and docks/stockmarket. we were both playing off the other to the point were we were locking up the progress of the game and impeeding ourselves. its much different but its still enjoyable IMO
3-4 player is usualy a sweet spot for this game as there are lots of things going on to play off of and ample opportunity to change gears
5 players is overly chaotic but fun the downside is it does seem to take forever.
granted i've never played with more than 3 players where everyone was expereinced, and i've limited myself to teaching no more than 2 players per game. and i don't often do two players.
Q
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Joao Lima
Scotland
Edinburgh
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ElSoyokaze wrote: Not recommended. The fun and strategy of the game revolve around adapting to the current situation. With two players, so few actions occur that very little changes each turn. Three's halfway decent, but hold out for four (or ideally, five) if you really want a good game.
--ElSoy
I'm afraid I have to agree with the above. Now, having said that, the game just seemed so good that I had to think about how to improve it. The way we found to improve was as follows:
Setup: The 5 boards for professions are set in the center, none of them belongs to any player. Other than that, each player sets up as usual.
The remaining shares (except the two shipping offices) are shuffled and set aside.
Play: At each round, the first action is to draw a share and place it next to one of the 5 boards, starting in alphabetical order and making sure each gets one share before starting from the first again. What this means is that these boards represent an 'outside' trader that will fight each of the two players for control. Each time a share is drawn, either move the peg of orders for that shop forward towards the 2, and move the item price one down, or, if the orders are 2 or more, move them down by one and move the item price one up. Stock prices increases as normally with each share drawn.
In each round of play players alternate taking actions and they can take four actions per round. This massively increased what each player can do per round.
And that's all. we enjoyed it a lot more after playing two players like this. there was actually a small wrestle for control of the spice stocks.
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Andrew Miller
United States
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
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I don't quite follow regarding the share drawing.
Shares are shuffled and placed face down.
Each turn, one share is drawn. Let's say a Blacksmith share is drawn.
It is placed next to the blacksmith board.
Next turn, a Tailor share is drawn. Is it placed next to the Jeweler (the next in alphabetical order) or the Tailor (the shop with which the share is associated)?
Next turn, a Blacksmith share is drawn. Blacksmith already has one, so does it go next to the Miller or does it just get tossed aside?
Furthermore, what is the significance of these shares? Are they merely reducing the pool of shares? Do I take control of the Blacksmith if I buy one share, or do I have to buy two to overtake the foreign trader? Does this guy get paid dividends?
How are stocks purchased by the players? Randomly off of the top? Or do we get to search the stock pile for what we want?
--ElSoy
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Joao Lima
Scotland
Edinburgh
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ElSoyokaze wrote: I don't quite follow regarding the share drawing.
Shares are shuffled and placed face down.
Each turn, one share is drawn. Let's say a Blacksmith share is drawn.
It is placed next to the blacksmith board.
Next turn, a Tailor share is drawn. Is it placed next to the Jeweler (the next in alphabetical order) or the Tailor (the shop with which the share is associated)?
Next turn, a Blacksmith share is drawn. Blacksmith already has one, so does it go next to the Miller or does it just get tossed aside?
Furthermore, what is the significance of these shares? Are they merely reducing the pool of shares? Do I take control of the Blacksmith if I buy one share, or do I have to buy two to overtake the foreign trader? Does this guy get paid dividends?
How are stocks purchased by the players? Randomly off of the top? Or do we get to search the stock pile for what we want?
--ElSoy
Following your example, when the Tailor share is drawn, it is placed in the Jeweller (the next in alphabetical order). Next turn a blacksmith share is drawn, goes next to the Miller.
These shares mean that to control , say the blacksmith, you must have more blacksmith share then both your opponent and the boards (since the shares placed next to shares represent their ownership).
Say next to the blacksmith board there are 2 miller shares and one spicer. You opponent has got a miller share. To control the miller you must have 3 shares. The blacksmith board in this example never receives any dividends.
When the players buy shares they just go through the share deck and select whatever they want.
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Andrew Miller
United States
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
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What happens when I control the Blacksmith and it's the Blacksmith's turn to get a random share? If, say, a Jeweler share is turned, does it go in front of the Blacksmith shop board that's in front of me since I control it, or does it go to the next alphabetical shop?
If it's a Blacksmith share that should go to the Blacksmith shop I own, could that upset control (by tying me) and send the board back to the middle?
It sounds to me like this (to put it simply) introduces five new players who, in order, only buy one random share of a shop and only affect the game.
I think this could be pretty neat. I'll try it out next time I have a chance.
--ElSoy
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Joao Lima
Scotland
Edinburgh
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ElSoyokaze wrote: What happens when I control the Blacksmith and it's the Blacksmith's turn to get a random share? If, say, a Jeweler share is turned, does it go in front of the Blacksmith shop board that's in front of me since I control it, or does it go to the next alphabetical shop?
If it's a Blacksmith share that should go to the Blacksmith shop I own, could that upset control (by tying me) and send the board back to the middle?
It sounds to me like this (to put it simply) introduces five new players who, in order, only buy one random share of a shop and only affect the game.
I think this could be pretty neat. I'll try it out next time I have a chance.
--ElSoy
The drawn shares always go to the shops that are not in player control.
And yes, down to basics it introduces some actions for the equivalent of five players...
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Andrew Miller
United States
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
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jmlima wrote: The drawn shares always go to the shops that are not in player control.
So, if in the first or second trip to the stock market, the players bought enough shares to control all of the shops (which would be easy before too many come out), the random draws would just stop? I kind of figured that they'd still come out so that you could lose control to neutral players.
I haven't yet tried this variant (and won't be able to for some weeks), but would that wreck things too much?
--ElSoy
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Joao Lima
Scotland
Edinburgh
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Ah.... well, not sure about the effect. We never came upon that situation, mostly because by the time we had enough money to buy that many shares we are in the final rounds...
But I would imagine it would remove the stock fight out of the game.
However, with 4 actions per round, you still have a lot more things to do than in the base game.
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