Sean McCarthy
United States
Seattle
Washington
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Last year I could hardly find enough players for it at all, even though it was a brand new game. So: any hardcore space alerters coming to BGG.CON this year? We need to talk.
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Keith M. Sandler
United States
Framingham
Massachusetts
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Wasn't there a whole Space Alert tourney last year? And you couldn't find players? Weird.
I'd love to play, but, sadly, I can't make it out this year. Next year, though!
;-)
--kMs
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Grant Johnson
United States
Cedar Park
Texas
Well me known for eating cookie when me don't they shout
Look! He try to throw loyal fans a curve!
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I'm in. I'll bring mission soundtracks on my iPhone!
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Bruce Shackelford
United States
Choctaw
Oklahoma
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I'll gladly join in, and I also have the missions on my iPod.
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Brian Modreski
United States
Thornton
Colorado
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Lisa and I love to play Space Alert, and it would be great to get to play more with New Frontier (our local group that has enough experience for that all seems to have gone different directions
 ).
The tournament last year was...er...not to our tastes though 
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Keith M. Sandler
United States
Framingham
Massachusetts
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I think I ended up in the hotel bar for way too long the night of the tourney last year. Either that or playing BSG until 2am. Good times.
Brian, care to recount what it was like, if it doesn't take us too far OT for the OP's taste?
--kMs
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Brian Modreski
United States
Thornton
Colorado
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Dark Son wrote:
Brian, care to recount what it was like, if it doesn't take us too far OT for the OP's taste?
Well, it was set up as a tournament where each ship had an identically stacked threat deck and everyone listened to the same soundtrack. This in itself was a neat idea, but I feel like there were some implementation problems.
The first I suppose, was that it should have been obvious to me that since I like Space Alert because its such a great co-op game, playing it in a competitive setting would kind of defeat the point
Since our ship consisted of Lisa and I and three players with little experience, we were trying to teach them and "win" the tournament, which didn't go well together. Our usual philosophy for playing with new players is "we'd rather blow up due to their mistakes than try to play the game for them", which didn't go well with a tournament setting.
An older version of the random mission generator was being used, which sometimes gave wonky results (such as no threats at all in the first minute or two).
The scoring system used was, to me, very frustrating. They scored points for a failed mission, and just deducted a fraction of the points earned. So, in the first mission, which was low scoring, our ship, which survived but with heavy damage, took a bigger score penalty than the other ship which didn't survive at all. Then in the last round, which was high scoring, we took a huge score hit from being destroyed while the other ship took a much lower penalty for barely surviving - which they only did because they placed one of the threats out at the wrong time.
That was probably more info than anyone needed
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Sean McCarthy
United States
Seattle
Washington
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I didn't play in the tournament (wasn't really interested in playing just base game) and now I'm glad I didn't!
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Tanner Thurman
United States
The Colony
Texas
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I played in the tournament last year and had a blast. I agree that the scoring system was a little wonky and could use some tweaking, since a destroyed ship could still score a lot of points.
The game is great though and will never turn it down. However, you almost have to reserve a room, since the big rooms can get too loud to hear the computer voice. It also tends to annoy the other gamers.
I must have been on the opposite team from StormKnight. I think we only had one new player, but the rest were experienced or at least knew all the rules. I don't remember there being any question about our placement of the threat on the last round though. We just played it very well.
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Brian Modreski
United States
Thornton
Colorado
-
Quote: I must have been on the opposite team from StormKnight. I think we only had one new player, but the rest were experienced or at least knew all the rules.
As far as I knew, the other team was a group of people who all played Space Alert together regularly, and was also the normal group of the person running the tournament, including his girlfriend/wife. I'm sure its a complete coincidence that his rulings always favored them.
There most definitely was a question on the placement of a threat in the last round. It was decided that the other team had messed up, but the decision was to just let them play it as they set it up. Which probably made sense, but gave them a big advantage.
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Tanner Thurman
United States
The Colony
Texas
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StormKnight wrote: As far as I knew, the other team was a group of people who all played Space Alert together regularly, and was also the normal group of the person running the tournament, including his girlfriend/wife. I'm sure its a complete coincidence that his rulings always favored them.
There most definitely was a question on the placement of a threat in the last round. It was decided that the other team had messed up, but the decision was to just let them play it as they set it up. Which probably made sense, but gave them a big advantage.
I was on the other team then. Only two of the people on that team played together regularly (also the same group as the tournament organizer). Myself and another guy had only played a handful of times, but were not a part of that group. The last player was a newbie.
That group was really serious about Space Alert and mentioned they played weekly or bi-weekly, had a ranking system based on experience, etc.
I don't remember there being a question on placement, but that doesn't mean I'm right. My memory is like swiss cheese sometimes. 
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Brian Modreski
United States
Thornton
Colorado
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I have no clue how well it would work, but I've wondered about the idea of having multiple missions going on and, at certain points, having members of teams swap positions. Maybe some sort of temporal distortion is going on. But you hit something like "Phase 1 ending. Blue player, move left one ship!"
And all the blue players scramble to rush over to the next ship and figure out what's going on there.
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Grant Johnson
United States
Cedar Park
Texas
Well me known for eating cookie when me don't they shout
Look! He try to throw loyal fans a curve!
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Back on the main subject, I'm really excited to try things with a new crew. My usual crew is entertaining but I'm curious to see how other people handle threats/missions/coordination.
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Dustin Gervais
United States
Brooklyn
New York
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I'd be interested too. I just lost a "hardcore mode" character this weekend. (Fortunately, he was only level 2.) So I'm ready to start up again.
Maybe I'll do a solo mission before I leave, so I won't be totally useless.
See you there.
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Grant Johnson
United States
Cedar Park
Texas
Well me known for eating cookie when me don't they shout
Look! He try to throw loyal fans a curve!
-
Anyone got a preferred day and time? I'm coming up on Thursday afternoon so anytime after Thursday 6 pm works. I love me some Space Alert!
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Sean McCarthy
United States
Seattle
Washington
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I am here! And always up for it unless currently occupied. Not sure about scheduling but you can find me at 4255169272
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Grant Johnson
United States
Cedar Park
Texas
Well me known for eating cookie when me don't they shout
Look! He try to throw loyal fans a curve!
-
Wish I was too. I'll be up tomorrow evening (ETA currently 4 PM but may change due to work). I'm calling you as soon as I get badged!
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Bruce Shackelford
United States
Choctaw
Oklahoma
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I'm playing in the 7 Wonders tourney Thursday evening, but I'll be glad to join anytime after that. My number is xxxxxxxxxx.
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Grant Johnson
United States
Cedar Park
Texas
Well me known for eating cookie when me don't they shout
Look! He try to throw loyal fans a curve!
-
Got it too Bruce. Looking forward to meeting you in person after the DL goodness!
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Grant Johnson
United States
Cedar Park
Texas
Well me known for eating cookie when me don't they shout
Look! He try to throw loyal fans a curve!
-
I'm here and ready- anyone up for Friday afternoon? Message me at xxxxxxxxxxx. If there are 3 of us we can start with D'artagnon missing
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Sean McCarthy
United States
Seattle
Washington
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I have some tichu tournament obligations at unknown and sundry times this afternoon. So probably can't til after dinner.
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Grant Johnson
United States
Cedar Park
Texas
Well me known for eating cookie when me don't they shout
Look! He try to throw loyal fans a curve!
-
I like the sound of tonight! Anyone else?
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Bruce Shackelford
United States
Choctaw
Oklahoma
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Evening after dinner works for me.
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Grant Johnson
United States
Cedar Park
Texas
Well me known for eating cookie when me don't they shout
Look! He try to throw loyal fans a curve!
-
Sounds like we got a few! How about we meet by the Chinaberry room around 7?
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