David Boeren
United States
Marietta
Georgia
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Hey, hoping to get some help from fans of this game.
The other day I downloaded the Kingsburg app for iOS and have played a few times now. It was easy enough to learn from the tutorial despite having no face to face experience.
However, I've won every game and the whole thing seems pretty formulaic and lacking in decisions to make. So, I'm wondering if:
1. I'm missing something
2. The iOS version is not the complete game
3. The decisions are supposed to be added by the players and the AI isn't doing its job
Here's how things have been going. Each turn you roll your dice. There may be a little snag if someone took your number but it's rare. Your goal is generally to get 3 goods out of 3 dice, and if you're lucky enough to roll very high maybe better. If you roll very poorly you may only get two good, but at least you're never blocked so that's about as bad as it can get. You can almost replace the whole thing with a minor chance of 2 goods, usually 3 goods, rarely 4 goods. Yes, the exact kinds matter but not that much since you won't be building every turn so it will even out over time and you can use the extra good later on.
Then you pick a building if you can afford it. Honestly, the differences between buildings are less than exciting, it usually feels like there are obvious choices and none of them are good enough to look forward to. I don't get the same feel as in say, Puerto Rico/San Juan where buildings are very distinct and open up new strategies. A fair number of building "special abilities" may never come up if you're not attacked by the right enemy, don't roll triples, don't roll 7 or less, etc...
Anyway...
It just doesn't seem like there are many meaningful decisions to make. There's how much to put into military each year, but it's fairly random and hard to predict, plus you can just "go with the crowd" and then you all tend to lose/gain equally resulting in no net gain for anyone.
So is this really it? What am I missing here? Kingsburg is a fairly well rated game so I feel like there's gotta be something more, you know? Am I just looking for a heavier game of this type, and if so, what is it?
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Charles Phillips
United States
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
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I have not played the iOS version of this game, but have played the PC version many times (and, also the actual board game with human players).
My experience with the PC version is that I can usually win if I play with two AI opponents (that is, a three player game). Kingsburg gets trickier when you have more players. For example, when there are more players, there is significantly more chance of not getting what you want.
So, I'd guess that either the iOS AI isn't very good, or that you are playing with a low number of AI opponents.
Overall though, I'd highly recommend playing it FTF with humans to get the feel for the real game.
Kingsburg is not a difficult game in any event; there are a limited number of decisions, it was intended as medium or filler game. Alien Frontiers is more difficult, and I learned last weekend why Troyes is so highly rated.
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Christian Busch
Broomfield
Colorado
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I think the issue is that you aren't being challenged by the AI. The AI is pretty easy in the iOS game so it doesn't surprise me that you're underwhelmed. Get a group of 4 or 5 together and you'll find that you get screwed out of your best influence choices pretty quick and will need to develop strategies to compensate.
The iOS is ok, but the game shines best in the physical form (or that Java version that someone made, which is now defunct). The Human players really make it difficult but in the end the game is really about how flexible you are with your overall strategy and how to mitigate bad rolls or poor influence options to complete that strategy.
Out of curiosity, what are you scoring? 35-45 is pretty weak (even if you're beating AI), 45-55 is pretty good, and 55+ means you're really getting it and executing well.
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The IOS AI is horribly broken.
It offers no challenge at all!!! I've never been beaten by it, even when opting for risky strategy. The game is great though.
Try pass and play or get the real thing. Kingsburg is a great game but you need a real opponent.
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David Boeren
United States
Marietta
Georgia
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Thanks for the replies, guys.
In the iOS version you apparently have to beat 3p to unlock 4p, then beat 4p to unlock 5p. So, three games in I've been playing with 3-4p and 5p is now unlocked but I haven't tried it with 5 yet. I'll give that a shot and see if it's any better.
I think my score has generally been in the 35-45 range but that's been enough to win. My first game I won with I think 30 points, stupid King rolled a 1 on the last year and I lost a 7 VP building but everyone else lost a good building too.
I suppose I can start playing just trying to beat my prior score but it's a different feel you know 
I'll see if I can get into a physical game sometime if someone brings it, but based on what I've seen so far I don't want to buy a copy for myself at this point. I'll read up on Troyes a bit more as well, I think it might be more what I'm looking for.
Edit: I could try pass & play with my wife maybe, but I think the AI would still have to be the 3rd player, right? Would that be good enough do you think? I would prefer local multiplayer over wifi/bluetooth like we use in Carcassonne or Ticket to Ride - much nicer than pass & play.
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ackmondual
United States
Virginia
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To me, "the beef" is when they implement the TFaR exp, and possibly other minor exp like Goblin Valley. The AI may still be lackluster, but now at least I get to try out various strategies in the expansion. The 100 or so achievements currently available are moreso gruntwork than skill thinking, so I've been ignoring those.
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Jeff Wood
United States
Davis
California
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It is safe to say your problem is the AI opponent.
Why? Because a score of 30 in most of my FTF games is usually the score of the person in last place. If that is all you need to win, then yeah, the AI isn't challenging you.
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David Boeren
United States
Marietta
Georgia
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Well, I've only won one game that low. I would have had 37 points that game except for the military loss in the last winter that knocked down my Church. Other games have all been higher. My second game was artificially low as well because on my last turn I had planned to build a Cathedral and got kind of screwed because I expected to build it for one less gold due to the Crane and didn't realize the prices shown already included the Crane discount. Basically, the UI was confusing. Anyway, I would have had an extra 9 points if I hadn't misunderstood how the cost was displayed.
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Jason Weed
United States
Memphis
Tennessee
how sweet the sound...
Fear The Hat !!!
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space monkey mafia wrote: I think the issue is that you aren't being challenged by the AI. The AI is pretty easy in the iOS game so it doesn't surprise me that you're underwhelmed. Get a group of 4 or 5 together and you'll find that you get screwed out of your best influence choices pretty quick and will need to develop strategies to compensate.
The iOS is ok, but the game shines best in the physical form (or that Java version that someone made, which is now defunct). The Human players really make it difficult but in the end the game is really about how flexible you are with your overall strategy and how to mitigate bad rolls or poor influence options to complete that strategy.
Out of curiosity, what are you scoring? 35-45 is pretty weak (even if you're beating AI), 45-55 is pretty good, and 55+ means you're really getting it and executing well.
Agreed, there are a few strategies to choose from (farms/military/embassy/hybrid), not just taking whatever buildings you can afford, but the game is mostly tactical. The scoring as described above best dictates a 3-4 player game. It's also a very good 2 player game. The game can be played almost anytime on Brettspielwelt, like right now  .
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