Rampant Games - Exploration and Side Quests

Myrthos

Cave Canem
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In his blog Jay discusses what he likes in Catan and makes a link to RPGs in the process.

My favorite mode is one that comes with the Seafarers expansion called “Fog Islands.” It’s got all the fun stuff that comes with the expansion – ships (putting that wood to much more use!), and gold (which allows you to draw a resource of your choice), the pirate (which the AI never uses). It gives players a bit more “elbow room” to explore the map – and create truly lengthy “roads.”

But the biggest factor for me is that something like a third of the map is “fog” – not filled out – and you have to explore to see what you get and find the best places to land. Maybe it’s the whole gambler’s high thing… the thrill of maybe scoring a jackpot this time and discovering a gold square with a high-frequency value. Or a high-frequency stone so you don’t have to rely on other players on paying at a 4:1 ratio to the bank for the stuff.
More information.
 
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I love Cataan. Its a strategy game I can play with my nephews because its not as hard to set up as Risk. Its fairly easy to learn as you play too.

I have Island Settlers on my Android but the AI is not that good.

I think he made the source code available but I'm not certain the best way to improve it. In playing I know there are multiple strategies you can use.

I'll have to try the Seafarers expansion. Some of those expansions are duds AFAIK.

In college we made an 8 player version by using two full games and the expansion. WE called it Epicataan!

http://pacificacm.blogspot.com/2010/09/pacific-acm-presents-network-games-1.html
 
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Yeah, it does make me want to play a game with real players who are smart about things. The AI can get pretty ruthless and make brilliant moves sometimes, but then they turn around and spoil an advantage by doing something stupid.

I'm not a big board-game fan, but Catan is an exception. It's not perfect, but they've incorporated some very solid, fun game design there.

Though sometimes it makes me want to play Civilization or something so I can send in my army to just seize control of a road or city that gets in my way. Muhahahah!
 
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