Pick-Up and Delivers

Legomancer wrote: I would disrecommend Firefly. Maybe it's just me but I found nothing appealing about the "game". It felt very much like a repository of catchphrases and references. Strip them away and the P&D game you're left with can't touch most others.

But would recommend Black Fleet.

I don't usually play pick-up and deliver games. Firefly has its flaws, but I like that the crime jobs offer a risky catch-up mechanism in the event of a runaway leader problem. How do your favorite pick-up and deliver games address a potential runaway leader?

For a train game version Silverton is pretty interesting - it has the standard train mechanic of building your lines but then you have to mine ore or cut lumber and then ship it to market cities to sell in a market that changes every turn depending on what is sold (use the fan-made spreadsheet, or the webpage, on a laptop for some theme).

Played Silverton way back when. Some guy who had played it before was telling all us newbies, "You go there, you go there, you go there, and I'll go here." I told him to get bent, and then Plan B was, "Everybody go RobertB's way." Which went about as expected. I did think it was a cool game, though, with that Buy/Sell price mechanism.

Shellhead wrote:

Legomancer wrote: I would disrecommend Firefly. Maybe it's just me but I found nothing appealing about the "game". It felt very much like a repository of catchphrases and references. Strip them away and the P&D game you're left with can't touch most others.

But would recommend Black Fleet.

I don't usually play pick-up and deliver games. Firefly has its flaws, but I like that the crime jobs offer a risky catch-up mechanism in the event of a runaway leader problem. How do your favorite pick-up and deliver games address a potential runaway leader?

That's why you want to be the person in front having already smashed ahead with some crime

I like Black Fleet but I feel like that's one of it's issues, in that as you progress you get more special powers.

Fast Sloths does it by reducing the number of cards you can get as you get closer to your target of picking up 9 leaves. (I suppose there' snot actually delivery in that one, you really just plan one big route). It's a good idea, but it does make it feel a bit more mechanical.

Wasteland Express Delivery Service is quality. With the negative of the longish set up time.

ubarose wrote: I’ve played a LOT of Firefly. Most of the scenarios are crap. The only one that is consistently good is play until someone has a certain amount of money (like MOV). However, with just the base game, when using that scenario, not all starting locations and early actions are created equal. We played many times and tried many ways to counter a certain starting strategy, and failed, resulting in everyone just doing that thing, which was okay but felt kind of scripted.

The expansion boards mitigated that to some extent, depending on your opening contract draw.

So I hate to say it, but Firefly is one of those games that you need all the expansions for it not to be wonky. And even then, it is still pretty chaotic, and messy. I do still enjoy it as an MOV alternative, which isn’t exactly “elegant” either.

The problem is adding all the expansions results in a huge footprint and a sort of kitchen sink feeling. I'd rather just play MoV or SW;OR.

I still have Firefly with almost everything but, yeah, it rarely gets played. I'm just so fond of the show that I'm reluctant to part with it. I traded my copy of FFG's version of Merchant of Venus (you know, the one that a certain subset here had absolute conniptions about it coming with a new ruleset, despite the original rules also being included?) because it just wasn't getting played at the time, but now I kinda regret it. I detested Outer Rim on my first play and traded it away, which is a very rare reaction from me. I'm almost always willing to give things at least a second chance, if not third or fourth, but it repelled me from about the third time I ended up stalled in space because of a patrol or on a world that didn't have any of my bounties or some other completely tedious thing. Traded Black Fleet because I liked it but no one else around here did.

I think the only two PU&D's I have left other than Firefly are Merchants & Marauders and Tiny Epic Pirates, which is odd because I like the genre.

I think we only have the one PU&D in our collection, Merchants & Marauders w/ expansion. It hits the type and setting that we like, so we haven't found any need to grab a different game in the category. Ship combat can be a little sloggy, but can provide some good drama.