Thanks for all the responses, guys. iguanaDitty hit the nail on the head with exactly the kind of game I was looking for. Thanks, lizard! I've ordered a copy of Age of Exploration, and am trying to get my hands on Safe Return Doubtful, which is looking pretty doubtful. I wish some of these old DTPers would either sell the PDFs for PnP or VASSAL, or just allow others to make VASSAL/Cyberboard modules.
Cool, I hope you feel the same way after you play it
Agreed on the old DTP games. We need a GOG for old boardgames.
Also Source of the Nile sounds very cool; I will look for a copy.
I like all your points. Variability is to me the most important and the hardest. I have yet to play my copy of the Voyage of the Pandora but all those paragraphs shout massive but limited variability. One of the best parts of Tales of the Arabian Nights is the sheer size of the paragraph book, but it's no wonder more games don't do that.
I wouldn't call it an exploration game, by any means, but I actually liked AOEIII okay the two times I played it. There are several different long-term strategy options and there's some good conflict and competition for the regions. I think the expectation with the piles of plastic minis and the cover with the guns and warfare depicted made it seem like it would be more of an AT game. That's definitely not the case, but as worker placement/area control Euros go, I think it's better than most.
*THE* game to find is Star Saga 1. And Star Saga 2. They are sort of computer games, but with a board, some very boardgamey kinds of rules.
Think of Tales if a single game of Tales lasted 20 hours, and had continuous plot threads that wove their way through the game. And 14 books worth of paragraphs. BOOKS!
And a computer handles most of the details. And stores details. And hides rules from you so you have to learn how things work over time.
The basic structure of the game is that you wander around a big map and discover planets. Each planet is EXTREMELY unique. Each week you have 7 actions. An action moves you a space or each planet has a list of actions that cost a number of days. Combat is handled by summing up your best applicable offense and defensive weapons to beat a particular value. Except that each weapon is worth different values in each combat. There are some hints, but you just don't know.
The continued plot threads, and a massive sense of uncertainty about just how anything will turn out is what sells it.
Oddly enough, there is probably 0 luck in the game. There is so much that is hidden from you, however, that it doesn't feel like it.
*THE* game to find is Star Saga 1. And Star Saga 2. They are sort of computer games, but with a board, some very boardgamey kinds of rules.
Think of Tales if a single game of Tales lasted 20 hours, and had continuous plot threads that wove their way through the game. And 14 books worth of paragraphs. BOOKS!
And a computer handles most of the details. And stores details. And hides rules from you so you have to learn how things work over time.
The basic structure of the game is that you wander around a big map and discover planets. Each planet is EXTREMELY unique. Each week you have 7 actions. An action moves you a space or each planet has a list of actions that cost a number of days. Combat is handled by summing up your best applicable offense and defensive weapons to beat a particular value. Except that each weapon is worth different values in each combat. There are some hints, but you just don't know.
The continued plot threads, and a massive sense of uncertainty about just how anything will turn out is what sells it.
Oddly enough, there is probably 0 luck in the game. There is so much that is hidden from you, however, that it doesn't feel like it.
Moritz Eggert on the Dice Tower just talked about this game...gave it a great recommendation. Yours only makes it seem better.
You can google for it and find it or someone posted links to the game
files
at BGG. Haven't played it yet, though.
A new game on the horizon (OK - new in that I've only just noticed it, you guys may already know all about it) from FFG, and being designed by Bruno Faidutti (light crap stuff) & Serge Laget (Mare Nostrum), is Ad Astra, which seems to fit part of the 4X requirements in that you are exploring in space and looking for resources to build your new empire. The links so far are:
Games
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