TI2...keep or heave?

Hey Trashies

I had a nice streak of luck during a recent thrift shop circuit and, among other things, found a well-cared for copy of TI2 & Hope's End expansion for $2. While this isn't as spectacular as the guy who seems to have found a completely unpunched Sting-cover Dune for $1.25, I think it's pretty damned cool--particularly in the DC area where these sorts of games don't pop up often in the charity shops.

Here's my dilemma: I've not yet wandered into the TI world--I didn't have a game group until recently [though we appear mired in Descent RtL for who knows how long]. Aside from not being all that sure I can handle another FFG Cardboard Coffin[tm] on my shelves, I'm curious what the collective F:AT take is on TI2 vs 3. What I have come to realize is that Descent isn't doing it for me and I'd like to introduce something else to the crowd.

More specifically, I'm looking for input from folks as to whether it's worth my time to learn TI2 and drop that on my crew or toss this box up on ebay and use the $40 or so it still seems to draw as a downpayment on TI3 & expansion.

Thoughts?


[My postscript as to why Descent isn't doing it for me: I can't put my finger on it entirely, but it may not help that one of our crew is a true Descent fanatic and can rattle off damage percentages and parse encounters and battles like it's Strat-O-Matic Descent--it's not really hardcore fun-murdering but does make it feel a bit like I'm playing a train game--"Descent Rails by Winsome Games"--not a fantasy basher/dungeon crawl. [Speaking of which, if anyone has a copy of Age of Steam they'd like to expunge from their collection, do let me know--lovely copies of Up Front, Samurai Swords/Shogun, and/or a few other goodies to offer; I'd like to find out for myself if I've been unfairly bashing train gamers and their games as humorless bastards all these years, and the fanaticism surrounding AoS makes it seem to be the pinnacle of the genre.]

While it's not my favorite style of play, at least he's in the party this time; in our first go 'round with RtL, this cat was the Overlord and he reduced our party to a fine red mist so many times and so brutally, he razed a city and upgraded to Silver before we had managed to finish 2 floors of 1 dungeon. Without question, we sucked, but he was a total juggernaut as the OL. Some of the gameplay has been great, but, against someone like that, the game looses its theme and becomes almost an abstract as both the party and the OL reduce moves to optimizing/blocking lines of sight and calculating potential damage combos, trainspotting the OL's threat and card count, and generally looking for "optimal moves.")

Cheers
Justin/DogM.

I say keep it, but if you wanna sell it let me know I may be interested.

-M

It's a pretty different game overall than TI3...I'd say for the price, hang on to it just for the hell of it, maybe poke around with it for kicks one day. But it's one of those situations where the newer version is going to be the one everyone wants, and it's really the one that you want to play.

I never had TI2, but I had the first edition and a couple of expansions. When I got TI3, TI1 was booted almost immediately. I wish that I had saved all those plastic ships though (the "Armada" expansion)....

I remember getting TI1 on a lark for a cheap trade. Wanted to see "where TI came from", figured we'd play it one day. Two years later, I finally realized that wasn't going to happen and passed it on in trade.

TI3 is great...I haven't played 2, so I don't know how to tell you about comparisons. I do know that 1 was pretty much all military and little else...I like 3 because of its additional layers.

If you can find a willing buyer at the $40 range, I'd let it go and put the money towards 3rd edition.

Dogmatix wrote:

While it's not my favorite style of play, at least he's in the party this time; in our first go 'round with RtL, this cat was the Overlord and he reduced our party to a fine red mist so many times and so brutally, he razed a city and upgraded to Silver before we had managed to finish 2 floors of 1 dungeon.

Uh, the Overlord can only buy 1 upgrade a week, and a game week only ends after the heroes completely finishes a dungeon. It sounds like you're letting the Overlord lay seige to cities, buy upgrades and generally take his turn in between dungeon floors.

metalface13 wrote:

Dogmatix wrote:

While it's not my favorite style of play, at least he's in the party this time; in our first go 'round with RtL, this cat was the Overlord and he reduced our party to a fine red mist so many times and so brutally, he razed a city and upgraded to Silver before we had managed to finish 2 floors of 1 dungeon.

Uh, the Overlord can only buy 1 upgrade a week, and a game week only ends after the heroes completely finishes a dungeon. It sounds like you're letting the Overlord lay seige to cities, buy upgrades and generally take his turn in between dungeon floors.

Poor wording on my part. Your scenario is true if only the party had not been forced to abandon dungeons altogther. We got hammered so badly that the OL pulled something on the order of 23 Conquest on the first floor of the first dungeon and the party had to abandon two dungeons altogether without completing the first level of either. It was brutal. Add to that travel time and you have the complete and thorough ass-kicking I mentioned.

Regarding TI2, thanks for the input folks. Still not quite sure what to do with this one yet, but I appreciate the thoughts. Malloc--if I do decide to sell, you've got Right of First Refusal before I toss it up on ebay.

thanks!

Dogomatix: Ah that clears things up. Man I just must be a terrible overlord. The heroes are ahead in conquest tokens, my lieutenant is dead and my only upgrade is 1 event treachery. And they've only completed 1 dungeon! That's just why it's so hard for me to fathom the complete massacres I see people reporting.

TI2 is a lot more like "A&A in space" and usually comes down to a lot of combat. It does have technologies and trade contracts and laws you vote on and stuff, but you can build a lot more ships than you can in TI3. There is also no strategy cards (trade, tech buying, and voting on laws all happen during every turn), and no fleet supply limit or command counters, you just move everything like in a game of A&A. I really liked it (and still do), but if you have TI3, TI2 probably won't ever get played again.

I still keep both though; I just don't want to get rid of a game I like so much, even if I don't think I'll play it again.

I say keep it. I have TI3 and haven't had much of an urge to play it, but I think we would have gotten TI2 to the table if I had not traded it away. I think 2nd edition is a pretty good game, and we had fun with it.