This is part of a series of bloody matches to the death. Show support for your favorite game so it will do better in the fight. You can support it by writing why you think its the better game and more importantly by betting (i.e. voting for) it. Please make it clear for when I check the bets later. You have until Friday when I tally the bets and declare the winner. I will reserve my bet for any tie-breakers.
Although you should be familiar with both games, there is no rule that says you have to have played both of them. The only rule in Trashdome is this;
My original title wouldn't fit in the subject line, but we're gonna have a three way battle. I think all three of these games will match up well against one another.
MERCHANT OF VENUS
vs
FIREFLY
vs
MERCHANTS AND MARAUDERS
Three games enter the Trashdome...only one can survive. Will it be the wily old veteran, the new kid on the block, or the self proclaimed greatest pirate game of all time? Vote for the best!
I haven't played any of them, but, I've wanted to try all of them, especially Merchant of Venus. Firefly is on my top-shelf for sci-fi tv shows. But, that doesn't say much because I like most of them. I've been holding off on purchasing Firefly because a part of me believes that I should only invest money and time in the original, Merchant of Venus. I look forward to reading all of the comments here.
Merchants and Marauders is one of my favorite games. Don't tell anyone but Merchants of Venus felt old to me.. dated even.
I still haven't played Firefly but I am very curious about it. It sounds like a blast but I have a hard time imagining it beating Merchants and Marauders, even though I love the show.. so I'll leave my reasonably ignorant vote right there.
I'm voting for the only one I've played, but I suspect I'd vote for it anyways. I own Marauders, but have never gotten it to the table. Due at least partly to getting Firefly to the table on those days instead.
This is a really difficult one. All three games are truly great. Which one I pick to pull out and play is really dependent upon my mood.
I'm going to have to go with Merchants of Venus, for consistency of play and easier rules to remember and teach. I've had games Firefly and Merchants and Marauders where the game kind of got stuck in a kind of a checkmate due to the Reavers or Ships.
Tsk tsk tsk, you Merchant of Venus supporters can't even get the name right! THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE and all that hoopla.
Merchants and Marauders gets my vote, but MoV is also great (and shares some or the economics system) and I suspect I'd like Firefly as well. MoM has a bit more stuff going on than MoV however, what with rumors, piracy, raids, storms, war, wanted status, saving or drowning the guv'nor's daughter, etc.
woo! I've actually played/owned all three of these.
Merchants of Venus is the best classic pick up and deliver of these. Probably the cleanest ruleset and best if you are into the economic side of these things to go with a helping of adventure.
Firefly has the best feeling of building up and improving your crew/ship out of the three. Getting the right crew with the right gear for a job is great. It really needs the pirates and bounty hunters expansion to get that threat of attacking each other. The misbehave checks are almost too random and hard to plan for.
Merchants and marauders is probably the most open ended and best adventure. so many ways to get points, from being a merchant to going on little quests to being a pirate and hunting your fellow players down. While you do buy upgrades for the ships, they don't feel as substantial as the firefly crew upgrades. Nothing in the other two games comes close to the feeling of going up against a Man O War and winning though. I wish the warships and AI pirates were alittle more interactive.
Close, but I'll put my vote in for Firefly with the pirates and bounty hunters expansion.
I vote Merchant of Venus because I haven't played my copy of M+M. But if someone says they want pure pick up and deliver, I say Merchant of Venus to them. Mainly, this is a vote against Firefly, it pales mechanically in comparison with both the others.
I feel that Firefly is more Adventure game with the character being the ship and the gear being the crew. The moving of goods and what have you in the game is just the "work" that you need to do in order to buy more and better goods and to progress throughout the adventure. Just like beating up on monsters. It doesn't feel like who moves the goods gooder wins, but who puts together the best ship and crew.
Merchants and Marauders I think does Pickup and Deliver better when you're a merchant. And I like that you can alter your course of action throughout the game. There's so much fluff and character to the game that it really is immersive. I just like that there are so many paths to take and so many options provided.
Merchants of Venus, I've owned longer than the other two and have played zero times. It just looks archaic vs the other games.
Firefly is good, but I don't think of it as pickup and deliver.
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