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sornars wrote: I've never played Firefly, does it hold up? I was under the impression that it had mostly been replaced by XIA for most folks. It's also hard to compete with Merchant of Venus in the pick up and deliver genre.
For pure pick-up-and-deliver, Merchant of Venus is the gold standard. Firefly has an interesting catch-up mechanism, which is doing risky, unpredictable, illegal jobs. Xia is a wide-open sandbox with variable setup, but it's a sloppier design with an excessive amount of open information on the table that can cause analysis paralysis. I prefer Firefly because I love the show and I like the setting. Gale Force Nine was great at translating tv shows into thematic board games back then. Also, I like the Firefly board best. The Xia one in particular is too garish and busy for my tastes.
I don’t see Firefly as a pure pick up and deliver, or race to the end game. It’s got lots of adventure game elements that, to me, it’s more an adventure game with a race to the end than a pick up and deliver game with a race to the end.
When you break it down, supply planets are just towns where you hire characters, equipment and upgrades; jobs are quests; every space you move to, or job you misbehave on, has high potential for encounters where you are presented with choices; there is loads of room for role playing - do you want to be moral, immoral, indifferent to morality? Legal or criminal? Do you want to be a freighter captain or bounty hunter, slave trader, criminal for hire, law enforcement contractor, or jack of all trades? Will you avoid the law? Will you stay free of encounters with the cannibal pirates roaming around?
Its been awhile since I played FIREFLY, but my recollection was that if you are really into the theme, its good. Mechanically as a pick up and deliver game I'd prefer MoV or STAR WARS OUTER RIM. Both are smaller footprints ( FIREFLY is huge once you start adding expansions ) and move a bit quicker IMO.
The following user(s) said Thank You: sornars, n815e
What I really want from this new Firefly kickstarter is Kalidasa and the Pirates & Bountyhunters expansions. I wouldn't mind picking up the ship expansions. But the current prices for the few copies of any expansions on the market are insane. For $215, I could buy Kalidasa and PBH. Unfortunately, the current GF9 position is that they won't be offering ala carte options on the expansions, because it isn't economical for them. So the choices are either just the new stuff, or everything. Everything is starting to look like the way to go, assuming it is reasonably priced. Oddly, I'm not super-concerned about the new content, because there is so much already included in the existing expansions.
However, it might be worth keeping an eye on used stuff on BGG. As this kickstater (er gamefounder) moves forward, some people might start dumping their current Firefly stuff because they want the everything level from this kickstarter. Then I might be able to cherrypick the old content that I want.
There is always the risk in this hobby of overspending on what ends up as a shelf toad. But I'm not worried about that risk. I know enough board gamers who are also Firefly fans that I can get this game on the table. And even if I couldn't round up those players often, I am willing to set up a big solitaire game for myself.
Yeah, for me Firefly is a lot more than a pick up and deliver game. It is an adventure game with a bit of rpg thrown in, chance your luck on jobs and the route you fly, or just pick a safe strategy, and dumping the Reavers on other players .
It's a bit less mechanical than Xia, MoV, or SW: Outer Rim (all decent games), so more for those wanting the game to give them an experience rather than just to best the system and beat the opposition.
I've got most of the expansions I want, I didn't get the extra ships as I had enough game in my bundle already, but I am interested to see what the do/offer in the Kickstarter - I'll be a bit annoyed though if the it all comes in a snappy big box as I like a bit of chrome .
I already requested a refund on Mythic's 6: Siege, but today, after at least a month of them saying they were going to ask for more money, they finally announced the amount of the "contribution". For mine, which was the gameplay all-in, they want another $99. That's more than a third extra. Good luck to them, they won't see another dime from me.
UPDATE: While I have not received the email myself, possibly due to being in the refund queue (which is a year long), some people have posted that the amount they requested in their KS update is actually NOT COUNTING shipping! This is of course on top of the shipping people have already paid. True insanity, and I hope that so few people fall for this that the whole project just goes down in flames. Mythic does not deserve to exist after this.
I looked at Crossbows and Catapults. The $90 option looks great, but after shipping I can't say it looks over 3x better than just a basic $30 set picked up at retail. The tactics cards do seem like a cool option though.
I ended up backing the Aeon Trespass: Odyssey follow-up Twelves Sins of Herakles, it was more than I was going to play but I convinced myself it is 2 years away so it'll just be £15 a month actual cost ....
S.T.A.L.K.E.R by Awaken Realms started today (on Gamefound). I'm on the fence at the moment as there are stickers in the game (don't know what for yet) and having just three campaigns with 12 missions total I'm not interested if you permanently change them so they can't be p[layed again. Also there doesn't seem to much game/content so far for $100 + tax + shipping price but I'll see what gets added over the next few weeks.
The part that tempts me about STALKER is the higher tier that has the one shot "survival" mode or whatever the hell it's called, because that mode was designed by Michal Oracz, my favorite designer, of Neuroshima Hex fame.
But I know that game would just sit there on the shelf taunting me.
UPDATE- the survival mode is actually included in the Core pledge. Which makes this one a bit harder to resist. But freight is estimated at $27 and delivery estimated at January 2025. So yeah... I think I'll pass on this one. Does look cool though.
I backed a cowboy sandbox adventure game called Bantam West in July '21, when Des and I were really into the first couple seasons of Westworld, and it delivers in the next month or so.
It was a slick campaign with no production or fulfillment drama - not bad for a first-time creator! I'll admit that I rolled the dice a bit on it, but I think we'll have fun.
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