Problems
Well, now. That was humbling.
The first version of the rules for Settlers of World Domination hit some major turbulence before the setup phase had ended. While we changed the rules on the fly to compensate, that ended up being pretty unfair to the player who found the exploit in the first place.
One player placed their first settlement in Japan, likely because I mentioned how useful I hoped the coin-generating territories would be. Since that player was the first to place anything, the next player, when placing his second and third settlements, was able to box Japan in entirely. Now, by the initial version of the rules, the player in Japan would be forced to fortify the island (using a maximum of three settlements) until he could fight his way out. Pretty insurmountable odds, particularly when you consider fewer resources are going to be available for purchase in the market in the first couple of turns.
To be fair, the player occupying Kamchatka and Mongolia screwed over the other player, but would likely have failed the game overall. We only had three players, and while captain blockade was assaulting fortress Japan, I would have had the entire map to myself, free to expand and gather resources unhindered with many turns worth of advance warning before any assault.
I would have, if we hadn’t allowed the Japan player to draw three territory cards and choose an additional starting point. This, however, is not a very good long-term solution for the problem. It merely allowed us to continue long enough to discover another problem, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
In the revised rules, a player’s first claimed territory is considered the capital of their nation, and all adjacent territories are denied to other players until the setup phase is over. It is possible, of course, that a player will have no viable options in the hand drawn at the beginning of the game when it comes time to pick a capital. To fix this, a player may draw a new hand if and only if two or more of their cards are ineligible.
The other problem is a little more complicated, and I think will require a few more games to hammer out. Military settlements were too weak for the price. Instead of half measures, I’ve completely reworked the concept for the new version. If it works, then that’s wonderful. If not, we’ll split the difference.
Renamed strongholds, the new military infrastructure units are actually upgraded cities. They cost an army and two ore, but they can gather resources, fight on their own, and don’t die before conventional defending armies. I have no doubt that the next game will go on a bit longer than the first because a player can really fortify their territory with these guys, but it should give us a good idea as far as just how valuable the ability to roll extra dice while defending is.
A big thanks to my guinea pigs. I hope we can test the revised version soon.
Crippled Vulture Games 