by ghbell
This was a first play of the Rise of the Ancients for Rho Indi and Magellan 1.For their first play, we used the new rare technology, the new developments, the new Ancient stuff, and the new warp tiles. The new ancients included both the Ancient homeworlds and the Ancient Dreadnaught in the Galactic Center. Of course, we used the new races as well.
We used the variant in which the order of picking the starting race then allowed the player picking last to then play first. So, races were my buddy Jeremy as the Rho Indi Syndicate, and my buddy John as Magellan, and then I took the remaining Magellan. Magellan gets to flip their colony ships in exchange for a resource, so I love their flexibility.
This game started a bit slow for me. The tech had 3 plasma cannons and sentient hull. The other stuff was not worth mentioning. I immediately researched the Sentient Hull. This is a new rare tech for 5 science, and I ran myself to zero science for that. I also had to use up my colony ships to accomplish this. I love that tech early and vs. ancients, so I went for it. Of course, I wrecked my economy to do it as I could not colonize any planets I discovered turn 1. That hurts badly, but I felt like I needed that tech.
Jeremy and John explored and got their economies rolling in the first turn or 2. Rho Indi discovered an ancient homeworld near his starting hex, and he also discovered a double ancient in his ring 1. Magellan 1 discovered ancients in his ring 3, but found some nice hexes in his ring 2. John eventually also discovered an Ancient homeworld in his ring 2. Jeremy pulled 2 nice +8 money discovery tiles that he kept for the Rho Indi as they could cash money into other resources as needed.
Meanwhile, I worked backward into ring 3 hoping for a nice hex, but I got a weak one with a discovery--- a free science research, which I discarded for 2 VP. I then went into ring 2 for the same, and got another discovery. This one was the Ion Missiles which I placed on my dreadnaughts. I know a lot of people think that is a weak tech, but I like it as it adds fun to the game for me. I love any Plasma Missile deterrent I can get, and Ion Missiles are great plasma missile deterrents.
I also explored an ancient ship. Turn 2 I built a cruiser and upgraded my sentient hulls and then attacked that ancient. I got another discovery there, this one was the +3 Axion computer. I used that immediately and placed it on my Dreadnaughts. SO now I had missiles and a +3 CPU... and sentient hull available.
So Turn 3-4 went a bit slow as we all expanded our empire, finished off ring 3, and built up our sciences and our fleet. Things to note here: Magellan 1 explored tiles that had Warp Portals on them. This is a new tile in ring 2 and 3 that allow instantaneous travel across the board.
I discovered a similar portal under an Ancient, so John and I were now connected. Jeremy attacked a few ancients to take advantage of his salvage ability. I also built my 2 dreadnaughts which were now equipped pretty well. Final note, I also found the conformal drive discovery, which I again added to my Dreadnaught. I felt very good about my dreadnaughts.
On turn 5, I invaded John after he committed his force to battling some double ancients near his homeworld. I was able to take and conquer his homeworld, costing him resources and actions. I also burned down a system with an Interceptor. Meanwhile, Jeremy positioned himself to take the center as he continued to research ship upgrades and build. His Cruisers now had the positron computer, extra energy from the fusion source, and multiple plasma cannons. 1 Hull though, and my missiles were eying that.
On turn 6, I took an ancient homeworld near John, vacating his home system, and grabbed the victory points there in the discovery and Ancient Cruiser. This also placed my fleet 2 hexes from the middle, which I wanted so that I could counter Jeremy when he attacked there. John retook his homeworld, but he didn't attack my interceptor covering his warp portal.
On turn 7 Rho Indi attacked the middle with 2 cruisers and 2 interceptors. In the meantime I took actions to accomplish things, such as grabbing the -2 Phase shield, to negate the positron computer. Of course, I upgraded my ships one more time there. I added a nuclear drive to my Cruisers, and I added that shield to my Dreadnaughts. I waited until Rho Indi passed (he passed first basically the entire game for that first play...
My dreadnaughts now had:
Fusion Source (Magellan starts with this)
2 sentient hulls (1 hull and +1 to hit each),
Ion missiles (Discovery Tile granting 3 missile shots of 1 damage each),
Plasma cannon (1 shot for 2 damage)
Axion Computer (Discovery Tile granting +3 to hit)
Conformal Drive (Discovery Tile granting 4 hex movement)
With my final action on turn 7, I counter attacked Jeremy in the middle hex. Missiles always shoot first, so even though his ships were armed better, and he had initiative to shoot first, I was still allowed to fire my missiles first. Boy did he rue not buying one of the 2 plasma missiles sitting on the tech board.
He had zero hull on his interceptors, and only 1 hull on his Cruisers, so my salvo of 6 missiles was going to do a lot of damage. So, I was +5 to hit. He had shields, reducing that to +4, so combat commenced with me needing 2 and up on a d6 to hit. As it was, I hit 5 of 6 times. I killed both of his Cruisers with 2 hits each, and then I killed 1 interceptor with 1 hit. His single remaining Interceptor didn’t hit, and then I finished it with my plasma cannons.
I then had to fight the Ancient Dreadnaught, but I was able to hit quite a few times with missiles to strip off some of the hull. I then killed it after it did some damage to my ships. The Dreadnaught -3 shields are tough. I pulled an Ancient Cruiser discovery so center had another ship now.
Turn 8 saw Jeremy rebuild, and it saw me consolidate. John also consolidated, as he was wary of my other fleet sitting on the warp portal threatening him. I positioned to hold as I figured I had enough VP to win at this point. I just needed to hold on. Lucky for me, nobody attacked me (the Dreadnaught missiles were a large deterrent) and everybody positioned for a brutal round 9.
Turn 9 was a big surprise as nobody attacked me. It was just a series of move/research/consolidate actions for the VP where it could be grabbed. I used some fleet and moved with neutron bombs to reduce population, but I never had to vacate or defend the center. I wasn't even countered at the system burns because I had the Cloaking device.
So, the bottom line is that the action came down to rounds 5-7 when most of the fighting happened. 8 was a consolidate and prepare round, and then 9 fizzled a bit. I think they were a bit spent from the game, or perhaps felt it didn't matter as my VP was quite high.
I finished with 55 VP, John as the pink Magellan took 36. Jeremy as the Rho Indi, finished with 27.
Had I bought the diplomatic fleet that just sat there, then I would have had more as I fought a TON. Diplomatic Fleet is awesome.
I had a good time in this one. I think that the others did too.
I love this game!
Final question:
Sentient Hull, good, bad, or ugly, and why?
Personally, I love it. It has really been strong in virtually every appearance it made.
Cloaking Device: Good, bad, or ugly, and why?
Me personally, I NEED to buy it when it is out, if only to deny it. Games turn UGLY when it is on the table!