Reply: Eclipse: Rise of the Ancients:: General:: Re: Descendants of Draco and RotA?

by dlhammond

ryudoowaru wrote:

dlhammond wrote:

The color might not matter but the selecting of races not by the rules does change the game a lot. Page 5 bottom of the page Alien races. This prevents the starting player from taking Orion (unless no one took that sheet) and then researching Improved Hulls on the first turn (really bad if there is only one of them).

There's certainly a way around that: select a race in reverse player order (as normal), but if someone selects "human," then they don't choose their *faction* (and therefore color, if you enforce the color-faction link) until everyone has chosen. That way all the aliens are available.

That is exactly what I am saying. The rules mean that by picking human you DO eliminate one of the alien races. If you unlink them, then the only way for me not to have to play against Orion is to be Orion. Now I can eliminate Orion by choosing the Terrans with Orion on the back. That is part of the game design. If you want a variant, you can certainly play it. I know that of my 46 games 45 used turn order variant pass order = turn order, but I also know that isn't in the rules or an official variant.