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

by ryudoowaru

dlhammond wrote:

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.

Right. Sorry, I wasn't clear: this is definitely a variant on the "race choice" phase of game setup. That being said, I find it especially good when you have a mix of new players who really should be human, but don't know enough to make a strategic decision on which alien to eliminate, and experienced players who want to play aliens. As always, though, YMMV.