Designer Preview: Soar Drive: Terminal Velocity | BoardGameGeek Information

Terminal Velocity expands Soar Drive to 5 gamers and provides new worlds and developments, non-compulsory objectives and begin worlds, and Eric Kaminsky‘s 5 solo campaigns.

Including New Content material

As Soar Drive‘s recreation playing cards kind an internet of interlocking references to one another, it is really a tough recreation to broaden.

On one hand, you wish to add numerous new content material, however should you add too many new playing cards with out including duplicates of current playing cards, then this net of references falls aside. You could both add numerous duplicates of current playing cards alongside new playing cards — which is not very thrilling — or add new content material elsewhere.

My resolution was so as to add new content material in three separate areas: begin worlds, objectives, and new recreation playing cards.

New Recreation Playing cards

The 21 growth recreation playing cards (of 55 complete playing cards) have simply two duplicates of current playing cards amongst them.

They embody references to icons, key phrases, and varied world colours in addition to card names.

I additionally added a mechanical “sub-theme” round having totally different colours of worlds:

This offers a brand new technique that connects disparate worlds, which helps fight the bigger deck’s elevated pattern variance.

A Fifth Participant

Twenty-one recreation playing cards, plus a sheet of VP counters, allowed me so as to add a fifth Survey Crew and a fifth participant, together with one other preset hand (E) in case all 5 gamers are new.

By making Begin Worlds and Targets non-compulsory, gamers can add the sport playing cards and a fifth participant to the present recreation and start taking part in with out having to study any new guidelines.

Begin Worlds

Twelve begin worlds — six army and 6 non-military — are offered. Every participant is dealt one from every group, then after inspecting all their dealt playing cards, they select their 5 preliminary hand playing cards (from seven) after which a begin world that begins in play (returning the unused begin world to the field).

My first try at begin worlds concerned New Sparta offering +2 Navy and Gene Experimenters offering 1 revenue plus an extra 1 with a Genes world in tableau. This was far too highly effective in a recreation the place every little thing scores for all prior playing cards!

I then drastically toned down the beginning world powers.

These powers could seem minor, however beginning with a card in play — particularly when given a alternative after seeing your preliminary playing cards — is surprisingly robust and provides an attention-grabbing new determination to the sport.

Targets

Relying on the variety of gamers, 3-7 of 13 purpose playing cards can be found for gamers to assert through the recreation by being the primary to satisfy a purpose’s situation:

For instance, being first to have 4 chromosome icons; three Uncommon worlds (of any mixture of army or non-military worlds); one world of every coloration; or a improvement of value 6 or extra in your tableau.

Producing attention-grabbing purpose circumstances was comparatively straightforward. The design concern was what ought to the advantage of being first to fulfill a purpose be?

In Race for the Galaxy, Roll for the Galaxy, and New Frontiers, objectives fluctuate in methods applicable to every recreation.

In New Frontiers, a recreation the place most info is thought, selecting a purpose for all gamers to attain offers a participant each choice and a little bit of hidden info.

In Roll for the Galaxy, with its distinctive cube allocation, satisfying a purpose offers that participant 2-5 “one-shot” wild cube counters (price 1 VP apiece if unused).

In Race for the Galaxy, the place massive VP features typically happen within the remaining rounds, we offered each “first” and “most” objectives, the place the latter can doubtlessly result in 10 VP swings if one participant catches, then overtakes one other in a most purpose’s situation.

In Soar Drive‘s mid-game, gamers typically wrestle to amass sufficient army to overcome a high-defense world or to have sufficient revenue to put a pricey improvement or non-military world. May making this simpler be an attention-grabbing purpose profit?

Being first to assert a purpose features these participant(s) a purpose marker which may be spent for +2 short-term army or a reduction to put a card.

If unused at recreation finish, every purpose marker is price 5 VPs however would not rely for triggering the sport finish; they only add to a participant’s remaining rating.

Targets improve the variety of VPs in a recreation, so taking part in with them will increase the sport finish set off from 50 to 60 VP chips.

Whereas claiming a purpose is “pleasant” when a number of gamers achieve this on the identical spherical, it prevents different gamers from claiming it on later rounds. This provides some good participant pressure and interplay to Soar Drive.

Targets add one other issue to begin world alternative as a given begin world can typically give a participant a lift in the direction of a purpose in play, resembling how Alien Analysis Crew accelerates you towards getting six discover icons.

Targets and begin worlds are non-compulsory; gamers can use one, each, or neither of those play choices.

Solo Recreation

Eric Kaminsky (BGG consumer Epyo) designed a preferred solo variant for Soar Drive, which I admired. I invited him to assist me add it to Terminal Velocity.

In Eric’s variant, a solo participant performs 4 successive video games, every time needing to meet a unique considered one of 4 win circumstances.

Within the first recreation, all 4 circumstances can be found. In every successive recreation, one fewer situation is obtainable so {that a} participant’s choices cut back with every successive win. If a recreation ends and the participant cannot fulfill any of the remaining circumstances, then they lose the marketing campaign.

5 totally different solo marketing campaign playing cards are offered. A devoted solo participant may even try all 5 solo campaigns so as: twenty video games to be gained with out ever shedding! Good luck!

Eric’s variant, after all, was designed with simply the bottom recreation. For this growth, we needed it to work not solely with the brand new recreation playing cards, but additionally with objectives and begin worlds.

With objectives within the solo recreation, we confronted the issue of no participant competitors for them, which meant that some objectives grew to become “gimmes”. Eric’s resolution was so as to add solo spherical restrictions to 3 objectives in order that if the participant would not declare that purpose by the listed spherical, it ceases to be out there.

For instance, the VP chip purpose should be claimed on or earlier than spherical 3 and the 4+ developments purpose should be claimed on or earlier than spherical 5.

Since solo video games all the time final seven rounds and haven’t any participant competitors for objectives, we additionally needed to increase the listed VP thresholds for solo video games with objectives by +20, not +10, VPs.

Whereas we have been pleased with begin worlds probably giving a participant a lift in the direction of sure objectives (as going for a purpose will not be a assured victory in a multi-player recreation), this felt “too straightforward” for sure solo win circumstances. For the solo recreation, we added a restriction to a couple win circumstances {that a} begin world couldn’t rely towards satisfying their non-VP circumstances.

In an Influential Victory, a army begin world won’t rely towards satisfying its 5 army worlds situation. (No begin world is a Insurgent world, in order that they haven’t any impact on that path.) In a Distant Victory, a begin world doesn’t rely in the direction of having 12+ playing cards in your remaining empire.

Eric spent many hours testing the solo recreation with the growth to verify every little thing labored properly. He was nice to work with and offered invaluable suggestions and help on the whole undertaking. Thanks, Eric!

Ending Touches

Mirko Suzuki offered new graphics and did all of the manufacturing work. Claus Stephan and Martin Hoffmann not solely offered a hanging cowl illustration and funky brand, in addition they touched up a few of their earlier Race for the Galaxy illustrations, typically with an eye fixed towards additional growing their variety.

I have been working with this artwork workforce for over fifteen years, and they’re a pleasure to work with. Jay Tummelson of Rio Grande Video games, as all the time, was supportive and inspiring. Ken Hill helped safe the print dates and proof the foundations. Thanks, guys!

Initially, I assumed that Soar Drive‘s growth was Race for the Galaxy. I’ve come to understand that Soar Drive has its personal viewers (with a large overlap) and that they might recognize extra selection.

I am grateful that with Soar Drive: Terminal Velocity we have been capable of broaden the participant rely in each instructions, add attention-grabbing new recreation playing cards, and supply non-compulsory content material with objectives and begin worlds for little or no added complexity. Take pleasure in!

Tom Lehmann