Malarame
Level: Master Delver
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I found a game on HotU yesterday called Turncoat, and I've become addicted. It's a very fast game, taking less than 10 minutes to play a complete game, but it's so deep and so difficult and so strategy-oriented that you just want to keep playing to get better. I just won for the first time (after coming in last place for probably about 30 games) and it was very rewarding.

The game is difficult to understand at first, but once you learn it it's very logical. There are four players, two factions, and twelve districts, each of which belong to a faction. Every turn, the player who is the spy chooses two districts to fight, and every player has to pick a role (which will either have immediate or future benefits) and play influence cards (which help your faction to win in the fight). In order to win, you have to predict what each of the other players is going to do and make sure you're always on the winning side of the conflict (since it's possible to change factions... if you want to win, you have to know when to change so that you don't lose any advantage). All in all, it's a complicated game with a steep learning curve, but once you get used to it it's perfect for when you have a few minutes free.

[Edited by Malarame at Local Time:06-02-2005 at 02:53 PM]

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Matt O'Leary
Webb Institute
Class of 2007

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception."
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eytanz
Level: Smitemaster

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It's an interesting game, and the AI is pretty good. I haven't won yet, but I've tied for victory once.

It's almost never a good idea to play the turncoat role, however, unless you get it really early. Because of the random elements in the game, it's almost never available at a time when it would be truely useful. The low amount of turns also means that you are unlikely to recover if you lose control of your marketplaces - it's highly unlikely to be able to switch factions as a recovery strategy from that.

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Malarame
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 220
Registered: 02-04-2003
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I've found that some of the most effective times to play the turncoat role were towards the end of the game. For example, it will often work out that there are three players of one faction and one of another, and the three players will be winning every turn (which leaves the one other guy far behind). If you manage to play the turncoat role on turn 6 or 7 and you play your influence cards right, you can sometimes pull out ahead of the two who were part of your faction and clinch the game.

I agree that, with the low number of turns, it's very difficult to recover from an early-game blow. If you get stuck as the odd-man-out (all three other players are of one faction), it's often impossible to win. However, it does create a sense of urgency, and it keeps the play time pretty low. Plus, it really makes you think about what roles you should take (should I go for short-term benefits? long-term benefits?) I'd like to see a version of this game that has more players, more factions, more territories, and more turns. It could really be turned into something great.

Maybe I'll round up three friends and see if I can get them to play it in real life. I love games like this that involve strategy, especially when you're playing with real people.

[Edited by Malarame at Local Time:06-04-2005 at 03:43 PM]

____________________________
Matt O'Leary
Webb Institute
Class of 2007

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception."
-Groucho Marx

eytanz
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2708
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Malarame wrote:
I've found that some of the most effective times to play the turncoat role were towards the end of the game. For example, it will often work out that there are three players of one faction and one of another, and the three players will be winning every turn (which leaves the one other guy far behind). If you manage to play the turncoat role on turn 6 or 7 and you play your influence cards right, you can sometimes pull out ahead of the two who were part of your faction and clinch the game.

The problem is that if you realize this, it's likely that the AI does too, which means that unless you happen to be first, or the AI really wants to be a spy or merchant that turn, he'll grab the role. It's not impossible that this will happen, but in my experience, it's a bad idea to plan for this happening (it's a safer strategy to start building banks, I think).

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Malarame
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 220
Registered: 02-04-2003
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That's one of the great things about the game, that there are so many different strategies. This game would be great if it was with real people and you had to actually plan out your strategy accordingly. If it was like the game Diplomacy, where part of the turn was dedicated to talking with the other players and figuring out your strategy, it would be even better.

____________________________
Matt O'Leary
Webb Institute
Class of 2007

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception."
-Groucho Marx

eytanz
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2708
Registered: 02-05-2003
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Well, you were right about turncoating - I learnt how to use it properly and I've started winning games.

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VortexSurfer
Level: Delver

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Malarame wrote:
I've found that some of the most effective times to play the turncoat role were towards the end of the game. For example, it will often work out that there are three players of one faction and one of another, and the three players will be winning every turn (which leaves the one other guy far behind).

I've played a couple of games now and in about half of them all four players ended up on the same faction at turn 4 or 5, and the game kind of deadlocked because no one tried to turncoat as it became too risky. So it stayed that way until the end and became kind of boring.

A small glitch I encountered: An AI player sometimes plays influence cards for no good reason (i.e. as the last player in the round, when the conflict is already definitely decided).

Apart from that, a nice game - Is it available as a "real" card game as well?

VortexSurfer