Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site cstvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!mcvax!ukc!cstvax!db From: db@cstvax.UUCP (Dave Berry) Newsgroups: net.games.board Subject: Civilization disasters Message-ID: <369@cstvax.UUCP> Date: Fri, 18-Oct-85 14:53:04 EDT Article-I.D.: cstvax.369 Posted: Fri Oct 18 14:53:04 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 15-Oct-85 04:48:38 EDT Reply-To: db@cstvax.UUCP (Dave Berry) Organization: Comp. Sc., Edinburgh Univ., Scotland Lines: 94 [If I was a line-eater ...] The following article appeared in "Mellow Yellow", a postal games zine which occasionally does this sort of thing inbetween running Diplomacy & Empires of the Middle Ages by post. MY is published by Eddie Duralski. I can give you his address if you're interested. The article was written by Mike Ferguson. Having played Civilisation for some years I eventually went out & purchased my own copy. As Avalon Hill had brought out a version with an expansion kit of trade cards, I bought their version + the expansion kit. However, after playing a few times with the new cards, it became obvious that there was now a flaw in the game. Experience showed that anyone who fell behind on the AST would very rarely win the game as the disasters came too few & far between to cause all of those ahead of him/her to also fall back to his/her level. In the original game the disasters appeared often enough to at least give someone a chance of catching up. With this in mind a few new disaster cards have been designed to fit in with the expansion kit. They have been play tested a few times, and those with experience of using them (Eddie & the typist for two) seem to think they definitely restore some of the balance. Those that work best are: BARBARIAN INVASION: Level 2 Red-backed disaster. When this disaster is resolved all tokens in the player's treasury are returned to his/her stock pile. In addition, for each treasury token returned one population unit (or the city equivalent) must be removed from the board and returned to stock. Cities count as 5 units and are destroyed, not reduced. DESERTIFICATION AND EROSION: Level 3 Red-backed disaster. This disaster affects only those races that have the agriculture civilisation card, and is the result of over-grazing and not knowing about crop rotation. All areas that normally support a population of 2 or more (without agriculture) now support 1 less. This is effectively a reduction of two, since the effect of agriculture is nullified as well. In the case of cohabitation, the loss of tokens is shared, with the drawer of the card removing tokens last. At the end of the disaster phase all areas are returned to their normal levels. RECESSION: (aka as slave revolt!) Level 4 Red-backed disaster. At the end of the disaster phase all trade cards held by the player are returned to the deck. ANARCHY: Level 6 Normal-backed disaster. This disaster card may be traded as part of a deal. Once traded it is revealed. The person who receives this card may not advance on the AST this turn. It has no effect if he/she cannot advance anyway. The following disaster is a new version of an earlier one that definitely did not work: MISSIONARY CONVERSION: Level 5 Red-backed disaster. The drawer of this card loses 2 cities to the player with the greatest number of tokens cohabiting with his/her own. In the case that there are no such tokens, then 1 city is lost to the player with the greatest number of tokens adjacent to areas occupied by the drawer. If the drawer possesses Mysticism then the no. of cities lost is reduced by 1. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Eddie notes that the last disaster may be cumbersome to play. An earlier level 5 red-backed disaster was INFLATION, which forced the drawer to return Coinage if he/she had it. I would like to see more Normal-backed disasters, since they can be traded to winning players to drag them back. I think that the RECESSION card should only apply after the AST phase - This reduces its effect somewhat, but means that people can't be caught by it on the last turn of the game. My favorite idea for a disaster is DECADENCE: Level 8 Normal-backed disaster. This may be traded, and is revealed once received in a trade. It does not count against the two disaster limit, and is 'resolved' first. It has the effect of nullifying any positive advantage any Civiliztion cards have when that player resolves his/her other disasters. Bad effects remain. So Pottery cannot be used to reduce the effects of Famine, but Agriculture means that Desertification does apply. This is a sort of 'meta-disaster', and maybe doesn't fit with the game system too well. I haven't tried it either - I just like the idea! And finally .... Shaun Derrick suggests some similar disasters in issue 2 of Play It! a semi-professional games zine available for 75p an issue from Trevor Mendham, 53 Towncourt Crescent, Petts Wood, KENT. England. -- Dave Berry. CS postgrad, Univ. of Edinburgh ...mcvax!ukc!{hwcs,kcl-cs}!cstvax!db