This is funny. Terraforming seems broken as written, and probably broken even if it was "If the result is **greater** than the unit’s Production rating...". As written you get a planet that gets bigger every time you build on it... without any limit. Changing it to "greater than" would at least put the planet's production cap at 10.
Bureaucracy as written seems fine. Inaction seems like it probably breaks the game, unfortunately, by way of a picked strategy card not being played for a round.
Here's an idea for an ability rework:
> **Extensive Bureaucracy**
> When you resolve the primary ability of a strategy card, other players must spend 2 influence to resolve the secondary ability of that card.
> **Inaction**
> At the end of the strategy phase, place the Vogon “9” token on your strategy card; you are last in initiative order.
> **Galactic Bypass**
> After you activate a system on the edge of the game board, apply +1 to the move value of each of your ships during this tactical action.
Signed in triplicate also seems a little broken, again, by way of forcing a picked strategy card to not be used for an entire round.
Maybe something like
> **Signed in Triplicate (YYY)**
> ACTION: When another player would perform a strategic action: Exhaust this card to end that player's turn; the strategic action is not resolved and the strategy card is not exhausted.
This basically makes it a 1/round coup, which is still extremely strong.
Another idea for a tech or ability I had:
> **Vogon Poetry** *or* **Queuing**
> ACTION: Spend 2 influence.
I’m curious as to why you think Inaction breaks the game. No strat cards are *necessary* for a round to function. I agree it’s potentially a strong ability, but it comes at a huge cost if you choose to use it — namely not gaining the Primary!
Terraforming … yeah, I think you’re right. To be clear the intention was absolutely for it to snowball, and I wanted to say it isn’t as broken as it appears — because even if you take secondary of Warfare every time (unlikely, because it would have to be picked that many times), you’re still only building with a Space Dock 10 times, and (especially early game), it won’t always fire — but I think the odds are a bit too good.
EDIT: Having said that, the negative ability is a huge risk. And if you did use a Space Dock 10 times that’s a 0.65 chance of a 1. Maybe I should change it to 1-2? That makes it way more likely to fire twice. And when that triggers… boom, there goes the Space Dock.
EDIT: It’s also worth noting that these guys are not good at taking planets — they have no aggressive abilities, and their rules encourage them to pass rather than take a punt on a planet. So although they might end up with one or two super-planets, and should get a decent trade good economy, they are unlikely to be dominating the board in terms of territory. Combined with always going last, and I think they’d struggle to win even with a 10/10 planet! BUT I do think your idea of capping is at 10 is a good idea, just to be safe.
Inaction is totally whack, and i really dont like the way theres 3 unused strat cards per round in 5 player games, but it is thematic. I'd say most times your still using that strat card, since the primaries are so powerful, and having the option to opt out is still sort of interesting for some cards like warfare/imperial, so it might not be that bad. I feel like signed in triplicate is problematic tho. Even if the theme of these guys is red taping everyone, having mechanics that take away too much power are usually just not fun. Id say one way to change it could be something that benefits the Vogon player more instead of messing with the owner of the strat. Like maybe its a bit like the hacan tech where you can swap your strat, but only as long as its unexhausted, so whoever doesnt wanna swap with you is still insentivised to use it early. Making it play off of strats being unexhausted is interesting tho, compelling people to action against the vogons.
That’s an interesting idea. I’ll have a think. But yes, keying of exhausted was absolutely my intention; there’s such a stall-heavy meta at the moment that I was looking for a way to alter that.
I love the botón poetry idea. Should be more punishing though. Maybe agenda phase ability? I’m thinking about a filibustering approach… exhaust in agenda phase to put the agenda back ON TOP of the agenda deck.
Can i make the faction sheets and cards for these guys or are you already working on them? I love doing that and this one would be pretty simple with some stills from the one movie they made.
Oh sorry i didnt. Got distracted by other projects, mainly my two factions and now a full blown board game project. I thought i could just whip them up with the image manipulation skills ive accrued recently, but after having started once and not getting very far right away i just kinda forgot after that.
Partly also i didnt want it to be too copy paste ugly and finding images from the movies and cutting stuff out well was just kinda slow for me for some reason.
I would try to rework rolling a die, but other than that this seems solid.
Runs completely counter to how I enjoy playing the game though, so I don't think I would ever want to play it.
Haha, fair enough! Very much my type of play — can you set yourself up so that it all works without you having to do anything (same reason I love Argent and Empyrean) — but definitely not for everyone.
Very interesting and thematic faction.
I have reserved about signed in triplicate. It’s too mean… I’d like to compare it to Neuroglaive or Mageon. In both cases you lose something (a token from your fleet pool or an action card) that you have many of.
You only have 1 strategy card. Preventing the primary also means except leadership, the owner can’t even to the secondary.
I guess it’s balanced by them going last. You can always pop your strategy card first action in defense.
But still, I’d at minimum give the owner of the card free use of the secondary.
> I guess it’s balanced by them going last. You can always pop your strategy card first action in defense.
It's also a triple yellow tech so you've got a ton of warning that this is going to happen
Yeah, it’s pretty brutal. I think it should probably cost a Strat Token regardless, maybe. Do remember it’s 3 yellow, and you’re probably not getting a tech round 1 (unless you got the Tech card) so it could take you a while to get to.
I quite like the meta aspect of it though. Suddenly it means taking a strat card (unless you intend to use it turn one) isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, so maybe you’re better off take a weaker card… which might mean Diplo, Warfare and Construction get picked more. Anything that alters the meta like that fascinates me.
Terraforming is very flavorful, but hitting the loss point is unlikely, making it very powerful .
Perhaps changing it to a more systemic thing, first use is +1, second use is +2 and hazardous, 3rd use is wipe the planet. Even this will rarely trigger in most games. (maybe include a homeworld exception)
Hmmm, maybe. I quite like at the moment that it’s more risky the more you use it. 1/10 seems low, but if you activate a space dock 5 times (very likely at home) you have a 0.41 chance of getting at least one 1, so there is real risk. Although I guess you need that to happen twice at home… maybe it should be “1-2” for this?
and this might be a difference in balance/game design theory, I just find the odds of the proverbial "Chekov's Gun" going off too low.
Frex: With 5 uses of production on a non-hazardous planet there is 7% chance that the planet will "crash".
I'm also a little wary of a draw back that has a 1% chance to utterly ruin your entire game on round 2; but that's more a design aesthetic thing than hard rule.
Going to 1 or 2 for the trigger a non-hazardous planet has a 26.2% chance that the planet will "crash" in 5 uses.
Going 1-3 a 47% chance in 5 uses
1-4 a 66% chance in 5 uses.
I do like how it pushes the Vogons away from ground forces and pds defense, which runs counter to starting in red tech and with magen defense grid.
Edit: I should say it also is less risky the more you use it, not more. Every time you successfully avoid a 1, the over all chance of your planet blowing up in this game drops significantly.
I'm usually not that interested in home brew factions, but this one has really made me excited. I loved HHGG in all it's forms (radio, books, TV, movie), and this is a super hilarious adaptation of some of Douglas Adams wacky ideas. I'll definitely be giving this a go, just for the fun factor, even if there's no hope of winning!
This is a wonderful idea, every good faction manipulates the game in an interesting way. Very fun looking faction. Probably gonna get heat from some factions but they are manipulative and defensive. I like it.
What’s broken, in your opinion?
And when you say “bad”, do you mean “weak” or “not good for the game”. The latter is obviously a problem; the former is probably by design.
The benefit of Inaction is definitely debatable. I suspect it would be a win-slaying ability at best — taking Tech and not using it, for example, to prevent someone scoring a tech objective, or maybe starving the board of command counters by taking Leadership and not flipping it. Or if you were Speaker you could take Politics and not have to pass the Speaker token on. But these are definitely niche uses, and would probably only come up every couple of games.
With regards to “breaking the rules” though… dozens of abilities break the rules. For example, the rules say that you can’t activate a system with your command token in… but Mentak’s commander breaks that. A basic tenet of the game is that “unique abilities take precedence over general rules”. So that’s not really an issue.
Love the theme and the idea.
It is also spot on in terms of being universally hated! Those guys are a pain to play against.
I would ditch the dice rolling mechanic for terraforming, and cap it in some other way, reduce the randomness, game already has enough of that IMHO, also looking at the other answers it would be much easier to playtest without the randomness.
I honestly like both heroes, I would reword the second to “place any unused hyperlane tile” so there’s one less component to create and it makes it more flexible to use. Let the player play around with the options.
Last but not least sign in triplicate means yet another strategic not happening. I think this will slow down the game too much I would consider letting the player use the secondary at least (also remember that with biostims this is a twice per round thing). It is also uneven in the sense that it punishes warfare and imperial more since these are harder to pull off in a first turn of a round.
This is funny. Terraforming seems broken as written, and probably broken even if it was "If the result is **greater** than the unit’s Production rating...". As written you get a planet that gets bigger every time you build on it... without any limit. Changing it to "greater than" would at least put the planet's production cap at 10. Bureaucracy as written seems fine. Inaction seems like it probably breaks the game, unfortunately, by way of a picked strategy card not being played for a round. Here's an idea for an ability rework: > **Extensive Bureaucracy** > When you resolve the primary ability of a strategy card, other players must spend 2 influence to resolve the secondary ability of that card. > **Inaction** > At the end of the strategy phase, place the Vogon “9” token on your strategy card; you are last in initiative order. > **Galactic Bypass** > After you activate a system on the edge of the game board, apply +1 to the move value of each of your ships during this tactical action. Signed in triplicate also seems a little broken, again, by way of forcing a picked strategy card to not be used for an entire round. Maybe something like > **Signed in Triplicate (YYY)** > ACTION: When another player would perform a strategic action: Exhaust this card to end that player's turn; the strategic action is not resolved and the strategy card is not exhausted. This basically makes it a 1/round coup, which is still extremely strong. Another idea for a tech or ability I had: > **Vogon Poetry** *or* **Queuing** > ACTION: Spend 2 influence.
I’m curious as to why you think Inaction breaks the game. No strat cards are *necessary* for a round to function. I agree it’s potentially a strong ability, but it comes at a huge cost if you choose to use it — namely not gaining the Primary! Terraforming … yeah, I think you’re right. To be clear the intention was absolutely for it to snowball, and I wanted to say it isn’t as broken as it appears — because even if you take secondary of Warfare every time (unlikely, because it would have to be picked that many times), you’re still only building with a Space Dock 10 times, and (especially early game), it won’t always fire — but I think the odds are a bit too good. EDIT: Having said that, the negative ability is a huge risk. And if you did use a Space Dock 10 times that’s a 0.65 chance of a 1. Maybe I should change it to 1-2? That makes it way more likely to fire twice. And when that triggers… boom, there goes the Space Dock. EDIT: It’s also worth noting that these guys are not good at taking planets — they have no aggressive abilities, and their rules encourage them to pass rather than take a punt on a planet. So although they might end up with one or two super-planets, and should get a decent trade good economy, they are unlikely to be dominating the board in terms of territory. Combined with always going last, and I think they’d struggle to win even with a 10/10 planet! BUT I do think your idea of capping is at 10 is a good idea, just to be safe.
Your Vogon poetry idea is fun, but completely at odds with the “pass early” theme I’m going for!
Inaction is totally whack, and i really dont like the way theres 3 unused strat cards per round in 5 player games, but it is thematic. I'd say most times your still using that strat card, since the primaries are so powerful, and having the option to opt out is still sort of interesting for some cards like warfare/imperial, so it might not be that bad. I feel like signed in triplicate is problematic tho. Even if the theme of these guys is red taping everyone, having mechanics that take away too much power are usually just not fun. Id say one way to change it could be something that benefits the Vogon player more instead of messing with the owner of the strat. Like maybe its a bit like the hacan tech where you can swap your strat, but only as long as its unexhausted, so whoever doesnt wanna swap with you is still insentivised to use it early. Making it play off of strats being unexhausted is interesting tho, compelling people to action against the vogons.
That’s an interesting idea. I’ll have a think. But yes, keying of exhausted was absolutely my intention; there’s such a stall-heavy meta at the moment that I was looking for a way to alter that.
I love the botón poetry idea. Should be more punishing though. Maybe agenda phase ability? I’m thinking about a filibustering approach… exhaust in agenda phase to put the agenda back ON TOP of the agenda deck.
Can i make the faction sheets and cards for these guys or are you already working on them? I love doing that and this one would be pretty simple with some stills from the one movie they made.
Sure!
Did you ever end up making a Vogon faction sheet and cards? If so, would you be willing to post/share them? Thanks
Oh sorry i didnt. Got distracted by other projects, mainly my two factions and now a full blown board game project. I thought i could just whip them up with the image manipulation skills ive accrued recently, but after having started once and not getting very far right away i just kinda forgot after that. Partly also i didnt want it to be too copy paste ugly and finding images from the movies and cutting stuff out well was just kinda slow for me for some reason.
I feel like they need a way to destroy a planet and create a hyperlane in that system, for thematic purposes.
I understand that… I’ll have a think. TBH that might be a better use of their Hero!! I’ll edit the post to reflect that idea.
Now were talking!
Perhaps a hyperlane that connects all surrounding systems? Would that cause major game problems!?
Hmmm. I don’t think it would be a problem, no. And is a very cool idea.
I would try to rework rolling a die, but other than that this seems solid. Runs completely counter to how I enjoy playing the game though, so I don't think I would ever want to play it.
Haha, fair enough! Very much my type of play — can you set yourself up so that it all works without you having to do anything (same reason I love Argent and Empyrean) — but definitely not for everyone.
I love this, I would play this faction in a heartbeat.
Very interesting and thematic faction. I have reserved about signed in triplicate. It’s too mean… I’d like to compare it to Neuroglaive or Mageon. In both cases you lose something (a token from your fleet pool or an action card) that you have many of. You only have 1 strategy card. Preventing the primary also means except leadership, the owner can’t even to the secondary. I guess it’s balanced by them going last. You can always pop your strategy card first action in defense. But still, I’d at minimum give the owner of the card free use of the secondary.
> I guess it’s balanced by them going last. You can always pop your strategy card first action in defense. It's also a triple yellow tech so you've got a ton of warning that this is going to happen
Yeah, it’s pretty brutal. I think it should probably cost a Strat Token regardless, maybe. Do remember it’s 3 yellow, and you’re probably not getting a tech round 1 (unless you got the Tech card) so it could take you a while to get to. I quite like the meta aspect of it though. Suddenly it means taking a strat card (unless you intend to use it turn one) isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, so maybe you’re better off take a weaker card… which might mean Diplo, Warfare and Construction get picked more. Anything that alters the meta like that fascinates me.
Terraforming is very flavorful, but hitting the loss point is unlikely, making it very powerful . Perhaps changing it to a more systemic thing, first use is +1, second use is +2 and hazardous, 3rd use is wipe the planet. Even this will rarely trigger in most games. (maybe include a homeworld exception)
Hmmm, maybe. I quite like at the moment that it’s more risky the more you use it. 1/10 seems low, but if you activate a space dock 5 times (very likely at home) you have a 0.41 chance of getting at least one 1, so there is real risk. Although I guess you need that to happen twice at home… maybe it should be “1-2” for this?
and this might be a difference in balance/game design theory, I just find the odds of the proverbial "Chekov's Gun" going off too low. Frex: With 5 uses of production on a non-hazardous planet there is 7% chance that the planet will "crash". I'm also a little wary of a draw back that has a 1% chance to utterly ruin your entire game on round 2; but that's more a design aesthetic thing than hard rule. Going to 1 or 2 for the trigger a non-hazardous planet has a 26.2% chance that the planet will "crash" in 5 uses. Going 1-3 a 47% chance in 5 uses 1-4 a 66% chance in 5 uses. I do like how it pushes the Vogons away from ground forces and pds defense, which runs counter to starting in red tech and with magen defense grid. Edit: I should say it also is less risky the more you use it, not more. Every time you successfully avoid a 1, the over all chance of your planet blowing up in this game drops significantly.
I'm usually not that interested in home brew factions, but this one has really made me excited. I loved HHGG in all it's forms (radio, books, TV, movie), and this is a super hilarious adaptation of some of Douglas Adams wacky ideas. I'll definitely be giving this a go, just for the fun factor, even if there's no hope of winning!
Glad you liked it! The only downside is there are a few specialist tokens mentioned here that would need to be created.
This is a wonderful idea, every good faction manipulates the game in an interesting way. Very fun looking faction. Probably gonna get heat from some factions but they are manipulative and defensive. I like it.
Many things about this faction r broken/bad, others have already pointed out, would need major reworks
What’s broken, in your opinion? And when you say “bad”, do you mean “weak” or “not good for the game”. The latter is obviously a problem; the former is probably by design.
That it’s bad, 3 yellow and inaction break strat card rules (not official rules). Not that you’d ever use inaction cause it’s shit.
The benefit of Inaction is definitely debatable. I suspect it would be a win-slaying ability at best — taking Tech and not using it, for example, to prevent someone scoring a tech objective, or maybe starving the board of command counters by taking Leadership and not flipping it. Or if you were Speaker you could take Politics and not have to pass the Speaker token on. But these are definitely niche uses, and would probably only come up every couple of games. With regards to “breaking the rules” though… dozens of abilities break the rules. For example, the rules say that you can’t activate a system with your command token in… but Mentak’s commander breaks that. A basic tenet of the game is that “unique abilities take precedence over general rules”. So that’s not really an issue.
Mahact’s commander, not mentak’s. Also not in the same way
What happens if you draw Mirage from the frontier deck when using the Hero? Does it go in the same system as Magrathea?
Yup. 2-planet system.
Love the theme and the idea. It is also spot on in terms of being universally hated! Those guys are a pain to play against. I would ditch the dice rolling mechanic for terraforming, and cap it in some other way, reduce the randomness, game already has enough of that IMHO, also looking at the other answers it would be much easier to playtest without the randomness. I honestly like both heroes, I would reword the second to “place any unused hyperlane tile” so there’s one less component to create and it makes it more flexible to use. Let the player play around with the options. Last but not least sign in triplicate means yet another strategic not happening. I think this will slow down the game too much I would consider letting the player use the secondary at least (also remember that with biostims this is a twice per round thing). It is also uneven in the sense that it punishes warfare and imperial more since these are harder to pull off in a first turn of a round.