HF4A 32 - Altruism Cooperative (4)

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We played a 4 cycle game of Altruism, which with Module 0 probably should have been a 5 cycle game, but no big deal. We did eke out a win with my collaborator scoring 33 and myself scoring 38. We did not use the political track as much as I had hoped we would.

Of particular note, he was able to industrialize out at Dione, one of Saturn's larger moons. That was good as he was really interested in getting into the outer system.

He doesn't like grinding for patents or fuel, and I suspect he's not going to care overmuch for how freighters work either. He's tentatively agreeable to another game, but we're going to use either pre-built decks or Quick Start to reduce patent grinding. He also asked about scenarios which start at a mid-game configuration, for which there are none, but I could put something together for that. Would be an interesting challenge.

Here's picture of the endgame:

Game 32 map at end

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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.