• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Digital Board Games Thread: Async Multiplatform Meeples

Been waiting for Twilight Struggle mobile release for a while now. Almost bought it from Steam's sale today. Never really play this game at all. Hopefully the AI can teach me the rope.
 
SumGamer said:
Been waiting for Twilight Struggle mobile release for a while now. Almost bought it from Steam's sale today. Never really play this game at all. Hopefully the AI can teach me the rope.
Click to expand...

The AI is a mixed bag right now. Fine for beginners, but you'll want to play with real people eventually to really get the strategies down. You'll likely get waxed for a while, but other than playing with someone else who's learning at the same rate as you it's still a better way to learn more advanced strategies once you're passed the basics.
 
XiaNaphryz said:
The AI is a mixed bag right now. Fine for beginners, but you'll want to play with real people eventually to really get the strategies down. You'll likely get waxed for a while, but other than playing with someone else who's learning at the same rate as you it's still a better way to learn more advanced strategies once you're passed the basics.
Click to expand...

Will probably jump in online afterward. Still learning the rope and the AI still whacks me pretty hard LOL. It feels like the AI is cheating a bit. Not sure how the physical game is like but the hands I always get always felt brutal. The dice roll rarely goes my way as well. Probably my luck though.
 
PittaGAF said:
I almost use always the same team, I've beaten all the campaigns with them several times.
Actually just beaten Itaqua again, best ending too :P

Sister Mary as first (for locked glyphs)
Joe Diamond
Mandy Thompson
Gloria Goldenberg (for outer worlds)

When I can I try to get clues whenever possible.

Always go for Elder Signs unless there are nasty midnight effects, like in Itaqua for monsters respawns.
As soon as I have 10-15 provisions, I try the ice map, praying for some provisions along the way.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I'll have to try again. Somehow still can't get through it even though I've beaten every other mission and the board game in Streets of Arkham mode. I think it might be because I get too annoyed at having to build up for 20m+ to a couple RNGs that basically decide whether you can proceed or not. But in fairness it is the one thing that keeps me coming map so maybe it IS a good design choice. :P (I also really liked all the other missions -- wish they'd release more.)

UPDATE: I did it. I finally freaking did it (+unlocked last secret character). Just everything came together and I had good rolls in the last fight. I've been playing tons of tabletop Elder Sign and Eldritch Horror and man do I wish FFG would commit a bit more to digital. Those would be incredible to play and you have the framework in place already.
 
AstroLad said:
Thanks for that. I'll have to try again. Somehow still can't get through it even though I've beaten every other mission and the board game in Streets of Arkham mode. I think it might be because I get too annoyed at having to build up for 20m+ to a couple RNGs that basically decide whether you can proceed or not. But in fairness it is the one thing that keeps me coming map so maybe it IS a good design choice. :P (I also really liked all the other missions -- wish they'd release more.)

UPDATE: I did it. I finally freaking did it (+unlocked last secret character). Just everything came together and I had good rolls in the last fight. I've been playing tons of tabletop Elder Sign and Eldritch Horror and man do I wish FFG would commit a bit more to digital. Those would be incredible to play and you have the framework in place already.
Click to expand...

Yeah.
FFG is sitting on a gold mine imho and on top of that their digital team is pretty awesome too (Elder Sign is still one of the best digital adaptation imho...I wish they will publish more campaigns).
Their other games/apps like Battlelore or Road to Legend are very well done too.
 
Quick question about Twilight Struggle. When playing an opponent's event card for Operations, how do I select their event to fire before I play my Op points? Maybe I'm just being blind but I can't find the option on the UI and cursory googling has failed me.
 
Is there a list of iOS exclusive board games anywhere? I'm moving over from Android to iOS for my tablet usage as I'm aware Agricola and Waterdeep are iOS only. Any others?
 
DagsJT said:
Is there a list of iOS exclusive board games anywhere? I'm moving over from Android to iOS for my tablet usage as I'm aware Agricola and Waterdeep are iOS only. Any others?
Click to expand...
The iOS Carcassonne app is way better than the Android one, so I've heard (haven't played the Android one).
 
Hi guys!

I have zero experience with digital board games, but I've been looking for a game I could play during work (I'm a translator, home office, no boss around) and a fellow gaffer pointed me to this thread.

I want something simple and fun, so that I can work for five minutes, then switch to the game, play a turn in one minute and go back to work. Rinse and repeat. I took a look at the OP and decided to give Summoner Wars a try (I have an Android phone). I'm still going through the tutorial, but it looks perfect for me, so thanks in advance for the suggestion.

Now, two questions:

1- I'll probably keep playing against the AI, but I see you have this spreadsheet to set asynchronous game sessions. So, you make your move and wait for your opponent to act. How much waiting time is usually considered acceptable for asynchronous games? Minutes? Hours? Days?

2- I haven't played it yet, but do you guys consider Armello a board game? I've just watched a video, and it looks cool and not overly complex.

Thanks!
 
Noaloha said:
Quick question about Twilight Struggle. When playing an opponent's event card for Operations, how do I select their event to fire before I play my Op points? Maybe I'm just being blind but I can't find the option on the UI and cursory googling has failed me.
Click to expand...
It should ask you, on the right hand side, when you go to play the card if you want the event to play first
 
Noaloha said:
Quick question about Twilight Struggle. When playing an opponent's event card for Operations, how do I select their event to fire before I play my Op points? Maybe I'm just being blind but I can't find the option on the UI and cursory googling has failed me.
Click to expand...

When you select the card, choose "Opponent Event" or something to that affect, which will trigger it first and then you can choose how to use it after. I think they cover it at the end of the tutorial, but it's easy to miss/forget.
 
Orakio Rob said:
Hi guys!

I have zero experience with digital board games, but I've been looking for a game I could play during work (I'm a translator, home office, no boss around) and a fellow gaffer pointed me to this thread.

I want something simple and fun, so that I can work for five minutes, then switch to the game, play a turn in one minute and go back to work. Rinse and repeat. I took a look at the OP and decided to give Summoner Wars a try (I have an Android phone). I'm still going through the tutorial, but it looks perfect for me, so thanks in advance for the suggestion.

Now, two questions:

1- I'll probably keep playing against the AI, but I see you have this spreadsheet to set asynchronous game sessions. So, you make your move and wait for your opponent to act. How much waiting time is usually considered acceptable for asynchronous games? Minutes? Hours? Days?

2- I haven't played it yet, but do you guys consider Armello a board game? I've just watched a video, and it looks cool and not overly complex.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
On Playdek games I always set timer to max. No real reason not to, just allow people to take turns at leisure. Feel free to drop me invites: AstroLad
 
midasmulligan said:
It should ask you, on the right hand side, when you go to play the card if you want the event to play first
Click to expand...

XiaNaphryz said:
When you select the card, choose "Opponent Event" or something to that affect, which will trigger it first and then you can choose how to use it after. I think they cover it at the end of the tutorial, but it's easy to miss/forget.
Click to expand...
Gah, I'm such an idiot. I've played a dozen games at least since grabbing this in the Steam Sale at the weekend; I evidently immediately settled into a UI 'rule' that you played cards solely through the drag n drop interface. It completely escaped me after the tutorial that simply clicking a card to play it was an option. Dumbo.
 
Noaloha said:
Gah, I'm such an idiot. I've played a dozen games at least since grabbing this in the Steam Sale at the weekend; I evidently immediately settled into a UI 'rule' that you played cards solely through the drag n drop interface. It completely escaped me after the tutorial that simply clicking a card to play it was an option. Dumbo.
Click to expand...

One of the click-and-drag options is also to play the opponent's event first, so you can do it that way too.
 
XiaNaphryz said:
One of the click-and-drag options is also to play the opponent's event first, so you can do it that way too.
Click to expand...
Definitely some weird UI blindness going on with me then.

Edit: Oh jeez, it's the big red option smack bang in the centre of the screen. Oh dear, oh dear.
 
Extremely random item that will probably be wildly unpopular, but I've been playing with the Dominion app on iOS and it's actually quite good. They have a nice 20-game adventure campaign that comes with each set (I think base is free iirc) and the AI is pretty good imo (not a pro Dominion player mind you). Worth a shot if you're a big Dominion fan (seems like almost a must for such people given that I didn't realize they update the app so quickly with the newest sets) or just want to learn the game/deckbuilding. The cost to get every single expansion (and they even have the newest ones) is pretty steep (a little under $100 iirc) but I believe you can play online against anyone even without owning the expansions (you just can't create games with expansion materials). Something like that. Anyway, it's always online and a little but HTML5y still, so not nearly as good as Ascension, but definitely gets the job done, especially for someone who likes a little 1P campaigning along with their online play.
 
AstroLad said:
Extremely random item that will probably be wildly unpopular, but I've been playing with the Dominion app on iOS and it's actually quite good. They have a nice 20-game adventure campaign that comes with each set (I think base is free iirc) and the AI is pretty good imo (not a pro Dominion player mind you). Worth a shot if you're a big Dominion fan (seems like almost a must for such people given that I didn't realize they update the app so quickly with the newest sets) or just want to learn the game/deckbuilding. The cost to get every single expansion (and they even have the newest ones) is pretty steep (a little under $100 iirc) but I believe you can play online against anyone even without owning the expansions (you just can't create games with expansion materials). Something like that. Anyway, it's always online and a little but HTML5y still, so not nearly as good as Ascension, but definitely gets the job done, especially for someone who likes a little 1P campaigning along with their online play.
Click to expand...

Watch out if you go all in.
They (MakingFun) lose the license at the end of the year, and a new version, backed by Donald X is in the works. You might get a years carry over, everything is up in the air.
Lots of stuff here if you haven't seen it already: http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?board=67.0
 
superrobot said:
Watch out if you go all in.
They (MakingFun) lose the license at the end of the year, and a new version, backed by Donald X is in the works. You might get a years carry over, everything is up in the air.
Lots of stuff here if you haven't seen it already: http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?board=67.0
Click to expand...
Oh crap haha thanks for the heads up. Think they might be opening themselves up to some claims by not calling that out. Thankfully the free content is pretty good too.
 
Star Realms on Android just updated to allow for Heroes! No idea what it actually does, (Just bought my first one that I can trash for 4 health and a Blue sync) and I'm jumping in with both feet. Steam is updated as well, even though patch notes don't seem to show they are.

Always down for any/every variant of the game - MarkovChaney
 
Markoff_Chaney said:
Star Realms on Android just updated to allow for Heroes! No idea what it actually does, (Just bought my first one that I can trash for 4 health and a Blue sync) and I'm jumping in with both feet. Steam is updated as well, even though patch notes don't seem to show they are.

Always down for any/every variant of the game - MarkovChaney
Click to expand...

Oh, nice! I have the physical Heroes set. But yeah, they're just basically trump cards.
 
Think i am going to give up on Twilight Struggle. I have played multiple,games, not finished one yet though. I just really have no idea what is going on, generally, and am not really motivated to find out. I launch the app and just go through the motions.
 
-tetsuo- said:
Think i am going to give up on Twilight Struggle. I have played multiple,games, not finished one yet though. I just really have no idea what is going on, generally, and am not really motivated to find out. I launch the app and just go through the motions.
Click to expand...

I suggest snagging the Twilight Strategy ebook (it's free!) and reading through the general sections and the annotated games.
 
Won my first game of TS ever! Played as USSR and beaten the AI (LOL) by reaching 20 VP.
Still has yet to win as US though, that's the next goal.
 
SumGamer said:
Won my first game of TS ever! Played as USSR and beaten the AI (LOL) by reaching 20 VP.
Still has yet to win as US though, that's the next goal.
Click to expand...

Congrats man! AI is pretty good -- definitely a good challenge for most players I'd say. In fact I think that's a good progression. Tutorial>Try to win as USSR>Try to win as USA. Should take a good amount of tries. Here's some guidance for opening moves to get the ball rolling: https://twilightstrategy.com/2011/12/12/general-strategy-opening-setup/

You can just mostly play it by ear from there.
 
AstroLad said:
Congrats man! AI is pretty good -- definitely a good challenge for most players I'd say. In fact I think that's a good progression. Tutorial>Try to win as USSR>Try to win as USA. Should take a good amount of tries. Here's some guidance for opening moves to get the ball rolling: https://twilightstrategy.com/2011/12/12/general-strategy-opening-setup/

You can just mostly play it by ear from there.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I did exactly what the guide tell in my winning game as USSR as well. Neat :)
 
I somehow missed Xenoshyft (iOS & Android) when it came out but the game is really good. Lane-protection deckbuilder is I guess the best description? Even just trying to beat it on Easy is a good challenge. Doesn't appear to be anyone online so not sure how the online play is but you can solo it or pass & play it -- it's a co-op game so doesn't really lose anything in playing solo. No campaign is the only downside but game is hard enough that just trying to beat it on Normal is campaign enough I suppose.
 
PittaGAF said:
Xenoshyft is actually really good.
Beating the game on normal with multiple bases is quite an effort.
Click to expand...

Yeah hard as hell. I also feel like it's probably much better as an app than as a board game because there's so much active stuff to track at times. Kind of like Sentinels actually. Game theme and mechanics are so well suited for a campaign mode though.
 
I never played the original card game but the app (which was constantly improved and updated) is pretty great.

Speaking of cards and aliens....I would kill for a digital port of Legendary Encounters: Allien.
 
PittaGAF said:
I never played the original card game but the app (which was constantly improved and updated) is pretty great.

Speaking of cards and aliens....I would kill for a digital port of Legendary Encounters: Allien.
Click to expand...

Ugh..yes. That would be amazing. That and even base Legendary require a lot of accounting as well. Actually was playing base Legendary (all expansions) with my game group last week and we were like wtf I don't remember this game being so complex. Just so many keywords and effects to track. Problem with those properties often though is that the licenses wouldn't cover digital even if the companies were inclined to get apps created (which they usually don't seem to be).
 
Pretty excited about the incoming Smash Up. I have the physical copy with expansions but finding friends to play with is rather difficult as they aren't really speaking English.
 
AstroLad said:
Ugh..yes. That would be amazing. That and even base Legendary require a lot of accounting as well. Actually was playing base Legendary (all expansions) with my game group last week and we were like wtf I don't remember this game being so complex. Just so many keywords and effects to track. Problem with those properties often though is that the licenses wouldn't cover digital even if the companies were inclined to get apps created (which they usually don't seem to be).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I remember a few years ago asking Cryptozoic if they'd be making an app for their DC Comics Deck Building Game, but they said no. I really wish they could have though. It'd definitely would be popular, and it'd be so easy to play with the different sets and everything. I love Ascension and all, but I'd drop that like a hot rock for DC DBG.
 
Anyone knows if Race of Nations on Android is legit?

I remember reading somewhere that it actually rip off Civilization. I'm having an ethical question with myself whether I should buy an in-app for it or not.
 
Upperdeck just announced an iPad Legendary game, no other details.

PLEASE BE ALIEN, PLEASE BE ALIEN, PLEASE BE ALIEN, PLEASE BE ALIEN, PLEASE BE ALIEN, PLEASE BE ALIEN, PLEASE BE ALIEN.

In other news FFG, among announcing thousands of new things, didn't announce the LOTR LCG DIGITAL that I was hoping for and I heard rumors about.

But Alien Legendary Encounters could be even better.
 
PittaGAF said:
Upperdeck just announced an iPad Legendary game, no other details.

PLEASE BE ALIEN, PLEASE BE ALIEN, PLEASE BE ALIEN, PLEASE BE ALIEN, PLEASE BE ALIEN, PLEASE BE ALIEN, PLEASE BE ALIEN.

In other news FFG, among announcing thousands of new things, didn't announce the LOTR LCG DIGITAL that I was hoping for and I heard rumors about.

But Alien Legendary Encounters could be even better.
Click to expand...
Wow!!!! I've actually been desperately wanting that. Alien has the best gameplay, but Marvel has such a huge catalog that could be fun in terms of blowing through random scenarios. Just hope it's not Big Trouble in Little China :p
 
AstroLad said:
Wow!!!! I've actually been desperately wanting that. Alien has the best gameplay, but Marvel has such a huge catalog that could be fun in terms of blowing through random scenarios. Just hope it's not Big Trouble in Little China :p
Click to expand...

im personally hoping it's anything but Marvel.

mostly because I own marvel fully physically already while I don't have the other versions and would love to play them.
 
zulux21 said:
im personally hoping it's anything but Marvel.

mostly because I own marvel fully physically already while I don't have the other versions and would love to play them.
Click to expand...
I own marvel but setup is a pain and I would love to bang through games and challenges quickly for fun. Kind of bums me out I'll really only ever scratch the surface of playing everything I have Marvel just because of this limitation. But yeah aliens is the best in gameplay by far imo.
 
AstroLad said:
Wow!!!! I've actually been desperately wanting that. Alien has the best gameplay, but Marvel has such a huge catalog that could be fun in terms of blowing through random scenarios. Just hope it's not Big Trouble in Little China :p
Click to expand...

Well I hate superheroes so if it's that it would be a huge letdown for me....I really hope it's Alien...timely for the new Alien movies hype.

But actually all we have is an image of an iPad with the Legendary logo on it, and a 2017 date.
Boardgamegeek says it's a game, but nothing else.

I hope they will show something soon.

Please be Alien, please be Alien, please be Alien.

Alien would be perfect...great game, great franchise (albeit I'm not THAT fan of the comics style) and a digital version could ease the only real drawback of the game....the setup time.

I was really hoping for LOTR LCG digital too as I heard rumors about it and a new beta starting in FFG.....but FFG didn't say anything :(
I guess their digital team is now concentrated in the Mansion of Madness and Imperial Assault apps.
Which is cool but :(
 
PittaGAF said:
Well I hate superheroes so if it's that it would be a huge letdown for me....I really hope it's Alien...timely for the new Alien movies hype.

But actually all we have is an image of an iPad with the Legendary logo on it, and a 2017 date.
Boardgamegeek says it's a game, but nothing else.

I hope they will show something soon.

Please be Alien, please be Alien, please be Alien.

Alien would be perfect...great game, great franchise (albeit I'm not THAT fan of the comics style) and a digital version could ease the only real drawback of the game....the setup time.

I was really hoping for LOTR LCG digital too as I heard rumors about it and a new beta starting in FFG.....but FFG didn't say anything :(
I guess their digital team is now concentrated in the Mansion of Madness and Imperial Assault apps.
Which is cool but :(
Click to expand...
im gonna hope for firefly, as i want to play legendary encounters firefly but don't want to buy it physically.
 
I find it hard to believe they will do a digital version of a just announced card game...so I would rule out both Firefly and Big trouble in Little China.

I really hope they will announce it properly anyway.
PLEASE BE ALIEN, PLEASE BE ALIEN, PLEASE BE ALIEN
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Xbox: "These [E-Day and Clockwork] are not timed exclusives. Games already announced for multiplatform releases will stick to that plan"
6 7 8 9 10
468
2K
crackajack replied
Gaming Memories Thread
26
411
mopspear replied
Naughty Dog Job Listing Hints at Unannounced Multiplatform Game With Multiplayer Experience
Game Dev 
33
690
Generic replied
Digital Foundry: Over 20 games tested with PSSR 2.0 Upgrade
2 3 4
163
4K
Crispy Gamer replied
Boxroom, a virtual physical collection of your digital games.
Social News 
0
196
Holammer replied
Top Bottom