In addition to the upcoming change on Empire Builder's points, I'm also implementing a change to the points awarded for Artifacts.
As most of you probably know by now, RSW scales the points-per-Artifact based on the size of the galaxy. This is an attempt to balance the Artifact points for smaller galaxies, where the same 100 Artifacts are packed in more tightly among fewer worlds.
Although this approach seems to generally work pointswise, it has the unfortunate side effect of making individual Artifacts worth very little in small games, and thus training players to ignore Artifacts completely. I think it spoils the game if a player can pick up a couple of plastic artifacts, or even the Radioactive Isotope, and not care enough to do anything about it.
So, I'm changing that. Henceforth, all artifacts will be worth precisely their stated points value, with no funny scaling. Instead of scaling the points, we'll be scaling the actual number of artifacts, so in a small game there will be fewer than 100 artifacts available.
We just pick a (nearly) completely random subset of the 100 artifacts. This does have other implications. In particular, it may mean that your particular favorite artifact (e.g. the Ancient Pyramid) may not even be available in the game. It also means that it may not be possible to collect the full set of some of the collect-and-win series; for instance, you might not be able to find all five Nebula Scrolls, or you might not have all 9 Pyramids available.
I've successfully convinced myself that, despite your first intuition, this actually doesn't matter. The game remains balanced and fun. The Nebula Scrolls are still exactly as valuable as they always have been, because all five scrolls might be available.
Think of it this way: when you're playing in a small five-person game, it's as if you're playing in just a corner of a big fifteen-person game, though you never happen to interact with any of your neighbors outside your group of five. You've got 1/3 of the artifacts, and they've got the other 2/3 (and you can't get them). See how it amounts to the same thing? Thus, you've got effectively the same chance of collecting any particular artifact in a reduced galaxy that you have in a full-sized galaxy.
Another implication of scaling the number of artifacts is that if you happen to be playing in a larger galaxy, there will be more than 100 artifacts! Some artifacts thus will be duplicated. Think of this as playing poker with two combined decks.
The one exception I am making to all this is that there will always be exactly one Black Box.
Unlike the Empire Builder change, this rule change will not be retroactive: it will apply only to new games. Existing games will continue to scale the artifacts points as they have from the beginning of the game.
David
Artifact points
Some ideas for the artifact collector with these new rules.
1. He knows at the start which artifacts are missing
2. Or inform him as he discovers related artifacts. Let's say the radiant pyramid is missing, he picks up the ancient pyramid. On the news section of his turn report he figures out that the radiant pyramid is gone from this galaxy.
1. He knows at the start which artifacts are missing
2. Or inform him as he discovers related artifacts. Let's say the radiant pyramid is missing, he picks up the ancient pyramid. On the news section of his turn report he figures out that the radiant pyramid is gone from this galaxy.
The standard size galaxy is, as you say,15 players with 255 worlds. That's just because this is the only sized galaxy the rules for the original Starweb were written for, and it is for this sized galaxy that the 100 artifacts with their specified point values were created.
I don't think it's a good idea to tell the Artifact Collector which artifacts are missing, though. That defeats the whole point! You have to not know which artifacts are available in order to make all of the artifacts you have collected so far potentially valuable.
Think of a poker game: should you go for a straight, or keep the two pair you've got? It's not knowing what's coming in the deck next that makes this a difficult and exciting decision. It's not a perfect analogy, but that's the idea I want to preserve: you don't know which artifacts you're holding might be valuable towards an end-of-game bonus, so you have to bargain with them carefully (if you bargain at all).
David
I don't think it's a good idea to tell the Artifact Collector which artifacts are missing, though. That defeats the whole point! You have to not know which artifacts are available in order to make all of the artifacts you have collected so far potentially valuable.
Think of a poker game: should you go for a straight, or keep the two pair you've got? It's not knowing what's coming in the deck next that makes this a difficult and exciting decision. It's not a perfect analogy, but that's the idea I want to preserve: you don't know which artifacts you're holding might be valuable towards an end-of-game bonus, so you have to bargain with them carefully (if you bargain at all).
David
Here's another idea. If nine artifacts of the special noun will give you 1000 points, and one of them is missing from the galaxy, then collecting all 8 will give you (1000 * 8/9) = 888 points.
In a small galaxy, you have no way of knowing if you've collected all of your special noun, unless you get all 9.
In a small galaxy, you have no way of knowing if you've collected all of your special noun, unless you get all 9.