Artifact points
Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 12:01 pm
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
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