7 wonders - orientation of trading posts

[tap-zbyna]

hello,

I think there is something wrong with the orientation of trading posts and it is somenthing that really needs to be reworked.

"to trade" means "to trade goods for 1 gold instead of 2" in the following text

If you buy east trading post you are supposed to trade with player who is sending cards to you in first and third age. Yet because of the display of whole game table (you are on the top) you trade with player you are sending cards to.

What is even worse - lets say you play 4players game. You buy East trading post and player accross the table (the one you can´t trade with) builds West trading post. Now both of you should trade goods with the SAME player. And you are not.

The problem is, of course, in the display of the table. These two images can help:

https://ibb.co/hoO2Ne
https://ibb.co/gEyDTK

It looks like a cosmetic problem, but it is not. Lets say one player has plenty of brown cards. His neighbours should be able to build trading post so they can both trade with him. But in BGA version this can´t be done. I have the game at home and when we play 4p game it is very common situation Giza, Rhodos are typically used for this because they have to build a lot of brown cards.

[N_Faker]

Yes, the function of East/West Trading Post are swapped for the BGA implementation, in comparison to IRL games around a table.

This makes sense for the implementation as you are, in a sense, sitting inside a doughnut shaped table. Swapping these two cards will likely be far more confusing than how it is implemented.

[tap-zbyna]

You did not understand the problem.

It is not about swaping orientation of the posts. The problem is in the display of the table and the wonder cards on it here on BGA.

If you play the game at home you definitely are NOT sitting in the way BGA displays it. It affects the game hardly since you are paying 1g to a player you are supposed to pay 2g to and vice versa.

And solution? the graphics of the arrow on the trading post card can be bound to the direction you are sending cards to/getting cards from. Both of trading posts are 1st age cards so - with east post you trade with player you are getting cards from, with west post you trade with player you are sending cards to in 1st and 3rd age and other way around in 2nd age. It is not confusing at all and what is much more important - it is the way it is supposed to be.

[N_Faker]

You did not understand the problem.

It is not about swaping orientation of the posts. The problem is in the display of the table and the wonder cards on it here on BGA.

If you play the game at home you definitely are NOT sitting in the way BGA displays it. It affects the game hardly since you are paying 1g to a player you are supposed to pay 2g to and vice versa.

And solution? the graphics of the arrow on the trading post card can be bound to the direction you are sending cards to/getting cards from. Both of trading posts are 1st age cards so - with east post you trade with player you are getting cards from, with west post you trade with player you are sending cards to in 1st and 3rd age and other way around in 2nd age. It is not confusing at all and what is much more important - it is the way it is supposed to be.

Your problem is not that the direction on the cards are swapped, but swapping the direction on the cards is the solution?

[CB Droege]

Now both of you should trade goods with the SAME player. And you are not.

Yes, You are.

In your 'incorrect' image, Olympia and rhodos are both trading with Babylon.

Imagine all the boards around a table, but turned so that the bottom is toward the middle of the table, because everyone is sitting inside the donut table. That's how the trading orients on BGA. It shows you all of the player cards right side up for ease of reading, but it does work out if you imagine rotating all the cards to bottom-in orientation.

[tap-zbyna]

Now both of you should trade goods with the SAME player. And you are not.

Yes, You are.

In your 'incorrect' image, Olympia and rhodos are both trading with Babylon.

Imagine all the boards around a table, but turned so that the bottom is toward the middle of the table, because everyone is sitting inside the donut table. That's how the trading orients on BGA. It shows you all of the player cards right side up for ease of reading, but it does work out if you imagine rotating all the cards to bottom-in orientation.

But the problem is Olympia should NOT be trading with babylon for 1g at all, do you understand? But it still is, that is the problem. Olympia should trade for 1g with Giza, because with west trading post you trade with player you are sending cards TO in first age. Yet Olympia is trading with player it is getting cards FROM in the first age.

Just buy the game, play it at home and you will understand the difference.

[CB Droege]

I understand the difference. I have the game at home. I've played many rounds. The way each trading post works may be reversed relative to pass direction on BGA, but it still works because they cost the same, and there is the same amount of both in the deck, and they upgrade the same path, so it doesn't change gameplay at all.

[Jest Phulin]

Actually, I can see tap-zbyna's point that it does, in fact, change game play.

I and my counter-clockwise neighbor both need wood to build our wonders. In my hand, I have the West Trading Post and a source of wood, and cards that look to be of little value to either of us.

If playing physically, I would build the trading post, knowing that the neighbor would most likely build the wood next turn. I would have access to wood, and have the extra benefits of the post.

On BGA, if they're reversed, I must build the wood, since I don't know if my neighbor will ever get a wood card.

If only looking at my own board and what my neighbors already have, yes, it doesn't make a difference. When considering what options they have in the future based on the options I see in my hand, it does make a difference.

[RicardoRix]

not really, because east is west and west is east.

In the scenario you describe 'West Trading Post and a source of wood' in real life now becomes semantically the same as 'East Trading Post and a source of wood' on BGA.

It should be just as easy to understand that if the direction of play was revered in each round then the game would still play the same. The game designer wouldn't have to change anything to 'account for the difference'.

[Jest Phulin]

In the scenario you describe 'West Trading Post and a source of wood' in real life now becomes semantically the same as 'East Trading Post and a source of wood' on BGA.

I agree that switching East and West makes for the same game play. However, since that switch does have to be made, it means that there is a difference between the BGA version and the physical version. Not a big difference in my opinion, but a difference nonetheless.