Vote for season 5 expansion!

[galehar]

Next season starts in a month, time to vote. I've set 2 weeks for the vote so that leaves some time to vote for options if needed (goals are optional now btw).

[Wonderful Plays]

When I'm voting for Alien Artifacts or Xeno Invasion am I voting for orb and Invasion? I would like to play them without these features for example

[galehar]

As I said, we'll have a second vote to decide on options once the expansion is decided. But maybe it would have been better to do that just for arc 1, I'll consider it next season. I don't know about XI, but if AA wins the vote, I would be extremely surprised if the orb won the second vote, given how unpopular it is. Even though I made a lot of improvements to the Orb game and it's finally bug free, in February, 1.6% of AA games were played with the Orb module.

[Wonderful Plays]

For me personally it would be best to list all the options in this one (it will have a lot of options, but that is still the best) then the 2 or 3 highest options go to the finals. But I'm relatively new to race.

[obsidian_octagon]

Galehar, are you able to post how popular each expansion was in Feb 2021? If you're able to share this, that would be interesting to know. I see you posted a number for Alien Artifacts, so wondering what the other numbers were.

[galehar]

Yep. Here are the stats for all options for February. I'm glad to see that at least a few people have tried the "reuse draft" option

Expansion = `Base game`: 87610 (56 %)
Expansion = `The Gathering Storm`: 9375 (6 %)
Expansion = `Rebel vs. Imperium + The Gathering Storm`: 12830 (8 %)
Expansion = `Brink of War + Rebel vs. Imperium + The Gathering Storm`: 24718 (16 %)
Expansion = `Alien Artifacts (with Orb)`: 125 (0 %)
Expansion = `Alien Artifacts (no Orb)`: 7391 (5 %)
Expansion = `Xeno Invasion (with Invasion)`: 12846 (8 %)
Expansion = `Xeno Invasion (no Invasion)`: 548 (0 %)
Draft variant = `-- Removed option --`: 36 (0 %)
Draft variant = `No draft`: 46266 (30 %)
Draft variant = `Draft 2-3 players`: 109 (0 %)
Draft variant = `Draft 2-5 players`: 25 (0 %)
Draft variant = `Draft 2-6 players`: 1 (0 %)
Draft variant = `-- Option not available --`: 11018 (70 %)
Takeover = `Random`: 11018 (7 %)
Takeover = `Allow takeovers`: 9236 (6 %)
Takeover = `No takeover`: 16818 (11 %)
Takeover = `2-Player Rebel vs. Imperium Takeover Scenario`: 476 (0 %)
Takeover = `-- Option not available --`: 4960 (76 %)
New Worlds = `Disabled`: 4960 (3 %)
New Worlds = `Enabled`: 150335 (97 %)
New Worlds = `-- Option not available --`: 6295 (0 %)
Preset hands = `Off`: 6295 (4 %)
Preset hands = `On (all players)`: 148 (0 %)
Preset hands = `On (just beginners)`: 64 (0 %)
Preset hands = `-- Option not available --`: 1769 (96 %)
Goals = `Off`: 1769 (1 %)
Goals = `On`: 45154 (29 %)
Goals = `-- Option not available --`: 109058 (70 %)
Reuse draft = `Off`: 109058 (70 %)
Reuse draft = `Save this draft for future game`: 57 (0 %)
Reuse draft = `Load draft from previous game`: 26 (0 %)

[Tanjanica]

1: Are the premium versions available to non-premium players if they're the only options for Arena?

2: There are clearly some dedicated Alien Artifacts players who want the Arena version to be the chosen version. However, as shown by the stats for February, it's clear that many more people enjoy playing with all the expansions to the base game (BoW, etc).

3: Is there any way to set up separate Arena games (or even listings on BGA) for the normal version of the game (Base to BoW) and Alien Artifacts / Xeno Invasion, which are clearly completely different games and should probably get their own entries on BGA and as Arena options.

4: By choosing a version which less than 10% of people play (Alien 5% / Xeno 8%), you're really not making Arena attractive for regular Race players who want to play the standard version (Base to BoW).

Just my thoughts. I love Arena games but hate the versions chosen for this game.

[galehar]

1: Are the premium versions available to non-premium players if they're the only options for Arena?

Just as any premium game is available to non-premium players. You cannot create a table but you can join. For Arena, it might mean a bit more time to find a table.

2: There are clearly some dedicated Alien Artifacts players who want the Arena version to be the chosen version. However, as shown by the stats for February, it's clear that many more people enjoy playing with all the expansions to the base game (BoW, etc).

Since I've posted on the group, the number of votes have increased a lot, and at the time of this post, base game is tied with AA. Also, I think many of the AA votes come from players who like variety, not necessarily dedicated AA players. Because we already had BoW, RvI and XI in the Arena.

3: Is there any way to set up separate Arena games (or even listings on BGA) for the normal version of the game (Base to BoW) and Alien Artifacts / Xeno Invasion, which are clearly completely different games and should probably get their own entries on BGA and as Arena options.

I don't see how arc 1 expansions are more normal than arc 2 and arc 3. And no, I don't think having expansion specific Arenas would be a good idea. This might be an opportunity to try something different than what you are used to

4: By choosing a version which less than 10% of people play (Alien 5% / Xeno 8%), you're really not making Arena attractive for regular Race players who want to play the standard version (Base to BoW).

The 8% Xeno also shows that many players don't care that much about the Arena and just play normal games or tournaments with the options they like. Again, I don't know why you're qualifying arc 1 as the standard version. AA is much closer to the base game than BoW anyway.

[AwwYeah]

Hey, this is great to see and very cool stats. How should we vote for a combo of expansions. Like if we wanted gathering storm + imperium + brink?

[galehar]

Hey, this is great to see and very cool stats. How should we vote for a combo of expansions. Like if we wanted gathering storm + imperium + brink?

Then vote for BoW. All arc 1 expansions are cumulative. To play RvI, you need TGS. And to play BoW, you need both RvI and TGS.
It is supported by the rules to play RvI without TGS, but not by BGA (would be quite pointless to support it IMO).
So many TLA...