alternate uxmal wheel in tzolk'in

[fredericG]

we've talked a lot about this in my real-life play group

we all know how tzolk'in is broken. any experienced player know how much the gambit (i.e. placing 3 workers on the uxmal wheel on turn 1) give a huge advantage to the first player, and how useless the uxmal 4 action is (buying a single building with corn).

so we devised a way to renew the gamedlay and give a second life to this great game : redesigning the yellow wheel.

it would ba as follows :
1 : 3 corn = one god (same as is)
2 : buy one building with 3 corn/ressource (just like uxmal 4 but 3 corn instead of 2)
3 : market (like actual uxmal 2)
4 : extra worker
5 : same as is

comments?
any chance the programmer could make version? (though i don't know if a permission is needed by the editors — i guess it would be)

cheers

[Oso]

For change it, BGA needs make the new version "oficial". so if Tzolkin's designers don't wanna change it, so it will not change.

[squarerootofthree]

It's an interesting thought experiment, but I agree with Oso that there's no chance of seeing it end up on here. The bigger hope I have is that we will see the expansion (Tribes and Prophecies). The special tribe abilities and the prophecies really goes a long way to shaking up the dominant strategies of the base game.

And I've actually stopped playing the base game because I found the gameplay too repetitive.

One more note about Uxmal 4. You call it useless but it actually can be a fantastic spot. First off, you get the architecture tech bonuses if you use it (one corn, 2 pts, one less resource) but it also lets you build a very expensive building at a better exchange rate. The spot isn't great for building a wood building, but maybe you build something that costs two stone and two gold. Those are normally the equivalent of 14 corn. But using that spot you can build it for just 8 corn. So it makes more expensive buildings much cheaper.

[fredericG]

@squarerootofthree

yes, i purposefully exagerated in calling uxmal 4 useless, but i find that compared to tikal 4, it's not on par. building a second building, imho, is a much bigger advantage that the one of saving on corn (especially since that other building can give you ressources (ie. with ressource tech 4) that will match the economy, and more.

i do agree with oso that it's unlikely the editors will allow an alternate version to be made, but perhaps they might see BGA as a test lab for preparing a long-overdue "second edition". i also prettymuch stopped playing tzolk'in on BGA because i also find it repetitive. boiteajeux is now my preffered spot, because the tribes & prophecies add so much to the game.

anyways, i'll probably print out an alternate uxmal wheel just to try it irl.

[asd123321]

My fix is the First round, each person only puts 1 down at a time, and get rid of lower corn starting tiles

[Canis Minor]

In my opinion, Uxmal is excellent as it is. The player who goes second has a number of fairly good strategies to catch up with the first at the end of the 1st week. In 2p some unkind setting of dummy spots can spoil this, but it is random, so it may do so to both players, not just one. And also bear in mind that the order of players is known first, before selecting the chips.

Someone has already said that Uxmal 4 is a decent spot. True. It can save you up to 4-6 corn, get you some benefits for a building, including architecture bonuses. So, probably like 5-7 pts. in total plus 4 corn. Palenque 4 is worth 7-10 corn, or 8, should it give wood instead. Yaxchillan 4 gets you 6 pts. with skulls. To get more points for it, you must populate them onto CI, so these are separate worker-turns.

Also, Uxmal 4 has strategic value, as a worker getting close to it can press opponent into making different moves than he was up to (mainly building a given structure, taking the first player marker or accelerating). Not mentioning its worth during last turns, when you sometimes want to hit as many Uxmal 5's as possible, but all that is on the way also counts.

It would be cool, though, to see Prophecies implemented. :D