So disappointing

[aquilinx]

Tharsis is almost an auto win.

[OwnerOfTheIronThrone]

Tharsis is almost an auto win.

Why is that so? While I agree that tharsis is one of the best corporations in a game with no expansions it is worse than IC, terractor and credicor with corporate era. For 3 players saturn systems seem preferable for me too. What about no corporate era makes it so much better? I have never played without corporate era nor do I wish to try so I probably won't find out myself.

[SpajderDzerusalem]

Tharsis is almost an auto win.

Why is that so? While I agree that tharsis is one of the best corporations in a game with no expansions it is worse than IC, terractor and credicor with corporate era. For 3 players saturn systems seem preferable for me too. What about no corporate era makes it so much better? I have never played without corporate era nor do I wish to try so I probably won't find out myself.

Well, for first, Teractor has corporate era symbol (and so does Saturn Systems), so it is not available

I haven't played either, but you also lose a lot of heavy hitters (Earth Cata, AI Central, Jovian Counters), a lot of science and earth cards are also gone, so I imagine engine is weaker, and terraforming and ground game is much stronger. And for IC a lot of cheap utility events are gone too.

[ChesterDeBester]

In all fairness, playing Ecoline in a deck that is much thinner but still has Deimos Down, GIA, Big Asteroid, Asteroid, Comet and Mining Expedition is not always auto-winning :p

[nanospy]

I just defeated Tharsis in a 3-player game. With Terractor, playing a whopping two earth tags for the whole game. The corporations are not perfectly balanced, but the differences are smaller than the luck factor in the game, and much smaller than the skill difference between players.

Ecoline is average at 2-player, and below average otherwise.

Kingmaking is generally not a major problem in TMars. The interactivity is not high enough. I suppose you could do something blatantly obvious like funding an award that someone else is clearly winning, but I would expect that to incur a site penalty.

[Nekojin]

Kingmaking is generally not a major problem in TMars. The interactivity is not high enough. I suppose you could do something blatantly obvious like funding an award that someone else is clearly winning, but I would expect that to incur a site penalty.

I actually had someone play Kingmaker (actually 2nd place maker) in a recent 3p game. The first player had a profound lead, more than 10 points. With everything done on the final turn, I was 1 vp behind the 2nd place player, and I had enough plants to play a greenery in endgame, while he did not. I played the greenery next to my city, I get 2 VP, I take second place, right? Except the 1st place player deliberately chose to play his greenery in a spot adjacent with the other player (when he had other uncontested places he could play it), giving the other player 1 vp, and bringing him up to a tie on VP. Since he had better money production, he won the tiebreaker.

I should have had second place in that game, but the first-place player had the opportunity to give the 2nd place to the other player, and actively chose to do so. I did not report it.

[almedeme]

Tbh as a relatively strong arena player i was dissapointed to see the same set of rules:

1st: BORED - i think i got top 4-5 and just stopped playing as all games are the same and they are the same as LAST season
2nd: +1 start promotes tharsis and ecoline hard which have adv on the basic map already
3nd: i lose so much points for not going first that there is no motivation to actually play, unless its atleast something new
4th: I believe 3p mode is OK, but it is less competitive than 4p for such mode?
5th: little cards, same cards... it might be ok competition wise, but guys.. for 4 months playing all the same cut version of mars?

Till we meet again in the next arena season! (will be off for another 2 months, because the current arena is meh...)

[RoyalRook]

I don’t agree, I am having far more fun playing none corp era, because it’s a new experience. There is zero fun for me right now if we do corp era, because you and me and couple others will just about winning every single game. 3p is far better than 4p, but 2p is where it at. But 3p is a cool handicap, because it’s harder to win because of king makers. I can lose against two bronze level in a 3p match right? They will have about zero chance in corp era 2p, so I am loving it.

I would hate TM turn into Arc Nova arena, while top players stomp noobs or players left out of the meta all day every day to chase 2k. How sad is that? That’s boring, this is fun and once in a lifetime experience.

Finally, if evenly match in skill, there is no auto win situation, ecoline or not. All the corps in none corp era essentially all can counter each other if played right.

[almedeme]

Tharsis is almost an auto win.

Tharsis/Eco are 95%/90% autowin

[nanospy]

Admittedly 2p is the most competitively suitable for a ranking ladder. But I actually think TMars is a better game at 3p or 4p (while still very good at 2p of course). The cards were balanced for 3-4p, for example, as stated by the designer.

And besides that, I have played many thousands of games of chess, go, and backgammon, which has sated my 2p thirst. Because of this I prefer 3+ for most hobby games. 2p is better than no p, just usually not my first choice.