Makeshift Corporation during Arena play

[Anarchist-Nomad]

The Makeshift Corporation is fun... but basically unbeatable.

Now that the Arena has asymmetric corporations, it would be best to remove Makeshift from the corporate options from next season onwards.

It is fine for a friendly game, but out of place in competitive play.

[kvarclovag]

I agree! Even in a friendly game, we would only play with this company if everyone is with it. Multiple companies are interesting, but it would be better if everyone was with the same company in one game.

[evanrnhall]

Or at least give each player the choice between the same two options?

On the other hand, since you have to win many games to rank highly in Arena, and the corporation choice is random, does it even out over time despite specific games being lopsided?

I don't know how the algorithm for elite points works. If you crush someone using Makeshift do you get fewer points than if you had won while using Universal?

I've never played the physical copy of the game, but in the rule book it looks like you only get one copy of each asymmetric planet and corporation? So is it the game designer's preference that players NOT use the same asymmetric choices within a game? And if so, should we honor that design choice for better or worse?

[Anarchist-Nomad]

Hi there!

I do own a physical copy of Planet Unknown (and am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Supermoon expansion), so I can answer your question:

The game comes with only one copy of each asymmetric planet and corporation, as you surmised.

This could be easily overcome in an electronic version. Alternatively, as you also mentioned, it may be the game designer's preference that players do NOT do this.

I would be okay with allowing multiple electronic copies of the same corporation. However, my original suggestion was even simpler:

All I proposed is a house rule to remove the Makeshift corporation from the options for arena games.

Although corporation choice is random, the overall impact does not even out. The effect on an individual game is obvious to all, I think. Now consider the case where there are three players and only three corporations, distributed randomly each game. Assuming a basic level of familiarity with the game, the player who receives Makeshift will win each game, even if the three competitors have rather different levels of expertise. Over many games, this random distribution leads to each player winning one-third of the games -- entirely masking the difference in skill levels.

This is an illustrative example. The actual impact on the arena is less than this, as Makeshift is one of eight corporations, so it will appear in about 40% of the three-player arena games (rather than the 100% appearance probability in the example above). But the point still stands. When it does appear, the outcome of the game is basically known, because Makeshift is unbeatable.

I will finish by repeating my proposal: For arena play, we should remove Makeshift from the available corporations.

[kvarclovag]

As I wrote before, I agree with you. The other companies and planets are not of the same difficulty. They are all interesting, but it would be better if everyone played the same game in a competition. In the case of the physical copy, this can be easily solved by copying the company boards.

Flux and Makeshift are not included in the Hungarian edition. I think they are not very well tested, and the description of the tech abilities is also more difficult to interpret. In the case of Makeshift, the designers probably did not count on the fact that you can collect more civ cards from each level, since there is a company that has exactly this extra ability.

[Anarchist-Nomad]

Indeed - you and I are in agreement!

So... how do we progress the matter and turn our proposal into positive action?

(I play Planet Unknown regularly, but apparently not enough to be one of the gurus. If you are a guru, can you pass our suggestion on to the form where the next arena format is decided? Thanks!)

[Jellby]

First you need the option to play without Makeshift Corporation to be implemented. If that's a house rule, no matter how sensible it is, you need it to be approved by the publisher/designer of the game, and it still needs to be implemented after. Then it could be activated in Arena if the gurus decide so. The gurus can only choose among the options available for the game.

[kvarclovag]

I'm a guru only in Iwari. Gurus can really only choose from the existing options. But they can suggest symmetrical sides and 3 players, which is much better than the current format. PU is a good game with 2 players, but it's much better with 3-4 players.

Makeshift and Flux are not even included in the Hungarian edition. These are not sufficiently tested companies. We can play on a table so that each player gets the same company if we copy their board. But on BGA this is not possible because there is no option for it, although it would be nice.

[evanrnhall]

Thanks Anarchist, that's helpful context!

And there is precedent for your suggestion in BGA. In Wingspan they have a game option to exclude five specific OP bird cards. So I agree that that's likely a simple and doable option if people are into it.

I was just recently made a guru and just posted the idea in the guru thread to see if there's consensus around the idea. I don't have a strong opinion, but have played with (and lost to ) you and kvarclovag enough to very much respect your assessment.

Regarding number of players per game, I have mixed feelings. I think 2 players and 3 players are both fun but for different reasons. I'm really enjoying the speed of game with 2 players right now, as well as the ability to plan a few turns ahead. Of course, it means losing the ability to mess with opponents by giving them garbage tiles. 4+ players is fun, and interesting to plan and adapt to tiles running out, but feels too slow for Arena. That's my opinion at least.

I am also enjoying asymmetrical corps and planets. Notwithstanding any being OP, I think the variation is okay (with respect to kvarclovag). There's variation in the objectives you're given, the tiles you're dealt... it's just another game variable.

What do people feel about event cards? I played with those in the solo version and it was interesting.

[kvarclovag]

Thank you for taking the suggestion to the guru forum. Please also consider restoring the 3 players. In the case of 2 players, at the end of the game, even though there is calculation, you can get tiles very fortunately or unluckily, and you can't influence either your own or your opponent's options. This is more of a solo puzzle, not a board game. And there are a lot of 2-player arena tournaments on BGA, and very few 3-4-player ones.

Events bring additional randomness to the game, which can be very good or very bad for someone. I wouldn't like to play with events in a tournament. Even so, the goals can be unfortunate and completely contradictory, which essentially immediately gives the neighboring player a 5-point advantage.