Harmonies Pulse Discussion

[RivaRain]

The Good: New spatial puzzles and synergy

I love the thinkiness and combo potential of the new creatures. The original Harmonies (while amazing) is for me becoming a bit formulaic. Pulse reinvigorates the game's strategical puzzly-ness.

The Bad: Power creep

The new creatures (once you wrap your head around the spatial requirements) are on average better than the old ones, in terms of tiles-to-points ratio and the utility/combo value of unused tiles.

Half of the new creatures leave behind uninhabited mountains which can be converted into houses or larger mountains - Like Manta Ray, but easier to optimise.

Most of the new habitat requirements are flat, which tends to result in faster games. The base game has a better balance between flat and vertical strategies.

It seems like the designers set the point values of the new creatures a little too high to offset their puzzly-ness (not good, as the puzzly-ness is short-lived).

This has introduced an unfortunate amount of luck to the game. Whoever gets the most Pulse creatures (usually the first player) tends to have a significant advantage.

Notes:

I think Tiger is the new MVP. It combos splendidly with Duck (the OG MVP), Salmon, and Finch (also one of the strongest cards).

I like the art, except for Panda and Axolotl, which I think lack the subtlety and refinement of the previous works of art.

Questions:

What are your favourite new cards? Is there a power creep issue? Do you usually go for Pulse creatures first? Should a future Revised Edition of Harmonies lower some of the new creatures slightly, and boost the unfortunate Koala? Does the expansion art meet the high standard set by the original?

[tbhp]

I must say, those new cards feel very satisfying to complete just by virtue of working with three colours instead of just two. I may be biased because the expansion is new and it's my first time using those cards, but it certainly feels refreshing and like it adds another dimension of thinking compared to the base game.

I only tried piranha and robin so far. The first gives you a lot of points for just two water tiles, especially since it doesn't require you to cut your river like flamingo and ray generally do. The second feels like getting the usual mouse or lizard points without putting in the work for it, since the only requirement is a grass tile and then you can just turn around it and build up on the greys.

So, I tend to agree that the player who gets those cards first will probably be advantaged. On the flip side, it's going to be harder to make those cards fit on your board if you get them later in the game. Still, there could be late game reveals that unexpectedly give more points to your opponent. But that's already true in the base game. It just means that now we have more patterns to plan for and to look out for.

I'm not a fan of the discussions about changing the values that the creators intended and things like that. I mean, by this logic, you could also argue that butterfly should be nerfed or that stag and goat should be buffed. Those things are how the game was made. I'm open to expansions that add new things, but not to rewriting what already exists.

[tbhp]

Also, if you look at the combination of spirits and expansion, it can actually make things quite interesting and decrease the luck factor a bit, because now a weaker spirit can actually a stand a better chance of winning against a stronger spirit, if it manages to get all the right cards.

For example, piranha and robin worked perfectly with stag in the game I played. It offered me a points potential that felt almost on par with having a good butterfly game.

So, one player could get lucky with the draw of spirits, while the other player gets lucky with the draw of expansion cards. It could even things out a little, maybe not in most games, but at least in some of them.

[Yippiedada]

Interesting discussion. Intuitively I’m liking the pulse expansion, it adds many new ways to score and pops of colour.

I have played quite a few solo games with the pulse and some favorites are the piranha, axolotl and robin (mostly side b, without spirits). I haven’t had much chance to use your new MVP, the tiger. And yes, in solos I try to pick them first, my objective is to try them out.

Yes your comment on flat scoring brings to mind some lethal combos (imagine the new chameleon with base frog and base ladybug). I tend to favour longer gameplay but it’s often not possible in competitive mode. The tile-placement loving side of me is yearning yet for a bigger board with this added expansion, with its added complexity and quirky ways to score. A bigger board could also offer a more balanced game between flat and vertical builds, not the popular opinion I believe as I think most harmonies lovers like it for its snappy crunch, short and sweet.

Some of the new cards are quite rewarding to use if picked early in game, the point values are high like you said and if completed with only 2 animal cubes, it’s an added bonus. They are, however harder to incorporate later in game as they are tricolour based and I often find myself counterintuitively tearing apart preconceived formations to score them, or adding a random solo yellow/blue tile somewhere, resulting in a blotchy board and landscape components sub-optimized. So whether there is a power creep remains a question for me, as of now I find it quite a give and take.

There is a lot to explore, and with more games we would work out new combos and might even work out some that make the unfortunate koala our new MVP, heee… ^_^ ok I’m stretching it

[tbhp]

Bigger boards could be interesting for future expansions. It could be a way to make certain spirits stronger without denaturing the scoring values. Kinda like what side B is already doing when you compare it to side A.

Also, longer games with more tall structures would be cool. A small issue I have with the game is that if you want to be competitive, it's usually best to prioritize lower builds. I mean, if you can grab the win in less turns, why not do it? As a result, it's rare that I let games go on for many turns, and I rarely pick the weaker spirits. So, it would be nice to have more diversity in the types of builds and spirits that you can expect to see in major tournament games and the like. I don't think I've ever seen a stag or a goat win a final.