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Negative Opinions on Eclipse?

HethalosHethalos
edited December 2014 in Board Games
Does anyone else have a negative or even lukewarm opinion of Eclipse? It sucks having a minority viewpoint.
Post edited by Hethalos on

Comments

  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    I don't like how it steals my friends for 6 hours at a time. :P
  • HethalosHethalos
    George Patches said:

    I don't like how it steals my friends for 6 hours at a time. :P

    And you don't play with them because...
  • MATATATMATATAT
    I thought you meant this Eclipse which is just annoying to use.
  • RymRym
    The game is easily played out if you actually play it with any frequency (as are all similar wargame-like political games).
  • AndrewAndrew
    The best way to win is to have everyone else team up, close yourself off, and win via economic victories while they fight over the middle.

    I guarantee you'll beat people like Rym and Scott ;)
  • HethalosHethalos
    MATATAT said:

    I thought you meant this Eclipse which is just annoying to use.

    Nah. I hyper-linked "Eclipse" in my OP to remove any ambiguity. :)

  • HethalosHethalos
    Rym said:

    The game is easily played out if you actually play it with any frequency (as are all similar wargame-like political games).

    What do you mean by easily played out? Are you referring to the fact the game is sometimes on "autopilot"? I'm curious because I find Eclipse quite shallow compared to some of the other board games out there.

  • HethalosHethalos
    Andrew said:

    The best way to win is to have everyone else team up, close yourself off, and win via economic victories while they fight over the middle.

    I guarantee you'll beat people like Rym and Scott ;)

    Yep. I've read session reports where the person who's off others' radars win.
  • TheWhaleSharkTheWhaleShark
    Rym said:

    The game is easily played out if you actually play it with any frequency (as are all similar wargame-like political games).

    But it's also long enough that playing it out is difficult to achieve.

    I have yet to play out Glory to Rome, though, after I-lost-count games.
  • RymRym
    Hethalos said:


    What do you mean by easily played out?

    Play it more than a few times and there's nothing interesting left to explore. Settlers is played out when you no longer have to think. Same deal.
  • pencepence
    Explore III early, get discovery tiles.

    Fight early, get 4s.

    Once you get bored play Eridani for hardmode.
  • NuriNuri
    It takes too fucking long and too much space and has too many bits to fiddle with! >:U

    All reasons why Pete loves it.
  • HethalosHethalos
    Rym said:

    Play it more than a few times and there's nothing interesting left to explore. Settlers is played out when you no longer have to think. Same deal.

    Right. I played over 40+ games of Eclipse and it is definitely gets stale. In any case, why the fuck is Eclipse still in the top 10 of Board Game Geek? There are so many games which are far deeper and better.


  • HethalosHethalos
    pence said:

    Explore III early, get discovery tiles.

    Fight early, get 4s.

    Once you get bored play Eridani for hardmode.

    Not only that, but sector tiles containing one Ancient are almost always better than unguarded sectors. There's an early game build sequence that allows you to take a sector guarded by one ancient with a 93% success rate.
  • HethalosHethalos
    Nuri said:

    It takes too fucking long and too much space and has too many bits to fiddle with! >:U

    All reasons why Pete loves it.

    The setup time is also long.
  • NuriNuri
    Hethalos said:

    Nuri said:

    It takes too fucking long and too much space and has too many bits to fiddle with! >:U

    All reasons why Pete loves it.

    The setup time is also long.
    Because it has too many bits. Fucking bits, man.

  • CremlianCremlian
    I assume most people have not played 40+ games of Eclipse? Is probably the reason. I still love the game but I've played it probably around 5 times and only explored a few win conditions.
  • TheWhaleSharkTheWhaleShark
    Hethalos said:

    Rym said:

    Play it more than a few times and there's nothing interesting left to explore. Settlers is played out when you no longer have to think. Same deal.

    Right. I played over 40+ games of Eclipse and it is definitely gets stale. In any case, why the fuck is Eclipse still in the top 10 of Board Game Geek? There are so many games which are far deeper and better.


    Why is Heady Topper the best beer on planet Earth according to beer nerds? Because it's what the community loves.

  • Anthony HemanAnthony Heman
    I still enjoy it after 100+ games. I assume people are playing with the expansion at this point? Maybe not with all the extra mini-expansions.

    Most of the complaints I have are not applicable to me exactly, but with how many fiddly bits there are to learn to get a player up to reasonable speed. Science is probably the biggest one. I've thought about what it would take to make the total amount of memory knowledge you use lower. Something like replacing the "tech board" with cards that include the rule information/text for the technologies. The same goes for discovery tiles.

    I thought most people's complaints were with regard to the uncontrollable randomness aspects (which is not a negative to me in this context). I'm surprised someone thinks it's "played out". I guess in some context both of those would contribute to each other in the sense that some decisions you can make that might even be the "right" decision can just randomly fuck you, but that hasn't really bothered me.

    Then again, I'm also big on role playing games, so having my game dictated to me by the randomness/dice rolls/other players doesn't irk me too much.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    Hethalos said:

    George Patches said:

    I don't like how it steals my friends for 6 hours at a time. :P

    And you don't play with them because...
    Because my ADHD can't standing sitting around for an hour before we even start the game. And also because they don't have the patience to teach me at this point. :P
    Nuri said:

    Hethalos said:

    Nuri said:

    It takes too fucking long and too much space and has too many bits to fiddle with! >:U

    All reasons why Pete loves it.

    The setup time is also long.
    Because it has too many bits. Fucking bits, man.

  • SWATrousSWATrous
    I havn't played it nearly enough, but, it does seem shallow. And also it seems like a game that is really a sprint race to victory type game, slowed down by an empty promise of exploration and civilization building.

    For all the bits and pieces and stuff I'd expect dozens of epic battles, the ability for players to be controlling dozens of worlds, making moves to control sectors of space and creating monopolies of certain minerals.

    Such a game Eclipse is not. A few decisive battles, a bit of bartering with neighbors, a lack of surprise or suspense (oh look that player has like 6 massive ships and I have 1 gunboat, I'm so boned in a couple turns.)

    Apparently I just should stick to Civ 5 or something, but, Eclipse felt like putting a lot of effort in for but a little foreplay.

    It's still got cool battles and elements and all that: just the pace of the game doesn't seem to align with what I want out of a game of such complexity.
  • Anthony HemanAnthony Heman
    I have a suggestion. You can take it or leave it, obviously.

    Once you know the rules, play faster. Just make decisions.

    I feel like it probably helps me enjoy it more. The game is much more fun (for me at least) when you can actually get in and out in two hours.
  • jabrams007jabrams007
    I enjoy the game, but I think there are better 4X games out there. Two that immediately come to mind are Clash of Cultures, which is even better now that the expansion with specific civilizations came out, and Hegemonic, which is a more Euro-y version of Eclipse meets Dominant Species.
  • HethalosHethalos
    jabrams007 said:

    I enjoy the game, but I think there are better 4X games out there. Two that immediately come to mind are Clash of Cultures, which is even better now that the expansion with specific civilizations came out, and Hegemonic, which is a more Euro-y version of Eclipse meets Dominant Species.

    I played Hegemonic. I love it!
  • SuperPichuSuperPichu
    Visual Studio is better.
  • theknoxinatortheknoxinator
    SuperPichu said:

    IntelliJ is better.

  • Jack DraigoJack Draigo
    It can't be all that great because I'm not playing it.
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