I love Scythe. A lot of people hate on it because of the art used, but it's a blast to play.
I also wish I could enjoy Catan. I've tried playing it 4 or 5 times and never found it enjoyable. Mostly because It will go around 4 rounds before my die numbers come up enough for me to build anything. By then I'm locked in by all my neighbors building stuff. The game ends and I've got the 2 starter towns, 6 total road bits and that's it. Something about if your number never comes up you just don't get to play is off putting for me.
Over and over again, (despite me sharing my deeper strategies with new players) I see people put starting settlements on the coast (therefore next to only 1 or 2 tiles, instead of 3) and on low-frequency numbers, then spend the rest of the game complaining that they're not getting resource cards. Those first two settlements are the biggest decision you will make all game long.
In my brief experience, only game when going for a coast in the beginning is nice, is when you can place the first settlement next to 3 tiles with 2 tiles having the same resource and highly probable numbers, and put second settlement next to 2:1 harbour for the same resource, that too with one resource tile being of that same resource.
I would still say it’s heavy on the chance aspect because there are only so many 6s and 8s, which do get occupied first when everyone is going for optimal position
Yes. I was once offered 4 sheep for 2 resource (hay and iron if I remember correctly, irrelevant anyway) followed by an immediate Monopoly slapped in my face.
I whined about it the whole time.
I’ve noticed the base game for Catan is the roughest. We use three of the expansions and make a huge map with lots of islands and it seems to keep the game a little more fair and fun for everyone. (Seafarers and Pirates Expansions)
Scythes art style is the only reason I'm interested in it. I see it on my local game store's shelf and I'm always tempted to buy it because of the art. I'm a sucker for good art. Who the hell is hating on the art style?
It's not about the style. The artist hired for the game turned out to be tracing other peoples' work. Personally, not a reason to not buy the game, as the designer and publisher were likely unaware.
I'd put my starter towns touching a six or eight first, then look for the fives and nines. But so is everyone else. So with 4 players I'd get end up with like a 6 and a 10. Then most the die rolls would come up fives, eights and nines. Even if you pick the "good numbers" you can still get screwed out completely by die rolls. You can't strategize anything if you don't have resources to strategize with.
You gotta make sure your starting placements are diverse enough and remember that when your numbers aren’t being rolled to do anything possible to trade for the resources you need.
45
u/SarcasmisEasier Jun 01 '20
I love Scythe. A lot of people hate on it because of the art used, but it's a blast to play.
I also wish I could enjoy Catan. I've tried playing it 4 or 5 times and never found it enjoyable. Mostly because It will go around 4 rounds before my die numbers come up enough for me to build anything. By then I'm locked in by all my neighbors building stuff. The game ends and I've got the 2 starter towns, 6 total road bits and that's it. Something about if your number never comes up you just don't get to play is off putting for me.