Lautapelit.fi Eclipse: 2nd Dawn for the Galaxy

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You may need to use this action if you go on a wild exploring spree and then later need to manipulate exactly which tiles you control and can afford. I love complex games, but I know not everyone can get into them, however once you explain a few of the game concepts Eclipse Second Dawn is actually shocking easy to learn and play! A confrontation of the superpowers seems inevitable—only the outcome of the galactic conflict remains to be seen.

As wonderfully utilitarian as the trays are for tracking your resources, I do not like how sometimes the sliders that you use for keeping stats of your gold, materials and science are stubborn and do not want to fit in their slot. This new edition features new components and thoughtfully revised content, incorporating material from former expansions to create the best possible updated version of the game. It comes down to personal preference at the end of the day, and I recognise that my perfection is another player’s boredom. At the end of the 8 th round victory points are tallied up based on a number of different things such as territory controlled, tech track progress etc.You can choose not to place it if what you draw isn’t quite what you’re looking for but you don’t get to draw another (there are exceptions based on your race).

Despite its flaws, Eclipse 2nd dawn is the more approachable format for players that fills that particular space epic itch without having your hair turn gray during a game.We don’t mind duelling games where the whole point is to attack your opponent, but we both hate the feeling of the other person stomping on our carefully constructed plans in a resource-management style game.

Having now played each faction at least once, I’ve found that my tableau of technologies, ship upgrades, and territories tends to look fairly similar no matter what civilization I chose at the start. I didn’t see this problem AS MUCH in higher play count games but that aspect of randomness wasn’t all that fun for us. There’s very little diplomacy in Eclipse (save for the Ambassadors if one elects to include them in higher-player count games) and the VP system is weakened by the RNG effect of pulling-chits-from-the-bag despite an uncontested battle victory (this mechanic also promotes early aggression to try maximize your statistical chances of getting the rarer 3 and 4 point VP tokens). Love the exploring, the ship blueprint plans and how you can try completely different ship parts and strategies.

At the start of play, only the galaxy center tile and tiles for the players' respective home stars are laid.

And although the pacing starts the experience with little to no confrontation, by the time the end of the game comes, there is the potential for a gloriously climatic battle. If you’re concentrating on tech and exploration and suddenly you find a monster fleet hoving into view off your capital it can be pretty dispiriting, likewise with the “winner takes all” aspect to the space battles. Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy (henceforth simply referred to as Eclipse) retools the original space-faring 4X game. There is always a random assortment of tech tiles available since they are always blind drawn from a bag at the start of every round so it is pretty important to get first dibs on these. These include six distinct civilizations with specific strengths and weaknesses, or the “default” Terran civilization on the back of each species’ board.These are small facedown tiles that are added to certain exploration tiles that are placed and collected when someone happens to explore a tile. I bought and played my first few games of Eclipse: Second Dawn in January 2021, which means that I have only been able to play it with one other person: my wife. Combat is resolved at the end of each round in any sector with more than one civilization present, and usually involves throwing truckloads of colorful dice until one side is obliterated. Many times you will be exploring and find a tile that is already inhabited by some “Ancients” or “Guardians”. Each player with have their own tray and lid which have practical functions for tracking certain stats within the game.