Star Trek: Ascendancy Review

Star Trek: Ascendancy Review
Intro (00:00); game overview (01:35); final thoughts and review (30:20);
Star Trek: Ascendancy boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1...
by
Gale Force Nine www.gf9.com/
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[@a1investigations433]

You're quickly becoming one of my favorite reviewers.

[@Dracounguis]

Looks similar to a board game version of Star Trek: Birth of the Federation video game from 1999. I loved that game.

[@benlewis3745]

Thanks for the review, been waiting for someone to do this. I can't wait to get a copy myself! Love the reviews thanks and keep it up.

[@DriveThruReview]

Thanks Ben!

[@MikeOney]

Thanks for the video. You're the only one I've seen really try to run through this so far. I agree that this is a very good, thematic intro to 4X games. We've played through once and now that we have gotten (most of) the rules nailed down, I can't wait to give it another go.. Keep up the good work!

[@DriveThruReview]

Thank you Mike!

[@madifinley7018]

Awesome review. That goes without saying but, there, I said it anyway. It's always fascinating to see great reviews that fall on both sides of the scale. I'd love to see a Joel vs Tom debate on the pros and cons of this game. I saw it at Gen Con and wasn't that interested. I'm not the biggest Star Trek fan in the world and I could never get enough people to play it but I think it looks like a heck of a lot of fun.

[@andrewperbegloo6219]

Thanks for making this video, I have seen the expansions and its awesome! this game does have that feel of civilization for sure and one of the better Star Trek games out there! I love the Borg one they came out with and Vulcan!

[@madifinley7018]

I would love to see an update on this one. Did you ever play it with 4 or 5 players? Have you used any of the alternate rules like starting with more resources? Tony Topper of The Secret Cabal suggested taking the upgrade of your choice instead of drawing randomly. Have you played it since this review?

[@DriveThruReview]

I've not played with more than three. The expansions aren't out yet.

[@madifinley7018]

Drive Thru Review Wow. That is a long time to have a game out without these type of expansions. I wouldn't think that does this game any favors.

[@douglaspearson1647]

First up I think your dice are loaded. Just teasing. I have and love Fleet Captains, it is Star Trek in a box and from what I see more so than Ascendancy. I am also a fan of Star Fleet Battles which FC dose seem like a very streamlined SFB with events from TV's & Movies. If you have played both you will see the similarities that are greatly simplified in FC. I think if you are a Star Trek Fan FC is a must. If you like 4X and mildly or not a fan you will like this better.

[@HamburgerRainbow]

Doesn't change your explanation of the rules, but I think the Klingon card you were explaining fleet formation and disbanding on is a special one with no minimum fleet size, it can go down to one ship and not disband. The others have three highlighted spaces to show the limit.

[@DriveThruReview]

IIRC, you are correct. I probably just grabbed the closets fleet card :)

[@akaisamurai]

Great review. I had little interest in the game as it seemed the game was more of a starter set to the full experience with more players and all the expansions coming out but the mechanics were simple enough and I am intrigued. That being said, like Merchants & Marauders the down time might be an issue especially with more than 3players. Good points made and hope to try it soon now.

[@kommodore6691]

The Federation ships are Galaxy class, the Klingon ships are Vor'cha class and the Romulan ships are D'deridex class. Wish there was more Star Trek details in the theme, like different ship types for each side, crew and weapon upgrades from the shows etc. looks a bit generic.

[@hoodaguy]

I like the ships being all the same, personally. It makes it easier to know what's going on at a glance. Different models could become confusing.Also I don't think the crew and weapon upgrades are the point of this game. Those are more tactical additions, which you get in some of the other Star Trek games (especially Attack Wing), while this is more civilization-based.

[@kommodore6691]

Well I mean just more advanced tech trees like other 4X games where you could upgrade phaser and torpedo types, warp engines, or other tech then equip them to your ship types like in Eclipse. And the captains from the shows could be hero ships and crew be planet bonuses etc.

[@MisanthropicPrime]

After playing it several times, I can confidently say that dealing with different ship types would bog down the gameplay. The shield and weapon sliders, plus the unique advancement decks, work great to simulate each civilization's technological progress over a few centuries. This is a macro-scope game, each turn simulating around a decade of time, spanning whole empires not individual ships and characters. Adding a micro-level focus would be clunky and create unnecessary complexity.

[@bgm-1961]

Sounds like you need to play Star Trek Fleet Captains! That's the Star Trek game you're talking about, except it's not a 4X game. It's a sandbox game.

[@kommodore6691]

Mel Primus Yeah I own Fleet Captains, Attack Wing. Will probably still get Ascendancy just as a Star Trek fan collector.

[@hoodaguy]

Are you sure you can warp past opposing ships? I could be wrong, but I thought I read somewhere that you can't unless the owner of the ship allows you to do so.

[@DriveThruReview]

You are correct. I actually have the video annotated for that part :)

[@hoodaguy]

Ah thanks. :) Btw, love your reviews. So thorough and a big help.

[@DriveThruReview]

Thanks Tom!

[@pastorpainter]

Joel, have you played this with 4 or 5? Would love to know your thoughts.

[@DriveThruReview]

I've not unfortunately.

[@Marinealver]

Trade seems nice but I think there should have been more research in the trade agreement.

[@WylliamJudd]

It seems like the ability to form a trade agreement with a player that's behind would go really far in bringing them into the game, and keeping the third player from having a runaway victory. Is 3 production just not as much as it sounds like?

[@DriveThruReview]

That would kind of depend on how the nodes shake out on the board. It could be a godsend if you don't have many around you.

[@thepenskyfile]

Very excited!

[@MrBlef666]

thanks for the review

[@KH-ft4ut]

I hope they make another themed version of this game, it seems really cool. I have nothing against star trek, but neither is it a theme I'm really interested in.

[@sirbobdesign]

big 44 minute Monster!!! very cool. 3.1k hits in 2 days

[@avizueta]

And here we are in the future, the expansions are finally being released

[@DriveThruReview]

Man... took so long! :)

[@PeterNatale1]

I got them and played with the Ferengi expansion yesterday. It's really good

[@DriveThruReview]

Peter Natale nice. Ya I’ve been hearing good things.

[@PeterNatale1]

I really liked playing the Ferengi, it was an interesting twist on the game

[@pastorpainter]

Preordered.

[@Guaulden]

It's weird you can travel that fast with impulse only. I mean, that it's even considered a valid decision to go to another star system without warp.

[@DriveThruReview]

Ya. It's just an abstraction of the time. But, yes on surface it was a double take.

[@MegaBearsFan]

At the scale of the game, it's perfectly reasonable. A single turn in the game is an abstract representation of years -- if not decades. Full impulse is a substantial fraction of the speed of light, which means that it's perfectly reasonable for a ship to be able to travel interstellar distances in the span of a couple game turns. Assuming full impulse is 1/4 the speed of light, a ship could travel from Earth to Alpha Centauri in like 16 years.

[@EyalItsik]

Joel, Tom Vasel said in his review that the game has insane amounts of downtime and that he would never play with a high player count. Your thoughts? :D I'm curious how you two conflict this way about this game, you wanting more and he wanting much less.

[@DriveThruReview]

I did mention the downtime between turns as well. I don't think it's egregious though. When people play a game multiple times, downtime goes away too. I think I mentioned that I wouldn't want to play with five players if they were new players.

[@EyalItsik]

I think you did, too. The reviews are all mixed up in my head now. Although, he said he'd rather see the planet destroyed than play with a high player count :D

[@DriveThruReview]

Hahah! Wow. Ya. I don't feel that way certainly. Downtime is always a tricky thing. I find myself caring what others are doing in this game though, so didn't notice it. In our three player games, the game only lasted about 3 hours anyway. The box says an hour per player.

[@EyalItsik]

Yeah, people react differently to downtime. I just finished a game of 51st State with a new player, who said he hated the game because he had to play a few minutes between each of his turns.

[@Trueflights]

As a fan of Firefly and Xia Legends of a Drift System, I can say that the downtime in this game is very minimal compared to others that I've played. Even with 5 people, I don't think it will be that bad. I do think that allowing all players to do their building phase before moving to the command phase is the way to go to keep people occupied and make the time seem faster though.

[@vikamaurer5281]

this game looks AWESOME

[@Totihno]

I know a lot of people love this game which is great but in my case I feel there is too much randomness in every aspect of the game :/.

[@twentysides]

When I saw that there is a significant chance of a ship just dying while exploring, especially early in the game, I almost stopped watching. That sounds brutally unfair and crippling in the early game. Is it as crushing as it looks?

[@DriveThruReview]

It certainly can be.

[@bgm-1961]

Just as exploring our oceans for the first time during the old age of sailing, ships were lost to hazards, the same is true of course when exploring the deep unknown reaches of space! Very thematic! I like it for that reason. Plus, not unfair at all, as all players face the same odds.

[@Trueflights]

Blindly exploring the unknown can be dangerous. That was one of the things that interested me most about the game. There is actually a sense of risk when going out to explore.

[@TheOldMan-75]

Releasing this game with only 3 races just seems like a really weird choice and feels a little like they are trying grab more money by forcing players to buy the expansions. The base game just seems a little lacking.

[@MisanthropicPrime]

With all the components needed, including a fourth race in the box would have pushed the MSRP far beyond the $100 mark. With even a $100 MSRP being a hard sell, anything beyond that practically guarantees a market failure. The only way they could have had four races in the box and stay at $100 MSRP or less would be to replace all the plastic with chits, which probably also would have been a market failure. No worries though, it's likely the Cardassian expansion will be available around a month after the Base game releases, and the Ferengi a month or two after that.

[@TorIverWilhelmsen]

Well, it's the three dominant factions from TOS; and noone are "forced" to buy expansions. As Mel Primus points out indirectly: It's rather your desire to have more races in the base box that _would_ be forcing people to buy the "expansion"...

[@MrRadialdrift]

its GF9, of course its a cash grab.

[@Trueflights]

No, the others have the right idea. The game plays fine with 3, but could be better with more. Due to all of the components though, having more in the base box would push the MSRP way up and out of the range people are willing to spend. Better off to limit what is in the base game to keep the cost down and allow people who want to expand their games to buy the other stuff later and not force everyone to buy the extras that they might not want or need.