jPlay plays Star Trek: Ascendancy Borg Assimilation - EP1

In this video I start a full playthrough session of "Star Trek: Ascendancy" using the "Borg Assimilation" expansion and of course I am using the solo rules.
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[@Moon920]

Best tutorial video for Ascendancy I've seen, excellent job, thank you!!

[@realjplay]

Thanks, Tony! Learn from my mistakes :-D

[@flipmoviemaker]

Wow, I knew of this game but didn't realize how cool it was. I am looking forward to seeing more.

[@realjplay]

Thanks, really appreciate your comment!

[@OnyersixForLife]

When you revealed the pre-warp civilisation, you should have taken 1 culture token thanks to the Federation' "Explore Strange New Worlds" benefit.

[@realjplay]

Thanks and good catch! Need to bring this back to the table!

[@crasher303]

Thank you, a excellent refresher before taking on the Borg.

[@realjplay]

Glad it was helpful!

[@BoxofDelights]

some neat ideas in this one Markus. Nice demo! Thanks for sharing!

[@realjplay]

Thanks so much, Ricky! Stay tuned :-)

[@Quincy_Morris]

Should have gotten a culture from the pre warp civilization

[@blaineanderson4500]

You have a great grasp of the rules. The strategy you chose in moving toward the Borg instead of away from them will get you in trouble. Try keeping your planets on the other side of Earth so it takes longer for them to get you. Also, weapons are a must have, but it is probably better to save your research for a turn or two so you can buy nodes. It may make you nervous, but you'll get upgrades faster.

[@realjplay]

Thank you! And yes - this is something I figured later too :) Cool analysis and apparently you have played the game against the Borg more often than I did.

[@bookaddict777]

I do not know anything about this game, so I am interested in seeing how it plays. Thanks for the play through, Markus!

[@realjplay]

Thanks, Stasia! It's really a game for Trekkies and/or fans of epic space battles; until the Borg arrived! It may need some tweaks for solo play but the core mechanics are now there. A real coop version would be cool too tough...

[@kwiatech]

Great video. I`am waiting for next parts. Regards from Poland ;)

[@realjplay]

Greetings to Poland! Thanks for watching along but not sure how many episodes there will; everything can be over in the next one :-D

[@austinstephens8673]

When drawing your first Borg Command card it states move cube up to 2 systems, however you stop in the first system. Does discovering/exploring a new system end a cubes turn? Haven't been able to find any answers in rule book.

[@tigerpawdesigns]

In the base game (page 13 - placing new system discs) when someone discovers a 'new' system they have to end their ship movement there (Moving into a newly placed sysystem always ends your movement) - Therefore as the Borg ship 'discovered' a new system it could not go to a second. If there were 2 systems already there then it would move 2 systems and not one or if there was one system already there it would move through that and then create a new second system and stop there.

[@donnyfalkon6012]

Wow, unexpected new interesting mechanism in a game :) that give this game a potential ... and the solo rules ! still wouldn't like to play alone :) more fun and strategy variations

[@realjplay]

Thanks, Donny! The rules as written are somewhat unclear but it provides a nice sandbox for solo or 2-player game. Not sure if I ever wanted to use the Borg with a full 3-5 player game though... should simply try it I guess ;-)

[@PurityThruFire]

I'm really interested in this game. My main gaming buddy is a Star Trek fan too so I think this game would be good.

[@realjplay]

Glad to have you on board, Clinton :)

[@lucianmaximus4741]

Kudos from RunicNeonTelescope!

[@darrenmurphy480]

Two swinging systems connected and then didn't swing anymore .... Better love story then twilight 😂🤣😂 thanks for the video I'm definitely getting the Borg now !!!

[@realjplay]

Haha - thank you :) Personally I really the expansion, even though I have not tried those yet in multiplayer mode :-/

[@paulnolin862]

Facts!!

[@TheDiceman56]

Excellent videos Markus. I love watching all your work. Will you be doing another playthrough of this at all? Would be great to see. Thanks for all your work. Please stay safe.

[@realjplay]

Thanks so much, Steve! Really appreciate your kind comment :) As for this I actually might as they released an updated version of the rules, so it might be worth it having another run! ;)

[@serobification]

Thanks to your great intro video I've bought the game with Borg expansion recently. Following the Borg rules by the letter, I'm wondering why you're rolling the space lane die for the Borg command in 23:40 in your video. The command, and most Borg commands do so, states "... nearest *connected*...". But the Borg aren't connected yet. In my first solo the Borg didn't do anything until I discovered the Transwarp Conduit which connected them to my systems. Now reading the rules by the letter can make you win a solo game always by just not attempting to discover the forth system, because you earn culture from your home system and can turn it into ascendancy in time. What do you think about the meaning of "nearest connected" in Borg commands?

[@realjplay]

Yeah - the rules seem a big ambiguous when you read them literally... I highly recommend you to get the complete rulebook from the Geek, which deals with a lot of those issues. For the most part the game is playable as-is but for some edge-cases it's good that some (way) smarter minds have come up with proper rulings.

[@dthmtlgod]

Great job.

[@realjplay]

Thanks so much, Doug!

[@paulnolin862]

Great series!!

[@realjplay]

Thanks so much, Paul! Definitely learn from my mistakes ;-)

[@parasitial]

i have currently played the game with the borg expansion and was wondering when a cube is activated it says to mark which on is activated by putting a spent borg token on each one, may i as why you haven't done that at all?

[@realjplay]

Because I could remember it ;-) But yes, that's what the tokes are for.

[@stormquiver]

just found your video, well done. I just wanted to point out that when you warped a ship from earth to Janus VI, and then to Dakala. you didn't roll for the hazard for the second ship that landed there.

[@realjplay]

Thanks and good catch :-)

[@Koshea69]

He used 2 warp tokens to bypass the hazard just so he could create the space lane. He never landed a second ship in Janus VI

[@realjplay]

Thanks for sorting this out, Steve!

[@maelmorholt]

hi! so cool finding this video, ´cause I just bought this expansion a few days ago. I found a few things I don´t understand in your play: 1) in your first round you formed a fleet on the Build Phase, and the fleets are formed on the Command Phase via exhausting a command token. So you have 1 less command token on the Command Phase and you shouldn´t take the single ship out of warp. 2) in the Borg´s second turn the Command Card says "Move Cube up to 2 Systems towards nearest CONNECTED player Ship or Fleet..." and you don´t have any Connected ship with the Cube! I just checked all the Command Cards and there is only one that don´t say "connected systems" and that is the "Move Collective" card. So, what is a "Connected System"? It has to be connected with the Transwarp Hub or connected with any other system? Looking forward the next video!!

[@realjplay]

Thanks for your comment and thanks for asking! You can form a fleet during the build phase without spending a command when build 3 or more ships. Regarding your second questions that's one of the things that's discussed heavily about how Borg are moving etc. But in this case the rules are relatively clear - when they don't have somewhere to move they will explore and they will do that on the shortest route to their target. Hope this helps!

[@maelmorholt]

Holy moly!! I didn´t know the build 3 or more ships let got you a fleet rule!! I just missed it when I read the rulebook!! The game speeds a lot with that rule... crap, I´ve been playing it wrong :( Thanks a lot!

[@realjplay]

Haha - I know exactly how you feel! Happens to me all the time :-D Glad I could help ;-)

[@parasitial]

just to clarify the rules, to make a fleet you must spend a command token, or no?

[@realjplay]

When you build enough ships during the build phase you can form a fleet right in the build phase. Later on, yes - you need to spend a command.

[@aldo5925]

Forming a Fleet (Pg 22) - Yes ... a command needs to be exhausted to form a fleet. Also you cannot have more fleets than you have Ascendancy Tokens.

[@Liopot68]

Hello. Very good video! I am considering buying this game, but only for solo play. Do you think it is worth it? Or does it lose a lot of flavour? Thank you.

[@realjplay]

Thank you! If you're willing to accept some rules unclarities and come up with some judgment on your own, I think it's really fun solo. Never played a multiplayer game with the Borgs yet though... from what I hear it can be pure chaos :-D

[@Liopot68]

@@realjplay And can you comment on the solo with Borg vs base game multiplayer? If you had to pick one, which one would you go for? Danke sehr für die Antwort.

[@realjplay]

@@Liopot68 Good question but I definitely prefer multiplayer games with high player interaction. But I am definitely tempted introducing the Borg to my next multiplayer session.

[@bgm-1961]

A great video! Am watching as I'm getting ready to play my first Borg game soon. Anyway, the only rules question I noticed was during the Borg's 2nd Build Phase, you said that the Borg doesn't roll to see if it creates a new cube because a cube is already on the TW Hub disc. I can't find that written in the rules nor on the Borg Console. As far as I can tell by the RAW, you roll every turn, until all cubes are in play. Doesn't matter if a cube is on the disc or not. Also, just curious.... Why do you use all 10 Turn Order cards? Just as the rules say for the core game to use only cards numbered 1-3 (for three players), I'm sure that for a solo game against the Borg that means you would use only the cards numbered "1" and "2". The extra Turn Order cards are included in the box only to enable the optional Turn Order variant found in the back of the core rulebook. That's my understanding anyway. Just seems to be unnecessarily cluttered and cumbersome to include the extra 8 Turn Order cards in your game which serve no purpose, is why I'm curious. Anyway, again, this was a great video! Look forward to getting time to watch the rest.

[@realjplay]

Thanks for your comment! To your first question I interpreted the rules in that way that there can only be ever one Borg Cube on any one space/tile. So if something is there already, you cannot place another one. But I may be wrong :-) I am always playing with the mystery turn order (optional rule), so I am always using more than one turn order card per player, definitely not needed when playing alone against the Borg ;-)

[@tigerpawdesigns]

@@realjplay I noticed you only moved one Federation ship per space lane square - There is no limit to how many ships you can move onto one space lane space (there is even a picture of this on page 18 of the core rulebook.