Nucleum - 4p Teaching, Play-through, & Roundtable Discussion by Heavy Cardboard

[@slice9996]

I love the fact that Martin talks through all of his actions. It really does help with understanding the game.

[@rhoddryice5412]

I haven’t started watching yet but I always love watching games with Martin the Elder.

[@NormalTheBand]

I have a rule at my table where I will put up with Analysis Paralysis as long as you are willing to talk through your thought process and engage with the rest of the board. Either fill the dead air and interact with the people waiting on you, or if you don't want to share what you are thinking, take your turn. Martin is an excellent example of someone with the confidence to put themselves out there but also the cunning to consistently do well

[@jdejugones]

The Big four again. It's a pleasure. All of you make that 4 hours isn't a waste of time. Congrats. Please make more videos like that

[@FatherhoodRocks]

Very surprised at the overall negative reaction. The first setup took a little longer, but no more than usual for most games of this weight/component count. The setup tonight took about 15 minutes. I use bags and never bothered with the insert. I would much rather set this up than Barrage. I think it took about 10 minutes to put away. I love barrage but often avoid it as I know what a hassle it will be to set it up. I think the comparisons to Brass and Barrage are apt and the things inspired by it apparent. This game gives me some Lacerda vibes inasmuch as there are often ways to figure out how to accomplish an action when it isn't obvious up front. I've only played it at two players so far so I cannot speak to the length of the game with more. I think it's great and would put it just ahead of Barrage and just behind Brass.

[@sordhacker]

One of my most played games this year and I have only had it a month. All plays at four players except once at two. This one doesn't take much longer than other games we play. It's going to the top of my best games of 2023 for sure.

[@wsiegel9539]

Thanks Gents. I had passed on this one and had the same reservations you found after playing. Like Martin said, I would play almost anything that friends wanted to play, but I can never see myself asking to play this. If I'm going to play a longer setup game, I would rather play Mosaic that has one of the longest setup I can think of.

[@TheMrFrizzy]

Started the video with a huge hype for the game... Well that was until the second recharge, then I started to feel the point salad, useless dragging to the point I don't even want to try it anymore! Thank you, you spared me 70 euros

[@georgeresso6835]

cool game but as martin said you could strip away some of the rules and still have a coherant more streamlined game...ill go one further as with alot of rules heavy games you could take out 1 or 2 aspects of the gameplay and i think the game would still function as intended...

[@mongoosethe]

First play today and I can see how people feel it sits in a weird spot. I do not think it really compares to Brass or Barrage more than the fact that some mechanics from those 2 games make guest reappearances here. But how the actual game plays feels nothing like the two. So I think it's best to just put that comparison behind us and look at this as a systems heavy euro. And as that I find that I liked it a lot and cannot stop thinking about it afterwards and wanting to play it again.

[@Heavycardboard]

That’s totally fair and glad you’re enjoying it so much!👍🏼

[@nicolasdusart3425]

Congrats for your play through videos, they are really good

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Biggest problem with this game is the Analysis Paralysis. You can have your turn planned out, and one move from the player before you, and you have to go into the tank. Not only do you go into the think tank, but you have 50 options to now re-evaluate. When that happens to everyone, on every turn (almost), this game becomes a SLOG. There are very few people in my playgroup that would tolerate the inherent AP in this game.

[@bryanwinston8820]

I like this game decently, and I like the gameplay as much as Brass if not a little more. But the tactical nature of this game, and how the board state changes between your turns can make it drag due to AP. And holy crap until you zoomed in I didn't know what that art was and I've played it 5 times!!!

[@ob1quixote]

Thanks for this because a game that at first glance looks like "Brass plus Barrage times cube rails" definitely made me interested. Glad to know it's not really that, and that the production isn't up to snuff, before I starting seriously looking for it.

[@AvguardianGaming]

We picked up a copy at BGG CON; I played about half the game and immediately said to my wife, "this is my favorite game of 2023". Then we finished the game, and I got even more excited about it. I can definitely see the game might drag at 4p, but I would happily play this again at 2p. As another commenter said, you have to focus on Electrifying cities and not get distracted by some of the others. The action selection is fantastic. I will say my wife and I aren't prone to AP so your experience might differ.

[@thereelaristotle]

Seems like a typical really slick Luciani action selection mechanism...muddled to death with all the typical bloat and complexity of a Turczi design. Turczi just seemingly designs games that are overly complex and cumbersome to play that work better at lower (or solo) player counts. I say this as a fan of Imperium, which you'd be insane to play with 3+. And good heavens look at Voidfall, good lord -- you might need 3 hours to set that up. Madness. These games are focused on their systems, moreso than the other players. I think that fits well in a lot of solo/two player games because its a solitaire experience, where the games presence has to fill in for other people. However if you're trying to reinvent Brass or Cube Rails, you need to keep the rules lean so that players can actually focus on playing against each other, instead of playing against the game.

[@AndreFonseca0]

@32:35 why was Derek(Teal) able to build a mine there without any connection?

[@michaelcyr1620]

If you have nothing on the board, you can build anywhere.

[@bryansanda3724]

I'm amazed that I'm the first commenter at 5:30 Wednesday morning, and I'm sorry you guys didn't have a better time. I'm leaning more on the side of Edward and Derek regarding rules complexity (or lack thereof, compared to On Mars or Weather Machine) and the parallel I'm drawing to Barrage is: you have to energize in order to do well. Everything else needs to help you do that, and I think there are multiple ways to skin that cat (contracts, tech, etc.) But unfortunately, as you mentioned in the roundtable, there are just too many quality of life issues (setup and teardown, fragile components, table space) and the sharp divide between an enjoyable 3-player and a miserable 4-player. I thought this was going to be the next great game, considering the pedigree of the designers and publishers, and I think I'm one of many gamers who are disappointed. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the stream, and I value your insights. Rock on!

[@djtarquin]

Just at the first turn, the time taken would have driven me insane. Not sure if it is "teaching" the game or just massive AP.

[@xahpookx]

I love the action selection in this game. Managing your hands of tiles and playing them to your player board vs building rails with them is really really great and fun and interesting. Everything else about the game was meh at best. They managed to make your little tech tree boring, even. Was a real let down for me personally.

[@elqord.1118]

Love the honest take on this!

[@ryanpost1155]

Did Edward put himself on the 14 star spot even though he had 12 stars? Seems how I saw it, if so not the real winner! Edit: I guess he could have played for 2 stars on that last turn so could still have won. But to be clear the 14 spot and the 12 spot are not the same thing - they were different end of game conditions so you needed 14.

[@mccrispy]

3:39 to 3:42 while Derek's microphone was disconnected, there was a very noticeable drop in sound level across the three remaining mics. Any idea why that happened and how it could be avoided in future?

[@mccrispy]

What really interested me about this game was the player board tracks and action selection mechanisms with the recharge. All the rest of the game seems uninteresting. Martin hit it on the head for me when he said (paraphrasing) "take all the 'stuff' out". To Shrey's point about the art. It has echoes of Power Grid to me.

[@stevewithington1787]

My wife and I played this back in March. It’s game of the year for me (just beating out Horseless Carriage (which would probably have won if there had been a two player mode) and Hegemony). The core of the game, which is the action selection, gives such crunchy decisions in a very simple way. I also think the dumbed down network application makes it an easier teach than Brass IMO. The elephant in the room for me is the artwork, which is painfully bad IMO. The player boards and tiles are ok, and I get they’re trying to give it a steampunk vibe, but the board is an absolute mess, and I hate the box cover. The artwork make it look like came out 10+ years ago. I would have loved to see what Ian O’Toole would have done with this.

[@elqord.1118]

I agree. They somehow managed to make every part of this game absolutely hideous!

[@stevewithington1787]

@@coltonbeatty6117 The Weather Machine board would tell me otherwise.

[@matthews1507]

Comparing this unfavorably to Concordia and similar is hilarious to me. Why have a steak when you can have a meat slurry that's been run through a blender instead? Much easier to digest.

[@kamilkuklo4225]

It's nowhere near Brass or Barrage. Too long, themeless, ugly and not really fun. Action selection is interesting but not enough to justify potential purchase.

[@DTeazee]

i'm glad i didnt get this game. It doesnt look particularly appealing, too cartoony, the colours are too garish, and it takes up too much space. It seems too long for what it should be. People say its Brass + Barrage, but to be honest, if i want brass or barrage, i'll play brass or barrage. those are amazing games and combining amazing games doesnt necessarily make the result the same or better, in fact often worse, because those games are so good did not require adding any other mechanics.