Eminent Domain

[Phage]

Has anyone played this deck building board game? Kind of like a mix of dominion/ascension, but in SPAAACE. I've been told it's like a streamlined Race for the Galaxy with less luck, but I wouldn't know.

From my fairly limited experience, it seems that rushing red planet technologies is really strong. Rushing fertile techs seems good too. I'm not really sure how to properly play the produce/trade game in order to end the game before the research players go nuts.

 

[Ulminati]

AKA: Glory to the Galaxy. AKA: Race for Rome

Eminent Domain is a kickstarter game from 2011 that succeeded its $20k kickstarter and produced a highly polished and pretty successful game in the end. It essentially combines the mechanics of Glory to Rome and Race for the Galaxy, shakes them up a bit and polishes them to a mirror shine.

It's a card game (with some plastic and wood tokens) that combines role selection a la puerto rico where you pick between a number of different special abilities every turn with deckbuilding reminiscent of race for the galaxy or dominion. the rules are simple and easy to teach, downtime is nearly nonexistent, it's easy to set up and playtime is pretty quick. There are 5 main kinds of cards that serve dual purpose as actions and "roles". You draw a hand of these at the start of your turn, play some of them as actions. The remainder can be used to boost a role. For example, if you picked the "survey" role that allows you to draw planet cards from the stack, look at them and keep one, additional survey cards will allow you to pick additional cards to choose from. You need to balance gaining additional cards of the roles you want to focus on with trimming out your deck (typically through research) to remove bloat. Boosting also means you need to decide whether or not you want to play your cards as actions for an immediate effect, or hoard them for boosting whichever role you intend to lead. Furthermore, when a role is chosen by another player, you can elect to "follow" it, gaining a similar but decreased benefit (similar to puerto ricos role cards). This keeps downtime down, since you need to keep an eye out for what the other players are specializing in to realize which cards you can hang on to to boost a follower role.

All in all it's a really nice filler game that doesn't cost a fortune. It scales well between 2 and 4 players. The game I've had have usually not been decided until the very last turn, keeping it a tense affair. The only real downsides are the lack of player interaction (It's in many ways a race-to-most-victory-points style game like Dominion or Race for the Galaxy) and the relatively simple rules can make the game feel a bit samey after a while.

All in all it's a great filler for hardcoare boardgamers yet still simple enough to entertain casual players and family. As a kickback fille game to be taken out every once in a while between more complex games, it's a gem. It's also a shining example of a kickstarter-funded game done right.

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/68425/eminent-domain

 

[SuicideBunny]

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/eminent-domain.74365/

 

[Ulminati]

Ah, missed that. Probably because someone posted half a dozen threads going "Has anyone played game X?" within a timespan of 2 hours and I decided "fuck that, he isn't even trying".

 

[Phage]

=(

i posted like 5 and i was serious about them all!

 

[Ulminati]

Yeah, well, consider this an answer to your topic that actually provides people with enough information to get an idea what the game is about

I wonder where the developer got his supplies. The resource discs and spaceships are identical to the ones used in Eclipse.

 

[Phage]

I was more curious if anyone had played the game than trying to introduce people to it.

Have you figured out how to win via produce/trade? Reseach bros always win in my group (I personally like I rush scorched earth policy)

 

[Ulminati]

Dunno. I usually go for Warfare/Tech or Colonize/Survey strategies depending on how the first couple of turns go. But I've only played the game a handful of times. I'll see if I can round up some BROs for a game or two this weekend and try to go for a produce/trade victor. I'd probably have to go pretty heavy survey to make sure I got the good nuggets though, then trim out survey in favour of colonize halfway through.

Regardless, I think it's a good idea to have OP in these threads at least contain a little basic info on the game as well as a link or something for people to follow, unless we're takling about a household name like monopoly or risk. It helps give people an idea of the game if they're casual boardgamers and not rabid collectors.

to that end, here's a nice little review of Eminent Domain if people are interested in it.
Intro @ 0:00, Component overview @1:32, Game walkthrough @4:47, final thoughts @17:37

 

[Malakal]

I am playing a lot of Race for the Galaxy at work (the PC version) and have to ask: is this as much solitaire as RftG? Because player interaction is nearly non existent in that...

 

[Ulminati]

Well, me and some BROs got to talking on teh ICQs and decided its been too long since we last gamed. Looks like Friday's game night at my place. We'll most likely be playing Eminent Domain, Chaos in the Old World or Smallworld Underground. If there's an interest here and my RL BROs don't mind I can take pics of a game or two and write up an AAR

Phage
I think the only way to win a produce/trade is to draw some early fertile/colonize worlds, then trim everything but research/produce out of your deck and rush terraforming/genetic engineering followed by 2 advanced planets into diverse markets. That should give you a disgustingly efficient influence pump since stacked research can make your deck lean as fuck. the main problem is getting started, since you won't have room for much explore/colonize/warfare.

An alternative would be to go warfare/tech. Capture 2 advanced planets, max tech until you secure weapon emporium/specialization, then trim your deck into warfare/trade and sell your fighters.

The real problem with produce/trade seems to be that it starts out slowly. By the time your get your influence engine up and running, the game's likely almost over. I guess it could be a pretty strong strategy in 3p extended or if people seem to be picking different piles all over the place early so the game might stretch on. I guess I'd mainly focus on teching up for a bit until I got my first planet or two explored, then pick either military or passive colonization paths.

 

[Malakal]

Well, me and some BROs got to talking on teh ICQs and decided its been too long since we last gamed. Looks like Friday's game night at my place. We'll most likely be playing Eminent Domain, Chaos in the Old World or Smallworld Underground. If there's an interest here and my RL BROs don't mind I can take pics of a game or two and write up an AAR

AAR would be cool, pics not really necessary if you and your bros object to showing your unholy abominations of a face to the world.

 

[hoverdog]

Well, me and some BROs got to talking on teh ICQs and decided its been too long since we last gamed. Looks like Friday's game night at my place. We'll most likely be playing Eminent Domain, Chaos in the Old World or Smallworld Underground. If there's an interest here and my RL BROs don't mind I can take pics of a game or two and write up an AAR

AAR would be cool, pics not really necessary if you and your bros object to showing your unholy abominations of a face to the world.

 

[Ulminati]

I regret that I have but one Brofist to give.

 

[Ulminati]

Also, Phage, I've been poking around try ng to figure out how to go about running a produce/trade strategy in preparation for ED friday. I came up with these 2 threads on BGG:
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/753076/advanced-strategy-roles
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/769279/need-help-on-the-proper-way-of-setting-up-a-produc

They're both pretty good reads.

 

[Destroid]

I wonder where the developer got his supplies. The resource discs and spaceships are identical to the ones used in Eclipse.

Standard parts from Chinese manufacturers I'd expect, although its a bit crappy that Eclipse doesn't have unique bits considering it's very high price tag. Have you tried Rex yet Ulminati?

 

[Ulminati]

If you're looking to tag me, you need to prefix the username with an @, Destroid.

The price tag isn't too bad imo. The cardboard bits - scarce as they are are very sturdy and the cards themselves are of a very high quality.

I haven't tried Rex, no. The consesnsus when I've asked around seems to be that it's not quite as good as dune. I'm waiting for the days to get shorter and the weather to get worse so I've got a good excuse to sit inside and mutilate cardboard again. The print&play fanmade dune still looks utterly gorgeous. Although the only way I'm roping 5 people into playing it with me afterwards with all expansions is probably going to be by making dinner.