Author<\/b>: Walter<\/p>\n
at the table<\/b>: Hans, G\u00fcnther, Andrea, Moritz, Peter, Walter<\/p>\n
on the table<\/b>: Outpost, Bluff<\/p>\n What sort of a game is Outpost? Despite the flowery language in the playing instructions Of course there are certain interdependencies between the UCs (just as in Civilization): The production cards represent the profit that a factory produces, that is, the owner It has not yet been established what the optimal order is in which one should bid for or Moritz based his speculations on the scientist UC. This card is not very expensive and G\u00fcnther, who knew the game the best, was able to chalk up a win without any effective Westpark Gamers’ Rating: 6.8<\/p>\n<\/li>\n What seems remarkable is that Moritz, who used to win continually, doesn’t have such <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Game Session Report – 29.01.2003 Deutsche Version Author: Walter at the table: Hans, G\u00fcnther, Andrea, Moritz, Peter, Walter on the table: Outpost, Bluff Outpost To begin at the end: around midnight, when after four hours’ play it was clear who had won, the atmosphere was just as objective and free from aggression as it had … Game Session Report – 29.01.2003<\/span> weiterlesen \n
![\"Outpost](\"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/Ressourcen\/outpost_t.jpg\")
\n
\nTo begin at the end: around midnight, when after four hours’ play it was clear who
\nhad won, the atmosphere was just as objective and free from aggression as it had been at
\nthe beginning. Peter spared us a sample of his collected paradoxes and we were able to
\nget on with the game without any diversions. We rather generously gave the game an
\noverall rating of 6.8.<\/p>\n
\nit is just an ordinary business and auction game. The fact that the scenario has been
\ntransferred to outer space, and that we are made the commanders of a space station,
\ndoesn’t change the basic principle of the game: each player bids for Upgrade Cards
\n(UCs), buys factories with which he makes a profit, and reinvests his income until the
\nfirst player has acquired a certain quantity of the means of production and thus has won
\nthe game.<\/p>\n
\nthey award bonus points for the acquisition of certain additional UCs, they are
\nconditions for buying certain factories or else they reduce the restrictions which each
\nplayer is subject to (eg. the maximum number of workers employed in the factories, or the
\nmaximum number of production cards retained in the hand).<\/p>\n
\ngets one production card per factory – the more expensive the factory, the higher the
\nvalue of the corresponding production card. This value is however not in each case a
\nfixed amount, but is distributed around an average value. If you are lucky you draw
\nproduction cards with high values, if you are unlucky then you don’t. To call this
\nrandom factor a “clever mechanic” (as Mark Green<\/a>
\ndoes) is a very friendly remark. In my opinion the effect is simply somewhat chaotic.<\/p>\n![\"Outpost](\"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/Ressourcen\/outpost_b1.jpg\")
There are some more obstacles in the way of total
\n predictability, eg. not all the UCs are available in any given round of play.
\n Instead this is determined by a throw of the dice in a particular phase of the game.
\n If someone backs the wrong horse when making his game plan, he can quite easily be
\n unable to buy his intended UCs for the duration of several rounds.<\/p>\n
\nbuy the UCs and the factories – and thank heaven for that. If this were the case we could
\nforget the game entirely. As it is each player can still search for his own best winning
\nstrategy. From the start Peter saved up determinedly for the titanium factory. When he
\nwas able to afford it, he was already so far behind the field regarding the amount of his
\nmeans of production that he was in no position to seriously hinder the modest
\nwater-workers. In his analysis<\/a> Brian Bankler confirms that this strategy does not pay off.
\nNevertheless Peter finished in third place.<\/p>\n
\nprovides its owner with an additional production card in each round of play.
\nUnfortunately the scientists very seldom came on to the market in our game. Moritz
\nfinished up among the also-rans, along with the other newcomers Andrea und Walter.<\/p>\n![\"Westpark](\"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/Ressourcen\/outpost_b.jpg\")
Together with G\u00fcnther and Hans I
\n decided upon the more obvious waterworks strategy, that is, we built up our water
\n production facilities for an affordable price and so were able to start earning
\n fairly well fairly quickly. Somehow I managed once to forget to claim a bonus and
\n another time I made a mistake in payment to my own disadvantage. Finally I wasted
\n time by reducing my restrictions as a precautionary measure, instead of
\n concentrating on more valuable factories – just too many mistakes to keep me on the
\n road to victory. Hans however managed to finish in second place.<\/p>\n
\nchallenge. He began with the waterworks, then skipped over the titanium phase and then
\nbefore anyone could blink an eye he was in possession of several New Chemicals. These
\nprovided him with so much income that it was clear he was going to be the winner several
\nrounds before the end. Green’s claim that “the game is remarkably well balanced
\nwith the lead changing hands every turn” does not correspond at all to our
\nexperience. The income increases exponentially and whoever is in the lead can’t be
\ncaught by the others even if they join forces. With no problems G\u00fcnther was able to win
\nthe auction for both the Moon-Bases as soon as the throw of the dice made them available
\nand won the game with 84 Victory Points.<\/p>\n
\n
\nTo complete the evening we played two rounds of Bluff. There were no spectacular details.
\nTwice Hans started the final with an preponderance of 4 vs 1 dices, once against Andrea
\nund once against me. He had no problems to bear the palm.<\/p>\n
\na clear run now that Andrea no longer sits in the position immediately following his.
\nCould it perhaps be that he can influence his wife more easily than the other
\nWestpark-Gamers? We will just have to wait and see!<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n