CCP’s EVE The Second Genesis CCG Review - Part 2

(No Ratings Yet)

Loading ...

Posted by Jim on Sep 10, 2006 97 views

The Goal

Generate income, build ships, destroy your enemies.

Game Setup

Choose a Starbase

Although you can use only one (1) starbase in the game, you can select from at least three (3) versions of the starbase. Your starbase has a standard face that indicates the strength and income of the unit and then it has an upgrade cost. Each version of the starbase has a different upgrade effect associated with the cost. The cost of the upgrade gives you an idea of the power and effect of the upgrade. Starbase upgrades generally come in low, medium, and high cost and you are not constrained as to what you choose. Higher cost upgrades may take a long time to implement so choose carefully.

Choose your Outer Regions

Each player selects exactly three (3) outer regions. While you never have to put a region into play, the regions have beneficial monetary, tactical, and strategic effects and, if you can claim them and keep them, can greatly aid you in your conquest for galactic domination.

Deal Your Playing Hand

Deal a hand of seven (7) cards. Look at them, discard up to seven (7) of these cards, shuffle them in the deck, deal out your hand until you have exactly seven (7) cards. This is a nice touch for those times when you get cards that you may not be able to play for a while and really want to try to get more appropriate cards for your starting hand.

Everybody set? Let’s play.

Game Play

Game play is fairly straightforward:

Collect income or forgo income to draw a card
Draw a card, yes, this would be your 2nd had you forgone income
Play any card in your hand you can afford and desire to play, without violating game or card rules
Initiate travel to other regions/starbases and resolve battle, which continues, with shields reset each cycle until only one player’s ship remain in the area.
Run away screaming like a little girl if you think it will help,

Ship Cards

One of the things that makes EVE an interesting CCG is the Assembly, Duration, and Order aspect of the cards. Simply put, ships will have an assembly time. Larger ships may take up to four (4) turns to assemble. You pay the cost to bring a ship into your Starbase and each turn rotate it to the next assembly point. The turn following assembly point I you can bring it out of your Starbase and bring it into play.

Some ships have special abilities, which are clearly stated on the cards, and a lot of ships have Orders tabs. An order is a special action you ship can take. It might be mining or trading, which increases your income, or it may be in ambush mode, meaning that when enemy ships warp in, you can immediately attack and possibly destroy them. Here’s a quick recap of the type of orders you can give a ship and the effect:

Order	Explanation
Ambush	You can do damage to enemy ships as they warp in
Patrol	You can designate an enemy ship that must target you
Mining	Ships with mining add to your cash balance, depending on what they are mining. It’s important to remember only one (1) ship may mine any single location at a time
Trading	Trading allows you to add cash to your balance.

News Cards

Some News cards may have durations. News cards can either effect a ship, a location, a region, or a player. News cards can be played at any time, as long as you have the cash on hand to fund it. As an example, a news card is played and it forces all ships to leave a region for four (4) turns. Each turn that passes, the owner will rotate the card until it has expired. When it has expired, ships may return to the region. There are news cards that aid you, that hurt your opponent, or that give you breathing space.

Location Cards

Location cards can be played only on regions. While your starbase can accommodate unlimited locations, Outer Regions have and indicator that denotes how many locations they can support. Location cards either increase your cash pool or have a beneficial effect on your forces. An important note about location cards is that some of them have either additional abilities, limitations, or penalties when they come into play. Read the cards carefully.

Outer Regions

Each play starts the game with three (3) outer regions. The play of these cards is optional. Since you must pay a fee to bring them into play, you must make certain you can retain control of the region. Once a region is places, any player can attempt to control it. There is little more frustrating than spending your cash to begin out a region and seeing your opponent be the only one who will benefit from it.

Regions will produce income and have an effect on your offense and defense; so it’s great to get them out and make full use of them. Of course, you can be a little shortsighted and over-protect your regions while leaving your home starbase minimally or unprotected. In this instance look for your opponents to warp in and pop your starbase. In case you did not guess, this is “YOU LOSE” bad.