Coming soon: Ascending Empires Second Edition

Just stumbled upon this, figured it would be of general interest to many of y'all. A quote from one of the Catacombs designers on TOS:

Elzra will be publishing a second edition of Ascending Empires (formal announcement to come). We are working with AE designer Ian Cooper to introduce a number of improvements to the original game. One key component improvement will be the use of neoprene mats instead of the cardboard puzzle pieces.

You can find the link to thread here .

That's great to hear. Ascending Empires is one of my favorite games but the seams in the puzzle pieces can be a pain in the ass and I've always been too lazy to go ahead and build my own board. I'd consider buying it again if the price is right.

Im buying it.

Elzra's a great company. I'm hoping they revamp the artwork with some nifty illustrations and graphic design. This will be great and I'm definitely in.

ooh ooh ooh!

I love the game but I'm always afraid to break out my copy.

charlest wrote: Elzra's a great company. I'm hoping they revamp the artwork with some nifty illustrations and graphic design. This will be great and I'm definitely in.

I'd like to see an Eclipse-esqe tech tree which limits who can get what, and is more diverse.

The game is near perfect. In what way can they improve game play?

A neoprene board? Well you won't have the Space Mountain problem but don't know how much the friction will affect flicking.

To hell with anything Eclipse like in this game. Eclipse is balls. Ascending Empires is one of the best games ever.

man it does not need a more "interesting" tech tree so that beard strokers can spend hours carefully considering their purchase.

It needs more tech options and that’s about it. Not a more in depth tech tree, but more options. I’m bored with the game because I’ve explored every possible choice it has to offer.

I’ve also played it at least 50 times, so there’s that.

I don't think Pete's saying to complicate it (his idea would actually maybe simplify it), but that techs are available randomly in an offer like Eclipse, and you purchase the small tile or whatever so no one else can purchase it.

I love that idea, personally. But that's also my favorite tech tree implementation and a huge reason why I love Eclipse.

repoman wrote: A neoprene board? Well you won't have the Space Mountain problem but don't know how much the friction will affect flicking.

Neoprene can have a super-slippery surface on it. My wife uses it for her quilting work and it's slicky as hell. But -- pricey too. In think she paid $30 for a piece about the size of an Ascending Empires board.

Anything that slows you down getting the big-ass space ship and marauding on the other players is a set-back. I played once, was the first to get a big ship and I became very unpopular very quickly in a very satisfying way. Enjoyed it.

The techs available isn’t really something you have a ton of control over to begin with. It’s largely determined by what color planets you’re closest to when the game begins. It’s random enough. Eclipse is a fine economic game, but all mechanics related to the 4Xs (the reason why I played it) are total fucking garbage and are so bad that designers should be barred from designing in the genre ever again and all copies of Eclipse should be burned. The Kool Aid needs to finally be poured down the drain on this game once and for all.

I’d much rather see Ascending Empires get either a 5th tech tree (which would need to introduce a new colored planet) or something like an alternate version of each tree and you pick either an A or B side for each at the beginning of the game. The new board is great and all, but without adjustment to the techs, it’s a hard sell for me.

I'm curious to see what the improvements are, and how easy they would be to implement in the original edition. If I do feel the need to buy the new edition, hopefully the board layout is the same so I can still use my custom-made board.

I like the fact that the techs are a bit out of your control. I'd prefer that instead of someone just finding one path and always hammering it on every play. The planet arrangement means you can't go in saying "I'm gonna do X", you have to adjust your strategy.

Legomancer wrote: I like the fact that the techs are a bit out of your control. I'd prefer that instead of someone just finding one path and always hammering it on every play. The planet arrangement means you can't go in saying "I'm gonna do X", you have to adjust your strategy.

It’s unique for a lot of reasons, but I’ve always thought that was a big one.