Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition | Rahdo's Prototype Thoughts 

Love that you raised funds for indigenous women who are affected by violence. Their voices are so very silent in public discourse, and you're shedding light on it which is so important. Thank you. This is the true definition of being "woke".

"Art is not quite there" that's a really nice way of saying "it uses Getty images...come on" lol

Using the Solo deck in a 2-Player game sounds like a good solution. (Wrote this at 09:15: "In some way it reminds me for the 2-player solution in RftG where you roll an extra die to determine an additional phase which is activated", right before you mentioned it :-) ) Great runthrough as always Rahdo! Will definetly check it out.

Sounds like for a 2 player game they could add a solar phase dice/deck. You would role the dice every few rounds based on the player count. It would raise one of the tracks. Maybe also include an action card representing another player.

Thank you for this final thoughts. It’s spot on. We played two player and a normal game took over 2 hours. We’re gonna try the 2 player co-op version. We didn’t enjoy the game length of a normal 2 player game.

Terraforming Mars: Jaws of the He-Lion

Glad you liked it. It looks great. Waiting on the retail edition here in Oz. Love that it's less mean! Thanks Richard!

Just picked this up and played a solo game and - WOW!! TM and RftG are two of my favorite games, and I agree that the blend of the two works SO well. Was also wondering if you and Jen have had the chance to try the "third dummy player" in a 2p game yet.

Love the (starts 3:21) "That's a nice little colony you built there. Would be a shame if anything happened to it. Here is an asteroid. Boom!" :-))

This has really got me wanting to play TM again 😊

I would love this art in the original game

Just got my KS pledge, roll on the weekend. Re the 2 player and longer game - I haven’t heard this mentioned and haven’t tried, since I always play TM at x3 - how about simply advancing temp and O2 by 2 points for each step? Keep oceans the same. Could be worth a try?

I appreciate your T-shirt. Another great review!

This looks fantastic. My only concern is it'll make Terraforming Mars almost obsolete as this is so much more accessible that it'll be a lot easier to get to the table with my group!

I suspect you're right about having a dummy third player adding a nice feel and trimming the overall time.

Thanks for sharing! Just out of interest, how long (roughly) did you find a 2P game takes?

@Richard: why did Stronghold games remove your video on their Kickstarter campaign page?

Looks interesting and certainly does address a lot of the issues I have with the original game, but with shipping and exchange rate (to Canada) it looks like a pass for me. I’ll look at the retail release though.

Thanks for making me buy another game 😀 Roll for the galaxy, in a 2 player game,, adds that "third player" dice to open another phase and it works great.

I've never understood people saying the original TM was a conflict heavy game. There was so few of those cards and they barely hurt you at all. My wife and I are also very care beary gamers but we never felt TM was mean. I also want to mention how much we enjoy Cartographers which you also wrote off due to the Monster cards that come out. It is so minor and just becomes an obstacle to overcome rather than some crushing event that can ruin someones game. Also, if you want to play it safe, you can just activate the Monster cards using the solo rules so as not to feel like you chose how and where to attack. I vote you give it a try. It is my first game that I'm going to hit 200 plays, hehe. I still love all your content, even if you don't like two of my top five!

Race for the Galaxy or this one? If you could play either one once a week for a whole year, which one would you pick?

3.36 "...all gone", magic words!.

Thanks for your shirt. It's greatly appreciated.

The original Terraforming Mars is my favorite game of all time. I exclusively play with my wife and we just ignore all the effects that remove something from the other player.

Hello! We just finished our first game (2p) and although we loved it, we were hoping for a shorter game, easier to get on the table. As a fan of Roll for the Galaxy, I really liked your idea of a third "dummy" deck! Can you explain us how exactly to use this deck? Thanks in advance and congrats for another great video !

That is great, the changed three things i didnt like: art, take that element, and time.

Love your commentary. I'd argue that BBG ranking isn't on the best game, but the most popular & well received.

Surprised you didn’t mention the cooperative mode mentioned on the Kickstarter! Not that we know much about it yet.

Why did they pull your video off the Kickstarter page?

Rahdo did you ever read the rules for Empires of the Void 2? This review made me think of that game and how you might actually like it. You do have combat with other players but you don't even lose your troops in combat. I believe it is something like the winner gets a point and the loser has to move their forces to an adjacent space. I think it might also have something to do with influence on a planet but I can't remember. At any rate, given how much you like Ryan Lauket games it might be worth checking out.

that art is such a great improvement!

I love race for the galaxy and I REALLY love Terraforming Mars, but I just can't imagine this game being better than either of them. Now, I've watched extensive videos on it but I haven't actually played it yet (obviously). And as much as I respect your opinion, you were never that high on og TM to begin with so it's no surprise you find this lighter version better. Clearly the intention here isn't to replace og Mars. That would be silly and impossible. So I imagine it's meant more as a fun filler game, or light medium that borrows on a successful theme. People can be sceptical of that sort of thing. It's often labelled a cash grab. I think it's just an opportunity to explore more design space on a theme that's recognizable and triggers people's curiosity.

I don't really think that it's longer with fewer players. Think of it this way: you need to develop corporations with cards worth of value/capabilities in heat/plants/etc so you can complete all the goals. The longer you play, the better your corporation gets, the cheaper it is to achieve goals, build new cards, etc... So if you have 4 players with weaker corporations in comparison to 2 players with strong corporations, I think that 2 players would go faster time-wise. However, each player needs to actually "play" the game more within a single session cause you only wait for one other player instead of three other players, before you can go again. But if you like the game a lot, isn't that what you're looking for then? Roughly, in my experience, plays went like this: 2p: ~90 mins, which is ~45 mins per player, you end with an amazingly rich and powerful corporation towards the end 4p: ~120 mins, which is ~30 mins per player, you end with a decent corporation that you want to develop just a bit more before the game is over but it just ends What actually bothers me about TM is a luck of the draw. That doesn't happen often but sometimes the cards you get either don't work with your corporation or you don't get enough of the money-generating cards. And if someone else is lucky to get good cards at a right time, you just can't win, they have it all. Again, this doesn't happen that often but that's a reason why I cool down on TM quite a bit. However, we don't do a draft in this game because of the?... reasons? :P Anyway, thanks a lot for the run-through! Take care :-)

I find that TM escalates so hard that less players adds only a few generations, but I haven't gone below 3 personally and have been in games where it drags on due to no one bothering to advance some track.

The original TM really doesn't have may take-that cards, and they are relatively minor. You could skip the Corporate Era cards, and there'd be very few.

the dice idea is genius

8:19 So why not let the game begin at a higher temperature & oxygen level, in order to simulate that you do not have as far to go in the game?

Yeah, here’s an asteroid, BOOM! 😂😂

If I never try Terraforming Mars, should I get this or the original? I don't really care for Roll for the Galaxy though.

TM only goes on for a long time if you choose to make the game drag on. I can see that for newer players but once you understand the game it's not a long game at all.

I love your shirt!

I like the art i like the gameplay i see but im starting to despise Stronghold enough to want to stop supporting them completely. They are jacking their prices to insane levels, using fomo against their fans and seem to have no shame. From the ludicrous shipping rates to stuff like $25 for 20 promo cards to selling etsy like addons at same or higher price than etsy despite mass production savings...it does not sit well with me. Its basically the CMON approach except Cmon gives tons of stuff for the price you pay while stronghold is clearly aiming to give as little as possible for as much as possible. Good news is they are cutting out scalpers by pretty much doing that for them lol

THAT SHIRT...WHERE DID YOU GET IT?!! I MUST FIND ONE FOR MYSELF.

Maybe it's because I'm a big fan of Terraforming Mars (and Roll for the Galaxy), but I have to disagree on this one. I can't see how the guessing of other players' card choices fits into the game. For this highly strategic game this is far too much of a random component (We didn't terraform mars, 'cause we chose the same card...). I also don't see enough playtime reduction to chose this one over the original. Reducing some of the fun production part, while adding a card resource for a change, keeping all the necessary material... Why? (Btw. one of the expansions added the better player fields to the original.) Sorry, but this looks to me like they're trying to squeeze more money out of an ingenious game. Nevertheless, thank you for this video, it helped me making my decisson. Oh, about those asteriod cards in the original. Just take them out of the deck, for a none-card game, Terraforming Mars has quite a lot of them ;)

roll for the galaxy or this? roll for the galaxy + expansions or this?

TM Ares Expedition not TM Ares Expansion

Hey, you've gotten a copy of Walnut Grove again!

You sometimes have a great idea. The solo deck in a 2p game sounds like an example.

I’m a card game playing a card game acting like a card game…

I'll miss being mean :|

The slooooowwwww start Is the one thing I can’t stand as well.

No take that cards? Just extract all the fun outta the game, why don't ya.

Terraforming Mars is #4, huh. I can see why people like it but 4?

I don't think TM it's better than ON MARS, TM is overrated. But i respect that, I don't buy and play games because of the rate 😏

We LOVE the original game...but we hate being mean, so we totally ignore any mean actions as well as negative points on cards. Love it so much better that way!!! And it does feel like a totally different game at 2 players than at 3. We LOVE 2 player TM best 😊

This card game looks an awful lot like a board game. If I wanted to drag out that much stuff, I'd just play the original game.