Thanks for your input guys. As to some of the specific queries -

First all the take that cards have been watered down and now are mitigatible (if that is a word) by how many leaders you have as well as a dramatic increase in bad auguries and specific counter cards (eg floods and fires can counter each other instead of having a bad effect) so the net effect on playtesting is that the take that cards are nowhere near as dominant as the original 7 Ages. Also populists get rid of disorder as do some artefacts and events as well as money or troops. Losing a T & P gives you money now and you can use that to pay off disorder so there are now lots of way to get rid of disorder.

As to combat, 90% of them are one round affairs against 1 unit that are quick to play. Secondly the few battles that do see major armies facing each other are important as often the loser’s empire is finished so they should have some care involved. Thirdly happy to change it if a better system is presented but so far none has that integrates land air sea and space, with multiple unit types developing over 6000 years that allows all results between pyrric victories and cannae. If someone presents an alternative that does all that better and faster, we’ll jump at it.

As to T & P Mitchell I think you must have misread the new rules in the downloads section of the site. Trade has been dramatically revamped and the loser now gets money (currently equal to the cards received but that might be too much and may be halved). Also the initiator can play up to two cards dramatically increasing the chance of winning (altho this is still being tested and may be scrapped if it is too powerful). Also if two people pick T & P they don’t have to play each other and as you don’t turn over the markers until its your go, you don’t even know who else is going to trade & progress this turn.

We have increased the size of Europe by 10% (5% in both dimensions) and the rules are being edited to make them as clear as possible (they are already massively superior to the original 7 Ages and as they are compatible with them can be played today). If there are specific changes to the rules players would like please post them and I’ll bung them in the rules.

Not too many changes to the rules recently but will post up the latest version today.

Thanks for all your help.

regards
harry

Looking at how to remove disorder from provinces. How can you generate income to build units to then move to remove disorder (since those provinces do not allow units to produce income)?
Now it seems you hit an empire with a fire etc, and the player cannot counter the effects that empire is finished in any real sense to generate income or glory. It seems to make disorder extremely powerful as once hit with this almost impossible to remove, unless a empire is small with lots of units or has enough income saved in the bank.
And if you do use units to remove disorder then you lose a unit.
Seems extremely harsh and sets that empire back at least 2 to 3 turns.

Combat is still too taxing and tedious , if we could use a combat chart, would be quicker.

Trade and progress still very much a all or nothing approach, if both player initiate trade then they are forced to trade with each other and loser gets no benefit for the action. Loser should still progress by one maybe lose the gold generated.

Hope the map makes Europe bigger as to small fall all the counter in the area, last game we had Austria- Hungary, England, Dutch, Scotland, Germans, Sweden and Italy in play

Better definitions on the cards of some of the abilities as some are fairly ambiguous.

I think a little clean up on all the little rules which can be lost as in unit leader abilities, cavalry fighting in woods etc. It does become so much and you keep forgetting.

A cheat sheet for every player would be very handy as well.
.
Read through the draft rules, and it needs be better edited, then currently is, not worried about 10 pages of rules, would rather have 20 pages if it meant better clarity of example, definitions and layout.

I am hoping you have modified Japan. It is too easy for the controlling player to harvest a great deal of glory with liitle effort required to defend itself. The combination of easy glory, no land bridge and no successor state(s) is too much.

>For each issue, which is the more historical? Which is the more fun? If they conflict, which wins?

I admit, I have not read the new rules. Let’s just say that the war in Ukraine shows that the environmental sustainability driven by the environmental organisations active in western Europe has had the opposite effect on the environment than what is good. Much higher dependency on coal and russian oil (so Russia thought they could invade Ukraine with impunity) and also higher environmental costs (wind power makes large concrete holes in virgin nature and kills a lot of birds, a lot). We are also looking at high inflation and possible food shortages. In two years we will know more.
That said.
No, everyone should not lose if it is not in play at the end of the game. It would not be fun, and it would be ahistorical. In fact, maybe whoever played it should maybe lose glory for playing it (I am looking at Germany here, their Energiewende is a total flop, and an expensive one at that and also impacts Germany’s willingness to act against Russia).

Another thought on Environmental Sustainability. Once it is in play – maybe each time a player moves the Climate Clock by not halfing their income – that player loses one glory. Just to make the decision tougher.

Gidday Rob,

thanks for this interesting. We are testing now so it will be intriguing to see what the results are (it’s a classic prisoner’s dilemna situation).

To your questions,

1) the reason the removing disorder is half in the example in 6. removing disorder is because they are playing with temples (option 12) and a temple in an area loses half the income to the church (generating religious points).

2) The card picked after combat in the combat resolution example (page 16) is to see if the elite marker is removed or not as per 4. Resolving conflict with other empires: to wit

“If an empire with an elite marker lost 2 or more units in this conflict (including Pursuit), pick a card from the deck. If its value is less than the number of units lost by the empire in this conflict, remove 1 elite marker. Discard the card.”

As is pointed out in the example, as the French lost 8 units, no matter what card is picked, the French elite marker is lost (the highest value cards are 7s).

regards
harry

First – artifact questions: 1) Social Media should be red – because it stops a nation from ending the game with the internet (as most artifacts that prevent actions are red). 2) Environmental Sustainability – Everyone should lose if the environmental clock runs out and turns the world to desert. Will it get played? 50% of income is pretty hefty – answer is like most in 7 Ages – depends on the circumstances of the empire it would get played on – but for me I would play this artifact on the largest enemy economy so as to slow them down.

Second – rules issues: 1) The Net Income for removing Disorder in civilize is not defined where does the divide by 2 come from – wouldn’t income gained be easier to calculate? (7+7+5) = 19 to remove, a wheat with a 3 city an 8 to remove. 2) The combat example has the elite force (even though it got wiped out) drawing a card after the combat. Could not find anything in the rules where elite markers give this ability.