Play by dealing cards to each player?

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  • #5046
    Ben
    Keymaster

    As a weird house rule once in a while, what if Pirates was played like other card games, where you’re dealt a hand of cards that you have to make the best of?

    One player could deal out 3-5 ships to each player, then 3-5 crew, etc.  Then each player would have to make a fleet using what they got up to a point limit, likely ignoring nationality restrictions.  Kinda similar to a sealed pack game but not quite.  Perhaps certain ships and crew would be excluded so luck of the draw didn’t determine the outcome of the game.  Also gives a new meaning to “Shuffling the Deck”.  XD  You could also have a stack of UT’s that you drew from when you explore an island.

    Would you be willing to try a casual game with this fleet building method?

    #5047
    Jean
    Participant

    I’d be down for something like this. I’d probably throw in a lot of those interesting but not usually practical cards. Would make for an interesting game.

    #5048
    Xerecs
    Moderator

    Sure, I’d be down to try something like that. If you wanted to make it a permanent rule or variant, you could get actual cards (like playing cards) that have the name of the ship/crew/UT on them, which would correspond to the actual game piece.

    #5049
    Ed
    Participant

    This is one of my favorite ways to build fleets i also like to have everyone choose 1 ship then the next person does the same ect…

    #5062
    Ben
    Keymaster

    I’d be down for something like this. I’d probably throw in a lot of those interesting but not usually practical cards. Would make for an interesting game.

    I really like that angle on it – it would simultaneously limit the potential for an OP fleet to win the game, and also force people to use things they don’t normally consider. (which is a great way to learn about the game and discover new strategies and tactics)

    If you wanted to make it a permanent rule or variant, you could get actual cards (like playing cards) that have the name of the ship/crew/UT on them, which would correspond to the actual game piece.

    It would be crazy if you distributed crew face down in an “anything goes” game with no point limit, and players could only flip them once the game started and ships got actions.  XD

    This is one of my favorite ways to build fleets i also like to have everyone choose 1 ship then the next person does the same ect…

    I like that too, kind of like the Draft Fleet Challenge at MT.  In the past I allowed my opponent to have their pick of my traveling collection (~50 ships of most of the factions), which resulted in them using better ships than they would have gotten from most packs.  (the Spanish version of the Virtuous Wind became someone’s favorite ship, for example)

    #5115
    Woelf
    Moderator

    Randomly dealing out ships and crew that are equivalent to each other is good way to keep games relatively well-balanced, and would be a good way to get more use out of a lot of the middle-of-the-road stuff that tends to get ignored when flashier things are available. It would be great for groups with newer players and/or where most players don’t have large (or any) collections of their own.

    While it would cut down on stupidly OP setups quite a bit, the downside is that you’d also lose a lot of the creativity that comes from building “thematic” fleets or fleets that rely on crazy (non-OP) combos and strategies that aren’t going to happen in a random draw.

    #5121
    Ben
    Keymaster

    It would be great for groups with newer players and/or where most players don’t have large (or any) collections of their own.

    Great point, and you could even do it as a random giveaway.  Have people keep for their collection whatever they get dealt.

    While it would cut down on stupidly OP setups quite a bit, the downside is that you’d also lose a lot of the creativity that comes from building “thematic” fleets or fleets that rely on crazy (non-OP) combos and strategies that aren’t going to happen in a random draw.

    Indeed; I really love the fleet building process most of the time.  With enough stuff available, you could give each player a lot to choose from, somewhat similar to the Sealed Pack Fleet Challenge (including your preference of basing it on collector’s numbers) or the Draft Fleet Challenge where there are extra points available you don’t need to use (in this case I’m imagining many more, such as 100 points’ worth of stuff dealt to each player for a 40 or 60 point game for example).  However, it wouldn’t eliminate that problem.

    #9750
    Captain Plunder
    Participant

    Ahoy mateys!

    Would using playing cards instead of dice work to determine your rolls? What is the highest you can roll in this game? I’ve only seen people use one die for their roll, so would that mean you would only use aces-sixes and use face cards or jokers for wild roll? The suits could also affect the outcome of your rolls too.

    Hearts = Health

    Diamonds = Wealth

    Clubs = Damage

    Spades = Tactics

    Hmm…

    #9752
    Ben
    Keymaster

    What is the highest you can roll in this game?

    6.

    Never thought of using playing cards, but I’m sure some kind of workable system could be figured out.

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