It sounds like the Abundance expansion tries to address one of things that made me fall out of love with the base game (apparently after 100 plays on BGA, more than I thought), which is what happens when your draw doesn't intersect well with the race goals. I think it's worth comparing base game Earth to base game Wingspan and Terraforming Mars. Both of them build draw mitigation into their games (a card market in Wingspan, a draft in TM) and while neither assures a player will always get what they need, it makes it much more likely they will be able to say "I can't compete for this goal, but while other players use their opportunity to pursue race goals, I can use mine to do this other valuable thing." In Earth, the designers decided their mitigation would come from players drawing a lot of cards, which often leads to cascading advantages for the advantaged player. In TM, the fact that milestones can only be claimed by a single player, and that both milestones and awards need to be bought, means that it's very reasonable for a player to say "I will only compete for two of these." In Wingspan, the low threshold for qualification for end-of-round goals, as well as the small scoring delta, make it reasonable for a player to direct their efforts elsewhere. In Earth, every fauna you do not complete is a significant penalty. The problem is that in Earth it too often felt that my draw was the limiting factor, and because the goals have a very low opportunity cost, I couldn't create advantages by ignoring them while my opponents pursued them. I'm by no means an expert. I could very well be that I'm mistaken, but that feeling is what kept me from pursuing the game more seriously. Thanks very much for the video. I'm always interested to hear your opinions.
You’re welcome, and thank you for your assessment! I feel the same, and I’m hoping the expansion mitigates even further to make it a more strategic experience.
It sounds like the Abundance expansion tries to address one of things that made me fall out of love with the base game (apparently after 100 plays on BGA, more than I thought), which is what happens when your draw doesn't intersect well with the race goals.
I think it's worth comparing base game Earth to base game Wingspan and Terraforming Mars. Both of them build draw mitigation into their games (a card market in Wingspan, a draft in TM) and while neither assures a player will always get what they need, it makes it much more likely they will be able to say "I can't compete for this goal, but while other players use their opportunity to pursue race goals, I can use mine to do this other valuable thing." In Earth, the designers decided their mitigation would come from players drawing a lot of cards, which often leads to cascading advantages for the advantaged player.
In TM, the fact that milestones can only be claimed by a single player, and that both milestones and awards need to be bought, means that it's very reasonable for a player to say "I will only compete for two of these." In Wingspan, the low threshold for qualification for end-of-round goals, as well as the small scoring delta, make it reasonable for a player to direct their efforts elsewhere. In Earth, every fauna you do not complete is a significant penalty.
The problem is that in Earth it too often felt that my draw was the limiting factor, and because the goals have a very low opportunity cost, I couldn't create advantages by ignoring them while my opponents pursued them.
I'm by no means an expert. I could very well be that I'm mistaken, but that feeling is what kept me from pursuing the game more seriously.
Thanks very much for the video. I'm always interested to hear your opinions.
You’re welcome, and thank you for your assessment! I feel the same, and I’m hoping the expansion mitigates even further to make it a more strategic experience.