EVE: The Second Genesis Collectible Card Game

EVE: The Second Genesis Collectible Card Game
Game data
publishing company	CCP Games
Publishing year	2006
Art	Trading card game
Teammates	2 and more
Duration	30 - 45 minutes
Age	from 16 years

EVE: The Second Genesis (EVE: TSG for short) was a trading card game by CCP Games based on the space MMORPG EVE Online, also by CCP Games. The game was unveiled at GenCon Indy in August 2006 and officially released the following October. The game consists of a basic core set of 240 cards and an expansion set The Exile .

The game is not officially discontinued, but there is no more development on the game. The official website forwards you to the normal EVE Online page without comment. The forum for the card game has been deleted and is no longer available.

Gameplay

In EVE: The Second Genesis two or more players take on the role of the CEO of an interstellar company and try to destroy the starbase of their competitors. Some special cards also open up alternative victory conditions for the player.

In addition to the star base, the maps also represent other elements such as space regions, asteroids, moons, planets, spaceships, systems in the star base and news. Some of these cards generate income in ISK (game currency) which is saved or spent straight away to bring more cards into play.

In particular, space regions, asteroids, moons and planets change control from one player to the other during the course of the game, whereby the bonuses and penalties are available to the controlling player and not to the actual owner of the card. Together with the special commands for spaceships such as ambush or patrol, this results in a very versatile and strategic game principle and offers many possibilities, especially when you assemble decks yourself.

cards

rarity

Cards exist in four rarity groups: regions (English. Region) common (English. Common), unusual (English. Uncommon) and rare (English. Rare). Regions and rare cards have a rarity of 1:15, uncommon cards are 1: 5, and common cards are 2: 3.

Each card also exists as a so-called 'Foil' card (officially 'Premium Card') which can only be found in the booster packs. The probability of receiving a foil card is 1:30 with the distribution between the rarity groups following the same distribution as with normal cards.

Editions

There is currently only one edition. A first extension is in development. Two extensions per year are planned.

Core Set (2006): Contains 240 cards and offers a balanced selection for all four races in EVE.
The Exiled (2007): Contains 160 cards and was released on August 29, 2007. The theme of the expansion includes pirates, CONCORD (the space police in EVE) and the battle for 'Outer Regions'.

sale

The game was sold through various local stores or online stores. The choices were:

the two starter decks each with two fixed decks of 55 cards
the booster packs of 15 cards
the booster displays with 24 booster packs each

The starter decks are particularly interesting for beginners because they offer a balanced game for relatively little money (comparable to other card games). But they can also be attractive for owners of larger card quantities as they contain a complete set of the otherwise rather rare regions and starbases and also contain a good number of so-called sandwich cards (not overly powerful but useful enough to be used in most decks) .

All versions are no longer distributed.

Game mechanics

Card types

The game includes six different types of cards. Since the game currently only exists in English, the original terms are used here for the sake of simplicity.

Starbase - This is the most important card in the game: If the starbase is destroyed, the player has lost. Each star base also represents a space region and has three attributes: shield strength, income per round and the number of locations that can be played in this space region. Each star base can be upgraded once during the game. This changes her attributes and gives her a special ability.
Outer Region - An outer space region provides the player who controls it with additional income and access to a special ability. Certain locations can only be played in outer regions.
Location - Each location generates a certain basic income for the player who controls the region in which the location is located. In addition, some locations have a mineral value or have a special effect on the region or even the entire game.
Starbase Structure - Each starbase can be improved and modified with additional systems. These facilities change the shield strength or income of the starbase and provide access to special abilities.

Starship - Spaceships make up the bulk of most traditional decks. With them the player conquers and occupies space regions, extracts minerals from locations for additional income and fights other ships and starbases. Each spaceship has a shield strength and an attack strength. Many of them have special abilities or commands that can be used to influence the game.

News - As the only card that can be played during another player's turn, this card type has a special meaning. The effect of a news occurs immediately and can possibly last several rounds.

income

In each round the player receives an income in the game currency ISK. He can spend this again in the same turn to put cards into play or save all or part of it in order to make a larger investment in the following turns.

Income is obtained primarily through the control of regions and the locations in them as well as the mining of minerals and trading with the help of special commands. Furthermore, different cards have special abilities that can produce additional income.

Regions

Regions are an important strategic element of EVE. Because they (together with their abilities and those of their locations) can be conquered, but also lost again, they deserve special attention.

They are also special in the way they are brought into the game. Instead of shuffling them into the deck like the rest of the cards, they form a separate pile from which they can be played selectively.

Commands

Many spaceships are equipped with commands that, when activated, enable the spaceship to perform special functions. Each command also has a command strength that says how good the spaceship is in that function.

Ambush - The ship is ambushing. If the region in which the ship is located is attacked, it can cause damage to the attacking fleet before the actual battle.
Haul - The ship supports allied ships in this region in mining minerals.
Mining - The ship mines minerals from a location and thus generates additional income.
Patrol - The ship patrols the region and can force attacking ships to attack the patrolling ship instead of another.
Trade - The ship trades with fictitious other ships and thereby generates additional income.

Course of the game

construction

Each player places his star base in front of him and forms a face-down pile with his outer regions and his remaining playing cards. Then it is decided which player will start the game.

Each player now draws seven cards from his draw pile and can put back any number of them. Then the draw pile is shuffled again and the players draw seven cards in hand.

Move

Setup phase
1. Duration Step - All news of the which remain in the game for several rounds are reduced in their duration by one. This is indicated by rotating the cards clockwise by 90 ° until the card has reached the duration zero.
2. Assembly Step - All of the player's spaceships that have a construction time are built one step further. Analogous to the news, this is shown with a 90 ° clockwise rotation.
3. Income Step - The player has the choice whether he wants to draw his income or whether he wants to draw a card from the draw pile.
Draw Phase - The player now draws a card from the draw pile. If he has to draw from an empty pile he loses the game.
Management Phase - This is the main phase of the game. Most of the actions take place here. The player can perform the following actions in any amount and order:
- Play hand cards.
- Move ships from one region to another.
- Move ships into or out of the space station dock.
- Play regions.
- Perform abilities from cards.
Battle Phase - When a player has completed the Management Phase and at least one of his spaceships is in an opposing region, a Battle Phase begins. There are so many more combat phases until the control of all regions is clarified.
1. Begin Step - Various skills can be used in this step. Among other things, Kamikaze ships can sacrifice themselves in this step to damage another ship or starbase.
2. Withdraw Step - After ships have caused their damage in an ambush, each player involved may withdraw any number of his ships.
3. Targeting Step - Players can now assign a target to each of their ships to shoot at. Ships can usually be targeted by multiple ships, and some ships can target multiple ships.
4. Damage Dealing Step - All ships now fire at their targets simultaneously. Ships that take more or the same amount of damage as their shield strength are destroyed and end up on the discard pile.
5. Result Step - If the fight takes place in a home region, all surviving attackers will now damage the starbase. If you manage to cause more or the same amount of damage as the starbase shields, they are destroyed and the defender has lost the game. Otherwise, according to the rules, it is decided whether another round of combat has to follow.
End Step - If the player has more than seven cards in hand, he must discard all excess cards and his turn is ended.

Community of players

Particularly about EVE: The Second Genesis is the well-known CCP Games involvement of the gaming community. On the official website, suggestions for new cards or concepts could be submitted and existing rules, cards and mechanisms could be discussed.

play online

A few players even worked on developing a computer program that could have played EVE: The Second Genesis over the Internet. A fan patch has existed for some time that allows online play via a relatively generic program called OCTGN. This could be obtained from the official website along with brief instructions.