Underwater cities
| Underwater cities | |
|---|---|
| Game data | |
| author | Vladimír Suchý |
| graphic | Uildrim , Milan Vavroň |
| publishing company |
Delicious Games , Rio Grande Games, etc. a. |
| Publishing year | 2018 |
| Art | Strategy game |
| Teammates | 1 to 4 |
| Duration | 80 to 150 minutes |
| Age | from 12 years
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| Awards | |
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Underwater Cities is a board game by game designer Vladimír Suchý for up to four people from 2018. The game first appeared on Delicious Games in the United States and was later distributed internationally through various game publishers.
In 2019 it was nominated for the Swiss Gamers Award and voted first. It reached seventh place at the German Game Award 2019, and it was also nominated for the International Gamers Award and the Portuguese Game Award Jogo do Ano . When Kenner game of the year the game was aufgenommen- on the recommendation list
Theme and equipment
The game is a board game in which the players each build a network of underwater cities and supply them with various facilities. You each use an underwater map on which the network is built, as well as a game board with various action fields, card displays and scoring bars for victory points, rounds and player order. The game combines elements of different game mechanics such as worker placement , resource management and engine building. The winner of the game is the one who, after a fixed number of rounds of 10 rounds and three production phases, reaches the most valuable network and thus the most victory points.
In addition to the game instructions, the game material consists of:
- a double-sided game board with three different colored action areas, display bars for victory points, round indicators and player order as well as several card displays,
- a tile "action copy",
- a lap indicator,
- four player boards, each with one card from the respective player's city network,
- four player overview cards with the construction costs for various structures and the production values of the various structures,
- four scoring cards for the final scoring, one in each player color,
- three decks with playing cards for different eras, including 66 cards for era 1 and 57 cards each for era 2 and 3,
- 25 special cards, 10 of which are worth 3 credits,
- 8 cards with government contracts,
- 16 metropolis tiles, 11 of them blue and 5 brown,
- Credits: currency tokens worth 1, 5 and 10 credits,
- Resource tokens, each with values of 1 and 3 for
- Tang,
- Steel plastic,
- Science, and
- Biomass,
- 4 tiles with a multiplier of 5 and 10 for the resources,
- 46 double-sided tunnel tiles,
- 17 white (non-symbiotic tables) and 13 red (symbiotic tables) city domes,
- 37 farm, desalination plant and laboratory markers each,
- three indicators per player color (black, orange, blue and purple),
- three action tiles each in the four player colors, and
- four cards of personal assistant in the four player colors.
Style of play
Game preparation
At the beginning of the game, the game board is placed in the middle of the table and prepared, with the side selected according to the number of players. One marker per player color is placed on the victory point track, the other two are placed on the display for the turn order and the national union track shown next to it. The round indicator (era indicator) is placed on the position of the first round of the round indicator and the “action copy” tile is placed on the space provided. The cards of the 1st era are shuffled and placed on the playing field as a draw pile, after which each player receives six cards, in front of which he chooses three cards from his hand and places three on the discard pile. Of the special cards with the cost of 3 credits, one is placed face up on the game board, the rest are removed from the game. The special cards with a value of 1 and 2 credits are shuffled and also placed on the playing field as a draw pile, the top card is revealed.
Each player receives a player board and places a starting city on it. He also receives a player overview card, a final scoring card and a “personal assistant” action card, which he places next to his player board, and three action tiles of his color. All resources, systems and city domes are placed around the playing field as a resource pool. Depending on the number of players, the red symbiotic city domes are limited according to the game instructions. All players start with a share capital of 2 credits and one resource each: Tang, Steel Plastic and Science.
Game action
The game is played in rounds, which in turn are grouped into eras. The first era consists of four rounds and the two following eras of three rounds each. At the end of an era there is a production phase and the card sets are exchanged, after the third era and the subsequent production phase there is a final scoring.
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Actions per turn
The active player
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The first round begins with a starting player and the following players play in the order of their seats, this starting order is recorded with the colored player markers on the turn order track. For the second round, the markers are placed in different order on the federal state track and thus indicate the potential order of moves for the next round. This can change in the course of the round if a player moves up in the national union track by taking an appropriate action.
During the action phase, the active players take turns taking turns, in which they each perform an action on the board by placing an action tile of their color and playing a card from their hand. Through the action spaces, players can:
- get new resources,
- Build city domes, connecting tunnels and buildings and upgrade them,
- Move up positions on the federal government track,
- Draw new cards and get special cards, as well
- Activate action cards from your own display.
Through the actions, the players collect resources and gradually expand their network of cities. They set up city domes and supply systems (seaweed farms, desalination systems and laboratories) on their player board and connect the domes via tunnel systems. They can also connect metropolises and activate additional campaigns.
With the placement of the action tile, the player lays out one card. If it is a card with a color identical to the color of the action bar used, it can be used, otherwise it is discarded without any effect. The cards can have different functions:
- Cards with immediate effect (lightning symbol) are activated in any order with the actions triggered by the action tile,
- Action cards (with "A") are laid out and activated once per era when a corresponding action is used,
- Permanent effects (chain symbol) are laid out and activated when a situation described on the card occurs,
- Production cards (gear symbol) are laid out and activated in each production phase, and
- Final scoring cards are displayed and activated in the final scoring. This also includes most of the special cards that have to be paid for with the specified credits when playing.
After each turn the players draw one card, additional cards can be drawn based on actions. Before each new move, players must reduce the number of cards they hold to three. When all players have used their three action tokens and played the corresponding cards, the round ends and the action tokens are collected again. The next turn order is updated according to the state union track.
At the end of an era, the action tiles that were played are collected again and the turn order is adjusted to the national union track. Then there is a production phase in which the various structures and tunnels connected in the network produce resources (seaweed, steel plastic, science, credits and biomass) and victory points. The production depends on the status of the buildings (simple or upgraded) and their number per city dome (one or two buildings of the same type). After production, the cities must be supplied with food, and each player must give up one resource of seaweed or biomass or three life points per city dome. For the start of the new era, the previous era card deck is removed and replaced by the deck of the following era, players get three cards from the new era with their hand and choose three cards with which they want to continue playing in the next era. Era 2 and 3 are played like Era 1, only with different cards and with only three instead of four rounds.
End of game and scoring
The game ends after the production phase at the end of the third era. As in the first two eras, production is carried out and the cities are supplied with food. This is followed by the final scoring according to the scoring card. The players get victory points according to the metropolises connected to their network, the final scoring cards displayed in front of them and the cities and production facilities in their network. Finally, the remaining resources are also converted into victory points. The player who has the most victory points at the end wins the game.
Development and reception
Editions and extensions
The game Underwater Cities was developed by the Czech game designer Vladimír Suchý and appeared in a first English-language edition in 2018 as the first game by the Czech publisher Delicious Games . As a result, international versions of the game were published by various publishers, including a German-language version and a French version, also by Delicious Games in 2019, as well as versions in Spanish (Arrakis Games), Czech (MINDOK), Korean, Russian (Hobby World), Portuguese (Meeple BR Jogos), Polish (Portal Games), Japanese (Suki Games) and Italian (MS Edizioni). A second English-language edition was also published in 2019 by Rio Grande Games for the American market and again by Delicious Games for Europe.
For the introduction in 2018, the mini-expansion Biodome was published as a promo, which consists of a single map and a green city dome and grants the player who first builds a third city dome the advantage of replacing his starting city dome with the green city dome and thus independently of to make a supply after the production phase. In 2019 Underwater Cities: New Discoveries was released with several new modules that can be used in the game.
reception
The game was nominated for the Swiss Gamers Award in 2019 and voted first. It reached seventh place at the German Game Award 2019, and it was also nominated for the International Gamers Award and the Portuguese Game Award Jogo do Ano . When Kenner game of the year the game was aufgenommen- on the recommendation list
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Game instructions Underwater Cities , Delicious Games 2019
- ↑ About us at deliciousgames.org; accessed on December 23, 2019.
- ↑ Versions of Underwater Cities in the board game database BoardGameGeek (English); accessed on December 23, 2019.
- ↑ Underwater Cities: Biodome Promo in the board game database BoardGameGeek (English); accessed on December 23, 2019.
- ↑ Underwater Cities: New Discoveries in the board game database BoardGameGeek (English); accessed on December 23, 2019.
- ↑ Results 2018 for the Swiss Gamers Award ; accessed on December 23, 2019.
- ↑ wing flap also wins the German Games Award 2019 on reich-der-spiele.de; accessed on December 23, 2019.
- ↑ 2019 nominees for the International Gamers Award ; accessed on December 23, 2019.
Web links
- Underwater Cities in the Luding games database
- Underwater Cities in the game database BoardGameGeek (English)