Ascension: Card game for iPhone/iPad/paper

My game center id is Ulairi.

I play the physical game and I just downloaded the app for my iPhone so I wouldn't mind playing with some goodjers.

thejustinbot wrote:

Green cirlce is Honor earned by killing monsters or playing cards that gain you Honor, such as the Lifebound Initiate.

Blue circle is the total Honor value of all the cards in your deck.

Uncircled star is the Honor of the previous two combined, so you were correct on that.

During play, the number in the star is the Honor a player has gained by killing monsters/playing cards that gain Honor.

You are correct again that the second number in the circle is the number of constructs a player has in play. If you look in the bottom left you see that your number of constructs in play is listed there as well.

The first "fanned out" group of cards is the cards a player has in hand.

Deck highlighted in green is the cards in their draw deck.

Deck in red are the cards in their discard pile.

Thanks so much for looking at my notation and answering my questions. Overall, I feel I had an idea of what I was looking at. This takes me to my next question, though, which is outside of honor points earned for playing a hero, killing a monster-- I take it there is no way to look at the in-game screen and tell who is actually winning (since the total value of all of the cards -- blue circle in my first pic-- isn't displayed anywhere). Is that correct?

And also, thanks again.

Correct - there is no shown tally of card points.

That is the part where a lot of the strategy comes into play. Trying to remember which cards you've bought, which your opponent's have bought and how far ahead you think they are. As you get closer to the end of the game you have to start looking at available cards and go "should I get cards that work with the engine I built or just try and buy the most cost/honor efficient cards I can to try and win." Knowing when or if to switch from one strategy to another can win a close game.

I've been playing solo for awhile, so now I'm ready to get beat up in multi. Feel free to add me as forum name.

Game Center is shoptroll, feel free to beat up on me

thejustinbot wrote:

That is the part where a lot of the strategy comes into play. Trying to remember which cards you've bought, which your opponent's have bought and how far ahead you think they are. As you get closer to the end of the game you have to start looking at available cards and go "should I get cards that work with the engine I built or just try and buy the most cost/honor efficient cards I can to try and win." Knowing when or if to switch from one strategy to another can win a close game.

Amazing finish, you almost doubled my score. I sent an invite for game minus the expansion. If your up for it would like to get one of these going as well as one with the expansion so I can work on my strategy for both.

Yeah, when you get the Mechana Construct + Enlightened card draw going on it can get pretty intense. Those last two turns I drew my entire deck each time.

It was nice to watch, even on the losing side.

So next dumb question, your stats-- these are consistent, right? They don't drop off or anything at sometime and reset do they? I assume not, just thought I lost more games then it is displaying. Also, is it possible to see others' stats?

Some really great games today. I can't remember who it was I beat by 4 today but geesh, what a close game. Also, so far the justunbot is pretty insanely brutal. Again, good games all around!

demonbox wrote:

It was nice to watch, even on the losing side.

So next dumb question, your stats-- these are consistent, right? They don't drop off or anything at sometime and reset do they? I assume not, just thought I lost more games then it is displaying. Also, is it possible to see others' stats?

Stats are consistent and date to before the expansion, but weren't shown then. Can't see others' AFAIK.

demonbox wrote:

Some really great games today. I can't remember who it was I beat by 4 today but geesh, what a close game. Also, so far the justunbot is pretty insanely brutal. Again, good games all around!

Got a couple good games in. Things seem to be turning back your way with the last few though. One day I'll get a Lifebound strategy to work.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
demonbox wrote:

It was nice to watch, even on the losing side.

So next dumb question, your stats-- these are consistent, right? They don't drop off or anything at sometime and reset do they? I assume not, just thought I lost more games then it is displaying. Also, is it possible to see others' stats?

Stats are consistent and date to before the expansion, but weren't shown then. Can't see others' AFAIK.

I was looking at stats wrong at first, and thought some disappeared. Too bad you can't see others' stats. I also wish I could undo my first 7 games or so until I figured out what I was doing. I realized this weekend just how critical the front half of the game is; sadly this is after I enjoyed several heavy losses. Alas, it's still great fun.

Man, it feels good to be playing this game again with real people. I'd played a ton online before the expansion was released and then stopped.

I really love this game, even though the tide has turned for me. When I was around 50 games I was in a solid 50% ratio. That has slipped dramatically. I'm not sure if it's because now I understand the rules better so I'm trying to intellectualize more than simply go with gut, if it's just the ebb and flow of win-loss, or if it's because I picked up the expansion at about this time and it's completely thrown my game off a bit as I figure out the new way the world works. I suspect it's all three, with a bit of focus on the last option.

Still, loving the game.

For any of you I was playing and I timed out on ( a.k.a. forfeited ), I apologize. Work has been hell lately and I haven't been really able to focus and take my turns. I'm just lucky some games were set for a weeks timer

Crag, if you're still up for playing I can start a game with whatever the max is-- otherwise just drop a line when your ready to play again.

Also, I really, really wish the Forfeit button after you end your turn was not so close to the Games List button. I have forfeited several games (including one last night and one tonight) because my thumb was just a bit off.

demonbox wrote:

I really love this game, even though the tide has turned for me. When I was around 50 games I was in a solid 50% ratio. That has slipped dramatically. I'm not sure if it's because now I understand the rules better so I'm trying to intellectualize more than simply go with gut, if it's just the ebb and flow of win-loss, or if it's because I picked up the expansion at about this time and it's completely thrown my game off a bit as I figure out the new way the world works. I suspect it's all three, with a bit of focus on the last option.

Still, loving the game.

I hit that point as well after playing for a little while. I'd learned the game well enough to see strategies, but had to think about them to get them to work. Then I ended up overthinking everything and getting myself into bad situations. Now I know the sets well enough I I can just wing it towards one of 4-5 strategies depending on what is on the table. Though in general I'll admit straight up that the basis of all of them is card draw and sending crappy cards to the void.

Silly double post...so uh...everyone check out Hero Academy as Fedaykin mentioned upthread. I'm terrible at it but it is fun.

demonbox wrote:

I really love this game, even though the tide has turned for me. When I was around 50 games I was in a solid 50% ratio. That has slipped dramatically. I'm not sure if it's because now I understand the rules better so I'm trying to intellectualize more than simply go with gut, if it's just the ebb and flow of win-loss, or if it's because I picked up the expansion at about this time and it's completely thrown my game off a bit as I figure out the new way the world works. I suspect it's all three, with a bit of focus on the last option.

Still, loving the game.

I noticed I started winning against you a little more often lately. I think when I first started playing you it was the other way around. Not sure if that was before you started playing expansion games or not though.

thejustinbot wrote:

Now I know the sets well enough I I can just wing it towards one of 4-5 strategies depending on what is on the table. Though in general I'll admit straight up that the basis of all of them is card draw and sending crappy cards to the void.

I'm finding I have a lot more success lately if I focus on constructs. Not necessarily for their effects, but they usually are some of the higher VP cards in the deck so they're usually worth going out of the way for. Also, they self-filter out of the deck until you're forced to discard which doesn't really slow down a deck that much.

If it looks like the center is streaking Life cards I'll start paying attention to those, but I usually don't get Life cards until I have something that gets me a bonus for them. Although the Raven is usually worth getting early on since it's so easy to guess Apprentice and walk away with 3 VP most of the time.

Otherwise, generally using Void cards to weed out the starting types works well along.

I forgot to mention, Oily and I played an intense game where the final score was 100 to 90. At one point I had seven constructs in play along Oily that was playing a minimum of somewhere between 8-10 cards a hand. An intense match indeed, but I prevailed.

Other than that, I've stopped playing because I sank too much time into the game.

shoptroll wrote:
demonbox wrote:

I really love this game, even though the tide has turned for me. When I was around 50 games I was in a solid 50% ratio. That has slipped dramatically. I'm not sure if it's because now I understand the rules better so I'm trying to intellectualize more than simply go with gut, if it's just the ebb and flow of win-loss, or if it's because I picked up the expansion at about this time and it's completely thrown my game off a bit as I figure out the new way the world works. I suspect it's all three, with a bit of focus on the last option.

Still, loving the game.

I noticed I started winning against you a little more often lately. I think when I first started playing you it was the other way around. Not sure if that was before you started playing expansion games or not though.

thejustinbot wrote:

Now I know the sets well enough I I can just wing it towards one of 4-5 strategies depending on what is on the table. Though in general I'll admit straight up that the basis of all of them is card draw and sending crappy cards to the void.

I'm finding I have a lot more success lately if I focus on constructs. Not necessarily for their effects, but they usually are some of the higher VP cards in the deck so they're usually worth going out of the way for. Also, they self-filter out of the deck until you're forced to discard which doesn't really slow down a deck that much.

If it looks like the center is streaking Life cards I'll start paying attention to those, but I usually don't get Life cards until I have something that gets me a bonus for them. Although the Raven is usually worth getting early on since it's so easy to guess Apprentice and walk away with 3 VP most of the time.

Otherwise, generally using Void cards to weed out the starting types works well along.

The tide has definitely turned.

Also I had my second game (can't recall who competitors were) where the scores were completely tied but I lost. I'm guessing it defaults to # of cards if the scores are otherwise tied. That seems a bit lame.

demonbox wrote:

Also I had my second game (can't recall who competitors were) where the scores were completely tied but I lost. I'm guessing it defaults to # of cards if the scores are otherwise tied. That seems a bit lame.

Dominion uses a similar tie-breaker where it's the number of hands played if there's a tie which seems to benefit the last player if I'm remembering right.

shoptroll wrote:
demonbox wrote:

Also I had my second game (can't recall who competitors were) where the scores were completely tied but I lost. I'm guessing it defaults to # of cards if the scores are otherwise tied. That seems a bit lame.

Dominion uses a similar tie-breaker where it's the number of hands played if there's a tie which seems to benefit the last player if I'm remembering right.

Maybe it's last player, I'm not sure (some of Ascension is obtuse), but twice now I've lost matches I've tied in and I didn't think it was the most eloquent solution whatever the math is. It's not just because I lost both times, either, but specifically because the game allows you enough pace to find a strategy that's actually effective at scoring. Yet, in the end it makes a judgement about which method should be termed best between a tie game. I just feel it should be a win count for both involved, if nothing else.

Again, though, I biased.

Also never played Dominion. I know people like it.

I just bought Ascension yesterday after seeing it recommended everywhere. Looks good so far, but the AI seems very weak: I've beaten it every time from my third game onwards without knowing what I'm doing or really concentrating. Is there a setting I'm missing or something - it seems like the difficulty setting won't toggle to hard mode?*

I was hoping for a decent solo experience as my iPad is wifi-only.

* I'm not saying this to slyly imply my tactical brilliance - it generally takes me ages to pick up strategy games

From what I hear, they've been working on the hard mode AI since the game released.

One of the issues I have with ASCENSION is the fact that there is a lot of "luck of the draw" involved in success. YES, a good player will most likely beat a newbie, but in general I don't think there are too many strategic decisions you can make while playing this game (other than trying to chain constructs and switching your end game towards buying the high VP cards). I am oversimplifying, but not by much.

Have you purchased the RETURN OF THE FALLEN expansion yet? Those cards definitely add a bit more to the base game, including a few new rules that make your tactical decisions a bit more interesting.

This game definitely has some strong luck-based elements. There are definitely strategies you can pursue that will increase your chances of winning but it's still the sort of game where a reasonably astute newbie will sometimes win against a very experienced player due to luck of the draw, I think.

That's not really a bad thing for a game that plays so quickly with two.

I was just about to post that my luck seemed to have run out and I'd lost the next 2 games I Played against the AI. A bit worrying that there's so much luck involved, but I guess that's inherent in card games - you have to play multiple games to even it out.

Zelos wrote:

I was just about to post that my luck seemed to have run out and I'd lost the next 2 games I Played against the AI. A bit worrying that there's so much luck involved, but I guess that's inherent in card games - you have to play multiple games to even it out.

Some card games are a lot more luck-based than others, though. For example, Dominion has less luck than Ascension, because the pool of cards you can draft is always the same for both players.