Is root with better bot any good?: boardgames – Reddit
I’ve never played Root competitively before. My wife is highly sensitive to losing and therefore we only play cooperative games. However, I NEEDED adopt when it came out. The art is just simply too good to pass up. As a result, we immediately ran to the Better Bot Project when we bought it. I personally good it really fun. The creator consistently updates them, coming out with his 5th iterations of some of the factions just a couple of months far as backing the Kickstarter Better Bots, I am holding out for now. They do not have content to show for it yet and the PnP versions being available and constantly being updated make me lean towards just that option. Overall, PnP the boys you find interested and give them a go yourself before committing.
Root – Better Bot Project: First Impressions | Board Game Atlas
Back again with another Brian’s battery review for Root, played solo using the Better Bot Project. The Better Bot Project originated as a print and play AI system to recreate the multiplayer experience of Root in a single player model. The Project was so fantastic and well done that the designers actually incorporated the system into an official expansion for the game. Normally I’m extremely hesitant to use print and play variants. I find that the printing portion never turns out quite right and ends up being distracting as the quality is so poor. I’m also too cheap to actually spend money to have them professionally printed (I also that kind of defeats the purpose). But in this case the game is worth suffering through the distractions. Because It. Is. So. Good. For those unfamiliar with Root: Root is an extremely asymmetrical war game hidden under beautiful, lovable, phenomenal art. The art belies the true nature of the game – it can often be cutthroat and tense; each round is suspenseful. The base game contains 4 factions, all of whom play almost like their own board game. (There are multiple expansion factions for this game but I was only able to acquire the base game)The Marquis de Cats use euro-style engine building to maintain control of the woodlands while the Eyrie uses action programming in their bid to win the forest. The Rebel Woodland Alliance uses Guerilla warfare and ambushes to win support while the Vagabond feels like Link from the Zelda games going on his own adventure amongst it all. Despite how different each factions play, all players each have the same goal: to earn 30 victory points and win control of the woodland. Let’s pounce on in to the review:Component quality (+++): Wow. Just wow. Look at those stunningly cute wooden Meeples. Gaze in wonder at the beautiful art in the cards and on the game board and player boards. The card quality is phenomenal. The cardboard for the tokens is excellent. No complaints at all about the components. Rulebook (+): The rule book is great. It’s done in that newer style where you have a learn to play booklet as well as a rules almanac. This style is great because once you become more familiar with the game you only need to reference The Law of Root and not mess around with the learn to play portions. The paper used for the rulebook is great and the art and examples are fantastic. Box size (-): As much as I love this game I am really annoyed with the size of the box. It’s JUST barely big enough to hold everything and I think that the included insert is worse than just using the box. I actually took my insert out and decided to store the game without it. For all the greatness of this game this is a minor quibble. Faction Asymmetry (+++): The diversity of the factions is incredible. It really feels like they took 4 unique games and mashed them together. And yet it still feels balanced. I can’t imagine how much fun this would be multiplayer because it’s so great solo. Multi-Use Cards (+++): Despite the incredibly varied play styles all factions utilize a common shared resource: cards. Cards are a precious resource and you never feel like you have enough of them. The cards also have multiple uses that lead to agonizing decisions. Do you use that card to craft a powerful ability? Do you save it to use during combat? Or do you spend it for a faction ability? Delicious decision making. Better Bot Project (++): The Project is a stroke of genius. It hits the trifecta of AI abilities: 1. Easy to run. 2. Realistically simulates a human player 3. Challenging. Very well done. Root is phenomenal. I can’t wait to add some of the expansion factions in the future. I also look forward to the day when I can play it multiplayer. An excellent game with an excellent print and play variant.
ROOT: THE CLOCKWORK EXPANSION Review: If … – GameTyrant
Root is a fantastic game. It’s got a lot going for it—Cole Wehrle and Kyle Ferrin created a compelling world with some truly asymmetric and exciting month’s review covered the gameplay and the tabletop experience in-depth and now we’re looking at the expansions that build on the base game and elevate what’s possible in the world of The Clockwork Expansion is a new creation from Leder Games, designed by Benjamin Schmauss for both single-player games and regular competitive play. Benjamin is also the author of the Better Bot Project (BBP) that worked to improve the automated gameplay for those looking to increase the player count or the faction count in a game of Root. So it’s nice to see that Leder Games brought him on to make the project official and to bring the best gameplay to the cause Root is a great game. But the original solo mode was not as effective as what’s available now and the first attempt at automating the Marquise faction was, however, players can operate any of the four “bot” factions, using them to create an exciting solo game or to help support a low-player count you’re looking for something to augment your Root gameplay, this may be the ticket. For the times when you can’t convince four people to sit at the table and engage in woodland war, The Clockwork Expansion might be your ’s meet the players! The Mechanical Marquise 2. 0 has patrols of cats and plans for woodland expansion with a building system ready to take over the forest clearings. It’s the latest Electric Eyrie must manage The Decree, but other players will need to manage the invasive push of the avian AI as it surges into the trees with its warriors. Mr. Blue Sky is getting ready to ’s more terrifying than a group of organized guerrilla-warrior mice? How about an automated one? The Alliance is back and the menacing band of furries is looking to turn sympathy into outrage. Watch out for the Vagabot. The adventuring raccoon has a penchant for items and a flair for danger as he roams across the board. It will be up to the other players to decide if they want to curry favor with the lone wolf or if they want to hunt him down as he quests through the different factions. Four different ways to play. It wouldn’t be Root if that wasn’t the I mentioned earlier, I’ve already reviewed Root, so I don’t feel the need to go into a lot of detail about the game (i. e., phases like Birdsong, Daylight, and Evening or victory-point tracking between the factions)’s important in The Clockwork Expansion is the addition of the bots. For solo play and for additional “bot” players during competitive play, these guys are the cement that will glue the game together and make for a fuller you’ve encountered other automated gameplay mechanics in other games, like Scythe, then this may not be much of a hurdle for you, but other players might be a little surprised at the work involved with managing bots in a tabletop game. It’s a decent amount of additional rules to keep in mind. For gaming groups that frequently have three or four-player sessions, you may not even find this expansion pertinent, but it really does make the game more accessible for solo and low-player count faction has its own game board and deck of cards, and there are clearing target numbers that will go down on the main game board to help with the AI factions. A rulebook designed and written in the same fashion as the base game covers all of the more minute details, but most of the gameplay will be dictated by the faction boards. Whereas the original factions in Root have a distinct order for what moves should be made but no demand that a move must be made, The Clockwork Expansion has players performing actions in an ordered, set fashion. If this condition is met, then this action takes place. Once that action is complete, carry on to the next. And so you get into a rhythm, it’s pretty simple to control these factions in a game. Yes, it would be preferable to have human players to interact with and to remove that extra gameplay mechanic, but it’s definitely better than not playing or playing with fewer factions. I will say that all factions are not created equal in The Clockwork Expansion. Some are trickier than others to get used to and some will just always be a little bit more work. Looking at you, Vagabot. But for the most part, these rules work. And they work well for players that have been trying to go through the original solo mode in Root or for those that have been playing two- and even three-player one of my favorite elements was the inclusion of difficulty settings. You can set a particular faction to any one of four difficulties—Easy, Default, Challenging, and Nightmare—and it affects the tenacity with which that faction will be advancing its goals in the woods. For veteran players, it’s an awesome tool that can further enhance the gameplay. And for players struggling to learn a faction or to compete with other factions, the Easy difficulty makes Root a more approachable game. Benjamin Schmauss was working on the Better Bot Project solo, but the partnership with Leder Games has produced an official set of game components and Root rules that allow for a much broad playing potential. I would not have considered Root as a game for one to two players prior to this. It just didn’t sound exciting and I would not have enjoyed the process of going it solo. So The Clockwork Expansion addresses an issue that many fans of the game have experienced. They want to play. But the game just wasn’t balanced well for that. It makes it possible—and even fun—to play this game alone or with just one other friend. I think that three- and four-player games, with humans and not bots, are still the best, but this is a tabletop addition that makes it a viable alternative when you can’t scrape together that dependable party of isn’t a print-and-play add on. It’s a production that equals the quality of the base game and it’s been brought to retail by Leder Games as a legitimate way to make Root all the box contains four faction boards, decks of cards, and one set of clearing target numbers that are used on all four available Root maps. I would have preferred a box with a thinner profile, given how few components are in the box, but savvy gamers should be able to consolidate the game pieces if they’re wanting to get rid of the extra, of course, I can’t complain about the artwork from Kyle Ferrin. It’s delightful, as in all, a small box, with big potential if you’re the kind of player who has been looking for something to make Root a game that can come off the shelf no matter the player Clockwork Expansion was designed with replay in mind. A game that felt best at four players, good with three players, and awkward with anything less is now able to take over the table with any number of players, human or value is relative to the player considering it. Have the perfect group for Root? Maybe you don’t need this. Wish you could play it more often? This might do the trick. I imagine rules errata will be released in time to address any awkward gameplay or buggy mechanics. And some of the bots run smoother than this is a massive improvement in the unofficial bot rules that have existed since Root released two years ’s not perfect. It’s not something that everything will be interested in. But it’s definitely something that improves the game overall, especially for disappointed solo gamers and the couples who can’t get a game going with more than two is great, but it has limitations. Asymmetric factions and complex gameplay can make low-player counts and solo gameplay a mixed Clockwork Expansion tries to fix that problem, and it largely does. These are the best bots in the business for Root and now players can enjoy the popular title from Leder Games on a more frequent ’s not for everyone, though. The Clockwork Expansion for the gamers who can’t get enough of the riveting wooded world and want more. Sometimes, work and play go together.