Online Gaming Podcast

Full Show Notes at http://onlinegamingpodcast.blogspot.com Online Boardgaming News (as of 9/21/2006) Online-Vinci.de.vu - Not as good as Ludagora, but it has a lot of players - All in German BSW - Diamant - Power Grid

Full Show Notes at http://onlinegamingpodcast.blogspot.com Online Boardgaming News (as of 9/6/2006) Ludagora.net -Through the Desert -Hare and Tortoise -Set -Vinci -Medina -Crazy Circus -Capharnaum High Descent

SpielByWeb.com Amun-Re - I am in 3 games of varying players. Nice scans of the board Bus - I haven't played an entire turn, yet. Hacienda - I am not sure I know how to win this game, with land or animals. Hoity Toity - I just cannot buy the art I need! Reef Encounter - I don't get the shrimp? Tikal - The first game, I failed, the second game I kept confusing my color... Wallenstein - I hope to conquer the world soon... Brettspielwelt.de Transamerica - Loved playing this online. I had a lot of fun. San Juan - Could only get a two player game. I mention the bad text rendering and go off on a tangent. Carcasonne - Sans expansions. It played fast with some minor inconviences that may be to represent the real playing experience... Sorry, no online multiplayer browser-based game this week, I ran over, this episode is nearly 50 minutes long!

Boardspace.net Hive - Surround the queen bee Gobblet - Line up four globblets in a row column or diagonally Trax - Make a complete circuit, includes a tile sizer Lines of Action - Get all pieces touching Plateau - Stack of 6 or Capture 6, Hidden pieces Zertz - Collect balls, 4 white or 5 Gray or 6 Black Yinsh - Collect 3 rings by making rows of 5 chips Punct - Connect opposite sides of the board using pieces that can stack in patterns Hex - Connect one side to the other Brettspielwelt.de Caylus - Plays faster online and players are easy to come by Ra - Plays in about 1/2 hour. Watch the Red dots at the top, those are the Ra tiles. Sorry, no online multiplayer browser-based game this week, I ran over, this episode is nearly 45 minutes long!

I am planning on focusing more on the online boardgaming sites and PBEM sites and spacing out the browser-based game reviews. Next week: Boardspace.net, Tribal Wars, and part 1 of BSW

Review of Astro Wars: http://www.astrowars.com Review of Urban Rivals: http://www.urban-rivals.com Review of Yahoo! Games: http://games.yahoo.com Review of MSN Games: http://zone.msn.com Next week: Boardspace.net, Poker RPG, Tribal Wars, and part 1 of BSW My Odeo Channel (odeo/79fe3a0eeba55592)

Review of Imperia Online: http://www.imperiaonline.org 4 Servers in different Eras (not sure what the difference between Eras is) Buildings for each Province Resource Gatherers (Farms, Granary; Quarry, Iron Mine, Lumber mill) Military Resources (Infantry, Ranged, Stables, Seige) Fortress Research Melee Attack, Ranged Attack, Mounted Attack, Seige Attack, Tactics, Centralization, University, Medicine, Armor, Cartography Espionage Attacking Recruiting Workers Trade Alliances Review of Atari Play: http://games.atari.com/playgames/home.jsp Games Available Boggle 2 game modes: Master Boggle (5x5), Boggle (4x4) Battleship 3 game modes: Classic, Volley, Salvo Scrabble Monopoly Options: Auctions, Build Evenly, Collect 2x Salary, Short Game, Collect Fines on Free Parking Yahtzee 3 game modes: Classic, Colored, Triple Sorry Next week: Yahoo! Games and Astro Wars

Review of Travian: 6 servers with different approaches 3 races to play Romans (all around, cavalry-heavy) Can raise or extend a building and resource field simultaneously, High Defense-bonus by wall, Merchants can carry 500 units of resources (speed: 16 fields/hour), Very powerful infantry, average cavalry, development is expensive and takes a long time. Teutons (attackers, aggressive) Plunder bonus: the cranny of enemies only hides 2/3 of its content, The earthwall is almost indestructable, but only gives a minimal defense bonus, Merchants can carry 1000 units of resources (speed: 12 fields/hour), Very cheap and fast trained troops which are excellent plunderers, Weak defense Gauls (defensive, passive, but can be powerful) Speed bonus: Fastest troops in the game, average defense-bonus because of palisade, Merchants can carry 750 units of resources (speed: 24 fields/hour), Cranny is twice as big, Expensive siegeweapons, Cheap settlers Main screens Village Overview (this is where you raise resour

Show #3 delayed one week.

Review of Cyber-Wars, http://www.cyber-wars.com Steep Learning Curve Lots of similar sounding options Options that are important are hidden amongst options that are superfluous Rechargable Statistics: Energy, Capacity, Intent Combat Stats: RAM, CPU Speed, BUS Speed, Harddrive A number of options and a lot of room to advance Premium Package is $5 to buy more energy or increase the regeneration of energy Regeneration gets full every 7 hours or so, which is a time commitment for some casual players Final Grade: C, I found too much of the game to be complicated and not enough advancement Review of Days of Wonder, www.daysofwonder.com Games Available: Ticket to Ride (USA and Europe), Queens Necklace, Gang of Four and Fist of the Dragonstones Java-based, but I found it to be very stable and easy to use Ticket to Ride has a lot of players all the time, the others may be more difficult to play at any given time. Exactly duplicates the boardgame/cardgame (Except with automated scoring and a highlight of destinations

Review of ZeldereX: Tick-based game Every 20 minutes you get more oil, money Economic and military Money buys stuff including military Military is used to attack and gain money Vast research options Improve troops Add offensive weapons, defensive weapons Improve income Lower cost of goods Nice clan structure Easy to recruit and spot teammates Needs improvement in the helping others aspect (being part of a clan doesn't seem to afford any protection or benefit) Basic military and attack setup Put your heroes in charge, put them in a vehicle and hit players close to you in rank. Building and upgrading Certain buildings are very important and others are not. Premium options Buying cash (which I hate!) Additional buildings and research options Review of AsoBrain: Games available: Settlers of Catan (Xplorers) SET! (Match!) Barricade (Roadblock) Carcassonne (Toulouse) Java-based Simple ranking system Active forums with Tournament details Uses ports 1981 - 1998, so firewalls may be an issue Normal long Java load

Online Gaming Podcast Promo - Podcast - Kevin Devine