Universal Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer [Dreamscape expansion]

I wonder which is the better way to improve for a beginner, by being beaten black and blue online or playing practice matches offline.

 

Practice offline is good, but still you need to learn the strategies somewhere. There are a number of hints scattered all over this thread and BGG and you may find links to some blogs. I think the official forum offers many good advices.

If you don't mind learning from the experts here (you-know-who), losing from them helps (that is another reason why we need chat) -- well don't ask me, I lose about 90% of the time, the remaining wins are either from forfeits and never > 5 points, which I consider is sheer luck.

 

I see. Thankses

I must say that while the game plays really well as a realtime online game (other players can see every move I make, etc, and some side-by-side comparisons with a friend of mine has shown us that moves propagate *extremely* quickly), playing it in a normal asynchronous fashion is VERY clunky and inconvenient, since EVERY move includes starting up the game again, loggin in to the online servers, and selecting the active game.

Playdeck, will Ascension eventually support multiplayer, and (more importantly) bring us directly into a match from the associated push notification?

This is a standard for the VAST majority of asynchronous games, for very good reasons, and I am surprised to see one of the most popular async hardcore titles for iOS does not supprt this.

 

I have to strongly disagree on this. I've played this game for a good while and it's certainly worth more than the $5 spent. heck, the physical copy is about 30 I believe and if I could play people in person I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

I bought the game at $5, I bought if for a friend last week for $5 and don't regret it one bit. the only thing this sale did was that I'm able to gift it to more people now. I have nightfall and while I haven't fully gotten into the game, this game is worth way more than the really low price of $5. with the .99 cent sale, it's just a no-brainer



and to the person asking about multitasking, I felt the same, but as it has even said, the game loads so fast, it really becomes a nonissue. even games that support multitasking take a lil while to load the move and I feel this game loads up incredibly fast so it almost matches other games in that sense.


so to anyone picking up this game, congrats and know there's a good online community for this. I've found that TA regulars are the best to play, but I've certainly found some good opponents using random matchups as well.

 

They implemented multitasking in their game Nightfall, so I imagine they'll update Ascension for it as well, but it doesn't help with online play as much as you might think. You switch back to the game quickly, but it still takes you back to the title screen and then you have to wait for Gamecenter to connect. I think it saves a little time, but not as much as you'd think it would. It does work great for offline play, though.

If you are playing a single online game it can be a bit cumbersome, but if you have multiple games going at once, it doesn't seem so bad because you launch the game and then have turns in many games to play.

Also this game has been worth *way* more than $5 to me. It's my second most played game (first most played is Disc Drivin'). You will get your money's worth. I wouldn't worry about it. I ended up buying the real version as well, then Return of the Fallen and I just got Storm of Souls. I love this game.

 

I'll get this tonight. Sometimes I have a problem with getting sufficiently into a game like this because of the learning curve. What is the best way to learn?

I know that with Hero Academy, an asynch game which I'm huge into, the learning curve is now pretty steep and it can really help to have someone explain boneheaded mistakes by chat as you play. Does this game allow for chatting with submitted turns?

 

there's no chat but it's probably easier to understand than something like, say, UNO ... that is to say, the learning curve is pretty flat.

just play the tutorial and some matches vs AI.
the actual mechanics are not at all difficult to understand or figure out.
because it has it's own terminology describing card types and point values, you have to learn those ... but all in all this is about as simple as you get for these types of card games.

you'll, of course, take longer to perfect your own strategy ... but learning how to play is pretty effortless.


here are the physical rules:
http://www.ascensiongame.com/howtoplay/item/how-to-play

 

Unfortunately they do not have chat in their games, at least not yet. However as far as deck building games go, this is one of the easier ones to learn.

 

I would say the learning curve is rather easy when compared with the other iOS card games out there (Nightfall being on the opposite spectrum IMO). The tutorial is top notch and gives a good walk through of the basic commands and functions. There are two levels of AI, a beginner can beat the first level, once you can beat the higher level AI regularly you'll be ready for multiplayer
Unfortunately there is no chat function at this time (the one glaring omission in an otherwise extremely polished game) but I hope it'll be implemented soon. This is most played asynchronous game to date, and perhaps most played ios game of all time...it's that good!

 

From Gary Weis on the BGG iOS blog comments,

Rat King!!!!

 

Anyone know if the developer has expressed intentions for an iPad 3 retina update?

 

Id like to know this too, would be perfect then - read cards without having to double tap

Just bought this, anyone up for a game? My name is skarmachild.Don't know how to add people tho.

 

Yes. The Storm of Souls update will include support for the iPad retina display.

 

I scratch this piece out of the Official Forum, I guess it is good for newbie and/or noob like me:

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Via Alex Brown (on BGG), who is one of the best Ascension strategists I've read. He's also one hell of a player, a fact I know quite well since he's beaten me mercilessly quite a few times on iOS.

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Managing the centre row is about minimising opportunities for your opponents.

A good illustration of these principles is Runic Lycanthrope. Haughty observers have been known to claim this card is strictly better than Mystic. Using the term ‘strictly better’ has always invited rebuttal! What the cognoscenti fail to realise is that Runic Lycanthrope is often worse than Mystic. This is all due to the invisible ability Runic Lycanthrope has that could read ‘when this card is acquired, give your opponent a new card to acquire/defeat’.

Every card in the centre row has this text, and until the final play of the game this ability presents important repercussions. Could that next card be Avatar of the Fallen? Could it be a dangerous Mechana Construct? Could it leave honor points open ready to be claimed by a power-hungry opponent? Does it leave Arbiter on the table on the second turn? These are all game-winning opportunities for your opponents, and you need to weigh up whether your play is going to be worth those risks.

Of course, you probably can’t win at Ascension without buying cards from the centre row. Often what you buy will be worth the probability of turning over a more dangerous card. Once you have a working valuation of the cards, this is the other critical skill you need to master to be a consistent winner at Ascension. For those who think the game lacks skill, every turn is a battleground for small advantages, and for every turn you can deny an opponent a net honour win, you are improving your chances of victory.

Managing the centre row is also about maximising your own opportunities.

A skill crucial to success at Ascension is precision. In my opinion this is where the competitive Magic influence shines brightest. Magic has its share of luck, but the best tournament players are able to precisely execute turns over and over even when complete accuracy seems unnecessary. Nine times out of ten it won’t matter that you bought Wolf Shaman before Arha Initiate, but that one time the Burrower Mark II you wanted in the endgame turns up could be all the difference.

Good Ascension players execute turns to maximise their opportunities. When they have to buy cards from the centre row, they buy the cheaper cards first or they rationalise acquisitions they have to make. Good players don’t put their entire hand on the table before they have to. Good players understand that automatically buying Tormented Soul or Samael’s Trickster when you have three power is a bad move. Good players manage the multiple decision points in a turn and accumulate tiny advantages turn after turn.

Precision turn-play is what separates Ascension from many of the other deckbuilders. Ascension is a game of efficiency, whereas games like Dominion are about creativity. It’s much easier to have fun in a creative game, because you are trying to be innovative. When you make mistakes in Ascension, there’s nowhere to hide; when your opponent capitalises, their edge can balloon into a runaway freight train of a lead. Managing the centre row to maximise your own opportunities through precise play is such a subtle skill that many disparaging commentators haven’t seemed to notice it!

Managing the centre row is about assessing when the row will peak.

Ascension has been derided as a game without strategy. Glass half-full detractors patronise Ascension as tactical. Personally I’m not sure whether a meaningful consensus on the practical differences in these terms exists anymore. What I do know is that while the game-state is always changing, at some point in the early to middle game you will need to make an assessment about how the row will peak.

By peaking I want to introduce what I consider an advanced concept, even if some of the more self-regarding gamers think it obvious. Something many players don’t seem to understand is that you it is next-to-impossible to win without defeating the bigger monsters more often than your opponent. Yggdrasil Staff is the only card from the base game that allows you to simply hit Cultists and drain the honor pool. If you can’t influence the honor pool, you are going to fall too far behind, as players defeating monsters just score more points than those acquiring cards. I’m sure in later sets the balance will shift, but for now an important line is drawn.

Peaking is when the game ceases to value cards for their abilities more than it does for their honour. In the early game that Snapdragon can be amazing, but it loses its lustre pretty quickly. Lots of players like to avoid Arha Templar and its clunkiness, but pretty soon it becomes great value for runes. In my first article I taught you how tempo alters card valuations, but the corollary is to understand whether this centre row requires you to take Runes, Power or a flexible combination of both.

If you are hellbent on acquiring all of the big sixes and sevens, you aren’t trying to win at Ascension. What you should be doing is assessing how much time you have to go after a few big cards that will give you better prospects of defeating monsters than your opponents. This is why card-drawers and deck-thinners are not the be-all and end-all; they are great early on, but in the middle game the humble Avatar Golem or Voidthirster will be needed to take your greater deck access and convert it into honour. I will go out on a limb and say Ascension is generally such a quick game that you only ever need one Arbiter of the Precipice. Flames welcome!

In Ascension you spend the early game improving your access to your better cards or you increase the average power or runes per card. Both of these methods can win; the second-level AI is a good example of the second option being viable (I think people lose to it much more than they like to admit). When you look at the centre row in the early game you need to decide what is going to stick around. Have we seen several Seer of the Forked Path or Mistake of Creation? Best to stay flexible. Is the centre row clogged with Cetra, Hedron Cannon and Master Dhartha? Buy Mystics for four. Are you staring at four different Tyrants? Value power.

Ascension is a game with many interesting decisions to make. Understanding the deck makeup will help. Playing your turn precisely will help. Evaluating the centre row will help. Of course, sometimes you will get blown out by an opponent 3-5ing into Wolf Shaman, Flytrap Witch and get buried under optimal Apprentice draws, but for the most part there are umpteen decision points in a fifteen minute game of Ascension, you just haven’t noticed them yet!

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I am not the author nor the guy named. Save it onto your favorite online doc and/or print it out and read it every time before you go to toilet and/or sleep.

Hope it helps.

I read that some even manage to achieve >1000 victory points towards the end but fortunately I have yet to meet them...

 

Just like any game with some depth, slang and gambits develop. I wonder what is a tablet dance? Just for feeding curiosity only cause I read it would not work against sober human, some how.

P.S. Want to draw my wifie in but she is put off by the artwork confused. But I assume to know there are many gal players here.

 

Reclamax + Tablet of Dawn.

You banish the tablet for a new turn, and you try to use Reclamax to get the Tablet back. If you manage to draw enough cards each turn, it could be quite good...

 

Odd... I was in a 4 player game with Camzy and others, and now it isn't in my game log... Camzy, did it show me forfeit or something? Dont know what happened

 

could be a short timer for the match. I didn't the time I had for one of them and lost quickly