AGE OF RENAISSANCE (AoR) FAQ
Version: 0.0
Ok, here is an initial copy of the FAQ for Age of Renaissance that
I'm putting together. As I finish sections and get additional input
I'll post updates to the r.g.b. newsgroup. If you have anything to
add or correct, please email me.
Thanks and enjoy!
Mark Boone
email: mrboone@msn.com
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CONTENTS:
1 General
2 Components
3 Clarifications
3.1 Map Board
3.2 Game Rules
3.3 Cards
3.4 Advances
4 House Rules
5 Strategy
5.1 Overall
5.2 By Capital
6 Stat Numbers
6.1 Combat Percentages
6.2 Map Area Values
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1) GENERAL
Age of Renaissance (AoR) is a multi-player game for 3-6 set in the
Middle Ages (750-1750). Players represent commerce powers of the
period competing for domination of various commodity markets.
Victory is determined by the player with the highest total of: money +
advances - misery.
Players use tokens to expand across the map and to combat other players
for map areas. There are civilization advances that can be bought that
have various benefits on play. Finally there is a card deck containing
leaders, events, and commodity cards. The card deck is organized into
3 epochs. When the card deck for epoch 1 is gone, epoch 2 cards plus any
played epoch 1 cards are shuffled to create the new deck to draw from.
Some cards may only occur once and are not recycled into future epochs;
there are leaders and some events.
This is not a expansion to the Civilization / Advanced Civilization
games. It is its own game, but with obvious influences from Civ and
History of the World.
Research & Design: Jared Scarborough
Game Development: Don Greenwood
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2) COMPONENTS
- 22x34 map board (2 pieces). Unfortunately, the board folds with the
map surface on the outside, so the map is not protected from scuffing
and other similar rubbing damage that may occur in shipping. :(
- 6 sets of player pieces:
36 tokens, 24 domination markers, 1 ship, 1 misery, 1 turn,
12 commodity markers.
- 6 player mats (turn of sequence, other notes)
- pad of Advance Logs
- 64 History cards (27 Commodity, 18 Event, and 19 Leaders)
- 3 dice (color, black, white)
- play money (1, 5, 10, 20, 100) x36 each
For some reason, the cards decks in many of the games is messed up
(i.e two Religious Strife cards and no Rebellion card). You can call
AH and request a replacement deck (1-800-999-3222).
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3) CLARIFICATIONS
3.1) Map Board
a) Bay of Biscay extends from Edinburgh to Seville
b) Paris is directly connected to Portsmouth
c) No purpose for Norwegian Sea
d) No connection between Eastern Med and Barca
e) Iceland and W.Africa are only accessible across a sea.
- need at least 'Heavens' or 'Seaworthy Vessels' to reach
3.2) Game Rules
a) Market Competition (Combat)
When you lose a combat, you lose ALL the tokens used in the attack
(both old and new).
Example A) You are attacking Tunis, a 4 area, which currently only
has 1 token of another player. So, 5 new tokens are needed to attack. If
you lose, all 5 tokens are lost. You cannot place 3 tokens from the attack
into Tunis and just lose 2.
Example B) same as A above except now you have 2 old tokens in Tunis as
well from a previous turn. The total to attack is still 5 (3 new + 2 old).
If you lose, you lose all 5 tokens (both old and new)!
b) Token Buys and Turn Order
Your turn order for the next turn is based on the number of tokens you
are buying. So, if I buy 13 tokens, I pay $13 to the bank, take 13 tokens,
and compare my 13 to other players' buys for turn order.
There are two special cases:
A) You can buy more than the number of tokens you have available. So,
if you buy 30 and only have 25 tokens in stock, you pay $30 to the bank and
take the 25 tokens. This might be done if you are trying to get the last
turn position for some reason.
B) You can buy a negative amount. So, if you buy -5, I pay $5 to the
bank and take no tokens. This can be done if trying to gain the 1st turn
position. You cannot combine the purchase of tokens with a negative bid.
A negative bid means 0 tokens.
3.3) Cards
3.4) Advances
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4) HOUSE RULES
a) Early Crusade
Some people feel that an early play of the Crusades card (like on Turn-1)
can give that player too much of an early lead. So, to lessen this advantage:
Place crusades domination marker face up (new), so the player can't expand
off of it on the same turn.
BTW, the chance of an early Crusades card is:
28 cards in epoch1,
minimum for each turn: N cards are drawn, +1 awarded in expansion phase
N T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7
6 player 42.8 67.9 92.9 100
5 player 35.7 57.1 78.6 100
4 player 28.6 46.4 64.2 82.1 100
3 player 21.4 35.7 50.0 64.2 78.6 92.8 100
b) Start Card
For the 1st card dealt, before capitals are chosen, deal only commodities
so that every player has one to start. This may influence you in which
capital to select, plus ensures that everyone has at least one commodity
card. Also, it helps reduce the odds of a Crusades card on Turn1.
c) Loss of Capital
When a player's capital is lost, then all earned income is halved until
the player regains their capital. This affects commodity payoffs, leader
rebates, area income, and Interest & Profit.
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5) STRATEGY
This section is certainly subject to opinion and debate. I'm sure the
content of this section will vary as new input comes in.
5.1 Overall
The game revolves around commodities and advances. Players that can
get the best return on their investments are generally the winner in the
long run. Also the cards you get can drastically affect your strategy,
changing the order of advances you were thinking of or the commodities you
may be going after.
Checking the map area values in the section below, you will find that the
top four commodities (Silk, Spice, Gold, Ivory) usually comprise about half
or more of the total market value in play. So, being the majority owner in
one or more of these commodities will be a big step in winning the game.
Spice is especially good since there are a lot of areas and it has a high
value (9). These commodities will encourage a race to areas 6, 8, FE, and NW.
A typical strategy for cashing in on a big payout for a commodity card is
to:
- buy lots of tokens + use military card, go last in turn
- take over areas to dominate a market
- bid low or negative to go 1st next turn
- play your commodity card next turn for big payoff
The pros is that this keeps you from tipping off players for what commodity
you are going after, plus removes their chance to react to counter you move.
The con, of course, is that you are going last and therefore don't have the
best odds on attacks (base 41.67). But this can be helped by playing a
military advantage card and/or having the Proselytism advance.
Area Expansion -
Card Play -
Advances -
5.2 By Capital
I feel that Venice and Genoa have the better odds of winning. This is
because they a) start in a rich area 7, and b) have an easier approach to
expanding into areas 5, 6, and 8; generally divying them up between them and
Barcelona for free. The other capitals are going to need big ship builds or
advances to get to these areas and will be arriving after all the areas are
taken, so will have to fight for them. Everyone has the same chance of
getting to the FE and NW areas.
a) Venice
You and Genoa will be competing in expanding to the East Med. Better to
share the area with Genoa, then consolidate you gains when the map is full.
Being the first into area 5 is a big plus. Besides Cloth, you have a good
shot at the top 4 commodities which can really pay off if you get to the FE
first.
b) Genoa
Basically the same as for Venice, except you have another close rival in
Barcelona. Try to block Barcelona from the east by taking up coastal areas
and try to force Venice to take the Northern route. Try to pick up Sicily
and Tunis. Based on commodity cards, you are in a good position to pick off
areas from Barcelona, Paris, and Venice.
c) Barcelona
Yours will be a tough road. You get off to a quick start will low token
areas in Spain and N.Africa. Try to get a presence in areas 5 & 6 too.
Your obvious markets are Wool and Wine, try to go after Silk and Ivory too.
Because of your low token areas, you will be a favorite target for others
trying to pick up that one extra market area (Nationalism would help).
d) Paris
Because of your position, you main goal should be to dominate most of
Europe. This will give you a good mix of markets but nothing very valuable
or very many in any single one. You commodity cards will most likely dictate
which direction you head in. Cloth and Metal may be decent choices. Don't
get bogged down in small Galley builds, go straight to Seaworthy Vessels.
e) London
Obviously, ship builds will be your priority. You will be competing with
Barcelona for Wool and maybe Hamburg for Timber or Metal. Your home area
should be fairly safe since no one will want the low value markets there,
plus they have decent defense values. Off the top 4 ivory may be a good
choice.
f) Hamburg
You start in a poor region, so your cash build up will probably slower
than others and you will often be chasing the pack. You have to mix ship
builds and Caravan to secure the North areas before London does and try to
get to area 5 quickly. Besides Timber and Metal, Fur and Gold will be good
choices. Try to not get bogged down with Paris early on, and try to seal
off N.Europe from expansion by London, Paris, and Venice.
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6) STAT NUMBERS
6.1) Combat Percentages
Below are the CRT percentages for combat.
You can win based on:
A) the Green die - dependent on turn order, or
B) the Black/White dice combo - turn order doesn't matter
The table shows the four possible combinations for each
turn position.
BW B>W to win (41.6%)
BW= B>=W to win (58.3%), use a military advantage card
G G > turn to win
G= G >= turn to win, Advance 'G'
Turn BW G BW G= BW= G BW= G=
---------------------------------
1 90.28 100.00 93.06 100.00
2 80.56 90.28 86.11 93.06
3 70.83 80.56 79.17 86.11
4 61.11 70.83 72.22 79.17
5 51.39 61.11 65.28 72.22
6 41.67 51.39 58.33 65.28
6.2) Map Area Values
This table breaks down each map region, listing: the number of market
areas (#A), the number of tokens to fill these areas (#Tok), the number
of Satellite areas (#S), the combined value of the region, and a listing
of the specific commodity areas.
Area Values
#A #Tok #S Value Commodities
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1 6 19 6 30 St3 T2 T4 Gr5 M3 F2
2 8 25 5 55 Wo2 Wo2 Wo3 Wo5 T3 Gr5 M3 I2
3 11 35 5 86 St2 St4 St4 Gr3 C3 C4 C4 Wi3 M3 F3 Go2
4 5 13 2 36 Wo2 Wo3 Wi3 Wi3 Si2
5 8 19 3 64 Wo2 T2 Gr2 F2 F2 Si3 Sp4 Go2
6 6 24 5 69 Wi3 Si4 Sp5 Sp5 Go3 I4
7 13 8 3 100 St2 St3 St4 St5 T3 T4 Gr2 Gr2 C4 C5 C5 Wi5 M4
8 11 28 6 97 Wo2 Wo2 T2 Gr3 C4 Wi3 M2 M4 Si2 I2 I2
FE 3 15 - 123 Si/Sp5 Si/Sp5 Sp/Go5
NW 2 12 - 41 Gr/C/F6 M/Sp/Go6
71
This table shows the number of market areas in play based on the number
of players. The total value for the regions in play is listed as well
a comparison of the first 8 markets vs the top 4. As can be seen, the
top 4 commodities tend to dominate the overall market.
N Areas St Wo T Gr C Wi M F Si Sp Go I Value St-F Si-I
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3 4-8 46 4 5 4 5 5 5 4 3 6 7 4 3 1602 623 979
4 3-8 57 7 5 4 6 8 6 5 4 6 7 5 3 2122 1053 1069
5 2-8 65 7 9 5 7 8 6 6 4 6 7 5 4 2449 1310 1139
6 1-8 71 8 9 7 8 8 6 7 5 6 7 5 4 2737 1598 1139
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Mark Boone K51, A246, x7396
e-mail: mboone@nswc.navy.mil
