Posted: 05 September 2008 at 1:25pm | IP Logged

-A few questions for the sole purpose of feeding my curiosity:

1. How long (time and rounds) do *your* duels typically take?

2. What size of deck do you prefer in duels?

3. What cards do you find very useful in duels that you rarely use in   multi-player games?

4. What is one way that GE could have made duels more interesting for you and your particular play style?

Thanks for any responses, have a good one.....Lobo

Posted: 05 September 2008 at 2:15pm | IP Logged

Very rarely played duels.  But 1hour was a long one.  Never saw 1 go past 30 rounds average was 20.  Average deck size was 100. Too many duels that I saw went to those with the money to buy the promos and with enough skill to use them.  My play style was more for fun than winning.  but points were'nt given for fun.

Posted: 05 September 2008 at 4:20pm | IP Logged

-I suppose i should answer in the spirit of sharing...

1) Duels last anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, extremely rare for one to go past one hour unless we're playing lower-powered decks and just goofing around...which happens from time to time.

2) I prefer under 100, other than that no real official number pops out. No real strategy reason either other than i don't like the feeling of mudding the deck with multiple focal ideas.

3) Not much experience with multi-player games, but i would think cards such as the Planet Gouges and most low and mid-level Hazard cards would be less of a focus with multiple players on the table. Slots would be better spent on Monster cards that stick around and can hit multiple opponents (such as Astromorph and Vyzeimes Matter (sp)).

4) I think Duels could be made a bit more tactical if a system were in play to incorporate the terrain as a more integrated mechanic for playing not only ships but other support cards. For instance, represent the Sector HQ as a "Homeworld" card that each player begins play with instead of an etherial idea that is not integrated on the game surface. That card could have resources that allow a certain number of cards to be played, and other terrain or supply lines can suppliment. Would prevent a mulligan for no terrain draw, limit Terrain screw as a 3-4 turn kill deck, and better graphically represent the entirety of the game.

The idea is rough and incomplete, but that's part of the process i suppose.....Lobo