Usually when we play the First Mate is responsible for all green systems and for the greatest part of the communication between Captain and Engineer, so yeah ticking boxes is not that exciting but reaching out to the radio operator for what green system to use and at the same time instructing the captain as to where he should move in order restore systems makes you really really busy. If all players are experienced as you said, the First Mate should actively take the organizer role instead of the captain and that solves both the Alpha Captain syndrome and the First Mate being kind of boring.
with neutral #1, it feels like you would need extra physical separation inside the teams! the wall already divides the teams, but inside the teams you need to block the views from the captain to the other roles. that way you cannot overlook, you have to ASK and communicate!! might be worth trying a game or two to see how it rolls
Great review! I played this game with friends I was the Radio guy, it was so fun to figure out the location of the opponent. I heard my friends played to an extend they have to fire the torpedo and double KO. I laughed so hard.
Great review Jon! We just got Captain Sonar and were excited to give it a try at our next game night. Luckily we had the opportunity when someone brought it to a mid-week meetup. The game is a blast, but we did have a few people who struggled with the communication. For example, Our captain was going way to fast and not allowing the other teams navigator to keep up or verify. It did cause some frustration and made the game fall apart for many. On our second game a few individuals left and we played a 5 player game. We went a bit slower and made sure every order was confirmed by saying "confirmed". That was much more fun. In short, with the right people this game rocks! If there are some week links, the game can be a bit frustrating. That goes for many games, but a real time team game can make things go bad quickly.
I totally agree with what you've said, glad to hear a 5p real time game worked for you too! In my first game we had both captains yelling out strings of orders as well barely taking time to breathe between and the game suffered. We tried to get "Ok"s from First Mate and Engineer when playing but this never sticks. Fortunately we have managed to hammer it into the Captains that they can't move until they've visually seen the First mate and Engineer do their thing, this is kind of nice too since it reduces the general chatter around the table. Glad you ended up having fun with it!
Jon, I wonder if you missed the fact that the First Mate has the authority to activate the green systems? They can wisely do that simply so that they start checking stuff off again if they're full (unless of course green is broken)
I think at one point this did come up in a game, but you are right in that this capability for them was for the most part overlooked for us. I'll make a point to let First Mates know they can and should activate those systems next game, I don't think it'll do that much for making them more interesting but it is one more thing for them to do which'll be nice.
Thanks for the review! Think it will be a fun game! Even think I can bring it to work to have a fun battle between two teams and work on fun team building :)
Weird, I responded to this yesterday but the comment appears to be gone. I used to post my videos to r/boardgames but ended up getting "shadowbanned" for spamming (only posted once every week or two). Since then I just hope other people like the videos enough to post them themselves, I don't want to deal with getting unbanned again!
Hey Jon, super interesting video and game! Have you played Space Cadets Dice Duels and if so, how does it compare as overall gameplay feel to Captain Sonar? Thanks and keep up the great work!
I haven't played Dice Duel, but have seen others play it. Captain Sonar is a much slower and less frantic experience in general. It occasionally gets loud and stressful but Dice Duel seemed like it was 100% frenetic dice throwing and yelling.
Usually when we play the First Mate is responsible for all green systems and for the greatest part of the communication between Captain and Engineer, so yeah ticking boxes is not that exciting but reaching out to the radio operator for what green system to use and at the same time instructing the captain as to where he should move in order restore systems makes you really really busy. If all players are experienced as you said, the First Mate should actively take the organizer role instead of the captain and that solves both the Alpha Captain syndrome and the First Mate being kind of boring.
with neutral #1, it feels like you would need extra physical separation inside the teams! the wall already divides the teams, but inside the teams you need to block the views from the captain to the other roles. that way you cannot overlook, you have to ASK and communicate!! might be worth trying a game or two to see how it rolls
Great review! I played this game with friends I was the Radio guy, it was so fun to figure out the location of the opponent.
I heard my friends played to an extend they have to fire the torpedo and double KO. I laughed so hard.
Great review Jon! We just got Captain Sonar and were excited to give it a try at our next game night. Luckily we had the opportunity when someone brought it to a mid-week meetup. The game is a blast, but we did have a few people who struggled with the communication. For example, Our captain was going way to fast and not allowing the other teams navigator to keep up or verify. It did cause some frustration and made the game fall apart for many. On our second game a few individuals left and we played a 5 player game. We went a bit slower and made sure every order was confirmed by saying "confirmed". That was much more fun. In short, with the right people this game rocks! If there are some week links, the game can be a bit frustrating. That goes for many games, but a real time team game can make things go bad quickly.
I totally agree with what you've said, glad to hear a 5p real time game worked for you too! In my first game we had both captains yelling out strings of orders as well barely taking time to breathe between and the game suffered. We tried to get "Ok"s from First Mate and Engineer when playing but this never sticks. Fortunately we have managed to hammer it into the Captains that they can't move until they've visually seen the First mate and Engineer do their thing, this is kind of nice too since it reduces the general chatter around the table.
Glad you ended up having fun with it!
Perfect timing. Just got this game for my son's 18th birthday. Thanks Jon!
Jon, I wonder if you missed the fact that the First Mate has the authority to activate the green systems? They can wisely do that simply so that they start checking stuff off again if they're full (unless of course green is broken)
I think at one point this did come up in a game, but you are right in that this capability for them was for the most part overlooked for us.
I'll make a point to let First Mates know they can and should activate those systems next game, I don't think it'll do that much for making them more interesting but it is one more thing for them to do which'll be nice.
Thanks for the review!
Think it will be a fun game! Even think I can bring it to work to have a fun battle between two teams and work on fun team building :)
I have been waiting this for so long
Great review
Very cool review!
Do you share your videos on Reddit r/boardgames ? You should.
Weird, I responded to this yesterday but the comment appears to be gone.
I used to post my videos to r/boardgames but ended up getting "shadowbanned" for spamming (only posted once every week or two). Since then I just hope other people like the videos enough to post them themselves, I don't want to deal with getting unbanned again!
Hey Jon, super interesting video and game! Have you played Space Cadets Dice Duels and if so, how does it compare as overall gameplay feel to Captain Sonar?
Thanks and keep up the great work!
I haven't played Dice Duel, but have seen others play it. Captain Sonar is a much slower and less frantic experience in general. It occasionally gets loud and stressful but Dice Duel seemed like it was 100% frenetic dice throwing and yelling.
Great video as ever. Lol I always think you've sped up the video 😂
That wasn't a dig by the way. I love your energy!