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Deconstruction and Analysis
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This post is for the deconstruction and analysis for the print and play game, Space Dogfight, created by Mats Lintonsson and found here.
The Goal: The goal of Space Dogfight is to either destroy all your opponents ships, or to have more of your ships survive, and reach the enemies starting zone.
The game starts with both players drafting a fleet, and placing them inside the starting zone.
Core Mechanic: The core mechanic of the game is drawing tiles. Each turn a player can discard any number of tiles they own, then they draw up to three tiles (each player can only have 5 tiles in their hand at a time). Drawing tiles allows a player to complete actions, such as move, defend, or attack. There are 4 types of tiles, an Action Point tile, which allows movement and attacking. There is a blank tile that hinders a player if it is drawn. There are defense tiles that bolster a ships defense for one turn. Finally there is the move asteroid tile, that causes an asteroid to move.
The ships start moving forward slowly, both apprehensive for the fight ahead.
Space of the Game: This game takes place on an 8 x 10 grid of zero dimensional points. This means that each space in the grid only keeps an object inside, it does not matter where it is placed inside of that square, only that it is in that square. What surrounds that square is more important, as movement and combat depends on adjacent squares. Diagonals are not considered adjacent in this game.
Blue team splits his fighters, bringing them close to the asteroid field...
Objects, Attributes, States: Space Dogfight's pieces are all objects. Most of these objects are player controlled space ships. There are a couple of asteroids on the field as well which are periodically controlled by players if they draw a certain tile. Because there are 4 ship types, there are a couple of attributes and states associated with the pieces in Space Dogfight. The main attributes of the ships are as follows: Points, Movement, Attack, and Defense. Each ship type has it's own modified value for each attribute, but they are all generally similar. Each ship also has its own number of states, which are as follows again: Alive, Dead, Out of Play, Under Attack, Defending, Moving, and In Victory Zone.
But they pass unscathed, and one flanks the enemy!
Operative Actions: A player can, at the beginning of his turn, discard any number of held tiles. Then, he may draw up to three tiles (as long as their hand does not exceed five). Then, the player may play any number of tiles. If a player draws a move asteroid card, they must immediately move an asteroid. If they play action point cards, they can move a ship any number of squares up to its movement value, or attack any adjacent enemy ship. Ships cannot move backwards or diagonally.
However, he misses his shots, and the enemy advances, leaving Blue's fighter useless in the upcoming battle. However, blue pushes and engages the Red front line.
Resultant Actions: Arranging ships in a line or stair formation blocks enemies from passing. Moving ships "together" only allows for one enemy ship to attack at a time, not allowing them to get attack bonuses. Surrounding enemy ships traps them, and gives the attacker a huge bonus. Moving a ship so that it is diagonal to an asteroid serves to add another defensive measure, as ships that wish to harm it might be destroyed if they move adjacent to it to attack, while the ship diagonal to the asteroid is perfectly safe, unless they are very unlucky and multiple "move asteroid" tiles are drawn, which is very rare.
Blue pulls it off despite the loss of one of their fighters, and takes an enemy ship. They begin to press their advantage.
Behavioral Rules: Obviously one must not cheat while playing Space Dogfight, or badger the other player while they are taking their turn.
Blue takes another fighter, and decides two is enough, and begins to pull out.
Advisory Rules: Because adjacency is very important in this game, moving ships in a formation helps to defend your ships, and give bonuses to attacks. Staying away from asteroids generally is safe as well. Formations of ships also act to block enemies from passing to the other side of the board. I found that it is easiest to win by flying in and picking off one or two enemy ships, then escaping and flying past the enemy, in order to reach the victory zone and win. Because pieces cannot move backward, unless the enemy catches you on the retreat you may escape fairly easily.
Blue is almost home free, victory is in sight!
Skills Learned: Players can learn how to think ahead of their opponents, and simple strategy as they play this game. It is like Chess, where movement and positioning are vital to success. Therefore, thinking ahead or baiting your opponent are great strategies to win.
However, Red catches one ship on their passage, if they can catch another a stalemate will be forced!
Role of Chance: There are three roles of chance in this game, one is when a ship is under attack, and a die must be rolled to determine a hit or miss, and another is the drawing of random tiles to determine what a player can do during his or her turn. The third factor are the asteroids. If a player draws a move asteroid tile, then an asteroid is randomly selected and moved around the field. If an asteroid collides with a ship it is destroyed. Other than these three factors, the rest of the game is up to skill and strategy. These elements of chance can also be augmented by the use of strategy, for example, when a ship is under attack, if there are allied or enemy ships adjacent to them as well, then bonuses are granted to the dice roll. Also, a vulnerable ship could try to escape death by braving through an asteroid field, maybe destroying enemies if they choose to follow.
However, Blue's ships escape, and with one more ship than their enemy, they win!
The Goal: The goal of Space Dogfight is to either destroy all your opponents ships, or to have more of your ships survive, and reach the enemies starting zone.
The game starts with both players drafting a fleet, and placing them inside the starting zone.
Core Mechanic: The core mechanic of the game is drawing tiles. Each turn a player can discard any number of tiles they own, then they draw up to three tiles (each player can only have 5 tiles in their hand at a time). Drawing tiles allows a player to complete actions, such as move, defend, or attack. There are 4 types of tiles, an Action Point tile, which allows movement and attacking. There is a blank tile that hinders a player if it is drawn. There are defense tiles that bolster a ships defense for one turn. Finally there is the move asteroid tile, that causes an asteroid to move.
The ships start moving forward slowly, both apprehensive for the fight ahead.
Space of the Game: This game takes place on an 8 x 10 grid of zero dimensional points. This means that each space in the grid only keeps an object inside, it does not matter where it is placed inside of that square, only that it is in that square. What surrounds that square is more important, as movement and combat depends on adjacent squares. Diagonals are not considered adjacent in this game.
Blue team splits his fighters, bringing them close to the asteroid field...
Objects, Attributes, States: Space Dogfight's pieces are all objects. Most of these objects are player controlled space ships. There are a couple of asteroids on the field as well which are periodically controlled by players if they draw a certain tile. Because there are 4 ship types, there are a couple of attributes and states associated with the pieces in Space Dogfight. The main attributes of the ships are as follows: Points, Movement, Attack, and Defense. Each ship type has it's own modified value for each attribute, but they are all generally similar. Each ship also has its own number of states, which are as follows again: Alive, Dead, Out of Play, Under Attack, Defending, Moving, and In Victory Zone.
But they pass unscathed, and one flanks the enemy!
Operative Actions: A player can, at the beginning of his turn, discard any number of held tiles. Then, he may draw up to three tiles (as long as their hand does not exceed five). Then, the player may play any number of tiles. If a player draws a move asteroid card, they must immediately move an asteroid. If they play action point cards, they can move a ship any number of squares up to its movement value, or attack any adjacent enemy ship. Ships cannot move backwards or diagonally.
However, he misses his shots, and the enemy advances, leaving Blue's fighter useless in the upcoming battle. However, blue pushes and engages the Red front line.
Resultant Actions: Arranging ships in a line or stair formation blocks enemies from passing. Moving ships "together" only allows for one enemy ship to attack at a time, not allowing them to get attack bonuses. Surrounding enemy ships traps them, and gives the attacker a huge bonus. Moving a ship so that it is diagonal to an asteroid serves to add another defensive measure, as ships that wish to harm it might be destroyed if they move adjacent to it to attack, while the ship diagonal to the asteroid is perfectly safe, unless they are very unlucky and multiple "move asteroid" tiles are drawn, which is very rare.
Blue pulls it off despite the loss of one of their fighters, and takes an enemy ship. They begin to press their advantage.
Behavioral Rules: Obviously one must not cheat while playing Space Dogfight, or badger the other player while they are taking their turn.
Blue takes another fighter, and decides two is enough, and begins to pull out.
Advisory Rules: Because adjacency is very important in this game, moving ships in a formation helps to defend your ships, and give bonuses to attacks. Staying away from asteroids generally is safe as well. Formations of ships also act to block enemies from passing to the other side of the board. I found that it is easiest to win by flying in and picking off one or two enemy ships, then escaping and flying past the enemy, in order to reach the victory zone and win. Because pieces cannot move backward, unless the enemy catches you on the retreat you may escape fairly easily.
Blue is almost home free, victory is in sight!
Skills Learned: Players can learn how to think ahead of their opponents, and simple strategy as they play this game. It is like Chess, where movement and positioning are vital to success. Therefore, thinking ahead or baiting your opponent are great strategies to win.
However, Red catches one ship on their passage, if they can catch another a stalemate will be forced!
Role of Chance: There are three roles of chance in this game, one is when a ship is under attack, and a die must be rolled to determine a hit or miss, and another is the drawing of random tiles to determine what a player can do during his or her turn. The third factor are the asteroids. If a player draws a move asteroid tile, then an asteroid is randomly selected and moved around the field. If an asteroid collides with a ship it is destroyed. Other than these three factors, the rest of the game is up to skill and strategy. These elements of chance can also be augmented by the use of strategy, for example, when a ship is under attack, if there are allied or enemy ships adjacent to them as well, then bonuses are granted to the dice roll. Also, a vulnerable ship could try to escape death by braving through an asteroid field, maybe destroying enemies if they choose to follow.
However, Blue's ships escape, and with one more ship than their enemy, they win!
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