In part 1 we mentioned the ambitious intent of Dog Fight: Starship Edition. Now we'll get into some of the details. Part 2 in this series focuses on some limitations found in other games.
The combat game genre has many variations. You can play a simple board game or a complex board game. Miniatures games tend to be complex by default. But the customizable card game tends to be simplistic enough for young children to play yet also allow for sophisticated games for older players. Either way there are plenty of options to match your wits against other players.
If you don't want to spend tons of money on miniatures or spend an inordinate amount of time setting up a board game with seemingly endless components, and you don't usually have several free hours available to play a game, the customizable card game is a good choice for you. With the CCG you should still plan ahead and build your deck carefully, but when you're finished you simply have a deck of cards to maintain. You don't have to leave a complicated board game or miniatures army set up in a protected (or unprotected) room. Plus, cards are much easier to store. If you have ample space available then this sort of concern won't be much of an issue. For those who don't typically have that free space, or lots of free time, the deck building aspect of a customizable card game can be done in a logistically convenient way and it can be done very quickly.
So if you've decided to play a CCG what options are available? There are numerous themes that might appeal to you. That aspect of a game is usually much easier to determine than the more intense considerations of how a game plays.
Before we get to the mechanics issues of some games there are more general game play issues that might affect the fun factor for you. Most customizable card games seem to be 2-player only. And there's nothing wrong with that. So what do you do if you want to play against more than one opponent? Some games have alternate rules for this situation, which often requires a rethinking of how many cards are to be interpreted. Dog Fight: Starship Edition was designed as a multiple-opponent construct from its inception. There are also team rules, so as to incorporate a co-op aspect to this normally competitive game genre. As a starship captain you can pit your ship against as many players as you can fit at the table.
One of the more demanding aspects of a customizable card game is deck construction. If you have plenty of opportunity to play against other players you can test your deck thoroughly. Playing CCGs is typically a quick experience, allowing for some slight alterations to the deck, and then another fast game. But you won't always have an opponent available. Dog Fight: Starship Edition offers Missions which provide an objective for further game variety or they can be used for solitaire games. Missions add a totally new dynamic to a normal competitive game. But they also provide the ability to test your deck build when no other players are around.
There is also a common limitation to the number of card you can include in your deck. With most games in the market place this limitation makes sense. There is the inevitable restricted list of cards as well. This is an unfortunate necessity as some cards are so effective in game play (especially as the game develops with new cards) they end up ruining the fun if they are too easily utilized. But for most cards in the game you are likely to find a maximum limit of 3 or 4 copies. In Dog Fight: Starship Edition, with very few exceptions, there is no such card limit. If you want 20 or 50 copies of one particular ATTACK card, go for it. And if you designed a deck poorly, you'll discover that quickly in game play.
In most other customizable card games you'll find either a requirement of an exact number of cards or a minimum card count. In Dog Fight there is a maximum deck limit of 100 cards but no minimum card limit. This construct was designed to allow for as much freedom as possible in building your deck.
There are a few unavoidable restrictions, such as the limited list and a practical limit for equipments on your ship. Other than that, we've eliminated these general construct limitations or reduced them much as possible.
War gamers will probably appreciate the fact that Dog Fight is not merely a card game. This is a hybrid of a card game and tactical board game. Most CCGs are very abstract until you get familiar with each card. Simply because of the maneuvering aspect, not to mention the theme, Dog Fight: Starship Edition is a much more tangible game whose mechanics are very easy to grasp for the new player. While Dog Fight has more components than just the cards (it includes maps and tokens) the game has a much more concrete feel to it.
In the next article we'll address some mechanics problems of other games and how Dog Fight: Starship Edition deals with such issues.
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