Planet M.U.L.E.

At the end of production on month 12:
"Due to an unforseen meteor shower, the colony ship was unable to land on Irata in time.  You will be planeteers for one more month!"

Only to be used very, very rarely!

heh... wow, that'd be crrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzy.... but it would be interesting because then you'd need to always make sure you have enough food and energy in round 12 just in case

Effing with people's preconceived notions sounds wonderful. "We interrupt your regularly-scheduled colony ship return so that we may bring you...PIRATES."

I like it! great idea!

Thumbs up here

Best idea I have read, so far. It really gives a kick to the last months, much more than pirates :)

What this suggests in general is an uncertain duration to the game. In a number of boardgames this is used successfully as a fun mechanic that prevents players from analyzing their optimal moves given that there is a certain number of turns left (usually this makes the game longer as they sit and ponder) - they must consider the possibility that the game will run shorter or longer than expected.

It would function similarly to penalty time assessed in soccer/football - unless you're watching closely, you don't know exactly how much time you have left after regulation play ends.

I think this would be a fun option, both in the ship arriving late, and arriving early (and for some reason Sean Connery in Outland just popped in my head at that thought).

Ha, I love this!

I can't agree more!  I was going to suggest, sometimes it should end early but Big head Zach beat me to it :-)

I think ending early would really piss people off.  THe other events are disappointing and throw a wrench in the works, but ending early would be a big "screw you" to the players I feel.

losing a plot isn't? :)

It would only work if players new about it.  I.E. many board games use this type of mechanic along with some table top strategy games (Warhammer 40K) but in all cases it is something you communication to the player.

So for example lets say the game is guaranteed to be 1-10 rounds but could end on 11, 12 or 13.

On round 10, you'd need to provide players with feedback that the game will end in the next 3 rounds and that it could be next round or 2 later ones.

Personally having it end early or later can screw you just the same imo -- it might not be worth adding sometimes having a fixed constant that people can rely on makes the game more strategic.

-Jara

PS: Maybe if the event came at round 10 always (if it was going to happen) so at that point people knew how many total rounds were going to be played?

Yes! No more people converting all energy plots to crystite!

Why are you excited about this? *scratches head* You can do it too, you know.

I do it, but I hate it because it is a no-brainer.

(No-brainer: choices which aren't really choices, which present little or no disadvantage, and some advantage, so you just make these decisions without thinking because they can only be good. Since a game is a series of decisions to be made, no-brainer strategies narrow the quality of the game and they should be reduced as much as possible)

It definitely requires careful planning and clever placement of crystite plots to enable someone to generate enough of an energy surplus beforehand so that you can go full-Crystite in the last turn or two. I wouldn't consider it brainless at all.

It sure is hard to do, to plan etc, but if you are clever and plan ahead you are sure that this strategy isn't going to have drawbacks. I think a no-brainer, even if it's difficult to achieve, it's a strategy that does you only good.
This is especially true in the very last development turn, when Energy is useless. Usually I convert all Energy plots the last turn so I don't have to think about stockpiling energy.

Also, being able to convert your energy plots makes food valuable the last few turns since there's really nothing much else to do once the map is full.

Well, the end game comes down to how bleeding-edge everyone's willing to run with their energy and food supply. If production dips below critical level, even for one turn, it can cause a temporary price hike by the store (if not by players with each other), and can easily make something other than Crystite the most valuable good to produce.

Fire In Store, Pest Attack, Acid Rain Storm, Pirates, and Radiation all can have a serious effect on the relative value of goods in the last few rounds, especially if there's no room for error (no surplus production in a normal situation).

If it's round 10 and you still have smithore plots producing a decent amount, but pirates come and steal others' crystite (of which they have hypothetically converted most or all of their plots to), you're the only one making money that turn, to say nothing of the stockpiles opponents may have lost waiting for the crystite price to hit a decent level.