by DaCooGa
First, some context: I absolutely adore eclipse and I’ve been playing it for years.Now, I’ve thought about the eloquence of the design in Eclipse for quite some time now and recently have had a strategical question come up about the game that I’d like to pose to you. In eclipse, whenever a player gets “ahead”, whether it be due to winning a lucky fight or getting some sort of key research in, if that lead ever becomes too large, players who are behind are basically stuck in a game they know they will lose for the next couple hours.
This absolutely sucks. And it’s one of the reasons why having comeback mechanisms is so important in a game like this that can last hours. Comeback mechanisms lead to outplay potential and also genuine interest in a losing game, because with comeback mechanisms, a losing player still has hope that they can win, meaning more fun overall.
Now, this leads to my final question regarding eclipse strategy: in what ways can a losing player make a “comeback” in a game of eclipse? So often it seems that the game favors a very snowbally style of play (a player gets ahead early and then skyrockets in resources, tech, and thereby points). Talking with a friend of mine, they suggested that an alliance among two weaker players could be this comeback play, which is true to an extent. However, it is definitely niche as it requires two players to both be desperate enough to ally with another weak player who could lower their average victory point score. And so this really isn’t a reliable comeback mechanism that comes up in many games. Also, depending on the table group, strong players can easily ally as well and absolutely stomp low point alliance players (this is one reason I don’t play with alliances very much).
So ya, that’s all I was wondering. Is there any hope for a player to get back in the running to win after becoming far behind (or just a little behind)?? If so, what is it?
Thanks for reading