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<blockquote data-quote="MGibster" data-source="post: 9764809" data-attributes="member: 4534">I'm thinking the same is true of a complicated board game like Star Fleet Battles.&nbsp; The basic SFB game has about 400 pages of rules at this point (I think), filled to the brim with how players handle energy allocation, direct fire weapons, indirect fire weapons, movement, transporters, mines, nuclear space mines, shuttles, fighters, Tholian Webs, boarding parties, etc., etc.&nbsp; As complicated as SFB is, it's actually pretty straight forward in that the decision spaces for players are fairly limited.&nbsp; Can you do X on your movement phase?&nbsp; The answer is no unless the rules explicitly state otherwise.&nbsp; Can you drain batteries to power your shields?&nbsp; I don't know, what does it say under the rules for batteries?&nbsp; No matter whether we're talking about a crunchy or lite RPG, players have a degree of freedom of choice that simply doesn't exist in any board game I've ever played.&nbsp; The degree of freedom the player has when it comes to determining what their playing piece, their character, does in an RPG is one of the things that differentiate them from a board game.&nbsp; It might be easier to accommodate that freedom of choice in games with lower levels of crunch.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MGibster, post: 9764809, member: 4534"] I'm thinking the same is true of a complicated board game like Star Fleet Battles. The basic SFB game has about 400 pages of rules at this point (I think), filled to the brim with how players handle energy allocation, direct fire weapons, indirect fire weapons, movement, transporters, mines, nuclear space mines, shuttles, fighters, Tholian Webs, boarding parties, etc., etc. As complicated as SFB is, it's actually pretty straight forward in that the decision spaces for players are fairly limited. Can you do X on your movement phase? The answer is no unless the rules explicitly state otherwise. Can you drain batteries to power your shields? I don't know, what does it say under the rules for batteries? No matter whether we're talking about a crunchy or lite RPG, players have a degree of freedom of choice that simply doesn't exist in any board game I've ever played. The degree of freedom the player has when it comes to determining what their playing piece, their character, does in an RPG is one of the things that differentiate them from a board game. It might be easier to accommodate that freedom of choice in games with lower levels of crunch. [/QUOTE]

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