Talk:Timberland

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Actions Clarifications[edit source]

I guess I'm not getting some of the actions. I know it's still a work in progress, but...

When you tip, I'm assuming you split the pieces apart, and that the originating square is emptied. Given the "pieces in the way are pushed" rule, plus the "can't push pieces off the board" rule, TIP would be illegal at the start, as there is no place to do one legally.

I don't get how dig pushes any pieces, if it acts like the Treehouse dig. It would drop "under" the board, and then climb up under whatever is in the square it emerges into. No pushing would happen.

Just some thoughts... --Timotab 00:20, 13 July 2007 (EDT)

Good questions, Timotab. When you Tip, think of it as felling a large tree. The base of the tree doesn't really go anywhere, and the same is true in this case. The lowest pyramid in the stack remains in the originating square, pointing in the direction of the tip. I think you've got the right idea from there on, you just missed the part about occupying the originating square.
With Dig, it's a little more complicated. In Treehouse, you can Dig underneath any other pyramid in your way, or you can also emerge between two other pyramids. With Treehouse you just slide the two apart until the digging pyramid can fit between them. In Timberland, the digging pyramid will need a new square to occupy. To do this, you'll need to shove the pyramids one square out of the way in the direction of the dig, again not allowing a piece to leave the board.
I hope this helps. Thanks for noticing this idea o' mine. - Cerulean 09:26, 13 July 2007 (EDT)
So for the dig, if I have the following
+-+-+-+-+-+
|>|X|x|*| |
+-+-+-+-+-+
I could dig my > under any of the 3 stacks, or into the empty space. If I dug between X and x, the whole stack of x would move to the right, as would the * stack. Right? Also, can I dig in place, like you can in Treehouse? Can I dig "between" my current place and the X stack, thus pushing all three stacks to the right?
As for noticing it, that's what the "Recent Changes" is for - activity is light enough on here that it's actually useful :) —Timotab 11:31, 13 July 2007 (EDT)
I agree with your above interpretations of Dig. Digging in place is much more complicated in Timberland than it is in Treehouse, and I have no ruling yet yay or nay. I'm considering sidestepping the issue altogether and preventing a 'dig in place' entirely, but for now I'll just mull it over. - Cerulean 13:29, 13 July 2007 (EDT)

Open Design Issues[edit source]

  1. Initial Layout: I have not yet created a standard setup arrangement, beyond the nest location. I've not yet experimented with where each color should go, but I don't consider that to affect gameplay, given what Swap can accomplish. - Cerulean 09:39, 2 August 2007 (EDT)
  2. Number of Points to Win: There is a minimum of 10 points on the board, assuming all captures are mixed trees. It is entirely possible that no player will capture the necessary 7 points to win. 5 points is always attainable with 2 players, but I think that makes the game time too short. - Cerulean 09:39, 2 August 2007 (EDT)
  3. Overall Strategy: After trying this out, I found the overall strategy to be frustrating. Early on, it's difficult to make any captures, so my first turns are spent making a mess of things, upending nests and hopping haphazardly. After this, captures become viable, but it usually takes the combined actions of both dice in one turn to make said capture. Once I noticed this, I was careful not to leave a capture that could be accomplished with one die roll, and my opponent did the same. This led to the greater problem of Get There First syndrome - One cannot jockey into a scoring position without giving your opponent a chance to complete that scoring play first. Upon discovering this, I frowned deeply. Here was a decent ruleset that makes a cool looking board, but with unsatisfying strategy. I hope it can be salvaged. - Cerulean 09:39, 2 August 2007 (EDT)
  4. Dice Pool: I considered having a dice pool to help control randomness, but it would break the 2House barrier, requiring more non-standard equipment than what's already available in two Treehouse sets. - Cerulean 09:39, 2 August 2007 (EDT)

I found that an ordinary Volcano board, even without raised square boundaries, seemed too small to play this game comfortably. Flat larges don't fit at all, and flat mediums are awfully fussy. --Carthoris 00:22, 23 March 2012 (UTC)