Twilight Struggle: Red Sea

[h1]MAJOR BUGS ARE NOW FIXED WITH RECENT PATCH[/h1] [b]You'll see that a lot of the initial reviews were rightfully negative due to a long list of bugs, but as of the latest patch from a few days ago, most of these appear to be fixed. It's sufficiently playable now. More on that in the "Steam port" section.[/b] [h1]The Board Game[/h1] Twilight Struggle: Red Sea (referred to as RS going forward) is a successful effort to scale down the classic Twilight Struggle (referred to as TS going forward) board game to a bite-sized chunk. They didn't just slap the same game on a smaller map. They made intricate changes to rebalance where needed (such as lower ops values on cards), and still maintained the TS quality. It's shorter in duration (only two rounds), and smaller in size in terms of the region being played. A normal session of TS would take, on average, a couple of hours, whereas RS can be completed in under 30 minutes. This game would appeal to those that want to scratch that TS itch in a shorter time frame. For that same reason, it's also a good way to introduce a new player to TS. Scaling down TS to RS wasn't without some side effects. I felt the randomness of card draws and die rolls are much more pronounced in RS. A single die roll or bad hand can occasionally make or break you. This randomness is more balanced in TS as die rolls and hand draws typically average out over a longer game. RS has an optional 3rd turn mode, instead of the normal two. I prefer the 3rd turn variant, as it helps smooth out the random elements. Another side effect is that RS has a few [i]more[/i] rules than TS. So, it's not easier to learn, just a smaller experience. For further reading you can look up "flashpoint countries", "Africa scoring" and "Strategic Sea Lanes" if you want to dive into those specific rule additions. [h1]My Board Game Quality Checklist[/h1] In order from most to least important: [b]✔️Balances pure randomness and complete control/predictability[/b] You've got to know what you're doing, but there are times I got good hands and slaughtered the AI in one turn. There are other times the AI had a good hand and had me up against the ropes. Despite the emphasis on getting good hands and good die rolls, it's not so bad that it kills the game. I'll still give it a pass on this. [b]✔️No "one right move" [/b] I could argue that for any hand of cards in TS or RS, there's one "best order" in which to play them. However, it's not as simple as it sounds. Figuring out that optimal progression can get pretty deep and is what makes TS and RS so fun. Every hand is different. You've got to account for the chain of consequences that might occur for each card play, while also considering the cards that your opponent might play to counter them. Besides the card order, playing a card for "ops points" provides variability based on the amount of risk you're willing to take. For example: Do you can take a risk and hope you get a good roll on a coup? Or play it safe and chip away at a country by playing influence? [b]✔️Balance of rules (not too easy and not overcomplicated)[/b] The TS series in general is on the heavier half of board games out there, but the rules don't feel too excessive. A few new rules (mentioned earlier) were added in their effort to condense it. While it makes more sense to reduce rules when scaling down a game, it seems as if these extra rules were an unfortunate necessity in order to properly balance the map. I'll begrudgingly give this one a pass though, as it still plays well. [b]✔️Defined game length[/b] RS does not extend beyond the 16 cards each player can play (24 if playing with the optional 3rd turn). A match can end earlier by "DEFCON 1" or Africa scoring scenarios, but if you make it to the end, a final score decides the winner. As mentioned before, a match of RS can be finished in 30 minutes or less. [b]✔️Replay Value (i.e. feels like a different game every time)[/b] While the board is set up the same way each time, replay value is still pretty decent because players will start with a different hand of cards each match. Card-play order is crucial. [b]✔️All players in it until the end[/b] The TS games really cranked this feature to the max. You could be hopelessly behind on points, but there's always a chance you can trick the opponent into "DEFCON 1", giving you a decisive win. [b]✔️Decisions affect other players (Not separate games of solitaire)[/b] Absolutely every decision affects the other player. It's one of the strongest features of the TS series. A normal hand of cards contains not only cards that benefit your side, but also cards that benefits your opponent's side. You must decide the right order and method of playing them to minimize any benefits they may receive. [b]❌Total knowledge at game start (All possibilities on the table, not hidden in a deck of cards that only experienced players know about) [/b] There are around 50 cards in the deck. You won't see them until they are drawn or played. It will take a few playthroughs before you've seen them enough to know what possibilities might happen. Without memorizing most of the cards in the deck, you can make a self-destructive move, not realizing that there's a card to counter a specific play. This category is pretty black and white, so RS gets a fail on this one as you can't play at peak performance until you've memorized all the cards. [h1]The Steam Port[/h1] Red Sea on Steam had a rough start. There were lots of negative reviews due to bugs. I ran into ten bugs myself, and had been diligently reporting them on the forum ( https://steamcommunity.com/app/1276130/discussions/0/3844431603850952229/ ). In the end, the devs came through, and fixed a good chunk of those errors. At this point, I believe the game is playable, but it probably needs one more update of minor fixes before it's in tip-top shape. I'm confident the devs will come through on that as they did on the original TS. Aside from that, this digital port is as well designed as the TS predecessor. The UI is the same slick interface you will recognize from TS. The music really sets the foreboding Cold War ambiance. It would be great if the card play had as many historical sound effects as the original, but that's a minor gripe. There is a built-in tutorial for teaching those that have not played the tabletop version, and I found it to be effective. There's a rulebook accessible from the settings menu for any other doubts. Unfortunately, only a condensed version of the rules is available mid-match. You need to exit the match in order to see the detailed rules. A "card gallery" can also be found in the settings menu. It's handy for those that want to review every card in the game and develop future strategies. In the tabletop version, there's a solo-mode 'bot' that can be played. This has been included in the digital version as well. Note that this is different than simply playing a normal game vs the AI. I found the the AI to be sufficiently challenging. In fact, I've lost more matches against it than I'm willing to admit, ha! For the most part, it exhibits sound strategy when playing its hand. For better or worse, it will never lower the DEFCON to 1 on accident (a mistake that occasionally humans make). Unfortunately, there's no easy/medium/hard difficulty adjustment on the AI. New players might find it a bit difficult at first. [h1]Achievements[/h1] Unlike the original TS on Steam, this one's achievements are much easier to obtain. I earned them all after about 15 hours of play. The hardest one for me was winning by DEFCON 1, as the AI does not make those mistakes easily. You need to force the AI into that situation. I eventually got it after several games of trying. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2995657861 [quote]Follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41449676/]Summit Reviews[/url] for more high-quality reviews.[/quote]

Way way way too buggy what an embarrassment! Too many glitches to list even, and several of them are major game-crash game-corrupted, wrong arithmetic, missing log entries, just wow wow. I do think they will eventually patch this into a good game, since that is what happened with the original game. But right now this is unplayable.

"Twilight Struggle: Red Sea" ist die (englischsprachige) digitale Umsetzung eines Brettspiels von GMT. "Twilight Struggle: Red Sea" ist der kleine Ableger des großen "Twilight Struggle" (auf deutsch: Gleichgewicht des Schreckens), das jahrelang die Nummer 1 auf bgg (boardgamegeek) war. Der Untertitel "Conflict in the Horn of Africa" konkretisiert das Thema. Spielt der große Bruder auf der ganzen Welt, haben wir hier nur das Gebiet um das Horn von Afrika als Spielbereich. Auch zeitlich ist das Spiel eingedampft. Wir erleben nicht den ganzen kalten Krieg, sondern starten erst 1974 als Haile Selassie, der Diktator von Äthiopien und Verbündeter des Westens durch einen marxistischen Putsch weggefegt wurde. Mit diesem Titel wollte man ein "Twilight Struggle" schaffen, das man in etwa in einer Stunde spielen konnte, das aber dennoch dieselben Kernmechanismen und dieselbe Spannung bieten sollte wie der große Bruder. Und im Wesentlichen ist das GMT auch gelungen. Der kalte Krieg. Eine hochspannende und hochgefährliche Ära. Zwei Supermächte, die USA und die UdSSR versuchten weltweit ihren Einfluß zu erhöhen. Zwei Systeme stritten miteinander. Mit diplomatischen, geheimdienstlichen und militärischen Mitteln. Stellvertreterkriege wurden vom Zaun gebrochen. Viele Ereignisse machten deutlich wie nah die Welt am Abgrund, am alles vernichtenden Atomkrieg stand. "Twilight Struggle: Red Sea" ist für zwei Spieler ausgelegt. Einer spielt die USA, der andere übernimmt die UdSSR. In dieser digitalen Variante des Karten-Brettspiels können wir entweder gegen die KI antreten - die meist ganz erstaunlich clever agiert, Schwächen erkennt und auch einige Züge im Voraus zu denken vermag - oder gegen einen menschlichen Gegner. Das Spiel ist aufgeteilt in zwei große Phasen, die Zeitabschnitte repräsentieren. Beginnt ein neuer Abschnitt kommen neue Karten hinzu. Bestimmte Karten werden immer wieder ins Deck gemischt. Andere werden nach einmaligem Ausspielen aus dem Spiel entfernt. In jeder Phase werden eine bestimmte Anzahl Karten ausgespielt. Die Karten haben mehrere Informationen. Zum Einen ein Event, das beschrieben wird und dessen Auswirkungen in Kraft treten, wenn wir die Karte als Event ausspielen. Auf der Karte ist auch eine Ziffer, die die Stärke der Karte repräsentiert. Wir können auch diese Punkte einsetzen, um Einfluß in Ländern zu erzielen. Jedes Land hat einen bestimmten Wert. Erreicht die Differenz zwischen den Einflußpunkten der beiden Spieler in dem Land diesen Wert, hat der jeweilige Spieler unter Kontrolle und es wird schwerer für den Gegner hier Einfluß zu platzieren. Die Kartenpunkte können auch eingesetzt werden um einen Coup in einem Land zu machen. Um zu ermitteln, ob der Coup erfolgreich ist, wird die Stärke des Landes, die schon existierenden Einflußpunkte und ein Würfelwurf einberechnet. Ein gelungener Coup setzt allerdings den DEFCON Level (1-5) runter. Bei DEFCON 1 kommt es zur atomaren Katastrophe und das Spiel endet sofort. Ungeliebte Karten (in der Regel Karten, die ein starkes gegnerisches Event triggern) können auch im Space Race eingesetzt werden, durch das man auch Punkte bekommen kann. Alle der hochintelligent aufeinander abgestimmten Mechaniken können hier gar nicht erwähnt werden. In der Headline-Phase wird zum Beispielbei der ersten ausgespielten Karte einer Runde wird immer das Event ausgelöst. Die China-Karte aus dem großen Bruder ist hier die Rumänien-Karte. Gewonnen hat eine Seite, wenn die Differenz an Victory-Points 10 erreicht. Victory-Points erreicht man durch vieles, durch Space-Race, Karten-Events aber auch durch Scoring-Cards, die, wenn ausgespielt den momentanen Einflußstand in einer Weltregion bewerten. Ich könnte noch weitaus mehr ins Detail gehen. Es ist komplex, trotzdem man eigentlich meist nur Karten ausspielt. Es ist, und das ist das Wichtigste, eine unglaublich gute, unglaublich intelligente, unglaublich durchdachte, historisch akkurate Repräsentation einer bewegten Ära. Soviel historisches Feingefühl findet sich extrem selten. Die eigentlich simple Grundlage eines kartenbasierten Spiels wird durch das Regelwerk zu einer Erfahrung, die es notwendig macht über jeden Zug gründlich nachzudenken. Die Frage wann man eine Karte ausspielt ist extrem wichtig und entscheidend. Daß fast alle Karten als unterschiedliche Aktion ausgespielt werden können (Event, Einfluß, Coup, Space Race, Realignement) erhöht die Komplexität enorm. Hat man zum Beispiel eine Scoring-Karte auf der Hand, wird man versuchen sie am Ende der Phase auszuspielen und innerhalb der Runde den Einfluß in der Region, die gewertet wird, so weit wie möglich zu steigern, um dann durch die Scoring-Karte möglichst viele Victory-Points zu bekommen. Setzen wir aber gleich zu Beginn alles in der Region ein, wird unser Gegner diese Taktik erkennen und Gegenmaßnahmen versuchen, etwa Coups in der Region machen. Da die Scoring-Karten in der jeweiligen Phase ausgespielt werden müssen, kann dies dazu führen, daß wir unserem Gegner Victory Points schenken, weil er uns zu früh einschätzen konnte. "Twilight Struggle: Red Sea" ist auf den ersten Blick kompliziert. Und das ist es zugegebenermaßen erstmal durchaus auch. Nach ein paar Spielen kommt man aber gut rein und begreift die Mechaniken rasch, denn diese sind alle sinnvoll und logisch durchdacht. Wenn man die Regeln einmal kapiert hat, hat man sie auch drauf. Das Spiel spricht wahrscheinlich nur eine kleine Gruppe an, ist ein Nischen-Titel. Aber gerade das spricht für diese digitale Version, denn manche werden im real life nur schwer einen Spielpartner finden. Hier hat man die richtig gute KI oder online meist wirklich fordernde Gegner. Technisch ist die Umsetzung sauber gemacht, übersichtlich und gut bespielbar. Einige nette Sounds und kurze akustische Ausschnitte aus historischen Reden runden den durchweg guten Eindruck ab. Die Grafik hält sich an das Brettspiel und ist passend und übersichtlich. Der große Bruder ist das insgesamt ausgewogenere und rundere Spiel, dauert aber auch gerne mal mehrere Stunden. Diese Kurzversion "Red Sea" ist dennoch gelungen und macht eine Menge richtig. [h1]Wertung:[/h1] 8/10 Atmosphäre 9/10 Story 8/10 Grafik 7/10 Sound 9/10 Spielmechanik 8/10 Balancing 8/10 Spielspass [h1]Fazit:[/h1] Gleichgewichtchen des Schreckens. [h1][b]8/10 Gesamtwertung

好评给steam版游戏，差评给红海这游戏本身。steam版软件本身做的没有什么问题，自动化结算很适合这种细节多还容易村的桌游。 价格我都不说了，红海游戏性跟原版比不了一点，原版不算t0跟ks扩在100盘以下的时候是个重策游戏，500把以上的时候是个摸四扔六的垃圾运气游戏（不是），而红海则是一上来就是纯粹的垃圾运气游戏。相比原版的10t，本作2t不仅是屁都没干就结束了，而且一旦t1起手或者前两个政变骰子烂了可能直接这把就烂了，再加上本作区域没有美苏邻国游戏过程中甚至可以出现一方把另一方所有点数撸光开始慢慢凌辱的情况，起手落后大一点几乎没有翻盘余地。由于本作t1牌堆厚于抓牌不少，t2加入后期牌后依旧是牌堆比抓牌厚不少，因此本作牌根本就出不干净记牌变得毫无意义。没有记牌，没有开局，起手手牌跟前2ar骰子决定整把游戏走向的垃圾游戏玩他干什么，f14上打几把3回合的冷战前期打完直接算分都比玩红海强。 另外红海线上根本就没人开房，原版打开以后还能看到不少房间，红海什么时候打开大厅都没房间没人。想入本作的慎重，不如b站或者什么地方找个视频看两把拉倒没必要非得入这个，老老实实玩原版玩别的游戏等ts设计师的下一作5回合的ts南亚版比较好。

Horribly buggy, the AI basically ignores all limiting parts of the text in Events. Shame on you, Playdek - you're not getting my money again.

It's not worth to play against AI until all of the rules and cards implemented well. Like still was beta, so please..

Still too many bugs to warrant a purchase. A really disappointing port of a great game.

Game will be fine someday but currently is a buggy mess, several gamebreaking bugs exist which make the game unplayable. It also crashes frequently. It has been out for over two weeks with no patches to fix major bugs. Do not buy unless playdek decides to fix their game.

This game has been fixed now and works properly as to the gamplay: it's Twilight Struggle but smaller in scope and way shorter making for a perfect game if you don't have time for a full Twilight Struggle game.

It's a computer adaptation of a board game about the middle east + east africa during the cold war where you play as either USSR or the USA fighting for influence and control of the region. Keeping the review short, if you're interested in learning about the history of this region/time period and/or are looking for a fun, but short experience where you're not too concerned about how the game plays out, it's pretty fun. The adaptation isn't bad and the AI isn't too bad either. It's probably fun with someone else who shares the same mindset. If you're looking for a fair game with minimum RNG though, this ain't for you. The game is incredibly swingy because you can get absolutely trounced before the start of the game if you get a bad hand (and your opponent gets an average, let alone good hand), and the card effects can be incredibly strong. The coup system, which makes up a ton of your actions in the game is also incredibly strong due to how unstable the region is -- this is realistic to the region, but it makes much of the game turn into a literal roll of the dice, and if you're unlucky then you can lose just because of that, too. I mean, the original Twilight Struggle was also RNG heavy but not to the degree this game is. So many things are hinged on dice rolls and luck that a total newbie could beat a pro if their luck was good enough. That isn't really good game design in my opinion, but the games are short so *shrug*. I wish other GMT games got this treatment (Fire in the lake, please?) so I bought it to support the company, but unless the setting interests you I'd probably only pick this up on sale.