XIA, which is pronounced "ZEE-ya"

How does this game compare to Merchants & Marauders?

Vastly less brutal and unforgiving. Death is nearly costless which seriously takes the edge off player and NPC conflict.

I think there is still a bit of an edge there as you lose all of your cargo and have to respawn on a random map point when you 'die' and that can really screw with you depending on what kind of strategy you are trying to play. When a player gets heavily damaged and is carrying cargo they tend to get a bit nervous. My main problem is that attacking another player who is at full health or carrying shields and armour is fairly pointless as you'll struggle to take them out. Easy pickings on a heavily damaged player and then scooping up their jettisoned cargo is the only time it seems worth bothering. Really though I tend to be more worried when looking for relics or exploring space junk than when entering combat.

Yeah, you need several shield piercers to really kill another player and even then some luck too.

That's just the thing that most prominently jumps out about the difference between the two games, nearly costless is exaggeration but combat in M+M is almost breathtakingly brutal.

Got this coming in today with the expansion for the wife. She is the biggest sci-fi nerd and has been eyeing it for quite a while. It's a surprise. Shhhh.

Any particularly good teaching resources? I'm sure I can manage but I'd appreciate a jump start.

Vysetron wrote: Got this coming in today with the expansion for the wife. She is the biggest sci-fi nerd and has been eyeing it for quite a while. It's a surprise. Shhhh.

Any particularly good teaching resources? I'm sure I can manage but I'd appreciate a jump start.

What worked for me is what Gary Sax suggested:

Base set
+ changes from expansion
+ economy board
- NPCs
+ $5000 starting cash
+ play to 10 points

There aren't a LOT of rules. This will help you get them all down and then you can adjust settings to taste.

Also definitely feel free to expand out quickly to bring in all of the components. I think you only need a couple games with a limited scope before piling everything in.

Game can drag with larger player counts, so I recommend starting with 3 but this is going to vary relative to your tolerance to down time. If you have players who will immediately see how they can go into their businesses phases and fiddle around while other players start their next turn, you're ok.

Hope you enjoy.

Set up this game today, playing later---turns out I hadn't played since I got the little mini expansion kickstarter (with 2 dollar coins, couldn't resist, one of my favorite game components of all time). I finally cracked the missions and powers little box and boy, this is a must-have expansion. From a bang for your buck perspective you must own this little mini expansion. The missions are fine, any variety in the missions is great, but the powers cards... this doubles the number of unique ship powers in the game. Full stop, as big an expansion as the new single space outfits in the big ice expansion. To bury this big an expansion in such a tiny box is such a tip of the cap by Far Off to their fans, I love it.

Probably have more to say after I play. I shouldn't have kept this on the shelf so long.

Had a really good time. Reminds me why I loved American style games when dry euros were super dominant many many years ago.

God I love Xia. Every time we play it I just want to play it more. Best adventure game? Probably.