Footenotes: Unofficial GSF Errata, Guides, and Houserules for a better experience

Copying this from another thread for easier visability and discussion

 

Errata and Houserules

My House Rules have been posted a lot on BGG forums and have had a lot of success with folks. If you enjoy the game but crave a little extra push to fine tune the experience, I highly recommend you try these out. I have played a lot of GSF and these changes have made the total game experience noteably better for me and others I've introduced the game to. These have all been extensivly playtested and I am very confident you will find them helpfull.

Game Rules:

1. Elite Mode Icons always on

2. No added W/D to Opposition

3. Flagship kill is the only win condition

Explaination - This is pretty much a middle ground where we take the best aspects of Elite Mode and Normal Mode and combine them in way that makes the most thematicaly satisfying gameplay. Elite Mode Icons are crucial! Not only do they add pure flavor to each Opposition, they force you to interact with each Opposition far more differently than you do without them. Also, by eliminating the win condition of clearing all sectors you have to take into account how and when you will force the Flagship out and eliminates games where you never see the flagship. No need to clear the sectors afterward either as that just creates a slog for the players to push through after what should be the major victory. You may add the extra W/D to Opposition ships if you wish, but I feel like it doesn't add any flavor to the game experience so I disregard it. The game can be plenty challenging without it (plus it's more tokens to worry about).

Wrath:

1. "Sensor Array" only allows 1 draw per phase.

2. "Goaded Pursuit" only moves up to 2 other ships instead of an unlimited number

Explaination - Let's be frank here. Wrath, as is, is so overpowered it's not funny. Goaded Pursuit allows you to force entire sectors from being overrun, single handedly destroying any sense of danger of losing. That alone is why Wrath needserrata. Sensor Array + half her deck being extra movement allows her to cycle her entire deck each round regardless of the number of cards you buy which undermines the "deck building" aspect and careful purchase choice planning that makes other ship decks engaging. And if you manage to snag an OCS Waypoint or Cloaking tech, this issue magnifies 10 fold. Even with these two slight nerfs to her best cards, Wrath is still a top teir ship in terms of Energy building (thanks to appropriation beam and 8 FInger Discount) and team utility (Goaded Pursuit is still very good for sector manipulation even with the nerf). One SF ship shouldn't take away all fear of getting overrun, and now Wrath is playable again while still being very enjoyable and unique in what she does and what she prefers to buy.

Singularity:

1. Assault Side - If the Singularity ever reaches 65 or more total Energy, It will have enough power to emit a galactic wide signal that infects every piece of technology with the Singularity's code. After it selfdestructs your Strike Force ships, it proceedes to easily take over the entire galaxy. You lose

Explaination - The Singularity needs a some kind of timer mechanic, else it is just going to keep growing at a pace that the Strike Force ships usually can't keep up with, creating one of those multi-hour stalemate scenarios. You could still squeak out a win, but at what time cost? The addition of this kind of timer not only totaly prevents the stalemate scenario, but it injects a huge scense of urgency right from the start of the game through the end, and a huge component of winning is placed in the early game and how well you can deal with Alpha Primes before the Singularity eventually appears and gets out of control. It solidifies the Singularity as the biggest and badest challenge in GSF while keeping the tension and excitment in the game experience.

Nyotan:

1. Assault Side - replace [A] icon effect with: Remove 3 Energy from the Strike Force Ship in this sector with the least Energy then remove 1 Energy from each other Strike Force Ship in this sector

Explaination - It's a god damn lazer dragon! I want it's Fire/Lazer breath to have some real heat to it! Nyotan will be pretty angry at the end of each round and will aim for the low hanging fruit to synergize with it's [I] icon effect. It's slow enough comming at the Aftermath that smart Strike Force ships will find time to move away from it and kiting is already a key part in the strategy against it. It also means that you really don't want to face Nyotan alone with just your biggest Strike Force Ship to tank or it'll be shredded. You'll need another ship to run interference and act as a distraction. I like the way it plays out thematicaly. Nyotan is kinda toothless once he flips and his Harbingers don't resurect and this change ups the danager ante a tad and injects some additional strategical planning.

2. Assault Side - bump up with energy thresh hold of his [I] icon effect to 4 totaly energy (up from 2)

Explaination - This is a change I have been considering recently and I really like it. If you are at 2 total energy then you are pretty much dead anyway and don't need Nyotan's help. At 4 total energy I feel like it's balanced. Plus you always have the chance to move away from Nyotan before the [I] icon kicks in, it just ups the threashold point where you need to run.

 

Guides

 

Teaching GSF or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the PAX demo

Pilot Operation Manuals: (work in progress)

Vol 1. Kharachar's Claw 

Vol 2. Grey Hammer 

Vol 3. Basileios 

Vol 4. Vigilance 

Thanks for the sticky Paul.

No problem! Thanks for writing up these guides; they're great!

I always play with your "best of both worlds difficulty" variant in... And I had come to the same conclusions (and changes) regarding Uxshenti's Wrath...

Great read, and well stickied!