Multiplayer solitaire is a word that terrifies me. My general thought is “why play a game if I’m not interacting with people?” but I find myself coming back to those kinds of games. I love Race For the Galaxy. I love Dominion and it’s countless expansions. Core Worlds takes both of those and combines them to perfection. Sometimes it’s just nice to not be in competition. Sometimes it’s relaxing and fun to do your own thing. Sometimes I want to play a game that lets me build my perfect world, free of disasters or interference; a game where I can watch my people grow and prosper, where my civilization can blossom and reap the rewards of their hard work. When I want a game like that, I want Progress: Evolution of Technology.
If you’ve ever played any civilization-building video game
or even a lot of boardgames, you know that as your civilization advances you
need to decide what they specialize in.
For example, at some point you will have to decide between war and
science. You can do both and never go
far in either, or you can specialize and push farther up the tech tree. Progress takes this idea and distills it down
wonderfully into an intuitive game that’s somewhere between full-blown Euro and
gateway game.
The entire game is driven by the Technology cards. These cards are divided into three Ages
simulating historical periods. The game
starts with Age 1 and ends after Age 3. Some
cards have an Age icon on them. When the required number are brought into play
(this varies by player count), the game moves to the next Age. When this happens in Age 3, the game ends.
At the start of the game, a player has two actions on their turn. You can Discover a technology to put it
directly into play. Instead of
Discovering, you can Research a card as long as you are under your Technologies
in Development limit. You play the card
down with tokens equal to your Research skill.
In addition, you have the Quick Draw action which lets you pull from
either a deck or discard pile, a Shuffle & Draw action which lets you
shuffle up one or more Age decks and then draw a card, and the Draw action
which gives you three cards and ends your turn.
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Your player board at the beginning of the game. |
One of the key aspects to Progress is that all of these
skills can be increased by playing Technology cards. Every card has some benefit that it gives
when played and sometimes this will be increasing one of these skills. While Progress starts out slow, the game
ramps up very quickly when you get more Actions. The ability to have multiple Technologies in
Development is huge because of the cost savings. Putting less cubes on your Technologies by
increasing your Research skill makes it even more powerful. Increasing your Quick Draw ability gives you
flexibility in drawing cards. The
ability to tailor your options to match your play style and strategy is a very
unique aspect. It seems like a lot to
manage at first, but the player aid that tracks these things makes it
effortless and turns it into one of the game’s highlights. There’s not much else out there that gives
you that sort of gameplay variety.
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What your player board may look like by the end of the game. |
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In this example, I can play Philosophy for free because it's two costs, Musical Instruments and Alphabet are already in my tableau. |
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In this example, Philosophy has been researched and will come into play four turn later. |
In most games with a tech tree, you have to go one way and commit to it. Progress offers you the ability to change courses somewhat. You're never stuck staying with your tree. You can build any Technology you can afford and that's one of key factors in this game. Sometimes you start off one way and then get cards that support moving to a different tree. The trick is knowing when you should and managing your resources to support the move. It's a balancing act for sure, but one that rewards good play and doesn't punish anyone for getting bad card draws.
Calling this game multiplayer solitaire isn’t quite fair
because there is some interaction. The
Power Board is set in the middle of the table and features three tracks: Prestige,
Population, and Army. Some Technology
cards feature these icons so when you put one of those into play, you increase
your marker on the associated track.
These tracks are worth a lot of points at the end of the game so you
need to pay attention to them. In fact,
if you don’t win any your odds of winning are very slim. I learned this the hard way and made sure to
not forget that in subsequent games.
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Here's what the Power Board may look like in a 3-player game. You can see the payouts on the right. In this situation, Red is clearly dominating on points followed by Blue and then yellow. |
I mentioned earlier about moving through the Ages and ending
the game and this also supports the player interaction. It’s possible for one
or more players to play a cautious game, proceeding slowly while another player
tries to push towards the end quickly.
You will see interaction between the players as they try to pace the
game to suit their needs. When Age 3
starts, all cards from Age 1 that are not in play (cards from your hand and
Technologies under Development) are discarded.
One intrepid player pushing far ahead could ruin the hard work of others
with that ploy. Again, it’s indirect,
but it’s not as if there’s no interaction at all.
It feels like the player count on this game is best with
3. That’s the right amount to get
competition on the Power Board without causing excessive downtime. The sheer number of options for tech tree
advancement can cause some AP so I feel like the game bogs down at higher
counts. With two or 3 players, it moves
at a good pace and still has plenty of competition. In fact, I’d say this makes a wonderful game
for couples due to the solitaire nature.
As an added bonus, I feel like this could be a most
excellent gateway game to the next tier of games. Once you get past Catan, Ticket to Ride, and
Carc, there’s a bit of a void. Progress will fit incredibly well in that void,
giving a nice step up in complexity and introducing players to
Euroglyphics. There aren’t too many
symbols and the ones that are there are very clear as to their use. There’s really no gateway games that offer
Euroglyphics 101 so this would work incredibly well to teach that concept. If you are looking for a step-up towards games
like Race For the Galaxy, this is your best bet.
I do appreciate the addition of a couple add-on modules and
feel that they really help the gameplay.
I’m a big fan of the Personalities as these help move each player
towards different play styles. The fact
that these can be changed mid-game is a nice plus. I love the Heritage powers on these cards
because it offers yet one more decision layer.
The Milestones help with player interaction by giving everyone a common
goal to work on. If you want a longer
game, just add in the Age 4 cards which take you right up to modern day.
One of the best aspects of Progress is the wonderful graphic
design and artwork. There are few games
presented as well as Progress. It’s
incredibly well thought out and really helps make the gameplay easier. Many games look nice. Others are laid out
well. Progress is a work of art in the
form-meets-function category, marrying those concepts perfectly. The rulebook is also wonderfully clear making
the game playable right out of the box.
Huge kudos to whoever was responsible for the presentation.
If I had to pick something I don't like, it's that all cards can be played with General Knowledge. While costs have specific types, you don't need to have that type to play the card. I do wish the costs actually required specific types of Knowledge to play. That would certainly complicate things, but it would ratchet the resource management aspect up several notches. If they ever do an expansion, I'd love to see more cards offering specific types of Knowledge.
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Notice the General Knowledge symbol in the bottom left. |
So maybe I do like multi-player solitaire games after
all. I certainly like Progress. It has a lot of small decisions that combine
to create your strategy for the game.
You may not realize it but from turn 1 you are shaping how your game
will play out. There’s opportunities to
course correct along the way so you’re not stuck, but maximizing your strategy
will pay dividends. Progress offers a
wonderful experience for seasoned and new gamers alike, providing common ground
that should please everyone.
I’ll always be a guy who likes player interaction in my games. Honestly, I want to be able to mess your stuff up and laugh when things go horribly wrong for me. But there are also times I want to watch my imaginary civilization prosper. There are days I want to build that tech tree and revel in my technological marvels. On those days, I want something where I can steer my people to glory and not be messed with. On those days, I’m reaching for Progress: Evolution of Technology.
I’ll always be a guy who likes player interaction in my games. Honestly, I want to be able to mess your stuff up and laugh when things go horribly wrong for me. But there are also times I want to watch my imaginary civilization prosper. There are days I want to build that tech tree and revel in my technological marvels. On those days, I want something where I can steer my people to glory and not be messed with. On those days, I’m reaching for Progress: Evolution of Technology.
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