Hi, me again!
After DELVE and RISE, I've dug into UMBRA, and I can now see: this one is awesome. It's clear that of the three, this game recieved the most attention, it's much more polished, organized, and balanced than the others.
While I prefer the fantasy genre of DELVE, this game was probably the best of the three, with the most control given to the player despite the randomness of being based around a deck of cards.
But, since I've been taking notes, I still did find a few little glitches - mostly with the very beginning of the game.
- starting a game says starts with 25 STR of marines, but unlike DELVE or RISE it doesn't clarify this is 5 marines.
- Units starve if you don't have enough food. You also start with 5 units and 0 food.
- I know STATIONS is coming, but it's weird to have the main game refer to an expansion that isn't released yet.
- Unlike DELVE or RISE, there doesn't appear to be a cap on your resources or funding. It would be nice to call that out.
My final observation for this game is - it also feels like it's the easiest of the three by far, given that the basic Marine is Ranged, and the medbay and scanner are relatively accessible. Range is so important, because every unit's STR is basically tripled, because you can hit them from two squares away. Once you're a established a bit, combined with medbays, you just say "STR lower than 150? I win without damage." Not that I mind the game is easy, but the game becomes so easy as to discard whole portions of it.
Once again, great game! I really have enjoyed it. :)