General Discussion on Solo Play

[korric]

I've played it a lot solo, especially recently. I enjoyed the first three solo scenarios a lot, the 4th one was pretty good, and I dislike the 5th one. I've also played it 2-player, and I think it's better as a solo game. Here's my take on solo play.

The first two scenarios are straight-forward mercantile runs. They are thematic and fun puzzles. I play the second scenario the most of all 5 solo scenarios, as it's considerably more challenging than the first, but once in a while I'll play the first when I want a more casual experience. Both are fun in different ways.

The third simulates a boarding invasion really well - I'm sure you can build a deck specifically designed to defeat it, but I prefer not to and as a result, it can be brutal. It's fun and thematic, and it's satisfying when I manage to survive.

The 4th scenario uses a die roll to determine how much damage the ship is taking from mishaps. This means that you can just get screwed by bad die rolls, and that's never fun in any game. Conversely, you could win because you're rolling really well and that's not satisfying. Still, I can see it as a necessary evil to make the damage the ship takes variable. For this one, I had to make a deck designed for it. Also, the theme isn't well defined. This one is okay, but I much prefer the first three solo scenarios.

As for the 5th solo scenario, there are a few problems with it, and they're big ones. First, the random amount of Raider counters makes the difficulty dependent on die rolls - that's just not fun. It would have been better to have a fixed progression of tokens over the course of the game, so that I can succeed or fail based on how I play rather than based on good or bad die rolls. I might as well just play a dice game instead. The biggest crime with that scenario is the dice rolls when damaging the Vulture. If damage is only going to do anything 1/6 of the time, why would I bother trying? Winning or losing should not be based on whether I can roll extremely lucky or not. So effectively, there isn't anything you can do about the Raider counters, which pretty much destroys the theme of defending myself against piracy. I played the scenario twice, and I will never play it again.

I'd really like to see a scenario in which I can pirate another ship, preferably without using dice.

[Horizon Ian]

Thanks for the feedback on solo play. We were thinking a lot about how to expand the game in a way that was particularly beneficial to solo players earlier this year.

[Cpt Ric]

Hi Korric,
Have you tried the "Solo Saturday" scenarios? I find them to be good. There are 31 of them that I know of and they add a neat twist to the game. I have complied them all into one document for me to play. I'm working my way thru them, a few I've played before but in this lock down I thought I'd try to get thru more of them since I appear to have some time on my hands.

I'd like to see some cards that are for solo play. Some maybe some and that are more solo focused. I'll be honest that I'm not exactly sure what that means. Just spit-balling here.

[korric]

Hi Korric,
Have you tried the "Solo Saturday" scenarios? I find them to be good. There are 31 of them that I know of and they add a neat twist to the game. I have complied them all into one document for me to play. I'm working my way thru them, a few I've played before but in this lock down I thought I'd try to get thru more of them since I appear to have some time on my hands.

I haven't actually checked them out. I'll take a look. Thanks!

I'd like to see some cards that are for solo play. Some maybe some and that are more solo focused. I'll be honest that I'm not exactly sure what that means. Just spit-balling here.

I have made this suggestion also. I think one way to accomplish this would be with a set of difficult complications that have an immediate effect when revealed during the resolution phase (this makes intel cards like Sensor Drone Controller more valuable for solo play.) Once revealed, these cards cannot be discarded by playing other complications; they can only be discarded by card effects (like Negotiated Non-aggression) or resolved. These cards would be for solo play only, as they would be too strong to use against other players.

Here are some examples of what I have in mind, with some generic names to give an idea of the themes I'm going for:

Attacked by pirates
Resolve: Defeat enemy (initiative 5, attack 4, defense 3, Structure 1)
Reveal: This ship immediately performs a piracy action against you.
When damaged by this ship, it would apply damage according to the hierarchy in solo scenario 5.

Asteroid Field
Resolve: [Trained Starship Operations and take 2 damage] or [Expert Starship Operations]
Reveal: Discard the highest-cost upgrade on the ship (if tied, player chooses. If there isn't any, expend 4.)

Illness
Resolve: [Expert Medical] or [Trained Medical][Trained Science]
Reveal: Deal three damage to one random crew. Armor does not prevent this damage (if there are no crew, no effect)

Game difficulty could be determined by how many of these complications are put in the adventure deck (5, 10, 15, or all 20).
I'm just throwing things out there; I have no idea if these would be balanced well or not.
A solo-only mini-expansion would be great.

[Cpt Ric]

Those are some great ideas!

How about -
Mis Jump - Miscalculation causes you to over jump, pay 2X distance or have

Sabotage - Some one doesn't like you. Take 2 any one players choice, if none pay

Edit: Also maybe for a have a couple that MUST be completed for solo play when they come up. Could have maybe one (2?) for each or just a few generic ones.

I really like the idea of a solo mini expansion thing.

[Cpt Ric]

A few ideas for Solo Contracts, these MUST be committed to if they appear. I tired to have a good verity of contracts that should give a decent spread of Capabilities and Skills to complete them. Clearly these are no tin final form, just the basic idea for the contract. Balance out the Capabilities and Skills needed and the number of and the like would require a bit of work I suspect. I'm willing to help out and do some play testing if needed.

Rescue Mission: Research team must be evacuated after their ship crashed.

Medical Supplies: Urgent supplies needs transport to combat a virus outbreak.

Prison Exchange: Warring parties need 3rd party to exchange prisoners.

Nova: Critical research gathering required on a star in its final days

Peace Negotiator: Diplomate needs immediate transport to negotiate a peace treaty.

Emergency Team: Team with specialty equipment needs transport to fix a failing power plant.

Critical Supplies: Research teams needs immediate supplies.

Escort: Ship with dignitaries needs escort to ensure safe passage.

X-Boat Run: An X-boat is unable to make its run.

Calling for Backup: A ship in distress needs backup to fight off pirates.

[NightHydra]

I am new to Traveller CCG. I am exclusively playing solo. I am also going to play every Scenario, and use every ship at least once (not in every scenario).

I would ask:
What are recommended loadouts for Bounty Hunter in Scenario 3 and Gazelle in Scenario 5?

Basically I am working on the premise that they are the best places for such anti-solo play ships to feel.at home and I was just wondering what might be recommended?

**I do not have the Collector's Set but I do have all the retail and PODs.

[Horizon Jeff]

For Scenario 3, probably and the Aggravated Assault.

I know in one local meta, the Gisgo is popular because of his synergy with Aggravated Assault.

[NightHydra]

Nice. Thanks. I'll have to see what Adventure I can find to cheat an easy win for the BH ship at first.

[Horizon Ian]

Not sure whether it makes sense to split off a new topic, yet.

There are groups of cards that are structurally bad for many solo scenarios. But, one way to think about new cards is how existing effects could be changed to be more solo friendly. Psychic Theft would be more useful in solo play if it was more like Psychic Echo "Target a crew in play. During the resource phase, any skill tokens target provides are additionally added to your resource pool."

Replenishment should be relatively better in various solo play as replenishment is kind of slow when trying to outrace another player. There's a concern that too much replenishment can be undesirable in a couple of ways, but it wouldn't be difficult to create a replenishment card that was easily removable by an opponent "Any player may pay 2 to jettison this card." or the like.

What I prefer in customizable card games is when new cards make old cards that aren't generally good better. For solo play, besides scenarios that had nuking crew you don't control, having cards that convert inflicting wounds or armor into some other resource might be interesting. Would also smooth out the value of something like armor when you get into a game where nobody is trying to murder all of your dudes.