First Game - Solo - Beowulf
Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2018 4:55 am
So Last night I played my first game using the Beowulf Ship deck. As an avid Deck builder and collector of card games, I have to admit that I rather enjoyed this first game, which is very rare, especially when learning new games. I have to be honest here, Traveller was always a nice setting to ready, but the RPG was just crazy complicated, or at least that is what my 13 YO self thought back in 1984. I am a big fan of space themed games. I love how this game captures the exploration / adventuring in space, especially in the harsh world of the Imperium. So here are some thoughts, while hopefully no spoilers to actual content yet.
So I struggled for the first two turns with the absolute structure of a turn. In most deck builders, there is something that resembles [Clean Up / Prep][Bunch of different actions here][Determine results][Clean up]. I find it really strange that at the end of every phase that you are constantly checking for victory conditions. Grant it, it was my first game, but it seems rather unlikely that you will be gaining VPs say in the Adventure or Procurement Phases. But hey, game ends as soon as you cross that threshold, could happen. I have not seen all of the cards yet. As a side note, by turn 3, the turn naturally seemed to flow as if you were actually doing these types of things. [Draw Cards][Get a Contract][Hire Crew][Plot your Opponents demise][Gather Resources][Pay Costs and gather VPs][Clean up]. So for me at least, the game really started flowing. I think Turn two was probably the worst, because I could see what I wanted to do to fulfill the pursed contract, but you can't immediately start playing Actions to work your way to completion. So for me Turn Two involved a lot of Do this, wait it isn't time to do that, undo that. Do this which it is time to do, move on, do more stuff.
Another thing that came to mind was that I had a brief look at the cards while I was putting them in sleeves.. While I could see that you could build the Beowulf to some extent as a very fast Pirate ship, it just did not seem like that was going to be a viable build. And in fact, it is much more cargo hauling starting deck builds. Since the adventure cards were double sided, I REALLY did not pay as close attention to these cards as the Captain's cards while i was placing them in sleeves. But hey that realization came after the first play.
So I focused on trying to get contacts that I could fulfill, with as few complications on them as possible. So First turn was an easy 'cargo haul' with one cargo icon on it. Which was easily completed due to having an easy 'unexpected passenger' as the complication. Both were in the wheel house of the ship card. Earning those meager VPs game me a very real sense of what I would be doing the rest of the game.
After a few turns of playing crew cards, paying costs, and just focusing on completing contracts, I was able to amass 20 VPs in about 7 turns. In turn 6, I took a contract with optional completions that I walked away with 6 VPs. This resulted in a Turn 7 with me at 17 Total Victory points and another easy single 'cargo' contract.
While playing Solo using the Beowulf, I noticed that a lot of abilities and cards were of 0 value to me as the function of the card. The expense value on the cards however, really created a nice place where I was not up set about losing a card that furthered my mission. Also there are numerous interactions that have no real play value in a solo game. You simply are not going to win with a piracy strategy.
Sitting back and looking at the game, I had quite the fun playing and zooming around the galaxy in the Beowulf. My next Solo ship is going to be the Type S Scout. My goal is to try out all 4 of the start decks, followed by putting together a Broadsword deck for solo play.
AND IF anyone lives in the Charlotte, NC area or will be in the area, I would love to play a couple of games of TravellerCCG with you.
So I struggled for the first two turns with the absolute structure of a turn. In most deck builders, there is something that resembles [Clean Up / Prep][Bunch of different actions here][Determine results][Clean up]. I find it really strange that at the end of every phase that you are constantly checking for victory conditions. Grant it, it was my first game, but it seems rather unlikely that you will be gaining VPs say in the Adventure or Procurement Phases. But hey, game ends as soon as you cross that threshold, could happen. I have not seen all of the cards yet. As a side note, by turn 3, the turn naturally seemed to flow as if you were actually doing these types of things. [Draw Cards][Get a Contract][Hire Crew][Plot your Opponents demise][Gather Resources][Pay Costs and gather VPs][Clean up]. So for me at least, the game really started flowing. I think Turn two was probably the worst, because I could see what I wanted to do to fulfill the pursed contract, but you can't immediately start playing Actions to work your way to completion. So for me Turn Two involved a lot of Do this, wait it isn't time to do that, undo that. Do this which it is time to do, move on, do more stuff.
Another thing that came to mind was that I had a brief look at the cards while I was putting them in sleeves.. While I could see that you could build the Beowulf to some extent as a very fast Pirate ship, it just did not seem like that was going to be a viable build. And in fact, it is much more cargo hauling starting deck builds. Since the adventure cards were double sided, I REALLY did not pay as close attention to these cards as the Captain's cards while i was placing them in sleeves. But hey that realization came after the first play.
So I focused on trying to get contacts that I could fulfill, with as few complications on them as possible. So First turn was an easy 'cargo haul' with one cargo icon on it. Which was easily completed due to having an easy 'unexpected passenger' as the complication. Both were in the wheel house of the ship card. Earning those meager VPs game me a very real sense of what I would be doing the rest of the game.
After a few turns of playing crew cards, paying costs, and just focusing on completing contracts, I was able to amass 20 VPs in about 7 turns. In turn 6, I took a contract with optional completions that I walked away with 6 VPs. This resulted in a Turn 7 with me at 17 Total Victory points and another easy single 'cargo' contract.
While playing Solo using the Beowulf, I noticed that a lot of abilities and cards were of 0 value to me as the function of the card. The expense value on the cards however, really created a nice place where I was not up set about losing a card that furthered my mission. Also there are numerous interactions that have no real play value in a solo game. You simply are not going to win with a piracy strategy.
Sitting back and looking at the game, I had quite the fun playing and zooming around the galaxy in the Beowulf. My next Solo ship is going to be the Type S Scout. My goal is to try out all 4 of the start decks, followed by putting together a Broadsword deck for solo play.
AND IF anyone lives in the Charlotte, NC area or will be in the area, I would love to play a couple of games of TravellerCCG with you.
It has also allowed me to become familiar with all four of the ship decks in a short period of time.