Now, I know this could sound "boring" but I admit it's rather fun to do by yourself as it is solitaire. It is meant to be solitary, after all. I like to play while half watching Trek episodes. Of course, if I had more friends that were interested in playing, I would play with them. But no one I know seems to have time anymore for this game *sigh*.
Ultimately, my collection of decipher Trek cards would be sitting in their binders collecting dust if I didn't do this, so sometimes it's nice to take then out and move them around a bit, for nostalgia's sake. I know there are still tournaments in certain cities but I always altered the rules quite a bit when I played... and I'm not much for travel. I always thought that the First Edition Trek CCG was underappreciated as a dynamic game that mirrored the experience of the TV very closely. So give it a try.
If anyone has any other Trek CCG variants (poker? etc) I've love to hear about them. It would be great to have a variant that didn't require a lot of setup, that players could pick up random cards and just start playing something. Any ideas?
Star Trek CCG (First Edition Solitaire)
1. First, make a selection of personnel, ships, equipment, events and interrupts that you have a liking for, and produce an ideal synergy.
2. Then make a selection of artifacts, dilemmas and missions. Try and match the dilemmas you have with the skills your personnel have (i.e. if you have several dilemmas which require empathy, make sure you've got a handful of empaths or you won't get very far!)
3. shuffle the dilemmas face down into three piles. One for planet dilemmas, one for space dilemmas and one for both space/planet. Add you artifacts to the space/planet pile.
* - I like to add "self-controlling ships" (like the Borg Ship Dilemma) to the space dilemma pile for some target practice. "Self controlling ship, attacks everything (ships with highest range first), starts here and moves toward far end of spaceline. Destroy for bonus (points = ship's range)." I am using a different method of combat in my version of Trek CCG Solitare. It is the method used in Wizard's verison of Star Wars TCG where you roll a number of six sided die (the number = to a ship's weapons) for a chance to hit your target. 1-3 indicates a hit and 4-6 indicates a miss.
4. Create your spaceline. For a short, half hour game 5 missions should suffice. But you can go nuts and create your own alpha/beta/gamma/delta quadrant, Complete with wormholes if you like and you can take the game through a rainy day or over a few days. Finally, establish a main outpost at which your personnel, ships and equipment can report.
5. Seed random dilemmas under each mission. I find 3 is good for a short game and 4 is good for a longer game. Try and distribute your space/planet/artifacts evenly throughout the spaceline.
6. Shuffle your deck and draw seven cards. * (I find it more fun to play with a lot of "house cards" on the table such as Engage Shuttle Operations, various Treaties to mix affliations and Red Alert to speed up the population of tangible cards.)
7. Playing "Red Alert" style, you can report as many cards as you like to your outpost on the first turn. You can staff a ship, and go ahead and attempt missions. When the away team is stopped or at the end of your turn, you must discard a card to move to your next turn. This is similar to the Static Warp Bubble card (which you can also place on the table as a house card) and I find it a reasonable way to play ahead with the solitaire idea. You sort of have to "pay" for your next turn by sacrificing a card. Ideally, one card from your hand works. If your hand is empty, sac a personnel, equipment or ship card in play.
8. Continue your next turn drawing until you have seven cards in your hand. Play until stopped and discard another card to continue playing the next turn.
9. Finish the game by completing all the missions to win. Not meeting mission requirements or not being able to pass a dilemma means you lose. Of course, you'd want to keep "score" by finishing the missions in the least number of turns possible, so keep track of the cards you've discarded as a personal score.
Cheers,
billcosby
Ultimately, my collection of decipher Trek cards would be sitting in their binders collecting dust if I didn't do this, so sometimes it's nice to take then out and move them around a bit, for nostalgia's sake. I know there are still tournaments in certain cities but I always altered the rules quite a bit when I played... and I'm not much for travel. I always thought that the First Edition Trek CCG was underappreciated as a dynamic game that mirrored the experience of the TV very closely. So give it a try.
If anyone has any other Trek CCG variants (poker? etc) I've love to hear about them. It would be great to have a variant that didn't require a lot of setup, that players could pick up random cards and just start playing something. Any ideas?
Star Trek CCG (First Edition Solitaire)
1. First, make a selection of personnel, ships, equipment, events and interrupts that you have a liking for, and produce an ideal synergy.
2. Then make a selection of artifacts, dilemmas and missions. Try and match the dilemmas you have with the skills your personnel have (i.e. if you have several dilemmas which require empathy, make sure you've got a handful of empaths or you won't get very far!)
3. shuffle the dilemmas face down into three piles. One for planet dilemmas, one for space dilemmas and one for both space/planet. Add you artifacts to the space/planet pile.
* - I like to add "self-controlling ships" (like the Borg Ship Dilemma) to the space dilemma pile for some target practice. "Self controlling ship, attacks everything (ships with highest range first), starts here and moves toward far end of spaceline. Destroy for bonus (points = ship's range)." I am using a different method of combat in my version of Trek CCG Solitare. It is the method used in Wizard's verison of Star Wars TCG where you roll a number of six sided die (the number = to a ship's weapons) for a chance to hit your target. 1-3 indicates a hit and 4-6 indicates a miss.
4. Create your spaceline. For a short, half hour game 5 missions should suffice. But you can go nuts and create your own alpha/beta/gamma/delta quadrant, Complete with wormholes if you like and you can take the game through a rainy day or over a few days. Finally, establish a main outpost at which your personnel, ships and equipment can report.
5. Seed random dilemmas under each mission. I find 3 is good for a short game and 4 is good for a longer game. Try and distribute your space/planet/artifacts evenly throughout the spaceline.
6. Shuffle your deck and draw seven cards. * (I find it more fun to play with a lot of "house cards" on the table such as Engage Shuttle Operations, various Treaties to mix affliations and Red Alert to speed up the population of tangible cards.)
7. Playing "Red Alert" style, you can report as many cards as you like to your outpost on the first turn. You can staff a ship, and go ahead and attempt missions. When the away team is stopped or at the end of your turn, you must discard a card to move to your next turn. This is similar to the Static Warp Bubble card (which you can also place on the table as a house card) and I find it a reasonable way to play ahead with the solitaire idea. You sort of have to "pay" for your next turn by sacrificing a card. Ideally, one card from your hand works. If your hand is empty, sac a personnel, equipment or ship card in play.
8. Continue your next turn drawing until you have seven cards in your hand. Play until stopped and discard another card to continue playing the next turn.
9. Finish the game by completing all the missions to win. Not meeting mission requirements or not being able to pass a dilemma means you lose. Of course, you'd want to keep "score" by finishing the missions in the least number of turns possible, so keep track of the cards you've discarded as a personal score.
Cheers,
billcosby
