Below is another fantastic article from The Boardgames Chronicle, this time discussing his experience with the solo mode for SpaceCorp. If you would like to read this article on his blog, you can find that here. Enjoy! -Rachel

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Having recently unboxed SpaceCorp, it was only matter of days before I organized time to try playing the game. Due to the forced lockdown and not being able to play face to face, my decision was to test the solo mode first. I was pretty confident it will be a great experience – I keep John H. Butterfield in very high esteem as a creator of solitaire titles, especially after I played D-Day at Omaha Beach. And my hopes were fulfilled – more on that below in the two session reports from my game.

Game 1 (No Special Rules)

We have three eras in SpaceCorp. We start with Mariners, going as far as Mars from Earth. Set-up above.

My industrial base was thoroughly upgraded during this first era.

It was an interesting experience to play against opponent who can get points in so many ways, especially via offers. Still, with 3 bases built, I was not so much behind.

The second turn – Planeteers – was much more difficult. That radiation was killing me but thanks to proper adaptation I finally overcame it. Still, I moved no farther than Jupiter, but played a lot of production cards to keep up with the AI.

Gotcha! Starfarers turn – building the adaptation to be immune to radiation and then the one which transports your team to any system was a key to victory.

I managed to establish a very strong foothold in Epsilon Eridani & Tau Ceti systems, even building 2 colonies!

One more close up on the game situation. With an 11 point lead I managed to decisively beat the Competition.

GAME 2 (with Era Situations)

After playing one game with standard rules, I decided to spice-up the game by using the “Era Situations” Expansion.

Knowing the game much better than before, I moved quickly to Mars and beyond to get the contracts for bases as well as benefits in next turn. Of course, my Infra was thoroughly upgraded.

Second epoch allowed me to extend the lead even more.

That was possible thanks to quick expansion to Pluto and blocking the potential Competition’s contracts in the Asteroid belt. Also, I got a bonus for the Starfarers epoch.

Last epoch was a masterpiece of my play. I was not able to use the adaptations but having multiple upgrades I managed to overcome it.

The Norther Sky was a base for my colonies – in four start systems. I especially liked the friendly Alien! But the competition also managed to colonize two systems in the galaxy.

Summary

As for the mechanics, adding the “Era Situations” was much more harmful to the competition than to me. There were some drawbacks (like increased Gravitation or lack of Adaptations) but a shrewd human managed to overcome it. Lack of Competition points for offers was a decisive factor. Next time I will chose the most disadvantageous for me Era Situation and will try it!

On a general note, I really like how the author creates the solo game fueled by the card draw with specific actions rather than the cumbersome and long flowcharts with multiple caveats you might encounter while playing a game’s solo mode. That makes the game so much more enjoyable, flawless and interesting for me. I will for sure continue playing SpaceCorp and will use other Era Situations cards!

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