Ok, I think I'm on to something here
Mad Fritz v0.5
Missions: 2 missions (1 planet, 1 space) + HQ (open to allowing a meta mission)
The lowest points on either of your non-HQ missions is important, we'll call it X.
Deck restrictions: you may include a maximum of X counters worth of cards (e.g. 30 counters if your biggest mission is 30, 40 if it's 40 etc - we'll have to think about printed points vs attemptable points). Deck restriction is based on printed cost of cards, interrupts cost 0.
Seed a bridge crew: from your deck, choose personnel worth (X divided by 3) counters and round up (e.g. 30 points = 10 counter bridge crew, 35 = 12, 40 = 14). You don't get "when you play" abilities on these people.
Seed a ship (with heavy deck restrictions, you probably don't want > 2 ships and if they're both stuck at the bottom you're 5+ turns behind)
Starting hand: 3 cards
Play/Draw: draw 1 and play 1, every turn, regardless of cost. Counters do not exist in this phase, don't try to play AWC.
Victory conditions: First player to solve both space and planet, or use points as a tie breaker.
**All other rules are the same as a standard game, no changes to dilemmas**
Testing results
Sample decks I'm testing with:
Starfleet
https://www.trekcc.org/decklists/index. ... ckID=43768
Klingon
https://www.trekcc.org/decklists/index. ... ckID=43769
Missions seem to be running about 7 mins / 2-3 attempts each. Reliably under 30 minutes
.
Why these rules
This is close to what I want Slipstream to be. Easier victory conditions than standard, but there is way more variety in how to get there. The points on missions matter, but in a different way (will you go for big/difficult missions and get a bigger deck+bridge crew? Or small/easy with a smaller deck and bridge crew?). Number of missions you've solved and score still exist for cards that reference them, e.g. Neurogenic Parasites is not an auto-include.
Mission solving starts fast (turn 2 or 3), play/draw phase is fast, the number of personnel on the table is enough to get to know the individuals.
Possible drawbacks
- There is probably an ultimate combo out there.
- Kills matter way more, I imagine ETU and Keevan will be a big deal. Maybe if this is untenable the bridge crew cost can be excluded from your total deck cost, so you have more counters for redundancy.
- If you slip on a dilemma draw it matters, I expect some dilemma support in the draw deck will be crucial. Cards that let you spend points for more dilemmas are probably really good.