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#506869
FFG released a "skirmish" format for L5R with some things simplified such that a game takes 20 minutes and works as a lighter game. I want to build something like that for trek: still the things that make trek trek but missing some things that add mental overhead / beginner unfriendliness.

The current status of the project is living in this Google Doc which will always be updated with the latest ideas in testing. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZeP ... 0vn965n3oa

Please feel free to add comments
Last edited by Fritzinger on Mon Apr 05, 2021 12:02 pm, edited 40 times in total.
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#506881
Explanation of Design Goals
More like a Captain, Less like Q
Trek has characters, the TV show is more like an adventure/RPG than an RTS battle in space. Getting to know and love your superstar bridge crew is easier when you start with them every game instead of sometimes appearing or not, depending on your draw.

Another aspect: if your bridge crew is important, you can’t be drawing and playing so many cards that you’re completely replacing them every three turns. In the whole of TNG Season One, only Tasha bit the dust. They scrapped and dodged and puzzled their way out of every other bad situation.

Having a smaller number of cards available for longer makes it easier for beginners to know the good cards that are lynchpins of their deck, as opposed to the ones that are just there for repetition of a skill. Otherwise, they need a lot of games to learn these things. Before that, their deck will just seem ponderous. Or put another way: I want people to be closer to how to “do 2e right” from the start.

Shorter games
In my neighbourhood, trek is no-one’s main game (except for mine). That means I have to get people together without taking up too much prime time. The biggest success I’ve had has been casual weeknights, but with the standard format we get about 1.5 games in and it’s suddenly closing time.

We tried slipstream, which is good for timing (30 minutes), but that format has some serious problems. Bad experiences like: “Oops that card doesn’t work in this format”; “Oops I won on my first attempt”; “Oops that card shuts down my only plan, you win” happen too easily.

I am also hoping to create something that matches other CCG players’ expectations of game length. Unless you played the serious golden oldies (B5 CCG or Middle Earth perhaps), 1-1.5 hours is not that. I am aiming for 30 minutes.

Less uninterrupted time for one player
Games with long turns where you might as well be on your phone while you wait are not great.

Easier for beginners
Our market is small, but it’s way bigger than the current player base. Think about: the number of Star Trek fans in the world; the number of CCG players in the world who might like a free CCG that is still being maintained; the number of random geeks you know with twistable arms (ok that list might be shorter) if only there were fewer obstacles (we can make the list of arm-twistable geeks longer).

Two themes I am currently looking at are:

(1) the amount of time that new players need to think about who to play at the start of every turn. 2e makes players pick 2-3 cards out of 7 when it really isn’t going to make a difference in those first few turns who you play (“just play 7 dudes and attempt, trust me you’ll be fine”).

(2) trying to move some in-game decision making before the game. An experienced player can help with decision making before the game, and the beginner just arrives to play with enough to start immediately.

Recognisable for 2e players
There’s an existing player base, and an existing card pool that has been tested and balanced for more than 15 years. We can’t build either from scratch.

I want the number of surprise bad experiences from: “what, this card is banned?” or “that card isn’t good? Now my deck sucks!” to be minimal. It’s cool if a card is more powerful than expected in a new format, but it shouldn’t destroy the game.

That also means no dream cards, and the format should be able to handle new cards designed by TrekCC.

Variety
Lots of strategies should be viable. I am anticipating that this is linked to not making very drastic changes, because I doubt playtesters will have this format in mind while they are testing.
Last edited by Fritzinger on Fri Jul 10, 2020 8:41 am, edited 7 times in total.
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By monty42 (Benjamin Liebich)
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#506883
Fritzinger wrote:4. Don't play cards to your HQ, instead seed a ship and everything gets played there (most of the time an episode opens with the Enterprise already at the location you care about)
- the whole "fly home, swap ships, fly back" thing is not really very trek. 5 year mission, right?
- HQs or something like that will be necessary for deck building restrictions on factions
- maybe NA people can only play to planet missions, and you only get to use them when you get there?

5. Seed a captain or a bridge crew
- for a faster start to the game?
- only works with a low number of cards to play/draw each turn
How about a starting seed of 20 counters which you can freely assemble of Personnel/ships/equipments/events?
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By Gorgo Primus (Benjamin Rostoker)
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#506888
I won't tell you how you should or shouldn't play in your personal games with unofficial rules, but this sounds incredibly awful and wholly unnecessary to me.
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By KillerB (John Corbett)
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#506954
Gorgo Primus wrote: but this sounds incredibly awful and wholly unnecessary to me.
What game isn't?

Fritz, I support all wonky formats... if they are fun. I didn't have the spirit to get through all those rules, but my advice is KISS: Keep it Simple, Stupid.
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By Naetor
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#506961
monty42 wrote:
Fritzinger wrote:4. Don't play cards to your HQ, instead seed a ship and everything gets played there (most of the time an episode opens with the Enterprise already at the location you care about)
- the whole "fly home, swap ships, fly back" thing is not really very trek. 5 year mission, right?
- HQs or something like that will be necessary for deck building restrictions on factions
- maybe NA people can only play to planet missions, and you only get to use them when you get there?

5. Seed a captain or a bridge crew
- for a faster start to the game?
- only works with a low number of cards to play/draw each turn
How about a starting seed of 20 counters which you can freely assemble of Personnel/ships/equipments/events?
Maybe require personnel and ships to have no gametext? Otherwise its going to be very combo-y.
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#506995
Maybe require personnel and ships to have no gametext? Otherwise its going to be very combo-y.
I was thinking of ignoring all "when you play" effects. Or just banning those cards.

Or maybe you can choose anyone as starting captain but only no-ability non uniques to start with them.
Last edited by Fritzinger on Wed Apr 08, 2020 1:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
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#507000
KillerB wrote:
Gorgo Primus wrote: but this sounds incredibly awful and wholly unnecessary to me.
What game isn't?

Fritz, I support all wonky formats... if they are fun. I didn't have the spirit to get through all those rules, but my advice is KISS: Keep it Simple, Stupid.
A good reminder, thank you. I think that the complexity here is partly because this is a variation on existing rules. "A - B = C" is more complicated to describe than just "C". Also because I'm just brainstorming here. Clearer communication will come later.

Also it just might not be fun, in which case it will die on its own.
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#507009
This format is going to need a name that reflects the thematic change. Instead of playing Admiral with a fleet of ships and personnel to go everywhere, we're really focusing in on what one ship and its crew can do. I suppose it's also a bit more like an RPG.

Mission format?
Episode format?
Captain's format?
Bridge Crew format?
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#507146
I started playing one side of a test game with some of these rules, because I am lazy I used the TNG beginner deck which is standard legal (it's +- 100 counters in draw deck and 75 points in dilemma pile)

- the game starts almost instantly, with 1 starting captain+ship and 2 turns of playing 3 personnel we are attempting with 7 people on turn two
- instant draw+play feels pretty slick
- dilemma phase is pretty fast without considering dilemma costs
- playing a second ship is important unless you want to be giving your opponent infinite dilemmas in space (since you're always playing more people) - maybe choosing not to play people sometimes and having a "draw up to X cards" rule (where draw less if you're holding cards) would be better.
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#507645
Been testing this against its own dilemma pile. Stooges+Donatra and easy missions+GUYS. https://www.trekcc.org/decklists/index. ... ckID=43589

Rules v0.02 in effect. Observations:

- Game 1: 100 points in 20-something minutes.
- Game 2: 100 points in 15 minutes
This is only one half of the game, getting there in terms of speed... I'd settle for even 40 or 45 minutes if I could know that there was a guaranteed result in that time and most games would finish in less.
- new dynamic: managing the absolute number of dilemmas in my pile - if I have to throw a lot now, I know I won't have much left for the last mission. My last game I was stopped for a "long" time on mission one (11 minutes / 4 or 5 attempts) but then there were only 5 dilemmas left against my entire deck in play, for 2 whole missions.
- Running out of cards in every game. I'm considering upping the draw deck to 30 or 35 cards for more randomness/skill redundancy. If I did that I'd probably up the maximum cost of draw deck to 60 (or 70 for 35?) to keep the calculations simple
- By the same token considering dropping the draw to 2 cards per turn, also to make the deck last longer.
- Building decks is a huge pain without a "total cost" counter that changes as I add and remove cards.
Last edited by Fritzinger on Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:51 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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