I'm going to be honest, I'm not sure how many more plays I'm going to give this game right now. With the pandemic, I'm playing solo and there is just too much going on. Each scenario is taking several hours and there are just too many steps to keep track of and buried rules. I was thinking it would get easier as I get familiar with everything, but it hasn't really. I'm not sure if its the organization of the books or the actual content either. But looking through each scenario and trying to keep track of the half-dozen little special rules and timing situations, flipping back to the turn sequence and alert levels, watching all of the skills, enemies, and structures, there is just a lot going on. I get that they want to streamline and cut space, but the symbols on everything I don't think quite payoff. I really want to like it, and I might pull it back out when I can play with more people.
EDIT: I failed to notice this is in the Defiance section. Derp! Disregard, carry on please. This is not a great game to play solo. But trust me, it's the best miniatures wargame out there. Stash the stuff (or just paint them up while you wait, everyone loves a painted army). Pull it out when things are normal-ish again. Oh btw we have awesome tourneys, sometimes in really fun places. Those are a lot of what make the game fun for me. I'm a really dedicated player, and I'm mostly stashing it until the 'rona has departed. but trust me, it will be worth it to keep the stuff.
Double-check which section you are in. I'm just talking about Defiance. :P As far as Infinity as a whole, I'm in no danger of dropping out. I have had a lot of tourney fun and overall love both the game and the community. And maybe the solo thing is half of my problem. I have played solo games of Infinity and played them in the same amount of time with less confusion, than Defiance.
Earlier in the pandemic I set up an overhead camera and played dungeon crawlers with friends over Teams/Zoom. Maybe give that a shot. May not be a ton quicker but certainly way more fun.
Extra people will help share the cognitive load as well as having the social interaction element. I've never really enjoyed solo games, even when they're ones I love to play with friends.
For what it's worth, after my first game I decided that I really needed quick references for the game. What I'd suggest is printing out or making a copy of the icon reference sheet, and then try something like this two page reference sheet: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3hviri35wm9bfs8/Defiance Reference Sheets.pdf?dl=0
Haroumph. I see Corvus Belli still can’t write rules clearly if their lives depended on it. They really need to start thinking about solving this once and for all. I’m stuck abroad and won’t see my own box for a while, but I’m already dreading the experience... @solkan : thanks for that, you should put that reference sheet up on BGG if you have the chance.
I hate playing games against myself. That other guy always cheats. I've just been building models and painting during the pandemic. I've had the odd game, but I can live without the playing (the minis and the terrain will hold me over until the local group are vaccinated). but for me, the game is a bonus for having the models, not the reason for having them. The playing of games is way down the priority list for me. Below reading the fluff. I'm a maker first-hand, and always will be.
Same here, about the thinking. I chalk it up to “signs of a mis-spent youth”. With co-op games in my group, whoever buys the game usually plays the first scenario or two solo, in order to get a firm grasp of the rules so that he may explain the rules etc to everyone else. I don’t play all the way through the scenarios, because I don’t want to know more about the scenario than anyone else at the table. I'd like to see an updated PDF rule book, so my fellow gamers can have copies. A game like this, everyone playing needs a copy. It's not like it'll cost CB a sale.
Actually, the rules written for Aristeia! Are extremely tight and well written. Few of the very late expansions required a FAQ
