Crowdfunding spotlight: Steam Power
Today we look closer at a campaign on the verge of funding: Steam Power, currently on Gamefound until March 4th.
Steam Power is a Euro game of a vein I actually enjoy: the "Old German School" one, with a focus on elegance over sprawl, and minimalism over "crunchy and complex". However, Martin Wallace's new baby also boasts some essential features of modern gaming: any component that can be overproduced certainly is, and the game is trailed from the get-go with ludicrous expansions featuring cats to increase hype and influencer reach power.
I mean, granted: they have a "retail" version with non-deluxe components, but honestly, who would pick a generic wooden train shape over a stupendous Mallard mini? (If you don't know what the Mallard is, this game is likely not for you).
The game is pretty basic. The game is played on a map (of course you can choose from an assortment of them to ensure replayability as in any good crowdfunding game), featuring a hex-based grid and cities. On your turn, you choose two actions from a list of five: laying tiles to grow your rail network (marking them with cute little train figures), building a factory in a city that doesn't have one (this immediately spawns 5 resources of a kind matching that of the city), fulfilling a contract tile (if you can connect on your network cities featuring the needed resources), drawing new contract tiles, or getting money. What for? Well, if your network doesn't reach a specific factory, you can use another player's network to get there by paying that player money, and some terrain types require money for you to build tracks on them.
And that's it! The game ends when a player has fulfilled a certain amount of contract tiles, victory points are tallied, and the winner is crowned and can have an extra cookie in the post-game feast.
Simple ruleset, but you can already see how it can generate interesting player interactions: will you try to build hubs on the map and alluring factories for players to pay you to use what you have developed? Or will you try to avoid them and rely mostly on your own, avoiding giving other players too easy a way to fulfill their own goals?
But who cares about player interaction? We're on Solitaire Times! What about the solo mode?
Well. The solo mode.
You know, the Old German School did not have much of a reputation for solo designs. If you check the rulebook featured on the campaign, the solo mode amounts to "Solo rules are coming soon!" Encouraging, isn't it? Actually, they do exist, but they are somehow hidden on an alternative file only accessible through a Google Docs link on BGG. They did not advertise them much...
What's interesting about the solo mode is that you play with ALL components. If you often have wished a game only comes with the components for one player to make the solo version more affordable, here you can at least feel the satisfaction that you basically play five-handed. Each round, you place two little train minis from each of the five colors in a draw bag, and draw these one at a time, performing an action for the color you have drawn. The only difference is that you have a shared supply of contract tiles and money, and each time you would pay another player (another color) to use their network or factories, you pay the bank instead.
Once eight such rounds have elapsed, you tally your score and try to beat your own best.
Of course, to cater to the crowd's desire, the campaign has recently offered a new, alternative solo mode, featuring a much-needed Automaton by Mauro from the Turczi's school of solo design. Now I can breathe!
What's my personal opinion on it?
Well. I don't like trains. I don't like automas. I don't like overproduced games. I like very much the Old German School of game design (remember, Knizia is my favorite game designer). And I have a son who is crazy about trains so when I showed him the How to Play video he immediately asked: "Can we have this game?" So, I have an easily found birthday present on its way in prevision for 2025. Hopefully, the train mania will last as long.
Would I have bought it for solo play? I honestly don't think so, even though the core gameplay sounds pretty appealing. But the original solo mode feels very much forced and derivative, although I like the idea of playing with all components. However, I can already foresee my brain getting entangled while trying to apprehend things on the board from the perspective of benefitting my five independent colors. I think Uwe Rosenberg is better at spinning simple and elegant designs into working and challenging solo modes, and at turning a score-based victory into a meaningful win/lose threshold. As for the newly advertised Mautoma, well, you know my mind about that already.