Solo Trading Game

[whartung]

In a blurb in a recent thread (the wargames thread as I recall), there was mention of the "solo trading game".

I'm just curious if anyone has done much with this, what rules you used, etc.

Specifically what challenges did you pose, and how did you resolve them?

I did this LONG ago using the LBBs (just 1-3, I never had book 7), and that was mostly a die rolling excercise. And once you get a good broker, it got profitable pretty quickly.

But we weren't really running in to pirates and such to take our load and toss us in to the red again.

Also, what's the difference between Book 7, MT, and TNE trading rules? I get the feeling that they're all pretty similar.

So. Just curious if you've played the solo trading game, how you played it and what house rules you may have added.

 

[Roman]

When I played Solo I was about 12/13 years old and enjoyed it using the CT rules. I included some self-made charts for random encounters (like pirates). Some years later I tried it again using TNE, but it wasn't the same anymore, though the trade system essentially remained the same.
In both versions, I did not use a broker - it made it too easy.

 

[Elv]

I was about 17 when I did it, and I played a sort of CT scout/merchant cross, detailing worlds as I arrived at them (I rolled locations before starting, but that was it until the ship got there). I don't remember making much money, but given that I was loading up cargos with no knowledge of my destination that's not surprising!

For me, the random world generation turned out to be the biggest part of the game. I probably still have the notes somewhere, but they'll only turn up by chance (I've moved house several times since then).

John