Having the SpaceCorp recently unboxed it was only matter of days before I organized time to try that game. Due to the forced lockdown and not being able to play face to face, the decision was to test the solo mode. I was pretty confident it will be a great experience – I keep John H. Butterfield in very high esteem as creator of solitaire titles, especially after I played D-Day at Omaha Beach. And my hopes were fulfilled – more in below two session reports from my game.

GAME 1 (no special rules)

1
We have three eras in SpaceCorp. We start with Mariners, going as far as Mars from Earth. Set-up above (click to enlarge)
2
My industrial base was thoroughly upgraded during this first era (click to enlarge)
3
It was an interesting experience to play against opponent who can get points in so many ways, especially via offers. Still, with 3 bases build, I was not so much behind (click to enlarge)
4
The second turn – Planeteers – was much more difficult. That radiation was killing me but thanks to proper adaptation I finally overcome it. Still, I moved no farther then Jupiter, but played a lot of production cards to keep up with AI (click to enlarge)
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Goth ya! Starfarers turn – building that adaptation to be immune to radiation and then the one which transports once your team to any system was a key to victory (click to enlarge)
6
I managed to establish a very strong foothold in Epsilon Eridani & Tau Ceti systems, building even 2 colonies! (click to enlarge)
7
One more close up on the game situation. With 11 points lead I managed to decisively beat the Competition (click to enlarge)

GAME 2 (with Era Situations)

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So I have played with standard rules, and in order to spice-up the game, I used the so called “Era Situations” expansion
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Knowing the game much better, I moved quickly to Mars and beyond to get the contracts for bases as well as benefits in next turn. Of course, my Infra was thoroughly upgraded (click to enlarge)
3
Second epoch allowed me to extend the lead even more (click to enlarge)
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That was possible thanks to quick expansion to Pluto, and blocking the potential Competition contracts in Asteroid belt. Also, I got bonus for Starfarers epoch (click to enlarge)
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Last epoch was a masterpiece of my play. I was not able to use the adaptations but having multiple upgrades I managed to overcome it (click to enlarge)
6
The Norther Sky was a base for my colonies – in four start systems. I especially liked the friendly Alien! But the competition also managed to colonize two systems in the galaxy (click to enlarge)

Summary

As for the mechanics, adding the “Era Situations” was much more harmful to competition than to me. There were some drawbacks (like increased Gravitation or lack of Adaptations)  but a shrewd human managed to overcome it. Lack of Competition points for offers was a decisive factor. Next time I will chose most disadvantageous for me Era Situation and will try it!

On a general note, I really like how the author creates the solo game fueled by the card draw with specific actions rather then cumbersome and long flowcharts with multiple caveats. That makes the game so much more enjoyable , flawless and interesting. I will for sure continue the SpaceCorp, and will use other Era Situations cards!