I've played a variation on an old Star Fleet Battles solo mission a few times, and it's actually pretty fun.

Basically you're escorting a shuttle across the map and trying to defend it against Imperial "ICBMs". They're represented by peanuts, raisins, M&Ms, or whatever I have on hand that's edible (hey, you'll be using a bunch at once and it provides great motivation to destroy them if you've got a sweet tooth like me ).

Start with the diplomatic shuttle you got in the base game as well as one starfighter, your choice as to which one, and set them up on the Rebel end of the board. The missiles come in on the side of the playing field (either one) directly next to the shuttle at a distance of 1 apart and use the size-2 templates to move. They move in whatever direction will get them closer to the shuttle. ICBMs have the following stats: 2/1/1/0. Each round you increase the number of missiles. First, one missile. Then two, then three, and so on until you get to size missiles. Then they stay at six until the mission is over. When a missile gets within range 1, it detonates and rolls its attack against the shuttle, then is discarded.

After you get the shuttle to the Imperial side of the board, you win. It's movement is restricted to one unit and a max turn of one banking.

I find the A-wing mounting Assault Missiles is a good choice in the later rounds, but really anything with guns will work except the Y-wing. Unless you *really* like a challenge.

If you want to up the difficulty, increase the number of missiles by one or two, or the damage caused by the missiles. If it's too hard, take away the missiles' defense die, or lower their damage.

£450!! Have you been buying solid gold Y-wings?

I have what I consider to be a very nice collection.

8 TF's, 4 TI's, 2 TA's, 4 of each Reb ship, a Falcon and Slave 1. I've so far spent about $350... Which works out to be less then 300 pounds according to Google...

I've played a variation on an old Star Fleet Battles solo mission a few times, and it's actually pretty fun.

Yep, the UK list price is just the dollar price and change the symbol to a £, so theres a 50%+ mark up.

Whenever I see US players enjoy X-Wing sales at Target or Amazon I have to grit my teeth and remember the rest of the world has been paying silly(ier) mark ups for WH40k all these years...

And compared to the tabetop games I'm used to, X-Wing is comparatively very cheap even to get a large fleet.

Back OT, perhaps there is an algorithm for a solo game against a TIE swarm.

You assume the PS1 TIE fighters will always pull the easiest manouvre to get one of your ships into fire arc (before you get to move of course) without crashing into other TIEs, and will always try to focus if they get an action unless barrel rolling brings them into arc. In this case, since the rebel player can predict the moves of the TIEs, the rebels would need to be outclassed in terms of points. Say Luke and Wedge (with R2s and skills) vs 100+ points of academy pilots.

Yea that's USD, I forgot about VAT and other taxes.

Unfortunately the exchange rate seems far removed from what we pay here - our VAT is 20%

I did a mini, 2 Ywings Vs a Firespray with HL and a Tie game solo yesterday. Useful practice and makes me thing 4Ys might just work against the Firespray and 5 Tie build we're finding so hard to beat. Might have to try 4Ties against 2Ys to test the other part.

I find the nearest you can get to competitive gameplay is to decide moves Pilot Value order, try not to think too much ahead and never go back to change anything. I think the hardest thing is not having a side you want to win!!

we must say that playing by ourselves, presents an acward situation.

what do you mean ackward?

you know what he means.

no i really dont, what does he mean?

what i was saying is....

oh shut up! dont start you crap again.

dude can you just let the man talk.

yes i was getting.....

you were getting no where. you talk like you play, with no point.

dont be so hard on him, its not his fault.

why are always protecting him. every game the 2 of you gang up on me. that why i wont play 3 way games anymore.

ok, if the three of you dont stop bickering im going to hold my breath until we all fall asleep again!!!!

sorry.

sorrrry!

sorry dude.

thats better.

we must say that playing by ourselves, presents an acward situation.

what do you mean ackward?

you know what he means.

no i really dont, what does he mean?

what i was saying is....

oh shut up! dont start you crap again.

dude can you just let the man talk.

yes i was getting.....

you were getting no where. you talk like you play, with no point.

dont be so hard on him, its not his fault.

why are always protecting him. every game the 2 of you gang up on me. that why i wont play 3 way games anymore.

ok, if the three of you dont stop bickering im going to hold my breath until we all fall asleep again!!!!

sorry.

sorrrry!

sorry dude.

thats better.

Umm... Did you forget to take your meds today?

For solo play, I start with rebels and work from low to high PS, then switch over to Empire and repeat. As I tend to play greater than 100 point games, I usually forget what I did as the rebels so it works out well. I guess the silver lining of aging is you can play better solo x-wing games.

No. Down that path lies the title introvert.

That sounds pretty cool! Surely a Ywing with Ion Cannon would be great for that? 360° and you don't need to do more than one damage.

It's fine in the beginning of the game, but I've found that in later rounds when you're trying to fend off six at once that can fly at least half as fast as you and are not as maneuverable as them that it can get pretty hairy. But it can be rather fun. I didn't say it's *impossible* to play with the Y-wing, just save that ship until you really want a challenge.