Solar 175 Kickstarter Preview/First Impressions

Note: This game was played on Tabletop Simulator so some of the more tangible concepts may not apply.

I have been following along with Solar 175 since I first saw the initial renders of the game. A sci-fi/outer space bag builder with worker placement elements? Sign me up. Did I mention it's also a legacy game? Immediately this checks off so many boxes.

I'm not going to speak much on the aesthetics but if they physical components deliver on what the team over at Solar 175 is advertising, I'm excited.

So how was it?

As my disclaimer says, this was played over Tabletop Simulator and my potato computer does not always agree with TTS. Overall, I think that there are some really strong concepts. I really enjoy the idea of drawing workers out of a bag each round. It adds some uncertainty to each turn. This also makes it a litt

le bit more challenging to plan ahead. The pink, wild workers help to mitigate some of this problem, though.

The actions that you can take are all very straightforward. Want to explore? Place your workers and move your ship to any open spot. Need money? Visit the bank or trade some resources away. There are others, obviously but this is just a taste.

Once you have placed all of your outposts, the endgame triggers. The player with the most influence wins. Influence is acquired throughout the game by collecting resources, money, and just spreading your existence throughout the solar system.

At this time, my biggest gripe with the game is just that there are a lot of rules. The rulebook does a pretty good job of providing examples but I felt like I was turning to the book more often than I'd like to. This could also be because TTS is not my friend, though.

Until I can actually play a physical version of the game, I can't really give it a score. I will say that I did really enjoy it and I think that when I do finally get to play a physical version it's going to be really, really good.