by Winterfella
Yes, Fleet is a great game for multiple players, but what about those of us who want to play it every waking moment? Here is a possible solution for your consideration.I wanted to be able to play as near as I could a regular game of Fleet when I don't have anyone to play it with. So I didn't want to change any of the mechanics or card effects, barring a necessary modification to the auction phase. I also wanted to play against some type of rudimentary AI, yet keep any fiddly bookkeeping to a minimum.
These rules only take into account the base game so far. I haven't played with the Inuit Fishermen or Salty Captains yet.
First things first, you need a nemesis. Let's call him Ahab.
You'll need a decent bit of table space for your and Ahab's fleets, along with the license offer. Ahab will purchase licenses and launch boats, but will hold no cards and spend no money. Ahab basically has a platinum no-limit credit card.
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Setup: Use the two player setup for arranging the license deck. Use 30 fish crates.
Auction Phase:
Lay out 3 licenses, one on top, the second below the first, the third below the second. You may purchase one of the three. For the bottom license (closest to you) you pay the minimum cost printed on the card. For the middle license you pay the minimum cost plus $2. For the top license you pay the minimum cost plus $4.
If you purchase one of the lower two licenses (or no license at all), Ahab will take the top license.
If you purchase the top license, Ahab does not get a license this round.
Remaining licenses get pushed upwards, hence increasing their cost the next round. Then fill empty spaces from top to bottom so that there are again 3 licenses available.
Launch Boats and Hire Captains:
You play this phase normally.
After you launch boats, Ahab flips a card from the boat card deck. If this boat card matches any of Ahab's licenses in play, he launches the boat.
Ahab's boats don't need captains to fish, or are automatically captained (however you want to think of it).
Fish:
You play this phase normally, and all of Ahab's boats also receive a crate of fish with the normal 4 crate per boat limit.
Processing and Trading:
You play this phase normally. Ahab does not process or trade.
Draw:
You play this phase normally. Ahab does not draw or hold any cards.
End Game Conditions:
Normal. If you can't fill the three spots for available licenses, finish the round, or if the last fish crate is taken, end the game after that fishing phase.
Scoring:
You score your fleet normally. As for Ahab...
Standard - Ahab's fleet scores normally, but he does not score any King Crab bonuses.
Difficult - Add King Crab bonuses to Ahab's score.
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Make it easier by reducing license cost to (cost, cost + 1, cost + 2) instead of (cost, cost + 2, cost + 4), or make it harder by increasing the costs.
Make the game longer by adding more licenses and crates. I'll leave it to you to try and balance that.
Feel free to make other suggestions to improve this solo variant.
Thanks to Matt and Ben for the awesome game.