I tried this again tonight and had the same frustrations that I had the first two times I tried it. 2 or 3 failed rolls puts you into a place where you can't recover. You're rolling one dice and now than likely your peeps start dying.
I might just be really unlucky, or not grasped some tactic but it feels as though the game can be hugely swingy based on your first couple of turns.
Posted May 31, 2020, 10:23 PM UTC
I feel this game is literally just luck with dice. You can strategize as much as possible with purchasing cards but if your rolls fail then it all falls apart. I wanted so much to love this game because the theme is fantastic but the idea of placing the win or lose on dice kills this game for me.
Learning that Final Girl used the same base, swingy system was a sad day for me. I was very excited by the theme but there's a little too much luck to it for my taste.
They did work on the randomness a lot for Final Girl. 3's are no longer a miss (you can turn them into a hit like with 4's), your "Conversation" (now Time) doesn't reset to 0 in between turns but to 6, and failing a roll gives you options: You can miss and take a penalty or get the action with a bigger punishment.
I think that's why it's 30-45 minutes now instead of less than half an hour.
The game is swingy, there's no denying that. So don't take unnecessary risks. Only roll if it's worth it, and use your 0-cards to sway rolls and get the free +1 Conversation. Buy a reroll as soon as you can. Yes, you can still fail, but with some precautions it's way less likely.
Basically, don't play cards unless you really need them. Discard often.
So, like Unbroken, it's just a game of rote luck mitigation once you understand the sources of randomness. At least here it sounds like playing it safe fits the theme. In Unbroken, it often means choosing the safe bet and never choosing the fun or risky one.
Here's what I find interesting about Hostage Negotiator. Every card you play can make things harder for yourself. So you can't just look at the good ability and say "I want that". You also have to say "If I don't get it, what can I do?".
I can totally understand that it won't be for everyone. I like that the game doesn't complicate things by adding more and more rules in between the rolls, which keeps it quick. I can focus on each move and what it risks without worrying about complicated upkeep rules in between moves.
I don't like a lot of upkeep in a solo game, but I also don't like dice and output randomness. So I guess I'd just rather play something else with low upkeep and without the randomness. Like 51st State or Castles of Burgundy: the Card Game.
Yeah, if you are not into dice games this one isn't going to sell you on them.
I had this game back in the day, and as far as I recall there's really no dept to it. Your number 1 priority is to get the treat level down, all else is secondary. Buy cards that get the treat level down, and ignore all else like hostages and such. Treat goes down, you get more dice, hostages are getting released, and at the end terrorist surrenders.
I don't know if they changed rulings with new expansions/editions. But after playing that way 4 or 5 times, it was easy wins, almost no decisions or variability, I got rid of the game.
I win more often than I lose now. Early on it was rough going but the more I played the more I started to figure out what the game makes important. Two or three bad rolls definitely shouldn’t be enough to lose a game, with the one exception of What’s your demands. If I keep rolling blanks on what’s your demands early the game is pretty rough going.
I feel like it’s not a game of trying to force a strategy, it’s more about leaning into what the game is giving you. Don’t try to keep him on the lowest threat level unless you get some lucky rolls on keep calm cards. (There’s that card that resets the threat level anyway) If you happen to get two hits on small talk, consider playing the rest of your hand face down to just buy a really big card.
Taking entire rounds off to try to power up a huge turn is the key to winning in this game. For example I could play no cards one round, so that the next round I have a bunch of cards to play face down to buy a big conversation points card, then take another round off to load my hand back up with card PLUS my conversation cards to get even more conversations points on the next round to buy the 8 cost card.
Also there are a lot of cards that can come up in the hostage taker deck that help you. If you get lucky enough to draw one lean into that. It’s a short game, sometimes my entire strategy is built around giving into a demand or making use of a card that came up. You can’t win a game unless you know exactly what you’re going to use to get the hostages out and what you’re going to do to take the hostage taker out or surrender. Then you have to strategize how you’re going to pull your plan off given how this game is going. I think it’s thematic that way, different hostage takers respond to things differently and it’s up to you to work out what will work out this time.
It definitely is a high luck game, very swingy. But there’s a lot of variety in decisions and choices. Playing cards face down for points is usually crucial. The luck adds excitement for people who like that sort of thing though. I kinda consider it the slot machine of my solo collections but for more serious gamers. That’s how I’d pitch it.
Yes! It's tough, but sometimes you need to hunker down and face two Red Terror Cards in a row.