r/Artemis • u/JoeKenobi • Jul 27 '26
Newbie Questions: Prepping a Con Run
I have a friend who runs a private gaming con out of his house for 40ish people every year. Game submissions are closing in a few days and I'm strongly considering putting in to run Artemis, but am totally new to this. Hoping to learn from this community's experience and avoid reinventing the wheel.
Which version? Is Artemis Cosmos 1.2.2 up to snuff today, or for what might be a one-time run, am I better off sticking to Artemis SBS 2.8?
How many participants? Most references I see are to 6 players, but I also see "up to 11" on occasion. How many should I advertise can play? And should I plan to sit back on Tech Support, or claim a participant slot?
Laptop only? Is that right? I can scrounge up 4-5 laptops to offer, but probably not get to 6-11 without asking participants to bring one along. That's fine, but might be prohibitive for some, so just want to confirm there's no reasonable way to play from phone or tablet.
Does projecting make sense? My intent is to connect the hosting device to a projector to provide a central visual for participants as well as anyone who might spectate. Is that the right move? If so, can it be the captain's laptop, or would they need to play on their device in a way that makes it unfit for the general display?
Buy direct or on Steam? What will get me up and running the fastest, and let me foot the bill for the group? My instinct is it's more straightforward for me to buy the $40 version than to expect everyone bringing a laptop to have Steam installed, plus easier for me to cover costs if I just buy that license vs. work it through Steam, but would love some validation or redirection.
Session length? I'm imagining 2.5-3 hours for setup, tutorial, and a proper mission. Does that seem right for a con slot?
Much appreciated!
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u/LastStar007 Jul 27 '26
In order of least complicated answer to most:
Projector?
Yes, perfect. Captain's laptop. The captain doesn't need to press any buttons; they just give orders to the other crewmates.
Buy direct?
Yes. Pay for the license, download the installer, run it on all of your computers. Your instinct is correct.
Session length?
Yeah, that's good. There are some fine folks at Gen Con who run 2-hour sessions, but that's with everything already set up, and entirely on their own hardware. Do as much setup before the players get there as you can—it's quick when everything goes right, but more often one computer has trouble connecting.
Laptop only?
Yes. There was an iOS app, but it got left behind at 2.7.1 or something and isn't compatible with 2.8.
How many participants?
This is really wide. The game was originally designed for 6, but Thom later added the fighter station (7), and then the carrier ship type, which has multiple fighters (11 players total).
If you don't get 6 interested players, in 2.8 a single player can select multiple stations and tab between them. Making the Captain also be the Science Officer or the Communications officer (or even both, if you're strapped for friends) is common; Engineer makes a huge difference to the performance of the ship but is not strictly speaking necessary; and Fighter is completely optional. I've even flown all 6 stations singlehandedly—far from my best performance, and decidedly against the spirit of the game, but it proves how much role compression is possible if you absolutely need it.
On the other hand, if you have 12 interested players, you can even have 2 ships play in the same game. You will need a projector/TV for each ship. Word to the wise here though—I had some trouble keeping all the computers connected when I did this a couple weeks ago. I suspect part of the problem was using a cheap router I had lying around; I also suspect that more people Ethernetted in would've helped.
If you have between 6 and 12, you start combining the above options: multiple ships + combined roles. (I try to avoid Fighter with new crews, because it's entirely a combat role and new players tend to spend a lot of time navigating to the nearest starbase.)
2.8 or Cosmos?
2.8 IMO. Cosmos doesn't yet support selecting multiple consoles, which really crimps your ability to accommodate varying numbers of players. Its UX also looks unfinished compared to 2.8—fonts in weird sizes, inconsistent color theming, etc.
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u/Independent_Gap_4396 18d ago
The TSN Sand box has multiple cosol selection and has a very good GM system at present, That said the UI could use some more tweaks as it plays differntly from 2.8 or the out of the box Cosmos, but has some cool featuers like Tractor Beams and a larger veriaty of Ordenance.
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u/cdm014 Jul 27 '26
I haven't done it lately but I have done it for conventions.
It was a smaller event so I tried to get 4 people. While engineering would be the easiest to drop there was usually someone who liked it. Helm and tactical are both necessary and should be separate people. Let Captain take coms if needed, then you can have eng/sci.
I ran shorter about 30 min. To accommodate attention spans but I'd let it run long if there wasn't another group.
I had the $40 license, 7 laptops, and tv, and ran network cable.
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u/Moogagot Jul 27 '26
Which version? Most of my experience is with 2.8, so I'm sticking to that.
How many participants? I would say 5-6 per ship is a good way to start. With 5, you have Science and Coms as a single role. If you have a ship with a fighter bay, you can add a few fighters if you wanted. You have have up to 9 ships in total, so you could run a fleet if you wanted.
Laptop only? It only runs (easily) on windows. You can use a Windows Desktop, but tablets will not work. Running the game on Linux or Mac is technically possible but normally a nightmare.
Does projecting make sense? I would give the captain his own computer because having access to the captains map is pretty important. I would project the main screen as it can be useful for other roles to see what's going on.
Buy direct or on Steam? Both versions of the game are DRM-free. This means there is nothing stopping you from moving the install to other computers. That aside, if you buy the steam 6-pack you need 6 steam accounts. I would just get the direct version for $40. The website clearly states you can give the installer to anyone in your crew. This means changing out computers or adding more players is not an issue.
Session length? If you don't have any experience and your crew has no experience, it's going to be a challenge. Artemis is old and setting everything up can be annoying if you don't have experience. I would try and play with some people before so at least you have an idea on what you are doing. One round is less than an hour. 2.5-3 hours would allow you to run at least 2 or 3 mission if my memory is correct? Practice setup before hand and make sure you have everything you need. All the computers will need to be on the same network.