Losing at the planning stage

Start at the bottom: Dorfromantik. Where you get on is the rung after the deepest one you have marked beaten.

These numbers are for an average player. Calibrate and the whole path re-reads itself against you.

1. 1
   
   Dorfromantik

   2022 · Toukana Interactive · ~15h

   4.2STR

   Consequences without threat. Every tile you place narrows what you can do later, which is the idea the rest of the ladder escalates.

   Start here
2. 2
   
   Slay the Spire

   2019 · Mega Crit Games · ~30h

   8.2STR

   The jump. A deck makes the plan into an object you can look at and be wrong about — and the catalogue holds nothing between this and the rung below, so expect the climb.

   +4.0 jump
3. 3
   
   XCOM 2

   2016 · Firaxis Games · ~40h

   8.8STR

   Plans that have to survive dice. Managing risk you cannot eliminate, across a campaign long enough for one bad month to matter.

   +0.6 step
4. 4
   
   Factorio

   2020 · Wube Software · ~60h

   9.0STR

   Your own past decisions as the antagonist. Nothing attacks the plan except its own scale, which is a failure mode the tactical rungs never show you.

   +0.2 step
5. 5
   
   Into the Breach

   2018 · Subset Games · ~15h

   9.2STR

   Perfect information, no excuses. Every enemy move is shown before you commit, so a loss is unambiguously yours — the hardest rung here and the fairest.

   +0.2 step