I played another game of Merchant of Venus last night, and it has quietly moved up from “Once every few years” to “Two or three times a year is fine, more would probably be fine” on my list. Part of my appreciation might have come from writing an appreciation, and the 5p game I played last night was perhaps a touch too long, but I also liked that there were a variety of strategies I saw used, including the “Buy a freighter” strategy, which is rarely seen, but won.
I have little to add; but my rating is solidly a Suggest.
Ted Lasso — Strong first season; it’s easy to see why it was so hyped. Later seasons are a mixed bag (likely cause — expanding from 10 30-minute episodes to 12 45-ish minute episodes). Part of why this worked is that there is almost nothing “cringe” in the first season … but it started creeping into S2 and S3. (Because of Ted Lasso I subscribed to AppleTV, at least for a bit, and so I’m trying various shows on that to see).
Zodiac — Workmanlike movie that is captures that slice of time. Excellent cast (not just top billing, but full of “Oh, that guy” character actors). At 2:40 it didn’t feel long.
Maybe
The Amateur — A touch too long & by the book, but … competently done. In most thrillers, you can almost alwasy ‘guess the secret surprise bad guy’ by the actor they cast. I appreciated that announced it right away and didn’t leave it as a “twist.”
How to Stay Smart in a Smart World (Book by Gerd Gigerenzer) –I really liked “Risk Savvy,” (his book on decision making) and it actually changed some of my decisions, so this book (on dealing with advances in AI) was an auto-read. I think most of my readers will already know quite a bit in here, but it’s well done. Gigerenzer is … not an AI skeptic, but perhaps a skeptical realist. At 4 years old this book is already dated, but worth skimming.
Schmigadoon — Assuming you like musicals, pretty good. (Modern couple gets isekai’d into a musical world, stuck until they find true love). It helps that each season is super-short, and there were only two seasons (although I would have liked to see the 3rd season, which would have dealt with 80s musicals like Into the Woods, Phantom of the Opera, etc)
Slow Horses — The first season did some rare things; also a fair number of cliches. Later seasons … basically are all “the same things repeated,” within the different “mystery of the season” plot. That being said, the seasons are short enough.
The Universal Baseball Association, Inc. J. Henry Waugh, Prop (Book by Robert Coover) — I tried this after mentioning it (again) in the 20th Century Project on APBA Baseball (etc). It was fine …. definitely a book of a past time, and I could see the dark comedy, etc. But after three weeks I was only through 1/3rd of it and I punted and just read the summary on Wikipedia. Despite not finishing it personally, I thought it was pretty good.
Maybe Not
The Accountant 2 — The first Accountant wasn’t bad … kind of guilty pleasure OK. This was bad. To make matters worse, the crime has basically no financial element (it’s gotten out of the way in a 1 minute dialog) and it’s just a standard action flick except that a) Ben Affleck has no charm (which is played for laughs), b) the center for neuro-divergent children is basically the Bat Cave that can solve any problem. I do like Jon Bernthal, and he’s OK-ish.
Reacher Season 4 — I mean, I’m watching it …. but quality has dropped noticeable. It’s not like it was realistic before, but there weren’t fully-automatic gun battle/car chases mid-season (or falling through broken glass 20-30 feet and then instantly running away). I might actually watch the spinoff, which will likely have to go smaller instead of bigger.
Young Sherlock (Amazon Prime) — A flashy series by Guy Ritchie, but it is not Sherlock Homes (or even Sherlock, which had a fidelity1 this lacks despite the modern setting). Not bad, but … if you don’t want to make a Sherlock Holmes show, don’t include the name.
Nope
Murderbot — From the one episode I watched, the writing made Twilight look like Shakespeare.
I rarely buy new videogames, but I do check them out from time to time. The trailer for Scarlet Deer Inn is charming and tempting (and if you are bored after a few seconds, skip to the 1:20 mark).
All the Astral Codex Ten yearly reader book review contest finalists are worth reading1, but I particularly recommend The Escape Artist, about Walter Rosenberg (later Rudolf Vrba) who escaped from Auschwitz and tried to warn everyone, but was mostly ignored and forgotten, partially because he was not pleasant, but also because people didn’t want to consider it. “The obvious assumption is that surviving Auschwitz left Rudi emotionally damaged. But Gerta, his first wife, says the causality runs the other way: in her telling, Rudi had always been paranoid and combative, and those traits were what got him out alive in the first place.”
The contracts and augmentations do make each game feel different. Getting an income boost lets you take off faster, at the cost of having to go to a place you would normally ignore. An early ability can be game changing. Literally, like being able to ignore budget cuts or having a better rad-hardness. And the augmentations …. getting a colonist who adds a hydration, or is an ISRU1 raygun opens up the board. I haven’t gone “Bernal First” often, but could easily see that to get that first augmentation on the board fast.
Needing four augmentations to promote a GW thruster to a TW thruster is a big deal. Normally when I get the GW thruster it’s promoted in a few turns. (One turn if it’s the D-D type) but in my game it took over 20 turns to line everything up.
Having the first isotope produced double FINAO costs from 4 Aq to 8 Aq is huge. (I’m playing the Exodus.2022 variant). I misunderstood the timing and if I’d played it correctly I would have probably hosed myself out of the game. But this solves some of the midgame issues in M012 where you have so much money it doesn’t matter. Money was tighter much longer.
I’m less enchanted with the Isobank/Starshot … it seems good (possibly even great) in solitaire but might be gamey in multiplayer games. It does put a lot of tension and/or racing to be the person to Establish the IsoBank, which is probably good.
As for the rules … well, it’s a good thing I know the developer.1
High Frontier is still Enthusiastic.
Module 4 is also Enthusiastic. I’ll be doing more solo with M4, and introducing it into the group (when that’s reasonable), but if people want to introduce it in stages, that’s OK (and what I did). Contracts only (or Contracts and Augmentations) is a decent first step.
Standard Consulting Rates applied, but I got the “Friends and Family” discount. ︎
(I have some pictures, but the cloud is acting up … perhaps I’ll update later).
Yes, we’re through five cycles with only a non-maximal number of mistakes made. Sure, rules have been bent and broken. Sure FINAO costs were not doubled at the correct time. But the mission must go on, ideally with no repercussions for Mission Control. As always, we are declaring Mistake Bankruptcy — if something was wrong that was undetected in the prior articles, we’re not fixing it now (although I’ll go back and footnote it in the prior articles).
T6.1 — (9 Aq, 3 iso1) I really like the Triggered Decay Positrons contract a flyby bonus through radiation spaces would speed up my trips …. but landing at the Saturn Aerostat is difficult with a max thrust of 12 and adding almost any weight will make that impossible. I think about this for a bit before noticing something worse … I already have all three of the augmentations it offers. Nope. I need a fourth augmentation. The choice is easy — Ring Rain. Going to Rhea is pretty much on my route. Cancelling a Ring hazard is … fine? But it’s two new augmentations (Goo and Wardens). I can swing by Rhea, then when I get back to the Bernal convert to a TW thruster! So I fundraise (10 Aq) and put a delegate in Authority (and the law, why not?) and take Ring Rain. It’s got a 15 Aq advance, so I’m at 25. I put the clock on T6.7 (6 turns ahead). The rocket arrives at the Home Bernal, so I can attach the contract.
T6.2 — (Anarchy, 26 Aq, 5 Iso) The anarchy roll is annoying. (I normally just double-coast on this turn when going from Home Bernal–> Enceladus), but coasting requires my faction privilege. Do I care enough to lobby and cancel? I don’t think I do.
Rhea is a smidge closer, so I can make it in two turns instead of three, it just costs me an extra fuel step. I power up the rocket and go through the Jupiter Flyby. I have an operation … I could get some more fuel, but I think I’ll ET produce the Impact Mold Sinter refinery at the Bernal. On a return trip I could spend it to homestead or I might actually industrialize again at some point2.
Perhaps I should promote one (or both) colonists or stock up on fuel, but the 2 free fuel per turn (thanks to the Rock Rats) seems fine.
T6.3 — (27 Aq, 7 Iso) The rocket lands on Rhea (I pay the 8 Aqua for FINAO on the landing hazard, so down to 19 Aq) and (as a free action) finish the Ring Rain contract and grab the new augmentations. As another free action, Malcolm implants the domesticated goo “C” ability. So I can no ET produce the Microbial Fuel Cell generator at the Enceladus Bernal. (If I had a robonaut, I could prospect Rhea, but I don’t….)
T6.4 — (Glitch N/A, 20 Aq, 9 Iso). My rocket goes from Rhea to the Bernal … and since I’ve finished the Ring Hazard contract, I ignore ring hazards … like Rhea’s “debris ring.” Nice. And now that Malcolm has four augmentations, I can promote the Mini-Mag thruster to it’s purple/TW side … the Solem Medusa Tugged Orion.3 Yeah, the mass goes way up, but 12 burns for one step instead of four steps (or 9 burns for free).
T6.5 — (21 Aq, 11 Iso). Transfer the Microbial Fuel Cell to the rocket and 6 of the isotopes into the Fuel tanks (down to 5 Iso). The top exodus contract is … not easy, so I fundraise (22 Aq) and go to the next one. It’s the Decanting Network which requires going to 2002 TX, way out in the Neptune zone. But that should be doable (even with the extra 5 Mass). I could wait and take it once I get back to my Home Bernal (to start the timer later) but I think I’ll take it now. (I get an 8 Aqua advance, so 30.) I can afford being late a turn or tow, and I might want another action more. The rocket flies halfway (as normal) taking the Microbial Fuel Cells with it, but this time it’s no fuel (since I go 9 burns).
I can’t quite make it one turn, but at least it’s free. I’m taking the generator in case I decide I want to move my home bernal … it will need the support. If not I can use it for homesteading.
T6.6 — (Glitch N/A, 31 Aq, 7 Iso) The rocket flies the rest of the way and picks up the exodus contract and drops off the generator and no-longer-needed radiator at the Home bernal. I ET produce the robonaut at Enceladus (using the “C” ability Malcolm has).
T6.7 — (32 Aq, 9 Iso) Malcolm promotes the Rock Rats to the Alchemist Aviatrices who double Isotope yield. Ah, I should have done that earlier. Since I could have done that first, I can get 3 Iso instead of 2 (by ordering the promotion before the free site refuel)4, so I’m actually at 10 Iso. Isotopes will no longer be a problem. The rocket starts the outward trip.
T6.8 — (Flare not an issue, 33 Aq, 13 Iso) — I have the rocket swing by the Bernal and ET produce the Femtochemical refinery and transfer them both. If I’m going to Neptune, may as well build a factory out there. The timing works out (I think). If not, I’ll pay a late fee.
T6.9 — (34, 16 Iso). I promote Malcolm to the Renaissance Man. I don’t think the ability will be helpful, but I’m aiming for futures now. The rocket goes ….
T6.10 — (Inspiration, 38 Aq, 19 Iso). The only deck of note is the Earthborn Colonists, and I get the Heavy Water Survivalists. I can definitely fulfill that future5, so I homestead (using my black-sided radiator) the Vatican Observers to colonize Enceladus and exomigrate the Survivalists. The rocket keeps going through the Uranus Flyby …
Figure 1 — Going
Mystery Turn — The rocket goes through the Neptune Flyby …. I think I double flew the rocket on one turn and forgot to advance the turn marker. This should have cost me some aqua (on a late fee) and shortened my game by a turn, but in the grand scheme of things doesn’t matter because I have plenty of aqua and I didn’t do much the last few turns. If you want, you can mentally assume all the turn numbers are one farther out (and I got more free Aqua/Iso), but I’m keeping them as is to keep my notes sane.
Figure 2 — Going …
T6.11 — (39 Aq, 22 Iso) The rocket lands at TX 2002, which fulfills my exodus contract, giving me an extra colonist (and 3 FT), so I exo-migrate the Juiced Cosmonauts. Lovely, another future I can fulfill!6 Next I prospect TX 2002 and naturally fail. But the Lorentz-Propelled Microprobe has a re-roll. Naturally that fails, too. Stupid 1-in-9… At least I get the Neptune Glory chit, yes I’ve had my crew pretty much the whole game.
Figure 3 — … And Gone!
T6.12 — (40 Aq, 25 Iso) Fine. I go to Haumea (-8 for FINAO on the Rapid Spin) and prospect there, only making it because you can’t miss on a ‘7’ site, no doubt.
T7.1 — (33 Aq, 28 Iso). Industrialize Haumea and start the trip back (another -8 FINAO).
T7.2 — (26 Aqua, 31 Iso). I homestead the Heavy Water Survivalists to colonize Haumea (using the Microbial Generator, I don’t think I’m moving my Home Bernal). I exomigrate the Boyle Engineering Collective, who are basically useless.
T7.3 — (27 Aq, 34 Iso). The rocket makes it back to Enceladus. I think this is actually correct this time, because I has a higher max thrust due to lower weight (and the drift ability lined up correctly), but if I was wrong again it again doesn’t much matter, since the game timer ends 9 turns after creating the desperation starshot. In fact, I should mess around (gaining more points) before launching, but I’m in the endgame. I first ET produce the robonaut (I can certainly get one more factory) and then use the free action to create the desperation starshot.
Yes yes, you can score just as well letting the starship go at the end of the game, but I said I’d launch a desperation shot. So I Shall do it.
I load up the Renaissance Man as my colonist, and put 30 Iso fuel on the starship, which should be more than enough to get max points. Initially I look at going through the Jupiter-Sol-Jupiter exit, but do I have to pay for all those hazards? Yikes. The Neptune Exist only has a ring hazard.
As per the rules, the game will end at 9 turns ahead, after we leave T7.12. We’re now in anarchy, but the Starship heads off towards Neptune (afterburning just to get the extra thrust).
T7.4 — I ET produce the refinery and the rocket heads back to LEO as the Starship moves past Iapetus (afterburning again). (I’m not going to bother listing Aqua and Isos … they aren’t that important anymore).
T7.5 — The rocket stops at the Home Bernal, picking up the colonists. The Starship is heading towards the next planet in line (those three ballerinas helping immensely).
T7.6 — There’s no useful contract, so I simply fly my rocket to Mercury’s North pole and prospect, thankfully not having to roll. The Starship does it’s Uranus flyby and is on the way to Neptune …
T7.7 — I industrialize on Mercury and head back to LEO as the Starship does the Neptune flyby and encounters the Ring Crossing. Do I have to pay? Good question, but in any case I have the money if necessary and the starship is out.
I still have until the end of the round which I play with going back to my Home Bernal (Mercury Tickertape) moving and upgrading my colonist and getting some futures, but on reading them carefully they don’t actually score me anything. I probably could have gotten another factory, but whatever.
Final Scoring:
Pieces on board — 22
Factory Points — 34
Dirtsides — 10
Colonists — 8
Glory Chits — 15
Contracts — 15
Futures — 0
Exodus Chits — 12 (as a solo player, it’s easy to get all three chits).
I think I’ll put that in a separate post, so that casual readers can see it.
But as for the rules, apart from a few gray areas and rules mistakes, I think several of my mistakes were because it was solitaire. Much easier to forget to move the disk (or move it an extra time) or double up a move or operation (forgetting you already did one already) when there is only one player.
Some mistakes may have also been introduced in the transcription and typing up. Certainly the biggest mistake was missing Isotope Monetization when I produced my first fuel. The double FINAO costs (especially since I miscalculated and needed multiple hazard rolls) should have been devastating.
Update 9/2 — I was doing Miner gets a free refuel action, not “If you take a site refuel, the miner gets an additional one ….” so uh, yeah. In my defense, that’s in the printed rule book.
I get one free aqua a turn (at my Home Bernal) and a miner free site-refuel collocated with Malcom (+1 iso), so 2 free iso a turn at the Enceladus Bernal ︎
Soon, Malcolm can augment the Domesticated Goo to make Enceladus able to produce C for the robonaut, then (as an industrialist) could Nanofacture as a free operation, so the rocket could stake claims and the Bernal could send down factories…. ︎
It requires a “D” site, but thanks to 1A5b “Lab Promotion Site (Module 2). A Promoted and Anchored Bernal is always a valid promotion colony for Colonist, Freighter, and GW thruster cards.” ︎
The “order of operations” in 4A7h means the doubling happens before Malcolm’s +1 Iso. ︎
Mission Control ponders for quite a while before eventually selecting Malcolm as the newest member of the team. I don’t think I have enough knowledge to know that it is correct … but it is probably a strategy I understand. Onboarding takes place at the Home (Office) Bernal, the Collimator Bernal at L4s.
At this point I should probably decide which Module 4 I’m playing. After reading the rules (a few times) I think I’ll go with the Exodus.2022 Variant (Player Aid). Why? It seems (in general) saner.1 In any case, most of the changes involved the Isobank (a controversial rule, from what I can tell) so I can go forward with my augmentations (etc) without any differences.
Mission Control also declared “Mistake Bankruptcy …” if there are still errors from the previous session, they will not be corrected.
T4.3 — I get the first of that sweet, soul-quenching “Home Bernal Income” and also fundraise (4Aq) to switch the law back to Research Grants. It is time for the rocket to take off from CSW1, but Industrialists get a free implant action and I have a jar … so Malcolm implants the (jar-shaped) “You may use FT anywhere to pay for FINAO,” so when the rocket takes off through the hazard, it can pay it’s own way. The rocket heads back towards Hygiae, to pick up the necessary robonaut.
T4.4 — (Budget cuts, but we can ignore). (5Aq). Malcolm self-implants the “+1 Isotope refuel” triangle and then hops on the freighter, which can go through two burns (since I now have Powersat) to meet the rocket outside of Hygiea23.
Fig 1 — Meetup (Malcolm broke several laws, getting on that freighter).
T4.5 — (Another round of Budget Cuts, ignored). (6Aq) Malcolm (legally) jumps from the freighter to the rocket, which jets to Hygiae to a) pick up the robonaut as a cargo transfer and b) Site Refuel. (In theory they could have also carried the freighter, but it can get there on it’s own power soon enough and it’s about to grow up and be too big to carry, so I might as well start now).
T4.6 — (7Aq) The freighter arrives at Hygiea … Malcom has two augmentations, so I can promote the freighter to a KESTS Hoop Dirt Launcher. After that it is time for the rocket to head towards our new destination, Enceladus.
Why Enceladus? Well, the Mini-Mag Orion Z-pinch Fission GW thruster is at the top of the deck and needs an M planet. I look through the card list and many of the other thrusters are also on types I don’t have, and though I don’t love the Mini-Mag it’s available and I’d hate to see the deck rotate to an H-type or something harder to get. So, it has to be an “M” spectral. Kleopatra is much closer (and just one size smaller), but it’s behind two hazards and I did notice that FINAO costs skyrocket (no matter which variant) so that’s a problem. And it turns out Enceladus is many burns farther away, but not many turns farther out. The rocket (with Factory assist launch) goes through one burn, hits the Jupiter flyby, gets four free burns, and then uses the last burn to take finish the second Hohma4nn. The crew thruster can then coast to the next one (thanks to the faction privilege), leaving me at…
Fig 2 — Halfway there
T4.7 — (8 Aq) From Figure 2, we dive into Saturn’s gravity well, pay both the hazard and aerobraking FINAO from the Fuel Tanks*, use the two free burns and two paid for burns to stop on the Lagrange point outside Enceladus (the 5M in the upper left).
*BUT …. now that I think about it, I only paid 4 “steps” for each FINAO … and a step is not a Fuel Tank.
I go look at the living rules for an update and go down a rabbit hole. The living rules have different abilities for the augmentations! But that takes me a while to find … because they re-ordered and re-numbered some of the sections. (4C and 4D have swapped places, which makes quoting a rule … problematic). This is, frankly, nuts.
Once the components have been printed, that’s what they do. I’m hardly going to say that the Egyptians were the old-testament good guys; but Yul Brunner knew what he was talking about. Mission Control makes their ruling: “As the components are written, so let it be done.” I created a BGG thread to vent and then thought … nah, this is too odd.
I decide to double check the living rules on Ion’s site (as compared to what I downloaded a few months ago) … and yup, for some reason I had downloaded a very very old version of the living rules, probably a pre-print. No idea how, but anyway….
Ahem.
I had exactly enough FT (with my mistake) to get to Enceladus …. but I was mostly in the two steps per Aqua, so I think it’s correct to pay for one hazard from FT and the other hazard from Aqua, and adjust down to 4Aq. I still have a raygun, so I remotely prospect Enceladus and yup, it’s good.
T4.8 — (Flare, no problem). I get my Home Bernal income (5Aq) and land on Enceladus while paying for FINAO (1 Aq) and industrialize and take the Saturn Glory. I don’t know if I want to colonize (with my crew) but that’s a free action so I can wait.
T4.9 — (2 Aq) Time to start getting this Isobank thingy. I take the Mini-Mag Orion Z-pinch Fission GW Thruster … I could take a support, but I think I want to have fewer cards, in case something good shows up.
T4.10 — (3 Aq) There’s a solar flare, but everyone is grounded. ET Produce the Mini-mag.
T4.11 — (4 Aq) Decommission my rocket’s radiator to ET produce the black side Tin Droplet (Light) Radiator (The Mini-mag needs an extra therm of cooling. Improving the rad-hardness will also matter during flare season).
Fig 3 — Now, with more Thrust!
T4.12 — (5 Aq) There’s an inspiration which reveals a tourism contract that cancels hazards next to industrialized sites … appealing (since I have two such sites). But it’s more important to start the Iso Bank. In the published rules, I could just site-refuel to produce an yellow isotope, but in the variant I need to anchor a Bernal out here. With a working TW thruster I refuel for 2 yellow isotopes (thanks to Malcom’s +1 Isotope triangle). That’s not enough to get to the Home Bernal and back again (with a fuel consumption of 1/3rd), especially as I want to burn through at least some of the Hohmanns …. so I wait.
T5.1 — (6 Aq) Produce two more isotopes and that should be enough, leaving Malcolm on site. (Arguably I should have also dropped the old thruster to save some mass, but I didn’t). I pay the FINAO (dropping to 2 Aq) and head back six burns (which is enough to get out of the main Saturn system, then use the secondary crew thrust power to reach the green line).
T5.2 — (3 Aq) ET Produce the Microbial Fuel Cell at Hygiae and load it into the freighter and launch it. Thanks to the powersat ability it can make it back to the Home Bernal next turn. The rocket makes 5 burns (using the Jupiter flyby’s bonus) and then coasts through the final Hohmann to make it back. A quick tickertape parade, but there’s work to do.
T5.3 — (4 Aq) The frigate makes it back! Now I can just take a Bernal and … hurm.
I forgot how much mass I would be towing. Can I actually tow a Bernal that far?
They are heavy … Right now I’m at Dry Mass 4, Wet Mass 6. I need to add the Bernal (Mass 10) and Generator (2) so I’d be at DM 16, WM 18 … that’s only six burns (at 1/3rd fuel). And with rounding I have to do them in groups of three.
I have four actual burns on the green line (one after Jupiter) and then 3 pivots. Wait … this turn I can coast from L4s to L4 (Coasting into the Hohmann with the GW thruster, then coasting to the green line with the crew thruster). That cuts out a burn. So I “pay” three burns and spend the bonus for the first two pivots, then I can drift from the greenline to the (non-flyby) entry into Saturn. Nope, I can’t go through the backdoor because that’s six burns. I have to do the flyby again, which is two.5
Can I skip the flyby? Nope. Can I drop enough mass to then skip it? Not so I can tell. Ah well. I think I have to risk it. If I had only fueled one more time, I could have done 6 burns to the Saturn system and avoided the hazards at the cost of an extra isotope.
For my operation I take the Lofstrom Loop, which appears at the home bernal (thanks to “Bernals building Bernals” rule). Luckily it can promote at a submarine site … like Enceladus, so it’s a perfectly fine addition to our little team. I load everything up and drift to the green line. (I also move the freighter back towards Hygiea).
T5.4 — (5 Aq) I spend three burns through the Jupiter flyby (and then spend the bonus burns & coast) to get in line with the Saturn flyby. I’m going to need a robonaut and refinery (eventually) and as it happens the Electroforming Refinery can be built at an M site, so I take it via subsidized research.
T5.5 — (Budget cuts) (6 Aq). I’m not waiting. I do the Saturn flyby, make the first hazard roll (whew) and then spend 4 Aqua to FINAO the second (2 Aq). I anchor the Bernal on the Lagrange outside Enceladus, which means I can exomigrate again, so I get the Vatican Observers. Do I have enough time to do anything? We’ll see…
Fig 4 — Finally!
At this point I paused for a bit, because I didn’t really understand the Isobank (which I’ve now founded) and how to go forward with the desperation starshot, so I asked Geoff (the developer) for a quick run down6 and in the process I discovered a few more problems with the above.
In particular, Isotope monetization occurs during the first yellow bead/FT is produced7, not when the Isobank is established. Which means that the contracts should have been flipped to gold side, the exodus contracts unlocked and … urm, FINAO costs doubled all the way back on T4.12.
Oops.
In the words of the Hideous Hog, I have magnanimously forgiven myself. But in any case, I flip over contracts and unlock the Exodus deck.
T5.6 — (Budget Cuts, 3Aq) To do the startshot requires a) at least one fulfilled exodus contract, b) a TW thruster and c) enough isotope. To get a TW thruster requires a colonist with 4 augmentations, so I’ll need at least one more regular contract. The exodus contract is landing on the Uranus Aerostat … I don’t think I can do that. But I’d have to pick up the contract at my Home Bernal, so perhaps it will change before I get there. I site-refuel two Isotopes to the Bernal (with Malcolm’s +1 augmentation) and wait. At two steps for FT I could (barely) get to the home bernal and back, but through hazards. So I’ll need more fuel.
T5.7 — (4Aq) I site refuel two more isotopes to the Bernal. 8 Fuel Tanks should be plenty … so the rocket converts it all to fuel and I go halfway home ….
T5.8 — (Inspiration, 5Aq) There’s a lovely new contract “Radiation Shield Prototype” which involves going to a Mercury Site, two Radiation Belt Spaces around Saturn (or further) and returning … which will be tight but I can pick up more fuel if necessary and what do you mean it’s 8 mass!
No way. I can’t even land on Mercury with that weight! I look at the other regular contracts, perhaps I can fulfill them. Go to Agamennon or Aeneas and return … that seems … wait, with 3 Mass I couldn’t get back to Saturn to refuel after fulfilling the contract.
I’m so used to M012 games where you flip your GW thruster to the TW side ASAP and then basically only need one step/turn. This 1/3rd fuel consumption (4 steps/turn at top speed) is killing me. I have no idea how I’m going to get a desperation star shot in time. These things all require way more fuel than I have.
Well, the colonist on top of the earth-born deck are the Rock Rats Miner Union which (as expected) are Miners. With them at my Enceladus Bernal I can do a site refuel for free once/turn (for two iso). I’ll apparently need it. They are also 3 mass, but as I can head straight back with them. So the rocket flies to the Home Bernal.
As my operation, I do a dirtside cargo transfer to move Malcolm from Enceladus to the Bernal8.
T5.9 — (6 Aq) Malcolm can do a free implant (as an industrialist) to get his third augmentation, and that’s enough to Promote the Bernal. That brings the Rock Rats into play, and I (as the rocket is already at the Home Bernal) I pick them up and start back to Saturn (just coasting to the green line this turn)
T5.10 — (Glitch N/A, 7 Aq) Malcolm generates 2 Iso, do the Jupiter Flyby leg of the trip (1 step).
T5.11 — (8 Aq) The rocket goes through the 6 burns to ignore all the hazards, and delivers the Rock Rat Miners. Now with a site refuel I could get two for Malcolm and two for the Rats. (Update — Oops. A careful reading is that the augmentation gives +1 Fuel on any turn where you generate an iso9). So only three isotopes produced, I’m at 5 iso total.
T5.12 — (Glitch, 9 Aq) I convert the Glitch to Inspiration (8 Aq) because the existing contracts are all trash … and only give duplicate Augmentations. I get four three more Iso (8) … I could take it all with me, but it seems to me that 7 FT should be enough, so I leave one isotope behind and head back. 5 turns round trip (because of some rounding and wanting to save fuel) isn’t bad, but I really need that fourth augmentation to promote my thruster. I also realize that I have two more solar cycles (not one), and I’m going to get 2 or 3 iso a turn (depending on if I need to take another operation), so things seem do-able.
At the end of the 5th Cycle I have 67 VP and it seems like my desperation star shot still has a chance….
The fact that there were “some last minute rules changes” in the published version is always a bad sign. ︎
For a second I have a horrific moment after I notice the “Factory Loading Only” on the freighter, but a quick check in my rulebook shows that “Factory Loading Only” includes Anchored Bernals. ︎
But as I was typing up the prior footnote, I wanted to quote the rule (1B3b) and the living rules specify “Anchored Bernals outside of Home Orbit.” Mission Control then declares that mistake included in the prior “bankruptcy” notice, so we will ignore it. ︎
A net thrust of 2 and all those radiation checks would normally be concerning with my radiator being Rad-Hard 2, but thanks to Shielded I get an additional -2 to all rolls, so it’s fine. ︎
Only later do I notice that Enceladus is signposted as 7 burns from LEO, so I can obviously do it in six since I skip a few. But that’s assuming all the flyby hazards. ︎
He graciously gave me a “Friends and Family” discount on his normal consultancy rate. ︎
In the base game, it can also occur when the Lofstrom Loop or GEO Space Elevator are anchored in home orbits (which is an epic hazard). ︎
This is rule 2A7f, but only in the newest living rules. ︎
“If Colocated with a Factory or Dirtside’s Bernal, produces an extra Isotope during a Turn that the Factory produces at least 1 Isotope” (Table of 4C3) ︎
Last month Bridge Base Online (BBO) announced that it was limiting players to 6 hands a day (unless they subscribed). End of an era … I remember logging onto BBO (and perhaps one or two other online bridge sites) back in ’93, and I still have a semi-regular team practice match weekly. I did actually pay to play a few games during Covid, but I do not particularly care to play online tournaments, or online against random people. I understand that BBO needs to make money, but it seems to me that they’ve made a windfall during- and post-Covid, often at the expense of physical clubs, and this seems like a short-sighted money grab.
Anyway, we decided to move to IntoBridge and it seems quite reasonable. One nice feature is a Daily Challenge (similar to BBOs weekly free robot tournament). Play five hands with robots in the other three seats, and see how you did against a celebrity (who played the hands with robots and recorded a video on youtube). I don’t often watch the videos, but it’s amusing. The Robots generally bid much better than BBOs, as well.
Which reminded me of my bridge game yesterday (and earlier this week).
Bridge partners are jointly working together to get the best score possible2 and there are a variety of “breeds” (in terms of levels of understanding). Each agent/player has different information, but the partnership shares the same goals …
Even though most of the AI agents were the same breed (HIPM), they did not all necessarily agree on the best course of action. Partially that’s because they each had their own subtask goal, but they’d all learned new/different information in the process of working towards it, which affected them.
And there is limited bandwidth.
Like bridge players. Same goal, but tacit (shared training) information, different real world information, and limited bandwidth.
Which come up in two games this week, with two partners.
My partner yesterday is an expert (better than me, but not ridiculously better). But she has a few unusual preferences in convention card and bidding (which affects us)3 but I trust her baseline and can (mostly) mentally figure out the differences myself. For example, in one of our earliest games together we had the following auction:
1H-1NT*; (*Semi-forcing 1NT — Opener is only allowed to pass with a 5332 hand with a minimum or subminimum)
2C-2S*; (*Undiscussed)
I made the 2 Spades bid in complete confidence that my partner would recognize it as an Impossible 2 Spades. (I had already denied spades, since I had bypassed 1 Spade in favor of 1 NoTrump). This is not merely because she’s an expert … there are several players of my calibre that might be flummoxed by this bid … because they learned bidding by rote and the person who taught them never mentioned it. 4
And in fact she did recognize it, although not as confidently as I’d hoped. (“We’d never discussed that auction…. so I hoped you knew what it should mean.”)
(It should mean — “I have the one of the best possible hands in support of your newly bid minor.”)5
With that as the background, before the game I brought up an issue I wanted to clarify. “I seem to recall that you mentioned Equal Level Conversion in our last game. Do we play it?” “Yes.”
Now armed with the knowledge that my partner plays ELC, a few hands later we get the following auction:
(1H)-Double-(P)-3 Clubs;(P)-3 Diamonds
Is 3 Diamonds an Equal Level Conversion? Yes. But should the ELC convention apply at the 3 level, after a jump? I’m sure that partnerships who have discussed everything (and I’ve been in one or two of those) might have an answer (you can never discuss everything).
It may be that there’s a theoretical discussion that answers it, but all the discussions I’ve read of ELC (including the one I linked before) are silent on the issue.
(And since I play Raptor6 in many partnerships, I’ve never had to explore ELC in depth, because Raptor covers all the hands that would want to use ELC).
So my partnership was in the same place as the AI agents. We had similar background and goals, we’d made an agreement, but a very shorthanded one “We play ELC (No Further Discussion/Definition).”
Were we trained on the same data? After a brief internal argument as to whether it should be ELC (or forcing) which left me undecided. I fell back onto the “Assuming I am wrong, which mistake would be less devastating?” … at matchpoints either one could be a zero, so I fell back again onto “The ELC hands are weaker and (therefore) it is more probable that she has that hand” and treated it as ELC and passed.
Wrong.
Partner (being a well-aligned agent) admitted after the hand that she’d made the bid before realizing it might fall into a gray area7. (And ethical enough to not give any hint of a signal when I was thinking).
Earlier this week my college partner (whom I’ve played with for almost four decades, but most of his partnerships are in the DC area) had a technical argument about what a bid should mean. I’d never heard of his interpretation, it is one of those “East Coast vs West Coast8” things.
I gave yesterday’s partner the auction (without naming either of our interpretations of what it should mean) and she said “(West Coast Meaning/The One Tao Thought), what else could it possibly be?” So with one partner
I have no grand point.
I just thought it was interesting that AI agents sometimes suffered the same indignities as Bridge Players.
Mostly an unknown agent labelled “HIPM,” but a few GPT-Sol 5.6 ︎
See S.J. Simon’s “Why you lose at Bridge” for a discussion of “Best Score Possible” vs “Best Possible Score” and the realities that make the two different … he calls this the “Half a loaf” theory. ︎
Just as an example, she prefers to open 5Spade+5Club hands with 1 Club, which I know Danny Kleinman recommends but I’ve never seen anyone else play it, as expert standard has gone to MAFIA. “Majors Are First In All (instances)” ︎
I have been burned several times by assuming that all bridge players have read as many theory books as I have, and while I don’t think I’ve ever had a partner miss this, they’ve missed other things I consider equally obscure. ︎
With a few rare exceptions, such as a splinter. So it is stronger than a direct raise to 3 of a minor. ︎
Of course, I might never know if she meant that or was just being polite. ︎
We played together in Baltimore … and there is a system/dialect called “Washington Standard.” It mostly know where it does not agree with local standard, which is more West Coast. ︎
A (incomplete) list of the mistakes me and my (expert) partner made today
Indefensible — Missed that I could be squeezed out of my ace1. Missed a suit count signal, so missed given a ruff . Didn’t fake a jump shift2 and instead only shows an invitational hand, missing a game. Forgot to hold up an ace at a suit contract (for communication reasons).
Defensible — We’d agreed to play “Equal Level Conversion” (ELC)3, but did not discuss if it applied after advancers jump or at the three level which left us both guessing on an auction. We used to play inverted minors, but no longer do, and I couldn’t remember which was which. Accidentally grabbed a low card instead of an honor and gave up a trick. A debatable line in an awkward contract and a few very close bidding decisions that didn’t work.
Bad Luck — Partner twice made the technically correct play when the naive/simple one scores better. (Amusingly, on the second one I was paying attention as dummy and correctly diagnosed why she was doing it at the time).
Anyway, given our relatively small number of mistakes/bad luck, we won (although only by 0.5 Matchpoints).
I did actually consider cashing out, but thought it was squeeze proof, missing a key suit combination. Fortunately, declarer also missed it. ︎
By jumping into a 3 card minor … with a non expert partner, I get raised or dropped too often. But an expert knows sometimes you have to do that and will never pass and rarely raise. ︎
A takeout doubler may convert clubs to diamonds without promising extras, just showing that it was actually a two suited double, not three suited. ︎
So … after exploring the contracts it is time to try the “full” module 4. Since I want to get into the weeds, this is going to use the 4G4 victory conditions, requiring the launch of a desperation starshot (or a ton of fuel for a regular one). I seriously doubt I’ll get even a marginal victory, but let’s see.
Setup — I (randomly) get green and decide to use one of the promo ground crew. I pick Heloicentricity, which has the power that (if the crew is present) the rocket can use a 2nd movement, but coasting only. Subtle but powerful (an opponent had it in our game last weekend). Particularly if you have to go through a Hohmann intersection you can burn, stop, then coast … for a free ballerina (at the end of a turn).
Fig 1 — Initial Patents (Spaceborn and exodus not shown)
T1.1 — These patents … exist. There’s a De Laval Nozzle and matching reactor that gives a 7-thrust/4-fuel consumption 1-Mass rocket. Great thrust, bad fuel consumption. There’s also the “Holmes” contract with a pretty decent payout …. but getting there would be five burns. That’s …. break-even ish, but then my rocket is out of the way. A robonaut with thruster is always a fine start, but the supports don’t line up. I fundraise (putting the delegate in Authority, so I can lobby to cancel an event) and make Subsidized Research the law (which I called Research Grants in my last game’s post). I don’t take a contract1 (10Aq).
T1.2 — There is an inspiration event …. do I want to allow it? Yes. None of the prior patents are inspiring confidence. This also cycles all three contracts, and I might get a solar sail. Also, I don’t want to lobby right now, in case I have to cancel a budget cut (or something as bad) later on.
Fig 2 — New and Improved!
I get lucky. I take the Monatomic Plug Nozzle (thruster) and Rubbia Thin Film Fission Hohlraum (reactor). Between the two of them I’ve got a 4 Thrust, 1.5 Fuel Consumption 1Mass rocket. Yes, it needs a radiator, but I could just afterburn each turn. I take them (revealing the Photon Kite Sail and Lyman Alpha reactor). And as for the contracts…
T1.3 — I fundraise (11 Aq) and place the delegate and law in Unity to take the Solar Observation contract (26 Aq). The clock marker goes on 1.9 and I have to get to Icarus.
But I already have enough rocket to get there; the advance covers costs nicely.
Figure 3 — To Icarus!
T1.4 — Budget cuts, but I lobby (for free, since the law is Unity) and change it to inspiration. I boost my rocket and contract payload (23 Aqua). I need 11 Fuel Tanks (leaving 12 Aq). Actually that might be a touch short for the return trip, but I can reboost the rocket and leave the crew near LEO if necessary. And well …. I’m not planning on paying for FINAO on the way back … The rocket (which has to afterburn) goes from the cycler to L1 to L45s to the Hohman..
T1.5 — I fundraise Authority (so I can cancel the next bad event) (13 Aqua) but switch Subsidized Research as the active law. The rocket afterburns again and goes four burns2 towards Icarus.
T1.6 — (Glitch, no effect). The Rocket has to wait for the red season (Icarus is synodic) and I take the Phase Locked Diode Laser (3-Raygun Robonaut, “C” Spectral, 1 mass, 3 Rad-Hard, Requires “e” generator) and the AMTEC Thermoelectric generator (Both “e” and “pulse,” 1M, 3 Rad Hard, “C” Spectral, requires wave reactor and a therm).
T1.7 — I afterburn (for the therm), pay FINAO (9 Aq) to deal with the rapid spin, and land on Icarus. Contract fulfilled, Glory Chit claimed, I turned a 3 Aq profit, plus I get the Shielded benefit (-2 on all flare/CME rolls). Mission control says “Backslaps for everyone!” Back home, I take the Rankin MHD (“e”, 0M, 4RH, Wave/Bomb + 2 Therms Required, “M”) mainly because I want the Mo/Li Heat Pump Radiator. For my next mission I’ll want a bit more efficiency, and the 1M/2R-H for two therms is much more acceptable now that I’m shielded.
Fig 4 — Mission Accomplished!
T1.8 — (Glitch, no effect). Failure is now an option when leaving Icarus … and there are no backslaps as the die shows a ‘1’. Mission control pauses for a somber moment before quietly shifting that glory chit back to the mat. My hand is now full, so an unscheduled boost takes the rocket, robonaut and AMTEC generator (4 mass, so 5Aq left) to LEO.
Figure 5 — Ooops
T1.9— Take the Froth Flotation refinery (3M, 5R-H, “D”, requires “e” generator) and the Photon Tether Rectenna generator (“e”, 2M, 2R-H, “V”, modifies thrust).
T1.10 — (Solar flare, but no rocket). Now that I’ve got a robonaut and refinery, it’s time to glance at the contracts … and yup, “Hubris” fits the bill. My next trip is to (say it together) Hertha, which has an unclaimed Glory Chit. So … I fundraise (6Aq) into individuality and make that the law, take the Hubris contract and it’s 8 Aqua advance (14 Aq), set the clock at 2.5.
Boosting is now a free action, so I send up the refinery and Hubris (6 Mass, so 8 Aq left) and add 5 FTs (3Aq) and go to the cycler (using 2FT, leaving 3FT for next turn). With my shielding I’ll be fine … once the season changes. No hurry.
Fig 6 — To Hertha!
T1.11 — With a thrust of 2 and -2 shielding, even a dr of six means my 2 rad-hard stuff is fine, so I can go to the purple pivot and then coast to the next pivot with my crew thruster (using the faction privilege), this finishes my fuel. I sell the Photon Tether but apparently forgot to take the money, so I’m at 3 Aq3!
T1.12 — (Inspiration). Land on Hertha, (fulfilling the contract, getting me Bailouts), Get the Ceres glory and (say it together) Bust Hertha. (I mean, I expect to bust it when I have a buggy. Asking a raygun to find water on the first try is a big ask).
End of Cycle Thoughts — I have 7 VP, two fulfilled contracts with nice abilities, and a rocket that’s heavy but fuel efficient. I think my best bet is Hygiea (as in last game), as both my robonaut and generator are spectral class “C” so if/when I get that I can at least save a bunch of boost cost (since I don’t need the generator to fly). But with a 3 ISRU I won’t be able to luck into Frederika (etc) as well.
T2.1 — Site refuel on Hertha and fly (via Jupiter-Sol L1) to the Hohmann near Hygiea and (just because I can) coast to the Barycenter.
T2.2 — (Pad Explosion, N/A) — Mission control holds their breath as the die spins and lands on ‘5’. Claim it quickly before anyone questions it.
T2.3 — Land on Hygiea and industrialize (and colonize)4.
T2.4 — (Inspiration) Sell the Rankine MHD (6 Aq) …. and notice that a good contract has arrived.
T2.5 — Fundraise (7Aq ), make Unity the law so that I can take the Hexapod Explorer contract (go to a size 2+ unexplored site). I’ll just stop at one on my way to Hygiea. (15 Aqua, timer at 2.10).
T2.6 — (Inspiration) Boost (as an operation) and fuel, leaving 4 Aq and head to Hygiae (with bonus coast get to the pivot just outside).
T2.7 — ET Produce my robonaut (now the Lorentz-Propelled Microprobe, 0M, 3-ISRU Raygun, 3R-H with one re-roll per prospecting op) at Hygiea. The rocket lands at Frederika, which fulfills the contract. That’s another 2VP and I get the insight ability (before researching, I can move one card from the top of a stack to the bottom).
T2.8 — (Inspiration, again). The rocket goes to Hygiea and I ET produce the JTEC H2 Thermoelectric generator (1M, 4RH, counts as both types, solar modifier). Attach the parts to the rocket.
T2.9 — Site refuel and it’s off towards the Jovian Trojans!
Fig 7 — Onward!
T2.10 — The rocket is moving and I fundraise and switch back to Subsidized research. (5 Aq)
T2.11 — The rocket is still moving and I decide to grab a patent or two. Before choosing I insight the top card off the Freighter deck and get the Rotary Dirt Launcher. It’s an Any/C, which is good enough for me. I take it. (I can’t promote it yet, because I don’t have any augmented colonists … but I’ve got some parts, I just haven’t tracked them yet. Need a colonist…)
T2.12 — Anarchy is here and I lose a delegate in Unity. I prospect Achilles and bust. But ha! I get a re-roll. Bust.
T3.1 — I zip over to Hektor and the Skamandrios Moonlet (well, adjacent. You can raygun prospect through Hazards). I decide to prospect both … which costs me a re-roll. I fail both … and the re-roll? Fail again.
T3.2 — More Anarchy (nobody this time) and now it’s Icarion’s turn … bust and bust again. Granted these aren’t huge sites, but I’ve now failed rolls needing 3/2/2/3/3/1/1/1. That’s a lot of failed rolls. My only success was barely finding water on Hygiae, rolling a ‘5’.
Mission Control requests a pause so that they can (plan the next mission / shift the blame).
Figure 7 — A lot of nothin’
A New Day!
It’s a new day at Mission Control. I mean, out in space its the same day, no sunrise or sunset out in the Jovian Belt after another frustrating year. But the clock on the control board says it’s a new day and Mission Control has contemplated the future. We’d still like to find a “D” site, so we can have an ET Robonaut and Refinery (and not have to decomission our rocket), which narrows the prospects. But after contemplating the Jovians Trojans in the Trojan camp our eyes turn to the moons of Saturn.
Fig 8 — Hyperion!
Hyperion is four burns away and the rocket has exactly four burns worth of fuel. With the crew ability, some of the pivots can be passed in a single turn. Yes, there is a hazard, but we’ll look past that. In fact, the plan is practically set in stone when a Jr. Engineer points out that we have exactly four burns of fuel …. if we take them in pairs. That’s because we have six steps and a fuel consumption of 1.5. If we do the burns 2 & 2, that’s six. If we do them 1 and 3 that’s (due to rounding) 2 + 5 … 7 fuel tanks.
Mission Control — “Screw it, we’ll go to Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 1.”
Everyone — “What ?”
Jr. Engineer — “But that’s smaller and hazardous … We could just pick up a bit more fuel on Icarion …”
Mission Control — “What part of ‘We’ll go to Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 1‘ did you not understand?” (Glares as the Jr. Engineer scurries away).5
In good news, accounting also found the 3 Aq that “we” lost earlier, so now the mission has 8 Aq.
T3.3 — The rocket coasts towards CSW1 as I grab (via Subsidized research) our old friends the Collimator Bernal and H2-O2 Fuel Cell.
T3.4 — There are budget cuts, but not for us (thanks to our earlier contract). The rocket coasts a bit closer and I ET Produce the Rotary Dirt Launcher freighter at Hygiea … we don’t have the funds to set up the Bernal, so we’ll need to produce and sell … and the rocket is well out of place.
T3.5 — (Remotely) Prospect CSW1. Mission control awaits anxiously but finally there is Joy in Mudsville, as the roll is a ‘1’.
Figure 8 — Finally!
T3.6 — (Inspiration) FINAO the hazard to land (5Aq) and industrialize CSW1. The rocket and crew will be there a while. The new patents have nothing truly useful (like a ‘D’ patent) but I can wait, I’ve got other things to do…. the next few turns happen quickly, as finally there is a plan. Arguably I could have done this earlier, but the thought of decommissioning the generator prior to using for industrialization was sickening.
T3.7/3.8 — ET Produce the Lorentz-Propelled Microprobe and Microbial Fuel Cells on Hygiea and send them towards earth on the freighter. (There’s also a solar flare, but prior to launch).
T3.9/3.10 — I’ve got some spare operations while I wait for the freighter to make it to LEO, so …. ET Produce Femtochemicals and site-refuel at CSW1 as the Freighter keeps going…there is another inspiration, but still nothing that would help.
Fig 9 — The Rocket
T3.11 — Fundraise (6Aq) and switch the law to Freedom (so I can sell two items).
T3.12 — The freighter has passed through the Van Allen belt safely (dr=1) and so I sell both the ET produced items (22Aq).
T4.1 — Boost the Collimator Bernal and H2-02 (which is the white side of the just sold Microbial Fuel Cells) and provide six fuel tanks (2 Aq left!) and they (and the freighter) head to the cycler and rad belt.
T4.2 — (Pad Explosion, N/A) The Bernal (and freighter) go L4s and I anchor the Collimator Bernal as my Home Bernal (decommissioning the H2-O2 Fuel Cells).
Fig 10 — Bernal Time
This feels terribly late to get a Bernal … but in my last game I didn’t get my first home Bernal until T4.7. I’m disappointed because a decent roll in the Jovian Trojans would’ve sped this up a season, possibly two (and saved 4 Aq on hazards … with another 4 to come!). I’m going to need the Bernal income to get out of CSW1 safely …. also, I finally can exomigrate a colonist.
Stop and take pause.
For augmentations, I have a jar, triangle and battery augmentations available. Nothing terribly useful (but it requires two augmentations to promote my freighter, which is a huge jump in load limit). The top colonist is Malcom (who gets a bonus implant action6) … but I also have a BEO Colony; so I could exomigrate from the Spaceborn deck.
That top card is Nano-3D Printers …. so if I took that I’d get a robot I can’t build (since I don’t have an M factory) and a random spaceborn human, plus possibly a better robot (if the 2nd card is a robot). Is that likely to be better than Malcolm? I have no idea … do I need to high-roll so as to catch up? Possibly.
Fig 11 — Decisions, Decisions (That is the Bernal patent deck, not my Bernal)
Mission Control (so used to the feelings of hopelessness from the last decade) decides to pause and take stock ….
I should have cycled the deck that matches the law, just in case the new contract was something I’d want. ︎
A mistake. With weight it had a Net Thrust less than four. But as I paused anyway I could have gone 2 then 2, only spending one more FT for an extra afterburn… ︎
At least it’s nice to see that not all of my mistakes are in my favor. My notes went to a new piece of paper, which is why I didn’t notice until typing this up. ︎
As a relatively new M0 player (as compared to M12), I forgot that I can add a delegate to the crew’s faction when I colonize … so, I didn’t. ︎
As is usually the case, the Jr. Engineer was correct and management was wrong. In their defense, Management was on tilt and possibly drunk. ︎
Much as inSlay the Spire (or Dominion) a strategy can be good or bad depending on the other cards in the pool. Here is where I am at after my 5th Full Counterstrike game.
In general — Production worlds have priority over military windfalls (beyond the first you often drop to trade on T1). Production worlds that earn a card while producing are the highest priority. +Military and +Xeno Military (and +Xeno Defense) can be nice to have, depending on how far you are into the invasion process. But a “repair during production” power is fine, particularly if you have a windfall/grey world that has a power you are OK with being intermittent.
The reason? Apart from the “Produce and ship goods to the war effort” points; in Counterstrike there are many worlds (often frontier) where you consume two goods for three points (or one good for two points) and you want to take advantage of those in the late game. A “consume x2” for 12 is a big deal in base Race. Here 20+ is easily in reach. 1
Because of that, early Frontier Settles are prioritizing purchase, not conquest. Obviously you have to take what you are offered, but still. I’m happy to go with 5 cards in hand, no matter my military rating … half the cards are playable now. (But two military drops the odds of a complete miss). BUT … I’m wary of this if I’ll be out of cards for multiple turns when I drop my hand. (Have goods ready to trade when you Frontier Settle … or that will earn some cards someone else trades. Or have a few spare cards).
As you move into the 2nd half and the automatic development phase in the 2nd half, you’d like to be able to either boost your strategy and/or shore your your military with a card you can play (while calling something else).
Murdering Xeno Homeworlds is nice, but you can earn plenty of points just going your own way and racking up points. 18 Points with Merchant Guild2 or the card that gets you 1/3rd of your consume chits, etc is also possible. Obviously if you have a huge military and enough temp military you can just go conquest, but it’s not mandatory. I’m not going to drop a small +3 Temp Military just so I can murder a Xeno next turn unless I have nothing better to do3 and one big conquest every other turn is only keeping pace with the consume x2 every other turn … and if that guy is produce 4-6 cards (via consume and produce) he’s probably leeching on your settles.
(The seven point award for “most homeworlds” is nice, but so is the seven points for “most consumption.”)
In my tableau last night: Good for 2VP, Alien+Novelty for 3, Genes+Novelty for 3, Rare for 1 + a card. Two goods for 2+2 Cards. ︎
Particularly the 2nd edition copy, which is 2/production and 1/good. ︎
Also, becuase you can only Frontier Settle/Conquest every other turn, it’s OK timing wise. ︎
T6.1 — I promote the Climate Control Bernal at Titan. For exomigration I get Smart Pets and Microgravity Pantrophists. I stare at those for a bit and then realize I can make the Titan to Home Bernal trip in one year1, so I fly home to convert my Saturn Glory chit and also pick up the colonists.
T6.2 — I fundraise for Freedom and took the Comet Adventures contract, which I can fulfill this turn (thanks to TW thrusters being able to get to Synodic comets out of season). The trip back would have taken two turns anyway (because the Titan flyby is too far to reach, where as coming in you just hit the Jupiter flyby, which gives you the free burns you need). So I swing by Comet Encka and pay the FINAO.
T6.3 — While the rocket flies (again paying FINAO) back I ET produce Smart Pets (chucking Lloyd’s Salvage) at the Titan Bernal.
T6.4 — I prospect Kraken Mare. (There’s also an inspiration event, but it no longer matters).
T6.5 — Using Lab Promotion2 I promote Smart Pets to Creeper Neogen.
T6.6 — I have ~35 Aqua, so I pay 20 (+4 FINAO) to complete the Uplift Future to emancipate the robots (I have the Pantrophists there as well).3 This causes the War of Independence, but I’ve timed it so that the war will end next turn. (The first time I triggered this, I had only my printed rules which says it doesn’t end! Ugh. But the living rules said it ends at the next season changeover).
Things are getting done. I could mini-max, but I decide to simply industrialize Sedna for the H-factory and the Exoplanet Hunt Future, which can be done relatively quickly. I have to ET produce the robo and refinery again and pick them up (and bring the freighter along), but that’s 2 turns, then about 8 turns to make it to Sedna. (I have plenty of fuel, thanks to the free mining off Titan). I might be able to squeak out more points some other way, but most of my other Futures would be trickier for roughly the same points.
Fig 7.1 — Sedna!
And … that’s it. I think my score is 21 (pieces) + 45 (Factories) + 11 (Dirtsides) + 6 (Colonies) + 24 (Futures) + 7 (Glory) + 6 (Contracts) so 120 VP.
Thoughts on Contracts — Well, they are relatively accessible and interesting. I’d be willing to play them in an M0 or M012 game (which are what we play locally …). I will likely try a solo game with all of M0124, once I read the rules a few more times.
Since I’d previously decided I was going to swap out Bernals, I started aiming for that.
T5.1 — I transferred the Microbial Fuel Cell from the Freighter to the Rocket, which flew to the Home Bernal (at L5s) and Research Grants to get the Collimator Bernal, which happened to be on top. It’s … pretty good. I could use the powersat privilege (with the Pulsed-Inductive thruster, which admittedly is about to be replaced) but in any case, it has a useful power. Because I have a home Bernal and the House of Saud, I also get +1 Aq and +1 Isotope for free (the former at the bank, the latter on Frederika). As is typical, at this point Aqua isn’t much of a problem, so I’ll just note the gains from those.
Thanks to the “Bernals Building Bernals” rule (2A7c), I don’t have to boost it, it just is in L5s … unanchored.
T5.2 — Anarchy hits and I lose a delegate in freedom. Oh No! Anyway… (9Aq, 4 iso). After getting my “free” aqua and iso, I unanchor the Climate Control Bernal. The House of Saud goes back to the deck. As my operation I then anchor the Collimator Bernal (using the Microbial Fuel Cell generator) and exomigrate the Biomechs … who are also Miners. They hop over to the rocket, which now also will tow the Climate Control Bernal out to Hygiea … and beyond. They make part of the trip this turn (using some water to make sure we can pay the two burns). (7Aq)
T5.3 — The rocket makes it to Frederika, so I can use the Biomechs for another isotope site refuel (8Aq, 5 iso) and I swap out the Pulsed Inductive thruster for the CrossFire H-B Focus Fusion.
(Incidentally, the thought occurs to me that much of Module 4’s fun is in the promotion rules, in that you need augmented colonists to promote. That would provide a real check on progress. Perhaps next game). But now I am left wondering what to do …. and in fact I paused for 30+ minutes pondering it (and making lunch). The Climate Control Bernal (which I have with me) wants a cloud to promote and the Thruster future wants an promoted anchored Bernal an H-site (which might be nice) and maybe the Saturn Aerostat is an option. After some thought I think that Titan is a decent place to promote.
For starters, its two turns away (with my TW thruster having 10-12 Net Thrust after spending a fuel, depending on how much its carrying), which makes it convenient enough.
Fig 5.1 — Convenient Enough. The Red line is 10 burns, and the green line is much less.
Titan is also convenient because Ontario Lacus (the 9D Plant/Cloud site) will also let me refuel for further out, should I decide to go for Sedna (which is my Freighter’s Future). I don’t have a spare generator to anchor the Bernal (or so I think…) because you can’t use a solar power generator at Jupiter or Beyond, and I’m not sure I can use it for my TW thruster and can’t find the rule. But perhaps one will show up in the patent deck before I have to run back …. and if not, I’ll have to run back for the robo/refinery to get Kraken Mare (the 9V submarine/cloud).1
With the Crossfire H-B … I could also fulfill the “four flybys in a turn” contract, and probably some others … but I don’t see as to what that gets me, apart from a few VP. So…. To Titan!
But I’ve already moved my rocket and swapped, so I sell the Rankine MHD (11 Aq) and call it a year.
T5.4 — I Regime Change Budget Cuts to Inspiration, in hopes of a D or V generator. I get one, but it’s also solar powered. I stie refuel, convert all the isotopes to fuel, and load the Biomechs and then my rocket takes the red line in Fig 5.1 and I sell the Nuclear Drill (+1 for the bank, -1 for the lobbying, +3 for selling = 14 Aq).
T5.5 — I go to LTO (green line) and park the Bernal there, and fundraise a delegate into Authority, so I can lobby the next event. (16 Aq).
T5.6 — The event is inspiration but no useful generator shows up. I land on Ontario Lacus and prospect (and get the Saturn zone glory). (18Aq)
T5.7 — … and industrialize, taking a cube from unity (20Aq). Since the Biomechs are here, I can site refuel an isotope as well.
T5.8, 5.9, 5.10 — Seeing as how there is no generator in the patent deck, I take the rocket back to Hygiea (and ET produce two things there) and then Frederika (and ET produce one thing there), grabbing any free site-refueling Isos when available (as the Biomechs are travelling with me, so I’m basically breaking even or better each trip). I’ve also been moving the Freighter to Frederika, seeing as how I have no M-patents of note.
T5.11 — I leave Frederika fully loaded and I’ve finally found noticed that rule 2A5c (which states you can’t use Solar power for anchoring Bernal supports in Jupiter or Beyond) has a second sentence that says you can if you have powersat … which I do. I could have grabbed any solar generator and saved a trip … but I needed to come back for the Nanobots anyway (and Freighter?), so I don’t think it’s a big loss. I sell the Pulsed-Inductive thruster. Man, the memories. (27 Aqua).
T5.12 — I convert Anarchy to inspiration (just to see if there are better patents … nope) and then Anchor the Bernal in Low Titan Orbit. With two bernals I get a second colonist so Lloyd’s Salvage arrives (at my Home Bernal). I transfer the Biomechs to the Climate Control Bernal, and they use their site refuel from the Bernal (as per 2C1a) and transfer the isotope to the rocket. (28 Aqua)
At this point I’m at 19 Base VP + 26 for Factories + 8 Dirtside + 4 Colonist pts + 4 Glory + 2 Contracts for 63 points. Now I need to see what futures (if any) I should go for … and the CC Bernal is promotable….
Fig 5.2 — End of Year Board
(I should have carried the Freighter out as cargo out to Saturn, in case I decide to go for the Aerostat + Elevator it will be quite useful. Oh well).
The 8C Aerostat with zero hydration is more than I can industrialize, at least now. ︎
When last we left, I’d managed to just industrialize Hygiea (after getting Frederika a few years prior), and acquired patents so that I perform my next industrialization without crippling my rocket. After a rebuilding cycle.
T3.1 — Due to “Solar Cycle Daylight Savings,” we spring forward and skip this turn1.
T3.2 — Glitch event, but no effect. I ET produce Microbial Fuel Cells (the back of the H2-02 Fuel Cell) on Hygiea and attach it to my rocket. This gives me +1 Net thrust (in addition to making the rocket actually work), but it’s still modified by solar zone.
T3.3 — I ET produce Nanobots and attach it to the rocket.
I took a while to decide if I wanted to upgrade my thruster from the Pulsed-Inductive to the Dual Stage 4-Grid. (Card Reference). The DS4G is much more fuel efficient (and I can live with changing generator types, as the Microbial Fuel Cells count as either). And the DS4G gets a ballerina pivot … but the loss of Net Thrust is crippling. Now that I have some sites, I can refuel fairly quickly. So I decide to leave the thruster alone.
T3.4 — Another non-Glitch, and the Rocket makes a quick (zero burn) jaunt from Hygiea to Frederika to pick up the Femtochemicals that I ET produce this turn. The rocket is rebuilt.
Fig 3.1 — Latest Rocket
T3.5 — I site refuel as my operation (pictured above after) and take off, but just to the nearby Hohmann pivot for the Hygiea family. It’s a slow trip, but I can’t save time by factory-assisting with the P-I (Frederika is a colony so there is no hazard roll) and paying two burns to shave off a turn to my planned trip to Lutetia. My Net Thrust is 4 (base) +1 (Support) -2 (Ceres Zone Solar Modification) -1 (Weight) = 2 … so even if I paid to burn through the pivot I’d have to stop prior to the burn on the yellow line outside Lutetia.
Fig 3.2 — Proposed Path is three burns, one too many.
(I’m using hf4map.com to grab screen snippets. Lutetia is actual size 4, 1 Hydration)
T3.6 — The “Safe events” keep on coming, as I can ignore Budget Cuts thanks to the Hubris contract I fulfilled in the first cycle. I go through the burn towards Lutetia and stop at the pivot right outside (on the yellow line). I sell the Neutral Beam from my hand for 3 Aqua … (bringing me to 3).
T3.7 — I prospect Lutetia, needing the buggy reroll to get it on the second chance. Thanks to the ROSCOSMOS ability, I get a 4th Aqua.
Then, an inspiration event brings new patents to life!
Fig3.3 — New Patents!
T3.8 — The Lofstrom Loop Bernal is interesting …. non-doubled boost cost if it’s a home Bernal is nice.2 But of more interest is the Fission-heated Steam / Fission GCR Freighter. If I build it on Lutetia and promote it (it’s an Any/M) then it can takeoff and land on larger sites.
Or so I think at the time … but is this another rule I messed up? (This time via careless reading). The purple side says “Your Mobile Factories can liftoff/land on Sites less than size six” … it doesn’t say your freighter can. But digging up an old rules thread and looking at the rulebook, I think maybe it can. (In any case, I played that it can for this game).
In any case, I decide to go for the (possibly cheat-y) Freighter and sell my Hall Effect Thruster (7 Aq) to get under the academia limit.
T3.9 — I research grant the Fission-heated Steam Freighter before it (potentially) disappears.
T3.10 — The event is a pad explosion, which is fine (Nothing is in LEO). Having now grabbed the freighter, I industrialize Lutetia (but do not make it a colony). (8 Aqua). The rocket takes off to make the trip back to the Hygiea family to replace the robonaut/refinery.
T3.11 — I ET Produce the freighter (at Lutetia).
T3.12 — Another Pad explosion (N/A) and I ET produce Nanobots as the rocket arrives and picks it up.
At the end of the cycle I have 13 VP in wood/plastic, 24 VP in factories, 3 VP in glory chits and 2VP in contracts for 42 VP. This was a pretty fast cycle (mostly I ET built a replacement rocket) so I keep going.
Solar Cycle 4
T4.1 — The rocket hops to Frederika as I ET produce Femtochemicals and re-attach. Just In Time Production!
T4.2 — The event is anarchy (which I can’t stop because I have no delegates in Authority) but the purge roll doesn’t cost me a delegate. I promote the Freighter to purple side. The rocket heads for LEO … I could start another factory but “Tick-tock, it’s Bernal O’Clock.” These item(s) are destined for the market to fund the boost cost.
T4.3 — Any Bernal I need is going to need a generator, so I ET produce the Superconducting Adductor (on back of the Flywheel Compulsator that I’ve had for a while) on Lutetia and load it onto the freighter and start moving it towards the L5s Home Bernal site. Is it going to be the Lofstrom Loop?
T4.4 — No, it will not. Inspiration hits. The replacement is the L1 Climate Control Bernal which always makes you first player (which seems … not great even in no solitaire games). The rocket has arrived at LEO and I sell Femtochemicals to get to 16 Aqua.
T4.5 — I take the L1 Climate Control Bernal. (I do not take a support generator, as the freighter is moving another generator into place and that would put me over hand limit in case something important shows up).
T4.6 — I boost the Bernal (-10Aq) and attach it as cargo to my rocket. I need to convert 2 more Aq to fuel to get the Bernal to L5s (once I anchor it, it will be my bank and I can refuel more). I am at 4 Aqua. It’s a quick jaunt over … even at this thrust I’m safe from radiation.
T4.7 — Everything is now in Location, so a few cargo transfers and the L1 Climate Control Bernal is an operational home Bernal. Honestly, I’m not sure this is the best place for it, but given that the yellow line leads to all three of my factories, it seems reasonable. My first colonist is the House of Saud. I’m cube locked, but I can disband a cube in Equality and place it in Authority. There’s a big tie at one, so I leave Research Grants as the active law. But now I have the option of stopping a bad event.
T4.8 — There’s a glitch, but my freighter is co-located with a human (at the Bernal and Rocket, which has crew) so no problem. I start getting that sweet, sweet Home Bernal Income, but convert 2 Aqua to fuel so my rocket can skedaddle, while carrying the House of Saud. (3 Aq). I ET produce Femtochemicals again.
T4.9 — The rocket picks up the chemicals and drops the House of Saud at Frederika. Since H.o.S. is a miner, I get a free site-refuel to top off the tank. As my (non-free) action, I ET produce the Superconducting Adductor and plan to load it onto the freighter (once it gets back to Lutetia next turn). I’m going to have the rocket and freighter meet to swap out generators … the solar modifiers are now a real problem in going further out. (4 Aqua, free income)
T4.10 — There’s a flare, its fine, all my rad-hardness makes it safe at this distance. Also, the inspiration roll that gave me the new Bernal also brought the Dense Plasma H-B Focus Fusion / Crossfire H-B Focus Fusion GW/TW Thruster. Which happens to be D/D. So I take it via research grants (again passing on support3). (5Aq)
T4.11 — I produce the H-B Focus Fusion (black side) at Frederika and since House of Saud is there, I get a free site refuel, so that’s one isotope per turn. (6Aq, 1 Iso)
T4.12 — On Frederika, I promote to the Crossfire H-B Focus Fusion as the Freighter and Rocket meet near Lutetia to swap out generators. I lose +1 Net thrust, but since I’m usually the Ceres zone (and plan on going further out) the -2 (or worse) solar modifier I’m getting rid of is gone, so a net increase. (7 Aq, 2 Iso)
Fig 3.4 — Current Board State.
Fig 3.5 — Current Rocket
If I’ve done my math correctly4 I’m at 15 Wood + 2 Colony points (Bernal) + 24 Factory points (3×8) + 6 Dirtside (Home Bernal) + 3 Glory + 2 Contracts = 52. I might have been able to do a bit more these cycles … I lucked into a convenient GW/TW thruster … as compared to that, my Bernal is … income and points. For Cycle 5 I need to decide where my first non-home bernal is going to be … I haven’t checked what is on-deck; I might very well get my second Bernal boosted, de-anchor the L1 and re-anchor the second as a home bernal, then tow it to a suitable site (The L1’s promoted side gives bonus VPs for dirtsides …coupled with no value as a home Bernal, that seems reasonable as the first one to head out).
If I do that early I should have enough fuel to swap out thrusters and burn, baby, burn to wherever.
And also because I accidentally took 13 turns in the prior solar cycle. ︎
Module 4 also makes this an Epic Hazard roll to anchor … I’m not sure if I should use that rule, as I’m only playing with contracts. But it the point gets mooted before it matters. ︎
Apart from being free (or cheaper), Research Grants ability to let you skip taking support is huge. ︎
T2.1 — After thinking about it, I decide to stop at the Nysa Family Lagrange point so that I can prospect both Hertha and Chaucer. (That doesn’t make it right, though. Probably it costs me a turn, but on the off chance I get Chaucer when I miss Hertha, I’m way ahead). Unsurprisingly, I bust both sites.
Fig 2.1 — Patents at the Start of Year, being kinda ‘meh’
T2.2 — It’s anarchy time. Is it anarchy time? I decide no and lobby for Regime Change, because those patents pictured above aren’t doing it for me. (Is Dumbo the worst card in the game?1) . This brings me to 0 Aqua. The rocket lands on Hertha (picking up the Ceres Glory chit) and refuels.
Fig 2.2 — Newer Patents
T2.3 — In looking over the rocket and pathing I finally notice my prior Dry Mass Calculation was wrong, which means I should have spent 6 Aq for fuel (not 5) to get to Hertha (see FN on T1.12 in the prior article). Which means I couldn’t have paid for anarchy, etc. I decide not to retcon everything, but when I Fundraise (to be able to Regime Change again) I pay the water back to cover my “loan,” so I’m still at 0 Aqua. Meanwhile the rocket can get to the Sol-Jupiter L1 in a single burn and stop at the Hohmann intersection besides the Hygiea family. So it won’t need another burn to get to Hygiea, so I’m done refueling and go. (But of course, I’m so busy thinking about the earlier mistake that I don’t realize … until just now as I’m writing it up … that I need to use my crew thruster to get off Bertha and I obviously can’t afford to spend that amount of fuel, so it should have taken two turns. I don’t think I can retcon that. Oh well).
T2.4 — Inspiration again, which is fine by me. The Rocket goes to the Hygiea family barycenter and prospects (via Raygun). I get Hygiea and Frederika, which is also 2 Aqua via the ROSCOSMOS ability. Now I take a glance at the new patents.
Fig 2.3 — Yet More Patents
T2.5 — OK. I have a plan. I still have to deconstruct my generator (stranding my thruster) no matter which way I go, but if I industrialize Frederika, I can ET produce my Froth Flotation refinery (which is a D) as Femtochemistry there, which means a) less mass I need to boost and bring back from earth) and b) it doesn’t require any supports. So I can industrialize Hygiea faster/cheaper. So I industrialize (and colonize) Frederika first, bringing everything but the thruster and crew back to hand. Via ROSCOSMOS ability, I get a 3rd Aqua.
T2.6 — There are budget cuts, but thanks to fulfilling my Hubris contract, I’m immune. I fundraise (4 Aqua) to “Freedom” and make the Free Trade Act Law (which lets you sell 2 at a time in the solo rules).
T2.7 — I sell the Monatomic Plug Nozzle and D-T Tokamok (that I got on T1.12) for 3 each, bringing me to 10 Aq.
T2.8 — There’s a solar flare, but no rocket. So I’m good. I colonize Frederika and decommission the thruster, bringing my crew to LEO and card to hand.2 I boost the thruster, refinery and generator back to LEO (Spending 7Aq) and I need 3 burns to Hygiea, so that’s the rest of my Aqua spent. My crew assembles it all and we go! go! go! But because it’s the red season, there’s a 1/6 chance of the generator failing if we hit the rad belt, so we stop at the cycler.
Fig 2.4 — Post-Frederika Boost
T2.8 — The rocket moves to the radiation belt (so I can ignore the upcoming solar flare, should it happen) and I ET produce Femtochemistry. Did you notice I forgot to move the turn marker after last turn? I didn’t, until just now. So that was 2.8b.
T2.9* — The Rocket follows the purple line to the pivot and I take the MET Steamer and it’s generator support before (for once in my life) I catch myself. Research Grants is not the active law. (OK, I didn’t notice until next turn, but I backed it up and fixed it!) So I fundraise equality and make Research Grants active. (And get 1 Aqua).
T2.10* — There’s an inspiration event, but I still have a delegate in Authority and I lobby (0 Aqua) and cancel it. Now I take the MET Steamer and the Rocket gets to the Hygiea family pivot. The nice thing is that the MET Steamer can be produced on Hygiea as Nanobots, so now I’ll have a close by ET produced Robo+Refinery that don’t require supports3. Ideally they’d be co-located, but that’s pretty close.
2.11* — The rocket picks up the Femtochemistry Refinery and I grab the Nuclear Drill and H2-02 Fuel Cell. The generator can be ET produced on Hygiea, meaning I don’t have to reboost the thruster and fly back out. (I took the drill just because …. I might produce it and sell it).
2.12* — There’s an anarchy roll, and purge roll of 6 costs me a delegate, but is fine. My rocket hops over to Hygiea and I Industrialize. I don’t get the Aqua (anarchy!) but I’m doing well.
(Excepting if course that this was actually Turn 3.1, which I will now correct going forward).
So, at the end of the 2nd Cycle (ahem), things are looking OK.
I now have eight cards in hand, but with three ET productions I can have a rocket ready to prospect and industrialize … and keep flying!
Figure 2.6 — 8 Cards in Hand (and yes, I only had 3 cards when I last researched!)
I have 6 VP on the board, 4 VP in delegates, 16 VP in factories, 2VP for contracts and 3 VP in glory for 31 VP (at the end of 3.1). More importantly, once I clear up some space in my hand I can start going for a 1 Hydration site and/or look at what Bernals/TW thrusters are interesting. Boosting the Bernal is my next real expense, so I’ll probably deliver some ET products to LEO. We’ll see. But in the grand scheme (at least for me), this feels “on track” for the the end of the second cycle.
Fig 2.7 — My astronauts (before trading their Studebaker for a Pulsed-Inductive Thruster)
Also — how many mistakes do I make in a normal game and not notice? Sheesh. (I’m not even talking about rules I get wrong, but rules I get right and just … mess something up. I suppose it’s bound to happen in a game as fiddly as this).
Yes. I had to double check the black side to make sure it wasn’t one of those “ugly ducklings that turn into a swan.” Timberwind is no prize, either. Five thrust, Three fuel consumption is “meh” compared to many white-sides, even if the mass/rad hardness numbers are good. ︎
I could have easily done this on T2.5, but usually its safer to wait until the last minute, in case plans change. Like if I could have ET produced a generator, refueled and flown back with spare fuel … but the patents aren’t there. ︎
0 Mass, 1 ISRU buggy is nothing to sneeze at, either. ︎
As part of my piece meal approach to learning Module 4, I set out a solitaire game using M4’s Solitaire Political Assembly & Contracts. (I originally started to add the new colonists deck, augmentations and the exodus stuff, but then changed my mind). I did in fact play an earlier game with just the Solitaire Political Assembly, and I quite liked that.
My last few solo games had used the “You only see half of each patent deck” and “You start with a faction privilege, but don’t get home Bernal income until you have both a Bernal and a Factory” variants, and I rather liked that, but you could get hosed with some wildly inappropriate die rolls (and patent decks), so I’m using the Mod4 “You start with full patent decks” but keeping the faction privilege. I’m not playing any particular Solitaire game … I’ll just score normally.
I get ROSCOSMOS as the unit, so I start with delegates in Authority and Centrism. Authority is nice (with Regime Change1), because you can lobby when it’s inactive and the spent delegate counts for both lobbying and Regime Change. So you can cancel a budget cut/flare/pad explosion AND cycle the patents, or keep a really juicy patent on top. Yes, you spend time fundraising, but it’s a good trade.
Fig 1 — My Initial Offering
T1.1 (Solar Cycle.Year) — The Initial Patent Deck is … to put it mildly … not great. I fundraise (10 Aq) and put a delegate into Equality and (since it’s tied) make Research Grants2 the active law. Research Grants is quite powerful. I’ve already run a solitaire game (using just the M4 solitaire assembly) and between Research Grants and Regime Change I was able to do quite a bit more3 than I usually do in a 7-Cycle Game. (Some decent early patents and claim rolls also helped).
T1.2 — I roll the anarchy event and so I lobby to invoke Regime Change (9 Aq and lose the Authority Delegate) and let’s see what other patents are available…
Fig 2 — Take Two
These are also not great, but a smidge of a plan is starting to take hold. Since Research Grants are still active I take the Pulsed Inductive Thruster and Radio Isotope Stirling Generator (for free).
T1.3 There are now the Hall Effect Thruster and Flywheel Compulsator cards on top of their decks. I take those, too.
T1.4 Budget cuts, and I can’t over-ride it. Oh well, goodbye Radio Isotope Stirling. But that also means that the contracts haven’t rotated. I fundraise and put a delegate into Individuality (10Aqua) and make Launch Contracts the active law. Not because I love it (Boosting as a free action instead of an operation is … OK), but because that lets me take the “Hubris” contract. I get 8 more aqua but have to deliver some guy and let him be the first to set foot on a site in an unexplored region4.
T1.5 Boosting is a free action, but it still costs 8 Aqua to boost the trillionaire, Pulsed Inductive thruster and Flywheel Compulsator into LEO, load up six fuel tanks (so I’m down to 4 Aqua) and send the rocket from LEO to the cycler. (My stuff could make it through the radiation belt, but the trillionaire might not, so I’ll use the crew thruster next turn). I still have an action, so Fundraise to a) put a delegate in Authority and b) switch the law back to Research Grants (and get an aqua, so 5 Aqua).
Fig 3 — First Rocket (Pre Boost)
T1.6 — The event is Budget Cuts, so spend an aqua (4Aq) and lobby Regime Change to switch that to Inspiration.
Fig 4 — Now the Solar Sail Shows Up!
That Solar Sail would have been lovely a turn or two earlier (although the Trillionaire has 2 mass, so maybe not). I move the rocket into the rad belt (with the crew thruster, so that no roll can hurt my cargo/client). Since I have the Flywheel, that Robonaut and Refinery are both useful. Sure, neither is great, but Beggars can’t be Spacemen. I take the Neutral Beam + Optoelectrick Nuclear Battery.
T1.7 — Rocket take the red path (stopping at the Hohman). I don’t really want a solar flare, so I fundraise back into Authority. (5Aq). (I’m beginning to think that Regime Change is too good, maybe it should just cancel an inspiration or add inspiration to the existing event … not cancel it as well. How do you Regime Change a Coronal Mass Ejection?)5
T1.8 — The event is Pad Explosion, so … nothing. The rocket reaches Deimos, so I drop off the trillionaire (you’d think he’d want a return trip), grab the glory chit. I take the Froth Filtration refinery + the In-core Thermionic Generator (which was revealed after T1.6).
T1.9 — The rocket starts the return trip and I sell the In-core … (8Aq)
T1.10 — Inspiration roll, and I sell the Optoelectrick Nuke (11 Aq). Rocket still heads back.
T1.11 — I boost the Robonaut and Refinery (6Aq) as the Rocket returns to LEO, and I get a ticker tape parade.
T1.12 — I fuel up the new rocket (-5 Aqua, leaving 1Aq)6 and send it out to (where else?) Hertha.
Fig 5 — Off to Hertha
Yes, it’s heavy (and I’ll need to use the crew thruster to land). Yes, if I don’t bust Hertha7I’ll have to deconstruct every thing and re-boost. But perhaps there will be better patents available by then.
I take the Monatomic Plug Nozzle thruster and D-T Fusion Tokamok reactor. Man those research grants have saved me a ton of money. (If I don’t bust Hertha, I can start trying to ET produce a rocket with the Plug Nozzle …. and if I do, I can sell it).
Fig 6 — Hand at the end of the first cycle
End of Cycle — By the rules of M4, I can move the seniority disk to where I please, but it seems to me that the best VP will always be the “1 per claim disk” (since all the others are 1VP/something else, which is usually harder to get). I think I’m going to just roll a die and let it get placed randomly, but those VP seem like an area to tinker with.
It’s solitaire, after all.
So — how did the M4 help? Quite a bit. I’ve got 5VP (2 from Hubris, 2 from the Mars Glory Chit. and the rocket on the board). I’ve boosted a much heavier rocket than would be possible without Research Grants and the 8 Aq from the contract. Granted, most of those 8 Aqua went towards fuel tanks, but a) not all of them and b) I’m also immune to Budget Cuts for the rest of the game. (And if I were playing with augmentations, I’d have a chit to implant).
Is the Solitaire Assembly too good? It might be. But I had a fair number of earlier solitaire games where I’d simply get murdered in the first cycle by a bad roll (budget cuts if I didn’t boost, pad explosion if I did) and those are frustrating. It feels like it might be a bit too much control. One option would be to put in an NPC delegate (via d7 roll) on a non-event turn, so the active law wouldn’t be totally under the player’s control. But for now this game, I’ll just leave it.
Second Cycle, coming soon….
Remove a delegate to change an event to inspiration, or cancel an inspiration event. ︎
So instead of paying 1/card; I can get 1-2 cards free, or 3 cards for two aqua. The cards have to be supports of the main, as normal. ︎
Including two promoted Bernals (Ganymede and Dione) and three completed futures (Liberated Robots , Anti-matter research, and Supreme Cult). 130-ish VP, IIRC. ︎
And presumably listen to him during the entire flight. ︎
Perhaps its cost should go up each solar cycle, stop an early devastating bad roll, but get more expensive. ︎
As I was doing Solar Cycle 2 I noticed that my Dry Mass was 11, not 10, so I should have spent 6 Aqua, not 5) ︎
And Chaucer, since I have a raygun 2. Although it’s arguable whether I should take the time to try that simply land on Hertha so that I can refuel and go … if I bust. Still considering it. ︎
Played another game of HF4A (with M012 and the Promo Crew Packs). According to BGG, this was my 11th game of HF4A (not counting solitaire) and I have two dozen games of 3rd edition, so I’m not exactly a newbie, but as always there were a few rules questions and outright mistakes. I’m not comfortable with the politics module (M0) at all, but mostly I messed up by not noticing that one of my supports gave a -2 thrust to my rocket1. Since I (mostly) used a crew rocket to land/take off the real issue was that I was getting to and from my destinations 1-2 turns faster each time, which probably compounded my achievements nicely.
(I also forgot that Factory Assists require a hazard roll, unless you have a colonist, and didn’t wake up to that until about the halfway point of the game).
But mostly I actually kept my nose in the rulebook when it wasn’t my turn, so I think I got most of the (fairly tiny) rules correctly, or at least noticed them after the fact.
I’ve been slowly upping my rating on HF4A. It has a learning curve (and … if you only play every few months, a “forgetting curve”). It’s rules are complex … maybe not “Magic Realm” complex, but enough that you can’t just jump in. And yet … it really does capture something great. I think it’s another point in favor of the argument that you cannot compress great games. I don’t think the rules are perfect …. after my last game I think I’m ditching the rule that makes start player use a cube, but overall it’s a great sandbox.
and I’ve finally gone ahead and rated it a ’10.’ Hopefully my next dozen games won’t take a half-decade. (And I still have to learn the M4 rules, but I might never play with them. I doubt I’ll use M3). And I think I’m going to try and play at least one solitaire game a month just to keep the rules fresh in my mind.
Still, I did manage to:
Get an early Solar Sail to Khufu and back while assembling/boosting my “actual” rocket for my first mission.
Built a first rocket that didn’t require deconstructing rocket supports when industrializing2. (My first rocket was actually pretty much my only rocket … but forgetting about that -2 thrust made that much easier).
Emancipated the Robots (but we ignored the Casus Belli).
Update — And I should mention that one other play built the Uranus Aerostat — Cordelia Space Elevator. (I “almost” did that in a solo game a few months back, before I realized the freighter couldn’t get to Cordelia except as cargo)….
I think I did notice when I built it, but then I promptly forgot a turn or two later after I used the “crew thruster through the radiation belt” maneuver — which really ought to be given a name. ︎
This is one of those little details that can make your game go so smuch smoother ︎
It has been two months (nearly) since my last Bridge game, one of the longest spells I’ve gone without in decades. It’s a unit game and (annoyingly) the top four pairs are all in our section …. in our direction. Thankfully we are in the top four … after a few rounds where mostly good stuff happens, my opponents (two Little Old Ladies) have given me an overtrick when I should be down in the prior board when I pick up:
S: KTx H: A7652 D: A5 C: T73
With nobody vul, Partner opens 1 Diamond and RHO bids 1 Spade. I have a standard 2 Hearts bid (no longer game forcing, merely showing 10+ HCP and 5+ Hearts). LHO passes and partner bids 3 Hearts. Now I have a problem. I only have 11 points, but aces are undervalued and my king of spades is almost certainly in the right place. Passing could be right, but four hearts could be cold. On the downside, I wish I didn’t have exactly 3 spades …. either two spades or four would be better, likely.
I decide to bid the game. Maybe the field is there. Maybe I get an extra trick or two, at which point I’m probably still equal/ahead of the game …. as long as I’m in four and the field is in three or four. (Nothing would be worse than to stop in three making five when the field is in four making four). I could aim at 3NT by bidding 3S (asking partner if she has a spade stopper). But even if she does we may have a problem elsewhere and I’d hate it if she thought I was slammish.
So … I bid Four Hearts which ends the auction.
LHO leads the eight of spades and dummy is … unpleasant.
(Dummy) S: 9xx H: K3 D: K97xx C: AQx
S8 led
(My hand) S: KTx H: A7652 D: A5 C: T73
Partner had a tough position. I’d forced her and she had no obvious rebid. I like the 3H bid in practice, but now I’m in 4H … first things first, LHO wins the Spade Ace and plays the Queen, which I cover. Thankfully LHO follows with the deuce. If that had been ruffed … I still have a spade loser, a club loser and at least one heart loser in addition to the spade I’ve already lost. Am I in a weird contract? If so, I might go all out to make. Well, RHO Had AQJxx of spades, so the overcall seems normal. My bid seems normal. 3H seems normal-ish (and everything else looks worse). I think the field is likely to be in hearts, so … I don’t think I’m going to do anything wild. Just try to go down less than normal. Otherwise I might play for 3-3 diamonds and start those without pulling trump.
I mull a while, trying to decide how many rounds of trump to pull, whether to duck one, etc. In the end I decide to play a heart to the king and back to the ace. On the second round LHO drops the heart queen. Hmmm.
A good player would randomize between the queen and jack1. Chthonic would take no inference from this, but LHO isn’t that good and I’m human. I think that LHO started with Qx of hearts and RHO still has JT of hearts left (and higher than mine). So now I run a diamond to my ace and back to dummy’s king. This time RHO follows Jack then Queen. I suspect LHO has T8 and dummy has 9xx, but I don’t really have anything better to do. I lead a small diamond, planning on pitching my losing spade. Who knows, LHO might try to cash her last diamond.
RHO ruffs with the heart ten. This is clearly the mistake I needed to get in the game. I still pitch my losing spade, but now I have a slim hope. RHO tries to cash a spade. I ruff and lead another heart. RHO (as expected) wins the heart and tries to cash another spade … it is a lot to ask for LHO to be squeezed, but at least I know the D9 menace is in the right spot. LHO discards a club and I discard the now useless diamond in dummy.
When I lead a club from hand and LHO plays the club Jack I know the squeeze has worked. Here was the position at Trick 9
Dummy D: 9 C: AQx
D: T C: KJx Spade: x (plus 3 cards)
Heart: x C: Txx
The lead of the spade has inflicted a suicide squeeze on my LHO. Ironically, leading a club into dummy’s AQx would have left me a trick short … but any player good enough to do that would never have ruffed the diamond loser earlier.
I cover the jack of clubs with the queen, play the ace, dropping LHO’s king, and then say “Of course I would have never bid four hearts without the club ten.” I got lucky to have KJx of clubs onside (although as it turns out, since clubs were 5-2, it wouldn’t have mattered if RHO had the jack) but on the whole I’m pleased as punch with this hand.
(Although it turns out that the nobody else was in 3H or 4H, so that part of my analysis was way off. The other strong pairs were all in NT and the weak pairs were all over the place, usually way too low).
We get 2nd in our section/direction, but that’s nowhere near the overalls. Seems fair, given the luck I used on that hand.
To clarify, if they started with QJx and played x then one of the equal honors. ︎
My initial thought was that FlipToons was an inoffensive filler that I had an unfortunately bad experience with. Having played a second time, I am revising my opinion.
It offends.
Rating — Avoid.
FlipToons 2 sucked the joy out of my life when the first card I bought (the only one I could afford) I randomly lost on the next flip, meaning my purchasing power was roughly half of everyone else for the next several turns. Towards the end of the game, when I randomly got one good turn, the best card I could buy was ranked #3 (from #21-#1 with higher being generally better). The person before me had bought a #15 …. leaving 1/1/1/2/3 after replacement.
This might have been humorous at 15 minutes1 with the right crowd. But at 40 minutes?
Can I blame the game for the crowd? Yes. Yes. I can.
Anmelden
