Leaving Earth 8, normal game
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Time for another game of Leaving Earth this time using only the base game with normal difficulty. Should be relatively straightforward. Here are the missions:
- Working Probe/Capsule in Space
- Working Probe/Capsule in Earth Orbit
- Man to Space and Back
- Reveal Mars Location
- Working Probe/Capsule on Venus
- Working Probe/Capsule on Mercury
Before kicking off, let's plan the harder missions in advance.
Working Probe/Capsule on Venus
| Start | End | Difficulty | Spacecraft | Spacecraft Mass | Payload and Mass | Time | Rocket Thrust | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venus Orbit | Venus | 0 | Capsule | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Landing |
| Inner Planets | Venus Orbit | 3 | Ion | 1 | Capsule 1 | 2 | 3 * (1 + 1) = 6 < 10 | |
| Earth Orbit | Inner Planets | 3 | Ion | 1 | Capsule 1 | 2 | 3 * (1+ 1) = 6 < 10 |
Needs Landing and Rendezvous.
Working Probe/Capsule on Mercury
| Start | End | Difficulty | Spacecraft | Spacecraft Mass | Payload and Mass | Time | Rocket Thrust | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury Orbit | Mercury | 2 | Juno, Capsule | 1 | Capsule 1 | 0 | 2 * ( 1 + 1) = 4 <= 4 | Landing |
| Mercury Fly By | Mercury Orbit | 2 | Ion | 1 | Juno 1, Capsule 1 | 2 | 2 * (1 + 1 + 1) = 9 <= 10 | |
| Inner Planets | Mercury Fly By | 5 | Atlas, Ion | 4 + 1 | Juno 1, Capsule 1 | 2 | 5 * (4 + 1 + 1 + 1) = 35 <= 27 + 10 | |
| Earth Orbit | Inner Planets | 3 | Atlas, Ion | 4 + 1 | Atlas 4, Juno 1, Capsule 1 | 2 | 3 * (1 + 1 + 4 + 1 + 4) = 33 <= 27 + 10 |
1956
Purchase Soyuz, Juno Advancements, 5 Juno.
1957
Purchase 3 Soyuz.
1958
Test the Soyuz, 3 Successes.
Purchase Atlas.
1959
I need to get two Ions into Earth Orbit pretty soon. Maybe purchase the Ions Advancement now.
Purchase Ion and Atlas.
1960
Purchase Landing, Rendezvous and Atlas.
1961
Purchase Ion x 2. Test some Junos:
- Success.
- Major Failure, purchase this and out of money for this turn.
1962
Purchase 2 Soyuz and Capsule, launch Ion, Eagle, Atlas and Juno to Earth Orbit. This will be part of the Mars Mission.
Purchase Probe.
More Juno testing:
- Success.
- Success.
Purchase 5 more Junos.
1963
Purchase Soyuz and Probe, launch to Orbit,
Score: 2 + 1.
Fully Test Rendezvous:
- Success, purchase.
- Major Failure, purchase.
Drop probe back to Earth.
Purchase Juno.
1964
Probe is repaired, send it back up on a purchased Soyuz.
Minor Failure on Probe Rendezvous testing, drop it back to Earth.
Test 1 Ion thruster to Lunar Orbit: Success purchase.
Purchase 2 Juno, test to see what comes up:
- Success.
- Success.
- Success.
- Success.
As it turns out I had the cards turned over and both remaining cards were Success, so I'm calling this one good. I had drawn 6-8 Success in a row by that point, so it's pretty low odds of a failure.
1965
Game is almost half done, and I need to get a move on if I'm going to get anywhere.
Send Ion from Lunar Orbit back to Earth Orbit, test fire, Success.
Launch Venus mission, fire Ion, Success, Ions are fully tested, will need to test Landing next, Success, buy that off and purchase 5 more Junos.
1966
Need to test Atlas this turn, mandatory, I need the thrust to get Mars mission to Inner Planets, and I'm running out of time.
Test Atlas, Success for $10. Purchase and test another: Major Failure for $5, with remaining $5 I can get another and test it, if it's a success I'm done and can blast off for Mercury. The last one is a Minor Failure which I'll repair and fire next turn.
Take time token from Venus Mission.
1967
Repair and fire Atlas. Mercury mission fires off, will be 2 years to Inner Planets.
Test landing with 4 Juno, Minor Failure, buy for $5, purchase 3 more Juno, test to find Major Failure and Landing is clear.
Time token from Venus Mission, add two tokens for Venus Orbit.
Remove token from Mercury Mission.
Purchase Eagle and 2 Junos.
Time tokens off.
1968
Purchases:
- Soyuz
- Juno
- Konstantin Feoktistov
- Surveying Advancement
- Juno
Blast off an Ion with a Soyuz, Rendezvous with Probe. Ion and Probe leave for Mars Fly By, add 3 time tokens.
Blast off Junos and Eagle with Konstantin for Man to Space and Back. Reveal Suboribital: 1-3 astronaut incapacitated, roll 3, good thing we're back on the ground.
Score: 5.
Remove time tokens.
1969
Fire Atlas to mmanuever from Inner Planets to Mercury Fly By, add two time tokens.
Separate the Eagle from the Ion in Venus Orbit and land the Capsule on Venus. Venus has oceans. Ion moves back to Inner Planet, place time token.
Score: 16.
Purchase 2 Soyuz, Atlas and Probe. Blast off to Earth Orbit, then blast Atlas to Mars Fly By, we take no chances with Survey Failure!
Time tokens off.
1970
Manuever from Inner Planets to Earth Orbit.
There is nothing really to do now except play it out. All the missions are in flight, there is nothing remaining I need to purchase or test.
Time tokens off.
1971
Separate Probe from Ion in Mars Fly By, send Ion to Mars Orbit, Survey with Probe: Success, Valuable Minerals Sample on Earth $50.
Score: 21.
Manuever to Mercury Orbit, add two time tokens.
Time tokens off.
1972
Do nothing, Mercury Orbit time token off.
1973
Separate Ion from Juno, land Probe on Mercury.
Score: 34.
AAR
And that's the game.
This wasn't played perfectly, but even with getting the benefit of Juno testing for free, I still have plenty left over.
I have a number of interesting ideas on what to do next, but I think I'm going to put this up for a while in favor of High Frontier. I'll work on generating some nice LaTeX forms later.