High Frontier 3

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I'm slowly teaching myself High Frontier. I don't believe it's a very difficult game per se, but what the game actually is, is not communicated clearly. It also can't decide whether it wants to be more sandbox, or more space race. The 3rd edition rules for my copy have important differences between first and second edition rules. (I suspect any future fourth edition will have yet more important differences.)

The main difficulty with the rules is that an overall scope of a typical space race game is not provided, for either multiplayer or solitaire. There are solitaire variants in the rules, but some reading indicates they assume more than passing familiarity with game play.

So we'll give this a shot from the top. Or almost the top.

The year is 2049, and the space race has heated right back up. I'm operating the NASA agency, and after many years of reearch and development, I've accumulated 24 Water Tanks (WT), with the following technology carefully chosen at random from the patent decks:

  • Thruster: Ablative Plate, [2 >) 2]
  • Robonaut: Nuclear Drill (which also a [5 >) 4] thruster)
  • Refinery: Foamglass Sintering

The goals for this game are:

  • Build a factory somewhere.
  • Build a freighter and get technology shipped.
  • Count the number of years and budget required.

Now let's work through Section C of the Colonization rule book, which contains the set up information for the Basic Game.

[Notes on my set up for solo game.]

Sequence of play

Each turn is limited to a single move (of possibly many burns) for each of the two basic game spacecraft, a single operation, and as many free actions as a player desires. Movement, Operations and Free Actions will be explained in more detail as this story unfolds.

From online forums, it seems like Hertha, an asteroid in the Nysa group is a common target for starting the game. So that's what I'll plan a mission for as well.

2049

Operation: Boost to LEO the robonaut and thruster.

Since I have the WTs, I'll make some burns to get to Hertha. It takes 4 burns to go out.

2050

Operation: Boost Robonaut, Thruster and Refinery to LEO. Gain 1 WT because NASA.

Movement: Will use Ablative Plate Thruster, and load everything up for the trip. Super heavy, Dry Mass is 10. We'll need Wet Mass to equal 17 to get the 4 burns necessary to get to Hertha. This puts the rocket into -2 thrust, spend a WT to get 1 thrust back. Will be a long trip. First burn through HEO. Wet Mass is 15.

2051

Operation: Research, auction a Carbo-Chlorination Refinery, pay 0. Doesn't look very interesting to me right now. Will sell it next turn.

Burn 2 through Earth-Luna Lagrange, Wet Mass 13.

2052

Operation: Free Market, sell the Refinery for 5 WT.

Movement: perform Burn 3, Wet Mass 11.

2053

Operation: Research, Neutral Beam Robonaut, mass 5, ISRU 2 with Raygun. Interesting, might keep this one.

Burn 4, Wet Mass 10 and hold on Hohmann Transfer.

2054

Operation: Research, ISRU Sabatier, mass 4, class V. Also looks interesting, meet keep, will have to see what else comes up in the patent decks. At my hand limit now.

Move to next Hohmann pivot.

2055

Change to Nuclear Drill robonaut thruster to land on Hertha. There is no landing burn, thrust is 5 - 1. Land on Hertha.

Leave the Ablative Plate thruster as an outpost on the Hohmann Transfer above Hertha.

Operation: Prospect, roll 5 but pretend it's 3 so this game can play out a bit longer and get to industrial. So we have a claim on Hertha.

2056

Operation: Industrialize, decommission, now I have 4 cards in my hand, which means I need to discard one. Should have boosted the crew to LEO. Will discard Foamglass Sintering Refinery.

Note: discarding was a mistake, I can have as many cards as I want in my hand, I just can't bid with more than 3 cards in hand. I should have held on to the Foamglass Sintering and sold it back for 5 WT.

2057

Operation: ET Production, produce Helical Railgun robonaut, which is ISRU 0 and a dirt Thruster. We're in business now. Need to fuel up some dirt. Not sure what to do with the thruster in the outpost, it doesn't have any fuel. Actually, next turn I can fuel up with dirt, then the turn after that, fuel up with WT.

2058

Operation: Produce 20 dirt tanks.

Decommission outpost and return Ablative Plate to hand.

Fuel the Helical Railgun with 20 DT, Dry Mass 5, Wet Mass 25. Thrust is 5 - 2 = 3, no afterburner. Launch to HEO. Will stay here to save on fuel.

2059

Move to Hohmann intersection, we're off to Cere group next.

Operation: Boost crew card and Ablative Plate to LEO for 5 WT.

2060

Move along path towards Ceres, 2 burns to get to the Hohmann intersection right at Gefion. This is good, more thrust as Wet Mass decreases.

Operation: Research Photon Heliogyra.

2061

Move to next Hohmann intersection.

Operation: Research refinery CVD Molding.

2062

Move to Ceres HEO, 1 burn, Wet Mass now 12.

Operation: Orbital Prospect:

  • Ceres: automatic.
  • Gefion: roll 3, busted.
  • Miahelena: roll 4, busted.
  • Minerva: roll 6, busted.
  • Aegis: roll 5, busted.

Where to next?

Let's land and fuel on gefion.

2063

Operation: +10 fuel on Gefion, Wet Mass now 22, Thrust 3.

Move to Hohmann past burn, Wet Mass 18.

2064

Operation: Boost Heliogyra and CVD molding to LEO.

Move: Hohmann intersection between blue and green trajectories.

2065

Operation: Free Electron Laser robonaut.

Move: Hohmann intersection at Koronis.

2066

Move: 3 burns to get to Vesta HEO, Wet Mass 8 1/2.

Operation: Prospect:

  • Vesta automatic.
  • Eichsfeldia: roll 3, claimed.
  • Kollaa: roll 5, busted.
  • Peking: roll 1, claimed.
  • Unitas: roll 6, busted.

I'd like to continue this, but I have some Real Life obligations requiring that the game get put away for now, so calling this game here.

AAR

A few takeaways from this game:

  • Since movement isn't an operation, any time a rocket is sitting on a Hohmann intersection is a good time to run operations such as Income, Research, Boost, etc.

  • Prospecting is chancy early in the game, and high ISRU technology makes it difficult to exploit many locations.

  • The rule books continue to frustrate, with some variant and advanced game rules lodged into the basic game rules sections. The Basic Game would be easier for me to understand if they were strictly limited to the Basic game.

  • Hand size dictates when Research and bidding occur, there is no limit to the number of cards in hand otherwise.

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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.