Leaving Earth 9, hard game
Tags
Upshot: next game, don't forget to plan the haulage into Earth Orbit.
First hard game in a while. I'm going to put my new mission planning skills to work for this one. It's done in three steps:
- Calculate mission thrust and rocket requirements.
- Determine timeline.
- Determine cost vs. risk.
The missions are:
- Easy: Man in Space, 2.
- Easy: Artificial Satellite, 2.
- Easy: Sounding Rocket, 1.
- Medium: Space Station, 6.
- Medium: Venus Lander, 11.
- Medium: Mercury Lander, 13.
- Hard: Venus Station, 27.
- Hard: Man on Venus, 32.
This is an interesting set of missions. There is no way to win the game without making at least one of the Venus missions. Succeeding on the Man on Venus mission probably gets everything but the Mercury Lander mission as a by-product.
The main planning exercise becomes getting a man to Venus and back, with the added criterion of having the man on Venus for one year to satisfy the Venus Station mission. Burly. Will be hard to test everything up front, and it's not clear at the start whether Saturn or Soyuz is the better vehicle.
An interesting wrinkle on the Venus mission is whether to take an Eagle or an Aldrin Capsule. The Eagle is mass 1, the Aldrin is mass 3, and that matters for the accumulated difficulty of the mission. I'm going to try an Eagle capsule for this one, and hope that the radiation doesn't kill the crew. The Aldrin provides some radiation protection, perhaps try that next time.
Man on Venus and Back to Earth
Here's the thrust schedule:
| Start | End | Diff. | Spacecraft | Mass | Payload | Mass | Time | Thrust | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (return to Earth) | |||||||||
| Earth Orbit | Earth | 0 | Capsule | 1 | Astronauts | 0 | 0 | 0 | Landing |
| Inner Planets | Earth Orbit | 3 | Atlas | 4 | Capsule, supplies | 2 | 1 | 27 | 3 * (4 + 2) = 18 < 27 |
| Venus Orbit | Inner Planet | 3 | Atlas x 2 | 8 | Atlas, Capsule, supplies x 2 | 7 | 1 | 54 | 3 * (8 + 7) = 45 < 54 |
| Venus | Venus Orbit | 6 | Atlas x 2 | 8 | Capsule | 1 | 0 | 54 | 6 * (8 + 1) = 54 <= 54 |
| (a year on Venus) | |||||||||
| Venus Orbit | Venus | 0 | Capsule | 1 | Capsule, supplies | 1 | 0 | 0 | Landing |
| (manned mission) | |||||||||
| Inner Planets | Venus Orbit | 3 | Atlas | 4 | Capsule, supplies | 2 | 1 | 27 | 3 * (4 + 2) = 18 < 27 |
| Earth Orbit | Inner Planets | 3 | 2 x Atlas | 8 | Atlas, Capsule, 2 x supplies | 7 | 1 | 27 | 3 * (8 + 7) = 45 < 54 |
| (provision Venus orbit) | |||||||||
| Inner Planets | Venus Orbit | 3 | 2 x Soyuz | 18 | 3 x Atlas, 8 x supplies, Capsule | 21 | 1 | 107 | 3 * (18 + 21) = 117 < 160 |
| Earth Orbit | Inner Planets | 3 | Saturn | 20 | 2 x Soyuz, 3 x Atlas, 8 x supplies, Capsule | 43 | 1 | 200 | 3 * (20 + 43) = 189 < 200 |
In Earth Orbit by 1971
- Saturn
- Soyuz x 2
- Atlas x 8
- Supplies x 8
- Capsule
- Astronauts x 2
Advancements
These are the Advancements which need to be obtained to enable to Man on Venus mission:
- Saturn
- Soyuz
- Atlas
- Landing (almost surely use Juno for testing)
- Rendezvous
- Life Support
This is $60-$70.
Not sure how to apportion the spending yet, taking this to a spreadsheet.
1956
Purchase:
- Saturn Advancement
- Atlas Advancement
- Atlas
1957
Purchase:
- Life Support Advancement
- Soyuz Advancement
- Atlas
1958
Purchase:
- Landing Advancement
- Saturn
1959
Purchases:
- Eagle x 2
Test fire the Saturn with the capsules as payload, Success. Now there are 3 Capsules in Earth Orbit, and I can get a look at what's in the Outcome deck for Life Support.
This leaves me with $7, so purchase another Atlas, and Supplies x 2.
Time to check Life Support:
- Eagle: Major Failure.
- Eagle: Major Failure.
This is interesting: I don't know whether these need to be brought back to Earth or not. I do know I cannot pull them down this year as Life Support testing is at the end of the year, they will have to drop down next year.
1960
Drop the Eagle Capsules back to Earth to get automatically fixed at the end of the turn. This can be done because the Manuever is 0 Difficulty and the Landing Hazard is optional.
Purchase:
- Saturn
- Atlas
Launch Saturn with Atlas, Minor Failure purchase.
Repair Eagles and Saturn.
1961
Launch Saturn with Atlas and Eagle, Major Failure, purchased, bummer that destroyed the Atlas and the Eagle as well.
Purchase:
- Saturn
Launch Saturn with Atlas and Eagle to Earth Orbit.
Score: 3.
- Sounding Rocket: 1
- Artificial Satellite: 2
Test Life Support, Major Failure and purchase.
1962
Purchase
- Rendezvous Advancement
- Saturn
Rendezvous (Success) separate Eagle from Atlas and bring Eagle back to Earth.
Fix Eagle Capsule.
1963
Saturn takes Atlas and Eagle to Earth Orbit
Purchase:
- Soyuz
- Eagle
Launch Soyuz and Eagle to Earth Orbit, Major Failure, purchased.
Life Support test: Major Failure, purchased.
1964
Purchase:
- Saturn
- Atlas x 2
1965
Purchase:
- Saturn
- Atlas x 2
1966
Purchase:
- Saturn
- Astronaut x 2: Armstrong & Aldrin
1967
Purchase:
- Soyuz
- Eagle
- Supplies x 3
Launch Soyuz with Eagle, Success, no Purchase
Rendezvous, Minor Failure, purchase.
Life Support test, Success. Life Support is now fully tested.
So many failures this game, way more than successes
At this point I need to figure out how much more stuff I need to get into Earth Orbit and get it up there. I'm running out of time.
1968
Boost Saturn into Earth Orbit.
Purchase:
- Saturn
- Soyuz
- Supplies x 2
1969
Purchase:
- Saturn
- Soyuz
Boost both Soyuz and 2 supplies into Earth Orbit.
1970
Purchase:
- Saturn
Test Rendezvous between Saturn and two Soyuz, Success and purchase.
Bring damaged Atlas back to Earth.
1971
Fix Atlas.
Purchase Saturn.
Now I need to get some rockets into orbit. I'm running out of time. My planning didn't work correctly, and I failed to plan how to get stuff into orbit in time. I'm also out of head space for planning, it's Monday afternoon, and have to go back to work tomorrow, it's time to wrap this thing up. I'm going to shoot for Venus Station and not worry about bringing them back. Which is disappointing.
Two Saturns boost 3 Atlas, 7 Supplies, a Capsule, Aldrin and Armstrong into Earth Orbit. Roll 3 & 6 to pass Suborbital hazard.
Rendezvous with Saturn/Soyuz rocket: Major Failure. Having Armstrong as Pilot reduces that to Minor Failure, but still, what a hassle. Buzz can fix it next turn, but it prevents starting the mission to Venus this turn. Bummer.
Purchase: Atlas.
1972
Achieve Space Station, score 6 points.
Score: 9.
Fix Atlas in Orbit.
Purchase Soyuz, test fire, Success, purchased.
Fire Saturn to Inner Planets.
Roll for radiation hazard, 5 & 3, both are fine.
Purchase Atlas.
Take Time token off.
1973
Purchase Soyuz and test fire, Success. Amazing.
Fire the two Soyuz to get to Venus Orbit next turn.
Purchase Juno Advancement and 2 Juno. Test fire 1, Success, second, Success.
Roll for radiation hazard, 8 & 8.
Time Token off.
1974
Venus landing, taking down 2 Supplies, both Astronauts, the capsule and two Atlas. I won't need the Atlas as I'm calling the game here regardless. Draw Landing Outcome: Major Failure. Dang. Armstrong gets me a Minor Failure, since I dropped two supplies, I should be able to fix the craft with one, and survive the year with the other.
This scores me Venus Lander for 11 points.
Score: 20.
1975
Having astronauts on Venus at beginning of year scores another 27 points.
Score: 47.
I can do a Man in Space mission with pilot Alan Shepard, Minor Failure on Landing (not that I needed to do that, could have brought him back in on parachute). Unremitting. But this bumps my score up 2 points.
Score: 49.
1976
Game over.
Final score is 49/94, which is a win.
AAR
What I did not do well is determine how much gear I needed to get into Earth Orbit. Once I had the mission planned from Earth Orbit out, I just started winging it.
What I didn't do is plan how to get all that gear into Earth Orbit. That was a serious problem. I managed to "win" regardless, but it still annoys me that I didn't do that planning as well. Getting rockets into Earth Orbit is a pretty big deal. Next game I'm going to focus on that.
It would have been nice to have gotten the Mercury Lander as well, but given the outcome draws, I suspect the attempt would have failed.
However, it turns out that Venus is too inhospitable, and landing spacecraft are destroyed. This reduces the possible points to 35.
If the Venus Lander is allowed, it's a victory with 22/35.
If the Venus Lander is not allowed, it's a loss with 11/24.