HF4A 7 - Race for Glory 2

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This is my last day of holiday break, and I'm determined to make it count by playing through a cooperative variant of High Frontier: "In Pursuit of Happiness." In this variant, 1-5 players cooperate to acquire as many victory points out to the Jupiter zone over 3 solar cycles.

The goals:

  • Play as much of the game as possible, but put it up at the end of the day as done, regardless of whether the solar cycles are complete.
  • Concentrate on glories, claims, and factories. This game won't have Bernals, which will reduce the complexity.
  • Add some rules to the Anki SRS as interesting situations come up.

Currently, I'm pretty comfortable with everything up to Industrialization. But once I have a factory built, I'm not exactly sure what to do. For this game, I may just focus on getting the factories built and not worry about what to do after the factories are built.

The turn structure of High Frontier consists of the following:

  • Execute 1 thruster activation to move.
  • Execute 1 of 8 operations.
  • Execute any number of 6 free actions.

All of these are optional, nothing in the rules mandates a player needs to do anything at all on their turn.

Factions:

  • RosCosmos, which is purple and gets an Aqua whenever a claim or industtialize succeeds.
  • ESA, green, which has powersat.

Starting Aqua is the same as the number of patent decks, which in this case is 3.

Turn 1

I'm going to make it easy, and have both factions do a Research Auction.

Green is going first, and Acquire Photon Heliogyra. This makes sense as they will benefit from PowerSat.

Purple acquires Blackbody-pumped laser robonaut.

Turn 2

Green does Research Auction Operation (RAO) for Cat-Fusion Z-pinch Torch robonaut.

Purple does RAO for Monatomic Plug Nozzle. This is not super good, and it's going back to free market shortly.

Turn 3

Green does RAO for Photon Kite Sail.

Purple RAO for D refinery Foamglass sintering. This one is going back as well, too heavy, and wrong spectral type for most of Mars and Mercury.

Turn 4

Green sells Monatomic thruster Free Market Operation (FMO).

Purple sells refinery.

Turn 5

Green acquires Insite leaching refinery.

Purple acquires De Laval Thruster.

I need to start moving around. I'm trying to play to the strength of the solar sails, and it's costing me time. I need to boost.

Turn 6

Green boosts robonaut and Kite Sail to Leo, pays 4, builds rocket.

Purple boosts robotnaut and heliogyra to LEO, pays 4.

Turn 7

Green RAO Hall Effect thruster which is 3-2 but has Powersat, which is great. Loads crew onto rocket. Green needs to go to Mercury. Needs to get the V refinery, and need a bunch of fuel. Might as well load boost the Hall Effect thruster as well to get the sail into the inner system.

Purple is going to Mars, decides to get the Ablative plate thruster which gets a powesat boost.

Turn 8

Need money.

Green FMO Insitu-leaching refinery.

Purple FMO De Lavan Nozzle.

Turn 9

Green boosts Hall Effect into LEO, needs to get a lot of Aqua.

Purple boosts Ablative Plate to LEO.

Turn 10

Green RAO Free Electron laser robonaut.

Purple RAO Phase Locked Diode Laser.

Turn 11

Green FMO robonaut, 6 WT and burn to the Red hohmann.

Purple FMO Phase-locked robonaut, then burns to Sol-Mercury Lagrange.

Turn 12

Green gets a powersat burn to the phobos/deimos lagrange, then LMO and cargo transfer to create outpost with Hall Effect thruster. That brings dry mass down to 4.

Purple drops Ablative Plate at SM Lagrange and takes 3 burns on solar/sat. This is going to be time consuming.

Turn 13

Green RAO MET Steamer. Don't need it right now, but might be useful later, and good to cycle the patent deck. Green does a landing burn on Mars arsia mons caves. Prospecting with buggy allows claiming all sites, so we're at 3 VP now, and 3 Aqua to Roscosmos. This also acquires the glory chit for ESA, for another VP.

Purple RAO the Solar-pumped MHD Exciplex Laser robonaut, good to sell later. Moves to Mercury L1.

Turn 14

Green RAO Rock Splitter robonaut, ISRU refuel 4 tanks.

Purple RAO Carbo-chlorination refinery. Lands on Mercury north pole. Makes claim and acquires glory, creates outpost 2 with robonaut.

Turn 15

Green does ISRU refuel, wet mass 14.

Purple does ISRU refuel, wet mass 9.

Turn 16

Green: RAO and lift from mars to LMO, transfer to Hall Effect thruster removing outpost 1, dry mass now 3. Sell Rock splitter robonaut.

Purple: refuel, wet mass 13.

Turn 17

Green wants to bring the crew home, has 3 thrust, can move from LMO to SE L2, but chooses to stay on the Red hohmann, save some fuel. RAO Tungsten Resistojet.

Purple lifts from Mercury to the L1, wet mass 7. Acquire Metastable Helium thruster.

Turn 18

Green FMO MET Steamer, moves to LEO. That flips the glory chit. Crew jumps off at LEO. Green now needs to start planning the next mission, which is to get some factories built. Time to start cycling refinery patents.

Purple burns to the L2 at Mercury. Sells Solar-pumped Laser robonaut gaining 3 Aqua.

Turn 19

Green is at LEO and needs to get some sort of refinery to Mars. It actually doesn't matter which kind of refinery to get the factory, just helps if it's not heavy. Therefore, let's get the Froth Flotation refinery for Green, mass 4.

Purple burns to Sol-Mercury Lagrange to pick up the Ablative Plate thruster on Outpost 1. Won't need any fuel next turn as this is still in the +2 Mercury zone. For the operation, RAO Basalt Fiber Spinning refinery, mass 4.

Turn 20

Green boosts Froth Flotation refinery spending 4, adds to rocket, takes off for Mars stopping at red hohmann for 2 burns. Will aerobrake with FINAO next turn. Meantime, FMO the Tunsgten Resistojet.

Purple brings the crew on home from Mercury, flipping the glory chit. Boost Carbo-chlorination refinery and add to rocket. Still need to add more fuel to this rocket, or it won't make the Mercury landing with the crew thruster and refinery.

Turn 21

Green lands on Mars paying for aerobrake. Industrialize operation to build factory. Decommission Hall Effect thruster, no need to lift it.

Purple adds 3 steps of fuel for wet mass 14. FMO Basalt Fiber spinner refinery. Don't forget to build colony with Crew.

Turn 22

Green executes ET Production of MET Steamer yielding Nanobot robonaut, which is mass zero, ISRU 1 buggy, which is excellent. Need to get this onto a rocket and start making claims. Next is Delivery Operation.

Purple takes off for Mercury, halting at Sol-Mercury lagrange to drop off Ablative Plate thruster in an outpost. RAO Ponderomotive VASIMIR thruster.

Turn 23

Green needs to do delivery operation for Nanobot. I have no idea what happened to the FTs on this insertion, but I know I can make what I need for the delivery operation, so this will be Factory Refuel, then delivery into LEO next turn. Storing FT on site.

Purple moves towards Mercury, RAO Neutral Beam robonaut, sell later.

Turn 24

Green delivers Nanobot to LEO which is the operation. Don't have anything to move at the moment.

Purple moves to Lagrange point with Kite. FMO Neutral Beam robonaut.

Turn 25

Green ET produces Ion Drive Thruster on Mars. Will Deliver next turn.

Purple lands on Mercury. Industrializes for Operation. Colonizes as free action. Decommissioning Outpost 1, I won't be back for it. I have a lot of cards in hand. Need to get rid of a bunch of them.

Turn 26

Green delivers Ion Drive thruster to LEO. Build a rocket for prospecting with the Ion Drive.

Purple does ET Production Li Microfission thruster. Need to fuel it next turn, then deliver, then start prospecting.

Turn 27

Green has 4 burns to spend, and moves all the way to Ceres area. Will be able to half-burn fuel though, which is good.

Purple fuels the stack with 7 FTs. That's going to bring back 3 FT to LEO. I have no idea if this breaks the rules or not, but I think it's smart. And there isn't clear guidance in the rules as-is. Purple really need to sell some cards.

Turn 28

Green gets to Gelfin family, lands on Minerva and Prospects, roll 4 busted.

Purple delivers into LEO, cargo transfer 3 FT.

Turn 29

Green lands on Ceres, makes a claim, and picks up glory chit. Let's get that home in a couple of turns, so make an outpost on Ceres, we'll leave the robonaut there for now. Roscomos gets an Aqua.

Purple ET produces Pulsed Plasmoid thruster on Mercury. That gets it out of hand, and makes for some money in the near future.

Turn 30

Green does ISRU refuel to wet mass 8, this should get me to the first pivot in any case.

Purple does ISRU factory fuel.

Turn 31

Green burns through pivot at Ceres, stopping before the next burn.

Purple does Delivery operation for pulsed plasmoid. Got lots of Aqua now. Will have a lot more when selling the plasmoid thruster.

Turn 32

Green burns almost home, at LEO next turn. RAO Pulsed Inductive thruster for ET production and sale.

Purple FMO Pulsed Plasmoid for 8 Aqua.

Turn 33

Green makes LEO, gets glory chit. ET Produces Dual-Stage 4-grid thruster on Mars.

Purple boosts Blockbody robonaut, makes a rocket and heads to Valhalla, will take two turns. First fuel up: 9 steps! Burn to the Sol-Jupiter L1. That's a little sketchy I think with the weight, and fudging on the afterburn, but I think it works out the same anyway.

Turn 34

Green ISRU fuel on Mars. FMO Z-pinch robonaut. Need to boost Refinery and see if we can get it to Ceres before end of game.

Purple burns to LCO, make an output with thruster. FMO Kite Sail.

Turn 35

Green delivers Dual Stage to LEO. Need to boost the refinery and get after it.

Purple lands on Valhalla, picks up glory chit, makes claim. Need to refuel next turn. Make outpost with robonaut.

Turn 36

Green boosts refinery, fuels up and leaves, gets 3 burns due to weight class.

Purple does ISRU refuel, gains 3 FT, which is not enough to get back to LEO, need one more refuel.

Roll 2, game continues…

Turn 37

Green burns twice to the pivot, RAO Solar Moth.

Purple does another ISRU refuel for 3 more FTs, lifts off to LCO to rendevous with thruster. Two turns and home.

Roll 5, game continues…

Turn 38

Green burns to Gelfin lagrange, outpost there with thruster. Good thing Ceres is only a half burn.

Purple burns 5 times, gets to within 3 burns of LEO.

oll 3, game continues…

Turn 39

Green lands on Ceres, industrializes.

Purple burns in to LEO, flips the glory.

I'm calling the game here as it ends at Turn 42 regardless, and I can't do anything interesting in 3 turns.

Score:

Green:

  • Factories: 2 x C at 5 each: 10.
  • 1 colony w/submarine: 3.
  • 4 claims: 0.
  • Glory 2 x 2: 4.
  • rocket: 1.
  • total: 18.

Purple:

  • Factory 1 for 8.
  • Claims 2: 0.
  • 1 colony: 1
  • rocket: 1.
  • Glory: 2 x 3: 6.
  • total: 16.

This is the "struggles" victory level, need 17 points to get to the next level. What is encouraging is that I'm in the ballpack here, on essentially my first real play.

AAR

  • What happens to FTs when I decommission when building a factory? Related, how to manage FT when performing Delivery after ET Production?

  • What happens when leaving a black thruster in an outpost? Can this be operated independently if FTs are left in the outpost as well?

  • What happens to a black robonaut when it's decommissioned during industrialization? The white goes back to the player's hand.

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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.