HF4A 8 - CEO (1)

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This is my first play of the HF 4 Core rules, the CEO solitaire variant. From the forums, this is a pretty brutal scenario. I'm going to play it as strictly as I can and take a loss to close out the play. There are a lot more rules in Core, plenty to learn.

For CEO, if I don't "kill" anyone, I have 24 turns to generate 8 KPI, which I can get if I simply get a factory built on a site. That seems doable.

Let's get started.

Year 1

Spend 1 to acquire Ablative Plate thruster.

Year 2

Spend 1 to acquire Pulsed Inductive thruster.

Year 3

Spend 1 to acquire Nuclear Drill robonaut.

Year 4

Spend 1 to acquire Rankine Solar Dynamic generator.

Year 5

Sell Nuclear Drill robonaut.

Year 6

Acquire Tungsten Resistojet robonaut.

Year 7

Sell Ablative Plate thruster.

Year 8

Acquire Electroforming refinery.

Year 9

Sell Pulsed Inductive thruster.

I have not been rolling for events. I'll start doing that next. Not all the event rolls are bad (just most of them).

Year 10

Boost stack to LEO. Costs 5 A.

I still need a radiator.

Year 11

Purchase Mo/Li Heat Pipe.

Year 12

Event: Glitch. Will need add crew to fix this.

Purchase Dumbo thruster.

Year 13

Sell Dumbo thruster.

Board meeting has no effect.

Year 14

Event: Glitch.

Purchase Ponderomtive Vasimir thruster.

Year 15

Sell thruster.

Year 16

Event: Inspiration. Boost. Free cargo hook up with rocket and crew, remove glitch, crew offloads.

Year 17

Fund raise: Centrist, one point of Aqua.

Fuel 6 and burn to Cycler, move to Rad Hazard and roll 1 with thrust 4 we pass. Burn through GEO to L2 and Hohmann, stop on the red Hohmann.

Year 18

Event: Inspiration.

Fund raise, move to Research Grants. This will get around the two Aqua cost I think. I get one A from this.

Year 19

Buy reactor for 1.

Continue to loiter at the Hohmann.

Year 20

Event: roll 4, pad explosion, but no effect for me.

Sell reactor for 3.

Move to the Arsia mon caves aerobrake and lond, paying 3 for FINAO.

Year 21

Prospect, autoclaimed.

Year 22

Event: Glitch. Blows.

Year 23

Industrialize, glitch trigger roll 1 for no effect, decommissioning the whole stack.

Year 24

Event: Pad Explosion.

Year 25

Board meeting, reuired KPI is 7 + 1 for 8. We're good.

Year 26

Event: Inspiration, which just crapped on my C cards.

Sell refinery for 3.

Year 27

Buy reactor for 1.

Year 28

Event: Inspiration.

Sell radiator.

Year 29

Buy Neutral Beam robonaut.

Year 30

Event: Budget cuts, discard generator.

Buy Radiator for ET Production.

Year 31

ET Produce Electrostatic membrane.

Year 32

Event: flare event, but I'm immune on Mars.

Deliver operation: Radiator to LEO.

Year 33

Buy Solar Moth thruster.

Year 34

Event: Inspiration.

Sell reactor.

Year 35

Buy Hall Effect thruster.

ET Produce Ion Drive.

Year 36

Event: Inspiration.

Delivery.

Year 37

Board meeting: need 18 KPI, but only have 9. That's crazy.

AAR

This feels very luck driven to me. There are so many ways to get set back every other turn on a dice roll it's crazy.

I think a valid strategy here is basically optimize for speed, never make a FINAO roll, it's too expensive and that money will be critically needed. Spending FINAO takes 2+ turns off the game. And if a hazard roll ends the game early, that's fine.


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