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.