HF4A 9 - CEO (2)

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This will be my second time attempting the CEO scenario. I'm going to use a pre-built stack described on the forums, which will require some adjustments in the game conditions. I'm going to go fairly deep into the rules during this play as well, as I've forgotten a lot since I last played.

Onboarding a new player

I'm intending on onboarding someone new to the game. Since I want to ensure we both have an excellent experience, I'm getting some information together in advance.

Ask the following questions, for which there is no right answer, I can accommodate a lot of variety:

  • What's the heaviest game you've ever played, either in complexity or length or both?
  • Do you get Analyis Paralysis, if so to what degree?
  • Do you have dietary preferences or restrictions?
  • What are your preferred playing hours in the day? This may not be negotiable, I do not want to stay up late at night.
  • Are you willing to read some or all of the rules in advance?

I'll also mention that:

  • Prime hours for me are 11-4, can go 10-5, not earlier, possibly later if the game and energy are warranted.
  • Lunch more or less provided, pot luck for sundries like fizzy water or soda, chip & dip preferences, etc.
  • Game will be set up and ready to play, no fiddling around.

I want to play through the current game below before asking these questions.

Game 9 set up

I have mostly forgotten how to set up High Frontier, so here's the run down as I read from the rules.

  1. Rocket card.
  2. Pick crew: ESA (F), gets a +1 for powersat. Crew would normally be dealt randomly but I decided to pick the crew for this game. Crew goes into LEO.
  3. Get all the bits sorted, pale green for ESA, and set up the playmat.
  4. Read through the set up in the rule book to see what I've already missed.

Turn 1

  • Operation: The Robonaut is the Free Electron Laser, which is really, really good, so I'm taking it. I may end up selling it if I can't get the correct generator in time.

Event roll: 2, Inspiration, cycle the patent decks. Looks good, cards I can use.

Turn 2

  • Operation: research Marx Capacitor Bank generator.

Turn 3

  • Operation: research Metastable Helium thruster.

Event: Pad explosion, no effect for me.

Turn 4

  • Operation: Boost thruster to LEO.

Turn 5

  • Operation: Research Cermet Fusion Reactor.

Event: Budget Cuts, discard reactor.

Turn 6

  • Operation: research Project Orion Reactor.

Turn 7

  • Operation: Free Market reactor, 4 Aqua total now.

Event: roll 5 in red zone, which is Solar Flare, but I don't have anything out of LEO so I'm fine.

Turn 8

I would like to get a rocket moving, but I can't get the thruster activated as I dpn't have the supports necessary.

  • Operation: Research Salt Cooled Reflux Tube Radiator.

Turn 9

  • Operation: Free Market radiator, 6 Aqua total now.

Event: Glitch for no effect.

Turn 10

  • Operation: Research Penning Trap Reactor, 5 Aqua.

Turn 11

  • Operation: Free Market Marx Capacitor Generator, it need another support.

Event: Roll 5 for Anarchy, don't care.

Turn 12

Last turn where research is 1 Aqua.

  • Operation: Research Li Heatsink Fountain.

Seniority

There is nothing in the Demand Pile, and no Victory Point, so I'm still in the game.

I'm pretty sure I can get enough VPs to get through the next round by just doing Glories, but I'm not going to be able to make any claims. I'm going to have to contintue to mill the patent decks for now and hope I can get enough Aqua to actually move. This is tough as I'm going to need 3 more patents to industrialize.

Turn 13

  • Operation: Free Market radiator, Aqua 10.

Event: roll 2 Inspiration, cycle patent decks. Another good Robonaut showed up.

Turn 14

  • Operation: Research Black Body Pumped Laser. This is really good.

Turn 15

  • Operation: Free Market Free Electron Laser, 12 Aqua.

Event: roll 2, crap that cycles the exact radiator I need. I can use the one which came up though.

Turn 16

  • Operation: Research Qu Tube Radiator.

Turn 17

  • Operation: Boost Robonaut and Reactor.

Tuen 18

  • Operation: Research Super Critical Drying Refinery.

Event: roll 2, which again cycles a radiotor I could use.

I got off track on the events. No big deal.

Turn 19

  • Operation: Research Ether Charged Dust Radiator, I can use it.

Turn 20

  • Operation: Free Market Qu Tube, Aqua 11.

Turn 21

  • Operation: Boost refinery and radiator. The radiator only needs mass 1 as the Metastable Helium Thruster can get a therm from afterburning.

Event: roll 2 Inspiration cycle patent decks.

Turn 22

I think I have a nice stack o' stuff I can get into rocket shape and do some prospecting.

With an ISRU 2, mass 6, and thrust 6, let's see where I can get to. It turns out I can get to Vesta. Which is pretty cool. While I'm still in the Red Zone, there are no more Red events, so it's safe to fly as far as I'm concerned.

  • Move: Rocket Dry Mass 6, add 8 Aqua for Wet Mass 14. Off to Vesta. I can move to the pivot.
  • Operation: Income, 1 Aqua.

Turn 23

  • Move to Vesta Family lagrange point cost 1 burn.
  • Prospect: Vesta is a claim, roll 6 to bust Eichsfeldia, which is too bad as that would have been an easy landing.

Event: roll 5 for Anarchy.

Turn 24

This is the game yea or nay right here: I need to be able to land and industrialize this turn or I've lost the game.

  • Move: land on Vesta, which is a 1/2 burn, we'll take the crew down. I think I could do a Cargo Transfer here but I don't care to deal with the Glitch rules at the moment, and I have enough mojo to manage the landing with the full weight.
  • Operation: Industrialize by decommissioning robonaut, reactor, and refinery.
  • Free Action: Colonize.
  • Free Action: Cargo Transfer, Glitch roll doesn't matter because I'm decommissioning everything anyway.

Seniority

There is 1 disk in the Demand Pile for 8 KPI. Total VP is:

  • 3 for 3 tokens on the map;
  • 8 for a V factory;
  • 1 for the Ceres Zone Glory market.

12 total, I am definitely in the game.

Now, to survive the next round, I'm going to need to do another industrialize, but I don't have a lot of Aqua with which to do this.

The basic steps:

  1. Factory ET production of FT, 7 should be enough to get a Delivery Operation performed.
  2. Purchase V card for ET Production ASAP, will require 3 Aqua.
  3. Delivery Operation to LEO.
  4. Free Market black card for 8 Aqua.
  5. Purchase another V card.
  6. ET production 7 FT.
  7. Boost stack to LEO
  8. Deliver next black card.
  9. Free Market the black card for 8 Aqua.
  10. Fuel and fly to Ceres.

I don't need nearly as much fuel with the burn cost of 1/2.

Let's get it going.

Turn 25

  • Operation: Free Market, sell the radiator, it's a good one, but I need the Aqua really bad. I can purchase another one later.

Event: 4, Pad explosion, no effect for me.

Turn 26

  • Operation: Boost robonaut and thruster.

Turn 27

  • Operation: Reearch Rock Splitter Robonaut, now I'm broke again.

Event: Pad Explosion decommission 0 mass robonaut as thruster is black side and immune. This could be a problem as it may put me behind a turn.

Turn 28

  • Operation: ET Production Mag Beam robonaut on Vesta. Now I need to get some FT and deliver it for money.

Turn 29

  • Operation: Site Refuel on Vesta.

Event: another Pad Explosion, 3 in a row, no effect this time.

Turn 30

  • Operation: Delivery.

Turn 31

  • Operation: Free Market MagBeam Robonaut, now I have 8 Aqua.

Event: roll 4, another Pad Explosion, 4 in a row. Not cool.

Turn 32

We're going down to the wire now.

  • Operation: Boost robonaut, refinery, reactor, 5 Aqua remaining.

Turn 33

  • Operation: Research SS/Nak Pumped Loop.

Event: 5, no effect.

That's the game, I don't have enough turns to boost, prospect, and industrialize. Let's play it out.

Turn 34

  • Operation: Boost, no Aquas remaining.

Nah, calling it here, no point in continuing. I have 12 and I need 18, not going to happen.

AAR

I'm thinking it's probably good to be industrialized before Turn 24. If I had been able to industrialize by Turn 22, or even better, Turn 20, that would have given me a bit more of a buffer. It might also be worth stashing outposts close by to get cards out of hand and out of LEO. Or using Politics to control stuff like Pad Explosions. But this wasn't bad, I believe I came closer this time than the first time.

I might have been able to gather enough VPs by doing Glory hunting with the black side thruster, and collecting income for the operation. But probably not, I would still have needed reactor and radiator, which would have needed boosting.

Another thing I could have done was sold the black side thruster right away, but that was such a great thruster! But those 8 Aqua right at the start of the cycle might have made the difference. I almost surely could have gotten to Mars with some jank thruster, then again who knows what kind of supports I would have needed.

I can see the strategy but there is still a lot of luck in the game.

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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.