HF4A 12 - CEO (5)
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Another round of CEO, this time with some modifications to the rules as written. Namely, I'm going to keep it at 1 Aqua to select patents, and I'm going to pull supports as well. I'm going to play with Module 0 politics, so will be going 5 rounds. I have several goals for this game:
- Get 3 different spectral factories work so that production can move from LEO.
The goal for the game is getting 3 different spectral type factories working, and getting most production moved out of LEO. That is, having mostly black cards in play.
I'm playing the ESA Space Unionists this game, crew F with the powersat privilege.
Note: this game started on July 12, 2021.
Turn 1
Operation, Research:
- Nuclear Drill Robonaut
- D-T Gun Fusion Reactor
Event: Pad explosion for no effect.
Turn 2
Operation, Research:
- Black body Pumped Laser Robonaut
- Mini-Mag RF Paul Trap Reactor
- Magnetocaloric Refrigerator Radiator
Turn 3
Operation, Boost Black Body robonaut to LEO.
Event: Glitch for no effect.
Turn 4
Operation, Free Market: Mini-Mag Reactor.
Turn 5
Operation: Research: Heat Sink Fountain Radiator.
Event: Budget Cuts, discard Nuclear Drill Robonaut.
Turn 6
Operation, Research: Photon Heliogyra Thruster.
Turn 7
Free Action: discard Magnetocaloric Radiator.
Operation, Research:
- Project Orion Reactor
- Dialetric X-ray Window
Event: Inspiration.
I am not doing well at this game so far, I'm really thrashing around trying to figure out what my plan is going to be.
Turn 8
Last turn's research was a waste given the Inspiration event turned up the Ablative Plate thruster, which I intend on using. Hence, going to free action discard back to 3 cards.
Free Action: discard Project Orion and Dialetric X-ray Window.
Operation, Research: Ablative Plate thruster.
This is a good one as it will synergize really well with DT-Gun Fusion reactor.
Turn 9
Operation: Boost Photon Heliogyra, thruster and reactor.
Event: Inspiration.
Turn 10
Operation: Research Basalt Fiber Spinning Refinery.
I now have a stack which can get me all over the place. I just need to be able to fuel it now.
I can get to the Karin Cluster with two burns using the Venus Flyby, except I don't have the right generator. Crap. I'm going to see about milling the patent deck for one. Crap. I can collect monies though. Gonna wait until next turn to avoid the belt roll penalty.
Free Action: build a rocket with the Photon Heliogyra and the Crew card. It has mass 1, which gives +2 thrust, plus Powersat for another +1 thrust, total 3 thrust. Should be immune to belt rolls as long as it's not flying in Red season.
Turn 11
Movement: Burn through Cycler -> GEO -> L2 -> Venus Flyby -> Earth Ring Burn -> Mars Ring Burn -> Yarkowsky Swarm (roll FINAO 3) -> Karin B. This yeilds the Ceres Glory chit.
Operation, Research: Atomic Layer Deposition refinery and Cascade Thermoacoustic Generator.
Event: 5, Anarchy, faction privilege suspended, which sucks real bad as I don't have a way to get home now. Purge roll 1.
Turn 12
Operation, Fund Raise, delegate to Centrist. Seniority disk to Honor.
Free Action: Decommission, new Crew in LEO, will need to Boost the sail. This really sucks, it's going to cost a turn, maybe 2 turns to get boosted and back underway.
Seniority
Board Meeting: need 0, have 0, all good.
Turn 13
Operation, Boost: Sail.
Movement: LEO to Didymos is 2 burns, land for Glory chit.
Event: roll 5 Anarchy, whatever, already there.
Turn 14
Operation: Fund Raise, move Active Law to Freedom.
Movement: Move to L4.
Turn 15
Operation, Free Market, sell 2 cards for 5.
Movement: crew back to LEO, Glory chit flipped.
Event: Inspiration.
Turn 16
Operation, Research refinery and reactor.
Movement: 3 burns gets me to Apophis.
Free Action: Glory chit.
Turn 17
Movement: From Apophis back to LEO, glory chit flips. 5 VPs and I'll need 8 to survive the board meeting. Just making some claims should be able to do it, provided I get the next chit.
Operation, Research: refinery and generator.
Event: Budget cuts.
Turn 18
Free Action: discard Refinery.
Operation, Research: Ericsson Engine generator.
Movement: I can get to Hathor in 3 burns and a pivot, roll 6 for hazard, all good.
Free Action: Glory chit. Free Action: Cargo Transfer, outpost on Hathor.
Turn 19
Operation: Fund Raise, delegate to Honor, Law to Centrist.
Event: Solar Flare, no effect for me at the moment.
Turn 20
Operation: Boost, pay 5.
Free Action: Outpost on Hathor to rocket.
Movement: Hathor to Leo, 4 burns, Glory chit flips.
Turn 21
Fund Raise: +4 Aqua.
Event: Inspiration.
Turn 22
Free Action: Cargo Transfer, fuel up.
Movement: Move to the Hohmann next to Vesta.
Turn 23
Movement: Vesta Family Lagrange.
Operation, Prospect: Vesta is successful of course, roll 5 4 for
Eichsfeldia.
Event: Inspiration.
Rant: In all the games I've played of High Frontier, either 3rd Edition or 4th Edition, I cannot recall ever passing a size roll. Not ever, not even once.
Turn 24
Movement: Land on Eichsfeldia.
Operation: Industrialize.
Free Action: Colonize.
Seniority
Board Meeting: 1 disk down, need 8 KPIs, have 22, so I'm clear for the next year. The follow on target is going to be 30 with 3 disks on Year 48, which I should be able to get with Industrialiing Vesta. Then it's going to get a bit harder. I'm going to put all the Seniority disks on Honor, this will help VP count.
For the next cycle, I want to be in position to Industrialize/Colonize Vesta. I'm going to need 30 VPs to pass the next meeting, and that will do it. For the last cycle I need 44 by the end of the last cycle, which would produce a win.
It's going to be interesting to see how this works as the number of Factories goes up, the number of Delegates will be limited.
I can play the solo rules to get a free boost, which is important for needing to boost 9 mass. That would take most of a cycle to accumulate. Free boost is Individuality, so I need to do a Fund Raise and move the Active Law that direction. I'll get some Aqua out of it though, which is good.
Sequence:
- Fund Raise, move AL to Individuality.
- Boost, Lobby in case of Pad Explosion.
- Can it be fueled and move on this turn? What happens if Anarchy? I'll lose 1 thrust from Powersat Faction privilege. Will this matter? It would put me behind one or two turns.
Turn 25
Operation: Fund Raise, delegate to Individuality, Active Law to Individuality.
Event: Anarchy, no PowerSat, purge 6 which is Individuality. That sucks, will need to do another Fund Raise.
Rereading 03. Law Activation, I think I misplayed it above, so the upshot is about the same, I'll be able to boost next turn.
Turn 26
Operation: Fund Raise, 1 Aqua, delegate to Individuality, Active Law to Individuality.
Turn 27
Operation, Boost: almost all of it.
Free Action: Cargo Transfer, build rocket. Free Action: Fuel with 2 Aqua.
Movement to Hohmann next to Vesta.
Event: Pad Explosion, Photon Heliogyra back to hand.
Turn 28
Movement: 1 Burn to Vesta Family Lagrange.
Free Action: Cargo Transfer to split the rocket, build Outpost 2 with thruster and Radiator.
Operation, Boost: sail.
Turn 29
Movement: Land on Vesta.
Operation, Industrialize.
Free Action: Build Colony.
Event: Budget Cuts, discard Photon Tether Rectenna.
Turn 30
Right now I have 32 VPs. I need 44 to get through the next cycle after this one. I can get 12 with another colony and Glory chit, as long as it's a new spectral type. I'm going to to Ganymede, spectral type S. I'm going to do it by building C and V cards and flying them out from Vesta, if possible.
Free Action: discard refinery and generator.
Operation, Research: ISRU Sabatieur refinery.
Turn 31
Free Action: decommission Outpost 2.
Operation: ET Produce thruster.
Event: Pad Explosion sail to hand.
Turn 32
The black cards are a whole new game.
Operation: Boost everything to LEO, free in Individuality.
Turn 33
Operation, Research: Rankine Generator.
Event: Glitch on Vesta thruster.
Turn 34
Operation: Research: In Core Thermionic Generator.
Turn 35
Operation, Research: Salt-cooled Reflux radiator.
Event: Inspiration.
Turn 36
Operation, Factory-Refuel: Vesta.
Seniority
This next cycle is going to be chancy.
With 5 Thrust, I can get to Titan in 2 turns, and I really need to do this before Red season starts.
I have 12 turns left: Here are the operations I need to do:
- 1 Delivery Operations.
- 1 Boost
- 2 Fund Raise
But I could lobby to net +3 FTs right now.
In order:
-
Delivery, as there is a glitch trigger on this, but the it's
8 Rad-Hard, so that's not an issue. Then do a Lobby operation on Honor to net +3. -
Boost and move to Lagrange Burn before Jupiter Flyby.
-
Fund Raise into Centrist, move delegate to Honor, move Active Law to Honor. Free Actions?
Now I need to Fund Raise 3 times for FINAO. This is fine as I can fly in the Saturn Zone during Red season without worrying about Rad-Hardness, all of my components will pass the roll automatically. This means I can stop on a Hohmann and Fund Raise until I have enough FT to pass FINAO.
The last thing is whether the event roll goes into Anarchy which would cost me a whole turn of movement. I could do a fund raise on that and Lobby Pad Explosion if it happens.
Turn 37
Operation, Delivery: Ablative Nozzle thruster to LEO.
Event: Anarchy, exactly the result I did not want. No big
deal, I'll just Fund Raise next turn instead, and hope I don't get a Pad
Explosion. Purge roll 2 3. (I think this wouldn't have
mattered in the end, I should have had enough slack to be able to
get all the way to Titan in time to build a colony.
Turn 38
Operation: Boost.
Free Action: Lobby, pay 1 to net +3 Aqua. Free Action: Cargo Transfer build rocket and fuel. Thrust is 3 + 1 Reactor + 1 PowerSat + 1 Afterburn - 1 Transport class = 5. This is actually 5 Thrust per Anarchy loss of Faction Privilege.
I could move this turn, but it wouldn't benefit me, and I'm not risking a pad explosion until next turn, so no big deal.
Turn 39
Operation, Fund Raise: delegate to Honor, move Active Law to Honor.
Movement: move to Lagrange Burn right before Jupiter on the green line. Earth belt roll 1 - 5 thrust = -4 < all rad hardness. Good to go.
Event: Glitch, no effect.
Turn 40
Movement: I need to move somewhere where I can hang out and build Aqua for FINAO. This would be the second green Hohmann past the Jupiter Flyby.
Operation, Fund Raise: 7 Aqua total.
Turn 41
Movement: Advance to next Hohmann.
Operation: Fund Raise: 11 Aqua total.
Event: Inspiration.
Turn 42
Operation, Fund Raise: 15 Aqua total.
Movement: 2 burns through next Hohmann, which is the last Hohmann before Saturn, then 2 belt rolls 1, 3 both pass, 12 Aqua for FINAO and land on Titan site Ontario Lacus. Here's a photo from Wikipedia:
Note: Because Titan is an Atmospheric site, the Raygun cannot Prospect
from the adjacent site LTO.
Turn 43
Operation, Prospect: automatic claim for Titan's size.
Event: Inspiration.
Turn 44
Operation, Industrialize: Factory on Titan.
Free Action: Build Colony on Titan. Victory Points:
- 9 for stuff on the map
- 24 for Factories
- 7 Glory
- 3 Delegates
- 1 Astrobiology
- total: 44
Adding a rocket is 45 getting past the last Board Meeting for a win.
Not sure what I want to do at this point. Maybe make more black cards. While I just Industrialized a D site, there aren't any D cards at the top of the patent deck at the moment. Maybe prospect some S sites.
In any case, decommission everything.
Turn 45
Operation, ET Produce thruster on Vesta.
Event: Solar Flare for no effect.
Turn 46
Operation, ET Produce Radiator on Eichsfeldia.
I have this nagging suspicion that I should be doing Free Actions as well, but I can't think of anything I could do.
Turn 47
Operation, Factory-Refuel on Eichsfeldia.
Event: Inspiration.
Turn 48
Operation, Delivery: thruster to LEO.
Seniority
As noted above:
- 9 for stuff on the map
- 24 for Factories
- 8 Glory
- 3 Delegates
- 1 Astrobiology
- total: 45
Since I only needed 30, I'm good to go. For the last cycle, I'm going to attempt the Uranus Aerostat. I should be able to do it.
Turn 49
Operation, Fund Raise: 8 Aqua total.
Event: Inspiration.
Turn 50
Operation, Fund Raise: 12 Aqua total.
Turn 51
Operation: Delivery radiator.
Event: Pad explosion, don't care, decommission the Sail.
Turn 52
Operation, Boost: everything, costs 4.
Free Action: assemble rocket, charge afterburner. Free Action: fuel with 3 tanks. Dry mass 5. Wet mass 8.
Turn 53
Operation: Fund Raise.
Free Action: Fuel to wet mass 11.
Movement: Green band through Jupiter Flyby.
Event: Budget Cuts.
Turn 54
Operation: Fund Raise.
Move: Towards Neptune now.
Turn 55
Operation: Fund Raise.
Move: continue on zig zags.
Event: Solar Flare, don't care too far from Sun.
Turn 56
Operation: Fund Raise.
Move: I get 8 burns total which lets me land on the aerostat. Sadly, I can't claim it as I don't have low enough ISRU, and I can't even refuel here. This was a bad trip.
Alternatively, I could move the other way and prospect some smaller sites, which all busted on me, because I don't believe I've ever had a successful prospect roll.
In any case, I get the glory chit for landing, and I'll leave the rocket on the map, and just Fund Raise until the game runs out.
Calling the game here as a win with 47 VPs.
AAR
This is definitely an asterisk win. I modified a Prospect roll and a Purge roll because I want to see how the game plays out with black cards and operating in the zones past the Ceres Zone. Also, I did the 1 Aqua for patent with supports. That said, I think I'm getting enough of the hang of it where I can plan around bad luck rolls, or even remediate when they happen.
It seems to me that once a basic, workable rocket stack is put together, it's not terribly difficult to refine it as you go.
Here's the stacks I used:
This stack weighs in at 5 mass, producing 6 thrust with 1/2 step of fuel for each burn. It does need a powersat to push, but it's still pretty healthy 5 thrust without it.
