I have now played 1833NE four times: once in April (a 5p takeover game, using one of the old sets) and three times this month: A 3p non-takeover, takeover games of 5p and 3p.

Game Review Thoughts:

• The non-takeover game has interest — the shifting interconnections are complex. I would be happy to play it again, particularly if time is short.
• I don’t particularly like how the interconnection bonuses are presented on the map (in how some direct connections are not next to the indirect) and have printed out an extra page of the connections chart from the rules. Tabular form is fine for me. I may print out a few more copies for reference. In my last game I mostly just used that.
• Our 5p Takeover game — my 3rd game, two players second ’33NE game (first with takeovers) and two players first ’33NE game — took < 4 hours with a laptop spreadsheet to run the final 4 ORs. (All were experienced 18xx). My 3p non-takeover game was ~ 2h45m (no laptop). The last game (3p Takeover) was 3h 20m including cleanup.
• The chrome (ferries, shifting interconnections, map, companies) work well on the 1846 base (ability to issue/redeem shares, slow phasing train rush, pay for all track). ’46 has proven itself highly durable (I have over 60 face to face games, and a few dozen PBEM) and if ’33 NE doesn’t get nearly as many plays, partially that will be due to the fact that it is perhaps twice as long when playing takeovers, enough to make a weeknight game a touch inconvenient.
• As in ’46, some charters have special rules for a company that are easy to miss … be sure to look at them on your first game. (In particular — the St Lawrence and Atlantic / Atlantic & St. Lawrence presidents get $100 when Portland and Montreal are connected).

Strategy Thoughts:

• I’ve no idea how much the privates should go for … clearly the Ogdensburg RR promotes decent mid-game runs and can be worth a premium, and the D&H RR has great P/E ratio and power, albeit at the cost of bleeding your company for an extra $40.
• Early on the Boston suburbs are where the money is …. the owner of the Champlain & St. Lawrence will likely start a company near Montreal but those are terrible first runs.
• The $100 bonus for the A&StL/StL&A connection will entice someone. But you need to under invest in the northern company and buy into the Boston company(s) to not fall too far behind.
• Also, the big connection bonuses in Phase III/IV are in Montreal/Portland/Boston so its not like ignoring the north can work it. It depends on when the train rush pauses (and I now realize that different regions of the board have different interests in the train rush, and that will affect the game).
• Looking at the map, I think the St Lawrence & Atlantic’s best bet is to ignore the Champlain tracks and drive east to Richmond/Sherbrooke in OR1.2. With the automatic token in Sherbrooke it can run a ‘2’ and a ‘2+2’ for $12/share (or two ‘2’ trains for $10), which admittedly isn’t great; but it’s also halfway to the $100 bonus (to the president) and the Montreal to Portland run, which could be connected before SR3 (with some help). Certainly an interesting option. Starting the A&StL in SR2 cheaply (solely to lay track to rush the connection and get merged) is intriguing.
  • I wrote the above before my last game and decided to try it, it worked well, as I pocketed the $200 before SR3. I’d started the A&StL at $40 in SR2, intending to simply take the bonus and then take it over ASAP. The latter part was trickier than I thought, but the basic idea was sound.
• I still don’t have a grasp on the takeovers. But giving good stock(s) to yourself and a little $ to others (or giving bad stocks to others and big $$ to yourself) are clearly important.
• Arguably the most important things about the takeover game is the train limit changes. Yes, you might lose a company (if you have no train or only phased trains) but the end game seems characterized by non-takeover companies hitting a stock plateau and takeover companies that have a 2nd train really making up the ground they lost (if any) in the takeover. (And takeover companies that don’t have a second train merely suffering the loss of taking someone over).
• The lower train limit might impose a fairly significant pause in phase III/IV (and in our last game we didn’t actually get to phase V, although certainly someone can always force it).
• The ability of the variable companies to jump in and token out a space is important …. (but remember that the reserved spots are still reserved until fairly late, even if the reserved company has no token). It’s embarrassing to parachute in, try to grab a blocking spot, then get told “Nope” and get blocked in the very spot you were aiming for.

Perhaps after another few months I’ll host a roundtable on this.

Update (10/28) — There is a big ‘bomb’ in the takeover game as to whether Phase V breaks. We had another game w/o it.

On a sem-whim, I bought Dupery (“A game of Solo Deduction”) from Steam. It’s a puzzle game in the style of Werewolf, but this time it’s Noir and Mafia. You have a grid (initially 3×3, but later bigger) of roles. Some innocent, some evil and quite a few are meddlers (innocent, but not necessarily helpful or truthful). You have to untangle the facts and arrest the evil. Arrest too many innocent people before you finish the case (a series of 5-7 puzzles) and you lose.

So far I’ve played 5 hours … the TaoLing has also played.

The good:

• Simple but nice graphics, good theming
• The puzzles are hard (in fact, for the first several hours I didn’t solve a non-tutorial case) and get harder. Once you’ve solved a few cases at “The Office” then new locations with additional rules are added. (In the Casino you gain and lose chips with each action, which provides clues but also … if you run out of chips you fail. The Docks has hidden people ‘out at sea’ and you have to drive your boat to them to interrogate them, and also watch your fuel). I haven’t unlocked them all

The bad:

• The puzzles are dealt out randomly (I think) which means you can get a situation where you know either A or B is lying and just have to bite the bullet and accuse one of them. Given the structure of the game where you need multiple false accusations to fail, this is reasonable. But for some puzzle fans that’s a deal breaker.
• There’s only one audio track of a wailing sax. Cool for 10 seconds, annoying after that.

I mean, it’s $10. I’ll probably get another 5-10 hours out of it at least. Reasonable enough.

Rating — Suggest.

An Evil Vizier and a Noble Prince were among a group playing Stellar Ventures. True to his wicked ways, the Vizier greedily bid to acquire the “best” corporation, only to discover that he could not retain control of it. The Vizier skulked as he lost.

The Noble Prince contemplated: ego led that one to believe that it could “control” a corporation, when it could not even control itself and attained enlightenment.

---

Stellar Ventures tries to mix cube rails (like Chicago Express) with 18xx train rusting. There are certainly differences.

In Chicago Express anyone can put any stock up for auction (assuming there are “auction a stock off” actions available this round), which means that as long as a company has stock certificates left, it can be diluted. In Stellar Ventures the President can auction off a share each corporation round, and a single other share will be auction during the boardroom battle. As I wanted to mention in the first thread I listed (before deciding to make this a post), “Bidding too much for a company gives it capital, and the ‘best’ company will naturally attract investors wishing to a) share in the profits or at least b) dilute the profits for the President.”

I’ve still only played S.V. once … and like many of John Bohrer’s games it seems clear to me that groupthink is incredibly important in this game. You do not have the free form ability to weave incentive structures like silk is in his cube rails games; but there will be a raid each turn. It will be important.

It also goes without saying that while “paying too much” is a failure mode; so is “not being willing to pay the going rate.” Sure, you can sit on a stack of cash and miss the round 1 payments. Because the companies need trains spaceships their first payouts are $2 … if you buy nothing and then win the first boardroom battle (presumably for roughly as much as the second richest player has) you can do fine if you also pick up another cheap share. But will you?

S.V. has this weird thing where companies need money (for routes and spaceships) but players can basically pay for their routes (or expand them) during the Investor Round. A president with a broke company (that is not worried about a rust) can choose to put up a share in round 2 to get $10 for the company, at the cost of halving his income for the rest of the game … or perhaps he can pay $5-10 during the prior investor round, get 100% of the profits for that round, and only auction a share during the next board room battle (and, should it not come to that, issue one the following turn).

The other problem with “missing out” is that the companys’ president(s) can earn some Alien Cubes with company money, which can be spent on improving companies (probably the same ones, but you never know) or straight up laundered for profits.

And all of that doesn’t even touch on “Signing the Deal.” I don’t think it is right to sign the deal when you expect to miss (and have your stock tanked to a $1/share valuation at the endgame) … but it provides a burst of cash that might come close to compensating you (particularly if you use it to grab a replacement share or two. And, of course, if you sign the deal, get the burst of cash, and manage to actually meet the goals you are in a great position. But I’ll need more games to think about this.

3 Games preordered over the last ~5 years. Two delivered within 48 hours.

So, I should be getting in another play of 1833NE soon.

I was surprised last week to get a shipping notice for Stellar Ventures, and tonight played the first game. This is mostly in the Cube Rails genre, but with 18xx train rusting and some variable powers (that are mostly grabbed in the auction). I bought it figuring I’d get 10-ish plays out of it, and hopefully a few more converts into the 18xx genre.

This definitely looks friendlier than the other games, but I think that look is rank deception. This is a brutal game. Like most cube rails, you might triple (or quadruple) your money if you win. There are only five corporate rounds, and in the first round pretty much every company runs for …. $2. The cube rails games aren’t like modern pinball where you get a million points for putting in a quarter, it’s like old school Factorio where your score is zero … and if you launch a rocket to win the game it’s now one. There are rough breakpoints and sharp elbows. I like that sort of thing, we’ll see if it hold up.

(Initial) Rating — Suggest.

Earlier thoughts

Today I noticed someone else’s group banned Heliocentricity. The TaoLing and I had a phone call with Lou W. (who is named in the credits) and he pointed out that it is powerful, but also “unsubtly powerful,” (as compared to the subtle political powers that I don’t appreciate as much because I have much less experience exploiting them).

My reframing of his position is that a bonus coast (or Space Force’s freighter movement) is like Military Power in Race for the Galaxy … it is strong; but new players perceive it as dominant because its an obvious strategy that is easy to implement.

I cannot dismiss this argument out of hand.

We had a (co-op) game with Explorers without Borders¹ and it did prove more useful than expected, letting me refuel an allied rocket two burns away from LEO sometimes lets you dodge weight restrictions (put a bit of fuel in, get +1 thrust for the rad belt), then fuel some more, saving a turn. There are also cases where it helps move your first Bernal faster.

The TaoLing had a game with Cerulean and the reduced FINAO on airbrakes and ISRU upgrade were fine.

LEO Workers Union is kind of counterfeited when playing co-op, but murder/suicide is indeed strong.

1. Because of Stationfall I keep wanting to type Explorers without Boarders ︎

Today’s bridge game had the following: two grand slams (we bid one and the other was a hand that was one of the two sets we didn’t get to play, so didn’t get the chance), a 50/50 small slam bid against us, making (the only table to bid it, sigh) … and then there was the following:

S: KQ H: AKQJT7x D: Kx C: Qx

20 HCP, but is it really? The solid suit is worth more than ten points, but the honors in short suits …. ugh. (To my surprise, KNR counts it as 22! But the DK count is 20-, which strikes me as closer. There’s a strong argument for opening 1 Heart at matchpoints You might miss a game if partner has an ace or as little as the club king, if the diamond ace is right; but if partner can scrounge a 1 Spade or 1 No Trump response you can rebid 4 Hearts and that’s about right on values. Or you can open 2 Clubs.

I asked The Imp’s opinion; he shrugged. (Neither bid is perverse).

But I was in fourth seat. LHO passed and Partner …. preempted 3 Spades.

Can we make slam? I need two aces with partner. I dislike preempts with two aces (except in 3rd seat, sometimes heavy), but this partner has done it from time to time. But if I give partner the black aces slam seems at best 50/50, because we might lose two quick diamond tricks. What if I declared? Six Hearts of Six NT? That might work.

But how to investigate? I can’t just shoot Blackwood. (The Imp disagrees, but it is merely pro forma). This is matchpoints, I’m happy missing a 50/50 miracle slam.

What about 3 No Trump? This guards my diamond king, but we might be open the entire club suit, not to mention that LHO might lead a club to RHO’s Ace, and then a diamond through me ends the hand.

If I had any bid that said “I agree spades, and am slammish” I’d make it. (With some partnerships, 4 Clubs after a preempt is a modified Blackwood called “Weak Man’s Keycard,” but not in this one which would let me find out cheaply). So, resigned to being dummy, I bid 4 Spades which ends the auction.

Care to guess which game(s) or slam(s) make?

The answer

It turns out that the only making games are five of either minor … for the opponents!

———- NORTH S: — H: xxx D: QJT8xx C: KJTx

WEST S: A9765432 H: — D: 9x C: xxx –|– EAST S: KQ H: AKQJT7x D: Kx C: Qx

———- SOUTH S: JT8 H: 962 D: A7x C: A98x

Partner had 8 spades to the ace, void in hearts, 2 small clubs and three small diamonds. With the diamond ace offside, the opponents should have taken the first four tricks. (They did not). But with my RHO having a spade void and my partner having no hearts, I can never get in to cash my hearts

Even then the play is admittedly tricky. South must extract all of West minors while ruffing two spades, then deliberately lose a spade to West, pitching a heart from North. West must lead another Spade, letting South pitch another heart from North while ruffing.

I really liked Bremen (from PG:B/M). Connection costs are simplified (cities share borders, and any city bordering it pays the single connection cost + the city cost). Also the map is a bit smaller … you need fewer cities to trigger stage 2 & end game, and the cities cost a bit less (8/14/20). You also remove the nukes and the 7 power plants.

(I also like the 2nd edition Power Grid Rule that the cheapest plant at the start of each round has a minimum bid of 1).

Always happy to play Power Grid, but this new expansion was excellent. I might buy it, except that I’m not the one who brings Power Grid.

I’ve mentioned my companion, The Imp of the Perverse from time to time. The Imp sometimes cajoles me, trying to replace good judgement with what he considers “fun.” Often the Imp is quiet; but when we’re playing Bridge he is quite chatty. Luckily, my particular Imp listens to Reason. He won’t consider an obviously bad decision fun. But if it isn’t obvious … or he can come up with a plausible argument …

Sometimes it is tough to distinguish The Imp’s blandishments from stylistic differences. For example, should you make a takeout double with a two card minor (assuming you have 4 cards in each major, enough points, etc)? A national champion told me “You need to pass those hands,” but I believe that East Coast (Washington) Style is more case-by-case.

At least, that’s what the Imp said.

One of my regular partners (who, like most people, cannot see the Imp or hear his soothing words) summed it up as “You think too much” and just advised me to bid the hands straight down the middle and let our natural advantages win us our fair share of games. The Imp scoffed.

In The Imp’s defense …. He is definitely not right all the time, but reasonably often and — right or wrong — his advice leads to spectacular stories. He makes me a sometimes difficult partner, but that means he makes me a difficult opponent.

At a two session special club game (Their “Fifth Tuesday of the Month” game), the Imp keeps motioning towards the “breakfast” spread. Homemade cinnamon buns (cooked with bourbon), a birthday cake, donuts, a crumble cake, ginger snaps, a banana pudding. A full table. In our younger days the Imp would gorge himself and talk up each morsel until I succumbed.

Nowadays he’s also carrying some extra weight, so his heart isn’t really in it. I have a few pieces of pineapple and strawberries.

Early on the Imp doesn’t even have whisper much. We start against the director (the strongest player at the club who is not in my three-way-partnership¹), who is my RHO. Over her 1 Heart bid I something like

S: AQxx H:xx D: KJ C: Axxxx. The Imp doesn’t need to prompt me at matchpoints. We’ve had this discussion for years. Yes, a double could work out badly. But partner will prioritize spades and if we end up in diamonds the opponents will strive to compete (each assuming we have a real fit). Yes, I would prefer to bid Raptor, but this partner doesn’t play it. So I double, RHO raises to 2 Hearts and it goes all pass. During the player, declarer carefully watches my discards, assuming I started 4=2=3=4 and misses an overtrick. When she comments “I never thought you’d double with that hand,” the Imp pokes me to make sure I noticed the comment.

We move away from the breakfast spread, so now the game has the Imp’s undivided attention.

I pick up S:AQxxx H:QTxx D:8x C:xx and partner opens 1 Diamond. I have an easy 1 Spade bid. Partner rebids 2 Diamonds and the Imp clears his throat. This is another argument we’ve had so often I can hear his words. If he spoke up, he knows it would annoy me. A simple “ahem” is enough. But (for your sake)

Imp — Bid 2 Hearts. It shows 5 spades, 4 hearts. Perfect description. There’s a shot you can get to 2 Spades or 2NT and this is matchpoints. Either contract would outscore two diamonds.

Me (before I was corrupted) — 2 hearts is forcing. I admit it would be perfect if it wasn’t. And while 2 Spades will probably outscore 2 Diamonds (if partner has three), 2NT only outscores if it makes. They’ll know to lead a club its probably devastating. We probably have an 8 card fit in diamonds. Also, What if partner bids 3 Hearts? (If she has 4 hearts but not enough points to reverse) or worse, has three good hearts. Then we’ll be too high. And if partner has good clubs and 14, then she might bid 3 NT.

Imp — Yes, but Woolsey’s rule applies then.²

Me — And 3 Diamonds is strictly worse than 2 Diamonds. All downside, no upside.

Imp — It’s matchpoints, the size of the disasters don’t matter as much as frequency. In any case, fine, pass. Be the dummy. See if I care.

I bid 2 Hearts. Partner considers this only briefly before bidding 4 Hearts. Even the Imp looks surprised, but we’re both eagerly awaiting dummy. RHO leads the ominous diamond six.

It’s not the dummy we expect (6 diamonds, 4 hearts, ~14-15 points), but it might be the dummy we deserve.

Dummy S:x H:Axxxx D:KJT932 C:x

My Hand S:AQxxx H:Qxxx D:84 C:xx

The Imp nods approvingly. Partner might not have an Imp of her own, but at least she recognizes the amazing potential playing strength of her hand. (Not her fault if I don’t have my bid). Some would pass that hand instead of opening! Meanwhile I’ve got problems. I’m off two aces, at least a trump trick, and probably two diamond tricks and a diamond ruff to boot.

Another thing about the Imp — he picks his spots. He’s much louder when the opponents are weak. “Maybe it’s wrong, but they’re weak and two wrongs make it right!” is his mantra. Now he just has his shorthand of “Punish the weak!” as a closing argument. That might have been on my mind when I bid 2 Hearts. Now it’s time to deliver.

I’ve taken my time at trick one (The Imp is quiet … if too many of his bids result in disaster, I’ll stop listening …. for a while). I do an asset survey of spot cards. I have a number of options, and I should probably fly with the king, but there’s just a chance that LHO has lead from Q87 of diamonds. It would be a terrible lead, but I’ve played against this pair before. There’s a reason the Imp’s leering nods in their direction work.

I play the Jack and when RHO produces the queen I follow with the 4. RHO leads a club through. LHO wins the jack and tries to cash a high club. I ruff and cash the heart ace. RHO drops the king. Nice, but JT is still around, and a trick. But at least they won’t be on lead before the crucial point.

“Small diamond”

RHO now grimaces and thinks while the Imp shivers expectantly. When she plays the seven he lets out an ungracious whoop! as my 8 wins and now the hand is under control. Queen of Hearts. Ace of spaces, ruff a spade, ruffing finesse against the diamond ace to set up diamonds. LHO can ruff in whenever, but the diamonds are set up and dummy still has a trump entry to get to the rest of the diamonds.

The Imp pulls out a cigarette and smokes it, languidly, and I admit it. That was good. Perhaps I should have flow the king of diamonds on trick one to really sell the fact that I had a singleton, but a) that inference would probably be lost on RHO and b) I’d feel terrible if it really was a lead from Qxx.

Later on I overbid and we get to 5 diamonds. After cashing two tricks the opponents never even try to cash their two spades, instead giving me an obvious ruff and sluff to let me make. Even the Imp’s eyes grow wide, and he stays silent. That wasn’t even a swindle, just legitimate terrible play.

During Lunch the breakfast tray beckons, but the Imp seems satisfied that I have a bit more carbs from the lunch table than I should.

After lunch I pick up S:QT8xxxx H:QJxx D:– C:Ax and it goes pass-pass to me. We are vulnerable.

This is a hard hand. There’s an argument for any of spades (1-4). But — perhaps shaken by the number of close calls I’ve had so far — I decide to open 2 Spades and the Imp merely shrugs. Anything could be right. I might miss a game (but partner is a passed hand). Hearts might be a better place to play, but Hank’s Rule (“7-4 hands are one suited”) applies. I have a seventh spade (normally a no-no for a weak two bid), but they aren’t great. Being vulnerable I’m more worried about -200.

LHO bids 3 diamonds (unsurprising) and partner bids 3 Spades. RHO thinks for a second and bids 3 No Trump.

Four eyes (mine and the Imp’s) narrow in thought. With a fit, our hand can be evaluated as a 5 loser hand with Losing Trick Count (Really 5.5 as I count Qxx as 2.5 losers, but with a 9 or 10 card, 5). RHO undoubtedly has the Ace of King of spades, but also probably a fitting diamond card to bid 3NT as a passed hand. Partner has no Imp whispering in her ear, so call it 7+ points.

(Hank’s Imp scares even my companion, so I couldn’t assume that if he were across the table from me).

And if none of them are in diamonds ….

I bid 4 Spades. It such an obvious two-way shot. I’ve got good odds of making, and if not maybe 3NT makes (via one spade, six diamonds and AK of hearts or something similar). “You don’t pre-empt and bid again,” is the rule. But the Imp has Zia on his side. And its not like I was bidding 2 Spades as a pre-empt. It was more a tactical decision. And now I have a lot of information.

It goes pass-pass and RHO doubles. LHO leads a top diamond and dummy hits with

Dummy S:Axx H:KTx D:xxxxx C:xx

With my queen of spades behind the KJx, there is nothing to the play. I lose a club, a heart and a spade. +790.

The Imp and I exchange a high five.

1. Me, Roxie and The Imp ︎
2. From “Matchpoints” — When presented with the choice between an underbid and an overbid, make the bid that is more likely to get you to the correct trump suit. ︎

Update 10/1 — Updated based on some rules discussions. Updates included inline.

The Person formally known as The TaoLing is back in town for a few months, and had some time off. We’ve previously played High Frontier (nearly a decade ago), so we’ve played a few games of HF4A now, working up from simple “Race To Titan,” then an Altruism or two (so that any rules mistakes would affect us equally) and finally M012 with contracts (and doubled FINAO) from M4, but not augmentations/isobank/exodus. And also crew. As such, it’s time to start the discussion of the crews from the pack.

This is somewhat fraught as many of the crews abilities vary in utility depending on the module. But there does seem to be a vast disparity in any case. These are sorted by color (first) then by name alphabetically. Having such variance isn’t bad (in particular, I might take a weak power when teaching or solitaire, but as the angel said in 2016 — Malcolm is overpowered and needs to be nerfed. I’ll use the FUDGE scale for my ratings (Terrible, Poor, Mediocre, Fair, Good, Great, and Superb, along with ?)

General Thoughts

• Thrusts are mostly 11-14, so enough to hit the big Jovian moons … the 14s can land most anywhere even loaded and the 15s can definitely. 14 or 15 is a plus. Less than eleven is a minus.
• Most Fuel Consumptions are 8, but they range up to 14 and I think there’s a 7. In general you are only burning once to land on a large site, although in theory you could go 2+ lander burns in some places. I’ll not <X>T/<Y>FC for thrust/fuel consumption.
• All have an afterburn cost of 2. The low thrusts might need to afterburn or the might need to afterburn just for a therm.
• All robonaut 4s (except The Martian Way is a 3), the missile only are a bit worse due to lack of raygun or buggy bonuses, but that’s pretty minor. (The buggy matters mostly for Mars and other multi-claims). In general the robonaut type isn’t a big deal.

The Actual Crews

• BRIN (Green. 11T/14 FC Dirt) — Your radiators have 2 extra rad hard during a belt roll. Back is flip radiators to heavy side. It’s a dirt thruster (nice!), but the 14 cost is … very high, even for crew. Still, it might allow a mid-game site refuel to max and then aerostat (etc). I like the extra rad-hardness, but if you are using your 11 Thrust through the rad belt (with most of the crews) you can substitute a turn for this power. Rating — Poor (but maybe the dirt thruster improves it to Fair).
• Heliocentricty (Green 15T/8FC) — After your stack moves, you can activate this thruster to coast. Monstrously good. Get an extra hohmann pivot for free, sometimes you can coast into an aerobraking. The backside immunity to some hazards is also great. Rating — Superb. Along with Space Force (see below) this seems much more powerful than most.
• Utopia, Inc (Green, but misprinted yellow. 10T/8FC) — I don’t play with M5, so … no opinion. But low thrust.
• Maker’s Guild (Grey. 14T/9FC. Missile 4) — Getting Bernal Profits with just a factory is nice. Being able to ditch two cards for a card as a free action (and skip the auction) is quite nice. Rating — Good.
• New Pilgrims (Grey. 12T/9FC. Buggy / Raygun 4) — Being able to Claim Jump (not as a felony) and share can be OK. If you have a play group that makes deals you might even be able to have someone lay a claim you couldn’t just to split the factory. On the flip side exomigrating a specific specialty also seems nice. Rating — Good.
• VerisAI (Grey. 15T/9FC. Missile / Raygun 4) — I don’t play with M5, so … no opinion.
• AEB (Purple. 11T/8FC) — I don’t normally work politics too much, so being able to Lobby by making a delegate centrist (instead of decommissioning) seems … ok. Being able to start/end anarchy on the flip side might be very powerful, but conditional. No rating. Rating — Poor/??
• Jaxa (Purple. 12T/8FC) — Winning a contract automatically at six years seems …. situationally very good but the situation is rare. The flip side of being able to get spaceborn w/o BEO (and flip augmentations) seems also OK. Rating — Fair. Update — This also depends on how many people are playing; with more players it gets more powerful.
• Space Force (Purple. 14T/10FC) — Moving as a freighter seems incredible, turning you as a solar sail that can go out (until you get a glory chit).¹ And the flip side is higher weight, with glory chit. And the 14T is a nice cherry on top! This seems too powerful, in need of some nerfing (The TaoLing and I discussed a much lower thrust, perhaps 9, lower rad-hardness, or — like a solar sail — decommissioned by aerobraking). Rating — Superb. One other option is that you can’t move as a freighter with a glory chit OR contract….
• Baltimore Gun Club (Red. No Thruster! Raygun 4.) — Bonus burn starting at LEO (etc when flipped), great. No crew rocket! Horrible. 2 Mass, also horrible! (Does a bonus burn act like a flyby?). Rating — I’d have to try it, but … Poor? Update — Definitely difficult to operate, but the bonus burn does really matter for the first mission, so I’m going to say that it might be Fair.
• Brotherhood of CrytptoBankers (Red.12T/11FC. Missile 4) — I don’t play with M5, so … no opinion but I note the 11 FC is a bit of a slap in the face. And only a missile robonaut!
• Explorers w/o Borders (Red. 9T/8FC. Missile/Raygun 4) — The base ability (free cargo transfer of aqua to LEO/Bernal) only seems to matter if you have a Home Bernal (therefore, your bank) AND a thruster at LEO (where you normally couldn’t give it water), which is an edge case you try to avoid. Update — After some discussion, this lets you transfer water to any of the Home Bernal anchor points, which means you can boost through the cycler/rad belt and then load more fuel, which may save you some thrust (and or not return to LEO to refuel for some missions). Also, a Net Thrust of 9 is … bad. It means you have to load balance a few sites that other’s can hit heavy, and can’t even get you the Moon or Mars. The flipped side might be useful if you get isotopes before bernals but i’d have to think about so meh. Rating — Poor Fair
• Cerulean (White. 15T/9FC. Missile 4) — If you end on an aerobrake or hazard FINAO costs one and gains an FT. Situationally seems quite good (if you are going Saturn early). Refueling as ISRU zero (once you flip) is nice, but it requires a Bernal, which means you might have a factory. Also an Air eater Rating — Fair? Good? I’d need to play with it more
• Galahad Group (White 15T/9FC. Missile 4) — Carry any number of glory chits and lobby honor w/o losing a delegate and (flipped) during exomigration your colonists can appear anywhere you have a colony chip. The latter seems strong, but you have to get the chits. Rating — Good?
• The Martian Way (White. 14T/7FC. Missile 3) – Immunity to Pad explosions and and -2 to earth rad roles. Also a ‘3’ robonaut instead of the typical ‘4’. The flipped side of producing “C” spectrum at non-C sites is nice … but also counterfeited² by the hex augmentation (if you are playing with those). Rating — Good.
• African Union Space Directorate (Yellow. 12T/9FC. Buggy/Missile 4) — Performing a vote tally (for free?³) and treating your delegates at 2 each seems powerful way to force the law(s) you like into action, and the flip side of treating any/all tied ideologies as laws can be quite good. I do not normally focus on politics … but this seems fine. Rating — Fair, maybe Good.
• Leo Workers Union (Yellow, but misprinted Green. 14T/11FC. Raygun/Missile 4) — 2 extra aqua and murder/suicide seems reasonable. Being able to choose first player and hijack even colonized factories seems nice. I suspect you go bernal early for the income, the can ET produce at others factories…. Rating — Fair or Good.
• The Sea Peoples (Yellow. 14T/8F. Buggy/Missile 4) — Connections is pretty reasonable, being able to do any contract you have a delegate gives you good flexibility. The flip side of getting rebates on FINAO is nice, particularly if you are playing the M4 Exodus variant, where you can get back ~4 (or even more for the desperation starship FINAO). Rating — Good.

I think there’s a big gap between the bonus move crews (Heliocentricity and Space Force) and everything else, at least if you are playing with contracts. Being able to bid on a contract on Turn one is a big deal … nobody can undercut you … because they can’t fly. They probably are still Great without contracts.

Anyway, this is mostly the discussion of “How good do think these are….” … proposed balance changes are later.

Also — Why is the Trojan Jovian Camp so much farther from Saturn than the Greek Jovian Camp? Both are roughly the same distance from Jupiter, and both are in lagranges (so … stable relative to jupiter) so my naive (earthbound) feelings is that they should be equidistant to a Jupiter flyby…

Also Also — Starship Flight 14.

1. This was even worse in our last game, because the opening contracts included one to allow suicide, so you could get the glory chit/finish the contract/suicide repeat with zero cards. ︎
2. TaoLing — “Isn’t is also counterfeiting going to Mars, since you can get your ‘C’ site stuff anywhere?” Me — Nods approvingly. TaoLing — “Also, it’s not a buggy, which you’d definitely want on Mars.” ︎
3. It’s at the start of the turn, so it seems to not be free, and optional. ︎

I played another game of Merchant of Venus last night, and it has quietly moved up from “Once every few years” to “Two or three times a year is fine, more would probably be fine” on my list. Part of my appreciation might have come from writing an appreciation, and the 5p game I played last night was perhaps a touch too long, but I also liked that there were a variety of strategies I saw used, including the “Buy a freighter” strategy, which is rarely seen, but won.

I have little to add; but my rating is solidly a Suggest.

Recommended

Ted Lasso — Strong first season; it’s easy to see why it was so hyped. Later seasons are a mixed bag (likely cause — expanding from 10 30-minute episodes to 12 45-ish minute episodes). Part of why this worked is that there is almost nothing “cringe” in the first season … but it started creeping into S2 and S3. (Because of Ted Lasso I subscribed to AppleTV, at least for a bit, and so I’m trying various shows on that to see).

Zodiac — Workmanlike movie that is captures that slice of time. Excellent cast (not just top billing, but full of “Oh, that guy” character actors). At 2:40 it didn’t feel long.

Maybe

The Amateur — A touch too long & by the book, but … competently done. In most thrillers, you can almost alwasy ‘guess the secret surprise bad guy’ by the actor they cast. I appreciated that announced it right away and didn’t leave it as a “twist.”

How to Stay Smart in a Smart World (Book by Gerd Gigerenzer) –I really liked “Risk Savvy,” (his book on decision making) and it actually changed some of my decisions, so this book (on dealing with advances in AI) was an auto-read. I think most of my readers will already know quite a bit in here, but it’s well done. Gigerenzer is … not an AI skeptic, but perhaps a skeptical realist. At 4 years old this book is already dated, but worth skimming.

Schmigadoon — Assuming you like musicals, pretty good. (Modern couple gets isekai’d into a musical world, stuck until they find true love). It helps that each season is super-short, and there were only two seasons (although I would have liked to see the 3rd season, which would have dealt with 80s musicals like Into the Woods, Phantom of the Opera, etc)

Slow Horses — The first season did some rare things; also a fair number of cliches. Later seasons … basically are all “the same things repeated,” within the different “mystery of the season” plot. That being said, the seasons are short enough.

The Universal Baseball Association, Inc. J. Henry Waugh, Prop (Book by Robert Coover) — I tried this after mentioning it (again) in the 20th Century Project on APBA Baseball (etc). It was fine …. definitely a book of a past time, and I could see the dark comedy, etc. But after three weeks I was only through 1/3rd of it and I punted and just read the summary on Wikipedia. Despite not finishing it personally, I thought it was pretty good.

Maybe Not

The Accountant 2 — The first Accountant wasn’t bad … kind of guilty pleasure OK. This was bad. To make matters worse, the crime has basically no financial element (it’s gotten out of the way in a 1 minute dialog) and it’s just a standard action flick except that a) Ben Affleck has no charm (which is played for laughs), b) the center for neuro-divergent children is basically the Bat Cave that can solve any problem. I do like Jon Bernthal, and he’s OK-ish.

Reacher Season 4 — I mean, I’m watching it …. but quality has dropped noticeable. It’s not like it was realistic before, but there weren’t fully-automatic gun battle/car chases mid-season (or falling through broken glass 20-30 feet and then instantly running away). I might actually watch the spinoff, which will likely have to go smaller instead of bigger.

Young Sherlock (Amazon Prime) — A flashy series by Guy Ritchie, but it is not Sherlock Homes (or even Sherlock, which had a fidelity¹ this lacks despite the modern setting). Not bad, but … if you don’t want to make a Sherlock Holmes show, don’t include the name.

Nope

Murderbot — From the one episode I watched, the writing made Twilight look like Shakespeare.

1. At least in the first few episodes. ︎

But I must admit that I’m pleased that (with today’s post on monster wargames) The 20th Century Project has now covered 100 games (although not necessarily a full article each game).

Be sure to vote on the Geeklist.

Anton discusses the Kardashev Conundrum (video) and redefining it via the “Kardeshev-Sagan-Nakamoto” Scale. (Also introduced me to the concept of the Laundauer Limit (wikipedia)).

Archeologists find 4,000 year old business documents. But I doubt they ever asked — can markets work only if P != NP

The 1933 Movie Dancing Lady has a joke with no payoff (staring one of the three Stooges). It turns out the joke was at Hitler’s expense and MGM cut it. (Turner Classic Movies video).

Some Gaming Links:

• I rarely buy new videogames, but I do check them out from time to time. The trailer for Scarlet Deer Inn is charming and tempting (and if you are bored after a few seconds, skip to the 1:20 mark).
• Devil’s Plan contestant and World Champion Go-player Lee Sedol (who I’ve discussed a few times) designed a board game? Unsurprisingly, it’s a go-like game. Unboxing/Play video (struggling to remember the rules). BGG Page.
• Bryan Caplin asking the important questions — How would a Georgist Single Tax Work in Monopoly?
• Numberphile reveals the exact number of valid Go positions and an estimate of the number of games.

The “Gathering for Gardner” Dragon illusion and PDFs to build it yourself.

Japanese should ditch Kanji. No argument from me.

The Birmingham Dustbin Dispute.

All the Astral Codex Ten yearly reader book review contest finalists are worth reading¹, but I particularly recommend The Escape Artist, about Walter Rosenberg (later Rudolf Vrba) who escaped from Auschwitz and tried to warn everyone, but was mostly ignored and forgotten, partially because he was not pleasant, but also because people didn’t want to consider it. “The obvious assumption is that surviving Auschwitz left Rudi emotionally damaged. But Gerta, his first wife, says the causality runs the other way: in her telling, Rudi had always been paranoid and combative, and those traits were what got him out alive in the first place.”

The Galactic Survey of Race for the Galaxy Cards.

10,033 tiny clay cats reenact the Civil War at a Gettysburg museum

1. Probably because he a) puts thousands of dollars (possibly tens of thousands) as prize money and b) has interesting readers. ︎

Now that I’ve done a (Solo) High Frontier for All game with Modules 0+1+2+4, some quick thoughts.

• The contracts and augmentations do make each game feel different. Getting an income boost lets you take off faster, at the cost of having to go to a place you would normally ignore. An early ability can be game changing. Literally, like being able to ignore budget cuts or having a better rad-hardness. And the augmentations …. getting a colonist who adds a hydration, or is an ISRU1 raygun opens up the board. I haven’t gone “Bernal First” often, but could easily see that to get that first augmentation on the board fast.
• Needing four augmentations to promote a GW thruster to a TW thruster is a big deal. Normally when I get the GW thruster it’s promoted in a few turns. (One turn if it’s the D-D type) but in my game it took over 20 turns to line everything up.
• Having the first isotope produced double FINAO costs from 4 Aq to 8 Aq is huge. (I’m playing the Exodus.2022 variant). I misunderstood the timing and if I’d played it correctly I would have probably hosed myself out of the game. But this solves some of the midgame issues in M012 where you have so much money it doesn’t matter. Money was tighter much longer.
• I’m less enchanted with the Isobank/Starshot … it seems good (possibly even great) in solitaire but might be gamey in multiplayer games. It does put a lot of tension and/or racing to be the person to Establish the IsoBank, which is probably good.
• As for the rules … well, it’s a good thing I know the developer.¹

High Frontier is still Enthusiastic.

Module 4 is also Enthusiastic. I’ll be doing more solo with M4, and introducing it into the group (when that’s reasonable), but if people want to introduce it in stages, that’s OK (and what I did). Contracts only (or Contracts and Augmentations) is a decent first step.

1. Standard Consulting Rates applied, but I got the “Friends and Family” discount. ︎

(Part 1, Part 2)

(I have some pictures, but the cloud is acting up … perhaps I’ll update later).

Yes, we’re through five cycles with only a non-maximal number of mistakes made. Sure, rules have been bent and broken. Sure FINAO costs were not doubled at the correct time. But the mission must go on, ideally with no repercussions for Mission Control. As always, we are declaring Mistake Bankruptcy — if something was wrong that was undetected in the prior articles, we’re not fixing it now (although I’ll go back and footnote it in the prior articles).

T6.1 — (9 Aq, 3 iso¹) I really like the Triggered Decay Positrons contract a flyby bonus through radiation spaces would speed up my trips …. but landing at the Saturn Aerostat is difficult with a max thrust of 12 and adding almost any weight will make that impossible. I think about this for a bit before noticing something worse … I already have all three of the augmentations it offers. Nope. I need a fourth augmentation. The choice is easy — Ring Rain. Going to Rhea is pretty much on my route. Cancelling a Ring hazard is … fine? But it’s two new augmentations (Goo and Wardens). I can swing by Rhea, then when I get back to the Bernal convert to a TW thruster! So I fundraise (10 Aq) and put a delegate in Authority (and the law, why not?) and take Ring Rain. It’s got a 15 Aq advance, so I’m at 25. I put the clock on T6.7 (6 turns ahead). The rocket arrives at the Home Bernal, so I can attach the contract.

T6.2 — (Anarchy, 26 Aq, 5 Iso) The anarchy roll is annoying. (I normally just double-coast on this turn when going from Home Bernal–> Enceladus), but coasting requires my faction privilege. Do I care enough to lobby and cancel? I don’t think I do.

Rhea is a smidge closer, so I can make it in two turns instead of three, it just costs me an extra fuel step. I power up the rocket and go through the Jupiter Flyby. I have an operation … I could get some more fuel, but I think I’ll ET produce the Impact Mold Sinter refinery at the Bernal. On a return trip I could spend it to homestead or I might actually industrialize again at some point².

Perhaps I should promote one (or both) colonists or stock up on fuel, but the 2 free fuel per turn (thanks to the Rock Rats) seems fine.

T6.3 — (27 Aq, 7 Iso) The rocket lands on Rhea (I pay the 8 Aqua for FINAO on the landing hazard, so down to 19 Aq) and (as a free action) finish the Ring Rain contract and grab the new augmentations. As another free action, Malcolm implants the domesticated goo “C” ability. So I can no ET produce the Microbial Fuel Cell generator at the Enceladus Bernal. (If I had a robonaut, I could prospect Rhea, but I don’t….)

T6.4 — (Glitch N/A, 20 Aq, 9 Iso). My rocket goes from Rhea to the Bernal … and since I’ve finished the Ring Hazard contract, I ignore ring hazards … like Rhea’s “debris ring.” Nice. And now that Malcolm has four augmentations, I can promote the Mini-Mag thruster to it’s purple/TW side … the Solem Medusa Tugged Orion.³ Yeah, the mass goes way up, but 12 burns for one step instead of four steps (or 9 burns for free).

T6.5 — (21 Aq, 11 Iso). Transfer the Microbial Fuel Cell to the rocket and 6 of the isotopes into the Fuel tanks (down to 5 Iso). The top exodus contract is … not easy, so I fundraise (22 Aq) and go to the next one. It’s the Decanting Network which requires going to 2002 TX, way out in the Neptune zone. But that should be doable (even with the extra 5 Mass). I could wait and take it once I get back to my Home Bernal (to start the timer later) but I think I’ll take it now. (I get an 8 Aqua advance, so 30.) I can afford being late a turn or tow, and I might want another action more. The rocket flies halfway (as normal) taking the Microbial Fuel Cells with it, but this time it’s no fuel (since I go 9 burns).

I can’t quite make it one turn, but at least it’s free. I’m taking the generator in case I decide I want to move my home bernal … it will need the support. If not I can use it for homesteading.

T6.6 — (Glitch N/A, 31 Aq, 7 Iso) The rocket flies the rest of the way and picks up the exodus contract and drops off the generator and no-longer-needed radiator at the Home bernal. I ET produce the robonaut at Enceladus (using the “C” ability Malcolm has).

T6.7 — (32 Aq, 9 Iso) Malcolm promotes the Rock Rats to the Alchemist Aviatrices who double Isotope yield. Ah, I should have done that earlier. Since I could have done that first, I can get 3 Iso instead of 2 (by ordering the promotion before the free site refuel)⁴, so I’m actually at 10 Iso. Isotopes will no longer be a problem. The rocket starts the outward trip.

T6.8 — (Flare not an issue, 33 Aq, 13 Iso) — I have the rocket swing by the Bernal and ET produce the Femtochemical refinery and transfer them both. If I’m going to Neptune, may as well build a factory out there. The timing works out (I think). If not, I’ll pay a late fee.

T6.9 — (34, 16 Iso). I promote Malcolm to the Renaissance Man. I don’t think the ability will be helpful, but I’m aiming for futures now. The rocket goes ….

T6.10 — (Inspiration, 38 Aq, 19 Iso). The only deck of note is the Earthborn Colonists, and I get the Heavy Water Survivalists. I can definitely fulfill that future⁵, so I homestead (using my black-sided radiator) the Vatican Observers to colonize Enceladus and exomigrate the Survivalists. The rocket keeps going through the Uranus Flyby …

Mystery Turn — The rocket goes through the Neptune Flyby …. I think I double flew the rocket on one turn and forgot to advance the turn marker. This should have cost me some aqua (on a late fee) and shortened my game by a turn, but in the grand scheme of things doesn’t matter because I have plenty of aqua and I didn’t do much the last few turns. If you want, you can mentally assume all the turn numbers are one farther out (and I got more free Aqua/Iso), but I’m keeping them as is to keep my notes sane.

T6.11 — (39 Aq, 22 Iso) The rocket lands at TX 2002, which fulfills my exodus contract, giving me an extra colonist (and 3 FT), so I exo-migrate the Juiced Cosmonauts. Lovely, another future I can fulfill!⁶ Next I prospect TX 2002 and naturally fail. But the Lorentz-Propelled Microprobe has a re-roll. Naturally that fails, too. Stupid 1-in-9… At least I get the Neptune Glory chit, yes I’ve had my crew pretty much the whole game.

T6.12 — (40 Aq, 25 Iso) Fine. I go to Haumea (-8 for FINAO on the Rapid Spin) and prospect there, only making it because you can’t miss on a ‘7’ site, no doubt.

T7.1 — (33 Aq, 28 Iso). Industrialize Haumea and start the trip back (another -8 FINAO).

T7.2 — (26 Aqua, 31 Iso). I homestead the Heavy Water Survivalists to colonize Haumea (using the Microbial Generator, I don’t think I’m moving my Home Bernal). I exomigrate the Boyle Engineering Collective, who are basically useless.

T7.3 — (27 Aq, 34 Iso). The rocket makes it back to Enceladus. I think this is actually correct this time, because I has a higher max thrust due to lower weight (and the drift ability lined up correctly), but if I was wrong again it again doesn’t much matter, since the game timer ends 9 turns after creating the desperation starshot. In fact, I should mess around (gaining more points) before launching, but I’m in the endgame. I first ET produce the robonaut (I can certainly get one more factory) and then use the free action to create the desperation starshot.

Yes yes, you can score just as well letting the starship go at the end of the game, but I said I’d launch a desperation shot. So I Shall do it.

I load up the Renaissance Man as my colonist, and put 30 Iso fuel on the starship, which should be more than enough to get max points. Initially I look at going through the Jupiter-Sol-Jupiter exit, but do I have to pay for all those hazards? Yikes. The Neptune Exist only has a ring hazard.

As per the rules, the game will end at 9 turns ahead, after we leave T7.12. We’re now in anarchy, but the Starship heads off towards Neptune (afterburning just to get the extra thrust).

T7.4 — I ET produce the refinery and the rocket heads back to LEO as the Starship moves past Iapetus (afterburning again). (I’m not going to bother listing Aqua and Isos … they aren’t that important anymore).

T7.5 — The rocket stops at the Home Bernal, picking up the colonists. The Starship is heading towards the next planet in line (those three ballerinas helping immensely).

T7.6 — There’s no useful contract, so I simply fly my rocket to Mercury’s North pole and prospect, thankfully not having to roll. The Starship does it’s Uranus flyby and is on the way to Neptune …

T7.7 — I industrialize on Mercury and head back to LEO as the Starship does the Neptune flyby and encounters the Ring Crossing. Do I have to pay? Good question, but in any case I have the money if necessary and the starship is out.

I still have until the end of the round which I play with going back to my Home Bernal (Mercury Tickertape) moving and upgrading my colonist and getting some futures, but on reading them carefully they don’t actually score me anything. I probably could have gotten another factory, but whatever.

Final Scoring:

• Pieces on board — 22
• Factory Points — 34
• Dirtsides — 10
• Colonists — 8
• Glory Chits — 15
• Contracts — 15
• Futures — 0
• Exodus Chits — 12 (as a solo player, it’s easy to get all three chits).
• Exodus Fuel — 18
• Augmentations — 4
• Politics (Honor) — 5

Which is 143 VP if my math is right⁷

Final Thoughts on Module 4

I think I’ll put that in a separate post, so that casual readers can see it.

But as for the rules, apart from a few gray areas and rules mistakes, I think several of my mistakes were because it was solitaire. Much easier to forget to move the disk (or move it an extra time) or double up a move or operation (forgetting you already did one already) when there is only one player.

Some mistakes may have also been introduced in the transcription and typing up. Certainly the biggest mistake was missing Isotope Monetization when I produced my first fuel. The double FINAO costs (especially since I miscalculated and needed multiple hazard rolls) should have been devastating.

Update 9/2 — I was doing Miner gets a free refuel action, not “If you take a site refuel, the miner gets an additional one ….” so uh, yeah. In my defense, that’s in the printed rule book.

1. I get one free aqua a turn (at my Home Bernal) and a miner free site-refuel collocated with Malcom (+1 iso), so 2 free iso a turn at the Enceladus Bernal ︎
2. Soon, Malcolm can augment the Domesticated Goo to make Enceladus able to produce C for the robonaut, then (as an industrialist) could Nanofacture as a free operation, so the rocket could stake claims and the Bernal could send down factories…. ︎
3. It requires a “D” site, but thanks to 1A5b “Lab Promotion Site (Module 2). A Promoted and Anchored Bernal is always a valid promotion colony for Colonist, Freighter, and GW thruster cards.” ︎
4. The “order of operations” in 4A7h means the doubling happens before Malcolm’s +1 Iso. ︎
5. 2 Promoted Humans at a Promoted Anchor Bernal ︎
6. Or so I think, because I mentally assume that my “submarine” colonies are “astrobiology” as well. Or maybe I just can’t read. ︎
7. But why start now? ︎

(Previously on….)

Mission Control ponders for quite a while before eventually selecting Malcolm as the newest member of the team. I don’t think I have enough knowledge to know that it is correct … but it is probably a strategy I understand. Onboarding takes place at the Home (Office) Bernal, the Collimator Bernal at L4s.

At this point I should probably decide which Module 4 I’m playing. After reading the rules (a few times) I think I’ll go with the Exodus.2022 Variant (Player Aid). Why? It seems (in general) saner.¹ In any case, most of the changes involved the Isobank (a controversial rule, from what I can tell) so I can go forward with my augmentations (etc) without any differences.

Mission Control also declared “Mistake Bankruptcy …” if there are still errors from the previous session, they will not be corrected.

T4.3 — I get the first of that sweet, soul-quenching “Home Bernal Income” and also fundraise (4Aq) to switch the law back to Research Grants. It is time for the rocket to take off from CSW1, but Industrialists get a free implant action and I have a jar … so Malcolm implants the (jar-shaped) “You may use FT anywhere to pay for FINAO,” so when the rocket takes off through the hazard, it can pay it’s own way. The rocket heads back towards Hygiae, to pick up the necessary robonaut.

T4.4 — (Budget cuts, but we can ignore). (5Aq). Malcolm self-implants the “+1 Isotope refuel” triangle and then hops on the freighter, which can go through two burns (since I now have Powersat) to meet the rocket outside of Hygiea^{2 3}.

T4.5 — (Another round of Budget Cuts, ignored). (6Aq) Malcolm (legally) jumps from the freighter to the rocket, which jets to Hygiae to a) pick up the robonaut as a cargo transfer and b) Site Refuel. (In theory they could have also carried the freighter, but it can get there on it’s own power soon enough and it’s about to grow up and be too big to carry, so I might as well start now).

T4.6 — (7Aq) The freighter arrives at Hygiea … Malcom has two augmentations, so I can promote the freighter to a KESTS Hoop Dirt Launcher. After that it is time for the rocket to head towards our new destination, Enceladus.

Why Enceladus? Well, the Mini-Mag Orion Z-pinch Fission GW thruster is at the top of the deck and needs an M planet. I look through the card list and many of the other thrusters are also on types I don’t have, and though I don’t love the Mini-Mag it’s available and I’d hate to see the deck rotate to an H-type or something harder to get. So, it has to be an “M” spectral. Kleopatra is much closer (and just one size smaller), but it’s behind two hazards and I did notice that FINAO costs skyrocket (no matter which variant) so that’s a problem. And it turns out Enceladus is many burns farther away, but not many turns farther out. The rocket (with Factory assist launch) goes through one burn, hits the Jupiter flyby, gets four free burns, and then uses the last burn to take finish the second Hohma⁴nn. The crew thruster can then coast to the next one (thanks to the faction privilege), leaving me at…

T4.7 — (8 Aq) From Figure 2, we dive into Saturn’s gravity well, pay both the hazard and aerobraking FINAO from the Fuel Tanks*, use the two free burns and two paid for burns to stop on the Lagrange point outside Enceladus (the 5M in the upper left).

*BUT …. now that I think about it, I only paid 4 “steps” for each FINAO … and a step is not a Fuel Tank.

I go look at the living rules for an update and go down a rabbit hole. The living rules have different abilities for the augmentations! But that takes me a while to find … because they re-ordered and re-numbered some of the sections. (4C and 4D have swapped places, which makes quoting a rule … problematic). This is, frankly, nuts.

Once the components have been printed, that’s what they do. I’m hardly going to say that the Egyptians were the old-testament good guys; but Yul Brunner knew what he was talking about. Mission Control makes their ruling: “As the components are written, so let it be done.” I created a BGG thread to vent and then thought … nah, this is too odd.

I decide to double check the living rules on Ion’s site (as compared to what I downloaded a few months ago) … and yup, for some reason I had downloaded a very very old version of the living rules, probably a pre-print. No idea how, but anyway….

Ahem.

I had exactly enough FT (with my mistake) to get to Enceladus …. but I was mostly in the two steps per Aqua, so I think it’s correct to pay for one hazard from FT and the other hazard from Aqua, and adjust down to 4Aq. I still have a raygun, so I remotely prospect Enceladus and yup, it’s good.

T4.8 — (Flare, no problem). I get my Home Bernal income (5Aq) and land on Enceladus while paying for FINAO (1 Aq) and industrialize and take the Saturn Glory. I don’t know if I want to colonize (with my crew) but that’s a free action so I can wait.

T4.9 — (2 Aq) Time to start getting this Isobank thingy. I take the Mini-Mag Orion Z-pinch Fission GW Thruster … I could take a support, but I think I want to have fewer cards, in case something good shows up.

T4.10 — (3 Aq) There’s a solar flare, but everyone is grounded. ET Produce the Mini-mag.

T4.11 — (4 Aq) Decommission my rocket’s radiator to ET produce the black side Tin Droplet (Light) Radiator (The Mini-mag needs an extra therm of cooling. Improving the rad-hardness will also matter during flare season).

T4.12 — (5 Aq) There’s an inspiration which reveals a tourism contract that cancels hazards next to industrialized sites … appealing (since I have two such sites). But it’s more important to start the Iso Bank. In the published rules, I could just site-refuel to produce an yellow isotope, but in the variant I need to anchor a Bernal out here. With a working TW thruster I refuel for 2 yellow isotopes (thanks to Malcom’s +1 Isotope triangle). That’s not enough to get to the Home Bernal and back again (with a fuel consumption of 1/3rd), especially as I want to burn through at least some of the Hohmanns …. so I wait.

T5.1 — (6 Aq) Produce two more isotopes and that should be enough, leaving Malcolm on site. (Arguably I should have also dropped the old thruster to save some mass, but I didn’t). I pay the FINAO (dropping to 2 Aq) and head back six burns (which is enough to get out of the main Saturn system, then use the secondary crew thrust power to reach the green line).

T5.2 — (3 Aq) ET Produce the Microbial Fuel Cell at Hygiae and load it into the freighter and launch it. Thanks to the powersat ability it can make it back to the Home Bernal next turn. The rocket makes 5 burns (using the Jupiter flyby’s bonus) and then coasts through the final Hohmann to make it back. A quick tickertape parade, but there’s work to do.

T5.3 — (4 Aq) The frigate makes it back! Now I can just take a Bernal and … hurm.

I forgot how much mass I would be towing. Can I actually tow a Bernal that far?

They are heavy … Right now I’m at Dry Mass 4, Wet Mass 6. I need to add the Bernal (Mass 10) and Generator (2) so I’d be at DM 16, WM 18 … that’s only six burns (at 1/3rd fuel). And with rounding I have to do them in groups of three.

I have four actual burns on the green line (one after Jupiter) and then 3 pivots. Wait … this turn I can coast from L4s to L4 (Coasting into the Hohmann with the GW thruster, then coasting to the green line with the crew thruster). That cuts out a burn. So I “pay” three burns and spend the bonus for the first two pivots, then I can drift from the greenline to the (non-flyby) entry into Saturn. Nope, I can’t go through the backdoor because that’s six burns. I have to do the flyby again, which is two.⁵

Can I skip the flyby? Nope. Can I drop enough mass to then skip it? Not so I can tell. Ah well. I think I have to risk it. If I had only fueled one more time, I could have done 6 burns to the Saturn system and avoided the hazards at the cost of an extra isotope.

For my operation I take the Lofstrom Loop, which appears at the home bernal (thanks to “Bernals building Bernals” rule). Luckily it can promote at a submarine site … like Enceladus, so it’s a perfectly fine addition to our little team. I load everything up and drift to the green line. (I also move the freighter back towards Hygiea).

T5.4 — (5 Aq) I spend three burns through the Jupiter flyby (and then spend the bonus burns & coast) to get in line with the Saturn flyby. I’m going to need a robonaut and refinery (eventually) and as it happens the Electroforming Refinery can be built at an M site, so I take it via subsidized research.

T5.5 — (Budget cuts) (6 Aq). I’m not waiting. I do the Saturn flyby, make the first hazard roll (whew) and then spend 4 Aqua to FINAO the second (2 Aq). I anchor the Bernal on the Lagrange outside Enceladus, which means I can exomigrate again, so I get the Vatican Observers. Do I have enough time to do anything? We’ll see…

At this point I paused for a bit, because I didn’t really understand the Isobank (which I’ve now founded) and how to go forward with the desperation starshot, so I asked Geoff (the developer) for a quick run down⁶ and in the process I discovered a few more problems with the above.

In particular, Isotope monetization occurs during the first yellow bead/FT is produced⁷, not when the Isobank is established. Which means that the contracts should have been flipped to gold side, the exodus contracts unlocked and … urm, FINAO costs doubled all the way back on T4.12.

Oops.

In the words of the Hideous Hog, I have magnanimously forgiven myself. But in any case, I flip over contracts and unlock the Exodus deck.

T5.6 — (Budget Cuts, 3Aq) To do the startshot requires a) at least one fulfilled exodus contract, b) a TW thruster and c) enough isotope. To get a TW thruster requires a colonist with 4 augmentations, so I’ll need at least one more regular contract. The exodus contract is landing on the Uranus Aerostat … I don’t think I can do that. But I’d have to pick up the contract at my Home Bernal, so perhaps it will change before I get there. I site-refuel two Isotopes to the Bernal (with Malcolm’s +1 augmentation) and wait. At two steps for FT I could (barely) get to the home bernal and back, but through hazards. So I’ll need more fuel.

T5.7 — (4Aq) I site refuel two more isotopes to the Bernal. 8 Fuel Tanks should be plenty … so the rocket converts it all to fuel and I go halfway home ….

T5.8 — (Inspiration, 5Aq) There’s a lovely new contract “Radiation Shield Prototype” which involves going to a Mercury Site, two Radiation Belt Spaces around Saturn (or further) and returning … which will be tight but I can pick up more fuel if necessary and what do you mean it’s 8 mass!

No way. I can’t even land on Mercury with that weight! I look at the other regular contracts, perhaps I can fulfill them. Go to Agamennon or Aeneas and return … that seems … wait, with 3 Mass I couldn’t get back to Saturn to refuel after fulfilling the contract.

I’m so used to M012 games where you flip your GW thruster to the TW side ASAP and then basically only need one step/turn. This 1/3rd fuel consumption (4 steps/turn at top speed) is killing me. I have no idea how I’m going to get a desperation star shot in time. These things all require way more fuel than I have.

Well, the colonist on top of the earth-born deck are the Rock Rats Miner Union which (as expected) are Miners. With them at my Enceladus Bernal I can do a site refuel for free once/turn (for two iso). I’ll apparently need it. They are also 3 mass, but as I can head straight back with them. So the rocket flies to the Home Bernal.

As my operation, I do a dirtside cargo transfer to move Malcolm from Enceladus to the Bernal⁸.

T5.9 — (6 Aq) Malcolm can do a free implant (as an industrialist) to get his third augmentation, and that’s enough to Promote the Bernal. That brings the Rock Rats into play, and I (as the rocket is already at the Home Bernal) I pick them up and start back to Saturn (just coasting to the green line this turn)

T5.10 — (Glitch N/A, 7 Aq) Malcolm generates 2 Iso, do the Jupiter Flyby leg of the trip (1 step).

T5.11 — (8 Aq) The rocket goes through the 6 burns to ignore all the hazards, and delivers the Rock Rat Miners. Now with a site refuel I could get two for Malcolm and two for the Rats. (Update — Oops. A careful reading is that the augmentation gives +1 Fuel on any turn where you generate an iso⁹). So only three isotopes produced, I’m at 5 iso total.

T5.12 — (Glitch, 9 Aq) I convert the Glitch to Inspiration (8 Aq) because the existing contracts are all trash … and only give duplicate Augmentations. I get four three more Iso (8) … I could take it all with me, but it seems to me that 7 FT should be enough, so I leave one isotope behind and head back. 5 turns round trip (because of some rounding and wanting to save fuel) isn’t bad, but I really need that fourth augmentation to promote my thruster. I also realize that I have two more solar cycles (not one), and I’m going to get 2 or 3 iso a turn (depending on if I need to take another operation), so things seem do-able.

At the end of the 5th Cycle I have 67 VP and it seems like my desperation star shot still has a chance….

1. The fact that there were “some last minute rules changes” in the published version is always a bad sign. ︎
2. For a second I have a horrific moment after I notice the “Factory Loading Only” on the freighter, but a quick check in my rulebook shows that “Factory Loading Only” includes Anchored Bernals. ︎
3. But as I was typing up the prior footnote, I wanted to quote the rule (1B3b) and the living rules specify “Anchored Bernals outside of Home Orbit.” Mission Control then declares that mistake included in the prior “bankruptcy” notice, so we will ignore it. ︎
4. A net thrust of 2 and all those radiation checks would normally be concerning with my radiator being Rad-Hard 2, but thanks to Shielded I get an additional -2 to all rolls, so it’s fine. ︎
5. Only later do I notice that Enceladus is signposted as 7 burns from LEO, so I can obviously do it in six since I skip a few. But that’s assuming all the flyby hazards. ︎
6. He graciously gave me a “Friends and Family” discount on his normal consultancy rate. ︎
7. In the base game, it can also occur when the Lofstrom Loop or GEO Space Elevator are anchored in home orbits (which is an epic hazard). ︎
8. This is rule 2A7f, but only in the newest living rules. ︎
9. “If Colocated with a Factory or Dirtside’s Bernal, produces an extra Isotope during a Turn that the Factory produces at least 1 Isotope” (Table of 4C3) ︎

Last month Bridge Base Online (BBO) announced that it was limiting players to 6 hands a day (unless they subscribed). End of an era … I remember logging onto BBO (and perhaps one or two other online bridge sites) back in ’93, and I still have a semi-regular team practice match weekly. I did actually pay to play a few games during Covid, but I do not particularly care to play online tournaments, or online against random people. I understand that BBO needs to make money, but it seems to me that they’ve made a windfall during- and post-Covid, often at the expense of physical clubs, and this seems like a short-sighted money grab.

Anyway, we decided to move to IntoBridge and it seems quite reasonable. One nice feature is a Daily Challenge (similar to BBOs weekly free robot tournament). Play five hands with robots in the other three seats, and see how you did against a celebrity (who played the hands with robots and recorded a video on youtube). I don’t often watch the videos, but it’s amusing. The Robots generally bid much better than BBOs, as well.

Anyway, FYI.

I was reading The Zvi’s discussion of the METR report on Hugging Face when another gamer sent me the 3quarks daily article where an AI summarizes the same report. For this discussion, the only thing you need to know is that there were many agents of a few two different “breeds,”¹ who started up a message board and communicated to (jointly) work towards a common goal.

Which reminded me of my bridge game yesterday (and earlier this week).

Bridge partners are jointly working together to get the best score possible² and there are a variety of “breeds” (in terms of levels of understanding). Each agent/player has different information, but the partnership shares the same goals …

Even though most of the AI agents were the same breed (HIPM), they did not all necessarily agree on the best course of action. Partially that’s because they each had their own subtask goal, but they’d all learned new/different information in the process of working towards it, which affected them.

And there is limited bandwidth.

Like bridge players. Same goal, but tacit (shared training) information, different real world information, and limited bandwidth.

Which come up in two games this week, with two partners.

My partner yesterday is an expert (better than me, but not ridiculously better). But she has a few unusual preferences in convention card and bidding (which affects us)³ but I trust her baseline and can (mostly) mentally figure out the differences myself. For example, in one of our earliest games together we had the following auction:

1H-1NT*; (*Semi-forcing 1NT — Opener is only allowed to pass with a 5332 hand with a minimum or subminimum)

2C-2S*; (*Undiscussed)

I made the 2 Spades bid in complete confidence that my partner would recognize it as an Impossible 2 Spades. (I had already denied spades, since I had bypassed 1 Spade in favor of 1 NoTrump). This is not merely because she’s an expert … there are several players of my calibre that might be flummoxed by this bid … because they learned bidding by rote and the person who taught them never mentioned it. ⁴

And in fact she did recognize it, although not as confidently as I’d hoped. (“We’d never discussed that auction…. so I hoped you knew what it should mean.”)

(It should mean — “I have the one of the best possible hands in support of your newly bid minor.”)⁵

With that as the background, before the game I brought up an issue I wanted to clarify. “I seem to recall that you mentioned Equal Level Conversion in our last game. Do we play it?” “Yes.”

Now armed with the knowledge that my partner plays ELC, a few hands later we get the following auction:

(1H)-Double-(P)-3 Clubs;(P)-3 Diamonds

Is 3 Diamonds an Equal Level Conversion? Yes. But should the ELC convention apply at the 3 level, after a jump? I’m sure that partnerships who have discussed everything (and I’ve been in one or two of those) might have an answer (you can never discuss everything).

It may be that there’s a theoretical discussion that answers it, but all the discussions I’ve read of ELC (including the one I linked before) are silent on the issue.

(And since I play Raptor⁶ in many partnerships, I’ve never had to explore ELC in depth, because Raptor covers all the hands that would want to use ELC).

So my partnership was in the same place as the AI agents. We had similar background and goals, we’d made an agreement, but a very shorthanded one “We play ELC (No Further Discussion/Definition).”

Were we trained on the same data? After a brief internal argument as to whether it should be ELC (or forcing) which left me undecided. I fell back onto the “Assuming I am wrong, which mistake would be less devastating?” … at matchpoints either one could be a zero, so I fell back again onto “The ELC hands are weaker and (therefore) it is more probable that she has that hand” and treated it as ELC and passed.

Wrong.

Partner (being a well-aligned agent) admitted after the hand that she’d made the bid before realizing it might fall into a gray area⁷. (And ethical enough to not give any hint of a signal when I was thinking).

Earlier this week my college partner (whom I’ve played with for almost four decades, but most of his partnerships are in the DC area) had a technical argument about what a bid should mean. I’d never heard of his interpretation, it is one of those “East Coast vs West Coast⁸” things.

I gave yesterday’s partner the auction (without naming either of our interpretations of what it should mean) and she said “(West Coast Meaning/The One Tao Thought), what else could it possibly be?” So with one partner

I have no grand point.

I just thought it was interesting that AI agents sometimes suffered the same indignities as Bridge Players.

1. Mostly an unknown agent labelled “HIPM,” but a few GPT-Sol 5.6 ︎
2. See S.J. Simon’s “Why you lose at Bridge” for a discussion of “Best Score Possible” vs “Best Possible Score” and the realities that make the two different … he calls this the “Half a loaf” theory. ︎
3. Just as an example, she prefers to open 5Spade+5Club hands with 1 Club, which I know Danny Kleinman recommends but I’ve never seen anyone else play it, as expert standard has gone to MAFIA. “Majors Are First In All (instances)” ︎
4. I have been burned several times by assuming that all bridge players have read as many theory books as I have, and while I don’t think I’ve ever had a partner miss this, they’ve missed other things I consider equally obscure. ︎
5. With a few rare exceptions, such as a splinter. So it is stronger than a direct raise to 3 of a minor. ︎
6. Man, I wrote that a decade ago? ︎
7. Of course, I might never know if she meant that or was just being polite. ︎
8. We played together in Baltimore … and there is a system/dialect called “Washington Standard.” It mostly know where it does not agree with local standard, which is more West Coast. ︎