Without a bunch of tourists getting migraines and occasionally dying.

Anyone else remember those stories from Disney World? Just me? Anyway.

So we’ve gotten ourselves situated to have more Robots in flight, got some tech to let our Humans make it all the way out to Mars or Venus (but why go to Venus? To cook ourselves?), and made our chances of keeping both of those things last in space a bit longer. Looks like we’ll have a productive decade on our hands. Let’s see what the 2040s have in store!

2040: I get a picture from our new Neptune Orbiter of Triton. But it’s ‘meh.’

2041: The Triton mission is a success as the Orbiter turns itself off. Starting the decade off right. Mission chits are now Mars and Ganymede.

2042: The Orbiter around Jupiter also stops working. I paid good money for these dang things. Our human mission to Mars takes flight.

2043: A new Jupiter Orbiter + Probe is launched, I also chuck a Space Telescope up there because my ability to get science is starting to get scarce out there. Oh look, it breaks in its first year. Fantastic. But at least my humans have landed on Mars, collected some science and succeeded on their Recall roll, so they can stay longer than one year.

2044: Humans get Science on Mars. A little anyway, but the Recall roll is a failure, so they have to return to Earth. Hrmph. I launch a new Space Telescope that does…nothing.

2045: I get a successful depletion of Deep Space Astronomy with my Telescope! No life found or anything, but hey, I’ll take good news anywhere I can find it.

2046: Our Martian explorers safely return to Earth. A parade is held. Nothing much else happens this year. Now, keep in mind, each and every time something moves on the board, you have to make a roll (except if it’s just ticking down on the interplanetary travel tracks) to see if the engines crap out. The chance of failure is only 5%, but you’re rolling a LOT, so it’s going to happen. And the chance is even lower with humans, as that 5% is lowered by the CV value of the ship, so it’ll only fail if I roll 3 or less for the ship that just landed….but it CAN happen. So I count my blessings when I get them.

2047: I convert all the Politics Markers I’ve gained so far into cold, hard, cash in order to get my shuttle back up and running (2 Billion is 2 Political chips….I’m not doing very well this decade) and then immediately launch it back into space. My launch vehicle is unable to be recovered, so that’s 3 Billion I’ll have to look for in the couch cushions. *sigh* However, what I did do, was spend the last 2 Billion I had to add 2 Supplies as cargo to the shuttle. I do this to build the base, Mir, in Earth Orbit. The point of this is that I can make it get me free Biology tech every turn, and also score Settlement Points for the end of the game (not many, but it’s better than nothing)

2048: My probe on Ganymede finds…some stuff, but nothing great. Humans check out a Near Earth Asteroid for funsies and get a depletion! No World card or any life or anything, but hey, I’ll take it.

2049: And I finish the decade off with yet another Deep Space Depletion! The little space telescope that could!

2050: So that was a ‘meh’ decade. Of course, most of that was due to spending half of my money on keeping all of those robots flying, and now that the decade is over….I don’t have any overages as I have one human flight and 2 robot flights. So, yay?

The event has me roll one extra time to spawn an asteroid, which spawns outside of the range for 2050, so no effect. I get two more nations up out of Neutral on the diplomacy track, but China, India and EU are still holding out. I get the standard Earth Production, +2billion for the two missions I have completed so far, and since I don’t have to pay anything, I get to keep all the money this time. Phew.

For tech:

Not great, but enough to get me Space Habitation, Plasma Dynamo Propulsion and Improved Component Design. Of course, Space Habitation would make base building a little cheaper. Had I held out a few years, Mir would have been cheaper, but….what are ya gonna do? Plasma Dynamos make my Heliocentric Multiplier .08, which affects everything that’s 3 or more distant from Earth, which is nice. Saving a year or two really adds up. Finally Improved Component Design lowers the chance of blowing up a robot from 30% to 27%.

I then set a Policy, and this one just gives me an extra 2 Billion every decade. Because money is nice.

Then we start the year by spending 6 Billion on Renda, a cargo hauler that can’t do science in space, but can turn Mir into a Research Station, which is my goal. I also get a satellite to launch to Pluto to get that mission out there (a 10 year flight).

My telescope goes dark this year, which is a shame, but it did good while it lasted. The Jupiter Orbiter did as well, but not before it got a successful depletion on Ganymede, fulfilling yet another Mission! 2 Diplomacy chits (one for the depletion, one for the mission) for me. I draw Ceres as my next mission. During the Building Bases step, Mir now has a Research Station.

2051: Sending Kliper to Mars again and purchased a Rover for Ceres. I send Renda back to Earth so it can get more supplies to make the Mir Research Station larger (and produce +3 tech). No tech is recovered this year as all my robots are broken, and everything else is en route.

2052: Purchased 2 supplies and Ore and am already worried that I’m tight on money. Woof. Man lands on Mars and accomplishes little. Mir now has a Large Research Station.

2053: Spend almost my last dollar on a Orbiter and Probe. Going to hit Mercury for some Engineering points. The Ceres rover lands and…fails. Mars, however, gets a successful depletion, though no World Card.

Renda lands back on Earth where I plan to mothball it and get some money back.

2054: I have no notes for this year. Huh. What did I do? Did I miss a year?

2055: Another Depletion both on Mars AND Mercury as the Probe hits paydirt. Mars gets a good World Card this time:

Due to the Mercury Orbter having a “Spectrometer” on board, I get to draw two World Cards and get to choose if they both could be played:

The Frozen Methane seems more favorable, so I stick with that. Looks like my luck is turning around!

2056: I spend a Diplomacy marker for a billion to drain the last of my funds to get the Konarov, a new CV (crew vehicle) to get more humans in space. I just send them to Luna to get more Engineering tech, and maybe a base friendly World Card in the future?

2057: Satellite gives nice long range pictures of Pluto (still 3 turns away, so was -3 to the roll). Both human spacecraft fail their recall rolls, but I got a successful Depletion on Luna at least!

2058: I spend 2 Politics markers for the money to buy a new space telescope. My Satellite gets a successful depletion off of Pluto! And, as what seems to happen often, it breaks immediately afterward. But that’s okay, though. The telescope is crap, it immediately breaks. Hrmph. My new mission is Phobos. Guess I’ll be sending humans there soon.

2059: The Mercury Orbiter finally turns off, but gets yet another depletion first. Looking at the board, there is now officially not a damn thing flying in space as my humans have now all returned to Earth. Huh. Weird.

2060: So we reach the end of another decade and get to do some bookkeeping. I get 2 Diplomacy markers for free, then roll an event. The event is “Publicity Campaign” where I get to raise the Exploration Value of a world by 2. Interesting. I choose Ganymede because that seems like a world that has a lot of promise for my future. I spend 3 Diplomacy markers to try to get the last 3 holdouts out of Neutral and succeed on two of them, so only the EU doesn’t want to be friends with Russia.

Can’t imagine why.

I now get 31B in Earth production money, and an extra 9 from Missions, Diplomacy and Policy. And even 40 billion is fine by me. That’s a significant step up. Mir produces 6 Biology tech points as well. Can’t argue with that.

No Non-player faction bases are placed. Nor are there any pirates or asteroids. Booooring. I end the round with 16 Physics, 29 Engineering and 30 Biology. I have to spend some Diplomacy markers, but that lets me buy Space Weaponry (doesn’t really matter much unless Piracy becomes a thing, but remember the -3 for each tech not researched), I get Space Missiles as well, to keep with the theme. Finally I get Space Operations to help keep my humans out there even longer (recall roll is now 5% better). For Policy I choose Space Settlement, maaaybe I’ll get a second base? Now that I look back, thinking I’ll have a second one in the 2070s was a bit silly to think about, I probably should have picked something else. Oh well.

And there’s 20 years of play. When I get going, it takes me ~20-30 minutes per decade. Time can vary depending on how many things I have flying at once, and how solid my plans are, and how quickly they’re ruined. That being said, you’ve read about 2 hours of play, and it’s 2060, and I don’t even start rolling to see if the game is over until 2145.

Buckle up, y’all.

So for 2060, I spend 4 billion to unreserve both CVs, another 3 billion for another Launch Vehicle to get both of them into space at the same time. I spend 5 billion for a probe/rover combo for a Ceres mission. Then 3 billion for a new Jupiter Orbiter which I’ll launch before the Ceres mission because it has farther to go. I collect no science this turn, and one of the launch vehicles fails to be recovered, but that’s it for the year.

2061: 2 billion to rebuild the launch vehicle and get the Ceres rover on its way. 4 billion for the Zosydka satellite flyby robot. I’ll throw it at Mercury and see if I can pull off a Grand Tour with it. *shrug* Why not?

Oh no! Kliper, who was landing on Mars while Konarov was landing on Phobos, rolled 01%! On a 1-3, its engines fail, and that’s just what happened. Funerals are held for the fallen astronauts that are now the first humans to be buried (or more than likely, cremated) on another planet.

2062: 8 Billion buys a new Kliper. Zosydka gets science off the sun before it is shot back around toward Venus. Konarov fails its recall roll on Phobos and must return, failing to get a depletion. But I did get a 5 Biology for failing the Recall roll, so I guess that’s a good thing! My Ceres Rover/Probe lands and gets some data.

2063: I purchase a new telescope. Hopefully from a new contractor because the last ones have stank. The new Kliper ship lands on Phobos as Konarov leaves. Zosydka gets pictures of Venus before it is slung toward Earth. Kliper fails its Recall roll and must return to Earth next year, too. Yeesh, Phobos is a harsh mistress!

2064: I hold back on spending cash because I’ve been burning through it pretty quickly, and clearly I’ll need it to resupply all these astronaut missions that have to keep coming back. The Telescope is able to return pictures of Eris. That’s pretty. Zosydka get a depletion on a Near Earth Asteroid! Those Silacate rocks should come in handy once I’m able to mine out there.

Clearly it was a full moon when I took that picture.

2065: 2 billion gets Komarov back into service. Still have 10 billion remaining. Koslav Orbiter around Jupiter finally makes it to Jupiter…and immediately breaks. *sigh* Zasydka takes a picture of Phobos..and gets the depletion I’ve been looking for! It’s got a nice Impact Basin on it. Mission chit now replaced with Hygiea (asteroid belt asteroid).

2066: I decide to scrap Kliper on its return, getting 3 billion back. I then spend 6 billion to build the Renda instead. This can’t do any science (the lack of green circle shows that), but it has a huge cargo hold (the 6 in the hexagon shows this), so I can use it to build a colony on Mir, and eventually get Mir able to build bigger CVs, once I research that.

I then spend 5 Billion on 2 Ore, 2 Supplies and 1 Fuel. That’s what is needed to build one Settlement on Mir. Settlements net you VPs at end game, and can start increasing production once you get a lot of them.

Komarov lands on Mars, and fails its recall roll again. Space is hard. But at the end of the year Mir has about 100 people living and working on it.

2067: Absolutely nothing happened this year. No science was collected as all rolls failed, but nothing broke or blew up either, so, yay?

2068: Our little satellite that could is out near Jupiter and gets a depletion on Ganymede! From a distance even! I should probably be going for Engineering and not Biology, but whatever, I’ll take it.

2069: I spend the last of my money to get Komarov back together. Zasydka gets yet another freaking depletion off of the Jupiter Greeks & Trojans. It even found Previous Metals on them! Why didn’t I take a picture? I’ll get one later once I start mining out there.

2070: Event roll is Immigration. Hey! 2 Free Settlements to Mir. Noice! EU still wants to remain neutral *ahem*.

Hmmm, I have written down that I got Improved Space Operations, but isn’t that what I wrote down in 2060? It does. Hmmm. I’ll have to run down and take a look at the tech tree and get you better information. Luckily we’re caught up now where my notes are done because I haven’t played 2071 yet as I’m typing this…

I do know that I picked VIgourous Human Policy, so I can have even more CVs out there, especially since I can now build CVs of size three with the new tech I got. But I have to confirm that tech, so I’ll be right back!

Ahhhhhh – In 2060 I just got Space Operations, not IMPROVED Space Operations. Pretty sneaky sis. Welp, I checked on that tech, and played another 15 years. I also have this. At one point I said: I have to tell the kid to get in the shower in 30 minutes, so I’ll play for 30. Therefore I was keeping close watch of the time.

I played 9 years in 38 minutes. That’s about 4 1/4 minutes per year. For those who want to know how quickly the game plays, there you go.

You also now know I was 8 minutes late telling my daughter to get in the shower.

I’m not the best dad.

ANYWAY let’s see what I did in 2070. I scrap Renda and gain 3 Billion for doing that. I do that because now I can build Leonov, which may not be able to carry as much cargo, but it can do science AND mine its own resources! I also spend 3 Billion for a new Orbiter, and 8 Billion for Kliper. And 4 Billion for a launch vehicle that can carry Leonov. It’s a biggie.

The LV2 fails its recovery roll when it launches Kliper, so that’s 3 Billion lost. Zasyadky finally fails out by Saturn. It got a weak picture of Mimas first, though. What a great satellite! Kamarov lands on a comet and gets some science, and Leonov lands on a Near Earth Asteroid…and fails its Recall roll so can’t mine which is why I put it there. Oops.

2071: I buy a new Zasyadka (my spelling is terrible). I hope I can continue to get the gains I got from the last one. I get a few small science gains, but nothing special this year.

2072: I resupply Leonov, I also load 2 Ore & 2 Fuel on it, so by the end of the year Mir now has a Small Supply station on it.

2073: The space Telescope dies. The Asteroid Belt Orbiter dies. Zasyadka dies! Leonov, however, mines 1 ore out of an Asteroid around Earth. You get one resource for free, then you roll a die. If it’s equal or less than the modifiers on the tile + World Card, you can get a second one. NEOs have a +2 Ore and Silacate Rocks which are 2 Ore, so I would get a second on a roll of 4 or less. You also get a bonus if you roll a 1 or 0 (obviously with modifiers), so you can get up to 3 resources with one roll. This isn’t a great site for mining, but it’s something.

2074: I buy a new Orbiter, Komarov poops out on the comet, this time Leonov gets 2 Ore.

2075: Took a risk and had Leonov do science as well. Got 2 Engineering and no recall. Had it take 1 fuel.

2076: Spent 4 Billion on a Rover; Leonov drops off its load so Mir is now considered a Large Supply Station. I can resupply all my CVs from orbit now, saving me on Launch Vehicles. And though I need LVs for all Robot Explorers, I could build them in space with Ore and Fuel mined from NEOs or Luna. Or further out if I want to wait the time. As my ships get bigger, this becomes more reasonable to do.

2077: 2 Billion to resupply the Komarov after its comet return; My Orbiter stops working; Leonov gets some supplies from those Asteroids.

2078: FINALLY get a depletion this decade!

That succeeds the Hygeia mission. It gets replaced by Saturn. I finish the year by Leonov mining more Supplies.

2079: I only have 1 Billion left, so I don’t do anything on Earth. Komarov fails its Recall roll, but I get another depletion on Hygeia. Leonov gets 1 more Supply.

2080: Our event this year is “Survey Error,” a random World Card gets drawn for a random location, and if it fits, it goes there, whether there’s already a card there or not. Mars is the world drawn, but the card (M Class Asteroid) can’t be played there, so the event has no effect. EU stays Neutral. Earth produces 31 Billion, + 2 Billion from my Policy, +5 Billion from Missions, +4 Billion from Alliances. Cha-ching! I have 3 CVs in flight, 1 RE and 1 Base. No expenses to pay.

I roll for NPF Bases and score nothing, but then I roll for Asteroids and Pirates and…

Guess it was a New Moon when I took the picture. But yes, a Pirate AND Asteroid around Earth! GASP! That’s going to make things difficult, because if Pirates find any RE’s flying past, they destroy it (40% chance). Any CVs, they hold them for ransom. If the CVs have combat abilities (The red triangles), they run like cowards. So you have to track them down and blow them up. Hrmph. The Asteroid is nice, though.

I get 16 Physics, 30 Engineering and 39 Biology to get Trade Routes (I’ll be able to move 5 Resources between bases and Earth during the beginning of the decade), Quantum Computing for better REs (21% failure rate now) and Mechanical Counter Pressure Suits (+2 to CV Science!)). I use all my politics markers to boost my Physics tech for next time as I want to get those transfer windows cut down because I’m starting to get close to not being able to science all these nearby locations. I must go further!

I choose Vigorous Robotic Policy. More Robots Please.

I purchase Zasyadka (fly by satellite) and Koslov (Orbiter) for my missions (Ceres and Saturn). Get new LV-3 launcher. Komarov lands for refueling; Leonov departs for Mars, but has to stall due to the Pirates. I do get bonuses to my Combat Tactics and Combat Rolls due to my tech (+1 to each), so I’m hoping that’s enough to keep any piracy at bay.

Pirates? At bay? Wakka wakka.

After all movement, we go to a combat phase, my first of the game…50 turns in. Each side rolls a d10, and if either rolls less than 4, they found the other. I roll 3, so I’ve spotted the Pirates! They rolled a 6. So now we get Tactics Points, I get the difference (6-3=3) plus bonuses (right now, just for the tech, so +1) which gives me 4 Tactics Points. Rather than risk getting blown up with all my Supplies, I spend 3 of those points and end combat immediately. So Leonov spotted the pirates on radar and flew in such a way that the Pirates never saw them. Phew.

When combat is over, the combatants may continue moving, so Leonov moves to the Transfer ‘1’ spot on the Mars tile.

And hey, I finish the year out with a successful Depletion on Mars!

While I’ll miss the +1 for Crewed Exploration, the greater Supplies, Fuel and Biology Science production, not to mention Life, makes the Water a better find, so I choose the new World Tile.

2081: 2 Billion to resupply Komarov; Leonav lands on Mars and Komarov goes Pirate Hunting. The Pirates roll 2 and find me and end with enough points to flee combat. Cowards. Leoonav builds a base on Mars!

2082: I briefly think about building Titov, the big ol’ CV-3 with 4 combat ability, but that’s a bit overkill for this little Pirate. Leonov spends some time hunting the Pirate, but finds nothing. Leonov fails its recall roll when it tries to Science on Phobos.

2083: This time Leonov finds the Pirate, and I have 4 Tactics Points. I spend 1 for Direct Fire (a way of combat that results in more direct damage for the attacker) and 2 for +1 damage (I could also spend 2 for -1 damage to myself, but I want them GONE). So now we each roll 1d10 on a combat chart to see how much damage we do to each other. I roll at +4 due to my tech, my combat value and that Tactic Point spend. The Pirate rolls at +1 due to its combat value.

And we both roll 10. Looking at the chart that results in 3 damage for me and 4 for them. Since we’re both CV 2, that means we can each take 2 hits before we explode. So we both explode.

I lose a ship, but I gain a tech marker for the loss of a CV, I get 3Billion of the Pirate’s ransom money (it always starts at 5 and the winner takes half) as well as a Politics and Victory marker. I call that a fair trade.

2084: Now I can launch my robots without fear, so off they both go, I put the satellite on the LV-3 so it gets there a little faster.

2085: I Resupply Leonav to go Mine some Asteroids after a brief stop getting Supplies on Mir last year. I guess nothing else happened this year. Lots of Transfers.

2086: Risking going over my limit to get another robot out there, 3 Billion for another Satellite, I wager one will break before decade’s end. I still have a lot of money, so I get Volkov (which is the same ship as Komarov, with a different name) and a Probe. LV-1 fails the recovery roll, but the newly hailed Volkov finds Hematite on Luna!

MUCH better for mining Ore. Zasdyka gets a depletion on Europa as it’s moving past Jupiter on its way to Saturn; Leonav harvests that Asteroid, getting 3 Fuel (Asteroids are mined just like any other site, but what you actually earn is rolled on a chart. Then the Asteroid goes away and you earn a Victory Marker).

2087: Nothing has broken, so let’s get some supplies up to Vostok on Mars. Spend 8 Billion on Redna & 5 Billion on Ore, Fuel and Supplies. It launches toward Mars, and Leonov gets in behind it with its Fuel garnered from the Asteroid. I get my first Depletion on a comet (Physics seems to have a smaller ratio of 3s and 5s), as well as another depletion on Hygeia.

2088: Only 2 Billion left now, but no real plans for it. Tsunder Satellite rolls a 01 on its first outing near the sun. In sympathy Zasyadka shuts off BUT it gets a Depletion on Saturn! Mission accomplished. AND I rolled a 03 on the Search for Life! And Saturn has a 2% chance….SO CLOSE! The next Mission I draw is for Jupiter.

2089: I spend the last 2 Bill on a Space Telescope to make up for the lost Satellites. Koslov Asteroid Belt Orbiter turns off. So does the Hygeia rover, finally. See? I knew I wouldn’t go over on having too many RE’s in play. Vostok now has Research Station and Mining Colony (not built on the same turn).

2090: Another Immigration event! Shame I didn’t build a settlement on Vostok yet. So Mir gains 2 more Settlements, bringing it up to 5. I get 46 Billion in cash. I also get 12 Biology from the two Reserach Stations. Nice. No NPF Base (but there would have been one in 2100), nor a Pirate, nor an Asteroid. I have 27 Physics, 35 Engineering and 35 Biology. I get Ultra Heavy Launch Vehicles (can build LV4s), Advanced Life Support (can move humans 2 “spaces” away from a supply station!) and Fusion Fragment Engines (.07 transfer multiplyer) & Fighter Drones.

For Policy I get Space Diplomacy to get an extra Diplomacy marker at the beginning of every decade. I think of it as getting a free 2 tech points.

I have now caught up again to where I actually am in play, and this seems like a lot of words (ha!), so I’ll end this post here. This game is vastly different than my last, where I played Japan which has superior Robot technology, so I wasn’t using humans and bases nearly as much. This is completely different way of thinking about what I’m doing. Neat!

Looking forward to getting humans in the Asteroid belt. And if I get a Supply Station there, to Jupiter! And Terraforming Europa is a possibility!

Huzzah!