It’s been a slow but steady road out to deep space. I’m spreading my wings and getting a few hundred people living on the surface of Mars and now have the technology to get people able to explore the Asteroid belt. And I’ve only been playing 60 years of humanity’s future!

But for now it is 2090 and I’ve got work to do. Lots of work. 2145 doesn’t seem so far away, and there’s a small possibility that the game could be over then, and I’m no where close to the point threshold of a victory (or even that Draw that I’m desperately fighting for), so I need to hop to and get those Missions done and get more Settlements out there…and also get those Settlements farther from Earth.

One step during the beginning of the decade that I haven’t mentioned yet, mainly because I’ve failed the roll every time so far, is that for each Settlement, for every multiple of 10 on the Size, it’ll grow another 1, and for each fraction of 10, if you roll less than that on a d10, it’ll grow another 1. Of course, Mir and Vostok have not grown due to this yet, even with Mir at Size 6. Because the dice don’t like me? I guess?

That’s okay, Settlements around Earth aren’t worth nearly as many points as the ones on Mars, or, better yet, even farther away. So I want to get those up and running as quickly as possible.

So I spend 5 Billion on a Rover and a Probe for that Ceres mission, 3 Billion for another Jupiter Orbiter and a size 2 Launch Vehicle to Launch it. With my new technology, it’s only going to take me 1 year to get my craft out to the Asteroid belt with an oversized launcher, and 3 years to Jupiter. Nice. Leonov fails its Recall roll mining Phobos for Ore this time. Hrmph.

2091: Spend 6 Billion to load Renda up to supply Mir with…um…Supplies. Volkov leaves Luna to head for Mars. Leonov delivers its 1 Ore to Vostok. Kliper is unable to complete its mission and must return home…or to a nearby supply station, at least. The Probe on Ceres gives middling results.

2092: No money gets spent as I need to see what happens first. Volkov now flies out to the Main Asteroid belt. Time starts to become an issue as most of the turn is watching things in Transfer Orbits.

2093: Spend 6 Billion for Ore & Supplies for Renda to give to Mir. The LV-2 fails the Recovery roll when it launches Renda. That’s a pricey failure. Two ships dock at Mir to be resupplied. Jupiter Orbiter draws a 5! and breaks immediately. But hey, Mission successful. I draw Mercury as my new mission. And a World Card on a Gas Giant!

2094: Kliper and Leonov get Resupplied without landing on Earth, saving me a bundle on Launch costs! I spend 3 billion on a Mercury Orbiter. I watch as things float through space.

2095: Spend another 6 Billion worth of Resources on Renda for Mir. And an immediate Depletion on Mercury! Woot! New mission Vesta. Sticking to the Asteroid Belt. No problems there. Except my Ceres Rover dies. But not before completing that Mission! Double Woot! I may not be able to keep these Mission chits, but I get Victory chits instead, and the Diplomacy chits are nice as well. New Mission: Sedna. Oof. That’s a long road out to the Kuiper Belt.

It’s starting to look busy in this neck of the woods!

2096: I spend 3 Billion on a Sedna Orbiter and Probe. With an extra big boost from a larger Launch Vehicle, it’ll get there in 10 years. I actually had to do some math and multiply 15 times .07 on some paper to find the answer of 10.5, round up to 11 and subtract 1 to get that answer. I should use a slide rule for accuracy.

Or get a Kerbal to do it for MY kind of accuracy.

Oh no! Kliper’s Engine’s fail on its way to the Asteroid Belt! A 2% chance!

UN freaking BELIEVEABLE! Leonov’s Engine’s fail on its way to Mars! A ONE PERCENT CHANCE!

Volkov fails its Resupply roll too. A bad day for humanity in space. On the plus side, I get to draw a bunch of concillatory Biology markers. On the downside, I just lost 2 CVs due to shit die rolls. Oof. 2096. Not a good year.

2097: 10 Billion gets me a new Leonov. Mir Builds a Komarov. That’s right a fresh space ship without spending a dime using resources in space. Yes, I believe 100% of those resources were brought there from Earth…but some of them could have come from Mining…maybe. Not much happens that year, oh wait, I got another depletion on Mercury. So that’s something!

2098: Some things move. Leonov mines some Supplies from Phobos.

2099: The Mercury Orbiter finally breaks, but gets another depletion first! What a trooper!

2100: Another Survey Error Event. Huh. So this happens randomly:

During Diplomacy Japan drops to Neutral. Hrmph. You see, at the beginning of the Diplomacy phase, all NPFs have a chance to “regress toward the mean (neutral)”. You roll a die and on a 1-7 that country associated with that number will move toward Neutral. So far I’ve rolled 8+, which is why I haven’t said anything yet. This time I rolled a 1, so Japan decides to get a little grumpy.

So I spend 2 Diplomacy markers (I have quite a few this time) and try to get Japan and the EU as friends…and both say No.

I roll my eyes and continue.

I get my money and get no NPF bases or pirates or asteroids.

For tech I get 25 Physics, 30 Engineering and 31 Biology. I buy Exploration Concepts (+3 to Science rolls for humans!), Fusion Rockets (x.06 transfer times!) and Frigates (bigger ships!). I also get an Unified Human Policy so I can have the maximum amount of humans in space at once. I’m currently at that limit and I don’t have to pay any fees or anything.

These are the things I can build now:

I expect to not be shipping as many resources from Earth now as I can mine a whole lot more. Bully!

Okay, so I Resupply Volkov on Mir (yay for not having to land and relaunch!), then spend 17 Billion on Gagarin and a Launch Vehicle to get that thing into the air…and then out of the air into space. Then 6 Billion to load up Renda with resources…then another 6 Billion to load up Gagarin with Resources. I launch them both toward Mars. Leonov Mines Phobos.

2101: 4 Billion for Zasdayka and I immediately launch it into the Sun like I’m Superman. The Launch vehicle fails, but okay. Renda & Gregarin land on Vostok. It builds a Small Spaceport. Zasdayka goes off course and crashes into the Sun. Leonov mines 2 Ore.

2102: So I buy a new damn Zasdayka and launch it TOWARD the Sun instead of into it. Leonov delivers mined Ore to Vostok. And then the freaking thing crashes into the Sun again! *sigh* But at least I now have the first Settlement on Vostok. Humans living on Mars!

2103: I buy a third Sun Satellite. I’m not even naming them anymore. I buy a Rover, too, because I need Science. Komarov fails its Recall roll on Vesta, but it succeeds its Mission! Aaaannnnd I didn’t write down what the new mission was. Uh oh. I guess we’ll infer that when I complete another Mission? Leonov mines 2 Fuel and Gagarin mines 2 Supplies.

2104: I’m down to 2 Billion already, so I chill out on Earth. The unnamed Satellite not only succeeds, but gets a Sun Depletion! The Telescope also gets a Depletion on Titan!

2105: A Venus Depletion as the Satellite had moved on past the Sun! Go unnamed Satellite! Well, the Telescope breaks down, bringing balance to the universe.

2106: Komarov resupplies at Vostok. Oh my, that Orbiter I launched YEARS ago finally is Orbiting Sedna! Leonov lands and delivers 2 Fuel and Ore to Vostok so it can increase its Settlement size. The Probe on Sedna would let me draw 2 Science chits on an 8 or less….I roll a 10. No Depletion. Gagarin has a full bay of Supplies, uses it to build a base called Tselina on Ceres. Livin’ it up Expanse style!

2107: Spend 2 Billion on Ore & Fuel for new base which I’ll be able to transport at some point. Vesta must have been my new mission, because I succeed this year! New mission is Callisto…which I need to do with Humans. Arg. Guess Tselina will need to be a Supply station as I can’t get humans out to Jupiter yet.

2108: Volkov fails Recall roll, but gets 2 draws resulting in another Depletion. Satellite gets another depletion…bully! Komarov also poops out. Sedna Orbiter also fails without getting Mission success. *sad trombone*

2109: Jupiter Orbiter fails; Ganymede depletion from passing Satellite…that thing is killing it! Leonov fails recall roll when mining. I scrap Redna at Tselina to build a small Supply Station there.

2110: Yet another Survey Error! Turns out the Water found on Triton was wrong, and is now replaced with Cratered Surface. Hrmph. No Diplomacy changes this turn. Vostok produces 4 fuel, all resources from Mir transported to Tselina. First NPF base on Mercury!

Solar radiation making it blurry. It’s a Chinese base (chosen randomly) and I can buy 2 Fuel for 1 Billion. Because I’m at Free Trade with China, I can do that up to 4 times. Considering my biggest cargo tank is 6 right now, that seems reasonable.

Oh hey, a Pirate shows up around Mercury, too. Guess they smelled profits! An Asteroid shows up around Earth, and another around Mars.

I end with 23 Biology, 36 Physics and 40 Engineering. I get Advanced Space Operations to get my Recall Roll percentage down to 25%. I get Advanced Space Weapons and Advanced Quantum Computing, lowering my Malfunction Rate to 18% and getting +2 to all RE Science traits. Finally Combat & Control because….well, because. Finally choose a Vigarous Space Settlement Policy because clearly I need a lot of bases to keep creeping out toward Jupiter.

So I spend 12 Billion to build Tereshkova on Earth, and 4 Billion for a Satellite & Probe to send out to Sedna…again. Oh, 5 Billion in Settlement supplies as well. Gotta keep shipping those people off of the planet. We’re full.

Well the LV-1 broke launching the Satellite, so we’re starting off great, but it’s off on the decade long ride out to the Kuiper belt. Tselina builds its Large Supply Station and Vostok gets another Settlement. Points, baby!

2111: 2 Billion for a Space Telescope. Cheap way to get a little science trickling in, right? Also have to spend 2 Bill on a launcher since the other broke last year. 4 Billion for a Mimas Rover to get some more Science. Got another launcher to get everything in space at once. Good thing, too, because one didn’t survive lift off. 25% rate of failure on recovery rolls is higher than it seems.

Volkov, Komarov & Leonov get Unreserved at Vostok. Nice that they don’t have to come back to Earth any more. Not even to Mir. Leonov goes to mine that new Earth Asteroid, the other two ships head to Jupiter as now they can since Vostok has a good enough Supply station to, um, Supply them. Gregarin goes to mine the Martian Asteroid.

Oh, the telescope breaks after one picture. Awesome.

2112: 8 Billion for Titov. If you remember, that’s the CV-3 that’s made for combat. I make it for Pirate hunting!. Leonov manages to get 4 Fuel from its Asteroid. Gregarin gets 3 Fuel, but fails its Recall roll. Still, you get a Victory token each time you mine an Asteroid, so that’s okay. I also find this strange device under a water fall. When I touch it, it gives forth a sound. It’s got wires that vibrate and give music. What can this be that I found?

Did you really think I wouldn’t put a Rush joke in the 2112 entry?

ANYWAY

2113: Titov is unable to find the dreaded Pirates, space is big. Tereshkova fails Recall roll getting supplies from the Asteroid Belt. There’s something else noted here, but I can’t read my handwriting. I was probably shaking from my laughter at the stupid 2112 joke. Sorry about that. I guess you can blame all the blurriness of my photos on Moving Pictures as well.

HA!

Come for the gaming stories, stay for the Prog Rock puns!

2114: Leonov sells that 4 Fuel mined from the Asteroid for 8 Billion dollars. The Earth economy tanks. Game over.

Oh wait. Never mind. Though that is an interesting thought experiment. We do manage to get an asteroid into Earth orbit and we suddenly have access to Trillions of dollars of metals that were rare. What happens?

Anyway.

I buy some Ore to build up the Vostok Settlement. Still no combot as the dice are not being kind. A settlement is created on Ceres. More people in that tin can.

2115: Gregarin and Tereshkova are Unreserved. Spend 8 Billion on Renda & load it with 2 of each Resource to send to Tselina. The Pirate finds Titov, but with my technological upper hand, it only has 2 Tactic points, so it can’t run! Sadly the combat roll has him rolling a 10 and me rolling a 5, so we each do 3 damage to each other. Two simultaneous explosions in space.

In Science news, I had two double chit draws with human crews, on Calliso and Io, which means if those chits added up to 3, they would count as depletions. They were both double 1’s. Hrmph. To add insult to injury, Gregarin fails its Recall roll again mining supplies. But at least Vostok is now up to 5 Settlements!

We break for a quick picture since I apparently hadn’t taken one in a while. Look how busy the Solar System is now. All those World Cards out now! Stuff in space!

You can see the World Card discard pile is almost twice the height of the draw pile. I’ve been a busy boy!

2116: My Rover finally lands on Dione & Rhea (I guess it lands on one of them, but the card shows both…so let’s just say Dione). Hey, my Callisto mission is a success! The next mission is Titan….with Humans. (These missions have “CV” listed next to them, meaning the Depletion is required to be done by a CV crew). Io also gets a Depletion. Jupiter is being generous. Tselina’s settlement gets bigger.

2117: I break Renda down for scrap as resources are more important than money out in space. Gagarin gets Unreserved out at Tselina. Spend 2 Bill on a Space Telescope. Komarov fails its Recall Roll. I get another Depletion on Io and a lot of successful mining rolls.

2118: Nothing much important, but the telescope gets a Depletion on a far off shot of Proteus waaayyyy out there.

2119: 5 Billion is spent on 2 Ore, 2 Supplies and 1 Fuel for the Transportation phase during the beginning of the next decade. Volkv fails its Recall roll. My Probe arrives at Sedna and gets a successful Depletion! New Mission: Mercury.

2120: New Event: Immigration.

Okay, it looks like I’m getting the same events over and over again. I SWEAR there are 21 different events on this chart, I’m just rolling the same ones! I’m sorry! This is what random means!

Anyway, North America drops to Neutral, but I get them and Japan back up to Free Trade agreements. A Chinese base appears in the Asteroid belt. Not bad. If I’m hurting for money, I can sell them my Ore.

However, a new Pirate appears around Jupiter AND Saturn. Yuck.

I get 22 Engineering, 23 Biology and 48 Physics. Bomber Drones, Space Habitation and Matter Energy Conversion (I can now buy Physics points for cold hard cash). I also use Diplomacy and cash to get Space Flight as well to get out to Saturn.

Vostok Settlement grows on its own, and I choose Vigorous Space Diplomacy to get more chits to get more Science.

I Unreserve Komarov on Tseling and spend 8 Billion on Titov to go Pirate Hunting as well as 3 Billion on a Mercury Orbiter for that Mission. THe LV-4 Launcher doesn’t get recovered. But Dione gets Depleted, and I’m able to get another Settlement on Tselina. More VPs!

2121: 8 Billion to get Renda back and 6 Billion to load it up with Supplies. Also get a LV-2 launcher to get it out to Jupiter quickly. Well, quicker. I also unreserve a lot of ships at Tselina. Ceres is hopping! Komarov finds the larger Pirate and gets 4 Tactics Points. Spend 1 for Direct Fire, and 2 to Reduce Damage to itself by 1. I get to roll 1d10 + 5 versus their roll of 1d10 + 3. I roll a 9 and they roll a 10. Yikes. I do 4 damage, and he does 3, but minus 1 for my Tactics, so 2. Sadly Komarov can only take 2, so we both explode.

Tselina builds a Small Spaceport.

2122: 8 Billion to rebuild Komarov on Earth. I realize Mercury has +2 for Crewed Exploration, so I’ll send them down the solar Gravwell and get that “easy” mission that way. Titov needed to wait for a Spaceport around Jupiter before it could go to Saturn, and sadly fails a Recall roll before I could get it out there since I didn’t want it just taking up space. Oops.

2123: Leonov deposits its goods in Vostok, loads up 4 Supplies to take to Tselina. The Mercury Orbiter breaks (it needed a 4 or less to find anything anyway). Increased the Settlement size on Vostok.

2124: Volkov fails Recall roll, but gets a Depletion on Io. But hey, I have yet another Base now: Zastara built on Calliso! Renda’s parts are going to be used to further build up this new shiney base.

2125: 4 Billion for a new Flyby Satellite that I launch toward the Sun. Because science. I land Leonov on Tselina and load it up on Ore and Fuel. Komarov and Gagarin fail their Recall rolls. I hate it when it happens to multiple ships at the same time.

2126: 8 Billion for a new Renda at home, with 3 Fuel and 3 Ore on it (14 Bill total). Another Dione Depletion from my little Rover there who has been hard at work.

2127: Another Dione Depletion! My Flyby Satellite poops out around Venus. Ah well.

2128: 2 Billion to Resupply Komarov, then it’s right back to Mercury for you, young man! Enceledus Depletion. Titov fails its Recall roll again. It’s so close to be able to get to Saturn.

2129: Renda lands at Zastara and dismantles itself. Mercury Mission is complete! It’s 2 points, but hey, it’s something! And Mercury now has a big ol’ 0 on it, so no more Science possible. New Mission is Chariklo…also with humans. And that’s round Uranus. Oi. The Dione Rover finally shuts off, but it did some fine work. Zastara now has a Large Supply Station.

Quite a collection of bases I have going on here!

2130: New Event! (Told you). Research Strikes. Yuck. Halve all Research gains of bases & damage each Research base by one (you see that in the picure above). So both the Research stations will permanently give -1 Research unless I spend Ore to fix them. Blah.

China drops to Neutral. But then I get both China & the EU (finally) up to Free Trade. 53 Billion produced. NPF Base on Europa (Japanese this time), another Pirate around Saturn, and one around Uranus. Asteroid appears around Earth and in the Asteroid belt….ironically. Even with the Research strike, I manage to cobble together 26 Biology, 40 Engineering and 50 Physics. I get Space Refining (-1 to mining rolls), Practical Anti-Matter and Trade Routes (cost me 10 Billion, but worth it) and finally Destroyers so I can build these:

They have drone fighters on them and those Pirates won’t know what hit them. They’re also worth more points at end game. Unfortunately without Space Elevators, I have to build them at a base, so it takes work (and a lot of Resources).

Vostok and Tselina both grow a size on their own, and I get a Vigorous Space Economics Policy because…why not? I’m running out of things to pick (The military track is pretty pointless in solo games).

I spend 8 Bill for Renda in what seems like a vicious cycle, with 6 Bill to make Tselina a Large Spaceport. Titov is resupplied and ready to head out to Saturn. Volkov goes with it for good luck. 4 Billion for a Rover to head to Titan so I can get some Biology tech with the end goal for Terraforming Callisto for VP.

LV-2 fails recovery roll on launch. Tselina Settlement is increased in size. Zastava now has a Small Spaceport.

2131: Titov and Volkov look for Pirates. Now this is 2 ships looking for 2 ships, which are easier to find. Technically, that makes it +1 for each side to find the other, for a net +2, so we will find each other on a 6 or less. I roll a 4 for them and a 7 for me. With all my tech, they only get 1 TP for that, so combat begins. You can only do combat with one pirate at a time (I guess the other one leaves its friend to die like a coward…awesome). I get +7 to my roll, it gets +3. We both roll 8. 4 Damage to him, 3 Damage to me. I spread my damage among my two ships, leaving them both barely standing and with another Pirate to deal with. Uh oh.

Komarov checks out Venus and gets a Depletion, but fails its Recall roll. Zastraya now has a Large Spaceport. It can build my CV-5’s!

And apparently Mir needs to check its lights, it’s going Super Nova!

2132: Gagarin (you can see in the above picture) gets unreserved and takes off for the Earth Asteroid. Tereshkova takes off for the Mars Asteroid. Do my two damaged ships get into more combat? I actually try to get them back to base before combat happens, but the Pirate spots me and I only get 1 Tactic Point, so escaping is not possible. I only have +4 to his +3. Here’s hoping for kind dice. I roll 10, they roll 4. Phew. 1 Damage to me, 4 to him. Hooray! Volkov gets destroyed, though, but the Pirate goes too!

2133: I use some of that Pirate Loot to buy a new Flyby Satellite. I rebuy Volkov and a Launcher to launch it. I’m aiming for the Sun again to see how far it’ll go. I send Volkov toward Saturn directly. Titov tries to complete the Chariklo mission, and fails its Recall roll. Oh well, worth a shot. It was damaged so was -2 to everything. Tereshkova mines 3 Ore from the Asteroid Belt Asteroid. I build a Small Mining station on Zastrava to get at that Subterranean Water, which will be important for later Terraforming.

2134: Unreserve Komarov and break Renda down again. Spend 3 Bill on an Orbiter. My Space Telescope turns off, getting me a little bit of Science over the years, including a Depletion on Mimas this year. Thanks! I increase Zastrava’s Mining station to a Large Mining Station.

2135: Leonov gets Unreserved at Tselina. Komarov gets an Earth Depletion. I almost forgot you can actually do Science while Orbiting Earth. It only has a value of 3 and can only be done by CV’s, but hey, it’s right freaking there. And I want Bio tech! Gagarin gets 4 Fuel from the Earth Asteroid. Zastava gets its first Settlement.

2136: Titov is repaired at Tselina for 2 Ore. Then I get Vapor lock…I probably stare at the board for 10 minutes then just go to the move phase because I can’t figure out what to do. The Reserved Leonov goes to Sutakata, the Japanese Base on Europa to buy Fuel. Komarov fails Recall roll. Titan Mission is a Success! I find Frozen Methane there. Nice. Rover also succeeds there. The new Mission is a CV Mission….on Pluto. Yeah. That’s gonna wait a while.

2137: No bases with Ore & Fuel on them at the same time right now. I need to fix that. I spend 2 Billion on Europa to get 4 Fuel on Leonov. I get another Depletion on Titan.

2138: Titov Unreserves at Zastrava. Komarov Unreserves on Earth. Volkov hopped over to Hyperion and Depleted that. Good work!

2139: Dismantled Komarov for 4 Billion dollars to use to buy Physics points next year. Leonov Unreserves. Move Tereshkova to Sell Ore at the Chinese base in the Belt to buy even MORE Physics points! Get another Dione Depletion.

2140: Only 5 years until the first End of Game check! Event: Publicity Campaign.

I swear, 21 Events!

I choose Chariklo to make it easier to finish that mission. EU Goes back to Neutral, and I don’t care as 1 Billion isn’t much of a difference at the beginning of the decade, and they don’t have any bases to trade. Mir gets 7 Biology, Vostok gets 8 Supplies and Zastroya makes 6 Supplies. I transport through Trade Routes 10 Supplies from Mars to Callisto. Ganymede now has an Indian Base where I can sell Fuel for 2 Billion a piece. Pirates at Mars and Jupiter. Asteroid at Venus and Saturn. 13 Physics, 26 Engineering and 57 Biology total. I buy Terraforming and Nanotechnology with a little help from Political Markers. I use the last of my Political Markers to get Closed Cycle Life Support. I then spend 17 Billion to get Advanced Anti-Matter (x.04 Transfer Rate!). Mir and Tseling Settlement grows on its own.

And now I’m in the 2140s. I officially start rolling to see if the game is over in 5 years. I should have about 20 years of gameplay left, but who knows, it could be as short as 5. I have to get Callisto Terraformed quickly if I want those points, and I need to get as many Settlements on it as possible. I also need to get a metric boatload of technologies discovered in 2150 to not get penalized as I’m not assured to make it to 2160. Then again, I’m not assured to make it to 2160 so..

Oh well, we’re in a race to the end here. ’till next time!