hf4a mars speedrun
Lets go to Mars! This is a recorded playthrough of High Frontier 4 All, which I’ve played a few times. It’s a complicated and serious game, but at the same time I find it to be a very silly storytelling device. Because of that, I have been wanting to show what it’s like to play the game and share the adventures I’m experiencing!
The scenario that we will be playing is one of my own making, which I’ll call Mars Speedrun for now.
Info
There is actually a scenario in the Race for Glory rulebook bearing a similar name, Race to Mars, which is why I didn’t call my custom scenario that.
Mars Speedrun is a modification of the Altruism scenario, played with the Core Ruleset. In particular, there will be no time limit and no scoring. However, I will evaluate myself based on how quickly I can complete these two goals:
- Take a human crew to Mars and back
- Industrialize Mars
In these recorded playthroughs, I’ll focus less on explaining the rules (except when relevant) and focus more on sharing what I’m thinking as I play and doing a little bit of role-playing along the way.
solar cycle 1
I draw a crew at random, ending up with the ESA Space Unionists. We’re playing the Altruism scenario, so I actually start with 6 more aqua than usual for a total of 12 aqua. That sure feels like a lot, but I’m sure we’ll spend it all in a jiffy! Union work is good work, but it can be expensive.
year 1
I don’t know how I got hired, but during my first year on job, I am eager to land a crew quickly on Mars to prove myself. While looking at the available patents, the thruster/reactor combo looks pretty nice. The thruster cannot benefit from my Powersat faction privilege, but it’s light and it would allow me to cruise to Mars with a significantly lower burn cost.
However, I can’t resist the refinery — it’s one of the lightest in the game, at only 2 mass. I decide to pick that one up instead, just in case the first event of the game is an inspiration event.
At the end of the year, the world is thrown into chaos and I lose my Powersat faction privilege. I don’t know whether to read this as an omen or not…
year 2
Now that I have a refinery, I’m thinking that I should bring it to Mars. The spacecraft can move as I spend actions acquiring funding and buying up more of the necessary patents, and multiple lighter loads is usually easier to manage than trying to bring over a refinery, a robonaut, and all of the necessary supports in one trip thanks to the tyranny of the rocket equation. So, I decide to buy the thruster and reactor combo that I was eyeing earlier.
year 3
- Season Yellow
- Income: +1
- Budget Cut: -CG106F
As we enter a new Season, order is restored to the world and I re-aquire the powersat privilege, though I don’t plan on using it.
Although I would like to keep acquiring patents, I have too many of them now! I’ve reached the academia hand limit (I2a). I’ll have to sell something. I want to use the thruster, reactor, and refinery, so I could sell the generator patent. However, it’s budget cut season and selling the generator patent would mean that I would no longer have a card I don’t want. So, I decide to take income instead.
And thank goodness I did, because a budget cut did indeed happen. Management insists I increase efficiency, so I end the Cascade Photovoltaic CG106F program.
year 4
I have enough aqua to boost all of my parts into space, but I’m still lacking a radiator for my rocket setup.
I would like to get extra cards to either sell or sacrifice when budget cuts happen again, but there aren’t any cards that require two supports so the most I can pick up this turn is two cards. The next best thing, I figure, is to pick up a card that will also give me a radiator.
I want the generator, as it’s a light one at only 2 mass, so I opt for the reactor instead. This might seem counter-intuitive, but I want generator and it can’t get cut from the budget if it’s not in my hand!
year 5
Season Red is quickly approaching, and I’d like to drop the refinery off at Mars before the increased solar activity starts up. I decide to boost all of my parts, except for the extra reactor patent I got, and load the rocket with 2 fuel tanks — just enough to barely arrive at Mars.
I opt to not bring the crew along, since I don’t want them to get stuck on Mars and it would make the trip more expensive. Hopefully none of the electronics glitch!
I have the spacecraft embark immediately, passing through the cycler, the radiation belt, and GEO without breaking a sweat. Even though I rolled 6 for the radiation belt hazard, with a thrust of 5 I’m travelling fast enough that nothing is damaged. I park the spacecraft on a Hohmann intersection just outside of L2, so I can travel to Mars next turn.
year 6
- Free Market: +3 -CX080F
- Movement: Land on Mars, arsia mons caves; -4 for FINAO
My spaceship will need to aerobrake onto Mars, but I don’t have enough money for a FINAO. So, I need to sell something. Thankfully, I still have the reactor that I didn’t want, so I sell that.
I move my spacecraft to Mars’s L2, do another burn, and arrive at LMO. Now that I have exactly enough money, I can also aerobrake and pay the FINAO cost to avoid having to do a hazard roll. I’ve successfully landed on Mars with a completely empty fuel tank and with no money left over! Hooray?
year 7
Error
When I played this game originally, I realized after finishing year 6 that I had forgotten to pay the aqua for transferring fuel into the rocket in year 5. I happened to have exactly enough aqua for everything I did, so I corrected year 5 accordingly. However, I failed to update year 6 to say I had no aqua left and then I played year 7 as if I had 2 aqua!
Now, I need to figure out how to get a robonaut and a generator up there. Thankfully, there’s a very light robonaut currently available, so I pick that up. It also comes along with a generator, but it requires an X reactor.
Normally, X reactors are rare. In this case, there happens to be one in the market right now but I’m completely out of money so don’t think I’ll have the time to pick it up.
year 8
- Free Market: +3 CG114F
I am completely out of cash, so I sell the generator.
year 9
I still need a generator in order to industrialize, so I pick up the generator currently in the market, along with a radiator and reactor. I’m now completely out of money again!
This time I have plenty of technologies to sell though, so hopefully I can drum up the funds I need.
year 10
- Free Market: +3 -CD098F
I need to sell patents in order to boost my parts into LEO, and of the cards I have in hand, I don’t need the Bubble Membrane CD092F. However, I like it more than the radiator I currently have on Mars. Even though the rad hardness is lower, it’s also lighter. I can make up the rad hardness if needed by using the afterburner on the thruster to travel faster through radiation belts.
So, I take this time to reorganize my stacks. I decommission anything that isn’t needed for industrialization at Mars and then sell the Mo/Li Heat Pipe CD098F.
year 11
- Season Blue
- Free Market: +3 -CX086F
- Anarchy
In order to boost all of the parts I currently have in hand, I would need 4 aqua. But I realize now that I don’t strictly need the Penning Trap CX086F reactor. I would only need it if I would like to use the thruster to leave mars. However, I don’t need to do this, as I could simply use the crew thruster to get back home, and I need money more right now.
I decide to sell it. I also lose my faction privilege again due to unrest, but I didn’t plan on using it so I should be fine.
year 12
It’s time to build that rocket again! I boost everything I have into LEO to build the rocket. It’s surprisingly cheap this time, as my rocket is very light, at only 2 Dry Mass.
This time, my craft is so light that it’s actually cheaper to do a lander burn than to pay for a FINAO. But switching the thruster to do a lander burn would take an extra turn and I don’t want to wait! It’s already been twelve years and I want that factory on mars yesterday! I load two tanks of fuel and set off. The radiation belt again poses no danger even though I roll a 6, travelling through with no damage and arriving safely at the Hohmann intersection.
solar cycle 2
year 13
I don’t have enough money for a FINAO, so I may as well acquire cards to sell later. I don’t really care what I get, so I pick up patents more or less at random.
Error
I forgot to pay the auction cost. I should have no aqua left after the auction, but I continue play as if I still have 2 aqua.
I am short money for a FINAO, but I’m in a hurry! What could go wrong? How are you going to set speedrun records without a little bit of risk? I roll for the aerobrake hazard and… well, damn. I rolled a 1. My entire rocket disintegrates in the atmosphere and the crew dies.
year 14
- Free Market: +3 -CB060F
Well, not ponying up the money to pay for a FINAO was pretty bad actually. The families of the six astronauts on board are pretty upset with me, and public outcry is putting the program under scrutiny.
Even on the financial side of things, I thought taking a risk would be okay, since the boost cost was only 2 aqua. But this sets me back quite a bit more than I expected. I have to boost, refuel, and travel all over again, and I still need to scrounge up the money for a FINAO!
Info
Always pay your developers!
It’s time to start saving up money again… I sell another card.
year 15
Ah, it’s budget cut season again. I want to sell the extra reactor I have, but I don’t want to lose any parts of my spacecraft. So, instead I’m taking the time to boost all the parts again. At least it’s cheap!
As I feared, my budget was cut at the end of the year. I can only imagine that this must be the punishment for the loss of human life in my last endeavor.
year 16
Well, I don’t have any cards to sell, so I need to pick up cards. I again select patents at random. I decide to take the Flywheel Tractor CB059F, as it has a lower mass than the MET Steamer CB062F that is currently in my rocket. However, the robonaut I already have in the rocket is adequate for prospecting Mars so I just pocket the cards to sell later.
year 17
I sell one of the cards, and now I have enough to set off! The radiation belt again poses no danger even though I roll a 5, and I arrive safely once again at the Hohmann intersection.
This is a pretty good position for me. Next turn, I can sell my last patent so that I have enough money to pay the developers for a FINAO. But, just as I’m thinking that, my budget is cut once again! Noooooo!!!
year 18
- Income: +1
- Movement: To LMO
Well, it’s about to be Season Red. During Season Red, it can actually be dangerous to stay in space because a solar flare can really mess things up. The radiator would easily be destroyed as it only has a rad hardness of 1. Thankfully, I don’t need the radiator to land or industrialize. However, the next lowest rad hardness I have is 4. This means if a solar flare happens and I roll a 6, the crew and the robonaut could be decommissioned. This would be a huge setback for me, especially considering how I’ve already failed to land on Mars once.
However, in order for a solar flare event to happen in the first place, I would also need to roll a 5 or a 6. I think it’s safer for me to wait until I have a FINAO than to risk an aerobrake without one. So, I decide to stop the rocket at LMO.
I decide to take income, since getting 2 money in two turns is the same as getting a card and then selling it.
year 19
Error
When playing, I forgot to take an income action to get the last aqua needed for a FINAO.
I finally pay the software developers the money to do a FINAO, and the crew safely aerobrakes onto Mars! I immediately have them prospect the site, which succeeds.
Info
The crew does the prospecting, not the robonaut. The robonaut can’t do the prospecting because the required radiator support is missing.
year 20
- Industrialize: Mars, arsia mons caves
Now that the site has been prospected, we can industrialize Mars and place a factory.
Info
I would normally need 3 therms of cooling to make this chain operational, but you don’t need to provide therms for industrialization. This is because the night side of the planet provides all the cooling needed for industrialization. (I7g)
year 21
Now that the factory is built, I can use it to quickly refuel the rocket on Mars. I also decommission all of the other rocket parts to make it lighter.
However, this is not enough fuel to get back home if we’re intending on using the crew rocket to move the entire way in one movement. It’s also currently Season Red. I also don’t even have any money for a FINAO! So, I decide to keep the crew on the relative safety of Mars’s surface for now.
year 22
- Movement: To Hohmann
- Free Market: +3 -CB062F
Although it’s still Season Red, there shouldn’t be any more solar flares so it should be safe to travel now. I have the rocket burn to the hohmann intersection and wait.
In the meantime, I need to collect enough money to pay for a FINAO. So, I sell the robonaut.
year 23
- Season Blue
- Free Market: +3 -CF069F
- Movement: To LEO; -4 for FINAO
- Space Debris: (unaffected)
I sell the Carbo-Chlorination CF069F refinery so that I have enough money for a FINAO.
Then, the rocket burns through GEO and the radiation belt. Throughout the entire game, the radiation belt has been consistently strong but this year it seems to finally be waning, as I rolled a 4. The radiation doesn’t matter much though, as the net thrust of the rocket is a much higher 13 and it hurtles through the radiation belt before aerobraking to LEO.
summary
This was a pretty short game! Unfortunately, I made quite a few errors in my play. It’s surprisingly difficult for me to keep track of my mental state while also trying to take thorough notes so that I can post a playthrough online — and especially when sleep deprived, as I was when I played this game.
I think it’s possible to reliably complete the Mars Speedrun scenario in less than two solar cycles, and perhaps close to one solar cycle if the conditions are perfect. Unfortunately, if I corrected all of the errors in this game I would have ended up completing the challenge in the third solar cycle. I’ll have to give the challenge another shot later.
I would like to think that this playthrough gives you a good idea of what the game is, but there’s so much more! For example, the game is quite slow at first as you assemble a working rocket, but the dynamic changes considerably as you ramps up production later in the game with the help of ET spaceship parts produced by your factories. I’ll have to do a longer playthrough sometime as well.
Thank you for reading along!