The Cold Equations

This is the fourth postal (PBM/PBeM) game of Star Trader GMed by Mike Dommett and published by Pevans in my postal games 'zine, To Win Just Once. This is the web version of the turn. Follow the link for an introduction to Star Trader.

Game End Statements

Previous reports: Turn 15 Turn 14 Turn 13 Turn 12 Turn 11 Turn 10 Turn 9 Turn 8 Turn 7 Turn 6 Turn 5 Turn 4 Turn 3 Turn 2 Turn 1 Start-up

I’ve put the Game End Statements in reverse order – this has to be rough, as the victory conditions vary between Corporations. My comments are in black.

Martin Jennings – McRADIE’S CREW - LASTISH

I found this game rather frustrating, McRadie’s Crew is very hard to play solo, and all my attempts at alliances were ignored.

McRadie’s has a great advantage, the fact that it can not undergo an inquiry, so it can do all the dirty tricks it wants to. Nobody seemed interested by this at all. Used correctly, you can actually take other corporations out of the game, with no threat to yourself.

It does cost a lot and you have to stay focussed.

I kept offering my services, even once I had no ships, but nobody was interested at all.

With no ships and no money, you could be ignored, possibly short-sightedly.

So at that point I lost all interest in the game.

Congratulations to Jerry, but all in all a game I will put behind me.

Przemyslaw Orwat - HOUSTON FEARLESS - FOURTHISH

Thank you all for the game play and congratulations to Jerry Elsmore (once again).

What should I say? This time I just overlooked the game start but discovered there is a game running just to takeover the dropped Houston Fearless on turn 6.

Since Mike did not decide to modify the rules concerning ‘pump and dump’ scheme (Mike, please do!), I had one ‘house rule’ for this game: No ‘pump and dump’ for Houston Fearless, only normal trade allowed.

The most exciting moment of the game was turn 11, when I proposed to Jerry Elsmore/Archangel Lines undertaking an ‘anti-piracy’ action aimed to end the McRadie threat. Nobody else was interested in participating in the strike. Having the best suited ship for such action (a Corco Iota hull built by the original Houston Fearless player), I decided to strike first and was lucky (the chance of success was 55%-75%, depending on McRadie’s tactics).

Though you did ask after the game what he had ordered – the 100% trust wasn’t there. Obviously you play games a lot.

The funniest things were McRadie’s threats and boasts published that turn—especially “As you can see, accidents happen” (sorry, Martin...). And the side effect was that the game was not as exciting thereafter. I will probably not do it any more.

It certainly took away the main threat to Archangel. But you had suffered at McRadie’s hands.

By the way, have you noticed that recently scientists have observed something resembling magnetic monopoles? See:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090903163725.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091007230321.htm

There was a similar article in the New Scientist, which I passed on to Pevans.

Now, we should only patiently wait for the hyperjump drive.

Pevans – EON FLASHCORP - THIRDISH

Playing the Corporations in Star Trader gives a real flavour to the game. As each has different victory conditions, you know there’ll be more to the game than just trading. McRadie’s Crew is a favourite, of course—victory points for blowing up ships! Still, as we saw in this game, McRadie doesn’t necessarily have the firepower to just blast his way to victory.

I am particularly impressed by Jerry’s win as I reckon Archangel Lines is tough. Shipping passengers means telling everybody just where your ships are going next turn and makes you really vulnerable to pirates. Like McRadie.

If he concentrates on them, or if he blockades planets where the passengers are being run between. But then that makes him vulnerable to interception by planetary defence forces.

I fancied taking on Eon Flashcorp as this Corporation is set up to be a smuggler—with a bit of legitimate trading on the side, of course. I thought I was doing well when the Agents I recruited fitted nicely with the smuggling strategy. What I hadn’t banked on was how much of a handicap it was not being able to take out a loan. Okay, Eon Flashcorp has a fair amount of cash to start with, but it doesn’t last long. I really wanted to take a loan after the first couple of turns.

There are so many opportunities but only the first lot of cash to live on.

The problem with the smuggling strategy is that you need streamlined hulls to make safe landings on planet. This restricts the number of pods on your ships. In turn, this limits your cargo- and passenger-carrying capacity. What you really need is the opportunity to smuggle Tempus, which doesn’t need space. I got one of these early on, which set me up nicely. One more could have given me the game.

Looking back, I was probably being too cautious—trying to make sure I didn’t lose a ship while landing on planet. Put the Agents and Battle Comm pod on separate ships and I could have pushed my luck with two smuggling flights. If things had gone my way, I coulda been a contender!

Agreed, you got close.

Michael Martinkat – MONOGRAM INDUSTRIES – SECONDISH

All I can say is those darn McRadie’s crew and the loss of my ships, otherwise I would have claimed sooner.

You definitely suffered disproportionately at his hands.

Jerry Elsmore- ARCHANGEL LINES – WINNER

Firstly, many thanks to Mike for running the game and putting up with all the questions! Secondly, thank you to the team that supported me throughout the game: Monogram Industries, for buying the Flute and for the tip off about Plague, Eon Flashcorp for the trades in News chits, McRadie’s Crew for going after Monogram Industries and Houston Fearless for the loan. Guys, I couldn’t have done it without you—thanks for a great game!

My thoughts entirely—though I’d add McRadie for not blockading Tau Ceti, and the same Corporation for waiting in system space with crippled ships for people to blow them away.

Archangel Lines wasn’t my first choice (Martin and Michael weren’t alone in wanting to be Pirates and Producers!), as I’d concentrated on shipping Passengers in Mission of Gravity, but at least that meant I had a notion of what to do. The plan was simple: sell the Flute, buy five Phoenix hulls and ship Passengers between Beta Hydri, Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti for four turns, pay off the loan, ship passengers for another four turns and it’ll all be over by Turn 10. Oh, and just pretend Pirates aren’t a problem and then it will never happen to me...

It nearly worked!

Archangel Lines’ Connection Levels were never going to let me see many News chits: talking to other Corporations and trading gossip paid off handsomely when Monogram Industries warned me about the Plague. I would have been totally scuppered if I’d attempted to ship Passengers and been prevented from doing so: the fine would have been a whopping 370 HT, I would have been unable to repay the loan and the resultant forced sale of ships would have effectively knocked me out of the game.

My main concern was McRadie’s Crew. There are a very limited number of good passenger routes and Archangel Lines’ movements were predictable as having six ships meant all of them were being used all of the time. I was on tenterhooks every turn and was greatly surprised and relieved that there was no attack until the 6th Quarter.

The loss of Zadkiel was compounded by a serious error in order checking and I was beginning to wonder if the end was in sight—losing another ship or two would have been terminal. A quarter is a long time in space and the next one presented an opportunity too good to miss—a defenceless B-Strike with Gabriel fully armed and raring to have a go.

News of the Psychic Jam came too late—the passengers were already loaded. Disaster was narrowly avoided thanks to the loan from Houston Fearless and the decision by McRadie’s Crew to switch targets. The loss in reputation for sabotage was insignificant compared to the damage caused to Monogram Industries’ chances of victory.

One might almost have paid for the damage yourself!

The destruction of A-Strike was the turning point: Archangel Lines committed all three fully armed ships to the attack, but thanks to great shooting by Houston Fearless, the conditional orders came into effect: “If A-Strike has been destroyed, splice the mainbrace! Three cheers for Houston Fearless!”

With the threat from McRadie’s Crew removed and Monogram Industries struggling to replace its fleet, victory should have been just around the corner. Having carefully planned the next couple of moves, the loading orders for the 14th Quarter were issued. Unfortunately it was still only Quarter 12… If the movement orders had also been incorrect, Archangel Lines would have yet again been facing disaster.

So, it was far more by luck than judgment that Archangel Lines achieved their victory conditions. Once again, thanks to everyone for a great game. See you in the next one!

GM Comments

The Corporation game, which has players with differing targets, has three main groups. There are the Corporations such as Houston Fearless, Quasar and Gamlepco, which are trading Corporations, along with Archangel Lines, which ships passengers and small cargoes too. Then there are the out and out baddies—McRadie’s Crew and the AIA. And finally the potentially dubious—Eon Flashcorp, Gates Learjet. The ones who do business and can also be found trading in Illegal goods.

Gamlepco dropped out with computer problems and Quasar didn’t last long. Houston also dropped out, but Przemyslaw stepped in and, despite the handicap of missed turns, made a pretty good stab at catching up. The Pump and Dump strategy he mentions, where a player buys commodities that his factories produce to boost the factory price and then sells his factories at a profit, can be foiled by another player holding that commodity and selling to bring the price back down. But it can require co-operation.

McRadie could have been more influential—using the knowledge that Archangel was operating on clearly defined routes, that Monogram had to fly into Mu Herculis to collect Monopoles, Houston Fearless had to go to Tau Ceti and Sigma Draconis to collect Isotopes. Above all, they could have used Initiative to Hyperjump first in a turn and so arrive where they might not be expected, instead of sitting in system space and allowing others to pick their ships off.

Indiscrimate sabotage has elements of fun and did result in one payment of protection money, but it is expensive.

Credit to Houston, as previously mentioned, for picking up a position and playing it well. He made an honest profit and, if all his assets were liquidated at the end of the game, was not far away from his victory condition. Eon did well, but a few more risks would have paid off—by the end of the game they had a ship carrying OP chits nearly every turn.

Archangel drew up very favourable agreements with other players—eliminating competition for passenger traffic—and was not targeted by McRadie. As Jerry says, if it hadn’t been for mis-ordering twice, he would have won earlier. But in the end a most excellent win and congratulations to Jerry.

The next game will be for 12 players using the free deployment set-up. We already have seven players lined up: contact Mike Dommett or Pevans if you’d like to join in.