60 Years, the Return: Part 4

Let's get right into it.

• Part 1: Crew & Mission Generation 
• Part 2: Rocket Science
• Part 3: Mission Year 1 
• Part 4: Mission Years 2-4 
• Part 5: Wrap-up 

Service Risk Triggers

1. Cosmic Ray (Applies if no cosmic ray protections)
2. Extended Ops (Applies if 2d6 < mission years)
3. Lifespan (Always applies; roll twice if Augmented+)
4. Maintenance (Always applies; roll twice if AWOL)
5. Microgravity (Applies if size/thrust < 10 and Crew Quality < High)
6. Psychological (Always applies: roll for result first time only)

2041 (Era 1, Year 2)

Blue 4

Planning Phase

•  Service Risks (SI 57)
• Noi - 2: Extended Ops
• 2 = 2, no effect
• Shin - 4: Maintenance
• 2 - Implant Aging (no implants, does not apply)
• En - 2: Extended Ops
• 11 > 2, no effect
• Fujita - 4: Maintenance 
• 6 - Unlicensed items (does not apply) , Aging/ Mental (1(d6) + 1(era) , 3 (character age in decades). No effect yet, Fujita now has Mental Aging 1.
• Public pronouns (CR 103)
• N/A
• Dependency (FW ??)
• N/A
• Move / Operation Selection
• Completed in Part 2
• Faction Event (SI 44)
• 4 - Faction Accident (Green) - The Southern Alliance suffers another setback as one of their shifts suffers a thruster accident in LEO; the entry on SI 316 says to destroy the thruster and a “support card” which is a board game component not otherwise mentioned or explained in the book.
• Solar Cycle Event (SI 44)
• 7 - Trend (Does not apply)
• Trends (AE 12-17)
• N/A

Execution Phase

• Resolve Interceptions (SI 98)
• N/A
• Move (CR 206)
• Green Line Merge Point through Jovian flyby through Saturn band
• Encounter (CR 246, SI 13, AE 18)
• 11 - 3rd Wave Crew
• (1, 3) + (5, 11) : GISTDA (Thai national space agency)
• Communication Origin: Shackleton Crater, Lunar South Pole
• Encounter Prompt: Propaganda
• The Hayashida picks up self-congratulatory and spin-doctored broadcast from GISTDA’s lunar facility about recent manufacturing developments.
• Operation (SI 270 & 274)
• Research - 3! A plain success. We research the 3 remaining components for our upcoming ORION rocket.
• Held Move (CR 206)
• N/A
• Gain skill points (SI 270 & CR 119)
• Going to handwave these again, except for Fujita; going to use his skill point to negate his Mental Aging penalty and bring him back down to 0.
• Dysphoria penalty for AWOL Modded / Converted / Exospecies crew (CR 163)
• N/A
• Mission Results (SI 41)
• N/A

Year 2 Wrapup

• 3 major factions
• JAXA (White)
• Planetary Society (Purple)
• The Southern Alliance / SACU + MERCOSUR  + ASEAN (Green)
• 2 minor factions
• Zero Family (Earthside criminal syndicate, Purple)
• GISTDA (Thai national agency) 
• 3 factories
• 10 Hygeia (Planetary Society)
• Arsia Mons caverns, Mars (Southern Alliance)
• Shackleton Crater, Lunar South Pole (GISTDA)
• Faction finances: 1 debt, capital 5
• Research queue: 5/5 ORION components researched 

2042 (Era 1, Year 3)

Yellow 1

Planning Phase

• Service Risks (SI 57)
• Noi - 3: Lifespan
• 6 - Sleep Companions + Aging/Physical (5 + 1 > 4, no effect)
• Since I am not really caring about sleeping arrangements, part 1 does not apply.
• Shin - 6: Psychological
• 1 - Autonomization: Shin has developed a tendency to doubt the competence of anyone outside of mission control and the Hayashida’s crew: he will take a penalty on all skill checks where someone from outside the faction attempts to help.
• En - 3: Lifespan
• 2 - Mission Contacts
• I understand the point of the contact risks: having your contacts die while you’re out on a mission is good storytelling fodder, but contacts and all that are a part of 60 Years that is very easy to let fall to the wayside. 
• Proofing Note: AFAIC, Delta Green still remains the king of contact mechanics for a good reason - they get you a lot of material (ie, see how someone’s relationships change  over time) for an easily-grasped and always relevant mechanic (ablative SAN armor) - there are just one or two moving pieces too many here.
• Fujita - 3: Lifespan
• 6 - Sleep Companions + Aging/Physical (3+1 > 3, no effect)
• Public pronouns (CR 103)
• N/A
• Dependency (FW ??)
• N/A
• Move / Operation Selection
• Completed in Part 2
• Faction Event (SI 44)
• 3 - New Factory + Faction Mission
• New Factory 6 (Space Politics = Purple) - The Planetary Society gets a new factory up and running at… 1d6 = 1, +1 because they already have a factory, Glory destination, 1d6 again… 3:  Mars North Pole.
• Proofing Note: The faction mission result says to generate using the faction mission table, which I cannot find in CR or SI; it also does not specify if the d6 I am presumably rolling as usual for the Faction Events is the faction that is undergoing the mission, or the faction that is giving me the mission. Since the mission control trend I roll for this year gives me a faction, I am folding this into that by fiat.
• Solar Cycle Event (SI 44)
• 10 - Spacecraft Glitch + Earth Disaster
• Since the ship isn’t AWOL, we’re up to date with our computer patches and this is a minor glitch, which is supposed to be taken care of with a DevOps skill check. Since this ship is something we have Chrome for that’s 1d6, a 4 means no complication.
• Disaster roll is 11 - American-Carribean earthquake. No disruption of Mission Control support.
• Trends (AE 12-17)
• Social Trend: 8 + 1 = Sustainable Development Goals
• Somehow, human civilization starts getting its shit together.
• Proofing Note: as is commonly the case in this series, I am second-guessing myself despite superficially-clear description: I think that you don’t get an impact when a trend is rolled. I think. I’m going with that. But it feels wrong.
• Mission Control Trend: 6 - 1 = Upported Colonists
• Rolling a 2 for the White column, I then roll 1d6+6 and get 12: Svalbard Caretakers.
• Fun! These guys have a writeup in AE. 

Svalbard Caretakers (White)

They maintain the Svalbard seed vault, the secure backup vault of genes and seedstock for as much of the world’s flora as they can fit in there.

• Majority Doctrine: Conservationists 
• What it says on the tin
• Majority Origin: Food security piracy
• Mass food shortages and crop failures have brought some nations knocking, with guns to get the point across. Our caretakers are fleeing to space because the continued safety of the Terran vault is no longer a given.
• Minority Doctrine: Acclimatisation Societies 
• Controlled introduction of non-native flora into environments bolster damaged ecosystems.
• Minority Origin: Svalbard conspiracy theorists
• The outside pressure is fueled in large part by the online conspiracy ecosystem; people are certain that there is more in that facility than just seeds, and some of those people are enough political power to act on their suspicions. 
• Upgrades
• (4, 4) Orchard Ecology (Mass 1 biosphere) - The Caretakers are looking to set up a food-production operation, both as a backup in case the earthly vault is lost and as support for the growing extraterrestrial human population.

Here’s where I tie in the Faction Mission from earlier: rolling on the goal and destination table I get Long term colony - Ceres. The caretakers aren’t fucking around on this one. Since the Hayashida can’t do anything here, another crew will handle this, arriving at Ceres in (using my simplified transit houserule) 2 years / 2045.

Proofing Note: With Political trends and impacts getting cut, I don’t know how or when crew replacement is supposed to take place. These weren't relevant right now, but looking at the faction section in AE reminded me that they exist.

Execution Phase

• Resolve Interceptions (SI 98)
• N/A
• Move (CR 206)
• Uranian band into the first half of THE TERROR ZONE
•  Encounter (CR 246, SI 13, AE 18)
• 2nd Wave Crew 
• Communication Origin: 2d6 - 5 = 0, they’re Earthside 
• 2, (6,10) - POLSA (Polish space agency)
• Encounter prompt: Praise for gov’t.
• I’m presuming that’s our gov’t. maybe JAXA and POLSA are starting up some  king of joint project, something with a lot of ribbon-cutting and speeches that run on too long.
• Operation (SI 270 & 274)
• Since we have the research we need, I’m going to do an Income operation to cancel out our debt.
• 6 - Success with complication - 2d6 = 7, Rapid Operation: we get to do an extra operation this year! But since we’re stuck in transit there’s not much to do, so I’m going to Research again.
• Research 8 - Success at cost. Going to fiat that we can bank 1 point of debt clearance into a rainy day fund to cover future shortfalls. We research 1 additional technology, which will remain banked until narratively relevant.
• Held Move (CR 206)
• N/A
• Gain skill points (SI 270 & CR 119)
• I could fix Shin’s penalty, but that one is not liable to crop up in this demo mission so I’ll pass.
• Dysphoria penalty for AWOL Modded / Converted / Exospecies crew (CR 163)
• N/A
• Mission Results (SI 41)
• N/A

Year 3 Wrapup

• 3 major factions
• JAXA (White)
• Planetary Society (Purple)
• The Southern Alliance / SACU + MERCOSUR  + ASEAN (Green)
• 4 minor factions
• Zero Family (Earthside criminal syndicate, Purple)
• GISTDA (Thai national space agency, White)
• POLSA (Polish national space agency, White)
• Svalbard Caretakers (Partnered with JAXA, White) 
• 4 factories
• 10 Hygeia (Planetary Society)
• Arsia Mons caverns, Mars (Southern Alliance)
• Shackleton Crater, Lunar South Pole (GISTDA)
• Mars North Pole (Planetary Society)
• Ceres (Svalbard Caretakers, not yet constructed)
• Faction finances: 0 debt, capital 5
• Research queue: 
• 5/5 ORION components researched
• 1 banked research project 

2043 (Era 1, Year 4)

Yellow 2

Planning Phase

• Service Risks (SI 57)
• Noi - 1: Cosmic Ray
• 5 - Smart device glitch; 5 - Safety failure
• One of the ship’s smart devices glitches, causing it to no longer be safely usable. There’s no roll to determine what asset is effected, so I’m just going to roll with “personal computer develops dangerous overheating issue and needs replaced”.
• Shin - 4: Maintenance
• 4 - Robot aging - I don’t know where the aging rules are for robots, so I am just going to say “yes, this happens”. Poor spider-bot is beginning to slow down.
• En - 5: Microgravity
• Does not apply to high-quality crew
• Fujita - 5: Microgravity
• Does not apply to high-quality crew
• Public pronouns (CR 103)
• N/A
• Dependency (FW ??)
• N/A
• Move / Operation Selection
• Completed in Part 2
• Faction Event (SI 44)
• New Factory (White)
• Goal & Destination: (6, 7) Industrial - Karin B
• I can’t find a listing for any asteroid named Karin B, but there is the Karin family and 832 Karin. I’m just going to go with 1079 Mimosa because it was the second of the Karin group to be discovered.
• Proofing Note: Please include asteroid numbers
• 1079 Mimosa gives us an S-class factory: combined with the C-class factory on Pholus, this gives us the opportunity to build Europa class Promoted spacecraft. Eventually. I’ll put our extra research towards one of those, though it won’t really matter for this demo.
• Solar Cycle Event (SI 44)
• No event
• Trends (AE 12-17)
• N/A

Execution Phase

• Resolve Interceptions (SI 98)
• N/A
• Move (CR 206)
• TERROR ZONE, part 2; landing on Pholus.
• Encounter (CR 246, SI 13, AE 18)
• 12 - 3rd Wave Crew
• (2,2) + (3,2): Red - National Military (India)
• Communication Origin: Long-Term Colony - 588 Achilles
• Encounter Prompt - Was originally “survey questions”, which i felt didn’t make any sense, so I went with the nearby “news report”
• The Hayashida receives a news report from the inner system that the Indian Space Force has been deployed to quell unrest at their facility on Achilles.
• Operation (SI 270 & 274)
• Technically, I have to spend this on a Prospect operation before I do anything else: the Prospect operation exists purely as a fuck you to the player, because you’re forced to waste a year on the chance that the site is busted and you can’t make a claim on it, which means you can’t build your factory.
• MAJOR PROOFING NOTE: The Prospect operation, if it absolutely must be retained, should be moved to mission selection. Handwave it with probes or drones or whatever is needed. Having a player wade through all of this to yank the rug at the last moment is extremely aggravating:  sudden bad fortune and difficult rolls are not bad design in and of themselves, but they will be more aggravating for the player (and the player will be more likely to avoid the mechanic or the game entirely) if those elements are judged to be at too great a cost in time / in-game resource investment is too high. This is why lunchbreak-sized roguelites are an extremely popular genre: you’re going to lose, but it won’t take long and you’ll probably get something from it. 
• Industrialize Operation - We have Chrome, since we’re stripping out our ship components: 5 gets me a plain success.
• Held Move (CR 206)
• N/A
• Gain skill points (SI 270 & CR 119)
• Going to have Noi and Shin spend their points on fixing their gear.
• Dysphoria penalty for AWOL Modded / Converted / Exospecies crew (CR 163)
• N/A
• Mission Results (SI 41)
• Since we have 2 operational factories, we are technically at the Advanced tech level, I think. Which feels wrong, I think that the lucky “New Factory” event might have broken the flow of the game somewhat, since looking at the Tech Levels on CR 147 it says that we’re normally supposed to get here midway through Era 2. I’m going to go with my gut and just roll on the ET Produced column instead
• 1 - 1: All four crew get 5 points to put into their Social stat, which may now be raised to 6… but since raising it to 6 costs 6 points (CR 81), Noi is the only crew who can even use these points and goes from 4 to 5.
• Proofing Note: The generic faction upgrades are not rewarding. All the factions in AE have cool stuff they’ll give you if you do missions for them; I got skill points I can’t even use.
• Proofing Note: It’s possible to Jump to Advanced / Dual Technologies by the end of your first mission due to background faction activity.  

Year 4 / Mission Complete Wrapup

• 3 major factions
• JAXA (White)
• Planetary Society (Purple)
• The Southern Alliance / SACU + MERCOSUR  + ASEAN (Green)
• 5 minor factions
• Zero Family (Earthside criminal syndicate, Purple)
• GISTDA (Thai national space agency, White)
• POLSA (Polish national space agency, White)
• Svalbard Caretakers (Partnered with JAXA, White)
• Indian Space Force (Red) 
• 3 factories
• 10 Hygeia (Planetary Society)
• Arsia Mons caverns, Mars (Southern Alliance)
• Shackleton Crater, Lunar South Pole (GISTDA)
• Mars North Pole (Planetary Society)
• Ceres (Svalbard Caretakers, not yet constructed)
• 588 Achilles (Indian Space Force)
• 1079 Mimosa (JAXA)
• 5145 Pholus (JAXA)
• Faction finances: 0 debt, capital 5
• Research queue: 
• 5/5 ORION components researched
• 1 banked Europa-class research project 

Proofing Note: There should be bookmarks for individual operations instead of just the section header; it’s tiresome to scroll everywhere constantly.

Proofing Note: To cut down on swapping between books, I ended up going through each element instead of each year ie, I rolled the faction events for all 4 years, then the solar events for all 4 years, etc.

**

And there we have it: Hayashida's Pholus mission is done; the white whale is slain, perhaps.  A gargantuan accomplishment, yet still somewhat hollow feeling - there’s all this stuff about upgrades and progression and whatnot, but it’s so opaque and scattered throughout all of the books that it never kicked in. There’s huge lists of stuff to manufacture, but I’m playing zoomed-out: if it’s not rocket-related or interesting flavor, it doesn’t really apply. The ending is a flat note, though that is likely to be expected when I've played a fraction of a full game.

The social simulation & worldbuilding elements - developing new factions and watching as they spread across the solar system - were a lot more satisfying once I got the procedure down. Those parts are, ultimately, the lion’s share of why this game has remained in my head for so long, so I suppose that means the experiment is something of a success. I'm certainly happy with the amount of actually game-related writing it spurred me to do, and I won't say that I didn't have any fun.

My full thoughts will be in the fifth and final post in this series: stay tuned.