Maltese

The Players

The numbers in the Resource Marker column indicate the box, numbered from left to right, while the number in parenthesis is the number of resources to be gained from that space.  N/A indicates that the marker is not in place because a card that can accept those resources is not in play.  Text in the colony spaces indicates either the owner of the colony, or the benefit of establishing a colony there.

Generation 6

Action Phase

Volatile spends 1 floater from Atmo Collectors to gain 3 energy, then spends 3 energy to trade with Luna, gaining 10M€. TTT, PIKES, and GEGS each gain 2M€.

TTT spends 7 titanium for a Nitrogen Rich Asteroid, increasing his plant production by 1, increasing the temperature to 4C and his TR to 29. He then spends 8 heat to raise the temperature to 6C and his TR to 30.

PIKES spends 8 plants to place a greenery tile in C4, gaining 1 steel and increasing the oxygen level to 10% and his TR to 29. He then spends 2 steel and 11M€ for Lava Tube Settlement, losing 1 energy production, gaining 2M€ production, and placing a city in D5, gaining 2 steel. Volatile gains 1M€ production and GEGS gains 2M€.

Cyclopæn spends 8 heat to increase the temperature to 8C and his TR to 27, then spends 3 energy to trade with Triton, gaining 1 titanium.

GEGS spends 7M€ for Permafrost Extraction, placing an ocean tile at F4, gaining 1 plant and 4M€, plus a further 3M€ from Media Group and increasing his TR to 29. PIKES gains 2 plants from Arctic Algae. GEGS then spends 1 steel and 23M€ for a Capital in E4, losing 2 energy production but gaining 5M€ production, 4M€, and 1 steel, plus an additional 2M€ for Rover Construction. Volatile gains 1M€ production.

Volatile spends 13M€ for Zeppelins, gaining 6M€ production, then spends 18M€ for Lake Marineris, placing an ocean tile at G4, gaining 1 plant and 4M€ and increasing his TR to 30. PIKES gains 2 plants.

TTT spends 9M€ for a Mangrove, placing a greenery tile at G6, gaining 4M€ and increasing the oxygen level to 11% and his TR to 31, then spends 20M€ to fund the Contractor award.

PIKES spends 8 plants to place a greenery tile at C5, increasing the oxygen level to 12% and his TR to 30.

Cyclopæn spends 4 energy on the Ore Processor, gaining 1 titanium, increasing the oxygen level to 13% and his TR to 28.

GEGS uses Business Network to draw a card and discards it, then spends 1 titanium for Rim Freighters.

Volatile spends 9M€ for a Soil Factory, losing 1 energy production and gaining 1 plant production.

TTT spends 7M€ for Cryo Sleep, then spends 2 energy to trade with Pluto, gaining 2 cards.

PIKES spends 3M€ for Micro-Mills, gaining 1 heat production, then spends 2 steel and 9M€ for a Tropical Resort, losing 2 heat production and gaining 3M€ production.

Cyclopæn spends 21M€ for Titan Air Scrapping.

GEGS spends 2 energy to trade with Miranda, gaining 2 animals on Martian Zoo.

Volatile spends 1M€ production to add a resource to Refugee Camps.

TTT plays Invention Contest, drawing 3 cards and keeping 1.

PIKES spends 6 titanium and 2M€ for Ganymede Colony.  GEGS receives 2M€.

Cyclopæn spends 4 titanium and 13M€ for Nitrogen from Titan, increasing his TR to 30 and placing 2 floater resources on Titan Air Scrapping, then spends 2 resources on Titan Air Scrapping to increase his TR to 31.

GEGS spends 1 steel and 15M€ for an Underground City at E2, losing 2 energy production, gaining 2 steel production, 1 plant, and 2M€. Volatile gains 1M€ production.

Volatile sells 3 cards for 3M€.

TTT plays Sponsors, gaining 2M€ production and a card.

PIKES sells 1 card for 1M€.

Cyclopæn passes.

GEGS collects 5M€ from the Martian Zoo.

Volatile passes.

TTT adds an animal resource to Small Animals.

PIKES passes.

GEGS spends 8M€ for Inventors' Guild and sells 1 card for 1M€.

TTT places a microbe resource on Nitrite-Reducing Bacteria.

GEGS uses Inventors' Guild to draw a card and discards it.

TTT spends 2 energy to trade with Callisto, gaining 4 energy. GEGS and Cyclopæn each gain 3 energy.

GEGS spends 8 plants to place a greenery tile in F2, gaining 1 plant, increasing the oxygen level to 14% and his TR to 30. This will trigger the end of the game at the end of this generation.

TTT spends 1M€ on Search for Life (card draw is Immigrant City – failure), then sells 4 cards for 4M€.

GEGS passes.

TTT spends 6M€ on Adapted Lichen, gaining 1 plant production, then spends 9M€ on Food Factories, losing 1 plant production and gaining 4M€ production.

TTT passes.

Production Phase

Volatile moves 1 energy to heat, then gains 44M€ and 2 plants.

TTT moves 6 energy to heat, then gains 55M€, 8 titanium, 1 plant, 5 energy, and 5 heat.

PIKES moves 1 energy to heat, then gains 44M€, 1 steel, 2 titanium, and 9 plants.

Cyclopæn moves 5 energy to heat, then gains 43M€, 2 titanium, 9 energy, and 3 heat.

GEGS moves 5 energy to heat, then gains 43M€, 3 steel, 1 titanium, 6 plants, and 3 heat.

Solar Phase

Game end conditions have been met.

Final Greenery Tile Placement

Volatile spends 8 plants to place a greenery tile at C3, gaining 1 steel.

PIKES spends 8 plants to place a greenery tile at D6, gaining 1 steel.

GEGS spends 8 plants to place a greenery tile at E3, gaining 2M€.

Victory Points

Awards

Cultivator: Greenery tiles. GEGS has 5, Volatile and PIKES each have 4, TTT has 1, and Cyclopæn has 0. GEGS gains 5 and Volatile and PIKES each gain 2.

Magnate: Automated (green) cards. TTT has 19, PIKES has 17, GEGS has 12, Volatile has 7, and Cyclopæn has 5. TTT gains 5 and PIKES gains 2.

Contractor: Building tags. TTT has 9, PIKES and GEGS each have 7, Volatile has 4, and Cyclopæn has 2. TTT gains 5, and PIKES and GEGS each gain 2.

Milestones

Diversifier goes to TTT. Polar Explorer goes to GEGS. Energizer goes to Cyclopæn.

TTT wins. Congratulations to Andy York on his victory!

End of Game Statements

Kevin Wilson (PIKES): I didn’t think I’d catch Andy but I thought I’d be a bit closer. But right at the end I fell back on both the Cultivator and Magnate awards, slipping to 2nd for each. I missed the play for GEGS of that last green tile picking up another plant so he’d have 8. Without that I thought he might take us into a Gen7 for a shot to pull out the win. But taking that last TR ended it and bumped him into 1st in the Cultivator award race. And I just ran out of cards, time and M€ to keep pace with Andy and his extensive list of automated cards. I felt like I was just short on some of the milestones too. I just needed a little more time.

Looking only at TFR it was very close. But you don’t win with TFR alone. You need the machine and Andy had the best. Congrats to Andy on an impressive machine and a win with little on the board, gaining only 1VP from the board. Just awards, milestones and cards for the win. All that M€, titanium, heat and energy production paid off.

Here’s how I was tracking it. Andy started pulling away in Gens3 and 4 and while GEGS and I both had good finishes, Andy’s lead was too much. Nice steady up trend for GEGS though. Might have pulled it out with another gen? ;-)

On to Plott!

Chris Geggus (GEGS): Well played Andy. I don't keep track of scores, cards etc., so I was hoping I was nearer than the actual final score. By the way I scored 13 on the map, not 12 (3 x 3 cities plus 4 greenery). I only had one shot at winning as my bolt was well and truly shot by the last round. Another generation would have only seen me going backwards.

It is still fascinating how wins can come from so many different strategies and Andy's engine and card collection was strong enough to see off the map builders. Interesting how few resource scoring there was - obviously none came out apart from the Small Mammals.

Always enjoyable. Thanks to Chris and well done everyone for sticking with it.

Dave Hooton (Cyclopæn): Congratulations to Andy on his fine performance, and thanks to Chris H. for running it.

I had decided a long-term Jovian strategy, but then undercut myself by getting some quick VPs in a way that shortened the game.

Bill Scharf (Volatile): Thanks for running the game Chris, enjoyed it. Did much better than my first email game of this. Winning is based on a plan, looking for cards/board positions to support that plan, be flexible enough to throw that plan out the window when necessary, take advantage of opportunities when they arrive, continue throwing plans out as necessary, glare at opponents plays when they are good, snarl at them when they are really good, laugh at bad plays they made (aka moves you would have made). Learn, grow, become wiser and congratulate the winner.

Andy York (TTT): That was a bit of a surprise - gaining the win as I don't count scores during the game, just try to maximize my hand's outcome. In this game, I was fortunate to have several things come my way:

- two early discounts on playing all cards, plus another for just Earth tags

- drawing plenty of Earth Tags which resulted in extra card draws

- the card enhancing the payout for expending steel/titanium

Those really boosted my ability to acquire and play cards, which I think was the advantage that allowed the unexpected win. Appreciate the strong playing by the other players, and the fine job herding us by Chris during the game.

<