In the near future, nanofacturing techniques will allow incredible new materials to be built atom by atom. But they can only be built in the zero-gravity and high-vacuum conditions in space. Various private and government enterprises race to establish a buckytube mechanosynthesis factory on a suitable carbonaceous asteroid. To do so, they accumulate tanks of water in orbiting fuel depots, to be used as rocket propellant. Also needed are remote-controlled robonauts to do the grunt work.

The key to success is water in LEO (low Earth orbit). At first, water will be expensively upported out of the deep gravity well of Earth. But for a third the fuel and energy, water can be supplied from Luna, the moons of Mars, or other nearby hydrated objects. Extracting resources at the work site is called In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). Whoever develops ISRU technology able to glean water from space rather than Earth will gain the strategic high ground to make money through exoglobalization.

Intro (two part)

Review

DAR

I use the term ‘review’ a bit differently from most game reviewers.

The reason lies in the history of how these came about (along with a demand for semantic precision). My videos started out as pure DARs (During Action Reports – based on the wargaming concept of AARs). People wanted me to try and distill some of the commentary and impressions which surfaced during those, and requested a formal ‘review’ of the session – and the game itself. Given that my reviews didn’t provide a good overview of the rules that many were familiar with, further requests expanded to include that – but I cheat on these, using them to improve my own understanding of the game.

How should you use these? Damned if I know. Some people want to see the rules overview in the intro.Some desire the thoughts in the review. Some want the whole replay, so they can see how I got from point A to B. Do keep in mind however, in my mind; the DAR is indeed the heart of this. I’m inviting you into my game. If you don’t want the whole thing, hey, I understand (I wouldn’t want it all), but by the time of the review, I’ll be referring back to events in the playthroughs.

For my first, somewhat unsatisfactory, look at this game, please check my youtube site.

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calandale

Recovering hobo, one-time actor and street corner philosopher, now trying to enjoy the less fine things in life (like everyone else does). One thing has been nearly constant in my life - gaming. Even before discovering wargames (at the tender age of 10 or so - purely fortuitous), I would play out family games (including the 3M series) solitaire. But, life situations interfered not too long ago, and I was largely without board gaming for the better part of a decade. The last couple of years have seen me devoting myself to the hobby again - and learning a lot of the newer designs - so, I'm looking from the eyes of an old grognard (ah, how I fought against THAT term when first used on me) but an open mind and willingness to see if newer games appeal.

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