The Fastest Ship in the 'Verse

Good afternoon, Browncoats!

Today's topic is about your engine, also known as your Drive Core.

Coming out of the gate, your Firefly has a maximum full burn range of 5 sectors.  For most players, they are content with that.  I am not like most players.  For me, I like having a ship that can outrun any other ship on the board, especially when I am playing with my Pirate Rules in effect.  There are numerous advantages to upgrading your Drive Core or your Ship that boosts your flight abilities:

• Increased Range gets you to your destination in fewer turns (especially if that destination is all the way across the 'Verse).
• Increased Range allows you to flip over more Nav Cards in a single turn (which is handy for players that have an Onboard Chop Shop or other bonuses to Salvage Ops).
• For Outlaw Ships, if you are completely avoiding the Alliance Sector, with increased range, you can simply fly around the Border space.
• Smuggling, Transport, and Shipping Jobs take fewer turns to complete since you can get to your destinations faster.
• If you are racing other players to get to a Goal, it helps to fly farther than they can.
• If you have an efficient engine, you will not consume fuel during full burn which can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars during the course of the game.

So what are the negatives for upgrading:  There is only one negative and that is cost!  The price for a new drive core or Shiny, New, State-of-the-Art Compression Coils can be prohibitive, especially early in the game.

What Engines are available?

• Radion Accelerator Mark I  -  Your starting Drive Core consumes 1 Fuel for each Full Burn and has a range of 5 sectors.  Everybody has it and nobody wants it.
• Modified Radion Accelerator Mark II  -  This Drive Core costs $1200 and has a range of 6 Sectors.  It consume 1 Fuel for each full burn.
• Hyper-Efficient Radion Accelerator Mark III  -  This Drive Core costs $800 and has a range of 4 Sectors.  However, the advantage of this core is that it does not consume fuel.
• Enhanced Graviton Accelerator  -  The best engine in the game costs a whopping $2400.  It consumes 1 Fuel for each full burn, moves a total of 6 Sectors.  It can also Mosey for two sectors and it ignores all breakdowns.

All of the drive cores are exclusively available for sale on Osiris. You will not find them on any other planet.

Engine Upgrades

There are also a number of Ship Upgrades that will affect your engine in some manner or another that can be obtained at other planets:

• Full Tune Up  -  This upgrade allows your ship to ignore all breakdowns.
• Shiny, New, State-of-the-Art Compression Coils  -  Mosey up to 2 sectors and Ignore all breakdowns. ($1600 on Osiris).
• Overcharged Grav Thruster  -  Adds +1 to Max Range. ($1000 on Regina).

Wash: Best Pilot in the 'Verse

Undoubtedly, Wash is the best pilot in the game, if you are going for speed.  He only costs $200 and he adds +1 to your Max Range.  He also provide 1 Tech and 1 Negotiate Skill.

The Fastest Ship Possible:

Not counting  the Artful Dodger (since many people do not have that promo ship), the fastest ship you can achieve is 8 Sectors in a single Full Burn, that costs one fuel.  To achieve this, you will need to buy an Enhanced Graviton Accelerator, an Overcharged Grav Thruster, and hire Wash, because these bonuses do stack.  Total Price for the whole package:  $3600.

If you prefer a more "green" or economic approach, you can purchase the Hyper-Efficient Radion Accelerator Mark III and the Shiny, New State-of-the-Art Compression Coils, instead of the Graviton Accelerator.  This will give you a max range of 7 per full burn BUT it won't cost you any fuel.  This package will also cost $3400.  Unfortunately, this will take an additional Ship Upgrade slot.

Personally, I usually roll with a fair amount of Tech and I am usually not worried about breakdown rolls and I don't typically mosey, unless I am right next to the target.  Typically, I will forgo the Compression Coils which brings the cost down to $1800 which is much more palatable on my wallet, especially considering my fuel costs will be significantly reduced.  I will usually only keep two fuel on hand, just in case I need to evade Reavers or the Law.

Thanks for reading everyone!  Your continued support is greatly appreciated!

Stay Shiny,

~ Captain Paddy Bardic

The 7-7-7 Meta-Strategy

Greetings, Browncoats!

Today's article comes to you, courtesy of our friend George (aka: gwek, on Boardgamegeek.com).  There are many challenges in the 'Verse and you will not always get the your ideal crew.  Not everybody can lay claim to River or Jayne.  So instead of focusing on particular crew or gear to obtain, this strategy guide is a high level overview of a balanced crew / ship that will accomplish the following goals:

• Maximize the amount of Proceeds over Botches.
• Maximize the amount of Botches over Warrants.
• Minimize Crew Death.
• Minimize Full Stops while traversing Alliance and Border Space.

What this strategy does NOT do is 1) advocate for a particular leader or 2) require a specific work strategy, though it is implied that this is for Crime jobs, since Misbehaving plays a big factor.  The beauty about this strategy is that ANY and ALL players in the game can accomplish this at the same time.  There is no worrying about whether or not another player will get the one crew that you wanted since you can easily find a replacement.

Navigation:
 
First thing that your crew needs to obtain is a Pilot and a Mechanic.  This prevents the Reavers from eating, raping, and making clothing out of your passengers, fugitives, and crew.

Second thing: Obtain at least 7 Tech skill points.  This will allow you to get past all breakdowns.  You can go as low as 4 on Tech and carry a few parts for the harder breakdown tests.

Third: Obtain a Cry Baby.  Even if you are not playing a Smuggler with tons of Contraband in your hold, you are considered an Outlaw ship if you so much as have a single Wanted Crew onboard.  This means you will have to stop if you move into the Alliance Cruiser's sector (or if it moves into yours).

With these three steps, you can proceed past 77 of the 80 Alliance and Border Space Navigation cards.  The remaining three cards you risk disgruntling your Moral Crew (Distress Signal) or getting a Warrant (Customs Inspection), but if you are solid with Harken, you will only have to worry about the Distress Signal card.

Misbehaving

Seven is once again the magic number, although you really only need 6 Tech to misbehave safely.  You need at least 7 Negotiate and 7 Fight skill to get you past most Misbehave cards.  The following keywords should be in your equipment as well:

• Hacking Rig
• Fake ID
• Transport

 With some cash on hand for Bribes, you will be able to safely get past 90% of Misbehave Cards.  There may be a few Botches in that 90%, however, there will be no Warrants, no Deaths, and no Disgruntled Crew.

There are a few cards that cannot be passed without certain equipment, crew, or cargo.  Obviously, we all know what it is like to be wasted by the "Alliance Operative" and "Reavers!" Cards, which can only be successfully passed if you have River Tam on your crew.  However, the following are some more unique Misbehave cards that can work you over harder than Niska does when you send one of his men through your engine:

• A Vote of No Confidence - If all of your Crew are happy, you get to Load 1 Cargo.  However, if anyone is disgruntled, you have to pay each disgruntled crew an extra share (their crew cost) immediately.
• Locals in Need - All moral crew will be disgruntled if you do not discard 1 Cargo.
• An Old Vendetta - If you have a Transport, you can flee (and Proceed) but it will disgruntle your entire crew.  The other option is to do a one-on-one fight that has a decent chance of killing your crew (since the Fight goal is 6, but most crew do not have more than one or two fight skill plus whatever equipment they are carrying).  Sometimes, it is just easier to run like a cowardly pisspot!

 If you have the room and the cash, but don't know what to buy, I recommend getting more Negotiate skills to save you money on Bribes since only one Misbehave card will be affected by increasing your Fight Skill past 7.

Conclusion:

Sure, some things will be easier if you can get your hands on River Tam or a Companion, but putting together a 7-7-7 Crew, with the keywords listed above will sweep most serious obstacles out of your way.  All of these things are easy to come by, in multiple different ports.  If you can manage to throw a few more keywords in there, like Fancy Duds, Simon Tam, or Crow during your crew assembly, great!

I hope you all have enjoyed our first joint post by George and me.  Feel free to follow us on Blogger and keep yourself updated on the latest and greatest from Gale Force 9 and Firefly The Game.

As always, stay shiny!

~ Captains Paddy Bardic and George Krubski

Strategy: Freight Captain

Good morning, Browncoats!

Today, we are going to talk about Freight Captains and how to optimize your crew and ship to be effective at Shipping and Transport Missions.

General Premise:

The Freight Captain prefers to take Shipping and Transport Mission cards, the pay for which is lower than other types of work but have less need for a large crew investment.  These types of jobs are double-staged (meaning that you have to pick up and drop off). 

How to Start:

If your intention is to be a Freight Captain, then the Leader you want to take is Burgess.  Burgess has one of each skill and Fancy Duds, but his perk let's him Load 1 Cargo upon completion of a Shipping Job.  The Needs for Shipping missions are usually non-existent or require only one or two of a particular skill, so having a Leader that has one of every skill will let you meet the needs of most of the shipping jobs.

A second runner-up would be Corbin.  Since he lets you buy Drive Cores and Ship Upgrades at half price, you will be able to upgrade to a faster ship with more cargo space very quickly.  I prefer to go with a more Tech heavy crew with a Freight Captain and Corbin provides 2 Tech and 1 Negotiate.

The best starting locations for a Freight Captain would be Osiris or Persephone.  On Osiris, you can pick up a new drive core and some Cargo Hold upgrades to increase the amount of freight you can carry.  Persephone will allow you to pick up some Tech crew.  It is also close to the Space Bazaar, so you will be able to pop over to Amnon Duul for a pilot and more shipping jobs.

When playing as a Freight Captain, I like to spend my first two turns buying a new drive core (there are two theories on drive cores that I will go into later) and ship upgrades that will either 1) increase my cargo hold space, or 2) increase my reliability and speed while flying through the 'Verse.

Crew Composition:

In order to maximize profits with these low paying jobs, it is essential that a freight captain maintain a minimal crew.  You can get away with having no crew for a lot of these missions, but if you want to take advantage of keyword bonuses, you will need to get a few crew.

The following guidelines are things you should consider when looking to hire on crew:

• Their cost should be low (or even free).
• Their Moral status is irrelevant, since you will not be doing many Immoral missions.
• They should not be Wanted, since you will be doing a lot of these jobs in Alliance Space.

Here is my list of effective Freight Captain crew members:

• Shepherd Book - Shepherd does not cost you a dime to recruit and he provides 1 Gun and 1 Negotiate, along with the Soldier keyword, which will net you a $300 bonus on certain shipping jobs.  You can find him on Persephone.
• Bree - Despite the fact that he is wanted, he gives you two Tech skills and allows you to sell parts to any solid Contact for $300.  Since he has Mechanic as his keyword, certain Shipping jobs will give you a bonus of 1 Part, so this perk can add up rather quick.  Bree is bought on Persephone.
• Med Staff - Odds are that you are not going to have to use a Medic Check (unless you run into Reavers), however, there are a few Transport missions that will give you a $400 bonus for Medic.  You can obtain them on Osiris.
• Scrapper (Pilot) - Scrapper pilots will allow you to take +2 Fuel from Salvage Ops and provide the Pilot keyword, which will help you if you are doing jobs for Amnon Duul, out in Reaver Space.
• Wash - Wash is handy to have for a Freight Captain, as he provides 1 Tech and 1 Negotiate, but his perk allows you to add +1 to your Full Burn range.  Wash is my first choice for pilots of freighter ships.

As previously stated though, you have to find a balance that will get you the most amount of profit over time.  Some people like to grab River Tam, but since she cannot be used to meet the needs for any job, you really will not use her that much, if at all.

The most important things to a freight captain are ship upgrades.  There are two different drive cores you may want, depending on who you plan on doing more missions for:

1. Hyper-Efficient Radio Accelerator Mark III - This Drive Core costs 800, has a max range of 4 sectors but it requires no fuel to initiate Full Burn.  This will allow you to minimize the amount of fuel you carry onboard to free up space in your cargo hold.  If you get this, try to offset the loss of range with having either Wash onboard or Overcharged Grav Thrusters.
   
   This engine will be most effective if you are doing the majority of your missions for Harken, since his missions do not typically stray outside of Alliance Space.  The loss of 1 sector of range will not hurt too badly with having this engine in the close confines of the Core Worlds.
2. Enhanced Graviton Accelerator - This is the best engine in the game and it costs a pretty penny ($2400).  It has a max range of 6, can mosey up to 2 sectors, and ignores all breakdowns.  Obviously, this will let your ship go for long distances, which makes jobs for Amnon Duul a lot quicker.
   
   Being that your crew will probably be heavy on Tech, you can afford to simply get a Modified Radion Accelerator Mark II which is half the cost, but does not ignore breakdowns or mosey two spaces.  The high Tech levels in your crew will keep your ship from breaking down and losing time.

There are a few other ship upgrades that you may want to have onboard:

• Exterior Cargo Pods - Costing only $600 on Osiris, this ship upgrade will add two more Cargo Spaces to your max capacity.  This is especially handy if you are collecting Cargo bonuses from Burgess or Salvage Ops.
• Shiny New State-of-the-Art Compression Coils - Costing $1600 on Osiris, this upgrade will let you mosey up to 2 sectors and ignore all Breakdowns.  It is not really worth it if you have anything but the stock Drive Core.
• Concealed Smuggling Compartments - Costing $1000 on Regina, these will add two additional Stash spaces and allow up to 2 crew onboard your ship to ignore Alliance Wanted Crew rolls.  This is helpful if you have Bree onboard.
• Overcharged Grav Thruster - Costing $1000 on Regina, this upgrade will add +1 to your Full Burn Range.

Contacts with Shipping Jobs:

First off, Harken is your go-to guy for safe and legal shipping.  All of his missions are Shipping and Transport.  Six of those jobs give a $300 bonus for Soldiers (but 4 of the 6 are Immoral, so Shepherd cannot participate nor collect the bonus).  Three of his jobs give a Medic bonus ($400) and four more jobs provide a Mechanic Bonus (+1 Part).  The vast majority of his jobs stay inside of Alliance Space and his payout is $600 to $900.

Amnon Duul has 16 Shipping and Transport jobs.  Four jobs offer a Mechanic Bonus, four jobs offer a Soldier bonus, and two jobs offer a Medic bonus.  His jobs are never Immoral and they mostly take place in Border Space, with long distances between pick up and drop off.  His Shipping and Transport jobs range between $1200 and $2200.

It is worth noting that he has TWO Special Transport Missions.  They both require loading passengers at the Space Bazaar and they both end in the Georgia star system.  However, the goal is to pick up as many passengers as you can.  You will get paid $200 per passenger plus a $400 Medic bonus.  If you are able to carry 10 passengers and a Medic, you will net $2200 (after you pay your Medic), which is a nice chunk of change.

Patience only has 9 Shipping and Transport jobs, only two of which offer the Medic bonus.  Those two are SPECIAL missions, similar to Amnon's with one exception: they pay $300 per passenger.  They go from the Space Bazaar to Georgia Star.  Her Shipping Jobs pay between $1500 and $1800.

Badger has 6 Legal Shipping and Transport jobs; all but one of them offer some kind of bonus, mostly Grifter though.  Five of those cards have a Wheel & Deal roll, with a Negotiate Target of 6.  So if you bring along enough Negotiate skills, you can increase that pay by $500.  His shipping jobs pay ($1500 and $1800).

Niska does not have any legal jobs.  Frankly, a Freighter Captain has no business doing any business with Niska, since he is a crime lord.  Your crew will not be big enough, nor equipped enough to do his missions.

Making the Big Bucks:

Obviously, the pay outs are low, compared to crime jobs and there is a lot of flying involved.  So how do you make a lot of money?!  First off, get Solid with Harken and Amnon Duul.  Harken will let you buy as much fuel as you want for $100 each (which saves you time (but not money, if he is nearby) and Amnon Duul will buy your cargo for $600.  If you have Burgess, you will get a Cargo for every Shipping Job that you do, which is basically a $600 bonus to every job.  This will increase your take-home pay by 50% to 100%, depending on your crew expenses and who you are doing jobs for.

Furthermore being Solid with Harken will let you ignore the Customs Inspection card, which can stop you from being delayed on a shipping run.

If you come across a Freighter Convoy, you can usually buy up to 3 Cargo for $300 each.  If you have room, buy the cargo and sell it to Amnon Duul for a $300 profit.  The beauty of that card is that you do not have to come to a full stop.  You can purchase the cargo and continue flying!

Obviously, take Salvage Ops when you can, especially if the reward is Cargo or Parts (if you have Bree).  Try to stay away from Contraband, as they will get you tagged by the Alliance, but if you're out in Border Space, why not?  You can always sell it for a wee bit of profit.

Summary:

In conclusion, I will leave you with some quick take-away points for being a Legal Freight and Shipping Captain:

• Keep crew costs low.
• Upgrade the range and efficiency of your ship.
• Upgrade the ship's cargo hold and/or stash to increase space.
• Take Salvage Ops (that yield Cargo, Cash, or Parts) for additional profits.
• ALWAYS buy Cargo from a Freighter Convoy for a quick profit with Amnon.
• Harken and Amnon Duul are your best bets for securing legal work.

One final addendum, this strategy is really only effective for Respectable Persons of Business since it is a cash-driven goal.  Desperadoes shoots this strategy out of the water since you cannot work with Harken.  However, in my next post, I will detail the illegal version of a Freight Captain: the Smuggler.

Stay Shiny, friends!

~ Captain Paddy Bardic

Strategy: Career Criminal

Good evening, fellow Browncoats!

I want to thank all of you who have popped in to read the blog.  I'm glad to know that there is a large community of fellow captains who love the game.

Tonight's topic is a strategy that I have come to call "The Career Criminal".

General Premise:

The Career Criminal prefers to skip the low-pay, low-risk jobs of Harken and Amnon Duul to start doing quick, high-paying jobs for Patience, Badger, and Niska.  Crime jobs are typically single-staged (only have to fly to one destination to complete the mission) and pay is usually $2500 or above.  All crime jobs require a player to Misbehave, at least once, so there is some risk of drawing a bad card.

How to Start:

When it comes to Captain selection, Malcolm is the best Leader to take this strategy due to his perk that grants him a $500 bonus for Crime Jobs.  With a high concentration of criminal activities in Badger's and Niska's Contact Deck, Malcolm will make large sums of money very quickly due to this perk.  His only downside is that he is Moral, which will limit his options with Niska somewhat, as many of his jobs are Immoral.

A second runner-up, especially for a captain that wants to deal almost exclusively with Niska, is Womack.  He gets a $500 bonus whenever he completes an Immoral job.  Working for Niska will net the player a lot more money with Womack.

The best starting positions for the players (in my opinion) are Silverhold and Regina.  Starting at Silverhold, you can quickly stock up on Firearms, Explosives, and crew.  If you start at Regina, not only are you close to Niska, but you can pick up most of the equipment keywords in Regina, along with a few gun hands.

When playing this strategy, I find it beneficial to spend my first two turns using a Buy Action to dig through the decks a bit to find some equipment and crew, using the Make-Work action to add $200 per turn, while you are shopping.  Since the goal is to completely skip the lower level Shipping and Smuggling Jobs, you want to build up a crew quickly so that you can start being a bad guy.

Crew Composition

There are many theories on this strategy.  Some will advocate a crew that is balanced between the three skill tests.  Personally, I advocate for a strong Fight and Negotiate team, equipped with a lot of Keywords.  Fight and Negotiate skills will get you through about 90% of the Misbehave deck, so by focusing on those two areas, you will strengthen your crew against most disasters while misbehaving.

Typically when I play this strategy, I will try to opt for cheaper crew (like Scrappers, Gun Hands, or even Hill Folk) and equip them with high quality gear.  The reason for this is that they will take a smaller cut of your profits, allowing you to accrue large amounts of capital quickly.  Now, if the game objective is not based on the accumulation of wealth (like Desperadoes and Respectable Person of Business), I will opt for some more expensive crew to beat the large skill checks.

There are certain crew members that contribute a great deal to a player that is following a Career Criminal path:

• Two-Fry - You can find Two-Fry on Regina.  He may be a Merc and only have one Fight skill, but if you pair him with a Sniper Rifle, he grants you a perk that allows you to draw 1 fewer Misbehave card, down to a minimum of 1.  This gives you a huge advantage over the other criminals, as your exposure to risk in the Misbehave deck is considerably reduced.
• Billy -  Billy, in addition to adding 2 Tech and a cargo for every Salvage Op, has the same costs as other scrappers and gives you a crew member that can wield Burgess' Laser.  He also provides the Mechanic keyword.  He is located on Persephone.
• Tracey - Located at the Space Bazaar, Tracey provides 1 Fight and 1 Negotiate skill, and if someone has to die, he must be killed first.  However, he only costs $100 so he is a very fine bullet sponge to keep along.
• Interrogator - Niska's Interrogator is the only Medic in the game that is not moral.  He only provides 1 Negotiate but his low price of $100 makes him a viable medic to have around.
• Saffron / Yolanda / Bridgit - While she is expensive at $300, YoSafBridg is a very effective criminal.  First, she is the only other companion, besides Inara, but she is also a grifter.  A large percentage of crime jobs give bonuses to Grifters and Companions.  So the cost investment for having her onboard is easily exceeded by the bonuses that she will provide.

Obviously, having these four is not an ideal crew, however, they each bring a valuable asset to the team, beyond simple Gun Hands or Hill Folk.  Due to their low cost and low skills, they will need to have powerful equipment to back them up.  Here are some of the gear and upgrades that will greatly assist you in the criminal underworld:

• Skyhook - You can find the Skyhook upgrade in Regina.  It requires a Pilot to use and it counts as a Transport.  After completing a Crime Job, you get to load 1 Contraband.  If you are solid with Niska, this upgrade will pay for itself after one crime job.
• Cry Baby - When being a career criminal with a less-than-reputable crew, having a Cry Baby handy will prevent the Alliance Cruiser from getting the drop on you and taking your illicit cargo or nefarious crew members off to a penal colony.
• Hacking Rig - Simply because it will help you pass several Misbehave cards, a Hacking Rig is a must have.
• Fancy Duds - For the same reason as the Hacking Rig.  Also, there are certain jobs that require this and the Hacking Rig.
• Burgess's Laser - The holy grail of weapons, at a whopping cost of $1800, this beauty packs a walloping 3 Fight Skill and gives Firearm and Explosives keyword.  It requires a single Tech skill to carry it, but it will give you team a huge advantage in the Misbehave deck.
• Vera - Jayne's iconic rifle costs slightly less than the laser.  It provides the Sniper Rifle and Firearm perk and gives the crew 2 Fight & 1 Negotiate skill.  Giving this to Two-Fry makes him a force to be reckoned with.

Contacts with Crime Jobs:

• Niska has 17 Crime jobs in his deck, 9 of which are Immoral jobs.  Pay Range: $3500 - $6000.
• Badger has 12 Crime jobs in his deck; 1 of which is Immoral.  Pay Range: $2800 - $4000.
• Patience has 10 Crime jobs in her deck; 2 of which are Immoral.  Pay Range:  $2000 - $3000
• Amnon Duul and Harken do not have any Crime jobs.

To sum up the strategy, there are four key things to do:

1. OBTAIN Low-cost crew early.
2. OBTAIN High-value equipment early, especially the Skyhook or the 4WD Mule (I have done both of them in the past.
3. IGNORE missions for Amnon Duul and Harken.
4. BUY a Cry Baby and keep it handy for incursions into Alliance space.

Thanks for reading.  I have updated the Companion's article with details about which contacts offer the most bonuses for Companions, as per a reader's comment.  Your feedback is read and implemented.

If you have a strategy or a question, leave a comment and I will answer it, either as a reply comment or in a post all of your own.

Stay Shiny,

~ Captain Paddy Bardic

Companions of the 'Verse

Good evening, fellow captains!

My apologies for not posting in a few days.  I have been recovering from some form of cold.  Despite this minor setback, I still managed to play a few games of Firefly and the Pirate Rules are going to be altered slightly soon.

The topic of today's post is Companions.  A companion is a very useful addition to the crew.  There are many mission cards that offer bonuses for having a companion on board and a few Misbehave cards that can be passed automatically by having one handy.

Here is a breakdown of all the companions in the game and where you can find them:

Nandi
Where:  Leader Card
Cost:  N/A
Skills:  1 Fight, 2 Negotiate.
Extras:  Moral

Nandi is the only leader that has the Companion keyword.  The only way to get her is to select her as your leader in the beginning of the game.  Her perk allows her to hire crew at no cost (well... at least no monetary cost...).

Having her as your leader means that you don't have to fly around to look for another Companion in the future and you can take an early advantage of missions with a Companion bonus.




Inara
Where:  Osiris Shipyard
Cost:  $300
Skills:  3 Negotiate.
Extras:  Fancy Duds, Moral

Unsurprisingly, Inara is the best companion in the game by far.  With a huge amount of Negotiate skill, plus a perk that lets the player re-roll Negotiate skill checks, she is well worth the steep crew cost.

Inara can easily turn the tide and she is incredibly handy for Misbehave cards.








Saffron / Bridgit / Yolanda
Where: Silverhold / Regina / Osiris
Cost:  $300
Skills:  2 Negotiate, 1 Tech
Extras:  Grifter

YoSafBridge is the trio of doom.  They are all the same person, however, in the game, she has three different cards.  She has two keywords, both of which offer bonuses for mission cards.

Her only flaw is that if anyone else hires her after you have her, you must remove the card you own from play.  This can happen at most two times during the course of a single game, like this scenario:

"Player 1 uses a Buy Action in Regina and purchases Bridgit.  On his next turn, Player 2 uses a Buy Action in Osiris and adds Yolanda to her crew.  Player 1 is forced to remove Bridgit from play, permanently.  Then, a few turns later, Player 1 finds Saffron in the Silverhold Deck and adds her to his crew.  Player 2 removes Yolanda from play, leaving Saffron as the only one of the three left in the game."

Misbehave Cards:

There are a total of 4 Misbehave Cards that will allow an instant "Proceed" by having a Companion on board.

A Sheriff's Justice:

This card is impossible to pass unscathed without a Companion.  Option 1 allows you the ability to perform a Negotiate Skill Test, however, even if you successfully pass the skill test, the attempt is botched (without penalty).

If you choose Option 2, you can perform a Gun Check that can cause you to kill either one, two, or ALL of your crew, depending on how well you do.

This is one of the worst cards in the deck to draw... unless you have a companion handy.


A Formal Affair:

This card is has two instant Proceed conditions:  Option 1 requires Fancy Duds and you proceed immediately or having a Companion allows you to Proceed.  Of course, Option 2 of the card has a very simple Negotiate Skill test with a target score of 6.  So this is a very easy card to take down.

It Takes a Woman's Touch:

This Misbehave card has two different skill tests, Option 1 for Negotiate and Option 2 is for Tech.  They both require a score of 7 and they both offer a huge bonus if you have Fancy Duds or a Hacking Rig, so this card is easily defeated with a well-equipped crew.

We Need a Distraction:

Again, this card is really easy to beat, provided you have enough Tech or are carrying some Explosives around.  However, if you choose risk a Tech roll, failing the roll will get you a big fat warrant and ruin whatever job you were working.  Of course, by simply having a Companion, you can bypass this card and the other three misbehave cards above.

In conclusion, having a Companion not only yields monetary rewards (via Mission bonuses) and huge quantities of skills, their rarity makes them difficult to obtain.  However, despite their high costs, they will more than make up it if you plan on being a bad guy.

If you have not already, feel free to follow this blog for more exciting updates, along with a review of the newest expansion Firefly: Breakin' Atmo.

Don't forget to check out my Salvage Operations article, about how to make tons of dough while cruising around the Black.

**************************  EDIT - ADDITIONAL CONTENT  **********************

Companion Bonus:

Certain mission cards have a Companion Bonus for their completion.  The bonus is always $500, which will easily recoup the expense of buying the companion.  The breakdown per contact is as follows:

Harken: 2
Amnon Duul:  3
Patience:  5
Badger:  4
Niska:  4

Based on that data, Patience can be a Companion's best friend but Badger and Niska also have a decent amount of jobs with companion bonuses.
*******************************************************************************

Stay Shiny, my friends!

~ Captain Paddy Bardic

Pirate and Bounty Hunter Mechanic

The fact that Firefly The Game is coming out with a Pirates and Bounty Hunters expansion in March 2014.  However, that is still three months away and my fellow players are desiring more Player versus Player action right now.

So I got together with another of my regular players and we came up with a new mechanic to institute into the game.  This set of rules allows players to become pirates and actually attack each other for loot.

Now, I know that Firefly-Class Transports do not have any weapons on them.  The principle guiding this mechanic would be that the pirate ship is forcibly boarding the defending vessel.  Of course, we did not want players to be able to stock up on a single skill then run out and start pillaging every other captain in the 'Verse.

So there is a necessary amount of randomness attached to this, but that is more in the interest of balance.  Feel free to leave your feedback in the comments section of the blog.

 

Firefly: Pirate Wars Rules

Purpose:

In order to instill more Player vs. Player interaction in the game, the following rules can be enacted by unanimous decision at the start of the game.

These guidelines are in addition to the standard rules as laid out in the Firefly: The Game instruction manual.

Rules:

I.                    Players can only be attacked by another Firefly if the two ships are occupying the same sector of space.

II.                  A player wishing to attack another player must use one of his or her actions to commence the attack by declaring “Pirate Attack”.

III.                The sequence of combat will be performed as follows:

a.      If the defender chooses, he may opt for an Evasion Roll.  If successful, the Defender evades to an adjacent sector of space.  See chart below.

b.      The Attacker rolls for the “Skill Test Determination”.  See Chart below.

c.       The Defender rolls for the “Loot Determination”.  See Chart below.

d.      Both the Attacker and the Defender roll a dice and then add that number to applicable skill set as determined in Step III.B.

e.      The winner is whoever has a higher score.

f.        Winner receives the loot, as determined by the Loot Determination Roll in step III.C

IV.                If the loser cannot pay the loot, re-roll the “Loot Determination” roll.

a.      If the player has no loot that can be claimed by any Loot roll, the loser’s captain is disgruntled.

b.      The Attacker is free to negotiate his loot reward, instead of re-rolling the “Loot Determination” roll.

V.                  The Winner will evade upon completion of the attack to an adjacent space.

VI.                Neither player can hire disgruntled crew from the other once hostilities have commenced.

 

Special Rules and Addendums

1.      If the Defender wins, the Attacker receives a Warrant (unless the Defending Ship has an active Warrant award for pirating).

2.      If a ship (that has no Warrants) attacks a ship that has received a Warrant (and still has that Warrant) from pirating, they can claim a $500 bounty from Harken if they successfully beat the pirate ship.

a.      This will also make the winning non-warranted ship captain solid with Harken if they were not already.

b.      The bounty will double if the player is already solid with Harken.

c.       This bounty is paid by the bank to the player and is in addition to any loot obtained during the attack.

d.      This bonus does not apply to Defending ships.

3.      If the loot to be received is an enemy crew member:

a.      If the winner does not have space on his ship for more crew:

                                                              i.      The winner can kill one of the loser’s crew.
                             OR

                                                            ii.      The winner can kill one of his own crew if he is in open space to make room for the new crew member.
                             OR

                                                          iii.      The winner can dismiss one of his crew if the ships are in a sector occupied by a planet or space station, to make room for the new crew member.

b.      If the winner chooses to kill a crew (either his or his opponent’s), all of his Moral Crew are disgruntled and you become Solid with Niska.

4.      The winning ship cannot loot or destroy cargo for which he does not have room for on his ship.  For example, if an Attacker wins all of the loser’s 4 Cargos, but only has 2 spaces to store them on his ship, he may only take two Cargo and leave the other two on the loser’s ship.

5.      If the Loot is Cash, that money is taken from the loser’s cash reserves, and not from the bank.

*If the loser has a Ship Upgrade to expand their Stash, cargo and contraband stored in there will not be looted.

EVASION ROLL CHART:

Conditions	Results
No Modifiers	Roll a “6” and discard 1 Fuel to evade.
Pilot	Roll “5” or greater and discard 1 Fuel to evade
Pilot + Mechanic	Roll “4” or greater and discard 1 Fuel to evade.
“Wash”	Roll greater than “4” to evade.  No fuel needed.
CRY BABY in Alliance Space	If a “6” is rolled (and only a 6), the Defender can discard their Cry Baby to call the Cruiser to their position.  The Attacker will have to play through the Alliance Encounter Card, however, they will have to treat ALL crew as Wanted Crew.
CRY BABY in Border Space	If a “6” is rolled (and only a 6), the Defender can discard their Cry Baby to call the Reaver Cutter to their position.  Both players must perform the Reaver Encounter Card. Neither ship can evade into the same space.

SKILL TEST DETERMINATION ROLL CHART



 

Dice Result	Description	Result
1 – 2	The Pirates forcibly board their victim’s vessel, armed and ready to fight…	Fight Skill
3 – 4	The Pirates stealthily sneak aboard their victim’s vessel, hoping to steal some loot without detection…	Tech Skill
5 – 6	The Pirates hail their victims and attempt to negotiate their immediate surrender…	Negotiate Skill

LOOT DETERMINATION ROLL CHART:

Dice Result	Winner will take from loser:
1	All fuel and parts the loser has in his cargo hold and stash*
2	All cargo and contraband the loser has in his cargo hold and stash*
3	One Equipment / Gear of the winner’s choosing.
4	One Crew of the winner’s choosing.
5	One Ship Upgrade of the winner’s choosing
6	Cash equal to $500 multiplied by the difference between the Attacker’s score and the Defender’s score.

 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<  End of Instructions  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Try out these new rules (which will probably be made obsolete with the next expansion) and tell me what you think about them.

If you haven't read our other articles on Salvage Ops, please give it a read-over.

Stay Shiny, folks!

~ Captain Paddy Bardic