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