5 Parsecs: Patron vs Rival vs Quest Analysis

 This is about Patron Missions in Five Parsecs From Home (3rd Edition). Because of a conversation I was having recently in the 5 Parsec Discord, I did a little bit of analysis to figure out just how much better a Patron Mission is than a Rival Fight, and then followed that up with a comparison to Quest Missions. 

Basically, you want to be doing Patron missions every chance you can.

The Patron gives you Danger Pay, which you get even if you fail the Mission. Danger pay ranges from "+1 credit" up to "+3 credits and roll twice, picking the higher die when rolling for mission pay".  Every once in a while, a failed Patron Mission will actually pay better than a successful Rival Fight. It's not common, but it is a possibility.

The Patron job also has an 80% of having a notable sight, while the Rival Fight only has a 60% chance. The distribution of notable sights that convert directly to cash goes up as well,  36.6% for the Patron Mission vs just 23.3% for the Rival Fight. 

The Patron job is also eligible for the bonus of "count a roll of 1 or 2 as a 3" in the Get Paid section, and the Rival fight isn't.  While the overall increase there is small, it's noteworthy in that it's eliminating the worst results, and effectively establishing a minimum payment, much as how Danger Pay does.

Basically, a successful Rival fight averages 3.883 credits, and a successful Patron mission averages 6.2632 credits. While that is less than +2.4 credits difference, it is roughly a 61% increase in your revenue for the turn. Over time that adds up. Also, consider that the minimum payment on a Rival Fight is 0 if you Lose and 1 if you Win, whereas the minimum payment on a Patron Mission is 1 if you lose, and 3 if you Win. So it's just a safer bet all around. 

Keep in mind that your Upkeep on your Crew is probably ~1 or 2 credits, and your Interest / Upkeep on your ship is probably another ~1 or 2 credits. So a Rival Fight, especially early in the campaign when you still owe a lot on your ship, may only be roughly break-even for the Turn even if you Succeed. A Patron Mission will really only be break-even on a Failure, and should almost always turn a profit on a Win.

Moreover, that 6.26 credits estimate is intentionally ignoring anything that gives other tangible-but-not-quite-cash boosts, such as anything you can get from a Benefits roll if you get lucky enough to qualify for Patron Benefits on that Mission. Patron Benefits might be an extra roll on the Trade Table, or an extra Loot, or "Health Insurance" that provides two free Turns of Recovery for KO'd characters. That Health Insurance essentially has a value of 8 credits, so it alone is worth more than the maximum payout for a Rival Fight.

Patron Missions are also superior to the payout on any Quest Mission short of the final Mission of a given Quest (which gets bonus Loot which is hard to assign a strict value to). Because it's possible for various random charts (Trade Table, Battlefield Finds, etc) to give you Quest Rumors, it's actually most beneficial/strategic to ignore your Quests for several Turns until you've picked up so many Rumors that the Quest will automatically only last two Missions. Quests don't expire, so there's really no drawback to letting them "mature" before focusing on them. 

Quests have two main benefits, both of which only pay-out on the final Mission of the Quest Chain. That final step in a Quest gets you about +1.77 more credits than an Opportunity Mission would, but here's the catch: Danger Pay is roughly +1.6 more credits than an Opportunity Mission. So while that final Quest payout works out to only about +0.17 more credits than a Patron Mission, the need to spend at least 2 Missions on the Quest chain makes the overall Quest chain income actually slightly less than just doing only Patron Missions in that same number of Turns.

The other pay-out on Quests is that they give you extra Loot rolls, which are hard to compare and contrast directly. The random nature of Loot rolls, and the weird way 5 Parsecs handles shopping, does mean that sometimes a Quest will give you something that you've never had access to in any of your previous Turns. That is excellent when it happens, but it's far from guaranteed, and again your best bet is to hold off until you've gathered enough rumors so that you can complete the entire Quest in just 2 Missions. The final Mission gives you 3 Loot, and any normal Patron / Opportunity / Quest Mission gives 1 Loot for a Win. So if the Quest chain is properly managed so that it only takes 2 Turns, then you're getting 4 Loot overall, basically double normal. As soon as you add a 3rd Turn chasing the steps of the Quest, you're not only scoring less than double-Loot, you're also losing money overall.

 Of course, all this number-crunching and bean-counting may be missing the most important observation of them all: The point of Five Parsecs may not be to "win" the campaign. I mean, sure you don't want to just fail Turn after Turn and watch your crew die off one-by-one, but ultimately if your goal is just amass a bunch of credits, that's probably pretty dry and boring. Pursuing nothing but Patron Missions can be fun, but eventually you may want to try out other types of battles. A Rival Fight where you're defending your ship may not pay much in Credits, but it does have a certain amount of visceral fun and excitement. 

Once you've played enough Patron Jobs to pay off your ship loan, you may actually want to take on sub-optimal Missions just to get the maximum play variety out of the game. There are certain scenarios that don't ever show up in Patron Jobs, so you may want to play an Opportunity Mission, Quest Mission, or Rival Fight just to experience everything Five Parsecs has to offer. (On the other hand, quite a few of these other Mission scenarios say "if you drive off the enemy, you can <insert mission objective here> at your leisure, so if your playstyle is aggressive, or your PC Crew have strong ranged attacks, all these scenarios may end up being very close to the default experience.

Trailblazing Mission 14

This is a step-by-step breakdown of the fourteenth Campaign Turn in my Five Parsecs From Home campaign. This mission was my first after purchasing the new Trailblazers Toolkit expansion, so it has a number of new twists and turns, like Enemy Deployment Variables and the Escalating Battle mechanics.

Crew names below are often abbreviated "G" to "M", as explained in: Crew Roster, which also tells you about my team and a bit about their ship. See also the Index of my Five Parsecs articles for a list of previous Missions and other content.

Pre-Battle:
1.1 Flee Invasion: - n/a

1.2 Decide Whether to Travel: - I briefly flirt with the idea of flying back to Aceso Menrva Prime, the planet I started the Campaign on. It was a Medical World, so the cost of Recovery is cheaper on that planet, and with a lucky roll on my Cargo Bay and Hidden Compartment, the voyage might actually subsidize the early return of my badly wounded K'Erin soldier. However, that was also the world that Leonidas loves so much he's tempted to abandon the crew and stay behind. So the bad result if my cargo hold fails would be spending 1/3 of my savings on fuel, leaving me too cash-poor to Recover fully this round despite the discount, and then also having to dump a Story Point to not lose another character when I leave. That's just not a good gamble.

1.3 Starship Travel Event: - n/a

1.4 New World Arrival Steps: - n/a

1.5 Gain 1 story point if it's turn 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, etc. - no

2.1 Upkeep and Ship Repairs: -
Crew Upkeep - 1    Ship Debt - 0    Ship Repairs - 0    Medical Care - 0

H'Xex, my K'Erin soldier, is still in Sick Bay. Getting him out this Turn would cost 12 of my 14 Credits, so I hold off for another Turn at least.

2.2 Assign and Resolve Crew Tasks: -
Find a Patron -    Train - J    Trade - K,G    Recruit -     Explore - I, L    Track -    Repair Your Kit - M    Decoy -

Noteworthy results from Tasks: -

Kid trades for Tourist Garbage, but it's actually worth a Story Point (bringing me back up to 7). I'm picturing a set of "Soup Goggles", kitschy steampunky eyewear with moving wiper-blades and some sort of awful joke about the local fog printed on the frames.

GcViib trades for Spare Parts. Very sensible.

Inshubur and Leonidas go out for drinks at a little dive bar called Ripped. Between the name, and the tables and chairs all being oversized plasteel models, bolted to the floor, we should have known not to drink too heavily here. Leonidas gets a little tipsy, and starts a fight, adding new Rivals to our roster.  It's a Hulker Gang. 7-foot slabs of roid-rage and laced muscle. That's not good.

Moreva fixes the Damaged Military Rifle.


2.3 Determine Job Offers: - No new ones this Turn, but we've an existing Quest and an existing Patron Mission with no expiration date.

2.4 Assign Equipment: - From his sickbed, H'Xex installs a Unity Battle Sight on his Shotgun.

2.5 Resolve Rumors: - n/a

2.6 Choose Your Battle -  We head out to to chase after this promising lead on a Quest for something called "The Xanthous Soul from the 5th Dimension"... but we weren't expecting Rivals to intefere!

Juniper's away at the final for her Security License. Everyone else is going to meet with a contact who has info on our Quest, but the Salvage Team "Kharon & Vanth Towing & Salvage" attacks us at the scheduled meet before our connection can get in the door.


Battle:

Deployment Conditions:  -  Small encounter: A random crew member must sit out this fight. Reduce enemy numbers by -1 (-2 if they initially outnumber you)  Random crew member absent is: Juniper

Planetary Condition: - Planet-Wide Fog - All shots beyond 8" are -1 to Hit.

Notable Sights:  -  Person of interest: Gain +1 story point.

Objective: -  Rival Mission: Assault: Add one additional enemy figure. Your crew must all set up in or adjacent to a building. If you fail to Hold the Field, you will lose 1D3 credits. If you flee from the battle before 4 rounds are up, a random crew member will also lose a random item of equipment carried in your flight.

Enemy Type: - Interested Parties            Enemy SubType: - Salvage Team

Numbers: +1    Panic: 1-3     Speed: 4”     Combat: +0     Tough: 4     AI: C     Weapons: 2B

Interested Parties: Add +1 when rolling for Unique Individuals. 

Scavengers: Roll twice on the Battlefield Finds Table.

1 regulars with Colony Rifles,

1 veteran regular with Colony Rifle and Combat +1

1 specialist with Combat +1, AutoRifle,

1 LT. with Combat +1, Armor 5+, Colony Rifle, Blade,

1 Unique Freelancer w/ Luck 1, Combat +1, Hand-Cannon, Blade

 Speed: 4”     Combat: +1     Tough: 4    Luck: 1  AI: T  

Freelancer: If the freelancer is slain in a Brawl, you may roll on the Loot Table (p.131) and claim the item for use immediately.

Deployment - We are meeting our connection in a restaurant in one of the larger domed cities on Tiresias-3. The dome reduces the atmospheric pressure, but doesn't prevent the fog.

Deploy Enemies -  They set up at the North end of the map. I put their leadership in the nice luxury suite, and the specialist and veteran in the hallway between some cheaper rooms. I put the Freelancer in the suite as well, but technically set up as third group because his AI is different.

Deploy PCs - Per the Rival Assault directive, all my people start inside one building. Inshubur, Leonidas, Moreva and The Kid are sitting at a table, waiting for our connection. Our bot, GcViib, is watching the door. They don't serve her kind here, anyway.

(H'Xex is in sickbay, and Juniper is taking her Security Exam, so we've only got 5 PCs.)

Notable Sight - The Person of Interest we're hoping to meet up is in a narrow hall in the adjoining hotel. It's a good roll that put him so deep into our side of the map, but unfortunately, there's only one route to him, and it will involve running around in the open to get over there.

Seize the Initiative: Failed by 1. Exactly the amount that Juniper's Security Training would have raised our roll. If only she were here.

Since we failed, it triggers the Enemy Deployment Variables - These are per page 32 of Trailblazers Toolkit - This is my first time using this new expansion!   The Enemy Deployment Variables chart is broken up by AI type. The Salvage Crew are Cautious, but the Freelancer they brought with them is Tactical. I decide to roll on the Tactical chart, seeing as how they hired a strategist (and mostly because the Tactical chart has more options on it).

Initial Deployment, before the Infiltration result

62: Infiltration!   This tells me to pick up half the enemy models off the table, and then at the end of round 2 they'll all be placed on the map in a randomly determined location. This probably works to my advantage, as I'll be able to fight 5-on-2 for two rounds, but if they spring up someplace inconvenient it might get real exciting all of a sudden.

Also, since it sounds like this means the first two Rounds not much is going to be happening, I dip into Appendix VII and VIII of the rules to introduce some Bystanders. Two of them are restaurant guests or who won't be moving initially, and the other 6 are following basic Bystander rules. They move 3" per Round in a straight line, changing directions if they bump in to anything. If fighting happens near them, then run 1d6" away from it at the end of the turn.

Round 1: -  We get a call from our contact. He's nearby, but scared. Kharun & Vanth Salvage & Towing have been nosing around his operation, and he's pretty sure they'll resort to violence to keep us from pursuing our quest. This is news to us, we only briefly interacted with them in spacedock the day we arrived on Tiresias-3, and had no idea that we'd offended them. We tell our guy to sit tight, and we'll send a couple people over to escort him.

Quick Actions -  Inshubur and Moreva head out to meet up with the contact. GcViib goes on overwatch in the doorway.

Enemy Actions - Bad guys move up, but don't have Line of Sight yet.

Slow Actions - The rest of my crew get up from their lunch.

Civilian Bystander Actions - Bystanders move around. Waitstaff tries to get past my Crew and can't. One bystander out in the plaza opens a door, see's a dude with a gun, and moves 1" in a random direction instead.

Panic Test - None yet.

Escalating Battles per page 34 of Trailblazers Toolkit -  Two of the triggers are active (no fighting, and I outnumber the Enemy on Turn 1).  I roll: Fighting Intensifies. +1 Combat Skill on a Salvage Crew guy.


Round 2: -

Quick - Inshubur and Moreva move forward.

Surprise! They've infiltrated to the middle of the map.

Enemy - The Intensified Salvage crew moves out and shoots at Inshubur, stunning her.

The specialist with the Autorifle backtracks, because he doesn't have enough movement to get around the civilian. Even if he Dashed, he'd be left standing in the open, less than 12" from my Crew, so that's a big no-no for his Cautious AI type.

Slow -At the sound of gunfire, the Kid and Leonidas rush outside, but can't see any enemies yet.

Civilian Bystander Actions - The bystander who was just outside of the line of fire panics, and just staggers forward looking around to see what the heck that was (He only rolls a 1" for movement.)

The bystander who just saw a dude with a gun in the hallway turns to walk away, only to see Inshubur running for cover as bullets ricochet across the plaza. They bail (5" movement off the edge of the board.)

The other Bystanders move their normal 3" in their existing facing. They heard something that sounded like a gunshot, but it's just one so far, and they haven't seen anything scary. They'll freak out next Round.

Panic Test - none
Escalating Battles per page 34 of Trailblazers Toolkit - Checking the list of triggers, I see that no roll happens this Round.


Infiltration! Per Enemy Deployment Variables, I place the hidden Salvage Regular, Salvage LT, and Freelancer on the map in a random location.  I roll "the terrain feature closest to the center of the table".  That might be really bad, as Inshubur is out in the open very close to the center of the table. Doors burst open, and armed gunmen appear!

Roll for Battle Events between Round 2 and 3 - 51: "Clock is running out: At the end of the next round and each round thereafter, roll 1D6. On a 6, the game ends immediately, and you are unable to complete any objectives. You will not count as Holding the Field unless you clear the table of enemies before this happens."   Gunshots fired in a public place, so that's probably how long we have before the cops show up.


Round 3: - Quick - Inshubur is stunned, so she can either stand there and get murdered, or she can run for it and not attack this Round. I've raised her Speed stat with XP a couple times, so she can move 7". Better part of valor and all that.

The Kid moves up into cover behind the big glowing data terminal, but misses his shot.

Moreva takes shelter behind a corner, and launches hot plasma death at the Freelancer. His armor saves him, and he falls back. The doors close automatically behind him.

Enemy - The first Salvage Crew to fire is in a weird position now. His target has run away, and he can't acquire a new one without either getting very close to us, or standing out in the open, both of which aren't great for Cautious AI. So I break out the new AI Variations chart, and roll for his action. A "2" tells me that he just sits tight.

His buddy with the autorifle doubles back again. In his case, "cautious" and "indecisive" look about the same.

The other Salvager and his LT both miss The Kid.

The Freelancer shakes off his stun. He's not adjacent to the door, so he can't see or be seen by people outside. Since he's stunned, if he moves he can't shoot, so his best bet it to just sit tight.

Slow - Our bot misses the LT. Leonidas dashes up to cover our West flank.

Civilian Bystander Actions - The most panicked civilian is basically surrounded, so I roll a random direction and distance for his move. 2" North. The others make more sensible flight towards the nearest table edge. The ones in the restaurant all roll low, and hunker down behind tale

Panic Test - None yet, except for civilians.
Escalating Battles per page 34 of Trailblazers Toolkit - Nothing triggered this Round

Clock is Running Out test - rolled a "2" so the cops aren't here yet.


Round 4: -

Quick - Inshubur shouts at our contact "Wait here, I'll be right back!" and then charges back out into danger, because that stunned Freelancer seems like he might be vulnerable at the moment. Unfortunately, he rolls a natural 6 for a total of 9. Inshubur rerolls with her Elegant Boarding Saber, and she doesn't get a natural 6 but her higher Combat Skill means she does tie his total of 9. She's looking at taking 2 hits and only dealing out 1.  Seems like a good moment for a Story Point! He was looking down and checking that his clothes weren't on plasma fire from the previous hit at the exact moment when Inshubur burst in.  The story point rerolls his attack, and it comes up as an 8 total. He's knocked back an inch and stunned again. I consider throwing a second story point into my natural "1" on the damage roll, but since he has Luck, I'm probably actually better off leaving it be. Ugh. I probably should have just had her go make the connection instead of charge.

The Kid drops one of the Salvage Crew with his Tracker-Sight-assisted Infantry Laser.

Enemy Phase - The surviving normal Salvage Crew shoots at Inshubur in the doorway, but misses.

The enemy LT shoots at The Kid. Inshubur is closer, but he'd have to leave cover to get LOS to her, and since he's "Cautious" that's not happening. Either way, his shot goes wide.

The autorifle specialist pops his gun out the doorway on our left flank, and has a really good wide-open shot at Moreva. He only scores one hit, so I throw a story point at it. GcViib warns her "Hostile detected!"

Unfortunately, the rerolled shot is a "6". Instead of ducking, she looks over her shoulder at our bot and shouts "Where?" The damage roll, however, is mercifully a "1". The impact on her armor merely knocks the wind out of her. Next time, shout "duck!".

Freelancer shrugs off the stun and opens up with his Hand-Cannon. Using her Luck, Inshubur dives past him to survive.

Slow - Moreva fires back at the Specialist, and drives him back. Leonidas rushes forward and opens up, but the door provides cover and he misses with both shots. This could get ugly.

GcViib misses the LT.

Civilian Bystander Actions - 4 of the civilians escape the board, but a few others roll low. The restaurant host and the two guys out in the open are probably crawling at this point.

Panic Test - One of the bad guys panics and runs. It makes sense for it to be the regular guy who doesn't currently have line-of-sight to the enemy, but can see all the firepower we're blasting into the room where his boss is trapped.
Escalating Battles roll #2 comes up 22: Reinforcements! From the right edge of the map 2 more Salvage Crew and a 1 Specialist show up. That's not great.

Roll for Battle Events between Round 4 and 5: 50: Possible Reinforcements! Place 3 markers on the Enemy Table Edge. Each turn one of these chosen at random will either be removed, or be replaced by another enemy.

Clock is Running Out test - "1", so we've got at least another turn.


Round 5: -

Quick - Inshubur opens up with the Plasma Rifle at point-blank. The Freelancer spends his Luck to prevent the first killshot, but because we're in a tiny contained space he can't escape the second hit. I would have preferred to beat him in a brawl for the bonus Freelancer loot, but things were getting dangerous so the Indiana Jones moment was a necessity.

The Kid stuns the LT.

Enemy - AutoRifle stuns Leonidas.

The LT misses the Kid.

One of last turn's reinforcements moves to a doorway and misses the Kid. The other two advance and take cover behind the doors of storage bins, but can't line up a shot.

One of the Possible Reinforcements from the Battle Event is determined to be nothing.

Slow - Leonidas returns fire lethally. X out the specialist.

Moreva moves and shoots. Because of the Planet-Wide Fog she only scores a single hit, stunning the Salvage Specialist reinforcement. As much as I'd like to discount that for the mission being indoors, I think we've definitely shot up the mall enough for the fog to be pouring in.

Civilian Bystander Actions - All but two of them are off the board, and those 2 have finally started running, not crawling.

Panic Test - One of this turn's reinforcements nopes right out.
The third and final Escalating Battles roll is "81: Unconventional Tactics."


Clock is Running Out test - another "1", so we've got at least another turn.


Round 6: - Quick - Unconventional Tactics means all my characters are Reactions = 1 this turn. I only roll a single "1" and I give it to Leonidas, and he promptly misses.

Enemy - LT misses The Kid. Salvage Crew misses Leonidas. Specialist sits tight and shakes off the stun.

The second of the Possible Reinforcements from the Battle Event is determined to be nothing.

Slow - Kid stuns the LT again. Then Inshubur rushes over to blast him twice from point-blank.

Moreva advances.

Civilian Bystander Actions - Another one leaves the map.

Panic Test - Passed.

Clock is Running Out test - Not this turn.


Round 7: - Quick - An absolutely stellar initiative roll sees all my characters advance before any of the enemies act.. Unfortunately, they also all either miss, or fail to line up a shot in the first place.

Enemy - Salvage Crew misses the Kid.

Specialist puts a round in GcViib, and my bot goes down.

Civilian Bystander Actions - The last civilian flees off the East end of the map.

Panic Test - None to make this Turn.

Clock is Running Out test - I roll a "6", so that would end it. But I think I've got the win here, and should be able to score another Story Point in Round 8, so, what the heck, I spend a Story Point to force a reroll. It's a "3" so we're on. 

Key: Green lines are controlled and intentional PC movement. Yellow lines are fleeing or knockback. Purple and blue lines are neutral NPCs moving sensibly. Red lines are the advance of the enemy.

Round 8: - Quick - Inshubur runs over to our connection, and scores the bonus Story Point.

In the end, we hold the battlefield.

The Kid moves up and blasts the last Salvage Crew.

Moreva takes a risky move, but rolls well, and the last Salvage Specialist goes down. The mission is over!

Enemy -  ... And then I realize I forgot to roll for the last Possible Reinforcement marker  last Round. If I'd remembered that, it's unclear if I would have spent the Story Point, but, oh well. I roll for it now, and get a "5", so it turns into an bonafide enemy. +1 Salvage Crew. Dang it. He advances.

Slow Phase - Leonidas dashes to the West, to get closer to the reinforcement without blocking the approach for my other characters.

Civilian Bystander Actions - Our contact leaves the map alive.

Panic Test - Thankfully, I roll a "1" and the new reinforcement bails.
Clock is Running Out test - Mission over for real, so I don't have to roll.

Analysis:

That battle was a bit of a slog, but the slow pacing was mostly self-inflicted.

I put those bystanders on the map without thinking much about them. They were from the "GMing" section, which I had initially overlooked in the Five Parsecs core rules, because I'd incorrectly assumed it was for a multiplayer variant. Adding them to the mission wasn't a bad idea, necessarily, but I didn't implement it well. The idea is that they're a form of moving terrain, like what I'd done with the cars in some of my other missions. So, like the cars, I started them near the edge of the map. That's what the mistake was. Starting near the edges meant they didn't have much impact, as they never blocked line of sight, and only really impacted movement in 2 out of 8 Rounds. But there were 8 of them, with random movement, so they really slowed things down. If I use them again, it would be better to place a smaller number of them, but put them in one or two clusters near the middle of the map, where they're more likely to get in the way.

The other new stuff this mission were the Enemy Deployment Variables and Escalating Battles mechanics from the new Trailblazer's Toolkit.

The Enemy Deployment Variables were really cool, and had a neat ambush mechanic that definitely transformed the fight. That was a solid improvement, and I will happily use them again.

The variable did sort of contribute to the slow pacing... but again that was also largely self-inflicted. I tried roleplaying the opening Rounds a bit too much. There were a number of factors that contributed to this decision, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but wasn't the best call in hindsight: 1) Half the Enemy were hidden on Round 1, so it made me a little cautious.  2) This was a Rival Battle, rather than a Mission where my team were the aggressors, and I was trying to make that meaningful. So when the Enemy didn't reach me on Round 1, it felt weird to rush towards them.  3) The particular map I was using had a restaurant or cafeteria section, so it seemed interesting to put all my people there at the start. This was flavorful, but it also meant that the entrance to the dining hall was a choke point that delayed movement and action. If I'd followed normal deployment rules for my Crew,  and spread them out to my benefit, the action would have gotten going sooner.

I'm not sure yet what I think about the Escalating Battles rules. They seem a little fiddly to me. There's an older document for the 2nd Edition of the game which includes rules for "Enemy Ploys", and I'd used that for several recent games. It feels like Enemy Deployment Variables and Escalating Battles are sort of like two different "advanced" versions of the Ploy system.  I don't want to pass judgment just yet, having only played once with the new versions, but thus far, I think the Ploys may have been better? They were certainly easier to implement, as the Ploys were just a single die roll at the end of every Round, and you'd stop rolling after the first time one triggered in any given Mission. Easy to remember and track. With the escalating battles you don't necessarily roll every Round, and then when you do roll, you keep checking once every Round until you've rolled 3 times. It may well be that you'll eventually memorize what triggers the roll, and will be faster when that's internalized. In this session, I had to look up in 6 different Rounds how to know if they were triggered, and when the third roll happened I also had to flip back through my log to double-check that it was indeed the third and final roll. I went from being excited about the Escalating Battles mechanic before play, to finding it kind of a pain in the butt in actual practice... but again, maybe you just have to fight past the learning curve to get to the good stuff. Escalating Battles definitely adds surprises, and it's less predictable than the Ploy mechanic, so this new system may actually be preferable in a long campaign. I don't know yet.

There was one very small rules hole in regards to both the Enemy Deployment Variables and the Escalating Battles. The charts are broken out by AI type. Usually you're facing enemies with just a single AI type, so it's obvious which column of the chart to roll on. However, it's also possible to have a Unique Individual on the board with a different AI type... so which column do you use then? It's also possible to roll up the Battle Event "Change of Plans" which changes the AI type of every Enemy with a ranged weapon. Usually that means all the Enemies change plans, but sometimes you'll have specialists who are armed with just a Power Claw, and are thus unchanged. In theory, you could have a board with three or more different AI types, though that would be incredibly rare. (Requiring a Unique character, a specialist a Power Claw, and the Change of Plans roll all in one Mission.) I think if which column to roll on is ever unclear again, I'm going to just rule that I always roll on the column for the AI type of the regular Enemy at the start of the battle, not characters nor AI modifiers applied during the battle.

It's also possible that maybe I just overloaded the Mission with two many variables, and would have enjoyed them more if I'd just plugged in one new option at a time. I'll have to keep an eye open for that.


Post-Battle:

4.1 Resolve Rival Status: - "Kharon & Vanth Towing & Salvage" decides they've had enough, and won't mess with me again.

4.2 Resolve Patron Status: - n/a

4.3 Determine Quest Progress: - Technically this doesn't change our Quest status. Narratively, we made our connection, who handed over to Inshubur the drive they had on the mysterious "Xanthous Soul from the 5th Dimension".

4.4 Get Paid and Benefits of Success: -  4 Credits (bringing our stash up to 18 credits)

Planetary Condition - Booming Economy - When rolling for post-battle credit rewards, any 1 on the dice are rerolled until it shows a score other than a 1. (This happened, my first roll was a "1", and the reroll was a "4".)

We held the field, so we do NOT suffer the potential fleeing penalty from a Rival Assault.

4.5 Battlefield Finds: The Salvage Crew were Scavengers: Roll twice on the Battlefield Finds Table.

I roll the same number twice in a row, so we find: 2x Starship part: Redeemable as equivalent to 2 credits only when installing a Starship Component (see page 60).

4.6 Check for Invasion!: - n/a

4.7 Gather the Loot: - Communicator: When making the Reaction roll each round, you may roll one additional die, then choose a die to discard.

Because Inshubur had to shoot him instead of best him in a brawl, we do NOT get an extra Loot for defeating the Freelancer.

4.8 Determine Injuries and Recovery: - I roll on the Bot Injury Table for GcViib, and get a 90: Just A Few Dents, no long-term effect.

4.9 Experience and Character Upgrades:  G.0 H.0 I.4 J.0 K.5 L.3 M.3   - First Kill: - K    Rookie: K   Killed the Freelancer: I

Inshubur raises Toughness to 5.  Leonidas raises Combat Skill to 3.

4.10 Invest in Advanced Training: - Not this Turn.

4.11 Purchase Items: - Sell our Military Rifle for 1 Credit

4.12 Campaign Event: - "In hindsight, it’ll make a great story. Select a crew member who was a casualty last battle. They receive +1 Luck. If nobody got hurt, receive +1 story point instead."  Somebody did get hurt, but it's our bot, and bots can't gain Luck... so we'll take the Story Point.

4.13 Character Event: -  Juniper picks up an unusual hobby. Earn +1 story point and the character talks about it constantly. She recently unlocked the "Security Training" advanced ability, which helps with deployment and avoiding ambushes,  so I think she's probably read up on a ton of military history, and just become the biggest history nerd ever. She's constantly sharing military trivia and assessing the tactical situations of every day life.

4.14 Check for Galactic War Progress: - n/a

4.15 Tick Story Clock: - 4

5 Parsecs alternate XP / Ability Increase table

Lately, I've been playing a lot of Five Parsecs From Home, and really loving it. One thing I've decided to house-rule about it is the rate of Ability Increase from XP spends. 

In my opinion, the system in the main rulebook is a little too kind to the player. It lets you unlock upgrades very fast, nearly every session. That rapid upgrade rate is great early on when your characters are using scrap pistols and pointy sticks and you need every advantage you can get. Before long, you'll end up in a situation where your team only misses on natural 1's, and after a while the play balance starts to take a hit from it. That's not in any way on knock on the game, or it's designer. Balancing co-op games is really tricky, especially when they have as much proceduraly-generated content as 5 Parsecs does. It's impossibly difficult to account for every situation that can come up in game, so you have to thread the needle between such-an-easy-cake-walk and so-hard-you're-not-having-fun-anymore. 

Fortunately, the first expansion was just released, the Trailblazers Toolkit, which has a ton of great options for adjusting difficulty as you level up. It's an amazing supplement to the game. 5 Parsecs is great right out of the main book, but this expansion goes a long way towards keeping the game exciting, fresh, and tense even repeated play with an ever-improving Crew of PCs. If you're 5 or 10 games in and starting to find it too easy, grab this expansion and adjust the knobs it provides.

Among the many optional changes the new Trailblazers Toolkit proposes is a new XP chart. This does two things.

1) it increases the cost of Reactions, Combat Skill, and Toughness by a point or two each, to slightly slow down the rate of increase in 3 of the 4 most important stats.

2) It lowers the maximum rating of most stats, so you can't get to the stage where you obliterate the opposition without trying.

These are both good changes, but I think they actually introduce a small problem for the longer-running campaign: that you can reach a point fairly quickly where all your characters have the identical maxed stats. 

Assuming you've had good luck, with relatively few long-term injuries, it only takes maybe 15 or 16 missions to get a most characters to the point where their Reactions, Combat Skill, Toughness (and Luck, if they aren't human) are all maxed out. That leaves Speed and Savvy, which have higher maximums, as the only stats you're spending on for a fairly long stretch of a campaign. There is the Advanced Training abilities, but you're limited to 1 of those per PC, and can be purchased with Credits or XP, so that's only a few more sessions tops. 

Now, this wouldn't be a problem if campaign length were intended to only be about 20 Missions or so... but it's definitely intended to go longer. Campaign Victory Conditions range from "Play 20 Campaign Turns" at the easiest benchmark, all the way up to "Win 100 Tabletop Battles", so at the longer 2/3rds of that spectrum you've hit a plateau and are basically not doing anything with XP any more. 

There's also the optional Story Track campaign narrative, which means you're unlocking the next chapter of the story in Missions 6, 10, 13, 19, 23, 24, and 27, with the possibility that events could cause that to take a little longer if you fail Missions, miss some Evidence, face an Invasion, or can't get Off-World on schedule. 

It's less than ideal if the level-up system conks out 10 or more Missions before the end of the campaign, which it currently does for most Campaign Goals.

And just to confirm that I'm not imagining a problem that doesn't exist, here's the stat bar of my Captain at the end of the 13th Mission:

Reactions 4,  Combat Skill +3,   Speed 7, Savvy 2, Toughness 4, Luck 1.

By the Trailblazer's Toolkit, she's 28 XP from maxed out, over half of which would be Savvy upgrades that she doesn't need (as I have an Engineer in my Crew with a higher Savvy than her already, and Savvy rolls happen less than once per Mission.) She'll probably hit the new (i.e.:Trailblazers Toolkit) Toughness cap after Mission 14, and Speed cap by Mission 15 or 16. 

The rest of my team is only shortly behind her, and I think they'll all hit the Trailblazers caps before Mission 20.

With that in mind, I brewed up the following alternate XP-spending chart a few weeks back  to keep the XP system working in the long-haul:

	1 (from 0 to 1)	2 (from 1 to 2)	3 (from 2 to 3)	4 (from 3 to 4)	5 (from 4 to 5)	6 (from 5 to 6)	7 (from 6 to 7)	8 (from 7 to 8)
Reactions	n/a	7	8	8	16	32	n/a	n/a
Combat Skill	7	8	8	16	32	n/a	n/a	n/a
Speed	n/a	5	5	5	5	5	8	10
Savvy	5	5	5	10	10	n/a	n/a	n/a
Toughness	n/a	6	8	8 (Engineer Max)	8	16	n/a	n/a
Luck	10	15 (Humans Only)	20 (Humans Only)	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
	1 (from 0 to 1)	2 (from 1 to 2)	3 (from 2 to 3)	4 (from 3 to 4)	5 (from 4 to 5)	6 (from 5 to 6)	7 (from 6 to 7)	8 (from 7 to 8)

With this system, the lowest level of upgrade costs what it did in the main rules, so you usually get your first upgrade after just a mission or two, while you're still stumbling about with substandard weapons and gear. The second time you upgrade any particular stat (or if it started out above-default because of your character background), it costs what it does in the Trailblazers Toolkit. The abilities are capped at the levels established in the main book, but taking them above the cap from Trailblazers costs a premium, generally double.

The usual limits apply:  Only Humans can get Luck above 1. Engineers can't get Toughness above 4. Bots upgrade with Credits, not XP. 

The main downside of this system is that the sliding scale is harder to remember, so you'll need to refer to the chart more often. But it should keep XP meaningful for at least another dozen Missions or so. Not enough to carry you all the way to "Win 100 Battles", but enough to keep things interesting past the end of the Story Track at least. 

Another ripple-effect benefit from this chart is that the Advanced Training options seem like a comparatively better option, without adjusting their costs at all. Pilot Training's XP isn't just automatically a far-worse proposition than spending those exact same points on Savvy.

 

5 Parsecs From Home: Turn 13 / Story Track Event 3

This is a step-by-step breakdown of the thirteenth Campaign Turn in my Five Parsecs From Home campaign. This Turn's mission is also the third "Event" in the "Story Track". The Story Track is an optional plot thread that (if you've elected to use it in your campaign) shows up about every fourth Turn or so, with a custom mission that shakes things up a bit. This time, it's a pretty brutal close-quarters combat, pistols in the fog from just inches away.

Crew names below are often abbreviated "G" to "M", as explained in: Crew Roster, which also tells you about my team and a bit about their ship. See also the Index of my Five Parsecs articles for a list of previous Missions and other content.

Pre-Battle:
1.1 Flee Invasion: - n/a

1.2 Decide Whether to Travel: - no

1.3 Starship Travel Event: - n/a

1.4 New World Arrival Steps: -n/a 

1.5 Gain 1 story point if it's turn 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, etc. - n/a

2.1 Upkeep and Ship Repairs: -
Crew Upkeep - 1    Ship Debt - 0    Ship Repairs - 0    Medical Care - H needs 5 turns of recovery, and I don't have enough credits to get him out this Turn.

2.2 Assign and Resolve Crew Tasks: -
Find a Patron -    Train -     Trade - M    Recruit -    Explore - J,L    Track -    Repair Your Kit -     Decoy - G,K
Noteworthy results from Tasks: -

    Inshubur plans the attack. From the Story Track for this Turn: "One crew member of choice must be assigned to plan the attack. This crew member cannot take any actions this campaign turn. If you are not ready, you can opt to delay for one more campaign turn, but after that, it’s go time!"
    Moreva trades for Local Maps that may prove useful for future Quests
    Leonidas trades away his old Blade for Combat Armor!

2.3 Determine Job Offers: - Doing the 3rd Story Track event. Thankfully, I didn't roll a "1" and trigger Rival interference.

2.4 Assign Equipment: - n/a

2.5 Resolve Rumors: - n/a

2.6 Choose Your Battle -
Job Description:
Story Track Event 3: Disrupting the Plan - Your old friend is up to something big, and it’s time to teach his people a little lesson. You’ve found out where his organization is storing contraband for sale off-world, and you’ve decided to pay them a visit.

 
Battle: Story Track Event #3


Deployment Conditions:  Set up like a camp, with crates and barrels all over. Scatter 5 Goons, 2 Bruisers, and 1 Leader around the map.

Select which battlefield edge you want to enter from, and roll to Seize the Initiative (at +3 because I captured a mercenary in Story Track #2).

Enemy within 12” of crew figures will act with Defensive AI. Enemy that are not within 12” of crew figures will first attempt to reach the center of the battlefield, then go Defensive.

Planetary Condition: - Planet-Wide Fog - All shots beyond 8" are -1 to Hit.

Notable Sights:  The mission clearly spells out unusual deployment and objectives, so obviously you don't roll on those charts. It doesn't mention whether or not Notable Sights are a thing, but I'm going to assume that since they aren't mentioned, they're not used this mission. If I ever play the story track a second time, with a new crew, maybe I would add one just to mix it up, but this time, there's nothing notable to see here. Move along.  

EDIT: My bad, it's actually spelled out on page 152 that there are no Deployment Conditions or Notable Sights in any Story Track Events. I somehow missed that on my first two reads of the chapter, having included Notable Sights in Story Track Missions #2 and #3. Including them did not seem to break anything, just for the record. So, if having a dynamic mission is more important to you than following the rulebook strictly, go for it. 

Objective: - Sabotage the AeroSpace Fighter that my old friend has just purchased before his techs can get it armed with the missile they just purchased.

To Win, you need to either Hold the Field, or fight your way to the center of the battlefield and plant a sabotage device. This takes a Combat Action and requires a 1D6+Savvy roll of 5+. If failed, the roll can be attempted again by other characters, or through future Actions. Once planted, the opposition will retreat from the battlefield at the end of the next round.
• If you drive off every opponent, you can just plant the device at your own leisure.
• If the battle drags on too long, reinforcements will show up. 2 Goons in each of Rounds 8 and 12 will arrive at the end of the round, in the center of a randomly selected battlefield edge.

Enemy Type: -  AbsuCorp Goons, Bruisers, and a Boss

Numbers: - 5/2/1   Panic: 1-2     Speed: 4”     Combat: +0 to +1     Tough: 3 to 4     AI: D*    

5 Goons with Machine Pistols, 2 Bruisers with Shotguns and Brutal Melee,  1 Leader w/ Blast Pistol and Blade

Deploy: Enemy are scattered around the camp. I'm entering from the North. Because they have a big missile, I'm not bringing my Shuttle or ship anywhere near this place, so I'll be scattering my people along that Northern Edge. One of the cool things about this Mission is that deployment is very atypical. Usually the enemy is really far away. Instead, we can get the drop on the ones near our table edge.

In this Mission, the villains have modified AI. It's mostly the Defensive AI, but with extra instructions to head toward my Mission Objective if there's not PCs nearby them. This has an interesting dynamic where the player is tempted to rush the Objective early, before it's swarming with baddies.

Round 1: - Seize the Initiative:  We've got +3 for capturing and interrogating a mercenary in the previous Story Track Mission. Presumably that stacks with the usual +1 for being outnumbered. So that means that if our 2d6 roll is a 6+, all my people will get to act once before the first turn. I get cocky, and roll a 4. So we've blown our early advantage, but there's still normal initiative.

Quick Actions - We open with Plasma fire! Moreva shoots the closest Goon, stunning him and knocking him back to where Juniper can see him. She fires, one stun and the second hit kill.

Inshubur moves into melee with the next closest Goon. He fumbles, but both damage rolls are low so he only ends up double-stunned.

Enemy Actions - The stunned Goon shoots Inshubur from point-blank with his Machine Pistol. She dives out of the way with her Luck. Then the nearby Bruiser opens fire with his Shotgun. Both shots miss, but one of the two dice rolls a "1", so he gets a reroll from Aiming, which is a hit. Inshubur is out of Luck, so I spend a Story Point to force a reroll on the shot. It's still a hit. Then the damage is enough to knock my Captain out, and probably still would be if I spend another Story Point. Her Combat Armor also fails her, so Inshubur goes down!  Rather than spend it on a long-shot, I hold on to the Story Point, in case I need it to help her during Recovery at the end of the Battle.

Slow Actions - Leonidas vaporizes the stunned Goon.

GcViib burns a hole through the head of the Bruiser that took out Inshubur.

The Kid moves south, and shoots at the Goon on the landing pad, driving him against the Flyer we want to sabotage.

Panic Test - The Goon furthest from the PCs runs away. There's no Enemy Table Edge in this scenario, so I probably could have chosen anyone, but since he'd have to move several Rounds to get into range, I figure he's still the best one to flee.

Enemy Ploy on a "1" - And I rolled it!   There is a Sniper in that tall radio tower to the South East of the landing pad.   In a previous game I rolled up a Sniper, and blasted them to bits before they got to activate. I decided then to implement a house-rule to make them more dangerous if they came up again: The sniper gets 1 free shot immediately upon being placed on the board, before the next Round starts.

Unfortunately for the bad guys, I made that rule before coming to a planet with Fog so bad every shot is at -1 if the target is 8" or more away. The sniper's shot skips off a rock near The Kid.

Image Key: Green lines are PC's movement. Purple lines are the enemies movement. Yellow lines are retreat when Stunned or random movement from Luck points being spent. Red X's mark places where people fell in battle.

Round 2: - Quick - The Kid returns fire, knocking the Sniper onto the supports between the tower and the radar beacon. Juniper moves forward and also shoots at the sniper, driving them further onto the walkway. They are double-stunned, but still in the game.

Enemy - The sniper shoots at Juniper, but she is saved by the Fog.

The Goon on the Landing Pad shoots at her as well, but only stuns her.

The other baddies advance. Most are heading towards the landing pad, but the Goon in the West circles around his hovertruck.

Slow - GcViib misses the sniper.

Leonidas stuns the Goon on the landing pad, who stumbles backwards into the open. Moreva flanks him, and finishes him off.

Panic Test - The goon in the west flees off the board.

Roll for Battle Events between Round 2 and 3 - 82 - Fog Cloud - The AeroSpace FIghter's engines start cycling up, causing the already dense air of Tiresias-3 to condense further. There's a cloud of opaque fog around the landing pad now, extending 6" from our Primary Objective. Line-Of-Sight is blocked by 2" of this, so there'll be some nasty close-quarters battle in our future.


Round 3: - Quick - The Kid puts another stun on the Sniper.

Enemy - The Sniper returns the favor. They hunt each other. The Leader and Bruiser move into the fog.

Slow - Everyone closes in on the fog cloud.

Panic Test - None.


Round 4: Quick - Moreva and Juniper enter the fog.

The Kid is right at the edge of the map, engaged in a sniper duel with the Corp Marksman on the scaffolding. If I keep shooting, he'll probably win, because he has Luck and a better equipment. However, I resolved in Turn 7 that I would never abuse the edge of the map to avoid being pushed back by stunned results. So, to stand by that conviction, the Kid runs for cover. (He was stunned, so he can't shoot if he moves, and can't move if he shoots.)

Enemy - The Bruiser moves up and stuns Juniper with his shotgun. The boss drops into a better position with cover on all sides, but can't get close enough to shoot through less than 2" of engine exhaust.

The sniper moves back into their original position, now obscured by exhaust. They couldn't line up a shot, so I have them shift far enough into the fog for protection.

Slow - Leonidas dashes into the exhaust. I'm gambling a bit on if I can roll at least a single "1" on initiative next turn. If I don't, he'll be burning his Luck.

Panic Test - None

Roll for Battle Events between Round 4 and 5:  "Snap shot: Select a figure in your crew. They may fire a weapon immediately. If the weapon is a Pistol, it Hits automatically, otherwise roll to Hit normally."

I choose Juniper because she has a cool pistol built-in to her cyberhand that I almost never get to use (because a gun built into a cyberhand has half normal range, and her Plasma Rifle usually crisps people from much further out). It's a machine pistol with a shock attachment, and it murders this Bruiser quite nicely.


Round 5: - Quick - I only get 1 good Initiative die this turn, and it's a 2, so it has to be Moreva (or no shot at all). She rushes up the ramp, and unloads hot plasma on the enemy Leader. His armor saves him, but he ends up double-stunned. His back is to rock, so he's not moved at all.

Enemy - Moreva is in the open, so the the Leader shoots her. A bullet strikes her square on, but he's saved by her Combat Armor. It's a good thing the Leader was stunned, because if he'd been able to Aim his second shot might have hit as well.

The sniper moves to the edge of the tower, sticking just far enough out of the exhaust to get a shot at The Kid. They roll a "1", and can't Aim this turn because they moved.

Slow - The Kid returns fire, and stuns the sniper. This pushes them enough to fall. Jumping down 3" would be a +0 damage hit, per the movement rules. I can't seem to find other falling rules, so I just go with that for now.  I roll low, so the sniper only ends up double-stunned.

Leonidas charges the enemy Leader and tries out his Glare Sword. Leon wins the fight, but the Leader rolls a "6".  Leo then rolls low damage, and the baddie rolls high. Thankfully, Leonidas' armor saves him and they are both stunned.

The fog and the placement of my other characters prevent either GcViib or Juniper from getting into a position to shoot.

Panic Test - Nope. These badasses fight on.

Round 6: - Quick - Leonidas opens up on the villain Leader, giving him a second stun.

The Kid moves and misses the sniper.

Enemy -  The leader double-stuns Leonidas. That was close.

The sniper misses The Kid because of the planet-wide Fog.

Slow - Moreva climbs back up on top of the fuel tank and fries the enemy Leader. Then she notices the flammable labels on the thing she's standing on, looks at the smoking Plasma Rifle in her hands, and counts her lucky stars.

Juniper's not Savvy enough to worth the sabotage effort, so she Dashes through the fog to try to flank the sniper next turn.

GcViib heads up onto the platform and gets into position for next Round's sabotage.

Panic Test - None, technically, because the sniper is immune to morale...

Round 7 - ...but since the next Round starts with only the sniper on the map, they automatically escape per the special rule in the Ploy write-up.

Since the Mission ends at the start of Round 7, I don't trigger the scenario-specific enemy reinforcements at the End of Rounds 8 and 12.

Yellow lines are paths of retreat, whether that's 1" of knockback from a Stun, 1d6" of random movement from a Luck spend, or the path off the edge of the board from a badguy failing a Panic test.

Analysis: -  That fight was a lot more challenging than I thought it was going to be! With mostly short-range weapons on the opposition, I expected to just plasma-burn through their ranks in short order.  That's "action economy" for you: losing a PC in Round 1 had a lot of ripple effects, and made every Round thereafter that much harder. Inshubur is my fastest character in terms of both Speed and Reactions, so I'd planned to have her race to the middle of the map and claim the Objective before things got too hot. Instead, she took a dirt nap in Turn 1.

I really enjoyed how this battle played out quite differently from the typical Mission. Having the enemy scattered about and shooting immediately, instead of tightly clustered and creeping up slowly, was pretty interesting. The two layers of Fog (a planet-wide fog that penalized all shots beyond 8", and a localized-fog that blocked all shots beyond 2" in the vicinity of my primary objective) really made me have to get up-close and personal. The only part where I didn't push in close was the long-range sniper match on the far Eastern flank, and that ended inconclusively as a result. If not for the fog, though, I would have been able to aim 2 or 3 Plasma Rifles at that sniper's tower, which probably would have wrapped that part up in a hurry.


Post-Battle:

4.1 Resolve Rival Status: - No, I rolled a 2. I'm happy with that, as I don't think a bunch of pistol-packing Goons would be much of a threat in a more typical deployment/scenario. They just don't have the range to be a serious threat in a normal mission, at least not against my team with all their plasma-rifles.

4.2 Resolve Patron Status: - N/A

4.3 Determine Quest Progress: - N/A

4.4 Get Paid and Benefits of Success: + 5 credits.

Planetary Condition - Booming Economy - When rolling for post-battle credit rewards, any 1 on the dice are rerolled until it shows a score other than a 1.

4.5 Battlefield Finds: -  Vital Info: I can turn this in for an automatic Corporate Patron on this world. Turns out AbsuCorp wasn't going to use those missiles on me, but on some other corporation. If I bring them Q'narr's targeting data and plans, his planned target will look on me favorably. I cash it in immediately, and roll up the new Patron just for fun. They have the usual Corporation rules of +1 on Danger Pay, and increased chance of jobs having Conditions. Their recurring benefit is "Connections" which means they pay in rumors. I name them Caduceus MultiMedia. One of their journalists is currently working on a hard-hitting exposé about Q'narr and AbsuCorp.


4.6 Check for Invasion!: - I don't have to roll this Turn, since these enemies aren't an Invasion Threat. That's good, since there have been rumors of war that would add +2 to any such roll on this planet.

4.7 Gather the Loot: -  The first roll gets me a Hunting Rifle and a Military Rifle, both Damaged. I get a second roll on the Loot table as specified by the Story Track's rewards section, and this rolls up a Unity Battle Sight, which is far more useful.

4.8 Determine Injuries and Recovery: -  I roll a 90, so it turns out Inshubur was merely knocked unconscious, with no lasting injuries.  H'Xex is envious, since he's still in Sick Bay from last Turn.

4.9 Experience and Character Upgrades:  G.0 H.0 I.1 J.4 K.4 L.3 M.3   - First Kill: - J    Rookie: K

The Kid is not happy about that sniper getting away, so they practice long-range shots in the fog. XP spent to bring Combat Skill to +3.

Leonidas raises Reactions to 2.

4.10 Invest in Advanced Training: -  Juniper uses her ex-Enforcer contacts to get enrolled in night classes at the local Academy, hits the books, and learns Security Training. (Total cost, including application, is 2 Credits, and 8 XP, and an Instruction Book.)  This will give us +1 on Seize The Initiative in the future, which I note would have been huge this Mission.

4.11 Purchase Items: - None

4.12 Campaign Event: - You renegotiate some old debts. (If you currently owe money, reduce your debt by 1D6+1 credits. If you owe nothing, earn 2 credits for being prudent with your money.)

Well, I'd just typed the meaningless phrase "Juniper uses her ex-Enforcer contacts" as how she arranged for her Security Training, and then the very next die roll recouped the costs of that Training. So yeah, some sort of favor called in by her Mentor/Partner from back during her old Enforcer days. I love it when story-dressing and randomized mechanics cooperate like that.

4.13 Character Event: - Leonidas discovers he likes the local cuisine, and gains an XP. I just hope he didn't eat H'Xex's delivery order -- a K'Erin's stomach is teflon-coated.

4.14 Check for Galactic War Progress: - N/A

4.15 Tick Story Clock: -  Set the Clock to 5 Ticks.  Based on that, I expect the next Story Event to be around Turn 19. Not that I'm complaining, as I enjoy the game quite a bit, but I hadn't realized when starting this just how long your Campaign has to run to get all the way through the Story Track.  I was planning on running this for about 20 Missions, but the Story Track will still be rolling strong at that point, so I'll probably keep going until it's done.

Have To See A Bot About A Dog (5 Parsecs Turn 12)

Mission 12

 This is a step-by-step breakdown of the twelfth Campaign Turn and Mission in my Five Parsecs From Home campaign.

This Turn's battle was great fun. The mission was just plain bonkers: our long-term Patron the Fellowship of Temporal Philosophers hired us to take out some rampaging War Bots, that had ended up running some strange viral emotional software. The Bots swapped personality programs mid-battle, called in other robots for help, and, I kid you not, one of the War Bots even had a pet dog. 

Crew names below are often abbreviated G to M, as explained in: Crew Roster, which also tells you about my team and a bit about their ship. See also the Index of my Five Parsecs articles for a list of previous Missions and other content.

Pre-Battle:
1.1 Flee Invasion: - n/a
1.2 Decide Whether to Travel: - nope
1.3 Starship Travel Event: - n/a
1.4 New World Arrival Steps: - n/a

1.5 Gain 1 story point if it's turn 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, etc. - Yes. Brings us back up to 9 Story Points.

2.1 Upkeep and Ship Repairs: -
Crew Upkeep - 2
    Ship Debt - 0
    Ship Repairs - 0
    Medical Care - 0

2.2 Assign and Resolve Crew Tasks: -
Find a Patron -    Train - M    Trade - L, G    Recruit -    Explore - I, J    Track -    Repair Your Kit -    Decoy - K, H

Noteworthy results from Tasks: -

Leonidas gets a Hot Tip that counts as a Quest Rumor. It's our 6th one, so the Quest will be short and successful. It's an old map that points directly at the Xanthous Soul from the 5th Dimension!

Our robot sells a bit of scrap for 1 credit.

Inshubur meets a guru while Exploring, and earns 2 XP. 

Juniper takes a Small Job, basically a 2 credit bounty on 1 random Enemy during this Turn's battle.

Moreva Trains for bonus XP, saving up for some Advanced Training at the end of the Turn.

It's not especially relevant at the moment, but I might as well note now that I've decided to use a variation on the "Slower Progression" rules from the "Difficulty Toggles" PDF available from the designer's official Discord. His version increases the cost of certain Stat bumps by a point or two, and also puts a lower cap on some stats. I like the cost bump, and even kind of feel like it doesn't go far enough because characters become badasses pretty fast. But I don't like the lower caps, because they can cause you to quickly run out of things to spend XP on, and end up with all your PCs having the same maxed-out stat profile. To solve this, I implemented his new higher costs for stats up to the listed new cap. Beyond that, my characters will have to pay double the new cost for each rank of the stat. So, for example, I'm now charging 8 XP to go from Combat 2 to Combat 3, but 16 XP to go from Combat 3 to Combat 4. This will have a lovely ripple effect of also making the Advanced Training options look comparatively better.

2.3 Determine Job Offers: -  Going to go see a Bot about a Dog...

2.4 Assign Equipment: - n/a

2.5 Resolve Rumors: - n/a

2.6 Choose Your Battle -

Patron:  Fellowship of Temporal Philosophers - (Persistant Patron from Turn #8)  Type: Private Organization.  B8+ H8+ C8+   Danger Pay: +3 Credits and when you roll for Mission Pay in Get Paid after the battle, you may roll twice and use the higher of the dice.  Time Frame: Turns 11 to 13.  Hazard: Private Transport (Rivals cannot interfere with us this Turn)  Condition: Reputation Required (We completed another Patron Mission on this planet last turn, so it is unlocked)
 

Initial deployment. Robots on the right. Our Crew surrounding their Shuttle on the left.

Battle:

Deployment / Planetary Condition: - Planet-Wide Fog - All shots beyond 8" are -1 to Hit.

Notable Sights:  -

Offered a small job during Exploration - When fighting this campaign turn, select a random enemy figure. If your crew kills them, earn 2 credits. No reward if they run away.

Also, the actual Notable Sight is Priority target: Select a random enemy figure. Add +1 to their Toughness. If they are slain, gain 1D3 credits.

Objective: Fight Off (just Hold the Field)  

Enemy Type:  Hired Muscle:  Sub-Type: War Bots

Numbers: +0    Panic: 0     Speed: 3”     Combat: +1     Tough: 4     AI: A     Weapons: 3C
Fearless: Never affected by Morale.

Robot Body: 5+ Saving Throw.

Hired Muscle: You are -1 to any attempt to Seize the Initiative.

Enemy Count: 

• 2 regular War Bots with Infantry Lasers,
• 1 regular with Infantry Laser, that is the target of the Small Job for +2 credits if killed
• 1 regular with Infantry Lasers, that is Priority Target. Toughness 5, +1d3 credits if killed
• 1 specialist War Bot with Plasma Rifle,
• 1 War Bot LT w/ +1CS, Blast Rifle, Blade, and better armor (4+ Saving Throw)  - I decided after the last mission that I'm now going to use the optional rules called "Hit Me Harder" from the Difficulty Toggles PDF. That's why the LT has better Armor.
• +1 Unique Individual:  Gene-Dog 

Gene Dog  Speed: 6”     Combat: +1     Tough: 4     AI: G     Weapons:  Fangs (Melee, Damage +0)

Enhanced versions of Earth-dog breeds, usually modified to withstand the environment.

Loyal: When owner or Dog moves into a Brawl, it is not resolved until both have had a chance to act. If the owner is slain, the Dog becomes Fearless and remains in place, but attacks anyone that approaches within 8”. If all other enemies are slain or Bailed, it will also Bail.


6 robots, and their dog. What a crazy group of baddies! 2 of the robots are special targets worth extra money if I kill them. I was a little tempted to reroll the Gene Dog, or just have it be a robot with the same profile. But since the job is from The Fellowship of Temporal Philosophers, I decide the craziness is fitting. These robots have gone rogue, and the FTP thinks it's because they received a code transmission from the future. Weirdly enough, one of the bots has a pet Gene Dog. This is not supposed to be possible with their cold programming. If the FTP can't crack their code, the robot uprising could go viral.

Another fun little bit of weirdness is that the two special targets the FTP really wants us to kill are of the variety with the weakest weapons.  If I go full-bore on killing the big-dollar targets, it'll leave Plasma and Blast weapons in play. Who to target is especially meaningful this battle. Best of all, the Gene-Dog is guarding the Priority Target. So if I want the financial reward, I'm gonna have poke the bear Gene-Dog.


Deploy: I grab an old map of a D&D ruin, and drop a couple extra little bits of technological terrain on it to break up the lines of fire. Robots and their dog on the East edge, and my new Shuttle dropping off my crew in the West.


Round 1: -  Seize the Initiative: We drop out of the shuttle and move forward.
Everyone moves into position. Shots are fired, but between Cover and the planet-wide Fog, everyone misses, so there's no Panic rolls.

The Enemy Ploy is not triggered yet.


Round 2: 

 Quick Phase: - Inshubur Aims, and scores what would normally be a kill shot on the War Bot LT, but it's robotic armor Saves it.  (EDIT: This should have been a kill, because Plasma Rifle's pierce armor, but this was maybe the second time that's ever actually mattered in the campaign, so I forgot about it at first.)

The Kid advances, and misses. Juniper moves up, but can't quite line up a shot.

Enemy Phase - several shots miss I and H.  One carefully calibrated shot in the fog hits The Kid, but his Luck saves him, and he dives forward under the shot to survive.

Slow Phae - H, L, and M all move forward, and any shots they fire go wide in the fog.

No panic tests this turn, and the Enemy Ploy is not triggered yet.

Roll Battle Events between Round 2 and 3 - Change of Plans - "The enemy switches to the Cautious AI type for the rest of the battle." Well, that's interesting. They were Aggressive just a moment ago. Maybe the bots just figured out they are mortal? Now I kinda feel bad.

PCs movements in green, or blue if they used a jump-belt, or yellow if they spent a Luck point to leap randomly to safety. (You may have to zoom in to see the blue jump lines. They're in the south.) Red lines are enemy movement.

Cautious AI
Cautious Enemies will attempt to stay in cover whenever possible. Figures with an opponent in sight and range will remain where they are, aim and fire. Otherwise, they will advance in or behind terrain features, trying to establish lines of fire to opposing figures. They will attempt to engage targets at as close to maximum range as possible and will not advance voluntarily within 12” of opposition. As a general rule, they will not enter Brawling combat.


Round 3: It's becoming clear why the Fellowship of Temporal Philosophers consider these warbots a threat. Self-aware military bots with enough complexity to pivot their tactics radically, and enough personality to have a pet dog. These are not your granddad's battle droids, kids. Luckily, we had a great Initiative roll this turn.

Quick - Moreva moves up and fires at the Warbot LT, and misses because of Cover and Fog.

Inshubur Aims at the same bot and hits twice, with one shot solid enough to wound. As I'm reaching to roll Armor, I suddenly realize Plasma Rifles have the Piercing trait! They ignore Armor. Blam! The LT is slagged.

The Kid shoots at the War Bot that nearly took him out last round. His laser fire connects, and burns a hole through the CPU of that Bot.

H makes a fairly risky move, dropping in between two bots, to try to bring his Shatteraxe to bear against the War Bot with the built-in Plasma Rifle. He wins the melee decisively, scoring two hits. One rolls minimum damage and only stuns, but the second damage roll is more solid, and the Bot fails its armor roll.

Enemy - The War Bot next to H'Xex is the one chosen for our "Small Job".  It shoots H'Xex from point-blank, but only manages to Stun him.

The other Bot with LOS to him Aims, but even with laser Snapshot and the Aim reroll, it can't manage to get past the cover he's in. The gamble seems to have paid off.

The Priority Target War Bot moves to a spot completely concealed from all PCs except H'Xex, and shoots him. It's also only enough to Stun him, but it does drive him back out of cover. If I'd done that in the other order, he might have gone down. The suboptimal play for the baddies wasn't intentional, i just started with the Bots closest to their target.

The Gene Dog moves closer to H'Xex, but stays in complete Cover and doesn't charge him because the Guardian AI says it stays within 3" of the Bot it's protecting. If a melee-only Unique Individual has the Guardian AI, and the person they are guarding has a long-range weapon and Cautious AI, things get a little weird. Not broken, not unclear, but the level of danger posed by the Gene Dog dropped significantly when it's pet War Bot switched to Cautious AI because of the Battle Event. If all the War Bots were still Aggressive, H'Xex would be in a much worse position right now. As it is, he's double-stunned in the open, so it still might end badly for him.

Slow - Cover and fog save a Bot from Leonidas' plasma-fire.

Juniper... shooting a dog just feels awful, especially when it hasn't attacked anyone, and isn't in range to do so. Juniper just moves forward into cover, and considers her options. Not an ideal strategy move, but fine for the roleplaying side of the hobby.  Juniper grew up an orphan, was a good cop who quit the force before power and authority could corrupt her, and values freedom. She just can't pull the trigger if the dog hasn't done anything threatening yet.

No Panic. No Enemy Ploy just yet.

PCs movements in green, or blue if they used a jump-belt, or yellow if they spent a Luck point to leap randomly to safety. Lines in red, orange or magenta are enemy movement, with the color variation just being to help make visual sense of paths that criss-cross.

Round 4: -

Quick - H'Xex uses his Concealed Blade on the Job Bot, but only stuns it. (Concealed Blade is an item that lets you, once per Mission, make a free attack at anyone who is within 2" of where you started the Round. It doesn't seem like being Stunned prevents that in any way, but just to be safe I officially announce that his action for the Round will be Attack, not Move.)

He follows up with a shotgun blast. Two hits, two wounds, and the Bot only manages one of its Saves. The "Small Job" target is eliminated.

Moreva hits thanks to her Unity Battle Sight, but only stuns a War Bot. She's now blocking Leonidas' shot, so he goes out the back of the building to get into a flanking position.

Because of where the War Bot was knocked back to, Inshubur no longer has LOS, but she repositions and fires. Both shots go wide.

The Kid dashes forward, but can't get a view to anything.

Enemy - Since the bots are now Cautious, I decide the stunned one falls back into Cover instead of an attack. Per the rules, he should have just stayed where he was and shot, but standing in the open like that would have guaranteed his own death next Round, whereas he could move completely out of LOS to shake off the Stun in safety. Plus, he was blocking LOS for his comrade who could Aim at H'Xex. With all that lined up, it seemed like the best move for this badguy was to fall back into Cover or even break Line of Sight. People do weird things in adrenalin panic, but as these were also cold calculating War Bots with a Panic of Zero who'd swapped from Aggressive to Cautious AI due to a Change of Plans Battle Event... now I'm rambling, but it does seem like there could be some interesting un-utilized design-space where the rules could have given the various AIs slightly different response to being stunned.  Or maybe not. I mean, the smartest choice for the AI probably is "shoot back" close to half the time, even for Cautious or Defensive enemies. Any rule to cover exceptions is likely to be clunky, so anything more than an acknowledgement of "If the AI's action seems suicidal ignore it unless they are Rampaging" would probably not be an improvement.

Anyhow, that Bot gets out of the way, and shakes off it's Stun. The dice back up my assertion that this was the smartest play, because the Priority Target bot shoots at H'Xex, misses when it rolls a 1, but gets to reroll because of Aiming. (The stunned bot wouldn't get to reroll) The second roll is a hit, and damage is above his Toughness! His Combat armor fails him, but H'Xex does burn his Luck to stay alive. He is moved a random 4" south. Since he has a Jump Belt, I assume that's activated and allow him to fall back over the fence and the statue that are in his path. H'Xex is no longer in LOS to anyone, and still has one Stun on him, so this basically nukes his next turn as well.

Slow - Juniper moves, but can't draw a bead on anyone. She's still not shooting that dog.

The Enemy Ploy is finally triggered. It's Reinforcements. Two regular Warbots, and one Plasma-Rifle toting Specialist.  "The reinforcements will act normally in accordance to their AI"... so do they act with the original Aggressive AI, or the modified Cautious AI? I think I'll pause for lunch to contemplate that.

Roll Battle Events between Round 4 and 5: A Desperate Plan: A random figure in your crew cannot act at all next round, but instead select another figure of choice that may act in both the Quick and Slow Actions phases.   


Round 5: - Because of A Desperate Plan, Juniper cannot activate at all this Round, but one other character can activate in both Quick and Slow phases. I'm a little unclear on how "A Desperate Plan" is supposed to play out.  Does it replace Initiative rolls? I decide to roll the normal dice, and get:

5, 2, 6. 5, 3, 1 and an extra 3 from my Communicator, which lets me roll an extra and drop the worst.
So that's 1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 5. I assign the 1 to Leonidas, the 2 to Moreva, the 3's to Inshubur and the Kid. I assign a 5 to H'Xex, and the extra 5 as a second notification for Inshubur.

Quick - The Kid moves up, and lases a hole through one of the War Bot reinforcements. I, L, and M move but can't get LOS to anyone because the Bots are all hiding behind the ruins. War-Bots, come out to play-ay!

Enemy - The War Bots do indeed come out to play. I decided to have them all function on the Cautious AI, instead of having to worry about multiple AI styles. The deciding factor was that if they'd gone aggro, they would have probably gotten themselves killed failing to reach their targets for melee. Instead, they advance in cover, and lay down a lot of fire. Three shots hit Juniper, giving her 2 stuns and burning her Luck as it drives her far across the ruin. One shot misses Moreva due to the fog.

Slow - Inshubur advances again, and lights a plasma fire on a bot, melting it. This is a little risky, I guess, but she's got high enough Reactions it's not likely to backfire.

No Panic.


Round 6: - Quick - Inshubur comes around the pillar and fires. She only hits once, but still plasma-fries the Priority Target.

Juniper dives for cover, and removes 1 stun.

Moreva hits one of the reinforcing bots despite cover and fog, but it's hardened robot chassis Saves it.

H'Xex charges the Plasma Bot from behind. He wins the fight, but only stuns. That's not good. He's out of Luck, too, so that could be a fatal mistake. I spend a story point to reroll the damage. He drives the bot back just at the moment that Inshubur's missed shot is flying wide... (rerolling 1d6+2 damage... is still a "3". dangit!) but the Bot nimbly folds the upper part of its body over to avoid the plasma and the axe.

Moreva's got a couple shots at it now with her Plasma Rifle... and both miss because of cover and fog! That's one dodgy Bot.

Enemy - The squirrelly Bot opens up with its Plasma, and H'Xex crumples.

The Gene Dog rushes Inshubur! You hurt momma!  The dog rolls a natural 1. Inshubur rolls a natural 1. Inshubur rerolls with her Elegant Boarding Saber, and gets yet another natural 1!  Due to a higher Combat Skill, Inshubur technically wins the fight. She takes 1 Hit, and the Gene Dog takes 2. Net result, she's stunned, and the dog is dead.

The other War Bot lines up a tricky shot between the Pillars. A miss, but it's yet another "1", so since it's Cautious and didn't move it can reroll with Aim. It's a hit this time, but only gives her a second stun.

Slow - K advances. L dashes.
No Panic.

PCs movements in green, or blue if they used a jump-belt, or yellow if they spent a Luck point to leap randomly to safety. Lines in red, orange, magenta or purple are enemy movement, and not even making each one a subtly different color will help make sense of it all, I'm afraid. The reinforcements just ran right over the same ground as the first wave. I should have taken more pictures, I guess.

Round 7: -  Quick -  Inshubur trusts her Luck, and returns fire. She only stuns the Laser Bot.

Moreva Aims and fires, and stuns the Plasma Bot.

Kid moves in on the flank, and surprises the Plasma Bot, but only gets a second stun on it. That's not good. I'm going to drop another story point to reroll the damage. The Bot's defensive sensor suite was overwhelmed by the plasma fire wreathing it, that it failed to detect The Kid sneaking up. The damage is enough, and the Bot's armor Save buckles. Just one Bot left to deal with!

Enemy - It fires at Inshubur and misses.

Slow - Leonidas steps out into the middle of the room, and vaporizes the last Bot. Game Over.


Analysis: This was one of the most enjoyable battles I've had, in a game I love. I felt real pressure on this Mission, having to use 2 Story Points and 3 Luck. The Battle Events really mixed things up, and my characters moved all over the map with a two-pronged assault. The Planet-Wide Fog had a huge effect on the length of the battle and the need for me to close ground. The Enemy Ploy system helps make things unpredictable, and encourages you to take some early risks in the hopes of clearing the board before the reinforcements show up.

That said, I almost wish that Ploy I'd rolled up was something a little more elaborate. I'd kind of built-up these bots in my head a bit, as being super-smart and unpredictable.  I considered spending a Story Point to reroll their Ploy to see if I could Infiltrators, a Flanking Attack, or The Boss, all of which would have pushed that theme a bit more... but it feels weird spending limited resource Story Points to make things harder on my team. 

I do think that I may need to keep Reinforcements in mind during set-up in the future, if for no other reason than to make my after-action maps easier to visualize. All those Bots walked over each other's paths, which was kind of less interesting than the Cultist fight a few Turns ago where they came in from the other lane of the road. That's a pretty minor complaint though, and one I can easily prevent in the future if I think ahead next time.

And I LOVE that the mad murder robots had a pet dog. It was fun having Juniper be incapable of pulling the trigger, and even better that the Battle Events and stuns thereafter basically prevented her from firing another shot. She just completely fell apart there. Felt like a character-driven TV episode, not "just" a miniatures game, and that was pretty great.


Post-Battle:

4.1 Resolve Rival Status: - Nope.

4.2 Resolve Patron Status: - Already on the Patron list.

4.3 Determine Quest Progress: - N/A.

4.4 Get Paid and Benefits of Success: -

Planetary Condition - Booming Economy - When rolling for post-battle credit rewards, any 1 on the dice are rerolled until it shows a score other than a 1.

Danger Pay: +3 Credits and when you roll for Mission Pay in Get Paid after the battle, you may roll twice and use the higher of the dice.

Small Job for +2 credits if killed

Priority Target with Toughness 5, +1d3 credits if killed

11 credits total!  4+3+2+2. That's a big pay day. Our total is now 31 in the stash.


4.5 Battlefield Finds: - OMG, I can't believe I rolled "Still" again. It's my fifth dose of this consumable, and I never seem to remember I have it. It's amazing how dice can so "streaky" even when rolled weeks apart.

4.6 Check for Invasion!: - Not this Turn.

4.7 Gather the Loot: - I get a Seeker Sight (The weapon receives +1 to Hit if the shooter did not Move this round).

4.8 Determine Injuries and Recovery: - Crippling Wound: H'Xex requires 3 credits of surgery immediately. Since we got paid 11, that's not a problem. Unfortunately, he's also out for 5 Turns of Recovery. Guess I'll be fielding my robot, GcViib, instead of my K'Erin soldier, for a while. I hope Gee-Cee wasn't infected by the War Bot virus.

4.9 Experience and Character Upgrades:  G.0 H.1 I.5 J.3 K.4 L.3 M.3   - First Kill: - I     Rookie: K  Unique: I

I liked how Inshubur just raced all over the map today, so I buy her a 7th point of Speed.

4.10 Invest in Advanced Training: -   Moreva pays 2 Credits and 7 XP to learn Advanced Training: Mechanics - If your ship is in need of Repairs, you may repair +1 Hull Point damage every campaign turn (meaning 2 points of damage are repaired per campaign turn). Engineers (such as Moreva) count any XP spent as double value for obtaining this.

4.11 Purchase Items: - What the hey, I had so much fun with starship travel last Turn, I figure I might as well double-down.  The Rhapsody already had a Cargo Hold and a Shuttle, now she has a Hidden Compartment as well. Just for fun. I will now earn 0-10 credits every time I make the trip, but my fuel bill has gone up by 1 because of the extra weight.

4.12 Campaign Event: -  49: "You’ve earned a bit of a bad reputation. If you know any Patrons on the current world, randomly select one that will no longer work with you."

The Fellowship of Temporal Philosophers has decided they won't do business with us any more. I imagine it's about the dog. "You were just supposed to kill the war bots, not the dog!"  Juniper feels vindicated about her decision.

I am continually impressed by how the giant stack of random tables consistently hands out emergent narrative.  Now I just need to figure out why somebody on the team keeps stockpiling "Still" doses.

Oh, actually, that's obvious now that I think about it. Our Bot, GcViib, who used to go on Missions, but lately just flies the Shuttle and goes on shopping trips. They've been watching our video feeds, and knows that nobody ever pauses to Aim. Inshubur and H'Xex run straight into the jaws of death, time after time. GcViib's been silently critiquing our performance for weeks, and hoping the more spastic members of the crew will just chill out and sit Still for a minute.

Man, this game is great.


4.13 Character Event: -  Leonidas reflects on his experiences, and how glad he is that he decided to stay on with this Crew. +1 XP.

4.14 Check for Galactic War Progress: - N/A

4.15 Tick Story Clock: - Zero. The next Story Track Event happens next Turn.