Update 2 is out

Update 2 is now out on itch and should be available on Drive Thru RPG in the next few days.

Update 2 makes three major changes, and numerous minor ones flowing from those:

A number of record sheets are now folios. Folios mimic real world (paper) documents for things like your crew and crew module and represent an improvement to organizing and recording the game as you play. Working on folios has also helped with simplifying and streamlining a number of rules.

There are significant changes to some of the terminology used for action resolution. This takes the FINAO concept (Failure is not an option) and allowing your crew to succeed at (almost) any action at a cost. Costs can be paid from defects or stress (just as before) but also tallies - which represent things like fuel and oxygen but also your other equipment.

And you don't have to specify what assets your crew has until you need them, at which point you manifest equipment. This precursor to being able to 3D print any item allows you to avoid having to worry about what your crew has until you need it. This includes new more intuitive load tables which allow you to have a paper doll style inventory system which more accurately models the changes to thrust and movement speed due to increasing mass.

I have had to drop some planned features to get this update out because of an upcoming bundle that the game is going to be included in. This means the planned Landings chapter wasn't included and the solitaire rules haven't been completed. But this update does lay important foundations for important concepts for solitaire play like just in time generation and improved record keeping.

I would also like to shout out Sovinnai for invaluable feedback including requesting clarifications and identifying a number of inconsistencies in the text.

The full change log is below:

Added requirements for paper, writing tools, printed materials and a camera to the introduction. Please also read the important addition to the High Frontier pledge rules.

Updated gameplay chapter; moved the Designers section to this chapter from the Observations chapter and the Nominative Determinism section to the Demographics chapter. Changed social status marked gender entry.

Significantly improved the crew worksheet so that it is now a double-sided folio with the most important information on the front cover. The Mission Control designer also has a folio with this new design. Further systems will use this approach in a later update. Replaced best friend with emergency contact - this can still be your best friend.

Added much more detail about the Mission Control crew module and reordered the Mission Control chapter. Moved the other starting factions and dirtside hydration rules to This Space Intentionally as they are not required for the core game.

Rewrote crew abilities to be third person — archetypes and outlooks will remain second person (for now). Fixed crew robot body size progression. Removed remaining references to incorporated penalties.  You should only generate call signs for playable crew. Added nicknames for family members. Clarified how to determine nationality and ethnicity if your parents are economic migrants or come from different demographic backgrounds.

Significantly changed skill check terminology to success with a cost to include allowing limited resources to be consumed and allow abort and retry to only use up half the time required for success. Added a worse outcome if you roll twice or more the level you were required to roll under.

Added rules for on-board and manifest equipment so you don’t have to specify what is in your load out until you need it. Specified size of crew stacks — these are now incorporated into rigs. Replaced the Slots for Load table with several Load tables which much more intuitively relates available space to load totals. Load now also modifies movement points or net thrust or watts/kg or lift/drag ratio. Changed consumption of equipment from the ship’s locker so that you only need to track items which cannot be 3D printed. Fixed climbing speeds. Removed reference to (now) non-existent malware table.

Moved Technology Classes to Upgrades chapter from the Observations chapter. Extended medical hibernation to allow for food and water consumption rates to be slowed. Improved readability of the Damage section in the risks chapter. Battery failures now fixed by reprinting the battery - making contraception failure the worst outcome of this risk. Remove erroneous reference to applying extended operations effects while at a colony. Added continuous damage rules. Revised the firefighting rules — heat counters do not necessarily mean fire anymore: both heat and smoke are required. Moved the rules for spreading heat to the core rules. Heat counters are now clear, and obstacle and firefighting dice are now white, to avoid conflicting with counters and dice performing different functions. Moved diseases to This Space Intentionally.

Rewrote the Spacecraft Movement section to be clearer. Combined and simplified the movement roll and water consumption rolls.

Moved Noor Muhammad entry to the promoted colonists appendix.

Added using a stack to the AIDA launch pad mission, and removed water tank limitations to bring it in line with the core rules. Rewrote order of mission execution phase (thanks to Sovinnai for the suggested rewrite). Fixed error in interception chance text and reduced likelihood of interceptions. If you are carrying a colonist module you get an additional encounter every year with some outcomes specific to the colonist module. You can now elect to have a random encounter to get back one bump for each player; this occurs instead of encounters happening in real time. Upported colonists are only ever encountered, Earthside colonists only ever become major factions (suggested by Sovinnai).

Included mass and cargo capacity of freighters and freighter fleets. Factions encountered during war are more likely to be with the Red (usually military) faction.

Fixed incorrect numbering in NEO infrastructure table. Added Boost Component operation to allow boosting larger components to LEO without the crew needing to get into debt. Research operations now have chrome when you have access to a factory with the matching spectral class. 

You can now have colonists who formed a colony also perform operations for you.

Fixed net thrust errors in body size table.

Planets sizes in other systems now use observed statistical distributions. Debris belts can now form due to orbital resonance interactions. Moved immigrant life to the Solar System Infrastructure chapter. Updated the star system worksheets to the new folio design. Added a world worksheet for creating worlds. Fixed calculating the day length of spin-orbital resonance planets. Clarified how spin-orbital resonance and circularisation works.