Subject: " ""The Short Stack""" Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 04:19:33 -0800 From: Byron Massey Since I was beaten senseless by libbylong last week in the IRC league, I "guess I can finally submit ""The Short Stack"" for your (dis)approval. The" whole idea is to win as the Runner in eight turns or less. Here are the cards: THE RECIPE *The Short Stack* 10 x Loan from Chiba 10 x Bodyweight Synthetic Blood 6 x Militech MRAM Chip 4 x Access through Alpha 3 x Nasuko Cycle 1 x Bodyweight Data Creche 1 x Valu-Pak Software Bundle 1 x Remote Detonator 1 x Rush Hour 1 x Private LDL Access 2 x All-Nighter 1 x Enterprise, Inc. Shields 1 x Krash 1 x Microtech AI Interface 2 x Highlighter 45 cards MU used/available: 5/5 Bits spent/available: 50/120 FLIPPING THE PANCAKES The basic strategy is to Bodyweight through the stack as quickly as possible, without discarding anything except excess Bodyweight Synthetic Blood, Access through Alpha, Militech MRAM, and Nasuko Cycles. Occasionally I discard a Loan or two if my hand is too crowded. The Access through Alpha should be installed with the first Loan from Chiba, if possible, but sometimes I have to risk it. The Nasuko Cycle can be left out unless the Corp is playing an R&D that forces me to run before before turn 7 (sometimes turn 6 or 8). It has to be installed before any early run, since, as Wyatt has pointed out, a tag is instant death with all the Loans from Chiba. It seems to take 4 Militech MRAM to get past the hump, which usually comes around turn 3 or 4. Sometimes I only need three Militech MRAM. I try to hold the Loans back as long as possible to avoid paying off the Chiba goons until absolutely necessary, and all those extra Loans require MRAM to keep my head from exploding. Hand size of 17 is typical. Somewhere along the way I install the Bodyweight Data Creche. This has to be done before the big run, but installing the Data Creche doesn't give away the strategy, so there is no special timing needed to put it in play. SETTING THE TABLE At this point, about 5 turns should have gone by. I have been furiously racing through my stack, installing Loans and MRAM and collecting cards. The only things on the table should be Loans, Militech MRAM, an Access through Alpha, a Bodyweight Data Creche, and possibly a Nasuko Cycle. "I hopefully have all 11 of the cards in the ""kit"" in my hand, I try to" follow this sequence in the last two turns of the game (hopefully no later than turns 7-8): Turn 6: Loan from Chiba Loan from Chiba Loan from Chiba Valu-Pak Software Bundle, installing: Krash Enterprise, Inc. Shields Microtech AI Interface Highliter Highliter GOING BACK FOR A SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH, FIFTH AND SIXTH HELPING Turn 7: First action. If HQ has a lot less ice than R&D, I play Private LDL Access, otherwise, Rush Hour. The Private LDL Access is especially nice if the Corp ices R&D heavily after seeing the programs on Turn 6. If I use Rush Hour, I access 4 cards, if not, just 1. Either way, I give 2 Highliter counters. Second action. If I will not have enough cash to keep Krashing the R&D ice for 5 more runs, I play the Remote Detonator. Otherwise, I just run R&D. I almost always have to play the Remote Detonator, so I will go on using that assumption. Things work even better if I can afford to keep Krashing R&D. I Ignore the tags from the Remote Detonator since this is the last turn of the game. The Corp will not get a chance to send the Chiba goons after me (famous last words). Third action. I play All-Nighter and make two runs on R&D. I access 2 cards on the first run and 4 on the second, cutting off the ones I have already seen with the Microtech AI Interface before accessing. At the end of the action, I have seen 10 cards (counting the Rush Hour from the first action) in R&D and the Corp has six Highlighter counters. Fourth Action. I play another All-Nighter. At the end of this action, I have seen 24 cards in R&D and the Corp has ten Highliter counters. Bodyweight Data Creche. I run R&D again with the Creche. After this run, I have seen 34 cards from R&D. Since this is turn 7, and the Corp has to draw at at least once card each turn, I've seen every card in R&D. DOING THE DISHES A quick-setup Siren can really be a bummer. Hopefully the Nasuko Cycle provides enough protection to run on the Siren as soon as it is rezzed. The same is true of City Survellience. Super-Speed Tycho can sometimes outrace me to victory. I have experiemented with Precision Bribery, but it seems that most CEOs these days put ice on a subsidiary data fort before I can even grease the frying pan. If the CEO knows what I am up to, he can choose to rez new ice on R&D each time I run, which ruins the effect of the Remote Detonator and also makes Krash too expensive. Hopefully, no one knows what I am about to do, and the CEO will not take this route. If the kit could support one more MU, a False Echo could be installed that would prevent this problem. Adding a Wutech Mem Chip and a False Echo to the kit seems easy enough, but the Wutech Mem Chip takes another action to install, and every action is precious as I speed toward turn 7. The False Echo requires its own action to install as well, since all five Valu-Pak Software Bundle actions are already taken up. There is also the additional grief of "adding yet another card to the 11-card ""kit"" I accumulate as I burn" through the stack. There isn't much strategy or suspense when I play this stack, it is currently retired. It does provide a sort of benchmark for speed Corp CEOs. I imagine there are stacks with Taxman, Viral Pipeline, or Scaldan that can win faster. But this stack is very predictable, if I can make it to turn 8, I nearly always win. Let me know what you think, Byron Massey byron@mocha.iceinternet.com