Pandemic Legacy Season One - Feb, Mar and Apr

Well, that went downhill fast.

February (Second Half)

With three characters being run things went fairly well.  All three remaining diseases were cured, with both red and black being eradicated.  Zero outbreaks were encountered as well.  The Yellow Peril was kept in-check using remote Quarantine protocols.

Result – WIN

Added bonus – Black Death now does not need to be cured from a Research Station, and Red is now cured as soon as five cards are held (no action needed!)

March

The same team were deployed for March, given their success in February.  Military support was made available; Military bases can be deployed in the same manner as Research Stations and can be used for direct travel by some Specialists.  These measures were not needed, however, as the three disease were again quickly brought under control, again with both Red and Black being eradicated.

Result – WIN
A new research station in Sao Paulo was upgrade to a permanent installation (to provide access to south America to make containment easier), and Red is now easier to Cure, only needing four cards.

“Let’s play one more”, Matthias said.

“We’re doing well, Matthias said.

“What could go wrong?”, Matthias said.

Anyone would think there was a GM to hear that…

April

One military base was available from the beginning of the month, however, to aid our efforts.  Again, we had one mandatory mission (cure three dieseases) and two optional (Eradicate one disease, Build one military installation per Region) with two completed missions winning the round.
So far, so good.  Except April did not get off to a good start.

Initial outbreaks to begin the game in Essen and Milano (neighbouring Cities) and an Epidemic on the first round meant a rapid flurry of cascading Outbreaks in Europe.  This was quickly brought under control by the Medic whilst a cure for Red was found.




That’s about the time shit got real.  The next “Stop” card was to be turned after the second Epidemic card was completed.  This led to the Alarm…Yellow (COdA) has mutated.  New cases of the fever were reporting the infected were experiencing translucent skin, and passing through a violent aggressive stage before succumbing to Death’s warm embrace.  Oh, yes, and any character in an infected city at the start of their turn will take a scar.  These Gummy Bears are dangerous.

Yes.  Pandemic just went World War Z on our asses.

Any new cases of Yellow would not use cube markers; instead a new piece, the Gummy Bear would represent new cases.  The first city to see this new strain would have the ‘colour’ icon changed to a green Biohazard marker, and any other cities would also have the marker changed as new cases were found.

Whilst anxiously waiting for Patient Zero to be located, the team continued to cure the remaining two diseases whilst doing their utmost to keep Yellow in check with Quarantines.  Eventually these measures failed, and first Mexico City, then Bogota and Los Angeles reported cases of the mutated strain.




Above: Gummy Bears take Central America.




Above: Braaaaaaaaains!

Fortunately the team again prevailed and found a cure for the three other diseases before things got too far out of hand.

Result – WIN
Bonuses – I think we kept the military base in Istanbul, and added the insta-cure upgrade to Black.


Looking forward to April…

Pandemic Legacy Season One - January

It was an ordinary day at CDC in Atlanta.

The Rapid Response Team on call for January comprises of:

Dr. Ace Ventura; a paramedic with Médecins Sans Frontières and a specialist in the treatment and containment of infectious diseases.

Dr. Maria-Isabella Fernandez-Herrera; lead scientist with the CDC Field Research Laboratory.

Martha Ilke; a logistics team leader with Mercy Flight, an international logistics group supporting CDC in ensuring teams and equipment are transported quickly to the areas needed.

Clara Eisenhorn; a computer specialist in identifying patterns in the spread of infectious diseases, Clara’s DataShare software can help predict where future outbreaks may occur.

2015 had been a quiet year; the expected bird flu outbreaks had been contained, and the seasonal flu outbreaks had not been as severe as expected due to the World Health Organisation’s immunisation work.

Then, the calls came in: unexpected outbreaks of four diseases in different parts of the world.

The Rapid Response Team called in the support staff – it was time to deploy.

Game One

01 January to 14 January, 2016

CDC Atlanta

The spread of two viruses through Europe and the Middle East are quickly halted, although a cure eludes the researchers.

It soon becomes apparent that Asia is going to be hardest hit by the virus dubbed “La Mort Rouge” with three cities heavily infected.

CDC announces a cure has been found at the Jakarta Foundation for Disease, an internationally funded laboratory set up to combat the latest threat to the region.

But it comes too late. 

Tokyo, Shanghai and Seoul’s interconnected transport system and a number of epidemics in quick succession results one final cascade of five outbreaks overwhelming CDC’s resources as panic spreads through the region.

Inexplicably, the three diseases go into decline.

Result: LOSS L

Effects now in play:

-          New!   Event cards = Six

-          New!   J Skill-up for Ace: Once per turn, can remove disease cubes from an adjacent location.

-          New!   J Skill-up for Martha: Free action to look at the top two Virus cards in her turn.

Game Two

15 January to 31 January, 2016

CDC Atlanta

As the number of new cases inexplicably drops the team are recalled to Atlanta to report to the UN Special Committee on the previous two weeks events.  Things do not remain calm, however, as reports are received that the infectious diseases have broken out again – again in Asia but also in South America.

Ace, Martha and Maria-Isabelle are immediately dispatched to the problem areas to contain the spread.  Clara, using prediction data from her software, instead heads to Europe where things seem relatively quiet and prevents an unexpected flair up of Blue Danube in Milan from becoming a larger problem, before travelling to Asia to assist the research teams.

Things quickly go south.

As the Yellow Peril spreads through South America, Martha is caught in an outbreak and scarred.  With the lack of a Patient Zero and so many un-related cases making research unexpectedly difficult, CDC scientists report that their worst fears are confirmed – the virus is mutating, making a cure impossible at this time and cleaning up much harder*.

CDC objectives change: focus on curing the other three diseases.

With this re-focussing of resources things start to improve.  The Black Mamba Virus in the Middle East is eradicated and the Blue Danube strain spreading in Europe is also cured for now.

As La Mort Rouge continues to spread through Asia the CDC team is barely able to contain the spread and prevent panic hitting the population centres.  However, the research centre in Hong Kong finally makes a breakthrough from the new gene sequencing work – and a cure is found.

Result: WIN J

Effects now in play

-          New!   Event cards = four.

-          New!   J Advantage: Research Centre in Hong Kong.

-          New!   J Advantage:  Black Mamba only needs four cards for a cure.  (Narrator’s note: Presumably the Research can now cure this with three cards?)

-          New!   L Scar for Martha: Unable to travel from one Research Centre to another.

-          New!   L Disadvantage: Yellow disease takes one extra action to remove cubes and is also incurable.

-          J Skill-up for Ace: Once per turn, can remove disease cubes from an adjacent location.

-          J Skill-up for Martha: Free action to look at the top two Virus cards in her turn.

*Narrator’s note – we screwed up here as this card was supposed to enter play when the second Epidemic hit in Game One.  We missed it, and instead of applying it at the end of the game (as was the second criterion), decided to use it as the second Epidemic card hit in Game Two.  To be honest, had this hit in Game One we’d have lost quicker, as it would have been applied to the La Mort Rouge and we’d have been totally FUBAR.

This blog is being re-purposed...

I no longer play Final Fantasy 11, so this blog is very much defunct...until now!

A group of us have just started playing Pandemic Legacy Season One, so given the curing nature of that game, and the shared love of cookies, I present a semi-accurate record of our games.

Here be spoilers for the game storyline...

Eat cookies.

Mithran White Mages of the class of 2011:

Eat cookies.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, cookies would be it. The long term benefits of cookies have been proved by the Culinary Guild whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.

I shall dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the levelling experience. Oh nevermind. You will not understand how great levelling up is until you hit level 90.

But trust me, in 89 levels you’ll look back at your Moghouse full of junk and recall in a way you can’t grasp right now how much fun those parties were, and how excited you were to first reach Jeuno.

You are not as useless in parties as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the DDs. Or worry, but know that worrying about DDs getting hit is about as useless as trying to teach a Galka table manners.

The real troubles in your life are apt to be monsters that you didn’t see coming. The kind that aggro you just as everyone eats a Stonega out in the Jungle.

Do one thing everyday that kills your PL.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s Buffs, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Reraise.

Don’t waste your time on gear-envy. Sometimes you’re well equipped. Sometimes you are not. The cost is high and in the end, it’s your gil.

Remember the people who Raised you. Forget those who didn’t.

If you get a good linkshell, hold on to it.

Keep your Kindred Seals. Throw away your old crab shells.

Protectra.

Don’t feel guilty if your tank dies. The most interesting tanks I knew at level 30 died at least once in parties. Some of the most interesting tanks I know at level 90 still do.

Get plenty of MP+.

Be kind to your Tank. You’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll beat Maat, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll Merit, maybe you won’t.

Maybe you’ll only level your sub to 49. Maybe you’ll find a subjob you love and level it to 90. Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either – unless you forgot reraise in which case you’re an idiot.

Enjoy your Mission runs: you’ll miss them once they are done. Don’t be afraid of them, or what other people think of them, they’re some of the most entertainment you will ever have.

Skillup. Even if you have no-one to cast Cure on other than yourself.

Buy the map, even if you can’t follow it.

Do NOT eat Tarutaru, they will only give you hairballs.

Get to know your linkshell. You never know when you might need to hit on them for a Raise.

Be nice to your Red Mage, they are your best source of Refresh, and the most likely to Cure you if the shit hits the fan.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on.

Work hard to get your teleport scrolls and open the telepoints because the higher level you get, the more you need those travel spells you learnt when you were young.

Live in Windurst once, but leave before you get too lost.

Live in Southern Sandoria once, but leave before you get stepped on by Elvaan.

Haste.

Accept certain inalienable truths; Monsters will aggro, DDs will bitch about Haste. You too will hit level 90. And when you do, you’ll fantasise that when you joined the game gear was cheap, Tanks would ask nicely for Cure and people respected their PL. Respect YOUR PL.

Don’t expect anyone else to Cure you. Maybe you have a backup heal, maybe you have a PL.; but you never know when either one will disconnect.

Don’t mess too much with the Rarabs, or by the time you reach level 90 they will still be beating the crap out of you in Abyssea.

Be careful whose gear you borrow, but, be careful to return it.

Be careful whose advice you ask, but, be patient with those who
supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of
fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the
ugly parts and recycling it for more than
it’s worth.

But trust me on the cookies...

Running from, running to.

Dynamis Windurst last Sunday, and everything is going great until we get to the mega boss.

I’m KO’d by a particularly nasty area of effect move from one of the mobs, which drops me on the spot. Yes, I should have been standing farther back, but hey, hindsight is wonderful.

I manage to wait for a lull in the immediate are to get back to my feet, and run for a quiet spot. I notice that Greggles, a Tarutaru red mage who got whacked even harder than I did has the same plan as is bouncing along beside me.

As we run, we notice on the screen that a few of the alliance are dropping like flies. Anyway, we have far more important things on our minds, like getting out of AoE range again and making sure the mobs aren’t following us.

We reach the (relative) safety on the bridge down to the Moghouse, and assess the situation.

One intact white mage? Check. But some of the cookies are a little crumbled...
One intact red mage? Slightly rumpled, but Check.
Reraise back up? Hell yes.
One dead mega boss? Check
All mega boss mobs dead? No...
34 alliance members face down in the dirt? ....um....oops?.

Then Greggles and I realise a slight tactical error on our part. The eight or so mobs are all between us and everyone else. In our concentration of what we were running FROM we neglected to consider the TO, and ended up the ‘wrong’ side, with no way back.

Cue instant jokes from everyone else, with suggestions that I drop-kick the Tarutaru over to everyone else, to one of us acting as bait to let the other one through, or seeing if we can sneak past without the mobs aggroing (sure, Greggles, after you my friend).

Fortunately at least one of the alliance had re-raise up, so was able to gradually get everyone back up and on their feet eventually, and ten minutes later they had cleared the mobs enough that we could rejoin the group.

You Know You've Been Playing Too Much FFXI When...

...when looking on eBay for archery equipment, you mistype the search "KG1 marksman bow" into LS chat and then have to explain to the four helpful people offering advice on RNG upgrades that the bow is for *you* not your *character*...

You Know You've Been Playing Too Much FFXI When...

...you spend server maintenance online with LS friends grumbling about server maintenance...

... you schedule housework and laundry during the server maintenance...