High Frontier - Tips & Strategies

If you a manage to acquire a sail (Photon Heliogryo or Photon Kite Sail) early in the game you can quickly put 6 points on the board with a run to Eureka, thanks to the combination of the “Science Site” and “Any Site” Glory Point bonuses.

The cost to do it is fairly reasonable. Aside from what you spend in the auction to get the sail, you’ll need 3 additional WT: You need 2 to boost your sail and Crew module, and one more to provide the fuel you’ll need to land on Eureka and then takeoff again.
(Note that if you’re using the UN faction boosting will only cost you 1, and if you’re the ESA you can get away without carrying any fuel thanks to your Powersat bonus)

As soon as you load the one tank into your sail-powered rocket (assuming you’re not the ESA), the trick is to dump just enough steps of fuel to get it down into the Probe class for the +1 thrust bonus. That will give you a quick start out of LEO, and it will offset the -1 Solar modifier as you approach your destination.

After that, it’s just a matter of time. You have 4 burns there and 4 burns back, so you’re generally looking at a minimum of 3 or 4 turns to do it.

Beware that veteran players will be all-too-familiar with this tactic, and while they may not be able to stop you once you get your sail into space, you can be sure they’ll make you pay dearly for it in the auction (especially if you’re the ESA).