Neal's Last Words

by Byron "Neal" Massey

The Never-Ending Turn

The contest is over! Congratulations to Erwin Wagner, who sent in the most reliable attempt at eternal Netrunner I have ever seen. The winning entry is:

Agenda (8) Operations (17) Nodes (8) ICE (12)

5 AI Chief Financial Officer
2 Viral Breeding Ground
1 Tycho Extension

6 Silver Lining Recovery Protocol
6 Acounts Receivable
4 Credit Consolidation
1 Off-Site Backups

4 Chicago Branch
4 Pacifica Regional AI

2 Shock.r
2 Data Wall 2.0
2 Roadblock
2 Too Many Doors
2 Mazer
2 Asp

Score an AI Chief Financial Officer.

"Once you have both nodes installed and a 12 bit pool, you are ready to start the Never-Ending Turn."

Install an agenda behind an Asp, Too Many Doors, or Roadblock. Advance it as many times as possible, but don't score it. You can legally advance an agenda past its difficulty. If necessary, install a second agenda in a similar fort, advancing it in similar fashion. If the Runner refuses to run, score the extra agenda. Keep doing this until the Runner steals an agenda or you win.

Install either the a Pacifica or Chicago Branch as necessary to have both on the table, play at least one Silver Lining and generate a ton of bits. You may need to use the Chicago Branch and Pacifica together to gain enough actions to play the Silver Lining. Don't run out of bits. Once you have both nodes installed and a 12 bit pool, you are ready to start the Never-Ending Turn.

Use your massive bit pool to add two advancement counters to Pacifica with Chicago Branch.

Spend a Pacifica counter to activate the AI Chief Financial Officer. Each Accounts Receivable or Credit Consolidation you draw can be played to net one or two bits (respectively) to your pool, without spending an action. The action is recovered when you spend the excess three bits to add another counter to Pacifica with Chicago Branch. The Silver Linings are worth a ton of bits. Use these as super versions of Credit Consolidation.

Repeat until you have many excess bits. Spend them to add even more counters to Pacifica with Chicago Branch. Eventually you will have a ton of counters on Pacifica, which can be used to install and advance enough agenda to win. Thinning R&D by installing nodes and agenda makes the process work better. Chicago Branch can also be used to save actions when you advance the agendas for victory.

Clear as mud? You might have to try this to see how it all fits together. I was baffled by the timing required to get everything started. But it all works.

This plan is somewhat robust, there is a margin for error and it doesn't always work the same way. The key is to have a twelve bit pool and either a Pacifica or Chicago Branch installed when you start your turn. You also need the missing node in your hand (if both are not installed), along with a Silver Lining Recovery Protocol, after you have scored an AI Chief Financial Officer. It really doesn't matter how you arrive at this point.

If you don't draw a Silver Lining in your first two uses of the AI Chief, you could be in trouble. You should be able to, though, and the odds are extremely good of getting one by the third hit on the AI CFO. Erwin posted an earlier version of this idea on his TRAP! pages. It doesn't use Silver Lining Recovery Protocol, so you might find it easier to build. It also makes the plan a little more simple and direct. Just score an AI Chief as quickly as possible, then build up bits, install a Pacifica and Chicago Branch, and go.

Thanks to all who sent in decks. There were a lot of worthy entries and it was not easy to chose a winner. Erwin received a rating of 39, but there were many decks that rated above thirty.

The contest convinced me to start a regular deck rating service. I hope you will take advantage and use me to get a second opinion. The service is free and players of all levels are welcome.