So I got pretty bored playing Kerbal Space Program. It's just not harsh enough on the player.

So I thought, lets play BARIS. Buzz Aldrins Race into Space is a space program management game. You don't design the rockets, but you run the agency, planning missions, managing research and training astronauts. You can play the CCCP or the USA. Since the original BARIS doesn't want to work on my PC natively and I dunno how Dosbox would interact with Bandicam, I got the modern remake. It's got every feature the old version has and modem multiplayer. Funfact : The open source modern version I have has floppy quality sound effects. So you'll be able to tell what they sound like in comparison to the CD version. I chose Bandicam since fraps keeps giving me strangely huge file sizes. I'll also be filming the launches.

Also, this game is brutal on players at times, so this will be entertaining.



Wooo.



Who should we play? The USA, or the CCCP? Both get a different set of cards for the event deck (At the beginning of every turn, you get a card from the deck through the news reports.) and different astronauts aswell as craft.

Also, this probably wasn't my brightest idea to start at half 2 in the morning.

CCCP. Win the space race for Mother Russia.

Definitely the CCCP.

Soviet space program supreme.

Now, for the news!



Now with that out of the way, comrades, let us start our space program.



That is what our beautiful spaceport looks like. It's a bit bare right now, but over time, it'll grow and expand. Each building you see on here actually does something. The wall near the top right is the memorial wall, where we'll see the names of astronauts who have died to bring Mother Russia one step closer to space. The building above that, is the Kremlin. It's where we find our approval rating from the administration. If it gets too low, well, I'll be seeing you in the salt mines.



Our rating is pretty good, and that impacts how much money we get every year.The building next to the Kremlin is the KGB Headquarters, where we can find intelligence reports on the state of the American space agency, but we don't have any intelligence reports yet, not till 1958. The building on the left of that building, is St. Basil's Cathedral, which is just for show. Luna is also clickable, as that is how you see your photo reconnaissance data of the moon. The more info, the safer a lunar landing is.



We already have 55%, since half the moon is always facing the Earth.

Now, let's get cracking on a space satellite.



Sputnik. We need to buy an initial unit before it is possible for us to improve the safety. If you guys want more info about stuff in the other categories, just say and I'll take us through each of them. I've bought a Sputnik satellite, which starts the Sputnik program. The satellite has a base safety (success, basically) of 40%. To get it higher, we need to throw money at it.



And that's our rocket. It's, uh, not very impressive. 10% safety makes it a giant firework on a launchpad. Time to throw money at it. Lots of money.



There. 30% safety instead on the rocket, and 61% on Sputnik. We're still two turns away from a successful launch, but big things have small beginnings. EDIT : Derp. I accidentally loaded my save after making it to see what would happen, and it is a beginning of turn style system. So the percentages are actually 32% and 51% respectively.

And so I ended our turn.



I poured more money into the research of the rocket, increasing safety to 47%. Good enough, I suppose. Let's plan a mission!



Is good mission. Now, end of turn!



Oh ♥♥♥♥. Gotta pay up, or the satellite could fail during the final stage of the mission. I improved the safety of Sputnik to 63% from 51% and our great engineers improved the safety of the death tra- I mean, R-7 rocket by 19%!



The hardware is assembled, and a launch has been scheduled for May.



Awww ♥♥♥♥.



Well, the Politburo are not going to be pleased.



Well it goes from bad to worse. We're out of running for the first space probe. And to put icing on the cake, the KGB have given me their first intelligence report.



Comrades, it is not looking good.

What shall we do? I've invested our money for this turn into improving Sputnik and the R-7 further. Sputnik now has a success chance of 81%, the R-7 85%. Or atleast it should be, depends on how the time capsule saves the info this time.

Uhhmmm...get more Stuffs for the Rocket! Boosters, Kickers, L.Ms and probaly some other thing! That game is hard, as i just failed at it. But i was just about sending the Rocket.

This early in the game, you seriously won't want to get that stuff yet.

Okay comrades, I have been thinking. They might beat us to the first satellite in space, but they won't beat us to the first man in space.



A crippling blow, but we will not go down so easily. Even now, I am recruiting the first batch of cosmonauts, hopefully, they will make us proud.



And, as such, our launch facilities have expanded accordingly.



Check out the fancy new training grounds. They will be where our cosmonauts perfect the art of space flight for the motherland. Also, the Americans had an unsuccessful mission.



Two unsuccessful missions. We have a chance to snatch first satellite from them. I end the turn.



We now have a chance to launch a rocket, but I'm afraid that this one shall not be manned, Mr. Khrushchev. I have improved the Sputnik satellite and R-7 rocket.





They will not fail us, if we do not fail them. The Premier will not be pleased that we are not launching a man into space yet, but they will forgive us for getting something into space. Meanwhile, while the rocket was upgraded, I have also improved our capsule, the Vostok, to 42% safety! This is surely the capsule that will put our men in space!

The hardware is assembled, and our launch will commence next turn in September.



This is our last chance to put the first thing into space in orbit.





Success, comrades! We have put the first satellite into Earth orbit! The American pigs will be squealing when they see the footage of our successful launch!

And so begins the sixties!



I assign our new scientist to work on the new Vostok capsule, improving it to 66%, while the crew begins training for it's controls.



I also purchase the new Proton rocket and EVA suits, for the future of our space program!



Oh no!

The Americans have put the first man into space!

Even though it was only a suborbital, they still have the prestige first. We must redouble our efforts to put the first man into true Earth orbit!

But now, the news.


After our conquest of Luna, this will be a very useful invention indeed. It is the Autumn of 1960, and that's the end of this update of this update.

Will the USSR succeed in putting a man into Earth orbit? Will the evil USA do it first? Will Gagarin make the people proud? Find out on the next episode of BUZZ ALDRIN'S RACE INTO SPACE!

Also, on a sidenote, this is what the research screen sounds like.

WE SHALL UNDOUBTEDLY BEAT THE EVIL CAPITALIST PIGS IN THE SPACE RACE

FOR THE GLORY OF THE UNION.

So I loaded the save, and got a different news report.



I agree with the good marshal. But unfortunately, we can't develop space weaponry. But we can put a man in orbit. I have the engineers improve the Vostok capsule.



It is enough, I hope. I have a mission drawn up with the planners. A manned orbital with an EVA. Of course, our EVA suits are only 55% safe, but by the time of launch next season, they should be safe enough.



Gagarin will be the pilot, Bykovsky his backup in case something happens to Gagarin before the launch.

Our space program has been more successful than the American one. They have been rushing to try and beat us, and they have failed multiple launches, approximately four satellite launch failures and the death of one of their astronauts.


I end the turn.



This man was a hero of the Soviet Union, and his presence will be surely missed. But the Union must march on.

The Vostok capsule is loaded into an R-7 ready for the launch day.



Final improvements are made on the EVA suit and Vostok capsule.



The launch has been scheduled for May of the new year, just after the victory day parades. Comrade Gagarin will be ushering in a new era of conquest for the people of the Soviet Union. The conquest of space.



Success!

We cut it a little close during the launch, but Yuri's skill and Soviet engineering came out supreme! We have done the worlds first full orbital and EVA!

We actually had a -5 penalty for not doing a suborbital first, but that hardly matters when we did it anyway!

And now, the news!



Ever the egalitarian paradise, the Soviet Union will put a woman in space! Atleast, after basic training, anyway.



Thanks to our successful manned mission, our launch centre has grown.



Our scientists improve the Proton rocket and start development on a docking module. Unfortunately, said module can not be improved by our scientists, and has a base safety of fourty percent. Therefore, it will require incredible skill to dock two crafts together. We have also designed a Luna Probe that will land on the moon sometime soon.



With the new cosmonauts in training and the research on the probe underway, I end our turn.



Will the engineers of the USSR perfect the Luna probe? Will there be any excellent candidates from the second batch of cosmonauts? Will the chief designer build another launch pad? Find out on the next episode of Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space!

The evil capitalists don't have a chance against our glorious space program!

Its funny how Luna means Moon. :l

I've loaded out the BARIS save, and that can mean only one thing. Space race time.

First thing first, I start to schedule a mission. Then...I remembered something from the manual.



We're going to send a probe to Mars. We've already missed our chances for Saturn and Jupiter, but they may come round again, if we are fortunate. I also buy a second launch pad, and schedule an orbital duration mission, this time with Bykovsky as the primary crew member and Gagarin in the backup.

I also start a new, experimental capsule program. They call it the Soyuz.



For a rather heft investment of 20MBs, they manage to improve the safety by a disappointing 16%. Meanwhile, the Politburo are displeased with how slow our progress is. We must accelerate our space program.



So, I buy our third, and final launchpad, and schedule a Venus flyby. I buy a few Cosmos probes and Proton rockets to carry our probes to the target destination. Before I assign a crew for our Soyuz rocket, I need to wait for our second batch of astronauts to leave basic training.

I put the Cosmos through a power research, dumping most, if not all, my funds into it's development. The Proton rocket is finalized in it's research.



Before I end the turn, I check in with the KGB.



Well, it appears they also want to send a probe to Mars. We shall beat them in the race for Mars.

And I end the turn.



Well, good news and bad news. We get extra RnD for this turn, but Popov, the cosmonaut, is a physical washout and has been disposed of.

But anyway, you shouldn't dwell on him. We have many more cosmonauts, most still in basic training, unfortunately. They are undergoing the final stage of their training.



I have the three launches assembled, ready for lift off.

Two rockets, an exact copy of each other, are both sent out to launchpads A and C. I had to buy an extra Proton rocket, which lowered my money further still, down to 4MBs.



While a manned capsule on a conventional R-7, is sent out to pad B.



The launch schedule is filled in.



I end the turn, and our launches commence.


Launch A goes well, and we'll see what happens to it in two turns, as it travels across the void of space.


Launch B was aborted by the mission control team, following a problem with the engine. Bykovsky is a lucky man indeed. If the problem wasn't found till later in the launch, well, he would be on the memorial wall outside the Kremlin.


Launch C was a complete success! We had some epic rolls for our safety modifier, and the failure rolls were poor. This was because we had done a number of previous launches and launch attempts in the past, so our rolls will just get higher and higher, with the failure ones sinking.

And now, after our great launches, it is time, for the news!



Well, a funding cut won't be very nice, and it'll be a wound to our chances of reaching the moon. I transfer all our astronauts to the Soyuz program. It's going to be our main capsule. Strangely enough, I noticed something odd.



Popov is still in the space program! I'm not sure why, but he didn't get removed from our roster. Ah well. I'm not one to exploit bugs, so I'll ignore him. Before I form any flight teams, I best fine tune our astronauts in the training centre before making use of the Soyuz. That way, we'll have a higher success rating. Solovyova, a female cosmonaut, is improving her EVA skills. In the Soyuz program, the EVA specialist is the same as the landing one, so it's a good idea to make sure she is competent at EVA as well as her exemplary skill in lander control.

Shatalov and Sokolova are both improving their docking skills.



Leonov, Aksyonov and Lyakhov are all improving their landing skills, since they are already proficient in EVA.

Meanwhile, I throw 25MBs at the Soyuz program safety rating. For a nineteen percent improvement.





Wait a second. I just noticed something.

1600 weight for the Soyuz capsule?

Uh oh.

Our Proton rockets can only lift 1500.

We've got a choice to make. We can either upgrade to the big N1 rocket with its 3200 max weight load, or slap boosters on the Proton, giving it a max weight load of 2500. I'm gonna go with the boosters, because budget cuts. I buy both the Kicker A and Kicker B boosters and improve them both by 14%, but I also buy a N1 rocket and improve it by 9% for 12MBs. I also buy a proper booster for 10MBs and improve it by 20% for an additional 10MBs. The kicker boosters will be required for the lunar landing in the future, but we might need the proper boosters to get the N1 and it's payload to Luna.

With the last of my money this turn, I have the Luna probe improved by 15% at a cost of 20MBs. We'll need the Luna to improve intelligence information about our landing destination.



We'll need to see how much money the next turn gives us. Not much, I imagine.

And with our money expended, I end the turn.



Well, good thing we already have a few capsules. But we won't be launching anything this year. Also, the news reported the success of our Mars mission.

Let's take a trip to the Museum of Space history to find out our prestige level.



We're on the path to victory. The USA's NASA has fallen far behind. They'd need a miracle to catch up with the glorious CCCP now!

And let's take a look at the profile of the first cosmonaut in space, and the first human to do an EVA and be in orbit of Earth.



He's a hero of the Soviet Union.

And so ends this update of Let's Play Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space. Will the Soviet Union remain supreme? Will Shatalov and Sokolova become more than just friends? Will the Soyuz program succeed? Find out next time on the next update of Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space!

Hey it looks like we're actually gonna win!
Not that I doubted our commander's abilities at any point, no sir.