Empyrean Cluster Wars
And
Central Command Users Manual
FORWARD
Thanks for your interest in this manual! The game being described here was adapted from a play by mail
game written in 1978 and launched in 1979.
It was called Empyrean Challenge.
EC was a computer moderated play by mail game. It involved paper printouts and manually generated lists of
orders. The time between turns was
lengthy.
This incarnation is using email instead. Eventually turns will be
transmitted through the Internet directly between the processing computer and
the game client software. Turn are stored and presented using a program called
Central Command. Central Command will also puts the users orders into files
that can be sent to the game processor.
Anyone who played the old game will quickly see the advantages added by
Central Command.
We hope that you decide to play the game.
ABOUT THE GAME
POPULATION
ISSUES AND REQUIREMENTS
Empyrean Cluster Wars is a computer moderated, hidden movement, play by email / Internet, science fiction game. The goal of the game is to control the local Empyrean Star cluster.
The size of the cluster
will vary from game to game. Currently
we are using what we call a size 1 to a size five cluster. Size 1 will fit in a
cube 10 light-years on a side. Size 5 will be 50 light years on a side room
enough to contain 125 size 1 clusters.
Achieving your goal of
controlling your star cluster you will be colonizing planets as well as
conquering and/or destroying your opponents’ colonies.
Some time ago, a galactic empire was born. It prospered and grew to
encompass myriad solar systems and hundreds of races. The Empire was mighty and
ponderous. Then, as in other empires, corruption and oppression set in;
stirring the subject planets' always-present desire for independence to a fever
pitch.
One planet, whose rulers were braver than most, did rebel and was
promptly destroyed. This sparked the revolution and started a galactic
holocaust.
During the worst years of the war, when biological warfare was used and
planets were being decimated right and left; a group of leaders from the rebel
worlds decided to hedge their races' continued existence. Their plan was to
colonize worlds, all located in the distant Empyrean Cluster group.
The planets would be in separate solar systems and would each be
inhabited by one of galactic races. As the rebel worlds couldn't spare much in
technological aid, it was decided that the colonies would be agricultural in
nature, rather than industrial.
It was not long after the colonies were established that the rebel
worlds, having finally overthrown the Empire., began to fight with each other
for the remains of the Empire.
These struggles became so intense that hardly a planet escaped massive
injury. The result of this tremendous destruction left virtually no planet
capable of interstellar flight and no single interplanetary government
functioning.
The colonies, isolated now, had no problem with food supplies, but their
manufacturing capabilities were very limited.
Their technologies improved, over the centuries, until fairly high
levels were achieved; resulting in the re-discoveries of anti-gravity and
hyperspace travel.
So here you are ready to begin your quest to dominate your cluster.
The cluster is mapped on a three dimensional grid, and
is from 10 light years to 50 light years per side. Each axis is numbered in light years. Solar systems are designated by their coordinates, which are
shown as three two-digit numbers.
These numbers range from 0 to the size of the cluster,
an example being 28/02/28, or 02/03/05.
MULTIPLE STAR SYSTEMS
There can be two or more stars are at the same
coordinates, they are known as a binary system (two stars), or a trinary system
(three stars), etc. Each star of the
system has 10 orbits around it; each star with its planets revolves around the
other star (or stars). There is an 11th
orbit surrounding each system and its planets, which serves the entire multiple
star systems. Adding a letter to the coordinates designates a multiple star
system. Thus, star B of system of 28/02/18 designates the second star of a
multiple star system.
COORDINATES ON THE PRINTOUT
All coordinates are given relative to each player’s
home planet. So, each race's
home planet coordinates are always 0/0/0. At the start of the game each player
should order a magnicude-10 system probe. This will give the coordinates of all stars
within 10 light years from the home planet, their distances from the home
planet.
SOLAR SYSTEMS
Each system has at least one planet, with no more than 10 planets per
star. A star has 11 orbits, numbered
from 1 to 11; number 1 is closest to the star, and number 11 is farthest from
it. Orbits 1 - 10 may be occupied by
one planet of any type. A planet never
occupies orbit 11. If there are two or
more stars in a coordinate point, the 11th orbit surrounds the stars and the
planets, as explained above. Ships from other systems always arrive in orbit
11.
TYPES OF PLANETS
Each star has from one to ten planets, which are
located in any orbit, one thru
ten. There is
only one planet per orbit; but there are three possible types. Some systems may
have 0 planets, with no more than 10 planets per star. The types of planets are: gas giants,
terrestrial, and asteroids.
Gas Giants
They are huge with gaseous atmospheres. Surface
colonies are assumed to be located on the moons of these planets. Gas giants
and their moons are shown as one--body.
Terrestrial
Terrestrial planets are too small to retain the huge
atmospheres of gas giants, but large enough to have become spherical.
Terrestrial in this context does not
necessarily mean earthlike or habitable.
However, only terrestrial planets can be habitable.
Asteroids
Asteroids are so small they are able to retain
irregular shape. The term Asteroids is meant to refer to an entire Asteroid
belt, and is also considered co be a planet. The asteroids in an orbit are
shown as one body.
HABITABILITY
The habitability number is the number of
population that can live on the planet without being overcrowded or having to
use alternate farming (other than tech 1 farms) methods or import food.
RESOURCE DEPOSITS
Each planet has six natural resource deposits.
Each deposit has a number of resource units usually in the hundreds of millions
to billions a few are unlimited.
TIME SCALE
One turn in the game equals one quarter of a (galactic
standard) year.
TYPES
There are: Enclosed Surface Colonies, Open Surface Colonies, and
Orbiting Colonies.
LOCATION RESTRICTIONS
Open Colonies are not allowed on planets with a habitability number of
0.
Enclosed Surface Colonies may be on any planet.
Orbiting Colonies may be located in any orbit around
a star, whether or not there is a planet there.
STRUCTURAL REQUIREMENTS
Assembled Structure, or Light Structure units must encompass the volume
of any colony units and population, with the exception of Non Metals and Metals
in Open Colonies and Enclosed Surface Colonies. The total volume of all the units in the colony times the STRUCTURE
RATIO is the structural requirement. In
Open Colonies and Enclosed Surface Colonies, Non Metals and Metals are stored
outside the colony.
STRUCTURE RATIO
The minimum Structure, or Light Structure required to enclose a single
volume unit are:
Open Colonies 1
Enclosed Surface Colonies 5
Orbiting Colonies 8
Exceeding structural requirement limits will prevent new items from
entering the colony. They can even stop
factory production.
SHIPS
Ships may be located in any orbit around a star,
whether or not there is a planet there, and may be moved from orbit to
orbit. All incoming ships arrive in the
system's 11th orbit. See ship movement
STRUCTURAL REQUIREMENTS
Assembled Structure, or Light Structure units must encompass the volume
of any ships units and population, The
total volume of all the units in the ship times the STRUCTURE RATIO is
the structural requirement.
STRUCTURE RATIO
The minimum Structure, or Light Structure required to enclose a single
volume unit is 10 for Ships. If a Ship is to transport 100,000 volume units, it
will require a minimum of 1,000,000 Structure, or Light Structure. For the number of volume units per item see
the UNIT CHARACTERISTICS SUMMARY.
TYPES OF POPULATION
UNEMPLOYABLES
Unemployables are child rearing and pregnant females,
children, aged, crippled, and those soldiers who have surrendered.
UNEMPLOYABLE INCREASES
Unemployable increases are caused by births, Soldiers
captured in combat, and Arrested Rebels.
All births add to this population type, never in any other. All births occur in colonies, never in
ships. Birth increases occur each turn
and are never less than 0.25%, or more than 5%, of the total population of a
colony. Births decrease as the standard of living rises and also as the total
quantity of population units approaches the amount indicated by the
habitability number. The total number
of combat casualties determines the number of wounded becoming
Unemployables. Increases are automatic
and need no orders.
UNEMPLOYABLE DECREASES
Unemployable decreases occur automatically. When a
portion of Unemployables are used to increase the number of Unskilled.
UNSKILLED WORKERS
Unskilled workers are those who do not require long
apprenticeships or training. Unskilled
can be drafted to become soldiers or trainees, or construction worker units or they
may work in farms, mines, and factories. All disbanded soldiers become
Unskilled.
UNSKILLED INCREASES
The computer draws unskilled increases automatically
from the Unemployables. All disbanded Soldiers, Police, and Constructors become Unskilled, when a Disband order is
issued for those units.
UNSKILLED DECREASES
Unskilled decreases are due to the Draft orders for
trainees, soldiers, Constructors, or Police.
PROFESSIONALS
Professionals require long apprenticeships or a great
deal of training. Professionals are
graduated from the trainees, and are used to train the trainees, as well. They
are also drafted to become Special Agents, and are part of the work force for
farms, mines, and factories. Soldiers,
(5% ANNUALY), retire from the military and become Professionals.
PROFESSIONAL INCREASES
Professional increases are caused by the influx of
trainees each turn, and by the entry of retiring Soldiers. 5% of all Soldiers retire each year (every
four turns), and 5% of all TRN graduate each turn. These percentages become Professionals automatically.
PROFESSIONAL DECREASES
Professional decreases are due to Draft orders for
Special Agents.
SOLDIERS
Soldiers include all military personnel. Soldiers are drafted from Unskilled. Soldiers are used in combat.
Five percent, of all soldiers retire annually, (on
every fourth turn), and become Professionals.
Any number of soldiers may be disbanded on any turn, with a disband
order, and these become Unskilled.
SOLDIER INCREASES
Soldier increases are due to the draft of
Unskilled. The player writes a draft
order for the Soldiers needed, and that number is deducted from the quantity of
Unskilled and added to the existing Soldiers on that turn.
SOLDIER DECREASES
Soldier decreases are due Disband orders and
retirement (5% per year), and combat casualties. Disbanded Soldiers become Unskilled.
SPECIAL AGENTS
Special Agents help reduce discontent and help
capture rebels. A Special Agent unit
is drafted, or disbanded on any turn.
SPECIAL AGENT INCREASES
Special Agent increases are ordered by the player,
using a Draft order for Special Agents takes the necessary quantity of
Professionals and makes them Special Agents.
SPECIAL AGENT DECREASES
Special Agent decreases are due Disband orders. Disbanded Special Agents become Unskilled.
CONSTRUCTORS
Constructors (formerly construction workers) execute
Assemble, Disassemble, Scrap, and help with Add-On, Setup, and Junk
orders. Constructors are drafted from
Unskilled.
CONSTRUCTOR INCREASES
Construction worker increases are ordered using a
Draft order.
CONSTRUCTOR DECREASES
Construction worker decreases are due to Disband
orders each Constructor disbanded into one Unskilled.
POLICE
They may find and arrest rebels and help reduce their
activities.
POLICE INCREASES
Police are drafted from Unskilled.
POLICE DECREASES
Police decreases are due Disband orders. Disbanded Police become Unskilled.
TRAINEES
Trainees are Unskilled in training to become
Professionals. Each 100 Trainees
requires one Professional to train them.
Five percent, (5%), of all trainees graduate each turn.
TRAINEE INCREASES
Trainee increases are caused by Draft orders.
MALCONTENTS
Malcontents (formerly Rebels) are merely a tally of
the number of population units in each ship or colony who are willing to rebel or cheering on the
rebels. Currently this number is
reported as a tally, we plan to change this to a more useful percentage of the
total population.
MALCONTENT INCREASES
These increases are based upon several conditions
which may occur in a s/c because of a
player' s management style:
1. General population
is underpaid (Standard of Living less than 1), or back pay exists.
2. General
population is underfed (less than 0.25 food per turn).
3.
Starvation
occurring. Causes greater increases
than #2.
MALCONTENT DECREASES
Malcontent decreases are caused by the activities of
Special Agents and by high standard of living (above 1.0)
REBELS
Rebels formerly rebel soldiers, are an actual units
drawn from each of the other types. Rebels do not work, and can only be
arrested(become unemployables) by Police or occasionally killed. They will
steal Consumergoods and Food from the population stockpiles. For other Rebel
Activities click the link.
REBEL INCREASES
Rebel increases are based on the # of Malcontents and
any of the 3 items listed as causing Malcontents.
REBEL DECREASES
They can only be arrested by Police or occasionally
killed. Arrested Rebels become Unemployables.
DEATH RATE
The death effects all Population in a ship or colony
rate per s/c per turn is 0.625%. The computer
applies this percentage to each population type within the ship or colony. This percentage is increased for all open colonies when the planet's
habitability number x 10,000,000 is less than the total POP in all the Open
Colonies of the planet.
POPULATION UNITS
Each unit of population consists of 100 people.
BASIC NEEDS (FOOD, CONSUMER GOODS, LIFE SUPPORT)
FOOD CONSUMPTION
Each population unit automatically consumes up to one
quarter of a food unit per turn, this will be the amount given to the
population when the ration order is set to 100%. If the ration rate is set
lower they will be given the percentage set. The ration rate cannot be set
lower than 25%. The population of a
Ship or colony will try to stockpile a years supply of food, therefore they may
consume less than all the food they were given. They will, however, consume at
least 1/16 of a food unit per turn if they have enough available. If less than
1/16 of a food unit per Population unit is available there will be starvation. Ration orders cannot be more than 100% (1/4
food unit per Population), or less than 25% (1/16 food unit per
Population). A portion about 30 % of
the starving population will die each turn starvation continues.
RATION PERCENTAGE
The percentage of a ration order is the percentage of
the normal 1/4 food unit per population unit.
CONSUMER GOODS
CONSUMPTION
All population types except unemployables* are paid
in Consumergoods. All PAY orders are standing
orders; they remain the same until changed by the player. At the start of the game, all unskilled
units are paid 0.125 Consumergoods per turn; soldiers are paid 0.25 Consumergoods per turn; and professionals
are paid 0.375 per turn. Construction
workers are paid the unskilled rate plus the Professionals rate divided by
2. Special Agents are paid the
Professionals pay rate plus the Soldiers pay rate divided by 2. Trainees are paid at the unskilled
rate. To change the pay rate, the
player writes a PAY order.
BACK PAY
If a colony does not have enough CNGD to pay its
people, then the unpaid amount is added to Back Pay Amount. Back pay has the effect of increasing
Malcontents. The larger the amounts of
back pay in proportion to the population, the greater the increase in
Malcontents. Ships crews are paid at
the home colony of the ship they are on.
STOCKPILES
The population of each colony maintains a stockpile
of food and of Consumergoods separate from the player’s inventory. The population
will try to accumulate 1 year’s (4 turns) supply of each. The full rationed
amount of food and the total paid amount of Consumergoods are added to these
stockpiles. The population will try to consume 25% of the Consumergoods and
food each turn. Food consumption will be more than 25% of the stockpile if
needed to prevent starvation; also no more than 0.25 units of food will be
consumed per population. The amount of Consumergoods consumed each turn divided
by the population and then multiplied by 4 is the standard of living.
LIFE SUPPORTS
Life support units are used in a ship or colony to
recycle air and water. They will
support the number of Population equal to their TL squared. For instance, a TL-5 Life Support Unit will
support 25 Population. A LFS uses one
fuel unit times its TL per turn (i.e.
a LFS-5 uses five fuel units per turn).
Only Open Colonies do not require Life Support Units. Life Support Units on Orbiting Colony in
orbits 1-5 do not use FUEL, but use solar power.
DEATH RATE AFFECTED
If the Life Support Units capacity of a ship or
colony is exceeded, the unsupported population die. If there is not enough fuel
to run the required life supports the death rate will be increased. Any turn
the ship or colony’s Life Support Units capacity is not exceeded, the death
rate will be dropped dramatically.
Farming is done by farm Farms. All of the farm units at each technological
level (TL) form a FRM group. There can
be only one group per TL in a ship or colony. For instance one Open colony
could have one group of 50,000 FRM-1, and 30,000 FRM-2 and 90,000 FRM-3. In order for the farm units to be taken from
storage and put to work, the player assembles them into a FRM group. This is done with an Assemble order, and is
explained in detail in, Assembly.
AMOUNT OF FOOD PRODUCED
The amount of food produced per turn per farm unit
depends on the unit's TL. A Farm-1 unit
(TL-1 farm unit) will produce 25 food units per turn. A Farm -2 thru Farm -10 will produce 5 times
the TL in food units per turn. So, a
Farm-2 will produce 10 food units per turn.
EFFECT OF SHORTAGES
A shortage of fuel or labor will cause the Farms to
partially produce. If there is a
shortage of space available to hold the food, the extra food is thrown
out. A shortage of fuel or labor may
only affect part of the farms; i.e., if there is enough fuel for 50,000 Farms
out of a total of 90,000 Farms, then 40,000 Farms will not produce.
TYPES OF FARMS
TL-1 Farms are like our modern dirt farms. They may only be assembled in Open colonies.
Farms -2 through Farms -5
These are hydroponics farms. They may be assembled in any colonies in
orbits 1through 5, but not in ships in any orbit, and not in colonies in orbits
6 -11.
Farms - 6 and above
These use artificial sunlight and may be used in any
ship or colony.
PERSONNEL REQUIRED
The personnel required for run one Farm unit of any
TL are one Professional and 3 Unskilled.
FUEL USE
Farms - 1 uses 0.5 fuel units per turn one FRM-2
through FRM-5 uses 0.5 times the TL in fuel units per turn; one Farms - 6 and
above uses 1 fuel unit times the TL per turn.
Farms on Orbiting Colonies in orbits 1-5 use no fuel, but use solar
power.
SHUT DOWNS AND START UPS
Shut down orders are used to stop the farming done by
all assembled farms in a ship or colony; or to shut down only a portion of
them. Starts up orders are used ONLY to
start up farms that have been shut
down. Farms are assembled in running
condition.
QUANTITY OF FARMS ALLOWED PER PLANET
The number of Farms - 1 that can be assembled in the
open colonies of a planet is limited to the habitability number of the planet
times 100,000. There is no limit to the number of Farms TL-2 on
up that can be assembled in open colonies.
And there is no limit co Farms of any TL in ships, enclosed surface
colonies, or orbiting colonies, providing there is enough space for them, and the restrictions in above are observed.
Mine units at deposits of natural resources do
mining. The three types of natural
resources are: fuel, non-metals, and
metals. In order for a mine unit to
work, it must be taken from storage and assembled into a Mine Units group. (All
Mine Units 's in a group must be of
the same TL.) This is done with an
assembly order, and is explained in, Assembly
AMOUNT OF RESOURCES MINED
Each deposit is rated for yield; the yield percentage
indicates the percentage of usable resources that can be extracted from each
unit of resources mined. If a deposit had a 90% yield, and 100 units of
resource were mined, 90 units of
resources would be added to the player's resources in storage. One Mine Unit
mines 25 times its TL in resource units per turn.
EFFECT OF SHORTAGES
If there is a
shortage of available space to hold the amount of fuel that would normally be
mined on a turn, the Mine Units will only mine the quantity that will fit the
space available, and no more. Shortages
of space do not affect Non Metals or Metals:
extra amounts of those are stored outside the colony walls. (This
applies only to enclosed surface colonies and open colonies. Mines
are not operable on ships or orbiting colonies). Shortages of fuel or labor will cause Mine
Units to not produce, either fully or partially. Mine Units groups produce one by one, starting with MIN group #,
then #2, etc. As many mines will
produce as are able before the shortage stops production.
FUEL AND PERSONNEL REQUIRED
Each MIN consumes 0.5 times its TL in fuel each
turn. Therefore, a Mine Units - 3
consumes 1.5 fuel units each turn. One
MIN of any TL requires one Professional and 3 Unskilled to operate it.
QUANTITY OF MINES ALLOWED
Only one colony may have a Mine Units group at a
deposit. If two colonies attempt to
place Mine Units groups on the same deposit, only one of them will
succeed. A colony may not have more
than one Mine Units group at a deposit.
Only 6 mine groups are allowed in any enclosed surface colony, or in any
open colony. Since all deposits are
located on planets, no Mine Units can function on ships or orbiting
colonies. Mine Units may
be held in storage, however.
Each Mine group is limited to 1 million mine units.
Factory units do manufacturing. In order for a
factory unit to work it must be taken from storage and assembled into a group,
as is explained in Assembly. All of the factories in a factory group must be
the same TL. Factory groups make
everything but food, resources, and population. Each factory group manufactures on type of thing at a time. No
item can be built in less than a year.
All factory groups require four turns to complete a batch of whatever
item they are building. Each colony is
limited to 40 factory groups. Completed items are added to storage in
colony. Factory groups may not be
assembled in ships, although unassembled factories may be carried in ships.
FUEL AND PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS
Each factory requires 1 Professional and 3 Unskilled
to run it. Each factory uses 0.5 times the TL of the factory fuel each turn it
is operating. Orbiting colonies in
orbits 1 through 5 don’t require fuel.
CAPACITY OF A FACTORY GROUP
One-factory unit produces 5 x its TL MU per turn;
that is 20 MU x its TL per year. This annual production in mass units, times
the number of factory units in the group, divided by the mass units per item,
will give the quantity of an item to be produced per year by a Factory
group. For example: A Factory group of 50,000 Factory-1 is set
up to build Life Support Units - 2. 20
(mass units per year) times 50,000 (number of Factory units in the group)
divided by 16 (a Life Support Units - 2 is 16 mass units) will equal 62,500 Life Support Units - 2 produced per year,
or 15,625 Life Support Units -2 produced per turn.
WORK IN PROCESS
Work in process includes all items in the process of
being manufactured. Using the example in of 50,000 Factories - 1 being
Assemble (on turn 3) to build 62,500 Life
Support Units - 2, output will report the work in process in this way:
TURN
WIP 1/4 COMP. WIP 1/2
COMP. WIP 3/4 COMP.
3000
4
62,500 Life Support-2 0 0
5
0 62,500 Life
Support-2 0
6
0
0 62,500 Life Support-2
Note that the Factory group does not complete 1/4 of
the Life Support Units - 2 per turn (15,625 in other words), but instead will
get the entire 62,500 one quarter of the way to being complete. On turn 7 of the example, 62,500 LFS-2 will
show up on the storage report on the
printout, and the work in process will look like it did on turn 3. Let's say
that we assembled this group on turn three, and assembled more Factories units
to the group on turn 4, and turn 5 and turn 6. The printout will show:
TURN
WIP1/4 COMP. WIP 1/2 COMP. WIP 3/4 COMP.
3 0 0 0
4
62,500 Life Support-2 0 0
5
62,500 Life Support-2
62,500 Life Support-2 0
6
62,500 Life Support-2
62,500 Life Support-2
62.500 Life Support-2
Starting on turn 7, 62,500 LFS-2 are added to storage
each turn.
ORDERS AFFECTIG FACTORY GROUPS
Once ordered to manufacture an item, a factory group
will continue to do so, unless ordered to build something else with a build
change order or to shut. Once ordered
to shut down, a Factory group (still assembled) remains shut down, or partly
shutdown, unless ordered to start up with a Build Change. One final way to stop a factory from
producing is to disassemble it with a disassembly order. This is explained in Assembly. Disassembled factory units go into storage.
A combine order combines two factory groups into one; both groups must be
manufacturing the same item.
A Factory group may be changed from building one item
to building another. A Build Change order will do the
SHORTAGES AND FACTORY GROUP NUMBERS
FCT groups will move as many items through its WIP as
there are resources, labor, and fuel to do so. The computer processes the manufacturing group by group in group
number order, and within each group starting with Work in Process 3/4, Work in
Process 1/2 then Work in Process 1/4.
When the shortage occurs, the computer will cease to work on the
production it was processing, and not do any more processing. If the shortage
has been taken care of on the next turn, the computer will process as normal,
starting with FCT group #1, WIP 3/4. If
the shortage still exists, processing will not be done.
Automation units are used to replace Unskilled for
Farms, Mine Units, Laboratories and Factories. Automation Units TL squared
times the number of Automation Units assembled equals the number of Unskilled
being replaced. Automation Units are
not assigned to specific production groups, but are counted as unskilled labor
available to any production group in the ship or colony. If a colony, for
instance, has 1,000 Farms, 10,000 Mine Units, and one 50,000-factory unit
group, it will need 183,000 Unskilled or the equivalent in Automation
Units (which could be 183,000 AUT-1 or
45,750 AUT-2 or 7,320 AUT-5, etc).
Automation Units use no fuel.
TURN SEQUENCE AND ORDERS
Game data cleanup.
Zero value records are deleted.
Dead ships and colonies are removed.
Accumulator fields are zeroed out.
Combat
orders are processed.
Pre-maneuver Energy Weapon
Fire
*** Allocate Damage
*** Allocate Damage
After-maneuver Energy Weapon Fire
*** Allocate Damage
Process
all permission orders.
Disassembly
Stage
Setup
Stage
Transfer
Stage
Build
Change Stage
Draft
orders
Assembly
Stage
Surveys
and Probes
Pay change
Naming
Orders
Ship
Movement
Probe
Stage
Production Stage
Cycles thru the colonies.
Sums and reports Professionals used to pilot transports.
Collects data for surveys.
Totals automation capacity and life support capacity.
Does production in the following order
Power Production
Mine Production
Farm Production
Laboratory Production
Factory
Production
Food
Consumption
Consumer
Goods Consumption (includes ships based out of the colony being processed)
Rebel
Actions
Population
Changes (Births Deaths Graduations Retirements)
Statistics
updates
Cycles thru the ships.
Sums and reports Professionals used to pilot transports.
Totals automation capacity and life support capacity.
Does
Farm production in the following order
Food
Consumption
Rebel
Actions
Population
Changes (Deaths Graduations Retirements)
Statistics
updates
Produce Out Put Stage
Send Out Put Stage
ORDERS LIST
Alphabetical
A
After-maneuver Energy Weapon Fire
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
L
M
N
O
P
Pre-maneuver Energy Weapon
Fire
R
S
T
U
W
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Add On, Quantity, item, target SHIP OR COLONY
ID#
The SHIP OR COLONY is directed to add on
the item listed to the specified SHIP OR COLONY.
After-maneuver Energy Weapon Fire
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, After-maneuver E.W.,
target SHIP OR COLONY ID#, # of energy weapons to fire, target area
This order directs the S/C to fire its
energy weapons at the target S/C after all ship maneuvers have been
completed. After-maneuver E.W. orders
take precedence over FIR, ARF and ODF orders.
If the SHIP OR COLONY is to not to fire
all of its energy weapons at the target SHIP OR COLONY, the number of energy
weapons to fire must be specified.
If the target is a colony, a target area
may be specified. Specifying a target
will reduce the total damage done to the colony to 80% of normal, but the
specified target will absorb 4 times more damage than it would normally. If a target area is not specified, or if the
target is a ship, damage will be assigned randomly.
A surface colony may not fire energy
weapons against another surface colony.
Population units will sustain casualties
at 25% of the normal rate of mass destroyed, and military items will absorb
damage at 50% of the normal rate.
Cargo items sustain damage at 200% of the
normal rate.
A ship or colony cannot fire weapons at a
ship or colony to which it is docked (or which is docked to the firing ship or
colony).
Firing will be aborted if the target has
docked with a ship or colony owned by the firing player.
Players may abort the firing if a ship or
colony is beyond a certain distance by appending a /Dxx to the order where xx
is the maximum distance for firing.
Bombardment Target Areas
1. Population (population type(s) randomly
selected)
2. Non-assembly and unassembled units
3. Assembled units
4. Mine groups
5. Factory groups
6. Military bases (Assault Craft , Assault
Weapons , Military Robots , Soldiers )
7. Weaponry (energy weapons , energy
shield , missile launchers , anti-missiles , missiles)
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, After-maneuver
Missile,
target SHIP OR COLONY, # of missiles to fire, target.
This order directs the s/c to fire its
missiles at the target ship or colony after all ship maneuvers have been
completed. After Maneuver Missile Fire
orders take precedence over FIR, ARF and ODF orders.
If the ship or colony is to not to fire
all of its missiles at the target ship or colony, the number of missiles to
fire must be specified.
If the target is a colony, a target area
may be specified. Specifying a target
will reduce the total damage done to the colony to 80% of normal, but the
specified target will absorb 4 times more damage than it would normally. If a target area is not specified, or if the
target is a ship, damage will be assigned randomly.
Each missile fired requires assembled
missile launchers of equal TL. Each
missile launcher can launch only one missile in the after maneuver fire round.
Population units will sustain casualties
at 25% of the normal rate of mass destroyed, and military items will absorb
damage at 50% of the normal rate.
Cargo items sustain damage at 200% of the
normal rate.
A ship or colony cannot fire weapons at an
ship or colony to which it is docked (or which is docked to the firing ship or
colony).
Firing will normally abort if the target
ship or colony has docked with an ship or colony owned by the firing.
Players may abort the firing if a ship or
colony is beyond a certain distance by appending a /Dxx to the order where xx
is the maximum distance for firing.
Bombardment Targets
1. Population (population type(s) randomly
selected)
2. Non-assembly and unassembled units
3. Assembled units
4. Mine groups
5. Factory groups
6. Military bases (Assault Craft, Assault
Weapons, Military Robots, Soldiers)
7. Weaponry (energy weapons, energy
shield, missile launchers, anti-missiles, missiles)
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Auto Return Fire, %.
This order directs the ship or colony to
fire its weapons at any that ship or colony fires at it during the bombardment
round. If the target ship or colony
attacked during the pre-maneuver round, the return fire for both rounds will be
targeted on it (unless the target is completely destroyed during the first
round). Each return fire will occur when the sc is fired on. Using the
specified % in the order. Attaches that do no damage will be ignored.
Only weapons, which have not been
previously fired, are available for Auto Return Fire. Auto Return Fire orders take precedence over CPT orders.
The ship or colony will not fire more
weapons than are required to destroy the target.
A surface colony may not fire energy
weapons against another surface colony.
Population units will sustain casualties
at 25% of the normal rate of mass destroyed, and military items will absorb
damage at 50% of the normal rate.
A ship or colony cannot fire weapons at an
ship or colony to which it is docked (or which is docked to the firing s/c).
Firing will normally abort if the target
ship or colony has docked with a ship or colony owned by the firing player.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Assemble, Quantity, item
(Quantity, Factories -TL, item to build)
(Quantity, Factories -TL, factory group
#)
(Quantity, Mine Units -TL, deposit
number)
The ship or colony is directed to assemble
the given quantities of the specified items.
This order is used to assemble to assemble items in storage.
Factories may not be assembled on ships.
Factories will be assembled only if a factory group or a production order,
which the ship or colony is able to build, is included. Mines may be assembled only in surface
colonies, and will be assembled to the specified deposit #.
Assembly of items requires 1 CNW for every
500 mass units. If there is a shortage
of Constructors, assembly orders will be processed in the sequence in which
they are given, and assembly will halt when all Constructors have been used.
Only 1 million mines can be assigned to a
deposit. They will be in the same group and of the same TL.
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Build Change, factory
group #, new order
The colony is directed to change the build
orders for the specified factory group.
The new order may be a different item to build, or nothing.
One of the item choices is Shut Down. If
Shut Down is chosen you can also choose a quantity of factories to shut
down. While shut down, the factories
group will not build any new items nor advance its work in progress, and they
will not use any resource units nor employ any population units.
Ordering a group to build nothing is
different then a shut down, in that when ordered to build nothing the group
will continue to complete the work in process but will not start any new items.
Start Up is also an item choice. Factories
in the group, which were previously shut down, will start up and resume normal
production.
Many of the item choices to build also
require a specified tech level. The
factory group will build the highest level you have achieved for that item or
the tech level you specify in the order. This will allow you to order a factory
group to build transports – 150. If you
have achieved tech level 7 in transports the group will be building level 7. Then in a few turns you achieve level 9
the factory group will start building level 9 without needing a new build
change order to be issued.
Format:
Ship ID#, Close, target ship
The ship is directed to move to the same
tactical coordinates as its target ship's position after maneuvers (TMV, CLS,
or RUN), or as close to that position as its speed and FUEL supply allow.
If a /<number> is appended to the
order, the ship will instead attempt to move to a position that is the given
number of distance units away from its target ship.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Close Proximity Targeting, %.
This order directs the ship or colony to
fire its weapons at any ship, which attempts to close with it.
Only weapons, which have not been
previously fired, are available for CPT.
The ship or colony will not fire more
weapons than are required to destroy the target.
Close Proximity Targeting fire will abort
if it will result in 0 Damage. This order processed in the maneuver segment.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Combine Factory group, Factories group, Factory
group to be absorbed
The S/C is directed to combine the two
factory groups into one. The factories
and work in progress of the factory group to be absorbed are added to the
specified factory group. Both factory
groups must be of the same tech level, be making the item-TL, and have same
item-TL work in progress. The factory
group number of the group to be absorbed will become available for re-use.
If a /W is appended to the order, only the
work in progress of the group to be absorbed will be added to the other factory
group. In this case the factories would remain assembled in their current
factory group. (This allows the combining of the work in progress of factory
groups of different TLs if desired.) If
a /Wyx is appended, Y and X can be 1,2,or 3, to indicate quarters to absorbed.
The /W indicates all three quarters.
Format:
Colony ID#, Control Planet.
The colony is directed to take control of
the planet it is on. Only surface
colonies may be given this order. If
two colonies attempt to take control of the same planet on the same turn, the
colony with the greatest mass will gain possession. A Control order will fail if another colony is already in control
of the planet.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Defend, SHIP OR COLONY ID# being defended
Quantity, item
(Items to be included)
1, End Defend
The ship or colony is directed to send the
troops, weapons, and supplies listed to support the defense of the target ship
or colony against invasions. The troops
may be Soldiers and/or Military Robots.
Assault Weapons may be used only to support surface colonies or ships
docked to surface colonies. Assault
Craft may be used to support ships and colonies of any type. Support of
ships and Orbiting Colonies requires Assault Craft to transport the Soldiers
/Military Robots (unless the supporting
ship or colony is docked to the supported ship or colony. If there are insufficient Assault Craft, the
excess troops will not go into battle.
Assault Weapons and Assault Craft require troops to operate them. If there are insufficient troops, the excess
Assault Weapons and Assault Craft will not go into battle.
Military supplies for the troops and fuel
(for the Assault Craft) may be included in the Defend order. If military
supplies and/or fuel are not listed in the Defend order, or supplied via a
supply order, the troops will automatically draw them from the sending ship or
colony. If there is a shortage of
supplies available, unsupplied units will not go into battle. The troops giving defensive support will
expend military supplies and fuel whether or not an invasion actually takes
place. The Transports (and their fuel) needed to move the
supporting force are not listed in the Defend order.
When the combat ends, the troops and
supplies will automatically withdraw to the S/C which sent them. (No TPT or
FUEL is required for this.) If the
sending S/C is no longer at this location (or has been captured/destroyed), the
troops will withdraw to their owner's largest colony at this location (or
largest ship if their owner has no colonies at this location). If no appropriate S/C is available, the DEF
troops will join the S/C they were supporting.
Format:
Ship ID #, Define Cargo Hold, Quantity of space
This order sets aside a portion of the
total space available in the ship as a cargo bay. This cargo space can only be accessed via the Load and Unload
orders. The quantity of space may not
be greater than the total space available in the ship, nor may it be less than
the amount presently in use by items in the cargo section.
The size of the cargo hold may only be
changed when the ship is docked to a colony owned by the ship's owner.
Items placed in the cargo bay are
considered to be crated, and are unusable by the ship. Thus, cargo items use only 50% of their
normal space requirements. Population
carried in cargo are considered to be cryogenically frozen, and do not require
either food or life support.
The ship must be docked to the colony,
which is loading and/or unloading the cargo.
Population unloaded from a cargo hold are
not able to work on the turn they are revived (and will show as employed in the
colony's statistics section). In addition,
a percentage of the population will die (not survive the cryogenic
freezing). The percentage not reviving
will be a random number between 1 and 10, plus the current death rate of the
ship on which they arrived.
One should keep in mind that the ship will
no longer have access to this space for other than cargo hold usage.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Disassemble, Quantity, item
(Quantity, FCT-TL, factory group #
(Quantity, MIN-TL, mine group #.)
The ship or colony is directed to
disassemble the items listed and place them into storage. A group number for FCT and MIN must be
given, or the order will fail.
Disassembly requires 1 CNW for each 500 mass units to be
disassembled. If there is a shortage of
CNW, as many items as possible will be disassembled in the sequence the orders
are issued. 10% of the items
disassembled are lost.
If all factories are disassembled from a
factory group, the factory group and its work in progress will remain in
existence through the assembly stage so that factories of another TL may be
assembled to the group to carry on production.
A total of 40 factory groups may exist in
one colony. Groups with no factories or work in process will disappear at the
end of the turn.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Disband, quantity, Soldiers, Constructors, Police,
Special Agents, or Trainees
The ship or colony is directed to disband
the given quantity of its Soldiers, Constructors, Police, Special Agents, or Trainees. The disbanded Soldiers, Police,
Constructors, Special Agents, or Trainees will become Unskilled. Note: Special Agents are drafted from
Professionals and when disbanded become Unskilled.
Format:
SHIP ID#, Dock, target SHIP OR COLONY ID#
The ship is directed to attempt to close
with and then dock itself to the target ship or colony. Docked Ships and colonies may not fire
energy weapons or missile launchers upon one another, or on docked entities where
one of the entities is owned by the firing player. When a ship is docked to a surface colony, it may be attacked
with Assault Weapons via invasion. When
a ship is docked to a ship or Orbiting Colony, Assault Craft are not required
in order to invade to/from the Orbiting Colony.
If a ship is already docked, any
bombardment attacks against it will affect the docked Ships but not
colonies. While docked, all connected
Ships and colonies combine their defenses against bombardment, but bombardment
damage will be proportionately distributed among ships connect to the target
only. Also colonies will not share damage with ships.
Ships will automatically undock if the
ship, which ordered the dock, issues a Close, Tactical Maneuver, Run, Jump, or
Move order.
A ship which has another player's ship
docked to it can move only if it can move the combined mass of both ships.
Two ships belonging to the same player
will move as a single entity if the ship being docked to is given a maneuver or
Move /Jump order. The space drives or
Hyper Engines of the ship being docked to (the one to which the maneuver or
Move /Jump order was given) will be used first. The space drives or Hyper Engines of the docking ship(s) will be
used also if necessary to move the ships' combined mass.
Format:
SHP ID#, Dodge, amount of speed to use
This order directs the ship to use the
amount of speed specified in its attempt to avoid hostile missile or energy
weapon fire or docking attempts by other ships. Only the amount of speed not being used by Dodge is available for
other maneuvers. A Dodge order will
remain in effect until changed, or the ship docks with another ship or colony.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Draft, quantity, Soldiers, Constructors, Special
Agents, Police, or Trainees
The ship or colony is directed to draft
the given quantity of Soldiers, Constructors, Police, or Trainees from its
Unskilled. Special Agents are drawn
from PRO. The use of race numbers is
not optional.
Format:
COLONY ID#, Expend, quantity of research points, Item
OR
: COLONY ID#, Expend, quantity
of item(1 to 20), Item-TL
The colony is directed to expend the given
quantity of research points to acquire the ability to build the item at a
higher TL. Any of a player's colonies
may contribute research points toward improving TL of any item. Once a TL has
been acquired, a player may begin building the new TL item in any of his
colonies (except Light Structure which
may be built only in Orbiting Colonies).
It is not necessary to expend sufficient research points to acquire a
higher TL of an item all in one turn.
Any remainder will be carried over but is committed to the item in the
order. Once research points are expended on a given item, it remains committed
to that item. It cannot be recalled and
expended on a different item.
The ability to raise an item one TL
requires 1,000,000 * (current TL) research points. A player may jump more than one TL on a given item on a single
turn if enough RSCH is expended.
The number of research points required to
reach a higher TL may be reduced by using existing units of the item-TL as
prototypes. Each prototype will replace
4% of the research point requirement and up to 20 prototypes may be used to
replace a maximum of 80% of the research point requirement. The prototypes will be expended by the
expend order and cease to exist. To use
prototypes, the expend order must include the TL to be achieved, and all of the
research points and prototypes must be contributed by one colony on a single
turn. If there are insufficient
prototypes or research points available to achieve the specified TL, the order
will abort.
Research required reaching each TL level
from the previous level:
TL without
prototypes with 20 prototypes
2 1,000,000 200,000
3 2,000,000 400,000
4 3,000,000 600,000
5 4,000,000 800,000
6 5,000,000 1,000,000
7 6,000,000 1,200,000
8 7,000,000 1,400,000
9 8,000,000 1,600,000
10 9,000,000 1,800,000
11 10,000,000 2,000,000
Etc + 1,000,000 /
TL + 200,000 / TL
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Factory Group Change, Existing Factory Group #, New
Group #, # of Factories
This order can change the group number of
an existing factory group, split a factory group in two, move factories from
one group to another,
Changing the group number of an existing
factory group affects only the sequence in which the factory groups are
supplied with workers and resources.
Thus critical groups should be given a low factory number to be sure
they run during times of material or personnel shortages. When a factory group is changed to a new
group number, another factory group may be assigned to its original group
number, provided that the orders are written in the proper sequence.
To split a factory group, the number of
factories to be split off is required.
When a factory group is split, all of the work in progress will remain
with the original group.
Factories may be moved to another existing
group. The factories being moved and
the factories in the target group must be of the same TL.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY being given, Give, ship or colony ID# receiving
With this order, the S/C is given to the
specified player. Home colonies may not be given away, even if not controlled
by their original owners. The receiving
player must have a Ship or Colony in the same system as the Ship or Colony to
be given.
Home Port Change
Format:
Ship ID#, Home, colony ID#
The ship is directed to change its
homeport. The ship and the colony must
both belong to the same player. The
homeport is the colony, which executes the pay orders for the ship (in effect
paying the crew's families from its supply of Consumergoods). A ship's original home colony is the colony
which set it up; or if set up by a ship, the mother ship's home colony. Only ships may issue a HOM order; only
colonies may be homeports.
Format: SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Invade, target SHIP OR COLONY
Quantity, item
1,end invade
Additional note: Sending troops to
Docked s/c does not require TPTs or Assault Craft. Also for troop moves when
targets are not docked targets must be within 1 distance unit.
The ship or colony is directed to invade
the target ship or colony using the troops, weapons, and supplies listed. Troops may be Soldiers and/or Military
Robots. Assault Weapons may be used
only against a surface colony or a ship docked to a surface colony. Assault Craft may be used in the invasion of
any type of ship or colony. Invasions
of ships and Orbiting Colonies require Assault Craft to transport the Soldiers
/Military Robots unless the invading ship or colony is docked to the other. If there are insufficient Assault Craft, the
excess troops will not go into battle.
Each Assault Weapons/Assault Craft requires one Soldier (or equivalent Military Robots) to
function. If there are insufficient
troops, the excess Assault Weapons /Assault Craft will not go into battle.
The invasion order may include military
supplies for the troops and fuel for the Assault Craft, (or these may be
provided with a supply order); otherwise, these will be automatically drawn
from the invading ship or colony. Unsupplied units will not go into
battle. Excess military supplies and
fuel will remain with the troops to support subsequent turns (if
necessary). Any remaining supplies will
become part of the target ship or colony when the invasion ends. The Transports (and their fuel) used to move troops and Assault Weapons to
battle are not included in the invade order.
Format:
Ship ID#, Jump, star system coordinates (/distance)
The ship is directed to move to the star system
at the coordinates given. It will
arrive in the 11th orbit of that system. An optional tactical distance order (Close, Medium, or Long) may
be appended to direct how many distance units from tactical position 0/0/0 the
ship will arrive. The default tactical
distance (no tactical distance order given) is 5 to 10 distance units.
Close is 5 to 10 distance units. Medium is
11 to 50 distance units. Long is 51 to 100 distance units.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, JNK, SHIP OR COLONY to be junked
The ship or colony is directed to
disassemble the indicated ship or colony and to put the resulting component
parts into its own storage. The ship or
colony being junked will cease to exist.
Both entities must belong to the same player and must be within 1
distance unit of each other.
Junking a ship or colony requires
Transports and Constructors. The
Transports and Constructors of the ship or colony to be junked are used first,
and if necessary, the Transports and Constructors of the ship or colony issuing
the order will also be used to disassemble the ship or colony and move its
component parts. The population of the
junked ship or colony joins the population of the ship or colony issuing the
order.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, launch robot probe, (probe type), Star letter,
Orbit #
Probe Type can be ORBIT, SYSTEM, SHIP, or
COLONY.
ORBIT PROBE
The ship or colony is directed to launch a
robot probe vehicle to obtain a probe of the specified orbit, system, shi, or
colony. This enables the ship or colony
to obtain probes without moving to the orbit and without using sensors.
Each robot probe vehicle can obtain one
orbit probe. It is expended in this
action and cannot be reused. An orbit
probe report obtained by an RPV is identical to probe report generated by an
ship or colony located in that orbit.
SYSTEM PROBE
The ship or colony is directed to launch a
robot probe vehicle to obtain a system probe.
The system probe the type of planet in each orbit.
One robot probe vehicle is expended times
the magnitude to obtain the system probe.
This report is identical to the system probe obtained via sensors. If robot probe vehicle of more than one TL
are present in the ship or colony, the lowest TL robot probe vehicle will be used.
Robot probe vehicle are launched after
ship movement, therefore the information obtained is for the system at which a
ship ends its move.
SHIP OR COLONY PROBE
Performs exactly like a sensor except the
probe is expended.
Format:
Colony ID#, Load, Quantity, item, ship ID
The colony is directed to load the items
listed from its own storage to the cargo section of receiving ships. The items to be transferred must be either
population or unassembled/non-assembly items.
The ship must be docked to the colony.
The load order requires one-fifth the transport capacity of a transfer
order. A load to a ship belonging to
another player will fail.
Items placed in the cargo bay are
considered to be crated, and are unusable by the ship. Thus, cargo items use only 50% of their
normal space requirements. Population
carried in cargo are considered to be cryogenically frozen, and do not require
either food or life support.
Population unloaded from a cargo hold are
not able to work on the turn they are revived (and will show as employed in the
colony's statistics section). In
addition, a percentage of the population will die (not survive the cryogenic
freezing). The percentage not reviving
will be 10%.
Format:
SHIP ID#, Merge, SHIP that is being absorbed
This order causes the two ships to be
combined into one. After the merge, the
ship that was absorbed will no longer exist, and the ship, which issued the
order, will now contain all of its items from both ships. The combined ship will have a death rate
equal to the higher of the rates of the merging ships. In order to merge the ships must belong to
the same player, and be at the same tactical coordinates of the same orbit. Merges do not require TPT or CNW.
Format: SHIP OR COLONY ID#, message, SHIP
OR COLONY, text
This order is used to send a message to
other players via their ships or colonies.
The target is the receiving ship or colony. Both the receiving and
receiving ships and colonies must be in the same system before moving.
1. Format: Colony ID#, Mine Change, from mine group #, to mine group #,
quantity of mines
The Colony is directed to move the given
quantity of mines from the specified mine group number to the new deposit, which
is given as a deposit number. If a quantity of mines is not specified, all of
the mines comprising the mine group will be moved.
2. Format: Colony ID#, Mine Change, mine group #, Shut Down or start up,
quantity of mines
The Colony is directed to give the new
order to the specified mine group. If a
Shut Down order is chosen, the mine group will shut down production. The mines will remain assembled, but will
not produce resource units nor require fuel nor employ population units. If a start up order is given, the mine
group, which was previously shut down, will start up and resume normal
production. A quantity to be started or shut down may be secified.
Format:
Ship ID#, MOV, orbit.(/distance)
The ship is directed to move to the specified
orbit. The orbit designation consists
of the star id (A, B, C, etc.) followed by the orbit number. An optional tactical distance order (Close,
Medium, or Long) may be appended to direct how many distance units from
tactical position 0/0/0 the ship will arrive.
The default tactical distance (no tactical distance order given) is 5 to
10 distance units. Close is 5 to 10 distance units. Medium is 11 to 50 distance
units. Long is 51 to 100 distance units.
.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Name, Item, name
This order assigns a name to an item. The items that can be named are SHIP,
COLONY, SYSTEM, STAR, and PLANET. The maximum length of a name is 30
characters. A name may contain any printable ASCII character except the
comma. An item may be named (or
renamed) on any turn.
Note: the game tracks each player’s name
for system stars and planets separately.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Note, Text
This order causes the text of the note to be
printed below the name of the SHIP OR COLONY on its owner's report only. It will continue to appear until the note is
replaced with new text or is turned off.
The text is limited to 200 characters, including spaces.
Format: SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Offensive
Support, defending SHIP OR COLONY, SHIP OR COLONY being supported
Quantity, item
End
offensive Support
The ship or colony is directed to send the
troops, weapons, and supplies listed to the support of the specified ship or
colony in its invasion of the defending ship or colony. The troops listed may be Soldiers and/or
Military Robots. Assault Weapons may be
used only to support surface colonies or ships docked to surface colonies. Assault Craft may be used in support of
invasions of any type of ship or colony.
Support of ships and Orbiting Colony require Assault Craft to transport
the Soldiers /Military Robots (unless
the supporting ship or colony is docked to the receiving ship or colony). If there are insufficient Assault Craft, the
excess troops will not go into battle.
Each Assault Weapons /Assault Craft requires one Soldiers (or equivalent Military Robots) to function. If there are insufficient troops, the excess
Assault Weapons /Assault Craft will not go into battle.
Military supplies for the troops and fuel
(for the Assault Craft) may be included in the Offensive Support order or in a
separate supply order; otherwise these supplies will be automatically drawn
from the sending ship or colony. If there is a shortage of supplies available,
the unsupplied units will not go into battle.
The forces giving offensive support will expend military supplies and
fuel whether or not the invasion actually takes place. The Transports (and their fuel) used to move the supporting forces are not
listed in the OFS order.
When the combat ends, the troops and
supplies will automatically withdraw to the ship or colony, which sent them.
(No Transports or fuel is required for this.)
If the sending ship or colony is no longer at this location (or has been
captured/destroyed), the troops will withdraw to their owner's largest colony
at this location (or largest ship if their owner has no colonies at this
location). If no appropriate ship or
colony is available to withdraw to, the offensive support troops will surrender
to the enemy after combat.
Format:
Colony ID#, Pay, Amount per unit, Population type
This order directs the ship or colony to pay
the specified amount of Consumergoods for each unit of the given Population
type, Unskilled, Professionals, or Soldiers.
Race numbers are not used in Pay orders. The rate of pay will remain standing until changed. If the
population type ALL is selected then the amount is a percentage. When this option is used the existing rates
are changed to the % of their current value. If you use 150% then you have
increased all pay rates to half again as much as they are. If you use 25% then you will have reduced
them made them one quarter their current value.
Format:
COLONY ID#, Permission To Colonize, Ship # being given permission
With this order, the colony in control of
a planet grants permission to a ship belonging to another player to set up a
colony at that planet. A Permission to
Colonize order is valid only on the turn it is issued. A Permission to Colonize order is not
required if the player setting up a new colony already has a colony present in
the orbit. If a planet is not under the
control of any ship or colony, permission to colonize is not required.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Pick Up, Quantity, item SHIP OR COLONY to pick up
from
The ship or colony is directed to pick up
the item listed from the storage of the ship or colony listed and to place the
items into its own storage. Items to be
picked up must be population units, unassembled or non-assembled units. All ships and colonies involved must be at
the same tactical coordinates of the same orbit.
A pick up order will fail if there is a
lack of transport capacity, fuel or Professionals to operate the
transports. A pick up from a ship or
colony belonging to another player will fail.
A pick up order is like a transfer order except that the receiving ship
or colony provides the transport.
PRE-MANEUVER ENERGY WEAPON FIRE
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Pre-Maneuver E.W. fire, target SHIP OR COLONY
This order directs the ship or colony to fire
its energy weapons at the target ship or colony before any ship maneuvers are
performed. Pre-Maneuver E.W. fire
orders take precedence over Auto Return Fire and Close Proximity Targeting
orders.
If the ship or colony is to not to fire
all of its energy weapons at the target ship or colony, the number of energy
weapons to fire must be specified. If
the target is a colony, a target area may be specified. Specifying a target arfea will reduce the
total damage done to the colony to 80% of normal, but the specified target will
absorb 4 times more damage than it would normally. If a target area is not specified, or if the target is a ship,
damage will be assigned randomly.
A surface colony may not fire energy
weapons against another surface colony.
Population units will sustain casualties
at 25% of the normal rate of mass destroyed, and military items will absorb
damage at 50% of the normal rate.
Cargo items sustain damage at 200% of the
normal rate.
A ship or colony cannot fire weapons at an
ship or colony to which it is docked (or which is docked to the firing ship or
colony).
Players may abort the firing if an ship or
colony is beyond a certain distance by appending a /Dxx to the order where xx
is the maximum distance for firing.
Bombardment Target Areas
1. Population (population type(s) randomly
selected
2. Non-assembly and unassembled units
3. Assembled units
4. Mine groups
5. Factory groups
6. Military bases (Assault Craft, Assault
Weapons, Military Robots, Soldiers)
7. Weaponry (energy weapons, energy
shield, missile launchers, anti-missiles, missile)
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Pre-Maneuver Missile Fire, target SHIP OR COLONY
This order directs the ship or colony to
fire missiles at the target ship or colony before all ship maneuvers. Pre-Maneuver Missile Fire orders take
precedence over Auto Return Fire and Close Proximity Targeting orders.
If the ship or colony is to not to fire
all of its missiles at the target ship or colony, the number of missiles to
fire must be specified.
If the target is a colony, a target area
may be specified. Specifying a target
area will reduce the total damage done to the colony to 80% of normal, but the
specified target will absorb 4 times more damage than it would normally. If a target area is not specified, or if the
target is a ship, damage will be assigned randomly.
Each missile fired requires assembled
missile launchers of equal or greater TL.
Each missile launchers can launch only one missile in the after maneuver
fire round.
Population units will sustain casualties
at 25% of the normal rate of mass destroyed, and military items will absorb
damage at 50% of the normal rate.
Cargo items sustain damage at 200% of the
normal rate.
A ship or colony cannot fire weapons at a
ship or colony to which it is docked (or which is docked to the firing ship or
colony).
Players may abort the firing if an ship or
colony is beyond a certain distance by appending a /Dxx to the order where xx
is the maximum distance for firing.
Bombardment Target Areas
1.Population (population type(s) randomly
selected
2. Non-assembly and unassembled units
3. Assembled units
4. Mine groups
5. Factory groups
6. Military bases (Assault Craft, Assault Weapons,
Military Robots, Soldiers)
7. Weaponry (energy weapons, energy
shield, missile launchers, anti-missiles, missile)
1. Format: SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Probe, ”Orbit”, star, orbit
The ship or colony is directed to execute
an orbit probe of the given orbit(s).
If “ALL” is substituted for the
orbit #, the probe will report on all orbits of the given star. If “ALL” is
substituted for the star then all of the stars at that system will be probed
for in the given orbit. If “ALL” is substituted for both star and orbit then the order will probe for all of the
orbits of all of the stars at that system.
An orbit probe requires one Sensor -1 equivalent for each orbit probed,
except for the orbit the ship or colony is in, which requires no Sensor.
Note that if a star exists it comes with
10 orbits, the orbits can be probed weather or not they have planets. The
system will always have at least one star, and an 11th orbit.
An orbit probe will report the planet type
and the Ships and colonies present in the orbit, the log base 10 of their mass,
their ID#s and names, and their tactical coordinates. For the orbit the ship or colony is in, an orbit probe will
report the habitability, the planet type.
It will also report the log base 10 of the mass of the Ships and
colonies in the orbit to one more significant digit. Every ship or colony automatically receives an orbit probe of the
orbit it is in.
The orbit designation consists of the star
ID (A, B, C, etc.) followed by the orbit number, the star ID or “ALL” must be included.
2. Format: SHIP OR COLONY ID#, PRB, "System", Magnitude
max magnitude
equal to 10
The ship or colony is directed to execute
a system probe of the given magnitude. A
system probe will report the planet types in all orbits of the system the ship
or colony is in after the ship movement phase, and will report the coordinates
and distances of all stars within the number of light years equal to the
probe's magnitude. The maximum system
probe range is equal to 10. System
probes of magnitude 10 or less require one Sensor -1 or equivalent per
magnitude.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, PRB, SHIP OR COLONY to be probed
The ship or colony is directed to execute
ship or colony probes of the specified Ships and colonies. The ship or colony executing the probe and
the Ships and colonies being probed must be in the same system before
movement. A ship or colony probe will
report the log base 10 of the mass of the ship or colony, its population, its
assembled structural units, and its available space. It will report the type (but not TL) and percentage of total
ship or colony mass of the top 6 items of the probed ship or colony. One Sensor -1 equivalent is required per S/C
probed.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, RTN, percentage of one turn's FOOD supply
The ship or colony is directed to give its
population the given percentage of one turn's normal food supply. The percentage may not exceed 100%, and the
population will not accept FOOD in excess of a five-turn supply in its
stockpile, nor will they consume more the 0.25 food per turn. A Ration order will remain standing until
changed.
Format:
Ship ID#, RUN, target ship or colony
This ship is directed to move as far away
from the target as its speed and fuel supply allow.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Scrap, Quantity, item
The ship or colony is directed to convert
the specified items to resource units. The
items to be scrapped must be unassembled or non-assembly items. 1 Constructors is required for each 300 mass
units to be scrapped. There is a 30%
loss when items are scrapped.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Setup, type of Ships and colonies, number of ships
(colonies are always 1)
Quantity, item
(Quantity, Factories -TL, item
to build.)
(Quantity, Mine Units -TL, deposit number or type)
The ship or colony is directed to set up
the given number of the specified type of Ships and colonies, each composed of
the items listed. [A DSN-# may be
substituted for an item as follows; say 1,XDShip-12. This is 1 of ship design #12. If you wanted to setup a ship 3 times
that size it would be 3,XDShip-12.] The
quantity of Ships and colonies to be set up must be one, unless the ship or
colony type is Ship.
Not yet implemented
[Move or Jump orders may be listed in the
Setup order for ships.]
When the set up is executed, the items
listed are assembled or transferred in the order in which they are listed. Construction will halt if there is a
shortage of Constructors, fuel, or transport capacity, at the point at which
any of these runs out. In the set up
order, structural units should be the first item listed. All assembly type items listed in a set up
order will be assembled in the new ship or colony, (with the possible exception
of Mine Units, Factories and Farms), unless a /U is appended after the item in
the set up order. Factories will be
assembled only if a product is specified, and mines will be assembled only if a
deposit number or deposit type is given.
Farms -1 will only be assembled in Open Colony; and Farms -2 through
Farms -5 will be assembled only in colonies in orbits 1 - 5. Factories, Farms with TL less than 6,
Laboratories, Power Plants, and Mines may not be assembled on ships. Items that are not assembled during set up will
go into storage in the new ship or colony.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Shut Down, Quantity, Farms -TL or Laboratory -TL
The ship or colony is directed to shut
down some or all of its farms or labs as specified. This order may be used to shut down all or a percentage of the
farms or labs of the given TL in the given ship or colony. The shutdown farms or labs will remain
assembled, but will not produce. While
shut down, the farms or labs not will require fuel and not employ population
units. A start up order will return the
farms or labs to production.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, start up , Quantity, Farms -TL or Laboratory -TL
The ship or colony is directed to restart
some of its shut down farms or labs.
This order may be used to startup all some of those of a certain TL, and
in the given ship or colony. The farms
or Laboratories, which had previously been shut down, will now resume normal
production.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, SUP, defending SHIP OR COLONY, SHIP OR COLONY to be
supported
Quantity, item
The ship or colony is directed to send the
military supplies and/or fuel listed to the battle in the defending ship or
colony to supply the forces of the given S/C.
The supply order may be used to send more supplies to the ships and
colonies own forces involved in a multi-turn battle, or may be used to give
supplies to another ships and colonies forces.
The forces receiving the supplies may be engaged in invasions, offensive
troop support, or defensive troop support. These supplies become the property
of the ship or colony to be supported.
If no ship or colony to be supported is given, the supplies will go to
the troops of the ship or colony issuing the order. If this ship or colony has
no troops present, then the supplies will go to the defending ship or colony. If
the ship or colony to be supported has no forces present, the supplies will be
captured by the defending ship or colony.
The military supplies and fuel in the
supply order use transport capacity at the combat rate.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Survey, PLANET.
The ship or colony is directed to survey
the planet it is at. A survey will
report the type, yield, and quantity of resource units of each resource
deposit, the planet's habitability number, the number of assembled Farms -1,
and the total population of all open colonies.
Surveys require 200 units of transport capacity.
Format:
Ship ID#, Tactical Maneuver, new tactical coordinates
The ship is directed to move to the new
tactical coordinates in its present orbit, or as close to that position as its
speed and fuel supply allows. The
tactical coordinates should be given as three numbers separated by commas.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Transfer, Quantity, item target SHIP OR COLONY
The ship or colony is directed to move the
items listed from its own storage to the storage of the receiving ship or
colony. The items to be transferred
must be population units or unassembled or non-assembled items. Both Ships and colonies must be at the same
tactical coordinates of the same orbit.
A transfer order will fail if there is insufficient transport capacity,
fuel, or Professionals to operate the transports. A transfer to a ship or colony belonging to another player will
fail.
Format:
Colony ID#, Uncontrol Planet
The colony, in control of the planet it is
on, is directed to release control of the planet. Only the colony in control of the planet may give this order.
Format:
Colony ID#, Quantity, item, Unload, ship ID(s)
The colony is directed to unload the items
listed from the cargo hold of the ship listed and to place the items into its
own storage. Items to be picked up must
be population units, unassembled or non-assembled units. To unload, the ship must be docked to the
colony. The unload order requires
one-fifth transport capacity of what a transfer would require. An unload from a ship belonging to another
player will fail.
An unload order will fail if the colony
does not have enough space for the items.
All items are considered to be immediately uncrated, and will need their
normal space in the colony. Population
will be require food and life support.
Unloaded population may NOT be used on the
turn it is unloaded.
A newly created colony cannot unload a
ship.
Format:
SHIP OR COLONY ID#, Withdraw, defending SHIP OR COLONY
Quantity, item
The ship or colony is directed to withdraw
all of its forces from the battle in the defending ship or colony. This order may be used to recall forces
engaged in invasions, offensive troop support, or defensive troop support. All Withdraws take place before any invade,
Defensive Troop Support, or, offensive support orders. If the-ship or colony giving the order is
not at the same tactical coordinates, or has been captured/destroyed, the
troops will ignore the WTD order.
ADD-ON DETAILS
DESCRIPTION
An add-on order adds units onto an existing
ship or colony, using the Transports, constructors, and materials from another
ship or colony. The ship or colony
doing the Add On does not have to be the establishing ship or colony. There is
no limit to the size of an Add On.
ADD ON RESTRICTIONS
An existing ship or colony may Add On to any other
type or number of ships and colonies, so long as the restrictions listed below
are met.
ADD ON FAILURES
Portions of an Add On, or all of an Add On, may fail
due to a shortage of Constructors, fuel for the Transports, Transport capacity,
or space available to hold all the additional units.
HOW ADN ORDERS WORK
A
player wishing to Add On to a ship or colony writes an Add On order to the ship
or colony, that has the items to added on. Transports and Constructors are used
to move the materials described to the target, and if required assemble them
there.
CONSTRUCTION WORKERS AND ADD-ONS
The rules regarding Constructors and set ups apply to
add-ons, setups.
TRANSPORTS AND ADD-ONS
The rules regarding Transports and set-ups apply to
add-ons, setups.
ASSEMBLIES AND ADD-ONS
All rules regarding assemblies and set-ups apply to
Add On orders too. In addition factories in an Add On
can also be ordered to be added-on to an existing
factory group.
ADD-ON LOCATIONS
The s/c doing the Add On must be at the same location
(tactical position) as the ship or colony being added-on-to.
A player cannot Add On to ship or colony belonging to
another player.
SET UPS DESCRIPTION
A set up order establishes a new ship or colony. A ship or colony does not have to be
established all in one turn; part may be set up on one turn, and the rest of it
can be built on following turns, using add-on orders and transfer orders. The newly set up ships are docked to the
ship or colony that set them up. Ship must be 1 distance unit from the planet
(0,0,0) when setting up a surface colony. Orbiting colonies will be set up at
the same location as the ship or colony the sets them up unless that location
is the planets location. In that case Orbiting colonies will be 1 distance unit
away.
S/C ID NUMBERS
ID Numbers are set during the setup.
SET UP RESTRICTIONS
Ships and colonies may establish any other type or number of ships and colonies,
providing restrictions listed below are met.
RESTRICTIONS ON TYPE OF SHIP OR COLONY
A player may not set up a colony if this would result in more than one
of each type of colony at the same tactical location owned by the same
player. This does not apply to ships.
PERMISSION TO COLONIZE
A player may not set up a colony on a planet controlled by another
player, unless that player has written a permission co colonize Permission to
Colonize order. There is no limit to
the number of players that may establish colonies at a location, as long as
Permission to Colonize is granted, and as long as the limit of one of each type
of colony per location per player is observed. When a player has received Permission to Colonize on a planet,
he does not need permission to set up more colonies there.
FAILURES TO SET UP
All set-up orders, whether for ships or colonies, will abort if no
population is included in the set up order.
Portions of a Setup, or all of it, may fail due to a shortage of construction
workers, transports, fuel (for the transports), or due to a shortage space in
the new ship or colony. The ships and
colonies otherwise have no size limitations, and players may build them as they choose.
PERSONNEL
Personnel requirements will vary with the equipment being set up. The section entitled Personnel
Requirements/Unit on the Unit Characteristics Summary has this information.
CONSTRUCTION WORKERS AND SET-UPS
The automatic
assembling by construction worker units in the new ship or colony, applies only
to unassembled items. 1 Constructor
assembles 500 mass units of unassembled items. All Constructors listed in the
Setup order do as many assemblies as they are able to perform, and remain in
the new; ship or colony when done. All
the assembling in a Setup order only
lasts one turn. All Constructors listed
in the Setup order will stay in the new ship or colony regardless of whether
their numbers are greater or less than the number necessary to perform the
assemblies in one turn. If there are
not enough Constructors listed in the Setup order for the required assemblies,
they are helped out by the Constructors in the establishing ship or
colony. The helping Constructors return
to the establishing ship or colony when they are done. If there are no Constructors listed in the
Setup order at all, all the work is done by Constructors of the establishing
ship or colony, and they all return to it.
If there are not enough Constructors in the establishing ship or colony either, as
many items in the Setup order are assembled as possible, IN THE ORDER IN WHICH
THEY ARE LISTED IN THE Setup ORDER.
Except that the Structure or Light Structure is assembled first, followed by the other units in the
order of their importance).
Unassembled items that cannot be assembled by the Constructors are
simply left in the establishing ship or colony.
TRANSPORTS AND SET-UPS
If there are no transports listed in the Setup order, then Transports
from the establishing ship or colony are used, which return to the establishing
ship or colony when done. All the work
in a Setup is accomplished in one turn.
If there are more Transports listed in the Setup than necessary to do the
required transfers, then those unnecessary Transports are used by the establishing
s/c for other work. All the Transports
in the Setup return to the new ship or colony.
If there are some Transports listed in the Setup, but not enough to do
the required transfers, they are helped by Transports from the establishing
ship or colony. The helping Transports do their transfers and return to the
establishing ship or colony when done. If there are not enough Transports in
the establishing ship or colony, as many items in the Setup are done as
possible, IN THE SEQUENCE IN WHICH THEY ARE LISTED IN THE STP- Items that
cannot be transferred are left in the establishing ship or colony.
ASSEMBLIES AND SET-UPS
Items listed in the Setup, excluding population units, are taken from
the establishing ship or colony storage.
Storage consists of non-assembly items and unassembled items. NON –assembly items are considered to be
whole or complete, and do not require assembling (or disassembling). Unassembled items are items that have been
disassembled to save space in storage.
Population listed in a Setup is taken from the establishing ship or
colony’s population groups. Items
listed in a Setup are never taken from the establishing ship or colony
assembled items. NON-assembled items
listed in a Setup go to storage at the new ship or colony immediately. (This is done automatically - no order from
the player is necessary). Unassembled
items in a STP are assembled by Constructors and used in the new ship or
colony; they do not go into storage, EXCEPT FOR MINES AND FACTORIES. (This is
also done automatically and needs no special order from the player). Population goes into the new ship or colony population groups
automatically. Mines listed in a Setup
are not automatically assembled upon arrival in the new colony; they are put
into storage and will need an assemble order on the next turn to start them
functioning, unless in the Setup order they were ordered to be setup on a
deposit, in which case they will begin automatically.. Factory units will be put into storage in
the new ship or colony, unless in the Setup order they were ordered to
manufacture something, in which case they will begin automatically.
TRANSFERS AND PICK-UPS
A transfer order moves units from one ship or colony to
another, using transports of the sending ship or colony. A pick-up order moves units from one ship or
colony to another, using Transports of the receiving ship or colony. Any item may be Transferred or Pick Upped if
both ships and colonies belong to the same player.
TRANSPORTS
Pick Ups and Transfers are done by transports. Transports also do surveys, Add Ons, Setups,
and move troops in combat. Transports
are not capable of making trips between planets. They are only used to move goods and people between ships and
colonies at the same orbit and tactical coordinates. Transports have their own life support capabilities; it is not
necessary to provide food or Life Support Units for Population being moved in Transports. 10 Transports can be operated by 1
Professional unit.
TRANSPORT CAPACITY
Transport capacity is the mass units Transports can
carry in one turn. To determine
Transport capacity, multiply the Transport TL squared times 20.
TRANSFERRING TRANSPORTS
Transports being transferred or picked up simply move
themselves from one ship or colony to another.
They do not use any Transport capacity. The Transports do all their work
before being transferred or Pick Upped.
The ship or colony that has the Transports being transferred gets full
use of them on the turn they are transferred; the new ship or colony will not
be able to use them until the next turn.
SHORTAGES
Shortages of fuel or Professionals Transports will
result in all or part of the Transfer or Pick Up orders failing. Transfers and Pick Ups are done in the order
in which they are listed in the player’s orders. They are done one by one
unless stopped by a shortage. The order
will also abort if there is not enough space in the receiving ship or colony to
house the new items.
STARTING TECHNOLOGY
Players start at TL-1 in each item and advance
through the levels (1 through 200) in consecutive order. The TL the player has for a particular unit
determines the highest TL unit that can be manufactured by that player. A
player’s TL does not limit the TL of the items existing in his ships and
colonies.
MANUFACTURING
A Factories TL does not affect the TL of what it can
manufacture, it only affects the Factories output capacity.
IMPROVING TL
Once a unit has been manufactured, (any unit - even
Factories), its TL cannot be changed.
Therefore, if a player wishes to upgrade the TL of his Factories,
Assault Weapons, etc, he must manufacture, or trade for the higher-TL items,
and decide what should be done with the lower-TL items. A unit's TL is part of the unit's name. A Sensor-1 is very different from Sensor
-10 in mass, fuel consumption, and capabilities. When writing orders, the player must always include the TL on
items that need it; otherwise his orders may fail. A player is not restricted to having one TL per item, he could
have Sensor -1, Sensor -5, and Sensor -10 all in the same ship or colony. Only
players TL knowledge can be improved.
There are two ways to do this.
RESEARCH
POINTS
One way to improve a players TL is to make the
required amount of research points necessary to raise it. A Laboratory can make research points 0.25
times its TL per turn. Each TL costs the (TL – 1) times 1 million research
points. Thus TL 2 will cost 1 million, TL 3 will cost 2 million and so on. This is per item. If you want to advance from TL –1 in each to be able to build
Automation Units – 4, Factories – 2 and
Mine – 3 you will need 10 million research. That’s 1 + 2 + 3 or 6 for the
Automation - 4, plus 1 for Factories - 2, and 1+ 2 or 3 for the Mines –3 for a
total of 10.
PROTOTYPES
If a player acquires an item several Tech levels above his current level for that item say 25 Sensor – 30. Assume he has Sensor – 20 he can use up to 20 of the Sensor – 30 as Prototypes. Each one will account for 4% of the total cost of jumping to that level. Jumping from TL 20 to TL 30 would cost 245 million research points. If he used 20 prototypes he will reduce that to 49 million. So if the player has the 49 million research points in the same colony as the prototypes ha can expend them and make the jump all in one turn.
SHIP MOVEMENT
HYPER ENGINES
Hyper engines are used to propel ships through hyper space, either
within a solar system or from one system to another. The hyper engine's jump range is three light years times the
square root of its TL. A ship may have
as many Hyper Engines as desired, but all Hyper Engines on one ship do not have
to be at the same TL. Each Hyper Engine
can propel 1045 mass units times its TL.
If the mass of the ship exceeds this, the ship will not respond to move
or jump orders. In calculating the
number of Hyper Engines necessary to propel the ship, the mass of the Hyper
Engines are always counted. Ships with less than 100 Hyper Engines,
regardless of the size of the ship, will fail
to Move or Jump if ordered.
Also, if a ship does not have enough fuel to complete a Move or Jump
order, the ship will fail to carry out that order. (In other words, a partial Move or Jump will not be made). Only the Hyper Engines required by the mass
of the ship will use fuel. A minimum of
100 Hyper Engines must always be present.
If Hyper Engines of mixed TL are used then the range is determined
according to the lowest TL Hyper Engine used.
If a ship had 500 TL 4 Hyper Engines assembled and 500 TL 1 Hyper
Engines the range would depend on the ship’s mass. If the ship’s mass were 2,090,000 (1045 x 4 x 500) or less it
would move using the TL 4’s its range would be 6 light years. If its mass were
any greater it would require the use of some of the TL1 engines and would only have a range of 3
light years.
SPACE DRIVES
A ship must have at least one space drive in order to establish itself
in a stable orbit around a planet. A
ship without a space drive establishes itself in a decaying orbit, which has a
50% chance of terminating each turn.
Other than the one space drive used to maintain orbit, space drives are
used for ship movement, at a given orbit.
The maneuver orders are processed during the combat stage. The ship
position relative to other entities at the same orbit affects the ship’s
ability to interact.
MOVEMENT
Ships may land with a docking order. Ships that are docked to a ship or
colony can do transfers if they have transport capacity. Transfers of
Population and other units are done by Transports. There are two ways in which a ship may be propelled. It can move, with a Move order or it can
jump with a Jump order.
JUMPS
Jumps are not made within a solar system; they are only made from one
system to another. When a Jump order is
issued, a ship may jump from any orbit in a system to the 11th orbit in another
system. (To move from the 11th orbit to
another orbit, the player issues a Move order). Each jump requires one turn to complete. The distances in jumps are measured in
light years. To find the distance between one system and another, a system probe
is made.
MOVES
Moves can be between orbits in the same system only. When moving the ship always arrives in the
orbit between 5 and 10 distance units from the planet unless ordered
otherwise. Interplanetary moves are
always counted as 0.1 light years in distance, for purposes of fuel usage, and
always take one turn.
FUEL USE
Hyper Engines use 40
x the distance in light years in FUEL units.
When moving from one orbit to another orbit of the same star, the
distance used is 0.1 light years.
SURVEYS, PROBES, AND OTHER
INTELLIGENCE GATHERING
SURVEYS
A
survey will report the number of natural resource deposits on a planet, their
deposit location numbers, the resource each deposit contains, quantity of
resource per deposit, and the planet's habitability number. A survey also reports the number of TL-1
farms assembled and the total population of the open colonies if any. A Survey can only be made if the planet
and ship or colony is in the same
orbit and the Surveying ship or colony is within 2 distance units. A Survey is
completed in one turn, and requires 200 mass unit of transport capacity to
complete. The Transports will in turn
use 1 unit of fuel. The number of Professionals used will depend on the tech
level of the transports used.
PROBES
There
are three types of probes that may be made.
ORBIT
PROBES
An
orbit probe lists the ships and colonies at the planet, the log base 10 of each
ship or colony mass, its ID#, its name, the type of planet and its habitability
number. Ships and colonies automatically get a probe report of the orbit they
are in every turn. An orbit probe can
be made of any other orbit in the system the probing entity is in. The orbit probe also lists the tactical
coordinate positions of the ships and colonies at the planet.
Log
Base 10
Mass Log Base 10
0-9 0
10-99 1
100-999 2
1,000-9,999 3
10,000-99,999 4
100,000-999,999 5
1,000,000-9,999,999 6
and
so on.
S/C
PROBES
A
ship or colony probe lists the log base 10 the mass of a ship or colony, its
population, its assembled Structure, or Light Structure, and its structural
requirements. Both the ship or
colony doing the probing and the ship
or colony being probed must be in the same system.
SYSTEM
PROBES
A
system probe will give the planet types by orbit in the current system; and a
list of coordinates and distances of all the stars within a number of light
years, depending on the magnitude of the probe. Each magnitude equals one light-year. A magnitude 3 probe can probe 3 light years. The maximum magnitude is 10. The distances
given by a system probe are the distances from the system the probing ship or
colony is in. The coordinates given are the coordinates relative to the home
system.
SENSORS
A
sensor is the instrument that performs a probe. The number of probes a ship or colony can perform per turn is
limited to the number of Sensors it has assembled times. A system probe
requires times the magnitude in probes to perform.
ROBOT
PROBE VEHICLES
Robot
probe vehicles can be used to perform all of the functions of a Sensor. The deference is that the robot probe
vehicle is used up. We are looking at
the possibility of making the robot probe vehicle attach itself to the target
ship or colony for a period of time. It would continue to send ship or colony
probes and orbit probes at random intervals. Its chance of being discovered
would be inversely related to its TL.
SUPERSPY
(not implemented)
This
would be an individual (0.01 of a population unit) able to disguise himself as
the host. He would travel between ships and colonies at the same system.
Possibly could ride robot probe vehicles to other player’s ships and
colonies. Activities would be to grow a
espionage network and rebels in the target ships and colonies. The number of
rebels and the level of Malcontents would increase the chances of success in
obtaining information.
COMBAT ORDERS
Attempt to take control of another ship or colony
using troops (Soldiers and/or Military Robots). This is
started with an invade order.
Send troops either to help conquer or to defend
another ship or colony. This is done
with an offensive support order or defensive support order respectively.
WITHDRAW
Remove support from a battle, or as an invader, to
end an invasion. This is done with a
withdraw order.
BOMBARD
Fire energy weapons and missiles at other ships and
colonies. Bombardment is done the
following orders: pre-maneuver energy
weapon fire, pre-maneuver missile fire, after-maneuver energy weapon fire, and
after maneuver missile fire.
MANEUVER
Change the position of ships around a planet, using
the ship's space drives. It is done with the following orders: tactical maneuver, close, dock, and run
orders.
INVASION
In the invade order, the Player lists the material
and personnel that are to be used in the invasion. Only troops (soldiers and military robots), assault craft, and
assault weapons as well as military supplies and fuel can be listed in an
invade order,
ASSAULT WEAPONS
Assault weapons are something like a cannon; they are
very powerful, but they are not self-propelled. They must be carried to the assigned ship or colony in
transports. They may be used to invade, support, raid, or defend open colonies
and enclosed surface colonies only.
Each Assault Weapon requires one soldier or military robot equivalent to
operate it. The Transports required to
carry the Assault Weapons into battle are not written in the order. They are automatically assigned. If there are not enough Transports, then
that number of ASW will not participate.
Troops cannot use Assault Weapons to invade ships(unless they are docked
to a colony) or orbiting colonies.
ASSAULT CRAFT
Assault craft are armed vehicles that not only carry
troops into battle, but are formidable weapons, as well. They may be used to invade, support, or
defend any type of ship or colony.
Assault Craft require one Soldier or Military Robot equivalent to
operate a unit. Assault Craft do not require Transports to move them into
combat; they are completely mobile.
When invading ships, the Assault Craft speed must be greater than the
ship's speed unless the invading ship is docked to the target ship or colony. An Assault Craft speed is 5 times its
TL. If the number of Assault Craft is
insufficient to hold the Military Robots and Soldiers, enough Transports will
be assigned to carry the balance if the situation allows them to be sent. Assault Craft use fuel when sent into
battle, and then use fuel each turn the battle lasts.
TRANSPORTS-FUEL
Transports are not fired upon in an invasion. They are assumed to drop troops, or troops
and Assault Weapons, at a distance from the ship or colony. The Transports then return to base. In combat, each transport can move 3 x its
TL in mass units per turn. Thus,
ten Soldiers armed with ten ASW-1
require the use of 10 Transports -1. If there are not enough Assault Craft, or
Transports or fuel for either, the troops will not go. Transports used in
combat can still be used in transfer type operations. Transport capacity is not used up in invade or raid orders.
TROOPS
Troops consist of soldiers and military robots. One Soldier can operate one Assault Craft or
one Assault Weapons at the same time, but not both. A Military Robots can operate
two times its TL in Assault Craft and/or Assault Weapons. Troops can only use "small arms"
or Assault Craft to invade ships or orbiting colonies. Troops can use "small arms", or
Assault Craft or Assault Weapons, or both Assault Weapons and Assault Craft to invade enclosed surface colonies or open colonies.
Note: The game assumes that Soldiers and Military
Robots have “small arms”. There is no unit by that name in the game.
SUPPORT
Invaders or defenders in an invasion may
receive supporting forces from other
ships and colonies. These ships and
colonies may belong to other players. The supporting forces fight for the ship
or colony designated in the order. If a
force is supporting an invading force, and the invader's force is withdrawn,
then the supporting force will be forced to withdraw. Should a force (supporting or otherwise) be forced to withdraw
with no place to withdraw to, (their ship or colony of origin having been
destroyed, captured, or moved), it must surrender. This applies to a force ordered to withdraw, as well.
WITHDRAWAL
Invading or supporting players may withdraw all or
part of their forces on any turn if they have a ship or colony at the same
orbit to withdraw to. A withdraw order cannot be issued without a destination
to withdraw to. If the destination is
no longer available the withdrawing force will ignore the order. Withdraw
orders do not use transport capacity.
BOMBARDMENT
TYPES OF BOMBARDMENT ORDERS
PRE-MANEUVER ENERGY WEAPON FIRE
The pre-maneuver energy weapon fire orders has a ship
or colony fire a percentage of its energy weapons at a certain ship or colony
before ship maneuvers are processed in the combat execution sequence. The player, if desired may choose a
particular target within the colony.
This is explained in the Targets section.
PRE-MANEUVER MISSILE FIRE
The pre-maneuver missile fire orders has a ship or
colony fire a percentage of its missile launchers at a certain ship or colony
before ship maneuvers are processed in the combat stage of the execution
sequence. A particular target may be
chosen within the colony. This is explained in the Targets
section
AFTER-MANEUVER ENERGY WEAPON FIRE
The After-maneuver energy weapon fire orders has a
ship or colony fire a percentage of its energy weapons at a certain ship or
colony after ship maneuvers are processed
in the combat execution sequence.
Again, a particular target may be chosen if the target is a colony. This
is explained in the Targets section
AFTER-MANEUVER MISSILE FIRE
The after-maneuver missile fire order has s/c fire a
percentage of its missile launchers at a certain ship or colony after ship
maneuvers are processed in the combat execution sequence. A target within the colony may be chosen. This is explained in the Targets section
A player does not have to specify a target in his
bombardment orders. If targets are not
specified, the damage will be done randomly to the colony fired at. Specifying a target will increase the chance
of hitting the target area by 50%. Only
colonies may have areas targeted for bombardment, not ships.
Types of Targets
Bombardment
Target Areas
1.Population
(population type(s) randomly selected
2.
Non-assembly and unassembled units
3.
Assembled units
4.
Mine groups
5.
Factory groups
6.
Military bases (Assault Craft, Assault Weapons, Military Robots, Soldiers)
7.
Weaponry (energy weapons, energy shield, missile launchers, anti-missiles,
missile)
MISSILES AND MISSILE LAUNCHERS
Missile launchers fire missiles, one missile per
missile launcher per fire phase. (There is one pre and one after maneuver
phase) A missile does 100 x its TL-squared mass units in damage. Missile launchers will fire missiles of the
same TL only. Missiles are fired by
ships or colonies at ships or colonies in the same orbit.
MISSILE HITS
The number of missile hits per volley is calculated
as follows: Hits = missiles fired / { [(distance + (speed/10)) /
Sensor TL ]/Missile TL}.
Anti-missiles and energy weapons may further reduce the number of
hits. If the expression, [distance +
(speed/10)]/Sensor TL/ Missile TL, is less than 1, the value 1 will be used
instead. The expression (speed/10) only applies if a doge order is in effect.
The number of anti-missiles that can be fired per
attack equals the number of assembled missile launchers in the ship or
colony. Anti-missiles are only used defensively; they are fired
at each bombardment on a ship or colony.
This is not written in an order; it is done automatically. Missile launchers fire anti-missiles, and
those missile launchers must be of the same TL as the anti-missiles.
ANTI-MISSILE HITS
Hits made by anti-missiles are determined as
follows: Hit% = the quantity, 2 to the
power of the anti-missiles TL divided by 2 to the power of the missiles TL,
times 0.9.
ENERGY WEAPONS AND ENERGY SHIELDS
OFFENSE
Energy weapons are fired by ships and colonies at
ships and colonies in the same orbit.
Energy weapons fire a beam of energy and are not mobile.
The damage is calculated as follows:
Mass destroyed =energy fired /{[ distance + (SP/10)]
/ sensor TL} – shields at target.
Sensor TL is the highest TL sensor assembled in the
attacker's ship or colony, energy fired is the energy of each energy weapon
unit fired (10 x TL^2 times the number of energy weapons), Shields is the
target’s shielding. (Shielding is the total energy units deflected by all of
the assembled energy shields in the target ship or colony. Each energy shield deflects 10 x its
TL-squared energy units per attack).
If the expression D + SP/10 / S is less than 1, the value one will be
used. The firing of energy weapons
against ships and colonies happens
twice per turn: pre-maneuver and after
maneuver. Energy weapons MAY NOT FIRE
FROM A SURFACE COLONY AT A SURFACE COLONY.
Energy weapons use fuel each time they are fired. (4 times TL per
firing)
DEFENSE
Energy weapons are also used for defense against
missiles. This is automatic, it is never ordered. Energy weapons fire at each volley of missile that were not destroyed by anti-missiles.
The damage, against bombardment, is calculated as follows: Hit% = ( 2 to the power of the energy
weapons TL divided by 2 to the
missile’s TL) times 0.2.
ENERGY SHIELDS
Energy shields are used only defensively against the
beams of energy weapons. Energy shields
operate at each attack. Therefore, if
two attackers each fired twice, the defender's energy shields would operate 4 times
during that turn. Energy shields use
fuel at each attack sufficient to deflect the energy beams that reach the
target. One energy shield can deflect
10 x its TL-squared energy units per attack, and uses 10 x TL in fuel units per
attack.
Example
BOMBARDMENT MISCELLANEOUS
DISTANCES AND SPEED
Surface colonies may not fire energy weapons at each
other, as they do not have line of site.
All surface colonies are shown to be at tactical position of 0/0/0.
Tactical coordinates cannot be greater than 999 or -999. When determining missile and energy weapons
hits on colonies, a colony's speed is always 0. Distance is calculated by
comparing the ships and colonies tactical position.
COMMITMENT PERCENTAGE
When ships and colonies with multiple-TL energy weapons
and missiles are involved in bombardment, the percentage commitment (percent of
weapons committed) applies equally to
each missile launchers and energy weapons the ship or colony has assembled,
regardless of the TL of each.
MISCELLANEOUS
Energy shields, missile launchers, and energy weapons
(used defensively) never use more than enough fuel (and in the case of missile
launchers, anti-missiles), to stop an attack.
For instance, just enough anti-missiles are used to stop incoming
missiles even if the ship or colony has more missile launchers and
anti-missiles available. If the target
ship or colony has multiple-TL energy shields, the highest TL energy shields
will be used first. Ships always take
10 times the mass units in damage that a colony does. For instance, a colony hit with one missile -1 loses 100 M.U.: a
ship hit with one missile -1 loses 1,000 M.U.
(Ships are more compact than colonies).
A ship may not fire an energy weapons or missile launcher unless it has
at least one assembled sensor on board.
A colony can't fire on a ship unless it has an assembled Sensor. A colony can fire on another colony without
a Sensor. Damage from bombardment
against untargeted colonies and against ships is allocated randomly. Ship maneuvers during combat take place on
a 3-D grid, with the planet at 0/0/0.
The scale is 1 distance unit = 10,000 miles. Troops and weapons are not as likely to be hit as other items
are, even if they are in the designated target group. Ships do not collide.
MILITARY SUPPLIES
Military supplies consist of first aid supplies,
ammunition, small arms, and other supplies.
Military supplies are provided to all Soldiers and Military Robots in
combat automatically by the ship or colony that sent them to battle or the ship
or colony they are part of. They may
also be included in the order for a combat mission. The standard ration of military supplies to Soldiers or Military
Robots is one military supplies each per turn of combat.
EFFECTS OF A SHORTAGE OF MILITARY SUPPLIES
Invaders, or supporters cannot function without
military supplies. If there are no
military supplies, the action will not take place; if the military supplies run
out in the middle of an action, the troops will return home. Defenders, however, can fight without
military supplies, but their proportional combat factor is halved.
EXTRA MILITARY SUPPLIES PROVISIONS
Troops not provided with Assault Craft or Assault
Weapons are provided with 2 military supplies each, instead of one each as
usual. (This is so that they can use
the small arms in the military supplies to compensate for the lack of Assault
Craft or Assault Weapons). If there
were not enough military supplies in stock for these troops, they would not go
into battle.
COMBAT EXECUTION SEQUENCE
It does not matter in what order the player has his
combat orders written on his turn. All
orders are executed step-by-step according to the following sequence:
PRE-MANEUVER FIRE
All energy weapons and missile launchers may be fired
before ships maneuver. The defensive
weapons (energy weapons and anti-missiles) defend against the energy beams and
missiles, and then the damage is calculated. Damage is applied after all ships
and colonies have fired in this phase.
SHIP MANEUVERS
Ships will either close, stand, or run, as ordered,
within the limits of the ship’s speed.
A ship's speed is equal to its total thrust divided by its mass. Speed
is measured in distance units per turn.
All fractions are rounded down.
One distance unit equals 10,000 miles.
A ship may only be given one maneuver order per turn. Total thrust is measured by adding up the
thrust of all the assembled space drives on the ship for which there is fuel.
(That’s 3000 times the space drive’s TL squared)
POST-MANEUVER FIRE
All energy weapons and missile launchers may be fired
after ships maneuver. The defensive
weapons (energy weapons and anti-missiles) defend against the energy beams and
missiles, and then the damage is calculated. Damage is applied after all ships
and colonies have fired in this phase.
TROOP MOVEMENT
All invading, supporting, and withdrawing troops are
moved at this time.
SURRENDER CHECK
If the ratio of combat factors of defenders and their
supporters to invaders and their supporters is greater than 6 to 1, then the
invaders surrender. If the ratio is 1
to 6, then the defenders surrender.
INVASION CASUALTIES
The formulas for casualties are;
Attackers combat factors times a random integer from
1 to 5 divided by 10 = Defenders losses in combat factors
Defenders combat factors times a random integer from
1 to 5 divided by 10 = Attackers losses in combat factors
CALCULATING COMBAT FACTORS
TROOPS WITH military supplies
Each Military Robots counts as 2 x its TL in combat
factors. Each Assault Weapons counts as
2 x its TL squared in combat factors.
Each Assault Craft counts as 10 x its TL in combat factors. Each Soldier
counts as one combat factor.
TROOPS WITH NO MILITARY SUPPLIES
If all of the troops are without military supplies,
the total combat factor is halved. If portions of the troops are without
military supplies, then that portion of the combat factor is halved. Only defending troops can function without
military supplies.
DETERMINING UNIT LOSSES IN COMBAT
The number of combat factors lost is divided by the
total combat factors the side has. Then the resulting ratio is multiplied by
the number of units (Military Robots, Assault Weapons, Soldiers and/or Assault
Craft) present in each force. This
result is the number of units lost. Fractions are dropped.
MISSION COMPLETION
If the defending troops have been eliminated, then
the invaded ship or colony becomes the property of the owner of the largest
invading force. Supporters of the
invader retire from the field. 65% of
malcontents in the captured ship or colony become loyal, while 65% of the loyal
Population in the captured ship or colony become malcontents. If the attacking
forces have surrendered, withdrawn, or been destroyed, then the defender's
supporters will Withdraw now. The
victor's supporters will also withdraw unless there is another invader
there. If so, the victor's supporters
will support the victor against the other invader. Unfinished battles will continue on the following turn.
Notes on the affects of docking in combat:
The manual does not specify the affects of being ships
being docked on missile and energy
weapon fire. If a ship is docked to
another entity is fired on all of the entities
connected to it will help defend it.
That's by using their shields and energy weapons to absorb hits. Likewise for a colony that is fired on.
The damage from any hits that get through the defenses will only be shared by ships (not colonies) connected to
the targeted ship. Other ships
connected to the colony but not the targeted ship will not
share in the damage. If a colony was the target it will absorb all of the
damage even though connected ships will
help with the defense.
We are using the word connected to mean
entities that are docked to each
other or docked to other entities that
are in turn docked to the entities in
question.
Entities in this context are either
ships or colonies.
REBEL
ACTIVITIES
It is intended that rebels, as their numbers reach certain levels in proportion to the general population of a ship or colony, will become more and more troublesome.
Rebels eat just like any other population type, but they never work.
They appropriate consumer goods from your populations stockpile.
They can be discovered by Police with help of Special Agents, and arrested.
Some may be killed in the process and Police may be injured. Arrested Rebels and Injured Police become Unemployables.
|
DEMONSTRATIONS No real affect except putting the player on notice
that trouble is brewing. STRIKES Causing partial or complete work stoppages in
randomly selected production groups. RIOTS These would result in destruction of randomly
selected units as well as deaths. NOTES The magnitude and duration of any of these actions
would be relative to the number of rebels, and the percentage of malcontents.
Police and Special Agents would act to mitigate rebel activities. |
TOTAL VICTORY
One way to win is to eliminate all of the other players.
DOMINATION VICTORY
Settle the most habitable real estate. Each planet has habitability
number. Players with an Open colony on a habitable planet get victory points.
One for each hundred thousand population in the open colony up to the total
habitability of the planet. If more
than one player has an open colony on a planet the oldest colony (the one with
the lowest number) gets points first. Each point represents a unit of settled
habitable planet.
To win domination victory one player must have more than half of the
victory points available and must more than twice the victory points of the
second place player.
UNIT CHARACTERISTICS CHART
|
Item Name |
Type |
Mass..
|
Volume
|
Metals..
To Build |
NonMetals To Build |
Operational
Requirements |
Output and Notes…………… |
|
Anti-Missiles |
Vehicles |
4 x TL |
4 x TL |
2 x TL |
2 x TL |
Missile Launcher of same TL |
Destroys Missiles see combat |
|
Assault
Craft |
Vehicles |
5 x TL |
5 x TL |
3 x TL |
2 x TL |
1 soldier or military robot
equivalent + 0.1 fuel in combat |
Provides 10 x TL combat factors
does not require transports to attack |
|
Assault
Weapons |
Vehicles |
2 x TL |
2 x TL |
1 x TL |
1 x TL |
1 soldier or military robot
equivalent |
Provides 2 x TL^2 combat factors |
|
Automation |
Assembly |
4 x TL |
2 x TL |
2 x TL |
2 x TL |
Must be assembled |
Replaces 1 x TL^2 Unskilled see Automation in Production chapter |
|
Consumergoods |
Consumables |
0.6 |
0.3 |
0.2 |
0.4 |
|
Consumption determines SOL |
|
Energy
Shields |
Assembly |
20 x TL |
10 x TL |
10 x TL |
10 x TL |
1 soldier / 100 and uses 10 x TL
fuel |
Deflects 10 x TL^2 energy units
per use |
|
Energy
Weapons |
Assembly |
10 x TL |
5 x TL |
5 x TL |
5 x TL |
1 soldier / 100 and uses 4 x TL
fuel |
Destroys 10 x TL^2 mass per hit |
|
Factories |
Assembly |
2 x TL +
12 |
TL + 6 |
8 + TL |
4 + TL |
1 professional 3 unskilled and
0.5 x TL fuel or power |
Produces 20 x TL mass per turn see Manufacturing |
|
Food |
Consumables |
6 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
|
Feeds 4 to 16 population each
turn see Basic Needs |
|
Farms |
Assembly |
2 x TL +
6 |
TL + 3 |
4 + TL |
2 + TL |
1 professional 3 unskilled fuel
varies |
Production varies via TL see Farming |
|
Fuel |
Consumables |
1 |
0.5 |
0 |
0 |
|
Raw material used by many units |
|
Hyper
Engines |
Assembly |
45 x TL |
22.5 x TL |
25 x TL |
20 x TL |
1 professional / 100 fuel 40 per
light year |
Lift capacity 1045 x TL range is
(Square root of TL) x 3 |
|
Laboratories |
Assembly |
2 x TL +
8 |
TL + 4 |
5 + TL |
3 + TL |
3 professional 1 unskilled 0.5 x
TL fuel/power |
Produces 0.25 x TL research per
turn |
|
Life
Supports |
Assembly |
8 x TL |
4 x TL |
3 x TL |
5 x TL |
1 x TL fuel or power |
Supports 1 x TL^2 population |
|
Metals |
Consumables |
1 |
0.5 |
0 |
0 |
|
Raw material used in production |
|
Mines |
Assembly |
2 x TL +
10 |
TL + 5 |
5 + TL |
5 + TL |
1 professional 3 unskilled 0.5 x
TL fuel/power |
Mines 25 x TL per turn in raw
ore. Actual net depends on yield of deposit see Mining |
|
Military
Robots |
Bots |
2 x TL +
20 |
TL + 10 |
10 + TL |
10 + TL |
2 x TL military supplies |
Same as 2 x TL soldiers |
|
Missile
Launchers |
Assembly |
25 x TL |
12.5 x TL |
15 + TL |
10 + TL |
1 soldier / 100 |
Launches 1 missile per attack see Combat |
|
Missiles |
Vehicles |
4 x TL |
4 x TL |
2 x TL |
2 x TL |
Missile Launcher of same TL |
Destroys 100 x TL^2 Mass |
|
Military
Supplies |
Consumables |
0.04 |
0.02 |
0.02 |
0.02 |
|
Required by soldiers in combat |
|
Non-Metals |
Consumables |
1 |
0.5 |
0 |
0 |
|
Raw material used in production |
|
Power
Plants |
Assembly |
2 x TL+10 |
TL + 5 |
5 + TL |
5 + TL |
|
Produces TL Power per turn
(think hydro electric) |
|
Robot
Probe Vehicles |
Bots |
500/TL |
500/TL |
200/TL |
300/TL |
|
Obtains probe data – expended
when used |
|
Research |
Consumables |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Expended to increase TLs |
|
Sensors |
Assembly |
3000 x TL |
1500 x TL |
1000 x TL |
2000 x TL |
0.05 x TL fuel |
Used to obtain probe information |
|
Light
Structure |
Assembly |
0.01 x TL |
0.005 x
TL |
0.005 x TL |
0.005 x TL |
May only be built in Orbiting
Colonies |
Encloses (1 x TL^2) divided by
type factor |
|
Space
Drives |
Assembly |
25 x TL |
12.5 X TL |
15 X TL |
10 x TL |
1 professional / 100 and 1 x TL
fuel |
Produces 3000 x TL^2 thrust |
|
Structure |
Assembly |
0.1 x TL |
0.05 x TL |
0.07 x TL |
0.03 x TL |
|
Encloses (1 x TL^2) divided by
type factor |
|
Transports |
Vehicles |
4 x TL |
4 x TL |
2 x TL |
2 x TL |
1 professional / 10 and 0.1 x
TL^2 fuel |
Transports 20 x TL^2 Mass |
Downloading and installing the software
Here's how
to download and install the Current version of Central
Command.
Then
uninstall Central Command.
Download
- Open your web browser and go to the following URL.
You should be able to click on the link. If
not, copy and paste it into the address bar of your web browser.
When
the Empyrean Challenge web site opens look for link on the left hand side
labeled Products
Click on the products icon and wait for
the next page to open.
In
the upper middle of the products page you will see a "New Game
download" link. Click on that link.
Now
a login window will pop up - the user name is ***** and the
password is *******. The user name and password will probably
not be required once testing phase is over.
When
you login the next window is a download. Click on open and follow
the prompts.
When
the installation is complete Launch Central Command. Find Central
Command on the programs list and click on it to start it running. Or
click the icon on your desktop.
You
will be prompted to enter your account number, as seen below.
When
you enter your account number and click ok Central Command will close. Launch
it again this you will not be prompted for your account.
If
this is the first time you have installed Central Command or if you deleted the
Central Command folder you may see some of the popups below.
Note
Jvtest1 in the windows below is the name of the game being loaded. It is the demo game.
You will see
the window above. Click YES.
When/if you see
the box above. Click OK.
When Central
Command opens it will look like the screen shot below.
Choose “Open
Game” from the game menu. Which will give you as below.
Now
you see the Game Control window. Choose the game name in the
Select Game Name drop down. This will
enable the Set Game button. You will see this as it will no longer be grayed
out. Click the Set Game button. Now the Reload DB button will be active. Click
on it.
This message box will appear. Click yes
Then you will get to the box below.
This box will indicate when the load is done, click ok.
Then click the “Open Empire” Button. You should see it as shown
below.
You might want Maximize the Imperial Directory. If you now pull
down the turns pull down on the far left of the Imperial Directory,
you will see turns are loaded. Select any turn
in the pull down. Usually you will want the most recent turn. Then the
Display Empire menu will highlight. At
this point your only option is Standard Sort.
Now you can check out the turn you selected. If you choose
turn 29 here is how it looks. Now the other sort options in the Display Empire
menu are enable.
Location sort will look
like the one window below.
The boxes on the right
hand display several game wide statistics. The habitability numbers are what
the victory conditions are based on.
The ranking boxes are not fully implemented yet.
.
To see
what a colony report looks like, click on the one of the colonies listed in the
entity column of the Imperial Directory. This is a big change from what we had.
You can have several ships and colonies open at the same time.
In the
upper left hand corner you can see the Identification information in the yellow
highlighted area also on the title bar. In blue is the location data. Then
below those in a black background you
find the notes section. These are notes
you generate with the notes order. The
Tabs separate the report into more convenient sections will scroll bars where
necessary.
Note
the drop downs in the Orbit probe report. You can use these to access the
latest probe report for any orbit in the system. You can use the Window menu to
move from screen to screen as needed.
Any
ship or colony in the system can pull up this view.
If you click on the Ship tab after selecting a ship
on the Empire Display tab it will look something like this.
Click on Production Data to see the currently
selected colony’s factory and mine groups, and in the lower right the most
current survey report.
Go back
to the Imperial Directory and in the Rulers Tools menu select technology and see what techs you can build. With there
actual costs and requirements.
or click
the Actual button and get the formulas as below.
The
ship and colony designer (another Ruler’s Tools item) will help you design
efficient ships and colonies. You keep up to 200 designs of each type if you
wish. You will be able to select to update
existing designs or create new ones. You can name your design and add notes.
You can also select a design when doing a setup orders more about that under
the Order Writer item. Start by selecting a design type, then either selecting
an existing design New Design in the Designs pull down. The designer does not
save automatically like the order writer. In the Actions Menu you will find Add
Item, Edit Item, Delete Item, and Save Design, Delete Design, Name Design, and
last Use as template. The designs status is listed in the title bar. If the
status in not Saved then you should save it before leaving the screen.
Add
Item use this after you have defied an item by selecting it and entering its
quantity and selecting any other pertinent data in the pull downs and boxes on
the right.
Edit
item, first select an item in the
design then Edit item will be active. When you click on the edit item option
the line will be cleared and the pull downs and boxes to the right will be
populated. Make what changes you like then when your done click the change
button and your new version of the item will populate the selected line.
Delete
Item, first select an item in the
design then select this option, this will remove it from the design.
Save
Design will save the design note the status changes to saved. The other status
possibilities are Changed and New.
Delete
Designs will remove the entire design.
Name
design just names it.
Use as
Template, leaves the old design and
creates a new design with the same items but a new ID number. You can
the proceed to edit, add, or delete its
items starting with the existing base.
Now in
the order writer you can create all the orders allowed in the game and then are
placed in a file in this file path “C:\Program Files\Central
Command\JVtest1\TurnsOut”, when you click the Send Turn button. Note that
“Jvtest1” in the path name will be the game name of whichever game you are
playing. This also takes you to the turn upload.
I will
be adding more instruction here as soon as possible. For now always start by
selecting an order in the order pull down first. In this example Add On was
selected. Next choose an actor. If you choose the ship radio button the
available ships will be listed if you choose colony your existing colonies will
be shown. In most cases you will be
choosing only one actor per order. Next
you should choose an item in this type of order, and its tech level if it has
one. Then choose quantity type or except the default, then enter the quantity
to be added. In this case(no longer shown) I selected 7 ships as targets. So
colony 2 will attempt to add 100 million Light Structure – 7 to each of 7
ships. After selecting the targets I clicked the Add Order(s) button. My new
orders were then listed as shown above. You should try this to get a feel for
how it works.
If I
close central command now, these orders will not be lost. When I start Central
Command again choose the same turn and go to this tab they are put them back in
the display box.
When
you are finished with your turn in your game click the Send Turn button. This
sends
your turn to the TurnsOut folder for you game.
Then
you will see …