2nd Edition. By Timothy C. Swenson

Transcription

1 S T E L L A R 2nd Edition W A R S By Timothy C. Swenson

2 Contents 1. INTRODUCTION UNITS... 4 DN - Dreadnought... 4 BB - Battleship... 4 CA - Cruiser... 4 DD - Destroyer... 4 ES - Escourt... 4 SC - Scout... 4 FR - Freighter. This ship is not armed SHIPS SYSTEMS... 4 ENGINE... 4 HULL... 4 REACTOR... 4 SHIELD... 4 ARMOR FORCE BEAM... 5 BEAM... 5 GUN... 5 PLASMA CANNON... 5 MISSILE... 5 MISSILE RACK... 5 MISSILE DEFENCE... 5 MULTI-TRACK... 5 CLOAKING... 5 SENSORS... 5 MINES... 5 SELF-DESTRUCT DATA SHEETS... 6 NAME... 6 TYPE... 6 ENGINE... 6 HULL... 6 REACTOR... 6 SHIELD... 6 ARMOR... 6 MISSILES... 6 MINES... 6 WEAPONS... 6 SIDE... 6 OTHER CONTROL SHEETS SEQUENCE OF PLAY... 7 PHASE # DESCRIPTION OF PHASE MOVEMENT/COMBAT PHASE MOVEMENT GENERAL STACKING TURNING ACCELERATION DECCELERATION COMBAT GENERAL WEAPONS MULTI-TRACK TO-HIT ROLL DAMAGE ROLL DAMAGE ALLOCATION SHIELD ARMOR SHIP DAMAGE AFFECTS OF DAMAGE FORCE BEAM MISSILE DEFENCE

3 9.10 MISSILE MISSILE RACK NO SHIELDS PLASMA CANNON CLOAKING GENERAL CLOAKING MOVEMENT COMBAT MINES SENSORS GENERAL SENSING CLOAKED SHIPS SENSING MINED HEXES MINES GENERAL MINING HEXES COMBAT SELF - DESTRUCTION GENERAL DAMAGE SHIP BUILDING GENERAL DATA SHEETS BUILD POINTS HULL REACTOR ENGINE SYSTEMS RESTRICTIONS TO SYSTEMS EXTRAS TO SYSTEMS QUESTIONS GAME SETUP TABLES & CHARTS BUILD TABLE SYSTEM TABLE TO-HIT TABLE MISSILE DEFENCE TABLE DAMAGE TABLE DAMAGE ALLOCATION TABLE OTHER SYSTEMS DAMAGE TABLE FIRING ARC PLASMA CANNON FIRING ARC MAXIMUM TURN RADIUS CHART SHIP DATA SHEET SHIP CONTROL SHEET COUNTERS EXAMPLE SHIPS EXPANDED DESIGNER NOTES This game is Freeware and is freely distributable as long as the copyright line is retained in each copy. The copyright is retained by Timothy C. Swenson, but others may copy the game in it's entirety and distribute it to any and all gamers. Copyright 1993 Timothy C. Swenson swensont@mail.serve.com 3

4 1. INTRODUCTION Stellar Wars is an introductory game of tactical space combat between fleets of space battleships. Each unit in the game represents a single ship. The game is designed to be quick and playable, with accuracy left in the game. Care was taken not to bog the game down in cumbersome rules. At the back of this rule book are 12 pre-designed ships. You may use these ships to start playing as soon as you get the game, or you may use them as examples of how to design your own ships. There are rules included on how to design your own ships. 2. UNITS The game is played with counters that represent a single ship. There are 7 different types of ships. Each ship listed is smaller than the ship above it. The designations of the ships use the standard naval terms. DN - Dreadnought. The largest ship in the fleet. BB - Battleship. CA - Cruiser. DD - Destroyer. ES - Escourt. SC - Scout. FR - Freighter. This ship is not armed. There are also other counters used in the game. There are STARTING counters included to mark where a unit starts its movement. 3. SHIPS SYSTEMS Each ship has various systems that define its capabilities in the game. Below is a listing of the systems available. ENGINE - This is the source of the ships movement. Each unit of engine allows the unit to move 1 hex during movement. The total number of engine points is the maximum speed of the ship. The actual speed of the ship may change during the game. HULL - The hull of the ship is a combination of the hull and the superstructure of the ship. The hull may take so much damage before it is destroyed. When this happens the ship is beyond repair and is destroyed. REACTOR - The reactor is the power source of the ship. The reactor is very sensitive to damage. If the reactor takes too much damage it will explode, destroying the ship. SHIELD - The shield is the first line of defence a ship has. Each point of shield may absorb one point of damage. Different parts of the ship may have different amounts of shielding. The same goes from ship to ship. 4

5 ARMOR - The armor is the second line of defence of the ship. Each point of armor may absorb one point of damage. Each side and/or ship has a different amount of armor. - The laser is the weakest weapon used, but it has the longest range. The laser passes right through the shields and attacks the armor and then systems. FORCE BEAM - The force beam is weaker than the regular beam weapon. It was primarily designed to destroy shields. A force beam does half damage to all other systems. BEAM - This is a regular beam weapon. It destroys all types of ships systems. GUN - This is the second strongest non-expendable weapon that the ship has. It has a problem of having a short range. This weapon fires projectiles. PLASMA CANNON - This weapon sends out a powerful ball of hot plasma. Powerful, but has a limited firing arc. It also has to have time to regenerate the next load. MISSILE - This weapon is the strongest but it may be used a limited number of times. Each missile may be fired once. Even if the missile does not hit its target it is lost. A ship must have a missile rack to fire missiles. MISSILE RACK - This is needed to fire missiles. If the missile rack is destroyed the ship may not fire any more missiles. MISSILE DEFENCE - This is a defence system set up to stop incoming missiles. This is used only against missiles. The further away the firing ship is the better the chance that the missile defence may destroy it, up to a point. MULTI-TRACK -This system is used to fire at more than one ship at a time. The degree of multi-track is the maximum number of ships the ship is allowed to fire at. For example, if a ship has multi-track 3 then it may fire at 3 or less ships in one turn. All ships start out with Multi-Track 1. CLOAKING - This allows the ship to disappear off the scopes of the enemy screens. This system is costly, but it gives the ship some maneuvering advantages. SENSORS - This is the counter system to cloaking. A ship with sensors may attempt to locate a cloaked ship once per turn. MINES - Mines are dropped in a hex by the ship. Any enemy ship that passes through the hex is attacked by the mines. Only the player that mined the hex knows where it is. SELF-DESTRUCT - This system allows the ship to blow up on cue. Used for suicide missions or before this ship is destroyed by the enemy. 5

6 4. DATA SHEETS At the back of this rule book is a list of data sheets that list the capabilites of different ships. The way the data sheets list the ships and what each capability means is mentioned below. A blank data sheet is provided for the players to use when they design their own ships. NAME - This is the name of the class of the ship TYPE - Type defines the size of the ship. Its type might be DD or BB, etc. as listed above. ENGINE - This is the engine points that the ship has. Engine points define how fast a ship may travel. HULL - This defines the amount of damage a ship may take before it is destroyed due to structural damage. REACTOR - This is the amount of damage that a ship may take to the reactor before it explodes. SHIELD - This lists the amount of shield points a ship has for each side of the ship. ARMOR - This lists the amount of armor points a ship has for each side of the ship. Each side of the ship has a name and an abbreviation. RL - Rear Left. FL - Forward Left. F - Forward. FR - Forward Right. RR - Rear Right. R - Rear. The forward side of the counter is marked by the direction of the silhouetteon the counter. Although the counter has only 4 sides, the ship has 6 sides. MISSILES - This is the number of missiles that the ship has. Each missile may only be fired once. MINES - This is the number of mines that the ship carries. Each mine may only be placed once. WEAPONS - This lists the various weapons that the ship has. Each ship has a different assortment of weapons. SIDE - This lists the side of the ship that each weapon is on. A weapon may only fire at targets within the firing arc of its side. OTHER - This is the list of the various other systems that are on the ship. These other systems may be defensive or offensive. 6

7 5. CONTROL SHEETS The Control Sheets are used in the game to record damage done to the ship during the game. The information is copied from the Data Sheets onto the control sheets. As damage is recieved, the appropriate number of boxes are filled in showing the number of points left for that system. When all boxes are filled in, the system is destroyed and useless. The Turn/Speed track is used to keep track of the speed of the ship from turn to turn. The speed of the ship can change during the game. Name is the name of the individual ship and not the ship's class. 6. SEQUENCE OF PLAY The game is played in turns consisting of phases. In each turn both players will be able to move and resolve combat. The phases are listed below. PHASE # DESCRIPTION OF PHASE 1. Assignment of speed. Both players set the speeds of each ship for the next turn. 2. Initiative Roll. Each player rolls a die. The player with the highest die roll may choose to be the first player or the second player. Ties are rolled again. 3. First Player Movement/Combat. The first player may move his units and resolve combat initiated by those units. 4. Second Player Movement/Combat. The second player does the above step. 5. End of Turn. 7. MOVEMENT/COMBAT PHASE In the Movement/Combat phase (M/C) the phasing player must move all ships that have a speed of greater than 0. At anytime during movement the player may stop movement, attack with a ship, and continue movement. A player may not move another ship until he is finished moving and attacking with the current ship. A ship is never forced to attack another ship. It is recommended that a START counter be placed in the hex the ship starts out at. This will aid in remembering how much movement is left. Since combat may take place in the middle of a move, placing a START counter will help the players remember where the ship started. 7

8 8. MOVEMENT 8.1 GENERAL. Each ship must move a number of hexes equal to its current speed. Each hex a ship enters costs one point of speed to enter. For example, a ship with a speed of 3 must move 3 hexes. 8.2 STACKING. Any number of friendly ships may be in a hex at one time. A ship may never enter a hex containing an enemy ship. 8.3 TURNING. A ship may turn at any point during movement. To turn the player consults the Maximum Turn Capability Chart to find the maximum turn possible for the speed of his ship. The turn on the chart shows the ship making its turn at the start of its movement phase. No turns may be tighter than allowed on the Chart. 8.4 ACCELERATION. During the Assignment of Speed phase, the ship may accelerate +1 speed per turn. The ship may accelerate +2 per turn if it does not fire during the current turn. Mark down this option in the turn/speed track with a NC next to the new speed. 8.5 DECCELERATION. During the Assignment of Speed phase the ship may deccelerate -1 per turn. The ship may deccelerate -2 per turn if it does not fire in the current turn. Mark down this option the same way as above. 9. COMBAT 9.01 GENERAL. Combat may take place between two ships when 3 requirements are met. The Combat Requirements are: 1. The defending unit must be within the firing arc of the weapon being used to fire upon it. See the Firing Arc diagram for this. 2. The attacking ship must have a clear Line-Of-Sight (LOS) between it and the defending ship. A clear LOS is a straight line between the firing ship and the defending ship that is not blocked by any other units on the board. Sight from the center of each hex. If the line crosses a occupied hex or hexside the LOS is blocked. 3. The defending unit is within the attacking range of the firing weapon. Refer to the To-Hit chart for this WEAPONS. Each weapon may only fire once per turn. Each Other System may be used only once per turn MULTI-TRACK. If a ship that has multi-track 1 may only fire on one ship per turn. The degree of multi- track is the number of ships that ship may fire upon in one turn. 8

9 9.04 TO-HIT ROLL. Once the Combat Requirements are met, then the attacking player references the range with the weapon he is using to the To-Hit chart. This will give him a to-hit number. The player will roll 2 dice. The sum of the two die must be lower than or equal to the to-hit number. If it is, then the weapon has hit the ship. If not, the attempt at combat was unsuccessfull DAMAGE ROLL. Now that you have hit the ship, you must roll 1 die on the Damage Table to see how much damage the weapon did. Cross reference the type of weapon and the die roll to get the exact amount of damage DAMAGE ALLOCATION. Damage Allocation is the most complex part of the combat phase. All damage is recieved on the side of the defending ship facing the attacking ship. Use the Firing Arc table to see which is the proper side. If facing is on two sides then defender decides which on the roll of the die SHIELD. Damage is first recieved by the shields. Mark off one shield point for every point of damage. If there are more damage points left over move on to below. If the firing unit was a laser, then any damage passes right through the shields and goes to the armor ARMOR. After the shield is gone all damage is recieved by the armor. The same procedure is used for marking off damage to armor as was used on the shields. If there is no more armor, read on SHIP DAMAGE. Now that there is no more armor left, all damage will go to destroying various weapons and systems on the ship. For each point of damage, roll two die on the Damage Allocation Table. The weapon or system rolled will take one point of damage. If the table says System or if the table says WPN/SYS and all weapons have been destroyed for that side, then damage is allocated on the Other System Damage Allocation table. Roll one or two dice (depending on the number of Other Systems) and the table will state which Other System is to be affected. Other Systems are numbered with one being the top one. If a weapon or system is destroyed, it may take no more damage. The damage roll must be re-rolled so that damage is allocated to an operating weapon or system AFFECTS OF DAMAGE. If a weapon or system is destroyed (all of its boxes are filled) then that weapon or system may not be used. For example, if the missile rack is destroyed, the ship may not fire any missiles. If the hull is destroyed, then the ship is destroyed and out of the game. The same goes for the reactor. If the engine is destroyed, the ship may not move. Unfilled boxes on the engine define the ships maximum speed FORCE BEAM. The force beam does half damage to all parts of the ship, except for the shields. All damage will be rounded down in the defenders favor, except that the force beam will do at least one point of damage. 9

10 9.09 MISSILE DEFENCE. The missile defence is used by the defending ship to try to stop incomming missiles. When the attacking player states that he is going to fire a missile, the defending player rolls on the Missile Defence table to see if he has destroyed the missile before it reached his ship. This is to be done after the attacking player has rolled for his To-Hit. If the number on the table is less than or equal to the two-die die roll, then the missile was destroyed. If not the missile will continue onto the ship MISSILE. For each missile fired, the attacking player must mark off one box on the missile track. Each player may only fire as many missiles as he has on his track. Missiles have a 360 degree firing arc MISSILE RACK. Each Missile Rack may only fire one missile per turn. A destroyed Missile Rack may not fire any missiles NO SHIELDS. A player may opt to lower his shields in a turn and use the power for his weapons. When a player does this, he may either 1) subtract 2 from this To-Hit roll or 2) add +2 points of damage to the total amount of damage. This option must be selected during the Speed Allocation phase, and be marked with a NS next to the speed PLASMA CANNON. The Plasma Cannon may only be fired every other turn. Each turn it is fired in, put an asterisk next to the speed for that turn. The Plasma Cannon has a limited firing arc. Refer to the Firing Diagram. 10. CLOAKING GENERAL. A cloaked ship is "hidden" from the sensors of most of the ships. Only the ships that have sensors can try to detect a cloaked ship. A cloaked ship is removed from the board and kept track of on paper CLOAKING. A ship may go into cloaking at any point in his M/C turn. Before a ship can go into cloaking it must roll to see if its cloaking device has failed. On a roll of 1 on one die, the cloaking device has failed and the ship can not go into cloaking for the turn. At the start of each M/C turn of the player, the cloaked ship must roll again to see if the device has failed MOVEMENT. Once a ship has cloaked successfully, the piece is removed from the board. The player must keep track of where the unit is at the end of each turn. This is to be written down next to the speed for the current turn, or may be kept on a separate piece of paper. All movement rules apply for cloaked ships. This includes turning, speed, and entering enemy hexes. This is where the players honesty is put to the test. If the players agree, a mistake in keeping track of a cloaked ship will cause a player to lose the game. 10

11 10.04 COMBAT. To attack, a cloaked ship must come out of cloaking at the begining of the turn (right after the Speed Alloc. phase), and remain out of cloaking for the rest of the turn (till the end of game turn). To come out of cloaking, the player puts the counter back on the board at its current position MINES. Mined hexes do not affect cloaked ships. Since mines sense a ship in the area and move toward it, this is nulled by the cloaking device. 11. SENSORS 11.1 GENERAL. Sensors are used to detect cloaked ships and to detect mined hexes. Sensors may be used only once per turn to detect either a cloaked ship or mined hexes, but not both. The following procedure will be used for each cloaked ship or mined hex. Sensing may be done at any time during the M/C phase SENSING CLOAKED SHIPS. Sensors can detect cloaked ships. The chance of finding a cloaked ship lessens with an increase in range. To detect a cloaked ship, have the other player count the range, look up the To-Hit number on the To-Hit chart for a Force Beam. The sensing player will then roll two die. The other player will tell the sensing player if he is successfull. If he is, the cloaked ship will be placed on the board, and remain so for the rest of the turn. Again, honesty comes in to play here SENSING MINED HEXES. A player can sense mines with a maximum range of 6 hexes. To sense hexes the player rolls one die. The player senses mined hexes at range 6 on a roll of 1, range 4 or 5 on roll of 1-2, at range 2 or 3 on roll of 1-3, and at range 1 on roll of 1-4. If the player is successful, the other player must point out the mined hexes within the rolled range. The player rolls only once, and decides the maximum range from that roll. 12. MINES 12.1 GENERAL. Mines are placed in hexes to try to destroy enemy ships that enter that hex MINING HEXES. Each unit of mines can mine 4 hexes. To mine a hex, the ship must travel through the hex. The mining player marks down the hex number on a piece of paper. A ship may not mine a hex that it has not travel through COMBAT. Any enemy ship that passes through a mined hex is attacked by the mines (exception: cloaked ships). The ship is attacked like it is being fired upon by a missile at range of 8. 11

12 13.0 SELF - DESTRUCTION 13.0 GENERAL. Ships that have this system may self destruct at any point in their M/C phase. All ships within a certain range will suffer damage from the blast of the exploding ship DAMAGE. When a ship explodes all ships within a certain range will take damage. This means enemy and friendly ships. The amount of damage for each type of ship exploding is listed below. This is the amount of damage that a ship takes when it is 1 hex from the exploding ship. For each hex going out, subtract 2 points of damage. For example, if a ES self-destructs and a SC in two hexes away from the ES, the SC takes 8 points of damage. Damage for each type of ship is SC - 9, ES - 10, DD - 12, CA- 15, BB - 18, DN The Self-Destruct System does not take damage well. If the System has taken any hits, then before it can be used a roll must be made to see if the system will work. For 1 hit of damage a roll must be made of 3 or more. For 2 hits a roll of 5 or more, and for 3 hits a roll of 6. On 4 hits, it will not work at all SHIP BUILDING GENERAL. Players may design their own ships and create their own fleets. The players may also create their own historical background for the battles. Creating your own race can be fun DATA SHEETS. Supplied with the game are some blank data sheets to be used by the players to keep track of the ships that they build. To make more copies of the data sheet, the players are advised to use a copy machine BUILD POINTS. Each type of ship has an amount of Build Points that are used to buy various parts of the ship. The Build Table lists the amount of build points for each type of ship. This is the maximum of build points allowed for that particular type of ship. It is recomemded that as you buy systems and weapons, you write down the cost next to the system, for easy calculating of the total build points HULL. Listed on the Build Table is the number of hull points that must be bought for each type of ship REACTOR. Listed on the Build Table is the number of reactor points that must be bought for each type of ship. 12

13 14.06 ENGINE. Listed on the Build Table is the cost per ship of various rates of speed. The faster the ship goes, the more it costs to buy the engine that can do that speed. When you cross reference the type of ship with the desired speed, the number on the table is the cost for that engine in build points SYSTEMS. Now the player is free to buy any system listed on the Systems Table. Weapons must be listed under weapons on the data sheet. Any system that does not have a particular section for it goes under Other. Systems listed under Other do not belong to a particular side of the ship. A player does not have to buy any system that he does not want to. Although shields and armor is heavily advised RESTRICTIONS TO SYSTEMS. There are some restrictions when buying systems. No more than 2 weapons may be on a single side at one time. A missile rack must be bought if the ship is going to fire missiles. Weapons may not be facing the Rear. Freighters may only buy defensive systems (armor, shields, missile defense, cloaking, etc). They may not buy any weapons EXTRAS TO SYSTEMS. A player may spend extra points on a system to make it work better. Each of the options listed below have a special marking so that the player knows what option he has bought. The markings are listed with the options. 1. Spend 2 extra points on a weapon and subtract 1 from the To-Hit roll when that weapon is fired. Marked as -1H. 2. Spend 2 extra points on a weapon and add 1 to the damage roll when the weapon is fired. Marked as +1D. 3. Spend -1 point on a weapon and add 1 to the To-Hit roll when that weapon is fired. Marked as +1H. This extra does not work with cloaking. 4. Spend 2 extra points to any Other System and subtract 1 from the die roll when these systems are used. Marked as +1R. 5. Spend 5 extra points for each Multi-Track and be able to fire on more that two ships per turn. For each Multi-Track you buy you may fire on that many ships +1. For example if you buy 2 Multi-Tracks then you can fire on 3 ships per turn. Marked as the number of ships able to fire on by the Multi-track. In the above example it would ba marked down as Multi-3. These options may be used for any number of different systems. There is no limit of how many times these options may be used QUESTIONS. If there are any questions on ship building, look at the ships provided with the game. Use these and figure out how they were built. This should clear up most questions. 13

14 15.0 GAME SETUP Stellar Wars has been designed to be very open ended. Essentially it is a set of rules for players to use to engage in battes of their own design. The number of ships, type of ships, and starting hexes are all up to the players. To get the players started, below are a few game setups. These list the forces per side and the victory conditions. The starting postions are still up to the players. Set Up One: Beginning Side 1] 2 SC, 1 ES Side 2] 1 CA, 1 SC Victory: The player with the last ship wins. Set Up Two: Convoy Side 1] 1 CA, 1 DD, 2 ES Side 2] 1 BB, 2 DD, 2 CA, 2 FR Victory: The player with the two freighters must get them across the length of the map. The other player must prevent this. Set Up Three: Different Forces Side 1] 1 DN, 3 ES, 1 DD Side 2] 1 CA, 2 DD, 1 BB Victory: The player with the last ship wins. It is hoped that the players will create their own ships and battles. The game was designed not to lock the players into a set history or situation. 14

15 16.0 TABLES & CHARTS BUILD TABLE S P E E D TYPE BP HULL REACT DN C BB CA O DD ES S SC FR T SYSTEM TABLE SYSTEM COST WEAPON Laser 2 Force Beam 3 Missile (1) 3 Beam 4 Gun 5 Plasma Cannon 15 SYSTEM Armor 1 Shield 1 Missile Rack 4 Missile Defence 4 Multi-Tracking 5 Sensors 7 Cloaking 10 Mines 2 Self Destruct TO-HIT TABLE RANGE WEAPON Laser Missile Beam F. Beam Plasma Gun MISSILE DEFENCE TABLE RANGE %

16 DAMAGE TABLE Weapon Laser Force Beam Beam Gun Missile Plasma Cannon DAMAGE ALLOCATION TABLE Front FR/FL RR/RL Rear Reactor Reactor Reactor Reactor 3 Hull Hull Reactor Reactor 4 Hull System Hull Engine 5 Wpn/Sys Wpn/Sys Wpn/Sys Engine 6 System Hull System Hull 7 Wpn/Sys Wpn/Sys Wpn/Sys Engine 8 Hull System Hull Hull 9 Wpn/Sys Wpn/Sys Wpn/Sys Engine 10 System Hull Hull Engine 11 Hull Hull Hull Hull 12 Hull Reactor Reactor Reactor Wpn/Sys means that when all weapons for that side are destroyed, then the damage goes to Systems. OTHER SYSTEMS DAMAGE TABLE # of Die Roll Sys

17 FIRING ARC /..\ /..\ \ /ff\ / /fl\ /fr\ a.. /..\ /AA\ /..\.. b \ /rl\ /rr\ / \ /r \ / /..\ /..\ \ / \ / The ship is in the hex marked with AA. Those marked with.. are hexes located in two firing arcs. They extend out from the surrounding hex intersection lines. An example line is between points a and b. PLASMA CANNON FIRING ARC /**\ /**\ /**\ /**\ \ /**\ /**\ /**\ / /**\ /**\ /**\ /**\ \ /**\ /**\ /**\ / \ /**\ /**\ / /**\ /**\ /**\ \ /**\ /**\ / /**\ /**\ /**\ \ /**\ /**\ / \ /**\ / /**\ /**\ \ /**\ / /**\ /**\ \ /**\ / \ / /**\ \ / /**\ \ / /AA\ \ / The ship is in the hex with the AA. MAXIMUM TURN RADIUS CHART This chart does not convert at all to ASCII. Here is a description of of each minumum turn radius. SPEED 2: Move 1 hex forward, turn 2 hex sides, move 1 forward. SPEED 3: Move 1 hex forward, turn 1 hex side, move 1 hex forward, turn 1 hex side. SPEED 4: Move 1 hex forward, turn 1 hex side, move 1 hex 17

18 forward, turn 1 hex side, move 2 hexes forwards, turn 1 hex side. SPEED 5: Move 1 hex forward, turn 1 hex side, move 2 hexes forward, turn 1 hex side, move 2 hexes forward, turn 1 hex side. SPEED 6: Move 1 hex forward, turn 1 hex side, move 3 hexes forward, turn 1 hex side, move 2 hexes forward SHIP DATA SHEET SHIP: TYPE: ENGINE: HULL: REACTOR: RL FL F FR RR R SHIELD: ARMOR: MISSILES: MINES: WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEM 18.0 SHIP CONTROL SHEET Ship's Name Unit Engine OOOOOO Hull OOOOO Reactor OOOO RL FL F FR RR R Shields OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO Armor OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO Missles OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO Mines OOOOO OOOOO Weapon Type Side Turn Speed Turn Speed 18

19 Other Systems OOOO OOOO OOOO OOOO OOOO OOOO 19

20 19.0 COUNTERS Counters are not easily done in pure ASCII. Creating your own counters is fairly simple; you can buy pre-cut blank counters, or cut 1/2" squares out of thick card stock. Each counter needs only three things: the ship class (DD, BB, FR, etc), a number keeping it distinct from other ships of its class, and a facing arrow. Below is an example of how it should look. ^ DD You will need one other type of counter; the START counter. It is just a simple counter with the word START listed on it. SHIP: TYPE: DN ENGINE: 3 HULL: 5 REACTOR: 3 RL FL F FR RR R SHIELD: ARMOR: MISSILES: 11 MINES: WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEM GUN F MISSILE RACK GUN FR MULTI-3 GUN FL SENSORS F 20.0 EXAMPLE SHIPS SHIP: TYPE: DN ENGINE: 4 HULL: 5 REACTOR: 3 RL FL F FR RR R SHIELD: ARMOR: MISSILES: 10 MINES: WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEMS GUN F MISSILE RACK GUN FR MISSILE DEFENCE GUN FL MULTI-4 FORCE BEAM RL FORCE BEAM RR SHIP: TYPE: BB ENGINE: 4 HULL: 4 REACTOR: 3 RL FL F FR RR R 20

21 SHIELD: ARMOR: MISSILES: 4 MINES: WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEMS GUN F MULTI-4 FORCE BEAM F MISSILE DEFENCE BEAM FL MISSILE RACK BEAM FR FL FR SHIP: TYPE: BB ENGINE: 4 HULL: 4 REACTOR: 3 RL FL F FR RR R SHIELD: ARMOR: MISSILES: 4 MINES: WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEMS GUN F MULTI-4 BEAM FL MISSILE RACK BEAM FR RL RR SHIP: TYPE: CA ENGINE: 3 HULL: 4 REACTOR: 3 RL FL F FR RR R SHIELD: ARMOR: MISSILES: 4 MINES: WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEMS GUN F MULTI-2 BEAM FL MISSILE DEFENCE BEAM FR CLOAKING FL FR SHIP: TYPE: CA ENGINE: 3 HULL: 4 REACTOR: 3 RL FL F FR RR R SHIELD: ARMOR: MISSILES: 8 MINES: WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEMS BEAM F MULTI-2 BEAM F MISSILE DEFENCE GUN FL MISSILE RACK GUN FR MISSILE RACK CLOAKING 21

22 SHIP: TYPE: DD ENGINE: 3 HULL: 3 REACTOR: 2 RL FL F FR RR R SHIELD: ARMOR: MISSILES: MINES: WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEM GUN F MULTI-3 BEAM FR SENSORS BEAM FL F FL FR SHIP: TYPE: DD ENGINE: 4 HULL: 3 REACTOR: 2 RL FL F FR RR R SHIELD: ARMOR: MISSILES: MINES: WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEM GUN F MULTI-3 GUN FR GUN FL BEAM F BEAM FL BEAM FR F SHIP: TYPE: ES ENGINE: 4 HULL: 2 REACTOR: 2 RL FL F FR RR R SHIELD: ARMOR: MISSILES: 3 MINES: WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEM BEAM F MISSILE RACK BEAM FR MISSILE DEFENCE BEAM FL RR RL SHIP: TYPE: ES ENGINE: 6 HULL: 2 REACTOR: 2 RL FL F FR RR R SHIELD: ARMOR: MISSILES: MINES: WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEM F MISSILE DEFENCE 22

23 FR CLOAKING FL SENSORS SHIP: TYPE: SC ENGINE: 5 HULL: 1 REACTOR: 1 RL FL F FR RR R SHIELD: ARMOR: MISSILES: MINES: WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEM BEAM F CLOAKING FORCE BEAM FR FORCE BEAM FL F RL RR SHIP: TYPE: SC ENGINE: 4 HULL: 1 REACTOR: 1 RL FL F FR RR R SHIELD: ARMOR: MISSILES: MINES: WEAPON SIDE OTHER SYSTEM GUN F MISSILE DEFENCE FORCE BEAM FR MULTI-2 FORCE BEAM FL F FL FR 23

24 21.0 EXPANDED DESIGNER NOTES History Stellar Wars has a long history. Since I started playing wargames, I had always had various ideas of designing my own games. I had done a few initial designs in High School, but none ever went anywhere. A few friends from High School had a shared interest in space and we each designed our own worlds, race, and ships. We never actually gamed with our creations, although probably would have if we had picked up a system. In 1985 I started looking at space combat games. I had picked up StarFire, Star Fleet Battles, Mayday, and others, but none fit the way that I felt that space combat should be gamed. So, I set out to design my own game. Using various commercial games as a start, I sat down starting working on my game. By the end of 1985 I had most of the game complete. Since I was in College, the game went on the shelf for a while. After graduating in 1987, I worked on the game some more. At this point the design was about 95% complete. Going into the Air Force again put the game on the shelf. In 1989 I decided to really do something with the game. I tightened up the rules, added a few items and called the design finished. I had a local print shop run 100 copies of the game. I put up a notice on rec.games.board on USENET ( a news service on the Internet) letting people know of the game and telling them that if they send me their address, I'll send them a copy of the game. I knew how hard it was to sell a game, so I just wanted to get it out. About 70 people responded and recieved the game. A few months later I made an electronic version of the game and posted it to rec.games.board. As far as I know, Stellar Wars was the first Freeware board game to be posted on the Internet. Between the print and electronic versions, I got some good responses. Some asked for clarifications on the rules, others pointed out problems with the design. These latter comments would become the core design changes for the second edition, but this would have to wait a few more years. In 1993, I decided to work on a second edition and get it printed. A few rule modifications were made based on feedback I had recieved on the first edition. Before The Design One of the first things I did in the design process was to find and read any books that discuss wargame design. I found two books, a magazine article, and a few other sources that discussed wargame design and marketing. Most of the reading focused on the marketing of the games and very little on how to actually design the game. The one book that discussed the detail of design was 'Game Design: Theory & Practice" by Steve Jackson and Nick Schuessler. This became my bible for designing the game. 24

25 The Design There are a number of key items that affected the design of Stellar Wars. Most are a few concepts of how I feel a game should be. Others were reached as I worked out the design and had to solve various problems that came up. There are four concepts that I had before I designed the game. 1. Playability vs Realism. There is a good chunk of wargames that like to scream "realism" and hate games that are not good simulations. This is fine, but I feel that if a game is not enjoyable to play, why play it again. So I like to stress the playability side. And with a space combat game, true realism would turn the game into one big mathmatics exercise. 2. Miniatures vs Board Games. I've played both miniature rules and board games. I've enjoyed the speed and easy of movement in board games and I've enjoyed the few constraints of miniature rules. Board games can be too contrained on their scenarios, boards, and setup conditions. Miniatures sets the rules for engagement of forces and you define the forces, the terrain, and the goal. All of my game designs have been essenttually miniature rules set to a hex board. I define the rules for combat and movement and that's it. The rest is up to the player. 3. Open-Ended vs Story Setting. Continuing with the above thought, I like to design my games to be open-ended in setting. Most board games define a setting in which the game is played. They give you a history of who the waring parties are and define the battles which make of the various scenarios. I prefer to write the rules for how the game is played and let the players define the setting. This allows the game to be used by people that have already designed their universe and need a system to game it. 4. Open-Ended in Units. I really liked games that allowed me to design my own units. Not only could I win by tactics, but also by designing good units. Designing units allows you to enjoy the game without having an opponent around. All of my games have unit design as an integral part of the game. One of the biggest hurdles I had to get over in the design process was tactics. Most games based on a objective defined in terms of a map. Capture this town, breakthough this line, etc. Movement is defined in terms of getting around obsticles between you and your objective. In space, like Naval combat, there is no town to capture, there is not terrain to move around. It's one big empty playing field. Given that, how would a space combat game be played. At the worst, the players would bring all ships within range of each other and have one big slugfest. The winner will be the one that gets the better die rolls. Where is the fun in that. I had to put something in the design that would make the players want to move thier ships. I did not want the rules of the game to dictate tactics, so the only thing I could do was to put sides on each ship. 25

26 Each ship has six sides and each one of these sides have their own attributes, like shields and armor. If a ship takes some serious damage to one side of the ship, they must turn the ship to face that side away from the enemy. If they don't the will be exposing a weak side to enemy fire, chancing destruction. You do not have to destroy all shields and armor on a ship to destroy it, but all one one side. Each weapon is located on a side and has a defined firing arc. To fire on a ship, they must be in the firing arc of one of the weapons. This means you have to turn the ship to fire at the enemy. Another way to introduce maneuver into the game. Since I knew that each ship would be made up of different systems that each had to be kept track of, I knew that I would need a ship control sheet for bookkeeping. One thing that I did not like about most other space combat games is that thier ship control sheets were designed for each ship. If you actually created your own ship, you had to draw up your own control sheet. I made sure that my control sheet would be generic. It also fits in well with the unit design built into the game. Most turn sequences of wargames is the traditional Player 1 (move, fire) & Player 2 (move, fire). This sequence can make the game predicable in figuring out your tactics and guessing when to do something. I added the Initiative Roll to break up this predicability and add the "fog of war." See Steve Jackson's book on game design for a full analysis of turn sequences and how they affect combat. 26