25th July 2101
High Jupiter orbit, Hades warp installation
Humanity´s finest hour is approaching! It is year 2101 and after numerous failures and delay, Hades warp station is finally about to be commissioned into service. Countless space vessels from Earth and its colonies alike have been orbiting Jupiter for several weeks now, undergoing last repairs and check-ups, calibrating computer units, refueling and loading supplies. Crews have just returned from vacations; from what could possibly be the last moments with their loved ones back on their home planets. Brave, brave pioneers of humankind! In a few days, the entire fleet will be in position, ready to be thrown into the dark, empty void of space by Hades´ delicate machinery. With course carefully chosen and calculated by the greatest minds the humanity can offer, the fleet is expected to reach the edge of known space in three weeks and then set up a permanent base far beyond the frontier based on data from the greatest, finest miracles of modern technology.
After long periods of wars cold and hot, humans have finally thrown their petty differences aside and focused on one goal. As one, ships from the Earth and Milky way alike are ready to embark on a journey that will change the galaxy forever.
26th July 2101
Warp bubble, beyond the edge of known universe
First day of humanity´s great voyage to the stars! The Starfleet is encountering no problems so far. Several computer units on various vessels have burned out, but all were quickly replaced. Long range scanners are starting to pick up and process data from the surrounding space; to provide the coordinates of the space objects never seen before by any telescope anywhere. Hic sunt leones soon to be a thing of a past!
The most advanced sensors in the fleet start picking up increasing electromagnetic radiation at approximately 1300HRS Zulu Earth time. Some commanders decide to switch off main computer units to protect them from the possibly destructive effects of unknown radiation. Admiral Defort orders long range sensor-equipped vessels to continue with research no matter the circumstances. At 1430HRS, computer systems for long range scanners are destroyed at Hongzehu and Sampo, while commander Zapata of Albion orders to switch off the computers completely. Only after an intervention of admiral Defort and threats of using any means necessary does Albion switch its sensors back on. In about 15 minutes, fire broke out in Albion´s computer rooms, destroying much of the machinery stationed there. Together with machines, recorded data were damaged and rendered unreadable until restored by scientists.
Electrical systems continue to cause problems; most ships have switched everything short of life support system by now. Asteroid mining cruiser Black Luck experiences fatal malfunction of its reaction control systems, making the ship spin wildly and uncontrollably. After futile attempts at regaining control of the ship, its commander agrees with using cargo ships from auxiliary cruiser Cadiz to try to connect Black Luck and Cadiz with steel cables to stop the rotation. Admiral Defort issues the order, but on the intercept, Cadiz´s RCS systems die and the ship crashes into Black Luck´s port side. Black Luck´s rotation is stopped, but the hull is open by the impact, large portions of the ship´s inside exposed to the vacuum. Cadiz drifts away, losing visual contact with Black Luck. Two hours later, Aces High, Corvette flying nearby, detects multiple explosions from Cadiz. Cadiz does not respond to any calls.
At 1700HRS, all ships receive the order to shut down their radios for the time being. With no contact with each other, crews are starting to doubt the successful outcome of the mission. Waiting in the dark continues until 2330HRS when a wave of yellow light, visible even by human eye, appears and lasts for about an hour. Reports from most ships indicate light damage to electro-installation, any more severe damage or loses among the crews are accredited to secondary effects of these malfunctions.
Scared and left in the darkness.
Austupaio - Zhemchuzhina Tbilisi, Chervona Ukraina
Doctor Painkiller - Sterling IV, Albion
Dodes - Honghezu, Ning Hai
Elisanthius - Exec Harmonius, Exec Metafica
Eternal - Everlasting, Endurance
Gaham - Titanic, Hartford
Grimmend - Quarian, Ishimura
Jhessail - Ilmarinen, Sampo
Mahud - Walküre, Gestark
Quaillover - San Jose, Chicago
Shatari - Black Luck, Aces High
Ejnomad - Spectre, Wraith
MTP353 Zhemchuzhina Tbilisi - Austupaio - Colony ship (2/3/1/3/3/1/1/1)- Greenhouses, Antimatter Reactor, Fuel Refinery, Hospital, Cargo3
MUR150 Chervona Ukraina - Austupaio - Cruiser (2/3/1/3/1/1/2/2) - Hospital, Cargo2, Dropship Bay
MUS867 Sterling IV - Doctor painkiller - Capital Ship (3/4/1/4/3/1/3/3) -
MUS498 Albion - Doctor Painkiller - Corvette (1/1/1/3/1/3/5/3) - Long Range Scanner, Atmospheric Flight, Orbital Scanner, Cargo1
CPN881 Hongzehu - Dodes - Colony Ship (?/?/?/?/?/?/?/?) - Long Range Scanner, Antimatter Reactor
CLC932 Ning Hai - Dodes - Cruiser (?/?/?/?/?/?/?/?) - Antimatter reactor
CXC041 Exec Harmonius - Elisanthius - Corvette (?/?/?/?/?/?/?/?) -
CXC617 Exec Metafica - Elisanthius - Corvette (?/?/?/?/?/?/?/?) -
MPN059 Everlasting - Eternal - Capital Ship (1/1/1/5/1/1/4/2) - Missile Silo, Hospital, Barracks?
MGN198 Endurance - Eternal - Corvette (3/1/1/1/3/2/1/5) - Atmospheric Flight, Cargo2, Short Range Sensors, Medical bay
MHW661 Titanic - Gaham - Colony Ship (1/1/2/1/2/1/1/1) - Antimatter Reactor, Barracks?, Ammo Manufacture, FTL Orbital Scanner, Escort Flight Deck, Dropship bay, Medical bay
MHW754 Hartford - Gaham - Cruiser (3/1/1/2/1/1/1/2) - Flight deck, Missile silo x2
CRJ218 Quarian - Grimmend - Colony Ship (?/?/?/?/?/?/?/?) - Antimatter reactor, Greenhouses, Pleasure deck
CVK111 Ishimura - Grimmend - Corvette (?/?/?/?/?/?/?/?) - ???
MFI200 Ilmarinen - Jhessail - Capital Ship (4/2/2/3/2/1/5/2) - Laser Cannon
MFI285 Sampo - Jhessail - Cruiser (1/2/2/2/2/1/2/2) - Long Range Scanner, Antimatter Reactor
MZF704 Gestark - Mahud - Corvette (1/2/2/2/1/2/3/3) - Atmospheric flight, Training Center, Cargo1
MZD575 Walküre - Mahud - Colony Ship (5/1/2/2/1/1/1/1) - Fighter manufacture, Antimatter Reactor, Flight Deck, Hangar, Hospital
CEC777 Aces High - Shatari - Corvette (?/?/?/?/?/?/?/?)
CXX013 Black Luck - Shatari - Cruiser (?/?/?/?/?/?/?/?) - Asteroid Mining
MDK728 Chicago - Quaillover - Corvette (1/1/2/3/2/1/3/3) - Atmospheric flight, Cargo 2
MLK138 San Jose - Quaillover - Cruiser (3/1/4/2/2/2/4/2) - EW Equipment, Orbital Scanner, Medical Bay, Radar Scrambler
MUS501 Spectre - Ejnomad - Cruiser (2/3/2/4/2/1/3/3) - Short Range Sensors, Asteroid Mining, Missile silo, Cargo3
MUS502 Wraith - Ejnomad - Cruiser (4/1/1/1/1/1/3/2) - Missile Silo, Short Range Sensors, Flight Deck
Some modules for some ships are not revealed. Civilian ships have more hidden content than military ones.
Hero classes*
Pilot - when flying Corvette, the ship has (10+5*lvl) percent smaller fuel consumption. Fighter squadron led by pilot is (10*lvl) percent more effective.
Mechanic - in any project requiring mechanical man-hours to which mechanic is assigned, one only needs to produce (100-10*level) percent of needed mechanical MHs.
Scientist - in any project requiring scientific man-hours to which scientist is assigned, one only needs to produce (100-10*level) percent of needed scientific MHs.
Marine - when commanding a force smaller than 20 Marines, effectivity of this squad is increased by (20xlvl) percent; for forces above 20 men by (lvl*5) percent
Soldier - when commanding more than 20 marines, effectivity of soldiers is increased by (10xlvl) percent ; when commanding less than 20, then by (5*lvl) percent.
Famous characters and known heroes**:
Khaled Al-Ghazzawy - lvl5 Mechanic - currently onboard Exec Harmonius
Ludmila Malenkova - lvl4 Scientist - currently onboard Zhemchuzhina Tbilisi
Karl Wolf - lvl4 Pilot - currently onboard Gestark
* There are other classes in game as well, but they are (and will be) too specialised and rare only the owner will get the info
** Currently listed only lvl4 and 5 heroes, as they are well publicised
The majority of information about your ships will be in the Excel files. This info includes number of personnel, number of wounded personnel, layout of the ship and resources available. Open your .rar by using password written in greywool country cards. Excel files also feature calculators for fuel and medical supplies consumption and notes max speed of your ship.
As for orders - basically, do them as you see fit. But every order must have:
New position:
Distance to new position / fuel consumed:
IFF: on/off
Aggressiveness: 1-5
Hostile ships: ships you do not consider to be friendly.
Unused modules: list of modules on your ship that are not used. This frees manpower to work on additional projects. You can use manpower needed elsewhere in your projects, but it will make your ship undermanned. Undermanned ships suffer great penalties in combat, have reduced sight capabilities and are prone to accidents when travelling.
Other than that, it is up to you. Most of projects or activities you will want to do will require personnel assigned to it. This is done using another "resource" - manhours; manhours, mechanical manhours and scientific manhours are put into projects. If you just came up with this awesome project that just has to rock and you are unsure how much MHs are actually needed, you can either have the exact cost given in next report to simulate engineers carefully evaluating the possibilities, or you can throw MHs at it in hope it will be enough. If you make a list of more projects and overdo the involvment in the first, unused manhours will go to the second project, then third and so on. Resources work similarly.
Combat part will be added to rulebook during next turn or the one after it. It is actually done almost completely, but waiting for me to write the description would just delay the game even more and the probability of combat during day 1 is very low anyway.
As for orders - basically, do them as you see fit. But every order must have:
New position:
Distance to new position / fuel consumed:
IFF: on/off
Aggressiveness: 1-5
Hostile ships: ships you do not consider to be friendly.
Unused modules: list of modules on your ship that are not used. This frees manpower to work on additional projects. You can use manpower needed elsewhere in your projects, but it will make your ship undermanned. Undermanned ships suffer great penalties in combat, have reduced sight capabilities and are prone to accidents when travelling.
Other than that, it is up to you. Most of projects or activities you will want to do will require personnel assigned to it. This is done using another "resource" - manhours; manhours, mechanical manhours and scientific manhours are put into projects. If you just came up with this awesome project that just has to rock and you are unsure how much MHs are actually needed, you can either have the exact cost given in next report to simulate engineers carefully evaluating the possibilities, or you can throw MHs at it in hope it will be enough. If you make a list of more projects and overdo the involvment in the first, unused manhours will go to the second project, then third and so on. Resources work similarly.
Combat part will be added to rulebook during next turn or the one after it. It is actually done almost completely, but waiting for me to write the description would just delay the game even more and the probability of combat during day 1 is very low anyway.
Albert Defort (MSE001 Dallas)
Richard Forsythe (MUS867 Sterling)
Bo Klenberg (MFI200 Ilmarinen)
Alexei Eternails (MPN059 Everlasting)
Yevgeni Bilijutin (MSE002 Tereshkova)
Reiner Sturmwald (MUD575 Walküre)
Allen Nealy (MHW661 Titanic)
Tamara Romanoff (MTP353 Zhemchuzhina Tbilisi)
Annerosa von Schönkopf (MZF704 Gestark)
...
There would need to be pretty good assassin for us to get this far
Richard Forsythe (MUS867 Sterling)
Bo Klenberg (MFI200 Ilmarinen)
Alexei Eternails (MPN059 Everlasting)
Yevgeni Bilijutin (MSE002 Tereshkova)
Reiner Sturmwald (MUD575 Walküre)
Allen Nealy (MHW661 Titanic)
Tamara Romanoff (MTP353 Zhemchuzhina Tbilisi)
Annerosa von Schönkopf (MZF704 Gestark)
...
There would need to be pretty good assassin for us to get this far
- Be careful about maneuvering with large ships - they consume immense amount of fuel. If eveything goes smoothly and there is a fine planet nearby, the entire fleet combined is able to produce about 2400 fuel per turn. This is a quantity of fuel that Zhemchuzhina Tbilisi need to do a 15 clicks long journey (map is 100x100).
- Do not take combat lightly and do not presume that it is that easy to outsmart guns. Heavily armed ships are heavily armed. Sterling IV can destroy every Corvette and Cruiser in the game pretty much by itself in one turn if it gets into "proper and fair" shootout with them. Similarly, Laser cannon on Ilmarinen can kill a Corvette in one turn from any distance without any ways of avoiding this, as long as she has proper recon on Corvette´s position.
- Before each move, know the amount of fuel necessary. Most Corvettes have endurance of about 50 clicks, so try not to run out of it in a middle of nowhere.
- Ships are important. Crew is not that important.
- Food has been renamed to Medical Supplies. It is still the same thing, but with different name, as food would make no sense for a game with 1 day long turns
- All ships start with Antimatter reactors switched off, which means that no ship can get power out of it in this turn
- Keep orders simple and rather short. If your plan is very specific and long and delicate, it will probably not work. But you can try to do it, sure. What I would like to avoid is too much details in unimportant things.
- I have created a Skype group for this game, so if you are not already in (and want to be), send me a PM. It will be the easiest way to get answers for your questions. I will try to rewrite everything of note from there to the OP, though.
- Do roleplay.
Q: is drifting a thing for ships?
A: No. Cruisers and Corvettes that can land on an asteroid however do drift with the asteroid field. I originally planned to have ship´s location indicated by two things - position and speed vector; where fuel would be spent only on accelerating and decelerating, but I came to conclusiont that it would have been difficult to understand and rather unintuitive.
Q: Can you extract fuel from fighters?
A: Yes, at the start, 2/3 of your fighter squadrons are fueled up to their max. capacity of 30 fuel.
Q: What is range of fighter squadron?
A: Their combat radius is 15 units, their ferry range 30 units.
Q: If my fuel demand is calculated as 35.67 or 21.09, how much is consumed?
A: It is rounded up; so 36 and 22.
Q: Do ships collide if there are two on the same spot?
A: No.
A: No. Cruisers and Corvettes that can land on an asteroid however do drift with the asteroid field. I originally planned to have ship´s location indicated by two things - position and speed vector; where fuel would be spent only on accelerating and decelerating, but I came to conclusiont that it would have been difficult to understand and rather unintuitive.
Q: Can you extract fuel from fighters?
A: Yes, at the start, 2/3 of your fighter squadrons are fueled up to their max. capacity of 30 fuel.
Q: What is range of fighter squadron?
A: Their combat radius is 15 units, their ferry range 30 units.
Q: If my fuel demand is calculated as 35.67 or 21.09, how much is consumed?
A: It is rounded up; so 36 and 22.
Q: Do ships collide if there are two on the same spot?
A: No.
- James Moretti; Chicago(MDK72
