SUMMARY

This game is an attempt to run a Star Fleet Battles, published by ADB, campaign under the rules given by the Victory By Any Means (v3e) ruleset, published by VBAM Games.

At one point, these two companies were engaged in creating a product, named Federation Admiral. However, that game been shelved with no known release date. It appears that Federation Admiralty is a missions-based campaign game, rather than an adaptation of Victory by Any Means to the Star Fleet Universe. This document is intended to provide that adaptation.

CAMPAIGN DESCRIPTION

This is a "4X" style of campaign, where each player takes on the role of an entire empire in their efforts to "eXplore", "eXpand", "eXploit", and "eXterminate". Each player may achieve their goals by a variety of methods, from full scale war to economic domination to diplomatic unification to technological superiority.

SETUP

ALLOWED EMPIRES

The allowed empires to start with are those who have the infrastructure to take and hold territory, plus have a logistics network that can service that territory. Primarily it is those empires that have bases, have freighters, and have warships. This removes the empires such as the Jindarians (R16.0), the Orions (R8.0), and most of the simulator races of Module C4. Also, the intent is to remove those empires that have limitations on them in the source material that cannot be properly modelled with an effective "same start" as the other positions. This leaves out the Neo-Tholians (R7.60), the WYN (R14.0), the LDR (R14.0), and the Seltorians (R15.0).

The following empires are allowed:
• The Federation (R2.0)
• The Klingon Empire (R3.0)
• The Romulan Empire (R4.0)
• The Kzinti Hegemony (R5.0)
• The Gorn Confederation (R6.0)
• The Tholian Holdfast (R7.0)
• The Hydran Kingdom (R9.0) (Module C1)
• The Lyran Empire (R11.0) (Module C1)
• The Interstellar Concordium (R13.0) (Module C2)
• The Vudar Enclave (R17.0) (Module F2)
• The Frax Battle Line (R51.0) (Module C4)
• The Peladine (JR1.0) (Module E4)

TURN SUMMARY

4.1 ECONOMIC PHASE
 • Collect income from your systems (4.1.1) and trade routes (4.1.2).
• Spend resources to pay maintenance costs for your military and civilian units (4.1.3).
• Add or subtract points for any Miscellaneous Income/Expense that apply this turn (4.1.4).
• Update your Point Pool to determine number of points you have to spend this turn (4.1.5).
4.2 TURN ORDERS PHASE
 • Record your Fleet Deployment (4.2.1), Intel (4.2.2), Movement (4.2.3), Diplomatic (4.2.4), Construction (4.2.5), and Investment (4.2.6) orders for the turn.
4.3 INTEL PHASE
 • Gather intelligence from systems where you have units or colonies (4.3.1).
• Resolve covert operations (4.3.4) and Special Forces missions (4.3.5).
4.4 MOVEMENT PHASE
 • Embark or disembark units from transports (4.4.1).
• Resolve Jump Lane Movement (4.4.2), Jump Lane Exploration (4.4.5), and Long Range Scanning (4.4.7).
• Assign Convoys to trade routes (4.4.9).
• Perform Raiding Checks in systems (4.4.10).
• Resolve the outcome of any convoy raids (4.4.11).
4.5 DIPLOMACY PHASE
 • Resolve any first contact situations (4.5.2).
• Check to see if powers are in diplomatic contact (4.5.4).
• Resolve all diplomatic actions (4.5.5) and any resulting diplomatic incidents (4.5.6).
• Resolve any sneak attack declarations (4.5.8).
• Reduce all diplomatic cooldown values by 1 for relationships where cooldowns did not increase (4.5.3).
4.6 COMBAT PHASE
 • Setup and resolve all encounters (4.6.1) generated this turn for all systems where opposing forces are present. This includes Space Combat (4.6.2), Orbital Bombardment (4.6.3), and Ground Combat (4.6.4)
4.7 SUPPLY PHASE
 • Check if units can trace supply routes (4.7.3) to a friendly supply source (4.7.1) to remain in supply.
• Use military supply ships (4.7.4) or local supply (4.7.5) to resupply units that cannot trace a supply route.
• Mark units that cannot be resupplied as Out of Supply and apply the necessary effects (4.7.6).
• Check if systems are currently Blockaded (4.7.8).
4.8 CONSTRUCTION PHASE
 • Perform construction at Shipyards (4.8.2) and Systems (4.8.3), Remote Base Construction (4.8.4), Purchasing Convoys (4.8.6), Purchasing Troops (4.8.7), Repairs (4.8.8), Field Repairs (4.8.9), Refits (4.8.10), Scrapping (4.8.11), and Mothballing (4.8.12).
• Deploy newly constructed units to the systems where they were built or purchased (4.8.13).
4.9 TECH PHASE
 • Increase your Tech Pool (4.9.1) by an amount equal to the amount of Tech Investment (4.9.2) your empire purchased or received this turn.
• Earn a new tech advancement (4.9.3) if your Tech Pool is greater than or equal to your Tech Advancement Cost (4.9.3.1). If so, reduce your Tech Pool by an amount equal to your Tech Advancement Cost and then either research a new unit class (4.9.3.3) or upgrade an existing unit class (4.9.3.4).
4.10 END OF TURN PHASE
 • Resolve and complete all System Improvements (4.10.1), Jump Lane Upgrades (4.10.2), or Jump Lane Downgrades (4.10.3).
• Check Morale & System Loyalty (4.10.4) in all inhabited systems to see if they are in Good Order (4.10.4.1) or Opposition (4.10.4.2), start or stop enforcement of Martial Law (4.10.4.3), and then roll Morale Checks (4.10.4.4) for systems that are in Opposition or where an encounter was generated earlier this turn.
• Systems with Morale values at zero must check to see if they have gone into Rebellion (4.10.5).
• Convoys ordered to colonize uninhabited systems are disbanded and establish new colonies (4.10.6).
• Resolve any special events (4.10.7)
• Update player asset sheets to reflect the actions that occurred this turn (4.10.8).
• Check to see if any player has met the victory conditions for the scenario (4.10.9). If so, then a winner is declared and the game ends. Otherwise, play continues to the next campaign turn.

CAMPAIGN RULES

4.0 PLAYING THE GAME
VBAM is played over the course of a number of campaign turns, each of which represents roughly one month of actual game time. The length of a campaign year is then defined as twelve campaign turns. Campaign turns are resolved in Sequence of Play order as shown on the following page, and these rules are presented in Sequence of Play order to make it easier to refer to them during play and determine what actions need to be performed during each phase of the game.
4.1 ECONOMIC PHASE
The Economic Phase is where an empire's revenues and expenses are calculated to determine the number of economic points it has available in its Point Pool to spend during the Turn Orders Phase this turn.
4.1.1 System Income
Controlled systems are automatically exploited to generate resources for your empire. Each system your empire controls generates a number of economic points (EP) each turn equal to its system output (Population x RAW). A system with 4 Population and 3 RAW would generate 12 EP per turn, for example. This represents that the system's Population is exploiting the natural resources (in the form of RAW) in order to generate economic points.
A system's output will be halved this turn if it is Blockaded or in Opposition to represent the economic inefficiencies and resource shortages caused from local unrest. A system's output is reduced to zero if it is in Rebellion. 4.6.4.3 Economic Disruptions caused by having too many enemy ground units disembarked to a system can also reduce it effective output.
The system output of all the colonies you control are then totaled to calculate your total system income.
4.1.2 Trade Income
An empire earns an amount of trade income equal to the Trade value of all the systems its Convoys visited on their 4.4.9 Trade Routes last turn. A system's Trade value is equal to its Population value if it is in Good Order (Morale greater than or equal to half its Population), or half its Population if it is in Opposition (Morale less than half its Population). A system's Trade value is further reduced to zero if it is in Rebellion or Blockaded. Each system is only counted once regardless of whether or not it was included on more than one of your empire's trade routes. This represents that there is a finite amount of goods and resources available for trade in each system.
Trade routes are disrupted and will not generate any income for their owner if there are currently enemy fleets present in any of the systems along the trade route.
4.1.3 Maintenance
An empire must pay a number of economic points each turn equal to 10% of the total construction cost of all military and civilian units it controls that are currently in Active service. This includes any Active units that are currently being transported aboard transports. This maintenance expense is used to keep these units equipped and in proper fighting order.
Inactive units cost nothing to maintain because they have been mothballed at a friendly system and no longer require resources to maintain them.
4.1.4 Miscellaneous Income/Expense
Occasionally, a random event or other one-time payment of economic points may occur that affects a player's income for the turn. Add or subtract these one-time items from your Point Pool as appropriate.
4.1.5 Updating the Point Pool Add your system and trade income to your current Point Pool, subtract your maintenance costs, and then make adjustments for any miscellaneous income/expense to calculate the number of economic points you have available to spend during the Turn Orders Phase. You may not spend more economic points than you have in your Point Pool.
If your Point Pool is negative at the end of the Economic Phase, you must immediately scrap enough military units to cover your deficit (see 4.8.11 Scrapping). The income from scrapping these units is received immediately, not in the following Economic Phase, and is treated as though these units had been scrapped during the Construction Phase of the previous campaign turn.
4.2 TURN ORDERS PHASE
Players must record all of their orders for the turn during this phase, whether or not you are playing with a CM. These orders will detail all of the strategic actions your empire will perform this campaign turn, including all its 4.2.1 Fleet Deployment Orders, 4.2.2 Intel Orders, 4.2.3 Movement Orders, 4.2.4 Diplomatic Orders, 4.2.5 Construction Orders, and 4.2.6 Investment Orders.
Turn orders are written in secret and then their effects are determined as you work through the remainder of the Sequence of Play this turn. If you are playing with a CM, there is a good chance your opponents will never know exactly what your orders were this turn — but then you won't know what actions they performed this turn either, unless they directly affected your empire or were detected by your spies.
Orders cannot be selectively performed, and all recorded orders must be performed if they are legal at the step in the Sequence of Play where they are to be resolved. Any order that is illegal at the time it is to be performed is automatically canceled. You may record orders that are illegal during the Turn Orders Phase in anticipation of them being legal later on during the turn based on other interceding campaign events.
Any economic points spent on construction or investment orders are subtracted from your Point Pool during the Turn Orders Phase. Should events of the turn prevent these orders from being completed, some of the economic points spent on the canceled projects may be refunded as Miscellaneous Income during the next Economic Phase.
4.2.1 Fleet Deployment Orders
Units are organized into fleets during the Turn Orders Phase. A fleet is a group of units located in the same system that are operating together as a single administrative unit for movement purposes.
Units can be moved into new fleets or between existing fleets at their current system locations as part of your turn orders. A unit cannot be assigned to a fleet that is located in a different system. You would have to wait for the units to be in the same system before units could be moved between them on a future turn.
Any new units that completed construction during the 4.8.13 Deploy New Construction step of the Construction Phase last turn must be assigned to fleets at this time. If no fleet deployment orders are given to this new construction, then they will be automatically combined into a new fleet at their current system location.
Any fleets that no longer contains units after all fleet reorganization is complete during the Turn Orders Phase are automatically disbanded and removed from the player's fleet roster.
4.2.2 Intel Orders
You must record orders for any 4.3.4 Covert Operations your systems are going to perform during the Intel Phase this turn. Covert operation orders must include the name of the system staging the operation, the type of mission being attempted, and the system the mission is targeting. Some empires may also have 4.3.5 Special Forces troops that can be ordered to perform covert missions against adjacent systems. As with normal covert operations missions, Special Forces orders will note the unit performing the operation, the mission being attempted, and the system they are targeting.
4.2.3 Movement Orders
You may record movement orders for your fleets during the Movement Phase. Movement orders should include the fleet's current system location as well as which system(s) they are moving to this turn. This includes orders to embark/disembark from transports.
Fleets can perform 4.4.2 Jump Lane Movement, 4.4.5 Jump Lane Exploration, 4.4.7 Long Range Scanning, or 4.4.11 Convoy Raids as movement actions during this turn, but they can only be ordered to perform at most one of these actions each turn. This means a fleet could perform Jump Lane Movement or Jump Lane Exploration, but not both on the same turn.
Convoys can be assigned or reassigned to 4.4.9 Trade Routes as part of their movement orders, too, in case you need to create a new trade route or change an existing one. Convoys being assigned to trade routes are removed from their current fleets and added to your Trade Route Ledger listing the systems they are now trading in.
Meanwhile, Convoys being removed from an existing trade route are removed from the Trade Route Ledger and will be ordered to “move” into one of the systems they were previously trading in.
4.2.4 Diplomatic Orders
You must record any 4.5.5 Diplomatic Actions your empire will attempt this turn with other powers during the Diplomacy Phase. For each diplomatic action, you should indicate which power is being targeted and whether or not you are making a Diplomacy Check to improve your relations with the power or a Hostilities Check to degrade your relations with them instead.
You may only attempt diplomatic actions with another power if you are in 4.5.4 Diplomatic Contact and your 4.5.3 Diplomatic Cooldown value with them is at zero, which indicates that your empire's ambassadors are available and prepared to continue negotiations.
4.2.5 Construction Orders
You must record any construction orders your empire will be performing this turn during the Construction Phase. This includes 4.8.2 Construction at Shipyards, 4.8.3 Construction at Systems, 4.8.4 Remote Base Construction, 4.8.6 Purchasing Convoys, 4.8.7 Purchasing Troops, 4.8.8 Repairs, 4.8.9 Field Repairs, 4.8.10 Refits, 4.8.11 Scrapping, and 4.8.12 Mothballing.
Construction orders should include the name of the unit, where they are being built, repaired, or activated/ deactivated, and how many economic points are being spent on the construction project.
You may purchase any unit from your empire's force list that you have previously researched (as indicated by checking the “R?” box on the force list) at their listed construction cost shown in the “Cost” column. You may also purchase researched units from Allied force lists, however these units are purchased at a +25% construction cost surcharge (as discussed in 4.5.1.7 Alliance).
4.2.6 Investment Orders
You may spend economic points towards 4.9.2 Tech Investment, 4.10.1 System Improvements, and 4.10.2 Jump Lane Upgrades. You can also order fleets to perform 4.10.3 Jump Lane Downgrades to destroy jump relays and remove navigation buoys in order to make navigation more difficult.
Colonization orders are also included as part of your investment orders (4.10.6 Colonizing a System), as these orders will be completed at the same time as other investments. These orders should include the name of the Convoy that is being ordered to colonize the system and which system they are going to colonize.
Record all of your investments along with their economic point costs. The results of these investments will be resolved during the Tech Phase (tech investment) and End of Turn Phase (system improvements, jump lane upgrades/downgrades, colonization), respectively.
4.3 INTEL PHASE
Empires gather intelligence and resolve covert operations during the Intel Phase. This gives players the information they'll need to formulate their plans during the Turn Orders Phase next turn. Importantly, this might give them intel on the current location and disposition of enemy fleets so they can better plan their own fleet movement orders to either engage or avoid them, as needed.
4.3.1 Gathering Intelligence
You will automatically gather intelligence in every system your empire controls or where you have any units present at the start of the Intel Phase. These assets are effectively scanning the system and reporting what they see there. This lets you know the current attribute values of these systems as well as the number and type of units there.
Intelligence is also gathered through diplomatic channels at this time. You will also learn the total system income of any power you have a Trade relationship or higher as well as the total construction cost of active units of any power you have a Mutual Defense relationship or higher. This information is automatically divulged as a standard component of these political states, and is helpful in determining the relative strength of opposing powers.
4.3.2 Intel Range
Each system has an Intel Range equal to its current Intel value. This Intel Range is the maximum number of jumps away a system can target when attempting a covert mission. This limit means that most systems can only conduct covert missions against other nearby systems, not systems located halfway across the galaxy.
4.3.3 Listening Posts
Military bases serve as listening posts to monitor nearby systems or provide logistical support for agents operating near the border. As such, any friendly system that has at least one base of Outpost size or larger present receives a +2 bonus to its Intel Range. Note that only military bases (and not civilian bases, such as Shipyards and Supply Depots) can provide this spying bonus.
4.3.4 Covert Operations
Covert operations are used to gather information on distant systems, sabotage enemy units, or foment local insurgencies to advance your government's overall military or political agenda.
Players perform covert operations by ordering one of their systems to conduct a covert mission against a target system that is located within its Intel Range. Each system you control that has an Intel value greater than zero may be ordered to perform one covert mission each turn. Blockaded systems cannot perform covert missions until the blockade is lifted.
Covert missions rely heavily on routine military and civilian transports to move agents back and forth between worlds, and as such covert missions can only be performed across Minor or Major Lanes and never across Restricted or Unexplored Lanes.
4.3.4.1 Covert Missions
The following are the different types of covert missions your systems may perform during the game. Each mission has a difficulty modifier (shown in parentheses after the name) which is added to your roll on the Covert Operations Result Table when resolving the mission. The worse the difficulty modifier, the harder it is to successfully complete a mission of that type. The effect given for each covert mission is only applied if the mission is successful, otherwise there is no effect.
• Civilian (-2): This mission is used to destroy civilian infrastructure in the target system. If successful, a random civilian unit in the target system is lost.
• Counter-Insurgency (-1): This is an attempt to improve Morale at a friendly colony world through a clever use of propaganda and community outreach. If successful, the target system's Morale value is increased by 1. If the mission fails and is detected, the system instead loses 1 Morale.
• Counterintel (-1): This is a preemptive strike against enemy Intel operatives in the target system. If successful, reduce the system's Intel value by 1.
• Espionage (+0): This is an attempt to gather intelligence on the target system. If successful, during the End of Turn Phase you will learn the system's current system attribute values along with the number and type of units in the system. Q-Ships will not be detected if there are any Convoys present in the system.
• Fortification (-1): This an attempt to damage the system's planetary defenses. If successful, the system's Fortification value is reduced by 1.
• Industrial (+0): This is an attack against economic interests in the system. If successful, the system's RAW value will be temporarily reduced by 1 during the Economic Phase next turn.
• Insurgency (-1): This is an attempt to incite rebellion in systems loyal to the enemy. If successful, the target system's Morale value is reduced by 1.
• Piracy (-1): Outfit a new Raider fleet and send them to attack a system. If successful, a Raider attack will be generated against the target system during the Movement Phase later this turn.
• Population (-3): This is a cruel strike on the system's civilian population. This could take the form of detonating a nuclear or biological weapon in a major city, for example. If successful, reduce the target system's Population and Morale values by 1 each.
• Sabotage (-1): This mission is used to target and destroy enemy military units in the target system. If successful, roll a die and on a 8+ destroy a military unit of your choice. Otherwise, a random military unit in the target system is destroyed. Any units or cargo that unit was carrying are likewise destroyed.
• Tech (-2): This is an attempt to steal technology from another power and may only target systems that have 5+ Population or one or more Shipyards. If successful, roll a die. On a result of 6+ you successfully steal plans for a randomly selected unit available on the target's force list. Your empire can begin building units of this type but must pay a +25% construction cost penalty (equivalent to the economic penalty that applies when building units off of Allied force lists). Otherwise, if the die roll is a 5 or less, your spies instead manage to delete key research files from the enemy mainframe and their Tech Pool is reduced by an amount equal to the system's Population value.
4.3.4.2 Resolving Covert Missions
Covert missions are resolved by rolling on the Covert Mission Result Table and applying the die roll modifier based on the mission type that is being resolved. For example, a Sabotage mission would receive a -1 penalty to its roll based on its mission difficulty modifier. A mission receives an additional +1 bonus if the target system's Intel value is less than that of the system that is performing the mission. This demonstrates the inferior defensive Intel capabilities of the target system.
You also receive a +1 bonus to your covert mission roll if your empire has the target system on one of its active trade routes. Do not apply this modifier if the trade route was disrupted during the Combat Phase last turn (for example, if the Convoy was destroyed by Raiders or enemy forces moved into the system). Covert operations automatically fail with no effect if the system performing the mission is currently Blockaded.
Covert Mission Result Table (d10)
RollSuccess?Detected?Captured?
1-NoYesYes
2-3NoYesNo
4-5NoNoNo
6-7YesYesNo
8+YesNoNo
4.3.4.3 Mission Detection
A mission is detected whenever a “Detected?” result of “Yes” is rolled on the Covert Operations Result Table. The full details about the mission, including the mission type and who was performing the mission, are revealed to the target power.
This detection sparks a 4.5.6 Diplomatic Incident and after all covert missions have been resolved you will be required to make a special diplomatic incident check with the target during the Diplomacy Phase this turn, regardless of the number of missions detected. Apply a cumulative -1 penalty to the diplomatic incident roll for every successful mission they caught you performing against their systems this turn. For example, if you are caught performing two successful missions against them you would receive a -2 modifier to the diplomatic incident check. This demonstrates that successful missions have a greater chance of raising tensions and exacerbating the negative effects of the diplomatic incident.
Empires that are already at War do not roll diplomatic incident checks for detected covert missions because their political state cannot be reduced any further. Widespread use of covert operations are to be expected during times of war.
4.3.4.4 Captured Spies
If the modified roll on the Covert Operations Result Table is a 1 or less, then your spies were not only detected performing the mission but some of them were actually captured by enemy intelligence forces and are now being held for interrogation. The Intel value of the system that performed the mission is permanently reduced by 1 to represent the loss of these valuable operatives.
4.3.4.5 Implication
On a successful mission roll of 11+, you may choose to plant evidence that implicates another power. The mission target will automatically detect the mission (when they normally wouldn't) and treat it as if the mission had been performed by the power you implicated. That power will then suffer the negative effects of the mission detection. It has no effect if there are no other powers to implicate.
4.3.5 Special Forces
Troops with the Special Forces ability are specially trained infiltration teams that are dropped behind enemy lines to carry out secret covert operations missions. These units can be ordered to conduct a covert operations mission against a target system located within one jump of its current location, and these missions can even be conducted over Restricted Lanes (which is not possible with normal covert missions).
This mission is resolved like any other covert mission, however the Special Forces unit receives a -1 penalty to its roll on the Covert Operations Result Table because they are operating on their own without any outside support once they infiltrate the target system.
If a Special Forces unit is detected, roll a die to see if the unit has successfully extracted from the dangerous situation. If the extraction die result is less than or equal to the target system's Intel value then the ground unit has suffered significant casualties during mission extraction and is now crippled.
Meanwhile, a Special Forces unit is automatically eliminated whenever their covert mission ends in a “Spies Captured” result as this critical failure indicates the unit was unable to extract and all members were either captured or killed during the failed attempt.
Crippled Special Forces units cannot be used to perform covert missions because they have suffered too much attrition to properly carry out these operations. These damaged units must be repaired before they can be dispatched on any future infiltration missions.
4.4 MOVEMENT PHASE
The Movement Phase is the phase where units are embarked/disembarked from transports (4.4.1 Landings & Deployments) and then perform movement actions for the turn (4.4.2 Jump Lane Movement, 4.4.7 Long Range Scanning, 4.4.11 Convoy Raids). Once all fleets have finished moving, Convoys are then assigned to 4.4.9 Trade Routes and you check for 4.4.10 Raider activity, which can lead to additional convoy raids by these pirates.
4.4.1 Landings & Deployments
Fighters, attack boats, troops, and other types of cargo may embark or disembark from transports at the beginning of each Movement Phase. These units can be embarked onto transports to be moved to another system, disembark at their current system location, or be redeployed/transferred to other vessels at the same location. This gives fleets an opportunity to pick up and deliver cargo prior to performing their movement actions for the turn. Importantly, landings and deployments are completed before transports perform their own movement orders (if any) for the turn. Units cannot both embark and disembark on the same campaign turn.
Units may freely disembark to neutral systems or friendly systems controlled by your empire or one of its Mutual Defense or Alliance partners. Troops may only disembark in an enemy controlled system if there is a friendly beachhead present in the contested system (4.6.4.2 Invasions). Fighters and attack boats can be unloaded and deployed to enemy systems even if no beachhead is present, however. These spacecraft can mill around in the system and be resupplied by military or civilian supply ships and don't need to be landed on the planet itself. Units may only embark aboard waiting transports owned by the power or an Allied power. This allows Allied ships and Convoys to evacuate friendly troops from a system and move them to another system, for example.
4.4.2 Jump Lane Movement
Ships can use jump lanes to move from one system to another. The amount of jump lane movement a ship can perform during each Movement Phase is determined by the class of the jump lanes they are moving through.
Ships can always move through at least one Restricted, Minor, or Major Jump Lane per turn, but they cannot move through Unexplored Lanes until they are explored as described in 4.4.5 Jump Lane Exploration. Ships can move through up to three (3) jump lanes in a single turn so long as all of them are Major Lanes and all of the systems along the fleet's route are controlled by the player's empire or an Allied power. This strategic movement advantage is one of the benefits of upgrading jump lanes to Major status, because it allows you to more quickly redeploy your forces between the various sections of your empire.
4.4.3 Fast Ships
Military units with the Fast ability have a special strategic movement advantage that allows them to move through an extra Minor or Major Lane each Movement Phase in addition to their normal movement allowance. For example, this allows a Fast ship to move through one Minor and one Restricted Lane in a single Movement Phase, but it still couldn't move through two Restricted Lanes because Fast only allows it to move through an extra Minor or Major Lane (not an extra Restricted Lane). Fast ships can also move through up to four (4) Major Lanes in a single turn, as long as all of the systems along the path of movement are controlled by that player or Allied powers.
Note that fleets always move at the speed of their slowest ship, so only fleets that contain exclusively Fast ships can take advantage of this movement advantage. As such, Fast ships are typically assigned to their own fleets and given their own specific movement orders.
4.4.4 Convoy Movement Restrictions
There is no real difference between Restricted and Minor Lanes when it comes to military ship movement, however Convoys (as well as any other civilian ship types introduced in future supplements) do not have jump drives and must rely on the established network of jump relays to move between systems. As a result, they cannot move through Restricted Lanes on their own.
However, Convoys can move through a Restricted Lane if they are assigned to a fleet that contains at least one ship of light cruiser (CL) size or larger. These large warships are equipped with powerful jump drives and advanced sensor suites that allow them to escort Convoys across these treacherous jump lanes.
The civilian movement restrictions that apply to Restricted Lanes are also the reason why your empire's civilian freight network cannot trace supply routes over these lanes (4.7.3 Supply Routes).
4.4.5 Jump Lane Exploration
Any fleet containing one or more Scout ships is considered a Scout fleet and can be ordered to perform an exploration attempt this turn if it is located in a system that has one or more Unexplored Lanes present so long as there are no enemy fleets in the system to block their exploration efforts. Scouts that are crippled or Out of Supply cannot be used to perform exploration attempts, however, and a Scout fleet cannot perform any other movement actions on the same turn it makes its exploration attempt. Scouts ships are required to perform jump lane exploration because Scout fighters and attack boats lack the ability to move through a jump lane on their own.
The maximum number of exploration attempts you may make in a system each turn is equal to the number of Unexplored Lanes that connect to it. For example, you could have three Scout fleets make exploration attempts in a system that has three or more Unexplored Lanes. Exploration attempts are resolved during the Movement Phase by rolling a die. Empires with the Gifted Explorers trait add +2 to the die result. Any additional exploration attempt modifiers introduced in future supplements (such as from outstanding leaders or special system terrain traits) will also need to be applied to the roll. On a modified exploration die result of 8+, the Scout fleet will successfully explore a randomly selected Unexplored Lane at its current system location. The Unexplored Lane is automatically upgraded to a Restricted Lane and the Scout fleet then immediately moves through the jump lane to the system on the opposite end of the lane.
If multiple players are performing exploration attempts in the same system this turn, there is a chance they will end up exploring the same Unexplored Lane. This is expected behavior, and in these cases the jump lane will still be upgraded to a Restricted Lane and each of the Scout fleets that successfully explored that lane will move through it to the adjacent system and end their movement there.
Exploration orders are resolved simultaneously with other fleet movement orders, and if a Scout fleet successfully explores a lane they will move into the destination system at the same time any other fleets perform their movement. This means the Scouts may have left their original system and be gone when any inbound fleets arrive, and they may end up having an encounter in their destination system later on during the Combat Phase this turn.
4.4.6 Moving Other Units
Fighters and attack boats are too small to be equipped with jump engines and rely on larger vessels to transport them between systems. Similarly, troops must also be embarked onto transports for redeployment.
Convoys are the primary method of moving these units from one system to another. Each Convoy can carry any combination of six (6) fighters, attack boats, or troops. Fighters and attack boats that are embarked onto a Convoy are stored in a “crated” or disassembled state and must be disembarked before they can be deployed into combat. In contrast, troops that are being carried onboard transports can participate in ground combat operations, however their combat factors are halved.
Fighters and attack boats can be transported in a combat-ready state by Carriers or Tenders, respectively. Each Carrier can base a number of fighters equal to its Carrier value, while each Tender can base a number of attack boats equal to its Tender value. For example, a ship with Carrier 2 can carry up to two fighters, and a Tender 4 ship can carry up to four attack boats.
Supply units may also transport units, and each Supply unit can carry a number of fighters, attack boats, or troops equal to its Supply factor and these units are treated the same as if they were carried by Convoys. Supply units cannot be used to resupply friendly fleets or perform field repairs while they are carrying other units, and they are automatically Exhausted after these units are deployed. Assault units are also capable of moving troops and can carry one ground unit per Assault factor. For example, an Assault 2 ship could carry up to 2 ground units. Assault vessels cannot be used to move non-ground units as their basing is meant for carrying ground vehicles and infantry and they don't have the voluminous cargo spaces that are required to transport fighters or attack boats.
Hospital units may also be used to carry troops, and can carry one troop for each Hospital factor. However, Hospital units can only carry crippled troops, not full strength units. This represents that these medical vessels are transporting the wounded soldiers but do not have the space to also ship their vehicles and other gear.
Crippled units reduce their effective basing capacity to half their normal value to represent the collapse of hangar bays or loss of docking rails. This means a crippled Carrier 3 unit would only be able to base up to two fighters. Ground units with the Garrison special trait, notably including planetary Militias, cannot be moved from a system after they are purchased as they represent civil defense forces being staffed by members of the local population. They stay where they are purchased, until they are eliminated or scrapped.
The orbital weapons platforms (OWPs) fielded by some alien empires can also be broken down and transported via Convoy to move them between systems. Each OWP counts as two units for transport purposes. Supply ships can also transport OWPs, with each OWP requiring 2 Supply factors during transport. As with fighters and attack boats, OWPs that are being transported as cargo cannot be deployed into battle until after they are disembarked from their transports.
Fighters with the Supply or Hospital abilities cannot be used to move other units – they are simply too small to accommodate this kind of bulk cargo.
Future supplements may include additional miscellaneous forms of cargo (such as alien artifacts) that may need to be moved from system to system. In these cases, treat each piece of cargo as a single unit equivalent for transport purposes unless otherwise stated.
4.4.7 Long Range Scanning
Scout fleets may be ordered to perform a long range scanning mission of an adjacent system as long as the Scout is not performing any other movement actions this turn. The Scout is effectively jumping into the target system, taking a quick look around, and then jumping back home before they can be detected.
Long range scanning attempts are resolved by rolling a die and on a die result of 6 or higher the Scout will detect the total number of ships, bases, and civilian units present in the system at the end of the current Movement Phase. Fighters and troops are not revealed as they cannot be detected by the Scout's passive sensor scans.
Successful long range scanning attempts will not inform the scanning player as to what types of units are in their opponent's force or who owns them, only how many of these units are present. For example, if a system contains 3 Destroyers, 1 Starbase, and 1 Convoy, then the scanning player will only know that 5 contacts are present in the target system. The Scout's presence in the system will go undetected by any other forces currently operating there. Otherwise, if a scanning attempt roll is a natural 1, then the Scout was detected before it could jump back out of the system. The Scout fleet is moved to the target system as if it had been ordered to move there during the current Movement Phase. The Scout fleet will then have to try to evade enemy forces in the system during the Combat Phase so it can try to return home next turn.
Fast ships can also be used to perform long range scans of nearby systems, however they are less effective in this role and receive a -2 penalty to their scanning rolls because they have to get closer to the targets to get a good scan. Luckily, they are fast enough that they can typically evade enemy patrols.
Note that Scout fighters and attack boats cannot be used to perform long range scanning missions because they lack the ability to move through a jump lane on their own.
4.4.8 Contested Movement
There are a number of situations in which opposing fleets may end up encountering each other while performing their normal movement orders. This is called contested movement.
If a fleet that was ordered to perform multiple jumps in a single Movement Phase (such as moving across multiple Major Lanes) enters a system that already contains one of more enemy fleets, the moving player has the option of either canceling their remaining movement and stopping at their current system location or else they can continue their planned movement but must leave behind a number of ships equal to the number of enemy ships in the system. The moving fleet is required to remain in the system if it cannot leave the required number of units in the system, however.
Fast ships or ships fielded by an empire with the Fast Drive Systems trait (like the Graal) may always proceed on to their next system destination in these contested movement scenarios so long as the enemy doesn't have any Fast ships of their own or themselves have the Fast Drive Systems trait as this would still effectively block their movement through the system unless they left behind a number of ships greater than or equal to the number of enemy Fast ships in the system.
Meanwhile, if two or more fleets attempt to move in opposite directions down the same jump lane during the Movement Phase, roll a die for each fleet adding 3 to the result if the fleet is Fast or owned by an empire with the Fast Drive Systems trait. The fleet with the highest die result is the first to jump and will move through the lane before the other player. In the event of a tie, the fleets performed their jumps simultaneously and actually passed each other in transit without being detected.
4.4.9 Trade Routes
Convoys may be assigned to trade routes in order to generate 4.1.2 Trade Income. Convoys can only be assigned to a trade route if they are not currently carrying any units or other cargo. When assigning a Convoy to a trade route, the new route must contain at least one system from the Convoy's existing trade route or the Convoy's current system location.
Each trade route can contain up to three systems that are connected by a continuous path of Major Lanes. This jump lane class requirement reflects that significant interstellar trade can only take place with the rapid transit afforded by Major Lanes. Empires like the Brindaki that have the Free Traders trait can operate trade routes over Minor Lanes, however, but this is a special exception. A trade route can contain just a single system, in which case the Convoy is essentially just moving cargo back and forth between colonies and outposts within that one system and won't be moving across any jump lanes and is not subject to the Major Lane requirement that normally applies to multi-system trade routes.
If a hostile enemy fleet enters a system that is on a Convoy's trade route, there is a chance they will encounter the Convoy there during the Movement Phase this turn. If the system is the only system on the Convoy's trade route, it will always be encountered in that system. Otherwise, if the Convoy has multiple systems on its trade route, randomly determine which trade route system the Convoy is currently located this turn.
A Convoy will not generate any trade income for its owner if there are enemy fleets in ANY of the systems on its trade route. This enemy presence effectively disrupts the trade route and prevents the Convoy from moving cargo between these systems. The Convoy will need to wait for these threats to be eliminated, or else its owner can assign it to a new trade route during a future Turn Orders Phase so it can resume its commercial enterprises elsewhere. A Convoy that is currently running a trade route may be ordered to disband the active trade route during the Turn Order Phase. The trade route is immediately suspended and will not generate any trade income during the Economic Phase next turn, and the Convoy will then spend the remainder of the current turn “moving” to one of the systems on its trade route of the player's choice. It will be available to receive new orders like any other Convoy on the following turn. This means that it effectively takes one full turn to shut down an active trade route and free up the Convoy for other duties.
4.4.10 Raiders
Every campaign turn, there is a chance that Raiders will attack Convoys on their cargo runs. Raider checks must be made in any system that contains one or more Convoys or that is included on a trade route. Raider checks are not rolled for Core World systems (5+ Population) unless your empire is in a state of War as these systems are generally well protected against Raider activity during peacetime. Raider checks are also not required if the total construction cost of Police units in the system is greater than or equal to the system's current output (RAW x Population) and this effect applies regardless of whether or not the system's owner is at War. At least one Police unit must be present to receive this benefit. This makes Police units extremely effective in preventing Raider activity.
Raider checks are resolved by rolling a die and if a natural 1 is rolled then a Raider fleet consisting of 3d10 EP of units purchased from the Raider Force List will move into the target system and immediately perform a 4.4.11 Convoy Raid against a random Convoy in that system. Unlike normal convoy raids, if no Convoys are present in the raided system the Raiders will instead attack a random Supply Depot or Shipyard, if available, or else they will target the system itself if no other valid targets are present. In other words, a Raider attack will always occur, even if no Convoys are present to be raided. Attacks against systems typically occur if a Raider force is generated against a system when the Convoy itself is in another system along its trade route.
If the Raider fleet successfully eliminates the defending task force during the convoy raid, the targeted civilian unit is destroyed and the target system automatically loses 1 Morale. Furthermore, if the system itself was being attacked instead of a civilian unit, then the system's output is reduced to half its normal value next turn.
4.4.11 Convoy Raids
A fleet may be ordered to move into an adjacent system and attempt a raid against enemy Convoys. The fleet will move into the system and, if one or more enemy Convoys are present, it will immediately set up and resolve a special Interception Scenario (refer to 4.6.2 Space Combat) to determine the outcome of this commerce raiding action. If no enemy Convoys exist in the system, then the convoy raid automatically fails with no effect.
The Defender's task force may not include any additional civilian units other than the original raid target, and no reinforcements are available for either the Attacker or Defender in this scenario, nor may units be moved to the Reinforcements Pool during the battle. The only units available to either side are those that were included in their initial task forces. The convoy raid lasts until either task force retreats or is destroyed.
The Attacker will succeed in capturing the civilian unit (along with any other units or cargo it is carrying) if there are no military units left in the Defender's task force at the end of the space combat scenario. The raided system automatically loses 1 Morale for each civilian unit that is captured/destroyed from convoy raids.
The Attacker may choose to destroy the Convoy and its contents instead of capturing it if they do not wish to take it as a prize. This is usually done if the attacker feels there is little or no chance of them being able to return it to a friendly system in the future and simply want to deny the enemy those resources.
After the battle, the raiding fleet automatically withdraws from the target system and returns to their starting system location where they will remain for the rest of the campaign turn. The raiding fleet cannot choose to remain in the target system after the raid is completed. By the nature of their mission, they are moving into the system, hitting the enemy Convoy (if present), and then getting out before any of the system's defenses can react to the incursion. The fleet will then be available to receive new orders during the Turn Orders Phase next turn.
4.5 DIPLOMACY PHASE
In this phase, players determine the outcome of any 4.5.2 First Contact situations with alien powers they encountered for the first time during the Movement Phase this turn, after which you resolve all of the 4.5.5 Diplomatic Actions that were ordered this turn and any resulting 4.5.6 Diplomatic Incidents. Any of these diplomatic activities can result in political states increasing or decreasing. Finally, at the end of the phase, players reduce their 4.5.3 Diplomatic Cooldowns (if applicable).
4.5.1 Political States
Your overall diplomatic relationship with another power is determined by your political state. These political states are tracked via a linear progression with War as the lowest political state you can have with an opponent and Alliance as the highest political state.
This section provides an overview of each of these political states and what effects they have on your relations with other powers. The effects of political states of Non-Aggression and higher are cumulative. For example, two empires that have a political state of Mutual Defense receive the cumulative effects of Non-Aggression, Trade, and Mutual Defense.
4.5.1.1 War
This is a state of unrestricted warfare between two powers. You may freely move into the opponent's systems and attack, bombard, or invade them without restriction.
4.5.1.2 Hostilities
This is a state of low level conflict, a cold war threatening to go hot. Limited border conflicts are common for empires that are in a state of Hostilities. You may freely attack, bombard, and invade enemy frontier systems with 4 Population or less. However, you may not attack their core worlds that have 5+ Population as this would represent a significant escalation in the conflict. You are allowed to move fleets into any of their systems and blockade them regardless of their Population, however.
4.5.1.3 Neutral
This political state indicates that two powers have not developed any strong feelings about each other one way or the other. You may voluntarily choose to move into a system controlled by another Neutral power and can even blockade the system, but you may only freely attack their forces in neutral systems. A power may attack any opposing Neutral fleet that accidentally strays across the border into one of their own controlled systems, however.
4.5.1.4 Non-Aggression
This is a peace agreement where two powers agree to not attack each other's assets and establish a mutual border between their respective territories. You cannot voluntarily move fleets into systems controlled by a power you have a Non-Aggression treaty with. If your fleets accidentally enter a system they control (for example, if you explore a jump lane that connects to one of their systems), your fleet is required to retreat to a friendly or neutral system during the following Movement Phase. You cannot generate space combat battles against forces owned by a Non-Aggression partner, nor can you attack or blockade any of their systems.
4.5.1.5 Trade
This is a commercial agreement which allows you to move civilian Convoys (but not other military vessels) into systems controlled by the other power and establish new trade routes to generate additional trade income. Your empire's total system income is automatically revealed to any opponents you have a Trade relationship with as part of this agreement, however.
Convoys that are carrying military units (fighters, attack boats, troops, OWPs, etc.) are allowed to move into systems controlled by a Trade partner, however these transported units cannot be landed or deployed to the Trade partner's systems except to transfer ownership of them to the target power.
For example, the Lorans could move a Convoy carrying a number of fighters into a Brindaki system on its way to another Loran controlled system, but the fighters would remain embarked as cargo on the Convoy unless the Loran player was intending to sell (or gift) the fighters to the Brindaki, at which point they could choose to disembark them to the system to complete the exchange.
4.5.1.6 Mutual Defense
This treaty establishes a military partnership with the intent of providing mutual defense during times of crisis. This often represents the leasing of stations or military bases to facilitate transfer of goods and supplies, or giving friendly personnel somewhere to be based from when operating in the defense partner's territory.
This political state allows you to move military units into systems that are controlled by the other power and even land troops in their systems. Troops landed in a Defense partner's systems will NOT contest control of the system and are treated as friendly defensive troops for all control and combat purposes.
You may also use your Defense partner's supply sources to resupply your own forces. This is one of the key benefits of the treaty, as it lets you keep your forces in supply beyond your normal supply routes.
Defense partners receive a +2 bonus to Hostilities Checks against opponents if one or more of their Mutual Defense partners are already at War with them. If at War with the same power, Defense partners may field combined task forces during space combat that contain a mix of units controlled by both powers. This allows them to fight together rather than separately in these scenarios.
Finally, your empire's total military strength (defined as the total construction cost of military and civilian units in active service) is revealed to all your Defense partners.
4.5.1.7 Alliance
This is the final step in cooperation between two empires. It represents a major defense commitment, with the powers working together in common cause to protect each other against external threats and sharing technologies to improve their respective military forces ahead of any potential conflict.
Alliance members automatically reciprocate any declarations of War enemy powers make against their allies without the need for a successful Hostilities Check. Allies also routinely share technological advancements with one another. This is represented by allowing a player to purchase available units from Allied force lists, but at a +25% construction cost penalty to reflect the additional expense required to adapt the designs for use by their own species and/or pay for Allied engineering support to help maintain these units.
4.5.2 First Contact
First contact occurs when two powers encounter each other for the first time, usually because one of them moved units into a system during the Movement Phase that the other power either controls or has its own units present. When this occurs, you must roll on the First Contact Table to determine their initial political state. Empires with the Charismatic trait receive a +2 bonus to their rolls on the First Contact Table, while empires with the Xenophobic trait instead receive a -2 penalty to the roll. These bonuses are cumulative, so when two Charismatic empires make first contact they will receive a +4 modifier to their roll.
First Contact Table (d10)
RollStarting Political State
1-War
2-3Hostilities
4-7Neutral
8-9Non-Aggression
10+Trade
The initial political state you roll on the First Contact Table reflects the outcome of the first contact encounter and determines if it was a peaceful encounter or else resulted in some sort of hostile response – possibly even resulting in a “first contact war” being declared due to an act of aggression by one of the captains involved in the first contact scenario. The unknown alien fleets your empire encounters may not always react positively when your own ships approach them with their gun ports open!
After determining their initial political state, each empire separately rolls a die and assigns the result as their current 4.5.3 Diplomatic Cooldown value with the other power. This diplomatic cooldown value is the number of turns they must wait before they can perform any 4.5.5 Diplomatic Actions with each other, and it typically represents the time required for them to dispatch ambassadorial delegations to the other's homeworld to begin negotiations.
4.5.3 Diplomatic Cooldown
A diplomatic cooldown is the number of turns an empire must wait before it can attempt another diplomatic action with a specific opposing power. In most cases, this represents a situation where diplomatic negotiations have reached a stalemate and your ambassador has been recalled home for further consultations with your government on how to proceed. In the case of first contact, this delay instead represents the number of turns it will take for an ambassador to arrive at their capital to begin negotiating with them.
Each empire tracks a separate diplomatic cooldown value with each other power it has previously made contact with. For example, if the Humans have made contact with the Brindaki, Kili, and Jains then they would have three separate diplomatic cooldown, one with each of these powers, and those same powers would track their own diplomatic cooldown value with the Humans.
Diplomatic cooldowns can increase as the result of 4.5.2 First Contact, 4.5.5 Diplomatic Actions, or 4.5.6 Diplomatic Incidents, with the player rolling a die and adding the result to their current cooldown value with that particular opponent. Empires like the Brindaki with the Bureaucratic Diplomacy trait instead roll two dice and add the higher of the two die results to their diplomatic cooldown.
Diplomatic cooldown values are reduced by 1 at the end of each Diplomacy Phase so long as they didn't increase this turn. A diplomatic cooldown value cannot be reduced below a minimum value of zero.
You may only perform diplomatic actions against an opponent if your diplomatic cooldown value with them is at zero. However, a power may sign or reject any treaty that is offered to them by another empire, even when their diplomatic cooldown value with that power is greater than zero. Signing/rejecting diplomatic offers is not affected by diplomatic cooldown, it only limits your own ability to attempt diplomatic actions with that opponent.
4.5.4 Diplomatic Contact
Diplomatic contact is required in order for two powers to perform diplomatic actions with each other after they have made first contact. Sustained diplomatic contact requires that two powers can trace a path of jump lanes between systems they each control that doesn't pass through any Unexplored Lanes or enemy controlled systems. This essentially ensures that normal diplomatic traffic can move between their two territories to carry messages back and forth between them.
An empire can achieve limited diplomatic contact with another power if they move a 4.5.7 Diplomatic Ship into a system they control. This limited diplomatic contact will allow the Diplomatic vessel's owner to attempt diplomatic actions with the target power, despite the lack of sustained diplomatic contact, as long as they do not have an active diplomatic cooldown with the power.
4.5.5 Diplomatic Actions
Diplomacy is carried out by performing diplomatic actions with other powers. There are two standard types of diplomatic actions: Diplomacy Checks and Hostilities Checks. The former is used to improve relations with another power by increasing your political state with the target, while the latter is instead used to degrade relations by reducing your political state with the opponent.
You may only attempt one diplomatic action per turn with each power you are in contact with, and then only if you don't have an active diplomatic cooldown with them. This prevents empires from negotiating with powers they are incapable of communicating with or where negotiations have already broken down (or been stymied by internal political friction from within your own government). Diplomatic actions are resolved simultaneously during the Diplomacy Phase, with all Diplomacy Checks resolved first before resolving any Hostilities Checks. This order of operations gives diplomats a chance to improve relations and avert political disaster when tensions are high and empires are on the brink of war.
Performing a diplomatic action always results in an increase in your diplomatic cooldown value with the target power, regardless of whether or not it was successful. Roll a die and add the result to your diplomatic cooldown value with them. The target's own diplomatic cooldown value is not affected, however.
4.5.5.1 Diplomacy Check
Diplomacy Checks are used to improve your political state with another power. Roll a die and subtract 1 if you have a Trade political state with the target or subtract 2 if they have a Mutual Defense political state. These modifiers make it more difficult to successfully offer higher level treaties. Charismatic empires add 2 to the roll, while Xenophobic empires subtract 2. All these modifiers are cumulative. You will succeed in offering your opponent a treaty on a modified die result of 6+.
If the Diplomacy Check is successful, your opponent is then given the option to either sign the treaty and increase your political state by one level or else reject the treaty and remain at your current political state.
If you roll a natural 1 on a Diplomacy Check roll, your ambassadors have instead caused a 4.5.6 Diplomatic Incident and you will have to deal with the fallout from this unfortunate event!
4.5.5.2 Hostilities Check
A Hostilities Check is an attempt to declare War on an opponent or, failing that, break treaties and reduce your political state which will improve your chances of declaring War in the future. A Hostilities Check is resolved by rolling a die and applying political state modifiers as shown below. It is easier to raise tensions with powers if you already have a poor relationship, and is commensurately harder to break or declare against targets when you are in a higher political state. Aggressive empires receive a +2 bonus to Hostilities Checks, while Pacifist empires receive a -2 penalty.
• Current political state is Hostilities (+2)
• Current political state is Neutral (+1)
• Current political state is Non-Aggression or Trade (-1)
• Current political state is Mutual Defense (-2)
• Current political state is Alliance (-3)
You will successfully declare War on an opponent on a modified die roll of 9 or more. This will immediately reduce your political state with the opponent to War, and BOTH powers add an additional 1d10 turns to their respective diplomatic cooldowns (not just the player that performed the Hostilities Check) to represent the increased tensions from this overtly hostile act.
On a modified die result of 6, 7 or 8, you fail to declare War but instead succeed in breaking a treaty with the target, which reduces your political state with them by one level. Your political state cannot be reduced below Hostilities as the result of breaking a treaty, however. A successful declaration of War is always required for your political state to drop to that level.
Otherwise, on a modified die result of 5 or less, the attempt to increase tensions with the target power simply fails with no further effect. Opposing factions within your government managed to intercede and prevent you from further destabilizing relations with the target power.
4.5.6 Diplomatic Incidents
A diplomatic incident will occur whenever you roll a natural 1 on a Diplomacy Check or you are caught performing 4.3.4 Covert Operations missions against one or more of their controlled systems.
First, roll a die and increase the diplomatic cooldowns of BOTH powers by this amount. Next, roll a die and apply a modifier based on your current political state as follows:
• Current political state is Hostilities (-2)
• Current political state is Neutral (-1)
• Current political state is Trade (+1)
• Current political state is Mutual Defense or Alliance (+2)
On a modified die result of 3 or less, your political state with the target is reduced by one level to reflect that the diplomatic incident was so severe that it caused a permanent diplomatic rift between your two nations. This diplomatic incident could even lead to the immediate outbreak of War if you were already in a state of Hostilities!
4.5.7 Diplomatic Ships
Some empires employ dedicated consular vessels to support their diplomatic activities in the field. These units have the Diplomatic ability listed in their special notes. If you move a Diplomatic vessel into a system controlled by another power, you can perform diplomatic actions with the target even if you otherwise are not in contact with them (you still can't attempt a diplomatic action if you are under a diplomatic cooldown, however).
Additionally, you will receive a +1 bonus to your Diplomacy Checks with another power if you have a Diplomatic vessel in a Core World (5+ Population) system they control. If the opposing power is an 5.1 Independent System, then you get this +1 bonus if you have a Diplomatic unit in their system regardless of its current Population value.
This Diplomatic bonus represents the advantage of having a high level VIP on site that is empowered to directly negotiate with the foreign government rather than having to wait for diplomatic communiques to slowly route back and forth between your respective imperial capitals.
4.5.8 Sneak Attacks
You may choose to unilaterally declare War on an opponent by having your forces conduct a “sneak attack” against their fleets or colonies during the Combat Phase this turn. This is usually done by moving one or more of your fleets into a system they control and ordering them to attack without warning or provocation.
Declaring a sneak attack will automatically put you in a state of War with the target during the current Diplomacy Phase, with both powers increasing their respective diplomatic cooldowns by another 1d10 turns. However, the sneak attack will also immediately generate diplomatic incidents with EVERY other power that has a Non-Aggression or higher political state with the target that you declared war on in order to determine the diplomatic effects (if any) of your unlawful declaration of War.
You cannot perform a sneak attack against an opponent unless your diplomatic cooldown with them is at zero, as the sneak attack is effectively a special diplomatic action that is always successful, but comes at a potential political cost to your relations with other powers. You also cannot perform sneak attacks against another power if you have a political state of Non-Aggression or higher. These treaties prevent you from unilaterally declaring war on them, which is a large part of the benefit of advancing your relations to this level!
If you're performing a sneak attack on an 5.1 Independent System, then diplomatic incidents will automatically be generated with ALL other Independent Systems you are in contact with. These minor systems can clearly recognize you are a threat to their collective survival and will respond accordingly by severing ties and preparing their defenses for when you inevitably attack them, too.
The opponent you declare a sneak attack on receives a -4 penalty to their 4.6.2.4 Surprise rolls in all space combat scenarios your empire generates against their forces on the turn the sneak attack is declared. This penalty simulates the confusion stemming from the sudden declaration of war.
4.6 COMBAT PHASE
The Combat Phase is where players set up and resolve all 4.6.1 Encounters that were generated this turn to determine the outcome of these meetings between opposing forces. Any combination of 4.6.2 Space Combat, 4.6.3 Orbital Bombardment, and 4.6.4 Ground Combat operations can be performed as part of each encounter, depending on what assets are present in the system and the political states of the encounter participants. The Combat Phase ends once players have finished resolving all of these encounters.
4.6.1 Encounters
An encounter occurs when opposing powers have assets in the same system at the start of the Combat Phase. This typically means they have fleets in the same system, but it can also mean that one of the powers controls the system and has a colony, base, or troops there.
Encounters can lead to combat, but they don't have to. Players are given an opportunity to engage in limited negotiations before each encounter to determine whether or not they intend to attack anyone. If none of the powers wish to attack each other, then the encounter ends peacefully without any combat operations being resolved. Combat actions are only resolved when at least one of the participants declares hostile intentions.
An empire's political state with other powers in an encounter can limit its options. Notably, you cannot attack an opponent if you have a Non-Aggression or higher political state. If an encounter is generated where all of the involved powers have Non-Aggression pacts with each other, then there is no possibility of combat and the encounter will always end peacefully.
During an encounter where at least one player has decided to press the attack, players may engage in any combination of space combat, orbital bombardment, and ground combat as part of encounter resolution. All space combat scenarios are resolved first, then surviving units may perform orbital bombardment against the system (if their fleets have achieved orbital superiority), after which ground combat is resolved.
The ownership of a system can change as the result of an encounter, with the colony being conquered by an invader or being rendered uninhabited as the result of intense orbital bombardment. These ownership changes take effect at the end of the encounter.
All encounters occur simultaneously and fighting in one system cannot affect the outcome in another, other than to perhaps change the decisions you make in each successive encounter. Encounters should always be resolved in a random order to prevent any one player from gaining an advantage. Resolve each encounter completely before proceeding to the next encounter.
4.6.2 Space Combat
Opposing fleets may choose to engage in space combat at the start of each hostile encounter. The players participating in the encounter will take turns declaring and resolving space combat scenarios against their opponents. Space combat scenarios define the rules of engagements for fleets that are participating in space combat during an encounter. There are three possible space combat scenarios that players can declare:
• Interception Scenario. This is a standard pitched battle between two opposing task forces. Neither task force may include any bases, and there are no adjustments to their Surprise rolls. This is the standard space combat scenario, and the one most commonly declared and resolved during the game.
• Defensive Scenario. This scenario has task forces assaulting a base or colony in the system. The Defender must include bases as part of their task force, and they may include a single base in their task force at no additional command cost.
• Pursuit Scenario. This scenario has the Defender's task force attempting to withdraw from the system while being pursued by the Attacker. The Defender receives a -1 penalty to their Surprise roll in this battle and must use any crippled ships in their fleet to fill non-flagship positions (the task force flagship does not have to be crippled). The Attacker receives a +1 bonus to their own Surprise roll and their flagship has its Command Rating reduced to half its normal value due to the haste with which they were thrown into pursuit. The Attacker may not include any crippled units in their task force because these damaged units are incapable of maintaining the speed required to pursue the retreating units.
The current player that is generating the space combat scenario (called the Attacker) may choose to declare an Interception or Defensive Scenario against another encounter participant so long as they do not have a political state of Non-Aggression or higher with the target. You may only declare a Defensive Scenario against targets that have one or more bases present in the system, however.
The player targeted by a space combat scenario (called the Defender, regardless of the strategic context) must then choose to either accept the space combat scenario or else refuse it and instead withdraw from the encounter. However, the Attacker may choose to generate a Pursuit Scenario against the Defender's retreating forces and this scenario cannot be refused.
If an Attacker generates an Interception Scenario against a Defender that has one or more bases in the system, the Defender may refuse the Interception Scenario and demand a Defensive Scenario instead. The Defender's fleet is effectively retreating to the protection of its bases in the system rather than leaving the system. The Attacker must then either accept the Defensive Scenario or halt all future attacks against the Defender this encounter.
The Defender may only refuse a Defensive scenario if they have ships in the system that can potentially retreat from the system, in which case the Attacker may generate a Pursuit Scenario against only those retreating fleets. Otherwise, a Defender cannot refuse a Defensive Scenario if they do not have any ships left in the system or their only remaining units are incapable of moving through jump lanes (ex: fighters and attack boats).
Space combat scenarios are immediately resolved after they are generated, and the current space combat scenario must be completely resolved before the next one is generated. When resolving space combat scenarios, each player will assemble their task force (4.6.2.1 Task Force Setup) and reinforcements (4.6.2.3 Reinforcements Pool) and then roll for 4.6.2.4 Surprise to determine their task force's readiness state for the battle.
A space combat scenario ends once one side or the other is eliminated or successfully retreats from combat. Any units that were destroyed during the battle are removed from play. Any units or cargo being carried by transports that were destroyed in the battle are also lost.
Fleets that successfully withdraw are disengaged and cannot be attacked again for the remainder of the encounter. Withdrawing fleets are still technically in the system but must be given movement orders that they will perform during the next Movement Phase.
Players will continue generating and resolving space combat scenarios until each player in the encounter has been given the opportunity to perform their attacks. When it's your turn to generate space combat scenarios, you may choose to pass initiative on to the next player without generating any space combat scenarios. This is typical in situations where you have been drawn into an encounter against your will and do not wish to fight anyone.
4.6.2.1 Task Force Setup
Space combat is fought between opposing task forces. Each player will use the following rules to set up their task force at the start of each space combat scenario.
Flagship & Task Force Command Limit
Before each battle, each side assembles a task force consisting of a task force flagship and a number of units up to the flagship's Command Rating (CR). This is your task force command limit. For example, a battlecruiser (CR 9) that is serving as a task force flagship could include itself and up to nine (9) other friendly units in its task force. Your task force flagship must be your highest CR unit, however crippled units may be voluntarily excluded from consideration when choosing a task force flagship because an admiral may not want to fly their flag from a vessel that is already heavily damaged and could be easily destroyed in battle.
Carriers must have the escorts provided in their ship description. If they are listed as having no escorts, then they must have escorts as provided by (S8.315). Carriers without proper escorts must be put in the 4.6.2.2 Reinforcements Pool unless required to participate by other rules in the combat section of 4.6.2. Carrier escorts must have a carrier to escort, or else be placed in the reinforcements pool with the same caveats as un-escorted carriers.
Civilian Units
Players must include all of their available civilian units in their task force, but these units will not count against their task force command limit. However, an attacking force in any scenario situation or a defender in an interception scenario may choose to exclude some or all of their civilian units from their task force if they have a weapon status of III (see 4.6.2.3 Surprise) because it is assumed they could have held these units in reserve outside of the combat zone if they were fully prepared for the battle. Civilian bases (Shipyards, Supply Depots) are only included in Defensive Scenarios, not in Interception or Pursuit Scenarios (as they are immobile units.)
Bases & Fixed Defenses
A Defender must include friendly bases and friendly immobile units in Defensive Scenarios (not Interception or Pursuit Scenarios), and one base may be included in the Defender's task force at no additional command cost in a Defensive Scenario. Each additional deployed base is treated as a ship equivalent for command purposes.
A defender in a defensive scenario may gain certain Star Fleet Battles fixed defenses based on the system fortification value. Destruction of these facilities does not affect the system's fortification value (but, see 4.3.4.1 Covert Missions and 4.6.3.3 Bombardment Missions.) Up to 6 ground bases count as a single unit for command rating purposes. Up to 5 defsats count as a single unit for command rating purposes.
Fort
Value		SFB unit(s)
0No units
1-32 ground bases.
4-56 ground bases, OR 2 GBDP, OR 2 Defsats.
6-86 ground bases AND 2 Defsats, OR 2 GBDP AND 2 Defsats, OR 5 Defsats.
9-116 ground bases AND 5 Defsats, OR 6 GBDP.
12+12 ground bases AND 5 Defsats, OR 6 GBDP AND 5 Defsats.
"Ground bases" in the above list may be of the following: DBD1 (ph-1), GBD2 (ph-2), GBDH (hellbore), DBFB (fusion beam), GBDD (disruptor), GBDT (plasma-S), GBDF (plasma-F), GBPT (photon), GBPC (particle cannon), GBIC (ion cannon), GBQWT (quantum wave), GBDC (disruptor cannon), GMB (drone), GMD (plasma-D), GME (E-rack), GHD (heavy drone), AGBT (tractor-repulsors), AGB2 (Andro ph-2), GLG (rail gun), and X versions and Y versions of the above. All ground bases must be of the same type and be able to be fielded by the defender's empire and at the defender's technology year. Bases are distributed evenly across the planet's surface. Defsats are set up per (R1.15A). GRGs (rail guns) may replace the GBDP by Jindarian who qualify. Ground bases that field fighters, PFs, sensor channels, or extra marines are intentionally excluded from this list.
Fighter & Attack Boat Basing
Carriers and Tenders included in your task force allow you to deploy additional fighters or attack boats, respectively, without affecting the flagship's command limit. These basing units are effectively covering the command costs of these units. Each Carrier can deploy a number of fighters equal to its Carrier factor, while each Tender can deploy a number of attack boats equal to its Tender factor. Additional attack boats (but not fighters) can be added to the task force (e.g. from the 4.6.2.2 Reinforcements Pool), with each pair being treated as a ship equivalent towards the overall task force command limit.
Allied Task Forces
Allied powers in a Mutual Defense or Alliance political state may field a task force containing units owned by either power when fighting against an enemy they are both at War with. This allied task force is always commanded by the power whose flagship is being used to lead the task force.
4.6.2.2 Reinforcements Pool
Additional units beyond those that can be included as part of your task force are prepared as reinforcements and placed into your Reinforcements Pool. Simply set these units aside and they will be able to enter the battle during future combat rounds. Units in the Reinforcements Pool cannot participate in combat and do not contribute any combat factors or special abilities towards your force.
You cannot voluntarily place units in the Reinforcements Pool if you could still include them as part of your task force. For example, if you have a CR 9 battlecruiser as your task force flagship and a total of eight (8) other ships in the battle, you would have to include all of them in your active task force. You would need to have at least 10 additional non-flagship ships present before you would be able to move any of them to the Reinforcements Pool.
4.6.2.3 Surprise
Before the battle, one player rolls on the Surprise Table and applies any modifiers based on the space combat scenario being resolved to determine the readiness state of both task forces in the current battle. Players receive a +1 bonus to the roll if they have at least one Scout or Fast unit in their task force to perform recon. If the Attacker is performing a 4.5.8 Sneak Attack, the Defender will receive a -4 penalty to their Surprise roll.
The outcome of this roll simulates the effects of proper planning, positioning, tactics, etc.
Surprise Table (d10)
RollDefender WSAttacker WS
1-WS-IWS-III
2-5WS-IIWS-III
6-8WS-IIIWS-III
9+WS-IIIWS-II
Modifiers:
+1 Scout or Fast unit in defending force
+1 All units in defending force have stealth
+1 Slow unit in attacking force
-1 Scout or Fast unit in attacking force
-1 All units in attacking force have stealth
-4 Attacker declared sneak attack this turn

4.6.2.4 SFB Specific Rules
• Commander's option points are 10% of the unit's refit BPV (without drone speed upgrades.) Bombardment ships gain the additional 10% commander's options of (S3.223)
• No hidden mines or hidden cloak
• No crew/pilot quality or Legendary Officers
• No Super-Intelligent computers
• Electronic warfare is being used, but Generated (D6.3141) and Scout-Lent (G24.21) rules may be ignored on a battle-by-battle basis with permsision from both sides.
• All orbital bases are assumed to have Cargo BAMs (CarM) in all class-B locations. Bases too small to have BAMs (such as SAMs), instead have Cargo Pods (P-CC) in all class-A locations. Bases with the 'Carrier' trait are assumed to have two Hanger BAMs (HBM). Bases with the 'Tender' trait are assumed to have one PF BAM (PFM).
• Each fighter unit or 'Carrier' trait value translates to 6 SFB fighters or 3 heavy fighters (or less if the unit cannot carry the whole amount, such as many Klingon carriers.) Each AB unit or 'Tender' trait value translates to 3 SFB PFs
• All units are assumed to have year-appropriate refits and year-appropriate drone speeds. 'Optional' refits that did not affect the entire class of units (such as UIM) are not included. Fighters are assumed to be the most modern type of the fighter unit carried (e.g. has the 'C' refit, if appropriate, etc..)
• Tugs and tug-like units with the 'Supply' trait, are assumed to be carrying appropriate cargo pods.
4.6.2.5 SFB Scenario Setup
• All maps are 71 hexes on a side, with a marker at the exact center (3636)
• Any unit that is more than 35 hexes from this center mark, is considered to have disengaged by distance.
4.6.2.5.1 Interception Scenario Setup
• The defender sets up within 3 hexes of 1936, facing B or C at their discretion, speed max.
• The attacker sets up within 3 hexes of 5337, facing E or F at their discretion, speed max.
4.6.2.5.2 Defense Scenario Setup
• The defender sets up within 5 hexes of 3636, facing at their discretion, speed 6.
    Defending bases are rotating clockwise around the planet (set up within 5 hexes from the planet.)
• The attacker sets up within 3 hexes of the 01xx map edge, facing B or C at their discretion, speed max.
• There is a planet at 3636, which is not rotating.
4.6.2.5.3 Pursuit Scenario Setup
• The defender sets up within 3 hexes of 2036, facing B or C at their discretion, speed 10.
• The attacker sets up within 3 hexes of the 01xx map edge, facing B or C at their discretion, speed max.
• The defender may only disengage in direction B or C. The defender may not disengage by accelleration until after turn 3.

4.6.3 Orbital Bombardment
Orbital bombardment is used to destroy planetary defenses, infrastructure, or civilian population centers in an enemy controlled system. This is typically done to weaken a system ahead of a major invasion, although some alien empires may choose to use these barbaric tactics to devastate strategic systems, damage their long term prospects, and deny resources to their enemies.
4.6.3.1 Orbital Superiority
A fleet can only perform orbital bombardment against an enemy system if they have achieved orbital superiority by eliminating all the defender's bases in the system. The presence of any enemy bases in the system will prevent an attacker from bombarding the system this turn.
4.6.3.2 Bombardment Value
Total the Anti-Ship factors of all attacking ships, fighters, and bases in the system to calculate your fleet's total bombardment value (BV). Units with the Bombardment special ability provide an amount of bombardment value equal to twice their Anti-Ship factors.
Units that are currently Out of Supply cannot contribute towards orbital bombardment due to a lack of available munitions. Out of Supply units will be able to resume orbital bombardment on a future campaign turn once they are back in supply.
4.6.3.3 Bombardment Missions
The attacking player may choose to use their available bombardment value to conduct any combination of Fortification, Troop, Infrastructure, or Population Bombardment missions against the target system.
Half of the leftover bombardment value not spent on missions this turn will carry over to future Encounter Phases as described in 4.6.3.5 Sustained Bombardment.
• Fortification Bombardment: This is a coordinated strike against a planet's orbital defense network to eliminate the defense satellites, minefields, planetary gun/ missile batteries, communications networks, etc. that could otherwise impede the attacker's ability to perform bombardment missions in the system. The amount of bombardment value required to reduce a system's Fortification by 1 point is equal to 10 times its current Fortification value.
• Troop Bombardment: This is an all out heavy bombardment against enemy troop positions in the system. The cost to eliminate one random defending ground unit is equal to 5 times the system's Population value (minimum 10 BV). Roll a die for each eliminated troop and if the result is a 1 the attack inflicts extensive collateral damage which reduces the system's Population and Morale values by 1 each.
• Infrastructure Bombardment: This is a directed attack intended to temporarily cripple a planet's industrial infrastructure by disrupting key industries or commercial enterprises in the system. The cost to perform Industrial Bombardment is equal to 5 times the system's Population value, and it reduces the target system's effective RAW value by 1 during the next Economic Phase (to a minimum value of zero).
• Population Bombardment: This is a cruel assault against civilian population centers in the system. The bombardment value cost to remove 1 Population, 1 Morale, and 1 Intel from the system is equal to 10 times the system's current Population value.
Bombardment costs for Troop, Infrastructure, or Population Bombardment missions are doubled if the target system has a Fortification value greater than zero. This represents that the attacker is being harassed by the planetary defense grid which makes it harder for them to perform bombardment missions against other targets.
Once the system's Fortification value is reduced to zero and its planetary defense network is neutralized, the bombarding fleet will be able to perform other bombardment missions at no additional penalty.
Because the cost to perform Troop, Infrastructure, and Population bombardment missions are all based on a system's current Population value, it can often be in an attacker's best interests to reduce the system's Population in order to make it cheaper to perform other bombardment missions (such as destroying enemy troops ahead of a planetary invasion).
4.6.3.4 Planetary Devastation
Intense orbital bombardment often leads to permanent ecological damage in an affected system. Once all bombardment missions have been resolved in the current encounter, roll a die for each Population point the system lost this turn as a result of orbital bombardment. Reduce the system's Carrying Capacity by 1 for each die result that is less than the system's Carrying Capacity at the start of the turn. None of a system's attribute values (except RAW) can exceed the system's new Carrying Capacity value and if they do they will likewise need to be reduced to be equal to the new Carrying Capacity value.
If a system loses 2 or more points of Carrying Capacity from orbital bombardment in the same turn, then its RAW value is also permanently reduced by 1 (to a minimum value of 1). This loss of RAW represents the massive degradation of the planetary environment as irrecoverable damage is done to its ecology.
Devastation introduces a real cost to performing indiscriminate Population Bombardment against enemy systems because it can quickly degrade their resource values and make them functionally worthless. This encourages players to launch planetary invasions with their ground forces in those systems they want to capture largely intact and limit their use of orbital bombardment. Still, during a protracted war, it is not uncommon to see many border worlds turned into “tomb worlds” that have been scoured of all life by intense orbital bombardment.
4.6.3.5 Sustained Bombardment
Half of the remaining bombardment value not used against planetary targets this turn will automatically carry over to the Combat Phase next turn as long as the bombarding player maintains orbital superiority in the system. However, this bombardment value will be lost if the bombarding player's fleet is destroyed or forced to retreat from the system.
This sustained bombardment effect represents the ongoing effects of planetary bombardment over time and allows smaller fleets to perform orbital bombardment against systems even if they can't generate enough bombardment value in a single turn.
4.6.4 Ground Combat
Ground combat is where the fate of a system is ultimately decided. Orbital bombardment and planetary blockades can only go so far and, in the end, it's up to the “ground pounders” to settle the issue.
4.6.4.1 Ground Combat Procedure
All ground combat operations in an encounter are resolved simultaneously. Troops that are disembarked to a system will fight at their full combat strength during this battle. However, troops that are currently embarked on Convoys or Assault ships halve their combat factors. Ground units with the Marines special ability are an exception to this rule, and they receive their full combat factors even when embarked on transports.
All of your troops that are disembarked to the system must participate in ground combat this turn, but you may choose to voluntarily exclude any or all of your troops that are currently embarked on Convoys or Assault ships from the battle. It is often not worth committing troops to a losing battle if you feel their presence won't improve your odds and will only put them at unnecessary risk of being crippled or destroyed. Any embarked troops that are committed to the fight this turn will automatically disembark to the system at the end of the current encounter. Crippled troops cannot invade from transports under any circumstances as they lack the manpower or unit cohesion to make landings in the system.
Total the Attack factors of all your ground units in the system that are participating in the battle and then roll on the Combat Results Table to determine your combat effectiveness rating. Multiply this rating by your total Attack factors to determine the number of hits your troops have scored against opposing ground forces in the current ground battle.
Your opponent must then use these hits to damage one or more of their own troops, with the number of hits required to damage a ground unit being equal to its current Defense Value. Hits can only be scored against units that participated in this battle, and they cannot be used to damage embarked ground units that were excluded from the battle. Any leftover hits less than the amount required to damage the weakest ground unit in the opposing force are lost.
Combat Results Table (d10)
RollCombat Effectiveness Rating
1-10%
2-320%
4-730%
8-940%
10+50%
4.6.4.2 Invasions
An invasion is an attempt to land combat troops onto a planet's surface in an enemy controlled system as part of a ground battle. Invading units must establish a beachhead in the system before they will be able to safely disembark additional troops to the system on future campaign turns. A beachhead is automatically secured when invading troops successfully damage one or more defending ground units during the ground battle this turn and at least one invading unit survives the counterattack. An invasion will also automatically succeed and a beachhead established if the invasion is unopposed because there are no defending ground units disembarked to the system.
Once a beachhead is established, the invader and their allies may deploy additional troops from orbiting transports during the 4.4.1 Landings & Deployment step of the Movement Phase on future turns as long as there are friendly ground units still deployed to the system to maintain the beachhead. Disembarked troops will then be able to fight normally during the next Combat Phase and will receive their full combat factors since they will no longer be embarked on transports.
A beachhead is lost if all friendly ground units disembarked to the system are eliminated or embark, at which point you will have to launch another invasion to secure a new beachhead in the system to use for future landings. Troops cannot disembark and land in an enemy controlled system if the system's Fortification value is greater than zero because the planetary defenses would shred their landing craft before they could ever reach the planet. Importantly, this means an invader will have to wait for their fleets to finish neutralizing these defenses using orbital bombardment before their troops can make planetfall and attempt to establish a beachhead.
4.6.4.3 Economic Disruptions
Enemy troops will attempt to seize control of strategic economic and industrial infrastructure as part of their ground combat operations. As a result, a system's output is reduced to 50% of its normal value if the total number of disembarked enemy troops in the system is greater than or equal to the number of disembarked friendly troops. If the system is already in Opposition, its system output is further reduced to 25% of its normal value. Ground units that are embarked onto orbiting transports are ignored for the purposes of resolving economic disruptions because they are not present on the planet's surface to contest ownership of its vital economic infrastructure.
Systems that are experiencing economic disruptions receive a -1 penalty to their 4.10.4.4 Morale Checks, which increases their chances of losing Morale.
4.6.4.4 Conquest of a System
A system is conquered once all defending troops disembarked to the system have been eliminated and only enemy troops remain disembarked in the system. The system's Morale is immediately reduced to zero to demonstrate organized resistance from the local population against the invaders, and control of the system is then transferred to the player with the most disembarked troops in the system. In the event of tie, the player with the highest total Defense Value of troops disembarked there will take control of the system. If there is still a tie, roll randomly to determine who takes control of the conquered system.
All construction orders the system received during the Turn Orders Phase earlier this turn are automatically canceled when it is conquered, and the economic points spent on these projects are lost. This represents loyalist forces scuttling any vessels that were under construction and destroying the construction materials to keep them out of enemy hands.
It will take many turns for a conquered system's Morale to recover, and you'll need to keep the system properly garrisoned to guard against possible rebellion and use planetary Intel to perform Counter-Insurgency missions against the system to try and improve its Morale and move it back into Good Order.
4.7 SUPPLY PHASE
The supply status of all units is checked in this phase. In order to be in supply, a unit must be able to trace a supply route to a friendly supply source or else draw supply from military supply ships or other local supply sources.
Any units that cannot trace supply will be Out of Supply (OOS) this turn and suffer the effects described in 4.7.6 Out of Supply Effects. They may also potentially take damage due to 4.7.7 Supply Attrition.
4.7.1 Supply Sources
Supply sources are systems that serve as logistics hubs that originate your empire's supply routes. Any Good Order Core World system (5+ Population with a Morale value greater than or equal to half its Population) controlled by your empire or a Mutual Defense partner can function as a friendly supply source. Additionally, any system that contains an active Supply Depot (see below) controlled by your empire or a Mutual Defense partner can also serve as a supply source.
4.7.2 Supply Depots
Supply Depots are orbital logistics bases used to store large quantities of consumables and coordinate their delivery to other nearby military units and colonies. They are built and deployed like any other base, but they serve a special purpose in that they turn any system they are located at into a supply source for their owner, even if their system is not in Good Order and/or does not have the prerequisite Population so long as the Supply Depot can trace a supply route to another friendly supply source.
This makes Supply Depots an effective way of extending your supply lines into new sectors, or ensuring that supply continues to flow even when systems fall into disorder.
4.7.3 Supply Routes
A unit is considered to be in supply if it can trace a supply route to a friendly supply source located within three (3) jumps of its current system location. Supply routes can only be traced through Minor or Major Lanes. They cannot be traced through Unexplored or Restricted Lanes under any circumstances.
Supply routes also cannot be traced through systems that are Blockaded or otherwise contain enemy fleets unless friendly fleets are also present in the system to keep the supply routes open. The presence of an enemy base or troops in a system is not enough to prevent you from tracing supply through the system, as these units cannot actively seek out and disrupt the transports that are delivering supplies to your forces.
Defenders cannot trace supply routes into or out of a Blockaded system they control. However, if the Blockaded system is also a supply source, it will continue to resupply any friendly units present in that system.
4.7.4 Military Supply Ships
Ships with the Supply special ability are military supply ships that can be used to resupply Out of Supply units at their current system location. This is the primary method empires use to extend supply over Restricted Lanes or into systems that are located beyond the range of friendly supply routes, especially when their forces are carrying out offensive military operations against other powers. A Supply vessel can be used to resupply up to six (6) units per point of Supply rating. For example, a Supply 2 unit could be used to resupply up to 12 units at its system location. Note that the Supply vessel carrying out the resupply action does not automatically resupply itself and if you want it to be placed back in supply it must be included in the selection of units that it is resupplying.
After military resupply actions are completed, you will need to make a separate die roll for each Supply unit that was used to resupply friendly units this turn. On a die result of 5 or less, the Supply vessel has depleted its available logistics stores and becomes Exhausted. It will be unable to resupply friendly units on future turns while it remains Exhausted. Supply ships owned by empires with the Deep Range Logistics trait (like the Brindaki) receive a +2 bonus to their resupply checks which reduces the chance that their Supply ships will become Exhausted with each use.
A Supply unit will automatically remove its Exhausted status if it can trace a supply route back to a friendly supply source during a future Supply Phase. Resupplying a Supply unit using another Supply unit will NOT clear its Exhausted status.
4.7.5 Local Supply
Systems have a limited local supply capability that allows them to resupply a number of friendly units up to the system's Population each turn. This represents the system using its local industrial resources and supply caches to keep these units in supply.
Importantly, this allows Blockaded systems to keep a limited number of defending troops in supply so they can hunker down, dig in, and wait for reinforcements to arrive and relieve the siege. Otherwise, these units would be at risk of being starved out by 4.7.7 Supply Attrition and eliminated without the enemy having to fire a shot.
4.7.6 Out of Supply Effects
Out of Supply (OOS) units suffer from the following serious combat penalties due to a combination of poor maintenance, lack of replacement parts, fuel, and personnel shortages:
• Undamaged OOS units reduce all their combat factors to 50% of their normal values. Crippled units that are also OOS further reduce their non-DV combat factors to 25% of their normal values.
• OOS ships cannot move through more than one jump lane per turn, regardless of the jump lane class.
• OOS units cannot perform 4.3.4 Covert Operations, 4.4.5 Jump Lane Exploration, 4.4.7 Long Range Scanning, 4.4.11 Convoy Raids, 4.6.3 Orbital Bombardment, or 4.8.9 Field Repairs.
• In SFB terms, an OOS unit has the following restrictions:
  ° No drone or plasma-D reloads.
  ° No Pseudo Plasma.
  ° No HET bonus.
  ° Cannot disengage by accelleration.
4.7.7 Supply Attrition
Ships that remain Out of Supply too long run the risk of suffering catastrophic system failures that can damage or even destroy them. This represents the slow loss of units to equipment breakdowns, desertion, etc. Given enough time, all of a player's forces in a system may eventually be lost to attrition.
Roll a die for each system where your empire has one or more Out of Supply units. If the die result is less than or equal to the number of Out of Supply units you control in the system, randomly select one of those units to take damage. Full strength units become crippled, and crippled units are destroyed.
4.7.8 Blockades
A system is automatically Blockaded when the total number of enemy ships present in the system is greater than the number of defending ships. A Blockaded system's output is reduced to half its normal value so long as the blockade is maintained. The system's owner will still earn some income from the system because while the blockade disrupts some of the planetary economy there are still some independent industries that can keep producing, and resources from the system can be snuck out from the blockade via fast civilian blockade runners. Additionally, a Blockaded system's Trade value is reduced to zero so it won't generate any trade income for any of the trade routes that visit the system, even if the blockade is being enforced by an otherwise friendly power.
Defenders in a Blockaded system cannot move out of the system until the blockade itself is lifted. They are effectively trapped in the Blockaded system and will have to fight their way out or else wait for reinforcements to arrive and break the blockade.
Fast ships are an exception to this rule, and they can always move in or out of a system even if the system is currently Blockaded. Ships operated by empires with the Fast Drive Systems trait (such as the Graal) can also freely leave Blockaded systems as long as the force blockading the system does not also have the Fast Drive Systems trait.
Supply cannot be traced into or through Blockaded systems. If the Blockaded system is itself a supply source, then it can continue to resupply friendly units that are located in that same system but it cannot be used to resupply friendly units in other nearby systems because they can't trace a supply route due to the enemy blockade. Blockading a system is an effective way to deny resources to your enemy, even if you do not have the troop strength to try and capture the system. It can also be used to trap enemy fleets in the system to prevent them from escaping and joining up with other forces in other nearby systems.
4.8 CONSTRUCTION PHASE
The Construction Phase is where players resolve the construction orders they issued as part of their turn orders this turn to purchase, repair, scrap, activate, or deactivate units. Units that complete construction during this phase are then deployed so they will be available to be assigned to fleets and receive orders next campaign turn.
4.8.1 Construction Capacity
Construction capacity represents the raw economic ability to allocate resources towards large-scale military construction projects. Construction sources, including systems, shipyards, and convoys, provide construction capacity that can be used to purchase, repair, and/or reactivate units, and the maximum number of economic points that can be spent on construction projects at a system or shipyard is equal to its construction capacity.
Empires with the Industrious trait (Rallax) receive a +50% construction capacity bonus to all construction sources they control, while empires with the Corrupt trait (Graal) receive a -50% construction capacity penalty to all construction sources they control.
If a system does not have enough construction capacity available during the Construction Phase to complete all of its construction orders (for example, due to the loss of Population, Shipyards, or Convoys this turn), the owning player must determine which of their orders are completed and which are delayed or canceled. Delayed construction orders can be completed on future turns, while canceled orders will be partially refunded, returning an amount of economic points equal to 50% of the unit's original construction cost.
4.8.2 Construction at Shipyards
Shipyards are used to build ships and fighters (but not bases or troops). Each Shipyard has 24 construction capacity, which means it can be used to build or repair up to 24 EP of ships and fighters each turn. This is enough capacity to build three heavy cruisers, four light cruisers, six frigates, or any combination of these units that have a total construction cost of up to 24 EP. Importantly, it's enough construction capacity to allow a Shipyard to build a single titan class vessel, which is the largest class of warship normally available in the game.
Multiple Shipyards in the same system can combine their construction capacities to accommodate more efficient construction. For example, a system with two Shipyards would have 48 construction capacity, allowing it to build or repair up to 48 EP of ships and fighters each turn. Shipyards can only be used to build or repair units if they are in supply and can trace a supply route back to a friendly supply source. This ensures the Shipyard has ready access to the manpower and resources needed to continue working on their assigned construction projects.
4.8.3 Construction at Systems
Ships, fighters, and bases can be built using planetary industry. Each system has a total construction capacity available equal to half its system output. For example, a system with an output of 50 EP would have 25 construction capacity.
Planetary construction projects however require extensive prefabrication and completed units must then be lifted into orbit for final assembly. This effectively doubles the cost of all units that are built using planetary industry except for those with the Atmospheric trait, which are built at their normal cost, as these units can be launched into orbit under their own power without incurring any additional costs.
Systems cannot be used to build or repair units when they are Blockaded unless they are themselves supply source systems, at which point they have sufficient economic infrastructure to keep their planetary industry resupplied and functioning despite the enemy blockade.
4.8.4 Remote Base Construction
Convoys can build bases (including civilian bases such as Shipyards and Supply Depots) in any system as long as they can trace a supply route back to a friendly supply source and there are no enemy fleets present in the system to interfere with their construction projects. Convoys can build bases in both inhabited and uninhabited systems, which allows players to build bases in systems that may not otherwise be worth colonizing but are still worth having a base present to assert control. These Convoys are effectively operating a construction pipeline moving workers and raw materials to the system where the base is being built while it is under construction.
Each Convoy assigned to remote base construction operations provides 12 construction capacity that can be used to build bases at their current system location. Multiple Convoys can combine their construction capacities to build larger bases. A Convoy can also use 4.8.5 Partial Construction to allocate economic points towards the construction of a base over multiple campaign turns, which would allow a single Convoy to build even the largest base given enough time.
Bases built using Convoys are purchased at their standard construction costs, not twice their construction cost as is the case for bases built using planetary construction capacity. This makes remote base construction the most cost effective option for building new bases.
If a Convoy is destroyed or retreats from a system before it can complete construction of a base, all of the economic points spent on the project are lost as the Convoy is forced to scuttle the base and any remaining resource stockpiles before they leave the system.
4.8.5 Partial Construction
Economic points can be allocated towards the construction of a unit over multiple turns in order to allow a system, shipyard, or convoy to build units even if they do not have enough construction capacity to accommodate the unit's full construction cost. For example, if a system with 8 construction capacity is building a base that costs 24 EP, it could spend 8 EP per turn over three turns in order to complete construction of the base.
Units being built using partial construction can be left incomplete for multiple turns with no economic points spent on them only to have the remaining points spent on a later turn to complete their construction. The unit will simply remain in an incomplete state until its full construction cost has been paid. However, if a Shipyard or Convoy is destroyed while performing partial construction on a unit then the unit they were building will also be destroyed, and none of the economic points spent on it will be refunded (the points are simply lost).
If a system is conquered by another power, any incomplete units under construction there are automatically captured. On a future turn, the conquering player may choose to either finish paying to complete the unit or else scrap it to recoup some of the resources spent on it so far.
4.8.6 Purchasing Convoys
Convoys are not “built” but rather requisitioned from your empire's civilian fleet network. Convoys can be purchased for 20 EP in any Good Order supply source system your empire controls. You can only purchase a single Convoy in a system each turn. This restriction represents that there are a limited number of civilian ships available for hire in any given supply source system at one time.
Empires with the Expansionist trait (Graal) are an exception to this rule, and they can purchase two Convoys per turn in each Good Order supply source system, and their Convoys cost half the normal amount (10 EP). Convoys cannot be purchased in systems that are in Opposition or Rebellion because non-essential civilian transports actively avoid these systems due to their inherent political instability. What civilian transports are found operating in these systems are already tasked with other critical missions (such as delivering military supplies from nearby supply sources) and cannot be requisitioned for other purposes.
4.8.7 Purchasing Troops
Troops may be purchased in any system your empire controls, and the maximum construction cost of ground units you may purchase in a system each turn is equal to its current Population value. Troops are purchased at their normal construction cost in Good Order systems or at twice their normal construction cost in Opposition systems. This cost penalty represents that anti-government sympathies among the colonists make it much harder to organize new armies there. New troops cannot be recruited at all in systems that are currently in Rebellion. All troop costs count against the system's available construction capacity.
4.8.8 Repairs
Crippled military units can be repaired to restore them to an undamaged state. The cost to repair a crippled unit is equal to 25% of its original construction cost. These repair costs count against the construction capacity of the system or shipyard that is performing the repairs. Ships and fighters must be repaired at Shipyards, howver Atmospheric ships and fighters can be repaired using system construction capacity instead of using a Shipyard, and in these cases their repair costs count against the construction limits of the system itself.
Bases meanwhile can be repaired at the standard cost regardless of their location, however they can only be repaired if they are able to trace a supply route to a friendly supply source (this ensures the base has access to the necessary supplies to complete the repairs). Troops can only be repaired using system construction capacity (not at Shipyards), and they can only be repaired when they are disembarked to friendly systems.
Units that received repair orders during the Turn Orders Phase this turn and are currently being repaired cannot move during the Movement Phase or participate in combat during the Combat Phase this turn, nor can they retreat from the system. They are automatically captured if all other friendly units are destroyed or retreat from the system and only enemy fleet units remain in the system at the end of the Combat Phase. These captured units remain in a crippled state, as their repairs could not be completed before they were captured by enemy forces.
4.8.9 Field Repairs
Supply and Hospital units can be used to carry out field repairs on crippled military units without the need for any additional system infrastructure. Supply units can repair crippled ships, fighters, and bases, while Hospital units can only repair crippled troops.
The total cost of field repairs these units can perform each turn is equal to their special ability rating. For example, a Supply 2 unit could perform up to 2 EP of repairs on crippled ships, fighters, or bases at their system location (but not troops), while a Hospital 3 unit could perform up to 3 EP of repairs on crippled ground units (but not ships, fighters, or bases). Multiple units may combine their special ability factors to perform more expensive repairs. Field repair units may use 4.8.5 Partial Construction to allocate economic points over multiple turns to complete larger repairs.
Supply and Hospital units may only perform field repairs when they are in supply and can trace a supply route back to a friendly supply source. This requirement demonstrates that these repair operations require these units to have access to their empire's supply network so they can source the raw materials and equipment needed to complete these field repairs.
They also cannot perform field repairs if they are currently carrying other units as cargo, as this would leave them with no additional cargo capacity available to use to carry the personnel and equipment required to contribute towards field repair operations.
If field repairs are performed on a crippled troop that is currently embarked on a Hospital, the repaired troop will automatically disembark to their system location once these repairs are complete. If the Hospital ship is in an enemy controlled system and there is not a friendly beachhead present or otherwise in a system where the troops cannot disembark, then the field repair orders will be automatically canceled because the troops will have nowhere to deploy to after their repairs are complete.
4.8.10 Refits
Units of the same hull type (ex: DD, CA, BC, etc.) can be refit from one class to another at a refit cost equal to 25% of the construction cost of the new unit class. This allows players to upgrade existing ships to a new version of a hull once it is upgraded at a lower point cost compared to scrapping the original ship and then building a new one. Ship and fighter refits may only be completed at Shipyards (i.e., they cannot be performed using system construction capacity), and these refit cost counts against the Shipyard's available construction capacity this turn.
Base refits may be completed by systems (4.8.3 Construction at Systems) or Convoys (4.8.4 Remote Base Construction), however the refit costs are doubled when they are performed by a system to reflect the increased cost of lifting components into orbit after they are manufactured on the ground.
Troops can be refit if they are disembarked to a system your empire controls, but these refits can only be used to upgrade a troop to an upgraded version of the same type. For example, you can upgrade from a Marine-I to a Marine-II, but not into a Light Armor. Troop refit costs count against your troop construction limits in that system this turn (4.8.7 Purchasing Troops).
4.8.11 Scrapping
Units may be scrapped (or scuttled) to remove them from play and try to recover some of the economic points spent on their original construction.
Units that are scrapped in a system that is controlled by your empire or one of your allies recover a number of economic points equal to 50% of their original construction cost. Incomplete units that are being built using 4.8.5 Partial Construction may also be scrapped to recover 50% of the economic points already spent on them. Your empire will receive these points as Miscellaneous Income in the next Economic Phase. The amount of economic points earned from scrapping units is not affected by whether or not the unit is currently crippled.
Units scrapped in systems not controlled by your empire are instead scuttled (not scrapped) and in these cases no economic points are recovered. In both cases, the scrapped units are eliminated and removed from play. Mothballed units may be scrapped without first reactivating them. This spares you the hassle and expense of having to reactivate a unit before it is scrapped.
4.8.12 Mothballing
Mothballing is the process of taking a ship or fighter out of Active service and placing it into the reserves. Mothballed units have their weapons and various other important systems stripped out and stored on-site in anticipation of the day when they may need to be reactivated.
Ships and fighters normally must be mothballed at a friendly Shipyard. However, Atmospheric ships and fighters can be mothballed at any friendly supply source system. Crippled ships and fighters cannot be mothballed until they are repaired.
It does not cost anything to mothball a ship or fighter, but you must still pay the unit's full maintenance on the turn it is mothballed. Each unit requires construction capacity equal to 25% of its construction cost at a system or shipyard on the turn it is ordered to go inactive. In the case of ships, any fighters or attack boats they are carrying when they are deactivated can be mothballed with them, but these additional units will require construction capacity on the turn they are mothballed (the cost of the fighters is added to that of their carrier for the purposes of calculating this construction capacity requirement). A mothballed unit costs nothing to maintain and has an effective maintenance cost of zero.
If you want to reactive a unit, you must pay a number of economic points equal to 25% of its construction cost and it will require construction capacity during the reactivation process at the system or shipyard where it is currently mothballed. Units that are being activated or deactivated are considered to be under construction this turn and may not participate in combat until their reactivation order is complete and they are fully deployed.
Any units that are mothballed in a system when it is conquered by another power are automatically captured by the enemy forces when they take possession of the system. The new owner will have the opportunity to reactivate or scrap them in a future turn.
Only ships and fighters may be mothballed. Bases, troops, and civilian units cannot be mothballed and must instead be scrapped if you want to remove them from service.
4.8.13 Deploy New Construction
Units that were purchased, repaired, or reactivated this turn are deployed to the system locations where they were completed and will be available to receive orders and perform actions next turn. You will be able to assign these units to fleets during the next Turn Orders Phase.
4.9 TECH PHASE
This is the phase where you update your empire's 4.9.1 Tech Pool to add any additional 4.9.2 Tech Investment points it earned this turn and then check to see if it has accumulated enough tech investment to purchase a 4.9.3 Tech Advancement. It is important for any power to maintain an ample level of tech investment or risk falling behind their neighbors.
4.9.1 Tech Pool
Each empire has a Tech Pool which is used to store its accumulated tech investment points. These points are automatically spent to purchase new tech advancements once the number of points in the Tech Pool is greater than or equal to the empire's Tech Advancement Cost (TAC).
4.9.2 Tech Investment
Each turn, you may spend economic points from your Point Pool to fund technology research. The maximum amount of tech investment points you can purchase each turn is equal to 50% of your empire's total system income at the start of the turn. All the economic points spent on tech investment are added to your empire's Tech Pool at the start of the Tech Phase.
4.9.3 Tech Advancement
Each player must check to see if their empire has enough tech investment points in its Tech Pool to earn a new tech advancement this turn.
4.9.3.1 Tech Advancement Cost (TAC)
Each empire has a Tech Advancement Cost (TAC) equal to twice its total system income at the start of the current campaign turn. Empires with the Brilliant trait (Kili) reduce their TAC by 30%, while those with the Uncreative trait (Tirelons) instead increase their TAC by 30%.
You will earn a tech advancement during the Update Phase if the number of points in your Tech Pool is greater than or equal to your empire's TAC.
4.9.3.2 Tech Advancement Effects
When your empire earns a tech advancement, first reduce your Tech Pool by an amount equal to your TAC to pay for the tech advancement.
4.9.3.3 Historical Tech Advancement
Each empire is assigned a Tech Year that describes how technologically advanced it is compared to the rest of the empires in the game. Each empire starts the game with their Tech Year equal to the starting Tech Year for your campaign. Each tech advancement an empire earns then increases its Tech Year by 1 and automatically unlocks any units that have an In-Service Date (ISD) equal to that Tech Year.
4.10 END OF TURN PHASE
During this phase, players complete the 4.10.1 System Improvements, 4.10.2 Jump Lane Upgrades, and 4.10.3 Jump Lane Downgrades orders their empires declared as part of their turn orders earlier this turn.
Afterwards, you check the 4.10.4 Morale & System Loyalty of the colonies in the game to see if they are in Good Order or Opposition before rolling Morale Checks to see if Morale has shifted in these systems due to campaign events this turn. Systems that are at 0 Morale then are checked for 4.10.5 Rebellion.
Next, Convoys that are establishing new colonies (4.10.6 Colonizing a System) are dismantled and new colonies created in previously uninhabited systems.
Finally, at the end of this phase, you resolve 4.10.7 Special Events and 4.10.8 Update Asset Sheets before performing a 4.10.9 Victory Check to see if anyone has achieved the victory conditions for the campaign scenario. If so, then a winner is declared and the game ends. Otherwise, play continues to the next campaign turn.
4.10.1 System Improvements
You may spend economic points to permanently improve the system attribute values of the inhabited systems your empire controls. The four types of system improvements you can purchase at your colonies are described below:
• Capacity Increase: These are terraforming projects intended to increase the habitability of a system and increase the system's Carrying Capacity by 1. The cost for this improvement is equal to 10 times the system's new Carrying Capacity value. Additionally, for each Capacity Increase completed roll a die and on a 8+ the system's RAW also increases by 1, representing a fundamental shift in the system's habitability.
• Population Increase: This is an expansion of the colony's economic infrastructure that increases both the system's Population and Morale values by 1, representing the growth of the colony as additional workers move to the system and find employment. The cost for this improvement is equal to 10 times the system's new Population value.
• Intel Increase: This is the recruitment of additional intelligence operatives to carry out covert operations or defend a system against enemy infiltration efforts. This increases the Intel value of the system by 1. The cost for this improvement is equal to 5 times the system's new Intel value.
• Fortification Increase: This funds the construction of additional planetary defenses for the system to better protect it against enemy bombardment, increasing its Fortification value by 1 at a cost equal to 5 times the system's new Fortification value.
System improvements cannot increase a system attribute if it is already at its current maximum value. In most cases, this means you would have to increase the system's Carrying Capacity before you would be able to improve any of the system's other attributes. For example, a system with 4 Carrying Capacity and 4 Population could not purchase a Population Increase because its Population is already equal to its Carrying Capacity. System improvements are always completed on the same turn they are purchased. System improvements will be canceled if the system was conquered or destroyed during the Combat Phase this turn, if the system is currently Blockaded by an enemy fleet, or if the improvement would increase a system attribute beyond its maximum value. The player is refunded half the economic points spent on the improvement, with these points being recorded as Miscellaneous Income during the next Economic Phase.
Some empires have traits that will increase or decrease the cost specific system improvements. For example, the Kili Fast Breeders trait reduces the cost of Population Increases by 30%, so it costs them less to improve the Population values of their colony worlds. Meanwhile, the Senorian Slow Breeders trait increases the cost Population Increases by 30%.
4.10.2 Jump Lane Upgrades
Jump lanes can be upgraded by spending economic points to build new jump relays or expand existing relays to allow for faster travel times. Upgrading jump lanes has several benefits. It allows for faster movement between connected systems and for supply routes to be traced into nearby systems to keep friendly units in supply. Convoys also can only operate trade routes over Major Lanes, which requires the player to upgrade jump lanes in order to setup new trade routes (empires like the Brindaki that have the Far Traders trait can operate trade routes over both Major Lanes and Minor Lanes, which makes them a partial exception to this rule).
It costs 20 EP to upgrade a jump lane by one level (Restricted to Minor, or Minor to Major) if there are friendly Scout ships at each end of the lane supporting the jump lane upgrade action. These Scout ships cannot have performed any movement orders during the Movement Phase this turn and must be fully committed to supporting the lane upgrade. This cost is increased to 30 EP per jump lane upgrade if Scouts are not available. A jump lane can be upgraded multiple times per turn, but each upgrade must be paid for in full.
Scouts are required to upgrade jump lanes that do not connect to at least one system that is controlled by your empire, and you cannot upgrade a jump lane if it connects to a system that is controlled by another power unless you have a political state of Trade or higher with them. This helps to represent that two empires that have poor relations will not allow one power or the other to upgrade jump lanes between their systems, however if relations have improved to the point that Trade relations have been established then there is a clear desire to upgrade these lanes and open up trade routes between their empires. At that point, the two empires are willing to work together to see that the jump lanes are upgraded to facilitate trade. Unexplored Lanes cannot be upgraded at all because by definition no one knows where they are, where they go, or even if they really exist at all. They must be successfully explored before they can be upgraded.
If a jump lane upgrade is interrupted and cannot be completed (such as because one of the Scouts that was performing the upgrade was forced to retreat from the system or was destroyed), you will be refunded half the economic point cost of the upgrade as Miscellaneous Income in the next Economic Phase. The remaining resources are lost.
Only Scout ships can be used to support jump lane upgrades because Scout fighters, attack boats, and bases lack the jump drives required to coordinate these jump lane upgrades.
Empires with the Gifted Explorers trait (Humans) are more adept at mapping and upgrading jump lanes, which halves the cost of all jump lane upgrades they perform. Upgrading jump lanes is very important for a number of reasons. First, it allows your fleets to move more quickly between systems. Second, it allows you to trace supply routes further and keep your units in supply. Lastly, it allows you to establish lucrative trade routes that can provide a major boost to your economy. During the early game, you will spend a lot of time and resources upgrading jump lanes in order to gain access to new systems to colonize and extend supply routes out to the frontier. Using friendly Scouts to reduce the costs of these upgrades can allow for more efficient expansion and frees up economic points to be spent on other things, like system improvements or tech investment.
4.10.3 Jump Lane Downgrades
Just as jump lanes can be improved through careful mapping and jump relay upgrades, they can also be downgraded by sabotaging jump relays or dismantling and removing hyperspace beacons.
It costs 30 EP to downgrade a jump lane, and you must have at least one ship of light cruiser size or larger in a system adjacent to the jump lane that is being downgraded. If a Major Lane is downgraded, it becomes a Minor Lane. If a Minor Lane is downgraded, it becomes a Restricted Lane. If a Restricted Lane is downgraded, it becomes an Unexplored Lane.
Downgrading a jump lane from Restricted to Unexplored requires you to have a Scout in the system to support the lane downgrade as it must move into hyperspace and remove the navigational buoys that were positioned along the length of the jump lane and then return home. Players will then have to successfully explore the lane again to bring the lane back to Restricted status.
You cannot downgrade a jump lane if it connects to a system that is controlled by another power unless your political state with that power is at Hostilities or War. Downgrading jump lanes is not a very effective tactic in most circumstances. While you are effectively depriving the enemy of the resources they spent upgrading the lanes, it also makes it more difficult (if not impossible) for fleets to move or resupply over those lanes. As such, you'll typically only downgrade jump lanes when you are losing a war and trying to buy time to allow you to reinforce the defenses in your systems before the enemy can reach them.
4.10.4 Morale & System Loyalty
Each inhabited system has a Morale value which represents its level of support for its owner. Systems can either be in 4.10.4.1 Good Order or 4.10.4.3 Opposition. The popular support of a system can mean the difference between prosperity and insurrection!
4.10.4.1 Good Order
A system is considered to be in Good Order when its Morale is greater than or equal to half its Population value. Systems in Good Order produce their full system output during the Economic Phase and are not subject to any economic penalties. These systems are happy and productive members of your empire.
4.10.4.2 Opposition
A system is in Opposition when its Morale is less than half its Population. This represents a growing frustration with the central government, and this unrest leads to a slowdown of work at the colony which reduces its output. Systems in Opposition have their system output reduced to 50% of normal.
4.10.4.3 Martial Law
When a system is in Opposition its owner may choose to impose martial law and use troops to enforce order in the system to restore it to its full system output. This requires the system owner to have a number of friendly troops disembarked in the system greater than or equal to its current Population value. Troops with the Peacekeeper ability (ex: Jain Inquisitors or Kili Peacekeepers) count as two ground units for the purposes of enforcing martial law in systems you control.
The decision to enact martial law in a system is made during the Turn Orders Phase of the turn and takes effect during the End of Turn Phase as long as the required number of troops are present in the system. The system's output is then restored to its full value during the Economic Phase next turn.
Colonial populations are opposed to the draconian production quotas and militarized policing that comes with martial law, and systems that are under martial law receive a -1 penalty to their Morale Checks and Rebellion rolls. This makes it more likely that these systems will experience additional unrest and Morale loss in the future.
4.10.4.4 Morale Checks
Morale Checks are used to test the loyalty of a system to see if its Morale value has changed due to the events of the turn. Systems are required to roll on the Morale Check Table during the End of Turn Phase if they are in Opposition or there are any enemy units currently in the system. Modifiers are applied to this roll based on any conditions that may be currently affecting this system this turn.
Empires with the Steadfast trait (Tirelons) gain an additional +1 bonus to their rolls on the Morale Check Table, while empires with the Quarrelsome trait (Yuletarri) receive a -1 penalty to their own rolls on the table. All Morale Check modifiers are cumulative.
Morale Check Table (d10)
RollMorale Check Effect
0--2 Morale
1-3-1 Morale
4-7No Effect
8-10+1 Morale
11++2 Morale
Modifiers:
+1 Frontier World (Population 3 or less)
+1 Good Order
+1 Full Garrison (# Friendly Troops >= Population)
-1 Orbital Bombardment (4.6.3)
-1 Economic Disruptions (4.6.4.3)
-1 System Blockaded (4.7.8)
-1 Martial Law (4.10.4.3)
+1 Steadfast Empire
-1 Quarrelsome Empire
4.10.5 Rebellion
Any inhabited system that has 0 Morale after all Morale Checks have been performed must check to see if any new rebel troops have appeared there. Roll a number of dice equal to its Population, subtracting 1 from each roll if the system is under 4.10.4.3 Martial Law. On a die result of 3 or less, the Population rises up and a rebel Militia is placed in the system. If the total number of Garrison troops in the system is already equal to its Population, eliminate a random loyalist Garrison troop for each additional rebel Militia that needs to be placed in the system. A system is considered to be in Rebellion when there are one or more rebel troops present contesting control of the system. Rebel troops will automatically attack any loyalist ground forces that are disembarked to their system during the Combat Phase next turn. The defender may choose to land additional troops in the system during the Landings & Deployment step of the Movement Phase, or else order embarked troops to invade during the Combat Phase.
During the End of Turn Phase, roll a die for each rebel Militia that was eliminated this turn and on a die result of 1 the system's Population is permanently reduced by 1, representing significant collateral damage to the civilian population centers resulting from loyalist reprisals.
The rebels will have succeeded in conquering the system if it is only occupied by rebel Militias at the end of the turn and there are no loyalist troops disembarked in the system. The rebel controlled system will automatically secede and become a new 5.1 Independent System in a political state of War with its former owner and all of its allies. The system's Morale is then increased to a value equal to 50% of its current Population value.
These newly-independent rebel states may purchase units from either the Independent System or Raider Force Lists, at the CM's discretion. This represents the former rebels fielding a hodge podge of secondhand or lower tech units, basically whatever they can get their hands on from the black market or build themselves using local industry.
When other powers make 4.5.2 First Contact with this new Independent System, you will roll on the First Contact Table to determine their starting political state, applying a modifier to the roll based on that power's current political state with the empire the rebels seceded from as follows:
War (+2), Hostilities (+1), Neutral (+0), Non-Aggression (-1), Trade (-2), Mutual Defense (-3).
If a Rebel Independent System later finds itself in rebellion and the rebels take control of the system, ownership of the system will be restored to the empire it originally declared independence from and its Morale value will increase to being equal to half its Population. The loyalist opposition in the system has effectively neutralized the rebel government, sending them into exile, and liberated the colony for its original owner.
4.10.6 Colonizing a System
To colonize a system, you must move a Convoy into an uninhabited system and order it to establish a new colony there during the End of Turn Phase. The Convoy is consumed in the act of colonization – the civilian colony ships are cannibalized to provide the shelter, fuel, and other resources necessary to establish a permanent settlement for the colonists. Any units or other cargo the Convoy was carrying are likewise eliminated and removed from play. Any troops they were carrying have laid down their arms and joined the colony, while other military units are disassembled to provide additional raw materials New colonies start with 1 Population and 1 Morale in addition to any other bonuses they receive from their system traits. These traits only provide their bonuses the first time a system is colonized.
If the colony is destroyed and the system is recolonized, the new colony would not receive any additional bonuses from these system traits.
A “colony war” can erupt if multiple players attempt to colonize a system on the same campaign turn. Each player that is trying to colonize the system rolls a die and the player with the highest die result will gain control of the system. If there is a tie, then no one succeeded in colonizing the system and it will remain uninhabited. In any event, the Convoys sent to colonize the system are all lost – they were either consumed creating the colony or else were destroyed during the brief colony war.
4.10.7 Special Events
Rarely, some optional rules may need to be resolved at the End of Turn Phase, prior to updating asset sheets or checking victory conditions. For example, 5.20 Random Events requires you to make a roll during this step to see whether or not a random event has occurred this turn. The effects of these special events (if any) are applied immediately, but will only affect the system on future campaign turns.
They will have no impact on any operations that have already been completed during the current End of Turn Phase. Importantly, this means that any system attribute changes will not affect any of the 4.10.1 System Improvements or 4.10.4.4 Morale Checks that were already completed earlier this phase -- they will only affect the system on future campaign turns.
Note that if a special event changes a system's Morale value it could cause the system's Morale state to change from Good Order to Opposition (or vice versa), and this would effect on the system next turn.
Future campaign supplements will include some advanced rules that require you to resolve special events at the end of each campaign year (e.g., every 12 turns) instead of at the end of each campaign turn. In these cases, you will resolve the special event for the first time on Turn 12, the next on Turn 24, and so on.
4.10.8 Update Asset Sheets
The player's various asset sheets are updated at the end of the campaign turn to reflect all of the events that occurred this turn. This includes updating their system assets, fleet assets, trade routes, etc. as necessary to account for units that were completed or destroyed, systems that gained or lost attribute values, and changes in Trade value at systems your empire has on one or more of its trade routes.
In most campaigns, the CM is responsible for updating the players' asset sheets at the end of the turn so they can then give them to the players at the start of the next turn at the start of the Turn Orders Phase. In CM-less games, the players themselves are responsible for these updates.
4.10.9 Victory Check
The final step of the End of Turn Phase, after updating asset sheets, is to check whether or not any of the players have succeeded in meeting the victory conditions for this campaign scenario. If they have, then the game ends and the victorious player(s) are declared the winners! Otherwise, if no one has met the victory conditions for the scenario, then the game continues and play proceeds to the next campaign turn.
Some scenarios (like 3.1.8 After the Fall) may have a scenario time limit as part of their victory conditions. In those cases, the game will automatically end once that time limit is met. Players will then check to see who has won the game based on their scenario rules.
OPTIONAL RULES
5.1 INDEPENDENT SYSTEMS
Independent Systems are minor alien civilizations that may be encountered in the galaxy. These powers control a single star system and are not a direct threat to the major alien empires. However, they offer players an opportunity to engage in diplomacy or conquest during the early exploration phase of the game.
5.2 STRANGE NEW WORLDS
Players that want a greater sense of discovery in their campaigns can leave the game map largely unexplored at the start of the game and only generate statistics for systems as they are explored during the campaign.
5.3 NEW HORIZONS
The standard VBAM rules assume that players will find colonial survivors and Old Empire infrastructure left behind from the Harbinger War scattered across the galaxy as they explore, but this is not appropriate to all campaign settings. For example, if you want to run a game where your alien empires are the first to take to the stars it doesn't make sense for them to find these remnants of the old galactic regime as they explore the galaxy.
5.4 UNEXPLORED FRONTIERS
Rather than using a pre-generated campaign map, you may instead procedurally generate the map as you play the game. This ensures that no one (not even the CM!) will know what the map will look like before the game.
5.5 HOSTILE GALAXY
After the Great Hyperspace Collapse, star systems found themselves rapidly cut off from the rest of the galaxy and the surviving colonies in these systems quickly descended into chaos and anarchy. Those factions that still had access to starships, weapons, and manpower inevitably assumed control of these systems, operating as strict military governors at best and petty, despotic warlords at worst.
5.9 DEEP SPACE ENCOUNTERS
A deep space encounter is generated whenever opposing fleets attempt to move in opposite directions through the same jump lane during the current Movement Phase. Both fleets immediately stop moving and remain within the jump lane until the Combat Phase at which point the encounter is resolved. This is a simple encounter to resolve because they are limited to space combat only since no other planets or fixed defense points are present to bombard or invade.
5.10 PERILOUS EXPLORATION
Hyperspace exploration is inherently dangerous, and it's easy for Scout fleets to become hopelessly lost in hyperspace. History is replete with stories of Scout fleets that have traveled too far from the established hyperspace navigation buoys and disappeared forever.
5.11 PERSISTENT RAIDERS
Raider fleets normally disappear back into the shadows after every successful raid. However, with this optional rule, Raider fleets will instead remain in play and continue raiding their target system as described in 4.4.10 Raiders until they are finally eliminated by anti-piracy patrols.
5.12 NEUTRAL FIRST CONTACT
When this optional rule is used, all powers will start in a Neutral political state when they make 4.5.2 First Contact instead of rolling on the First Contact Result Table to determine their initial political state.
5.15 EXTENDED CONSTRUCTION TIMES
In the standard game, all units complete construction in a single turn for the sake of easier play. For those players desiring a more realistic approach, use half the unit's construction cost as the number of turns it takes for the unit to complete construction. For example, a Human Odysseus CL (7 EP) would take 4 turns to complete construction. Units undergoing refits also require construction time equal to half the refit cost.
5.19 IMPROVEMENT CONSTRUCTION TIMES
When playing with this optional rule, all system improvements are not completed instantly but instead take a number of turns to complete equal to the new system attribute value. For example, it would take 3 turns to increase a system to 3 Population. These system improvement construction times advance during the End of Turn Phase each turn until they are completed, however they won't advance if the system is Blockaded as the enemy fleet presence prevents the system from receiving the resources or manpower required to continue work on these projects.
5.20 RANDOM EVENTS
During the 4.10.7 Special Events step of the End of Turn Phase each campign turn, roll a die and if the die result is less than or equal to the number of players in the game then a random event has occurred this turn. Roll on the Random Events Table to determine the event type and then choose a random inhabited system on the map and apply the effects to that system. The target system can belong to a player empire or an Independent System.