Septikon: Uranium Wars Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Initial Setup
• Game Components
• Turn Structure
• The Station
  • Moving between floors
• Crew and Clone Movement
  • Important
• Care of the Crew
• Resources and Operation of the Station's Warehouses
• Production, Processing and Supply
• Combat Actions
• Victory Conditions
  • Possible Outcomes
  • Example of Victory
• Appendix No. 1: Production Compartments of the Septikon Station
• Appendix No. 2: Combat Compartments of the Septikon Station
• Appendix No. 3: Special Compartments (Armoury and Airlocks)

Initial Setup

KlonDike Industries cares about its customers. At the start of the game all of the Septikon's warehouses are 50% full of resources, which lets station owners go without for at least a while.

So, before the game starts, each of the two rivals receives 5 units each of oxygen, biomass, rockets, biodrones, metal and uranium, as well as 10 units of energy, distributed 5 units to each of the two energy warehouses. Resources must be placed starting from the cells farthest from the warehouse entrance.

Each Septikon owner also receives 5 clones, which can be placed in any accessible compartments of the station. Clones may not be placed on the surface at the start of the game (and they can never be in the warehouses at all).

The right of the first turn goes to whichever rival names the larger number of constellations.

Game Components

• Game board
• 80 damage tokens
• 10 satellite tokens
• 10 energy shield tokens
• 20 blue oxygen cubes
• 20 red rocket cubes
• 20 white metal cubes
• 20 green biomass cubes
• 20 purple biodrone cubes
• 20 orange uranium cubes
• 40 yellow energy cubes
• 6 large red nuclear rocket cubes
• 28 clone figures
• 2 dice
• Rulebook

Turn Structure

1. Launch the random number generator (roll the die). Mandatory.
2. Move one clone or spy the corresponding number of compartments (board sectors). Mandatory.
3. Activate the compartment that the clone or spy has reached (production compartments: mandatory; combat compartments: optional).
4. Move the biodrones that are on the enemy station. Optional.
5. Move flying rockets and landing capsules with biodrones forward the corresponding number of sectors. Mandatory.
6. Check the fire zones (of satellites, armed clones and biodrones). Remove destroyed units, if there are any. Mandatory.
7. Check whether the victory condition is met (the opponent cannot inflict damage, however many turns he takes). Mandatory.
8. Pass the turn to the opponent. Mandatory.

The Station

The Septikon space station is based on a uranium-rich asteroid of class UR. The station has eight underground levels; each level consists of 21 compartments (board sectors). The levels are connected to each other by one or two passages.

The board areas are labelled as follows:

• Spotters work here (the surface, level 9).
• Everything for defence and attack (combat compartments).
• Warehouses and the "shaft" (the transition from the combat compartments to the production compartments, and the armoury).
• Resupply and life support (production compartments).
• Airlock.

Moving between floors

Levels 1 and 2, levels 7 and 8, and levels 8 and 9 are connected by passages located in the outermost compartments on the left and right. Levels 2 and 7 are connected through the armoury compartments (the so-called "shaft").

"Shaft" (transition from the combat compartments to the production compartments) and armoury (arming clones and landing troops).

Crew and Clone Movement

Because the station is designed to function fully under conditions of nuclear bombardment, all of its systems are manually operated. This also makes the station practically invulnerable to hacker attacks and more affordable. Activating any compartment requires one crew member.

The station's crew is included in the standard delivery. These are clones adapted to space conditions, who obediently carry out your orders. Every turn you consult the random number generator (roll a six-sided die) and must use one of your clones, moving it the corresponding number of compartments in an available direction (you cannot turn around and go back). The compartment in which the clone stops is activated.

• Sectors of combat compartments are activated at your option, according to need.
• Sectors of production compartments are activated mandatorily (resources are spent or produced).
• Sectors of the armoury are activated mandatorily, arming each clone and landing trooper with the corresponding type of hand weapon (see "Appendix No. 3").
• Sectors on the surface of the asteroid are not considered compartments of the station; a clone moves over them without activating anything, and is used as a spotter (see "Combat Actions"). The crew is not permitted to enter the warehouses. In addition, clones cannot pass through compartments that are destroyed or occupied by the opponent's landing troops.

Important

• Clones may pass through compartments occupied by other crew members, but may not end their move in them.
• You may not move a clone fewer compartments than the random number generator showed.
• You may not skip your move if at least one clone has somewhere to go. Rockets and biodrones move on in any case.

If at the start of your turn a clone is on one of the airlocks, you may freeze it and immediately unfreeze a new one in any other free airlock module, spending one point of movement. This gives far greater possibilities for reaching the most distant compartments and, doesn't it, looks like teleportation from science fiction literature.

After your turn ends, the opponent launches the random number generator.

Care of the Crew

The Septikon effectively has an infinite supply of clones in a state of suspended animation. If you place an additional unit of oxygen into a warehouse and as a result the amount of oxygen exceeds the number of clones, then right at that moment you may unfreeze a new clone in a compartment of any unoccupied airlock. If all airlocks are occupied and/or destroyed, the personnel does not increase.

Since the oxygen warehouse contains only five resources at the start of the game, exactly that many clones are available before the battle. Try to place them optimally in accordance with the style and strategy of your future victorious campaign. Remember, however, that clones may only be placed in specially designated compartments (they may not be placed on the surface of the asteroid or in the warehouse area).

We are often asked whether any clones will die if the oxygen supply becomes smaller than the number of crew members. We are happy to reassure you: nothing of the kind will happen, but you will be able to obtain new crew members only when there is more oxygen than clones. Try to distribute your clones evenly over the station so that they are close to all the compartments important for life support.

Resources and Operation of the Station's Warehouses

As resources, the Septikon uses uranium, energy, metal, oxygen, biomass, as well as rockets and biodrones. Each resource requires a warehouse of the corresponding type. Resources are stored in special compartments, the warehouse cells. Loading and unloading is carried out automatically.

A warehouse is a long "pipe" drilled into the asteroid, through which resources are loaded and unloaded. The pipe is divided into ten compartments and can hold up to ten units of a resource. Resources fill and are used in the following order: the unit of resource that is closest to the entrance is used first, while the warehouse is filled starting from the empty cell farthest from the entrance.

KlonDike Industries cares about its customers and makes the resource containers airtight, which allows even damaged warehouses to be used.

If there is not a single cell filled with resource between a damaged cell and the warehouse entrance, depressurisation occurs. To avoid loss of personnel, the perfect safety system seals and blocks the warehouse entrance within a fraction of a second. All warehouses are equipped with this system; they will not work until the cause of the depressurisation is eliminated.

Remember: depressurisation of a warehouse leads to its closure and, as a consequence, to the impossibility of spending or producing the resource. Take care of your warehouses and repair them in good time.

Besides depressurisation, a warehouse is also blocked by the intrusion of an enemy landing biodrone. If an enemy biodrone is on a warehouse cell, the safety system reacts in the same way as if that cell were damaged.

Production, Processing and Supply

The Septikon's production compartments are located in the place best protected from attack: on the two lower levels of the station. If a clone stops in one of the compartments, it must activate it. In the lower right corner of the compartment are shown the symbols of the resources the compartment consumes; in the upper left corner are the symbols of the resources it produces.

The Septikon's warehouse control system monitors the efficiency of production. If the warehouse lacks the required amount of the consumed resource, or the warehouse of the produced resource is completely full or blocked, the compartment is not activated. In all other cases the compartment is activated, and the indicated resources are consumed and produced.

The full list of production modules is given in "Appendix No. 1".

Combat Actions

The Septikon's combat compartments are concentrated on the two upper levels of the station. Unlike the production ones, they only consume resources. Activating a combat compartment results in damage to the opponent or contributes to the defence of the station.

The second most important difference of these compartments is the presence of "fool protection", which allows you to choose whether the compartment is activated or not if a clone has stopped on it.

Most combat compartments require prior deployment or aiming at a target. Spotters are used for this task: clones that are on the surface of the asteroid, on level 9.

The peculiarity of such combat compartments is that the compartment can be activated as many times as there are spotters deployed (once opposite each of them). On each activation the stated amount of resources is spent and the corresponding number of targets is hit, or the corresponding number of objects for defence or attack is created (satellites, shields, landing bots, etc.). All effects work strictly opposite the spotters, which requires thoughtful placement of them and moving them when necessary.

Some combat compartments do not require spotters ("Counterespionage", "Repair").

It is important to note that the random number generator, besides determining the movement distance of one of the clones, simultaneously calculates the distances travelled by rockets, landing capsules and biodrones, the height at which satellites and energy shields are installed, and the depth at which thermite mines trigger. For movement and for determining numerical parameters the die is rolled only once per turn. In what order the units move is for you to decide.

The full list of combat modules is given in "Appendix No. 2".

Victory Conditions

In a combat encounter, the side that has lost the ability to resist effectively must surrender immediately. It is better to lose only a deposit and the uranium than the station, your life and the ability to repay the credits you were given.

A player is declared the winner if the opponent cannot inflict damage on his station, however many turns he takes.

If neither player can inflict damage on the other, the game ends in a draw.

Possible Outcomes

The analytical department of KlonDike Industries has studied numerous cases of combat encounters between Septikons and compiled a list of the most probable outcomes.

1. The opponent has lost all clones: he has no one to move.
2. The opponent has lost access to all resources: he has nothing to shoot with.
3. The opponent has lost access to the combat zone and cannot restore it.
4. The opponent has lost access to the production zone and cannot restore it, and at the same time his resources have run out.
5. The opponent has lost all spotters and cannot bring out new ones.

More complex variants are combinations of the simple ones. For example, some warehouses may turn out to be inaccessible because of damage and others emptied, while the opponent's clones cannot reach the compartments that would allow them to be refilled.

Example of Victory

It can be seen that all of the player's warehouses are blocked except the oxygen warehouse, the uranium warehouse and one energy warehouse. The uranium and energy warehouses are empty. The player cannot produce energy, since producing it requires uranium (the "Atomic Reactor" compartment) or biomass (the "Heat Generator" compartment), and those are inaccessible because of the blocked warehouses. Producing uranium requires oxygen and energy; oxygen is available, but there is no energy and it cannot be produced. Thus the player's resources are exhausted and he has nothing with which to power the combat compartments; he cannot attack the opponent and cannot change the situation, however his clones move.

Appendix No. 1: Production Compartments of the Septikon Station

The number of compartments of each type on the station is given in parentheses at the end of each entry.

Lichen. The only compartment that does not consume resources. Produces biomass. "Double Lichen" produces two units of biomass at once. This resource is necessary for synthesizing oxygen and growing biodrones. It is also used for espionage and for making thermite mines. In extreme cases it is used as a reserve energy source. (Lichen: 7 compartments; Double Lichen: 1 compartment.)

Chemical Reactor. Produces oxygen, consuming biomass. As a rule players use the double chemical reactor, which creates two units of oxygen at once, which allows two new clones to be unfrozen in a single turn. In addition, oxygen takes part in growing biodrones, and in producing uranium and atomic warheads it is spent because of radiation contamination. (Chemical Reactor: 2 compartments; Double Chemical Reactor: 1 compartment.)

Air Filters. An alternative source of oxygen. They clean the air of radioactive and other contaminants. They consume two units of oxygen and produce three. More convenient than the "Chemical Reactor", since there is no need to spend turns on producing biomass. (2 compartments.)

Biocollector. Produces biodrones (space landing troopers), consuming two resources: oxygen and biomass. The biodrone is the pinnacle of KlonDike Industries' bioengineering. Even a single biodrone can inflict critical damage on an enemy station. (3 compartments.)

Uranium Mine. Produces uranium, consuming energy and oxygen. Uranium is the main source of energy. A player's inability to produce uranium is one of the sufficient conditions of a coming defeat. Uranium is also used to produce nuclear warheads. (3 compartments.)

Atomic Reactor. Produces three units of energy, consuming one unit of uranium. Energy is necessary to power the laser guns, install energy shields, and produce rockets and metal. A shortage of energy very quickly leads to defeat. (3 compartments.)

Heat Generator. Produces one unit of energy, consuming biomass. A reserve energy source that makes it possible to save the game situation if the atomic stations are inaccessible or there is no access to uranium. The unit of energy obtained can be spent to carry out repairs. (1 compartment.)

Foundry. Produces metal. Metal is needed to repair the station. If the opponent damages the metal warehouse, cutting off access, repairing it turns out to be extremely difficult, if not impossible. Satellites are also made from metal. (Foundry: 4 compartments; a second variant: 1 compartment.)

Rocket Workshop. Produces rockets, which are used to destroy compartments of the enemy station. They can be combined with nuclear warheads to inflict critical damage. A nuclear threat forces the opponent to spend turns and resources on countering it, which can undermine his economy. (5 compartments.)

Sensor Room. A special compartment that allows you to get rid of an enemy biodrone by processing it into any resource. If an enemy biodrone is on your station (including the surface), by moving your clone into this compartment you may remove the biodrone's token and place a resource of your choice on any available warehouse. (1 compartment.)

Atomic Armoury allows you to install a nuclear warhead on any of your rockets that is in the warehouse. A rocket with a nuclear warhead destroys 5 compartments at once. One damage token is placed on the compartment where the rocket stopped, and four more to the left, right, below and above it. If there are no rockets, a warhead cannot be produced. Shot-down atomic warheads do not detonate. (3 compartments.)

Appendix No. 2: Combat Compartments of the Septikon Station

KlonDike Industries is pleased to demonstrate all the combat capabilities of the Septikon. Every type of weapon has passed numerous tests, and our specialists have compiled exhaustive instructions which you should read immediately.

Laser. The simplest and most popular weapon. It inflicts damage (the corresponding token is placed) on an undamaged compartment of the enemy station that is opposite the spotter on the same line. It passes through damaged compartments. If an enemy clone, satellite, rocket, biodrone or energy shield is outside the asteroid's compartments but on the trajectory of the shot between the spotter and the enemy station, that target is destroyed by the laser, but no damage is inflicted on the enemy station. The laser consumes one unit of energy. (10 compartments.)

Launch Silo. Designed for sending rockets and nuclear warheads toward the opponent. When a clone arrives in this compartment, remove a rocket resource cube and move the rocket from the spotter by as many sectors as the random number generator shows this turn. On each following turn, rockets in flight continue to move the number of sectors corresponding to the die rolls. When a rocket's movement ends in a collision with the opponent's Septikon, the rocket token is removed; if the compartment on which the rocket stopped is undamaged, a damage token is placed there. If before "landing" the rocket stops on a sector where an enemy clone, satellite, rocket, biodrone or energy shield is located, both that target and the rocket itself are destroyed. (4 compartments.)

Thermite Mine. An expensive weapon for destroying warehouses and the production zone. The thermite mine inflicts damage on the opponent's station opposite your spotter on level 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6, in accordance with the number shown by the random number generator this turn. The thermite mine consumes two units of biomass. (3 compartments.)

Energy Shield. A weapon for defending key directions. When a clone visits this compartment, the player takes an energy shield token and moves it from the spotter in the direction of the opponent's station by as many sectors as the random number generator shows. This token does not move any more. (5 compartments.)

If an energy shield token is on the path of an enemy rocket or biodrone, its movement ends on that sector. Both the energy shield and the rocket (or biodrone) are destroyed. Likewise, an energy shield stops a laser shot, preventing damage to the station.

In all cases where an energy shield is destroyed, if the player has available energy resources, he loses one resource and restores the energy shield in the same place. Satellites are an exception to this rule: they destroy energy shields permanently.

Satellite. A combat satellite, the main defence against the opponent's landing troops and rockets. When a clone enters this compartment, the player takes a satellite token and moves it from the spotter in the direction of the opponent's station by as many sectors as the random number generator shows. This token does not move any more. (4 compartments.)

A satellite destroys all enemy tokens that end up within three or fewer cells of it vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Besides rockets and landing troops, it can destroy the opponent's spotters, energy shields and enemy satellites. In a duel of two satellites, the satellite of the player whose turn it currently is wins. If an enemy rocket or a capsule with a biodrone stops on the cell with a satellite, the satellite is destroyed.

Intercept. An electronic-warfare weapon that allows you to capture the opponent's satellites. If a clone activates this compartment, you may spend the corresponding amount of resources, and any enemy satellite opposite which your spotter stands passes into your ownership. Swap its token for your own. (5 compartments.)

In all cases of using the compartments described above, if you have two or more spotters, each of them may designate a target. The compartment is then activated and spends as many resources as there are targets designated by the spotters. For example, when activating the "Landing Capsule" compartment with three spotters, you may launch three, two or one landing trooper from the chosen spotters, removing the corresponding number of biodrones from the warehouse.

Repair. Allows you to remove any one damage token. As a rule, repair consumes one unit of metal. Besides ordinary repair there is a double repair compartment in the game, which allows you to remove two damage tokens at once, spending one unit of metal and one unit of oxygen. It does not require a spotter. (Repair: 6 compartments; double repair: 1 compartment.)

KlonDike Industries management has taken into account numerous cases of Septikon defeats in space battles and made an unprecedented step toward customers. "Repair" is the only combat module that is duplicated in the production zone in case it is unavailable in the combat zone. That compartment is a huge welding transformer and consumes not metal but energy. Losing all repair modules makes defeat a matter of time; take care of them. (1 compartment.)

Counterespionage. The sole purpose of this compartment is to turn an enemy spy standing on any sector of your station back into your clone, replacing the token. It does not require a spotter. (1 compartment.)

Landing Capsule. A universal weapon designed for landing biodrones on the opponent's station and subsequently destroying his clones and infrastructure. When a clone visits the landing capsule, you must bring a biodrone out of the warehouse to a number of sectors equal to the value from the random number generator, directing it toward the opponent's station. On each following turn the biodrones, like rockets, continue moving the corresponding number of sectors. When a biodrone's flight ends inside the opponent's station (or on its surface), it leaves the capsule and from the next turn may move through the same compartments through which the opponent's clones can move. If a capsule with a biodrone stops on a sector where an enemy clone, satellite, rocket, biodrone or energy shield is located, a collision occurs: both that target and the biodrone destroy each other. (3 compartments.)

Each biodrone in the opponent's compartments may (but need not) move on its turn the number shown by the random number generator (in addition to the movement of a clone on your own station). Biodrones may not pass through enemy clones (including your own spies), and enemy clones may not pass through biodrones. A biodrone that is inside an enemy warehouse at the moment of landing may move through cells occupied by resource tokens, and if it stops on such a cell, the resource is destroyed. If it leaves the warehouse, it cannot return to it or reach another one. A biodrone may not move through damaged sectors, but may land on them, in which case its token is placed on the damage token. Afterward the biodrone may leave.

Espionage. If an enemy clone stands on the firing trajectory of your spotter (it does not matter on which level), it can be made into a spy by seizing the communication system and by directed mutation. All rules for an enemy clone apply to the spy, except that the opponent cannot move it. On your turn, instead of moving your clone, you may move the spy. A spy making a move into an enemy compartment activates it in the usual way: it produces and consumes resources in the opponent's warehouses, and makes shots and landing launches from the opponent's spotters. In this way you can send his biodrones onto your satellites or burn all his energy by installing energy shields. (2 compartments.)

If at the start of your turn the spy is in an armoury compartment or on an airlock opposite the opponent's warehouses, then before rolling the die you may steal one resource from that warehouse by moving it to your own warehouse. In this case the warehouses with that resource, both yours and the opponent's, must not be blocked.

The spy receives weaponry together with all the opponent's clones; it must use it against the opponent's clones and may itself be destroyed by them. A spy may pass through the opponent's clones, and they may pass through it. Your biodrones cannot pass through your own spy, and vice versa. If your spy ends up next to your armed biodrone, the biodrone destroys it, and conversely an armed spy destroys your biodrone. If both are armed, the spy is destroyed.

If a player recruits an enemy spotter as a spy, the opponent may continue to use it as a spotter until it leaves the surface of the asteroid. The player may not use a spy as his own spotter.

For all the compartments described above: if you inflict damage on an opponent's compartment or on a cell of his warehouse, you simultaneously destroy the opponent's tokens standing on those sectors.

Appendix No. 3: Special Compartments (Armoury and Airlocks)

For effective use of biodrones (and for countering them) the "armoury" is used: special compartments located between the combat and production zones in the central corridor. Unlike ordinary combat compartments, armoury compartments do not consume resources. The effect of activating an "armoury" compartment lasts as long as a clone stands in that compartment, and disappears when the clone leaves it.

Drill. A weapon that all your biodrones and clones automatically receive while a clone stands in this compartment. The digit 1 in the upper right corner shows the distance at which the drill works. If at the end of your turn your biodrone stands on a cell next to which, at distance 1 vertically, horizontally or diagonally, there are one or more enemy clones, those enemy clones are mandatorily destroyed. Likewise, if the token of a clone armed with a drill stands at the end of the turn next to the opponent's biodrones or spies, those biodrones and spies are destroyed. (1 compartment.)

Vibro-gun. A weapon that works like the drill, but strictly at a distance of two compartments. It hits the opponent's living targets if they are one sector away from the armed clone or biodrone in any direction, including diagonally. (1 compartment.)

Both the drill and the vibro-gun are tunnel-boring tools, so they can be fired between floors regardless of walls. This, in particular, allows you to destroy the opponent's biodrones inside warehouses. The drill and vibro-gun cannot be used to destroy any objects other than clones, spies and active biodrones (you cannot shoot not-yet-activated biodrones in the opponent's warehouse). Close-combat weapons cannot be used before landing on the station.

If at the end of the turn both your biodrone and an enemy worker clone are armed and must destroy each other, the fight is won by the player who ends the turn.

Explosives. The most terrible weapon of biodrones. A biodrone armed with explosives may, when moving, leave a damage token on the sector where it stood at the start of the turn. A player's clones may also use explosives, but only in the most extreme case, for example when it is necessary to isolate the opponent's landing by blocking his passages. (1 compartment.)

Both biodrones and CLONES may simultaneously have and use any number of hand weapons (drill, pneumatic gun, explosives).

Airlock. Special compartments located at key points of the station. The airlock chambers store supplies of frozen clones, which are unfrozen as the amount of oxygen on the station increases. If all airlocks are damaged, new clones cannot appear. A clone that stands on an airlock at the start of the turn may be frozen, and instead its copy is unfrozen on any other airlock. In this way the clone moves from one airlock to another as if that were an adjacent compartment for it (spending one unit of movement), and continues its movement from there. Biodrones cannot use enemy airlocks. (4 compartments.)

(Note: the Russian text mentions a "pneumatic gun" as a hand weapon in this sentence, but no compartment with that name is described anywhere in this rulebook; transcribed as printed.)