Space Empires: Close Encounters
Space Empires: Close Encounters Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. New Homeworlds and More Money
- 3. Ship Experience and Military Academies
- 4. Boarding and Capturing Ships
- 5. Security Forces
- 6. Titans
- 7. Fleet Markers
- 8. Mine Sweeper Technology
- 9. Movement Technology
- 10. Reaction Movement
- 11. Fast Battlecruisers
- 12. Alien Technology Cards
- 13. Empire Advantages
- Advanced Expansion Rules
- 14. Transports and Ground Combat
- 15. Captured Colonies
- 16. Flagships
- 17. Facilities
- 18. Terraforming Nebulae
- 19. Unique Ships
- 20. Variants
- 21. Galactic Situation
1. Introduction
These rules can be considered a list of optional rules. Although they were designed to be added in as a unit (mostly), they can be customized to the preference of your group. This game is designed to be customizable and this expansion adds a lot of tools to the tool box. There is so much new stuff here and most groups will probably find it works best to add only some of these new rules in their first game. For the first game with the expansion, we recommend not playing with the rules that are grouped under the heading Advanced Expansion Rules.
Ship Technology Sheet: To save space, the Ship Technology Sheet does not list the technologies that a ship must have. For example, Attack 0, Defense 0, Tactics 0, and Move 1 are not listed on the sheet. All ships must at least have those levels of technology. Attack 1 is the first attack tech listed. If Attack 1 is not circled, then the ship must still be at Attack 0. Likewise, for Fighters, Fighter 1 technology is not listed because the Fighter must obviously be at least at Fighter 1.
These new rules introduce situations where it is sometimes advantageous for a unit not to fire. A unit may always decide not to fire.
Included in the game are "No Mines" counters. These are used in the scenarios involving Space Amoebas. However, the back of these counters have a generic deep space background. In scenarios not involving Space Amoebas, these can be used to represent "Design Your Own" terrain (or to trigger the appearance of a Space Amoeba or anything else agreed upon by all players).
2. New Homeworlds and More Money
This expansion gives you many new things on which to spend your money. Each Homeworld now produces 30 CP instead of 20 CP. If a Homeworld takes damage, it now reduces 30-20-10-5-Eliminated. A new Homeworld counter is provided for each player. It is suggested that you use this 30 CP Homeworld when playing with items in the expansion and use the 20 CP Homeworld when just playing the base game. In addition, as will be described in the rules, the cost of some technologies have been lowered slightly because the tech tree has been expanded.
3. Ship Experience and Military Academies
3.1 Ship Experience
There are five levels of Experience in the game (in order): Green, Skilled, Veteran, Elite, and Legendary. Experience is not tracked by ship, but by group. All the ships in the same group have the same experience. On the Ship Tracking Sheet, each group has room for tracking experience. More groups of each type have been included to facilitate this.
Combining Groups: Two groups that could normally combine (same tech, etc.) may do so but, if the experience level of the two groups differ, the newly formed group has the lower experience of the combining groups.
3.2 Military Academies
If not playing with Ship Experience, then Military Academies are not used. Military Academies improve the skill of new ships:
- If a player has not researched Military Academies, all of his new ships start as Green.
- If a player has researched Military Academy Level 1, all of his new ships start as Skilled.
- If a player has researched Military Academy Level 2, all of his new ships start as Skilled and all of his ships (including existing ones) are more easily promoted.
3.3 Gaining Experience
Only groups that have a combat capability gain experience. Bases, SYs, Ground Units, and any other unit that does not have a section for experience on the Ship Technology Sheet do not gain experience.
Green Groups: At the very start of the Economic Phase (before CPs are collected), each Green group on the board is promoted to Skilled.
Combat Experience: Each group may gain experience whenever it destroys a ship. For each ship destroyed by that group an extra die is rolled when the group is done firing. If the subsequent die roll is less than or equal to twice the Hull Size of the destroyed ship, then the group that destroyed the ship gains a level of experience.
EXAMPLE: If the destroyed ship had a Hull Size of 2, then a die roll of 1-4 would gain experience for the group.
Modifiers to Gaining Combat Experience: Modify the Combat Experience die roll by the following:
- –1 If the destroyed ship has a larger Hull Size than the firing ship.
- –1 If the side with the firing ship has Military Academy Level 2.
These modifiers are cumulative.
Procedure: Gaining experience happens immediately, before the next group fires. Only one level of experience may be gained by a group in each battle. When a group gains a level of experience, only put a half circle around the next experience letter. Do not complete the circle until the battle is complete. This will prevent a group from mistakenly gaining two levels of experience in the same battle. Groups that newly gain experience should be moved up halfway to the next row on the Battle Board—this makes it easier to see which groups can still gain experience.
EXAMPLE: Player A has a group of 5 DDs firing against 3 CAs. The DDs are Skilled and Player A has Military Academy 2. The DDs roll 4 hits, destroying 2 CAs. Player A rolls a die for each ship destroyed and needs to roll a 6 or lower on one of the dice to gain experience (the CAs have a Hull Size of 2, one is subtracted from the die roll because the ship destroyed is larger than the firing ship, and one is subtracted from the roll because of Military Academy 2). Player A rolls a 1 and a 3. The DDs are promoted to Veteran and moved halfway to Elite on the Battle Board.
Multiple Groups: If a player has multiple groups that are firing at the same time, he may fire them in any order, but must finish firing one group before moving to the next.
Aliens: All non-player Alien ships are considered to be "Skilled". Experience can be gained by attacking Aliens.
Groups that can not gain experience (Bases, SYs, Doomsday Machines, Space Amoebas, and Ground Troops) are not affected by experience. They do not gain experience, are not penalized when shooting at experienced ships (Exception: the Hull Size of Legendary ships), experienced ships gain no benefit when firing at them, and ships do not gain experience when destroying them. Units that cannot gain experience are not used to calculate which units the enemy can fire on based on their experience level.
Battle Board: The new Battle Board was included to make it easy to see the benefits of experience in a battle.
3.4 Benefits of Experience
Experience provides the following benefits:
- If a group has more experience than the group it is firing against, its Attack Strength is increased by 1 for that attack.
- If a group has 2 or more levels of experience than a group that is firing at it, the Attack Strength of the firing ship is decreased by 1 for that attack.
- A group may not fire at a group that has 3 or more levels of experience than them unless all remaining enemy ships have 3 or more levels of experience than them. If that is the case, they may only fire at the least experienced ships.
EXAMPLE: A group of Green DDs is faced by a group of Veteran SCs and a group of Elite CAs. The DDs may fire only at the SCs (and the Attack Strength will be decreased by one for the attack) until only the Elite CAs are left.
- Elite and Legendary groups pay half maintenance (rounded down). If that group would have already paid half maintenance because of other rules (low maintenance variant, tech advantage), then they pay no maintenance.
- Ships in a Legendary group require one more hit to destroy than normal. For the purpose of Boarding Ships, their Hull Size is considered to be one larger. This benefit is gained even if being fired upon by a SY, Base, or other unit that normally does not gain experience.
EXAMPLE: A Legendary Cruiser would require three hits to destroy.
4. Boarding and Capturing Ships
4.1 Properties of Boarding Ships
After researching Boarding Level 1, a player may build Boarding Ships (BD) (F5-0-2) (CP=12). When a player researches Boarding Level 2, his Boarding Ships may be upgraded (F6-0-2). Boarding Ships have the following properties:
- May make Boarding Attacks (see below).
- If combat occurs in Asteroids or a Nebula, Boarding Ships still fire at "F", not "E".
- Boarding Ships always hit on a "1", like other ships.
- Boarding Ships may not mount Attack Technology.
4.2 Boarding Attacks
A Boarding Ship's attack is handled differently than a regular ship's attack. The Hull Size of the ship being attacked is subtracted from the Attack Strength of the Boarding Ship. All other modifiers and technologies are ignored (do not use Attack Tech, Defense Tech, Fleet Size bonus, etc.) except for experience modifiers. If that number or less is rolled, the attacked ship has been captured by the boarding parties (multiple hits are not required to take over a ship—regardless of Hull Size, one successful boarding attack will take over an enemy ship).
EXAMPLE: A Veteran Boarding Ship (F5) is attacking a Legendary Cruiser. The attack would succeed only on a roll of 1—5 minus a Hull Size of 3 (one larger for a Legendary ship), minus an experience modifier of 1 (the target ship is 2 levels of experience better).
Boarding Ships may attack each round regardless of the success or failure of previous attempts. Boarding Ships may acquire experience when they successfully capture a ship. The following restrictions apply to Boarding Attacks:
- Carriers may not be attacked until all friendly Fighters in the battle are eliminated.
- Ships that are screened from combat may not be attacked and so may not be captured.
- Bases, SYs, Colony Ships, Colonies, Miners, MS Pipeline, Titans, Fighters, Doomsday Machines, Space Amoebas, and ships that are carrying troops may not be captured and are instead engaged with a normal F1 attack with no Attack Tech if a Boarding Ship fires on them. The F1 attack may benefit from the Fleet Size bonus.
NOTE: Boarding Ships may be boarded.
4.3 Captured Ships
A ship captured by a boarding party immediately becomes controlled by the capturing player. A captured ship has the following properties:
- May not attack, retreat, count for screening or count for fleet size in the first round immediately following capture (the boarding parties are in the process of gaining complete control of the ship).
- May be fired upon normally, may be screened, and may be recaptured.
- After the first round post capture, a captured ship may attack and retreat normally.
- If playing with the experience rule, newly captured ships from other players are "Green" (regardless of Military Academy Level), but may gain experience normally.
- If playing with the experience rule, captured non-player alien ships are always "Green" and can never increase in experience.
4.4 Tracking Captured Ships
Until the end of the battle a captured ship may be represented by whatever spare counter is available. If either player has a free counter of that class, it can be used. Barring that, a spare alien or other counter may be used.
At the conclusion of the battle, any surviving captured ships must be switched over and represented by the player's own counters. A player capturing a ship may have to scuttle other ships or combine other counters to free up a Group counter to represent the captured ship. If he is unwilling to do that, he must scuttle the captured ship. The new group of captured ship(s) should have the appropriate technology marked on the tracking sheet like any other group. The former owner of the ship should inform the player of the current tech levels on the ship.
Until upgraded or scrapped, a player must always identify a formerly captured ship in battle. The original owner would obviously recognize his former ship and this makes it easier for him to try to destroy it to prevent its technology falling into enemy hands. If it has the same technology as one of your ships, the group counters could still be combined.
4.5 Captured Ships and Technology
Captured ships may use all of the technologies that they possess. However, they may not give the technology to other ships.
Scrapping Technology: If a captured ship is at a friendly Ship Yard during an Economic Phase, it may be scrapped for its technology. The scrapping player will gain one level of technology in each area that the captured ship has better technology and the scrapped ship is removed. The player may successively scrap ships in the same Economic Phase to gain more technology. The order in which he scraps ships is up to him. The player may also purchase a level of a particular technology in the same Economic Phase, either before or after scrapping a ship.
EXAMPLE: A player with Move 1, Attack 2, Defense 1, and Tactics 1 captures a ship that has Move 3, Attack 2, Defense 2, and Tactics 0. Upon scrapping the ship, the player gains Move 2 and Defense 2 technology. If the player had another ship just like this one and scrapped it also, he would immediately gain Move 3 technology. The player could then choose to purchase (if he had available CP) Move 4 technology.
The following restrictions apply to Scrapping technology:
- Scrapping a Carrier can only yield up to Fighter 1 Tech, regardless of the level of Fighter technology the other player possessed.
- Ground Combat technology can not be gained by scrapping a Transport.
- Security Forces and Military Academies (which are not shown on the Ship Tech Sheet) can not be gained by capturing a ship.
- Any technology gained is of course limited to what is present on the ship scrapped.
- In a multi-player game that has no fixed teams you cannot gain technology by scrapping captured ships.
NOTE: Ship Size technology can be gained by this method.
4.6 Captured Non-Player Alien Ships
Non-player aliens may be captured. These may be used (and maintenance must be paid for) like any of the player's ships. However, a player may never put any of his technology on them. They have the standard alien technology (PD 2, Tactics 1) and have Move 3 technology. They may be scuttled, but may not be scrapped to gain technology like is done with the ships captured from another player. If stacked with friendly ships, it should be obvious which empire owns them. If moved on their own, one of the "Empire" markers of your color which have been provided for this purpose, should be stacked with them. If you run out of "Empire" markers, use another marker to indicate the owning empire.
5. Security Forces
Use only with Boarding Ships. If a player researches Security Forces, all of his ships immediately and automatically get the benefit of Security Forces. A ship does not need to be upgraded to get this benefit. This joins Bases, Ship Yards, and Military Academies as the only exceptions to the upgrade rule. This represents that a player has developed a coherent plan for dealing with Boarding Ships and has communicated it to their fleet. All NPA ships are equipped with Security 1.
Effects: A player who has researched Security Forces 1 has one added to the Hull Size of their ships that are attacked by Boarding Ships for the purpose of boarding attacks. Security Forces 2 adds two to the Hull Size of the ship being attacked.
6. Titans
Titans are massive ships that are far larger than a Dreadnought.
6.1 In General
A player must have a Ship Size Technology of 7 to build a Titan. Titans have the following properties:
- Each hit from a Titan does 2 damage to a single ship instead of 1.
- May never retreat from combat.
- May never be screened (due to their size).
- Are immune to Boarding Ships (due to their size).
- Unless the attacking ship is a Fighter, a roll of 1 is not an automatic hit against a Titan. It is therefore possible for some ships to not be able to score a hit on a Titan, depending on the technologies on the ships.
6.2 Fleet Size Bonus
Which side gets the Fleet Size Bonus is calculated normally for the battle. However, when firing at the Titan, ships other than Fighters do not get to claim the bonus. In addition, Fighters get a +1 to Attack Strength against a Titan.
6.3 Can Carry Fighters
If the player with a Titan also has Fighter Tech, a Titan may carry 3 Fighters in the same way as a Carrier. An existing Titan can be upgraded to have this ability as soon as Fighter 1 is researched. Although the Titan carries Fighters, it is not considered a CV. It may be fired upon while friendly Fighters are still present in the battle. In the unlikely event that a Titan is destroyed and there are more Fighters left than can be carried on the remaining CVs and Titans, the extra Fighters would be eliminated at the conclusion of the battle.
6.4 Planet Destroyers
A Titan may not attack a Colony like a normal ship would. If it attacks, it destroys the planet. When a Titan fires at a Colony, the Colony and planet are both automatically destroyed. Remove the planet from the game and replace it with one of the Destroyed Planet markers provided with the expansion. This hex is now an asteroid hex. A Titan may fire at and destroy a planet that does not have a colony on it.
6.5 Titans and Mines
Because of their great size, Mines do not kill a Titan, but do one point of damage each. Therefore, it would take 5 Mines to kill a Titan outright. If a battle immediately follows Mine detonation, then the Titan would enter that battle with damage. Fighters carried by the Titan are immune to any mine damage unless the Titan is destroyed, which would destroy them. All damage is repaired at the end of a battle as normal.
7. Fleet Markers
In order to facilitate moving large stacks of ships, three Fleet markers have been provided for each of the players. If you desire to use them, place the Fleet Chart in view of all the players. A fleet of ships may be placed in a player's box on the chart and represented by only one counter on the map. The Fleet Tracking Box is merely a convenient holding box for counters. In all ways, a counter in the Fleet Tracking Box is considered on the map.
NOTE: The Yellow Fleet markers are Greek words: Gnosis (knowledge), Logos (reason), Praxis (application).
8. Mine Sweeper Technology
- The cost of Mine Sweeper technology has been reduced and the cost of Mine technology has been increased.
- Mine Sweeper 3 technology, which allows SWs to remove 3 Mines before mine detonation, has been added.
- Mines are still very useful, but this change means they will be purchased less often.
9. Movement Technology
The cost of some of the Movement technologies have been decreased. Movement Technology 7, which allows ships to move 3 hexes in all 3 rounds, may also be purchased. A new ability called Reaction Movement (10.0) also comes with some of the Movement technologies.
10. Reaction Movement
10.1 Exploration Technology Sensors
The Exploration Technology Sensors in the base game may now be upgraded to Exploration 2 technology. This allows Bases, Ship Yards, CAs, Flagships and some Unique Ships to respond to a battle in an adjacent hex and send ships with the Reaction Ability to reinforce the battle. This is called Reaction Movement. Ships with the Reaction Ability are listed in 10.3 below. Although Bases and SYs are automatically upgraded with Exploration 2, they do not gain the benefits of Exploration 1.
10.2 Procedure
After an opposing player has finished moving, a ship with the Reaction Ability that is located in the same hex as a ship/base that is equipped with Exploration 2 technology may make a Reaction Move—it may move one hex to join battle. As many ships that are able to make this move may do so, including any ship that enabled this move. The decision to make this reaction move must happen before fleets are revealed and before any combats are resolved. Ships that react to join a battle are part of the defending force in the battle in every way (it is like they were in the hex to begin with).
The following restrictions apply to Reaction:
- The Reaction Move can only be made into a battle hex—one that involves units from both sides. A friendly Colony that had enemy forces move in that turn qualifies as a battle hex. Non-combat ships that are not accompanied by a friendly combat capable ship do not qualify as a battle hex.
- Ships in a hex with enemy units may not React.
- Reaction moves may not be made through Warp Points or Warp Gates.
- Reaction Movemnet even with Advanced Comm Array only allows one hex of movement by the reacting ships, per player turn.
10.3 Which Units May React
The following Ships have the React Ability:
- At Movement Technology 3 (and higher) SCs, DDs, CAs, and Rs get the React ability.
- At Movement Technology 4 (and higher) Flagships, BCs, and BDs get the React ability.
- At Movement Technology 5 (and higher) BBs, CVs, Unique Ships, and Transports get the React ability.
- At Movement Technology 6 (and higher) DNs and SWs get the React ability.
NOTE: On the Ship Technology Sheet, an R appears in the place of the Move technology number to remind players that the group gets the React ability at that Move technology.
11. Fast Battlecruisers
This technology gives BCs more mobility. A BC equipped with Fast Battlecruiser 1 technology may move one extra space on turn 1 (only). All other normal movement rules apply (extra space if they stay completely on pipeline, must stop when entering a nebula, etc.).
EXAMPLE: If a player has this technology and Move 4, his other ships may move 2 hexes on each turn. His BCs will be able to move 3 hexes on turn 1.
Once this technology has been researched, Decoys may also use it just like they can use other Movement Technology. You do not need to research Ship Size 4 before researching this technology.
12. Alien Technology Cards
There are 30 Alien Technology Cards in the game. Before the start of the game, this deck is shuffled and placed face down next the game board. Before shuffling, the players should remove any cards from the deck that only modify rules not being used in the game. When a Barren Planet in the Deep Space portion of the map is initially colonized or captured, the player may draw 2 of these cards. He secretly keeps one card and discards the other card face down. An Alien Tech Card is not drawn for a planet that had been previously colonized or captured (by anyone).
If playing with non-player aliens, this card is free. If not playing with non-player aliens, then the player must pay 10 CP in the next Economic Phase if he chooses to keep the card (this is voluntary). Record this expenditure under ship purchases on the Production Sheet.
These Alien Technologies may not be gained by scrapping a captured ship that has one or from capturing an enemy planet. The only player who may benefit from an Alien Technology Card is the player who drew it.
Cards that can benefit ships already built (like Soylent Purple) go into effect the next player turn (all existing ships get that benefit).
This alien technology is so advanced that it is easy to install. Ships that are captured do still retain the benefit of the Alien Technology Card and can be upgraded normally. There is just no way for the player to gain the ability from the ship and duplicate it.
See page 13 for a complete list of Alien Technology Cards.
Alien Technology Card List
- Soylent Purple: SC and DD pay 1/2 maintenance (round down the total). Reveal at end of game.
- Anti-Matter Warhead: DDs get +1 to their attack strength. Reveal when a DD is present in combat.
- Interlinked Targeting Computer: Unlimited attack tech on destroyers. Reveal when a DD is present in combat. Existing DDs instantly get the ability to have attack tech greater than their Hull Size because of this card, but they still must be retrofitted with that tech normally (Attack 2 or Attack 3).
- Polytitanium Alloy: DDs cost 2 less. Reveal at end of game.
- Long Lance Torpedo: All of this player's DDs fire at B instead of D. Reveal when a DD is present in combat.
- Central Computer: CA and BC pay 1/2 maintenance (round down the total). Reveal at end of game.
- Resupply Depot: BB and DN pay 1/2 maintenance (round down the total). Reveal at end of game.
- Holodeck: CV and F pay 1/2 maintenance (round down the total). Reveal at end of game.
- Cold Fusion Drive: Rs and SWs pay 1/2 maintenance (round down the total). Reveal at end of game.
- Emissive Armor: CAs take 1 extra hit to kill. However, their Hull Size does not increase because of this card: it is still considered 2 (barring other card effects). This does not help them against boarding attacks. Reveal when a CA is present in combat.
- Electronic Warfare Module: CAs get +1 to their attack strength. Reveal when a CA is present in combat.
13. Empire Advantages
13.1 Random Method
Each player is dealt two Empire Advantage cards at the start of the game. He chooses one and discards the other face down.
13.2 Balanced Method
One more Empire Advantage card than the number of players is dealt face up in the middle of the table. Open bidding begins, in CP, for choice of an Empire Advantage, until no one is willing to beat the highest bid. Each player begins the game with 75 CP (or more if the players agree). The winner of the bid subtracts his bid amount from his starting CP, picks an Empire Advantage, and then spends any remaining CP on technology. Those who do not win the bid lose nothing.
The remaining players repeat the process and bid for choice of the next Empire Advantage. When only one player is left, he bids zero, chooses one of the two remaining Empire Advantages, and discards the other.
In the unlikely event that someone bids more than 75 CP (more than the amount agreed upon), then any additional CP is subtracted from their future income. In this case, maintenance would be paid, with any income going to pay off their original bid.
13.3 Revealing Empire Advantage Cards
Empire Advantage cards are placed face down in front of each player. When their reveal condition is met, they are turned face up and left that way for the remainder of the game. Your advantage is also revealed if Ground Units capture one of your colonies.
13.4 Special Considerations
All of the special conditions related to each Empire Advantage could not fit on many of the cards. Always check the rule book to verify that you completely understand your Empire Advantage. See pages 14-16 for the complete list.
Captured Planets: Empire Advantages are never gained from another player when you capture their planet.
Captured Ships: Unless otherwise noted, ships captured through boarding do not retain their Empire Advantage.
Scenario Restrictions: When playing on maps that at any point have only two hexes of Deep Space between the players home areas, the following advantages should not be used: Ancient Race, Industrious Race, Giant Race, and House of Speed. In addition, do not use an advantage if not playing with a rule that it modifies. For example, if playing with the Instant Upgrade rule, don't play with Nano-technology. And We Still Carry Swords should not be used when playing the Planetary Gate Scenario (too powerful).
Empire Advantage Card List
- Fearless Race: The ethos of this race places a high value on proving your courage. All of their combat capable ships and SYs (excluding Boarding Ships and ground units) fire at Attack Class A in the first round of combat (only). After the first round, their ships revert to their normal attack class. However, none of their ships are able to retreat from combat until after Round 3. Their ships would still fire at "E" (or "F") when in asteroids or Nebulae. REVEAL: When any of their non-Boarding Ships enter combat.
- Warrior Race: +1 to attack strength for all non-boarding ships when they are the attacker in a battle. –1 to the attack strength for all non-boarding ships when they are the defender in a battle. No advantage is given when bombarding a planet. REVEAL: When any of their non-Boarding Ships enter combat.
- Celestial Knights: Once per space battle (not ground combat or colony bombardment), after the first round, at the start of a round, this race may declare a "charge". All of their ships (including boarding ships but not Bases and SYs) get two attacks in that round only. However, in all following rounds all enemy ships get +1 to their Attack Strength. In addition, the charging ships may not retreat the round after the charge. REVEAL: Reveal when any of their ships enter combat. Bases and SYs do not force the reveal.
- Giant Race: The Hull Size of all ships (not ground units, but including SYs, Bases, Flagships, Unique Ships, etc.) of this race is increased by one. This impacts everything that has to do with Hull Size—SYs needed to construct (including for Miners, Colony Ships, and MS Pipelines), damage to destroy, technology that can be carried, maintenance, boarding parties, etc. The cost to build the ships remains the same. Captured ships of this race retain their Hull Size. Giant Race may not research Fighters and may not get them by any other means (capturing technology, etc.). Decoys continue to have a Hull Size of zero and do not need a SY to build. REVEAL: When first entering any combat, including Alien ships.
- Industrious Race: When this race researches Terraforming, they may colonize asteroids exactly as if they were a Barren Planet. The asteroids still retain their normal terrain effects. Titans may not destroy an asteroid like it would a planet and may not attack asteroid colonies at all. Other players may not attack an asteroid Colony with ground troops. If playing with the short game, Colony Victory Point Rule, asteroid colonies in Deep Space do not count as a Colony Point. If colonizing a Deep Space asteroid, you do NOT get an Alien Tech Card.
Advanced Expansion Rules
14. Transports and Ground Combat
Depending on the play style of your group, this optional rule will add some time to the game.
14.1 Transports
Transports are used to carry Ground Units. At start, all players may build both Transports and Infantry. Transports do not need to stop to pick up or drop off troops, but can pick them up while passing a planet in a similar way to a CV picking up Fighters (Original game rule 11.2.3). Transports have the following properties:
- May not explore.
- Each may carry up to 6 Ground Units.
- A loaded Transport may not be boarded.
- If a transport is destroyed, all ground combat units on that transport are also destroyed. Since troops are not assigned to specific transports, when a transport it destroyed, the owner may choose which troops are also destroyed. EXAMPLE: A player has 2 troop transports, 5 Space Marines and 3 Infantry involved in a battle. One of the transports is destroyed. The player must remove 2 Ground Units because only 6 may fit on the remaining transport. He chooses to eliminate 2 of the Infantry.
- Transports pay maintenance whether they are loaded or not.
- Transports participate in space combat normally. They may fire, may be screened, etc.
Upgrading Transports: When a player researches Ground Combat 3, his Transports may be upgraded so that their Defense Strength increases from 1 to 2 (Armored Transports). The Transports will also be equipped with Drop Ships. This helps troops in the first round of ground combat. In addition, the player may purchase Grav Armor.
14.2 Ground Units
Each Ground Unit represents a massive amount of troops. Ground units come in 5 varieties: Infantry, Space Marines, Heavy Infantry, Militia and Grav Armor. Ground units have the following properties:
- Require no maintenance cost.
- May not be placed on an uncolonized planet.
- Provide a defensive benefit against bombardment (14.6) and may not be hit by bombardment.
- Ground Units play no part in space combat. Whether on a Colony or on a Transport, they never shoot at ships and they may never be shot at by ships.
- Are eliminated if the Colony they are on is eliminated.
14.3 Purchasing Ground Units
A number of Ground Units equal to the size of a Colony may be purchased at that un-blockaded Colony during an Economic Phase (no SY is needed for any of the troops, including Grav Armor). Ground Combat 2 technology is required to build Space Marines or Heavy Infantry.
EXAMPLE: A Colony produced 3 CP that Economic Phase. Any mixture of three Ground Units may be placed there after they are purchased.
14.4 Militia
Militia units are never purchased. They are temporarily awarded when a Colony is invaded: 1 Militia per CP number on the Colony. This is in addition to any troops that are already on the planet. This represents the police forces, military units, and the difficulty in conquering a planet. Even if these Militia units are destroyed, if the planet is subsequently invaded, it will again be awarded Militia units equal to the CP on the Colony.
EXAMPLE: A planet with a 3 CP marker on it will be temporarily awarded 3 Militia units if attacked by Ground Units. A home planet could yield as many as 20 (30) Militia units.
14.5 Free Troops
A player receives one free Ground Unit for every three, un-blockaded 5 CP Colonies (not the home planet) that he has at the start of an Economic Phase (rounded down). This is in addition to any units that are purchased. Think of this as skimming off the population growth of the more adventuresome colonists once the colony is "full."
The free units are Infantry if at Ground Combat 1 or they can be Heavy Infantry or Space Marines at Ground Combat 2. Grav Armor can never be received for free. It must be purchased.
The free units are placed at any un-blockaded 5 CP Colony or Homeworld, one per Colony. This is in addition to any purchased troops and does not count against the purchased unit limit.
14.6 Planetary Defense
Ground units contribute to planetary defense. Think of them as being armed with lots of surface to air missiles that keep bombarding ships at arm's length. If there are Ground Units besides Militia on the planet when the Colony is being bombarded, the Colony is considered to have a defense strength of 1 if there 1-3 Ground Units present. It has a defense strength of 2 if there are 4 or more Ground Units present. Militia never contributes to bombardment defense.
14.7 Landing Procedure
If a player moves into a colony hex that contains enemy Ground Units, but no ships with combat capabilities, both sides are revealed immediately. Raiders using Space Empires Rule 12.1.2 to stay in Cloak and continue moving do not cause units on either side to be revealed. Decoys on both sides are removed and the non-moving player must eliminate non-combat ships if the moving player has combat ships present. The moving player may now decide whether he wishes to continue to move or stay in that hex. Since a Reaction Move by the non-moving player can be made only after the moving player has finished his move, the Reaction Move would happen after the non-combat ships had been eliminated and only if the moving player decided to stay in that hex.
Determine Location of Ground Units: If a player is defending in a hex with Ground Units, Transports, and a friendly Colony, that player must decide after the fleets have been revealed, but before combat, whether the troops are on the planet or on the transports (or a mixture of both).
Landing: After the second round of space combat and each round thereafter, players with transports may decide to land troops on any Colony in that hex. Any troops on the transports are simply placed on the planet. A transport may land troops this way even if it had been screened. If the planet is barren then the troops may not be landed if their Empire has not researched Terraforming 1. Any transports remain in the battle and the space combat continues as normal.
Bombardment: After space combat is over, if a player did not land troops, he may decide to bombard the Colony before landing troops. This option is not available to the player if he has already landed troops. The player may roll attacks against the Colony one at a time, reducing it, until he decides to land the troops. Once he has landed the troops, he may not bombard the Colony any more that turn, even if the invasion goes poorly.
14.8 Ground Combat Procedure
Ground combat is resolved after all space combat in the hex is finished. Similar to space combat, Ground Units fire at each other in order of class (D before E), take damage, and are eliminated when they take damage equal to their "Hull Size" (not that ground troops have hulls but, for simplicity's sake, they use the same metric). Tactics ratings do not impact the order of ground combat—ties in class always result in the defender firing first. The following also has no effect on ground combat: Ships, Fleet Size Bonus, and Attack or Defense technologies. Combat Screening (Space Empires 5.7) can be used in Ground Combat. Units that cannot fire do not count when determining which units can be screened.
Ground combat continues for an indefinite number of rounds until one side wins—there is no Retreat from ground combat. Any troops dropped off by transports without drop ships (available with Ground Combat 3), may not fire in the first round of ground combat. They operate normally in the second round and following.
14.9 Determine Victor
If the defender destroys the last attacking Ground Unit, the Colony has been successfully defended. Remove any remaining Militia units. If the attacker destroys the last defending Ground Unit (including Militia), the Colony has been successfully captured. To complete the process, the attacker must remove one Ground Unit that is on the planet (even if the attacker is recapturing a planet that was previously his). The removal of this unit represents the permanent resources needed to manage the captured Colony. Leave the defeated Colony marker in place and cover it with one from the conquering player.
If the attacker captures the Colony, any SYs or Base at the Colony belonging to the other player are destroyed. This means it is possible to drop ground troops after round 2, lose the space battle, and still destroy the SYs/Base. Any Fighters that are in excess of the carrying capacity of friendly CVs/Titans are lost if the planet is captured. If an enemy fleet remains in orbit, they may not bombard until their turn.
14.10 Space Marines and Heavy Infantry
Space Marines and Heavy Infantry have different combat ratings when they are attacking a planet and when they are defending a planet. Space Marines attack at C6 and defend at D5. Heavy Infantry attacks at D4 and defends at C6.
14.11 Grav Armor
Grav Armor has a special ability beyond its normal attack. At the start of each round of combat, for every Grav Armor unit that you have over the amount that your opponent has, you can support one non-Grav Armor unit (including Militia and Transports with the appropriate Alien Tech Card). A supported unit gains one to its attack and defense strength. A unit can only be supported by one Grav Armor unit per round. Units that cannot fire are not counted when determining how many units can be supported. Also units that cannot fire cannot be supported.
EXAMPLE: The defender has 3 Grav Armor, 1 Space Marine and 1 Militia on the planet. The attacker has no Grav Armor. So the Defender can support 3 units. As they only have 2 non-Grav Armor units the 3rd support bonus is lost. The Space Marine will fire as a D6 unit with a Defense Strength of 2 for this round. The Militia will fire as an E6 unit with a Defense Strength of 1 for this round.
14.12 Ground Combat Against Aliens
Non-player Aliens are a special case with a number of exceptions to Ground Combat:
- They may not be invaded until their fleet is destroyed.
- Troops may not be landed after the second round of combat.
- They may only be invaded if a player has Terraforming technology.
- After defeating the alien fleet the player may consider the planet subdued and may colonize it normally or he may invade.
- Non-player alien planets do not yield technology benefits other than the Alien Tech Cards. When invading a colony started on an alien planet because of Amazing Diplomats, that colony may be invaded after Round 2 as normal. In the invasion is successful, any NPA ships that were defending the planet and had not been brought under the defenders control by capture are destroyed.
Procedure: The aliens have 5 Militia units on the planet. If these are defeated, place a 3 CP Colony of the player's color on the planet. If they are not defeated, then the planet is considered subdued from space and may be colonized normally. It may not be invaded later. A player has only one shot to invade a non-player alien planet and that is immediately after destroying its fleet. A player may NOT bombard the Colony to reduce the number of Militia like he could with a human player.
15. Captured Colonies
15.1 Procedure and Properties
Captured colonies "go backward" one step of growth upon capture. A 5 CP Colony becomes a 3 CP Colony, a 3 CP Colony becomes a 1 CP Colony, and a 1 CP Colony is flipped back to the ship side. In this last case it does not actually become a ship, it just reverts back to that step in the growth process. (This is the only time a Colony is ever flipped back to the ship side.) Nothing happens to a new Colony that is still on the ship side. It will grow to 1 in the following Economic Phase. The captured Colony is then treated like any of that other player's colonies. It will provide income, grow, Ship Yards may be built, will provide Militia when attacked, etc. Any Minerals and Space Wrecks that are on the Colony when it is captured are considered destroyed.
Captured Home Planets: A conquered Homeworld becomes a normal Colony (max 5 CP) for the conquering player.
Indicate Captured Status: The Colony marker from the defeated player is left on the planet until the end of the game and covered by the new owner because the captured status of the Colony continues to impact the game. The original owner and their allies may not attack his former Colony from space. If he wants it back, he will have to invade (the planet is filled with his colonists!).
15.2 Other Effects
Reveal Cards: When a Colony is captured (not recaptured—see below), the player who lost the Colony must reveal all of the Empire Advantages and Alien Technology Cards that he has at that moment, to the capturing player.
Capture in Enemy Home Systems: When a Colony/Homeworld is captured in a player's Home System, the capturing player may look at the player's production sheet and his empire immediately increases one level in two technologies in which the other player is more advanced (capturing player's choice). Exception: Recapturing a planet (see below). This is similar to capturing technology through scrapping captured ships except that it happens immediately and not in the Economic Phase.
Capture in Deep Space: If a Colony is captured in Deep Space, it is handled the same way except that only one level of one technology may be taken (capturing player's choice). If playing a scenario in which a player's home system markers are mixed with the Deep Space markers at set up, then all colonies besides the Homeworld count as Deep Space planets for the purpose of this rule.
Capture in Multi-Player Games: In a multi-player game that has no fixed teams you cannot gain technology from capturing colonies.
Victory Points: If playing with the Short Multi-Player Game Victory Conditions, a captured Colony may count for up to two Colony Points. Capturing the Colony yields 1 point, the same as destroying a Colony would. If that Colony grows to 5 CP, and it is outside of the player's Home System, it would count an additional point (like any other Colony outside of your Home System). The point for capturing it can never be lost, but the point for having a Colony at 5 CP can be. Recapturing a Colony that previously was yours does not yield a Colony Point. With the 3 Colony Point alternate victory condition, this could yield some surprising wins.
15.3 Recapture
Recapture: If a player re-captures a Colony that was previously his, he does not get any technology benefit/increase (the planet is covered with his technology, not the other player's). Once a planet is recaptured by the original owner, all other Colony markers are removed.
Capturing Another Player's Captured Planet: If a third player captures a planet, he gains technology from the original owner, not the current owner. The technology that can be gained is only that which was researched by the original player at the time it was originally captured. In multi-player games, a note should be made of the player's technology when a planet is captured in case this happens.
16. Flagships
16.1 General Rule
Each player begins with 1 Flagship (FLAG) (B4-1-3). This represents the crowning achievement of your empire (to this point). A Flagship will always have a "1" Numeral marker underneath. Flagships have the following properties:
- Pay no maintenance, but count as Hull Size 3 for upgrading tech.
- May have their technology upgraded normally, may gain experience, and function as any other ship in all respects.
- Gain the React Ability at Movement 4.
- May be upgraded to carry Exploration Tech and Fast BC Tech once they are researched.
- If destroyed, it can never be rebuilt (the destruction of your Flagship does not hurt your empire in any other way—you just lose the use of it).
16.2 Capture of Flagships
Flagships that are successfully boarded and captured can be used by the capturing player. In this case the counter just continues to be used by the capturing player. It operates like all other captured ships except that it pays no maintenance. A separate note of its technology will have to be kept on the Ship Tracking Sheet.
16.3 Names to Flagships
The Flagships are the only ships in the game that are named:
- Enterprise (Blue)—Besides the obvious sci-fi and space shuttle connection, the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65) will be in her last deployment at the time of this printing.
- Victory (Red)—The name of Admiral Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar.
- Thunder Child (Green)—In H.G. Wells' book, War of the Worlds, this in an ironclad ship that destroyed two Martian Tripods while covering the escape of refugee ships.
- Argo (Yellow)—From Greek mythology—Jason and the Argonauts. It was also the American name given to the Space Battleship Yamato in the Japanese movie "Star Blazers".
17. Facilities
This optional rule will add some time and book keeping to the game. For those who don't mind the extra effort, the benefit of this rule is that you will be forced to plan out your research spending a little more and you will still be able to research technology when things escalate into heavy combat. A separate production sheet has been provided for use with this rule.
17.1 Effects
Research Centers: In future Economic Phases, each RC provides 5 Research Points (RPs). Only RPs can be used to research technology. Up to 30 RPs can be carried over to the next turn.
Industrial Centers: In future Economic Phases, each IC provides 5 CPs. These may be accumulated and used like any other CP.
RC/ICs may be scrapped: This happens during an Econ Phase before you collect CP/RPs from them. A new RC/IC can be built that Econ Phase, but it will not generate CP/RPs until the next Econ Phase.
17.2 Common Properties
Research Centers (RCs) and Industrial Centers (ICs) cost 5 CP and may be placed on a planet with a Colony (including Home Planets) that provided income that phase. Only one RC/IC may ever be on a planet (a Colony may never have 2 RCs, 2 ICs, or both an RC and an IC). ICs and RCs are destroyed when a Colony is eliminated or if the planet is captured by Ground Units.
17.3 Adjustments to Game Play
This optional rule changes the game by adding a significant amount of money. When playing with this rule, do the following:
- Use the 20 CP Homeworlds and do NOT use the Head Start optional rule. This rule also supplants the optional rule for research gearing limits.
- Players may only spend 15 CPs on researching technology in each Economic Phase. These CPs are "converted" to RPs and may be spent/used/saved with the RPs generated from the RCs.
18. Terraforming Nebulae
Terraforming Technology 2 may be purchased after Terraforming 1. While not strictly Terraforming, advancements in Terraforming technology allow a player to set up and harvest resources from Nebulae.
Procedure: A Miner which is in a Nebula during the Economic Phase and is connected by an MS Pipeline chain (just like a Colony would be connected by a chain) to the Homeworld produces 5 CP each Economic Phase. The Miner represents the science teams, mining teams and equipment needed to extract the resources from a Nebula. Any Miner which is collecting CP from a Nebula should be flipped to the side with the "5" showing as a reminder to collect the income during the Economic Phase. Only one Miner can claim the 5 CPs from a Nebula in an Econ Phase.
Recording Nebulae Income: This income should be recorded in the Mineral section of the Production Sheet. Income from Terraforming 2 in a Nebulae is not modified by any other Variants, Empire Advantages, or Alien Technology.
Requirements: The Miner needs to have been built after Terraforming 2 technology was researched or needs to be upgraded. The Miners are now numbered. On the Production Sheet, right next to where you circle Terraforming 2, there is a 1, 2, 3, 4. Each of these numbers can be circled when the corresponding Miner is built with or upgraded to Terraforming 2 technology.
19. Unique Ships
19.1 General Rule
Each player has six Unique Ship counters. After drawing Empire Advantages, but before the start of the game, each player designs a ship for that counter (see below). All six Unique Ship counters use that same design. These Unique Ships can be purchased (if the player's current tech level allows) and used like any other ship.
NOTE: Unique ships may have their technology upgraded like any other ship.
DESIGN NOTE: Unique Ships will not be a "better deal" cost-wise when compared to SCs, DDs, etc. However, they will allow you to spring some surprises on your opponent.
19.2 Designing Unique Ships
Initial Design: The initial design for an empire's Unique Ship must be completed before the start of the game. To design a Unique Ship, consult Tables #2 and #3. Values that are not on the table can not be selected. Everything added to the ship design increases the building cost of the ship. When the design is complete, write the values on the Ship Technology Sheet right above the groups for the Unique Ships.
Redesign: The design of an empire's Unique Ship may be changed any time there are no Unique Ships currently built. A player may scuttle ships in order to do this. However, it costs 5 CP to create a new Unique Ship design.
Special Abilities: In addition to Class, Attack, Defense, and Hull, each Unique Ship may have up to two special abilities. When choosing 2 special abilities, the same special ability may not be selected twice (a ship may not have 2 mini-fighter bays, for example). The special abilities of a Unique Ship are revealed at the start of combat. Asteroids and Nebulae do not affect the special abilities of the Unique Ships.
NOTE: The special abilities that were already currently in the game (like point defense) tend to be cheaper because a lot of money had to go in to researching those abilities already. The other abilities come with no research cost and so tend to be more expensive.
Restrictions: The following restrictions apply to purchasing and upgrading Unique Ships:
- May not be purchased until the Ship Size technology has been researched that would allow their build. This is determined by the CP cost of the ship—see Unique Ship Table #1. EXAMPLE: A Unique Ship that costs 12 CP or less can be built when Ship Size Technology 3 is researched.
- If designed with a technology that must be researched (PD, Scanners, Exploration, Fast BC), then that technology must be researched before the ship may be built.
- May only upgrade their Attack and Defense technology up to their Hull Size.
React Ability: All Unique Ships get the React ability at Move 5.
Hull Size Adjustments: A player using either the Giant Race or Insectoid Empire Advantage has the Hull Size of their Unique Ship design adjusted like any other ship. If both the Giant Race and the Insectoids designed a Unique Ship with a Hull Size of 2, they would both pay 4 CP for that in their design. However, the Giant Race would get a ship with a Hull Size of 3 and the Insectoids would get a ship with a Hull Size of 1.
Weapon Class Requirement: After adding up the cost of the Unique Ship its Weapon Class may have to be adjusted up, with a corresponding increase in price. Unique Ships that cost 10+ CPs must at least mount a D Class Weapon. Unique Ships that cost 20+ CPs must at least mount a C Class Weapon. Unique Ships that cost 30+ CPs must at least mount a B Class Weapon. So if you designed a Unique Ship that was E6-1 x1 it would cost 12 CP. You would then have to upgrade its Weapon Class to D and its cost to 13 CP.
Example of cost: A ship with a Class of D (2 CP), an Attack Strength of 2 (2 CP), a Defense Strength of 2 (3 CP), and a Hull Size of 2 (4 CP) would cost 11 CP to build and require Ship Size Technology 3.
Unique Ship Table #1
| Ship Size Tech | Largest CP cost of Unique Ship |
|---|---|
| 1 | 6 |
| 2 | 9 |
| 3 | 12 |
| 4 | 15 |
| 5 | 20 |
| 6 | 24 |
| 7 | 32 |
Unique Ship Table #2 (Cost)
| Class | CP | Attack Strength | CP | Defense Strength | CP | Hull Size | CP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| D | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| C | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
Unique Ship Cost Table #3
| Special Ability | Cost | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| PD | 1 | As currently in the game. Must be researched normally. |
| Scanners | 1 | As currently in the game. Must be researched normally. |
| Exploration | 1 | As currently in the game. Must be researched normally. |
| Fast BC | 2 | As currently in the game. Must be researched normally. |
| Mini-fighter bay | 2 | Fighters must still be researched before being used. Ship can carry only 1 fighter. The ship gets none of the benefits of a Carrier. It may be shot at if not screened so fighters may be eliminated at the end of a battle if there is no ship to land on. |
| Anti-sensor hull | 3 | Immune to mines. Mines will ignore this ship. This may create a situation where there will be undetonated mines in the same hex as these ships at the end of a turn. Any other ships will trigger the mines normally. A ship with this ability may blockade a planet even if mines are in the hex. Ships with Anti-Sensor Hull can turn this off before Mine Detonation in order to clear the Mines the hard way. The Mine Owner can still target another valid target ship if they wish. |
20. Variants
These variants are provided in addition to those in the original scenario book.
- More Aliens: The Barren Planet in a player's home system has aliens. An Alien Technology Card is gained from colonizing that planet as if it was a Barren Planet in Deep Space.
- Safer Space: Whenever a Danger! marker is flipped, one die is rolled for all exploring ships. They are only eliminated on a roll of 9-10. On a roll of 1-8, there is no effect.
- Rich Minerals: The income from all Minerals is doubled.
- Slow Scientists: The research cost of all technologies is increased by 5 CP.
- Smart Scientists: The research cost of all technologies is decreased by 5 CP.
- Bloody Combat: All units have their Attack Strength increased by 1.
- Rich Colonies: All Colonies (including home planets) that would have normally produced at least 1 CP have their income increased by 3 CP. In the case of ground combat, they still only get the Militia equal to the face value of their CP.
- HEAD START: Each player starts the game with 75 CP (or some other agreed upon amount) that he can spend only on technology. This is spent before receiving starting units so it is possible that a player's original units may start with advanced technology. No more than two levels of Ship Size or Move technology and no more than one level of any other technology may be purchased at start. Up to 10 of these CP may be carried over into the start of the game (and used as normal CP in the game).
21. Galactic Situation
For a random game, roll on the following table to determine what variant is used.
| Roll | Variant |
|---|---|
| 1 | Low Maintenance |
| 2 | Heavy Terrain |
| 3 | Safer Space |
| 4 | Rich Minerals |
| 5 | Slow Scientists |
| 6 | Smart Scientists |
| 7 | Bloody Combat |
| 8 | Rich Colonies |
| 9 | Roll twice on this table * |
| 10 | Roll three times on this table * |
* When rolling twice/three times on the table, reroll all "9's", "10's", duplicate results, as well as any rolls that would effectively cancel out a previous result.
Note: "Low Maintenance" and "Heavy Terrain" are listed here but are not described in this rule book. Section 20 states that these variants are provided in addition to those in the original scenario book, so their text is not in this transcription.