Darkness of Silverfall HISTORY. Silverfall, once a large star in the center of a gigantic solar system derived it's name from the way in which it's silver rays would fall upon the surfaces of the surrounding planets. The system survived through the centuries to become one of the foremost empires in the universe. An imperial council of six mighty wizards controlled the day to day events of the empire. The council governed efficiently for many centuries until, due to internal bickering, the mightiest of the wizards was expelled from the imperial council and left, swearing to destroy the empire. Unknown to the remaining wizards, the renegade now taking the name of DARK LORD SAURAN, secretly established an armada of over one hundred vessels including five battle stations strategically placed throughout the solar system. By use of the power generated by his five battle stations he was able to accelerate the growth and death of Silverfall, therefore prematurely changing the star to firstly, a super-nova, and eventually a black hole, thus came about the era known as the Darkness of Silverfall. The imperial council, aware of these dire events, pooled their remaining resources to build massive force fields surrounding five (trading) planets nearby Silverfall. By use of the forces generated within these force fields they were not only able to save these planets from the massive destruction inflicted upon others but were also able to control the gravitational pull of the black hole, sustaining the natural harmony of the solar system. Unfortunately, due to the fact that the wizards powers are extensions of their own beings this reprieve was only temporary. Throughout the system there survived a number of separate races, each commanding a small fleet of space vessels. The wizards decreed that the only way the empire was to be saved was if these surviving races were to find Dark Lord Sauran's five battle stations and destroy them. Once these stations were obliterated the wizards predicted they would be able to control the black hole from further expansion. In the meantime to restrict the hole's growth the wizards were in need of five types of ore which were available throughout the system. These needed to be bought to their trading planets and exchanged for monetary wealth (credits). The remaining races could then use these credits to build new space vessels by use of their battle stations. If enough of these ores could be supplied the wizards could hold off the growth of the black hole for approximately twenty decords (one decord is approximately equal to one month in Earth time and lasting one turn in this game). You are the leader of one of the surviving races. It is your duty to seek and destroy Dark Lord Sauran's five battle stations. HOW TO PLAY THE GAME. You will initially start with a number of vessels, one station, and a small number of officers situated above your planet of origin. By the strategic deployment of these ships you are to seek and destroy Sauran's crafts and simultaneously supply ores to the trading planets. There are a large number of commands available to control the activities of your empire. These commands are :- Scan ship SS Ship No. For each turn you are able to obtain complete details of one ship owned by any other player. This command is used primarily to assess other player's strengths. Scan planet SP Planet No. Also each turn you are able to obtain information on one planet. The information you receive is identical to what you would receive if you controlled that planet ie. details of ore available and stockpiled and any mines on the planet. Scan player SR Player No. At the cost of 50,000 credits and 10 interceptors, this command will send a number of raiders and spies into the other player's empire. The spies will report back details of all ships in the player's fleet at the end of the turn. Details given are name, type and location of all ships regardless if they are cloaked or not. The raiders will return with 5% of the other player's credits and 10% of his/her current points. Your credits and points are increased by this amount and the other player's credits (but not points) are reduced accordingly. A scan player command can be used by smaller empires to catch up to the larger ones in number of credits. Or it can be used to reduce someone else's special abilities while improving your own. In fact, if a small empire (in overall score) scans a larger one, there may be a small increase in the chance of the scan working. If a scan is successful (see purchase interceptors) the other player will become aware that he was raided, but will not be aware who the raider was. When a scan is unsuccessful the scanned player is advised who made the attempt. Build new ship BS Ship No. + ship type to build If you have sufficient credits, battle stations and monitors are each able to build new ships per turn. Battle stations can build up to 4 ships per turn and monitors can build two new ships each turn. To build a ship the station or monitor must be directly over a origin or independent planet and each build order will use 1000+(100 * size of ship being built) industry off the planet. To build a customised ship the order given is : BS Ship no. + ship type to build + no. of fire units + no. of defence units. For more details on this command, refer to the Building ships section within this booklet. Dock DO ship no. + ship no. you wish to dock with Certain ship types are able to carry a certain number of other ships. These ships can carry up to a set accumulative total sizes of other ships ie. a small transport has a carrying size of five, therefore it could carry five scouts each with a size of one, or one large fighter which has a size of three and two scouts or whatever you wish as long as the accumulated size is no more than five. Only orders in phase 1 can be carried out by ships which are docked (ie. the ship will undock, carry out the order and then automatically redock). No commands can be performed by a docked ship in the other six phases until it is released (ie. It can not carry out any other action). A ship already carrying other ships cannot be docked inside another (ie. you can not nest ships inside each other). Nor can you dock into other players ships. A docked ship will be protected from enemy attack by the ship in which it is being carried, however if a ship is destroyed all ships inside it are also destroyed. Other players have no way of telling the number or types of ships within another player's vessel. The notation "Inside Ship: N/A" on your turn sheet is telling you that your ship is not currently docked inside another. When a ship is docked the mother ship's number and type is printed here. When a ship is docked, it's communication range is not counted in working out the maximum (communication) range for the fleet. Release RE ship no. + ship no. you wish to release Any ship which is docked can be released by use of the above command. Variations: RE ship no. + 0 (zero) By using a 2nd ship number of zero you can command the first ship to release all ships currently docked within it. Load ore LO ship no. + ore type + amount of ore Some ships have cargo space available in which to carry certain amounts of ore. Each cargo unit can carry an amount of ore depending on it's type ie. one cargo unit will carry ten units of ore type one, five units of ore type two, one unit of type three, one hundred and twenty five units of type four or thirty-five units of type five. A ship may carry any number of different types of ore at one time provided the total cargo space needed does not exceed the cargo space available for that ship type. To load or unload ore the ship must be at the same location as the planet. To sell ore you must unload it onto a trading planet and you will receive the market price (displayed each turn on your turn-sheet and is subject to supply and demand) for each unit of ore unloaded. If you load ore from a trading planet the price you pay is four times the current market price. Variations: LO ship no. + ore type + 0 (zero) By Using zero as the amount, you can order the ship to load the maximum possible amount of the stated ore type. LO ship no. + 0 (Zero) + amount By Using zero as the ore type, you can order the ship to load the stated amount of all of the five ore types. Using zero for both the ore type and amount will load the maximum amount of ore possible. Unload ore UL ship no. + ore type + amount You may unload ore from a ship onto a planet surface provided your ship is at the same location as the planet. Variations: UL ship no. + ore type + 0 (zero) With a amount of zero the ship will unload all of it's supply of the stated ore type. UL ship no. + 0 (zero) + amount With a ore type of zero the ship will unload the stated amount of all of it's supply ore. When using zero for both the ore type and amount the ship will simply unload all of it's ore. Start mine SM planet no. + type of ore to be mined Each planet can have up to two mines on it's surface, each producing a set number of ore per turn depending on the ore type. A mine can be started on any planet (a ship does not need to be in the same location and the planet need not be one of yours) however, there must be 5,000 population units on the planet and at the end of each turn the mine's owner is changed to the owner of the planet it is situated on. Once the ore available is exhausted, or population decreases below 1,000 for each mine, the mine will cease to function. The cost of starting a mine is 5,000 credits. On each turn-sheet details of mines controlled by you will be displayed. Once a mine is in operation, you cannot change it's type until all available ore of it's current type is mined. Load fuel LF ship no. + amount of fuel Fuel may be loaded off a planet at the same location as the ship which issues this order. Each ship type has a set maximum amount of fuel it can carry. When a ship is moved it uses fuel at the rate of one unit per position moved ie. a ship moving twenty positions will use twenty fuel units. Fuel may be purchased from a trading planet at the cost of four times the current market price. Variations: LF ship no. + amount of fuel + 2nd ship no. All ships from the 1st ship no. to the 2nd ship no. will attempt to load fuel. The first ship must be part of your fleet. Unload fuel UF Ship No. + amount of fuel Fuel may be unloaded onto any planet at the same location as the ship which is issued this order. Fuel unloaded onto a trading planet will be exchanged for the current market price of fuel per units unloaded. Current market price of fuel for each trading planet is displayed on the turn- sheet. You can load ore and fuel from any planet. Yes! you can steal from other players. Variations: UF ship no. + amount of fuel + 2nd ship no. All ships from the 1st ship no. to the 2nd ship no. will unload fuel. The first ship must be part of your fleet. Refuel RF Ship no. + ship to refuel + amount of fuel Some ships may refuel other ships which are at the same location. Fuel is simply unloaded from one ship onto the other ship. Repair RP ship no. + ship to be repaired A few ships have the equipment to repair other ships which are at the same location. When a ship is being repaired it's fire and defence units are restored to their original amounts. Some types of ships cannot be repaired. The cost of repairing a ship is 2,000 credits for each additional fire unit and 1000 for each additional defence unit. Once a ship has a defence unit of less than one it cannot be repaired and is totally destroyed. A ship can only repair one other ship each turn. Load Population LP + Ship no. + amount of population Some ship may carry population and they may pick up population from a planet which is at it's current location. You may also buy population, at 25 credits each, by issuing this command when your ship is directly above one of the trading planet. Unload Population UP + Ship no. + amount of population Population may also be unload onto any planet. If you unload population onto a trading planet, you will receive 5 credits for each unit. Population is needed to start and run mines and also to build planet defence units. At the end of each turn the population level on each planet will change depending on the planet's current industry level. If no amount (ie. 0) is used with the commands UL, LO, UF, LF, LP, UP and RF, the maximum amount is used. For example, if you wish to unload all of ore type 1 from ship 1123, you would use the command:- UL 1123 1 0 Cloak CL ship number Certain ship types have the ability to hide themselves from other ship's detection. When cloaked a ship is not detectable by any other player unless scanned. Most ships which move or initiate combat will immediately uncloak. Also if a ship is repaired, refuelled, loaded or unloaded it's cloaking device is deactivated. A ship which is cloaked can still be attacked by use of the fire command however it will not be detected by any other battle command. Variations: CL ship no. + 2nd ship no. Cloak all ships (which have a cloaking device) with a ship number between, and including, the 1st ship no. and the 2nd ship no. Uncloak UC ship number Once a ship has a cloaking device on, the uncloak command is used to deactivate it, therefore making it detectable to other ships. You do not have to uncloak a ship before you carry out any other command (ie, dock, release etc). Most actions will automatically uncloak the ship. Variations: UC ship no. + 2nd ship no. All ships from the 1st ship no. to the 2nd ship no. will deactivate their cloaking device. Hyperdrive HD ship number Any ship (with a defence unit greater than one) except a battle station has the ability to hyperjump once (ie. each ship can jump to an unknown random point within the solar system). This command can only be issued once to each ship and when used the defence units of the ship will decrease by one. Warpdrive WD ship number + location jumping to Some ships have the ability to warpdrive. Warpdrive is similar to hyperdrive except you control where the ship jumps to (the location may be any point within a radius of 350 from Silverfall). This command can be issued any number of times, however each time it is used the ship's defence units are reduced by 5. You do not require fuel to Warpdrive or Hyperdrive. Warpdrive to planet WP ship no. + planet no. Ships which can warpdrive may also be given this command. This command will be converted to the warpdrive command during phase 2. Move MO ship no. + location moving to Any ship may move to any other point throughout the solar system. Each turn it will move up to it's movement range to the stated location. The fuel used is equal to the amount of distance travelled. Most ships will deactivate their cloaking devices once they commence movement. For further details of range, distance and location plotting refer to the mapping section in this booklet. Fast small ships will move (and fire etc) before slow large ones. The ships with the highest movement range will move first. If two different types of ships have the same movement range, the smaller (size) one will move first. When a ship is moving it will attempt to move the maximum amount each phase (ie. 1/3 of it's maximum movement range). For example: - if a ship with a movement range of 60 is moving to a target 50 units away. It will move 20 units in the 2nd phase, 20 in the 3rd phase and 10 units in phase 4. Likewise if the ship was only moving 20 units away, it would complete it's movement in the 2nd phase. This rule also applies to all ships using the following commands:- MO, MP, EN, EP, ST, SL, FP, CP, PS Move to planet MP ship no. + planet no. The ship will move to the planet indicated, according to the same rules as the above-mentioned move command. Find planet FP ship no. + player no. The ship will move to a randomly selected independent planet, owned by the stated player, within movement range so that it may reach the planet in the same turn. Use this order to take over planets which you cannot see (ie. out of communication range). If no planet is found within movement range, the ship will not move from it's current position. With a player number of 0 (zero) the ship will move to any planet not owned by your own empire or that of your allies. Both of the above commands will be converted to the movement command during phase 2. Engage EN ship no. + player no. you wish to engage + location moving to This command is similar to movement except if the ship detects any uncloaked ships belonging to the player you wish to engage which are within firing range it will cease movement and fire at that vessel. If a ship manages to completely destroy the other player's ship it will then recommence movement (at the maximum rate of 1/3 it's total movement points per phase). Engage towards planet EP ship no. + player no. + planet no. The ship will move to the planet while engaging ships belonging to the indicated player. This command will be converted to the engage command during phase 2. Ambush AB ship no. + player no. you wish to ambush Ships which have a cloaking device may stay in one location and ambush any ships belonging to the indicated player which come within firing range ie. it will activate it's cloaking device and on detecting an enemy ship within firing range will deactivate the device and open fire. If the enemy ship is completely destroyed the cloaking device will be reactivated and your ship will prepare for ambush again. Defend DF ship no. + player no. you wish to defend against The ship will remain at it's current location and attack any ships (belonging to the stated player) that comes within it's firing range. Strafe ST ship no. + player no. you wish to strafe + location moving to This command is similar to the engage command except that the ship will not stop moving after engaging. Also, each shot fired will only cause one point of damage regardless of any special abilities either player may have or what the current fire power of the attacking ship. You can only give this order to armed ships (ie. ones with a fire rate greater then 0). Strafe toward Planet SL ship no. + other player no. + planet no. Strafe while moving towards the stated planet. This command is converted to the ST command during phase 2. With the ambush, defend, strafe and engage commands, if more than one ship is encountered which belongs to the player being attacked your battle computer will pick which ship it will attack first using a complex formula, considering the size, firepower and damage already done to the other ships. Two ships with identical engage orders will not necessarily fire at the same ship. With all battle/movement commands you can use 0 (zero) as the player number to indicate all players except allies. To target Dark Lord Sauran use the number 99. And to select only declared enemies use player number 88. The orders this rule applies to are:- EN, EP, ST, SL, AB, DF, FP Fire FI ship no. + ship no. to be attacked This command will simply attack the stated ship if it is within firing range. It does not require the ship to be detectable and will continue firing until the ship is destroyed or the turn ends. Copy Ship CP ship no. + other ship no. When given this command the ship will attempt to copy the action (battle/movement orders only) of the other ship. This command is mainly used when moving ships around in large fleets. You may copy the action of other player's ships as well as your own. When doing so the ship being copied must begin the turn within communication range of your ship. Ships following the action of others (via the CP command) will only move as far as the slowest ship in the sequence (or fleet). The faster ships will move first, however, all ships will end the turn at the same location (unless one or more encounter other ships). If a ship follows another into hyperdrive, both ships may not necessarily end up at the same location. Pursue Ship PS ship no. + ship no. to pursue Starting in phase 2, if the targeted ship is within fire-range your ship will fire at it, otherwise, your ship will move towards it's location. This sequence is repeated in phase 3 and phase 4. If at any time the other ship moves out of interaction range * (of the ship pursuing it), docks or activates it's cloaking device, your ship will stop pursuing it (ie. it gets away). [* the interaction range is set at twice you ship's communication range.] Only armed ships can pursue and you cannot pursue allies ships. The maximum distance your ship will move each phase is 1/3 of it's total movement range. Build planet defence units BU planet no. + no. of units Build defence units on the stated planet. Each unit will cost 1,000 credits and you may only place a maximum of 50 units on each planet up to the rate of 10 per turn. You must have at least 5,000 population on the planet to build new units and each unit built will use 100 industry. Activate planet defence AD planet no. Activate the defence units on any planet you own. Planets with activated planet defence units will fire at any other player's (except allies) ships which are directly above the planet. Each units will inflict one point of damage and a maximum of 5 shots are fired during phase 4. You cannot control which ships are fire at, and when each shot is fired the number of defence units is reduced by one ie. the units are used up when fired. Variations: AD 0 (zero) By using 0 as the planet number you can command all your planets to activate their defences. Deactivate planet defence DA planet no. This command will deactivate the defence units on any planet owned by you. Variations: AD 0 (zero) By using 0 as the planet number you can deactivate all your planet defences. Bombard planet BP ship no. The stated ship will bombard the planet which it is currently above (ie. the defence units on the planet are reduced by the fire units of the bombarding ship). When a planet is bombarded it may also lose some industry and population. You can only take over control of planets which have no planet defence units on them. Purchase Interceptors PI no. of interceptors Interceptors are used to detect and stop scans from other players. If you have 50 interceptors, you have a 50% chance of stopping other players from raiding and spying on your empire, 45 interceptors = 45% etc. If you are being scanned by a smaller empire (in overall score) then yours, the number of useable interceptors you have may be temporary lowered. Each time you successfully detect and stop a scan report, your number of interceptors are reduced by 10. Therefore, if you have 90 interceptors and stop one scan, you will then have 80 interceptors. However, if another player scans, you will then only have a 80% chance of intercepting this second scan, etc. This will allow for a number of players to gang up on one player with the second and third etc. scan each having more chance of working. Even if you stop a scan, it will still cost the other player 50,000 credits and 10 of his/her own interceptors. Each interceptor costs 2,000 credits, and the maximum you may have at any one time is 90. Add ally AA player no. You may have up to three allies at any one time. At the beginning of each turn your points are increased by 1/100th of the total anti-points of your allies. You cannot attack your allies fleets or bombard their planets, nor can you take over planets belonging to a ally. You may add one and/or drop one ally per turn. ** Warning ** The ally system is a one way transaction (ie. you may be allied with another player, but he/she may not be allied with you). You will never be told who is allied to your empire (unless by a special ability). Break alliance BA player no. With this command you will drop the stated player as an ally. Declare Enemy DE player no. When using a battle command, player number 88 is used to attack all declared enemies. You may have up to three enemies declared at any one time and you can only declare and/or forgive one enemy per turn. Forgive Enemy FE player no. Forgive a previously declare enemy. Practice PR fleet no. + 1 or 2 abilities All officers in the stated fleet (plus any officer on a planet at the same location) will practice the stated abilities. You can not practice the same ability twice with the same order. Space is provided on the input sheet for the practice command where there is more then one officer in a fleet. Transfer Officer TO 1st ship no. + 2nd ship no. This order will simply exchange the officer on the first ship with the officer (if any) on the second ship. You can transfer officer to and from your ships at the same location. Variations: TO ship no. If no second ship number is given the officer on the ship is exchanged with the officer (if any) on the planet at the same location. You can only transfer officer to and from planets you control. See the section on Officers for more details on the above two orders. Find Artifact FA planet no. For every 350 population on the planet you have a 1% chance of locating a artifact (if there is one hidden on the planet). As a direct result of the search (successful or otherwise) you will lose 25% or 5,000 (whatever is the smaller amount) of the population on the planet. if there is no artifact on the planet to be found, the same percentage chance is used to determine if you are told this information. Naturally you can only search a planet you control. Transfer Artifact TA 1st ship no. + 2nd ship no. The first ship will exchange it's artifact with the artifact (if any) on the 2nd ship which must be at the same location. Variations: TA ship no. If no second ship number is given, the first ship will exchange artifacts with the planet it is currently over. Each ship and planet can only hold one (found) artifact at a time. You can only transferred artifacts between your own ships, however, you can place artifacts on other players planets or steal artifacts from planets without planet defence units. Read the section of artifacts for more information on the above two commands. Fleet Orders On your input sheet there will be space provided for Fleet Orders. Give a battle/movement order to any fleet and that order will be given to all ships within that fleet. The syntax is the same as the normal orders except the fleet number is used instead of a ship number. These orders will supersede all the previous turn's standing orders but will be superseded by any current turn orders for the ships in the same fleet. Only ships that can carry out the command will be given the order, no error messages will be given for those that can't. The following commands can be given as fleet orders:- HD, WD, WP, MO, MP, EN, EP, AB, DF, ST, SL, FI, BP, FP, CP, PS STANDING ORDERS. Any armed ship not given a battle/movement command will be given the following command. DF Ship No. + 99 Therefore, if your input sheet is not received, your fleet will still defend itself against Dark Lord Sauran. Examples of valid orders. SS 123 = scan ship number 123. SP 345 = scan planet number 345. SR 18 = scan player 18. BS 123 8 = ship 123 build ship type 8. BS 123 17 3 7 = ship 123 build ship type 17 (customised ship) with 3 fire and 7 defence units. DO 123 345 = ship 123 dock into ship 345. RE 345 123 = ship 345 release ship 123. RE 123 0 = ship 123 release all ships. LO 123 1 100 = ship 123 load 100 units of ore type 1. UL 123 3 0 = ship 123 unload all of it's ore type 3. LP 123 5000 = Pick-up 5000 population units off planet. UP 123 5000 = Unload 5000 population onto planet. SM 456 2 = start mine, of ore type 2, on planet 456. LF 123 0 = load the maximum amount of fuel. UF 123 30 = unload 30 units of fuel off ship 123. RF 254 123 50 = transfer 50 units of fuel from 254 to 123. RP 666 123 = ship 666 repair ship 123. CL 123 = ship 123 activate cloaking device. UC 123 = ship 123 deactivate cloaking device. HD 123 = ship 123 hyperjump to a random location. WD 123 100 -99 -23 = warpdrive 123 to location 100,-99,-23. WP 123 178 = warpdrive ship 123 to planet 178. WP 1 178 = fleet 1 warpdrive to planet 178. MO 123 100 -99 -23 = move ship 123 to location 100,-99,-23. MP 123 178 = move ship 123 to planet 178. EN 123 6 -78 45 10 = move ship 123 to location -78,45,10 and engage any ships belonging to player 6 detected on the way. EP 123 0 178 = move ship 123 to planet 178 and engage all ships detected on the way. EP 2 0 178 = fleet 2 engage towards planet 178. ST 123 88 -3 -1 89 = move ship 123 to locating -3 -1 89 and strafe any ships belonging to declare enemies detected on the way. SL 123 99 178 = move ship 123 towards planet 178 strafing all ships belonging to Dark Lord Sauran detected on the way. AB 123 0 = prepare to ambush any other player. DF 123 4 = defend against player 4. BP 123 = ship 123 bombard planet at same location. FI 123 345 = ship 123 fire at ship 345. FP 123 3 = ship 123 move to the nearest independent planet own by player 3. CP 123 555 = ship 123 attempt to copy the movement/battle action of ship 555. PS 123 555 = ship 123 pursue ship 555. BU 245 10 = build 10 PDUs on planet 245. PI 5 = purchase 5 interceptors. AD 245 = activate the defence units on planet 245. DA 0 = deactivate defence units on all planets. AA 4 = add player 4 as a ally. BA 4 = drop player 4 as a ally. DE 5 = declare player 5 a enemy. FE 5 = forgive player 5 and no longer treat him/her as an enemy. PR 1 11 8 = fleet 1 practice technology and security. TO 123 345 = swaps officer between ships 123 and 345. FA 234 = attempt to locate artifact on planet 234. TA 123 = transfer artifact from ship 123 to the planet at the same location. Each ship can have only one combat or movement order (ie. MO, HD, WD, EN, AB, FI, MP, EP, FP, BP, ST, SL, DF, PS or CP) a turn but can have any number of general orders (except where otherwise stated). Battle/Movement orders are carried over to the next turn and will be reissued each turn until another command is given or the ship can no longer carry out the command. ORDER OF COMMANDS. Within each turn there are seven phases. These are used to simulate the timing of events throughout the turn. All commands are carried out in the following order :- Phase zero Naming of planets, ships and officers, Gifting of planets and ships, Dark Lord Sauran gives orders to his ships, Checking of orders, Receive points from allies. Phase one Practice, Transfer Officers, Release, Unload Ore, Unload Fuel, Unload Population, Load Ore, Load Fuel, Load Population, Refuel, Repair, Transfer Artifacts, Dock, Start Mines, Build Planet Defence Units, Activate Planet Defences, Deactivate Planet Defences. Phase two Convert MP, EP, WP, SL and FP commands to MO, EN, WD, ST and MO commands respectively, Fire, Hyperdrive, Move, Defend, Engage, Ambush, Strafe, Pursue. Phase three Fire, Move, Defend, Engage, Warpdrive, Ambush, Strafe, Pursue, Bombard planet. Phase four Fire, Move, Defend, Engage, Ambush, Strafe, Pursue. Phase five Uncloak, Cloak, Build Ship, Find Artifacts, Purchase Interceptors, Break Alliance, Add Ally, Forgive Enemy, Declare Enemy, Scan Ship, Scan Planet, Scan Player. Phase six Unless otherwise indicated special actions are carried out during this phase. Those abilities that require a input of a special order will be carried out in alphabetical order. Phase seven Update Mines, Ownership of Planets and Mines, Gravitational pull of Silverfall, Update Trading Planet ore stockpiles and prices, Update Industry and Population Levels, Officers receive random increases in abilities, Check for winning conditions. At the end of each phase each ship's firepower will be proportioned to it's defence units ie. if a ship's defence units is halved it's fire units will be halved. Orders are followed in the above sequence and if you give the same general order to two ships they will be actioned in the order they appear on your turn-sheet. Battle/movement orders are carried out according to the speed and size of each ship ie. small fast ships move before slower larger ones. OWNERSHIP OF MINES AND PLANETS. To control a planet you must have the only visible (ie. uncloaked) ship above the planet at the end of the turn. Once you have control of a planet you will keep control until someone else has the only visible ship above it at the end of a turn. You cannot takeover control of Trading planets, Origin planets, planets which have planet defence units on them or allies planet's. At the end of each turn ownership of mines goes to whoever owns the planet. GRAVITATIONAL PULL OF SILVERFALL. After turn 14 every planet and ship except origin planets or battle stations will begin to be pulled toward the center of the solar system. Battle Stations will remain at their current location, however, they will lose 7 defence units per turn as they fight against the gravitational pull. The rate at which they will be sucked in is increased each turn ie. on turn 15 they will move in one position, on turn 16 they will move in a further three spaces, on turn 17 they will move six spaces etc. Once a ship or planet is within a distance of twenty positions from Silverfall it will be destroyed. PRICES OF ORE AND FUEL. For each trading planet once the amount of ore is decreased or increased the price of that type of ore will be adjusted proportionally. The same applies to the price of fuel. Each trading planet will use a specific amount of each type of ore each turn. ARTIFACTS. Throughout the system there are a number of artifacts. These artifacts, when found, will increase your current points by a set amount per turn. Many of them will also raise one of your officer's abilities when that officer is on the same ship or planet as the artifact. The majority of planets will only have one (if any) artifact on them at the start of the game. Use the "Find Artifact" command to locate artifacts. Once found, you can pickup the artifact by using the "Transfer Artifact" command. Each ship and planet can only hold one (found) artifact at a time. RINGS OF DARKNESS. Ten of the artifacts are called the "Rings of Darkness". The most powerful artifacts in the galaxy, the council concealed them on random planets throughout the system in a attempt to hide them from Dark Lord Sauran. In a constant effort to keep them safe the council will pay each empire 50,000 credits for each Ring it holds at the end of each turn. Once a Ring has been found it's location will be printed on everyone's report. Because of the strange power of these powerful artifacts, Rings can only be carried by Castles. If a Castle that holds a Ring is destroyed the ring will be teleported to a random planet (usually an unowned one). WINNING CONDITIONS. In order to win the game you must :- 1. Control more than 15% of all planets after Dark Lord Sauran's five battle stations have been destroyed. or 2. Have a current score higher than five million, while controlling more than 15% of the planets. or 3. Control all ten Rings of Darkness at the end of a turn. SCORING. On each turn-sheet your current score, if the game was to end that turn, is displayed. Your total score is the number of credits you have, plus ten thousand for each planet you control, plus five thousand for each ship, plus one hundred for each mine, plus your current points and anti-points. Points Points are gained from the Council for attacking Sauran's ships. You will receive 500 points for each unit of damage you do to Sauran's fleet. Sauran himself will pay you 500 credits for each unit of damage you do to another player (regardless if you are also attacking him). Anti-Points For each point of damage (not self afflicted) done to your ships you will receive 500 anti-points. Your "points" are increased by 1% of your allies "anti-points" at the beginning of each turn. END OF TURN ADJUSTMENTS. Tax At the end of each turn your credits are increased by the total amount of industry on the planets you control. Pay You must pay for the upkeep of each fleet at 5,000 credits each. A fleet is any number of ship at the same exact location. Your credits are also reduced by 2,000 + (100 * size) for each ship to pay the crew members. Finally, you have to pay each interceptor 100 credits per turn. Development While you control a planet, it's industry will increase by 5% if there is more (or equal) industry than population. If there is less industry than population, the industry level will increase by 25%. There can only be a maximum of 50,000 industry on each planet. Repairs to Battle Stations At the end of each turn all battle stations will undergo self repairs. If any battle station is below it's maximum defence rate, it's defence units will be increased by 10%. You do not pay for these self-repairs. Population Growth If there is more population than industry on a planet, some population will die at the rate of 25% per turn. On the other-hand population will increase by 10%, up to a maximum of 50,000, if there is equal or more industry that population. If all of the population is removed from a planet, the industry will be reduced by 25% per turn. Likewise, if all of the industry is removed, population will reduce by 25% per turn. Population and industry can never go above 50,000 (unless by special abilities). At the end of each turn Development and Population Growth is carried out simultaneously and before Tax and Pay is calculated. When paying for upkeep of ships etc. your credit balance may go negative. SPECIAL ABILITIES. At 20,000 points and for every 10,000 points after, the Imperial Council will give you a special ability. Details of these special abilities will be displayed on your turn sheet when you receive them. Some will come into effect straight away without any commands being given while other require special commands to be given. You can also receive special abilities by practicing the Technology ability (see Officers). NAMING OF SHIPS, PLANETS AND OFFICERS. Each planet, ship or officer which has not been given a name can be named by the controlling player. Once named they cannot be renamed even if ownership should change. A name can be up to twenty characters long (including spaces) for planets and ships, and ten characters for officers. To name a ship, planet or officer simply write the name in the indicated space on the turn sheet. If you do not name ships, planets or officers when prompted, the computer will name them during the next turn. No one wants to go though life without a name. GIFTING OF PLANETS AND SHIPS. Each turn you may also give commands to gift one planet and/or one ship to another player. You cannot gift ships/planets to Lord Sauran, nor can you gift ships which are docked (or have other ships docked inside them). Space is given on the turn sheet for these gifting commands. You may only gift ships and planets after the 4th game turn. Once you gift a ship to another player you will never receive any credits from damaging it. The majority of ships which are gifted to NPCs will hyperdrive the same turn. You may also give ore or fuel to another player by unloading onto planets which they control. You could also refuel or repair another player's ships if they are in the same location as yours. By use of gifts you will be able to reinforce any alliances you may form. MESSAGES. At the bottom of each turn-sheet there is space available for general broadcasts. This message may be up to three lines of sixty characters long (including spaces) and will appear on every player's next turn-sheet. If you wish to indicate who the message is from you must include your game name or number within. Personal messages may also be sent between players. These can be of any length but must be included on a separate piece of paper and must have the game name of the player to receive the message on it. Message only addressed to a player number will not be forwarded on. Within these messages you could include your postal address or telephone number so that communication can continue directly through these means. BATTLES. Each ship has both fire and defence units. When a ship is fired upon it's defence units are decreased by the amount of fire units on the attacking ship(s). Battle commands are carried out during phases two to four. At the end of each phase the fire units of ships are adjusted in proportion to the defence units ie. if defence units have been decreased during the phase fire units will decrease proportionally. Fire units are always (rounded out) adjusted to the nearest whole number at the end of each phase. A ship may be attacked by more than one ship at a time however a ship initiating battle will only fire upon one ship at a time. When using the engage, strafe or ambush commands if the ship being attacked is completely destroyed during the turn the attacking ship will then seek to fire upon a new ship. Only one battle command can be given per ship per turn. All damage which you have inflicted or has been inflicted against you will be shown on your next turn-sheet. DARK LORD SAURAN. The computer will treat Dark Lord Sauran as it would any other player ie. he must follow the same rules and conventions. The only exception is when it comes to the use of fuel. All DLS ships are refuelled at the beginning of each turn. Players may note however, that this is also a special ability that they can receive in the later stages of the game. At the beginning of each turn Lord Sauran (who in fact is only another computer program) will give commands to all of his ships, however commands for his ships will only be actioned each phase after all other ships with the same speed. Sauran starts the game with over two hundred ships including five battle stations. You will find that Sauran's actions can be as unpredictable as any other player and he will not always attack on sight. He also sends large fleets of battle ships to the rescue of other ship being attacked. The majority of Sauran's ship will be found protecting his battle stations, however, he will have other ships roaming all sections of the solar system. Remember that Lord Sauran has much more fire power at his disposal at the beginning of the game than he will have at the end. Sauran's player number is 99, and he is also included in the general player number of 0. You may also wish to declare him as a enemy early in the game. The Dark Lord will not accumulate points or anti-points (remember, it is the council who bequeaths them). Sauran can be scanned, however, his total number of interceptors may increase above 90. In fact he starts with a high number (around 300) but loses (and may gain) some each turn (he will lose more if other players attempt to scan him). Normally a scan of DLS only has a chance of working after the 15th turn. Sauran will always attempt to protect all of his fleets. If you damage one of his ships (but don't destroy it), he will send others to protect it during the next turn. MAPPING. The game is carried out within a three dimensional solar system which has the planet/black hole Silverfall at the center (location 0,0,0). Due to this fact it is very difficult to simulate a map in two dimensions (on paper). The computer sets up the solar system so that there is an even number of planets located within each sector and no planet is less than ten positions from another. All origin planets are located approximately the same distance from the closest trading planet and are evenly placed throughout the solar system. Thus giving every player an equal chance. The density of planets increases as you travel towards the center ie. you are more likely to come across planets near Silverfall than the system's limits. The majority of planets are located within a radius of three hundred and fifty positions from Silverfall but the number of positions you can move away from Silverfall is unlimited. For those mighty explorers, there a a limited number of planets (very few) outside of the 350 radius. If you find any they should have a high amount of ore on them. On your turn-sheet all planets and ships will be shown at a location as X,Y,Z and any nearby ships or planets displayed will show the distance they are away in a straight line. To calculate the distance between two points in space (X,Y,Z - A,B,C) the following formula can be used :- SQRT [ (X-A)^2 + (Y-B)^2 + (Z-C)^2 ] Where SQRT stands for the square root and ^2 is the value to the power of two (ie. 2^2 = 4, 3^2 = 9). To calculate the distance of a planet at location X,Y,Z from Silverfall the formula used is :- SQRT [ X^2 + Y^2 + Z^2 ] Example :- if a ship is at location 146,-131,135 and a planet is at a location of 174,-144,110 the difference between them will be :- SQRT [ (146-174)^2 + (-131+144)^2 + (135-110)^2 ] = SQRT [ -28^2 + 13^2 + 25^2 ] = SQRT [ 784 + 169 + 625 ] = 39.724 Disregarding decimal places this equals 39. By also using the above formulas you can also show that the distance from the ship to Silverfall is 238. Although the above-mentioned formula sound very complex the easiest way to travel is to jump from planet to planet. Once you keep in mind that the location can consist of both negative and positive numbers and you consider the solar system to be in the shape of a sphere which has the location of 0,0,0 at it's center you should have little trouble in working out the movement of your ships. SHIP TYPES. There are fifty different types of ships which you can build, details of which are listed below. Full details of a ship which you control (ie. fire, defence units, ore and fuel carried) will be shown on your turn-sheet however if your ship appears on another players turn-sheet the details shown will only be the ship number, type, name, location and owner. If another player scans one of your ships they will receive the same details as if they controlled that ship themselves (except in the case of customised ships, where they will not be told the fire and defence units of the ship). Type Fire Defence Movement Fire Comm Cargo Max. Size Cost of Ship No. Units Units Range Range Range Space Fuel (credits) 1 SCOUT SHIP 0 5 80 N/A 35 N/A 350 1 12,500 2 SMALL FIGHTER 2 6 50 15 20 N/A 200 1 15,000 3 LARGE FIGHTER 2 10 60 15 25 N/A 200 3 25,000 4 SMALL CRUISER 3 12 60 20 25 5 200 5 35,000 5 LARGE CRUISER 3 17 60 20 25 10 200 8 75,000 6 SMALL BATTLE 4 15 60 20 25 N/A 200 8 65,000 7 LARGE BATTLE 4 18 60 25 25 N/A 200 10 80,000 8 SUPER BATTLE 5 25 50 25 25 N/A 180 10 100,000 9 SMALL TRANSPORT 0 14 70 N/A 20 N/A 250 8 35,000 10 LARGE TRANSPORT 0 20 60 N/A 20 N/A 200 10 50,000 11 SMALL CARGO 0 5 70 N/A 20 30 300 1 10,000 12 LARGE CARGO 0 10 60 N/A 20 100 250 5 35,000 13 BATTLE STATION 6 50 N/A 25 30 N/A N/A 95 2,500,000 14 SMALL TANKER 0 5 90 N/A 20 N/A 600 7 20,000 15 LARGE TANKER 0 15 70 N/A 20 N/A 950 10 50,000 16 MAINTENANCE SHIP 0 12 70 N/A 20 N/A 300 2 50,000 17 CUSTOMISED SHIP 0 - 5 1 - 20 60 20 20 50 200 8 20,000 ** 18 PROBE 0 30 80 N/A 25 N/A 350 2 35,000 19 SPY SHIP 1 15 85 30 30 N/A 350 3 45,000 20 SMALL DESTROYER 3 16 70 20 25 N/A 250 6 55,000 21 LARGE DESTROYER 4 18 70 20 25 N/A 275 9 95,000 22 SUPER DESTROYER 4 22 70 20 25 N/A 300 11 105,000 23 DREADNOUGHT 5 35 50 25 25 N/A 240 15 135,000 24 MONITOR 0 30 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 75 550,000 25 REPAIR STATION 0 20 N/A N/A N/A N/A 500 15 120,000 26 CUSTOMISED SPY 0 - 2 1 - 20 75 30 30 N/A 270 4 15,000 ** 27 SEARCH BEACON 0 6 N/A N/A 45 N/A N/A 1 15,000 28 CASTLE 3 40 50 20 10 N/A 350 40 100,000 29 TROOP CARRIER 0 30 70 N/A 15 N/A 350 22 50,000 30 UTOPIA 5 70 50 30 20 N/A 500 65 750,000 31 CARRIER 2 30 50 25 25 N/A 200 14 65,000 32 LIGHT CRUISER 3 15 60 20 25 7 200 7 60,000 33 CORSAIR 2 12 60 15 20 N/A 200 4 30,000 34 GUNBOAT 2 10 150 15 25 N/A 400 6 55,000 35 MAN OF WAR 0 - 4 1 - 40 50 20 20 N/A 200 20 35,000 ** 36 MERCHANT VESSEL 0 8 65 N/A 20 60 275 3 25,000 37 SUPER TANKER 0 30 60 N/A 20 N/A 990 15 75,000 38 SHUTTLE 0 11 45 N/A N/A 15 150 1 20,000 39 FLARE 0 2 N/A N/A 45 N/A N/A 1 10,000 40 ASSASSIN 3 15 60 20 20 N/A 220 3 45,000 41 SUPER DREADNOUGHT 5 45 50 25 25 N/A 240 18 155,000 42 FREIGHTER 0 - 3 1 - 20 60 15 20 50 250 7 20,000 ** 43 BATTLE CRUISER 3 20 55 20 25 15 200 11 80,000 44 BULK CARRIER 0 20 45 N/A N/A 300 200 15 80,000 45 ASSAULT CRAFT 1 5 35 5 10 N/A 150 2 18,500 46 SUICIDAL 5 1 60 15 5 N/A 250 2 15,000 47 COCOON 0 35 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 40 105,000 48 COMMUNICATION BOX 0 1 N/A N/A 65 N/A N/A 1 35,000 49 REPAIR ROBOT 0 1 20 N/A N/A N/A 50 1 20,000 50 REFUEL ROBOT 0 1 20 N/A N/A N/A 350 1 10,000 Ships which have cloaking devices are:- 1. SCOUT SHIP 4. SMALL CRUISER 9. SMALL TRANSPORT 10. LARGE TRANSPORT 13. BATTLE STATION 14. SMALL TANKER 18. PROBE 19. SPY SHIP 26. CUSTOMISED SPY 40. ASSASSIN 47. COCOON The following ships will remain cloaked when moving:- 1. SCOUT SHIP 18. PROBE 19. SPY SHIP 26. CUSTOMISED SPY 40. ASSASSIN Ships which can warpdrive are:- 5. LARGE CRUISER 9. SMALL TRANSPORT 15. LARGE TANKER 16. MAINTENANCE SHIP 18. PROBE 19. SPY SHIP 24. MONITOR 25. REPAIR STATION 26. CUSTOMISED SPY 27. SEARCH BEACON 32. LIGHT CRUISER 38. SHUTTLE 40. ASSASSIN 43. BATTLE CRUISER 47. COCOON The following ships can also carry other ships. The accumulated size of the ships it can carry is shown:- 9. SMALL TRANSPORT -- 5 10. LARGE TRANSPORT -- 8 13. BATTLE STATION -- 25 20. SMALL DESTROYER -- 1 21. LARGE DESTROYER -- 3 22. SUPER DESTROYER -- 4 30. UTOPIA -- 16 31. CARRIER -- 10 47. COCOON -- 30 Ships which can carry population are as follows (the maximum amount population is also shown):- 7. LARGE BATTLE -- 500 10. LARGE TRANSPORT -- 500 13. BATTLE STATION -- 10,000 17. CUSTOMISED SHIP -- 1,000 18. PROBE -- 100 19. SPY SHIP -- 400 24. MONITOR -- 5,000 28. CASTLE -- 8,000 29. TROOP CARRIER -- 20,000 30. UTOPIA -- 15,000 35. MAN OF WAR -- 2,500 45. ASSAULT CRAFT -- 5,000 Ships which can refuel other ships (using the RF command) are:- 14. SMALL TANKER 15. LARGE TANKER 25. REPAIR STATION 37. SUPER TANKER 50. REFUEL ROBOT Repairs (RP command) can be carried out by the following ships:- 16. MAINTENANCE SHIP 25. REPAIR STATION 49. REPAIR ROBOT While the following ships cannot be repaired:- 13. BATTLE STATION 16. MAINTENANCE SHIP 17. CUSTOMISED SHIP 24. MONITOR 26. CUSTOMISED SPY 29. TROOP CARRIER 40. ASSASSIN 42. FREIGHTER 46. SUICIDAL 47. COCOON One cargo unit will hold :- 10 units of ore type 1, 5 units of ore type 2, 1 unit of ore type 3, 125 units of ore type 4 or 35 units of ore type 5. BUILDING SHIPS. If you have sufficient credits and industry you may build new ships. Each Battle Station can build four new ships per turn and Monitors can build two new ships each turn. You can only build above a independent or origin planet and each new ship built will reduce that planet's industry by 1,000 + (100 * size of ship been built). The ship, once built will be at the same location as the building ship (not within it) with no fuel, and if it has a cloaking device, the device will not be active. When a Battle Station builds a new ship at the end of the turn it's cloaking device will also be deactivated. Those ships which are customised (ie. marked as ** on previous page) will cost the price stated plus 4,000 for each fire unit and 2,000 for each defence unit. MINING. On each planet you may have up to two mines operating at one time (it is possible to have both mines mining the same type of ore). While there is still ore available within the planet the mine will decrease the available ore by a set production rate and the stockpile of ore on the planet will be increased accordingly. On your turn-sheet details of all mines controlled by you will be displayed. Once a mine has completely exhausted the ore (of it's type) available on a planet it will cease to exist. Naturally, if there is no ore available on the planet you cannot start a mine of that ore type. Each mine needs 1,000 population units to maintain. If at any time the population level falls below 2,000 one of the mines will stop. If the level falls below 1,000 both mines will stop. During phase seven of each turn ownership of mines is transferred to the player who controls the planet they are on. You may start a mine on any planet, which have a population greater than 5,000, regardless of who controls it. Starting a mine on another player's planet can then be considered as a diplomatic gift as the player who starts it will pay the fee of 5,000 credits. OFFICERS. Each ship in the game is captained by one of two types of officers, a Non-Commission or a Commission officer. Non-Commission officers have no affect on the game and are not show on the print-out. Commission officers on the other-hand can have a huge affect on many aspects of the game. Abilities Each Commission officer has skill in at least one of the following abilities. 1. Tactical Each level adds 15% to fire power. Only armed ships (not on a strafe orders) are affected. 2. Navigation Each level adds 10% to movement range. 3. Intelligence Increases communication range by 10% per level. 4. Surveillance Each level has 10% chance of locating ships within communication range that have their cloaking device on. 5. Engineer If the ship has been damaged, it will self repair and it's defence level will increase by 1 point for each level. All ships (including those that normally cannot be repaired) are affected by this ability. You do not have to pay for these repairs. 6. Enterprise If officer is on a planet, increases industry level on that planet by 3% per level. This adjustment is done after development and population growth but before taxation. Will also increase output of mines on that planet by 5% per level. 7. Administration If on a planet, increases population level of that planet by 3% per level after development and population growth and before taxation. 8. Security On a planet, increases the total fire power of defence units by 0.5 per level. On a ship, decreases damage done to that ship by 15% per level. 9. Construction If officer is on a Battle Station or Monitor, will decrease the amount of industry needed to build ships by 5% per level. 10. Economist When in command of a Battle Station or Monitor will decrease the cost (in credits) of new ships by 5% per level. 11. Technology By practicing, each level gives the officer 5% chance to obtain a new special ability from the Imperial Council. When a fleet practices the highest level is used plus 1% for each other level in the group (ie. if 3 officers with the levels 1,3 & 2 in Technology practice together, the percentage chance would be (1x1 + 3x5 + 2x1)% = 18%). 12. Merchant Increases sale price of ore and fuel, sold by that ship by 10% per level. Reduces the cost of buying fuel by 5% per level. 13. Slaver The price received when selling population at trading planets is increased by 20% per level. When buying population the cost is reduced by 10% per level. 14. Explorer While on a planet, increases the chance of locating artifacts by 10% per level. Also reduces the lose of population (as a result of the search) by 5% per level. The maximum level in any one ability is 4, although some special abilities and artifacts may allow this maximum to be increased to 7. Each officer also has an aptitude for each ability which determines how hard he has to work in order to rise in that ability. If a officer practices an ability, his chances of success are lessened if he is trying to attain a level beyond his natural aptitude. At the end of each turn there is a small percentage chance of a increase in each ability, providing that the officer as the aptitude for the higher level. The only other ways a officer can increase his/hers skill in a ability is by practicing, gaining special abilities or finding and holding artifacts. Officers must be part of a fleet to practice, this includes using the Technology ability to try and gain new special abilities. When the practice command is given to a fleet all officers at the same location (your officers only) will practice that ability. You can only give one practice command to each fleet, however, each command may include two different abilities. If one officer at that location has a higher skill in the ability (unmodified by special abilities or artifacts he/she possesses), the officer(s) with the lower skill in the ability will rise in skill 1 level (provided he/she has sufficient aptitude, explained below). If the officers have the same skill level, there is a 10% chance of rising 1 level for each officer. Aptitude A officer's chance of rising 1 level is reduced for each level beyond his/hers natural aptitude. For example, if a character has a natural aptitude of 1, he/she has no trouble attaining level 1 in that ability, but has only a 25% chance of attaining level 2, a 12.5% chance of attaining level 3, and a 6.25% chance of attaining level 4. You are not told the results of any practicing during the turn, however, but comparing your print-out with previous turns you will see which Officers (if any) increased in skill. The current details for each officer are printed in a officer Review section as well as the Ship Review with the ship or planet that officer is currently stationed on. Rank As a officer gains more levels he/she will increase in Rank. The following Ranks are set according to the current (unmodified) level the Officer has. Number of Levels Rank Rank Chance of (in all abilities)(if on board a ship)(if on a planet) escaping 1 - 10 Commander Commander 5% 11 - 15 Captain Captain 10% 16 - 20 Commodore Major 25% 21 - 30 Rear Admiral Colonel 50% 31 - 40 Vice Admiral Brigadier 75% > 40 Admiral General 85% The current Rank of a officer will determine the chance that officer has of escaping if his ship is destroyed. The percentage shown above is the chance the officer has of escaping onto another ship at the same location. If all ships at the same location (belonging to the same empire) already have officers, the officer will attempt to escape to the nearest owned planet. Officers on ships which are docked when destroyed have no chance of escape. New Officers Only the first ship that you build each turn will be commanded by a Commission officer, all other ships built will have Non-Commission officers in charge. Non-Commission officers have a 5% chance of becoming Commission officer when involved in battles against Dark Lord Sauran. The abilities of each new Commission officer will be set at random and their rank will be Commander or Captain. Like planets and ships, the turn after you have a chance of naming the new Commission officer.. Races There are 11 different races in the system, all of which have they own unique abilities. Each race receives extra levels in one or more abilities. Although both planets and ships can be populated by different races, only the commanding officer's race has any affect on the game. On setup you must select the main race of your empire, 75% of new officers will be of this race while the other 25% will have their race randomly selected. A list of the races and their extra abilities follows: 1. Brungir +2 Tactical 2. Devlon +2 Technology 3. Froria +2 Slaver 4. Everiel +2 Explorer 5. Gorishi +2 Security 6. Charmar +2 Merchant 7. Kishla +2 Navigation 8. Inatan +2 Engineer 9. Ashecta +1 Enterprise, +1 Administration 10. Lexmons +1 Construction, +1 Economist 11. Preirn +1 Intelligence, +1 Surveillance POSITION SETUP. Each position starts the game with one battle station, up to nine other ships, one Commodore and up to five Captains. Each player may select which nine ships he/she will start with. Each position can only start with a maximum of two of each ship type and the total cost of the nine ships can not exceed 350,000 credits. The players can not select the race or which abilities their Captains will start with, however, they can select the race and abilities for the Commodore. The race selected for the Commodore will also be the main race of your empire. The players have 16 points to allot to the Commodore's abilities. The highest level in any one ability allowed at the start of the game is three. The player has full control of the abilities of the Commodore, he/she does not receive any extra levels because of his/her race. THE TURN-SHEET. Each turn you will receive an updated report on all your ships and planets. This report will be split up into fifteen sections. Details of all fifteen sections are as follows :- Score This section will show your current score if the game was to end that turn along with the current low and the current high scores. Dark Lord Sauran is not included in the calculation of highest and lowest scores. Credit Report Full details of your expenses and revenue during the last turn are printed. Use this section to keep track of where and how you are spending your credits. Battle/Action Reports This section will display any damage which has been inflicted upon your ships during the turn. It will show the ship number, owner and type of ship(s) which have fired upon your ships or which you have fired upon. As well as this it will also show the amount of damage incurred within each phase. Also in this section any planets or ships which you control and which has been destroyed by the black hole on the previous turn will be displayed. Other important matters may also be highlighted in this section. Trading planets All five trading planets details will be displayed in this section. The details shown will be the number, name, location, and selling price (that they will pay you) for ore and fuel. Also displayed will be the total number of ships (visible or not) at the same location as that planet. This information could be vital in deciding which trading planet you will travel to. Review of Officers A full listing of your officers and their current unmodified skill levels and aptitude are reported. This section is mainly use to determine which of the fourteen abilities each fleet with practice. Review of Planets A list of all planets which you control will be displayed in this section. Review of Fleets This section show the total fire, defence units and location of each of your fleets. Review of Ships This section will display all of the ships which you control. With each ship it will also display any nearby ships or planets (the ones you control or otherwise) within the ship's communication range. If you have more than one ship at the same location the ship with the highest communication range will be used to gather information on the surrounding ships and planets. The distance that each planet or ship is away from your ship will be displayed. If one of your ships is inside another it will just display details of that ship with a notation under it `Inside : (type) (number)'. If another player's ship is within the communication range of one of your ships but at the end of the previous turn their cloaking device was activated they will not appear on your turn-sheet. Planets show as belonging to player 0 are currently unowned. Full details of officers with their current (modified) skill levels are also shown in this section. Review of mines All details of mines under your control are displayed ie. mine number, ore type, production rate and ore still available on planet. Planet Scanned this Turn Details of any planet that you have scanned on the previous turn are displayed. Ship Scanned this Turn This section will show any details of a ship that you scanned the previous turn. Player Scanned this Turn If you successfully scanned another player during the turn, details of his fleet will be printed out in this section of your turn- sheet. Messages All general broadcasts are displayed within this section as well as other messages generated from within the computer program. Special Abilities A list of all the special abilities your empire currently holds are printed along with full details of any new ones. Errors in Orders All orders that could not be completed in the previous turn will be displayed, along with details of why not. If upon checking this section you find that some order have been incorrectly input please contact us and we will try our best to fix any problems that may have resulted from typing errors. However, as we input orders through a very efficient computer operated order checking system, typing errors should be kept to a minimum if not eradicated altogether. Neither the GM or Computer will attempt to correct any player errors, even when the error is clearly evident. Please always double check your orders before sending in your input sheet. The Order-sheet The last page of the turn-sheet will become the order input sheet for the next turn. Displayed are your personal details (if your address has changed please indicate this on the form) and the date that the order sheet is due to be received by. General orders are any order which do not involve movement or battle and any number of these orders may be given to each ship. Movement/Battle orders on the other hand may only be one order per ship. Naturally, you can only give orders to ships which you control. Space is given at the bottom of the order-sheet for a general broadcast. If you wish to name or gift any planet or ships please use the spaces provided. Any personal or diplomatic messages must be written on a separate sheet. The order-sheet must be returned by the due date shown. Non-Player-Control-Positions. You can only "defeat" other players by destroying all of their ships (most players will withdraw from the game after receiving a near-death blow). A player will remain in the game until he/she no longer has any ships. If a player "drops out" of a game, his/her position will be turn into a NPC. Just like Sauran, however, they will still gain points and will remember their previous allies and enemies. WINDOS. WinDos is a help program available for IBM computers. WinDos's main help to the player is to read all the data from a turn report sent by Email or IBM disk, display a map and allow the player to enter moves which can be sent to the moderator and directly read into our computer. WinDos is FREE to anyone who forwards a IBM formatted disk (preferably 3 1/2"). UNUSUAL HAPPENINGS. From time to time you may get unusual messages on you turn sheet that you do not recognise. Such as one your ships is hit by a Short Range Missile or a Virus appears on one of your ships etc. This is normally the result of another player using a special ability that you are yet to acquire. You will not learn of the full impact of the special ability until such times that you obtain that ability yourself. ROUNDING OF FIGURES. All adjustments in the game (for overall fire power, credits receive etc) are rounded out to the nearest whole number (ie. 1.3 becomes 1, 2.5 becomes 3, 4.67 becomes 5). If there is more then one adjustment to be made in any one action, only the final figure is rounded out. The only exception to this rule is with distance calculations, where, the figure is truncated instead of being rounded out (ie. decimals points are removed). MISSED TURNS. If you miss the dead-line for a turn any current battle/movement orders on your ships will be actioned. Any armed ship, which dose not have a current order will be given the standing order. Your results will be printed as normal and your account will be debited 1/2 the normal turn fee. If you miss two turns in row, you will be dropped from the game. Late turns can not be accepted. CHARGES. A new turn is issued every two or three weeks. There is a initial set-up fee (which includes the first turn) and thereafter there is a set fee for each turn. Ask for details of the current charges. No charges will increase in a game once it has started, however, set- ups and turn-fees for new games may increase at any time. If no player accomplishes the winning conditions the game should end, with Dark Lord Sauran winning, at approximately the twentieth fifth turn. If any player manages to win a game they will receive a free set up, and five free turns, in any Roma Games game. Darkness of Silverfall is 100% computer controlled, and as such players have a limited option for role-playing (ie. holding space for contra band etc). However, you can suggest changes for inclusion in future games. I hope this rule book has been of advantage to you but if you still wish to verify any points with us please don't hesitate to get in touch. Roma Games PO Box 1171 Stafford QLD 4053 Phone/Fax (07) 38578476 Email pcatling@bigpond.net.au Other games currently available at Roma Games are:- Adventurer Kings Dino Wars CREDITS. Game design and development: Peter Catling Artwork: Danny Willies Playtesting & Concepts: (only a very small sample) Cameron Thomas, Alan Fenton, Span Hanna, Colin Glanville, Peter Wheeldon, Dennis Fraser-Jones, Phil Caton, Thomas Sharp, Kevin Smith, Peter Logan, Peter Walker, Jet Drabsch, Simon Suart, Malcolm Doig, Dave Snell. Copyright (c) 1986 - 96 = Peter Catling. -*- Roma Games -*-