It is millennia past a galaxy spanning war rocked the cosmos. Now you have reawakened… You are one of the beings that fought that war… you think… Knowledge is missing, your training half forgotten, your maps obsolete… You know there are others…

You must rebuild and rediscover... find or create other entities.. and find out what happened to your civilization. 

 

The players) take on the character of disembodied entities that control fleets of autonomous ships. Their goal is to survive and gain power in a universe they barely remember and that has changed wildly while they were shut down.

 

Character Generation:

 

The characters are huge (several kilometer in diameter) semi-solid clouds of charged particles and fields. For all intents they are immortal and very hard to destroy. This near indestructibility is why ship and devices are built on such a huge scale, cause you need vast amounts of energy just to damage an entity. Though an entity can perform tasks using just his body, using ships multiplies his effectiveness by a large degree.

Though entities are treated as single individuals, in actually they are composed of hundreds or even thousands of lesser personalities, the whole functioning as a group mind. All kinds of things are happening within an entity at any given time, but since this doesn’t affect play it is not gone in to much in these rules. Usually though it’s one of these lesser personalities that an entity facets to ships and projects. These lesser personalities have been know to gather RU and become true entities over time.

 

ABILITIES: All characters start with a value of one (1) in each ability. The character is then given 2d6+3 points to add to his abilities. A character will be rolling one die six (1d6) against the rank in his/her abilities to attempt actions and tasks.

 

                BATTLE: The entity’s capacity to form and target Gravitic Beams and Tacyon Bolts. Used to fight ships. Ships under your control will attack using your Battle value or their own, whichever is higher. A ship with a Battle of zero (0) cannot attack, as it has no weapon systems. See Combat.

                CONTROL: The entity’s electronic warfare capacity and networking ability. Used to determine the maximum number of ships the character can have under his direct control at one time. Ships under Control will use their rank or their Controller's rank, whichever is higher, for any abilities they have. Ships can be taken over and wrestled from others by using control. See Take-Over.

                HANDLING: The entity’s capacity to perform fine manipulation of Gravitic Beams and Nano/Macro Assemblers. Used to manipulate machinery and ships to perform special functions and tasks. This is also used to repair neutralized ships. See Manipulating the Universe.

                INFORMATION: The entity’s banks of the extended library data and virtual simulation engines. Used to remember things, identify stuff and figure things out. Also used to plot Hyper-Point routes. See Star Travel.

                  SENSORS: The entity’s capacity to gather and sort information using both active and passive detection systems. Used to gather information about objects and phenomena near the character. See Learning about the Universe.

 

There is no maximum value to an Ability, though values over five (5) are listed as follows; for a value of 7 it would be 5+2, for a value of 9 it would be 5+4, for a value of 14 it would be 5+5+4, etc. This is known as a spilt rank. If a character has a spilt rank in an ability and a ship under his/her Control also has a spilt rank in the same ability, then each die of the ship gets the spilt rank of the controller. For example; a character has a Battle rank of 5+3 and is in Control of two ships, one with a Battle rank of 3 and another with a Battle rank of 5+1. The first ship will fight as if it has a rank of 5+3. The second ship will fight as if it has a rank of 5+3+5+3.

A die roll result of six (6) is always a failure, while a die roll result of rank or lower is a success. Sometimes a character will need multiple successes to complete a task.

 

NAME: Characters can be called what ever the players can live with.

 

SEX: The choices for this are Female, Male and Neuter. Yes, entities can and do have sex and reproduce after a fashion. However, gender is not all that important during the time of the game. Just pick one.

 

SIDE:  This is somewhat important, as equipment not from your side has to be reconditioned for you to successfully use it. There are five Major sides and the minor side, which are listed here:

1	Takeru Republic
2	Amtik Commonwealth
3	Kingdoms of Jukint
4	Holy Bringers of Light
5	Vontuni Empire
6	Minor sides (any of the small star faring nations)

                The differences between these sides is gone over in the campaign background section of these rules. Just pick one.

 

SIGNATURE: Sig is found by adding all ranks of abilities together for the entity and checking the following table:

Total of Ranks	Sig	Total of Ranks	Sig
5 or less	2	16 to 20	5
6 to 10	3	21 to 25	6
11 to 15	4	Etc	Etc

 

Examples of character generation:

                Joe rolls his 2d6, getting a 3 and a 4 for a total of 7. Adding 3 to 7 gives 10 points to add to his abilities. Joe likes to play general, well balanced characters. After thinking for a moment, Joe spends his points as follows; Battle+3, Control+3, Handling+2, Information+1 and Sensors +1. Joe decides to call his character TanRac. TanRac is male and his side is the Vontuni Empire. TanRac's character sheet looks like this now:

 

NAME: TanRac		SEX: Male		SIDE: Vontuni Empire
	BATTLE	4	HANDLING	3	SENSORS	2
	CONTROL	4	INFORMATION	2	SIGNATURE	4
EDGES&FLAWS:

                Lisa rolls 2d6 and gets a 2 and a 4 for a total of 6, plus 3 give 9 points. Lisa wants to play an ancient warrior that has no memories but is an incredible fighter. She puts 7 points into Battle! And the last two points go into Control. She calls her character Releata and decides she is female. A die roll of 3 decides that Releata's side is The Kingdoms of Jukint. Her character sheet looks like this now:

 

NAME: Releata		SEX: Female		SIDE: Kingdoms of Jukint
	BATTLE	5+3	HANDLING	1	SENSORS	1
	CONTROL	3	INFORMATION	1	SIGNATURE	4
EDGES&FLAWS:

 

 

EDGES&FLAWS:

The character may now choose Edges (which are advantages for the character) and Flaws (which are disadvantages). The total value of Flaws must be equal to or greater then the total value of Edges taken.

 

                EDGES

ACCESS CODES (2): Character remembers lots of the codes and passwords used during the war. Character gains an additional success when attempting to Take-Over ancient bases and fleets.

COMBAT REFLEXES (4): All ships under Control count as having First Strike.

COMPLETE DATABASE (2): Character automatically gains an additional success when attempting to identify objects and phenomena.

CROSS-TRAINED (2): Character can use captured and recovered equipment from other sides without reconditioning.

FAST (2): Character can move two orbits per standard day instead of just one. Any ships under his/her Control can also move at this speed.

LARGE (1): Characters signature is one value greater then normal.

LONG RANGED (6): Characters weapons and targeting systems are such that he can attack objects in adjacent orbits at -1 rank.

NATURAL APTITUDE / TASK (2): Character has a knack for performing a type of task, such as Mining, Repairing, Reconditioning, almost anything. Character chooses his/her area of aptitude when he/she is designing the character. Character automatically gains an additional success when attempting a task in his/her area of aptitude.

RANK (2): Character was a ranking officer on his side during the war. Character gains an additional success when attempting to Take-Over ancient bases and fleets that where on his/her side.

SELF-REPAIRING (2): Character automatically can repair 1 hit on himself per standard day.

SMALL (1): Characters signature is one value less then normal (minimum of Sig 0).

STEALTHED (2): Character requires an additional Sensors success to be detected.

STRONG CONTROL (2): Character automatically gains an additional success when attempting to Take-Over an enemy's ship.

 

                FLAWS

CHECKERED PAST (3): In every game session the character will run across at least one person that he/she has pissed off in the past.

FILES DELETED (2): Character must gain an additional success over what is needed when attempting to identify objects and phenomena.

HUNTED BY ENEMY (2): The character has an enemy that will show up most sessions to fight with and taunt him/her.

MENTAL DISADVANTAGE (1+): Character has a mental trait that is so strong as to predominate his behavior. Examples of this disadvantage are Greedy, Shy, Arrogant, Nervous, etc. At several points during a game session, at least equal to the points taken of the disadvantage, the character must display this trait in a manner visible to the GM and other players. If in a situation that the character should display the mental trait and doesn't want to, he must roll higher then (points taken in trait+1) on 1d6.

NO HYPER-JUMP (4): Character lacks the ability to Hyper-Jump him/herself. Star travel is only possible using a Jump Carrier, a Hyper Gate, an entity that can Hyper-Jump or by traveling slower then light.

NO INFORMATION (2): Character lacks the extended library of data and virtual simulation engines that make up the Information ability, so the character can only perform Information tasks if he/she has ships that have ranks of Information.

NO MANIPULATION (2): Character lacks the ability to form Handling systems from him/herself, so can only perform Handling tasks if he/she has ships that have ranks of Handling.   

NO MEMORY (1): Character does not remember names, places, etc. from his/her past. He/she can still use Information to identify objects and phenomena, though.

NO WEAPON SYSTEMS (2): Character lacks the ability to form Battle systems from him/herself, so can only attack if he/she has ships.

SLOW (2): Character requires two days to move one orbit instead of a day per orbit. Any ships under his/her Control are forced to move at this rate also.

STILL AT WAR (2): Character is still in war mode and must treat anyone not from his/her side as an enemy, i.e. no trading, no friendships.

TEK LOCKED (3): Character can only use equipment from his/her side. All other stuff must be traded or recycled.

WEAK CONTROL (2): Enemies automatically gains an additional success when attempting to Take-Over one of character's ships.

 

Examples of character generation:

                Joe decides to take Cross-Trained for 2 points and balances it by taking Still at War, which is also 2 points.

                Lisa takes Combat Reflexes for 4pts and balances it with Checkered Past for 3 points and No Memory for 1 point.

                The characters now look like this:

NAME: TanRac		SEX: Male		SIDE: Vontuni Empire
	BATTLE	4	HANDLING	3	SENSORS	2
	CONTROL	4	INFORMATION	2	SIGNATURE	4
EDGES&FLAWS: Cross-Trained, Still at War.

 

NAME: Releata		SEX: Female		SIDE: Kingdoms of Jukint
	BATTLE	5+3	HANDLING	1	SENSORS	1
	CONTROL	3	INFORMATION	1	SIGNATURE	4
EDGES&FLAWS: Combat Reflexes, Checkered Past, No Memory.

 

STARTING FLEET:

Ships are the tools used by the entities to further their power and range of ability and are material objects composed of shaped and processed matter. They are big objects with an approximate length of square root of RU cost time ten kilometers and an approximate mass of RU cost time one gigaton.

Weapon systems tend to be pulsed Gravitic Beam Cannons and Tacyon Bolts. There are a variety of weapon systems as well, Standard, Long ranged, Reloader and Imploder.  Standard is well, standard. Long Ranged can attack one orbit over. Reloader uses cheaper focusing elements and weak shielding, neutralizing the firing ship when it fires. Imploder uses the cheapest components possible, with the firing ship being destroyed when it fires. Creating an artificial gravity well in front of the ship propels ships at an average speed of .4c. It is possible to create faster ships with an average speed of .78c that are more expensive and slower, cheaper ships with an average speed of .23c as well.

Mostly low-grade facets of an entity operate the ships, though it is possible for ships to develop personalities after long-term operation. The speed of the operating system of the ship comes in three types; Bare, Standard and Advanced. A Bare system is very slow and so the ship it’s controlling attacks last in a round. Standard is the norm. Advanced gives the ship an edge in combat, allowing it to attack first before all the standard ships.

Hyper dense materials and gravitic shields make it very difficult to destroy an active ship. Combat is more likely to knock out the ships systems, leaving the ship floating neutralized and waiting to be repaired.

The character now chooses 2D6+25 Resource Units worth of ships as his starting fleet. These ships are from his side.

 

SHIP TYPE	BATTLE	SIG	ABILITIES/BONUSES	RU COST
GUNBOAT	1	0	None.	2
FRIGATE	2	0	None.	4
DESTROYER	3	0	None.	6
CRUISER	4	1	None.	8
BATTLESHIP	5+1	2	None.	12
BATTLECRUISER	5+1	2	Takes two hits to roll on damage table.	15
DREADNOUGHT	5+4	3	Takes three hits to roll on damage table.	24
JUGGERNAUT	5+5+1	4	Takes four hits to roll on damage table.	31
DRONE	1	0	Neutralized after one attack.	1
BATTLE POD	3	0	Neutralized after one attack.	3
SALVO POD	5+1	1	Neutralized after one attack.	6
SATELLITE	1	0	Immobile.	1
FIREPOINT	3	0	Immobile.	3
STRONGPOINT	5+1	1	Immobile.	6
FORTRESS	5+5+1	3	Immobile, takes three hits to roll on damage table.	14
CASTLE	5+5+5+1	4	Immobile, takes five hits to roll on damage table.	22
POINT CANNON	2	2	Long Ranged.	10
LONG GUN	4	3	Long Ranged.	20
SEIGE CANNON	5+2	4	Long Ranged.	35
MOCKER	1	1	Decoy +1.	3
SHOUTER	1	2	Decoy+2.	4
SCREAMER	1	4	Decoy+3.	5
TUG	1	0	Racks 10 units.	3
LT CARRIER	2	1	Racks 30 units.	7
CARRIER	3	2	Racks 60 units, takes two hits to roll on damage table.	15
HVY CARRIER	4	3	Racks 120 units, takes three hits to roll on damage table.	26
JUMPCARRIER	3	3	Racks 60 units, takes two hits to roll on damage table, Hyper-Jump.	19
HVY JUMP CARRIER	4	3	Racks 120 units, takes three hits to roll on damage table, Hyper-jump.	30
LOADER	0	0	Cargo 10 units.	1
TRANSPORT	0	0	Cargo 20 units.	2
FREIGHTER	0	1	Cargo 50 units.	5
SUPERCARGO	0	2	Cargo 100 units.	10
JUMPFREIGHTER	0	1	Cargo 50 units, Hyper-Jump.	9
JUMPSUPERCARGO	0	3	Cargo 100 units, Hyper-Jump.	14
DARTER	2	1	First Strike.	6
STRIKER	4	2	First Strike	12
SCOUT	0	0	Hyper-Jump.	4
EXPLORER	2	1	Hyper-Jump.	8
BATTLEJUMPER	4	2	Hyper-Jump.	12
JAMMER	0	0	Control 1.	3
EW UNIT	0	1	Control 2.	6
SLAVER	0	2	Control 4.	12
CONTROLLER	0	3	Control 5+1.	18
SERVO	0	0	Handling 1.	3
REPAIR	0	1	Handling 2.	6
TENDER	0	2	Handling 4.	12
FACTORY	0	3	Handling 5+1.	18
COMP	0	0	Information 1.	3
THINKTANK	0	1	Information 2.	6
COORDINATOR	0	2	Information 4.	12
NEURALSPHERE	0	3	Information 5+1.	18
RELAY	0	0	Sensors 1.	3
SEEKER	0	1	Sensors 2.	6
SENSOR SHIP	0	2	Sensors 4.	12
DATANET	0	3	Sensors 5+1	18

 

 

Examples of character generation:

Joe now rolls to determine the RU TanRac will have to purchase ships. He rolls a 5 and a 2, plus 25 is 32RU. He wants TanRac to have a balanced force for exploring and fighting. After some thought, he purchases 5x Gunboats for 10RU, 10x Satellites for 10RU, 1x Tug for 3RU, 2x Servo for 6RU and 1x Relay for 3RU for a total of 32RU.

                Lisa rolls a 5 and a 2 plus 25 for a total of 32RU. Lisa wants Releata to kick ass, so she buys 2xBattleships for 24RU and 8x Drones for 8RU. That spends all her RU.

 

MAIN RULES:

Combat

                Combat is very common in Successors, but given the power and toughness of the combatants and their tools, death is rare. In general, unless one entity is incredibly out-classed by his foes, escape is always possible. Usually the victor will pick the field of the losers' equipment and not pursue. It is possible to kill another entity, but it's not easy.

                Combat is fought in rounds, each of which last one standard day. This is because of the distances and speeds of the combatants. Expect for certain attacks, everything is simultaneous… That is all movement, repairs, Take-Overs, etc all happen at the same time. If two or more entities or ships are attempting the same action, say three entities are all trying to take over a ship, and more then one gets a success, the successes are cancelled until only one entity or ship has a success.

 

The sequence of combat is as follows:

1> Order of battle changes: Ships can be loaded/unloaded from Racks, Entities can change which ships are under their Control.

2> Sensors attempts: Sensors can be used to learn more about the enemy, send messages, etc..

3> Take-Over attempts: Control can now be used to attempt to Take-Over ships that have been properly identified.

4> Gathering/ Repair attempts: Handling can now be used to make repairs, recondition ships, make gathering attempts.

5> First strike attacks: Any entities or ships with first strike may attack now.  Any hits from these attacks are resolved now. Defender gets to allocate all shots except for Aimed Shots, which are allocated by the attacker. One hit causes a ship to roll on the damage table or reduces an entity's rank in an ability by 1. Some ships can take more than a single hit before going to the damage table. An entity is neutralized when any of his abilities go below rank 1. When neutralized a ship or entity can do nothing, as they are damaged and non-functional. A hit on a neutralized ship or entity destroys it.

6> Main combat: Any entities or ships that are fitted with standard controls, that didn't attack in the first strike segment can attack now. Any hits from these attacks are resolved now as above.

7> Last combat: Devices and ships that are operated by slow controls go now. Any hits from these attacks are resolved now as above.

8> Retreats: Any unneutralized entities or ships can retreat to a different orbit at this time.

 

Aimed Shots are at -2 to rank, so firing ship must be rank 3 or above to attempt. A neutralized ship cannot defend itself, so any attack is automatically successful against it. A ship cannot load or unload cargo or ships if it is neutralized. An entity or ship can self-destruct at any time it wishes as long as it is not neutralized.  A neutralized entity will attempt to heal itself, getting a rank 1 repair roll every standard day until it is unneutralized.

 

1d6	DAMAGE RESULT
1-3	Neutralized: Ship is out of action but can be easily repaired.
4-5	Hulked: Ship is reduced to scrap worth half of original RU value of the ship, rounded down.
6	Vaporized: Ship is torn apart into component atoms and gone.

Combat Example:

While exploring a new system Releata has noticed an orbit with twenty signature 0 and five sig 1 objects in it. Not bothering to further check with sensors she checks her order of battle and moves into the heavily fortified orbit. Releata doesn't know it, but the enemy fleet is composed of 2x Servos, 8x Drones, 5x Gunboats, 5x Frigates and 5x Cruisers… this is going to be a big combat.

 

Combat starts…

She doesn't need to change her order of battle.

Releata misses her Sensors roll. The enemy doesn't have any Sensors.

She can not make a Take-Over attempt because she doesn't have enough Sensors successes to get a lock on. The enemy lacks the capacity to make Take-Over attempts.

She doesn't need to make repairs or gather. Neither does the enemy.

First Strikes. Releata, the two Battleships and Drone that are under Releata's Control are treated as First Strikers cause of her Battle Reflexes. She rolls her attacks, which are 7  rank 5 attacks and 7 rank 3 attacks, and gets 9 hits, which the enemy takes on his Drones and a Gunboat. Rolling on the damage table, 3 of the drones are neutralized, the rest are hulked (which is the same as destroyed for a 1RU ship) and destroyed. The gunboat is neutralized as well.

Main Combat: Releata holds her 7 remaining drones in reserve to take hits, not firing this segment. The enemy opens up with his Cruisers, Frigates and Gunboats, scoring a total of 4 hits.. Releata takes this on her drones, leaving her 3 still operational. Rolling on the damage table, all 4 drones are neutralized.

Neither side wants to retreat, so the next round of combat starts…

 

Releata moves an unneutralized drone into her Control.

She misses her Sensors roll, again.

Again, no Take-Over are possible due to the lack of sensor information.

She tries to repair a Drone… and fails with a 3. The enemy has it’s two Servo units try to make repairs and one makes a successful repair on the Gunboat! So now they have all 5 Gunboats are operational.

First Strikes: Releata fires again and scores 8 hits! The enemy takes them as follows; 5 Gunboats and 3 Frigates. Rolling on the damage table, 3 of the Gunboats are neutralized, 1 is hulked (becoming a 1RU scrape pile) and the last is destroyed. The Frigates are all neutralized.

Main Combat: She holds her last remaining drone in reserve. The enemy opens up with his remaining ships. He scores 2 hits.. Releata takes 1 hit on the last drone and 1 against her Control. reducing it to 2. The damage roll for the last drone is neutralized.

Releata doesn't want to retreat and the enemy has orders not to…. The next round of combat starts.

 

Rel doesn't need to change her order of battle.

She finally makes a Sensor Roll!! Since she is now at 3 successes she asks what are the sig 1 ships and the GM tells her they are Cruisers.

She tries to take over a Cruiser.. and fails to get a success with a 4.

Rel tries to repair a Drone...  and fails with a 4. The enemy has it’s two Servo units try to make repairs and repair a neutralized Frigate! So now they have three Frigates operational.

First Strikes: Releata is now down to just the two Battleships. She fires and scores 8 hits!! The enemy takes them on his three Frigates, his two Servos and three of his Cruisers, leaving him with only two Cruisers left operational. Rolling on the damage table, 2 Frigates are Hulked (both becoming 2RU hulks), 1 is neutralized. The Servos are both destroyed! And of the Cruisers 2 are neutralized and 1 is destroyed.

Main Combat: Rel has nothing to fire. The enemy realizes his situation is hopeless and fires his two Cruisers at the neutralized Cruisers, destroying them and then both Cruisers self-destruct.

Battle over.

 

Out of the beginning enemy fleet there are now only 3 Drones, 3 Gunboats and 3 Frigates, all neutralized. There is also a 1RU Hulk and 2 2RU Hulks floating around.

The battle took three rounds so it lasted for three standard days in game time. Releata now has to repair her ships, repair and recondition the captured ships (later Sensors use by her find the ships are from the Takeru Republic) and gather the Hulks to use their RU. Why were these ships here? What where they guarding? These and other questions will have to be solved by her during the game.

 

 

Take-Over

Take-Over is using Control to over write the facet controlling a ship, replacing it with one that obeys the entity or fleet performing the Take-Over. Entity or fleet must have 3 Sensors successes or better on enemy fleet to gain lock-on of individual targets and be in the same orbit. Roll is vs. Control to gain successes for Take-Over. It takes 2 successes to Take-Over a ship not under direct Control by an entity and 3 successes for ships that are. The first success on a ship neutralizes it until the entity gets a second or third success, another entity or fleet takes it over or a repair is made on it. A repair cancels a Take-Over success. Note that even if a ship is Taken-Over, it may have to be reconditioned for the entity to use it if he/she is unfamiliar with that side's equipment.

 

Manipulating the Universe

                Manipulating the universe is basically getting, moving and using RU or Resource Units. A RU is approximately one gigaton of hyper dense metals. These metals do not occur naturally, but must be processed and created from rare earths and scarce radioactive materials. RU are used to build ships and engineering projects. They are also used for entities to reproduce.

Building operations: each success adds up to 3RU to an object being constructed. RU must be available at the time of building.

Gathering operations: each success gathers a neutralized ship or object to an area where your forces can work on it. A ship can be gathered and held, one ship per die rolled, allowing the gatherer to move it to a different orbit etc. While holding, the ship or entity holding can not use that die for anything else.

Mining operations: Surface RU can be mined at the rate of 3RU per success, Crust RU can be mined at the rate of 2RU per success and Core RU at the rate of 1RU per success.

Recondition operations: each success reprograms and up rates a ship from a different side to work with your side.

Recycle: each success breaks down an object by 5RU. Objects that are greater then 5RU in cost will take multiple successes to completely disassemble. Maximum RU that can be gained from an object is cost. Objects stop functioning when even partially recycled.

 

Star Travel

Faster then light travel is by Hyper-Jump. Hyper-Jumps take one day regardless of the distance involved. A known Hyper-Jump, one that has been taken before, requires Information successes equal to 1 per 5 Light Years of distance. Plotting an unknown Hyper-Jump requires Information and Sensors successes equal to 1 per 3 Light Years of distance. A Jump that has been made ten or more times is ‘Locked’, needing only 1 Information success to make the Jump.

Entities can Hyper-Jump themselves and a number of other ships equal to their Control time 5. A ship with Hyper-Jump capacity can jump itself and whatever cargo is on board. Ships can be given the Hyper Jump information by an entity or try to plot it by themselves (roll vs. Information and Sensors rank of 1 at 5 times the time).

 

Learning about the Universe

Sensors are used to learn about things (though once you have some idea of what it is, you can sometimes use Information for background material).

Number of Sensors successes	System Data Gained	Entity / Fleet Data Gained
0	Type of Star and number of orbits.	Presence of entity and/or fleet if in same orbit. Facets appear as entities.
1	Detailed information about the orbit currently occupied.	Total number of entities and ships in same orbit.
2	Detained information about adjacent orbits.	Signatures of entities and ships in same orbit.
3	Detained information about the entire system. Secret information, if any, about the current orbit.	All types of ships in a single Sig class in same orbit. Decoys appear as ship types owner wishes. Facets are revealed.
4	Secret information, if any, about adjacent orbits.	Full information of composition of enemy fleet, any unknown ship types are noted, in same orbit. Decoys are revealed.
5	Secret information, if any, about the entire system.	Detailed breakdown of ships, exact abilities known, also abilities of any entities in same orbit.
6	This level and above are for very secret information that the GM has set a high level for.	This level and above are for very secret information that the GM has set a high level for.

Note: Entity/Fleet Data for the whole system is gained at one success less then current. So if an entity had 3 successes on scanning the system, he would have System Data 3, Entity/Fleet Data 3 for the orbit he is in and Entity/Fleet Data 2 for the rest of the system's orbits.

 

Faceting:

A facet is a copy of an entity with all it's abilities at current ranks, edges and flaws. The entity creates a copy of the particle field matrix that holds him and duplicates himself inside it. It takes (total ranks of abilities time one RU) and successful Control and Handling rolls. The facet's Sig will be the same as the creating entity's. The fields that hold the facet together are much weaker then the fields that make up an entity. This has the result that 1 hit will neutralize a facet.

A facet can become stronger and more solid by consuming RU, 2RU adding an additional hit up to the max of all ranks of abilities. At that point the facet has become an entity and may use any experience gained to grow. A willing facet can at any time be reabsorbed into the entity that created him, that entity gaining any experience and knowledge the facet might have gathered. An unwilling facet must be neutralized before being reabsorbed. 

 

Spawning:

A spawn is a split off copy of an entity. Basically an entity breaks off a portion of itself to make a spawn. It takes 12RU and successful Control and Handling rolls. This creates an entity with all abilities at rank 1. By lowering one of it's abilities by 1 the entity gives the facet the entity's new rank in that ability (i.e., if the entity had a Sensors 5 and lowered it to 4, the entity and the facet would both have Sensors 4). This can be done with more than one ability. This lower is permanent. More then one entity can assist in the creation of a spawn, but each must make successful Control and Handling rolls.

 

Some Examples of Play:

 

 

Combat example two:

Lets try the same combat but with TanRac this time. TanRac picks up the large number of ships in that orbit and spends four days making Sensors rolls, till he has 5 Sensors successes for System Data and knows the composition of the enemy fleet.

Looking at that fleet he realizes that he would not beat them in a straight fight. His only chance is to use hit and run tactics.. darting in and neutralizing a couple of the enemy's ship, grabbing them, retreating, repairing and doing it again. So.. TanRac and his fleet enter the enemy's orbit and combat begins

 

TanRac needs to change his order of battle. His Tug drops all the Satellites. He puts 4 of the Sats under his Control.

He makes his Sensors roll. This gives him 5 success on the enemy fleet. The GM tells him that these ships are Takeru Republic and they have been holding position here for over five thousand years, based on dust accumulation and other factors he detects. The enemy doesn't have any Sensors.

TanRac attempts to Take-Over one of the enemy's Servos… He rolls a 1 and that Servo is neutralized until he gets a second success, another entity takes it over or the other Servo repairs it. The enemy lacks the capacity to make Take-Over attempts.

He doesn't need to make repairs or gather. The enemy attempts to make a repair on the neutralized servo and fails with a 3.

First Strikes. Neither side has any first strikers.

Main Combat: TanRac fires off his 5 Gunboats, 10 Sats and his Tug. Except for the 4 Sats under his Control and himself, all his ships need a 1 to hit. So he has 5 rank 4 attacks and 12 rank 1 attacks.. He scores 6 hits. The enemy fleet hold his Drones in reserve to take hits and fires his Gunboats, Frigates and Cruisers. That’s 5 rank 1 attacks, 5 rank 2 attacks and 5 rank 4 attacks. He scores 4 hits. The enemy takes the 6 hits on his drones, leaving him 2 operational. Rolling on the damage table, 3 drones are neutralized and 3 are destroyed. TanRac takes his 2 hits on Sats, leaving him 8 operational, -1 rank to Information and -1 rank to Sensors. Rolling on the damage table, both are destroyed.

Neither side wants to retreat, so the next round of combat starts…

 

TanRac needs to change his order of battle. He puts both of Seros and 2 Sats under his Control.

He misses his Sensors roll.

TanRac again attempts to take over the same Servo as last turn and just barely succeeds with a 4. The Servo is now part of his fleet and because he is Cross-Trained he doesn't need to recondition it to use it.

TanRac attempts to make repairs on himself and gathering operations on the enemy's drones. He has 3 rank 3 attempts and 1 rank 1 (the new Servo). He rolls a 3, a 1, a 6 and a 6… he repairs himself but no gathering. The enemy's 1 remaining Servo tries to repair a Drone and fails with a 5.

First Strikes. Neither side has any first strikers.

Main Combat: TanRac fires off his 5 Gunboats, 8 Sats and his Tug. Except for the 2 Sats under his Control and himself, all his ships need a 1 to hit. So he has 3 rank 4 attacks and 12 rank 1 attacks.. He scores 4 hits. The enemy fleet hold his Drones in reserve to take hits and fires his Gunboats, Frigates and Cruisers. That’s 5 rank 1 attacks, 5 rank 2 attacks and 5 rank 4 attacks. He scores 7 hits. The enemy takes the 4 hits as follows, 2 on his last Drones and 2 on his Gunboats,. Rolling on the damage table, the drones are neutralized, 1 of the Gunboats is neutralized, the other is destroyed. TanRac takes his 7 hits as 5 on Sats , 1 on his Information and 1 on his Sensors . Rolling on the damage table for the Sats, 3 are neutralized and 2 are destroyed.

Neither side wants to retreat, so the next round of combat starts…

*******

TanRac needs to change his order of battle again. He puts all three of his Seros and 1 Gunboats under his Control.

He misses his Sensors roll.

TanRac attempts to take over a Cruiser and fails with a 5.

TanRac wants to attempt to make 4 repairs on his Sats. He has 4 rank 3 attempts. He rolls a 2, a 2, a 3 and a 5. He makes three repairs putting his total number of operational Sats at 3.The enemy's 1 remaining Servo tries to repair a Gunboat and fails with a 2.

First Strikes. Neither side has any first strikers.

Main Combat: TanRac fires off his 5 Gunboats, 3 Sats and his Tug. Except for the 1 Gunboat under his Control and himself, all his ships need a 1 to hit. So he has 2 rank 4 attacks and 8 rank 1 attacks.. He scores 4 hits. The enemy fleet fires his Gunboats, Frigates and Cruisers. That’s 2 rank 1 attacks, 5 rank 2 attacks and 5 rank 4 attacks. He scores 5 hits. The enemy takes the 4 hits as follows, 2 on his last Gunboats and 2 on his Frigates leaving him 3 operational. Rolling on the Damage Table, 1 Gunboat is neutralized and the other destroyed, the same for the Frigates. TanRac takes his 5 hits as 3 on Sats, 1 on a Gunboat and 1 on his Sensors rank. Rolling on the Damage Table, 2 of the Sats and the Gunboat are destroyed, the remaining Sat is neutralized.

TanRac thinks about ordering his fleet to retreat. He would be leaving behind his remaining Sat as it cannot retreat on it's own. But he realizes he wouldn't have anything to show for this battle (except for the lost of his ships) if he did. He doesn't retreat. The next round of combat starts…

 

TanRac doesn't need to change his order of battle.

He misses his Sensors roll with a roll of 2 (his rank is 1 now cause of the hit last round).

TanRac attempts to take over a Cruiser and makes it with a 4. That cruiser is out of the battle for now.

TanRac attempts to make 4 gathering operations this turn. He rolls a 1, 3, 3, and 3. Four successes. He gathers and grabs the enemy's neutralized Frigate, 2 Gunboats and 1 drone. The enemy's 1 remaining Servo tries to repair the neutralized Cruiser and fails with a 4.

First Strikes. Neither side has any first strikers.

Main Combat: TanRac fires off his 4 Gunboats and his Tug. Except for the 1 Gunboat under his Control and himself, all his ships need a 1 to hit. So he has 2 rank 4 attacks and 4 rank 1 attacks. He scores 3 hits. The enemy fleet fires his Frigates and Cruisers. That’s 3 rank 2 attacks and 4 rank 4 attacks. He scores 5 hits. The enemy takes the 3 hits on his Frigates, with the result that 2 are neutralized and 1 is hulked (2RU hulk). TanRac takes his 6 hits as 3 on his Battle rank and 3 on his Control rank.

TanRac retreats to the orbit he came from. The enemy has orders not to move from his location.

 

Ok now… TanRac is very damaged

 

Ok.. at this point the one ship left of the enemy fleet realizes victory is impossible.. so the last Cruiser fires on a neutralized Cruiser, destroying it and then self-destructs.. The end of the combat. Further Sensors successes reveal the fragments of a Cube and fragments of Rammers. Even more successes reveal that the Rammers where launched from a Hyper Cannon… about four and a half thousand years ago.

 

Repair and Reconditioning Example:

Ok, Releata has beaten a huge fleet of uncontrolled ships, but had to neutralize almost all of them and her fleet was also mostly neutralized. All told she has to repair 18 Drones, 5 Gunboats, 5 Frigates, 4 Cruisers, 1 Battleship and 2 Servos. She has to recondition everything except for 8 Drones and the Battleship. Oh yeah, and she has to repair one hit on her Control rank.

                Since she is not expecting any attacks in the near future, she decides to repair and recondition one of the Servos. It takes her 4 days to repair it..(her rolls where 5,6,3 and 1). It then takes her another day to recondition it (next roll a 1). Putting the Servo under her Control, she will now have two rolls per day. She starts on the next Servo and it only takes 3 days to repair and recondition it as well. Now she will have three Handling rolls per day. I'll spare you the rolls… it ends up taking Rel 102 days standard to get the whole fleet operational and reconditioned. If she had any enemies they probably would have shown up during this time and tried to draw her off.. But this is just an example.

 

 

SHIP DESIGN NOTES:

                These are the ship design rules. They are amazingly simple and straightforward. A ship is composed of several items, which are weapon systems, secondary systems and movement systems. That is order in which things are added and multiplied.

 

Weapon system (Battle) costs varies per level as shown;     Stardard ; costs 2RU per level,     Reloader (Ship is neutralized after making an attack); costs 1RU per level,     Imploader (Ship is destroyed after making an attack); costs 0.5 RU per level,     If weapon system is Long Ranged multiply cost by 2.5 ( so costs are 5, 2.5 and 1.25),     If weapon system has First Strike multiply cost by 1.5 (so costs are 3, 1.5 and 0.75),     If weapon system is Slow (goes last in combat) multiply cost by 0.75 (so costs are 1.5, 0.75 and 0.375),     Note that a weapon system can by Long Ranged and First Strike (7.5, 3.75 and 1.875) or Long Ranged and Slow (3.75, 1.85 and 0.9375), but not First Strike and Slow.

Secondary systems costs varies based on system as shown;     Additional hits to neutralize cost 3RU each.     Hyper-Jump cost is 4RU.     Stealth costs 1RU per -1 to Signature.     Decoy costs 1RU per +1 to Signature.     Cargo costs is 1RU per 10 Units space.     Racks cost 1RU per 10 Units space.     Any other abilities (Control, Handling, Information, Sensors) cost 3RU per rank.

Movement system multiples the total value of the weapon system and secondary systems as shown;     Immobile unit ( Ship cannot move under it's own power, must be carried), multiple is x0.5,     Slow drive (Ship requires two days to move one orbit instead of a day per orbit), multiple is x0.75,     Standard drive (Ship can move one orbit per day), multiple is x1.0,     Fast drive (Ship can move up to two orbits per day), multiple is x1.25.

 

SIGNATURE VALUE:

Ship Value	Signature	Ship Value	Signature
1 to 4RU	0	16 to 30	3
5 to 8RU	1	31 to 45	4
9 to 15RU	2	Etc	Etc

 

ENGINEERING PROJECTS:

These are large-scale projects that entities can under take. They all have the following in common; 1- they require a Handling success per 5RU put into the project and 2- the completed project will be able to sustain 1 hit per 10RU put into the project. This means a Size 1 Hyper Gate would require 10 Handling successes and would be a 5 hit object when finished. Until a project is finished, it is treated as a 1 hit object, meaning that 1 hit neutralizes it and a second destroys it. Once built most cannot be moved unless recycled and rebuilt somewhere else.

 

Buster: A Tacyon bomb, attacks everything in it’s orbit when exploded, destroying itself by it’s use. Cost is 5RU per rank of Battle and can be carried by a ship with enough space in its racks.

Core Tap: A giant hyper-metal shaft sunk into a planet's core, allows the entity and ships using it to make crust mining operations on the core of a planet. Cost of a Core Tap is 15RU.

Cube: A prison cell for entities. The entity can either enter voluntary or put inside once neutralized. While inside a cube an entity can only use Sensors and only in the current orbit the cube is in. A cube costs 20RU and can be carried by a ship with enough space in its racks.

Hyper Cannon: Used to launch Rammers at targets in other stellar systems. It requires an entity or Sensors equipped ship in the target system to feed fire control information to the Hyper Cannon. Level of the Cannon determines the maximum number of Rammers that can be launched per day. Cost of a Hyper Cannon is 10RU per level.

Hyper Gate: A stable wormhole that is used to link two stellar systems together. Ships may travel through the wormhole, taking one day to travel the distance to the other side. Hyper Gates are sized, with the smallest being Size 1 and there being no maximum size. The Size is the largest signature value object that can pass through the Gate. Entities count as sig 1 for this purpose only.  It requires knowledge of 10 Sensors successes in both systems and 50RU per size of the Gate at each system. Both Gates have to be the same size.

Jammer Field: A large spherical structure that generates a powerful randomly oscillating gravity fluctuation that affects the accuracy of combat in the system that it is in. Entities and ships in tune with the jammer field are unaffected, but others have their Battle rank reduced by the level of the jammer. Battle ranks reduced to 0 or less are unable to attack. Cost is level cubed times 50RU, so level 1 cost 50RU, 2 costs 400RU, 3 cost 1350RU and level 4 (the highest possible) costs 3200RU.

Matrix: A large structure of focusing fields and energy accelerators that adds to all of an entity's abilities by the level of the Matrix. For example, a level 2 Matrix adds +2 ranks to the using entity's Battle, Control, Information, etc. While inside a Matrix an entity is able to do more, yet is vulnerable to being destroyed if the Matrix is destroyed.  Cost of a Matrix is level squared times 10RU, so a level 1 Matrix is 10RU, a level 2 Matrix is 40RU, a level 3 is 90RU, a level 4 is 160RU, etc.

Rammers: Rammers are specially designed ships that use a over charged anomaly to travel at faster then light while staying in the normal universe. This destroys the ship after a few seconds. Rammers cannot be Controlled but can be Taken-Over. They can make a single attack at rank 5, attacking any orbit in the system they are at. The act of attacking destroys a Rammer. Rammers cost 3RU each.

Static Defenses: These are emplaced weapons systems that are totally unable to move or maneuver. They have several advantages and several disadvantages. Static Defenses are bought at the rate of 3 points per 2RU, so 8RU would buy 12 points, 20RU would buy 30 points, etc. It is not a called shot to fire at Static Defenses and anything firing at Static Defenses is at +1 rank to hit (though a 6 is still a miss). 1 hit destroys a point of Static Defenses. Static Defenses fire last in the combat sequence. When firing Static Defenses they can be broken up however the user wants, i.e. if he has 10 points of SD, he could fire them as 10 rank 1 attacks or 5 rank 2 attacks or 1 rank 4 and 6 rank 2 attacks, etc.

Targeter: A limited form of Matrix. Only adds to the using entity’s Battle rank. Cost is Level squared times 2RU. All other rules are as per Matrix.

Stellar Cannon: A gigantic focusing structure built in the first orbit of a system’s star. It can fire out huge bolts of hyper accelerated star plasma. It must be controlled by an entity (or facet), -1 to Battle per orbit from star. Cost is 30RU. Damage is 1d6 hits on a successful attack.

Stellar Tap: Huge mining rigs that are used to funnel out RU from a stellar body (i.e. a star). A Core Tap allows an entity to make core mining operations on a star, one entity per day per Core Tap. Since a star has millions of RU, they are very hard to deplete, though it has happened. It takes 50RU to set up a Core Tap.

 

BESTIARY:

CITIZEN: These are entities that are non-combatants and (before the war) were very common. Citizens are now found most often in deep space, traveling at sub-light speeds between and at the edges of star systems. They are very fragile compared to the warrior entities. A single hit will destroy them. Citizens are not territorial, spending most of their time in artistic endeavors. 

                Abilities: Control 1, Handling 1, Information 1d6+3, Sensors 1d6+1.

                Edges: None.

Flaws: Fragile (one hit destroys), No Hyper-warp and No Weapon systems.

 

FERAL: A naturally (?) occurring entity-like creature that live in small packs of two to seven in asteroid belts, nebula or other dust rich areas of space. They will tend to ignore entities traveling without ships or objects, but will set upon fleets and other sources of RU. Ferals are unintelligent and non-tool using… any RU that come their way are used to reproduce.

                Abilities: Battle 2d6+1, Sensors 1d6+1.

                Edges: Fast, Self-Repairing, Stealthed and Small. 

                Special: A Feral can 'eat' and hold up to 20 RU inside itself. Any neutralized ships with be consumed and converted to RU at the rate of 2RU per day. Ship and objects larger then 20RU will be gnawed at until consumed. When a feral has 10 or more RU inside itself, it will seek out another feral and 'mate' with it, producing another feral. This uses RU from both of the ferals, taking a total equal to the total ranks of abilities of the new feral.

 

GUARDIAN: A special type of entity that was favored by the Vonturi Empire. Assigned to guard and patrol valuable systems, Guardians have no Information ranks, no Hyper warp drive and are tek locked. They make up for this by being very fast and having advanced ranging systems. Guardians are slow thinking and then to attack if not given the recognition codes.

                Abilities: Battle 2d6, Control 1d6, Handling 1d6, Sensors 1d6+1.

                Edges: Fast, Long Range Targeting.

Flaws: No Hyper warp, Tek Locked.

 

LIBRARY: A special type of entity that was originally created by the Femer Clan Holds, but other sides have been know to have made them as well. Libraries are very sentient and are designed to learn and teach. Libraries are unable to fight and have no battle rank. They can use tools but will often not have any with them. Libraries are often found studying unusual astrophysical phenomena and communicating with sentient bio-units.

                Abilities: Control 1d3, Handling 1d3, Information 2d6+3, Sensors 2d6+1.

                Edges: Complete Database, Natural Aptitude- System Scanning.

Flaws: Mental Disadvantage- Curious, No weapon systems.

 

STELLAR SYSTEM GENERATION

The first step is to determine the Spectral class, brightness and size/generation of the star.

 

Roll 3d6 for Spectral Class, remember the number rolled for later though:

3d6	Planet Mod	Spectral Class
3	-9	Type O (blue, can only be a supergiant, dwarf or subdwarf)
4-5	-7	Type B (blue-white)
6-7	-6	Type A (white, these stars often (1 to 4 on 1d6) have a dust cloud or nebula surrounding them, making it a good location for metal rich planets. Add 1d6 to the dice rolled for crust and core RU.)
8	-4	Type F (Yellow-white)
9	-2	Type G (Yellow, like Sol)
10	-2	Type K (Orange)
11-16	-3	Type M (Red)
17-18	-4	Type D (white dwarf, this is a dead star. If a Stellar Tap is set up to mine it, it allows the entity or ships using it to make surface mining attempts (3RU per success))

 

Now roll 2d6-3 for the Brightness of the star, with 9 being the dimmest and 0 being the brightest.

 

Now roll 3d6 to determine the size of the star.

3d6	Size	3d6	Size
3-5	Supergiant	9-15	Dwarf or Main-sequence
6-8	Giant	16-18	SubDwarf

 

Ok, now you know about the star. Now on to planets.

Roll 2d6+Planet Mod. If the value is positive then there are planets there.

If there are planets, roll on the table below, once for each orbit until all the orbits have been rolled for.

 

3d6	Orbit three or closer	Orbit four to six	Orbit seven or greater
3	Planetoid, Small	Planetoid, Huge	Planet, Large
4-5	Planetoid	Planet, Small	Planet, Huge
6-8	Planetoid, Large	Planet	Gas Giant, Small
9	Empty Orbit	Roll on Orbit three or closer	Roll on Orbit four to six
10-11	Planetoid, Huge	Planet, Large	Gas Giant
12-14	Planet, Small	Planet, Huge	Gas Giant, Large
15-16	Planet	Gas Giant, Small	Gas Giant, Huge
17-18	Planet, Large	Gas Giant	Asteroid Belt

 

Now you find out the details of the orbits:

 

Planetoid: Is an airless rock ball of a world. A planetoid's surface is marked and scared with impact craters from meteors and other debris. There is no life or possibility of bio-units here.

	Diameter	Crust RU	Core RU
Planetoid, Small	3d6x 100Km	2d6	2d6x3
Planetoid	3d6x 200km	3d6	2d6x5
Planetoid, Large	3d6x 300Km	4d6	3d6x5
Planetoid, Huge	3d6x 500Km	2d6x3	2d6x10

Planet: Is larger then a planetoid and often has an atmosphere of some type. A Planet in that is in orbit one to three has a chance of having a biosphere (see biosphere table below). Also planets that are large or huge have a chance of having one or more moons (see moon table below).

	Diameter	Crust RU	Core RU
Planet, Small	3d6x 600Km	2d6x3	2d6x10
Planet	3d6x 800km	2d6x5	3d6x10
Planet, Large	3d6x 1000Km	3d6x5	3d6x15
Planet, Huge	3d6x 1200Km	2d6x10	3d6x20

Gas Giant: These are the largest planets in a system, but are also the least useful. Their size consists mostly of atmospheric gases, such as hydrogen, helium, methane and ammonia. In the center of a gas giant is a rocky or semi-metallic core. The pressure of a gas giant's atmosphere is such that it produces heat and infrared radiation. A gas giant will have several moons (see moon table below).

	Diameter	Crust RU	Core RU
Gas Giant, Small	3d6x 4000Km	NA	3d6x20
Gas Giant	3d6x 6000km	NA	3d6x30
Gas Giant, Large	3d6x 8000Km	NA	3d6x40
Gas Giant, Huge	3d6x 10000Km	NA	3d6x50

Asteroid Belt: This is usual the remains of an unformed planet or a destroyed planet. Size of asteroids range from a few meters to several hundred kilometers in diameter. An asteroid belts RU all count as crust mining. Roll once to determine composition of belt and once more for density. Then roll the composition dice and multiply by the density value.

2d6 Roll	Composition		Orbital Density
2 to 5	Icy	1d6	Scattered	3
6 to 8	Rocky	2d6	Thin	5
9 to 11	Mixed	3d6	Thick	10
12	Metallic	4d6	Dense	20

Moon Table:  Roll 2d6 and add the diameter bonus. Diameter bonus is equal to diameter divided by 5000km, rounded up.

Value	Result	Value	Result
10 or less	No moons.	31 to 35	2d6 Planetoid, Large
11 to 15	Planetoid, Large	36 to 40	Planet
16 to 20	1d6 Planetoid, Small	41 or more	1d6 Planet
21 to 25	2d6 Planetoid, Small
25 to 30	1d6 Planetoid, Large

 Biosphere Table: Roll 3d6 and check the table below for further.

3d6	Result	3d6	Result
3 to 11	No life.	16	Diverse ecology.
12 to 13	Single celled life.	17	Near sentience.
14 to 15	Sparse ecology.	18	Sentience.

If sentience are present, roll on the Technology Table. Surface RU are taken from the Crust RU of the world and represent that world's civilization. Needless to say, mining it will destroy that civilization.

2d6	Result
9 or less	No technology or stone age.
10	Cities, Iron working. Roll 1d6 for Surface RU.
11	Industrial age, early atomic energy. Roll 2d6 for Surface RU.
12	Space faring, may have colony on other worlds in system. Roll 3d6 for Surface RU. Roll an additional die for each adjacent orbit and on a 1 there is are installations from this civilization there as well (such installations are worth 1d6-3 RU, min of 0).