Each player in the game controls a power. A power is a generic political power structure, and generally consists of beings of the same general type or race. However, as the game progresses, various other cultures could be assimilated into a power or break away from a power to become new powers. Powers which are not under the control of a player are termed autonomous powers, and are computer controled. Autonomous powers will generally have fairly limited activities, but when a new player is added to the game, this is generally done by giving them control of one of the autonomous powers. I. Each turn, each player issues orders for the power he controls. These orders include orders to worlds under the control of that power, ships belonging to that power, and armies belonging to that power, as well as the orders which relate to the power as a whole. Each turn has a deadline date and time for the submission of orders. A. Once all players have submitted their orders, the turn will be executed. B. If the turn time deadline has been reached, the turn will be executed. Any player who has not yet submitted orders is considered to have no orders for the turn, and the following orders will be executed for that power: 1. All power orders will be unchanged or will be default values. 2. World build orders will remain unchanged or will revert to the default of all production to treasury. There will be no transfer of technology to any worlds. 3. All ships will be ordered to return fire if fired upon except ships on scheduled runs, which will remain on their scheduled routes, and ships with 'go to' orders which will continue on towards their destinations. 4. All armies will be ordered to return fire if fired upon. C. When the turn is executed, the deadline date and time will be updated based on the time limit established for the game in play. II. The major objective of the game is to accumulate victory points. A. Victory points are earned according to the following: 1. Each turn, a power will gain two victory points for each tech level controlled. 2. Each turn, a power will gain victory points for controlled worlds: i. One victory point for each controlled hostile world. ii. Two victory points for each controlled barren world. iii. Four victory points for each controlled fecund world. 3. Each turn, a power will gain victory points for treasury spent on public works: i. If a power spends enough on public works to make the population very happy, then it will receive 1 victory point for every 2500 total controled population points. ii. If a power spends enough on public works to make the population content, then it will receive 1 victory point for every five thousand total controled population points. iii. If a power spends at least 20 treasury points on public works, it will receive one victory point per 10 treasury points spent. iv. Villainous powers never gain victory points for public works expenditures. 4. If a power colonizes an uninhabited world (i.e. if the power places one or more population points of its nationality on a world which previously had no population points) it will gain victory points: i. Colonizing a fecund world earns 10 victory points ii. Colonizing a barren world earns 4 victory points iii. Colonizing a hostile world earns 2 victory points iv. De-colonizing a world (i.e. removing the last civilian population points living on the world) will cause the de-colonizing power to lose the same number of victory points as those earned for colonizing the world 5. If a power terraforms a world, it earns victory points: i. Terraforming a barren world into a fecund world earns 200 victory points. ii. Terraforming a hostile world into a barren world earns 100 victory points. 6. Successfully forming an alliance with another power earns each power 10 victory points. i. Each turn, the members of an alliance will each earn 2 victory points. 7. Unloading luxury goods on a world controlled by another power will earn both the unloading power and the power controlling the world one victory point each. 8. Each turn a power will gain one victory point for each controlled trading post. B. Victory points may be lost as well: 1. If a power loses control of a world, then that power will lose a proportion of victory points equivalent to one half the proportion of population points on the lost world compared to the power's total controled population. 2. A power may lose victory points for bombarding a world from space. i. A power does not lose victory points for bombarding a world controlled by a villainous power. 3. A power may lose victory points for attacking civilians with armies. i. A power does not lose victory points for attacking civilians belonging to a villainous power. 4. A power will lose 20 victory points each time it breaks an alliance. i. A power does not lose victory points for breaking an alliance with a villainous power. 5. A power will lose victory points any time it attacks a trading post. The power will lose these victory points regardless of whether the trading post is owned by a villain or not, and regardless of whether the attack was made by an army or a space bombardment. C. If any power accumulates a total of 32000 or more Victory Points, that power wins the game and the game is ended. 1. A game may be ended earlier based on scenario rules. 2. A game will also be ended if any power reaches a total technology level of 35. 3. For each player, a victory point percentage is calculated based on the following calculation: i. Subtract the victory points the power had at the time the player entered the game from the victory points the power had at the end of the game. This is 'Victory Points Earned.' ii. Subtract the greatest number of victory points by any power at the time the player entered the game from the number of victory points held by the winner of the game. This is 'Greatest Victory Point Change.' iii. Divide the 'Victory Points Earned' by the 'Greatest Victory Point Change' to get the Victory Point Percentage for that player. This percentage is used to determine the player's ranking. III. Each power has a treasury consisting of treasury points which is used for several important game functions. A. Treasury points are usually accumulated by the addition of excess production points from world builds. B. Treasury points must be spent on maintenace for military units controled by the power, and on life support for worlds controled by the power. These expenses will be deducted from the treasury of the power each turn, whether the power has enough in its treasury to pay the expenses or not. This may result in a power having a treasury deficit. 1. Maintenace costs are covered under army rules and ship rules. 2. For each controled world, the life support costs are figured independantly and subtracted from the treasury of the power controling the world: i. A fecund world has no life support costs. ii. Life support on a barren world costs 1 treasury point for each 10 population points (or portion thereof) living on the world. iii. Life support on a hostile world costs 1 treasury point for each 2 population points (or portion thereof) living on the world. C. A power may order treasury points to be transfered to another power: 1. The powers involved must be in contact with each other. 2. No power may transfer more than 10 percent of its treasury in one turn. 3. Only one transfer may be made by each power in one turn. D. A power will lose treasury points if it loses control of a world: 1. The number of treasury points lost is equal to one half of the proportion of population points on the lost world compared to the power's total controled population. 2. If a power manages to take control of a world from another power, it will gain the treasury points lost by the first power. If the world just becomes uncontroled, the treasury points are lost and effectively dissapear from the game. E. A power with a treasury deficit may not build new units. If a world is ordered to build a new unit, and the power controlling the world has a treasury deficit at the time the building unit would be completed, then the world's build order is canceled and all production will be sent to the treasury. IV. Power homeworlds: The major effect of a power's homeworld is that it is immune to revolts and some random planetary events. A. A power's homeworld may only revolt if specified in the scenario rules. B. If a power has no homeworld, it may choose to designate one. 1. If a power currently has a homeworld, it may not change the designated homeworld. 2. If a power does not currently have a homeworld, it is not required to designate one (it might wait for a more suitable world to become available). V. A power may spend treasury points on public works to satisfy the expectations of its citizens that the government is doing something for them. A power may not order more than half of its treasury to be spent on public works. However, a previous expendature order will continue to be followed even when a power does not have enough in its treasury to make such an order. In this case, attempting to change the order will cancel the previous order, and the power may once again not spend more than half of its treasury. A. If a power does not spend at least one treasury point per thousand controled population points on public works each turn, the citizens of that power are going to be unhappy with their government. 1. Each world controled by a power with an unhappy population has a chance of revolting. This chance is normally 1 in 36, but may be modified: i. If the world contains population points of different nationality than the controlling power, the chance of revolt is increased. ii. If the power is a villian, then the chance of the world revolting is increased. 2. If a world does revolt, then one half of the population belonging to the controlling nationality will change allegiance. i. The new allegiance of the revolting population is determined by chance. They may join another nationality already on the world, or they may simply be rebels. ii. Armies at a revolting world may also join the revolt. A recruit or regular army has a one in two chance of joining the revolt, a veteran army has a one in six chance of joining the revolt, and ace armies never join revolts. iii. Ships at a revolting world may also join the revolt. A recruit ship has a one in three chance of joining the revolt, a regular ship has a one in six chance of joining the revolt, and veteran or ace ships never join revolts. iv. Armies and ships may join a revolt even if there are no civilians of the controlling power at the world. B. If a power spends at least one treasury point per thousand controled population points on public works each turn, the citizens of that power will be content. This gains the controling power one victory point per five thousand controled population points each turn. Villainous powers do not gain Victory Points for expenditures on public works. C. If a power spends three treasury points per thousand controled population points on public works each turn, the citizens of that power will be very happy. This gains the controling power one victory point per two thousand five hundred controled population points each turn. Villainous powers do not gain Victory Points for expenditures on public works. VI. A power may spend treasury points on researching new technology. A. If a power does not hold at least twice as many treasury points as the research is expected to cost, no research may be conducted. B. See technology rules for more details on how research is conducted. VII. In addition to transfering treasury points to another power, a power may transfer technology to another power with which it is in contact. A. Each power may order no more than one technology transfer per turn. B. Both the destination power and the technology to be sent must be designated. C. If the tech level of the sending power is greater than the tech level of the receiving power, then the tech level of the receiving power is increased by one. Otherwise there is no effect. VIII. Diplomatic messages: A power may send one diplomatic message to each power with which it has contact each turn. A. Messages are sent by selecting the 'Diplomatic Messages' button. B. Each message is restricted to two lines of up to 80 characters each. C. Messages may not be sent to another power with which a power is not in contact. IX. Forming alliances: An alliance may not be formed unless both powers desiring the alliance order the formation of the alliance in the same turn. A. A power may only order one alliance to be formed in any given turn. B. If a power orders an alliance with another power, and the other power does not order an alliance in the same turn, then no alliance is formed. C. An alliance may not be ordered with another power unless the two powers are in contact. X. Diplomatic Reputation Points: Powers gain and lose reputation points according to the following rules: A. Autonomous powers never have reputation points. They are always considered to have an 'OK' reputation. B. When a player takes control of a power, that power automatically starts with a total of 25 reputation points. C. No player controlled power can ever have more than 50 reputation points. There is no limit to the negative total of reputation points. D. Regardless of other actions, a player controlled power will gain the following number of reputation points each turn (based on the current total of reputation points). This is known in game terms as 'diplomatic rebound.' The number of reputation points gained is: 1. Less than 25 gains + 5. 2. 25 to 29 gains + 4. 3. 30 to 34 gains + 3. 4. 35 to 39 gains + 2. 5. 40 to 44 gains + 1. 6. 45 to 50 no gain due to rebound. E. Any action which results in a loss of Victory Points will also result in the loss of reputation points. F. Player controlled powers may also gain or lose reputation points for the following: 1. Forming an alliance with a non-villainous power: +5 reputation points. 2. Forming an alliance with a villainous power: -10 reputation points. 3. Each turn allied with a non-villainous power: +1 reputation points. 4. Each turn allied with a villainous power: -2 reputation points. 5. Each turn a power does not spend enough treasury points on public works to keep the citizens content: -5 reputation points. 6. Each turn a power spends enough on public works to make the citizens very happy: +2 reputation points. 7. For transferring a new technology to a non-villainous power which has a home world: +5 reputation points. 8. For transferring treasury points to a non-villainous power which has a home world: +1 for each 10 treasury points transferred (rounded down). 9. A power will gain one reputation point for each world of 10 or more population points on which that power unloads luxury goods. 10. Each civlian population point a power lands on a hostile or barren world: -1 reputation point. 11. Each civlian population point a power lands on a radiation poisoned world: -2 reputation point. G. A player controlled power with a large total of reputation points may gain added Victory Points each turn according to the following schedule: 1. A power with 50 reputation points has a spotless reputation and gains (controlled population / 10000) * 3 VP. 2. A power with 40 to 49 reputation points has an excellent reputation and gains (controlled population / 10000) * 2 VP. 3. A power with 25 to 39 reputation points has a good reputation and gains (controlled population / 10000) * 1 VP. 4. A power with 0 to 24 reputation points has an OK reputation and gains no VP. 5. A power with a negative total of reputation points is considered a villain and gains no VP. i. Villainous powers may never assimilate population points. ii. Villainous powers gain an extra 100 control points for each of their armies on a world. XI. Changing power display colors: The colors which are used to display the various powers have absolutely no effect on the game other than making the displays easier to read. A. If a power desires to change its displayed color, selecting the 'Change Colors' button will allow a new color to be selected. This new color becomes the default color for that power on all displays. B. If a player desires to change the displayed color of another power, selecting menu bar 'View' and then 'Other Power Colors' will allow him to change the displayed colors of another power with which he is in contact. This will have no effect on any display other than the one the player is using at the time. XII. Autonomous Power Diplomatic Postures: Diplomatic postures are never applied to player controlled powers, only to autonomous powers. If a power has ever been under the control of a player, or if it came into existance as the result of a revolt, these rules are never applied to it. When an alien culture is first encountered, it's status is uncontacted. If any power fires on the units of an uncontacted power, then the autonomous power's status changes from 'uncontacted' to 'hostile to (firing power).' Once such a power has been fired upon, it can never have a first contact event. If a power attempts to manipulate the diplomatic posture of an alien culture through gifts of technology, that will also prevent a first contact event. A. Effects of postures (listed from most hostile to least hostile): 1. Extreme Xenophobes (power): These aliens will attack the armies and ships of any power with which they are in contact and not allied. They will also attack civilians belonging to (power) power, and there is a one in six chance each turn they will attack other non-allied civilians as well. 2. Hostile to (power): These aliens will attack the armies and ships of (power) power and are indifferent to all other powers. 3. Indifferent: These aliens are indifferent to all other powers. They neither attempt to ally with a power towards which they are indifferent, nor attempt to attack units belonging to such a power. 4. Friendly to (power): These aliens will attempt to ally with (power) power every turn until the alliance is consumated. Once an alliance is effected, then this power's posture reverts to indifferent. 5. First contact power worshipers (power) (this posture can only be achieved through first contact): This posture is maintained in perpetuity unless the first contact power fires on them, in which case the aliens turn into 'extreme xenophobes (first contact power).' These aliens will attempt to ally with the first contact power every turn until the alliance is consumated. Once they are allied with the first contact power, these aliens will turn their world over to the first contact power if possible. These aliens will fire on the armies and ships of any power they can except for the first contact power. B. Changes to alien diplomatic postures (Note that the posture of 'first contact power worshipers' can never be changed by any power other than the first contact power): 1. Firing on the aliens will make them more hostile: i. If the aliens were 'friendly to (power)' they become 'hostile to (firing power)' ii. If the aliens were 'indifferent' they become 'hostile to (firing power)' iii. If the aliens were 'hostile to (power)' they become 'extreme xenophobes (firing power)' 2. One way to improve the alien's attitude is to gift them technology. If a power attempts to give the aliens a technology and the gifting power is not more advanced in that technology than the aliens, then there is no effect. If the gifting power is more advanced than the aliens, there is a 50% chance that the diplomatic posture will improve. The improvement will have the following effects: i. If the aliens were 'extreme xenophobes (power)' they become 'hostile to (power)' ii. If the aliens were 'hostile to (power)' they become 'indifferent' iii. If the aliens were 'indifferent' they become 'friendly to (gifting power)' 3. An alien culture's attitude may also be improved through mutual trade. See population rules for details. C. The First Contact event: If an alien power has a diplomatic posture of 'uncontacted,' then the first contact with a culture from off planet will have profound effects. The first contact event will occur the first time civilians or armies from another power are landed on the alien world, and the outcomes will depend to some extent on whether civilians or armies make the first contact. Ships orbiting the world do not constitute a first contact. 1. Effects of First Contact: First contact with an off-planet culture can have devastating effects on a world, both to the mental and physical health of the inhabitants, and to the authority and validity of the local government. This disruption can be reduced somewhat if the local planetary power has access to some higher technologies: i. On first contact, one six sided die is rolled (modifiers: subtract two for each tech level of the local power, subtract two if first contact is achieved by a trade mission). Any positive result is tens of percent of the population and any local armies eliminated (through disease, mass suicides, political defections, etc.). This loss is rounded UP to nearest whole number. Example: An alien culture with one tech level is contacted. If the die roll is five, then subtracting the modifier of two, the result is 30% of the local population and 30% of any local armies eliminated. If the die roll had been 1 or 2, then no local population or armies would have been eliminated. a. If first contact with a less advanced civilization does cause losses, then the contacting power loses victory points according to the following schedule: Losses penalty 0 no penalty 10% -10 VP 20% -15 VP 30% -25 VP 40% -50 VP 50% -100 VP 60% -200 VP ii. On first contact, one six sided die is rolled to determine the diplomatic posture of the aliens. If only civilians are in the first contact party, the civilian table is used. If any armies are present in the first contact party, then the army table is used. If a trade mission is part of the first contact party, then the trade mission table is used. If more than one power is attempting to make first contact in the same turn, then the power with the most control points in the first contact party is considered the contacting power. a. First contact with civilians 1 - Extreme Xenophobes (contacting power) 2 - Hostile to (contacting power) 3 - Indifferent 4 - Friendly to (contacting power) 5 - Friendly to (contacting power) 6 - First contact power worshipers (contacting power)* * If the aliens already have Interplanetary Travel tech level 2, then this event is changed to 'Friendly to (contacting power)' b. First contact with armies 1 - Extreme Xenophobes (contacting power) 2 - Extreme Xenophobes (contacting power) 3 - Hostile to (contacting power) 4 - Hostile to (contacting power) 5 - Indifferent 6 - First contact power worshipers (contacting power)* * If the aliens already have Interplanetary Travel tech level 2, then this event is changed to 'Friendly to (contacting power)' c. First contact with a trade mission 1 - Extreme Xenophobes (contacting power) 2 - Indifferent 3 - Friendly to (contacting power) 4 - Friendly to (contacting power) 5 - Friendly to (contacting power) 6 - First contact power worshipers (contacting power)* * If the aliens already have Interplanetary Travel tech level 2, then this event is changed to 'Friendly to (contacting power)' iii. When a power achieves first contact, there may be a chance that power will learn advances in xeno-technology studies as a result: a. If the power making the first contact has a xeno-tech studies technology of level 0 or 1, then that power has a one in three chance of increasing its xeno-tech studies technology level by one as a result of the first contact. b. If the power making the first contact has a xeno-tech studies technology of level 2 or 3, then that power has a one in six chance of increasing its xeno-tech studies technology level by one as a result of the first contact. D. Viewing the diplomatic posture of an alien power: It is not always easy for a power to tell the diplomatic posture of an alien power. Some idea can be gleaned from the aliens' actions, but the only sure way is to put some of your people with a high xeno-tech level on the aliens' world. 1. The xeno-tech level used to determine the visibility of alien diplomatic posture will be the highest of: i. The viewing power's xeno-tech level if there are civilians of the viewing power on the world. ii. The highest xeno-tech level of any army belonging to the viewing power on the world. 2. The xeno-tech level will allow the following information to be viewed: i. If the xeno-tech level is 0 or 1, then no information will be revealed. ii. If the xeno-tech level is 2 or 3, then the general diplomatic posture toward your power will be revealed, but not exact information. iii. If the xeno-tech level is 4, then exact information about the diplomatic posture will be revealed.