Space ships are used to move people and goods from one world to another, to explore new worlds and new systems, and to project power to distant areas. Ships are divided into interplanetary ships (interplanetary transports and monitors) which may only move within a system, and interstellar ships (interstellar transports, factory ships, star cruisers, star liners and dreadnaughts) which may move within a system or from system to system. Ships are also divided into transport ships (interplanetary transports, interstellar transports and star liners) which may carry population points, corps or resource points, and warships (monitors, star cruisers and dreadnaughts) which may fire at other ships or worlds. Factory ships are neither transports nor warships, but special mobile industrial centers used to increase the effective industry of worlds. I. Ship movement: All ships may move within a system, but only interstellar ships may move from one system to another. A. Any ship at a world may move to another world within the system, or to a jump point within the system. 1. A ship may move to a space where a world would exist even if there is no world at this position. Such a ship is noted as being deep in the system. 2. A ship may move to a space where a jump point would exist even if there is no jump point at this position. Such a ship is noted as being deep in the system. B. Any ship at a jump point may move to another world within the system, or to a jump point within the system. 1. A ship may move to a space where a world would exist even if there is no world at this position. Such a ship is noted as being deep in the system. 2. A ship may move to a space where a jump point would exist even if there is no jump point at this position. Such a ship is noted as being deep in the system. C. A starship at a world may move to a jump point and then make the jump to the system which can be reached from that jump point. Upon arrival at the new system, the ship will be at the jump point to the previously occupied system. D. A starship at a jump point may move to a different jump point and then make the jump to the system which can be reached from that jump point. Upon arrival at the new system, the ship will be at the jump point to the previously occupied system. E. A starship at a jump point may make the jump to the system which can be reached from that jump point. Upon arrival at the new system, the ship will be at the jump point to the previously occupied system. F. A starship may be ordered to go to a specified system. A ship given this order will continue to make one jump toward the specified system each turn until the final destination has been reached, or the movement orders for the ship are changed or cancelled. 1. The go to system order specifies a destination system. It cannot specify a world or any other specific location within that system. 2. Once a ship reaches the system which has been specified in a go to system order, then the go to system order has been completed and the ship's orders revert to the default order of return fire if fired upon. 3. If the following two conditions can not be met, then the go to system order may not be issued. If, at any time, these conditions can no longer be met, then a previously issued go to system order will be cancelled: i. The specified destination system must either be visible to the power controlling the ship, or have been visited by that power within the preceeding 200 turns. ii. It must be possible to reach the specified destination system along a jump path of not more than 10 jumps, using jump points in systems which are either visible to the power controlling the ship, or have been visited by that power within the preceeding 200 turns. 4. If a ship is issued a movement order of any kind (including a new go to system order), then any previously ordered go to system order is immediately cancelled. 5. For transports, loading orders may be combined with go to system orders in the same way as other types of movement orders. G. Movement not covered by the above rules is not allowed. II. Ship unloading: Only transport ships may carry population points, army corps, or resource points. A. Unloading takes place before any movement or combat for the turn is resolved. B. Unloading may only take place at a world. Goods or people may not be unloaded in space to be rid of them. C. Unloading may take place at any world regardless of control. 1. Resource points unloaded at a world are controlled after unloading by the power controlling the world. 2. Population points unloaded at a world are controlled after unloading by the power controlling the world (note that control is refigured with new control point totals). 3. Infantry or marine corps unloaded at a world remain under the control of their controlling power. 4. If an infantry corps is unloaded at an enemy controlled world, then the corps is 'disordered' for one turn, and may not be issued any orders other than 'return fire if fired upon' and may not exert any control points for the turn of disorder. The following turn the corps will regain full effectiveness. 5. If an infantry corps is unloaded at a friendly or allied controlled world, then there is no disorder. 6. Marine corps are never disordered when landing regardless of world control. D. A transport loaded with a marine corps may be ordered to conduct an assault landing on a world. 1. Only interplanetary transports and interstellar transports may conduct assault landings - not starliners. 2. A target corps must be designated for the assault landing. If there are no corps on the world, then no assault landing may be conducted. 3. The transported marine corps will attack the targeted corps as it is landing. If the targeted corps has 'return fire if fired upon' orders, then it may counterattack the assaulting marine corps. 4. The transport conducting the assault landing may not move or conduct any other operation on the turn of the assault landing. E. Unloading civilian population points at non-habitable worlds may result in a loss of reputation points. 1. Each population point of civilians landed on a barren or hostile world will result in the loss of one reputation point to the unloading power, regardless of the control of the world or the 'nationality' of the unloaded population points. 2. Each population point of civilians landed on a radiation poisoned world will result in the loss of two reputation points to the unloading power, regardless of the control of the world or the 'nationality' of the unloaded population points. 3. Population points may never be unloaded at a deadly radiation contaminated world. III. Ship loading: Only transport ships may carry population points, army corps, or resource points. A. Loading takes place before any movement but after combat for the turn is resolved. Note that if a ship is ordered to load and either the ship or the cargo is destroyed in combat, then no loading will take place. B. Loading may be restricted by the control of the world at which the loading takes place. See control rules for details. C. If a ship is ordered to load an army corps, the corps must also be ordered to board the ship or no loading will take place. A ship may load corps belonging to allied powers. IV. Ship to ship combat: Only warships may shoot at other ships. A warship which is ordered to move may never shoot at a target; only ships given a target in their orders or ships ordered to return fire may execute fire. A. A monitor or space cruiser gets one 'shot' per turn. A dreadnaught gets two 'shots' per turn. B. Each ship may be ordered to attack one and only one other ship. A dreadnaught will fire both shots at the same target. 1. A ship may be ordered to return fire if fired upon. Such a ship will not fire unless another ship fires at it, in which case it will return fire. If more than one ship fires at a ship ordered to return fire, then the ship will fire at the 'senior' ship firing at it. C. Each shot which hits an enemy ship will damage the target ship. 1. If the target ship has a force field technology of 0 or 1, then 2 to 12 damage points will be inflicted on the target ship. 2. If the target ship has a force field technology of 2, then 1 to 6 damage points will be inflicted on the target ship. D. The chance of an individual shot hitting an enemy ship is about 50 percent. This chance is affected by the following modifiers: 1. If the target ship is ordered to move in the current turn (such a ship could not return fire), then the chance of hitting that target is reduced. 2. The difference in ship crew experience is a modifier to the chance of hitting a target ship. 3. If a target ship has an ECM tech level greater than the ECCM tech level of the firing ship, then the difference will be a negative modifier to the chance of hitting that target ship. If the ECCM tech level of the firing ship is greater than the ECM tech level of the target ship, there is never a positive modifier. E. When a ship fires at another ship, there is a chance that one or the other of the involved ships may learn a tech level from the other if it is more advanced in that technology. V. Space bombardment of worlds: Only warships may bombard worlds from space. Warships may attack the following targets on the surface of a world: A. A monitor or space cruiser gets one 'shot' per turn. A dreadnaught gets two 'shots' per turn. B. Each ship may be ordered to attack one and only one target on a world. A dreadnaught will fire both shots at the same target. 1. A ship may be ordered to return fire if fired upon. Such a ship will not fire unless an army corps fires at it, in which case it will return fire. If more than one corps fires at a ship ordered to return fire, then the ship will fire at the 'senior' corps firing at it. 2. If a ship ordered to return fire is fired on by both corps and ships, it will return fire on the 'senior' ship firing at it. C. A warship may attack an army corps on the surface of a world. 1. If the target corps does not have a force field technology level of 2, then it will automatically be destroyed by space bombardment. 2. If the target corps does have a force field technology of 2, then each shot at the army has a 50 percent chance of destroying that corps. D. A warship may attack the industry on the surface of a world. 1. If the world has no planetary defence units, then each shot will reduce the industry of the world by one. 2. If the world has fewer planetary defence units than industry, then one shot will reduce the industry of the world by one. 3. If the world has at least as many planetary defence units as industry points, then each shot has a 50 percent chance of being effective. Effective fire destroys one planetary defence unit and reduces the industry by one, ineffective fire has no effect. E. A warship may attack population points on the surface of a world. 1. The nationality of the target population points must be designated in the ship's firing orders. 2. If a world has more planetary defence units than industry, up to two population points of the same allegiance as the controlling power may be protected by each planetary defence unit in excess of the number of industry points. The population points of no other power may be protected. i. Shots at unprotected population points destroy 1 to 6 population points per shot. ii. Shots at protected population points have a 50 percent chance of being effective. Effective shots destroy one planetary defence unit and two population points. Ineffective shots have no effect. F. A warship may attack a trading post. Any bombardment of a trading post will automatically destroy that trading post, but such an attack will result in a large loss of victory points and diplomatic reputation points. G. Using a warship for planetary bombardment normally results in a fairly large loss of victory points. 1. No victory points are lost if bombarding units belonging to powers considered villians. 2. No victory points are lost if the ship was ordered to return fire only and an army corps on the surface fired at the ship. H. Each shot fired at the surface of a world causes the radiation level of the world to be increased by one regardless of weather the shot was effective or ineffective. VI. Refitting ships: Ships are normally refitted to repair damage. Ships may also be refitted to install new technologies. A. Each damage point on a ship requires one production point to repair. If a world generates fewer production points in a turn than the ship's damage points, then only a number of damage points equal to the production capacity of the world will be repaired in one turn. B. A refit always costs at least two production points, even if the ship has fewer than two damage points. Worlds with a production capacity of less than two may never refit ships. C. If the tech level of a ship is greater than the tech level of the world doing the refit, then the tech level of the world is raised. D. If the tech level of the world is greater than the tech level of the ship being refitted, then the tech level of the ship is raised. E. A power may refit the ships of an ally. 1. An autonomous power may refit the ships of an allied player controlled power. The player controlled power can not force this to take place; they can only move the ship to the autonomously controlled world, and order the ship to refit. If the autonomous power wishes to refit the ship they will do so. F. A transport ship may not be refitted if it contains any cargo of any type. VII. Loading Special Cargoes: Transports must be ordered to load a special cargo if they are to be loaded with trading missions or luxury goods. A. The loading special cargo order is effectively identical to the refit order. B. A transport ship may not be ordered to load a special cargo if it contains any cargo of any type. VIII. Ship maintenance costs: The maintenace costs for ships will be paid out of the treasury of the controling power. No orders are required or allowed for this. A. Each interplanetary transport costs 1/8 of a treasury point per turn to maintain. B. Each interstellar transport costs 1/4 of a treasury point per turn to maintain. C. Each star liner costs 1/2 of a treasury point per turn to maintain. D. Each monitor costs 1/2 of a treasury point per turn to maintain. E. Each star cruiser costs 1 treasury point per turn to maintain. F. Each dreadnaught costs 2 treasury points per turn to maintain. G. Each factory ship costs 1 treasury point per turn to maintain. H. The maintenance cost of all controled ships is added and then rounded up to the nearest treasury point each turn. IX. Demobilization of ships: Ships which are no longer needed may be demobilized to save on maintenace costs. A. A ship may only be demobilized at a controled world. B. One half of the construction cost of the ship is added to the treasury of the controling power. C. The crew of the demobilized ship is added as population points to the world where the demobilization takes place. D. A transport ship may not be demobilized if it contains any cargo of any type. X. Transfer of control of ships: In some cases ships may be given or sold to other powers. A. The transfer of control of a ship may only take place at a world which has enough population points owing allegiance to the new controlling power to supply a crew for the ship. B. The old crew of the ship is added to the world as population points owing allegiance to the original controlling power. C. The experience level of the crew of the ship is returned to recruit level. D. A transport ship may not be transferred if it contains any cargo of any type. XI. Ship crew experience levels: The experience level of the crew of a ship modifies how effective the ship' fire will be, as well as how well the ship defends itself. A. All crews start out at recruit level. B. A crew which has ten turns of experience becomes a regular level crew. This time will be shortened if the crew has combat experience. C. A crew which has one hundred turns of experience becomes a veteran level crew. This time will be shortened if the crew has combat experience. D. The only way a crew can reach ace level is through combat experience. XII. Squadrons: Squadrons aid players in giving orders to groups of ships. Belonging to a squadron has no effect on a ship's combat effectiveness or other capabilities. A. Each power may designate a maximum of ten squadrons. B. One or more ships must be assigned to each squadron. C. If a squadron ever has no assigned ships, then that squadron is automatically de-activated. D. Assigning a ship to a squadron does not change the orders for that ship. 1. If a squadron is issued orders, then the orders of any ships already assigned to that squadron are instantly altered to conform with the squadron orders. 2. After a squadron has been issued orders, a player may go back to individual ships to alter their orders. 3. If a squadron order is not applicable to a type of ship, then that ship will only comply with the movement part of the order as it is capable. (Examples: If a transport is part of a squadron issued a fire order, then that transport will receive a return fire order instead. If a warship is part of a squadron issued a load order, the warship will not receive a load order. If a non-starship is part of a squadron issued a jump order, the non-starship will not receive a movement order.) E. If a ship assigned to a squadron ends its turn at a different location than the squadron, then that ship will automatically be removed from the squadron. XIII. Patrol Orders: Players will often scroll through their controlled ships by using the 'Next Orderless Ship' button. Since a ship with a 'Return Fire if Fired Upon' order is also considered an orderless ship, players may issue ships guarding specific locations the 'Patrol on Station' order. A. A ship issued a 'Patrol on Station' order will be skipped when using the 'Next Orderless Ship' button. B. A ship under 'Patrol on Station' orders is treated exactly as if it had a 'Return Fire if Fired Upon' order for all combat and game purposes other than the 'Next Orderless Ship' button. C. Factory ships issued 'Patrol on Station' orders will be able to increase the industry of a world exactly as if they had been issued 'Return Fire if Fired Upon' orders. D. Squadrons may be given 'Patrol on Station' orders. Such orders cause 'Patrol on Station' orders to be issued for every ship belonging to the squadron at the time the order is given.