1 INTRODUCTION 2 GAME EQUIPMENT 2.1 MAPSHEET 2.2 PLAYING PIECES 2.3 GAME CHARTS, TABLES, AND OTHER AIDS 3 SEQUENCE OF PLAY 3.1 TURNS 3.2 SEQUENCE OF PLAY OUTLINE 3.3 STARTING A GAME 4 MOVEMENT IN GENERAL 4.1 SPEED 4.2 RAMSHIP COUNTERS 4.3 VECTOR TERMINOLOGY 4.4 USING THE PLOTTING CARD (OPTIONAL) 5 MOVEMENT AND RAMSHIP PERFORMANCE 5.1 PERFORMANCE ALLOWANCES 5.2 INDUCED DRAG 5.3 ESTABLISHING REGION 5.4 SEQUENCE OF MOVEMENT 5.5 ROCKET THRUST 5.6 EXAMPLE OF MOVEMENT 6 RAMSHIP SYSTEMS, DAMAGE AND REPAIR 6.1 RAMSHIP SYSTEMS 6.2 DAMAGE EFFECTS ON PERFORMANCE 6.3 ENGINE USAGE 6.4 CONTACT SURFACE DAMAGE 6.5 DUST DAMAGE 6.6 IN-FLIGHT REPAIR 6.7 ASSAULT UNITS 7 PLANETS AND PLANETARY TRANSACTIONS 7.1 REPRESENTATION OF PLANETS 7.2 TYPES OF PLANETS 7.3 PLANETARY TRANSACTIONS 7.4 COLONIES 7.5 ASSAULT 8 COMBAT ENCOUNTERS 8.1 TASK FORCES 8.2 ENCOUNTER CONDITIONS 8.3 ORDER OF RESOLUTION 8.4 COMBAT PROCEDURE 8.5 TACTICS 8.6 RELATIVE VELOCITY 8.7 EVASION 8.8 ABORTING 9 WEAPONS AND BATTLE DAMAGE 9.1 MISSILE RELEASE 9.2 MISSILE COMBAT 9.3 BEAM COMBAT 9.4 RETRIEVING FIGHTERS 9.5 ZERO VELOCITY CASE 9.6 COMBAT EXAMPLE 10 PLOTTING 10.1 OPERATIONS IN THE CURRENT GAME-TURN 10.2 PLOTTING FUTURE TURNS 10.3 DETECTION AND RELAY 10.4 DELETING PLOTS 10.5 HOW TO PLOT MOVEMENT 10.6 PLOTTING OTHER OPERATIONS 10.7 PLOTTING TASK FORCES

10.8 ILLEGAL MOVEMENT PLOT 10.9 OTHER ILLEGAL PLOTS 10.10 OPTIONAL ILLEGAL MOVEMENT PLOT PROCEDURE 10.11 HONESTY AND SECRECY 10.12 PLOTTING EXAMPLE 11 REPLACEMENTS AND REINFORCEMENTS 11.1 ELIMINATION 11.2 PLOTTING FOR NEW RAMSHIPS 11.3 APPEARANCE 11.4 GAME-TURN OF APPEARANCE 11.5 PRODUCTION RESTRICTIONS 12 HOW TO USE THE SCENARIOS 12.1 FORMAT OF SCENARIO 13 THE SCENARIOS 13.1 SCENARIO 1 — RACE 13.2 SCENARIO 2 — ESCAPE 13.3 SCENARIO 3 — REBELLION 13.4 SCENARIO 4 — FLAG RAISING 13.5 SCENARIO 5 — INVASION 13.6 SCENARIO 8 — PIRACY 13.7 SCENARIO 7 — EMPIRE AT BAY 14 OPTIONAL RULES 15 ADVANCED MOVEMENT RULE 16 GRADUAL POWER PLANT DEGRADATION 17 DETECTION AND TRACKING 17.1 DETECTION 17.2 TRACKING: 17.3 EFFECT OF GLARE 17.4 COMING ‘OUT OF THE SUN’ 17.5 RELAY 17.6 COMBAT 17.7 REPLACEMENTS AND REINFORCEMENTS 18 MISSILE SUPPLY 18.1 MISSILE LOG 18.2 REPLENISHMENT 18.3 DEUTERIUM MISSILES 18.4 TRITIUM MISSILES 19 COMMAND CONTROL 19.1 FLAGSHIPS 19.2 PATROLS 19.3 COMBAT RESTRICTIONS 19.4 PLOTTING 19.5 PLOTTING SUBORDINATES 19.6 ASSIGNMENT OP NEW PATROLS 19.7 PASSING FLAG 19.8 LOSS OF FLAGSHIP 20 COMMUNICATION 20.1 FLAGSHIPS 20.2 MESSAGES 20.3 TRANSMISSION 20.4 RECEPTION 20.5 READING 21 PLOTTING AFTER ASSAULTS 22 DENSE STAR FORMING CLOUDS 23 COMBAT SPECIALIZED RAMSHIPS 24 PROPER TIME DESIGNER’S NOTES CREDITS

ABBREVIATIONS USED

AU— Assault Unit (see Rule 6.7) EOT— Engine Operating Time (see 6.3) RV— Relative Velocity (8.6)

PC— Performance Chart (2.3.1) PT— Planetary Transaction (7.3) TF— Task Force (8.1)

1 INTRODUCTION Sections 2 to 11 describe the Basic Rules for playing Orion. Sections 12 and 13 contain the Scenarios for using these Rules. Sections 14 to 24 contain Optional Rules that the experienced player may experiment with. Finally, a Designer’s Notes section explains the rationale behind the game from both physical and political aspects.

For your first game of Orion, we recommend you read sections 2 to 9 and 12. Then play Scenario 1 omitting the Plotting Phase at the beginning of the game and every turn. Once you are familiar with movement, then start using the Plotting Rules.

2 GAME EQUIPMENT An inventory of components is given on the back of the box. If any are missing or damaged, write to Monash Games (address in the Credits), enclosing the damaged parts.

2.1 MAPSHEET The large map is the surface upon which the interstellar ramjets are maneuvered. It is a 2-dimensional representation of the Great Nebula of Orion. The superimposed hexagonal grid is used to regulate movement and delimit Regions. These Regions represent areas of different gas densities, and affect the performance of the interstellar ramjets. The Regions are referred to by letters A to F. with a color-coding shown in one corner of the Mapsheet. Each hexagon (henceforth referred to as a hex) s numbered to facilitate plotting. Each hex belongs to one specific Region; if it contains 2 colors, they take precedence in the order A, B. C, E. F, D (e.g. a hex with yellow (A) and orange (B) is considered Region A). The half-hexes along the 2 shorter edges are used in play.

2.1.1 ASTRONOMICAL FEATURES: For Players with an interest in astronomy, Regions A to D are ionized gas (H-II regions), A being the Strömgren zone and E and F are dusty molecular clouds. Other salient astronomical features are annotated on the Mapsheet. The arrow near M43 indicates Galactic North.

2.2 PLAYING PIECES The colored 13 mm cardboard square counters are of 2 types:

2.2.1 UNITS: Counters with color background represent spacecraft and planets and are placed on the Mapsheet. 4 color combinations of black/white symbols on blue/green background are included, to allow up to 4 Players. The units are:

Interstellar ramjet spacecraft (henceforth referred to as a ramship). Each ramship has two counters, and the different ramships are distinguished by their identity number.

There are 5 Types of ramships available, referred to as Type 1 to Type 5, which differ in their performance. A pair of ramship counters can be used for any Type, the Type being identified on the Log (2.3.3).

Home Planet marker Colony or Outpost marker

2.2.2 MARKERS: White background counters do not represent physical units, but are used to record information. Any Player may use them, regardless of color.

Arrow Fighter Task Force Delayed counter counter counter counter

2.3 GAME CHARTS, TABLES, AND OTHER AIDS 2.3.1 PERFORMANCE CHART: This Chart (henceforth referred to as PC) details the various performance allowances that regulate how a ramship moves. Types 1, 2, and 3 are on one Side, and Types 4 and 5 are on the opposite side of the sheet.

2.3.2 OTHER TABLES: Tables 1 to 6 referred to in the Rules are on the back page.

2.3.3 LOG: A sheet for Players to record and Plot their ramships movement and status. Each Player must use a separate Log, so photocopy this sheet as required.

2.3.4 TARGETING CARD: This is used to select Tactics and targets for Combat.

2.3.5 PLOTTING CARD: This small hex sheet is used as to work out Plotting (see 4.4 and 10.5.1). It is coated so grease pencil can be used on it and erased.

3 SEQUENCE OF PLAY 3.1 TURNS Orion is played in turns called Game-Turns. Each Game-Turn is a sequence of Player-Turns, one for each Flayer. When all Players have had their Player-Turn, proceed to the next Game-Turn. The order of Player-Turns must be the same within each Game-Turn, so that play follows sequentially around the Players. The Player whose Player-Turn it is at any time shall be referred to as the Active Player.

3.2 SEQUENCE OF PLAY OUTLINE Each Player-Turn consists of 6 Phases, which the Active Player must carry out in the sequence specified below. He must finish his Player-Turn before the next Player in sequence begins his.

A. Movement Phase: The Player moves all his ramship counters (sections 4 and 5).

B. Damage Repair Phase: The Player may Repair Damage to any of his ramships (6.6).

C. Damage Accumulation Phase: Apply Damage to any ramship damaged as a result of movement (6.4, 6.5) and record EOT (6.3).

D. Combat Phase: The Player determines his Combat Encounters with other Player’s ramships, and they are resolved (sections 8 and 9).

E. Planetary Transaction Phase: The Player conducts any transactions between his ramships and Planets (section 7), and produces any Replacement or Reinforcement (section 11).

F. Plotting Phase: The Player Plots future movement, Damage repair, and Planetary Transactions for any of his ramships, as necessary (section 10).

3.3 STARTING A GAME Select a Scenario, determine who will play which side, which counter colors you will use and the sequence of Player-Turns if this is not fixed in the Scenario) by any mutually agreeable method. Place all Planet markers on the Mapsheet in their assigned position. All Players should then go through the following steps simultaneously:

a) Start a Log for each of your ramships, writing the Identity number and Type at the top, and then secretly write in the hex number of its initial position. Do not reveal these until everyone has done so for all their ramships. In some Scenarios the initial positions are fixed, so secrecy is obviously unnecessary.

b) Place all ramship counters on the Mapsheet in these plotted positions.

c) Secretly Plot your initial Game-Turns, as if conducting Phase F: following the procedure of Rule 10.2 with n = zero, except that you must Plot Game-Turn One for all ramships, even if there is an enemy within 6 hexes.

Then begin Game-Turn One, starting with the Player-Turn first in the predetermined sequence.

4 MOVEMENT IN GENERAL An effect of Special Relativity is that observable quantities, such as position, speed, and time, depend on the observer’s frame of reference. Two frames of reference must be considered in this game:

a) The natural frame of the fixed stars. The Mapsheet and Game-Turns represent space and time as it appears in this frame, so it will be called the ‘Map’ frame.

b) The frame moving with the ramship, which is usually called the ‘Proper’ frame.

4.1 SPEED Speed can be defined in two different ways in Special Relativity, depending on which frame of reference you use. Both ways are used in this game, and it is important that you understand the difference.

4.1.1 MAP SPEED: This is in effect a ramship’s ‘movement allowance’ the number of hexes it moves in a Game-Turn. It must be a whole number, and may never exceed the speed of light: 6 hexes per Game-Turn.

4.1.2 PROPER SPEED: Speed as seen by the crew on board the ramship is similar to Map Speed at low speed, but is not limited to any maximum value — it can increase without limit. Thus, it provides an expanded scale for discriminating between speeds close to light. The Proper Speed of light itself is infinite. You must keep a record of each of your ramship’s Proper Speed every Game-Turn in the third column of its Log. Proper Speed may be fractional, and should always be recorded to one decimal place, i.e., record ‘4.1’, not just ‘4’. In cases where an integer value is required, for example in the PC, always round down to the next lower integer, i.e., round 4.9 to 4.

4.1.3 CONVERSION: Map Speed is strictly dependent on Proper Speed by the conversion on the top two lines of the PC. This relationship between Map and Proper Speed must always be maintained.

4.2 RAMSHIP COUNTERS The ramship’s two counters are used to indicate its position and course on the Mapsheet as follows: one is placed in the hex occupied by the ramship’s Present position, the other in the hex it occupied the Previous Game-Turn. The line joining these two hexes indicates the ramship’s Map Speed and heading and is called its Velocity or Movement Vector. Its length in hexes must always be equal to the ramship’s current Map Speed. As the two counters are identical, face them so they point from Previous to Present (the counter on opposite page faces to left). Note that a ramship is actually located at its Present counter; the Previous counter is only an aid to regulate movement.

4.3 VECTOR TERMINOLOGY 4.3.1 The Shaft of a vector is the set of hexes forming the most direct route between the end hexes of that vector (usually Previous and Present hexes). The Shaft hexes are defined as the hexes whose centers are closest to a line joining the exact centers of the end hexes. In some cases, this will be ambiguous; this line may pass through the exact centre of a hexside. The Active Player must choose one of each ambiguous pair to be on the Shaft. Examples of vector Shafts of length 3, 4, and 5 shown below. If in doubt at any time, one of these will correspond to the vector in question.

4.3.2 Some rules require the Extension or Contraction of a vector. This is done as follows:

a) Contraction: Move the Present counter back down the Shaft to the hex that produces a new vector of the required length. If this hex is ambiguous, the Active Player has the choice, as stated in 4.3.1.

b) Extension: Duplicate the vector out beyond the Present hex as required. That is, shift the vector and Shaft hexes so that the Previous hex now lies where the Present was (but do not move the Previous counter), and repeat as necessary. Then locate the Present counter on the extended Shaft hex at the required distance from the Previous counter. The Active Player has the choice with

any ambiguity. A vector of zero length (i.e. if Previous and Present counters are in the same hex) can be Extended in any direction.

4.4 USING THE PLOTTING CARD (OPTIONAL) Experienced Players may use this as an aid to Plotting Movement (see 10.5.1). Transfer a movement vector to this Card as follows: orient the Plotting Card the same way as the Mapsheet, i.e. North in the same direction. Mark the hex on the Card that is in the same position relative to the central (shaded) hex, as the ramship’s Present position is to its Previous position on the Mapsheet. Note that if you add the number in this hex on the Card (which may be positive or negative), to the hex number of the ramship’s Previous position, you will get the ramship s Present hex number.

5 MOVEMENT AND RAMSHIP PERFORMANCE

5.1 PERFORMANCE ALLOWANCES Performance is a ramship’s ability to change its course and speed from one Game-Turn to the next. Due to its momentum, a ramship’s velocity vector would remain unchanged from turn to turn unless some action was taken.

5.1.1 Ramship performance is defined in terms of ability to Accelerate, Turn, and Brake. The maximum Allowances for these parameters are given in the PC. Note that they depend on the ramship’s Proper Speed, Type, and the Region it is in.

5.1.2 For each ramship Type, the values for all Proper Speeds are given for Regions A and E. For other Regions, a blank space means the Allowance is the same as for Region A at that Proper Speed

Allowances are also affected by Damage (see 6.2), and delayed Fighter retrieval (9.4). Also, Turns greater than 180° are prohibited (see Induced Drag section on PC).

5.2 INDUCED DRAG A ramship suffers this extra braking drag because of Turning. It is given in the PC, and occurs only in Regions C, D and F. Unlike Allowances, its use is compulsory. The value of Induced Drag is found for the appropriate Region and Proper Speed column, and in the row given by the number of hexes you Turned that Game-Turn in Phase A4 (see 5.4).

Examples of Vector Shafts (4.3.1)

5.3 ESTABLISHING REGION As a ramship may move through a number of Regions in a Game-Turn, we must have some way to establish which Region to use on the PC. Look at the hexes in the Shaft of the movement vector, including the Previous but excluding the Present hex, unless it is the same as the Previous. You may use the Allowances for a Region provided more than half of the abovementioned hexes were in that Region, or other Region(s) on the same level or above it on the PC (taking into account Power Damage in Regions E and F see 6.2.2). Once established, a ramship must use the same Region for Acceleration, Turning, and Braking Allowances, and for Induced Drag for that Game-Turn.

5.3.1 Note that the Region is established by the movement vector after completing movement, so you must estimate it before you make your move.

5.3.2 If the Shaft is ambiguous (see 4.3.1), the Active Player has the choice. However, once selected, the same vector Shaft must be used for all purposes until your next Movement Phase (i.e., for 6.4, 6.5, 7.3.1 and 8.2)

5.4 SEQUENCE OF MOVEMENT During the Movement Phase, the Player must move all his ramships, one at a time, using the following sequence of steps for moving each:

Al: Sustain Course: Take the Previous position counter and place it on top of the Present counter. Then move it again by exactly the same amount in exactly the same direction, so that you have ‘leap-frogged’ it over the Present position counter. The counter just moved now becomes the Present position counter, and the old Present now becomes the Previous position counter.

A2: Estimate Region: Estimate which Region you think the ramship’s final movement vector will be Established in (as described in 5.3), after you have completed your intended movement. Use this Region to determine all Allowances, and Induced Drag. In the next 3 steps you may Accelerate, Turn, and Brake by any amount not exceeding these Allowances.

A3: Acceleration: Decide how much Acceleration you wish to perform, if any, and add this value to the Proper Speed recorded for the previous Game-Turn. It may be taken in increments of one-tenth. Consult the PC to find the Map Speed for the resulting new Proper Speed. If required, extend the ramship’s velocity vector to this new length by moving the Present position counter as described in 4.3.2.

A4: Turning: Decide how many hexes you wish to Turn, if any, and move the Present position counter that number of hexes either clockwise or anticlockwise, whilst maintaining the same distance to the Previous counter. Note that this means the counter moves on the boundary of a large hexagon, centered on the Previous hex (see diagram).

A5: Braking: Decide on the amount of Braking, if any, and subtract this from the Proper Speed obtained in A3. It can be taken in increments of one-tenth. This becomes your final Proper Speed for that turn. Find the new Map Speed, and contract the vector, if required, as in 4.3.2. Reface the counters so they point from Previous to Present. Note that you cannot reduce Proper Speed below zero, and extend the velocity vector in the opposite direction, even if your Braking Allowance is greater than your Proper Speed. NOTE: If you did any Turning, check for Induced Drag (see 5.2). If there is any, you must Brake by at least that amount in A5.

A6: Check Region: Establish the Region, as in 5.3, and check that it is the same as the one estimated in A2. If it is not, and any Performance Allowance has been exceeded, return the Present counter to its hex at the end of A1 and repeat A2 to A6 until your movement is legal (i.e., is within the Allowances of the Established Region). This also sets your vector Shaft (see 5.3.2). Once you are familiar with how a ramship moves you should find it easy to estimate correctly first time.

A7: Record Movement: Write the current Game-Turn number, Present Position hex number and final Proper Speed in the first 3 columns of the ramship’s Log (unless already recorded as a Plot, see section 10).

Note that although Acceleration, Turning, and Braking are optional, Steps Al, A6, and A7 must be performed by all ramships.

5.4.1 Acceleration Allowance is based on the Proper Speed at the beginning of the Player-Turn, but Turning, Braking, and Induced Drag are based on Proper Speed after Step A3.

5.4.2 It is possible that during steps Al to A4, the Present counter may move off the Mapsheet. This does not matter, provided you can return it to the Mapsheet by the end of A5. Simply imagine hexes off the edge of the Mapsheet to count out your movement. If you are unable to move it back onto the Mapsheet by the end of A5, the ramship is Eliminated (see 11.1) and immediately removed from play.

5.4.3 Movement is never blocked by the presence of any other counters, either ramships or Planets. Any number of ramships can occupy the same hex.

5.4.4 If, at the beginning of its movement, a ramship has a Proper Speed less than one but greater than zero, then it must act as follows (as a ramship should not loiter in a state that is not quite moving or stationary):

a) If it Braked last Game-Turn, for any reason, then it must Brake to Proper Speed zero, if possible.

b) Otherwise, it must Accelerate at least to Proper Speed 1.0 if possible; if not, then by its entire Acceleration Allowance.

5.4.5 Be careful of the situation where you are initially in one Region, but Turn or Accelerate out of that Region, only to find your Allowables are insufficient for you to perform that Turn or Acceleration. Also, you may find that by using the Allowables of a better Region, you can actually Accelerate into and legally use that Region; this is quite permissible.

5.5 ROCKET THRUST Regardless of Region or Scoop Damage, a ramship may always Accelerate one unit to Proper Speed 1.0 in the Game-Turn immediately following a Refueling Planetary Transaction (see Section 7). The ramship is operating as a rocket, using internally stored fuel. This capacity is denied only by 5 Power Hits, or exceeding maximum EOT (see 6.3.2). It is not in addition to the Acceleration Allowance in the PC, but an alternative.

5.6 EXAMPLE OF MOVEMENT Refer to the Mapsheet and the diagram opposite.

A Type 1 Ramship with no Damage has its Previous Counter at hex 1829, and Present at 1630 (hexes A and B opposite), and a Proper Speed of 4.1.

Al: Move Previous counter from A to B, then to C. Hex B now becomes the Previous Position, C the Present.

A2: With a turn to the right in mind, estimate Region C. A3: Referring to the PC, we find that at Proper Speed 4, in Region C, the

Acceleration Allowance is 1. The Player chooses to use the full Allowance, and Accelerates to Proper Speed 5.1. Referring to the top of the PC, the Map Speed is now 4, so the vector must be Extended to hex D.

A4: At Proper Speed 5, the Turning Allowance is 7. The Player chooses to turn only 6 hexes, to E, maintaining the same vector length (4 hexes) all the way round.

A5: The PC indicates that at Proper Speed 5, Turning 6 hexes in Region C causes an Induced Drag of 0.4. Thus, the ramship must Brake by 0.4 to Proper Speed 4.7. Proper Speed 4 corresponds to Map Speed 3, so the vector must be Contracted by one hex, to F. The ramship ends its turn here, in hex 1427, with Proper Speed 4.7.

A6: The Movement vector is from 1630 to 1427. This includes one hex B (1630), one hex C (1529) and one hex D (1528). Thus, the estimated Region C is correct, because 2 out of 3 hexes were in C or a Region above it on the PC (B being above C).

Note: In step A5, the Player could have Braked by more than 0.4; in fact he could have Braked to zero speed. If he chose to Brake by 3.1 to Proper Speed 2.0, he would have to contract the Movement vector to length 2. This could be to either of hexes G or H, at the Player’s choice.

6 RAMSHIP SYSTEMS, DAMAGE AND REPAIR

6.1 RAMSHIP SYSTEMS In order to keep track of the ramship’s condition, it is divided into 3 Systems:

Scoop — the ram scoop, for gas collection Power — the power plant, for Acceleration Fighter — a platform for the weapons systems

Damage to these Systems is recorded by keeping a cumulative total of Hits on each one. This is recorded in the 4th column of the Log. Initially each System has zero Damage. Hits can be removed by Repair (see 6.6), Refit, or Overhaul (section 7). There is no limit to the number of Hits a System can accumulate.

6.1.1 Damage is not transferable between Systems or between ramships.

6.1.2 FIGHTER: The Fighter is a highly maneuverable unit that detaches itself from the ramship during combat, and is retrieved later. In certain conditions, the Fighter can be lost entirely (see 9.4). A lost Fighter can only be replaced by Overhaul. Fighters are not transferable between ramships.

6.2 DAMAGE EFFECTS ON PERFORMANCE 6.2.1 In Regions A, B, C, and D, reduce the Allowances on the PC as follows:

a) Turning: Reduce by 10% for every Scoop Hit. Round up or down to the nearest integer, rounding halves up.

b) Braking: Reduce by 10% for every Scoop Hit, except do not reduce below 1.0, unless the ramship has 10 or more Scoop Hits. Round up or down to the nearest tenth, rounding twentieths up.

c) Acceleration: The Allowance is the least of the following 3 values: i) Basic value from the PC; ii) The Regional Limit (in the extreme right column of the PC)

for the appropriate Region, reduced by 10% for every Scoop Hit;

iii) The basic A Region Allowance for the appropriate Proper Speed, reduced by 20% for every Power Hit.

All rounding is as for Braking.

6.2.2 In Regions E and F, there is an extra effect: drop down one Region on the PC (from the one established by 5.3) for every 2 full Power Hits, then apply the reductions of 6.2.1 All Allowances become zero (notwithstanding 6.2.1b) with 4 Power Region Hits in Region F, or 8 in Region E.

EXAMPLE: If a ramship has 3 Power Hits, treat Region E as Region B.

6.2.3 Induced Drag is not affected by Damage; it always retains its full value from the PC.

6.2.4 EXAMPLE: A Type 2 ramship has 3 Scoop and 2 Power Hits, and is in Region B at Proper Speed 5.0. By 6.2.1:

a) Turning 7 reduced by 30% to 4.9, round to 5. b) Braking 12 reduced by 30% to 8.4. c) Acceleration — the least of: i) 4; ii) 4 reduced by 30% to 2.8; iii) 4.5

reduced by 40% to 2.7

6.3 ENGINE USAGE Due to its enormous power output, the power plant of an interstellar ramjet suffers rapid wear and tear, and needs periodic Overhaul (section 7). The measure of engine usage is EOT (Engine Operating Time) and a record of this must be kept for each ramship, in the 5th column of the Log. It accumulates an amount every Game-Turn in which Acceleration is performed (step A3 of 5.4), and can be reduced only by Overhaul. The amount accumulated depends on initial and final speeds and Acceleration actually performed, as follows:

a) Find the average Map Speed by adding the initial and final Map Speeds and dividing by 2, rounding up to the next higher integer. If the initial Map Speed was zero, treat it as 1.

b) Multiply this by the Acceleration actually performed that Game-Turn.

If a ship does not perform Acceleration, its EOT does not change.

EXAMPLE: A ramship begins the Player-Turn at Proper Speed 0.8 and Accelerates by 6.5 units to 7.3. It then Brakes for Induced Drag to final Proper Speed 6.8.

a) The initial Map Speed is zero, so treat it as 1. Final Map Speed is 4. The average is 2.5, round up to 3.

b) 3 x 6.5 = 19.5

6.3.1 The initial value of EOT for a ramship that begins the game on its Home Planet is zero. Otherwise, a ramship’s initial EOT is half the distance in hexes between its initial position and its Home Planet (rounding up).

6.3.2 Each ramship has a maximum allowable value of EOT, which is specified in the Scenario details. A ramship may not perform any Acceleration if it would cause EOT to exceed this limit. Turning and Braking are not restricted.

6.4 CONTACT SURFACE DAMAGE Certain areas of the Orion Nebula can cause damage to a ramship when traversed. The Contact Surface is a sudden discontinuity between ionized and non-ionized gas. If a ramship crosses this in either direction at a Proper Speed of 4 or greater, it suffers damage. The Contact Surface is considered to have been crossed if there is a Contact Surface hexside between any 2 of the hexes of the ramship’s movement vector Shaft.

6.4.1 If the Shaft crosses more than one Contact Surface hexside, the damage is applied once for each crossing.

6.4.2 The Damage for each crossing of the Contact Surface is the ramship’s Proper Speed minus 3, rounded down to the next integer, as Scoop Hits. Power and Fighter are not affected.

6.5 DUST DAMAGE Movement through Region E can also cause damage from the dust therein. If more than half of the ramship’s movement vector Shaft hexes (as Established in A6 — see 5.4) are in Region E, it suffers one Scoop Hit. Note that this means one Hit per Game-Turn, regardless of how many Region E hexes it moves through. If, however, it does not move (i.e., Map Speed zero), it suffers no Damage.

Movement Example (5.6)

6.6 IN-FLIGHT REPAIR Scoop, Power, and Fighter Damage can be repaired in during Phase B. A ramship has a Repair Capacity to remove a total of 6 Hits on these Systems, between Overhaul Refits. Once it has removed 6 Hits, it can do no more Damage Repair until the next Overhaul or Refit. Record the Repair points in the 6th column of the Log.

6.6.1 Any number of Hits may be removed from any Systems in a single Game-Turn, subject to the limitation that no System can have its Damage reduced by in-flight Repair below one third of the highest it has been since the last Overhaul or Refit (or the beginning of the game), rounding up. That is, only two thirds of this Damage can be Repaired. The remainder can be considered as permanent Hits, until the next Overhaul or Refit.

EXAMPLE: After a Combat Encounter, a ramship has 7 Hits. At most, 4 can be removed by Repair; Scoop Damage cannot now be Repaired below 3 Hits until the next Overhaul or Refit.

6.6.2 If Repairing Scoop or Power, that System must not be used in that Player-Turn. That is, if a ramship is to do any Power Repair, it may not Accelerate during the Movement Phase of that Game-Turn; and to do any Scoop Repair, it may not Accelerate, Turn, or Brake at all (steps A3 to A5) that Game-Turn.

6.6.3 Note that Damage Repair is conducted after Movement (Phase A), but before the application of Damage due to Movement (Phase C).

6.6.4 This Repair capacity is transferable between ramships, and can be used in the Game-Turn of transfer, provided:

a) The ramships involved (both donor(s) and receiver) are in the same TF (see 8.1), and do not Accelerate, Turn or Brake during the Game-Turn of transfer.

b) The transfer is on a 1-for-2 basis; i.e., 2 Repair points from the donor(s) are required to supply each point to the receiver.

Record the change in Repair capacity in the 6th column of the Logs of the ramships involved.

6.7 ASSAULT UNITS Each ramship may carry one Assault Unit (henceforth referred to as AU), which is used during Assault (see 7.5). All ramships begin the game carrying one. The AU separates from the ramship during the Assault, and rejoins after if it survives.

6.7.1 Record the loss or gain of an AU in the 6th column of the ramship’s Log.

6.7.2 The AU is transferable. They may be freely transferred between ramships in the same Task Force (see 8.1), or between ramships conducting a Planetary Transaction with the same Planet (see 7.3). However, a ramship may carry only one AU.

6.7.3 A new AU to replace one lost in an Assault can only be obtained by Refit or Overhaul (section 7).

7 PLANETS AND PLANETARY TRANSACTIONS

The space represented by the Mapsheet contains many stars and their planetary systems, but only those planets involved in the game are represented in Orion. These include inhabited and colonized planets, which are used for maintenance and as objectives for victory.

7.1 REPRESENTATION OF PLANETS A Planet is represented by the appropriate Planet marker (see 2.2) in the hex it occupies. This counter cannot be moved during the game, of course, but it can be exchanged for one of a different if the Planet changes Control.

7.2 TYPES OF PLANETS There are 3 Types of Planets:

a) Home Planet — the origin of the civilization operating the Player’s ramships. Each Player has one Home Planet. They are assumed to have sufficient defenses to be unassailable, and never change Control.

b) Colony — a settled Planet. Colonies may be controlled by any one of the Players, or may be Neutral.

c) Outpost — a frontier Planet. Outposts may be Controlled or Neutral.

7.2.1 Indicate a Neutral Colony or Outpost by any inverted (facedown) counter.

7.2.2 A Controlled Planet is considered Friendly to the Player Controlling it, and Enemy to all other Players.

7.3 PLANETARY TRANSACTIONS These are interactions between a ramship and a Planet, and will henceforth be referred to as PTs. For all PTs except Supply, the ramship must satisfy the following conditions at the beginning of the PT Phase, to have a PT with a given Planet:

a) The ramship’s Present Position counter must occupy the same hex as the Planet.

b) The ramship’s Proper Speed must be exactly zero.

c) The ramship must not have retreated in Combat in that Player-Turn (see 9.5.2)

If these conditions are satisfied, the ramship may perform any one or more of the PTs listed in the table below, during the PT Phase, if it is in the same hex as a Planet of the type listed in the 2nd column.

7.3.1 SUPPLY: The Supply PT (which involves dropping off a probe with its own ram scoop for braking) may be performed without stopping. A ramship may Supply a Planet if the hex containing the Planet is on the Shaft of the ramship’s movement vector, including the Present but not including the Previous hex. However, if there is an enemy ramship with Proper Speed zero in the same hex as the Planet, Supply may not be conducted.

Table of Planetary Transactions

Transaction Type of Planet Result

Overhaul (O) Own Home Planet only Remove all Damage from all Systems. Reset EOT to zero. Replace lost Fighter and AU. Ramship is restored to as new condition.

Refit (R) Any Friendly, Equipped Colony or own Home Planet

Reduce all System Damage to one sixth (rounding up) of the highest it has been since the last Overhaul (or since start of game). Restore Damage Repair capacity to 6. Replace Assault Unit.

Refuel (F) Any Planet, except an Enemy Home Planet Ramship may use Rocket Thrust next turn (see 5.4).

Assault (A) Any Enemy or Neutral Colony Colony may change Control (see 7.5).

Raid (D) Any Enemy or Neutral Colony No effect, other than scoring Victory Points in some Scenarios. The same ramship may not Raid the same Colony on 2 consecutive Game-Turns

Claim (C) Any Outpost or Colony with zero Defense Strength Outpost or Colony immediately becomes Controlled by the Active Player.

Supply (S) (see 7.3.1) Any Friendly or Neutral Outpost Outpost immediately becomes Controlled by the Active Player

7.4 COLONIES Controlled Colonies have 2 attributes that the owning Player should keep track of: Defense Strength and Equipment.

7.4.1 DEFENSE STRENGTH: All Colonies, Controlled, or Neutral, have a Defense Strength value. The initial value, at the start of the game, is specified in the Scenario details. If the Defense Strength is reduced below this value by Assault (see 7.5), it automatically increases by one every Game-Turn, until it returns to its initial value. The increase occurs during the PT Phase of the current owning Player’s Player-Turn.

7.4.2 EQUIPPING: Controlled Colonies cannot be used for Refitting ramships (see table) unless they are Equipped. All Colonies that begin the game Controlled are considered Equipped. On changing Control, a Colony immediately becomes Unequipped, and stays so for 3 Game-Turns. If it has not changed Control again, it automatically becomes Equipped in the owning Player’s Player-Turn 3 Game-Turns later, and may be used for Refit that Game-Turn.

7.5 ASSAULT This is the only way that a Colony with non-zero Defense Strength may change ownership. The Assault involves the Active Player’s ramships assigned to the Assault, the defending Colony, and any ramships friendly to the Colony that had a PT with that Colony in the owning Player’s immediately preceding Player-Turn (which may or may not be in the same Game-Turn). These latter ramships, if any, shall be referred to as Defending ramships. Any other ramship that may be in the hex is not involved. Clearly, if the Colony is Neutral, there can be no Defending ramships.

7.5.1 PROCEDURE:

a) The Assaulting Player counts the total number of AUs his Assaulting ramships are carrying. This forms his Assault Force.

b) The defending Player may attempt to intercept the Assault Force with his Defending ramships, if any. He rolls a die once for each Defending ramship that has less than 8 Fighter Hits. Each roll of 1 or 2 eliminates an Assault Unit. When this is completed, the Assaulting Player may choose to abort the Assault, in which case he goes directly to step e).

c) The Assaulting Player calculates the ratio of the Defense Strength squared to the remaining number of AUs. He then rolls a die and consults Table 1 to see how many AUs are eliminated in the Assault. If this number is less than or equal to the number Assaulting, the Colony immediately changes Control to the Assaulting Player. Round the odds ratio down to the next lower value on Table 1. If the odds are less than 1:2, no AU are eliminated.

EXAMPLE: A Colony of Defense Strength 4 is assaulted by 6 AUs. The odds are 42:6 = 16:6. Round down to 2:1. A die roll of 2 eliminates 1 AU.

d) If, however, the number of AUs eliminated is greater than the number Assaulting, the Colony does not change Control; but its Defense Strength is reduced by the number of AUs that Assaulted.

e) Any surviving AUs, after the losses in steps b), c) and d), may rejoin the Assaulting ramships. They may embark on any ramship, not necessarily the one they came from, but each ramship may carry only one AU.

7.5.2 RESULTS OF VICTORY: If a Player gains Control of a Colony by Assault or Claim (see Table), he replaces the Colony marker with one of his own, and its Defense Strength drops to zero. Any Defending ramships which had a Refit PT in the owning Player’s immediately preceding Player- Turn are Eliminated. Other Defending ramships are free to remain or vacate the hex in their next Player-Turn.

8 COMBAT ENCOUNTERS Combat between enemy ramships can occur in the Combat Phase (Phase D). The basic fighting unit is the Task Force (henceforth called TF), which consists of one or more ramships traveling together. Combat can occur between any 2 TFs belonging to different Players that pass through the same hex. Each such situation, henceforth called an Encounter, is resolved separately.

8.1 TASK FORCES Friendly ramships which occupy the same hex and have the same speed and course may be considered a single unit for the purposes of Combat. The requirements for forming a TF are:

a) The ramships must occupy the same hex at the beginning of the owning Player’s Movement Phase.

b) They must move such that after the Movement Phase, they all occupy the same hex and have exactly the same Proper Speed.

c) The owning Player must state that the ramships are forming a TF, and record it on his Log (see 10.7).

If these conditions are met, the abovementioned ramships are considered as a single TF for any Encounters until the owning Player’s next Player-Turn. Friendly ramships which happen to occupy the same hex are not considered to form a TF unless the above conditions are satisfied. Ramships are free to move in and out of TFs from one Game-Turn to the next. There is no limit to the number of ramships in a TF. A lone ramship is always considered a TF of one.

8.1.1 Friendly ramships that conduct any PT with the same Planet in the same Player-Turn are automatically considered to form a single TF until the owning Player’s next Player-Turn. Ramships not conducting a PT may not be in the same TF’ as those conducting a PT.

8.1.2 A Player may split up any of his TFs into smaller TFs at the beginning of the Combat Phase of any Player’s Player-Turn. The counters are not moved; the owning Player merely states the new TF compositions. TFs may not recombine until the owning Player’s next Player-Turn.

8.2 ENCOUNTER CONDITIONS To Encounter an enemy TF, your TF must move through the hex it occupies, or in some cases one hex behind. Specifically, an Encounter between an Active Player’s TF and an enemy TF occurs if:

a) the Present position of the enemy TF is on the shaft of the movement vector of the Active Player’s TF (including its Present but not including its Previous hex); or

b) If the enemy TF’s Map Speed is 1, 2 or 3, and the hex on the enemy TF’s movement vector shaft one hex behind its Present hex (i.e., one hex toward its Previous hex) is on the shaft of the movement vector of an Active Player’s TF (excluding both Present and Previous hexes).

NOTE that you need only pass through the enemy TF's hex (or one hex behind), you do not have to end your movement in that hex (but if you do so, it is still an Encounter in case 8.2a)

8.2.1 SPECIAL EXCEPTIONS:

a) An Encounter does not occur if any ramship in the Active Player’s TF was involved in an Encounter with any ramship in the enemy TF during the enemy’s immediately preceding Player-Turn, and that Encounter resulted in some Combat (i.e. at least one Missile or Beam attack occurred). That is, no 2 ramships can fight twice in any single circuit of Player-Turns.

b) An Active Player’s TF with Map Speed zero (i.e. Proper Speed less than 1.0) may only Encounter enemy TFs that also have Map Speed zero.

c) If an enemy TF conducted a PT in the enemy Player’s last Player-Turn (i.e., it is a TF as specified by 8.1.1), an Active Player’s TF must have a Proper Speed of exactly zero to Encounter it.

8.2.2 Each Encounter may involve only two TFs: one of the Active Player’s and one enemy. If an Active Player’s TF Encounter more than one enemy TF, even in the same hex, each TF is a separate Encounter, and is resolved separately. Similarly, if many Active Player’s TFs Encounter the same enemy TF, each is a separate Encounter. Each possible combination of a single friendly and a single enemy TFs must be resolved separately.

8.2.3 ENCOUNTER HEX: The Encounter is considered to actually occur in the enemy TF’s Present hex, in Case 8.2a, or in the hex one hex behind in Case 8.2b.

8.3 ORDER OF RESOLUTION The Active Player may resolve the Encounters in any order he chooses, except that:

a) If an Active Player’s TF Encounters more than one enemy TF, they must be resolved in the order of their Encounter Hexes, starting with the one closest to the Active Player’s TF’s Previous position, and progressing towards its Present position.

b) If an Active Player’s TF Encounters more than one enemy TF in the same Encounter Hex belonging to the same enemy Player, then that enemy Player may stipulate the order of those particular Encounters.

8.4 COMBAT PROCEDURE The Combat Phase is conducted as follows:

a) First, all other Players who wish to split up their TFs (as in 8.1.2) do so.

b) Then, the Active Player may split up any of his TFs.

c) The Active Player should then check all cases where a friendly TF’s movement vector intersects an enemy one, and determine if it is an Encounter by Rule 8.2. Then he specifies the order in which he will resolve them.

d) Each Encounter must then be resolved separately, in the sequence of Steps listed in 8.4.1. Complete one Encounter before proceeding to the next.

8.4.1 ENCOUNTER RESOLUTION SEQUENCE:

Exception: Zero Velocity Encounters; see Rule 9.5. Dl: Determine Relative Velocity. (See 8.6) D2: Both Players secretly select their TF’s Tactics (see 8.5). D3: Reveal Tactics. D4: The Active Player’s Fighters attack the other Player’s TF:

a) Resolve Evasion (see 8.7) b) Aborting (8.8) c) Missile release (9.1) d) Break Off (9.1) e) Resolve Missile Combat (9.2) f) Resolve Beam Combat (9.3)

D5: Now the other Player’s Fighters attack the Active Player’s TF. Repeat a) to f) as in D4

D6: All ramships in both TFs attempt to retrieve any detached Fighter Systems (9.4).

NOTE: Steps D4 and D5 are identical, except that the 2 Players reverse roles. In the following rules, the terms ‘Attacker’ and ‘Defender’ will be used. In step D4 the Active Player will be Attacker and the other Player will be Defender. In D5, vice versa.

8.5 TACTICS In Step D2, both Players must decide on the disposition of their Fighters, and their TF’s course of action. Each ramship’s Fighter may either separate from the ramship to attack the enemy TF, or remain attached to defend it against enemy Fighters. The TF itself may either attempt to Evade, or Hold its course. The advantages of each can be seen from Rules 8.7, 9.1.3 and 9.4.2.

PROCEDURE: Take a Fighter counter for each ramship in your TF, except those with lost or delayed Fighters (see 9.4). Each counter will

represent the Fighter from the ramship with the same identity number. Place the counter of each Fighter that you wish to separate from its ramship in the ‘Attack’ box of your Targeting Card (this may be all, none, or some of them). Put the others in the ‘Defense’ box; they will remain attached to their ramships. Now take a Task Force counter and place it in the ‘Hold’ or ‘Evade’ box on the right of your Targeting Card, to indicate what your TF will do. When both Players have done this, they are simultaneously revealed in Step D3.

8.5.1 Each Encounter is separate; the same TF may Hold in one Encounter and Evade in another. The Active Player has no commitment to detach any Fighters to attack.

8.6 RELATIVE VELOCITY The Relative Velocity (henceforth referred to as RV) is the speed of one TF in the frame of reference of the other. The calculation of this quantity is more complex than in other games with a vector movement system, due to the effects of Relativity. It consists of 2 components: a Course Angle and a Speed Difference component. The procedure is as follows:

a) Place an Arrow counter in the Active Player’s TF’s Present hex. Then place another in the hex obtained by applying the enemy TF’s velocity vector to the Active Player’s TF’s Previous hex (see 9.6, Combat Example).

b) Move both these Arrow counters, if required, so that their distance from the Active Player’s TF’s Previous hex is equal to the Proper Speed of the slower of the 2 TFs. Move the counters as if Extending or Contracting a vector from that hex (if there is insufficient room, due to the edge of the Mapsheet, transfer both vectors to a convenient area). If there is any ambiguity in either vector as to which hex is on the Shaft, it is at the Active Player’s discretion (5.3.2 does not apply here).

c) Count the distance in hexes between the 2 Arrow counters. This value is the Course Angle component.

d) Cross-reference the Proper Speeds of the 2 TFs on the Proper Speed Differential Table, Table 2, to find the Speed Difference component.

e) Add the two components found in c) and d). This sum is the Relative Velocity.

8.6.1 If one TF has a Proper Speed of less than one (i.e. Map Speed zero), the RV is the Proper Speed of the other TF.

8.7 EVASION If the Defender selected his TF to Evade, it may be able to escape some or all of the Attacker’s Fighters. The Maneuverability (in effect, Proper turning ability) is used to determine its success. Due to the delay in seeing the evasive maneuvers of a ramship that is approaching at near-light speed, the Fighter must have a greater Maneuverability than the Evading ramship to catch it. This is reflected in the Pursuit Factor, Table 3, which depends on RV. If the Defender selected Hold, however, all Fighters may engage it.

8.7.1 Any Attacking Fighters whose:

(Fighter Maneuverability) < (Evading TF’s Maneuverability) x (Pursuit Factor)

have been Evaded; they must be removed from the Attacker’s Targeting Card (they may not go into his Defense Box), and take no further part in this Encounter.

8.7.2 MANEUVERABILITY: The basic values for the ramship and Fighter are given for all Types on one side of the PC, depending on the Region of the Encounter Hex (see 8.2.3) and the unit’s Proper Speed (Fighters have the same Proper Speed as their parent ramship). The Maneuverability of a TF is then the least of the Maneuverability of the ramships forming it.

8.7.3 DAMAGE EFFECTS: A ramship’s Maneuverability is reduced by 10 % for every Scoop Hit. A Fighter’s Maneuverability is reduced by 10% for every Fighter Hit.

8.8 ABORTING At this Step (D4b or D5b), the Attacker may Abort any or all of his Fighters, and remove them from his Targeting Card.

8.8.1 Note that Fighters Evaded (as in 8.7.1) or Aborted may not be moved to the Defense Box; and they do not have to be Retrieved (see 9.4) (they return automatically and may be used in the next Encounter).

9 WEAPONS AND BATTLE DAMAGE Ramships carry 2 types of weapons: Missiles (projectiles released in the path of enemy ramships), and Beams (directed energy weapons). These are actually mounted on the Fighter System, so only the Fighters may make Missile and Beam attacks (exception: 9.1.3). After the preliminaries of an Encounter have been established, as described in section 8, attacks are conducted and resolved.

9.1 MISSILE RELEASE Missiles are assumed to be replenished from the nebula medium by the ramscoop, and so never run out. However, in addition to the restrictions below, no ramship may release more than 5 Missiles total (from both ramship and detached Fighter) in all its Combat Encounters between the beginning of any one of the owner’s Player-Turns, and the beginning of his next Player- turn.

PROCEDURE: In Step D4c (or D5c): a) The Defender announces how many Missiles his TF will release (if any).

b) The Attacker then announces how many his Attacking Fighters release.

c) Finally, the Attacker has the option to Break Off any of his Fighters from the battle. Fighters which released Missiles may still Break Off. He places their counters in the ‘Break Off’ box of his Targeting Card. These play no further part in this Encounter — they do not suffer Missile attacks from the Defender, nor engage in any Beam Combat. This is the last time that Attacking Fighters may withdraw. Those that remain are committed and must face all the subsequent Missile and Beam Combat.

9.1.1 Each Fighter in the Attacker’s Attack box with less than 8 Hits may release one Missile.

9.1.2 If the Defender selected to Evade, then each fighter in the Defender’s Defense box with less than 8 Hits may release one Missile.

9.1.3 If, however, the Defender selected to Hold, then each ramship in his TF may release any number of Missiles (subject to 9.1), regardless of disposition of, loss of, or Damage to their Fighters.

9.2 MISSILE COMBAT PROCEDURE in Step D4e (or D5e):

a) Each ramship in the Defender’s TF is subjected to one Missile attack for each Missile released by the Attacker (including those from Fighters which have Broken Off). NOTE that this means each Missile attacks all the Defender’s ramships. Each Missile attack is resolved by the Attacker rolling a die, and consulting the Missile Combat Results, Table 4. The Damage specified on Table 4 is then recorded on the Log of the Defender’s ramship attacked.

b) Then, each Fighter in the Attacker’s Attack box is subject to one Missile attack for each Missile released by the Defender’s TF, resolved as in a).

9.2.1 Missile Combat results depend on the RV as calculated in step Dl. If this is zero, there is no Missile Combat.

9.2.2 Of the Damage given by the Missile CRT, only the Systems actually present are affected. Thus, each ramship in the Defender’s TF can accept Scoop and Power Hits. It can accept Fighter Hits only if its Fighter counter is in the Defense box, otherwise Fighter Hits are ignored. The Attacker can accept Fighter Hits only to those in his Attack box; Scoop and Power Hits are ignored.

9.2.3 Note that Missile Combat between large TFs, especially if one elects to Hold, can result in many die rolls. Players who find this tedious might try rolling once for each Missile, and applying the Damage to all the target ramships or Fighters.

9.3 BEAM COMBAT In Beam Combat, you select which enemy ramships and which of their systems you wish to attack. Steps D4f and D5f are conducted in a number of Rounds, the number as shown on Table 5, depending on RV. All Rounds must be completed; neither Player can voluntarily withdraw before this is done.

PROCEDURE FOR EACH ROUND: Both Players secretly select Targets for their Beam attacks by placing their Fighter counter(s) in the boxes of their Targeting Cards corresponding to the System(s) of the enemy ramships they wish to attack. The Target(s) are then revealed. For each Target, the Attacker determines the total Attack Factors, rolls a die and consults Table 6 to determine how many Hits he inflicts. The Defender then repeats this for his Beam attacks on the Attacker. Finally, both Players record the Damage suffered by their units on their Logs.

9.3.1 Only Fighters whose counters are in the Attacker’s Attack box and the Defender’s Defense box may make Beam attacks. Each may attack only one Target each Round. Fighters with 8 or more Hits at the beginning of a Round may not make Beam attacks; leave their counters in the Attack or Defense boxes. After Beam Combat is complete, replace the counters in the Attack or Defense box from whence they came.

9.3.2 Each System of each enemy ramship is a separate Target. Place your Fighter counters in the Target boxes you wish to attack. Any number of Fighters may attack a single Target.

9.3.3 Only those Systems present, as specified in 9.2.2, may be selected as Targets.

9.3.4 Each Round is independent; Players may change their Targets from one Round to the next.

9.3.5 Each Fighter has an Attack Factor of 8 minus the number of Fighter Hits it currently has. For each Target, total the Attack Factors of all Fighters attacking it. If the total exceeds 35, roll a second time on Table 6 for the excess, and total the Hits scored by the two rolls. For example, with 43 Attack Factors, roll once on the 31-35 column and once on the 8 column.

9.3.6 When determining the number of Fighters and Attack Factors in 9.3.1 and 9.3.5, only consider Fighter Hits sustained before the Round being resolved.

9.4 RETRIEVING FIGHTERS In step D6, all ramships with a Fighter in the Attack or Break Off boxes may attempt to retrieve them. Retrieving may be prompt, delayed, or unsuccessful. Conditions for and penalties of delayed or unsuccessful results are described below. Otherwise it is prompt with no penalty.

9.4.1 Retrieving is unsuccessful if: a) the total of Fighter and Scoop Hits on that ramship exceeds 15, or

b) the Encounter Hex is in Region E, and the ramship has 8 Power Hits, or

c) the Encounter Hex is in Region F, and the ramship has 4 Power Hits.

If any of these apply, the ramship has lost its Fighter System, and this is duly recorded by writing ‘X’ for its Fighter Damage on its Log. A lost Fighter System can only be replaced by Overhaul (see section 7).

9.4.2 Retrieving is delayed if: a) Both you and your opponent selected to Evade (whether

successful or not); or

b) The other Player selected to Evade, and your TF’s Maneuverability was less than your opponent’s multiplied by the

Pursuit Factor, as calculated in D4a or D5a, before any Scoop Damage from this Encounter is applied.

If either of these applies, all Fighters in your Attack and Break Off boxes are delayed and may not be used for Attack or Defense in any subsequent Encounter until your next Player-Turn. Use the ‘Delayed’ markers to indicate those ramships on the Mapsheet.

9.4.3 A Delayed Fighter automatically returns at the beginning of the owner’s next Player-Turn, unless it is lost according to the conditions of 9.4.1 (use the ramship’s current the Damage status). A ramship that retrieves its Delayed Fighter has all its Performance Allowances halved, for that Player-Turn only. This is due to the time expended in retrieving the Fighter. Apply this after the Damage effects described in 6.2, and round fractions as described in 6.2.1. A ramship may voluntarily abandon a Fighter (thus it becomes lost) to avoid this Performance penalty.

9.5 ZERO VELOCITY CASE In the special case when both TFs have a Proper Speed of exactly zero, the procedure of 8.4.1 is not used. This includes Encounters where the ramships in a non-Active Player’s TF had a PT last Player-Turn, as in 8.2.lc. With no forward speed, the Fighter cannot maneuver, and thus does not detach but remains with the ramship, which uses rocket thrust to maneuver.

9.5.1 PROCEDURE: a) If either Player wishes to Attack, he states so. If neither

expresses the wish to, the Encounter ends with no Combat.

b) If one Player states his Attack, the other has the option of retreating any of his ramships with sufficient Acceleration (see 9.52). They remain in the hex, but do not take part in Combat. The remainders, which could not or chose not to retreat, are committed to battle and may not subsequently retreat.

c) Beam Combat: (there is no Missile Combat) This is played in successive Rounds, as described in 9.3. In each Round, both Players secretly select Targets for their Fighters, as in 9.3. The Targets are revealed, and both Players roll for the Damage they score on each Target on Table 6. The number of Rounds is unlimited. Continue until condition d) or e) below occurs.

d) If, at the end of a Round, all of one Player’s ramships have 8 or more Fighter Hits, then the Encounter ends and all ramships of that Player’s TF are Eliminated (except those that retreated).

e) In the event that all ramships of both TFs have 8 or more Fighter Hits at the end of a Round, the Encounter ends with no Eliminations.

9.5.2 RETREAT: A ramship’s Acceleration, rather than Maneuverability, is used to retreat. Use the A Region Allowance for zero Proper Speed, reduced by Power Damage only as described in 6.2.lc) iii). A ramship may retreat if its Acceleration is greater than or equal to the least of the Accelerations of all the enemy ramships in the Encounter. Note that any ramships that retreat may not have PTs (see 7.3).

9.5.3 Players may select one Target for each Fighter they have with less than 8 Hits (except those with ramships that retreated), as in 9.3. Any System of any ramship in the opposing TF that did not retreat may be selected as a Target.

9.5.4 ENCOUNTERS INVOLVING HOME PLANETS: If a Zero Velocity Encounter occurs in a hex containing a Home Planet, the owner receives some extra firepower in that Encounter. The owner of the Home Planet doubles the number of Hits he rolls on Table 6. This applies whether he had a PT last turn or not, but applies only to Zero Velocity Encounters.

9.5.5 PLANETARY TRANSACTIONS: Ramships may hide near planets to avoid detection and combat. If an Encounter occurs at a Planet not Controlled by the Active Player, and the enemy’s TF had a PT there in his last Player-Turn, then that enemy may refuse the Encounter, and no Combat occurs. He must decide immediately, he cannot refuse after the Combat has begun.

9.5.6 Note that after a successful Assault (see 7.5), when it comes to the previous owner’s Player-Turn, he no longer Controls the Planet, so the Assaulting ramships may refuse an Encounter; whereas any Defending ramships that remain in the hex may not.

9.6 COMBAT EXAMPLE In the Combat Phase of Player A’s Player-Turn, his TF has its Present Position in hex 923 and Previous in 1127, with a Proper Speed of 5.2. Player B’s TF has its Present Position in 823, and Previous Position in 1126, with a Proper Speed 4.1. Both TFs consist of two Type 1 ramships, with Damage as follows (given as Fighter-Scoop-Power):

Player A — Ramship One: 0-0-0 Ramship Two: 1-0-0 Player B — Ramship One: 0-7-0 Ramship Two: 5-0-0

Player A’s TF’s movement vector does not pass through Player B’s Present hex, but it does through the hex one hex behind (924). This hex is not Player A’s Present or Previous Position, and Player B’s Map Speed is 3, so an Encounter is established by 8.2b. The Encounter hex is 924, in Region C.

Dl: (Rule 8.6) a) Place Arrow counters in hexes 923 and 824. Note 824 is in the

same position relative to 1127 as 823 is to 1126. b) Move the arrow counters to a distance of 4 hexes from hex

1127. The one in 923 does not move, but the other must be moved to 723.

c) Hexes 923 and 723 are 2 hexes apart, so the Course Angle Component is 2.

d) Cross-reference 4 and 5 on Table 2 to give the Speed Difference Component of 1.

e) RV = 2+1 = 3.

D2: Player A decides to attack with his Fighter from ramship One only, keeping Two’s back for defense of his TF, which he will attempt to Evade. Thus, he puts an El counter in his Attack box, an F2 in his Defense box, and a TF counter in his Evade box. Player B puts both his Fl and F2 counters in his Attack box, and selects Hold.

D3: Reveal Tactics. a) Player A selects Evade. b) Player B selects Hold.

D4: Player A is the Attacker, and B the Defender. a) As Player B elected to Hold, there is no Evasion. b) Player A chooses not to abort. c) Player B releases 8 Missiles, 4 from each ramship. Player A’s

single Fighter releases 1 Missile. d) Now Player A may Break Off, but chooses not to. e) Both of Player B’s ramships receive one attack from the Missile

released by Player A. Player A rolls 3 and 4 on the die for the two attacks, which yields no Damage on Table 4 at a RV of 3. Now Player A’s Fighter, still in his Attack box, must face 8 attacks from Player B’s Missiles. Among the 8 die rolls, Player B gets two l’s and a 2. The l’s each yield a Fighter Hit, but the Scoop Hit from the 2 is ignored, as that System is not present. Thus Player A’s Fighter ends up with 2 Hits.

f) At an RV of 3, Table 5 gives 2 Rounds of Beam Combat. Player B has nothing in his Defense box, so may not Beam attack any Target. Player A has one counter in his Attack box, so may select one Target, out of Scoop or Power on Player B’s One or Two, but not Fighter, as neither counter is in Player B’s Defense box. For Round 1, Player A selects Power of Player B’s Two by placing his Fl counter in that box of his Targeting Card. With 2 Fighter Hits, he has 6 Attack Factors, and he rolls 3 on Table 6, yielding 2 Hits.

g) In Round 2, Player A selects to attack Scoop on Player B’s One, and rolls 1, yielding 3 Hits. This completes Player A’s attack on Player B.

D5: Now Player B becomes the Attacker, and Player A the Defender. a) Player A selected to Evade. The Encounter is in Region C, and

Player A’s TF has a Proper Speed of 5, which gives a basic Maneuverability of 10 on the PC. Neither ramship has any Scoop Damage, so this is not modified and the Maneuverability

of the TF is 10. Player B’s has a Proper Speed of 4, giving a basic Fighter Maneuverability of 40. For Fighter Two this is modified by the 5 Fighter Hits, which reduces it by 50% to 20. The Pursuit Factor for an RV of 3 is 2.5 (Table 4), and 10 x 2.5 = 25. 20 is less than this, so Player B’s Fighter Two cannot attack, and his F2 counter is put aside.

b) Player B does not abort, but presses on with just Fighter One. c) Player A still has the Fighter attached to ramship Two, so he

releases 1 Missile. Player B releases 1 Missile from his single Fighter (he may do this, as ramship One released only 4 Missiles in D4 — see Rule 9.1).

d) Player B chooses not to Break Off e) Both of Player A’s ramships receive 1 Missile attack. Player B

rolls for this, and scores a Scoop Hit on Player A’s One. His single Fighter receives 1 Missile attack, with no result.

f) Two Rounds of Beam Combat, as in D4. Player A has his F2 counter in his Defense box, and Player B has his Fl counter in his Attack box. Thus each may select one Target.

Round 1: Player B selects the Fighter of Player A’s Two. Player A has only one available Target, Player B’s Fighter One. These Targets are revealed, and the attacks rolled on Table 6. Player B’s Fighter has 8 Attack Factors, Player A’s only 7. Player A scores 3 Hits, and Player B scores 1.

Round 2: Player B now changes his Target to Power on Player A’s Two, whilst Player A’s Target is unchanged. Player B’s Fighter now has 3 Hits, and so only 5 Attack Factors. Similarly, Player A’s has only 6. The attacks are resolved; Player A scores 2 Hits and Player B scores 1.

D6: Player B’s ramship One now has a total of 5 Fighter and 10 Scoop Hits, totaling 15. Thus, it just avoids having its Fighter lost. However, it is delayed, as Player A’s TF Evaded, and Player B’s One has a Maneuverability of 3 (10 reduced by 70%), which is less than 10 x 2.5 (see 9.4.2b). Player B’s Two is not delayed, because its Fighter was Evaded (see 8.8.1), and its counter was not in his Attack or Break Off box (see 9.4).

The final results of the Encounter are as follows: Player A — Ramship One: 2-1-0 Ramship Two: 2-0-1 Player B — Ramship One: 5-10-0 Ramship Two: 5-0-2

10 PLOTTING The transmission of information is limited by Relativity to the speed of light: 6 hexes per turn. To reflect this, movement and other operations are Plotted a number of Game-Turns in advance. The number of turns that must be Plotted ahead depends on the nearness of enemy ramships, and in some cases no Plotting is required. Each Player does his Plotting secretly, not revealing his Plots for a given Game-Turn until his Player-Turn within that Game-Turn. Plotting is done on the ramships’ Logs.

10.1 OPERATIONS IN THE CURRENT GAME-TURN

When a Player comes to the Movement Phase of his Player-Turn, any of his ramships that have a move for that Game-Turn already Plotted on their Logs must move in accordance with that Plot. This means that their movement as in Section 5 must be conducted so that they end the Movement Phase with their Proper Speed and Present position exactly as Plotted. Also any Damage Repair (see 6.6), Movement Damage (6.4 and 6.5), and PTs (7.3) Plotted for that Game-Turn must be conducted exactly as Plotted, in the appropriate Phase. If not Plotted, they may not be conducted. Finally, circle the Game-Turn number in the first column of the Log to indicate the turn has been completed.

10.1.1 Note that this may apply to all, some or none of the Player’s ramships, depending on the Plotting situation.

10.1.2 A ramship which has no Plot for the current Game- Turn may be moved as the Player desires at the time, and conduct any other operations as the owning Player sees fit.

10.2 PLOTTING FUTURE TURNS Plotting of future Game-Turns, and also deletion of previous Plots if allowed, is conducted during the owning Player’s Plotting Phase (Phase F). Some deletion of Plots is also allowed at other times, including in other Player’s Player-Turns (see 10.4).

PROCEDURE: Plot each ramship separately, except for TFs (see 10.7). If it is your Player-Turn of Game-Turn number ‘n’, go through this procedure for each of your ramships: Fl: Are there any Detectable (see 10.3) enemy ramships whose Present

Position counters are within 6 hexes of the Present Position of your ramship being Plotted (consider only ramships Detectable from the current ramship being Plotted)? a) If so, do not Plot Game-Turn n + 1. If Game-Turn n + 1 has

already been Plotted, you may delete it and all subsequent Plots. Plotting is now complete for this ramship.

b) If not, then Plot Game-Turn n + 1, unless it is already Plotted, and go to F2.

F2: Are there any Detectable enemy ramships within 12 hexes of your ramship‘s Plotted position for Game-Turn n + l? a) If so, do not Plot Game-Turn n + 2. If already Plotted, you

may delete it and all subsequent Plots. Plotting is now complete for this ramship.

b) If not, then Plot Game-Turn n + 2, unless already Plotted, and go to F3.

F3: Are there any Detectable enemy ramships within 18 hexes of your ramship‘s Plotted position for Game-Turn n + 2? a) If so, do not Plot Game-Turn n + 3. If already Plotted, you

may delete it. Plotting now complete. b) If not, then Plot Game-Turn n + 3, unless already Plotted, and

go to F4. F4: Are there any Detectable enemy ramships within 24 hexes of your

ramship’s Plotted position for Game-Turn n + 3? a) If so, do not Plot Game-Turn n + 4. b) If not, then Plot Game-Turn n + 4.

It is most important that you understand this Rule, as it is the essence of the strategic aspect of Orion. NOTE that in F2 to F4 you count the distance from your ramship’s Plotted position in the last Step, not its Present position on the Mapsheet. You cannot determine how many turns to Plot purely from your Present distance from an enemy ramship — it may change depending on whether you Plot to approach or recede from the enemy. Also note that Detectability of enemy ramships is established from your Plotted position in each step.

10.2.1 Once written, a Plot may not be modified or added to. It may be deleted (and then rewritten, if necessary), only under the provisions of 10.2 and 10.4.

10.3 DETECTION AND RELAY An enemy ramship in hex ‘A’ is considered Detectable from an Active Player’s ramship (or Colony or Home Planet) in hex ‘B’ if:

a) There is a clear Line Of Sight from A to B; or

b) The enemy ramship performed any Acceleration in its immediately preceding Player-Turn regardless of line of sight (its high-energy engine emissions penetrate dust clouds).

10.3.1 LINE OF SIGHT: A Line Of Sight is a vector Shaft (see 4.3.1) going from A to B. It is blocked only by Regions E and F. One hex of E, or 3 hexes of F (excluding hexes A and B) are required to block it. Note that this means an enemy TF in an adjacent hex is always Detectable.

10.3.2 If an enemy ramship is not Detectable from hex B, its Detection may still be ‘Relayed’ by any of the Active Player’s other ramships, Friendly Colonies or Home Planet. This applies if the enemy ramship is Detectable from one such Relaying unit, and the information can be transferred by a Relay path to the ramship being Plotted, in hex B.

10.3.3 The Relay path starts at the enemy ramship, hex A, may go through any number of the abovementioned Relay units, and ends with the hex containing the ramship being Plotted, hex B. The paths between

Relay units may go through E or F Regions without restriction. The Relay path segments may be of any length, except that any segment which goes from any Relaying unit to a ramship (including the one being Plotted), must not exceed 3 hexes in length. 10.3.4 If a Relay path can be established, the enemy ramship is considered Detectable by the ramship in hex B for the purposes of 10.2, but its distance is taken as the total length of the Relay path.

10.4 DELETING PLOTS There are conditions under which otherwise undetectable enemy ramships, or other significant events, may reveal themselves. This allows Plots to be deleted, giving ramships freedom of action. Whenever there is:

a) a Combat Encounter involving your ramships, whether or not Combat actually occurred; or

b) any change of Colony Control by Assault, then you may immediately delete:

a) all unexecuted Plots for any ramships in the same hex as, or involved in, the Encounter or Assault;

b) all but the next Plot for any ramships Plotted to be within 6 hexes of that hex in the next Game-Turn;

c) all but the next 2 Plots for any ramships Plotted to be within 12 hexes of that hex in 2 Game-Turns time; and

d) all but the next 3 Plots for any ramships Plotted to be within 18 hexes of that hex in 3 Game-Turns time;

provided that the ramship has a clear Line Of Sight to the Assault or Encounter hex, or can be Relayed to by a friendly unit that does. If it must be Relayed, then the distance in hexes is the length of the total Relay path. Thus, you should Plot any Game-Turns beyond a Plotted Assault on the assumption that the Assault will fail 10.4.1 A friendly ramship Eliminated in that Encounter, or a friendly Colony lost in that Assault, may still be used for Relay, as if it had not been lost, for the purposes of 10.4 only.

10.5 HOW TO PLOT MOVEMENT To Plot a ramship’s Movement for a future Game-Turn, first consider its Proper Speed, Present Position and movement Vector for the previous Game-Turn. The latter will be given by its Previous and Present Positions, i.e., its Positions for the last 2 Game-Turns. Mentally decide on how you want it to move for this Game-Turn, in accordance with Section 5, and determine its Proper Speed and Present Position at the end of this Movement. Record these in the 2nd and 3rd columns of the ramship’s Log, together with the Game-Turn number in the first column. 10.5.1 USING THE PLOTTING CARD (OPTIONAL): This can be used as an aid for a Player to work out his Movement Plotting, concealed from other Players. To use, mark the hex on it corresponding to the ramship’s current movement vector, as described in 4.4. If it is for a future move that is still only Plotted, this hex on the Card can be found from the difference between the ramship’s Plotted position hex numbers for the previous 2 Game-Turns. Now do your movement on the Plotting Card, following steps A3 to A5 of 5.4. The ramship’s Position at the end of Movement can then be found by adding the number in the resulting hex on the Card to its Position hex number for the previous Game-Turn. This procedure may be repeated for any number of turns required.

10.6 PLOTTING OTHER OPERATIONS The following operations must also be Plotted:

a) Damage Repair: Record the new Damage levels in the 4th column of the Log, remembering the Movement limitations of 6.6.2.

b) Damage due to Movement: Record in the 4th column the extra Damage, as stated in 6.4 and 6.5 (Note: this will not affect Movement Allowances for the Game-Turn in which it occurs).

c) Planetary Transactions: Write in the letter code of the PT(s) (see table in section 7) after the hex number in the second column. Adjust columns 4 and 5, if applicable.

10.7 PLOTTING TASK FORCES If a Player wishes a number of his ramships to form a TF in a future

Game-Turn, and the conditions of 8.1 will be satisfied in that Game-Turn, he should Plot Movement for one ramship only (the ‘flagship’, effectively), and in column 2 of the other ramship’s Logs, write ‘TF’, followed by the identity number of the ‘flagship’. Other operations, as stated in 10.6, must be Plotted separately for each ramship. 10.7.1 A Player may claim a set of ramships with Plotted moves to form a TF only if they were Plotted to do so, as above. Otherwise, they are independent.

10.8 ILLEGAL MOVEMENT PLOT The Movement Plot for a ramship is considered illegal if one of the following conditions applies:

a) The ramship’s Plotted Position and Position last Game-Turn are not consistent with the Plotted Proper Speed.

b) The Plotted Position and/or Proper Speed could not be achieved within the ramship’s Performance Allowables (on the PC), taking Damage and EOT into account (see 62 and 6.3).

c) It is established that the Active Player did not write a Plot for this ramship for the current Game-Turn, in the past Game-Turn when it would have been required by Rule 10.2.

If it is established that a ramship’s Movement Plot is illegal, then it does not move as Plotted that Game-Turn, but only conducts step Al of 5.4; that is, it does not Accelerate, Turn or Brake. The resulting Proper Speed (same as in the Previous Game-Turn) and Position will not agree with the Log, which should be adjusted accordingly. 10.8.1 An illegal Movement Plot will probably affect future Plotted turns. These may not be altered unless they can be deleted in accordance with 10.2 or 10.4. They must be treated when that Game-Turn arrives, by Rule 10.8. However, when making further Plots beyond those already Plotted, the Player should take this into account, and work out where the ramship will actually be after the illegally Plotted moves. 10.8.2 If a ramship that is the ‘flagship’ of a TF has an illegal Movement Plot, all other ramships Plotted to move in a TF with it are considered to have illegal Movement Plots, even if they could achieve the flagship’s Plotted Movement. They are each moved in accordance with 10.8. If they then still satisfy the requirements of 8.1, they are still considered a TF. If, on the other hand, a ramship Plotted to move in a TF with a legally Plotted flagship cannot legally achieve the Plotted move, it must be treated as illegally Plotted, but the other ramships in the TF are not affected. The illegally Plotted ramship is not considered to be part of the TF, even if it happens to end its Movement in the same hex.

10.9 OTHER ILLEGAL PLOTS The other Plotted operations described in 10.6 may be illegally Plotted, if the requirements for them stated in the appropriate Rules section are not satisfied. In this event, the operation is not conducted, i.e., no Damage Repair or PT, as applicable, occurs. However, Damage due to Movement (6.4 and 6.5) is still applied to the ramship during the appropriate Game-Turn, even if the Player forgot to Plot it. Note that any of these penalties applying to a ramship’s Damage status may cause the Movement Plots for subsequent Game-Turns to be illegal, if the Performance Allowables are reduced. In this case, Rule 10.8 must be applied.

10.10 OPTIONAL ILLEGAL MOVEMENT PLOT PROCEDURE

This is a more lenient alternative to the Movement restrictions on an illegal Plot in 10.8, and is advisable for inexperienced Players, as the effect of an illegal Movement Plot on future Plots can be frustrating. The procedure is, basically, to make the actual Move as close as possible to the Plotted Move, if condition a) of 10.8 applies, retain the Plotted Proper Speed, and Contract or Extend the velocity vector (see 4.3.2), as required, to get the correct vector length (equal to the Map Speed). If condition b) applies, that is, the ramship exceeded one or more of its Performance Allowances, then in each of steps A3 to A5 (see 5.4) perform the amount required to bring the Proper Speed and Position to that Plotted, if possible; if not possible, use the maximum allowable. This will put the final Proper Speed and Position as close as legally possible to the Plotted values. Any ambiguity in hexes resulting

from Extending or Contracting the velocity vector should be resolved randomly by a die roll, not at the Active Player’s choice.

10.11 HONESTY AND SECRECY You may note that these Plotting Rules rely on the honesty of the Players. It is thought that most war gamers are sufficiently honorable to be trusted to this extent. For Players who are paranoid, may we suggest some method of detecting breaches of the Plotting Rules such as having a different colored pencil?

10.11.1 LIMITED INTELLIGENCE (OPTIONAL): It is intended that each Player’s operations other than movement, such as Damage Repair and Refit, should not be detectable to other Players. Thus, the Log entries for Damage, EOT, and presence of AU need not be revealed to other Players, except in Combat or Assault (Proper Speed, however should always be declared). Once a Combat Encounter has been established, the Players involved should immediately reveal all these data to each other. For Assaults, only AU status need be revealed to the Defender. This limited intelligence may be used at the Player’s discretion—it is best ignored by inexperienced Players.

10.12 PLOTTING EXAMPLE Refer to Mapsheet At the beginning of Game-Turn 3; Player A (who moves first) has 4 ramships: One at hex 1030, Two at 723, Three at 1037, Four at 2042; with Proper Speeds of zero, zero, 1, and 5 respectively. Player B has 1 ramship, at 2038 with Proper Speed 2. His Home Planet is at 2242, and he has 2 friendly Equipped Colonies at 1026 and 2036. At this point, Player B had Game-Turns 3 and 4 Plotted for his ramship.

In Player A’s Player-Turn, his ramships One and Two do not move. Three Accelerates and moves to hex 737. Four moves to hex 2038, where it has Combat with Player B’s ramship, inflicting 3 Scoop Hits, and allowing B to delete his Plot for Game-Turns 3 and 4 (see 10.4). A’s Four is so heavily damaged he decides to Eliminate it (see 11.1).

Now we come to Player B’s Player-Turn of Game-Turn 3. He now has no plot for his ramship for this turn, so can move it as he pleases. He maintains Proper Speed 2 and moves to hex 2036, recording this on his Log. In Phase F, he must Plot. Fl: There is no enemy ramship within 6 hexes, so F1b applies No Plot

for Game-Turn 4 exists, so Player B must now write one. He decides he will Brake to Proper Speed zero, and Refit at the Colony at 2036.

F2: From 2036, enemy ramship One is 10 hexes away, but not Detectable due to the intervening hex 1131 of Region E. However, it is Detectable from the Colony at 1026, which can Relay through the Colony at 2036 (which is within 3 hexes of the Player B’s ramship), the total distance being 14 hexes. Enemy ramship Two is clearly Detectable, but is 13 hexes away. Three is also Detectable as it Accelerated, but is 14 hexes away. Thus, there are no Detectable enemy ramships within 12 hexes, so F2, b) applies, and Player B must Plot Game-Turn 5. He chooses to move to hex 2035.

F3: From hex 2035, enemy ramship One is now Detectable. The Line Of Sight from 2035 to 1030 could pass through either of 1130 or 1131 (see 4.3.1), but the Active Player has the choice, and selects 1130 to make it Detectable. It (and the other 2 enemy ramships) is within 18 hexes of 2035, so F3, a) applies, and Plotting is complete for this ramship.

Player B’s Log would now look like this:

11 REPLACEMENTS AND REINFORCEMENTS

In some Scenarios, new ramships may be produced during the game, as Replacements or Reinforcements. Reinforcement ramships may always be produced at or after their specified Game-Turn of appearance, but a Player may only Replace a ramship if it has been Eliminated during the course of the game.

11.1 ELIMINATION A ramship may be Eliminated by any of the following means:

a) In a zero velocity Encounter (see 9.5.1), b) As a result of an Assault (see 7.52), c) Moving off the Mapsheet (see 5.4.2), d) Voluntary Elimination: If one of your ramships suffers Scoop or

Power Hits in a Combat Encounter, then you may Eliminate it immediately the Encounter ends, provided it has at least 7 Scoop Hits or 4 Power Hits, and has insufficient Damage Repair capacity left (see 6.6) to reduce either below that value.

11.2 PLOTTING FOR NEW RAMSHIPS During Phase F of your Player-Turn, you may decide to Replace any one of your ramships that has been Eliminated in that or a previous Game-Turn, or produce a Reinforcement. Start a Log for the ramship (or continue its previous Log, if a Replacement), and Plot its Appearance by writing the Game-Turn number as calculated by Rules 11.4 and 11.5, in the first column, and your Home Planet hex number in the 2nd. Continue Plotting its movement for subsequent Game-Turns, in accordance with the usual Plotting Rule (10.2).

11.2.1 During the Plotting Phase of any Game-Turn, you must Plot for any such ramship you have started a Log for, even though it may not yet have actually Appeared on the Mapsheet. Rule 10.2 applies as usual, except that you may not delete the Game-Turn of Appearance, once Plotted.

11.3 APPEARANCE A Replacement or Reinforcement appears when you place its counter on the Mapsheet, at your Home Planet. It appears with zero Proper Speed, Damage, and EOT. If a Replacement, it must be of the same Type and use the same counters as the Eliminated ramship it is Replacing. Appearance occurs in the PT Phase, and is treated as a PT, so it may refuse Combat, as in Rule 9.55.

11.3.1 As stated in 11.2, Appearance must be Plotted. No new ramship may appear unless this was Plotted on its Log.

11.3.2 Replacement and Reinforcement ramships behave exactly like those of the initial fleet. If Eliminated, they may also be Replaced.

11.4 GAME-TURN OF APPEARANCE 11.4.1 A Replacement ramship may not Appear until one Game-Turn has passed for every 6 hexes, or part thereof, that your Home Planet is away from the hex in which the ramship you are Replacing was Eliminated. Count from the Game-Turn you decided to Replace it and started its Log. You must wait at least one Game-Turn, even if it was Eliminated in your Home Planet hex.

11.4.2 If the ramship moved off the Mapsheet with less than 10 Scoop Hits, this is modified to one Game-Turn for every 3 hexes (or part thereof). This also applies if Voluntarily Eliminated with less than 10 Scoop Hits, or with sufficient Repair capacity to reduce below 10.

11.4.3 If the ramship moved off the Mapsheet, consider it to have been Eliminated at its Previous Position hex (i.e. Present Position for the Game-Turn before it moved off).

11.4.4 When starting a Log for a Reinforcement, you must Plot its appearance at hexes, or part thereof, at least one Game-Turn later for every 6 that the nearest Detectable enemy ramship is from your Home Planet (to a maximum of 4 Game-Turns).

Ramship No.: 1 Type: 4 Game Turn

Position Hex No.

Proper Speed

Damage F-S-P EOT

Start 2242 1 2240 2.0 4 2 2038 2.0 0-3-3 4 3 1736 4.0 4 1432 5.0 3 2036 2.0 0-3-3 4 4 2036 R 0 0-1-1 4 5 2035 1.0 0-1-1 5

11.5 PRODUCTION RESTRICTIONS As well as the delays in appearance stated in 11.4, there are restrictions on how often you can produce a new ramship. NOTE that these restrictions apply to the Game-Turn of Appearance, not to the turn that you start the Log.

11.5.1 REPLACEMENT RATE: In each Scenario in which Replacement is allowed, a Replacement Rate will be specified for each Player, as ‘every n turns’. This means that for each Player, no Replacement ramship may appear before Game-Turn n, and thereafter only one may appear for every n Game-Turns that have passed.

11.5.2 The Replacement Rate may be ‘saved up’, and all used in a single n Game-Turn period, provided that at no time in the game does the total number of Replacements produced by any Player exceed the Game-Turn number divided that Player’s Rate.

11.5.3 REINFORCEMENTS: Each Reinforcement may appear on or after the Game-Turn stated in the Scenario, but only in accordance with 11.4.4.

11.5.4 In addition to the Replacement Rate and Reinforcement restriction stated in the Scenario, only one Replacement or Reinforcement may appear every 2 Game-Turns, for each Player. This may not be saved up.

11.5.5 EXAMPLE: Your Replacement Rate is every 10 turns. On Game-Turn 21, with no previous losses, you lose 3 ramships in a single battle, 5 hexes from your Home Planet. One Replacement may Appear on Game-Turn 22, and the 2nd on Game-Turn 24, but the 3rd Replacement may not Appear until Game-Turn 30.

12 HOW TO USE THE SCENARIOS Presented in this section are 7 Scenarios, each being, in effect, a self-contained game, with a specific set-up and objective. Each Scenario examines a particular aspect of possible interstellar conflicts. They are arranged approximately in order of increasing complexity.

Players are encouraged to try developing their own Scenarios, using these as a starting point. A different set up of Planets, for example, can result in quite different directions in the course of play. Suggestions for variations are included in each Scenario and the Designer’s Notes section provides further useful information.

12.1 FORMAT OF SCENARIO The information in each Scenario is interpreted thus:

Players: This specifies the number of Players, and the order of their Player-Turns. If the order is not specified, decide it by any mutually agreeable method (e.g., highest die roll goes first). In some Scenarios, Players are also given an identity, if they have a clearly recognizable role.

Planets: This lists the hex locations of the Home Planets, and Colonies and Outposts Controlled by the Players. Then Neutral Colonies and Outposts are listed. Initial Defense Strengths of Colonies are also given in parentheses.

Fleets: Listed here are the number and Types of ramships each Player has, followed by their initial position hex number in parentheses. If no initial position is given, the Player may distribute them as he sees fit between his Home Planet and Friendly Co1onies.

EOT Limit: Each Player’s maximum EOT value is given. This may be different for different ramship Types.

Replacements: Each Player’s Replacement Rate, if applicable, is given.

Reinforcements: Game Turn numbers that Reinforcements, if any. appear, and their ramship Type, are listed here for each Player.

Victory Conditions: The objectives each Player must achieve to win are listed here. In some Scenarios, this is in terms of Victory Points (henceforth called VPs). If so, this section details what each Player gains VPs for, and the number he requires to have to win the game. Also, unless otherwise stated, a Player loses one VP every time he creates a Replacement ramship (not a Reinforcement). This means his VP total could be negative.

Game Length: The game ends when the specified number of Game-Turns have been completed.

Special Rules: Any special Rules applying only to this Scenario are listed. These take precedence over any Basic or Optional Rule for this Scenario.

Playing Notes: A brief description of the general course of play in this Scenario, with suggested tactics and advantages to exploit for each Player.

Variations: Suggested modifications and extensions Players may wish to experiment with. Suitable Optional Rules and their effects are also described.

t

Possible Configuration of Ramjet Spacecraf

13 THE SCENARIOS 13.1 SCENARIO 1 — RACE This is the introductory Scenario to Orion, presented as a simple task so that Players can concentrate on learning how to pilot a ramship. Players: Up to 4 Planets: Each Player has one Home Planet only, chosen from the following hexes: 532, 722, 1535, and 2036. Also 3 Neutral Colonies at 608, 1412, 2013. Fleets: Each Player has one Type 1 ramship, which starts at their Home Planet. EOT Limit: 60 Victory Conditions: The first Player to Raid a Neutral Colony, and then return to his Home Planet wins. If no Player does, it is a draw. Game Length: 25 Game-Turns. Special Rules: Colonies may not be Assaulted. Playing Notes: There is little strategy in this Scenario, and basically you must decide whether to go for a Colony or attack another ramship first. You will soon discover how important RV is in Combat; for Type 1 ramships, in most cases you must keep the RV down to 4 to prevent your opponent Evading. You will also find that with equal forces of identical ramships, neither Player has any advantage in Combat, unless you can set up a ‘hit-and-run’ situation (see Tactical Hints, Designer’s Notes) This is best done by attacking in Region D with a higher Proper Speed (and hence higher Maneuverability) than your opponent. Once he is damaged, you can capitalize on the Damage effects on Maneuverability to get an advantage. Variations: Try any Optional Rules in this Scenario. You might also try moving the Colonies. Placing them in the E or F Regions will produce a quite different game, something like ‘hide and seek’. Other developments can easily turn this into a more challenging Scenario. Try requiring ramships to fly past all 3 Colonies, without having to stop at each one. Even with only a single ramship, you can make this a tough test of piloting skill.

13.2 SCENARIO 2 — ESCAPE The scientists have convinced the politicians that deep space exploration is a vote winner. They fund a great expedition from the Home Planet in M43 to another nebula in the Orion I Association of gas clouds. To travel the distance before the crew grow too old, a ramship must leave the Great Nebula at 95% the speed of light, and coast through the thin inter-nebula gas. A jealous technocratic civilization in M42 hears of the plan, and is determined not to be upstaged. They haven’t yet developed ramships fast enough to beat the Explorer, so he must be stopped by fair means or foul. Players: 2 — Explorer and Blockader. Explorer moves first. Planets: Explorer — Home Planet 2036 Blockader — Home Planet 431 Fleets: Explorer — Two Type 2 Blockader — Three Type 1

EOT Limit: Type 2 — 110 Type 1 — 80 Victory Conditions: The Explorer Player wins if he can exit one ramship off the Eastern edge of the Mapsheet, with a Proper Speed at least 18, and a Velocity Vector due East or one hex off due East (i.e., -106, -6, or +95 on the Plotting Card). The ramship may not Accelerate or Turn on the Game-Turn it leaves the Mapsheet. If he has not achieved this by Game-Turn 25, the Blockader wins. Game Length: 25 Game-Turns Playing Notes: This Scenario requires very careful planning by the Explorer to achieve the required speed. This can be done by a pass through either the A and B Regions of M42, or through the E Region, entering at Proper Speed at least 6. Both routes are about equally

effective, but you must get at least 3 turns of Acceleration in these Regions. You will find Turning becomes increasingly difficult at these high speeds. As the Blockader, you should lay in wait at these critical places and then Accelerate to engage the enemy ramships, or at least force them to deviate from the best course. At high speed, matching Velocity vectors is vital to getting a low RV. You will probably get only one chance with each of your ramships, so hit hard, and hit Power System. Variations: If Optional Rule 16 is used, the Explorer’s Proper Speed requirement should be dropped from 18 to 17.5. Rule 18 will restrict Missile fighting capacity. Other Optional Rules may be tried but. do not affect the course of play much.

This Scenario can also be tried solitaire. As the Explorer, achieving the required Proper Speed is a challenge in itself, even without enemy harassment. Having accomplished this, try to see just how high you can get your Proper Speed; aim for 20, although this is extremely difficult to get.

13.3 SCENARIO 3 — REBELLION The Dictator rules his Colonies with a firm but fair hand (at least in his opinion), but the Rebels will be satisfied with nothing less than complete independence. A daring rebellion succeeds on one Colony and even captures the Dictator’s Frontier Fleet sent to quash it. The Rebels use the fleet to spread the word to the other Colonies; but the determined Dictator is always hot on their heels. After 30 years, the Dictator still holds sway; but the seeds have been sown for future revolution. Players: 2— Rebel and Dictator. Rebel moves first. Planets: Rebel — Colony at 531 (Defense Strength 3) Dictator — Home Planet 1634; Colonies at 1130, 1337, 1643, 1728, 2241, 2246, 2335, 2745 (all Defense Strength 3) Fleets: Rebel — Four Type 1 (531) Dictator — Four Type 1 (1634) EOT Limit: 60 Replacements: Dictator only— every 6 turns Victory Conditions: The Rebel wins if he can Raid any 7 of the Dictator’s 8 Colonies. A Colony taken by Assault and still held by the Rebel at the end of the game may be counted in these 7. Game Length: 15 Game-Turns Special Rules:

a) The Rebel has no Home Planet and thus cannot Overhaul. His ramships start the game with EOT of 6.

b) The Dictator’s ramships may not move in the first 2 Game-Turns (he does not yet know of the rebellion).

Playing Notes: In this short Scenario, neither Player can afford to waste any time. The Rebel should split up his force to Raid Colonies as quickly as possible. Those in the E and F Regions will be easiest. As the Dictator, you should engage in Combat wherever possible, even at a disadvantage; remember you can Refit. and Replace. This is a fairly well balanced Scenario with only a slight advantage to the Dictator. Until the last few turns, either Player might still win. Variations: Optional Rule 15 gives a distinct advantage to the Rebels. In return, you might give the Dictator an extra ramship, or make Rebel ramships Type 3. Being so short a game, most other Optional Rules have little effect. One interesting variation is to use Proper Time (Optional Rule 24), and have each Rebel ramship surrender when its Proper Time exceeds 120, rather than ending at Game-Turn 15. Alternatively, use a die roll to determine surrender, with a probability based on Proper Time.

13.4 SCENARIO 4 — FLAG RAISING The inner regions of the Orion Nebula have been found desolate of habitable planets so the rush is on to grab remote planets and plant the imperial flag for prospective future colonies. Naturally, claim jumping becomes rife and the expeditionary fleet admirals take their own retaliatory action. At first, the governments ignore this, but after 50 years they finally take action. A peace treaty is signed, and all fleets are

ordered to cease aggression. Then they take stock of the outposts they hold. Players: 3 or 4. Planets: Each Player has one Home Planet, chosen from the hexes 432, 1533, 2034, 2340. One Player must take 1533. Neutral Outposts at 125, 215, 423, 713, 1009, 1018, 1124, 1314, 1628, 1819, 1915, 2128, 2524. 2535, 2719, 2943, 3024, 3136, 3330. Fleets: Each Player — Four Type 2 EOT Limit: 80 Replacements: Every 10 turns Victory Conditions: Each Player scores 1 VP for every Outpost he Controls at the end of the Game. However, a Player may not count an Outpost for Victory if he has already counted another one within 8 hexes of it. Any set of Controlled Outposts with none within 8 hexes of another is legal for Victory Conditions. The Player with the greatest number of VPs wins. Game Length: 35 Game-Turns Special Rules:

a) Each Controlled Outpost must be Supplied once every 8 Game-Turns. Keep a record of the turn you last Supplied or Claimed each Outpost. Any Outpost that has not been Supplied for 8 Game-Turns reverts to Neutral in the PT Phase of the owning Player’s Player-Turn.

b) At the end of Game-Turn 25, any ramship that is within 6 hexes of 1533 becomes ‘Pacified’. At the end of Game-Turn 26, any within 12 hexes is Pacified, and so on, the Pacification range increasing by 6 hexes per turn, until all ramships are Pacified.

c) A Pacified ramship cannot have a Combat Encounter; it cannot attack or be attacked. It cannot Claim or Supply a Neutral or enemy Outpost, but it may still Supply friendly ones. The owning Player does not have to Plot for a Pacified ramship, but may move it as he sees fit (see 10.1.2) in all Game-Turns after its Pacification.

Playing Notes: In this Scenario, you must balance your tasks of taking and keeping Outposts, and harassing enemy ramships doing the same. It is a good idea to take many Outposts early, to deny them to other Players. A ramship that has to stop to Claim an enemy-held Outpost is vulnerable in Region D. You will spend much of your time in Region D, and will be plagued by Induced Drag. A good flight plan is to Accelerate to Proper Speed 8 or 9, and head out in a wide sweeping turn, Supplying Outposts as you pass, then back into the denser Regions to regain the speed you lost. The end game, after turn 25, is just keeping your own Outposts Supplied; remember you can gain no more by Supply or Claim. Variations: Optional Detection Rule 17 can make this make this a ‘hide-and-seek’ game. The strategic Rules 19 to 21 can add to Player interaction, and make the Scenario quite complex and challenging. Rule 24 might be of interest, as ramships may well attain high speeds, as described in the Playing Notes. You can try this Scenario with more than 4 Players, making some extra ramship counters, but then you will need a few more Outposts to go around.

13.5 SCENARIO 5 — INVASION The great Empire and its peace have reigned for as long as the Colonists can remember. They are quite unprepared when a distant civilization, in search of conquests, suddenly unleashes its secretly constructed fleet. Suddenly they are distant no more. The first Colonies fall, and the Invader builds up their defenses with forced labor. The Empire fails to inspire any better defensive effort in its Colonies, so it uses its resources to enlarge the navy. Players: 2 — Invader and Empire. Invader moves first. Planets: Invader — Home Planet 1934

Colonies 1127, 2132 (Defense Strength 7) Empire — Home Planet 2012

Colonies 311, 421, 618, 709 1317, 1412, 1422, 1917, 2123, 2629, 3028 (Defense Strength 1)

Fleets: Invader — Four Type 4 Empire — Four Type 5 EOT Limit: 50 Replacements: Every 10 turns Reinforcements: Empire only—one Type 5 on turns 10 and 18 Victory Conditions: The Invader scores 1 VP for each of the 11 Colonies originally Controlled by the Empire that he Controls at the end of the game, and captured no later than Game-Turn 28. The Invader wins if he has 5 VP at the end of the game; otherwise the Empire wins. Game Length: 30 Game-Turns Special Rules: In this Scenario, the maximum Defense Strength of a Colony depends on who currently Controls it, rather than its initial Strength. For any Colony Controlled by the Invader this maximum is 7; for the Empire it is 1. The Colony’s Defense Strength increases by 1 per turn up to 7 only while the Invader Controls it. Playing Notes: In this Scenario, the Invader can use the Plotting Rules to his advantage; a high-speed penetration can hit the Imperial Player’s Colonies while he is still restricted by his initial Plots. Take as many Colonies early on as you can, before the Reinforcements arrive. The Imperial Player must decide whether to attack the Invading ramships or follow up and retake his Colonies. If you wait too long, a Colony becomes almost impossible to take back. There are 2 other factors in this Scenario. Firstly, the Invader’s ramships have higher Maneuverability, and will fight at an advantage at an RV of 5 or 6. Secondly, the low EOT limit will cause problems for heavy engine users. Variations: The comments in Scenario 4 concerning Optional Rules 17 and 19 also apply here. Rule 16 is appropriate to this Scenario, and causes ramships to become sluggish about mid-game, and the Reinforcements become very effective. This Scenario could also be tried as a multi-player variant, dividing each Player’s force into 2 fleets.

13.6 SCENARIO 8 — PIRACY As an alternative possibility to Scenario 4, rich and fertile planets have been found and colonized in the inner regions of the nebula. On tourism and rare commodities, the Merchant has risen to power in a wealthy civilization. The jealous race in M43 haven’t the resources to risk a war, but secretly provide privateers with specially modified ramships to raid the Merchant’s commerce. Not being officially at war, the Merchant cannot call on the Federation Navy; but acquires and mans some obsolescent earlier model ramships. Players: 2 — Pirate and Merchant Empire. Pirate moves first. Planets: Pirate — Home Planet 530;

5 Colonies (Defense Strength 1) see Special Rules. Merchant — Home Planet 2234;

Colonies 826, 1023, 1230, 1730, 1736, 2431, 2438, 2545, 3047 (all Defense Strength 5)

Fleets: Pirate — Two Type 4 (at 530) Merchant — Four Type 3 EOT Limit: Pirate — 50 Merchant — 60 Replacements: Pirate — every 10 turns Merchant — every 8 turns Victory Conditions: A Pirate ramship plunders 1 Victory Point each time it Raids one of the original Merchant Colonies. The VP is not actually claimed by the Pirate until it is transported to one of the Pirate Colonies (not Home Planet) to ‘bury the treasure’, which is done as a PT. VPs not so claimed by the end of the game are lost. A ramship may make any number of Raids, and carry any number of VPs, before having the PT and claiming them. The same Colony may be Raided any number of times by any number of ramships. VPs may be transferred between ramships in the same TF.

The Pirate wins if he has 4 VPs at the end of the game. Otherwise, the Merchant wins. Game Length: 30 Game-Turns Special Rules:

1) Pirate ramships do not suffer Dust Damage (see 6.5), or Contact Surface Damage (see 6.4).

2) The Pirate’s 5 Colonies may be placed anywhere in Region E or F. He must decide on and record their position before the game starts, but does not place their counters on the Mapsheet. A Colony is discovered by the Merchant and the Pirate Player must announce its presence immediately if: a) In the Merchant’s Plotting Phase, a Detectable Pirate ramship

(see 10.3) had a PT with the Colony in its immediately preceding Player-Turn; or

b) At the end of the Merchant’s Movement Phase, he has a ramship with Proper Speed zero in the same hex as the Colony. In this event, the Merchant ramship may immediately Assault the Colony, and apply Rule 10.4. A Pirate Colony is permanently Eliminated if successfully Assaulted.

3) Being basically civilians, the Merchant ramships’ crews have less discipline than the Federation Navy, and require frequent ‘shore leave’. They operate on ‘tours of duty’ of 8 Game-Turns. Any ramship that has not, had a Refit or Overhaul in the last 8 Game-Turns may not assign Fighters to Attack, discover or Assault a Pirate Colony. or Relay Detection.

Playing Notes: For the Pirate Player, this is very much a game of stealth. Generally you should avoid Combat. Use the concealment of Regions E and F to keep the enemy guessing, by frequent course changing and feint attacks at Colonies. A useful tactic is to place some of your hidden Colonies along the Contact Surface, so that you can Detect Merchant ramships without revealing yourself. For the Merchant Empire, the tactic is just to track down and hit the Pirates. You might also try tracking down his Colonies and Assaulting them—this prevents him from claiming Victory Points and removes his Detection advantage. Variations: Optional Rule 15 gives a definite advantage to the Pirate. It is suggested to give the Merchant Type 1 ramships to compensate. This Scenario is ideal for experimenting with Rule 22.

13.7 SCENARIO 7 — EMPIRE AT BAY The North and South races have never seen eye-to-eve due to their physical differences, but had agreed to keep their distance. Things changed when the Central Power rapidly expanded into an extensive empire, despite its relatively weak navy. North and South agree they must attack now, before the Central Power navy is built up. An alliance is formed; but at heart, each wants to grab as much of the spoils as it can. Players: 3— North Ally, South Ally, and the Central Power of Orion. Player-Turns in that order. Planets: North Ally — Home Planet 312

Colonies 806, 1114 (Defense Strength 4) South Ally — Home Planet 3206

Colonies 1712, 2120 (Defense Strength 4) Central Power — Home Planet 1735

Colonies 130, 428, 634, 722, 930, 1327, 1421, 2032. 2439, 2630, 2846

Fleets: North Ally — Three Type 4 South Ally — Three Type 4 Central Power — Three Type 1 EOT Limit: Central Power—80 N & S Ally—60 Replacements: — every 15 turns Reinforcements: Central Power—one Type 1 on turns 12, 17, and 22. North Ally—one Type 4 on turn 25 South Ally one Type 4 on turn 20

Victory Conditions: Each of the Allied Players receive 2 VPs for each one of the original Central Power Colonies they Control at the end of the game. The Central Power receives 1 VP for every one he Controls. The Player with the highest VP total wins. Game Length: 35 Game-Turns. Special Rules:

1) The Central Power’s initial Colonies have a total initial Defense Strength of 25 points, distributed between them in any manner. He must decide on and record the distribution at the beginning of the game. The Defense Strength of a Colony is not revealed to another Player until they Assault the Colony. After beginning the Assault and being told the Defense Strength, the Assaulting Player must either: a) Attack, and roll for AU losses on Table 1; or b) Abort and lose 1 AU. The Colony’s Defense Strength remains

unchanged. 2) If an Allied Player attempts to Claim a Colony, and is

unsuccessful (i.e., Defense Strength is greater than zero), he is not told the Defense Strength.

3) The North and South Allies are have a non-aggression pact, which restricts them as follows: a) Neither may Assault or Claim a Colony currently Controlled

by the other. b) Encounters between Allied TF are ignored—they cannot

have Combat. c) Each ignores the other’s ramships for the purposes of

Plotting, Rule 10.2. Only Central Power ramships are considered ‘enemy ramships’.

For all other purposes, they behave as separate Players; they move separately, cannot combine to form a single TF, and cannot use each other’s Colonies or Home Planets for Refit or Overhaul, or exchange AUs. They keep separate VP scores and only one of them can win.

Playing Notes: The Central Power is likely to be fighting this Scenario on 2 fronts. Initially, his fleet may be too small and he may do best to concentrate on one opponent first, destroying or crippling its fleet, and waiting for Reinforcements to attack the other. A good distribution of Colony strengths is useful here, leaving one area well defended with strong Colonies. Remember, however, that if a strong Colony is taken, it will be hard to take back. As an Ally Player, you should take as many Colonies early in the game. before the Central Power gets its Reinforcements. These will be invaluable as Refit stations later on. Remember that you have a performance advantage in Regions C and D, and Colonies here will be easiest to take (although they may also have the greatest Defense Strength). Strong Colonies may be taken by a combined Assault, first by one Player to reduce the Defense Strength, and then by the other to actually take the Colony. This will require Communication (Optional Rule 20) to set up. This is probably the most challenging Scenario in Orion. Early planning is important, and mistakes here will be felt well into the middle of the game. However, the late Reinforcements can make the end game critical, so don’t give up when the going gets tough. Remember, your Assault Units are vital — try not to lose them, or make sure you can replace them when needed. Variations: This Scenario is specifically intended for the strategic Optional Rules, 19 to 21. The Central Power will find his task somewhat harder with Rule 19, but will just have to plan more carefully. If using Rule 20, an interesting variation is to allow ceding of Colonies between Allies. A Message authorizing the cede must be transmitted to the new owner, but the Colony does not change ownership until it is received, and the new owner’s Flagship has a PT with it.

14 OPTIONAL RULES The following rules are provided to add extra scope and realism to the game, at the expense of extra complexity. Players may use any or all of these rules at their discretion, although they are advised to get some experience with the basic rules first. Rule 15 is an improved Movement system which is recommended to all Players once they have mastered the Basic system. Rules 16 to 18 cover some extra details and alternative assumptions on ramship technology. Rules 19 to 21 further develop the influence of Relativity on strategic matters, and are recommended for multi-player games. Finally, 22 to 24 are open-ended Rules, which are not clearly defined, but encourage Players to experiment.

15 ADVANCED MOVEMENT RULE A vector movement system works well, and is almost essential, to accurately model wide sweeping turns, but in tight turns it becomes inaccurate. You may notice this particularly with U-turns, which are much sharper than they should be. There are also problems with stopping and starting. You enter the hex you want to stop in the turn before, still at some speed, and then spend an entire Player-Turn just stopping in the hex. Also, when Accelerating from a standing start, you should not travel the full length of your velocity vector, as you take time to build up speed. Some modifications can clear up these problems, at the expense of the velocity and movement vector’s no longer being identical. Keep a record of each ramship s velocity vector in the 3rd column of the Log, by using the code on the Plotting Card. For example, a velocity vector of 4 hexes due south would be recorded as ‘+402’.

15.1 SEQUENCE OF MOVEMENT The sequence of 5.4 is now modified as follows:

Al: Instead of ‘leapfrogging’ the counters, place the new Present counter so that it forms the head of the velocity vector recorded for the last Player-Turn, with the other counter as the tail.

A2&A3: As in 5.4. A4: Turn as in 5.4, but if you turn more than 60° (i.e., your Turning

exceeds your Map Speed), drop an Arrow counter in the hex at the 60° point as you go through. Also, regardless of your Turning Allowance, you may not Turn more than 180° (i.e., 3 times your Map Speed).

A5: Move the Present counter, as in 5.4. Also move the Arrow counter back towards the Previous hex to be the same distance from it. The positions of the Previous and Present counters now define the new velocity vector. Record it on the Log.

A5b: Then, move the Present counter as follows: a) If you turned more than 60°, but did not Brake to Map Speed

zero, place it in the hex midway between its present location and the Arrow counter. If there is no exact midway hex, place it in the one closer to the Arrow counter. if this is still ambiguous, choose the hex further from the Previous counter.

b) If your initial Proper Speed was less than 1 (a standing start), Contract your movement vector by 1 hex; except do not change a vector of length 1 hex, and reduce a vector of length 5 to 3.

c) If you Braked to Map Speed zero, move it out along the vector shaft towards where the Arrow counter, if present, was at the end of A4; if not used, towards where the Present counter was. Move it at least one hex, but no further than half way (unless your Map Speed at A4 was 1, in which case you must move it out 1 hex).

Your movement vector is now defined, going from the Previous to Present counters.

A6 & A7: As in 5.4. Note that with this system, you do move in the Player-Turn that you Brake to speed zero. This does not prevent you having a PT. Note also that if you turn no more than 60°, and do not stop or start, there is no difference from the Basic Rules (5.4).

15.1.1 Note that the Basic Rules referred to movement and velocity vectors interchangeably, as they were one and the same. Now they are different, but the one referred to in any Basic Rule or other Optional Rule is still correct. For example in 5.3, use the Shaft of the movement, not velocity vector.

15.1.2 EXAMPLE: A ramship has Present hex 2728 and Previous hex 2926, with Proper Speed 5, and Velocity Vector last turn of +4.

Al: Leapfrog by the Velocity Vector, to hex 2732. A2: Estimate Region D. A3: No Acceleration. A4: Turn 9 hexes to 2424 (actually this exceeds any ramship

Performance, but is just for illustration). Drop an Arrow counter in hex 2328, being 4 hexes turning from 2732.

A5: Brake by 1 to Proper Speed 4, moving Present counter to 2525. This defines Velocity Vector as —203. Also move Arrow to 2428.

A5b: a) applies, but either 2527 or 2426 could be midway. Both are the same distance from the Arrow, so select the one further from the Previous hex, 2426. Place Present counter here.

A6: Check Region in hexes 2728, 2627, and 2527. Alternatively, if it had Braked to Speed zero in A5, the final Present Position would have been 2628 or 2528, at Player’s choice.

15.2 PERFORMANCE CHART: For ramship Types 2, 4, and 5, the Acceleration Allowances in the PC are reduced for use in the Basic Rules to compensate for the ‘standing start’ problem. Change them to the following (but do not exceed the Regional Limit):

Proper Speed 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Type 2 7.5 7 6 5.5 5 4.5 4 3.5 Type 4 3 2.4 1.8 1.5 1 1 0.8 0.8 Type 5 3.5 2.5 2 1.5 1.2 1 1 0.8

15.3 PLANETARY TRANSACTIONS: To compensate for the reduced time it will now usually take to go to and stop at a Planet, the following PTs now require two Player-Turns to complete. That is, you must conduct these PTs for two consecutive Player-Turns at the same Planet:

Overhaul, Refit at a Colony (but not at Home Planet), Refuel at an Enemy or Neutral Colony, or any Outpost, Assault, when successful.

Other PTs need only one Player-Turn.

15.3.1 If your only operation in a Refit is to replace AUs, and you do not repair Damage, it requires only one Player-Turn. Also, a Refitting ramship must refuse any Encounter and may not Defend against Assault until completing the Refit.

15.3.2 In a successful Assault, the Colony changes Control immediately, but at least one AU or ramship must stay an extra turn as garrison.

15.4 ENCOUNTER CONDITIONS: Encounter Condition 8.2b no longer applies, Encounters occur only by 8.2a.

15.5 TASK FORCES: Requirements 8.la) and b) are replaced by:

a) The ramships must have the same Present position; b) Their velocity vectors and Proper Speeds must be identical.

In this case, they may form a TF in their Present hex only; for an Encounter in any other hex they are not considered a TF. If, in addition to a) and b) above, their movement vectors are also identical, they may form a TF over their entire movement vector.

15.6 RELATIVE VELOCITY: Use the velocity vectors for both TFs to position the Arrow counters in 8.6a.

16 GRADUAL POWER PLANT DEGRADATION In the Basic Rules, the Power Plant suddenly becomes inoperative when EOT reaches its limit. In practice, there would be a gradual degradation in performance. To simulate this, apply extra Power Hits to the ramship as its EOT increases, and use the Power Damage Rule 6.2.lc)iii) to reduce Acceleration Allowance.

16.1.1 EXTRA POWER HITS: This table gives the EOT value which, when reached, causes the number of extra Power Hits in the top. It depends on the EOT limit given for the ramship in the Scenario details.

Base the number of extra Hits on EOT at the beginning of the Player-Turn.

16.1.2 Do not record the extra Hits as Damage in column 4 of the Log. However, when calculating Acceleration Allowance, use the total of Hits from Damage and from the table in 16.1.1.

16.1.3 The value from 6.2.lc)iii) may not drop below 20% of the basic A Region value unless the ramship has 5 Power Hits, or the EOT value in the last column of the table in 16.1. In either case, Acceleration Allowance then drops to zero.

16.1.4 When calculating Power Damage effects in Regions E and F (Rule 6.2.2), do not add extra Hits for EOT.

17 DETECTION AND TRACKING In the Basic game, a ramship is Detectable from any distance, providing there are no E or F Region hexes in the way. This may seem unrealistic, over distances of 15 light years or more, but remember the ramship’s power plant is more powerful than all the Earth’s current power stations combined. Even when not using its power plant, there will be electromagnetic emissions from gas collected by the ramscoop, and the bright stars in the Orion Nebula will provide illumination even that far out. This Rule treats detection in a more realistic way, at the expense of requiring more frequent Plotting. It assumes that the main clues to Detection are emissions from the power plant and ramscoop, and that once Detected, a ramship can be Tracked by its reflection of light from the major star groups in the Nebula, in hexes 532, 1834 and 2037, which shall be referred to as ‘Stars’ in this Rule.

17.1 DETECTION A ramship is Detected if, in its immediately preceding Player-Turn, it:

a) Accelerated, at any range; or b) Turned or Braked, and is within Detection Range of the Detecting

friendly Unit. 17.1.1 DETECTION RANGE: 6 hexes for a ramship, 8 hexes for a Colony, and 10 hexes for a Home Planet. Treat each intervening hex of Region E as 2 hexes. An enemy ramship may also be Detected by a friendly Outpost, but only if it Claims the Outpost.

17.1.2 Keep a record of which enemy ramships each of your ramships has Detected. Update this each Game-Turn, deleting enemy ramships if they become undetectable.

17.1.3 At the beginning of the game, consider all enemy ramships Undetectable, and thus Plot your first 4 Game-Turns for all ramships, in 3.3c).

17.2 TRACKING: Once Detected, a ramship remains Detected as long as it is within Tracking Range of the Detecting unit on each subsequent Game-Turn.

17.2.1 Once an enemy ramship is no longer within Tracking Range during your Plotting Phase, at becomes Undetectable and remains so until it is again Detected by 17.1. This applies even if it moves back within Tracking Range (even into the same hex).

17.2.2 TRACKING RANGE: This depends on the closest distance the enemy ramship has been from a Star in its last Movement Phase. Take the hex of the ramship’s movement vector shaft (including Present but not Previous) closest to Star. Range for Tracking by one of the Active Player’s ramships is given in this table:

17.2.3 Ignore any Star if their is any Region E or F hex on the Shaft of the vector going from the enemy ramship you are attempting to Detect to that Star (including the ramship’s hex). The ramship is in shadow from that Star. If a ramship is in shadow from all Stars, its Tracking Range is just the Detection Range for the Detecting unit.

17.2.4 Tracking range for a Friendly Colony is twice that in the above table; and for the Active Player’s Home Planet is 3 times.

17.3 EFFECT OF GLARE Glare from the ionized gas can impair Tracking. This only applies if the enemy ramship is closer to the nearest Star than the Active Player’s Detecting unit (ramship, Colony or Home Planet) is, and the vector shaft going from the enemy ramship to the Tracking unit includes hexes of Region A (including the end hexes). If 1-3 hexes of Region A, the Tracking Range is halved. If more than 3 hexes, Tracking Range is quartered. However, Tracking range is never less than the Detection range for the Tracking unit.

17.4 COMING ‘OUT OF THE SUN’ If an enemy ramship is in the same direction as a Star, it can be hidden by the Star’s light. Consider the shaft of a vector going from your Detecting unit to a Star. Extend this vector beyond the Star, if necessary. Any enemy ramship that lies on this shaft and is more than 2 hexes from the Detecting unit is not Detectable or Trackable, unless it Accelerated (as in 17.la). Also, any enemy ramship within one hex of this shaft, and 7 or more hexes from the Detecting unit, it is not Detectable or Trackable.

17.4.1 If the enemy ramship is also closer to the Star than to the Detecting unit, it is not Detectable even if it Accelerated.

17.5 RELAY Detection of an enemy ramship can be Relayed, as in 10.3.1, but only for the purposes of Rule 10.2; do not record it as Detected by the ramship being Relayed to. An enemy ramship Detected by Relay cannot be Tracked; to remain Detected, this must be Relayed every Game-Turn.

17.5.1 Detection can be Relayed from any friendly unit that has Detected and is Tracking the enemy ramship.

17.5.2 The final segment of the Relay path (going to the ramship being Plotted) may be extended to 6 hexes in length (rather than 3, as in 10.3.3), provided you write a Plot for Game-Turn ‘n + 1’ (see 10.2) for that ramship, even if it is not specifically required by Rule 10.2.

17.5.3 TRANSFER: Detection of an enemy ramship may be Transferred to a friendly ramship if it can be Relayed, and the last Relaying unit in the Relay path occupies the same hex as either: a) the enemy ramship, or b) the ramship being Relayed to. Once Transferred, the enemy’s Detection may be recorded for the ramship Transferred to, which may then Track it.

Extra Power Hits EOT Limit in Scenario 1 2 3 4 5

50 25 40 55 65 75 60 30 55 80 100 115 80 40 70 100 125 140

110 50 80 110 130 150

Distance of enemy to nearest Star Tracking Range more than 18 hexes 6 hexes

12-17 hexes 8 hexes 7-11 hexes 11 hexes 4-6 hexes 16 hexes

less than 4 hexes 24 hexes

17.6 COMBAT A ramship cannot have a Combat Encounter in its own Player-Turn with an enemy ramship it has not Detected. If it is Encountered in an enemy’s Player-Turn, then that enemy ramship automatically becomes Detected.

17.7 REPLACEMENTS AND REINFORCEMENTS

If you are expecting any of these, keep a record of which enemy ramships are Detected by your Home Planet. These are automatically Transferred to any new ramship produced there.

18 MISSILE SUPPLY Missiles are replenished from the interstellar gas collected by the ramscoop. This is mainly hydrogen, which penetrates armor better than any other element at near-light speeds, and thus makes good Missiles. This Rule treats Missile usage and Replenishment in more detail.

18.1 MISSILE LOG Use the last column of a ramship’s Log to record how many Missiles it is carrying, and adjust it for Missiles used in Combat, and for Replenishment. The maximum number that can be held at one time is 5.

18.2 REPLENISHMENT Any number of Missiles may be Replenished in flight in any Region, provided the ramship has less than 8 Scoop Hits, Proper Speed at least 1, and did no Scoop Repair that turn. Missiles may also be fully Replenished by Overhaul, Refit and Refuel PTs. Replenishment occurs during the Movement Phase or PT Phase, as applicable. It must be Plotted, if required by Rule 10.2.

18.2.1 REPLENISHMENT DRAG: When a ramship Replenishes in flight, it must Brake by at least 2% of its Proper Speed at the end of Step A3 (see 5.4), for each Missile. Thus, to Replenish all 5 Missiles, it must Brake by 10%. This is in addition to any Induced Drag it may incur.

18.3 DEUTERIUM MISSILES Deuterium, a heavier isotope of hydrogen, is even more penetrating, but scarce in interstellar gas. You may wish to include this extra option. Record Deuterium and normal Missiles separately on the Log, the maximum total being 5. Deuteriurn Missiles may be Replenished only by Overhaul or Refit. When used in Combat, a Deuterium Missile does the Damage of a normal Missile at 1.5 times the Relative Velocity (rounding down). For example, if the Relative Velocity is 5, roll on the 7 column on Table 4.

18.4 TRITIUM MISSILES If you want to be really exotic, you can allow the use of Tritium, the most penetrating isotope of all. It does not occur naturally, but has to be manufactured, and decays with a half-life of 12 years. It should be made available at the Home Planet only, and then in limited quantities. Use twice the Relative Velocity on Table 4. To simulate decay, any Tritium Missile should be treated as a Deuterium Missile if it has been on board for 12 years and as a normal Missile after another 12 years. Note that Proper Time should be used here (see Rule 24).

19 COMMAND CONTROL In the Basic Rules, you take on the role of the Commander of each ramship when you move or Plot for that ramship. If your fleet is widely separated, you can violate Relativity, as you know at one time the actions of all your ramships, whereas the individual Commanders would not. This Optional Rule is designed to extend Relativity into the strategic area: the command control of your entire fleet.

19.1 FLAGSHIPS Each Player must, at the beginning of the Game, select one of his ramships to be his Flagship. The Player takes on the role of fleet commander, and is assumed to actually occupy the Flagship. The other ramships shall be referred to as Subordinates.

19.2 PATROLS Each Subordinate must be assigned a Patrol, and a record of this kept. Patrols remain in force until replaced by a new Patrol assignment. A Patrol may be either a specific hex on the Mapsheet, or it may be the Flagship. Each Subordinate’s initial Patrol must be decided at the beginning of the game. Penalties in Combat and Plotting apply to Subordinates straying too far from their Patrols.

19.3 COMBAT RESTRICTIONS A Subordinate may not assign its Fighter to Attack in any Combat Encounter, nor may it conduct any Assault, Claim or Raid if it is more than 6 hexes from its Patrol, with the following exception: A Subordinate may pursue and Attack any enemy ramship that came within 6 hexes of the Subordinate while the Subordinate was within 6 hexes of its Patrol. As long as the Subordinate ends its Movement Phase within 6 hexes of an enemy ramship on each subsequent turn, it may Attack with its Fighter in an Encounter. However, if at the end of its Movement Phase there is no enemy within 6 hexes, the Subordinate may not again Attack until it returns to within 6 hexes of its Patrol.

19.4 PLOTTING When it comes the Plotting Phase of your Player-Turn, Plot for your Flagship first. Plot normally, as described in Rule 10.2. Subordinates may be used for Relays, as described in 10.3. Assignments of Patrols to Subordinates must be Plotted in advance; record the Subordinate’s identity number, and the Patrol as a hex number or ‘Flagship’.

19.5 PLOTTING SUBORDINATES After the Flagship, Plot for your Subordinates. Use the procedure of 10.2, modified as follows:

a) Distances to enemy ramships must be counted through your Flagship. That is, count hexes from the nearest (to your Flagship) Detectable enemy, to your Flagship, then to the Subordinate. Use the location the Flagship will be in during the Game- Turn you are Plotting, not its current location. If the Flagship was not Plotted that many turns ahead, use its last Plotted position. Detection may be Relayed to the Flagship through any Subordinate.

b) The maximum number of Game-Turns ahead you must Plot is increased from 4 to 6. That is, continue the procedure of 10.2 to Steps F5 and F6, for 30 and 36 hexes respectively.

The provisions of 10.4 still apply to Subordinates.

You may delete all Plots for a Subordinate if, at the end of your Movement Phase, it is within 6 hexes of both its Patrol and a Detectable enemy ramship, as described in 19.3. You are not required to Plot for it whilst it remains within 6 hexes of any Detectable enemy ramship, but you must revert to the Rule 19.5 if you find it more than 6 hexes from any Detectable enemy ramship after your Movement Phase.

19.6 ASSIGNMENT OP NEW PATROLS Patrols are assigned by the Flagship, and must be transmitted to the Subordinate. When transmitting a new Patrol assignment, the Player must announce it, and state the Subordinate that is to receive it. The actual Patrol need not be revealed. The new Patrol does not become effective for the Subordinate until the assignment is received. 19.6.1 TRANSMISSION: The Flagship may transmit any Patrol assignments at the end of the owner’s Player-Turn. The transmission of Patrol assignments by the Flagship must itself be Plotted in advance, if required by 10.2, when Plotting for the Flagship.

19.6.2 RECEPTION: The new Patrol does not replace the old until it is received by the Subordinate. Reception is determined at the end of the owner’s Player-Turn.

a) If the Subordinate has not made use of 19.5.1 or 10.4 to delete or obviate Plotting at any time since receiving its current Patrol, or it currently satisfies 19.5.1; then the new Patrol is received when 1 Game-Turn has elapsed since transmission for every 6 hexes, or part thereof, that separates the Subordinate’s current hex from the hex the Flagship occupied when transmitting the assignment. Imagine the assignment as a light beam moving at 6 hexes per turn, during the owner’s Player-Turn.

b) If it has used 19.5.1 or 10.4, but is not currently satisfying 19.5.1, then the assignment may not be received until 1 Game-Turn has elapsed for every 6 hexes from the Flagship’s location at transmission to the current Patrol hex, and then for every 3 hexes from there to the Subordinate (or part thereof in both cases). (This is a penalty to encourage returning to Patrol). If the current Patrol is the Flagship, then use 1 Game-Turn per 3 hexes to Subordinate from either current Flagship location, or hex at transmission, whichever is closer.

19.7 PASSING FLAG The Flag may be freely passed between ramships in the same TF. It is not necessary to record which one is the Flagship. The Flag need only be assigned when the TF splits up, and this need not be revealed to other Players.

19.8 LOSS OF FLAGSHIP If your Flagship’s entire TF is Eliminated by Combat or otherwise, then the Flag is lost. Transmitted but as yet un-received assignments apply as normal, but no more may be transmitted. Patrols of ‘Flagship’ are changed to the hex number where the Flagship was Eliminated. Subordinates must now Plot 6 Game-Turns ahead, regardless of distances to enemy ramships, unless 19.5.1 or 10.4 applies. These conditions apply until a new Flagship appears.

19.8.1 A new Flagship may be produced by Overhaul of any existing (or just produced) friendly ramship. The Overhaul must occur after at least 1 Game-Turn has elapsed for every 6 hexes, or part thereof, the Home Planet is distant from the old Flagship’s hex of Elimination.

20 COMMUNICATION In multi-player games, communication between Players to bargain or ally against another often crops up. In the Basic Rules of Orion, no form of ‘table talk’ is permitted, as this would go against Relativity. This Rule provides a system for communication between Players, while still keeping to the limitations that Relativity would impose.

20.1 FLAGSHIPS Players must. select one of their ramships to be their Flagship, as in Rule 19. Messages are sent between Flagships, where the fleet commanders reside. The other Command Control rules are not necessary, but Optional Rules 19 and 20 go well together.

20.1.1 Clearly, any Player who intends to communicate must reveal which is his Flagship. If it is Eliminated, he cannot communicate until it is replaced, as in 19.8.1.

20.2 MESSAGES Players must write any Message he wishes to send to another Player on a scrap of paper, and write the Message number (1 for their first Message, etc.) and the intended recipient on the back. The Message must be written during the Plotting Phase when you are Plotting for the turn in which it is to be transmitted. The Message is kept concealed until it is transmitted.

20.2.1 Transmission of the Message must be Plotted, in accordance with Rule 10.2. Write ‘Ml’ after your hex number on your Log, for the transmission of Message number 1, etc.

20.2.2 If two Flagships occupy the same hex at the end of either owner’s Player-Turn, the owners can converse freely, without having to write Messages.

20.3 TRANSMISSION Transmission of Messages occurs at the end of the transmitter’s Player-Turn. If a Player has a Message transmission Plotted for that turn, he immediately announces it, and places the Message face down in front of him, naming the intended recipient. If the Player has no Plot for that turn (as in 10.1.2), he may decide to write a Message and transmit it immediately.

20.4 RECEPTION The Message is received by the recipient’s Flagship at the end of one of his future Player-Turns. One of his Player-Turns must have passed for

every full 6 hexes that separate the receiving Flagship’s current position from the transmitter’s position at transmission. Thus, if he is within 6 hexes of the transmitter at the end of his immediately following Player-Turn, he receives the Message then. Think of the Message moving at 6 hexes per turn in the receiver’s Player-Turn.

20.5 READING The recipient may read the Message before it is actually received, as follows:

a) If the recipient had already Plotted for his Flagship the Game- Turn that he would receive the Message in, he may take the Message from the transmitting Player and read it immediately, it is transmitted.

b) If not, he must wait until he Plots the turn in which he will receive it. Once he has Plotted that turn, he may take the Message and read it.

Otherwise, if he is not required to Plot for the Game-Turn of reception, he may read the Message immediately it is received.

21 PLOTTING AFTER ASSAULTS The Basic Plotting Rules allow you to delete future Plots of a ramship that is successful in Assault (see 10.4). This allows more freedom of action than is realistic, especially when using Command Control Rules. This Optional Rule is designed to retain the Plotting restrictions, but still allow 2 courses of action depending on the outcome of an Assault.

21.1.1 When Plotting turns after a Plotted Assault, write two different sets of Plots for each ramship involved; a ‘Victory’ Plot and a ‘Defeat’ Plot. Use 2 lines on the Log, writing the Victory Plot above the Defeat Plot for each turn.

21.1.2 After the Assault is resolved, you must determine which set of Plots to follow, If the Assault failed, you must delete all the Victory Plots, and follow the Defeat set of Plots. If it was successful, you may choose which set to delete for each ramship (depending on how heavy your AU losses were). You must choose immediately, and delete either all Victory Plots or all Defeat Plots. You may choose differently for each ramship.

22 DENSE STAR FORMING CLOUDS Hexes 1136 and 1842 are very dense clumps of dust and gas, with newly born stars embedded within. They are so dense that ramships cannot safely enter them except at extremely low speed.

22.1.1 If a ramship ends its Movement in hex 1136 or 1842 at zero Proper Speed, it is assumed to be entering these areas. It must remain in that hex at zero speed during the following Game-Turn, as it slowly enters the dense cloud. Only then may it have a PT in that hex. A ramship may depart from hexes 1136 or 1842 normally, without delay.

22.1.2 If a ramship’s movement vector passes through hex 1136 or 1842, or even ends there, but its Proper Speed is 1 or greater, it. is assumed to be passing ‘above’ or ‘below’ the cloud, and not entering. It does not Encounter any ramship that has actually entered the cloud.

22.1.3 Any ramship actually in the dense clouds is considered not Detectable by any enemy ramship (it of course reveals itself when it Accelerates out of the cloud). Similarly, all enemy ramships are considered not Detectable to any ramship in a cloud. unless they Accelerated last turn (although of course Detection may be Relayed by other friendly ramships outside the cloud).

22.1.4 These dense clouds have very complex structures, and a ram- ship pilot who can avoid the densest areas is more likely to get through safely. You may wish to assume only one Player has knowledge of the clouds’ structure and require other Players to enter more slowly, having to remain stationary in the hexes for, say 3 turns instead of one.

23 COMBAT SPECIALIZED RAMSHIPS The standard ramship in the Basic Rules carries one Fighter, one Assault Unit, and five Missiles. With a small navy, it is usually the case that each vessel be required to perform all functions, and so has all 3 fighting systems. However, you may wish to allow ramships to specialize.

23.1.1 Allow a ramship to carry any 3 fighting systems, these being a Fighter, an AU, or a set of 5 Missiles. Thus, for example, you could have a ramship with 2 Fighters and 5 Missiles, or 1 Fighter and 10 Missiles, or 3 AUs.

23.1.2 Select the fighting systems each of your ramships will carry at the beginning of the game. These may then only be changed during Refit or Overhaul. Thus, a ramship specialized to carry 3 AUs may not discard an AU and take on a Fighter until its allocation is changed to 2 AUs and 1 Fighter by Refit or Overhaul. A ramship’s allocation need not be revealed to other Players until a Combat Encounter or Assault.

23.1.3 Each Fighter System a ramship carries may be used independently. Thus, one could detach and Attack, while the other remains with the ramship. Each Fighter System is also a separate Target, may be Beam attacked separately, and should have its Hits recorded separately. For Missile attacks, apply the Fighter Damage from Table 5 to all Fighters in the Defense box.

23.1.4 Each Fighter may still only release 1 Missile, regardless of the number the ramship carries. If the ramship Holds in an Encounter, then it may release all of the Missiles it carries.

23.1.5 It is suggested that some limits be placed on the degree to which a navy can be specialized. For example, do not allow the total number of any fighting system to be more than 1.5 times the number of ramships. Also, in Scenarios that do not require Assaulting Colonies, something else should take the place of the AU. Require this extra system to be used for Raid or Supply PTs.

24 PROPER TIME A ramship may spend many years in flight between Planets. No allowance is made in the Basic Rules for the aging of the crew. This could be explained by the crew hibernating most of the time, or having great longevity. However, you may prefer a non-hibernating, mortal crew, or perhaps ramship systems that wear out eventually. You must then keep a record of passing time, Proper Time to be precise, as this may pass more slowly due to the Time Dilation Effect. Keep a record of Proper Time in the 6th column of the Log. Increment it each Game-Turn after your Movement by the amount given in the table below, for your Proper Speed that turn (one unit is one fifth year). If a ramship’s Proper Time exceeds some limit, say 200 (40 years), Eliminate it, as the crew have all died. Reset Proper Time to zero at Refits and Overhauls (assuming a change of crew), but only at your Home Planet or Colonies which you Controlled initially, or have Controlled for at least 8 Game-Turns since taking by Assault (to allow for re indoctrination and training of colonists to become loyal crew.

If you want systems that wear out, try having Combat effectiveness decline with Proper Time. If a ramship’s Proper Time exceeds 80, add 1 to its actual number of Fighter Hits for all Combat calculations. Add an extra 1 for each extra 40 Proper Time units (e.g., for Proper Time 163, add 3).

Proper Speed 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Proper Time 10 10 9.5 9 8.5 7.5 7 6.5 6 5.5 5 5 4.5 4 4 3.5 3.5 3.5 3 3 3

DESIGNER’S NOTES The purpose of the game Orion was to fill two vacancies I perceived in current space war games: a game system that models the effects of Special Relativity; and the use of the interstellar ramjet propulsion system.

Einstein’s Special Relativity is the best theory we have at the moment to tell us how things behave over interstellar distances and at speeds close to that of light. Its main effects in terms of game mechanics are:

a) Information Transmission. A direct result of Einstein’s Relativity is that no information can travel faster than light. This is modeled by the Plotting Rules, which assume that the movements of enemy ramships are the most important information. Also, the Pursuit Factor is a consequence of this effect, and this makes head-on Encounters at high speed pointless if one Player does not want to fight.

b) Increased inertia at high speed. This of course prevents you from exceeding 6 hexes per turn, no matter how hard you accelerate. It also means turning becomes more difficult as your speed approaches that of light.

The interstellar ramjet concept has been theoretically studied for many years, and spacecraft using it have appeared in many science fiction works. It is generally agreed to be the most feasible way of propelling a spacecraft to near-light speeds. Ramships can add much richness to an interstellar war game, because they utilize the interstellar gas, which can appear as ‘terrain’ on the Mapsheet. This contrasts with the more usual featureless Mapsheet except for a few planets dotted around it.

THE NEBULA

The Great Nebula of Orion is a vast cloud of interstellar gas (largely hydrogen), 1500 light-years from Earth. It is a region of star formation, where massive luminous stars are born out of the cold, dark molecular gas. These stars then heat up and ionize the surrounding gas, forming a bright ‘emission nebula’ (The A and B Regions), where the density is estimated to be about 2000 ions per cubic centimeter. This expanding hot gas sends a shock wave into the dark cloud (E and F Regions), setting off the formation of a new generation of stars, still cocooned in dust and gas (hexes 1136 and 1842).

Many ‘normal’ stars (like our Sun) also form in the nebula, but like the short-lived massive stars, they will be very young (only a few million years old). Much older normal stars from outside also drift through the nebula (our own Sun may have done so a few million years ago), but these will be much less numerous than the young stars.

THE RAMSHIPS

The ramships in this game are envisaged as vehicles of about 10,000 tones mass, with a magnetic field acting as the ramscoop extending out to about 1000 km radius. The field would be produced by magnetic coils of about 1 km radius. Protons (ionized hydrogen) collected by the field are fed into a nuclear fusion reactor, and the reactions products exhausted out the rear to produce thrust. Turning and braking are done by directing either this exhaust or the incoming stream of protons by magnetic fields (so the ramship can brake and turn without using the reactor). Induced drag results from this redirection of the gas stream. In low-density gas, it must be redirected further, causing more drag. When traveling through un-ionized gas, the ramship shines an ultraviolet light ahead to ionize the gas in its path.

Performance is limited by the reactor power (which limits acceleration), structural g limits (limits turning and braking), and the gas density (which reduces all performance in low-density regions). Type 4 and 5 ramships have larger a ramscoop but lighter and less powerful reactor, and so perform better in low-density regions than Types 1, 2, or 3.

COMBAT

Combat in interstellar space can occur between ramships that come within weapons range, which of course will be very small compared to interstellar distances, or even a single Mapsheet hex. Range is envisaged to be limited by Beam weapons to about 100000 km. Note

this means that at closing speeds near to light, the battle may last less than a second, so there is no time for any maneuver in battle (although it would have been preceded by years of maneuvering).

Once an encounter has been arranged, the most important parameter (apart from number of ramships involved) is the relative velocity, which is the closing speed of one ramship relative to the other. Except for its effect on maneuverability, the speed of each ramship through the nebula is not relevant; the two ramships are equivalent and neither has any advantage. This reflects the fundamental principle (in fact The Principle of Relativity) that all inertial (i.e., traveling at or approximately at constant velocity) observers are equivalent.

Before the encounter, a ramship would detach its Fighter, and then stand off from the battle while the Fighter pursued the enemy ramship. The Fighter is essentially a small ramscoop carrying only weapons and guidance systems than can maneuver much better than a ramship, without the extra weight of the reactor and life support systems. The necessity for a Fighter is a unique feature of interstellar combat. It results from the fact that when observing an enemy ramship from a great distance you are seeing it in the past, due to the finite speed of light. Thus, you do not see any of its evasive maneuvers until some time later, and the counter-maneuvers of your ramship will come too late to catch it. To catch an evading enemy, your ramship’s maneuverability must be greater by the Pursuit Factor, which becomes quite large at even modest relative velocities. It is reasonable to assume that ramships would not differ much in their maneuverability, so if it was only ramship against ramship, an opponent who didn’t want to fight would always escape. Thus, to be an effective fighting vehicle a ramship must carry a Fighter.

The weapons envisaged to be carried by the Fighter are:

a) Missiles: merely lumps of any matter thrown out in the path of the enemy. The kinetic energy released from an impact at such high speeds makes even nuclear warheads unnecessary. They would be thrown out in a large cloud of sand-sized particles to ensure a hit—this is how each Missile can attack all the opposing ramships. Missiles naturally do more damage at higher relative velocity due to their greater kinetic energy. The ramships would have frontal armor for protection, and only when missiles have enough energy to penetrate this do they become effective weapons.

b) Beam weapons: Probably X- or Gamma-ray lasers—the shortest possible wavelength would be used to get the long range.

PLANETS

Habitable planets in the nebula would be those orbiting ‘normal’ stars, like our Sun. These would come in 2 types:

a) Stars formed in the nebula: The planets, like the star, would be very young, with hot and seismically unstable surfaces, and little likelihood of any native life. They would have to be terra-formed to be comfortable environments for colonists. These would only be Outposts or Colonies in game terms. The density of these stars in the nebula is such that one would expect one in every hex in the A and B Regions, with somewhat lower density in C and D. Significantly fewer would have yet formed in the E Region, and F should be almost devoid of new stars.

b) Stars from outside: These could be much older stars, with Earthlike planets and native life. Home Planets would be only of this type. The spacing of these stars would be the same as in normal interstellar space, 3-4 light years. Expect 9-12 hexes between them, anywhere on the Mapsheet.

EMPIRES AND WARFARE

The way in which a space faring race would set up an empire and interact with other such races (or even with other factions within itself) obviously cannot be predicted with certainty. The following assumptions were arrived at as the basis for the Scenarios in this game. The political and industrial center of the civilization is assumed to be the Home Planet. The great expense and duration of interstellar travel, the limited carrying capacity of ramships, and the great defensive power of an advanced industrial planet makes warfare between Home Planets

impractical The colonies, however, would have a much smaller population and industrial base, and have enough to contend with just surviving on a hostile planet. Thus, warfare would be restricted to battles over colonial control

The ramship navy would be constructed and supported almost entirely by the Home Planet, and could be expected to absorb a significant proportion of the GNP. However, it would be for the protection of the colonies rather than the Home Planet. Thus, we must assume that the race is dedicated to space exploration and habitation, and the ramship navy represents its great commitment to this cause. It is assumed that to terraform and populate a planet would also be an expensive and time-consuming process, probably taking decades. Thus, all colonies present at the beginning of a game of Orion are assumed to be well established, and no new ones can be created within the course of the game.

GAME CONCEPT

Orion was intended primarily as a game of maneuvering and combat between ramships in interstellar space. To keep this as the focus of attention, interaction with planets is simplified to bare essentials, to avoid getting bogged down in socio-political and economic matters. Planets are necessary, however, to provide objectives for each Scenario. Due to the tactical abstraction in this game, an objective of ‘destroying the opponent’s fleet’ would cause it to degenerate into a massive battle in a single hex, or one fleet forever chasing the other all over the Mapsheet.

So one major decision area of the game is maneuver. This occurs at 2 levels:

a) Tactics Determining the precise move for the current turn, to end up in a favorable position, or arrange an Encounter at the most favorable relative velocity.

b) Strategic: Plotting ahead your course through space to use the Regions to best advantage and satisfy your objective most efficiently. This requires judgment in predicting what your opponents will be doing in future turns, which adds a measure of uncertainty to a game that might otherwise be too deterministic. with so few random events.

The other major decision area is handling your weapons and systems in combat. In Orion, you operate a small fleet of vehicles, with each one treated in detail, rather than a large fleet of ships with either ‘no effect’ or ‘eliminated’ combat results. The former model was chosen for 2 reasons:

a) The Plotting rules would make the movement of large number of independent ships time consuming.

b) The large game scale and thus short. combat range (i.e. same hex) encourages ships to accumulate into a few large task forces, hence making it. effectively the same as the small fleet model.

GAME MECHANICS

To produce a playable game following the concepts described above. many details of the mechanics had to be sorted out, The major features of this game and the reasons for their choice are outlined in this section.

A sequential turn system was chosen in preference to simultaneous because it allows you to pursue an enemy, without having to ‘double guess’ which way he will turn. The other alternative, an ‘advantaging’ system used in many air combat games in which Player-Turn order depends on who is following whom, is not realistic here due to the Principle of Relativity mentioned above, the much longer time scale, and the assumed all-round fire and sensor ability of a ramship.

A vector movement system was chosen because it works well with wide turns, as described in Optional Rule 15, and makes plotting much simpler than a detailed hex-to-hex move. The order of Accelerate-Turn-Brake in Rule 5.1 is so as to reduce Turning ability when trying to Accelerate or Brake at the same time.

Due to the short weapons range, combat would only be possible when opposing Fighter and ramship occupy the same hex at the same time, An extension of the Moving Player’s vector beyond the hex of Encounter is allowed, so that the attacker is not forced to change speed unnecessarily-this encourages ‘hit and run’ attacks (see below). Another alternative, of intersecting vectors moving each ramship one hex at a time until they meet, leads to some anomalies in the orders of battles. The Tactics of Hold or Evade and the assignment of Fighters to Attack or Defend are a simplification of the many tactics and responses actually possible.

The Plotting rules are based on the assumption that the most important information to a ramship would be the movements of the nearest enemy ramship. These rules force everything except Combat to be deterministic, as it must be plotted ahead. A concession is made in Assault, which can have variable outcome, and this necessitates Rule 10.4.

TACTICAL HINTS

In most Scenarios, one Player will be chasing Victory Points on planets and avoiding combat, while the other will be on the attack to stop him. The former player’s task is usually straightforward, but the attacker has a number of options, and the general methods he should use are described below. In more complex Scenarios, a Player will often have to do both tasks, and would usually break his fleet into separate Task Forces. The comments below would then apply to each TF.

If the attacker is numerically superior, his best method is to try and match course and speed with his opponent, to get a low Relative Velocity. Then he can make full use of his Beam weapons. It is often best to attack the opponent’s Scoop first, to reduce his performance and ensure you will get another Encounter next turn to finish him off. Beware, however, of too low a RV, when there are enough Beam Rounds for your opponent to finish you off too. Then you must keep some Fighters back for Defense.

A player with an inferior force should try to use his Missiles, and thus go for a higher RV. The best attack is a ‘hit and run’, which you can do if your Maneuverability is high enough to Evade your opponent’s Fighters, but he can’t Evade yours. Then hit with Missiles and Break Off—you suffer no damage. This can be achieved with a superior ramship Type, or by being at a higher speed in a low-density medium. Type 1, 2, and 3 ramships are particularly vulnerable to these attacks in region D at low speed.

CREDITS Game Design: Alan Sherwood Game Development: Alan Sherwood and David Cohn Play testing: Bill Baird, Rex Bashford, Tim Brimelow, Ross Dawe, Ian Dollery, Martin Kuskis, Damien Morton, Alan Prictor, Steve Smith, Stephen Trigg, Ferdi Vidmar. Cover Photograph: Anglo-Australian Observatory. Ramship on Cover: Chris Delisen Printing: Ansett Supply & Trading (box covers, Mapsheet)

Duncan Box (boxes) Lorna Printing Service (counters) Snap Instant Printing (rules)

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