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Galactic Overlord
A New Forum Game from
Jamski Productions
Overview
Galactic Overlord is a game of space strategy and warfare for any number of players. It is turn based and builds on the success of the well-known Paper-Stone-Scissorstm system. Each player is the ruler of a faction determined to bring the whole galaxy under their domination using every means at their disposal until they are the sole survivor and the almighty Galactic Overlord!
Setting up the Game
Each player starts the game with three Bases. A Base is a planet, hollowed out asteroid, huge space station or any other large structure capable of supporting life and industry. Each player also starts the game with 2 Counter-espionage options. Each of these options is capable of immunising the player that uses it against any enemy spy action for one turn. Each player also starts the game with 32 Build Points, or BPs. As long as the player has at least one base still in operation he receives an additional 5 BPs each turn per home base, and 2 BPs each turn per captured base. The player's BPs can be used to build Ships or more Bases according to the following table:
Turn zero
You may give any orders except Attack! during turn zero, the prebuild turn. In essence, you can build ships or bases, as well as either a shield or a spy.
Spending BPs
Self-built bases 1 through 6 cost 16BP each.
Self-built bases 7 through 12 cost 24BP each.
Self-built bases 13 through 18 cost 32BP each and so on.
Code:
Frigate......1 BP Cruiser......2 BPs Battleship...3 BPs Dreadnaught..4 BPs Titan........5 BPs
Code:
Frigate......1 home Base Cruiser......2 home Bases Battleship...3 home Bases Dreadnaught..4 home Bases Titan........5 home Bases
Each Ship built can be armed as you wish with Lasers, Fighters or Torpedoes with each weapon taking up one unit of space from the Ship's total. A ship may only carry one kind of weapon.
Code:
[color=red][b]Frigate......1 unit of space/3 hit point Cruiser......2 units of space/6 hit points Battleship...3 units of space/9 hit points Dreadnaught..4 units of space/12 hit points Titan........5 units of space/15 hit points[/b][/color]
BP's may be stockpiled for use later during the game.
Playing the Game - Orders
This part of the game is similar to Nuclear Wartm. Each player sends his orders to the GM who processes them all together once they are received.
Normal Orders (you may make all three of these orders in conjunction with the orders in the next section)
- Build Ships/Bases : You may spend your BPs or stockpile them for later. Ships built that turn may be used for attack and defence, Bases built may be destroyed that turn. Damaged Ships may be fully repaired for a cost of 1 BP (Now you see why big ships are good)
***NOTE - You need to already have bases built for them to count for hull size allowance.*** - Use Counter-espionage : You may use one Counter-espionage order per turn, to a total of two, to protect your orders from enemy spies’ interference. Once used up, this option cannot be rebuilt.
- Use Spies : If you have a Spy you may stop one of your opponents orders that turn being executed. The Spy is lost. Spy affects Attack!, Rebuild Generator and Train Spy. You cannot build a spy and use a spy in the same turn.
Special Orders (you can choose only one of these per turn)
- Attack! : This starts a fight between your fleet and that of an opponent. You must choose which ships to send, and which to leave at home in case you yourself are attacked that turn. See Combat for more.
- Raise Shields! : This protects your Bases and Ships from all attacks that turn, and also stops any spies. Any opposing fleet that attacks you will take hits equal to 10% of total tonnage (distributed as per combat damage) while you remain snug and secure. The generator is exhausted by this use and must be rebuilt.
- Build Generator : Rebuilds a shield generator. Up to three shields can be stockpiled for later use.
- Train Spy : Trains and inserts a new Spy for your cause. Up to three spies can be stockpiled for later use. You cannot train a spy and use a spy in the same turn.
Alliances
You may want to organise joint attacks on an opponent with an ally. In this case you must agree on an Order of Battle between the allies. If two different opponents attack at the same time without informing the GM of their alliance, then the defender must fight them consecutively, fighting first against the one who posted their orders last.
It is possible that when a player is attacked by two non-allied fleets at the same time that he loses both battles. In this case both attackers gain a base. Allied fleets that attack together must decide who is to get the captured base.
The GM applies hits to allied fleets in the same way as to a normal fleet. This means that if one ally has smaller ships than his partner, he will take the bulk of the casualties. War is hell.
If not otherwise specified, multiple bases captured by an alliance will be divided up evenly between the fleets that actually arrived. Odd bases will be assigned to the members of an alliance that sent their orders first. Players may choose to redistribute them afterwards if they wish.
Transferring Ships & Bases:
In some situations, players may wish to transfer ships or bases among themselves. Trading ships in not allowed. Trading bases is allowed.
Clarification: The base is transferred at the end of the turn. So, if you were gonna give away some bases, but you lost the battle, your bases get captured by your attacker, not your ally.
Shields:
It is possible for a player to send out a fleet and have it run into a shield or lose the battle, while his home bases are simultaneously captured. In this situation, the fleet remains independent, but will lose all stockpiled shields, spies, and BPs, and will lose 10% (rounded down) of it’s original numbers every turn due to lack of supply. Thus, such a fleet would be advised to capture or negotiate for a base ASAP.
Clarification: Attrition begins place at the end of the turn the battle took place.
The GM
The GM will report each turn on the activities of each player. He will keep their orders secret, but will reveal their bases, the size and breakdown of their navy and their current BPs.
Winning the Game
You win the game by destroying all the bases and fleets of your opponents to become the Galactic Overlordtm!!!
Note: Co-operative victories are not permitted.
Playing the Game - Combat
Combat Version 1.3
Combat is a simple, and yet complex, Paper-Stone-Scissorstm system :
Code:
Lasers - beat - Fighters Fighters - beat - Torpedoes Torpedoes - beat - Lasers
Every player must also specify an "Order of Battle" every turn, whether attacking, or expecting to be attacked. Failure to do so results in a random OOB. This is simple to do though. The OOB is divided into two groups of three weapons each. You must have 2 of each type in any order.
EXAMPLE 1: Lasers-Fighters-Torpedoes-Laser-Torpedoes-Fighters (LFTLTF)
EXAMPLE 2: Lasers-Torpedoes-Laser-Torpedoes-Fighters-Fighters (LTLTFF)
These can be further refined by different tactics.
Tactics 1 - Range:
You may instruct your captains to try to engage at different ranges.
- Close In - Lasers from both fleets count an extra x2. If both fleets Close In then this stacks to a x4. This negates Back Off.
- Back Off - Lasers from both fleets count an extra x0.5 penalty. This is negated by Close In. If both players Back Off this stacks to x0.25.
Default is no special orders.
Tactics 2 - Formation:
You may instruct your captains to engage using different formations.
- Bunch Together - Your ships huddle together to protect each other from Fighters, but are more vulnerable to the large explosions of Torpedoes. Attacks with Fighters against Bunched Together fleets are at x0.5, while Torpedoes get x2.
- Spread Out - Your ships spread out, making the fleet hard to target with Torpedoes, while leaving individual ships vulnerable to Fighters. Attacks with Fighters against Spread Out fleets are at x2, while Torpedoes get x0.5
Default is no special orders. These orders can be used even when sending out a single ship.
Tactics 3 – Miscellaneous:
[*]The attacking player may decide to attack to the death. In that case, proceed as normal, but repeat the combat until one side or the other is completely destroyed.[*]You may set different OOBs for different enemies, if you wish, but always send a default OOB in, to cover any situation not specially mentioned.
Example of full OOBs:
Code:
Attack: TFFLLT back off, bunch Defence: LFTFTL close in, default
Maneuver (M)- your ships do not fire and take normal damage. On the next round their firepower is doubled. You can only maneuver once, and it may not be in the 3rd or 6th slot of your OoB.
Disengage (D)- Defensive only. You withdraw your fleet in the middle of battle. No damage is taken in the round your fleet withdraws (though damage from previous rounds will still be dealt) and your opponent takes your bases. Note that your opponent must still have ships alive at the end of the 3-round cycle to occupy bases.
- Add hitpoints for fleets involved in the battle (3xBP cost of fleets)
- Add total Fighters/Lasers/Torps in each fleet.
- Sort fleets according to their empire's Order of Battle. Fleets with no OoB are destroyed.
- Adjust raw fighter/laser/torp numbers.
- The fleet with the "winning" tactic in a given round has their raw total attack strength doubled.
- Spreading or bunching your fleet affect the opposition's raw total attack strength. Double or halve this accordingly.
- The higher adjusted total wins. Apply Hits equal to the difference between the totals.
- Every three rounds, tally up the hits taken by both sides, and apply them as losses, then continue on to the next three rounds, if applicable.
- Remove destroyed ships according to the following rule. All ships of one type first, before moving to the next type, in the same order as the order of battle. Start removing frigates first, titans last. Damaged ships don’t break formation.
- Combat continues until one fleet receives more hits than it has hitpoints, or 6 rounds of combat have taken place unless the attack ordered a fight to the death, in which case combat ends with the destruction of one fleet.
- A destroyed fleet loses.
- If both fleets survive, the fleet that takes the most Hits is the loser.
- If the attacker won, he captures one base.
- If the attacker destroyed the entire enemy fleet, he captures all his opponents bases.
Additional rules concerning damaged ships
Ships that have taken 1 hit of damage are repaired for free at the end of battle.
Ships with more than 1 hit of damaged are automatically repaired for 1 BP, deducted from next turn's income.
A player with no home bases and exactly 15 BPs as a result of such a repair may build a base using deficit spending.
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