QUICK  NOTES  21

ADDENDUM

*Fighter-bombers have been added to the Fighters and Bombers Chart.

*Buffered asteroid ships have inherent armor: 1:1

*Important note: Unless you are a AD race, then you CANNOT build J/Jc engines unless you see someone else use them or capture them somehow, comprende? This also applies for other goodies such as Dc/Dz, Pg, Sled, and all non-standard alien technology! Thank you for your attention!

*The fighter facility is located in 3^rd R at 07.02.02.01 and states that a fighter(or GB) using empire must maintain a “Pilot Training Facility” and that this facility costs 1,000 MCr.” There is no standard design for this facility. The rule states that the facility’s cost, “including all V”, is the 1,000 MCr. This is an all-inclusive, not-to-worry-about design. It’s just a system, with no ability to defend itself, other than the fighters assigned to it. Build it in a PDC or build a PDC nearby! I would guess that this system is 50hs in size when installed in a PDC. If built stand alone, then it is built as a PDC. Any unique designs for this school, including additional spaceports, bays, fighter hangers, etc would be way cool!!!

*Missile costs: any multipler is always against the base cost of the missile, never like this: .5 x 2 x 3 x 1.5 =         Always like this:            .5 x 2 =

                                                .5 x 3 =

                                                .5 x 1.5 =

NEW  TECHNOLOGY

Asteroid Smelter(AsSm): First constructed by the Draka Dominion, these deep space smelters helped the Dominion in their long war with the Arachnid Omnivoracity. AsMs must be constructed in a SY and are much larger than a superdreadnought(150hs in size). AsMs melts down asteroids and prefabs the result into usable components. This system gives an additional 20% increase to SY construction or AsMs are also able to assist SYM to accomplish full construction rates or  reduces prefab costs to normal construction cost. Twenty are needed for the system-wide SY bonus, two for full construction bonus(2 per SYM), or two for prefabbing(2 per SY). TL4, cost is 200 each, 150 hs, dev cost: 6,000.

Basic Datalink(Zb): First conceived of by the alien Bandi race, the Zb was used in their futile war against the Arachnids. This system is precisely as Z, but linking a maximum of two units and having a link range of 1 tacHex. This system is 25MCr, 0 hs, dev cost: 4,000. TL2. (Available to all players, Harry D’s tech).

Commercially Enhanced Engines(Iy): They are one hull space, have a movement allowance as Ic and cost 12MCr per engine. Their ‘blind spot’ is only the hex row behind the ship. They have a +1 penalty of turn modes. TL5, dev cost: 2,500.

Advantages: The small blind spot gives them much increased firing arc compared to most other ships. On a strategic level they are much faster than competing I class engines. Their smaller size compared to Ic engines allows for the strategic movement of the Arachnids without loss of space.

Disadvantages: Slower speed makes it harder to keep up with ships sabre dancing with longer range weapons. Escaping from I-class engines is all but impossible. Slow speed makes warp transits consist of less ships(and hence easier to repel except in cases of mass transits). Higher speed/more maneuverable ships have a greater chance to find that narrow blind spot.

Command Fighter Component(fZ+): Installed aboard Draka F3 fighters, the fZ+ gives the net effect  that 2 squadrons of fighters are datalinked together as per standard datalink rules. Due to the smaller ranges involved, only ?3 can jam this link. Also any fighter mounting datalink point defense gets a -1 to be hit using this system(full coverage of all linked fighters). This allows fighter missiles to be salvoed, increasing the density of the salvo and thus the possibility of a hit!  TL6, cost 20MCr each, and 3,000 dev cost. F3 required, 15BP.             

Fighter Micro-radar(fra): Built first by the Sime/Gen New Union, this system was a major breakthrough in fighter engineering. The fra is a ultrawideband radar system placed into every fighter and bomber. It sends out pulses of energy less than a billionth of a second in duration and gives a general +1 to initiative for fighters against all targets. It has the following abilitites:

*It is resistant to most interference,

*The stealthy nature of the signals; they are indistinguishable from background noise,

This system replaces AWACs. TL9, 15MCr, 2 BP, dev cost: 5,000. Available to all players.

Improved CiC(CiC1): Invented by the brilliant Draka race, the CiC1 merges Hc and CiC into one smoothly functioning entity. The CIC does NOT affect weapons fire, its purpose, when integrated with a CiC allows the admiral/fleet captain to better deploy, operate, and communicate with his fleet through the use of a holographic environment. This gives a +2 to initiative, if hit there is a 25% chance the admiral was killed inside, 2 hs, cost 100MCr.  TL7, dev cost: 6,000.

Improved Military Sensors(Xri): A generational improvement first deployed by the Draka, this system is as effective as Xr, but taking up fewer hull spaces. One hull space in size,  30MCr, TL6. Dev cost: 4,500.

Industrial Missile Launcher(Rb): This is a low-tech version of the R. The Rb does not mount an electromagnetic accelerator used to punch missiles out of a drive field like the standard R missile launcher. It functions exactly like an R with the exception that no missile launched from an Rb can be launched through an active drive field.  Also makes sickening planetary defense batteries! Cost is 5MCr each, 2 hull spaces in size, Ind2, dev cost: 1,000. (Pleroma’s tech!). 

Hyper-Spectral Scanning(AWAC2): The next generation in space control, the AWAC2 is a substantial upgrade over the old system. This system looks at hundreds of slices of the electromagnetic spectrum(instead of tens with the old AWACs system) in a few seconds. This gives a overall bonus of +3 to initiative(FIRST TURN ONLY). Cost is 125MCr, 35 BP, TL7, and dev cost: 4,000. (Available to all players).

Mobile Bases(BSx*): These are bases with some movement capability. They are the same size as a base, have a slightly increased construction time(110%), and have no WP transit capability. The ‘drive’ of a Mobile Base is ˝ a hull space per every 25 hull spaces and 5 MCr each. They have a strategic speed of 1. TL6. Dev cost: none.

Naval Academy(NAcad): The development of the Draka Naval Academy helped them defeat the Arachnid Omnivoracity, which threatened to overrun the entire Ilelish Sector.  Limit one per Sector(each sector = 15 inhabited planets). Effect: allows crew’s grade to start at 1 grade higher(average grade) than normal and shakedown cruises are ˝ time for the world where the academy is located. This system is 65hs in size, has it’s own Q and Lh, as well as trainers and student and faculty housing. It also has training bays(12 V or appropriate fighter bays) and a small flight deck as well(for small craft training) of 6 hull spaces in size. If located in a SS then no maintenance(I like to put mine in 105hs SS to confuse raiders that it is a AgriStn or MegaHab) or if on the surface then in a PDC. Requires one Crack admiral to operate(he is taken out of circulation permanently). The good news is that if the planet where the Academy is located comes under attack the faculty is moved by the CFN out of harms way. A replacement Academy is ˝ the initial cost AND requires 5 turns to become operational. Cost: 5,000. Dev cost: 5,000. Tech level one.  (Available to all players. Please name this facility).

Orion Drive Engines(Io): Creates NO drive field. This is a drive in which the ship is propelled by nuclear bombs. This vessel can accelerate to Speed 12. You must carry fuel(ie bombs) in a Magazine(150 bombs per Mg, or 65 per Mgm). One bomb equals one acceleration/deceleration point. The size of the Orion engine varies, from 1-12 hs in size. A 12hs engine would be able to move speed 12.

Ship size engines per acc/decc point:

1 to 50             1 engine

51-100             2 engines

101-150           4 engines

   A vessel with this drive can accelerate to a speed and sit there until it decelerates. This gives a very fast strategic speed. If a ship runs out of fuel then it is in deep trouble. Also, any missile fire directed at this type of ship does maximum damage vs a non-DF vessel. A vessel below Corvette size is too small, and cannot use this type of engine. An Orion-drive vessel cannot transit a warp point and survive: the grav stress would shred the ship into tiny pieces. This system counts as a military system. Engine cost is 50MCr. Dev cost: 1,800. Ind2. At higher TL, the Antimatter Orion Drive becomes available.

Plasma Sat(BsP): The “Revolution in Military Affairs” also(unfortunately) spread to the Arachnid Omnivoracity, who built the first BsP when Home Hive V came under attack by the Thennanin race, who had the audacity to survive attack after continual attack by the bug hordes. BsP are 65 MCr, take up 50 csp, are TL6, and cost 6,000 MCr to develop. Note F: BsP fires a total of three times, once per turn, for three turns before needing recharging.

Point Defense Mine(MD): The Point Defense Mine is a cluster of nuclear bombs bristling with targeting rods. These bombs are placed in orbit around a world and can use the tracking and computational resources of the entire planet to pump x-ray laser stilettos into swarms of incoming missile fire and small craft. Any missile volley that traces their path through a hex containing a Point Defense Mine can be fired upon once with any number of mines at the discretion of the Mine Operations Staff. A missile that travels through more than one hex is subject to multiple firing opportunities. Any small craft that enters a hex containing a Point Defense Mine can be fired on as well. Each mine pattern that detonated provides the target of the missile volley with the protection of a D. Each small craft fired upon will be the subject of a D configured to destroy small craft. The Point Defense Mine does not have a drive and must be in orbit around a planet. The PDM can be deployed around warp points once the technology for standard mines has been perfected. The PDM does not have the capacity to engage ship-sized units. The PDM is treated as a mine in all other respects. Ind2, costs 1,000MCr to develop. 1 pattern costs .20MCr each.(Pleroma’s tech)

Reaction Thrusters(Ih): A ship may mount a maximum of 1 engine room(same size as military engines) of Reaction Thrusters. Must be the last system on the ship. Must be immediately after a H dedicated to storage of reaction fuel. These systems give no strategic speed, give a speed of 1 on the tactical level(for a max of 30 tac turns), and a turn mode of 6. The main use of this system is to allow the unit to move without a DF and to provide movement to ships without I or Ic. This allows Ind2 races in systems with multiple habitable worlds and moons to colonize them. Ind2, 1hs, 1MCr, dev cost: 800.

Rearward Firing Fighter  Missile(fMr): A stunning design fielded by the Chonoguan race during their Double War, the rearward firing missile is designed to provide coverage to the rear hemisphere of a bomber. The missile is launched in the opposite direction and is a fire-and-forget weapon that ensures the destruction of the target(instead of -4 to hit, it’s -2).  One shot system. 3BP, 5 MCr, only one! TL6. Dev cost: 2,000. (Available to all players).

SCAAM Shell Projectors(SCAAM): Developed during the devastating Pitar System War, this military system destroyed hundreds of Pitar warships during the two-year war. SCAAM is short for Single Catastrophic Anti-Armor Missile and is actually a energized ‘shell’ that is attracted to the DF of a warship. These shells home in on a DF, passes thru shields doing damage directly to armor! Fairly long range(same as Sun Gun). One point of damage each. SCAAM Projector is 2 hs in size. Must be located adjacent to a Mg or Mgm. 35MCr, TL6, dev cost: 12,000.

Towing Beam(Tb): Functions exactly like a T, but has a maximum range of 0. It is useful for towing bases around a system, but not so useful in any combat application. This system is 8MCr, 2hs, dev cost: 1,000. TL1. (Available to all players, Harry D’s tech).

Ultra-Spectral Scanning(AWAC3): A major improvement in fighter support, this system provides thousands of samples from the electromagnetic spectrum per second, giving a general +1 initiative during all combat phases(fighter vs fighter only). Cost is 150MCr, 40 BP, TL8, dev cost: 4,000. (Available to all players).

WEIRD WORLDS/STRANGE UNIVERSE

Black Holes and the Center of the Galaxy: Until recently, the center of our galaxy was thought to be quite average among the billions of galaxies in the universe, even dormant. That is until the Keck telescope on Mauna Kea revealed starling news from it’s most recent observations. They revealed a picture of billion-degree temperatures, cataclysmic winds, searing radiation, tentacled magnetic fields that roll and squeeze atoms until they shine, vast fountains of hot gas in which matter is instantly annihilated, and gravitational tides that can cleave a star in two. And you thought the freeway was hell. Though long considered the Milk Dud of galactic cores, the center of the Milky Way is gradually revealing itself to be one happening place. The Keck telescopes sharp observations clearly show that the closer the stars are to the very center of the galaxy, the faster they orbited; and the innermost stars are moving as fast as .5 percent the speed of light, or about 900 miles per second. Whatever entity was keeping stars in that fast orbit, it had to have a mass of about 2.5 million suns. Only one entity fits those specs: a black hole. A single black hole since any configuration other than a single black hole would be unstable. The size and shape of this black hole was imaged via radio wavelengths to be a cigar-like structure about one AU across(the distance from Earth to the sun). A object that is standing on it’s end, this massive black hole gushes a giant plume of antimatter, shooting strait up out of the disk of the galaxy as far as 5,000 light years, where the antimatter jet meets clouds of ordinary matter, and both are annihilated in a burst of energy. We now know that a big black hole is sucking in matter and belching radiation at the core of our galaxy.

Gas Giant Systems: These are very rare systems(5% or less) and are usually a single star system(30% Yellow, 70% white). They have on average 3 large gas giants in them and because of their massive size, they have no rocky planets or ice planets(they have been ‘thrown’ out of the system by massive gravitational disruptions caused by the inner gas giants). These GG also have unusually elliptical orbits and some of them have GG very close in to a star!

Magnetars: One of the oddest stellar objects in the Known Universe, magnetars are a rare type of neutron star. If a neutron star spins fast enough– at least 200 revolutions a second– intense magnetic fields are generated. This happens when the star’s fluid interior transfers it’s kinetic energy, from both rotation and heat convection, to the magnetic field. This process creates an ultra-magnetized star. The magnetic fields sometimes become so powerful that they often crack the magnetar’s surface, and the resulting starquakes release huge amounts of energy. These bursts occur intermittently for about 10,000 years. Magnetars are weird by any standard. It’s magnetic field is 100 times stronger than any observed object anywhere in the universe. A single burst(of both gamma radiation and x-rays) from a magnetar is roughly 1 million times stronger than is needed to kill humans instantly by rearranging all the atoms and molecules in their bodies. Magnetars are similar to x-ray pulsars. Magnetars have 15+1d10 WPs but any ship caught in the system during a flare is instantly destroyed. No planets can be in this systems as well.

Vacc Leeches: A vicious and virulent space spore, vacc leeches are deadly to spacefaring races. These critters must breed and spread as fast as possible before a short window of useful environmental conditions close. These are deep-space organisms which have adapted to an environment where no food is found for a very long time, then a massive amount of food is found all at once. These critters can shut down body parts to the point of atrophy, then regenerate them later when food is available. When they do find food, the y rapidly devour amazing amounts of it. Vacc leeches are tiny(about fingernail-size) beasties and consists of a living core surrounded by an articulated silicate shell. The shell is sealed by a waxy excretion generated from the creature from inorganic compounds upon which it feeds. it’s metabolism is poorly understood, and it is(thankfully) somewhat rare. It moves in microgravity environments by clinging to asteroids and other space debris, moving by crawling along the surface with it’s movable silicoid carapace. It is suspected to spread to other bodies by drifting, as no propulsion system has been detected. The Vacc leech is notorious for latching onto a ships outer armor layers where it begins to feed. When on contact with the hull of the ship, the Leech begins devouring the material at an amazing rate for it’s size, through a combination of mechanical rasping and chemical action. While in this feeding frenzy, the Leech is almost continually giving off “spores”, which appear to be fragments of it’s external silicate shell. Penetration of the armor takes place in a matter of minutes. Ships with heavy armor takes little damage however. Luckily, exposure to a  normal pressure oxygen atmosphere will kill these creatures immediately, and is shown to be 95% effective in killing their spores as well.

White Dwarves: These are ancient stars, at the end of their life cycles, and are the most common star in our galaxy. Although very small, they have the mass of half of Sol’s. They are practically invisible on an interstellar scale and account for up to half of a galaxy’s ‘dark matter’. White Dwarf stars were thought to look red, but they actually appear blue. With a average temperature of 3,500 kelvins(5,800 degrees F), they are definitely on the cool side for a star. Our Milky Way has about 150 billion old white dwarves. Most typical white dwarf stars are 44% of the Sun’s mass crammed into a sphere only twice the diameter of Earth. The surface gravity of these stars is around 37,000 times that of Earth.

THE  HIVER  FEDERATION

   The ancient and vast Hiver Federation is an oddity in galactic space; a multi-sentient Federation with vast borders and unique technologies. The Hiver’s are a spider-like race that are interested in the total control of all races within their sphere of influence. This quest for assimilation has sparked many wars with newly discovered races but all have fallen under the sway of the Hiver Federation. One of their favored tactics is to establish clandestine bases in newly discovered systems by building asteroid bases with which to launch patrol craft from. The Hiver bases don’t draw attention to themselves while they quietly keep tabs on a system since they have no drive field. The Hiver’s also like to terraform worlds, especially waterworlds, which they find mostly useless. They do this by investing the minimal amount possible, converting a world from T10 to T9, which reduces the water coverage of the planet significantly enough to allow normal colonization. One of the most unique tech features of the Federation is their Close Solar Orbit Antimatter Refinery, which refines antimatter directly from a star’s surface. This process produces huge amounts of antimatter but unfortunately dims the star perceptibly.  The accidental loss of one of these distilleries created the well-known Crab Nebula, which can be seen for thousands of light years. The primary goal of the Hiver Federation is the assimilation and uplift of other sentient races, even at the expense of a society’s fundamental values and they do this with a unique ability: super-diplomacy! Several millenia ago the Hiver’s faced a devastating war with an unknown race, and fled into the heart of a hypermass(ie a Black Hole) where they are thought to dwell today!