The player with the most Die Hard style victory points wins.These are the rules being used for the playtest game of SFW-Omega (game O1). These are subject to change, though I will try not to alter them too heavily once the game has started. --Agent One
UPDATED 2/7/01. Warlord's Aide Users, click here for further instructions. For a Ship List in Excel format, click here.
UDPATED 9/16/02: Official rules for Omega-2 posted. New rules/changes are marked as such.
The playtest game began on 2/7/01.
The following rules will be used for Game Omega-2 and all future games unless modified later on. After a thorough review of playtest reports, it was decided that the game worked quite well as it was. No race seemed unbalanced over the others, despite the initial beliefs of some players. Some adjustments might still be made if this turns out to not be the case, but such alterations will be kept to a minimum. Bugs in the code will be fixed when reported, and corrections made to resolve their effects as best as is possible. NOTE: It is your responsibility to report any bug, even ones that favor your position. If you do not, and the GM discovers you were aware of a bug and were exploiting it, you may find yourself the recipient of severe penalties or, if simple adjustments to your position don't work, you might have your position deactivated.
The game ends at the conclusion of turn 30. The player with the most Die Hard style victory points wins.
There are no civilian ships in SFW-Omega. Each race has their own warp gate type, with stats based on the race's special features. Purchasing ships outside your race is still permitted, but such ships will cost double the listed price or more. Ships you buy outside your race will include any special abilities that would normally apply to that race (e.g., if you buy a Zosman ship it will arrive pre-refitted), but once you have the ship, it will operate under the parameters of your own race. So, if you're the Qixa (who pay double the usual refit cost) and buy a Maesron ship, you will still have to pay double to refit it, because now it's operating under your limitations. NOTE: You cannot buy the Warp Gates of other races!!
Standard supply and demand does not exist in SFW-Omega. That means no matter how many ships of a given type you buy, their cost will not change between turns. If you buy multiple copies of the same hull on the same turn, however, each one after the SECOND will cost a little bit more, since you're overtaxing your shipyards. Some races suffer extra penalties for this. So if your ship had a base price of 100, the first two you bought in any turn would cost 100, the second might be 115, the next 130, and so on. These counts reset each turn.
Combat takes place as it does in the regular game, except that there are no combat tactics.
No loans. No cheap ship sale. 200 ship limit. No stock buying. No monsters at all (not even for buying). No Graveyard of Ships. No Sector Specials.
Most of the ?free item? orders (if you?re new, these will be announced later in the game) are available to all, a change from the original playtest, except as noted in specific racial stats listed hereafter. Only the Hivers may use Free Fighters, and Free PFs are unavailable.
Each player will play one and only one race, and that race will only be played by one person.
Because you don't know what race you'll actually get when you submit your initial sign-up form, your initial build will be automatically selected for you. In this way, everyone will begin play with approximately an equal setup. (In standard games, raw rookies often get off to a bad start because they don't know what to buy in the build.) This will make signing up to play a simple process.
Each race begins in a specific location on the game map. This map is NOT WRAPAROUND. If you try to move off the edges, your move will fail. Playtesters are welcome to test this to see if it functions properly.
Ships tend to be balanced
Start with 200 heavy drones
The only race that can use BOMB
-10% ores income
Home Office is worth 125 EPs/turn
Ships tend to have high AFs
+10% income from PL, DP, PG
Bonus starbase order beginning in Y166
Ship support reduced 50%
Prospecting -25%
Cannot use commandos
Ships tend to be slightly weak
Cheap Warp Gate
Ships using SCAN SHIPS have +2 crew bonus
SCAN TERRAIN pierces unknown terrain
SCAN EPS cost nothing
Bases gain a free LS when created
+50% support fee
Ships tend to have high HPs, but are higher priced
Prospecting returns +25% ores
HO is in an AF
Can TE ores for food at any time with no penalty
Commandos always cost the standard price
Most ships carry commandos
Ships ignore DC, AF, MS
Cannot use the TC or AC order
-50% penalty when prospecting NE or NF terrain
Ships tend to be inexpensive
Ships ignore WS and radiation effects from anything but a CS
Home Office in a RZ
Can use the DH order once per turn at no cost
-15% income
Ships do not age and cannot use UPGR
Ships tend to have a high defense factor but low HP
Ships ignore TZ fees
HO located in TZ
All ships have "W" variant (+50% AF/DF in asteroids)
Ships cannot use TRNG
Fortify orders give a +25% bonus
Cannot use fighters on ships and pay double to buy them for garrisons
Ships are small, cheap, and use fighters
The only race that can use the FF order
+1 order per turn, and BO 10 or BO PERM earns an extra order
Bases get a free legendary doctor when built
Ships tend to be tough
Earn a few free fighters each turn
Bonus stats from aging or UPGR orders are doubled
Automatically heal one damage level after any attack
WG is speed-3
Cannot use REFIT or FR
Ships have +1 crew when built and earn improvements from combat faster
PFs can be bought in Y179
-25% food income per turn or from prospecting
+25% combat bonus if not in any sort of area terrain
Ships tend to have low AFs
All ships fight as though they were at the crew level of the highest ship in the fleet
If attacked, defense rating +25% of attacker's AF
Begin with a SB on their HO
No penalty when trading with the Singers
+25% AF when attacking the Souldra
Destroyed if they enter NF
Ships tend to be large and powerful
+10% PE per turn
Can TE people for food at any time with no penalty
Duplicate ship purchase penalty is 30% (not 15%)
-1 order/turn and get 9 from BO 10 or BO PERM
Ships tend to have high AFs, but have low HP and SF
TRNG costs half and can train up to 7
KC order available to train all ship crews (1/turn)
Always gain 3 officers each turn unless using AO, and gain a Prime Team every 5 turns
All ships available at start, but no advanced variants
-10% to income and prospecting
Cannot assign officers to bases
Ships tend to be expensive
Gain 10% FP bonus (vs. defender DF) when attacking
Free TBs on ships when bought
+25% bonus when prospecting NF
Immune to NF, and HO is in a NF
No officers or Prime Teams
Many ships are "G" variants
No support fees
Ships have a 20% chance of having a free officer when built
WG is slightly cheaper
Can use REFIT on turn 9, but cannot UPGR
FS costs double
Ships tend to have high DFs, but not many designs
Bases have a free LS when bought
Start with BATS and LS on Home Office
Earn only 1 officer per turn
Cannot use the TO order
-15% PE penalty to income
Ships tend to be weak but earn a 1-25% random bonus each combat turn
LB always on
BL free each turn
Buying a third ship of the same type has a 20% penalty, not 15%
Start with 2 WGs
Ignore DC, AF, MS
UPGR gives double the usual combat bonuses
Ships earn aging benefits every 5 turns
+25% income, -25% prospecting
Home Office is in a DC
Almost all ships are G variants and have a high DF, but weak AF
TE anytime with no penalty
EG available
Earn a 10% bonus whenever using TC
Optional items always cost the base price
Cannot fortify minor sites, and other fortifications cost 50% more
Cannot use EC and enemy ES orders cost half
Ships have high AFs
Gain a legendary captain every turn along with any other officers, unless using AO
Can use TO on a 1 for 1 basis
Can train to level 7
+100 PE on HO
Cannot use starbase orders, cannot scan except ships or terrain, scan ships at -1 crew level
Ships have lots of TBs and are all minesweepers
TBs always cost base price
Are the only race other than the Trobrin who can use the FT order
Sites can make TBs
-25% income penalty
All ships have F and I variants and can DISP
Ships tend to have high HPs but low shields
Repair one level each turn free (similar to having an LE on each ship but without an LE's other abilities)
Immune to DC, AF, MS
Treat NE as SZ
HO is in MS
Dilithium income -50%
Cannot enter the GS
All ships arrive refitted; FR order unavailable
Gain +50% raid bonus when raiding a site owned by another Corp
Double income on all non-HO sites (theirs or anyone else's)
All ships have cloaks
The only race that can use the FC order
Cannot use the PRSP order
Double REST cost
Cannot use TC
SCAN TERRAIN costs 100 EPs
Ships can only scan terrain or ships
Cannot use TRNG and rarely earn any combat training bonuses
All ships are G variants and can change their own missions (but are not otherwise I variants)
+15% dilthium income
SJ on HO at all times
EC free each turn and can use ES at half cost
WG is expensive
Few ship designs
Support fee doubled
No fee for LP order
Immune to SZ, AF, DC, MS, RZ, DS, WS, NE
+20% bonus when using TC
Can scan from any terrain
All bases earn free LEs when built
HO is in a NE
Do not lose shields in NE
-25% AF when attacking in all terrain except NE
REFIT costs double
Cannot use FR order
All ships are slow but powerful
Start with 500 extra EPs
Treated as cloaked whenever in asteroid fields
Immune to AF and get +33% PRSP bonus in AF
WGs in AFs build ships at -20% ore cost
Ships age only on even numbered turns
Step 1: Create a new directory for the Omega variant. Call it SFWOMEGA or something like that. Copy all of your existing Aide files into this directory (or unzip the downloaded Aide directly to this location). IMPORTANT: Omega games must be accessed from the SFWOMEGA directory, and regular games from the basic Aide directory. Otherwise, the ship lists will not match.
Step 2: Unzip the Omega ZIP file in the SFWOMEGA directory. When it asks if you want to replace files, say YES to all. This replaces the basic ship templates database (BASIC3.DBF and its index files) with the new Omega ship template database.
That's it. Use the SFWOMEGA directory for Omega games and the old directory for standard games, and you're set.
Unfortunately, the source code for the Warlord's Aide was long ago lost in a freak hard disk accident, so certain races are not going to work and play well with this program. Any race whose letter does not normally appear in the basic game (e.g., E or Y) will be treated as illegal by the Aide. You can, of course, ignore the error report, and the orders you send will still work on this end. The problem is you won't get the same kind of error checking you may be used to, so if you try to buy a ship that isn't available, you won't be aware of the mistake. In such cases, keep an eye on your Ship List. The Aide might also not handle combat estimates properly as certain races were expected to have particular benefits or penalties in various terrains, so keep that in mind as well.
Good luck and enjoy the game! --Agent One