Pagoda Games

Players: 25 players, arranged so that no player shares a border with another.

Sectors: 100 sectors, 50 of which are wild, and 25 are NPC types. This is negotiable; in game DH1, 25 of the wild sectors are "super-wild" with both an NPC Home Office and the wild sector pirates and monsters.

Monsters: Standard monsters. In 36Q and 37Q the monsters were set up to be extremely vicious, a fact which players did not exactly appreciate.

Pirates and NPCs: These are defended somewhat better than normal, with at least battle stations on their bases and a few extra ships to defend themselves.

Setup: Players start with 1000 EPs but cannot request loans. Timeshifting is not a standard feature, but can be added to the game (as it was in DH1). Other settings, like DH1’s "no primary" and "random event selection" features, are possible but are not standard DH-game components.

Specialty Ships are deactivated, so you can buy them as often as you like (they are treated as any other kind of ship). The only exception is the Seltorian Hive Ship, which remains available only once during the game.

Buy Extended is available. This is a special order, BX, which can only be issued after a BO 10 or BO PERM. It allows you to buy 10 more orders (that is, orders 21-30) for a cost of 200 EPs. Thus, if you wanted to use 30 orders in a turn, you could issue BO 10 (100 EPs) for orders 11-20 and then BX (200 more EPs for a total of 300) for orders 21-30. This order is not available in any other game. Anyone trying to use it in anything but a DH-game will be wasting their time.)

Frax and Seltorians are available three times during the game each, the Frax in Y176, Y187 and Y198, and the Seltorians in Y178, Y189, and Y200. Note that this works only in DH-games; the two extra purchase opportunities do not appear in standard games.

The CUSS, a new race, are available only in DH-games and are described after this article. Like Frax and Seltorians, they can only be bought at certain times during the game. In a DH-game, they are available only during Y174, Y185, and Y196. Do not try to buy CUSS ships in any game other than a DH-game.

Free Fighters and Free PFs are available as special orders (FF and FP, respectively). The cost for these are 2500 EPs for FF and 4000 for FP, and they are available in Y184 (FF) and Y186 (FP). They work exactly like the other "free item" orders do, filling up any ship bought with a load of fighters or PFs as appropriate, but not replacing battle losses. These orders are not available in non-DH games. Players trying to use them will waste everyone’s time and will be reprimanded.

XFIT is available as a special ship order. This is something of a super-advanced refit/upgrade combination, increasing a ship’s speed by 1 (but not above 6) and adding 20% to AF, DF, SF, and HP. The cost is 50% of the ship’s base cost, is paid in EPs, and is not available until Y189. A ship must have an age of at least 10 turns before this order can be used. All improvements are cumulative with REFIT and UPGR orders. This order is only available in DH-games. Use it in other games at your peril.

Game Length is set to at least 30 turns, with the GM determining this in advance. This information is kept in a sealed jar on Funk & Wagnall’s porch, and no one will know the end of game turn except the GM. It will be announced one turn before the game actually ends. The GM reserves the right to reduce the end of game conditions to Turn #30 or even sooner if a winner is so plainly obvious that continuing the game is a waste of everyone’s time and the players’ money.

Victory Conditions are defined using a point scale. Players receive points according to this chart:

A "ship kill" is defined as one enemy ship destroyed. This can be scored by either attacking an opponent, or killing enemy ships as they attack you. Bases, decoys, and logistics bases do not count as kills, but monsters, NPCs, pirates, and dead Corps’ ships do count. Because of this, it is recommended that players who are dropping out send in one final turn in which they scrap all their ships (especially near the end of the game), except those which guard sites, in order to deny their opponents easy kills.

At the end of the game (after the final turn has completed), the player with the most victory points wins. Although DH-games are not full-sized games, they last longer and so a free game prize will be awarded.

Game Size Limitations: The game computers were not designed to handle Corporations of the size which appear in such games (which is why normal games usually end around Turn #20). Therefore, there is a ship cap of 200 ships, not including decoys and logistics bases (but including WGOs). In addition, unless you use the Warlord’s Aide to send in your turns electronically, you will be charged an extra £1 per page after the third page of moves/orders. This is in addition to other fees like fax-in costs. We regret having to include both these limitations in any game, but considering that Corps in 36Q and 37Q routinely sent in 5- and 6-page (and, at the end, 7-page) turns which took 15 minutes to enter, 10 minutes to run, and force us to turn off the network or face a computer crash, there is no other choice!

The CUSS, or Conglomerate of Unique and Special Species, was originally designed by Tom Gondolfi and later modified for use in SFW. THIS RACE EXISTS ONLY IN DH-GAMES AND CANNOT BE PURCHASED IN ANY OTHER GAME.

The CUSS uses the race letter "Q" and has the following ships:

Q-DN: EP 225, AF 80, DF 80, HP 80, SF 50, speed 3.

Q-CA: EP 150, AF 50, DF 50, HP 50, SF 30, speed 4.

Q-CL: EP 125, AF 40, DF 40, HP 40, SF 25, speed 4.

Q-DD: EP 100, AF 30, DF 30, HP 30, SF 20, speed 5.

Q-FF: EP 70, AF 20, DF 20, HP 20, SF 15, speed 5.

Although they appear to have only five ships, the actual number of ships is unlimited, because with any purchase you can specify up to two variant letters (A-Z, not * or &) as part of the ship class. For example, to buy a destroyer with carrier and PF capabilities, purchase a Q-DDPV (the order of the two letters doesn’t matter). Note, however, that regardless of what variant letters are selected, the base hull determines any supply and demand penalties (so if you buy a CAXY and a CABG, you are buying two CAs, so the second one will have to pay the second-purchase extended supply and demand penalty).

Ships can have the same variant letter, e.g., a DNBB. However, most static abilities work only once, so adding a second does not provide any additional benefit. For example, having Aegis on a ship gives it a 25% DF bonus when defending a site, but having it a second time does not give it a 50% bonus. In other words, ships cannot have "double Aegis." The same goes for other similar abilities, like scout, hospital, generic, etc.

Each variant you add increases the price of a ship by a percentage amount (of the base price) as shown in the list of CUSS variants on the next page.

A (+20%): Adds 25% to ship’s base DF and gives Aegis bonus.

B (+10%): Adds 25% to ship’s base AF.

C (+15%): Adds a cloaking device. If you buy this variant twice, e.g. a DDCC, the ship has a Darkfield Generator (permanent cloak) and does not need to use the CLOAK order.

D (10%): Adds 25% to ship’s base DF.

E (20%): -10% to ship’s base AF, adds Exploration ability.

F (50%): -25% to ship’s base AF, adds Facilities ability (which includes Integration ability).

G (50%): +25% to ship’s base AF, adds Generic ability. Buying this ability twice does NOT give a second mission.

H (10%): -25% to ship’s base AF, adds Hospital ability.

I (20%): -10% to ship’s base AF, adds Integration ability.

J (25%): Adds displacement device.

K (25%): Adds fighters: FF 4, DD 6, CL/CA/DN 12, and strike bonus. Buying "K" twice is unnecessary; use "KV" for maximum strike carrier abilities.

L (20%): Adds drones: FF 8, DD 12, CL 16, CA/DN 24, and bombardment bonus.

M (20%): Adds TBs: FF/DD 4, CL/CA 6, DN 10, and minesweeping ability.

N (40%): Adds notification ability (which includes survey ability); cannot be combined with "N" or "Y".

O (-50%): -50% to ship’s base AF/DF/SF/HP, speed drops to 1. Cannot be combined with "X".

P (25%): Adds PFs: FF 2, DD 4, CL/CA/DN 6. Does NOT add scout ability.

Q (15%): +10% to ship’s base DF and adds stasis field generator.

R (20%): Adds repair: FF 4, DD 6, CL 8, CA/DN 10.

S (20%): -25% to ship’s base AF and adds scout ability. Cannot be combined with "S" or "Z".

T (20%): Adds commandoes: FF 3, DD 4, CL 6, CA/DN 8, and troop bonus when attacking sites.

U (20%): +10% to ship’s base SF and adds mauler ability.

V (20%): Adds fighters: FF 4, DD 6, CL/CA/DN 12.

W (15%): +10% to ship’s base AF and adds web caster.

X (75%): +25% to ship’s base AF/DF/SF/HP, +1 speed, adds minesweeping ability, +2 TBs. Can be purchased only ONCE per ship and cannot be combined with "O".

Y (20%): -25% to ship’s base AF and adds survey ability. Cannot be combined with "N" or "Y".

Z (35%): -25% to ship’s base AF and adds heavy scout ability (which includes scout ability); cannot be combined with "S" or "Z".

There is no CUSS variant available for any of the following: specialty ships, penal ships, ability to carry satellite ships (or act as a satellite ship), ability to act as a Warp Gate, or anything else not listed above.

To figure the cost of the ship, add together the percentages and multiply by the base cost. Then multiply in any multiple-buy penalties. For example, a Q-DDXP (base cost 100) is purchased as the second CUSS DD that turn. The cost of "X" is 75%, the cost of "P" is 25% and the double-buy penalty is 15%. You would first increase the base 100 EPs by (75%+25%=100% to a total of 200, then add in the 15% for a total of 230 (a pricey little destroyer). Obviously you will want to avoid these double-purchase penalties at all costs!

Some of the more common variant combinations are KP (fighters and PFs—and don’t forget the ace pilot), YZ (for obvious reasons), IG (able to change its own mission), and X plus just about anything (except another X, which is illegal).

The CUSS are the ultimate special-purpose race in the game, and are really too good for regular games. Keep in mind that they appear only in DH-games, and don’t try buying them otherwise. (Of course, if you are creating your own custom game for yourself or a group, you can specify CUSS as a game option. Just ask AOG for details.)

Graveyard of Ships: There IS a Graveyard in Die Hard games, unless otherwise noted.

Cheap Ship Sale: The cheap ship sale, which normally appears in Y184, does not appear in DH-games, so don’t expect it or plan for it. (If you don’t know about the sale, you’ll find out 2 turns in advance in any game you’re in, so you can worry about it then.)

Primary Races: Some Die Hard games have these turned off, but this is NOT a normal option. Primary race settings will be required in "normal" DH-games.

Wild/Non-Wild Sectors: The ratio of wild to non-wild sectors will be unknown and will change from DH-game to DH-game. I’ll determine this at startup-time and won’t tell anyone what the pattern is (if any); you’ll have to figure this out for yourself.

XFIT: This order can ONLY be done at a base. You cannot use repair ships, hive ships, or anything else for this purpose.

Corp Numbers: These are scrambled in DH-games. This means you won’t be able to tell where a person is in the game just by looking at their Corp number.

Player Placement: While I go out of my way to arrange players in "fair" spacings in normal games (usually keeping new players well away from former game winners, for example) I won’t be doing this in DH-games. With the map arrangement, there are only two ways you can be placed (2 sectors away from someone or 4 sectors away) and there are only so many patterns possible. Complaining about how close you are to (or how far away from) your most hated enemy you are is a waste of time. If, before the game starts, you want to make a special request, I will TRY to honor it, but make no guarantees. Certain people (you know who you are) who have abused this privilege in the past should take this offer with a grain of salt.

The 'Blitz' variant

This special variant is designed for speed and ease of play.  In general you will tend to have fewer, larger fleets and not so many lone units running around.  Changes include:-

• All sectors use NPCs (no Wild, no Graveyard), with NPC Home Offices starting with at minimum a starbase and 10 ships.

• NPC sectors will contain up to 4 of the nastiest monsters available

• The No Prospecting variant is in effect (ie prospecting returns zero, but site income is doubled)

• Player Home Offices automatically have the Sector Special that allows the use of the TE order, but no other Specials will appear in the game.

• The game may or may not be an Events game.

• Players start with 1500 EPs, not 1000, though no loan order is available.

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