Special rules

Ship Special Rules

While most eventualities and ship types are covered in the rules above, certain ships have abilities and attributes that are out of the ordinary and require special rules to address this.

Ablative Armour

A ship with Ablative Armour increases its Armour by 2 points (e.g. 5+ Armour becomes 3+ Armour) until it is Crippled. At that point this bonus is lost for the rest of the game.

Aegis (X)

Ships with the Aegis special rule add a bonus to the Point Defence value of any friendly ships within 4" of them equal to X. In order to be affected, ships must be on the same Orbital Layer as the Aegis ship, additionally the bonus also applies to the Aegis ship itself.

For example: A ship with the Aegis (5) special rule is within 4" of a friendly ship with a PD characteristic of 4. As long as they remain within 4" the friendly ship counts as having a PD of 9.

Atmospheric

Only ships with the Atmospheric special rule are capable of entering the Atmospheric layers during Orbital Combat.

Beast

When this ship suffers a Crippling Damage result, it gains a -1 bonus to its weapon systems' Lock characteristics.

Detector

Detector ships may always use Active Scan special orders even if their battlegroup has chosen a different special order for the turn. Every Detector ship in a Group may Active Scan, not just one - choose all Detector ships you wish to Active Scan simultaneously.

Dreadnought

A Battlegroup containing a Dreadnought may not contain any other ships. A Dreadnought has a tonnage of 30 (hence the S2 in the profile). A Battlegroup containing a Dreadnought may exceed the normally allowed 33% of your fleet's points cost.

If taken, your Admiral must be mounted in a Dreadnought.

Standard Orders and Special Orders that allow a Dreadnought to fire one weapon system allow it to fire up to two weapon systems instead.

Dreadnoughts use special Crippling Damage and Catastrophic Damage tables, shown in the damage section. In addition, roll on the Crippling Damage table when the ship is reduced to 18 Hull or less and 10 Hull or less instead of the usual 50% of original hull.

Full-Cloak

A ship with the Full Cloak special rule can never receive an energy spike for any reason, until it is Crippled.

Launch

Ships with the Launch special rule are capable of carrying and using Launch Assets. Launch-capable ships will have their launch capacity noted in their descriptions along with the standard type load carried (i.e. Fighters, Bombers or Torpedoes as appropriate).

Monitor

Monitors may not use Course Change or Max Thrust special orders. Weapons fired by Monitords suffer no Lock penalty for firing between Low and High Orbit.

Open

Ships with the Open rule do not need to maintain coherency with other members of their Group or Battlegroup and the Battlegroup will suffer no negative modifiers to their strategy rating while ships with this rule are out of coherency.

Outlier

Ships with this rule may ignore Battlegroup (but not Group) coherency rules, and the Battlegroup will suffer no negative modifiers to their Strategy Rating while ships with this rule are out of Battlegroup coherency.

Partial Cloak

A ship with the Partial Cloak special rule can only ever receive a Minor Spike - it may never be increased to a Major Spike. If a rule or weapon would cause this ship to gain Major Spike, it instead gains a Minor Spike (or nothing at all if it already has a Minor Spike). This rule ceases to work when the ship is Crippled.

Rare

You may only take a maximum of one of each Rare Group in a Skirmish sized game, two in a Clash and three in a Battle.

Reinforced Armour

A ship with Reinforced-Armour only suffers Critical Hits from attack dice that score three more above their Lock number instead of two.

Regenerate (X)

A ship with Regenerate can make a number of damage control rolls equal to X in the Roundup phase of the turn to regain lost hull points.

For example, a ship with Regenerate (3) could roll up to three damage control dice to restore lost hull points during the Roundup phase of the turn.

Note that there is still a chance of the ship taking additional Hull damage if it rolls a 1 on a Regenerate damage control dice - things don't always work right.

Stealth

A ship with the Stealth special rule may fire a single weapon system when using Silent Running special orders (note this also means it can use close action weapons when Silent Running). The Stealth special rule only applies while the ship is not crippled, so once it loses 50%+ of its Hull the Stealth rule no longer applies.

Vectored

Ships with this rule are able to turn at any point in their movement, instead of when the order they have chosen states.

Weapon System Special Rules

Air-to-Air

While in atmosphere, weapons with this rule ignore the usual penalty to Lock Value and gain -1 to their Lock value when firing at ships in atmosphere. All other penalties still apply, including needing a 6+ to shoot at ground targets. Air to Air weapons gain no benefit from this rule when firing from outside atmosphere. Air to Air weapons that also have the Close Action rule may be fired at targets in atmosphere in addition to other Orbital Layers.

Alternate fire weapons (Alt-X)

A weapon system with Alternate fire modes will be represented by two or more lines on the weapon system characteristics with Alt followed by a number (e.g. Alt-1) in the special section. Only one weapon system with the same Alt number on the weapon characteristics may be fired by the same ship each turn.

Bloom

Weapons with this special rule add a minor spike to the firing ship when this weapon is fired. This is in addition to any spikes gained from special orders or other sources.

Bombardment

Weapons with this special rule can only be used on ground sectors. To fire a bombardment weapon, a ship must be in Low Orbit. A ship cannot use a Bombardment weapon while in Atmosphere, unless specifically stated. Unlike other weapon systems bombardment weapons incur no penalties for firing through orbital layers or shooting through atmosphere.

Burnthrough (X)

If an Attack dice for a Burnthrough weapon scores equal to or above its Lock number the Attack dice can be rolled again. If the second Lock roll is successful a third Lock roll can be made and so on until a Lock roll is failed. A Burnthrough weapon can score a maximum total of X total Hull damage points (before armour saves are rolled) in one activation.

If a Critical Hit (i.e. rolling two or higher than the required lock number) is scored by a Burnthrough weapon, only that die will ignore the target's Armour. Any subsequent hits rolled by this weapon against the same target during the same activation ignore the target's armour too.

Calibre (X)

Weapons with the Calibre rule will be followed by either L, M, H, S which refers to the tonnage value they have been designed to target.

When these weapons are fired at targets with the same tonnage value as their weapon, reduce the lock value on their profile by 1. If the weapon has more than 1 tonnage value listed, then reduce the Lock when shooting at any of the listed tonnage values.

In addition, weapons with the Calibre H and/or S rule inflict Critical Hits on rolls exceeding their Lock value by ONE rather than the usual two (against targets of any Tonnage value).

For example; a weapon with a Lock of 5+ and the Calibre (L) rule is targeting a frigate. As frigates have a tonnage value of L (Light) you would reduce the Lock value of the weapon by 1 to 4+.

Close Action

Close Action weapon systems may only be used against targets that are both within their fire arc and inside the firing ship's Scan range. Close action weapons can be fired in addition to any other weapon systems permitted by a ship's orders. A ship that is unable to use any of its weapon systems due to special orders may not use its close action weapons either.

Hits from Close Action weapons can be stopped by a target's Point Defence. Resolve the effects of Point Defence before taking any Armour or Passive Countermeasures saving throws.

Close Action (Swarmer)

It takes one Point Defence success more than normal to stop a point of Hull damage from a Swarmer weapon. This means that two successes are need to stop a normal hit from a swarmer, three successes for a critical.

Close Action (Beam)

Close Action (Beam) weapon systems obey all the normal rules for close action weapon systems except one - Point Defences cannot be used against them at all!

Corruptor

For every Attack Dice from this weapon that scores two higher than its Lock number and inflicts damage to an enemy ship (after saving throws have been taken), that ship gains a Corruptor token. At the beginning of each Damage Control phase, a ship with Corruptor tokens takes 1 Damage for each token, with no saves of any type allowed. A Corruptor token may be repaired just like a Crippling effect.

Corruptor has no effect on Space Stations or Sectors.

Crippling

Weapon systems with the Crippling characteristic inflict Crippling Damage when they score one or more critical hits in addition to any normal Hull Damage. Crippling damage is incurred regardless of the number of Hull points actually inflicted providing one or more Hull damage is suffered by the target. If a target ship is reduced to 50% hull or below by the attack it will need to make two Crippling Damage rolls and apply both of them. If a weapon with the Crippling rule is affected by another rule which would make Critical Hits automatic (such as the Particle rule) then the roll you would have needed to achieve a Critical Hit is the roll required for the Crippling rule to take effect.

For example, a Lock 3+ weapon would need a 5 or 6 to make an additional roll on the Crippling table.

Distortion

The damage value of a Distortion weapon system is equal to the number of hits the weapon system inflicts during the attack (before rolling any saving throws are rolled).

For example: A Distortion weapon with 4 Attack dice hits 3 times, this gives each hit a damage value of 3, so up to 9 Hull damage will be inflicted if all saves were failed! If the same weapon were to hit with all 4 attacks, it would inflict 16 Hull damage!

Escape Velocity

These weapons ignore the penalties for firing through different Orbital Layers (including Atmosphere) and may be fired from Atmosphere. However, they must always target an enemy in a higher Orbital Layer than themselves.

Flash

A ship that is hit by a Flash weapon system gains a Minor Spike in addition to any other damage effects. In addition, if the weapon system inflicts 3 or more damage from the attack, another Minor Spike is added to the target.

Fusillade (X)

When a ship uses the Weapons Free order, Fusillade weapon systems add X to their Attack value to determine the number of shots the weapon system can make this turn.

Impel (X)

If the firing player inflicts X damage to an enemy ship (after saving throws have been taken) with a single weapon with the Impel (X) special rule, they may turn the target up to 45 degrees in either direction.

Limited (X)

Weapons with this rule will be expressed as L (X) in their special section. This weapon may only be fired X times in a game, so make your shots count! This can also apply to Launch Assets (typically to torpedoes), in which case the Asset may only be launched X times in a game.

Linked (X)

A weapon with this rule will normally be paired with a second weapon with the same Linked (X) value. In order for a ship to fire more than one weapon it is normally required to declare a Weapons Free special order. However, all weapon systems with the same Linked (X) number count as a single weapon system for activation purposes, although they may be fired at different targets.

Low Power

Up to 1 Low Power weapon (or multiple Low Power weapons with the Linked special rule) may be fired instead of Close Action weapons in addition to other weapons permitted by a ship's orders.

A ship that is unable to use any of its weapon systems due to a special order (or Overcharging a weapon) may not use Low Power weapons either.

Mauler

The Lock characteristic of a Mauler weapon is equal to the Armour characteristic of the targeted ship.

For example; A Mauler is being fired at a ship which has Armour 3+. The Lock number of the Mauler is therefore also 3+.

Overcharge

A weapon with this rule may be Overcharged. An Overcharged weapon (and any weapons with Overcharge it is Linked with) doubles its Damage value for that attack.

If the ship is on Weapons Free Orders, it may only fire Close Action or Low Power weapons but not any other weapon types. However if the ship is on any other Orders, it may not use Launch Assets or fire any other weapons, including Close Action and Low Power weapons.

Particle

Weapon systems with this rule always inflict Critical Hits if the Lock value of their attack is met. Passive saves may not be taken against them.

Re-Entry

Re-Entry weapons are capable of firing from Low Orbit into Atmosphere without any penalties to Lock for Atmosphere or crossing Orbital Layers.

Unless otherwise stated, Re-Entry weapons use Scan + Signature for their range.

Re-Entry weapons may not target Clusters or Sectors, although may shoot other targets outside of Atmosphere, following all the normal rules.

Scald

Armour against Hull damage from scald weapons suffers a +1 penalty when the firing ship is within Scan range of the target.

For example: A ship armed with Scald weapons hits a target that is within Scan range. The target's Armour is usually 3+ so against this attack it becomes 4+ instead.

Squadron-X

If a Group has assigned X or more of the same weapon system with this special rule to the same target, increase the attack dice of one of those weapon systems (attacker's choice) by 3.

Subsystem Network

Whenever a ship with this rule fires a weapon, it may also fire an additional weapon of the same type if it has one. That weapon still cannot fire twice during one turn (for example if it has the Linked special rule).

Weapons with Low Power and Subsystem Network may still use this rule even if firing on Low Power. Weapons that have been Overcharged cannot use Subsytem Network.

Unstable

While on the Weapons Free Special Order, Attack dice rolls of an unmodified 6 cause the firing ship to lose that weapon's damage value (after any modifiers) in Hull Points with no saves of any kind allowed.

Shaltari Special Rules

Shaltari Shields

At the start of any friendly Shaltari Battlegroup's activation, ships in that Battlegroup can choose to raise their shields. Once raised, the shields must remain raised until the Battlegroup next activates where the Shaltari player can choose to deactivate the shields. When the shields are raised, the following rules take effect:

• The ship may use its Passive Countermeasures.
• The ship must now use the larger signature value in its profile
• The ship's Point Defence is reduced to 0. Modifiers such as those made by escorting fighters still apply.
• The ship may not choose the Silent Running special order.

Shield Booster

Once per turn, if a friendly ship within 4" and on the same Orbital Layer of a ship with this rule is targeted, the friendly ship may re-roll all failed Passive Countermeasures saves for that attack.

The ship with this rule can choose to target itself.

A ship with 13+ Hull Points requires 2 ships with Shield Booster in order to receive this bonus.

Motherships & Gates

Motherships are the origin point for ground troops and these are physically carried aboard them. As such, they have a Launch capacity in same way as the troopships of other races and they use the same rules for when they may Launch. Motherships are identified as ships that have the option to launch Gates. Gates are a special type of Strike Craft unique to the Shaltari and use the same rules as Dropships.

Voidgate-X

When a Mothership is launching Gates, they are not deployed from the Mothership itself. Instead, they are deployed from Voidgates. A Voidgate will have a Voidgate Capacity (Voidgate-X) in its special rules, which represents how many Gate tokens may be deployed through it each turn (note that this is frequently lower than the launch value of Motherships, meaning that you generally need multiple Voidgates to make full use of a Mothership's potential Launch capacity).

In order to do this, the Voidgate must be within 18" of the Mothership OR within 18" of another Voidgate that is in turn within 18" of the Mothership. You may have more than 2 Voidgates in this chain as long as it is unbroken. Only the Capacity of the Voidgate deploying the Gates is used if multiple Voidgates are chained in this way.

If a Voidgate is within 6" of a Cluster, that Cluster counts as having a Defence Battery deployed in it when enemy Dropships or Bulklanders are deploying ground assets. However, Bulk Landers are destroyed on a 4+ rather than the usual 3+.

Voidgates can also be used to relocate Ground Assets once deployed. During the Ground Combat step of the Roundup Phase, you may use nearby Voidgates to enhance the movement abilities of you existing ground forces.

Ground Asset tokens in Sectors within 3" of a Voidgate in Atmosphere or Space Stations in Low Orbit may be moved to another Sector within 3" of another Voidgate in Atmosphere or another Space Station within 3" of another Voidgate in Low Orbit anywhere else on the table. If the token is being moved to a Sector within a Cluster containing an enemy Defence Battery, that token is destroyed on a roll of 6+.

Ground Assets may not be deployed through any Voidgate which has used the Max Thrust Special Order that turn although that Voidgate may still be part of a chain.

Any number of Ground Asset tokens may be picked up by a single Voidgate, but only one may be dropped per Voidgate per turn using this rule. Tokens picked up but not dropped in this manner are automatically destroyed.

Tokens moved in this manner count as not being present in their new Sector for the remainder of the turn (and therefore may not contribute to scoring that turn).

Resistance Special Rules

Elite Bridge Crew

A Resistance Fleet ship may remove a Major Spike when on Standard Orders. In addition, when drawing Command Cards, Resistance players always draw 1 additional card, and then discard 1 card of their choice from their hand.