Military Units

A character may make use of Military Units to aid them in their endeavours. Any unit must first be constructed by a friendly Faction Base with the permission of the local Base Commander. Constructing a Military Unit containing parts unlocked by deploying a Technology in the previous downtime will cost additional Minerals unless the character constructing the Unit has the Prototype proficiency. This Base is responsible for maintaining the upkeep of all Military Units constructed at that Base.

If the Base is in Shortfall the Base Commander can choose to stand down units, these Units will have no in-game effects until their maintenance is once again paid for.

Unless otherwise used for a downtime action, active Units will remain at their home Base for the duration of a Downtime period, increasing that Base's Stability while they are there, and will be available to defend the Base should it come under attack by local fauna or opposing Factions Military Units. Units that are stood down will not participate in the defence of a Base.

Military Units can currently only be used for Downtime Actions taking place on continents on which their Faction controls a base, later technological advancements may increase the reach of different units.

A Military Unit is made up of 4 parts, chosen at the time of construction. A chassis, weaponry, armour and reactor. Each of these parts can give benefits to the Military unit’s different statistics, or have other useful effects. Units may be upgraded as new parts become available from the discovery of different technologies, this will require the provision of additional resources and the use of an appropriate Proficiency or Facility.

Statistics

  • A Unit's Attack statistic determines its effectiveness when attacking other Military Units or Bases, this is primarily determined by the weaponry the Unit is armed with.

  • A unit’s Defence statistic determines its effectiveness when defending against other Military Units or local fauna, this is primarily determined by the armour the Unit is equipped with.

  • A Unit’s Morale statistic provides a modifier to both Attack and Defence in all circumstances, this is primarily determined by the Facilities located in its home Base at the time of its construction. Participation in dangerous situations can cause this to fluctuate.

  • A Unit’s Speed statistic determines two things, firstly the number of downtime actions that this Unit may be involved with and secondly the number of other units that may be attacked by this unit in a given combat. This is primarily determined by the chassis selected for the unit, having a higher Speed when involved in a dangerous situation can allow the unit to disengage before it is destroyed.

  • A Unit’s Health determines how much damage the unit can sustain in dangerous situations, this is primarily determined by the reactor the unit is equipped with. Damage dealt to units is automatically healed at the end of a downtime period, not at the end of each action.

Combat Between Military Units

When a Military Unit attacks another it becomes engaged and rounds of combat will continue to be processed unless one of the units manages to disengage. Each round of combat begins by totalling up the Attack statistic of the attacking unit, modified by its Morale and any other contributing factors, and comparing it to the Defence statistic of the defending unit, modified by its Morale and any other contributing factors. Each point of difference between the two scores will be a positive or negative card added to the check depending on who the score favours. Damage is then dealt based on the positive or negative result of the check, a positive result dealing that damage to the defender, a negative result dealing damage to the attacker.

When one unit involved in the combat would be destroyed a final check is made if the loser has a greater speed than the victor, if the result of said check would cause the victor to take damage, instead the loser disengages. The disengaging Unit may not be used in any actions for the rest of this downtime period.

Aerial Units can only be attacked by other aerial units, and Naval units may only be attacked by other Naval or Aerial units.

When multiple units are involved in a combat, the highest attack unit of the attacking units is selected to fight first against the highest defence unit of the defending units. Units with a high speed may be selected to attack multiple times in such a combat based upon their speed rating, the attack value of a unit is reduced for each time the unit has already attacked this combat. A unit with 3 speed attacking the second time will reduce its attack value by a third.

Attacking a Hostile Base

A unit or group of units may attempt to attack a Base belonging to another Faction. If they do, combat is resolved in much the same fashion as normal with a few differences. Military Units in the defending Base receive an additional bonus to their Defence statistic based on the Defence statistic of the Base being attacked. To overcome entrenched units two or more attacking units may combine their Attack characteristics with each additional unit involved forgoing one of its attacks to do so. Military Units defending a Base cannot disengage. Naval and Aerial Military Units may only participate in the defence of a Base if the attacking unit is also a Naval or Aerial Military Unit respectively.

If all the Military Units in a Base are destroyed the attacking characters can choose to annex the base if they still have a Military Unit remaining alive capable of attacking the base, Aerial units may never annex a Base. Annexing a base reduces the population of the Base by 1 and will impact the mood of the base.

Psionic Combat

Some esoteric weapons and creatures may attack using Psionic powers rather than conventional weapons. Rather than using the standard Attack and Defence of a unit these values are determined purely by the Morale statistic of the unit. The attacking unit is advantaged in these circumstances and automatically adds a single +2 card to the check before determining the difference in Attack and Defence values.