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A Galactic Conquest Style Galaxy in 2e S&S

PostPosted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 4:50 pm
by Jay_NOLA
The 1st edition of S&S mentions that it is compatible with the old FGU game Galactic Conquest and mention that three-dimensional mapping may be adapted from it for S&S. No information is given if the Galaxy is broken up into sectors and how big those sectors are in S&S 1st edition.

2e S&S says that the sectors are 20x20 hex maps. The exact numbers of sectors in the Galaxy are left to the SM. This size of a sector appears to have been taking from Galactic Conquest.

Galactic Conquest uses different definitions of some mapping terms found in S&S which can cause confusion. In Galactic Conquest, for example, a sector is not a 2eS&S sector.

For those wishing to use Galactic Conquest style Galaxy in 2e S&S here are the all the details on how to do that, so you don't need to find a copy of Galactic Conquest and do this work yourself and the terms used to define are updated so mesh with 2e S&S along with some additions of my own to help in doing that. I'm using S&S2e names for things like instead of the Galactic Conquest ones to avoid confusion.

1.) The Galaxy is 36 sectors big.

2.) Each sector is represented on a 20x20 hex map.

3.) The 36 sectors are arranged and identified by a letter (Big A-Z and small a-j).

4.) The sectors are arranged as follows:

A B C D E F
G H I J K L
M N O P Q R
S T U V W X
Y Z a b c d
e f g h I j

5.) A sector may be given a name to identify it instead of a letter designation.

6.) A SM can chose add more sectors and go beyond the default Galaxy size of36 sectors.

Optional 3D Rules

7.) In addition to covering x-axis and y-axis locations in space the Galaxy has “levels”, which are z-axis coordinates.

8.) The lowest level is negative 120 (-120). The highest is positive 120 (+120). If the SM expands the size of the Galaxy the limits of levels must equally be expanded as well.

9.) The movement of spaceships is extended into all directions. Use Pythagorean’s theorem, which states x ² +y ²=z², to determine how many hexes a ship and round normally when figuring out square roots.

Example, if you ship moves 3 levels up and 4 hexes on the x and y axis. You would move a total of 5 hexes.

Sensors Scans (Galactic Conquest Style)

10.) A ship can tell if any planetary systems that occupy hexes within 4 hexes of it. Exact details on the planets in the detected system and other system details are not known. Th SM may say that starbases are treated as planetary systems for detection purposes.

11.) A ship within 2 hexes of a system planetary system or starbase may be contacted or attempt to establish contact with the system or starbase via communications. If a ship for some reason is not able tobe detected by the scanners of the system or starbase it will make no atemot to contact since the ship is undetected.

12.) A ship within the same hex of a planetary system may determine if a planet in a system can support, if it has space-technology, and attempt to determine other general details about the system. The SM may say to determine the details that can normally be detected in the hex for various reasons, including simply that the system is under the control of a major known other space civilization, like the Zangid

13.) A starbase provides and does the same scanning a ship can.

14.) Hazards cannot be detected by these rules on sensor scans. Additionally, hidden planetary system and other things may not be detected by these sensor rules if the SM says so.

15.) These sensor range limits are taken straight from Galactic Conquest and are meant to apply to all ships. A SM could make up rules to expand or decrease these ranges and what can be detected to cover ships that he or she feels would have better sensor ranges.

16.) The SM may decide that certain Hazards extend in to multiple layers on the z-axis also.

17.) If using the Optional 3D Rules, the scanning scanner range for a starship or starbase is 3 hexes for levels (z axis), but is still 4 hexes for objects on the x axis and y axis.

Mapping Advice if using the Optional 3D rules.

To make mapping easier a SM may chose to make several 2D maps and put in a limit of how much of the Z-axis they will cover. Planets in the z axis can be given a notation indicating how high up or low they are on the map. Z-axis values not covered on one map would be covered on another

I recommend a 20 z-axis limit for each map. So in the default Galaxy set up the you would have 12 different maps just to cover how big the sector A parts are.

A GM could say each 20x20x20 hex map is a separate sector and give each sector a name.


Several software products exist that can help in 3D mapping. 2 of note that a SM should check out are:

Profantasy’s CC3 has an expansion titled Cosmographer 3 which can make 3D space maps for RPGs.

NBOS Software makes Astrosynthesis 3.0 which is specifically made for making 3D star maps for use in RPGs. Astrosynthesis can also compute travel distances and do other things.

For more info on these mapping programs see:

https://secure.profantasy.com/default.asp

http://www.nbos.com/

Additional Galactic Conquest Rule Modifications & Notes

The Confederation, Zangid, Videni, and other space powers described in S&S are Tech Level 8 in Galactic Conquest, because of the 8 hex warp limit they have in S&S.

A Galactic Conquest referee may choose to not let players improve the Tech Level beyond 8 if they are controlling a S&S space power in a Galactic Conquest game. The referee could allow advancement beyond Tech Level 8 and have a larger than 8 warp limit but the advancement needs to cost more resource points and take more time than described in the normal Galactic Conquest rules. It is recommended that a referee create additional detailed rules governing Tech Level advancement in a S&S based Galactic Conquest game.

The Galactic Conquest rule that limits a starbase to being built within 4 squares (hexes) of the home system should be ignored, since S&S doesn’t use it in determining the placement of starbases based on examination of the 1st & 2nd editions S&S rules.

The Combat Factor (CF) & Resource Points (RPs) in Galactic Conquest can’t easily be determined for the ships and starbases found in the S&S universe for several reasons that become apparent if one tries to neatly give all the ships in the S&S rules a CF. Some ships like Space Carriers are very problematic, due to how they operate to how they operate. Some ships may be better at attacking and not at defense, have special systems, etc. A referee is going to have to add a lot of custom rules to depict the combat capabilities, etc. to make them be reflected accurately in an S&S based game of Galactic Conquest.