Here is a preview of the NEW and improved The Derelict reference card. It brings the game's total number of cards to 100 EXACTLY. And that will be the only addition before we produce the game's Expansion which will introduce the Planetary cards.
This was very much inspired from "Race for the Galaxy 2" (Race 2) AI mechanic... Obviously this is very simplified and it is not an AI player exactly. In a way it sort of is, but we let the roll of the dice determine how the alien starship will act on each one of its turns.
YES - this does mean a certain amount of luck, however you can't have TENSION with no luck if you want the game to be playable. This reference is supposed to make The Derelict scenario HARD to win. And obviously make it more enjoyable to play! :D
Cheers.
Comments
Rolls 5 to 9
Obviously if you have NO starships in the Space Lane, rolling a 5 to 9 causes damage to your Homeworld. But usually early on, it will be rather low. However once you do get a Battleship into the Space Lane, rolls 5 to 9 require one or more initiative rolls to be successful. Note also that a player's Battleship may also have better Resistance and therefore the Alien vessel needs to wait to build up more Firepower.
So even rolling 5 to 9 is not "apocalyptic"... It just means you need to rush to get that first Battleship in your Space Lane, like the previous The Derelict scenario... So lots of HIGH TENSION in the beginning of the game and then it slowly dips down to more random events that create tension later in the game!
Number of turns
One fact that remains is that winning the game HIGHLY relies on lowering the number of turns taken to beat the game. What this effectively means is that the longer the game - the more likely you are to LOSE rather than win. And as such what this means is that every decision you take has a direct consequence (on the duration of the solitary game...)
Hyper Cannon
The *special* weapon breaks the fundamental rules of the game. Namely that battleships in your Space Lane may defend your Homeworld from attacks. This weapon specifically attacks your Homeworld directly and once that happens, it drains the alien starships' Firepower to 1 (Auto surge).
This AI mechanic, although RANDOM, introduces pretty balanced actions which translate into great game play. For example, a lucky 1 can be a breath of relief if The Derelicts' Firepower is 5 or 6. Energy Boosts do not cause any direct damage and give the player a chance to build up. But be warned a few of these and you will be facing a stronger opponent and it can rip right through your defenses with rolls higher than 4...
With these "roll rules", we have setup The Derelict to be able to target one (1) starship or TWO (2) starships with the unlucky 8 or 9 rolls. Obviously nothing sucks more than a zero (0) roll, which causes DIRECT damage to your Homeworld.
Love the Tension
One of the main components to any game is the sense of tension it produces in terms of limited resources, the inability to do everything you want to do during a specific turn, or the fact that you sometimes, as in life, need to make a sub-optimal decision to simply survive until the next round to make a more optimal decision.