RULES of EVENT HORIZON

Game Phases

1. Construction

   • Ships are constructed only by the Mothership, and appear in the same sector as it.
   • Any ship MUST have hull components >= (0.25 * (#othercomps ^2 - 1))
   • Note: Ed's UI will automatically calculate this for you.
   • Every ship must have at least one weapon or engine or it will be lost immediately.
   Tips:
   • Build a large number of tiny scouts early on to help explore for high value sectors to claim. A single engine probe with no other components requires no hull and is therefore dirt cheap and expendable.
   • Build the largest ships you can with a huge number of engines in order to mine sectors most efficiently. Only the one ship with the most engines gets to mine, so make the most of high value sectors with a big investment.
   • If you have unspent weapons, consider a minefield of single-weapon 'ships'. They die very fast when enemies attack, but sheer numbers will do damage and prevent retreats until they are cleared. Shielded weapon turrets can also be built cheap, but do not need to be replaced after small attacks.
   • Small ships have the most balanced costs, however the more components of each type, the more efficent they are at their task. Shields provide a greater maximum charge when grouped, engines provide more mining together, and weapons provide more concentrated damage when in large banks.
   • Construction occurs before movement, so if you think your mothership is going to lead that newly constructed attack fleet, think again - the attack fleet will appear in the sector the mothership just left, and your poor mothership will fight alone!

2. Moves

   • Only ships with at least one thruster may move.
   • Ships all move one hex in the direction requested in your orders.
   Tips:
   • No matter how many thrusters a ship has, it can only move at most one hex per turn. Thus, you might be tempted to install only one thruster on all your ships! However, there are other reasons to add more thrusters (see Combat and Income).

3. Attacks of Opportunity

   • Any ship which has retreated from a sector containing enemy ships may be fired upon.
   • Additionally, newly constructed ships may be fired upon.
   • For damage mechanics see Combat.

4. Shield Charging

   • Current shield points are divided by 2, rounding down.
   • Current shield points are then increased by the number of shield generators on the ship.
   • Note: This means the maximum shield charge is #Generators * 2 - 1
   • 1 gen = 1.0 shields per generator. 2 = 1.5 spg. 3=1.67 spg. 4= 1.75 spg, etc.

5. Combat

   • Combat firing order (Initiative System)
     • Every ship gets one "lottery ticket"
     • Each thruster provides 2 extra "tickets"
     • The first time your ship's number is (randomly) called, you get to fire a full volley
     • Damage is applied immediately, so slow ships may be damaged or destroyed before they can fire.
   • Combat firing pattern (Targeting)
     • Each shot fires at a random enemy target.
     • A higher number of weapons per ship increases the chance of hitting the same target repeatedly.
     • For those who care, the formula is 85% chance to choose a new target, to the power of the number of weapons on the ship.
     • 0 or 1 weapons: irrelevant. 2 weapons: 28% chance to "lock on" (100% - 85% ^ 2). 3 weapons: 39%. 4 weapons: 48%. 5 weapons: 56%. etc.
     • This "saving throw" must be rolled for each weapon on the ship; rolling it once does not mean all your weapons will hit the same target!
     • All shots hit their targets; they never miss.
   • Damage
     • All shots do 1 damage initially.
     • If damage to a ship makes the design invalid (not enough hull to hold it together - see Construction) then more damage will be randomly applied until the ship is legal or dead. (AKA Critical Hit)

6. Income

   • Only the ship with the most thrusters in a sector generates any income.
   • Income is equal to sqrt(#thrusters) * Sector value for each resource.
   • E.g. a ship with 9 thrusters in a sector with 5 hull value will generate 3 * 5 = 15 hull resources.
   • If there is a tie between 2 players for fastest ship, nobody gets anything!
   • If you have the fastest ship but enemies are present, the income is divided by the number of empires represented. (Blockade)
   • E.g. if 2 enemy fleets from different empires moved into the sector mentioned before, but neither contained a ship of equal or greater speed to your miner, your mining rate would be reduced by a factor of 3, to 5 hull.
   • Resources gathered are converted to components immediately and are available for construction on your next turn.

7. Reports

   • Ships
     • All of your surviving ships report their stats in detail.
     • Enemy ships you can see report owner, approximate strength (sqrt(#components)), general status (normal/immobile/unarmed).
     • Enemy motherships can be identified in their reports.
     • You cannot see the names assigned to enemy ships by their owner; they get assigned generic names when you spot them based on their initial strength and status.
   • Sectors
     • Any sectors containing a surviving ship of yours will report the resource values and enemy ships detected.
     • There are no "long range sensors" - you can only see where you actually have ships!
     • Any sectors you have gotten a report from on a prior turn remain "mapped" - you can see their resource values, but not enemy forces. (Fog of War)
     • If you enter an unmapped sector and all your ships are destroyed by the enemy, you will not get a report on resource values, only on enemy ships, since your ships did not have time to fully scout the system!
   • Battles
     • When your ships engage in battle, you will get a detailed report on damage inflicted and ships destroyed.
     • The GUI will show this as a replay, combining multiple consecutive shots from one ship to the same target into "salvos" to simplify viewing.