DESIGNER'S NOTES COSMIC WARLORDS a Scenario for Warlords 2 Deluxe Created by: Will Michael, 72623.630@compuserve.com DISCLAIMER: ----------- This scenario is a work of fiction. All characters and names depicted in this scenario are purely fictional or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any person, living or deceased, is purely coincidental. BACKGROUND: ----------- It has been over five centuries since Imperial starships have ventured into this space. K'Bekk was once a province of the Drakk Empire, but it was abandoned when the home world was threatened by new enemies. That threat has been eliminated, but at a great cost. It has taken time, but the Emperor and the Drakk Empire are strong once again. Fleets have been assembled and resources stockpiled for the Reconquest. THE PLAYERS: ------------ DOMINION OF TOR (White) Some imperial citizens chose to remain behind. When left to their own resources each world became isolated and introspective. Most regressed, but some maintained a moderate technological level. The situation on one of these independent planets, Tor, has recently changed. It is running out of resources. The Planetary Council has decided to build a warfleet and seize strategic resources by conquest while they still can. L'CHAL RA (Green) The L'Chal Ra, or "people of L'Chal", remember the Empire well. There are many stories as to why they left so suddenly, destroying what they couldn't take, but the reason is not important. The people recovered. Now they are ready to venture out into space themselves. The unknown lies before them, but if they encounter the Empire for a second time, they are prepared. TERRAN UNION (Dark Blue) Imperial probes had not penetrated to this preindustrial planet on the outer edge of K'Bekk. Over the last five hundred years the Terrans have progressed and expanded to colonize their own solar system. With the recent discovery of an intersetllar drive, they are poised to "reach for the stars". DRAKK EMPIRE (Light Blue) As Governor General of K'Bekk, you are the Emperor's representative in this region. You have been ordered to use the newly constructed shipyard and stockpiled raw materials on the forward planetary base Albamor to implement the Reconquest. Further production is to be supplied by local conquest. If successful, your provincial forces will be supplemented by additional battlegroups at the Emperor's discretion. If unsuccessful... ARMY UNITS: ----------- SCOUT A lightly armed and armoured, small sized starship capable of high speed travel. Often used for exploration and courier duties. Capable of engaging only Attack Satellites and Planetary Defences loaded on space transports on equal terms. Strength = 1; Move = 28; Move Bonus = Fly; Time = 1; Cost = 2; New = 100; Location = No restrictions ATTACK SATELLITES A group of ground controlled defensive systems in planetary orbit. While not as effective as most other ground based units themselves, they tend to augment the strength of other defending forces by distracting or channeling an attack. Strength = 1; Str. Bonus = +1 Stack in City; Move = 6; Time = 1; Cost = 2; New = 100; Location = No restrictions PLANETARY DEFENCES Ground based, hardened sites armed with missiles and beam weapons used to defend worlds from orbital bombardment. Strength = 1; Str. Bonus = +2 Strength in City; Move = 6; Time = 1; Cost = 3; New = 180; Location = No restrictions X-SHIP A small, lightly armed and armoured starship with an experimental type of hyperdrive (X-Drive). The strength of the hyperspace field generated by the engines limit their installation to this class of starship, but X-ships are 3.5 times faster that the fastest courier. They are used to probe deep behind enemy lines and provide long range scouting for fleets. Strength = 2; Str. Bonus = +1 Stack in All; Move 98; Move Bonus = Fly; Location = Temple Ally only HOVER TANK BRIGADE / GRAV-ARMOUR REGIMENT A brigade/regiment sized unit, primarily equipped with ground based hover tanks or grav-armour, used to capture or defend planets. Strength = 2; Str. Bonus = +3 Strength in City; Move = 6; Time = 2; Cost = 6; New = 300; Location = No restrictions ROBOT BRIGADE A brigade sized unit of automated fighting machines. Of equal value in either ground based or deep space combat. Strength = 3; Move = 6; Time = 2; Cost = 5; New = 260; Location = No restrictions SPACE MINES A quantity of "smart" mines primarily used in planetary orbit, but occasionally deployed from starship in deep space combat. Space mines remain passive until enemy starships come within weapons range. Like Attack Satellites, they tend to augment the strength of other friendly forces by distracting or channeling an enemy attack. Strength = 3; Str. Bonus = +1 Stack in City; Move = 6; Time = 2; Cost = 6; New = 300; Location = No restrictions CORSAIR Several worlds supplement their production by harbouring small, "independent" Corsair starships. The Corsair is not a "class" of starship in the true sense. Generally, each starship is unique and is outfitted as each captain sees fit. Corsairs ply the trade routes between the star systems, especially at choke points created by nebulae and cosmic storms, looting any merchants that they might encounter. In response, Free Traders are arming their ships and worlds are patrolling their sectors of space with small warships. In times of war, Corsairs are expected to be given Letters of Marque and used to raid enemy transports. Strength = 3; Str. Bonus = +1 Strength in Open; Move = 24; Time = 2; Cost = 7; New = 350; Location = No restrictions INFANTRY / STORMTROOPER DIVISION A division sized, land based unit, comprised of from four to six brigades/regiments of infantry and artillery and several specialist batallions. Their primary use is to capture or defend planets, but are equally valuable when used as boarding parties in ship-to-ship combat. Strength = 4; Move = 6; Time = 2; Cost = 7; New = 350; Location = No restrictions FRIGATE A small warship designed to combat Corsairs and the largest of transports on equal terms. They are used as an escort or to raid enemy transports. Strength = 4; Move = 22; Time = 2; Cost = 8; New = 400; Location = No restrictions JUMP TROOP / SPACE MARINE DIVISION An elite, combined arms unit consisting of three jump trooper/marine brigades, a hover tank/grav-armour brigade, four artillery regiments and several specialist batallions. Each jump trooper/marine is equipped with a powered battle suit and is trained to fight in all environments. Unlike other land based units that are transported to a planet's surface via landing craft, jump troopers and marines are released while in orbit and use their battle suits to descend to the surface of the enemy world. Strength = 5; Move = 6; Time = 3; Cost = 9; New = 400 DESTROYER A small warship, considered by most to be an improved Frigate. Destroyers are used for the same tasks of escort duty and transport raiding. Strength = 5; Str. Bonus = +1 Strength in Open; Move = 20; Time = 3; Cost = 11; New = 600; Location = No restrictions FIGHTER SQUADRON The Fighter Squadron consists of twelve single-being ships, which are not capable of interstellar flight on their own. They are designed to defend their base from enemy attack boats and warships. Strength = 6; Str. Bonus = +1 Strength in City; Move = 6; Time = 3; Cost = 11; New = 600; Location = No restrictions DEEP SPACE SCANNER (DSS) PICKET A medium sized warship equipped with extended range scanners, sensors and communications equipment. Pickets take up position on the edge of the task group to give advance warning of enemy position/movements, providing the fleet with a defensive advantage. Strength = 6; Str. Bonus = Fortify; Move = 20; Time = 3; Cost = 14; New = 700; Location = No restrictions ATTACK BOAT SQUADRON Attack Boat Squadrons consist of twelve very small spacescaft that are incapable of independent interstellar flight. Each is operated by a crew of six. Their mission is to defend their base by attacking enemy warships. Attack Boat Squadrons use their small size and speed to overwhelm enemy defences. The Attack Boat attrition rate is reflected in the maintenance costs. Strength = 6; Str. Bonus = +1 Stack All, Cancel Non-Hero Bonus; Move = 6; Time = 3; Cost = 15; New = 800; Location = No restrictions LIGHT CARRIER The Light Carrier is a medium sized warship capable of launching and recovering an Attack Boat Squadron in deep space. Although almost defenceless itself, the Light Carrier provides long range scanners and acts as a base for the Attack Boats. Attack Boats use their small size and speed to overwhelm enemy defences. The Attack Boat attrition rate is reflected in the maintenance costs. Strength = 7; Str. Bonus = +1 Stack All, Cancel Non-Hero Bonus; Move = 18; Time = 4; Cost = 20; New = 1,000; Location = No restrictions, Ally ATTACK CRUISER The Attack Cruiser is a large starship designed as a planetary bombardment platform. The beam weapons of a Heavy Cruiser have been replaced with additional missile/torpedo launchers and bomb racks. Although not as effective in deep space combat, the salvoes from an Attack Cruiser enhance the performance of the entire fleet when assaulting a planet. Strength = 7; Str. Bonus = Seige; Move = 18; Time = 4; Cost = 16; New = 800; Location = No restrictions ELECTRO-MAGNETIC WARFARE (EMW) CRUISER The Electo-Magnetic Warfare (EMW) Cruiser is another Heavy Cruiser variant. Weapons systems have been replaced with advanced devices that selectively disrupt the electro-magnetic spectrum. This plays havoc with enemy sensors, scanners, communications and computer links, effectively neutralizing the enemy flagship. Strength = 7; Str. Bonus = +1 Stack All, Cancel Hero Bonus; Move = 20; Time = 4; Cost = 18; New = 900; Location = No restrictions, Not available as new construction, Ally HEAVY CRUISER The large Heavy Cruiser is a jack-of-all-trades warship. It has a balanced configuration of beam weapons, missiles/torpedoes, armour/shields and speed. The production time and maintenance costs are lower than the larger capital ships, but the planetary assault capabilities are almost the same. Strength = 8; Move = 18; Time = 4; Cost = 16; New = 800; Location = No restrictions, Not available as new construction BATTLECRUISER The Battlecruiser is a capital ship design, considered both fast and hard hitting, exclusive to the Dominion of Tor. They fall between the Heavy Cruiser and the Battleship in capabilities. Strength = 8; Str. Bonus = +2 Strength Open; Move = 16; Time = 4; Cost = 18; New = 900; Location = Dominion of Tor capital only STRIKE CARRIER The Strike Carrier is a capital ship capable of launching and recovering Fighters and Attack Boats in deep space, with a normal complement of two squadrons of Fighters and two squadrons of Attack Boats. Attack Boats use their small size and speed to overwhelm enemy defences, while the Fighter Squadrons defend against enemy Attack Boats. The high attrition rate is reflected in the maintenance costs. Strength = 8; Str. Bonus = +1 Stack All, Cancel Non-Hero Bonus; Move = 14; Time = 5; Cost = 22; New = 1,100; Location = Terran Union capital only, Temple Ally MONITOR Monitors are capital ships with the smallest hyperdrive possible installed. The operating costs are considerably lower than a comparably armed capital ship. Their mission is to remain in the system where they were constructed to defend it from hostile warships. Monitors are found defending the richest of neutral worlds. Strength = 9; Move = 6; Time = 4; Cost = 15; New = 800; Location = Not available as new construction BATTLESHIP The Battleship is a capital ship built exclusively by the L'Chal Ra. It falls between the Battlecruiser and the Dreadnought in capabilities. Strength = 9; Str. Bonus = +2 Strength Open; Move = 14; Time = 5; Cost = 20; New = 1,000; Location = L'Chal Ra capital only DREADNOUGHT The Dreadnought is an Imperial capital ship with the best deep space combat ability and the slowest speed of any warship (Monitors excluded). Dreadnoughts are the "queen" of the battlefield. Strength = 9; Str. Bonus = +3 Strength Open; Move = 12; Time = 5; Cost = 22; New = 1,100; Location = Drakk Empire capital only FLAGSHIP The Flagship is a medium sized warship with improved computer and communication facilities. The Flagship operates as the command centre for the admiral commanding the fleet. Initial Strength = 5 TERRAIN SET: ------------ The Cosmic terrain set is quite a departure from previous sets. After examining the dungeon and castle terrain sets, I was amazed at what could be done with a lot of patience. This inspired me to try a scenario set in outer space. I do not recommend using this terrain set to generate random scenarios as several compromises had to be made to make it work, but feel free to use it to design your own scenarios. There are no Plains (Open) terrain squares in this scenario. The majority of the map is Water which represents deep space. Cities have been replaced by pictures of planets, but the entire stellar system is actually represented. All starships have the "fly" ability, while ground based units do not. This forces each non-flying unit to embark on a starship transport to journey to other systems. Mountains have been replaced by nebulae which can be traversed by warships but not transports (due to their lack of armour and shielding). Hills have been made impassable cosmic storms. Plains, forest, swamp, roads and ports have been made to look like deep space (water) but, with the exception of ports, have not been used in the scenario. Without a port adjacent to a ruin/temple non-flying units cannot disembark, so I've added some to each but they cannot be seen. Ruins have been replaced by a picture of a derelict space probe from an extinct, advanced race. Strongholds are represented by the picture of a derelict warship built by the same race. Temples are now planetoids inhabited by extremely advanced beings for whom the main form of entertainment is to offer random quests to lesser races and reward successful completion with technological tidbits. ETCETERA: --------- As usual, this was a big project. Planning how to make the terrain set work and creating the graphics was very time consuming. You will notice that many of the concepts have been inspired by previous works of printed and computer science fiction. Special mention must be made of the computer games "Reach for the Stars" and "Master of Orion", the two best space conquest games so far (IMHO). If you find this scenario entertaining, I encourage you to purchase one or both of these for a more detailed/realistic game. Heros have been replaced by a flagship, or more appropriately an admiral and a command ship. I toyed with the idea of naming the admirals after famous characters from science fiction, but decided to use famous ship names instead. The gender of the admiral isn't given. The "female" flagship version just looks different so feel free to choose either. Rather than use nonsense for non-Terran names, I selected battleship names for "male" flagships and aircraft carrier names for "female" flagships. Imperial Drakk ships (IDS) use Japanese names, L'Chal Ra ships (LRS) use British names, and Dominion of Tor ships (DTS) use German battleship names and (due to the lack of German aircraft carriers) American carrier names. Since Terra has evolved into a union of planetary governments (with Terra dominating, of course) I chose to use Terran geographical names for Terran Star Ship (TSS) "male" names, and then solar system names for the "female" names. For example, the first Terran Union flagship in the list is "TSS Europa". If playing against human opponents be sure to garrison your planets. If your opponent receives one or more X-Ships as an ally the opportunity to sack your planets (especially your capital) will be hard to resist. Also, watch out for ruin guardians; they are very strong in this scenario. Any comments, good or bad, are welcome at the email address above. ooOOOoo Will Michael January 1996.