Replicator Tuesdays is an article series appearing on InsideGMT. It features insights into the development of the 2^nd expansion for the board wargame Space Empires:4x by Jim Krohn.  Here the designer, developer and play testers will share their thoughts and experiences on this upcoming expansion. Since there is much crossover between the Space Empires and Talon development teams, both Space Empires and Talon articles will be featured in this series.

Issue #42: Changes to Technology Reveals (Part 1)

As part of my work as the Developer of Space Empires: Replicators, I was tasked by Jim to come up with a more detailed Sequence of Play than what was in the base game.  We had added a lot of technology and steps in the turns that were not covered by the base game rules and a new Sequence of Play was needed to make sure there was no confusion as to when in a given turn certain things occurred.

Part of this project involved me taking a long hard look at when Technology and Empire Advantages had to be revealed.  There have been questions over the years as to when you had to reveal Technology and if you had to reveal Technology that could not influence a battle.  In the case of the Technology and Empire Advantages that were added in Close Encounters some were not as well thought out as I would have liked on their reveal conditions compared to other things in the game.  This was caused by us only having less than a year to do that module and not having enough time to playtest the rules for a further tightening of them.  We had made some decisions as to when these things had to be revealed, but then lacked the time to make sure we liked the results.  So, I decided to go for what I considered a more level playing field as to when these things had to be revealed.

I was guided by four things in making the decisions that I did.

The first two were the following rules in the 1.1 Version of the Space Empires Rulebook.

I. 9.9 Revealing Technology

Technology is revealed by players as it is used. Therefore, at the start of combat, each player must reveal the Attack, Defense, and Tactics Technology present in that battle. If a player destroys only non-combat ships (Decoys, Miners, etc.), he does not need to reveal his ships or his technology. He would, however, have to reveal if he fired on a Colony. Scanning Technology would only be revealed if Raiders were present and Point Defense revealed only if Fighters were present. Movement Technology would be revealed in the movement phase when it is used, etc. Ship Yard technology does not have to be revealed when it is used. To reveal a technology a player just needs to announce it. He does not have to show his production sheet until the end of the game.

II. 13.1.4 Mines and Combat:

Before the start of combat, all Minesweepers (see below) remove as many Mines as they are capable of sweeping. All unswept Mines immediately detonate (remove the Mine counter from play) and destroy one ship each (regardless of the type of the ship). The choice of which ship is destroyed is determined by the player who controls the mines (yes, I’m picking the DN!). If a CV is destroyed by a Mine, the Fighters present will

be destroyed only if there is not enough room to carry them on other CVs. After mine sweeping and detonation, combat continues as normal.

Jim had ruled in the past that Movement Tech & Shipyard Tech was never revealed in combat.  He had also ruled that you could not conceal the fact that you had a higher level of PD or Scanners by only using the lower level in combat.

Players will come up with any reason that they think works to justify not telling their opponent what tech was on their ships. Leaving them wiggle room would just continue to have this revisited.  Also, in the case of the Replicators needing to be told what the enemy ships were equipped with so that they could gain RPs I felt that these rules needed to be tightened up in the face of some playtest reports where loopholes/excuses were found to not tell the Replicator Player what was on the opposing ships.  So, in most cases if the Technology or Empire Advantage could be used to influence an opponent’s targeting priorities I ruled that it had to be revealed even if it had not been used yet.  If you put it on your ship and that ship gets into combat you have to tell your opponent about it.  If the Technology influences die rolls or targeting priorities and you do not want the other players to know you have it you still have the option of researching it and then not putting it on your ships when you build them.

One of the things that you will notice when you look at the Sequence of Play is that Mine Sweeping and Detonation now takes place after Technology/Empire Advantages are revealed.  Why did I make this change when I quoted the rule that Mines are dealt with before combat and Technology is revealed at the start of combat?  Two reasons.  One was the line “(yes, I am picking the DN!)” the other was the fact that Replicators do not have any Technology to reveal.  So Mines are supposed to cost you whatever the enemy wants to kill and Replicators have already revealed everything about what their ships are equipped with before the Mines detonate.  By forcing the DN to reveal that it has Security 2/Defense3 before the Mines go off you give away exactly how hard it is to kill as the Replicator player is forced to reveal.

Technology

So, let’s go over the Technology that does not have to be revealed before Mines go off and why I ruled that way.

• All Movement Tech and Fast BC 1 & 2. These Techs fall under what Jim had ruled in the past did not have to be revealed in combat.  They would of course be revealed during movement.  Also, Replicators and Normal Empires both have the option to conceal their true movement capability by not using it.  So, with the playing field leveled between the two sides I did not ask for a change here.       
• All Ship Yard Tech. Again, Jim had ruled in the past that they did not have to be revealed in combat.  When it comes down to it I am much less likely to base my targeting priorities on how much a Ship Yard can build than whether I can get a shot at it at all.  They tend to be screened.  If I can get a shot at one I usually take it without worrying that maybe it’s not worth it because it might only be able to build one hull space in the next Econ Turn.

Note that if you are reading this article after already looking at the rules in Replicators you will be saying “That the rules are in conflict with the above bullets.  So which is right and what happened?”  The simple answer is to go by the rules and reveal these technologies.  The long answer is that several of the playtesters felt that Movement Tech should be revealed as it would affect their targeting priorities.  While I agreed with their reasoning I had not wanted to ask for this change as Jim had gone on record in the past that Movement Tech did not have to be revealed.  I felt overall that I was asking for a lot already and did not want to risk getting approval for what I felt had to be done by asking for everything.  So I left these technologies as not having to be revealed and then Jim listened to the playtesters and added both Movement and Ship Yard tech.  So I got what I somewhat wanted without having to ask for it.

• Ground 2. Here since there is no difference in the combat capabilities in a Transport that has been built after you have researched Ground 2 compared to one built with just Ground 1 technology you do not have to tell your opponent that you have researched Ground 2.  Of course, if you put Space Marines/Heavy Infantry on the Transport you will be giving away the fact that you have researched Ground 2.  If you want to stock if with just normal Infantry, you can let your opponent think you only have Ground 1.
• Terraforming 1 & 2. As the ships that mount this Technology are instantly destroyed if they are unaccompanied in the same hex with enemy combat units what Technology they mount is immaterial to the enemy’s targeting priorities.
• Military Academy 1. As this technology cannot influence combat dice rolls you do not have to reveal it.

Now let’s go over what technology has to be revealed in Step H and why.

• Ship Size technology has to be revealed by the simple fact that if you bring a BB to the battle your enemy will know that you have researched Ship Size 5. They will not know that you have also researched Ship Size 7 as well unless you also bring a Titan to the battle.
• Attack/Defense/Tactics have to be revealed before Mines are dealt with. These technologies were always revealed in the past even if they would have no bearing on the battle.  A BC with Tactics 2 gains no advantage from it if all of the enemy units are C Class or lower, yet it still must be announced.  The fact that you have to reveal the Technology listed here even if it will not help in a battle influenced my decision to add to the list other Technologies that might not be used in a battle.  Getting everything on the same level and it clears up questions and reduces players ability to find loopholes.
• Exploration 1 & 2. Now neither of these Technologies can affect dice rolls in combat or when ships can fire.  However, they fall under the Targeting Priorities catch all.  Exploration 1 allows a player to remove dangerous terrain from the board without having to lose a ship.  Exploration 2 allows a player to react to the other player’s movement.  If the ships mounting these Technologies are destroyed, you limit the options of the other player.  If I am in a battle and my target choice is a CA or a BC with Defense 1 on them and both have fired, which should I fire at?  I will target the BC most of the time as the Defensive Shift is the same, hits to kill is the same, the BC costs more, the BC fires/retreats sooner and the BC has a better chance to hit me.  Now if I know that my flank terrain is just a bunch of unrevealed Deep Space Markers that the CA could allow easy access through I will think that in this case I might need to target the CA.  Thus, my ruling that Exploration Technology must be revealed in combat.
• Fighter 1 – 4. As the Technology level of the Fighter influences its ability to cause and avoid damage you have to reveal it.  Especially important now that you can put a Fighter on a platform that is immune to Mines and we have clarified that a Mine can be used to kill a Fighter if you want to use it in that way or the Fighters are the only legal target.  If we stayed with “Revealed when used” then an argument could be made that the level of the Fighters was not revealed until they were fired upon or fired themselves as their built in Attack/Defense Factors are not printed on the counters.
• Point Defense 1 – 3. This got changed to revealed in combat due to the fact that some of the Alien Technology Cards are revealed in combat even if they have no effect on the combat.  I could have asked Jim to change the wording on some of those cards to make them reflect the “Revealed when used” part of Rule 9.9, but I came down on the side of forcing the reveal just to keep things simpler.
• Cloaking 1-2. As the level of the Cloak influences the firepower of the Raider/ability to detect it in the future you have to reveal the level of the Cloak.  Keep in mind that this is only for ships that are not using the Cloak to avoid Combat.  If you announce Cloak 1 and your Opponent says that they are lacking Scanners you do not have to tell them that you have Cloak 2 as long as the cloaked ship does not fight.
• Scanner 1-2. As with Point Defense you now have to reveal this technology even if the enemy does not have any ships with Cloak in the battle.
• Mines. You will of course have to reveal that you have researched Mines if you have Mines in the battle.
• Mine Sweeper 1-3. As with Point Defense you now have to reveal this technology even if the enemy does not have any Mines in the battle.
• Military Academy 2. As this technology allows your ships a better chance to gain experience in a battle you have to reveal it before Mines detonate.
• Boarding 1-2. As Boarding 2 is better than Boarding 1 you have to reveal it before the Mines detonate.
• Security 1-2. As both influence how easy it is for a Boarding Ship to capture an enemy ship you have to reveal them before Mines detonate.  This is a good example of a technology that got added in Close Encounters without nailing down exactly when you had to reveal it.  By the rules of “Reveal when used” a case could be made that you did not have to reveal your level of Security until the enemy had picked their target and rolled the dice.  Then you could say that they missed because of a Security Shift.  So, one way or the other this needed to be nailed down as to when it was revealed.
• Ground 3 will have to be revealed if your Transports mount Drop Pods/Higher Defense. Of course, a non-upgraded Transport with a Grav Armor Unit on it will also reveal Ground 3.
• Advanced Construction 1-3 will have to be revealed if units that can only be built with this technology are in the battle.
• Unique Ships: The Technology Reveal for Unique Ships has been changed to everything has to be revealed. Note that in writing this article I realized that I should have listed the Unique Ships separately as needing to reveal their Special Abilities in Step H.  I can see now that someone could make an argument that although a SC with PD Technology does have to reveal that it is mounting it a Unique Ship with PD Special Ability does not have to reveal it.  So consider this the first errata for Replicators: “All Special Abilities that Unique Ships mount must be revealed in Step H.”

As BBs can now mount Tractor Beams and DNs can mount Shield Projectors these would also be revealed.  Titans would have to reveal that they can carry Fighters even if they currently do not have any embarked.

• Anti-Replicator Technology on a Transport would have to be revealed so that the Replicators or their allies would know how dangerous these units were.

Next time we’ll dig into Alien Technology and Empire Advantage card reveals.

Previous Article in the Series: Talon Tuesday Issue #41: Talon Solitaire Part 3 – The Ships and Empire War

Next Article in the Series: Talon Tuesday Issue #43: Naming Ships After Veterans

Author: Oliver D. Upshaw III