Below is another fun Space Empires article from David Waldorf. You can find his previous InsideGMT articles here. Enjoy! -Rachel

If you want to introduce a few random events into your next game of Space Empires: 4X, you can now do that via the Empire Events Chart introduced in this article.  It is not likely these events will drastically alter the course of the game, but some of them may give you a boost at a critical moment, or set an opponent back a few steps in their malicious schemes to overrun you.  They could also be the last blow to an already crumbling empire.  As you will see, they add some enjoyable story and thematic elements to the game, as long as all players agree to use them.

Before I explain the attached chart, it behooves me to mention the fact that this idea was inspired by another GMT game that I have been writing articles on, Conquest of Paradise.  If you are not familiar with that game, one of the advanced rules introduces a deck of cards which you use to generate random events each turn during gameplay.  I was thinking about this, and thinking about Space Empires, and—wham!  This idea popped into my head.  The best part of it is that you don’t need any cards for this system; all you need is the chart (below) and the dice that come with the game.

Empire Events Chart (click through for PDF)

So here’s how it works:

Before starting the 5^th economic phase, choose one player to roll dice on the chart below for an event, and resolve it immediately.  During following economic phases the duty of rolling for the event passes to the next player on the left, and so on around the board until the end of the game.  If all players agree, you may begin rolling for events earlier or later in the game, and/or stop before game end.

The chart itself should be fairly self-explanatory.  Roll a die and see whether you get an even or odd number.  This will tell you which half of the chart to use.  Then simply roll again, find your number on the even or odd chart, and do what the event says to do.  I roll both dice at once, using an orange one to give the even/odd result, and a black one to find the actual number.  Most of the events include the rules for resolution; if there is ever a question on how to implement an event, use common sense or a player vote.

Two events that may need additional explanation are the ones involving aliens: for the “Alien Encounter” event, the Alien ships that will be placed on the board remain in the placement hexes until destroyed in combat.  They may be placed in any explored deep space hex that does not already contain any player ships, even open space hexes.  In the case of the “Alien Invasion” event, the invading alien will also stay in the placement hex until destroyed.  It may not be placed on the home world.  This alien attacks the colony in the normal fashion at the beginning of each turn before the players move.

Author: David Waldorf