The following sections will discuss the basic concepts used throughout the game.
A game turn is about five Earth years long. As a result, generations can pass in a single game. Populations will increase and colonies will grow. Since quite a lot can happen in five years, FAR HORIZONS is strategic in nature, rather than tactical. The reason for a five year turn will be explained below.
In FAR HORIZONS, the galaxy is a small open star cluster. It is approximately spherical, but is
projected onto an easy-to-use two-dimensional map. The size of the galaxy and the actual number
of stars in it will depend on the number of players. As an example, for a game with about 15
players, the galaxy would have a radius of approximately 18 parsecs and contain about 80 usable
star systems.
The basic unit of interstellar distance is the PARSEC, which is equal to 3.26 light-years. Thus, every
star system in the galaxy will have an X, Y, and Z coordinate in parsecs, relative to the reference
point at 0,0,0. Furthermore, all coordinate values are zero or greater. Thus, you can picture the
galaxy as floating in a box whose lower, left, rear corner has the coordinates 0,0,0. (Negative
numbers were used in earlier games, but players sometimes forgot the minus signs, with disastrous
results. Use of only positive numbers will help prevent mistakes.)
In this universe, scientists have discovered only one way to break the barrier imposed by the speed
of light. The method is inherently risky. Essentially, a spaceship’s engines must "rip" a hole through
the space-time fabric in order to travel from one point to another. A ship does this by creating a
temporary, private "wormhole" that the ship can pass through. A ship does this by creating and
manipulating a small black hole. When a ship travels in this way, it is said to "jump" to its
destination.
There is no limit to how far a ship can travel in this way, but greater distances involve greater risks.
The technology involved is called "gravitics", and the more experience a species has in this
technology, the farther a ship can jump without risk of missing its destination or of being destroyed.
The time needed for a ship to travel through the wormhole is independent of the distance being
traveled. However, it IS dependent on the mass of the ship, as shown by the following equation:
\[ \textrm{time in years} = 5\: tanh (\textrm{mass in grams}) \]
If you’re not mathematically inclined, don’t worry! What the equation says is that it takes almost
exactly five years for anything larger than a pea, since all masses used in the game will be at the
extreme asymptotic limit of the equation. Only extremely small masses (such as the photons that
make up radio waves) can take significantly less than 5 years to travel through a wormhole.
Note also that no time goes by for the people on the ship. For them, the move is essentially
instantaneous. For the people who remain behind, however, the ship will appear to "wink out"
immediately. Five years later, it will reappear at its destination.
Creation of a wormhole is risky business, and there is always a chance that a ship can be swallowed up by the wormhole it creates. If this happens, then the ship and everything it carries will be totally
destroyed. It is also possible for a ship to "mis-jump". If this occurs, the ship will not be destroyed,
but will simply arrive at the wrong destination. As a species gains knowledge and experience in
gravitics technology, its ships will become more reliable and less susceptible to sudden destruction
or mis-jumps.
Communications across interstellar distances utilizes the same technology as space travel, but on a much smaller scale. Any two tranceivers can be "tuned" to each other (if both sides cooperate), effectively creating a small wormhole through which radio waves can pass. Also, since radio waves have very close to zero mass, the transmission time is close to zero. Thus, although ships require five years to move between star systems, radio communication is essentially instantaneous, and home planets can always be in instant communication with their ships and colonies. Note, though, that ships in transit are incapable of communicating, since, for them, no time is actually passing.
Each player starts the game with a home planet. This is where his species evolved, acquired
intelligence, and eventually learned how to travel among the stars.
At the start of the game, the only material resources available to a species are those of its home planet. These resources can be used to build units such as mines, factories, spaceships, planetary
defenses, etc. As the game proceeds, a species can colonize other planets and tap them for resources
as well.
A tech level is a measure of how advanced a species is in a specific field of technology. Six
technologies are defined and used in this game. Each one is described below:
A
F
Attack factor
MINING
Mining tech level is a measure of how proficient a species is at tapping a planet’s natural
resources. It includes functions such as mining and farming, and basic refining and food
processing. As mining tech level increases, greater quantities of raw materials can be produced.
MANUFACTURING
Manufacturing tech level is a measure of proficiency at converting raw materials to usable, final
forms. It is used to determine how many units, such as ships, can be built each turn. It also
places a limit on the maximum size of ships that a species can build.
MILITARY
Military tech level is a measure of experience in warfare. It indicates the level of sophistication
in military strategy, tactics, and weaponry. It is one of the major factors used to determine the outcome of armed conflict.
GRAVITICS
Gravitics tech level is a measure of a species' knowledge of gravity control. Gravitics allows the
design of the engines which drive interstellar ships, since a black hole cannot be created and
controlled without the ability to manipulate gravitational fields.
LIFE SUPPORT
Life support tech level is a measure of a species' experience in surviving in hostile
environments. It is used to construct and maintain artificial shelters on planets with
temperatures or atmospheres that differ from the home planet. It also determines the
effectiveness of defensive shields used on ships.
BIOLOGY
Biology tech level is a measure of a species' knowledge and experience in the life sciences. Its
most obvious applications are in genetic engineering, germ warfare, and terraforming (i.e.,
using specially designed micro-organisms to modify the atmosphere and micro-flora of a planet,
making it more suitable for habitation).
There are many other applications of the six basic technologies in addition to the ones mentioned
above. These will be discussed later. After the start of the game, tech levels will increase primarily
through research. While there is no limit to how high a tech level can get, in practice it is unlikely
that a tech level will ever exceed 100.
1.7.1. Sequence of Events
Each turn is processed in six steps, and the order form that you send to the gamemaster has six
corresponding sections. These sections are:
1. Combat orders
2. Pre-departure orders
3. Jump orders
4. Production orders
5. Post-arrival orders
6. Strike orders
When your turn is processed, all combat orders are processed first, then all pre-departure orders,
then all jump orders, and so on. After your orders have been processed, a special program is run that
handles population growth and interspecies transactions, and performs several other housekeeping
chores. Finally, a "report" program is run that generates summaries that will be sent to the players.
Thus, several programs are actually used by the gamemaster to process a turn.
[The strike phase is a limited-combat phase. Any combat that takes place in the strike phase
generally takes the form of an initial surprise attack. Combat that requires more time, such as
bombardment and siege, will take place in the combat phase of the following turn, and are thus
continuations of the combat that began in the strike phase.]
At the end of each report is an order form that you will need to fill out. This form will contain all six
sections, even though not all of them may be applicable for the current turn. For example, the jump
section cannot be used in the first turn, since you have no ships. Simply delete the sections that do
not apply, and fill out and send in those that do.
Each section of the orders begins with a START command and ends with an END command. Each
section should only appear ONCE. Thus, each order form will contain the following sections:
START COMBAT
;Combat orders belong here.
END
START PRE-DEPARTURE
;Pre-departure orders belong here.
END
START JUMPS
;Jump orders belong here.
END
START PRODUCTION
;Production orders belong here.
END
START POST-ARRIVAL
;Post-arrival orders belong here.
END
START STRIKES
;Strike orders belong here.
END
The production section will be started for you, and will have an appropriate PRODUCTION order for
each planet you control. This will save you a little time, and will help prevent you from accidentally
forgetting to give orders for a planet.
The six sections shown above may appear in any sequence. However, it is recommended that you
fill out your orders using the sequence provided, since that is the sequence in which they will be
executed. In other words, combat orders will be executed before pre-departure orders, predeparture
orders will be executed before jump orders, and so forth, REGARDLESS of where each
section appears in your order form.
The orders that you give in each section must be reasonable for that section. For example, you may not give JUMP orders in any section except the jump section. BUILD and RESEARCH orders may only be given in the production section. Combat orders may only be given in the combat and strike sections. And so on. Here is a complete list:
1.7.1.1. Combat section
Attack
Battle
Engage
Haven
Hide
Hijack
Summary
Target
Withdraw
1.7.1.2. Pre-departure section
Ally
Base
Deep
Destroy
Disband
Enemy
Install
Land
Message
Name
Neutral
Orbit
Repair
Scan
Send
Transfer
Unload
Zzz
1.7.1.3. Jump section
Jump
Move
Pjump
Visited
Wormhole
1.7.1.4. Production section
Ally
Ambush
Build
Continue
Develop
Enemy
Estimate
Hide
Ibuild
Icontinue
Intercept
Neutral
Production
Recycle
Research
Shipyard
Upgrade
1.7.1.5. Post-arrival section
Ally
Auto
Deep
Destroy
Enemy
Land
Message
Name
Neutral
Orbit
Repair
Scan
Send
Teach
Telescope
Terraform
Transfer
Zzz
1.7.1.6. Strike section
same as combat section
All of these commands will be explained in later sections of this document.
A special note must be made about the TRANSFER command. There is a possible situation in
which colonists and supplies could be transferred to a new colony immediately after a jump. If
the planet is already inhabited by another species, neither species will know about the new
colony until the next turn. To prevent this very unrealistic kind of incident, a TRANSFER to a
planet may only be made in the post-arrival phase IF the planet is already inhabited by the
species making the transfer. Otherwise, the transfer will have to be done in the pre-departure
phase of the next turn. Once the colony has been established, you may TRANSFER goods to the
planet in either the pre-departure or post-arrival phases.
There are no final winners or losers in Far Horizons, just as there aren’t any in other role-playing games. The only purpose of the game is to have fun. However, for those who want to know how well they did relative to the other players, the following will be done:
At the end of a game, a final summary report will be sent to all
players, and will contain a list of the total revenue-generating
capacity of each species along with their final tech levels and
other statistics. These values can be used to get a good idea
of who "won" the game.
A game will last between 20 and 100 turns. The actual final turn number will be randomly determined by the gamemaster and will be kept secret until the end of the game is announced. This approach will prevent the unrealistic gameplay that always results when players know that the game is about to end. The gamemaster may arbitrarily and secretly extend the game if he feels it would be inappropriate to interrupt an "interesting" situation, or if he is convinced that everyone is having a lot of fun.
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