Travel to distant exotic suns, meet interesting people, assimilate their cultures Revised

Revised text in red

Strategic turns take a week. Battles take minutes. I hadn't overlooked this, but there's only so much I can fit into the outline rules before they look like ASL and everyone goes to play Chez Geek, including me.

Since space is big, it is assumed that ships arrive in system and stooge around trying to figure out what's happening. Eventually they get around to trying to kill each other. Isn't it terrible how people can't get along?

Before a move is made into a system, record your formation, speed and your tactical posture.

Formation can include breaking your task group into smaller subgroups. On the one hand, the opportunity to get on both sides of the enemy. On the other, the chance to get defeated in detail. It's really up to you

Tactical postures are Attack Standoff or Withdraw If Contested. Any fleets on Attack orders are committed to attack as soon as a target is detected. Fleets on Standoff do not attack, but can be attacked. If all fleets are on Standoff, each player chooses a fresh tactical posture secretly, repeating as necessary until one way or another the system has no more than one fleet in it. Alternatively, players can leave their fleets in place in standoff mode at the end of the turn. On the one hand, you'll interdict the system. On the other hand, you'll still be in that system next turn.

Fleets on Withdraw if Contested bug out as soon as they detect opposition but will pick up some data on what's there.

All fleets in a system dice for initiative. Highest initiative is assumed to have arrived first. Maybe it was a bank holiday for everyone else that week (just in case sarcasm isn't enough, I don't really care why someone shows up first, and don't want anyone else to try to make me). Player with the initiative gets half the difference (rounded down) in the dice rolls to use in making his initial dispositions more useful to him.

Anyone rolling a 1 arrives from FTL and has to put up with being in formation 6 inches apart from the moment of arrival. Don't roll 1, would be my advice.

Top of the table (Brian's end, if that helps), is equivalent to top of the campaign map. The bottom is equivalent to the bottom. Task forces enter the table from the side equivalent to the hex side they move through to enter the hex on the campaign map.

Those surplus initiative points can be used either to split the force, regroup split groups, close up from FTL formation or move point of entry around the the table from where it should have entered. On that last option, if you entered the system from the top hex side and beat the low roller by two, you have the option of coming in from either the top of the table or either of the top halves of the long sides. If you beat him by five, you can come in on any side except the one directly opposite your original entry point, and doing so in combat formation instead of FTL formation. And so on.

Fleets face each other. (It is assumed that task force commanders are not completely retarded.)