Jindarians
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Jindarians
(716.0) JINDARIANS IN F&E
The Jindarians have been in space for a hundred thousand years and don’t pay much attention to the other races. They could not care less about borders. Individual caravans do not cooperate with each other or coordinate their activities. The Jindarians are, in many ways, more akin to wandering monsters than an empire, and they are treated as such for purposes of these rules. There is no Jindarian player (but there is a Jindarian Player Turn).
(716.1) CARAVAN OPERATIONS
The Jindarians operate in caravans — huge groups of many kinds of ships. They move where their scouts say there are resources to harvest, and then they move on.
The basic Jindarian unit for these rules is the Caravan; it is in fact the only Jindarian unit. These units include collections of asteroid ships, metal-hulled ships, carriers with fighters, and (eventually) tenders with PFTs. None of these sub-elements are seen or accounted for; all Jindarian counters are caravans.
Jindarian caravans are treated in a special way like no other unit in the game. They have a defined defense factor. Their attack factor is equal to 75% of their defense factor (round fractions up).
(716.11) CREATION: At the start of the game, there are 10 Jindarian caravans in the area of the F&E map. Each has a defense factor of 150. They are located in the following hexes:
0107 0917 1309 1103 2410
3404 4117 4704 5707 5118
Each caravan is assigned an ID number, in order, from #1 to #10 in the sequence listed above. Whenever a step is performed for the Jindarians, all caravans will perform this step in order of their ID Numbers.
(716.12) MOVEMENT: Jindarian caravans have a movement factor of three. Every turn during the Jindarian Player Turn (which comes after all other player turns), all Jindarian Caravans will move in a direction determined by a die roll and certain other factors. Move caravans in order of their ID#s. The number of hexes moved will be determined by the number of damage points scored on that caravan in that game turn.
Points Scored Movement
0-5 1
6-20 2
21 or more 3
Other factors can affect Jindarian movement.
• If the caravan suffered more than 10 points of damage on that Player Turn, the Caravan will not enter a hex containing units (of the race that scored the damage points) with a number of attack factors greater than the caravan’s defense strength. Otherwise it will simply ignore ships of the player and neutral races. (This allows caravans to be “herded” toward the border.)
• A caravan will not enter a hex containing a battle station or starbase of any race.
• A caravan will not leave the map.
• A caravan will not enter a hex containing another caravan.
• A caravan will not enter a hex containing 200 attack factors of units from any single race.
If a caravan is blocked from entering a given hex, it will roll another die to determine a random direction and complete its assigned movement. If all six movement directions are blocked, the caravan will not move. Other than the above conditions, Jindarians ignore all other units during movement. There is no reaction to Jindarian movement; caravans cannot “pin” or be “pinned”.
(716.13) COMBAT: Jindarians will never initiate an attack; no one is required to attack them (even if in the same hex). When a caravan participates in combat, it uses its entire attack factor against the enemy; any damage scored is subtracted from its defense factor (which lowers its defense factor for the next turn). Maulers have no effect; there is no approach battle; Jindarian BIR = 2. No Jindarian caravan will fight more than one battle round in a given Combat Phase; after that round is over, no further attacks can be made on that Caravan. It can be assumed that if a caravan enters a neutral power without counters, that it is not being attacked or herded by that neutral power but will move normally. In pre-war periods, a race can only use “released” and “piracy patrol” ships to engage a convoy. Unreleased fleets may engage a Caravan only if it is inside their deployment zone. Fleets cannot be “released” by Jindarian activity. There is no pursuit after combat with Jindarians; non-Jindarian units may retreat or retrograde within the normal rules. (Suggested scenario: No war; everyone just tries to herd their Jindarians into enemy territory.)
(716.14) OTHER: Caravans have no effect on the movement or supply of units belonging to player races. Caravans have 2 EW points (3 if stronger than 150 defense factors).
(716.2) CARAVAN ECONOMICS
Jindarian caravans harvest resources from asteroid fields and other “terrain” features. This causes each caravan to “grow” and impacts the economy of the “host” race.
(716.21) EFFECT OF JINDARIANS
For every caravan in the territory (original or captured) of a given race, reduce the net economy of that race by two EPs. If a planet has a caravan in its hex, that hex produces no income for its owners for that turn; this is in addition to the above penalty.
If a caravan is in unclaimed Neutral space or a race not yet in the war, it has no effect (as such losses are deducted from the civilian rather than the military budgets).
If a caravan is destroyed in combat, the destroying race receives 10 EPs as a bonus for the resources recovered.
(716.22) GROWTH OF CARAVANS
Every Jindarian Turn, before caravans are moved, roll two dice for each caravan and add this number to the defense factor.
(716.23) SPAWNING OF CARAVANS
If the above die roll produces a caravan with a defense factor of 200 or more, divide the caravan into two equal caravans (any odd point goes to the caravan keeping the original ID#). The two caravans then move independently. Newly created caravans are given a new ID# that is the lowest number available. Normally, the first new caravan is given ID#11 but if Caravan #3 had been wiped out earlier, a new caravan would be given that number.
(716.24) DEPLOYMENT OF PFs
On the PF2 deployment turn for each race, all caravans in their territory which have not previously deployed PFs are increased by 24 defense factors, and the number of points required before a caravan will split in two is increased from 200 to 224.
There should probably be a note in the Combat section regarding direction by the Jindarians (I assume that they just drop the damage, but that isn't stated anywhere).
TYPO: In (716.13) "In pre-war periods, a race can only use released and piracy patrol ships to engage a convoy." Convoy should be replaced by "caravan".
Potential TacNote: Raid provences of races that host a caravan, for preference. The owner gets reduced income due to the disruption of the provence, then loses 2 EP on top of that due to Jindarians. Particularly effective in the late war, if any caravans survive, since the 2 EP loss is on the Net income, and thus after exhaustion and other effects.
Can also herd Jindarians to reduce economy of weakened races. (I.e., Hydrans might be getting income from 0116 even after they're forced (mostly) off-map; herd a caravan to deny them that income, even after disputing the provence.)
I suspect that the ISC should probably be printed before (at the same time as?) this rule. Their territory just becomes a Jindarian incubator otherwise.
Caravan 9 starts there on T1, one would expect it to split about T8. Those 2 will split about T22. Those four should split about T39, which is after the War, and so probably not an issue. Of course, that's assuming average dice.
Two things make this a minor problem: first, the growth is slow enough that the numbers probably won't become overwhelming. Second, it's unlikely that the caravans will leave ISC space (although the more of them there are, the more likely that they'll force one of their own out). This second point is somewhat annoying, because it's going to require written records for one or more units that may never actually do anything.
If the ISC actually have fleets, then they can try and brush the Jindarians out of their territory. (Problem: who controls the ISC in a 2-player game? One side could try and herd the caravan into the other.)
Dave
Given that the ISC is at peace, and that its fleets have nothing better to do, I think we can safely assume that the Jindos in ISC space will either be chased out by turn 8 or destroyed.
I don't think we can. Look at the Gorn vs. the Jindarians. Sure, the Gorn can put up a hefty line and force the Jindos to move 3 hexes, but they're pretty much guaranteed to take 20 points of damage in return. There's no good place to take the damage, so we're probably talking about two or three ships (including a BC) that get crippled and sent back to the Depot for free repairs (they're anti-piracy units from the Home Fleet). So, if we assume that the Gorn don't want to lose ships (either by self-killing, or by cancelling production for repairs), then their forces available to deal with the Jindos drop, and fast.
Remember that you only get 6 ships to fight the Jindos. Depending on where the fleets involved can set up, not all six will even get to fight (because you'll want to leave frigates about to herd the caravan after doing 10+ points of damage). Of course, the more effort (read: ships) you put into constraining movement, the less likely you are to force the Jindos to move how you want.
Now, maybe the ISC gets funky special rules that have its fleets so well deployed that the Jindos leave quickly (in the same manner that the Romulans are allowed to set up their West Fleet in a manner to eject caravan #7 in two or three turns), but that's precisely my point: the ISC OoB and deployment areas should be finalized so the Jindarians affected can be handled properly.
Huh?
Why can't you use a full fleet to attack the Jindo's?
And while the Jindo caravan starts off at a meaty 150defence, it is quickly weakened if attacked for a few turns. It will of course do damage in return, but very small amounts compared to war losses.
Quote:In pre-war periods, a race can only use released and piracy patrol ships to engage a [caravan].
(600.33) limits the piracy patrol to 6 ships from the home fleet, and (600.331) prevents those ships from entering the deployment area of another fleet. (600.31) limits unreleased fleets to only moving six ships.
So, barring strangeness such as the Romulans being allowed to set their West Fleet up in 4117 (the start point for Caravan #7), you're limited to fighting with six ships, because that's all you can move to the hex. (And I've checked, you can't use fighter strikes from unreleased bases, so that extra firepower isn't available.)
(Of course, I've just re-read the herding rules, and now realize just how hosed the inactive races are. I'd missed the requirement for the herding force to have attack factors > Jindo defense factors. The pre-war races simply can't herd the Jindos around. They can, however, make them move faster. Pinball, anyone?)
As for damage taken, how are you going to fix it? Only the Home Fleet is allowed to move to the Depot (unless you're the Kzinti, Lyrans, or Hydrans, in which case no unreleased fleet can go to Depot), and your PWC is limited enough that you don't want to cancel production for repairs. Maybe it evens out, but I don't have a good feeling about it.
HI EVERYONE
Just a little not on Jindarians in F&E:
Why concern ourselves with this race in F&E when all the race wanted to do is be left alone. I can distinctly remember in a sentence in Module F1 : The original one that the Jindarians concidered all the other races as "mere children when it came to space flight". Now don't get me wrong, F&E is a decent game and all but I think ADB could vent there resources in a better direction with putting out products that would be a "definate sell".
I really love the asteroid ships that the Jindarians have it's just a pitty that the race didn't "put the lesser space-faring races in there place" when it came to the general war. With the original rules for the warp augmented rail gun they could have done just that. The only 2 things that I can see that would have hampered there doing this is :
1). There asteroid ships are WAY TO SLOW and.....
2). They didn't have enough of them to do the job.
Just some thoughts on the topic that's all.
Until next time from GLORIOUS GHDAR PRIME..........
THE GODZILLAKING
My gut reaction is that Jindarans are too hard to herd. You'll need a full fleet or more just to deny them a single hex. A full fleet that couldn't engage them or anything else (it won't be a reserve, unless it's on a tug acting as a supply point that just happened to start adjacent to the Jind's, because they wouldn't go onto a BATS anyway.) Few races at war can afford to dedicate that kind of resource to pushing them around.
Reccomendation: State that if the Jindarrans take X damage in combat, they retreat from the hex, in the direction of the engaging player's choice. Further state that a retreated Jindarran caravan cannot be engaged again until the end of that player turn, just to be explicit. I would suggest X=(15 or 20), to force players to mount a credible threat. This will truly permit the Jindarrans to be herded, since a force can move to a "beseiged" planet, strike the Jindarrans, move them on and then (by dint of their presence) force the Jindarrans to go somewhere other than that planet.
Also, as written, the Jindarrans can't be taken out very quickly ... an aggressive 100-point fleet (and I don't see anyone sparing more than that ... there's a war on) can work them over to the tune of 30 damage per round. So, if they start hammering the caravan on turn 1, it can be expected to do something on the order of 30+29+23+18+13+8+3 damage back to them over the three years you would have to harry them. While a few carriers on the line would make much of the later part of the hunt painless, and the 100% certainty that the Jindarrans wouldn't pursue would allow one to cripple whatever one liked, there would still be both a repair bill to consider, and the tying up of valuable units. Now, if the Jindarrans are defined as never directing, then they become a prime place to send auxiliaries and "second-rate" ships. However, one needs a bit more encouragement to go then the thought that in three years you'll get your repair bill back and stop losing the money that you might not be loosing anyway due to Jindarran drift.
Reccomendation: Instead of 10EP for destroying the caravan, allow salvage from a caravan equal to 0.1 EP per damage dealt. Thus, doing 30 damage to the Jindarrans nets you 3 EP ... but since they cost you 2 EP (maybe more), and you're spending money on repair, you're not really making much. Also, it prevents the "why should I work that caravan down to 10 factors so that the enemy can raid it and claim the cash" psychology.
As I understand it, a Jindarran caravan would be very slow, with many auxiliaries, transports and even asteroid-ships vulnerable to boarding party action.
Reccomendation: They should be subject to G-attack like a base, with a successful G-attack doing ... say ... 4 damage, similar to a SIDS. Of course, a chain of 12s could oblitterate the caravan in one turn, but that's extraordinarily unlikely.
Mark
I thought the Jindo rules were quite good. They should be hard to take out - historically they were not.
I do have reservations however about limiting peacetime races to 6 ships when combatting the caravans, and think a change in the rules is necessary there. At least 8 should be allowed.
Well, as I understand the Jindarrans, they're not that hard to crack open unless they find their way into a Nebula, at which point, no sane person would ever attack them.
That's how I justify the "Once they've fought once, they're immune to future attacks on that turn" part of the rules ... they found a Nebula.
But for the rest ... they're going to be an awful pain in the tail to kill ... and while that might be ok from a "want them to stay on the board for a while" perspective, I'm not too sure anyone will bother fighting them.
Thought Exercise:
1) We're playing with the Jindarrans this game.
2) You're playing a major power ... say the Klingons.
3) You know that everyone gets one, except the Feds who get two.
How do you weigh the Jindarrans?
Well, you know that the odds of Jindarrans drifting into a planet are low, but pretty much equal for all players. Such occurances only have an effect for one turn, and then they will move on ... so you're willing to discount that and say that the Jindarrans cost everyone 2EP per turn ... Feds 4EP.
No, you can't afford 2EP, but neither can anyone else (except the Lyrans), and they can afford it less.
Yes, you could use your northern forces and new construction to hammer the caravan on C1 and set up the home fleet to force it towards the Kzinti border. (Leftovers in 1308, BATS in 1209, Home fleet in 1409&1310 ... Jinds forced to shoot out to 1007 or 1607 ... either way it's ready to shoot out straight north into Kzinti space.
However, that idea has problems:
1) Deploying the Home Fleet northerly prevents it from being very useful against the Hydrans.
2) You'll take around 30 damage onto the engaging fleet, and that'll mean cripples (I'd guess two D5s and fighters). That either means money spent on C2 repair at the forward BATS (When the C8 is already breaking your budget), or ships falling out of the opening assault.
3) While the ships that engaged can retrograde, the ones that "herded" the Jinds can't ... so a good chunk of force can't hit the Kzinti capitol on C2, eliminating any credible threat, and letting the Kzinti safely deploy forward, defending the Count's Starbase, increasing Lyran casualties.
4) In order to push the Caravan north, a very large force is required ... a combat force and two herding forces (you have a BATS in 0908 and the entire East Fleet in 1708, right?) ... all of at least 100 COMPOT size. Furthermore, a strike force has to destroy the appropriate Kzinti BATS and then retrograde out to allow the Jindarrans in. Assuming you can even scrounge up that kind of force, applying it thusly pulls all the weight off the Kzinti, and that BATS busting force will have to fight a reserve to buy what should be free.
5) Once you get the Jindarrans into Kzinti territory, you have to do two things:
5a) Keep them in that territory. This requires further weakening the Caravan for the Kzinti or putting a 200 COMPOT fleet behind it to force its movement.
5b) Keep the territory it is in Kzinti territory. Once you capture that territory, you get the Jind's right back! If you only leave the Kzinti one province out there, they can attack the caravan themselves to squirt it out, so you have to leave them a fair bit of space. Even at one province, though, you're not getting 1EP for that province, they are ... so the 2EP shift over becomes a 1EP shift over ... which is lost in the noise of raider/police interactions.
That's not how you win a war.
Now, it may be easier to destroy it than to push it out, using a secondary fleet to hunt it down, but those are forces not being used in the primary campaign, and there aren't that many full fleets kicking around to spare. Also, it would take you years of work for a small payoff.
So what do you do? You take 2EP damage and ignore them.
Now, look at the Kzinti ... what do they think of their caravan?
1) You don't have enough forces to defend your own space.
2) When you loose your territory, the caravan will help devalue it.
3) If you're really lucky, you can use your reserves and a few ships (since Jinds move after alliance, before coalition) to force the caravan not to take the 1202 planet, but that leaves them vulnerable to being pinned out somewhere stupid.
So ... you obligingly take your 2EP damage and wish you could sell them ships, too.
Races not yet at war aren't about to do much with 6 ships. Unless they're risking their best ships, they'll mostly just prevent the Jind's from growing.
(6 ships gives something like 50 COMPOT ... against 2EW, they'll likely not do more than 15 damage, and the Jind's grow by 2d6 per round ... so you're looking at years of labour, during which time 3 ships a round are headed to the depot for repair ... presumably keeping 3 tracks busy.)
Yes, it prevents a split, but honestly ... is it really worth the effort of tracking?
Net effect: Everyone looses some money ... the rich get poorer and the poor get poorer ... and when the coaltion expands into Alliance territory, they take over the economic burden, further devaluing the expansion process.
And that's good. The game needs to lose money.
I note that once a jindo caravan splits, it can be engaged fairly cheaply, as most of the losses inflicted by 75-compot jindo fleet could be taken on fighters.
Which brings up a point: With plenty of fighters and free deployment of the first two turns of production, the Hydrans just might be in a unique postion to whittle down their caravan for no real losses.
Of course, they do have the likelyhood of loosing most of their territory even under a 'Kzinti first' plan. But I suppose they can at least try to herd it for the first couple turns.
I don't have anything here to look at the numbers, my guess is that they *can* but won't want to support the degree of effort required to do anything meaningful.
The Hydrans don't want to hurt that thing ... they want it to grow ... to be big and strong so that the Coalition won't want to hurt it either.
They're not going to have that half of their empire for long ... by the time they could push it out of their territory, the Klingons take that territory anyway ... so why waste damage on them just to soften them up for the Klingons?
Feh, what I get for rewriting out the part that said the Hydrans wouldn't have any motive to do it.
But, at the beginning of the war, they can. And in a non-historical scenario like East Wind, they probably would.
A more proper question might be, how did that caravan survive originally?
I'm also curious as to what would happen once lines are heavier and carriers are generally available. Presumably by that point, every unit is needed on the front, but could you get anywhere by setting aside one battle line a turn to harry a caravan to death? Plugging this setup directly into Gale Force or Winds of Fire could be very educational.
Question..
Are bombers able to be used as losses like fighters.
If so the Jindarians can take their losses that way since they have according to the new book Bombers at a VERY early date.
Therefore they can use attrition units to defray losses and not ships.
I was playing around and came up with this for playable and dynamic F&E Jindarians. I would suggest it be played by the bored orion player. I know its a lot more rules then most people would like to see, but its really not quite as bad as it appears. You get 1 piece of paper you can track *everything* about a caravan on, and you really dont need more than that. You really dont even need counters as you could track the information relatively easily on it!!! Of course converting that to a message didn't work 
I also thought that these could be played without the major races even doing anything! 2 players could just play out a feud between jindarian fleets for example, without needing coalition or alliance players. Kind of a stand alone set of rules that dont rely on any races doing anything.
Anyway, its probably got a few holes here and there, its a rough draft.... but any opinions would be appreciated.
First of all let me apologize for the tables, they are really pretty in word If you wanna see the nifty copy as well as the "play chart" let me know and I'll email it to you.
Jindarian Caravans
The Jindarians are a race of interstellar gypsies that live on ships made from hollowed out asteroids. They have been in space for over 100,000 years, and with such long individual lifetimes they really don't care about the child like races of the galaxy and try not to get involved.
Deployment
Jindarian caravans are deployed randomly throughout the map. To determine the number of caravans roll 3d6. Each caravan has a random starting location. To determine the xx## of the column roll 1d6-1, multiply by 10, and add another 1d10 - this returns a value from 1 to 60. To determine what row the caravan is on roll 1d20, and reroll a 20. Initial caravan size is determined as below.
Movement
Caravans have random movement, when they move they simply roll 1d6, and move that direction a single hex. If the movement would take the caravan off map the caravan is removed from play. If at any time there are less than 12 caravans on the map, bring on 1 per turn from an off-map area until the number has increased to 12.
If the caravan is not player controlled, they will leave any given hex on a 2d6 roll of '12' each turn and move to one of the adjacent hexes (determined by 1d6 roll). If the caravan is player controlled he can request the caravan leave the hex, needing a ‘6’ on 1d6, but can choose to move any direction.
Caravans do not have strategic, retrograde, or reserve movement. They move their single movement point in the operational movement phase, and can (but do not have to, they can hide!) retreat a single hex (regardless of what is in that hex) after any battle.
If a caravan enters a hex containing a planet or planets, roll 2d6, on a ‘12’ they attempt to mine the resources of one of the planets within that hex! Randomly determine which planet they decide to interfere with. Minor planets would then loose 1 EP/turn, and major planets 2 EP/turn. These EP would go to the caravan in addition to that gained from mining. If a caravan was bribed before moving into this hex they will never exploit resources of an inhabited planet. The race loosing income can choose to fight the caravan and make them leave the system, however the caravan can still hide. Hiding would prevent the caravan from gaining EP or fighting a battle, but would not generate EP or reduce the planets income. As an alternate to fighting, a race could pay the caravan a number of EPs equal to the number of asteroid ships they have to simply move on. Fighters from PDUs, monitors, unreleased or reserve fleets, and even police ships can be called up if the caravan starts intercepting income.
While Jindarian ships can move faster than this, they never have reason to do so. But for clarity, the DN hull has a speed of 4 (6 if X1), the BCH 5 (6 if X1), the CA 5 (7 if X1), and the CL 5 (6 if X1). DD/FF hulls have a standard speed of 6.
Caravan Composition
Caravans can have up to 12 ships, if another ship over 12 is ever built the caravan instantly separates, and each moves out of the current hex (they could move to the same new hex however). The ships are dividedly as evenly as possible and both must be able to support themselves. If the new caravan cannot support itself, it will instantly scrap enough ships in order to do so.
Caravans can have up to 2 asteroid ships (1 per 5 ships in caravan, rounded normally) equipped with any number of special sensors. These are the caravan scouts, and virtually all caravans have at least 1 scout. Additional scouts are very rare, and would be of the DDS/FFS variety.
Caravans are limited to a total of 10 asteroid ships, and 3 additional size class 4 ships over that. Caravans do not track command points, and do not get free scouts.
Caravan Encounters
If 2 caravans enter the same hex, they may end up in the same system. Roll a 2d6, on a ‘12’ they will decided to fight! If this happens they will fight 1 round of battle immediately, and the looser will retreat a single hex. Each time this battle is fought both sides roll 1d6, if their rolls are the same the feud is over, else the winner must pursue the looser.
No caravan ever *has* to fight an enemy unless it’s a caravan encounter. They can simply choose to hide out, and avoid any fleet that wants to engage them for years. If they are hiding out because a major race wants to engage them, they consume no supplies and can do no mining operations. If they were to randomly move that turn roll a 1d6 to see if they stay hidden, on a ‘6’ they decide to leave the hex, and force an encounter with the enemy, otherwise they simply stay hidden but would consume 1 turn worth of supplies. Player controlled caravans can make the caravan leave the hex at any time (and thus face the possibility of an attack).
If there happens to be a battle hex generated by other races in a hex with a caravan, there is a slight possibility the caravan might choose to get involved. Roll 1d6, and on a ‘6’ they decide to get involved! Roll another 1d6 to determine their actions, a 1-2 they side with the attackers, a 3-4 the defenders, and a 5-6 they split their force and engage both sides! Player controlled caravans can choose which sides, if any, to take.
Caravan Relations
Any player race can pay any individual caravan within 6 hexes of their supply grid 1 EP per turn to not engage their own race in any fleet actions. Doing this also prevents them from ever doing supply operations in an inhabited system for that race (it is wise to bribe any caravans near an inhabited system to avoid encounters!). If opposing players both paid the caravan, that caravan would never choose to get involved in battles between those players.
Mining Operations
Each caravan has a few factors that are tracked with it. Two of these are Mining and Supply. When in a hex for a full turn the caravan can mine the hex for supplies. Each mining factor will create a supply factor each turn. To create a mine factor 2P are also required. These are the prospecting shuttles that go out and do the mining itself, while the host ships process the raw materials. All fleets have at least 2P for this purpose, even if none of the ships actually have any. A single PF can replace 2P for this purpose, so a full PF flotilla could assist in generating up to 6 mining factors.
Supply Operations
Each asteroid ship uses a single supply factor each turn. Most caravans have plenty of supplies, and this is never an issue, but some may have more warships if in dangerous areas of space, which may not be self sufficient enough and will rely on other ships. Size class 4 ships never consume supplies. Caravans which are “hiding” could use supplies (see Caravan Encounters). A single ship could be scrapped to provide necessary supplies, giving 50% of its defense factor in supply points.
10 supply points can be converted into a single EP for use in constructions, conversions, upgrades, etc. In order to create a single EP, all ships must have their supplies full. Each EP stored reduces the supply capacity by 1 point.
Trade Operations
Caravans can do limited trade with any race they happen to be within the space of. They can trade up to 1 EP/turn. This 1 EP traded results in 2 EP for the host player, and the caravan itself.
Prospecting Shuttles
The ‘P’ on the fighter value of the factors is for prospecting shuttles. These are treated as fighters in all ways but are completely free, and are half the strength of fighter squadrons. Thus 12P is treated as a single fighter squadron, and only has 6 attack and 6 defense factors.
Repairs
All caravan asteroid ships have the ability to self repair, and often it may take multiple turns to fully repair a ship. Size class 4 with repair systems as their options could assist any other ship in repairs. All repairs are done in the repair phase, and cost the caravan 5 supply points per repair point used. Asteroid based hulls pay 1 EP to uncripple, while size class 4 ships pay .5 EP. Non-player caravans repair the largest ships first, and do repairs above all else.
Construction
Asteroid ships can be “built” in any hex. To create a new asteroid ship simply pay the amount of EP to “hollow out” an asteroid and you get a ship. To create a size class 2 asteroid ship you must first roll 5+ on 1d6 to find suitable asteroids, else only a size class 3 asteroid ship can be produced.
Size class 4 ships are produced by size class 2/3 asteroid ships. Simply pay the EP, and the asteroid ship can produce a single size class 4 ship per turn (any model). This EP cannot come over multiple turns or be combined from multiple ships. CL based asteroid ship hulls can only produce a frigate, DN/BCH/CA based asteroid hulls can produce a frigate or destroyer. The CLT cannot build any kind of ship.
Non-player caravans follow the charts for construction, building as soon as EP becomes available. However, if there is not enough EP there is a 1 in 3 (5+ on 1d6) chance of a DD or FF being produced instead (FF automatic if no BCH/DN hulls). If a ship was lost it will backfill any losses with new construction.
Conversions
Jindarian ships are extremely easy to modify. The only difference between a DN and CVA for example is the bay configuration. All conversions of asteroid ships cost 1 EP, and conversions of DD/FF hulls cost .5 EP. Fighters are free for conversions (as most ships simply build the fighters themselves).
Non-player caravans roll on this table to determine new construction. However, if the caravan gains X1 technology it will upgrade those ships, and in Y169 it can reroll and determine if any carriers can be upgraded, and in Y183 any PFs. These rolls are on the random hull table, and regardless of the result it stands. You could for example, end up having a CVA get down-converted into a DN. This is the way that particular caravan leader choose to deal with new technology.
Salvage
Caravans collect salvage as usual, and leave 25% defense value for all asteroid ships (10% for size 4 ships).
Options
Most Jindarian ships are quite modular, and can be customized. These are reflected in ship options, most ships having 2 to 5 of such options. No option can be taken more than twice (except EW). Each of these options can be 1 Mining Factor, 1 Supply Factor, 1 Troop Factors (Gaining a G for each, and if 2 options it gains a G on the crippled side as well), or all can be converted to gain EW points. The EW options can only be used by 2 ships in a caravan.
Non-player caravans have a unique procedure for determine which options are being used on a hull as listed below:
• If there is no scout, and a class 2 ship exists, that class 2 ship has the EWP option
• If mining capacity < supply capacity, add MF from largest ship down until the supply capacity reached
• If there are 10+ ships, and only 1 scout, and a class 2 non-scout exists, make the size 2 a scout
• For each option mount left in caravan, roll a ‘6’ on 1d6 for it to become a G, else alternate between MF and SF
• Option mounts do not ever change, but if a ship configuration results in changing of MF/SF/#P redo the options
X-Ships
In Y182 Jindarians developed X1 technology. Initially only the DD/FF hulls are available (and then only in the base or commando variant), but in Y183 the CL/CA hulls gained X1, and Y184 the DN/DNX hulls. Any asteroid ship can build a DDX/FFX once X1 tech is achived. On each turn after Y182 roll 1d6, on a ‘6’ that caravan develops x-technology and will upgrade all ships (from smallest to largest, but the largest is first) to x-technology at the usual upgrade rates. When a fleet splits all X1 class 4 ships stay with a class 2 or 3 X-Ship, but if there are 2 class 2 or 3 X-Ships then both caravans gain X1 technology.
Initial Caravan Size
First roll 1d6 to determine if it’s a “rich” (1-2) caravan or a “poor” (5 to 6) caravan, else it is just average. This has no bearing later, only for initial ship types.
Now roll 2d6-2 to determine the number of ships in the caravan (-2 if poor). All caravans have at least 1 ship.
#_Ships Poor_Average__Rich
______1_BCH____BCH_____DN
______2__CL_____CA_____CA
______3__CL_____CA_____CA
______4__CL_____CA_____CA
______5__CA_____CA_____CA
______6__CA_____CA_____CA
______7_BCH_____DN_____DN
______8__CA_____CA_____CA
______9__CA_____CA_____CA
_____10__DN_____DN_____DN
_____11__CL_____CA_____CA
_____12__CA_____CA_____CA
The total ships include all ships above it on the table. In addition each fleet has up to 1d6 (-2 if poor,+2 if rich) size class 4 support ships (The caravan still cannot exceed 12 ships total). Roll 1d6 for each of these support ships, a 1-3 it’s a DD, else it’s a FF. Non-player caravans also build ships in this order, as soon as the EP becomes available. The 11/12 slots are for caravan production schedules. This table is duplicated on the caravan tracking sheets.
Random Hull Determination
Roll 2d6 to determine the exact model of hull for each base hull type:
2D6___DN______BCH______CA______CL______DD______FF
2_____SCS_____BCS______CAP_____CLP_____DW______FFV
3_____CVA_____BCV______CVS_____CVL_____DMS_____FFC
4_____DN______BCH______CA______CLC_____DDV_____FFT
5_____DN+V____BCH+V____CA+V____CL+V____DW______FFC
6_____DN______BCH______CA______CLT_____DDT_____FF
7_____DN______BCH______CA______CL______DD______FF
8_____DN______BCH______CA______CLT_____DD______FF
9_____DN+V____BCH+V____CA+V____CL+V____DDC_____FFT
10____DN______BCH______CA______CLC_____DDV_____FFT
11____CVA_____BCV______CVS_____CVL_____DDS_____FFV
12____SCS_____BCS______CAP_____CLP_____DW______FFS
There is a maximum of 1-2 CVA, BCV, BCS, CVS, or CVL in a caravan. If one CVA/BCV/BCS/CVS/CVL rolled up the first DD/FF is automatically a DDE, the 2nd wil be another DDE for a CVA/SCS, or a FFE for a BCS/BCV/CVS/CVL. DDV/FFV only require 1 escort. A size 2 caravan cannot have a BCV/BCS, and a size 7 or less cannot have a CVA/SCS. A size 4 or smaller cannot have a DDV/FFV. If any roll returns an invalid result simply use the base hull for that class (use +V if available). To determine if there are any asteroid scout ships, start at the smallest asteroid ship and work your way up to the top, a 5+ on 1d6 would indicate that ship is the EW type. There is a maximum of 1 asteroid scout unless the caravan is large, in which case it can have 2. No carriers are available before Y169, and no PF Tenders before Y182. No more than half the ships of a particular size class can have the +V or be a carrier variant.
Ship______Hull______Cost______Uncrippled______Crippled______#O______EW______Remarks
CVA______DN______16______13-18(12) 5M 5S______7-9(6) 2M 2S______5______4______
DN______DN______16______13-18(12P) 5M 5S______7-9(6P) 2M 2S______5______4______
DN+V______DN______16______13-18(6P6) 5M 5S______7-9(3P3) 2M 2S______5______4______
SCS______DN______16______13-18(6) 5M 5S P______7-9(3) 2M 2S P______3______3______
DNX______DN______16______18-19(12P) 5M 5S______9-9(6P) 2M 2S______5______5______
DNX+V______DN______16______18-19(6P6) 5M 5S______9-9(6P) 2M 2S______5______5______
BCH______BCH______10______9-15(10P) 5M 5S______4-7(5P) 2M 2S______4______3______Double 1 non EWP option
BCH+V______BCH______10______9-15(6P4) 5M 5S______4-7(3P2) 2M 2S______4______3______Double 1 non EWP option
BCS______BCH______10______9-15(3) 5M 5S P______4-7(1.5) 2M 2S P______3______3______
BCV______BCH______10______9-15(9) 5M 5S______4-7(4.5) 2M 2S______3______3______
BCX______BCH______10______9-15(10P) 5M 5S______7-8(5P) 2M 2S______4______4______Double 1 non EWP option
BCX+V______BCH______10______14-15(6P4) 5M 5S______7-8(3P2) 2M 2S______4______4______Double 1 non EWP option
CA______CA______8______7-11(8P) 5M 4S______3-6(4P) 2M 2S______3______2______
CA+V______CA______8______7-11(5P3) 5M 4S______3-6(2.5P1) 2M 2S______3______2______
CAP______CA______8______7-11(2P) 5M 4S P♦______3-6(1P) 2M 2S P______-______-______
CVS______CA______8______7-11(6) 5M 4S______3-6(3) 2M 2S______3______2______
CAX______CA______8______11-14(8P) 5M 4S______5-7(4P) 2M 2S______3______3______
CAX+V______CA______8______11-14(5P3) 5M 4S______5-7(2.5P1) 2M 2S______3______3______
CL______CL______6______6-9(4P) 3M 4S______3-5(2P) 2M 2S______2______2______
CL+V______CL______6______6-9(2P2) 3M 4S______3-5(1P1) 2M 2S______2______2______
CLC______CL______6______6-9 3M 4S G______3-5 2M 2S G______-______-______
CLP______CL______6______6-9 3M 4S P______3-5 2M 2S P______-______-______
CLT______CL______6______6-10 17S______3-5 8S______-______-______
CVL______CL______6______6-9(4) 3M 4S______3-5(2) 2M 2S______2______2______
CLX______CL______6______9-11(4P) 3M 4S______5-5(2P) 2M 2S______2______2______
CLX+V______CL______6______9-11(2P2) 3M 4S______5-5(1P1) 2M 2S______2______2______
DD______DD______4______4-5(2P) 2M 2S______2-2 1M 1S______-______-______X1 gains +2/+2 and +1/+1
DMS______DD______4______3-5______2-2______-______-______Provides +1 BIR to caravan
DDC______DD______4______4-5 GG______2-2 G______-______-______X1 gains +2/+2 and +1/+1
DDE______DD______4______4-5 [4] ■______2-2 ■______-______-______
DDS______DD______4______2-5 4S ♦______1-2 2S______-______-______
DDT______DD______4______1-5 12S______1-2 6S______-______-______
DDV______DD______4______4-5(6)______2-2(3)______-______-______
DW______DD______4______5-5 G______3-2______-______-______
FF______FF______3______4-4(1P) 1M 1S______2-2______-______-______X1 gains +2/+1 and +1/+1
FFC______FF______3______4-4 G______2-2______-______-______X1 gains +2/+1 and +1/+1
FFE______FF______3______4-4 [2] ■______2-2 ■______-______-______
FFS______FF______3______2-4 2S ♦______1-2 1S______-______-______
FFT______FF______3______1-4 10S______1-2 5S______-______-______
FFV______FF______3______4-4(4)______2-2(2)______-______-______
M = Mining Factors
S = Supply Factors
P = Prospecting Shuttles
#O = number of option mounts the ship can take
EW = If the ship is a scout, this is the EW Points the ship has and the option mounts are reduced to 0. All get full AF with 1 EWP, and 2 AF with 2+ EWP.
Anybody have any comments? Or are the CL Jindarian rules the final ones?