Faction Turn
The Multi-Player Faction Turn Rule set has evolved from the Stars Without Numbers' Faction Turn created by Kevin Crawford. The current rules set results from a playtest lasting approximately 20 turns followed by a short break in which lessons learned were applied to the game and new systems were developed for sector-wide events. While the rules have continued to evolve through this second game based on new learning and updated source guidance from Crawford. Below, the components of the Faction Turn are summarized including: information on how to join a Faction, what factions produce to participate in the game, and links to summaries of previous Faction Turns.
Components
Mechanical Factions
Factions consist mechanically of
- a Stat value of 1-8 for each of Cunning, Force, and Wealth;
- a Homeworld;
- Faction Tag(s);
- Assets on the Sector Map.
From these components, the rest of a Faction's abilities can be gleaned, including its income and the force projection it can make on the Sector at large.
Goals
| Name | Details |
|---|---|
| Blood the Enemy | Deal damage to Faction Assets or BoIs equal to your Faction’s total Force, Cunning, and Wealth ratings. Completion: 2 XP. |
| Destroy the Foe | Bring a rival Faction’s HP to 0. Completion: Average of rival Faction’s Stat Line + 1 XP. If a Faction is destroyed between Faction turns (by scrapping their last BoI, for example) this is treated as the Faction having been killed by whoever dealt damage to them last. |
| Expand Influence | Establish a Base of Influence (BoI) on a new Planet. Completion: 1 XP, or if Contested 2 XP. The Base of Influence must survive the ‘Expand Influence’ action for this goal to be completed. |
| Exploration | Reveal a new Point of Interest and discover at least one new planet. Completion: 2 XP. |
| Inside Enemy Territory | Have a number of assets equal to this Faction’s Cunning Stat with Stealth status on Planets with a Planetary Governor. Units already on a Planet with a Planetary Governor must change the planet they are on to count. Completion: 2 XP. |
| Peaceable Kingdom | Launch no attacks on rival Factions while this goal is active. This Faction may still defend. For each turn after this goal is selected increase the XP earned by 1. This Faction may choose to complete this goal after four (4) or more Turns have passed since it was originally selected. |
| Planetary Seizure | Acquire Planetary Governor of a new Planet. Completion: If previously controlled: CEIL(Average of rival Faction’s Stat Line) XP Else 1 XP. |
| Root Out the Enemy | Destroy a BoI of a rival faction at a specific location. Completion: CEIL(Average of rival Faction’s Stat Line / 2) XP. |
| Scout a System | Scout a system or planet establishing a new Sector Object on the map. Completion: 1 XP regardless of difficulty of the object established. |
| Wealth of Worlds | Spend FCs equal to four times the Faction’s Wealth rating. The FC goes to the void but the goal succeeds. A Faction’s Wealth rating must increase before this goal can be taken again. Completion: 2 XP. |
Actions
Each turn Factions choose a single top-level Action to take from the following list. In addition to these Actions, a selection of 'Free Actions' may also be available for Factions to take if they meet the requirements for the Free Action.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Attack | A Faction can attack with any of their assets on any world against multiple (or one) rival Faction. |
| Exploration | A Faction attempts to explore a Point of Interest in an unrevealed hex. |
| Buy Asset | A Faction acquires a new asset a World they either control or a planet they don't with permission from the rival Faction. |
| Change Homeworld | A Faction can move their homeworld to a new Planet under their control. This is a time-intensive operation. |
| Expand Influence | A Faction can establish a new Base of Influence on a Planet they don't already have one on. |
| Repair Asset / Faction | A Faction can repair damage to their Assets or their Faction HP. |
| Sell Asset | A Faction can sell an Asset to receive portions of the music back. |
| Seize Planet | A Faction forcibly takes control of the planetary government for a world. |
| Use Asset Ability | A Faction uses the abilities of its assets for economic, social, or military gain. |
Tags
Below are the Faction Tags currently relevant to our game. The full list can be found on the page detailing them.
| Header text | Header text |
|---|---|
| Anchorage Assemblers | This faction can support one Anchorage Station asset without paying the upkeep cost nor having the tier or tech level requirement. Anchorage Station assets can buy or refit up to TL4 Force assets instead of TL2. Additionally, the anchorage can move 3 hexes rather than 2 for an extra 1 FC. |
| Cybernetic Assemblers | This faction can support one Anchorage Station asset without paying the upkeep cost nor having the tier or tech level requirement. Anchorage Stations controlled by this Faction gain the following Adapt Link (Free Action): 'Choose an asset other than itself at the current location. It gains Stealth for 2 FC. This ability can be activated multiple times per turn, with the cost increasing by 1 FC for each activation.' |
| Deep Rooted | This faction can roll one additional d10 when defending against attacks on assets on their homeworld. If the faction ever changes homeworlds, this tag is lost. |
| Fanatical | The faction always rerolls any dice that come up as 1, once. This zealousness leaves them open at times, however; they always lose ties during attacks. |
| Gene-Wrought Might | This faction's bio-engineers create a genetic edge in combat. They always win ties during attacks - this effect overrides the tie effect of the Fanatical tag. |
| Imperialists | This faction may roll an extra d10 for attacks made as part of a Seize Planet action. |
| Investment Analysts | When this Faction generates FC through an asset, the profit or loss is doubled. |
| Mercenary Group | All faction assets gain the following special ability: As an action, the asset may move itself to any world within one hex. If an asset already has this ability, increase it’s range by one. |
| Pirates | Any movement of an asset onto a world that has a Base of Influence for this faction costs one extra FacCred, paid to this faction. |
| Secretive | All assets purchased by this faction automatically begin Stealthed. See the list of Cunning assets for details on Stealth. |
| Speculative Investors | When the Ruin ability to reroll an FC Generation Asset's Die is used on Telas by any Faction, the Telas Council gains 1 FC. |
| Technical Expertise | This faction treats all planets on which they have a Base of Influence as if they were at least tech level 4. They can build Starship-type assets on any world with at least ten thousand occupants. |
| Warlike | Once per turn, this faction can roll an additional d10 when making a Force attack. |
Quests
To Draft
Sector Events
To Draft
Assets
Assets represent a Faction's ability to have a game-level influence on the board. These assets merely stand in for fictional assets that may already exist but simply rise into prominence on the Sector scale or by a single Asset or Individual traveling across the sector. The asset list is too long to list here. A full list of assets can be found on the Faction Turn Asset List.
Tracking the State of the Game
The Spreadsheet
To Draft
Sector Map
The Sector Map represents a 19x19 Hex grid on which worlds the Factions can inhabit exist. Each hex with worlds in it can have 1-3 planets. As part of this game revolves around exploring new planets, Hexes with a Point of Interest can be explored and reveal new Planets. In addition to these modifications, the 'Revise Charts' Free Action also enables factions to add Moons, Gas Giants, and other Sector Map elements into existence. With some luck, spaceships may even discover a black hole. A visual representation of the Sector Map is available, however the spreadsheet should be considered the only official tracking of Asset locations.
Participating in the Game
Joining a Faction
To Draft
Faction Turn Slate
To Draft
Monthly Turn Stream
To Draft
Previous Faction Turns
| Faction Turns | |
| Faction Turn Lore | |
| Faction Turn Resources | |