Module W-1: The Omega Sector

         The Omega Sector is a product of 12 new races in a distant sector of the galaxy. The core was designed by Bruce Graw and his team before Bruce left to do the Babylon-5 board game. A limited number of ``P-Omega'' playtest packets were released by Agents of Gaming. For those who got the original playtest pack, there is an rules update which was updated for that. The playtest pack plus update is not the same as the published product, however.

         The philosophy of the Omega races are that they are simpler and slower -- more like the pre-Y170 original game. Ships with top speed below 30 are common, as are weak shields (i.e. cruisers with 24-strength shields). They have fewer seeking weapons: more plasma-torp-like weapons and few drone-like weapons. Fighters are extremely rare, and PF's unknown.

         Each race has only a few ships (3-5), and a lot of unique technology (i.e. less shared technology like disruptors, drones, and phasers). They are designed to have unique science-fiction hooks: like hive-minds, silicoid chemistry, and so forth. A brief description of the races follows:

The Maesron Alliance

A powerful alliance of three sentient mammalian races, and minor races incorporated in their nation. They use the Tachyon Missle (TM) seeking weapon and Tachyon Gun (TG). The TM missles are very large hard-to-kill drones, but only one can be launched per pair of missile racks per turn, and no reloads or scatter-packs. The TG is like a photon, but decreases in range the more power you apply to it.

Kohligar

A race of giant jellyfish from a low-gravity homeworld, who devote themselves single-mindedly to their goals. Their ships are interlocking collections of spheres constructed underwater and catapulted into space. The Kohligar are masters of antimatter technology, using one-turn arming antimatter cannons that do 5 damage (or 10 if overloaded), but require lots of power and can only be fired once per 32 impulses. They also have an Antimatter Cloud Generator (ACG) that damages everything in one hex for up to 8 damage.

The Trobrin Empite

A xenophobic silicoid race defensive an hostile to all "carbonites," who in their most basic shape resemble unformed blobs of recently poured concrete. Their ships are heavily armored with even all-around shielding. They are armed with plasma-torpedo-like Implosion Torpedoes, and 3-turn arming direct-fire Implosion Bolts (4-turn-arming if you want overloads). They further have Radiation Phasers, which never miss and do a fixed amount of damage.

The Vari

Giant spiders that like to eat their warm blooded neighbors. They use particle-beam heavy weapons that can fire twice a turn (parallel to the Seltorian particle cannon). They have good firing arcs and good turn modes, but lack crunch power. Against a high crunch-power race, they have to run a lot or get squashed like a bug. Note that their BPV's are being reduced from the original playtest packet.

The Vari Combine

A race of giant spiders approximately 2 meters in length, who subsist on the blood of living creatures. Their government is decentralized and clan-like, split into cooperating "cells." They use a particle beam which is related to the Seltorian particle cannon, but while it can fire twice per turn, it cannot be held and does less damage and costs less to arm. It is more flexible in terms of firing options (for example, firing two overloads in a single turn).

The Probr Revolution

The Probr are a race of genetically-engineered salamanders who destroyed their creators. They are either loved or hated by playtesters. They use HEAT torpedoes: roughly like plasma torpedoes, but which degrade faster with range, and arm in two turns for 2 power each turn (hold cost 1). Further, they can be set to strike at up to range 4 -- this reduces the damage and requires a to-hit roll which decreases with range. A HEAT can also be fitted with `collars'. If a HEAT with a collar strikes the target, then other HEATs also after that target will move at speed 64 for several impulses.

Damage at Range:	To Hit	Time in Impulses:
	1	2-3	4-7	8-15	16-31
Rng-0	1-6	32	16	12	6	2
Rng-1	1-5	16	12	6	2	1
Rng-2	1-4	12	6	2	1	0
Rng-3	1-3	6	2	1	0	0
Rng-4	1-2	2	1	0	0	0

The Probr also use a direct-fire weapon called the QUAC -- which can have the same effect as a collar strike.

The Clorophon Association

The race of giant plants, growing up to 2 kilometers in diameter and living for thousands of years. Their ships are literally built around a single entity, who is aided by various "Keepers" (intelligent mammals in a symbiotic relationship). Their weapons include the energy howitzer: a direct-fire weapon with cooldown (like fusion beams) which damage all shields including leaked internals. They also use quantum phasers, which have weaker close-in punch for longer-range sniping ability. They also use spore casters, which cast dispersed clumps of particles similar to web that act like asteroid hexes.
The original playtest version was simply too powerful -- changes have been made to downgrade them.

The Drex Unity

This is a "race" is an organization of robots created to serve the Drexarians, a race of walrus-like beings tending towards laziness. They use the two-turn arming hypercannon, which has three firing modes and extremely limited arcs (a single hex row for heavy hypercannons).
Playtesting has shown the original version to be too weak, so the HC has been enhanced in damage and arcs.

The Alunda Host

The Alunda are a race of living but unintelligent starships, domesticated by a race of land-dwelling squid called the Mirn. They have large numbers of their primary weapon, the Bio-bolt. It can essentially fire as a point defense phaser, a standard phaser, or as a heavy weapon -- depending on how much power you use. It is good at long range, but lacks short-range punch. They also have plasma squid ink, lots of repair (i.e. "healing") capability, special reserve power, and the Repulsor Field.
After playtest, the Repulsor Field is being revised to a Repulsion/Attraction Field which can draw enemies nearer or push them away.

Hivers

A race of intelligent insects of varying size, shape, and color. Unlike the Vari, they are organized under a single totalitarian Queen. Reflecting their small size, the Hiver CA is Move Cost 1/2 (SC4), the match for other races DD. They use "fighters" which are tiny, independent starships that can reload heavy weapons and use discretionary power (essentially reserve power for fighters, introduced in SFT for conjectural 3 and 4-space fighters).

The Sigvirion Expansion

A race of intelligent viruses who infect host bodies. Their ships are symetrical saucers, equipped with a 6-12 pt Shield #7 which can protect against any direction. Instead of phasers, they use pulse emitters (3-shot gatling phasers with reduced damage). Their heavy weapon is the Kinetic Wave: essentially plasma-S torps which start weak, then grow in strength until range 15, then fade away (max range 25). They can also be loaded in 1 or 2 turns at reduced strength.

Turns	Range:					Phaser Damage Ratio
	0-5	6-10	11-15	16-20	21-25
1	3	6	9	6	3	1:1
2	6	12	18	12	6	1:2
3	9	18	27	18	9	1:3

The KW and BPV's have been revised after considerable debate (above is the revised KW table). See the online update or SFT #31 for the revision.

The Loriyill Collective

A strange race of seemingly `magical' butterfly-like creatures. Their ships are great wings of gossamer light with no visible hull per se. They use "fireballs" as heavy weapons, which can fire every turn but have poor hit chances, and have a defensive "flame shield" which causes damage to any that attempts to hit the Loriyill vessel with a direct-fire weapons.

The Iridani Questers

A race of knights who travel about in modular ships. They have a 2d6 range of effect heavy weapon that cannot fire twice within 16 impulses and are mostly L and R arcs (both at once).

The Federal Republic of Aurora

A Federation colony in Omegan space that somehow was transported there during a major ion storm or something. The Fed CL is a good match for some Omegan CA's.

The Branthodon

A unique race that apparently uses Space Dragons as ships.

Paravians

Apparently some Paravians survived and relocated to the Omega Sector. The Paravians were introduced in Module P6, as a minor race of bipedal avians wiped out by the Gorn before Y120. They use Quantum Wave Torpedoes, which are similar to rechargable plasma-D launchers.

         Module W1 includes an 80 page rules booklet, a 48-page SSD book, and four countersheets. The rules include 11 new races, 24 new weapons, 12 new systems, and 18 new wars.

($25.95 Complete)

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John H. Kim <jhkim@fnal.gov>

Last modified: Sat Jun 23 22:29:17 2001