Rules of play

6

© 2015 GMT Games, LLC

EXAMPLE: A Terran CA with a 

Speed of 3 at the start of the Pow-

er Phase may choose to Speed up 

to Speed 4 or slow down to Speed 

2 as shown by the numbers in the 

white circle. If the Terran CA 

Speeds up, her Power Curve becomes 2-4-2. Erase the previous 

Power Curve, and write 2-4-2 in its place. The cruiser now moves 

at Speed 4 but she has less AP to spend.

(5.4.4) Effects of Hull Damage: When a ship has damage, the 

modifier in the Hull Boxes (8.4.2) may reduce the amount of Power.

This is applied to the Power during the Power Phase. A ship cannot 

choose a Speed that would cause it to have negative Power. 

(5.4.5) Power Less Than Zero: At the end of the Power Phase, if 

a ship has a modified Power less than 0 because of the Power mod-

ifiers caused by damage and critical effects, then the ship breaks

apart and explodes.

5

1

3

EXAMPLE: The Guderian is in trouble. She’s lost her front shields 

and she only has 1 more Hull Box remaining. Currently her Power 

Curve reads “1-5-3” but, due to damage she just sustained, she 

now has a -2 showing in the left-most Hull Box. This means she 

must slow down to Speed 4 during the Power Phase, giving her a 

Power Curve of 2-4-2. With the –2 modifier this becomes 0-4-2. If 

she were unable to slow down, she would have a negative number 

for Power. This would cause the FTL core to overheat and explode.

NFTL drives must be kept “hot”. The rest of a ship’s energy is 

generated by the power system produced by the drive. Attempts to 

bring the ship to a standstill “stall” out the drive and deprive the 

ship of all power.

6. POWER

6.1 Spending Available Power (AP)

One point of Power becomes available to a ship at various Impulses 

throughout a Round based on its Power Curve and the Impulse chart. 

The Impulses in which a ship has AP may or may not be Impulses 

in which the ship moves. Remember that AP is spent before move-

ment. AP spent during the Impulse may impact movement in that 

same Impulse.

When a point of Power becomes available to a ship, it can be spent 

on one of the following actions:

•  Enable a Side Slip – If this option is chosen a Side Slip marker is 

placed on the ship. The next time the ship moves, it may choose 

to Side Slip (see Movement and Turning). The next time the ship 

moves (even if it is this same Impulse), remove the marker whether 

the ship Side Slipped or not.

•  Power Through a Turn – Move the Turn Radius marker 1 hex 

closer. If the Turn Radius marker is only one hex away, it is 

removed and the ship can turn the next time it moves (see 7.0). 

If you are placing Turn Radius markers directly on the turning 

ship, flip or replace the marker to indicate how many more hexes 

are left in the turn.

•  Charge a Yellow box on a Weapon Group Charge Bar – On one 

of the Charge Bars on the ship, one yellow box may be marked 

off. This is called Active Charging. A Yellow box may be charged 

even if there are un-charged Red boxes.

•  Charge a Battery – If the ship has a battery (not all races have 

batteries), it may be marked off (10.1) if not charged. Batteries 

do not normally start the game charged.

•  Reinforce a Shield Arc – One Shield Reinforcement marker may 

be placed on a specific Shield Arc of that ship (6.2). The letter on 

the Shield Reinforce marker should match the letter of the current 

Impulse.

•  Change the Initiative  – Place a Change Initiative marker on the 

ship (4.2). 

•  Defend the Initiative – Place a Defend Initiative marker on the 

ship (4.2).

•  Transmit Power to Fighters – Carriers and Bases may transmit 

AP to friendly Fighter Squadrons (Advanced Rule 12.2.2).

•  Select New Missile Target – Ships with missile launchers may 

select new targets for friendly missiles with AP (Advanced Rule 

13.7).

6.2 Reinforce a Shield Arc

(6.2.1) Purpose: Each Shield Reinforce marker acts as one extra 

shield box and absorbs one damage to that Shield Arc before being 

removed. 

(6.2.2) Placement Restrictions:

•  Each Shield Arc can have, at most, one reinforcement.

•  Shield Arcs that are down, either because of Critical Damage or

because they have been completely destroyed (no boxes left in 

that Shield Arc), may not be reinforced.

•  A Shield Reinforcement cannot be placed if the total number

of reinforcements currently on a ship is greater than or equal to 

half of the ship’s Power, rounded down to a minimum of 1 

reinforcement.

EXAMPLE: A Terran CA’s Power Curve is 3-3-2 (Power, the first 

number, is 3). If it already has one Shield Reinforcement, it cannot 

place another on the ship. If the ship had a Power Curve of 4-2-1 

instead (4 Power), it would be able to place a second Shield Re-

inforcement. If the ship, instead, had a Power Curve of 1-5-3 and 

no active Shield Reinforcements, it would still be able to place one 

Shield Reinforcement. 

(6.2.3) Removal: Shield Reinforce markers expire one Round 

after they are placed. Remove the marker the next time the lettered 

Impulse that matches Shield Reinforcement marker occurs for the 

owning player. Shield Reinforcement markers already in play may 

be removed at will, before they expire, by the ship’s owner. This 

allows the ship to reinforce a different Shield Arc or reset a Shield 

Reinforcement.

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