High Frontier Interstellar

Expansion for High Frontier Expansion for High Frontier Colonization

High Frontier Interstellar Rulebook

Table of Contents

24.0 HIGH FRONTIER INTERSTELLAR (SOLITAIRE)
24.1 INTERSTELLAR SET-UP
24.2 INTERSTELLAR SEQUENCE OF PLAY
24.3 INTERSTELLAR OPERATIONS
24.4 INTERSTELLAR MUTINY
24.5 INTERSTELLAR GRAY GOO RISK
- A. PASSENGER BADGES
24.6 STARSHIP MOVE
24.7 STARSHIP EVENT ROLL
- A. RADIATION ROW
- B. EVENT ROW
24.8 INTERSTELLAR EXPLORATION & VICTORY
24.9 INTERSTELLAR EXAMPLE MISSIONS
- A. UNMANNED SEED STARSHIP
- B. NASA Mission #4 Starship Configuration with Bernal
24.10 INTERSTELLAR STRATEGY & ADVICE

24.0 HIGH FRONTIER INTERSTELLAR (SOLITAIRE)

At the end of a High Frontier Colonization game, players may attempt extra VP by playing a solitaire "postscript" game of High Frontier Interstellar. You can also play this as a solitaire game independent of High Frontier Colonization.

A. NEEDED TO PLAY. Besides these rules, you need a copy of High Frontier and its expansion: High Frontier Colonization. You also need a copy of the Interstellar Map, which also includes the Starship Government, Event Table, and Rocket Diagrams. This map is available at Zazzle.

B. TERMINOLOGY. In these rules, Colonist Cards (both human and robot) as well as legacy Crew and Robonaut Cards are referred to as "passengers". Human and emancipated robot passengers are referred to as "humans" (20.4). Bernal Cards, housing the families of the human crew, are passengers and yet are not considered human. A starship is any spaceship with a thruster or freighter with a starship thrust triangle (24.1E), and a beehive is a rocket-powered comet using a thruster with the beehive thrust icon (24.1F). If in a starship, a Bernal does not need to be at a dirtside to be promotable. Cards in your hand are considered in your vats and do not add to your starship dry mass. This includes crew in hibernation vats, and equipment blueprints stored in the ship's library. There is no hand limit.

24.1 INTERSTELLAR SET-UP

There are three ways to start a game of High Frontier Interstellar:

• Quick Start, i.e. starting a fresh one-player game, either with a starship (24.1A) or a beehive (24.1B).

• Colonization Start (i.e. as a postscript to a High Frontier Colonization game, which can involve one or more players trying to get additional VP.) To enter the Interstellar Map during or after a High Frontier Colonization game, either move your rocket (using High Frontier rules) to one of the three Sol Exits (24.1D) and convert it into a starship per 24.1E, or else convert it into a beehive ark per 24.1F.

Note: During a Colonization game, you may exit the map and attempt a starshot. This ends your participation in the Colonization game, but you continue on the Interstellar map and attempt to score VP in that manner, added to your Colonization score.

• Colonization Cooperative Start. At the end of a Colonization Game, two or more players can join resources for an interstellar starshot. If this cooperative effort succeeds, the participating players can all combine their scores into one grand final score. For example, two losing players reaching a new star in a joint venture might overtake the VP leader.

Note: For Interstellar, separate the robots into a separate colonist deck from the human colonists, even if they are emancipated.

Science Note: The game starts with a Kardashev I civilization, when individuals have terawatts of energy available. (Today's global energy output is about 15 terawatts.) Operations are undertaken by reproducing machines, and products become cheap and plentiful. Due to the "tyranny" of the rocket equation, mass continues to be expensive on rockets.

A. STARSHIP QUICK START

Choose a faction. Your starting Starship Stack can either be your Legacy Crew Card (plus 35 WT). or your Legacy Crew and your Bernal Card (plus 25 WT).

• Start by performing Idea Turns per 15.0B, but first remove the two beehive engines (24.1F) and the generators that are solar-powered on their black side from their respective patent decks. All cards drawn cost 1 WT to go into your hand, and a second WT to go into your starship. Remember that stuff in your hand can be 3D printed and/or decanted into your ship's stack at a later date!

• Building the Starship Stack. In Quick Start, cards go into the Starship Stack on their black side, except that Bernals and Colonists go into the stack on their unpromoted sides. You may put only one starship-capable card (24.1E) into your ship's stack, and it goes into the stack on its promoted side. The cards you do not use remain in your hand for possible use later (representing the ship's library of ideas).

• Starting Dry Mass. When you decide you are finished with Idea Turns, figure out the dry mass of your Starship Stack, and place a fuel figure into the empty position in this row on the Starship Diagram.

• Starting Decatanks. Then convert all your remaining WT's into tanks of fuel, where each decatank costs 2 WT. Set up a fuel figure on the Starship Diagram in the correct Dry Mass Row, and move it to the number of decatanks purchased.

• Choose one of the three Sol Exits (24.1D). This sets your starting speed.

Note: Human Colonists in your hand are in the vats (24.4D), and can be revived with a decant operation. They do not count towards your starting dry mass. You should start the mission with at least one human or robot in the ship's stack so that you can decant passengers in the vats without the risks inherent in self-decanting. Unemancipated Robot Colonists and other equipment in your hand can be put into the stack by using a 3D Print. See 24.10 for suggestions on how to start a starship.

B. BEEHIVE QUICK START

Choose a faction. Your starting Beehive Stack is your Legacy Crew, your Bernal Card, one of two beehive thrusters randomly selected (24.1F), plus 18 WT. Your starting dry mass, decatanks, and Sol Exit are pre-determined per 24.1F.

• Start by performing Idea Turns per 15.0B, except that all cards drawn cost 1 WT to go into your hand, and a second WT to go into your beehive. The solar-powered generators should be removed from the generator deck per 24.1A. Cards go into the Beehive Stack on their unpromoted sides for Bernals and colonists, and on their black side for all other cards. Your goal is to get a pair of starting colonists and then slowly grow the population to the point where it can eureka and manufacture stuff.

C. STARTING POLITICS AND AGE

Place a disk in any desired polity on the Starship Government (to the left of the Interstellar Map). If using a Colonization Start or a Colonization Cooperative Start (24.1), you may steal all Colonist Cards that have loyalty to the chosen polity. You may steal any cards in space belonging to any opponent not going to the stars.

• Starting Age. All humans in your stack start with two blue disks on them, or four disks if promoted (showing they are 24 and 48 years old respectively, see 24.7A).

D. SOL EXIT

A starship may choose one of three exits to enter the Interstellar Map. In all three cases, place your standing rocket map figure in the center of the Interstellar Map, in the space labeled "Sol start".

• Sol Exit Neptune. This exit, using a high-thrust periapsis burn at Neptune, is on the map edge between Neptune and Uranus. Place a clear red disk into the "dead stop" leftmost spot on the Speed Track (i.e. the row on the top of the Starship Diagram); this is your speed disk. Although this exit starts the slowest, it does not suffer the risks and limitations of the other two.

• Sol Exit Oort. This exit is in the map corner near Sedna, and your speed disk starts where indicated in the Speed Track. If you take this exit during a Quick Start, you must make two radiation rolls and two event rolls before you start the first turn. (This represents the extra turn required get all the way out to the inner Oort Cloud. If taking this exit during a Colonization game, only make one radiation and event roll as usual).

• Jupiter-Sol-Jupiter Exit (Jovian Flyby). This exit is at the Jupiter flyby spot, and your speed disk starts where indicated in the Speed Track. This exit represents a close pass to Jupiter, then Sol, and then Jupiter again. (All three close passes use the Oberth effect to accelerate the starship.) To represent the three close passes, before you start the first turn roll 3d6 and take the highest roll as the radiation level. Place a stress disk (24.2A) on all cards in the ship's stack below this radiation level.

Note: For both the Oort and Jupiter exits, if the starship engine shuts down due to the very first radiation roll or due to an event roll, it starts at a dead stop instead of the speed indicated. If you use any exit with a rocket containing a starship-capable card, but it is not working (e.g. missing a required support), then it also starts at a dead stop instead of the speed indicated.

E. CONVERTING YOUR ROCKET INTO A STARSHIP

If at the end of a High Frontier Colonization game you have a starship-capable rocket or freighter, you can gain extra points by moving it (using High Frontier rules) to one of the three Sol Exit locations (24.1D) on the expansion map. Choosing from both cards in your hand and in your stacks, add the crew, colonists, thrusters, Bernals, robonauts, refineries, thrusters and supports you think you will need for the trip, and save up a lot of WT's for your fuel.

• Starship Engine. A thruster or freighter card is starship-capable if it has a starship thrust triangle, i.e. a small thrust triangle to the right of the main thrust triangle. It is bordered in green; see 21.2A. A rocket with one of these thruster or freighter cards is called a starship.

• Supports can be shared, for instance the generator for the Starship Engine and a promoted Bernal.

• Starship Diagram. For the starshot, move your fuel marker from the Rocket Diagram to the Starship Diagram to the left of the Interstellar Map.

• Futures. For each Future (18.6B) you have completed, you may choose one Colonist Card from the unused deck to add to your hand or Starship Stack. In addition, you if completed the Planet Hunt Future, choose a Star Site and make an Exploration Table Roll (24.8B) before you start. Plus, if you completed the Protium Fusion Future, start with a disk in the "Protium Fusion Breakthrough Disk" spot per 23,3B.

• Dry Mass Row. You may also bring a Bernal Sphere and, if you have promoted a Freighter Card, you may also bring mobile factory cubes (18.6). A Bernal Sphere is mass 10, and each cube is mass 5. Set a Fuel Figure in the "!" (empty) position of the Dry Mass Row obtained by adding the masses of the cards and cubes in the Starship Stack. Note that the Starship Diagram allows a dry mass up to 42.

• Buy Starship Fuel. Pay 2 WT or two fuel tanks for each decatank of starship fuel. The correct position is shown by the lavender vertical columns. Note that some of the columns are double decatanks, as shown by the double decatank icon.

Example: If you pay 18 WT for 9 decatanks of fuel, this falls between the 8 decatank and the 10-decatank columns, so use the 8-decatank column and waste one decatank.

Notes: Because of fuel compatibility problems, a starship may use only one thruster in its voyage. You may promote this thruster but not exchange it. A Bernal on-board a starship does not have any privileges. Your starship can carry any number of passengers and equipment up to its maximum dry mass of 42.

Example: Your rocket stack with a dry mass of 25 (including its TW thruster) exits the map using Sol Exit Neptune. Place its rocket figure on the Sol spot on the Interstellar Map, and its fuel figure on the "23-27" dry mass row on the Starship diagram. Place a speed disk on the "Sol Exit Neptune" spot. Suppose your rocket has two tanks of fuel (equivalent to one decatank), and further you pay 12 WT for 7 decatanks of fuel altogether. Since this is more than the 6 decatank column, but less than the 8 decatank column, the fuel figure is placed on the 6 decatank column.

F. CONVERTING YOUR ROCKET INTO A BEEHIVE ARK

At the end of a High Frontier Colonization game, if a player has a Bernal plus a thruster with the beehive thrust icon, plus their supports, he may create a beehive ark by moving them to an industrialized synodic comet (8.5C) on the map. (Imagine a ball of heavy water ice, with the humans tunneling antlike inside, feeding the tailings into deuterium fusion engines, and you have something of a picture of a beehive ark).

• Beehive Thrust Icon. Certain thrusters have the beehive thrust icon adjacent to the thrust triangle. This icon is shaped like a beehive (21.2A). A rocket with this icon, which has landed on a Synodic Comet (8.5C), is called a Beehive Ark.

• Dry Mass Row and Decatanks. The beehive fuel figure always starts at the lowermost dry mass row (35-42) on the Starship Diagram. This is regardless of how many cards and cubes you bring along. Because it uses the cometary substrate itself as propellant, it always starts with its full 8 tanks. These are free.

• Starting Speed. The starting speed of a Beehive is always a "dead stop"; so place a clear red speed disk in the leftmost position of the Starship Speed Track.

Science Note: A beehive ark is of vastly greater mass than other starships. Each mass point is one million tons (instead of 40), and each mass point is 10,000 people. So imagine that each card and unit in a beehive stack is a large number of units.

24.2 INTERSTELLAR SEQUENCE OF PLAY

For your turn, perform A through C below. Then go to the next turn; twelve years have elapsed.

A. OPERATION

During this phase, choose and perform operations one by one. For each operation attempted, place a stress disk on a passenger that is of the correct specialization (as indicated by the scientist, engineer, business, pilot, explorer, wisp, or terraformer icons, see 24.3A through F), then roll for Mutiny (24.4). Passengers can perform multiple operations in a turn.

• Stress Disk. Stress disks (stress for short) are black disks placed upon humans to show their workload. If you run out of disks, use any other tokens to indicate stress.

• Mandatory Retirement, Robot. A robonaut is decommissioned to the vats as soon as it performs one operation. An unemancipated robot is automatically decommissioned to the vats as soon as it reaches two stress (which removes both stress).

• Mandatory Retirement, Human. A human may perform up to four operations, which can be in one turn or over several turns. As soon as it reaches four stress, it is automatically decommissioned to the vats right after its mutiny roll. Note: If the Starship Government (24.1C) is in the Orange Polity, humans can take eight stress instead of four.

• Human Colonists in vats (24.4D) cannot perform operations.

• Legacy Crew. These differ from other humans only in that they are killed (removed from the game) if demoted or decommissioned. As indicated on their card, they have either the explorer (24.3E) or wisp (24.3F) specialty.

• Abilities. The special ability that colonists have in Colonization is applicable to Interstellar if it is described in green font.

Example: The Utility Fog Halbonaut card states (in green font) that all generators in the ship's stack have both electrical and pulsed capacities.

B. MOVE STARSHIP

Burn fuel, adjust speed, and move your starship per 24.6.

Note: The dry mass of a starship changes only with the Nano-Reconfigure Hull operation (24.3A).

C. STARSHIP EVENT TABLE

Make a 1d6 roll, then apply this roll to the Radiation Row (24.7A) and the Event Row (24.7B) of the Event Table on the Interstellar Map. Note that, depending on the 1d6 roll applied in the Radiation Row, each human ages by one or two Age Disks.

24.3 INTERSTELLAR OPERATIONS

Operations are performed by passengers, either human, robonaut, or robot. Passengers can only perform an operation if they have the correct specialization: Engineer, Scientist, Business, Pilot, Explorer, Wisp, and Terraformer.

• Robotic Breakdown. If a robonaut goes into the vats as soon as it performs one operation. An unemancipated robot goes into the vats as soon as reaches two stress (i.e., its second operation). This removes both stress disks.

• Human Breakdown. Humans (including emancipated robots) automatically go into the vats (as a free action) as soon as they reach four stress.

A. ENGINEER OPERATIONS (Wrench Icon)

• 3D Print. Move a black hand card to the ship's stack. It cannot be an emancipated robot.

Physics Note: The 3D Print Operation seems to violate the law of conservation of mass by adding mass to the starship. To avoid this violation, I have assumed that the advanced technology of the new products reduces the mass of the other components on the ship by a corresponding amount. Because the mass of each card is assumed to change mass with redesign during the voyage, the dry mass of the starship is equal to the mass of its cards only when it embarks.

• Cube Nanofacture. Decommission a refinery card and either a robonaut or unemancipated robot card from the ship's stack and replace them with a factory cube. The ship's stack must include the supports required by the refinery and robonaut, although they can share supports between themselves or with the starship's thrusters or Bernal. The supports are not decommissioned by the cube nanofacture.

Note: If a robot performs the cube nanofacture, a card other than the robot itself must be decommissioned.

• Nano-Reconfigure Hull. By discarding a factory cube from the ship's stack, decrease the fuel marker by one dry mass row per 6.10C. If you have achieved a Protium Breakthrough (24.3B), this gives you one Impulse (24.6). In either case, roll a gray goo risk (24.5). You can discard multiple cubes with one operation, decreasing dry mass by one row and rolling the risk for each one.

Note: With the exception of the nano-reconfigure hull operation, a starship's dry mass does not change once launched. New Colonists will never mass more than the resources used to feed them, so mass is always conserved. You can still Nano-Reconfigure the Hull even if you have reached the lowest dry mass row.

Example: A starship with dry mass 35-42 and 1 decatank undergoes a nano-reconfiguration. One of its cubes is discarded, and its fuel figure is moved up diagonally one row, staying in the "1 decatank" line. The dry mass is now 28-34. The starship politics are left wing, so no gray goo risk is rolled. If the ship undergoes a second nano-reconfiguration, the fuel figure moves directly up one space, still following the "1 decatank" line. It is still Goddard Class, but now has two instead of one impulses left before it is dry.

B. SCIENTIST OPERATIONS (Microscope Icon)

• Promote. To flip a card to its purple side, roll 1d6. Success if the result is less than the age (24.7A) of the scientist doing the promotion. If promoting using an SOS Wisp (24.3F), the chance of success is 50%.

Note: To promote a Bernal Card, it must have a working generator.

• Decant. Recommission a colonist or Bernal from your hand to the ship's stack. A card cannot be decanted if it went into the vats earlier in the turn. A colonist can perform operations on the turn it is decanted. A colonist can self-decant, but this is risky (the colonist is stressed and has a 50% chance of death).

• Eureka. Take the top card of a patent deck into your hand. You can draw from the robot colonist deck but not the human one.

• Explore. If at a dead stop at a Star Site or LIC, make a 2d6 exploration roll (24.8B).

• Breakthrough. Roll 1d6, and subtract one if you have a promoted Bernal. If the result is less than the Age of the colonist, then place a disk in one of the two Breakthrough Spots on the map. You have a choice: discover the secret of protium fusion (the energy of stars, useful during Nano-Reconfigure, see 24.3A), or cure cancer (24.7).

Example: An alchemist scientist, aged 3-dozen years, attempts a Protium Research. A "2" is rolled, so the attempt is successful and a Protium Fusion Breakthrough Disk is placed. The alchemist can also act as an engineer, and in the same operations phase performs a nano-reconfiguration of the hull. This moves the fuel disk one row lighter (without expending any fuel), and gives one free impulse which the player uses to speed the starship one step. Both operations place a stress on the alchemist, and the second additionally requires a gray goo roll.

C. BUSINESS OPERATIONS (Handshake Icon)

• Service Industry. Remove one stress from all other non-business humans (including those in vats, but not the one performing the operation). If the Starship Government (24.1C) is in the Orange Polity, then remove two instead of one.

• Activism. Move the politics one space in any direction.

• Suffrage. Roll 1d6. If the result is less than the number of promoted (purple) cards on the starship, then emancipate the robots. If successful, place a Robot Emancipation Disk on the map and roll for a gray goo risk (24.5).

Note: The only difference between a human and a robot colonist in High Frontier Interstellar is that the human can operate up to 4 stress, while the robot can operate up to 2 stress. If the robot is emancipated, then it is always treated exactly as a human. A robonaut is both equipment and a passenger, and goes into the vats after one operation.

D. PILOT OPERATIONS (Brake Icon)

Passengers with one or more brake icons on the interstellar segment of their card may perform one brake operation. There are five kinds of brake icons: mag-sail brake, surfer brake, drogue, drogue scoop, and beam core. Each kind can be used only once per turn, but all types can be used together in any chosen order.

Note: Brakes are not allowed while the starship or beehive remains in the Mayflower and Goddard wet mass classes; see the Starship Diagram.

• Braking Mass Limits. Starships in the Goddard or Mayflower Class cannot use braking. Remember that Beam-riders must use brakes to slow down, while the other starships can burn fuel to slow down.

• Braking Speed Limits. The Starship Speed Track shows at what speeds the different kinds of brakes are effective. (The Drogue/Scoop brakes for slow speeds, the Beam-Core brakes at all speeds, the others at high speeds).

• Mag-Sail Brakes. You may slow down a number of steps up to your current numeric speed.

Note: Because steps are not equal to speed, a mag-sail cannot be used to slow to a dead-stop. For instance, a starship moving at speed 4 can slow down 4 steps, which takes it to a speed of 2.

Science Note: Because it uses the interstellar plasma as a gradual friction force, the mag-sail works best between the stars. Further, the slowing force varies with the square of the velocity, so the mag-sail is only effective at higher speeds.

• Surfer Brakes. If on or adjacent to an LIC site (blue space), you may slow down by one step. (This technology surfs on the energized plasma ribbon on the heliopause bow-shock).

• Drogue Brakes. As noted on the Starship Speed Track, if you are at site hex containing a gas giant, you can slow down one step with a drogue brake. This is risky, as you must roll a crash hazard risk (skull icon, see 6.5D) and a radiation risk (indicated by the radiation icon) as noted on the passenger card. The radiation risk consists of rolling 1d6 for radiation level, and placing stress on all passengers and equipment that fail. Your speed does not affect this roll.

Note: Performing a drogue brake at an unexplored site makes a Exploration Roll per 24.8B. The braking fails if no gas giant is located.

• Scoop Brake. This is identical to the Drogue Brake, except if used to come to a dead stop, gain one tank of S fuel. (This technology scoops and liquefies the gas giant atmosphere).

• Beam-Core Brakes. You can slow down by one step by decommissioning cards or cubes that mass at least 10 and reducing the dry mass by one row per 6.10C. (This maneuver assumes the starship has stored antimatter that is consumed in a beam-core rocket).

Note (Fargo Tactic): If you brake by decommissioning humans (jargon for tossing them into the antimatter hopper), the surviving passengers survive, but lose their humanity (ending score is halved).

• Desperation Star Dive Brake. Even if you have no Pilots, any passenger at a Star Site can brake at any speed by plummeting through the star itself. Make a desperation die roll where only a "6" will slow your starship one step, placing a stress on all support cards, and all other results will destroy the Starship and kill all the passengers. For beehives, a "4", "5" or "6" is successful and all others destroy the ship and passengers.

E. EXPLORER OPERATIONS (Buggy or Missile Robonauts, Crew, or Colonists)

• Patch Radiator. Move a radiator from your hand to the stack on its black side. The performing card suffers a radiation roll per 24.7A.

• Explore. If at a dead stop at a star, make an explore roll per 24.8.

• Refuel. If at a dead stop at a fuel planet, gain fuel decatanks equal to five minus the ISRU value of the performing card. You must roll a grey goo risk (24.5).

Note: If you have a thruster requiring S fuel, you can refuel only at a gas giant.

F. WISP OPERATIONS (Raygun Robonauts, Crew, or Colonists)

Launch an expendable wisp to a destination up to 12 spaces away. There are three types:

• Exploration Wisp. If the destination is an unexplored site, make an explore roll per 24.8.

• SOS Wisp. If the destination is Sol, this allows you to perform any Engineer, Scientist, or Business Operation (because you receive the latest in entertainment, science, and psychology from Earth).

• Ship to Ship Wisp. If the destination is another starship (assuming a multi-player game) with wisp capacity, the exchange of information removes a stress (from any card) from each ship.

Note: The 6-lightyear range of the SOS Wisp is marked on the Interstellar Map.

Science Note: Since each space on the Interstellar Map is half a light year, the speed of light is 24 spaces per 12-year turn. I cut this in half to allow for time spent for two way communication between source and destination. A trade or SOS wisp can move at light-speed because while in transit it is not a physical thing, but only a code that can be translated into a message or product at the receiving end. Exploration wisps move slower (perhaps 50% light-speed).

G. TERRAFORMER OPERATION (Terraform Icon)

• Decant. See 24.3B.

• Bio-Engineering. If on a beehive, or if dead-stopped at a habitable or living world, draw a random Colonist Card into the ship's stack and roll for a gray goo risk (24.5). If you have emancipated the robots, this may be from the Robot Colonist Deck instead of the Human Colonists. In either case, this must be after you have left Sol. These new Colonists are still immature, so they cannot perform any operations until next turn.

• Bio-Engineering Inbreeding. If you roll a "1" (unmodified) during the Bio-Engineering Gray Goo Risk, you must discard out of the game a Colonist in your hand from the stack (human or robot) you are using. This risk remains even if you cannot fail the Gray Goo Risk roll. If you have no colonists left in your hand, the colonist just bio-engineered is discarded instead.

Science Note: This represents the next generation, enabled by a terraformed ecosystem utilizing lichen dusted with miRNA for genetic modification. miRNA is small non-coding RNA ubiquitously expressed in unicellular to multicellular eukaryotes.

H. HUMAN OPERATION ("Humans On Board" Icon)

• Self-Decant. A human can bring himself out of the vats, but this stresses the card, and has a 50% chance of death (discard to the bottom of the colonist deck).

• Vats. A human self-decommissions and (after adding the stress for this operation) removes half its stress (rounding up). The Mutiny Roll (24.4) is skipped. See 24.4D for the effects of being in the vats.

• Parenthood. A human may attempt to become a parent by rolling 1d6. If the result is greater than the parent's Age (24.7A), and the ship's stack includes a promoted Bernal, then draw a random Human from the Human Colonist Deck into the ship's stack. This is the next generation, who can perform operations once it acquires its first Age Disk. Note: Emancipated robots are cancer-free but sterile.

• Reproductive Inbreeding. Unless you are in a beehive, if a "1" is rolled during a parenthood attempt, then discard out of the game a random Human from the Human Colonist Deck (if any).

• Self-Promote. Roll 1d6. If the result is less than the human's Age (24.7A), then flip its card to its purple side.

Example: A colonist with 3 stress performs the Vats Operation. This increases its stress to 4, then halves it to 2 as it goes into your hand. If the colonist instead performs a non-Vats operation, its stress again goes to 4, automatically sending it into your hand after a Mutiny Roll.

I. ROBOT OPERATION ("Gear" Icon)

Until emancipated, a robot can be taken into hand as an Eureka Operation, and from there into the ship's stack by 3D printing. Once there, it has two operations (and 2 stress) before it is retired back to the hand (removing all stress). It can also be decommissioned as part of a Cube Nanofacture (24.3A).

• Emancipated Robots. Once Emancipated, a robot is treated almost exactly like a human. It can acquired into your hand only via Bio-Engineering. From there, it can be decanted to the ship's stack. It ages like a human, and can perform all the operations that humans can, except parenthood. Its stress can be relieved by the Service Industry Op (24.3C). It can perform 4/8 operations like a human colonist, and removes half stress if returned to the vats. It is cancer-free but sterile. It can mutiny, and if so, the politics disk is moved towards the center.

24.4 INTERSTELLAR MUTINY

Make a 1d6 Mutiny Roll after any stressed passenger (human or robot) performs an operation other than the Vats Operation (24.3H)). If you roll less than the number of stress on its card, it mutinies.

• Human Mutiny. A human mutiny has no effect unless it is not politically correct (24.4A). If so, choose one human to demote, which can include the mutineer, or humans in vats. If the mutiny happens during war or anarchy, all the humans demote. You must also move the politics disk one space, so as to be closer to the polity color of the mutineer's election button (20.3B).

• Robot Mutiny. If an unemancipated robot mutinies, it goes into the bottom of the Robot Deck. (No other effect.)

• If the Starship Government (24.1C) is in a White Polity, then add one to the Mutiny Roll.

• Because the mutiny roll follows the operation, a mutiny never prevents the operation from occurring.

A. POLITICAL-CORRECTNESS

A human is politically-correct if it has an election button with a color matching the politics on the Starship Government (24.1C).

• Legacy Crew are politically-correct if the politics matches their color.

• Emancipated Robots are politically-correct if the politics is in the Centrist (purple) position.

B. DISCIPLINARY RE-ROLLS

If you fail the mutiny roll, you are allowed a number of rerolls equal to the number of badges (24.5A) on its card. Any success cancels the mutiny.

C. DEMOTION

If because of mutiny, cancer, or EM-shield failure you are forced to demote a human or Bernal, you must choose one of these methods:

• Regress. If the human or Bernal is on its purple side, flip it to its unpromoted side.

• Vats. Decommission the card into your hand. In the case of humans, this removes half its stress disks (rounding up). For unemancipated robots, all the stress is removed.

• Vat-Death. Discard a human or Bernal in your hand to the bottom of the appropriate deck.

D. VATS

Cards in your hand are considered to be in the vats, i.e. in the ship's hibernation vats for human or Bernal cards, or in the ship's library if non-human. A card going into the vats preserves its orientation and age, and removes stress per 24.4C.

• Effects While Hibernating. A card in the vats is immune to accidents and radiation/aging, and all of its abilities, extra operations, on-board reactors, etc. are inactivated. It cannot be promoted.

• If a card in the vats is demoted, it dies and goes to the bottom of the deck per 24.4C.

• Going into the vats ends a card's turn. It can perform no further actions and cannot be decanted or 3D printed until next turn.

24.5 INTERSTELLAR GRAY GOO RISK

Certain operations (nano-reconfigure, suffrage, refuel) entail a risk of a laboratory escape of a reproducing machine or lifeform. If required to make a Gray Goo Roll, roll 1d6 and subtract the number of badges on all passengers who are not in vats. If the result is positive, make this many demotions (24.4), choosing from among the passengers (including Bernals and those in vats).

• If the Starship Government (24.1C) is in a Green Polity, then you do not have to roll for the gray goo risk.

A. PASSENGER BADGES

The badge icon indicates the discipline level of the passenger, useful during bail-outs, high stress, and mutinies as well as gray goo outbreaks.

• If the Starship Government (24.1C) is in the Red Polity, then add one badge to each human.

Example: A player attempts to refuel his starship using an explorer on a fuel planet. For his gray goo risk, he rolls a "6". His starship has two passengers with badges, three badges altogether, so the number of demotions is three. He applies all three demotions to a single promoted colonist, first flipping it to its unpromoted side, then sending it to the vats, then killing it off.

Science Note: The Gray Goo Problem, originally formulated in macroscopic form by John von Neumann and in nano-form by Eric Drexler, describes a doomsday scenario of out of control self-replicating robots.

24.6 STARSHIP MOVE

Burn fuel and move Starship per 24.6A and 24.6B.

A. INTERSTELLAR BURN FUEL

The first number in the starship thrust triangle (24.1E) or the beehive thrust icon (24.1F) is the starship thrust. This is the maximum number of impulses you can make each turn. The second number is your fuel consumption. This is the number of steps of fuel consumed for each impulse you take (rounding up, in the case of fractions).

• Speed Change. Each impulse advances or retards your speed disk (24.1D) one step on the Speed Track.

• Ballistic Starship. If the Starship thruster or its supports are stressed, or if all the passengers are in the vats, you cannot burn fuel and can change speed only by braking. You may still choose turns at intersections.

• Pushed Beam-Rider. A mass beam generated from Sol pushes the Beam-Rider Starship. Its thrust triangle states: "1•0 no decel", which means it can accelerate by one without expending fuel, but cannot use its thruster to decelerate (relying on brakes to stop the starship).

Note: The starship thrust and fuel consumption are not modified (i.e. are unmodified by wet mass modifiers, solar power modifiers, or thrust- or fuel consumption-modifying supports).

Example: A Daedalus thruster has a starship triangle of 7•2. Starting from a dead stop, it could expend 7 impulses, bringing it up to 2 spaces a turn (9.5% the speed of light). This costs 7 X 2 = 14 steps of fuel. On its next turns, if it does nothing, it continues to travel at 2 spaces each turn. Upon reaching its destination, at this high speed it will have trouble stopping, even with really good pilots and hull-configure architects.

B. INTERSTELLAR MOVE

The Speed Track is located in the top left corner of the map. The red speed disk on this track indicates how fast your starship travels, from a "dead stop" to 15% the speed of light. You must move it the number of spaces indicated, with no U-turns. At any intersection, choose which direction to go (but not back the way you came).

C. HALF-SPEED

If your speed disk is in a space labeled "1/2" on the Speed Track, each time your starship moves a space, lay its map figure on its side. For its next move, it stands up instead of moving one.

Example: If you start your turn at ½ speed laid down, then on the next move you must stand up instead of moving (regardless if you have speeded up, slowed down, or stayed the same speed).

Science Note. A half-speed starship travels about 1.3%c.

D. HAZARD SPACES

Entering a space marked by a red hazard skull is hazardous per 6.4E/F. However, if the hazard is a flare star, and you previously successfully explored it without busting it (for instance, you sent a wisp and rolled a 2 through 6 in the Exploration Roll), then the flare star is inactive and safe to enter. (This security comes from having explored the system and knowing its flare cycle.)

Note: You cannot use "Failure is Not an Option" to avoid Interstellar Hazards.

24.7 STARSHIP EVENT ROLL

The Starship Event Table is found on the Interstellar Map. Make a 1d6 event roll to determine first the radiation level (24.7A), and then the event (24.7B).

A. RADIATION ROW

The event roll equals the radiation level, which is applied to every card not in the vats, including thrusters, supports and passengers. However, if the ship has a promoted Bernal, all cards other than radiators are unaffected by radiation. If the loss of radiators due to radiation shuts down the supports for the Bernal, it unpromotes at the end of the turn.

• Equipment Radiation. Decommission each non-human card with a rad-hard less than the radiation level.

• Human Radiation. Place a blue disk on each human in the stack, or two blue disks if the human has a rad-hard less than the radiation level. These disks are Age Disks.

• Emancipated Robot Radiation. An emancipated robot is treated exactly as humans, except that it gets zero Age Disks (instead of one) if it has a rad-hard greater than or equal to the radiation level. It still gets two Age Disks if its rad-hard is less than the radiation level.

• Age Disks. These blue disks are called Age Disks, and they show the age of a human. Each disk = 12-years (although humans age twice as fast with radiation and not at all in the vats). Older humans are more likely to promote, make a breakthrough, or get cancer, and less likely to have accidents or children, or survive bail-outs. Note that humans age at least one blue disk each turn if not in the vats, and there is no maximum age.

• Cancer Risk. Roll 1d6 for each human, including those in the vats, but not including emancipated robots. Demote the human if the roll is less than its Age (see next bullet). All your units are immune to this risk if you have achieved a Cancer Cure Breakthrough (24.3B).

B. EVENT ROW

The event roll determines the event, according to if the ship is a starship or a beehive.

• Design Flaw (Starship only). Remove one cube (if any) and decommission one support card (radiator, generator, or reactor). The decommissioned card goes into your hand, where it can be rebuilt later with a 3D Print Operation.

• Alzheimers. Roll 1d6 for each human (both in the stack or in the vats) and demote if the result is less than the colonist's Age (24.7A).

• Meteoroid. A meteoroid decommissions the heaviest radiator card (if any).

Note: Radiator cards remain on their heavy or light side throughout the voyage.

Science Note: On a beehive, the radiators additionally represent sulfur lamps used as the energy source for the lichens.

• EM Shield Fail. If the starship includes a Bernal, demote it (24.4C). If not decommission the heaviest support card (radiator, generator, or reactor) if any.

Technical Note: The EM (electromagnetic) shields are the starship's primary defense against interstellar erosion. The secondary defense is physical shielding: layers of c-nanotube composite and aerogel. Aerogel is mostly gas, weighs next to nothing, and particles will vaporize upon contact like meteors. Some of the aerogel and C60 will vaporize also. The vaporized gaseous matter will be deflected by the protective magnetic field. Ionizing bow lasers and shield vehicles are also used.

• Accident. Demote the youngest human not in the vats with more than one stress disk. If there is more than one such card, choose one. If no card has over one stress, there is no effect.

• LIC Dust Erosion. If the starship is in the Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC, see 24.8A), it collides with a cloudlet, decommissioning the heaviest freighter, thruster, or support card.

Science Note: Several thousand years ago Sol blundered into the "Local Interstellar Cloud" (LIC), one of several nearby clouds composed of warm, low density (~0.3 atoms/cm3) dust and hydrogen blowing at us from the direction of the Scorpius and Centaurus constellations. The difficulty with this cloud is that the material is electrically neutral and thus passes undeflected through the ship's primary EM Shield. Once safely outside the LIC, the starship enters the "local bubble", where the only material is ultra-low density hot plasma (<0.001 atoms/cm3).

• Runaway Ecology (Beehive only). Roll 1d6 and subtract the number of terraform icons on passengers who are not in the vats. Demote this number of humans.

24.8 INTERSTELLAR EXPLORATION & VICTORY

A. STAR SITES AND LOCAL INTERSTELLAR CLOUDS

The ovals on the map are called spaces. A red space indicates a Star Site. The blue space indicates an Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC). To explore either one, either send a wisp (at a range up to 12 spaces per 24.3F) or come to a dead stop on its space.

• Note: A starship can return to Sol to refuel or pick up more colonists.

B. EXPLORATION TABLE ROLL

Each Star Site has a Exploration Table listed on the map. During a Wisp or Exploration Operation, roll 2d6 and place a Claim Disk of your color on the number rolled. Thus, the position of this disk indicates the planets discovered. A failure busts the entire site with a black disk.

• A gas giant is a world where S fuel isotope (e.g. helium-3) is available during a refuel operation; also drogue and scoop braking may be performed.

• A fuel planet is a world where M, V, and D fuel isotopes are available during a refuel operation (24.3E).

• A habitable planet is a world where a human migration colony can be founded. Each surviving human (including in vats) at a dead stop at a habitable planet is worth 1 VP per mass point (24.8F).

• A living planet means that the habitable planet is alive with ET lifeforms, which doubles your colonizing VP (24.8B).

Note: As indicated by the brackets, some rolls indicate multiple planets are found.

Example: A "3" is rolled while exploring Tau Ceti, so a Claim Disk at "2 - 3" is placed. As indicated by the bracket, a living planet, a habitable planet, a gas giant, and a fuel planet have been discovered.

C. EXPLORING LIC

Exploring in the LIC (24.8) is successful if a "2", "3", or "4" is rolled on 2 die (2d6), indicating a fuel planet (24.8B) is found (among the Oort and Nomad Bodies in the Local Interstellar Cloud). If successful, leave a claim disk on top of the LIC Site. A failure busts the site with a black disk.

D. BAIL-OUT

If the starship is dead-stopped at a world, or destroyed while drogue-braking or scoop-braking, the passenger may opt to bail-out. (This simulates parachuting in high-gee liquid-immersion crash suits.) A passenger may bail-out to avoid demotion from mutiny (but not accidents). If the starship has no Explorers, then a bail-out is the only option to start a colony.

• Risk. If a passenger bails-out, roll 1d6, where a "6" saves the passenger, and all other results kill him. Each passenger is allowed a number of re-rolls for success equal to the number of his badges (24.5A) minus his Age (24.7A).

• Exploration. If the passenger survives a bail-out into an unexplored system, make an Exploration Roll per 24.8B.

E. ENDING THE GAME

If you are dead-stopped at a Habitable or Living Planet, you may optionally perform a bio-engineering operation (24.3G) with each of your Terraformers, then count VP. (The new Colonists created this way represent the first generation born on the New World.)

• The game also ends if you fly off the map, or cannot move any further.

F. INTERSTELLAR VICTORY CONDITIONS

You receive Victory Points (VP) for each Claim Disk (24.8B), plus one VP for each human mass point landing on a habitable planet. Note that robots do not count unless emancipated. Double your score if on a living planet.

• 0-7 VP = Major loss discouraging future attempts, leading to near-term human extinction.

• 8-15 VP = Loss. Negative growth leading to eventual extinction.

• 16-31 VP = Flat. Colony birth rate equal to colony death rate.

• 32-63 VP = Linear Victory with constant growth of human populations.

• 64+ VP = Exponential victory with an unstoppable human presence in the galaxy.

24.9 INTERSTELLAR EXAMPLE MISSIONS

A. UNMANNED SEED STARSHIP

Engine: Antimatter sail; Fuel: 1 decatank; Passengers: Neogens; Dry mass: 1. RadHard is 6, so take the Jupiter flyby exit, as radiation's not a problem. Mission profile: Accelerate 1 step to speed 1; start decelerating before your destination (because the antimatter sail does not have the thrust required to decelerate 4-steps at the destination); use Terraformer Op to draw a Colonist Card, representing breeding people from gametes or even digitally-stored DNA info. (Insert any squeaky imagery you wish about neogens using various sorts of artificial wombs and raising children.)

• Complications: Most events don't have an effect, so you hope to avoid rolling a Dust Erosion. With no way to reduce stress, it's a one-shot launch - if Dust breaks the engine, or there's no good planet at the destination, the whole expedition fails.

• Diaspora Variant. You are in competition with a non-player-controlled faction who has used his 30 WT to build 10 of the seedships described. On turn one all 10 embark to the 10 closest star systems, each moving one space per turn and rolling for dust knocking it out. When they arrive, they Terraform Op their own humans into existence, denying the player the use of that system (and those colonists from the draw deck). You win if you score higher than your NPC opponent.

B. NASA Mission #4 Starship Configuration with Bernal

(The first three missions failed.)

Starting TW thruster: Colliding FRC 3He-D Fusion (2-½) Supported by Z-Pinch D-T/6/Li Fusion Freighter and crew/radiator.

Starting Crew: Alert: NASA, Juiced Cosmonauts, Svalbard Caretakers, Babbage Halbonauts

In Vats: Heavy Water Survivalists, Siren Cybernautics, Vatican Observers, Malcolm, Islamic Refugees, Rock Rats Miner's Union, Squid Turings

Mass: 27 dry mass with 6 steps of fuel.

Starting Governance: Central. Ending Governance: Libertarian.

Starting Trajectory: Departure via Sol Oort cloud… except a freighter/reactor failure resulted in a dead start.

Mission Highlights:

Year 24 (2): A cure for cancers is discovered; Bernal is promoted, and Parenting operations birthing little baby Botany bay convicts and Microgravity Pantropists onto the star ship.

Year 36 (3): Renaissance Man's attempt to promote smart pets fails and causes a mutiny during a time of anarchy. Five vatted crew were unceremoniously flushed out of the airlock in the ensuing "smart pet" riots, and another five forcible hibernated, leaving a (demoted) Malcolm alone on the bridge with a few robots. Three Exploration Wisps to Barnard's star, Alpha Centauri, and Wise 1049-5319 discovered nothing but fuel planets of an incompatible fuel. And Proxima Centauri is completely busted in the attempt to find a new home world. Shortly afterwards human procreation is halted by an EM shield failure which demotes the Bernal.

Year 72 (6) Several passengers succomb to Alzheimers, including the NASA crew, but they had been largely uninvolved in the mission. Somewhere around this turn, Protium Fusion was discovered.

Year 108 (9) Another wisp mission discovers that Epsilon Eridani is the first gas giant that would be capable of refueling the S Thruster. But still no planet capable of sustaining life. At this point 2 nano-cubes have been manufactured. The captain, finally realizing the triple importance of a promoted Bernal, Creeper Neogen, Babbage Halbonot for radiation protection, attempts to protect those abilities. Another Alzheimers event demoted some humans but had surprisingly little impact. By this point the ship was moving at 10.5% c.

Year: 131 (11): Wisps to Tau Ceti and yz Ceti are disappointing. Compounded by another mutiny flushing the Svalbard Caretakers. At this point the robots continue to run the ship successfully, repairing a few systems and doing a repair radiator action. As the ship turns left toward galactic north and Sirius, the robots step on the gas… with 3He fuel, accelerating to 12% c.

Year 144 (12) The ship has become largely automated. The crew has aged and only a few younglings have been born (colonist deck was empty). Typically human centenarians are decanted by neogen creepers, perform a few actions, and retire to the vats on the same turn. The crew elects emancipation for the robots who have served so long and faithfully. And in return, they discover a survivable planet at Sirius.

Year 156 (13): The ship has stockpiled 6-cubes and is at its maximum speed of 15% c. But then a design flaw takes out a cube and a spare radiator.

Year 168 (14): Robots make a few minor repairs, and the Wet Nano Ecologists throw a party to reduce stress. A bit of alcohol into the IV tubes allows everyone in the vats to celebrate as well. Then they go back to sleep leaving the two youngest humans out playing with the 4 robots.

Year 180 (15): In a dramatic finish, a few security officials are decanted to help oversee the braking maneuvers to stop at Sirius. First the Neumann Turings do a Mag-Sail brake, slowing the starship from 15% c to 9.5% c. Then Heavy Water Survivalists oversee 5 Nano Reconfigure Hull operations (sending them to the vats). These impulses reduce the starship speed to less than 4% c (½ #2). Sufficient security crew is on alert to completely mitigate the grey goo risk. A final burn brings the ship to a dead halt, all in one 12-year turn.

Major Victory - The colonists (both human and robot) landed a mass of 32 at a habitable planet on Sirius.

Ending Score = 32 colonist/robotic mass + 6 claims = 38 VP.

24.10 INTERSTELLAR STRATEGY & ADVICE

There are many ways to tackle the interstellar game. Here are general guidelines independent of configuration:

Any starship thruster can get you through the game, consider it part of the challenge. I recommend just taking the top card and obtaining its supports (assuming it's just a single card or two). The Beehive start will allow you to choose between two thrusters. Otherwise it's not worth the WT to fish for a specific thruster. As a house-rule you can try choosing a specific thruster (this adds to the replayability of the game).

If a thruster requires many supports (more than 2) you can get by merely drawing one or two of them and then depend on scientists and the Eureka Operation to draw the remaining supports. Remember the ship begins ballistic, so as long as it has speed it will keep moving even if the thruster doesn't work yet.

It's imperative that you include more than one crew member in your starship, because there will be times crew need to be placed in vats and you need a second crew to get them out (self-decanting is dangerous). This means some combination of scientist and/or terraformer abilities distributed among more than one crew member.

During your idea turns it's more fruitful to spend the majority of your WT rifling through the colonist deck. Good crew composition is your number one priority, even if you don't end up taking all the colonists with you. Consider the colonists you draw a pool of candidates you are evaluating to take with you.

If you don't have a scientist along, you will need to have all the robonauts and supports you think you will need for your entire trip in your hand. Don't waste scarce WT loading them into your ship. You can 3D Print them into your starship later (assuming you take an engineer with you, which you absolutely must!)

Fret over your crew, but not their political affiliations. While having them all of the same polity can make it easier to maintain a space government, it makes it more difficult to manage stress since one advantage of mutinies is that the crew will go into the vats and remove half its stress rounded up (unlike going into vats which requires an operation, and only removes half the stress rounded down).

Don't fret over fuel too much. There will be opportunities to refuel, plus alternatives to increase/decrease your speed without burning fuel (e.g. protium breakthrough, pilots).

Do not consider a voyage without a raygun robonaut or Colonist able to send Exploration Wisps. The ability to explore at a distance ensures you don't make fruitless stops and risky braking at a site with no habitable planets or fuel.

Profiles. As you assemble your stack and examine your options you can boil it down to three basic profiles: A lightweight starship with no bernal and some crew, a heavy starship that includes the bernal and a various crew specialties and a beehive ark that breeds future generations and grows as it moves to its destination. Each poses its own challenges but it's part of the game to discover how to overcome them.

• No-Bernal Profile. This gives you a full 35 WT to go through the decks. This can allow you to be fairly selective with crew, cards and supports. The big takeaway is that you won't be able to promote passengers. Usually promoted passengers have more abilities and higher rad-hardness which is convenient and useful but not indispensable.

• Bernal Profile. This reduces your budget to 25 WT, so with a bernal configuration crew composition becomes even more important. If you can include a scientist you can always eureka any non-crew cards you will require later on. Aside from crew promotion Bernals increase rad-hardness of every card which can significantly reduce vulnerability to the radiation rolls you will go through for the duration of your voyage (saving you many operations in the process). If you do include a scientist, a promoted Bernal can make protium research easier.

• Beehive Ark Profile. Your budget is reduced to 18 WT which can seem a terrible constraint, since you will have to spend 1 WT to get the thruster another to put it in the starship and spend 1 more to include the Bernal. Leaving you with just 15 WT to get the rest of the cards you need. However, consider that the beehive can draw Colonist cards, which makes crew composition less critical, obviously you absolutely need at least one crew with terraformer abilities (preferably 2), but you can GROW your population in a beehive. As such you can slowly gather the abilities and cards required for the voyage. Also consider you will start with a full complement of fuel tanks.

The above tips refer primarily to the quick-start interstellar options of the game. Note that if you decide to play interstellar as part of a continuation or epilogue of a High Frontier Colonization game your options will be constrained to whatever crew, thrusters and supports you managed to obtain during your regular game. As such, unless you make really long term plans, you might not have an ideal starship configuration.

Suggested Crew Rotation:

• Setup: Get a scientist, an engineer and security crew (with shields). Pick a starting government partnering with the crew most likely to riot.

• Early game: Implement a promoted bernal, robots that protect from radiation damage, and repair systems. Discover a cure for cancer as soon as possible... and keep moving.

• Mid Game: Multiply your passengers to relieve stress, complete expanded operations and find habitable planets.

• Late Game: Braking crew to stop at a habitable planet and colonize.