Hello again folks! We’re back today to talk about the core concepts behind Star Navy – our newly announced astronaval strategy game!
Star Navy is a game of space combat where you must manage your Ships positions, power, and communications effectively to defeat your opponent. The game is played in a series of turns, made up of 3 phases:
- Prepare Phase
- Impulse Phase
- End Phase
During each phase, all players take turns at each step of the phase. To get an idea of how it all fits together, let’s do a quick walkthrough:
Prepare Phase
The Prepare Phase is when players gain resources, launch missiles or small craft, and set their ship’s capabilities for the turn.
Star Navy has 2 Resources:
- Command Points are generated by special Command vessels with powerful communications systems. They are used for special fleet abilities or emergency situations.
- Energy Points are generated by each Ship, and each Ship only has access to its own Energy Points. Ships use Energy Points to fire heavy weapons or trigger special abilities.
After generating resources, players set their ship’s speed for the turn and choose if they want to bolster defenses at certain angles. These choices affect a ship’s Energy as well, with speed being the only way to gain energy.
Next, players use any Launcher systems their ships have, from explosive drone missile bays to hangars carrying heavy fighters. Finally, at the end of the phase, players may activate abilities that will affect the rest of the turn, these are Type A abilities. Then it’s on to the action of…
The Impulse Phase
The Impulse Phase is where the bulk of the game takes place. During the Impulse Phase, you play through 6 individual “Impulses”. During each Impulse, players take turns performing each of the following:
- Activate any Type B Abilities. These abilities generally only affect the Impulse they are used in.
- Move Ordnance tokens (small craft and missiles)
- Move All Ships
- Fire any number of weapons (must have a viable target)
- Remove any ships that are Destroyed
We’ll go into detail on movement and attacks in a later article, but it’s important to note that after a weapon fires, it is Drained and cannot fire again during the same turn. For this reason, there are times when you may be able to Fire a weapon, but the wise choice is to hold fire until a later Impulse when you are in a better position. Choosing the right moment to attack could be game-changing!
After you have completed 6 Impulses, it’s time to move on to…
The End Phase
The End Phase is the breather at the end of the turn, when ships repair and rearm. First, any Drained weapons are returned to normal, ready to fire shrub next turn. Then, ships can attempt repairs of damaged sections or Disabled weapons. Then, ships lose any remaining energy (the subspace drives that run them can only maintain a certain level of charge safely). Since you can’t carry them over, be sure to use your Energy Points before the End Phase so they don’t go to waste!
Lastly, any Scenario Effects take place. This depends on the scenario, but ranges from scoring Victory Points to triggering special events such as Solar Flares!
The Rest of the Game
Most games have a Turn Limit, after which the game ends. This ranges from 3 to 6 turns, but most scenarios are 4 to 5.
By positioning your Ships well, attacking at the right time, and using your Energy and Command wisely, you can command your fleet to victory!
Well that does it for today folks! What’s on the menu for tomorrow’s preview? We’ll give you a hint: you’ve seen them in one form already, tomorrow we’ll see what makes them tick…
Until next time!