1 Main Guns:  Massive weapons that fire a variety of
1 electromagnetic beams.  Usually mounted in armored
1 turrets that can cover a near 360 arc.  These take
1 few minutes or so to recharge their capacitors when
1 fired. The most common beam fired is the laser beam
1 or one of two derivation scalled either Disruptors
1 or Phasers.  Phasers packing more distructive over-
1 all force, but disruptors tend to produce slightly
1+more structural damage in ships and bases.
2 Proton Torpedoes:  When fired through high energy
2 particle wave packet guides these assume the
2 appearance of a ball of light. While moving at 99%
2 the speed of light these are less accurate than the
2 disruptors or phasers but more powerful. The proton
2 packet disperses somewhat with distance but may do
2+some damage with a grazing hit.
3 Missiles:  Self guided short ranged vehicle armed
3 with a thermo-nuclear warhead.  These must overcome
3 with stealth, electronic countermeasures, and anti-
3 missile system (ams) gattling cannons before they
3 can deal a hit on the target.  Special appliqu add
3 on racks contain a two-shot missle salvo of multi-
3 megaton warheads can give even a small ship a very
3+powerful punch.
4 Tac-Craft: Small one or two-man, highly maneuver-
4 able, short ranged tactical craft. These have no
4 shields and minimal armor. Each squadron consists of
4 6 tac-craft.  One carrier hanger factor can accommo-
4 date a single squadron. When undertaking a mission
4 the whole tac-craft force of a single ship is sent.
4 Fighter: Most common type of tac-craft.  Their
4 mission is to attack capital ships.  Weaponary
4 varies from ship type to ship type and from race to
4 race.  The particular 'tac-armaments' are abstracted
4 into a single attack factor at this level.  Fighters
4 must approach within anti-missile systems (ams)
4 gattling cannon range to assure hits. Sometimes this
4 causes frightful loses to the squadrons.  They must
4 also fight their way through any interceptor screen
4 in their way.
4 Interceptors:  Both the interceptor and interdictors
4 are anti-fighter tac-craft. These patrol a region of
4 space looking for enemy fighters.  They are usually
4 the equal of 3 enemy fighters in a dog fight. They
4 are deployed as a Deployment option and remain on
4+patrol until they are recalled, destroyed or damaged
5 Boarding Attacks:  Troops can attempt to board enemy
5 ships that have no shields.  The strongest force is
5 automatically sent.  This force does not contain any
5 crew or security.  Boarding forces are first subject
5 of anti-missile defense fire. Next they must breach
5 the armor of the target ship.  The chance to do this
5 is porportional to the armor value. Armor of 7 or
5 higher is impossible to breach. Those that do manage
5 to get through engage enemy shipboard forces in a
5 brief and deadly fight.If the defenders are defeated
5 the defending crew may decide to fight or surrender.
5 If all personel on board are defeated the remaining
5 boarding party seize all special weapons and devices
5 and remove them to the attacking players recovery
5 ships.  There is room for a single captured item on
5 each carrier as well as one item per empty bay on
5 each freighter.
5 Boarding parties also set demolition charges to
5 destroy as much of the invaded ship as they can.
5 Capturing ships is near impossible since all are
5 equipped with scuttle devices that self destruct if
5 unauthorized personal try to command it.
5 Remaining boarding forces return immediately to
5 their home ship and will be ready for next turn.
5 Troops are assigned to ships in platoon strength.
5 Each platoon consists of 3 squads of 10-12 troops.
5 A single bay can accommodate 3 squads. In addition
5 every ship contains security spaces that can
5+ accommodate 2 squads/sections of security troops.
6 Probes:  While the tactical long range scans can
6 give some information on the disposition of enemy
6 ships probes are useful in determining exactly
6 which systems are functioning on a particular ship.
6 The probes life span in an area containing a enemy
6 ship often in only a few seconds.  However, in that
6+time it can scan and report a wealth of data.
