by Ivan Sorensen
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Welcome to the second transmission into Unified Space.
In these transmissions you will find snippets of data, current events and psionic overflow usable in your games of Five Parsecs From Home.
You'll find some encounters below to add to your games. Each encounter can occur once in a given campaign.
The cost of warfare and colonization
Colonists and military forces both require extensive support after being deployed on a world, making large-scale deployments prohibitively expensive. While the major galactic powers can, and have, mounted system-wide or even sector-wide campaigns, this is a substantial expenditure of resources. In most cases, things happen on a much smaller scale.
Many military campaigns are fought with little more than a battalion or two on each side, due to the prohibitive costs involved. Smaller forces are also less likely to get other parties involved in the conflict. Substantial damage to a resource-extraction facility could cause a cascade effect throughout multiple economies and nobody wants a battalion of angry K’Erin marines to show up on their doorsteps in the middle of a military expedition.
Old, well-established colonies in suitable climate conditions can of course grow very quickly and can maintain substantial defensive forces. This means that hostile acquisitions are best done against settlements in the early stages of colonization
Did you know?
Due to the complexity of Unity legal codes, almost every citizen is in violation of something. Legal analysis systems assess a compliance level for suspects, based on the number of laws estimated to be broken and the severity of any such conduct.
ENCOUNTER: K’Erin weapons testing
A well known supplier of Ripper Swords will pay for field-testing of a new model, aimed at the gladiatorial entertainment circuit.
Arm any number of your crew with Ripper Swords and attempt to destroy 10 enemies in Brawling combat, including at least 3 different species.
Upon completion, earn 1D6 Credits, 1 Story Point and keep 2 of the swords.
ENCOUNTER: Intense fighting erupts
The world of Tordenskjold III has erupted into open conflict as two mega-corporations fight for control of the resource-rich environment.
Any crew visiting may take up to 3 Patron jobs for one of the corps before hostilities cease. Each job pays +2 Credits and has the Veteran Opposition Hazard and the Health Insurance Benefit.
All encounters are against Unknown Mercs. Add +2 to all enemy squad sizes. One basic enemy replaces their weapon with an Auto-Rifle.
ENCOUNTER: Strange ship
A silent ship is drifting through space, emitting no signals. It could be good salvage.
You must make a starship travel roll to intercept the ship. The battle should be fought on interior floor plans.
Roll on the Roving Threats encounter table to see what infests the ship. At the end of each game turn, roll 1D6: On a roll below the turn number just played the ship has entered orbit. After 3 additional turns, it will de-orbit. Any character still on board must roll on the post-battle injury table and has a random carried item become damaged.
At the center of the table, place a crate. Searching this grants 2 Rumors and a Loot roll.
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