This Week: Order Management
One of the design goals of Sovereign Wars was to create a space combat game that involved a degree of resource management used in such a way that it was simple but yet provided many options for the players. In Sovereign Wars orders are what allow a ship or group of ships to move,shoot, react as well as perform other special actions. Each ship begins a turn with a set number of orders these orders are placed next to the unit, either by using dice or tokens. This simple action allows both players to see all the orders that are are available to each side allowing them to plan their actions. As the turn progresses each unit uses its orders to act and react eventually a ship uses up all of it orders in other games the unit would be finished until the end of the turn in Sovereign Wars that is not the case. This is where a player's Command ship or ships come into play. Command ships have a greater number or orders which allows them to be able to as an action allocate those order to other ships that are within its command range. The only limit to this action is that no ship or group of ships may have more orders than their orders value at a given time. The other rule that make this work is that we allow players to activate any ship or unit on the table as long as it has orders, Sovereign Wars also does not limit the number of time an action can be performed. Here is an example.
Jon is playing his Bardox fleet against Tim's Desnki. During his turn Jon activates a group of fighters and moves them two combat moves which uses both of the units orders. Tim then activates and sends his own fighter group after Jon's using one order to move and then one order to fire the groups weapons Tim's fighters destroy only one of Jon's fighters. It's now Jon's activation and he activates his Command Cruiser he immediately performs two transfer actions and sends two orders to the fighter group. This leaves the Command Cruiser with three orders left, Jon can use these orders to perform any other actions including transferring orders to other units. He chooses to end the Command Cruiser's activation allowing the Command Cruiser to be reactivated later or to reactive to any incoming fire. Its now Tim's activation and he chooses to send a Cruiser over to help out his fighters. Tim uses one order to move the cruiser closer and then another to fire at Jon's fighters. Since the fighters have orders now Jon decides to react by returning fire using one of the fighter group's orders.
As you can see Sovereign Wars order system provides for a very dynamic game that is constantly changing providing another subtle layer to your typical space combat game.
Designer's Tip: The order management system in Sovereign Wars can take a bit to wrap your head around specially when most players are use to a more rigid system of activating a unit once in a turn. The biggest tip I can give is to find a way to keep track on your orders on the table that works for you. I prefer to use glass beads that are easy to use fairly inexpensive to get and they standout among a table full of miniatures. Keeping track of orders and making sure you use your orders wisely are one of the major keys to victory. I would also recommend that you protect your Command Ships with everything you have because once they are gone a severe gap in orders can occur that is hard to recover from.
Coming up Next on This Week in Sovereign Wars: Ship Sub-Systems
Until Next Week
