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Triplanetary
Last Stand of the Flat Earth
A single-player scenario
The advent of mass interplanetary tourism was a critical time for
the flat-earth society. The flux of ordinary (if wealthy) citizens
returning with tales of seeing a spherical earth could only mean that
the Consipiracy was no longer confined to the elites, but that the elites
were intent on total supression of the truth.
Convinced that the so-called "spaceports" in fact launched loads of
paying fools to nearby brain-washing centres, flat-earth extremists
infiltrated Terra's main launch centres, hijacked several liners and
transports on their pads, and ordered the ships to launch at gunpoint.
Ships: Place a liner or transport in each orbit hex above Terra
(a total of 6). These ships start at rest with a full load of fuel. Place
a fully-fueled tanker (the initial rescue ship) on Luna.
Special Rules: A turn order should be established for each of
the 6 hijacked ships, with the rescue ship acting last. The flat-earth
hijackers have a limited understanding of basic rocketry, but upon
finding themselves freely falling back towards Terra are suddenly strongly
motivated to learn. For each ship, roll 1 die to determine the direction
in which the ship will accelerate. On each subsequent turn roll 1 die:
on a 6 the ship again accelerates in a random direction.
The goal of the rescue ship(s) is to rescue the crews of as many of the
hijacked ships as possible. If a rescue ship can match course and position
with a hijacked ship it may perform a rescue in the resupply phase. Fuel
may be transferred (in either direction), and the hijacked ship then
becomes an additional rescue ship under the control of the player.
Victory: The player may gauge a measure of success by counting
the total number of rescued ships versus those that crash or leave
the map.
Hints: Due to the crowded traffic around Terra, it is best
to track ship fuel on notepaper rather than track it by marking the
map. Similarly, ships in orbit can be track by recording their orbital
direction (clockwise or counterclockwise) rather than marking trajectories
on the map.
Variants: The initial rescue ship can be varied.