INTRODUCTION

Origins

There were two campaigns of Merchant Raider II in 2002, and one of Merchant Raider III in 2003.

After extensive revision, the Raider IV campaign took place in late 2006. We played Raider 4.1 in early 2007, Raider 4.2 in early 2008 and Raider 4.3 in late 2009.

Raider 4.4

The rules of Raider 4.4 are the same as Raider 4.3 except:

You get to design all of your starting ships.

Victory

Victory points are awarded to players as follows:

1 point for every island visited.
1 point for every ship you have sunk. (No points for captures)

The game ends after turn 10.

Kudos to:

The player with the most victory points.
The player with the most visits.
The player with the most kills.
The owner of the ship with the most kills.
The player with the second most victory points.
The player with the most ships.

Communication

Players are encouraged to coordinate their activities by email, and urged to keep me informed of their plotting. (I like a laugh, and it never hurts to keep the Gamesmaster in a good mood.) Public proclamations like insults, challenges and manifestoes are very much a part of the game.

STARTING

Each player starts with 6 ships of his own design.

When you register, please specify:

Names and structures for your six ships
The name of the island you'd like to start at. (See the sample board.) You will own this island for the whole game.

You may not start at an island that produces engines.

GAME ELEMENTS

Feudalism

At all times, every player has exactly one overlord, who is himself or some other player. If Peter is Paul's overlord, then Paul is Peter's vassal. A player may have any number of vassals.

Ally

Two players are allies if:

They are the same player
One is the overlord of the other, or
They share the same overlord

Enemy

Two players are enemies if they are not allies.

Launch Rights

A player has launch rights at an island if

he owns it, or
it belongs to one of his vassals and he has visited it.

On a player's map, news and command panels, islands where he has launch rights have names like this. Other islands have names like this.

Hex

Hexes are large areas of sea that may or may not contain an island. All movement is between island hexes and all combat is within them. The map shows which hexes are adjacent and how far apart non-adjacent hexes are. Each island is identified by a name.

The non-island hexes are only for decoration. They have no effect on the game.

Module

A module is a component of a ship. Each type of module is identified by a single character.

Island

Each island may be owned by at most one player.

On the other hand, a player can gain some effective control over an island's resources by stationing a fleet there. Also, when a player has visited an island he gets extra information about that island for the rest of the game.

Islands have modules. These are known as island stores. A player can use modules from any island he occupies but build new only on islands where he has launch rights. Islands produce modules every turn, and each island has a speciality.

To prevent cluttering the map, each island shows only the three most numerous module types it has. Full details of island stores are shown in the news.

Ship

Each ship has a string of module codes describing her structure. A ship from 5 to 10 modules. Each ship is identified by a name of up to 10 letters. At any time, each ship has exactly one owner and is located in exactly one island hex.

A ship is sunk (destroyed) as soon as she has more ruptures than buoyancy modules, or she has fewer than 5 sound modules.

At gun range, Admiral Prior spotted two ships (Gidra and Navilkos) just outside the harbour. “Open fire,” he barked. The noise was deafening. His eight ships had 29 guns between them, probably the world’s heaviest battery. “We should win in the opening salvo,” he gloated, noting that none of Andrew’s ships had fired a shot.

But when the smoke cleared, Kent was astounded to find both targets still afloat! Admiral Earl’s armoured decoys had done their work. Prior’s huge bombardment was all for naught. “Close to torpedo range,” he snarled, as four more Earl ships emerged from the harbour.

Now it was Andrew’s turn to gloat. “My torpedoes will arrive first,” he rasped. Chous-rave and Nokool launched four each, sinking Shale and Bearclaw, and damaging Volen and Skyfire. But now Prior’s Phoenix and Eden steamed into view, and launched their own torpedoes. Andrew’s ships had no partitions below the waterline, and all six were sunk in quick succession. Cutter and Skywise were busy all afternoon plucking wounded sailors from the oily water.

For Admiral Earl it was a disaster. The pride of his navy was at the bottom of the sea, and his only shipyard rang to the cheers of a triumphant enemy.

INFORMATION

Common Knowledge

The name, location and speciality of each island are common knowledge, as is the number of ships at each island.

The ownership of an island is know only to those players who have visited it.

Map

The map shows the layout of the islands and further details of islands you have visited.

For every island you have ever visited, you always know the name, owner and structure of every ship in port, who owns the island and also what island stores are available.

NOTE: It is not enough to send a ship to the island hex. It has to survive the combat phase and dock properly.

The more islands you visit, the more you know ("knowledge leads to victory"), besides scoring a victory point for each island.

News

The name, owner and location of each ship sunk (and the ship that sank her) are listed in the news.

For islands you have visited, you will get news of local attacks and all ships present.

You will also get a full list of available modules.

Leader Board

The turnsheet also includes a table showing the victory points etc of each player. This lets you see who is winning.

Details of your allies are shown with a green background, enemies on a yellow background.

MODULES

Every ship is composed of from 5 to 10 modules, which determine the ship's capabilities.

(Rupture)

During combat, a healthy module may be ruptured, ie replaced with a rupture module. The ship therefore loses some of her capabilities, but even worse, ruptured modules fill with water. The ship will sink unless she has at least as many buoyancy modules as ruptures. Ruptured modules cannot be repaired, but they are jettisoned automatically when the ship docks at an island. For this reason, ruptures never appear on the turnsheet. But their effect is very real!

Armour

Each armour module allows a ship to deflect two shells per turn. So if a two-armour ship receives five shells in one turn, only one of them gets through. Not effective against torpedoes!

Buoyancy

Buoyancy modules allow a ship to survive ruptures caused by torpedoes or gunfire.

Engine

The speed of a ship is determined by how many engines she has. In a turn, a ship can travel half as many hexes as she has engines, rounded up. So a one-engine ship can travel one hex a turn, but it takes three engines to travel two hexes per turn and five to travel three, etc.

Gun

Each gun can fire one shell per turn. The target ship can deflect two shells per turn for each armour module she has. After that, each shell ruptures one sound module chosen at random in the target ship.

Marine

A ship with marines will use them to board a weaker enemy vessel (one with fewer marines) and take her over.

Priority

Priority modules move the ship to the front of the queue for firing guns, launching torpedoes and island tasks.

Stealth

Stealth allows a ship to avoid being attacked. When another ship must choose between several possible targets (to shoot, torpedo or board), she will always choose one with the fewest stealth modules. This can be a decisive advantage in three-sided battles, as your two enemies won't notice you and will fire at each other instead. And even in duels, it influences which ships you will lose and which will survive.

Tube

Each tube can fire one torpedo per turn. Each torpedo ruptures one sound module chosen at random in the target ship. Armour has no effect against torpedoes.

COMMANDS

The war had not gone well for Admiral Barr since he slipped away from his base at Agnes on turn three. True, he had saved his fleet, but he had been forced to acknowledge Zane Prior as his overlord. He watched helplessly as his only shipyard was plundered by his foes. Later, the diplomatic position turned against him. Zane was still his overlord, but Rick Westera was no longer his covassal, so any contact with Rick’s ships must lead to a battle. And battle there was, at Agnes on turn seven.

Shane’s fleet consisted of four immobile, unarmed, pint-sized decoys and a single torpedo boat (SB-Bastard). Rick had ten ships at Agnes, armoured and armed with both guns and torpedoes. As usual, the gunfire was ineffective. Shane gained the initiative in the torpedo battle, and sank four ships before succumbing to overwhelming force.

Tactically it was a draw, with both sides losing similar numbers of ships. Considering the state of Shane’s fleet, he could be pleased with this result.

Strategically, it was a different story. Rick had scored decisive victory. His navy was still the biggest in the world, and he had even captured one of Shane’s ships at Pearl. Shane was reduced to two ships. With two implacable foes, his war must surely be over.

There are four types of command: MOVE, DISBAND, REFIT and LAUNCH:

Move (destination)	The ship goes to the given destination hex.
Disband (destination, X)	The ship goes to the given destination hex and is broken up, adding her modules to island stores.
Refit (destination, structure)	The ship goes to the given destination hex and refits herself to the given structure by dropping and adding modules.
Launch (destination, structure, name)	The ship goes to the given destination hex and launches a new ship with the given structure and name.

You don't have to enter the command type yourself because the computer can work it out:

If you type an X as the structure, the computer knows you want to disband the ship.
If the structure is empty, the computer knows you want to move the ship without any building.
If you type in a structure and a name, the computer knows you are launching a new ship.
If you type in a structure but no name, the computer knows you want a refit.

For refits and launches, the structure must have at least 5 modules and at most 10.

You always choose the destination from a picklist (which is restricted to the islands the ship can reach), but you have to type in the structure and name, if applicable.

Structure Specs

The syntax for specifying structure codes is very flexible. Repeats can be shown by a digit prefix, and the wildcard "?" is permitted. Examples:

Code	Meaning
ABBBEEEGGS	Build with one armour, three buoyancy, three engine, two guns and one stealth.
A3B3EGGS	Same as above.
EEEGGG????	Build with three engines, three guns and four modules chosen at random from remaining island stores.
3E3G4?	Same as above.

At the bottom of the command panel there is a picklist for you to choose your next overlord.

TURN SEQUENCE

Movement

All ships move to their destination hexes, if possible, as given by their destination parameters.

NOTE: The map does not wrap around, nor can a ship sail into empty (non-island) hexes. So a ship with only one engine will be confined to a single island group.

For each island, resolve combat:

Armour	Each ship gets two protection points (valid against gunfire only) for each armour module she has.
Gunfire	All ships fire their guns, one ship at a time. Ships with most priority modules fire first. Each ship fires all her guns before the next ship begins. Each gun fires only once, and each gun picks a ship at random from eligible targets. A ship might be sunk or damaged by enemy guns before she get a chance to fire her own. An enemy ship is an eligible target for gunfire if she is in the same hex and there is no less stealthy target available. If the target ship has protection points left, she loses one protection point and that is all. Otherwise, the target ship suffers one module ruptured, chosen at random from her remaining un-ruptured modules.
Torpedoes	All surviving ships launch their torpedoes, one ship at a time. Ships with most priority modules launch first. Each ship launches all her torpedoes before the next ship begins. Each tube fires only once, and each tube picks a ship at random from eligible targets. A ship might be sunk or damaged by enemy torpedoes before she gets a chance to launch her own. An enemy ship is an eligible target for torpedoes if she is in the same hex and there is no less stealthy target available. The target ship suffers one module ruptured, chosen at random from her remaining un-ruptured modules.
Boarding	Each surviving ship uses her marines to board a single enemy ship. A ship may be boarded more than once in a battle. Ships with most marines board last and are therefore most likely to remain in possession. Curiously, this means that no ship can ever be boarded before she has made her own boarding attack. An enemy ship is an eligible target for boarding if she is in the same hex, has fewer marines, and there is no less stealthy target available. No change occurs in the structure of either ship, but the target is transferred to the owner of the attacking ship. This scores no victory points, but you could capture the ship with most kills and win some kudos that way. When a ship is boarded, her original orders (eg disband, launch or refit) are cancelled.

For each island, execute island tasks:

Visit	All surviving ships dock and score the island as "visited".
Drop Ruptures	All ships drop their ruptured modules.
Disband	All ships with the DISBAND command do it now. The ship is broken down into component modules, which are put into island stores. The ship ceases to exist.
Refit	All ships with the REFIT command do it now. Ships with most priority modules go first. The ship is broken down into component modules, which are put into island stores. Then the ship is completely rebuilt using the specified modules from island stores. If there are not enough of the right kind of modules to create the full structure, or if the new structure has fewer than 5 modules or more than 10, the refit will not take place at all. (The ship remains unchanged.)
Launch	All ships with the LAUNCH command do it now. Ships with most priority modules go first. If the required modules are not available, the launch does not happen. The player must have launch rights at the island. Otherwise the launch will not take place. A new ship is launched with the name and structure given in the command. The modules are taken from island stores. If there are not enough modules of the right type to create the full structure, or if the new structure has fewer than 5 modules or more than 10, the launch will not take place.
Production	Specialist Production If there are fewer than 20 speciality modules in stock, the island produces 8 of these for island stores. General Production Otherwise, the island produces 5 modules at random.
Change Overlords	Changes of overlord (and hence alliances) take effect.

PLAYER QUESTIONS

Question	Answer
If someone chooses me to be their overlord, there's nothing I can do about it, correct?	Correct.
So if everyone vassalled to Shane, he'd never sink a single ship!	Right again.
Since you can only build new ships at your home base, you have to use ships to freight modules around. Ships have to be 10 modules to be built, so in effect you will be dumping modules to grab the new ones. So every imported module comes at the cost of an exported module, and your supply of modules can never increase.	This time you're wrong. Ships do not have to be 10 modules. If departing ships have 5 modules each and arriving ships have 10, you'll soon accumulate a huge surplus at your base.
Starting ships - the two customised ships are obviously limited to ten components? I presume there is no restriction as to the types of components?	Yes, there is no restriction.
Please confirm: First, all my ships do the refit, and left over pieces end up in island stores. Then my new builds go ahead. Hence I can always be guaranteed to have necessary bits there to do the builds. (Provided noone else is on the island, and I haven't made a mistake, of course).	Yes. But swapping modules between refitted ships is not a good idea. It is almost impossible to ensure your ships will be refitted in the desired order.
Can a ship with no engines board another ship?	Yes. I know it sounds silly. Presumably boarding happens just as the ships are docking, so speed doesn't matter.
An enemy ship deflected one of my shells, but the structure code shows it has no armour. What's going on?	The armour module might have been destroyed later in the battle. The ship might have had a refit after the battle. (You can't see other people's ships being refitted.)
Is armour working? In a recent battle between two other players, there is no mention of shells being deflected.	Yes, armour is working. You don't see any deflections because you were not at that island. If you had been, you would have seen every hit and every deflection. Otherwise, you get only the sinkings and captures.
How exactly are modules "selected at random from island stores"?	Multiplicity is taken into account. For example, if the island has 10 armour, 3 guns and nothing else, then the chances are 10/13 that the random module will be armour.