Optional Rules     full screen

Attack Options
Automatic Hits If both Base Attack Dice come up as their highest value, the attack hits.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 76
Automatic Misses If both Base Attack Dice come up as 1s, the attack misses.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 76
Deflection Use modifiers To Hit based on how the target and attacker are moving.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 76
Range Increments Use the more comprehensive Alternate Range Effects Table.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 76
Easing Target Speed Restrictions A weapon may fire on faster targets than its Speed Restriction.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 77
Firing Multiple Weapon Systems A crewmember can fire up to 4 cannons by suffering a -2 penalty.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 77
 
Multiple Missile Locks A crewmember can fire up to 4 missile launchers by suffering a -2 penalty.
Q'raj Void Protectorate, page 49
Damage Bonus/Penalties  
 
Bonus Type I Apply excess rolled above the DV to the damage on a 1-for-1 basis.
Universal Night Watch, page 20
Bonus Type II Apply excess rolled above the DV to the damage on a variable scale.
Universal Night Watch, page 20
Penalties Apply any To Hit penalties to damage as well.
Universal Night Watch, page 20
Attacker Chooses Crew Hit The attacker chooses which crew is hit on filled in crew hits.
This is no longer optional as of the new Warhounds.
Operation Dry Dock, page 2 and Warhounds, page 3
Gunnery Duels A ship may attempt to get a shot off before its attacker can.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 75
Campaign Options
Experience Crewmembers may be able to raise a skill or gain an ability.
 
Simplistic System Silent Death Rulebook, page 66
More Complete System More Than Valor, page 68
Shield Spots Squadrons and individuals can gain "experience" spots.
Yoka-Shan Warworld, page 21
Ammo as Cargo Allows carrying of ammunition for escorts in cargo bays.
Warhounds, page 21 (23)
Replenishment Points as Cargo Allows carrying of RPs in cargo bays.
Warhounds, page 23 (25)
Replenishment Points as Repair Points Allows expending RPs to permanently repair fighters.
Warhounds, page 23 (25)
Unreplenished Fighters Fighters must be replenished after each mission.
Warhounds, page 24 (26)
Salvage Allows victor to attempt salvage on ships that did not explode.
Warhounds, page 23 (25)
Crew Options
Damage Control Gunnery A player may voluntarily sacrifice Damage Control to recrew weapons.
Warhounds, page 21 (23)
Pilot as Copilot The Pilot and Copilot can choose which weapons to fire if one is dead.
Universal Night Watch, page 20
Alternate Control Gunnery Positions Allow changing gunner positions at the start of the turn.
Sunrunners, page 74
Ottawa Redshirt Crew Allocation
(ORCA)		 Use a fixed pool of crew values based on the number of crew slots in your fleet.
Rules of Warfare II, page 11
Pilot Luck  
 
Earned Pilots can gather Luck points by destroying foes.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 66
Purchased Pilots can purchase Luck points as a normal skill.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 67
Quirks and Special Skills Crew members may have special abilities and limitations.
More Than Valor, page 27
Alternate Point Costs for
Pilot and Gunner Skills		 Pilot and Gunner skills cost a non-linear amount. Designed for campaigns.
More Than Valor, page 36
Defensive Options
Point Defense Systems vs. Torps A ship with point-defense weapons can fire them at torps in its hex.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 74
 
Point Defense vs. Missiles Ships can use PD against incoming missiles instead of torps.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 74
Point-Defense Battery Rollback Escort PD-B are temporarily reduced by large numbers of targets.
Warhounds, page 24 (26)
Point-Defense Battery Screening When an escort is screened, its PD-B operates at half efficiency.
Warhounds, page 24 (26)
Point-Defense Battery Strafing When a PD-B covers a non-moving target, that target comes under attack once per turn per escort (not per PD-B coverage hex).
Warhounds, page -- (26)
Decoys Ships can launch one decoy each turn instead of attempting to jam.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 74
Damage Control A ship may repair hits if it has not fired or been damaged this turn.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 77
Tractor Shielding Tractor Beams have no effect and should be replaced with other weapons.
Hostile Takeover, page 15
Electronic Warfare Options
ECM Range Increments Adds rangp modifiersato ECM attempts.
Warhounds, page 21 (23)
Enlarging Scan Area Each successful scan increases the area being affected.
Universal Night Watch, page 20
Escape Options
Life Pods When the craft is destroyed, the life pod may deploy.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 68
 
Lifeboats Similar to Life Pods, but has lower survival.
Warhounds, page 22 (24)
Emergency Launch When a tender is destroyed, docked fighters may be able to escape.
Warhounds, page 21 (23)
Minefield Options
Minefields Mines can be placed during scenario setup.
Space Junk, page 10
Mine Laying Mines can be laid by ships equipped to do so.
Space Junk, page 10
Mine Sweeping Mines may be cleared by ships with a mine sweeper.
Space Junk, page 11
Misc Options
Destroyed Starcraft Debris When a ship is destroyed, replace it with a marker.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 69
 
Escort Explosion and Debris Similar to above, plus ships near an exploding escort may be damaged.
Warhounds, page 22 (24)
Poor Mechanical Reliability A ship takes a critical when it first takes damage.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 78
Escort Satellites An escorts drive is replaced with additional crew and weapons.
Warhounds, page 22 (24)
Movement Options
Drift At the start of each movement phase, starcraft drift a random distance.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 69
Drive 0 Turns A ship with Drive 0 can turn 1 hexside.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 69
Sideslips Ships or torps can move into the front right or left hex for 2 points.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 70
Set Cost Turns Instead of rolling for a tight turn's cost, it has a fixed cost.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 69
Minimal Tight Turns If a ship attempts a tight turn, but fails, turn the ship one hexside.
Sunrunners, page 74
Slingshotting A starcraft can ride the gravity wells of large spacegoing objects.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 70
Turning Restrictions Ships with enough movement must enter a new hex before turning.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 69
Escort Half Moves Escorts split movement, moving half before and half after fighters.
Warhounds, page 22 (24)
Escort Plotted Movement Players plot escort movement on paper but move after fighters.
Warhounds, page 22 (24)
Ramming When ramming, the attack is based on the classes of the ships involved.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 71
 
Ramming Escorts The same general procedure applies to escorts (with a few additions).
Warhounds, page 23 (25)
Play Options
Multi-player Games There are more than two sides in the game.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 68
Time Limits Players have 30 seconds to move each ship.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 68
Three-D The game is played entirely in 3-D.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 81
Secrecy Starcraft displays are kept hidden from opponents.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 78
 
Concealed Weapons The players must tell the hull type of ships each is flying (and that's it).
Kashmere Commonwealth, page 25
Alternative Initiative System Roll a die based on your Pilot skill instead of 1D10 to determine initiative.
More Than Valor, page 36
Steel Hull Structural Weakness All ships which start with DR 0 roll 1D(X*2) for the crit instead of 2DX.
More Than Valor, page 36
Terrain Options
Asteroids Asteroids are scattered across the playing surface drifting 1 hex per turn.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 79
 
Micro-Asteroid Fields 2D6 radius micro-fields are treated as flak.
Space Junk, page 16
Narrow Asteroid Belts 1D4+1 bands of 1D4+1 width with all asteroids drifting along belts.
Space Junk, page 14
Large Asteroids 1D12 asteroids will occupy multiple hexes.
Space Junk, page 14
Radioactive Asteroids 1D6 asteroids will interfere with electronic systems.
Space Junk, page 15
Rogue Asteroids 2D10 asteroids will drift in random directions.
Space Junk, page 15
Variable Speed Asteroids 1/3 of asteroids will move faster than normal.
Space Junk, page 14
Asteroid Dodging Pilots will have a chance of dodging asteroids.
Space Junk, page 13
Asteroid Demolition To destroy an asteroid (DV 5), you must do 30 hits in a single shot.
Warhounds, page 21 (23)
 
Destroyed Asteroid Debris Debris acts as flak for 2 turns.
Space Junk, page 13
Dust Cloud  
 
Type I Impairs maneuverability and tracking systems.
Space Junk, page 27
Type II Restricts ranges and impairs defenses.
Space Junk, page 27
Type III Impairs maneuverability, tracking systems, and missile systems.
Space Junk, page 27
Gravitic Effects  
 
Black Hole 1D12 radius hole draws ships towards its center.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 80
Bipolar (Disgorging) Holes A black hole that reverses polarity 1/3 of the time.
Space Junk, page 18
Gravity Waves Gravitational anomaly buffets ships.
Space Junk, page 18
Gravity Wells Group of weak black holes clustered together.
Space Junk, page 18
Scylla and Charibdis Holes A pair of black holes orbiting a mid-point.
Space Junk, page 16
White Holes 1D12 radius hole pushes ships away from its center.
Space Junk, page 17
Nebula  
 
Blue Nebula (Type I) Impairs defensive screens and energy weapons.
Space Junk, page 21
Pink Nebula (Type II) Heavily impairs tracking systems.
Space Junk, page 21
Green Nebula (Type III) Impairs maneuverability and highly restricts weapon usage.
Space Junk, page 22
Planetoid Effects  
 
Planet/Atmosphere Various restrictions on maneuverability and weapons.
Space Junk, page 30
Planetary Rings Reduced debris and asteroid effects.
Space Junk, page 29
Inside Moon/Asteroid Highly restricts maneuverability.
Space Junk, page 29
Star Effects  
 
Pulsar Impairs tracking systems and damages ships.
Space Junk, page 25
Solar Flare Random Heavy Plazgun attack each turn.
Space Junk, page 26
Sunspots Impairs tracking systems, screens, and communications.
Space Junk, page 26
Nova/Supernova  
 
Wave - Dramatic Wave races across board at speed 25.
Space Junk, page 25
Wave - Realistic Destroys everything on board.
Space Junk, page 25
Aftereffects As Heat Zone, Asteroids, Radiation Zone, and Dust Cloud III.
Space Junk, page 26
Stellar Areas  
 
Heat Zone Damages damaged ships.
Space Junk, page 28
Radiation Zone Damages anything in the zone.
Space Junk, page 28
Wormholes Ships that enter a wormhole are transported to corresponding wormhole.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 79
 
Interfering Wormholes Torps and missiles can be confused by the dramatic shift of transition.
Space Junk, page 19
Shifting Wormholes There is a non-1-to-1 ratio between wormholes.
Space Junk, page 20
Unstable Wormholes 1D6 wormholes are unstable and may collapse at any time.
Space Junk, page 19
Comet's Tail Impairs tracking systems and acts as debris.
Space Junk, page 23
Incoming Stellar Mass Destroys everything in its path, then acts as Comet's Tail.
Space Junk, page 24
Torp Options
Torp Speed/Maneuverability  
 
Variable Speed Torps Bigger torps move slower than smaller ones.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 72
Maneuverable Torps Torps pay 0 points to make any turn.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 72
Buying Torp Speed Variations No one may gain the above advantages without paying points for them.
Fighter Tactics Manual, page 54
Parasite Torps as Speed 10 Parasite Torps have a speed 10 instead of speed 8.
This is no longer optional as of the new Warhounds.
Warhounds, page 75
Side Slip Limitations Parasite Torps may side slip, but others may not.
Silent Death Mailing List, Don Dennis
Sequential Resolution of Torp Attacks The damage from each torp is resolved seperately.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 72
New Torp Types  
 
New Types Standard torps can be exchanged for new torps of the same Mk. load.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 72
Missile Torpedoes These torps can fire missiles at the target after launch.
Silent Death Rulebook, page 73
Stinger Torpedoes Stingers ignore DR, do High/2 damage, and may do extra criticals.
Sunrunners, page 22
Venter Torpedoes Venters detonate in empty space and release flak clouds. 1/2 cost.
Sunrunners, page 22
Wormhole Blocker Torps Causes a wormhole to temporarily collapse.
Space Junk, page 20