Torpedoes

Torpedoes
You may make the intended targets of
all torpedoes secret. When a torpedo is
launched, note its target on a bit of scrap
paper. Only reveal the true target when the
torpedo finally catches up with its quarry.
Remember, ships can only jam, decoy or
use point defenses against warheads targeted
against them. Any ship can try to
defeat any torp, but only if the efforts are
successful does the torp’s owner have to
reveal whether the defending ship is actually
a particular torp’s target.
Asteroids
Battles within the depths of an asteroid
field can be challenging and exciting. The
following rules detail how to distribute asteroids
on the playing surface, what happens
when an asteroid and a starcraft collide
and how asteroids affect attacks.
When asteroids are to be used in a scenario,
one player should take all 20 asteroid
miniatures and, with eyes closed,
sprinkle them over the playing surface from
a height of about three feet. Place the asteroids
in the hexes they most fully landed
in (1 per hex maximum). Go through the
sprinkling process again with any asteroids
which bounced off the map or stacked up
beyond the 1 per hex limit.
Once the game begins, asteroids drift by
moving one hex per turn in a direction randomized
at the beginning of the scenario.
Refer to the numbered compass rose in the
corner of each map section. At the beginning
of the scenario, roll 1D6 to determine
the direction in which all of the asteroids
will be drifting throughout the entire game.
Asteroids drift all at once, at the end of every
turn, right after the Missile Results
Phase. If, due to this drifting action, an asteroid
exits off the edge of the playing surface,
it reenters on the side of the map directly
opposite.
If a starcraft, during its Movement Phase,
enters a hex with an asteroid, that starcraft
immediately takes 10D12 (all) points of
damage. If a starcraft and an asteroid drift
into each other, the vessel takes 5D12
points of damage. Asteroids have no effect
on missile fire, but asteroid collisions immediately
destroy launched torpedoes. Asteroids
cannot be destroyed.
Asteroids directly between an attacker
and a target block cannon fire. To determine
if the fire is blocked, draw an imaginary
line from the center of the of the firer’s
hex to the center of the target’s hex. If the
line passes through any part of a hex containing
an asteroid, the attack cannot be
made. A firing line that runs along the edge
of a hex occupied by an asteroid is not
blocked unless there are such edges on both
sides of the line. If the firing line is blocked,
the firer is free to select another target.
Wormholes
A wormhole is a tunnel in the fabric of
our traditionally linear reality that connects
two distant points of space together in a
nonlinear fashion. Such phenomena are
related in some way to black holes, although
whereas wormholes actually take
ships that have been sucked into them from
one point in space to another, black holes
simply crush the ship into next to nothingness
(at least theoretically).
When used in Silent Death, wormholes
often require the use of two separate maps:
one for the area on each side of the wormhole.
With a complicated array of wormholes
leading from one place to another,
though, several maps could be employed.
To represent the wormholes, use the
white chips included in the game. These
need to have the alphabetic stickers attached
to them. They make up two sets, one
with capital letters and one with lowercase
letters. A ship enters a wormhole when it
enters the hex occupied by a wormhole
chip. It exits the wormhole by moving from
its current position to the hex occupied by
the wormhole chip with the corresponding
letter. The wormhole can move ships
between maps, or it can simply move ships
between separate points on the same map.
Separate starmaps cannot generally be
reached by moving through normal space
(at least not in game terms—such journeys
could take years).
It costs no movement points to move
into a wormhole. All the ship has to do is
enter the hex the wormhole chip occupies.
It is impossible to enter such a hex and not
enter the wormhole in it. Entering the
wormhole happens automatically, even if
the ship ends its regular move in that hex.
haunting the hallowed
halls of other, more
abstract deities. No! We
are movers. We are
shakers. We act rather
than react.”
Klaustein was warming
up to his subject
nicely. “We do not waste
so much time on talk or
on negotiations.” He
spat out the word as if
its passage had somehow
fouled his tongue.
“Our people do not
turn the other cheek
when slapped. We make
sure that no one will
slap us in the first place.
And those who dare try
to harm us know that
they do so at peril of
their lives.”
He paused a moment
here to let the import of
his words sink in. “We
are a warrior people.
Would the warriors in
the congregation please
stand? Show yourselves
to those you have
pledged your lives to
protect. Revel in their
appreciation. Accept
their thanks.”
Everyone in the pews
leapt to their feet at
once. Not a single one
of them remained
sitting. They were all
ready to fight for their
cause, and they wanted
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