The Dragon #20(No.6), pp.4, pp.28, pp.31

Rules Clarifications and Addenda for Imperium
by Marc Miller

As people have started playing Imperium, they have, of course, come up with questions on what the rules actually mean and how they are to be implemented. Some of questions come from faulty wording in the omission. In any case, the following items do need clarification, and should help make Imperium play even faster and better.

THE MAP

The printed jump lanes are permanent, and are the only jump lanes allowed to be used. I have heard suggestions for variants which allow creation of new jump lanes, but I think that would really ruin the flavor of the game. Starships must begin their movement phase in a system hex in order to use hyperjumps. There is no secret use for Altair; because its a tertiary system, it cannot allow refueling, and because it is bypassed by Ziggisi and Apishal, it effectively useless.
Basically, the map is divided by the jump lanes into three areas (Sol, Lagash/ Amarku, and the Sirius to Dingir region). The connections through Sirius and Nusku/Dushaam become quite important during the game. Unfortunately, the wording Rule 14 is unclear about there forces may be placed at beginning of the first war. The intention is that the Imperial player cannot place forces at Procyon or beyond Sirius, because he cannot 'connect' them; he cannot initially place a tanker at Sirius.

THE COUNTERS

Several people have asked me about counter mix restrictions in the game. I have always felt that if players could agree, before the game began, that new counters could be built outside of the counter mix (that is, more destroyers, or dreadnoughts, or whatever) that was perfectly all right. I do think that the game has to be started that way, or else everyone is restricted to the counters provided.
I also think that there is a place for specific variants to the counter values provided. Someone can easily come up with a different value for a scout, or for new type of mothership. But such use should be approved before the campaign begins, rather than being suggested during the game (or campaign).

THE RULES

Reaction movement is not necessarily restricted to ships. Troops can be designated as a reaction force; indeed a stack of ships and troops in a surface box can be designated a reaction force. The stack could then move, land or invade, and undertake surface combat. More simply, a player could just designate his troops as reaction force, and they could attack enemy troops present in the surface box with them. The reaction force, however, is the determinator of combat in the reaction phase. In the Terran reaction phase of Imperial player-turn, the reacting Terran could use his troops to initiate combat in a surface box, but the Imperial player could not force combat to occur anywhere.
Ships, under the phase structure, suffer attacks (in the Planetary Surface/ Shape Interaction Subphase) when trying to land on an unfriendly world. Because they leave such a world during the movement subphase, they cannot be attacked. In effect, the defenses are oriented to keeping ships out, not to keeping them in.
Combat: One of the hardest things for a group of ships to do is to withdraw from space combat. The other side has all of the advantages and can use them against the defenseless retreaters.
First, high intensity fire and suicide attacks are still allowed, and its quite wise for them to be used, because the withdrawing forces cannot fire back.
Maintenance: Almost as hard on anyone’s forces as combat is maintenance and the requirements thereof. This aspect of the game was inserted to catch the feel of the economic drain of war, and it dose so nicely. Maintenance must be performed, or ships just dry up and become almost useless. More specifically, ships sent off in support of a civil war must be fully operational when the leave (through maintenance is assumed to be ongoing without charge while they are away). Similarly, ships which the Emperor grants or loans must be maintained while they are present, and when they must leave, they must be fully operational. Reinforcements which appear in the movement phase appear after the maintenance phase, and so are fully operational until the next turn; then, maintenance must be paid.1)
A companion of mine (John Astell) has pointed out that an Imperial player who is not losing one ship per turn is probably not fully utilizing his resources. Because the Imperium will replace lost ships at the rate of one per turn, it makes no sense to go out and “spend” one ship a turn to cost the Terran some forces. The Imperial can get them back, while it costs the Terran resources.
The Imperium: I have received quite a few questions asking how a die roll of greater than 12 is achieved on the Imperial Intervention Table. If a 5 is rolled (Imperial Succession) and from that a Civil War dose not occur. Imperial succession calls for another throw of the dice with a DM of +3. This provision is hidden in the Imperial Succession rule, and several people seem to have missed it.

1) Ed. Note: For my tournament, I asked Marc about Turn 1, maintenance as it has a distinct effect on the opening game. It was ruled then that maintenance need not be performed on Turn 1 as starting forces.