Rules for The Shadow:

• Definitions:
  • "Minions":
    The Shadow has no colonists, crew, troops or even heroes. He just has his minions and their number is his power.
  • "Life forms":
    All colonists, crew, troops and High Guards of all races in the game are considered life forms. The Shadow is the only exception. [This Definition may be changed as soon as other 3rd party races are integrated into the game]. Natives are no life forms in this sense.
  • "Being allied":
    Being allied means that a race has set The Shadow to ally status and The Shadow has set that race to ally status. One of this is not enough. This is needed to avoid abuse.
  • Tim seems to have changed the Delta Stress to always be the same as the Base Frequency. I will always use the expression 'Delta Stress', because it's easier to understand what it means. But you can always replace it with 'Base Frequency'.
  • Open Gate = active Gate = Gate. Closed Gate = Inactive Gate. Everything else is: No Gate, normal base.

• Growth Rate (GR):
  • Every turn, if a planet has no base of The Shadow, there is a 1% chance that a base with 1.000 minions appears.
    [I think any race always has a minimum of 50 resource points, thus this also works if there are no minions in the beginning of the game.]
    General log message: "X new bases founded on planets, Y new bases founded on asteroids."
    Log message of the Shadow base: "We have arrived."
  • Minions can live on asteroids. Indeed to some extend they prefer to be in the coldness of space. Every turn, if an asteroid field has no base there is a 5% chance that a new base forms. This base has 10 minions and a constant growth rate of 100% (The number of minions doubles every turn).
  • All asteroid bases stop growing when there are more than 5mio minions.
    Such a base can only get bigger when evil acts are done in the universe or by NEPs.
    Log message of the Shadow base: "This asteroid base has more than 5mio minions and does not grow any more. We received X minions by evil acts."
    Log message of the Shadow base: "We received X minions by evil acts."
  • HD Delta Stress (the more the better)
    • There is a chance of min(1, max(0, HD_Delta_stress/100)) that 100.000 minions appear instantly at the base.
      Thus if Delta Stress is i.e. 8 there is a 8% chance.
      The Shadow cannot remove Delta Stress or HD Stress, but he can prevent Delta Stress to affect HD Stress with the only new Device: The Base Frequency Seal (see below).
      Log of the Shadow Base: "We have received 100,000 extra minions due to high base frequency."
  • HD Stress (the more the better)
    • The basic growth rate of The Shadow is: GR:=1+max(0, HD_Stress/2000).
      Thus a planet with i.e. HD_Stress = 500 makes The Shadow grow at  25% (factor: 1,25)
  • Number of life forms of other races on the same planet (the more the better)
    • If there are life forms of other races on the same planet as a Shadow base, The Shadow base gains 2% extra growth rate for every million of these life forms.
      Example: Your basic basic GR is 15%. There are 10mio other life forms on the planet. Your actual growth rate is 15%+20%=35%. This is now modified by the happiness of these life forms:
  • Happiness of the races on the same planet (the less the better)
    • The happiness of the other life forms on the planet is weighted with their number and the average influences the growth rate of The Shadow base. Happiness 100 does nothing to the growth rate, +300 divides it by 3. The rest is interpolated linearly:
      GR := GR * (4/3 - Happiness/300).
      This means that the maximum boost is at -300 happiness with 7/3 of your original growth rate.
      Log of the Shadow Base: "We are feeding on X life forms with average happiness Y."
  • Enemy/Ally status of the races on the same planet (allies are better)
    • Allies are always treated as life forms with happiness=-300.
      Log of the Shadow Base: "X life forms have been tricked into helping us. Their doomed souls help us greatly."
  • The Shadow gains minions when ever 'evil acts' are committed anywhere in the universe.
    General log message: "Received a total of X minions by evil acts."

• Delta and HD Stress:
  • A base of 20mio minions or more does not grow by HD Stress any more, but receives 80% of all minions that are gained when evil acts are committed in the universe instead.
    If there is more than one base with more than 20mio minions, these bases all receive an equal share of the 80%.
    Any base of another race on the same planet still adds to the growth rate as usual. [Making this a real easy way of creating Gates (see below)].
    Log message of the Shadow base: "This base has more than 20mio minions and does not grow any more. We received X minions by evils acts."
    Log message of the Shadow base: "We received X minions by evils acts."
  • If a planet explodes due to HD Stress (and only then) the minions of The Shadow that were on that base double in number and reappear on the 10 nearest planets the same turn. They are distributed equally. If these planets have no base of The Shadow yet, a new base is formed.
    If some of these planets are actually asteroids without a base the minions that were to go there just vanish.
    If all 10 nearest planets are actually asteroids without bases all minions just vanish.
    This process is called a Negative Energy Expansion (NEP) and is very important for building a coherent empire or creating bases bigger than 20mio.
    General log message: "Negative Energy Explosion at x/y. X minions have been distributed among the 10 nearest planets. There were Y asteroids without bases. The minions that were to go there vanished upon arrival."
  • Bases with more than 100.000 minions automatically add 1 point to the planets Delta Stress per turn.
    If a base on a planet has more than 5mio minions, the Delta Stress increases by 1 for every extra five million:
    delta_stress := min(100, delta_stress + min(1, minions / 5,000,000)).
    This way Delta Stress cannot be increased above 100.
    With the Base Frequency Seal Device you can prevent the Delta Stress of a planet to increase HD stress (see below).
    Log message of the Shadow base: "Delta Stress increased by X."
    Log message of the Shadow base: "Delta Stress 100 reached. It cannot be increased any more."
  • To affect The Shadow the Shogazul Impulse needs to be switched on by at least 2 races. It then makes the Shadow not grow by HD Stress, Delta Stress or by colonists on the same planet. The Shadow always grows by evil acts.
    General log message: "Two races switched on the Shogazul Impulse making us grow by evil acts only."

• Gaining Minions by Evil Acts:
  • An evil act is one of the following:
    • Orbital bombing
    • Ground attacks
    • Holding prisoners
    • Selling prisoners or having prisoners work to death
    • Killing life forms in ships or pods
  • Orbital bombing:
    • Whenever somewhere in the game life forms die due to orbital bombing The Shadow automatically gains their number multiplied by 3 in minions. These minions are distributed equally over all bases. (Considering the 80% rule).
      General log message: "X life forms killed by orbital bombing. X*3 minions gained."
  • Ground Assaults:
    • Whenever somewhere in the game a Ground Assault happens, The Shadow gains 3 times the number of killed life forms in minions. These new minions are distributed equally over all bases of The Shadow. (Considering the 80% rule).
      General log message: "X life forms killed by ground assaults. X*3 minions gained."
    • This does not apply if The Shadow kills life forms in a ground assault and keeps his own base at the planet.. In this case the killed life forms, multiplied by 3, reappear as minions at the assaulting Shadow base the same turn.
      Log message of the Shadow base: "We killed X life forms in ground assault. Their souls have joined us as X*3 minions."
  • Prisoners and selling prisoners/having them work in labor camps
    • If any race in the game holds prisoners, The Shadow gains prisoners/3 minions per turn. These new minions are distributed equally over all bases of The Shadow. (Considering the 80% rule).
      General log message: "X life forms are held prisoner. X/3 minions gained."
    • If prisoners are sold or worked to death in labor camps the number of sold/killed prisoners per turn is multiplied by 7 and they reappear as minions, being distributed equally over all bases of The Shadow. (Considering the 80% rule).
      General log message: "X life forms were tortured or sold as slaves. X*7 minions gained."
    • These rules do not apply for life forms that are held prisoner by The Shadow itself.
    • Minions can hold prisoners. Prisoners automatically die at a rate of 50% per turn due to the extreme amounts of negative energy. For every prisoner in any of his bases The Shadow automatically receives 7 minions that are distributed over all his bases equally. (Considering the 80% rule).
      General log message: "X life forms abused to increase our power. X/2 life forms died; X/2*7 minions gained,
    • Minions cannot be held prisoner. They just vanish.
      General log message: "At x/y our enemies tried to take Y minions prisoner. The minions vanished."
  • When ever anywhere in the game life forms die in space (in exploding pods or ships) the 7 nearest bases of The Shadow gain a total of triple the number of killed life forms in minions. They are distributed equally. Should The Shadow own less than 7 bases no minions are gained.
    (The 80% rule does not apply if life forms die in space).
    General log message: "X life forms killed in space at x/y. The region gained X*3 minions."
    Log message of the Shadow base: "X life forms killed in space at x/y. We gained X*3/7 minions."

• Basics:
  • The Shadow can never have more resource points than Total_number_of_RP divided by number_of_races. Thus he cannot 'outgrow' other races with RPs and no complex mechanism is necessary to determine how many RP The Shadow has.
    [It is highly unlikely that The Shadow gets problems with his resource points (see 'ships' below)].
  • A base of The Shadow is completely invisible to all races by all means if it has less than 100,000 minions.
    Log message of the Shadow base: "We have less than 100,000 minions. Nobody can detect us."
  • An asteroid base is completely invisible to any empire until it has 2mio minions.
    Log message of the Shadow base: "We have less than 2mio minions. Nobody can detect us here."
  • A Shadow player can give a base the command to ground assault another base. The chance that a ground assault command works, however, is min(1, minions/10,000,000). Thus a ground attack with a base of less than 10mio minions does not always come to happen.
    Log message of the Shadow base: "Ground assault canceled. We are not enough yet."
  • An asteroid base automatically attacks any other base on the asteroid, no matter if ally or not or how many minions are in the base.
    Log message of the Shadow base: "Enemy base ground assaulted. Nobody disturbs us here."
  • In combat no penalties for colonists apply for the minions. They are colonist, crew, and troop at the same time.
    [Technically all minions become troops before combat and become colonists after combat again].
  • Minions do not eat food or anything else.
  • Minions always have happiness 0. This does not have any consequences.
  • Except for Gates minions can never build any base structures or use any base structures. Should they capture a base the existing structures are all destroyed instantly.
    Log message of the Shadow base: "All enemy base structures destroyed."
  • Every turn The Shadow gains sqrt(minions)/250 points of Spy Mana in the mana pool (rounded down).
    This means: 4 points at 1mio, 10 at 6,25mio, 20 at 25mio, 30 at 56mio, 40 at 100mio, 50 at 156mio, 75 at 352mio and 100 at 625mio. To gain 150 points per turn they need 1400mio minions.
    General log message: "We received X spy mana from Y minions."
  • Since minions don't pay taxes and don't even own money The Shadow never gains any galactic credits and no exotic tech. The Shadow starts with no money in his galactic bank account.
    General log message: "The Shadow does not buy Exotic tech."
    General log message: "The Shadow does not buy tech levels."
    General log message: "We have X minions and consequently gained sqrt(X)/250 Spy Mana."
  • Minions never have any ground units in their bases nor can they create any. (There are no ground units in the race pack, or only dummies)
  • Minions never gather anything from the surface of any planet.
  • Natives never join Shadow bases. All natives except for Chupanoids are instantly killed if they somehow are in a Shadow base.
    Log message of the Shadow base: "Found X natives in our base. They were annihilated."
  • If there are more than 10mio minions on a planet all natives on the planet, except for Chupanoids, are instantly killed.
    Log message of the Shadow base: "Great hunt for all original inhabitants of this planet. We are alone."
    Log message of the Shadow base: "Great hunt for all original inhabitants of this planet. Some resisted."
  • Minions can be eaten by Amorphous natives as usual, but they don't cry for help in the log.
    Log message of the Shadow base: "Base under attack by amorphous worms."
  • Minions obviously do not have any demand for contraband. However, technically the minions do like all contraband types with 100 liking ratio. This reflects the enormous demand for contraband by other races in a universe where The Shadow is strong.
  • The Shadow can neither buy nor sell contraband. Minions do not collect contraband from surfaces of planets. Contraband can be podded into bases of The Shadow, but can never be removed again, except by ground assault and overtaking the base.
    Log message of the Shadow base: "We are not here to trade contraband!"
  • It is not possible to use gold pods to sell contraband to Shadow bases. The contraband just does not get sold.
    [Maybe this is already taken care of by the 0 happiness ?]
  • Bases of The Shadow always have crime 0. Regarding any 'spreading' of crime Shadow bases behave as if they didn't exist.
  • The command code 'TNT' has a chance of max(0, 1 - minions_in_base/40,000,000) to destroy a Shadow base. The base and all its minions just vanish. No ship of The Shadow is needed to make the TNT work. If a closed Gate vanishes this way the game is not lost (see below). This is the only way to get rid of a base that has once been a Gate. (But first you need to somehow get the minions in the base below 40mio to at least have a small chance).
    Note: You do not loose if you destroy a closed Gate this way, but you can still loose if you have less than 3/4 of your peak population afterwards and have so second Gate. ('Losing a game', below)
    General log message: "Order successful. The base at x/y has vanished."
    General log message: "Order failed: The base ID, name at x/y has not vanished."
    Log message of the Shadow base: "We are still here."
  • Command code 'GBA' does not work.
    Log message of the Shadow base: "We don't give our bases to other races!"

• Gates:
  • A base of 50,000,000 minions or more is a Gate. The base gets one of the two base structures of The Shadow: 'The Gate'.
    Log message of the Shadow base: "We finally opened a Gate. This dimension is ours!"
    General log message: "A Gate has been opened at base ID, Name at x/y."
  • Should a base that has a Gate be somehow reduced in population below 50mio the base structure 'Gate' is removed and replaced with the 'Closed Gate', and the base is now treated like any other base with one exception. A closed Gate is only important considering losing conditions in the next paragraph.
    A Closed Gate can be reactivated at any time if the base gets again more than 50mio minions. Then the 'Closed Gate' is removed and a 'Gate' is given to the base once again.
    Log message of the Shadow base: "Not enough minions to keep the Gate open. Protect the Gate!!"
    General log message: "Base ID, name at x/y has lost too many minions to keep its Gate open. Protect the Gate!!"
    Log message of the Shadow base: "Gate has been opened again. Now they will pay."
  • A Gate is immune to orbital bombing (a negative energy shield appears over the base). This includes Super Weapons that are fired in combat at the base. However, a Super Laser that is fired at the planet destroys the planet and thus the Gate.
    [Let's hope that the bug that Birds can stay cloaked over a planet and destroy the planet with a SL, when they have set the enemy race on the planet as ally, is removed when The Shadow is integrated!]
    Log message of the enemy ship: "A Negative Energy Shield absorbs all our weapons fire. We need to somehow close the Gate."
  • A World Crusher is of no use against a Gate - not even from distance.
    Log message of the Shadow base: "The inhabitants of this realm fired a World Crusher Missile at us. We enjoy their hatred.."
    Log message of the enemy ship: "A Negative Energy Shield has absorbed our World Crusher. We need to somehow close the Gate."
  • A Gate automatically receives a well of hyperspace destabilizing negative energy. This well has a radius of 20LY and works like a usual gravitonic well generator.
    Log message of the Shadow base: "The Negative Energy Well around our Gate has kicked a ship out of hyperspace at x/y."
    Log message of the enemy ship: "We have been kicked out of hyperspace by the Negative Energy Well of the Gate."
  • A Gate always ground assaults any other base on the planet - even allies.
    Log message of the Shadow base: "This is a Gate. We do not coexist. Enemy base annihilated."
  • When ever a base that is no Closed Gate becomes a Gate, the same turn all damage on all ships of The Shadow (including incomplete armor) is automatically repaired and all crews are replenished. This is the only way for The Shadow to repair ships or regain lost crew (Exception: Afterlife). Additionally all ships get full fighter bays. The bays are filled with just one big wing (Especially important for the Melted). This happens only the one turn that the Gate appears. This is called: 'The Appearance of a Gate'.
    General log message: "A Gate was opened. All ships repaired, armor and crew replenished. All carriers received full fighter bays."
    Log message of the Shadow ship: "A Gate has been opened. We repaired all damage, replenished crew and armor."
    Log message of the Shadow ship (if Carrier): "Our fighter bays were filled with one big wing."
  • Gates do not grow by HD Stress any more. They only grow a little by Delta Stress and evil acts. The 2% growth rate bonus per million life forms on the planet also doesn't apply.
  • The base structures 'Gate' and 'Closed Gate' are immune to orbital bombing. You can only loose a Gate if you loose the base.

• Losing a game:
  • There are exactly two ways to win over The Shadow:
    • If The Shadow has no Gate and at the end of any turn has less than three quarter (3/4) of the number of minions that he had some when before in the game all his objects and minions disappear and never come back. If there is a Gate the only way to defeat The Shadow is to destroy the Gate - see next paragraph.
    • If The Shadow loses a base with a 'Gate' or a 'Closed Gate' all his objects and minions disappear and never come back. This also applies for bases The Shadow loses, because of planets that explode due to HD Stress. The only exception is a TNT command code as described above.
      It does not matter how many Gates a Shadow has. If he loses any Gate he has lost.
  • Exception: Signs, the tech 1 ships, stay - so that you know what happened to you. Additionally they are a warning to the galaxy what has once been (and might come back some when in a new game :).
  • Whenever you loose you receive a message with detailed information about the reason.
    General log message: "This realm is too strong for us. We have dropped under X minions. That was less than 3/4 of our peak. We will be back!"
    General log message: "A Gate has been destroyed. The Soul Connection has been cut to prevent a Negative Energy Loop into dimension 666. Next time they will pay!".
    General log message for all non-Shadows: "The Shadow has retreated. We have won!"
    General log message for all other Shadows: "One of our Brothers has retreated."
  • Each turn a Shadow player receives a message that states how many percent of his peak minion number he has or if he managed to create a new peak. This message also states the peak number of minions and the present number.
    General log message: "We achieved a new peak. Current number of minion: X."
    General log message: "We have lost power. Current number of minions: X. That is Y% of our peak which is at Z minions. We need to strike back!"

• Leaving the basics behind...
  • If there are Chupanoids on the same planet as a Shadow base a number of minions equal to ten times the Chupanoids is not growing anymore. (That means that they do not count considering the number of minions that 'reproduce' due to HD Stress, other races colonists or happiness).
    Log message of the Shadow base: "Chupanoids are here. X minions were unable to grow."
  • If there are at least 1mio Chupanoids and 10mio minions, but no Gate, on a planet, the planet explodes in an Uncontrolled Negative Energy Chupanasion (UNEC). The minions vanish, but the Chupanoids, multiplied by 3, reappear at the seven nearest planets. They are distributed equally. This can very well lead to a chain reaction if several big bases in an area go up in an UNEC.
    It makes no difference if Chupanoids are on the planets surface or in the base. Their number is added together before applying this rule. In the process of exploding the planet changes into an asteroid.
    To create an UNEC at a Gate you need at least 5mio Chupanoids. The Gate is destroyed (the game lost) and all minions on all bases of The Shadow are replaced by Chupanoids (The universe will never be the same again :).
    General log message: "Warning: Uncontrolled Negative Energy Chupanasion at x/y. The planet has been destroyed. X Chupanoids have arrived at the 7 nearest planets each."
    General log message: "5mio Chupanoids appeared at x/y. They made the Gates Negative Energy loop back at us. Soul Connection cut. This realm is too strong for us."
    General Log message for all non-Shadows: "The Shadow has been overwhelmed by Chupanoids. We cannot believe our scans!"
    General Log message for all other Shadows: "One of our Brothers has been massacred by Chupanoids!"
  • Negative Energy Overloads (NEOs): If more than 13mio life forms die at one point in space (not at a planet, but perhaps over a planet) in one turn a NEO is created. The above rules concerning Evil Acts do not apply. Instead the killed life forms are multiplied by 10 and distributed among all bases of The Shadow as minions. These minions do not count as created by an evil act anymore (they have been created by a NEO). Therefore bases with more than 20mio minions do not receive their 80% share.
    All ships of The Shadow receive 66% Hull Damage. After two NEOs all his ships will be destroyed. Enemies of The Shadow need to be very careful if they want to create NEOs to destroy a fleet of The Shadow. It benefits them only in the short run.
    Furthermore every Gate looses 5mio minions at once (but it also gains minions due to the NEO). Thus the Gate could close. Closed Gates do not loose minions.-
    Enemies can try to make any Gate loose its grav well and orbital bombing immunity and thus kill The Shadow by bombing that base into oblivion.
    General log message: "Negative Energy Overload at x/y. The races here are stupid and full of hate. Eventually we will overwhelm them. Take care of the Gates."
    Log message of the Shadow base (Gate): "A Negative Energy Overload made the Soul Connection loop back at us. We lost 5mio minions."
    Log message of all Shadow ships: "Negative Energy Overload. Received 66% hull damage by back looping Negative Energy".
  • If a base of an allied race is on the same planet as a Shadow base with at least 10mio minions it always sells contraband for triple the usual price and is able to sell twice the usual number of contraband (they receive wondrous help of an unknown 3rd party). At the same time, however, there is a 2% chance that The Shadow base ground assaults the base where the contraband is sold (no matter any ally status or peaceful setting). There is no way to circumvent this problem or selling contraband on this planet for the usual price. Buying prices stay the same.
    This obviously does not apply for races that cannot trade contraband (Cyborg, UEA).
    Log message of the Shadow base: "Our allies at this planet can sell their contraband for three times the usual price and double as much as usual. This keeps them willing."
    Log message of the allies base: "Ominous traders have offered us to buy our contraband for three times the usual price. They want to buy double as much as the market would take. We will sell all contraband to them."
    General Log message of the ally: "Hordes of minions attacked our base name, ID at X/Y, planet_name."
  • If there is more than one Shadow in the galaxy The Shadows are never able to fight each other. Neither in space nor at the ground. Bases on the same planet automatically merge and are given to The Shadow with the biggest base (on the planet or asteroid). All Shadows have to share the same number of minions when evil acts are committed. They are distributed equally among The Shadows. The only way for a Shadow to win over another Shadow is to use his allies to do it. (Thanks to Lord Owl for this brilliant idea!).
    You will need to play from turn to turn and try to use the ships you have to keep the fleets of the allies of the other Shadows away.
    Another way is to create bigger bases at planets via NEPing and thus take over the other Shadow bases. This could lead to real NEPing battles.
    General log message: "Brothers are here. We need to use the inhabitants of this realm to cut their Soul Connections."
    General log message: "Our base name, ID at X/Y has merged with the base name, ID of Shadow race_number. He had more minions."
    General log message: "The base name, ID at X/Y of Shadow race_number has merged with our base name, ID. We had more minions."
  • 'The Elders'
    At some point in the game enemies of The Shadow might be given 'The Elders'. This is a ship in the race pack of The Shadow, but can never be owned by him. It is treated like any other non-Shadow ship concerning boarding etc.
     In several situations the Elders might appear:
    • If you destroy a base of The Shadow you have a chance of 1% per 2mio minions (rounded down) that were in the base to be given 'The Elders'. They appear exactly over that base.
    • There is a 2% chance that 'The Elders' appear over your biggest base if you destroy one Never Dawn.
    • There is a 15% chance that 'The Elders' appear over your biggest base if you destroy one Afterlife.

    Races, that are given 'The Elders', automatically own it. It has 1000kt fuel, full crew, 1 High Guard Ranger, max ordnance and 1000 Med Units.
    'The Elders' initially have full organic armor . Should the armor be damaged it can be repaired like usual organic armor.
    It is impossible to recycle 'The Elders' and they never leave wreckage when destroyed.
    'The Elders' cannot be outfitted. Outfit pods that are docked do not accept any command.
    It is impossible to gain a hull plan by i.e. towing 'The Elders'. Construction plans automatically disappear, just like the plans of the Shadow ships.
    The plan of 'The Elders' can not be owned by 'The Shadow' [just to make sure this does not become a bug].
    
    'The Elders' never appear if there is more than one Shadow in the galaxy.
    Races that have more Dark Powers than Light Powers can never be given 'The Elders'.
    'The Elders' never appear for any race that at any point in the game has been allied with The Shadow.
    'The Elders' only appear once in a game. [This makes players try to get 'The Elders' first.]
    Should The Shadow be defeated completely 'The Elders' automatically disappear.
    Should 'The Elders' be captured by any race they automatically self destruct.
    
    If a race that owns 'The Elders' allies with The Shadow, 'The Elders' are given to a random race that is not allied with The Shadow and has not been before. This race also can not have more dark powers than light powers. If there is no such race they disappear instantly.
    
    'The Elders' only join a VCR if objects of The Shadow or his allies take part. They leave as fast as possible and as soon as all ships and bases of The Shadow and his allies are destroyed, disabled or captured. Ships that have 'The Elders' set as kill target are treated like Shadow ships in this regard.
    Other races only fire at 'The Elders' if they (1) are The Shadow, (2) are allied with The Shadow or (3) have 'The Elders' set as kill target.
    In a VCR 'The Elders' only fire at objects that are (1) owned by The Shadow, (2) owned by his allies or (3) have 'The Elders' set as kill target.
    
    'The Elders' will not scan objects of races other than: 1) The Shadow, 2) races that have been allied with The Shadow, 3) races that are allied with The Shadow.
    
    'The Elders' have special generators that produce triple the usual amount of energy. Thus their weapons fire continuously.
    'The Elders' have a special shield amplifier that makes their shields five times as strong.
    
    Ways to destroy a base of The Shadow and thus get 'The Elders' are: Orbital bombing, Ground assault, Superlaser the planet, recreate an asteroid with a Protomatter Cannon.
    Ways to kill a Never Dawn or an Afterlife and thus get 'The Elders' are: Combat, Gun Zeros, Stellar Matter Launchers, hitting minefields or detonating minefields.
    'The Elders' do not appear if you use UNECs or NEOs to kill minions or destroy ships.
    General log message: "The destruction of base ID, name at x/y encouraged The Elders to send a ship into this realm. They arrived at x/y."
    General log message: "The destruction of Never Dawn ID, name at x1/y1 encouraged The Elders to send a ship into this realm. They arrived at x2/y2."
    General log message: "The destruction of Afterlife ID, name at x1/y1 encouraged The Elders to send a ship into this realm. They arrived at x2/y2."
    General Log message for the race that received 'The Elders': "Galactic Elders have arrived at X/Y. They offer their help in the fight against The Shadow."
    Log message of 'The Elders': "Let us clean this galaxy."
    General Log message for the race that owned 'The Elders': "The Shadow is defeated. The Elders returned home."
    General Log message for the race that owned 'The Elders': "When we allied with The Shadow The Elders joint race X."
    General Log message for the race that captured 'The Elders': "The Elders self destructed right after we captured their ship."
     

• Ships and Wings:
  • Every base of The Shadow that has 10,000 minions automatically spawns one tech 1 ship (Sign) per turn.
  • Any base with 50,000 minions additionally spawns a tech 2 ship (Sigil).
  • Tech 3 to 10 ships appear over bases with these numbers of minions:
         100,000: an additional tech 3 ship (Dice)
         500,000: an additional tech 4 ship (Restless)
      1,000,000: an additional tech 5 ship (Moloch)
      5,000,000: an additional tech 6 ship (Melted)
    10,000,000: an additional tech 7 ship (Drowning)
    20,000,000: an additional tech 8 ship (Black)
    35,000,000: an additional tech 9 ship (Never Dawn)
    50,000,000: an additional tech 10 ship (Afterlife)
    For every ship that is spawned:  Log message of the Shadow base: "We have spawned a new >Hull_name<."
  • There appears only one ship per tech level per turn. There are three things that can prevent a Shadow base from spawning these ships:
    • If the number of ships of a tech level multiplied by the tech level is higher or equal to your number of bases with more than 10.000 minions no ships of this kind are spawned. This is especially important for the lower tech levels. Your ships will have a much higher concentration where they are not constantly destroyed. Smaller bases spawn ships first. This rule does not apply for Gates. Gates always create all ships of all tech levels. No matter what.
      That also means that The Shadow will almost never have a resource points problem. The only way to use object IDs are bases, ships, wings and minefields.
      [This is a very important rule. If the maximum number of ships is reached there is no reason to not just send your ships into battles that they will loose.]
    • If a base of The Shadow, that is not a Gate is under blockade by a non-allied race no ships are spawned. Gates cannot be blockaded and always spawn a ship of every tech level every turn, no matter what.
      Log message of the Shadow base: "This base is under blockade. We cannot spawn ships."
    • The Shadow has too few resource points. Obviously also Gates won't produce if there are not enough resource points.
  • Exception to prior rule: Afterlifes do only spawn at a Gate if there are no more than 3 Afterlifes per Planet Gate. This number is increased to 7 for Asteroid Gates.
    Log message of the Gate: "Maximum number of Afterlifes reached."
  • The Afterlife, the tech 10 ship, can only exist if there is at least one open Gate. Should you have no open Gate all Afterlifes instantly vanish. As long as you have a Gate all Afterlifes repair all damage (including armor) and replenish all crew and fighters each turn.
    Log message of the Afterlife: "All damage repaired, armor and crew replenished. The Number of the Beast is complete again. This is an Afterlife."
    General log message: "X Afterlifes have vanished into the void. We have no active Gate to support them."
  • The Afterlife is immune to mine hits and detonating minefields. This includes Web Mines. Web mines do not stop the Afterlifes movement (neither by hitting them nor by detonating webs). Grav mines and Novas Barbitics still throw the Afterlife out of hyperspace. This is the only effect mines can have on an Afterlife.
    Log message of the Afterlife: "Cruising through minefields."
    Log message of the Afterlife: "Minefields are detonating around us - continuing mission."
    General Log message for the owners of the (detonating) minefields: "The Shadow ship name, ID at X/Y seems to be completely unaffected by our mines!"
  • Ships, that spawn, automatically have a standard weaponry. The Shadow can never outfit them with different weaponry.
  • Ships do not use fuel nor can they hold any fuel.
    [If it is easier to code ships can all have 100kt fuel and get their fuel amount set to 100kt at the end and the beginning (to be sure) of each turn. Warp drag factor is 0 for all ships and the 100kt are needed for i.e. hyper jumps.]
  • No ships have any cargo room.
  • No ships have any guest quarters.
  • Ships automatically gain up to 25% of their maximum ordnance per turn, but never more than they can hold.
  • Ships cannot repair themselves - not even armor. Exception: The Appearance of a Gate and the Afterlife.
  • Ships automatically receive full crew when spawned. There is no way to gain new crewmembers should some get lost. Exception: The Appearance of a Gate and the Afterlife.
  • Shadow ships can be boarded and captured.
  • Captured Shadow ships vanish the same turn they are not owned by The Shadow.
    General log message: "The ship ID, name at x/y has been captured. It vanished into the void."
    General Log message for the race that captured the Shadow ship.: "The captured Shadow ship name, ID at X/Y has vanished. We have no idea where it has gone!"
  • Any ship of foreign design, that The Shadow owns is automatically given to one of his allies. Should he have more than one ally this happens at random. These ships miraculously repair all damage completely. This includes armor. There is one crewmember of the new owner on board. If The Shadow has no allies the ship is destroyed. The Shadow can never use any other kind of ships, but his own kind.
    General log message: "The ship ID, name at x/y of race X, name_of_the_race has been captured. We have no allies to give it to. It has been destroyed."
    General log message: "The ship ID, name at x/y of race X, name_of_the_race has been captured. We gave it to our allies race X, race_name."
    General Log message for the ally: "The Shadow has offered a captured ship to us."
    Log message of the ship that has been given to the ally: "This ship has been given to us by our ally The Shadow."

  • If a Shadow ship sets its capture target to any non-Shadow ship within 100LY that has at least 66% life support damage, it has a 66% chance to gain control over the ship. Effectively this means that his ally gets the ship or that it is destroyed (if there is no ally).
    Log message of the capturing ship: "We have captured a ship with malfunctioning life support systems. ID, hull_name, ship_name."
    General Log message for the race that lost the ship: "The Shadow captured one of our ships. We suppose that the damaged life system helped him."

  • Hull plans of the ships of The Shadow do not exist. They are deleted instantly.
  • The Shadow can hold the plans for other races' ships in the memory of his ships, but he cannot do anything with these plans, but trade them.
  • The Shadow has no way to transport anything into or out of ships, pods, planets, bases or any object.
    Pods that are owned by The Shadow instantly vanish. Minions in pods of other races instantly vanish.
    The ships of The Shadow have no guest quarters, repair holds or room for any cargo.
    No ordnance can be transported to or from ships of The Shadow - not even by other races or his allies.
    Ships cannot beam anything anywhere. Stuff can be beamed to bases of The Shadow by other races or transported there by other races' ships/pods. The usual rules apply. The Shadow is not able to do anything with this stuff, but trade it (the trade partner would have to come and get what he wants).
    Log of the object that tried to transport something: "This is The Shadow. We do not beam anything anywhere."
    General log message: "This is The Shadow. Pod ID, name at x/y vanished"
    General log message: "This is The Shadow. Captured minions at x/y vanished into the void."
  • There is no way to beam stuff from Shadow ships or to steal it (privateers). [Otherwise a Privateer/Shadow alliance had endless ordnance.]
  • Destroyed ships of The Shadow never leave any wreckage behind. They just vanish. [Needed to avoid abuse].
  • Ships of The Shadow cannot be recycled. [Needed to avoid abuse].
  • "Replenish armor at base" command does not work for the Shadow.
  • Ships that can hold fighter wings spawn with no wings, but automatically receive one full bay every turn they end their movement over a base that could have spawned this ship [Exception: Afterlife]. This happens at the end of the turn, after combat. Ships always and only have one kind of fighter. Wings can never be undocked or moved in any way, but being docked to a moving ship of The Shadow. Should a carrier be destroyed in combat and the wings survive, they vanish just after the combat.
    Log message of the Carrier: "Fighter bay filled."
  • Fighter wings ignore Dock commands. They are always docked to the one ship that created them. They cannot change the ship they are docked to nor can they land at a base. If a wing is not at maximum size nothing can be done to use its slot in the carrier, but to go into a battle and have the wing destroyed (or the Appearance of a Gate).
    Log message of the Shadow wing: "This is The Shadow. Fighters are bound to their carriers."
  • The T3 fighter "The Number of the Beast" is immune to Sand Casters, Energized Sand Casters and the Nemesis Torpedo.
  • All ships can self destruct. Only exception: The tech 10 ship, The Afterlife.
  • Only the Never Dawn (tech9) and the Afterlife (tech10) can tow ships.
  • All ships have life support damage modifier 0. There is no life on the ships that needs to be 'supported'.
  • Some ships have the Base Frequency Seal Device.
    The Base Frequency Seal Device keeps Delta Stress from increasing HD Stress of a planet. Each device that is in orbit and turned on keeps 20 points of delta stress from increasing HD Stress. It costs nothing to run.
    Log message of the Shadow ship with the Device: "Base Frequency Seal has prevented the Delta Stress of this planet from increasing HD Stress by 20 point."

• Reactions to other Races (Race Designers: Please contact me if you want to discuss the reactions to your races and vice versa)
  • Solorians:
    • The Solorian Ragnarok Device can kill all bases in a 200LY radius. This includes Gates!
  • Lizards:
    • Psi-Opps Hisser Unit does not work (Happiness is set to 0 at the beginning of each turn - so this is just about the log message)
  • Privateers:
    • Minions don't become unhappy due to presence of pirates. (Happiness is set to 0 at the beginning of each turn - so this is just about the log message).
    • Cannot rob the ships of The Shadow by transporters.
    • Assault Gondolas work
    • River Royale does not work, but since The Shadow always has Happiness 0 this is just about the log message.
    • Siren HAARP does not work.
    • Gambling Deck does not work.
    • Show Lounge does not work.
    • Money Tap works as usual (should somebody have transferred money to bases or ships of The Shadow).
    • Fuel Robber does not work (if The Shadow really never has fuel on his ships that is just about the log message).
    • Cargo Grappler works (but won't grapple much most of the time).
    • Hull Plan Napper works as usual.
  • Cyborg:
    • Minions obviously cannot be assimilated.
    • Cyborg Assimilator ground unit does not work on minions.
    • Assimilation Beam does not work on minions.
  • Crystals:
    • If a base has more than 100,000 minions, crystal life forms that are on the same planet are killed. For every minion one colonist/crew/troop or High Guard (in that order) of the Crystal race that is on the same planet dies per turn. (The negative energy rays make the little Crystals burst into pieces)
      [Remark: Otherwise The Shadow&Crystal combination would be too strong. The high Delta Stress on Shadow worlds 'repays' the crystal player. In Addition the Crystal is the worst Enemy of The Shadow and has not much to fear, because The Shadow cannot repair engine damage and has few and slow minesweepers.]
      Log message of the Shadow base: "Warning: There are Crystal life forms here. We killed X Crystals with Negative Energy Rays. Beware this region!"
      Log message of the Crystal Base: "Negative Energy rays make our bodies explode!!! X1 colonists, X2 crew, X3 troops and X4 High Guards murdered!"
    • Crystal X Field Device works as usual.
    • Mind Crusher does not work. (Happiness is set to 0 at the beginning of each turn - so this is just about the log message).
  • Robots:
    • Gun Zero works perfectly. This is a real nightmare weapon for the Shadow with its high hull mass ships.
    • Insectoid Nests do not attract minions.
  • Colonies of Man:
    • Warrior Assault does not work on Gates .. that would really be too easy.
  • United Enforcement Authority:
    • The AU-147 Unit does not capture minions.
    • The Incarceration Beam works perfectly.
    • Crew Abductor does not work on The Shadow.

• Once again just the Devices:
  • Psi-Opps Hisser Unit does not work (Happiness is set to 0 at the beginning of each turn - so this is just about the log message)
  • Siren HAARP does not work.
  • Gambling Deck does not work.
  • Show Lounge does not work.
  • Money Tap works as usual (should somebody have transferred money to bases or ships of The Shadow).
  • Fuel Robber does not work (if The Shadow really never has fuel on his ships that is just about the log message).
  • Cargo Grappler works (but won't grapple much most of the times).
  • Hull Plan Napper works as usual.
  • Assimilation Beam does not work on minions.
  • Crystal X Field Device works as usual.
  • Mind Crusher does not work. (Happiness is set to 0 at the beginning of each turn - so this is just about the log message).
  • CoM Warrior Assault does not work on Gates .. that would really be too easy.
  • Crew Abductor does not work on The Shadow.
  • Reticulian Light Beam does not work.