an unpublished game
Warp Gate, 2024-12-31
E taught A, J, and I a 4-player space 4X dice game he learned from its creator at Holden Village. It requires 50 d6s, 10 each in 5 colors, and a plain gridded map. The dice act as planets, spaceships, and settlements/shipyards. Building, moving, discovering planets, and battling all involve d6s rolls.
J trounced me because luck was with him and against me.
The creator told E to adapt it as he wanted. I'd give every player a colony ship to start and eliminate warp gates as dice, which didn't factor at all in our game. I'd add a bonus to fighters when battling bombers and a bonus to everything when battling colony ships. I don't know what d6s ships could be. Diplomats? Spies?
Planets
1 = unexplored ("bump" with a colony ship to explore, then roll for its type)
2 = toxic waste ("bump" with a colony ship to terraform to a 5)
3 = hostile aliens ("bump" with fighter, bomber, or capital ship to attack, when conquered, planet becomes a 5)
4 = friendly aliens (build a trading post 4 or starport 3, gives +1 action bonus)
5 = habitable planet (settle 5, gives +1 action bonus)
6 = home world (settle 6, gives +2 action bonus)
Ships
1 = capital ship (gives +1 reroll bonus)
2 = bombers (+1 vs capital ships and planets)
3 = fighters
4 = nuke (destroys all orthogonal squares, renders planets as toxic waste)
5 = colony ship
6 = warp gate (can travel between warp gates)
Build ships by declaring what you're building and rolling a d6. If you roll equal to or less than the ship's number, you build it successfully. If not, you fail, expending the action. Build one ship per turn at settled homeworlds and habitable planets and at your mother ship, two per turn at starports.
Move ships by rolling a d6. You can then move that ship the amount show on the die. Nukes, however, have a maximum movement of 4 spaces. On a 5 or 6, they detonate.
Attack a ship or planet by "bumping" it. Battle is a simple opposed d6 roll, with modifiers. Attacker can reroll if they have remaining rerolls. Ties trigger rerolls for both players.
Players get 2 actions per turn, plus an 2 additional actions per settled home world and 1 additional action per settled habitable planet and trading post. They also get one reroll per turn, plus an additional reroll per capital ship.
blue: player starting build locations
yellow: planets
(these might be misremembered)