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<html>
<title>Dueling Masters of Space-Time</title>
<body>
<p align=center><font size=+2><b>Dueling Masters of Space-Time</b></font>
<p align=center>The Rules of the Game
<hr>
<p><b>Summary of the game</b>
<p>This game is a two player strategy board game. The game takes place
in on a 10x10 grid of squares representing 100 cubic lightyears of
outer space. At the beginning of the game each
player owns half of the grid, and arranges his own pieces in his
territory. The object of the game is to explore your opponent's
territory and destroy his home planet before he destroys your home
planet.
<p>Each player has a board,
composed of a 10 by 10 grid of squares which he uses to record
his knowledge of the space in which the game occurs. Along the
top, the squares are numbered 1 - 10, from left to right, on each board.
One player's board has the letters A - J along the left side
from top to bottom. The other player's board has A - J along
the left side from bottom to top.
<p>Each player is assigned half the board as his territory. One
player get's squares A through E. This player uses the board with
A at the bottom. The other player is assigned squares F through J.
This player uses the board with J at the bottom. There is a screen
between the boards to prevent each player from seeing the other
player's board.
<hr>
<table align=center width=75%>
<tr><td><p align=center><img src="dueling-masters-of-space-time-board1.JPG"><br>
<p align=center>Player 1's board with<br>
player 1's territory<br>
highlighted.</td>
<td><p align=center><img src="dueling-masters-of-space-time-board2.JPG"><br>
<p align=center>Player 2's board with <br>
player 2's territory<br>
highlighted.</td></tr></table>
<p align=center><img src="ready-to-play.jpg">
<p align=center>Ready to play...
<p><b>Setup</b>
<p>Each player has 2 sets of pieces. The light set represents his
own pieces, the dark set represents his opponent's pieces.
<p>Each player secretly places his own light pieces in his half his
board. The pieces are as follows, <b>listed from strongest to
weakest</b>: 7 immobile astoriods, 1 W fighter which move similarly to
chess knights, 1 B fighter which move like chess queens,
2 X fighters which move like chess rooks, 2 Y fighters which
move like chess bishops, 4 Z fighters which move like chess
queens, and 1 Home planet which is immobile. In a collision, the
stronger piece kills the weaker piece. An exception to this
rule is asteroids, which destroy everything, and are themselves destroyed
by everything. (Think of them as mines.) If two pieces of the same type (e.g.
two Z fighters) collide, <em>both</em> pieces are destroyed.
<p>The pieces move as follows:
<keep>
<p align=center><table width=75%>
<td><img src=asteroid.jpg><br><font size=+2>7 immobile<br>Asteroids</font></td>
<td><img src=w-fighter-movement-s.jpg><br><font size=+2>1 W fighter<br> </font></td>
<td><img src=b-fighter-movement-s.jpg><br><font size=+2>1 B fighter<br> </font></td></tr>
<tr><td><img src=x-fighter-movement-s.jpg><br><font size=+2>2 X fighters</font></td>
<td><img src=y-fighter-movement-s.jpg><br><font size=+2>2 Y fighters</font></td>
<td><img src=z-fighter-movement-s.jpg><br><font size=+2>4 Z fighters</font></td></tr>
<tr><td>
</td></tr>
<tr><td><img src=home-planet-movement-s.jpg><br><font size=+2>1 immobile<br>Home Planet</font></td></tr>
</table>
</keep>
<p>The home planet and asteroids must be placed on squares by
themselves. Other pieces may occupy the same squares as
one's other pieces, or traverse across them. No piece may
traverse across a square occupied by one's own asteroids or
home planet. (Technically you are permitted to ram your own
asteroid, but you will lose both the ship and the asteroid.)
<p>Once each player has secretly placed his own light pieces on his
own half of his board, and does not have any information about
where his opponent's pieces are placed, game play may begin.
<p><b>Game play</b>
<p>One player is chosen to go first. Each player takes turns
moving pieces. On each move, the following sequence of events happens:
<ol>
<li>The player whose turn it is decides what piece of his
that he wants to move, and where to move it.
<li>He announces the square from which the piece is <b>DEPARTING</b>. He
<b>DOES NOT</b> announce the destination. He then <b>secretly</b> moves his
piece to the destination. At this point the piece is considered
"in transit." It is neither at the destination, nor at the
departure point. The transit will not be completed until an
attempt is made to move the piece again.
<li>The opponent records this departure point on his board by
placing the corresponding dark piece at the departure point.
If this is the first time this piece has departed, then the enemy
piece is placed on the board at the announced departure square,
and this turn is over, and the next move begins at step 1.
<li>If this is not the first time this piece has been moved, then
it (dark piece) will already be on the opponent's board. The opponent
should check that the path this piece takes from it's previously recorded
departure point does not intercept any of his pieces. If there is a
collision, <b>the stronger piece destroys the weaker pieces</b> (except
asteroids which destroy everything, and are destroyed by everything.)
Revealing the
location of the intercepting piece, the other player may find that this
piece has in turn been intercepted. This process is carried out
<em>recursively</em> until no more collisions are detected.
All possible collisions are assumed to have happened. The fact that an
interception may appear to have happened much <em>after</em> the piece intercepted
had already been moved is not an error, it is how the game is meant to be
played. Remember when moving a piece, the piece is considered "in transit"
until it is moved again. Only when it is moved again can the previous
move be evaluated to see if it was successful. This is what makes the
game interesting.
<p>In the event that an attempt is made to move a piece, and it turns out
the piece was destroyed in the previous move, this attempt counts as a
move, and it becomes the other player's turn.
<p>When one player's home planet it destroyed, the game is over and
the player whose home planet remains is the winner.
<p>A draw may result if neither player can reach the square on which
the other's home planet resides. This may happen for example if a
each player has only a Y figher remaining. Y fighters, which travel
diagonally, always remain on the same color squares. If they are on
the light squares, they are stuck on the light squares and cannot reach
dark squares. If the Home Planet is on a dark square, then the Y fighter
cannot reach it.
<li>Once all conflicts, if any, it becomes the other players turn, and
the process begins again at step 1.
</ol>
<p><b>Strategy Tips</b>
<ul>
<li>Z fighters are good as scouts
<li>W,B, and to a lesser extent X fighers can be thought of as mobile asteroids
<li>Place asteroids to defend your home planet
<li>Place scout ships so as to enter enemy territory while revealing little information
about your own territory.
<li>Record movements of your ships to know what areas you have already explored,
and to know what areas of your own territory your opponent knows are asteroid free. (This can be done by placing markers on all squares visited, e.g. pennies work well for this purpose.)
<li>Record enemy movements to know what areas in his territory are asteroid-free
and to know what areas of your own territory he has already explored.
<li>When an enemy ship departs, you may be able to predict it's path and intercept
it with a stronger ship.
</ul>
<p><b>Clarification of Collision Resolution</b>
<p>Collision resolution in this game is very different from other
games, so some clarification in the way of an example may be needed.
Collision resolution can occasionally be complicated though usually
it isn't. Let's consider a three way collision between an X fighter, a Y fighter,
and a Z fighter. Remember that in a collision, the stronger ship always
destroys the weaker (excepting asteroids as noted above).
X is stronger than Y, and Y is stronger than Z.
Here's the situation: (It may help to set up both boards and play along
to understand this.)
<ol>
<li>You have an X fighter sitting at C2. (Your opponent doesn't know this.)
<li>Your opponent moves his one remaining Y fighter from D3. (You mark
his y fighter as departed from D3 on your board.)
<li>You attempt to move your Z fighter <em>from</em> A1.
(Previously it was at E1, a fact your opponent has recorded.)
<li>Your opponent informs you that your Z fighter never
actually made it from E1 to A1, because it stumbled over his Y fighter
that he just moved to B1.
<li>So you check and you notice that your opponent's Y fighter never made it
from D3 to B1, because it stumbled onto your X fighter that's sitting at C2.
</ol><p>So what happens in this situation? Do the rules say that
the Y fighter was destroyed before it intercepted the Z fighter, and
so therefore the Z fighter was not destroyod? No. That would not be
consistent, because by that logic, the Z fighter should live in any
case as it was sitting at A1 before the Y fighter moved to B1.
The rules say that <b>both</b> the Z fighter <em>and</em> the Y fighter
are destroyed. This is the feature which makes the game interesting.
<p><b>Update Feb 11 2004</b> After getting some comments, one potential
problem with the rules has come to my attention. Occasionally, it's possible that one player will just "luck out" and stumble onto the other player's home
planet, ending the game in a very sudden and jarring way. One way to fix this
would be to for each player to have 3 home planets (bases?) instead of just one. Then there would be a kind of countdown as each planet was eliminated and the
game ending would not seem so sudden. However, with more home planets, it's
also more likely that one or the other or both players would run out of
ships before the game ends. So, there is probably some room for improvement
in the rules. Feel free to develop your own house rules.
If you have comments or questions about this game, feel free to email me.
<p>You can reach me at: <img src=email.jpeg>
<p>Here is an openscad file which defines some 3-d printable game pieces.
<ul><li><a href="dueling-masters-of-space-time-game-pieces.scad">dueling-masters-of-space-time-game-pieces.scad</a>. (For the asteroids, just go outside and find 14 little stones about 2cm in diameter.)
</ul>
<p>You will need to print this set 4 times. Print it twice in
one color, and then twice in a different color.
<p align=center><img src="dueling-masters-of-space-time-openscad-screenshot.png">
<p align=center>OpenSCAD model of game pieces
<p align=center><img src="3dprinted-gamepieces.JPG">
<p align=center>3-d printed plastic game pieces
<p align=center><img src="laser-cut-game-pieces.jpg">
<p align=center>Some laser cut acrylic game pieces
<p>Below are printable game board images. Also,
the images are provided sliced into 4 quadrants so
you can print them out on regular 8x11 paper, cut
them out, and the paste them onto a larger piece of
cardboard to build up a full sized board even if your
printer can only print 8x11 paper.
<p>Also, because these gameboards are mostly black, they
use a lot of ink, and ink is ridiculously expensive, at least
the kind that comes out of printers. And printing all black
like that may crinkle the paper a bit. So if you're not
sure you want to invest that much ink into a game like this
that you're not even sure you'll like, below the beautiful
black game board pieces, I've provided a set of somewhat less
beautiful mostly white gameboards that use a lot less ink.
<hr>
<img src="dueling-masters-of-space-time-gameboard-1.jpg">
<hr>
<img src="dueling-masters-of-space-time-gameboard-2.jpg">
<hr>
<img src="dueling-masters-of-space-time-gameboard-1-upperleft.jpg">
<hr>
Board 1, upper left<br>
<img src="dueling-masters-of-space-time-gameboard-1-lowerleft.jpg">
<hr>
Board 1, lower left<br>
<img src="dueling-masters-of-space-time-gameboard-1-upperright.jpg">
<hr>
Board 1 upper right<br>
<img src="dueling-masters-of-space-time-gameboard-1-lowerright.jpg">
<hr>
Board 1 lower right<br>
<img src="dueling-masters-of-space-time-gameboard-2-upperleft.jpg">
<hr>
Board 2 upper left<br>
<img src="dueling-masters-of-space-time-gameboard-2-lowerleft.jpg">
<hr>
Board 2 lower left<br>
<img src="dueling-masters-of-space-time-gameboard-2-upperright.jpg">
<hr>
Board 2 upper right<br>
<img src="dueling-masters-of-space-time-gameboard-2-lowerright.jpg">
<hr>
Board 2 lower right<br>
<hr>
<p>Below are mostly white gameboards to meant to conserve
your valuable printer ink. Note there are no upperright
and lowerright quadrant images for gameboard-2, this is
because they would be identical for those for gameboard 1.
so print the upperright and lowerright files twice.
<hr>
<img src="mostly-white-gameboard-1.jpg">
<p>Board 1, mostly white
<hr>
<img src="mostly-white-gameboard-2.jpg">
<p>Board 2, mostly white
<hr>
<img src="mostly-white-gameboard-1-lowerleft.jpg">
<p>Board 1, lower left
<hr>
<img src="mostly-white-gameboard-1-lowerright.jpg">
<p>Board 1 and 2, lower right
<hr>
<img src="mostly-white-gameboard-1-upperleft.jpg">
<p>Board 1, upper left
<hr>
<img src="mostly-white-gameboard-1-upperright.jpg">
<p>Board 1 and 2, upper right
<hr>
<img src="mostly-white-gameboard-2-lowerleft.jpg">
<p>Board 2, lower left
<hr>
<img src="mostly-white-gameboard-2-upperleft.jpg">
<p>Board 2, upper left
<hr>
<img src="nickel-pieces.jpg">
<p>In case you don't have a 3-d printer or laser cutter,
here are printable pieces which can be cut out and
pasted onto U.S. nickels or other appropriately sized coins.
Print it twice for a full set.
<p><font size=-1>(c) Copyright Stephen M. Cameron, 2004, 2012.</font>
<p>(The space images are public domain from NASA.)
</body>
</html>