By Any Means Necessary
Briefing
“It's been a long, relentless hunt, but we've finally located the pirates' base of operations – a space station hidden in the outer layers of the gas giant RH-881d. It looks as though they're harvesting and refining the atmospheric gases into a fuel source.
Now, the contract says we're expected to end the pirate threat 'by any means necessary,' presumably even if that means killing their women, children, elderly, and wounded in the process. I'm not happy with the idea, but the company has not afforded me the luxury of turning down this assignment, so officially, your orders are to proceed with destroying the station.
But, I would be remiss if I didn't warn you that there are many pockets of volatile gas in the area, which if dispersed in the right concentration, could cause a chain reaction that would render this entire region uninhabitable for generations. Everyone would be forced to relocate, including the colonists on Corilano. Consider yourselves warned. Good luck, and good hunting.”
Play Modes
- Solo
- Cooperative
Setup
This scenario follows the rules for Custom Setup on page 25, with the following changes:
1) Setup Space Station:
- Place the Enemy Facility tile in the center of the play area.
2) Setup Volatile Gas Pockets:
- Take two Volatile Gas Pocket tiles per player, subtracting from the total one tile for each level of Preparedness.
- Starting with the second player and proceeding clockwise, each player places a Volatile Gas Pocket tile in the play area. Tiles must be at least Range 1 apart, and may not be within Range 1 of the edge of the play area. Tiles may touch, but not overlap, any other terrain tiles.
3) Determine First Wave:
- Each player rolls a die and refers to the Enemy Ships table, below.
- For each die result, gather the listed AI deck and build the corresponding ship.
Mission Parameters
Objective: End the Pirate Threat – Prevent any future raids on the Corilano colony by any means necessary.
- [Destroy the Station] If the pirate space station is destroyed, all players win.
- [Contaminate the Region] If the Volatile Gas Pockets cause a chain reaction, all players technically succeed.
- If all player ships are destroyed before either of the victory conditions are met, all players lose.
Reward: See relevant Success result text.
Destroyed Players: These players earn 50% fewer Reward credits, but receive full Kill credits.
Success (Destroy the Station)
“Well… A contract's a contract, I guess, but that doesn't make me feel any better about it. If your conscience can be assuaged with credits, please show me how.”
Reward: 50,000 cR (per player) plus any Kill credits scored.
You win the Campaign!
Partial Success (Contaminate the Region)
“Well, I think we may have forfeited our paychecks on this one, but at least we aren't responsible for genocide. Here, this is out of my own pocket. Thanks for getting us out of this with a relatively-clean conscience.”
Reward: 10,000 cR (per player) plus any Kill credits scored.
You win the Campaign!
Failure
“All you've managed to do is piss the pirates off. I'm sure they're going to be much more ruthless in their activities from now on. We should probably get out of here while we still can, and warn the colonists on Corilano that they might want to do the same.”
You lose the Campaign.
Enemy Ships
Some ships in the table below have a variable amount of Hull and/or Evasion points. When setting up this ship, alter its starting Hull/Evasion points by the value shown.
| Die Roll | Wave 1 | Wave 2 | Wave 3+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pirate Harasser | Pirate Harasser (+1 Hull) | Pirate Harasser (+2 Hull) |
| 2 | Pirate Harasser | Pirate Harasser (+1 Evasion) | Pirate Harasser (+2 Evasion) |
| 3 | Pirate Marauder | Pirate Marauder (+1 Hull) | Pirate Marauder (+2 Hull) |
| 4 | Pirate Marauder | Pirate Marauder (+1 Evasion) | Pirate Marauder (+2 Evasion) |
| 5 | Pirate Marauder | Pirate Marauder (+1 Hull, +1 Evasion) | Pirate Marauder (+2 Hull, +2 Evasion) |
| 6 | Reroll | Reroll | Pirate Ravager (+1 Hull) |
| 7 | Reroll | Reroll | Pirate Ravager (+1 Evasion) |
| 8 | Reroll | Reroll | Pirate Ravager (+1 Hull, +1 Evasion) |
| Blank or Critical | Pirate Ravager | Pirate Ravager (+1 Hull) | Pirate Ravager (+2 Hull) |
Enemy Resolve
In this scenario, enemies will not flee under any circumstances.
Ending a Wave
When all enemy ships in the current Wave have been destroyed, players finish the current round before each rolling a die to determine the composition of the next Wave. Once all enemy ships for the next Wave are ready, players begin a new round. All player ships will already be in the play area, but the new AI ships deploy normally as they activate.
Special Rules
Space Station
- Players may attack the Space Station if it is within weapon’s range and firing arc, and if their ship does not overlap it. The Space Station has 50 Hull (plus 10% for each level of Preparedness) and 3 Evasion.
- The Space Station is considered an obstacle and follows the rules for Collisions on page 9, with the following changes:
- During the Resolve collision damage step, each die roll of 5 or more deals the player ship 1 damage.
- Each Critical result rolled deals 1 damage and also disables one part on the player ship.
- Enemy ships can overlap the Space Station with no penalty.
- When attacking, the Space Station is considered hard cover and follows the rules for Attacking Through Terrain Tiles on page 16.
Volatile Gas Pockets
- Volatile Gas Pocket tiles can be overlapped and flown through without consequence, and provide no cover.
- Attacking through a Volatile Gas Pocket tile will not ignite them, they must be deliberately targeted and attacked.
- Players may attack any Volatile Gas Pocket tiles that are within weapon’s range and firing arc, and which their ship does not overlap. Volatile Gas Pocket tiles have 3 Evasion. If at least one die is a hit, it is destroyed.
- When a Volatile Gas Pocket is destroyed, remove it from the play area and roll one die.
- Blank – No effect.
- 1 – 8 – Increase the background concentration of volatile compounds by this amount. When the background concentration reaches 10, a chain reaction triggers.
- Critical – A chain reaction immediately triggers.
- If no chain reaction was triggered by the destruction of a Volatile Gas Pocket, any ships within Range 1 must roll for damage.
- Each ship rolls a number of dice equal to its size (listed on its Chassis card), plus any modifiers from parts.
- Each die roll of 5 or more deals the ship 1 damage.
- Each Critical result rolled deals 1 damage and also disables one part on the ship.
Enemy Fighters
- There is no set number of enemy Waves in this scenario. Waves continue until one of the victory conditions is met.
Side Bets
Side Bet Name
“Side bet text goes here.”
- Side bet conditions listed here.
- Reward: # cR