These rules should all be considered optional, use or ignore as you like. Many of them add detail or additional tactical options to the basic rules, others are completely new.

Asteroids:

Fields of asteroids are one of the most dangerous settings in which to have a space engagement, but captains can't always pick where a battle happens… An asteroid field can be fixed or moving. Every asteroid in the field moves at the same velocity, which can be specified by the scenario, or determined randomly by rolling 1d12 for course, and 1-2d6 for speed. Individual asteroids can be represented by specially made counters or anything which is handy.

Asteroids have a number of effects on the normal course of game play. While ships are considered to take up negligible space compared to the distances between them, asteroids are much larger bodies which do take up a significant volume of space. When resolving fire, if an asteroid blocks line of sight between two vessels, no fire may be exchanged between them. Fighters and missiles must trace flight paths which avoid contacting asteroids, and energy mines may not be launched through asteroids. Ships with an asteroid between them and a mine, energy mine or similar device receive no damage, even if they are within the area of effect!

A potentially more dangerous effect of asteroids is the possibility of colliding with them. The asteroid field is moved after ship orders are written but before any ships are moved. Then capital ships are moved according to their orders. Any ship whose path (measured as a straight line from its starting position to its ending position) at any point passed through an asteroid, may have collided with it. To determine if the ship actually collided with the asteroid roll 1d6 and add 2 for every functioning drive icon, if the roll equals or exceeds the ships ending velocity, it managed to avoid hitting the asteroid. If the ships does impact the asteroid it is immediately destroyed! Note there are possible situations where the vessel will avoid or collide with the asteroid regardless of the die roll.

Asteroids are considered significantly massive that they cannot be destroyed by weapons fire or even collisions with vessels. They are also much to large to be moved by plasma nets. For smaller asteroids see the description of the debris field below under terrain rules.

Destroyed Vessels (also known as: When Ships go Bang in the Night):

Some times when ships are destroyed, they explode in an impressive cloud of fire and debris, while other ships are simply reduced to drifting hulks, allowing what remains of their crews to attempt to escape via the life pods, or await rescue. When a ship losses all of its damage boxes roll a single d6 and multiply the value by 2. If the result is less than the amount of 'excess' damage the vessel received then it explodes in a fiery cloud of scrap metal, otherwise the hulk continues along on its current course and speed. If it is important for the scenario, a drifting hulk's course can be plotted on the play area, and if they receive further damage, must make additional rolls at the end of every turn with its new excess damage value to see if it explodes. A ship will always explode when it is destroyed by collisions or by losing its last row of damage boxes by failing the special threshold check required when 2 or more threshold checks are required in the same turn.

Since ships in the Babylon 5 universe have an annoying habit of taking damage from the debris of other vessels, when a ship explodes it should be replaced with a 2 MU radius debris marker. The marker will move along the ships last course and speed for the next turn, as an asteroid. Any vessel who's path enters the debris marker suffers the same effects as if it entered a debris field, see Terrain Rules below. After the end of the next turn, the debris marker is removed, as the effects of the explosion dissipate.

Firing Solutions:

This is an optional method of specifying firing data during the orders phase. It is recomended for battles that involve 4 or more capital ships on a side. Instead of declaring fire and the use of fire controls when the ship become active during the firing phase of each turn, each fire control is given a firing solution and assigned weapons during the orders phase. It is also assigned a target during this phase. The method of writing this in the orders should be: Solution Type1(target ship) battery list, or something similar. It is usefull with this method to assign a number to each battery on the ship, that way the firing orders for a ship with 2 fire controls might look something like this: FAW (Omega1) 1 2 4; B(Hyperion2) 3 5 6. There are 4 different types of firing solutions explained below.

    Fire At Will: This is the normal mode of fire, a solution is calculated for the specified target, and all of the listed batteries may chose to fire on the target if able to do so when the ship becomes active. A specific battery may be listed on multiple Fire At Will solutions for different ships. During the firing phase the player may allow the battery to fire on any one of the targets for which he has solutions.

    Barrage: In this mode of fire the gunners pour continuous fire at a target as soon as they recieve the solution. A ship may have multiple barrage solutions against multiple targets, but any battery that is listed on a Barrage solution may not be listed on any other solutions. Additionally, when the fire is resolved, all of the batteries listed MUST fire on the designated target if possible. However due to the continuous mode of fire, the total damage inflicted by the barrage is increased by 10%. Beam weapons may be included in a barrage solution, but do not inflict any additional damage, though they still must be fired if possible.

    Time On Target: Coordinated fire is designed so that all arriving shots strike the target at the same
moment, mimizing the ability of the target to provide damage control, and swamping the capability of interceptor systems. Batteries assigned to a Time On Target solution may not be assigned to any other solutions, and only one Time On Target solution may be ordered each turn. Due to the additional complication of coordinating fire from different batteries, a Time On Target solution takes two turns to produce, during the first turn none of the assigned batteries may fire in any mode. During the second turn all included batteries which can fire on the target MUST do so. As long as at least two batteries fire on the target, they gain the following bennifits: If the target ship is protected by interceptors, it may only intercept ONE incoming shot (from the TOT, solution, incoming fire from other solutions or other ships is handled normally). Pulse attacks inflict an additional 10% of the total damage as in a Barrage, and all attack rolls (including beam weapons) recieve critical rerolls on both a 5 and a 6. A Time On Target solution may be maintained after the second turn by continuing to list it in the orders, but no additional batteries may be listed. Every subsequent turn after the second the batteries must fire on the target if able, and recieve all of the above bennifits.

    Ordinance Launch: A fire control must be tasked to the launching of any ordinance. One fire control may fire any number of missiles at a single target, or any number of energy mines, as long as all mines are launched within 6 MU of each other.

Anti-fighter batteries used against capital ships and other weapons which fire without the use of a fire control cannot be given firing solutions, and all fire from them is handled normally. Weapons which may fire in both anti-ship and anti-fighter mode without the use of a dedicated fire control (such as Mimbari beam batteries) may fire in anti fighter mode if they either have been given no firing solution, or are listed on FAW soultion(s), in which case they may instead chose to fire on fighters. Finally weapons which require the use of a fire control in order to fire on fighters (pulse 1 and some pulse 2 batteries), require FAW orders with 'anti-fighter' listed as the target, which allows each listed battery to fire on a fighter squadron within range during the normal portion of the firing sequence (not during the anti-fighter fire phase).

First Ones:

The technology of the first ones is far in advance of the younger races, even the Mimbari. As a result there a number of special rules that apply to First One spacecraft, primarily the vessels of the Shadows and Vorlons.

First Ones ignore a number of restrictions that apply to the younger races. They may fire without restriction when forming jump points, may form jump points wherever they wish (except within a solid object), and when exiting hyperspace never scatter from their intended point of entry. First Ones may use their jump engines as often as they wish, and do not need to wait for them to recharge. In addition shadow phase drives work as per the normal rules for jump drives, except that no actual jump point is formed, the ship itself dissappears into hyperspace (or appears in normal space) at the end of the turn in which it receives jump orders. Do to their advanced sensors, they are not affected by Mimbari jamming systems. Their gravimetric drives may use any amount of thrust for turns, not just half. And finally their beam systems lose 1 die for every 10 MU of distance, instead of the normal 6 MU, and may channel any amount of available power through a projector. Shadow beam weapons are even more powerful, and a single projector can 'sweep' a beam through space, hitting multiple targets. A seperate fire control is required for each target, and two points of energy are lost sweeping the beam for each target. So if a shadow ship had 10 power, and wished to spend it all attacking 3 vessels, it would use 6 points to sweep the beam, inflicting 4 die of damage to each target.

The Vorlons are much fewer in number than they once were, and being nearly immortal, tend to avoid sacrificing themselves. Thus Vorlon ships must roll a 6 in order to ram. The Shadow vessels are not generally piloted by actual Shadows, however the number of ships they have is limited since they lost so many in the last war, so they too must roll a 6 in order to ram.

Hyperspace:

It has been said that every battle that was ever fought in hyperspace ended in disaster, for both sides. Never-the-less, there are plenty of captains foolish enough, or desperate enough to try.
-after all other movement, move each ship 1d6MU in a random heading due to hyperspace currents.
-all weapons limited to 20MU range.
-any fighters must remain within 20 MU of another ship. however daisy chaining is possible. any fighter ending the game outside of 20 MU of a friendly ship is lost. the exception is long-range fighters which can maintain their own beacon lock.
-capital ships may lose lock on hyperspace beacons if:
    -any vessel uses a mimbari jamming system, ruins lock for all vessels!
    -the vessel uses nominal ecm systems (not using such systems allows all pulse weapons to hit on 3 or better)
    -any time a fire control is lost, roll one die for each reamining fire control. At least one 5 or 6 is required to
    maintain a beacon lock.
    - any ship hit by an EMP weapon.
- any ship ending the encounter without a hyperspace lock, may roll one die for each active fire control, add one for each turn which has passed, if the result of any die is les than 6, then the beacon is regained.
- any ship ending the encounter without a beacon lock or functioning jump engine  is lost
- any ship ending the encounter without a beacon lock, but with a functional jump engine may jump to normal space to get bearings (providing it has at least one fire control, otherwise it will be lost in normal space)
- any ship that would otherwise be lost that can remain within 20 MU of a vessel which is not lost may follow it.

Jump Point Formation:

Some scenarios may allow for ships to enter the table via one or more jump points. When this occurs the player controlling the jumping ships should determine his 'target' jump points in whatever manner is being used as normal. However when the jump point actually forms, it will 'scatter' from its intended location due to the difficulties of navigating hyperspace. A d12 should be rolled to determine the direction in which the actual jump point is formed. The distance from the target point is determined by rolling 10d6 for Narn, League, and Earth vessels. Centauri vessels roll 6d6, and Mimbari vessels roll 2d6. The number of die rolled is halved if the target point is within 30 MU of a hyperspace beacon. Typically a target jump point may not be placed within 60 MU (though this may depend on your scale) of a large gravitational body, like a planet, or within 30 MU of a minor gravitational body, such as an asteroid or Babylon 5. If a jump point scatters into one of these forbidden areas, all exiting ships are destroyed (this is why most vessels typically jump far away from planets…). If a jump point is formed within 1 MU of another vessel, that ship is treated as entering a jump point illegally, and is completely destroyed. The ship forming the jump point will receive feedback normally however…

The Mimbari have refined jump engine technology further than the other races. If a Mimbari ship has accurate enough position data, they may form a jump point anywhere, even inside the gravity well and atmosphere of a planet. These jump points do not scatter. A Mimbari ship jumping into a Mimbari held position should always be considered to have accurate position data, in other cases the data must be communicated to the ship from a source in normal space prior tot he formation of the jump point.

Ships in normal space form jump points normally, where ever they chose, providing it is not within a forbidden area (except for Mimbari vessels, which may form jump points anywhere). Jump points formed in normal space may not be used to 'target' other ships by forcing them to enter on an illegal heading. The jump point forms slowly enough that a ship may avoid a jump point forming in its path if it wishes to.

Mines:

Mines in B5 are typically small nuclear weapons, which can be either detonated by command or proximity to other ships. Upon detonation, mines are considered Narn energy mines, inflicting 6d6 damage, reduced by 1 die for every full MU away from the mine. Therefore all ships (and fighter groups) within 6 MU will receive damage.

Mines are placed at the beginning of a scenario in one of two ways. Due to the sensitivity of the sensor systems on most races' vessels, the locations of mines are obvious to all ships, unless there are circumstances which make their detection impossible (asteroid belt, gas cloud, debris field, etc.), in any case the details of the scenario should moke this apparent. The player controlling the mines, or responsible for their placement, should decide on their location before either side determines the positions of their ships. Usually mines may simply have their positions marked with counters or die, in the case of hidden mines, the player (or referee) who placed them should record their locations. The type of mine (command detonated or proximity detonated) must also be decided before the start of the scenario.

Command detonated mines must be given orders to detonate during the orders phase of a turn, any number of mines may be detonated in a given turn. Mine detonation occurs after all movement (including that due to plasma nets) has occurred.

Proximity detonation is more complicated and is best used with a referee. Any mine will detonate when any ship (including 'friendly' ships!) passes within 6 MU of the mine. To determine if a ship has passed within the critical radius, the referee should plot a straight line from the ships starting position to ending position (I know a simplification), and measure the closest approach to the mine. Multiple ships may be affected by the same mine. Use the closest distance of closest approach to calculate damage. Ships which survive the detonation, are placed at their final locations as normal. It is also possible for a ship to detonate multiple mines in this manner.

Q-Ships:

Raiders plague the transport and merchant ships of most of the major races, in addition to the lesser races of the League worlds. Despite the damage that raiders inflict on trade, the use of regular military vessels to engage raider ships is usually not a financially viable solution, except in cases where a strike on the raider's base of operations is possible. Q-ships are a cheaper and sneakier alternative to keeping a destroyer on station at every jump point. Generally a converted freighter or transport ship, Q-ships replace their typical cargoes with offensive and defensive weaponry and even fighter groups. Anti-fighter and pulse batteries are typical additions to these vessels. However to all outward appearances, the Q-ship appears and maneuvers like a typical non-combat vessel of its particular hull type. It is therefore able to travel the trade lanes where raiders are known to operate, luring a raider to engage it. Then the gun ports open, the fighters deploy and the raiders are in for a terrible surprise…

Space Stations:

Since this game is called The Babylon Project, rules for space stations would seem a given. There are two types of installations available for use, small unmanned platforms, and large manned stations. Stations may be either stationary or move in a predetermined manner each turn, same as asteroids. Both types of stations are handled as ships, using control sheets and all of the standard rules, with the following additions.

Small unmanned platforms can be anything from blockade mines to the satellites of a planetary defense grid. These platforms are generally the size of smaller ships, and have only maneuver drives. Orders for movement must be written as normal, or the platform may be allowed to rotate to bear (as close as possible) on the nearest hostile vessel at the end of the movement phase. This second method is recommended if a the battle contains a large number of these type of vessels.

Larger space stations can range in size from small orbital labs housing a dozen people to Babylon 5 itself, they never have maneuver drives, though often have a reactor system to power weapons and other systems. Destruction of either the station or the reactor will result in a reactor detonation and station explosion. The detonation of the reactor is treated as an energy mine explosion, however due to the significant mass of the station, this explosion is much more destructive, throwing debris in all directions. For every row of damage boxes the station had, it does an additional die of damage beyond the 6 die from the reactor. Stations that do not have reactors, are destroyed in the same manner as other ships.

Very large stations, such as Babylon 5, the Centauri Ragesh 3 installation, and the Narn bases at Quadrants 14 and 37 can be handled as having multiple independent sections, each with their own fire control and set of damage boxes. The destruction of one section typically results in the destruction of the entire station as structural integrity fails. Ships attacking the station should randomly determine which section they hit when firing from ranges exceeding 20 MU. At closer ranges the firing ships should be allowed to attack whichever section they wish. In some circumstances it may be impossible for a ship to attack certain sections of the station. For example, a ship attacking a circular station divided into four arc-shaped sections, would be unable to attack the section on the far side of the station. When a station of this type is destroyed, the total number of damage rows from ALL sections of the station is used to compute the number of die of damage. Generally speaking, it is not a good idea to be anywhere near something as big as B5 when it explodes…

Telepaths:

Everyone knows the best way to deal with Shadow vessels is with telepaths. However, freezing a spider big as death and twice as ugly isn't as easy as it looks on TV. The 'telepath phase' occures immediately after the orders phase, before any movement has occured. Each telepath may attempt to freeze one shadow vessel or fighter squadron. Roll one die and add 1 for every previous attempt, also add 1 for every full 10 MU distance to the target. If the result is 5 or less, the shadow vessel is successfully frozen, and may not take any action this turn, including firing, movement, or even residual velocity from previous turn. If the die roll comes up a natural '6', the strain kills the telepath.

A shadow vessel may be held frozen for more than one turn, but the roll must still be made at the beginning of each turn, if it is failed, then the vessel is freed and may act normally, with a starting velocity of 0. In order to freeze or maintain hold over a shadow vessel, the telepath must have a direct line of sight, anything which blocks firing will also block the telepaths ability to freeze a shadow vessel.

Terrain:

The ideal fleet engagement occurs in deep space, where the situation can be precisely controlled and random elements eliminated. Unfortunately there is very little worth fighting for out in deep space. All of the important targets are in solar systems, where suns, planets, asteroids, and gravity wells make a simple fleet action infinitely more complicated. The effects of singular asteroids and planetoids were covered above under asteroids, the rules below cover area phenomena that may be encountered in space. Many of the types of terrain can be combined for truly apocalyptic battles,.

                    Gravity Wells: