STATS COUNTER

Quick Links

• XvT Additional Files
• XvT Fleet Battle Info
• Elite Dangerous Commodity Table

Rules Navigation

• Basics
• Specifics
• Versus empty hex
• Versus other team hex
• Earn CAPS / Dogfights
• Story Mode
• Transfer CAPS / Cargo
• Penalty System
• Death Star II
• Pirate Hex
• Tech
• The Grinch is back!
• Reporting
• Teams Roster
• Game Movement Log

GAMEPLAY

This is a "tabletop" style mixed event (heavily inspired on RISK) which will include Dogfight, Fleet Battle vs AI and Fleet Battles in Star Wars Squadrons. It will also include Dogfights, Fleet Battles, and specific missions in X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter. And for the first time in non-Xmas Hex, Dogfights, and Cargo Transfers in Elite Dangerous.

You are NOT personally required to play all games.

For XvT (unless specified otherwise) play with default craft, default armament and HARD difficulty. XvT requires the installation of some extra missions. Detailed instructions on installation and files can be found here.

For Elite Dangerous, play on Horizons: Open Play (not Horizons Legacy). Hex players cannot use their own fleet carriers for any purpose.

The "tabletop players" will be three teams:

• Venus
• Mars
• Neptune

Players must sign up in TRA discord server, #hex-signups channel. Once signups close, players will vote for whom should be team captain. The only requirement for being eligible is to have played The Hex before. The top three voted players will be captains, and they will make the official movement calls. Then, teams will be drafted from all signed up players by captains. And once three teams have been created, the teams will be randomly assigned to each captain.

RULES

Basics and Setup

Basics

• The grid consists of 37 hexagon shaped cells, called "hexes".
• The winning team is the one that has more hexes at the end of the event, or the team that manages to wipe out the other teams, if that happens first.
• Three cells are bases (12, 23, and 33), from which each team starts.

The Main Game

• The game will use a currency that allows attacks and defense of hexes. The currency is "Capital Ships" which will henceforth be known as CAPS.
• Once the game begins, the total time of the event will be divided into "Attack cycles".
• All teams gain CAPS at the beginning of each cycle depending on the sum of CAPS indicated in the hexes they own at the moment.
• To try and conquer a new hex, the team must invest CAPS. See specifics below for more info.
• Tech level will determine what ships and components can be used in Squadrons gameplay at any time. All teams start at tech level 1.

Specifics

Attack Cycles

• Attack Cycles change on Thursdays and Mondays 18:00hrs UTC/GMT natural time.
• If a team does not fly a single match in the current Attack cycle, they will not gain "Start of cycle CAPS" at the start of the next Attack Cycle.

Matchmaking

• Teams may only match against adjacent hexes in any mode (except dogfights).
• Pilots will use Discord channels to communicate and setup matches.
• Defending hex team always chooses faction. In case of base attacks, defending hex team also chooses map.
• For pvp matches, you must play even teams. (1v1, 5v5, etc)
• For pve matches, you can play with any number of players, unless specified by hex type.
• You can only issue one pvp challenge every day. (the day changes at 6 a.m. UTC). You may however, defend hex challenges without limit. For this purpose, matches versus The Grinch team count as pve, including dogfights vs Grinch.
• If multiple challenges overlap or are connected somehow, and the outcome is critical to the next challenge made, then challenges should be played and resolved in the order they were issued. Any unforeseen problem that arises from this ruling will be solved by Scorer.
• If challenges cannot be defended after 24 hours (no player available to fly defense), then the challenge expires with no consequence. Teams are only allowed 2 consequence-free expirations for the entire Hex event. Additional expired challenges will result in an auto-win for the challenger.

Winning a HEX

• In order to win over a hex you must defeat all defending ship slots. If several teams defeat different slots, the team that gets the hex is the one that defeats the last slot. Plan carefully! Yes, this kind of last minute snatches have already happened!
• Once you have defeated an opponent, you take over the hex and invest additional CAPS to fill in the defending ship slots. You need to invest 3 CAPS per defense slot. If you have not enough CAPS, the system will be empty again, with the defending ship slots restored.

CAPS usage

• If a team challenges a hex, either versus AI or versus another team, including XvT, the challenger must invest 3 CAPS.
• Only the attacking team has to invest CAPS. The defending team does not lose CAPS while defending. Not even when they lose the match.
• If the attacking team wins the Fleet Battle without losing any capital ship, it retains the invested CAPS. This invested CAPS drop everytime a capital ship or flagship for the attacking team is destroyed. This also applies to the new XvT fleet battle missions.
• For any mode that does not specify CAPS usage explicitly, losing the mission will destroy the invested CAPS, draws will destroy one CAPS and victories will retain the 3 CAPS.
• The idea behind CAPS is to simulate the two Nebulon Frigates and MC-75 or two Arquitens Cruisers and Star Destroyer from Squadrons.
• CAPS amount has a maximum of 30.

Game Modes

• To take an unoccupied standard Hex:
  
  Squadrons: Fleet Battle vs AI - Coop should be played (not Solo). Game must be set at Normal difficulty (not Easy). Attacker may choose faction, otherwise, Fleet Battles, standard rules apply.
  
  XvT: Players can choose any faction. All human players (max 4) must be of the same team vs AI. Draws count as losses for the purpose of capturing the hex, and will destroy one CAPS. Direct losses destroy all CAPS. Use the provided Frigate Duel - Malevolent vs. Endeavor missions at the corresponding penalty level.
  
  
• To take a hex controlled by another team:
  
  Squadrons: Fleet Battles, standard rules.
  
  XvT: Play the new Fleet Battle mission. Defender chooses faction (this includes the mirror faction versions, e.g. Defender may choose Rebel vs Rebel or Empire vs Empire variations as well). CAPS lost by attacker follow Squadrons rules. Play with Craft selection ON, Default Time and Neutral balance. Flare usage is not permitted. To be able to attack the flagship, the frigates must be destroyed first as per gentleman's agreement. Accidental stray shots are fine, but purposely shooting lasers or warheads beforehand is what is not allowed. Do not quit the mission if the attacking team capital ships can still be destroyed. The attacking team MUST win the mission to capture the hex. Mission draws and loses do not count for capturing the hex. For more information on possible ship loadouts, click here.
  
  
• To earn CAPS:
  
  You can challenge another team in a dogfight to earn CAPS. Teams can clash even if they have no shared boundary. Before playing, attacker team captain must roll a 1d4+1 die (using Dice Maiden Bot in #hex-dogfights channel) to set the amount of CAPS that could be earned. Winner takes the amount indicated in the die roll. Loser takes 1 CAPS. Dogfights are part of the daily pvp limit rule, mentioned in matchmaking section.
  
  In order to cleanse the penalty value (explained below), the team must invest the amount of CAPS equal to the levels they wish to lower the penalty.
  
  Defender team chooses faction and map on SWS, ship in XvT.
  
  By default, dogfight is played in SWS. ONLY If an agreement is reached, then it can be played on other game.
  
  • Squadrons: Dogfight with standard rules. 10 minutes duration.
  • XvT: Any standard team melee with standard old days rules (lasers only, even teams, same ship, hard difficulty).
  • Elite Dangerous: You must fight in the Arena mode 1v1. Matchmaking should be easy, as it is never used by players, but it may take some tries before you face who you want to face. Use at your own peril.
  RISK MODE: You can play Dogfights in risk mode, meaning you bet CAPS from your pot and the winner takes all. This can be done ONLY if both sides agree. And you should roll a 1d4+current attack phase . If any of the teams does not have enough CAPS, then roll a die with the side of the maximum possible amount that can be bet. For example, in attack phase 3, this would be 1d4+3, but if one team has only 3 CAPS, then roll a 1d3. In Risk mode, the penalty of both teams is cleansed without having to invest any extra CAPS. Risk mode is awesome! Go for it!
  
  
• Another way to earn CAPS:
  
  If your team has less than 3 CAPS, you can earn them by playing any Squadrons Story mode mission at Ace difficulty. You can play until you have 3 or more CAPS. Getting below 3 and trying to earn them is limited to once per day. You may however, try again if you still haven't reached 3 CAPS. When more than 1 mission is flown, the missions should be different from each other. This is to prevent a team from farming CAPS flying story, then they go and spend them, and then farm them again, over and over in the same day.
  
  Streaming of the gameplay is required, with at least one opponent or a Grinch member watching
  
  The mission MUST be won at first try to earn 3 CAPS. Every time the pilot dies and a checkpoint is loaded, lowers the earned CAPS by one. If it hits zero, meaning the pilot died three times, you may select a different mission and you may still earn 3 CAPS if you beat the mission without dying. In case you are really going for 3, you may choose to forfeit that mission after the first death and move on to another mission. In the unfortunate case that you have played all missions and failed all, you may refresh the mission selection and start over.
  
  
• To transfer CAPS:
  
  You can fly Elite Dangerous cargo missions. Any amount of players from the same team must source and sell commodities to a target station, so that the combined player efforts amount to the required total of commodities. (Both commodity and target station are indicated in this table: Elite Dangerous Commodity Table. The station and commodity changes every day. Only the current day commodity and yesterday's commodity are valid. Only the current day target station will be valid. Sometimes the target is "Any fleet carrier", and sometimes no Fleet Carrier has orders for the selected commodity. If the commodity is Tritium, you may try to donate, and it counts.
  
  Before starting your cargo run, make sure you state your run in the cargo-transfer channel, and once you're done please report your completion with the proper screenshots.
  
  Once the transfer has been accomplished, you may move 3 CAPS in one of these modes:
  • From your team's CAPS pool to an empty DEF slot in a Hex owned by your team.
  • CAPS from an occupied DEF slot to another Hex's empty DEF slot. Both have to be owned by your team. This cannot be done if it comes from the last occupied DEF slot.
  • CAPS from any DEF slot from an owned Hex into the CAPS pool. This cannot be done if it comes from the last occupied DEF slot or if the movement exceeds the 30 CAPS limit.
• Penalty System:
  
  Every time you play a match vs AI (including pirate and tech missions), your Penalty will increase by one, up to 5. As mentioned earlier, to reduce the Penalty, you must play a dogfight vs another team.
  
  The following table defines the effects of Penalty level, which applies ONLY when playing vs AI (PvE) in any mode.
  
  

  Lv.	Squadrons	XvT
  0	No effects	Use Mission variation level 0
  1	Attacker Player Craft Shields and/or Hull Mod 0.8	Use Mission variation level 1
  2	Attacker Player Craft Shields and/or Hull Mod 0.6	Use Mission variation level 2
  3	Attacker Player Craft Shields and/or Hull Mod 0.4	Use Mission variation level 3
  4	Attacker Player Craft Shields and/or Hull Mod 0.4, Auxiliary and Countermeasure item count halved.	Use Mission variation level 4
  5	Attacker Player Craft Shields and/or Hull Mod 0.2, Auxiliary and Countermeasure item count halved.	Use Mission variation level 5

  
  
  
• To control the Death Star II:
  
  In Squadrons you must play: Fleet Battles vs AI Coop as rebels, only one player vs normal (not easy) AI on Fostar Haven. A spectator from an opposing team is required (a Grinch member counts too).
  
  Charge time for Squadrons is One day.
  
  In XvT you must play: Rogue Squadron Attacks ISD Dominance as rebel, using the new missions provided.
  
  Charge time for XvT is 18 hours plus 6 hours per player that participated in the attack. (e.g. One player: One day. 5 players: Two days.)
  
  In all games, the objective is to destroy the ISD. Timeouts in Squadrons do not count.
  
  Once the hex is controlled, the Death Star will charge weapons for the specified amount of time. At the end of this period it can fire to any desired system and destroy all CAPS defending, effectively removing one Hex from any opposing team. The other teams can also play the same mission within the charge period to negate it and acquire control of the Death Star. Every time the Death Star is charging up and a team tries to negate the shot, a harder version of the mission will be flown:
  
  

  Level	Squadrons	XvT
  0	No modifier	Play mission variation 0
  1	Attacker Player Craft Shields and/or Hull Mod 0.9	Play mission variation 1
  2	Attacker Player Craft Shields and/or Hull Mod 0.8	Play mission variation 2
  3	Attacker Player Craft Shields and/or Hull Mod 0.7	Play mission variation 3
  4	Attacker Player Craft Shields and/or Hull Mod 0.6	Play mission variation 4
  5	Attacker Player Craft Shields and/or Hull Mod 0.5	Play mission variation 5

  
  The firing team loses control of Death Star after using the blast. Once the blast has occurred, the difficulty level resets back to zero.
  
  This is the only Hex in the game that does not require CAPS to fill DEF slot. However, the Death Star attempt does require to invest CAPS and may also be lost as per defined by the CAPS Usage rules.
  
  
• To control a Pirate Hex:
  
  In XvT you must play the custom Ambush Arms Smugglers near Ytha'ac Cluster as Imperial using the appropriate Penalty Level variation and win the mission.
  
  Pirate hexes must be defended daily by playing the custom Hit and Fade on Elliirad Platform mission as Imperials using the appropriate Penalty Level variation in XvT.
  
  If a team defends for 3 consecutive days, the hex will belong to them for the rest of the event, not even Death Star II can remove ownership.
  
  Once a team has this temporal ownership of the Pirate Hex, they may also attack contiguous hexes as usual.
  
  PvP can be played to take over an enemy controlled pirate hex in the aforementioned missions. PvPs are not affected by Penalty, therefore, play the vanilla built-in mission for Ambush Arms Smugglers near Ytha'ac Cluster; attacker as Imperial, and defending team as Rebel.
  
  Every time the ownership of the Pirate Hex changes, the 3-day defense is reset, meaning you have to defend it for the mentioned 3 days, no matter if you had it before.
  
  All attempts require the usual 3 CAPS investment, and also use the standard method of losing them, including PvP. Once the initial attack has succeeded and your team starts ownership, only 3 CAPS are placed to occupy the Pirate Hex. No need to place more in the next 3 defense days.
  
  The CAPS that the Hex provide increase as they get defended up to 3, and reset back to 1 if the hex is retaken by pirates or by another team. This is relevant if Attack cycle ends while Pirate Hex possession is still midway.
  
  
• To earn Tech you must attack designated Tech hexes:
  
  In XvT playing as rebel the provided mission: Attack on Imperial Factory Drekker using the corresponding variation due to penalty level. To get the tech, you need to destroy the factory, even with a draw. Although a draw will make you lose 1 CAPS.
  
  The amount of Tech that each Hex gives is secret, but fixed. The secret amount is in the same position relative to each team starting hex (e.g. 8, 14 and 46 have the same amount).
  
  Please note that once a Tech Hex has been conquered and its tech absorbed, the Hex will convert into a standard Hex. The team taking over the tech will have the option to auto-take it by spending the usual 3 CAPS.
  
  Tech level only affects Star Wars Squadrons gameplay.

  Tech tree

  Lv.	Unlocked ships	Unlocked Primaries	Unlocked Auxiliaries	Unlocked Shields and Hulls	Unlocked Engines
  1	X-Wings, TIE Fighters	Laser Cannon	Concussion Missile, Proton Torpedo, Sensor Jammer	Standard Deflector Shield, Ferroceramic Hull	Sublight Engine/Twin Ion Engine
  2	A-Wing, TIE Interceptor	Rapid Fire Cannon	Seeker Mine, Cluster Missile, All Countermeasures	none	Unstable Engine
  3	none	Ion Cannon	Ion Torpedo, Rockets, Ion Rockets	Nimble Deflector, Fortified Deflector, Light Hull, Reinforced Hull	Microthrust Engine
  4	U-Wing, TIE Reaper	Auto-Aim Cannon	Tractor Beam, Tactical Shield, Rocket Turret, Supply Droid	Conversion Shield, Dampener Hull	SLAM Engine
  5	Y-Wing, TIE Bomber	Guided Burst Cannon, Guided Rotary Cannon	Beam Cannon, Proton Bomb, Ion Bomb	Resonant Shield, Ray Shield, Laminasteel Hull	Propulsion Engine, Thrust Engine
  6	none	Burst Cannon, Rotary Cannon	Multi-Lock Missile, Repair Kit, Squadron Mask, Goliath Missile	Overloaded Shield	ION Jet / Quadex Engine
  7	Everything in Squadrons is unlocked

The Grinch is back!

• The Grinch is still sore from his defeat, and he is looking for revenge! These are the tricks he has been working on with his pal Max:

Wandering Grinch Troublemaker

• The Grinch will randomly attack an occupied Hex once every Attack cycle. The time of attack will be announced with one-hour notice (expect it to be on the Grinch's free time.)
• A die will be rolled to determine which of the three teams gets attacked. Then The Grinch team will fly a fleet battle versus whomever can defend. The Grinch troublemaker attacks will use the Grinch Level modifiers, explained below.
• If no one can defend, The Grinch team will fly versus Easy AI using the Grinch Level modifiers.
• XvT is also available. Check details on the Grinch Level modifiers explained below.
• The attack will drain whatever capital ships The Grinch can destroy from the team CAPS pool total. If the team has no available CAPS in the pool, then one DEF slot will be drained from the attacked Hex. If is the last DEF slot, then the atacked team has the option to drain one DEF slot from the BASE instead. If there is no BASE available or it has only one DEF left, then it will get drained from a randomly selected Hex from that team that has more than one DEF slot. If all fails, then the attacked Hex loses ownership.
• Starting the second attack cycle and on, the previous attacked team will not be eligible, therefore, only rolling a die for the remaining two teams that were not attacked in the immediate last cycle.
• Therefore, the more hexes you own, the more likely you will receive this attack.

Grinch Hexes

• The Grinch hexes will surround the Death Star II. To attack a Grinch Hex you can challenge a 1v1 or 2v2 Fleet Battle in Squadrons or XvT, but using the Grinch Level modifiers explained below.

Grinch Dogfight

• Grinch Dogfight in Elite Dangerous will be used to reduce Grinch level.
• The Grinch will randomly spawn at the HR 4734 compromised Nav Beacon in Open Play. There will be a one-hour notice beforehand.
• Grinch can be engaged 1v1 by other players. So if 3 players want to challenge the Grinch at one spawn moment, queue up and wait your turn. The Grinch will not repair or rearm at stations between battles nor between spawns. Nor will he flee.
• Grinch dogfight time has a maximum of 1 hour. It may end earlier if opponents are over or if the Grinch is destroyed.
• Everytime the Grinch ship is destroyed, the Grinch difficulty level will drop by one. The Grinch has no means to restore his level back up.

Grinch Difficulty Table

• These are the modifiers that The Grinch will have while defending his hexes in Fleet Battles, and during wandering troublemaker attacks.

Reporting

• Before playing any game, the team captain, XO or third in command must post their move on the corresponding channel, including which game and mode they are playing, what hex they are attacking, which hex they are attacking from, and in the case of dogfights, how many CAPS are being played for or bet (this also requires the die roll).
• When finishing the match, whoever posted the move must also report the outcome by replying to the original movement in the same discord channel. Include the name of all the players who flew that match from both teams. Also post a screenshot in the #hex-ss channel.
  
  If playing Squadrons or XvT Fleet Battles, include how many capital ships (and flagship if applies) the attacking team lost.
• I (Scorer) will then update the page and react with a rebel logo to indicate the outcome has been processed.
• Please limit comments on movements channels to the bare minimum. (Make my life easier!) If you wish to comment or banter, please use the #hex-general channel.

Teams Roster