THE SPECTRUM GAME DATABASE



NEBULA



PUBLISHER





AUTHOR

Julian Gollop



YEAR

1984



DESCRIPTION

Nebula is a simple intergalactic strategic wargame on a planet

scale.  Up to 5 players can play.





INSTRUCTIONS



The following are the instructions from "The Rebelstar

Collection":





INTRODUCTION



Nebula is a game of strategic galactic conflict.  Players take

the role of emperors attempting to expand and control star

systems.  The inhabitants of the systems are forced to serve

their emperor but imperial conquest has its risks.  War with

other empires is inevitable.  Unrest, revolution and plague beset

the struggling empires.



WHICH GALAXY?



When the game has loaded you must choose a galaxy. Nebula offers

a choice of four galaxies in which to play.  Press the number of

the galaxy you want.  The Cloud Nebula is the best galaxy for

beginners.  Two different maps of the same galaxy are printed out

showing different information.



THE LEFT HAND MAP shows the symbols of the six different races

which inhabit the galaxy.  Each character square containing a

symbol represents one star system. Each emperor is represented

by a different colour chosen at the start of the game. As each

emperor gains control of a system the race symbol of that system

will change to the emperors colour.  A black race symbol denotes

an independent system.



THE RIGHT HAND MAP show the resource levels of the systems

according to

colour:



COLOUR         RESOURCE LEVEL

Cyan                 3

Green                2

Magenta              1



The map also shows the number of force points occupying each

system shown by a number between 0 and 9. Force points represent

military strength and technical resources.



NUMBER OF PLAYERS



Nebula can be played by one to five players. Press the number of

players participating. The one player game is played against the

computer.



PLAYER NAMES AND COLOUR

Each player types a name followed by <ENTER>.  There is a maximum

of eight letters for each player name.  Each player then selects

a colour between 2 and 6.



VICTORY CONDITIONS



Type a number within the specified range and press <ENTER>.  The

first player to obtain this number of victory points is the

winner.  The higher the number chosen the longer the game will

last.



CHOOSE SEAT PHASE



Each player must choose the seat of their empire.  The seat is

shown by a flashing character on the left hand map.  Your seat

is the base of your government and cannot be affect by any random

event or enemy attack.  In order to select systems, the direction

keys are used to move a cursor around the map.  Select the seat

of your empire by positioning the cursor over the desired system

and press <S>.  The display at the bottom of the screen shows

information about the map.  Below the name of the current player

there are three important ratings:



GOVT: This is the government rating of the empire.  It is

calculated by totalling the resource levels of each controlled

system divided by the distance to the seat.



TECH: This represents the space travel technology of the empire.

The higher the tech level the further force points can travel

without losing power.



V.P.s: This is the number of victory points accumulated so far.

It is the sum of the resource levels of all controlled systems.



SAVING THE GAME



Every game turn you will be asked whether you want to save the

game.  Press <Y> for yes or <N> for no.  If you want to save the

game you will need about five minutes of tape.  The whole game

is saved and the screen display is saved.  Make sure you are

ready to press a key after the main game has saved in order to

save the screen.



MILLENNIUMS



Every game turn of Nebula lasts a millennium.  The number of the

current millennium is displayed briefly.



FORCE POINT INCREASE PHASE



In each system that is occupied with at least one force point,

a number of force points equal to the resource level of the

system is added to those already there.  However, the maximum

number of force points a system can sustain is 9.



CHANGE SEAT PHASE



Except on the first game turn, each player is asked whether they

want to reposition their seat.  Press <Y> for yes or <N> for no.

When you reposition your seat your government level is

recalculated.  You may only reposition your seat on a system that

you control which is not affected by plague or unrest.



EXPENDITURE PHASE



Each player is asked whether they want to spend force points to

increase tech level.  To do this position the cursor over one of

your systems and press the number of force points you want to

spend.  The current cost of increasing your tech level by one is

displayed (the cost increases as the tech level rises).  You can

spend force points from as many of your systems as you want, but

you cannot spend all the force points from one system - you have

to leave at least one.  When you have finished press <K>.



COMMAND PHASE



During the command phase players take turns to command their

force points to move and attempt to cure unrest.  The number of

turns each player gets is equal to their government ratings.

However, there is a maximum of twenty commands to move force

points per command phase.



SELECT BASE: In order to select a system from which to move force

points (known as the base system) position the cursor and press

<S>.



SELECT DESTINATION: Move the cursor to the destination and press

the number of force points you want to move



For every space that a number of force points travels, one force

point is deducted.  This is due to the cost of moving military

forces over interstellar distances.  For example, in order to

move one force point to a destination one space away you must

press 2 when the cursor is positioned at the destination.  The

higher your tech level the lower the cost of moving force points.

When tech level reaches 80 then there is no cost for moving force

points.



ERROR REPORTS



There are two possible error reports during the command phase:



1. 'NOT ENOUGH FORCE TO TRAVEL': The cost of moving is too high.

You must have at least one force point arriving at the

destination.  When this error occurs you must select the base for

moving again.



2. 'TOO MANY': You have selected more force points than are

available in your base system.  Press another number.  You can

evacuate any star system except you seat, but you lose control

of the system if you do so.



MISS A ROUND



Note that the command phase is divided into rounds.  Each player

has one command per round, but once the round number exceeds a

players government rating then the player has no further rounds.

It is sometimes advantageous to miss a round (usually to let

other players make their moves first).  Press <K> if you want to

do nothing in the current round.



UNREST



Unrest is shown by a bright background on the right map. You can

attempt to get rid of it by positioning the cursor over the

unrest and pressing <U>. The closer the unrest to your seat the

better chance you have of curing it.  Attempting to cure unrest

uses up your command for the current round.



END COMMANDS

When you have finished all the commands you wish to do then press

<0> (zero).



THE RESOLUTION PHASE



During the command phase, force points leave their bases but do

not actually arrive until the resolution phase.  When all players

have finished issuing commands the resolution phase will show the

arrival of all force points and any conflicts that occur in

systems.  Conflicts occur when force points are sent to an enemy

occupied system.  Either the defender will be wiped out and

the system occupied by the attacking force, or the attacker will

be wiped out.  The success of an attack depends on the force

points involved. For example, if 3 force points are attacking 1

force point then there is a 75% chance of success.  There is a

modifier for racial domination.



RACIAL DOMINATION



If you conquer all the systems of one particular race then your

empire gains the benefits of racial domination.  Your government

and tech levels will rise by a number equal to a quarter of the

number of systems occupied by the dominated race.  If you attack

from a dominated system you get a 10% bonus.  If you are

defending a dominated system then the attacker gets a 10%

penalty.



GALACTIC EVENTS



Random events may occur after the resolution phase.  Some may not

have any effect (in which case you will have to wait a few

seconds until the next millennium).



UNREST



This event happens the most frequently of all events.  Unrest is

a state of passive hostility to the emperor, but it can be

'cured' before a revolution occurs.



REVOLUTION



When there is a revolution any system in unrest may revolt.

Systems which are a different race to your seat have a greater

chance of rebelling. A system which rebels becomes independent

and any force points in the system become hostile to all empires.





CHEATS



SEQUELS/PREQUELS

There are no direct sequels or prequels to the game, but Julian

Gollop went on to write more strategic wargames, namely Laser

Squad and Rebelstar among others.



INLAY CARD TEXT

See the Instructions.



SCORES RECEIVED



URL

ftp.dcc.uchile.cl/pub/OS/sinclair/snapshots/n/nebula.zip





GENERAL FACTS





NOTES

It is best to play this game on the highest speed that you can,

to save having to wait for the computer to make all the

calculations. 

