THE WARLORD

Hints for playing the WARLORD Character

It is hard to determine, even from this later point in history whether the Stellar Warlords who came to play a major role in the early days of the Second Empire were villains or heroes. Often, it depended upon whom they worked for and who was victorious (meaning who wrote the history). However, the mercenary Warlord, though sometimes ruthless, was meticulous in his personal code of honor, no matter how strange it seemed to Client races. Warlord warriors were brave and fearless and well trained. Only rare and isolated cases have been reported of civilian populations being harmed by occupying Warlord forces. Most Warlord populations turned to mercenary work for a chance to leave the poor economic circumstances of their systems and to see the Galaxy.

As the Star Barons expanded, the Warlords became the warriors of choice, the foot soldiers of the Imperial Wars. The occupation of these soldiers of fortune has given rise to rumors about their trustworthiness but usually from faithless Clients. The Warlords were quick to take offense and dangerous to double-cross. But their courage has never been questioned. At least, not by anyone who lived...

- excerpt Encyclopaedia Galactica

WARLORD SCORING:

Each Turn:

• 50 points for each World captured decreasing by 10 points each time the World is captured (by any Player) until it is worth a minimum of 10 points per capture.
• 1 point for each point of Fleet Strength
• 25 points for each Fleet captured
• 50 points for each world destroyed by Gravitronic Disruptor
• 2 Imperial Credits per world deposited at Homeworld for each world given in Tribute to another player.
• Warlord’s BattleStars add 6 to Fleet Strength, 6 to Shield Strength and can move 3 worlds per turn.
• Special Alliance condition – Warlord will auto-capture un-protected worlds from Allies.

Gems: FIRESTONES

Relics:

• The Runesword (Also Raider)
• The Prime Radiant (Also Philosopher)
• The Iridium Palace (Also Baron)
• The Tram-X-Krang (Also Terminator)

WARLORD ADVANTAGES: The Warlord's BattleStars can travel 3 worlds per turn much better then the other Starlords whose BattleStars limit their Fleet speed to 2 world per turn. Also, the Warlord Tribute: Warlords can give an unlimited number of worlds captured, on the turn they are captured, as tribute to another Starlord for points, without affecting their normal 3 gift limit. A subtle difference in the Warlord Alliance condition makes having Allies easier for them, though it might not seem like it at first. Warlords will capture unprotected worlds from Allies as well as Neutrals and enemies. As capturing worlds is so important to the Warlord, this allows alliances with other Starlords will can careful direct the Warlord to specific worlds and who can protect all the worlds that he does not want his pet Warlord to capture.

WARLORD TRIBUTE: The Warlord has access to a Tribute List in the War Room that displays all the worlds captured in the previous turn. The Tribute List allows the Warlord to check off which of these worlds will be Awarded for Tribute to any player s/he has met. Worlds that were captured from the player designated as client do not produce Imperial Credits. The Warlord may treat the captured worlds in any normal way, including removing valuable artifacts or credits captured during conquest but only worlds immediately captured will available for tribute. Any actions that would lead to ownership change, however, will supercede that Tribute Award, i.e. capture by another player, a ravage causing the world to Rebel, etc. In the case of a superceding action the Warlord will receive no credits.

WARLORD STRATEGIES: What a ferocious title you have, Warlord! Your goal seems the simplest of all of the characters, though the solution of how to succeed at it may not be. You want to be the biggest and baddest character in the game. Size does matter! Big fleets and lots of them count. Also, you want to conquer anything and everything. That’s where your points come from, conquering worlds and fleets. This is not a problem early in the game because every world you go to you automatically conquer. It is very important for you to understand the process of capture, which is based on a game principle called "contention". If you haven’t read it yet, read about Contention for more information.

As mentioned, you will probably not have too many problems conquering the 22 worlds that are intrinsically yours if you expand as far and as fast as you can (350 divided by the 16 Starlords in a Universe). You will have no one to argue with at these first worlds. But then things can get tough. People will probably not just agree that you can conquer your worlds even though you just do it for fun and don’t mean anything personal by it. In fact you don’t even mind giving them back so that you conquer them again. Still, people are likely to go postal on you, even if you are the Robin Hood of the universe. So, you will have to work out some deals. Some of these are naturals, others aren’t.

THE TRADER
The Warlord wants your business. Don’t see why you can’t arrange to conquer worlds in his empire in return. Especially if you are willing to not protect them so that he can easily get them back. Some of them he won’t want back because he will want o drop raw materials on them for awhile. Lots of way to work with a Trader if you are creative.

THE HOURI
Like all the other characters, your deals with the Houri will depend upon whom the Houri is emulating. In most cases, you won’t care. Just look at any of the other character types below and shape your relationship based on those.

THE RAIDER
This character may very well want you to do some conquering in his empire. If you are very, very nice to him, he will tell you where and when and then he can Raid those worlds after you conquer them. This would be especially good if he was already an ally of the Baron you want to work with. This is also a possible client, though not as honorable as the Baron relationship. Raiders are a lot less principled.

THE PHILOSOPHER
Philosopher’s are uncomfortable with material things like worlds. They would like to shed them, if they are wise and you may have to explain that to them. They need to do deals with a lot of their worlds but having a Warlord conquer them might work to their advantage for awhile so that they can go back to minionizing. Another important task you can perform for a Philosopher is conquering worlds that have been taken over by minions.

THE TERMINATOR
You are not natural enemies, neither are you natural allies. However, there may be times when robotized worlds need conquering for one reason or another and you may need the services of a Terminator. If you wanted to find a sort of neutral character you could use as a client for awhile until you switch clients and re-conquer worlds, this is a great choice.

THE BARON
This is the most natural. Barons love worlds, especially high population, high resource producing worlds. You can make one a client and they will help you find targets and they should be willing to build up your fleets, maybe even give you some.

WARLORD HINTS FROM THE GALACTIC EFFECTUATOR: The Warlord will make early points with his captures. It is a real challenge to keep this Attila the Hun personage going, though. It takes political savvy and creativeness to find reasons why other characters should let you change the ownership of a world, even temporarily. However you are a terrific ally, if with a hair trigger. The Warlord can work very well with any of the Characters who need Worlds such as the Baron and Raider but very satisfactory alliances can be arranged with the Philosopher, the Houri, the Terminator and the Trader.