Explosive Spaceship Combat in an Expanding Universe. Arclight is a fast playing spaceship combat game. This new release from Second Rat Games captures all the fury and chaos that dogfighting in space promises. With a one roll resolution system, an evolving setting, and the ability to add your own empire to the official universe, Arclight promises to be an excellent addition to any fighter jocks collection. Everyone wants to blow stuff up, and Arclight satisfies in style. Read about the factions currently in the game.

Faction creation is now on-line! You can check it out here.

Faction creation can also be downloaded here.

Would you like to take a test drive of Arclight? Here is a PDF with the basic rules and two ships to duke it out with.

Demo of Encounters in Nearsapce? Right here buddy.

Questions about the game? Feel free to post in the forums or send us an email

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Arclight FAQs

Q: On page 19 the rules for Nixies state that you roll need to roll a 4 or higher on the Nixie's die to break the torpedoes lock on. However, the Butterfly, Lancer, Endeavor, Vindicator, Ranger, and Strongbow have D2 Nixies. Are the ship sheets misprinted or are the Nixie rules incorrect?
A:Actually both are correct, but a D2 Nixie is currently useless. It is possible that future factions may have torpedoes that are easier to decoy away or that future tech would allow for an "exploding" Nixie roll (if you roll a 2 on a D2 it keeps rerolling) but currently they are vestigal. If you want, you can just remove the D2 Nixies, they cost one point each.

Q: Do weapons that have a x2 in their damage use the multiplier when doubles or triples roll?
A: No. If a x2 weapon hits its target and the damage dice are doubles themselves, then the doubles are not doubled. Example: MedHx2 weapon roles 5,6,6. The damage is 12 not 24.

Q: What does Cascade mean on the Damage Index. I can't find it anywhere?
A: For some reason, that didn't make it into the book. What this means is that the ship takes an immediate critical and another critical during each turn's upkeep phase.

Q: Some of the crits refer to jamming torpedoes. Either I missed it in the rulebook or jamming is not explained (unless jamming = nixie). Please explain.
A: Jamming = Nixie. We changed terms in the middle of design and missed some references.

Q: What xSV do Pau Q'ua torps go against?
A: The Paq torpedoes have some typos on them. Here are the items left out:

SlingSpear
Armor: All

LongSpear
Turn: 3
Armor: All

BroadSpear
Turn: 3
Armor: All

GreatSpear
Turn: 3
Armor: ASV

Q: What does an engineering attempt to repair "Crew" do? Is it just used to "fix" stun or can it "resurrect" a dead crew member?
A: It can "resurrect" a dead crew member. It could be that crew is ok but the equipment is all messed up. Regardless, a successful engineer roll can fix a crew hit.

Q: Is the damage from a given weapon system multiplied before the addition of the damage bonus of +1 over DS from the attack roll, or is it included in the multiplier?
A: The damage bonus is applied after any multiplication.

Q: How does engineering work?
A: The way engineering works is you determine what systems you want to fix before you roll the die. If you wish to fix multiple systems, say Thrust and Maneuver, then you divide your engineering skill of 12 between the two systems however you wish. Lets say 5 on Thrust and 7 on Maneuver. You would then roll the appropriate dice (d6 for Thrust and d8 for Maneuver). If you meet the target number that item is repaired. You can choose multiples of the same item (such as multiple Thrusts) if you wish.

Q: If a special equipment hit result comes from damage, does this wipe out the Special Equipment or CM or Nixie, or does it affect all three? If it affects only one, does this follow the same rule as even/odd attacker/defender choice?
A: One of the three items is chosen and it is handled the same rule of even/odd choice.

Q: The Nixie inactive choice for a system short; Is the nixie inactive for one turn as per shorting rules, or is the nixie rendered inactive for the balance of play?
A: For one turn. To remove the Nixie for the balance of play would require a special equipment hit.

Q: How would the Int. Links work, and what does it mean by Max, if all three ship could blast one ship?
A: Ok, Butterfly has Link I (+1/+3), Butterfly II has Link III (+3/+6), and Blinder has Link II (+2/+4). In this example, lets assume that they are shooting in Butterfly, Butterfly II, and Blinder order and all are attacking a single ship.

Butterfly fires first and declares a link with the Butterfly II and the Blinder. At this point, both the Butterfly II and the Blinder have to shoot at the same target as the Butterfly and if the target is destroyed before the other ships get to shoot, they cannot change targets.

Ok, the Butterfly would technically get a +6 to hit (+1 from itself, +3 from the Butterfly II, and +2 from the Blinder), but the max a Link I can receive is a +3, so the Butterfly gets a total of +3 to hit.

The Butterfly II also receives a +6 and since it has a Link III it gets the entire +6. The Blinder gets a +4.

 

 

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