4000 A.D. (board game)

4000 A.D. is a complex board game from the early 1970s.

Storyline
The time is 2000 years in the future. ..

Men now live on the planets of other stars many light-years from Earth. Rivalry between them has led to war, one that will be waged in space, with fleets of starships. ..

Historical background
During the centuries while men were spreading throughout the Solar System, travel to the stars was prevented by the vast distances of outer space. Then, early in the 30th century, the hyper-space drive was developed, which could propel spaceships far beyond the speed of light, and the nations of Earth began a slow and steady expansion beyond their own system. Through almost a thousand years, new stars and planets were explored, their resources tapped, worlds colonized, until Man was spread across a thousand light-years of the galaxy, and Earth became a minor planet of a minor sun. Throughout this long period of expansion, peaceful relations were maintained, but as the year 4000 A.D. approached, growing rivalry and ambition among the powerful worlds led to hostilities. With their declarations of war against each other, Man's first interstellar conflict had begun.

The star field
The area of the galaxy containing the Star Field extends up to several hundred light-years in all directions from the Earth and its sun. (The name "Sol" for our Sun is widely used in science-fiction). Within this limit of Man's expansion by 4000 A.D., no alien intelligent life had been encountered.

The stars on the board are not all the actual stars within this area, but only those assumed (for the purpose of the game) to have planets on which men can set foot. The size and color of each star is only a means of depth perception, and no special representation has been made for double or multiple stars. The horizontal plane of the star field is closely parallel to the plane of the earth's equator, and all stars are generally in their proper positions relative to the sun. (Relative distances can only be approximate, due to uncertain measurement of distances greater than about 30 light-years).

For the purpose of the game, the stars in each sector are always considered closer to one another than to any other star outside the sector.

Hyper-Space Paths
Hyper-Space does not lie outside or separate from the area of normal space.

Both are present in one and the same area, like the idea of different "dimensions", and starships pass from one into the other when they cross the speed of light. The separation of the two on the board is used to represent this entry and exit between normal and hyper-space.

Hyper-Space Warps
The hyper-space warp does not represent a material object or actual conveying device. The term "warp" refers to the generated energy field surrounding the ships while they are in hyper-space. A single ship can generate a warp but when two or more ships travel together they merge their warps into one.

The Matter Transmission System
When ships occupy a star, a matter transmitter is set up there which can transmit only to the receiving terminal at the Home Star. Men and materials can be transmitted through this System instantaneously, but it cannot handle anything as large as an entire starship. If another player occupies the star, he sets up his own transmitter to his Home Star. The particular resources of a star are considered inexhaustible.

Battle
When battle takes place between two fleets of starships, each fleet generates a combat energy field which is equal in strength to the number of ships generating it. The stronger field always totally destroys the weaker field and the ships generating it, without damage to itself. A fleet will not attack another of equal size, as the effect produced by the encounter of two equal fields can prove fatal to a ship's structure.

The Nature of Motion in Hyper-Space
In hyper-space, the laws of movement and direction differ from those of the normal universe. When ships accelerate to reach the speed of light (the velocity at which they enter hyper-space), they are travelling for a short distance in normal space in a certain direction. But when they break through into hyper-space, they do not continue in this specific direction.

Their direction of travel from that point can be likened to the movement of an expanding sphere, as when air is blown into a balloon: outward in all directions from the central starting point. This is not to say that the warp containing the ships expands, or is simultaneously at all these different positions on the expanding "surface", but that it is potentially at any one of these positions. And it is travelling in a "straight line" in the sense that all the possible radii of a sphere are straight lines.

This sphere of potential location expands at a fixed speed (approx. 104 x light) which cannot be varied during its duration. Because its speed is fixed, its position can be measured relative to normal space at any time. A control contained in each ship's drive system chooses, at the desired moment, a co-ordinate from among these expanding positions. (Communication is possible between normal and hyper-space). Thus the warp breaks and the ships emerge at a definite position in normal space.

(Note: There are many different theories about the nature of hyper-space travel in science-fiction. The theory discussed here best explains the movement of starships in the game 4000 A.D.).