From Placeholder Productions
PDF – $4.99 USD
Afterglow: Outer Dark Is an Expansion Module for Afterglow: FTL Warfare Sunders The Stars
This module provides players with a new way to play Afterglow: against a totally automated opponent known as the Biocraft. This alien menace threatens a humanity already on the brink, and it's up to Starcore Commanders to unite and deal with the menace they represent. As the implacable Biocraft incursions push deeper and deeper into human space, humanity can no longer afford to fight among itself if it wishes to have any future among the stars.
Like Afterglow, Outer Dark is designed from the ground up from print-and-play, with multiple options for token sheets; square, hexagonal, and black-and-white options are all included, along with multiple types of options for some types of counters. Players are encouraged to mix and match and use what works best for them. However, beyond tokens and printing out some new player aids, little else is needed as the components from Afterglow are fully compatible with Outer Dark.
Outer Dark lets players experience the Biocraft War on multiple levels. This module includes two major components: rules for the Biocraft and their governing automata, and the Outer Dark campaign.
The Biocraft
An advanced spacefaring species evolved to survive and thrive in the dark between stars, the Biocraft are a new adversary for human players. Their behavior is controlled by a handful of six-sided dice and a single chart for each type of Biocraft, with eight distinct types for players to wage war with. They all have distinct advantages, disadvantages, and behaviors that players will learn to cope with or be crushed by!
The Biocraft can be represented by any appropriate miniatures, but for players not looking to use miniatures both full-color and black-and-white illustrated tokens are included. They also come with their own unique mechanics designed with the intent to make playing against the Biocraft as fast-and-easy as possible, so players can focus on controlling their own ships instead of grappling with the rules of the automata. The automata operate totally independent of player decision-making, so you'll never have to make a judgment call for them.
Games against the Biocraft can be played as a stand-alone affair, with quick randomized set-up options available for players who want to jump into the action as quickly as possible.
The Campaign
In the Outer Dark campaign, a player is responsible for defending and eventually evacuating a sector of human space they have been assigned to. This sector is represented with a campaign map, containing various nodes and assets important to human infrastructure, and the locations where Biocraft incursions may attempt to breach your defenses.
As the local Starcore Commanders, you are responsible for both tactical and strategic decisions. The campaign demands the players make choices about where to build or disassemble resources like shipyards, whether to build up their personal fleets or non-player combat and transport craft, and manage research to provide themselves an advantage against this new and unknown danger. When the player's fleet clashes with an incursion, the result is resolved using a game of Afterglow against the Biocraft automata. The player's fleet is persistent between battles, so a play that may work well during a standalone game may represent devastating risk; the player's personal fleet is their most powerful asset, but can only be in one location at a time and diverting too many resources into it will stall evacuation and fortification efforts elsewhere.
A variety of different strategies have been tested and proven viable, and playing a complete campaign can take anywhere from three to ten hours.
With the Purchase of Afterglow: Outer Dark, You Will Receive:
- 44-page Module Rulebook: This document includes everything you need to know to play against the Biocraft, as well as the rules for campaign play.
- Token Sheets and Player References: A variety of shapes, as well as color and printer-friendly options are included.
- Campaign Record and Reference: A new record sheet for keeping track of the players' assets throughout the campaign is included, as well as a handy player reference with commonly referenced tables and rules.
- Sector Map: The map, the campaign is played on, designed to let players customize it with personalized colony and zone titles as desired to help craft their own narrative.
- Biocraft Automata: Special printer-friendly behavior charts for all Biocraft, with two per page, allowing for all Biocraft types to have their full stats, automata, and other important references available on only four pages.
Outer Dark requires Afterglow: FTL Warfare Sunders The Stars to play.
