Nebulae

Nebulae are permitted in Stellar Cartography games.

Nebulae are interstellar collections of ionized gas and particles covering vast areas with a fog which is difficult to penetrate with conventional sensors. This causes the following effects:

• Hide ships and planets: Each point within a nebula has a visibility factor depending on the density of the nebula. Ships and planets will only be visible at this range, regardless of the visibility at the location of the observer, or at any location in between.
• All cloaking ships except ships with advanced cloak which end their movement inside of a nebula will be decloaked after movement. Ships which start their movement inside of a nebula are decloaked at the beginning of the turn.
• Minefields and web minefields which are overlapping a nebula suffer from a 3X higher minefield decay rate.
• Ramscoop does not work (if ending movement inside a nebula).
• Planets inside a Nebula are 10 times more likely to experience a small meteor shower.
• Ordinary Bioscanners and sensor scans do not work on planets inside a nebula. Advanced bioscanners (found on the Pawn Class Baseship, which can be built by the Robots) function properly on planets inside of a nebula.
• Ion Storms which encounter a nebula have their voltage reduced by the nebula intensity each turn they touch the nebula, as the ionized gasses and particles that make up a nebula are very unfriendly towards an Ion Storm. The nebula, due to its significantly larger size and mass, is not effected.
• All native life on planets inside a nebula with visibility less than 50 light-years may be taxed higher than the normal rate before becoming angry. Since these natives have never seen the stars the arrival of aliens causes the entire population to go into a religious fervor.
• The Cyborg B41 Explorer and the Birdman Swift Heart Class Scout are equipped with a Nebula Scanner which will automatically detect planets and ships inside a nebula up to 100 light-years away regardless of the nebula density.

Nebulae have no effect on the scan distance for minefields (web and normal). While the ionized gas and particles that make up Nebulae obscure stars and planets, the particular energies that are used to coordinate the mines in a minefield (the energy that is sensed to determine the existence of a minefield) are unobstructed.

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