In Dune, six factions struggle for control of Arrakis, which is the planet from the Frank Herbert novel - spice which everybody wants, sandworms, the ecology makes no sense. The main thing that differentiates the factions is they all change the rules in some way - for example, the Harkonnen can hold more Treachery cards than the normal hand limit of 4. However, every faction starts with 5 leaders, has 20 "forces" (troops), earns "spice" (money), and has a hand of "Treachery cards". Forces are either on Dune, in "reserve" (in space), or dead. Leaders have a "fighting strength" used in combat. The rules are, sigh, a bit of a confusion between the old Avalon Hill edition, the new edition, the sometimes-inconsistent clarifications provided by Avalon Hill, the sometimes-inconsistent clarifications provided by the new publishers, and the commonly played variants and rulings (the game has been played at the World Boardgaming Championships since forever). This document tries to reflect what treachery.online actually _does_ with the set of options that I plan to use. Map === The board depicts a circular map of one hemisphere of Dune. The map is divided both into "territories", irregular-shaped chunks used for movement and combat, and into 18 "sectors", evenly-shaped wedges which Dune's sandstorms blow across. Most territories are in more than one sector, and when forces move to a territory, they must in general decide which sector they end up in. Except during the Storm Phase, exactly one sector is "under" (affected by) a sandstorm at any given time. Forces may not move out of, into, or through the sector under a sandstorm. Forces in the sector under a sandstorm cannot fight. Territories come in four flavours. The object of the game is to hold "strongholds"; forces in strongholds are safe from death from sandstorms (but see "Shield Wall" below) or sandworms; and if two players have forces in a stronghold, a third player cannot move into or through the territory. Spice may "bloom" in a subset of "sand" territories (spicy territories are specially marked on the map), but also sandworms may arrive in those sand territories to devour everything. Spice on the map can be harvested by forces. Forces in any sand territory except the Imperial Basin are killed by sandstorms. "Rock" territories are safe from death by sandworms, but also from blooms of valuable spice. Forces in them are not killed by sandstorms. The Polar Basin is neutral ground. Any number of players can have forces there (and they do not fight), and it is never affected by sandstorms or sandworms. Many officious polar bears live there and they break up any fights; also they have a large umbrella and like the taste of sandworm. The Shield Wall is a normal rock territory in and of itself, but may get blown up during play. If this happens, forces in the Imperial Basin, Arrakeen, and Carthag are killed by subsequent sandstorm movement. The Shield Wall remains a rock territory. Secrecy ======= The rules forbid tracking things (like the amount of spice a player has) other than by memory, which might work face to face but seems like a terrible fit for online async play. treachery.online instead can automatically track anything that could in principle be tracked, and I will have it do so. You can tell people about your Treachery cards. You can't reveal them other than in normal play (see below; as far as possible we're not using the Deals mechanic). Setup ===== During setup each faction is dealt 4 cards from the "Traitor deck", which depicts every leader in the game, and chooses to keep one. This leader will betray their faction in combat to aid yours. If you are dealt your own leaders, you know for sure those leaders will never betray you. Players then take their starting spice (faction-dependent), place their starting forces (which will be divided between Dune and the reserve in a faction-dependent way), and draw one Treachery card. The Treachery cards are played to grant special abilities in and out of combat. Each player has a "player marker" at a specific spot around the board. Each turn consists of several phases. Storm Phase =========== On the first turn of the game the sandstorm is placed semi-randomly; two players secretly select numbers from 0 to 20 which are added together, and it is placed that many sectors counterclockwise from the uppermost sector. (In face to face play, these secret number selections are done with the "Battle Wheels", number dials.) On subsequent turns, the two players who last fought a battle secretly select numbers from 1 to 3. These are added together and the sandstorm moves that many sectors counterclockwise. Exposed forces in sectors it passes over or finishes in are killed, and any spice on the map in those sectors is blown away and destroyed. Forces and spice in the sector the sandstorm begins in are not destroyed, even if the sandstorm does not move (which, eg, the Weather Control Treachery card can cause). The player whose player marker is next to be approached by the sandstorm is the "First Player" during the turn. Most things start with the First Player, then are resolved counterclockwise. Spice Blow Phase ================ Turn over the first card of the Spice Deck. If this shows a territory and an amount of spice, place that amount of spice on the map. If it shows a sandworm, all forces and spice in the territory on the top of the Spice Deck discard pile are destroyed. Draw again until you draw a territory. Exception: during the first turn, sandworm draws are reshuffled into the deck. The first turn draw must be a territory. If a sandworm emerges, there is then a "Nexus", described later, where players can form and break alliances. Charity Phase ============= A player with 0 or 1 spice gains spice to bring their total to 2. Bidding Phase ============= The hand limit for Treachery cards is 4, and they cannot be discarded at will, they must be used during play. Deal out a number of cards face down equal to the number of players with non-full hands. Each card is auctioned off in sequence, with bidding on the first card starting with the First Player (or if their hand is full, the next player to their right whose hand is not full). You can re-enter an auction after passing if at least one other player bids. If your hand is full, you must pass. Bidding on each subsequent card is started by the next player with a non-full hand on the right of the player who started the bidding on the previous card. If everyone passes on a card, the auction ends immediately. The remaining cards return to the top of the deck with their order unchanged. Revival Phase ============= Each player (starting with the First Player) may revive up to three forces. Each faction gets some revivals for free and pays 2 spice per force for additional revivals. Revived forces end up in the reserves. If you have no leaders, you may start reviving leaders; you may revive one leader per turn at a cost in spice equal to their fighting strength. If a revived leader is killed again, they can't be revived again until you have revived all your other leaders and they have been killed. Shipment and Movement Phase =========================== The "storm and stronghold restrictions" are that you can't transport forces out of, into, or through a sector in a storm, or into or through a stronghold with two other players' forces - whether by the shipment and movement phase or by any other mechanism that doesn't explicitly permit it. Other players' forces do not otherwise interdict movement. Where a territory is divided into multiple sectors one of which is under the storm, you can freely move out of, into, or through the rest of the territory. Each player starting with the First Player may make one shipment of forces to Dune and move one stack of forces on Dune (ie, First Player ships, First Player moves, next player ships...) You can ship any number of forces from your reserves to any territory on the map subject to storm and stronghold restrictions. This costs 1 spice per force to ship to strongholds, 2 spice otherwise. All forces shipped end up in the same sector and territory. Forces cannot be shipped from Dune to the reserves. You can then move forces from one territory to one other territory, or to another sector in the same territory. You may move any number, you need not move the full stack. If you have at least one force in Arrakeen or Carthag when you start a move (even if it just shipped in) you have access to ornithopers and can move forces three adjacent territories. (You don't have to be moving your forces from Arrakeen or Carthag). Otherwise you can move only to an adjacent territory. Storm and stronghold restrictions apply. Battle Phase ============ If two or more players' forces occupy the same territory (other than the neutral Polar Sink), and neither force is under a sandstorm, and the forces are not divided by a sandstorm (eg Pasty Mesa might have forces in the north and south with a sandstorm in the middle of the territory), they can and must fight. All battles eliminate one players' forces, so at the end of the Battle Phase only one player will have forces in any given area where combat was possible. The First Player (then counterclockwise) chooses the order in which they resolve their battles. The rules and website use the term "aggressor" for the resolving player, not (eg) for a player who moved forces into a disputed territory. (It is not always a good thing to be the resolving player. If Alice (the resolving player), Bob, and Charlie all have forces in a territory, Alice cannot choose for Bob and Charlie to fight first. She must fight one of them with the winner of that fight facing the third player.) Each player secretly formulates a Battle Plan. They select a number of forces (face to face, dialling it on the Battle Wheel) up to and including the number they have in the territory; note they will normally lose at least the number of forces dialled. If they have any leader or "cheap hero" card available, they must add one of these to the Battle Plan. If not, they must announce that they have none before Battle Plans are revealed. Leaders can't be used in more than one territory in a Battle Phase, but can be used in multiple battles in one territory. A player who played a leader or cheap hero may play up to two Treachery cards; one Weapon and one Defence. These target the opponent's leader and defend against such attacks. Battle Plans are revealed. At this point a player may reveal a Traitor card matching the opponent's leader. If not: A Weapon Treachery card (eg "Poison") kills the opposing leader if the appropriate Defence (eg "Poison Snooper") was not played. A player's fighting strength is the total of the number dialled and, if the leader was not killed, their leader's fighting strength. The winner is the player with the highest fighting strength. The aggressor wins ties. The winner of the battle receives spice equal to the fighting strength of any leader(s) killed (including their own). They remove forces equal to the number dialed. They may discard Treachery cards used, but are not required to. Dialling your entire force strength, hence losing all forces, does not prevent you being the winner. The loser of the battle loses all forces in the territory. They must discard any Treachery cards used. Leaders are not killed by losing battles. If a Traitor card was revealed, the player who revealed it wins the battle (and may discard Treachery cards used), kills the opponent's leader, and loses no forces. The Traitor card is not lost, so if the leader is revived, they are still treacherous. The player whose leader was revealed loses the battle. (Game mechanically the leader is killed. I guess we might think something else is going on, or who'd ever take a bribe?) If both leaders are traitors, all forces, cards, and leaders are lost. Neither player collects spice. Spice Collection Phase ====================== If you have forces in a sector of a territory containing spice, you collect 3 spice per force if you occupy Carthag or Arrakeen (the ornithopter territories), 2 spice per force otherwise. Mentat Phase ============ If an unallied player occupies 3 strongholds during this phase, they win the game. Occupation must be undisputed - but the practical implication of the rules and sequence of play mean it is very hard (probably impossible in the Basic Game) for it not to be; you can't get forces into a stronghold under a sandstorm, and if a stronghold isn't under a sandstorm, all but one players' forces should be eliminated in the Battle Phase. Nexus (during the Spice Bloom Phase) ==================================== During a Nexus, pairs of players may break and form Alliances. You can only be in one Alliance, which must consist of two players. You can form an Alliance during a Nexus in which you broke one. Alliances are otherwise unbreakable, which is a bit weird given the game's heavy treachery theme. You cannot transport forces into a territory (other than the Polar Sink, because the polar bears like friends) in which your ally has forces. If you somehow end up with forces in the same territory as your ally, one ally or other must leave during the next Shipment and Movement Phase, or the second faction to ship-and-move loses its forces in the territory. An Alliance wins the game by collectively occupying four strongholds. Allies may pay some or all of the cost of each other's successful Treachery card bids. Allies may pay some or all of the cost of each other's shipment costs. Factions typically can grant some share of their own special abilities to their allies. Bribery and deals ================= To try and speed up async play, I'm going to use the treachery.online rule that spice is transferred only by means of the alliance rules. There are no binding deals (other than alliances), you can't give anything game-mechanical to other players, and the host will never pause the game to let you make deals. The bots may offer deals; don't take them. Faction Special Abilities ========================= Fremen ====== "You are native to Dune and know its ways." Your reserves are on-planet; you do not ship them from off-planet. When you ship reserves, you do it for free to the Great Flat or to any territory within two territories of the Great Flat. This is a teleport; storm and stronghold restrictions apply only at the destination. You may move two territories instead of one. (You don't move four territories with ornithopters). Sandworms do not devour your forces. Instead, after the Nexus, forces in the affected territory may "ride the worm" to any other territory (even a rock territory). This is a teleport (subject to storm and stronghold rules at the destination but not intervening sectors) and the worm doesn't do anything else (eg devour opponents' forces at the destination). If more than one worm appeared, you can move forces to a like number of destinations. If no other faction wins by the end of play, and if no-one except you (not even your ally) has forces in Sietch Tabr or Habbanya Sietch, and if neither Harkonnen, Atreides, nor Emperor has forces in Tuek's Sietch, you win the game by buying enough time for your terraforming plan. Your ally, if any, also wins. This is checked before the Spacing Guild's special victory condition. You may protect your allies from being devoured by sandworms. You may allow them to do their force revivals for free. Atreides ======== "You have limited prescience." During bidding, you may look at each Treachery card before it is bid on. At the start of Shipping and Movement, you may look at the top card of the Spice Deck. During Battle Planning, you may force your opponent to reveal your choice of one of the four elements of their Battle Plan; leader, forces dialled, Weapon, or Defence. If their answer is they are not using a Weapon (or Defence), you cannot then ask about a different element. You may let your ally use the Battle Plan ability. Harkonnen ========= "You excel in treachery." You start with 2 Treachery cards. You keep all four of the initial deal of Traitor cards. Your Treachery hand limit is 8. Whenever you buy a Treachery card, take an additional one from the deck for free (unless you would then have 9). You may reveal your Traitor cards against your ally's opponents' leaders. Bene Gesserit ============= "You are adept in the ways of mind control." After forces are deployed during setup, you make a secret prediction as to a faction and turn number. If that faction wins by stronghold control on the specified turn (unallied, allied, even allied with you), reveal your prediction. You alone win the game. ("By stronghold control" refers to the fact that the Spacing Guild and Fremen have special victory conditions, and you can't win by prediction if they happen). Whenever any other faction ships forces onto Dune, you may ship one force for free into the Polar Sink. In battle you may use your commanding Voice to order your opponent to play or not play a specific type of card as part of their Battle Plan. Types of cards are poison weapon, projectile weapon, lasgun, snooper, shield, and cheap hero. If your opponent cannot comply, they do not have to reveal that, and may do as they wish. You may use your Voice against your ally's opponents. Your Voice is used before the Atreides Prescience in battle. Spacing Guild ============= "You control all shipment onto and off of Dune." When other factions pay spice for shipping forces, they pay it to you. When you ship forces, you may pick one of the following: Normal shipment onto Dune. Shipment from one territory to any other territory, subject to storm and stronghold rules. Prices are based on the destination territory. Ship forces from any one territory back to your reserves. You pay half price for any shipment (rounding up). Forces shipped to reserves cost 1 spice per 2 forces. If no other faction wins the game by the end of play, you win. You have prevented overall control of Dune and the spice continues to flow at reasonable prices. Your ally, if any, also wins. You may allow your allies to ship forces at the Guild rate, and to ship from territory to territory (but not back to reserves). You cannot otherwise discount shipping costs. When allies assist each other with shipping costs, the bank gets the spice if Guild forces are being shipped or if the spice was paid by the Guild. Emperor ======= "You have access to great wealth." When any other faction pays spice for a Treachery card, they pay the spice to you. You cannot discount the price; the full price must be paid. When your ally revives forces, you may pay 2 spice per force to revive up to 3 additional forces, above and beyond the 3 they may revive themselves. You can give spice to your ally at any time for any reason. When allies assist each other with Treachery card costs, the bank gets the spice if the Emperor is actually buying the Treachery card. The Emperor gets spice if any other faction is buying it. Note that this is not the obvious parallel to the Shipping Guild's rule. Kinds of Treachery cards ======================== Treachery cards are discarded when played except as noted. Projectile Weapons kill leaders not protected by Shields. Poison Weapons kill leaders not protected by Poison Snoopers. The Lasgun Weapon kills leaders not protected by Shields. If the leader is protected by a Shield, a devastating explosion destroys everything in the affected territory - all forces (not just the battling players), leaders, Treachery cards played, and spice. Neither player wins the battle. The Cheap Hero adds no fighting strength, but lets you use Weapons and Defences, and is never a traitor. The Tleilaxu Ghola is played for an immediate free revival of a leader or 3 forces. Family Atomics blow up the Shield Wall, killing all forces there and enabling sandstorms to kill forces in the Imperial Basin, Arrakeen, and Carthag. Hajr is played for an extra force movement. Worthless cards pad out the deck. They can be played in place of a Weapon or Defence, and that's the only way to get rid of them. Karama is really weird. It has two less weird uses; purchase a shipment of forces onto Dune at Guild rate, or end the bidding on a Treachery card and take it for free. The weird one is to cancel the use of a faction advantage. This is a huge mess of special cases - how long does it last? (eg cancelling the Emperor's ability to give money to an ally at any time has to last longer than "an instant") - what can't be cancelled? (special win condition abilities can't) and I'm not sure we can find out other than in play. Truthtrance lets you ask one player a yes/no question about the game which they must answer truthfully. If it's a question about their future intentions, they must follow through if possible. treachery.online has a formal set of questions (eg "will you invade territory X this turn") the bots can answer. Weather Control lets you move the sandstorm 0 to 10 sectors in place of its usual movement.