Come make the paradigm shift to D V, where space is harsh, the decisions are critical, and there's more to victory than having the biggest guns. D V is a fully realized Newtonian boardgame played on a hex map with displacement factored in, and the most realistic data available for spaceborn lasers, particle beams, kinetic weapons and nuclear warhead. Ad Astra Games, in partnership with Symbiotic Games is developing a companion service called D VOnline, where players can compete with each other in real time over an IRC-based hex map.
Navies exist to project power, and to protect shipping.
The process of shipping cargoes between worlds is a fascinating one, and High Trader provides a fun and challenging game of establishing shipping lines, speculative shipments and stock market manipulation. Like all of the games in Ad Astra's line, High Trader has a strong educational bent. The board is based off of the strategic star maps used for the Ad Astra Universe, which are based off of the Hipparcos stellar cartography data. The stock market portion of the game is designed by an MBA, and the shipping times and fuel usages are built off of orbital mechanics. Ad Astra Games.