Three axes, not two
On a hex a ship does not have only a row and a column. H is left-right, O is the diagonals forward and back, V is pure vertical: a jump of two hexes per step, with the lanes in between kept clear.
Rules
Match objective
The objective is to destroy the opposing Mother Ship. Whoever eliminates the enemy Mother wins (in combat, or by checkmate). The match can also end in a draw under the rules of section 13.
Control of the board’s strategic spaces, in particular the central area, remains a means to create pressure and force a win.
Each turn you choose one of your ships, point to a legal square, and confirm. Movement stays on the ship’s trajectory; a ranged attack does not move you. Then the end-of-turn effects close, the game checks for check, checkmate, stalemate, or repetition, and it is the opponent’s turn.
Turn sequence
- Choose a ship of your faction.
- Choose a move onto an empty square, or an attack on an enemy ship.
- Confirm the same target.
- The action resolves.
- End-of-turn effects apply, such as remaining in a black hole.
- Check, checkmate, stalemate, and repetition are evaluated.
- The turn passes.
Opening
The board
Hover a square or a ship.
- Neutral
- Blue start
- Red start
- Star
- Black hole
Pointy-top hex of radius 7, the same as a match with side 8. The star occupies the center, and the two outer rows are the starting zones: heavy hulls in front, Relay Drones behind. Blue faces downward. Black holes, planets, and asteroids on this map are an example: in a match their position changes with the layout seed, the ships do not.
Units
The fleet
Ranges are the maximum steps on three axes: H horizontal, V pure vertical, O oblique. Click a ship to isolate it on the board.
What makes it NovaGravity
Traits
The Drone and the asteroids
Only the Relay Drone enters an asteroid field, and it cannot fire from there. The Mother cannot even select them. If the Drone crosses the map, it promotes to Star Bomber.
The Warp bends space
The Void Shifter ignores ships and bodies that block the other trajectories. It is also the only ship that continues past a black hole: the others may enter one, but cannot cross it on the same axis.
The black hole does not forgive a stay
Whoever enters a Black Hole Zone has until the end of their next turn. If they have not moved by at least one sector, they are destroyed. Moving another ship does not save the one that stayed still.
The star is the center
The central ring is the star’s territory. The recoil of a vertical attack prefers the square closest to that center: holding the middle of the map shifts the duels.
Check on the Mother
The Mother is in check if an enemy can destroy it in a single blow on the next turn. It has to be answered: flight, a counterattack, or an allied defense. A move that leaves it exposed to that blow is illegal.
Gravitational melee
A close attack that does not destroy the Mother eliminates the attacker. If an escort absorbs the lethal blow, the escort and the attacker both die and the Mother remains. At range, the escort’s sacrifice does not destroy the ship that fired.
When nobody wins
A draw by stalemate, if it is your turn and you have no legal moves while not in check. A draw if both fleets are too small to force checkmate: a Mother alone, or a Mother with only one Warp or only one Cruiser. A draw also on the third repetition of the same position, with the same player to move.