Unit Movement

After you have activated a system, you may move friendly ships (within movement range) into the activated system. Any ship moving must always end its movement in the system that was just activated.

Every space ship (except for Fighter units, which move with Carriers, War Suns or Flagships) has a movement value. A movement of "1" indicates that a ship can move from its current system into an adjacent system. A movement of 2 indicates that the ship may move up to two systems from its current system, etc. A ship may start its movement from the system that is being activated, as long as it finishes its movement in the activated system.

Any ship that can carry cargo (Ground Forces, PDS units etc.) may pick up units at any stage during the movement step (before, during, and after moving) from unactivated systems and the system just activated. Cargo aboard a ship, however, cannot be "dropped off" by the ship until the Planetary Landing step of the Activation Sequence.

A ship is not allowed to move through a system occupied by enemy ships (except Fighters). The only way to enter a system that contains enemy ships is to activate that system itself. Exceptions: Fleets with the Light/Wave Deflector Technology Advance may move through enemy fleets, and Diplomats may also allow moving through enemy fleets.

A ship may not move if it is located in a system that already has been activated by the active player. Ships are allowed to move through systems containing friendly Command Counters.

A ship does not need to take the shortest route possible. As long as it has sufficient movement, it may take any desired route to the destination system.

Space Mines

Immediately after moving ships across a system border that has a Space Mine token, the active player must roll dice equal to the number of non-fighter ships moving through the minefield. For each roll of 8+, he must assign a hit to the fleet. He does not need to roll for ships that are entering the target system through a border without a mine token and he may not assign any hits from the minefield to ships that did not move through the mines. After hits have been assigned and casualties removed, remove the Space Mine token from the board and resume the action. All movement during a single Tactical Action happen simultaneously. Thus, it is not possible for a player to first see which of his ships survive Space Mines and then decide whether he wants to move in more ships. Space Mines are deployed by Cruisers (given the appropriate technology).