Racial Attributes

High growth rate.
Pod speed of 30.
Large Weapons have triple cost.
Streak Missiles are 5x more difficult to block with Point Defense Weapons, recharge in 10 seconds and inflicting normal damage to organic armor.
Repair Units used are four times more effective.
There is no Highguard training on planets.
The Venshad always start a game with an Olympus, on a random location, without a homeworld, equipped with 10 Small Lasers, 10 Streak Missiles, 30 Electrogravity Engines and 5 Servodyne 600 Generators. It also starts with all systems damaged, ranging from 5% to 95% each.
They never surrender.
They never take prisoners. 
They never get natives joining their bases.
In every planet they settle they must eradicate all life forms before building or farming.

There is a 5% chance that a troop unit on a planet is promoted to Highguard for every 1000 natives killed during extermination.
Every planet with an Assault Plant automatically generates 1 type 1 and 2 assault units for each 500.000 colonists (minimum 1 ). 
Each 10 Venshad colonists, when assimilated by the Cyborg, are converted into 1 MC.

Base Buildings

Assault Plant
Ordinance Plant
Government Center
Pod Pad
Factory
Training Center
Smelter
Farm
Under City
Weapons Plant
Part Factory
Med Lab
Engine Plant
Military Spaceport
Outpost Facility
Mineral Mine

Special Base Buildings

Outpost Facility: Costs 100 + 1 supply unit. Act as a Scanner. It has a range of 50LY and cannot be scanned from space. Has a 10% chance of spotting a cloaked ship within 50 LY at the end of movement phases. Requires 1 crewman to operate. Tech Level 7.

Ship Attributes

Accurate starships.
Almost all starships have devices.
Top speed of 50 ly a turn.
Very low towing capacity.

Ships do not have conventional shields.
Colonists grow at a rate of 0.05 on Neptune and Olympus ships.
Crew are trained at a rate of 10% of the ship's crew size per turn, until completely replaced.
Troops are trained at a rate of 0.01 from colonists, to a max of 40% of ship's guest capacity.
Highguard Rangers are trained at a rate of 0.001 from troops, to a max of 0.1% of Olympus' guest capacity.
The Scyther, Oberon, Spectre and Hyperion are Mechs.
Mechs must have one Highguard Ranger onboard, otherwise they cannot fire in combat.
Mechs can only be hit by Small Weapons or a Nemesis Torpedo.
Mechs can not be boarded.
The Neptune can not be Hyperjumped.
The Olympus is the unique structure capable of producing Type 3 units (Fighters and Assault Units).
The Olympus is a unique ship. There can be only one for each Venshad player.
The Olympus collects taxes from colonists aboard with the same rate as planets do.
The Olympus can't be the target of SPY missions.

Ship Special Devices

Extended Safe: The Olympus is the Gallatic Central Bank. No limit. Can be turned On and Off. While On, every megacredit spent/earned in the empire is redirected to the Olympus' safe.

Ground Operations: Every ship in orbit of a planet, with this device activated, during natives extermination or ground combat, adds 0.5% to the overall attacking power. Cost 10 ord units each turn. Can be turned On and Off.

Warp Chunneler: Moves a ship and all ships next to it to another ship that has a warp chunnel device.The target chunnel ship must be a member of the same race and chunneling ship. Pods wings and ships can all move through a warp chunnel. Chunneling burns 100 KT of fuel. There is no limit to the distance warp chunnel ships can move. Chunneling can not be blocked, stopped, or disrupted by gravitonic mines or warp well ships. There is no limit to how big or how many ships can travel with the chunneling ship. To use the device set your ship's speed to zero, set your waypoint 1 to the (x,y) of a ship that you own and also has a chunnel device that you want to travel to. Turn on the chunnel device. If you have enough fuel your ship and all ships, wings and pods next to you will be at the other ship next turn. Ships, pods and wings belonging to other races can also travel through the warp chunnel with you. The only ships that will not enter the chunnel are ships that have a command code set to "NCH".

Only Mechs, pods and fighters can pass through the chunnel. 

Corbonite Missle: Increases Streak Missiles damage by x2.

Deutrium Missle: Increases Streak Missiles damage by x4.

Ram Scoop: Takes in 20 kt of fuel if moving faster than 20 ly per turn.

Bioscanner: Its primary use is detecting native life on planets out to a distance of 700 LY. When on the bioscanner's findings will be reported in the ship's log. Using the scanner does not make the ship any more visible to the enemy than normal.

Long Range Mine Detector: Detects all uncloaked minefields in a 500 LY radius.

Alchemy Forge: When on, it grabs supply units from junk pods and resupply pods belonging to anyone, plus supplies from planets and bases that you own and converts the supplies to metals. Twelve supply units yield 1 duranium, 1 tritanium, and 1 molybdenum. Control switches on the ship can limit the process to just one metal type if you wish.

Laser Mine Dropper: Converts ordnance units into laser mines and drops them. Laser mines can destroy fighter wings that are not docked with a ship and small ships. Large ships take very little damage from laser mines. Ships with a hull mass of less than 60KT take extra damage from laser mines. Pods that hit laser mines are destroyed. Any ship within a detonating laser minefield will be brightly light up on sensors. All ships traveling at speed 12 or less are safe from hitting laser mines.

Refit: Allows Mechs to turn into a higher hull level. Mechs are able to upfit when at the same waypoint of a Nimbus, Neptune or Olympus. There can be only one upgrade per ship at the same turn. The difference between hull costs must be paid.

Jumppoint Generator: Allows ships next to a hyperdrive ship to jump into hyperspace with it. If the jumping ship has a command code set to JOE only the ships that are escorting the jumping ship will jump. All ships next to the ship with a command code of NCH will not jump with the jumppoint ship.

In order to properly proceed with the hyperjump, the ship must target an Intruder Class first. A planetary system may also be used as a beacon for the hyperjumping ship.

If this requirement is not met, there is a 1% chance for each 10 lys travelled that the ship will end it's jump on a random location, operating with small weapons only, for one turn.

Mine Sweeper Array: Destroys one enemy minefield or recovers one minefield belonging to your race converting it into ordnance units and stores the ordnance on your ship. You do not collect ordnance from enemy minefield that you sweep. The device will not sweep cloaked minefields.

Improved Scanners: Scanners on passive have 80% chance of detecting objects beyond 150ly.

Mobile Ord Factory: Turn supplies into Ord. One supply will yield 10 ord units.

Mobile Repair Plant: Duranium is converted to repair units. One kt of Duranium yields 100 repair units. The only limit to the amounts produced is the size of the repair holds.

Mobile Assault Plant: Produces one Assault Unit of each type for each 50.000 Colonists, to a maximum of 100 per turn. The produced units are stocked into Assault Pods (limit is 10.000 of each ground unit per pod). If no Assault Pod is available a new one will be built. If all pod bays are occupied the device is turned off until a pod bay is set free.

Can be used to buy additional units at normal cost. 

Can be turned On and Off.

Special Ground Units

After a successful ground conflict, there is a 70% chance that each lost Type 3 unit is recovered.

A-5000 War Lord Power Suit: Needs the sacrifice of one High Guard Ranger to build.

The Awareness ability means an enhancement over psychic powers. In game terms it means that the unit has the ground combat advantages of the Lizards. This effect works against all enemy units, including Assault Units.

This unit can also be used to wipe out any native life found on the planet it has landed. Each unit automaticaly slays 500 natives per turn. There is a 1% chance for each unit that it will be destroyed in the end of the turn it fought natives.

Playing As

Avoid attacks in the first turns. As soon as your Olympus is entirely fixed, secure it using your Hiperjump to travel far away from your enemies. Once you find a good starting point make a few Neptunes to help defend the Olympus and breed colonists.

Size your surrounding enemies' force. Depending on its capabilities, build Mechs, Fighters or Heavy Warships.

Mechs are good against big Ships because the can only be hit by Small Weapons. In addition, they can avoid most of the attacks due to their innate evasive capabilities.

Fighters are good at taking down Warships, but they excel at attacking other fighters.

Heavy Warships are tough and carry powerfull weapons. They can also transport large quantities of Ground Troops and Assault Units. They are excelent at diverting the enemie's fire until reinforcements arrive.


Playing Against

Find them as soon as possible and launch a massive attack on it. The Venshad own versatile ships that increase in power as time passes. The best way to win a battle is by making swarms of fighters. Their ships are well armed against other ships, in the other hand, they are expensive and their point defense systems are limited. Their fighters are exceptional ones, though expensive too. In addition, the unique place they can make their dreadful Type 3 fighter is at the Olympus. Fighter attack, besides the use of Ion Weapons, is the best strategy against advanced Venshad targets.

Do not forget to use lots of gravitonic and laser mines to your advantage. Their main strategy is jumping from long distances and making fast attacks with Mechs and Fighters. Once their Olympus is down, it is only a matter of time until they are utterly destroyed.

Natural Enemies

The Commonwealth of Mivorari: The Commonwealth is supposed to have launched the original attack against the Venshad, centuries ago, but no one, except the Warlord knows the truth.

The Solar Federation: First contact in the Echo Cluster. They tried to make peaceful contact with the Venshad, but they've lost some border colonies to them.

The Cyborg: Assimilated a small Venshad research vessel in their first encounter. It seems that they have developed an incresing interest in adding the Venshad's distinctviness to their collective. In the few months, the Cyborg activity in the borders of the Venshad Empire is increasing exponentionaly.

The Privateers: They lost part of their former territory in the first incursion of the Venshad. Since then they have made limited threat against them, perhaps due to the fact that the Cyborg are coming from the outter space. Until now, they have managed to evade any incursion, simply by engine superiority. The main problem regarding the Venshad is that they've found a Privateer Stargate, spending the last months in decoding the security protocols.