In my Twilight Impirium group we included an optional rule called "Interrogation" tactics. When you have captured an opposing leader. You may choose to Interrogate him as an action for one strategy allocation and roll on the following table

1-The leader Skillfully escapes his torturers and is returned to his owner on a planet of his choosing

2-3 The strain of the torture proved to much for the leader, and he is killed.

4-The leader endures the "interrogation" and divulges no information-Nothing happens

5-6:The leader divulges some minor infornation that could be used to sabotage an enemy's plan

You may randomly discard an action card from the leader's owner

7-The leader cracks and provides some information regarding their plans.

you may look at your opponents hand of action cards and discad a card of your choice

8-The leader divulges information that may very well be used against his race

You may randomly take an action card from the Leader's owner

9-He leaks major information that could be devastating to his race

10-The leader truly breaks and is completely brainwashed, he follows your every command

The leader, for all purposes counts as a leader of your race and may be placed on any planet under your control

You may interrogate a leader up to two times, and only once per game round.

recieve +1 on the roll if you have any of the following-A trade contract with the owner. You control a leader that originally belonged to the Leader's owner, you pay 3 trade goods.

Recieve +2 if you are the leader's original controller

I would like it that if you return a captured leader, you get the Enemy of the Throne reward.

If a player returns a leader, he immediately gets 2 TG, 1 CC and 1 action card.

A very nice reward for some senseless warfare

This is a pretty cool idea for a house rule.

What's the mechanical effect of number 9?

Steve-O said:

Well since 5-6 is a random discard, 7 is a discard of your choice, and 8 is randomly take a card, I would guess 9 is take a card of your choice.

whoops, i forgot the mechanical effect number 9 srry it's look at the leader's owner's hand of action cards and add one to your hand

This is a very interesting idea I think I'll implement it in my next game.

Makes me think about other uses for heroes. One of these would be using spies to steal tech when they invade an enemy planet, or atleast attempt to steal tech. Now since that would take away from the Nekro Virus' race ability something would have to be done like giving them the tech automatically when they have a spy present or whatever. Another would be for spies to make a 'sabotage' attempt against an enemy fleet to cripple it (or just one ship) in some way.

I still like the idea of this house rule, though on further reflection, I think I'd like the potential effects to be a little bit more diverse, instead of all being related to ACs. Perhaps one result could force the leader's owner to give you trade goods, another could force him to discard a political card; another could give you a +1 to all combat rolls against that player until the end of the next Round (time-sensitive tactical data.)

Perhaps one result could allow you to make a one-time use of a racial power from the leader's race? Too much? Perhaps only one specific racial power is allowed, pre-defined for each race.

I also think there should be some serious political backlash if an enemy leader dies as a result of your interrogation. Perhaps use the same rules as the backlash for razing a planet? Perhaps something less, but along similar lines?

Also, I'd suggest that if the leader defects to your side, it should be required that he is always in the company of at least one plastic GF unit of yours. Mechanically, as a reminder that this leader belongs to you now. Thematically, you need to keep an eye on him - a traitor should never be trusted, after all. (As with Shock Troops, when being transported in a fleet the leader does not need to be on the same ship as the GF unit, just as long as they're always together in the fleet.)

i was thinking that since diffrent leaders would probably have diffrent information it would be best to add one for each type, the original being for the spy, and this one for the admiral

1-Escapes

2-3-killed

4-Nothing

5-6 Your opponent must activate a system that he controls of his choice

7-8 your opponent recieves a -1 on all combat rolls made by ships when fighting your foerces until the end of the turn(including bombardment)

9-your opponent activates a system of yout choice.

10-brainwashed

same rules apply. I would value some thoughts on this.

I definitely like this idea, and it makes a whole universe of sense, after all, why would you just either hand him back or kill him/her? It makes far more sense to interrogate leaders, now if only there was a way to set up a rescue rather than totally random chance of finding him/her.