Chunnel

The Firecloud Class Cruiser is able to open up a Chunnel through space. This can be disabled by the host. Chunneling can only occur between two Fireclouds of the same owner. While only the Cyborgs can build the Firecloud, any race owning two (or more) Fireclouds can perform a chunnel. Chunneling follows a number of rules and conditions:

Fuel
To open a Warp Chunnel a Firecloud needs to have at least 50 Kt of fuel. The destination Firecloud must have at least one kiloton of fuel onboard. When chunneling, the Firecloud that initiates the chunnel burns 50 Kt of fuel.

Warpsetting
Both the Firecloud initiating the chunnel and the Firecloud it wishes to chunnel to need to have their warp factor set to zero (0).

Friendly Code
The friendly code of the chunneling Firecloud needs to be set to the ID number of the Firecloud it wants to chunnel to. To chunnel to a Firecloud with an ID lower than 100, the first or first two characters of the friendly code should be set to 0. For example: to chunnel to Firecloud #4 set the friendly code on the chunneling Firecloud to "004". To chunnel to Firecloud #58 set the friendly code to "058".

Fireclouds may neither be under towlock nor be towing
A pair of Fireclouds can not use a chunnel if any ship with fuel locks a tow beam on either one, the warp speed and waypoint setting of the ship locking the beam do not matter. A firecloud is also unable to participate in a chunnel if it is towing another ship, even if it's sitting still at warp 0. Being dragged by an Ion storm does not prevent Fireclouds from engaging in a chunnel.

Range
The minimum range of a chunnel is 100 lightyears.

The Chunnel
Once the Chunnel is generated the Chunneling Firecloud moves into the Chunnel. This causes the Chunnel to collapse. As the Chunnel collapses it pushes the Firecloud (and most other starships that were in the same point is space as the Firecloud) along in front of it as it collapses. This movement expends uses no fuel on the Chunneling starship(s), since they are being pushed along by the collapsing Chunnel (subspace temporal rift).

Chunneling happens as part of the movement phase of the host. It is the last segment of the movement phase. So it is possible for starships to move to the Firecloud before it Chunnels and then move with it.

All ships belonging to the owner of the chunneling Firecloud that are at the same point in space as the chunneling Firecloud  will chunnel along, regardless of their mission, warpsetting or heading and whether they have fuel onboard or not.

Other races chunnel along
Ships belonging to races other than the owner of the Firecloud that are at the same point in space as the chunneling Firecloud only get chunneled along if they meet one or more of the following criteria:

• They have the same friendly code as the chunneling Firecloud - their friendly code is the ID number of the Firecloud that is being chunneled to
• Their warpspeed is zero
• They have no fuel
• They are cloaked

For Example: Of a fleet of enemy ships that warp onto a planet that is hiding a firecloud with its chunnel engaged only the  ships with a warp speed of 0 will enter the chunnel. The only ships that can move onto a planet with a warp speed of 0 are ships that are being towed. None of the non-cloaked ships that moved their under their own power will enter the chunnel, but any ships that they are towing will. Any cloaked ship that reaches the planet in the turn the chunnel is activated will chunnel along, regardless of it's warpspeed.

Coming out of a chunnel
Any ship exiting a Chunnel will not have any shields.
Cloaked starships moving through a Chunnel will remain cloaked.

Chunneling happens in order of ship ID, so it is possible to have Firecloud 56 chunnel to 164 which after 56 has arrived chunnels to 219, for example. As long as both #56 and #164 have at least 50 Kt of fuel, and ofcourse none of the Fireclouds may be towed or have a warpsetting greater than 0.