In space combat, you never see your opponent until it's all over, if even then. With acquisition and tracking ranges measured in tens of thousands of kilometers, to human eyes the people that are trying to kill you are not even a speck. But they can hurt you, even though you can't see them. Precise laser arrays and big particle accelerators, honed by centuries of engineering, can reach out without warning to slit your hull like the belly of a fish, spilling life -- oxygen, heat, and fuel -- into the hard vacuum.

That's why space combat is a game of cat-and-mouse. Keep yourself wrapped in the mantle of space-cold, dark, silent. Keep your thrust burns to minimum-they blaze like miniature suns for all to detect. Rig your passive sensors to greedily absorb data, but remain quiet yourself--give nothing away. Keep your weapons ready, in case... There! A faint trace of mid-wavelength infrared betrays a maneuver drive. Bring up the radar dishes while the big passive array builds up a targeting solution. The moments seem endless while every crewmember shares the same thought: 'Have they seen us?' Is the unseen enemy at this moment doing the same thing you are?

You might never know the answer. If you beat him, maybe you'll find out. But what if you hadn't seen him first? Some questions must remain unanswered when death, unbidden, comes scorching toward you as silent, brilliant lances."

Brilliant Lances includes:
* Vector-based movement
* Detailed hit location and damage resolution
* Lasers, particle accelerators, meson guns, detonation laser missiles, and the systems that defend against them
* Extensive ship ratings, including New Era and pre-Collapse warships, from the swift Rampart fighter up to large naval and merchant vessels
* Complete starship design rules, usable both with this game and with the Traveller: The New Era roleplaying game.