Eclipse Rules en Compr

8/15/2019 Eclipse Rules en Compr

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credits

Game designTouko Tahkokallio

Development, graphic design and rule bookSampo Sikiö >>> samposdesign.com

Game box cover and species illustra onsOssi Hiekkala >>> archipictor.com

Publisher© Lautapelit. 2011 >>> lautapelit.

Game rules and hexes use elements of images createdby ESA/Hubble and released with their kind permission.eclipse typeface is based on Franchise by Derek Weath-ersbee.

Extra Special Thank You for your helpAn Au o, Petri Savola, A e Moilanen, Stefan Engblom

Thank You for playtests and adviceAn Mentula, Jouni Heinänen, Olli-Pekka Vaija, EeroPuurunen, Sally Londesborough, O o Kataja, Tiina Meri -koski, Albert Kaikkonen, Matleena Muhonen, Iina Valkei -senmäki, Teemu Salohalme, Susanna Louhesto, JohannaLouhesto, Mikko Karvonen, Reko Nokkanen, Ilari Tahko -kallio, An oni Huhtala, Arto Klami, Veli-Ma Jaakkola,Tuomas Lehto, Jani Kois ola, Juha Linnanen, An Koski -nen, An Tahvanainen, Mika Lemström, Jussi Kurki, OssiLeh nen, Paul Laane, Aarne Ekström, Ilkka Salminen,Val eri Arvaja, Tero Särkijärvi, A e Tamminen, MikkoSaari, Ville Saari, Hannu Sinisalo, Sonja Tolvanen, KalleMalmioja, Aleksi Siirtola, Ma as Viitasalo, Atro Kajaste,An Muhonen, Timo Ollikainen, Kimmo Leivo, Aleksi Ah -ainen, Oskari Westerholm, Juuso Ma la, Heikki Hyhkö,Olli Sandberg, Michael Xuereb, Chris Rudram, Deryk Si -no e, Gregor MacDougall, Dus n Boggs, Tony Vickery,Josh Aitken, Juuso Takalainen, Bjarne Boström, An ,Stefan Waho , Sören Paukstadt, Ronny Vorbrodt, AlexisD, Paul Grogan, Filip Murmak and everyone else whoplayed the game in conven ons and game clubs. Also abig Thank You to everyone on the BoardGameGeek foryour interest and support!

new dawn for the galaxy

The galaxy has been a peaceful place for manyyears. A er the ruthless Terran–Hegemony War(30.027–33.364), much e ort has been employedby all major spacefaring species to prevent theterrifying events from repea ng themselves. The

Galac c Council was formed to enforce preciouspeace and it has taken many courageous e ortsto prevent the escala on of malicious acts.

Nevertheless, tension and discord are growingamong the seven major species and in the Coun -cil itself. Old alliances are sha ering and hastydiploma c trea es are made in secrecy. A con -fronta on of the superpowers seems inevitable –only the outcome of the galac c con ict remainsto be seen. Which fac on will emerge victoriousand lead the galaxy under its rule?

The shadows of the great civiliza ons are aboutto eclipse the galaxy. Lead your people to victory!


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game components

player materials In 6 player colors (blue,red, green, yellow, black, white), one colorfor each player: 14 plas c spaceship minia -tures (8 Interceptors, 4 Cruisers, 2 Dread -noughts), 4 Starbase Tiles, 33 Popula onCubes, 16 In uence Discs, 3 AmbassadorTiles

hexes37 Sector hexes: 8 Inner hexes (num -bered 101–108), 11 Middle hexes (#201–211), 18 Outer hexes (#301–318); 1 Galac cCenter hex (#001), 6 Star ng Sector hexes(#221–232)

boards6 Player Boards (two-sided), 1 Sup -ply Board

tiles96 Technology Tiles (24 di erent), 154Ship Part Tiles (17 di erent), 21 Discovery

Tiles, 22 Colony Ship Tiles, 21 Ancient ShipTiles, 1 Galac c Center Defense System Tile, 32Reputa on Tiles, 22 Orbital / Monolith Tiles, 2Crowded Hex Tiles, 6 Summary Cards, 1 TraitorCard, 4 Info Cards

miscellaneous18 6-sided dice (8 yellow,6 orange, 4 red), 18 Storage marker octa -gons (6 each in orange, pink and brown),12 purple Damage Cubes, 1 Star ng PlayerMarker, 1 Round Marker, 2 cloth bags (for

Technology Tiles and Reputa on Tiles)

The punch sheets also contain some blankles (4 Ambassadors, 1 Technology, 1 Dis -covery, 1 Reputa on and 9 round ones).These are not needed in the game.

idea of the game

A game of Eclipse places you in control of a vast in -terstellar civiliza on, compe ng for success with itsrivals.

On each game round you expand your civiliza onby exploring and colonizing new areas, researchingtechnologies and building spaceships to wage warwith. The game ends a er 9 rounds, and the playerwith most Victory Points wins. Victory Points aregained from controlling galac c sectors, gh ngba les, forming diploma c rela ons, researchingtechnologies, making discoveries and controllingMonoliths.

There are many poten al paths to victory, so youneed to plan your strategy according to the strengthsand weaknesses of your species while paying at-ten on to the other civiliza ons' endeavors!

x8in sixplayercolors

x4 x2

x37 x1 x6

x6

x96 x21 x22 x21 x1x154

x1

x4 x33 x16 x3

x22 x2x32x6 x4x1

x8 x6 x4 x6 x6 x6 x12 x1 x1


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2

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[1] Ship Part Tiles [2] Round Marker [3] Supply Board [4] Research track [5] Discovery Tiles[6] Ancient Ship Tiles [7] Orbital and Monolith Tiles [8] Damage Cubes [9] Traitor Card[10] Galac c Center hex [11] Galac c Center Defense System Tile [12] Sector hex stacks[13] Player Board [14] Player star ng hex [15] Ships [16] Ambassador Tiles [17] In uence Discs[18] Popula on Cubes [19] Colony Ships [20] Summary Card [21] Storage Markers [22] Storage Track[23] Technology Track [24] Reputa on Track [25] Interceptor

p r e p a r a

t i o n

s

15

blue player’s play area

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game setup

Set the Ship Part Tiles [1] and the Round Marker [2] on the SupplyBoard [3]. Put the Technology Tiles in the bag and shu e them. Drawrandom Technology Tiles (according to the number of players) fromthe bag and set them on their spots [4] on the Research Tracks. Setsimilar les on top of each other. Put the Reputa on Tiles in anotherbag and shu e them. Shu e the Discovery Tiles [5] and set them facedown on their spot on the Supply Board. Set the Ancient Ship Tiles [6],Orbital and Monolith [7] Tiles, Damage Cubes [8] and the Traitor Card[9] likewise on the Supply Board.

Set the Galac c Center [10] hex in the middle of the table. Place a Dis -covery Tile face down on the Galac c Center hex and the Galac c Cen -ter Defense System Tile [11] on top of it. Place the Sector hex les facedown in three stacks, Inner (I), Middle (II) and Outer (III) sector hexes(according to the number of players) in separate stacks [12]. Give theStar ng Player Marker to the player who has spent the least me onplanet Terra, in the Sol system.

Beginning from the star ng player and moving clockwise, each play -er chooses a star ng hex and the accompanying Player Board [13].He then places his Star ng Sector hex [14] in one of the six star ngspots in the Middle sector area (two hexes away from the Center hex;the illustra on on le shows a three player setup). Place your hex inthe star ng spot closest to you. Put the rest of the star ng hexes andboards back in the box – they are not used in the game.

Each player takes the following and puts them next to his board:• all Ships, Ambassador Tiles, discs and cubes [15, 16, 17, 18] of one

color• 3 Colony Ship Tiles [19]• a Summary Card , Ac on Phase overview side up [20]

Each player places on his Player Board:• one In uence Disc on each circle of the In uence Track [17]• one Popula on Cube on each square of the three Popula on Tracks

(Money, Science and Materials) [18]; the rightmost square on eachtrack (marked with a lighter background) is le empty.

• one Storage marker of each color [21] on his Storage Track [22]:Money marker at "2", Science marker at "3" and Materials at "3"

Each player then moves onto his star ng hex:• one Interceptor Ship miniature [25]• one Popula on Cube on each of the Popula on Squares ( not on the

Advanced squares, marked with a star), taken from the correspond -ing Popula on Track [26]

• one In uence Disc on the In uence circle, taken from his In uenceTrack [27]

alien speciesThese rules apply for the Terran species and are wri enfrom their point of view. It is recommended that you play your rstgame using just them, and add the alien species in the next game. Theymostly follow the same rules, but each has some slight di erences,such as di erent star ng Resources, number of Ships you may movewith the Move ac on, etc. Please refer to pages 26–27 for the di er -ences of each species.

If you decide to play with the alien species, players choose the speciesthey play with. Beginning with the player on the right side of the start -ing player and moving counterclockwise, each player chooses a spe -cies and places the star ng hex. Note that if you choose Terrans, youalso e ec vely choose one alien species out of the game.

tech Tiles2 players: 123 players: 144 players: 165 players: 186 players: 20

outer sectors2 players: 53 players: 104 players: 145 players: 166 players: 18

p r e p a r a t i o n s

6 players

4 players

starting layouTS

5 players

3 players

2 players

10

11

extra discs?Note that you have three extradiscs that are only used if youResearch the Advanced Robo csor Quantum Grid Technologies.


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game concepts

population Cubes Your civiliza on'spopula on is represented by thesmall wooden Popula on Cubes inyour player color. When your civiliza -on expands to a new sector, it maybe colonized by moving the Popula -on Cubes on your Player Board tothe squares on the sector hex. Themore cubes you move to the hexes, the more Resources ( Money, Science, Materials) you produce. The le -most visible square on each Popula on Track shows howmany units you will produce in each round (in the pictureabove, 12 Money, 21 Science, 15 Materials).

resources Your hexes produce three kinds of Re -sources: Money, Science and Materials. Money is needed for using In uence: controlling

hexes and taking ac ons requires that you pay

Money at the end of the round. Science is needed for Research: researching newTechnologies requires that you pay Science.

Materials are needed for Building: building newShips and Structures requires that you pay Mate -rials.

The amount of each Resource you have is markedwith a Storage Marker on the Storage Track. The Stor -age size is unlimited.

influence discs Your civili -za on's in uence is repre -

sented by the wooden In-uence Discs in your playercolor. In uence Discs areused to mark the hexes yourciviliza on controls . Also,taking an ac on requires you to move an In uence Disc onthe corresponding ac on space. The le most visible circleon the In uence Track shows how much Money you haveto pay at the end of the round to keep your civiliza on func -oning (in the picture above, 2 Money). Thus, the morehexes you control and more ac ons you take, the moreMoney you need to pay.

component limitations There is a limited amount of Ships,Popula on Cubes, In uence Discs, Technology Tiles, Dis -covery Tiles, Reputa on Tiles and Ambassador Tiles. If theyrun out, they run out. Ship Part Tiles, Orbital / MonolithTiles and Damage Cubes are unlimited, so in the unlikelycase they run out, use a subs tute.

Technology Researching Technologies givesyour civiliza on advantages. Some Tech -nologies are required for upgrading certainparts of your Ships or building new Shipsand Structures, while others make your civi -liza on more e cient (e.g. increasing yourproduc on or giving you more In uence Discs). The Tech -nologies are divided in three categories: Military, Grid and Nano Technologies . Researching a Technology in a categorygives you discount in further research of that category. Re -searched Technologies are placed on your Player Board.

Ships Ships are used for ght -ing against other players and thenon-player Ancients, as well as oc -casional exploring. There are fourkinds of Ships:• Interceptors ; 8 available

for each player• Cruisers ; 4 available• Dreadnoughts ; 2 available• Starbases ; 4 available

Bigger Ships cost more to build but have more space forShip Parts. Starbases are immobile.

ship partsEach kind of Ship has itsown blueprint on your Player Board.Players can customize their Shipsduring the game: the Ship Parts (pre -printed or gained with the Upgrade

ac on) on the blueprint give the Shipits abili es. There are several di er -ent types of parts:

• Cannons are used on each com-bat round to a ack enemy Ships.Di erent Cannons make di erentamounts of damage: each star isone point of damage.

• Missiles are like Cannons, but usedonly in the beginning of the com-bat.

• Hull absorbs damage. Hull’s ability

to absorb damage is marked withstars: each Hull symbol absorbsone point of damage.

• Computers make weapons hitmore easily, and also give more Ini -a ve.

• Shields make your Ship more di -cult to hit.

• Drives make Ships move furtherwith one move, and also give theShips more Ini a ve.

• Energy Sources produce Energy forother Ship Parts.

Some Ship blueprints have extraShip Parts outside the Ship Part grid.These work just like the other ShipParts, except that they cannot be re -placed.

military

grid

nano

interceptorcruiser

D re ad no ug ht sta rb as e

name

EXTRAENERGYSOURCE

initiativebonus

requires atechnology

energyconsumption

g a m

e c o n

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Structures Structures are co-lossal objects built on your con -trolled hexes. Orbitals provideyour popula on a place to livein: each Orbital can hold a singlePopula on Cube. Monoliths give you points at the end ofthe game. Structures are permanent objects which stay onthe hex un l the end of the game.

discovery Tiles Some hexes contain a Discovery Tile whichis awarded to you when you rst take control of the hexby placing an In uence Disc there. Each Discovery le isdouble sided: the face side has a bene t (extra Resources,new Technologies, Ancient Ship Parts..) and the back sidehas a 2 Victory Point value. When receiving a le, you mustimmediately decide which side you use. The Discovery Tilebene ts are:

3x +8 Money, 3x +5 Science,3x +6 Materials: move yourStorage marker and discardthe le.3x Ancient Technology: youmay take the cheapest Tech-nology Tile you don't alreadyhave from the Supply Boardand place it on your PlayerBoard for free. Discard theDiscovery Tile.3x Ancient Cruiser: place oneof your unused Cruisers in

the hex and discard the le.6x Ancient Ship Part: youmay place this part in any ofyour Ships (returning an exist-ing part if needed); you may also keep the part next to yourboard and place it later with the Upgrade ac on; if you laterwant to replace an Ancient Ship Part, it is discarded.

Discovery Tiles kept as Victory Points are placed next toyour Player Board back side up un l the end of the game.

reputation Tiles You receive Reputa on Tilesfrom combat. They are worth Victory Points at the

end of the game.

ambassador Tiles You can use your Ambas-sadors to form Diploma c rela ons with otherplayers. They increase your produc on and areworth Victory Points at the end of the game.

Trade At any me, you may convert 2 units ofone Resource (Money, Science or Materials) to1 unit of any other.

crowded hex tile In the occasion you cannot tall Ship miniatures in a hex, you may place them

somewhere else on the table and mark the hexwith a Crowded Hex Tile.

wormholes Due to the galac c distances, star ships inEclipse may move only using the wormhole network. Also,exploring the galaxy is possible only through a wormhole.

hexes The game board is built from hexagonal les ("hex -es") during the game. Each hex represents a sector of starsystems and may contain a number of colored Popula onSquares which represent star clusters with worlds produc-ing Resources.

Each sector (Inner, Middle and Outer) has i ts own hex stack.In the beginning of the game, only the Center hex andplayers' start sectors are placed on the table. The rest areplaced during the game. The Inner and Middle sectors arelaid out in concentric circles around the Center hex. Outersectors may branch freely outwards.

Inner sectors are numbered 101–108, Middle sectors 201–211, Outer sectors 301–318, Star ng sectors 221–232 andthe Galac c Center is 001.

[1] In uence circle [2] Victory Point value [3] Wormhole[4] Ar fact [5] Popula on Square / Money [6] Popula onSquare / Advanced Money [7] Popula on Square / Science[8] Popula on Square / Advanced Science [9] Popula onSquare / Materials [10] Hex number

ORBITAL MONOLITH

contentsof a hex

game boardlayoutexample atgame end

i Inner sectors

center

ii middle sectors

iii outer sectorsii start sectors

1

9

410

3

3

3

3

65

8

7

2

Tile back

g a m e g o n c e p t s


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action phase

Star ng from the player with the Star ng Player Markerand moving clockwise, each player may take one ac on orpass . This con nues around un l all players have passed.The rst player to pass gets the Star ng Player Marker forthe next round. When taking an ac on, move the rightmostIn uence Disc from your In uence Track to your Ac onTrack. You may choose an Ac on you have already taken.The more ac ons you take, the more Upkeep you have topay at the end of the round, so remember to pass in me!

The possible ac ons are:

∑xplore ∏n∫luence

r∑search

upgrade bu∏ld move

reaction (upgrade, build or move)

Players who have passed may not take any other ac onsthan Reac ons , which are weaker versions of Build, Up -grade and Move ac ons (see Reac ons on page 14) . Whenpassing, ip your Summary Card so that the dark, game

round overview side is face up. This will help other playersto see who have already passed.

end of action phase A er every player's Summary Card hasbeen ipped dark side up, the Ac on phase ends immedi-ately . No more Reac ons may be taken.

game round

The game round consists of these four phases:

action phase Players take ac ons clockwise,one ac on at a me

combat phaseBa les are resolved andsectors conquered

upkeep phaseCiviliza on Upkeep costs are paid andResources producedcleanup phasePlayers move In uence Discs from the

ac on spaces back to their In uence Trackand new Technology Tiles are drawn

example! There is an example of afull Ac on Phase on pages 16–17.

colony Ships At any me during your ac on ,you may ac vate one or more of your faceup Colony Ships. For each ac vated Colony Ship, you mayplace one Popula on Cube to an empty Popula on Squarein any hex where you have an In uence Disc. Each Popula -on Cube you place must come from the Popula on Track

that corresponds to the color of the Popula on Square onthe hex. Ac vated Colony Ships are ipped face down. Us -ing Colony Ships is the only way to move Popula on Cubesto the hexes and increase your produc on! In the exampleon the right, Blue ac vates two Colony Ships and ips themface down. He moves two Popula on Cubes to the hex.

gray squares The gray planets rep-resent worlds that are suitable forany produc on. The gray Popula onSquares may receive a Popula onCube from any of the three Popula on Tracks. If youremove a cube from a gray Popula on Square, youmay place it to any Popula on Track (ie. you don'thave to remember which track it came from). advanced squares Planets with a starsymbol represent harsher worlds thatare di cult to colonize. You may only

place cubes in the squares marked witha star if you have researched the relatedAdvanced Technology.

orbitals Orbitals are ar cial living envi -ronments that players may build. An Or-bital may only receive a Popula on Cubefrom the Money or Science track.

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exploreChoose one of the unexplored spaces next to a hex whereyou have a Ship or an In uence Disc and turn a hex lefrom the corresponding stack (I, II or III) in it. If you Explorefrom a hex with only a Ship, it must not be "pinned" (seeMove on page 14) .

Show the hex le and choose to either place or discard it.If you discard the le, your turn ends immediately. Discardsare placed face up. If you decide to place the le, the fol -lowing restric ons apply:

• the hex can be placed only to the spot that you explored• the hex must be oriented so that at least one of the

Wormholes on the hex connects with a Wormhole onone of the hexes where you have a disc or a Ship

In the diagram on the le , hexes marked with A and Bwould be legal placements.

Hexes in Inner and Middle sectors are laid in circles aroundthe central hex; hexes in Outer sectors may branch out -wards (see layout example on page 7).

If the hex contains a Discovery symbol, put a Discovery Tileon it face down.

If the hex contains Ancient symbols, put that many AncientShip les on it, on top of the Discovery Tile.

A er placing the hex, you may take control of the hex byplacing an In uence Disc from your In uence Track on thehex. If the hex contains a Discovery Tile, you may take itwhen placing the In uence Disc. All Discovery Tiles are dou -ble sided: the le back has a 2 VP value, and the face sidehas a bonus (see page 7). Show the face side of the Discov -ery, and immediately decide which side to use. Tiles thatare used as Victory Points are placed next to your PlayerBoard with the side showing the Victory Point value faceup.

Important! Ancient Ships must be destroyed (see CombatPhase, page 18) before the In uence Disc may be placed

and the Discovery Tile taken. If there are Ships of severalplayers compe ng for the same hex, the player who even -tually gets to place the disc receives the le.

The Center hex contains the Galac c Center Defense Sys -tem , which must be destroyed (see Combat Phase, page18) before an In uence Disc may be placed.

A er placing the In uence Disc, you may ac vate yourColony Ships to place Popula on Cubes on the Popula onSquares on the hex.

If the hexes in a stack run out, shu e the discarded hexes

of that stack as a new stack. If there are no more hexes, theExplore ac on has no use.

important! Remember thatyou may use yourColony Ships atany me duringyour turn.

Wormhole Generator

If you have the Wormhole GeneratorTechnology, you may place the hexso that there is only a half Worm-hole connec ng the placed hex andthe hex you Explored from. In the

diagram above, when using the Wormhole Generator,placements A, B, C and D would be legal, but E wouldnot.

ancient symbol

ancient Ship

discovery symbol

discoverytile back

c

A

d

Eb

a c t i o n p h a s e

explore ac on lets yourciviliza on explore the

uncharted regions of the galaxy.


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influence

By selec ng the In uence ac on, you may move up to twoIn uence Discs. These moves may be:

• from your In uence Track, or• from a hex where you have an In uence Disc • to a hex that does not contain an In uence Disc or an en -

emy Ship and is adjacent to a hex where you have a discor a Ship, or

• to a hex where only you have a Ship, or• back to your In uence Track.

The hex In uenced has to have a Wormhole connec on tothe hex where you have a disc or a Ship. In the example onthe right, you could In uence hexes A, B and G.

A er placing an In uence Disc, you may ac vate yourColony Ships to place Popula on Cubes on the Popula onSquares on the hex.

During the In uence ac on, you may turn two of your usedColony Ships face up , even if you choose to move no In u -ence Discs.

removing a disc from a hexIf you remove an In uenceDisc from a hex, you must also return all cubes from the

hex to their respec ve Popula on Tracks on your board. If acube is returned from a gray (wild) square, you may choosewhich Track it goes to. Similarly, if a cube is returned froman Orbital, you may return it to either the Money or ScienceTrack.

important! Remember thatyou may use yourColony Ships atany me duringyour turn.

Wormhole Generator

If you have the Wormhole Generator

Technology, you may In uencethrough a hex edge that has aWormhole on just one side.

In the example below, Blue couldIn uence hexes A, B, C, D and G,but not E or F.

c

A

d

E

f

G

b

a c t i

o n p h a

s e

influence ac on lets yourciviliza on conquer vacant

hexes or withdraw from hexes.


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diplomacy

Players can form Diploma c rela ons when their hexesconnect. Diplomacy rules are not used in the two and threeplayer games.

diplomatic relations If one of the hexes where you have

an In uence Disc gets connected through a Wormhole toa hex where another player has a Disc, you and the otherplayer may agree on forming Diploma c rela ons with eachother. Diploma c rela ons can be formed at any me on anyof your turns . The connec on may happen either by Exploreor In uence ac ons, or at the end of the Combat Phase ( see

page 21 ). There must be a full Wormhole connec on, so youcannot use the Wormhole Generator Technology to con-nect through a half Wormhole. Youmay not form Diploma c rela ons ifyour Ship is in a hex with an oppos-ing player's Ship or In uence Disc, orvice versa.

If you both agree, give the otherplayer one of your AmbassadorTiles and place one of your Popula -on Cubes on top of it. The cube maycome from any of the three Popula on tracks.The Tile is placed on one of the free spaceson the other player’s Reputa on Track. Theother player also gives you an AmbassadorTile and a Popula on Cube. Place them onan empty space on your Reputa on Track.

Ambassador Tiles on your Reputa on Track

are worth 1 Victory Point at the end of thegame. Note that your Reputa on Track alsoholds your Reputa on Tiles (see Combat on

page 18) . If the board is full when taking anAmbassador Tile, you may discard Reputa -on Tiles, returning them to the Reputa onTile bag.

You may not have more than one Ambassador Tile fromeach player. You may rearrange the les on your Reputa onTrack at any me, but you may not discard AmbassadorTiles . Note that the Terrans have one space on the trackthat may only hold an Ambassador Tile.

breaking diplomatic relations Your Diploma c rela onsstay in e ect un l the end of the game, unless you a ackone of the players you have Diploma c rela ons with, orthey a ack you. Moving your Ships to a hex where the oth-er player has a disc or a Ship is also considered an a ack. Both players then return the Ambassador Tiles and cubesto the owner. The cube goes back to a Popula on Track,chosen freely by the owner.

Whenever you a ack a player and thus break the Diplomat-ic rela ons, you receive the Traitor Card from its previousholder. The player holding the Traitor Card may not form

new Diploma c rela ons as long as he has the card. Who-ever holds the Traitor Card at the end of the game receivesa –2 VP penalty .

diplomatic relations example

In the example below, Green and Red may form Dip-

loma c rela ons with each other. Blue and Red maynot, since Red 's Interceptor is in a hex with Blue 'sIn uence Disc. Blue and Green may not form Diploma c rela -ons either, since theirInterceptors are in thesame hex.

May hold either an Ambassadoror a Reputa on Tile

May hold only an Ambassador Tile

May hold only a Reputa on Tile


ambassador Tile

diplomatic relations increase your produc onand grant Victory Points.


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research

By taking the Research ac -on, you may choose oneavailable Technology Tilefrom the Supply Board, payits Science cost (movethe Storage Marker back -wards on the Storage Track)and put the le on yourPlayer Board on the track ofits category (Military, Gridor Nano). For each Technol -ogy of that category youalready have, you get a discount shown on the le most ex -posed space on the Technology Track.

However, note that for each Technology there is a minimumcost you have to pay regardless of the discount you have.

There are three special types of Technologies:

Ship Part: gives the ability to Upgrade this Ship Part.

Build: gives the ability to Build this Ship or Structure.

Instant: gives a one- me e ect when it is Researched.

Example: You already have Monolith and Orbital Technologies and you re-

search Fusion Drive . Your Nano Technol -ogy discount is –2, but you s ll have topay 3 Science, since it is the minimum costfor Fusion Drive.

Military Technologies

Neutron Bombs: If you have the Neutron BombsTechnology, you may destroy all the Popula onCubes from the hex a er the combat without rollingany dice (see Combat Phase on page 18) .Starbase: You may Build Starbases.Plasma Cannon: You may Upgrade plasma Cannon ShipParts.Phase Shield: You may Upgrade phase shield ShipParts.Advanced Mining: You may place Popula onCubes in the Advanced Materials squareswith your Colony Ships.Tachyon Source: You may Upgrade Tachyon SourceShipParts.Plasma Missile: You may Upgrade plasma Missile ShipParts.Gluon Computer: You may Upgrade gluon computer Ship Parts.

grid Technologies

Gauss Shield: You may Upgrade gauss shield Ship Parts.Improved Hull: You may Upgrade Improved Hull ShipParts.Fusion Source: You may Upgrade Fusion Source ShipParts.Positron Computer: You may Upgrade positroncomputerShip Parts.Advanced Economy: You may placePopula on Cubes in the Advanced Moneysquares with your Colony Ships.Tachyon Drive: You may Upgrade tachyon driveShipParts.An ma er Cannon: You may Upgrade AntimatterCannon Ship Parts.Quantum Grid: You receive two addi onal In uenceDiscs, placed immediately in the le most emptycircles on your In uence Track.

nano Technologies

Nanorobots: You may Build one addi onal Ship orStructure (excluding Reac on Builds).Fusion Drive: You may Upgrade fusion driveShip Parts.Advanced Robo cs: You receive one addi onalIn uence Disc, placed immediately in the le mostempty circle on your In uence Track.Orbital: You may Build Orbitals.Advanced Labs: You may place Popula onCubes in the Advanced Science squares withyour Colony Ships.Monolith: You may Build Monoliths.Ar fact Key: You must immediately take 5 Resourcesfor each Ar fact on your hexes. The Resources can beeither Money, Science or Materials, in groups of ve.Wormhole Generator: You may Explore, In uenceand Move through a hex edge that has a Wormholeon just one side.

You may not choose a Technology that you already have.

The Technologies are kept on your Technology Tracks un lthe end of the game. They may not be discarded.

starting technologiesTerrans and some alien specieshave star ng Technologies preprinted on their TechnologyTracks. These are regarded in every way just like the Tech -nology Tiles acquired through the Research ac on. Theymay not be covered with other Technology Tiles.

cost type

c a t e g o r y

Technology name

MINIMUM cost

a c t i

o n p h a

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research ac on lets yourciviliza on develop new

Technologies.


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UpgradeWhen choosing the Upgrade ac on, you may modify yourShips’ blueprints by placing new Ship Parts there. Each ofyour Ships func ons according to its blueprint described onyour Player Board. If you upgrade the Ship's blueprint withnew Ship Parts, all the Ships already built are considered tobe instantly upgraded.

With the Upgrade ac on, return as many Ship Part Tilesto the Supply Board as you want. Then take up to two les from the Supply Board and place them on any of thesquares on your Ship blueprints. When placing the les,you may place the les on top of any of the printed star ngShip Parts on your Ship blueprints, but not on top of otherShip Part les.

The following restric ons apply:• most Ship Parts (marked with the Technology symbol) re -

quire that you have researched the corresponding Technol -ogy (see Research on page 12) before they can be taken;

• the total Energy Consump on of the Ship’s parts may notbe higher than its total Energy Produc on; and

• Interceptors, Cruisers and Dreadnoughts must have aDrive, Starbases are not allowed to have a Drive.

Taking and returning Ship Parts costs nothing.

All values from the Ship Parts are cumula ve. For exam -ple, if the Ship has two Fusion Drives, they will give it Move -ment Value 4, Ini a ve 4 and Energy Consump on 4.

build

Build up to two Ships (Interceptors, Cruisers, Dreadnoughtsand Starbases) or Structures (Orbitals and Monoliths). Paytheir Material cost (move the Storage Marker back -wards on the Storage Track) and place them in any of thehexes where you have an In uence Disc.

The following restric ons apply:

• the amount of Ships is limited to the miniatures and lesyou have, ie. 8 Interceptors, 4 Cruisers, 2 Dreadnoughtsand 4 Starbases

• each hex may only have one Monolith and Orbital• building Starbases, Orbitals and Monoliths require that

you have the corresponding Technology (see Research on page 12)

building costs

Interceptor 3

Cruiser 5

Dreadnought 8

Starbase 3

Orbital 5

Monolith 10

requiresa tech

name

symbol

initiativebonus

energyconsumption


upgrade ac on letsyour civiliza on modify

their Ships.

build ac on lets your

civiliza on build newShips and Structures.

cannons + Missiles: For eachcolored square in your Ship,roll the corresponding col-ored die. The damage a hitin icts is represented by thestar symbols: each star isone point of damage.

Computers: Make hi ng easi -er by adding bonuses to yourdie rolls: your combinedComputer value is added toyour die rolls to hit.

Shields: target’s combinedShield value is subtractedfrom your die roll to hit.

Hull: each Hull symbolabsorbs one poin t of dam-age received.

drives: each hex pictured

increases the Ship’s Move -ment Value by one.

energy sources: provide en -ergy for other Ship Parts.

s h i p s

s t r u c t u r e s


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move

The Move ac on allows you to move your Ships. By choos -ing the Move ac on, you may do up to three Ship move -ments. You may use the movements to move the sameShip consecu vely. With each move, the Ship may moveas many hexes as its Movement Value allows. MovementValue depends on its Drives (each hex pictured increasesthe Ship’s Movement Value by one; in the case of mul -ple Drives, the Drive values are cumula ve; see Upgradeon page 13 ). Starbases are not allowed to have Drives andtherefore cannot move.

Note the restric on on Movement! The Ships may onlymove through a hex edge that has a Wormhole on bothsides. In the example on the right, movement A would belegal.

You may only move to Explored hexes, not to empty space.

If your Ships move into a hex, or out from a hex, containingother players’ or Ancient Ships, at least one Ship per eachopposing Ship must stay (the Ship is said to be " pinned ")and engage in combat in the Combat Phase (see pages18–21) . The Ships exceeding the number of opponents maymove. If you later on move or build more Ships to the hex,you may change which Ships are pinned. The original Shipsmay move, as long as one Ship per each opposing Ship stayspinned.

The Galac c Center Defense System ("GCDS") engages all

the Ships in the central hex. The hex cannot be movedthrough before the GCDS is destroyed.

reactionA er passing, you may only take a Reac on ac on when itis your turn in the player order. A Reac on is essen ally aweakened version of a Move, Build or Upgrade ac on.

Reac on can be either:

upgrade: you are allowed to return as many Ship PartTiles to the Supply Board as you want, and then takeone Ship Part.

bu∏ld: you are allowed to build one Ship or Structure.

move: you are allowed to move only one Ship once .

A Reac on is taken by placing an In uence Disc on the Reac -on Track on your Summary Card.

The Nanorobots Technology (see Research on page 12) doesnot give you an extra build when taking a Reac on.

Wormhole Generator If you havethe Wormhole Generator Technology,you may move your Ships througha hex edge that has a Wormhole on just one side. In the example be -low, movements A, B and C wouldbe legal.

movement example

Red’s Interceptor has a Movement Value of 2 hexes(two Nuclear Drives combined) and Cruiser has aMovement Value of 3. Red has a total of three moves.He moves the Interceptor two mes and the Cruiserone me.

Green ’s Interceptors also have a Movement Valueof 2, and Green has three moves. When moving, hisrst Interceptor is pinned by the Red Interceptor.The second one may move through the hex. Finally,Green decides not to use his third move.

red

green

a c t i

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C

A

b

move ac on letsyour civiliza onmove its Ships.

reactions can betaken a er you

have passed.


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action phase example

Alastair (Terran), Ken (Planta), Iain (Mechanema) and Ver-nor (Progress) have already played a few rounds, takingcontrol of sectors and developing their civiliza ons. Alastairis the star ng player for this Ac on Phase.

Alastair decides to BUILD. He moves the rightmost discfrom his In uence Track to the Build space on his Ac onTrack [1]. Alastair then builds one Cruiser and one Orbital.The cost is 10 Materials, so he moves the Materials marker10 spaces backwards on his Storage Track. Alastair was al -lowed to build the Orbital since he has researched the Or-bital Technology. He places the Cruiser and the Orbital onhis hexes [2]. Alastair’s turn is over, and it is Ken’s turn, ashe sits clockwise next to Alastair.

Ken explores and moves a disc to the corresponding ac onspace. He chooses an empty space he wishes to exploreand then turns the top hex le from the correspondingstack -- in this case, Middle Sectors (II). He decides whether

to place the hex or discard it, and chooses to place [3]. Heplaces the hex so that there is at least one full Wormholeconnec ng the new hex and one of his hexes. There is aDiscovery symbol on the hex, so he also places a randomDiscovery Tile face down on it. Ken chooses to immediatelyplace an In uence Disc on the hex, moving the rightmostdisc from his In uence Track to the hex [4]. Placing the discallows him to collect the Discovery Tile. He looks at the leand decides to keep it as Victory Points, so he places thele VP side up next to his boards. Ken also decides to colo -nize the Money and Science squares on the newly placedhex. He ips two Colony Ships face down and moves onecube from both Money and Science Popula on Tracks to

the Popula on Squares on the hex [4]. Planta has a specialability which allows the player to explore two hexes withone ac on. Ken thus Explores another empty area [5], thisme in Outer Sectors (III). The hex he turns from the stackisn’t to his liking, so he discards it, placing it face up next tothe pile. When the Outer Sectors stack runs out, its discardswill be shu ed into a new Outer Sectors stack.

It’s now Iain ’s turn, and he decides to upgrade his Ships,moving a disc to the Upgrade ac on space. Mechanema’sspecial ability allows him to take three Ship Part Tiles in -stead of the regular two. He rst returns a Electron Com -puter le from the Interceptor blueprint on his Player

Board [6] and then takes an Plasma Missile le, a PositronComputer le and an Ion Cannon le. He places the PlasmaMissile on his Interceptor [7] and the Positron Computerand Ion Cannon les on his Cruiser [8]. Iain is allowed totake Plasma Missile and Positron Computer les, since hehas researched the related Technologies [9].

Vernor researches: he moves a disc to the Research ac onspace and chooses Fusion Drive from the Supply Board. Healready has four Nano Technologies, which would grant hima discount of 4, but the minimum price for Fusion Drive is 3.He pays the Science cost, moving the marker 3 spaces back -wards, and places the Fusion Drive Technology Tile on his

Player Board [10]. Progress’s special ability allows them toResearch two Technologies with one ac on. Vernor decidesto also research the Wormhole Generator. The discount isnow 6, so the Science cost is 10. He pays the the cost andplaces the Technology Tile on his Player Board [11].

1

6

10

11

9

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7

8

9

This example uses some alien species. Their specialabili es are presented in more detail on pages 26–27.

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It is Alastair ’s turn again. He explores in Outer Sectors andturns a hex with two Ancient symbols. A er placing thehex, he places a random Discovery Tile face down on thehex and two Ancient Ship Tiles on top of it [12]. An in u -ence disc may not be placed in the hex before the AncientShips are destroyed.

Ken explores again. This me he goes for the Outer Sectorsand decides to place the two hexes on the board [13]. Heips his remaining two Colony Ships face down and placesa cube from the Money track and a cube from the Materialstrack on the rst hex. He is allowed to place a cube on thethe Advanced Mining square [14], since he has researchedthe Advanced Mining Technology [15]. The remainingPopula on Squares on the hexes remain empty, since hehas no more Colony Ships available. Ken now also has a di -rect Wormhole connec on from one of his hexes to one ofAlastair’s hexes [16]. He is thus able to propose Diploma cRela ons to Alastair. Alastair agrees, so they both give each

other one of their Ambassador Tiles, along with one freelychosen Popula on Cube. The les are placed on their Di -plomacy Tracks. Alastair’s track is already full of Reputa onTiles, so he removes one of them [17] and puts it back tothe bag.

Iain passes , turning his Summary Card over, showing thedarker game overview side up [18]. Since he is the rst play -er to pass on this round, he gets the star ng player markerand will be the rst to act in the Ac on Phase on the nextround.

Vernor chooses move and sets out to a ack his neighborIain. He moves his two Interceptors to one of Iain's hexesand containing three Interceptors [19]. Vernor’s Ships areallowed to move through a half Wormhole, since he has theWormhole Generator Technology. Vernor and Iain had ear -lier established Diploma c Rela ons, now broken by Ver -nor’s a ack. Both return the Ambassador Tile to the owner.The cube on the le is placed on any of the owner ’s Popula -on tracks. Vernor also takes the Traitor Card. No-one mayestablish Diploma c Rela ons with him as long as he holdsit. Also, if he retains the card un l the end of the game, hewill be given a –2 Victory Point penalty.

It is Alastair 's turn. He passes and ips his Summary Cardover.

Ken chooses influence. He is allowed to move two In u -ence Discs, and he decides to take back the discs from thetwo "empty" hexes (the hexes without Popula on Squareshave li le use besides their VP value). One disc [20] goesto the uncontrolled hex with two Popula on Squares andthe other [21] back to his In uence Track. A er this, he ipstwo Colony Ships face up. He immediately uses the Shipsagain, ipping them face down and placing two Popula onCubes to his hexes [22].

Iain , having passed, may only do a reaction. He decidesthat the three Interceptors in the hex are not enoughagainst Vernor’s a ack, so he chooses move (placing the In -uence Disc on the Ac on track on his Summary Card [23])and moves one Cruiser to the contested hex [24]. Reac ononly allows one Move, so his turn is now over.

Vernor chooses move and moves one more Interceptor andone Cruiser to the contested hex [25]. The Cruiser movestwo hexes, allowed by its Fusion Drives.

Alastair doesn’t feel the need to React and passes. Ken alsopasses, and so do Iain and Vernor . As all players' SummaryCards are now dark side up, the Ac on Phase ends imme -diately and Combat Phase begins. There is one ba le to beresolved, between Iain and Vernor. ( See combat exampleon pages 22–23.)

18


23

1216

13

17

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21

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25

20

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combat phase

In the Combat Phase, ba les are resolved. A ba le will takeplace if a hex is occupied by more than one party (a partybeing either a player, the Ancients or the GCDS). If there isa ba le in more than one hex, the ba les are resolved indescending numerical order of the hexes (printed on onecorner of each hex). The Center hex has the lowest numberand will thus always be resolved last.

If a hex contains more than two par es, ba les are rstresolved among the players' Ships with the sole survivingplayer then engaging the Ancients or the GCDS in ba le.

If the hex contains more than two players' Ships, ba les be -tween players are resolved two players at a me, in reverseorder of entry into the hex.

Therefore, the two players who last entered the hex willba le each other rst and the surviving player will thenba le the player who entered before the two. The survivor

of that ba le will ght the next player in reverse order ofentry and so forth. The last surviving player will ba le theAncients, if any.

In the example on the right, the Red player is already inthe hex. Green moves there rst, and then Blue . Green andBlue will ba le rst, and Red will then ba le the survivor.

If the hex already has an In uence Disc and is thus con -trolled by a player, that player is always considered the de -fender and will ght last regardless of the entry order, evenif his Ships actually moved there last.

main concept Each Ship type (Interceptor, Cruiser...) ofeach player are ac vated in Ini a ve order. The Ship typewith the highest Ini a ve goes rst. All Ini a ve es areresolved in the defender’s favor. The defender is alwaysthe player who has an In uence Disc on the hex. In the caseof a hex with no disc, or a hex with more than two players,the defender is the player who moved there rst.

In the example on the right, the Red Interceptor's Ini a veis 6: 2 for the Ship's default Ini a ve, +2 for the Computerand +2 for the Drive. The Blue Dreadnought's Ini a ve is3: 0 for the Ship's default Ini a ve +1 +1 +1 for the three

Drives.

You simultaneously roll dice for all your Ships of one type. Which dice are rolled is determined by the number of Shipsand by the weapons they carry: for each die symbol in yourShip’s blueprint, you are allowed to roll one die of the cor -responding color. The dice of di erent colors allow you toroll for all the weapons in your Ships of the same type si-multaneously. A er rolling, you choose which enemy Shipyou assign each die to (see combat example on pages 22– 23) . Several dice may be assigned to the same target.

In the example on the right (using the ship blueprints

above), the Red player would roll three yellow dice, one forthe Ion Cannon on each of his Interceptors. Blue would rolltwo yellow dice and two orange dice.

red blue

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hit

miss

hit>6

19

hitting Rolling a 6 is always a hit and rolling an 1 is alwaysa miss , regardless of any bonuses the Ships may have. Forother die results, add the value of your Computers to thedie roll and subtract the value of the target’s Shields. If youend up with a value equal or greater to 6, the die is a hit.

damage Di erent weapons do a di erent amount of dam -age when they hit. Ion Cannon (yellow die) in icts 1 dam -age, Plasma Cannon and Plasma Missile (orange die) 2damage and An ma er Cannon (red die) 4 damage. Theamount of damage a weapon in icts is presented by starsymbols on the weapon le.

By default, one point of damage will destroy a Ship . EachHull symbol on Ship Parts will absorb one point of dam -

age. So, if a Ship has two Improved Hull parts, it will bedestroyed by the h point of damage. Damage from onedie (eg. Plasma or An ma er Cannons) may not be split toseveral targets.

If a Ship sustains damage but is not destroyed, mark thedamage by placing Damage Cubes next to the Ship.

ancient Ships Each Ancient Ship has:

2 x Ion CannonElectron ComputerHullIni a ve 2

galactic center defense system The GCDS has:

4 x Ion CannonElectron Computer7 x HullIni a ve 0

fighting the ancients and the gcdsOne of the other play-ers rolls the dice for the Ancients and the GCDS. If possible,the dice are assigned so that your Ship(s) are destroyed, thelargest possible rst. If no Ships can be destroyed, the diceshould be assigned to in ict as much damage to your Shipsas possible, the largest possible rst.

In the example on the le , the Ancients rolled 5 and 6,which means two hits. The Interceptor is the only one thatcan be destroyed, so one of the dice is assigned to it. Theother one is assigned to the largest possible one, in thiscase the Dreadnought.

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course of battle

Every ba le begins with Ships ring their Missiles (if any)once and con nues with repeated Engagement rounds un-l only one of the sides remains in the hex.

missiles All Ship types of each player equippedwith Missiles re their Missiles in Ini a ve or -der. You roll two orange dice for each PlasmaMissile Ship Part.

Engagement round Each Ship type of each player is ac -vated in Ini a ve order. Each of your Ship types may on itsturn decide to either a ack or retreat .

The Engagement round is repeated un l one of the sideshas been completely removed from the hex. Then the play -ers return the destroyed Ships to their owners.

retreat When you decide to retreat your Ships, movethem to the edge of a neighboring hex to show that theyare retrea ng. The hex to which you retreat must containyour In uence Disc and must not contain enemy Ships .The normal Wormhole movement rules must be followed(see the example on the right). If you have the WormholeGenerator Technology, you may retreat through a hex edgethat has a Wormhole on just one side.

While the ships are on the edge of the hex, they are retreat -ing and can s ll be shot at . The next me it is the retrea ngShips' turn, all of them must move to the neighboring hex.They have now fully retreated and can no longer be shot at.

stalemate If a ba le ends in a situa on where it's not possi -ble for either player to destroy the other (this may only hap-pen when none of the Ships in a ba le are armed with a can -non), the a acker may retreat (following the requirementsfor the hex he is retrea ng to). If not, his Ships are destroyed.

attacking population A er all ba les havebeen resolved, the remaining Ships may at -tack the popula on in the hex. Each Ship maya ack once with all of its Cannons (Missilesmay not be used), using the normal rules tohit. Popula on is considered not to have any shields. Each

point of damage destroys one Popula on Cube of yourchoosing. If you have the Neutron Bombs Technology, youmay destroy all the Popula on Cubes from the hex withoutrolling any dice.

Destroyed cubes are returned to the de-feated player’s Graveyards of the corre -sponding color. The cubes are returned totheir respec ve Popula on Tracks in Cleanup Phase (see

page 24) . If a cube is destroyed from a gray (wild) square,the owner may choose which Graveyard it goes to. Simi -larly, if a cube is returned from an Orbital, you may returnit to either the Money or Science Track. Destroying Popula -

on Cubes does not grant Reputa on Tiles (see next page) .

orbitals and monolithsOrbitals and Monoliths may notbe a acked, nor are they ever removed from the hex. Thepopula on on the Orbital must be destroyed the same wayas the other Popula on Cubes.

retreat exampleThe Green Interceptor decides toretreat from hex A. It may retreat to hex B (only hisown disc) but not to C (only his own Ship), D (empty)or E (contains an enemy Ship). Red cannot retreatanywhere.

attacking population exampleThe Red Intercep -tors a ack Blue 's popula on once with their IonCannons, rolling three yellow dice. Two dice hit (6 isalways a hit, and 3+3=6), but the third one misses.Red removes two of Blue 's cubes, but since at leastone of the cubes stays on the hex, so does the In u -ence Disc.

b c

ed A

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reputation Tiles A er all ba les in a hex have been re -solved, each involved player draws Reputa on Tiles fromthe bag as follows:

• 1 le for taking part in one or more ba les• 1 le for each opposing Interceptor, Starbase

and Ancient Ship destroyed• 2 les for each opposing Cruiser destroyed• 3 les for each opposing Dreadnought

destroyed• 3 les for the Galac c Center Defense

System destroyed

You may not draw more than ve les . Chooseone of the les and place it face down on yourReputa on Track. Put the rest of the les backin the bag. If the track is full, you may returnany of your Reputa on Tiles (including the oneyou just drew or one from the track) in thebag. The les are drawn in the order the play -ers entered the hex, so that the player whorst entered the hex will draw all his les rst.

retreat penalty If all of your remaining Ships retreat fromthe hex, you get no Reputa on Tiles for taking part in theba le, but you s ll get les from destroyed enemy Ships.

influencing hexes At the end of the Combat Phase , if youhave at least one Ship in a hex that has no popula on, re -

move the previous controller’s In uence Disc (returningit to his In uence Track). A er this, you may place yourown In uence Disc there. Also, if at the end of the CombatPhase your Ship is in a hex without an In uence Disc, youmay place a disc there.

repair damage At the end of the Combat Phase , all theDamage Cubes are removed from the Ships.

player elimination In the unlikely event that you lose allof your In uence Discs and Ships from the game board, you

may no longer place In uence Discs on hexes. You may con -nue to produce Resources each round (note that you willhave some produc on even if you do not have any Popula -on Cubes on the board) and take Research ac ons, whichmay s ll grant a few Victory Points. It is very unlikely thatyour score will be high, as just the hexes will o en grantyou over 10 Victory Points. You may also give up the game,coun ng your score and returning all your game compo -nents to the game box.

reputation tile distribution

reputation tiles


battle

starbase

dreadnought

interceptor

cruiser

ancient

gcds

max

x4

x9

x7

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combat example

Iain and Vernor are engaged in ba le. Iain is the defender.

The combat begins with the plasma Missiles. Iain will roll two orange dice for the Plasma Missiles ineach Interceptor, hi ng with a roll of 6.

Vernor will roll two orange dice for the Plasma Missiles ineach Interceptor, hi ng with a 6, and two orange dice forthe Plasma Missiles in the Cruiser, hi ng with a 6.

The Ini a ve order is:• Vernor 's Interceptors Ini a ve 4 (Ship default 2 + Fusion Drive 2 = 4)• Iain’s Interceptors Ini a ve 3 (Ship default 2 + Nuclear Drive 1 = 3; defend -

er rst)• Vernor ’s Cruiser Ini a ve 3 (Ship default 1 + Fusion Drive 2 = 3)

[1]: Vernor rolls 6, 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2 for the Plasma Missilesin his Interceptors. He decides to assign the 6's to Iain’stwo Interceptors. The rest of the rolls are misses. Iain’sInterceptors both receive two points of damage from thePlasma Missile and are destroyed. Vernor takes the Shipsand puts them next to his Player Board.

[2]: Iain rolls 6 and 6 for the Plasma Missiles in his remain -ing Interceptor. He assigns one 6 to one of the Intercep -tors and the other 6 to the Cruiser. Vernor ’s Interceptorreceives two points of damage and is destroyed. Iain takes the Ship and puts it next to his Player Board. Ver-

nor ’s Cruiser receives two points of damage, which is notenough to destroy it. Vernor places two damage markersnext to the Cruiser.

[3]: Vernor then rolls 3 and 2 for the Plasma Missiles in hisCruiser, which result in misses.

The ba le con nues with engagement rounds.

Iain now has one Interceptor and one Cruiser le . Vernor has two Interceptors and one Cruiser.

In the combat, Iain 's Interceptor a acks with one yellowdie that hits either type of Vernor ’s Ships with a roll of6. Iain’s Cruiser a acks with two yellow dice, hi ng Ver -nor ’s Interceptors (which have no shields) with a roll of 4or higher, and Vernor ’s Cruiser with a roll of 5 or higher(Gauss Shield substracts 1 from each die assigned to it).

Vernor will roll one yellow die for the Ion Cannon in eachInterceptor, hi ng either of Iain’s Ships with a roll of 6,and one orange die for the Plasma Cannon in the Cruiser,hi ng either Ship with a roll of 6.

iain

vernor

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The Ini a ve order is:• Vernor 's Interceptors Ini a ve 4 (Ship default 2 + Fusion Drive 2 = 4)• Iain 's Interceptor Ini a ve 3 (Ship default 2 + Nuclear Drive 1 = 3; defender

rst)• Iain 's Cruiser Ini a ve 3 (Ship default 1 + Nuclear Drive 1 + Positron

Computer 1 = 3; defender rst)• Vernor 's Cruiser Ini a ve 3 (Ship default 1 + Fusion Drive 2 = 3)

[4]: Vernor decides to retreat the Interceptors, movingthem between the current hex and the hex he wants to re-treat to.

[5]: Iain a acks with his Interceptor and rolls for the IonCannon: 3, a miss.

[6]: Iain a acks with his Cruiser and rolls for the Ion Can -nons: 4 and 2. He assigns the 4 to one of the retrea ng In -terceptors, destroying it. He places the destroyed Ship nextto his Player Board. The roll of 2 is a miss.

[7]: Vernor a acks with his Cruiser and rolls for the PlasmaCannon: 6, which he assigns to one of the Interceptors. It isdestroyed and Vernor puts it next to his Player Board.

The rst Engagement round ends and next begins.

[8]: Vernor ’s remaining Interceptor retreats, moving to theneighbouring hex. Iain a acks with his Cruiser and rolls forthe Ion Cannons: 1 and 2, misses.

[9]: Vernor a acks with his Cruiser and rolls a 6. He assignsit to the Cruiser, which receives two points of damage andis destroyed. Vernor places the destroyed Ship next to hisPlayer Board.

[10]:The ba le ends, as Iain's nal Ship is destroyed. Asthere are no more enemy Ships in the hex, Vernor maynow a ack Iain 's Popula on Cubes. He rolls a 6 for the IonCannon in his Cruiser, destroying Iain 's Money Popula onCube. The cube goes to Iain 's Graveyard. As this was Iain 'slast cube on the hex, he also has to remove his In uenceDisc, returning it to his In uence Track. Vernor may nowplace his own In uence Disc in the hex and does so. He alsoremoves the Damage Cubes from his Cruiser.

Players return the destroyed Ships to each other and drawReputa on Tiles. Iain draws a total of three les: one le forthe ba le, and two les for the two destroyed Interceptors.He looks at them and keeps the highest one, returning therest to the bag. Vernor then draws ve les: one le for theba le, two les for the two destroyed Interceptors and twoles for the destroyed Cruiser. Note that he only draws veles, even though he destroyed three Interceptors, as themaximum amount you may draw is ve. He looks at theles and keeps the highest one, returning the rest to thebag.

All ba les have been resolved, so Combat Phase ends andUpkeep Phase begins.

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upkeep phaseColony Ships First, you may ac vate one ormore of your remaining Colony Ships ( see Colo -ny Ships on page 8) and move Popula on Cubesto hexes. Contrary to the Ac on Phase, you may not movecubes to hexes containing enemy Ships .

Civilization Upkeep Collect your Income and pay your Civi -liza on Upkeep cost. This is done by comparing your posi -ve Money Income (the highest exposed number on yourMoney Popula on Track) with your In uence Cost for thatturn (the highest exposed number on your In uence Track).The adjust your Money Storage marker on the StorageTrack by this net amount (upwards by any excess Incomeand downwards by any de cit).

bankruptcy? The Money Storage Marker may not movebelow zero; if that would happen, you must trade other Re -sources (Science and Materials) for Money, or give up con-trol of some of your sectors by removing In uence Discs

from the hexes and returning them on your In uence Trackun l the In uence Cost is small enough. All Popula onCubes from these hexes are moved to their respec ve Pop -ula on tracks on your Player Board. Cubes from gray (wild)squares may go on any track, and cubes from Orbitals maygo to either the Money or Science track. Note that if youhave to return Money cubes from the hex, they return tothe Money Popula on track, reducing the Income as well.

In the unlikely event that you do not have enough In uenceDiscs to remove, your civiliza on has collapsed and yourgame ends here. Count your score and return all your gamecomponents to the game box.

In the example on the right, the Blue player's Income is 4and Upkeep is –5. As the sum of these is 4–5 = –1, he mustpay 1 Money from his Storage. If he doesn't have Money inthe Storage, he must either trade other resources to Mon -ey or return one In uence Disc from his hexes to the In u -ence Track. Returning a disc would bring the Upkeep to –3,which would bring the sum to 4–3=1. He would then add 1Money to his Storage.

science and materials production A er paying the Civi -liza on Upkeep cost, collect the Science and MaterialsProduc on and move the Storage Markers on the Storage

Track accordingly. In the example on the right, Blue wouldcollect 6 Science and 3 Materials.

cleanup phase

Draw new Technology Tiles (according to the number ofplayers) from the bag and place them on their respec veplaces on the Supply Board.

Each player moves all the In uence Discs from his Ac onTrack back to his In uence Track and all cubes (if any) from theGraveyards to the respec ve Popula on Tracks. If a Popula -on Track is full, the cube must be moved to an another track.

Then each player ips all his Colony Ships face up and theSummary Card the Ac on overview side up. Move theRound Marker one step forward. A new round begins withthe Ac on Phase.

Trade At any me, youmay convert 2 units ofone Resource (Money, Science or

Materials) to 1 unit of any other.

Note that only Terrans have a 2:1Trade rate. The rate depends onthe species you play.

new tech Tiles2 players: 43 players: 64 players: 75 players: 86 players: 9

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game end

The game ends a er the 9th round. The player with themost Victory Points is the winner.

Victory Points are gained from:

• Reputa on Tiles (1–4 VP per le)• Ambassador Tiles (1 VP per le)• Hexes with an In uence Disc (1–4 VP per hex)• Discovery Tiles (2 VP per le that was kept VP side up)• Monoliths on own hexes (3 VP per Monolith)• Progress on the Technology Tracks:

4 Technology Tiles on a track = 1 VP,5 les = 2 VP, 6 les = 3 VP, 7 les = 5 VP

• Traitor Card (–2 VP!)• Species bonuses

In case of a e, the total amount of Resources (Money,Science and Materials) in each ed player’s Storage is thee breaker.

two player game

The two player game is strategically slightly di erent fromthe mul player game. Players should also be advised thatthe Descendants and Planta bene t from their species-spe -ci c fast expansion capabili es and are thus stronger thanother species in a two-player se ng. It is recommendednot to use these species in a two player game.

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alien species

Epsilon Eridani, the capital system ofthe Empire in its heyday, was a sightyet unrivalled: whole moons – somerecords claim even planets – wereshaped to celebrate the might andwisdom of the Forever Emperor.Their wealth was beyond anythingever documented. Yet, a er surviv -ing through what they call the SilentEra, the Empire has been reduced torubble. The resources of the capitalsystem have been depleted and mostof their power disintegrated, yet theHeirs have not given up hope. Thenew dawn may rise in the unchartedsystems.

Never sa s ed, never complete – theProgress are ever striving further. TheHydrans have long since embracedtechnology as their main interest,constantly evolving and augmen ngtheir society and even themselveswith new inven ons. The speed oftheir technological progress is unpar -alleled among the Seven. Although

very di cult to access by the layman,the universi es and laboratories ofBeta Hydri are held in very high es -teem by the scien sts species-wide.

Even though they are by far the mostdi erent species of the Seven, thePlanta have long been a steady Coun -cil member. Being a moss-like specieswith a distributed sen ence, theirinten ons are some mes di cult todecipher. A er overgrowing most ofthe planets and moons in the Cygnussystem, they seem to be content in

just expanding their lush growth innew systems, fully co-opera ng withthe other species, who mostly regardthem as harmless companions. ThePlanta are phenomenal navigators,which makes them very respected in

interspecies trading vessels.

Excerpts from the Archive of History, Library of the Galac c Center

Trade rate 3 : 1

Star ng Storage:

Star ng Sector number

Draws two random Reputa onTiles in the beginning of the game

Two In uence Discs less (leave two right -most In uence Track circles empty)

Di erent Ship blueprints

Ini al Technologies: Gauss Shield, FusionDrive, Plasma Cannon

Ini al Technologies: Advanced Labs


Ini al Technologies: Starbase

With the Move ac on may moveup to two Ships, or one Ship twice


During game setup, also place a Popula onCube in the Advanced Science Popula on

Square on the Star ng System


With the Research ac on maybuy two Technologies

With the Explore ac on may exploretwo hexes, one a er another

1 extra VP for each controlledhex at the end of the game

difference from terrans

22 2

Trade rate 3 : 1

Star ng Storage:

Star ng Sector number22 4

Trade rate 3 : 1

Star ng Storage:

Star ng Sector number22 6

Popula on Cubes are automa callydestroyed by an enemy Ship at theend of the Combat Phase

Four Colony Ships

Reputa on Track

Reputa on Track

Reputa on Track

s p e

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2 5 2

4 4 4


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species' abilities The species' abili -es are marked on the Player Boardswith the symbols below.

The Descendants are rumoured to bedirectly related to the Ancients. Whilethere is no concrete proof on this, thesta s cs show that the survival ra o inthe Descendant-Ancient contact is sig -ni cantly higher for the Descendantsthan the other Seven. Hailing from theDraco system, the Descendants are asomewhat elusive species. While theyare a fully recognized member of theGalac c Council, their Ambassadorss ll o en cause discomfort among theother species.

A er a long and di cult process,the Mechanema have only recentlybeen accepted as a full member ofthe Council. Although they have been

proven sen ent in every legal wayde ned by the other Seven, and the

Auriga system has been assigned astheir sovereignty by the Council, thereare s ll occasional disputes on the

ma er. The birth of the species datesback in the early days of the Galac cCenter, when the ar cial intelligenc -es of various species were allowed tointegrate. The Mechanema are quiterespected for their technological ad -vancements – in fact, the basic Shiptypes now commonly used among thespacefaring races were originally de -signed by them.

The Hegemony originally hails fromthe Orion system, but their eets areknown to have ac vely patrolled thegeneral volume since the early mes.The tragedy that fell upon the TerranFedera on Dreadnought "Juri Gaga -rin" and its accompanying eet maywell have been due to a grave mis -understanding in interspecies com -munica on – plausible enough in amutual First Contact. The long warthat followed and their seeminglyoverwhelming military power gavethe Hegemony their commonly usedname. A er the peace was established

and the interspecies collabora ontook its rst steps with the crea on ofthe original Galac c Center, the Hege -mony has now been recognized as abenevolent species, and their past asa ruthlessly e cient war machine hasbeen reduced to a historical side note.

Trade rate 3 : 1

Star ng Storage:

Star ng Sector number

Ini al Technologies: Positron Computer

Cheaper Building costs


Ini al Technologies: Neutron Bombs, Gauss

Shield




May have Ships in hexes contain -ing Ancients, but may not ba lethe Ancients; may place In uenceDiscs in those hexes; may not

collect Discovery Tiles from hexescontaining Ancients.

Starts with a Cruiser instead of anInterceptor

With the Upgrade ac on, maytake up to 3 Ship Part Tiles fromthe Supply Board

With the Build ac on, may buildup to three Ships or Structures

With the Explore ac on mayturn 2 hexes and choose one, ordiscard both

1 VP per Ancient Ship le onthe game board at the end ofthe game

difference from terrans

22 8

Trade rate 3 : 1

Star ng Storage:

Star ng Sector number230

Trade rate 4 : 1

Star ng Storage:

Star ng Sector number232

Reputa on Track

Reputa on Track

Reputa on Track

s p e c i e s

3 3 3

3 3 5

2 4 3


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The Directorate governs the Procyon sector witha strong hand. A seat in the Inner Circle is onlygiven to the very best, carefully chosen (andrumouredly even gene cally programmed) tocon nue the line of the Directors. While theremay be power struggles behind the scenes, theDirectorate is determined to lead the ratherwell-o civiliza on toward a great future.

Terran Federa on consists of numerous statesystems with rela vely similar ideals and histo -ries. The Altair system is considered to be themost important of them, and it houses the Fed -eral Parliament. The state systems enjoy quite alot of freedom in their government, but in meof need they work e ciently together to protectthe Federa on.

Although the species is s ll known as the Terrans, its di erent fac ons have longsince le their home system and now call new, distant systems their home. A erthe wormhole drive technology was discovered, the six main fac ons set out tocolonize the nearby systems, leaving the ruined and dying home planet behind.The Terrans have proven to be a surprisingly adaptable and versa le species. A ersurviving the near-disastrous First Contact and the subsequent war with the spe -cies they named the Hegemony, they have made rather steady development andare now more or less unanimously regarded as a reliable member of the Galac cCouncil. The main drawback of the Terran society, and probably the reason pro -hibi ng them to rise to true greatness, is their inherent need to squabble and form

miniature fac ons amongst themselves.

A er the long diaspora, the Terran Union set -tled in the Eta Cassiopeiae system. Despite oc -casional internal struggles, the Union has stoodtall during hard mes, o en through strong dip -loma c e orts and by staying carefully neutral.This may soon change, however, as the homesystem will not be able to provide for the wholeciviliza on..

A er having set their home in the Sirius systemand doing their part in the Hegemony war, the

people of the Terran Republic have built a dem -ocra cally ruled society, enjoying a rela velystable and prosperous life.

terran factions

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Unlike the other Terran fac ons, the Conglomer -ate was originally fully backed by corpora onseager to invest in the deep space colonies. Thisis s ll re ected in the society all the way fromthe Board, the highest governmental body ofthe Conglomerate, to the most mundane detailsof life in the Tau Ce system. The Conglomer -ate is a nancial powerhouse and one of the key

players in the Galac c Center business.

There are no reliable documents regarding the seclusion of the Ancients. Most theories are based on the relics found in the

systems believed to have been colonized by them. Some of thediscoveries possess quali es previously unknown in the Galac -c Library, but there is no solid theory on who or what the An -cients were, nor where they disappeared. Interes ngly enough,

folk tales of several di erent species allude to a similar, oldevil. Recent messages from various sectors report of mul plecontacts with something described as "Ships unlike any knowndesign, with an unse ling feeling of Something hovering out -side your eld of vision" (Interceptor "Delirium of Disorder",Lambda Serpen s system, 43.393)

Established at the end of the Terran–Hegemony War (30.027–33.364), the awkwardly named Galac c Center has since be -come the contact hub of known spacefaring species. Evolvedaround the diploma c Ships that nego ated the peace (TerranInterceptor "Shelter from the Storm" and Hegemony Dread -nought "Viewpoint Adjustment"), the conglomerate of Shipsand habitats is now the home for billions of en es, housingboth the Galac c Council and the Library of the Galac c Center.The Council has representa ves from the major species knowncolloquially as the Seven. While the Galac c Center acknowl -edges all the lesser spacefaring species as equals, only theSeven have a formal posi on in the Council. The minor speciesdo occasionally play their part in the Council power struggles.

Even in mes of edgling peace, when alliances sha er andhasty diploma c trea es are made, the Galac c Center is con -sidered a demilitarized zone and protected by heavy defenses.

The Alliance was a major force in the Terran-Hege -mony War, a er the already dissolving fac on unit -ed against the common enemy. A er the decisivevictory in the Ba le of Delta Pavonis (33.142) anddriving the Hegemony eet out of the sector, the Al -liance made Delta Pavonis their home system. Theyhave come a long way since then, but the old trea -es are s ll in e ect and the Alliance holds strong.

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frequently asked questions

Q: Where can I get more Resources?A: Place In uence Discs on sector hexes and use ColonyShips to move your Popula on Cubes on the Popula onSquares. Research the Advanced Technologies to be able touse the Advanced Popula on Squares. Build Orbitals to getmore Popula on Squares. Collect Discovery Tiles.

Q: What do I need Money for?A: You need Money to pay for the Upkeep of your civiliza -on. The more ac ons you take and more sectors you con -trol, the more you have to pay each round.

Q: That's all?A: Yes. Well, you can also trade Money for other Resources,and vice versa.

Q: I don't have enough In uence Discs to do everything Iwant to. What now?A: You can use the In uence ac on to return up to two discs

from the sector hexes to your In uence Track. You can alsoresearch Advanced Robo cs and Quantum Grid Technolo -gies, which give you more discs. Finally, you o en can delib -erately bankrupt your civiliza on, by using more discs thanyou can pay for in the Upkeep Phase, and thus be requiredto return some of the discs from the sectors to your In u -ence Track.

Q: The best Technologies are terribly expensive. How canI ever a ord them?A: Having Technologies of the same category increases thediscount you get when buying more. If you buy the Tech -nologies in increasing price order, you get the maximum

bene t of the discounts.

Q: What is the bene t of being the rst player?A: You get the rst pick on the researching Technologiesand exploring empty areas. You also o en get to be the rstplayer in a contested hex, giving you the edge on Ini a vees.

Q: What happens if I cannot return a Popula on cube toa track because it is full? This might occur if I return cubesfrom gray squares to di erent tracks than where theyoriginally came from.A: The track may be l led completely, so that no number is

visible. This means that you do not have any produc on ofthat Resource. If a track is full and you s ll need to returncubes to it, the cubes must go to any other track(s).

Q: What happens if the extra In uence Discs acquiredthrough the Advanced Robo cs and Quantum Grid Tech -nologies do not t on the In uence Track?A: Stack the extra discs on top of the disc on the rightmostspace of the In uence Track. You may use these extra discsnormally.

Q: Using the In uence ac on, I can move an In uence Discfrom a hex to its neighbor through a Wormhole connec-

on. May I move the Disc that created this connec on inthe rst place?A: No. If you move the disc, there is no longer a connec on.

Q: During Upkeep Phase, when may I remove In uenceDiscs from my hexes?A: Only when you do not have enough Money (produced inthis Upkeep, plus your Storage) to pay for the Upkeep. Thenyou may remove Discs un l the Upkeep cost is low enough.Note that if you remove a disc from a hex, the Popula on

cubes are immediately returned to your Produc on tracks,which may also reduce your Money produc on.

Q: Is it ever possible to voluntarily remove popula oncubes from the board without giving up the control of theen re hex?A: No. It can be done with the In uence ac on, though, byrst removing the disc and the cubes from the hex and thenreturning the disc back to the hex.

Q: My precious ships keep ge ng blown to pieces. Howcan I win more ba les?A: You have an advantage if you get to shoot rst, cannot be

hit or can take some bea ng. Buy be er Drives and Com -puters to increase your Ini a ve, and Missiles to a ackbefore the close range combat. Buy Shields to render theopponent's Computers useless. Buy Hull parts to withstandmore hits. Collect Discovery Tiles to get unique, powerfulShip Parts.

Q: Aren't Interceptors too small to be of any use?A: Not really. For example, try upgrading them with a be erenergy source and they can pack quite a punch. They o enwork best when specialized somehow.

Q: Are the Shields of any use if my opponents don't have

Computers?A: No. Then again, if they don't have Computers, they mostlikely won't hit you anyway. Use that to your advantage.

Q: If I have the Gluon Computer Technology, can I takePositron Computer Ship Parts?A: No. Each Ship Part (apart from the default ones, ie. IonCannon, Nuclear Drive, Nuclear Source, Hull and ElectronComputer) requires its own Technology.

Q: If all of my ships try to retreat but are all destroyedwhile doing so, do I get the Reputa on Tile for taking partin a ba le?

A: No. Your ships are considered to have retreated as soonas you decide to retreat them.

Q: If the Ancient Ships are destroyed from a Descendantscontrolled hex but the Descendants s ll control the hex,can they take the Discovery Tile?A: The Discovery Tiles can only be taken when placing anIn uence Disc. So you'll rst have to remove the disc withthe In uence ac on and then place it again.

Q: Do I have to use the Descendants' or Planta's Exploreability? If not, when may I choose whether to use it ornot?

A: You don't have to draw two hexes with the Descendants,or Explore two mes with Planta. You can decide a er see -ing the rst hex.

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m i l i t a r y T e c h n o l o g i e s

N e u t r o n B o m

b s Y o u m a y

d e s t r o y a l

l

t h e

P o p u

l a o n C u

b e s

f r o m

t h e

h e x

w i t h o u t r o

l l i n g a n y

d i c e

.

P h a s e S h i e

l d Y o u m a y

U p g r a d e p h a s e s h i e l d

S h i p P a r t s .

S t a r b a s e Y o u m a y B u i l d

S t a r b a s e s

.

A d v a n c e d M i n i n g Y o u m a y

p l a c e P o p u

l a o n C u

b e s i n t h e

a d v a n c e

d M a t e r i a

l s s q u a r e s

w i t h y o u r C o

l o n y S h i p s .

T a c h y o n S o u r c e Y o u m a y

U p g r a d e t a c h y o n s o u r c e

S h i p P a r t s .

P l a s m a C a n n o n Y o u m a y

U p g r a d e P l a s m a C a n n o n

S h i p P a r t s .

P l a s m a M i s s i

l e Y o u m a y

U p g r a d e P l a s m a m i s s i l e

S h i p P a r t s .

G l u o n C o m p u t e r Y o u m a y

U p g r a d e g l u o n c o m p u t e r

S h i p P a r t s .

G a u s s S h i e

l d Y o u m a y

U p g r a

d e g a u s s s h i e l d

S h i p P a r t s

.

P o s i t r o n C o m p u t e r Y o u m a y

U p g r a

d e p o s i t r o n c o m p u t e r

S h i p P a r t s

.

I m p r o v e

d H u l

l Y o u m a y

U p g r a

d e i m p r o v e d h u l l

S h i p P a r t s

.

A d v a n c e

d E c o n o m y Y o u m a y p l a c e

P o p u

l a o n C u

b e s i n t h e

a d v a n c e

d M o n e y s q u a r e s w i t

h

y o u r C o l o n y S h i p s .

A n m a e r C a n n o n Y o u m a y

U p g r a

d e a n t i m a t t e r c a n n o n

S h i p P a r t s

.

F u s i o n S o u r c e Y o u m a y

U p g r a

d e f u s i o n s o u r c e

S h i p P a r t s

.

T a c h y o n D r i v e Y o u m a y

U p g r a

d e t a c h y o n d r i v e

S h i p P a r t s

.

Q u a n t u m

G r i

d Y o u r e c e i v e t w o

a d d i o n a l I n

u e n c e D i s c s

, p l a c e

d

i m m e d i a t e

l y o n y o u r I n

u e n

Documents

Eclipse Rules en Compr