Cargo Empire Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Components Anatomy
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • I. Actions Phase
  • Player Turn
  • 1. Plan for Transport
  • 2. Pay for Transportation
  • 3. Transport to Place Trading Post
    • City Upgrade
  • 4. Vehicle Development
    • i. Apply Transportation Rewards
    • ii. City Rewards
    • iii. Perfect Upgrade Reward
    • iv. Apply City & Perfect Upgrade Rewards
    • Development Bonuses
  • II. Upkeep Phase
    • 1. Rank Vehicles
    • 2. New Turn Order
• Game End
  • 1. Development Track
  • 2. LV3 Cities
  • 3. City Cards
  • 4. Goal Cards
• List of Goal Cards
• Game Variants
• Clan Abilities
  • Setup
  • I. Actions Phase
  • II. Upkeep Phase
  • Game End
  • When Used with Other Variants
  • List of Clan Abilities
• Solo Rules
  • Bot Setup
  • Actions Phase
    • Bot Player's Turn
    • Vehicle Development
  • Upkeep Phase
  • Game End
• 2-Player Games
  • 2-Player Game with Bot
  • 2-Player Vassal Game (without Bot)
    • Setup
    • I. Actions Phase
    • II. Upkeep Phase
    • Game End Scoring
• Dyorle Map Specific Rules
  • Setup
  • I. Actions Phase
  • II. Upkeep Phase
  • Game End
  • When Used with Other Variants
• 5P Pack Components
• 5-Player Games
  • Setup
  • I. Actions Phase
  • II. Upkeep Phase
  • Game End
• Advanced Development Tracks
  • Setup
  • I. Actions Phase
  • II. Upkeep Phase
  • Game End
• Deluxe Components

Game Components

• 1 Map Board (double-sided, Europe + Dyorle)
• 2 Development Boards (to connect in an L shape)
• 5 Player Boards (double-sided, blank + clan abilities)
• 6 Development Track Tiles (double-sided)
• 24 City Tiles (double-sided, LV1 / LV2)
• 60 Transport Cards (20 Wagons, 20 Trains, 20 Ships)
• 48 City Cards (24 Europe, 24 Dyorle)
• 24 Goal Cards
• 6 Blank City Cards
• 4 Wooden Train Markers (1 per player color)
• 4 Wooden Ship Markers (1 per player color)
• 4 Wooden Wagon Markers (1 per player color)
• 48 Wooden Cargo Markers (12 per cargo color)
• 60 Wooden Trading Post Markers (15 per player color)
• 1 Cloth Draw Bag
• 14 Bot Cards
• 5 Clan Crest Tiles (1 per clan)
• 6 Rush Tiles (2 per vehicle type)
• 1 Score Pad
• 12 Spare Wooden Cargo Markers (3 per cargo color)
• 4 Spare Wooden Trading Post Markers (1 per player color)

Components Anatomy

Map Board: 1. City tile space; 2. City level; 3. Port icon; 4. City name; 5. City ID; 6. Trading Post spaces; 7. Land Routes; 8. Rush tile space (only on Dyorle map).

Development Boards: 1. Current Round Turn Order Track; 2. Next Round Turn Order Track, turn order bonus; 3. Development Track tile space; 4. Crossway space; 5. VP section.

Development Track Tile: 1. Empty spaces; 2. Bonus spaces; 3. Track tile ID.

City Tile: 1. City level; 2. Production spaces; 3. Demand spaces; 4. City tile ID.

City Card: 1. City icon; 2. Port icon; 3. City name; 4. City ID.

Player Board: 1. Turn action reminder diagram; 2. Trading Post holding spaces (Round 1, Round 2, Round 3); 3. Game Scoring reminder diagram; 4. Player Color. Back: 5. Clan Crests; 6. Clan ability diagrams.

Goal Card: 1. Goal icon; 2. Goal diagram; 3. Goal ID; 4. Goal VP.

Bot Card: 1. Type of vehicle; 2. Development Track advancements; 3. Crossway direction; 4. Bot Card ID.

Transport Card: 1. Type of vehicle; 2. Mode of Transportation; 3. Development bonus.

Note: Only the City ID on the map board is used with the Solo game. The other component IDs are listed just for reference and to help identify any missing pieces.

Setup

1. Place the map board with the Europe map face-up, in the middle of the table. Put all the City tiles into the draw bag and shuffle the contents. Draw and randomly place all the City tiles onto the City tile spaces on the map board, with the LV1 side of each tile face-up. Each City tile has 2 Production spaces of a certain color. Fill both Production spaces of each City tile with the matching color of Cargo markers.
2. Place the Development boards on the sides of the map board as shown. Put Development Track tiles numbered a01 to a06 into the draw bag and shuffle the contents. Draw and randomly place 3 Development Track tiles of any side on the Development Track tile spaces.
3. Separate the Transport cards into 3 piles according to vehicle type (Wagon, Train, Ship). Place them near the map board to make a general supply.
4. Shuffle the 24 City cards corresponding to the Europe map face-down to form a City Card deck, and place it in the general supply. Then draw 4 cards and place them face-up next to the City Card deck to form the City Display. These are Public Cities.
5. Shuffle all the Goal cards face-down to form a Goal Card deck near the map board, with the general supply.
6. Place the Blank City cards in a pile near the map board, with the general supply.
7. Each player takes in their color:
   • 1 player board. Place this on the table in front of you, with the side with no clan ability face-up.
   • 1 Wagon marker, 1 Train marker, and 1 Ship marker. Place these to the left side of the Development Track as shown.
   • 15 Trading Post markers. Place 12 of these in your player board's Trading Post holding spaces. Keep the 3 extra markers nearby for now; you will place them on other locations later during setup.
   • 1 of each type of Transport card: 1 Wagon, 1 Train, and 1 Ship card.
     • Your Transport cards are public information that everyone should be able to see.
   • 1 City card, drawn from the City Card deck. You can look at the card, but place it face-down near you for now.
     • Your City cards are public information that everyone should be able to see; however, keep your first City card secret for now, until step 10 of setup.

Gameplay

The game is divided into 3 rounds, with 2 phases in each round:

• I. Actions Phase
• II. Upkeep Phase

The game will end at the end of Round 3.

I. Actions Phase

In turn order, each player will take a single turn until everyone has taken 4 turns. This is the same number of Trading Post markers on your player board for the current round. You will remove a Trading Post marker each turn, so the number you still have will tell you how many turns you have left for this round, and for the end of the game.

Player Turn

During your turn, perform the following 4 steps:

1. Plan for Transport
2. Pay for Transportation
3. Transport to Place Trading Post
4. Vehicle Development

The details of each step are as follows:

1. Plan for Transport

Choose a city to be the supply city and another city to be the target city.

• The supply city must have at least 1 of your Trading Posts on the City tile or in the city's Trading Post spaces to the right.
• The supply city must have at least 1 cargo.
• The target city's City tile must have an unoccupied Demand space of the same color as the cargo from the supply city.
• You cannot choose a LV3 city to be the target city. (At LV3, the City tile will be gone, and the Trading Post spaces will be full.)

Example (Figure A): Ana (Red player) has the following options: a. Use Warsaw as the supply city, and transport to Copenhagen as the target city. b. Use Berlin as the supply city, and transport to Warsaw as the target city. c. Use Berlin as the supply city, and transport to Riga as the target city.

2. Pay for Transportation

Play Transport cards from those you have, returning them to the general supply, to move 1 cargo from the supply city to the target city, following these restrictions:

• Wagon card: Move the cargo through 1 Land Route. A Land Route looks like a railroad track and connects one city to another.
• Train card: Move the cargo through 1 or 2 Land Routes.
• Ship card: Move the cargo from 1 Port city to any other Port city. A Port city is a city with a Port icon, which looks like an anchor.

Example (Figure B): Ana (Red player) decides to use Warsaw as the supply city and transport the cargo to Copenhagen as the target city. She has the following options: a. Play 2 Wagon cards to move through 2 Land Routes. b. Play 1 Train card to move through 2 Land Routes. c. Play 1 Wagon card and 1 Ship card, first moving 1 Land Route to Riga, then move from Riga's port to Copenhagen's port.

• You can play 1 or more cards to transport the cargo.
• You can use a Train card to move cargo just 1 Land Route or through 2.
  • You cannot split the 2 moves of a single Train card with another card's movement in between. (Figure C)
• Cards played in the same turn must be used efficiently. If a move can be reached by removing a card you played, then it should be taken back.
  • Thus, you cannot use 1 Train and 1 Wagon card to move through 2 Land Routes. You should use 1 Train card, or you may use 2 Wagon cards instead. (Figure D)
• You must use the shortest possible path to move the cargo from the supply city to the target city; you can't play more cards to take a longer way around. (Figure E)
• However, you are allowed to withhold a Ship card, and instead play multiple Wagons or Trains to transport across Land Routes.
• You must complete a transportation on your turn if possible, even if your only choices are not ideal. You may not choose to pass.
• If you are unable to complete the transportation you intended using the cards you have, you must return to the previous step, step 1. Plan for Transport, to select a different combination of a supply city and a target city.
• In the event that you are unable to transport any cargo at all (due to a lack of cards or a lack of supply and/or demand on the map), you must skip your turn. Instead of a normal turn, do the following:
  • Take 1 Trading Post marker from the current round of your player board and remove it from the game.
  • Then take 1 Wagon, 1 Train, and 1 Ship card from the general supply.

Examples (Figures C-E): When Ana (Red player) is transporting cargo from Warsaw to Copenhagen via land, since playing 1 Train card is enough to move through 2 Land Routes, she cannot play 2 Train cards, nor 1 Train and 1 Wagon card to transport cargo inefficiently. If Ana chooses Warsaw as the supply city and changes her target city to Milan, she cannot play 1 Train card and 1 Ship card to first use the Train to move 1 Land Route to Riga, then use the Ship to move from Riga to Rome, and finally use the same Train to move 1 Land Route to Milan. Following example C, when Ana is transporting cargo from Warsaw to Milan, she can play 2 Wagon cards and 1 Ship card to complete the transportation. She cannot instead play 1 Wagon card, 1 Train card, and 1 Ship card: in that scenario, the 1 Wagon card and 1 Train card can already transport the cargo from Warsaw to Milan via 3 Land Routes. If Ana uses the Ship card to pass through Riga, then it is no longer the shortest route, and not an efficient use of the 3 cards played. Taking all factors into consideration, in the end Ana decides to play 1 Wagon card and 1 Ship card to transport the cargo from Warsaw to Copenhagen.

3. Transport to Place Trading Post

Move the cargo you are transporting along the path to the target city. Upon arrival, remove the cargo, and place one of your Trading Posts in the target city.

• i. From the Production area of the supply city's City tile, move 1 Cargo marker along your chosen path, to the target city.
• ii. Remove the transported Cargo marker, and return it to the general supply.
• iii. From the current round of your player board, take 1 Trading Post marker and place it on the corresponding Demand space on the target city's City tile.
• iv. If both Demand spaces of a City tile are now covered by Trading Post markers, then you will upgrade the city:

Example (Figure F): Ana (Red player) picks up an orange Cargo marker from Warsaw, moves it through Riga and arrives in Copenhagen, then she returns the Cargo marker to the general supply. Then Ana places one of her Trading Post markers on the orange Demand space in Copenhagen.

City Upgrade

1. First, check for Cargo markers on this City tile.
   • If there is no cargo in a city's Production spaces when it upgrades, this is a Perfect Upgrade and will provide a Perfect Upgrade Reward of 1 Vehicle marker advancement. See step 4.ii City Rewards (below), for rules on how to use this reward.
   • If there are any Cargo markers on the City tile, return them to the general supply.
2. Move all Trading Post markers on the City tile to the Trading Post spaces next to the city on the map board.
   • The ordering of these markers does not matter.
3. Check the Level of the City:
   • If this is a LV1 city, it upgrades to LV2: (Figure G)
     • i. Flip the City tile to the LV2 side.
     • ii. Replenish both Production spaces of the City tile with Cargo markers of the matching color.
   • If this is a LV2 city, it upgrades to LV3:
     • i. Remove the City tile from the game. (Figure H)
       • When a City tile is removed from the game, it means that this city has been upgraded to LV3. LV3 cities have no Production spaces and will not replenish or hold any Cargo markers, so a LV3 city cannot be a supply city for transporting cargo. And LV3 cities have no Demand spaces, so a LV3 city cannot be a target city for transporting cargo.
     • ii. When a city upgrades to LV3, its City card becomes a Blank City card.
       • If its City card is in the City Display, move that City card to the bottom of the pile of Blank City cards, then draw a card to replenish the City Display.
       • If its City card is still in the City Card deck, when it is later revealed, move it to the bottom of the pile of Blank City cards, then replenish the City Display.

Examples (Figures G-H): Ana (Red player) moves both her and the Blue player's Trading Post markers to the Trading Post spaces next to Copenhagen. Then she flips Copenhagen's City tile and replenishes its Production spaces. Ana upgraded Berlin, a LV2 city. Ana returns the Cargo marker on Berlin to the general supply. Ana and Bob (Yellow player) move their Trading Post markers to the Trading Post spaces next to Berlin. Then Ana removes the City tile from the game. Ana moves the Berlin City card from the City Display to the bottom of the pile of Blank City cards, then draws a new City card to replenish the City Display.

4. Vehicle Development

Advance your Vehicle markers on the Development Track according to the Transportation Rewards, City Rewards, and Perfect Upgrade Reward you earned this turn.

i. Apply Transportation Rewards

For each Transport card you played in step 2. Pay for Transportation, for each advance icon on the card, you receive a Transportation Reward of 1 movement space to advance your Vehicle marker matching that card.

• Note that you cannot split the Transportation Rewards; each card's rewards must be applied only to the matching Vehicle marker.
• When one of your Vehicle markers advances for the first time of the game, you choose whether it will move onto the upper or the lower path of the Development Track. A marker cannot be moved up/down to the other path on the same Development Track tile; the marker will remain on its path until moving onto a Crossway space between tiles (or, from the last tile, moving into the VP section of the Development Track).
• After each of the first 2 Development Track tiles comes a Crossway space. Your Vehicle marker can stop on or move through the Crossway spaces as if it were any other space on the track. When your marker advances from a Crossway space, you may choose to advance to the first space of the next upper or lower path.
• After the third Development Track tile, there is no Crossway space. When advancing your marker from the last space of the last Development Track tile, move your marker directly to the bottommost space (2 VP) of the vertical VP section of the Development Track, and then up from there for each further movement.

Example (Figure I): Ana (Red player) plays 1 Wagon card and 1 Ship card this turn. Therefore, her Transportation Rewards are 1 movement space for the Wagon and 2 movement spaces for the Ship. Ana advances her Wagon marker 1 space, choosing to move the marker onto the lower path. Ana advances her Ship marker 2 spaces, choosing to move the marker onto the upper path. In a later turn, Ana advances her Wagon marker 3 spaces. After she moves onto the Crossway space, she chooses to move the marker onto the upper path for the remaining movement spaces.

ii. City Rewards

Check the supply city and the target city of your transportation. For each one that matches any Public City card in the City Display or your Private Cities, you receive a City Reward of 1 movement space to advance one of your Vehicle markers.

• If both the supply city and the target city match cards, you receive both City Rewards (2 vehicle moves).

Example (Figure J): Ana is transporting from Warsaw to Copenhagen this turn. Since Ana has Copenhagen as a Private City, she receives a City Reward of advancing 1 space. As Warsaw is currently a public city card, she receives another reward of advancing 1 space. Thus, the total City Reward for Ana's transportation this turn is 2 movement spaces.

iii. Perfect Upgrade Reward

If you upgraded a city this turn with a Perfect Upgrade, you receive a Perfect Upgrade Reward of 1 movement space to advance one of your Vehicle markers.

• Note that only Perfect Upgrades will receive this reward; normal City Upgrades are not rewarded.

Example (Figure K): Since Ana upgraded Copenhagen and there was no cargo in Copenhagen's Production spaces, the upgrade is a Perfect Upgrade. Therefore, Ana receives a Perfect Upgrade Reward of advancing 1 space.

iv. Apply City & Perfect Upgrade Rewards

Based on the rewards obtained from step 4.ii and step 4.iii, advance your transportation markers accordingly.

• You can only assign these moves to the Vehicle markers that you just moved in step 4.i.
• If you only moved a single type of vehicle this turn, you can only advance that Vehicle marker. If you moved multiple Vehicle markers this turn, you can freely allocate these moves among the appropriate Vehicle markers, giving one vehicle all the moves or splitting the moves between vehicles how you wish.

Example (Figure K continued): Ana received a City Reward of 2 movement spaces and a Perfect Upgrade Reward of 1 movement space. She can freely allocate these moves to her Wagon and Ship markers. In the end, Ana chooses to advance her Ship 1 space and her Wagon 2 spaces.

Development Bonuses

When you advance a Vehicle marker to a space with a bonus icon, you immediately receive the indicated Development Bonus:

• Take 1 Wagon Transport card.
• Take 1 Train Transport card.
• Take 1 Ship Transport card.
  • Transport cards are meant to be unlimited. If the general supply runs out of a certain type of Transport card, use any suitable stand-in.
• Choose 1 City card from the City Display. Place it face-up near your player board; it is now a Private City you own, and only you can use it for City Rewards. Draw a card to replenish the City Display.
  • If the newly revealed City card is a LV3 city on the map, move that City card to the bottom of the pile of Blank City cards, then draw a card to replenish the City Display.
  • If the City Card deck is empty, use a Blank City card to replenish the City Display. Blank City cards are meant to be unlimited, use any suitable stand-in when needed.
• Draw 2 Goal cards from the Goal Card deck, choose 1 to keep, and return the other to the bottom of the deck.
  • Be careful not to reveal your Goal cards. All Goal cards players obtain are secret information that only their owners can view. (The number of Goal cards you have is public information.)
  • If the Goal Card deck runs out, players can no longer gain Goal cards.

If your movement takes your Vehicle marker onto and past a space with a bonus icon, you still receive the indicated Development Bonus. Your Vehicle marker's movement doesn't need to end on a bonus space to receive the bonus. Because you receive Development Bonuses immediately, you should resolve each one before continuing your Vehicle markers' movement, which may include deciding between advancing onto the next Development Track tile's upper or lower path.

• Strategic Tip: You can assign some of your moves from City & Perfect Upgrade Rewards after resolving City and Goal icons. Utilize the information from the newly revealed Public Cities or the Goal cards you've just acquired to determine how to allocate the remaining moves and which paths your Vehicle markers should take.

Example (Figure L): This turn, Ana's Wagon marker moved onto the Train icon and the Ship icon in the lower path, and her Ship marker moved onto the Wagon icon and the Train icon in the upper path. Thus, she takes 1 Wagon card, 2 Train cards, and 1 Ship card. Ana's Ship marker also moved onto the City icon in the upper path. Thus, she can take any 1 City card from the City Display. Ana chooses Amsterdam and places it face-up near her player board. Then she draws a new City card to replenish the City Display. If one of Ana's markers moved onto a Goal icon, she would draw 2 Goal cards from the Goal Card deck, look at both of them, choose one to keep, and place the other at the bottom of the Goal Card deck.

II. Upkeep Phase

In the 3rd round, skip the Upkeep Phase and proceed to Game End scoring.

When all players have completed 4 turns, no players will have any Trading Post markers left for the current round on their player boards, and the Actions Phase ends. Then the Upkeep Phase proceeds as follows:

1. Rank Vehicles
2. New Turn Order

The details of each step are as follows:

1. Rank Vehicles

Rank players based on how far along the Development Track they have advanced their Vehicle markers. This will determine the next round turn order.

• Rank each vehicle type separately, starting with Wagon, then Train, then Ship. (Only Wagon & Train will be ranked in a 1/2-player game.)
• Once a player wins a ranking, they are out of the running for the remaining vehicle type rankings.
• Ties are won by who goes earlier in turn order of the current round.
  • i. The Wagon winner places their Turn Order marker on the Wagon icon, and takes a Wagon card.
  • ii. Of the remaining players, the Train winner places their Turn Order marker on the Train icon, and takes a Train card.
  • iii. Of the remaining players, the Ship winner places their Turn Order marker on the Ship icon, and takes a Ship card.
  • iv. The last player places their Turn Order marker on the icon and takes a Transport card of their choice.
• Each player will only place their Turn Order marker once, thus each player will receive exactly 1 card.
• In a 1/2/3-player game, you will only use the 2/2/3 leftmost spaces. Thus, no one will receive a Ship card in a 1/2-player game.

Example (Figure M): In the Upkeep Phase at the end of the round, comparing all players' Wagon markers, Ana (Red player) and Bob (Yellow player) are tied for the lead. Since Ana is earlier in the current round turn order, she places her Turn Order marker on the leftmost space of the Next Round Turn Order Track and immediately receives the bonus of 1 Wagon Transport card. Next we will compare the Train markers. Carl (Green player) is in the lead, so he places his Turn Order marker on the next available space of the Next Round Turn Order Track and immediately receives 1 Train card. Next we will compare the Ship markers. Bob and David (Blue player) are tied. Since David is earlier in the current round turn order, he places his Turn Order marker on the next available space of the Next Round Turn Order Track and immediately receives 1 Ship card. Bob places his marker on the fourth space and immediately receives any 1 Transport card. He chooses to take 1 Ship card.

2. New Turn Order

Move all Turn Order markers up to the Current Round Turn Order Track, keeping their same order.

Game End

The game ends after the 3rd round's Actions Phase finishes. Each player will score VP from the following sources:

1. Development Track
2. LV3 Cities
3. City Cards
4. Goal Cards

The details of each are as follows:

1. Development Track

Check the locations of your 3 Vehicle markers on the Development Track. You gain the indicated VP for each marker on the vertical VP section.

Example (Figure N): Ana (Red player) scores 22 VP from the Development Track. Bob (Yellow player) scores 20 VP from the Development Track. Carl (Green player) scores 14 + 4 = 18 VP from the Development Track. David (Blue player) scores 0 VP from the Development Track.

2. LV3 Cities

Check the LV3 cities on the map board. You gain 3 VP for each of your Trading Post markers in a LV3 city.

Example (Figure O): Ana has 5 Trading Posts in LV3 cities, and gains 15 VP. Bob has 2 Trading Posts in LV3 cities, and gains 6 VP. Carl has 6 Trading Posts in LV3 cities, and gains 18 VP. David has 3 Trading Posts in LV3 cities, and gains 9 VP.

3. City Cards

Check the number of City cards you have. You gain 5 VP for each City card, including Blank City cards.

4. Goal Cards

Check the Goal cards you have. Calculate how much VP you gain from each card, depending on its completion status. (See the List of Goal Cards below.)

After scoring, the player with the most VP wins the game and becomes the king of commerce!

In the case of a tie, the tied player who gained the most total VP from the Development Track wins. If there is still a tie, compare the rest of the scoring sources from step 2 to step 4 above, until one of these determines a single winner. If there is still a tie, the tied player who is earlier in turn order wins.

List of Goal Cards

Keep your Goal cards secret during the game. You will only reveal and score them at the end. What Goal cards you have is secret information, although the number of them is public. "Presence" here refers to having 1 or more of your Trading Post markers in a city, either on the City tile and/or in the city's Trading Post spaces to the right.

1. Gain 3 VP per set of Red + Blue city with your presence.
2. Gain 3 VP per set of Red + Green city with your presence.
3. Gain 3 VP per set of Red + Yellow city with your presence.
4. Gain 3 VP per set of Blue + Green city with your presence.
5. Gain 3 VP per set of Blue + Yellow city with your presence.
6. Gain 3 VP per set of Yellow + Green city with your presence.
7. Gain 3 VP per set of Non-Port + Port city with your presence.
8. Gain 6 VP per set of Red + Blue + Yellow + Green city with your presence.
9. Gain 1 VP per city in your largest connected land network. Include all branches in the network. If multiple networks of equal size could count as your largest, only count one of them for this Goal card.
10. Gain 6 VP if you have presence in 4 or 5 Red cities, or gain 12 VP if in 6 Red cities.
11. Gain 6 VP if you have presence in 4 or 5 Blue cities, or gain 12 VP if in 6 Blue cities.
12. Gain 6 VP if you have presence in 4-5 Green cities, or gain 12 VP if in 6 Green cities.
13. Gain 6 VP if you have presence in 4-5 Yellow cities, or gain 12 VP if in 6 Yellow cities.
14. Gain 5 VP if you have presence in 4-5 Port cities, or gain 10 VP if in 6+ Port cities.
15. Gain 5 VP if you have presence in 4-5 Non-Port cities, or gain 10 VP if in 6+ Non-Port cities.
16. Gain 5 VP if you have 3-4 City cards, or gain 10 VP if you have 5 City cards.
17. Gain 5 VP if you have presence in 4-5 LV2 cities, or gain 10 VP if in 6+ LV2 cities.
18. Gain 3 VP per LV3 city with your presence.
19. Gain 10 VP if you have 4 Trading Posts in the same city.

• For Goals #22-24, you cannot score VP for other Vehicle markers that are tied with yours.

Game Variants

Cargo Empire offers the following variants. You can freely incorporate one or more together into a game.

Clan Abilities

Each clan has 3 abilities shown on their player board. The first is their Clan Crest ability, which has an ongoing effect for their Clan Crest tile on the map board. The other two clan abilities require paying a cost to use.

Setup

• In step 7 of setup, use the reverse side of the player boards, showing the clan abilities.
• At the end of setup, in turn order, each player places their Clan Crest tile on any city on the Map board.
  • This will be the first city that your Clan Crest ability is applied to. You will be able to move it to other cities during the game.
  • Now and during the game, multiple Clan Crest tiles can be on the same city.

I. Actions Phase

• When you transport cargo, instead of returning the Cargo marker to the general supply, keep the cargo marker in front of you.
  • You will place your Trading Post marker on the target city as usual.
  • Note that you do not take Cargo markers when placing your first and second Trading Posts during setup.
• During your turn, you may activate your clan ability at any time by paying any 2 cargo markers and returning them to the supply.
  • Activating your clan ability does not consume an action.
  • You cannot activate your clan ability during other players' turns.
  • If you have enough Cargo markers, you can activate your clan ability multiple times and repeatedly in the same turn.
  • Your Clan Crest on the map board provides an ongoing effect indicated on your player board. This effect has no cost to use.
  • At the end of the game, unused Cargo markers you still have do not score VP.

II. Upkeep Phase

Nothing is changed.

Game End

Nothing is changed, but there are 2 details regarding clan abilities:

• At the end of the game, Tino family (Blue clan) may decide to treat the city where their Clan Crest tile is located as a Port city. This decision will apply to all of their Goal cards equally and cannot be changed once made.
• Kasha family (Purple clan) cannot pay Cargo markers at the end of the game to use the Tino family Clan Crest ability.

When Used with Other Variants

• When playing with 1 or more Bot players, the Bots will not use clan abilities and will not keep Cargo markers. At the end of the game during scoring, the Bots will earn twice the VP from City cards (as well as earning twice the VP from Goal cards).
• When playing with Vassal players, the Vassals will not use clan abilities, and you do not keep Cargo markers from your Vassal transporting cargo.

List of Clan Abilities

Yellow - Erestdon Chamber of Commerce (Speaker Minn Erestdon)

• Clan Crest: When you select this city as the supply/target city, you can play any 2 Transport cards to complete the transport, ignoring all route and movement restrictions.
• Move your Clan Crest tile to any city on the map.
• Take a Wagon card from the supply.

Example (Figure P): Bob (Yellow player) uses Rome as the supply city and transports to Kiev as the target city. He uses his Clan Crest ability to play any 2 Transport cards to directly complete the transport, ignoring all routes and movement distance. Bob removes an orange Cargo marker from Rome and places it in front of him. He places a Trading Post marker in Kiev. Bob receives the Transportation Rewards from the 2 Transport cards he just played (Wagon and Train). He will also receive the usual City and Perfect Upgrade Rewards if applicable; he can only assign these moves to his Wagon and/or Train marker(s).

Green - Glat Academics and Societies (Superintendent Mondor Glat)

• Clan Crest: When you select this city as the supply/target city, you can transport any type of cargo, even if the type does not match the Demand space you choose in the target city.
• Move your Clan Crest tile to any city on the map.
• Move 1 Cargo marker from any City tile to an empty Production space of another City tile of the same cargo type.

Example (Figure Q): Carl (Green player) wants to use London as the supply city and transport to Amsterdam as the target city. First, he pays 2 Cargo markers to activate his clan ability to move a Cargo marker from Dublin to London. Carl pays another 2 Cargo markers to move his Clan Crest to London, so he may now transport cargo of any color from there. He then plays 1 Train card to transport the white cargo from London to Amsterdam. Carl collects the white Cargo marker, and places a Trading Post marker on either of Amsterdam's Demand spaces.

Red - Lockriel Mining Cartel (Lady Hungyah Lockriel)

• Clan Crest: Only you can choose this city as the supply/target city for transporting cargo.
• Move your Clan Crest tile to any city on the map.
• 1 Train card you played this turn can move cargo through up to 3 Land Routes (instead of only 2) and will advance your Train marker 2 movement spaces (instead of only 1) on the Development Track.

Purple - Kasha Trade Cooperative (Mr. Bombard Hyde)

• Clan Crest: When you choose this city as the supply/target city, you receive an additional 1 step for your City Reward.
• Move your Clan Crest tile to any city on the map.
• For this turn, borrow the Clan Crest ability of another player, based on where that player's Clan Crest tile is located. May be activated multiple times to combine the effects of different abilities.

Example (Figure R): Eric (Purple clan player) wants to use Bucharest as the supply city and transports to Vienna as the target city. First, he pays 2 Cargo markers to borrow the Red clan's Clan Crest ability, allowing him to use Bucharest as the supply city. Eric then pays another 2 Cargo markers to borrow the Green clan's Clan Crest ability, allowing him to transport any type of cargo to Vienna. Then Eric pays another 2 Cargo markers to move the Purple Clan Crest to Bucharest, which will give him an extra movement space for his City Reward this turn. He then plays 1 Wagon card to transport 1 brown cargo from Bucharest to Vienna. Eric collects the brown Cargo marker, and places a Trading Post marker on either of Vienna's Demand spaces. He receives 1 Wagon marker move on the Development Track from the Wagon card he just played, and 1 move from the Purple Clan Crest ability since it is on the target city. He will also receive the usual City and Perfect Upgrade Rewards if applicable; he can only assign these moves to his Wagon marker.

Blue - Tino Mercantile Fleet (Admiral Cabar Tino)

• Clan Crest: You may treat this city as a Port city.
• Move your Clan Crest tile to any city on the map.
• Exchange any Transport card you have for a Ship card.

Solo Rules

A Bot player will be used in a solo game, and may also be incorporated when playing with multiple human players. Human players will play the game following the normal rules. The Bot player will follow the rules below, which will expand the Bot's presence on the map in an organic way.

Bot Setup

1. Shuffle all the Bot cards into a face-down Bot Card deck, and place this near the map board.
2. Prepare an unused set of Vehicle markers and a player board for the Bot to use.
3. From another unused player color, take 1 Wagon marker, which will be the Bot Supply marker, and 1 Train marker, which will be the Bot Target marker.
4. Draw 1 face-down City card and 1 face-down Goal card, and place them near the Bot's player board.
   • Note that the Bot does not use Transport cards. It will transport cargo using different rules.
5. Randomly determine the starting player from among the human players and the Bot player, and place Turn Order markers normally. The Bot does not receive the indicated bonus.
6. After the human players have each placed their first Trading Post, place the Bot Target marker (Train) on the leftmost unchosen City card in the City Display. Place a Trading Post marker of the Bot's color on this city, on the top Demand space. This is the Bot's first Trading Post.
7. Move the Bot Target marker (Train) to the next card to the right. Loop to the leftmost card if needed.
8. After the human players have each placed their second Trading Post, flip the Bot's face-down City card face-up, and place a Trading Post marker of the Bot's color on this city, on the bottom Demand space. This is the Bot's second Trading Post.
9. Reveal the Bot's face-down Goal card. From now on, all of the Bot's Goal cards are public information. Note that each one will earn the Bot twice the normal VP.
10. On the map board, compare the City IDs where the Bot's 2 Trading Posts are located. Place the Bot Supply marker (Wagon) on the city which has the lower City ID.
11. Place the Bot's remaining 12 Trading Post markers on its player board, and place its Vehicle markers next to the Development Track.

Example (Figure S): During setup, the Human player (Red player) chooses Berlin as their starting city. The Bot (Blue) chooses the leftmost unchosen City card in the City Display, which is the Moscow card. The Bot Target marker (Train) is placed on the Moscow card, and the Bot's first Trading Post is placed on the top Demand space of Moscow. The Human player reveals their own City card, for Milan, and places one of their Trading Post markers on Milan. Then the Bot's City and Goal cards are revealed. Its City card is for Warsaw, so the Bot's second Trading Post is placed on Warsaw, on the bottom Demand space. The Bot Target marker (Train) is moved to the next City card to the right, which is the Riga card. The Bot Supply marker (Wagon) is placed among cities with the Bot Trading Post that has the lowest City ID number printed on the map board, which is Moscow in this case.

Actions Phase

On its turn, the Bot will attempt to Transport Cargo, following the normal logic for supply and demand, from the Bot Supply City to the Bot Target City. However, when there is not a matching supply/target pair, you will move the Bot's markers so it can make a legal transportation. The Bot transports cargo for free then places a Trading Post. It will then advance its Vehicle markers according to the Bot card drawn this turn. The detailed rules are as follows:

Bot Player's Turn

1. At the start of the Bot's turn, draw a card from the Bot Card deck.
   • If you draw the card with the Reshuffle icon, immediately shuffle all the Bot cards face-down to form a new deck, and draw again.
2. The Bot will attempt to transport cargo from the Bot Supply City to the Bot Target City.
   • a. If there is an available Cargo marker in the Bot Supply City that can be matched with an unoccupied Demand space of the Bot Target City, then this is a Legal Match.
     • i. When there is a Legal Match, move a Cargo marker from the Bot Supply City to the general supply, and place a Bot Trading Post marker on the Bot Target City for free. (The Bot pays no transportation costs. It will never use Transport cards during the game.)
     • ii. If both Demand spaces are open in the target city, place a Bot Trading Post marker according to the Up/Down arrow of the Bot Card drawn this turn.
     • iii. Resolve City Upgrades as usual, but the Bot never receives a Perfect Upgrade Reward.
     • iv. After placing the Bot's Trading Post, proceed to step 3.
   • b. If it is not a Legal Match:
     • i. Check the next card to the right in the City Display to see if this makes a Legal Match as the Bot Target City. If not, keep checking the next card to the right until you find a Legal Match.
       • From the rightmost card in the City Display, loop to the leftmost card to keep checking there.
       • When you find a Legal Match, move the Bot Target marker to that City card, and follow step 2.a to transport cargo.
       • A Blank City card can never become the target city for a Legal Match. If all the cards in the City Display are Blank City cards, proceed to step 2.c.
     • ii. If no cards in the City Display can make a Legal Match, move the Bot Supply marker to the city with the next higher City ID among the cities with Bot Trading Posts. Use this new Bot Supply City to check for a Legal Match, by starting over at step 2.a.

Example (Figure T): First, the Bot checks if it is possible to transport from Copenhagen to Oslo. But Oslo does not need Copenhagen's gray cargo. Therefore, the Bot checks the next card to the right in the City Display, which is Dublin. Dublin does need gray cargo. The Bot transports from Copenhagen to Dublin without playing cards, removes a Cargo marker from Copenhagen, and places a Trading Post marker on Dublin, on the gray Demand space. Then the Bot Target marker is moved to next card to the right in the City Display, which is Warsaw. The Bot Supply marker is moved to the next city where it has presence with the next higher City ID, which is Milan. On the Bot's next turn, it prioritizes transporting from Milan to Warsaw. But Warsaw does not need Milan's gray cargo. Therefore, the Bot checks the next card to the right in the City Display, which loops back to the leftmost card, Milan. A city can never transport to itself, so the Bot continues checking to the right and finds that neither Oslo nor Dublin needs gray cargo. Therefore, the Bot needs to switch to another supply city for transportation. The Bot Supply marker is moved to the next City ID which has a higher number, but in this case, it loops back to Dublin, which is the city with the lowest City ID number where the Bot has presence. Now the Bot finds a Legal Match from Dublin to Warsaw, and so the Bot will make that transportation.

Vehicle Development

4. Check the Bot card drawn this turn. The Bot's Vehicle markers shown on the card will advance the amount of spaces equal to the number of advance icons on the Development Track.
   • a. When a Bot Vehicle marker first advances onto a Development Track tile, it will take the upper or the lower path according to the Up/Down arrow on the Bot card drawn this turn. A Bot Vehicle marker will continue on its path until the next Crossway space, then refer to the Bot card when it advances from there.
   • b. The Bot will not receive any Transportation Rewards, City Rewards, or Perfect Upgrade Rewards; it only advances according to the number of advance icons on the Bot card.
   • c. When the Bot's Vehicle markers advance to spaces with Transport card bonus icons (Wagon / Train / Ship), nothing happens; the Bot receives no cards for these.
   • d. When a Bot Vehicle marker advances to a space with the City card bonus icon:
     • i. Take the City card the Bot Target marker is on, and place it face-up near the Bot's player board.
     • ii. Move the Bot Target marker to the next card to the right in the City Display. Loop to the leftmost card if needed.
     • iii. Draw a City card to replenish the City Display.
   • e. When a Bot Vehicle marker advances to a space with the Goal card bonus icon:
     • i. Draw 1 Goal card, and place it face-up near the Bot's player board.
5. Discard the Bot card drawn this turn, into a discard pile near the Bot Card deck.

Upkeep Phase

6. When ranking vehicles, check the positions of the Bot's Vehicle markers along with those of the human players.
7. Resolve turn order for the Bot the same way as human players.
   • a. The Bot does not receive the indicated bonus cards.

Game End

At the end of the game, each of the Bot's Goal cards will earn the Bot twice the normal VP. Score everything else for the Bot player the same as for human players.

2-Player Games

2-Player Game with Bot

You can add a Bot player to a 2-player game, which will be played as a 3-player game. The Bot's actions are the same as in the solo rules in the previous section.

2-Player Vassal Game (without Bot)

In this mode, 2 players will each control 2 sets of player components, using one set as their main color, and using the other to block the map by transporting cargo for free. Note that only the main color of each player will be scored. The details are as follows:

Setup

1. During setup, in addition to taking a set of player components of one color, each player will take an additional 12 Trading Post markers of another color to use as their Vassal Color.
2. Vassals will not use Turn Order markers; only the 2 human players will.
3. Vassals do not use Transport cards or Vehicle markers, do not receive any Bonuses or Rewards, and do not score VP at the end of the game. They will transport cargo using different rules.

I. Actions Phase

On your turn when choosing the supply city for transporting cargo, you cannot choose a city which has your Vassal's Trading Posts and not yours. You must have a Trading Post of your main color in the city you want to be the supply city.

An extra step will follow step 4. Vehicle Development, to place a Vassal Trading Post on the map:

Actions Phase step 5. Vassal Placement

• i. Choose any city on the map that has available cargo.
  • Your Vassal can supply cargo from cities without any Trading Posts belonging to your Vassal.
• ii. Search the map for any city that has an unoccupied Demand space of the same color.
  • Your Vassal can transport cargo for free. You do not need to play Transport cards for your Vassal.
  • If you find no city with a Demand space for the cargo, you must return to the previous step, step 5.i, and choose a city with cargo of another color.
• iii. From the supply city, remove a Cargo marker and return it to the general supply. Place one of your Vassal's Trading Post markers on the target city, on the Demand space matching the cargo type.
• iv. Resolve City Upgrades as usual, but the Vassal never receives a Perfect Upgrade Reward, and you don't receive a Perfect Upgrade Reward from your Vassal's transportation.

Example (Figure U): Ana (Red player) is about to place a Trading Post of her Vassal color (Green) and wants to upgrade Frankfurt to prevent her opponent, David (Blue player), from achieving a Perfect Upgrade on his next turn. Ana makes her Vassal transport from Marseille to Frankfurt (Ana can choose to have her Vassal transport from any city with orange cargo to Frankfurt, ignoring all route and movement restrictions). She removes a Cargo marker from Marseille and places a Green Trading Post marker in Frankfurt. Frankfurt upgrades immediately, and no one receives the Perfect Upgrade Reward for this City Upgrade.

II. Upkeep Phase

Proceed as usual for the 2 human players. Do nothing for the Vassals.

Game End Scoring

Score as usual for the 2 human players, for each player's main color. Do not consider Vassal markers while scoring. Vassal Trading Posts do not count for scoring LV3 cities, and Vassal Trading Posts cannot help complete the goals of your Goal cards.

Dyorle Map Specific Rules

Setup

• In step 1 of setup, flip the map board so the Dyorle side of the map is face-up. Put all 6 Rush tiles into the draw bag and shuffle the contents. Draw and randomly place all the Rush tiles onto the circular spaces on the map board. These are the Rush tile spaces.
  • Note that the Europe map does not have spaces for the Rush tiles. Rush tiles cannot be used with the Europe map.

I. Actions Phase

• When you transport cargo, if the path you use transports cargo through a Rush tile, you will remove the tile, and advance your matching Vehicle marker 1 space on the Development Track. Then put the Rush tile into the draw bag.
  • When calculating the length of the transport route, a Rush tile space is treated as a city space, thus a Land Route passing through a Rush tile space counts as 2 Land Routes, regardless of whether or not the Rush tile has been taken.
  • If the Rush tile on the Land Route you transport cargo through has already been taken, you do not receive any reward.
  • You can only take 1 Rush tile within a single turn. If your transport route passes through more than 1 Rush tile, you choose and take one of them.

Example (Figure V): Ana (Red player) plays 1 Train card to transport cargo from City A to City B. She removes the Cargo marker and places a Trading Post marker in City B. She also removes the Rush tile from the Land Route between the cities, immediately advances her Wagon marker 1 space, and receives the corresponding Development Bonus. Then she puts the Rush tile into the draw bag.

II. Upkeep Phase

During Upkeep, an extra step will follow step 2. New Turn Order, to refresh the Rush tiles.

Upkeep Phase step 3. Refresh Rush Tiles

• i. Remove all remaining Rush tiles and return them to the draw bag. Randomly place all 6 Rush tiles on the Rush tile spaces on the map board.

Game End

When counting network connections for Goal cards, consider cities at either ends of Rush tile spaces to be connected, regardless of whether or not the Rush tile has been taken.

Example (Figure W): When Ana (Red player) is calculating VP at the end of the game, she counts Trading Posts in Cities A, B, and C as being connected to each other. Ana scores 3 VP for this Goal card.

When Used with Other Variants

• When playing with clan abilities, when a player activates the Erestdon (Yellow clan) ability transport cargo by playing any 2 Transport cards, they will not collect a Rush tile.
• When playing with a Bot player, the Bot will not collect any Rush tiles. At the end of the game during scoring, the Bots will earn twice the VP from the Development Track.
• When playing with Vassal players, the Vassals will not collect any Rush tiles. You will not collect a Rush tile when your Vassal transports cargo.

5P Pack Components

• 1 Wooden Wagon Marker (purple)
• 1 Wooden Train Marker (purple)
• 1 Wooden Ship Marker (purple)
• 15 Wooden Trading Post Markers (purple)
• 1 Spare Wooden Trading Post Marker (purple)
• 6 Advanced Development Track Tiles (double-sided)

5-Player Games

Setup

• In step 2 of setup, use the 5-player game side of the vertical VP track Development board.
  • The Next Round Turn Order Track bonus for the 5th position is any 1 Transport card and an immediate 1 movement space to advance their Vehicle marker matching that card.
• In Step 4, draw 5 cards for the City Display.
  • The number of Public City cards is increased to 5 during the entire game.
• In step 7, each player takes only 12 Trading Post markers. Place 9 of these in your player board's Trading Post holding spaces (3 per round), and keep 3 extra markers nearby, for use during setup. Remaining Trading Post markers will not be used.
  • Each player will have only 3 turns per round.

I. Actions Phase

Each player will have only 3 turns per round.

II. Upkeep Phase

When ranking vehicles in Step 1.iv, the two remaining players keep their relative order to place on the icon and both take a Transport card of their choice. The 5th player immediately advances their matching Vehicle marker by 1 step.

Game End

The rules are unchanged.

Advanced Development Tracks

Setup

1. During step 2 of setup, shuffle the Development Track tiles numbered a01 to a06, randomly draw 1 tile, and place it on the leftmost Development Track tile space of the Development board.
2. Next, shuffle the Development Track tiles numbered b01 to b03, randomly draw 1 tile, and place it on the next Development Track tile space.
3. Finally, shuffle the Development Track tiles numbered c01 to c03, randomly draw 1 tile, and place it on the last Development Track tile space.

• With the agreement of all players, you may also freely use some or all of the Development Track tiles, randomly arranging them in any random order on the Development board.

I. Actions Phase

• 2 new bonus icons have been added to the Advanced Development Tracks, giving players more strategic options:
  • Take any 1 Transport card of your choice.
  • Either take 1 City card from the City Display, or draw 2 Goal cards, choose 1 to keep, and return the other to the bottom of the deck.
• The Development Track tiles numbered c01 to c03 have some wider spaces. Your Vehicle markers only need 1 movement to move onto these spaces and 1 movement to move off them and onto the next space.
  • Opting for these paths will let your markers move faster on the Development Track, but keep in mind that you are also missing out on Transport cards by skipping bonus spaces.

II. Upkeep Phase

When comparing the positions of Vehicle markers, consider each marker on a wider space to be at the furthest right position within that respective space.

Example (Figure X): During the Upkeep phase, we are comparing positions of the Wagon markers of Ana (Red player), Bob (Yellow player), and David (Blue player). Since the Red Wagon is on the wider space of the upper path, it is considered to be in the rightmost position of that space, thus being tied with the Blue Wagon on the lower path. Both are ahead of the Yellow Wagon. As the Red player is earlier in the current round turn order than the Blue player, the Red player becomes the first player for the next round.

Game End

When comparing the positions of Vehicle markers, consider each marker on a wider space to be at the furthest right position within that respective space.

Deluxe Components

• 24 Printed Wooden City Tiles (double-sided, LV1 / LV2)
• 5 Printed Wooden Clan Crest Tiles (1 per clan)
• 6 Printed Wooden Rush Tiles (2 per each vehicle type)

Enhance your gaming experience with premium UV printed wooden tiles. Simply replace the standard cardboard tiles with these during setup for a more tactile gaming experience.