Ceres: Mars Contracts Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Setup
• Production Phase
• Activation Phase
  • Union Tile Layout
  • 1. Union Grant Action
  • 2. Union Commitment Action
• Completing a Contract
  • Contract Card Layout
• End of the Game
• Favor Token
• Automa Rules
  • Important

Components

• 4 Union tokens
• 6 Union tiles
• 4 Progress markers
• 28 Corporate Seal tokens
• 1 Favor token
• 32 Contract cards
• 2 Automa Action cards

To integrate the Mars Contracts expansion into your game, add the following rules to the following game parts.

Game Setup

During the Setting up Your Corporation Board sequence, get 1 Union token of your chosen color and place it in your play area.

In the Setting up the Game Board sequence, add these 3 steps:

I. Shuffle the Union tiles. Reveal tiles equal to the number of players. Arrange them in a single line starting from the one with the lowest Union number to the one with the highest and place them near the Game Board. Return the remaining to the game box.

II. On each Union tile, place a Progress marker on the "0" space and 7 Corporate Seal tokens of one random color on the dedicated spot, on each of them. Return the remaining to the game box.

III. Shuffle all Contract cards, to form a face-down pile near the Union tiles.

Production Phase

Before the Production phase of every round, if there are any Contract cards remaining on the Union tiles, discard and return them to the game box. Then, for every Union tile, draw 2 Contract cards and place them in the designated areas.

Activation Phase

Union tiles provide 1 more Location to activate, which provides 2 new actions:

1. Union Grant action
2. Union Commitment action

Union Tile Layout

• I. Union number
• II. Primary grant
• III. Secondary grant
• IV. Corporate Seal spot
• V. Progress track

1. Union Grant Action

Place your Union token or one of your Leader tokens on an available action slot of a Union tile and gain the Primary grant.

Note: Union token is a Leader token that can be placed only on a Union Tile.

2. Union Commitment Action

Select a token of yours that is already placed on a Union tile's action slot and move it down to the extended action slot. Gain the Secondary grant, get one of the available Contract cards under this tile along with a Corporate Seal token and place it in your play area with the Corporate Seal token placed on the "0" level of that card.

Note: The associated action slot does not become available for any player to place a Union or Leader token there again.

Example: Ludwig (yellow player) places his Union token on the action slot of the Union tile and performs the Union Grant action, gaining 2 Ice. Hilda (white player), as she had already placed her Union token on the Union tile on a previous turn, can perform the Union Commitment action, moving it down to the extended action slot, which provides her with the Launch action. In addition, she gets a Contract card and places a Corporate Seal token on the "0" level of the card. Later on, as she constructed a Lab Facility, she moves the Corporate Seal token down by one space.

Completing a Contract

Contract Card Layout

• I. Levels
• II. Requirement
• III. Completion reward
• IV. Reward options

As a passive trigger, when you fulfill the condition of a Contract card you have in your play area, move its Corporate Seal token to the next level. If that level was the last one, the Contract is considered completed; move the Progress marker on the corresponding Union tile by one space (completion reward) and then choose one of the reward options;

a. gain the Victory Points depicted by discarding the Contract card or

b. move again the Progress marker as many times as indicated on the card, by flipping the Contract card, placing the Corporate Seal token on the dedicated spot and keeping it in front of you.

Note: The condition must be fulfilled after getting the Contract card in your play area for the Corporate Seal token to be moved.

End of the Game

Each player:

• For every completed Contract card on their play area, they add to their score any Victory Points indicated by the position of the Progress marker on the corresponding Union Tile.
• For every non-completed Contract card on their play area, they lose 2 Victory Points.

Example: At the End of the Game, Hilda (white player) has completed 3 Contracts of the Union, keeping 2 of them in front of her, while she discarded the third one to gain 2 Victory points. She also left 1 Contract uncompleted. The Progress marker of the Union is in the "3 Victory Points" section, so Hilda will gain 6 Victory Points for the 2 completed Contract cards in front of her. Furthermore, she will lose 2 Victory Points for the 1 uncompleted Contract card.

Favor Token

This expansion comes with a new Favor Token, which can only be used when playing with this expansion. If you want to use it in your game, mix it with all the other available Favor tokens and either determine which 4 Favors you want to use, or flip all of them upside down and randomly draw 4.

Labor Union: Whenever you place your Union or Leader token on a Union tile gain the Primary grant of this Union twice. In addition, move the Progress marker of that particular Union tile by 2 spaces.

Automa: In the next Union Commitment action it gains the Secondary Grant twice.

Automa Rules

To integrate the Automa with this expansion, shuffle the two additional Automa Action cards with the rest of the Automa Action cards.

Whenever you draw the Automa Action card that is relevant to the Union Location, draw an Automa Priority card and, following the arrow, place its Union token (or one of its Leader tokens if it has already used its Union token) on the first available action slot. It performs the Union Commitment action of this Union, by gaining the Secondary grant and taking a Contract card under this tile, following the arrow of the Automa Priority card. The Automa spends 2 Credits and follows the process as if it has just completed the Contract card; it gains 2 Victory Points and discards the card. Move the Progress marker of this Union by 1 space.

Important

• If the Union provides the Manufacture action, the Automa receives the Production indicated on its Automa Leader card.
• If it could not perform the Union Commitment action, its token remains in place and receives the Production indicated on its Automa Leader card as normal. However, it will not take any Contract card.
• If it cannot afford to take a Contract card, it just does not get any.