Eminent Domain: Exotica Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components
• Mining and Asteroids
  • The Mining Tile
  • Improved Mining Abilities
• New Terminology
  • Recon
  • Replenishing Slots
• New Planets
  • Exotic Planets and Asteroids
  • Exotic Symbols
  • Exotic Translators
  • RFG (Remove From the Game)
  • Asteroid
• New Resource
  • Crystal Resource
• Diverse Research
• Setup
  • Setup Reference
  • 5 Player Setup – requires Escalation expansion
• Scenarios
• Gameplay
  • Replenish Phase
  • Action Phase
  • Role Phase
  • Cleanup Phase
• Final Round
• Technology Card Appendix
  • Fertile Technology
  • Metallic Technology
  • Advanced Technology
  • Diverse Technology
  • Exotic Technology
• Exotica Promo Pack

Overview

Exotica is an expansion to Eminent Domain, and cannot be played without the base game. The Exotica Promo Pack, included in this box, will allow Exotica to be used along with the Escalation expansion. We recommend that you play the base game several times before incorporating Exotica. Furthermore, we recommend playing with Exotica and Escalation separately several times before using both expansions in the same game.

Components

• Planet cards x27
• Politics role cards x8
• 3-Fighter tokens x30
• Crystal resources x8
• Technology cards x31 (the small print breakdown of card types on the components page is not legible in the scan, so no breakdown is given here)
• Start Planet tiles x4
• Mining tiles x4
• Scenario cards x9
• Exotica Promo Pack (for combining Exotica & Escalation expansions) — the promo pack contains Technology cards, Start Planets, a Mining tile, Asteroids, a Hostile Exotic Planet and Scenarios (the exact counts printed under the pack are not legible in the scan). Exotica Promo Pack cards and tiles are denoted with a small "EX" in the upper right corner.

Ship and Resource tokens are not intended to be piece-limited. If you run out of these tokens, use any suitable proxy. As in the base game, depleting the Influence Tokens in the supply will trigger game end, but additional Influence may be collected through the final player's last turn.

Mining and Asteroids

The Planet deck now contains a number of Asteroids. Free-floating hunks of rock, Asteroids are like Planets, but less valuable – they are not worth much influence. However, there are some new Technologies which become stronger the more Asteroids you have in play.

Asteroid cards in the Planet deck and face-down Asteroids in your empire count as Planet cards. Like normal Planets, Asteroids can be settled, attacked, and affected by things that target Planets. However, face-up Asteroid cards are Asteroids, not Planets – they do not satisfy any research requirements, and no longer count as Planets for any reason.

The Mining Tile

You begin the game with a Mining tile in play, which allows you to mine Asteroids. Mining an Asteroid means flipping it over, ignoring the Colonize and Warfare costs. You may play this action instead of playing a card during your Action phase.

The action on the Mining tile has a cost: discarding your hand of cards. You may play this action even if there are no cards in your hand.

When leading or following a Research role, you may upgrade Mining to Improved Mining (flip the tile over) by paying 3 Research symbols instead of buying a Tech card. There is no Planet requirement for this upgrade.

Improved Mining Abilities

Once upgraded to Improved Mining, the Mining tile reduces both the Colonize and Warfare costs for your Asteroids by 1. You also gain the ability to keep 1 Asteroid card each Survey role in addition to the chosen Planet card. Thus you can keep 1 Planet and 1 Asteroid (or no Planets and 2 Asteroids) in the same Survey role.

New Terminology

Exotica introduces a few new common abilities that will appear on several of the new Planet or Technology cards. These include:

Recon

Recon is an ability which allows players to search one of the decks in the game and its discard pile for a number of cards, shuffle that deck and discard pile, then put the chosen cards on top. It is written "RECON [DECK] for X cards," where "X" is the number of chosen cards, and [DECK] is the deck searched. For example: "RECON the Planet deck for 1 Asteroid" means "Search the Planet deck and discard pile for any 1 Asteroid card, shuffle the Planet deck, and place the chosen Asteroid card on top." And "RECON your deck for 3 cards" means "Search your deck and discard pile for any 3 cards, shuffle your deck, and place the chosen cards on top (in any order)."

In Exotica there are 3 cards that utilize Recon. See the card appendix for details.

Replenishing Slots

Some Planets and Technology cards provide Replenishing resource slots. Place a token of the appropriate type on the slot when the card comes into play. You may spend that token at any time. These slots automatically replenish at the beginning of your turn.

New Planets

Exotica expands the universe by adding new Advanced, Fertile, and Metallic Planets, as well as two entirely new types of planet cards: Exotic planets and Asteroids. There are new Exotic Start Planets that are equivalent to the original Start Planets, as well as Asteroid Start Planets. The Exotica Promo Pack also includes an expensive Exotic Start Planet and a Prestige Start Planet.

Exotic Planets and Asteroids

Exotica features two new types of cards in the Planet deck: Exotic planets and Asteroids. There is a stack of Exotic Technology cards which require that you have flipped 1, 2, or 3 Exotic Planets to research. Asteroids are like bad planets, but with the right technology you can harness their power. Exotica also adds new Advanced, Fertile, and Metallic Planets to the Planet deck.

Exotic Symbols

These new Planets feature a new Exotic Role symbol and Exotic translators. The translators shown in this section turn an Exotic symbol into a green role symbol and into a blue role symbol (the icons are shown on the page; see Exotic Translators below).

There is no Exotic role in the game, so this symbol is useless... unless you find a way to translate it.

Note: Exotic symbols on Planets and permanent Tech cards have a red halo. Symbols on Tech cards in your hand do not. Some abilities only count the permanent symbols (with the halo), whereas other abilities allow you to use any Exotic symbol.

Exotic Translators

Translators allow you to use Exotic symbols from your Planets, permanent Tech cards in play, and Tech cards in your hand as useful, recognizable Role symbols. The Exotic translator below allows you to spend Exotic symbols as if they were Warfare symbols to boost or follow a Warfare role.

If you have two different translators in play, each Exotic symbol may be translated by either one. However, having two copies of the same translator in play does not allow a single Exotic symbol to count as 2 Role symbols at once.

Abilities such as Alien Recruiter ("Exotic symbol: Collect 1 Fighter OR draw 1 card") should be read as "For each Exotic symbol printed on Planets or permanent Tech cards in your Empire, collect 1 Fighter or draw 1 card." Those abilities do not count Exotic symbols on cards in your hand—only the ones in play.

RFG (Remove From the Game)

RFG is an ability which allows you to remove cards from the game. This ability is optional. For example, "Draw 1 card, then RFG 1 card in hand" should be read "Draw 1 card, then remove up to 1 card in hand from the game."

In Exotica there are 3 cards that utilize RFG. See the card appendix for details.

Asteroid

ASTEROID indicates an ability that gets better for each face-up Asteroid in your Empire. For example, "ASTEROID: Collect 1 Fighter." should be read "For each face-up Asteroid in your empire, collect 1 Fighter."

In Exotica there are 5 cards that utilize ASTEROID. See the card appendix for details.

New Resource

Crystal Resource

Some Exotic Planets and some Asteroids produce a new resource called Crystal. Crystal is a resource type, just like Food, Water, Iron, and Silicon.

Note that the "any resource" icon refers only to Food, Water, Iron, and Silicon—not Crystal. You cannot store Crystal on an "Any resource" slot.

Diverse Research

There is a new stack of Diverse Technology cards. Each technology in this stack requires an Advanced, a Fertile, and a Metallic Planet. You must have flipped at least one Planet of each of these types in order to research these technologies.

Setup

Set up the game according to the base Eminent Domain rulebook, then:

1. Give each player a Mining Tile.
2. Shuffle the new Planet cards and Asteroids into the planet deck.
3. Sort the new Technology cards by type (the three planet-type icons, and Diverse) and place them into 4 FACE-UP piles near the original Technology cards. You may consolidate new and old technology cards into similar stacks. Note: These piles are for convenience only. You may access any Technology card at any time during the game.
4. Before creating players' starting decks, create stacks of role cards according to the setup reference below.

Setup Reference

Number of role cards per stack, Influence tokens in the supply, and depleted role stacks needed to trigger the end of the game, by player count:

Players	Survey	Warfare	Colonize	Produce/Trade	Research	Influence tokens (star icon)	Depleted role stacks (end game trigger)
2	16	14	16	12	16	24	1
3	20	16	20	16	20	24	1
3*	18	15	18	14	18	24

* 3 Player Extended Variant. ** 5 Player requires the Escalation expansion.

5 Player Setup – requires Escalation expansion

For 5 Players (requires the Escalation expansion): Add the four blue-bordered "5 PLAYER ONLY" Role cards to each stack. Also add the eight blue Influence Tokens to the standard supply pile. In 5-player games, the game end will trigger when any two role stacks are empty, or when the Influence Token supply pile (including the blue tokens) is empty.

Scenarios

An optional rule which replaces the standard setup, Scenarios provide a great deal of variety to experienced players by providing unique starting configurations. Each Scenario card indicates your starting deck, starting Planet, and any Technology cards which you will have at the beginning of the game. Each player will have a different starting configuration, greatly increasing play variety.

For added variability you may choose to use Scenarios instead of the normal set-up rules. To use them, distribute 1 Scenario card to each player using any method you choose (choose them, deal them randomly, deal Start Planets and let players choose a Scenario that uses their Start Planet, or draft them), making sure not to use any two mutually exclusive Scenarios. Set up each starting configuration according to the Scenario card, and then set up the rest of the game and play as normal.

Gameplay

Many of the gameplay mechanisms of Exotica are identical to the base game. However, Exotica introduces certain concepts, such as multiple Role phases in a given turn, which require a slight modification to the basic gameplay structure. These rules replace the base game rules.

Replenish Phase

At the very beginning of your turn, replenish any empty Replenishing slots in your Empire. If a card contains more than one Replenishing slot, each empty slot will refresh even if the other slots are full. Any Replenishing slots that are full at the beginning of your turn are unaffected.

Action Phase

During your Action phase, you are allowed to take one action. This action may be from a card in your hand, from your Mining tile, or from any face up Planets or Tech cards in your Empire. Taking an action is optional; you may choose to take no Actions during your Action phase.

Any cards played during your Action phase are set aside from the play area. Cards set aside in this way have no effect during subsequent Role phases. Cards played during your Action phase will not be placed into the Discard pile until the beginning of the Cleanup phase.

Actions printed on Planets and permanent Technology cards are limited to once per action, not once per turn.

Role Phase

The Role phase is mandatory and works just like it does in the base game. If using the Escalation expansion, it is possible to get two Role phases in a single turn. When that happens, each Role phase is resolved separately.

Any cards played to boost or follow a role are set aside from the play area at the end of the Role phase. Cards set aside in this way have no effect during subsequent Role phases. Cards played during any Role phase will not be placed into the Discard pile until the beginning of the Leader's Cleanup phase.

Role symbols on Planets and permanent Technology cards may be used once per Role phase.

Cleanup Phase

The Cleanup phase works just like it does in the base game, except as follows:

At the beginning of the Cleanup phase, before you reconcile your hand, place all cards that were set aside during your Action and Role phases into your Discard pile. Players who followed during your Role phase(s) place any cards they set aside into their Discard piles at the beginning of your Cleanup phase.

Final Round

With the expansion, it is even more important to know whether you will have one last turn at the end of the game. When the game end triggers, complete the current round as normal, and then play one additional full round. This way, all players will know for sure whether any given turn is their last turn.

Remember: if the Influence supply is depleted, additional Influence may still be collected. Use any suitable proxy to track the additional Influence.

Technology Card Appendix

This appendix includes the complete text of all new technology cards, as well as any specific notes or rules governing their usage.

Reading the cards: "Requires" lists the planet-type icons and Research symbols needed to research the card, as shown on each card. The star badge on a card is its Influence value. "Exotic symbol" means the orange alien-head symbol.

Fertile Technology

Fertile Alien Tech (PERMANENT) — Requires: 1 Fertile planet, 3 Research. If you have at least 1 Exotic symbol: Produce symbol. If you have at least 2 Exotic symbols: Colonize symbol.

Mining Colony (PERMANENT) — Requires: 1 Fertile planet, 3 Research. When you mine an Asteroid: Settle 1 Planet AND Produce 2 Resources.

Alien Inhabitation — Requires: 1 Fertile planet, 3 Research. Settle 1 Planet AND Produce 1 Resource. Exotic symbol: Settle 1 Planet OR Produce 1 Resource.

Asteroidal Colonies — Requires: 1 Fertile planet, 3 Research. Each face-up Asteroid in your Empire gains a Colonize symbol for this action only. Settle 1 Planet.

Asteroidal Production — Requires: 1 Fertile planet, 3 Research. Produce 1 Resource. ASTEROID: Produce 1 Resource.

Metallic Technology

Metallic Alien Tech (PERMANENT) — Requires: 1 Metallic planet, 3 Research. If you have at least 1 Exotic symbol: Survey symbol and Warfare symbol.

Mining Base (PERMANENT) — Requires: 1 Metallic planet, 3 Research. When you mine an Asteroid: Draw 2 cards AND collect 2 Fighters.

Alien Recruiter — Requires: 1 Metallic planet, 3 Research. Collect 1 Fighter AND draw 1 card. Exotic symbol: Collect 1 Fighter OR draw 1 card.

Asteroidal Survey — Requires: 1 Metallic planet, 3 Research. Draw 1 card. ASTEROID: Draw 1 card. You may play another action during this action phase.

Asteroidal Warfare — Requires: 1 Metallic planet, 3 Research. ASTEROID: Collect 1 Fighter. Attack 1 Planet.

Advanced Technology

Advanced Alien Tech (PERMANENT) — Requires: 1 Advanced planet, 3 Research. If you have at least 1 Exotic symbol: Trade symbol. If you have at least 2 Exotic symbols: Research symbol.

Mining Laboratory (PERMANENT) — Requires: 1 Advanced planet, 3 Research. When you mine an Asteroid: RFG up to 2 cards from your hand or discard pile AND Trade up to 2 Resources for 1 Influence each.

Alien Understanding — Requires: 1 Advanced planet, 3 Research. Trade 1 Resource for 1 Influence AND RFG 1 card in hand. Exotic symbol: Trade 1 Resource for 1 Influence OR RFG 1 card in hand.

Asteroidal Trade — Requires: 1 Advanced planet, 3 Research. Trade 1 Resource for 1 Influence. Repeat for each face-up Asteroid in your Empire.

Asteroidal Research — Requires: 1 Advanced planet, 3 Research. Draw 1 card, then RFG 1 card in hand (may include this card). ASTEROID: Draw 1 additional card and RFG 1 additional card in hand.

Diverse Technology

Alien Artifact (PERMANENT) — Requires: 1 Advanced, 1 Fertile, and 1 Metallic planet, 3 Research. This card has an Exotic symbol and no other text.

Space Station (PERMANENT) — Requires: 1 Advanced, 1 Fertile, and 1 Metallic planet, 3 Research. When Space Station comes into play, choose an Asteroid in play. Space Station becomes a copy of that Asteroid.

Tractor Beam — Requires: 1 Advanced, 1 Fertile, and 1 Metallic planet, 3 Research. RECON the Planet deck for 1 Asteroid. Put that card into your Empire face-down.

Coalition (PERMANENT, Influence 2) — Requires: 1 Advanced, 1 Fertile, and 1 Metallic planet, 5 Research. Exotic Planets in your Empire count as any Planet type for research requirements.

Organized Labor (PERMANENT, Influence 2) — Requires: 1 Advanced, 1 Fertile, and 1 Metallic planet, 5 Research. At the beginning of your turn, fill all Resource slots on Asteroids in your Empire.

Double Back — Requires: 1 Advanced, 1 Fertile, and 1 Metallic planet, 3 Research. Take 1 Planet card from the Planet discard pile and put it face-down into your Empire.

Exotic Technology

Improved Colonize — Requires: 1 Exotic planet, 3 Research. Settle a Planet. Then either settle another Planet OR add this Colony to a Planet.

Improved Production — Requires: 1 Exotic planet, 3 Research. Produce 2 Resources.

Improved Research — Requires: 1 Exotic planet, 3 Research. Draw 1 card, then RFG up to 3 cards in hand (may include this card).

Perception Filter (PERMANENT) — Requires: 1 Exotic planet, 3 Research. During Survey Roles, you may discard any Planet card (face up or face down) from your Empire to keep 1 additional Planet.

Rosetta Fish (PERMANENT) — Requires: 1 Exotic planet, 3 Research. Tuck a standard Role card from the stacks under Rosetta Fish. That card is out of the game. You may use Exotic symbols as if they were that Role's symbol. For Produce/Trade, this translates to both symbols.

Asteroidal Library — Requires: 1 Exotic planet, 3 Research. Reveal the top 2 cards of your deck. ASTEROID: Reveal an additional card from the top of your deck. Put 1 revealed card into your hand and discard the rest. Until end of turn, treat Exotic symbols as any role symbol on the kept card.

Improved Survey — Requires: 1 Exotic planet, 3 Research. Draw 3 cards.

Improved Trade — Requires: 1 Exotic planet, 3 Research. Collect 1 Influence from the supply.

Improved Warfare — Requires: 1 Exotic planet, 3 Research. Collect 2 Fighters OR attack 1 Planet.

Thorough Probing — Requires: 1 Exotic planet, 3 Research. Discard any number of cards. RECON the Planet deck for that number of cards. You may play an additional Action during this Action phase.

Asteroidal Aliens — Requires: 1 Exotic planet, 3 Research. Each face up Asteroid in your Empire gains an Exotic symbol until end of turn.

Cult of the New (PERMANENT, Influence 2) — Requires: 2 Exotic planets, 5 Research. At the end of the game: each Exotic symbol = 1 Influence.

Alien Advisory (PERMANENT, Influence 2) — Requires: 2 Exotic planets, 5 Research. Each Exotic symbol = draw 1 card.

Xenolinguistics (Influence 2) — Requires: 2 Exotic planets, 5 Research. Choose a Role symbol. For the rest of this turn, you may use Exotic symbols as if they were the chosen symbol.

Exotic Efficiency (PERMANENT, Influence 5) — Requires: 3 Exotic planets, 7 Research. If you have at least 2 Exotic symbols: Survey, Warfare, Colonize, Produce, Trade, and Research symbols.

Infinite Unknown (PERMANENT, Influence 5) — Requires: 3 Exotic planets, 7 Research. Return any number of standard Role cards from your hand to the stacks each turn.

Junk Diver (Influence 2) — Requires: 2 Exotic planets, 5 Research. RECON the Planet deck for 1 Asteroid. After your Role phase, mine 1 Asteroid (at no cost).

Cryptography (Influence 2) — Requires: 2 Exotic planets, 5 Research. Draw 3 cards, then return up to 2 cards in hand to the stacks.

WARNING: We highly recommend playing several times with Exotica and Escalation separately before using the following Promo Pack cards to combine the two expansions together!

Exotica Promo Pack

The Exotica Promo Pack cards are denoted with a small "EX" in the upper right corner. These cards are for combining Exotica with the Escalation expansion.

Transcriber's note: the promo pack cards' requirement strips use grey symbols. The grey disc is read here as the Politics symbol (the Politics role-card symbol shown on the components page), and the grey tower symbol is described as shown. The scan is low resolution, so the planet-type icons on the two Double Time cards are not resolved and are described generally rather than guessed.

Peace Treaty (PERMANENT) — Requires: 1 Metallic planet, 3 Politics or 3 Research. Collect 1 Influence when dissenting a Warfare Role.

Asteroidal Sentry (PERMANENT) — Requires: 1 Metallic planet, 3 Politics or 3 Research. If you have at least 1 face-up Asteroid in your Empire: draw 1 card.

Technological Display — Requires: 1 Metallic planet, 3 Politics or 3 Research. Draw 1 card for each Permanent Technology in your Empire. You may play an additional Action during this Action phase.

Alien Weaponry (PERMANENT, Influence 2) — Requires: 2 Exotic planets, 2 Politics or 5 Research. Exotic symbol: Reduce Warfare costs by 1 Fighter.

Mercs for Hire (PERMANENT, Influence 2) — Requires: 2 Exotic planets, 2 Politics or 5 Research. You may Trade Fighters as if they were Crystal. Once per turn: You may spend 1 Crystal as if it were a Fighter.

Political Sabotage (Influence 2) — Requires: 2 Exotic planets, 2 Politics or 5 Research. Choose a Role symbol. Each opponent must reveal their hand and discard all cards with that Role symbol.

Crunch Time (Influence 2) — Requires: 2 Exotic planets, 2 Politics or 5 Research. Draw 3 cards. You may discard standard Survey cards from your hand. For each card discarded this way, you may play an additional Action during this Action phase.

Mutagenesis (Influence 3) — Requires: 3 Exotic planets, 1 grey tower symbol or 7 Research. Remove any 1 Planet in any player's Empire from the game. REPARATIONS: That player may RECON the Planet deck for 1 Asteroid and put it into their Empire face up.

Coalition Victory (2P-3P) (PERMANENT, Influence 5) — Requires: 3 Exotic planets, 1 grey tower symbol or 7 Research. If you have three each Advanced, Fertile, Metallic Planets in play (face-up), you win the game.

Coalition Victory (4P-5P) (PERMANENT, Influence 5) — Requires: 3 Exotic planets, 1 grey tower symbol or 7 Research. If you have two each Advanced, Fertile, Metallic Planets in play (face-up), you win the game.

Create Chaos (Influence 2) — Requires: 1 Metallic, 1 Fertile, and 1 Advanced planet, 2 Politics or 5 Research. Opponents must discard all cards in their hands. REPARATIONS: Draw 2 cards.

Double Time (first copy) — Requires: planet-type icons as shown on the card (one Exotic planet icon and two further icons the scan does not resolve), 3 Politics or 3 Research. You may play 2 additional Actions during this Action phase.

Double Time (second copy) — Requires: planet-type icons as shown on the card (one Exotic planet icon and two further icons the scan does not resolve), 3 Politics or 3 Research. You may play 2 additional Actions during this Action phase.

Lesser Mimic (PERMANENT, Influence 2) — Requires: 1 Metallic, 1 Fertile, and 1 Advanced planet, 2 Politics or 5 Research. When Lesser Mimic comes into play, choose a Permanent Technology in an opponent's Empire. Lesser Mimic becomes a copy of that Technology.

Greater Mimic (PERMANENT, Influence 3) — Requires: 1 Metallic, 1 Fertile, and 1 Advanced planet, 1 grey tower symbol or 7 Research. At the beginning of your turn, choose a Permanent Technology in an opponent's Empire. Greater Mimic becomes a copy of that Technology.

Stolen Trade Secrets (Influence 2) — Requires: 1 Metallic, 1 Fertile, and 1 Advanced planet, 2 Politics or 5 Research. Take a Technology card from another player's Empire or discard pile and place it in your Empire or hand. REPARATIONS: Put Stolen Trade Secrets into that player's discard pile.