EVE: The Second Genesis
EVE: The Second Genesis Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction
Game Concept
You need a steady income, which you can get by seizing remote regions of space and gathering a rich harvest from them. Strengthen your base and defend it from your rivals' attacks. Build a fleet of spaceships and send them on missions to reduce your opponents' income, steal their resources, destroy their ships and, in the end, destroy their bases.
Victory Conditions
If the bases of all your opponents are destroyed, or you have achieved an alternative victory condition, you have won. If you are required to draw a card from your deck and there are no cards left in it, you lose.
The Arena
The EVE universe is divided into regions. At the start of each game every player controls one home region; these are represented by the players' bases. After the game has begun, remote regions can be brought into play. Home and remote regions are together simply called regions. A home region is always controlled by you; remote regions must be seized. They can be lost or acquired. All locations, ships and structures are located in regions - it matters into which region a card is played or to which region it moves!
You may play locations into any region that is in play, whether or not you control it. But whoever controls a region controls the locations placed in it.
If your ship jumps into a remote region that nobody controls, you gain control of it for as long as you control a ship located in it.
Structures attach to your base, which is always in your home region.
Important: remote regions and the base are never shuffled into the deck!
Card Types
Bases / Home Regions
Every deck must contain one base. The base is in play from the very start of the game, and it determines which race you are playing. You may play only cards whose race icon matches the race of your base. On most cards such icons can be found in the upper left corner. If a card shows no icon (or icons), any race may play it.
Important: if race icons appear in a card's text, they denote race-specific properties of the card; this means that the text following the icon applies only to the race shown before the text.
Upgraded Bases
On the reverse side of every base card is its upgraded version. To upgrade your base, you must pay the cost of this game action, then turn the card over so that the side with the upgraded version is face up - this is called upgrading the base. The upgraded base immediately brings its effect into play. Upgrading a base brings new effects into the game and changes the base's shield strength and income. The base remains upgraded until the end of the game.
After the game begins, be careful that your opponent does not accidentally see the upgraded side of your base. There are several upgrade versions for each race, so surprise your opponent.
Important: your base is the heart of your corporation; if it is destroyed, you lose.
Remote Regions
Every deck contains exactly three different remote regions. They are not shuffled into the deck and are kept to the side, face down. Each turn only one new remote region may enter play. A remote region enters play uncontrolled; to receive its benefits you must first seize control of it. You may play a remote region only if there is not already a region with the same name in play. For all intents and purposes remote regions are not considered cards; once a region is in play, it cannot be destroyed or removed from the game.
Ships
When you play a ship from your hand, it docks in the docks of your base. Most ships require one or more turns to build. When such a ship is completely built, it can be moved (make a hyperjump) into your home region - undock from the docks. Docked ships are not considered to be in the home region. Docked ships cannot be targeted, so they are the most protected from the actions of opponents; however, while ships are docked their abilities do not apply (unless stated otherwise), and they cannot act as defenders of your home region.
News
News cards are the only cards that can be played outside your Management phase. You may play News at any time, during any phase of any player's turn. The only exception: you may not play News during the Draw phase. Most News cards go to your scrapheap right after resolving from the stack, but some remain in play and can affect gameplay for several turns or until the end of the game.
Structures
Structures attach to your base and are always played only into your home region. Their shield bonus and income bonus are added to the corresponding bonuses of your base.
Locations
Most locations may be played into any home or remote region regardless of who controls that region. If the maximum available number of locations that can be placed in a region has been reached, you may not play more locations into it. Only one ship at a time can mine minerals from each location each turn.
Characters
When you play a character, it enters play in your docks. Characters in your docks are agents, and while they remain in the docks the agent abilities apply. When you jump your ship from the docks into your home region, you may choose a character in your docks, and he becomes the pilot of that ship. While a character pilots a ship, the pilot abilities apply instead of the agent abilities. Orders available to characters apply to the ships they pilot. Treat these additional orders as though the ship owns them (they stay on the same side of the card). The strengths of duplicate orders that are executed simultaneously add together.
When a ship with a pilot leaves play, the pilot leaves play with it. The player may pay the clone cost of that pilot to return him to his docks (in which case the character does not leave play).
Anatomy of a Card
Card Name and Type > The line with the card's name and the line beneath it with the card's type. Some cards have a compound card type; the types are separated by the sign ">" (for example, Location > Moon).
Cost > The number of credits you must pay to play the card or to upgrade your base. If the card's cost is "X" and the card's text does not say what makes up this number "X", you may choose the number yourself. Everywhere "X" is mentioned on that card, replace it with the corresponding number.
Income > The number of credits this card creates for you each of your turns.
Shield > The shield strength of a ship or base. If a structure has a shield bonus, it is added to the shield of your base. If a ship or base is dealt damage equal to or exceeding its total shield strength, or if its shield strength is reduced to zero, the card is destroyed. All shields fully recharge at the end of each phase.
Number of Locations > The number of locations that can be placed in this region. If the infinity sign (∞) is printed in this place on the card, any number of locations can be played into this region.
Build > The time this ship takes to build. A ship without build tabs enters play in your docks completely built.
Race Icon > Cards that have no race icons can be played by any race. Cards with one or more race icons can be played only by one of the listed races.
Abilities > The abilities of this card. If the card has a quotation, it is written at the bottom of the card in italics and has no effect on the rules or gameplay.
Order > The order ability of this ship.
Attack > The amount of damage the ship deals.
Duration > The number of turns this News card remains in play. "Duration ∞" means the card stays in play until the end of the game or until it is destroyed.
Mineral Volume > When a ship mines minerals from this location, multiply the location's mineral volume by the strength of the ship's Mine Minerals order; this gives the number of credits you will receive during the income step.
Rarity Symbol > It shows the rarity of the card. Cards with a transparent symbol are common, with a silver symbol uncommon, and with a gold symbol rare.
Race Affinity > Abilities listed in the card's text box after a race icon apply only to the corresponding race, regardless of which race originally played the card.
Clone Icon > If a character is piloting a ship and the ship leaves play, you may pay the cost shown inside this icon to move the character to your docks instead of destroying him as well.
Game Setup
The minimum number of cards in your market depends on the format that you and your friends prefer. When you have collected enough cards, you may use the standard format for official tournaments:
- One base
- Three remote regions
- A market of at least 52 cards
- No more than four copies of each card
1. The Game Board
Place the base card on the table in front of you, non-upgraded side face up. Then place the three remote regions face down off to the side of the play area, shuffle your market (the rest of the deck) and place it on the table near your base. Leave room near the market for your scrapheap - discarded cards from your hand and your destroyed cards go there.
2. Decide Who Goes First
Who goes first is decided randomly. You can use dice, rock-paper-scissors, etc.
3. Draw Your Starting Hand
All players draw seven cards from their market. Starting with the player who will go first, each player may choose any number of cards from his hand, shuffle them into his market, and then fill his hand back up to seven from the shuffled market (this can be done only once and only at the start of the game).
4. Create the Credit Bank
Place the credit coins (or tokens) in a place accessible to all players. All players' treasuries are empty at the start of the game.
Setup Example
Jan began by placing his Amarr base on the table in front of him; he was careful not to show his opponent the reverse side of the base and so surprise him later. Then Jan drew a starting hand of seven cards from the market. He did not much like the set of cards he got, so he shuffled several cards into the market and then filled his hand back up to seven.
Important: It is desirable that each player's play area look as shown in the illustration in the rulebook. If all players lay out the game elements in the same way, it will be easier for players to find their way when playing with unfamiliar players, and for judges when carrying out their duties.
Gameplay
Each turn consists of several phases, which one player must go through before passing the initiative to another player. All phases of the turn must be completed for the turn to pass to the next player. The turn sequence is given below; not only the phases of the turn are listed, but also the steps they consist of. For convenience, a reminder of the turn sequence is printed on every base.
1. Setup Phase
Duration step > Your News cards whose duration has not yet run out are rotated clockwise so that the next duration tab is on top. When the duration ends, the News is destroyed. News with a "Duration ∞" tab are not rotated and remain in play until they are destroyed or the game ends.
Build step > Your ships whose construction is not yet complete are rotated clockwise so that the next build tab is on top. When construction is completed, the ship becomes built, docked in the docks of your base, and ready to undock and move to your home region. Ships without build tabs enter play already built.
Income step > Add up all income bonuses from all cards you control, then take that many credits from the bank.
Important: At the start of your turn you may sacrifice all the credits you were to take in this income step in order to draw a card instead.
Setup phase example:
Duration step > Elisha has the News card Market Fluctuations in play. This card has duration 2 and is currently at duration 1. This means that the duration of Market Fluctuations now ends, and it is placed on Elisha's scrapheap. The abilities of this card immediately stop working and affecting the game.
Build step > During her last turn Elisha played the ship Guristas Nullifier. Now she rotates the ship card from build 2 to build 1. This means she must wait one more turn for the ship's construction to complete. During Elisha's next turn the ship's construction will complete, and it can be undocked and moved to Elisha's home region.
Income step > Elisha adds up 2 credits of income from her base, 1 credit from the location Veldspar, and 2 from the remote region Aridia, which she controls. She received 5, and took that many into her treasury from the bank.
2. Draw Phase
Draw one card from the top of your market. If two are playing, the player who goes first skips his Draw phase on his first turn. If more players are in the game, you may ignore this rule. If you must draw a card from the market and it has no cards left, you lose the game. This is the only phase in which no player may play News cards or use any abilities.
3. Management Phase
During your Management phase you may do any of the following as many times as you like and in any order:
Play a card from your hand: Pay the card's cost and put it into play. Locations can be played only if there is a region in play into which they can be played. Ships enter play docked in the docks, where they await the completion of their construction. News cards that must name one or more targets can be played only if there are such targets in play, and those targets are legal. Structures enter play attached to your base.
Play a remote region: Pay the remote region's cost and put it into play. You may play a remote region only if no region with that name is already in play, and you may play only one remote region per turn.
Upgrade your base: Pay the upgrade cost and turn your base over.
Jump a ship: You may move a ship from the docks to your home region (undock), move a ship from your home region to the docks (dock), or move a ship from one region to another (make a hyperjump). Before making a jump, the ship stops executing all orders. If your ship jumps into a region that is controlled by an opponent, your ship attacks that region and cannot use its activated abilities, execute orders or jump again during the same Management phase. If you wish to attack the same region with several ships, they all jump into it simultaneously.
Give a ship an order: Rotate the ship so that the tab of the order being given is on top. Now the ship executes that order and gains the corresponding ability described in the card's text, until it stops executing that order (if the strength of the order changes, change all references to the order's strength in the ability accordingly). Ships that are docked or attacking cannot receive, and therefore cannot execute, orders. Before jumping or receiving new orders you must cancel the current order the ship is executing. An order can be executed turn after turn and is executed until it is cancelled.
Important: If during your Management phase you did not jump your ships into any enemy regions, you made no attacks, and so the Combat phase does not occur. Simply proceed to the End of Turn phase.
Management phase example:
Elisha played the ship Velator, paying 1 credit. The Velator does not need to go through construction, so it entered play built and docked in the docks. Then she spent 5 credits to play the News Veteran's Premature Retirement, targeting the enemy ship Kestrel, which had been guarding the remote region Aridia and now went to its owner's hand. Since the Kestrel was the last ship in that region, the region became uncontrolled. Elisha can safely jump her ship Velator from the docks into her home region, and then into the region Aridia, to gain control over that region.
4. Combat Phase
If you attacked one or more regions by jumping your ships into them during your Management phase, all attacks are resolved as a series of Combat phases, and only then does the End of Turn phase come. All attacks must be resolved separately, region by region and sequentially. The attacking player chooses which attack to resolve first. When that attack is finished, this player chooses the next attack, and so on, until all attacks have been resolved. All attacks on home regions are resolved before attacks on remote regions. Remember that several Combat phases may be needed to resolve a single attack!
A Combat phase consists of five steps. If two game actions require simultaneous decisions from the attacking and defending players, the attacking player always makes his decision first (for example, when ships must be withdrawn or assigned targets):
Start of Combat step (I): Resolve from the stack all effects that were played at the start of the Combat phase.
Withdrawal step (II): Players may withdraw any number of their ships from the battle by jumping them to their docks or to any regions in which there are no enemy ships. The attacking player is the first to announce which ships he withdraws from the battle.
Target Assignment step (III): Players assign targets for each of their ships. The attacking player announces targets first. You may leave a ship without a target, in which case it simply deals no damage during the Damage Distribution step. If your ship may be assigned several targets, you must choose at this step of the battle how to distribute damage among them.
Damage Distribution step (IV): All ships deal damage to their targets simultaneously. If a ship has received damage equal to or exceeding its shield strength, that ship is destroyed and placed on its owner's scrapheap.
Results step (V): If a home region is being attacked, all attacking ships that are still in that region deal damage to the base, even if they already dealt damage to defending ships in this Combat phase. If the damage equals or exceeds the base's total shield strength, the base is destroyed and its owner loses the game. Based on the results of steps I, II, III and IV it is decided what happens next:
If at least one defending ship left the battle during the Combat phase, the next Combat phase begins. If the ship that left the battle was the last ship in that region, the attacking player may begin a new Combat phase in that region and use it to withdraw his ships.
If all defending ships survived the Combat phase, the attacking ships must immediately withdraw from that region.
Important: All shields recharge at the end of each phase - damage is not carried over from one Combat phase to another.
Attack example:
Elisha defends the remote region Moon of Ndoria with two ships: a Heron and a Kestrel that is executing the order Sit in Ambush. Jan attacks this region with his ships: an Incursus and a Tristan.
Ships sitting in ambush deal their damage from ambush during the Withdrawal step. Elisha decided to deal this damage to the Tristan. Now she needs to deal at least 1 more point of damage to the Tristan during this Combat phase to destroy it.
During the Target Assignment step Jan assigned each of Elisha's ships as a target of his ships (one target per ship), and Elisha assigned the enemy ship Tristan as the target of her Heron, and the enemy ship Incursus as the target of her Kestrel.
During the Damage Distribution step all ships that received damage equal to or exceeding their shield strength were destroyed. As a result the region Moon of Ndoria became uncontrolled.
5. End of Turn Phase
If you have more than seven cards in hand when all the other phases are over, you must discard the excess cards so that exactly seven cards remain in your hand. With this your turn ends, and the next player may begin his turn.
Advanced Rules
Abilities
All abilities act as rules. There are many different card abilities; many of them are unique and appear on only one card. There are three categories of abilities: pending abilities, activated abilities and static abilities.
Pending abilities begin with the words "when" or "at". This means that the ability is played onto the stack only when some specific conditions occur. For example, "When Omber enters play, its owner discards a card."
Activated abilities are played by you, as many times as you want and are able. Such abilities consist of two parts, separated by the sign ":" in their text. The cost stands to the left of this sign, and the ability's effect to the right. For example, "Sacrifice Crokite: Crokite deals 3 damage to target ship in this region."
Static abilities produce their effect while they are in play. For example, "All your ships get [+1 shield]."
Some abilities begin with a word in bold followed by a number and the description of the ability. This means that when this number changes, all the other numbers in the ability's description change accordingly.
Order abilities, such as Patrol or Mine Minerals, apply only while those orders are being executed. Such abilities are treated the same as any other abilities.
Controlling Player and Owner
It is very important to understand the difference between these concepts: controlling player and owner.
You are always the owner of the cards that are part of your deck, whether or not they have been played. Nothing in the game makes the owner of cards change, but cards in play often change the players controlling them.
This usually happens when a player loses control of a remote region, and with it of the locations played by him there. He may be the owner of all the locations placed in that remote region, but when he loses control of the region, the benefits those locations gave him now pass to the player who has taken control of the region.
If a player jumped his ship into a remote region controlled by another player, control of the region passes to him only when no defending ship remains in the region.
"You"
The words "you" and "your" found in card text always refer to the player who controls those cards. For example, if you played a remote region that says "During your Draw phase draw an additional card," this statement will not apply to you until you take that region under your control by jumping a ship into it.
Duration and Assembly
If a News card's text box shows a duration tab followed by rules text, this means that the ability enters play when the corresponding duration tab of that card is on top. The ability remains in play while the News card remains at that duration.
Duration and assembly example:
Jan's turn 8, Setup phase: Jan plays the News Forsaken Ruins. The card says that all ships in the target remote region return to the home regions of the players who control them, and no ships may jump into that remote region while Forsaken Ruins remains in play. This News has duration 3. Jan also plays the ship Bestower this turn. The Bestower has assembly 2, and for now it remains in the docks.
Jan's turn 9, Setup phase: The countdown of these cards begins. Jan rotates the News card Forsaken Ruins clockwise, and now the tab marked "Duration 2" is on top. Then he rotates the ship card Bestower so that the tab marked "Assembly 1" is on top. He decides to do nothing more this turn and save his income for a rainy day.
Jan's turn 10, Setup phase: Jan rotates the News card Forsaken Ruins clockwise to the last tab on the card, marked "Duration 1". The Bestower card has no more tabs marked with assembly, so it is built, but is still docked in the docks of the base. During the Management phase Jan will be able to jump the Bestower (undock it) into his home region.
Jan's turn 11, Setup phase: The duration of the News card Forsaken Ruins has expired, so it is placed on Jan's scrapheap. Now all players may jump their ships into the remote region that Forsaken Ruins had been blocking.
Player Priority
The active player has priority, that is, the right to take the first game action during each phase, including playing a card, playing an activated ability, upgrading the base, jumping a ship, etc. When a player uses his priority, he passes it to the next player, who may, for example, play a News card or an activated ability in this phase. Priority is also passed at the end of each step and phase, so everyone gets the chance to play a News card or an activated ability before a new step or phase begins.
The Pile
When several events occur simultaneously, it is very important which of these events occurs (resolves from the pile) first. When the active player takes an action (playing a card, playing an activated ability, playing a remote region, jumping a ship or upgrading his base), a new pile is created (figuratively speaking), which waits to be resolved. This player may add any number of News cards or activated abilities to the pile, and only then pass priority to the next player.
This player in turn may add new cards or activated abilities to the pile or pass (hand priority onward). Priority is passed clockwise until each of the players has passed in succession. Then the pile begins to resolve from the top down. If the target of a News card or activated ability no longer exists when it resolves from the pile, no effect occurs. If an effect removes (destroys) another effect that lies lower in the pile, that other effect is removed from the pile and will not be resolved. If an item placed on the pile causes a pending ability to enter play, that pending ability enters on top of the pile. If an event causes a pending ability to enter play when the pile is already resolving but has not yet fully resolved, the pile continues to resolve from the top down, and that pending ability forms a new pile. If several pending abilities enter play simultaneously, the active player chooses the order in which they are placed on the pile.
Important: You may not add new effects to the pile when it is already resolving.
Pile and player priority example:
Elisha controls the ship Executioner in the remote region Metropolis. Jan tries to reduce her income by attacking this region with his ship Slasher, in the hope that Elisha will withdraw her ship, or that the ships will destroy each other and the region will then become uncontrolled.
Elisha does not withdraw her ship. During the Target Assignment step both players assign the enemy ship as the target of their own.
Then the Damage Distribution step arrives. The damage goes onto the pile (3 damage to the Executioner and 2 damage to the Slasher). Since Jan is the attacking player, he is first to have the right to add something to the pile. He adds nothing and passes priority to Elisha. She adds the News Stubborn Mechanic to the pile and targets her ship Executioner with it. Then she passes priority to Jan, but he has nothing to add to the pile. Elisha adds nothing more either, and so the pile begins to resolve. The Executioner gets [+2 shield] from the News and so survives, while the Slasher is destroyed - the region remains under Elisha's control.
Sacrifice
You may sacrifice only a card that is in play under your control, and only if a card or ability allows you to do so. A sacrificed card goes to its owner's scrapheap, but is not considered destroyed for any intents and purposes. If an ability tells you to sacrifice a card, you may choose which card to sacrifice, unless stated otherwise.
Targets and Targeting
If the text of an ability or News card contains the words "target" or "targeted", it can be played only when there is a legal target (targets) in play. A legal target is a suitable card. When choosing targets for your ships during the Target Assignment step of the Combat phase, legal targets are enemy ships that are in the same region. If your ship's ability requires a target, the choice of that target is not limited to the ship to which your ship will deal damage.
The Golden Rule
If the rules text on a card contradicts these game rules, the rules stated on the card apply. Do not forget that the texts of officially corrected cards, posted on the game's official site, replace the card texts printed on the printed versions.
Glossary
Activate > When a ship card is rotated away from you with an order tab on top, the ship executes that order.
Active Player > The player whose turn it currently is.
Agent > The agent ability of a character, which applies while the character is in the docks.
Assembly > The time it takes to build a ship. A ship without assembly tabs enters play built and docked in the docks.
Attack > The amount of damage a ship deals to its target.
Attacking Ship > When you jump a ship into an enemy region, that ship is regarded as an attacking ship until the attack has been resolved.
Bank > The common pool of credits from which players take their income.
Clone > When a character is piloting a ship and that ship leaves play, the character's owner may pay the clone cost to move that character to the docks instead of destroying him.
Command > Ambush ("Sit in Ambush"), Haul ("Do Hauling"), Mine Minerals, Patrol, Sniper, Tank and Trade ("Conduct Trade"). A ship's order ability applies only if the corresponding order is being executed by the ship.
Command Power > The numerical representation of a ship's order.
Controller > The player using a card for purposes related to gameplay. Not to be confused with the owner.
Deactivate > When a ship's order stops being executed.
Defending Ship > When your region is attacked, all your ships in that region are considered defending ships until the attack has been resolved.
Discard > When you must discard a card, you must choose a card in your hand and place it on your scrapheap.
Docked > Ships may be in the docks of the base of the player who controls them. Docked ships cannot be targeted by cards or abilities.
Duration > The amount of time a News card remains in play. A News card with no duration tabs goes to the scrapheap as soon as it resolves from the pile.
Enemy > All cards controlled by your opponents are considered enemy cards.
Friendly > All cards controlled by you are considered friendly. In variants of the game with more players, your allies' cards are also regarded as friendly.
Income > The number of credits you receive during the income step of the Setup phase.
ISK > The currency unit in EVE (credit).
Limited > You may play only one "Limited" card per turn.
Market > Your deck of cards. Each player draws cards from his own market.
Mineral Value > A number representing how many minerals you can mine from a location.
Opponent(s) > The player (or players) you are playing against.
Owner > You are the owner of all your cards for the entire duration of the game. Not to be confused with the controller.
Pile > The pile is a virtual place where cards and abilities that have been played but have not yet entered play (resolved from the pile) are held.
Play a card > You may play a card from your hand by paying its cost, showing it and placing it on the pile. If cards "enter play" in any other way, they are not regarded as "played". Cards on the pile may be targeted and destroyed unless stated that they cannot be (for example, the ships Thorax and Megathron cannot be targeted by News, and the News Martial Law can be neither destroyed nor targeted).
Race Origin > The race origin of ships and characters is shown by the card background, which is easy to compare with the color of the base of the corresponding race.
Reassembly > When a ship must undergo reassembly, it moves to the docks of your base as though it had just been put into play from your hand.
Region > There are two types of regions: outer regions (remote regions) and home regions. Remote regions can be played by all players during their Management phases. To control a remote region and enjoy its benefits, you must control at least one ship in that region. Your home region is represented by your base. You always control your home region and all locations placed in it.
Sacrifice > When you must sacrifice a card, choose a card you control and place it on your scrapheap. You may not sacrifice a card unless a card or ability says that you can.
Scrapheap > This is the discard pile, where destroyed, discarded, sacrificed cards, or cards removed from the game in any other way, are placed.
Shield > The amount of damage a ship or base can withstand before being destroyed.
Undocked > Ships that are outside the docks of your base. A ship cannot be undocked until it is completely built.
Upgraded Starbase > You may upgrade your base during your Management phase by paying the upgrade cost.
Wallet > The place where your credits are kept. At the start of the game your wallet is empty.
Warp > Moving a ship from one region to another.
Withdraw > Ships may withdraw from battle by jumping to other regions or to the base's docks.
Multiplayer Rules
Free-for-All
- Seats at the table are chosen randomly, and players take turns clockwise from the player who starts the game.
- The player who starts the game does not skip his first Draw phase.
- When a player is eliminated from the game, take the following steps: all of that player's cards, except remote regions and locations in remote regions, are removed from the game. If any player's ships are in the home region of the eliminated player, those ships must withdraw.
Optional Variants
Range: Range 1 means that you may jump your ships only into the regions of the player sitting to your left. Range 2 means that you may jump your ships into the regions of the players sitting both to your left and to your right.
Hunter and Prey: The player to your left is your prey; you receive a reward when your prey is eliminated from the game. The player to your right is your hunter. As soon as you eliminate your prey, the next player to the left becomes your prey.
Destroying Prey: When prey is eliminated from the game, the hunter takes the prey's base and attaches it to his own with an income bonus of +2. Then the hunter draws 2 cards.
Alliances
Playing in alliances is a team format for several participants.
- Each alliance has one turn, in which all members of the alliance go through the phases and steps together.
- Priority within an alliance goes from left to right; each member may play as much as he wishes before passing priority. Priority is passed when all players no longer want to play anything.
- Members of an alliance may talk to each other, gesture, whisper and communicate in any other way, as long as it concerns the game and strategy.
- Each alliance has only one home region, in which each alliance member places his base.
- Each player has a base, so during the Results step of combat in their home region they add together the shield strengths of the bases.
- Players may not share credits from their wallets with alliance members.
- Players may jump ships into friendly regions controlled by other players and leave them there. This is not regarded as an attack, and control of the region does not change.
- Ships with the Trade order may trade in all friendly regions.
Errata
Rules Changes
From 29 October 2007
Rules Clarifications
Several identical remote regions? Each deck contains exactly three different remote regions. They are not shuffled into the deck and are kept to the side, face down. Each turn only one new remote region may enter play. A remote region enters play uncontrolled; to receive its benefits you must first seize control of it. You may play a remote region only if there is not already a region with the same name in play. For all intents and purposes remote regions are not considered cards; once a region is in play, it cannot be destroyed or removed from the game.
Clarification on pile synchronization (for the ship Impaler, etc.): If a pile is resolving and pending abilities trigger, they wait until that pile has fully resolved and then form their own pile. The active player decides in which order all the pending abilities go onto the pile, regardless of the order in which they triggered in the old pile. Then he receives priority, i.e. the right to add new abilities and cards to the pile.
Scrapheap: This is the pile for discarding cards. All cards that were destroyed, discarded from hand, sacrificed, or that left the game in any other way go here. The contents of your scrapheap are public information. Any player may look through it from time to time; however, changing the order in which the cards lie in the scrapheap is forbidden. If a random card must be taken from the scrapheap, it is shuffled face down, and then a card is drawn from it.
Pending abilities: Pending abilities begin with the words "when" or "at". This means that the ability is played onto the pile only when some specific conditions occur. Unless the card states otherwise, any pending ability that triggers during the Combat phase triggers only for the battle in the region in which the card is also located. Likewise the legal targets for such pending abilities are in the same region. Example: "When Omber enters play, its owner discards a card."
Several characters on one ship? When you play a character, it enters play in your docks. Characters in your docks (base) are agents, and the abilities listed on the character concerning the agent apply for as long as the character remains in the docks. When you jump a ship from the docks into your home region, you may choose a character in your docks and attach him to that ship - now the character pilots that ship. Only one character can pilot one ship at a time. While a character pilots a ship, the abilities listed on the character concerning the pilot apply. The character's orders are passed to the ship he pilots. Treat these additional orders as though the ship owns them (they stay on the same side of the card). The strengths of duplicate orders that are executed simultaneously add together. When a ship with a pilot leaves play, the character's owner may pay his clone cost and put him in his docks (in which case the character does not leave play with the ship).
Card Text Corrections
Core Set:
By the Emperor's Decree now reads: "Reveal cards one by one from the top of your market until you reveal a Location card. Put that location into play, and then shuffle the revealed cards into your market. If there are rules restrictions about where the location may be placed, observe them. If as a result the location has no legal targets, put it on the scrapheap."
Ginnungagap now reads: "Locations cannot leave this region and cannot be played into it. This ability works even if Ginnungagap is uncontrolled. [1 credit]: Put a location from your scrapheap into the region Ginnungagap."
The Exiled:
ECM Turret (clarification): The added strength of the Jam order is added to any existing Jam abilities. Therefore the effects of several ECM Turret structures accumulate. Accumulation of ability strengths, as in this case, applies to any of the abilities applied to a ship that already has them.
Angel Impaler now reads: "When Angel Impaler is destroyed, you may pay 3 credits to return it from the scrapheap to your hand."
Field Supply Router now reads: "At the start of each opponent's turn you may choose a remote region. If you do so, friendly ships in that region get [+1 attack] and [+1 shield] until end of turn."
Ahremen Arkah now reads: "Sacrifice Ahremen Arkah: Prevent all damage that would be dealt to this ship in remote regions until end of turn."
Blood Rogue now reads: "At the start of your turn you may put a card from your hand face down under a Blood Raiders ship located in this region. If you do so, that ship gets 'This ship gets [+1 attack] and [+1 shield] for each card lying face down under it. When this ship leaves play, put one of the cards lying face down under it on top of your market and the rest on the bottom of your market,' if it does not already have that ability."
From 1 August 2007
Card text correction: By the Emperors Decree - omitted. There is a newer interpretation.
From 30 October 2006
1.1 Docked ships are not considered to be in the home region.
1.2 The decision was made after ambiguities that arose with some abilities (Jam, Ambush, Kamikaze, Sensor Dampen, Patrol and Warp Scramble), because their targets are chosen when they are placed on the pile. Using the original interpretations led to complicated interactions during the Combat phase that the developers had not planned. Note that in most cases the following changes do not affect the use of these abilities, except for Jam, which can now cancel the effect of both Ambush and Patrol.
1.2.1 Jam now reads: Target Jam X (At the start of the Combat phase choose up to X target defending ships. During this Combat phase the chosen targets cannot execute orders.)
1.2.2 Ambush now reads: Ambush X (At the start of the Withdrawal step choose a target attacking ship. This ship may deal X damage to the chosen target.)
1.2.3 Kamikaze now reads: Kamikaze X (Sacrifice: This ship deals X damage to target ship or headquarters in this system. Play this ability only at the start of the Combat phase.)
1.2.4 Sensor Dampen now reads: Sensor Dampen X (At the start of the Target Assignment step choose a target enemy ship. For this Combat phase the chosen target gets [-X attack].)
1.2.5 Patrol now reads: Patrol X (At the start of the Target Assignment step choose up to X target attacking ships. You may force the chosen target, if it can, to target this ship.)
Warp Scramble now reads: Warp Scramble X (At the start of the Withdrawal step choose up to X target defending ships. During this Combat phase the chosen targets cannot withdraw.)
Rules Clarifications
Play a card: You play a card by paying its cost, showing the card and placing it on the "pile". Cards on the pile may be targeted and destroyed unless it says on them that they cannot be (for example, the ships Thorax and Megathron cannot be targeted by News, and the News Martial Law can be neither destroyed nor targeted).
Dock/undock a ship: Counts as a jump.
Pending abilities: The active player (i.e. the one whose turn it is) chooses the order in which pending abilities that triggered simultaneously are placed on the pile.
Enemy home regions: You may not end your turn controlling a ship that is in another player's region. If such a ship remains in an enemy region, you must withdraw it.
Race origin is determined by the card's background color, which is easy to compare with the color of the base of the corresponding race.
Card Text Corrections
Reflection of Time now reads: "When Reflection of Time enters play, its owner may choose another location in play. If he does so, Reflection of Time enters play as a copy of that location."
Oneiros now reads: "All other friendly ships in this region get [+4 shield]. While there is more than one friendly ship in this region, prevent all damage dealt to Oneiros."
Scimitar now reads: "When Scimitar enters play, it deals 3 damage to target ship. Friendly ships in this region get [+X attack], where X equals the excess of your ships over enemy ships in this region (if you attack with 5 ships against 2 defending, your ships get [+3 attack])."
Dam Torsad now reads: "At the start of your turn you may search your market for a location that you can legally play in this region, and put it into play in this region. Then shuffle your market."
Sentry Gun now reads: "At the start of each Combat phase, if able, Sentry Gun deals 2 damage to target ship located in this region, or 1 damage to each of two target ships located in this region."
Scorpion now reads: "All enemy ships in this region get [-2 attack]. At the start of the Withdrawal step choose a target ship, and you may force the chosen target to withdraw from the battle."
FAQ
Q: So all cards must name a legal target when played. Is this condition checked when the card resolves from the pile? A: No. You need to name a legal target when the ability or News is placed on the pile. The legality of targets is not checked when the card resolves from the pile.
Q: Can I return an EMP Minefield structure to my hand without returning the attacking ship to its owner's docks? A: No. To play an ability that names a target, there must be a legal target in play.
Q: When do shields recharge? A: Unless stated otherwise, shields recharge simultaneously at the end of each phase: Setup phase, Draw phase, Management phase, Combat phase and End of Turn phase.
Q: When exactly do I draw the extra card if I skip the income step in order to draw a card? A: You draw the card at the time when in the normal course of things you would have replenished your wallet with credits, at the start of the income step.
Q: If there are several copies of the structure Beggar's Emporium in play, do their abilities trigger simultaneously, and how do they resolve from the pile? A: They go onto the pile simultaneously, but check the state of your hand when they resolve from the pile. So if you drew a card with the first copy, with the others you will empty your wallet. Since it says "you may draw a card," you need to skip the draw until the last ability resolves from the pile. Then you simply draw a card.
Q: When do you gain control of a remote region? A: As soon as you jump a ship into an uncontrolled remote region, you gain control of it. If your remote region is attacked, you still control it while at least one of your ships is in it. When your last ship leaves the remote region, you lose control of it, and it either becomes uncontrolled or passes under the control of an opponent who has at least one ship in that region.
Q: When the ship Rupture is Patrolled by another ship, may Rupture assign targets other than that one? A: Yes. The Rupture must target the ship patrolling it, but it can still name any number of other ships as well.
Q: What happens if I play the structure Cathedral when my base is already upgraded? A: The structure Cathedral is destroyed as soon as it enters play, and you draw a card.
Q: Can I use News cards like Armageddon Project to destroy cards that are on the pile before they enter play? A: Yes.
Q: Where is a ship when it is only just leaving the docks but has not yet left? A: You must place a ship leaving the docks onto the pile. The ship is in the docks, and therefore cannot be targeted, until that ship resolves from the pile.
Q: Can I use my structure Censor Office to prevent an opponent from upgrading his base Holder Tower on my turn? A: Yes. Upgrading the Holder Tower base follows the same rules as playing new cards. The structure Censor Office changes these rules, so the changed rules also apply to the effects of the Holder Tower base.
Q: If I use the region Dam Torsad to put the location Archaeological Site into play, will the start of my turn still be going on, so that I win the game, or do I have to wait a turn? A: You will have to wait one more turn. All "At the start of your turn" effects go onto the pile simultaneously, so by the time the Dam Torsad region's ability resolves from the pile, the start of the turn has already passed.
Q: Can I play a remote region on my first turn? A: Yes. However, remote regions enter play uncontrolled, and you need to have at least one ship in the region to control it.
Q: When I take a card from my scrapheap using the region Sansha's Nation, must I show it to my opponent? A: Nowhere does it say that when choosing a random card from the scrapheap the cards in the scrapheap must lie face down. You can use dice to determine a random card, in which case each player can see which card returned to hand. Shuffling the scrapheap cards face down is a simpler and quicker way of choosing a random card. But this does not mean the contents of the scrapheap become secret. Since all players have the right to look at the scrapheap at any time, there is no reason why they cannot see which card was randomly taken from the scrapheap.
Q: Which player withdraws his ships first during combat? A: The attacking player is first to choose the ships he wants to withdraw from the battle.
Q: If the location Scordite was removed from the pile before it entered play, must I sacrifice a location? A: No. If the location Scordite is destroyed while it is being played and is on the pile, it never entered play, and its pending ability did not trigger.
Q: Can I use my structure EMP Minefield to send an enemy ship back to its owner's docks before combat begins? A: Yes. The rules say that as soon as you have jumped a ship into an enemy region, for the rest of that Management phase you cannot jump that same ship again, give it orders or use its abilities. So if you used EMP Minefield and sent an attacking ship to its owner's docks, that ship will no longer be able to jump during the Management phase, or even leave the docks (since entering and leaving the docks counts as a jump).
Q: Can I sacrifice a ship that is in the docks? A: Yes, but you cannot sacrifice a ship (or any other card) unless a card effect says that you must or may do so.
Q: If the News Mind Clash is destroyed while on the pile, for example by the News Mind Control, will its owner draw a card? A: No. The card will not have resolved from the chain. If you destroy a card while it is on the pile, it brings no effect into the game.
Q: Since the News Cult of Tetrimon does not use the term "target," can I use it to destroy a ship such as Thorax or Megathron? A: Yes. The ability of the ships Thorax and Megathron protects them only from News that target them.
Q: When two effects contradict each other, how do I know which effect takes precedence? A: An effect that prohibits an action always takes priority over an effect that allows that same action. For example, you cannot use the News Frontline Intelligence to give an order to a ship if the ship is in the region Cloud Ring, because Cloud Ring says that ships in that region cannot execute their orders. Likewise you cannot sacrifice the location Echoes of Gloom Bay if it is in the region Ginnungagap, because Ginnungagap says that locations cannot leave that region.
Q: If I jump a ship into an uncontrolled region or into a region under my control, can I give the ship orders the same turn? A: Yes. Ships may take any number of actions and orders as long as they are not jumping into an enemy region, because in that case they stop doing everything they were doing and wait for the Combat phase.
Q: If my two Badger ships are trading at the time of my Draw phase, do I draw two additional cards and then put two cards from my hand on top of the market? A: No. Both abilities are placed on the pile, and you must resolve one of them before the other. You will draw a card, then put a card on top of the market, then draw that (just placed on top of the market) card, and then again put some card on top of the market.
Q: Can I destroy News cards before they resolve from the pile? A: Yes. For example, if you play the News Damage Control on the News Feed on the Weak while the latter is being played (is on the pile), Damage Control resolves from the pile sooner than Feed on the Weak, destroying it before it resolves from the pile.
Q: Can ships with attack 0 target enemy ships during the Target Assignment step? A: Yes, they simply will not deal damage.
Q: I have the location Sansha's Scout Outpost in my home region. If I play the location Scordite, will Sansha's Scout Outpost return to my hand or will I sacrifice it? A: It will return to your hand. The pending ability of Sansha's Scout Outpost triggers when you play a location into that region, but the pending ability of Scordite triggers when it enters play. When you pay Scordite's cost and place it on the pile, the pending ability of Sansha's Scout Outpost triggers at that time and goes onto the pile on top, so it returns to hand before Scordite enters play.
Q: When my opponent plays the News Martial Law, can I play a News card in response before Martial Law resolves? And if so, can I play the News Mind Control to destroy Martial Law? A: Yes, you can play a News card onto the pile before Martial Law resolves from the pile and brings its effect into play, but you cannot target or destroy Martial Law, because that card states that it cannot be targeted or destroyed.
Q: If the location Scordite is the only location I control at the moment it enters play, must I sacrifice Scordite itself? A: Yes. The Scordite location's ability says: "When Scordite enters play, sacrifice a location." This is a pending ability that triggers once Scordite has entered play.
Q: Can I deal damage with a ship using the Ambush order and then withdraw it from battle? A: Yes. The pending ability from Ambush triggers at the start of the Withdrawal step, before players decide which ships to withdraw.
Q: My opponent plays the News Remnant of Vak'atioth, paying 10 credits for it. Do I have to pay 10 credits to destroy this News with the News Mind Control? A: In all cases and for all purposes except the effect of that card itself, X counts as 0. In this example destroying it with Mind Control costs 0 credits.
Q: Can I play locations into other players' regions? A: Yes. Even if those are their home regions. Unless the card says otherwise, all locations may be played into any region that is in play.
Q: Can I sacrifice a ship with Kamikaze to destroy a ship lying in ambush before it deals its ambush damage? A: Yes. The Kamikaze ability goes onto the pile at the start of the Combat phase, while the ambush effect goes onto the pile only at the start of the Withdrawal step. If the ship lying in ambush takes damage from Kamikaze and is destroyed, it will not be able to deal damage in the Withdrawal step using the Ambush order.
Q: If there are several locations from which minerals can be mined in the region with a mining ship, when do I decide which location to mine from? A: Mine Minerals is a pending ability that goes onto the pile at the start of the income step. When the ability resolves from the pile, you choose the location. You may choose only one target, and each location can be worked by only one ship at a time.
Q: Does a News card stay in play for its whole duration if its target has left play, and if so, can I assign it a new target? A: News cards remain in play for their whole duration, but do not name new targets. For example, if you played the News Stubborn Mechanic on a ship that was later destroyed, the News card will remain in play but will not affect the game.
Q: Can the structure Sentry Gun destroy a ship with Kamikaze before it has the chance to use that ability? A: If several pending abilities go onto the pile simultaneously, the player whose turn it is chooses the order in which they go onto the pile. In this case the attacking player chooses the order. The Kamikaze ability says: Kamikaze X (Sacrifice this ship: This ship deals X damage to target ship or base in this region. Play this ability only at the start of the Combat phase.). Since sacrificing the ship is the cost of placing the ability on the pile, the structure Sentry Gun has no way of destroying this ability (interfering with it).
Q: How many credits do I get in my wallet when the game just begins? A: All wallets are empty at the start of the game. Players receive credits during their income steps. On the first turn the amount is 2, which the base brings.
Q: What happens if I jump a ship with Shield 1 into a region containing the location Ice Ore, which gives all ships [-1 shield]? A: That ship is destroyed immediately.
Q: If a ship has several possible orders, can it execute several of them at once? A: For a ship to execute an order, you must rotate the ship card so that the tab of that order is on top. Therefore a ship cannot execute several orders at once, unless their tabs are on the same side of the card. For example, the ship Tristan can execute only one of its orders, while the ship Maller can execute both of its possible orders at once.
Q: Can attacking ships execute orders? A: No. All combat-oriented orders are defensive in nature. To jump a ship from one region to another, you must stop executing all its orders, and if that region is controlled by an opponent, the ship cannot use its abilities, begin executing its orders or jump again this turn.
Q: Are ships that received damage equal to or exceeding their shields destroyed simultaneously? A: Yes. They leave play and are placed on their owners' scrapheaps. But note that damage resolves from the pile like abilities or played cards, so a ship that is about to be dealt damage can be saved by playing, before the damage resolves from the pile, a card such as the News Stubborn Mechanic.
Q: Can I target a ship that is being played and is on the pile, or is such a ship already considered to be in the docks and so cannot be targeted? A: You can. Ships are outside the docks until they have entered play, so they can be targeted by News such as Exiled from the Empire, Depleted Resources and Pirate Mercenary even before they enter play. The exception is ships such as Megathron and Thorax, whose text states that they cannot be targeted by News.
Q: If a ship has been dealt damage, can I respond by playing the News Insurance Fraud to get credits? A: Yes. If you played Insurance Fraud before the damage resolved from the pile, Insurance Fraud will enter play before the damage resolves from the pile, and you will get the credits. The News Insurance Fraud has a static ability that applies while Insurance Fraud is in play.
Q: If we follow the second paragraph of the ship Guardian's text (All other damage dealt to Guardian by ships is prevented), does that mean it cannot be directly dealt damage by ships? A: Yes, the ship Guardian is almost "immortal." It receives no damage from ships except damage that was redirected to it. Damage dealt by cards other than ships is dealt in the normal way.
Q: The text of Ginnungagap says that locations cannot leave this region. What does that mean? A: Locations in the region Ginnungagap cannot be destroyed, returned to hand or sacrificed. Any effect that causes a location to leave the region Ginnungagap is cancelled.