Exodus: Proxima Centauri
Exodus: Proxima Centauri Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
[Game Overview]
After a devastating nuclear war, six human factions are seeking shelter in the Centauri system. On the verge of extinction, the humans are saved by a superior civilization, allegedly the Centaurians, and each faction is given a fresh start on a new Planet. Thus, the exodus of humanity seems to have ended on the Planets orbiting the star called Proxima Centauri. When the Centaurians announce their departure, the struggle for power commences once again.
In Exodus: Proxima Centauri, the six factions fight for dominance in an epic empire-building game, striving to build a new human empire on the ashes of the Centaurian civilization. Each player will build his own space fleet of customized ships and conquer new Planets, fight the Centaurian Resistance and the other players, negotiate and vote for political decisions, research Centaurian technologies and much more.
[General Considerations]
- A game of Exodus: Proxima Centauri will take around 30 minutes/player once you get to know the rules. For the first game without anyone knowing the rules, expect a game time of about 45 minutes/player.
- The game can be played by 2-6 players. To avoid a very lengthy first game, we recommend you to learn Exodus in a game of 3 or 4 players.
- Whenever a playing card has a rule that contradicts this rule book, the card has priority!
- The concept "in turn order" will be used throughout the rule book. Some Actions in the game will need to be done "in turn order". This means that all or some of the players will perform a specific Action starting with the one holding the Turn Order card with the lowest number and ending with the player holding the Turn Order card with the highest number. In case an Action must be performed by all the players and the order is not specified, it will be performed in turn order.
- The term "remove" means "return to the owner's stash" and it is used as such throughout the game. The phrase "removed from the game" means that a specific component may not and will not be used again until the end of the current game.
- The components of the game are limited to the amount found in the box. The damage tokens and the movement tokens are an exception to this rule and are considered to be unlimited. If the tokens provided with the game are not enough, the players may improvise.
- Together with the rules of the game, please also read the examples, they will help you understand the concepts of the game.
- If this is the first time you are playing Exodus: Proxima Centauri, it is highly recommended to let the most experienced player – the 'rules lawyer' of the group – to go through the rules before the rest and to explain them.
- When you find a concept or rule that seems unclear, please visit www.nskn.net and look for the updated FAQ or ask your question there.
- Experienced players are encouraged to look up on www.nskn.net official variants to make their gaming experience more enjoyable.
[Game Components]
Hexes
- Home Planet Hex — x6
- C.P. Planet Hex — x18
- High Council Hex — x1
- Phasium Planet Hex — x6
- Axinium Planet Hex — x12
Player setup - 6 colors
Green, Red, Blue, White, Purple, Yellow.
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Second Ship Markers
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Plastic Space Ships: War Cruiser (x2), Battle Carrier (x2), Fighter (x2), Dark Raider (x2)
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1 set of Action Cards
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D6 dice — x5
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Population Cubes — x30
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A, B, C Vote Tokens; Value Vote Tokens
Resource Counters, C.P. tokens and Damage Tokens
- Resource Counters (black D6 dice) — x42
- C.P. tokens — x6
- Damage Tokens — x36
- Movement Tokens — x154
Cards
- Centaurian Resistance Cards — x29
- Bonus Action Cards — x6
- Political Cards — x27
- Info / Turn Order Cards — x6
- Info Cards — x6
High Council Board & Player Boards
- High Council Board — x1
- Player Boards — x6
Planetary and ship upgrades - Rockets, Drives, Cannons and Shields
- Hypersonic Rockets — x12
- Biochemical Rockets — x12
- Graviton Rockets — x12
- Drives — x24
- Cannons — x36 (x2 + x1 variants) and x18 (additional cannon type)
- Shields — x24 and x12
Centaurian Resistance ships
Three types of Centaurian Resistance ships — x6 each.
[Introduction and key concepts]
The universe of Exodus: Proxima Centauri is represented by the hex map. Each hex (except the High Council hex) has a Planetary system in the middle. Each Planet harbors resources: Crystallized Platinum (C.P.), Axinium and Phasium. The amount of resources available at any given moment is represented by a die called the Resource Counter. Most Planets also provide Victory Points for the players that have Population there at the end of the game.
Each Planet hex shows: its Name, the type of resource it produces, the Resource Counter starting value, the Victory Points awarded at the end of the game, and (on Home Planets) the Clone Factory.
There are three types of resources in the game. Crystallized Platinum (C.P.) is blue and acts as currency in the game. Most actions in the game require it – paying tax, building, researching and upgrading. Axinium is red and it is used for building ships. Phasium is green and it is used for purchasing upgrades.
Players keep track of their resources on their Player Board (C.P. track, Axinium track, Phasium track). A player may have at most 10 Axinium and 10 Phasium. C.P. is not limited, players may exceed the 20 C.P. depicted on their Player Boards. The C.P. in excess of 20 is kept as 20-C.P. and 40-C.P. tokens.
Your empire is represented by Population and by spaceships. The Population 'lives' on Planets and is transported between Planets on ships. The Population is created by cloning and you will receive extra Population cubes every turn, on your Home Planet. Having Population on a Planet allows you to harvest resources from that Planet (regardless of other players having Population on the same Planet). Having majority of Population on a Planet at the end of the game also allows you to score the Victory Points on that Planet.
The spaceships are used for fighting other players' ships or the Centaurian Resistance ships, to assert domination over a region of space (hex) and to transport Population. There are four types of ships and each player has two ships of each type. Every type of ship has a blueprint which allows it to be customized by its owner. The blueprint also shows the cost of building one ship of that kind and the number of VP awarded to the enemy player who destroys this ship.
A ship blueprint shows: the Cannons, the number of VP for the opponent who destroys the ship, the cost to build one ship, the Drive, the Shields, the Population capacity, the Damage track, and the Movement tokens.
On the ship blueprints there are empty spaces for Upgrades. The following ship parts can be added to the blueprints:
- Drives that allow ships to move a certain number of hexes away
- Shields that increase the amount of damage a ship can withstand before being destroyed
- Cannons used to attack other ships
There are also Upgrades that are placed on Planets instead of ships. They are called Rockets and they can be fired at other Planets to destroy resources, Population or the Planets altogether.
Players get to move their ships in a separate stage of each turn. The movement is simultaneous, simulating a real-time war situation. The movement tokens are used to point the direction(s) of movement for every ship. It only matters where a ships ends its movement, two enemy ships cannot meet half-way (the space is big enough for them not to notice each other at high speed). The edges of every hex are numbered from 1 to 6. To move a ship from a hex to another, its owner will place movement tokens. Once the token are revealed, that ship will follow the direction indicated by the number(s) on the movement token(s).
A movement diagram shows: the Hex of origin, the Space ship, the Direction indicator, the Destination hex, and the Movement token (on the ship blueprint).
Players may research technologies. Although they do not bring Victory Points directly, technologies are powerful instruments for developing your empire. Each player has a technology tree on his Player Board. They are all available throughout the game. These technologies are divided according to their purpose into three groups, Civilian, Transport and Military. They are also divided by their origin into Grey, Orange, Black and Tan according to their Centaurian origin. Researching a technology of one color/purpose provides a subsequent discount for all the other technologies of the same color/purpose.
A technology tile shows: the Technology name, the Technology symbol, the Research cost in C.P., its type (Transport, Civilian or Military), and its color (Grey, Orange, etc.).
The game features Political decisions that will affect all the players equally throughout the game. Every turn, players will vote for one out of three possible Political decisions and they will choose a bonus Action to speed up the game. The Political decisions are reached through bidding. All auctions in the game are all-pay auctions. The Political decisions types are:
- Laws – they stay permanently on the table unless they are cancelled by a different Political card.
- Resolutions – they stay on the table for exactly one turn, during which their effect is in place
- Executive Decisions – their effect is resolved immediately and then they are removed from the game
Besides the main effect, some Political cards may have a secondary effect, which should be applied immediately after selecting the decision.
A Political card shows: its Name, its Main effect, the Type of decision (law / resolution / executive decision), and its Immediate effect (apply first!).
The game is "powered" by Actions. Each player has an identical set of six Action cards. The selection of Actions is done simultaneously and each player is able to play the same kind of Action several times every turn.
There are 6 possible Actions:
- Research – learn a new technology and benefit from its advantages immediately.
- Build Ships – puts new ships into the game. Each player has only one ship factory on his Home Planet, so all the new ships will enter the game in that hex.
- Buy Upgrades – purchase and place ship parts on ships or Rockets on Planets, provided that the appropriate tech was researched.
- Banking – gain 4 C.P.
- Trade – exchange resources using the Common Market
- Mining – replenish up to 4 resources on your Planets
There are ships on the map that do not belong to any player. They are called the Centaurian Resistance and they will fight anyone who stations ships in that hex. To see the strength of the enemy ship, a player will draw a card from the Centaurian Resistance deck that shares a symbol and a color with the ship. That card will determine the fire power and the shielding of the Centaurian ship, the benefit (technology, resources, upgrades) and the amount of VP that will be gained at the end of the game by the player that defeats the Centaurian Resistance ship.
The aim of the game is to accumulate Victory Points (VP) and thus assert your supremacy over the other factions. You can collect Victory Points by winning battles against the other players or against the Centaurian Resistance, by populating Planets, by expanding your fleet of ships and by holding Political titles.
[Game Setup]
According to the number of players, choose a layout for the map. Place the High Council hex in the middle of the gaming table. Randomly choose any C.P., Axinium and Phasium Planets according to the setup and shuffle them together. Place them (all face up) randomly to form the figure indicated in the layout. Finally, place the Home Planet hexes and the Centaurian Resistance ships on the map according to the layout.
2 Players
- 1x High Council hex
- 2x Home Planet hex
- 5x C.P. Planet hex
- 3x Axinium Planet hex
- 2x Phasium Planet hex
- 2x Resistance Ship I
- 2x Resistance Ship II
- 2x Resistance Ship III
3 Players
- 1x High Council hex
- 3x Home Planet hex
- 7x C.P. Planet hex
- 5x Axinium Planet hex
- 3x Phasium Planet hex
- 3x Resistance Ship I
- 3x Resistance Ship II
- 3x Resistance Ship III
4 Players
- 1x High Council hex
- 4x Home Planet hex
- 9x C.P. Planet hex
- 7x Axinium Planet hex
- 4x Phasium Planet hex
- 2x Resistance Ship I
- 4x Resistance Ship II
- 6x Resistance Ship III
5 Players
- 1x High Council hex
- 5x Home Planet hex
- 12x C.P. Planet hex
- 8x Axinium Planet hex
- 5x Phasium Planet hex
- 4x Resistance Ship I
- 5x Resistance Ship II
- 6x Resistance Ship III
6 Players
- 1x High Council hex
- 6x Home Planet hex
- 14x C.P. Planet hex
- 10x Axinium Planet hex
- 6x Phasium Planet hex
- 6x Resistance Ship I
- 6x Resistance Ship II
- 6x Resistance Ship III
Place Resource Counters on every Planet on the map. The value on each Resource Counter should be equal to the amount of resources depicted on each Planet.
Each player takes a Player Board then chooses a color, identifies and takes all the components associated with that color: 8 plastic ships, 4 second ship markers, 30 Population cubes, 6 Action Cards, 5 dice and all Voting tokens. Each player should also take one Info card with details about the Actions and about gaining Victory Points. Use the second ship markers to make a distinction between your pairs of ships of the same kind.
Place 3 Population cubes on your Home Planet and 1 Dark Raider and 1 Battle Carrier on the hex containing your Home Planet. Please note that, although they are on the same hex, the Population is on the Planet, while the ships are in the space surrounding the Planet. Place one cube near the VP track. You will use it to mark your VP throughout the game.
Mark your starting resources on the resource tracks of your Player Board: 5 C.P., 1 Axinium and 0 Phasium. Take one Electromagnetic Shield token and place it on your Battle Carrier blueprint.
Distribute the Turn Order cards for the first turn. Do this either by giving the lowest numbers to the most experienced players (recommended) or at random. Holding the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor or High Council Senator titles at the beginning of the game gives no advantage.
Place the High Council board on the table face up. Shuffle the Political cards and place them face down next to the High Council board. Separate the Centaurian Resistance cards according to the number on their back (I, II or III), shuffle each deck and place them face down next to the High Council board. Place the Bonus Action cards on the table face up.
Place all the Upgrades (Cannons, Shields, Drives, Rockets) on their dedicated spaces on the High Council Board and the Movement tokens, Damage tokens and 20/40 C.P. tokens on the gaming table.
Place the Turn Counter token on the High Council board turn track on the place marked turn 1 and remember to move it forward one space each turn.
At this point, you are ready to play!
[Playing the Game]
The game stretches over 7 turns. Every turn, players go through the same sequence of steps as detailed below. Every turn consists of 5 stages:
- Upkeep stage - players receive their income, their Population increases and they may repair their space ships.
- Council stage – players make a Political decision, they decide on the Bonus Action for that turn and the turn order is changed.
- Action stage – players take Actions – researching new technologies, building ships, buying upgrades for them, mining or trading resources.
- Fire Weapons of Mass Destruction stage – players may fire their Weapons of Mass Destruction.
- Conquest stage (x2) – players move their ships and battle. This stage is played twice.
I. Upkeep Stage
- Reset market - Return all cubes placed on the market to their owners. During the first turn, skip this step, there is nothing to remove.
- Increase Population - Each player places 2 Population cubes from his personal supply on his Home Planet. If a player has researched the Expert Cloning technology, he will place 1 additional Population cube from his supply on his Home Planet.
- Repair ships – Players who have researched Basic Repairs remove 1 Damage token from each of their ships. Please note that ships do not get repaired automatically.
- Update income and pay tax (in turn order)
- Get C.P. income – Decrease the Resource Counter by one on every undepleted C.P. Planet where you have Population (regardless of which player has the majority of Population) and add 5 C.P. to your C.P. track. Any time a Resource Counter would get to 0, remove it instead. That Planet becomes depleted. If you have researched C.P. Refinery, you may repeat the process and get 5 extra C.P. from every C.P. Planet.
- Get Axinium income and pay tax – Decrease the Resource Counter on every undepleted Axinium Planet where you have Population and add 1 Axinium to your Axinium track. If you have researched Axinium Refinery, you may repeat the process and get 1 extra Axinium from every Axinium Planet. For each Axinium gained during the Upkeep stage you must pay a tax of 1 C.P.
- Get Phasium income and pay tax – Decrease the Resource Counter on every undepleted Phasium Planet where you have Population and add 1 Phasium to your Phasium track. If you have researched Phasium Refinery, you may repeat the process and get 1 extra Phasium from every Phasium Planet. For each Phasium gained during the Upkeep stage you must pay a tax of 1 C.P.
- If you cannot pay the tax, you may not take Axinium and Phasium from the Planets.
Example:
A. The Green player has population on SOL (C.P.), LYRA (C.P.), CHARUN (Phasium) and K'UEI HSING (Axinium). He has researched Advanced Phasium Extraction. At the beginning of his turn he has 7 C.P., 3 Axinium and 1 Phasium.
B. He gains 5 C.P. from SOL and 5 C.P. from LYRA and decreases the respective Resource Counters by one.
C. He then gains 1 Axinium from CHARUN updating also the Resource Counter and pays 1 C.P. tax.
D. Finally, Green gains 2 Phasium from K'UEI HSING thus decreasing the Resource Counter by two. He pays 2 C.P. tax.
E. At the end of his Upkeep Stage Green has 14 C.P., 4 Axinium and 3 Phasium.
II. Council Stage
Once per cycle, the leaders of the 6 factions face each other under the supervision of the Elder. With hate in their eyes they sit at the giant Council table, stone cold and eager to resume the fight. No one dares to defy the Elder and fail to show up. Not out of respect, but out of fear. The humans are learning Centaurian technologies, they are building Centaurian ships and they mine precious Centaurian resources. Their fear of losing the Elder's favor and the access to things beyond their imagination makes them set the weapons aside and engage in a struggle of politics, negotiation and betrayal. Whichever decision they make, everyone respects them to the last letter, leaving unspoken the consequences of doing otherwise.
- Remove from the game any political cards marked Resolution.
- Political decision
- Reveal the top 3 Political cards (3,4,5,6 players) or 2 Political cards (2 players) and place them near the High Council Board on their designated spaces.
- Bid on the Political cards (see The Bidding Process section on this page) and select the winner. All the ties are broken by the Chancellor.
- As soon as the Political card is selected, put its effects into play, starting with the immediate effect and remove the unselected Political card(s) from the game.
- Bonus Action decision – The Vice-Chancellor selects 2 Bonus Action cards (3 in a two-player game) from the 6 available and gives them to the Chancellor. The Chancellor will choose one of them OR none of them. If none is chosen, no Bonus Action will be played this turn. Place the selected Bonus Action card face up on the gaming table and set the rest of the Bonus Action cards aside. They will not be used for the rest of the turn.
- Elections for Chancellor and the order of play
- Using the Value Vote Tokens, bid for the order of play. This is a closed all-pay bid. All ties are broken by the Chancellor. For the whole election process, the Chancellor is not allowed to break any ties in his favor.
- Redistribute the Turn Order cards accordingly. Attention! The ties are broken by the "old" Chancellor! Only after all the ties are broken, do the new turn order take effect.
- The new Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor are officially appointed.
Example: In a 5-player game (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5), P1 is the Chancellor. Players bid the following amounts P1 – 2, P2 – 3, P3 – 3, P4 – 2, P5 – 0. The Chancellor (P1) will break the tie between P2 and P3 awarding the 1st player (and therefore new Chancellor) to P2. Then P3 be the 2nd player. The Chancellor will then break the tie between P1 (himself) and P4. He cannot rule in his favor, so he will decide P5 takes 3rd player and himself, P1, will be the 4th player. The lowest bidder, P5, will be the 5th player.
The Bidding Process
The bidding currency is C.P. Players have at their disposal all the C.P. accumulated up to that point in the game. TIP: During the first few turns it is recommended that players spend less than 5 C.P. during the whole Council Stage.
- Make sure that the 3 Political cards are placed on the spaces marked A, B and C and that everyone is aware of the effects of each card.
- This is another closed all-pay auction. Each player will place in his fist Value Vote Tokens representing the amount he wants to bid together with one A/B/C Vote Token. Once everyone has decided, bids cannot be changed anymore and all players must reveal their hands simultaneously. Immediately adjust all C.P. accordingly.
- Attention! If a player enclosed in his hand more than or less than exactly one A/B/C Vote token, his vote is invalid and will not be considered.
- Sum up the total C.P. bid on each card, assuming an A/B/C Vote token is equal to 1 C.P.
- Select the winner. If two or more cards are tied for the highest amount, the Chancellor breaks the tie.
Example:
A. Players bid:
- P1: A + 3 C.P.
- P2: B + 4 C.P.
- P3: A
- P4 (Chancellor): C
- P5: A + B + 1 C.P.
B. Players pay the amount they bid. Remove invalid bids – the bid of P5 does not count.
C. Place bids on cards and compute the total for each card:
- Card A: 2xA + 3 C.P. (5)
- Card B: 1xB + 4 C.P. (5)
- Card C: 1xC (1)
D. There is a tie between cards A and B. The Chancellor breaks the tie choosing A, which then becomes the political decision for that turn.
III. Action Stage
- Play 1st Action card
- Each player looks at his hand of Action cards and chooses one card to play. That Action card is then played face down in front of him on the table. The Action that will be resolved is the one written on the top half of the card. TIP: During the first turn, avoid selecting Mining as either Action or Reaction.
- After all the players have placed their Action cards face down in front of them, all the Action cards are revealed (they cannot be replaced anymore).
- In turn order, each player performs the Action (top half of the card) written on his card. TIP: Even though for most Actions it is not necessary to resolve them in a fixed order, the players should pay attention to the Actions of the other players.
- Reaction to 1st Action (1st Reaction)
- In turn order, each player may activate and execute (react) the secondary Action (lower half) of one of the Action cards face up on the table. To activate a Reaction, a player must sacrifice 1 or 2 Population cubes from his Home Planet and place them on the specific card with the Reaction they want to perform. Activating your own card requires 1 Population cube, activating any other card requires 2 Population cubes.
- This step is not mandatory! A player may choose not to activate any Reactions. To activate a Reaction, the player must use Population cubes only from his Home Planet.
- Return the used Population cubes to their owner's stashes (NOT back on the Planets).
- Any player who has researched the Basic Politics technology will take his first Action card back in his hand.
- Play 2nd Action card
- Each player looks at the remaining Action cards in his hand and chooses one card to play. That Action card is then placed face down in front of him on the table.
- After all the players have placed their Action cards face down in front of them, all the Action cards are revealed and placed on top of the 1st Action card.
- In turn order, each player performs the Action (top part) written on his card.
- Reaction to 2nd Action (2nd Reaction)
- In turn order, each player may react to one of the Action cards face up on the table. The same rules from the 1st Reaction apply.
- [Play 3rd Action card]
- Only the players who have researched the Master Politics technology may participate.
- Those players will repeat the steps from Play 2nd Action card. There is no Reaction to the 3rd Action!
Example:
A. Players select their first Action card
- Green: Research/ Trade
- Yellow: Trade /Build Ships
- Red: Banking / Research
B. Players execute their first Action
- Green: Research
- Yellow: Trade
- Red: Banking
C. In turn order, players choose and execute their first Reaction
- Green: Research (Red card) with a cost of 2 Population
- Yellow: Build Ships (Yellow card) with a cost of 1 Population
- Red: no Reaction
D. Green has researched Basic Politics, so he can reuse his first Action card.
E. Players select their second Action card:
- Green: Research / Trade (again)
- Yellow: Mining / Buy Upgrades
- Red: Build Ships / Mining
F. Players execute their second Action
- Green: Research
- Yellow: Mining
- Red: Build Ships
G. In turn order, players choose and execute their second Reaction (orange arrows)
- Green: Trade (Green card) with a cost of 1 Population
- Yellow: Mining (Red card) with a cost of 2 Population
- Red: no Reaction
H. Yellow has researched Master Politics, so he can play his third Action
- Yellow: Research
I. The chosen bonus action is Research, so everybody performs Research in turn order (Green, Yellow and Red).
- Play Bonus Action
- In turn order, all the players perform the Action written on the Bonus Action card chosen during the Council Stage.
- If the bonus Action is MOVE, then all players will perform one additional Conquest Stage this turn after the two 'normal' Conquest Stages.
- There is no Reaction to the Bonus Action!
Actions
Research
- With a Research Action you may learn exactly one Technology (for a detailed list of technologies, see the Technologies section on the last page).
- Place a Population cube from your stash (not your Home Planet) on a technology of your choice and pay its associated cost in C.P. to the bank.
- Each technology receives a 'discount' of 1 C.P. for every other technology of the same color a player has already researched and for every other technology of the same type (Military, Civilian, Transport) a player has already researched. These discounts are cumulative! Additional discounts or restrictions from Political cards may also apply. TIP: The cost of researching a technology can be reduced to 0 C.P.
- Technologies cannot be un-researched. The advantages of any technology are applied immediately.
Example:
A. The Green player plans to research the SSL Cannon, a Military Orange technology. Let's also assume that Military Tech Law is in play.
B. Discounts from Orange:
- 1 from Basic Research
- 1 from Fusion Drive
C. Discounts from Military:
- 1 from Biochemical Rockets
- 1 from Basic Research
- 1 from Hypersonic Rockets
D. Discounts from Political Cards:
- 2 from Military Tech Law
E. The final cost is 4 C.P. (11 C.P. original cost minus 8 C.P. discounts). Green will pay this cost and place a Population cube on the SSL Cannon technology.
Banking
- Gain 4 C.P. If you have research Advanced Banking, gain 8 C.P. instead.
Build Ships
- An Action to build ships allows a player to pay the costs and place any number of ships in the hex where his Home Planet is. The cost for each ship is written on its blueprint.
- Those ships can be activated in the very next Conquest Stage (same turn). Bonuses, discounts or restrictions from Political cards also apply!
Buy Upgrades
- Using Buy Upgrades allows a player to purchase any number of upgrades from the common supply. The ship parts (Cannons, Shields, Drives) modify the blueprints of the ships. As soon as a new upgrade is placed on a ship, all ships of that type behave according to the new blueprint. Rockets are placed on Planets and will be fired in the next stage of the turn.
- A necessary precondition to buying an upgrade is to have researched the technology allowing you to have that specific upgrade (for example, you may buy a Fusion Drive only after you have researched the Fusion Drive technology).
- Every upgrade has a cost. A player must pay the costs of all the upgrades he is buying.
- All upgrades must be placed immediately on ship's blueprints or on a Planet, any unused upgrades are returned to the bank.
- Players may rearrange upgrades between ship blueprints any time except during a battle.
- Bonuses, discounts or restrictions from Political cards also apply.
Mining
- Add a total of 4 resources (8 if you have researched Advanced Mining) on Planets where you have Population (up to the maximum that is written on the Planet) by adjusting the Resource Counters. Resources can be distributed in any way among Planets, respecting the maximum written on each Planet.
Trade
- A Trade Action allows a player to exchange resources, either selling Axinium/Phasium for C.P. or buying Axinium/Phasium with C.P.
- To perform a Trade Action, place one cube from your supply (not from your Planet) on the left most free area on the market. You may perform up to 4 exchanges. One exchange allows selling 1 Axinium/Phasium for C.P. OR buying 1 Axinium/Phasium with C.P.
- If you have researched Advanced Trading, you may buy, sell, or both buy and sell. Perform the desired exchange(s) with the bank. Use the exchange rates written in red for buying and selling.
- If you have not researched Advanced Trading, you may either buy or sell, but not both. Perform the desired exchange(s) with the bank. Use the exchange rates written in black.
- Both the buying and selling areas of one space on the market are blocked for all the players (including the original player) after a player has used any of them. The number of areas in the market is equal to the number of players. If there are no available areas, no trade may be performed.
Example:
A. The Red and Green players have both chosen to perform Trade. Before them, there was one other Trade Action performed that turn.
B. The Red player has researched Advanced Trading, the Green player has not. Before Trading Red has 2 Axinium and Green has 3 Axinium and 2 Phasium.
C. Red places his cube on the first available space on the Market. He may perform 4 exchanges:
- sell 1 Axinium for 6 C.P.
- buy 1 Phasium for 3 C.P.
- sell 1 Axinium for 6 C.P.
- buy 1 Phasium for 3 C.P.
D. At the end of his Trade Action, Blue has 1 Axinium and 9 Phasium.
E. Red places his cube on the next available space on the Market. He may perform 4 exchanges:
- sell 1 Axinium for 4 C.P.
- sell 1 Axinium for 4 C.P.
Red does not use his last two possible exchanges.
F. At the end of his Trade Action, Red has 1 Axinium and 10 C.P.
TIP: A Trade Action backed by the Advanced Trading technology can be a source of income.
IV. Fire WMD Stage
All Rockets are classified as Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). The Weapons of Mass Destruction may be placed by players on Planets where they have a majority in Population cubes. A WMD on a Planet may be fired only by the player who has a majority on that Planet. WMD are used solely against Planets, with the exception of Home Planets who possess a unique defense system against all WMD.
A WMD may target a Planet up to a maximum distance of 6 hexes.
To fire the weapons of mass destruction, do the following:
-
Assigning targets – In reversed turn order, players may assign one target Planet for each WMD. One or more Rockets may be assigned to the same target Planet.
-
Distance check – for each WMD roll a die. If you have research the Radar technology, add 1 to the die roll. If the modified die roll is greater than the distance from the originating hex to the target hex, the WMD hits its target.
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Damage roll – If a WMD passes the distance check, roll the necessary amount of dice for each single rocket (5 for Hypersonic, 3 for Biochemical and 2 for Graviton). 5 and 6 represent hits. Destroy one resource per hit (if available) with the Hypersonic Rockets, one Population per hit (if available) with the Biochemical Rockets and the Planet with all its Population, resources and any unfired Rockets (flip that hex) with the Graviton Rockets. The ships in that hex are not affected.
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Attention! All WMDs are fired at the same time. Even if a Planet containing a WMD is the target of a successful attack by a Graviton Rocket, the WMD will still be allowed to be fired before the hex is flipped.
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Remember, every WMD may be fired only once per turn. You can mark the used WMD by flipping them on the grey side.
Example:
A. The Green player controls a Graviton Rocket on LYRA and 2 Biochemical Rockets on SOL. The Red player controls a Hypersonic Rocket on K'UEI HSING.
B. Players assign targets to their Rockets as shown by the arrows. We assume all distance checks are successful.
C. Green rolls for his first Biochemical Rocket (1,5,6) and his second Biochemical Rocket (1,1,5). With 3 hits he must destroy 3 Population on LYRA PRIME, 2 red and one green - his own.
D. Green rolls for his Graviton Rocket (2,6) and has 1 hit. K'UEI HSING is destroyed, but not before Red has a chance to fire his Rocket.
E. Red rolls for his Hypersonic Rocket (1,2,4,6,6) and has 2 hits. The Resource Counter on CHARUN is decreased by two.
F. Flip K'UEI HSING hex, destroyed by the Graviton Rocket. Remove all Population, the Resource Counter and the Hypersonic Rocket. Any space ships in that hex are not affected.
V. Conquest Stage
Every turn, the players play two separate, consecutive Conquest stages. In case the selected Bonus Action was MOVE, then a third separate Conquest stage is played that turn.
During the Conquest stage, players get to move their ships and their Population. They will expand their empire and fight to gain Victory Points.
- Mount Population (OPTIONAL) – Players may put Population from Planets onto ships with transport capacity in the same hex. The number of Population cubes on a ship may not exceed that ship's transport capacity. At this point, players who researched Civilian Ships may move Population cubes between the Planets where they already have Population.
- Place movement tokens on ships:
- Every ship can move up to 3 hexes away, according to the drive mounted on that ship.
- Each movement token is either blank or it has a direction number written on it. Blank means no movement, any direction number forces the ship to move in that direction.
- Players may place one, two or three movement tokens (from the common pile) one the blueprint of each ship, face down. The number of tokens is at most equal to the drive capacity equipping that type of ship. If no tokens are placed, that ship will not move.
- Move all ships – Reveal and execute the movement tokens on all ships, from top to bottom. The order in which the ships move is not relevant. Once the tokens assigned to a ship are executed, return them to their stash.
- Uncloaking (OPTIONAL) – Cloaked ships decide whether to uncloak or not. Once uncloaked, there is no going back, those ships will enter combat. All ships belonging to the same player in each hex must uncloak or remain cloaked together. Players who have researched Radar may force any ships to uncloak. Those ships become visible to everyone.
- Resolve conflicts – Conflicts appear when ships belonging to two or more players are in the same hex. All ships in the same hex will battle until there are ships belonging to only one player left in that hex. Battles are structured in combat rounds. Each combat round consists of:
- Roll a number of dice equal to the total number of damage symbols on all the cannons of all your ships in that hex (e.g. an Antimatter Cannon has 5 damage symbols). All 5 & 6 are hits, any other number is a miss. All ships fire at the same time! For every hit, assign 1 damage to (put a damage token on) a ship belonging to another player (if more than 2 players are in a hex, the damage assignment is done in reversed turn order).
- Remove all ships with damage exceeding their total shield power.
- Fight the Centaurian Resistance – After only one player has ships left in each hex, in those hexes where there are Centaurian Resistance ships another battle takes place:
- Identify the type of Centaurian Resistance ship and reveal the top card of the corresponding deck. That card will reveal the fire power and strength of the Centaurian Resistance ship. The Centaurian ship will be controlled by the player to the left of the attacking player.
- Battle that ship, respecting the rules for player vs. player combat above.
- In the case of victory, keep the battle card. You may discard it any time (outside a Conquest stage) to gain a bonus or you may keep it until the end of the game to gain Victory Points.
- In the case of defeat, remove immediately all damage from the Resistance ship and place the Centaurian Resistance card at the bottom of its deck.
- Deploy Population (OPTIONAL)
- One or more of the Population cubes on ships may be deployed on the Planet in the same hexes as the ship carrying them. The deployment may occur regardless of the presence of Population belonging to other players.
- Population cubes can be deployed off cloaked ships without any additional constraints and without uncloaking. The general rules for deployment still apply.
Example:
A. Notice the blueprints of the ships! The Green player has researched Cloaking tech, no one has researched Radar. Blue's first War Cruiser hosts 1 Population cube.
B. All players assign movement tokens to their ships. Blue decides to group his two ships and move them together. He must assign only 1 set of tokens.
C. All movement tokens are revealed and executed (see arrows):
- Green: <6>
- Red:
- Blue: <6><1>
D. Green chooses not to uncloak. Since no one has the Radar technology, he will remain cloaked until the end of turn.
E. Combat (player vs. player) round 1:
- Red rolls 4 dice, Blue rolls 12 dice
- Red rolls: 1,1,5,6, a total of 2 hits all assigned to the Blue War Cruiser with Population.
- Blue rolls 1,2,2,2,3,3,4,4,4,4,5,6, a total of 2 hits. He assigns 2 hits to the Red Fighter.
F. Combat (player vs. player) round 2:
- Red rolls 4 dice, Blue rolls 12 dice
- Red rolls: 2,5,5,5 a total of 3 hits all assigned to the damaged Blue War Cruiser. With a total of 5 damage, it is destroyed together with the Population cube.
- Blue rolls 1,1,2,3,3,4,5,5,5,6,6, a total of 5 hits, all assigned to the Red Fighter which is thus destroyed.
G. The Blue player is awarded 2 VP for destroying the Red Fighter in a combat he won. He then engages the Centaurian Resistance ship.
H. Combat (Blue player vs. Resistance) round 1:
- Blue has one War Cruiser left so he rolls 6 dice, while the Resistance (controlled by the White player) rolls 3 dice
- Blue rolls 2,3,4,4,5,6, deals 2 damage to the Resistance Ship
- The Resistance rolls 1,1,2 failing to deal any damage
I. Combat (Blue player vs. Resistance) round 2:
- Blue rolls 6 dice, the Resistance rolls 4 dice
- Blue rolls 1,2,2,3,4,5 deals 1 damage to the Resistance Ship which is defeated
- The Resistance rolls 3,4,6, dealing 1 damage to the Blue War Cruiser
J. The Blue player keeps the Centaurian Resistance card.
- For each Population cube that needs to descend on a Planet with Moons (any Planet not 'alone' in its hex), roll a die to check deployment success. A roll of 4-6 is a success, that Population cube may be deployed. Any other roll prevents the respective Population cube to be deployed, therefore it must remain on the ship.
- Population can descend without restrictions on any 'single' Planet (that includes all Home Planets).
- The Landing Maneuver technology allows players to skip the die roll and always deploy successfully.
Additional rules for the Conquest Stage
Players may choose not to use movement tokens for moving some or all of their ships. If they do so, they must move all their ships for which they do not wish to use tokens before any movement tokens are revealed. The general rules of moving ships apply.
If the ships belonging to 2 or more players all with Cloaking technology and without Radar end up in the same hex, they may not uncloak and engage in combat. As long as the ships belonging to at least one player become visible, either due to the lack of Cloaking or due to discovery by Radar, then all the players still cloaked have the option to uncloak.
The winner of the combat (player vs. player) is the only one awarded points for destroying enemy ships. He will get points for all the ships destroyed in that combat (except his own), regardless of who dealt the damage. Mark those points on the Victory Points track on the common board.
Before the last Conquest stage of the last turn of the game, all players gain the Radar technology and there are no cloaked ships anymore.
[Victory]
The aim of the game is to accumulate Victory Points to assert supremacy over the other factions. At the end of the game, the player with the most Victory Points wins the game.
Use the Victory Points track on the common board to keep track of VP throughout the game and to count VP in the end. In the case of a final tie, the turn order is the tie breaker.
Players accumulate Victory Points by:
- Having the majority of Population cubes on Planets (at the end of the game):
- The player with the most Population cubes on a Planet gets all the Victory Points.
- In the case of a tie, all the players tied for the most Population share the VPs. If 2 players have 2 Population each on a 4-VP Planet and the 3rd player only one Population, the first two players get 2 VP each.
- Space domination (at the end of the game):
- Each player gets 2 VP for each hex where he has at least one ship.
- The player who has ships in the High Council hex gets 5 additional VP.
- Centaurian Resistance cards (at the end of the game):
- All the Centaurian Resistance cards come with a number of VP. The players that did not discard them for the immediate bonus should add these VP.
- Fighting (throughout the game):
- The winner of every player vs. player fight (the player that has ships left in a hex at the end of a battle) is awarded VP for every enemy ship destroyed in that battle (regardless of who dealt the damage). The number of VP for each type of ship is marked on the blueprint.
- Political titles (at the end of the game):
- The holder of the Chancellor title gets 5 VP, the holder of the Vice-Chancellor gets 3 VP and the holder of the High Council Senator gets 1 VP.
Congratulate the winner!
[Optional Rules]
Long Game
- For those who want to spend more time and get the full experience of Exodus: Proxima Centauri, we recommend the Long Game setup of the map.
- Play over 9 turns!
- Only 2 C.P. as starting resources at the beginning of the game.
- Basic Research technology may not be researched.
Combat Intensive Game
- We recommend this only for experienced players.
- Follow the Minimal Setup to encourage battles.
- Play over 5 turns only!
- Take 10 C.P. as starting resources at the beginning of the game.
- Each player starts with exactly 3 technologies of his choice, with a total research cost of 20 C.P. or less. Basic Research may not be obtained this way.
- Each player starts with one extra Battle Carrier.
Short / Simplified Game
- This setup is for those in a rush, who would like to finish the game in 120 minutes and have simpler rules.
- Do not use movement tokens during the Conquest Stage. Execute the movement in reversed turn order (from number 6 to number 1).
- Skip paying tax. Always play 3 Actions per turn and do not play Reactions! Bonuses from Political cards and Bonus Action still apply.
- Decide on a time limit or a number of turns. When you reach the time limit, call the last turn.
Variants for Banking and Mining
- When performing a Banking Action gain 3 C.P. or roll a die and gain that much C.P. If you decide to roll a die, you must keep the result. With Advanced Banking, you may gain 7 C.P., roll a die and add 3 and gain that much C.P. or roll two dice and gain that much C.P.
- When performing a Mining Action you may add a total of 3 resources on Planets where you have Population or roll a die and add that many resources. If you decide to roll a die, you must keep the result. With Advanced Mining, you may choose to add 7 resources, roll a die and, add 3 to the result and add that many resources or roll two dice and add that many resources.
Long Game Setup / Minimal Setup layouts:
- 2 Players — Long Game Setup: 1x High Council hex, 2x Home Planet hex, 6x C.P. Planet hex, 4x Axinium Planet hex, 2x Phasium Planet hex, 4x Resistance Ship I, 2x Resistance Ship II, 2x Resistance Ship III.
- 2 Players — Minimal Setup: 1x High Council hex, 2x Home Planet hex, 4x C.P. Planet hex, 2x Axinium Planet hex, 2x Phasium Planet hex, 2 Resistance Ship I, 2x Resistance Ship II, 2x Resistance Ship III.
- 3 Players — Long Game Setup: 1x High Council hex, 3x Home Planet hex, 9x C.P. Planet hex, 6x Axinium Planet hex, 3x Phasium Planet hex, 6x Resistance Ship I, 3x Resistance Ship II, 3x Resistance Ship III.
- 3 Players — Minimal Setup: 1x High Council hex, 3x Home Planet hex, 5x C.P. Planet hex, 4x Axinium Planet hex, 3x Phasium Planet hex, 3 Resistance Ship I, 3x Resistance Ship II, 3x Resistance Ship III.
- 4 Players — Long Game Setup: 1x High Council hex, 4x Home Planet hex, 11x C.P. Planet hex, 8x Axinium Planet hex, 5x Phasium Planet hex, 2x Resistance Ship I, 4x Resistance Ship II, 6x Resistance Ship III.
- 4 Players — Minimal Setup: 1x High Council hex, 4x Home Planet hex, 7x C.P. Planet hex, 6x Axinium Planet hex, 3x Phasium Planet hex, 4 Resistance Ship I, 4x Resistance Ship II, 4x Resistance Ship III.
- 5 Players — Long Game Setup: 1x High Council hex, 5x Home Planet hex, 14x C.P. Planet hex, 10x Axinium Planet hex, 6x Phasium Planet hex, 4x Resistance Ship I, 5x Resistance Ship II, 6x Resistance Ship III.
- 6 Players — Long Game Setup: 1x High Council hex, 6x Home Planet hex, 18x C.P. Planet hex, 12x Axinium Planet hex, 6x Phasium Planet hex, 6x Resistance Ship I, 6x Resistance Ship II, 6x Resistance Ship III.
- 6 Players — Minimal Setup: 1x High Council hex, 6x Home Planet hex, 10x C.P. Planet hex, 9x Axinium Planet hex, 5x Phasium Planet hex, 6x Resistance Ship I, 6x Resistance Ship II, 6x Resistance Ship III.
[Frequently Asked Questions]
Resources & Population
Q: Do I pay tax for the resources I had before together with the new ones? A: No, it is a tax per income, not per fortune. You pay tax for what you get 'fresh' that turn.
Q: My stash of Population cubes ran out. They are all out on Planets. What do I do next? A: This stock is limited. Your clone factory can only produce a limited number without significant genetic degeneration. You will just have to better manage your Population.
Q: What happens if I am attacked and all my ships and my Population are destroyed? A: Every turn, the clone factory on your Home Planet produces two Population cubes. That can be a fresh start for you.
Q: Can Population belonging to two or more players coexist on the same planet? A: Yes! They're not happy about it, but they can.
Q: So, in this case, who gets resources first? Does it matter how much Population we have there? A: The resources are taken in turn order. The amount of Population counts only for getting VP at the end of the game.
Q: There is no Axinium Planet near me and I cannot get enough Axinium to build all the ships that I want. What do I do? A: Use Trade. For greater efficiency, research Advanced Trading, this way your trade rates will also improve.
Politics and turn order
Q: When distributing Turn Order cards before the first turn, which ones should we use? A: In a N-player game, used the cards with numbers 1 to N. For example, in a 4-player game use the cards 1,2,3 and 4.
Actions
Q: Can multiple players select the same Action card for their Reaction? A: Every Reaction may only be activated once, so it is available only to the first player that puts Population on it.
Q: I researched Expert Politics and I am reacting on my own card, so I don't have to spend any population to activate it. How do I mark it spent? A: Simply flip the card on the other side.
Q: Do players have to use the Bonus Action? A: No, the use of the Bonus Action is not mandatory.
Research and Technologies
Q: How do I get to play more Actions per turn? A: Research Master Politics, it provides the third Action.
Q: Can I un-research or lose a technology that I've already researched? A: No.
Q: I keep rolling the 'wrong' dice when I need to deploy my Population. What else can I do? A: Research Landing Maneuver, you won't have to roll the die at all.
Q: Does Basic Politics work between the 2nd and 3rd Action (Master Politics researched)? A: No, Basic Politics only allows you to take your Action card back before playing your second Action.
Q: Which technologies provide a discount for Basic Research? A: Any other technology.
Q: If two or more players have researched Civilian Ships, they are both free to move population between planets during the Conquest stages. Who does it first? A: This is done in reversed turn order.
Trade
Q: Can I use the market if I do not have any cubes left? A: No.
Q: Does Advanced Trading allow a player to buy and sell with a single exchange? A: Advanced trading allows you to buy and to sell. However, one exchange is either buying OR selling.
Q: I used Trade as my first Action and I plan to use it again as a Reaction and then as a Bonus Action. Do I need to block a place on the market each time? A: Yes, every time a Trade Action is performed, one space one the market is blocked, regardless if that player has already performed another Trade Action.
Upgrades
Q: There are no more upgrades of the kind that I want. What can I do? A: Try to research a different technology that is still available which provides a similar upgrade.
Q: I have many ships but they're easily defeated in combat. What's the problem? A: Try to put better ship upgrades on their blueprints.
Q: If I move shields away from the blueprints of ships with damage so that the damage accumulated exceeds the total value of the shields, do I have to destroy those ships? A: Yes, as soon as the damage on a ship exceeds the amount the shields can carry, the ship is destroyed immediately.
Building Ships
Q: There are enemy ships orbiting my Home planet. Can I still build ships? A: Yes
Q: So, what happens then? Do we fight immediately? A: You do not fight immediately. During the Conquest stage, everyone gets to move their ships before battle. If the enemy ships are too powerful, you have the option to run away with your ships. You get to mount population, place movement tokens and execute them before the actual battle takes place.
Q: In the last turn, the selected bonus Action was MOVE. How many Conquest Stages do we perform and when does everyone get the Radar tech? A: You will go one by one through three Conquest Stages. The Radar is awarded to everyone before the third Conquest Stage.
Centaurian Resistance
Q: I am in the middle of a combat and I have in my hand a Centaurian Resistance card that gives me a better shield. Can I use it to upgrade my shield? A: No, these cards can be used only outside the Conquest stage. You will be able to use it next turn.
Q: I am the 'guy on the left' controlling the Centaurian Resistance and I am not sure what is the best way to distribute the damage of the Resistance ship. What do I do? A: Target ships with Population if you can deal enough damage to take them down. Then, go for the most expensive ship or for many weak ships. If you're still in doubt, just hit something, it will be fun.
Ship Movement and Battle
Q: Can I retreat from a battle? A: No.
Q: Can I move my ships through spaces containing non friendly ships? For example I have a ship with Fusion Drive and I move through a hex containing non-friendly ships to get to a tile with no other ships. Would this work? A: Yes, it is possible.
Q: Before the last Conquest Stage of the last turn does a player automatically get the Radar even if he has no more cubes to place on his technology tree? A: Radar is awarded to all players and there no need to mark it on the player board.
Q: At the end of the player-vs-player combat, no players have ships left in the hex. Who gets the VP for the destroyed ships? A: No one. It is a rare case but it can happen. If no one survived the battle, no one gets the glory.
[The Story]
[...]They all boarded the space shuttles from Baikonur Cosmodrome in what people used to call 200 year ago Kazakhstan. In there, the last genocide occurred. The six factions that arrived early found some of the spacecrafts damaged by nuclear warheads and decided to avoid a conflict or a draw for who gets to board and who gets to stay on the dying Planet. They shot down the hovercrafts bringing in the Antarctica, Africa and Greenland factions. Allegedly, more than one million people died. Humanity's last genocide was recorded on camera and used for the anti-war propaganda.
After almost one year of space travel and fragile peace, the humans adapted to almost everything that space travel involved. They reached a common decision to disregard the possibility of terraforming Mars or Venus and to look for a new home in the closest star system to Earth, Alpha Centauri. They estimated the travel time to 400 cycles at a speed of 1800 miles per second, a period short enough that humanity would survive and long enough to make old pride forgotten.*
* The concept of one year, the time Earth took to revolve around the Sun, did not represent anything that humans wanted to remember, the new unit of measure for a long period of time was the cycle. One cycle was initially one year, but due to miscalculations by physicist who took into consideration time dilatation at high speed (relativity theory misinterpreted), one cycle was later roughly equal to 1.65 Earth years.
By the end of the 3rd cycle, they established a full political system which brought along the old interests and conflicts. It took half a cycle and one election 'day' to stir up a new war. Without nukes, but with still powerful weapons, half of the human fleet was wiped out in a matter of hours. With identical spacecrafts and equal weapons, the leaders of the factions reached a new peace agreement. The new settlement left the factions completely separated. The only thing keeping the together was the basic instinct of survival and the promise that once they'll find a new home, the conflict will be solved once and for all. That last peace treaty cut all inter-faction contacts to a minimum, only their elected leaders were to meet once per cycle to decide on matters that concerned all of them, usually related only to calculations for direction and course adjustments for the fleet. Each faction was leading the convoy for one cycle and they'd rotate like that until reaching their final destination. The contact between the factions was reduced to almost nothing. People belonging to each faction evolved separately, developing unique features and skills associated to space travel.
At the end of the 144th cycle, the remnants of the fleet came in contact with a superior civilization whom they wrongly call Centaurians (inhabitants of Alpha Centauri system, in fact more than two and a half light years away from that very spot). At that point, it became clear for the leaders of the factions that the original plan was at fault. Their spacecrafts would never last long enough to reach Alpha Centauri and their nuclear fuel was going to be exhausted in less than 50 cycles. In the light of the new situation, the leaders presented themselves as one civilization in front of the Centaurians.
After establishing communication, but without ever seeing them, the Centaurians borough in the leaders and had them audience in front (as a matter of fact, they were in a strange red room on a star ship) of the High Council. Time seems to pass at a different rate for the new found saviors and friends, as this meeting seemed to take forever. Never having seen one Centaurian, the humans came to understand quickly how this advanced civilization was working. They had amazing technology - able to learn human languages in a matter of minutes, they seemed to be capable of faster than light travel, they were the utmost humanitarians, never even considering killing or enslaving humanity and - most importantly - they were willing to provide help.
The Centaurians guided the old damaged fleet towards a Planetary system that could support human life. Without ever allowing anyone else but the six leaders aboard the Centaurian star ship, the Saviors took about half a cycle to prepare the human fleet for high speed travel. No one ever explained how or what the Centaurians did to the human spacecrafts to allow them to travel much faster, nor how fast they'd be able to travel. The only requirement from the Centaurians was that every vessel they were working on was to be vacated completely for the duration of the repairs. This allowed the first mass contacts between factions in more than 140 cycles. Old tensions grew quickly under the surface and sporadic fights were reported, but the casualties were quickly disposed of and no word of this got to the Centaurians.
Once all repairs final, the fleet started the last part of its journey towards humanity's new home. No one was able to tell whether they were travelling faster than light or not or which direction they were going. The leaders told the people they were going to settle all together on a Planet orbiting the Proxima Centauri star. In the first 'days', curiosity prevailed and not even one gun shot was heard among any ship in the fleet. The humanity recorded this last part of the trip as the exile.
Centaurians were keeping their distance all the time, not interfering at all in the humans' internal affairs. They seemed to be the perfect 'fathers' providing but never asking in exchange. The underfed humans were provided all kind of new things that they forgot or never knew of existing. This preserved the apparent harmony for a while, but humanity's drive towards conflict soon overcame their wellbeing. In the final days of the exile, war spurred again. The never forgotten pride arose one last time and the Centaurians decided to split the fleet, without giving them means of direct communication other than their periodic meeting in the High Council. Each faction landed on a different Planet, however all in the same solar system.
The settling process took almost two full cycles. Humans were first taught first how to survive on their new home Planets, which were all alike, they were provided with technology to make their new home worlds look like the ancient Earth. The humans' reproductive function was lost either due to the high exposure to radiation or to some other undocumented reason. The only way for the humanity to grow was through cloning, a process that the Centaurians help perfect. The Centaurians did all this from a distance, never interfering more than the minimum necessary. Their understanding of the human race seemed far better than anyone could ever expect and their respect for human values, habits and traditions seemed infinite.
With the passing of time, the humans were coming closer and closer to considering the Centaurians gods. Human perception of their benefactors was very close to reality. The Centaurians were a peaceful race, one that seemed to be omniscient and omnipotent. Although they weren't anything like the humans, never fighting, they still possessed an impressive warfare arsenal, making them undefeatable in the eyes of the humans.
Following the Centaurian tradition, the leaders of all the six Colonies were assembled in a High Council, on the same Planet as the Centaurian High Council had its headquarters. They had the chance of acknowledging each other, share their most important issues and remember they were once brothers.
The Centaurians kept a policy of equal treatment and long distance supervision, ensuring lasting peace. Every new Colony was given access to the same technologies, the same amount of knowledge, so that proper balance would be kept. In time, the humans, with their new found technology for looking into space were more and more convinced that their saviors were indeed Centaurians and that they were all living on Planets revolving some of the stars in the Alpha Centauri system.
They assumed that the three stars (Proxima Centauri and Alpha Centauri A & B binary star system) humans knew about were the only one visible from Earth but, in fact, there were many more, most of them with inhabitable Planets, all alike and all perfectly suitable for human life. In fact, little did the humans know about the fate that was awaiting them...
In the 296th cycle, the Centaurians came to all 6 races with a terrifying announcement, their own race was on the verge of extinction. The Centaurians Supreme Leaders appointed a permanent human High Council, formed from the leaders of six Colonies and supervised by one single Elder. The Elder had the role of preserving peace and guiding them for another 10 cycles and thus conclude both the transition and the extinction of the Centaurian race. In this time, humans would gain access to almost all Centaurian technology, they would be able to expand their existence on more Planets and develop beyond their imagination.
The Centaurians would leave and look for what humans assumed was a way to prevent their extinction. They were never to return... or so everyone thought.
With a very good understanding of the human race, the Centaurians appointed the High Council with the purpose of giving humanity the chance of preserving the Centaurian glory and memory and appointed the Elder to prevent humans to self-destruct and to bring them together to form a new great civilization. The Council was given the power to decide on all political matters of the Colonies and to split the great heritage of the Centauri civilization. With all the others gone, the last of them, the Elder had the power to ensure that the Council was functioning respecting the majority principle and that all their decision were followed by the Colonies.
At the end of the ten cycles, one Supreme Ruler would be appointed by the High Council who would form a dynasty to rule forever the new Human Empire.
The Centaurians
Although the humans spent many cycles surrounded by Centaurians, they only got to see and touch their technology. There was no recorded meeting between a human and a Centaurian and no human has even seen a Centaurian. Some came to believe that Centaurians were living outside a physical body and shape, but no one could even come close to proving anything.
The only thing that humans learned about the Centaurians was that there was some kind of division among them. Some of the scientists called them different species, but others argued that the term of species itself is not compatible with the nature of these superior beings. The religious groups lead by psis (people with extra sensorial abilities) believed that the four 'species' were in fact auras and each of them was of a different color. The strangest thing was that these auras were completely different colors from those of the humans, not resembling anything else anyone has ever experienced. The only way one 'species' of Centaurians was identifying itself was by a symbol, either marked on their ships or on some piece of equipment.
There were four Centaurian species that humans knew of. The Orange Aura were famous for inventing the Cloaking technology and thus the only Centaurians who ever stood different than the other 'species'. Apart from this historical distinction, all the others were simply classified by the humans according to purely subjective criteria. The Grey Aura were the most eclectic one, they almost never came in contact with the humans and everyone assumed they mastered the most powerful weapons. The Black Aura were the ones that humans were mostly keeping in contact with, the ones that (they assumed) split them between Planets and providing them with means of living. The Tan Aura were the leaders or so everyone thought. This was most likely a myth fueled by those who strongly believed in the auras and claimed that the white aura is the most powerful of all.
[Credits]
- Game design: Andrei Novac, Agnieszka Kopera
- Graphic artists: David J. Coffey, Agnieszka Kopera, Maria Marin, George Necula
- Publisher: NSKN Legendary Games
- Rule book development: Andrei Novac, Remy Suen
[Technologies]
- Hypersonic Rockets – You may buy and place Hypersonic Rockets on Planets. The Hypersonic Rockets are used against resources on other Planets.
- Biochemical Rockets – You may buy and place Biochemical Rockets on Planets. They are used against Population on other Planets.
- Graviton Rockets – You may buy and place Graviton Rockets on Planets. They are used against entire Planets. They completely destroy the target Planet along with its Population and resources.
- Electromagnetic Shield – You may buy and place Electromagnetic Shields on your ships. An Electromagnetic Shield can withstand a total of one damage.
- Multipolar Grid (MPG) Shield – You may buy and place Multipolar Grid Shields on your ships. A Multipolar Grid Shield can withstand a total of 2 damage.
- Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) Shield – You may buy and place Quark-Gluon Plasma Shields on your ships. A Quark-Gluon Plasma Shield can withstand a total of 3 damage.
- Plasma Cannon – You may buy and place Plasma Cannons on your ships. In combat, a Plasma Cannon allows the rolling of three dice.
- Solid-State Laser (SSL) Cannon – You may buy and place SSL Cannons on your ships. In combat, a SSL Cannon allows the rolling of two dice.
- Antimatter Cannon – You may buy and place Antimatter Cannons on your ships. In combat, an Antimatter Cannon allows the rolling of five dice.
- Landing Maneuver – Your attempts to deploy Population from ships on any Planet is always successful. You don't need to roll any dice.
- Basic Repairs – During the Upkeep Stage of every turn, remove one damage token from each one of your ships.
- Civilian Ships – During the Conquest Stage, you may freely move your Population cubes among the Planets where they are already present.
- Advanced Mining – You may add up to 8 resources when executing a Mining Action or Reaction.
- Radar – Cancels the effects of Cloaking, making all ships visible for you. Also, when making the Distance Check for firing WMDs, add 1 to the roll of your die.
- Fusion Drive – You may buy and place Fusion drives on your ships. A Fusion drive allows your ships to move up to two hexes away.
- Antigravity Drive – You may buy and place Antigravity drives on your ships. An Antigravity drive allows your ships to move up to three hexes away.
- Cloaking – Your ships are invisible to all the other players who have not researched the Radar technology. The ships protected by Cloaking cannot be attacked by anyone without the Radar tech. Players under cloaking can choose to either engage in combat or to remain cloaked.
- Basic Research – Provides a discount for all Military, Civilian and Transport technologies.
- Advanced Trading – You may use the better exchange rates marked in red when you perform the Trade Action.
- Advanced Banking – Gain 8 C.P. when you perform a Banking Action or Reaction.
- Phasium Refinery – During the Upkeep stage, you may get 1 extra Phasium from each Phasium Planet where you have Population.
- Axinium Refinery – During the Upkeep stage, you may get 1 extra Axinium from each Axinium Planet where you have Population.
- C.P. Refinery – During the Upkeep stage, you may get 5 extra C.P. from each C.P. Planet where you have Population.
- Basic Politics – During the Action stage, before taking the second Action, you may take your first Action card back to your hand.
- Advanced Politics – You do not have to pay income tax.
- Expert Politics – Your Reactions cost one Population less.
- Master Politics – You may play the third Action card.
- Expert Cloning – During the Upkeep Stage, your Population increases with 1 additional Population cube.