Factory 42 Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal
• Game Components
• Factory Overview
• Setup
  • Play Area
  • Setup Example
• Cards
  • Government Order
  • Market
  • Events
  • Invention (Commissions Expansion Only)
  • Elven Commission (Commissions Expansion Only)
• Important Distinctions
• Game Play
  • Phase 1: Draw Cards
  • Phase 2: Place Workers
  • Phase 3: Resolve Locations
    • 1 - Requisition
    • 2 - Bureaucracy
    • 3 - Loading
    • 4 - Spiking
    • 5 - Shipping
    • 6 - Steam Generation
    • 7 - Operate (expanded game only)
    • 8 - Inventor's Guild (expanded game only)
    • 9 - Elven Embassy (expanded game only)
• Game End
• Official Variants
• Strategy Tips
• F.A.Q.

Goal

Players acquire Victory Points (VP) during the game by fulfilling orders. Players are penalised when Government Orders go unfilled. At the end of the game, additional victory points are awarded for Rosettes, for Inventions and being the best in several categories. The player with the most VP at the end of the game wins.

Game Components

Components marked with a * are to be used with the Commissions Expansion.

5 decks of cards: Government Orders, Invention Deck* (Inventor's Guild), Commissions Deck* (Elven Commissions), Market Deck (Trading), Event Deck.

11 types of Resource cubes in 3 sizes (size roughly corresponds with value):

• Materials: 20 Flax, 16 Wood, 10 Marble
• Metals: 20 Steel, 16 Copper, 10 Gold
• Food: 20 Lichen, 16 Mushroom, 10 Beer
• Special Resources: 10 Coal, 10 Magic

Other components: 6 Railcars (see separate instructions sheet for first-time construction), 15 Private Steam Tokens, 12 Operation Tokens*, 30 Rosettes, a Meeple Set and Scoring Marker for each player color, 1 Starting Player Token, 5 Two-Sided Player Boards (one side for standard game, one side for Commissions Expansion), 1 Two-sided Main Game Board (one side for standard game, one side for Commissions Expansion), Resource Supply Board, 1 Steam Marker, 1 Spiking Bag, Bureaucracy Tower (see separate instructions sheet for first-time construction).

Standard Improvement Chits: 5 Large Warehouse Expansion, 5 Small Warehouse Expansion, 5 Incinerator, 5 Crane.

Factory Overview

The general process flow at Factory 42 is as follows:

1. Receive work orders/Requisitions from the Government
2. Receive Requisitioned resources
3. Load resources (and spike additional resources) onto Railcars
4. Transfer the Railcars to Docks at individual manufacturing facilities
5. Burn leftover resources to generate Steam
6. Trade resources on the open Market
7. Use Steam and resources to manufacture requested items.

During the game, you'll be able to receive special Commissions from the Elven Embassy and upgrade your process with Inventions from the Inventor's Guild.

Setup

Note: This rulebook refers to standard game vs. expanded game. Where two phase numbers are noted (for example 7 / 10), the first number is the phase number in the standard game and the second number is the phase number in the expanded game. Where there is no number, that phase does not exist in the base game.

Play Area

To begin, locate the main board and select if you'd like to play the standard game or with the Commissions Expansion. Each game mode has its own side on the main and player boards. Place the main board in the center of the table and give each player a player board.

Place the Operation Tokens nearby.

There are 5 important places that hold resources: the Supply, the Common Pool, each player's Warehouse, the Spiking Bag, and the Railcars.

Supply: Place the resource cubes on their relevant space on the Resource Supply Board and the Standard Improvements near the main board to form the Supply.

NOTE: The supply of resources is limited by the stock given. If you Requisition or gain a resource and there are none left in the Supply, then you do not get that resource. The Railcars are the exception to this. You cannot run out of Railcars. If you need more, use any available substitute (small boxes, business cards, etc.)

Common Pool (CP): Place the Bureaucracy Tower near the Bureaucracy location (2) of the main board. The Tower is designed to be a somewhat capricious delivery mechanism for your resources and will hold some resources back, behind "red tape". It will never be intentionally emptied during the game. The tray of the Tower is the Common Pool (CP). The resources that end up here can be transported via rail to individual players or may be used for Steam production. At the start of the game, the Tower begins with resources inside. Collect 2 of each resource (including special resources) and drop them as a group into the Tower. Return the resources that fall out from this initial drop back to the Supply.

Personal Supply: The 2 Docks and the Warehouse on your player board hold your personal pool of resources. The Docks receive resources by Railcar. The Warehouse starts empty and has a limited capacity. If you ever receive a resource you do not have the capacity to store in your Warehouse, it instead goes to the CP (you cannot put it in a Railcar, and you cannot swap it for resources already in your Warehouse). A Red Personal Supply symbol, which appears on some cards, indicates payment and the resources noted as a negative quantity should be returned to the Supply.

Spiking Bag: The Spiking Bag begins the game with 1x Marble, 1x Gold, 1x Beer, 1x Magic and 2 of each other resource. Place the bag next to the game board.

Railcars: Place the Railcars beside the top of the game board to form the Station. Each Railcar starts empty, and can hold up to 6 resources. When a Railcar is returned to the Station, any resources it has stay with it for when it is next returned to the board.

Steam: Place the Steam Marker on the 0 spot of the Steam track at the Steam Generation (6).

Magic: Magic can be used as any 1 resource or as 1 Steam at any time. It's like advanced alchemy.

Workers: Each player chooses a color and takes the corresponding Workers and scoring marker. The number of Workers depends on player count as follows; return the unused Workers to the game box:

• 2-3 players: each player gets 7 Workers
• 4-5 players: each player gets 6 Workers

Cards: Shuffle the Market and Government Order decks and place them near the board. Shuffle the Event cards and deal 5 cards face down on the Event location to form the Event Deck. If you are playing with the Commissions Expansion, also shuffle the Invention and Elven Commission decks and place them near the board. The details of the cards can be found below.

Each player places their Workers by their player board and places their scoring marker at 0 on the scoring track of the main board.

Give the Starting Player Token to a player who most recently used a hammer, or randomly determine which player will go first.

You are now ready to begin.

Setup Example

The setup image shows a 3 player game including the Commissions Expansion and shows the relevant side of the Game Board and Player Boards for this setup. If you are playing without the Commissions Expansion, the Game Board and Player Boards should be flipped to the other side. Numbered items in the image:

1. Game Board
2. Player Board and Meeples
3. Score Markers (placed on 0)
4. Supply board and Resources
5. Bureaucracy Tower and Station
6. Spiking Bag
7. Steam Marker (placed on 0)
8. Government Orders
9. Market Deck
10. Event Deck
11. Invention and Elven Commission decks (Commissions Expansion only)

Tokens (Private Steam and Operate), Standard Improvement Chits and Rosettes should be placed so that they are within easy reach of all players.

Cards

Government Order

Each Government Order item can be manufactured at 3 levels of quality: Minimum, Standard, and Optimal. Each card has a table showing the resource cost to manufacture the item at each quality level and the Rosettes, if any, awarded for manufacturing at that level. The card also shows the Steam required for manufacture which is the same for all quality levels.

The card also shows what resources the Government contributes to aid in the manufacturing process. These are added to the Common Pool, and are available to use for any purpose; their use is not restricted and can be used on any Order.

NOTE: Each Government Order may be manufactured any number of times and by any number of players.

Market

The Market card shows what value resources are worth when traded to the Market (down-arrow, "To Market" column) and the value the Market requires for you to receive resources from the Market (up-arrow, "From Market" column). A dash ("-") in the "To Market" column means the Market will not take that resource this round, while a dash in the "From Market" column means the Market does not have that resource available this round.

Events

Event cards act as a timer. On each round the topmost card is drawn, read aloud and effects applied (if any). Some Events just change players' personal supplies and some change the effects of certain locations for that round. All Events influence the CP in a minor fashion by adding or removing resources from it. The 6th and final round always has the same Event which is printed on the game board.

Invention (Commissions Expansion Only)

Each Invention must be researched before it can be used (research is done at Research 11 on the player board). The cost to research is shown at the bottom ledger of the card. When you acquire an Invention, it is kept face down on the left side of your player board until it is researched. Once the cost has been paid the Invention has been researched and is turned face up and moved on the right side of your player board, ready to be used (operated). Some Inventions have a limited number of uses, as indicated on the card in the yellow wax seal. Put Operation Tokens on the card to indicate how many uses remain. During the Operate step (7), a player may choose to operate any or all of their face up Inventions (removing 1 Operation Token from the ones with limits on uses). The text box in the middle of the card describes the effect when activated by a Worker in Operate.

Elven Commission (Commissions Expansion Only)

Players acquire Commission cards by visiting the Elven Embassy to discover what the Elves want. These items are manufactured much like the Government Orders, except there aren't different levels of quality, there's a limit on how many of each item can be made and only the player holding the card can manufacture the item.

Each Commission card is kept secret until the player is ready to manufacture the item for the first time, then the card is turned face up and Operation Tokens are placed on the card to record the quantity the Elves want. Each time you manufacture the item, return the resources to the Supply along with 1 Operation Token and take your reward. Discard the card to your own discard pile when the last Operation Token is removed.

Important Distinctions

Worker vs. Commissar: A Worker refers to any meeple placed on a square-shaped Worker slot. A meeple placed on a hexagonal 'Commissar' slot becomes a Commissar. The same meeple can never be both Commissar and Worker, these terms are mutually exclusive. If your meeple is one, it cannot be the other.

Cube sizes: Cube sizes are significant and roughly describe their relative value. The smallest (6 mm) and cheapest cubes (such as Flax) have no special markers, whereas the medium (8 mm) cubes (such as Mushroom) have a thin black outline around them and the most expensive and largest (10 mm) cubes (such as Gold) have a thick black outline around them.

Finite supplies: If any resource, including Rosettes, runs out, no more are forthcoming unless existing supplies are released back to the Supply through certain game actions. Like all good Workers, you'll just need to adjust.

Slots marked with Magic: All slots marked with Magic mean that the Worker or Commissar placed on that slot will act as a magic cube for that action. For example, adding a Worker to the Magic space in a Manufacturium allows you to act as though you have a magic cube when using that Manufacturium to complete an order.

Game Play

The game is played over a series of 6 rounds (although it can end earlier if a player reaches the top of the score track). Each round has 4 phases:

1. Draw Cards
2. Place Workers
3. Resolve Locations
4. Clean Up

Phase 1: Draw Cards

Orders: For each round, draw new Government Orders and place them face up beside the board. These are the items you'll be trying to manufacture this round.

The first round, draw as many orders as there are players. On subsequent rounds, draw as many as needed to replace the orders manufactured in the previous round.

Take the resources shown under "Government Allocation" on the new cards (not the ones remaining from the previous round) from the Supply to the CP.

Inventions (Commissions Expansion only): Draw 3 new Inventions from the Inventor's Guild deck and place them face up beside the game board, replacing any from the previous round.

Market: Draw a Market card from the Market deck and place it on the Market location of the main board, replacing the previous round's card.

Events (location 0): There are no spaces for Workers here; this part is out of your control. Discard the Event from the previous round and flip the top card from the Event Deck. Apply (or announce) the effects of that round's Event as shown on the card. Each round has an Event that affects the current round only. If there are no Event cards to draw then this is the last round. Use the Event printed on the board.

If the Event effect is to "gain" something, it means all players add the resources shown to their Warehouse, or sent to the CP if the Warehouse is full. When a location is closed, that means that no Workers or Commissars can be placed there this round.

Phase 2: Place Workers

Beginning with the Starting Player and going clockwise, each player places 1 of their Workers in an open Worker or Commissar space in one of the locations on the main board or their player board. When placing Workers, the Worker spaces must be filled in order beginning with space 1. Commissars may be placed at any time, even if there are no Workers at that location.

After every player has placed a Worker, each player places again. Continue around the table until all players have placed all of their Workers.

Phase 3: Resolve Locations

After all of the players have placed their Workers, resolve each location in turn according to its location number as shown on the board (described in detail below). If a Commissar is present at a location, ensure any effects are applied or bribes paid when completing actions for Workers.

NOTE: Leave the Workers and Commissars on their spaces as you resolve them; they may be counted by other effects later on. All meeples are returned at the end of the round.

1 - Requisition

Each Worker and Commissar in Requisition gets an allotment of resource points to spend on resource requisitions for their Warehouse and to add to the CP, with the Worker in first position also gaining a Rosette. All resources are requisitioned from the Supply. The Commissar in Requisition will act last and receives 2 points + 2 points for every Worker present to spend on resources to add to the CP and 1 point per Worker present to spend on resources for their Warehouse.

Different resources require different amounts of resource points, as indicated by the cube size (except Coal, which costs 4, not 2). The cost is also shown on the location. Small cubes cost 1, medium cost 2, and large cubes cost 3. Magic cannot be requisitioned. For example, the first Worker (who gets 5 points to add resources to the CP) could requisition 2x Steel (for 1 each) and 1x Marble (for 3) to add to the CP. You do not have to use all the points you receive to fill your Warehouse, but any unused points must be spent on resources that are then added to the CP instead.

2 - Bureaucracy

There are no spaces for Workers here; this part is out of your control. The Starting Player takes all resources from the CP (including any that were there at the start of the turn) and drops them into the Tower. The resources that fall out become the new CP.

3 - Loading

Workers must first choose any Railcar that is in the Station and place it on the Loading space, including any resources that the Railcar may already have in it. The Worker must then load 1 to 4 resources (or 2 to 5 resources if a Commissar is present) from the CP to that Railcar and send it down the track to the last available empty space. If no resources remain in the CP when it is your turn to load, then you cannot load any resources and your worker receives an unsanctioned break and you receive a reputation for poor efficiency...

If there is a Commissar here, each Worker must add 1 additional resource to their Railcar as noted above. The Commissar also gains 1 Rosette.

4 - Spiking

Workers can spike Railcar shipments with additional resources provided there's room left in the Railcar. Remember, each Railcar can have maximum of 6 resources. The spiking process is done in 4 steps.

1. First the Commissar here, if any, adds any combination of 4 resources, except Magic, from the Supply to the Spiking Bag.
2. Then, whether there's a Commissar or not, the first Worker draws a number of resources from the bag based on the number of Workers in this location: 3 resources plus 1 additional resource per Worker. These are the spiking resources.
3. Each Worker in turn may then place up to 2 of the drawn spiking resources into Railcars that have space for them. They may be placed in the same or in different Railcars.
4. The last Worker returns any spiking resources left over to the bag and adds 1 Lichen and 1 Flax to the Spiking Bag from the Supply.

5 - Shipping

Each Worker must choose 1 Railcar from space 1 or 2 of the track and send it to any open dock on any player's board. If these spaces are empty, move the loaded Railcars on the track forward to fill them. If there are no loaded Railcars left then no Shipping can take place.

If there is a Commissar here, the Commissar may choose a Worker who must send both Railcars in spaces 1 and 2 to any open Dock. This selection must be done when that Worker's turn comes up and before that Worker chooses a Railcar. The Worker chooses the destination Docks as normal.

6 - Steam Generation

The gauge here tracks the Steam power (pressure) available. Whenever the gauge goes to 15, a rupture occurs and the pressure immediately drops to 8 as the Steam vents out. For the remainder of the round, Steam cannot be increased to more than 8, and any Steam in excess of 8 is simply lost, as repairs take the rest of the round to complete. Any burned resources, either from the CP or Warehouse, go back to the Supply.

The Steam generation location is resolved in two steps:

1. Any burnable resources (shown on the table below) in the CP are converted to Steam.
2. Workers here may then burn any number of burnable resources from their Warehouse. Workers who convert at least 1 resource to Steam gain Rosettes based on the space they are in. The Worker in the first space gains 1 Rosette, the Worker in the second space gains 2 Rosettes and the Worker in the third space gains 3 Rosettes. Rosettes are awarded to Workers even if there has been a rupture and no additional Steam can be produced.

Steam Generation Table

• Coal = 3 Steam
• Wood, Mushroom = 2 Steam each
• Flax, Lichen = 1 Steam each

7 - Operate (expanded game only)

If you place a Worker on the Operate location of your player board, you can operate as many of your researched Inventions as you like. (Note: some Inventions require Steam to operate, as well). Follow the instructions on the card. If the card has a limited number of uses, remove 1 Operation Token from it. When the last token is removed, discard the Invention card to your own discard pile.

8 - Inventor's Guild (expanded game only)

A Worker here may pay Steam to take 1 of the face up Invention cards. The purchase cost of an Invention depends on the space that the Worker is in. The cost is 1 Steam for the Worker in first space, 2 Steam for the Worker in the second space and 3 Steam for the Worker in the third space. Steam is spent from the Steam Generator when the card is purchased. If the Steam is paid, place the Invention face down to the left of your player board. These represent the unresearched plans for the Invention, and are kept face down until the research cost on a ledger at the bottom of the card is paid during the Research step of this turn or a later turn. A Commissar in this location will receive 1 Magic from the Supply for each Worker in the Inventor's Guild.

9 - Elven Embassy (expanded game only)

The Elven Embassy has a door fee of 1 Rosette that each Worker and Commissar may pay in order to use this location. A Worker who pays the door fee learns of projects of special interest to the Elves. Each Worker draws 2 Commission cards and chooses 1 to keep, discarding the other. The card is kept secret (face down) until the item is first manufactured. A Commissar who pays the door fee receives 1 Magic from the Supply for each Worker in this location who paid their door fee.

7 / 10 - Trading

Workers here can exchange resources from their Warehouse with the Supply at the rates shown on the Market card for the round. A Commissar here imposes a door fee of 1 Rosette on each Worker that wants to trade. Workers who do not pay the fee to the Commissar's player cannot trade at the Market this round. The Commissar does not trade.

When performing a trade at the Market, you first trade in any resources you want in any combination from your Warehouse. The first column ("to Market") shows how much the resources you return to the Supply are worth. You then use this worth to receive resources from the Supply at the rate shown in the second column ("from Market"). You cannot buy resources from the Market that you sold to the Market in that trade. Any worth that you cannot spend is lost. All purchased resources must be sent to your Warehouse, so make sure you have enough space to receive them!

8 / 11 - Research

A Worker here may do one of two actions (a Commissar here acts as described in point 3):

1. Spend the resources required by the chosen Standard Improvement and place the relevant chit on its designated space on the player board to show it has been researched. The cost for each Improvement is shown below:
   • Small Warehouse Expansion: 2 Materials and 2 Steam
   • Large Warehouse Expansion: 3 Materials and 3 Steam
   • Crane (allows resources from both Docks to be used by both Manufacturium locations): 2 Wood and 1 Materials
   • Incinerator (burn resources or Rosettes to gain 2 Private Steam): 3 Metals
2. Spend the resources required by one of your face down Invention cards, turn the card face up and place it on the right side of your player board, scoring the VP printed on the card. The Invention is now researched. If the card has a limited number of uses, put that many Operation Tokens on it to show remaining uses.
3. A Commissar here is an R&D Director and may spend 2 Rosettes once to gain 1 Magic or 1 VP. Besides trading their favours, the Commissar provides you with 1 Magic for this research! This Magic reduces the cost of any research being done by 1 resource or 1 Steam.

(In the source, the resource and Steam symbols in the improvement costs and in the R&D Director text are icons; "Materials" and "Metals" are the crate and gold-bar icons shown there.)

Improvements can be researched in any order but a Worker can only research 1 Invention or 1 Improvement each round. Any resources used to pay a cost is returned to the Supply and any Steam cost is paid by reducing the level of Steam in the Steam Generator (or your Incinerator if you have one). If there is not enough Steam available, you cannot complete the action. Detail of each Standard Improvement and what they do can be found below.

Warehouse Expansions: The Warehouse Expansions add additional capacity to your Warehouse with the Small Expansion adding space for an additional 2 resources and the Large Expansion adding space for an additional 4 resources. You do not need to build the Small Expansion before you build the Large Expansion.

Crane: The Crane allows you to move resources from any Dock to any Manufacturium. This means that you will be able to use resources from Dock 1, Dock 2 and your Warehouse when producing a good in either Manufacturium.

Incinerator: The Incinerator allows you to burn resources for Steam which only you can use, known as Private Steam. When a Worker in either Manufacturium is producing a good, they can burn resources from your Warehouse to generate Private Steam. However, the Incinerator is not very efficient and you only get 1 Private Steam for each resource you burn. However, you can also burn Rosettes which will give you 2 Private Steam per Rosette. Up to 2 excess Private Steam can be stored in the Incinerator's tank and can be used whenever you need it. Any Private Steam that is produced and can't be used or stored is lost. When producing Private Steam, take the appropriate number of Private Steam tokens from the Supply and return tokens to the Supply when they are spent.

9 / 12 - Manufacturium 1

Each Manufacturium that has a Worker in the first space can produce 1 finished good (a Government Order or one of your Elven Commissions) using resources from your Warehouse and one of your Docks (Manufacturium 1 uses Dock 1; Manufacturium 2 uses Dock 2), taking Steam power as needed and generating more Steam if you have an Incinerator. Remember: you may use Magic in place of any resource, including Steam. The Commissar in this location provides 1 Magic for manufacturing. This Magic reduces the cost of any manufacturing being done by 1 resource or 1 Steam. Any Rosettes earned from the manufacture of any order, Government or Elven, are collected when the order is completed. Other rewards are collected at the end of the round.

Government Orders: Each Government Order can be manufactured more than once and by more than one player. Once manufactured, move the Worker from the first Manufacturium space to the card on the quality level that was produced to show that it has been completed. An Order is counted as completed as long as it has at least one Worker on it.

Elven Commissions: When first manufactured, flip the card face up and add the indicated number of Operation Tokens. Each time you manufacture it, including the manufacture that flipped it, remove 1 Operation Token. Discard the commission to your own discard pile when the last token is removed.

10 / 13 - Accounting

Each Worker here may do 2 different actions from the following list and do them in any order:

• Bribe the Committee: Spend 1 Gold, 1 Beer or 1 Marble from your Warehouse to gain 1 VP.
• Call in a Favour: Spend 1 Rosette to gain 1 VP.
• Exploit your fame: Spend 2 Rosettes to gain 3 VP.
• Cheat: Spend any 3 resources from your Warehouse to gain 1 VP. This can be 3 resources of the same type or a mix.

If there's a Commissar here, each Worker must pay a door fee of 1 resource to the Commissar to complete their actions. Any resource received this way must go to your Warehouse or returned to the Supply if your Warehouse is full.

In the final round, it costs 1 Rosette to place a Worker in Accounting. This cost is paid to the Supply and is paid when you place the Worker.

11 / 14 - Manufacturium 2

See the description under Manufacturium 1.

12 / 15 - End of Round Scoring

The Government awards VP for completed orders and penalties for incomplete orders at the end of each round.

The player whose Workers completed the most orders is named the "Hero of Labour" and gets 1 Rosette. When counting completed orders, only unique orders are counted. The Government appreciates variety over quantity. In case of a tie, each of the tied players gets 1 Rosette.

A player gets 2 VP for each of their completed Government Orders. Note that performing the same order twice does not give VP twice.

When there are Government Orders that have not been completed, each player must lose either:

• 1 VP per incomplete order or
• 2 Rosettes once, regardless of the number of uncompleted orders.

Phase 4: Clean Up

After awards and penalties are given out, check for end-of-game conditions. The game ends after 6 rounds or when a player reaches the top of the scoring track (42 VP). If any of these occurs, go to "Game End" below, otherwise continue with "Clean Up".

To reflect growing pressure from the Government, put a Rosette on each uncompleted order. An order may have multiple Rosettes on it if it goes uncompleted for more than 1 round. These Rosettes are all awarded to the first player that completes that order. Remove the order cards for completed orders and return the Workers to their players.

All empty Railcars must be returned to the Station. A Railcar containing resources on a player board may be kept or returned (with its resources) to the Station as the player chooses. Railcars that are kept may be freely moved between the player's Docks. At the end of the last round, go on to final scoring (Game End) below. Otherwise, pass the Starting Player Token to the next clockwise player and go back to "Draw Cards" to begin the next round.

Game End

At the end of the game, no matter how the game ends, players receive the following rewards:

• Each player is awarded 1 VP for each 3 Rosettes they have. Any Rosettes remaining are not scored.
• 1 VP is awarded to the player with the most resources in their Warehouse.
• 1 VP is awarded to the player with the most Standard Improvements.

With the Commissions Expansion, the following additional rewards are given:

• Each player is awarded 1 VP for each unresearched (face down) Invention they have.
• 1 VP is awarded to the player with the most Elven Commission cards.
• 1 VP is awarded to the player with the most researched (face up) Invention cards.

If any players tie for the most, they both receive 1 VP. The scoring track does not limit the final scoring. The final scoring summary is printed on the Game Board in the Event location (0). Final score ties go to the player with the most Rosettes. If there's still a tie, it is a joint victory.

Official Variants

Below are some variants to the rules that will allow you to tweak the game so it better matches the play style of you and your group:

Making Deals: Before beginning the game, you should agree if negotiations should be binding or not. The normal rules do not expect any deal to be binding but some groups prefer deals to be upheld. Always play with a setting that best suits your group and it is down to the group to decide if there should be a penalty for breaking a binding deal. We suggest a penalty of 1 Victory Point for any deal that is broken.

Lower Player Counts: For lower player counts, if players begin to feel that the game is becoming too easy, we suggest removing 1 Worker and only playing the game with 6 Workers. The game has been tested with this number of Workers and still works well but requires players to make more optimal choices!

Varying Experience: If you are playing with players that have a widely different experience level with Factory 42, we would suggest that the less experienced players play their first rounds with 1 more Worker than those players with more experience in order to help them learn the game. Experienced players should play with the standard amount of workers. We would not advise allowing the extra worker for more than 3 rounds as this would hinder the learning of good tactical choices.

Shorter game: Should you wish to shorten the game length by one round, then setup the Event location with 4 cards instead of 5. Also all players will start the game with some resources before revealing any cards in Phase 1. First, in player order, every player chooses either 2 Rosettes or 1 VP. Then, again in player order, every player chooses 4 points worth of resources from the Supply. Now you are ready to start the game. This will lead to fairly similar game, just a bit shorter.

Strategy Tips

Playtesting suggested that some players would fare better with some guidance on tactical possibilities, but then again, several players said they'd prefer to learn on their own. The below hints are provided for those players who would like a helping hand.

Requisition: It can feel like this action is a trap since your opponents can place their workers to take advantage of the resources that you've just added to the Common Pool. You are encouraged to make deals with other players before placing your worker here. They might provide you with something you need in exchange for you adding the resources they need to the Common Pool. If no deal can be found, you should look to add useless resources to the Common Pool while using private requisitions to put exactly what you need straight into your Warehouse.

Loading: Keep an eye on which players will be shipping before filling the Railcar. This might be a good time to strike a deal with someone or to load the Railcar with things you know they won't be needing.

Spiking: Use the fact that cubes are of different sizes and materials to feel if you are getting what you're looking for and remember to look at who might be shipping the Railcar you're spiking.

Shipping: You are not forced to ship the Railcar to your own dock. Keep this in mind through the steps leading up to this phase since it can provide you with an opportunity to sabotage someone else with resources they do not need.

Steam Generation: While resolving this location, consider how much Steam will be needed for the upcoming actions. If there is too little Steam, it might all get used up before some players are able to fulfill Government Orders.

Trading slot: Even if you don't need to trade at the beginning of the round, a worker here might be a good defence against opponents shipping you useless resources.

Inventor's Guild and Elven Embassy: These actions not only provide you powerful Inventions and lucrative Elven projects, but can also give you the opportunity to use up Steam an opponent might need for later.

F.A.Q.

Can I still burn resources for Steam if there has been a rupture? Yes. Even though no more Steam can be produced, resources can still be burned. The Government recognises your willingness to help and will award a Rosette for your efforts.

Can resources in my Warehouse only be used for production? No. Resources in your Warehouse can be used in any trade, production or research.

How many resources can I trade to the Market? A Worker can turn in as many resources as you wish to the market and receive as many as you can afford and fit in your Warehouse. However you can only turn in resources once and receive resources once. For example, it is not possible to trade a Beer to buy a Copper, and then trade that Copper to buy 3 Wood as this would be 2 trades. In this example, the trade action would end once you bought Copper as you have turned in resources once (the Beer) and received resources once (the Copper).

When I take resources from the Spiking Bag, can I feel around for the cube sizes I want and grab those? Yes. You are free to feel around for different sizes. These are the rules as sanctioned by the Dwarven Government's Department of Efficiency.

Can I make the Large Warehouse Expansion before the Small? Can I make both Expansions? Players can choose to research the 4 Standard Improvements in any order they choose. Each player may only have one of each Improvement. You may only research one Improvement per round, even if you'd have resources to research multiple Improvements that round.

What happens if someone accidentally knocks the Bureaucracy Tower or causes cubes to fall out when they shouldn't? Should this happen, we recommend placing the extra resources aside and added back into the Tower in the next Bureaucracy step (2).