Galaxy Trucker: Rough Road Ahead
Galaxy Trucker: Rough Road Ahead Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Before You Begin
This expansion is designed for experienced Truckers. If you routinely build ships that overcome every obstacle and arrive nearly unscathed, if you shed a nostalgic tear recalling your first flights when your ships were smashed to pieces and you arrived with only a few sad fragments, then this expansion is for you. This expansion puts the kick back into space travel, and it kicks so hard that the tears will be in your eyes once again.
On the other hand, if you don't think it's funny when your ship breaks into two pieces, this expansion is not for you.
If you have only played a few games of Galaxy Trucker and your ships often fall apart en route, we recommend you do not use this expansion yet. This expansion, like the universe, is unfair. Save it for later, when you begin to feel that the game is too simple.
But most importantly: Do not use this expansion when introducing new players to the game.
Company policy forbids the exposure of new Galaxy Trucker recruits to holographic, video, or even audio recordings (often filled with screams and expletives) from the harsher regions of the galaxy.
How to Use This Expansion
Well, it looks like our warnings didn't turn you away. Let's get truckin'.
Before you begin, the players should agree on a difficulty level. We recommend level 2 or 3. Everyone must agree. If you can't get everyone to agree, play at the lowest suggested difficulty level. Of course, it's possible that one of the less courageous players will insist that you play without this expansion (or that you toss it into the wastepaper basket) and you will have to play the basic game (or play concentration with the spaceship components).
Shuffle the Rough Road cards. At the beginning of each round, before you begin building, draw a number of Rough Road cards equal to the chosen difficulty level. Place these cards face up where everyone can see them. They describe special rules that will apply for that round's voyage.
Draw new cards at the beginning of each round (discarding those from the previous round). Players know about the special rules even before they begin building and have some chance to prepare their ships for the upcoming flight (and prepare themselves psychologically for the fact that they might be taking a loss this round).
Note: It might not be the best idea to combine Rough Road Ahead with ships of Class IIIa, but we'll leave that up to you. If you do try it – don't let us scare you or discourage you – don't forget about the rules for voluntarily giving up before the next adventure card is revealed.
Rough Road Cards
The text is usually self-explanatory. If a card seems unusually harsh to you, that means you understood it correctly. Cards that can affect your ship's components (such as Cosmic Psychosis, Panic, and Metal Fatigue) can also affect your starting component. If a Rough Road card says that something happens "after each adventure card" that means that you resolve the adventure card first, then deal with Rough Road card's special effect before drawing the next adventure card.
Here are a few card-specific clarifications:
Paranoia
After everyone decides whether to land, the first player to land rolls dice to determine the location of the heavy cannon fire for everyone.
Panic
Check for panic when crew are first added to the ship as well as each time a player loses a component.
Cosmic Psychosis, Metal Fatigue
Roll for coordinates as with the Sabotage card, but only once. And yes, if you roll 7-7, the card affects your starting component.
In Trucker lingo, crew members affected by Cosmic Psychosis are said to have "spaced away".
Rough Trip
In Round 1, you add 2 level III cards. In Round 2, you add 3 level III cards. In Round 3, you add 4 level III cards.
Remorseless Fate
Sabotage, for example, will affect everyone except the player with the biggest crew. (In case of ties, the one flying farthest behind is the only one not affected.) In a Combat Zone, each shot location is rolled once for all affected players. The three Sabotage rolls are also done for all affected players at once, but once sabotaged, a player ignores the following rolls.
Light-Fingered Crew
Players decide in order, starting with the leader.
Stiff Competition, Engine Envy
The hit location dice are rolled by the players doing the shooting, not by the affected player. If the player who is supposed to be doing the shooting has no forward-pointing simple cannon and does not spend a battery token to power a forward-pointing double cannon, then that shot is not fired.
When the Stiff Competition card is in play, players wait to decide whether to spend battery tokens to make themselves stronger until after a player has decided to use the Abandoned Station or Spaceship.
Piercing Projectiles
The projectiles only hit a component in the square immediately behind the component that was hit. If that square is empty, then no additional components are hit.
Explosive Goods, Explosive Batteries
The eight neighboring squares include the 4 adjacent squares and the 4 squares on the diagonals.
This card applies to components which are destroyed by cannon fire, meteors or explosions. It does not apply to components which simply fall off after becoming disconnected from the ship, or which are lost because of Star Dust when Remorseless Fate card is in play, or because of Metal Fatigue card.
Note that the Explosive Goods card applies to components "with goods" not just those with hazardous goods.
These two cards in combination can produce spectacular effects in the night sky. When watching for exploding spaceships, choose a clear night with no moon and be sure to dress warmly.
Rough Road card texts
Card texts below are transcribed from the community-uploaded English card sheet (see the Table of Contents note).
Paranoia: Anyone who wants to land on a Planet first takes heavy cannon fire from the front.
Panic: Any time a cabin has an exposed connector, its crew (alien or human) leaves the ship.
Cosmic Psychosis: After each adventure card, roll for coordinates. If the roll indicates a cabin with human crew members, they go insane and blow it up.
Rough Trip: When adding the fourth pile of cards before this round's flight, also add the same number of level III cards.
Meteoric Inversion: Large meteors are small, and small meteors are large.
Bum Batteries: When a component uses batteries, it costs one token more.
Metal Fatigue: After each Open Space card, roll for coordinates. Players lose the component at those coordinates.
Remorseless Fate: Combat Zones and Sabotage affect all players except the one who has the most. Cabins affected by Epidemics must be removed. Components with open connectors fall off in Stardust.
Stiff Competition: A player choosing to use an Abandoned Station or Ship takes one round of heavy cannon fire in the rear from each stronger ship flying behind.
Big Baddies (+2): Enemies are 2 points stronger.
Engine Envy: At the beginning of the flight, each player shoots the player in front of him or her in the rear with a burst of light cannon fire. Each time the resolution of an adventure card results in a new leader, the second player shoots him or her in the rear with a burst of light cannon fire.
Workers' Compensation: When you lose crew (except with the Abandoned Ship), put them next to your discard pile. You pay a 3-credit penalty for each at the end of the flight. Insurance does not apply.
Piercing Projectiles: When a component is hit by a meteor or cannon fire, the projectile goes through and also hits the component in the next square (if any).
Light-Fingered Crew: Before revealing the final adventure card, either give up or you lose 1 credit or unit of goods per crew member.
Explosive Goods: If a component with goods is destroyed, all components in the eight neighboring squares also blow up. This may cause a chain reaction.
Explosive Batteries: If a component with battery tokens is destroyed, all components in the eight neighboring squares also blow up. This may cause a chain reaction.
Bad Luck: If a roll of the dice for a meteor or a shot indicates that no component is destroyed and no one is forced to use a battery, roll again (up to three times).