Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory – Crisis & Control Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Crisis & Control: Automas
  • Simple Mode
  • Advanced Mode
  • General Rules (Simple and Advanced Modes)
• Working Class Automa
• Capitalist Class Automa
• Middle Class Automa
• Automas and Expansions
• Crisis Response
• Alternative Events
• Hidden Agendas
• Action Cards

Crisis & Control: Automas

Crisis & Control contains 3 Automas, one for each class. Each of these allows for its class to be played automatically, without player input. They can be used to play Hegemony on your own, when an actual opponent is not available, or you can use them in multiplayer games as substitutes for other players. Any combination of human players and Automas is possible — you could even play as the State against all 3 Automas. We suggest you play your first game against a single Automa, to better understand how it works, and then try other combinations.

Note that each Automa can actually be used in 2 different ways. There is a Simple Mode in which the Automa plays more quickly, and an Advanced Mode in which the Automa plays after taking many things into consideration, deciding what its best course of action is. Advanced Mode takes a little more time but offers a more challenging experience. Choose whichever option you like depending on the time you have available and the difficulty level you want to face.

Regardless of the mode you choose, when you play with Automas you set up the game the same way you would if all players were present, except that you can leave the Action cards of any class that will be controlled by an Automa in the box. They are not going to be used since each Automa uses its own AI cards to determine its action every turn. We also suggest, in 2-player games, to keep the unused Voting cubes next to the bag, separated by color, so that it is always clear which classes have the most. For the rest of the setup, see more details below.

The 3 Automas work very similarly. What follows is a description of the two modes in which they can be played and the rules that apply to all Automas. Then, there is a detailed section for each Automa with more information on their particular rules.

Components: 90 AI cards; 21 Policy priority cards; 38 Instruction cards; 18 Action priority cards; 24 priority row markers.

Simple Mode

When using the Simple Mode of an Automa, only its 30 AI cards and some of its Instruction cards are needed. Leave the Instruction cards with the word "CHECK" in their title back in the box and keep the remaining ones somewhere close to you for reference.

Setup

Shuffle the Automa's AI cards and place them in a face-down pile, next to its player board.

Turn Overview

At the beginning of an Automa's turn, perform any Free Actions if needed (see each Automa's corresponding section). Then, reveal the top AI card from its pile.

Each AI card lists 4 actions in order from left to right and the Automa will try to perform one of them. The card also lists a bonus tied to the first action, 2 policies, and a Special Action on the bottom.

After revealing an AI card, the Automa will try to perform the first action listed on it in the top left. For the Automa to be able to perform an action, some conditions will need to be met — these are listed on a separate Instruction card for each Automa. Note that when checking if those conditions are met, the bonus listed on the AI card that corresponds to the first action should be taken into consideration, as it may allow for a condition to be met that would not be otherwise (for example by having a cost lowered or by providing the Automa with additional resources), or it may include an additional requirement that needs to be met to perform the corresponding action.

If the Automa is unable to perform the first action, it will attempt to perform the second one. If it is unable to perform that one as well, it will try to perform the third action, and if unable again, it will attempt the fourth action. If it is unable to perform any of the 4 listed actions, it will attempt to perform the Special Action on the bottom of the card. If, for any reason, it is unable to perform that as well, it will Apply Political Pressure, adding 3 of its Voting cubes to the bag.

After the Automa performs an action, its turn is over (unless any other Free Actions need to be performed — see each Automa's corresponding section), and the next player can take their turn.

Advanced Mode

Using the Advanced Mode, the Automa will first assign priorities to each possible action (based on the board state at the beginning of its turn) and will then perform the action with the highest priority.

Setup

Shuffle the Automa's AI cards and place them in a face-down pile, next to its player board. Place the Instruction cards next to that pile for easy reference.

Place the 8 priority row markers near the AI card pile in such a way that the markers form a vertical line with some distance between them. Each marker indicates a horizontal priority row. Each such row will contain priority cards in it, and the higher the row a card reaches, the more important it is for the Automa to perform that action. Note that even though 8 markers are used, the priority rows are considered to be infinite. If at any time a priority card needs to go higher, assume there are as many priority rows above as needed and move the card accordingly.

Take the Automa's 6 Action priority cards and place them on the left side of the markers. Each Automa places 3 Action priority cards in the bottom row and 3 more in the row above that. The specific order of priority cards is different for each class. Check each Automa's section below for the exact setup.

Similarly, take the Automa's 7 Policy priority cards and place them on the right side of the markers. The exact placement is again different for each class, and you can find it in each specific Automa's section. Note that some Policy priority cards may be entirely left out of the priority rows at times.

Here is an example of how the setup for the Working Class Automa looks like: (Diagram omitted.)

Turn Overview

At the beginning of an Automa's turn, perform any Free Actions if needed (see each Automa's corresponding section). Then, reveal the top AI card from its pile.

AI Checks

When using the Advanced Mode, the Automa "reads" the AI cards differently. Unlike when using Simple Mode, each symbol on the top of the card does not correspond to an action itself but rather to a check that the Automa will perform in regard to that action.

Each check comes with its own Instruction card that lists the steps the Automa must take in detail.

Each check asks you to look at the board state and see if some conditions are met. When a condition you are checking is met, you are instructed to increase an action's priority (indicated by its initials, which are also shown on each Action priority card). You do that by moving the corresponding priority card up to the next row as many times as the number listed on the Instruction card. Note that, unless stated otherwise (usually by including the word "also" in a statement), each condition is checked independently of the others. In addition, a check may end up moving multiple priority cards, not just one.

When moving an Action priority card to a higher row, if there are already other cards in that row, place it to their left. Similarly, if a card leaves from a row, move all the remaining cards in that row to the right (toward the markers), retaining their order. At any given moment, the card that has remained on that row the longest should be next to the row's marker, and the card that most recently entered that row should be the one furthest from the marker.

There are always 4 symbols listed on an AI card, each one corresponding to a different check. You always perform all 4 checks, from left to right. Note that, for the first check, you must take into consideration the bonus listed on the AI card when determining if the conditions on the Instruction card are met.

Example: Mary is playing a game using the Working Class Automa. She draws an AI card and starts performing the checks listed on it, one by one. The first one is Check Workers. She looks at the board and sees that there are 2 unemployed Workers that can be assigned to a Capitalist Class Company. She thus moves the Assign Workers priority card 2 rows higher.

None of the remaining conditions are met so she moves to the next check. This one is Check Policies. Based on the conditions that are met, she must also move the Propose Bill priority card 2 rows higher.

The third check to perform is Check Goods & Services. Here, a lot of the conditions are met, and as a result the Buy Goods & Services priority card needs to be moved upward a total of 4 rows! The fourth check is Check Strike. This one, however, does not cause any changes in the priority cards, so everything remains as it is.

On the right side of the markers are the Policy priority cards. Some of the checks (usually the one that looks at the policies listed on the card) will end up moving these priority cards too. The same rules apply when moving these cards, with the only difference being that, when moving a Policy priority card to a new row that already has other priority cards on it, you place it to their right. Similarly, when a Policy priority card leaves a row, the remaining priority cards move to the left, retaining their order. The easiest way to remember this difference is that all the priority cards, whether they are on the left or the right side of the markers, have higher priority when they are closer to the markers and lower priority when they are further away.

Example: In the previous example, when Mary performed Check Policies, she moved the Propose Bill priority card 2 spaces upward. Due to the same check she also moved the Labor Market priority card 2 rows higher.

Note that if a card instructs you to move a Policy priority card and that card has been previously set aside, you do not move anything — the Policy priority card remains set aside.

After you perform all of the AI card's checks, look at the Automa's priority cards. If there are any empty rows, they collapse downward. Starting with the bottom row of the priority cards and proceeding upward, for every empty row, move the next row of priority cards above them down to fill the empty row, making sure to retain their order as you move them. Continue like this until there are no empty rows between two rows of priority cards. Do this for both sets of priority cards (Actions and Policies) independently of each other.

Automa Action

The Automa then performs the action with the highest priority. If there are multiple cards in the highest row, it performs the one that is closest to the row's marker. If for any reason it is unable to perform that action, it goes to the action with the second highest priority. In the rare case that it is unable to perform that one too, it doesn't go any further. Instead, it performs the Apply Political Pressure action, adding 3 of its Voting cubes to the bag.

Note that, if the Special Action card has the highest priority, you perform the Special Action listed at the bottom of the drawn AI card.

After the action is performed, move its priority card 2 rows downward, to the left of the cards already there.

If the Automa is unable to perform the highest priority action and instead performs the second action in priority order, only the Action priority card of the action it performed is moved downward — the top-priority action remains where it is. However, if the movement of the second action's priority card causes a row to be left empty, that row immediately collapses.

The Automa's turn is then over (unless any Free Actions need to be performed — see each Automa's corresponding section), and the next player can take their turn.

Proposing Bills

When the Propose Bill action is performed by an Automa using the Advanced Mode, it looks at its Policy priority cards to determine which Bill it will propose. Similarly to how it chooses an Action priority card, it proposes a Bill for the policy with the highest priority card. If multiple cards are on the same row, it proposes the policy that is closest to the row's marker.

After a Bill is proposed for a policy (by any player), that Policy priority card does not move downward. Instead, the card is set aside for the remainder of the round unless an Immediate Vote was called, in which case one of the following happens:

• If the vote does not pass, the priority card remains where it is.
• If the vote passes and the policy marker is now on the Automa's Desired Policy (as shown on its Check Policies card), set the priority card aside for the remainder of the round.
• If the vote passes and the policy marker is next to the Automa's Desired Policy, move the priority card to the end (right side) of the bottom row.
• If the vote passes and the policy marker is 2 sections away from the Automa's Desired Policy, move the priority card to the end (right side) of the second row from the bottom.

During the Preparation Phase in each round, the Automa checks all the Policy priority cards that are set aside, in numbered order, and determines whether they need to be placed back into the priority rows:

• The priority cards of any policies that have their policy marker on the Automa's Desired Policy remain set aside.
• The priority cards of any policies that have their policy marker right next to the Automa's Desired Policy are placed to the end (right side) of the bottom row.
• The priority cards of any policy marker 2 sections away from the Desired Policy are placed to the end (right side) of the second row from the bottom.

General Rules (Simple and Advanced Modes)

The main difference between the Simple and Advanced Modes is how an Automa determines which action it will perform. Beyond that, the rest of the rules remain the same. Thus, what follows applies to both modes.

Performing Basic Actions

If the action that needs to be performed by the Automa has any decisions to be made, such as when there is more than one possible option or target for an action, there is a corresponding Instruction card with details on how to proceed. Usually, these Instruction cards contain a prioritized list with the Automa's preferences when performing a specific action.

In all such cases, assuming there are multiple options to choose from when resolving the action, you start from the top of the list, using each bullet point, one at a time, to narrow the set of options available until only one option remains, which will be the option the Automa will choose.

The first bullet point you encounter that describes at least one applicable option determines the set of options you will be narrowing as you continue through the bullet points. If another bullet point later describes other options available that are not a part of the set you are already narrowing down, ignore it and move to the next bullet point.

If multiple options still exist after using a bullet point's criteria to narrow the options available, or if the current bullet point does not apply to the set of options the Automa is currently considering, move to the next item down the list. If the same bullet point lists multiple options, the Automa prefers them in the order they are written. Continue to narrow the set of options available using the criteria in subsequent bullet points until only one option remains.

Note that if, when the action to be performed is determined, there is only one option available (for example the Automa performs a Buy Goods & Services action but there is only one type of resource available), then you don't consult the Instruction card. Simply resolve the action using that option.

Example: Nick is playing against the Capitalist Class Automa which just decided to perform the Build Company action with the added bonus (listed on the AI card) that it can build two Companies instead of one. To determine which Companies to build, Nick looks at the Building Company Criteria Instruction card. The Automa currently has 63 in its Revenue, and its Capital is empty. There are 4 Workers in the Unemployed Workers area, and there are 4 available companies in the Market.

The Automa is able to afford all of these companies so it checks the criteria on the Instruction card. The first one is whether there are Workers available to make it operational. This is true for 3 of the companies so it moves to the next criteria to determine which of those 3 to build.

The next criterion looks for Automated Companies. While there is an Automated Company in the market, the Automa ignores this instruction because at the moment, none of the 3 options it is exploring includes an Automated Company. So it moves to the next item on the list, which instructs it to look for the industry with the fewest operational Companies. The Automa already has a Luxury Company but has no operational Education or Media Companies. So, it will need to decide between the "Publishing House" and the "Academy." To do that, it moves to the next item in the list.

This criterion instructs the Automa to build a Company that will not lead to the requirements for a Trade Union being met. The Working Class already has 3 Workers working in an Education company. This means that by building the "Academy," the Working Class would be able to then make a Trade Union, thanks to the additional Workers that would be employed there. The Automa doesn't want that though, so it will build the "Publishing House." The 3 unskilled Workers there will be the first Working Class Workers to work in a Media Company, and they won't be enough for a Trade Union.

The Automa then goes through the list again in order to build the second Company. This time however there is just a single unemployed Worker available meaning that the first criterion cannot be met by any Company. Thus, it moves to the second one which looks for Automated Companies. There is one available so it proceeds to build the "Automated Dairy Farm." If an Automated Company wasn't available or if the Automa didn't have enough money, it would not be able to build a second Company, and thus the bonus of the AI card would be lost.

Performing Free Actions

The Automas perform most of their Free Actions automatically at different points during their turn, but some Free Actions are ignored instead. There is also no limit on how many Free Actions they can perform in a single turn. See each specific Automa's section for more details.

Spending Influence for Immediate Votes

Whenever an Automa Proposes a Bill, if it has any Influence (or if another effect allows it), it checks if it should call for an Immediate Vote. How this happens depends on the total number of players:

In 2-Player Games

The following conditions must be met:

• The Automa must have more Influence than the opponent (after accounting for the one Influence that must be spent to call for the Immediate Vote).
• The Automa must have at least as many Voting cubes in the bag as their opponent. You can use the cubes remaining outside of the bag to quickly determine this.

In 3- and 4-Player Games

The Automa first makes an estimation of how it believes the other players would vote so that it can determine the 2 sides in the election. To do so, it uses the Desired Policies Instruction card. If the proposed Bill is a Desired Policy of another player (or if it brings the marker closer to that), then the Automa estimates that the player will be in favor of it. If the proposed Bill moves the marker away from a player's Desired Policy, the Automa estimates that the player will be against the proposal. (Note that this is just the Automa's estimation. The players may vote in any way they want afterward.)

Based on its estimation, the Automa establishes 2 perceived sides for the election. For it to call for an Immediate Vote, the following conditions must be met:

• The Automa's side must have more Influence than the other side (after accounting for the one Influence that must be spent to call for the Immediate Vote).
• At least one of the other 2 classes must be on the Automa's side.

Choosing Side in Elections

Whenever another player Proposes a Bill, an Automa will vote in favor if the proposed Bill is on a Desired Policy, or if it brings the Policy closer to that. Otherwise, the Automa will vote against it.

Spending Influence during an Election

If, during an election, the Automa has any Influence, it may consider spending it to affect the election's outcome after the Voting cubes have been revealed. Whether it will spend any Influence or not, and how much, depends on many different factors. The most important ones are if the Automa's side is winning the election or not, if the other side has any Influence, and the amount of Influence the Automa's side has.

First of all, if the Automa has no Influence, then it does not spend any. Similarly, if the total Influence among the players on the Automa's side is not enough to alter the election's outcome, it does not spend any Influence. All other cases fall into one of the following scenarios:

• The Automa is on the winning side.
• The Automa is on the losing side and is the only one on its side with Influence.
• The Automa is on the losing side and other players on its side have Influence too.

For each of these 3 scenarios, there is an Instruction card that lists what the Automa should spend, depending on the amount of Influence each side has. Here is what each instruction on these cards means:

• Spend Nothing: The Automa doesn't spend any Influence.
• Spend All: The Automa spends all the Influence it has.
• Spend Necessary: The Automa spends the minimum amount of Influence needed to turn the election to its favor. For example, if the other side proposed the Bill and the revealed Voting cubes were 3 to 2 in their favor, the Automa would need to spend 2 Influence. If the same Bill was proposed by the Automa's side, it would only need to spend 1 Influence.
• Draw X: Draw X cards from the top of the AI card pile. If X is higher than the amount of Influence that you have, draw as many cards as your Influence instead. For each Influence symbol found on the bottom-left corner of the drawn cards, the Automa spends 1 Influence. Then, return the drawn cards to the bottom of the AI card pile, face-down.
• Draw 1 to Spend All: Draw the top card of the AI card pile. If there is an Influence symbol in the bottom-left corner, the Automa spends all of its Influence, not just 1.

Note that in all cases, if the Automa has less Influence than what is instructed to spend, it spends as much as it can.

The Influence the Automa spends is supposed to be determined at the same time the other players announce theirs. To simulate this, determine first if the Automa needs to draw any AI cards. Then, have the human players announce the amount of Influence they spend, as per normal rules. After this is done, draw the AI cards for the Automa and add the corresponding amount of Influence as per its instructions.

Multiple Automas

In games with more than one Automa playing, if two or more of them are on the same side, add their Influence together and treat them as a single Automa for the purposes of determining whether they spend Influence. If they do spend Influence during an election, divide the spent Influence as equally between them as possible, with the Automa that initially had the most Influence spending more if needed. If both Automas had the same initial Influence and an odd amount was spent, decide at random which one spent the extra Influence. If any cards need to be drawn, draw them from one of the involved Automa's decks, chosen at random.

Legitimacy Icons

Sometimes, the Bonus given to the first action on a card, or the Special Action listed on it, includes a Legitimacy icon. These icons apply only if the Bonus is actually used or the Special Action performed. For example, if a Bonus states that a Public Service is sold at half-price, the State gains Legitimacy only if the Automa actually buys that resource.

Final Round

In the fifth and final round, some additional rules come into effect:

• An Automa does not Propose any Bills for Policy 7 (Immigration). If using the Simple Mode, just ignore that Policy when it is listed on a card. If using the Advanced Mode, remove the Immigration priority card from play at the beginning of the fifth round.
• An Automa will only Propose Bills for Policy 6 (Foreign Trade) if it can call for an Immediate Vote. Contrary to the order an Automa usually takes, if it is about to Propose a Bill for Foreign Trade, it will first check if an Immediate Vote can be called on it. If not, then it ignores that Policy and moves to the next policy in order.
• In the Elections Phase, the AI card pile will be left with only 5 cards in it. To ensure you have enough cards for all the Influence checks that may be required, you can shuffle the discard pile and place those cards at the bottom of the AI card pile, face-down.
• During the final vote held in the Elections Phase, all Automas spend all of their Influence.

Situations Not Covered Here

We have tried to cover all the cases that may come up during a game of Hegemony. However, if you ever encounter a situation in which a decision needs to be made by the Automa and there is no corresponding Instruction card to guide you, use your best judgment to decide what is the best course of action for the Automa. Note that for decisions on whether the Automa does something or not, you can always Draw 1 AI card and decide based on whether or not the card has the Influence symbol.

Working Class Automa

Setup (Advanced Mode Only)

Here is how the Working Class Automa's (WCA's) priority cards are placed during setup. (Diagram omitted.)

Free Actions

The WCA performs its Free Actions automatically at different points during its turn. More specifically:

• Use Healthcare, Use Education, Use Luxury: Whenever the WCA ends up having Health, Education, or Luxury in a quantity equal to its Population, it uses its resources at the end of its turn to increase its Prosperity. If, for any reason, the WCA ends up with multiple resources that can increase its Prosperity, it uses them all in the same turn, as many times as it can afford, in the following order: Luxury, Education, Health.
• Swap Workers: This action is automatically performed by the WCA prior to performing the Assign Workers action (Simple Mode) or when Checking Workers (Advanced Mode).
• Receive Benefits: This action is automatically performed by the WCA at the beginning of its turn.
• Pay Off Loan: If it is able to do so, the WCA will automatically pay off a Loan at the beginning of its turn.

Other Clarifications

When Checking Goods & Services, if a resource could be bought from 2 different sources, you will need to calculate the cost per item to determine how many rows the priority card will rise. For example, if the WCA can only buy 2 Health from the State for 5 each and the remaining 3 Health from another player for 8 each, the total cost would be 34 for 5 items. In this case, the per item cost is more than 6 (since it would cost 30 if it was priced at 6 each), and thus the priority card would rise only one row. Also, if an AI card's bonus would give the WCA money first before it Buys Goods & Services, calculate the per item cost as though the bonus is reducing the cost of the resource. In other words, consider only what it would actually cost the WCA compared to the money it has before performing the action. For example, if it can buy 5 Education for 50 but the AI card's bonus would give the Automa 20 first, the actual cost would only be 30, thus 6 per item.

When Buying Goods & Services, the WCA will buy a quantity equal to its Population. However, if it already has some of those resources on its player board, it will instead buy only the quantity it needs to reach its Population. In the rare case where the quantity it has is already equal to its Population, it will buy as if it didn't have any of that resource. Also, if the WCA buys all the quantity it needs from a single source and a second source happens to have the same resource in a quantity equal to its Population (at a price it can afford), the WCA will buy that quantity too, unless the resource is Health and the Population is one step away from increasing.

When Buying Goods & Services, one of the criteria on the Instruction card mentions that Health should be excluded from consideration if it would lead to the Population increasing. You only exclude Health if there are other options available to buy. If it is the only resource you can buy (due to cost or availability), you buy it as normal.

When Buying Food, during the Cover Needs step, the WCA will always buy Food from the cheapest source. If tied between two sources, it will buy Food in the following order: Foreign Market, State, Capitalist Class, Middle Class.

When the WCA adds a skilled Worker from the Supply, some of the criteria for evaluating which skilled Worker to add start with the condition "if assigned." Since Workers are usually assigned in sets of 3, you can assume that up to 2 other Workers would be assigned with the Worker you are considering adding from the Supply. For example, if you already have 2 Workers in an Education Company and 2 more unemployed Workers that can be assigned to another Education Company (one of them skilled), then, when getting a new skilled Worker from the Supply, the condition "if assigned, could form a Trade Union" is true for an Education Worker. This is because, with a single Assign Workers action, the WCA could assign the 2 existing Workers to an Education Company (and thus have the requirements for an Education Trade Union) and then, for the third assignment, use the new Education Worker to form a Trade Union. Note that, in this example, the existing unemployed Education Worker does not cause Education Workers to be excluded from the Skilled Worker Criteria card's evaluation (see the note at the bottom of the card) because an additional Worker of the same type is indeed required for the formation of the Trade Union.

When Assigning Workers, the WCA will usually attempt to assign unemployed Workers. However, there are some cases where it may be able to take Workers from one Company and assign them to another one. The WCA will only reassign these Workers if doing so won't prevent the requirements for a Trade Union from being met (having at least 4 Workers working in Companies of that industry) and if the Wages it will earn from the new configuration will be equal to or higher than those previously earned. That being said, if given the chance (for example, through an effect that allows it to assign any number of Workers), the WCA will move its Workers from the Capitalist Class and the Middle Class to the State, as long as the conditions mentioned above are met.

If the WCA Uses Education and there are no unemployed Workers to upgrade, it upgrades an unskilled employed Worker at random.

If the Strike tokens ever run out, set the Strike priority card aside. Return it to the end (left side) of the bottom priority row at the beginning of the next round.

When a Demonstration is performed, the Demonstration priority card is set aside. If the Demonstration remains and the WCA needs to choose who will lose VP, it will have the Capitalist Class lose as much as it can, then the Middle Class, and finally the State. When the Demonstration token is removed, return the Demonstration priority card to the end (left side) of the bottom priority row.

Capitalist Class Automa

Setup (Advanced Mode Only)

Here is how the Capitalist Class Automa's (CCA's) priority cards are placed during setup. (Diagram omitted.)

Free Actions

The CCA performs its Free Actions automatically at different points during its turn and ignores some Free Actions entirely. More specifically:

• Adjust Prices: This action is automatically performed by the CCA, if needed, at the beginning of its turn. The CCA always adjusts its prices so that they are in the middle position, with the following exceptions:
  • If Policy 6A is in effect, it will raise the prices of Food and Luxury to their highest values.
  • If Policy 4C is in effect, it will raise the price of Health to its highest value.
  • If Policy 5C is in effect, it will raise the price of Education to its highest value.
• Adjust Wages: Normally, the CCA will never adjust its Wages on its own. It keeps the minimum allowable Wage in all of its Companies, as set by the Labor Market Policy. However, if the Working Class ever places one or more Strike tokens on its Companies, the CCA, at the beginning of the Production Phase, will Draw 1 AI card for each Company with a Strike token. If that card shows the Influence Indicator, it will immediately increase the Company's Wage to L3. If not, it will repeat that process one more time for each Company that has a Machinery token or is the only operational Company in its industry. The Companies for which no Influence Indicator was shown on the card(s) drawn for them, will keep their Wages where they are. At the beginning of the following round, the CCA will Adjust Wages again for all of its Companies to the current minimum allowable Wage.
• Give Bonus: The CCA never gives bonuses.
• Buy Storage: The CCA will automatically buy a Storage tile whenever it has more resources than it can store, even outside of its turn (for example, during the Production Phase). Note that if it has already built a Storage dedicated to a resource and it produces more of that resource than it can store, it won't build an additional Storage for it — any excess will be lost. Also, for Food and Luxury, it will store any excess in the Free Trade Zone first, and only if that is full as well, will it buy an extra Storage for them.
• Receive Benefits: This action is automatically performed by the CCA at the beginning of its turn.

Other Clarifications

On some of the CCA's AI Cards, the first icon shown is the one for Special Action. On these cards, instead of a bonus being listed, there are some additional conditions that, when using the Advanced Mode, allow the Special Action priority card to move upward. When using the Simple Mode, check only the first condition. If that condition is fulfilled, the CCA will perform the listed Special Action.

In the Preparation Phase, the CCA will always discard all Companies in its Market from the previous round and draw 4 new ones.

When Building a Company, one of the criteria is to choose the industry with the fewest operational Companies. This applies only to CCA's Companies, you don't take any other Companies into consideration.

When Selling to the Foreign Market, the CCA will sell the most it can of each resource. Also, when selling goods (Food or Luxury), it will first sell from the Free Trade Zone and then from the storages on its board.

When Making a Business Deal, if there are 2 Business Deal cards available and the CCA can afford both, it will buy the one with the higher cost. Also, whenever the CCA makes a Business Deal, it will store, if able, all the resources in the Free Trade Zone, to avoid paying tariffs.

Middle Class Automa

Setup (Advanced Mode Only)

Here is how the Middle Class Automa's (MCA's) priority cards are placed during setup. (Diagram omitted.)

Free Actions

The MCA performs its Free Actions automatically at different points during its turn. More specifically:

• Use Healthcare, Use Education, Use Luxury: Whenever the MCA ends up having in its Goods & Services area Health, Education, or Luxury in a quantity equal to its Population, it uses its resources at the end of its turn to increase its Prosperity. If, for any reason, the MCA ends up with multiple resources that can increase its Prosperity, it uses them all in the same turn, as many times as it can afford, in the following order: Luxury, Education, Health.
• Adjust Prices: This action is automatically performed by the MCA, if needed, at the beginning of its turn. The MCA always adjusts its prices so that they are in the middle position, with the following exceptions:
  • If Policy 6A is in effect, it will raise the prices of Food and Luxury to their highest values.
  • If Policy 4C is in effect, it will raise the price of Health to its highest value.
  • If Policy 5C is in effect, it will raise the price of Education to its highest value.
• Adjust Wages: Normally, the MCA will never adjust its Wages on its own. It typically keeps the minimum allowable Wage in all of its Companies, as set by the Labor Market Policy. However, if the Working Class ever places a Strike token on one of its Companies, the MCA will Adjust its Wages to L3 on its next turn. At the beginning of the following round, it will Adjust Wages for all of its Companies again to the current minimum allowable Wage.
• Swap Workers: This action is automatically performed by the MCA prior to performing the Assign Workers action (Simple Mode) or when Checking Workers (Advanced Mode).
• Receive Benefits: This action is automatically performed by the MCA at the beginning of its turn.
• Pay Off Loan: If it is able to do so, the MCA will automatically pay off a Loan at the beginning of its turn.

Other Clarifications

On some of the MCA's AI Cards, the first icon shown is the one for Special Action. On these cards, instead of a bonus being listed, there are some additional conditions that, when using the Advanced Mode, allow the Special Action priority card to move upward. When using the Simple Mode, check only the first condition. If that condition is fulfilled, the MCA will perform the listed Special Action.

In the Preparation Phase, the MCA will only discard a Company in its Market from a previous round if it already has another Company of the same industry on the board. In other words, it will keep a Company in its Market if it doesn't already have one from that industry.

When Checking Goods & Services, if a resource could be bought from 2 different sources, you will need to calculate the cost per item to determine how many rows the priority card will rise. For example, if the MCA needs 6 Health and can buy 4 from itself for free and the remaining 2 from the State for 10, the total cost would be 20 for 6 items. In this case, the per item cost is less than 6 (since they would cost 36 if each was priced at 6), and thus, the Buy Goods & Services priority card would rise 2 rows. Also, if an AI card's bonus would give the MCA money first before it Buys Goods & Services, calculate the per item cost as though the bonus is reducing the cost of the resource. In other words, consider only what it would actually cost the MCA compared to the money it has before performing the action. For example, if it can buy 5 Education for 50 but the AI card's bonus would give the Automa 20 first, the actual cost would only be 30, thus 6 per item.

When Buying Goods & Services, the MCA will buy a quantity equal to its Population. However, if it already has some of those resources on its player board (in its Goods & Services area), it will instead buy only the quantity it needs to reach its Population. In the rare case where the quantity it has is already equal to its Population, it will buy as if it didn't have any of that resource. Similarly, when buying a resource from itself, it will buy as much as it can, and the remaining quantity needed to reach its Population will be bought from another source. Note that, if the MCA is able to buy all the quantity it needs from a single source and a second source also has the same resource in a quantity equal to its Population (at a price it can afford), it will buy that quantity too, unless the resource is Health and the Population is one step away from increasing.

When Buying Goods & Services, one of the criteria on the Instruction card mentions that Health should be excluded from consideration if it would lead to the Population increasing. You only exclude Health if there are other options available to buy. If it is the only resource you can buy (due to cost or availability), you buy it as normal.

If the MCA Uses Education and there are no unemployed Workers to upgrade, it upgrades an unskilled employed Worker at random.

When Buying Food, during the Cover Needs step, the MCA will always buy Food from the cheapest source which will usually be itself since it gets it for free. If tied between two sources, it will buy Food in the following order: State, Foreign Market, Capitalist Class.

When Assigning Workers, some effects instruct the MCA to get a skilled Worker from the Supply first. In these cases, when determining which Worker to get, skip the first bullet in the Skilled Worker Criteria Instruction card, which relates to what kind of skilled Workers the Companies in the MCA's Market need.

When Assigning Workers, the MCA will usually attempt to assign unemployed Workers. However, there are card effects that allow it to assign any number of Workers. In these cases, the MCA will move its employed Workers from Capitalist Class Companies to Public Companies if possible, as long as the Wages it will earn from the new configuration will be equal to or higher than those previously earned.

When Building a Company, one of the criteria is to choose the industry with the fewest operational Companies. This applies only to MCA's Companies, you don't take any other Companies into consideration.

When Selling to the Foreign Market, the MCA will sell the most it can of each resource.

Automas and Expansions

When you include mini expansions in your games, the following rules also apply.

Proposing a Bill outside of the Automa's Turn

If the Automa needs to Propose a Bill outside of its own turn, the way it chooses which one is determined by the mode it's using.

• Simple Mode: Draw the next AI card and use the first policy listed. If not able, use the second policy. If still not able, continue drawing cards until you find a policy the Automa can Propose.
• Advanced Mode: Use the policy with the highest priority.

Removing Bill Markers from Policies

Some effects cause the players' Bill markers to be removed from the Politics table. When that happens, the Automa may need to return the corresponding Policy priority cards to the end (right side) of the rows. Use the same rules as in the Preparation Phase to determine where to place each card.

Expansion-Specific Rules

The following rules apply specifically to each mini-expansion:

Hidden Agendas

During Setup, place all of the Automa's Hidden Agendas face-up on the table. Whenever the task on any of them is achieved, turn it face-down. At the end of the game, choose the card with the most points among the face-down Hidden Agendas and award those points to the Automa.

Crisis Response

When removing Workers, the Automa removes unskilled ones first, if able.

To decide how to resolve the "New Government Bond Program" Crisis Response card (assuming the Automa is able to provide the money), Draw 1 AI card for the Automa. If there is an Influence symbol in its bottom-left corner, the Automa gives money. If it decides to give money, it gives the highest amount it can.

Alternative Events

When the Automa receives an Alternative Event card, if it is within Rounds 1–4, it keeps it. If it happens during the final Round, it discards it and gets 1 VP.

The Automa always makes use of its Benefits, to the best of its ability. Some card-specific clarifications:

• Public Pressure: The Automa uses this ability in the first Election that takes place after it receives it for Policies 2–6 in which it assumes the State is on the opposite side (based on the State's Desired Policies).
• Demand for State Intervention: The Automa chooses the Company in which the difference between Wages is the biggest. If it has multiple options, it chooses among them at random.
• Historical Events: Free Action triggers that can be performed by the Automa are always triggered at the end of its turn.

If an Automa chooses a Special Action for its turn and there is a Basic Action trigger on a Historical Event that it can perform, it performs the triggered Basic Action instead. The only exception is when its AI card lists the Special Action symbol along the top. If the Special Action is chosen because of this symbol, it is performed as normal.

Crisis Response

Crisis Response is a mini-expansion that changes the way the IMF intervenes when the State ends up with more Loans than its Fiscal Policy allows. It consists of 10 Crisis Response cards, 3 Bond cards, and 2 Lock tokens.

Setup

During Setup, shuffle the Crisis Response cards and place them in a face-down pile near the main board. Reveal the top card and place it face up where everyone can see it.

How to Play

Normally, when the IMF intervenes, there is a 4-step process that is followed:

• Proposed Bills are discarded
• Policies change
• Loans are paid off
• State loses Legitimacy

The Crisis Response cards change what happens in some of those steps and may provide additional effects as well.

If, during the Check IMF step, the State has more Loans than its Fiscal Policy allows and is unable to pay them off, the IMF intervenes. Instead of following the instructions in the main game's rules, look at the revealed Crisis Response card and follow the instructions listed there. They consist of 5 parts:

• Discard Proposed Bills: Discard any proposed Bills in the Policies listed here. For the rest of the Policies, leave any proposed Bills as they are. Each player gets 1 Influence for each of their Bills that was discarded this way.
• Change Policies: Move the Policy markers to the sections indicated here and apply all necessary effects. If a Policy is not listed, leave its marker where it is.
• Additional Effects: Any additional effects of the IMF intervention are listed here and are performed in order. If there are any class symbols before an effect, that effect applies only to those classes.
• Pay Off Loans: The State pays off its Loans. If it is unable to pay the full amount, it pays as much as it can and discards the remaining Loan(s).
• Lose Legitimacy: The State loses Legitimacy as listed here.

After applying all of a card's listed effects, set it aside and reveal a new Crisis Response card. If the IMF intervenes again, use the new card's effects to determine the outcome.

Locked Policies

In some of the Crisis Response cards, the policies not only change — some of them also become locked for the upcoming round. When this happens, place a Lock token around the Policy marker. As long as that token remains there, players cannot Propose Bills for that policy. At the beginning of the next Check IMF step, remove all Lock tokens from policies.

Bond Cards

One of the Crisis Response cards, the "New Government Bond Program", allows the players to buy bonds from the State, lending it money and expecting it to pay them back with interest. As a reminder of who paid what, you can use the 3 included Bond cards. Turn them to their appropriate side and place them in front of each player who gave money. When the State pays them back, set the Bond cards aside again.

Alternative Events

Alternative Events is a mini-expansion that changes the way the State interacts with the Events that come up every round. It consists of 25 cards and is used in 4-player games only.

Setup

The Alternative Event cards replace the Event cards that are normally used in a 4-player game of Hegemony. Return the main game's cards back to the box, shuffle the Alternative Events, and place them in a face-down pile next to the State's player board. Proceed with the rest of the Setup as normal, and whenever a rule or an effect refers to Event cards, assume it refers to the Alternative Event cards instead.

How to Play

The Alternative Events work very similarly to the regular Events. When the State performs the Event Action, it must perform the task on the card, choosing one of the listed classes, and it then receives the reward associated with that class. What is different, however, is that when the State chooses one of the classes, it also gives them the Alternative Event card. That class's player can either place it in front of them to gain a Benefit for the rest of the game or immediately discard it to gain 1 VP. Note that in order to gain that VP, the player has to immediately discard the card upon receiving it. They cannot choose to keep it and discard it at a later time.

At the bottom of each Alternative Event card, there is a Benefit listed. That Benefit always refers to the player who received the card and keeps it in front of them. We suggest that you slide the card beneath your player board so that only the Benefit remains visible. You can place future cards beneath the first one so that the Benefit on each one is the only part visible.

Each Benefit starts by listing the phase in which it is activated. Unless mentioned otherwise, it is activated at the beginning of that phase. Note that no Benefit is mandatory. A player may always choose to not receive a Benefit's effect in a given round if they don't want it.

Example: Evan plays as the State and performs an Event Action on the Alternative Event "Demand for Better Public Education." He chooses the Capitalist Class for the task on the card. Barney, who plays the Capitalist Class, then has to decide if he will discard the card for 1 VP or keep it. He decides to keep it, so he slides it beneath a couple of other Alternative Events that he got in previous rounds.

Later in the round, when the Production Phase starts, the listed Benefit is activated. Barney has 1 Education in his storage that he didn't sell during the round, so he sells it to Evan for 10. As per the card's instructions, Evan also gets 1 VP and moves his scoring marker accordingly.

Immediate Response

The Action card Immediate Response allows the State to perform an Event Action twice on the same card. When used with an Alternative Event, it works like this:

If, the first time the Event Action is performed, the chosen player decides to keep the card for its Benefit, then the second time the Event Action is performed, that chosen player will get 1 VP as though they had discarded the card. If, on the other hand, the first chosen player decides to get the VP, the second player is given the choice of keeping the card for its Benefit or discarding it for 1 VP as normal.

Hidden Agendas

Hidden Agendas is a mini-expansion that consists of 20 cards (5 for each role) and gives players specific tasks to fulfill during a game to achieve additional Victory Points.

Setup

During Setup, each player shuffles their Hidden Agendas and draws 2 cards. They keep one of them and return all the other cards to the box without showing them to the other players.

How to Play

Each Hidden Agenda lists a task for the player to complete. If the player achieves this task during the timing listed on the card, they can reveal it to the other players and gain the listed reward.

The timing is always one of the following:

• Anytime: Anytime during the game. If there are any additional requirements, they are also listed.
• Game End: At the end of the game.
• A particular phase: During the listed phase in any of the game's rounds.

Note that some Hidden Agendas contain tasks related to some policies being in specific sections. While their timing is listed as "Anytime", they cannot be claimed during the Elections Phase until all of the elections for that phase have been carried out.

In 4-player games, we suggest that the State player keeps the Event cards for which they performed an Event Action separate from those that were discarded for other reasons, since their number matters for one of the Hidden Agendas.

Action Cards

Crisis & Control includes 20 new Action cards (5 cards for each role).

To add them to your game, just shuffle each role's cards with the rest of their Action cards. Note that some of these cards are highly interactive. Make sure that all players agree to including them before the start of the game. If you ever want to play without these cards, you can distinguish them by the dots on the sides of their title.