Nucleum
Are Patron cards optional in the Energy Research Institute, and how many Experiments are offered with them?
The expansion's own rulebook states this.
- Nucleum: Energy Research Institute Rulebook · Official document · Patron Cards
Yes. Players agree at setup whether to use the Patron abilities, and may take a Patron with the chosen Experiment, deal them out for the Expert Variant, or deal one at random to each player. If you deal Patron cards for the Expert Variant, deal as many as there are players; the standard setup reveals one more Experiment than there are players.