Omega Centauri Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Glossary
• Rule Variants
• Game Contents
  • General Game Materials
  • Empire Materials
  • Sector Materials
  • Player Materials
• Game Setup
  • Player Selects Colour
  • Sector Hex Maps
  • Empire Sector
  • Technology Board
  • Main Game Board
  • Race Card
  • Starting Sector
  • Reserve Fleets
  • The Home Fleet
• Game Concepts
  • The VP Scoreboard
  • Game Rounds & Player Turns
  • Resources
  • Resource Costs
  • Controlled and Abandoned Sectors

Glossary

• Adjacent Sector: A Sector that borders against another Sector.
• Advanced Game: The full game using all Technologies, Reserve Fleet Actions and Achievement Cards.
• Barren Sector: A Sector which is devoid of Resources. The Empire ignores Barren Sectors.
• Base Game: A shorter, simpler game lasting just 6 Rounds using less Technologies.
• Combat: A series of Combat Rounds which occur whenever two Fleets of different colours occupy the same Sector at the end of a Player Turn.
• Combat Round: A single exchange between opponents in Combat.
• Controlled Sector: A Sector containing only your own Fleets.
• Culture Track: The Track on the Main Game Board showing the Cultural Era players have achieved.
• Final Scoring: Final Scoring takes place to determine the winner of the game.
• Fleet: Players Fleets are 30 wooden discs in the player's colour.
• Focus Action: An action which a player can perform during their Player Turn.
• Game Round: A single run through of all five Phases of the game.
• Home Fleet: The Players Fleet that marks the strategic centre of their civilization.
• Home Sector: The Sector where your Home Fleet is currently located.
• Loss: The effect of a hit in Combat. Losses can be negated by Shield Technologies.
• Map Layout: A pre-defined layout of Sectors used as a guide for Sector placement.
• Player Turn: A single Focus Action completed before play moves to the next player.
• Range: The number of Sectors a player's Fleets may move.
• Reserve Fleets: An area of the Player Board where the player's available Fleets are stored.
• Resource: A single Resource cube. Resources are usually referred to by colour.
• Resource Pool: An area of the Game Board where resources are available for income etc.
• Sector: A hexagonal game tile placed as part of the Map Layout.
• Stock: Resource cubes which are not in the Resource Pool.
• Structure: A Shipyard, Monument or Sector Defence which can be built in a Controlled Sector.
• Technology: A token which records the advancements a player has bought.

Rule Variants

There are two versions of Omega Centauri, the Base Game (shorter, simpler game) and a longer 'Advanced' game. The rules cover both versions; some rules differ between versions. Rules that apply to both versions are included in the main text. Where rules are different they are stated for both versions in their own information boxes:

• In the Base Game: Base game variations have the Base Game icon in the top left and a black border.
• In the Advanced Game: Advanced rules have the Advanced Game icon in the top left with normal text and a grey border.

Game Contents

General Game Materials

• Double Sided Main Game Board (See Appendix D page 17)
• Technology Board
• 35 Basic Technology Tokens
• 17 Improved Technology Tokens
• 9 Mobilisation Tokens
• 1 Game Round Marker
• 8 Race Cards
• 23 Shipyards
• 23 Double Sided Monuments
• 24 Double Sided Sector Defences
• 20 of Each Resource Type

Empire Materials

• 30 Wooden Black Empire Fleets
• 13 Empire Reaction Tokens
• 5 Empire Tech Tokens
• 46 Development Tokens

Sector Materials

• 16 Double Sided Empire / Resource Sectors
• 8 Barren Sectors
• On the reverse of two of the Barren Sectors are Vortex Sectors

Player Materials

• 4 Player Boards
• 30 Player Fleets of Each Player Colour
• 4 Home Fleets
• 6 Achievement Cards in Each Player Colour
• 6 Action Focus Tokens of Each Player Colour

Game Setup

Player Selects Colour

Each player selects their Fleets (30 coloured wooden discs). They also select a Race Card (randomly or through choice). They receive 6 Achievement Cards, 6 Focus Tokens and a Home Fleet Token in the same colour as their Fleets.

Sector Hex Maps

Omega Centauri allows players to design and play their own unique Map Layouts. Alternatively see Appendix B in this rule book for some suggested additional Map Layouts. The map is made up of hexes each representing a Sector.

Shuffle the Resource Sectors and using the map as a guide lay them randomly, face down showing the Empire symbol, to indicate they are under Empire control. Care should be taken that players do not see the underside of the Sectors.

Place the Barren Sectors again following the map. The Barren Sectors marked with an H show the players which Sectors they may choose as their Home Sector during setup.

Shuffle the Development tokens and place 1 face down on each Empire Controlled Sector along with an Empire Fleet. Unused tokens are returned to the Unused Materials Area.

Sample Layouts

• 2 Player layout: ideal for your first Base or Advanced Game.
• 3 Player layout: ideal for your first Base or Advanced Game.
• 4 Player layout: ideal for your first Base or Advanced Game.

Empire Sector

An Empire Sector set up to play with 1 Empire Fleet and a Development token placed.

Technology Board

The Technology Board is placed where all players can see it and the Technology tokens are placed in the appropriate places. In a 2 player game only 1 of each Basic Technology is placed.

• In the Base Game: Research Labs, Cloning and ALL Improved Technologies are not used in the Base Game.
• In the Advanced Game: Research Labs per player and all other Technology tokens are used (2 Player: 2 Research labs and 1 of every other Technology).

Main Game Board

Place the Main Game Board where all players can see it.

• Each player places a Fleet in the appropriate start box of the Culture Track.
• Shuffle the Empire Reaction tokens. Place 1 face down on each of the empire reaction squares on the Round Track.
• Shuffle the Empire Technology tokens. Place 1 face down on each of the empire technology squares on the turn track.
• Decide the Turn Order by any appropriate means. Each player places a Fleet in the relevant Box. Do not gain benefits for initial start order.
• In the Resource Pool place the appropriate number of Resources. Unused Resources are kept in the Stock, in the Unused Materials Area. We recommend putting them in a bowl.
• Each player places three of their Fleets on the VP Scoreboard (1 for each column).

Race Card

The double sided Race Card informs the player about their Race, its special abilities and its Starting Forces.

In our example the Gold player has selected the Veleks Race card.

The front of the card shows an image of the race and lists its special ability.

Race Cards can be assigned randomly by shuffling and dealing the cards out or players may choose their races providing players agree on the selection method.

The reverse of the Race Card gives a brief description of the race. Under Starting Forces it tells the player how to setup their Home Sector and Reserve Fleets Area of the Player Board. All players start with a Home Fleet not listed on the Card.

Starting Sector

In Turn Order each player picks one of the Sectors marked with an H on the map setup and place their Home Fleet into it. This is now their Home Sector.

Then each player follows the instructions on their race card under Starting Forces to setup their Home Sector. In the case of the Veleks Race - the player starts with 1 Shipyard, 1 Monument and 2 Fleets in their Starting Sector.

Reserve Fleets

The Veleks Race Card tells the Gold player to place 4 Fleets in the Reserve Fleets Area of their Player Board. Unused Fleets are kept with The Stock and other surplus items in the Unused Materials Area (anywhere separate from your Player Boards and the Main Game Board).

The Home Fleet

The Sector the Home Fleet is present in is designated as your Home Sector for all rule purposes. This is in ADDITION to the Fleet listed on the race card. Placing the Home Fleet in a starting game setup allows you to place the Reserve Fleets listed on your Race Card into your Home Sector. In Combat your Home Fleet is always the last to be lost.

Game Concepts

The VP Scoreboard

The VP Scoreboard is used to track the Victory Points of all players in Omega Centauri. The VP Scoreboard consists of three vertical tracks; the left one is numbered 1 to 9, the centre one is numbered from 10 to 90 in jumps of 10 and the right track is numbered 100 to 900 in jumps of 100.

When adding Victory Points to the VP Scoreboard it is best to score the highest column first to avoid confusion. For example if a player has 5 VP and earns a further 17 VP scoring the 10 first and then the 7 means that the scorer will not need to count through the left units column twice which can lead to the odd 10 VP being lost. Also later in the game where players could be scoring 60 or more VP's in a turn going through the units column 6 times can get very confusing. It is also a quicker method.

For an easy way to see who is ahead, look for the player whose fleets is further down the right most column. If these are tied, then look for whose Fleet is further down the central column, and so on. For example here the Gold player has scored 284 Victory Points where the Turquoise player has 193. At a glance both players can see that the gap between the two is quite a large one.

Game Rounds & Player Turns

A Game Round is a full play through of all five Phases of the game. Game Rounds are tracked by the Game Round Marker which is on the Main Game Board. At the end of the Game during the Final Game Round only three phases are played as the final two phases do not affect the player's Victory Points.

A Player Turn refers to the Focus Actions that players take in Phase II. A Player Turn starts when the player reveals the Focus Action that they chose and ends when they complete the Focus Action. At which point the Player Turn moves to the next player.

There are 3 Player Turns per player in each Game Round. Once all Player Turns have been completed for a Game Round the Phase may move on.

Resources

Whenever a player is required to claim a Resource for any reason and that Resource is not available gain 1 VP. Resources can be gained in Phase I and Phase II and is discussed in those sections.

Resource Costs

Gaining status on the Cultural Track, or selecting Reserve Fleet Actions may have a cost in Resources. Normally a Resource cost can be met by any combination of Resources. Where a cost has square brackets around it the Resources spent must all be of different types.

A cost of 4 means that 4 Resources of any type may be used to pay. However a cost of [4] means that 4 Resources of different types must be paid. Where two figures are bracketed each cost is treated separately. A cost of [4][3] would mean two sets of payment: the first of 4 different Resource types and another of 3 different Resource types although Resources can be repeated across the two payments.

Resource costs are ALWAYS paid into the Stock not the Resource Pool on the Main Board.

Controlled and Abandoned Sectors

Many rules in this rule book will refer to a Controlled Sector. A Controlled Sector is any and all Sectors that contain only your Fleets. An enemy Controlled Sector is a Sector that only contains Empire Fleets, or a single opponent's Fleets. An Abandoned Sector is any Sector that contains no Fleets. An Abandoned Sector cannot have Shipyards or Sector Defences placed into it. If a Controlled Sector loses its last Fleet, whether that is due to that Fleet moving out or being destroyed, it immediately becomes an Abandoned Sector and any Shipyard and Sector Defence in it are immediately returned to the Unused Materials Area.