Space Base
Space Base Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
GAME OVERVIEW
In Space Base each player assumes the role of Commodore of a small fleet of ships. Ships begin docked at their stations and are then deployed to sectors as new ships are commissioned under your command. Use cargo vessels to engage in trade and commerce, mining vessels to build recurring base income, and carriers to spread your influence. Establish new colonies in a sector to gain even more influence.
GOAL
After any player reaches 40 victory points, players finish the current round. After all players have had the same number of turns, the player with the most victory points becomes Admiral and wins the game!
GAME FLOW
Players take turns in clockwise order. A turn consists of the following phases:
- Roll
- Active Player Rewards
- Other Players’ Rewards
- Buy and Deploy a Card
- Refill
- Gain Income
- End of Game
- Continue On
LIGHT-SPEED VARIANT
NOT RECOMMENDED FOR YOUR FIRST GAME!
This is an optional variant for those who want to essentially skip through the first few turns of the game and get into the middle of the game faster. Playing with this variant will reduce the average length of the game.
Before the game, instead of giving each player 5 credits, give each player 15 credits and 1 income. Then, instead of having each player draw a random level 1 card and deducting the cost from their starting credits, have each player draw four level 1 cards and two level 2 cards. Players may spend their credits to buy as many of these cards as they wish and can afford with their 15 credits. Any unspent credits are kept to start the game. Any unbought cards are placed at the bottom of their respective decks. The player who kept the most money goes first. In the case of a tie, the player who bought the highest sector card goes first, and if players are still tied, they roll to see who goes first. Starting bonuses for 2nd, 3rd, 4th player, etc. are the same as in a standard game of Space Base.
COMPONENTS
- 60 Starting Ship Cards (5 sets of 12)
- 48 Level 1 Ship Cards
- 48 Level 2 Ship Cards
- 36 Level 3 Ship Cards
- 12 Colony Cards
- 30 Charge Cubes
- 2 Six–Sided Dice
- 5 Yellow Credit Cubes
- 5 Green Income Cubes
- 5 Blue VP Cubes
- 1 Starting Player Card
- 5 Player Consoles
SETUP
Set up the shipyard by shuffling each level of ship card into its own deck, and then flipping over 6 cards faceup next to the deck.
Put all 12 Colony cards, charge cubes, and dice in reach of all players.
Each player starts with a console, a set of starting ship cards, a credit cube, an income cube, and a VP cube. Arrange them as shown. Each player’s credit start at 5.
After setting up the game, each player should draw a card from the top of the Level 1 ship deck and buy it for its cost (reduce your credits on the track by a number of credits equal to the ship’s cost). That ship is stationed in the matching sector, and the ship that is currently there is deployed.
The player who drew the ship with the highest sector number gets the starting player card and takes the first turn. If there was a tie, randomly decide who gets the starting player card.
Lastly, each player other than the first player gains resources. Track all resource gains and losses by moving the appropriate cube on the player’s console.
- 2nd player – gains 1 credit
- 3rd player (if any) – gains 2 credits
- 4th player (if any) – gains 1 income
- 5th player (if any) – gains 1 income
STATIONING AND DEPLOYING SHIPS
Any time a ship is bought (or claimed in some other way), it gets stationed directly to the player’s console on the matching sector number. The card that is currently in that sector is removed from the board, rotated 180 degrees, and tucked under the player’s console at the same sector with just the deployed reward showing. Cards that are tucked under like this are called deployed. Players may have more than one ship deployed at the same sector, but they will only ever have one ship stationed at any sector at any time.
HOW TO PLAY
Beginning with the starting player and continuing clockwise, players will take turns being the active player and performing the following phases.
TURN ORDER
1 – Roll: The active player rolls 2 dice.
2 – Active Player Rewards: The active player either receives the station reward of EACH sector that matches each single die (or the same sector twice if doubles were rolled) OR the station reward of the sector equal to the total of the dice.
3 – Other Players’ Rewards: Each other player chooses to either receive the DEPLOYED reward(s) of EACH sector that matches each single die (or the same sector twice if doubles were rolled) OR the deployed rewards of the sector equal to the total of the dice.
4 – Buy and Deploy a Card: The active player may buy one faceup ship in the shipyard, or one available colony, that has a cost up to the total number of credits the player has. If the active player doesn’t buy a card, skip to phase 5.
After buying a card, the player resets their credit to zero (no matter what the card costs). Then, the player stations the card they bought in the appropriate sector, deploying the card currently stationed there.
Saving Credits: Because buying any card reduces your credits to zero, the only way to save credits from turn to turn is to not buy a card for a turn!
5 – Refill: If needed, add ship cards from the top of each deck faceup to the shipyard until there are 6 of each level.
6 – Gain Income: If the active player’s credit cube is lower than their income cube, they gain credit so that it is equal to the cube.
7 – End of Game: If any player is at 40 or more VP, the end of the game is triggered. Continue playing so that everyone gets an equal number of turns. This means that the player sitting to the right of the starting player will take the last turn of the game.
The player with the most VPs wins! If it’s a tie, play one more round of turns. If it’s still a tie, share the victory!
8 – Continue On: If no player has 40 or more VP, it’s the next player’s turn to be the active player, and start at phase 1.
REWARDS AND ABILITIES
Rewards are effects gained based on the dice roll. You may only use a reward once per turn. Abilities are effects activated by removing charge cubes, and may be used more than once per turn.
When players receive a reward from a card, they usually gain resources (credit, income, VP) which are tracked on the players’ consoles. Some cards have written abilities that will activate instead – just do what the card says. However, some powerful cards have empty square spaces on them. This indicates that the cards require charge cubes to activate their abilities. These cards don’t gain the reward as written; instead, these cards add 1 charge cube to the card if there is room.
USING CHARGE CUBES TO ACTIVATE ABILITIES
If a card has charge cubes on it, you may be able to activate the ability. Blue and green abilities can be activated when you are the active player. Red and green abilities may be activated when you are not the active player. To activate the ability, remove the required number of cubes when it’s appropriate to activate the ability. This does not require a particular dice roll; it just requires removing one or more cubes.
How many cubes do you need to remove?
- If the squares are linked, you must remove all cubes on the card that have no pips AND all cubes that have pips equal to the number of players.
- If the squares aren’t linked to each other, you only need to remove one cube to use the ability.
If you deploy a stationed card with charge cubes on it, you may reposition any cubes to the deployed rewards section of the card (if there is room).
COLONY CARDS
Colony cards give no station reward, but when you buy one, you gain the number of VP printed on the card immediately. You then station the card in the appropriate sector, deploying any ship that was there.
For the rest of the game, you may not station or deploy any more cards at this sector! All colony cards are available to buy at the start of the game.
TIMING CLARIFICATIONS
- Any abilities that allow a player to “set a die” or “reroll” happen before players gain any rewards (before phase 2).
- As long as an ability can be used after gaining rewards for the dice roll, you may use that ability the same turn it becomes fully charged.
- If it becomes important to resolve things in order, the active player should allocate dice and resolve all rewards and activations first, followed by the next player(s) in clockwise order.
CARD CLARIFICATIONS
DICE + ARROWS ABILITIES
You may use this ability after the dice have been rolled, but before you have gained any rewards. This ability may only be used if you are using the TOTAL of the two dice rolled, and it increases the total for you by either 1 or 2 depending on how many arrows you use.
Note that you don’t need to roll this sector to activate this ability; you can use it any time it is charged by removing the right number of cubes.
SWAP SECTORS
This ability lets you take all deployed cards and the stationed card from one sector and swap them with the deployed cards and the stationed card from another sector (even colonies). In future turns, dice will activate these cards based on what sector they are in, not what sector is printed on them!
ALL OPPONENTS LOSE 4 VP
This ability cannot take a player below 0 VP.
EXCHANGE THIS CARD WITH ANY CARD ON YOUR BOARD
You may exchange this card with any other card, even if that means swapping a deployed ship with a stationed ship!
2X STATION (ACTIVE)
This ability doubles the rewards from any one sector you activate during your turn – either the sector equal to the total of both dice or ONE of the sectors activated by a single die.
Note: This ability can never be used to charge itself.
2X DEPLOYED (PASSIVE)
This ability doubles the rewards from any one sector you activate during an opponent’s turn – either the sector equal to the total of both dice or ONE of the sectors activated by a single die.
Note: This ability can never be used to charge itself.
SET A DIE
When you use this ability, before you roll, place one die on whatever result you want, and roll just one die. The result is treated as if you rolled both.
REWARD + CHARGE
When a reward is listed above charge squares, you gain the reward and add 1 cube to the card. You must use cubes to activate the ability below charge squares.
ARROWS
This reward lets you activate the sector one to the left or right in addition to this sector. Note: Each Arrow reward may only be used once per turn, so if you have two of these cards pointed at each other, they don’t keep going back and forth!
Some arrows not only let you gain the rewards of the sector next door, but also score you some other rewards – like this one that triggers the rewards from the sector to the left AND gains the player 3 VP.
BUY A CARD
This ability lets you buy an additional card during your turn. Unlike a normal buy, this buy will not reduce your credits to zero; it will only reduce your credits by the actual cost of the card. If you have other rewards that give you credits, you may gain those rewards first.
CLAIM A CARD
Choose a ship card of the appropriate level from the shipyard and add it your console without paying for it. This is not a buy and you may still make your normal buy. You are not required to claim all the cards indicated.
REFERENCE
REWARDS AND ACTIVATIONS
Blue rewards and abilities can only be gained during your turn, when you are the active player.
Red rewards and abilities can only be gained during an opponent’s turn, when you are a passive player.
Green rewards and abilities can be gained during any turn, whether you’re the active player or a passive player.
CHARGE SQUARES
Blue colored squares can only be charged as a reward during your turn, when you are the active player.
Red colored squares can only be charged as a reward during an opponent’s turn, when you are a passive player.
ACTIVATION ICON
An activation icon in the upper left hand corner of an ability indicates that you need to spend charge cubes to use the ability.
2X – STATION (ACTIVE)
You may only use this ability on your turn after rolling your dice, allocating the dice, and claiming your rewards. When you activate this ability and resolve its effect, gain whatever blue rewards you gained this turn for one sector, a second time.
2X – DEPLOYED (PASSIVE)
You may only use the ability on an opponent’s turn after allocating the dice and claiming your rewards. When you activate this ability and resolve its effect, gain whatever red rewards you gained this turn for one sector, a second time.
CREDITS
When you gain this reward, advance your credits cube by that amount.
INCOME
When you gain this reward, advance your income cube by that amount.
VP (VICTORY POINTS)
When you gain this reward, advance your VP cube by that amount.
TEXT ABILITIES
The text describes what you receive when you gain the reward.
SINGLE ARROW
The reward of an arrow means you may gain the reward that is one sector to the side in the direction of the arrow.
BOTH DIRECTIONS
If there is an arrow pointing to the left and one to the right, then you choose whether to gain the reward for the card one sector to the left or one sector to the right.
ARROW AND REWARD
If there is an arrow and another reward, you gain the reward and gain the rewards for one sector in the direction of the arrow.
DICE + ARROWS ABILITIES
If there are two arrows pointing to the left or right, then you choose whether to gain the reward for the card one or two sectors to the left or right. You must use the sum of the dice.