Space Cadets: Resistance Is Mostly Futile Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Map Tiles
• Missions
• Enemies
• Science
• Using Experimental Equipment Cards
• Notes on Components
• Mission 7: Down the Rabbit Hole
• Mission 8: Siege of Starbase Gamma
• Mission 9: Kestrel Run
• Mission 10: Star Kraken
• Historical Mission H1: Escape from Mercury
• Historical Mission H2: Earth Orbital Platform
• Historical Mission H3: Thrall Rescue
• Historical Mission H4: Hunt for the Invisible Planet

Components

• A. Science Display
• B. 22 Component Cards
• C. 26 Experimental Equipment Cards
• D. 22 Enemy Cards: (5 Easy, 3 Normal, 2 Hard, 8 Historical, 4 Kraken)
• E. 22 Enemy Ship Tokens (Including the Kraken)
• F. 3 Hidden Planet Tokens
• G. 4 Map Tiles

Map Tiles

Four new double-sided map tiles are included with the expansion. They introduce three new types of obstacles:

• Radiation Belt: The Captain selects a shield that has strength greater than zero. Reduce that shield strength to zero. If all shields are at zero strength, there is no effect. If an enemy moves through this square, their shields will be zero until their next activation. Place a damage marker on the ship token on the map as a reminder.
• Null Zone: The Captain removes one energy from either Tractor Beams, Jump, or Repair. If there is no energy in any of those systems there is no effect. If an enemy moves into this square, it immediately stops moving.
• Vortex: If the player ship ENDS their full move (using all Helm cards) on this square, rotate the ship 90 degrees clockwise. If the ship passes through the square during their move there is no effect. Vortex has no effect on enemy ships. They treat them as empty squares during their movement.

Missions

There are eight new missions in SC:RIMF. Four are standard missions, and four are called 'Historical' missions. These take place during the time when humans were just beginning to spread across the solar system and were confronted by the alien menace. These missions link the world of the original Space Cadets to the stand-alone game Space Cadets: Away Missions, which simulates the boarding actions and ground attacks that liberated humanity. Ownership of Away Missions is not required for the Historical Missions.

Some missions list stations as INACTIVE. Inactive stations are not used for that mission. Any energy in an inactive station on the engineering display may be converted 2-for-1 as normal during Step 1, with excess being discarded. Any damage cards that affect an inactive station are ignored. Aren't you lucky!

Some missions with Inactive stations may be played by two players. See missions for details.

Enemies

There are ten new enemies: five Easy, three Normal, and two Hard. These should be combined with the original ships to give more variety and challenges.

In addition, there are eight Historical Enemies, which should be used for the Historical missions.

Half Damage: Some ships do have the symbol (die / 2). Damage done by these ships is found by rolling a die, dividing the value by two, and rounding up. So they will do 1, 2, or 3 damage.

Enemy special abilities that say they affect 'Enemy Ships', like Protector, never affect the ship with the ability. In addition, all special abilities only apply when the ship is locked on to the players.

Parasites: Four of the Enemy ships are called 'Parasites'. These ships share the same special rules.

Parasites cannot attack from a distance. Instead, once locked on they will move towards the player ship until they are in the same square. Once they are in the same square they will 'attach' to the player ship, and attack every turn as noted on the card.

Once attached, parasites will move with the player ship, and will remain attached until destroyed. More than one parasite may be attached at the same time.

Whether attached or not, parasites are destroyed as normal, by firing weapons at them. While attached they are considered to be at range zero. Sensors may lock on as normal. Once attached, tractor beams and map obstacles do not affect parasites.

Each parasite causes one internal damage during its activation in Step 7, including the turn it attaches. The other parasite effects occur in different Steps:

• Shield Parasite: Reduce each shield strength by one in Step 4, right after shield strength is determined.
• Weapon Parasite: Reduce torpedo damage by one during Step 6.
• Energy Parasite: Reduce the number of Engineering tiles taken during Step 2.
• Ripper Parasite: Draw a Component Card during Step 1, and discard the components shown, along with the card.

Science

Science is a new station in Space Cadets. It allows the crew to pull off pieces of the ship and put them together into gadgets that give special abilities. This station can be used in any mission.

Any player can be assigned as the Science Officer, as they will act in their own phase.

The Science station consists of two components:

• Experimental Equipment cards represent the gadgets that you can try to build. The Experimental Equipment cards from the original Space Cadets are combined with the new ones that come with the expansion to form a single deck.
• Component cards represent the pieces that you need to find to build new Experimental Equipment cards.

Experimental Equipment cards now have an icon in the upper left corner that shows the COST of the card, ranging from 1-3. Any Experimental Equipment cards that came with the original Space Cadets automatically have a cost of one.

Some cards have a cost of 'X'. Before building these cards, the Science Officer decides (perhaps consulting the rest of the crew) whether they want to build these at a cost of 1, 2, or 3. If the card is successfully built, place that number of damage tokens on the card as a reminder. The higher the cost, the more powerful the card will be, or the more times it can be used.

At the start of the game, shuffle the Experimental Equipment cards and place them face down on the Science Display. Similarly shuffle the Component cards and place them face down on the Science Display.

The Captain does not choose four Experimental Equipment cards. Instead, draw five Experimental Equipment cards from the top of the deck. From those, select three Science points worth of cards. Cards with a cost of 'X' may be selected at any level, but cost that much. Cards not chosen are placed in the discard pile.

At the start of STEP 1, the Science Officer draws THREE Experimental Equipment cards. By the end of the phase, the Science Officer may select ONE CARD to attempt to build later in the turn.

If the Captain wishes, additional Experimental Equipment cards can be drawn to choose from. Remove one energy from any station for each additional card to draw. You can draw cards one at a time, and see if you are happy with the new card before drawing more. You do not need to declare in advance how many extra cards you will draw.

At the end of Step 1, the Science Officer may select one card to be built. Science is always optional. You never have to try to build a new card. The other cards are placed into the discard pile. If you need to draw new cards but the draw pile is empty, reshuffle the discards and place back into the draw pile.

Before Step 2, the Science Officer may announce that they are going to try to build the card. If so, there is a special 30 second Science step.

The Science Officer draws a number of Component cards one greater than the cost of the card. So if building a Cost 2 card, draw 3 Component cards. In the unlikely event you cannot draw enough Component cards, you cannot build that Experimental Equipment.

These Component cards are kept Face Down until everyone is ready to start the 30 seconds.

When the 30 second timer begins, the Science Officer turns over all the cards. He must collect the game pieces from a number of Component cards equal to the cost of the Experimental Equipment card. Since you draw one more than the cost, one Component Card will be unused.

The Science Officer must collect all the game components shown on the cards, either by grabbing them himself, or having the other players collect them. The pieces must be placed in the Workbench area of the Science display to count.

At the end of the 30 seconds, look at the components on the Workbench. If they exactly match the chosen component cards, then the Experimental Equipment card is successfully constructed, and it is passed to the Captain who can use it at any future point. ALL COMPONENTS AND COMPONENT CARDS USED TO BUILD THE CARD ARE REMOVED FROM THE GAME. They are permanently removed and cannot be brought back into play.

If the components do not match, either because components are missing, they are incorrect, or there are excess components, then the attempt to build the Experimental Equipment fails. The Experimental Equipment card is discarded, and all collected components are returned to the station they came from.

If the Science Officer is not happy with the Component Cards he has drawn, he is not obligated to attempt to construct the device. He may abort the attempt.

If required components are from an inactive Station due to the Mission, then those parts of the card are automatically considered a success. You still need to gather other pieces that may be on the card.

At the end of a Science Phase all Component Cards that were used to successfully build Experimental Equipment are removed from the game. Other Component Cards are shuffled back into the Component deck.

Research: The Star Kraken mission mentions RESEARCH. Research is performed exactly the same as Science, except that you don't draw Experimental Equipment cards. You just announce if you are trying to Research 1, 2, or 3 science points. You may not do normal Science and Research on the same turn.

Using Experimental Equipment Cards

Once gained, most Experimental Equipment cards can be used just one time. Some cards are marked PERMANENT or have the infinity symbol in the upper left. When using the Science station there is NO LIMIT to the number of Experimental Equipment cards that can be used on a single turn.

Some cards say X uses, or similar. When gained, these cards should be marked with damage tokens equaling the number of uses, and reduced as the card is used.

The Helm Experimental Equipment cards are always available, just like Special Maneuvers, except that they do not cause damage when used, and are not affected by the Turn Coordinator damage card. The Jump bonus cards are considered used if they are used to change dice during a Jump step.

Cards can be saved until the Captain decides to use them, unless otherwise noted on the card.

Notes on Components

Any tokens that are normally face down should remain face down until the start of the 30 second Science phase. Examples are shield tokens and engineering tiles.

Components must match EXACTLY. For example, the exact Engineering tile shown on the card must be gathered, not just any Engineering tile.

If a Tractor Beam tile is required, it can be either one that has already been matched and removed from the Display, or one that is on the Display. You are not allowed to look at the underside of a Tractor Beam tile that is still on the Display and must put it face down on the Science Display. If it is successfully used to build something and removed from the game place it back in the box without looking at it. If the Tractor Beam Display is reset, any tiles that are removed from the game are NOT placed back on the display. There will be empty spaces instead.

If you need to include a sensor token, you may simply empty out the bag to find the one you need. You do not need to draw blindly. If a sensor token is removed from the game and the matching Sensor card is drawn during Step 2 you must still use it. It will automatically fail since it cannot be matched any more.

Example: During Step 1, Science Officer Estrada draws three cards from the Experimental Equipment deck. He lays them out, and the crew sees he has chosen Geoffrey Tubes, Nukes, and Beam Bias. After discussing it, Estrada decides to attempt to build Nukes, as they are in a combat heavy mission, and not bother to spend energy to draw more cards. Since Nukes has a cost of 'X', he must choose a value. He decides on a cost of '2', allowing it to be used on two turns.

Before the crew starts on Step 2, they do the Science step. Estrada draws three component cards and keeps them face down. The Captain starts the timer, and John turns the cards over and decides to discard the card with the Sensor token, and puts the other two cards on the table. The crew begins to collect the tokens and put them on the Workbench. They get all of them placed before the timer runs out, so the Captain takes the Nukes card with two damage tokens on it to indicate the level. The components collected are put back into the box.

Mission 7: Down the Rabbit Hole

Enemy ships have been using a series of gates to mask their movements and ambush civilian vessels. Our cyberespionage team has been able to obtain the encryption key for the gates, allowing one of our ships to traverse them. Your mission is to progress through a series of gates to reach the alien Gate Stabilizer, and destroy it.

Map setup: Tile 1, Tile 2, Tile 3, Tile 4. Start in any square along this edge.

Ship Starting Speed: 2 Nemesis Marker: 6 (but see Special Rules below)

Tiles are not connected. The only way to move from tile to tile is via the Gates, which are represented by crystal tokens.

When a tile is first entered, the Gate cannot be used by the players. To activate it, the players must have a successful Tractor Beam attempt on the gate. Once a gate is opened in this way, it is always open.

Once the gate is open, randomly draw the next tile, and randomly place the two enemies and the new gate onto the tile. Place each token by rolling a die twice. The first roll determines the row, and the second the column. The rows and columns are numbered 1-5 as shown. Any sixes must be rerolled. Any number of ship or crystal tokens may be in the same square.

Enemies on a tile which does not contain the players can never see the players, and can never be activated, move, or shoot. The players can never shoot at or gain sensor lock on tokens on another tile.

On any future turn the players may advance to the next tile by moving over the gate square during movement. You do NOT need to end a move on the gate - passing over it is enough. You may never move back to an earlier tile, so when you leave a tile return it and any enemies on it to the box. Parasites attached to the players remain attached and travel to the new tile with the players.

Determine the arrival square of the players at random, same as with the enemies. Keep the same orientation. However, if you roll a six for row or column the Captain selects the row/column instead of re-rolling. You may see the other roll before selecting.

Any remaining movement is cancelled. Since you surprise the enemies on the turn of your arrival they will NOT attempt to lock onto you, regardless of your position, until the following turn.

If you shoot them the turn you arrive they lock on as normal.

Nemesis is not in this mission. However if you are not on the last map tile, move the Nemesis Marker down by one square each turn as normal. If you ever need to move the marker past the -2 square, you lose the game. In addition, if you arrive on Tile 4 when the marker is on the -1 or -2 space add one or two Easy enemies respectively, randomly placed.

Objective:

• Minor Victory: Successfully tractor beam the Gate Stabilizer (crystal) on Tile 4 and jump home.
• Major Victory: Also destroy all enemies on the final tile.

Mission 8: Siege of Starbase Gamma

You are enjoying a well-deserved shore leave on Starbase Gamma while your ship is being repaired after some unfortunate equipment failures which were totally not your fault. Suddenly a klaxon blares. "All hands report for duty. We are under attack!" You meet your crew on the starbase bridge, and as the most experienced personnel, prepare to ward off the attack...

Map setup: Enemy Start Square. Enemy Movement Path.

Ship Starting Speed: N/A Nemesis Marker: Not Used

Do not use these enemy cards: Sniper, Battle Platform, Carrier.

Select two Easy enemies at random and place them as shown. Form a deck of six enemy cards, in this order from top to bottom. Choose cards at random and keep hidden until placed on the map:

Enemy deck: E, E*, E, N*, N, H*

Use the blank map tile. Place your ship in the center square facing as shown. This represents the starbase. Your ship never moves or rotates.

Helm and Jump are inactive. 2 Players: Engineering is performed during Step 3B instead of 3A.

Enemies do not move or activate as normal. As soon as the timer is started for Step 3 the Captain rolls a die and places it on the Shield Display. This is the movement die, and will be used in Step 7. Shields should consider this die when planning where shields should be placed.

At the start of Step 7, move each enemy a number of squares equal to their speed plus half of the number on the Movement Die (fractions rounded up). The ships are moved in a defined pattern, as shown on the figure above to the right. Enemies move regardless of whether they are locked on to the players or not.

Then each enemy shoots at the players normally, if in range and locked on. Enemies lock onto the players as normal.

The enemies DO NOT get the +2 damage bonus for shooting at a speed zero player ship. If an enemy reaches the player ship the players lose the Mission.

Any enemy, damage, or other game effects that affect the speed, position, or rotation of the players has no effect. The ship cannot move or rotate under any circumstances.

At the end of Step 7, turn over the top card of the Enemy deck, and place that enemy in the Enemy Start square. It does not move or fire until next turn.

Objective: Destroy all enemy ships before one reaches your position.

Mission 9: Kestrel Run

On an exploration mission your ship has been captured by an exotic race calling themselves The Kestrel. They have disabled your weapons, put the jump drive in stasis, and imprisoned your crew. Your only chance to win your freedom is by successfully completing their ancient ritual: The Kestrel Run!

Map setup: Start in any square along this edge. Exit map through one of these square edges.

Ship Starting Speed: 2 Nemesis Marker: Not Used

Weapons and Jump stations inactive. May be played with 2 players.

All map tiles start out explored. Enemy ships and crystals are placed at the start of the game in the squares indicated.

In addition to changing the enemy levels as usual, difficulty levels also affect the mission ojectives.

Objective: Move off of the map via one of the two green square edges and:

• Easy Difficulty: Tractor one crystal
• Normal Difficulty: Tractor two crystals
• Hard Difficulty: Tractor three crystals

Mission 10: Star Kraken

Reports have flooded into Star Command about a previously unknown space beast moving perilously close to Arcturus IV. The Xenobiology division needs someone to scan the creature and collect information. You are NOT to destroy the creature - you are simply to subdue it to make sure the planet is safe, and wait for further instructions.

Setup: Start in this square with any facing. Beak starts in squares shown. Even though it is the size of a normal ship it is considered to occupy all four squares. Mix up tentacles and place one in each of the squares as shown, Active side up.

Ship Starting Speed: 0 All map tiles start out explored. Nemesis Marker: Not Used

NOTE: You must have access to the internet to complete this mission.

The Star Kraken is represented by five tokens: Beak, and four Tentacles. The Beak is on the back of the Hypercube token. The Tentacles represent the tips of the tentacles, but only the actual tokens may affect the players. The tentacles have two sides: ACTIVE, with the station icon up, and SUBDUED, with no station icon. Each tentacle also has a card associated with it.

At the start of the game, give all the cards to the Sensor player, with the ACTIVE side up.

The Star Kraken beak token does not move. Only the tentacle tokens are mobile.

The players may move through tentacles with no ill effect. If they enter any of the squares of the Beak the ship suffers 2 dice of damage for each square of the beak they pass through, to a random shield.

Tentacles may not be attacked normally. The cards explain how each tentacle must be subdued. The Beak may never be attacked. When a tentacle is subdued, turn the card over and move the token to BEAK square in its map tile.

Tentacles are always considered locked onto the players. During Step 7, only the Tentacle in the same map tile as the players will activate. Move it towards the players as normal. Tentacles are immune to all map obstacles.

After the tentacle moves, one of three things happens, depending on where it ends up:

• A. If it is on the same square as the players, it does a GRAB attack. Move the tentacle token and the player ship to the Beak square on that tile, keeping the same ship facing. The beak causes 2 dice of damage to a random shield.
• B. If it is within range of the attack shown on the tentacle card, but not on the same square, it will ATTACK normally using the card attack. Subdued tentacles may NOT attack (although they can GRAB). The Kraken will Spin instead (see below).
• C. If it is out of range, the Kraken will SPIN. Each tentacle slides five squares towards a new tile in the clockwise direction. If they cross the player ship as they move, they cause one die of damage against the facing shield.

Spin example: After Tentacle A moves, it is out of range of the players, so the Kraken spins. The tentacles end up in the yellow circles. If the player ship was here, they would take one die of damage to the port shield.

First Objective: Subdue the Kraken

To subdue the Kraken the players must subdue three out of the four tentacles.

After you subdue three out of four tentacles, look at the back of the last active tentacle card. This contains a QR code. Scan the code or enter the URL on the card into your browser, and you will be presented with the next part of your mission.

Historical Mission H1: Escape from Mercury

Alien spacecraft have moved into Mercury orbit and they are definitely not friendly. Someone needs to slip through their blockade and get back to Earth to report the stunning news. Humanity is not alone in the universe.

Map setup: Exit along this edge. Start in this square with any facing.

Ship Starting Speed: 1 Nemesis Marker: 5

You are flying a modified ore hauler. The following special rules are in effect:

• Shields and Jump are inactive. 2 Player: Engineering is in Step 3B instead of 3A.
• You may not break enemy lock with sensors.
• Each torpedo fired does -1 damage.
• All enemy ships are Saucers (randomly chosen), and are placed in the squares indicated when those map tiles are revealed.

Objective: Leave the map along the indicated edge.

Historical Mission H2: Earth Orbital Platform

It is time for mankind's first strike back at the alien menace! An elite squad from the Rocket Patrol has been hand-picked to assault the enemy platform orbiting high above Earth. Your mission is to cripple the platform's defenses and dock with it so the Rocket Patrol can breach the hull and retrieve an alien blood sample.

Map setup: Start in this square with any facing.

Ship Starting Speed: 1 Nemesis Marker: 0/1/2 (Difficulty: E/N/H) (see Special Rules below)

All tiles start explored. Set up three saucers (randomly selected) and one thrall into the four squares shown. The Orbital Platform is represented by a crystal token, and is placed in the square containing the hexagon, above.

Jump drives are inactive.

The orbital platform attacks the players as the last enemy to activate in step 7. It always has a lock on the players. Orbital platform range is four squares plus the box occupied by the Nemesis token. The damage done by the platform is equal to the box the Nemesis marker is located in.

Each turn move the Nemesis marker to the right by one square. If it reaches the end of the track, do not move it further. The Nemesis marker never moves to the left on the track.

Objective: The players win instantly when all four enemy ships have been destroyed or deactivated, and the ship marker ends movement on or at range 1 to the Orbital Platform.

Historical Mission H3: Thrall Rescue

We are finally pushing back the enemy across the solar system. But the Rocket Patrol has received intelligence that the alien scum are going to try to sneak a Sleeper Ship past the blockade so they can do unimaginable things to the unlucky humans on board. We can't let that happen. Don't let the Sleeper Ship escape!

Map setup: Start in any square on this edge.

Ship Starting Speed: 1 Nemesis Marker: Not Used

All tiles start explored. Set up Saucer Leader (L), two additional saucers (S), and one thrall (T) into the four squares shown.

If playing on Easy difficulty, place the Thrall ship where shown. On Normal, place it one square to the left. On Hard, place it one additional square to the left.

Jump drives are inactive.

The Thrall ship moves three squares per turn to the left each turn. Once it is deactivated it moves one square per turn instead.

Until deactivated the Thrall ship will attack the players as normal, if able.

Objective: Destroy the three saucers and deactivate the Thrall ship before it moves off the left edge of the board.

Historical Mission H4: Hunt for the Invisible Planet

The brainiacs back at HQ have finally figured out that the aliens have a special shrouding device hiding their base from our view. Good news: They've also figured out how to breach the shroud. Bad News: You need to get up close and personal to do so. Worse News: The scanner disables your long-range comm system. So you need to get home to tell us what you've learned. Your ship has been outfitted with the new scanning device, and you need to scout the area to find their planet so we can exterminate them once and for all.

Map setup: Start in this square on this edge. Exit via this edge. Enemy Entry Squares.

Ship Starting Speed: 3 Nemesis Marker: 6

All tiles start explored. Set up two random saucers in the squares shown. Crystals represent possible locations of the Invisible Planet. Take the three Invisible Planet tokens (one planet and two dummies), turn them over, mix them up, and place one beneath each crystal token.

If playing on Normal difficulty, roll a die and place one additional random enemy ship on that entry square, not locked on to players.

If playing on Hard difficulty, roll two dice and place one additional random enemy ship on each square. Only one ship per square, so if you roll doubles, keep rolling until you get two different numbers.

Jump Drives are inactive.

If you have a Superlock on a crystal and are within 3 squares you may turn over the token beneath the crystal.

Each turn, at the end of Step 7, a new random enemy ship will enter the board. Roll a die and place the enemy in the square indicated. It will not move or shoot the turn it enters. If all Historical enemy ships are on the map, do not roll the die. Destroyed enemies may re-enter on a future turn. Enemies enter the map locked on to the players. If, after their next move, they are not within six squares they lose lock as normal.

Example: The players roll a '5' and draw the Saucer Leader card from the Enemy cards. They place it on the '5' square, locked on to the players, but it does not move or shoot. Next turn Saucer Leader moves towards the players but ends up eight squares away. It loses lock on the players.

Objective: Locate the Invisible Planet token and exit the map off of the same edge you started on.