Space Expatriate Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Target
• Components Overview
• Inclusions
• Setup
  • Example of Setup for 2 Players
• Game Flow
  • Phase 1: Actions
• Delivery Action
  • How to Use Engineering Station Modules
  • How to Use Terraforming Station Modules
• Engineering Action
• Terraforming Action
  • Colonization Mission
• Military Action
• Phase 2: Turn Order
• Phase 3: Cleanup
• Game End
  • Defining a Winner
• Appendix: Colony Card Effects
  • Delivery
  • Engineering
  • Terraforming
  • Military

Game Target

In this game, players represent private companies that have launched and currently control Space Stations searching for possibilities to terraform other planets. During the game, players gain Terraforming Points (TPs) reflecting their ability to apply technologies and resources sponsored by humanity towards their research and experiments. However, in order to make TPs meaningful, players also set up Colonies and thus, open new strategic possibilities for them and improve the multiplier of TPs into Victory Points (VPs) which eventually determine the winner (s).

Components Overview

Station Module cards (four types, identified by colour):

• Delivery - provide resources.
• Engineering - produce or exchange resources and give Terraforming Points.
• Terraforming - consume resources and give Terraforming Points.
• Military - stand for Combat Arms forces, open tactical possibilities.

Draw a Station Module card means the player retrieves a card (keeping secret) from a Station Modules supply deck and adds it to their hand.

Dock a Station Module means the player places a Station Module card openly in front of them and enables its effect. Cards in play should be grouped by color forming 4 columns.

Colony Cards - Used to set up Colonies and they have distinctive effects. Colonies provide permanent benefits and improve the multiplier of Terraforming Points into Victory Points at game end. Each Colony card shows the number of players it is used with.

Hint cards - On one side, provide guidance on the game's four Actions. On the other side, illustrate the matrix of Victory Points (VPs) and number of Colonies used to determine the winner(s).

Space Garbage card - Shared by all players. Used to collect unconsumed resources.

Resources (cubes), Terraforming Points (TPs) tokens, and the First Player marker.

Two-sided markers of Combat Arms (military) Supremacy/Inferiority.

Inclusions

• 128 Station Module cards
• 28 Colony cards
• 4 two-sided Hints cards
• 1 Space Garbage card
• First Player marker
• 43 plastic cubes of 6 colors representing resources
• 17 two-sided markers of Combat Arms (military) Supremacy/Inferiority
• Terraforming Points (TPs) tokens

Setup

1. Distribute Hints cards amongst players. Place unused Hints cards, if any, back in the box.

2. Place Space Garbage card on the table and make it accessible to all players.

3. Make resources cubes and Terraforming Points tokens accessible to all players.

4. Group all Station Module cards into decks based on type (Delivery, Engineering, Terraforming, and Military). Shuffle all the decks and then deal 1 card of each type, face down, to each player forming their starting hand. Each player ends up with 4 Station Module cards. The remaining cards form Station Module cards supply and is made accessible to all players.

5. Review Colony cards deck and remove cards that do not fit your number of players:

   • 2 player game: Remove all Colony cards marked with "3+" (16 cards) and put them back in the box.
   • 3+ player game: Remove all Colony cards marked with "2" (4 cards) and put them back in the box.

6. Shuffle the Colony cards deck, draw a number of cards equal to the number of players (but not less than 3), and place them face up, accessible to all players. The remaining cards form the Colony cards supply.

7. Distribute military Supremacy/Inferiority markers. Each player receives a set of 4 two-sided markers (blue from one side and red from the other). The unique marker that is red on both sides (Tactical Nanorobotics) is used only in a 2-player game and is placed next to the Colony cards deck then. In a 3-4 player game, this additional marker is placed back in the box.

8. Select a First Player for the first round and grant them the First Player marker.

Example of Setup for 2 Players

The rulebook shows an example layout with the Actions, the Neutral Colonies and a Player's Space Station.

Game Flow

The game is divided into rounds consisting of 3 phases each:

1. Actions
2. Turn order
3. Cleanup

Phase 1: Actions

In this phase, players act upon the Actions that were created during Setup step number 10.

Actions usually bring additional benefits to the player who selects them, then called "Active Player". All other players are treated as "Passive" during the Action.

Starting from the First Player and moving clockwise, each player selects one of the Actions and:

1. Docks the representing Station Module card to their Space Station.
2. Triggers an appropriate Action effect.

The Action effect must be fully applied to all players before the next player selects an Action. However, during the Action itself, players can still carry out some activities using their cards as will be explained later, especially if the player does not feel dependency on the previous player's moves.

During the Action, any activities that concern multiple players shall be resolved starting from the Active Player and moving clockwise or starting from a player sitting to the Active Player's left and moving clockwise (if the activity does not impact the Active Player).

Delivery Action

This is the broadest Action in terms of the numbers of activities and moves that can be carried out during it.

In this Action, resources are delivered from Earth and players get to spend them on research and experiments using Delivery, Engineering, and Terraforming Station Modules.

There are 6 resource types:

• Fuel
• Machinery
• Minerals
• Nanotechnologies
• Biotic Materials
• Dark Matter *

* Exception: Dark Matter is the only resource that cannot be delivered from Earth and can only be manufactured in Space using the Engineering Station Modules as will be explained later.

The Delivery Action has two options for execution. The Active Player must select the desired option before execution, and they will then resolve their Delivery Action and derive their benefits depending on the selected option. The two Delivery Action options available are:

• Delivery - Charter Vessel: Gain one additional resource of any type (apart from Dark Matter) from resources supply, regardless of Space Garbage contents.
• Delivery - Garbage Collection: Remove all resources of any one selected type from Space Garbage.

Now each player resolves the Delivery Action as follows:

1. Gain the resources that are displayed on your own Delivery Station Module cards (by collecting the corresponding resources cubes from the supply). Resources are not limited; if the included resources supply runs out, mark gained resources on paper.
2. Check Space Garbage contents: discard from your resources the same number and type as contained in Space Garbage and put them back to the supply. If you don't have enough resources of some type to lose, lose as many as you have of that type (if any).

Eventually, each player receives resources from their Delivery Station Module less what is contained in Space Garbage.

Example: On Delivery, Steve would gain: 1 Fuel (purple), 1 Minerals (blue), and 2 Biotic Materials (green) resources. But considering Space Garbage content, he has to return 1 Biotic Materials and 1 Minerals resources back to the supply. He doesn't receive any Nanotechnologies (yellow), so he ignores that in Space Garbage. Steve continues his Delivery Action with 1 Fuel and 1 Biotic Materials resources.

The newly gained resources can now be used by players' Engineering & Terraforming Station Modules.

How to Use Engineering Station Modules

There are three types of Engineering Modules: Generators, Conductors, and Finalizers.

Conductors and Finalizers: In order to use Conductors and Finalizers, you need to charge them with energy by discarding any card from your hand. Each discarded card equals one portion of energy.

Conductors receive energy, use it to produce or exchange resources as illustrated on the cards, and then pass the energy to the next Engineering Station Module.

Finalizers consume the energy and produce resource(s).

With one portion of energy, you may use all of your Conductors and one of your Finalizers.

You may spend as many cards as you wish/have in order to generate energy portions using your Conductors and/or Finalizers.

If a Conductor displays a resource to the left of the wires, this means the player needs to spend one resource of that type (goes back to the resources supply) in order to gain the resource displayed to the right of the wires. The player may spend resources gained from previous Engineering Station Modules. Conductors may be used in any order but not more than once per energy portion.

Example: Alex discards one card in order to gain an energy portion and uses it to (1) retrieve 1 Biotic Materials (green) resource, then (2) exchange the newly gained resource to 1 Nanotechnologies (yellow) resource, and (3) retrieve one more Nanotechnologies resource from his Finalizer. After that, Alex discards one more card, gains 1 Biotic Materials resource, exchanges it to Nanotechnologies but this time selects another Finalizer that brings him 1 Fuel (purple) and 1 Minerals (blue) resources. By doing that, Alex ends up with additional 3 Nanotechnologies, 1 Fuel, and 1 Minerals resources.

Generators: Generators are an alternative way of obtaining energy. Spend the required resource (put it onto the card) in order to get 1 TP and a portion of energy. Generators may be used only once per Action and spent resources go back to resources supply at the end of the Action.

Example: Eva puts 1 Minerals (blue) resource on the Generator and gains a portion of energy to be used on her Conductor. Additionally, she gains 1 TP. Then, she spends 1 Fuel (purple) resource and gains a portion of energy and 1 TP one more time. As she needs one more Biotic Materials (green) resource, she decides to discard a card from her hand in order to generate additional portion of energy. So ultimately, she ends up with 3 Biotic Materials resources and 2 TPs.

How to Use Terraforming Station Modules

Place remaining and newly gained resources on your Terraforming Station Module cards in accordance with the requirements illustrated on the card. When the requirements of a Terraforming Station Module are fully met, put those resources back to resources supply and gain the corresponding number of TPs. If there are multiple options on how to spend your resources with Terraforming Station Modules, you may choose any of them (the best option is usually obvious).

Each Terraforming Station Module may be used only once per Delivery Action.

Dark Matter (black) resource may be used as a wild card to substitute any other resource required by a Terraforming Station Module.

Some Terraforming Station Modules accept resources of multiple types (e.g., Fuel, Minerals, or Biotic Materials). Such modules feature multi-colored resource cubes on them.

Example: Eva consumes 1 Biotic Materials (green) and 1 Dark Matter (black) resources on her upper Terraforming Station Module and gains 3 TPs. Then, she consumes 2 Minerals (blue) resources on the middle Terraforming Station Module and gains 2 more TPs. Unfortunately (but luckily for her opponents), she doesn't possess any Nanotechnologies (yellow) resource and can't fulfil the requirements of the lower Terraforming Station Module. Therefore, the last Minerals resource remains unused. Alternatively, she may have consumed her Dark Matter on the lower Terraforming Station Module.

Any remaining resources (from all players) that were not eventually consumed by Terraforming Station Modules are moved to form a new Space Garbage while previous Space Garbage contents are returned to supply.

Dark Matter is a special variable resource type that:

• Can only be produced by Engineering Station Modules and cannot be delivered from Earth.
• Can never be consumed by Engineering Station Modules.
• May be used as a wild card by Terraforming Station Modules.
• Cannot be discarded into Space Garbage. It goes back to supply instead.

Engineering Action

In Engineering, players look for ways to dock more Station Modules to their Space Stations. Each player may dock a Station Module of any type from their hand (if they have at least one card). The Active Player docks an additional Station Module from any Station Module cards supply.

Hint for the Active Player: Do not miss an opportunity to dock an additional Station Module as an Active Player. When picking Engineering Action, the Active Player can dock up to 3 Station Modules: the Action module itself, one from their hand, and one from any Station Modules supply of their choosing.

Terraforming Action

During this Action, players get a chance to undock some of their Station Modules and send them on a colonization mission which would amplify players' TPs earnings and provide them with permanent benefits.

Colonization Mission

At the beginning of the Action, the Active Player defines the Mission Type as one of the four types of Station Modules (Delivery, Engineering, Terraforming, Military).

Starting from the Active Player and moving clockwise, each player may undock 4 Station Modules, one of each type, or 3 modules of the Mission Type from their Space Station to set up a Colony. The player selects one of the available unused Colonies (neutral Colonies), places it next to their Station Modules, and collects TPs from it (if any). The undocked Station Module cards are then discarded.

Example: Alex is the Active Player and he selects "Engineering" as a Mission Type. This opens up for him 3 options:

1. The option to undock 3 Engineering Station Modules and set up a Colony.
2. The option to undock a Delivery module, one of his Engineering modules, a Terraforming module, and a Military module and set up a Colony.
3. The option to skip setting up a Colony altogether.

Once all the players have set up Colonies (or skipped), they proceed to review the unused (neutral) open Colonies and perform the below:

• If there is only 1 Colony left unused, boost it with 2 TPs.
• Otherwise, boost every unused Colony with 1 TP (even if no one colonized).
• Open as many Colony cards as required to make the set of Colonies whole again (a number equal to the number of players but not less than 3).

The Colony effect is applied as soon as the Colony is set up. Colony effects are permanent and remain active throughout the game.

For Colonies whose effects are required to be applied "Before" or "After" an Action, the effects are applied starting from the Active Player and moving clockwise.

Example: Steve is the Active Player. He selects "Delivery" as a Mission Type. He selects the leftmost Colony which is "Field Research Headquarters" to colonize. Steve collects 1 TP from this Colony. As the Colony effect says to collect TPs from all unused Colonies, he collects 1 more TP from the middle Colony right away. Alex sits to Steve's left. He selects the middle Colony "Extensive Growth Expertise" to colonize. As the Colony effect kicks in immediately, Alex gains 2 TPs because the selected Mission Type is not Engineering.

Military Action

Each Military Station Module displays one of four symbols representing some Combat Arms forces and indicating players' influence in the international arena. Similar symbols also appear on several Colonies (in addition to one more military symbol that is unique in Colonies: see Tactical Nanorobotics).

Before starting the Action, all players (apart from the Active Player) proceed to compare their military power to the Active Player. In order to do that, the players compare the number of each Combat Arms forces they possess according to the following rules:

• If a player has more Military cards and Colonies of a certain symbol than the Active Player, they flip the appropriate Combat Arms marker blue-up to indicate their Supremacy.
• In case of a lower number, they flip the marker red-up to indicate their Inferiority.
• In case of a tie, the marker is put aside.

Example: Steve is the Active Player. He has 3 "Intelligence Assessment" Station Modules whereas Eva has 1 "Spaceborne Forces" and 1 "Orbital Weapons". Eva flips her "Intelligence Assessment" Combat Arms marker red-up (indicating Inferiority) but "Spaceborne Forces" and "Orbital Weapons" blue-up (indicating Supremacy).

Note: In a 2-player game, the unique marker that is red on both sides (placed next to Colonies deck during Setup) comes into effect once the Colony that bears the same symbol is set up by a player. Then, the owner of this new Colony will have permanent Military Supremacy while their opponent will be doomed to permanent Military Inferiority.

The Military Action has two options for execution. The Active Player must select the desired option before execution, and they will derive their benefits depending on the selected option. The two Military Action options available are:

• Military - Exploration: Each player draws a card from any Station Module cards supply. Find any player with the greatest number of Military Inferiorities. The Active Player draws 1 more card for each of that player's Inferiorities from any Station Module cards supply.
• Military - Political Pressure: Each player, except the Active Player, draws a card from any Station Module cards supply. The Active Player selects any Station Module from any other player's Space Station and docks it to their Space Station. The ex-owner of the Station Module ("Victim") draws, from any Station Module cards supply, an additional 1 card for each of their own Military Supremacies.

In the case of "Military - Political Pressure" option, note that military power is compared beforehand, i.e., before any Station Module changes its owner. Therefore, the number of cards drawn by the Victim won't be impacted, no matter which Station Module is selected to be taken away from them.

Phase 2: Turn Order

The objective of this phase is to designate a new First Player for the upcoming round.

Similar to what was done at the beginning of the Military Action, players compare their military power to the First Player (the player who opened the round and holds the First Player marker).

The First Player transfers the token (and thus passes the priority for the next round) to the closest player counterclockwise who holds no fewer Supremacies than Inferiorities. That is, a player who meets any one of the below conditions:

• Holds more Military Supremacies than Military Inferiorities.
• Holds an equal number of Supremacies and Inferiorities.
• Holds neither Supremacies nor Inferiorities (a tie).

Example: Steve is the First Player and has 2 "Intelligence Assessment" Station Modules. Eva (sitting to Steve's right) has 1 "Intelligence Assessment", and Alex (sitting to Steve's left) has 1 "Extraterrestrial Fighters" Station Module. As such, Eva has no Supremacies and 1 Inferiority ("Intelligence Assessment") and therefore, she cannot get the First Player marker. Alex has 1 Inferiority ("Intelligence Assessment") and 1 Supremacy ("Extraterrestrial Fighters"). Therefore, Alex becomes the new First Player.

If there is no player who qualifies for the First Player marker under the above conditions, the marker stays with the previous owner.

Phase 3: Cleanup

Discard all unused Actions (if any).

Now that all 3 phases of the round are complete, you can start a new round, with the new First Player: open 1 Station Module card of each type "Actions" and start over.

Game End

The game ends right after Actions phase when any one of the following conditions is met:

• A single player has set up 10 Colonies.
• All players have collectively set up not less than the following number of Colonies:
  • 2 player game: 10
  • 3 player game: 15
  • 4 player game: 20

Defining a Winner

Have a look at the Victory Points table on the Hints card. Find the row corresponding to your number of Colonies. In that row, find the cell with the TPs range relevant to your earned TPs. Look at the column header to find out your final Victory Points (VPs) count.

The player with the highest number of VPs is the winner.

In case of a VPs tie, the player with the highest number of TPs wins.

In case of a TPs tie, the player with the highest number of Colonies wins.

If multiple players have exactly the same number of TPs and Colonies, they then share the victory.

Example: a player who has 5 Colonies and 37 TPs earns 6 VPs.

If there is no corresponding column in the table to determine your VPs, you can do the calculation as follows: find the row corresponding to your number of Colonies. You will earn 1 VP for each number of your TPs equal to the divisor (which is the number between brackets found next to the Colonies number). That is: you divide your TPs by the relevant divisor. The quotient will be your number of VPs.

Example: a player who has 5 Colonies applies the divisor 6. Assuming the player has 65 TPs, they will earn 10 VPs.

Appendix: Colony Card Effects

Delivery

• Plutonium Ore Mines: On Delivery, ignore all Fuel in Space Garbage (3+ player game).
• Titanium Mines: On Delivery, ignore all Minerals in Space Garbage (3+ player game).
• Habitable Planet: On Delivery, ignore all Biotic Materials in Space Garbage (3+ player game).
• Manufacturing Megapolis: On Delivery, ignore all Machinery & Nanotechnology in Space Garbage (3+ player game).
• Black Market: On Delivery, one of your Delivery Station Modules ignores Space Garbage (2 player game).

Example: Because of Space Garbage contents, Alex would not be able to receive any Biotic Materials (green) resources from one of his Station Modules, and he would receive only 1 Biotic Materials resource from the other Station Module. However, "Black Market" Colony effect cancels the Space Garbage effect for one Station Module. Therefore, Alex eventually receives 3 Biotic Materials resources.

• Space Lift: Before Delivery, add/remove a resource to/from Space Garbage. You may do this as many times as there are players in the game. Note: apply this effect before the Active Player retrieves an additional resource or cleans the Space Garbage up.
• Heliostat Desert: On Delivery, you may convert one Fuel, Minerals, or Biotic Materials resource into an energy portion and gain 2 TPs.

Engineering

• Space Carriers Port: Before Engineering, dock a Station Module from Delivery supply (3+ player game).
• Robotics Assembly Plant: Before Engineering, dock a Station Module from Engineering supply (3+ player game).
• Scientific Industries: Before Engineering, dock a Station Module from Terraforming supply (3+ player game).
• Military Engineering: Before Engineering, dock a Station Module from Military supply (3+ player game).
• Spacecraft Manufactory: After Engineering, dock a Station Module (from supply) of any type of which you have fewer on your Station than the other types (2 player game).

Example: After Engineering, Eva is free to dock a Station Module either from Delivery or from Terraforming supply.

• Space Industry Center: On Engineering, gain 1 TP for each Station Module being docked to your Station during the Action. Note: docking the Action Station Module itself is not eligible for 1 TP under this Colony effect. The player here gains 1 TP for each Station Module docked to their station as a result of the Action (1 or 2) or as a result of any other Colony effect happening on Engineering.
• Institute of Technology: On Engineering, whenever you need to dock a Station Module from hand/supply, draw a card (from any supply) and then dock a Station Module from your hand instead. This Colony card effect gives its owner the privilege of a wider choice of Station Modules to dock.

Example: Alex is a Passive Player on Engineering Action. As he possesses "Institute of Technology" Colony, he can draw a Station Module card from any supply. He chooses Military supply. The newly gained Military Station Module fits his needs so he decides to dock it to his Space Station. As he also possesses "Military Engineering" Colony, he draws a Station Module card from Military supply. This time, this card is less beneficial for him so he decides to dock a Delivery Station Module from his hand instead.

Terraforming

• Detached Development Center: On Terraforming, gain 2 TPs if the Mission Type is not Delivery (3+ player game).
• Extensive Growth Expertise: On Terraforming, gain 2 TPs if the Mission Type is not Engineering (3+ player game).
• Outer Space Affairs Agency: On Terraforming, gain 2 TPs if the Mission Type is not Terraforming (3+ player game).
• Scientific Committee: On Terraforming, gain 2 TPs if the Mission Type is not Military (3+ player game).
• Operations Support Command: On Terraforming, gain 2 TPs if you have at least one Station Module card of the Mission Type in your hand (2 player game).
• Strategic Development Center: After Terraforming, dock a Station Module of the Mission Type from supply.
• Field Research Headquarters: On Terraforming, on your turn, collect all TPs from neutral Colonies (even if you do not set up a Colony).

Example: Eva is a Passive Player on Terraforming Action. She sits to the Active Player's left and possesses "Field Research Headquarters" Colony. The Active Player colonizes and selects "Strategic Development Center" Colony and collects its 2 TPs. Now, it's Eva's turn. She collects 1 TP from "Extensive Growth Expertise" Colony, even if she does not plan to set up a Colony.

Military

• Infantry Training Camp: Empowers Spaceborne Forces and wins the tie when comparing military power for this Combat Arms forces (3+ player game).
• Military Cosmodrome: Empowers Extraterrestrial Fighters and wins the tie when comparing military power for this Combat Arms forces (3+ player game).
• Hypertelescopes: Empowers Intelligence Assessment and wins the tie when comparing military power for this Combat Arms forces (3+ player game).
• Missile Guidance: Empowers Orbital Weapons and wins the tie when comparing military power for this Combat Arms forces (3+ player game).
• Tactical Nanorobotics: Permanent Supremacy in this unique Combat Arms forces (2 player game).
• Command Center: On Military, gain 1 TP for each card drawn by you during the Action but not more than 3 TPs.
• Reverse Engineering Lab: On Military - Political Pressure, when docking another player's Station Module, draw (from supply) 1 card for each of their Inferiorities.

Example: Because "Infantry Training Camp" Colony works both as a "Spaceborne Forces" carrier and a tie breaker, Steve's opponent (to the right) gets Inferiority in "Spaceborne Forces" Combat Arms.