Titanium Wars Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Goal
• Setup
• How to Play
• Exploration
• Production
• Outfitting
• Conquest
  • 1. Choosing a Tactic
  • 2. Revealing Tactics
  • 3. Resolving Tactics
  • 4. Discarding Tactic Cards
  • 5. Result of the Offensive
• End of Turn and End of Game
• Diplomacy
• Voluntary Card Destruction
• Advanced Strategy Mode
• Quick Start (Setup Illustration)
  • Sample Arsenal cards shown in the illustration
• Summary of a Game Turn
• Anatomy of the Cards
  • Leaders
  • Events
  • Planets
  • Buildings (icon)
  • Units (icon)
  • Upgrade (icon)
• Card Clarifications
  • Buildings
  • Units
  • Upgrades
• Glossary
• Leaders
• Credits

Contents

• One Arsenal composed of: 65 Unit cards, 96 Upgrade cards, and 74 Building cards
• 12 Planet/Event cards
• 50 Tactic Cards
• Credits, which are the currency of the game (in bills of 50¢, 100¢, and 500¢)
• 1 and 4 Damage tokens
• 8 Leader cards
• 1st Player token
• 4 Summary cards

Goal

Conquer Planets in order to control a target number of Titanium deposits; the target number depends on how many players there are and how long you wish the game to be:

	Quick	Standard	Long
3 players	7	8	9
4 players	6	7	8

The first player to control at least the target number of Titanium deposits seizes control of the galaxy and wins the game.

Setup

Set the game up as described in the Quick Start illustration on the next page.

Each player does the following: You get 1000¢, and 3 Tactic Cards for your starting Hand (do not show them to the other players). Then draw 2 Leader cards and choose one, which you place in front of you face-up. Return the unused Leader card to the box.

The player wearing the most purple receives the 1st Player token. Whenever an action must be undertaken following the Player Order, start with the 1st player, then continue clockwise.

How to Play

Each turn in Titanium Wars is divided into four phases, which are executed in this specific order:

Exploration > Production > Outfitting > Conquest

If nobody has attained the victory requirements at the end of a turn, start a new turn.

Exploration

The 1st player draws the top Event card, turns it over, and places it next to the draw pile (i.e. Planet-side-up): this is the Planet to Conquer this turn. Then the player reads the newly-revealed Event card (top card on the draw pile) aloud. Its effects will last throughout the turn. The Planet Detected indicated on the Event card is the Planet to Conquer on the following turn.

Production

Collect the credits produced by your Planets (including your Home Planet, as indicated on your Leader card), plus 150¢ per Refinery you own.

Outfitting

Players can buy cards from the Arsenal by paying their cost, with the following limitations:

• You may not buy a card with a Technological Level higher than your own.

Note: You can buy a Laboratory, and take advantage of its Technological Level increase during the same turn.

• You may not have more Units than your Fleet can hold as indicated by the icon.
• You may not have more Buildings than slots on your Planets, nor Upgrades than slots on your Ships.
• You may not buy a card that is no longer available in the Arsenal. If there aren't enough for everyone who wants one, players buy in Player Order.

Note: Players buy simultaneously. They may keep the purchased cards secret until the end of the phase.

Once everyone is done with purchases and ready to move on to the Conquest phase, reveal the cards you bought, and place them in your play area by slipping the Upgrades under the Ships, and the Buildings under the Planets.

Example of an equipped planet: You are General Hox, and your Home Planet limits your fleet to 3 Units (icon) and your Hand to 3 Tactic Cards (icon). It can hold up to 4 Buildings (icon). At the moment, it has one Laboratory which increases your Technological Level by 1 and one Refinery which produces an additional 150¢ per turn.

Conquest

A Conquest is a succession of Offensives that enables you to gain control of the Planet that was revealed at the beginning of the turn. You choose whether to engage in the Conquest, and can always choose to drop out of it before each Offensive. You can only participate in an Offensive or conquer a Planet if your fleet contains at least one Ship (Fighter Squadron, Cruiser, or Destroyer), and if you participate, you must commit your entire Fleet; you may not keep any Units back.

Each Offensive comprises five steps:

1. Choosing a Tactic

Following Player Order, players announce whether they participate in the Offensive or withdraw:

• If you want to participate in the Offensive and have at least one Ship, choose one of your Tactic Cards and place it face-down on the table.
• If you do not want to participate, or have no more Ships, do not place a Tactic Card on the table, and instead declare that you withdraw. You cannot participate in the Conquest phase any more this turn, and your Units will suffer no further Damage.
• If only one player plays a Tactic Card, that player automatically conquers the Planet and moves on to step 4: Discarding Tactic Cards.

2. Revealing Tactics

• When all the players have declared whether they will participate in the Offensive, the participating players simultaneously reveal their Tactic, and announce its Name and Priority.

3. Resolving Tactics

The revealed Tactics are resolved successively in order of Priority (from 0 to 7):

• Determine the Total Attack Strength of a Tactic: Add up the Attack Strengths of your Ships and/or Planetary Supports that have been activated by your Tactic (Attack Strength is doubled if "Attack x2" is written on the card).
• Allocate Damage: Take as many Damage tokens as your Total Attack Strength and distribute them however you want onto the types of participating enemy units that your Tactic Card allows you to target. You are not required to allocate all of the damage. You may assign damage to Units belonging to one or several participating players.
• Simultaneous Attack: If several players played Tactic Cards with the same Priority, they determine their Total Attack Strengths simultaneously, then assign Damage following Player Order.
• Destruction of Units: As soon as a Unit has as many Damage markers as its Defense Value, it is immediately destroyed and returned to the Arsenal along with its Upgrades.
• Special Tactics: Diversion and Missile Launch are resolved by following the instructions on the Tactic Card; do not calculate Total Attack Strength when using them.

Example of a Tactic Card: Priority 5, name Destructive Fire, ships and/or Planetary Supports activated by the Tactic: Destroyers, enemy units targeted by the Tactic: Cruisers, Destroyers, Attack Strength multiplier x2. DESTRUCTIVE FIRE: All your Destroyers target your opponents' Cruisers and Destroyers, and attack at double strength.

4. Discarding Tactic Cards

• Discard Tactic Cards that were played.
• Each player, in Player Order, has this option: If you participated in the Offensive, you can discard as many of your remaining Tactic Cards as you want: The first discard per turn is free, but any additional discards cost 100¢ per card. Discarded cards are placed in a face-up pile on the table.
• Finally, following Player Order, draw as many Tactic Cards as necessary to bring your Hand up to your Hand limit.

If the Tactics draw pile is empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new face-down draw pile.

5. Result of the Offensive

• If more than one player still has ships, participating players begin a new Offensive at step 1: Choosing a Tactic.
• If, at the end of an Offensive, you are the only participating player with Ships left, you win the Conquest and the Planet is yours. Place it in front of you, next to your other Planets. The turn ends.
  • If none of the participating players have Ships left, nobody wins the Planet, it is slipped back under the draw pile and the turn ends.

End of Turn and End of Game

If, after having conquered a Planet, you have the required number of Titanium deposits, you win the game. Otherwise, all players remove the Damage tokens on their Units, and the 1st player gives the 1st Player token to the next player clockwise. A new turn begins.

Note: Planets are permanently conquered, they cannot be taken from you.

Diplomacy

Players are free to talk and make all kinds of pacts and promises, which they can keep or break. They cannot trade credits or cards.

Voluntary Card Destruction

In the Outfitting phase, you may decide to voluntarily destroy Units to free up some space in your Fleet, or Upgrades to free up a Ship's slots; however, you may not transfer an Upgrade from one Ship to another.

You can also destroy Buildings on your Planets, but you cannot move a Building from one Planet to another.

If you destroy a Spaceport, adjust the number of Units in your Fleet accordingly.

If you destroy a Command Center, discard a Tactic Card from your Hand.

If you destroy a Laboratory or a Cyber Factory, there is no immediate effect but take your new limit into account during your next purchases (there is no effect on the cards you've already purchased).

Advanced Strategy Mode

Once you feel experienced enough, you can use the Advanced Strategy Mode. If you do, do not reveal Tactic Cards simultaneously at the start of the Offensive. The 1st player calls out the Priorities from 0 to 7. When the Priority of your Tactic is announced, say, "Stop," and reveal your Tactic. If more than one Tactic has the same Priority, use the Simultaneous Attack rule. Once your Tactic has been resolved, the 1st player resumes counting until every Tactic Card has been revealed and resolved.

Quick Start (Setup Illustration)

1. ARSENAL: Place the "Unit", "Upgrade", and "Building" cards face-up in separate piles in the middle of the gaming area.

   • Units: You may not have more Units than your Fleet's limit. Your Fleet's starting limit is three Units. Some Units are also Ships. You can neither conquer a Planet nor participate in an Offensive if you have no Ships in your Fleet.
   • Upgrades: You can equip your Ships with as many Upgrades as they have slots. These Upgrades cannot be transferred and are destroyed when their Ship is destroyed.
   • Buildings: You can construct as many Buildings on the Planets you control as they have slots.
   • Technology Limit: You may not buy a card if you do not have the appropriate Technological Level (Tech 0, Tech 1, Tech 2, Tech 3). You start at Tech 0. You raise your Technological Level when you buy Laboratories. You can buy a Laboratory and take advantage of its Technological Level during the same turn.

2. Shuffle the Planet/Event cards into a draw pile with the "Event" side up. Place the Planet to Conquer next to it.

3. Shuffle the Tactic Cards into a draw pile, face-down, then deal 3 cards to each player.

4. Place the bills within reach of every player and give 1000¢ to each player (bills come in denominations of 50¢, 100¢, and 500¢).

5. Place the Damage tokens (1 and 4) within reach of every player.

6. Finally, each player draws 2 Leader cards, chooses one, places it face-up on the table, discards the other, and takes a Summary card.

7. The player wearing the most purple receives the 1st Player token.

Sample Arsenal cards shown in the illustration

Units: Fighter Squadron (150¢, Unit: Ship, Attack 2, Defense 5), Cruiser (400¢, Unit: Ship, Attack 3, Defense 8), Minefield (200¢, Unit — you can destroy it to inflict damage to the ship of a player who damaged one of your units with his Tactic, other than Planetary Fire and Missile Launch, Defense 1), Destroyer (900¢, Unit: Ship, Attack 5, Defense 13), Interstellar Missile (300¢, Unit — destroy it to inflict damage to all your enemies' ships who are participating in the Offensive when you play Missile Launch, Attack 4, Defense 4), Repair Drone (200¢, Unit — repair 3 damage among your ships at the end of each Offensive, Defense 5).

Upgrades: Laser Cannon (100¢, Attack +1), Armor (150¢, Defense +2), Hyperdrive (100¢, Special: Evasion — this ship cannot be destroyed by a Tactic unless it already had damage before), Self-Destruct Device (100¢, Blast 1 — destroy it to inflict damage to all the ships of the player who destroyed this ship with his Tactic, unless it was destroyed by a Missile Launch or Planetary Fire), Blast Shield (200¢, Special: Shield — this ship and two of your other ships are protected from Blast damage), Magnetic Target (200¢, Special: Target — your ships that are not equipped with Target cannot be dealt damage by enemy Tactics unless by Missile Launch).

Buildings: Refinery (200¢, +150¢), Spaceport (300¢, increases Fleet Unit limit), Laboratory (500¢, +1 Tech, limited to 3 per player), Planetary Support (400¢, Attack 2, limited to 1 per planet), Command Center (300¢, increases Hand limit), Cyber Factory (600¢, your ships acquire an Upgrade slot).

Summary of a Game Turn

1. Exploration

• Flip the top card of the draw pile to reveal the Planet to Conquer and the new Event. The Event is active throughout the turn.

2. Production

• Collect production from your Planets and your Refineries.

3. Outfitting

• Buy as many cards from the Arsenal as you wish, provided you stay within the limits of Technological Level, available slots, and cost.

4. Conquest

• Following Player Order, play a Tactic Card if you want to participate in the first Offensive of the Conquest. The Tactic Cards are revealed simultaneously and resolved in order of Priority (from 0 to 7).
• Players who participated in the Offensive discard the Tactic Card they played, and possibly others, before drawing new cards up to their Hand limit.
• If several players still have Ships, they declare whether they participate in the next Offensive and do so in Player Order.
• …and so on until there is only one player left with Ships at the end of an Offensive or until only one player plays a Tactic Card.

5. End of Turn

• Remove the Damage tokens from your Units.
• The 1st player gives the 1st Player token to the next player clockwise.

Anatomy of the Cards

Leaders

Draw 2 Leader cards at the beginning of the game and choose one. The Leader card describes your character, his or her Power and Home Planet, as well as your Production and the maximum size of your Fleet and your Hand.

A Leader card shows: the Name of the Leader and Home Planet, the Power, Production, Building Slots, the maximum number of Units in the Fleet, and the maximum number of Tactic Cards in Hand.

Example — Lord John, Planet Zephyrus. Power (Hacking): Before choosing your Tactic card, you can pay 50¢ to look at the next Tactic card in the draw pile. You can then pay 100¢ to swap it with a card in your Hand, or pay 50¢ to discard it, or you can place it back on the draw pile for free. Production +1000¢, Building Slots 4, maximum Units in Fleet 3, maximum Tactic Cards in Hand 3.

Events

The effect of an Event applies throughout a turn. It also provides the details of the Planet to Conquer on the next turn.

An Event card shows: its Name, Effect, Production, Building slots, the next Planet detected, and the number of Titanium deposits.

Example — Anti-Matter Shower. Effect: Ship Upgrades are ignored. Hide them under the card of the Ship they equip. Detected Planet: Production +100¢, 2 Building slots, Bonus (Fleet +1), 2 Titanium deposits.

Planets

Each Planet provides resources and, more importantly, Titanium deposits which are what win the game. The first player with the required number of Titanium deposits wins the game.

A Planet card shows: its Name, Production, Building slots, Bonus, and the number of Titanium deposits.

Example — Planet Phyte. Production +100¢, 2 Building slots, Bonus (Fleet +1), 2 Titanium deposits.

Buildings (icon)

Buildings are added to Planets that have available slots by slipping the card under the Planet card, displaying only the information strip. Each Building provides a strategic edge. Some limit how many of them you can have.

A Building card shows: Cost, Name, Type, Required Technological Level and Type, Attack (if any), and Effect.

Example — Planetary Support. Cost 400¢, Type: Building, Tech 1. Attack 2. Limited to 1 per Planet.

Units (icon)

At the beginning of the game, your Fleet is limited to 3 Units. You can raise this limit by purchasing Spaceports or conquering Planets that have a Fleet bonus icon.

A Unit card shows: Cost, Name, Type, Required Technological Level and Type, Strength of Effect (Blast), Effect, and Defense Value.

Example — Interstellar Missile. Cost 300¢, Type: Unit, Tech 2. Blast 4 — Destroy it to inflict damage to all your enemies' ships who are participating in the Offensive when you play Missile Launch. Defense 4.

Some Units are also Ships: Fighter Squadrons, Cruisers, and Destroyers. You can neither participate in an Offensive nor conquer a Planet if you have no Ships in your Fleet.

A Ship card additionally shows Attack Strength and Upgrade Slots alongside its Defense Value.

Example — Cruiser. Cost 400¢, Type: Unit: Ship, Tech 0. Attack Strength 3, 2 Upgrade Slots, Defense Value 8.

Upgrade (icon)

If your Ships have available slots, you can add Upgrades to them to boost their Attack Strength or Defense Value, or to give them new abilities.

Upgrades are added to a Ship by slipping the card under the Ship card, displaying only the information strip.

An Upgrade card shows: Cost, Name, Type, Required Technological Level and Type, Special ability (if any), and Effect.

Example — Blast Shield. Cost 200¢, Type: Upgrade, Tech 3. Special: Shield — This ship and two of your other ships are protected from Blast damage.

You can increase the number of Upgrades that your Ships can receive by purchasing Cyber Factories or conquering Planets that have an Upgrade-slot Bonus.

Example of an equipped Ship: This Cruiser has an Attack Strength of 4 (3+1 from Laser Cannon). It is destroyed if it takes 8 Damage, but its Self-Destruct Device deals 1 Blast Damage to each Ship in the Fleet of the player who destroyed it.

Card Clarifications

Buildings

• Spaceport: Each Spaceport you buy increases the limit of your Fleet by 1. When you destroy one of your Spaceports, if it puts you over your Fleet's limit, you must immediately destroy a Unit.
• Planetary Support: This is the only Building that can attack. There can be only one per Planet. It is the only means to destroy Interstellar Missiles and Ships that are equipped with Self-Destruct Devices without triggering their Blast.
• Command Center: Each Command Center you buy increases the maximum number of Tactic Cards in your Hand by 1. Immediately fill your hand when this maximum increases. Discard a Tactic Card as soon as you destroy one of your Command Centers.
• Cyber Factory: Each Cyber Factory you buy adds an Upgrade slot to each of your Ships.

Note: The Cyber Factory bonus applies only to Ships, not other Units.

Units

• Minefield: Just after a player has finished assigning Damage from a Tactic Card (except for Planetary Fire and Missile Launch), and provided he dealt at least 1 Damage to one of your Units, you can destroy one of your Minefields to deal 2 Blast Damage to each of that player's Ships (unless the Minefield was destroyed during the opponent's attack).

Note: You cannot trigger your Minefield against a player who has no more Ships.

• Interstellar Missile: When you do a Missile Launch, destroy one of your Interstellar Missiles and deal 4 Blast Damage to each Ship belonging to each other player participating in the Offensive.

Note: The Blast from an Interstellar Missile is mandatory (even if you have lost all your Ships) and always hits every other player except those who played the Diversion Tactic against Missile Launch.

• Repair Drone: At the end of each Offensive, the Repair Drone enables you to remove up to 3 total Damage tokens from your Ships.

Note: You cannot repair a Ship that has taken Damage equal to its Defense Value (it is destroyed first).

Upgrades

• Hyperdrive: An opponent cannot destroy a Ship that has Hyperdrive with a single attack, if the Ship had no Damage when that opponent started assigning Damage from his Tactic.
• Self-Destruct Device: Just after an opponent destroys one of your Ships with his Tactic (except Planetary Fire and Missile Launch), each Self-Destruct Device on your Ship deals 1 Blast Damage to each Ship belonging to the player who destroyed it.
• Blast Shield: A Ship that has a Blast Shield never takes Blast damage and also protects two other Ships in the same Fleet against such damage. Choose those two ships every time you are subject to a Blast.
• Magnetic Target: If one of your Ships has a Magnetic Target, your opponents cannot assign Damage from their Tactic (except for Missile Launch) to those of your Ships that do not have a Magnetic Target. Your other non-Ship Units are not protected.

Note: If an opponent destroys your last Magnetic Target while assigning Damage from his Tactic, then he can start assigning Damage to your other, now-unprotected Ships.

Glossary

• Fleet: Maximum number of Units you can have in play at any time.
• Hand: Maximum number of Tactic Cards you can have in Hand. After any Offensive, draw as many Tactic Cards as necessary to increase your Hand to its maximum.
• Arsenal: Central area where all the cards available for purchase are placed.
• Blast: Blast Damage is automatically and wholly assigned to each Ship in a player's Fleet. You may not choose to cancel it or to assign it partially.
• Bonus: The Home Planet and some conquered Planets give you Bonuses as indicated on their card. When you gain a Planet that has a Bonus, immediately take it into account.
• Defense Value: Number of Damage tokens it takes to destroy a Unit. Destroy the Unit the moment it receives the final Damage token.
• Total Attack Strength: Total of all Attack Strengths of all the Units and/or Planetary Supports activated by a Tactic Card, possibly multiplied by 2. It represents the total Damage you can deal to opposing Units that your Tactic targets.

Example of a player's play area: Interstellar Missile (300¢, Blast 4, Defense 4), Fighter Squadron (150¢, Attack 2, Defense 5), Destroyer (900¢, Attack 5, Defense 13, +1 from Laser Cannon Upgrade, Evasion from Hyperdrive Upgrade — this ship cannot be destroyed by a Tactic unless it already had damage before), Planet Tekmalia (+1000¢, Building slots 4, Bonus Fleet +1, 3 Titanium deposits, equipped with a Laboratory — +1 Tech, limited to 3 per player — and a Planetary Support — Attack 2, limited to 1 per planet), Planet Harvasia (+200¢, Building slots 2, Bonus, equipped with a Laboratory — +1 Tech, limited to 3 per player).

Leaders

Each player portrays a Leader whose Power is indicated on its card. That power can be used at will within the limitations mentioned on the card.

Captain Jim: The sad act that portrayed the Emperor submitting to General Hox did not fool heroic Captain Jim. Leading the rebellion, he found haven on Terra, the cradle of Mankind. General Hox attempted to wipe him out by scorching the surface of the planet, but Jim and his followers survived and intend to take advantage of the opportunity presented by Titanium to free the Empire and force their enemies to submit. Quote: Titanium is freedom!

Teknalia: The grand Council of Kanotopia, the Tree Civilization, has just elected Teknalia to handle this crisis. Teknalia decided to break from their tradition of neutrality, to fly her own colors into the conflict. Ling Liu's revelations about the pernicious nature of Titanium seem to have led her to this decision, for the children of the Tree Civilization believe they are the only ones capable of symbiosis with Titanium, and of restoring balance. Quote: Do not judge nature, she knows her path.

Lord John: The Techno-Corporation of Zephyrus held council to determine whether it should intervene in the Titanium war. The computer Zeugma, the great probability calculator designed by Lord John, clearly demonstrated that Titanium is a threat that must be brought under the control of the Techno-Corporation. It was convincing enough for the corporation to grant Lord John all the funding necessary to get their hands on the Titanium. Quote: Our cause is logical, and our chances of victory are estimated at 98%.

Princess Ling Liu: The rumor of the existence of Titanium has even reached the Citadel of Millenial Wisdom. Upon touching a fragment of Titanium brought to her by her messengers, Princess Ling Liu felt the immense power of this exceptional energy. She is convinced that her glorious ancestors' mystical quest is related to the race for Titanium. The Prophecy is about to come true; it is time for the Citadel to go to war. Quote: A dragon never sleeps: It listens before it acts.

Salfatine: For centuries the immense planet Muck has been used by all the other factions as a dump. It is the final destination for everything that has been discarded: man and machine alike. The slow revolution led by Salfatine gave all these undesirables a new consciousness, but the final piece was missing. Today however, thanks to the power of Titanium, the garbage heap can take flight and recycle the world. Quote: When the wind changes, the spit flies back to the face.

Dimitrov the 1st: Life has long been hard on Planet Arctica. Dimitrov, former chief of the guard, took the reins of power and entered the Titanium war to engrave his name into history forever. He proclaimed himself Tsar and changed his name to Dimitrov the 1st to celebrate this new era of conquest. The people of Arctica are great and he intends to prove it! Quote: Let's drink to the Tsar's health!

Tyx: After a raid on a science station, Tyx got hold of some highly classified Titanium analyses. He made use of this information to unite all the tribes in the asteroid belt. At the head of an interstellar horde, he wins victory after victory. But the horde's appetite seems endless and they fully intend to claim the lion's share in this race for Titanium. Quote: Now, it is mine!

General Hox: The Draken Empire wants to remind everyone that its power has not weakened. Tyx's horde has nibbled at its borders, Salfatine's rejects insult the dignitaries, and the rebels on Terra are ready to go to war — again. General Hox, the high councillor of Emperor Lithus, has been conferred full authority to show everyone whose Hand wields the whip. Quote: The empire protects you.

Credits

Author: Frédéric Guérard Illustrators: Alexey Yakovlev (Cover and Arsenal), Igor Polouchine (sketches of Leaders and Planets), Caroline Hirbec (Leaders), Matthieu Rebuffat (Planets) Translation: Gil Morice English Revisions: Nathan Morse Development, Design & Packaging: Origames Origames test and debugging team: Rodolphe Gilbart, Guillaume Gille-Naves, Igor Polouchine, Yohann Roussel, Timothée Simonot & Frédéric Vasseur Thanks to: Josiane, David, Olivier, Natalène, Nicolas, Guillaume, Ludovic, Tiago, Johan, Steven, Sophie, Chris, Sergio, Astrid, Kevin, Céline, l'Etoile du Jeu, Stéphane, the AJFV, Origames' team, as well as all the testers we met at conventions, particularly Pascal and his family, Nicolas, Youri, Margot, and Adrien. And of course many thanks to Michèle, Mathieu, and Maxime.

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