Xenology Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
  • Mothership Setup
  • Planet Setup
  • Research Cards Setup
  • Player Setup
• Component Anatomy
  • Research Cards
  • Specimen Container
  • Landing Craft
  • Device Tile
  • Planet Tile
  • Database Tiles (General Knowledge)
  • Planet Board
  • Player Board
  • Mothership Board
• Gameplay
  • Action: Landing Craft
  • Action: Specimen Storage
  • Action: Elder Council
  • Elder Bonuses
  • Action: Bridge
  • Action: Mission Control
  • Action: Database
• End of Game
  • Final Rounds
• Scoring
• Solitaire Rules
  • Solo End of Game Score
• Device Glossary
• Symbol Reference

Components

Player Components

• 4 Player boards
• 4 Player Aids
• 80 cubes (20 in each player color: green, grey, white, yellow)
• 32 markers (discs) (8 in each player color)
• 24 Aliens (6 in each player color)

Cards

• 60 Research cards
• 13 Disaster cards (solo game only)

Game Boards

• 1 Planet board
• 4 Landing Craft
• 1 Mothership board

Tiles and Tokens

• 25 Database tiles
• 16 Rank tokens
• 10 Replicate tokens
• 16 Device tiles
• 28 Planet tiles
• 24 Specimen Storage tiles

Setup

Place the Mothership and Planet board in the center of the table and setup each section:

Mothership Setup

Database:

1. Sort the Database tiles by knowledge type into stacks, then shuffle each individual stack.
2. Place each stack of five tiles on its respective stack space.

Elder Council: 3. Place a stack of Orb Transporter Devices near the bottom of the Elder Tracks. The number of these Devices should equal the number of players with the rest returned to the box. 4. Place the Rank tokens in stacks on each of the three Rank spaces. The number of tokens in each stack should equal the number of players. From the remaining Rank tokens, give one to each player, then return the rest to the box. 5. Place the Replicate tokens in a stack.

Specimen Storage: 6. Place Storage tiles (empty) side up randomly on the Specimen Storage spaces but ensure that each Locker (row of three spaces) only contains one of each type. 7. Randomly choose six Devices and place them charged side up on the Device spaces.

Bonuses: Place the remaining Devices (charged side up) randomly on the:

8. Explore Bonus spaces (4).
9. Bridge Bonus space (1).
10. Clean Up Bonus space (1).

Landing Craft 11. Place the four Landing Craft sequentially according to their number values above the Planet board and nearest the Bridge symbol on the Mothership (with #1 nearest the Planet and #4 nearest the Mothership).

Planet Setup

12. On Planet spaces marked with a low population or medium population, place a random Planet tile with a matching back, then turn it faceup.
13. Randomly place the remaining Planet tiles facedown on the empty Planet spaces.

Research Cards Setup

14. Shuffle the Research cards and place the facedown deck next to the board.
15. Reveal the top 5 cards of the deck in a row. This is the Card Display.
16. Note the type of the last card revealed. Take that type of Database tile and place it faceup on the center space of the Database grid in any orientation.

Player Setup

Each player chooses a color and takes: 1 Player board, 20 Cubes, 8 markers (discs), 6 Aliens, and 1 Player Aid:

17. Place three cubes on the Player board in the supply section to form your Personal Supply.
18. Place a cube on the Player board Research Track on space 2.
19. Place a Rank token on the Rank Track on space 1 (Rank token received during Step 4).
20. Place three markers, one in each slot to the far left of the Continent track.
21. Place one marker at the bottom of each Elder Track.
22. Place three Aliens on Mission Control (the center of the Mothership).
23. Place three Aliens in Cryo-Storage in the storage area.
24. Place the remaining cubes (16) off the board near the Elders to form your General Supply.
25. Draw three cards from the Research deck, hidden in your hand.

Component Anatomy

Research Cards

1. Name: This describes the topic of research.
2. Research Type: This represents the broader type of research. It will affect which Elder you will consult (via the Elder Action) and which database spaces you can fill in (via the Database Action). There are five different Research types: Technological, Geological, Biological, Cultural, and Societal.
3. Research Value: This symbol represents the Research Value of a card. Some cards have one symbol and therefore will have a Research Value of one. Some will have two and therefore have a Research Value of two. The Research Value is used to determine how many Research cards you can have on your Player board at a time (by the value on the Research Track). It also determines the bonus you receive when you propose the research to the Elders.
4. Research Properties: The icons contained within the research symbol represent where you can perform the research on the planet - they represent terrain, continents, and population.
5. Scoring Bonus: If this research is completed and added to your scoring pile, this section indicates the value of each of your collected Specimen tiles at the end of the game.

Specimen Container

1. Specimen Type: This represents one of four types of Specimen you can collect from a planet: Animal, Plant, Mineral, and Artifact. The types of collected Specimens will determine which type of bonus you receive for returning them to storage and also the scoring at the end of the game (in conjunction with the scoring bonuses on your scored Research cards).
2. Required Properties: This represents where you can find this Specimen. These icons must be present on the Planet tile (or continent) in order to extract this Specimen (via a Mission Control Action).

Containers are shown either Empty or Full.

Landing Craft

1. Landing Craft Number: This number represents the order in which the Landing Craft will land (starting with #1) during a Bridge Action.
2. Bonus: These symbols represent the bonus received when an Alien is moved there during a Landing Craft Action (see Action: Landing Craft, pg 6).

Device Tile

1. Name: This describes the specialized equipment.
2. Special Action: This represents the special action that this Device can perform when applicable. Only charged Devices can be used. When it is used, it is flipped over to its uncharged side, but it can be recharged throughout the game via various bonuses to use it again.

Planet Tile

1. Terrain Type: This represents one of four different types of terrain on the planet: Forest, Plains, Mountain, and Water. These are used to fulfill the needs of specific Research cards and Specimen containers.
2. Population: This represents the population of this section of the planet. The larger the population, the more Evidence is left behind during an extraction (via the Mission Control Action). The population is also used to fulfill the needs of specific Research cards and Specimen containers. Population levels are Low population, Medium population, and High population.

Database Tiles (General Knowledge)

1. Tile Back: The research symbol on the back of the tile represents the cost (by discarding a matching Research card) to place the tile into the Database. It also signifies that a matching symbol will appear on the front side of the tile at least once.
2. Space: The white spaces indicate where cubes will be placed from completed Research cards during a Database Action.
3. Research Icons: When cubes are placed in the Database from a Research card, they must be placed on an empty white space next to a symbol matching the type of that Research card. (Note: A symbol in blue indicates the matching symbol on the back of the tile.)

Planet Board

The Planet board is separated into three continents:

1. Polar - white
2. Dry - orange
3. Tropical - green

The continents are relevant for specific Research cards - any Planet tile within a continent is considered to have that continent symbol. Exploring different continents is important for the Explore Bonus. Additionally, Cleanup Actions are performed only on one continent chosen by the player.

Player Board

1. Rank: These spaces are where Rank tokens will be placed as a player moves up in rank.
2. Exploration: This section keeps track of which continents you have revealed tiles in. When you have marked each continent, you get an Explore Bonus and reset the markers.
3. Container Space: This space is where you will keep your active Specimen Container. Only Containers in this space can be filled with a Specimen.
4. Research Track: The cubes placed in this track determine your Research Level.
5. Device Spaces: These spaces store any Devices you may collect.
6. Bays 1-3: These three spaces are where your active Research cards may be placed (the specific slot does not matter).
7. Personal Supply: This space is where you will store the cubes in your Personal Supply (The three cubes depicted is a reminder that you start with three cubes).
8. Scoring Section: This space is where your scored Research cards will be placed facedown after their cubes have been entered into the Database.

Mothership Board

The Mothership board has five locations on it that represent various actions. A player can move their Alien to an adjacent location to take the associated action there.

1. Mission Control: When moving an Alien into this location, the player directs their Aliens on the planet with their mission by extracting or exploring (See pg 10).
2. Elder Council: When moving an Alien into this location, the player may propose research to the Elder Council (see pg 8).
3. Database: When moving an Alien into this location, the player contributes cubes and/or tiles to the Database (see pg 12).
4. Bridge: When moving an Alien into this location, the player coordinates launching the Landing Craft (see pg 10).
5. Specimen Storage: When moving an Alien into this location, the player can claim, take out, or return Specimen containers (see pg 7).

Mothership board areas: (a) Elder Tracks, (b) Cryo-Storage, (c) Device Storage, (d) Specimen Storage, (e) Explore Bonus, (f) Bridge Bonus, (g) Cleanup Bonus, (h) Database, (i) Database Tile Stacks.

Gameplay

Randomly determine the starting player. Players will take turns clockwise until the end of the game.

The active player must move one Alien on their turn, then take an action based on its destination. On the Mothership, an Alien can be moved to an adjacent Mothership space or to one of the empty Landing Crafts. After the Alien is moved, the associated action is then taken. Any number of Aliens can occupy a Mothership space, while each Landing Craft can only hold one Alien.

Actions:

• Landing Craft
• Specimen Storage
• Elder Council
• Bridge
• Mission Control
• Database

Tip: Make sure you have enough cubes in your Personal Supply to use as needed in the various actions. Otherwise, you cannot take that action.

Action: Landing Craft

An Alien anywhere on the Mothership may move to an empty Landing Craft. This can be done as long as at least one of that player's Aliens remains aboard the Mothership. Unlike Mothership spaces, each Landing Craft can only hold one Alien. Each Landing Craft gives the player a bonus (or choice of bonuses):

• Scan - Draw a card from the Research deck or from the Card Display, then replace it from the deck. If the deck is depleted at any time, reshuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.
• Wipe + Scan - You may discard all of the faceup cards in the Card Display and replace them from the deck. After that, perform a scan.
• Clean Up - You may choose one Continent on the planet and return all Evidence (cubes) on spaces there to the respective owners' Personal Supply on their Player board. Gain the bonus listed below based on the number of cubes returned:

Clean Up Bonus

• 1-3 Cubes - Gain one cube from the General Supply.
• 4-5 Cubes - Impress an Elder (move up on any Elder Track and gain the benefit).
• 6+ Cubes - Impress an Elder and either gain the Clean Up Bonus Device or recharge one of your Devices.

When calculating the cube total, opponents' cubes count as two cubes.

Example: Roy has three Aliens on the Mothership and wants to move one to a Landing Craft. The first Craft is occupied so he has a choice of three others. He chooses to move his Alien from the Storage space to the second Landing Craft. The ability allows him the option to refresh the Card Display with new cards, but he chooses not to. He then chooses a Geological card from the Card Display and puts it in his hand.

Example: Jillian has two Aliens on the Mothership and wants to move one to a Landing Craft. All are unoccupied. She chooses to move an Alien to the third one. She chooses the Cleanup action to clean up the polar continent that contains two of her Evidence cubes and one of Roy's Evidence cubes. Each player returns their cubes back to their Personal Supply. She then earns a Cleanup bonus based on the cubes returned: she has a value of 4 (1 each for her 2 cubes, and 2 per Roy's cube) and consulting the chart, she moves up on an Elder Track and gains a bonus depicted there.

Action: Specimen Storage

When the active player takes the Specimen Storage action, they can gain access to a Locker, move Containers in and out, and possibly gain a bonus.

To procure a Locker, the active player may place a cube from their Personal Supply onto an empty Locker space. Each player may only own a number of Lockers equal to their Rank (see Rank on pg 8). Once placed, the active player will own all of the Containers of that Locker.

Additionally, during this action, the active player may move Containers between their Lockers and the Container space on their Player board freely, though a filled Container can never be moved once it enters the Locker. A player's board can only hold one Storage Container at a time (unless you have the Mag-Lev Device which can allow two).

Whenever a filled Container is returned to a Locker, it will allow the active player to take a bonus:

• Animal - The active player may take one of their Aliens in Cryo-Storage and place it on the Specimen Storage action space of the Mothership. If that is their last Alien in Storage, they also gain an Insight (see Gain an Insight on pg 9).
• Mineral - The active player may take a Device from storage and place it on a free space on their Player board (see Gaining a Device below). Or they may charge an existing Device. If taking the Device gives them their third Device, they also gain an Insight (see Gain an Insight on pg 9).
• Plant - The active player may place a cube from their Personal Supply on the next Research Level. If they have achieved the highest level of Research, they also gain an Insight (see Gain an Insight on pg 9).
• Artifact - The active player may choose the bonus of any of the other types.

If a bonus would be earned but cannot be taken, for instance: no more Aliens, then any of the other bonuses may be taken.

Example: Roy moves his Alien to the Specimen Storage space. He has a Rank of one and he has not claimed a Locker yet. He takes a cube from his Personal Supply and places it on an empty Locker space. He now owns that Locker and all empty Containers within - one for Plants, Animals, and Artifacts. He decides to take out the Artifact Container and place it on his Player board in the Container space.

Example: Roy returns to the Specimen Storage space on a future turn. Now he has a filled Artifact Container. He places it on an empty space in his Locker. Because an Artifact was returned, he gains a bonus of any type. He chooses to take a Device and place it on his board. Since his last visit to this space, he has achieved a Rank of two. He decides to claim another Locker and places a cube from his Personal Supply there. Finally, he decides to take an empty Plant Container out of his new Locker and place it on his Player board. (Note: Roy could have instead not chosen to use a cube (or not have a cube) to obtain a new Locker and taken the empty Plant or Animal Container from their current Locker to their Player board.)

Devices: Whenever you gain a Device, place it on any of the three Device spaces on your Player board. If all Device spaces on your Player board are already filled, return one of those Devices to any empty Device space on the board. To use a Device, turn it facedown. It can't be used again until it is recharged.

Action: Elder Council

When the active player takes the Elder Council action, they may propose Research to an Elder and gain bonuses.

The active player may play cards from their hand into their Research Bays. The total Research Value of all cards (existing and just-played) in the active player's Research Bays must be less than or equal to the Research Level on their Player board. The Research Value of a card is equal to the number of Research symbols on the left surrounding the icons. Cards show either a Research Value 1 or a Research Value 2 symbol.

Example: Roy has a Research Level of four. He has two cards in his Research Bays - one with a Research Value of two and the other with a Research Value of one. Roy may add one more Research card with a Value of one Research.

Then, the player moves their marker up by one space on the corresponding Elder Track for each Research Type played. If the Research card has one Research Symbol on it, the player will choose one of the two bonuses. If the Research card has two Research symbols on it, they will receive both bonuses. Additionally, the final space on each track has an additional bonus of gaining an Insight (see Gain an Insight on pg 9).

Rank: A player's Rank is determined by their lowest marker on all of the Elder Tracks. Whenever a player moves up on the Elder Track and their lowest marker level has changed, they take a Rank token and add it (active side up) to their Player board.

Example: Roy moves his Alien to the Elder Council space. He has a Research Level of three. He has one card in his Research Bay with a Research Value of one, so he has two Research still available. He can play up to two cards, each with a Research Value of one, or one Research card with a Research Value of two, or one Research card with a Research Value of one. He decides to play one card - a Societal card with a Research Value of two. On the Elder Track, Roy moves his marker up one space under the Elder related to Societal Research. And because he played a card with two Research on it, he can claim both bonuses on the new space - a cube and the Orb Transporter device.

Example: Roy moves his Alien to the Elder Council space. He has a Research Level of two. He has no cards in his Research Bays, so none of his Research Value has been used. He decides to play two cards - a Biological card with a Research Value of one and a Cultural card with a Research Value of one. On the Elder Track associated with Biology, he moves his marker up one space, and has the choice of either a cube or an Alien. He decides to take a cube from the General Supply. For the Elder associated with Culture, he moves his marker up one space, and has a choice of either a cube or a Research card. He decides to draw a card.

Elder Bonuses

• Gain a Cube - Gain the amount of cubes shown from the General Supply. Place them in the Personal supply section of your Player board.
• Device - Gain an Orb Transporter Device (limit 1 per player) or recharge one of your Devices. If taking the Device gives you your third Device, you also gain an Insight (see Gain an Insight below).
• Recharge - Recharge one of your Devices.
• Gain an Insight - When you gain an Insight, you may place a cube from your Personal Supply onto any empty space on a Database tile (see Database - Specific Knowledge on pg 12). If you have no cubes in your Personal Supply, or if there are no empty spaces on a Database tile, then nothing happens.
• Impress an Elder - Move up on any Elder Track and gain your choice of one of the bonuses.
• Explore - Reveal any Planet tile as though you just explored it and gain the bonuses for exploring.
• Clean Up - (See page 6).
• Defrost an Alien - Take one of your Aliens from Cryo-Storage and place it on the Specimen Storage action space of the Mothership. If that is your last Alien in storage, you also gain an Insight (see Gain an Insight to the left).
• Replicate: Any Animal, Plant, or Mineral - Place the Replicate token under one of your filled Specimen Containers on the Storage board that matches the type and doesn't already have a Replicate token. This option cannot be taken if you don't have a valid Container. Replicate tokens count as a second specimen matching what is in the Specimen Container. (Editor note: the Elder Council entry shows the Replicate symbol followed by the specimen icons Animal, Plant and Mineral; the key on the last page shows the Replicate symbol as the four specimen icons arranged around a circle-arrow. The leading glyph in this entry is unclear at print resolution, so the entry is transcribed as printed.)

The last space on each Elder Track can only be entered by one player. If another player would move there, instead, they remain where they are and gain one cube from the General Supply.

Action: Bridge

When the active player takes the Bridge action, all of the Landing Craft will land and the active player will gain a bonus.

Starting with the Craft closest to the Planet (Landing Craft #1) and working back, each Alien will be moved to the Planet onto a space chosen by its owner.

The Alien may only land on a space that meets these requirements:

• The Planet tile is faceup.
• The Planet tile has no other Alien on it.
• The Planet tile has no Evidence (cubes) on it.

If there are no legal spaces to land, the Alien will be placed on the Mission Control space of the Mothership. Depending on how many Landing Craft were occupied, the active player will take a Bridge Bonus.

Bridge Bonus Chart

• 1 Landing Craft - Gain one cube from the General Supply.
• 2 Landing Crafts - Impress an Elder (move up on any Elder Track and gain the benefit).
• 3+ Landing Crafts - Impress an Elder and either gain the Bridge Bonus Device or recharge one of your Devices.

Example: Roy moves his Alien to the Bridge space. There are two occupied Landing Craft. The Landing Craft (#1) closest to the Planet is occupied by Jillian. She moves the Alien down to an empty Forest space. Next is an Alien owned by Roy. He moves it to an empty Mountain space. Since two Aliens were landed, Roy takes a Bridge Bonus of 2, which is to Impress an Elder of his choice.

Action: Mission Control

When the active player takes the Mission Control action, each of that player's Aliens on a Planet tile may either Explore or Extract (in any order).

Mission Control - Explore

When an Alien explores, the player may reveal a Planet tile and/or move the Alien (in either order).

To move, the active player may move their Alien to any empty faceup tile so long as they can trace a path to it composed of empty faceup tiles.

To reveal a tile, the active player turns over a facedown Planet tile adjacent to their Alien. They then draw a card from the Research deck as a bonus.

If the player reveals a tile on a Continent that they haven't previously explored, they slide the corresponding Continent marker on their Player board to the right. If all of the Continents have been explored, the active player gains the Explore Bonus, then resets all of their Explore markers.

Explore Bonus: Impress an Elder and either gain one of the Explore Bonus Devices or recharge one of your Devices.

Mission Control - Extract

When an Alien extracts, the player returns the Alien to Mission Control from a Planet tile to leave Evidence, complete Research, and collect Specimens.

To extract an Alien, follow these steps:

1. Return the Alien to Mission Control (the center of the Mothership board).
2. Optionally leave Evidence (place a number of cubes from your Personal Supply onto that Planet tile equal to its population).
3. If Evidence was placed:
   • Any Research cards with empty requirement spaces that match the properties of the Planet tile can be satisfied. Place a cube from your Personal Supply onto any Research card spaces that match a property of that Planet tile.
   • If an empty Specimen Container on your Player board matches the properties of the Planet tile, flip that Specimen Container to show that a Specimen has been gathered. Note: Artifact Containers require both of its icons to match.

Note: A single property from a Planet tile may be used to satisfy multiple Research card spaces or Containers.

Reminder: Make sure you have enough cubes to leave evidence and place cubes on your Research cards!

Example: Roy moves his Alien to the Mission Control space. He has three Aliens on Planet spaces and each will get to take an action.

For his first Alien, Roy decides to Explore. He chooses an adjacent facedown Planet tile and flips it over. As a bonus, he draws a card from the Research deck. Also, since it was his first time exploring in the polar region, he moves his marker to the polar completed space on his Player board. Even though he could move the Alien to either the newly revealed space or another adjacent space, he decides to keep his Alien where it is.

For his second Alien, he decides to Extract. He moves his Alien to Mission Control on the Mothership. However, he decides not to leave Evidence behind and therefore cannot contribute to Research or Specimens.

Example continued: For his third Alien, he chooses to Extract and leave Evidence. The planet space has a medium population, so he places two cubes on it from his Personal Supply. He returns the Alien to Mission Control on the Mothership. The Planet tile was a medium population forest in the polar region. He also has three empty spaces on the cards in his Research Bays - polar, forest, and high population. He places a cube from his Personal Supply onto the two matching symbols (polar and forest) leaving the high population space empty.

Additionally, his empty Animal Specimen Container can be filled (by flipping it over) since he was in a forest.

Action: Database

When the active player takes the Database action, they may add general knowledge (tiles) and/or add specific knowledge (cubes) to gain points.

Database - General Knowledge (Tiles)

If the active player chooses to add general knowledge, they discard one card from their hand. They then draw one Database tile matching the Research type of the card discarded. This action may be repeated any number of times in a turn.

They place the tile according to these placement rules:

• The tile can be rotated in any orientation.
• The tile must be placed on an empty space of the grid. In the very rare case when there are no empty spaces, the tile can be placed outside of the grid.
• The new tile must be directly adjacent to an existing tile.
• The new tile must have at least one square adjacent to an existing square. (A 'square' is a blank white space or space that contains a symbol.)

Database - Specific Knowledge (Cubes)

If the active player chooses to add specific knowledge, they must have one or more Research cards in their Research Bays completed with cubes. They take all of the cubes off of a completed card and place each of them on an empty space that is adjacent to a square containing the symbol of the card's Research type. A card's cubes cannot be added unless all of the cubes can be added to the Database. After the cubes have been added, place the card facedown in the Scoring Section on the Player board. This action may be repeated any number of times in a turn.

Example: Roy moves his Alien to the Database Space (a). He decides that he wants to contribute to the general knowledge of the Database by discarding one of the cards in his hand (b). It is a Geological card and therefore he draws the top tile from the Geological stack (c). He now places the tile next to an existing tile in the Database (d).

Now he wants to move the cubes from his finished Research into the Database. He has three Research cards in his Research Bays - two are completed and one is uncompleted (it only has one of the two required cubes). The two completed cards are a Biological card with two cubes (e) and a Cultural card with one cube (f). Because there are two legal empty spaces next to Biological symbols in the Database, he can place those cubes there (g).

The Biological Research card is then placed facedown on the Scoring Section of his Player board (h). Unfortunately, there are no free Cultural spaces available, so the Cultural Research card must remain on his Player's board.

Note: Roy could choose to now discard a Cultural card to put another tile into the Database, from the top of the Cultural stack. That will allow him to place the cube from the Cultural card in his Research Bay into the Database, and he can then place that card in the Scoring section.

End of Game

When any player takes their last cube from the General Supply, this will trigger the final rounds of the game for all players.

Final Rounds

During the final rounds, at the start of a player's turn, if the player has an active Rank token(s), they flip one over to the inactive side, otherwise their turn is passed. During the final rounds, it is possible for a player to gain a Rank token, thereby having more turns. The game will end when all players have passed (because all of their Rank tokens are facedown).

Example: Roy has gained two cubes from the Elder Council. The General Supply has one left and he takes it. Because his General Supply is empty, this will trigger the final rounds of the game. The next player, Jillian, has a Rank of one. She starts her turn by flipping over her Rank token to the inactive side. She takes her action, then it is Roy's turn again. He has a Rank of one, and flips his Rank token to the inactive side, and then takes his turn. On his turn, he takes an action that gains him a Rank token! The next player, Jillian, has no active Rank tokens remaining, so she passes. On Roy's turn, he flips over his newly acquired Rank token and takes his action. At this point no players have active Rank tokens, so the game is complete.

Scoring

Database

Each cube in the Database is worth 2 points.

Each pair of directly adjacent cubes is worth 1 point. Note: A cube can be in more than one adjacency. For example, a row of three of the same player's cubes would count as two adjacent sets of cubes, and therefore worth 2 points.

Specimens

Each filled Specimen Container in storage is worth points determined by the scored Research cards. The bottom of the scored cards denotes a specimen symbol and a number of points that they are worth. To determine the value for a particular specimen type, multiply the number of matching filled containers (and Replicate tokens) by the number of stars of the matching type on all of your scored Research cards.

Planet

Each Planet tile containing your Alien or Evidence is worth -1 point.

The player with the most points is the winner! In case of a tie, the player with the most scored Research cards and collected Specimens is the winner. If there is still a tie, those players share the victory.

Example: Roy has six cubes in the Database (+12) with two sets of adjacent cubes (+2) (a). The scoring values on his scored Research cards are one Artifact, three Plants, and two Animals. Since Roy has no Artifact specimens, he scores 0 for Artifacts. However, he does have one filled Plant specimen and its Replicate token (+6) and two filled Animal specimens (+4) (b). He has one Planet tile with three Evidence (-1) (c) and two other Planet tiles with an Alien each (-2) (d). Roy has 21 points.

Jillian has nine cubes in the Database (+18) with one set of adjacent cubes (+1) (e). The scoring values on her scored Research cards are two artifacts and three minerals. She has one filled Plant specimen (+0) and two filled mineral specimens (+6) (f). She has no Aliens or Evidence on the Planet (-0). Jillian has 25 points. Jillian wins.

Solitaire Rules

In the solo game, you take on the challenging mission of researching a planet on the verge of annihilation. You must race against time before cosmic debris razes the terrain, corrupts your Database, and disrupts your communication.

Play the game as normal with the following exceptions:

• During setup, shuffle the Disaster cards and make a facedown deck.
• Designate an unused set of 20 player cubes to count as Disaster cubes and add them to the General Supply.
• After each of your turns, draw a Disaster card and follow its instructions.
• If the deck is empty, shuffle all of the Disaster cards to make a new deck.
• Any time a Disaster cube is removed from play, it returns to the General Supply.
• If the Disaster cube General Supply is empty, that will trigger the end of the game (just like a player would).

Special Notes:

• In regards to the facedown tiles added to the Database with Memory Corruption: When you "add General Knowledge" (add a tile to the Database), instead of drawing a tile, you may instead flip a facedown Database tile of the matching knowledge type. You may rotate that tile, but it must remain in the spot it was placed.
• In regards to Sensor Interference, cards in the Card Display that have a Disaster cube on them can not be drawn. However, they can be returned to the discard pile by the Landing Craft ability Wipe, that discards the Card Display. The Disaster cube is returned to the General Supply.
• The Deep Scanner does allow you to swap cards in the Card Display that have a Disaster cube on them. The cube will be moved onto the newly replaced card.
• The Flight Suit has a change in solo mode. The new ability is "Remove all cubes from Landing Craft and move your Aliens to Landing Craft #1."
• When you take a Cleanup action, the Disaster cubes only count as 1 cube (not like in the regular game where an opponent's cubes would count as two).

Solo End of Game Score

At the end of the game, compare your score to the following chart. If you have at least 40 points, you win!

• 40: Apprentice
• 45: Advisor
• 50: Elder
• 55+: Elder Supreme

Device Glossary

• Deep Scanner - Swap any number of cards from your hand with ones from the Card Display.
• Disguise - When you Extract from a Planet tile, you may treat it as though it had low population. Note: This can be used to reduce the amount of Evidence left behind as well as for satisfying extraction symbols for research purposes.
• Drones - If you explore a Planet tile with a population of medium or high this turn, draw two Research cards instead of one.
• Enhanced A.I. - Whenever you would draw a Database tile, you may either look through the matching stack for any tile, or draw the top tile from a non-matching stack. In either case, you still need to discard a Research card as the cost.
• Flight Suit - When the Bridge action is taken, you may land all of your Aliens first no matter which Landing Craft they occupy.
• Implants - When you Extract from a Planet tile with a high population, you may Impress an Elder.
• Mag-Lev (x2) - When you take the Storage action, you may put an additional Storage tile on your Player board.
• Memory Wipe - You may land on a Planet tile with Evidence cubes. If you do, return those cubes to their owner. (There is no Cleanup Bonus when performing this action.)
• Mind Probe - Choose one of your Aliens on a Planet tile, then move one cube from your Personal Supply to an empty space on a Research card that has properties required from that Planet tile.
• Misinformation - Choose one Planet tile with Evidence cubes. Move each Evidence there to an empty Planet tile.

Symbol Reference

• Research Type: Biological, Cultural, Geological, Societal, Technological (Elder Council, pg 8; Database, pg 12)
• Specimen: Animal, Artifact, Mineral, Plant (Bonuses, pg 7; Scoring, pg 13)
• Landing Craft: Clean up; Scan (Draw); Wipe + Scan (Reset the Card Display & Draw) (Landing Craft, pg 6)
• Planet - Continents: Dry, Polar, Tropical
• Planet - Terrain: Forest, Plains, Mountain, Water
• Planet - Population: Low, Medium, High (Mission Control, pg 10)
• Elder Council: Recharge; Defrost an Alien; Explore; Gain a cube; Gain a Device (or charge); Gain an Insight; Impress an Elder; Increase Research; Replicate; Scan (Draw) (Elder Council, pg 8; Scoring, pg 13)