Among the Stars: The Ambassadors
Among the Stars: The Ambassadors Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1. Components
- 48 Ambassadors
- 60 Basic Locations
- 6 Reminder Tokens
- 30 Special Locations
- 1 Race Tile (Exodai)
- 4 Objectives
- 10 Location Type tokens
- 20 Bureaus
- Rulebook
The Ambassadors is not a stand-alone game – a copy of the base set of Among the Stars is required to play.
2. The Ambassadors
Ambassador cards add new and exciting options for players.
Each Ambassador card shows: the Ambassador's name; the race name; the phase in which the card must be used (Phase I: Years 1 & 2; Phase II: Years 3 & 4); the Credit cost; the ability; and the Ambassador symbol.
Example cards: Sandra Biniari (race Humareen, Credit cost 1, Phase I) reads "Costs 2 more to invite during the 2nd year. Gain [Energy Cubes] equal to the number of [Diplomatic] or [Business] locations in your Station." Lycos the Silent (race Nyxtos, Credit cost 1, Phase I) reads "Build a Power Reactor in your Station with 2 [Energy Cubes] on it. During the next year, Power Reactors cost 1 more."
Transcriber note: the card images show icons instead of words. Rendered here as words: the orange cube is an Energy Cube, the red circle is a Credit amount, and the green D and yellow B symbols are the Diplomatic and Business location types (colours as listed in the base rules).
To use the Ambassadors in your game, separate them into 2 decks based on the symbols on the card backs. The ones marked "I" will be used during the first 2 years; the ones marked "II" will be used during the last 2 years of the game. Then, deal 5 Bureau cards, one of each type, to each player. The players keep these cards in a face up pile in front of them, separately from their Station.
At the beginning of the first year, shuffle the Deck I Ambassadors and draw the top 3 cards from that deck. Place them face up on the table where everyone can see them.
When playing with Ambassadors, a new action is available to the players: "Invite Ambassador". To perform that action, a player discards the card he selected for the turn and chooses one of the 3 available Ambassadors. He pays the Ambassador's cost and places it face up in front of him. That player then draws the next Ambassador card and replaces the one he invited.
ATTENTION: A player cannot invite an Ambassador of his own race to his Station. Also, the "Invite Ambassador" action cannot be taken during the 1st turn of the 1st year.
The player that invited the Ambassador is now considered to have him in his Station. However, the Ambassador card is not placed inside the Station. Instead, the player chooses 1 of his Bureaus and builds that in his Station. The Bureau represents the Ambassador's office. Since each player starts the game with 5 Bureaus and cannot receive any more than that, a player can invite, at most, 5 Ambassadors to their station.
After building a Bureau, the player applies the ability of the Ambassador he invited.
Some of the Ambassadors have a special symbol, highlighted in the above image, on their card. Instead, you choose one of your remaining Bureaus and remove it from the game.
At the beginning of every new year, discard the available Ambassadors and draw 3 new ones. For year 2, use Ambassadors from Deck I. For years 3 and 4, use Ambassadors from Deck II.
3. New Location Cards
In this expansion you will find 30 new unique Location Cards to use in your games! There are 15 new Basic Locations with 4 copies of each card and 15 Special Locations with 2 copies of each one. When playing with these new cards, the Game Setup rules change slightly:
In every game 15 Basic Location Cards are used. The players decide before the game which ones they are going to include. Games can be played with just the Location Cards from this expansion, just the Location Cards from the base game, or with a combination of the two. We only suggest that you put 3 locations of every type for balancing reasons. On our website, www.artipiagames.com, you can find some suggestions on specific setups.
For every Basic Location you include, add as many copies as the number of players (3 in a 3-player game; 4 in a 4-player game).
The Special Location Cards are all shuffled together. Before the game begins, draw 9 cards per player without revealing them and add them to the Basic Locations (27 cards in a 3-player game; 36 cards in a 4-player game). Put the rest of the Special Locations in a pile and keep it in the playing area – certain card and racial abilities will interact with that pile.
The rest of the game setup remains the same as in the main game.
4. Immediate & Delayed Abilities
The 2 different kinds of abilities found on Location Cards have now been keyworded for ease of reference.
Abilities that are written within a white box are now called Immediate Abilities.
Abilities that are written within a yellow box are called Delayed Abilities.
5. Timing Rules
With the addition of the Ambassadors, some new timing issues might arise. To avoid confusion, the following timing rules apply.
First, all players select a card from their hand and pass the rest to the next player.
Second, all selected cards are revealed simultaneously. The player who currently has the most VP announces which action they're taking. In case of a tie, the player with the most Credits goes first. If there is still a tie, the order among them is chosen randomly.
If the player's action is to build a location, he pays the cost and places the Location Card in his Station. The effect does not yet happen. If the action is to invite an Ambassador, the player pays the cost, takes the Ambassador Card, and places a Bureau in his station (if needed), but does not yet apply the Ambassador's ability. If the action is to play a Conflict Card, the player similarly pays the cost but does not yet apply the effect.
After each player has performed his action, the players check abilities using the exact same order. Each one applies any necessary effects and then updates the scoring track with the total number of VP he gained, if any.
Since all players start the first turn of the first year tied in both VPs and Credits, the order will have to be determined randomly. You may use the player markers on the track to do so more easily.
Keep in mind that these rules should be used only when the need arises. The rest of the time the players can keep playing simultaneously without any problems.
6. Variants
Alternative 2-Player Rules
This variant was originally proposed by Kim Williams (user entwife on www.boardgamegeek.com) and since many people found it enjoyable, it is included in this rulebook as an alternative way to play the 2-player game. This variant removes the 2 virtual players.
Set up the Location deck as in a 4-player game. At the beginning of every year, deal 6 cards to each player. Before every turn (including the first one), each player draws an additional card from the deck. Both players then choose one card from their hand to play, and one card to discard. They then pass the remaining cards to the other player.
Variety Among the Stars
This variant will make the game a little bit more unpredictable while adding greater variety to the available Location Cards. Instead of the normal rules for setting up the Location Deck, use 10 Basic Location Cards and 14 Special Location Cards per player (42 in a 3-player game; 56 in a 4-player game).
Open information
During setup, reveal the Special Location Cards before adding them to the Location Deck. Players will know exactly which locations will appear during the game and can plan accordingly.
Seize the moment
This variant changes the timing rules found on Page 5 of this rulebook. Players take their turns in the order as described on Page 5; however, abilities take effect immediately after the player takes an action that puts that card into play. This affects a few cards, making them stronger or weaker depending on when they are played. This variant makes turn order more important.
7. FAQ
Locations
Data Centre, Privateer Bay, Trade Show: These locations have 2 abilities, 1 immediate and 1 delayed. You check the first one when you build them and the second one at the end of the game as normal.
Alliance Information Point: The ability counts copies of the location built in any Station.
Escape Pods: You can still discard it for reasons other than to perform an action (i.e. due to an ability).
Experimental Weapon: If you discard it for a reason other than to perform an action (i.e. due to an ability) you do not have to pay the 1 Credit. Also, if you discard it to perform an action and end up without any credits left afterwards, you do not pay anything.
Tourist Reception Area: Two or more locations with the same name will all give you a single +1 VP bonus. The ability doesn't trigger for each copy of them.
Trade Show: The credits you put on top of it are not additional to the ones you paid to play it - take them from the common pool.
Ambassadors
Dorrian the Shadow, Jerrak Tak, Lycos the Silent, N-AG 17513, Yuki: To remember the effect of these ambassadors you may use the reminder tokens that are included in the game's box.
Akira Lo: You only count the Location types among those in your Station. If you don't have any location of a certain type, ignore that type.
Bag: Put one Copy Token on this Ambassador's Bureau and one on the card it copies. Act as if you just played the copied card on the Bureau's spot. You may not copy a location if doing so exceeds the limit of how many you can have in your Station. The Ambassador's Bureau keeps the Location type it has in addition to that of the copied card.
Darthien Edson: If you end the game with more than 10 Credits, for the remaining ones use the normal ratio of 1 VP per 3 Credits.
Giota Vorgia: If you discard a location that has more than one type then you only gain VP for the Locations in your Station that also have all those types.
Kok: Put a Location type token on top of this Ambassador to keep track of the type you chose.
Neshant Apuliata: If you discard a card for a reason other than to perform an action, no credits are removed.
Patricia: Building the Diplomatic Bureau triggers this ability (if another player has already built it). However, if you build it for this Ambassador, due to the Timing rules you will not gain any VP - the Bureau is built before applying the effects of the ability.
Rul Nak: In a 4 player game, the most you can pay for Rul Nak is 2 Credits, in order to get 3 Energy Cubes, 1 from each other player. You can however pay less if you want and take Energy Cubes only from some of the other players, i.e. pay 0 and take 1 Energy Cube from 1 other player.
General
Objectives that ask a player to do something first are awarded immediately to the player who fulfils the condition. Also if 2 or more players fulfil one in the same turn, it is not awarded to anyone.