Arcs
289 questions players ask about Arcs. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-11-04.
Setup
- During setup, is the second starting piece placed in system 1B a city or a starport?
- How many ships go in each 1C system during setup?
- What changes in setup for a 2-player game?
- Which starting resource goes in which slot on the player board?
- In a 2-player game, how does the mulligan work?
- Is the Court discard pile reshuffled when the Court deck runs out?
- Can the setup cards be rotated or flipped when laying out the board?
- Who is the first player, and who starts later chapters?
- How is the Leaders & Lore draft ordered, and which starting systems does each player get?
- With Leaders & Lore, do you still gain resources from your starting planets?
Core Concepts
- What counts toward controlling a system: ships only, or buildings and agents too?
- Do I need a majority of the ships in a system to control it, or just more than each rival?
- If two players tie on fresh ships in a system, does anyone control it?
- Is control of a system rechecked after every action?
- What does controlling a system let me do, and what does a rival's control stop me from doing?
- Does having a starport or city in a system give me control of it?
- Can I return my own city with Song of Freedom if I control the system?
- Are two planets adjacent when the border between them is thin?
- Are planets that touch only at a corner (diagonally) adjacent?
- Are all gates adjacent to each other?
Playing a Chapter
- Can I play a lower card of the lead suit face up to follow suit?
- To surpass, do I have to beat every card played, or only the lead card?
- How many actions do I get when I Copy or Pivot instead of surpassing?
- Who gets the initiative at the end of a round?
- How do I seize the initiative, and do I still get my card's actions?
- Can the initiative be seized more than once in a round?
- Does playing a 7 seize the initiative?
- If I lead with a 7, do I keep the initiative?
- Can I surpass and seize the initiative in the same turn?
- Can I declare an ambition right after seizing the initiative?
- Can an ambition be declared more than once in a chapter?
Standard Actions
- Do I need to control a system to tax my own city there?
- What do I get when I tax a Rival's city, and does it still work if the resource supply is empty?
- What is the tax limit: once per city per turn, or once per turn overall?
- Can I still tax a city whose resource type I am Outraged for?
- What do I need to build a city or starport, and does it have to be a ship?
- When do pieces I build arrive damaged?
- Can I build on a planet where an opponent already has a building?
- Can I build two cities, or a city and a starport, on the same planet in one turn?
- Can a starport build more than one ship per turn, for example with Material in Prelude?
- Can a starport I just built produce a ship in the same turn?
Resources
- What happens if I gain a resource when all my resource slots are full?
- When can I rearrange the resources on my player board?
- What happens when a city returns to my board and covers a resource slot?
- How many resources fit in a slot, and is there a limit per type?
- What happens when the supply of a resource type runs out?
- Where do resources I spend in Prelude go, and when can I use them again?
- Do I need to commit to my resource spending before using my action pips?
- Can I spend an Outraged resource in Prelude even though I can't take its action?
- Can I spend a resource in Prelude even if I can't use its action?
- What exactly does a Weapon do, and can I use every pip as Battle?
Guild Cards
- How do the resources on a Material or Fuel Cartel card work: can I spend them, tax them, and do they count for Tycoon?
- When a Cartel makes rivals discard after scoring, does it trigger on any ambition or only the matching one?
- Can I use Fuel Cartel's Prelude just to discard it when no rival has Fuel to steal?
- Can I use the Prelude action of a Guild card I stole this turn?
- Can I spend Guild card icons as resources for Prelude actions?
- Does a Weapon Guild card do anything?
- Does Guild Struggle shuffle all cards from the Court discard back in?
- If the Court deck is empty when a card is secured, does the Court refill when cards go back into the deck?
- Does Outrage discard a Union card left on the board?
- Can I use a Guild card's ability that needs first or second place when second place pays 0 Power?
Ending a Chapter
- When does the game end?
- Which turn order breaks a tie in final Power?
- What happens when players tie for first place in an ambition?
- Can I gain Power from an ambition when I have none of what it counts?
- If an ambition has several markers, how is it scored?
- What counts toward Tycoon, Keeper and Empath?
- Does second place count as winning an ambition?
- If my city is destroyed this chapter, do I lose its scoring bonus at chapter end?
- Can I gain Power in any way other than ambitions?
- After Warlord or Tyrant is scored, whose Trophies or Captives return?
- Do ships and buildings on the map return to supplies at the end of a chapter?
Other Actions
- Do modifiers apply to New Actions such as Elder Broker's Trade (Tax) or Nurture (Build)?
- Do Battle modifiers like Railgun Arrays apply to a Fire Rifles action?
- Can I fire Galactic Rifles from a gate?
- Does Synthesize give Fuel in addition to building, or instead of it?
- Can I use a Prelude action on a card I secured by Ransacking in the same Prelude?
- Where do cards go when a Prelude action tells me to discard them?
- Is copying the lead card with a Psionic in Prelude free?
- Do pieces placed by a card, like Mass Uprising, arrive damaged in a Rival-controlled system?
- If a replacement piece takes the place of a damaged piece, does it come in damaged?
- When a piece is ceded, must it be replaced by the same type of piece?
Leaders & Lore
- Should I use Leaders & Lore in my first game?
- Can players take a second Lore card?
- How do the A, B and C starting boxes on a leader card work, and is there a two-player gate exception?
- Do Tax or Build modifiers apply to Living Structures' Nurture?
- When a starport is replaced by a city (Pruned, Living Structures), is the new piece damaged?
- Why can Force Beams ignore the Rebel's movement limit but Predictive Sensors cannot?
- Can Living Structures' Nurture tax a Loyal city if I have the Anarchist?
- Can the Anarchist tax each empty building slot like a Loyal city?
- Do Battle modifiers, Gatekeepers, Warrior's Tactical or Rebel bonuses apply to Galactic Rifles' Fire Rifles?
- Does Mirror Plating give a second intercept, and can Signal Breaker or Agitator interact with it?
Fine Print
- What happens when a player has no ships or starports on the map?
- Can I concede a game of Arcs?
- What overrides what: rulebook, cards, player boards?
- In what order do cities leave and return to my player board?
- Can I voluntarily remove my own piece to free it for building?
- What if I have no agent to place on an Outrage slot?
- Are deals made in negotiation binding, and can I give other players pieces or cards?
- How are ties and unclear decision orders resolved?
- Can I show or tell others about my hand, and is hand size public?
General
- Can Arcs be played with five players?
- Is the 2-player game an official variant?
- Does Arcs allow trading resources or cards between players?
- Can I voluntarily destroy a city outside of battle?
- When I secure Call to Action, can I take any card from the action discard pile?
- Can I use both abilities on the same card in one turn, like Farseers' declare and discard?
- Did the July 2024 rules update change any rules?
- Do I need extra dice sets, or can more than six of a die type be in use?
Arcs: The Blighted Reach ExpansionExpansion
- In The Blighted Reach, what if the only card I have to lead with is an Event card?
- How many hits does it take to destroy a fresh Blight, and is it destroyed after four hits?
- If an ambition is declared several times, does winning it count as several wins for an objective?
- Can a Regent with only a building in a system control Imperial ships there?
- Can I spend Outraged resources from the Pirate Hoard for their Prelude actions?
- Why are there extra Event cards mixed into some Fate sets, and where do they go?
- How do Event cards work: can I lead with one, and does it earn initiative?
- When an Event is played, what happens at the end of the round, and which event activates?
- Does a crisis only happen during a summit, and do edicts resolve in order?