Ceres: Comets Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Setup
• Asteroid Belt Phase
• Production Phase
  • Near-Sun Comet
  • Sungrazer Comet
• Activation Phase

Components

• 18 Tail tokens
• 2 Double-sided Comet tokens
• 2 Double-sided Surface cards
• 8 Nucleus cards
• 3 Explosion Check cards

To integrate the Comets expansion in your game, add the following rules on the following game phases.

Game Setup

In the Setting up the Game Board sequence, add the 4 steps:

1. Place the two Surface cards next to the Game board, near the Asteroid Belt.
2. Shuffle the Nucleus cards, form a face-down pile and reveal one under each Surface card. Depending on the Nucleus cards you drew, flip the Surface cards to match the color of the Nucleus cards. Return the remaining Nucleus cards to the game box.
3. Shuffle the Tail tokens face down, and reveal one of each type (Coma, Ion, Dust Tail) under each resource table of both Comets forming separate tails, like the example on the right.
4. As indicated on their Nucleus cards, depending on whether the Comets are Sungrazers (yellow) or Near-sun (white), place the corresponding [color-line] Comet tokens outside the Asteroid Belt next to the Zones as described below:
   • Both Comets are Sungrazers. At random, place a Comet token next to Zone 3 and the other next to Zone 5.
   • One is Sungrazer and the other is Near-sun. Place the Sungrazer next to Zone 5 and the Near-Sun next to Zone 4.
   • Both Comets are Near-Sun. At random, place a Comet token next to Zone 3 and the other next to Zone 4.

Example: The players drew a Sungrazer and a Near-sun Comet, and as a result, they will place the corresponding Sungrazer token next to Zone 5 and the equivalent Near-sun token next to Zone 4 (image on the right).

Asteroid Belt Phase

After rotating the Asteroid Rings, move both Comets to the next adjacent ring towards the center of the Asteroid Belt. Thus, in the 1st round the Comets will end on the Outer Ring, in the 2nd round will end on the Intermediate Ring and in the 3rd round on the Inner Ring.

Production Phase

Remove all remaining Tail tokens under each Nucleus card, depending on the number of the round, as follows:

• 1st round: No tokens
• 2nd round: Dust Tail tokens
• 3rd round: Ion Tail tokens

Afterwards, starting from the Mining Probe on the leftmost slot on a Surface card of a Comet, its owner decides if it will stay there or if it will jump onto an available Asteroid of the same Zone. If you decide to jump onto an available Asteroid in the same zone, you claim it and you gain the Asteroid's Resources and Victory points. If you decide that it stays there, choose one of the lowest available Tail tokens, take it in front of you and gain the depicted Resources and any Victory Points.

In addition in the 3rd round, depending on whether the Comet is a Near-sun or Sungrazer, perform the corresponding resolution:

Near-Sun Comet

Gain the Resources and Victory Points depicted in the table of the Nucleus card, which is located above the Tail token you just chose.

Sungrazer Comet

After each player decides if they want to jump onto an Asteroid or remain on the Comet, draw an Explosion Check card to determine if the Sungrazer Comet explodes or not. If you drew a Safe card, the players that are on the Sungrazer Comet gain the Resources and Victory Points depicted on the table of the Nucleus card, which is located above the Tail token they just chose. On the other hand, if you drew the Explosion card, the players that are on the Sungrazer Comet will gain nothing more. Remove the Comet token from the Asteroid Belt and then reshuffle the Explosion Check cards.

Activation Phase

During your turn, if you are performing the Launch action, you may choose one of the Comets in the Asteroid belt to land your Mining Probe there instead of an Asteroid, by paying Ice as described in the main game rules. Place the Mining Probe on the leftmost available slot onto the appropriate Comet's Surface card. The number of available slots depends on the player count. Then, depending on the number of the round, you choose one of the available Tail tokens under the Nucleus card of the comet you chose and take it in front of you, gaining the depicted Resources and any Victory points:

• 1st round: a Dust tail token
• 2nd round: an Ion tail token
• 3rd round: a Coma token, plus the Resources and Victory Points depicted in the table of the Nucleus card, that is located above the Coma token you just chose.