Expedition to 5X
Expedition to 5X Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object of the Game
Each player becomes the head of a clan. Over the course of 15 rounds you will compete with the other clans for supremacy on planet 5X.
In each round you may perform one action out of five possible:
- Excavate: ancient technologies,
- Drill: the depths in search of water,
- Plunder: rival settlements,
- Scout: territories,
- Expand: your possibilities.
The clan that scores the most victory points wins. Victory points are scored at the end of the game for developed technologies and water tokens.
Components
- 25 action cards (5 cards for each clan)
- 5 player screens
- 15 technology cards
- 5 settlement cards
- 50 water tokens
- An eight-sided die (with values 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3)
- A scoring pad
- The rules
Personal Play Area
- A: Place for the chosen action card
- B: Place for found technologies (on either side of your settlement card)
- C: Action card discard pile
Your settlement card lies in the middle row, your screen below it, and your action card draw hand is held behind the screen.
Game Setup
- Each player receives 5 action cards (1 card of each type: Excavate, Drill, Plunder, Scout and Expand).
- Lay out 1 random settlement card face up in front of each player.
- Each player receives 1 screen and 5 water tokens. Water tokens must always be kept behind the screen.
- Form a common supply from the remaining water tokens. Their number is not limited. If the water tokens run out, use any suitable replacement.
- Shuffle the technology cards, form a deck from them and place it face up in the center of the table.
Action Card Description
A. Activation order. In each round the action cards are resolved in order of activation, starting with the card with the lowest number.
B. Symbol. Each action has its own symbol: Excavate, Drill, Plunder, Scout and Expand.
C. Basic action. At the bottom of each card there is a symbol showing the action that can be performed with this card. The effect of the action can be improved with the technology cards that you acquire.
Technology Card Description
D. Improvable actions. A technology card you acquire can improve the effects of 2 basic actions. The symbols in the upper corners indicate the action being improved, as well as the type of improvement (see "Using Improvements", p. 4).
E. Crystals. Crystals are the main way to earn victory points. Only activated crystals count when victory points are counted at the end of the game (see "Activating Crystals", p. 3).
Activating Crystals
To be activated, a crystal must be surrounded by 2 laurel-wreath branches. The central crystal of a technology card is already activated, while the crystals on the edges of the card can be activated only by connecting them to the edges of other technology cards (see "Placing Technologies", p. 6).
Course of the Game
The game lasts 15 rounds. Each round consists of four phases:
- Revealing a new technology
- Choosing an action card
- Performing actions
- Discarding the played card
Then a new round begins, in which all of the above phases are repeated.
At the end of the 15th round the technology deck will be empty and the game ends. You will need to count victory points to determine the winner.
I. Revealing a New Technology
Take the top card of the technology deck and place it next to the deck, without flipping it. If cards remain next to the deck from previous rounds, shift them to the side and place the new card next to the deck. The row of revealed technology cards is called the market. The top card of the deck does not belong to the market and cannot be bought.
Important. The maximum number of technology cards in the market is equal to the number of players minus one card (see the table below). If the number of technologies in the market exceeds the maximum by 1 card, discard the card that has been in the market the longest.
| Players | Maximum number of technologies |
|---|---|
| 3 | 2 |
| 4 | 3 |
| 5 | 4 |
Example. Discarding a card in a four-player game.
II. Choosing an Action Card
Each player chooses from their hand one of the available action cards and places it face down in front of themselves. The card chosen by the player determines the actions they will be able to perform in the following phases. In this game it is important to anticipate the actions of your opponents. We recommend paying attention to the action cards lying in their discard piles.
III. Performing Actions
When all players have played their action cards, each reveals their card and performs its action. All cards are played one at a time in the following order: first Excavate, then Drill, then Plunder, Scout and, finally, Expand.
If two or more players chose the same action, they perform it simultaneously, or, if that is impossible, in turn, in any order.
During the game you may obtain technology cards that improve your basic actions. When applying the effect of an action card, you must first use the improvement effects of the technology cards associated with that action (if possible), and then perform the basic action itself.
III/I. Using Improvements
Check whether you have technologies that can improve the action card you played. If you do, use their corresponding improvements.
Below are the 4 types of improvements that can be found on technology cards:
- Receive 1 water token from the common supply.
- Roll the die and receive a number of water tokens from the common supply equal to the result.
- Receive 1 water token from the common supply for each action card of the indicated type that was played this round.
- Steal 1 water token from each player who played an action card of the indicated type this round.
Example. A player who has this technology receives the following improvements (as long as these symbols are visible):
A. Every time the Expand card is played, steal 1 water token from each participant who played the Drill card.
B. Every time the Scout card is played, roll the die and receive a number of water tokens from the common supply equal to the result.
III/II. Applying Effects
Each card allows you to perform one action. The results of the action may be affected by the cards played by other players.
Types of actions
Excavate
Participate in an auction to obtain one of the technology cards available in the market. The auction is held in two different ways depending on how many players take part in it (see "Holding an Auction", p. 5). After buying a technology at auction, immediately place it in your play area, following the technology placement rules (see "Placing Technologies", p. 6).
Drill
Take the number of water tokens from the common supply shown in the table, depending on the number of players who played this same action card in the current round.
| Players who played Drill | Water tokens |
|---|---|
| 1 | 4 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 1 |
| 4+ | 0 |
For example, if you were the only one who played Drill, you receive 4 water tokens; if two players played Drill, each of them receives 2 water tokens, and so on.
Plunder
Steal water from the players who played Excavate and Expand. The number of water tokens that each of these players must give you depends on the number of players who played this same card (Plunder) in the current round. If a player does not have enough water tokens, you receive the missing ones from the common supply.
| Players who played Plunder | Water tokens stolen from each Excavate / Expand player |
|---|---|
| 1 | 2 |
| 2 | 1 |
| 3+ | 0 |
Scout
Roll the die and receive a number of water tokens equal to the result. In addition, in the next round you will be able to choose and reveal your action card after your opponents have played and revealed their cards. If two or more players chose this action, in the next round they must simultaneously choose and reveal their cards after the players who did not play Scout in the current round have revealed theirs.
Expand
Return to your hand all the action cards you have discarded (including this card).
IV. Discarding the Played Card
Each participant who played Excavate and obtained a technology card, Drill, Plunder or Scout places the used action card in their discard pile face up, so that everyone can see it.
Anyone who played Excavate but did not obtain a technology, instead of discarding, returns this card to their hand.
Anyone who played Expand returns this card to their hand, as well as the other cards from their discard pile.
Example. Arrangement of cards in a discard pile.
Then a new round begins, in which all the phases are repeated anew.
Holding an Auction
Auction for 1 Player
If you were the only one who played Excavate, perform the following steps in order.
-
Place a bid in the auction by taking the desired number of water tokens from your personal supply into your hand, then show it to the other players. You must bid at least 1 water token.
-
Roll the die.
-
Compare the results. If your bid is less than or equal to the die roll result, you leave the auction. Return 1 water token to the common supply and the remaining tokens of the bid to your personal supply.
In addition, at the end of the round do not discard the Excavate card, but return it to your hand. The Excavate card is discarded only if, by playing it, you obtained a technology in the current round.
-
If your bid is greater than the die roll result, you receive any technology from the market. Return your bid to the common supply and place the chosen technology in your play area, following the technology placement rules.
Note. If your bid does not exceed the die roll result, you do not receive a technology card.
Auction for 2 or More Players
If 2 or more participants played the Excavate card, they perform the following steps in order.
- Each of them becomes a participant in the auction and must place a bid by taking any number of water tokens into their hand. Participants must bid at least 1 water token.
- Auction participants must reveal their bids simultaneously.
- Any participants who made identical bids are removed from the auction. The remaining player with the highest bid wins.
Note. It is possible that all players are removed from the auction. In this case there is no winner!
- The auction winner must return their bid to the common supply, choose one of the technologies available in the market, and add it to their play area (see "Placing Technologies" below).
- If technology cards remain in the market, the auction participant who took second place must return their bid to the common supply, choose one of the available technologies, and so on.
- Participants removed from the auction (who did not obtain a technology) must return 1 water token to the common supply and take back the remaining tokens of their bid, placing them behind their screens. In addition, at the end of the round they do not discard their Excavate card, but return it to their hand. The Excavate card is discarded only if, by playing it, you obtained a technology in the current round.
Having obtained a technology, place it in your play area, following the "Placing Technologies" rules described below.
Placing Technologies
When you obtain a technology card you immediately place it in your play area, either separately or by connecting it with other technology cards that you own. A technology card located in a player's area in either of these ways allows its effect to be used to improve one of the basic actions.
Rules for Connecting Technology Cards
- A new technology card can be attached to the settlement card and/or to a technology card lying in the play area if these two cards have a common basic action symbol on opposite sides. When connecting, the new card is placed, at your choice, either on top of or underneath the other card. The symbol that is on top becomes the active one.
- Two or more cards connected to each other by at least one side are called a group of technologies. A player may have any number of technologies, located separately or in a group.
- Connected groups of technologies cannot be separated until the end of the game. They can be attached to new technology cards only as a whole.
- On each side, a new technology card can be connected to a group of technologies or to a single technology.
Connecting technologies is needed in order to activate the crystals on a technology card. When you connect 2 technologies, the edge crystal becomes surrounded by 2 laurel-wreath branches. Such a crystal will earn victory points (VP) at the end of the game.
Illustrations: unconnected technologies (available improvements, one activated crystal and non-activated crystals on each card) versus connected technologies (available improvements, activated crystals and non-activated crystals).
End of the Game
The game ends at the end of the 15th round. Count VP as follows.
- For every 2 water tokens remaining in your personal supply, receive 1 VP.
- The number of VP for crystals is counted separately for each type of crystal and depends on their number in your play area. Only activated crystals (surrounded by laurel-wreath branches on both sides) earn VP. The crystal marked X is a joker; you may count it as a crystal of any type.
The number of VP earned by activated crystals of one type:
| Activated crystals of one type | VP |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 3 |
| 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 10 |
| 5 | 15 |
| 6 (maximum) | 21 |
Note. If you have more than 6 crystals of one type, they will bring you only 21 VP; this is the maximum number of victory points for crystals of one type.
The player who has scored the most victory points wins. In case of a tie, the contender who has the most water tokens in their personal supply wins. If there is still a tie, all the contenders are declared winners.
Example of Scoring
Katya ends the game with 3 blue, 3 green and 1 purple activated crystals. She decides to count the joker as blue. Thus she receives 10 VP for the blue crystals, 6 VP for the green crystals and 1 VP for the purple crystal. In addition, she receives 2 VP for the 5 water tokens in her personal reserve. Her total is 19 VP.