Galaxy Trucker: Missions
Galaxy Trucker: Missions Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Elements of This Expansion
The central feature of this expansion is the mission cards. Each mission presents a story that takes place over one flight. The mission card describes the rules and rewards that make the mission unique.
This expansion includes 5 new types of components which are distinguished from the usual spaceship components by their backs. These payload components are mostly an extra burden. They will not be mixed in with the usual components unless required for a mission. Usually the mission will specify a reward for successfully delivering a payload.
Some missions require supercards. These are mostly like regular adventure cards except their effects are much nastier. On the plus side, they are usually previewable during building, so you will know what you are about to fly into.
Missions
This expansion includes sixteen mission cards. Each presents a story for one flight. Some missions use one or more types of payload components, some use supercards, some use payloads and supercards, and some just alter the rules of the game.
You can use any system you like for choosing missions. Some suggestions are given on the facing page (see Choosing Missions under Standard Game below).
The Mission Card
The mission card includes:
- A meeting with the person offering the mission. (Some players will recognize these characters from the digital version.)
- A description of how to set up the mission.
- Any rules changes to building or the flight.
- Special rewards or penalties.
The booklet shows an example mission card, with callouts marking each part. Its callouts read: "This is where we would mention any ships that should not be used on this mission." (Text at the top of the card mentions any ships that should not be used.) "For quick reference, the setup box depicts the payload components and supercards that are used."
The example card's text reads:
Good evening. I have the bottles all packed and waiting for you on the loading dock. Please try not to drink them this time.
Setup: Each player is randomly dealt two fragile cargo payload components. These count as two components set aside to be added to the ship during building. When preparing the previewable piles of adventure cards, add one supercard to each pile. (Each pile will have one more card than usual.) If you dare, also add a supercard to the pile of unknown cards.
Special flight rule: When a supercard is revealed, you can choose to avoid it by opening a beverage. This takes your mind to another dimension. And your body. And your ship. Yes, the beverage does seem to be rather strong. Give up one of your fragile cargo components, and for the duration of the supercard, it is as though your ship is not in the flight. (If your ship has multiple parts*, this works on all of them.) Players in front decide first. (As usual, a Tactical Zone applied to only one player has no effect.)
Rewards: If you complete the flight, you get 8, 12, 16, or 20 credits for each fragile cargo component delivered, depending on the flight's level.
Getting Started
I've been teaching truckers long enough to know that most of you will ignore my advice, read the entire book in one sitting, and then jump into trouble with both feet. But just in case someone out there listens to good advice, let me show you how to learn the entire expansion in three missions:
Flip through the missions and find one where the setup box depicts only one type of payload component and no supercards. Read up on the rules for the new component, then fly your first flight. Heh! Your first mission.
For the next flight, read up on supercards and choose a mission that uses them. I recommend Club Gold Trials.
For your third flight, read up on all the other components and fly Experiments, a mission that uses them all.
Or I suppose you could do all the components on your second flight and save the supercards for last. Or ... you know what? Do whatever you want. It's your game.
Standard Game
Starting Credits
At the beginning of the game, each player receives 20 credits. You are experienced truckers, so the game assumes you already have a little bit saved up.
Choosing Flight Levels
Before you start, you should agree on how many flights you want to do and what levels they will be. If a card or a rule refers to "the number of the round" treat it as though it actually said "the level of the flight". All missions use this new terminology because we are no longer assuming that your first round will be a Level I flight.
Choosing Ships and Expansions
Of course, you also must agree on which expansions to use and which ships to use. All players should use the same ship design.
Choosing Missions
Mix up the mission cards and draw three. Then pick one for your first round. If not everyone agrees, choose one of the three at random (or one of two, if everyone can agree on which mission they don't want).
Once the mission has been chosen, you can change your minds about which ships and which expansion to use, but only if everyone agrees to the changes. Otherwise, you have to stick with what was decided at the beginning of the game.
All three mission cards are discarded after the flight. Each subsequent round will have a different set of three to choose from.
Game Play
Play each flight according to its special mission rules. Whoever finishes with more than 20 credits wins! As usual, some players may be bigger winners than others.
If you die— Yeah, in one of the stories this can happen if you aren't careful. So anyway, if you die, you can either play possum for the rest of the game or you can jump in again during the next round as a new trucker (this time with only 1 credit).
Using Other Expansions
The Missions expansion is compatible with everything that has come before:
Components and Adventure Cards
The rules take into account the possibility that you will be using components and adventures from the two Big Expansions.
Ships
The new components and supercards can be used with any ships. Because different ships have different weaknesses, some may be particularly problematic on certain missions. The mission cards will warn you if a ship is not recommended.
Fifth Wheel (5-player game) [The Big Expansion]
Competition for key components will be a little tougher in a 5-player game, but the missions still work. Tactical Zones are the only supercards that require special rules for a fifth player.
Well ... the Escort Mission probably also needs some special rules for a fifth player. But that would require a bigger card. Either leave it out of a 5-player game or be creative.
Rough Roads [The Big Expansion]
You don't really need Rough Roads. Why load explosive batteries when you could cram your ship full of explosive components? And the supercards already make your flight tough enough. Certain combinations are ludicrously destructive.
I know. Players who enjoy Rough Roads aren't the sort who listen to warnings. Well... good luck!
Evil Machinations [The Big Expansion]
If you play with Evil Machinations, we recommend that you determine all your ships and your missions at the beginning of the game, before dealing out the Evil Machination cards. That way, you'll be free to choose missions that are fun without worrying about which ones are best suited to your cards.
Support Team [Another Big Expansion]
Similarly, you should know all the missions and ships ahead of time if you are playing with the Support Team expansion. It may be interesting to choose your crew with the future missions in mind.
You don't need to overdo it. Even though you are veteran truckers, you can still try a few missions with the basic game. That way, you'll know what you are getting yourselves into.
Creating Your Own Missions
You have the payload components. You have the supercards. You have 16 missions as an inspiration.
Have fun.
Payload Components
You're not just hauling sewer pipes anymore.
These components are not used every time you build. They are included only when specified by the mission. Different missions require different types of payloads. When a mission asks you to add some of these components to the warehouse, just mix them in with those you would usually have. The mission's payload components have distinctive backs, so you will know if you are drawing one even when it is face down.
Don't get too excited. Payload components aren't all that useful. In fact, they mostly cause trouble. Trust me, you wouldn't be taking them along if they weren't necessary for your mission.
You cannot set these payload components aside. If you choose not to add one to your ship, you must return it face up. (Exception: The Beverage Run mission requires you to start with two fragile payload components set aside.)
At the end of the flight, be sure to remove all payload components from the warehouse before setting up for the next flight.
Types of Payload Components
Explosive Cargo
Might it not be safer to manufacture explosives on the planet where they are needed rather than trucking them halfway across the Galaxy? Well, that's a loaded question. Such questions are best answered by experts, and hiring experts is expensive. Much more expensive than hiring truckers who are willing to haul anything for a few bucks.
If an explosive cargo component is destroyed, it explodes and destroys any components on the eight neighboring squares.
Of course, if any explosive components are destroyed by this explosion, then they will explode, too. This is known as a chain reaction.
Explosive cargo components and explosive goods or batteries from Rough Roads [The Big Expansion] all explode according to the same rules.
Heavy Cargo
These megamassive ingots have two interesting properties. One of those is even useful:
Heavy cargo cannot be destroyed by meteors or cannon fire that hits a side on which it has no connectors. To put it another way, the smooth sides have indestructible plating [The Big Expansion] [Another Big Expansion]. On sides with connectors, it is as vulnerable as any other component. It can also be destroyed by effects that are not hits from a specific direction, such as the effect of Sabotage, Commandos [Another Big Expansion], or explosive cargo.
Finally! A useful payload component. ... So what's the catch?
After you compute engine strength, subtract the total mass of your heavy cargo. The result is your final engine strength, which might be negative. The good news is that you apply a brown alien's bonus before subtracting the mass. For example, if you have 2 single engines, a brown alien, and heavy cargo with a total mass of 4, your final engine strength is 0. Without the engines, of course, your brown alien would not help you and your final engine strength would be -4.
As usual, any engine strength of 0 or less forces you to drop out when you reach Open Space. But engine strength 0 is still better than -4 in a Combat Zone.
If you have a basic understanding of physics, you know that heavier loads require stronger engines and a really heavy load will keep your ship from moving at all. Now it may happen that some of your fellow truckers have more than a basic understanding of physics and they might question our calculations. Don't listen to them. While they are droning on about energy, momentum, and other such nonsense, fire up your engines and leave them in the dust. That'll show them.
Fragile Cargo
Of course beverages are transported in glass bottles. No one wants to drink something that came out of a steel tank. And wooden barrels are problematic once they leave atmosphere ... not to mention the incident with the space termites.
If one of the eight neighboring components is destroyed, the fragile cargo component is also destroyed.
Of course, if a fragile cargo component is destroyed, that will trigger the destruction of any neighboring fragile cargo. Shards of glass everywhere!
Legends tell of a trucker named Johnny who built a ship of glass distilling tubes and set out across the Galaxy. He fended off marauding pirates, skirted the event horizons of black holes, and even fought off meteors with his bare hands, forever trucking until the day he settled down and established the distillery known as Johnny Trucker. Yes, some wagging tongues do say the whole story is just part of a Johnny Trucker marketing campaign. Those wagging tongues should taste Altairian ultrawhiskey thrice distilled in the nucleus of a supernova.
If you've delivered crates of beverage for the bartender in the digital version, you know that they work differently. When the bottles break, the crate in the digital game holds together.
The rules in the board game are different. For one thing, we didn't want to fiddle with tokens to mark broken bottles. But the main reason is that having the ship fall apart is funnier.
Radioactive Cargo
Radioactive cargo follows two rules:
- Two radioactive cargo components must not be joined to each other. (Not even via router modules [Another Big Expansion].) If they are joined, this counts as a building mistake, which must be corrected by removing one of them.
- The components on the eight neighboring squares cannot have battery tokens or upright crew figures. (Crubots [Another Big Expansion] are okay. Robots get along fine with radiation. Figures lying in stasis chambers [The Big Expansion] are okay, too, as long as they aren't awake due to some effect like the Hotel Clerk's [Another Big Expansion]. They can be awakened to replace crew as usual, assuming their new location is legal.)
It is okay to have battery components and cabins neighboring radioactive cargo, but they don't get their tokens and figures.
Radioactive cargo components have no effect on goods.
It is not strictly true to say that batteries "cannot" be near radioactive cargo. As was shown by an enthusiastic group of myth-busting truckers, batteries can, in fact, be placed quite near. The real question is what happens next. Our enthusiastic colleagues will have many years to contemplate this question in their prison cell orbiting Sirius. So to keep things simple, let's just say that batteries cannot be near radioactive cargo.
Artifacts
Have you heard about the quantum theory of alien species? It's an attempt to explain a strange phenomenon: When the Department of Stellar Vehicles is offering tax breaks for alien merchants, alien civilizations seem to be everywhere, but when the Department wants to know the origin of something problematic like these artifacts, humans are suddenly alone in the universe.
Alien artifacts can be single or double. Single artifacts are much better because they are only half as bad.
A single artifact turns either its entire row or its entire column into a dead zone. Whether it affects its row or its column depends on its orientation, as shown.
In a dead zone, nothing works except connectors, indestructible plating, and payload components.
I can hear you now. You say, What do you mean nothing works? I mean nothing works. Components in the dead zone can't hold goods, batteries, or crew figures. They can't add to your crew or engine or cannon strength. They can't help you deflect or avoid hits to your ship. Life support modules don't support life. Nothing. Works. And you say, Well what about ...?
No. The answer is no.
Unless you were asking about the new payload components in this expansion. They are completely unaffected.
Some expansions, especially Support Crew [Another Big Expansion], allow you to give components functions they would not normally have. A dead zone turns off all active functions, but structural properties still work. The component's connectors are structural. Indestructible plating is structural. And the effects of this expansion's payload components are structural. Everything else is nonfunctional in a dead zone, including router modules [Another Big Expansion] and similar effects.
You can probably guess what a double artifact does, but we'll tell you anyway: a double artifact creates a dead zone that affects every component in its row and every component in its column. At least you don't have to worry about its orientation.
The dead zone works just like the Rough Roads [The Big Expansion] card with the same name. But there is one thing about an artifact's dead zone that is special: It is illegal to place an artifact in another artifact's dead zone.
Researchers at the Deneb X science station are currently studying what happens when an artifact enters another artifact's zone. At least, that's what they said they would be doing. No one has heard from them for some time.
If you lose your artifact during the flight, the dead zone disappears and the components become functional. But the cabins and batteries are empty.
There is one hypothetical situation where losing an artifact makes your ship illegal (and thus forces you to give up a component). It involves another type of payload component and a component from Another Big Expansion. This is left as a homework exercise.
Ships of Multiple Parts
Some ship classes (IIA [The Big Expansion] and IVCL [Latest Models]) can have multiple parts. The rules for payload components and supercards in such a situation are fairly intuitive:
An artifact's dead zone extends across your entire board, so it can affect components in a separate part. Any rule or card that applies to a component's 8 neighboring squares will still apply even if (because of some weird rules interaction) one of the neighboring squares is on a separate part.
The penalty of a heavy cargo component applies only to its own part.
Destroyed, Fallen Off, and Given Up
There are three ways components can be lost. Only destruction triggers the special effect of explosive and fragile cargo (which is explained next).
A component can be destroyed by a meteor, a shot, or by a card like Sabotage, where the effect is thematically related to destruction. (Sabotage doesn't use the word "destroyed" because we didn't know we would need it.)
A component falls off if something happens that makes it no longer attached to the ship. This includes components that fall off when another component is destroyed. Nanobot Dust from this expansion makes components fall off without destroying anything. So does Radiation Leak [Another Big Expansion]. Falling off does not trigger the effects of explosive and fragile payloads.
In this expansion, you might need to give up components to escape a Black Hole. Giving up a component does not trigger the effects of explosive and fragile payloads.
Supercards
Some adventures are more memorable than others.
Supercards During Building
Supercards have distinctive backs. The same deck can be used for flights of any level. Where necessary, the card adjusts itself to be nastier at higher levels.
Some adventure cards are helpful, some are harmful. With supercards, this is only half true. But that half – oh man – is it ever true!
Supercards are supposed to be challenging, but not unstoppable. Most of the time, there will be a way for you to look at them during building so you can prepare for them. If you are the sort of player who doesn't look at the cards much, you should make an exception for supercards.
[Another Big Expansion] If you are not using Another Big Expansion, remove all 3 Robopolice Raids from the deck. Without that expansion, you have no defense against intruders.
Unless the mission says otherwise, the supercards are mixed into the deck just like any other cards. As usual, the deck should be shuffled so that the topmost card is a normal adventure card of a level equal to the level of the flight.
It's best to shuffle the cards without looking at them. When you think you are done, check the top card. If it doesn't match the flight level, shuffle a little more.
Evil Machinations [The Big Expansion] cards are shuffled into the deck in the usual way. First mix the adventure cards and supercards. Then shuffle Evil Machinations into the middle.
Supercards During Flight
Supercards are adventures just like the regular adventure cards. Individual cards are described in the next section.
A few general notes:
- They affect all players.
- They don't offer any rewards ... but if you manage to escape a supercard unscathed, you can think of it as a reward for playing well.
- Many supercards have cumulative effects that depend on the level of the flight.
An engine booster [The Big Expansion] allows you to avoid adventure cards, and it works on supercards, too. However, supercards are so strong that they also make themselves felt in hyperspace. Any ship or part of a ship in hyperspace during a supercard (no matter whether it jumped there now or during the previous card) must take one blast of large cannon fire from the front.
So while your fellow truckers are dealing with the menace, grab the dice and ask yourself if it was truly worth it.
Types of Supercards
Meteor Shower
In any drinking establishment frequented by truckers, the conversation will eventually turn to the question of how likely it is that a small meteor will hit that one connector that has been left exposed. Some careless loudmouth will say it's a million to one. The rumpled, grease-stained veteran at the end of the bar will say that on her ship, it's at least fifty-fifty. The fellow with the glasses and the pencil will scribble on a napkin and try to explain why it's somewhere between one-in-six and one-in-twelve, depending on the location. Then the loudmouth will grab the scribbler by the collar as a way of explaining the difference between theory and reality ... and this is your opportunity, from your table in the dark corner, to say in your most ominous voice, "And have you ever seen a meteor shower?"
A meteor shower is a point-by-point test of your ship's exterior. Small meteors come at your ship from two directions and strike every row and column. No dice are rolled.
The curving arrow shows where the onslaught begins and ends. Resolve the meteors one-by-one in this order. The effect of each meteor is the same as any small meteor from Meteoric Swarm, and they can be defended against in the usual way.
If you have no exposed connectors, you can laugh this off. Otherwise, the order of impact can really matter. A hit on one connector could expose a few more. A hit from the front might destroy a shield that could have protected your right side.
[Another Big Expansion] Thrusters can't help you in a meteor shower. The meteors hit every row and column.
Ignore any weird numbering system (like Classes IA [The Big Expansion], IC [Latest Models], and IIC [Latest Models] have). The meteors hit every row and column once, regardless of their numbers. (In the case of Classes IC and IIC, you ignore the trans-dimensional splice.)
If a ship has weirdly defined sides in a particular direction (like Classes IIB [Another Big Expansion] and IIIC [Latest Models]) and needs a roll to determine which row or column will serve as the "side", roll only once and use the result for all meteors from that direction. (In the case of Class IIIC, you will roll twice, once for the first meteor, and once for the first meteor from the second direction.)
Meteor Alert
The first truckers to encounter these mistook them for a meteor swarm combined with really bad luck. But after evaluating a thousand insurance claims, the Pangalactic actuaries spotted the pattern. A meteor alert is proof that, in some corners of the Galaxy, the universe really is out to get you.
A Meteor Alert consists of several large meteors coming from two directions. The number of meteors depends on the level of the flight. The first row applies to all flights. Then the second row applies if the flight is Level II or higher. Then the third row applies if the flight is Level III or higher. The bottom row applies only if your flight is Level IV [Another Big Expansion]. You may cover the inapplicable lines with another card.
The leader rolls for each arrow in the row. You defend against the meteor – or not – according to the same rules that apply to large meteors in a Meteoric Swarm.
If the arrow has a die on it, then one of the dice is automatically set to that number. The second die is rolled as usual. These meteors are much more likely to smash into the middle of your ship.
It still counts as a roll, so thrusters [Another Big Expansion] can affect the row or column as usual.
On ships where you roll only one die (IC [Latest Models] or IIC [Latest Models]) you don't need to roll. The die on the card depicts the outcome. On ships where you roll one die after the other (IIB [Another Big Expansion] or IIIC [Latest Models]) the die on the card depicts your first roll.
Another interesting thing about Meteor Alerts is that you might encounter large meteors from the rear. A rear-pointing cannon can destroy a large meteor in its column or either of the two adjacent columns. When the meteor is chasing you, you have a little bit more maneuvering room than you do against one crashing into your windshield. This is analogous to shooting large meteors from the side.
Meteoric Inversion card [The Big Expansion]: This is an official rules change that also applies in the case of Meteoric Inversion. When we made the digital version, we decided that a bit more wiggle room on rear meteors would make the game better. See? The universe isn't always out to get you.
Black Hole
The original truckers drove eighteen-wheeled vehicles along the surface of a planet. Modern truckers fly across the Galaxy. Even so, there is much about galaxy trucking that those ancient truckers would recognize: Truckers still like to travel in convoys, they still think going fast is better than going slow, and they still have to swerve around pot holes.
If you see one of these, you need to fire up your engines and get yourself out of there!
The strength of a black hole depends on the level of the flight. For example, this card has strength 5 on a Level II flight. You need your engine strength to match or exceed the black hole's strength. Otherwise, you will be sucked in.
The black hole card depicts these strengths by level: Level I 4, Level II 5, Level III 7, Level IV 8.
If you can't match the black hole's strength, don't worry. If you are being sucked in, you can still escape by giving up two components for each point of strength difference.
If you don't have enough components to make up the difference ... well then, you give them all up, in a way. And you would be forced to give up on the flight, although that's a rather tame way of describing what really happens.
You can always hope that there is some truth to the theory that objects falling into a black hole emerge from a white hole in a parallel universe where all the meteors are made of rose petals, where pirates greet you cordially and hand out valuable goods, and where anyone can acquire, at a reasonable price, a rainbow unicorn.
Players deal with the black hole in order, beginning with the leader. On your turn, you can power double engines and discard components in any order. This allows you to use a battery token and then give up the component it came from. However, your engine strength is not calculated until everything is discarded. So if you give up an engine, it won't count toward your strength. If you give up a brown alien's life support module, the alien won't be there to give you a bonus.
Your final engine strength determines how many components you need to throw away, and you aren't allowed to give up more than that. If you declare engine strength 4 when you need a 5, you give up only two components, and not ones that cause extra components to fall off. Why would you want to give up more? Well there is one mission where it pays to lose components. But "I threw half my ship into a black hole just because I felt like it" does not make a very good story.
When flying a ship with multiple parts (Class IIA [The Big Expansion] or IVC [Latest Models]) make these adjustments:
- The black hole's strength is the number on the card divided by the number of parts in your ship class, rounded up. (You divide by the number of parts everyone started with. It does not matter how many parts you currently have.)
- Each part is treated like its own ship. It has to fight off the black hole under its own power and give up its own components.
Enemy Fleet
Meeting a fleet has some advantages over the usual enemy encounter. For one thing, the fleet attacks everyone, so the ship in front won't be taking away everyone else's fun. For another thing, defeating a fleet has no reward, which keeps your fellow truckers from being jealous.
A fleet's strength depends on the flight level. This Pirate Fleet will have strength 9 on a Level II flight. You can ignore everything below the line corresponding to the current flight level. You may cover the inapplicable lines with another card.
The Pirate Fleet card depicts these strengths by level: Level I 7, Level II 9, Level III 11, Level IV 15. The cannon fire for each level is drawn on the card art beside that level's line; it is not written out as text in the booklet, so read it from the card.
The Robber Fleet card depicts these strengths by level: Level I 6, Level II 8, Level III 9, Level IV 11. Its penalty rows, top to bottom, are -3, -3, -4 and -2, each shown with a crew or goods icon on the card. The worked examples below fix which penalty applies at each level.
Unlike the usual enemies, which always attack from the front, enemy fleets can attack from multiple sides, as depicted on the cards. This can actually be advantageous. The cannon illustration indicates which of your cannons are pointing toward the fleet. When you compute cannon strength, cannons pointing in the indicated directions count full value and those pointing in other directions count half. For example, against this Robber Fleet, a single cannon counts as strength one-half if it points forward and strength one if it points in any other direction. Purple aliens give their usual bonus.
In order, beginning with the leader, players declare their cannon strength:
- If you match or beat the enemy's strength for the current flight level, nothing happens to your ship.
- If you match or beat the enemy's strength for a lesser flight level, then the effects above that line do not apply to you. You will suffer only the penalties that are below the line you can beat and above the line for the current flight level.
- If you cannot match the enemy's strength for a Level I flight, then all the depicted penalties apply to you, beginning with the top line and continuing down to the line for the current flight level.
To keep things clear, use your second rocket figure to indicate the line you can match or beat. (Or put it at the top of the card if you can't even match the Level I strength.)
If the penalties include cannon fire, the leader rolls once per shot and the roll determines the hit location for all impacted ships, as usual. Penalties are cumulative. For example, a player with cannon strength 5 facing the Robber Fleet on a Level III flight gives up 3 crew members and 7 blocks of goods (the best ones, as usual). A player with strength 6 loses 3 crew members and 4 blocks of goods. A player with cannon strength 8½ loses only 4 blocks of goods. Whoever has 9 or more is okay.
Tactical Zone
An experienced trucker looking through the adventure cards will spot a Combat Zone and say, "Oh, it looks like I'll need to have a lot of engines, cannons, and crew." Actually, you don't even have to look, because it always pays to have a lot of engines, cannons, and crew ... unless you're in a Tactical Zone.
Tactical Zones are very similar to Combat Zones. Players compare the properties of their ships and the one who is worst off must suffer a penalty.
Instead of evaluating three rows, a Tactical Zone evaluates two columns, first the left, then the right. And instead of evaluating a specific parameter, a Tactical Zone evaluates the difference between two parameters, as depicted at the top of the column.
Players do their calculations in order, beginning with the leader. On your turn, you may choose whether to power components that use batteries, but everything else counts as usual, even if you don't want it to.
For example, the Tactical Zone on the facing page says you want crew members to outnumber cannon strength. So you won't be powering your double cannons, but you still must count your single cannons and your bonus for your purple alien. (If you have a crubot station [Another Big Expansion], this would be a good time to use it. And do not forget to apply the armory [Another Big Expansion] bonus.)
Every player declares cannon strength and subtracts it from crew size. Whoever has the lowest number suffers the penalty. In case of ties, the player farther ahead suffers the penalty.
Hey, we're truckers! We don't have to use negative numbers. Handle it in two steps:
Does anybody have crew size less than cannon strength? That's no good. The card says you should have more. If there is only one player in this position, that's the one who suffers the penalty. If there are more than one, penalize the one whose cannon strength exceeds crew size by the most.
If everybody has crew size bigger than cannon strength, like it shows on the card, then subtract cannon strength from crew size. Ta dah! You get a positive number. Whoever has the lowest number suffers the penalty.
Yeah, and if there's a tie, penalize the trucker farther ahead. It's tradition.
Now we know who suffers the penalty. So what's the penalty?
As usual, it depends on the level of the flight. Apply all the penalties above the line labeled with the flight level. For example, a player penalized in a Level III flight would give up 5 crew members and lose 5 flight days.
You can use another card to cover up everything below the line labeled with the current flight level. Then everyone can see that only the visible penalties apply.
After evaluating the left column, evaluate the right. In our example, you want engine strength greater than cannon strength. So you'll be powering double engines and leaving the double cannons alone. You have to compute your cannon strength both times. If you lost your alien in the first column, you won't have its bonus in the second column. And if you powered a double cannon for the first column, you will have to power it again if you want it to apply to the second column. (Of course, no one would do this unless they thought it would make a hilarious story.)
[The Big Expansion] In a five-player game, the player who is second worst is also penalized. The second player's total penalty is reduced by one day, one crew member, and one block of goods. Also, ignore the first blast of heavy cannon fire.
Special Event Supercards
The supercards include six new special events. They are variations on the themes of Stardust, Epidemic, and Radiation Leak [Another Big Expansion]. We're sure you'll enjoy them. (Who doesn't enjoy a good plague?)
Each card describes its effect and illustrates an example. The six special event cards read:
- "Each battery token or solar panel* causes you to lose all crew members on the 8 neighboring squares."
- "Any component with a battery token is destroyed if any of the 8 neighboring squares also has a battery token."
- "Lose 1 flight day for each exposed connector. Then each cannon and engine with an exposed connector falls off."
- "Lose 1 flight day for each exposed connector. Lose all crew members, batteries and cargo from components with exposed connectors."
- "If two occupied cabins are joined to each other, each cabin on your ship (or ships) loses one crew member."
- "Each occupied cabin on one of the 8 squares neighboring another occupied cabin loses one crew member."
Robopolice Raid
Leave these cards out of the deck unless you are playing with the components and rules from Another Big Expansion.
The Robopolice Raid is a lot like a Commando. The differences are explained below.
A Commando tells you its direction, but not its row or column of impact. The Robopolice Raid is the other way around.
Roll For Direction
Roll one die and consult the table on the card to see which direction the raid comes from. On this card, a roll of 5 or 6 means an attack from behind.
Determine the Entrance Point
Robopolice always follow a strict procedure. The white dice in the center of the card act as the "roll" to determine the row or column. If a roll normally requires only one die (Class IC [Latest Models] or IIC [Latest Models]) use the larger die on the card as the result. If a roll requires dice to be rolled one after another (Class IIIC [Latest Models] or IIB [Another Big Expansion]) the larger die is the result of the first roll and the smaller is the second.
Even though the police are rolling for you, this still counts as a roll to determine the row or column, and you can use thrusters [Another Big Expansion] to adjust it (if they are joined to a component with crew).
Persistence
The robopolice don't give up easily. If they miss the ship or if they are confronted with a defended component, they back up and try again in the next row or column. (To figure out which is "next" pretend they are walking along that side of your ship in the direction indicated by the curving green arrow.) If that row or column doesn't work, they try the next one, and so on. If this takes them off the board, they come in from the other side and keep going until they find a legal entrance point or until they have tried every possible attack from that direction. In that case, they finally give up.
Movement
They follow the same movement rules as other intruders.
That's right. If you know a Robopolice Raid is coming, you know it can hit you in one of three locations. And because you know how it moves, you can set it up so that it enters your ship and runs into an auto-defense system or armed crew members in the very next component. And if that hurts your brain, just scatter armories and auto-defense systems all over the place and hope for the best, just like you would against Predators and Commandos.
Confiscation
The robopolice confiscate your battery tokens, crew figures, and blocks of goods just the same as predators do. (At least the robopolice leave less slime.)
Planting Charges
Of course, that's not all they do. They also blow up any components where they discover dangerous contraband. The icon in the lower right depicts what this particular raid considers dangerous. Wherever they confiscate the depicted token, figure, or block, they also set a charge that works just like charges set by commandos. The Robopolice Raid on page 18 plants charges where it finds crew. The double raid on page 19 plants charges where it finds batteries.
Stopping the Robopolice
They are defeated when they enter a defended component, just as commandos are. And just like commandos, they will set off all their charges at that moment.
How Many Steps?
You don't have to count steps. They'll keep going until you defeat them.
Well, okay, they won't go around your ship for ever and ever. Once they start to repeat their path, they will leave.
Note that it is possible for robopolice to return to a place they have been and then continue in a direction they did not go last time. They do not leave the ship until they have completed their entire circuit. (Or until you stop them.)
If the robopolice are not defeated, they will place one more charge at their entrance point as a going-away present. When they leave, all charges explode.
Double Raid
One raid has two units which work together like double intruders usually do. Both units attempt to enter at the same entrance point, but if it is defended they will split up to look for the nearest undefended entrance point that can be attacked from the direction that was rolled.
You can evaluate the two units in either order. Once they have both left the ship, all their charges explode.
Overview of New Components
Explosive Cargo. If this component is destroyed, all components on the eight neighboring squares are also destroyed.
Fragile Cargo. This component is destroyed if any component on one of the eight neighboring squares is destroyed.
Heavy Cargo. After computing engine strength, subtract this component's mass from the total. On sides with no connectors, this component has indestructible plating and cannot be destroyed by meteors or cannon fire from those directions.
Radioactive Cargo. Components on the eight neighboring squares cannot hold batteries or upright crew figures. This component cannot be joined to another radioactive cargo component.
Artifact. This creates a dead zone in its row, column, or both, as depicted by the direction of the yellow flames of alien energy. In a dead zone, nothing works except connectors, indestructible plating, and payload components. An artifact cannot be in another artifact's dead zone.