Incorporated
Incorporated Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective of the Game
The purpose of the players is to maximize their profits. The winning condition at the end of the game is to have the most cash. All other goals, investing on stock markets, affecting the geopolitical situation, etc. are secondary. The corporation's main source of profit is to grab market share by placing assets on various countries on the board, then to collect income from those industry squares at the end of each turn. At the end of the game, you will be evaluated by your spread in the squares, and market leaderships in each industry; so it's paramount to build a sufficient board presence towards the end of the game, but one must not get carried away and pay ludicrous prices for shares at the wrong time in the name of grabbing a market share. For the right price, and at the right moment, everything can and must be sold!
The Board
The board is a world map divided into 4 zones (America, Europe, Asia and the 3rd World) and in each zone there are various countries. These countries are affiliated with two rival camps, namely NATO, representing the Western World led by the United States, and SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) representing the rising economic power of Asia led by China. During the game, the countries will dynamically change affiliations, grow new industries, or even collapse altogether causing the ruin of all the investments made there.
There are 4 sliders, representing the current state of macro economy: Interest Rates, Global Growth, Stress and Balance of Power. There is also a Game Flow Sheet to aid players in passing through the phases more smoothly.
Board diagram key:
- Name of the country
- Stability (the number on the top-left corner of the country box)
- Local bonus to clashes
- Affiliation (NATO or SCO)
- Connecting arrows to other countries
Game Flow Sheet
This is a reminder sheet to keep track of the phases and make the game run more smoothly. At the start of the game, place a tracking pawn on the 1st Phase (Outlook). As you proceed through the phases, advance this tracking pawn to the following phase. See rules for phases below for more detail.
Countries
On the board there are countries (such as the United Kingdom) or areas (like Central Asia) that are connected to each other by arrows. We call all of those boxes "Countries" for in-game purposes. The countries have the following characteristics:
- Each country is situated in a zone (Asia, Americas, Europe and the 3rd World - the colors indicate which zone that country is in).
- Each country is affiliated either to the SCO camp or to the NATO camp; or the country may also be a battleground (where both camps are actively trying to influence this country to become part of their alliance - be it through diplomacy, subterfuge or force of arms).
- Each country has a Stability score, affecting the difficulty of Power Plays (to switch the camp of this country) - the higher the stability is, the harder is to flip the country to the other camp.
- Some countries have a local bonus modifier against clashes. This indicates one camp is particularly powerful there due to historical ties, ICBM arsenals, proximity, or for other reasons.
- The asset cubes can move between those countries that are interconnected through arrows. However, this export of influence can occur only if the two countries have the same affiliation.
The Camps
The game world, while fictional, is roughly based on real life but in a much more exaggerated and crystallized way. The camps are:
NATO is the dominant global power at the start of the game. They are perfectly poised to exploit this initial advantage to tear down the rival Asian union while they are currently weak and disorganized; thus keeping their global hegemony throughout the game. The inherent structural weaknesses of the NATO countries, combined with the growth potential of Asia, makes the gradual decline of their hegemony inevitable unless their rivals are kept contained from the start.
SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) is the new major actor in the global economic stage bearing the drawbacks of being the new kid on the block. They start off scattered, facing constant pressure from their rivals in all fronts and risking their very existence as a proper united camp. However, if they can fend off the initial assault, the growth potential of their members will eventually make them a formidable global power with a chance of surpassing the initial economic might of their rivals.
Note that, this power struggle among superpowers is not the main concern of the mega-corporations, it is more of a background of the game. The corporations belong to neither camp and have to direct both camps to maximize their profit. In fact, it is perfectly normal for a player to support NATO in one front and SCO in another, in the best interest of their assets and investments. The significance of the camps is to represent the obstacles imposed to the free flow of capital among countries in rival camps. In game rule terms, players cannot move their cubes between countries affiliated with rival camps (see more about cubes below).
Industry Squares
These are the main industrial sectors found on country squares: Finance, Heavy Industry, Energy, Technology and Mining. They represent market shares of a particular industry in that country. Occupying these industries is the main source of profit in this game. At the end of each turn, each industry square will generate a profit, and at the end of the game, they will generate an even larger sum.
Some countries are major powers with a lot of industry squares (like US or China). There are also some smaller countries with only one industry square.
India and China start with some locked industry squares, which will be unlocked during the course of the game with events (representing this country growing and opening new avenues of economic activity). By contrast, some industry squares in specific countries (Japan, in particular), may collapse and get locked through the course of the game by various events.
Industry square legend:
- Squares occupied by Fortress Derivatives (green) corporation
- Squares occupied by Giant Squid (blue) corporation
- Unoccupied square
- Locked squares (black cubes) - Cannot be attacked or occupied
Tax Havens
Tax Havens, a special location with no affiliations to either camp, is not in a zone and cannot be accessed from any other country (but it has access to all other countries). This square serves a different purpose in each phase (see entries in phases for more detail). Corporations cannot attack each other in this square.
Sliders
Interest Rates Slider
Determines how much it costs for a corporation to borrow money from international debt markets. Real life bond markets work in a different way than we everyday individuals borrow money from banks: Our interest rate fluctuates while our debt amount is fixed; in contrast, the corporations interest payments are fixed, and instead, their amount of debt (i.e. the price of bond) fluctuates when the interest rates change.
When the interest rates are high, the bond prices are low, so you get less money when you borrow (thus, it makes less sense to get a loan). When the rates are low, the bond prices are high, so it makes more sense to borrow money in such environments.
The Interest Rates determine how much money you will get when taking a loan. See Corporate Bonds entry below.
The slider track reads, from low to high: Easy Money (Low Rates): Good time to take loans, bad time to pay back loans — through to — Tight Money (High Rates): Good time to pay back loans, bad time to take loans.
Global Growth Slider
Determines the amount of profits the players will receive at the end of each turn, by influencing the number of payoff cards drawn each turn. It also affects the probability of a crisis; the higher the global growth, the higher the chances of a bust happening.
This rule, where the chances of crisis are higher when there is a high growth rate, was implemented to reflect real life boom-bust cycles. Big economic declines generally occur after a period of heightened euphoria.
The slider track reads, from low to high: Lower growth: Less profits, chances of crisis are low — through to — Higher Growth: More profits, chances of crisis are high.
Balance of Power Slider
This slider represents the balance of power between the two major camps (NATO and SCO). It affects the probability of Power Plays, which will be used by players to influence countries to change their affiliations. See the Power Plays entry below, in the Lobbying Phase.
The slider track runs from NATO is the dominant global hegemony to SCO is the dominant global power.
Stress Slider
This slider represents the confidence in economic growth. It rises especially when the growth increases a lot in a short period of time - indicating it can be a bubble. The risk perception of the market can be manipulated via Central Banks or can change due to various events.
The higher the stress is, the higher the chance of a crisis happening. See the Crisis entry below, in the Earnings Phase.
The slider track runs from Low Stress: Lower chances of crisis to High Stress: Higher chances of crisis.
Components
Investment Cards
These cards represent the companies that are traded in that country's stock market. Your purpose is to gobble these proportionally small (in reality they are huge corporations on a local scale) companies and incorporate these into your mega corporation. Every Investment card you own will generate you an asset cube at each turn during the Competition Phase, which help you to gain other industry squares and profit.
There are 2x Investment Cards in Russia and Brazil, 3x in India and Japan, 6x in Eurozone, and 7x in China and United States, for a total of 30 Investment Cards.
Asset Cubes
These are small cubes, representing the assets of the corporations such as capital, factories, and trademarks, etc. They are used to occupy industry squares to grab market share. Players can keep these cubes in a pile on their Corporation Card. When a cube is removed from the board for any reason, return it to its pile.
Black cubes belong to no one, and are used to indicate a "locked" square (a locked square cannot be attacked or occupied in any way - consider those squares as being out of the game). The industries are locked/unlocked through events in Global Outlook cards. Locking a square means placing a black cube to an empty industry square (if all squares are already occupied by players, remove a player cube first before putting the black cube). Unlocking a square means just removing an existing black cube. By definition, choices of which squares will be locked or unlocked are made by the player who controls the "Big Brother" corporation.
Locking a square represents an industry going bankrupt as a result of a crisis. On the other hand, a locked square indicates a growth potential. For instance, when Japan goes bankrupt due to a Global Outlook card, an industry square will get locked there, or when India experiences an economic boom, a square will get unlocked there.
Locking a square. Note that you first try to lock an empty square. But if all squares are already occupied by player cubes, replace a player cube with a black cube.
Executives
The executives are meeples, that are used by the corporations to enforce their intentions in various ways in different phases of the game. Players have 2 executives in a 4 player game, 3 executives in a 3 player game, and 4 executives in a 2 player game. In each phase, executives are used for different purposes. At the end of each phase, players take their executives back to their pool.
Corporate Bonds
Corporate Bonds are what players borrow from the international credit markets. It represents a liability for a corporation. Corporations can take a loan at any time they want during the Phases 2 and 3 of the game. The interest rates slider determine how much money you get when you take a loan.
For example; when the rates are ultra-low, you get $20 when you take a loan. But when they are sky-high, you obtain only $11.
For each loan you already have, your credit rating deteriorates, so when taking on additional loans, you get $1 less for each outstanding loan you already have.
Example: The rates are at $17 and you have 3 loans outstanding. When taking a new loan, take $14. At the end of the turn, the rates (through various events) became $12. Now, you can pay both loans back from $12 each, after paying their $1 interest.
The interest of loans is always fixed at $1, which is paid at the end of each turn. If the players face cash shortages to pay the interest expenses, nothing bad will happen, the government just bails them out as they are too big to fail (they only lose all their remaining cash). It is simply impossible for such huge corporations to go bankrupt.
The rates also determine how much money you have to pay to the bank when you decide to pay back a loan. The loans can only be paid back at the end of turns, after paying the interest. The credit rating does not affect you when paying back the loans, you always pay the price indicated in Interest Rates slider.
Players decide simultaneously whether to pay back loans or not, but "Big Brother" corporation, as he knows the next Outlook card, may declare his decision after all other players (not to give up any information about the next turn, otherwise the players will just follow his footsteps as he knows what future will bring).
You can take a loan at any time during the Investment and Competition phases. It is even possible to take a loan just before making a purchase (if you are out of cash to make the purchase). But you can only pay back loans at the end of the Earnings Phase, after paying the interest. It is possible to profit purely by playing on the interest rates, taking loan at a favorable rate, and paying it back during times of tight money, just like in real world!
Mega-Corporation Cards
These represent mega multi-national corporations controlled by players. Each corporation has a different starting setup and a special power. They also have a pre-determined play order (Fortress Derivatives always starts first, Old Money always goes last), so arrange your sitting position accordingly at the start of the game after picking the corporations.
Payoff Cards
These cards are revealed at the start of each turn to indicate which industries are profitable during this turn. Players are better off trying to occupy highly profitable industries. The payoff cards are sent to discard pile face up after use. Players cannot examine the discard pile to see which cards are out. You have to keep track of it in your mind. Only when the deck empties and you are unable to draw from the payoff pile, reshuffle the discard pile and use it as the new payoff pile.
Outlook Cards
These cards represent the unavoidable major turning events affecting the global economy and the political landscape. A new Outlook card is drawn at the start of each turn, and it will have a major impact on the board and sliders. They are also randomized at the start of each game (only 4 cards are used out of 10), ensuring a different economic and geopolitical scenario for each game.
Cash
Used for almost everything in the capitalist system! The cash at hand is confidential information from other players, everything else is open information (the number of investments and corporate bonds you have, or anything else for that matter). Cash is used to buy/sell everything, pay interest, pay back bonds, and improve your life. It is also the victory condition at the end of the game. Note that, due to the loan mechanics in the game, your cash reserves does not impose any restriction on making purchases.
R&D Marker
This marker represents the industry which is one step ahead of its competition. The industry shown by this marker is twice as valuable. The marker can only be attached to an industry square in a country with a stability score of 5, even at the start of the game (the marker starts in the United States Energy square, representing the shale oil revolution there).
Affiliation / Battleground Markers
These markers are used when countries switch alliance, or when a battleground country changes to a different camp in a zone. At the start of the game, all countries start with an affiliation to a camp, but when they switch sides through random or player controlled events, use these markers to indicate it. Capital cannot flow freely between countries in different camps (see below).
Industry Chips
Industry chips are optional components, which can be used to keep track of who is ahead in which industry. These components have been included in the game as some playgroups may find it hard to count the number of industries they own during each phase of the game. The idea is that each time a player occupies or loses an industry square, he immediately gains/loses one chip.
If your group find it hard to update the chips each time a square changes hands (which happens a lot in earlier stages of the game, but less and less as the game progresses) do not use these chips. In any case, they are not recommended for the first time players.
Setup
At the start of the game, the world is growing yet at a tepid rate, and the interest rates are set to all time low levels artificially by the central banks throughout the world. The stress is a little high due to the expectations of a crisis inflicted by the unconventional monetary policies being kept for a long while. The Western world, through the leadership of the United States is still the undisputed leader of the world. But their hegemony is being threatened by the emerging Asia, and an Eurasian alliance which is gradually but strongly getting established.
- In game terms, set the sliders in as follows: Global Growth at 2%, Interest Rates at $20, Stress at +1, Balance of Power at +3 NATO.
- In a 2 player game, the players have 4 executives in the pool. In a 3 player game, the players have 3 executives in the pool. In a 4 player game, the players have 2 executives (except for "Old Money" corporation, who has a bonus executive).
- The R&D marker starts attached to Energy Industry in the US (representing the shale oil boom in the United States).
- Pick 4 random Outlook cards from the Outlook deck, and return the rest to the box (they will not be used for this game). Shuffle and put those 4 cards on Outlook Pile. This ensures a different scenario at each game session.
- Place the Phase Tracker Pawn to Phase 1, (Outlook Phase) in Game Flow Sheet.
- Shuffle the 25 card Payoff deck, and put it to payoff pile.
- Lock the 3 bottommost squares in India and 2 in China by putting black cubes there, indicating these squares are locked.
- Place the Investment Cards stack, Corporate Bonds and Cash piles aside, where all players can see.
- Then, each player picks a corporation card at random and be seated accordingly - see the play order, on corporation cards. The player controlling "Fortress Derivatives" corporation is always the first player. On the left side of the first player must be the second player, and so on.
- Then, each player follows the setup rules written on their corporation cards: All players start with a number of investment cards and some already placed asset cubes, and some cash.
Advanced Setup
Instead of picking corporation cards at random, some playgroups may think that a particular corporation card is too powerful compared to the others. In this case, you may bid for the control of corporations at the begining of the game. The highest bidder in a corporation starts with that much less cash.
Game Flow and Rules
The game is divided into 5 different phases. At the end of the fifth phase, the turn ends, and a new turn starts from the first phase. Note that your executives return back to your pool at the end of each phase. While moving from one phase to another, advance the phase track pawn to the next phase in the Game Flow Sheet.
The 5 phases are: 1) Outlook, 2) Investment, 3) Competition, 4) Lobbying, 5) Earnings.
Phase 1 - Global Outlook
In this phase, a major economic and unavoidable event happens, causing turmoil in global economy. The players will also get a rough idea about which industries will be profitable at the end of this turn.
i) Draw one outlook card and apply the effects, then remove it from the game (return it to the box). The player controlling "Big Brother" corporation draws the event and chooses the options. If there are no cards to draw, the game ends (go to game end section).
The player controlling Big Brother corporation draws outlook cards and makes choices in this phase.
ii) Then, reveal Payoff cards as indicated in Global Growth slider - for instance, if the Global Growth is at 2%, you reveal 5 payoff cards. Separate the cards by industry and place these cards visible to all players. These cards determine the industry squares which will be profitable at the end of the turn. So, players are better off by trying to occupy highly profitable industries in this turn.
Eight Payoff cards are revealed (at 5% Growth) and separated in piles where all players can see.
Example: The Red player controlling Big Brother corporation draws the outlook card at the start of the game turn 1, and it turns out to be "India Emerging as Global Power". He starts following the instructions on the card.
i) Unlock a Square in India: He unlocks a square in India by removing a black cube from an industry square in India.
Mining square unlocked in India (Big Brother chooses which square will be unlocked)
ii) Global Growth 4→; Interest Rates 4→: He moves Global Growth and Interest Rates markers 4 units to the right. The Global Growth is now at 6%, and the Interest Rates is now at $16.
iii) ↑1 Stress: He increases the Stress slider by one. The Stress is now at +2.
iv) A minor country in the 3rd World affiliated with NATO changes affiliation to SCO: He picks a minor country in the 3rd World Zone affiliated with NATO and turns it into SCO affiliation. In this example, let's say the player picked South Africa in the 3rd World zone.
Put the SCO marker to the affiliation space
v) India's camp gains 1 power: He moves the Balance of Power slider one unit towards SCO (because India is part of SCO). The Balance of Power is now at +2 towards NATO. If India was a part of NATO, he would have moved the slider one unit towards NATO (or if it was a battleground country, he would not change it).
vi) After doing all these, the player removes the card from game by returning it to the game box, and reveals 9 Payoff cards (because the growth is at 6%) and places them visible to all players.
Phase 2 - Investment
In this phase, the mega corporations will gobble the smaller local corporations traded in global stock markets in order to become a global monopoly.
Starting from the first player (note that it is always the player who is controlling "Fortress Derivatives" corporation) and going in clockwise order, players start sending their executives to take various actions. The players can a) Bid in public markets, OR b) Privately sell shares, OR c) Pass.
Send an executive to a Major Country to start bidding in that country's Investment Card.
a) Bid in Public Markets
Send an executive to a major country to start bidding for that country's investment card (or Share). If there are no investment cards left for that country, you cannot do this. The minimum starting bid is $3 but you can open the bid from any price. The players increase this bid in clockwise order until all players pass. When a player passes, he cannot re-enter the bidding.
Highest bidder takes one investment card from that country's pile and pays the same amount to the bank. Note that, a player can bid more than the cash he has, because he can always take one or more loans when he is about to make the payment. You cannot cancel a bid, you MUST make the purchase - by loading on multiple loans, if necessary (note that you can always take a loan at any time, even just before the purchase if you don't have enough cash).
When you buy an investment card, put one of your asset cubes to an empty industry square in that country. If all squares are already occupied, remove one of these cubes to replace it with your own (this means if all squares are already yours, nothing will happen).
Red player wins the bid for Eurozone card, and places a red asset cube to an unoccupied square in Eurozone.
If there are no unoccupied industry squares, the player can remove any cube to replace it with his own (in this example, he chooses Tech square that belongs to the Green player).
After this occurs, note the final bid. Players then continue bidding, but this time by lowering the bid, to sell a share. If nobody lowers the bid, then nobody sells a share. After that, the lowest bidder sells a share to the bank and removes one of his asset cubes in that country. In order to lower the bid, a player must have a share in the said country, naturally. The player who has just bought the share cannot lower the bid.
After the red player buys Eurozone share, blue player decides to sell one of his own Eurozone shares. He sells it to the bank and removes one of his cubes.
Example: The Green Player, as the starting player, sends an executive to the United States, to start bidding in S&P500 (United States) investment card. He opens the bid from $3. Blue Player bids $4, Red Player bids $7. Green Player bids $11. The players go on this way, until Green Player bids $22. Blue and Red players pass.
Green Player sends his executive to bid in United States Investment cards.
Green Player pays $22 to the bank, takes the share from the bank and puts his asset cube on an industry square in the United States.
But the Blue and Red players both also have United States shares, and they believe Green Player overbid by paying $22. After Green Player buys a share for $22, Blue Player lowers the bid to $21 and Red Player lowers it to $20. Blue Player lowers it to $19. Red Player passes as he doesn't want to sell United States share for $18.
Blue Player sells his United States share to the bank and receives $19, then removes one of his asset cubes of his choice from United States.
It is now Blue Player's turn to choose to a) Bid in Public Markets or b) Privately Sell a Share or c) Pass.
Designer's Note - Like in all board games with bidding mechanics, it is generally a very bad move to overbid for a share - even more so in this game, because another player may sell his own share back to the bank from this overpriced levels. In this game, you almost have nearly unlimited purchasing power due to loan mechanics, but when it is used irresponsibly, it can even cause you to end the game in negative cash! Great power comes with great responsibility - so bid carefully, especially when you have multiple outstanding loans, or if the rates are not favorable for getting a loan.
b) Privately Sell Shares
Send an executive to Tax Havens square to sell one of your shares. To do so, select one of your shares, and announce a minimum bid. Players start bidding in that share. Sell the share to the highest bidder. The buyer replaces one of your cubes with his own cube in that country (if there are no cubes to replace, this doesn't happen). Note that in private sales, other players cannot sell their own shares, like in public sales above, as the process is entirely different. If nobody bids, you are considered to have skipped your action.
Example 1: Green Player sends his executive to Tax Havens and announces he is privately selling one of his India shares for $20. Nobody bids as they think the price is too high. Green Player is considered as having skipped his action.
Example 2: Later in same phase, Green Player sends his executive to Tax Havens and announces he is privately selling one of his India shares for $10 this time. Red Player bids $11, Blue Player bids $12. Red Player bids $13 and Blue Player passes. Green Player gives his share to Red Player, receives $13. Red Player removes one Green cube in India and puts one of his Red cubes there instead.
c) Pass
Send an executive to Tax Havens to skip your action. (note that, you will still have to take some other action(s) later in this phase, if you still have executives in your pool).
The phase will end when players have no more executives to send. Return all executives to the pool and proceed to the next phase.
Phase 3 - Competition
In this phase, the corporations compete with each other to grab market share or expand their operations.
At the start of this phase, for each investment card they own, every player places an asset cube to the respective country (as indicated in investment card). The cubes are placed to the empty space in that country. If, however unlikely, a player runs out of cubes, he simply places as much cubes as he can.
Example: Green Player has 3 China, 2 United States and 1 Russia investments. He puts 3 cubes to China, 2 to United States, 1 to Russia, at the start of this phase.
Then, starting from the first player and moving clockwise, each player may a) Fight, OR b) Defend, OR c) Expend, OR d) Pass.
a) Fight
Do up to 2 attacks with cubes. An attack is defined as;
i) Grabbing an empty industry square by moving an asset cube there.
ii) "Killing" an opponent's cube, on 1 on 1 basis (remove both your own and opponent's cubes).
In order to kill opponent's cubes occupying industry squares, you must first kill all non-occupying cubes that player has in that country, as those cubes are considered to be protecting the occupying cubes.
You cannot attack directly to occupying cubes. You must kill all non-occupying cubes first in order to do so.
Note that, you can kill an occupying cube with first attack (provided that there are no non-occupying cubes), then occupy that square with another cube with your second attack.
It is also legal to make one attack in a country, and make the other attack in another country. Cubes occupying squares cannot attack.
b) Defend
Send an executive to a country to indicate you are defending the market share there.
That executive works exactly like an asset cube in this country if an opponent tries to attack one of your occupying cubes - thus he has to kill the executive first. The attacker can (and certainly will) choose to kill your non-occupying asset cubes instead of the executive, but in order to attack occupying cubes, he has to kill the executive(s).
When an executive is killed, put it to Tax Havens square where it serves no useful purpose (as it is forbidden to attack each other in Tax Havens square). The executives return to pool at the end of the phase, as usual.
The red player cannot attack cubes occupying Industry squares without first killing the non-occupying cubes AND the executive (he can choose to attack either though, and will almost always attack the cube as they are more valuable)
When an executive is killed, move it to Tax Havens square where it serves no useful purpose (as attacking each other in Tax Havens square is forbidden)
Note that the executive only works as an asset cube for defensive purposes, it is not an asset cube: It cannot attack, move or occupy squares like an asset cube - it can only protect occupying cubes.
An executive cannot attack or move.
Multiple Executives may be sent to a single country to defend.
c) Expand
Pay $1 to make up to 2 movements with your cubes. Asset cubes can be moved from country to country through the arrows as indicated on board, using the following rules:
i) A single cube can be moved twice or two cubes may each be moved once.
ii) A cube can only be moved through the direction of arrows between countries, and they cannot be moved through countries in different camps.
iii) The cubes can be moved from both camps into Battleground countries, but no cube can be moved out of Battlegrounds.
iv) The cubes occupying squares cannot move.
v) You cannot occupy empty industry squares with Expand action, you have to take "Fight" action for it.
vi) You may take a loan to pay the $1, by using regular rules for loans.
d) Pass
Send all your remaining executives to take the "Defend" action. You cannot do anything for the rest of the phase. Simply wait for other players to finish their actions.
The players continue to take these actions (you can Expand, then Expand again, then Fight, etc, you still get to take actions as long as you want to continue) one by one by going in clockwise order, until all players decide to pass. This phase ends when all players pass. At the end of the phase, each player removes all their cubes not currently occupying squares on the board, and returns all executives to the pool.
At the end of this phase, remove all non-occupying cubes.
Phase 4 - Lobbying
Starting with the First Player (Green Player) and moving clockwise, each player send Executives to one event's box to have an influence on that event. When a player sends an executive, he plays that event. All events can only be played once per turn, with the exception of Tax Havens (which can be done unlimited times) and Power Plays (which can be done 4 times in different zones). So, if an executive is already sent to an event, no other executive can be sent to it this turn. The phase ends when all executives are sent.
The Lobbying events are: Power Plays, Tax Havens, Central Banks, Budget, R&D, Subsidies.
Send the executives to the event's box in order to play that event. Once a player plays an event, it cannot be played again this phase (with the exception of Tax Havens)
Power Plays
The mega corporations, using superpowers like a pawn to pursue their own agenda, are acting behind the scenes in the geopolitical chessboard. They can stage a coup, or outright support an invasion or sometimes just pull the right strings to support a friendly government's ascend to power in a country.
When you send an executive to this event, do not send it to the event's box in Game Flow but instead, send it to the space in a zone. Thus, this event can be played once in each zone (4 times in each lobbying phase). The event will take place in that zone's battleground country.
After sending the executive to the event, the player chooses to support one camp (NATO or SCO) and rolls the clash dice. Add the modifier in Balance of Power slider and local modifier of that country to the die roll, depending on the side the player supports (some countries have historical ties to one camp, so that camp is locally stronger there). For instance, if he supports NATO, then +NATO modifiers will give plus to the die roll, while SCO modifiers will give negative.
NATO gets +2 to all clash rolls anywhere on board.
SCO gets +1 to clash roll in Iran.
If the modified number is greater than or equal to the stability of the country (the number on leftmost side in the country's box), then the camp which the player is supporting wins. Otherwise, nothing will happen.
Note that, a die roll of 1 always counts as a fail, while a roll of 6 always counts as a win. There is always the element of unknown in a battle, even if one side is deemed too strong.
Example: Green Player sends an executive to the Europe Clash. The battleground country in Europe is Eastern Europe so the clash will take place there.
He decides to support NATO (because, for instance, he has lots of Eurozone shares and Eurozone is part of NATO alliance). He rolls the clash die: The result is: 3. The Balance of Power slider is at +2 towards NATO and East Europe has a local modifier to +1 SCO (as indicated in the country's box) so the modifier is +1 towards NATO. Green Player adds +1 to die roll, which makes 4. East Europe's stability is 4, and the result is equal to or greater than this stability, so NATO wins. Had he rolled 1 or 2, nothing would have happened. If he had supported SCO, he would need a roll of 5 or more for a victory of SCO.
East Europe becomes affiliated with NATO, Green Player removes the cube in Eastern Europe, and adds his cube to Heavy square in that country. Then he moves the battleground marker to Russia (as there are no more countries left in Europe zone supporting SCO). Had he supported SCO and won the clash, he would move the battleground marker to the United Kingdom or Scandinavia (he couldn't move it to Eurozone, as there are other Minor Countries in that zone affiliated with NATO).
Effects of Victory in a Minor Country
"Our boys have done it..." The lobbying corporation behind the new regime grabs some new and juicy business deals.
Remove the existing asset cube in that country and put your own (or just put your own if there are no cube there). Replace the red battleground marker with the affiliation marker of the winning camp.
Then, choose a new country in the same zone that belongs to the losing camp (the country must be in same zone only, it needs not to be linked to the battleground country) and move the battleground marker there. Major countries (the countries which you can buy shares from - US, EU, China, India, Japan, Russia, Brazil) can only be chosen as battleground if all other minor countries in that area are already in the other camp.
In the 3rd World zone, if one camp (usually NATO) wins in all minor countries, remove the battleground marker from the game entirely (the clash of power in that region has ended for good), and move the Balance of Power slider one towards the winner's camp. For the rest of the game, Power Plays event have no effect in that zone.
Effects of Victory on a Major Country
The effects of a camp change in a major power are more cataclysmic than a regime change in a small country (remember the fall of USSR?). Often it involves a total collapse of current status quo, its economy and its state institutions. It vaporizes all foreign investments made to that country.
In game rules, the effects of a victory in a major country are resolved differently than a clash in a minor country:
i) If the Major country's starting camp wins the clash, move the battleground marker to a minor country in that zone and nothing else will change.
ii) If the Major country's starting camp loses the clash: Remove all asset cubes and discard all investment cards in that country. Then, move Balance of Power marker in one direction away from the losing camp. After, that country joins the other camp. Remove the battleground marker from the game entirely (the clash for power ended for that region, for good).
Note that US and China, as leaders of their own camps, automatically win any clash in their own country regardless of the supported camp (NATO for US, SCO for China). Do not roll the die. They are just that strong.
Example: At the start of the game, Russia is affiliated with NATO. Green Player supports SCO and wins the clash: Remove all asset cubes and investment cards (MICEX) from Russia. Russia joins SCO, and the Balance of Power marker moves one unit away from NATO (towards SCO).
Tax Havens
Through their shell corporations in Panama and Cayman Isles, the mega corporations launder money and evade taxes.
When sending an executive to this event, send him to a Tax Havens square instead of the event's box. This event can be done multiple times by one or more players.
To send an executive to this event, place an asset cube on the Tax Havens square on the board. This cube serves no purpose this round, but you can move it to anywhere on board in the next round's competition phase (as you can access all other countries from Tax Havens) or grab the Finance square there.
Note that it is forbidden to attack other players in Tax Havens square during the competition phase - thus the first player who grabs the Finance square here, will keep it for the rest of the game.
Important: For each phase, Tax Havens square serves a different purpose - you can only put the asset cube here if you send your executive during the Lobbying Phase. In other phases, it has a different purpose (for instance, in Investment phase, the executives are sent here to sell shares or to skip action, or in Competition phase, Tax Havens serves as a graveyard for those executives).
Central Banks
The Central Banks can either manipulate the interest rates, or affect the market psychology about the risk perception.
Move Interest Rates slider or Stress slider by 2 units in either direction. You must choose only one slider to move.
Move Stress slider by 2 in any direction OR move Interest Rates slider by 2 in any direction. You cannot choose to move both.
Budget
Influence the world governments to take on extraordinary austerity or stimulus measures.
Choose one of the following:
Austerity: Move Global Growth one unit to the left and discard an already revealed payoff card of your choice.
Move Global Growth one unit to left and discard an already revealed Payoff card.
Stimulus: Move Global Growth one unit to the right and reveal an additional Payoff card from the deck.
Move Global Growth one unit to the right and reveal an additional Payoff card.
R&D
Big corporations always try to be one step ahead when it comes to innovation.
Take the R&D marker and attach it to any industry square on the board in a country with 5 Stability. As long as the R&D marker remains attached to an industry, that industry square counts as 2 squares when counting the number of industries (both for Earnings Phase and for End Game purposes). If you are using the optional industry chips during the game, each time the R&D marker changes position, the R&D chip will also change hands. Put the R&D chip on top of the respective industry chips stack.
Attach R&D marker on any industry square on board in a country with 5 Stability.
Subsidies
Lobby the world governments to grant subsidies to a specific industry.
Replace one Payoff card with another. To do this, look at the top 3 cards of the Payoff deck and replace one of those cards with a revealed Payoff card. Put the other 3 cards to the discard pile.
Phase 5 - Earnings
It is payday! During this phase, the players will collect the culmination of all their efforts: Cash. But with a twist! There is a probability of a crisis happening and ruining their carefully micromanaged plans.
At the start of the phase, calculate the crisis difficulty. It is the Growth percentage (in Global Growth slider) plus the Stress. The player controlling the "Giant Squid" corporation rolls the crisis die (crisis die is the 12 sided die). If the die roll is greater than or equal to crisis difficulty, all is well and proceed to payoff as normal. If the roll is less, a crisis will happen before the payoff:
Crisis
Some of the supposed earnings that the economists were predicting turns out to be a bubble, a soap foam instead. The world economy falters hard, and the earnings disappear.
For each difference between the Crisis difficulty and the die roll, move the Global Growth and the Interest Rates to the left by 1, and discard one Payoff card.
If the "Giant Squid" corporation is in the game, the player controlling the "Giant Squid" corporation makes the choices on which industries to discard, otherwise determine discarded industries randomly (by shuffling the cards facedown and selecting one by one randomly). Then, reset the stress slider back to 0.
Example: The Global Growth slider is at 5%, and Stress slider is at +1. The crisis difficulty is 5+1 = 6. He rolls the die. The result is 4. A crisis happens with intensity of 2. The player controlling "Giant Squid" discards 2 Payoff cards, then move the Global Growth and Interest Rates sliders left by 2. Then reset the stress to 0. Note that, if the die roll was 6 or greater, nothing would have happened.
Crisis Difficulty (5 + 1 = 6) minus Crisis Die Roll (4) = Crisis Intensity (2)
Reset Stress to 0. Move Global Growth and Interest Rates left by 2.
Payoff
For each revealed payoff card, each industry square will generate $1 to its owner.
Also, for each industry, the player with most squares is considered to be the Market Leader for that industry (in ties, no player is considered market leader). The market leader takes an extra $2 on top of all normal income, regardless of how many Payoff cards are revealed for that industry (in 2 player games, Market Leadership bonus is only $1). But, for a Market Leader to earn income from an industry, at least one card of that industry must be revealed.
When calculating the payoff, make payments for one industry first: Each player counts their number of squares in that industry, takes that much $ from bank, then discard all payoff cards of that industry to move on to the next industry.
Revealed Payoffs for this turn:
- Heavy: 2 Squares = $4; Red: 3 Squares = $6; Green: 4 Squares = $8 + $2 for being Market Leader. Then discard these cards.
- Mining: Blue: 2 Squares = $2; Red: 4 Squares = $4 + $2 for being Market Leader; Green: 1 Square = $1. Then discard this card.
- Energy: Blue: No Squares = $0; Red: 4 Squares = $8; Green: 4 Squares = $8. No player gets extra $ for being Market Leader (tie). Then discard these cards.
After this, players pay their bond interest ($1 for each bond). If a player has cash shortage to cover the interest expense, nothing will happen (the government simply bails them out) - they just lose all their remaining money.
After this, the players may pay any number of bonds they have (Interest Rates slider will indicate how much they have to pay back in order to cancel the bond). Players decide whether to pay back or not simultaneously, but the "Big Brother" corporation may opt to decide after seeing all other players decisions (because he knows the top card of Event deck).
Example: The Interest Rates slider is at $17, and a player has a Corporate Bond. He pays back $17 from the bank to cancel the bond.
End of the Game
As indicated before, the game ends when you are unable to draw from the Global Outlook deck (thus, the game will last full 4 turns, as at the start of the 5th turn you will be unable to draw from the Outlook deck).
- At the end of the game, all of the 5 industries will pay an extra sum: Starting from Finance, players count the number of squares they have and gain $5 for each square. Market leader in that industry (i.e. the player with most squares) gets an extra $10 (this bonus is $5 in 2 player games).
- Then do the same for Tech, Heavy, Energy and Mining respectively.
- Then each player loses $20 for every unpaid Corporate Bond they have.
In the end, the player with most cash wins the game! There is no tie breaker (In ties, it's a draw).
Example: At the end of the game, Green player has 4 squares in Finance and is the leader. He gets 4x$5 + $10 = $30. Blue player has 2 squares, he gets 2x$5 = $10. Red player has 3 squares, he gets 3x$5 = $15.
Do this one by one for Tech, Heavy, Energy and Mining exactly the same way.
Then players lose $20 for each unpaid corporate bond they have.
Basic Strategy Tips
Playing Incorporated can be a bit overwhelming at the beginning with lots of decisions to make, lots of sliders to track and no solid anchor to determine the real value of shares. Especially in the first few games, you will find yourself wondering how much you should bid for a share, or whether you are ahead or behind. This actually is more or less the same feeling you would experience in real life investing decisions!
Here are some quick tips you can use:
- At its core, Incorporated is a bidding game. The game is won or lost during the Investments Phase. 80% of the strategy is about how much you bid for a share, or when you sell your investments.
- Overbidding is the WORST move you can make in this game. Try to be on the conservative side at all times. Investing doesn't generate as much income as you think it does. Note that this is not true for 2 player games - you should be more aggressive.
- An investment card's value is fundamentally determined by:
- The number of industry squares in that country: US, EU and China have lots of squares and worth more while Russia and Brazil have only 2 squares and worth a lot less.
- The number of connections that country has to minor countries: For instance, Japan shares are much more valuable if South Sea joins NATO, because then you can access to Australia, and then later to UK, and after almost to the whole world through UK from Japan.
- The probability of flipping: When a major country changes camps, you lose all your investments there. United States and China are impossible to flip thus are worth more, while Russia and Brazil are very easy to flip (NATO is very powerful at the start of the game) so should be approached with caution.
- The state of payoff cards drawn: For instance, if lots of Energy cards are drawn, Russia shares will be worth a lot more as it will sort of pay itself back at the end of the round.
- The state of global economy: If, the next turn, you expect lots of cards to be revealed, or if the chances of crisis are low, the shares are worth more.
- Interest Rates: When rates are low, you want to borrow, so you have access to more money - thus you can bid more for shares.
- Competition: This is a subjective value. The more competition there is in a country, the more you don't want to own that country. You HATE competition in this game. You want your cubes to occupy squares without struggle, and not to fight with other companies cubes. For this reason, try to specialize and dominate some countries shares (especially big ones like US or EU). This has also the side benefit of protecting your investments towards the end of the game if you are ahead (as other players will surely unite to attack you, but if you have concentrated investments in some countries, at least you can protect those squares).
- 2 Player Game: You must almost always bid more aggressively in 2 player games. While in 3-4 player games, you can win by being extremely conservative the whole game (especially if the other player are competing between themselves), it is much harder to do so in 2 player games.
- There is no hard coded catch up mechanism in this game, other than the fact that each player have a limited pool of executives. Thus, if you are already behind, you should always go for all in strategy. Hope for a big event or a huge crisis to happen, make all your plans as if that particular event will happen 100% and play extra conservative or aggressive accordingly. Sell all your shares hoping for a crisis, or pathologically overbid in every auction hoping for a perfect economy for the rest of the game. After all, you got nothing to lose, as you are already behind.
Component List
1 Game Board, 30 Investment Cards (7 x United States, 7 x China, 6 x Eurozone, 3 x Japan, 3 x India, 2 x Russia, 2 x Brazil), 25 Payoff Cards (5 x Each Industry), 10 Outlook Cards, 15 Affiliation Markers, 4 Battleground Markers, 1 R&D Marker, 4 Mega Corporation Cards (with Player Aid), Paper Moneys (40 x $1, 40 x $5, 30 x $10, 30 x $20), 25 Corporate Bonds, 51 Industry Chips (10 x Each Industry, 1 x R&D), 165 Cubes (45 x Red, 45 x Green, 35 x Blue, 30 x Yellow, 10 x Black), 14 Meeples (4 x Red, 4 x Green, 3 x Blue, 3 x Yellow), 5 Tracker Pawns, 1 twelve sided die, 1 six sided die.