Master of Orion: Conquest Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setup
• Key Concepts
• How to Play the Game
  • Card Anatomy
• Turn Basics
  • 1. Play Cards
    • A. Explore Phase (First)
    • B. Production Phase (Any Order)
    • Bases
    • C. Attack Phase (Any Order)
      • Fleets
      • Overassign Attack Value
      • Other Damage
      • i. Defense (Optional)
  • 2. Discard and Draw Cards
• Command Points (CP)
• Winning the Game
• Three and Four Players

Setup

Each player takes their faction's ten starting cards (marked with the starting-card icon), which start their Player Decks, and the corresponding Home World (yellow border face down). Then each player takes the rest of their cards, known as the Empire Deck, shuffles them, and puts the deck face down in the middle of the table. Draw 5 cards and put them in their Empire Row.

Next, make sure all cards in the Exploration Deck have their yellow borders face down, then shuffle. If an Event or Hazard card is on the top of the deck after shuffling, slide it into the middle of the deck.

Place all of the tokens in a common pool easily reached by all players.

Finally, randomly determine who will begin the game. That player draws 3 cards and their opponent draws 5 from their Player Deck. You're now ready to play!

Key Concepts

Important Terms: The first time an important term is used, it will be bolded.

• Empire cards: These build up your Player Deck during the game.
• Exploration cards: The Exploration Deck consists of Planets, Events, and Hazards.
• Production: Any card with a Production icon means it generates X value of Production each turn for acquiring cards.
• Population/Depopulated: The Population icon on any card is how much damage it can take before it is Depopulated (i.e., destroyed).
• Home World: While a Home World is obviously a Planet, rules that cover a Planet never cover the Home World unless "Home World" is used.
• Cost: Any card with a Cost icon means it costs X Production to acquire.
• Hazards/Events and Planet Costs: When a Hazard or Event appears, the players add up their total Planet and Home World costs to determine the outcome of these cards.
• Attack: Any card with an Attack Value can be assigned to attack various cards; a player does not have to attack with their Ships.
• Abilities: Some cards include an ability, additional text that conveys additional rules.
• Or: Some abilities begin with "or." That means that instead of the Attack Value being used, the ability is used instead.
• Ship Classes: There are six Ship Classes. Smallest to largest, they are: Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, Battleship, Titan, and Doom Star.

How to Play the Game

Players alternate taking turns. On their turn the player will play cards in their hand, interacting with the game as indicated by the cards. At the end of their turn all cards (except as noted) are discarded, and the player draws 5 cards from their Player Deck. Reshuffle your Player Deck only when required to draw a card, and this deck is empty (if in the middle of a turn, do not shuffle cards played this turn). The game ends when one player's Home World is Depopulated (i.e. destroyed).

Card Anatomy

The sample card in the rulebook is labeled with the following parts, from top to bottom: Ship Name, Flavor Text, Faction, Card Type, Cost, Attack Value, Ability, and Formation.

Turn Basics

Each turn is always in the following order:

1. Play Cards a. Explore Phase (First) b. Production Phase (Any Order) c. Attack Phase (Any Order) i. Defense (Optional)
2. Discard and Draw Cards

1. Play Cards

A player need not play all of their cards. Additionally, a player can choose which parts of a card to use or not use during a turn. Unless specifically stated otherwise, card abilities, including Planet and Home World abilities, can be used at any time during the turn, but can only be used once.

Activating cards (i.e., playing them) is divided into three distinct phases. The Explore Phase must occur first. However, while the Production and Attack Phases are presented separately for clarity, they can be combined in any fashion during a player's turn.

A. Explore Phase (First)

Scout cards are always activated first: Rotate one card from Exploration Deck into Exploration Row, then add a 1-value Exploration token to your side of any Planet.

• Rotating Card Into Exploration Row: The Exploration Row capacity is three cards; if there are already three, then no card is moved off the Exploration Deck. New cards are placed after cards already in Exploration Row, not between those cards and the Exploration Deck.
• Hazards And Events: If a Hazard or Event card appears at the top of the deck once the top card is moved into the Exploration Row, its instant effect is applied immediately. After dealing with the Event or Hazard (see below), then the Scout card applies its Exploration token.
  • Events: Events are Scrapped after the effects are applied.
  • Hazards: Hazards first apply their instant effect. Then they are automatically rotated into the Exploration Row and stay there until they are dealt with appropriately as per the rules on the card (see Fleets: Hazards, p. 6). If the Exploration Row's capacity is filled, the Hazard stays on top of the Exploration Deck until a card is removed, in which case it then automatically rotates into the Exploration Row.

In all instances, if neither player has any Planets or there is a tie for highest Planet costs, unless a card specifically designates another outcome, the instant effect is ignored. The exception is any cards that move into a player's play area; these cards will always move into a player's area the instant they have a "highest Planet cost," and have fewer than two Planets, as long as this type of Hazard is on the Exploration Deck or in the Exploration Row.

• Placing Exploration Token: When placing a token, it can be a Planet that already includes one of your tokens, and/or one from your opponent. In the case of a Pirate Base, any placed tokens are frozen until the pirate is dealt with. Each Exploration token on a Planet reduces the cost of that Planet by 1. The minimum cost of a Planet is 1, so once a Planet's cost has been reduced to 1, no further tokens may be placed on that Planet (see Purchase from Exploration Row, p. 5). Finally, you can always review the backs of Planet cards in the Exploration Row, but never the Planet on the Exploration Deck. (Even if a card is not rotated into the Exploration Row, a player may still place the Scout's Exploration token.)

B. Production Phase (Any Order)

All Production is spent in various ways, and the options below can be done in any order, limited only by available Production. Note you can spend Command Points as Production (see p. 7).

• Purchase from Empire Row: Spend Production equal to a card's cost to buy a card from the Empire Row. You may buy any number of cards; the only limit is the amount of Production available. When an Empire card is purchased, it immediately goes into your discard pile and you refill the empty space from the Empire Deck. Once an Empire Deck is empty, unless specifically stated otherwise, it remains empty.
• Accrue Production on Empire Card(s): Place on an Empire card(s) any amount of Production that is less than the total cost of the card. You may accrue Production in this manner until equal to the purchase cost. If the card is Scrapped by any effect, all accrued Production is lost.
• Purchase from Exploration Row: Spend Production to buy any number of Planets from the Exploration Row. This includes the ability to purchase the top Planet from the Exploration Deck. Subtract the number of your Exploration tokens from the cost of the Planet, to a minimum of 1. When a Planet is purchased, it immediately goes in front of your Home World. You may immediately use the Planet's Production (as well as any other abilities, as appropriate) on the turn it is purchased.

A player may only have two Planets in addition to their Home World. The player may Recycle an existing Planet back into the Exploration deck in order to acquire a new planet. They may also Recycle the purchased Planet (to keep it out of their opponent's hands).

Once the Exploration Deck is empty, unless specifically stated otherwise, it remains empty.

• Upgrade a Planet: Upgrade a Planet by paying its purchase cost again to flip it to the upgraded side. The Production and abilities on a Planet can be used as part of the purchase cost to upgrade a Planet; however, neither the Production nor the abilities on the upgraded side can be used in the turn the Planet is upgraded.

A Planet may not be upgraded in the same turn it is acquired. Any damage accrued on a Planet stays when it is upgraded.

• Upgrade Home World: The player may pay the cost on their Home World card and flip the card over.

As with Planets, any damage accrued on the Home World stays when upgrading, and the new abilities and Production on the backside cannot be used in the turn it is upgraded.

• Remove Damage (Space Factory only): Production from Space Factory cards can be used to remove damage from any of your cards (Bases, Planets, Home World), 1 damage removed for each Production spent.

Bases

At the end of a turn, Bases played that turn are stationed to Planets or the Home World. Once they are stationed to a Planet or Home World, they cannot be moved. Only one Base may be stationed onto a single Planet or the Home World.

At any time during a player's turn, they may voluntarily discard a previously stationed Base from their Home World or any Planet they control. If a played Base cannot be stationed to a Planet or Home World by the end of that turn, then the Base is discarded.

C. Attack Phase (Any Order)

All Attack Values are now applied, and any other card abilities that have not yet taken effect are applied (as the player chooses).

Unless specifically stated otherwise, any Empire Row cards Scrapped due to card effects or attacks are immediately refilled from the Empire Deck.

Fleets

To attack, assign all attacking Ships into one or more Fleets and then assign each Fleet to a specific target. Multiple Fleets cannot attack a single target.

Once all Fleets have been assigned, the defending player may use any applicable abilities on cards in play and may make use of the Defense rule (see p. 7). Any Attack Values not stopped by the opponent are assigned to the target. Unless specifically noted otherwise, 1 Attack Value equals 1 damage.

With the exception of Hazards and Empire Row cards (at right), if not enough damage is applied to Depopulate (i.e. destroy) a Base, Planet, or Home World, place tokens equal to the inflicted damage on the card. This damage carries over to the next turn.

The following rules cover all the possible targets of an attack:

• Planets: If a Planet is Depopulated, it is Recycled. If a Planet is Depopulated before the Base stationed on that card is destroyed, the Base is automatically destroyed as well.
• Bases: A Base and the Planet where it is stationed are considered a single target. Unless a card allows the player to ignore the Base, all damage is first applied to the Base with remaining damage applied to the Planet. If a Base is destroyed it is discarded.
• Home World: If you assign Fleets to your opponent's Planets (or Base/Planet combos) and the Attack Value of the assigned Ships of those Fleets could destroy all their Planets (before Defense is taken into account), any remaining Ships can be assigned as another Fleet to then attack the Home World. Even if the player manages to save a Planet using Defense, the damage assigned to the Home World is still applied (and can also be reduced during Defense, as normal).
• Hazards: To attack a Hazard in the Exploration Row (or in your play area, when applicable), simply apply the damage necessary to destroy it. Damage does not carry over from turn to turn, so it must be destroyed in one Attack Phase. Then take damage equal to the Hazard's Attack Value. This damage can be applied to a single target of the player's choice: a Base, Planet, or Home World. Once you've destroyed the Hazard, if there is a Planet on the other side, you may acquire that immediately or Recycle it Hazard side down into the Exploration Deck.
• Empire Row Card: You can apply damage to Scrap cards from the enemy's Empire Row. (Tech cards cannot be attacked in this fashion.) Each point of Attack Value equals 2 points of damage, and cards are Scrapped when they receive enough damage equal to their cost. Empire Row damage does not carry over to the next turn, so a Fleet must apply enough damage to Scrap the card in a single turn. Additionally, a separate Fleet must be assigned to each Empire Row card.

Overassign Attack Value

You can overassign Attack Values in a Fleet to a target. However, after the target is Depopulated, any leftover damage is lost and cannot be assigned to a new target.

Other Damage

During a player's turn they may receive damage from other cards, such as Hazards. In all such instances, the player determines exactly where such damage will be placed, but the damage is always applied to a single card; any leftover damage after a Planet is Depopulated is ignored. As usual, however, any leftover damage from a destroyed Base is applied to the Planet where it is stationed.

i. Defense (Optional)

When a player is attacked they may choose to defend. After all Fleets have been assigned, the defending player may Scrap any number of Ships from their hand, blocking damage coming from their opponent. To do so, assign defending ship(s) to a specific Fleet. Reduce the Attack Value of the Fleet by the amount of Attack Value of the defending ship(s). (Unless specifically stated otherwise, attacking ships are never Scrapped during a defense.)

Ships Scrapped for Defense act like a temporary Fleet for the defending player, so if multiple Scrapped Ships are assigned to the same attacking Fleets, any Fleet abilities (such as additional damage) on the Scrapped Ships can be applied if Ship Class requirements are met. However, in this instance, Command Points are never generated.

It is then the next player's turn.

2. Discard and Draw Cards

Discard all played cards except Bases, Planets, and any Tech that is tied to another card. Then draw 5 cards from your Player Deck. If you run out of cards while drawing, shuffle your discard pile and continue drawing from it until you have 5 cards.

Discard Timing: No played cards are discarded until this part of the turn. If a player needs to shuffle their deck to draw a card because their Player Deck is empty, they reshuffle without any of the played cards. Once the turn is done, then all played cards are discarded.

The two exceptions are as follows:

• Any cards purchased from the Empire Row immediately go to the discard pile.
• If a played card forces a discard, the discarded card immediately goes into the discard pile.

Command Points (CP)

During a player's turn, if they have played more than one Ship Class, they receive the following Command Points:

• 2 Ship Classes = 1 CP
• 3 Ship Classes = 2 CP
• 4 Ship Classes = 4 CP
• 5 Ship Classes = 6 CP
• 6 Ship Classes = 8 CP

Command Points can be spent at any time during the turn, in any or all of the following ways:

• 1 CP = 1 Production towards acquiring or accruing on Empire Row cards only
• 1 CP = +1 Attack Value with a Fleet
• 1 CP = Recycle a Planet from the Exploration Row (if there are any enemy Exploration tokens, requires 2 CP)
• 2 CP = Recycle a Hazard from the Exploration Row and reshuffle the Exploration Deck (a Hazard or Event cannot be on top of the Exploration Deck after reshuffle).

The following additional rules apply:

Generation & Tracking: Command Points are both generated and cumulatively tracked across the entire turn. Whenever a player draws additional cards, opportunities to generate additional Command Points are created.

Attacks: Command Points spent for an Attack Value bonus can be spent all on the same Fleet or split across multiple Fleets as desired. However, they must be assigned to a Fleet to cause damage. Finally, Command Points spent in this fashion do not apply to Fleet or Formation abilities.

Winning the Game

When the enemy Home World is Depopulated, the game ends immediately and the current player wins.

Three and Four Players

For 3 or 4 players using two games, use the following rules (note that games will be much longer):

• Start with Home Worlds upgraded.
• Add +1 to the Exploration Row capacity for each player beyond 2.
• You can only attack players next to you.