Micro Cosmos: New Worlds and Old Authorities Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• New Worlds
  • New Worlds Components
  • New Worlds Introduction
  • New Worlds Setup
  • New Worlds Gameplay
  • New Worlds Solo Mode
• Old Authorities
  • Old Authorities Components
  • Old Authorities Introduction
  • Old Authorities Setup
  • Old Authorities Gameplay
    • Green Council (Endless Vine)
    • Red Council (Industrial Titans)
    • Blue Council (Cobalt Geometrists)
  • Old Authorities Advantage Card
  • Old Authorities Solo Mode
• Solo Campaign
  • Solo Campaign Components
  • Solo Campaign Introduction
  • Solo Campaign Before You Begin
  • Solo Campaign General Setup
  • Solo Campaign Scenario Cards
  • Solo Campaign Additional Rules
  • Solo Campaign End of a Scenario
  • Solo Campaign Scenario Notepad
    • Points
    • Ark Upgrade
    • Planet Layout
    • Specialists

New Worlds

New Worlds Components

• 1 New Worlds board
• New Worlds markers
• Neutral Survivor cards (gray)

New Worlds Introduction

The "New Worlds" expansion allows players to participate in a Colonization Mission of a newly discovered galaxy. They do so by using a new action available on the Star Portal. Whilst on the Star Portal players may place one of the Survivor cards from their Ark onto the New Worlds board and gain bonuses. This may also trigger an alternative end game.

New Worlds Setup

Prepare the game according to the standard setup and follow additional steps:

1. Shuffle 6 neutral Survivor cards into the Survivor deck.
2. Place the New Worlds board beside the Canteen. Place New Worlds markers on spots "0" of the tracks of the appropriate colors. Place the neutral (gray) marker on spot "0" of the mission launch time track (at the bottom).

Note: the per-spot bonuses are printed as symbols on the New Worlds board and are not spelled out in the text. On the board a "?" symbol is a Resource of choice and a yellow number is VP. The board's Star Portal action is shown as a Survivor icon leading to a yellow "2".

New Worlds Gameplay

When performing the Scout action you may now encounter neutral Survivors. They do not provide Resources but their color always matches the Planet when performing the Settle action. For the purpose of the Colonization Mission action (check below), neutral Survivors are considered a 4th color.

As one of their Destination actions on the Star Portal, players may now pick one of their Survivor cards and place it face up on the New Worlds board to immediately gain 2VP. This can only be done if the Survivor card is of a different color than the one on top of the stack on the New Worlds board (e.g. if the card on top of the stack is a red Survivor, only a green, blue or gray one can be placed).

Every time a player places their Survivor card, they move their marker on the New World track by 1 spot to the right and gain an additional bonus indicated by the symbol on the spot that their marker is covering (extra VP or a Resource of choice).

After reaching spot 2 of their track players unlock a passive ability which allows them to take an extra Crew card from the Canteen (apart from taking a Crew card from the deck as usual). The 6 card Crew card limit still applies.

After reaching spot 4 on their track players unlock another passive ability which allows them to draw an extra Survivor card during the Scout action (together with the Scout Vehicles upgrade the player draws a total of 3 Survivor cards). They still pick only one of them and discard the rest.

Every time any player places a Survivor card on the New Worlds board, they need to move the mission launch time track marker by 1 spot to the right.

The end game is triggered when the mission launch time track marker reaches the appropriate spot:

spot 5 in a 2 player game

spot 7 in a 3 player game

spot 9 in a 4 player game

During end game scoring, every neutral Survivor card which a player has on their Ark (The Survivor hasn't been settled or hasn't been sent to the colonization mission) is worth -2VP. Subtract the adequate amount of victory points before settling a tie.

New Worlds Solo Mode

In the solo mode the SCOUT action doesn't give the Automa any Resources. If the color of the Survivor card drawn by the Automa is different from the top card on the New Worlds board, Automa places that card on top of the stack, gains 2VP, a bonus from the spot they move to and they move the mission launch time track marker. The Automa can also trigger the end game this way.

The end game is triggered when the mission launch time track marker reaches spot 7 like in a 3 player game.

Old Authorities

Old Authorities Components

• 1 Old Authorities board
• 12 Influence markers (3 in each player color)
• 3 Council cards
• 1 Advantage card

Old Authorities Introduction

The Old Authorities expansion allows players to gain influence in the Councils governing different types of planets (colors). Performing actions which benefit them, increases the player's influence in a Council and the player with the highest influence gains access to a unique ability.

Old Authorities Setup

Prepare the game according to the standard setup and follow additional steps:

1. Place the Old Authorities board and all Influence markers beside the Canteen board.
2. Place the 3 Council cards and the Advantage card beside the within reach. (Printed in the source as "beside the within reach"; transcribed as printed.)

Old Authorities Gameplay

Every time a player terraforms a Planet, settles a Survivor or creates a Trading Outpost on it, they gain influence in the Council of the same color.

The player gains 1 Influence in a Council for:

• terraforming a Planet - regardless of how many levels the planet Resources are raised during this action; do not gain influence when raising Resource levels as a result of discovering a new Planet
• creating or moving a Trading Outpost from a different Planet
• settling a Survivor on a terraformed Planet - when playing with the "New Worlds" expansion, this can also be a neutral (gray) Survivor

After a player gains influence in a Council for the first time they place their influence marker on that Council's influence track. When they gain further influence they move their marker further to the right. Immediately after moving their marker to the next spot they gain a bonus shown on it. These bonuses can be: receive any resource, gain 1 to 3 VP or gain a Leader of a given color. The player who reaches the final 8th spot on a Council's influence track immediately gains 8VP. The second player to reach that spot gains 5VP. Further players who reach it do not get any bonuses.

Note: the spot bonuses are printed as symbols on the Old Authorities board, one track per Council color. Read left to right, the printed symbols are: spot 1 a "?" (Resource of choice); spot 2 1VP; spot 3 a "?" (Resource of choice); spot 4 2VP; spot 5 a Leader of the track's color, with a white pill-shaped symbol beneath it that the text does not name; spot 6 3VP; spot 7 a Leader of the track's color, with the same pill-shaped symbol; spot 8 5VP (the second player to reach it) and 8VP (the first player to reach it).

Apart from gaining bonuses from influence tracks, the most influential players might gain powerful abilities given to them by the Councils.

The first player who reaches spot 2 on a Council's influence track, gains its Council card and starting from their next turn, may use that card's ability, given the card is still in their possession.

If any player reaches the same influence level as the player in possession of the Council card, this card needs to be placed back beside the board. Only the player with the highest influence may use that Council's card.

The player who reaches the 8th spot on an influence track first, receives that Council's card permanently.

Each Council card may be activated once per turn. After activating a card, rotate it 90°.

After your turn is over, rotate it back to its original position.

Green Council (Endless Vine)

Ability: Activate this card. You may use this card as an engineer.

You may use this card as an Engineer for the purpose of upgrading your Ark or creating a Colony, the same way as you would use an Engineer from a Crew card or a Crew token.

Red Council (Industrial Titans)

Ability: Activate this card. You may use a Leader (either from a crew card or a crew token) as a Leader of any color.

You may use any Leader on your Ark as a Leader of a different color for the purpose of any action.

Blue Council (Cobalt Geometrists)

Ability: Activate this card. You may use any Specialist (either from a crew card or a crew token) to perform an additional action on a planet (each action needs to be different).

Use any Specialist (Engineer or Leader) from a Crew card or a Crew token, to perform an additional action on the Planet your Ark is on this turn. Every action performed on a Planet needs to be different.

Old Authorities Advantage Card

Take this card if you have an advantage in at least two Councils.

As long as you have this card, at the end of your turn, instead of taking a crew card from the stack, you may take it from the canteen.

Old Authorities Solo Mode

In the solo mode, every time the Automa terraforms a Planet or creates a Trading Outpost, it moves on the influence tracks like a normal player, gaining bonuses from all spots - it marks VP on the Point track, when receiving a Resource of choice picks the one it has the least of, and the Leader symbol lets it take a Crew card from the stack.

After having a majority influence in a Council, the Automa doesn't take a Council card but it can still cause the player to lose a Council card once it reaches the same spot on the influence track.

Solo Campaign

Solo Campaign Components

• 15 Campaign cards (Scenario cards)
• 2 double-sided Ark cards
• Campaign notepad
• Campaign book

Solo Campaign Introduction

The campaign is a series of scenarios where you'll be faced with increasingly difficult challenges. The completion of scenario goals will allow you to upgrade your Ark or swap it for a new one. Thanks to the save option you'll be able to pause the campaign and return to it at a different time.

The Campaign book contains information on the setup, goals and additional rules for each of the 10 scenarios of the campaign.

Solo Campaign Before You Begin

Starting with scenario 2 this section describes what you need to do before starting the scenario as well as information on the costs of Upgrades as well as additional Resources that you might start with.

Solo Campaign General Setup

Setup each game the same way as you would a multiplayer game but without taking other players' components. You do not need your own terraforming markers or the starting player marker - you are not competing with anyone when terraforming and you are always the starting player.

Remove cards with the number 10 from the Survivor deck and Planet 016 from the Planet deck - they will not take part in the Campaign.

Each scenario contains a setup section which tells you which Ark to use, what additional components to prepare, how to layout Planet cards etc.

NOTE: If you wish to increase the difficulty level remove 1 random card from the Scenario card deck.

Solo Campaign Scenario Cards

Each scenario uses a deck of Scenario cards. The SCENARIO CARDS section informs you which cards go into the deck. The deck serves a dual role - that of a timer and an event randomiser. As shown on the cards their effects might be resolved immediately, at the end of a round or at any time during a round.

Solo Campaign Additional Rules

This section of each scenario informs about new rules and rules modifications. Read these carefully before beginning each scenario.

Solo Campaign End of a Scenario

At the start of each round reveal a card from the Scenario deck. The time to complete each Scenario is over once the deck runs out. If you aren't able to complete the specified goal(s) during the round when the last card is revealed, you lose. To continue playing either start the whole Campaign over or resume playing from your last saved game.

You CAN end the Scenario early, once all goals of that Scenario have been completed. Continuing a game after all goals are completed usually allows you to gain more Prestige Points which will help you along the way.

Solo Campaign Scenario Notepad

The Scenario notepad allows you to sum up all your Prestige Points and save your game state.

Points

• From previous Scenario

Some Scenarios allow you to save you unspent Prestige Points for the following Scenario - mark these here.

• Resources, Survivors, Colonies and Trading Outposts, Scenario cards left

Each Scenario indicates how many Prestige Points can be received for the number of Resources in your Cargo, settled Survivors or Survivors on your Ark, created Colonies or Trading Outposts and for Scenario cards left (if you decide to finish the Scenario before the Scenario deck runs out).

Sum up all Prestige Points, they will allow you to unlock Upgrades as well as start with extra Resources.

Ark Upgrade

Mark which upgrades on your Ark have been unlocked and which Trading Outpost markers you gained.

Planet Layout

This is where you mark the current planet layout. Mark each Planet and the Star Portal with their number (on the right side of each card), note the level of each Resource for every Planet and mark all Colonies and Trading Outposts.

Specialists

Mark which Specialist token was left unlocked at the end of the Scenario.

Example

Example: After Scenario 8 the player has 21 Prestige Points including 5 saved from the previous Scenario, 3 for Resources in the Cargo, 4 for settled Survivors, 8 for Colonies and Trading Outposts and 1 for the last Scenario card left in the Scenario deck.

Apart from the Star Portal (017) there are 5 uncovered Planets in the system including 3 starting Planets which have already been fully terraformed. The starting Planets have Colonies and a Trading Outpost on them. Planets 004 and 007 have not been terraformed yet (their Resource levels have been marked: 5 and 2 Minerals, 2 and 3 Biomatter, 4 Technology, 4 Workforce). The player unlocked the following Ark Upgrades: Robotics, Biodome, Cargo Holds, Leisure Facilities, Mining Vehicles and Engines level 2. The player wasn't able to settle Survivor #001. The player will start the following Scenario with a red and blue Leader token.

Note: the filled-in notepad illustration in the source is headed "Scenario 10", while the example text says "After Scenario 8". Both are transcribed as printed. The illustration's values are Points from previous Scenario 5, Resources 3, Survivors 4, Colonies and Trading Outposts 8, Scenario cards left 1, Total 21.

Solo Campaign Scenarios

Not included in this rulebook: the printed Campaign book, which holds the setup, goals and additional rules for each of the 10 scenarios. This rulebook contains the campaign rules, components and scoring notepad only. The Ark cards, Campaign cards and Scenario cards are physical components of the expansion and are not transcribed here.