Mothership: Tabletop Combat Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Quick Rules
  • Each Player Gets
  • Board Layout
  • Goal
  • Your Turn
  • Control Panel
  • Movement
  • Combat
  • Damage
  • Asteroids
  • Planets
  • Resources
  • What You Can Buy
• 1. Setup
  • Board Layout
• 1.1 Board Balance
  • 4 vs 6 Player Board
• 2. Your Turn / Movement
  • Rule Clarifications
• 3. Combat
  • Attacking with Multiple Ships
  • Wingman Rule
  • Rule Clarifications
• 4. Control Panel
• 5. Colony Station
  • Guarding
  • Rule Clarifications
• 6. Resources
  • 6.1 Action Cards
    • Rule Clarifications
  • 6.2 Technology Tree
    • Rule Clarifications
• 7. Planets
• 8. Asteroids
  • Winning Against Asteroids
  • Losing Against Asteroids
• 9. Strategy
• 10. Team Games
  • Rule Clarifications
• 11. End Game
• Optional Rules
• 12. Planetary Exploration
• 13. Victory Points
  • Respawning Ships
  • Victory Conditions
  • Victory Points
  • Rules Comparison
• 14. Solo Challenge Mode
  • Your Goal
  • Board Layout
  • NPC Behaviour
• 15. Random Event D6
• 16. Components
  • Standard Edition Changes
• Card List

Quick Rules

More detailed rules will follow in the next section.

Each Player Gets

• 1x Technology Tree
• 1x Control Panel
• 1x Colony Station
• 1x Mothership
• 3x Fighters
• 2x Bombers
• 15x Blue energy counters
• 16x Red Hull Point counters
• 3x Grey Tech Tree counters
• 2x Action cards
• 5x Capture markers

Board Layout

Set up the board as shown in the rulebook's diagram.

• P = Planets
• Grey = Asteroids
• Colours = Location of Colony Stations for each player

Each player may then place their ships wherever they like within two spaces of their Colony Station.

Goal

• Keep your Colony Station and at least one ship alive.
• Destroy your opponent's Colony Station or wipe out all of their ships.

Your Turn

• First, manage your Mothership's energy. Second, each ship moves (measured in spaces) and then attacks (rolling dice), in that order.
• You have three different ships. How far each ship can move and how powerful they are is written on your Control Panel. Your Colony Station is not classed as a ship and cannot move or attack.
• When you finish moving and attacking, you collect resources.

Control Panel

• The top four rows are only for your Mothership, your most powerful and versatile unit.
• Blue counters represent your Mothership's energy. Red counters represent your Mothership and Colony Station's Hull Points (HP).
• Before you move your Mothership you can divert energy into any of the first three rows (called subsystems) in any amount to change how far your Mothership can move, attack or how much damage it can absorb. The energy is locked until your next turn.
• Engines = How far your Mothership can move.
• Weapons = The die your Mothership attacks with.
• Shields = The amount of damage your Mothership can absorb before losing Hull Points. Damage is determined by your enemy's total roll. Shields regenerate at the end of any turn, including enemy turns.
• Hull Points (HP) = Your Mothership's HP in increments of 1.
• Colony Station = Your Colony Station's HP in increments of 4.
• Fighter / Bomber Stats = Your accompanying ships' fixed movement and attack stats and what they can or cannot damage.

Movement

• The amount of spaces your ships can move in one turn are displayed on your Control Panel.
• Ships can be moved through your own ships but cannot occupy the same space.
• They cannot be moved through planets, Colony Stations or enemy ships.

Combat

• To attack, be adjacent to the ship you want to destroy and declare a dogfight.
• Each ship rolls their corresponding dice type.
• Then each player adds any buffs to their roll from their Technology Tree or Action cards they might have.
• Buff = This means to make stronger.
• The highest roll wins and the losing ship takes damage. If you tie, no one takes damage.
• The losing ship takes the total of the winning roll as damage.

Damage

• The only ships in the game with HP are the Mothership and Colony Station. When a Fighter or Bomber are said to have taken damage, it means they explode and are removed from the board.
• If your Mothership loses a dogfight with an enemy, your shield will absorb the damage (your enemy's total roll including buffs) before the remaining damage is taken off your HP. Shields regenerate at the end of any turn, including enemy turns.
• There are five different dice which are used to attack.

You have three unique ship types each with a different purpose.

• The Mothership can damage anything.
• Fighters can damage other Fighters, Bombers, Mothership shields and planets, but they cannot damage HP (any red counters on your Control Panel).
• Bombers can damage HP, Mothership shields and planets but cannot damage Fighters or other Bombers.

Forgotten already? Don't stress, it's all written on the Control Panel.

Remember it like this: Fighters attack the small stuff, Bombers attack the big stuff and the Mothership attacks everything.

Asteroids

If you choose to move into an asteroid field, you must win a dogfight against them.

• Asteroids always roll a single d6.
• Winning against asteroids: Tie or roll higher. The winning ship can now move freely within the asteroid field (the asteroid tile and connecting tiles) until you leave by moving into a non-asteroid space.
• Losing against asteroids: Your ship takes damage. If it's your Mothership, the amount rolled by the asteroids is absorbed by shields and the rest is taken off HP. If your Fighter or Bomber loses, then they explode.

Planets

To capture a planet, you attack it.

• If you roll a total of 6 or higher, the planet is yours.
• Technology Tree and Action Card buffs do not apply to planet attack rolls.
• You can attack with multiple ships. The more ships you use, the higher the chance it's yours.
• If you claim the planet, place a capture marker underneath it. You are then awarded an Action card from the top of the deck.

Resources

At the end of your turn, you collect the following resources:

• 1 for your Colony Station
• 1 for each planet you control

You also get resources for destroying enemy ships during your turn (called loot), or during another player's turn:

• 1 for each Fighter or Bomber
• 3 for a Colony Station or Mothership

Even though resources may have different names and icons, their values are the same.

What You Can Buy

All players start with an identical fleet. What will help you get the edge over your opponents are upgrades and abilities that can be purchased with Resource cards.

• Buy Technology Tree upgrades or Action cards at any time during your turn or at the end of other players' turns.
• Action cards (cost 2 Resources) = single use cards that can be played during your turn (or during an opponent's turn if the card allows).
• Technology Tree (cost is stated on each tier) = Permanent upgrades that remain active throughout the entire game (except for the orange tile).
• Action cards will state whether they can be used during another player's turn.
• All Action cards have a value assigned to them and can be sold to the discard pile for Resources. This can be done at any time during your turn or at the end of another player's turn.
• Spent resources are added back to the top of the resource deck to be used again.
• Used Action cards are placed in the discard deck and are not reused.

Don't be overwhelmed initially by all of the choices on the Technology Tree. Each colour represents something that is useful. There is no bad choice. Just concentrate on one tier at a time.

Don't worry if you start losing ships at any point. You're never out of the game until you're completely wiped out. You can still do a lot of damage with just one Fighter or one Bomber.

To recap - Move, attack, capture planets, get resources, buy upgrades.

1. Setup

1. Lay the board down in the middle of the play area.
2. Place the card holder to the side of the play area (figure 2).
3. Shuffle the Action cards and place them face down in the designated space of the card holder.
4. Shuffle the Resource cards and place them face up in the designated space of the card holder.
5. Give each player: 1x Colony Station, 1x Mothership, 3x Fighters, 2x Bombers, 5x Capture Markers, 1x Mothership Control Panel, 1x Tech Tree, 16x red HP counters, 15x blue energy counters, 3x grey counters (figure 1).
6. Each player takes the blue and red counters they were given and positions them on their Mothership Control Panel as seen in figure 1.
7. Give each player 2x Action cards from the top of the Action card deck.
8. All five dice should be placed on the play area ready to be used.

Board Layout

If this is your first time setting up Mothership, please use the example board layouts as displayed in 1.1 Board Balance.

Balance is very important in Mothership, so the player setting up the board should make sure no player is overly protected by asteroids or has easy access to multiple planets. The next section will go into more detail about balancing the board.

1. Place a selection of asteroid tiles down on the board (see 8. Asteroids). The asteroids divide up the empty space, so place as many or as few as you like.
2. Colony Stations should be placed in each corner by the same player setting up the board. This can change however depending on your layout. Ensure that there is one empty space around each station (ie. not against asteroids or board edge).
3. Then position one to seven planets around the board. You should place one more planet than there are players (example: 4 players = 5 planets).
4. Each player may then place their ships however they like within two spaces of their Colony Station (figure 4).

1.1 Board Balance

A feature of Mothership is its dynamic game board. No two games are the same. You're free to choose and create your own layout. While ridiculous layouts are fun, some may wish to make sure each player has a fair chance throughout the game.

The following are example layouts (4 player and 6 player examples). Each player has easy access to at least one planet during their first turn. The fifth planet is usually in the middle and becomes a source of contention throughout the game.

You can choose to have 2 extra planets per game, and this is okay, as long as they are fair distances away from all players. The examples shown here are mostly symmetrical but you don't have to follow any particular pattern if you don't want to.

4 vs 6 Player Board

The 20" 6 player board features a border around the edge. This border represents the 4 player area. Using the entire board with less than 5 players usually results in longer turns.

2. Your Turn / Movement

A turn is defined as one player having the chance to move pieces and a round is when everyone has had one turn. Roll a d6 to determine which player starts. The highest roll goes first and the order is clockwise for the rest of the game.

Your turn order is not rigid. This means you can move ships, attack, spend resources, manage your energy and use action cards in any order you wish and with as many or little ships as you want. Your ship's phase order on the other hand, is rigid. A single ship has two phases: movement first and attack second. Players may move each of their ships as many spaces as they want within their unit's engine power. Players can use a ship to attack at any time during their turn, including without moving it (see 3. Combat). Just remember: no ship can be moved after it attacks. The attack power and how far each ship can move is stated on the Control Panel.

Using the Control Panel (see 4. Mothership Control Panel) a player can divert energy (blue counters) into any of the other subsystems (blue rows) to change how far your Mothership can move, attack or how much damage it can absorb. This must be done before the Mothership is moved and the energy is locked until your next turn.

Ships can be moved through a player's own ships but cannot occupy the same space. They cannot be moved through planets, Colony Stations or enemy ships. The turn ends when all ships have been moved and / or have attacked, or the player decides not to make any more maneuvers. You may now collect Resources (see 6. Resources).

Rule Clarifications

• A ship can choose not to move.
• Fighting asteroids does not use your attack phase (see 8. Asteroids).
• Action cards or Tech Tree abilities that move a ship will use the movement phase (see 6. Action Cards).
• Mothership abilities will use your Mothership's attack phase (see 6.2 Technology Tree).
• All actions during your turn must be declared to all other players.

3. Combat

When the initiating ship (called the attacker) is adjacent to the enemy they want to attack (called the defender), both players roll the dice that corresponds to their ship's attack power and add any Technology Tree upgrades that are available to them (see 6.2 Technology Tree). If the player wants to use an Action card, this must be declared before they roll (see 6.1 Action Cards). The ship with the highest total roll is the winner. In the event of a draw, no ship takes any damage.

This is referred to as a dogfight. The losing ship takes the total of the winning roll as damage and the dogfight is over.

Important: Fighters and Bombers can only damage certain ships (see figure 5). The only ships in the game with HP are the Mothership and the Colony Station. These are the red counters on the Control Panel.

When the Fighter or Bomber are said to have taken damage it means they explode and are taken off the board. Shields refer only to your Mothership's shield.

Attacking a planet will use your ships attack phase (see 7. Planets).

Attacking with Multiple Ships

Players may also attack with multiple ships. As long as each ship is adjacent to the target and they can cause damage to that target (see figure 5) they can join in the dogfight. Both ships roll the die corresponding to their attack power and the rolls are combined. You must declare that you are attacking with multiple ships before you roll. If you lose a dogfight with a single ship, you cannot then add another ship's roll to the first dogfight.

Be careful: If the combined rolls and added buffs are lower than the defender's total, then all attacking ships will explode or take full damage each.

Wingman Rule

If the defending ship has one or more friendly ships adjacent, add +1 to the player's defence roll for each ship. If the player loses the dogfight, only the defending ship takes damage.

Rule Clarifications

• If a Bomber wins against a Fighter, no ship explodes, the Bomber merely avoids death.
• If a Mothership loses a dogfight, it takes the attacker's total roll as damage. The shield absorbs the damage first then the HP takes the rest.
• If any roll results in a tie, no damage is taken by anyone.
• If your ship attacks, it can no longer move during that turn.
• Asteroid fields do not change the rules of combat (see 8. Asteroids).
• A dogfight with asteroids does not use your attack phase.

4. Control Panel

The Control Panel displays your Mothership's power distribution across its three subsystems, your Fighter and Bomber base stats and your Colony Station's HP. The top four rows are only for your Mothership. Each Mothership starts the game with twelve HP. The other three subsystems are energy based.

Before you move your Mothership you can divert energy (blue counters) into any of the other rows to change how far your Mothership can move, attack or how much damage it can absorb. The energy is locked until your next turn. A subsystem is allowed to have no energy.

• Engines = How far your Mothership can move.
• Weapons = The type of die your Mothership attacks with (d2, d4, d6, d8, d10 or d12). A d2 is not included. Instead roll a d4: Odd = 1. Even = 2.
• Shields = If your Mothership loses a dogfight with an enemy your shields will absorb the damage (your enemy's total roll including buffs) before the remaining damage is taken off your HP. Shields regenerate at the end of any turn, including enemy turns.
• Hull Points (HP) = How much health your Mothership has in increments of 1.
• Colony Station = How much HP your Colony Station has in increments of 4.
• Fighter / Bomber = Your accompanying ship's set movement and attack stats and what they can or cannot damage.

5. Colony Station

Colony Stations do not have attack rolls or engine power which makes them sitting space ducks. You must protect it at all costs.

It is also not classed as a ship. Therefore, any Action cards or Tech Tree abilities that refer to a ship do not apply to your Colony Station.

If your Colony Station is destroyed, all of your units are wiped out instantly, and you lose the game (see 11. End Game).

Guarding

Any friendly ship can act as a guarding ship for your Colony Station by remaining in an adjacent space. The enemy must destroy the guarding ship first before they can attack your Colony Station.

Rule Clarifications

• Your Colony Station Hull Points are displayed as 4 red counters that represent multiples of 4 Hull Points each. All 4 points of damage must be dealt to remove each marker. For example, if your Station receives 7 damage from an attack, only 1 counter (4 Hull Points) is removed.
• In the rare case where all teams only have Bombers remaining the guarding rule is ignored.

6. Resources

All players start with an identical fleet. What will help you get the edge over your opponents are upgrades and abilities that can be purchased with Resource cards. All Resource cards have the same value. The different icons for each card are purely cosmetic. Resources are hidden from other players until used.

At the end of your turn, you collect resources.

• 1 for your Colony Station
• 1 for each planet you control

You also get Resources for destroying enemy ships. This is called loot.

• 1 for each Fighter or Bomber
• 3 for a Colony Station or Mothership

Gathering resources from your Colony Station or Planets ends your turn. Spent resources are added back to the top of the Resource card deck to be reused. If you run out of Resource cards, find another way to record how many you hold.

6.1 Action Cards

Each player is given two Action cards at the start of the game. These are one-use bonuses you can activate during your turn or, if the card states, during your opponent's turn. Cards are hidden until used. You must declare (and reveal) all Action cards before you roll (unless your card is to be used after a roll).

More Action cards can be purchased for 2 Resources each. This can be done at any time during your turn or at the end of any other player's turn. Cards may be used as soon as they are picked up.

All Action cards have a value assigned to them in the top left corner which is their resale value. If you don't like a card, discard it and take Resources in exchange. Again, this can be done at any time during your turn or at the end of any other player's turn. When Action cards run out, they stay depleted.

Example, see figure 6: This card can be played by an attacker as they initiate a dogfight with an enemy Mothership. It will completely remove all blue counters in the enemy shield subsystem for that turn.

• Action cards state if they can be used during the turns of other players. This is usually displayed as Can be used to defend (see figure 6).
• All Action cards that are used or sold must be discarded afterwards into the designated space in the card holder (see 1. Setup).
• There is no limit to the amount of Action cards you may use at any one time.
• All movement Action cards must be used during your own turn and on a ship that has not yet attacked.
• Action or Resource Cards cannot be traded amongst other players, even during team games (see 10. Team Games).

A complete list of Action cards can be found at the end of this rule book.

Rule Clarifications

• Keep an eye on the wording of Action cards to settle disputes. Example: the card Expansion Pak doubles the damage of any roll. A single roll is defined as the number shown on the dice of one ship attacking. So this card does not double two dice at once, nor does it double a roll plus added buffs. It only doubles the face of the dice.
• The cards state whether they can be used on enemy or friendly ships. Friendly is classified as your own ships or teammate's ships (see 10. Team Games).
• Players can buy as many Action cards as they want during their turn or at the end of other players' turns. There is no limit to the amount of cards that can be bought (see 9. Strategy).
• Action cards are applied in the order they are played. Example: An attacker uses Shield Breaker to remove an enemy shield, but the defender plays Auxiliary Shield, which adds +4 shield. The defender now has a total of 4 shields. If the defender declared his card first and then the attacker his card, the defender would have no shields.
• If you move a teammate's ship (see 10. Team Games) on your turn using an Action card, this will not use that ship's movement phase.

6.2 Technology Tree

The Technology Tree is used to upgrade a player's fleet. On the tree are three categories: Economy, Combat, and Support. All split off into two branches. As you gain resources, you can purchase tiers to gain buffs and special abilities. You can upgrade multiple categories but only one branch per category.

• Technology purchases are active all the time and cannot be removed or resold except for the orange tile.
• The orange tile is a reusable upgrade. It can be purchased as many times as the player needs, but the effect lasts for one roll.
• The cost can be seen on the top right corner of each tier on the tree.
• Use the grey counters to mark your progression up the tree.
• Buffs from the tree can be combined with Action cards.
• As you purchase higher tiers you can continue to use the abilities of the previous tiers on that tree.
• The dark tiles on the tree do not stack together. The more advanced tier will override the earlier, weaker tier so that you don't need to keep adding them together.
• The 5th tier for each category are Mothership abilities. Your Mothership must be alive to use these. Each ability uses an attack phase. For example: your Mothership cannot attack an enemy ship and use Asteroid Mining in the same turn.
• Buffs do not affect the rolls of planet attacks (see 7. Planets). Sunslayer Torpedoes can be used to attack planets from a distance.
• Mothership abilities are designed to be game deciding. If you feel some are overpowered, please see 9. Strategy.

Rule Clarifications

• Tractor Beam: To hold another ship, the player needs to declare that they are using the ability and which ship they are targeting.
• Sunslayer Torpedoes, Nuclear Missile: These allow the Mothership to attack from a distance. The defender can roll to avoid damage only. If the defender wins no damage is taken by the attacker.
• Jump Gates: Any friendly ships can warp from a space adjacent to a friendly Colony Station or Planet to another space adjacent to a friendly Colony Station or Planet. A ship may use its engine power to move and then warp. A ship cannot move after it has used Jump Gates.

7. Planets

You can capture planets on the board with your ships.

• To capture a planet, you attack it. Whether the planet is inhabited or not is irrelevant. Your fearsome display of power will show all in the galaxy that this is your planet.
• If you roll a total of 6 or higher, the planet is yours.
• Buffs from the Technology Tree or Action cards do not affect attacking and capturing planets.
• You can attack with multiple ships at once and combine the rolls. This must be declared before you roll.

If you roll less than a 6 then, you have failed and can try again next turn. If you succeed, take a capture marker and place it underneath the planet.

An Action card from the top of the deck is awarded for capturing a planet. At the end of your turn, you will receive 1 Resource card from each planet you control and 1 for your Colony Station.

You can capture another player's planet. The same rules above apply but if you succeed you may choose to blindly steal an Action card (not Resource) from your opponent instead of taking from the top of the card deck. An enemy can add defence to their planet with Action cards and Tech Tree abilities that raise the minimum roll from 6.

If you get knocked out of the game your planets return to a neutral state.

8. Asteroids

All ships can move through asteroid fields but risk taking damage if they do.

• As soon as a ship needs to enter one asteroid space, a dogfight is initiated by the asteroids.
• Asteroids always attack with a d6. Then, roll your ship's corresponding attack power to avoid the damage.
• Any buffs from Action cards or your Tech Tree (see 6.1, 6.2) can aid you in making it through the asteroid field.
• A dogfight with asteroids does not use a ship's attack phase.

Winning Against Asteroids

If you roll a tie or higher that ship can remain in any part of that asteroid field for as long as you like (including multiple joining asteroid tiles), even into your next turn. You only have to re-roll for asteroid damage if you exit the field into empty space and then enter an asteroid space again. The wingman rule does not buff asteroid field dogfights.

Losing Against Asteroids

If your ship loses a dogfight against the asteroids by rolling lower, you take damage. If your Mothership loses it can still pass through the asteroids but the amount rolled by the asteroid field is first absorbed by the shields, and then damage is taken off the HP. Remember: Your Mothership shields recharge at the end of your turn. It is possible to enter a dogfight afterwards with low shields.

9. Strategy

• There are no cards in the game that repair your Colony Station or resurrect your Mothership. Think carefully about your moves!
• Don't worry about losing ships. If you find yourself in a position where you can't do much, start buying Action cards. You might get something that will turn the game in your favour. Either that or you'll take other players down with you (which is usually just as satisfying).
• The Technology Tree is designed to deliberately force certain strategies based on the path a player chooses.
• The final tiers of the Technology Tree are game deciding upgrades. Mothership was designed so as to not drag on for hours. If you feel your enemy is too overpowered as a result of maxing one of his trees well then maybe don't let them get that many resources next time!
• Attacking with multiple ships might sound like a good idea, but keep an eye on your enemy's Tech Tree. Their buffs might out class your roll and as a result destroy all of your attacking ships.
• Moving through asteroids might give you the advantage, but all it takes is a bad roll to destroy your ship.
• You get Resource cards as soon as you destroy an enemy ship and can spend them straight away.
• At some points during the game, you may find the opportunity to continuously buy Action cards by selling unwanted cards. A player is allowed to buy and sell as many cards as they want. It may seem strange to keep cycling through the deck by doing this but the odds of finding a high value Action card are quite low, and this tactic often results in players having less resources than when they started.

10. Team Games

Mothership can be played as a team game. In teams of 2 or 3, all rules are as above and remain unchanged. Each player gets a Colony Station they need to protect. You may choose to have team Stations next to each other, although separated is always better.

Make sure that teammates do not have turns right after each other, turns must alternate between teams. This may also mean you need to allocate seating for each player so you don't get confused as to who goes next. This may change however if a team member gets eliminated (as per the normal rules) as their teammate can play on without them.

Rule Clarifications

• Your team loses when all of your players are eliminated.
• Action cards and Tech Tree abilities state whether or not they apply to your teammate's ships or planets, classified as friendly.
• You are allowed to move through your team's ships in addition to your own.
• The wingman rule applies to all friendly ships.
• The guarding rule applies to all friendly ships.
• Action cards cannot be used to buff your teammate's dogfights.
• You may not tribute Resource cards or Action cards to your teammates.
• You may not capture over your teammate's planets.

11. End Game

You lose when your Colony Station is destroyed or when all of your units have been wiped out. If your Colony Station is destroyed and you still have ships left, they explode too. All planets that you have control over return to a neutral state and any cards you have get discarded. You can now start getting another round of drinks for everyone.

You cannot continue to gain Resources or use Actions cards because you are dead...duh.

Optional Rules

The following are optional game rules. After learning how to play Mothership's Standard rules, you can use these variants to shake up gameplay.

12. Planetary Exploration

Included with the game are 12 numbered hex tokens. Just after setting up the board, blindly take one token and place it under the base of each planet blank side up.

During the game, players can choose to explore a planet they have captured. Exploring a Planet costs 3 Resources, and this can be done at any time during the player's turn without the need for ships to be near it.

Once paid, the player turns the token face up to reveal the number. This token goes back underneath the planet numbered side up, and the planet is now considered explored. The player then retrieves the blue Artifact card with the corresponding number on the token.

The discovered Artifact has the possibility to buff the player's stats in various ways. This card will stay with the player until the game ends or they lose control of their planet.

If the planet is captured by another player the Artifact is transferred to that player. The buff is no longer applied to the original owner. Artifact cards cannot be stolen in any other way. If the planet is removed from the board using the Action card Planet Laser Pointer, then the Artifact is also removed and cannot be recovered again during that game.

13. Victory Points

Mothership can also be played with Victory Points as opposed to eliminating players. All rules stay the same except for the following changes.

Respawning Ships

When any one of your ships explode it will respawn adjacent to your Colony Station at the end of your next turn. Your Mothership will always respawn with 6 HP instead of the full 12. If your Colony Station is destroyed, you remain in the game, but you can no longer respawn ships.

Victory Conditions

The first player to reach 10 victory points on their turn is the winner. Victory Points are awarded as listed in the box Victory Points.

Each player receives a grey counter and a Victory Point card at the start of the game with a list of Victory Point conditions. When a point has been gained the player should move their counter along the squares to indicate how many points they have. The first person to reach 10 Victory Points on their turn is the winner.

It is possible to gain points on the turns of other players when winning a dogfight as a defender. If a player reaches 10 points before their turn, they must wait until their turn to claim victory.

Victory Points

Destroy:

• Fighter or Bomber: 1 VP
• Mothership: 3 VPs
• Colony Station: 5 VPs

Control:

• Planet: 1 VP per planet

If you lose control of a planet in any way (including through the Action card Planet Laser Pointer) you will go back 1 point.

Games of five or more players may wish to set the victory conditions to more than 10 points, as the more people that are playing the quicker you accumulate points.

Rules Comparison

What's the difference between the Standard rules and the Victory Point rules? The two big differences that result are pace and a shift towards macro unit management.

Pace: Players tend to focus more on offensive tactics, resulting in faster accumulation of points therefore shortening the game time.

Macro: The Standard rules challenge players to think carefully about each move, making sure that every attack, movement or purchase is thought out. Respawning ships is a unique feature of the Victory point system and usually causes players to be less conservative with their strategies as they know their ships will return if destroyed.

Both game types are great fun, and you'll no doubt find yourself favouring the rule-set that compliments your gaming group's taste.

14. Solo Challenge Mode

Your Goal

To win you must destroy all enemy ships. If your Colony Station is destroyed, you lose. As the NPC's (non-playable character) Mothership attacks your Colony Station every turn you only have a limited, unspecified number of rounds to defend your planets, upgrade your fleet and defeat all enemies.

All normal rules remain unchanged except for the following alterations.

Board Layout

Your Colony Station begins in the opposite corner of the board to your fleet. Your fleet consists of 1x Mothership, 3x Fighters and 2x Bombers. As with the Standard rules, you start with a Control Panel with 15x energy and 16x HP counters in the normal starting positions and 2x Action cards. There are three planets on the board that begin under your control.

The NPC's fleet is set up as follows: 1x Mothership adjacent to your Colony Station, 5x ships spread out adjacent to the three planets.

Asteroid tiles can be placed however you wish, or you can use the example layouts at 1.1 Board Balance.

NPC Behaviour

As the player, you must move the NPC fleet and initiate attacks as determined by the following set behaviours:

• The NPC Mothership will begin the game adjacent to your Colony Station and attack it each turn. If your ships become a guarding ship for your Colony Station, the NPC Mothership will move towards and attack that ship.

The NPC Fighters and Bombers begin the game adjacent to your pre-captured planets. They will attack the planet until they claim it. Once claimed, Bombers will move at full engine power in a straight line (through asteroids if needed) towards your Colony Station and then attack when in range. Fighters will continue to guard the planets until your Bombers or Fighters are in engine range. When they are, the NPC Fighter will move towards them (through asteroids if needed) and initiate a dogfight. They will not initiate a dogfight with a Mothership.

• Roll for all NPC attacks and make sure to add up any buffs that are displayed on their Technology Tree.
• NPC's do not receive or spend resources.
• NPC's do not receive or use action cards.
• The NPC has a set Control Panel and Technology Tree with predetermined upgrades and energy distribution as per the difficulty level.
• NPC's defend against asteroids if they need to move through them. NPC ship's take damage if they lose as per Standard rules.

Level	Control Panel Energy	Tech Tree Upgrades (all categories, follow dark tiles)
1	5 per subsystem	No upgrades
2	5 per subsystem	Tier 1
3	7 per subsystem	Tier 1
4	7 per subsystem	Tier 2
5	9 per subsystem	Tier 2
6	9 per subsystem	Tier 3
7	11 per subsystem	Tier 3
8	11 per subsystem	Tier 4

15. Random Event D6

As an optional part of gameplay, you can add 5x Action cards into the deck that enables the use of the Random Event D6.

The die has six possible outcomes; three positive and three negative, most lasting for one round that affects all players.

It begins with the effect taking place on the player's turn that activated the card and ends after each player has been affected. Two effects cannot be active at the same time. If another player has this Action card they must wait until the current effect wears off before playing it.

The effects are as follows:

Positive:

• Offworld Trading: +1 resource for every 2 planets you control.
• Solar Storm: All Motherships get +2 on all rolls for 1 round.
• Free Samples!: All players pick up 1 Action card.

Negative:

• Pirate raid: Planet resources gathered at the end of your turn are halved for 1 round (round up).
• Magnetic storm: All Motherships lose 4 power for 1 round.
• Space virus: Any ship that is adjacent to any planet cannot move for 1 round.

16. Components

• 1x Game Board (20")
• 6x Control Panels
• 6x Tech Trees
• 42x Miniature Ships
• 97x Action Cards
• 30x Resource Cards
• 12x Artifact Cards
• 6x Victory Point Cards
• 8x Miniature Planets
• 42x Capture Markers
• Counters: 126x Energy, 96x HP, 24x Tech
• 10x Asteroid Tiles
• 12x Exploration Tokens
• 50x Stands (transparent)
• 1x Rulebook
• 6x Dice: D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, Random Event D6 (Random Event D6 available only in Kickstarter version)

Standard Edition Changes

• 18" Game Board
• 4x Control Panels
• 4x Tech Trees
• Red, yellow, green, blue: 28x Miniature ships
• 6x Miniature planets
• 20x Capture markers
• Transparent: 32x Stands
• Counters: 84x energy, 64x HP, 16x tech

Card List

Qty	Name	Effect
5	Random Event	Roll the Event D6. After the result, choose to either double or avoid the effects for yourself.
4	Afterburner	+4 engine power to any ship for one turn.
4	Backup Generator	After rolling a 1 you can use this card to roll one more time and add it to your previous roll.
4	Defence Buff	+1 on any defence roll.
4	Deflector Shields	Enables one ship to pass through an asteroid field without taking damage.
4	Hull Repair	Repair 1 HP on your Mothership.
4	Wallet Inspector	Take 1 Resource card from any player.
3