Nomad City: The Founders Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
  • Common board
  • Player area
• Playing the game
  • Game overview
  • Game flow
    • Overview
    • Turn order
  • I. Initial Entry
  • II. Pioneering Exploration
    • 1. Character Selection
    • 2. Player Actions
    • Main actions
      • a. Deploy: Place 1 influence.
      • b. Redeploy: Move 1 of your influences, twice.
      • c. Explore: Pay the toll → resolve an event and place 1 influence on the target mining site.
• Mechanics in detail
  • Character cards
    • 1. Before using a Character card
    • 2. Using the Tactic and the Strategy of a Character card
    • 3. After using a Character card
    • 4. If you do not use your Character card
  • City Styles
    • 1. Styles are not exclusive
    • 2. When you declare a City Style
    • 3. Meeting the declaration requirement
    • 4. Special actions
  • Red Zone
• Core rules
  • Triggering effects
    • 1. Order of resolution
    • 2. Conditional effects
    • 3. Running out of components
• Character card effects in detail
  • Starting characters
    • Liskarm
    • Elysium
    • Texas
    • Cannot
    • Tin Man
• Corporation Module
  • Module component list
  • Rule changes
    • Preparation
      • Common area
      • Player area
    • Initial Entry
    • Pioneering Exploration
• Cooperation mechanism and basic rules
  • Cooperation mechanism
  • Basic rules
• Character card effects in detail (Corporation Module)
  • Starting Character cards
    • Mountain
    • Młynar
  • Operator Character cards
    • W
    • Kal'tsit
    • Closure
    • Dorothy
    • SilverAsh
    • Mudrock
    • Passenger
    • Eunectes
• Corporation effects in detail
  • Blacksteel Worldwide (黑钢国际)
  • HydeBro (海德兄弟)
  • Raythean Industries (雷神工业)
  • Rim Billiton (雷姆必拓)
  • Fusen Bank (富森银行)
  • Mama John's (约翰老妈)
  • Rhine Lab (莱茵生命)
  • Rhodes Island (罗德岛制药)
• Appendix
  • 2-player variant

Components

During the game, if necessary, players may replace any Columbian gold notes and Pure Originium that run out with any other tokens of their choice. Player markers, however, are limited.

Component	Quantity	Details
Game board (map)	1
Starting Character cards	20	4 colors, 5 cards per color
Facility cards	48	41 Facility cards, 4 Core Command Towers, 3 Extension Hubs
Entrepreneur cards	4
Event cards	22	6 green, 10 yellow, 6 red
City boards	4
City Style cards	6	4 level I, 2 level II
Columbian gold notes (Gold)	70	40 × 1, 20 × 5, 10 × 10

Setup

Common board

1. Place the board: Place the board on the table with the side marked "4-player board" (at the bottom of the board) face up. 3-player game: use the side marked "3-player board".
2. Shuffle the Event cards: Sort the 22 Event cards into three decks according to the color of their backs: green, yellow, and red. Shuffle each deck separately and place them face down next to the board. 3-player game: before shuffling the Event cards, return to the box the Event cards whose face bears the "4" symbol ("4" badge, cards used only in 4-player games).

Tip: The color shown on each mining site of the board matches the back color of the Event cards. Mining sites located in the Red Zone are subject to collection restrictions (see Red Zone below, p. 12). In addition, mining sites and routes are divided by color into 8 regions (7 on the 3-player board). At the end of the game, these regions award extra points to the player who controls them (see Region control below, p. 12).

3. Prepare the City Style cards: Place the 6 City Style cards face up next to the board.
4. Prepare the facility deck and the facility market: From the 48 Facility cards, set aside the 4 "Core Command Towers" and the 3 "Extension Hubs". Shuffle the remaining 41 Facility cards and place them face down next to the board: they form the facility deck. Then draw 6 cards and place them face up next to the board: they form the facility market.
5. Prepare the bank: Place the 35 Pure Originium pieces and the 70 Columbian gold notes next to the board: they form the bank.
6. Prepare the markers: Place the 22 resource markers next to the board, and place the round marker on space "1" of the round track on the board.

Illustration captions (4-player board):

• Steps shown: (1) Place the board; (2) Shuffle the Event cards (three decks, backs marked EVENT, green / yellow / red); (5) Prepare the bank (Pure Originium and gold notes); (6) Prepare the markers (resource markers; the round marker is circled on the first space of the round track).
• On the board, above mining site B-01: "Gain on arrival: 2 Orirock, 2 Originium Shard, 2 Oriron".
• In the Red Zone: "Round 4: the Originium dust clears!"
• Round track: Start — 1 — 2 — 3 — 4 — 5 — 6 — 7 — 8 — End of game. Box under rounds 4 to 8: "The Originium dust clears! Only from round 4 onward may players explore the Red Zone or move their mobile city into it."
• "FINAL" box (Final Scoring): control points per region — region A: 3, B: 3, C: 3, D: 3, E: 4, F: 4, G: 3, R: 3; conversion of leftover resources: 9 Orirock → 1 point, 8 Originium Shard → 1 point, 6 Oriron → 1 point, 1 Pure Originium → 1 point.
• Score track at the bottom of the board: "Victory points" −2, −1, 0, 1, 2…

Player area

Example shown: Deluxe edition, red color.

1. Take your components: Choose a color among green, yellow, red, and blue, and take:
   • a. the 5 starting Character cards of your color: they form your hand, which you must keep hidden;
   • b. the 30 player markers of your color;
   • c. the mobile city miniature of your color;
   • d. 1 City board;
   • e. 1 resource counter, with all values set to zero.
2. Place the Core Command Tower: Take 1 "Core Command Tower" and place it on the space shown in the illustration.
3. Place your score marker: Take 1 player marker from your personal supply and place it on space "0" of the score track on the board: it tracks your score. Each time you gain or lose points during the game, move this marker to show your score.

Personal supply: The player markers and resources a player owns make up their personal supply. Unless stated otherwise, when a player must pay resources or take player markers, they may only take them from their own personal supply.

Illustration captions:

• Left (continuation of the common board): (3) Prepare the City Style cards (6 cards, face up); (4) Prepare the facility deck and the facility market (deck face down and 6 cards face up).
• Right: (1) Take your components (a: Character cards; b: player markers; c: mobile city; d: City board; e: resource counter, with an Orirock column, an Originium Shard column, and an Oriron column, each with tens and units); (2) Place the Core Command Tower (on the facility grid of the City board); (3) Place your score marker (on space 0 of the score track).

Playing the game

"Boss, it's time to hit the road. Go build a thriving mobile city!"

Game overview

• In Nomad City: The Founders, you play an entrepreneur taking part in Columbia's pioneering movement and building up your power in unexplored Originium deposits.
• During the game, you will explore the wilderness, occupy deposits, build your city, and hinder your opponents who pursue the same goal, while accumulating victory points (simply called "points" in the rest of these rules).
• At the end of the game, the player with the most points wins.

Game flow

Overview

• A game of Nomad City: The Founders is played in three phases:

I. Initial Entry » II. Pioneering Exploration » III. Final Scoring

Turn order

• Unless stated otherwise, players act in turn clockwise, starting with the first player.

I. Initial Entry

"Hurry, find a good spot and get ahead! If you're the first to lay hands on the best vein, the other competitors may give up on coming to fight you to the death over it."

1. Choose the first player: Choose a first player by any method you like; that player takes the first player marker.
2. Choose starting mining sites: In turn order, each player in turn chooses as their starting mining site a different mining site whose corresponding Event card is green, then:
3. Place your mobile city on the dock of that mining site.
4. Reveal a green Event card and place the corresponding resource marker on that mining site; then choose one of the options in the event area of the card and receive the corresponding reward.

Note: The player who chooses B-01 as their starting mining site immediately gains 2 Orirock, 2 Originium Shard, and 2 Oriron.

Illustration captions:

• Mining site (example B-02): region color; mobile city dock; color of the corresponding Event card.
• Event card (example "Clearing the Nest"): resource marker (top right); event area (the options, under "Your choice…": one gives 7 Gold, the other 3 Originium Shard; the flavor text and option titles are illegible at this resolution).

Tip:

1. The game has 3 common resources: Orirock, Originium Shard, and Oriron. When you gain or lose these resources, adjust your resource counter to show how many you have.
2. By contrast, when you gain or pay Gold or Pure Originium, take the corresponding amount from the bank or return it there.

3. Receive starting funds: Starting with the first player of the first round, each player in turn receives their starting funds from the bank, according to the table below.

4-player game	Gold	3-player game	Gold
1st player (first player)	10	1st player (first player)	10
2nd player	12	2nd player	12
3rd player	14	3rd player	18
4th player	18

II. Pioneering Exploration

"Expand without holding back! The odds are even and the rules are set; the rest is up to you, boss. And don't forget: this is Columbia!"

This phase makes up most of the game. It consists of 8 consecutive rounds, each divided into 4 steps:

1. Character Selection
2. Player Actions
3. Resource Collection
4. End of Round

Round structure: Character Selection → Player Actions (2 turns, each player acting in turn clockwise starting with the first player) → Resource Collection → End of Round.

1. Character Selection

During this step, each player chooses 1 card from their hand and places it face down: it is the only Character card they can use during this round. For how to use Character cards, see Quick action: Reveal a Character below (p. 08).

When placing their card face down, if a player has no cards left in hand, they take back all the Character cards from their discard pile, then place a card face down.

2. Player Actions

The Player Actions step consists of 2 turns of actions.

It begins with the first player of the round: they carry out their actions in full, then it is the next player's turn clockwise. When all players have played, the turn ends. The first player of the round then begins the 2nd turn.

On each turn, each player must take 1 main action. Before and after their main action, they may take as many quick actions as they wish.

On their turn, a player may choose from the following actions:

Main actions (choose 1 of 6)

• a. Deploy: Place 1 influence.
• b. Redeploy: Move 1 of your influences, twice.
• c. Explore: Pay the toll → resolve an event and place 1 influence on the target mining site.
• d. City Movement: Pay 3 Originium Shard → move your city and place 1 influence on its starting point.
• e. Build: Pay the cost → place the Facility card, score its points, and resolve its entry effect.
• f. Special action: Use a special action unlocked by a City Style card you have declared.

Quick actions (before and after the main action, as many times as you wish)

• a. Reveal a Character: Flip your face-down Character card and trigger one of its effects.
• b. Declare a City Style: Meet the declaration requirements with the facilities you have built; each facility can be used only once.

Main actions

a. Deploy: Place 1 influence.

"To control any place, whatever it is, you need manpower."

When you take this action, you may Place 1 influence once.

To Place an influence, take 1 player marker from your personal supply and place it, as an influence, on an influence space that meets the following conditions:

1. The space contains no influence.
2. If the space is on a mining site, a resource marker must already have been placed on that mining site, and no other player's mobile city may be docked there.

By placing influence, you can occupy routes to save on tolls, occupy mining sites to obtain resources, and strengthen your control of regions.

Influence and player markers: During the game, players use their player markers to represent their influence over the pioneer lands of Columbia. These markers are called "influence" only while they are on an influence space of the board. The player who placed them there is called the owner of those influences.

b. Redeploy: Move 1 of your influences, twice.

"Sometimes, a smart allocation of personnel can spare you a lot of needless losses."

When you take this action, you may Move an influence up to 2 times in a row.

To Move an influence, move 1 of your influences to another influence space on the board. The destination space must meet the 2 conditions required to place an influence, namely:

1. The space contains no influence.
2. If the space is on a mining site, a resource marker must already have been placed on that mining site, and no other player's mobile city may be docked there.

Moving influence does not increase your total number of influences, but it lets you bring it faster to the region you are aiming for, or get it out of harm's way.

Illustration: the influence spaces on which the blue player can place an influence or to which they can move an influence.

c. Explore: Pay the toll → resolve an event and place 1 influence on the target mining site.

"The pioneers' truth? First come, first served!"

When you take this action, carry out the following steps in order:

1. Pay the toll: announce 1 mining site that has no resource marker and is open to exploration (see Red Zone restrictions below, p. 12), then pay the toll from the mining site where your mobile city is docked (your mobile city's location) to that mining site (the target)*.

Note: *Calculating the toll

1. Connect your mobile city's location to the target using a number of routes.
2. For each route used on which you have no influence, you must pay Gold:
   • if an opponent has influence on that route: choose one influence on that route and pay 2 Gold to its owner;
   • if no opponent has influence on that route: pay 2 Gold.

2. Resolve the event: reveal an Event card of the mining site's color and place the corresponding resource marker on that mining site; then choose one of the options in the event area of the card and receive the corresponding reward. The resolved Event card is then returned to the box (Official FAQ).
3. Place an influence on the target mining site: take 1 player marker from your personal supply and place it, as an influence, on an influence space of the target.

Illustration: the blue player can pay 2 Gold to the yellow player or to the green player to explore mining site C-02. Through exploration, you can obtain the resources you need at very low cost and expand your sphere of influence.

d. City Movement: Pay 3 Originium Shard → move your city and place 1 influence on its starting point.

"Wherever your mobile city goes, it shows off your power. Even if it leaves a mining area for a while, you won't easily lose control or local support there."

When you take this action, carry out the following steps in order:

1. Pay 3 Originium Shard.

2. Move the city: choose a mining site that meets all of the following conditions:

   • it is adjacent to your mobile city's location, that is, connected to it by a single route;
   • no other player's mobile city is docked there;
   • it is open to exploration (see Red Zone restrictions below, p. 12).

   Move your mobile city to that mining site (without paying any toll). Then remove all opponents' influences on the route used for this movement and on that mining site; removed influences return to their owner's supply. If that mining site has no resource marker, reveal an Event card of the mining site's color and place the corresponding resource marker on that mining site; then choose one of the options in the event area of the card and receive the corresponding reward.

3. Place an influence on the starting point: take 1 player marker from your personal supply and place it, as an influence, on an influence space of the mining site your city has just left.

Official errata (15 Dec 2023): the Chinese rulebook said "the target mining site" here; the publisher corrected it to "the starting point" (the mining site your city has just left).

Illustration: the blue player moves their city from B-02 to C-02 and explores C-02:

1. The blue player takes the City Movement action and moves their city from B-02 to C-02.
2. The yellow and green influences on the route connecting B-02 to C-02 are removed, because the city traveled along that route.
3. The blue player resolves the Event card corresponding to C-02.
4. After moving their city, the blue player places one of their influences on B-02.

Through City Movement, you can get closer to the most valuable mining areas, or attack and hinder the other players.

e. Build: Pay the cost → place the Facility card, score its points, and resolve its entry effect.

"Actively developing your city is the best way to earn the recognition of the Columbian government."

You may take this action as long as there is at least one empty space left on your City board. Carry out the following steps in order:

1. Pay the cost: choose a Facility card from the facility market (in some special cases, you may choose a Facility card located elsewhere) and pay either its resource cost or its Gold cost.
2. Place the Facility card and score its points: take that card and place it on any empty space of your City board, then score the points shown on the card.
3. Resolve the entry effect: resolve the entry effect of that Facility card.

Illustration captions (Facility card): Facility color · Points gained · Resource cost (here 2 Orirock, 2 Oriron, and 4 of the banknote symbol, as printed in the illustration) · Gold cost (here 18 Gold) · Entry effect symbol · Effect description (here two influence-type symbols, one marked with a red upward arrow and one with a green downward arrow). Facility card shown: Mercenary HQ (red) — placing Facility cards.

Note: As long as the facility deck contains cards, as soon as a Facility card is taken or removed from the facility market, immediately reveal new cards from the deck to refill the facility market to 6 cards. (Official FAQ: the new card is revealed before you place yours; you can therefore see it before choosing the space.)

Tip: The effect text of Facility cards may contain various keywords. Some impose additional restrictions on building the facility. The most common are:

• Unique: if your City board already has a card with the same name, you cannot build this card.
• For free: when you carry out the indicated operation, do not pay its cost.

f. Special action: after declaring certain City Styles (see Quick actions: Declare a City Style below, p. 11), you unlock various special actions.

Each special action is tied to a City Style card. To use a special action, you must have a player marker on the corresponding City Style card, and that marker must not be in the "0" area or in a "Used" area. When you use a special action, first move your player marker on the corresponding City Style card to the "Used" area below it.

Illustrations: level I City Style card ("Mobilization Support System", green) and level II City Style card ("Originium Industrial Hub", purple); the marker moves from "Unused" (or "2") to the "Used" area below it.

When you use a special action, observe the following restrictions:

• Per-round restriction: each special action unlocked by a City Style card can be used only once per round by each player.
• Additional restrictions: some special actions are subject to additional usage rules and restrictions.

Different styles offer different special actions, which make your actions more efficient.

Quick actions

Note: You may take as many quick actions as you wish before or after your main action. However, you cannot take a quick action during your main action.

a. Reveal a Character

"In these desolate lands, many people are worth getting to know; they will be a great help to you."

When you take this action, carry out the following steps in order:

1. Flip the Character card: turn face up the Character card you placed face down during the Character Selection step.
2. Use the Character card's effect: each Character card has two independent effects: Strategy and Tactic.
   • First player: if you are the first player of the round, you may use both effects, Strategy and Tactic, one after the other, in the order of your choice. You may also use only one of them.
   • Other players: if you are not the first player of the round, you must choose to use either the Strategy or the Tactic.
3. Discard the Character card: unless stated otherwise, after using a Character card's effect, place it face up in your character discard pile. A used Character card cannot be placed face down again during the Character Selection step until it has returned to your hand.

When you reveal a Character card, you must observe the per-round restriction: you must use the Character card placed face down during this round's Character Selection step, and you can use it only once.

Basic Character card: Liskarm — "Blacksteel Worldwide B.P.R.S. special agent". Strategy – Security Protocol: place 2 influence. During the End Phase of this round, remove 1 of your influences. Tactic – Area Control: pay 3 Gold → replace 1 influence.

Diagram: Character hand → (choose and place face down) → Face-down Character → (reveal the Character) → Character discard pile.

b. Declare a City Style

"Methodically planning your city's layout will save you a great deal of time and effort."

By building and combining different facilities, you can meet the colors (a multicolored facility can count as any color in a combination) and layout required by the declaration requirements of the City Style cards in play. As long as the relative arrangement of the colors stays the same, the declaration requirement may be rotated, but not mirrored. When you take this action, carry out the following steps in order:

1. Declare the City Style: tell the other players which City Style you are declaring and which combination of facilities you are using. Then rotate each Facility card used for the declaration by 180° to show that it has been used. A given facility can be used for only one City Style declaration: it cannot be reused.

Illustration: declaring a City Style and using facilities. After use, rotate each Facility card by 180°; they can no longer be used afterward. In the left illustration, the player has rotated the declaration requirement 90° clockwise and thus meets the declaration requirement of the "Urban Expansion Zone" City Style card. In the right illustration, the requirement cannot be met, because the rules forbid flipping it horizontally (mirroring it).

2. Place a player marker: take 1 player marker from your personal supply and place it on the City Style card you wish to declare.
   • If this is the first player marker you place on this card: a. if it is a level I City Style card, place the marker in the "Unused" or "Declared" area; b. if it is a level II City Style card, place it in the "2" area.
   • Otherwise: place the player marker in the "Declared" area or next to the declaration requirement.

A City Style card can hold several player markers, from one or more players.

3. Resolve the declaration effect: score the points shown on the City Style card and resolve its declaration effect.

Illustration captions:

• "Efficient Mobility Management System" (level II): Points gained (7). When you resolve the declaration effect, you unlock a special action: "During the turn in which you use this action, you cannot use a Character card. Pay 3 Originium Shard → perform City Movement twice in a row for free."
• "Supply Relay Station" (level I): requirement 1 blue/red facility + 1 yellow facility. When you resolve the declaration effect, you gain 1 Orirock, 1 Originium Shard, and 1 Oriron.

Meeting the declaration requirements of City Style cards lets you draw extra benefits from your buildings.

3. Resource Collection

"It's time for your strategy to bear fruit. But don't forget that transport along the routes isn't always free."

Once the two turns of player actions are over, the round moves on to the collection step. All players simultaneously collect the resources from their mining sites by carrying out the following steps:

1. Choose mining sites: during this step, you may choose as many mining sites as you wish among those where you have placed influence or where your mobile city is docked.
2. Pay the toll: pay the toll to connect all the chosen mining sites to your mobile city's location. The toll is calculated as for the Explore main action, but during Resource Collection, each route is paid only once, even if it is used to connect your mobile city's location to several mining sites. If you cannot pay the toll leading to a mining site, you cannot obtain the resource shown by its resource marker. You cannot use Gold gained during this step to pay the toll.

Example: as shown in the illustration on the left, during this collection step, the red player may choose to pay a toll of 0 Gold and collect 1 Oriron for free; or pay a toll of 2 Gold and collect 1 Orirock, 1 Originium Shard, and 1 Oriron. They do not need to pay twice for the route connecting D-03 to B-03.

3. Gain resources: gain the resources shown by the resource markers of the chosen mining sites. No matter how many influence you have on a chosen mining site, and whether or not your mobile city is docked there, each mining site yields resources only once per collection. If the mining site's resource marker shows 1 / 2 resources, you gain 1 / 2 of the matching resource during this collection.

4. End of Round

Once all players have completed the Gain resources step, the round moves on to its End Phase. During this phase, carry out the following operations:

1. Resolve end-of-round effects: resolve the effects that trigger at the end of the round, following the round's turn order (for example, the Strategy of the Liskarm Character card). If a player has several effects to resolve, that player chooses the order in which to resolve them.
2. Reset style markers:
   • On level 1 City Style cards, move the player markers in the "Used" area back to the "Unused" area.
   • On level 2 City Style cards, move down one space the player markers in a "Used" area.

Illustrations: level 1 City Style card (the marker goes from "Used" to "Unused"); level 2 City Style card (the marker moves down one space).

3. Pass the first player marker: give the first player marker to the next player clockwise.
4. Advance the round marker: place the round marker on the number of the next round.

Once all these operations are done, the round ends and the next round begins.

III. Final Scoring

"Good. This long pioneering venture is coming to an end: it is time for the Columbian government to come and assess the results."

1. Scoring

At the end of the 8th round, the Pioneering Exploration ends and Final Scoring begins. In addition to the points earned during the Pioneering Exploration, each player scores extra points for the items below. The score finally reached on the board's score track is the player's final score.

1. Region control: determine the control of each region, one at a time. The player with the most influence in a region controls it and scores that region's points (the player controlling region A, B, C, D, G or R scores 3 VP; the player controlling region E or F scores 4 VP). For this calculation, a mobile city in a region counts as 2 influence. See the example in the Region control (p. 12) section.
2. Leftover resources: score points for your remaining resources (1 Pure Originium, 6 Oriron, 8 Originium Shards or 9 Orirock are each worth 1 VP).

A Final Scoring reminder is printed in one corner of the board.

2. Winner and ties

Once points have been scored, the player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, compare remaining Gold, then remaining Pure Originium, in that order: the player with the most wins. If the tied players have exactly the same amount of remaining Gold and Pure Originium, they share the victory.

Mechanics in detail

Character cards

1. Before using a Character card

During the Character Selection phase at the start of each round, choose 1 Character card from your hand and place it face down. When placing your card, if you have no cards left in hand, first take back into your hand the cards in your Character card discard pile, then choose your card.

2. Using the Tactic and the Strategy of a Character card

If you use both the Tactic and the Strategy of a Character card, you must use them one right after the other, without interruption, in the order of your choice. You cannot take a main action or a quick action between the two effects.

3. After using a Character card

After using a Character card's effect, place it face up in your Character card discard pile. A used Character card cannot be placed again during the Character Selection phase until it has returned to your hand.

4. If you do not use your Character card

During the End Phase, if you did not use the Character card you placed face down, take it back into your hand, along with all the cards in your Character card discard pile.

City Styles

City Styles are a secondary mechanic based on the various combinations of colors and positions of the facilities you have built. Each style combination can grant special actions and extra points.

1. Styles are not exclusive

City Styles are shared goals that all players can achieve. Several players can complete the same style, and the same player can complete the same style several times.

2. When you declare a City Style

1. Each facility can count toward only 1 style.
2. When you complete a style, you must take 1 player marker from your personal supply to declare it (announce it to the other players). If you have no player markers left, you cannot declare a style. After declaring, place that player marker on the City Style card.
3. The special actions unlocked by level 2 City Style cards have a limited number of uses. The first time you declare that style in the game, place your player marker on the space showing the maximum number of uses. Then, each time you take the special action granted by that style, move your player marker one space. If your player marker is on the "0" space, you can no longer take that special action.

Illustrations: "On first declaration" → "After 1 use of the special action" → "After 2 uses of the special action (no longer usable)".

3. Meeting the declaration requirement

As long as the relative positions of the facility colors stay the same, the declaration requirement can be rotated, but not flipped (mirrored).

4. Special actions

After declaring a City Style, if that style unlocks a special action, you can take that special action for the rest of the game. Special actions are, however, subject to the following limits:

1. Per-round limit: each special action unlocked by a City Style card can be used only once per round by each player.
2. Per-turn limit: a special action is a type of main action; on the turn you take a special action, you cannot take any other main action.
3. Some special actions have additional restrictions on when they can be taken and on their number of uses.

Illustration: "Special action unlocked ▼ — On the turn you use this action, you cannot use a Character card."

Example: you cannot use this special action after using a Character card, nor use a Character card after using this special action.

Red Zone

1. Red Zone restrictions

With 4 players, Red Zone mining sites cannot be explored during the first 3 rounds. During this period, you can neither explore a Red Zone mining site nor make it the destination of a City Movement.

3-player game: the restriction applies to the first 4 rounds instead of the first 3.

2. Red Zone routes

Routes connected to Red Zone mining sites are not subject to this round restriction: in any round, you can target these routes with effects (place an influence, move an influence, etc.) or travel along them.

3. Special mining sites

When you explore a Red Zone mining site, the resource type shown on the revealed Event card may bear a "×2" mark. In that case, when you place the matching resource marker, use the one bearing the "×2" mark. Also, during Resource Collection, if you choose to collect from this mining site, you gain 2 of the matching resource at once.

Region control

On the board, mining sites and routes are divided by color into 8 regions (7 on the 3-player board). At the end of the game, in each region, the player with the most influence there gains control of the region and scores the corresponding points.

1. During Final Scoring

Not all regions are worth the same. The player who gains control of a region scores the points shown for it in the board's scoring area.

2. Tied influence

In each region, only the player with the most influence is rewarded. In case of a tie, none of the tied players scores any points.

3. Mobile cities in a region

A mobile city counts as 2 extra influence in the region where it is located. This does not prevent its owner from placing their own influence on that mining site.

Map caption: D-01, D-02 and D-03, together with the routes of the same color, form region D.

Example: during Final Scoring, in the situation shown above, the red player has 2 influence and 1 mobile city, for a total of 4 influence. The blue player has 3 influence. The red player therefore gains control of the region and scores the 3 VP of region D.

Core rules

Triggering effects

1. Order of resolution

1. Resolve in order: when you trigger an effect whose text lets you carry out several operations, you must carry them out from left to right and from top to bottom. Likewise, if you must resolve several effects separated by periods, also resolve them from left to right and from top to bottom.
2. Resolve as much as possible: if you must resolve several effects or operations and you cannot carry out one of them, you must still carry out the following effects or operations. Conditional effects, however, follow the special rules described below.
3. Forgoing an effect: while resolving an effect, you cannot choose to stop resolving it, unless it is a conditional effect. You may, however, have to skip an operation because you do not meet its conditions (for example, you must place an influence but have no player marker available).

Example: with the card below, you must first place 2 influence, then, during the End Phase of this round, remove 1 of your influence. If you cannot place any influence (for example because there are no free influence spaces left on the board), you must still carry out the removal afterward.

Illustration: Liskarm Character card, Strategy "Security Protocol" highlighted.

2. Conditional effects

In the game, you will often come across effects that contain the → symbol and end with a period. Effects with these features are called conditional effects. The operation before the → symbol is called the effect's condition. Conditional effects have the following particularities:

1. You can choose not to carry out the operation before →, which ends the resolution of the effect.
2. You must fully carry out the operation before → to be able to carry out the operation after →.

Example: with the card below, if you cannot pay 3 Gold, you cannot replace an influence.

Illustration: Liskarm Character card, Tactic "Area Control" highlighted.

3. Once the operation before → has been fully carried out, you must immediately carry out the operation after →. You then follow the "Resolve as much as possible" rule described above.
4. If there is no operation before →, or if the operation before → was skipped, directly carry out the operation after →.

3. Running out of components

During the game, if needed, you can use suitable substitutes to replace Columbian gold notes or Pure Originium tokens that have run out. All other components (including player markers), however, are limited. If there are not enough player markers left in your supply, you can no longer place influence or declare a style.

Character card effects in detail

Starting characters

Liskarm

"Blacksteel Worldwide B.P.R.S. special agent."

Strategy — Security Protocol: place 2 influence. During the End Phase of this round, remove 1 of your influence. or Tactic — Area Control: pay 3 Gold → replace 1 influence.

• Strategy: the influence removed during the End Phase can be any of your influence. It does not have to be one of the 2 influence placed by triggering this effect.
• Tactic: in effect texts, "replace an influence" means removing an influence, then placing one of your influence on the same influence space. Therefore, if the targeted influence is on the same mining site as an opponent's mobile city, you can still remove that influence, but you cannot place yours there.

Elysium

"Liaison officer seconded by Rhodes Island."

Strategy — Logistics Support: choose 1 type among Orirock, Originium Shard, and Oriron that you have the fewest of, and gain 4 resources of that type. or Tactic — Navigation Comms: pay 3 Originium Shard, choose an adjacent mining site where you have influence → targeting it, perform City Movement for free.

• Strategy: if several resource types are tied for the smallest quantity, you can choose one of those types and gain 4 resources of that type.
• Tactic: the chosen mining site must be adjacent to the mining site where your mobile city is, and it must hold at least 1 of your influence; otherwise, you cannot target it.

Texas

"Model employee of Penguin Logistics."

Strategy — Special Delivery: gain 12 Gold, choose 1 Facility card from the facility market and place it at the bottom of the facility deck. or Tactic — Siracusan: pay 3 Gold → replace 1 influence, move 1 influence, move 1 influence.

Icon note: the influence symbols in the Siracusan line are transcribed as drawn on the card art (a red up-arrow influence symbol followed by two blue-arrow influence symbols).

• Strategy: place the Facility card face down at the bottom of the facility deck.
• If the facility deck is empty, you can still trigger this effect: the Facility card from the market is then placed in the facility deck and, since the facility market must be refilled, it is immediately revealed again.

Cannot

"A merchant who travels all over Terra."

Strategy — Trade Channel: sell as many resources as you wish at the following unit prices: Orirock: 3 Gold; Originium Shard: 3 Gold; Oriron: 4 Gold; Pure Originium: 15 Gold. or Tactic — Requisition: choose a type among Orirock, Originium Shard, and Oriron. All players sell all their resources of that type at a unit price of 2 Gold. You gain 1 point.

• Strategy: for each sellable resource type (Orirock, Originium Shard, Oriron, Pure Originium), you choose the quantity sold. You can also choose not to sell a resource type.
• Tactic: all players, including the one using this card, must sell all their resources of the chosen type at a unit price of 2 Gold, until they have none left.

Tin Man

"A detective?"

Strategy — Assert Authority: gain 1 point. Pay 15 Gold → gain 1 Pure Originium. Pay 12 Gold → gain 1 Pure Originium. or Tactic — Foresight: take back into your hand the cards in your Character card discard pile. For each card taken back, gain 5 Gold or move 1 influence.

• Tactic: when you resolve the effect of the Tin Man Character card, it is not yet in your Character card discard pile: it is therefore not counted.
• When resolving this effect, for each card in your Character card discard pile, you choose between gaining 5 Gold and moving 1 influence.

Corporation Module

Corporation Module rules

Module component list

During the game, if needed, you can replace missing Highway tokens with any other tokens of your choice.

Component	Quantity	Details
Starting Character cards	8	4 colors, 2 cards per color
Operator Character cards	8
Facility cards	3
Event cards	2	1 yellow, 1 red
City Style cards	6	4 level I, 2 level II
Corporation boards	8
Rhine Lab Department tiles	3
Highway tokens	8

Rule changes

Preparation

Common area

1. Before shuffling the Event cards: Replace the 2 base game Event cards bearing the same names with the 2 module Event cards.

Illustration: "Caves and Ruins" and "Mining Platform Wreckage" (base) → module versions, marked with an E. The new option of "Caves and Ruins": pay 1 Oriron → choose 1 corporation, advance its cooperation level. The new option of "Mining Platform Wreckage": lose 1 point → choose 1 corporation, advance its cooperation level, and trigger its corporation effect.

2. When drawing City Style cards: Combine the module City Style cards with those of the base game (12 cards in total) and split them into two decks, level I and level II, according to the symbol on the back. Shuffle the level I deck and draw 4 cards from it; shuffle the level II deck and draw 2 cards from it. Place them face up next to the board.

Illustration: City Style I — shuffle and draw 4 cards. City Style II — shuffle and draw 2 cards.

3. When preparing the facility deck and the facility market: Shuffle the 3 module Facility cards into the facility deck.

Illustration: 3 "Corporation Office" cards (cost: 3 Orirock, 1 Originium Shard, 3 Oriron, or 23 Gold; effect: choose 1 corporation, advance its cooperation level) → facility deck.

4. When setting out the tokens: Place the 8 Highway tokens next to the board as a supply.
5. Also prepare the stack of Corporation boards: Take the 8 Corporation boards, shuffle them and place them face down next to the board.

Illustration: stack of Corporation boards.

Player area

1. When you take your player components: Add the 2 module starting Character cards of your color to your hand. You now have 7 cards in hand.

Illustration: Młynar and Mountain → player's hand.

Initial Entry

"Before you set out, don't forget to cultivate your relationships with a few partners: they are bound to come in handy."

Before choosing your starting mining site, you must also determine your starting corporation and gain your starting cooperation level: each player draws 2 Corporation boards from the stack and chooses 1 of them as their starting corporation. Line up all the Corporation boards chosen by the players next to the board. Return the remaining Corporation boards to the box: they will not be used this game.

Then, each player takes 4 player markers and places one on level "0" of each Corporation board. Then each player raises their cooperation with their starting corporation by 1 level (move your player marker up one space) and applies the reward of the space reached; see Cooperation mechanism (p. 18).

Example: the red player chose Fusen Bank as their starting corporation: they move their red marker up one space. Reaching level 1, they unlock a corporation effect. The red player cannot trigger this effect yet: they therefore do not immediately gain 8 Gold. They will only be able to gain these 8 later, through an effect that lets them trigger a corporation effect.

Illustration: Fusen Bank board — level 1: corporation effect, gain 8 Gold; level 2: —; level 3: corporation effect, you gain 20 Gold, each opponent gains 4 Gold; level 4: corporation effect, you gain 1 point, 1 opponent loses 1 point; level 5: gain 3 points.

Note — Special corporations:

• If Rhodes Island is chosen: take the 8 Operator Character cards and place them next to the board; they form the Operator deck.
• If Rhine Lab is chosen: take the 3 Rhine Lab Department tiles and place them next to the board. The player who chose Rhine Lab as their starting corporation chooses a Department tile and activates it.

3-player game:

• Once each player has made their choice, randomly take 1 board from among those not drawn: it becomes the fourth Corporation board and is lined up next to the board with those chosen by the players. Return the remaining Corporation boards to the box.
• If Rhine Lab is drawn this way: take the 3 Rhine Lab Department tiles, place them next to the board and randomly activate one of them.

After choosing your starting mining site: each player chooses 2 cards from their hand and returns them face down to the box; they will not be used this game. These cards returned to the box are not public information: players cannot look at them during the game.

Tip — Recommendation for a first game: keep the Mountain and Młynar Character cards.

Pioneering Exploration

1. Using a highway: When a player has turned a route into a highway with Mountain's Strategy, all players who travel along that highway (for an Explore action or Resource Collection) are exempt from the toll.
2. Extra cooperation level: When the game reaches the round in which the Red Zone mining sites open for exploration (4th round with 4 players, 5th round with 3 players, 6th round with 2 players): during the Character Selection step of that round, starting with the first player and then going clockwise, each player chooses a corporation and raises their cooperation with it by 1 level.

Cooperation mechanism and basic rules

Cooperation mechanism

"Pioneering isn't just about building cities. It's also a business: everyone profits — who wouldn't like that?"

The cooperation mechanism is a shared mechanism, open to all players. By raising your cooperation level (cooperation icon) and triggering corporation effects (corporation effect icon), you gradually unlock rewards and use the effects offered by the corporations.

1. Start of the game: At the start of the game, your cooperation levels are normally at level "0". Only during the Initial Entry – Gain your starting cooperation level step do you gain 1 level with your starting corporation. Thus, except in a 2-player game, during the Character Selection step of the 1st round, each player has 1 player marker on level 1 of a different Corporation board; their 3 other player markers are all on level 0.

Note: raising a cooperation level and triggering a corporation effect are two different effects.

2. Advance your cooperation level (cooperation icon): To raise your cooperation by 1 level, move your player marker one space forward on the matching Corporation board.

   1. The space reached does not unlock a corporation effect: immediately apply that space's reward.
   2. The space reached unlocks a corporation effect: if the reward bears the mention "Corporation effect" (padlock), the effect is unlocked. An unlocked corporation effect cannot be used directly: it must be triggered by another effect that lets you trigger a corporation effect.
   3. Several players advance at the same time: when an effect advances other players' cooperation level, they receive the rewards shown on the board as normal. When several players receive rewards at the same time, the player who triggered the level-raising effect receives theirs first, then the other players receive theirs in turn, clockwise.

3. Trigger a corporation effect (corporation effect icon): When you trigger a corporation effect, you must choose one of the corporation effects you have unlocked and apply it.

Example 1: you raise your cooperation with Mama John's to level 3: you unlock a corporation effect. You do not score a point when you advance; you will only gain later, by triggering Mama John's level 3 corporation effect.

Example 2: you raise your cooperation with Blacksteel Worldwide from level 2 to level 3: you immediately gain 1 point.

Illustration: Mama John's — level 2: corporation effect, lose 1 point → gain 20 Gold; level 3: corporation effect, gain 1 point; level 4: corporation effect, pay 25 Gold → gain 3 points; level 5: gain 3 points. Blacksteel Worldwide — level 2: corporation effect, Redeploy (two blue-arrow influence symbols); level 3: gain 1 point; level 4: corporation effect, do twice: the place-influence symbol or the remove-influence symbol; level 5: gain 1 point.

Only careful planning will let you turn limited cooperation levels and corporation effects into victory.

Basic rules

1. Character cards returned to the box: Some effects require you to return a Character card to the box. If you used that card's Strategy or Tactic during the round and its effect bears the mention "resolved during the End Phase of this round", that effect is still resolved normally during the corresponding phase.
2. Routes covered by a Highway token: When you use the Strategy of the Mountain Character card, you place a Highway token that covers all the influence spaces of that route. From then on, no player can place influence on that route or move influence onto it. When you take an Explore action or carry out Resource Collection, you do not pay a toll to travel along that route.

Character card effects in detail (Corporation Module)

Starting Character cards

Mountain

A mysterious entrepreneur operating under a codename.

Strategy — Open a Trade Route: choose 1 route, remove all influence on it and place 1 Highway token on that route. Each player whose influence was removed gains 1 point. You gain 1 point. Tactic — Trade Network: pay 2 Gold → choose 1 corporation: cooperation icon, corporation effect icon.

• Strategy: When you place a Highway token on a route, it covers all the influence spaces of that route. From then on, no player can place influence on that route anymore. For how highways work, see Basic rules – Routes covered by a Highway token.
• Tactic: The corporation whose cooperation level you raise and the one whose effect you trigger must be the same, unlike with the Młynar Character card.

Młynar

A business expert.

Strategy — Strict Procedure: choose 1 corporation: all players advance their cooperation level (cooperation icon). Choose 1 corporation: trigger its corporation effect (corporation effect icon). Tactic — Lobbying and Patronage: choose 1 corporation: advance its cooperation level (cooperation icon). Gain 1 Orirock, 1 Originium Shard, 1 Oriron.

• Strategy:
  • The corporation whose cooperation level you raise and the one whose effect you trigger can be different, unlike with the Mountain Character card.
  • When you advance other players' cooperation level, they receive the rewards shown on the board as normal. When several players receive rewards at the same time, the player who triggered the level-raising effect receives theirs first, then the other players receive theirs in turn, clockwise.

Operator Character cards

Operator Character cards are special Character cards, used the same way as normal Character cards. However, the Strategy or Tactic of some Operator cards includes a Persistent effect or a Once effect, which differs from normal Strategy and Tactic effects. If you choose one of these Strategies or Tactics:

• A Persistent effect means that, unless otherwise stated, the card must stay in play. It is then neither in the character discard pile nor in your hand. It does not prevent you from choosing or using other Character cards.
• A Once effect means that, when the card would go to the discard pile, you must return it to the box instead (this effect therefore reduces the number of cards in your hand).

Illustration: Red: Once effect (Tactic "Total Mastery" marked ①) — Yellow: Persistent effect (Tactic "Engineering Order" marked ∞).

W

An extremely dangerous Sarkaz mercenary.

Strategy — Lying in Wait: place 3 influence. During the End Phase of this round, remove 2 of your influence. Tactic — Fatal Offensive (Once): pay 4 Gold → choose 2 different opponents and replace 1 influence of each of them with your influence. When this card would go to the discard pile, return it to the box instead.

• Strategy: The 2 influence removed during the End Phase can be any of your influence: they do not have to be the 2 influence placed with this effect.

Note: the Strategy of W is transcribed from the card's printed icons (three influence symbols); the number of influence placed is read from those icons.

Kal'tsit

The mysterious head of the medical department.

Strategy — Send an Envoy: choose 1 corporation: raise its cooperation level twice (two cooperation icons), gain 1 point. Tactic — Total Mastery (Once): choose 1 corporation and trigger each of the corporation effects you have unlocked there. When this card would go to the discard pile, return it to the box instead.

• Tactic: When this effect triggers several corporation effects at once, you choose the order in which you resolve them.

Closure

Unscrupulous merchant and chief engineer of Rhodes Island.

Strategy — Supply Agreement: gain 1 Orirock, 1 Originium Shard, 1 Oriron. Choose 1 corporation: trigger its corporation effect (corporation effect icon). Tactic — Engineering Order (Persistent): choose up to 2 Facility cards with different names from the facility market and place them under this card. When you build, you can choose a facility placed under this card. (When there are no facilities left under this card, place it in the character discard pile.)

• Tactic:
  • You can take a first Facility card, wait for the market to be refilled with a new card, then take the second one.
  • This card only goes to the character discard pile once both chosen Facility cards have been built.

Dorothy

Director of Rhine Lab's Department of Originium Arts Application.

Strategy — Pioneer Network: remove 2 of your influence → place 3 influence. Tactic — For Everyone… (Persistent): place up to 4 player markers on this card. When your influence is removed or replaced, you can place it on this card. Once per End Phase, remove 2 markers from this card → place 1 influence.

• Tactic: This effect lets you place influence during the End Phase. In each End Phase, you can perform "remove 2 player markers from the card → place 1 influence" only once. You cannot remove more markers from the card to place several influence during the same End Phase.

SilverAsh

Head of Karlan Trade.

Strategy — Business Acumen: choose a resource among Orirock, Originium Shard, and Oriron. Choose 1 player: that player sells all their units of the chosen resource at a unit price of 4 Gold. You gain 1 point. Tactic — Balance of Power (Once): remove 1 influence of each player (including you). Place 2 influence (the two green-arrow influence symbols as printed). When this card would go to the discard pile, return it to the box instead.

• Strategy: When you use this effect, you can choose any player, including yourself. The chosen player must sell all their units of the chosen resource at a unit price of 4 Gold, until they have none left.

Mudrock

A mercenary who masters the art of shaping earth and stone.

Strategy — D.I.Y. Orirock: pay 1 Orirock → build (Build symbol). Tactic — Mudrock's Squad (Persistent): once per End Phase, pay 2 Orirock → place 1 influence.

• Tactic: This effect lets you place influence during the End Phase. In each End Phase, you can perform "pay 2 Orirock → place 1 influence" only once. You cannot pay more Orirock to place several influence during the same End Phase.

Passenger

Now an engineering operator…

Strategy — Reefsteep Black Market: choose a resource among Orirock, Originium Shard, and Oriron, and choose 1 opponent: take up to 4 units of the chosen resource from them. That opponent and you each gain 1 point. Tactic — Secret Warehouse (Persistent): place up to 5 player markers on this card. Each time you pay resources, you can remove up to 2 markers from this card to replace the same number of Orirock, Originium Shard, or Oriron. (When there are no markers left on this card, place it in the character discard pile.)

• Strategy: If the chosen opponent has fewer than 4 units of that resource, you can only take the amount they have.
• Tactic:
  • The player markers placed on the card only count as resources when you pay a cost: they are not affected by selling effects.
  • The player markers placed on the card may leave you short of markers when you must place influence: you will then be unable to place influence or declare a City Style.
  • This Operator card only goes to the character discard pile once all the player markers on the card have been removed.

Eunectes

An engineering genius with outlandish ideas.

Strategy — I Reckon It'll Fit: for free, [City Movement symbol]: when opposing influence would be removed, move it instead; you are the one who carries out this movement. Tactic — "Raging Scrap": choose up to 2 Facility cards with different names from the facility market and return them to the box. Gain 3 Oriron.

• Strategy:
  • When you use this effect, you can move other players' influence.
  • When you move another player's influence, you must follow the placement conditions of that influence (as if its owner were moving it).
• Tactic: You can remove a first Facility card, wait for the market to be refilled with a new card, then remove the second one.

Corporation effects in detail

Corporation Module

Blacksteel Worldwide (黑钢国际)

The largest security consulting firm in Terra, taking on every kind of security contract, from close protection to armed intervention.

• Level 4 corporation effect: you may choose to remove 2 influence or place 2 influence, or to remove 1 influence and place 1 influence. You choose the order in which you do them.

HydeBro (海德兄弟)

A building-materials magnate from Bunkerhill (堡垒山), holding a monopoly on the building-materials market of several Columbian cities and able to supply large material orders and engineering projects.

• Level 4 corporation effect: when you use this effect, you must shuffle all 6 Facility cards of the facility market back into the deck, then draw 6 new ones to refill the facility market. If there are fewer than 6 cards in the facility market, apply this effect as far as possible. After drawing the new cards, you may choose 1 Facility card from the new market and build it. You do not pay the build cost of this facility.

Raythean Industries (雷神工业)

An innovative leader in manufacturing, dedicated to developing and producing heavy machinery, electrical equipment and military installations, and covering every aspect of city construction.

• When you use the level 3 and level 5 corporation effects, you may Build without using your main action. There is no limit to how many times these corporation effects can be used in the same round. If you build a "Corporation Office" (企业办事处) through a corporation effect, you may trigger the corporation effect again through the entry effect of the "Corporation Office", and thus Build again.
• Level 5 corporation effect: when you choose a facility from the deck, if you cannot meet the build requirements (there is no free space left on your City board, or you do not have enough resources to build either of the Facility cards) or if you do not want to build, you must shuffle the facility deck, which ends the resolution of the corporation effect.

Rim Billiton (雷姆必拓)

A consortium of several mining companies whose deposit management and extraction techniques are unmatched in Terra; it is currently expanding its business into Columbia.

• Level 4 corporation effect: you may immediately perform a collection, with the same effect as a Resource Collection step that you would perform alone. Tolls are calculated based on the current situation on the board. At the end of the Player Actions step, you may still perform the Resource Collection step.

Fusen Bank (富森银行)

A long-established financial institution that was already providing financial services to pioneers before independence. Depending on their size and credit rating, it grants pioneer cities large loans in gold notes, offering the pioneers an invaluable future.

• Level 3 corporation effect: first gain 20 Gold, then each other player (everyone except the player who triggered this effect) gains 4 Gold.

Mama John's (约翰老妈)

A local conglomerate born in the merchant city of Tkaronto (提卡伦多), active in food, industry, finance and other sectors; it is one of the main partners approved by the federal government for the pioneering movement.

Rhine Lab (莱茵生命)

A technology giant from Columbia, whose departments conduct research in many cutting-edge fields: Originium Arts, new materials, experimental weaponry, and more.

• Initial Entry: also take the 3 Rhine Lab Department tiles and place them next to the map. The player who chose Rhine Lab as their starting corporation chooses one of them and activates it.

What makes Rhine Lab special is that it "works even without triggering its corporation effects": its level 2 to 5 rewards apply only once, when your player marker reaches the corresponding space, in the same way as the VP rewards of the other Corporation boards.

• Rhine Lab comes with 3 different Department tiles with different effects, but only one can be active at a time. You can replace the active tile by triggering its "corporation effect".
• When the Strategy of the character Młynar lets the other players also advance on a corporation track, they can also gain the rewards of the active tile. However, when a player triggers the level 1 corporation effect and thus replaces Rhine Lab's active tile, the other players do not gain the corresponding rewards because of this change.

Rhodes Island (罗德岛制药)

A pharmaceutical company specializing in the fight against Originium infection, whose activities can extend to paramilitary operations related to infection crises; its field operators can provide tactical support in many areas.

• Initial Entry: if Rhodes Island is among the chosen corporations, also take 8 Operator Character cards and place them next to the map to form the Operator deck.

What makes Rhodes Island special is that, when you advance on its corporation track, you can obtain special Operator Character cards to replace Character cards in your hand.

• Operator Dispatch: the level 3 and level 5 rewards of Rhodes Island each grant you an Operator Dispatch. Draw 2 cards from the Operator deck and look at them, then choose one of the following 2 options:
  • a. Add 1 of the 2 Operator Character cards to your hand and shuffle the other back into the Operator deck. You must then choose 1 Character card from your hand or your character discard pile, show it to all players, then return it to the box.
    • Note: When a Character card is returned to the box, its ongoing effects still apply. Example: after using the Strategy of the character Liskarm, you resolve the level 3 reward of Rhodes Island, draw a Rhodes Island operator, then return Liskarm to the box; during the End Phase of this round, you must still remove 1 of your influence.
  • b. Shuffle the drawn Operator Character cards back into the Operator deck. Then gain 1 point.
• Level 4 corporation effect: if your character discard pile is empty, you cannot use this effect. When you use this effect, first take back 1 Character card from your character discard pile and show it to all players. Then all the cards in your hand, except the card you took back, go face up to the discard pile.

Appendix

2-player variant

Note: a 2-player game offers a different experience from a 3- or 4-player game. We recommend playing this game with enough players.

With 2 players, use the rules for a 3-player game, with the following changes:

1. (Corporation Module) Initial Entry – Choosing starting corporations: each player, in turn, draws 4 Corporation boards from the Corporation board stack and chooses 2 of these 4 as their starting Corporation boards. Thus, after gaining their starting level in the corporations, each player has 2 corporations at level 1.
2. Initial Entry – Choosing the starting mining site: you cannot choose B1 as your starting mining site. Once the starting mining sites have been chosen, the player who is not the first player may immediately place 1 influence.
3. Initial Entry – Starting funds: the first player receives 10 Gold; the other player receives 18 Gold and 3 points.
4. Each round, before Character Selection (cards placed face down), each player, starting with the first player of the round, chooses a Facility card from the facility market and returns it to the box. As soon as a Facility card is returned to the box, reveal cards from the facility deck to refill the market until it has 6 Facility cards again.
5. The Red Zone restriction lasts until the end of round 5. In other words, only from round 6 onward can you explore the mining sites of the Red Zone or choose them as the destination of a City Movement.
6. (Corporation Module) When you gain the Operator Dispatch reward of Rhodes Island, draw 3 operators instead of 2.