Nova Cry Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Setup
• Determining First Player
• Creating a Player's Task Force
• Starting Resources
  • First Game Recommendations
• Gameplay
  • A Player's Turn
• The Turn Phases
  • Alerts Phase
  • Activating Alert Tokens
  • Re-drawing Alert Tokens
  • The Navigation Phase
  • The Battle and Recruitment Phase
  • The Strategy Phase
  • The Inspection Strategy Explained Further
  • The Training Strategy Explained Further
  • Emergency Resurrect
• Ship Battles
  • Declaring a Ship Battle
  • Ship Attack Limits
• Captain Duels
  • Declaring a Captain Duel
• Purchasing Alien Crew Members
• Planet Cards
• The Discovery Table
  • Merchant Planets
  • Event Symbols
• The Chancellorship
  • Ties for the Chancellorship
• The Action Cards
  • The Action Card Categories
• Movement Terms
• Card Effect Terms
• Miscellaneous Terms
• Scoring
• Kickstarter Exclusive Cards
• Card and Ability Clarifications
  • Ship Abilities
  • Captain Abilities
  • Action Cards

Components

The game contains the following components:

• 15 Ship cards
• 15 Captain cards
• 27 Crew member cards
• 21 Weapon cards
• 48 Planet cards
• 21 Alien crew member cards
• 72 Action cards
• 60 Alert tokens
• 1 Discovery Table
• 2 Dice
• 1 Victory Point Tracker
• 1 Chancellorship Card
• 36 Intel cubes (green)
• 36 Damage cubes (red)
• 25 Designation cubes (blue)
• 25 Training Tokens
• 12 Player Pawns
• 6 Turn Reference cards
• 13 Kickstarter Exclusive Cards

PLANET CARDS represent planets that can be traveled to by a player's ship card. When docked at, they offer victory points and other bonuses.

SHIP CARDS travel to planets, engage in battles, and carry powerful abilities. Each player will select and command one ship card during the course of the game.

CAPTAIN CARDS engage in captain duels with other captain cards and offer powerful gameplay bonuses. Each player will select and play as one captain card during the course of the game.

WEAPON CARDS deal damage to an opposing captain during a captain duel.

CREW MEMBER CARDS represent the trained personnel aboard a player's ship and allow action cards to be played. Each player plays with three crew members during the game.

ALIEN CREW MEMBER CARDS represent aliens or other characters that join a player's crew as the game progresses.

ACTION CARDS represent the actions carried out by a player's crew members. Their effects can provide temporary or permanent effects, and some offer victory points.

THE DISCOVERY TABLE shows the various opportunities and dangers that are available on each type of planet card (populous, merchant, wild, and undiscovered). The results of visiting a certain planet type are determined by a die roll.

INTEL POINTS represent information, rumors and whereabouts of each opponent's location, and can be spent in the game to declare ship battles, captain duels, and other various actions. They are represented by light green cubes.

DAMAGE CUBES represent damage done against a ship's hull value and are placed on a player's ship card when damage occurs. They can also represent 1 wound done against a player's captain. Each red cube represents 1 damage or 1 wound.

DESIGNATION CUBES represent a used ability or act as a general reminder for a particular event or condition. They can be placed directly on to or next to the card they are indicating. They are represented by light blue cubes.

Game Setup

To set up the game, follow the steps shown below:

1. Shuffle the planet cards and place them face down in the center of the playing area. Leave a space below or next to the pile for discards.
2. Place the alert tokens inside the drawstring bag and put that in the center of the playing area.
3. Gather the Intel points (green cubes) and place those in the center of the playing area.
4. Separate the action cards into 3 piles based on their type (scientist, doctor, or engineer), then shuffle and place them face-down near the edge of one playing area but still where all players can easily reach them. Leave space below each action card pile for discards.
5. Place the following items at the opposite edge of the playing areas:
   • a. The Discovery Table. Place the Chancellorship card on its "unclaimed" space.
   • b. The Victory Point Track.
   • c. The Alien Crew Member cards, shuffled face-down.
   • d. Damage cubes (red).
   • e. Designation cubes (blue).
6. Organize and shuffle the captain, ship, crew member, and weapon cards into separate piles for the drafting process explained in the section, "Creating a Player's Task Force." Once selected, each player should arrange their 6 cards in a 3 x 2 fashion, with the ship, captain, and weapon card on top. Then return all these unused cards to the box.
7. Finally, each player selects a color from the available pawns and takes both pawns in that same color. One is placed on the "0" of the Victory Point track and the other is put in front of their playing area. (It will be used to travel along planet cards).

If at any time a card pile (such as the planet card pile or alien crew member pile) is exhausted, all the discarded cards of that pile are re-shuffled and can be drawn from again.

Note: Put aside the specially-marked Kickstarter exclusive captain cards, ship cards, and Mercenary crew cards. See the section: Kickstarter Exclusive Cards for more details.

Determining First Player

Each player rolls a die, and ties are re-rolled. The player with the highest die result is the first player.

Creating a Player's Task Force

The game begins with each player creating their task force. A player's task force consists of 1 ship card, 1 captain card, 1 weapon card, and 3 different crew member cards. Each player will use these cards for the entirety of the game. Follow the steps below:

1. Place all the ship cards, captain cards, weapon cards, engineer cards, scientist cards, and doctor cards into separate piles as explained in the Game Setup.
2. Randomly deal 3 ship cards, face-down, to each player. (In a 6 player game, deal only 2). Each player then looks at his cards and selects the ship of their choice, placing it face-down. Once all players have made their selection, the ship cards of all players are flipped over and revealed simultaneously.
3. Repeat the same process for the captain cards, dealing 3 captain cards to each player (In a 6 player game, deal 2), then waiting for all players to reveal their selection.
4. Then randomly deal 3 weapon cards, face-down, to each player. Each player then looks at his cards and selects the weapon of their choice, placing it face-down. If a player was dealt double (or possibly triple) of the same weapon card, they publicly reveal the matching cards, discard those, and are dealt that many new weapon cards, making a selection from all the cards they now have. If they are dealt double or triple of the same weapon card again, repeat this process.
5. Finally, randomly deal 1 crew member of each crew member type to each player (there is no selection). Each player should receive 1 random scientist crew member card, 1 random doctor crew member card, and 1 random engineer crew member card.

After a player has received his ship, captain, weapon, and crew member cards according to the process shown above, he should arrange them in a 3 x 2 fashion in front of his playing area as explained in the Game Setup.

Starting Resources

Give Intel points (green cubes) to each player based on the number of players in the game:

Players	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
2 Players	1	2
3 Players	1	1	2
4 Players	1	1	2	2
5 Players	1	1	2

Each player then draws 2 action cards from any action card pile of their choice. They may choose 2 action cards from the same or different pile if they choose. These go into their hand and are not revealed to anyone.

Finally, each player draws 1 alert token, face-up, in front of them, following all applicable rules discussed in the Alerts Phase section.

First Game Recommendations

If this is your first game, it is recommended that the Orion and Solemnity ship card are removed from the ship card pile, as both of these require a familiarity with the game's action cards. (If you have chosen to remove these cards and are playing a 5 or 6 player game, deal only 2 ship cards to each player during the "Creating a Player's Task Force" phase instead of 3).

Also, it is recommended that first-time players who have selected a Warp 3 or Warp 4 ship select 2 Engineer action cards for their 2 free starting action cards, as these ships are more easily eliminated from the game than others.

Gameplay

A Player's Turn

A player's turn consists of 4 phases, followed in this order:

• The Alerts Phase: In this phase, players draw alert tokens that represent weak points on their ship that need inspection.
• The Navigation Phase: In this phase, players draw planet cards, move along them with their ship pawn, and score points for docking at them.
• The Battle and Recruitment Phase: In this phase, players initiate ship battles or captain duels with other players. They may also purchase alien crew member cards.
• The Strategy Phase: In this phase, players choose 2 of 5 available strategies.

Once a player completes all 4 phases, his turn ends, and the turn advances clockwise to the next player.

The Turn Phases

Alerts Phase

During the Alerts Phase, a player draws 1 alert token from the drawstring bag that contains the alert tokens. This token is revealed to all players and kept face-up in front of their ship card (not on it, though). This alert token is put alongside any other alert tokens that player has accumulated so far.

Activating Alert Tokens

If activated, alert tokens cause negative effects for the controlling player. Alert tokens can be activated in two ways:

• If a player accumulates more than 4 alert tokens, the 5th alert token (and any thereafter) immediately activate. The previous alert tokens remain inactivated.
• If a player's ship is damaged during a ship battle, the player who did the damage may select one alert token to activate. This happens during each battle round that the player's ship is damaged. If a player deals damage to a player's ship but no alert tokens are available, nothing happens.

The following effects take place when each alert token is activated:

• Crew Needs: That player knocks out 1 friendly crew member of their choice. Alien crew member cards may also be knocked out (see the section Alien Crew Member cards).
• Weapons Jam: That player loses 1 weapons symbol on their ship for the entire duration of the ship battle and places this token on their ship card. This effect lasts until that player docks at a merchant planet, where they may discard all of their activated weapons jam tokens from their ship card. (Unactivated tokens cannot be removed).
• Warp Wear: That player loses 1 warp symbol on their ship and places this token on their ship card. This effect lasts until that player docks at a merchant planet, where they may discard all of their activated warp wear tokens from their ship card. (Unactivated tokens cannot be removed).
  • Note: A ship may always finish traveling to a planet card it is already en route to, and a ship can never have less than 1 warp symbol.
• Data Leak: That player discards 1 action card of their choice.

When an alert token has been activated, it is immediately returned (discarded) to the drawstring bag that contains the alert tokens.

Alert Token Example 1: Player A has 4 alert tokens. During his Alert phase, Player A draws his 5th alert token, a Data Leak token. Because Player A has more than 4 alert tokens, this 5th alert token immediately activates. Player A discards 1 action card from his hand and returns that alert token to the drawstring bag.

Alert Token Example 2: Player A has 4 alert tokens. During his Alert phase, Player A draws his 5th alert token, a Warp Wear token. Because Player A has more than 4 alert tokens, this 5th alert token immediately activates. Player A places this alert token directly onto his ship card because warp wear tokens are not discarded until they are discarded at a merchant planet. Going forward, Player A's ship has 1 less warp symbol until it is discarded at a merchant planet.

Alert Token Example 3: (This example illustrates alert token activation during a ship battle. To understand how ship battles work, see the section "Ship Battles.") Player A declares a ship battle against Player B. Player A has 1 alert token in front of him and Player 2 has 2 alert tokens. Player A deals damage against Player's B ship in the first round of the ship battle, so Player A may choose 1 of Player B's alert tokens to activate. Player A chooses a "Data Leak" token, so Player B is forced to discard a card and the alert token is returned to the drawstring bag. In the second battle round, Player B deals damage against Player A's ship, so he activates Player A's single alert token, "Crew Needs." Player A knocks out one of his crew members and discards the alert token. On the third and final round of the ship battle, Player B deals damage again to Player A, but Player A has no alert tokens left in front of him, so no alert token is activated.

Re-drawing Alert Tokens

If you control a ship that does not have any weapon symbols (or your weapons are reduced by some effect to zero), you must immediately discard any weapons jam alert token you draw during your Alerts Phase and re-draw a new one. (Weapons jam alert tokens from past turns are not re-drawn).

If you control a ship that has only 1 warp symbol (or your warp has been reduced by some effect to 1), you must immediately discard any warp wear alert token you draw during your Alerts Phase and re-draw a new one. (Warp Wear alert tokens from past turns are not re-drawn).

If a player cannot resolve the effect of an alert token when it is activated, it is ignored. (For example, if a player reveals a "Data Leak" alert token but has no cards, he ignores this alert token).

The Navigation Phase

During the Navigation Phase, a player draws 3 planet cards from the planet card pile, plays 1 and discards the others. That player then moves their ship pawn onto the first travel space of that planet card.

If a player began his Navigation Phase with a planet card already in play, they do not draw any planet cards. Instead, they move their ship piece 1 travel space forward along that planet card.

All planet cards have a warp symbol requirement. A player may play a planet card only if their ship's warp symbols are equal to or greater than the number of warp symbols on that planet card. (The more warp symbols a planet has, the greater number of victory points it usually offers).

[Illustration caption: "The Orion has 4 Warp symbols, allowing it to travel to a planet requiring 2 warp symbols."]

If a player cannot legally travel to any of the planet cards they have drawn, they discard their planet cards, forfeit moving their ship that turn and take 1 Intel point.

Note: If a player can legally travel to any of the planet cards they have drawn, they must choose 1 of those planet cards to play. Also, if a player's ship is already en route to a planet card, they must always move 1 travel space forward. A player can never "abandon" a planet card he is currently en route to.

Ship Movement Example 1: At the beginning of his Navigation phase, Player A has no planet cards in front of him, so he draws three planet cards, one with 3 warp symbols on it, one with 2 warp symbols on it, and another with 1 warp symbol on it. Player A's ship has 2 warp symbols on it, so Player A may travel to the planet card with 2 or 1 warp symbols on it. Since a player can travel to only one planet card at a time, Player A chooses the planet card with 2 warp symbols and discards the other planet cards. Player A places his ship piece on the first travel space of the planet card he has just chosen.

Ship Movement Example 2: At the beginning of his Navigation phase, Player A has no planet cards in front of him, so he draws three planet cards, one with 4 warp symbols on it, and two with 3 warp symbols on it. Player A's ship has 2 warp symbols on it, so Player A cannot travel to any of the planet cards and must discard all of them. Player A must wait until his next turn to draw new planet cards and cannot move his ship piece this turn. Player A receives 1 Intel point since he was unable to choose a legal planet card to travel to.

Ship Movement Example 3: Player A began his Navigation Phase with a planet card already in play, so he does not draw any planet cards. Player A moves his ship piece 1 travel space forward on the planet card he already has in play and proceeds to his next turn phase.

The Battle and Recruitment Phase

During their Battle and Recruitment Phase, a player can:

• Declare a ship battle
• Declare a captain duel
• Purchase 1 alien crew member card

A player may do a maximum of 1 ship battle or 1 captain duel on their turn (not both). Regardless, they may always purchase 1 alien crew member card.

Ship battles and Captain Duels are explained further in the "Ship Battles" section on page 13 and the "Captain Duel" section on page 14.

The Strategy Phase

During their Strategy Phase, a player chooses 2 of the available strategies shown below. The 2 strategies picked must be different.

• Inspection: A player discards all alert tokens of 1 type from their alert token pile. (See the section, "The Inspection Strategy Explained Further" below for more details).
• Rush: A player moves their ship piece one space forward along their planet card. (This is in addition to their free move they took during their Navigation phase.)
• Surveillance: A player gains 1 Intel point (takes a green cube).
• Command: A player draws 1 action card from an action card pile and puts it into their hand. This card is not revealed to other players.
• Training: A player takes two +1 training tokens. (See the section, "The Training Strategy Explained Further" below for more details).

The Inspection Strategy Explained Further

When choosing the Inspection strategy, a player declares one alert token type (such as "Data Leak" or "Weapons Jam"). That player then selects all alert tokens he has accumulated of that type and discards them back to the drawstring bag. Their activation effects are not carried out and the player has safely removed them from his ship.

Inspection Example: Player A chooses the Inspection strategy and announces "Data Leak" as the alert token type he will remove. Player selects all alert tokens in front of him that read "Data Leak" and discards them. (Note: Weapon Jam and Warp Wear tokens that have already been activated and placed on a player's ship card cannot be removed this way.)

The Training Strategy Explained Further

When choosing the Train strategy, a player takes two +1 training tokens and places them in his playing area. At any time (including right away or for a later turn), that player may place any number of his training tokens (he does not have to place them all) onto any number of his crew members to increase their skill levels.

[Illustration: +1 Training Token]

A training token must be placed on one of the crew member's two available skill sets. Each +1 training token increases that crew member's skill set by 1.

Once a training token has been placed on a crew member it cannot be moved. Also, a training token cannot be moved to a new skill set on the same crew member.

If a crew member is destroyed, its training tokens are removed. If a crew member is knocked out, its training tokens remain, but its skill levels are still reduced to zero and the training tokens have no effect.

A training token cannot be placed on an Alien Crew member.

Emergency Resurrect

At any time on their turn, a player may spend any combination of 4 intel points or action cards to revive or resurrect their captain or crew member. This is a special action that is available to all players.

Emergency Resurrect Example 1: Player A's captain is destroyed. Player A discards 3 action cards from his hand and 1 Intel point (for a total of 4 intel points or action cards) to resurrect his captain card.

Emergency Resurrect Example 2: Player A's crew member is knocked out. Player A discards 2 action cards from his hand and 2 Intel points (for a total of 4 intel points or action cards) to revive his crew member.

Ship Battles

Declaring a Ship Battle

To declare a ship battle, a player must spend 4 Intel points from their Intel pool and discard them to the bank. Their ship card must have at least 1 weapon symbol to declare a ship battle. Ship battles cannot be declared the first round of the game. That player then selects an opponent.

A player who declares a ship battle immediately gains 2 points.

To fight a ship battle, both players in the ship battle simultaneously roll a six-sided die. The player with the highest roll deals damage equal to his ship's weapon symbols against the hull of his opponent's ship. Ties go to the defender.

The player that received damage should place that many damage cubes on his ship card. (For example, if a player received 4 damage against his ship, he should place 4 red damage cubes on his ship card).

The player who dealt damage may then choose one of his opponent's alert tokens to activate (See the section "Activating Alert Tokens"). This process is repeated 2 more times, for a total of 3 battle rounds. After 3 battle rounds are completed, the ship battle is done.

Damage sustained by a player's ship during a ship battle is cumulative and remains there after the ship battle is complete.

If at any time the damage tokens on a player's ship card is equal to or greater than the hull value listed on that player's ship card, that ship is destroyed and that player is eliminated from the game.

Ship Battle Example: During his Battle and Recruitment phase, Player A spends 4 Intel points to declare a ship battle against Player B. Since Player A is the attacker, he immediately gains 2 victory points. Player A and Player B then simultaneously roll a six-sided die. Player A rolls a 4 and Player B rolls a 2. Player A rolled a higher number, so his ship deals damage to Player B's ship. Player's A's ship has 3 weapon symbols on it, so Player B places 3 damage markers (red cubes) on his ship card to represent the damage his ship has taken. Since Player A dealt damage to Player B's ship, he may also activate one of Player B's alert tokens. (See the section "Activating Alert Tokens"). This completes one battle round, and this process is completed 2 more times, for a total of 3 battle rounds.

Ship Attack Limits

A player's ship can be attacked only once before that player's next turn. After a ship battle, the defending player should turn his ship card sideways to indicate that his ship can no longer be attacked until his next turn. That same player, however, may declare a ship battle himself if he chooses.

At the beginning of a player's turn, before their Alerts Phase, that player should turn their ship card right side up (if it was sideways) to indicate that it is now available to be attacked.

Captain Duels

Declaring a Captain Duel

To declare a captain duel, a player must spend 2 Intel points from their Intel pool and discard them to the bank. Captain duels cannot be declared the first round of the game. That player then selects an opponent.

Note: A captain that is knocked out or destroyed may not initiate a captain duel and cannot have a captain duel declared against them.

A player who declares a captain duel immediately gains 2 points. However, a captain duel cannot be declared to win the game (put a player over 15 points)! The final points a player must score to put them at 15 or more points must be obtained through a ship battle, docking at a planet, playing an action card, or some other means.

To fight a captain duel, both players in the captain duel simultaneously roll a six-sided die. Both players then carry out the effects listed next to the number on their weapon card. This process is repeated 2 more times, for a total of 3 battle rounds.

If a captain receives 3 or more wounds during a captain duel, that captain is destroyed. (Some effects on a weapon card might say a captain becomes outright destroyed.)

Note: Wounds on a captain are not cumulative. After a captain duel is over, both players remove all wounds from their captain.

Captain Duel Example: Player A spends 2 Intel points during his Battle and Recruitment phase to declare a captain duel against Player B. Since Player A declared the captain duel, he immediately gains 2 points. Player A and Player B simultaneously roll a six-sided die and reference the die results on their weapon cards. Player A rolled a 1 and has the Officer's Pistol as his weapon card. The text next to "1" says: "No effect," so Player A does nothing. Player B, however, rolled a 6 and has the TMK Repeater as his weapon card. The text next to "6" says: "Deal 2 Wounds," so Player B places 2 wounds on his opponent's captain card. This process is repeated 2 more times, for a total of 3 battle rounds.

Note: A captain duel cannot be declared to win the game (put a player over 15 points). A captain duel can be part of a player's final turn on which he scores 15 or more points, but it cannot be their sole action.

Purchasing Alien Crew Members

To buy an alien crew member, a player must spend 2 Intel points from their Intel pool. They then randomly draw and keep 1 alien crew member from the alien crew member pile. A player should place his alien crew members next to his other crew members. A maximum of 1 alien crew member card can be purchased this way.

If a player has just docked at a merchant planet, they may spend 1 Intel point to draw 3 alien crew member cards and keep 1. The others are discarded. A maximum of 1 alien crew member card can be purchased this way.

Some die results on the discovery table say to "add an alien crew member" to your ship. If a player receives this result during a discovery roll, they may draw and keep 1 card from the alien crew member pile.

An alien crew member's ability can be used at any time (unless it specifies when), even when it is not that player's turn.

Alien crew members can be knocked out or destroyed just like other crew members (i.e., if a "Crew Needs" alert token is activated, an alien crew member can be knocked out.) Alien crew members can be also be targeted by action cards that refer to friendly or unfriendly crew members.

A knocked out alien crew member cannot use its text ability or be discarded to use its text ability.

Planet Cards

When a player's ship reaches the final travel space on a planet card, that ship is considered docked. That player immediately scores any victory points shown on the planet card in the top right hand corner. Then, they receive any bonuses or effects listed in the card's text box (such as collecting Intel points or action cards). Finally, the planet card is discarded so that new planet cards can be drawn on that player's next turn.

That player then completes a discovery roll at the Discovery Table, explained on the next page.

[Illustration labels on the planet card: Victory Points (top right); Bonus Text (text box).]

The Discovery Table

When a player's ship docks at a planet card, they must complete a discovery roll after receiving the points and bonuses from the planet card. To do this, that player locates the corresponding chart on the Discovery Table of the type of planet card they have just docked at (either populous, wild, undiscovered), and rolls a six-sided die. The instructions listed next to the die result are then carried out.

Discovery Table Example: Player A docks at a populous planet. Player A then rolls one six-sided die, gets a 1, then checks the results on the Discovery Table. Result "1" under Populous Planets says "Knock out 1 friendly crew member," so Player A knocks out 1 friendly crew member of his choice.

When a player docks at a planet card, the following actions are completed in this order: score victory points, follow the bonus text, discard the planet card, then complete the discovery roll.

Merchant Planets

Unlike other planet types, a six-sided die is not rolled when a player docks their ship at a Merchant planet. Instead, they may purchase any of the actions listed for their Intel cost. (For example, Player A docks at a merchant planet, then pays 2 Intel points to search an action card pile for any card of his choice).

Also, a player may discard all warp wear alert tokens or weapon jam alert tokens on their ship. This is the only way to remove the effects of an activated warp wear or weapons jam token on their ship card! (For example, Player A docks at a merchant planet and currently has 2 weapons jam and 1 warp wear token on his ship card. He then discards all three of those alert tokens).

Unactivated alert tokens cannot be removed this way.

Event Symbols

Many of the planet cards contain symbols on their travel spaces. These symbols represent events that provide a positive or negative effect for the player occupying it. If your ship pawn ends its turn on that event symbol, that event activates. (Merely passing a symbol on a travel space does not activate it.)

The following effects take place when your ship pawn ends its turn on this symbol:

• Asteroid: Deal 1 damage to your ship.
• Electric Storm: Draw 1 alert token.
• Nebula: Nothing happens. However, if an opponent declares a ship battle against you while your ship piece is occupying this travel space, you may force your opponent to re-roll their die result once during any round of that battle.
• Anomoly: Draw 1 action card at random from any action card deck and immediately play it, ignoring the skill level requirement (do it regardless of what skill level your crew member is at). Also, ignore any points that card would normally provide. If the text of the card cannot be followed, discard it.

If a travel space on a planet card contains two symbols, that symbol is activated twice.

The Chancellorship

The Chancellorship is a powerful card that allows the player who controls it to do each of their strategy actions twice.

For example, a player with the Chancellorship could do the Command strategy 2 times and the Rush strategy 2 times.

The Chancellorship card begins the game on the space labeled "Chancellorship" on the Discovery Table. This space is considered its unclaimed position.

When docking at a populous planet, if the die result reads "Bid for Chancellorship," then a bidding round for the Chancellorship begins. All players bid any amount of Intel points (or none at all) by secretly placing their Intel cubes in their hand. When all players have indicated that their bid total is ready, everyone's bid is revealed. The player who bids the highest amount of Intel points wins the bid and must discard those Intel points. That player then claims the Chancellorship card and puts it in his playing area. The remaining players that did not win the bid keep their Intel points.

A player must always bid at least 1 Intel point to win the Chancellorship card.

If a player's captain is knocked out or destroyed, the benefit of the Chancellorship is lost. That player keeps the Chancellorship card in front of them but only chooses 2 strategies as normal. Once revived or resurrected, that captain may regain the benefit of the Chancellorship.

Note: Intel points that are gained when docking at a populous planet may be immediately used to bid for the Chancellorship.

Ties for the Chancellorship

If a tie occurs during bidding and the Chancellorship is unclaimed on the discovery table, no winner is chosen, and the Chancellorship remains unclaimed. All players keep their Intel points they bid.

If a tie occurs and the Chancellorship is already being controlled by another player, the player who does not control the Chancellorship wins the bid. (If a tie between three or more players happens in this same scenario, the Chancellorship is returned to its unclaimed position on the discovery table.)

If any kind of tie happens when the Chancellorship is controlled by another player who is not a part of the bid (has bid zero Intel points), the Chancellorship returns to its unclaimed position.

The Action Cards

Action cards allow a player to perform actions on their turn that provide a temporary or permanent advantage. Each player is allowed to play 1 action card from their hand during their turn, and there is no maximum hand size. Action cards cannot be played outside of a player's turn.

Action cards require a skill level to play. This skill level can be found in the upper right hand corner of the action card. A player must control a science officer, doctor, or engineer that is not knocked out and has a skill level equal to or greater than the option chosen on the action card, in order to be able to play it.

[Illustration caption: "Your scientist has an Alien Tech rating of 4, allowing you to play the bottom option of your action card that has an Alien Tech Requirement of 3."]

To play an action card, a player reveals the card he wishes to play to his opponents. Any victory points shown in the upper right hand corner of the card are immediately scored. Then, any written instructions shown on the card are carried out.

An action card cannot be played only for its points. An action card can be played only if the text can be followed.

Each action card displays 2 options, but only 1 can be selected when that action card is played.

Some action cards contain a downward arrow symbol in the upper left hand corner. When played, these cards are not discarded. They are put into the player's playing area and stay there for the remainder of the game. Action cards with this arrow symbol usually provide an ongoing or spendable effect. To mark which option (top or bottom) was selected, place a blue designation cube on the selected option.

A player may have more than one of the same action card in play and their effects are cumulative. Also, if a card with this symbol is discarded, the points it provided are not lost.

The Action Card Categories

Science action cards include the skill categories Exploration and Alien Tech.

• Exploration offers movement bonuses.
• Alien Tech lets a player discard other action cards for powerful effects.

Doctor action cards include the skill categories Medicine and Psychology.

• Medicine lets a player revive or resurrect their crew members or captain.
• Psychology contains powerful attacks that force your opponent's to lose Intel points, action cards, and other important items.

Engineer action cards include the skill categories Repair and Upgrades.

• Repair removes damage from your ship or prevents it from happening.
• Upgrades gives powerful enhancements to your ship.

Movement Terms

Docking: When a player moves their ship onto the final travel space of a planet card.

En route: A ship is considered en route to a particular planet if it resides on any travel space except the final space of a planet card.

Travel Space: All planet cards contain a number of travel spaces spread across the length of the planet card. The travel spaces are listed as 1, 2, 3, etc., and indicate the order in which these travel spaces must be traveled. When a player first moves their ship to a planet, they must start on the travel space listed as "1." For subsequent turns, a player should move their ship in ascending numerical order until their ship reaches the final travel space.

Card Effect Terms

Knock Out: A knocked out crew member or captain has all of their skill ratings reduced to zero. (For example, an engineer card with a skill rating of Upgrades 3 has that skill changed to Upgrades 0. Likewise, a captain with a skill rating of Navigation 3 has their skill rating reduced to Navigation 0).

A card remains knocked out until revived. Turn a knocked out crew member or captain on its side to indicate this status. That crew member retains all training tokens on it, although its skills remain 0.

Note: A crew member's skill rating cannot be increased or decreased while knocked out. It always stays at zero.

Revive: A revived crew member or captain loses its knocked out status and has all of its skill ratings returned to normal. Turn a revived crew member or captain right side up to indicate it is no longer knocked out.

Destroy: A destroyed crew member or captain has all of their skill ratings reduced to zero. Remove all training tokens on that crew member, then flip it face-down to indicate this status.

Resurrect: A crew member or captain that is resurrected loses its destroyed status and is flipped face-up to indicate it is no longer destroyed.

Miscellaneous Terms

Friendly: A friendly crew member or captain is one that is controlled by that player.

Unfriendly: An unfriendly crew member or captain is one that is controlled by an opponent.

Scoring

If at any time a player accumulates 15 or more victory points, the game is immediately over and that player is declared the winner.

While most victory points are marked on the victory point track, some victory points are marked on other cards (such as the blue cubes used as "cargo" on the War Barge). If a player can show that his total victory points on and off the victory point track equal 15, that player is immediately declared the winner.

Kickstarter Exclusive Cards

The specially-marked Kickstarter-Exclusive cards can be added to this game whenever you feel ready. Simply add the two bonus ship cards and two bonus captain cards into their respective piles during the task force creation stage so that these are available for drafting.

The Mercenary crew member card is a special type of crew member called a special recruit. A special recruit can be taken during the task force creation stage in place of a particular crew member type. (For example, a player can request to take a Mercenary crew member card instead of being dealt a random scientist crew card.)

You may have only one copy of a special recruit as part of your task force.

Card and Ability Clarifications

Ship Abilities

Blockade: When the selected planet card is discarded, that player does not gain an Intel point (because that player chose a legal planet to travel to) and must wait until their next turn to draw new planet cards.

Cargo: Damage from asteroids or the Wormhole Cannon action card destroys cargo like normal weapons damage.

Databanks: A player does not have to announce which cards he is taking when using the Databanks ability. If more than one player begins the game with a ship that has the Databanks ability, the ship with the greater number of Warp symbols chooses first. If there is a tie, the player closest to the last player chooses first. Several players with the Databanks ability may result in not enough copies of a specific action card being available for everyone.

Disablers: When your ship deals damage, deal out the new alert tokens immediately. Activate the newly drawn tokens first (if that player has exceeded 4 alert tokens), then select the one you wish to activate as normal for scoring a hit against a ship.

Teleport: You may use only one teleport on your turn to declare a ship battle (since you are allowed to only declare one ship battle per turn). You may not use a teleport to declare a ship battle and then spend Intel points to declare another ship battle on your same turn. You can use a teleport to end a ship battle that has already been declared or is in progress. However, you cannot "escape" damage or the activation of an alert token if the dice have already been rolled for that battle round. You can use a teleport action to end a ship battle off of your turn. If a player declares a ship battle against you and you escape with your teleport, that player still earns 2 points.

Maintenance: Alert tokens drawn as a result of this ability follow the same rules as normal alert tokens (if you have more than 4 alert tokens, the following ones drawn immediately activate, etc.). This is a negative ability (shown in red rather than blue) that creates a detrimental effect for the player who controls it. If the action card Elite Prototype is played, this negative ability is reduced by 1 rather than increased.

Captain Abilities

Science: You can only choose the result of your most recent die re-roll.

Lead: A crew member's skill level can never go higher than 4, so a crew member with a 4-0 or 0-4 skill arrangement would be increased to 4-2 or 2-4 with a captain with Lead 2.

Inspection: Choose your alert token types at the beginning of the game by selecting them from the alert token drawstring bag and putting 1 of that type on your captain card.

Action Cards

Science

Alien Powercell: This card can be discarded to fulfill the card discard requirements of an alien technology card (such as the Wormhole Cannon) or an alien crew member card (such as the Assassin). It can be discarded to fulfill the discard requirements of several cards, if able. (For example, one Alien Powercell could be discarded to fulfill the discard requirements of two separate Targeting Pods).

Alien Megacoil: This card can be discarded to fulfill the card discard requirements of an alien technology card (such as the Wormhole Cannon) or an alien crew member card (such as the Assassin). It can be discarded to fulfill the discard requirements of several cards, if able. (For example, one Alien Megacoil could be discarded to fulfill the discard requirements of two separate Wormhole Cannons).

Medicine

Solar Drain: When this card is played, a player cannot choose a category of an item they do not have (i.e., a player could not say, "I will give a card" if they have no cards).

Resistance Therapy: You can play only 1 of these cards onto a single crew member. This card may be played onto an alien crew member card.

Mechheart: You can play only 1 of these cards onto your captain.

Mass Telepathy: Only the player that played this card may see everyone's cards.

Persona Chip: To increase one of your captain's abilities by 1, select an ability, and increase the appropriate numeral in the ability's text by 1. (For example, "Hunt 2" becomes "Hunt 3," changing the text of the ability from "Spend 2 fewer intel points when declaring a ship battle" to "Spend 3 fewer intel points when declaring a ship battle.") To indicate which ability has been increased on your captain, place a blue designation cube on that ability. If an ability says to do an action at the beginning of the game, repeat that action now.

Engineering

Elite Prototype: To increase one of your ship's abilities by 1, select an ability, and increase the appropriate numeral in the ability's text by 1. (For example, "Databanks 1" becomes "Databanks 2" changing the text of the ability from "Begin the game with 1 action card of your choice" to "Begin the game with 2 action cards of your choice.") To indicate which ability has been increased on your ship, place a blue designation cube on that ability. Negative abilities (such as the Maintenance ability on the Jackal ship) are reduced by 1. If an ability says to do an action at the beginning of the game, repeat that action now.

Evasion Thrusters: This card can be discarded to avoid damage from a Wormhole Cannon.

Scheduled Maintenance: This card is now a newly-available strategy action for the player controlling it. It can be chosen like any other strategy action during their Strategy phase. (For example, a player could choose Rush and Scheduled Maintenance as their two strategy actions). If you control the Chancellorship, you could choose the Scheduled Maintenance strategy twice, restoring your ship's hull by 4.