Nucleum: Patrons Set Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Experiment Identities
• Setup Change
• Patron Abilities
• Solo Mode - Baron Abilities

Components

• 6 Patron cards (1 for each Experiment)
• 6 Baron's Patron cards (1 for each Experiment)

Experiment Identities

Each Patron card belongs to a specific Experiment board. In the base game these Experiments are distinguished by letters only. Now, on every Patron card, you can see the occupation of each Patron associated with the specific Experiment along with their description and image depicting them. From now on, Experiments are referred to using the names of their Patrons introduced by this mini expansion:

• Experiment A -> Banker
• Experiment B -> Captain of Industry
• Experiment C -> Mistress Inventor
• Experiment D -> Junior Minister
• Experiment E -> Councilor (Requires the Nucleum: Court of Progress board)
• Experiment F -> Madame Engineer

Setup Change

During setup, players need to agree whether they want to use the Patron abilities described in the next section. Then, if players do not play with the Nucleum: Court of Progress expansion, return the Councilor's card back to the box (if they do not have Experiment F, also return the Madame Engineer's card). They must also agree on how they want to choose their Experiment boards:

• Following the rules from the base game: In this case when a player takes everything that belongs to an Experiment board of their choosing, they also take an appropriate Patron card.
• Following the Expert Variant: In this case, a player also takes an appropriate Patron card. You may also incorporate the following rule: shuffle and deal a number of Patron cards equal to the number of players (if playing without Experiments from the Nucleum: Court of Progress expansion, deal all base game Patrons in case of a 4 player game). Then proceed with the bidding as described in the Expert Variant. Only Experiments associated with revealed Patron cards may be chosen.
• Deal everyone a random Patron card which determines their Experiment board. Take everything that belongs to that Experiment and continue with the setup as usual.

Patron Abilities

Apart from introducing Patron identities, each Patron card has an ability that requires a player to spend a certain number of VP. These abilities may be used at any point during a player's turn, but they may only be used once per game. Players may flip their Patron card to remember that they have already used the ability.

Patron abilities are as follows:

• Banker - Spend 3VP while fulfilling a Contract to gain all non VP and non Technology rewards on the fulfilled Contract again.
• Captain of Industry - Spend 3VP while performing an Urbanize or Industrialize action to do it without network requirements.
• Mistress Inventor - Spend 2 VP to get 1 Uranium if you have 1 Uranium Mine or 4 VP to get 2 Uranium if you have at least 2 Uranium Mines.
• Junior Minister - Spend 1VP while Energizing to reset 2 Coal Import spaces to 1 Thaler.
• Councilor - Spend a number of VP of your choice to get that number of Thaler minus 1. You can spend a maximum of 10VP.
• Madame Engineer - Either spend 2VP to get 1 Worker or 4VP to get 2 Workers.

Solo Mode - Baron Abilities

On the second set of cards corresponding to the Patrons, instead of the usual Patron abilities, there are Baron abilities that are used exclusively in a Solo game against the Baron (or multiple Barons) von Automat. When setting up a game, after taking your own Patron card, deal (each) Baron a random Patron card (if playing without the Nucleum: Court of Progress expansion: exclude Councilor and Madame Engineer cards) and make sure it uses the corresponding starting tiles, resolve its setup instructions (if any), then place it face down in the Baron's play area. After the Baron's first Recharge, flip it face up. Its ongoing ability is in effect for the rest of the game.

Some Patron cards also contain a Scoring ability, apply these during the final scoring.

• Banker:
  • Setup: During step 2B, place the Government building tiles on the top of the stacks. (From the bottom to the top: III, II, I, IV.)
  • Ongoing: The Baron does not pay Thaler for the Urbanize action. The Baron can Urbanize outside of its network.
• Captain of Industry:
  • Setup: During step 2C, place the two Special Action tiles for Experiment B at the end of the queue, behind the stopblock face down (instead of returning it to the box in step 2A).
  • Ongoing: Flip the two Special Action tiles in the queue face up.
  • Scoring: Score +1 VP each time the Baron meets any of the Milestones. (Essentially scoring 3/5/7/9 VP instead of 2/4/6/8 VP respectively.)
• Mistress Inventor:
  • Setup: After setup, the Baron flips the Neutral Building with the highest requirement and receives 1 Worker (for Residential), or 1 Thaler (for Factory), or 3 VP (for Lab/Government).
  • Ongoing: The Baron does not pay Thaler for the Energize action. The Baron can Energize regardless of its network. Thus, the Baron always scores for its Turbines and Mines, regardless of their connections.
• Junior Minister:
  • Ongoing: All of the Baron's tiles are wild (for both you and the Baron) for Railway purposes. After performing an Industrialize action, it also performs a Contract action. The Baron is not limited to resolving 3 Contracts between Recharges.
• Councilor:
  • Setup: After setup, add one of the Baron's Worker meeples (from the supply) to the Dominant Party.
  • Ongoing: After performing a Court action, it performs another Court action (once per turn).

To increase the difficulty, have the Baron's Patron card face up from the beginning of the game.