Space Alert FAQ
133 questions players ask · Updated Nov 11, 2026 · Full rulebook
General
Soundtracks
1. Setup
2. Action Round
- Can you change your planned action cards before the phase ends?
- Can you move pieces, cubes or threat cards on the boards while you plan?
- Can you place action cards on a later phase's spaces before you pick up that phase's cards?
- Can you change action cards in an earlier phase after the next phase has started?
- Can you end a phase early and pick up the next phase's cards before the soundtrack announces it?
- Do unused action cards carry over from phase 1 to phase 2 and from phase 2 to phase 3?
- How many action cards does each player get per phase, and what does Incoming Data do?
- Do you have to fill all 12 action slots?
- Do unconfirmed reports apply in a four-player game, or only with five?
- Can the players end the Action Round early by agreement?
- Can you hand your heroic action card to another player, and does it carry over between phases?
3. Resolution Round
- Are there any player decisions during the resolution round?
- Is an Asteroid destroyed when it reaches the Z space?
- If a crew member is delayed twice on the same turn, or hit by a Slime and a gravolift delay, do the delays stack?
- When a delay hits, does it push only your next action, or the actions after it too?
- Do heavy and light laser cannons only hit threats in their own zone?
- Does the pulse cannon hit every threat in range, and what is its range?
- Do interceptors attack internal threats such as malfunctions and intruders?
- How much damage do the interceptors deal when several threats are in range?
- Can two players repair the same malfunction in the same turn, and what do repeated button presses do?
- Can you still use a gravolift that is damaged, or that another player already used this turn?
- Can you use a Trip to change a planned action or to fix a card you have the wrong colour for?
- How often must computer maintenance be done, and what happens if it is missed?
- Are players in the interceptors delayed when the computer misses maintenance, or by ship-wide delays?
- What can a player in the interceptors do, and what does taking off cost?
- Do players still in space return before the ship jumps, and do rockets fired on turn 12 still hit?
- Do threats still move on the thirteenth turn before the ship jumps away?
- Do threat shields recharge each turn, or does damage on a shield persist?
- When several shots hit one threat in the same turn, are the shields subtracted from each shot or from the total?
- Where do shields and cannons get the energy they use?
- Can you choose how much energy to transfer between stations?
- If two players press B on the central reactor in one turn, do both use a fuel capsule?
- If two players press fire on the same cannon in one turn, does it fire twice?
- What is the yellow block on a light laser cannon for, if the cannon needs no reactor energy?
- If a laser has energy on it but cannot fire because the threat is out of range or cloaked, is the energy lost?
- When does a fired rocket hit, relative to the cannon fire?
- Which threat does a rocket hit when two threats are equally close, and does it skip a threat it cannot target?
- How does a threat's T+ number decide when it appears and when it moves?
- If a threat's X action raises its speed and it lands on X this turn, does the new speed apply to that same move?
- What do white and black cubes on a threat mean, and do speed or shield changes last?
- What happens to an external threat that reaches the Z space?
- If a threat has no Y square on its trajectory, is its Y action skipped?
- Do internal threats such as commandos bypass shields?
- Can internal threats change decks when the gravolift is broken or occupied?
- If a heroic energy action pushes a reactor above capacity and damage then lowers its capacity, what happens to the extra energy?
- Can you still win a mission if every crew member is knocked out?
- How much damage destroys a section of the ship?
- Can you know in advance which part of the ship will be damaged?
- In what order do players' actions resolve?
- If a weapon fires before a later player refills its reactor in the same turn, does the shot happen?
- Is there a limit to how often rockets or the light lasers can fire?
- Can you ditch or hand over your battlebot squad, and can another player reactivate it?
- How do you bring a disabled battlebot squad back into action?
- What happens when battlebots attack an intruder that returns fire, and does a destroyed intruder still fire back?
- What is the difference between malfunctions and intruders?
- Does a malfunction that reaches its Z action knock out its system for the rest of the mission?
- If a system has two malfunctions and the first reaches its Z action, can the second still be repaired?
- Can a malfunction that covers several stations be repaired from any of them?
- What happens if you take the interceptors action without leading a battlebot squad?
4. Scoring
- How is the damage penalty counted in scoring when the zones have different amounts of damage?
- Does the threat-difficulty number written in the ship's log add to your score?
- Do battlebot squads that were never activated count against you in scoring?
- What happens to threats still on their trajectories when you jump to hyperspace at the end of a mission?
- Which points count for a threat: the survived value or the destroyed value?
- Do you score any points if the mission is lost?
5. With Fewer Than Four Players
- Can Space Alert be played solo?
- Can Space Alert be played with two players?
- How many androids does a two- or three-player game use, and who runs them?
- How many action cards does each player get per phase with two or three players?
- How many action cards does each player get in a five-crew game that uses androids?
- Do androids draw action cards when Incoming Data is announced?
- Are cards played for an android face up, and can they be moved later?
- In a two-player game, which player may play action cards to each android?
- Can you play phase-2 cards on an android's phase-1 spaces after you have moved into phase 2 yourself?
- Can Space Alert be played with one to three players without buying New Frontier?
- How many figures do you control in a solo game?
- How do you set up and play a solo game of Space Alert?
- In solo play, can you change action cards already placed on the androids' boards?
- Does solo Space Alert use the soundtrack timer, or can you drop it?
6. Exploration Campaign
- If structural damage is left unrepaired at the end of a campaign mission, what happens to that zone in the next mission?
- Does a shield or reactor left damaged after a campaign mission carry its penalty into the next mission?
- Do battlebot squads carry over between campaign missions, and do squads that were never activated need repair?
- What happens to knocked-out crew between campaign missions?
- Can ship damage be repaired during a campaign mission, and how many repairs are allowed?
- How many missions are in an Exploration Campaign, and can you quit early?
- What carries over from one campaign mission to the next?
7. Appendix
- Do rockets damage the Juggernaut when it is out of rocket range?
- Does the Nemesis still attack all zones if the damage that gives it a red block destroys it?
- Does the Space Octopus attack if it was damaged earlier, or only if it was hit this turn?
- Does a destroyed Leviathan Tanker's extra damage still hit a Swarm that already took cannon damage that turn?
- Does a Leviathan Tanker's extra damage use up a Cryoshield's first-hit protection?
- Does a cryoshield threat take damage on the turn it is first hit, and does it need more than one hit?
- How is the Battlebot Uprising malfunction repaired, and how much damage do two C presses in one turn do?
- How is the Power System Overload malfunction repaired?
- Does the Marauder's +1 shield bonus apply to the Marauder itself, and to every other external threat?
- When does a Stealth Fighter become targetable?
- Can a rocket target a Phantom Fighter, and what happens if it hits?
- How do the shields on an Energy Cloud or Maelstrom work when the pulse cannon hits it?
- What does the Energy Cloud's X action do, and does it drain threat shields?
- What does a negative shield value, such as the Space Jellyfish's -2, do when it is targeted?
- How much damage does an Asteroid deal when it is destroyed?
- Does the Nemesis's self-damage from its X or Y action trigger its attack on all zones?
- Does destroying a Seeker cost you points?
- How much damage do interceptors do to the Behemoth?
- Can you attack a Psionic or Pulse Satellite when it is at distance 3?
- Are players knocked out when they enter a contaminated station?
- How do you repair the Fissure, and can interceptors still launch when it appears?
- When an Alien performs its Y action, how much damage does it deal after changing decks?
Space Alert: The New FrontierExpansion
- For the achievements, does mission time include the resolution round, or only the soundtrack?
- Which version of the New Frontier achievement texts is correct, the Czech or the English?
- In a New Frontier campaign, do you draw new trajectories for each mission?
- Does a Leviathan Tanker's explosion damage a phased-out threat?
- How do variable range interceptors work when the Fissure is in play?
- If you destroy a threat before it calls in another threat, do you also score the called-in threat?
- Are the printed points on Super-Carrier and Phasing Man-of-War wrong?
- Does the Marauder's +1 shield bonus apply to a threat whose own X action sets its shield, such as the Hermetic Capsule?
- Does the Leviathan Tanker's explosion damage reduce a Megashield?
- Does a cloaked threat count when interceptors divide their attacks among threats in range?
- Does the Energy Dragon's Z action hit every zone, or only one?
- When the Ninja's Z action fires missiles, does the damage land immediately or a round later?
- Can you repair damage during a New Frontier mission without a specialization?
- How many specializations can you carry on a mission?
- How many action cards does each player get in phase 1 of a two-player game with androids and specializations?
- Does damage absorbed by shields count toward the Bruised and Broken or Duck! achievements?
- If your ship is destroyed before the final jump, do you still earn experience for a completed mission in a campaign?
- Does extra damage from several stations hitting one internal threat count toward the six-damage achievement for each player?
- Do experience badges have any effect on gameplay?
- Does a threat's '+1 shield when hit by a rocket' bonus last for the rest of the fight, or only for that turn?