Star Realms: Frontiers FAQ
103 questions players ask · Updated Nov 10, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup
- In co-op, how many cards does each player draw on the first turn when the players go first?
- How do you set up a five-player game that adds Colony Wars to Frontiers?
- How do you add older Star Realms sets and promos to a Frontiers game?
- How many Explorers does Frontiers need, and what do you do if you run out?
Play and Acquiring
- Do I keep the trade from a card I scrap later in the same turn?
- Can I scrap any card in play whenever I want, without a card that tells me to scrap?
- If a card discards or scraps a card from your hand, do you still get that card's trade, combat or abilities?
- What does "when you obtain this card" mean on Colony Wars cards such as Plasma Vent?
- Where does a card you gain for free from the Burrower's scrap ability go?
Using Abilities
- Does Warpgate Cruiser draw its card before or after the discard-for-combat effect?
- If a card that draws a card draws an ally of the same faction, does the drawn card's ally ability activate?
- If three cards of one faction are in play, does each card's ally ability activate, and can it be used again?
- How many same-faction cards do you need for a single ally ability versus a double ally ability?
- Does the Cargo Boat's +2 Authority need a blue ally icon, since the printed card is missing one?
- Can the Colony Wars Stealth Tower copy a base owned by another player?
- Are a base's primary and ally abilities optional, and can you scrap a base without using them?
- Does Reclamation Station count cards you scrapped before it entered play?
- In Hydra team play, can you trigger your teammate's ally abilities?
- When Splinter's ability discards cards, are they taken from play or from your hand?
- Do the faction symbols on Commander cards count toward ally abilities?
- Do Scouts and Vipers count as cost 0 for Scout Bot?
- Does a United: Heroes hero that you buy and then scrap count twice toward Loyalty?
Attacking
- Can a card's "destroy target base" effect destroy an Outpost without using Combat?
- In a multiplayer game, can one turn's Combat be split between several players?
- When an attack's damage is more than an Outpost's Defense, does the leftover damage hit your Authority?
- In a challenge, if the Boss's attack is too weak to destroy a base, does the damage hit your Authority?
Discard and Draw Phases
- Does an effect that makes the target opponent discard a card hit their hand or their cards in play?
- Must you play every card in your hand, or can you leave some unplayed?
- If the second player's Light Cruiser makes the first player discard, when does that discard happen and what does it cost?
- Do bases in play count toward your hand size when you draw at the end of your turn?
- Does a Command Deck's hand size apply every turn, or only to the first draw?
Solo and Cooperative
- In co-op challenges, do the players act together before the Boss, or do they alternate with the Boss?
- In co-op, do the players share one Authority pool, and does the Boss attack the team as a group?
- How much Authority does a challenge start with, and does it scale with the number of players?
- Can a challenge Boss or a player gain Authority above its starting value?
- In what order does the Automatons Boss resolve its turn steps, and when does it go back to step 1?
- Can the challenge bosses be played with cards from other Star Realms sets?
- Can Command Decks be used in solo challenges, and how do Boss turns scale with them?
- Does a challenge Boss attack your non-Outpost Bases before your Authority?
- When a challenge Boss attacks several Outposts at once, which Outpost does it destroy?
- How do faction-less cards and multi-faction cards interact with a challenge Boss that has faction-triggered abilities?
- Does a challenge Boss need another card of its faction in play before its ally ability works?
- After a Boss ability triggers, does the Boss go back to step 1 and use its base primary again?
- Does the Boss use the primary abilities of its ships as well as its bases?
- In Defy the Empire, does the Boss use its Ally abilities before playing its most expensive card?
- In co-op, when does the team win against a challenge Boss?
- In co-op, does a base protect the other player from Nemesis Beast or Pirates attacks?
- Do event cards that make players draw affect the Nemesis Beast or Pirates Boss?
Automatons
- What does the Automatons Boss do with a card that says draw a card, then discard a card?
- What happens when the Automatons trade deck runs out during a game?
- Why do Automatons scrap cards that would go to the Boss's hand, deck or discard pile?
- How does the Automatons Assimilation Count start, and how fast does it rise?
- Does the Automatons Boss stop playing cards once their total cost reaches the Assimilation Count?
- Do bases already in play add to the Automatons' Assimilation Count on later turns?
- Can the Automatons' Assimilation Count rise by more than 1 in a single Boss turn?
- Does the Assimilation Count still rise on a Boss turn when the Boss attacks but destroys nothing?
- Do the Automatons' bases stay in play until destroyed, and do they activate every turn?
- When an ability makes the Automatons scrap a card, as Neural Nexus does, what happens?
- Does the Automatons Boss gain the 4 Combat from Conversion Yard when you scrap a card from your hand?
Nemesis Beast
- When the Machine Cult Nemesis ability triggers, does the highest-cost card in the whole Trade Row count?
- Does a Nemesis Beast attack destroy several Outposts in one attack?
- How much Authority does a Nemesis Beast team have in a multiplayer game?
- How does the Nemesis Beast gain Combat each turn, and when does its faction ability apply?
- Can Combat be used to destroy the Nemesis Beast's face-down cards?
- Is the Nemesis Beast's Blob action that destroys a base separate from its normal attack?
- Does the Machine Cult Nemesis ability move a random card from your hand to the top of your deck?
Other Challenge Bosses
- How many cards does the Blob Assault Boss play per turn in a two-player co-op game?
- Does the Blob Assault Boss discard the ships it played at the end of its turn?
- What does the quoted "draws a card" on the Blob Assault card mean with two players?
- In Blob Assault with several players, does the Boss draw extra cards?
- What counts as a Blob Assault minor victory when the Boss runs out of cards?
- If the Dimensional Horror Boss cannot destroy a non-Outpost base, does its leftover Combat go to your Authority?
- Do the general challenge difficulty levels apply to Dimensional Horror as well as its own levels?
- What order does the Madness of the Machine Boss follow on its turn?
- When the Machine Cult Boss runs out of cards, does it reshuffle its discard pile?
- How many cards does the Madness of the Machine Boss draw each turn?
- Does the Pirates of the Dark Star Boss play the card it reveals?
- What happens when a Pirates of the Dark Star card makes the Boss discard a card?
- Does the Pirates' blue reveal double the card's cost for both damage and healing?
- Do the Cost of Freedom Boss's starting cards include Scouts and Vipers?
- Where does the Trade Federation Boss's played Acquisition card go?
Star Realms: Gambit SetExpansion
- If Coalition Efficiency replaces a scrap, do the card's other effects still happen?
- Can Coalition Efficiency's 5 Authority be used when there is no card to scrap?
- How many Merc Cruisers should each Gambit deck include?
- Should Gambit cards be used in the co-op challenge games?
- How many Gambit cards are dealt, and can you play more than one in a turn?
- Are Gambit cards hidden from the opponent in a physical game?
- Are Gambit cards part of the trade deck or a personal deck?
- Where are the rules for the Gambit set printed?
- How are Gambit cards used once they are revealed?
- Does Energy Shield reduce each attack by 1, or prevent 1 damage in total?
- How many cards do you hold in your first hand in a solo game?
- In solo play, is your next hand drawn before the solo opponent's turn can force a discard?
Star Realms: Cosmic Gambit SetExpansion
- When is Secret Outpost put into play?
- Does a Hidden Base's Secret Outpost keep its chosen faction after the turn it enters play?
- Are the non-scrap abilities of Cosmic Gambit cards persistent or one-time?
- Does Exploration put an Explorer from the Trade Row on top of your deck?
- Can you look at Cosmic Gambit cards when they are dealt face down, and when can they be revealed?
- Does the Cosmic Gambit Set include a Merc Cruiser equivalent?
Star Realms: Crisis – EventsExpansion
- Can cards already played this turn, or a Hero in play, be discarded to satisfy Black Hole?
- Are event cards resolved when they are drawn from the trade deck?
- Can Bombardment destroy a base that is still in your hand?
- When Black Hole or Warp Jump is revealed, does its effect apply immediately to both players?