Star Trek: Captain's Chair Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Common Cards
• Central Setup
• Player Setup
• Game Overview
• 1. Resupply Step
• 2. Control Step
• 3. Action Step
• 4. Clean-Up Step
• Game Concepts
  • Rotation and Recruiting
  • Developments
  • Types
  • Traits
  • Gaining Cards
  • Specializations (Research, Influence, Military)
  • Locations
  • Mobilized Ships
  • Warping Ships
  • Discharging Ships
  • Away Teams
  • Beaming
  • Missions
  • The Computer Log
  • Secret vs. Open Information
  • Example of a Complete Action Step
• Final Scoring
• Component Anatomy
• Cadet Training Mode
• Keywords in Detail
• Meet the Crew Decks
  • Picard (Starfleet)
  • Koloth (Klingons)
  • Shran (Andorians)
  • Sela (Romulan)
  • Sisko (Starfleet)
  • Burnham (Starfleet)
  • Rules for Burnham
  • Credits
• Overview of Play
• Symbol Reference

Components

Burnham — 26 crew cards, 1 captain board, 3 ship tokens: Book's Ship, U.S.S. Discovery-A, U.S.S. Federation

Koloth — 24 crew cards, 1 captain board, 3 ship tokens: I.K.S. Devisor, I.K.S. Gr'oth, I.K.S. Klothos

Picard — 24 crew cards, 1 captain board, 3 ship tokens: U.S.S. Enterprise-D, U.S.S. Bozeman, Type-7 Shuttlecraft

Sela — 24 crew cards, 1 captain board, 5 ship tokens: I.R.W. Goraxus, I.R.W. Khazara, I.R.W. Terix, I.R.W. Valdore, Scimitar

Shran — 24 crew cards, 1 captain board, 2 ship tokens: Andorian Cruiser, Kumari

Sisko — 25 crew cards, 1 captain board, 3 ship tokens: Deep Space 9, U.S.S. Defiant, U.S.S. Rio Grande

• 6 specialty markers (2 red, 2 blue, 2 yellow)
• 25 latinum tokens
• 30 dilithium tokens
• 9 isolinear chips (from here on called "action tokens")
• 6 mission completion tokens
• 12 away team tokens (6 per player)
• 51 glory tokens
• 10 "×5 resource" tokens
• 1 starting player token

Action tokens, dilithium, latinum, and glory are not meant to be limited. If you run out of any of them during play, use any proxy as needed.

Common Cards

67 common market cards: 13 Ally, 25 Person, 16 Cargo, 13 Ship, 20 Location, 8 Encounter, 6 Incident

13 common ship tokens

Solo Components

• 12 Automated Command cards
• 2 Solo cards
• 32 Stardate cards
• 1 score pad
• 1 common card list
• 2 player aids
• 1 market strip

Central Setup

1. Place the Market strip in the middle of the table, running lengthwise between the players, as shown.
2. Separate all common cards (cards without a captain's icon in the lower left, see the examples next to step 14) into the following 7 piles, sorted by the type shown in their upper-left corner: Person, Ally, Location, Cargo, Encounter, Ship, Incident.
3. Shuffle the 4 Market piles (Person, Cargo, Ship, and Ally) well, then place them face down above the Market strip, as shown.
4. Shuffle all Encounter cards and place them as the Encounter pile, face down and turned sideways, above the Market piles.
5. Shuffle all Incident cards and place them as the Incident pile, face down, next to the Market strip.
6. Leave space to the left of the Market strip for the Junk pile.
7. Reveal 1 card from each of the Market piles and lay each one face up below the Market strip. This is the open Market.
8. Sort the Location cards into Starting Locations and Locations, based on the marking at the bottom center of the card. Shuffle all cards marked Location into a face-down pile.
9. Shuffle all Starting Location cards. Place one of them face down on top of the face-down pile of Location cards. This is the Location deck — place it face down in the middle.
10. Draw 3 more Starting Location cards and lay them face up in a row next to the Location deck; this is the Neutral Zone. Return the remaining Starting Locations to the box — you won't need them.
11. Take all Stardate cards appropriate to your game mode (for a two-player game, take all cards marked "2 PLAYER") and sort them by their sequence number (top right), with the #1 card on top and the highest-numbered card on the bottom. Place this pile face up near the Market. Return all other Stardate cards to the box — you won't need them.
12. Create a general supply of dilithium, latinum, and glory that is within everyone's reach.
13. Place as much glory on the top Stardate card as is indicated in its lower-left corner.
14. Each player now chooses the captain they want to play. Take all of that captain's crew cards (marked with their deck icon in the lower left). Then also take the matching captain board. (For your first game, we recommend Picard and Shran.)

Incident cards in the Incident pile? Check whether you have any Incident cards among your crew cards (cards marked INCIDENT at the bottom center — the decks recommended for your first game have none) and shuffle them into the Incident pile next to the Market. Note: this only applies to these — you may have further Incident cards among your crew cards marked differently at the bottom; handle those as usual (see Player Setup, p. 6).

15. Create a supply of all ship tokens belonging to common ships and to the ships of both chosen decks. Return all other ship tokens belonging to unused captains to the box.
16. Give both players 3 action tokens and 3 mission completion tokens. Form a supply of the remaining action tokens nearby.
17. Whoever last looked at the stars becomes the starting player and receives the starting player token.

Player Setup

Each captain performs the following on their own:

1. Place your captain board on the left side of your play area. Choose whether you want to play the Simple or Expert side of your captain board. (You don't both have to choose the same side.) Place the 3 specialty markers on the "0" space of the matching colored specialty track.

   • For your first few games (and your first game with a new deck), we recommend playing the Simple side. Doing that? Then also put 2 of the 3 mission completion tokens back in the box — you won't need them.

2. Sort your crew cards according to the markings at the bottom edge of the card:

   • Incident
   • Mobilized
   • Available
   • Development
   • Reserve
   • Discard
   • Controlled Location

   Note: Your captain card (and possibly a status card) has no marking, and cards marked Incident at the bottom of the card should already be in the Incident pile.

3. Place your Captain card to the right of your captain board. Leave room above it for your bridge officer (more on that later).

4. If you have a Status card, place it above your captain board. (The decks recommended for the first game have none.)

5. Shuffle together all cards marked Available and place them as a face-down pile below your Captain card. This is your Deck.

Your Deck — "Your deck" always refers to this specific face-down pile of cards from which you draw. Any other deck (or other pile) will always be named explicitly.

6. Place all cards marked Development as a face-up pile above your captain board. This is your Development pile — for short, your "Developments."
7. Shuffle all your cards marked Reserve and place them face down, rotated 90°, on your Development pile. This is your Reserve pile — for short, your "Reserve."
8. If you have one or more cards marked Controlled Location (the decks recommended for the first game have none), lay them face up in the area to the right of the space for your bridge officer — this is your Space Zone.
9. If you have one or more cards marked Mobilized, lay them face up in the area to the right of your Captain card — this is your Fleet Zone.
   • Also take the matching ship tokens for your mobilized ships and place them on the corresponding cards.

The Briefing Room — Leave room next to your deck for your Briefing Room — whenever you play cards during your turn, you place them in this area.

10. If you have one or more cards marked Discard (the decks recommended for the first game have none), lay them face up in a space to the right of your Briefing Room — this is your Discard pile.
11. Take 1 dilithium, 1 latinum, and 1 glory from the supply (not from a Stardate card) into your Personal Supply.
12. Take as many Away Team tokens as indicated in the upper left of your Captain card. Away Team tokens come in 2 colors — take 1 matching set of them.
13. Draw 5 cards from your deck. This is your starting hand (this hand size of 5 is also the draw limit during the game).
    • Note: it is possible that a card already in play modifies this number.

The starting player begins the game!

Game Overview

Star Trek: Captain's Chair is an asymmetric, thematic deck-building game in which you play as a famous captain from the Star Trek universe together with your crew, recruiting new friends and allies, analyzing alien life-forms, and exploring or occupying neutral planets while managing your resources.

You play one after another, with the starting player going first. A player completes their turn fully before their opponent takes theirs. A turn consists of 4 steps (see "Structure of a Turn" on this page). Players take their turns until the end of the game is triggered.

Structure of a Turn — Your turn consists of 4 steps, in the following order:

1. Resupply Step
2. Control Step
3. Action Step
4. Clean-Up Step

The game can end in two ways:

• The last Stardate card is removed and the credits are triggered. The game continues normally until the player who was not the starting player has finished their turn. Then both players get one more turn each. After that, Final Scoring is performed.
• If the Incident pile is empty, the game ends immediately with "Red Alert." No Final Scoring follows, and the winner is simply the player who has fewer Incident cards (whether in play, in hand, in the discard pile, in the deck, or in the computer log — but not in the Reserve). Only in case of a tie here is Final Scoring performed.
  • Red Alert can also end the game even if the credits have already been triggered. In that case, the game ends immediately with Red Alert.

Final Scoring — In Final Scoring, the player with the most Victory Points wins. You earn Victory Points by completing missions, advancing on the specialty tracks, VP (for short) printed on your cards and end-game operations, collecting glory, and more (see Final Scoring on p. 24).

Gaining Resources — There are 3 kinds of resources: dilithium, latinum, and glory. If a card effect grants you such resources, take the stated amount and place it in your personal supply.

You always take latinum and dilithium from the general supply. You only ever take glory from the Stardate card — except once the credits have already been triggered, in which case you take glory from the general supply instead.

Spending Resources — If an effect instructs you to spend a certain amount of a resource, remove it from your personal supply back into the general supply. If you are instructed to spend a resource and cannot, you may also not carry out the operation that requires it.

Glory in your personal supply is a wildcard:

• If you are asked to spend latinum, you may instead spend 1 glory per latinum, as if it were 1 latinum.
• If you are asked to spend dilithium, you may instead spend 1 glory per 2 dilithium, as if it were 2 dilithium. Excess dilithium is not exchanged.

Note: resources can only be converted this way unless another effect explicitly changes or allows it.

×5 Resource Tokens — Tokens are included on which you can place 1 resource to represent 5 of that resource. You can use these to help out if you should run out of a resource type, since they are unlimited.

1. Resupply Step

Some cards have a RESUPPLY operation. Carry out all operations marked RESUPPLY in your play area, in an order of your choosing (but not those on beamed cards, see p. 19). Unless stated otherwise, all effects must be carried out.

You will most likely not carry out any RESUPPLY operations on your very first turn.

Example: You have two operations marked RESUPPLY: the Xindi-Reptilian Warship lets you draw 1 card, since you have 2 Anomaly cards in play (Farpoint Station and the Organians who were beamed onto the U.S.S. Enterprise-D). Will Riker lets you discard the top card of your deck and gain 1 latinum.

2. Control Step

A Location card in the Neutral Zone is secured by you if you have at least 3 away teams/ship tokens there (in any combination), and at least 2 more than your opponent. You'll learn later how these get onto a Location card.

If you have secured 1 or more Location cards in the Neutral Zone during this step, you may take control of exactly 1 of them.

You take control as follows:

1. Your opponent gains 1 glory for each of their away teams and ship tokens (i.e., each "marker") at this Location.
2. All away teams at this Location (yours and your opponent's) are removed (return them to their respective Captain card) and all ship tokens (yours and your opponent's) are removed. The associated Ship cards are discharged (meaning you discard each to your discard pile and return their tokens to the supply).
3. Move the Location from the Neutral Zone into your Space Zone and immediately carry out its CONTROL operation.
4. If possible, draw 1 new card from the Location deck to refill the Neutral Zone back up to 3 Locations.

Example: Since Archer IV has the U.S.S. Enterprise-D's ship token and 2 of your away teams on it, you decide to take control of it. (A) Discard the U.S.S. Enterprise-D to your discard pile. (B) Return the 2 away teams to your Captain card. (C) Move the Location into your Space Zone and carry out its CONTROL operation, which in this case has no effect. (And the RESUPPLY operation will, of course, only be carried out at the start of your next turn.) (D) The opponent's away team is returned to their Captain. (E) For that, the opponent gains 1 glory.

3. Action Step

Most of the game revolves around carrying out various card operations and their effects. The two operations that are most common in this step are PLAY operations and ACTIVATE operations.

At the start of your turn you have only 3 action tokens — so you may carry out only up to 3 operations that require action tokens. But not every operation costs an action token: only when an operation begins with an action-token symbol does it cost you 1 of your 3 available action tokens for that turn. When it does, place 1 action token (spent side up) on the card as a reminder. Once you have no available action tokens left, you may no longer carry out such operations.

Optional or Mandatory? All effects of a carried-out operation are mandatory, unless they say you "may" do something. WATCH OUT! If you cannot pay a cost (wherever it appears in an operation's text), you may not carry out that operation. Costs can take many forms: spending resources, moving cards to specific places (discard pile, top of your deck, Briefing Room, etc.), or any effect "A" in a sentence like "Do A to do B." However, if a non-cost effect cannot be carried out (e.g., it would be a useless benefit), skip it.

Attacks — Any operation with the preceding word ATTACK has a negative effect on your opponent. If an ATTACK operation forces your opponent to choose an effect, they must choose an effect that can be fully carried out.

PLAY Operations — During the Action Step, you may play cards from your hand. Whenever you do, place the card in your Briefing Room, then carry out exactly 1 of its PLAY operations in full. If you cannot carry out at least 1 of them, you may not play the card.

Note: playing a card only costs 1 action token here too if you want to carry out a PLAY operation preceded by an action-token symbol.

The played card remains in your Briefing Room after it is carried out, unless one of its effects instructs you to place it elsewhere (e.g., mobilize it, log it, or promote it). For the rest of your turn its types, traits, and specialties count as being in play (but only those) — and you may count it toward other effects (for example, to complete missions).

Example: PLAY operation (no action cost) — First you play Set Course… and choose: … then you warp the Xindi-Reptilian Warship by placing its ship token on Farpoint Station. Set Course stays in your Briefing Room. This cost no action token!

"Cannot be played" — A small number of cards have the text "This card cannot be played." This means you may not play this card into the Briefing Room during the Action Step — everything else (beaming, discarding, promoting, etc.) remains completely normal.

Example: PLAY operation (with action cost) — You play the Type-7 Shuttle and choose: [effect]. This operation costs 1 action token, so — as a reminder that you used it — you place 1 of your available action tokens on the card.

Exhausting — To mark a card as exhausted, turn it sideways. To ready it again, turn it upright again.

Trigger Operations — Trigger operations are effects that are deliberately triggered. You may trigger operations on any of your cards in your play area (such as a mobilized Ship, a controlled Location, or a Person promoted to bridge officer) — with 2 exceptions: not on cards in your Briefing Room, and not on beamed cards (more on beaming on p. 19). There are 3 kinds of trigger operations:

• ACTIVATE operations may be used at any time during the Action Step of your turn — even before, after, or between playing cards — but not during another operation. To trigger an ACTIVATE operation on a card, you must exhaust the card, then carry out its effect. You cannot use the ACTIVATE operation of a card that is already exhausted — it must first be readied again.
• PASSIVE operations are always available. If they are triggered by a condition, they can be triggered any number of times — during either player's turn. PASSIVE operations must always be carried out, even if they are not advantageous to you, and even if the card is currently exhausted. PASSIVE operations do not automatically exhaust the card.
• REACTION operations may be used when their listed condition has occurred, even outside your Action Step and even during your opponent's turn. To trigger a REACTION operation on a card, you must exhaust the card, then carry out its effect. You cannot use the REACTION operation of a card that is already exhausted — it must first be readied again.

Assessing the Situation — Reminder: trigger operations on cards in your Briefing Room — such as on a Person that hasn't been promoted, or a Ship that hasn't been mobilized, or on beamed cards (whose trigger operations you can't see, since they've been tucked under another card) — cannot be carried out.

Promoting — Although almost every Person has a trigger operation, you cannot use it just by playing it, since it would then only be in your Briefing Room. You must promote it to bridge officer (usually via your starting Ship) for it to leave the Briefing Room.

Example: ACTIVATE operation — Next you trigger Will Riker (your bridge officer) by exhausting him and carrying out one of his ACTIVATE operations: this lets you take the U.S.S. Enterprise-D from the discard pile (it's been there since the Control Step) back into your hand.

Fulfilling Objectives — During your Action Step you may also complete 1 or more of your missions, as long as their objective is currently fulfilled. When you do, immediately carry out their REWARD and mark the mission with 1 mission completion token.

Beaming and Objectives — If a beamed card contributes to fulfilling a mission, it is discharged, while other cards stay in place. For details, see p. 19.

Unused Action Tokens — Unused action tokens are lost (i.e., they are not saved for the next round); however, some CLEAN-UP operations grant you benefits for unused action tokens beforehand.

4. Clean-Up Step

The Clean-Up Step is divided into several consecutive parts: Clean-Up operations » Execute Stardate » Place Glory » Discard, Draw & Ready.

Clean-Up Operations — Some cards have CLEAN-UP operations. Carry out all CLEAN-UP operations on cards in your play area, including cards in your Briefing Room — but not those on beamed cards. You choose the order — but all effects, except those with "may," are mandatory.

Example: Clean-Up operation — This turn you played The High Council of Halkan. Halkans are extreme pacifists and cannot side with violence. Since you have Worf in your Briefing Room, who has an ATTACK trait (even if you didn't use the ATTACK operation), you must log the Halkans (tuck the card fully under your Captain card — more on logging on p. 21).

Emptying the Stardate Card — As already mentioned (p. 8), glory you gain is always taken from the top Stardate card. If, at any point during your turn, receiving glory empties the Stardate card (not only during the Clean-Up Step), your opponent (i.e. the player not currently taking their turn) immediately receives the emptied card and places it in their Briefing Room (where it stays until they execute their Stardate during their Clean-Up Step).

Now place glory from the supply onto the new top Stardate card (as indicated on it). If you're due more glory, take it from there.

Exception: if the last Stardate card is emptied, don't give it to the other player. Reminder: when the last Stardate card is emptied, the credits are triggered. From then on, take any remaining glory from the supply instead.

Execute Stardate — Is there a Stardate card in your Briefing Room? Execute it now.

It may require 2 things:

• Clear the Market: Remove all resources from cards in the Market (return them to the general supply), then place all 4 Market cards on the Junk pile. Then reveal 4 new cards, if possible.
• Clear the Neutral Zone: Return all neutral Location cards that have no ship token and/or away teams on them to the box, and reveal replacements. Any Location in the Neutral Zone with 1 or more ship tokens or away teams on it stays where it is.

Then return the executed Stardate card to the box.

Note: the cards also say "markers" should be removed. This only becomes relevant with expansions...

Example: execute a Stardate card — Your opponent emptied the third Stardate card on the previous turn. The fourth was filled with 6 glory, and you placed the emptied Stardate card in your Briefing Room as a reminder. Now the card is triggered — it instructs you to clear the Market and the Neutral Zone. All 4 cards from the Market are placed on the Junk pile (even the Cargo card your opponent had already put 1 glory on). 2 Locations from the Neutral Zone are returned to the box. Betazed stays in the Neutral Zone, since it has a ship token on it. Both the Market and the Neutral Zone are refilled before the next step.

Place Glory — Take 1 glory from the current Stardate card and place it on 1 of the 4 Market cards. The amount of glory that can sit on a card is unlimited. Does this empty the Stardate card? Give it to your opponent (as usual, see the rules box on p. 12). Has the credits already been triggered? Take the glory from the supply instead.

Example: Place Glory — After the Market was refilled, the following cards are there: Zefram Cochrane, Unstable Wormhole, Pakled Freighter, Tholians. You want to take Zefram Cochrane, but so does your opponent — placing 1 glory on the card would tempt your opponent to take it first. You consider taking the Tholians instead (since Ally is your usual pick, as Jean-Luc Picard). However, you notice that the only opposing card with which they can gain Cargo is on their discard pile. So you place the glory on the Unstable Wormhole instead. 5 glory remain on the Stardate card.

Discard Cards — Place all cards from your Briefing Room onto your discard pile. You may now also discard any number of cards of your choice from your hand. Cards in your Space and Fleet Zones remain in play, as do your bridge officer(s).

Example: Discarding — You have 3 cards in hand: Summons (always useful for gaining an Ally), Mek'leth, and 1 Incident that you haven't been able to get rid of yet. Since you definitely want to gain 1 Cargo next turn and 5 cards remain in your deck, you decide to discard Mek'leth and the Incident, to nearly guarantee that you draw Analysis. You keep Summons in hand, since you want to play it next turn. You discard the played cards in your Briefing Room, while your bridge officer Will Riker and your new Location stay in play.

Draw Up to Hand Size — Draw cards from your deck until your hand size reaches the draw limit (normally 5). Already have 5 or more in hand? You don't have to discard them — you simply don't draw any new ones. Hand size is not the same as a hand limit, since there is no hand limit in this game. Does your deck become empty while drawing? See p. 14, Rotation and Recruiting.

Ready Exhausted Cards — Ready all your exhausted cards in play (your Captain card, your bridge officer(s), mobilized Ships, controlled Locations, etc.).

Ready Action Tokens — Take back all your action tokens so that you have 3 of them, and place them — available side up — in your personal supply (and return any excess action tokens you may have gained during the turn to the general supply).

Special Operations — A small number of cards have SPECIAL operations (usually with conditions that occur when a PASSIVE operation would not be triggered). These should be self-explanatory and will always describe when they are triggered.

Game Concepts

Rotation and Recruiting

Whenever you have to draw a card, or an operation lets you interact with the top card of your deck (drawing, discarding, or even just looking at it), but your deck is currently empty, rotate your deck and recruit 1 card as follows:

Shuffle your discard pile to form your new deck. Then draw the top card of your Reserve (the Reserve is the pile of face-down cards, rotated 90 degrees, sitting on your Developments — every captain has such crew cards) and place it face down on top of your freshly shuffled deck. By recruiting, you grow your deck every time you reshuffle, and you guarantee that the next card you draw is this recruited card.

If your deck is reshuffled while you're supposed to draw several cards (for example, during the Clean-Up Step), draw further cards after you have formed your new deck and recruited the top card of the Reserve.

If your deck rotates multiple times, you may recruit multiple cards this way, whether within the same step or across several steps.

Example: Recruiting from the Reserve — What would happen if only 2 cards were left in your deck? You would first draw these 2 cards. Then shuffle your discard pile (which already contains all cards discarded in the previous step). Then draw the top card of your Reserve (Beverly Crusher, who helps you deal with your Incidents) and place it on top of your deck. Since you currently have only 3 cards in hand, you may keep drawing: the first card you draw is of course Beverly, the second will be unknown to you — you did shuffle the cards, after all.

Developments

Below your Reserve pile sits your Development pile.

If you rotate your deck but your Reserve is empty, you now instead have the option of recruiting 1 Development: choose 1 card from this pile (it need not be the top one), and then you may pay its development cost to place it — as usual — on top of your deck. These cards are often worth many Victory Points, or have major strategic benefits, especially if you can get them early. However, if you cannot pay the cost, you may not take the Development.

Special case: if an effect explicitly allows you to recruit a Development, you may do so even if your Reserve isn't empty yet.

Example: Recruiting Developments — Suppose your deck is empty, and when you rotate, your Reserve is also empty: you may now recruit 1 Development — so you choose 1 card from the Development pile to place on top of your deck. You choose the Tamarians and pay their cost of 2 dilithium, and must take 1 Incident. Since the Incident is added to your hand, it immediately counts toward your hand size, giving you 5 cards in hand. In this rare case you do not draw the newly recruited card — it stays on top of your deck.

Types

Every card in play has 1 of 8 different types (shown in its upper-left corner). A card's type tells you "what kind of card" it is, and the type usually becomes relevant when you gain new cards. Person, Ally, Cargo, and Ship are common card types — i.e., card types found in the Market.

• Person cards feature notable individuals, crew members, and specialists.
• Cargo cards feature everything from technological devices and artifacts to strange creatures — anything you could thematically transport aboard or attach to a starship.
• Ship cards are the starships, shuttles (and occasionally space stations) that are either commanded by your captain or are friendly to you. Cards can be "beamed" here (see "Beaming" on p. 19).
• Ally cards feature well-known alien species, civilizations, or major organizations that you will either take over or recruit, depending on your culture's disposition.

Encounter cards feature significant events, discoveries, and breakthroughs of epic scale.

An Incident is an obstacle — problems that need solving; encountering one would always trigger Red Alert. You must get rid of these cards by either playing them (and fulfilling their conditions), or returning them some other way if permitted.

A Location is never added to your deck. As soon as it enters your Space Zone, it is controlled by you (under your protection, your observation, or your rule, depending on your culture's disposition). Locations are also found among captains' crew cards — but once played, they behave like any other Location.

A Directive is a special card type (the most common are Recruitment and Utilization); you can never gain new Directives.

Traits

Most cards have 1 to 5 traits in their upper-right corner. These are mostly a thematic representation of the card's subject. On their own, traits have no effect — their purpose is to serve as a reference for other cards. A trait on a card is considered "in play" if the card it's on is "in play" — even on beamed cards, see p. 19.

Traits on orange text boxes always denote species, such as Human, Ferengi, Alien, etc. Some effects that refer generally to species — Different Species or Any Species — also use these orange boxes.

Every other ordinary trait (such as Weapon, Starfleet, Scientist, Time Travel, etc.) represents a characteristic, profession, or organization to which a person/object belongs.

Traits with red text boxes also have associated matching effects on their card:

• Cards with the Attack trait always also have ATTACK operations that negatively affect the other player (some other operations can react to or defend against them).
• Cards with the Ongoing trait get mobilized into the Fleet Zone via their PLAY operation, even though they are not themselves a Ship.
• Surprise is only relevant in solo play against the computer. This is described in the Solo Rulebook.

With the Wildcard trait (in a salmon-colored text box) you may — for the duration of an operation, or to satisfy an objective — decide for yourself which trait it becomes. This rule applies regardless of whether the card is "in play" or not.

Example: Using the Wildcard trait — The theoretical condition "Have 3 Any Species in play" would be satisfied with 1 Bajoran, 1 Klingon, and 1 Wildcard. You could discard 1 card with Wildcard if an effect requires you to discard 1 Engineer. If an attack forces you to discharge 1 Cardassian, you are NOT forced to discharge 1 card with Wildcard.

Gaining Cards

You gain cards from the Market via the keywords Gain and Scan.

Gain "type" (e.g., "gain 1 Person") lets you either choose the face-up Market card of the stated type, OR draw the top (face-down) card of the matching pile. When a selection of traits is given, choose 1 of them. You cannot choose a different trait once you've looked at the cards of the first chosen trait. If you gain a face-up Market card that has resources on it, you also take those resources (usually glory). In any case, you then reveal the next card from the matching pile to refill the Market. Is the pile empty? Leave that space in the Market empty.

Where does it go? Reminder: when you gain cards (also when scanning), you place them face down on top of your deck OR face up on your discard pile (your choice). This is not the case for cards you recruited (see p. 14) — they always go on top of your deck; and cards you take (see below) instead always go directly to your hand.

If a selection of types is given, choose 1 of them.

Scan # "type" (e.g., "scan 2 Cargo") lets you look at the stated number (#) of top cards of the stated pile, and then either choose 1 of them OR choose the face-up card of that type in the Market. Then place it face down on top of your deck OR face up on your discard pile (your choice). Slide all cards you looked at but did not choose (except the face-up one) under the matching pile, in an order of your choice.

If a selection of types is given, choose 1 type before looking through. You cannot choose a different type after you've looked at the cards of the first chosen type.

Scan for "trait" (e.g., "for Klingon") guarantees you gain 1 card with the stated trait (provided one is available) — proceed as follows:

1. Do 1 or more cards in the Market have the matching trait? Gain 1 of them. (Place it face down on top of your deck OR face up on your discard pile — your choice.)
2. Otherwise: choose 1 type and search through its pile in the Market (draw 1 card after another) until you find 1 card with the matching trait. Gain this card (place it face down on top of your deck OR face up on your discard pile — your choice). Shuffle the other revealed cards back into their pile.
3. Found no matching card of the chosen type? Choose a different type and repeat step 2 (and, if needed, step 3).
4. Could you find no card with the desired trait in any of the Market piles? Gain 2 glory instead, as compensation.

Example: Scanning for a trait — You play Ambassador Kamarag. His PLAY operation lets you scan for Klingon or Starfleet. You choose Klingon and search through the Ship pile. You don't find a Klingon there, but you do find some Starfleet cards. Unfortunately that doesn't matter, since you'd already committed to Klingon, and you may not change your choice. Next you search through the Person pile, where you find Captain Dorg and place him on your discard pile (you don't want to draw him right away).

Taking Cards — Some effects speak of you taking a card. Taking is not the same as gaining. Cards you are to take always go straight to your hand.

If you take an Encounter, you draw the top face-down card (usually after fulfilling the conditions of a specific card from your deck — Strange New Worlds, Imperial Pride, A Good Day to Die, etc.). You mostly take an Incident as a cost for an effect, or as a penalty for an Attack played by your opponent. When instructed to do so, draw the top card of the Incident pile (without looking at it first) and take it into your hand. If you return an Incident (by playing it, or through another card effect), slide it face down back under the Incident pile.

Specializations (Research, Influence, Military)

There are three specializations, found as three tracks on your captain board: Research, Influence, and Military. A specialty marker on each track shows how good you currently are in each of these 3 specializations. When you gain Research/Influence/Military through a card effect, move the matching marker 1 space to the right. Each track runs from 0 to 15; you cannot advance beyond that.

Some cards have symbols colored to match these specializations. There are two kinds of these symbols:

• Specialty symbols (upper-left corner, below the card's name field) are usually counted via Utilization, to let you advance on the specialty tracks. A card can have up to 3 printed specialty symbols. Some cards have a variable specialty symbol, which can change under certain conditions.
• A focus symbol (lower-right corner, next to the Victory Point symbol) means the card's Victory Point value during Final Scoring depends on the highest reached Victory Point multiplier on the matching track — as long as you have completed at least 1 mission (see "Missions," p. 20).

Specialty Barrier — Barriers (found on certain operations) mean that a particular operation is only available if the matching specialty marker has reached at least that value. If you do not meet this condition, you may not play or carry out that operation.

Using Specializations — Some card effects refer to you having, or being able to discard, a card with a certain specialty and/or focus symbol. (A card that merely has a barrier for that specialization does not count for this.)

Victory Point Multipliers — Next to certain steps on the specialty tracks are Victory Point multipliers. If you have completed at least 1 mission by the end of the game, then every card with a matching-colored focus symbol is worth as many Victory Points as the highest reached Victory Point multiplier on the corresponding track.

Locations

A Location represents a planet or space station that is under your protection, or that has been taken over, observed, or otherwise influenced by you.

Once you have control of a Location (the Location sits in your Space Zone), you may use its specialty symbols, trigger operations, etc.

A Location in the Neutral Zone belongs to no player (nobody has control), and its operations and symbols cannot be used.

Mobilized Ships

Most Ships can be mobilized. When you mobilize a Ship, move its card into your Fleet Zone and place its matching ship token on it.

Example: Mobilizing — You play the U.S.S. Enterprise-C, which you previously gained from the Market. Since its PLAY operation instructs you to mobilize it, you place the card in your Fleet Zone and place the matching ship token on it. Later in your turn you exhaust this card and spend 1 dilithium to warp the Enterprise-C. Do you warp it to Farpoint Station, a Location you already control, to make use of it later with Strange New Worlds? Or will you warp it to the Ancient Relay Station in the Neutral Zone, so you can play the Type-7 Shuttle from your hand?

Warping Ships

You can warp mobilized Ships. This means moving the matching ship token onto 1 of your controlled Locations, or onto 1 Location in the Neutral Zone. A Ship may warp from one Location to another, and there is no limit to the number of ship tokens that can be at a single Location.

Example (continued): You decide on the latter and move the Enterprise-C token onto the Ancient Relay Station, where the opponent's ship, the Kumari, is already waiting for you… Had you exhausted the Kumari to warp it to Tulgana IV before playing Tarah, you could also have chosen that Location, since you would then have as many ship tokens there as your opponent.

Discharging Ships

When a Ship is discharged, place it (and all cards beamed onto it) on your discard pile, and return its matching ship token to the supply.

Away Teams

Every Captain card shows a number of away teams, placed on its card during setup (your personal supply). Some effects allow you to send out an away team. To send an away team, take it from your Captain card (or from another Location, if you have none there anymore) and place it on 1 of your controlled Locations or on 1 Location in the Neutral Zone — for the latter, however, the following applies: your opponent must not have more ship tokens there than you (i.e., at most as many, or fewer).

You may send an away team to a Location where you have no ship token (thematically they're sent there by a small shuttle that isn't represented in play). If you run out of away teams and want to place more, you may freely remove them from other cards beforehand. Removed away teams always return to your Captain card (i.e., to your personal supply).

Example: Away Teams — You play Tarah. This lets you send 1 away team. You may send your away team to either Betazed or Corvan II, even though you only have a ship token on the latter. You may not send one to Tulgana IV, since your opponent has the U.S.S. Enterprise-D there (and thus more ship tokens there than you).

Beaming

Some cards (usually mobilized Ships and some Locations) let you beam cards onto them. To beam a card, slide it from above under the card it is being beamed onto, so that its traits are still visible. Beamed cards count as "in play"; however, since only their type and traits are visible, only those remain "active" — their operations and specialty symbols no longer count. In short: beaming temporarily "removes" the card from your deck — because it now sits in your play area.

If a Ship leaves the Fleet Zone, all cards beamed onto it leave the zone the same way (e.g., if the ship is discharged, the beamed cards are discharged too). A Location (from your hand) may never be beamed onto a card.

Example: Beaming — While Binars and Bolians are beamed onto the U.S.S. Enterprise-D (bringing their Alien and Engineer traits into play), Will Riker is beamed onto Risa. Will's strong operations are thus unavailable, unless you recall him to take him back into your hand. Recall is a keyword you can find on cards (rules on p. 32).

Missions

Missions have an objective — usually a certain value on a specialty track, or having a stated number of cards with certain types and traits in play. Some missions require certain types/traits to be on the same Ship. For that, the symbols on the Ship and on every card beamed onto that Ship are counted.

As long as your mission's objective is fulfilled, you may complete it at any time during your turn (without spending an action). Then proceed as follows:

1. Carry out the mission's reward.
2. Discharge all beamed cards that contributed to completing the mission (other cards in play, such as mobilized Ships, any Location, cards in your Briefing Room, etc. are not discharged).
3. Mark the mission as completed by placing 1 mission completion token on it.

Each mission can only be fulfilled once.

Mission Failed — If you do not complete a mission, cards with a focus symbol are worth 0 VP during Final Scoring (see "Final Scoring," p. 24).

Example: Missions — After beaming the Tamarians onto the U.S.S. Enterprise-D, you fulfill the conditions for Peace Negotiations. (Although you already had 3 Allies in play, The High Council of Halkan didn't count, since the mission requires them to be on the same ship.) Before carrying out your next action, you decide to complete the mission and gain 4 dilithium and draw 4 cards from your deck. The Binars, Bolians, and Tamarians are placed on your discard pile, but the Enterprise itself (as well as any other card beamed onto it) stays in play.

The Computer Log

The Computer Log is a way to permanently remove cards from your deck. Some cards let you do this to thin your deck, while other, stronger cards log themselves to prevent overly frequent use. If instructed to log a card, tuck it under your Captain card. All cards tucked under your Captain card this way are in the Computer Log. Logged cards — with a few exceptions — can no longer be used, but they still count for Final Scoring.

Self-Logging Cards — Many cards have the effect "Log this card" at the end of their PLAY operation. This means you place the card in your Briefing Room, carry out its operation, and finally tuck it under your Captain — logging it that way.

Important: before and after carrying out the operation, the card (with its types/traits) is not "in play." It cannot be used to complete missions, or for effects that count traits, since these are either counted before the card is played, or after it has already been logged. If you want the traits of such a card to be countable, it is better to beam it rather than play it.

Example: Self-Logging Cards — You play Binars. The first PLAY operation spends 1 action token and you gain 1 Cargo. Ambassador Thoris has an ACTIVATE operation that counts Allies in play. Since the Binars are not in play, they don't count for this operation. After that, you log the Binars. You tuck the card under your Captain card, Thy'lek Shran.

Secret vs. Open Information

Some information in your play areas is secret from your opponent, some is open.

The following information stays secret:

• Your hand of cards, from your opponent.
• The order of cards in each of your decks.
• The order of cards in the Market piles.

The following information is open. You and your opponent may discuss it or ask questions about it during the game:

• The Junk pile, Computer Logs, discard piles, Development piles, and beamed cards.
• The full composition of the common piles is "available" information. Don't worry: you don't have to memorize every card — the game includes a handy list of all common cards, their types, traits, and specialty/focus symbols.

Example of a Complete Action Step

• First you play Confiscate and choose the second PLAY operation. This costs 1 action token. You spend 2 dilithium to gain 1 Cargo from the Market — in this case Tribbles. You place the gained card on top of your deck.
• Then you exhaust Andoria to use its Activate operation. Fortunately you previously sent 1 away team there, which lets you draw 1 card — giving you Tribbles in hand. This activation costs no action token!
• Next you exhaust your Captain card, use its Activate operation, and discard the Tribbles… which lets you send 1 away team to your other controlled Location — Weytahn. Although this wasn't a PLAY operation but an Activate, it had an action-token symbol in front of it — so it costs you 1 action token (your second this turn). Fortunately you still have 1 left.
• You exhaust your bridge officer Talas, letting you send 1 more away team to your third controlled Location, Memory Alpha, by discarding 2 cards.
• With your 3rd action token you play Imperial Pride, removing the 2 away teams you just sent, as well as the one on Andoria, to take 1 Encounter: the Iconian Gateway.
• Although you have no action tokens left, you have 1 Ally in hand — the Karemma — and your Military specialty marker is at 3. You play it for its second PLAY operation, spending 1 latinum and 1 glory (you have no more latinum), to gain a 4th action token!
• You use the gained action token to play the Iconian Gateway and send 3 away teams to 1 neutral Location, Solum — despite the opponent's Xindi-Reptilian Warship ship token there, which would normally prevent you from sending away teams there.
• You additionally gain 2 Military specialty, since Weytahn and Thy'lek Shran both have the Imperial trait.
• Playing an Encounter triggers the Reaction of the Amargosa Observatory — you gain 1 glory and may log 1 card from your discard pile, for example Riva. Logging him in turn triggers the Reaction of Memory Alpha, granting you 1 more glory — the end of a very satisfying and productive turn.

Final Scoring

Final Scoring is carried out when a) the game's end is triggered by the credits, or b) there is a tie during Red Alert. In either case, set aside the remaining cards of your Reserve pile and your Development pile before scoring.

All other cards you own count (including those in the Computer Log and beamed cards). Your score is the sum of the following elements:

• The sum of the printed Victory Points on all your cards.
• 1 VP for every glory you have.
• 1 VP for every away team and every ship token you still have at Locations in the Neutral Zone.

Asterisk VP — If a card's Victory Point symbol has an asterisk, its SPECIAL operation explains how it is scored (even if the card is not in play).

• SPIELENDE (end-game) operations on your non-beamed cards in play (usually your Captain card and controlled Locations).
• For each track: the highest reached multiplier value (not step!), multiplied by the number of cards with the matching focus symbol. Important: if you have not completed any missions, skip this step (i.e. count focus symbols as 0 VP).
• If you are playing the Expert side of your captain board, score the printed VP for each mission you have marked as completed with a mission completion token.

The player with the most Victory Points wins the game. In case of a tie, both players win.

Collecting Your Cards — Once you have scored your end-game operations, you may gather all your cards into a single pile to make it easier to count Victory Points, since their previous positions in the play area no longer matter.

Unused End-Game Operations — If a card with an end-game operation is not in play (logged, or still in your deck/hand), only its printed Victory Points count, not its end-game operation.

Wildcard Traits — Wildcard traits do not count as other traits for the purpose of Final Scoring.

Example: Scoring Cards — Since you have a total of 4 Allies (Denobulans, Edosians, The High Council of Halkan, Kelpiens), you score 4 VP with Jean-Luc Picard's end-game operation. These three cards have a combined printed value of 9 VP. Your Research specialty marker is above the ×4 multiplier. Kelpiens, Make It So, Geordi La Forge, and the U.S.S. Pasteur have a blue focus symbol and are therefore each worth 4 VP. From the cards in this example you score 29 VP: 9 from the Denobulans, Edosians, and The High Council of Halkan; 4 from Picard's end-game operation; 16 from Research focus symbols.

Component Anatomy

Crew card layout:

• Name, type, and away team count in the header.
• Traits in the upper-right corner.
• Deck icon (which captain the card belongs to).
• Card ID.
• Specialties, in the lower-left area.
• Focus symbol.
• Position indicator (for Location and Stardate cards).
• Development cost (black stripe).
• Victory Points.
• Operation stripes by color: PLAY operation (grey stripe), Trigger operation (blue stripe), end-game operation (red stripe), RESUPPLY/CLEAN-UP operation (green stripe), SPECIAL operation (purple stripe).

Stardate card layout: game mode, sequence number, starting glory, computer actions (solo play only).

Ship token: ship name, deck icon.

Captain board layout: name; Research, Influence, and Military specialty tracks with their Victory Point multipliers; a Mission row with Simple and Expert columns.

Card backs: normal card back, Location card back, Captain card back, Stardate card back, Status card back.

Cadet Training Mode

To play the game without an opponent (for example because you want to try out a deck, or want to learn the rules without also having to learn the rules for solo mode), use the following rule changes.

Setup — Use the 2 Stardate cards marked CADET TRAINING MODE (each with 5 glory) instead of the normal Stardate cards.

Rule Changes

• Always gain glory from the supply, never from a Stardate card.
• Outside the Clean-Up Step, ignore effects that remove glory from a Stardate card.
• You have a virtual opponent who permanently has "1 of everything" — except ship tokens at Locations in the Neutral Zone. If a card effect requires you, for example, to remove up to 2 opposing away teams to gain 1 glory for each, you will gain 1 glory for it. If you may steal 3 dilithium, but your opponent has only 1 available for you to steal, etc. You still only need 3 away teams and/or ship tokens at a Location in the Neutral Zone to secure it (your virtual opponent has only 1 away team there).
• Whenever your opponent would have to take an Incident, skip that step and instead gain 1 glory.
• If Red Alert is triggered at any point, you lose.
• Ignore card effects that trigger based on specific traits on your opponent's cards (since there is no opponent).

Clean-Up Step and Stardate — During the Clean-Up Step, clear 1 card of your choice from the Market (i.e. return any resources on it to the supply and discard it to the Junk pile) and then place 1 glory from the Stardate card onto 1 card in the Market.

Watch out: if you play with Burnham, remove 1 glory from the Stardate card and place 1 dilithium instead. (Her Status effect states that 2 dilithium are placed, but in Cadet Training you place only 1.)

The first Stardate card is emptied during the Clean-Up Step of your 5th turn. You set it aside in front of you. As stated on the card, at the start of the Clean-Up Step of your 6th turn you clear the Market and all Locations in the Neutral Zone that have none of your away teams and/or ship tokens. Then place 5 glory from the supply on the 2nd Stardate card. Now continue with the normal Clean-Up Step (clear 1 card and place 1 glory from the Stardate card).

The 2nd Stardate card is emptied during the Clean-Up Step of your 10th turn. As stated on the card, this triggers the end of the game — continue with Final Scoring after your 11th turn.

Final Scoring — Score as usual.

• If you have at least 70 VP, you understand how to play Captain's Chair.
• If you have at least 100 VP, you are already quite skilled at handling your deck.
• If you have more than 120 VP, you are a veteran of Starfleet Academy.

Keywords in Detail

Discard — Choose 1 card from your hand and place it on your discard pile (sometimes just called the discard). Note any restrictions. Discarding a card counts as a cost; if no (matching) card can be discarded, the effect that requires it may not be used. Note: you can never discard cards that are "in play" (that would be the keyword Discharge).

Play Without Action — Choose 1 card with the stated type/trait/name from your hand (unless stated otherwise) and play it as you normally would. If the chosen PLAY operation would actually cost 1 action token, you may ignore that (i.e. it does not cost 1 (additional) action token). Note: playing a card without an action does not let you ignore the costs of the operation's actual effect, nor does it grant you an extra action if you choose a PLAY operation that has no action cost.

Spend/Gain Action Token — If an operation is preceded by an action-token symbol, or an effect says you must spend 1 action token, it costs you 1 of your available action tokens: take 1 available action token from your personal supply and place it (spent side up) on the matching card. If you have no available action tokens left, you may not use the operation. If an effect instructs you to gain 1 action token, take 1 additional (4th, 5th, etc.) token from the supply and place it (available side up) in your personal supply. Action tokens are not limited. Should the unlikely case arise that you need a 7th action token, use a substitute. Such a gain only ever applies to your current turn — unused action tokens are lost at the end of your turn.

Market — If a card's text refers to the Market, it always means the offer of the 4 (rarely fewer) face-up common cards below the Market strip.

Beam — Choose 1 card from your hand (unless stated otherwise) and slide it, coming from above, under the card (usually a Ship) it is being beamed onto. From now on it counts as beamed. Only the type and trait symbols of beamed cards should remain visible! There is no limit to the number of cards that can be beamed onto a single card; each card may hold any number of beamed cards. Some effects only allow certain types of cards to be beamed. A Location can under no circumstances be beamed onto other cards. (A Ship may be beamed, even onto other ships — thematically, imagine a tractor beam.) A beamed card still counts as "in play," but its trigger operations cannot be used, and its specialty symbols are not counted. If a card is discharged/recalled/logged, apply the same effect to the cards beamed onto it as well. Beamed cards are open information.

Promote (to Bridge Officer) — Choose 1 Person from the stated place (hand, Briefing Room, or discard) and place it on the bridge officer space. Trigger operations on the card are now (immediately) available. Some PLAY operations instruct you to promote the card itself to bridge officer — in this case it is immediately removed from the Briefing Room. If the promoted card has an action token on it, the token moves with the card. The presence of an action token does not prevent you from using the card again.

Carry Out — Handle the stated operation exactly as if you had just played it normally. If an effect instructs you to carry out the CONTROL operation of a Location, you do so as if you had just taken control of it — but note: this does not count as taking control for purposes of REACTIONS. Markers (ship tokens, away teams, etc.) and cards beamed onto that Location are unaffected by this effect. If the Location also has a PLAY operation, only its CONTROL operation is carried out anyway. Carrying out a CONTROL operation does not (automatically) cost 1 action token unless explicitly stated.

Drone, Assimilate — We do not yet know what meaning, or what effect, these keywords have. But we dread the day we find out what they mean.

Discharge — Place the card to be discharged from play onto your discard pile. If cards are beamed onto it, they go to your discard pile as well. If the card to be discharged is itself beamed onto another card, the other cards are unaffected. Cards in your Briefing Room cannot be discharged. A Location cannot be discharged (since most cannot be in your deck), unless allowed by the Location itself. If it had an action token on it, place that on the discard pile too, as a reminder of what the action was spent on. When a Ship is discharged, all cards beamed onto that ship are discharged too, and the matching ship token is returned to the supply. If an attack lets you discharge an opposing card, it is placed on the opponent's discard pile.

Recruit Development — Choose 1 card from your Development pile and pay its printed development cost (Dev. Cost:) in the black bar. Then place it face down on top of your deck. Your Development pile has no particular order and may be examined at any time. Normally you may only recruit a Development when you rotate your deck and your Reserve is already empty. However, some effects let you recruit 1 (or more) Developments directly — you may do this even if your Reserve isn't empty yet. You may never recruit a Development if you cannot pay its development cost — whether via an effect or normally.

Gain Resources — If an effect grants you resources, take the stated amount and place it in your personal supply. Latinum and dilithium are taken from the general supply, while glory is always taken from the top Stardate card (or from the supply, after the credits have been triggered). If this empties the top Stardate card, give it to your opponent and fill the new top Stardate card with glory from the general supply. If the top Stardate card has less glory on it than you would receive, take all of it from the card, give it to your opponent, fill the next Stardate card with glory, and then take the remaining glory you're owed from there. If it is the last Stardate card, it stays where it is, and you instead receive your remaining glory from the general supply. All resources are unlimited. If needed, use a substitute, or the ×5 resource tokens, placing a resource on one to represent 5 of that resource.

Gain — Gaining a card of a certain type (e.g., "gain 1 Person") means either choosing the face-up card of the stated type in the Market OR the top (face-down) card of the matching pile. If a selection of types is given, choose 1 of them. If you choose the top card of the pile, you draw it without looking at it first. If you choose the Market card, you also gain any resources on it. Then draw 1 new card from the matching pile to refill the Market, if possible. If the matching pile is empty, the space in the Market stays empty too. If an effect lets you gain 1 card from the Junk pile, you may search it for 1 card of your choice of the matching type.

Exhaust — Turn a card in play (in your Fleet Zone, Space Zone, your bridge officer, or your Captain card) 90 degrees sideways (just as if you had just carried out a trigger operation on it). This indicates that no trigger operations on this card can be carried out until the end of the Clean-Up Step (because the card is already exhausted). Some effects let you ready an exhausted card again. Exhausting a card counts as a cost. If you cannot exhaust a card, you may not carry out the associated operation.

Find (Name/Type/Trait) — Search your hand, your discard pile, your deck, and your Reserve pile for 1 card of your choice with the matching name/type/trait and add it to your hand (if it isn't already there). You need not choose the first matching card you find; search for the card you want until you run out of places to search. In some cases you may only search a subset of the areas just named (the most common case being "except from the Reserve," meaning you may only find a card in your hand, discard pile, and deck). If several types or traits are named, you may search for any card containing one or more of the stated types or traits, and take 1 of these cards. If an effect lets you find cards with certain traits, you may also find cards with the Wildcard trait. Afterward, shuffle your searched deck and your searched Reserve again.

Secured — A Location in the Neutral Zone is considered secured as long as you have a combined total of at least 3 away teams and/or ship tokens there, and at least 2 more than your opponent. This matters for your Control Step, and for a small number of card effects that let you take immediate control of a secured Location.

In Play/Out of Play — The following cards count as "in play" for you:

• Cards in your Space Zone: every Location you control.
• Cards in your Fleet Zone: every Ship, and every card with the Ongoing trait that you have mobilized.
• Your bridge officer(s).
• Your Captain card (and possibly a Status card).
• Cards in your Briefing Room (but: these are placed on your discard pile during the Clean-Up Step, and their trigger operations are not available).
• Cards beamed onto other cards, usually onto a Ship or a Location (but: their trigger operations are not available, since they're face down, and they are discharged if their type/trait symbols were used to fulfill a mission).

Cards in the following places do not count as "in play":

• Your hand
• Your deck
• Your discard pile
• Your Reserve pile
• Your Development pile
• Your Computer Log (under your Captain card)

Your opponent's cards are in play for your opponent's effects, but not for yours, unless explicitly stated.

Bring Into Play — A card is brought into play when:

• It is played, immediately after one of its PLAY operations is carried out,
• it is a Location in the Neutral Zone that is brought under your control, immediately before its CONTROL operation is carried out,
• it is a Person promoted to bridge officer from your hand or discard pile,
• it is beamed from your hand or discard pile onto another card,
• it is placed in your Briefing Room by another card's effect.

A trait or type is brought into play whenever a card with that trait or type is brought into play.

Take Control — "Take control" always refers to a Location. If it is a Location in the Neutral Zone, discharge all of your involved Ships and remove all your away teams from it. Your opponent (the player who is not taking control) gains 1 glory for each of their removed away teams and/or ship tokens there. Place the Location in your Space Zone. Carry out its CONTROL operation. This causes the card to count — with respect to REACTIONS — as brought into play. Control is usually taken during the Control Step, while Locations from your deck are played from your hand (using the matching PLAY operation), and some other effects let you take control of a Location directly from the Location deck.

Copy — Choose 1 card of the stated type from the specified place (Market, discard pile, or your Computer Log) and carry out the operation being copied (usually PLAY operations). Regardless of whether the operation would cost 1 action token, you don't have to spend an action token for it (beyond the effect's original costs). Specialty barriers of the chosen effect must still be respected. If the chosen operation refers to its own card (by name, or "this card" — e.g., "Log this card"), the effect is instead applied to the card with the Copy effect, if possible.

Example: If you use the Timepiece to carry out an operation of the Denobulans, the Timepiece is logged instead. If you use Odo to copy the Cloaking Device, this lets you ready 3 Ships, draw 2 cards, and scrap 1 card from the Market. However, since Odo is a Person, he cannot be mobilized — so the mobilize effect is ignored.

No Copy of Copies — The keyword Copy cannot itself be copied. Instead of a chain of copies, the effect is ignored. (For example, if you use Laas to copy the Timepiece, you may only recall a single card.)

Place 1 Card (at a Location) — Choose 1 card (noting any restrictions) from your hand (unless stated otherwise) and place it at the described location (top of your deck, Briefing Room, etc.). This always counts as a cost; if no (matching) card can be placed there, the effect requiring it may not be used.

Log — All cards under your Captain card are in the Computer Log. If an effect instructs you to log a card, choose 1 card from your hand (unless stated otherwise) and tuck it under your Captain card. If the logged card had beamed cards on it, those beamed cards are logged too. All Ships at a logged Location are discharged, and away teams are returned to their Captain card. Cards in your Computer Log are out of play — you cannot interact with them unless a card effect instructs you to. However, they are still worth Victory Points during Final Scoring. You may look at cards in your Computer Log — your opponent may not. If a PLAY operation's effect includes "Log this card," place the card in your Computer Log after you carry out its effect (rather than leaving it in your Briefing Room). If it had an action token on it, place it next to your Captain card as a reminder. If an ATTACK lets you log 1 of your opponent's cards, it is placed in the opponent's Computer Log.

Marker — The term "marker" collectively refers to (so far) away teams and ship tokens.

Mobilize — Only a Ship, or a card with the Ongoing trait (a Cargo/Directive/Encounter), can be mobilized. Move the card to be mobilized from your Briefing Room into your Fleet Zone. If you mobilize a Ship, take the matching ship token from the supply and place it on the mobilized Ship. The trigger operations of the mobilized Ship are now available. If a Copy effect would have you mobilize a card that is not a Ship and not Ongoing, ignore the mobilize instruction.

Take (1 Card) — Examples: Take 1 Incident, and take the top Encounter (or look at the top 2 and take 1 of them). This card goes directly to your hand (not, as with Gain/Scan, onto your deck or discard pile). Reactions with the condition "If you gain [a specific card]" are not triggered by taking a card onto your hand (as with Reinforcements from solo mode). If your opponent takes 1 Incident due to one of your attacks, they must take the top card of the Incident pile directly onto their hand.

Recrystallize — See the rules for Burnham (p. 35).

Recruit from Reserve — Draw the top card of your Reserve and place it face down on top of your deck. You may not look at your Reserve pile (or its order). If your Reserve is empty, keywords that refer to it have no effect (i.e. you may not recruit Developments instead). There are also effects that let you recruit 1 (or more) cards from the Reserve directly (for example "Recruit 2 Reserves") — you may do this with an effect even if your deck is not currently empty.

Reaction Operations — Carrying out a REACTION is not mandatory; but once begun, all its effects must be carried out (unless stated otherwise), as usual. Carrying out a REACTION operation may interrupt any other operation at any time, as soon as the condition for the reaction is met — that operation resumes once the reaction has been carried out. If the condition (e.g., "If you mobilize/If you gain") occurs for a reaction following a PLAY or CONTROL operation of the same card (and it is subsequently mobilized or brought under control), the reaction becomes immediately available. If you have multiple cards with a reaction sharing the same condition, you may carry out any number of them, in an order of your choice.

Spend Resources — If an effect instructs you to spend a certain amount of a resource, remove it from your personal supply back into the general supply. If you are instructed to spend a resource and cannot, you may not carry out the operation that requires it. This does not apply, however, to resources you are meant to lose. Glory in your personal supply is a wildcard: if you spend latinum, you may instead spend 1 glory per latinum, as if it were 1 latinum. If you spend dilithium, you may instead spend 1 glory per 2 dilithium, as if it were 2 dilithium. Excess dilithium is not exchanged. Note: otherwise, resources may not be converted unless another effect explicitly says so.

Scan — Scan # "type" (e.g., "scan 2 Cargo") lets you look at the stated number (#) of top cards of the stated pile, then either choose 1 of them OR choose the face-up card of that type in the Market. Then place it face down on top of your deck OR face up on your discard pile (your choice). Slide all cards you looked at but did not choose (except the face-up one) under the matching pile, in an order of your choice.

• If there are fewer than # cards in the deck, look at as many as possible. If there are no cards of that type in the Market (or the pile), this keyword has no effect.
• If a selection of types is given, choose 1 of them. You cannot choose a different one after you've looked at cards of the chosen type, and you may not gain any of the revealed cards of other types.
• If an effect lets you scan "including the Junk pile," after looking at # cards you may instead look at the entire Junk pile and gain 1 card of the chosen type from the cards you looked at (from the Junk pile, the Market, or the original # of cards).

Scan for "trait" (e.g., "for Klingon") guarantees you gain 1 card with the stated trait (provided one is available) — proceed as follows:

1. Do 1 or more Market cards have the matching trait? Gain 1 of them (place it face down on top of your deck OR face up on your discard pile — your choice).
2. Otherwise: choose 1 type and search through its Market pile (draw 1 card after another) until you find 1 card with the matching trait. Gain this card (place it face down on top of your deck OR face up on your discard pile — your choice). Shuffle the other revealed cards back into their pile.
3. Found no matching card of the chosen type? Choose a different type and repeat step 2 (and, if needed, step 3).
4. Could you find no card with the desired trait in any Market pile? Gain 2 glory instead, as compensation.
5. If a selection of traits is given, choose 1 of them. You may not choose a different one after you've looked at cards of the chosen trait, and you may not gain any of the revealed cards with other traits.
6. If an effect lets you scan "including the Junk pile," you may — after looking at the Market — but before searching through the piles, look at the entire Junk pile and gain 1 card with the matching trait from it. If you choose not to, proceed as usual with the Market piles.

If you gain a face-up Market card that has resources on it, you also take those resources (usually glory). In any case, you then reveal the next card of the matching pile to refill the Market. If the pile is empty, leave that space in the Market open.

Reactions with the condition "If you gain [a specific card]" can also be triggered when the card is gained via a Scan effect.

Scrap 1 Card (from the Market) — Choose 1 face-up Market card and place it on the Junk pile. Then reveal the next card of the matching pile to refill the Market. If the matching pile is empty, leave the space open. You may never scrap a card with 1 or more resources on it — however, it can still be cleared via a Stardate card (see p. 12).

Send/Remove 1 Away Team — Place/remove the stated number of away teams at/from the corresponding Location. You do not need to have a ship token there (unless the effect explicitly requires the presence of a Ship); however, you may not send an away team to a Location where your opponent has more ship tokens than you. If you run out of away teams but want to place another, you may take one from another card. If away teams are removed from a card (e.g., because a Location is logged, or due to an opposing attack, etc.), return them to your personal supply on your Captain card. The total number of away teams available to you is never reduced during the game.

Play Area — See the entry for "In Play" (p. 31) for a description of the play area.

Steal (dilithium/latinum/glory) — Stealing lets you take the stated amount of a specific resource from your opponent. If your opponent has less than stated, steal only as much as possible (possibly nothing) — you may not steal other resource types instead. Stealing is not gaining; reactions triggered by gaining resources are not triggered by stealing.

Warp — A mobilized Ship can be warped; this lets you move its matching ship token either to a Location you control, or to a Location in the Neutral Zone. A Ship may warp from one Location to another, and an unlimited number of ship tokens may be present at a single Location. Staying at the same Location does not count as warping. If a ship token has been moved away from a Ship card, it may not be placed back there (unless the Ship is discharged/recalled and played and mobilized again). Once a ship token has been placed at a Location, the Ship (and all cards beamed onto it) is considered "at" that Location, and the Location is considered "the Location of that ship." Some effects refer to a Location named the Badlands — this Location is not included in the core game and must first be explored by brave pioneers…

X+ "Things" — A number followed by a + always means "that many" or more. Examples: 1+ Location means "1 or more Locations." Or "if you have 2+ Ferengi in play" means "if you have 2 or more Ferengi in play."

Destroy — Destroyed cards, like logged cards, are removed from play. However (unlike logged cards) they are instead returned to the game box and are no longer available for the rest of the game. Destroyed cards no longer count as owned by any player. If you destroy a card with beamed cards on it, the beamed cards are destroyed too. If you destroy a Location, all Ships there are discharged, and away teams are returned to their owner's Captain card.

Draw, Draw from Discard — You always draw the top card of your deck into your hand. There is no hand card limit. If you would draw a card but your deck is empty, you rotate your deck: shuffle your discard pile, form a new deck, then recruit the top card of your Reserve if possible. If your Reserve is already empty, you may instead recruit 1 Development, if you pay its development cost. Place the newly recruited card on top of your deck. Now draw the (new) card. If you draw from the discard pile, you may search the discard pile for a card to draw instead. Note any restrictions. Note: you can never draw cards "in play" (that would be the keyword Recall).

Recall — Take the stated card from play back into your hand. It is possible to play the recalled card, possibly even a second time in the same turn. If the recalled card had other cards beamed onto it, those are recalled too. If the recalled card was beamed onto another card, that other card stays in play. A Location cannot be recalled (since most cannot be in your deck), unless allowed by the Location itself. If the recalled card had an action token on it, it is set aside as a reminder (the action itself is not made available again). If you play the same card again and spend another action, you place both tokens on the card, as a reminder that you have used two actions with this card.

Force — If an effect lets you force an opponent to do something, they must carry out the corresponding effect, with any choices within that effect made by the opponent. For example: "Discharge 1 opposing Ship" means you choose which ship is discharged, while "Force your opponent to discharge 1 Ship" leaves the choice of which ship to your opponent. Your opponent is thereby forced to carry out a "Discharge 1 Ship" effect. If a forced effect gives the opponent a choice, they must choose an effect they can carry out in full. If they cannot carry out any of the forced effects, they ignore the effect.

Return Incident — To return an Incident, slide it face down back under the Incident pile. If the Incident had an action token on it, set it aside as a reminder. Unless stated otherwise, you must always choose an Incident from your hand to return.

Meet the Crew Decks

Picard (Starfleet)

Complexity: 1 of 10

Picard is a master of diplomacy. His ability, his Final Scoring condition, and his first mission each encourage you to make friends with every Ally you encounter. At heart, he is a man of science, which especially shows in the choice of his crew: visiting the reliable Doctor Crusher with Will Riker at Farpoint Station guarantees an early boost to your Research specialty. Meanwhile, Data offers flexibility and ever-expanding knowledge that can help you master any specialty — especially with the help of the Daystrom Institute. But with Picard you are not unarmed in a fight, either; Worf can lead away teams into the Neutral Zone without fear, and should you manage to salvage the Interphasic Cloak, you'll be able to challenge even the Romulans at their own game…

Episode references (The Next Generation): Encounter at Farpoint; The Measure of a Man; Darmok; The Perfect Mate; Ménage à Troi; Cause and Effect

Koloth (Klingons)

Complexity: 3 of 10

As a cunning captain and Dahar Master of the Klingon Defense Force, Koloth is always ready for a fight. His fleet of D7 Battle Cruisers can arrive quickly at any contested Location. If he gets his hands on the Cloaking Prototype, he can send away teams even faster and undetected. With the spy Arne Darvin under his command, the opponent's supplies are never safe. Whoever falls out of favor with him is sent to the infamous mines of Rura Penthe — which keeps the Klingons supplied with a steady flow of dilithium. To achieve his most impressive feats, he must earn great glory — usually by seeking battle — but a good Klingon knows it is always a good day to die. Act like a good Klingon, and Koloth's legendary comrades Kor and Kang will stand by your side.

Episode references (Star Trek: Enterprise, with exceptions): Sleeping Dogs; Broken Bow; Judgment; The Andorian Incident; Affliction; Divergence

Shran (Andorians)

Complexity: 2 of 10

As proud commander of the Kumari, part of the Andorian Imperial Guard, Shran is ready to use any weapon he needs to defend his beloved Andoria. His two lieutenants — Tarah and Talas — always stand by his side; one favors diplomatic solutions, while the other would rather reach for a pistol. Both are able to surprise the opponent with away teams at any Location: around Andoria, as well as in the Neutral Zone. Shran's other hidden talent lies in trading resources; if he has the right Cargo, he can amass a large amount of dilithium (enough to keep Imperial Pride active). Later in the game, he can turn his attention to latinum and splendid treasures… But will you be able to always keep an eye on the disputed moon of Weytahn, or will you have to give it up in favor of the pesky Vulcans?

Episode references (Star Trek: Enterprise, with exceptions): Cease Fire; The Trouble with Tribbles; Balance of Terror; The Andorian Incident; More Trouble with Tribbles (The Animated Series); Blood Oath (DS9); The Sword of Kahless (DS9); The Dahar Master (DS9)

Sela (Romulan)

Complexity: 5 of 10

Sela is, without question, a shadowy commander of the mighty Romulan Fleet. Her Shady tactics and General Movar's connections to the darker corners of the quadrant secure her a wide range of options, and the 3 D'deridex-class Warbirds already included in her starting deck — each with its own cloaking device — guarantee her absolute superiority in the Neutral Zone. As you build up your deck, Sela and her cohorts will present you with a choice: politics at the point of a gun, and efficiency, via Proconsul Neral, Commander Donatra, and the Valdore — or a pact with the devil, unleashing the Remans, Praetor Shinzon, and the terrifyingly destructive power of the Scimitar.

Episode references (The Next Generation, with exceptions): The Mind's Eye; The Defector; Data's Day; Redemption I & II; Timescape; Reunification I & II (DS9); Star Trek: Nemesis (film)

Sisko (Starfleet)

Complexity: 4 of 10

With his assigned command of the space station Deep Space 9, near the planet Bajor, Benjamin Sisko finds himself at the center of galactic politics and influence. Backed by a crew of diverse talents, he's ready for challenges of every kind: Odo keeps criminal activity in check, O'Brien can get any old ship flying, and Kira is ready to defend her people, even when it isn't always the wisest move. The wormhole and the Prophets who dwell within it aid you with their foresight, promising you access to the Orbs as an ultimate source of wisdom to work toward. Later in the game you gain access to the U.S.S. Defiant — the only Starfleet vessel with a cloaking device. You'll also have the help of Doctor Bashir (despite the realization that he's an Augment!) and his mysterious friend "Plain, Simple" Garak. And should you decide to go to war, Starfleet — Worf in particular — will stand by you with reinforcements from Starbase 375.

Episode references (DS9): Emissary; The Homecoming; The Search Parts I & II; House of Quark; To the Death; Behind the Lines; The Sword of Kahless; Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night

Burnham (Starfleet)

Complexity: 7 of 10

After crash-landing in a new and unknown time, Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery-A find themselves confronted with the consequences of the Burn, which has not only cost countless lives but also made stable dilithium a genuine rarity. For her crew, dilithium is therefore often more valuable than glory. Even though she'd rather nothing more than continue her mission in the name of science and discovery, for now it remains top priority to prevent another dilithium destabilization event by finding out what caused it in the first place — and Theta Zeta may hold the answer. This disaster has pushed the entire Federation to the brink of collapse, so it will likely be a while before the crew regains access to the resources of Earth, of Ni'Var (formerly known as Vulcan), or of headquarters — the U.S.S. Federation. Until then, she can rely on the wide-ranging skills of her loyal crew: Detmer and Owosekun together handle any away mission, Adira Tal and Tilly optimize your deck in no time, the good Doctor Culber finds a solution for everyone, and Stamets might invent a new way of traveling revolutionary enough to one day be mentioned in the same breath as Zefram Cochrane… Thanks to the spore drive, the U.S.S. Discovery-A can arrive anywhere at any time, while Booker stands ready with his ship to support you, always keeping an eye and ear open in case a Creature in distress needs rescuing.

Episode references (Discovery): A Space Adventure Hour (I & II); People of Earth; Forget Me Not; The Examples; Reunification III; Su'Kal; There Is a Tide…; Kobayashi Maru

Rules for Burnham

Your hand size is increased by your Unstable Dilithium Status card. During setup, therefore draw 6 cards to your hand and refill your hand to 6 during the Clean-Up Step, until Unstable Dilithium is logged (via Theta Zeta).

During the Clean-Up Step, remove 1 glory from the active Stardate card. This glory is not placed on the Market — instead, 2 dilithium from the general supply are placed on 1 Market card. Whoever gains that card also gains the 2 dilithium, as usual.

If you play as Burnham and gain dilithium through operations, it is placed on your Unstable Dilithium Status card. This does not apply to dilithium gained from the Market.

You also may not spend glory as dilithium. Once your Status card is logged (via Theta Zeta), these rules no longer apply.

You cannot spend dilithium on your Status card, and it does not count as being in your possession for other effects.

Watch for cards with the Recrystallize effect: this lets you move dilithium from your Status card into your personal supply. Reno, Tilly, and Stamets have this ability.

If your opponent steals dilithium from you, it always comes first from your Unstable Dilithium card. Your opponent doesn't care where the stolen dilithium comes from.

If you steal dilithium from your opponent, place it in your personal supply, not on your Unstable Dilithium Status card. Remember that stealing and gaining are different mechanics.

Playing Burnham in Cadet Training Mode? Note the rule changes on p. 28.

Credits

Game Design: Dávid Turczi and Nigel Buckle. Game Development: Eric Meyers, Neo Teng Whay, Joseph Summa. Rules Editing: Dávid Turczi, Emanuela & Robert Pratt, Alex Davy, Brendan Irvin. Testing Engineer: Mark Hutchinson. Card Editing: Joshua Potter, Mark Hutchinson. Graphic Design: Daniel Solis, Rickey Riddley, Richard Dadisman, Joshua Gilardi, Anthony Lewis, Renee Lasater. Art Direction: Daniel Solis. Original Art: Kurt Komoda, Gong Studios, Reed Cahills.

© 2024 WizKids/NECA, LLC. WIZKIDS are trademarks of WizKids/NECA, LLC. All rights reserved. TM & © 2024 CBS Studios Inc. STAR TREK and all related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This edition was translated from the German-language rulebook published by Frosted Games Spieleverlag GmbH under license from WizKids.

Overview of Play

A turn consists of 4 steps, in order: 1) Resupply Step, 2) Control Step, 3) Action Step, 4) Clean-Up Step.

The game ends when…

• …the last Stardate card is emptied and the credits are triggered. Continue until both players have had the same number of turns. Afterward each player takes one more turn. Then proceed to Final Scoring.
• …the Incident deck is emptied and Red Alert is triggered. The player with the fewest Incident cards in hand, in the discard pile, in the deck, in play, and in the Computer Log wins. In case of a tie, proceed to Final Scoring instead.

Final Scoring

• 1 VP for each of your glory.
• 1 VP for each of your away teams and ship tokens at Locations in the Neutral Zone.
• Your end-game operations.
• The sum of all printed VP on your cards.
• At least 1 completed mission: VP for Research, Influence, and Military, multiplied by the corresponding specialty multiplier value.
• Completed missions (Expert side only).

Glory as a Resource: 1 glory = 2 dilithium / 1 latinum.

Symbol Reference

Species traits: Aenar, Alien, Andorian, Android, Any Species, Bajoran, Betazoid, Borg, Breen, Cardassian, Changeling, Different Species, Ferengi, Human, Jem'Hadar, Kelpien, Orion, Pakled, Reman, Romulan, Trill, Vorta, Vulcan, Xindi, Ex-B*.

Common (non-species) traits: Ambassador, Anomaly, Attack, Augment, Business, Cloak, Communication, Creature, Doctor, Dominion, Engineer, Helmet, Hologram, Imperial, Maquis, Mind Control*, Ongoing, Ops, Pilot, Scientist, Security, Shady, Spy, Starbase, Starfleet, Surprise, Telepath, Time Travel, Weapon, Wildcard.

Card types: Ally†, Cargo†, Captain, Directive, Discovery/Encounter, Incident, Location, Mission, Person†, Ship†.

Symbols marked with an asterisk are not used in this core game. †These types are common Market card types.

Other symbols: Research/Influence/Military specialty symbol, Research/Influence/Military barrier, Research/Influence/Military focus symbol, Wildcard specialty symbol, Victory Points, action token, dilithium, latinum, glory, away team, Borg Collective*, drone*.