Steam Power
Steam Power Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Components
- Overview
- Setup
- Gameplay
- End of the Game
- Basic Solo Rules
- Mautoma Solo Rules
- Credits
- Player Actions Reference
Components
- 2 Maps (additional maps are available)
- 48 Contract cards
- 1 Bag (for mixing city tiles)
- 105 Trains (21 per player)
- 75 Factories (15 per player)
- 100 double-sided Track tiles
- 80 straight/curve
- 10 tight curve/crossing straights
- 10 crossing curves/crossing straight+curve
- 33 City tiles
- 28 Factory Cities (7 in each color)
- 5 Victory Point Cities (purple)
- 120 Resources (30 in each color)
- 90 Coins (50 x $1, 40 x $5)
- 1 First Player Marker
Overview
In Steam Power, players take on the role of train company owners, competing with others to become the best.
You will lay tracks, connecting more and more cities to your network. You will build factories which produce resources. Those resources are then moved around the map over completed rail links to fulfill contracts, earning you points and other bonuses.
It is allowed, and usually necessary, to use resources from the factories of other players, and to transport those resources over rail links belonging to other players. Doing so requires you to pay those other players for their services.
The game ends when a player has fulfilled a certain number of contracts. Victory Points are then added up from fulfilled contracts, connections to certain cities, factories, and remaining money. The player with the most Victory Points wins the game.
The rules presented below are for the 2–5 player game. For the solo game, please see page 14 (the Basic Solo Rules section below).
Setup
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Choose which map to use for your game and place the map in the middle of the playing area.
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Place all of the City tiles into a bag and mix them up. Then, one by one, choose a hex on the map depicting a city, draw a City tile from the bag, and place it on the hex. For the Factory Cities (all colors except purple), ensure that the tile is placed so that the side with the 2 Victory Points is face down.
Depending on the map you are using, there may be some tiles remaining. Place these tiles by the side of the map; they will be relevant during final scoring.
Note: As these tiles are not on the map, their resources will be less common and cities of that color will be worth more VP at the end of the game.
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Separate the Track tiles by type and place them nearby in the stock.
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Separate the resources by type and place them nearby in the stock.
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Place the money nearby to form the bank.
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Each player chooses a color and takes the Trains and Factories in their chosen color.
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Shuffle the Contract cards and place them face down as a deck near the map.
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Each player draws 5 cards from this deck and places the cards in their hand.
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Each player takes $5 from the bank and places it in front of them.
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Determine a start player at random and give them the First Player Marker.
Gameplay
The game is played over a series of rounds. In each round, the first player takes a turn, performing two actions, followed by the next player clockwise until all players have taken a turn. Then, the next round begins.
Once a player has fulfilled a certain number of contracts (see box), finish the current round and then the game ends.
Contracts needed to trigger the end of the game:
- Two players — 14 Contracts
- Three players — 11 Contracts
- Four players — 9 Contracts
- Five players — 8 Contracts
Player Turn
On your turn, you must perform two actions.
The different actions are as follows:
- Lay Track
- Build Factory
- Fulfill Contract
- Take Contracts
- Take money from the Bank
You may perform the same action twice, or two different actions once each.
Action 1: Lay Track
To perform this action, take any two Track tiles from the stock and place each of them on an empty hex on the map. It is not required to place the two tiles next to each other as long as each placement is legal as per the rules below.
The cost for placing a Track tile on the map depends on the terrain in the hex:
- Plains: $0
- Hills: $2
- Mountains: $4
- No building in water
If you cannot pay the cost, you cannot place a tile on the hex.
Notes:
- Rivers have no effect on the cost; they are purely aesthetic.
- It is not allowed to lay Track on water hexes.
The first time in the game that you lay track, you must connect to any city on the board (the rails on the tile must lead into the city).
For example, you lay track connecting to the Orange city.
Any further track you build in the game must either:
A. Connect to one of your previously placed Track tiles, or B. Connect to a City tile that you are already connected to.
Therefore, all of your track must be contiguous: all of your tiles must connect to each other, either directly or via cities.
For example, you place your first track on the hex between the orange city and the gray one. You may now only continue to build out from either of these two cities.
When you connect two cities together with Track tiles, you have created a link. Your connected links are referred to as your network.
Once you have placed the tiles, indicate ownership of each link by placing one of your Trains on it. You only place one Train on the link, not one Train per tile.
Any Track tiles that do not yet connect two cities is known as an incomplete link. An incomplete link is still marked with one of your Trains. The next time you lay track, you must extend this incomplete link. You can only start a new link once you have no incomplete links.
For example, the first time you lay track, you place them leading out from this gray city. You now have an incomplete link.
The next time you lay track, you must continue this link until it reaches a city. Only then can you start a new link.
Note: If you do not have any Trains remaining, you cannot start any new links, but you can finish an incomplete link.
It is not allowed to lay track so that it connects to another player's incomplete link.
For example, this is not allowed.
It is possible however, for another player to build track in such a way that it is not possible for you to continue your track. Or, you may just have a change of plans.
When performing this action, instead of placing a new Track tile, you may either remove the end tile from the incomplete link or replace it with a different Track tile (at no cost). Each time you do this counts as one of your placements.
Note: It is only ever allowed to remove or replace the last Track tile in an incomplete link. A completed link can never be broken.
For example, the Blue player has an incomplete link from the gray city. On the Green player's turn, they place 2 tracks, connecting the 2 white cities. Blue's link is now blocked. On Blue's next build action, since the link is incomplete, they must continue it before starting a new link elsewhere. For their first placement, they replace the tile at the end of the link with a curve. Then, for their second placement, they place a new tile, connecting to the white city.
Note: Gameplay illustrations feature plastic pieces from the Deluxe Edition.
Crossing Track
Some of the Track tiles depict crossings. Crossing tiles cannot be placed on an empty hex.
Instead, they are used (as one of your two placements) to replace an existing Track tile. This always costs $2, irrespective of the terrain type of the hex.
When placing a crossing tile, you must preserve the original track.
For example, the Red player wants to lay track from the white city, heading north, but the way is blocked by track of the Yellow player.
- They first lay a curve coming from the white city.
- For their second placement, they upgrade the tile previously placed by the Yellow player with a crossing, preserving the original track but now allowing Red to continue building north.
Groups of Cities
Some maps have cities that are adjacent to each other. For game purposes, these cities are treated as a group: once you connect to any of those cities, you may build out from any of the City tiles in that group.
For example, here, Purple lays track into and out of the group of two cities.
Action 2: Build Factory
To perform this action, place one of your Factories on any empty City tile that is connected to at least one completed link. This link can belong to any player, it does not have to be your link.
It is not required to have a network of your own to build a Factory.
Note: Factories cannot be built on the purple Victory Point Cities.
After building the Factory, place 5 resources that match the color of the city onto the City tile, next to the Factory.
Note: In a 2-player game, place only 4 resources instead of 5.
You can build a Factory on any City tile of a group (where two or more City tiles are adjacent to each other) as long as at least one of those cities has a link connecting to it (of any player).
For example, any player may build a Factory on either the gray or orange cities here.
Action 3: Fulfill Contract
To perform this action, you must have at least one complete link on the map (there must be two or more cities connected together with your track).
Choose one of your unfulfilled contracts and then reveal it to the other players.
To fulfill the contract, you must acquire all of the resources indicated on the left side and move them to a city which is part of your network. A city is part of your network if you have at least one of your own completed links connecting to that city.
Note: A Factory alone does not make the city a part of your network (unless you also have a link to that city).
For each resource needed, first acquire it by either taking it from one of your Factories, or taking it from another player's Factory and paying them $1. Then, transport that resource along completed links to a city in your network. Using your own links is free, but for each link you use belonging to another player, you must pay the owner of that link $1.
Notes:
- The cost for using another player's link is $1 per link, not $1 per tile.
- If two or more cities are adjacent, you only need to transport the resource to one of those cities.
Once the resource has been transported to your chosen city, place it back in the stock.
If the resource you need is either not on the map, or on the map but is not connected to a city in your network, you must pay $5 to the bank for each such missing resource. Essentially, you are purchasing it from the stock, but there is no need to take the piece as you are just going to place it back.
Note: You cannot choose to pay $5 for the resource if there is a way that you can transport a resource on the map to your network (even if it means paying other players $5 or more).
When the last resource has been taken from a city, flip the tile to its other side (showing 2 VP) and place the factory back on the tile. The owner of that factory will gain 2 VP at the end of the game.
Once fulfilled, place the contract face up in front of you. Ensure that it is clear how many contracts you have completed and that the VP values on each contract can be seen.
For example, the Green player wants to fulfill the contract shown below. They must bring orange, black and gray resources to their network:
A. Black: This costs $0 as Green acquires it from their own Factory. Also, the resource is already in a city that is part of Green's network, so there is no cost to transport the resource. B. Gray: This resource needs to be purchased from Red, at a cost of $1. Again, the resource is already in a city that is part of Green's network, so there is no cost to transport it. C. Orange: This resource is purchased from Blue, at a cost of $1. However, Green then needs to pay to transport the resource to a city on their network. They pay Blue $1 and Red $1 for the use of their rail links.
The total cost to fulfill the contract is $4 ($2 to Red and $2 to Blue).
In this example, the Purple player's network is separated from all of the white resources on the board. Therefore, if Purple wanted to fulfill a contract that requires white resources, they must pay $5 to the bank for each white resource needed.
If the Red, Blue, or Yellow players wanted to fulfill a contract requiring white resources, they must be purchased from factories on the map and transported; they cannot be purchased for $5 from the bank.
Contract Rewards and Bonus Actions
Each contract card shows the resources required, the money earned, the Victory Points earned, and (on some contracts) a bonus action.
You gain any money indicated on the contract. The indicated VPs will be scored at the end of the game. If the contract has a bonus action on it, you may perform this action, but if you do, you must do so immediately. This is a free action and does not count towards your two-action limit.
- Lay Track: Follow the same rules as described for the Lay Track action.
- Build Factory: Follow the same rules as described for the Build Factory action with the exception that you may place 1 more or 1 fewer resources next to the factory (4, 5, or 6 when playing with 3-5 players, or 3, 4, or 5 when playing with 2 players).
- Take Contracts: Follow the same rules as described for the Take Contracts action.
Action 4: Take Contracts
To perform this action, draw 2 contracts from the deck and add them to your hand. There is no limit to the number of contracts you can have. For each new contract you take, if there are no more remaining, take an unfulfilled contract at random from the player who has the most unfulfilled contracts. If more than one player has the most, you may choose which player to take from.
Action 5: Take money from the Bank
To perform this action, take $3 from the bank.
End of the Game
The game end is triggered when one player has fulfilled a certain number of contracts, dependent on the number of players.
Contracts needed to trigger the end of the game:
- Two players — 14 Contracts
- Three players — 11 Contracts
- Four players — 9 Contracts
- Five players — 8 Contracts
Once the game end is triggered, finish the current round so that all players have had an equal number of turns. Thus, the game will end when the player to the right of the first player has completed their final turn.
Players now calculate how many Victory Points (VP) they have gained, as follows:
A. Every $5 you have is worth 1 VP. It is recommended to use money to track VP after this step. For example, if you have $38, keep $7 to represent your 7 VP. B. Each fulfilled contract is worth the VP indicated on it. C. Each Factory you have on a flipped City tile is worth 2 VP, plus 1 additional VP for each City tile of the same color which was placed next to the map during setup. A City tile is only flipped if all of the resources on it have been taken, so you would score nothing for a factory that still had resources on the same City tile. D. Each Victory Point City tile is worth 4 VP, plus 1 additional VP for each other purple City tile next to the map. Those points are shared between the players who have one or more completed links to that city, rounded down if necessary. For example, if a tile is worth 4 VP:
- If only 1 player has a connection to the city, they score 4 VP.
- If 2 players have a connection to the city, they each score 2 VP.
- If 3 or 4 players have a connection to the city, they each score 1 VP.
- If five players have a connection to the city, nobody scores any points for it.
Note: The number of links a player has to a city is not relevant for this scoring. For Victory Point Cities which are part of a group of cities, having a connection to any of the cities in that group counts as being connected to the Victory Point city for the purposes of scoring.
The player with the most Victory Points is declared the winner.
In the case of a tie, the tied player who has fulfilled the most contracts is the winner. If there is still a tie then the game remains tied.
Basic Solo Rules
Starting the game
Follow the setup instructions for the multiplayer game, with the following changes:
- Place the Trains and Factory pieces for all 5 companies in front of you, separated by color and type.
- Take 2 Trains from each company and place them in a bag.
- You start with $5 and 5 contracts.
Playing the Game
Unless stated otherwise, use the rules for the multiplayer game.
The game is divided into 8 rounds. Each round, perform the following steps, in order:
- Draw 1 Train from the bag at random and set it aside. The color of the piece drawn indicates the current "active company".
- Perform 1 action as if you were playing as the active company.
- Repeat steps 1 and 2 until the bag is empty.
- Draw 1 contract and place it to one side, face down. If there are now 8 contracts face down, the game ends immediately.
- Take the 10 Trains that are now set aside and place them back in the bag.
Your money is used to pay for any costs incurred by the active company, but any costs that would be paid to other companies is paid to the bank, instead of the other company.
Your contracts can be completed by whichever company is the active one. Any bonus actions from fulfilled contracts must be taken as if playing a turn as the active company.
Ending the Game
The game ends after 8 rounds. At the end of the game, you score points for your fulfilled contracts, flipped cities and money in hand as normal.
VP Cities score differently. You gain 1 VP for each different company connected to a city.
For example, here, you would score 3 VP.
Keep a record of your score and see if you can beat it next time.
Mautoma Solo Rules
In this solo mode, you play against a virtual opponent, the Automa.
It is also possible to include the Automa as an additional opponent when playing with other players, or even to play against more than one Automa. However, these rules are presented as if you are playing against one Automa.
You can use any map. Unless otherwise stated in these rules, all of the normal rules of the game apply. No additional components are required to play this mode.
The end of the game and final scoring follow the standard rules.
The Automa's play area consists of a Discard Area, an Active Area, and a Fulfilled Contract Area, plus its reserve of 21 Trains and 15 Factories.
Setup
Set up the game for 2 players as normal, but with the following exceptions:
- The Automa receives 21 trains, 15 factories, and $5.
- The Automa needs the following areas: Active Area, Discard Area, Fulfilled Contract Area. Ensure there is enough space for these areas.
- Take 1 resource of each color and randomly place one in each corner of the map.
- Take one $1 coin and place it near the white resource. This coin is referred to as the direction marker.
Note: The Automa does not receive any contracts.
You are the first player.
Terms and Abbreviations
Your, yours: Something that belongs to the human player.
Automa's network: The set of cities that are directly connected by Automa's tracks.
AEN (Automa's Extended Network): The set of cities that are directly connected by Automa's tracks or that are reachable from the Automa's network through your completed links.
Unconnected city: a city that has no completed links connected to it.
The Direction Marker
The direction marker (the $1 coin in a corner of the map) is used by the Automa when there are multiple choices among two or more eligible elements (hexes, factories, paths, etc.). Whenever such a situation occurs, the Automa chooses the first element that is encountered following the direction that starts from the direction marker.
- If the marker is in the top left corner, the direction is from top to bottom and then from left to right.
- If the marker is in the top right corner, the direction is from top to bottom and then from right to left.
- If the marker is in the bottom right corner, the direction is from bottom to top and then from right to left.
- If the marker is in the bottom left corner, the direction is from bottom to top and then from left to right.
Automa's Turn
On the Automa's turn, perform the following steps:
- Move the direction marker to the next corner clockwise.
- Draw 2 contracts and place them face down in the Automa's active area.
- Flip one of those contracts face up and check to see if the Automa can fulfill it. If it can, the Automa will do so. Otherwise it will use the contract as an action (this is described below).
- Flip the second contract face up and repeat the same process as for the previous one.
Fulfilling a Contract
(An illustration on this page shows an example contract card with decorative flavor text; it is not reproduced here as it is not game-rules content.)
If the Automa is able to fulfill the contract (by paying for and transporting the required resources), it receives the rewards. Then, put the contract in the Automa's Fulfilled Contract Area.
Rules about payment
- The Automa always pays as little as possible, irrespective of whether it takes resources from its own factory or yours (i.e., if the total cost is cheaper to buy from your factory, it will prioritize that over acquiring from its own factory).
- If there is more than one factory to take resources from (and the total cost is the same), the Automa acquires resources from its own cities before yours. If there is still a tie, take the resource from the city with the fewest remaining resources (if taking from one of its own), or from the one with the most remaining resources (if taking from one of yours). If there is still a tie for which factory to take from, apply the general tiebreakers rules (see General Tiebreakers, below).
- If a resource is not present in the AEN, the Automa pays $5 to the bank to acquire it, as a normal player would do.
General rules about the contract rewards
- The Automa gains the money and performs the action depicted on the contract following the specific rules for Automa track and factory building (see Lay Track and Factory Building, below).
- When the Automa builds a factory as a contract reward, it places 4 resources next to it. If playing with 3+ players (>1 human player, or >1 Automa), place 5 resources instead of 4.
- If the Automa is unable to get the contract reward, it gains $5 instead.
The cases in which the Automa cannot get the reward are:
- There are no factories or trains in its reserve;
- It does not have enough money to lay a track;
- There are no available cities where it can build a factory;
- The contract reward shows 2 contracts (the Automa never takes the action "Take 2 contracts", so this reward is not applicable).
For example, the Automa (Red) reveals a contract. First, check to see if it has enough money to acquire the required resources.
The Automa acquires the black resource from its own factory at no cost and since that factory is part of its network, pays nothing to transport it.
The cheapest gray resources are those produced by the Green factory ($1 to buy, no transport cost). Each orange resource however costs $2 ($1 to buy, plus $1 to transport). The total cost is $5.
If the Automa has at least $5, it gives $5 to the Green player and removes the resources acquired from the map.
The orange resources are taken from the factory with the most resources as it is owned by you. The black resource is taken from the city with the least resources as it is owned by the Automa.
Finally the Automa obtains the rewards provided by the contract tile: $3 plus another $5, because the Automa cannot gain new contracts. Then, the Contract tile is placed in the Automa's fulfilled contract area.
Performing an Action
The Automa takes an action according to the icon depicted on the contract. Then, place the contract in the Automa's discard area.
- Lay Track icon: The Automa places up to 2 tracks. If it cannot place at least 1 track, it builds a factory instead. If it cannot build a factory, it gains $3 instead. (See the dedicated sections about the Automa rules for laying track, below, and factory building, below.)
- Build Factory icon: The Automa builds a factory. If it cannot place a factory, it places up to 2 tracks instead. If it cannot place at least 1 track, it gains $3 instead. (See the dedicated sections about the Automa rules for laying track, below, and factory building, below.)
Lay Track (Automa)
Whenever the Automa lays track, it always tries to lay up to 2 tracks. The Automa pays the standard costs for laying track.
For each track placed, do either A or B:
A. If there is a coin path on the map (see "coin path" below), the Automa places the track following the coin path and tries to complete it. B. If there is no coin path on the map, determine the target city that the Automa will try to connect to. The target city must always be a city that is not yet part of the Automa's network and it is determined according to the color of the first resource depicted on the top of the active contract.
- The Automa tries to connect a city without a factory whose type corresponds to the resource which is the least present within the AEN. It does not make any difference if the city is already part of your network or if there are already other cities without a factory of the same type within the AEN.
- The Automa tries to connect a city that is currently worth VP. It doesn't matter if the worth of the city is 4 VP or less.
- The Automa tries to connect an unconnected city of any type.
- The Automa tries to connect a city of any type that is part of your network.
If the color of the first resource does not allow it to identify any city, consider the color of the second resource and so on.
If there is more than one eligible city, the Automa chooses the closest one. If several cities are tied for being the closest, the Automa chooses the first city that is encountered by the direction marker.
Once you have identified the target city, determine the city from which the route to reach the target city will start.
The path to the target city must always start from the city of the Automa's network that involves placing the least number of tiles. If there is more than one possible path, the Automa chooses the path that costs the least. If there is still more than one eligible path, use the direction marker.
The Automa then lays 1 track on the first space of the path.
If the Automa is unable to complete the route toward the target city by laying 1 track within its current turn, place coins on the map (taken from the bank), one in each spot where the Automa will place future track tiles to reach the target city. This route is called the "coin path". The coin path remains on the map also at the end of the Automa's turn, so the Automa can complete its project in future turns.
If the Automa reaches the target city with the first track tile placed in the turn, repeat Option B, considering the next color among the resources depicted on the left side of the active tile.
Special Cases
- The very first time the Automa places a track, it should start from a city whose color corresponds to the resource that currently is next to the direction marker. Among all cities of such a color, the Automa chooses the first city encountered by the direction marker.
- Once you have identified a coin path, the Automa will try to connect as many cities as possible along that path.
- If you lay tracks in a way that the Automa can no longer follow the original coin path, immediately remove all coins from the map together with any Automa's incomplete links. This means that the Automa does not use actions removing or replacing incomplete links.
Example A
Suppose that the Automa (Red) must connect to a purple city. Since there is more than one purple city that is not yet part of the Automa's network, it chooses the city on the right side, because it requires 3 tiles to be reached, while the city on the left side would require 4 tiles. The Automa creates the shortest coin path trying to connect as many cities as possible along it.
Example B
The Automa must connect a black city. The direction marker is in the top right corner. The first picture shows the shortest coin path, which will in future be replaced with track. Since the coin path passes close to a gray city, the track tiles will be placed so as to connect both the gray and the black city.
Example C
The Green player lays track crossing the coin path. The Automa still can lay tracks following the original coin path, so the coin path remains.
Example D
The tracks laid by the Green player no longer allow the Automa to lay tracks following the coin path. Therefore, the coin path is completely removed.
Example E
The Automa is using the contract as an action, so it lays track trying to connect to the city whose type corresponds to the resource which is currently the least present within the AEN.
The AEN has less gray resources than any other, therefore the first track will be laid to connect to the closest gray city to the Automa's network (shown by the arrow in the image).
There are two possible ways, indicated by yellow and blue dashed arrows.
If the direction marker is in the top left or bottom left corner, the Automa would use the yellow path, as it is the first encountered by the direction marker.
If the direction marker is in the top right or bottom right corner, the Automa would use the blue path.
Factory Building
Whenever the Automa builds a factory, it tries to build one within the AEN. If this is not possible, it places the factory in your network.
The Automa prioritizes building the factory in the city that produces the resource which is currently the least present among the factories that are connected to it. If there is any ambiguity on where to build the factory, the general tiebreaker rules for "city selection" are applied: first, the Automa chooses the city closest to its network. If still tied, the direction marker is used.
The Automa always places 4 resources next to the factory (5 if you are playing a 3+ player game, including the Automa). This is the same whether it built the factory as an action or as a contract reward.
For example, the Automa is building a factory. The least present resources in the AEN are gray and black, so there are 3 possible cities (2 gray and 1 black) where the Automa could build the factory. The black city is excluded because the first general tiebreaker for city selection states that the Automa chooses the city closest to its network. The direction marker indicates which of the gray cities is chosen.
If the direction marker is in the top left corner, the Automa builds the factory on the gray city indicated by the arrow (Cedar Rapids). If the direction marker had been in the bottom right marker, the Automa would build the factory on the other gray city (Springfield).
General Tiebreakers
This section details the procedure for making a choice in all the cases where there is ambiguity about the choices of the Automa.
Selecting a City
Whenever there is ambiguity about the selection of a target city to connect to or in which city to build a factory:
- The closest city to any city within the Automa's network.
- The first city encountered by the direction marker.
Selecting a Factory
Whenever there is ambiguity about the selection of the factory from which to take a resource, select the first factory encountered by the direction marker.
Selecting a Rail Path
Whenever there is more than one possible path to connect two cities, the Automa chooses:
- The path that requires the least number of track tiles.
- The cheapest path.
- The first path that is encountered by the direction marker.
Changing the Difficulty
If you want to change the difficulty, change the amount of money that the Automa receives as compensation when it cannot get the main reward of the fulfilled contracts:
- $0 very easy
- $2 easy
- $5 normal
- $10 hard
- $15 very hard
Playing with More Than One Automa
If you play against two or more Automas, the solo rules are the same, but any reference in these rules to your network/city/factory also consider the other Automa's (as each Automa is an opponent of each other).
Playing with Other Players and with the Automa
It is possible to include one or more Automas in games with multiple human players. Again, any reference in these rules to your network/city/factory, also consider each other Automa and each human player as an opponent. In this mode, select the first player randomly among the human players.
Summary of Mautoma Rules
(This page of the rulebook is a two-column flowchart diagram summarizing the Automa turn sequence already described above, rather than running prose. Its labeled boxes are listed here rather than a specific reading order, since the diagram's visual flow does not extract as linear text.)
Flowchart box labels on this page:
- Pick 2 facedown contracts
- Flip one contract
- Can the Automa fulfill the contract? (No / Yes)
- Fulfill a contract → Pay for the resources → Get the rewards or the compensation ($0/$2/$5/$10/$15) → Put contract in Fulfilled Contracts Area
- Perform an action
- Laying Track: City with the resource least present in the AEN; City with VPs; Unconnected city; Your city
- Build Factory: Which city? City whose resource type is currently the least present among the factories connected to it.
- Place up to 2 tracks / Build Factory (either order, per the Lay Track and Build Factory action-icon rules above)
- Take $3
- Put contract in Discard Area
- General Tiebreakers — City Selection: 1. Closest city to Automa's network; 2. Direction marker
- General Tiebreakers — Factory/Resource selection: 1. Direction marker
- General Tiebreakers — Rail Path: 1. Fewer tiles; 2. Lowest cost; 3. Direction marker
Credits
- Game Design: Martin Wallace
- Project Manager: Cassie Simpson
- Artist & Graphic Design: Leith Walton
- Video, Graphic & 3D Design: Iain Anderson
- Rulebook Editor: Paul Grogan
- Mautoma Solo Rules: Mauro Gibertoni
- 3D Sculptor: Jonathan Hirtler
Thank you to all the playtesters who helped in the development of this game.
v26h-EN Retail · Rules © 2024 Wallace Designs
Player Actions Reference
The rulebook's final page is a tear-off quick-reference card restating the five player actions.
Lay Track (1 or 2) — Plains $0, Hills $2, Mountains $4, Crossing $2, No building in water.
Build Factory — After building the Factory, place 5 resources that match the color of the city onto the City tile, next to the Factory. In a 2-player game, place only 4 resources instead of 5. Factories cannot be built on the purple Victory Point Cities.
Fulfill Contract — Resources required; Money earned; Victory Points; Bonus action.
Contracts needed to trigger the end of the game:
- Two players — 14 Contracts
- Three players — 11 Contracts
- Four players — 9 Contracts
- Five players — 8 Contracts
Take Contracts (2)
Take money from the Bank ($3)
(This reference card page also carries the same decorative example-contract illustration described under "Fulfilling a Contract" above.)