Vanished Planet
Vanished Planet Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Quick Start and Tutorial
If you'd rather learn by watching then by reading a long list of rules, then this tutorial is for you. I only recommend that you first read the following two paragraphs in order to give you some idea of what's going on.
Let's begin with an example of play from a two player game… follow along by re-creating these steps on your board. We'll start by arbitrarily picking red and green as our player's colors.
Setup
First, place a red ship (large red piece) on the Talis (red) homeworld for player 1, place a green ship on the Saavyel (green) homeworld for player 2, and put one of the round black creature tokens over the earth in the center hex.
Sort and arrange the resource, personnel, technology, equipment, and upgrade cards as pictured. Place the goal and event decks within reach of all players.
Turn 1: Red
Red goes first. (For turn summary see the learning guide at the end of this tutorial.) Have red draw a card from the event deck. Let's say red drew the Breakthrough card.
Red immediately adds two research to his resources. Take two research cards from the bank and place in front of red player face up. Discard the Breakthrough card to the Event discard pile.
Next, collect red's resource cards. Red's homeworld produces a colonist card every turn. Add one colonist card to red's two research cards.
Have red move his ship. Ships can move three spaces per turn. Maneuver the red ship toward the satellite. (See back of the instruction booklet for legend of symbols and locations.) That is where red will get his first goal. You'll notice that the satellite is too far away to reach on the first turn. So have red tag some resource-producing locations along the way.
Move to the location shown and place a tag (small red piece) on the trade station as you pass by. On red's next turn, this location will produce money during his resource collection phase.
There's really nothing more that can be done now, so end red's turn by growing the creature one hex towards his home world. In addition, since no one is playing the Rikae, place a creature token towards the purple homeworld as well.
Turn 1: Green
Now it is green's turn. Draw an event card. Let's say green draws Asteroid Field.
Green immediately tags any asteroid field on the board. We're going to have green tag one on the other side of the board, near the Xiinen (yellow) homeworld.
Now green collects her resources. She gets a colonist card for her homeworld and an ore card from the asteroid field.
Move the green ship in a manner similar to the way red moved. Tag the research station along the way.
End Green's turn by growing the creature towards the green home world. Also, have the creature grow towards the white, blue and yellow homeworlds as well, even though no one is playing them.
Turn 2: Red
Now it is red's turn again. Start by drawing an event card. Let's say Creature Growth is drawn.
Red places a growth token towards his home world as the card instructs. Next, collect red's resources. He gets a money for the trading post and a colonist for his homeworld. Then have red move his ship to the satellite. Be sure to tag the nebula on the way. Draw a goal card. Let's say the goal card is Research Stations.
Notice this goal card is worth three points. (The value is the number in the upper right hand corner of the card.) The number of goal points required to win the game is 5 times the number of players. So, for a two player game you'll need 10 points to win. Place the goal in front of the red player face up. End red's turn by having the creature grow toward his homeworld. Also grow the creature toward the Rikae homeworld.
Turn 2: Green
Now it is green's turn again. She draws an event card. Let's say it is Act of Heroism. She keeps the card as instructed and collects her resources. She gets one colonist, an ore and a research this turn.
Now green will move her ship to the satellite, tagging the planet along the way.
With her ship at the satellite, green draws a goal card. Let's say she gets the Gaerhule goal card.
Notice this goal card is worth either two or four points. Since the Saavyel (green) and Gaerhule (white) are neighbors, this goal should be easy to accomplish for four points! All green has to do is build a metatranslator and a diplomat and discard them at the Gaerhule homeworld.
Look at the building lists on the four corners of the board. (For a breakdown of the symbols and what they mean, see the learning guide at the end of this tutorial.) Take a moment to identify the resources needed to build the metatranslator technology and to train a diplomat. The metatranslator requires one engineer, two diplomats and an energy.
End green's turn by growing the creature towards the green, white, blue and yellow homeworlds.
Turn 3: Red
Now it is time for red's third turn. Draw an event card. Let's say it is Baby Boom.
Now the players have a choice. Red can either discard all the resources he has in front of him (two research, two colonists and a money), or green could use her Act of Heroism card to prevent the event. I'll leave that decision to you.
What I will say is that even though red has enough resources to train a doctor right now, he cannot. The only time building/training is forbidden is during the resolution of an event. Red could have trained a doctor on his last turn or even during green's turn. But once an event card is drawn all building/training is prohibited until the event is resolved.
After the decision is made and the event is resolved, red will collect his resources (a colonist, money, and energy). Then he can draw a new goal card before he leaves the satellite. Let's say he gets Quasar.
This goal is easier to accomplish and is worth the same number of points as his current goal card. Discard the Research Stations goal card. Keep the new goal card in front of red.
Now move red's ship toward the quasar. Tag the planet along the way.
End red's turn by growing the creature towards the red and purple home worlds. Notice that by the end of the next turn the satellite closest to red's homeworld will be destroyed by the creature. Once it is destroyed, it is gone forever. Red will likely have to build a communications relay (which acts as a satellite) on his homeworld to obtain new goals once the Quasar goal has been completed.
Turn 3: Green
It is green's turn again. She draws an event card. Let's say it's Energy Surge.
She immediately collects two energy cards. Then she collects her resources. She gets two colonists, one ore and one research. This is a good opportunity to present the resource pad we'd included with the game for your convenience.
As you can see, we've marked the resource locations on the pad that she has tagged: two planets, one asteroid and one research station.
As you tag resources, mark the locations on your resource pad. It will provide a quick reference for you during the resource collection phase of your turn, making it easier and faster to know what you get each round. Just be sure to update your resource pad every time you add another tag or relocate one of your tags from one resource location to another.
Back to green's turn. Before she moves her ship off the satellite she checks the next goal. Let's say it is the Into The Darkness card.
In order to accomplish this goal, green will need to upgrade her fleet with phase shielding (which allows movement through the creature) so that she can visit the center hex.
Comparing the two goal cards, it is pretty obvious that the one she already has is better. It is simpler to accomplish, and it is worth more points. So she discards the Into The Darkness card and moves her ship towards the Gaerhule homeworld, tagging the trading post along the way.
Green would like to get a second ship. So she trades in one of her colonists, an ore and an energy for a soldier. She would like to train a doctor but she lacks money. She asks red if he'd be willing to trade his money for a colonist or an ore. After the trade between players occurs, green now has enough resources to train a doctor. She trades in a colonist, the money and two research to get a doctor. Green adds an energy and ore to the doctor and the soldier. Trading these cards into the bank, she gains another ship. She places a green ship on her homeworld and immediately moves it. This time she tags the research station towards her right. She's aiming for the trading post above the research station. She'll need lots of money to build the metatranslator and diplomat needed to accomplish her Gaerhule goal.
In a few turns, green's first ship will reach the Gaerhule home world. If she discards a metatranslator & diplomat when she gets there she'll accomplish her first goal. Green can then place her goal card along the edge of the game board, signifying that the goal is completed.
Final Notes
Well, that should be enough to get you started. I highly recommend that you read about Personnel, Technologies, Upgrades and More on page 3 and about Trading on page 5 in the instruction manual before you start your own game. Also, note the difficulty level table on page 6.
Once you've done that, you'll be ready to get out there and save the galaxy. You should only need to refer to the rules if you have a specific question.
The first time you play, set the difficulty level of the game to easy. This difficulty level is still hard enough to challenge you as you learn the rules and strategies required to win.
Also, the length of the game depends on the number of players and their level of familiarity with the game. It is highly recommended that the game be limited to a maximum of four races unless all players have played at least once before. If you have more than four people who wish to play, the best course of action is to pair players on teams and play less races. This will keep the game fun and interesting for everyone.
Finally, if you need a question answered that the instruction manual doesn't seem to cover, please write to us at [email protected]. We'll be happy to help.
The above turn summary uses an optional rule that requires players to collect resources immediately after the event resolution. This rule is used in tournament play and makes the game easier to learn.
Errata: On the "Into the Darkness" goal card, "physicist" should be read "scientist."