Official Rules (Second Edition)

## Game Phases

Each round of the game follows 6 phases in order:

1. Political Phase
2. Economy Phase
3. Individual Turns Phase
4. Technology Phase
5. Place New Units Phase
6. Progression Phase

If no player wins the game during the Progression phase, the next round begins with the Political phase and the order is repeated once more

### Political Phase

Represents the Galactic council on Mecatol Rex, where the great races meet to decide upon matters facing the galaxy

The number of votes a player has is equal to the number of influence they have (i.e. the combined influence value of all the planets they control)

Political Phase Process

(1) Draw 1 political card from the political deck

* One player reads the agenda aloud. This may be an "Elect" or "For or Against" agenda
* Some political cards are LAWS which represent permanent changes to the rules of the game. If a law is voted FOR, it is placed face up next to the political deck and its effects last until the game end or another political card removes the law from play

(2) Players debate the agenda and may threaten or convince players to vote their way

* Players may bribe each other and freely exchange Credits and/or action cards
* There is not penalty for breaking a promise or agreement

(3) Players vote

* Voting starts with the player with the least influence and then proceeds in order up to the player with the most influence

* When casting votes, players must cast all their votes at once (cannot split)

### Economy Phase

Consists of 3 segments, which may be played simultaneously. If there is any timing issues, players resolve their turns in order of highest to lowest influence

**(1) Draw Action Cards:** Each player draws one action card from the Action Card deck

**(2) Receive Credits**:

* Each player receives credits from the bank equal to the combined number of resources on all planets they control
* Each player collects income from any trade agreements (one credit per planet the trade partner controls)

**(3) Purchase Units:**

* Each player spends credits on the units they wish to purchase
* If a player has bought units that cannot be place on the board during the Place New Units phase (due to Space Dock production limitations), those units are destroyed without refund

### Individual Turns Phase

During this phase, each player takes their turn (all 3 segments) in order whilst the other players observe. The player with the highest influence number is first to act, in order until the player with the lowest influence number has their turn

Note that influence may change as planets change hands. Players should re-check the amount of influence after each player has taken their turn. A player can only play this phase once per game round

(1) Movement

The active player can move and transport their units across the galaxy to different system tiles

* A carrier can pick up Ground forces or PDS at any time during its movement

* A Ground Force or PDS cannot leave the carrier before the Invasion Combat segment

If a ship enters a system containing the spaceships of another player, that ship must stop its movement (it is interdicted). A space Combat follows.

* Fleets can move through systems that contain enemy controlled planets and enemy spacedocks with fighter units but can never move through systems containing another race's fleet (one or more spaceships in the same system before the beginning of the movement segment)

Some tiles have special movement rules

* **Wormholes**: Systems containing corresponding wormholes are adjacent. For example it costs one move to get to a system containing an alpha wormhole and another move to pass through to the other side
* **Supernovas**: Cannot move into or pass through
* **Asteroid Fields**: Cannot move into or pass through until players achieve the "Antimass Deflectors" technology, which allows movement through but not into
* **Nebulae:** Any ship that enters a nebula must immediately stop its movement for the turn
* **Gravity Rift:** Any ship exiting must roll. On a 1-6, that ship leaves the corresponding side of the hex. On a 7-10, the player may choose which side to exit. Movement out of a Gravity Rift does not take up a ship's move value

(2) Space Combat

Always occurs in any system containing the spaceships of the active player and those of another player

(i) The attacking player fires once with all their ships and counts the number of hits (rolls equal to or higher than the ship's combat value)

(ii) The defending player fires with all defending units and counts their hits

(iii) Both players remove ships equal to the number of hits inflicted on them (players choose their own casualties)

(iv) The attacker may withdraw

* The attacker's fleet must withdraw together to an adjacent hex from which at least one attacking ship moved during the Movement segment
* This may never be through a wormhole or into an asteroid field

(v) The above process is repeated until one side is eliminated or attacker withdraws

(3) Invasion Combat

Occurs after the active player has finished all of their space battles

An invasion is the movement of one or more friendly ground forces and/or PDS from a Carrier to a friendly, neutral or enemy planet of the same system.

* If invading a friendly or neutral planet, the invading player simply places the ground forces and/or PDS to the planet's surface
* If invading an enemy planet, the following process is followed:

(i) Determine how many Ground forces will land on each specific planet

(ii) Each Dreadnought may use their Bombardment ability

(iii) Each defending PDS fires once at the invading ground force

(iv) The remaining ground forces land and begin combat. Combat is identical to the Space combat sequence except the attacking units cannot withdraw

(v) Outcome

* If all ground forces of both players are wiped out, the defending player retains control of the planet and places a control marker on the planet
* If all the defending ground forces were destroyed and the attacker has one or more ground forces remaining, the attacker takes control of the planet. All of the defender's space docks or PDS on that planet are immediately destroyed

### Technology Phase

Players may each purchase 1 technology advance in the form of a technology chit

Each technology advance costs 30 credits

### Place New Units Phase

Players place the units bought in the Purchase New Units Phase

* Ground Forces and PDS are placed directly on a planet containing a Spacedock and count towards the space dock production limit
* Spaceships are placed directly in space and count toward the space dock production limit
* New space docks do not require a space dock to be created.

### Progression Phase

At the beginning of the game, each player places a control marker under "Warlord" on the chart. Then, during the progression phase, players may advance their counter on the chart if they possess the requirements needed for advancement to the next bracket.

* A player can never move backwards
* A player can only advance 1 bracket per progression phase

If a player advances to the Imperium Rex bracket, they have won the game

* If two players reach Imperium Rex on the same turn, the player with the highest influence total wins the game
* If the influence total is tied, the player with the highest resource total wins the game
* If the resource total is also tied, the game is a tie

## Other Rules

### Insurgence checks

During the game, players will be asked to make insurgence checks on certain planets. This represents uprising of the local population against the regime.

Each time a player is asked to make an insurgence check for a planet, they must roll a die. For every friendly cruiser and dreadnought in that system, add +1 to the die roll.

* If the result is equal to or greater than the influence value of the planet, the populace was able to be calmed

* If the result is lower than the influence value of the planet, instantly remove two ground forces from the planet. If the last ground force is removed, the planet reverts to neutral state

### Selling Assets

If due to political cards, action cards or other game effects, a player is forced to pay credits they cannot afford at a given time, that player must begin selling their assets until they can pay the debt in question

 Ground Force | 1

A player can never sell their assets voluntarily and may never sell more than what is required to pay off the debt.

If a player has sold all of their assets and debt still remains, that player is eliminated from the game

## Optional Rules

### Manifest Destiny

After game board set up and before game begins, using their starting credits, players may buy control over neutral planets adjacent to their home system. The cost of purchasing each such planet is:

Cost = 2\*(Resource value of planet + Influence value of planet)

If a player buys control of a planet, they may place 1 free Ground Force on that planet

### Distant Suns

The 'Distant Suns' Play option allows players to simulate the risks and rewards of exploration by using Domain Counters.

### Hope's End Expansion

* Shock Troops
* Leaders