Introduction

## **How to play the game**

### **The pre-game**

Before the game starts, there is a mini-game that is played to determine the arrangement of the Galaxy, who plays which race, even deciding who is the first player (the Speaker) and how much cash (Trade Goods) everybody starts with.   This is quite involved and strategic.   Everybody wants to have the more valuable systems and worlds on their own doorstep, and worthless systems near their opponents.  Some players will play races that aren’t revealed until the end of the pre-game, making it more difficult to find the right strategy, since weaker races will strive to situate themselves far from the stronger races, whereas the stronger races will manoeuvre to be placed near easy prey.     For details on the pre-game, and setup, see Appendix 1.

### **The view from 30000 parsecs**

Once the game proper starts, it takes place over up to a maximum of 8 rounds.   Players score Victory Points (VPs) along the way.  The game ends at the point where at least 1 player reaches 10+ VPs, or after the 8th round.  In either case, the winner is the player with the most VPs, and in the event of a tie, the player controlling the most planets outside their Home System.

### **The round structure**

Each round is divided into 3 phases:  Strategy, Action, and Status.

The main activity in the Strategy Phase is players select a Strategy Card which they must play at some time in the Action Phase.   Strategy Cards control various aspects of the game, such as technology, trade and politics, and also control the order of play in the Action Phase.

The Action Phase consists of individual player turns, taken in Strategy Card order, each player taking a single turn at a time.  Apart from the one-time action of playing a Strategy Card, and any specific card- or race-based actions, most actions will be Tactical Actions which can be summed up as “move, fight, build”.

Finally, the Status Phase is where Victory Points are claimed, more cards and tokens are drawn, exhausted assets are refreshed etc., and the way is cleared for a new round.

### **The assets**

The assets that a player will control and manage include:

* a race sheet, containing information specific to the players’ race, special abilities etc.
* a tech sheet, whereby the player keeps track of which technologies have been researched
* plastic units, cardboard tokens, and cards, representing the players’ space ships, ground units, planetary infrastructure and facilities, and Leaders
* Action Cards (which give special bonuses, actions etc.)
* Political Cards (which are used in the Assembly or Galactic Council)
* Planet Cards (representing control of the planet and its resources and influence)
* Command Counters, which are distributed on the players sheet across 3 different categories
	+ Command Pool (used for Tactical Actions, the “move, fight, build” turns)
	+ Strategy Allocation (used to gain secondary benefits from Strategy Cards, special abilities etc.)
	+ Fleet Supply (which governs the maximum size of a space fleet in any single system)

### **How it all hangs together**

It cannot be stressed too much that the game is won by acquiring Victory Points. Everything else is but a means to this end.  But along the way, a player must manage their assets:

* space ships and ground units are needed to defend your planets and acquire new ones
* more planets means more resources means more space ships and ground units
* resources can also be spent on technology which among other things can improve your infrastructure’s productivity, upgrade your combat units, and increase the number of action cards, political cards or command counters that you receive each round
* planets that are exhausted (to spend their resources) cannot vote, so be warned;  political cards represent laws that are voted on, and many political cards can be game-changers, so it’s important your voice is heard in the Galactic Council when it convenes
* trade agreements are a source of revenue (Trade Goods) which can be spent in lieu of resources or influence, and a good trade agreement may be a good way of dissuading an opponent from attacking you