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[Victory and Defeat] Race for the Galaxy - Turn 10
Valkun
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
The game of simultaneous space empire building.
The Rules:
Setting Up:
Each player receives a random starting world face up which is his or her initial tableau. Any unused starting worlds are then shuffled into the Card Supply. Then, each player receives six cards from the Card Supply and discards 2 face down.
Place twelve victory point tokens aside for each player in the game.
Finally, each player receives their seven action cards.
Playing the Game:
At the start of each round, each player plays one action card face down. Only those phases that have been picked by a player is performed. Each player performs ALL phases that have been selected by the group. Those players that played the corresponding Action card for a phase receive a bonus as indicated by the card.
Phases are performed in order:
1. Explore
2. Develop
3. Settle
4. Consume
5. Produce
After the final phase, each player must discard down to 10 game cards.
Play continues until an end of game condition is met.
Phase 1: Explore
Each player draws two cards and discards one of them.
Bonus 1: +1/+1, draw and keep an extra card, ie: draw 3 keep 2.
Bonus 2: +5 Draw 7 cards and keep 1.
Phase 2: Develop
Each player may play one Development card from their hand paying the cost (in discards) as indicated by the upper left of the card. Development cards also have a Victory Point value listed next to their price. 6 Cost developments have a variable Victory Point value as indicated by their text. Each player may only have a single copy of any Development in their Tableau.
Bonus: Developments cost one less to play. A cost may never be reduced below 0.
A note regarding card powers: All powers are cumulative and take effect the phase after the card is added to your Tableau. Unless the power contains the word "may", the power MUST be used. A player may not interrupt a power with another power.
Phase 3: Settle
Each player may place a world from their hand into play. All worlds have a Victory Point value listed next to their cost. Worlds come in a number of types:
Standard Worlds: These worlds have a cost that must be paid (in discards) to play.
Military Worlds: These worlds do not have a cost in discards but are instead played for free if you have a military rating equal to or greater than the value listed.
In addition, worlds can either be Production or Windfall along with their cost type above. A Production world produces Goods and/or card draws during the Production phase. Windfall worlds start play with a resource already placed on them and can be restocked using a Production bonus.
Bonus: Draw 1 card after placing a world.
Phase 4: Consume
In this phase, players can trade resources for Victory Points and card draws according to the cards in their Tableau. ALL consume powers which you have resources for must be performed, although you may pick the order in which they are resolved. No consume may be partially paid for, it's all or nothing.
Bonus (Trade): The player who plays this card has an extra phase before the Consume step. They must discard one Good of their choice for the corresponding value in draws:
Novelty: 2
Rare Elements: 3
Genes: 4
Alien Technology: 5
Bonus (2x VP): Double the number of Victory Points you receive during this phase.
Phase 5: Produce
Place a Good (face down card) on each Production world without a Good on it. The type of Good is indicated by the solid color in the world's cost.
Bonus: This player may put a Good onto one Windfall world which does not have a Good on it.
Game End
The game ends at the end of the Round in which one of the following conditions occur:
1. Any player has twelve cards (developments and worlds) in their Tableau.
2. The last victory point chip set aside has been given out.
Total each player's victory point chips, development, and world victory points. The player with the highest total wins. In the case of a tie, the player with the most cards in their hand wins. If still tied, all such players are winners.
Some Notes:
All discards are done face down, including those cards used as goods.
The discard pile is shuffled and used for the Card Supply when the latter runs out.
In most cases, actions are done simultaneously.
In the case that actions cannot be performed simultaneously (because of limited resources such as an exhausted Card Supply), the order of execution is determined by the number of the players' starting worlds.
--
The basic rules are fairly simple. The complexity in the game comes from the dozens of symbols on each card (which won't be an issue for you) and keeping track of your growing empire.
Players:
Player 1: Darian
Player 2: Darkewolfe
Player 3: Kester
Player 4: Robotsunshine
Reserve: Astargoth
Players are expected to manage their own Tableaus. This means making a post indicating the current status of your Production/Windfall worlds, the cards in your Tableau, what actions are to be performed in the current phase, your hand count, and your number of Victory Points every phase. I will not be calculating this for you, it's complicated enough trying to manage ONE set of cards, let alone everyone's.
I, the GM, will mostly be responsible for rule interpretations, managing the draw/discard aspect, and holding everyone's selected Actions cards at the start of a Round.
Note: Goods will not be drawn from the Card Supply since they'd just get discard anyways when used.
I'll provide a template which you can use:
Tableau:
X. Card Name [Development or Normal/Military Production/Windfall/Standard Normal/Rebel/Alien/Etc World] [Cost: X] [Victory Points: X] [Good Type]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop):
Phase III (Settle):
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume):
Phase V (Produce):
Goods: 0/1 Novelty/Rare Elements/Genes/Alien Technology
X+1. ...
...
Military Rating:
Victory Chips:
Total Victory Points:
Hand Count:
Actions to Perform this Phase:
List here, in order, what needs to be done including bonus actions if you played the corresponding Action Card.
Card discard choices are PM'd to me, since they're played face down. I'm going to break one rule, and that is that development and world cards are supposed to be revealed simultaneously as well. Just go ahead and post in the above template what card you're adding. Otherwise, that's quite a bit of extra work for me to add a little more secrecy to your play.
The Seven Action Cards:
I Explore +1/+1
I Explore +5
II Develop
III Settle
IV Consume Trade
IV Consume 2x VPs
V Produce
Valkun on
0
Posts
The only difficult part about this game is that the cards usually only contain symbols. But by the end of our first game, we looked through the deck and could understand what every card did.
Example:
Brown Halo around a White Circle: 2, Hexagon: 0 in the upper left. [Rare Mineral Windfall World with cost 2 and worth 0 Victory Points.]
III: Brown Circle with -1 and a Brown Circle with a Red Border +1. [-1 cost to place Rare Mineral Production Worlds or +1 Military when trying to Conquer a Rare Mineral Production World]
Although, I'll be relying on YOU to make sure you give me the correct orders. All that really needs to be told to me is your action, how many cards you're drawing each phase, and what you discard. Hopefully we won't run into many back and forths during a single phase. This seems most likely in the consume phase where cards can be drawn or discarded depending on the particular situation. If it gets way too bad, there might have to be an unfair change to the way that works, so try not to set up such a loop. Right off the top of my head, the fastest fix would be that such discards cancel out whatever potential draws you have before even getting to look at the cards.
Player 1 Darian:
1. Epsilon Eridani[1] [Normal World] [Cost: 2] [VP: 1]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop):
Phase III (Settle): +1 Military
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume): Discard one Good of any type to gain 1 Victory Point chip and 1 Card Draw.
Phase V (Produce):
Goods: 0
Player 2 Darkewolfe:
1. New Sparta[3] [Military World] [Defense: 2] [VP: 1]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop):
Phase III (Settle): +2 Military
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume):
Phase V (Produce):
Goods: 0
Player 3 Kester:
1. Alpha Centauri[2] [Normal Windfall World] [Cost: 2] [VP: 0] [Rare Elements]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop):
Phase III (Settle): -1 cost to Settle Rare Elements Production/Windfall Worlds and +1 Military to Conquer Rare Elements Production/Windfall Worlds.
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume):
Phase V (Produce):
Goods: 1 Rare Elements
Player 4 Robotsunshine:
1. Earth's Lost Colony[4] [Normal Production World] [Cost:2] [VP:1] [Novelty]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop):
Phase III (Settle):
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume): Discard one Good of any type to gain 1 Victory Point chip.
Phase V (Produce): Place 1 Novelty Good on this planet if none already exists.
Goods: 0
Since it's public information anyways, here are the starting Tableaus for whoever ends up playing. The numbers in brackets are the starting world number in case order actually matters. Now, to start typing up everyone's starting hands.
Player 1: Darian
Player 2: Darkewolfe
Player 3: Kester
Player 4: Robotsunshine
Reserve: Astargoth
I'll be sending out your initial hand. PM me your 2 cards to discard and what action card you'll be playing for the first round. And please get ready a Status post with your Tableau and other statistics.
Edit: I assume we're not playing with the expansion, by the way? As a side note for any observers taking interest, the expansion rocks, rebalances some things (making military strategy more viable, for instance) and also offers increased variety.
Darkewolfe: Develop
Kester: Consume (Trade)
Robotsunshine: Settle
We will be playing the following Phases:
II. Develop
III. Settle
$. Trade (Kester Only)
IV. Consume
We can lump together Trade with Consume.
Phase: Develop
Please post your empire status and any actions you are taking. The discards to pay costs are, of course, PM'd to me.
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop):
Phase III (Settle): -1 cost to Settle Rare Elements Production/Windfall Worlds and +1 Military to Conquer Rare Elements Production/Windfall Worlds.
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume):
Phase V (Produce):
Goods: 1 Rare Elements
Military Rating: 0 (1 vs rare elements worlds)
Victory Chips: 0
Total Victory Points: 0
Hand Count: 4
Actions to Perform this Phase:
I will develop a...
Mining Conglomerate [Development] [Cost: 3] [Victory Points: 2]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop):
Phase III (Settle):
Phase $ (Trade): Draw 1 more card when selling Rare Elements goods.
Phase IV (Consume): Discard up to 2 Rare Elements to gain 1 Victory Point chip for each. When activated, as many Rare Elements must be discarded as possible.
Phase V (Produce): Draw 2 cards after this phase if you produced more Rare Elements then every other player.
I discard all three other cards in my hand to pay for it, so won't bother PMing them to you.
Status after development:
Military rating: 1
Victory Chips: 0
Hand Count: 3
Planets:
1. Epsilon Eridani[1] [Normal World] [Cost: 2] [VP: 1]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop):
Phase III (Settle): +1 Military
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume): Discard one Good of any type to gain 1 Victory Point chip and 1 Card Draw.
Phase V (Produce):
Goods: 0
Developments:
X. Public Works [Development] [Cost: 1] [Victory Points: 1]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop): Draw 1 Card after placing a Development.
Phase III (Settle):
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume): Discard any 1 good to gain 1 Victory Point chip.
Phase V (Produce):
Goods: 0
Player 2 Darkewolfe:
1. New Sparta[3] [Military World] [Defense: 2] [VP: 1]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop):
Phase III (Settle): +2 Military
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume):
Phase V (Produce):
Goods: 0
Military Rating: 2
Victory Chips: 0
Total Victory Points: 1
Hand Count: 4
Actions to Perform this Phase:
I will develop a
X. Investment Credits [Development] [Cost: 1] [Victory Points: 1]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop): Reduce the cost of developments by 1.
Phase III (Settle):
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume):
Phase V (Produce):
I discard no cards, as the development cost is reduced to 0 because I chose the development phase card this turn.
Yours is better anyway. Except I get to see a new card, whereas you get to keep an old one. Huh, maybe mine is better.
Well, it's mostly that together they are god. But I think there's only one of yours in the deck, but two of mine.
0+2=2? Where do you get 5?
Military Rating: 2
Victory Chips: 0
Total Victory Points: 2
Hand Count: 3
2+3=5. 2 point starting planet, 5 point development.
Yep, I suck.
Nah, there's two of every development except the big 6-cost ones. And yes, I now have 2VP, I just organised it in a silly way. It makes more sense to put actions then new tableau than old tableau then actions, so I'll do it that way in future. *goes back to whipping miners* "Get back down t'pit!"
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop):
Phase III (Settle):
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume): Discard one Good of any type to gain 1 Victory Point chip.
Phase V (Produce): Place 1 Novelty Good on this planet if none already exists.
Goods: 0
Military Rating: 0
Victory Chips: 0
Total Victory Points: 1
Hand Count: 4
Actions to Perform this Phase:
Ain't doin' nothin'.
Military rating: 1
Victory Chips: 0
Victory Points: 2
Hand Count: 3
Total cards in Tableau: 2
Tableau:
Planets:
1. Epsilon Eridani[1] [Normal World] [Cost: 2] [VP: 1]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop):
Phase III (Settle): +1 Military
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume): Discard one Good of any type to gain 1 Victory Point chip and 1 Card Draw.
Phase V (Produce):
Goods: 0
Developments:
X. Public Works [Development] [Cost: 1] [Victory Points: 1]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop): Draw 1 Card after placing a Development.
Phase III (Settle):
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume): Discard any 1 good to gain 1 Victory Point chip.
Phase V (Produce):
Goods: 0
1. Alpha Centauri[2] [Normal Windfall World] [Cost: 2] [VP: 0] [Rare Elements]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop):
Phase III (Settle): -1 cost to Settle Rare Elements Production/Windfall Worlds and +1 Military to Conquer Rare Elements Production/Windfall Worlds.
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume):
Phase V (Produce):
Goods: 1 Rare Elements
2. Mining Conglomerate [Development] [Cost: 3] [Victory Points: 2]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop):
Phase III (Settle):
Phase $ (Trade): Draw 1 more card when selling Rare Elements goods.
Phase IV (Consume): Discard up to 2 Rare Elements to gain 1 Victory Point chip for each. When activated, as many Rare Elements must be discarded as possible.
Phase V (Produce): Draw 2 cards after this phase if you produced more Rare Elements then every other player.
Military Rating: 0 (1 vs rare elements worlds)
Victory Chips: 0
Total Victory Points: 2
Hand Count: 0
Player 2 Darkewolfe:
1. New Sparta[3] [Military World] [Defense: 2] [VP: 1]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop):
Phase III (Settle): +2 Military
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume):
Phase V (Produce):
Goods: 0
2. Investment Credits [Development] [Cost: 1] [Victory Points: 1]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop): Reduce the cost of developments by 1.
Phase III (Settle):
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume):
Phase V (Produce):
Military Rating: 2
Victory Chips: 0
Total Victory Points: 2
Hand Count: 3
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop):
Phase III (Settle):
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume): Discard one Good of any type to gain 1 Victory Point chip.
Phase V (Produce): Place 1 Novelty Good on this planet if none already exists.
Goods: 0
Military Rating: 0
Victory Chips: 0
Total Victory Points: 2
Hand Count: 4
Actions to Perform this Phase:
X. Gambling World [Normal World] [Cost: 1] [Victory Points: 1]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop):
Phase III (Settle):
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume): Discard any 1 good to gain 1 Victory Point chip. Choose a number from 1 to 7 and flip over the top card of the Card Supply. If its cost or defense matches the stated value, draw that card into your hand. (There's a table of how many Developments and Worlds there are for each number on the card, I can provide it if you really want it).
Phase V (Produce):
Goods: 0
Moving on to phase Trade/Consume.
god fine whatever
sorry i can't be what you wanted me to be, dad
1. Alpha Centauri[2] [Normal Windfall World] [Cost: 2] [VP: 0] [Rare Elements]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop):
Phase III (Settle): -1 cost to Settle Rare Elements Production/Windfall Worlds and +1 Military to Conquer Rare Elements Production/Windfall Worlds.
Phase $ (Trade):
Phase IV (Consume):
Phase V (Produce):
Goods: 0 Rare Elements
2. Mining Conglomerate [Development] [Cost: 3] [Victory Points: 2]
Phase I (Explore):
Phase II (Develop):
Phase III (Settle):
Phase $ (Trade): Draw 1 more card when selling Rare Elements goods.
Phase IV (Consume): Discard up to 2 Rare Elements to gain 1 Victory Point chip for each. When activated, as many Rare Elements must be discarded as possible.
Phase V (Produce): Draw 2 cards after this phase if you produced more Rare Elements then every other player.
Military Rating: 0 (1 vs rare elements worlds)
Victory Chips: 0
Total Victory Points: 2
Hand Count: 4
(reading the rules for this, trying to see if I'm getting the whole "consumption is mandatory" part. no effect since we have no goods to consume, right?)
Right. All the consumption actions must be performed, but only if you have the resources to perform them. And you can put them into any order you wish for the most efficient consumption.
I'd still prefer a formal "No Action" just so that I don't forget anything down the line. Better to get in the habit now.