Setup

Remove the raw material cards from their wrappers.

There are 5 different kinds of raw materials, one for each type of planet. Sort the raw material cards by type and put them face up in 5 stacks into the tray of the box. Place the card box with the raw material supply near the top of the board.

Now each player takes a large mother ship and a termination cap in his color.

Each player places his mother ship before himself next to, but not on the board.

Sort the freight rings, drives and mounted guns (mother ship add-ons) and place these into the tray of the development box. Place the development box near the top of the board.

At the beginning of the game, the players’ mother ships have no add-ons. During the game, the players can acquire add-ons by paying for them with specific groups of raw materials. The figure above shows a mother ship with some add-ons.

The function of the mother ship is quite simple: it displays the current status of a player’s add-ons: when a player adds drives, his spaceships move faster on the board; with mounted guns, he increases their combat capability; and with freight rings, he increases the amount of freight he can carry.

Thus, a player’s mother ship displays the characteristics of each of the players spaceships on the board.

It is unlikely that a player can win with just colonies and Spaceports. By building a commercial station base at the alien home base, a player can get friendship cards and can then earn disks of friendship worth 2 victory points each.

Sort the friendship cards according to alien type. Put the 5 cards of each type face up on the space with the alien figure corresponding to the aliens on the cards. Place the friendship disks on the corresponding alien home bases.

When a player has one or more spaceships in transit, he can encounter unexpected things. Shuffle the 32 encounter cards and place them face down in stacks next to the board.

Encounters can increase your fame. Fame is represented by the fame rings on the mother ships. Place the fame rings into the fourth space of the development box.

Each player takes one fame ring, which he puts on the point of his mother ship.

Each player takes a summary card with important information for the game.

Place the dice next to the board. Build the raw material supply deck: take 12 raw material cards from each of the five stacks, shuffle them thoroughly, and put them face down next to the box.

Each player now draws three raw material cards from the raw material supply deck as his starting hand. The players keep their raw material cards secret from the other players.

note: After players are familiar with the game, they may want to use the rules in the Almanac for placing their first colonies and Spaceport.

Object:

The player who first earns 15 victory points, wins the game. An summary of the victory points is shown on both long sides of the board.

Begin:

Each player rolls both dice. The player with the highest sum, begins the game. A player’s turn has three three phases:

— Yield phase

1. The player rolls both dice. Planets with yield numbers equal to the sum shown on the dice, produce raw materials.

2. Draw an extra card

— Trading and building phase

— Movement phase — The player moves his spaceships. When a player has finished moving his spaceships, his turn ends. The player to the left of this player now takes his turn.

1. Roll both Dice

The player first rolls both dice to determine which planets, if any, yield raw materials.

• Each planet with a yield token equal to the sum on the dice yields raw materials.

• For each colony or Spaceport a player has that is adjacent to a planet that yields raw materials, the player takes a raw material card that matches the raw material produced by that planet.

• When a "7" is rolled, earth may require a payment of raw materials from the players:

— Each player, who has more than 7 raw material cards, selects half of his cards (rounded down) and puts them back on the appropriate raw material stacks.

— The player, who rolled the "7", may take one raw material card, secretly, from any player.

Example: The red player rolls an 8. The yellow and blue players each receive one carbon raw material card.

2. draw an extra card

The player, whose turn it is, may draw the topmost card from the raw material supply deck if he has fewer than 9 victory points. This is done regardless of the number rolled in part 1.

Note: If a player has more than 8 victory points, he may not draw an extra card!

If a player forgets to draw an extra card from the raw material supply deck, he may do so during his trading and building phase. As soon as a player has started his movement phase with the mothership roll, he may no longer draw an extra card.

If the raw material supply deck is used up, shuffle 6 cards of each raw material together to replenish it.

Following the yield phase, the player may trade raw materials and build.

trading

1. Trading with the other players

If a player wants to trade raw materials with his fellow players, he indicates which raw materials he wants and/or which raw materials he is willing to trade away. He can also consider offers from the other players and make counter offers to their offers. He may decide which, if any, trades to make and in which order. Of course, the other players can decide not to trade. Each trade must contain at least one card from each trading player.

note: All trades must include the player whose turn it is. The other players may not trade amongst themselves.

2. Trading with the Galactic Bank

The five raw material supply stacks are called the galactic bank. On a player’s turn, he may trade raw material cards in his hand with the galactic bank. The exchange rate is 3:1. Thus, the player must give three cards a one raw material to get one of another.

note: The trading wares raw material has a special exchange rate of 2:1. Thus, the player must give only two trading ware cards to get one card of any other raw material. By acquiring certain friendship cards, players can improve their exchange rates with the galactic bank.

 

Building

A player may build as much as he wants in his trading and building phase as long as he has the required raw material cards. There must also be sufficient game materials for the build. If a player does not have the required game material, he may not build the item.

The costs for the building projects are specified on the players’ building charts.

1. Spaceship (colony ship and trade ship)

• Spaceship refers to both colony and trade ships.

• A spaceship always consists of a transporter and a colony or a trade station.

• If a player wants to build a colony ship, he pays the necessary raw materials to the galactic bank. Then, he takes a colony and a transporter from his supply and puts the transporter on the colony.

• If a player wants to build a trade ship, he pays the necessary raw materials to the galactic bank. Then, he takes a trade station and a transporter from his supply and puts the transporter on the colony.

• The player puts the colony or trade ship on any free space point next to any of his space ports.

• A spaceship cannot be built (even if the player has the necessary raw materials), if:

— all three of the player’s transporters are in play on the board,

— if all of the the player’s colony and trade stations are in play on the board, or

— if there is no free space point next to any of the player’s space ports.

• When a player builds a spaceship, he can start moving it in the movement phase on that turn.

• When a player has more than one spaceship on the board, the spaceship whose transporter has the fewest balls on its nose is considered his "first spaceship" (this is used in events).

2. Space ports

• At the beginning of the game, each player has just one space port. The player may only build new spaceships on the space port’s two adjacent space points. To give a player better access to the galaxy, he may want to build a second or third space port at one of his new colonies.

• A space port may be built by upgrading an existing colony. A player who wants to upgrade a colony to a space port pays 3 carbon raw matreial cards and 2 food raw material cards to the galactic bank. He then takes a space port ring from his supply and slips it over one of his colonies.

• A space port counts 2 victory points (inclusive the victory point for the colony). Like a colony, it yields 1 raw material card when the yield number of a neighboring planet is rolled.

• Space port rings do not have to be carried to the colony by a ship.

3. Upgrading the mother ship

Each player can upgrade his mother ship by paying the required raw materials (see "building costs" on the building chart). He may add freight rings, drives, and guns. After paying for the upgrade, the player fastens the added part to its assigned space on his mother ship.

• Each drive increases the movement rate of the player’s spaceships by 1 space.

• Each gun increases the combat ability of the player’s spaceships by 1.

• Each freight ring increases the loading space of the player’s spaceships by 1.

• Each player can upgrade his mother ship to a maximum of 6 guns, 6 drives and 5 freight rings.

If a player does not have a spaceship on the board, he does not have a movement phase and his turn ends with his trading and building phase.

If a player has spaceships, he "rolls" the colored balls in the mother ship (by turning the ship up-side-down and then right-side-up) to determine:

• whether one of his ships encounters another ship in open space and

• how far his ships may move this turn.

If one of the balls showing in the mother ship is black, one of the player’s ships has met another ship. This encounter is resolved first and then the player may move his ships (unless the encounter precludes this). When moving ships, a player can:

• Explore planets with spaceships

• Establish colonies with colony ships

• Establish trade stations with trade ships

determine meeting/movement rate

When the player "rolls" the colored balls in the mother ship by turning the ship up-side-down and then right-side-up, two colored balls will drop into the clear tube in the tail of the mother ship.

There are two possibilities:

1. The black ball appears. That means that one of the player’s spaceships has an encounter.

• The player’s left neighbor draws the top-most card from the encounter deck and reads aloud the first question in the first box on the card. The neighbor may not show the card to the player.

• The player announces his response. The neighbor reads the result aloud based on the response.

• The result is executed, and the neighbor discards the card face-up on the discard pile.

note: When the result refers to the player’s "first" spaceship, it refers to the player’s spaceship on the board whose transporter has the fewest balls on its nose. The two encounter cards which begin with "Zahn der Zeit", affect all players.

• A player may earn or lose fame in an encounter. Fame rings are placed on or removed from the nose of the mother ship

• Each two fame rings

count 1 victory point.

• After an encounter, the value of the two balls in the tail of the mother ship (the base movement), is "3". The player may now move his ships, unless the result of the encounter indicates otherwise, as indicated below.

2. The black ball does not appear. That means there is no encounter; the player is free to move his ships.

• The base movement is the sum of the values of the two colored balls in the tail of the mother ship (for example, red and a blue ball sum to 4.

• The movement rate of each of the player’s ships on the board is the base movement plus the number of drives on the player’s mother ship plus the number of drives shown on any friendship cards the player has.

Example: The yellow player has a movement rate of 4 and may move its spaceship 4 points on the board.

Explore planets

• When a player moves a trade or colony ship to a space point adjacent to a planet with a face-down yield token (marked in the figure with red arrows), the player may secretly peek at the number on the token.

• When a player moves a trade or colony ship to a colony point (marked on the board with a circle), the player may secretly peek at the numbers on both adjacent tokens.

• After peeking at the token(s), he returns them face-down to the board. He may not share the yirld numbers on these tokens with other players.

• After peeking at the token(s), he may continue moving the ship if it has not used all its movement.

Establish a colony

• When a player ends the movement of a colony ship on a colony point of, he examines the yield tokens of the two planets (peeks if they are face-down).

• If neither of the tokens is a pirate or ice token, he can establish a colony. To do this, he removes the transporter from the colony and returns it to his supply.

• He then turns the two yield tokens face up (if they are face down).

• The colony counts 1 victory point of and earns the player the raw materials of the two neighboring planets when their yield numbers are rolled.

• Once a colony has been established, it cannot be changed back into a colony ship.

Special rule for three players:Each planetary system has three colony points. With four players, players may establish colonies on all three colony points. With three players, players may only establish colonies on two of the three colony points in each system.

Establish a trade station

• Each alien home base has 5 trade points marked with numbers.

• A player, who moves a trade ship to an alien home base, can create a trade station there if:

- there are no trade stations at this home base,

- his trade ship is on the number 1 trade point,

- his mother ship has at least one freight ring.

• If these prerequisites are fulfilled, he removes the transporter from the trade station and returns it to his supply.

• For the first trade station at each alien home base, the player receives the friendship disk of these aliens. The friendship disk is worth 2 victory points; the player moves his victory point marker 2 spaces on the victory point display.

• Additionally, the player examines the 5 friendship cards of these aliens, selects one, and places it face up before himself. The player can immediately use the abilities described on the card.

• The second trade station established at an alien home base that has a trade staion on trade point 1, must be established on trade point 2. To do so, the player establishing the trade station must have 2 freight rings on his mother ship.

• Similar requirements must be followed for trade stations 3 to 5, which must be established in that order.

• For each trade station established, the establishing player may take one of the remaining friendship cards.

note: A player loses an alien friendship disk if another player has more trade stations with these aliens than he has. When two players have the same number of trade stations at an alien home base, the player with the lowest numbered station has the right to the friendship disk.

Pirate lairs and ice planets

A colony may not be created on a colony point if one of the yield tokens on the two neighboring planets is a pirate or ice token.

However, a player can destroy a pirate lair or make an ice planet habitable. If he does, he exchanges the pirate or ice token for one of the reserve tokens (with a white dot on its back). He then places the pirate or ice token before himself. It counts 1 victory point.

A player destroys a pirate lair if he has a spaceship on a space point or colony point adjacent to the pirate lair and the number of guns the player has (mother ship + friendship cards) is at least as large as the number on the pirate token.

A player makes an ice planet habitable if he has a spaceship on a space point or colony point adjacent to the ice planet and has a mother ship with at least as many freight rings as the number on the ice token.

The movement rules

When a player moves his spaceships he must follow these rules:

• A player need not move a spaceships. If he moves a spaceship, he may move it less than the allowed number of space points.

• Spaceships can return to the space point they started from.

• Spaceships may travel through space points occupied by spaceships, trade stations, colonies or space ports.

• Each space point (or colony point) a spaceship travels through (whether occupied or not) is counted.

• Only one spaceship may occupy a space point.

Blockades are not permitted:

• A player may not end the movement of a spaceship at another player’s space port, even with that player’s permission.

• A player may not end the movement of a colony ship on a trade point.

• A player may not end the movement of a trade ship on a colony point.

• If a player ends the movement of a colony ship on colony point without establishing a colony, he must move the ship from the colony point on his next turn, if possible. Also, he may not return to that colony point on that turn.

• A player may not end the movement of a trade ship on a trade point whose number is higher than the number of freight rings on that player’s mother ship.

Marking victory points

Each time a player receives or loses victory points, he moves his victory point marker on the victory point display accordingly.

A player ends the game and wins if he has 15 victory points during his turn.

Variant

Players wanting to speed up the game should use the following rule:

On a player’s turn, he may draw two (instead of one) extra raw material cards from the supply deck if he has fewer than 9 victory points.