Living Rules Reference

1.1 If information in this Rules Reference contradicts the Learn to Play booklet, the Rules Reference takes precedence.

1.2 If a card ability contradicts information in the Rules Reference, the card takes precedence.

• If both the card and the rules can be followed at the same time, they should be.

1.3 Each ability describes when and how a player can resolve it.

1.4 If an ability with a specified duration is resolved, the effect of the ability remains through that duration, even if the component that caused the ability is removed.

1.5 If a card has multiple abilities, each ability is presented as its own paragraph.

• If an ability contains the word 'Action,' a player must use a component action during the action phase to resolve that ability.

1.6 If an ability uses the word 'cannot,' that effect is absolute.

• If two abilities use the word 'cannot,' a persistent ability takes precedence over a one-time ability and an enabling ability takes precedence over a cancel ability.

1.7 When a player resolves an ability, they must resolve the ability in its entirety.

• Any parts of the ability preceded by the word 'may' are optional, and the player resolving the ability may choose not to resolve those parts.

1.8 Abilities on components that remain in play are mandatory unless those abilities use the word 'may.'

1.9 If an ability has multiple effects separated by the word 'and,' a player must resolve as many of the ability's effects as possible.

• However, if the player cannot resolve all of its effects, that player is allowed to resolve as many as they can.

2.1 Each player draws one action card during each status phase.

2.2 Players can draw action cards by resolving the primary and secondary abilities of the 'Politics' strategy card.

2.3 When a player draws an action card, they take the top card from the action card deck and add it to their hand of action cards.

2.4 Each player's hand can have a maximum of seven action cards. If a player ever has more than seven action cards, that player must choose seven cards to keep and discard the rest. A game effect can increase or decrease the number of cards a player's hand can have.

2.5 A player's action cards remain hidden from other players until those cards are played.

2.6 The first paragraph of each action card is presented in bold text and describes the timing of when that card's ability can be resolved.

• If an action card contains the word 'Action,' a player must use a component action during the action phase to resolve the ability. A player cannot resolve a component action if they cannot completely resolve its ability.
• Multiple action cards with the same name cannot be played during a single timing window to affect the same units or game effect.
• Canceled cards are not treated as being played.

2.7 To play an action card, a player reads and resolves the card's ability text, making any decisions as prompted by the card. Then, that player discards the card, placing it in the action discard pile.

2.8 If an action card is canceled, that card has no effect and is discarded.

3.1 During a player's turn, they may perform one of the following three types of actions: a strategic action, a tactical action, or a component action.

3.2 If a player cannot perform an action, they must pass.

3.3 After a player has passed, they have no further turns and cannot perform additional actions during that action phase.

• During a turn that a player passes, they can resolve transactions and 'at the start of your turn' abilities.
• A player that has passed can still resolve the secondary ability of other players' strategy cards.

3.4 A player cannot pass until they have performed the strategic action of their strategy card. During a three-player or four-player game, a player cannot pass until they have exhausted both of their strategy cards.

3.5 After all players have passed, play proceeds to the status phase.

4.1 During the action phase, the player who is first in initiative order is the first active player.

4.2 After the active player takes a turn, the next player in initiative order becomes the active player.

4.3 After the last player in initiative order takes a turn, the player who is first in initiative order becomes the active player again, and turns begin again in initiative order, ignoring any players who have already passed.

5.1 When a player performs a tactical action, they activate a system by placing a command token from their tactic pool in that system. That system is the active system.

5.2 A player cannot activate a system that already contains one of their command tokens.

5.3 A player can activate a system that contains command tokens that match other players factions.

5.4 A system remains the active system for the duration of the tactical action during which it was activated.

6.1 A system that has a wormhole is treated as being adjacent to a system that has a matching wormhole.

6.2 A unit or planet is adjacent to all system tiles that are adjacent to the system tile that contains that unit or planet. A system is not adjacent to itself.

6.3 A planet is treated as being adjacent to the system that contains that planet.

6.4 Systems that are connected by lines drawn across one or more hyperlane tiles are adjacent for all purposes.

7.1 There are two types of agenda cards: laws and directives.

7.2 Laws can permanently change the rules of the game.

7.3 When resolving a law, if a 'For' outcome received the most votes, or if the law requires an election, the law's ability becomes a permanent part of the game. Players resolve the outcome and place the agenda card either in the common play area or in a player's play area, as dictated by the card.

7.4 If a law is in a player's play area as opposed to the common play area, that player owns that law.

7.5 If a law is discarded from play, that law's ability is no longer in effect. Place that card on the top of the agenda card discard pile.

7.6 If an 'Against' outcome of a law received the most votes, players resolve the outcome and discard the agenda.

7.7 Directives provide one-time game effects.

7.8 When resolving a directive, players resolve the outcome that received the most votes and discard the agenda card.

9.1 An anomaly is identified by a red border located on the tile's corners.

9.2 There are four types of anomalies: asteroid fields, nebulae, supernovas, and gravity rifts. Some anomalies contain planets, those systems are still anomalies.

9.3 Each type of anomaly is identified by its art.

9.4 Abilities can cause a system tile to become an anomaly; that system tile is an anomaly in addition to its other properties.

9.5 Abilities can cause a system to be two different anomalies; that system has the properties of both anomalies.

11.1 A ship cannot move through or into an asteroid field.

12.1 To attach a card to a planet card, a player places the card with the attach effect partially underneath the planet card.

12.2 If a player gains or loses control of planet that contains a card with an attach effect, the attached card stays with that planet. The attached card maintains its exhausted or readied state. If a planet card is purged, also purge all cards that are attached to that planet card and remove the corresponding attachment tokens from the game board.

12.3 When a card is attached to a planet card, place the corresponding attachment token on that planet on the game board.

14.1 A player cannot use a blockaded unit to produce ships; that player can still use a blockaded unit to produce ground forces.

14.2 When a player blockades another player's space dock, if the blockaded player has captured any of the blockading player's units, those units are returned to the blockading player's reinforcements. While a player is blockading another player, the blockaded player cannot capture any of the blockading player's units.

16.1 A unit's capacity value indicates the maximum combined number of fighters and ground forces that it can transport.

16.2 The combined capacity values of a player's ships in a system determine the number of fighters and ground forces that player can have in that system's space area.

16.3 If a player has more fighters and ground forces in the space area of a system than the total capacity of that player's ships in that system, that player must remove the excess units.

• A player can choose which of their excess units to remove.
• Ground forces on planets do not count against capacity.
• A player's fighters and ground forces do not count against capacity during combat. At the end of combat, any excess units are removed and returned to that player's reinforcements.

16.4 Fighters and ground forces are not assigned to specific ships, except while they are being transported.

17.1 If a player captures a non-fighter ship or mech, they place it on their faction sheet. When such a unit is returned, it is placed into the reinforcements of the original owner.

17.2 A captured non-fighter ship or mech is returned under the following circumstances:

• If the player who captured the unit agrees to return it as part of a transaction.
• If an ability instructs the capturing player to return the unit as part of an ability's cost.
• If the player whose unit was captured blockades a space dock of the player who captured the unit.

17.3 If a player captures a fighter or infantry, it is placed in its reinforcements instead of on the capturing player's faction sheet; the capturing player places a fighter or infantry token from the supply on their faction sheet instead.

17.4 Captured fighters and infantry do not belong to any player and are returned only when an ability instructs the capturing player to do so.

• Captured fighters and infantry cannot be returned as part of a transaction.
• Captured fighters and infantry are not returned as the result of a blockade.
• When a captured fighter or infantry is returned, it is placed in the supply.

17.5 While a unit is captured, it cannot be produced or placed by its original owner until it is returned.

17.6 If one or more of a player's space docks is being blockaded, that player cannot capture units from the blockading players.

18.1 During combat, if a unit's combat roll produces a result equal to or greater than its combat value, it produces a hit.

18.2 If a unit's combat value contains two or more burst icons, instead of rolling a single die, the player rolls one die for each burst icon when making that unit's combat rolls.

19.1 The pools on the command sheet are where players place their command tokens. Command tokens in a player's pools are used by that player to perform strategic and tactical actions and to increase the number of ships that player can have in each system.

19.2 The trade good area on the command sheet is where a player places their trade good tokens; trade tokens in a player's trade good area can be spent by that player as resources, influence, or to resolve certain game effects that require trade goods.

19.3 Players who are familiar with the game can hide the quick reference by placing that portion of the command sheet under their faction sheets.

20.1 Each player begins the game with eight tokens on their command sheet: three in their tactic pool, three in their fleet pool, and two in their strategy pool.

• Command tokens in the strategy and tactic pool are placed with the faction symbol faceup.
• Command tokens in the fleet pool are placed with the ship silhouette faceup.

20.2 When a player gains a command token, they choose which of their three pools to place it in.

20.3 A player is limited by the amount of command tokens in their reinforcements.

• If a player would gain a command token but has none available in their reinforcements, that player cannot gain that command token.
• If a game effect would place a player's command token from their reinforcements and none are available, that player must take a token from a pool on their command sheet, unless the token would be placed into a system that already contains one of their command tokens.

20.4 During the action phase, a player can perform a tactical action by spending a command token from their tactic pool; they place the command token in a system.

20.5 After a player performs a strategic action during the action phase, each other player can resolve the secondary ability of that strategy card by spending a command token from their strategy pool.

• A player does not spend a command token to resolve the secondary ability of the 'Leadership' strategy card.

20.6 If a game effect would place a player's command token in a system where they already have one, they place the token in their reinforcements instead. Any effects that resolve by placing that token are resolved as normal.

21.1 Commodities and trade goods are represented by opposite sides of the same token.

21.2 The commodity value on a player's faction sheet indicates the maximum number of commodities that player can have.

21.3 When an effect instructs a player to replenish commodities, that player takes the number of commodity tokens necessary so that the amount of commodities that player has equals the commodity value on their faction sheet. Then, those tokens are placed faceup in the commodity area of that player's faction sheet.

21.4 When a player replenishes commodities, that player takes the commodity tokens from the supply.

21.5 Players can trade commodities following the rules for transactions. When a player receives a commodity from another player, the player who received that token converts it into a trade good by placing it in the trade good area of their command sheet with the trade good side faceup.

• That token is no longer a commodity token; it is a trade good token.
• A player can trade commodity tokens before resolving a game effect that allows them to replenish commodities.
• If a game effect instructs a player to convert a number of their own commodities to trade goods, those trade goods are not treated as being gained for the purpose of triggering other abilities.

21.6 Any game effect that instructs a player to give a commodity to another player causes that commodity to be converted into a trade good.

21.7 A player cannot spend commodities unless otherwise specified; a player can only trade them during a transaction.

21.8 Commodity tokens come in values of one and three. A player can swap between these tokens as necessary.

22.1 Component actions can be found on various game components, including action cards, technology cards, leaders, exploration cards, relics, promissory notes, and faction sheets. Each component action is indicated by an 'Action' header.

22.2 To perform a component action, a player reads the action's text and follows the instructions as described.

22.3 A component action cannot be performed if its ability cannot be completely resolved.

22.4 If a component action is canceled, it does not use that player's action.

23.1 DICE: Dice are limitless. If a player needs to roll more dice than the game provides, that player should roll as many as possible, record the results, and then reroll dice as necessary.

23.2 TOKENS: Tokens are limited to those included in the game, except for the following: Control Tokens, Fighter Tokens, Trade Good Tokens, Infantry Tokens.

23.3 If any of the above tokens are depleted, players can use a suitable substitute, such as a coin or bead.

23.4 UNITS: Units are limited to those included in the game, except for fighters and ground forces.

• When a player would place a unit, if there are none of that type left in their reinforcements, that player can remove a unit from any system that does not contain one of their command tokens and place that unit in their reinforcements. A player can remove any number of their units in this way; however, any units that are removed must be placed immediately. Abilities cannot force a player to remove and place a unit in this manner.
• When producing a fighter or infantry unit, a player can use a fighter or infantry token, as appropriate, from the supply instead of a plastic piece. These tokens must be accompanied by at least one plastic piece of the same type; players can swap infantry and fighter tokens for plastic pieces at any time.

23.5 CARDS: When a deck is depleted, players shuffle the deck's discard pile and place it facedown to create a new deck.

24.1 During the action phase, if the active player has the "Construction" strategy card, they can perform a strategic action to resolve that card's primary ability.

24.2 To resolve the primary ability on the "Construction" strategy card, the active player may place either one PDS or one space dock on a planet they control. Then, that player may place an additional PDS on a planet they control.

• The structures can be placed on the same planet or different planets.
• The structures can be placed in any systems, regardless of whether the player has a command token in the system or not.

24.3 After the active player resolves the primary ability of the "Construction" strategy card, each other player, beginning with the player to the left of the active player and proceeding clockwise, may spend one command token from their strategy pool and place that command token in any system. If that player already has a command token in that system, the spent token is returned to their reinforcements instead. Then, that player places either one PDS or one space dock on a planet they control in that system.

24.4 When a player places either a PDS or space dock using the "Construction" strategy card, they take that PDS or space dock from their reinforcements. If a player does not have the unit in their reinforcements, that player can remove a unit from any system that does not contain one of their command tokens and place that unit in their reinforcements. Then, that player must place the unit on the game board as instructed by the effect that is placing the unit.

25.1 When a player gains control of a planet, they take the planet card that corresponds to that planet and place it in their play area; that card is exhausted.

• If a player is the first player to control a planet, they take the planet card from the planet card deck.
• If another player controls the planet, they take that planet's card from the other player's play area.
• When a player gains control of a planet that is not already controlled by another player, they explore that planet.

25.2 A player cannot gain control of a planet that they already control.

25.3 While a player controls a planet, that planet's card remains in their play area until they lose control of that planet.

25.4 A player can control a planet that they do not have any units on; that player places a control token on that planet to mark that they control it.

25.5 A player loses control of a planet if they no longer have units on it and another player has units on it.

• The player that placed units on the planet gains control of that planet.
• During the invasion step of a tactical action, control is determined during the "Establish Control" step instead.

25.6 A player can lose control of a planet through some game effects.

25.7 If a player loses control of a planet that contains their control token, they remove their control token from the planet.

26.1 To produce a unit, a player must spend a number of resources equal to or greater than the cost of the unit they are producing.

26.2 If the cost is accompanied by two icons typically for fighters and ground forces a player produces two of that unit for that cost.

26.3 If a unit does not have a cost, it cannot be produced.

• Structures do not have costs and are usually placed by resolving the "Construction" strategy card.

27.1 Units can move into the system that contains Mecatol Rex following normal rules; however, players cannot commit ground forces to land on Mecatol Rex until the custodians token is removed from the planet.

27.2 Before the "Commit Ground Forces" step of an invasion, the active player can remove the custodians token from Mecatol Rex by spending six influence. Then, that player must commit at least one ground force to land on the planet.

• If a player cannot commit ground forces to land on Mecatol Rex, they cannot remove the custodians token.

27.3 When a player removes the custodians token from Mecatol Rex, they take the token from the game board and place it in their play area. Then, they gain one victory point.

27.4 After a player removes the custodians token from Mecatol Rex, the agenda phase is added to all subsequent game rounds, including the game round during which the custodians token was removed from Mecatol Rex.

28.1 Players can make deals with each other at any time, even if they are not neighbors. However, deals that include a transaction must follow the rules for transactions, including that the players be neighbors.

28.2 Deals are binding or non-binding according to the conditions of the deal.

28.3 If the terms of a deal can be resolved immediately, it is a binding deal. When a deal is binding, a player must adhere to the terms of the agreement and whatever transactions, if any, were agreed upon.

• The results of playing an action card, including the act of successfully resolving a card, are not instantaneous and cannot be guaranteed. They cannot be part of a binding deal.

28.4 If the terms of a deal cannot be resolved immediately, it is a non-binding deal. When a deal is non-binding, a player does not have to adhere to any part of the agreement.

30.1 A player can use a unit's deploy ability when the ability's conditions are met to place that unit on the game board. A player does not have to spend resources to deploy a unit unless otherwise specified.

30.2 A player can only resolve a deploy ability to place a unit that is in their reinforcements.

• If there are no units that have a deploy ability in a player's reinforcements, the deploy ability cannot be used.

30.3 A unit's deploy ability can be resolved only once per timing window.

31.1 When a player assigns hits that were produced against their units, that player chooses a number of their units to be destroyed equal to the number of hits produced against those units.

31.2 If a player's unit is removed from the board by a game effect, it is not treated as being destroyed; effects that trigger when a unit is destroyed are not triggered.

32.1 During the action phase, if the active player has the "Diplomacy" strategy card, they can perform a strategic action to resolve that card's primary ability.

32.2 To resolve the primary ability on the "Diplomacy" strategy card, the active player chooses a system that contains a planet they control other than the Mecatol Rex system; each other player places one command token from their reinforcements in that system. Then, the active player readies any two of their exhausted planets.

• If a player has no command tokens in their reinforcements, that player places one command token of their choice from their command sheet.
• If a player already has a command token in the chosen system, they do not place a command token there.

32.3 After the active player resolves the primary ability of the "Diplomacy" strategy card, each other player, beginning with the player to the left of the active player and proceeding clockwise, may spend one command token from their strategy pool to ready up to two exhausted planets they control.

33.1 A player is eliminated when they meet all of the following three conditions: The player has no ground forces on the game board, the player has no unit that has "Production", and the player does not control any planets.

33.2 When a player becomes eliminated, all of the units, command tokens, control tokens, promissory notes, technologies, command sheets, and the faction sheet that matches that player's faction or color are returned to the game box, including those in their reinforcements.

33.3 When a player becomes eliminated, all agenda cards they own are discarded.

33.4 When a player becomes eliminated, each promissory note they have that matches another player's faction or color is returned to that player.

• Promissory notes that match the eliminated player are returned to the game box, even if another player has them.

33.5 When a player becomes eliminated, each action card in their hand is discarded.

33.6 When a player becomes eliminated, their strategy cards are returned to the common play area whether those cards have been exhausted or not.

33.7 When a player becomes eliminated, their secret objectives are shuffled back into the secret objective deck whether those secret objectives have been completed or not.

33.8 If the speaker becomes eliminated, the speaker token passes to the player to the speaker's left.

33.9 If a game that started with five or more players becomes a game with four or fewer players due to elimination, the players continue to select only one strategy card during the strategy phase.

33.10 When players are eliminated, faction-specific components interact with the game as follows:

• If a player becomes eliminated and the Nekro Virus' assimilator "X" or assimilator "Y" token is placed on one of their faction technologies, that technology remains in play.
• If the Ghost of Creuss player becomes eliminated, their wormhole tokens remain on the game board for the remainder of the game.
• If the Naalu player becomes eliminated while another player has the Naalu player's "0" token, that token remains with its current player until the end of the status phase, and then it is removed from play.
• If the Titans of Ul player becomes eliminated while their hero or promissory note is attached to a planet, those attachments and attachment tokens remain in play for the remainder of the game.
• If the Mahact Gene-Sorcerers become eliminated while they have another player's command tokens on their faction sheet, those command tokens are returned to their respective players reinforcements. If the Mahact Gene-Sorcerers have an eliminated player's command token on their faction sheet, that command token remains in play, as does the eliminated player's commander, if it is unlocked.

33.11 If a player becomes eliminated, any units they have captured are returned to the reinforcements of their original owners.

34.1 To exhaust a card, a player flips the card facedown.

34.2 During the "Ready Cards" step of the status phase, each player readies all of their exhausted cards by flipping those cards faceup.

34.3 A player exhausts their planet cards to spend either the resources or influence on that card.

34.4 Abilities, including some found on technology cards, may instruct a player to exhaust a card to resolve those abilities. If a card is already exhausted, it cannot be exhausted again.

• Passive abilities on an exhausted card are still in effect while that card is exhausted.

34.5 After a player performs a strategic action, they exhaust the strategy card that corresponds to that action.

35.1 When a player takes control of a planet that is not already controlled by another player, they explore that planet.

35.2 When a player explores a planet, they draw and resolve a card from the exploration deck that corresponds to that planet's trait.

• There are three planetary exploration decks, each of which corresponds to a planet trait: cultural, hazardous, and industrial.
• Planets that do not have traits, such as Mecatol Rex and planets in home systems, cannot be explored.
• If a planet has multiple traits, the player exploring the planet chooses which of the corresponding exploration decks to draw from.
• If a player gains control of multiple planets or resolves multiple explore effects at the same time, they choose the order in which they resolve those explorations, completely resolving each exploration card before resolving the next.

35.3 Certain abilities may allow a planet to be explored multiple times.

35.4 Players can explore space areas that contain frontier tokens if they own the "Dark Energy Tap" technology or if another game effect allows them to. Frontier tokens are placed in systems during setup and by specific abilities.

35.5 When a player explores a frontier token, they draw and resolve a card from the frontier exploration deck.

35.6 After a frontier token is explored, it is discarded and returned to the supply.

35.7 To resolve an exploration card, a player reads the card, makes any necessary decisions, and resolves its ability. If the card was not a relic fragment or an attachment, it is discarded into its respective discard pile.

• If there are no cards in an exploration deck, its discard pile is shuffled to form a new exploration deck.

35.8 If a player resolves an exploration card that has an "attach" header, they attach that card to the planet card of the planet being explored.

35.9 If a player resolves an exploration card that has "relic fragment" in the title, they place that card faceup in their play area.

• Players can resolve the ability of relic fragments that are in their play area.
• Resolving these abilities allows players to draw cards from the relic deck.
• Relic fragments can be exchanged as part of transactions.

36.1 When producing a fighter unit, a player can use a fighter token from the supply instead of a plastic piece.

36.2 Players can replace their plastic fighters with tokens at any time.

36.3 If a player ever has a fighter token in a system that does not contain one of their plastic fighters, that player must replace it with a plastic fighter from their reinforcements.

• If the player cannot replace the token, the unit is destroyed.

36.4 Fighter tokens come in values of one and three. A player can swap between these tokens as necessary.

37.1 The number of command tokens in a player's fleet pool indicates the maximum number of non-fighter ships that a player can have in a system.

• Units that are on planets or that count against a player's capacity do not count against that player's fleet pool.
• Units that are being transported through systems do not count against a player's fleet pool in those systems.

37.2 Players place command tokens in their fleet pools with the ship silhouette faceup.

37.3 If at any time the number of a player's non-fighter ships in a system exceeds the number of tokens in that player's fleet pool, they choose and remove excess ships in that system, returning those units to their reinforcements.

37.4 Players do not spend command tokens from this pool unless a game effect specifically allows it.

38.1 Frontier tokens are placed on the game board during setup. One frontier token is placed in each system that does not contain any planets.

• Frontier tokens are not placed on hyperlane tiles.
• A system cannot have more than one frontier token.
• Frontier tokens are placed in anomalies that do not have planets.
• A frontier token is placed in the Creuss gate system.

39.1 The game board consists of all system tiles that were placed during setup, even if the sides of those tiles do not touch any other system tiles, such as the Ghosts of Creuss' home system.

39.2 A system tile is on the edge of the game board if any of its sides are not touching another system tile.

• The Ghosts of Creuss home system and the wormhole nexus are on the edge of the game board.

40.1 Players skip the agenda phase during the early portion of each game. After the custodians token is removed from Mecatol Rex, the agenda phase is added to each game round.

40.2 Player turns occur during the action phase.

40.3 Abilities that last until the end of a player's turn do not persist for the duration of a game round or into the other phases of that game round. Those effects end at the end of that player's turn, before the next player's turn begins.

41.1 A ship that will move out of or through a gravity rift at any time during its movement, applies +1 to its move value. This can allow a ship to reach the active system from farther away than it normally could.

41.2 For each ship that would move out of or through a gravity rift, one die is rolled immediately before it exits the gravity rift system; on a result of 1-3, that ship is removed from the board.

• Dice are not rolled for units that are being transported by ships that have capacity.
• Units that are being transported are removed from the board if the ship transporting them is removed from the board.
• Units that are removed are returned to the player's reinforcements.

41.3 A gravity rift can affect the same ship multiple times during a single movement.

41.4 A system that contains multiple gravity rifts is treated as a single gravity rift.

42.3 After assigning hits, if both players still have ground forces on the planet, players resolve a new combat round starting with the "Roll Dice" step.

42.4 Ground combat ends when only one player (or neither player) has ground forces on the planet.

• During the first round of a combat, "start of combat" and "start of combat round" effects occur during the same timing window.
• During the last round of a combat, "end of combat" and "end of combat round" effects occur during the same timing window.
• After a combat ends, the player with one or more ground forces remaining on the planet is the winner of the combat; the other player is the loser of the combat.
• If neither player has a ground force remaining, there is no winner the combat ends in a draw.

43.1 Ground forces are always on planets, in a space area with ships that have capacity values, or being transported by those ships.

43.2 Ground forces being transported by a ship are placed in a system's space area along with the ship that is transporting them.

43.3 There is no limit to the number of ground forces a player can have on a planet.

44.1 Systems that are connected by lines drawn across one or more hyperlane tiles are adjacent for all purposes.

44.2 Hyperlane tiles are not systems. They cannot have units on them and they cannot be targets for effects or abilities.

45.1 During the action phase, if the active player has the "Imperial" strategy card, they can perform a strategic action to resolve that card's primary ability.

45.2 To resolve the primary ability on the "Imperial" strategy card, the active player can score one public objective of their choice if they meet that objective's requirements as described on its card. Then, if the active player controls Mecatol Rex, they gain one victory point; if they do not control Mecatol Rex, they can draw one secret objective card.

45.3 After the active player resolves the primary ability of the "Imperial" strategy card, each other player, beginning with the player to the left of the active player and proceeding clockwise, may spend one command token from their strategy pool to draw one secret objective card.

45.4 If a player has more than three secret objective cards after drawing a secret objective, they must choose one of their unscored secret objectives and return it to the secret objective deck. This number includes the secret objective cards in the player's hand and the cards that player has already scored. Then, they shuffle the secret objective deck.

46.1 When producing an infantry unit, a player can use an infantry token from the supply instead of a plastic piece.

46.2 Players can replace their plastic infantry with tokens at any time.

46.3 If a player ever has an infantry token on a planet that does not contain one of their plastic infantry or in the space area of a system that does not contain one of their plastic infantry, that player must replace it with one of their plastic infantry from their reinforcements.

• If that player cannot replace the token, the unit is destroyed.

46.4 Infantry tokens come in values of one and three. A player can swap between these tokens as necessary.

47.1 A planet's influence is the rightmost value (surrounded by a blue border) found on the planet's system tile and planet card.

47.2 A player can spend a planet's influence by exhausting that planet's card.

47.3 A player can spend a trade good as if it were one influence.

• Players cannot spend trade goods to cast votes during the agenda phase.

48.1 Initiative order is determined by the initiative numbers on strategy cards.

• A player who has the Naalu "0" token has the initiative number 0.

48.2 Initiative order begins with the player who has the lowest-numbered strategy card and proceeds to the player who has the strategy card that is next in numerical order.

• Only strategy cards that were chosen during the strategy phase are used when determining initiative order; strategy cards not chosen during the strategy phase are ignored.

48.3 When playing with three or four players, a player's initiative is determined only by their lowest-numbered strategy card.

50.1 The leader slots of the leader sheet are where players place their three leader cards during setup. Each slot displays the name of the type of leader that is placed in that slot (agent, commander, and hero) as well as a symbol in the upper-right that helps players quickly determine which side of those leaders begins the game faceup. The sides of the leader cards that display one (agent), two (commander), or three (hero) hash marks, respectively, begin the game faceup.

50.2 The mech slot of the leader sheet is where players place their mech unit cards during setup.

50.3 Players who are familiar with the game can hide the quick reference by placing that portion of the leader sheet under their faction sheets.

51.1 Each faction has three leaders; one agent, one commander, and one hero.

• The Nomad's "The Company" faction ability grants them two additional agents, for a total of five leaders.

51.2 A player's leaders are placed on their leader sheet during setup.

• Each leader card is placed on the slot that matches its type.
• The leader cards are placed so that the hash mark symbols in the upper right are faceup and match the slot that the card is placed on.
• The two additional Nomad agents are placed in the Nomad player's play area readied side up.

52.1 During the action phase, if the active player has the "Leadership" strategy card, they can perform a strategic action to resolve that card's primary ability.

52.2 To resolve the primary ability on the "Leadership" strategy card, the active player gains three command tokens. Then, that player can spend any amount of their influence to gain one command token for every three influence they spend.

52.3 After the active player resolves the primary ability of the "Leadership" strategy card, each other player, beginning with the player to the left of the active player and proceeding clockwise, may spend any amount of influence to gain one command token for every three influence they spend.

52.4 When a player gains command tokens, that player places each token on their command sheet in the pool of their choice.

53.1 A legendary planet is indicated by the legendary planet icon.

53.2 When a player gains control of a legendary planet, they also place its legendary planet ability card in their play area.

• If a player gains control of a legendary planet ability card from the deck, it is readied.
• If a player gains control of an exhausted legendary planet ability card, it remains exhausted.

53.3 Players can use the abilities on the legendary planet ability cards in their play area.

53.4 If a legendary planet's planet card is purged, its corresponding legendary planet ability card is also purged..

54.1 During setup, the custodians token is placed on Mecatol Rex. This token prevents a player from committing ground forces to land on the planet unless they spend six influence to remove the token.

55.1 Mechs are a type of ground force and can be transported and participate in ground combat.

55.2 Each player begins with their mech unit card in play on their leader sheet and can produce mechs for the cost presented on the card.

55.3 Some mechs have "Deploy" abilities which allow a player to place them on the game board without producing them normally.

55.4 Mech unit cards are not technologies.

56.1 A modifier is always preceded by the word "apply" followed by a numerical value.

56.2 A modifier value preceded by a "+" is added to the attribute or result being modified; a modifier value preceded by a "-" is subtracted from the attribute or result being modified.

57.1 A unit's move value indicates the distance from its current system that it can move during the "Movement" step of a tactical action.

59.1 A ship can only move into a nebula if it is the active system.

• A ship cannot move through a nebula. That is, a ship cannot move into and out of a nebula during the same movement.

59.2 A ship that begins the "Movement" step of a tactical action in a nebula treats its move value as "1" for the duration of that step. Other abilities and effects can increase this number.

59.3 If a space combat occurs in a nebula, the defender applies +1 to each combat roll of their ships during that combat.

60.1 Players can resolve transactions with their neighbors.

60.2 Players are neighbors if the adjacency of systems is granted by a wormhole.

60.3 Players are neighbors with the Ghosts of Creuss if the Ghosts of Creuss "Quantum Entanglement" faction ability is causing adjacency from the perspective of the Ghosts of Creuss player.

61.1 There are two types of objective cards: public objectives and secret objectives.

• Each public objective has a "I" or "II" on the back of its card; all other objectives are secret objectives.

61.2 Each objective card indicates a number of victory points that a player gains by scoring that objective.

61.3 Each objective card indicates the phase during which a player can score that objective the status, action, or agenda phases.

61.4 Each objective card describes the requirement a player must fulfill to score that objective.

61.5 If a player fulfills the requirement described on an objective card, they can score that objective following the timing indicated on the card, either during the action phase or the status phase.

• When a player scores an objective during the status phase, they must fulfill the requirement on the card during the "Score Objectives" step of the status phase to score that objective.
• When a player scores an objective during the action phase, they can do so at any time during that phase.
• When a player scores an objective during the agenda phase. they can do so at any time during that phase.

61.6 A player can score a maximum of one public objective and one secret objective during each status phase.

61.7 A player can score any number of objectives during the agenda phase or during a turn of the action phase; however, they can only score one objective during or after each combat.

• A player can score an objective during both the space combat and the ground combat during the same tactical action.

61.8 A player can score each objective only once during the game.

61.9 If an objective requires a player to destroy one or more units, those units can be destroyed by producing hits against them, playing action cards, using technology, or any number of other abilities that use the "destroy" terminology.

• Forcing a player to remove a unit from the board by reducing the number of command tokens in their fleet pool is not treated as destroying a unit.

61.10 Players can score some objectives by spending resources, influence, or tokens, as described by the objective card. To score such an objective, a player must pay the specified cost at the time indicated on the card.

62.1 Players who do not have units on either side of a combat are not opponents. Those players cannot use abilities or have abilities used against them that are used against an opponent.

63.1 Each PDS has the "Space Cannon" ability.

63.2 The primary way by which players acquire PDS units is by resolving either the primary or secondary ability of the "Construction" strategy card.

63.3 A PDS unit is placed on a planet. Each planet can have a maximum of two PDS units.

63.4 If a player's PDS is ever on a planet that does not contain any of their own ground forces and contains a unit that belongs to another player, that PDS is destroyed.

64.1 A planet's resources are indicated by the value on its planet card and system tile that is surrounded by a yellow triangular border.

64.2 A planet's influence is indicated by the value on its planet card and system tile that is surrounded by a blue hexagonal border.

64.3 A planet's trait has no inherent effects, but some game effects refer to a planet's trait. There are three traits: cultural, hazardous, and industrial.

64.4 Some planets have a technology specialty, which allows those planets to be exhausted to satisfy a prerequisite when researching technology.

64.5 Some planets are legendary planets, as indicated by the legendary planet icon. When a player gains control of a legendary planet, they also gain control of its legendary planet ability card.

65.1 The "Planetary Shield" ability does not prevent a planet from being affected by the "X-89 Bacterial Weapon" technology.

65.2 The "Planetary Shield" ability prevents an LIZIX player from using their "Harrow" faction ability.

65.3 If a war sun is in a system with any number of other players' units that have the "Planetary Shield" ability, those units are treated as if they do not have that ability.

• Units treated as if they do not have a "Planetary Shield" ability cannot use the "Magen Defense Grid" technology.
• A war sun can use its "Bombardment" ability against planets that contain units that have the "Planetary Shield" ability.

66.1 During the action phase, if the active player has the "Politics" strategy card, they can perform a strategic action to resolve that card's primary ability.

66.2 To resolve the primary ability on the "Politics" strategy card, the active player resolves the following effects in order:

66.3 After the active player resolves the primary ability of the "Politics" strategy card, each other player, beginning with the player to the left of the active player and proceeding clockwise, may spend one command token from their strategy pool to draw two action cards.

67.1 Each unit that a player can produce has a cost value presented on its faction sheet or technology card. To produce a unit, a player must spend a number of resources equal to or greater than the cost value of the unit they are producing.

• Spent resources must come from planets or trade goods that are controlled by the player who is producing the units.
• Any resources spent in excess of a unit's cost are lost.
• If a player is producing multiple units at a time, that player can add the cost of each unit they are producing to create a total cost before they spend any resources.

67.2 If the cost is accompanied by two icons—typically for fighters and infantry—a player produces two of that unit for that cost.

• Each of the two units counts toward the total number of units a player can produce.
• A player can choose to produce only one unit, however, they must still pay the entire cost.

67.3 When a player produces a unit through the use of their units' "Production" abilities during a tactical action, that player follows the rules of the "Production" ability to determine where in the active system the units can be placed.

67.4 When a player produces a unit through an ability outside of the tactical action, that ability will state how many units that player can produce and where that player can place those units.

• A player cannot produce a unit on a planet they do not control.
• If an ability allows a player to produce a unit in a system, they may produce that unit in the space area or on a planet they control in that system.

67.5 A player is limited by the number of units in their reinforcements.

• If a player cannot produce a unit because it is not in their reinforcements, that player can remove a unit from any system that does not contain one of their command tokens and place that unit in their reinforcements. Then, that player can produce that unit. A player can remove any number of their units in this way; however, any units that are removed must be produced immediately.
• When producing a fighter or infantry unit, a player can use a fighter or infantry token, as appropriate, from the supply instead of a plastic piece.

67.6 A player cannot produce ships in a system that contains other players' ships. Ground forces can still be produced.

68.1 A unit's "Production" ability, which is presented on a faction sheet or unit upgrade technology card, is always followed by a value. This value is the maximum number of units that this unit can produce.

• If the active player has multiple units in the active system that have the "Production" ability, that player can produce a number of units up to the combined total of their units' production values in that system.
• When producing fighters or infantry, each individual unit counts toward the producing unit's production limit.
• A player can choose to produce one fighter or infantry instead of two, but must still pay the entire cost.
• "Production" value from Arborec space docks cannot be used to produce infantry, even if the Arborec player controls other units that have "Production" in the same system.

68.2 When a player produces ships by using "Production," that player must place them in the active system.

68.3 When a player produces ground forces, that player must place those unit on planets that contain a unit that used its "Production" ability.

68.4 If a player uses the "Production" ability of a unit in a space area of a system to produce ground forces, those ground forces may either be placed on a planet the player controls in that system or in the space area of that system.

69.1 Each promissory note contains timing text and ability text. A player can resolve any of their promissory note cards by following the text on the card. Promissory notes are not mandatory unless otherwise specified.

69.2 A player cannot play their color's or faction's promissory notes. Since the cards are only valuable to other players, promissory notes can be traded as powerful negotiation tools.

69.3 Promissory notes that are returned to a player are returned after their abilities have been completely resolved.

69.4 If a promissory note is returned to a player, that player may give it to other players again as part of a future transaction.

• An unrevealed promissory note is not subject to effects in its ability text that return the card if certain conditions are met.

69.5 When resolving a transaction, a player can trade a maximum of one promissory note from their hand to another player, even if that card originally belonged to another player.

• Promissory notes in the play area cannot be traded.

69.6 Players should keep their hands of promissory notes hidden.

69.7 If a player is eliminated, all of the promissory notes that match their color or faction are returned to the game box, including those that are in play or owned by other players. Other players' promissory notes are returned to those players.

70.1 If an ability instructs a player to purge a component, that component is removed from the game and returned to the box.

70.2 Purged components cannot be used or otherwise returned to the game by any means.

70.3 When a player is intructed to purge a component, that component is purged even if its ability was only partially resolved.

71.1 A card that is readied is placed faceup in a player's play area; a card that is exhausted is placed facedown in a player's area.

71.2 A player can exhaust a readied planet card to spend resources or influence from that card's planet.

71.3 A player can exhaust certain readied technology cards to resolve those cards abilities. Such a technology will specifically instruct a player to exhaust the card as part of the ability's cost.

71.4 If a card is exhausted, a player cannot resolve that card's abilities or spend resources or influence on that card until it is readied.

71.5 During a "Ready Cards" step, each player readies all of their exhausted cards by flipping them faceup.

71.6 When a player performs a strategic action, they exhaust their chosen strategy card. That card is later readied during the status phase.

72.1 The components in a player's reinforcements are limited.

73.1 Players can use the abilities of hazardous, cultural, and industrial relic fragments in their play area to draw cards from the relic deck.

• Relic fragments can be found when exploring planets and frontier tokens, and can be exchanged with other players as part of transactions.

73.2 When a player is instructed to gain a relic, they draw the top card of the relic deck and place it faceup in their play area.

• If there are no cards in the relic deck, they do not gain a relic.

73.3 A player can use the abilities of relics that are in their play area.

73.4 Relics cannot be traded.

74.1 When a die is rerolled, its new result is used instead of its previous result.

74.2 The same ability cannot be used to reroll the same die multiple times, but multiple abilities can be used to reroll a single die.

74.3 Die rerolls must occur after rolling the dice, before other abilities are resolved.

75.1 A planet's resources are the leftmost value that is surrounded by a yellow border on the planet's system tile and planet card.

75.2 A player spends a planet's resources by exhausting its card.

75.3 A player can spend a trade good as if it were one resource.

76.1 Ships are always placed in space.

76.2 A player can have a number of ships in a system equal to or less than the number of command tokens in that player's fleet pool.

• Fighters do not count toward the fleet pool limit, and instead count against a player's capacity.

76.3 Ships can have any number of the following attributes: cost, combat, move, and capacity. These attributes are shown on faction sheets and unit upgrade technology cards.

77.1 A player is not required to be the active player to use their "Space Cannon" ability of their units.

78.1 If the active player is the only player with ships in the system, they skip the "Space Combat" step of the tactical action and proceeds to the "Invasion" step.

78.2 If an ability occurs "before combat," it occurs immediately before the "Anti-Fighter Barrage" step.

• During the first round of a combat, "start of combat" and "start of combat round" effects occur during the same timing window.
• During the last round of a combat, "end of combat" and "end of combat round" effects occur during the same timing window.

78.8 After the "Retreat" step, if both players still have ships in the active system, those players resolve another round of space combat beginning with the "Announce Retreats" step.

78.9 Space combat ends when only one player or neither player- has a ship in the space area of the active system.

• During the last round of a combat, "end of combat" and "end of combat round" effects occur during the same timing window.

78.10 After a combat ends, the player with one or more ships remaining in the system is the winner of the combat; the other player is the loser of the combat. If neither player has a ship remaining, the combat ends in a draw and there is no winner.

• If the winner of the combat has fighters or ground forces in the space area of the active system and those units exceed the capacity of that player's ships in that system, that player must choose and remove any excess units.

79.1 Each space dock has a "Production" ability that indicates the number of units it can produce.

79.2 The primary way in which players acquire space docks is by resolving either the primary or secondary abilities of the "Construction" strategy card.

79.3 Space docks are placed on planets. Each planet can have a maximum of one space dock.

79.4 If a player's space dock is ever on a planet that does not contain any of their ground forces and contains a unit that belongs to another player, that space dock is destroyed.

• The Clan of Saar's "Floating Factory" faction-specific space dock is destroyed when it is blockaded; that is to say, when it is in a system with another player's ships and none of the Clan of Saar's ships.

80.1 The speaker token is randomly given to one player during setup.

80.2 The primary ability of the "Politics" strategy card allows the active player to choose a new speaker. The new speaker can be any player, including the active player, as long as that player does not already have the speaker token.

80.3 The speaker casts votes to break ties during the agenda phase.

80.4 During the strategy phase, the speaker chooses the first strategy card. Then, the player to their left chooses a strategy card, and so on.

80.5 During the agenda phase, the player to the left of the speaker casts their votes first, and voting proceeds clockwise.

80.6 During the status phase, the speaker reveals one public objective.

82.1 To perform a strategic action, the active player chooses one of the strategy cards in their play area that has not been exhausted and resolves its primary ability.

82.2 After a player resolves the primary ability of their strategy card, each other player can resolve that card's secondary ability.

• The secondary ability of a strategy card is resolved by each other player, one at a time, beginning with the player to the left of the active player and proceeding clockwise.
• To resolve a strategy card's secondary ability, a player must spend one command token from their strategy pool, unless otherwise specified.
• If a player passes during the action phase, they can still resolve the secondary ability of a strategy card.

82.3 After a player performs a strategic action, they exhaust the strategy card that corresponds to that action.

83.1 Each strategy card has a name, an initiative value, a primary ability, and a secondary ability.

83.2 There are eight strategy cards, each with a unique name and initiative value.

85.1 Structures are always placed on planets.

• The Clan of Saar's "Floating Factory" faction-specific space dock is placed in a system's space area.

85.2 Structures are primarily placed on planets using the "Construction" strategy card.

85.3 Structures cannot move or be transported.

85.4 A player can have a maximum of one space dock on each planet.

85.5 A player can have a maximum of two PDS units on each planet.

85.6 A player cannot place a structure on a planet if it would exceed the maximum number of allowed structures of that type on that planet.

86.1 A ship cannot move through or into a supernova.

87.1 For each "Sustain Damage" ability that a player uses, one hit produced by another player's units is canceled. Then, each unit using this ability is placed on its side to indicate that it is damaged.

87.2 A damaged unit does not have reduced capabilities and is functionally the same as an undamaged unit, except that it cannot use the "Sustain Damage" ability.

87.3 A damaged unit cannot use the "Sustain Damage" ability until it is repaired during the status phase or by another game effect.

87.4 A unit can use its "Sustain Damage" ability any time a hit is produced against it. This includes hits produced during combat and from unit abilities such as the "Space Cannon" ability.

• A unit can only use the "Sustain Damage" ability if it is eligible to be hit. For example, a player cannot use a dreadnought's "Sustain Damage" ability to cancel a hit from "Anti-Fighter Barrage."

87.5 The "Sustain Damage" ability cannot be used to cancel an effect that directly destroys a unit.

87.6 The Barony of Letnev's "Non-Euclidean Shielding" faction technology allows the Letnev player's units with the "Sustain Damage" ability to cancel up to two hits instead of one.

88.1 The back of each system tile is colored green, blue, or red.

88.2 System tiles with a green-colored back are home systems and faction-specific tiles. Each home system is unique to one of the game's factions.

88.3 System tiles with a blue-colored back each contain one or more planets.

88.4 System tiles with a red-colored back are anomalies or are systems that do not contain planets.

88.5 Planets are located in systems. Ground forces and structures are usually placed on planets.

88.6 Any area on a system tile that is not a planet is space. Ships are usually placed in the space area.

88.7 Double-sided tiles that have lines crossing from one edge to another are hyperlane tiles. Hyperlane tiles are not systems.

90.1 Each player places any technology they have gained faceup near their faction sheet. For the duration of the game, they own any technology cards they gain and can use the abilities on those cards.

90.2 A player does not own any technology card that is in their technology deck.

90.3 A player can gain a technology card from their technology deck by researching technology.

• Both the primary and secondary abilities of the "Technology" strategy card allow a player to research a technology.

90.4 Any technology card that a player has not gained remains in their technology deck. A player can look through their technology deck at any time.

90.5 If an ability instructs a player to gain a technology, they do not research it; they take it from their technology deck and place it in their play area, ignoring prerequisites.

90.6 Some technologies are unit upgrades. Unit upgrades share a name with a unit that is printed on a player's faction sheet.

• Players place any unit upgrades they gain faceup on their faction sheets, covering the unit that shares a name with that upgrade card.

90.7 Each technology that is not a unit upgrade has a colored symbol displayed in the lower-right corner of the card and on its card back that indicates that technology's color.

• A technology's color has no inherent game effect; however, each technology a player owns can satisfy a prerequisite of a matching color when researching other technology.
• Unit upgrades do not have a color and do not satisfy prerequisites.
• There are four colors of technologies as follows: Biotic, Warfare, Propulsion, Cybernetic.

90.8 Most technology cards have a column of colored symbols displayed in the lower-left corner of the card. Each symbol in this column is a prerequisite.

• A technology card's prerequisites indicate the number and color of technologies a player must own to research that technology card.

91.1 During the action phase, if the active player has the "Technology" strategy card, they can perform a strategic action to resolve that card's primary ability.

91.2 To resolve the primary ability on the "Technology" strategy card, the active player can research one technology of their choice. Then, they may research one additional technology of their choice by spending six resources.

91.3 After the active player resolves the primary ability of the "Technology" strategy card, each other player, beginning with the player to the left of the active player and proceeding clockwise, may research one technology of their choice by spending one command token from their strategy pool and four resources.

92.1 During the action phase, if the active player has the "Trade" strategy card, they can perform a strategic action to resolve that card's primary ability. To resolve the primary ability on the "Trade" strategy card, the active player resolves the following effects in order:

92.5 After the active player resolves the primary ability of the "Trade" strategy card, each other player, beginning with the player to the left of the active player and proceeding clockwise, may spend one command token from their strategy pool to replenish their commodities.

93.1 Trade goods and commodities are represented by opposite sides of the same token.

93.2 When a player gains a trade good, they take a trade good token from the supply and place it on the trade good area on their command sheet, making sure the trade good side is faceup.

93.3 A player can spend trade goods at any time during the game.

93.4 A player can spend a trade good in one of the following ways: In place of spending one resource, or in place of spending one influence. However, trade goods cannot be spent to cast votes during the agenda phase. A trade good can also be spent to resolve an effect that specifically requires it.

• In place of spending one resource.
• In place of spending one influence. However, trade goods cannot be spent to cast votes during the agenda phase.
• To resolve an effect that specifically requires that a trade good be spent.

93.5 A player can exchange their trade goods with other players during a transaction.

93.6 When a player receives a commodity token from another player, the player who received that token places it in their trade good area with the trade good side of the token faceup.

• That token is no longer a commodity token; it is a trade good token.

93.7 Trade good tokens come in values of one and three. A player can swap between these tokens as necessary.

94.1 During the active player's turn, they may resolve up to one transaction with each of their neighbors. A player can resolve a transaction at any time during their turn, even during a combat.

94.2 To resolve a transaction, a player gives any number of trade goods and commodities and up to one promissory note to a neighbor in exchange for any number of trade goods, commodities, and relic fragments, and up to one promissory note.

94.3 Players can exchange commodities, trade goods, promissory notes, and relic fragments, but cannot exchange other types of cards or tokens. The Emirates of Hacan can also exchange action cards with other players as part of their transactions.

94.4 A transaction does not have to be even. A player may exchange components of unequal value or give components without receiving something in return. The players agree on the terms of the transaction before exchanging any components. After the components are traded, the transaction cannot be undone.

94.5 Players can resolve a transaction as part of a deal.

94.6 While resolving each agenda during the agenda phase, a player may perform one transaction with each other player. Players do not need to be neighbors to perform these transactions.

95.1 The ship can pick up and transport fighters and ground forces when it moves. During a tactical action, it can pick up and transport units from the active system, the system it started its movement in, and each system it moves through.

• These transported units remain with the transporting ship until it is finished moving.
• Units being transported by a ship that is removed from the board by a gravity rift are also removed from the board.

95.2 Any fighters and ground forces that a ship transports must move with the ship and remain in the space area of a system.

95.3 Fighters and ground forces cannot be picked up from a system that contains one of their faction's command tokens other than the active system.

95.4 A player can land ground forces on a planet in a system during the "Invasion" step of a tactical action.

96.1 There are three types of units: ships, ground forces, and structures.

96.2 Each color of plastic comes with the following units: 3 Space Docks, 6 PDS units, 8 Destroyers, 8 Cruisers, 2 War Suns, 12 Infantry, 10 Fighters, 4 Carriers, 5 Dreadnoughts, 1 Flagship, 4 Mechs.

96.3 Units exist either on the game board or in a player's reinforcements.

97.1 Unit upgrades share a name with a unit that is printed on a player's faction sheet, but have a higher roman numeral. For example, a player's "Carrier I" unit is upgraded by the unit upgrade technology "Carrier II."

• The Nekro Virus player may upgrade their units with units of the same type (e.g., "dreadnought" or "infantry") even if those unit's names do not match. If the Nekro Virus gains a unit upgrade technology of the same unit type as a unit upgrade technology they already have, the previous upgrade is removed, and they must use the same Valefar Assimilator token that was used to copy the previous upgrade.

97.2 Players place unit upgrades they gain faceup on their faction sheets, covering the unit that shares a name with that upgrade card.

97.3 The white arrows next to an attribute on a faction sheet indicate that the attribute will improve when the unit is upgraded.

97.4 After a player gains a unit upgrade card, each of that player's units that correspond to that upgrade card is treated as having the attributes and abilities printed on that upgrade card. Any previous attributes of that unit, such as the one printed on that player's faction sheet, are ignored.

97.5 A mech unit card is not a technology.

98.1 Players gain victory points in a variety of ways. A common way that a player can gain victory points is by scoring objectives.

98.2 Each player uses the victory point track to indicate the number of victory points they have gained.

• If the players are using the 14-space side of the victory point track, the game ends and a player wins when they have 14 victory points instead of 10.

98.3 Each player places one of their control tokens on space "0" of the victory point track during setup.

98.4 When a player gains a victory point, they advance their control token a number of spaces along the victory point track equal to the number of victory points gained.

• A player's control token must always be on the space of the victory point track that shows a number that matches the number of victory points that player has gained during the game. A player cannot have more than 10 victory points.

98.5 If an ability refers to the player with the "most" or "fewest" victory points, and more than one player is tied in that respect, the effect applies to all of the tied players.

98.6 If a player gains a victory point from a law, and that law is discarded, that player does not lose that victory point.

98.7 The game ends immediately when one player has 10 victory points. If multiple players would simultaneously gain their 10th victory point, the player who is earliest in initiative order among those players is the winner. If this occurs when players do not have strategy cards, the player who is nearest the speaker (including the speaker) in clockwise order is the winner.

98.8 If the game ends because the speaker cannot reveal an objective card, the player with the most victory points is the winner. If one or more players are tied for having the most victory points, the tied player who is first in initiative order is the winner.

99.3 After the active player resolves the primary ability of the "Warfare" strategy card, each other player, beginning with the player to the left of the active player and proceeding clockwise, may spend one command token from their strategy pool to resolve the "Production" ability of one space dock in their home system. The command token is not placed in their home system.

100.1 The wormhole nexus is not a system tile and cannot be activated. Units cannot move to, from, or through the wormhole nexus.

• The wormhole nexus is treated as being adjacent to all alpha and beta wormholes for the purpose of resolving abilities. It is not adjacent for any other purpose.

100.2 During setup, the wormhole nexus is placed with the gamma wormhole side facedown.

100.3 The Ghosts of Creuss player can use their "Iff" flagship's ability to place or move a gamma wormhole token into the wormhole nexus.

• When this occurs, the player flips the wormhole nexus tile to its gamma side. From that point on, the wormhole nexus is treated as containing three alpha, three beta, and three gamma wormholes.

101.1 During the "Movement" step of a tactical action, a player can treat two systems that contain matching wormholes as being adjacent to each other.

• There are two types of wormholes: alpha and beta.
• Any system that contains an alpha wormhole is adjacent to all other systems that contain an alpha wormhole.
• Any system that contains a beta wormhole is adjacent to all other systems that contain a beta wormhole.

101.2 Players are neighbors if the adjacency is granted by a wormhole.

101.3 Some systems have a gamma wormhole icon instead of an alpha or beta icon. These systems can have a gamma wormhole token placed on them.

• While a gamma wormhole token is on one of these systems, that system is treated as a gamma wormhole in addition to any other wormholes it may have.

101.4 The Ghosts of Creuss player can use their "Iff" flagship's ability to place and move gamma wormhole tokens.