Difference between revisions of "Interstellar Empire"

Latest revision as of 17:47, 22 June 2008

Interstellar Empire
Designer	Mitchell & Matthew Glodek
Date	9/12/2007
Players	2-4
This deck has not been categorised.
To play Dvorak: Draw five cards each and leave the rest as a draw pile. On your turn, draw a card from the draw pile and play one Thing and/or one Action. (See the full rules.)
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You are the Emperor of a planet just setting out on a campaign of interstellar exploration and conquest. Planets whose governments have similar designs are in the same galactic cluster, and the game represents the race of you and your rival empires to dominate the area.

Special Rules

60 Card Deck

Each card has a single number on it, from 1 to 6. One use of these numbers is to generate a random number; when a random number is needed, turn over the top card of the deck and place it in the discard pile.

Ship Cards (Red)

Ship cards represent the space vessels your empire needs to explore the galaxy and discover new planets, and also the military might with which you defend your planets from enemy attack, and try to steal planets held by your foes.

The number on the ship card represents the cost of the ship, and its firepower. During the build phase, you can place a ship in your fleet by discarding a card with an equal or higher number than that on the ship, or a number of cards whose total is equal to or greater than the number on the ship. During a war, the numbers printed on the cards of all your ships participating in that war are totaled, and then a random number is added. The total is your attack score (if it is your turn and you are trying to conquer another player's planet) or your defense score (should it be another player's turn and he is trying to conquer one of your planets.)

Ships are tapped when they participate in exploration, or in a war. A tapped ship is assumed to be on its way back to base, much of its supplies exhausted. Such ships are unable to go on attack missions or to go exploring. However, such ships can participate in defensive battles. A tapped ship is vulnerable, and if things go badly in a battle will likely be destroyed.

There are five classes of ship: frigate, destroyer, cruiser, battlecruiser, and battleship.

Planet Cards (Green)

To win the game, you must own more planets than your rivals at the end of the game. Planets can be discovered in the exploration phase. To discover a planet, tap one of the untapped ships in your fleet, then lay down the planet, and then discard a card with a number on it equal to or higher than the planet's number, or, several cards whose total equals or exceeds the number on the planet.

There are four types of planet:

Barren. The value of these planets is limited, though they make useful military bases.

Agricultural. These productive planets help the economy of your empire. If you discover an agricultural planet, immediately draw a card from the deck and add it to your hand.

Jungle. The jungle planet is the perfect location for guerilla warfare. If the defense loses a war over a jungle planet, the attacker must discard a card from his hand if he wants to conquer the planet. If he refuses to discard a card, or is unable, the planet is placed in the discard pile; it is of no benefit to the victor, as guerillas resist the occupiers for years to come.

Industrial. If you have an industrial planet in your empire, you can draw an extra card in the draw phase. You draw an extra card for each industrial planet in your empire.

Special Cards (Blue)

The special cards represent your tactics and strategies, as well as random unfortunate events that will occur to your foes and make your victory a little easier. There are seven special cards in the core set. A special card is played by laying it on the discard pile at the appropriate moment.

Set Up

Each player gets ten cards. The rest of the deck is placed in the center of the table. When cards are discarded, they are laid next to the deck, face up. Every player must be given a chance to see cards as they are discarded, but you cannot look through the discard pile, and the pile should be kept tidy so players can't see cards beneath the top discard.

A player's play space consists of two horizontal rows, a line of space ships, his fleet, and behind it a row of planets, his empire.

Who goes first? If the players cannot agree on who goes first, each lays down a card from his hand, face down. These are then revealed simultaneously. The player with the higher number is player one. The cards are then discarded. If there is a tie, repeat the process.

Sequence Of Play

1) Untap. The player untaps any of his ships that are tapped. Tapped ships are ships that are turned 90 degrees. Untapping consists of turning a ship back so it's bottom faces its owner.

2) Draw. Draw one card from the deck. If you draw the last card into your hand, the game is immediately over, and the winner is determined at once.

3) Explore. If you have a planet in your hand, an untapped ship in your fleet, and additional cards in your hand whose numbers equal or exceed the value of the planet you want to play, you may play the planet. To play it, lay it down in your second rank, behind your fleet. Then, tap a ship in your fleet. (If you have no untapped ships, you may not play a planet.) Then, discard a card or cards whose total value equals or exceeds the number on the planet.

If you start an exploration phase with more than one planet in your hand, it is possible to play more than one planet in your explore phase. However, you must go through the entire sequence of playing a planet before playing another. Obviously, a ship can only discover one planet, and cards discarded as resources cannot be counted for more than one planet. (For example, you cannot play an Agricultural Planet (2) and a Barren Planet (1) by discarding a single Cruiser (3).)

4) War. If you have any ships in your fleet that are untapped, and any other players have planets, you may declare war. Declare war by moving some or all of your untapped ships to an opponent's planet. The victim then moves any of his ships he wishes to to the planet, and the battle commences; the attacker is the person whose turn it is, the defender is the player whose planet is at stake.

The attacker totals the numbers on his participating ships, and then gets a random number by turning over the top card on the deck and discarding it. This number is added to the number of his ships to generate his attack score.

The defender totals the value of his ships participating, and then generates a random number in the same way. Note that if the defender sent no ships to the battle, he adds zero to the random number. Also note, that if the attacker's random number was generated using the last card in the deck, that the defender discards a card from his hand to generate a number.

If the defender's score is higher, or the totals are equal, he has won. The planet is still his. All ships who fought in the battle are tapped if they were not already tapped. All ships that participated in the battle and survived are returned to their fleets, tapped.

If the attacker's score is higher, he has won. Any defending ships that are tapped are destroyed. Then, all surviving ships are tapped and returned to their fleets. The planet moves to the attacker's empire.

If the war used up the last card in the deck, the game is over, and it is time to determine the winner.

A player can launch more than one war during his turn. These are resolved one at a time. A player who attacks a planet and fails to capture it can even attack it a second time, as long as he has untapped ships.

5) Build. If a player has a ship in his hand, and additional cards in his hand whose total equals or exceeds the number of the ship, he may play the ship. To play it, lay it down in your first rank, in front of your planets. Then, discard a card whose value equals or exceeds the number on the ship, or, a group of cards whose total equals or exceeds the number on the ship.

If you start a build phase with more than one ship in your hand, it is possible to play more than one ship in the phase. However, you must go through the entire sequence of playing a ship before playing another. Obviously, cards that are discarded as resources cannot be counted for more than one ship.

6) Next Player. The next player, clockwise, now starts his untap phase.

Victory

A player may concede defeat in his build phase. He shows his hand to the other players and then discards it, and then discards his ships. His planets go into the empire of the player who currently has the most planets already. Ties are broken by number of ships, then, number of cards in hand.

If the last card from the deck is drawn in a draw phase or an explore phase the game ends at once. If the last card is drawn during a battle the game ends once the embattled planet's fate is decided.

Once the game is over, the winner is the player with the most planets. If there is a tie, the player with the most ships has won. If these are also equal, the person with more cards in his hand has won. If these are also equal, it is a draw.

Optional Rules

Liberal State

In your first draw phase you may declare that you are not an Emperor, but a Prime Minister for an elected government devoted to free trade and human rights. You may draw one extra card this phase only, but may not declare war during the rest of the game.

Tyrannical State

In your first draw phase you may declare that you are not an Emperor but a Dictator of a communist or fascist state bent on ruling the galaxy. You may draw an extra card this phase only, but may never discard a card with a 6 on it as a resource or use it during a battle as a random number or to respond to a jungle planet, labor unrest or resistance card. When you choose between cards during a slavery or trade delegation or in response to an ancient artifact, you must choose a card with a 6 on it if there is only one; if both possible cards have 6s you may discard one.Except for this slavery/trade/ancient artifact case, you may only put a card with a 6 on it on the discard pile if you are playing it legally, using it against another player or enslaving natives.

Card List

1

Frigate

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

1

Frigate

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

1

Frigate

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

1

Frigate

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

1

Frigate

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

2

Destroyer

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

2

Destroyer

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

2

Destroyer

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

2

Destroyer

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

2

Destroyer

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

3

Cruiser

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

3

Cruiser

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

3

Cruiser

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

3

Cruiser

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

3

Cruiser

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

4

Battlecruiser

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

4

Battlecruiser

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

4

Battlecruiser

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

4

Battlecruiser

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

4

Battlecruiser

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

5

Battleship

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

5

Battleship

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

5

Battleship

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

5

Battleship

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

5

Battleship

Ship

Interstellar Empire Core Set

1

Barren Planet

Planet

Interstellar Empire Core Set

1

Barren Planet

Planet

Interstellar Empire Core Set

1

Barren Planet

Planet

Interstellar Empire Core Set

1

Barren Planet

Planet

Interstellar Empire Core Set

1

Barren Planet

Planet

Interstellar Empire Core Set

2

Agricultural Planet

Planet

Upon discovery, immediately draw a card from the deck and add it to your hand.

Interstellar Empire Core Set

2

Agricultural Planet

Planet

Upon discovery, immediately draw a card from the deck and add it to your hand.

Interstellar Empire Core Set

2

Agricultural Planet

Planet

Upon discovery, immediately draw a card from the deck and add it to your hand.

Interstellar Empire Core Set

2

Agricultural Planet

Planet

Upon discovery, immediately draw a card from the deck and add it to your hand.

Interstellar Empire Core Set

2

Agricultural Planet

Planet

Upon discovery, immediately draw a card from the deck and add it to your hand.

Interstellar Empire Core Set

3

Jungle Planet

Planet