Space Empires: 4X Unofficial EAQ

Purpose: This is an accumulation of questions answered by Designer Jim Krohn in the BGG/Consimworld
forums. Though unofficial, this document has been reviewed by Jim Krohn. Questions are roughly
organized per the rulebook.
Edited by: Ted Duby (MajorOracle on BGG)
Version: 1.6
Last Updated: September 12, 2011

Table of Contents
Introduction/Winning Conditions/Game Setup (1.0) ................................................................................... 2
Groups (2.3) .................................................................................................................................................. 2
Numeral Markers (2.4).................................................................................................................................. 4
Non-Group Units (2.5)................................................................................................................................... 4
Sequence of Play (3.0)................................................................................................................................... 4
Movement (4.0) ............................................................................................................................................ 4
Combat (5.0) ................................................................................................................................................. 5
Retreats (5.9) ................................................................................................................................................ 8
Black Holes (6.3)............................................................................................................................................ 9
Lost In Space (6.3) ......................................................................................................................................... 9
Minerals (6.7) .............................................................................................................................................. 10
Space Wrecks (6.8) ...................................................................................................................................... 10
Warp Points (6.9, 16.0) ............................................................................................................................... 10
Doomsday Machines (6.9, 17.0) ................................................................................................................. 10
Economic Phase/Production Sheet/Charts (7.0) ........................................................................................ 11
Blockades (7.1) ............................................................................................................................................ 13
Maintenance Costs (7.3) ............................................................................................................................. 13
Adjust Colony Income (7.7) ......................................................................................................................... 13
Bases/Ship Yards (8.1/8.2) .......................................................................................................................... 14
Decoys (8.3) ................................................................................................................................................ 16
Technology (9.0) ......................................................................................................................................... 17
Tactics Technology (9.3).............................................................................................................................. 17
Terraforming Technology (9.7) ................................................................................................................... 17
Exploration Technology (9.8) ...................................................................................................................... 17
Revealing Technology (9.9) ......................................................................................................................... 19
Upgrades (9.10.4)........................................................................................................................................ 20
MS Pipelines (10.0) ..................................................................................................................................... 21
Carriers, Fighters & Point Defense (11.0) ................................................................................................... 22
Raiders (12.0) .............................................................................................................................................. 22
Mines and Mine Sweepers (13.0) ............................................................................................................... 24
Research Gearing Limits (18.0) ................................................................................................................... 25
Unpredictable Research (19.0) ................................................................................................................... 25
Special Section on Colonies ........................................................................................................................ 25
Scenario Book ............................................................................................................................................. 26
Doomsday Machine Solo Scenarios ............................................................................................................ 27
Alien Player Solo Scenarios ......................................................................................................................... 28

1
Introduction/Winning Conditions/Game Setup (1.0)
Q. Nowhere in the rulebook does it state what the winning condition is. Also, there is no statement on
what your initial setup is like (i.e., does each empire start with a certain number of ships). Could you
address this?

A. The exact set up and victory conditions are in the scenario book. It is 16 pages long and it contains
scenarios for 1-4 players and team play. I even included an epic scenario if you own 2 copies of the game
where the two maps are connected by warp points. The epic scenario could be played by up to 8 players
with a little fiddliness. The scenario book also has the unique rules for the three solitaire scenarios, the
unpredictable research sheet mentioned in the optional rules, and the special sheet needed for tracking
alien economies in the solitaire alien empire scenario.

The victory conditions are straight forward - either destroy a player's home planet or destroy all the
other player's home planets depending on the scenario.

There are three major victory conditions in the game:

1. Play until the first person is eliminated. The winner is the person who eliminated the player.

2. Play until all other players are eliminated. It sounds like you won't want to play that one as much.

3. Either of the above with team play.

Q. Are all of the home system system markers used during game setup and is the mix of markers
identical for each player? Just curious if each player will have the exact same resources available, albeit
in a different layout, or if there's an element of luck of the draw here.

A. Each home system has identical markers (although the planet names are different). You are right in
that the layout will be different each time. I originally had it more random. The game was so short that i
didn't mind maybe getting a little worse position than my opponent. We could just set it up and play
again when the first game was done. However, too many of the people I introduced the game to really
wanted a balanced start position.

For hard core players, after you are familiar with the game, you will have fun with the completely
random set up available in the scenario book.

Q. As I was punching out my chits last night, I got 4 home planet chits named Chulak, Altair, Terra, and
Vasyr. The problem I have is that it is hard for me to tell which home planet goes with which color. Can
anyone help me out?

A. Chulak is green, Altair is red, Terra is blue, and Vasyr is yellow.

Groups (2.3)
Q. Can groups be split up or combined (assuming identical type and tech) at any time as desired (and
limited by the counter mix)?

A. Yes - any time. The group counter is just a representation of a group of ships. The ships can move
independently. Groups are merely a way of representing multiple ships. Think of each ship as a separate

2
entity that can join or leave the group as desired (if there is room in the group and it is at the same tech
level).

Q. Question regarding retreats - since you may break up groups to retreat, can you choose to retreat
your damaged ship from a group and leave the others? Or does the damage marker stay until the last
ship of the group retreats or is destroyed?

A. Yes, you can choose to retreat or screen a damaged ship.

Q. As it stands, the rules are really unclear about exactly how you enter a new ship into play. For
example, can you add a new ship to a group counter? If you do, what happens to the Tech levels therein,
especially if that Group was originated under older technology?

A. You can never put ships into a group with mixed technology levels. Thus, you cannot produce a ship
into an existing group that doesn't match its technology level.

Q. Also, I think you need explicit rules regarding the combining of groups (I am assuming it should be
prohibited)?

A. Combining and splitting groups is always allowed as long as the groups that result all have the same
tech level. EDIT: And you have enough group counters to support the formation of the new group.

Q. Am I correct that if you did split groups up, you could only merge again if at most one of the groups
has damaged ships?

A. Correct, but that can only happen in combat since ships are repaired after combat.

Q. I just realized that each counter has a group identification number on it, so if you ever split a group
up outside of combat wouldn't you need to copy the current group's technology levels on your
worksheet over unless you're using optional rule 15.1, Instant Technology Upgrade?

A. Correct you would have to mark the technology on the new group that you just created.

Q. Likewise, if you merged a group later on it would get weird if their technology levels were different. I
guess you could assume that they would each inherit the highest tech level of both even if you weren't
playing with 15.1? But that seems overly complicated.

A. You cannot merge groups with different technologies.

Q. If a Group is in the same hex as a shipyard, can builds increase the size of that Group (assuming all
other conditions are met, e.g. no technology change), or does a new Group have to be built?

A. Yes you can add to a group that is at a shipyard as long as there is no technology change. As long as
you have a spare counter you can break down groups as well so CA #1 that has a 3 Numeral Marker
under it could be broken down into CA #1, CA #2 and CA #3 all with a 1 Numeral Marker under them.
You can combine groups to free up counters in the same way. The Groups in question simply have to be
in the same hex and all have the same technology. You can do this at anytime.

Q. Suppose I've got a Decoy of size 1 at my colony. I scrap the Decoy and build a Base in its place. There's
no change that my opponent can see. Do I have to tell him that I'm scrapping one group and replacing it
with a new group? Or does he only get to see the old situation and the new situation so he doesn't know
3
there was a change? Another, similar example: I've got a Ship Yard group of size 4, and a Ship Yard of
size 1, at my planet. I combine the two into a group of size 5, while building a DN there. Do I have to tell
my opponent that I merged the two groups, or does he just see that I went from (4-group,1-group) to (5-
group,1-group), so he can't tell whether I built on to the existing 4-group, or built a new group?

A. You don't have to tell. He can see you manipulate the counters, but that is it. You don't have to
announce what you are doing.

Q. Can multiple "friendly" groups occupy the same hex?

A. Yes.

Numeral Markers (2.4)

Q. The number markers only go to six. Is that intended to limit the size of groups, or can I have more
than six in a group?

A. That's the limit. (Mark Buetow, confirmed by Jim Krohn)

Non-Group Units (2.5)

Q. What is a "non-combat capable" ship? Basically a Miner, Colony Ship and MS Pipeline?

A. Yes.

Q. Is there a game balance reason there are only 2 mining ships? May I buy more, or are purchases
restricted to component limitations?

A. Yes, you are limited by the components in the game. In this case, the number of miners was limited
by the number of counters we could provide in the game. There was no play balance reason behind it.

Q. Do units accompanying non-group ships have to show themselves for verification purposes?

A. No, they do not need to show themselves.

Sequence of Play (3.0)

Q. Rulebook 3.0 Sequence of Play: The word -turn- confuses me. 2-Player Game: Player1 does
Movement,Combat, Exploration. Then Player2 does the same. Another 2nd turn follows for Player1,
followed by Player2. Another 3rd Turn follows for Player1, followed by Player2. Then Economic Phase in
which new Player-Order is defined who is Player 1. Reset Turn Marker. The circle starts again. Am I
right?

A. Sequence of play - correct.

Movement (4.0)
Q. Can a Colony Ship and a combat ship enter an unexplored hex on the same turn, if they didn't start in
the same hex and aren't moving together?

A. Yes, the Colony Ship and the Scout can enter the hex from different directions. The point of the rule is
not to allow the colony ship to explore without a combat capable ship. I don't care how the Scout gets in
there as long as it does.

4
Q. While it doesn't appear to be explicitly spelled out, is it correct that units can choose to either move
separately or together?

A. Yes that is correct.

Q. When you move your units, you move them all at once, then flip over all of the unexplored tiles? or
do you move one unit, flip the tile, mvoe the next, flip it, etc. The rules read the first way I described but
I just wanted to make sure.

A. Move everything, then resolve combats, then flip tiles. (confirmed by Jim Krohn)

Combat (5.0)
Q. If you go to a colony in order to attack it and there were no enemy units there when you arrived, do
you have to reveal your fleet? I was hoping not.

A. When you fire you have to reveal your fleet. Sorry.

Q. Does all movement happen before all combat? And once combat happens, can I choose the order in
which I fight battles?

A. Yes, to both questions.

Q. When you reveal ships do you also reveal the unit counter under the group marker, or just the type
of ships in each group?

A. Yes you reveal the number marker showing the number of ships.

Q. Can you screen some ships in a group or must you screen the full group?

A. As counters allow, you can always break up groups in order to screen ships - not that you normally
would do that.

Q. When a unit fires, does it get to fire for each ship in the group or is the whole group considered a
unit? Assume the attacker has an A group and the defender has an A group each with 3 ships. What
would be the firing order?

A. Yes, it can fire for each ship in the group one at a time, but normally you are shooting at the same
target and roll the dice together.

If both attacker and defender have the same class (A, B, C, etc.), the side that fires first is the one with
the best tactics rating. If that is tied, then the defender fires first. The one who fires first gets to fire ALL
of his ships that have that class.

As for damaging a group, you apply damage to one ship in that group until the ship is destroyed, then
you move on to the next ship.

Q. I was wondering how I would keep track of how many ships I have fired. So, if I have 6 ships I just roll
6 dice? Are the hits cumulative? Lets say I make 4 hits on a ship with a defense of 2 in a group of 4. I
have just destroyed 2 ships... and they can't fire back at me if I had fired first?

5
A. That's correct. As the rules say, combat is NEVER simultaneous.

Q. The one who fires first gets to fire ALL of his ships that have that class.

Does this also mean that in an Asteroid belt or Nebula since all ships are considered E class that the
player with the higher Tactic's tech fires ALL his ships first?

A. Yes, this specific case is listed under special conditions

Q. What happens in this case if a group of e.g. two fires at one target and the target gets destroyed?
If there is one hit (destroying the target) and and one miss, then this miss could have been targeted at
something else that might be easier to hit, but you don't know if this was a hit- then-miss or miss-then-
hit.

A. Yes, don't roll more dice at a time than your target can take. You always have the option of rolling
the dice one at a time.

If a group fires on a single target, you may roll more dice at once to resolve the firing round more
quickly. But be careful, you might waste attacks if you roll more dice than needed to destroy the target.

Q. Does the tactic's rating apply to the player or to a unit/group?

A. Unit/group. It can be upgraded like other technologies.

Q. If Player A had a single group of three ships and Player B had a single group of two ships, could Player
A split his group up and shield one of the ships?

(This would make the most sense if that ship had taken damage, but I could see it getting weird if you
kept splitting groups every time one ship took damage, since you'd be unable to merge them again until
after combat)

A. Yes, he could. In practice that doesn't happen very often (reducing ships on the firing line often leads
to the battle taking longer and other ships getting killed), but I have done it.

Q. Question about fighters: 11.2.4 says fighters are considered as a single combat capable ship for the
purposes of determining screening. However, can they count as unscreened combat- capable units for
fleet size bonus (5.1.4)? I'm guessing that their carriers, which even if unscreened can cannot be
targeted until all friendly fighters are destroyed (11.1.1), do count toward fleet size bonus.

A. All combat capable ships that are not screened count toward the fleet size bonus. Carriers, in this
case, are not considered screened. They can't be targeted until their fighters are taken down, but they
can still shoot.

Q. 5.7 How do you identify combat ships that are screened from those that are not within the same
group?

A. You would have to split the group.

Q. Either 5.10 or 8.2 should probably specify that if a colony or homeworld is destroyed then all its
Shipyards are destroyed too.

6
A. No. The shipyards have a combat capability and have to be destroyed before the colony can be
attacked.

Q. I moved into my opponents Colony hex. He had no units in the Hex but would later move a stack into
the hex during his turn in the same movement phase. Does that make me the defender as I was there
first even though he has a Colony in the hex? Also, am I correct in assuming I should have been able to
fire on his Colonies before he had a chance to move in?

A. You would have been the defender once he moved his units in. You should have been able to fire at
the colony.

Q. During combat, can we see the results of a shot before declaring the next shot for ships of the same
class? Or must all shots by the same class ship be predesignated before rolling the dice?

A. Yes, you may see the result of the dice. That is the benefit of sometimes not rolling all the dice
together.

Q. Is the firing order of a class dependent on that individual groups tech? While playing the other day I
moved a fleet in to attack. I have two scout groups in my fleet, one with Tactics 1 and one with Tactics 0.
The defender had 1 scout with Tactics 0. So, for class E ships is the firing order:

Attacking Scout w/ Tactics 1

Defender Scout w/ Tactics 0
Attacking Scout w/ Tactics 0

A. The rules state firing order by ship, not by fleet, so I think you played it correctly. (Chris Larkin)

Yep, that's right. If I have a large battle, I will usually arrange all the ships in firing order. In the case that
you mention, if you can temporarily break out an extra scout counter (if available) and put it down in the
"E" position, that helps. (Jim Krohn)

Q. Rulebook 5.7 Combat Screening: Its always the Player with more combat-capable ships that may
screen(or not) and he chooses each combat-round which ships from his oponents are screened. Am I
right?

Is the amount of screened ships up to the difference or the difference itself? Assume 5 combat-capable
ships could be screened, are now 5 screened, or can for example only 2 of them choosen to be
screened?

Beg your pardon, I do not understand the purpose of Screening Ships at all. Is this to concentrate more
firepower on less ships? Or assume the Defender has more combat-capable ships, to protect some of his
units?

All non-combat ships are automatically screened until the end of

the battle (see 5.9.1).....does this mean any Mining-,Colony Ship and MS Pipeline Ship is kinda
protected? I can see them only get destroyed if the accompanying combat-ships get all destroyed
leaving them alone. A Colony or Shipyard does not count to, let's use this word, protect them?
And...I guess Non-combat ships count towards the screener-limit that is given through the calculated
difference explained in the Rules? Am I right?

7
A. Screening - Yes, but not from his opponent's ships, from his own. The player with more ships decides
if he wants to keep some of his own ships out of the battle that round.

The purpose of screening is to protect some of your ships. Say, you had a damaged ship or say you only
have one DD with scanners and you want to make sure it stays alive, etc. Screening ships is always
voluntary.

Yes, the non-combat ships are protected until the end of battle. However, since they can't retreat, they
are toast unless their side wins. Doing it that way greatly simplified the rules.

Q. The Amount of Screened ships is up to the difference, and not the difference itself? Say I have 10
combat-capable ships, my Opponent has 5, so I may screen up to 5 of my own ships, say I choose 2
ships. The keyword here is -up to-. Am I right? And what about the Non-Combat Ships, they do not count
towards the limit as they are screened separatedly and anyway? Am I right? And a Colony or Shipyard
does not count to, let's assume Im the defender of a Planet that has my colony/SY, protect them?

A. My understanding of this is that in your example of 10 vs 5 you may screen UP TO 5 of your ships. So
0,1,2,3,4 or 5. At the start of every round of combat fleet size is recalculated and you can change your
mix of screened ships if you still have the fleet size bonus. Non-combat ships are PROTECTED, not
SCREENED so do not count toward your limit. I don't even move non-combat ships to the battleboard, I
just point them out to my opponent and say "They're mine" in an evil voice. Colonies have no combat
capability and do not enter in to the screening function. Shipyards are combat capable so are placed on
the battleboard just like any other combat-capable unit and can be screened. (Fallow, confirmed by Jim
Krohn)

Q. Hi, a question on combat. If a scout moves into a hex with a mine and a miner ship how does the
sequence work? Does the mine kill the SC and save the miner or does the movement of the SC into the
hex kill the miner before the mine goes off?

A. Yes, the mine kills the SC and saves the miner.

Q. Definition of Defender and Attacker: Any Player entering a Hex to attack it, but there are no
Defending-Units present, is the Attacker. Only the next Round the Original Owner/Defender of his own
Planet sends Units in, so the Original Attacker becomes the Defender and the Original Owner becomes
the Attacker? This is true for any case?

A. The attacker is the active player, that is to say, if it is your turn you are the attacker, if it is your
opponent's turn you are the defender. (casualgod, confirmed by Jim Krohn)

Retreats (5.9)
Q. If things break right for my stack of ships that take 3 hits to kill, I could potentially retreat each of
them once it had received 2 hits? Understanding that it would be very unlikely for the hits to break out
that way, of course...

A. First, you can only retreat after the first round, when it is that ship's turn to fire. Second, the player
firing at you can pick which ship he is shooting at. You can't spread your hits out on more than one ship.
Your opponent is going to kill the damaged ship before shooting at others.

However, each ship in your fleet is still a separate ship, even if represented by a group counter. It only
makes sense that you will have opportunities to retreat. It can lead to tough decisions. Do I withdraw

8
my wounded ship to keep it alive, or do I need its firepower this round. If I am going to retreat that ship,
should the others flee also?

Q. Is retreat available only after the 1st round of battle or after every round of battle?

A. Retreats occur during a round when it is a ship's turn to fire, just not during the first round. So, yes, a
retreat can occur in any round after the first.

Q. Retreats- if a group has taken some hits (but not enough to eliminate a ship) and then some but not
all of the ships in the group retreat from battle- where do the hits go? Do they stay with the remaining
portion of the group or go with the retreating ships (and disappear because those ships survived)? My
guess would be they stay with the ships still in the fight.

A. Retreats - You can retreat a damaged ship. When you do so it leaves combat and the hit is repaired.
So, the damage "goes" with the retreating ship.

Q. 5.9 Retreats: I take it if there are no adjacent systems then nobody can retreat? (combat in deep
space will be a fight to the death?)

A1. If the ships don't have a retreat route they must fight to the death.
A2. It was pointed out to me that I might have misunderstood you. Are you thinking that when we say
systems we mean planets? If you are, then there has been a misunderstanding. Every hex is a "system"
and gets a "system marker" at set up. You can retreat into any adjacent hex as long as you are moving to
a hex that is equidistant to or closer to a colony (and it doesn't have bad guys in it).

Q. Can you retreat if you're fighting in a hex with your own colony? You have to retreat to a hex that is
at the same distance from one of your colonies, which means distance zero? Does that mean that you
can only retreat if you have another, adjacent colony?

A. Yes. No, you don't need an adjacent colony. The point of that rule is so that you can not use the
retreat option to slip through an enemy fleet, especially if you were just attacked while in enemy space.
So, when retreating, ignore any colony in the same hex when determining a valid retreat location.

Black Holes (6.3)

Q. When I roll for survival when traveling through a black hole hex, I have to roll for each ship in each
group in that hex. Won't that reveal the number of ships in my groups, thus defeating the purpose of
hiding the number of my ships?

A. Yes that is unavoidable. You can house rule it that this is done secretly if your group agrees, but it is a
rare occurrence for you to put a large fleet into a black hole. Too costly.

Lost In Space (6.3)

Q. Regarding the Lost in Space exploration counter. Can your neighbor use Lost in Space to put your
fleet in a hex occupied by an enemy fleet? If so is there an immediate combat

A. Yes, immediate combat. Fire your navigator for blundering into that enemy fleet. Well, there is
probably no need to fire him as he probably won't survive the combat.

9
Minerals (6.7)
Q. At what point does a Miner ship "claim" a Minerals counter - when it enters the hex, or when it
leaves with it?

A. Either. You can grab it when you enter the hex or decide later if you want to pick it up.

Q. If a Miner starts the turn with loaded cargo in the same hex as a friendly colony, can it unload before
moving?

A. Yes.

Q. Can minerals be delivered to a newly founded colony (a colony that has not yet been flipped
to the numbered side)?

A. Yes, they can. (6.7 puts no limits on the colony)

Q. When you move a Miner or Colony Ship into a hex with a Mineral or Planet (respectively), does the
Miner/Colony Ship Immediately latch onto the Mineral/Planet? Or does it take another move for the
Miner/Colony Ship to grab onto the Mineral/Planet?

A. It can immediately do it. It does not require a movement point to do so.

Space Wrecks (6.8)

Q. 6.8 says space wrecks may not be voluntarily destroyed. What happens to a space wreck if you
scuttle the Mining ship that is towing it?

A. The space wreck would be destroyed also - although that has never happened in my play experience.
There would be no need to do it. If you thought the miner was going to make it to a colony you wouldn't
do it. If you were afraid it would get destroyed, the space wreck would just be destroyed with the miner.

Q. What happens to a mineral or space wreck marker if the colony they are on is destroyed prior to the
next Econ Phase? I'm assuming they are destroyed as well, just like 6.7.3, but it seems a fair question.

A. Yes, they are destroyed with the colony.

Warp Points (6.9, 16.0)

Q. Warp Points- one thing missing from this optional rule was how to set it up at the start of the game. I
think this would be clearer if I actually had the game in front of me, but without the components I'm
confused if warp points are normal system marker or if a system would have a warp point marker in
addition to something else (like a planet or asteroid field). If there are both, how do you distribute the
Warp points?

A. Warp Point - They are normal "deep space" system markers. They get mixed in with the other system
markers randomly. If one of these is flipped, and you are not playing with warp points, then they are
removed from play (the hex is empty).

Doomsday Machines (6.9, 17.0)

Q. Under Doomsday Machine Movement, if no planets, asteroids, or ships are within 2 hexes of the DM,
the DM moves 1 hex in a random direction. Can this hex be an unexplored hex?

10
A. No (see the previous sentence in the rules) .

Q. Out of curiosity, does the doomsday machine attack aliens on the barren planets too?

A. Yes, it does.

Q. While on the subject of DM's, are they affected by asteroids in the non-solo scenarios? In other
words, if you're battling a DM on an asteroid, does it still attack at class C, or class E?

A. Yes they are. The attack class goes to E.

Q. Explain Doomsday Machine movement—when does the DM move?

A. In the non-solitaire scenarios, the DM moves once after all the players have moved. It does not move
after each player.

Q. Hi everyone, we have some questions on DMs. If they move through a Black Hole do they have to roll
for a kill? What happens if they enter a hex with mines? Is the DM killed? How about a fleet of aliens? I
wasn't sure if they should do battle in my last solo scenario.

A. Terrain has no effect on DMs (other than planets and asteroids, which attract its movement), the
rules say so on page 15. The solo scenario rules state that they're immune to mines (and fighters,
scenario book page 8). (Guido Gloor).

DM's are not killed by mines. If they move to an alien planet, they should do battle with the fleet of
aliens and then gobble the planet, assuming it was successful. (Jim Krohn)

Economic Phase/Production Sheet/Charts (7.0)

Q. I'm assuming there's a place for (ship movement) on the Ship Technology Chart, though I can find no
image of that chart or description of what it entails other than "write the tech levels of your groups on
it"?

A. Yes, that page is for tracking fleet technology. It is very simple and on the back of the production
sheet.

Q. How is my opponent supposed to be sure that I haven't built one ship more than it's legal cause I've
made my math wrong? Or that I missed some units in the maintenance math? I would be totally
deprived of fun if I'd discover later that I won because I accidentally played wrong in my favour..

Is there some other way to make sure mistakes are not done?
What are your feelings and playtest experience on this?

A. Well, the production sheet provides a record that can be looked at after the game. If you are
teaching someone who is slow to the game, I would recommend starting with a small scenario and
maybe even talking it out as you go through.

In my experience, that really isn't necessary. It is pretty simple stuff and the production sheet tends to
eliminate mistakes because you can check what you have done - as opposed to moving cubes on a chart
- did I count that? Did I pay for that? The production chart eliminates all of that.

Q. Reference card...
11
Attack 0 At Start Add 0 to a ship’s attack rating when in battle.
Attack 1 20 CP’s Add 1 to a ship’s attack rating when in battle.
Attack 2 30 more CP’s Add 2 to a ship’s attack rating when in battle (up to a ship’s limit).
Attack 3 40 more CP’s Add 3 to a ship’s attack rating when in battle (up to a ship’s limit).

So attack 2, do you pay 50 (30 more CPs)? Attack 3, you pay what?

A. You pay 20 for level 1

After you have level 1, you pay 30 for level 2
After you have level 2, you pay 40 for level 3

Q. I assume excess CPs not used during an Economic Phase can be accumulated for future game turns.
This is not stated explicitly in the rules but seems to be implied.

A. Yes, there is a spot on the production sheet to record them.

Q. Are you allowed to build ships with lower tech than you are capable of? This might be good for scouts
to collect intel without giving away your capabilities.

A. Yes, you are.

Q. Can a colony build a Base and a Shipyard in the same Econ Phase? I cannot find anything in the rules
to say no, but it seems wrong somehow. We allowed it as there was nothing we could find in the rules to
disallow it.

A. Yes.

Q. Do Colonies progress during the economic phase if there are enemy ships in their hex?

A. Yes, the presence of enemy ships does not stop them from growing.

Q. Can a Colony with enemy ships in its hex build a Base during the Econ phase? How about a Shipyard?
It is mentioned in the rules [page 9] that they may only be built in income-generating colonies.
Blockaded colonies (i.e. colonies with enemies in orbit, described on page 8) do not produce income.

A. Yes to both, although this is not explicitly stated in the rules it should be. The intent of that rule was
the front end - a new colony (that has not yet produced income) could not build a shipyard or base.
However, the way it is worded, it included blockaded planets. We will have to reword it in the future.

A. ANSWER UPDATED 9/12/2011: After consulting with the development team and processing it for the
last couple of weeks, we have decided to issue an official rules tweak.

A colony will NOT be allowed to build a Base or a Ship Yard when blockaded.

As I have mentioned earlier, at various times we played it both ways during the development of the
game. While not a major change, it will give another benefit to the attacker. Another bonus is that it
removes a complication and a special case from the rules (something I am almost always in favor of).
Since we are in the midst of polishing the living rules, it made sense to make the change now.

12
Q. I am sure I am overlooking this, but I can't figure out what the price is with building colony
ships....The player aid has an * with no legend, and the rule book does not list a price.

A. You're looking at the row for the colony itself. If you go up about 4 rows you'll see the info for the
colony ship indicating a cost of 8 cp.

Blockades (7.1)
Q. Blockade: A Colony that has an enemy unit (and no friendly units in the case of an enemy Raider) in
the same hex does not produce income, but does grow (see 7.7) normally.

Does the enemy unit have to be combat capable or can I blockade a planet with a mining ship?

A. Yes, it would have to be combat capable, but what you are describing wouldn't happen. Non-combat
ships are so vulnerable, and slow, that they would never be in that position.

Maintenance Costs (7.3)

Q. Excess Maintenance Costs
It says that if your Maintenance Costs exceed your Income, you have 0 net income. Also, you can scuttle
ships. But if your maintenance exceeds your income (and any "cash on hand") must you then scuttle
what you cannot pay for? I didn't see that anywhere and it seems reasonable that you would lose what
you can't maintain.

A. You can scuttle your ships, but that RARELY happens. As for maintenance, if you can't pay for your
entire fleet, you don't have to scuttle them, you just end up with 0 money. That is a rule that is more for
completeness than anything else. I have never seen it happen. First, because you normally use your
ships to defend your colonies, they die first. Second, because it takes too long to completely eliminate
an empire. It is considered that the planets have some built in defenses such that colonies are not
automatically eliminated from space. It takes time and there are a lot of colonies. Even if your fleet was
caught out of position, it would be coming back to defend before you lost all your income.

If this ever happens, the game is basically over for that player.

Adjust Colony Income (7.7)

Q. Ok, so why do the Colony Ships have a 5-point colony on their reverse? The rules say that they flip to
a 1-point colony. Is this intentional to free up Colony Ships for future construction? If the countermix is
the limit of available units, doesn't that force players to weigh new colonization against current colony
growth?

A. When you first flip the colony ship, you cover up the 5 with a 1 counter. Next econ phase, you flip the
1 counter to a 3. On the next econ phase, you remove the counter, leaving a 5.

Each colony ship can deploy only once. Unless, of course, the colony is subsequently destroyed.

Q. I have a question regarding rule 7.7 for Colony Income.

I looked in the FAQ document and could not find the answer. When you place a colony ship on a colony
you flip the colony ship and place it under the colony. Where I am confused is what happens next. The
rule states: "Finally, Colony Ships on planets are flipped to their Colony side and a "1 colony" marker is
placed on them. This would seem to indicate that on the next economic phase, if this happened on say
turn 2.2, you would gain the colony income of 1 and increase the colony to a 3 CP producing colony.
13
This seems straight forward but then you look at the example under the same rule. "During movement,
a player colonizes a planet...During the subsequent economic phase that colony receives 0 CPs...during
the next economic phase the colony would produce 1 CP. This seems to indicate that for the first
economic phase on which you have previously colonized a planet you receive 0 CPs and it is only once
the colony has survived another 3 turns (the second economic phase in which the colony is alive) would
you be able to receive 1 CP.

A. Turns 1-3, colony ship makes it to a planet and is put on the planet.
Then the Econ phase: colony produces no income but is flipped at the end to a "1" colony.

Next Econ phase, you collect 1, then it is flipped to 3 at the end of the Econ phase. And so on. Get it?

Colonies only ever grow in the Economic phase(at the end), never in a turn. 7.7 is the last step of the
economic phase. (Mark Buetow, confirmed by Jim Krohn)

Bases/Ship Yards (8.1/8.2)

Q. Do new ships have to be built on shipyards?

A. Yep.

Q. Can you place ships at a ship yard you built that turn? In other words, can you use ship yards the
turn you build them?

A. SYs are placed at the same time as other units so they may not be used to build ships on the turn that
they are built.

Q. Do Shipyard counters represent an individual SY or are they group counters that can represent from
1-6? For example, can the starting 4 Shipyards be represented by a single counter with a 4 marker
underneath? We assumed they were group counters and that you weren't limited to 4 SY's total by the
counter mix but couldn't find this in the rules.

A. Yep, they are group counters - your starting 4 can be represented by just one counter.

Q. I see by the Example in Section 7.6.1 of the rules that one unit of shipyard capacity is required to
place a colony fleet (no hull size is specified).I guess the same holds true for miners and MS pipelines?

A. Yes, it does. I am jotting down a note to make that more clear on the player aid cards as well. Ship
Yards, Bases, and Decoys do not use Ship Yard capacity - everything else does.

Q. If you have an enemy fleet in orbit around say, your homeworld, and your shipyards are destroyed
are you still able to build a shipyard and base as normal, or does the presence of an enemy fleet prevent
that from happening?

A. Yes, you may build them but, if that is happening on homeworld, you have probably lost the game. If
ships were still present after that player's (the owner of the ships) subsequent turn, combat would occur
as normal.

Q. I guess both (Bases/Ship Yards) remain unrevealed until either the Ship Yards are used to produce
ships or the bases are used for defense.

14
A. Ship yards remain unrevealed until you get into the hex with them. Think of it in the same way as CAs
with exploration technology. They use their tech to explore a hex so the other players will know a CA is
there, but the counter does not get flipped. In the same way, it will probably be pretty obvious where
your SYs are, but how many there are, is there a base there also (if you used more than one group
counter), etc. is not known.

Q. Can a Base or Shipyard be built on a Planet that would normally produce 1 or more CPs but for being
blockaded?

A. Yes. PER JIM KROHN’S UPDATE ON 9/12/2011: A colony will NOT be allowed to build a Base or a
Ship Yard when blockaded.

Q. If so, does a battle immediately occur when such construction occurs?

A. No. A battle would happen after a player takes a turn. SEE PRECEEDING ANSWER ABOVE.

Q. Next question: can you use shipyards in the turn you build them? We said no. This would mean it's a
three econ phase process to build a ship at a new colony.

A. No. Yes. (confirmed by Jim Krohn)

Q. I didn't see this in the rules: when building a ship (or multiple ships) with no hull size (i.e. colony ships,
mining ships), do they use up any of the shipyard capacity?

Yes.

Q. Is that 1 per ship, or 1 for a group, regardless of the number of ships? I assume it's 1 per ship, which
means the effectively have a hull size of 1.

A. Yes, each require 1 SY to build, but pay no maintenance.

Q. So for example if I had 1 SY I could produce only one Colony Ship or Miner or MS Pipeline, and
additionally any amount of other ships up to the limit on hull size for the SY?

A. Uh...no. SY has nothing to do with maintenance. You have 1 SY you can build one of anything that is
hull size 1. That's it. (Mark Buetow)

Q. My question is can I only build one step of SY per Econ phase in a hex or can I only build one step to
start and then in future Econ phases build multiple steps of SYs there?

A. Each colony/home world can build max 1 Ship Yard per turn. So, you can build more than 1 Ship Yard
per turn, but no more than 1 per world. (David Debien)

Just to be clear - it is one per system per economic phase. Over time, you can build a sizable number of
SYs in the same system. (Jim Krohn)

Q. Bases...Face down or face up? If face down, can I place a number marker under them for fog of war
purposes?

A. Face down and you should place a number marker under them for that very reason.

15
Decoys (8.3)
Q. Decoys can move at the current movement technology level which is automatically upgraded for
them. But if you move them first with mov. tech. level 2 , then upgrade your tech. in economics phase
and after that you move them with mov. tech. level 3 , your opponent is going to realize they are
decoys. What am i missing?

A. Yes, but you don't have to move them that fast. You can choose to move it at a slower pace to keep it
secret. What this does is allow a decoy to keep pace with other ships in a situation where the other
player might not have realized that it was moving slower before.

Q. Decoys do not require a ship yard to be constructed but if you do so the opponent is going to
immediately recognize them as decoys cause all other ships are built at shipyards, what am i missing?

A. You will definitely place the decoy at the same place as a shipyard. If you didn't do that, it would be
obvious. However, it won't use up the shipyard's capacity so that it can still build other ships. The other
player will have no idea what you are building because all he saw you do was place some face down
counters with numbers underneath them - and he doesn't know what those numbers are.

Q. 8.3.2 says decoys that are alone in a hex with enemies are immediately removed and the enemy
ships are not revealed. Immediately would mean this occurs in the movement portion of the turn. So, do
decoys (alone without other types of units) still force enemy ships to stop their movement? Or can they
continue moving after the decoys are revealed and removed?

A. Yes, immediately means during movement. A lone decoy will not stop a fleet's movement.

Q. 8.3 It would seem that one can use a decoy to reveal an enemy decoy without revealing itself, right?

A. We have clarified in the rules that non-combat units can not attack if not with a group. That takes
care of this loophole.

Q. Building a decoy in a system without a Shipyard seems like the best way to betray the decoy's
existence!

A. Yep.

Q. If the Movement Tech Level is 6. The Decoys move 6 hexes. Right?

A. No ships move 6. Decoys move as ships according to the current Move Tech level. Movement 6
means that a ship can move 2 hexes in Turn 1 and 3 hexes each in Turns 2 and 3.

Q. The FAQs suggest that building a decoy at a colony with no Ship Yard gives away that it's a decoy.
Why couldn't your opponent think perhaps it's a base? Just making sure I didn't miss something.

A. When answering the question for the FAQ, I was thinking in terms of - once the counter moves
everyone will know it is a decoy. You are right, it could be a base.

Q. Does a Decoy explore a hex? Can it be the accompaniment for a colony ship or miner?

A. Decoys may not explore.

16
Q. Since Decoys do not explore, and the rules state that exploration is mandatory upon entering the hex,
then won't everyone know that it's a decoy that's moved, since it did not/could not explore?

A. Well, you can't move the decoy into an unexplored hex. There will be plenty of times during the game
where there will be many already explored hexes and counters will be moving through them. You won't
know if they are decoys or not.

Technology (9.0)
Q. When you are researching and building do others get to see what you are researching? Can you keep
it secret?

A. No. Yes.

Tactics Technology (9.3)

Q. Is it the Tactics Technology Level of the ships that are tied that breaks the firing order tie or is it the
Tactics Technology Level of the players that breaks the tie?

The rule appears to say the Tactics Technology Level of the players breaks the tie. However, if that is
true, why would it be necessary to track the Tactics Technology Level of individual group counters on
the Ship Technology Sheet?

A. It is the tactics level of the ships. All of the tech in the game is ship specific (unless you are playing
with the instant tech upgrade optional rule).

Q. What if a player has several groups of the same class in a battle, but of different Tactics Technology
level? For example: Player A has one A Class Group with a Tactics Level of 1 and another with a Tactics
Level of 3. Player B has one A Class Group with a Tactics Level of 2.

Is the firing order:

1. Player A's Tactics Level 3 Group

2. Player B's Tactics Level 2 Group
3. Player A's Tactics Level 1 Group

A. Yes.

Terraforming Technology (9.7)

Q. 9.7 How do you identify colony ships built before terraforming tech was acquired?

A. You will have to keep a side note. There are never more than one or two colony ships on the board
once you get to that point. It is pretty clear.

Exploration Technology (9.8)

Q. 9.8 Exploration Technology: it states that when a player uses it to peek at an adjacent unexplored
system, "Any negative effects from flipping that marker do not affect the exploring Cruiser." Since the
player has a choice in this case to keep the unexplored system marker face down or flip it face up, does
it mean if he did choose to flip it up any effect that associates with that marker will affect the cruiser?

A. If he flips it up, it won't hurt the cruiser.

17
Q. I thought that gaining exploration tech allows one to see into extra unexplored spaces, therefore see
fleets that are not in the same space. If open display shows fleet position to everyone, doesn't that
defeat the tech advantage?

A. Exploration tech let's you see what's under the exploration marker (minerals, asteroids, something
really dangerous, etc) you can always see where enemy ships are because, well, they are on the board.
You can't see what each group is made up of, but you can see that there is a group or more of ships.

Q. If a CA uses Exploration Technology, do you have to reveal which ship it is, or just assert that you have
the ship in the hex? If you could explore a hex from any of several adjacent hexes containing your units,
do you have to declare which hex the CA is in?

A. No to all of the above. You don't have to reveal anything when you use explore tech.

Q. For cruisers with Exploration technology, if they peek at a Danger!/Lost in Space marker in
an adjacent hex, and they choose to reveal it, is it immediately removed?

A. Yes. Danger!/Lost in Space markers are always removed when revealed. Flipping them with
exploration technology is the only way to remove them and still avoid their negative effects.

Q. For cruisers with Exploration technology, if they have peeked, flipped and removed a marker in an
adjacent hex, can they then move into that hex (or any other empty hex for that matter)
during their movement during the same turn?

A. Absolutely. (9.8 - that's how a cruiser can explore two hexes per turn - once by exploration
technology and once by moving)

Q. OK, so I've got a CA with Explore tech checking out deep space around my home systems. Can the CA
move into the system it just "peeked" at in the same turn? Section 9.8 of the rules says it may move into
an unexplored system after peeking. Apparently that would prohibit movement into the "peeked"
system in the same movement turn? Therefore, it seems that the CA with explore tech can either peek
at an unexplored system and then move into an unexplored system in the same turn, or peek at a
system and not move at all.

A. A CA may peek and then move. When it moves, it can move into the same or different system than
the one peeked into.

Q. Related question: If I have a group of 3 CA's with the explore tech, is the peeking done per group
marker or per ship? The rules would seem to imply that it's per ship. If that is the case I could use those
3 CA's to explore a path 3 hexes wide and never have to risk a ship by moving to a hex that hasn't been
peeked at.

A. Yes, it is per ship, but they can only peek into an adjacent hex.

Q. So Jim, is it legal to use 2 CA's on 2 separate turns to use exploration technology to peek at the same
marker?

A. Sure.

18
Revealing Technology (9.9)
Q. On revealing technology, let me give an extreme example. Let's say you have Movement 6
technology, but so far in the game you have only used Movement 1. Then let's say you finally move
extra spaces, but it is at Movement 2 technology. At that point, do you have to reveal you have
Movement 2 or Movement 6?

A. You reveal only what you use that can be seen by the other players.

Q. On revealing technology, when do you have to reveal your advanced Ship Yard tech? Is it only when
you build a number of ships with hull size that would exceed the initial Ship Yard technology?

A. I may have to word the rule better because I do not reveal my ship yard tech. The other players do
not know what I am building.

Q. This is more of a procedural question. When one reveals a tech as he uses it for the first time, what is
the procedure and nature of this "revealing". Is it merely announced, or does one actually "reveal" his
tech progress on his tech sheet, and if so, how does he avoid showing other tech advances on the page
that he has not used yet?

A. You just have to announce and verify that you have the tech needed. If you move a group 2 hexes in
the 3rd turn of a round, you only have to "announce" move 2. Attack / Defense / Tactics / Scanners etc
all are announced when you need to use them. Exploration and Terra-forming pretty much announce
themselves automatically.

I never show my (tech) sheet. At the end of the game it is not uncommon to exchange sheets to see
what the other player did, but I don't show it mid-game.

Q1a. Can you verify/correct this please? (multi-part question)

WHEN TECH LEVEL IS REVEALED

Ship Size- is never revealed, only assumed based on ships shown during combat.

A. Correct.

1b. Attack/Defense/Tactics/Point Defense/Mines/Minesweeper/Ship Yards- are revealed in combat

A. Correct, except that the Ship Yard tech is not revealed.

1c. Move - Do you just say I'm moving 2 hexes even if you have a tech allowing you to move more?

A. Yes, you don't need to reveal faster movement tech unless you are using it.

1d. Terraforming - Do you announce you are colonizing a barren planet or remain silent and it's up to
the other players to pay attention?

A. Unless playing with a new player, I just use it.

1e. Exploration - Do you announce you are exploring a tile or just do so and it's up to the other players
to pay attention?

19
A. Unless playing with a new player, I just use it.

1f. Fighters- In combat do you announce the player's current fighter tech level or just the tech level of
the fighters present in that combat?

A. The current tech of the ships actually in combat.

1g. Cloaking & Scanners- (example)Player A wants to move a cloaked Raider through a hex with an
enemy unit. Player A says they are cloaked, Player B says that he has scanners so Player A says he has
cloaking 2. At that point Player B can match with scanner 2.

A. Correct.

Of course, in dealing with the techs that you just use, I can see a situation where you can have people
waiting until you get up to go to the bathroom and then using them, that kind of thing. In those cases
you might have to make a house rule, but it is normally pretty obvious.

Upgrades (9.10.4)
Q. "This means that a player must have CPs left over from the previous Economic Phase (in the bank as
it were) in order to upgrade ships." Does this mean you can upgrade ships during any turn you can get
them to a shipyard? Or can upgrades only be done during the Economic phase?

A. Upgrades can be done in any turn.

Q. So I have to assume that ships are supposed to move at the movement tech level they were built at,
but that's in direct conflict with the rules as written... Anyway that could be more clear?

A. Yes, a ship's movement tech needs to be upgraded like any other technology. Technologies apply to
ships purchased in the same and subsequent Economic Phases, but not to ships purchased in previous
Economic Phases.

Q. I just got this yesterday and am working through the rules and a practice game and I want to make
sure I got the Tech Upgrade rule correct. To upgrade the tech for a Group of ships, you need to get back
to a Shipyard first. Then spend 1 turn there and spend CP's. You spend 1 CP per ship per Hull Size for one
tech or 2 CP's per ship per Hull Size for all techs. So if I had a CA Group marker with a 3 underneath it
and wanted to upgrade Attack, Defense and Tactics it would cost me 6 CP's? Is that correct? Thanks.

A. Each cruiser would cost 4 to upgrade (the hull size of a cruiser is 2). That would be a total of 12.

Q. Paying double the hull size of a ship upgrades everything currently researched, right? And paying CP's
equal to the Hull Size only gets you a single Tech Upgrade?

A. Correct on everything.

Q. Do you just need to spend one turn in the SY to upgrade, or one econ phase?

A. One turn. It is an already built ship and it needs to be retrofitted, which takes time. An economic
phase is really not a section of time. It represents what has been happening the last three turns.

Q. Can fighters be upgraded without spending a turn in the SY?

20
A. This is the case of a rule being worded poorly. I did not intend to make an exception for fighters.
Fighters need to spend a turn to be upgraded like other ships.

MS Pipelines (10.0)
Q. Can an MS Pipeline counter use an existing MS Pipeline chain to add 1 to its movement?

A. Yes

Q. Can I create multiple MS Pipeline chains from my home planet to the same colony planet, and thus
gain +1 CP's for each chain?

A. No, it is per planet connected.

Q. If I understand them correctly, a colony 2 hexes away from your home would require 4 MS Pipelines
(12CP) and generate only 1 CP per econ phase after the chain is set up.

A. If there are two hexes in between then, yes, it would take 4 pipelines. However, the big benefit is
chaining planets together. You will find that it is not uncommon to chain 8 planets together with only 12
pipelines. That is significant over time.

Q. Can a MS Pipeline give movement aid to non-combat ships like Miners, Colony Ships and Decoys? I
would guess yes, but the player aid says under those ships that they *always* move 1.

A. Yes.

Q. The rules are clear that an MS Pipeline cannot move itself if it has already aided movement for
another ship this turn. However, is the converse also true -- can a Pipeline aid movement for another
ship if the Pipeline has moved this turn? I'd assume no, but I'm just covering my bases.

A. No – That is why it has the moved side.

Q. Was just wondering, to benefit from the MS Pipeline for Black Holes and Asteroids/Nebulas, does the
ship moving through the Black Hole hex have to start and end movement on an MS Pipeline, or just
move through the Black Hole hex containing an MS Pipeline (i.e., could it start its movement in an empty
hex)?

A. I would think it would have to start and stay on the MS pipelines - to use their benefit anywhere else,
you need to do the same. (Garry Rice)

I agree. The rule right next to the black hole one concerning Asteroids and Nebulas is quite explicit; you
do have to use the pipeline for not having a movement penalty from them - it'd make most sense to me
to require that for Black Holes, too. (Guido Gloor)

Gary and Guido are indeed correct. (Jim Krohn)

Q. So to safely enter a black hole that an MS Pipeline has "secured" requires 2 MS Pipelines then? One in
the Black hole and one adjacent? Or were we just talking moving through the black hole (without
stopping) and going past it, like with Nebulas/Asteroids?

A. Yes, it would require 2. The ship has to be moving along a pipeline.

21
Carriers, Fighters & Point Defense (11.0)
Q. Have the playtesters bothered to purchase any Fighter or Point Defense technology above 1? It
seems like small returns for increasingly high investment.

A. I have. If someone goes heavy fighters, it is worth it.

Q. Are Fighters eligible to use Attack and Defense Technology upgrades? We assumed yes but wanted to
confirm.

A. Yes, limited by hull size of course.

Q: Where do "Normal" Attack and Defense upgrades fit in? Fighters have Hull = 1 so it won't be much
but if you have Att1 and Def1 techs (the ones that apply to all combat ships) do F1/F2/F3 then get 6-1/7-
1/8-2, respectively? If not, then the Ship Tech Sheet should not list them in the Fighter rows.

A. Yes, fighters get the benefit of attack and defense technology up to their hull limit.

Q: Since Fighters are combat ships, does each Squadron count towards 1) the +1 Fleet combat bonus for
having 2x the number of ships as your opponent and 2) are they allowed to screen?

A. Yes, they count toward the fleet 2x combat bonus and are allowed to screen.

Q. Fighters I assume are the same way...each 'fighter squadron' you build costs a hull point. So to build a
carrier and his three fighter squadrons is four hull points worth of ship yards.

A. Yes. (confirmed by Jim Krohn)

Raiders (12.0)
Q. I noticed that raiders have two class values (A and D). When is the D used? After the first round of
combat or if a destroyer has scanned it?

A. Raiders use A when the opposing fleet does not have scanners, D when they do.

Q. Can a single cloaked raider stop in a hex with an enemy unit?

A. Yes. Of course, if the enemy has the appropriate level of scanners it has to (it doesn't have a choice).

Q. If a single cloaked raider stops in a hex with an enemy unit, does it trigger combat?

A. If the enemy has scanners combat is mandatory. If not, the player owning the raider has the option
to have combat.

Q. Can cloaked raiders only retreat at the start of battle or after each round?

A. It can always retreat normally (like any other ship), but also gets the option of retreating at the start.

Q. Can a raider pass through or stop in a hex with mines and not trigger combat?

A. If the other side does not have scanners.

22
Q. Player A moves his raider group into a hex occupied by player B's combat ships. A declares that he is
going to continue moving, reveals that the group is a raider and announces its cloaking level (not sure
about the last bit-do you have to reveal you have cloaking 2 now, or only if Player B reveals scanning 1?).

A. The later. Player A says they are cloaked, Player B says that he has scanners so Player A says he has
cloaking 2. At that point Player B can match with scanner 2.

As a side note, all things being equal, take the common sense answer. Player A should not have to reveal
that he has cloaking 2 if Player B did not have scanners.

Q. I was thinking about the other way, let’s say player A has a group of raiders, and player B chase that
group and finally he reaches the raiders, player B has no way to detect them. What happens?

If A can move freely over fleets, I suppose there are no combat, or player A has to retreat..

A. If I understand this correctly, Player B without scanners is trying to force Player A raiders into combat.
The simple answer is that there is no way to force raiders into combat without scanners. If player B
moved into player A’s raiders, player A has the option to decline combat. If player A accepts combat,
then Player B is the attacker in the combat.

Q. For movement, does the interaction between Raiders and Destroyers (with Scanners) work like this?
Raider enters a hex with enemy units. The player owning the Raider shows he has a Raider and proceeds
onto another hex. Enemy player shows whether he has any Destroyers with Scanners present to block
the move out of the hex by the Raider. If the enemy has Scanners and the Raider is at Cloaking
Technology Level 2, the Cloaking Level of 2 is announced by the player who has the Raider to override
the enemy Scanners. If the Raider player has announced Level 2 Cloaking and the enemy player has a
Destroyer with Level 2 Scanners in the hex, the enemy player announces this to block the move out of
the hex. All of the above announcements are made publicly. Thus, the other players are aware of them.

A. Yes, you nailed it. Technology is revealed when it is used. Attack, defense, tactics, point defense in
combat for example. The level of cloaking/scanners could be revealed in movement like the above
example or, if the player with raiders wanted to attack with them, in combat.

Do not underestimate the last option. A fleet of raiders can be a potent force when not countered by
scanners - firing first with a bonus the first round.

Q. If a raider is in an enemy's colony hex that has mines only (and no enemy scanners obviously) may it
remain there and pound on the colony? We ruled that it can stay there and attack the colony (but that
conclusion that involves reckoning that mines can coexist with cloaked raiders and therefore combat is
ended or there is no combat so the cloaked ship can fire on the colony). Did we work that out properly?

A. No, bombarding a colony can occur only after combat is completed and the ships (and mines)
guarding the colony have been destroyed or retreated. The raider can remain in the hex, but cannot fire
at the colony until it defeats the mines and other ships in the system. Thematically, the cloaked ships
have to uncloak in order to fire at the colony and the mines would attack them first.

Q. Can you build Raiders with ship size 1 with the appropriate Raider tech?

A. Yes.

23
Q. 12.2 says "If all scanner equipped Destroyers are eliminated, the cloaked ships do not regain their
benefits until the start of the next firing round." But what special benefits remain after the first round?

For example, 12.1.4 says a cloaked raider gets its "first strike" bonus (+1 Attack Strength) only in the first
round of combat (12.1.4). Likewise, the defense advantage of 12.1.3 is merely the option to retreat
before any shots are fired. Neither of these seems to benefit a raider if an enemy DD poofs in round 1.
The movement benefits aren't relevant in combat. So what "benefits" result from the early elimination
of an enemy Scanning DD?

A. Raiders fire with "D" units when scanners are present. They fire as "A" units when there are no
scanners. So while they'd lose out on their first round +1 attack bonus, the round after the destroyers
are gone, they'd fire as "A"s again. With scanning destroyers present, that means raiders can't retreat
until "D" ships fire. Without scanners, they could retreat on the "A" portion. (Mark Buetow, confirmed
by Jim Krohn)

Mines and Mine Sweepers (13.0)

Q. Are the mines secret? Meaning - does the general marker on top of a mine look the same as a
general fleet marker or is it a mine specific marker?

A. Yep, the mines are hidden. On the backside of each counter is the same ship picture. That could be a
group of destroyers, cruisers, etc. or it could be a group of mines. Of course, once you increase your
movement technology, the mines cannot travel at fleet speed. Depending on the situation an attentive
opponent may figure it out. On the other hand, a clever person can try to fool his opponent into thinking
he has mines.

Q. So if Mines are to be the dominant form when the Biggies arrive ...can you screen your DN in first
round of combat with scouts .. no DN in the first round of fighting but an unattended mine gets a scout
or DD or biggest thing in screen instead of the DN?

A. You can't screen from mines. You can only sweep mines (research mine sweepers).

Mines are not that dominant for three reasons - they cannot attack, they cannot move at fleet speed,
and minesweepers.

Q. Can mines move into a hex occupied only by an enemy colony but no other enemy units?

A. No, they cannot move into an enemy colony. It is an enemy occupied hex.

Q. Also, since mines cannot move into an enemy occupied hex, does that also mean that a blockaded
colony cannot build mines?

A. By very nature, a blockaded colony has no ships or ship yards left. They either were destroyed or they
retreated. It is true that the blockaded colony could then build a SY but, since SYs are placed at the same
time as ships (and mines), that SY could not be used to build mines.

Q. The rules don't say how many mines you can build in a turn. Shipyard goes by Hull Size, and Mines
have no Hull. Colony and Mining ships too. I mean, it's probably just "As if they had hull 1", but the FAQ
has questions that are more obvious than that so I'm being pedantic.

A. All of those ships you listed have a hull size of 1.

24
Research Gearing Limits (18.0)
Q. (18.0) It may make sense to note that this optional rule is adjusted if the Unpredictable Research
optional rule is used (see 19.3).

A. Well, it is covered in 19.3. Anyone who uses the Unpredictable Research rule should catch that.

Unpredictable Research (19.0)

Q. When using rule 19 (the optional roll-for-research rule), if you don't roll high enough to buy the tech,
then do you retain the sum that you rolled and add to it the next time that you buy a grant for that tech
or do you re-roll all the dice (the example suggests the former)? If so, is that clear on the production
sheet? I don't think it's clear from the rules (SE-Rules-4B version) alone.

A. Yes, you retain the value on the production sheet for the next time. I thought the example made it
clear. Anyway, the scenario book has the unpredictable research sheet in it. It would be clearer if you
had it in front of you.

Special Section on Colonies

NOTE: THIS SECTION DOES NOT CORRESPOND TO A PARTICULAR SECTION IN THE RULEBOOK, BUT DOES
COVER COMMON QUESTIONS ON COLONIES, WHICH ARE MENTIONED ACROSS SEVERAL SECTIONS OF
THE RULEBOOK.

Q. Does a Colony that only has an unflipped Colony Ship (i.e., it is not yet Income Producing) require a
hit to be destroyed (or is it eliminated automatically like a Colony Ship or Miner when caught alone by
enemy combat ships)?

A. In this case, one hit would kill it.

Q. In the Economic Phase, you collect colony income before you flip a newly arrived colony ship, right?
7.1 says that a Colony ship is worth zero "0" CPs...
If you have a Merchant Pipeline linked to that Colony ship, does it now produce 1 CP?

A. I think the only thing that needs my confirmation is that a new colony will indeed provide 1 CP in
trade income if connected by MS Pipelines. For clarification sake, I am thinking about adding the
following to the rulebook: A new colony functions and is treated as a colony in every way, except that
Bases and Ship Yards may not yet be built at it.

Q. Colonies: as soon as a colony ship touches down on a planet (Which can happen in the same
movement phase the ship enters the colony), it is a colony, right?

A. Yes, that is what Jim has said. (confirmed by Jim Krohn)

Q. IE it can be bombarded from the air and destroyed by one hit, minerals can be dropped off,
it produces one income through an MS pipeline, you can retreat towards it, etc.

A. Yes, yes, yes, yes. (confirmed by Jim Krohn)

Q. Then, after the next econ phase and it becomes a '1', it is an income producing colony and you can
construct shipyards and bases there?

A. Yes. (confirmed by Jim Krohn)

25
Q. Basically the only difference between a 'ship colony' on a planet and a 'real colony' is you can't build
shipyards and bases on the 'ship colony'.

A. Yes. (confirmed by Jim Krohn)

Q. Colonize, next turn it's flipped to a 1, next turn you can build a ship yard, next turn you can build a
ship.

A. Yes. (confirmed by Jim Krohn)

Q. Now, hull size: mines, MS pipelines, miners, colony ships - these guys have no hull size. (no x1) and
no maintenance...but I saw an example where a colony ship took one SY to produce. Do I take it all these
ships take one SY 'point' to produce?

A. Yes. (confirmed by Jim Krohn)

Q. i.e., four shipyards can build 2 colony ships and 2 piplines?

A. At SY Tech 1, yes. (confirmed by Jim Krohn)

Q. Colonization happens during movement, or possibly at the end of combat. Exploration happens after
combat. So if I move a colony ship and something else into a hex, and they explore the hex and find a
planet, the colony ship can't start a colony right away. Correct?

A. You can colonize freshly explored planets. The colony ship can start a colony on the movement phase
that it moves into the hex that has the planet. 4.4.1 You can initiate a colony on the same turn that the
colony ship moves into the hex or after a successful attack on that hex. (Jeff Fricke)

Scenario Book
Q. I don't understand in the combat example, how can green have fighters? I don't see a CV in it's fleet.
Or am I missing something?

A. Rule 11.2.5 allows colonies to hold an unlimited number of fighters.

Q. Also, it's a bit hard to follow how to determine fighter strength without seeing the Fleet Technology
worksheet/chart... is that available somewhere?

A. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/66991/player-aid-card

Q. Thanks, perhaps I am still missing how you determine a fighter’s Attack-Defense strength. I re-read
the fighter rules and looked at that card and I don't see how it's determined... For example, where the
example battle scenario says:

Both players have Fighter Technology Level 1 which means their Fighters have a Class = B, Attack = 5,
and Defense = 0.

...where is the info that tells you that?

A. It's on the first page on the chart look for Fighter 1, Fighter 2, and Fighter 3.

26
Q. Board set up..

Perhaps I am being dense... how do I set up my home system? The scenerios seem to say where the
home planet went, but where do I put my 3 Colony Ships, 1 Miner, 4 Space Yards (SY), and 3 Scouts (SC)?
Do I choose and then what do the rest get?

Do hexes in home systems get random system markers of their color? And deep space gets random
"white" ds markers?

A. All of the ships go in the same hex with the home planet.

Yes, the hexes in your home system get a system marker of your color. The spaces in between the home
systems get the white system markers.

Q. I've seen a reference to "random setup" or "random maps" several times in this forum, but have been
unable to find that in the rules or scenario booklets that were posted here. Help?

A. Random maps are most often used in 3 and 4 player games. I just checked the scenario book and it
shows up on page 6 as "Variable 3-Player" and "Variable 4-Player" maps.

Q. I scanned through the rule book, scenario book and FAQ and I can't seem to find what the starting
units are that you place on your home planet at the beginning of the game (if any). I feel like I may have
read that somewhere.... but I can't remember. Are there starting units or do you start with an economic
phase and your starting 20 CP?

A. Scenarios page 2:
Player At-Start Forces:
Unless otherwise specified, in each scenario each player gets the following:
--A fully developed home planet (20 CPs).
--3 Colony Ships, 1 Miner, 4 Ship Yards (SY), and 3 Scouts (SC) at his home planet.

Q. In the 3-player team game, do both allies win if their team prevails, even if one of them loses their
home system first?

A. Yes.

Q. When the scenario setup in a 4 player game says that the setup can be placed on the edge of the
board, is this both the horizontal edge and the vertical edge?

A. Yes.

Doomsday Machine Solo Scenarios

Q. DM solo scenarios: Do Homeworlds count as colonies, in terms of DM movement and attack? If they
do, I imagine you'll end up spending a lot of your resources defending the Homeworld (as opposed to
explored planets/colonies), especially on the small map.

A. Yes, your homeworld counts as a colony for determining DM movement....and if you lose your home
planet you are toast.

Q. Does the DM appear at the very beginning of the Economic Phase or at the very end of the Economic
Phase?
27
A. Yes, I roll the DM at the start of the economic phase.

Q. Can I move a ship onto the hex(es) where DM's are spawned? For example, can I move a ship
onto a spawn point to wait for the DM to appear?

A. No, but I'm not sure why you would want to do that.

Q. Another DM solo scenario question: When you roll for the DM in combat, do you roll all the dice for
all its attacks at once, then allocate all the hits?

A. "Logically" select targets for each attack using common sense, like if it's weak vs. fighters start by
targeting fighters, rolling the attacks individually.

Q. Is the DM solo scenario lost when your Home World is destroyed? Or do all colonies have to be
destroyed to lose?

A. Yes, to the first sentence. No, to the second.

Q. Doomsday Machine movement--they move in each movement impulse, after the player moves ships,
correct?

A. Correct.

Alien Player Solo Scenarios

Q. Solo scenarios: I get that a Raider fleet will only contain Raiders. When creating a Carrier fleet,
though, if you have extra CP's after creating a full Carrier (27 CP's required, if I understand correctly), but
not enough to create a second one, will the extra CP's be used to create another Carrier with less than a
full carry of Fighters (I'm unclear whether the full Carrier rule applies to all Carriers, or just the first one
built), would they be applied to other ships (per #3 in the 'General Building Priorities' section), or would
they go back to the 'bank' of unused AP fleet CP's for a future fleet? The General Building rules indicate
they are only applied if the AP fleet is not a Raider or Carrier fleet, but the die roll modifier under #3 lists
"if the fleet does not contain a full Carrier" as a qualifier- why would that even be listed if the General
Building rules are only applied to a non-Raider/Carrier fleet?

For example, if you build an AP Carrier fleet with 50 CP's in the bank, the first 27 would go to a full
Carrier. How would the remaining 23 be spent (or wouldn't they)?

Perhaps a breakdown of exactly which ships can be built under which circumstance would be helpful.
Can Carriers be built under the General Building rules? I would guess no....?

A. My intention is that the remaining 23 CPs would be spent on other ships. I was trying to avoid a
situation where the money is spent on a carrier with only one or two fighters (not as good a use of the
CP).

Q. Alien fleets will head for the nearest colony and they will not move so that it takes them more econ
phases to reach it. My question is, what if a fleet can avoid combat and still reach the colony in the same
# of economic phases? Essentially, will non-raider fleets avoid combat at all? Will they always avoid
combat if it gets them to the colony in the same # of moves (or econ phases)?

A. The answer to your question is, it depends on whether or not it is a raider fleet.
28
If it is a non-raider fleet, it will go around fleets with more than one combat ship unless it would take it
longer to reach a colony in terms of economic phases.

If it is a raider fleet, it will avoid combat unless it is bigger than the opposing fleet in terms of CP.

Q. If two of my colonies are both undefended and equally distant from the alien fleet and can be
reached in the same number of economic phases, what is the tie-breaker in determining which colony
the alien fleet moves toward?

A. I have this covered better in the section regarding DM movement:

If two colonies are equidistant, then a DM will always move toward the colony that is larger (in CPs). If
more than one equidistant colonies are the same size, then the DM will move toward the colony that
brings it closest to the player’s home planet. If it is still tied, then it is the player’s choice.

Alien fleets move a little differently than DMs, but given the tie that you described, they would use the
same tiebreaker.

Q. In the Alien solo scenario, do the ship screening rules apply? And, if so, would the Alien player ever
screen?

A. The human player may screen as normal, but the alien never does.

Q. I just ran through the Alien player solo scenario and had a mine issue come up. I had 3 groups in orbit
during an Econ phase: 3 BC and a full CV group. The AP had 10 D points which could not build any bases
so it built 2 mines. The next turn I left the group in system to finish the homeworld off and had to
resolve the mines. I didn't see anything obvious in the rules so I had them take 2 BC out to represent an
attempt to destroy the higher profile targets instead of wasting them on 2 FF. I'm wondering if that fit
Jim's intentions or if it's at the player's discretion?

A. Err yes, but if it actually has mines, the mines can target the CV and get all the fighters if they have
nothing left to carry them. So one CV and one BC, bagging all the FFs as a byproduct. (Jason Cawley)

Yes, the carrier (with fighters) would be destroyed by a mine. (Jim Krohn)

29