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Keep this within reach.

The decisions, limits and scoring you need during a match. Print this reference or leave it open beside your station.

Commander’s manual · Rules v3

Rules version 3 · Full explanations and diagrams in the complete rulebook

Your turn

Choose exactly one:

  • Acquire: one displayed credit, or up to three from different guilds totaling ≤7. Refill.
  • Purchase: same-guild payment ≥ effective cost. Install or Dry Dock; count purchase and refill berth. Exact payment: take one displayed credit ≤3, then refill.
  • Reconfigure: install from Dock, remove to Dock, or exchange at the same node. Keep the entire station legal.

Dry Dock capacity: 4 modules. No change for overpayment. Pass only if no action is legal, or after the end is triggered.

Before you install

  • Inward marker faces the Core.
  • Every module has a corridor route to the Core.
  • Middle: ≥1 inner module in same/adjacent sector.
  • Outer: ≥2 middle modules in same/adjacent sectors.

Ports facing ports form corridors. Bulkhead contacts are legal. Support does not need a direct corridor. Sector 9 neighbors sector 0.

Score Synergy now

Count corridor neighbors whose department differs from the new module’s. Exclude the Core.

  • 2 or more qualifying neighbors: 2 Renown.
  • 3 different qualifying departments: 3 instead.

Only the newly installed module scores. Each module can earn Synergy once. Keep a permanent record by module ID, even after docking.

Round-end Drift

For modules present at the start of the round and still in the market:

  • At 0 or 1 discount: add one.
  • Already at 2: replace with the supply’s top module; put the old one at the bottom. With no supply, leave it.

Each discount reduces cost by 1; minimum cost 1. A replacement starts at zero and waits a future complete round. Rotation is not a purchase.

Storm scoring

Storms at purchases 20 / 40 (two players: 16 / 32), after the triggering turn. Final Storm after the last round.

Readiness = modules + 2 × (occupied rings − 1), per department. Zero modules cannot place.

Storm1st2nd3rd
I400
II730
Final1063

Ties share the awards for occupied ranks, rounded down. Example: two tied first in Storm II each get (7 + 3) ÷ 2 = 5. Next player is third.

Shield & victory

Check only sectors 8, 9, 0, 1, 2. The outermost installed module in each lane is its frontier.

  • Frontier outward bulkhead: +1.
  • That screened lane occupies ≥2 rings: +1 more.

No frontier or outward port: zero. Dry Dock modules never count toward Readiness or Shield.

When supply cannot refill a berth, finish the current round. Resolve any triggered Storm, then the Final Storm. Most Renown wins; ties share victory.

For setup, examples and special cases, use the complete rules. Two-player setup uses 48 modules (remove two per department and four per guild) and 54 credits (remove one of each guild/value).