Game Terms
Banishing
Banishment teleports you to another planet and ends your turn. In combat, the winner decides where you are banished. When trapped, you are banished to your home planet. (Return any controlled envelope to the box).
Defenses
Defenses cancel the effects of specific cards on your opponent's side. When you play a defense in combat, it cancels any cards your opponent already played, as well as any cards they play later on in the same combat.
Scrying
Scrying means privately peeking inside a hand or planet. You may not take any of the cards you see. Ignore flip cards you discover while scrying.
Single-use Cards and the Void
Most cards are permanent, but Single-Use cards (
) are sent to the Void after being played. Cards in the Void are face-up, and you may look at them at any time to see which cards have been played.
Flip Cards
Flip cards can be turned face-up in a planet envelope to protect it. They have an easily recognizable bar along their sides.
Activating a flip card: To activate, flip the card face-up and put it in front of the other cards inside an envelope. If a planet already has a face-up card, you may NOT activate another one.
Flip cards without action costs may be activated secretly any time while accessing an envelope. Flip cards with action costs (Planetary Bases) must be announced.
Triggering a flip card: When you open a planet with a face-up flip card, announce it and resolve its effects.
Telethwarter Trap
Triggering a Trap: You're banished home. Lose control of your planet envelope, travel back to your home planet, and lose the rest of your turn. Then send the Trap to the Void.
When triggering a Trap you activated, you may instead send it to the Void.
Magnetic Vault
Triggering a Vault: You may not take any cards from the envelope. (You may still look at the cards in the envelope, and put more cards into the envelope).
Deactivating a Vault: If you play a Magnetic Key, deactivate the Vault (flipping it face-down). You may secretly reactivate it before you leave.
Can't Lock Up Keys: If you find a Key in a Vault, you may play it to deactivate that Vault.
Courtesy Clicking
Many play groups allow players to continue exchanging cards with their envelopes while the next player starts their turn. This helps reduce downtime and keeps the game moving.
As a courtesy to the table, let everyone know that you're still readying your hand, but click your turn over. If the next player wants to interact with you, they can wait until you finish before doing so.
Planetary Base
Activating a Base: Announce the Base and place a Base token on the planet. It costs an action to activate a Planetary Base.
Only You Can Control Your Base: You may control your Base's planet as normal. Other players may never control it; if they would gain control of it for any reason, instead return the envelope to the box. (While in control of your Base, you may deactivate it as a free action).
Attacking a Base: Opponents may attack your uncontrolled Base as if it were a player. When your Base is attacked, set your hand aside and fight as your Base, rolling dice and playing any number of combat cards from inside the Base's envelope.
Resolving the Attack: Skip combat resolution. If your Base wins, you may banish the loser (send them to a planet of your choice and end their turn). If your Base loses, deactivate it (flipping it face-down) and remove the Base token. The winner takes control of the planet as a free action (or returns it to the box).
Bases have no hand limit in combat. They cannot take spoils. They don't gain any of your alien's abilities and you may not play cards from your Base outside of combat.
Rules Conflicts
When a card, alien ability, etc. conflicts with rules in this rulebook, that effect takes precedence over the rulebook. Resolve other conflicts diplomatically and chalk it up to the chaos of the cosmos.
Aliens
Atturnuk: If you choose to re-roll, you must do so before any cards are played.
Clokknid: When trapped, your turn ends and you are sent to any planet of your choice except the one containing the Trap.
Drusu: You don't need Enviro Gear to scry your toxic planet.
Gazmae: If you are at your hand limit and take two cards as spoils, you must give two cards back. If you take two cards and one of them is a cloaked Trap, you lose both.
Haamflaagon: You may still carry or copy Advanced Weapons, and your Bases may still play them.
Haghouhen: You may still only take control of your home planet when you're at home, only if it's not controlled, and only during your own turn.
Vlachlos: If you end the game with the Ovoid in your hand, you lose. You don't have to give a card back if you destroy spoils in combat while at your hand limit. When trading to the Cosmic Pool, only the card you receive may be destroyed, not the card you send
Equipment Cards
Amnion Power Flux: Doesn't affect cards that cost more than a single action. Hyperspacing still costs a hypertoken.
Assault Catapult: You can attack through wormholes, but not through asteroid fields. If not on the same planet as the opponent you're attacking, you don't need Enviro Gear and you can't win control of the planet (if you would, instead return it to the box).
Booster Rockets: You must move all at once before continuing your turn.
Cataleptic Fog: When played in a combat involving a Base, this card does nothing, since there is already no combat resolution when fighting a Base.
Claw of Sykloakis: Don't announce any face-up card, and you may not take a face-up card. Return the envelope to the other player after you've swapped a card for the Claw.
Cloaking Orb: To hide the card, put it face-down on the table. The opponent can't see the card, but they can still take it (or the Cloaking Orb itself) as spoils.
Cosmic Fear: If more than one side has Cosmic Fear, cancel all of them.
Escape Pod: You escape even if your opponent takes this card as spoils.
Evasion Rockets: It only costs one action to move between planets separated by an asteroid field. You may never land on an asteroid field.
Guerilla Drop Capsule: You can't use this card on an opponent if they don't control a planet. (If you steal an envelope with an active Base, return it to the box).
Hypertube: Put the card in the back of the envelope. It must be face-down.
Nano Fabricator: You can still copy a card that has been canceled. The copy may also still be canceled and/or copied.
Planetary Transceiver: You may not take the last face-down card inside the planet (there must always be at least one left). You are still limited by your hand size.
Recovery Bots: You may not take cards that are removed from the game.
Replicator Seed: Doesn't prevent your opponent from taking the protected card as spoils. You can't protect a card that is removed from the game.
Smuggler Bunny: Doesn't allow you to trade more than once per turn.
Spore: Each Spore's strength is one less than your total Spore count. One Spore is +0, two Spores are each +1, and three Spores are each +2.
Optional Components
Planet Effect Tokens
These tokens add a special ability to each planet.
Setup: Mix all the green planet effect tokens and put one face-down on each home planet. Then add the red planet effect tokens, mix them all up again, and place one token face-down on each remaining planet. Leave the unselected tokens in the game box.
Revealing Planet Effect Tokens: While in control of a planet, you may reveal its planet effect token as a free action by flipping the token face-up.
Planet Effect Abilities: While face-up, a planet effect token's abilities are considered active. Tokens marked with the envelope symbol (lIj) can only be used by a player in control of that planet, while other tokens can affect or be used by anyone on the planet.
Singularity Gate
The nexus of the Biocosm's amniotic nerve reticulum.
Setup: Add the Singularity Gate hex to the game board or place it outside the game board (where it can only be accessed by wormhole).
Using the Singularity Gate: The Singularity Gate is considered one space away from any wormhole. The Gate is not a planet and can't be controlled.
Trading with the Cosmic Pool: You may trade with the Cosmic Pool from the Singularity Gate space as if you were on your home planet.
Barren Planet
The Barren Planet was a thriving ecosystem but now is a scorched and desolate landscape, a casualty of Vlachlos' wrath.
Setup: Add the Barren Planet hex to the game board. If you're playing with planet effect tokens, also place one on the Barren Planet.
Controlling the Barren Planet: Controlling the Barren Planet is a free action. It has a control marker instead of an envelope, and you may not store cards there.
Revealing Barren Planet's Effect Token: If you reveal Ancient Base, Cloud Cover, Homing Beacon, or Restless Natives, replace that planet effect token with a random unused one from the game box.
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