These rules detail how to incorporate an automated squad of annoying heroes (Defenders of Planet Earth) into the game. This automata is required for 2-player games; you may also adopt it for 3-player games, if you want a tighter, more competitive experience.
Additional Components
- 30 Heroes cards
- 10 +1/+2 tokens
Setup
Shuffle the Heroes deck and place it near the gameboard. Choose a set of wooden tokens to represent the automata.
The automata will not need a score token. Place the automata's 4 small tokens on the starting spaces of the Attraction score tracks along with the players'.
Place the automata's Time token on the"1st"space of the Player Order track. Randomly determine which player will be second & third. The players should receive money according to their position on the Player Order track ($9 for 2nd, $10 for 3rd).
Base Buildins Phase
After the players resolve each Bui I d/Sel I action, reveal the top card of the Heroes deck. On the bottom of the card will be the number and type of Attraction points that the automata generates.
For example, the Heroes card shown here would generate 3 Beast attraction points for the automata. You should draw a different Heroes card for each of the 3 Build/SelI actions that occur during the Base Building Phase.
Henchmen Phase
The automata competes for henchmen with the other players, using the standard rules of the game. If the automata successfully recruits a henchman (because it has the most Attraction points of a given type), then that Henchman card is discarded from the game.
Thematically, the Heroes have captured the henchman before the supervillains had a chance to recruit them! The automata must pay for these henchmen with attraction points, just like the players.
Contract Phase
During the Contract Phase, the D.O.P.E. sqaud will deploy to various world locations, attempting to foil your nefarious plans.The automata follows the same rules for becoming active player.
When the automata is active player, reveal the top card of the Heroes deck. At the bottom of the card there will be a target continent, mission (either"Patrol"or "Foil"), and a time cost.
Immediately move the automata's Time token on theTime track a number of spaces equal to the time cost shown. Then, resolve the mission effect. If the automata doesn't have enough time remaining to complete the mission, then:
move its Time token to the next available spot on the Player Order track (it does not draw any more cards this turn), and
do not complete the current mission for the automata. Players cannot play Scheme cards against the automata.
Patrol missions: If the Heroes mission is "Patrol", then place a +1 token next to that continent location on the world map. For the remainder of this round, all contracts at this continent location have their target value increased by +1 for each token at the location. These +1 tokens should be cleared from the world map at the end of each round.
Foil missions: If the Heroes mission is "Foil", immediately discard the Contract card at the specified continent location. Do not replace this contract with a new one. For the rest of this round, there will be one fewer contract on the world map.
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