Q: What is the difference between dice terms such as: workers, shippers, and goods?

A: Workers are dice in a player's cup, below a player's phase strip, or being used to select a phase. Dice that are unowned, in a player's Citizenry, or in Dictate areas are not workers.

Based on the phase they are assigned to, workers become explorers, developers, settlers, producers, or shippers. Producers put onto worlds become goods.

Q: Why do the Produce icons vary on differently colored dice?

A: This is an aid for color-blind players.

Q: Why do green world tiles have a small dot in their upper-left corners?

A: Only Genes (green) worlds have them, as an aid to help color-blind players distinguish between Genes (green) and Rare elements (brown) worlds.

Setup

Q: Must I choose my two start tiles so that their lower costs are face-up?

A: No (this is just for your first game).

Q: Can I put both start tiles in the same construction zone stack?

A: No.

Q: Can I recall goods from my starting tableau at the beginning of the game?

A: No. You may only recall dice during the Manage Empire step.

Assign

Q: Must die faces match the phases they are assigned to?

A: No. A die might not match its phase due to Reassign powers, or by it being used to select a phase.

Q: Can I assign workers that show wild faces after phase selections are revealed?

A: No. All workers should be assigned to phases before Reveal.

Q: Must I select a phase before using Reassign powers?

A: Yes.

Explore

Q: Must I use all my explorers during an Explore phase?

A: Yes (each explorer must either Scout or Stock).

Q: Must I declare in advance what all my explorers will do?

A: No; you do each task one after the other, deciding which task - Scout or Stock - each explorer does as you do it.

Q: What happens if a player doing a Scout task needs to draw more tiles than are in the bag?

A: After drawing all the tiles in the bag, he finishes this Scout task by taking all the abandoned tiles under the Explore phase tile, putting them in the bag, and drawing the rest of the needed tiles.

Q (very rare): What happens if there are still not enough tiles after doing the above?

A: The Scouting player places all the tiles he has drawn so far in his construction zone. Then, each player with at least 3 tiles in his construction zone, which can include the Scouting player, must abandon 1 tile into the bag. The Scouting player then draws tiles to finish the task.

When the bag is low on tiles, players may wish to do the entire Explore phase in player order, using the timing rules.

Develop and Settle

Q: Must I use all my developers (or settlers)?

A: Yes. Developers (or settlers) must be put, one at a time, on the top tile of your construction zone if you have any developments (or worlds) there.

Q: Must I use all applicable discounts I have (such as Replicant Robots)?

A: Yes.

+Q: Can I have more than 12 tile squares in my tableau?

A: Yes. A player can end with more than 12 tile squares by building several tiles during the final round.

Produce and Ship

Q: Must producers match the color of a world in order to produce there?

A: No. Any color producer can produce on any non-gray world, becoming a good there.

Q: Is a good's Trade value determined by its world's color (instead of the good's color)?

A: Yes.

Q: Must I declare in advance what all my shippers will do? A: No; you do each task one after the other, deciding which task - Trade or Consume - each shipper does as you do it.

Q: Do wild faces provide extra VP chips when used in Consume?

A: No (only the colors of the dice involved - not their symbols - matter for Consume).

Q: Can I deliberately mismatch goods and shippers to earn fewer VP chips when I Consume?

A: Yes (occasionally, this can make strategic sense).

Manage Empire

Q: Must I recruit as many dice as I can afford from my Citizenry?

A: Yes.

Q: Is there any reason to recall workers on the final round?

A: Yes; the tie-breaking rule (see Winning, page 8) includes dice in the cup, but not workers in the construction zone or goods.

Immediate Effects

Q: When removing a die as part of an immediate effect, can I remove any of my dice?

A: Yes.

Q: Does removing a die from my cup, phase strip, construction zone, or any of my worlds have any effects (beyond its removal)?

A: No. (If you remove the only die used to select a phase, that phase still occurs).

Development Powers

Q: When can I use a development's power?

A: Reassign powers can be used only during the Assign step. All other powers specify the phase(s) in which they can be used (exception: Galactic Reserves, see boxed section below).

Q: How many times per phase can a power be used?

A: As many times as it is "triggered".

Example: Public Works provides $1 after its owner completes a development. A player who builds it and then 2 more developments would gain $2 from Public Works that phase.

Q: Do I need workers assigned to a phase to trigger powers that occur in it?

A: No.

Q: Can I use a development's power in the phase I build it?

A: Yes

Q: Can I Reassign a die in the Dictate area?

A: No.

Q: Can a Reassign power that assigns multiple workers assign them to different columns?

A: Yes.

Q: Can I Use Reassign Powers To Affect Workers That Show Wild Faces?

A: Yes (though it rarely makes sense to do so).

Q: Can a Reassign power assign a die without a given phase symbol (on any of its faces) to that phase?

A: Yes (only a die's column, not its faces, determines which of the five possible workers it is).

Q: Some powers refer to an Alien explorer - how can I have an Alien explorer when Alien dice have no Explore faces?

A: Use a Reassign power to put an Alien die in the Explore column, or use an Alien die to select Explore, or assign a wild Alien die to Explore.

Q: Can powers affect dice assigned to a phase whose faces don't match the symbols shown on the dice in the power's icon?

A: Yes (only a die's column, not its faces, determines which of the five possible workers it is).

Q: Do Consumption (purple) dice count as other die colors when evaluating powers or during Game End scoring?

A: No. They match colors only for earning VP chips during Consume.

Q: What does "round up" mean (for development powers)?

A: Treat any partial amount as "one full unit".

Example 1: Space Piracy gives its owner 1 Credit for every 2 Military dice in its owner's Citizenry at the end of each Ship phase. If a player with Space Piracy in tableau has 3 Military dice, this provides IV2 Credits, which rounds up to 2 Credits.

Example 2: New Galactic Order provides 2 bonus VPs at game end for each set of 3 Military dice that its owner has. A player with 4 Military dice has IVs sets of Military dice, which rounds up to 2 sets of Military dice, each worth 2 VPs, for a total of 4 bonus VPs.

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