The Action-Packed Eclipse Phase

Imagine this: you’re standing outside on a clear night, staring up at the sky. As you look up, you notice something extraordinary—a rare phenomenon known as an eclipse. A total solar eclipse, to be specific.

During a total solar eclipse, the Moon aligns perfectly between the Sun and Earth, casting a shadow upon our planet. It’s like a celestial dance, with the Moon momentarily stealing the spotlight from the Sun.

So, why is this event so important? Well, for one, it’s an awe-inspiring sight to behold. As you gaze at the darkened Sun, surrounded by a glowing ring of light known as the corona, you can’t help but feel a sense of wonder and excitement.

But there’s more to the action-packed eclipse phase than meets the eye. Did you know that this phenomenon has a profound effect on the natural world? It’s true!

Let’s explore some of the fascinating aspects of the eclipse phase and discover why it’s a momentous experience to witness.

1. Animal Reactions:

When an eclipse occurs, animals react in peculiar ways. Birds may stop singing, thinking it’s nighttime, while diurnal animals might start their nighttime routines ahead of schedule. It’s as if they can sense the disruption in their regular patterns, creating an eerie atmosphere.

2. Human Reactions:

We humans are not immune to the allure of the eclipse phase. Our reactions range from feelings of curiosity and amazement to a sense of introspection and humility. Witnessing the grandeur of nature can make us feel small and remind us of the vastness of the universe.

3. Scientific Observation:

Scientists eagerly anticipate the eclipse phase as it offers a unique opportunity to study various aspects of our world. They can examine the corona, the Sun’s outer atmosphere, and gather valuable data on solar flares and other solar phenomena that are usually difficult to observe.

4. Cultural Significance:

Throughout history, eclipses have had cultural and religious significance for many civilizations. They have been seen as omens, symbols of power, and even events to be feared. The eclipse phase holds a special place in our collective human imagination and serves as a reminder of our connection to the cosmos.

5. Community Bonding:

Eclipse events bring people together from all walks of life. Whether you’re watching it with friends or strangers, the shared experience of witnessing a total solar eclipse can create a sense of camaraderie and unity. It’s a chance to connect with others and share in the wonder of the universe.

So, the next time you find yourself under the shadow of a total solar eclipse, take a moment to immerse yourself in the action-packed phase. Observe the fascinating animal behavior, feel the awe-inspiring impact on your own emotions, appreciate the scientific opportunities, embrace the cultural significance, and revel in the sense of community that the eclipse phase brings. It’s an experience that will leave an indelible mark on your memory and remind you of the wonders that exist beyond our earthly realm.

When I play Explore action in my game, it lets my civilization go on an adventure to explore new and unknown parts of the galaxy. It’s like setting sail on a grand voyage, but in space! I get to discover uncharted regions and make exciting new discoveries.

When you’re looking for new places to explore in the game, there’s an important rule to keep in mind. You can choose one of the empty spaces next to a hex where you already have a Ship or an Influence Disc. Then, you take a tile from the corresponding stack and place it in the empty space. These stacks are labeled I, II, and III. However, there’s one condition you must meet if you’re exploring from a hex that only has a Ship – it must not be “pinned”.

Now, let’s talk about what happens when you explore a new hex. First, you show the tile you took and then you have to make a decision. You can either place the tile in the explored space or discard it. If you choose to discard it, your turn ends right away and the discarded tile is placed face up. However, if you decide to place the tile, there are a couple of restrictions to keep in mind:

• The new hex can only be placed in the space you just explored.
• The new hex must be oriented in a way that at least one of the Wormholes on the tile connects with a Wormhole on one of the hexes where you have a disc or a Ship.

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If you have the Wormhole Generator Technology, you can use it to create a special connection between two hexes. It’s like having a secret tunnel that links two places together.

Let’s take a look at the left diagram. Imagine you’re using the Wormhole Generator and exploring from one hex to another. In this scenario, placements A, B, C, and D would be allowed, but E would not. It’s important to follow the rules when using the Wormhole Generator.

Now, in the right diagram, you can see hexes marked with A and B. These are the areas where you can place your hexes when you’re using the Wormhole Generator. Make sure to choose these spots carefully.

When it comes to laying down hexes in the game, there are different sectors. Inner and Middle sectors have hexes arranged in circles around the central hex. On the other hand, Outer sectors allow hexes to branch outwards. It’s important to understand these sectors and how they work.

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If the hex has a special symbol called a Discovery symbol, you put a Discovery Tile on the hex facing down.

If the hex has Ancient symbols, you put that many Ancient Ship tiles on top of the Discovery Tile.

After you put the hex, you can control the hex by placing an Influence Disc from your Influence Track on the hex. If the hex has a Discovery Tile, you can take it when you place the Influence Disc.

All Discovery Tiles have two sides: the back of the tile has a value of 2 Victory Points, and the front side has a bonus. Show the front side of the Discovery Tile and decide immediately which side to use. Tiles that you use as Victory Points are placed next to your Player Board with the side showing the Victory Point value facing up.

Hey there! Listen up: In order to snag that Discovery Tile, you’ve gotta blast those pesky Ancient Ships out of the sky – take ’em down during the Combat Phase (check out page 18 for the deets). Only then can you plop down your Influence Disc and claim the prize. But hold your horses! If there’s a bunch of players all vying for the same hex, the lucky duck who gets to place the disc is the one who gets the tile.

Now, pay attention! The Center hex is guarded by the Galactic Center Defense System. You’ll have to give it a good whacking before you can plonk down your Influence Disc.

Once you’ve got that disc in place, it’s time to get busy with your Colony Ships. Use ’em to drop Population Cubes on the Population Squares in the hex. Oh, and here’s an important tip: you can use your Colony Ships anytime you want during your turn. Nice, right?

But here’s the thing: if the hex stack runs empty, don’t despair. Just shuffle up the discarded hexes and make a fresh stack. Simple as that. And if we run out of hexes altogether, well, tough luck, because the Explore action ain’t much good without ’em.

Get Your Influence On

When playing Civilization, the ability to influence actions is crucial. It allows me to either expand my civilization by conquering empty hexes or retreat and withdraw from hexes if needed. This power gives me the freedom to shape the map and decide the direction of my civilization’s growth.

If you select the Influence action, you can move up to two Influence Discs. You have a few options for where you can move them:

• You can move them from your Influence Track
• You can move them from a hex where you already have an Influence Disc
• You can move them to a hex that doesn’t have an Influence Disc or an enemy Ship, and is adjacent to a hex where you have a disc or a Ship
• You can move them to a hex where only you have a Ship
• You can move them back to your Influence Track

The hex you move your Influence Discs to must be connected to the hex where you have a disc or a Ship through a Wormhole. In the example on the right, you could move your Influence Discs to hexes A, B, and G.

After placing an Influence Disc, you can use your Colony Ships to place Population Cubes on the Population Squares on the hex.

During the Influence action, you can also flip two of your used Colony Ships face up, even if you choose not to move any Influence Discs.

How to Remove a Disc from a Hex

When you decide to remove an Influence Disc from a hex, it’s essential to take into account that you also need to return all cubes from the hex to their respective Population Tracks on your board. If the cube is from a gray (wild) square, you have the freedom to choose which Track it should go back to.

Similarly, if you’re removing a cube from an Orbital, you have the option to return it either to the Money or Science Track.

Keep in mind: Throughout your turn, you have the flexibility to use your Colony Ships whenever you want.

The Power of Diplomacy

Establishing diplomatic relations not only boosts your production but also earns you Victory Points. You can form diplomatic relations with other players when your hexes are connected. However, it’s important to note that the Diplomacy rules do not apply in games with two or three players.

Building Diplomatic Relations

If you have one of your Influence Discs on a hex that is connected to another player’s hex through a Wormhole, you and that player can agree to form Diplomatic relations with each other.

You can establish Diplomatic relations at any time during your turn. The connection can be made through Explore or Influence actions, or at the end of the Combat Phase.

To form Diplomatic relations, there must be a complete Wormhole connection. You cannot use the Wormhole Generator Technology to establish relations through a partial Wormhole. Additionally, you cannot establish relations if your Ship is in a hex occupied by an opponent’s Ship or Influence Disc, or vice versa.

If we both agree, you can give me one of your Ambassador Tiles and I will put one of my Population Cubes on top of it. You can choose any Population Track to take the Cube from. After that, you can place the Tile on any empty space on my Reputation Track.

And don’t worry, I’ll do the same for you. I’ll give you an Ambassador Tile and a Population Cube. You can place them on any empty space on your Reputation Track.

Just so you know, Ambassador Tiles on your Reputation Track are worth 1 Victory Point at the end of the game. Oh, and by the way, your Reputation Track can also hold your Reputation Tiles. If there is no space left when you want to take an Ambassador Tile, you can throw away some of your Reputation Tiles and put them back in the Reputation Tile bag.

Hey there! Let me tell you a bit about Ambassador Tiles in the game. So, you see, you can only have one Ambassador Tile from each player. That means, no duplicates! Now, here’s the thing: you have the freedom to rearrange the tiles on your Reputation Track whenever you want. Pretty cool, right? But here’s the catch – you can’t get rid of Ambassador Tiles once you have them. Oh, and if you’re playing as the Terrans, they have a special rule. They’ve got this one space on the track that’s exclusively for an Ambassador Tile. No other tile can go there, just a Terrans Ambassador Tile.

Time to Break Some Diplomatic Relations!

Your Diplomatic relations continue until the end of the game, unless something happens. Now, pay attention because this is important – if you attack a player with whom you have Diplomatic relations, or if they attack you, then boom, no more Diplomatic relations. Also, moving your Ships to a hex where there’s a disc or a Ship belonging to another player? Yup, you guessed it – that counts as an attack too. So, play nice!

When Diplomatic relations break, both players return the Ambassador Tiles and cubes to the owner. And here’s the fun part – the owner gets to choose where to put the cube back on the Population Track. Their call, totally up to them. Pretty neat, huh?

When you attack another player and ruin your Diplomatic relations, you will receive the Traitor Card from the player who had it before. If you have the Traitor Card, you cannot form new Diplomatic relations. At the end of the game, whoever has the Traitor Card will receive a penalty of -2 VP.

Exploration

The Exploration action allows your civilization to discover new Technologies.

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If you choose to take the Research action, you have the opportunity to select a Technology Tile from the Supply Board. To do so, you must pay the Science cost indicated on the tile by moving the Storage Marker backward on the Storage Track. Once you have acquired the tile, you can place it on your Player Board in the appropriate category: Military, Grid, or Nano.

The more Technologies you have in a particular category, the greater the discount you receive on future Technology purchases. This discount is shown on the leftmost exposed space on the Technology Track.

However, it’s worth noting that each Technology has a minimum cost that you must pay, regardless of any discounts you may have.

There are three special types of Technologies to keep in mind:

Ship Part: unlocks the power to level up this Ship Part.

Build: It allows you to construct this Ship or Structure.

Instant: This fancy-sounding word means that something happens right away, without any delay. For example, when you “research” something, you learn about it. So, an “instant” effect is something that happens right away when you learn about it. It’s like pressing a button and boom, something happens!

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Example: So, let’s say you already have Monolith and Orbital Technologies, and now you’re doing some research on Fusion Drive. The catch is, you have a Nano Technology discount of -2, but you’ll still have to pay 3 Science because that’s the minimum cost for Fusion Drive.

You can’t choose a Technology that you already have, just keep that in mind.

Your chosen Technologies stay on your Technology Tracks until the end of the game. You can’t get rid of them, so choose wisely!

Starting Technologies

Some races, like Terrans and certain alien species, begin the game with certain Technologies already printed on their Technology Tracks. Treat these starting Technologies just like any other Technology Tiles you collect through research. They can’t be covered up by any other Technology Tiles.

Upgrade

The Upgrade action allows your civilization to make modifications to their Ships. It’s a pretty cool feature!

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So, when you want to upgrade your Ships, you can make changes to their blueprints by adding new Ship Parts. Each Ship you have works based on its blueprint, which is explained on your Player Board. If you choose to upgrade a Ship’s blueprint with new parts, all the Ships you’ve already built are automatically upgraded too.

When you use the Upgrade action, you can return as many Ship Part Tiles as you want to the Supply Board. Then, you can choose up to two tiles from the Supply Board and place them on any vacant squares on your Ship blueprints.

When you place the tiles, you can put them on the starting Ship Parts that are already printed on your Ship blueprints. However, you cannot place them on top of other Ship Part tiles.

There are some rules and restrictions you need to keep in mind:

Ship Parts and Building

Hey there! Let’s talk about ship parts and how they impact your building process. Stick with me, it’s gonna be fun!

First things first, remember that ship parts, marked with the technology symbol, can’t be taken unless you’ve already researched the corresponding technology. See, research plays a crucial role here!

Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty. One important rule to keep in mind is that the total energy consumption of the ship’s parts should never exceed its total energy production. Gotta find that balance, you know?

Here’s another handy tip: Interceptors, Cruisers, and Dreadnoughts need to have a drive, while Starbases are not allowed to have one. We all want those ships to zip and zoom, right?

The beauty of it all is that taking and returning ship parts won’t cost you a thing. It’s like getting a free upgrade for your space-faring endeavors.

Oh, and here’s something fascinating: all the values from those ship parts add up. For instance, if you have two Fusion Drives, you’ll get a movement value of 4, an initiative of 4, and an energy consumption of 4. Talk about getting a bang for your buck!

Building is Awesome

Now, let’s dive into the build action. This is where your civilization can create brand-new ships and structures. It’s like being an architect and captain all-in-one!

So, there you have it – ship parts and building in a nutshell. Remember, research is key, balance is everything, and the sky’s the limit when it comes to creating your space-faring empire. Enjoy the journey, my friend!

Hey there! Let’s talk about building ships and structures in this game. You can choose to build up to two ships or structures, like Interceptors, Cruisers, Dreadnoughts, Orbitals, and Monoliths. To build them, you need to pay their material cost by moving the storage marker backwards on the storage track. Once built, you can place them on any hexes where you have an influence disc.

Just keep in mind that there are some restrictions:

• You can only have as many ships as the miniatures and tiles you have. For example, you can have up to 8 Interceptors, 4 Cruisers, 2 Dreadnoughts, and 4 Starbases.
• Each hex can only have one Monolith and Orbital.
• Building Starbases, Orbitals, and Monoliths requires having the corresponding Technology.

Let’s Move! ��

Now, let’s talk about the move action. This action allows your civilization to move its ships around the game board. Get ready to explore the universe and make strategic moves!

When you want to move your Ships, you can take advantage of the Move action. By selecting the Move action, you have the option to make up to three Ship movements. You can even move the same Ship multiple times in a row.

Each Ship can move a number of hexes equal to its Movement Value. The Movement Value is determined by its Drives. Keep in mind that Starbases do not have Drives and therefore cannot be moved.

If you have the Wormhole Generator Technology, you gain the ability to move your Ships through a hex edge with a Wormhole on one side. This means that in the following example, movements A, B, and C would all be allowed.

Note the rule regarding Movement! You can only move your Ships through a hex edge that has a Wormhole on both sides. For example, in the illustration on the right, movement A would be allowed.

You can only move to hexes that have already been Explored, not to empty space.

If your Ships move into a hex or out of a hex that contains other players’ or Ancient Ships, at least one of your Ships must remain in the hex and engage in combat with each opposing Ship during the Combat Phase. This is known as “pinning” the Ships.

You may move the number of Ships that exceeds the number of opponents. If you later move or build more Ships in the same hex, you can change which Ships are pinned. The original Ships are free to move, as long as at least one of your Ships remains pinned for each opposing Ship.

The Galactic Center Defense System, or GCDS, attacks all the Ships in the central hex. You cannot pass through this hex until the GCDS is destroyed.

Example: Let’s talk about Red’s Interceptor and Cruiser. The Interceptor can move 2 hexes, which is equal to the power of two Nuclear Drives combined. On the other hand, the Cruiser has a higher Movement Value of 3. In total, Red has three moves to make. He decides to use two moves to move the Interceptor and one move to move the Cruiser.

Now let’s focus on Green’s Interceptors. Just like Red’s Interceptors, they also have a Movement Value of 2. Green has three moves to make as well. However, when he tries to move his first Interceptor, he realizes that it’s pinned by the Red Interceptor. So, the first Interceptor cannot move. The second Interceptor, however, is free to move through the hex. In the end, Green decides not to use his third move.

Let’s React

After you have passed, you have the option to take a reaction. Take this opportunity to make your move.

Once I’ve passed my turn, I can only take a Reaction action when it’s my turn in the player order. A Reaction is basically a weaker version of a Move, Build, or Upgrade action.

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When you react to something, your response can fall into one of two categories:

When you play the game UPGRADE, you have the option to return as many Ship Part Tiles as you want to the Supply Board. After returning these tiles, you can then choose one Ship Part to take.

Ok, let’s talk about building. You have the freedom to build one Ship or Structure. That’s pretty exciting, isn’t it? It’s your chance to create something amazing!

Let me tell you about a rule called “M0VE.” It’s a pretty important rule, so pay close attention. With M0VE, you can move one Ship of your choice. It’s like a special superpower! But remember, you can only use it once.

We’ve got another rule called “Reaction.” This one is all about placing an Influence Disc on the Reaction Track of your Summary Card. When you do that, you get to take a Reaction. It’s like a little bonus for you!

Now, there’s something cool called the Nanorobots Technology. It’s so advanced! But here’s the thing: it doesn’t give you an extra build when you take a Reaction. So don’t get too excited about that part, okay?