Developer Note: Images are not available yet. They're planned for a future update.
Introduction
The galaxy is in crisis. The Empire is crumbling. The Blight is spreading through the Reach, destroying everything it touches. What is it? What does it want?
Some believe this is the end. Others, just the beginning. In this time of chaos, new movements bloom loud like desert flowers, promising safety, liberation, communion, or simply the honor of glorious death in the struggle. What will you promise? What is your Fate?
We strongly recommend you play at least one game of single-session Arcs before the campaign. All players should be comfy with the base game. Otherwise, expect a long, tedious first game.
What's in the Box
Fate Cards & Pieces
Fate (24)
Fate Sets
Fate Set Dividers
Punch out the 24 Fate Set dividers and put them in the deep box wells. Place the small cards for the 24 Fate Sets behind the dividers of same number. Keep their pieces in bags by their cards or in a different deep well. Keep the large Fate cards in the small raised well. The cards are marked "F" with the Fate Set's number in the bottom-leftcorner. pieces The are on a punchboard sheet in the shaded area marked with the divider shape and the Fate Set's number.
Player Pieces
Each player has the following pieces. The box contains pieces for 4 players.
Objective Marker
Flagship Piece
Flagship Board
Other Cards & Sheets
Guild (10)
Vox (5)
Event (3)
Imperial Council
Edict (4)
Regent/Outlaw Title (4)
Flagship Upgrades (4)
Rules Aids (2)
Log Sheet Pad
Other Pieces
Blight Tokens (24)
Free Cities & Starports
Imperial Ships (15)
Number & Event Dice
Chapter Track Tile
First Regent Tile
Rules Booklet
Overflow Markers (4)
Other Dividers (6)
Act I Setup
If you are starting a campaign, use this section. Otherwise, use Act II & III Setup (page 7). Campaign setup is very different from singlesession setup. Here are the important changes:
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Do not use setup cards. No clusters will be out of play, and players place their starting pieces differently.
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Use the Guild and Vox cards specific to the campaign Court (marked "CC"). Do not use the cards for the base Court (marked "BC").
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Use the same deck of lore cards as the base game (marked "L"), but you will shuffle lore into the Court deck after dealing the Court.
1. Set Up Table
A. Place the map on the table and collect the 18 battle dice, 25 resource tokens, 24 Blight tokens, 28 Free cities, and 14 Free starports.
B. Give the initiative marker to a random player.
C. Shuffle the 20 action cards marked "2" through "6" to start the action deck.
D. 4 Players Only: Shuffle the 8 action cards marked "1" and "7" into the action deck.
E. Shuffle 2 Event action cards (2–3 players) or 3 Event action cards (4 players)into the action deck.
F. Place the 3 ambition markers on their blue, lower-numbered sides in the Available Markers section of the map.
G. Place the Chapter track tile to cover the chapter track on the map, with its "Act I & II" side face up, and place the chapter marker on its "1" space.
H. Place the zero marker in the Ambition Declared slot on the map.
I. Shuffle all 15 campaign****Vox and Guild cards (marked "CC") to make the Court deck. Deal 3 cards (2 players) or 4 cards (3–4 players) from it into the Court****row.
J. Shuffle 1 lore card per player at random from the lore deck into the Court deck. Use the same lore deck as you use in the base game. You can add any lore cards you want from expansion packs. K. Place the Imperial Council card ( 01) on its In Session side as the leftmost Court card.
L. 2 Players Only: Slide the Guild Envoys Depart edict card ( 02) into the first slot in the rules booklet.
M. Shuffle the 3 Govern the Imperial Reach edict cards ( 03–05) face down, flip them all over, and slide them all face up into the first available slot in the rules booklet.
N. Roll the number die, then set up the 2 Imperial clusters—in the rolled cluster and the next clockwise cluster, place 1****Imperial ship in each system. (8 total.) O. Roll the event die. Place 1 Free city on each planet of the rolled planet ID symbol outside the Imperial clusters.
P. Place 1 damaged Blight*(shaded side)* in each system outside the Imperial clusters.
Q. 2 Players Only: Place the 6 resource tokens matching the planets in Imperial clusters onto the ambition boxes:
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Material and Fuel go on Tycoon. Weapons go on Warlord.
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Relics go on Keeper.
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Psionics go on Empath.
2. Set Up Players
A. Each player chooses a color, collects the player board, 15 ships, 5 cities, 5 starports, and 10 agents of that color, and places those cities in the 5 triangle slots along the top of their player board.
B. Each player draws 2 "A" Fate cards ("A" on card back) and chooses one secretly. After everyone chooses, reveal them and take the matching Fate Sets (page 2).
C. Each player sets up based on the Setup side of their objective card—the first card in their Fate Set—then flips the card to its Objective side.
D. Each player places their objective marker on the Power track space shown by the large clock on their objective card.
E. Each player puts their Power marker on the "0" Power track space on the map.
F. Each player takes a Regent/Outlaw title card ( 06–09) and tucks it partially under their Fate card with its Regent side up.
If no one has the First Regent tile from their setup, the player with initiative takes it.
G. In turn order, each player places 3 ships and 1 building in an empty building slot at a planet with an Imperial ship and gains 1 resource token of that planet type. (The planet can have Rival pieces.) H. Repeat the previous step but in reverse turn order—start with the last player in turn order and go counterclockwise.
I. Place Free cities in all empty building slots on planets with Imperial ships. (With 4 players, you might not place any.) J. Each player draws 6 action cards into their hand. 2 Players Only: The player without initiative may discard all of the action cards in their hand except Events and draw the same number of new cards from the action deck.
K. Discard all action cards not in players' hands into the action discard pile on the map.
2 players only
Act II & III Setup
Set up Act II or III so it's the same as the previous Act, including Power, with these changes: A. In Act II, flip the lowest-Power ambition marker to its higher-Power side. In Act III, flip the two lowest-Power ones to their higher-Power sides. The others start on their lower-Power sides.
B. Shuffle the Court deck and deal 3 cards (2 players) or 4 cards (3–4 players) from it into the Court. Flip the Imperial Council card to In Session.
C. Place 1 damaged Blight on each gate that has no Blight and no ships.
D. Roll the event die. In each cluster, place 1 damaged Blight at the planet with the rolled ID symbol if it has no Blight. If it does have Blight, place 1 damaged Blight at each planet in its cluster with no Blight.
E. 2 Players Only: Roll the number die twice. Place the 6 resource tokens matching the planets in the 2 rolled clusters onto ambition boxes as in Step Q of Table Setup in Act I. (If the resource supply empties, just place as much as you can.)
F. Each player sets up using the Setup side of their objective card, then flips it to its Objective side. Each player may also rearrange their resource tokens. If multiple players must make setup choices, resolve them in turn order. (To speed up setup, feel free to do all this simultaneously!)
G. Each player places their objective marker on the Power track space as shown at the top of their objective card. In Act III, only players with a "C" Fate do this step.
H. Place the Chapter track tile on its side that lists the current Act. Place the chapter marker on its "1" space. Draw and discard action cards exactly as in steps J–K of Player Setup in Act I.
The Campaign
A campaign of Arcs lasts for three games, called Acts. Campaign Acts end differently from single-session games.
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Don't end an Act after 5 chapters***. Instead, Acts I and II end after 3 chapters, and Act III ends after 4 chapters.
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Don't end an Act early if a player gains enough Power. Ignore the thresholds on the Power track.
While setting up Act I, you choose an "A" Fate. You might play this Fate for all three Acts or switch to a new one.
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If you switch Fate after Act I, you'll choose a "B" Fate.
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If you switch Fate after Act II, you'll choose a "C" Fate.
At the end of Act III, the winner is the player with the most Power accumulated over all three Acts. Break a Power tie in favor of "A" Fates over "B" Fates, and "B" Fates over "C" Fates. Break a further tie in turn order.
You can also win by completing a final objective (page 9).
Objective
In Acts I and II, your Fate gives you an objective.
During setup, place your objective marker on the starting space on the Power track shown at the top of your objective card. Sometimes, the starting space changes based on the number of players, shown by the symbols.
Your objective card gives you ways to advance your objective marker, moving it down the Power track toward 0 Power. When it reaches 0 Power, you complete your objective!
Winning Ambitions: Some objectives want you to win an ambition—this means you get first place, so you're not tied.
Intermission
After Acts I and II, there is an Intermission. In it, you gain a bonus for completing your objective, you might choose a new Fate, and most damaged pieces are destroyed.
If you failed your objective, you lose Power equal to the space of your objective marker on the Power track.
Grand Ambitions
In Act III, "A" or "B" Fates give two grand ambitions, shown by gold crosshairs. These give you more ways to gain Power and do not use the objective marker.
At the end of a chapter, grand ambitions are scored at the same time as declared ambitions.
If you fulfilled one grand ambition, gain the lower amount of Power shown under the current chapter on the Chapter track. If you fulfilled both, gain the higher amount.
Your grand ambitions are always active—you do not need to declare them. Rivals cannot gain Power from them.
Final Objective
In Act III, "C" Fates have a final objective.
At the end of a chapter, after scoring ambitions, you win the game if your final objective is complete by having your objective marker at "0" and you have at least 1 Power!
Winning by completing a final objective supersedes winning by having the most Power.
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If you have a final objective, you can still win at the end of Chapter 4 by simply having the most Power.
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If multiple players would win the game by completing their final objective, the winner is the player among them with the most Power.
Rules Booklet
As you play, your Fate will add many cards to the rules booklet.
The booklet is double-sided. You can use one side for Edict cards and the other side for Law and Summit cards.
In rare cases where you run out of space on one side for a specific card type, you can use the other side.
As you add cards to this booklet, make sure to explain them aloud, since these rules affect everyone.
The Empire
Everyone starts as a Regent of a crumbling galactic Empire, shown by their Regent title card tucked into their Fate card.
One Regent is the First Regent, who governs the Empire (page 20) and holds the Imperial Trust (page 21), resources they collect from Regents as tribute for the distant Emperor.
A Regent can become an Outlaw by calling a Summit (page 16). Outlaws can be attacked by the Empire, but they can battle Regents freely and don't pay into the Imperial Trust.
Control & Command
The Empire controls all systems that have any number of fresh Imperial ships, ignoring all players' Loyal ships.
The First Regent controls all Empire-controlled systems for the purpose of ambitions, objectives, and events (page 12).
On a Regent's turn, they Command the Imperial Fleet following the Presence Law: In systems with Loyal pieces, they control the system if it is Empire-controlled and can take actions with Imperial ships there—move and repair them, battle with them, build at them, and tax cities they control.
If a rule lets you ignore the Presence Law, you Command the Imperial Fleet in all systems, even those with no Loyal pieces.
Movement
Regents also follow the Movement Law: Regents can only move 1 Imperial ship for each Loyal ship they are moving along with them at the same time to the same system.
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Empire control of gates ends the Catapult moves of Outlaw pieces, but not Regent or Imperial pieces.
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Regent control of gates ends the Catapult moves of Outlaw pieces and Rival Regent pieces alone, but not Imperial pieces or mixed Regent and Imperial pieces.
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Outlaw control of gates ends the Catapult moves of Regent and Imperial ships alike.
Battle, Harm, & Taxing
Finally, Regents follow the Truce Law: Regents cannot harm Imperial ships except for hits they take as attacking ships in battle, and they cannot harm or tax Rival Regents in systems with Imperial ships.
When a Regent attacks in battle, they may add Imperial ships in the battle system to their attacking ships.
When a Regent defends in battle, they must add Imperial ships in the battle system to their defending ships.
Outlaw Battles
Outlaws may choose either a Regent or the Empire as defender.
If the Empire is defending, the defending pieces are the Imperial ships in the battle system, and the First Regent takes any destroyed pieces of the Outlaw as Trophies. If there is no First Regent, they return to the Outlaw.
Events
There are three kinds of events: Summits, Crises, and Edicts.
During a Summit, players can make deals to exchange pieces and favors in a freeform manner.
During the Crises, the Blight attacks ships on the map, and some Guild and Vox cards cause chaos.
During the Edicts, the First Regent governs the Empire. Over time, more Edicts are added.
Events can be triggered by playing an Event card or securing the Imperial Council card from the Court (page 14).
Event Cards
Event cards are a new kind of action card added during setup. They cannot be scrapped.
On your turn, you may play an Event card. You cannot Lead it, Copy with it, or discard it to seize the initiative.
When you play it, you may take actions exactly like you played the lead card.
However, your Event card gives you no actions if a Rival played another Event card earlier this round or secured the Imperial Council earlier this round (page 14)!
Two-Player Mulligans: When you take a mulligan in a twoplayer game, you must keep any Event cards in your hand and only draw the number of action cards you discarded.
Resolving the Event
At the end of a round where any Event cards were played, do the following just after checking whether initiative changes:
The player with initiative may call the Summit (page 16). Then, they roll the event and number dice and resolve the event die as follows:
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If is rolled, resolve Crises (page 18).
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If is rolled, resolve Edicts (page 20).
Imperial Council: If the Imperial Council (page 14) is secured during the same round as any Event cards are played, resolve the Council and do not resolve the Event card.
Imperial Council
The Imperial Council is a card in the Court with two sides: In Session and Decided. In each Act, it starts In Session.
While the Imperial Council is In Session, players may influence and secure it.
The Imperial Council cannot be buried, scrapped, or discarded.
Securing the Council
When you secure the Council, flip it to Decided and tuck it under your played card as a reminder to resolve it later.
At the end of that round, return the Imperial Council card to the Court on its Decided side, then resolve the following:
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You may call a Summit (page 16).
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If you're a Regent, take the First Regent tile, keeping all resources on the Imperial Trust (page 21).
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If you're an Outlaw, steal resources from the Imperial Trust on the First Regent tile, up to your number of empty resource slots. The First Regent loses 1 Power for each resource stolen.
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You must choose to resolve either the Crises (page 18) or the Edicts (page 20).
Event Cards: If the Imperial Council is secured in the same round as Event cards (page 12) are played, resolve the Council and ignore the Event cards.
Imperial Council Decided
Securing the Imperial Council flips it to its Decided side.
While it is Decided, players cannot influence or secure it.
It flips back to In Session at the start of an Act (page 7), and you can flip it to In Session if you call a Summit and Petition the Council (page 16).
The Free States
As the Empire crumbles, some people have escaped its grip, declared independence, and formed the Free States.
You may take actions with Free buildings that you control— tax Free cities, build ships at Free starports and Catapult move from them, and repair Free cities and starports.
Harming & Trophies: Just like players' buildings, Free buildings can be harmed—battled, hit, damaged, and destroyed. Take Free buildings you destroy as Trophies.
Battling: If you choose the Free States as defender in battle, all Free buildings in the battle system are defending pieces. They take hits from rolled dice like players' buildings.
Raiding: You may raid the Free States. You may gain exactly 1 resource matching its planet type by spending . You cannot gain multiple resources from the Free States in the same battle.
Empty Supply: In the rare event that you must place a Free building but the supply is empty, use a proxy piece.
Summits
Event cards and the Imperial Council let players call the Summit. It has two parts: Call to Order, then Negotiations.
Broadly, in the Call to Order you can return Favors—Rival agents you have collected on your Fate card—to your Rivals to force them to take Negotiation actions, and you can interact with Imperial politics.
Then, in Negotiations, everyone can take Negotiation actions in a freeform manner, including giving each other Favors that can be returned in later Summits.
Call to Order
The player who called the Summit may take any number of Call to Order actions, listed below:
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Return Favors: Return a Rival's Favors to their supply to force them to take Negotiation actions (page 17) you choose, targetingyou, in the way you choose. By default, each Negotiation action you force costs 1 Favor. Petition the Council: Flip the Imperial Council card to its In Session side.
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Leave the Empire: Flip your Regent title card to Outlaw. If you are the First Regent, give the First Regent tile to the Regent with the most Power. Resources stay in the Imperial Trust. If there are no Regents, return all resources from the Imperial Trust to the supply, lose 1 Power per resource returned, and place the First Regent tile in the supply.
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Revive the Empire: If there are no Regents, flip your Outlaw title card to Regent and take the First Regent tile.
Negotiations
After the Call to Order, all players may take any number of Negotiation actions listed below in a freeform manner.
Each Negotiation action affects a Rival. To take a Negotiation action, you need the consent of the affected Rival.
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Cede Control: Replace 1 Loyal piece on the map with 1 Rival piece of that type. You can only replace a Loyal building if no Loyal ships are in its system, and you cannot replace your last city, starport, or ship on the map. Delegate Authority: Replace 1 Loyal agent on a card in the Court with a Rival's agent.
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Promise Favor: Give 1 Loyal agent from your supply to a Rival, placing it on their Fate card. Rival agents on a Fate card are called Favors. Transfer Asset: Give 1 Captive, Trophy, Favor, or resource you have to a Rival. If it is their Loyal piece, return it to their supply. Forcing you to give a resource with Return Favors (page 16) costs Favors equal to its raid cost.
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Invite to Empire: If you're the First Regent, flip an Outlaw's title card to Regent.
Multipart Negotiations
You may agree with any players to simultaneously take any number of Negotiation actions that can be resolved immediately.
Ending Negotiations
If no one is negotiating, the player who called the Summit may call for them to start negotiating, wait briefly, and then count down from five seconds. If no one starts negotiating, the Summit ends.
Crises
Event cards and the Imperial Council can trigger the Crises. When the Crises are triggered, resolve the Blight Crises, then Fate Crises, and finally Court Crises.
Blight Crises
Each system with Blight has a Blight Crisis—each fresh Blight there deals 3 hits, and each damaged Blight there deals 1 hit.
The Blight deals hits to Imperial ships first. If no Imperial ships remain, it deals each remaining hit to the Loyal ships of every player in its system. In both cases, fresh ships take hits before damaged ships.
Fate Crises
Some Fates add cards with Crisis text that are held by players. Resolve all of these cards in turn order.
Court Crises
Roll the event and number dice unless you just rolled them to resolve an Event card.
Resolve the Crisis text on each Vox card in the Court from leftto right.
Attached Cards: If a Vox card has another Vox card attached to it (page 27), resolve the attached card first.
Event & Number Dice: Some Crises determine how they resolve using the icon and number on the event and number dice. Here are the key phrases that refer to these dice:
Rolled Cluster: The cluster rolled on the number die.
- Planets of the Rolled Symbol: Each planet with the planet ID symbol ( / / ) rolled on the event die. Rolled Planet: The planet in the cluster rolled on the number die and the ID ( / / ) rolled on the event die. If / / Was Rolled: Check whether this symbol was rolled on the event die.
Removing Cards: If a Crisis removes a card from the Court, return all agents on it and draw a card from the Court deck to refill the Court.
The Blight
The Blight is a mysterious entity spreading through the Reach. No one knows what it wants or how to communicate with it.
In Crises (page 18), the Blight hits ships. In the Intermission (page 28), it destroys buildings in systems with no ships.
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Harming & Trophies: Blight can be harmed—battled, hit, damaged, and destroyed. However, it is Tough—it takes 2 hits to damage or destroy. One hit does nothing. Take Blight that you destroy as Trophies. Battling: If you choose the Blight as defender in battle, all Blight in the battle system are defending pieces. Blight is hit with but not . Blight does not intercept. Catapult Movement: Players taking a Catapult move must end it if they move into a gate with fresh or damaged Blight, like if a Rival controlled the gate.
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Empty Supply: If you must place Blight but the supply is empty, take it from the player who has the most Blight Trophies.
Edicts
Event cards and the Imperial Council can trigger the Edicts.
Resolve all Edicts in order from lowest number to highest. The game starts with Govern the Imperial Reach (Edict 03) and Guild Envoys Depart (Edict 00) in two-player games.
Govern the Imperial Reach
The First Regent must either enforce or change the Imperial Policy shown on this edict card.
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If they enforce it, they collect the listed **Imperial Demand and then take the listed Imperial Action, as described through the rest of this section.
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If they change it, they choose a new Govern the Imperial Reach edict card to place on top of the other two cards.
Collect Imperial Demand
The First Regent must take 1 piece from each Regent as shown by the Demand of the Imperial Policy, as follows:
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Peace: Relics or Psionics Escalation: Material, Fuel, or Weapons
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War: Trophies or Captives, ***but not Regent or Imperial pieces
Resources go on the First Regent tile, adding to the Imperial Trust (page 21). The First Regent must also add 1 resource shown by the Demand to the Trust, if they have it.
Trophies and Captives go in the First Regent's Trophies and Captives boxes, respectively. The First Regent does not need to take a Trophy or Captive from themself.
If a Rival Regent has no pieces shown by the Demand, the First Regent must take 1 agent from the Rival's supply as a Favor. If they have no agents, the First Regent may make them an Outlaw.
Take Imperial Action
After the Imperial Demand, the First Regent must take the Imperial Action, as follows:
In Peace, Celebrate Regency: Each Regent gains the bonus city Power shown on all uncovered city slots on their player board.
In Escalation, Requisition Ships: Place 2 fresh Imperial ships in an Empire-controlled system. If no systems are controlled by the Empire, place them at a Loyal starport instead.
In War, Distribute Arms: Give 1 Weapon to each Regent from the supply. If the supply is empty, give it from the Imperial Trust.
Guild Envoys Depart
This card is only used in two-player games.
Bury all Guild cards in the Court with no agents on them, then refill the Court.
Imperial Trust
By enforcing the Imperial Policy, the First Regent adds resources to the Imperial Trust on their First Regent tile.
Resources in the Imperial Trust are frozen (page 27).
Stealing: These resources have no raid cost, so they cannot be stolen in battle. However, cards such as Silver-Tongues can steal them, and Outlaws can steal them by securing the Imperial Council (page 14).
Intermission: Resources on the Imperial Trust return to the supply during the Intermission (page 28).
Flagships
Some Fates give you a Flagship board, piece, and aid card. When you get a Flagship, you also replace all of your Loyal buildings on the map with Free buildings of the same type.
Flagship setup is described on the back of the Flagship board.
Your Flagship is a fresh Loyal ship that cannot be removed from the map. Playing a Flagship has some new rules:
You cannot build Loyal cities or starports on the map. Instead, you can build them on your Flagship board as Upgrades and Armor. (See Upgrades & Armor.)
- You can only build up to 1 ship at your Flagship per turn, ignoring the number of starports on your Flagship board. In battle, your Flagship collects a variable number of dice, and it does not deal hits for an intercept by default. (See Defending, page 24.)
Upgrades & Armor
Your Flagship board has 6 Upgrade slots, each with an Armor slot above it, that you can build Loyal buildings in.
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Upgrades give benefits (page 25).
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Armor takes hits before its matched Upgrade.
To build an Upgrade or Armor, your Flagship must be at a planet of the type shown on its slot. You can only build Armor if you have its Upgrade and it is fresh.
When you repair your Flagship, repair an Upgrade or Armor.
Upgrades and Armor do not work like buildings on the map:
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Players cannot tax these cities and cannot use these starports to build ships or Catapult move.
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Destroying these cities does not **Provoke Outrage or Ransack the Court.
Flagship Battles
There are a few key rules when battling with Flagships:
- When attacking with a Flagship, its Armor and Upgrades are hit like ships. When defending with a Flagship, its Armor and Upgrades are hit like buildings. Armor is always hit before its Upgrade.
Attacking
When attacking, your Flagship collects dice up to your number of fresh starports on Upgrades and Armor.
While attacking, Upgrades and Armor are hit like ships:
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You must take hits from and with Upgrades and Armor if no other attacking ships remain.
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You can choose to take hits with Upgrades and Armor instead of other attacking ships.
Defending
While you have a Flagship, Rivals who battle you have a different Raid Dice Limit: they can only collect raid dice if there are defending buildings or a defending Flagship.
If the attacker rolls a , your Flagship does not intercept unless it has a Defense Array (page 25).
While defending, Upgrades and Armor are hit like buildings:
- The attacker hits your Upgrades and Armor with . If the Flagship is the only remaining defending ship, the attacker hits Upgrades and Armor with .
Flagships in events
When taking hits in a Crisis, your Flagship only takes hits if no other fresh Loyal ships remain in the system.
Take each hit to your Flagship with your rightmost Armor. If no Armor remains, take the hit with its rightmost Upgrade.
In Summits, you cannot use Cede Control to replace Loyal buildings on your Flagship board with Rival pieces.
Lore & Flagships
Lore works with Flagships as follows:
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Building Checks: Lore that checks for Loyal buildings in a system—like Force Beams, Gate Ports, and Hidden Harbors—counts Upgrades and Armor as in your Flagship's system unless the lore says "on the map." Building on the Map: Lore that builds Loyal buildings outside building slots—like Gate Ports and Cloud Cities— does let you place Loyal buildings on the map again. Ship Improvements: Lore that improves your Loyal ships—like Sprinter Drives and Mirror Plating—does improve your Flagship, since it is a fresh Loyal ship.
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Dice Collection: Lore that collects dice for Loyal ships like in battle—like Galactic Rifles—lets your Flagship collect 1 die per fresh starport on your Flagship board.
Flagship Upgrade Benefits
This section lists the Flagship's Upgrades. The resource types in parentheses are the planet types that your Flagship must be at in order to build the Upgrade and Armor, respectively.
Ship Crane (Material → Fuel): You may build up to 2 ships per turn in your Flagship's system.
Defense Array (Weapon → Psionic): When your Flagship is defending in battle, it deals intercept hits equal to the number of fresh starports on its Flagship board.
Slipstream Drive (Fuel → Relic): Once per turn, in your Prelude, you may Catapult move either your Flagship alone or other ships from your Flagship.
Control Array (Psionic → Material): While your Flagship is in a gate, you may tax any cities in its cluster like they are Loyal.
Tractor Beam (Relic → Weapon): When your Flagship is defending in battle, the attacker cannot collect raid dice.
Hull (Any Planet → Any Planet): This Upgrade has no unique benefit, but building cities will open resource slots, and building starports will let you collect more dice in battle.
Resettling Flagships
The "C" Fates let you Resettle if you have a Flagship:
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Clear your Flagship board and return it to the box. Replace your Loyal Flagship piece with a Loyal ship.
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Place 1 city and 1 starport in empty building slots on the map. If there are none, replace Free buildings.
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If you have fewer than 8 Loyal ships on the map, place ships in systems with Loyal pieces until you have 8 Loyal ships on the map.
New Rules & Terms
Protected Guild Cards
Some Guild cards in the campaign are protected, shown by an "X" icon in place of their raid cost.
Protected Guild cards cannot be removed from the holder's play area unless the holder Provokes Outrage of its suit.
Attaching Cards
If you are prompted to attach a card, place above a card in the Court that does not have an attached card.
When you secure a card, also secure its attached card. If both have When Secured actions, resolve them in either order.
Forced Attach: If you are forced to attach a card but you cannot fulfill all of the requirements to attach it, you still attach it, ignoring the fewest requirements to attach it.
Removal from Court: If a card is removed from the Court in any way and it has an attached card, refill the Court by sliding down the attached card. Place all agents from the removed card onto the previously attached card. If an attached card is removed, nothing happens to the card it was attached to.
Resources
Frozen: Sometimes resources are frozen. They cannot be spent, given, or discarded—even from Provoke Outrage— except as described by the piece freezing them. However, Rivals can steal and take frozen resources, including for the Imperial Demand (page 20).
Counting: When you are prompted to count how many resources you have, count everything in your play area, including on cards and on tiles such as the First Regent tile.
Harm
Some rules refer to harm—this means choosing as defender in battle, damaging, destroying, or hitting.
Tokens
Many Fates add new punchboard tokens. By default, tokens added by Fates cannot be harmed. Some tokens do say they can be harmed, ignoring this rule.
By default, tokens added by Fates are not Loyal. However, some do say they are Loyal—you treat them as being your player color, and Rivals treat them as Rival pieces. You can build buildings at Loyal tokens, you can repair damaged Loyal tokens, and they fulfill the need for Loyal pieces found in rules such as the Empire's Presence Law (page 10).
Wait to resolve this until the Intermission
Intermission
The Intermission happens at the end of Act I and Act II. Resolve all of the following steps in order.
A. Resolve Fate
Each player resolves the Resolution card in their Fate Set for the current Act.
Based on whether you completed or failed your objective, you'll do things like gain or discard cards, add cards to the Court deck, or add cards to the rules booklet.
Each player who failed their objective loses Power equal to the space of their objective marker on the Power track.
B. Clear Court
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Return all cards in the Court except the Imperial Council to the Court deck.
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Return all agents from the Court to their players.
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Scrap the Court discard pile.
C. Clear Pieces
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Return all Trophies and Captives to their players.
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Return all frozen resources (page 27), including from the Imperial Trust on the First Regent tile, to the supply.
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2 Players Only: Return all resources from ambition boxes to the supply.
D. Repair & Destroy Pieces
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Repair all damaged Blight.
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Destroy all damaged ships, buildings, and Flagship Upgrades and Armor.
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Destroy all buildings in systems that have Blight and no ships.
E. Shift Initiative & Power
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Give the initiative marker to the player with the most Power.
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Each player who has more than 1 Power loses half their Power, rounding to lose less Power.
Conceding: In games with 2 players, if your Rival has at least 15 Power more than you after halving Power, we recommend that you concede unless you feel confident.
F. Choose Fate
Each player who completed their objective draws 1 Fate card. Each player who failed it returns their Fate card to the box and draws 2 Fate cards.
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If you are finishing Act I, draw from the "B" Fates.
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If you are finishing Act II, draw from the "C" Fates.
Each player secretly chooses 1 Fate card from these 2 Fate cards to play in the next Act. Then, everyone reveals their chosen Fate card simultaneously.
If you choose a new Fate card, do the following:
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Return your current Fate card to the box.
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Scrap the rest of your Fate Set that is not in play. Don't scrap anything that is in play, including your Flagship if you have one! Return all Favors you have to your Rivals.
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Take the new Fate Set for your Fate from the box.
Next Act?
At this point, discuss with everyone whether you want to play the next Act or pack up the game so you can play it later.
If you are playing the next Act, set it up as described in Act II & III Setup (page 7).
If you are packing up, read Packing Up on the next page. Note that you won't be able to play a single-session game of Arcs until you finish the campaign or choose to abandon it!
Packing Up
For the next Act, preserve everything on the map, in the general supply, and in everyone's play areas as follows:
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Use a log sheet to record your names, colors, Fates, Power, Outrage, and Flagship Upgrades and Armor. If a Fate has you record more details, use the blank spaces on the back of the log sheet.
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Use the 2 map trays to store the pieces on the map. The trays have sections for each planet (marked with its ID symbol) and each gate (marked "G").
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If a system has too many pieces to fit in the tray, put an overflow markerin its tray section and put pieces from the system in a bag with the matching overflow marker.
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Use the 4 player trays to store the players' play areas. In your tray, use the large well to hold cards in play stacked on top of the cards remaining in your Fate Set. Use the small well to hold everything else in your play area except your player board and Flagship board. You don't need to track the order of your resources. Keep all of the cards in the rules booklet.
Organizing the Box
The expansion box can fit everything from the base game. It has 6 wells—a small well, 4 lower wells, and a deep well.
The small well fits the large Fate cards, the log sheet pad, and leader cards from the base game.
The 4 lower wells store small cards and unused Fate Sets.
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Use dividers in these wells to store unused Fate Sets, the action deck, base and campaign Court decks, lore deck, small cards from the base game, and scrapped cards.
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You may store the bags of pieces for Fate Sets with their cards behind their divider or in a separate well. If you sleeve cards, store the piece bags in a separate well.
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Stack the game board, player boards, and Flagship boards on top of the lower wells.
The deep well stores the 8 removable trays: 4 player trays, 2 map trays, the base game tray, and the campaign game tray.
The base game and campaign trays can be packed in many ways, but we recommend you pack them as shown to the right and use them during play to keep the table tidy. Stack the base and campaign game trays in the deep well, and stack the 4 player trays over them. Place one rulebook over them. Stack the 2 map trays over the rulebook. Place any other rulebooks and aids at the top.