Guide for aspiring Commanders (v0.9)

• Cards & Types
• Deck Construction
• Game Setup
• Zones & Sectors
• Turn Sequence
• Operation Phase
• Navigation Phase
• Battle Phase
• Goal
• Additional Rules
• Glossary

Cards & Types

Star

Provides orbit slots for planets. Orbits have temperature zones Hot, Temperate or Cold. Play by placing one during the Exploration Phase into an empty slot in your sector (obey zone limits).

Planet

Provides Planetary Slots to construct planetary Tech. Play by placing it during your Exploration Phase into a compatible orbit on a star you control (a white icon indicates no restriction, while colored icons indicate that the planet must be placed in a matching planetary orbit).

Ship

Mobile units for navigation and battle. Construct by paying its cost during Operation Phase at a planet with a Shipyard; enters play engaged at that planet. Ships can have Upgrade Slots for Tech and have 6 Stats:

Flagship

Your unique command vessel. Placed face-up at Zone 1 start position; starts at first star’s position. Destruction ends the game.

Tech

Upgrades for ships or planets that provide resources, abilities, bonuses or stat enhancements. Install by paying its cost during Operation Phase on a valid target with enough empty slots; tech attaches and the corresponding slots become occupied ( -> for ships, -> for Planets). Place planetary Tech on the side of the planet. Place ship Tech under your ship. Internal ship Tech reveals only the card cost on the bottom of the card, while external ship Tech must reveal all stats. If your ship holding internal ship Tech gets scanned or enters a War Cycle, reveal all internal ship Tech.

Event

One-time effects resolved immediately. Play by paying its cost during Operation Phase; resolve effect, then send the card to the Void.

Engage Actions

Cards can have abilities which need to be Activated. To do so, you must : engage the card. This is indicated by tapping... err; turning the card sideways.

Deck Construction

• Deck size: at least 60 cards plus exactly 1 Flagship. Players can have more than 60 cards in their deck. There is no limit regarding maximum deck size.

Game Setup

1. Flagship placement – put your Flagship face-up at the future position of the Zone 1 star in your sector.
2. Shuffle decks – thoroughly shuffle your Destiny deck, then offer it to your opponent to cut.
3. Starting hands – each player draws seven cards.
4. Who goes first – flip a coin (or roll a die). In a match, the previous game’s loser begins the next game.

Zones & Sectors

• Zone 1: up to 1 star.
• Zone 2: up to 2 stars.
• Zone 3: up to 3 stars, and so on.
• You must fill a zone before starting the next.
• The play area is two sectors, one per player; the border is the Frontier.
• Void: Cards which are removed from the game.
• Junk: a place for your destroyed ships and techs.
• Destiny: Your deck of cards.
• Arsenal: your cards in hand to play.

Turn Sequence

Operation Phase

During each Operation Phase you generate resources, build ships and tech, and manage cargo.

1 • Generate resources

• Use Ships and Techs to create floating resources on their planet.

2 • Spend or store resources

• Floating resources may pay costs only on their planet of origin.
• To relocate a resource, move it into an empty cargo slot on a ship with storage capacity. When unloaded, it becomes floating again.

3 • Build and install

4 • Event-speed interaction

• The active player may play builds or Events freely.
• The non-active player may respond only with Events.

5 • End of phase (Resource Burn)

• All unspent floating resources expire. Cargo tokens remain.

Navigation Phase

The Navigation Phase consists of moving your ships according to their given speed.

Speed	Icon	Description
Orbital		Cannot move by itself and is bound to its current orbit. To move, a Speed 0 ship must be upgraded (e.g. with an engine or tech that grants speed) or be carried by a suitable carrier or support ship with an available slot.
Planetar		May move only within the current star system (between the star and its planets).
Stellar		May move diagonally to an adjacent star system. Upon entering a new system, may target the star or any of its planets.
Interstellar		May move diagonally or horizontally within the same zone to an adjacent star system. Always targets the star or any planet in the destination system.
Warp		May move diagonally, horizontally (same zone), or vertically (effectively skipping one zone) to an adjacent star system. May target star or planets on arrival.

• Engaged ships cannot move.
• Ships may not move outside the board boundaries.
• Empty Orbits are not a valid Navigation target.

Battle Phase

• After all movement, check each star and planet on the board.
• If ships or techs from two or more players occupy the same star system (star or its orbits), a battlefield is created at that location.
• All ships and techs present at the battlefield location are involved in battle.
• Only the current player may initiate the battle-cycle on a battlefield.
• Each star/planet with a conflict is resolved as a separate battlefield, in order decided by the active player.

Once a battlefield is set, resolve battle-cycles as described below.

Battle-Cycle

• Each battlefield consists of one or more battle-cycles:

1. Attacker fires all ships’ attacks (Energy Attack, then Physical Attack, with each delivered as a single, indivisible “damage package”).
2. Defender fires all ships’ attacks in response (EA, then PA).
3. Damage Application:
   • EA: Damages Shield (SH) first at 1:1, then Armor (AR) at 1:1, then HP (attacker chooses target: ship HP or any installed tech).
   • PA: Damages SH first at 2:1 (2 PA removes 1 SH), then AR at 1:1, then HP (attacker chooses).
   • All Shield (SH) must be depleted before AR; all AR before HP.
   • When HP of a ship or tech is reduced to 0, it is destroyed and sent to the junk pile.
   • When a ship is destroyed but surviving techs remain, those techs are left on the battlefield for possible collection until end of turn.
   • Any tech that reaches 0 HP is immediately junked.
   • Any uncollected techs left on the battlefield at end of turn are junked.
4. Shields Regenerate: At the end of each battle-cycle, all SH restore to full; AR and HP damage persists into future cycles.
5. Continue or End Battle:
   • After each cycle, both players decide in turn whether to proceed.
   • If either wants to continue, a new battle-cycle begins.
   • If the attacker declines but the defender wants to continue, roles flip—the previous defender now attacks first in the next cycle.
   • Battle continues until neither player wishes to proceed or one side is eliminated (no ships/techs left at that battlefield).

Important Battle Notes:

• Each ship’s attack (EA/PA) is a single damage package: it cannot be split among multiple targets.
• If a package’s damage exceeds the chosen target’s HP, the excess is lost.
• Battlefields only get battle-cycles if the current player decides to attack on a battlefield.

Repeat the above for each active battlefield on the board during the Battle Phase.

Goal

• The Flagship: You win if your opponent’s Flagship is destroyed.
• You lose if your Flagship is destroyed.
• If both Flagships are destroyed in the same battle-cycle, the game is a draw.
• If a player is unable to draw a card from their Destiny deck when required, they lose the game.

Additional Gameplay Rules

• Flagship – begins at the future position of Star 1 in Zone 1; once the first star is discovered, the Flagship moves to that star.
• Ship Construction – ships can be built only at planets with a Shipyard.
• Ship Upgrades – ships can be upgraded only at planets with a Shipyard.

Glossary

Arsenal	The cards in your hand.
Arsenal Limit	The maximum number of cards you can hold in hand at the end of your turn (usually 7).
Battle-cycle	A single round of attack and defense at a battlefield, including damage, regeneration, and the choice to continue fighting.
Battlefield	A location (star or planet) where cards from both players are present and attacks may occur.
Destiny	Your face-down draw pile.
Discover	Playing a star and/or planet; they count as discovered until end of turn.
Engage / Disengage	Turn a card sideways to use it ( engaged), upright to ready it (disengaged).
Engaged	A card that is turned sideways to indicate it has acted and cannot act again this turn.
Event	A card that represents a one-time effect; played, resolved, and then sent to the void.
Flagship	Your unique, central ship; its destruction means defeat.
Floating Resources	Unspent resources that vanish at the next Resource Burn.
Frontier	The line between your Home Sectors and the Enemy Sector.
Junk	Discard pile.
Modular Storage	Ability on all Flagships and some specialized ships: an empty tech slot may hold one Metal or Energy token; if a Ship Tech is later installed there, discard the token.
Orbit	Slot around a star where one planet can be placed. Orbits have temperature zones Hot, Temperate or Cold.
Resource	The three basic resources: Labour, Metal, Energy.
Resource Burn	End of phase step where all unspent floating resources expire.
Sector	The areas of the board controlled by you (Home Sector) and your enemy (Enemy Sector); separated by the Frontier.
Shipyard	A planet ability that allows construction or upgrading of ships and installation of ship tech.
Slot	Empty slot which is used to install tech on a ship or planet .
Tech	A card representing equipment or upgrades, occupies empty slots on ships or planets for resource generation, stat enhancement or other special effects.
Void	Cards removed from the game.
Zone	Subsections of a sector, indicating where stars may be placed (Zone 1, Zone 2, etc.).