- Twilight Imperium: Prophecy of Kings Living Rules Reference
- Twilight Imperium: Thunder's Edge Rules Reference
- Twilight Imperium Wiki
- Twilight Imperium Rules Summary
The objective of the game is to be the first player to reach the end of the victory point track (10 or 14 VP).
Victory points can be gained through 3 primary sources:
- Public Objectives : Players may only score public objectives if they control their home planet(s). Each round after the first one, a new public objective is revealed. All revealed public objectives can be scored by all players but only one public objective can be scored per player per status phase. Public objectives are all "status phase" objectives and must be scored in the status phase (unless a component says otherwise).
- Secret Objectives : secret objectives are player-exclusive objectives drawn throughout the game. Each player may only score a max of 3 secret objectives and they may only have a max of 3 scored and unscored secret objectives at any point. Secret objectives can be "status" or "action" phase objectives. Only one status phase secret objective can be scored per player per shatus phase. Action phase objectives may be scored immediately during the action phase, however each must be in a seperate combat.
- Mecatol Rex - Claiming the custodian token will reward one player 1 victory point. only the first player to do this gets the victory point. To claim the custodian token (and place ground forces on Mecatol Rex) the player must pay 6 influence.
Additional sources of victory points include: promissory notes, relics, and agenda items.
If there are no more public objectives to reveal (in the status phase), then the game is won by the player with the most victory points with the highest initiative order.
The game is played in a series of game rounds containing the following phases:
- Strategy - Each player chooses a strategy card.
- Action - Each player performs tactical, component, and startegic actions.
- Status - Clean-up
- Agenda - Players vote on agenda items.
Beginning with the speaker and continueing clockwise, players take turns choosing a strategy card. These cards provide you with unique and powerful actions only you can perform in a given round. In addition they allow all other players to perform a secondary unique action related to the strategy card. Finally, each strategy card dictates the "player turn order" throughout the coming round. This is called initiative order.
At the end of each strategy phase, unused strategy cards will become more valuable (for future selections) by adding a trade good to each one.
The action phase is where most of the game will be spent.
Players take turns in initiative order performing a single action per turn. Players may continue to take turns performing actions as long as they have actions to perform and have not passed already. Once a player passes they may no longer perfrom tactical actions but they may always perform the secondary of other player's strategic actions. A player may only pass after they have played their own strategic action.
There are 3 types of actions:
- Tactical actions
- Strategic actions
- Component actions
There are 5 steps that can be taken as part of a tactical action. They must occur in order:
- Activation
- Movement
- Space Combat
- Invasion
- Production
Choose a system to activate. That system must not contain one of your command tokens. Place a command token from your tactics pool in that system. This is the active system for the rest of the tactical action.
You may move units into the active system.
- A ship must end its movement in the active system
- You cannot pass through a system with other player's ships.
- You cannot move out of a system that contains command tokens but you may move through systems that contain command tokens.
Movement values are printed on the faction sheet. You may move ground forces and fighters along with ships that have capacity. Fighters and ground forces can be picked up en-route.
Moving into a system with space cannons triggers a "post movement" space cannon offense. All players with a space cannon in range, in clockwise order starting with the active player, may use their space cannon abilities. The active player may target opponents in the active system, while all other players may only target the active player in the active system.
If multiple players have ships in a system after movement, then space combat must be resolved. Space combat occurs in 5 recursive steps:
- Anti-fighter barrage (only the first round)
- Announce retreat
- Make combat rolls
- Assign hits
- Retreat
These steps are repeated until there is only one player with ships (or none at all in) in the system. If there are still multiple players in the system, then another round of space combat is started, beginning with step 2.
If there is a planet in the active system it can be invaded. This also takes place in 5 steps:
- Bombardment
- Commit ground forces
- Space cannon defence (only defending planet's space cannons)
- Ground combat
- Establish control
To commit ground forces to Mecatol Rex (before the custodian token has been claimed), the player must spend six influence to claim the custodian token and commit at least 1 ground force to the planet. When the custodian token is claimed they immediately gain 1 victory point.
If you gain control of a planent that was not already controlled by another player you may explore that planet. You can only explore a planet that has a trait (Hazardous, Industrial, or Cultural). To explore: draw 1 card from the Exploration Deck corresponding to that planet's trait.
The player can produce units in the active system if it contains a unit with the production ability (such as a space dock).
The player can produce any unit on their faction sheet provided they pay its cost. The cost can be paid with trade goods or by exhausting planets. The number of ships you can produce is limited to the number in your reserves (and on the map). Fighters and ground forces are unlimited.
The player cannot produce more units than the combined production values of their units with the production ability in that system.
The player cannot produce ships in a blockaded space dock.
Play a strategy card. The primary ability is resolved by the active player. And the secondary ability is resolved by all other players in clockwise order beginning with the player to the left of the active player.
A player cannot pass until they have completed their strategic action. Players who have already passed when a stargeic action is performed may still perform the secondary action.
These are actions printed on game components. Component actions are always preceded by the word “ACTION.”. The Following componets can be component actions:
- Action cards
- Technology cards
- Leaders
- Exploration cards
- Relics,
- Promissory notes
- Faction sheets
If the component action cannot be resolved it cannot be performed. If the action is cancelled via another effect then the action does not take place and the player must still perform an action or pass.
This is the clean-up phase. Eight things may occur in it. They take place in the following order:
- Score objectives - In initiative order each player may score up to one public and one secret objective.
- Reveal one public objective.
- Draw one action card - you may have a max of 7 action cards in hand and must discard down to 7 if you exceed this maximum.
- Remove command tokens from the board and return to each players reinforcements.
- Gain 2 command tokens and redistribute command tokens on the command sheet.
- Ready exhausted cards.
- Repair damaged units.
- Return strategy cards.
When scoring objectives that say "Spend X trade goods" or "Spend X influnce", you must spend them on the objective itself during the status phase, not on other things during the previous round.
After the custodian token is claimed from Mecatol Rex the agenda phase is added to the game.
This phase involves the speaker drawing an "agenda item" from a deck. The agenda is then voted on by all players.
The number of votes cast for that outcome is equal to the combined influence values of the planets that a player exhausts.Tthe full amount of votes provided by the exhausted planet must be cast by the player.
Once the first agenda item is resolved, a 2nd one is drawn and voted on as well.
After the agenda phase, planets (not all exhuasted card) are readied up again.
At the end of your turn, you can choose to “commit to the expedition” and claim an unclaimed slice by paying the slice's cost.
- The first time you claim a slice you gain your factions Breakthrough.
- The player who claims the final slice, flips the tile and places it in a system of their choice that doesn’t have a planet, supernova, or printed wormhole.
- The player who claimed the most slices takes control of the planet, placing infantry on the planet equal to the number of slices they claimed.
Breakthroughs give each faction a unique new ability and grants synergy between two technology colors.
Synergy links two colors of technology. A technology or technology specialty of a color that a player has synergy with can count as the other color instead. A technology can only count as one or the other at any given time, not both.
Whenever a player gains their Breakthrough, they roll a die. If the result is a 1 or a 10, The Fracture enters play.
If the fracture came into play through a breakthrough with synergy:
- For each synergy color on their breakthrough, that player must choose three systems that contain matching technology specialties, if able, and place ingress tokens in those systems.
If the fracture came into play without a breakthrough or the breakthrough does not have syngery then:
- The player chooses four planets and places an ingress token in those planets’ systems. Each planet must be in a different system and must have a different technology specialty.
Finally:
- The players place an ingress token in the Thunder’s Edge system, if it is in play, or in the Mecatol Rex system, if the expedition has not been completed.
- Trade goods : universal currency that counts as a 1 resource or 1 influence (not both at the same time). Take note that trade goods can not be used as influence during the agenda phase.
- Commodities : currency that cannot be spent (unless otherwise stated on a component) but become trade goods when exchanged with other players. Each player has a max commodities limit. When a player's commodities are refreshed, they are replenished to thier maximum.
Spending Resources and Influence
To spend a planet’s resources or influence, a player exhausts that planet’s planet card. The planet can only be exhausted for either the resources or the influence, not both at the same time.
To spend trade goods, simply return them to the common trade goods and state whether it is getting spent as a resource or influence.
Relics are acquired by purging 3 matching relic fragments as an action.
Relic fragments are divided into 3 types: industrial, hazardous, and cultural. Additionally, the relic fragments drawn from the frontier deck are "Unknown relic fragments" and can act as any type as needed.
Relics cannot be traded, but relic fragments can.
During the active players turn, they may resolve one transaction with each of their neighbours. A transaction may include the following components:
- Commodities
- Trade goods
- Relic fragments
- One promissory note
No other components may be used in a transaction unless otherwise stated on the component.
Deals can be made at any time with any player. If they include a transaction they must follow the rules for transactions.
- Binding deals : If the deal can be resolved immediately it is a binding deal. Players must fulfill the terms of the deal.
- Non-binding deals : If the deal cannot be resolved immediately, it is a non-binding deal. Players do not have to adhere to the terms of the deal.
During game setup, each player is dealt two Secret Objectives face down. They must pick one to keep, while the other is returned face down to the secret objective deck, which is subsequently reshuffled.
A player is limited to three secret objectives, including both scored and unscored secret objectives.
If a player is scoring an Action Phase Secret Objective, they must do so immediately after fulfilling its requirements.
A player is not required to control all planets in their home system to score Secret Objectives.
Secret objectives are hidden information until they are scored.
Players may have a max of 7 action cards, after drawing to a number greater than 7 they must choose 7 and discard the rest.
Only a single action card with the same name can be played during a single timing window.
Canceled cards do not count as being played.
Actions cards are hidden information.
Only a single promissory note can be exchanged per transaction.
Promissory notes are hidden information (unless its effect requires it to be placed in a player's play area).
Unit upgrade technologies cannot be used as prerequisites for researching technologies.
Players are limited to two PDS units and one space dock on each planet.
A player gains control of a space station when they are the only player that has ships in its system. They do not lose control of the station if those ships move out of its system.
- They do not count as planets for the purpose of voting, objectives, or controlling a home system.
- Structures and ground forces cannot be placed on or committed to space stations.
A space station provides the following:
- The controlling player's commodity value is increased by 1 fort each space station they control.
- The controlling player an resolve transactions with other players that control a space station, even if they are not neighbours.
- Players can spend and/or ready a space station card as if it were a planet.
- Players can exhaust a space station to convert their commodities to trade goods.
A ship cannot move through or into an asteroid field.
A ship cannot move through, but may move into a nebula. A ship cannot move into a nebula unless it is the active system.
A ship that begins the “Movement” step of a tactical action in a nebula treats its move value as “1” for the duration of that step (this move value may still be increased by other means).
If a space combat occurs in a nebula, the defender applies +1 to each combat roll of their ships during that combat.
A ship cannot move through or into a supernova.
A ship that will move out of or through a gravity rift at any time during its movement, applies +1 to its move value.
For each ship that would move out of or through a gravity rift, one die is rolled immediately before it exits the gravity rift system; on a result of 1–3, that ship is removed from the board.
All unit abilities cannot be used by or against units inside of an entropic scar. Text abilities are unaffected.
Wormholes that would be placed inside of an entropic scar are discarded instead.
At the start of the status phase, a player that has ships in an entropic scar can spend a token from their strategy pool to gain one of their faction-specific technologies