Each turn consists of a number of phases. Players alternate playing through each of the phases during their turns. All phases during a turn must be finished before the next player can start his turn. The turn sequence below lists all the phases. For your convenience, the phases are also listed on every starbase.
1. Setup phase
Duration Step > Your news cards that have Duration I, II, III or IV are physically rotated clockwise so that the next duration tab is turned upwards. When the countdown expires, the news is destroyed. News that have Duration ∞ are not rotated and stay in play.
Assembly Step > Your ships that have Assembly I, II, III or IV are physically rotated clockwise so that the next assembly tab is turned upwards. When the countdown expires, the ship is fully assembled in your dock and ready to be deployed. Ships with no assembly tabs come into play fully assembled.
Income Step > Add together the total ISK income of all cards you control and collect that amount of ISK from the bank.
Example Setup Phase:
Duration Step > Elysha has a Stubborn Mechanic (news) in play. It has Duration IV, but is currently at Duration I. This means that its duration has expired, and should be placed on the scrapheap. The card’s ability immediately stops being in effect.
Assembly Step > During her last turn, Elysha played Omen (ship). She now rotates her Omen from Assembly II to Assembly I, meaning that her ship is only one more round from being ready. During Elysha’s next assembly step, her Omen is fully assembled and docked.
Income Step > After adding together the 2 ISK Elysha gains from her starbase, 1 ISK from Veldspar (location), and 1 ISK from controlling Metropolis (outer region), Elysha collects 4 ISK from the bank.
Important: At the beginning of your turn, you may opt to forfeit all ISK gained during your income step this turn to draw a card instead.
2. Draw Phase
Draw one card from the top of your market. In a two player game, the player who goes first must forfeit his or her draw phase in the first turn. In a multiplayer game, ignore that rule. If you are supposed to draw a card when none are left in your market, you lose the game. This is the only phase in which players cannot play any news cards or use any abilities.
3. Management Phase
During your management phase, you may do any or all of the following as many times as you want, and in any order:
Play a card from your hand > Pay the card’s price and put it into play. Locations can only be played if there is a region currently in play that you can play them in. Ships come docked into play, and await assembly if needed. News cards that require one or more targets can only be played if there is a legal target in play. Starbase structures come into play attached to your starbase.
Play an outer region > Pay the outer region’s price and put it into play. You can only play an outer region if there is no other copy of that outer region already in play.
Upgrade your starbase > Pay the upgrade price and flip over your starbase.
Dock or undock a ship > Move a ship from dock to your home region or from your home region to dock.
Warp a ship > Deactivate a ship’s command and move it from one region to another. If you warp a ship into an enemy controlled region, your ship has attacked that region and cannot execute any of its abilities, activate any of its commands, or warp again during this management phase.
Activate a ship’s command > Rotate a ship so that the tab of the desired command is turned upwards. Ships that are docked or attacking cannot activate their commands. The ship gains the corresponding ability that is described on the card until the command is deactivated (if the command power changes, change all references of that number in the ability accordingly). When you warp a ship or wish to switch its commands, you must deactivate its current command. A command can stay active through multiple turns if not deactivated.
Example Management Phase:
Elysha plays a Velator (ship) for 1 ISK. Since the Velator does not need to be assembled, it comes into play ready and docked.
Then she spends 5 ISK to play Veteran’s Premature Retirement (news), which sends an enemy Kestrel (ship), that was previously guarding Moon of Ndoria (outer region), to its owner’s hand.
Since the Kestrel was the last ship in that region, it is now uncontrolled. Elysha can fearlessly undock the Velator, warp it to Moon of Ndoria, and claim it.
Important: If you have not warped your ships into any enemy regions when your management phase is over, you have made no attacks, and there is no battle phase. Proceed directly to the end phase.
