Gamehelpgalacticera

Galactic Era rules PDF

Setup

1. Click on the star people tile you want to play with. You can click on a star people tile a second time to see its other side.
2. When done, click on the “Use selected Alignment“ button. Your starting alignment will be the side that is visible then.
3. In some cases, you will need to make some extra choices, such as a different technology field to start with at level 2.

General Use Tips

Game Component Information (Hovering)

To see some information on or an explanation of game components, hover the mouse pointer over it for a second.

When hovering over your population track or technology track the pieces on it will become nearly transparent, so you can read the text underneath.

Hiding Map Counters

Hold the CTRL key down to temporarily hide star counters and ancient relic counters on the map.

Hold the SHIFT key down to temporarily hide the ship pieces and fleet counters on the map.

Note: This is useful to see when there are many things in the same spot.

Selecting Multiple Ship Pieces

You can select multiple ship pieces before moving them or transferring them into/out of fleets. All the selected ship pieces will then move together or be transferred together into/out of the fleet.

When selecting ship pieces from inside of a fleet you only need to click on the lowest ship piece in a column and then everything above that will also be selected for transfer out of that fleet.

Example: Select the third ship piece from the top and the two ship pieces above will also be selected. When you then click on a fleet icon to transfer them out, all three will be transferred out.

Undo

Press the Undo button above to undo anything you just did. This only works until the point of when you last received new information. For example, once you have scouted with a ship, you cannot undo its move or any previous ship moves anymore.

Zooming Player Aids etc.

To read the other sides of your player aid, first click the image to the left of the technology track (it will then zoom into the center of the screen). Then click on it again and again to cycle through the various sides. This includes the icon index and the combat summary. Click anywhere else to un-zoom the player aid.

This zooming effect also works for the Domination cards, the Emergency Reserve Tile and Star People tiles (also those of other players) below the map.

Messages

Some of the messages in the right panel show a red pin icon. Click on this icon to center the map on the hex where the event described in this message happened.

The messages with a dark background are public (all players can see them). The messages with a light background are private (only you can see them).

Move/Combat Phase

Remote Viewing

To remote view during this phase, do the following:

1. Press the eye button at the top of the screen. It will only be available (blue) if you have any remote views. The number indicates the number of remote views you have this turn.
2. Click on the hidden item you want to see. Depending on what that is the following happens:

• • star or ancient relic counter: it will be revealed (to you only)
  • fleet: a message will appear in the right panel explaining the composition of the fleet
  • domination card deck: a message will appear in the right panel telling what the top card is

Note that star counters and ancient relic counters will remain face up once you have seen them. This does not mean that the other players can see them, too.

Create Fleets

To create a fleet (only during the first step of this phase):

1. Click on a ship piece at one of your stars. A row of fleet counters appears at the top of the screen.
2. Click on the fleet counter you want to have in that hex.

You can click on multiple ship pieces first before you select the fleet counter. All the selected ship pieces will then be placed into the fleet. This also works for transferring ships.

Swap Fleets

To change a fleet counter (also only during the first step of this phase):

1. Click on the fleet counter. A row of available fleet counters appears at the top of the screen.
2. Click on the fleet counter with two arrows (pointing left and right), that you want to have instead.

Transfer Ships between Fleets

1. Click on a fleet counter. A row of fleet counters appears at the top of the screen.
2. Click on a ship piece below the fleet counter where you want to transfer the ship out of.
3. Click on an other fleet counter (with two arrows). This is where the selected ship will be transferred to.

Note that for easier play, the handling of black chips used in the physical board game is not implemented on BGA. This only removes the guessing of the size of a fleet from its stack of chips, which is not an essential part of the game.

Transfer Ships into Fleets

1. Click on a ship piece (on the map). A row of fleet counters appears at the top of the screen.
2. Click on the fleet counter in that row where you want to put the ship.

Transfer Ships out of Fleet

1. Click on a fleet counter. A row of fleet counters appears at the top of the screen.
2. Click on one of ship pieces below the fleet counter with an arrow pointing up (this is the same fleet you just clicked on). All ship pieces from the top one until this piece will be selected.
3. Click on the fleet counter above the ship piece you just clicked on.

Note that once you transfer the last ship out of a fleet it will automatically be dissolved.

Movement

1. Click on a ship piece or a fleet counter of yours on the map. You will see all the possible destination hexes, marked by a red dot each.
2. Click on the hex where you want to move to.

Once a ship or fleet has used up all its range, it will appear faded.

Note that you can continue moving your ship piece or fleet (moving it multiple times) until it has used up all its range or it has scouted.

Scouting

To scout during the movement step:

1. Once you can have moved your ship or fleet to an unknown star, click on that ship piece or fleet counter again.
2. Press the blue Scout button above.

At the end of the movement step, a ship or fleet will automatically scout the star it is at anyway. So you do not need to actively scout as above if you do not need to know right away.

Note that star counters and ancient relic counters will remain face up once you have seen them. This does not mean that the other players can see them, too.

War/Peace

Declaring War

To declare war on your turn of the move/combat phase (if you are allowed to do so), click on the war/peace counter of the player you want to declare war on in your section of the right panel (above your star people tile there).

Making Peace

To make peace, click on the war/peace counter of the player you want to make peace with in your section of the right panel. That player will receive your offer and may accept or decline it.

Growth Phase

Selection Step

Click on the counters you want to select. Once you have selected the right amount of counters, the “Select Growth Actions” button above will appear blue and you can click on it to finish your selection. The number inside that button indicates the number of growth action counters you need to select.

Additional actions: If you have additional actions available, some blue buttons will appear in the top row of the window (just below the “Clear selection” and “Select Growth Actions” buttons) with each showing the cost in DP. Clicking on these buttons each activates an additional action. The number of growth action counters you need to select then will increase by one.

Build Ships

To place ships with the Build Ships action:

1. Click on a hex where you want to place a new ship. That hex will then be surrounded by a white aura. A row of fleet counters will also appear at the top of the screen (including both existing fleets in that hex and unused fleet counters).
2. Then either click on one of fleet counters, to place one of the new ships into that fleet in that hex (if the fleet counter was unused it will also appear in that hex), or click on the hex again to place the ship as a ship piece in that hex.

During this action, you can switch to a different hex, by clicking on one of the other hexes where you can place ships.

Once you have placed all your new ships, press the Confirm button.

To undo placement of ships, press the Cancel button above.

Note that you can also place new ships into existing fleets.

Teleport Population

At Propulsion levels 5 and 6 players can teleport population. Do this as follows:

1. Press the blue “Teleport Population” button at the top of the screen. The number in parentheses is the number of population discs you can teleport this turn.
2. Select population discs on the map up to the number as indicated. Each selected disc will appear gray.
3. Press the blue “Select Destination” button.
4. Click on map locations (only your own stars) a number of times equal to the number of population discs selected.
5. Press the red “Teleport discs” button.

Trading

When you get a trade offer, a window will appear in the middle of the screen that has the color of the player (or automa) you are trading with. The player’s name will also appear in the title of that window.

Executing a trade is a 3 step process:

1. Player A chooses a technology to learn from player B.
2. Player B then sees that, and chooses a technology to learn from player A.
3. Then a pop-up is displayed for player A (showing what each player will learn) who must then confirm that trade.

The player who initiates the trading process (first to click) with another player becomes player A in this process.

Anytime before the final confirmation, either player can cancel the trading process.

Trading with automa in solo variant

When you get a trade offer from an automa in the solo variant, then click on the technology counter of the technology you want to get (in the right column of the trade window). This automatically executes the trade. You cannot choose which technology to teach in this case (it is determined randomly).

Trading with automa in 2-player variant

You select both what technology to learn from and what to teach to the automa. Select what to teach (left column) first, then select what to learn (right column).

Domination Cards

Playing Domination Cards is only possible at certain times (not “anytime”). This is different from physical gameplay. You can play your Domination cards on your own turn or at these times:

• at the start of the round
• at the end of the round

When the A-section condition for a Domination card has been fulfilled, a halo will appear around the card in the player’s color. This means the card can now be played to get the A-section points. When it’s immediate effect can also be played then, a lightning bolt will additionally appear in the middle of the card.

Rule Differences

These are some rules that are different in the BGA implementation as compared to the actual rules.

• Playing Domination Cards outside of your own turn is only possible at certain times (see above).
• Hidden ship chips are not used. The app simply remembers the number of ships in a fleet and just displays the fleet counters without a stack of chips. Dummy chips are also not necessary therefore.
• For the Solo Variant: Automas do not use Stargate Movement.
• For 2 players, the official "2-Player Variant with Passive Automa" rules are used, not the 2-player rules in the rulebook. You can download the variant rulebook here: https://galacticera.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Passive-Automa-Variant-for-2-Players.pdf