Gamehelpbarrage

Over 5 rounds, you’ll be constructing Dams, Elevations, Conduits, and Powerhouses to produce hydro-electric energy. The map is divided into 3 areas: the Mountains, Hills, and Plains. Water starts in the 4 headstreams at the top of the board and flows downhill, either being held behind Dams in various basins or emptying into the sea at the bottom of the board. You take turns placing workers in various spaces on your player board or the Management board to perform a variety of actions.

The player (company) boards contain asymmetric bonuses which activate when specific structures are built. Each player starts with an Executive Officer special ability, $6, 6 brown Excavators, 4 gray Cement Mixers, and 10 VP.

Each round consists of 5 Phases: Income: Receive bonuses on your player board (you also earn these same bonuses at the time you build the structures). (Water is also placed on the Headstream tiles according the number shown on each tile (not in round 5).) Actions: Take turns placing workers and taking actions until all players have placed all 12 of their workers.

Water Flow: Water is released from the Headstreams, flowing downstream, stopped by Dams or ending in the sea.

End-of-round Scoring: Players earn bonuses for the Energy they produced during that specific round.

Clean-up: Each player’s Energy on the Energy Track is reset to 0 and a few others things happen.

Construction Actions

involve the building of Dam Bases (Dams of Height 1), Elevations (to increase the Height of Dams to 2 or 3), Powerhouses, which generate energy, and Conduits, which shunt water via color-coded pipelines from Dams to Powerhouses. Dams hold water equal to their Height (1, 2, or 3 water tokens). Flowing water that exceeds the height of a Dam continues downstream.

The 1st structure you build in a round requires 1 Worker. The 2nd requires 2 Workers. The 3rd requires 3 Workers. And the 4th requires 3 Workers plus an additional 3 Credits as indicated by the red border. (This 3-Credit cost applies to any action or space in the game that has a red border.) Each player has a basic technology tile specifically assigned to the construction of each type of structure (and can buy additional technology tiles in the Patent Office).

Dam Bases cost 3, 4, or 5 brown Excavators to build in the Plains, Hills, or Mountains, respectively. When you construct a Dam or any other structure, a technology tile assigned to that structure along with the Excavators and/or Cement Mixers you paid are placed on the top of your Construction Wheel, which is then rotated 60° (credits are paid to the supply). The Technology Tile, Excavators, and Cement Mixers will return to you when they eventually circle back around to the top of the wheel.

Elevations cost 2, 3, or 4 gray Cement Mixers, built on top of your Dam Bases in the Plains, Hills, and Mountains, repetitively.

Conduits cost 2 brown Excavators multiplied by the Energy Production Value of the Conduit (1-5). For example, a yellow Conduit (with an Energy Production Value of 3) costs 6 Excavators.

Powerhouses cost 2-5 Cement Mixers, regardless of where they’re built (the 1st costs 2, the 2nd costs 3, and so forth). If the structure you built revealed Income (!), immediately receive it (you’ll receive it again in subsequent Income Phases). You are limited to building 1 Dam Base per basin (per player) and 1 Powerhouse per basin (per player).

Management Actions

Contract Office: Place 1-3 Workers (and possibly 3 Credits) to purchase 1-2 Contracts. You’re limited to holding a maximum of 3 Contracts. Contracts vary by the Energy required to fulfill them. Purple National Contracts are not purchased, but rather remain in the Contract Office until a player can fulfill them (at which time, they’re acquired).

Machinery Shop: Place 1-3 Workers and a number of Credits to purchase 1 Excavator, 1 Excavator or Cement Mixer, or one of each. You cannot pay additional Credits to purchase multiple Excavators or Cement Mixers.

Workshop: Place 1-3 Workers and a number of Credits to rotate your Construction Wheel 1-3 times.

Bank: Place any number of Workers to earn 1 Credit per Worker placed. No limit to number of Workers or Players.

Water Management: Place 1-2 Engineers to place 1-2 Water on any Headstream(s), to be released during the Water Phase, or place 1 Water on any Headstream, which is then immediately released downstream.

Turbine Stations: Place 1-3 Engineers to produce Energy. You choose a Conduit (owned by any player) to direct some or all of the water held behind either your connected Dam or a connected brown neutral Dam (you cannot use an opponent’s water) to your Powerhouse. You record Energy on the Energy Track, equal to the number of water tokens you chose multiplied by the Conduit’s Energy Production Value plus any Energy adjustment shown on your player board (+1 or +3 Energy) or associated with the Turbine Station action you performed (-2 to +2 Energy). If your total Energy exceeds 30, flip your token to show the 30 symbol, and wrap around to the start of the track. If you used an opponent’s Conduit (the only time you can use an opponent’s piece), you must pay them 1 Credit per water token, and they score 1 VP per water token. After the Energy is produced, you can use it to fulfill 1 Contract and receive the corresponding benefits. Afterwards, the water flows downstream past your Powerhouse, stopped by a Dam or emptying into the sea at the bottom of the board.

Patent Office: Place 2 Engineers and pay 5 Credits, and choose 1 of the available Advanced Technology Tiles. These will typically be assigned to a specific structure and provide an additional bonus when played. The Patent Office is only refilled during the Clean-up phase (after all unpurchased Technology tiles are first discarded).

End-of-Round Scoring and Clean-up

1. Water on the Headstream tiles flows down the board according to the normal rules
2. The player with the most Energy produced during the current round scores 6 VP. The player with the 2nd-most Energy produced scores 2 VP. Split and round up on ties. In case of a tie for 2nd-most Energy, all tied players score 1 VP.
3. You earn Credits based on the amount of Energy you produced during that round. If you produced 0 Energy, you gain 3 Credits and forfeit 3 VP. (Your score cannot fall below 0.)
4. You score VP according to the current round’s Bonus Scoring Tile. To qualify for a scoring tile, you must have generated at least 6 Energy in the round. Each scoring tile earns a player points according to the number of structures built so far less a penalty for not producing Energy equal to at least 6 x the Round Number. (For example, with a Round 4 Elevation Scoring Tile, you would earn 5 VP for every Elevation you built since the start of the game if you produced at least 4x6 or 24 Energy that round, less 4 VP if you only produced 18-23 Energy, less 8 VP if you only produced 12-17 Energy, etc. You earn 0 VP for the scoring tile if you produced 0-5 Energy that round.)
5. Discard the Bonus Scoring Tile (If you discarded the last Bonus Scoring Tile, the game ends.)
6. New Turn Order: The player who generated the least Energy during the round goes first in the new turn order, and the player who generated the most energy goes last. In case of a tie, the tied players reverse their previous turn order.
7. The Energy Track is reset to 0 for all players.
8. All Advanced Technology Tiles in the Patent Office are discarded, and 3 new tiles are revealed.
9. Each player retrieves their 12 Workers.
10. Each player earns Income Bonuses for the structures they’ve built so far (as indicated by the ! symbol).
11. The Headstreams are seeded with Water Tokens for the upcoming round. (Not in Round 5.)

Final Scoring

• Each player scores points according to the Objective Tile shown on the far right side of the Energy Track.
• In addition, each player adds up their residual Credits + Excavators + Cement Mixers (not counting those

tied up on their Construction Wheel) and divides the resulting sum by 5, earning that number of VP, rounded down.

• Each player scores 1 VP for every Water Drop held behind their Dams.

The player with the most points wins. Ties are broken according to the amount of Energy produced in Round 5.