Rules of the Game

Part 3: Turns

Phases of a Turn

....the Nova Wars are remembered as a period of planetary discovery as well as conquest....

Each turn has six phases. At the beginning of each phase, play starts with the opening player (initially the player to the left of the dealer) and rotates clockwise. All players play a given phase before the next phase begins. A turn is over when all players have played all six phases.

At the end of each turn, the opening player designation rotates to the left such that the player starting the next turn should be the player to the left of the person that started the current turn. The six phases of each turn are:

DRAW cards to fill your hand to 10 cards.

DISCOVER one new planet; play Environment cards on new planets.

BUILD up your planets and ships.

ACTION Do one of the following:

Pass your Action phase;

Trade one card with another player;

Jettison up to three cards from your hand; or

Attack a single planet.

TRANSPORT population cards between planets and ships; move ships between planets in your empire.

DISCARD one card (or pay a penalty). Below is more detail on each phase.

1) DRAW PHASE

At the start of each turn, draw cards until your hand contains 10 cards. You may draw from the Main Deck or the top of the Discard pile, but not the Scrapyard. All the cards for a particular draw must come from one pile, if possible. If a pile runs out in the middle of your draw, you must draw from the other pile to complete your hand.

2) DISCOVER PHASE

The Discover phase is actually 3 mini-phases; each player gets 3 chances to play during this phase. First, each player may play a planet card. Next, each player may play one Environment card on each of the new planets discovered by other players. Finally, each player may play an Environment card on their own new planet, if they have one.

3) BUILD PHASE

During your Build phase, you may play any cards marked Build. Build Civilization and population on planets; build ships around planets; build Ship Modifiers on ships. Although there is no limit to the number of Build cards you can play, the following restrictions apply:

POPULATION CARDS (ALIEN/MERC)

You may only play Aliens on their Homeworlds or on Colonies that contain Mercs or Aliens of the same race. You may build Mercs on any Homeworld or Colony. Remember: A Colony is a non-Homeworld that currently contains population. Also, the population potential of a planet equals the maximum number of population cards you may have on that planet.

SHIP CARDS

A planet can always support one ship in orbit; it may also have one additional ship for each population card on the planet. You may build ships around any world regardless of population.

CIVILIZATION AND SHIP MODIFIER CARDS

Civilization becomes part of a planet and, once built, must remain unless the planet is taken by force. Similarly, a Ship Modifier becomes part of a specific ship. Players can capture or destroy Civilization and Ship Modifiers as part of an attack. See Attack Results under the Action phase for additional details.

4) ACTION PHASE

During your Action phase you may do one (and only one) of the following:

PASS

You can elect to do nothing. In this case you are only passing your Action phase, not the rest of your turn.

TRADE

If you elect to Trade, begin the trade by offering one card from your hand to one, or more, of the other players. In exchange, they may offer any number of cards from their hands or promise some behavior (e.g., "I promise not to attack you"). Both players must agree to the trade. You can only offer to trade one card per turn. If you offer to trade a card, but no one wants to trade, your Action phase is over. Traders are under no obligation to honor promises made during a trade.

JETTISON DEBRIS

If you elect to Jettison, you may jettison up to three cards from your hand. Place jettisoned cards face up in the Discard pile.

ATTACK

If you elect to Attack, you must follow the attack sequence explained below. Stated briefly, the player with the most strength wins and you must defeat the ships in orbit before you can attack the planet itself. You may only attack one planet during this phase.

WINNING AN ATTACK

Winning an attack is simple: The player with the most strength in the attack category (i.e., Military, Diplomatic, or Economic) wins. Here, strength is the total strength of all cards involved in the attack. When strength is equal, compare strength in successive categories (M -> D -> E -> M....) until there is a winner. If the strengths are equal in each of the three categories, it is a stalemate; the attack fails, and the attacker goes home. When you resolve an attack by rolling over to another category (e.g., D -> E) the result is still based on the original attack category.

ATTACK SEQUENCE

The attacker decides which ships comprise his fleet, announce the target planet, and place the Fleet in orbit around the target. All attacking ships must come from the same planet.
The defender announces which ships will defend and which ships will flee to Deep Space. Only ships that were already in orbit can defend a planet - If ships flee, see the Deep Space note below.
Announce the form of the attack: Military, Economic or Diplomatic. The attacker must attack the defending fleet militarily unless the cards specifically allow other forms of attack (e.g., if a Consul Ship has a total Military strength of zero, it may attack a Fleet Diplomatically; Koolians on High-G ships may bypass ships in orbit).
Any player (not just the attacker and defender) may play Special cards to alter the battle. Only cards marked Action or Any may be played in this phase. Special cards remain in effect until the end of the current player's Action phase.
Determine the winner of the orbital battle according to the WINNING AN ATTACK section and apply the appropriate action from the ATTACK RESULTS section.
If you defeat (or bypass) the ships in orbit, you may now attack the planet. Announce your method of attacking the planet (e.g., Economic).
Players may now affect the planetary battle by playing additional Special cards. Note: previous Special cards from this phase are still in effect.
Determine the winner of the planetary battle as per the WINNING AN ATTACK section and apply the appropriate action from the ATTACK RESULTS section.
Deep Space: Ships in orbit may flee to Deep Space rather than fight an attacking Fleet. Ships that have fled to Deep Space may not attack, or be attacked, for the remainder of the turn. During Transport, you may move the ships in Deep Space into orbit around any of your planets that have room. Any ships still marooned in Deep Space at the end of the turn must be discarded along with their Assets. Note: Long Range ships can stay in Deep Space indefinitely.

ATTACK RESULTS

For the discussion below, remember that "the planet" always refers to the planet and any Environment cards that are part of the planet.

MILITARY: Defending Fleet loses: Attacker destroys the defending Fleet. Send the defending Fleet and its Assets to the Scrapyard.; Defending planet loses: Attacker destroys the defender's Civilization and the planet becomes Uninhabited. Send the population and Civilization to the Scrapyard, give the planet to the attacker, and place the attacking Fleet in orbit around it.; Attacker loses: Defender destroys the attacking Fleet. Send the attacking Fleet and its Assets to the Scrapyard.
DIPLOMATIC: Defending Fleet loses: Attacker negotiates control over the defending fleet and most of its Assets. Defender picks one of the Assets from his Fleet and returns it to his hand. The defending Fleet and its remaining Assets join the attacking Fleet. These ships can immediately participate in attacking the planet.; Defending planet loses: Attacker negotiates control over the planet and most of its Assets. Defender picks one of the Assets from the planet and returns it to his hand. Give the planet and its remaining Assets to the attacker. Planets that arrive with population remain Colonies. Planets that arrive without population become Uninhabited.; Attacker loses: Defender negotiates control over the attacking fleet and most of its Assets. Attacker picks one of the Assets from her Fleet and returns it to her hand. The attacking Fleet and its remaining Assets join the defending Fleet.
ECONOMIC: Defending Fleet loses: Attacker buys the defending fleet and one of its Assets. The defending Fleet, and one Asset of the attacker's choice, join the attacking Fleet. Return all other cards to the defender's hand. These ships can immediately join the attack on the planet.; Defending planet loses: Attacker buys the planet and one if its Assets. The attacker gets the planet and one card of her choice from the planet's Assets. Return all other cards to the defender's hand. Planets that arrive with population remain Colonies. Planets that arrive without population become Uninhabited.; Attacker loses: Defender buys the attacking fleet and one of its Assets. The attacking Fleet, and one Asset of the defender's choice, join the defending Fleet. Return all other cards to the attacker's hand.; REMEMBER: When you capture a planet, leave your attacking fleet in orbit and move both planet and fleet to your empire (i.e., in front of you).

5) TRANSPORT PHASE

During this phase you may move your ships (along with their Assets) and population. Each card can move once during a turn. Cargo moved by a ship does not expend the cargo's own movement. Population may move from ship to ship or between planets and ships in orbit. Ships can move from planet to planet and from Deep Space to a planet. You may not transport Planet, Environment, Civilization, or Ship Modifier cards.

For example, you could move a population card to a ship and then move that ship to another planet. Or, if your ship had population from a prior turn, you could move the ship to another planet and transport the population down to the planet.

6) DISCARD PHASE

If you have cards in your hand, you must discard one to the Discard pile. If you do not have any cards to discard, you are assessed the following penalty: during your next Draw phase you can only draw a single card. This penalty means that you would only have one card in your hand during the next turn which you would eventually have to discard, or be penalized again.

During this phase you must also send any ships that can no longer support themselves (e.g., normal ships in Deep Space, ships without supporting planetary population, etc.) to the Discard pile.

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