Variants

Unlimited Zap Cards

Strongly recommended. This variant encourages the use of Zap cards, since you never run out of them. It also adds some uncertainty (especially toward the end of the game) since each player usually has at least one Zap card with which they may be able to thwart actions.

• During step 6 of setup, shuffle the 36 Zap cards and deal three to each player. Leave the remaining Zap cards in a single deck.
• Use Zap cards in exactly the same ways as in the normal game. However, when you use a Zap card, discard it face up to a single discard pile next to the deck.
• Do not draw any Zap cards at the beginning of your turn. Instead, at the end of your turn, if you have fewer than three Zap cards in your hand, draw one more from the deck. If the deck is empty, reshuffle the discards to form a new deck.
• When you play the Déjà Vu Zap card, pick up the top card from the single shared discard pile.

Fixed Goal

Recommended. With five or six players and the normal setup, the game can end quite suddenly, since you need less population to win. That can put players whose strategy takes longer to develop (especially Titan) at a disadvantage. This variant simply adjusts the setup so that the number of population needed to win is always 26 for any number of players between three and six.

• With 3 players, use the Short setup.
• With 2 or 4 players, use the Normal setup.
• With 5 players, use the Long setup.
• With 6 players, use the Epic setup.

Resilient Spaceships

This variant gives all players the second of Pluto's Robotic special abilities. It effectively makes Pluto weaker (relative to the other players), and makes build abilities such as Ganymede's slightly weaker since they will be needed less often.

• Whenever one of your spaceships would normally be destroyed (by an attack or a Zap card), it is only disabled. Put it on its side to indicate this. Until the end of your next turn, it cannot do anything. A disabled spaceship can be destroyed normally (by an attack or a Zap card).
• To distinguish a disabled spaceship from one that is under Mind Control (Mars), put a red chip under each mind-controlled spaceship.

Artifacts

Who knows what technological artifacts from ancient vanished cultures may be scattered about the vast reaches of the solar system? This variant provides more opportunities for research.

• During step 1 of setup, put one yellow chip each on space areas 1, 5, 8, and 10.
• At the end of your turn, for each of your spaceships on a space area with a yellow chip, you may take a free Research action. If successful, remove the yellow chip from the space area.
• This does not apply to Pluto. The Plutonians, being robots, do not recognize the scientific potential in the ancient artifacts.

Improved Mind Control

Mars often finds it difficult to take advantage of their Mind Control special ability, as other players tend to resent having their spaceships taken over and focus their efforts on attacking the controlling spaceships. This variant makes Mind Control slightly better: you can move to an area where there is an enemy spaceship and use it on your next turn, instead of having to attack it first. It also lets a single spaceship using an attack action pull an enemy spaceship into its area and take control of it, rather than requiring two spaceships (one to pull and the other to take control).

Replace the first paragraph of the Mind Control special with the following (and note that the erratum below remains in effect):

At the end of your turn, each of your active spaceships may take over one enemy spaceship in the same area. Its original owner no longer controls it — you do! Put the target spaceship on its side to indicate this.

Errata

• Dice (p. 2) should read:
  There are three dice, with sides numbered 0 through 9. In all cases, the "0" should be read as "10".
• Under Research Action (p. 3), add the following text:
  If no Upgrade cards remain in the deck and it is necessary to replace one, reshuffle the discarded Upgrade cards to form a new deck.
• The first paragraph on p. 4 below the bullet items should read:
  In the Enhanced Game, when you discard a Zap card to extend your action, Technology and Special cards do apply, except for the Alluring special (Venus), the special build effect of the Amphibious special (Ganymede), and the Automated Assembly and Quality Control Technology Upgrades.
• Add the following text to the Alluring Special card (Venus):
  However, if you discard one or more Zap cards to extend a population action, you only collect one extra population unit for each Zap card you discard, not two.
• Add the following text to the Q-Ray Technology card (Venus):
  If you have acquired the Auto Fire Control or Energy Amplifier tech upgrade, then when you roll a 4 or 5, roll again. A roll of 3 still has no effect.
• The last paragraph on the Mind Control Special card (Mars) should say:
  Each of your spaceships may only control one other spaceship at a time. If, at the end of any turn, you do not have as many spaceships in an area as there are controlled spaceships in that area, you must release controlled spaceships of your choice back to their original owners until the number of controlled spaceships is equal to the number of your spaceships in that area.
• Add the following text to the first bullet item on the Amphibious Special card (Ganymede):
  However, if you discard one or more Zap cards to extend a build action, you only build one extra spaceship for each Zap card you discard, not two.
• Add the following text to the Gatling Lasers Technology Upgrade card:
  If you already have the Q-Ray (Venus), each spaceship may choose whether to use the Q-Ray or the Gatling Lasers, and this card is not obsoleted by Auto Fire Control or Energy Amplifier.
• The Yttrium Alloys Technology Upgrade card should say:
  Duplicates Baryonite Armor (Venus), Biometallic Hull (Ganymede), and Ultronium Shielding (Pluto)

Game play

Q. How do we decide who gets which planet?
A. However you prefer. Here are some ways:

• Take one spaceship of each color, put them in a cup or the box top, and have each player pick one without looking.
• Starting with the youngest player and proceeding clockwise, each player chooses a planet according to their preferences.
• Assign each player the planet nearest to where the player is sitting.

Q. Should players take turns in order as shown on the board (Pluto, Titan, Ganymede, Mars, Venus)? If so, when does the Earth player take a turn?
A. No, whatever order the players happen to be sitting is fine.

Research

Q. What happens if I need to replace an Upgrade card, but they have all been discarded?
A. Reshuffle the discards.
 
Q. What happens if all the Upgrade cards are acquired?
A. Then you can't perform any more research actions.
 
Q. If I discard a Zap card to get an extra research roll, does it have to be for an Upgrade I already researched?
A. No, you can use it for any face-up Upgrade.
 
Q. If I discard a Zap card to get an extra research roll, can I discard one of the face-up Upgrade cards first?
A. No, you can only discard an Upgrade card at the beginning of your research action.
 

Zap cards

Q. If I get a "free" action from a Zap card such as Sneak Attack! or We Come in Peace, or from Earth's Scavenger Special, can I discard Zap cards to extend it?
A. Yes.
 
Q. Can I use Alternate Universe to cancel another Alternate Universe?
A. It depends. The two Alternate Universe cards are numbered 35 and 36. You can use #36 to cancel #35, but not the other way around.
 
Q. If I use Causality Fluctuation (#34) to redirect Agents Provocateurs (#7), can another player use Conscientious Objectors (#8) or Non-Aggression Pact (#9) to cancel the Agents Provocateurs, or does that now count as #34?
A. It still counts as #7, so the other player could cancel it with a higher-numbered card.
 
Q. Can I play Conscientious Objectors after a player has already begun attacking?
A. Yes. If the player has already rolled the dice for an attack, that attack is resolved, but the player may not make any more attacks. However, if the player hasn't yet committed to the action by rolling the dice, he may then choose a different action. Likewise, if you play Non-Aggression Pact when the attacker announces that you are the target of an attack, the attacker may choose a different player as the target instead.
 
Q. Can I use Conscientious Objectors or Non-Aggression Pact to cancel Asteroid Pirates, Native Resistance, or Sabotage?
A. No. Compare the numbers on the cards — Asteroid Pirates has a higher number (#23) than Conscientious Objectors (#8).
 
Q. When I play a card that targets multiple spaceships, such as Meteor Shower or Native Resistance, can I roll for each target and see what happens before choosing the next target?
A. No, you must declare all of your targets before you roll for any of them. In a normal attack, you could do one spaceship at a time, but these cards are considered to be sudden events rather than attacks, and so they work differently.
 
Q. Why do Alien Plague and Natural Disaster add population to each player? It would make more sense for them to remove population from the board.
A. Effectively, they do remove it from the board — it is no longer available to be collected. If you have 4 players, and each player needs 26 to win, then if you remove 4 population units from the board, each player needs only 25 to win. This is the same as if each player needs 26 but each player's score is increased by 1, but it's easier to keep track of that way.
 
Q. Can I play a Zap card and then use Déjà Vu to pick it up again?
A. Yes. At the time you play Déjà Vu, it has not yet been discarded, so you may pick up the top card from your own discard pile.
 
Q. Can Space Warp affect spaceships on Earth?
A. Yes.
 
Q. Can I use Lady Luck to automatically succeed at a research roll?
A. Yes.
 
Q. If I play Murphy's Law when another player rolls dice for Meteor Shower, Native Resistance, or Cosmic Radiation Storm, can I force all three dice to fail, or only one?
A. Technically, each is a separate die roll, so you can only affect one of them.
 
Q. Can I play Murphy's Law to affect the results of Pluto's Wormhole Generator?
A. Yes, but it will only affect one spaceship, since each spaceship is considered to make a separate die roll, even if the Plutonian player rolls all the dice at the same time.
 
Q. If I play Sneak Attack! on another player, can that player attack me?
A. Yes, the player may attack whomever he or she wishes, or no one at all.
 
Q. If I use Agents Provocateurs to force another player to attack, and then I play Brilliant Leader on the same player, can that player opt not to add 1 to his or her die rolls?
A. No, the player must attack to the best of his or her ability. However, the attacking player still chooses which targets to attack.
 
Q. If I use Agents Provocateurs to force Mars to attack another player, can Mars use its Magneto-Blasters or Mind Control special instead of attacking normally? Does Mars have to attack with any ships it controls as well?
A. Yes, the Magneto-Blasters and Mind Control count as attacks. Mars must attack to the best of its ability, which includes attacking with all controlled ships.

Specials

Mind Control

Q. Do I have to roll a die to be able to use Mind Control?
A. No, it automatically succeeds. However, it counts as an attack action, so a spaceship which uses mind control may not perform any other attack action that turn (unless you discard a Zap card to extend your action).
 
Q. Is there any way for a spaceship to escape from mind control once it has been controlled?
A. Not directly. If the controlling spaceship is destroyed or is no longer in the same area as the controlled spaceship, then the control is broken and the controlled spaceship reverts to its original owner at the end of the turn.
 
Q. Can I attack my own spaceship if it is mind-controlled? That's easier than attacking the Martian spaceship.
A. Yes. Of course, then you have to rebuild it, but at least Mars doesn't get to use it.
 
Q. If one of my spaceships is mind-controlled, can I build an extra one to replace it?
A. You can never have more than five spaceships on the board at once (six if you are Ganymede, four if Earth), even if some of them are mind-controlled.
 
Q. So what do I do if Mars mind-controls all five of my spaceships?
A. Try not to let it get to that point. If it does, Zap cards such as Sabotage or Space Warp can destroy or move Martian spaceships, thus potentially releasing yours. Point out to the other players that Mars could collect 10 population units, so it is in their interest to attack either the Martian ships or your controlled ships.
 
Q. Can a spaceship which I am mind-controlling use my Technology Upgrades?
A. No.
 
Q. If I mind-control a spaceship whose owner has researched a Technology Upgrade, can the mind-controlled spaceship still use the upgrade?
A. Only if it affects the spaceship's attack, defense, or movement.
 
Q. If I am mind-controlling a spaceship, and my spaceship is affected by a Malfunction or Cosmic Radiation Storm, can the spaceship it is controlling still perform an action?
A. Yes.
 
Q. If I am mind-controlling a spaceship, and my spaceship is destroyed or moved elsewhere by a Zap card, but I have another spaceship in the same area, can my other spaceship immediately assume control of the target spaceship, or do I have to wait until my turn and perform an attack action? What if I don't have another spaceship in the same area, but it is my turn and I am doing a move action — can I move a spaceship to that area and have it immediately assume control of the target spaceship?
A. As long you have at least as many spaceships in the area as there are controlled spaceships by the end of the turn, you maintain control, even if some of your spaceships have moved or been destroyed in the meantime. The reason it takes an attack action to establish control initially is that you have to overcome the target's resistance — once this is done, it is easy to transfer control.
 
If you do not have as many spaceships in an area as there are controlled spaceships at the end of the turn, you may choose which spaceships to maintain control of.

Parasitic

Q. I don't understand the Parasitic Special. How does it benefit me?
A. The benefit comes when you teleport infected population back to Titan. You can teleport one infected population unit from each area, plus your spaceships can also collect normally. If you have infected all eight areas, and you have all five spaceships on Earth, you could collect 13 population units each turn. Even if the other players destroy all your spaceships, the only way they can stop you collecting infected population is by collecting it themselves.
 
Q. Can I infect more population every turn, or only when I take a population action?
A. Only when you take a population action. But remember, your spaceships may continue to infect as well. So if you land two spaceships in China, on your first population action you will infect two population units in China plus two more in China or neighboring areas. On your second population action, assuming no other player has collected your previously infected population and your spaceships are still in China, your spaceships will infect two more population units in China, and your six infected population units will each infect one more immediately, for a total of 12. On your next population action, with the same assumptions, your total infected would increase to 28, and so on.
 
Q. If I discard a Zap card to infect an extra population unit, does this count as having been infected by one of my spaceships (in which case it can immediately infect another population unit)?
A. Yes, if you have at least one spaceship in an area with uninfected population. Otherwise, you can still infect an extra population unit, but that unit cannot immediately infect another one.
 
Q. If I take a population action and infect population, can I discard a Zap card to teleport a population unit home?
A. No, the choice you make applies to the entire action, including extensions.

Robotic

Q. What's the difference between collecting and destroying population?
A. In terms of the game mechanics, there is no difference, except that you can destroy population from Orbit, whereas in order to collect population, you have to be in a populated area (unless you are Ganymede).

Scavenger

Q. If Venus attacks the Secret Underground Refuge and succeeds, do they collect two population units, since they are Alluring?
A. No, they still only collect one. Likewise, even if the attacker has Pheromone Lures or Wide-Area Teleport, they still only collect one population unit per attack.

Technology Upgrades

Q. Suppose I have the Pheromone Lures or Wide-Area Teleport Upgrade, and I have three spaceships in populated areas. When I take a population action, I collect a total of four population units (three for the spaceships, plus one for the upgrade). Then I discard a Zap card to extend my population action. Do I collect only one more population for a total of five this turn, or does the upgrade apply again giving me a total of six?
A. The upgrade applies only to the base population action, not to any extensions, so in that example you would collect a total of five population that turn.
 
Q. Can Venus use the Pheromone Lures or Wide-Area Teleport Upgrade to collect two extra population?
A. No, only one extra.
  Q. What happens if Venus acquires Gatling Lasers, Auto Fire Control, or Energy Amplifier?
A. Gatling Lasers gives your spaceships an alternative form of attack. Each spaceship can choose whether to make a normal attack using two dice, or use the Q-Ray. However, Auto Fire Control and Energy Amplifier do not give your spaceships an alternative form of attack — they just make the Q-Ray more effective by reducing the chance that it will miss completely (if you roll a 4 or 5, instead of "no effect," roll again).
 
Q. If Ganymede acquires the Energy Amplifier or Auto Fire Control Upgrade, do they roll three dice for their long-range attacks, or only for normal ones?
A. Ganymede would roll three dice for all attacks, including long-range ones.
 
Q. If Mars acquires the Energy Amplifier or Auto Fire Control Upgrade, can they still use the push/pull ability of Magneto-Blasters?
A. Yes.
 
Q. If Titan acquires the Adaptive Shield or Phased Shield Array Upgrade, are their spaceships still immune to teleportation?
A. Yes.