ABOUT

NOTE: DEVELOPMENT IN PROGRESS

• This game is not yet fully tested with many players, so currently it's an early sketch. (Version 0.6 was the first coherent and fully detailed version.)

REQUIREMENTS

• PLAYERS: 2 - 7 players (best dynamics with about 3 - 6 players). See Layout Mods for adjustments.
• CARDS: Two normal decks of 52 cards (can look different), preferably each with 3 jokers but less is okay.
• STICKS (& PAPER STRIPS): Some small sticks (eg. a pack of matches) to represent walls and buildings, and longer sticks (or paper strips) for road connections.
• SMALL COINS: Some small coins for marking accumulated gold (on diamonds ♦) and faith (on hearts ♥) - or can use matches as well.
• BIG COINS: Some bigger coins (or small stones) for marking completed developments (also placed on the cards).
• PEN & PAPER: With Writing extension you can also include and write down treaties and alliances. (And use a couple of traitor stones for breaking them.)

BASIC IDEA

The game was inspired by Sid Meier's Civilization video game series. (One game takes about 2 - 3 hours.)

• Each player represents a civilization trying to find its way to thrive in a competitive world. The basic gameplay consists of collecting action cards and occasionally playing out actions (with a few cards).
• Each civilization starts with 2 empty cities which they build up by exploring and collecting city cards on them (= face cards, aces and jokers). The city cards represent areas dedicated to a purpose (of that suit), and the nation can develop them further.
• Interacting with other nations is done by sending out caravans from the cities. Each suit has its own developments and effect as caravans:
  • ♥ Hearts represent religion & architecture: Developments unlock building walls, roads and cultural buildings. They send out missionary caravans that can gain faith, which in turn helps expanding your cities.
  • ♦ Diamonds represent trade & exploration: They can be used to send traders and explorers to other cities and to tax gold when red caravans from other nations use your walls or exploration lands. Their developments unlock Navigation technologies (= using the center sea to reach others).
  • ♧ Clubs represent science & subvertives: Their devs. unlock technological features speeding up gameplay, while their caravans consist of thieves, propagandists, spies and saboteurs send to the cities or to ambush caravans.
  • ♤ Spades represent military: Developing them helps in layout tactics but also provides military defense for the city. Their effect is to send out military troops that can target anything (roads, walls, buildings, city cards / their dev. coins, caravans).
  • Aces represent wonders: They can't be used for caravans and are expensive to develop, but yield cultural points and can help in the end game.
  • With Great Persons extension, each high card also brings a special bonus spicing up the soup.
• The game is played for max. 7 eras, but can also end earlier by a quick victory.

About learning the rules

• The game is much like a board game. After reading Layout, Playing and Exploration Actions, you can already start to play.
  • With many players (5 or more) you should play Shared Lands, with fewer you might also include some City States into the ring.
• After gaining a city card, read the City Actions section. To get a strategical orientation read through Technology and Victories.
• When it's time to interact read through Caravan Actions. With heart devs. see also Construction Actions.
• For the next game, include Great Persons (you can check each person as they appear) and/or Writing for making promises.
• Finally, the dynamics can also be modded by including fewer jokers, Victory Mods and/or introducing some extra City States (into the ring or inside it).

LAYOUT

LAYOUT COMPONENTS (open illustrated layout)

The basis of the layout consists of nations (= players) in a ring, the common area in the center and the decks left outside of the ring.

• NATURAL RESOURCES (decks): The two decks are merged and divided into the exploration deck (J, Q, K, A and jokers) and the action deck (2 - 10).
  • The decks are placed outside the ring and discarded cards kept next to their respective deck. When the exploration deck runs out, it's reshuffled from the discarded cards (by the player during whose turn it ran out). When the action deck runs out, the era ends and both decks are reshuffled.
  • The action dealer deals each 3 hand cards, while the player on his left deals the exploration cards and starts the game. (The jobs move clockwise each era.)
• LANDS (exploration cards): Each nation has 2 exploration lands (one in front of each city) each with 3 exploration cards, which must not be looked at.
  • When the exploration cards are refreshed (by exploration), they always contain 1 card less than what they had before (3 -> 2 -> 1 -> 0).
  • When an era begins, the river fills the lands with fresh cards again. However, it slowly dries up and after every 2 eras brings 1 card fewer (3 -> 2 -> 1 -> 0).
    • To count time, 6 coins are placed in 3 stacks in front of the action deck and after each era 1 coin is removed (from the rightmost stack). The lands will only be filled up to the number of stacks (eg. 2 stacks = up to 2 cards). When the last coin is removed, the last era begins.
• CITIES: Each player starts with 2 cities, which in the beginning are empty. In terms of layout, they are accessed through their exploration land.
  • The cards in a city are stacked together overlapping each other, so that the suit & number are visible and there's space to insert a stack of coins on each.
  • The developments are indicated by having a big coin (or a small stone) on the card. Higher cards can support 2 (for Q), 3 (for K and joker) or even 4 (for A) developments on them (= coins in one stack). The red cards can also accumulate another stack of small coins for faith (on hearts ♥) or gold (on diamonds ♦).
• MOUNTAINS, WALLS & ROADS: See the illustrated layout for visual reference.
  • The lanscape is mountainous near the cities but gradually levels out towards the center, and the cities can reach each other near their exploration lands. They can also build walls around the land (on left, front and right) to block connectivity as well as roads to increase reach.
• CENTER SEA & SAILING: Finally, the plainer areas subside to form an inland sea in the center of the table.
  • Each nation has a natural harbor spot, which is located in front of the front wall, and can be used to embark on the sea and disembark back with Sailing tech. However there's a danger of shipwreck represented by the dump card (= weather on the sea).
  • All sea journeys start from the home harbor (in front of the front walls) and proceed near the shore (or across the deep sea) until disembarking at another harbor.
• WEATHER & DRIFTING RESOURCES (dump pile): In the center of the table is left some space for the dump pile.
  • Each player can only hold max. 5 hand cards (in the beginning). When the slots are full, the cards start to flow to the dump pile (face up). The cards are typically laid tiling each other on the dump so that only the 2 topmost cards are visible (looking further back into the dump is not allowed).
  • While gaining resources, the topmost dump card represents resources drifted on the shore and can be picked up (instead of picking a card from the deck).

PASS OF ERAS

Each era ends after the turn during which the action deck runs out.

• The action deck is reshuffled (by the next dealer) from the discarded action cards and the cards in the dump pile except its topmost card. If the deck ran out during an action, it's continued with a fresh action deck.
• One time keeping coin is then removed from the rightmost stack of time coins, and the exploration deck is reshuffled (by the previous action dealer) and the exploration slots of each nation filled with new cards up to the number of time coin stacks.
  • The slots are filled up layer by layer in clockwise order (starting from the river point): first the nations with fewest get 1 card, and then the next layer and so on.
  • If the exploration deck runs out, the discarded exploration cards are shuffled to make a new deck, and the dealing continued. In the rare case of not having enough cards to deal (after reshuffling), the current dealing layer is cancelled and any unevenly dealt cards put back to the deck.
• If there are any temples they gain 1 faith and any theaters gain 2 gold at the end of each era.

PLAYING

ON YOUR TURN

During an era, the turn moves clockwise. On their turn, the player can either:

• GAIN RESOURCES: Pick up a new hand card from the deck.
  • If the hand card slots are exceeded (= max. 5 hand cards by default), the player must put a card face up to the dump pile - can also do it even if could hold more cards. (The same also happens if loses technology that provides more hand card slots.)
• BASIC ACTIONS: Play out one or many basic actions (1. exploration, 2. construction, and 3. city actions) with the action cards in your hand.

You may also have some additional options before the turn starts:

• CARAVAN ACTIONS: You can send prepared caravans on their journey, and any active ones must either progress further or be finished as caravan operations for trade (♦), missionary work (♥), subversion (♧) or military attack (♤).
• POLICY ACTIONS: With Writing extension the nations can also formulate policies before the turn starts (before or after caravans).

LIST OF ACTIONS

The actions and related game concepts are explained in detail below, but here's a short list of all actions:

• Exploration actions are played with 2 or 3 cards of the same number.
  • Explore on exploration lands (2 cards of the same number) and bring 1 back home (with 1 card more or 2 gold).
• Construction actions are all played with 3 (= 1 piece) or 4 cards (= 2 pieces) of the same number (can also pay 2 gold for 1 card fewer down to 2 cards):
  • Build walls to protect against black caravans and gain gold from red caravans.
  • Build roads from one of your cities to its neighbour city to increase reach (for the nations involved) for that segment.
  • Build cultural buildings to gain cultural points. They can yield extra faith / gold or increase strength of clubs / spades by +1 in caravan operations.
• City actions are played with 2 or 3 cards of the same suit and require a minimum number sum (based on the city card).
  • Develop a city card with 2 or 3 cards of the same suit (and required sum). You gain 1 dev. coin on the card.
  • Launch a caravan with 2 cards of the same suit (and required sum). The cards are put face down on the city card.
  • Cancel dev. coins or a city card altogether (with anything on it). Does not cost anything.
  • Move gold / faith from one stack to another stack. Costs 1 faith / gold from the source stack.
• Caravan actions are played out before the normal turn starts. They do not cost anything but require a caravan.
  • Advance a caravan on the layout - travelled distance is indicated by the small coins on the caravan (and the journey indicated while moving).
  • Finish caravan's journey as a caravan operation: a trade (♦), missionary work (♥), subversion (♧) or military attack (♤).

EXPLORATION ACTIONS

exploration action: EXPLORING (2 or 3 same number)

Exploring is normally done by playing 2 cards of the same number face up on the table.

• For direct exploration (without a caravan), each city can either explore on their own lands (right in front of them) or the deck.
  • INDIGENOUS LANDS: The player looks at the topmost card of the exploration deck. If kept (see 3. below), then can be collected to either city.
  • EXPLORATION LANDS: The player looks at the exploration cards in front of the city they want to collect a card to. (Either is fine for the 3rd city in the center.)
    • Exceptionally, with roads connecting your two lands or the Chariots tech., you can collect cards from either land to either city directly (without a caravan).
• After looking at the card(s), the player can either:
  • SCOUT AROUND: Put them back intact (even back to the deck).
  • REFRESH: Discard the cards. Unless exploring the deck, new exploration cards are drawn in their place except 1 card less than there was (3 -> 2 -> 1 -> 0).
  • REFRESH & COLLECT: Pay 1 more card of the same number (or 2 gold) to collect one of the cards into any of your cities. The other cards are refreshed away.
• When the action is finished, the played cards are discarded away.

Exploring by a caravan (♦)

With a developed diamond (♦), you can also send an exploration caravan to other nation's exploration lands (instead of a trader caravan).

• The travelling follows the normal caravan rules (so the reach is defined by dev. coins on the chosen diamond card, see Caravan Actions below). The only difference is that the 2 caravan cards are the same number and upon finishing the operation it's played out like the exploration process above.
• You can then collect the card to the city from where the caravan was sent from, or with roads or Chariots tech. to the other city as well.
  • However if you keep an explored card from abroad (= not from your lands), the other city gains 1 gold as compensation if there is a diamond (to collect it on).

CITY CARD COLLECTION RULES

You can collect a new card into your city if the card and the city meets the criteria below.

• NO DOUBLE NUMBERS (J, Q, K, A, joker): The cities can only contain one card of each number including joker (J, Q, K, A and joker). Cards can be of any suit.
• ONCE ALL IN PROGRESS: You can only collect a new card into a city if all the city cards in it has at least 1 dev. coin on them.
  • For example, if you have J with 0 coins and K with 2 dev. coins, you must pay 1 development to the J first. When all cards are humming, can expand.
• FOUNDING THE 3RD CITY: You can only have 2 cities until you have the City Foundation tech.: you can then collect a card to found the 3rd city with.
  • The 3rd city is located between the 2 cities (even if one would be empty currently) and can access and be accessed from the exploration lands on either side. So if the target has a center city, you can access it if you can access their left or right city, and likewise they can launch off as if from their left or right city.

CONSTRUCTION ACTIONS

ABOUT CONSTRUCTION ACTIONS

All construction actions work similarly and each is unlocked by an architectural technology (counted by the nation's fully developed hearts):

• Each construction can be built at once with 4 cards of the same number or 1 piece at a time each costing 3 cards (of the same number). You can reduce the price down to 2 cards by paying 2 gold for 1 card fewer.
• Once completed by 2 adjacent pieces, their effect is unlocked (1 piece = pillaged or not ready). They are visualized by sticks or paper strips (for roads).

construction action: BUILD STONE WALLS (3 or 4 same number)

With Stone Walls technology, you can build city walls with 3 or 4 cards of the same number.

• Complete walls are visualized by 2 sticks (eg. matches) placed after each other on the left / front / right side of the exploration cards.
• Once completed (by 2 pieces), they block all black caravans from passing through that point (except by sea). Red caravans can still pass through, but if they do you gain 1 gold for each passed wall provided you have a diamond in the city to collect the toll (they don't lose anything, you just gain).
• Note that developments in Layout Tactics (by ♤) can help to pass through the walls either by Siege Tactics (= blacks can attack the city with -2 strength) and Infiltration (= any caravans can pass through without gold gain under certain criteria).

construction action: BUILD PAVED ROADS (3 or 4 same number)

With Paved Roads tech. you can build 1 or 2 pieces of road by playing 3 or 4 cards of the same number.

• Between each exploration land there are 2 slots for road, which can be built up by either nation. The roads are visualized by placing paper strips (or long matches) longitudinally between the exploration lands.
• The effect of a fully built road is to extend the reach of the caravans travelling on them (= does not consume reach). However, each nation can only utilize the roads that are connected to one of their cities - any roads further ahead won't benefit.

construction action: BUILD CULTURAL BUILDINGS (3 or 4 same number)

With Cultural Buildings technology you can build one into a specific city with 3 or 4 cards of the same number.

• The building is visualized by placing two sticks crossing each other on the chosen card. Once completed by 2 pieces its effect is unlocked:
  • TEMPLE (♥): They yield 1 faith at the end of each era.
  • THEATER (♦): They yield 2 gold at the end of each era.
  • COMBAT ARENAS (♤): They provide +1 strength for military defense in that city and for attacks by that card.
  • LIBRARIES (♧): They provide +1 strength against subversion in that city and for subversions made by that card.

CITY ACTIONS

city action: CITY DEVELOPMENTS (2 or 3 same suit)

Completing a city card development level yields 1 dev. coin on the card.

• The action is played with 2 or 3 cards of the same suit with an equal or greater total sum as its number (3 cards allowed only if 2 wouldn't be high enough).
  • For example, if the card is ♦J you need to play at least 11 of diamonds: eg. ♦9 + ♦2 (= 11) would be enough, or likewise ♦6 + ♦4 + ♦3 (= 13) would suffice.
  • The cost is the face number (J = 11, Q = 12, K = 13), or 15 for jokers, and 20 for aces. However, you can also buy them with faith (see below).
• You can collect as many dev. coins as the number allows: J = 1, Q = 2, K = 3, A = 4 and jokers = 3.
  • You can complete many developments in one turn. Once a city card is fully developed (= max dev. coins, or 1-3 on joker), it contributes to the tech. progress.
  • Once you have at least 1 dev. coin on a city card, its caravans become available - except for aces (that never have caravans).
• When developing a joker for the first time, the lowest number action card is put face up and sideways on the joker to mark the suit. The dev. coins and smaller coins for gold or faith are then collected on that card (see Trades and Proselytization below).
  • If the joker loses all its dev. coins, the development card is discarded as well (along with any gold or faith). As long as there is a dev. card (and dev. coins on it), the joker is considered to be fully developed (although can be developed more).

city action: PREPARING CARAVANS (2 same suit)

When a non-ace city card has at least 1 dev. coin, you can prepare a caravan on it with 2 cards of the same suit (of any numbers).

• The cards are not shown nor discarded but simply left face down on the city card. They can later be sent on the way using caravan actions.
• You can only have 1 caravan per city until making technological progress. If you make another one, the old one is discarded (even if on the move).
• Exceptionally, you can also send an explorer caravan with 2 cards of the same number, but only on a diamond (♦) city card (or a diamond joker).

city action: CANCELLING A CARAVAN / CITY CARD / DEVELOPMENTS (free)

The players may also cancel a caravan, city card or any dev. coins on it for free while doing actions.

• The related cards or dev. coins are discarded away. If cancelling a city card, any dev. coins and gold or faith on the card are discarded as well.
• When discarding dev. coins from a joker, the dev. card (= action card on joker) and any gold / faith on it is discarded, if the last dev. coin is discarded.

city action: MOVING GOLD / FAITH (1 gold / faith)

The nations can move gold (= small coins on diamonds) or faith from one card to another but it costs 1 coin.

• You can move the whole stack or fewer coins, but 1 coin is discarded. The target stack is on another city card of the same suit in any of your cities.

CARAVAN ACTIONS

caravan action: MOVING A CARAVAN

The journey of the caravans is played out by putting small coins on them to mark the distance travelled.

• A caravan must first be prepared by playing two cards face down on the source city card. It can then be launched off during the caravan turn (= right before your normal turn), but can also stay idle indefinitely.
  • INITIAL DIRECTION: Upon placing the 1st coin, the caravan cards are shifted to point towards the direction they left: to the left or right, or to the sea. The journey must then continue without breaks (on further caravan turns) until reaching the destination.
• Each time a caravan is moved, 1 small coin is placed on the caravan cards, and the player indicates on the layout where he's travelling.
  • LOCATION: Each travel coin implies distance from one exploration lands to its neighbour lands on left or right (or from one harbor to the next on sea).
  • UP TO DEV. COINS: Normally the coins are put on the topmost caravan card, and it cannot take more coins than there are dev. coins on the source card.
• However, the caravan may also get extra free moves on land which are marked by placing coins on the bottom card (= not consuming max. reach).
  • CHARIOTS: With chariots any journey starting on land gains +1 initial speed up. A coin is placed on the bottom caravan card and they advance one step forward. Exceptionally, they can then move another step on the same turn.
  • ROADS: Travelling on completed roads (connected to one of your cities) you likewise gain +1 reach (and a coin on the bottom card), but without the speed up: the journey continues on the next turn.
• If your caravan enters the same spot with a black caravan (travelling or not), they can choose to attack you: their operation is played out instantly.
  • Likewise, if your black caravan enters into the same spot as another caravan you can attack them. If black meets black, the one who was there first gets to attack first, the caravan whose turn it is then (if both still alive).
• Finally, upon reaching the destination the caravan stops and the caravan operation is then performed on the next caravan turn (= not right after moving).

Through the center sea

With Sailing tech., you can also use the center sea to reach a neighbour with caravans (through their harbor spot).

• However when on the sea, there can shipwreck and its likelihood is defined by the dump card - if none, then it's 6 (= 50%).
  • A random card is drawn from the deck and if it's lower than the dump card, the boat sinks and the action cards are discarded.
  • With the same number, the travellers get back to home harbor and the cards are picked up again / the caravan stays. With higher number, all goes well.
• In terms of layout, the action always starts from the home harbor, goes near the coastline (to left / right) and disembarks at any nation's harbor that has no front wall (unless attacking the walls or has Siege Tactics or Infiltration tech).
• With Cartography, can cross the deep sea and disembark at any harbor with 1 reach. In addition, there's no shipwreck when travelling near the coastline (= not on deep sea), so the process above is skipped, and with Celestial Navigation it's even skipped on the deep sea.

caravan action: CARAVAN OPERATION

All caravan operations are played in the same way, only the defense bonuses and the outcome differs.

• Each caravan operation starts by a caravan and when it has reached the destination land, it can be executed and the specific target declared.
  • The caravans can only interact with the cities of other nations (or their caravans) except when using military to pillage your own roads or walls.
• The strength of the caravan is defined by the two action cards involved by summing them and subtracting the initial cost: eg. 9 + 7 - J = 16 - 11 = +5.
• The bonus strength for the defending side is defined by their dev. coins: Either on the targeted city card for clubs (♧) and diamonds (♦), or on the same suit cards in the target city for spades (♤) and hearts (♥). (For example, attacking a city with 2 dev. coins on spades in total, their defense strength is +2.)
  • In addition Libraries on either side bring +1 bonus for / against subversion (♧) and likewise Combat Arenas +1 for / against military attack (♤).
• Finally, the defense bonus is subtracted from the caravan strength (eg. 5 - 2 = +3) and the defender throws a dice to play against the final strength.
  • If the dice number is lower than the remaining strength, the caravan wins. If it's higher, the defender wins, with the same number it's a draw.
  • As an alternative equipment, you can double the remaining strength and use a random card: For example, +3 x 2 = +6 against a random card of 2 - 10. (This is equal to a 9-faceted dice with numbers from 1 - 5 in steps of 0.5. That is, the average drops from 3.5 to 3.0 and fewer draws.)

Missionary work (♥)

• The winner gains 1 faith or in a draw neither gains. However the target city can only collect faith if they have a heart in the same city (to collect it on).
  • If the sent caravan succeeds in the proselytization and the source city contains a holy place (♥A) it also gains 1 faith.
• The missionary work always targets an entire city, and accordingly the defender's bonus is counted from all the dev. coins on hearts in the same city.

Trading (♦)

• Exceptionally, trading requires a diamond in the target city to trade with. The defender's bonus is counted from the dev. coins on that card.
• The winner gains 2 gold, while in a fair trade (= draw) both gain 1 gold. The winner also has some extra options (to taking 2 gold on the source card):
  • TO FAITH (2 gold -> 1 faith): They can instead gain 1 faith on one fully developed heart (♥) in the same city (= selling items propagating their religion).
  • TO ARCH. SITE (2 gold -> 0 - 4 gold): Or they can gain 1 gold for each dev. coin on an archeological site (♦A) in the same city (= selling items advertising the site).

Subversion (♧):

• If the subvertives lose, they are caught and the source card loses 1 dev. coin. In a draw, nothing happens.
• If they win, the mission succeeds:
  • STEALING GOLD (vs. ♦): If targeted a diamond card, then all gold from it is stolen to a diamond in the source city - or discarded if none.
  • SPREADING PROPAGANDA (vs. ♥): If targeted a heart, then 1 faith on it is destroyed.
  • SPYING TECHNOLOGY (vs. ♧): If targeted a club, gains 1 dev. coin on a club in the source city. (If no suitable spot, then no use.)
  • SABOTAGING DEFENSE (vs. ♤): If targeted a spade, destroys 1 dev. coin on the targeted card. Cannot target the city card itself.
  • SABOTAGING BUILDINGS (vs. cultural buildings): Destroy 1 building piece from a cultural building.
  • AMBUSHING CARAVANS (vs. caravans): Ambush another caravan (= on the move or in a city) and end their journey (= discarded).
• In all cases, the defender's bonus is counted from the dev. coins on the targeted city card.
  • LIBRARY +1: In addition a Library on the source city card raises their strength by +1, and each library in the target city raise their strength by +1.

Military attack (♤)

• The target of the attack can be: 1. moving caravan, 2. roads, 3. walls, 4. building on a city card, 5. caravan in the city, or 6. city card / a dev. coin on it.
  • Exceptionally, you can also attack your own roads or walls (if you want to get rid of them). In that case, there's never damage for failure nor defense bonuses.
• If the attacker loses, they lose 1 dev. coin back home - unless was 2. pillaging roads (or 3. destroying their own walls).
• In a draw, targeted constructions (= walls, roads or buildings) lose 1 piece, but city cards and caravans (and the attacker) are safe from harm.
• If the attackers win, the targeted object is destroyed:
  • CITY CARD OR DEVELOPMENT (6.): When targeting a city card it loses 1 dev. coin from a successful attack. If has none, loses the card instead (= discarded).
    • Exceptionally, when a military leader (♤J, ♤Q or ♤K) is lost in combat it's not discarded but lost forever: put face up and sideways below the exploration deck.
  • CARAVAN (1. or 5.): When targeting another caravan, the target caravan cards are discarded.
  • STRUCTURES (2. roads, 3. walls, 4. buildings): The target is destroyed completely: both pieces are removed, or 1 if had only 1 left.
• The bonus strength of the defending side depends on the dev. coins on spades and what is targeted:
  • CARAVAN'S BONUS (1.): If targets a caravan on the move (= outside the city), the bonus comes from its dev. coins - but only if it's spades.
  • NO ROAD DEFENSE BONUS (2.): While pillaging roads, there's no bonus for defense (and no penalties for failure). You can also pillage your own roads.
  • WALLS OR WITHIN CITY (3. - 6.): If targeting an enemy city walls (3.) or anything within (4. - 6.), the bonus comes from all the dev. coins on spades in that city.
• In addition there are extra bonuses on both sides:
  • COMBAT ARENAS (+1 strength): In addition each Combat Arena on a city card involved in defense or attack raises the strength of that side by +1.
  • GUN POWDER (+1 strength): Having Gun Powder tech. gives your military attacks and defenses +1 strength regardless of location.

TECHNOLOGY

COUNTING TECHNOLOGY

The level of technology of each nation is counted from the fully developed city cards of the respective suit.

• A city card is fully developed once it has its max. dev. coins: J = 1, J = 2, K = 3 and A = 4. However, jokers are fully developed with 1, 2 or 3 dev. coins (as they can be any suit and number).
  • For example, if you have ♥K with 3 dev. coins and ♥J with 1 dev. coin, you have 2 fully developed hearts = level 2 in architecture.
• Each suit has its own technological progress path. If the nation's level of development drops back they lose the according abilities.

TECHS BY SUITS

Navigation (diamonds ♦)

• Sailing (4000 BCE): Can build ships and travel on sea (for all caravans) with but must avoid shipwreck.
• Cartography (1000 BCE): No shipwrecks when travelling near coastline.
• Advanced Navigation (500 CE): Can cross the deep sea to disembark at any harbor with 1 reach (but might shipwreck).
• Celestial Navigation (1500 CE): Never have shipwrecks anywhere on the sea.

Architecture (hearts ♥)

• City Walls (8000 BCE): Build walls around the exploration lands (left, front, right).
• Paved Roads (4000 BCE): Build paved roads between two cities (one of which must be yours). Travelling on roads consumes 0 reach (for the owner nation(s)).
• Wheeled Settlers (3000 BCE): Can explore a card to found the 3rd city in between your two cities.
• Public Architecture (500 BCE): Build cultural buildings: Temples (♥), Theaters (♦), Libraries (♧) and Combat Arenas (♤) into your city cards (max. 1 per card).

Layout Tactics (spades ♤)

• Scaling Ladders (2500 BCE): Black caravans can scale walls but costs -2 strength (= the defending side gains +2 bonus).
• Chariots (2000 BCE): Provides +1 startup reach for caravans travelling on land. (See Caravan Actions for details.)
• Infiltration (500 BCE): All your caravans can pass through the walls of a city if it has at least one card of the caravan's suit and none of them are higher developed. Exceptionally, the target city does not gain gold for the passage (as they think it's their own people / gate guards let them in).
• Gun powder (1000 CE): Increase the strength of all your spades by +1 (for attack and defense).

Scientific Inventions (clubs ♧)

• Counting Systems (5000 BCE): Gain extra hand card slot: hold up to 6 hand cards. (If loses the tech must put any excess cards into the dump after the action.)
• Wheel (3500 BCE): Support up to 2 caravans per city - however must be on different city cards.
• Metallurgy (3000 BCE): Use the dump card for actions (recursively).
• Algebra (1500 BCE): Gain extra hand card slot: hold up to 7 hand cards.
• Power Mills (0 BCE): Support up to 3 caravans per city.
• Scientific Revolution (1500 CE): Quick victory by scientific dominance.

WONDERS, FAITH, GOLD & VICTORIES

WONDERS

Aces represent wonders and their developments are worth cultural points. They don't support caravans but can benefit the city.

• NATURAL WONDERS (♧A): With a fully developed (= researched) natural wonder, club city developments in that city only cost 10 (for ♧J, ♧Q, ♧K and ♧ joker). Exceptionally you can complete these developments with 1 - 3 cards (as one 10 is enough).
• CITY CASTLES (♤A): A fully developed castle makes the city's walls immune to Infiltration and Siege Tactics. (As a spade, the dev. coins also help in defense.)
• ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES (♦A): Successful trades from a city with an archeological site can be used to yield gold on it: as many as it has dev. coins.
• HOLY PLACES (♥A): A fully developed holy place yields 1 faith each time a caravan from its city successfully proselytizes another city.

USING FAITH & GOLD

When using faith or gold, you can combine the payment from any stacks in your nation's cities.

• However, moving faith / gold from one card to another is its own action (costing 1 coin per move). If the card is lost, all the faith / gold on it is lost.
• Faith is represented by a stack of small coins on heart (♥) city cards (or heart jokers). Once you have it you can use it for city developments:
  • FAITH -> STRENGTH: You can buy the missing strength in your caravan operations by faith: eg. with 3 against 4 from dice, pay 1 faith to get even or 2 to win.
  • FAITH -> DEV COINS: Gain 1 or many dev. coins to any city card (except joker without a dev. card) by paying 1 faith per coin + 1 faith: eg. 3 devs with 4 faith (= 3 + 1).
• The collected stack of gold (= small coins) on diamond (♦) cards (or diamond jokers) can be useful while doing actions:
  • GOLD -> REGAIN CARDS: You can pay gold to instantly gain hand cards while doing actions (but not exceed max. card slots): the price is 1 gold per 1 hand card.
  • GOLD -> CHEAPER ACTIONS: With actions for cards of the same number, you can play fewer cards (down to 2 cards) by paying 2 gold for 1 card fewer (or 4 for 2).

QUICK VICTORIES

There are a few ways to win the game early - the game ends immediately in the victory of that nation:

• MILITARY VICTORY (♤): When a nation manages to collect all the remaining military leaders (J, Q and K) in their cities. (The game starts with 6 of them.)
• SCIENTIFIC VICTORY (♧): When a nation has reached level 6 in technological progress (= 6 fully developed club city cards or club jokers).
• RELIGIOUS VICTORY (♥): Having at least 10 faith in total.
• COMMERCIAL VICTORY (♦): Accumulating wealth of at least 20 gold in total.
• CULTURAL VICTORY (any): Gaining 10 cultural points: each dev. coin on ace is 1p, each completed cultural building 1p, and completed walls or roads 0.5p.

IMAGE OF A PERFECT CIVILIZATION

Otherwise the game ends after the last (7th) era, and the nation that most resembles a perfect civilization (= highest points) wins:

• FAITH POINTS (max. 9p.): Each faith counts as 1 point. If would have 10 faith would have won already.
• GOLD POINTS (max 9.5p.): Each gold counts as 0.5 points. If would have 20 gold (= 10 p.), would have won instantly.
• CULTURAL POINTS (max 9.5p.): Like above: each dev. coin on ace is 1p, each completed cultural building 1p and completed walls or roads 0.5p.
• TECH. PROGRESS (max 15p.): Each gets 1p. for each fully developed city card (= max 5 cards per 3 cities) - ie. for each level of tech. progress.

When the last era ends, the players can play actions and finish caravans but cannot pick new cards (not even from the dump nor with gold to regain).

• If you cannot or won't do anything the turn is just passed. The game ends when all players pass their turn in succession.

LAYOUT MODS

layout mod: SHARED LANDS (for 5 - 7 players)

In this layout each nation has only one land for exploration making reach longer but exploration harder - see Shared Lands layout.

• Each nation has 2 cities as normally, but both share the same exploration land and harbor spot, which are located in front of the cities in the middle.
  • When joining in the defense for walls each city has its own wall to protect: left city for the left wall, right for the right, and the 3rd city for the front.
  • Exceptionally, the game lasts for 8 eras. Accordingly there are 7 time coins (4 stacks, the 4th half filled) and 4 exploration cards in each land in the beginning.
• Like normally, reach is defined by exploration lands (or their harbor spots) and travelling between the city and its land or harbor costs no reach.
• Exceptionally, the cultural value of completed walls and roads (but not cultural buildings) is doubled (from 0.5p) to 1p (as you can have fewer of them).

layout mod: CITY STATES

With fewer players it's recommended to introduce one or more independent city states into (or inside) the ring of players.

• The city states don't get action cards, but mostly function as extra targets for exploration and suit mechanics.
  • 1 CITY AND 1 LAND: Each city state has 1 city and 1 exploration land in front of it functioning as expected.
  • 2 CITY CARDS: Each city state always has 2 city cards which can also be the same number. If a city card is destroyed, a new one is drawn in its place.
  • TECHNOLOGY: They can always have a caravan on each city card (max. 1 per city card). They won't gain any tech. progress (for themselves nor for their suzerain).
• The features of a city state are unlocked by making delegations and becoming its suzerain.
  • DELEGATIONS: The direct neighbours can make delegations for the city cards of the city state and cancel them (if their own).
    • A delegation is played by paying the developmental cost and leaving the lowest number card face up on the city card pointing towards the investor.
    • The investor can cancel it for free, while the other neighbour can remove it by paying the developmental cost (or by a military attack).
    • Each city card can have a delegation, and the delegations can be targeted by subvertives and military, in which case they protect just like a dev. coin.
  • REFRESHING: The card can also be paid away with the developmental cost and choosing to discard it (instead of a delegation) - a new one is drawn in its place.
  • SUZERAIN: If a nation has an active delegation on both city cards, they become the suzerain of the city state.
    • The suzerain can launch caravans from their city cards. Once the delegation is paid they are fully developed, but after usage the delegation is discarded.
      • The caravans are used as if executed by the city state but played by you on your caravan turn. For example, you can send a trader to another city (most often one of yours). Or you can attack another nation, while the city state pays the price for any failures.
    • The suzerain can also build (or cancel) walls & roads on the city state's land if they have the related technology.
  • WHEN VIOLATED: If a nation violates the city state, they cancel all delegations by the violator. (But will welcome new ones afterwards.)
    • Violations are any attacks by military (♤), subvertive activies against them (♧) or exploring on their lands and keeping a card (♦).

With 4 players

• DENSE WORLD: With 4 players, you can play without any city states. (You can also try Shared Lands.)
• 2 CITY STATES: Or you can place 2 city states on the opposite sides, so that each player has 1 city state and 1 human as neighbours.

With 3 players

• DENSE WORLD: With 3 players, you can also just play without any city states.
• 3 CITY STATES: Or to create some distance (especially for the early game), you can play with 3 city states - one between each player.

With 2 players

• DENSE WORLD: With 2 players, you can play without any city states but it's recommended to have some anyway.
• 2 CITY STATES: You can play with 2 city states: one on each side, so that the human players are not immediate neighbours.
• 1 CITY STATE: Or you can use just one independent city state located on one side.

extension: VICTORY MODS

victory mod: DISABLED WINS

You can also disable certain quick victories - or alternatively only allow to win by them (= no image of a perfect civilization).

extension: WRITING

INFO

This extension requires actual writing skills and a couple of stones:

• It brings the concept of a treaty (that is written down) in the form of two political actions: treaties and alliances.
  • They are extra actions that can be made on the player's turn before any of the normal options (gaining resources or doing basic actions).
• Breaking a treaty brings a terrible traitor's penalty: losing 1 hand card slot. (If the player has now 1 hand card too many, discards one.)
  • The penalty expires after two eras: 2 stones are placed between the exploration lands and cities, and 1 is removed after each era, until there's none left.
  • If the nation breaks another treaty, they get another 2 stones. With 3 or 4 stones, the penalty is -2 hand card slots, with 5 or 6 stones -3 slots and so on.
  • Finally, if the game ends in point victory, each stone left costs -5p. (counted after removing 1 stone as normally).

political action: TREATY

Any nation can propose a treaty to another nation. A treaty always has the following structure:

• It always concerns two nations, and each nation can be given rules to not do during the treaty and/or something they must do within a time frame (usually immediately on their next turn). The treaty can also include rules about determinating it, but must never break game rules.
• The other party can then either accept or decline the treaty. They can also negotiate a more suitable deal (if both come to an agreement quickly).
• If accepted, the treaty lasts until the end of current or next full era, but can also end earlier by its inner rules or if breached or cancelled.
  • Whatever is assigned in the treaty must then be followed by both players - otherwise the treaty breaks and the breaker gets traitor's penalty.
  • Treaties are written down in bookkeeping (for future reference). After the 1st full era, the treaty is usually underlined and when over striked through.
• However, any treaty can be cancelled without penalty if both nations mutually agree on it by a new treaty (which simply writes off the old one). You can also override or extend existing treaties by new ones.

Examples of treaties

• EXAMPLE 1: Nation A must only trade (♦) with nation B, while nation B will not harm them with military (♤) nor espionage attempts (♧).
• EXAMPLE 2: Nation A must not collect ♧K, while nation B will not attack not ambush nation A's traders (♦) nor missionaries (♥).
• EXAMPLE 3: Both nations can explore once on each other's lands before the other builds walls against their direction. (The treaty also ends if both explore.)

political action: ALLIANCE

You can also form an alliance in similar fashion (with an attached treaty), however alliances also have a game mechanical meaning:

• The allies can donate caravans to each other's city cards regardless of how far apart they are. The ally then plays them as any other caravans.
• The alliance also holds that the nations won't commit violations against each other (or the treaty breaks with a penalty).
  • Like with City States, violations are any military attacks (♤), subvertive activities (♧), or exploring on their lands and keeping a card (♦).
• Traditionally, the alliance is also indicated visually by both players wearing the same colour armbands or such.

extension: GREAT PERSONS

INFO

This extension gives each face card its own special meaning and spices up the game play (recommended after learning the basics).

• There are two Great Persons for each face card (as there are two decks merged), and each number has a general meaning:
  • JACKS: The jacks are Ancient leaders from over two millenia ago (prophets, mathematicians, explorers, ...) that make their caravans even more powerful.
  • QUEENS: The queens are great female leaders from around the turn of the Common Era to late Middle Ages that protects their caravans from losses.
  • KINGS: The kings are great influencers from the Renaissance Era - they bring goodies in relation to the theme of the suit and its techs.
  • JOKERS & ACES: Aces are wonders and jokers are not great persons, so neither bring special features.
• The power of each Great Person is a simple rule addition activated by fully completing its development, and usually only applies to that card or city.

LIST OF Great Persons

Religion & Architecture (hearts ♥)

• ♥J: Laozi (500 BCE) and Siddhartha Gautama (500 BCE).
  • Missionary caravans sent from this card will always nullify the defense bonus of the target city (otherwise counted from the dev. coins on their hearts).
• ♥Q: Saint Mary Magdalene (100 CE) and Saint Helena (200 CE).
  • The other nation will not gain faith if your caravans sent from these cards fail in missionary work (= they cannot be countered).
• ♥K: Filippo Brunelleschi (1400) and Andrea Palladio (1500)
  • If you build a temple on them, it receives 2 faith (not 1) at the end of each era.

Exploration & Trade (diamonds ♦)

• ♦J: Colaeus (600 BCE) and Pytheas of Massalia (300 BCE).
  • Their trade and exploration caravans have +1 reach when embarking on the sea.
• ♦Q: Theodora (500 CE) and Irene of Athens (800 CE).
  • The other nation will not gain gold when your trade caravans sent from these cards fail (= only you can gain gold).
• ♦K: Marco Polo (1300) or Christopher Columbus (1400).
  • They gain 1 gold every time a caravan from their city embarks on the sea.

Science (clubs ♧)

• ♧J: Pythagoras (600 BCE) and Archimedes (200 BCE).
  • They change the dice game: the defender must throw twice against their caravans and the lower dice number is picked.
• ♧Q: Hypatia (400 CE) and Hildegard of Bingen (1100).
  • Caravans lead by them can never be caught: If the caravan fails, these cards will not lose a dev. coin.
• ♧K: Leonardo da Vinci (1500) and Isaac Newton (1600).
  • They allow you to take unlaunched caravans cards in the same city back in hand as an extra free action, but you must show the cards (so there's no cheats).
  • If you have too many cards in hand at the end of the turn, you must play any excess in to the dump (in free order).

Military (spades ♤)

• ♤J: Sun Tzu (500 BCE) and Alexander the Great (300 BCE).
  • They bring Advanced Siege Tactics: Caravans lead by these cards, can get pass through walls and without any strength drop.
• ♤Q: Cleopatra (50 BCE) and Jeanne d'Arc (1400).
  • Caravans lead by them are safe from military negligence: If the caravan fails, these cards will not lose a dev. coin.
• ♤K: Genghis Khan (1100) and Barbossa (1500).
  • When used for attacks, you can steal a succesfully attacked city card (with 0 dev. coins) or caravan to your nation if it fits in any city (instead of discarding).
  • This applies even to military leaders (♤J, ♤Q and ♤K) that would normally die away: can choose whether to kill them or keep alive and bring back home.

STRATEGY

QUICK TIPS

• CITIES WITH SUITS: It's crucial to have many suits that you can develop or play for caravans. This way you can make use of cards of the same suit.
• LOWS & HIGHS IN THE CITY: J's are good to gain tech. progress as they are cheap and ready with 1 dev. coin. Their low price also makes them powerful for caravan operations, but they have poor reach. K's are the opposite: slow for tech. progress and pricy and less sharp in operations, but have excellent reach and are good for defense. A's cannot be used for caravans and are very pricy and slow to develop but bring some special goodies.
• SAME SUIT LOWS & HIGHS: It's best to leave the highest numbers (like 8, 9 or 10) for caravan operations and pay developments with 2 or 3 lower cards.
• PLAYING DUMP: It often comes obvious what suits and numbers the others are interested in. You should pay extra focus to what the player on your left is interested in and try to avoid feeding him (nor others) good cards. Instead mind the dump and try to play them away.
• TOWARDS HARMONY: Harmonize your large scale strategies, city planning and hand card space. In the beginning, be opportunistic about what comes and gradually build on that: It's better to use the cards efficiently than holding on to many potentially good cards for eras taking up all space.
• HAVE SOME TECH.: Unlocking technologies can help you strategically (eg. construction, navigation & layout tactics) or more directly (by scientific inventions).
• HAVE & USE GOLD (♦): Trying to get the 3rd or 4th card (of the same number) can eat up a lot of resources, so paying 2 gold for it is often well worth it.
• HAVE & USE FAITH (♥): Founding the 3rd city (with heart techs.) be very beneficial, but also buying dev. coins with faith for suits you don't seem to get.
• USE PROTECTION: With many valuable things in a city, it's good to build walls around the city as well as to have protection against military by spade developments. The cultural buildings on black cards also help keeping you safe (as well as to attack).
• VICTORY PATHS: If a path to a quick victory starts to look feasible early enough, consider investing in it fully.
  • For military victory, it's crucial to collect ♤K's and/or eliminate them elsewhere quickly. Some tech. to build and go around walls will help, too.
  • For scientific victory, you need a lot of clubs, preferably both ♧J's and two ♧ jokers and then two more (if lucky ♧Q).
  • For trade victory, it's useful to have an archeological site (♦A) with 3 or 4 dev coins on the same city with good traders and/or Theaters. You can also gain gold from tolls when red caravans pass through your walls.
  • For religious victory, you need a bunch of faith. So a fully developed holy place ♥A in a city with a strong proselytizer helps, as well as to have some Temples and converting gold from trades to faith.
  • For cultural victory, it's all about investing in the aces and architecture: building cultural buildings as well as walls and roads. If so, faith always helps to gain dev. coins, ♧A is useful to gain cheaper club devs, while ♤A provides protection. ♦A can be useful if combined with traders (to gain gold and maybe go after trade victory), and likewise ♥A can yield faith by proselytization.
  • Otherwise it's best to build nations with a good balance of suits, and near the end focus on making all fully developed.

THANKS

FOR IDEAS, HELP WITH DEVELOPMENT & PLAYING

Ville Viitala