Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition

Each round proceeds through the strategy, action and status phases. Once the custodians token is removed from Mecatol Rex, add the agenda phase after status from that round onward. Choose strategy cards clockwise from the speaker: 1 each with 5–6 players, or repeat selection until everyone has 2 with 3–4 players. Your lowest-numbered strategy card determines initiative order.

During the action phase, take turns in initiative order, performing 1 tactical, strategic or component action at a time. You may pass for the remainder of the phase only after exhausting all your strategy cards. A strategic action resolves your primary ability, then lets other players pay the relevant costs to use the secondary. Passed players may still use secondaries; you cannot use your own card’s secondary. After everyone passes, proceed to status.

A tactical action proceeds through activation, movement, space combat, invasion and production. Place 1 token from your tactic pool in the active system; you cannot activate a system already containing your token. Ships must reach it within their move values and normally cannot pass through enemy ships. They cannot begin a tactical move from another system that already contains one of your command tokens; this prohibition does not apply to ships already in the active system. Ships with capacity may transport fighters and ground forces.

Opposing ships in the same system resolve space combat. Roll for units using their combat values; results equal to or above the value produce hits, which each side assigns to its own units. Invasion commits ground forces to planets and may require ground combat; gain control of an invaded planet only if your ground forces remain there. Your fleet-pool tokens normally limit your non-fighter ships in each system. Fighters and ground forces in space normally require capacity; a standard space dock allows up to three fighters in its system not to count against your ships’ capacity. Specific faction, technology and unit abilities override the general rules only as their text allows.

Production normally uses space docks in the active system. Pay units’ resource costs and obey the number of units allowed by production capacity. Exhaust a planet card to spend its resources or influence; excess value is lost. Newly acquired planet cards enter exhausted. Each trade good can substitute for 1 resource or 1 influence. Research must meet technology prerequisites; technology colors and unit upgrades shape subsequent abilities.

Commodities cannot themselves pay resource or influence costs; they become the recipient’s trade goods when given to another player. During the action phase, the active player may transact with each neighbor at most once per turn; agenda voting allows transactions with non-neighbors. Deals that can be fully resolved immediately are binding, while promises of future actions are not enforced.

During status, score in initiative order, at most 1 public and 1 secret objective each. This limit applies to status-phase scoring. Action-phase objectives follow their own timing, with at most one objective scored during or after each combat. Then reveal a new public objective, draw 1 action card each, remove board command tokens, gain 2 tokens and redistribute, ready cards, repair units and return strategy cards. The agenda phase resolves 2 votes in sequence. Exhaust planets to vote with their influence; the speaker breaks ties. Planets do not ready between votes, but ready at the end of the agenda phase.

The first player to reach 10 victory points wins immediately in a standard game. Objectives must be fulfilled at their specified timing and cannot be scored repeatedly. Scoring public objectives also requires control of every planet in your home system. You may hold at most 3 scored and unscored secret objectives combined. If a public objective must be revealed but none remain, end immediately: highest score wins, with initiative breaking ties. Simultaneous tenth points also use initiative; without strategy cards, priority runs clockwise from the speaker, including the speaker.