Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy

Rounds and actions: each of eight rounds has Action, Combat, Upkeep, and Cleanup phases. Clockwise turns select Explore, Research, Upgrade, Build, Move, or Influence, moving the leftmost Influence disc onto the appropriate action space. Actions can repeat; activation counts depend on species and technologies.

Control and colonization: Explore reveals a sector from the appropriate ring beside a legal origin; place it or discard it, normally observing Wormhole Connections. An undefended sector can be controlled with an additional Influence disc. On your turn, flip Colony Ships to place population in legal empty spaces in controlled sectors. Each Influence activation can claim or abandon a sector; the Influence action also refreshes up to two Colony Ships in total; advanced population spaces require the appropriate technology.

Production and upkeep: the highest exposed number on each population track determines production, while the highest exposed Influence-track number determines civilization upkeep. During Upkeep, use remaining Colony Ships first, settle Money income minus upkeep, then produce Materials and Science. If cash is insufficient, trade at your species’ rate or abandon sectors; returning their discs and population may also reduce income. Money cannot fall below zero.

Research and construction: pay Science to take an unowned technology from the shared tray. Existing technologies in its category provide discounts, subject to its minimum cost. Build activations spend Materials to place ships or structures in controlled sectors. Starbases, Orbitals, and Monoliths require their technologies; each sector holds at most one Orbital and one Monolith.

Blueprints and movement: upgrading a blueprint instantly affects every ship of that type. Parts must satisfy space, technology, and energy-production requirements. Interceptors, Cruisers, and Dreadnoughts require at least one drive; Starbases cannot have drives. Each Move activation moves one ship up to its drive value through legal connections. Pinned ships cannot leave; the Galactic Center Defense System pins every ship in its sector.

Passing and reactions: the first player to pass gains 2 Money and next round’s start-player tile. Once passed, you may pass again or spend an Influence disc on an Upgrade, Build, or Move reaction with exactly one activation; extra activations from technologies do not apply. The Action phase ends immediately when everyone has passed.

Combat: resolve sectors in descending numerical order. Missiles fire once at the start of each battle in initiative order, followed by repeated rounds of ship-type attacks or retreats; the defender wins initiative ties. Add Computers and subtract target Shields from ordinary die results: 6 or more hits, burst faces always hit, and blanks always miss. Damage must exceed Hull to destroy a ship. Draw at most five Reputation tiles and keep at most one as allowed, then attack population, resolve control and discoveries, and repair damage.

Cleanup and victory: replenish technologies, return action discs, return graveyard population to its tracks, and refresh Colony Ships. After round eight, score Reputation, Ambassadors (diplomacy requires 4+ players), controlled sectors, controlled Monoliths (3 each), saved discoveries (2 each), technology tracks, and species bonuses, subtracting 2 for the Traitor tile. Break a score tie by the total stored Materials, Science, and Money.