supernova revised faq

7/29/2019 Supernova Revised FAQ

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Supernova Revised FAQ

1st TURN (3.4.2)

Question:

The rulebook states:

On a players first turn, they must place two (and

only two) of their tiles against the supernova. A player

may battle on their first turn, if they desire.

Beneath this paragraph there are examples which

placing is correct and which not. In these pictures

there are four tiles placed by the yellow player. Why?

And exactly why are the two incorrect examples

incorrect?

Answer:

On each turn, a player can place 4 tiles, if they dont

have any engines technology. On all turns but the

first turn, they may place those 4 tiles either: a)

adjacent to one of their own previously-placed tiles

OR b) adjacent to the Supernova.

On the first turn, however, if they were not restricted,

they could possibly do 2 things which would be unfair

to the other players. They could take a planet or place

all of their tiles against the Supernova, making it

impossible for the last player in the round to place

any tiles at all. Thats the reasoning behind this rule;by forcing you to place only 2 of your tiles against the

Supernova, you cant achieve either of those things,

ensuring an even and fair start to the game.

TILE PLACEMENT (4.3.3)

Question:

Does a Hex have to have a control marker on it to be

occupied or do Planets/Moons/Encounters also occupy

hexes? This is referring to the research card that

allows you to teleport a tile to an unoccupied hex.Would I be able to teleport to a moon hex, a planet

hex or an encounter hex (presuming there are no

control tiles on the hex)?

Answer:

Yes, to everything but a planet. The Global Rule as

stated in the rulebook says that a players ownership

of a planet may not be affected by cards, solar flar

or the Supernova.

This is meant to mean both ways - you cant take

planet away from someone else with a card, nor ca

you take an unoccupied planet with a card. Plane

have to be acquired the old-fashioned way - throu

Battle.

Question:

Does capturing an uninhabited planet hex require a

special action? Do you simply expand onto the tile,

do you need to discard another tile as wh

fortifying?

Answer:

No, you simply place your tile on the hexto captu

the planet, exactly as you would any unoccupi

space.

PLAYING BATTLE CARDS (4.3.4)

Question:

Can a player attack even with no battle cards, or a

they required to play at least 1? If no battle cards arequired, it seems that a player with greater weapo

than an opponents shields could easily capture

large section of territory with no cards.

Answer:

They must always play at least one card to attack. A

they always redraw a card after an attack, the

should be no situation in a game where they hav

zero cards in their hand.

Question:

What are the consequences for playing an inva

hand?

Answer:

Let people know at the beginning of the game that

they play an invalid hand, the invalid cards are lo

and only the remaining valid cards in that hand coun


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For instance, if I were to play a green HI (high impact)

card and a blue HI card with a green 5, I would lose

that blue HI card (and not draw to replace it) - only

the 2 green cards would count in that situation. If

another situation arises where theyve played 2

greens and 2 oranges, the opponent gets to choose

which cards to discard at that time.

Question:

Can a value 1 wild battle card be played alone in

combat, or must it always be played with a card of

another suit (high impact or regular)?

Answer:

Wilds can be played alone or with other suits.

Question:

In what order are the High Impact battle cards

resolved?

Answer:

They are resolved in this order: (think -DSP)

Dual Seeker

Smart Bomb

Power Inverter

In the case of the Smart Bomb, if an opponent plays 2

of their highest card (two 4s, for instance) only one of

those cards is discarded.

Question:

High Impact cards say Must be used with a regular

card of the same suit and the rules say that it can be

played with a wild. Do those contradict each other? If

I can play it with a wild, it seems that the power

inverter would always get played with a 1 wild.

Answer:

This isnt quite accurate. The High Impact

cards MAYbe played with a wild as long as a regular

card of the same suit is played as well. The Power

Inverter would be best played with a 2 of the same

suit. There is a rule that says that a High Impact card

may be played on its own, without a card of the same

suit. This was also not clarified well enough in t

rules. This may ONLYbe done if a player only h

one/more High Impact card(s) remaining in their ha

and no other types of cards, thus forcing them to ta

this action. It may not be played in this mann

otherwise.

SOLAR FLARES (4.4.2)

Question:

Both moons and planets are legal targets for a fla

burn, correct? Assuming the burn path is 4 (phase

flare) or 5 (supernova), it seems that someone w

always take the opportunity to completely clear

player out of a fortified planet near the end of t

game. Is this the intent?

Answer:

Moons are legal targets, but planets are not. This

mentioned in the rules under section 4.0 - Gamepla

It says Global Rule: A players ownership of

planet cannot be affected by cards, Solar Flares,

the Supernova.

Question:

Its possible that there would be no tiles adjacent

the Supernova during the part of the game when

Flare goes off. In this case, does the Flare do nothisince the Flare is not allowed to skip over emp

space?

Answer:

This doesnt happen very often. However, if it were

happen, the player in control of the current flare m

skip over the empty hexes, but they would still on

be allowed the distance of the current flare. F

example, on a 3-tile flare, if there were tiles on th

board 2 hexes from the Supernova, they may remov

only 2 hexes worth of tiles in that circumstance hex would be omitted as it consists of empty space)

Question:

Are mandatory solar flares at the end of each pha

in addition to or instead of flipping the coin? e.g.


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phase 1, round 4 do you have an automatic solar

flares?

Answer:

Yes, these Supernova mandatory flares are instead

of a coin flip.

SPECIAL POWER CARDS (5.1.1)

Question:

How does the Resource Hijacking special power

card work?

Answer:

Resource Hijacking: You have hired mercenariesto intercept revenue from around the solar system.

Until your next turn, take one Resource Unit from

every shipment of your opponents resources,

including from any taxes paid.

This should have said: ...take one Resource Unit from

every moon shipment of your opponents

resources Everyone gets 1 RU per turn

as regularincome. If youre not receiving income

from a moon that turn, you dont have to pay your 1

RU to the player with Resource Hijacking. However,

for every moon that you receive 2 RU from that turn,youd have to pay that player 1 RU. If you have a

moon that you only receive 1 RU from, and are paying

1 RU in tax to an opponent, the player with Resource

Hijacking would receive both RU.

SPECIAL RESEARCH CARDS (5.1.2)

Question:

Research cards: are these cards discarded afteruse, or can they be used as many times as desired

per turn?

Answer:

Only one Research card can only be used by a player

during their turn. They are discarded to a discard pile

upon use.

Question:

Are Research Cards played face up? Do they tu

face up when they become available for use?

On page 11 the rules say they are initially played fac

down when purchased, but the example shows thebeing played face up.

Answer:

No, they are played face-down. The example w

meant to illustrate the timing of when the Resear

cards are available for use.

Question:

The Plasma Shield research card says Only 1 your tiles may be burned from the current flare.

this supposed to say tile, or should it be hex? If it

tile, this seems to imply that any hex with a stack of

or higher is immune from the flare.

Answer:

This should be hexes, yes. It says hexes in the rule

but it was apparently omitted on this card. This ca

may not be used to prevent tiles being burned fro

the Supernova, only Solar Flares.

Question:

For the Retreat! research card , when can this ca

be played? Is this supposed to be played outside

combat to make the opponent discard form th

hand, or during combat to make them discard the

played set of combat cards? If it is discarded fro

hand, does the To a maximum of 4 mean that ev

if the player had more they only draw back to 4?

Answer:

This card can be played at any time on their turn. Th

intent of this card is for it to be used against a

opponent who either has many cards in their ha

(eg 6) or who has a hand that you suspect is ve

strong; ie: they had the capable to exchange cards

their last turn, but did not, inferring theyve got

good hand. You may use this card to force them

discard their hand and redraw a new hand compose

of only 4 cards. As these new draws are random, the


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have a reasonably good chance of NOT redrawing as

powerful a hand as the one they just discarded. If

they have less than 4 cards in their hand when you

play it, they only draw back up to the amount that

they had.

This card could be used during battle to make that

player discard the cards they attacked with. Theywould then have to choose a new battle hand to use

to counter their opponents hand immediately after

drawing a new hand.

Question:

If a player were to increase their shields technology

to level 5 without using Colonization cards, then

acquire the 101010 Colonization card (which

increases a players Shields technology). This player

would normally receive a 2 shield bonus and would

lose that bonus if/when the card is lost. What would

you do in this case, where their Shield technologies

are already maxed out?

Answer:

In this case, the player in this circumstance would not

increase their tech level beyond the chart; it would

stay at 5. However, they should turn their Shields

marker sideways to indicate this; they would not lose

any levels if they were to lose this planet, but they

would not gain any additional bonuses either, beyondthe points that the planet gives them.

Question:

Eorthal colonization card: Fortify any one of your

tiles once per turn Are planets allowed to be fortified

in this way? That also goes for the Call for backup

research card. Also, does it let me break the rule for

fortifying a tile more than once?

Answer:

You may not fortify planets with these fortifications,

only regular tiles or moons. Planets may only ever be

fortified at a cost of 2 tiles per fortification. And no,

you may not break the rule that allows you to fortify a

tile more than once per turn.

Question:

Colonization cards say increase your Z technolog

by X levels. Im assuming then that its not a +2

the value of the current location, but moving the c

as if you had bought them. The difference being

the cost to increase technologies. I might be a zer

get a card that increases 2 levels. Pay for one more

3 and then lose the card. Now Im at level one, b

Ive paid the cost for 3 for it.

Answer:

It is the former! e.g. So if I was at level 0 of my shiel

and I take a planet with the Civilization that gives m

a shield bonus (the Binary, 101010), I could raise m

Shields level to 2 as it gives a 2 level increase. Durin

the buying phase of my turn, if I chose to increase m

shields, it would cost me 3 RU to do so - the sam

amount of RU as the level I am purchasing. If I lat

lost the planet with the 101010 Colonization, I wou

have to reduce my shields to level 1, so yes, it wou

have cost you 3 RU for that one level, which normawould have cost you 1 RU.

Question:

The research card Industrial Espionage, must bo

research cards be discarded by a single targ

opponent, or can they be split between two? If

target opponent has more than 2 research cards, w

selects which to discard? Random choice?

Answer:

Either! Force a single opponent discard 2 resear

cards or 2 opponents to discard 1 research card eac

their choice.

DESPERATION CARDS (5.1.3)

Question:

The Desperation card says It can be used byplayer who owns no planets at any time on th

turn. So then it can be read as: If a player owns n

planets, then this can be used at any time on th

turn OR If a player owns no planets at any time o

their turn, then this card can be used. The differen

happens when the player wants to use the card in t

middle of a battle to draw back up to their hand limi

Answer:


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Desperation card: It may be used once per turn by

a player who owns no planets.

More of the former ie if you do not own a planet, then

on your turn, you may use this card whenever youd

like, once only. Once used, it is turned over and may

not be used until your next turn. If at any point on

your turn, you take an opponents planet & you haveNOT used this card that turn, too bad because you

must give up this card at that time.

Question:

Regarding Desperation cards:

The card lets you draw up to your hand size and says

at any time, but the rules say that you can only use

the desperation cards at times when you would be

doing an action of that type. Correct?

Answer:

This is correct. You can use the Desperation card at

the beginning of your turn to take one extra RU, or

use it when you take tiles to take one extra tile or use

it in the middle of battle to fully replenish your hand

to maximum. Just choose ONE of these actions.

(Variant: If players find that replenishing their hand

size to the maximum in the middle of battle is too

strong, the player could replenish their hand at anytime, less the amount of cards they have in their hand

when refilling. For instance, if they have Comms 2

and one card remaining, they could refill up to 6-1: 5

cards. If they have Comms 2 and 2 cards remaining,

theyd just go back up to 4. )

Question:

There are only 3 Desperation cards in the game

and the rules says that if the player acquire a planeton their turn, their desperation card is immediately

discarded. Does this means that that card cannot be

used again in future, and only 3 players can use it?

Answer:

Once a Desperation card is used on your turn, it is

turned over. It may be used again on a subsequent

turn. If, at any time on your turn, ( if youve used the

Desperation card or not) you acquire a planet, t

Desperation card goes back into the deck. It may

taken again by you or any other players, any numb

of times. This would occur if, later in the game, one

the players once again had no planets.

PHASE SCORING 4.5.1Question:

Phase scoring: The rules states: The tiles on whi

planets and moons sit are not counted at this tim

only the markers themselves

What about the other tiles in occupied hexes, d

they count to scoring in this phase, or only in t

final scoring.

Answer:

During the end-of-phase scoring, you only ta

points for the moons and planets that you own;

points for a moon, 5 points for a planet. Only at t

end of the game do you count points for the hex

that you occupy, in addition to the points you recei

for planets and moons.

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