SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Pay 2 credits to launch a probe. Take one of your probe figures and place it on the Earth space of the solar system board.

By default, each player is limited to having one probe in space at a time. If you are at your probe limit, you cannot take the Launch action. "In space" means anywhere in the rings of the solar system board — figures on the planetary board (orbiters and landers) do not count against this limit.

Movement

You can move your probes around the solar system using movement, which comes from several sources:

• As a free action, spend 1 energy to gain 1 move. You can do this any number of times during your turn, including immediately after launching
• As a free action, discard a card with the movement icon in its upper-left corner to gain the moves depicted
• Some techs and card effects grant moves

For each move you use, move one of your probes into an adjacent space (not diagonally). Movement rules:

• The sun is not a space and cannot be moved through
• Asteroids are hard to navigate through — leaving a space with asteroids costs 1 extra move. (The Probe Tech "Asteroid Navigation" removes this penalty.)
• If you move into a space showing the publicity icon (a comet, a planet, or similar), gain 1 publicity immediately. There is no publicity for visiting Earth

When the solar system rotates, your probe figures rotate with the discs. If a figure is bumped by a rotating disc into another space, that counts as movement and any publicity icon in the destination is still collected — even if it is not your turn.

Pay 1 credit and 1 energy to turn one of your probes into an orbiter. This can only be performed if your probe is on a space with a planet (other than Earth).

To resolve:

• Remove your figure from the solar system board and place it in the orbit of that planet on the planetary board
• Gain the bonuses shown above the planet. These typically include publicity, data, and the income symbol
• The first player to enter orbit around a planet also scores 3 points. Cover that space with your figure to remind everyone that later orbiters will not score those points

There is no limit to the number of orbiters that a planet can have around it. Once your figure is on the planetary board, it no longer counts against your limit of probes in space, so you are immediately free to launch another probe.

Pay 3 energy to turn one of your probes into a lander. This can only be performed if your probe is on a space with a planet (other than Earth). If there is already an orbiter at that planet (regardless of whose it is), the cost drops to 2 energy instead.

To resolve:

• Remove your figure from the solar system board and place it on that planet on the planetary board
• Gain the bonuses shown in the middle of the planet. This will always include a life trace icon and some number of points
• The first player to land on a planet also gains the data shown there. Cover that space with your figure. (Mars is unique in that it has two first-lander spaces — the first two landers on Mars each pick one of the spaces to cover.)

There is no limit to the number of landers a planet can have on it.

Landing on a Moon

Some planets have one or more moons. You cannot land on these by default — you need the Moon Landing probe tech or a card or effect that allows it. When you land on a moon, gain the rewards depicted. Each moon has space for only 1 lander.

Marking Life Traces

When you gain a life trace icon, you have found a trace of extraterrestrial life. Below each of the 2 alien species boards are three discovery spaces, one for each of the 3 life trace types.

• Place your marker on a matching empty discovery space under one of the alien boards
• If both spaces of that colour are full (or if neither alien species has been discovered yet), place your marker on one of the overflow spaces below the board instead and score 3 points
• A universal life trace (wildcard) can stand in for any of the 3 trace colours

When a card or effect refers to a trace you have marked, markers on overflow spaces count just the same as markers on discovery spaces or on the actual alien species board.

Landing is the primary way to earn the jaw/skull life trace, but traces can also come from scanning, analyzing, card effects, and techs.

Pay 1 credit and 2 energy to scan nearby stars. Scanning lets you listen for signals in sectors of the sky without needing a probe, and it is the primary way to earn the antenna life trace.

Perform the following steps as illustrated on your player board, in the order of your choosing:

• Mark 1 signal in Earth's sector (see below)
• Discard 1 card from the card row and mark 1 signal in one of the two sectors matching the card's upper-right corner
• If you have any telescope techs, you may activate them in any order. Most require an additional cost — for example, discarding a card from your hand, or paying 1 credit or 1 energy — to mark extra signals or launch a probe as part of the scan

You always mark at least 2 signals when you take the Scan action. With the right techs and signal tokens, you can mark up to 4.

Signal Tokens (Space Agencies)

Some cards and alien species give you a signal token. During a Scan action, you may discard any number of signal tokens — for each one discarded, discard an additional card from the card row and mark a signal in the matching sector.

Because the card row is refilled only after your Scan action ends, you can use at most 2 signal tokens in a single Scan.

Marking Signals

To "mark a signal in a sector":

• Take the leftmost data token from that sector's data slot, put it in your data pool, and replace it with a marker in your colour
• If you place a marker in the second position of a sector's data slot, immediately score 2 points
• Data is replaced by markers from left to right

Sometimes you have the opportunity to place more markers than a sector can hold. That is fine — you do not get data for the excess markers, but they do help you win the sector once it is completed.

Completing a Sector

A sector is completed when you replace its last data token. When you finish your main action, resolve every sector that has been completed, in any order you choose.

• Winning: the player with the most markers in the data slot wins the sector. Ties are broken in favour of whoever placed their marker last. Excess signals in the sector count towards winning
• The winner places a marker on the space beside the nearby star and gains the reward shown
• Each player who contributed at least 1 marker — including the winner — gains 1 publicity

Resetting the Sector

After determining the winner:

• Work out who got second place using the same tiebreaker. The second-place player (if there is one) leaves one of their markers on the first space of the sector as a head start for the next time the sector is filled. (If all contesting markers belong to the same player, there is no second place.)
• Return all other markers to their owners
• Refill the empty spaces with data tokens exactly as during setup

The sector can be completed and won again. Winners always leave their marker above the slot — some cards reward you for sectors you have won, and this marker is a permanent record. When determining a future winner, ignore that marker above the slot; only markers in the data slot count.

Pay 1 energy to analyze the data you have collected. You can only take this action if the top row of your computer is filled with data. (If you have computer techs, you also have spaces in the bottom row. These may be filled or empty — it does not matter for this condition.) Analyzing is the primary way to earn the DNA life trace.

To resolve:

• Discard every data token in your computer (but keep any data in your data pool)
• Mark a DNA life trace for one of the 2 alien species

Your computer is now empty and can be filled with data once again.

Placing Data

At any time during your turn, you may take a data token from your data pool and place it in your computer as a free action. Data is placed left to right in the top row. When you place a token on a space with an effect, resolve that effect immediately.

Common top-row effects include:

• Covering a space marked with the publicity icon — gain 1 publicity
• Covering a space marked with the income icon — tuck one of your cards for income. Gain the resource immediately, and again each time you take income between rounds

Computer Techs

Computer techs slot into the computer itself. Each one adds a 2-point space in the top row and an extra space in the bottom row with a unique effect.

• A computer tech can go in any computer tech slot, but you cannot have the same tech more than once
• When you place data on a top-row space covered by a computer tech, you also score 2 points
• You may place data in a bottom-row space only if the space directly above it is already filled. Bottom spaces do not need to be filled before you can analyze — only the top spaces do
• Bottom spaces do not have to be filled left to right. Any bottom space may be filled as soon as the space above it is covered

Data Capacity

Your data pool can never hold more than 6 data at a time. If you would gain data when your pool is full, you must discard the excess.

Remember: placing data in your computer is a free action. Free actions can only be done on your own turn, so you cannot place data when it is not your turn.

As your main action, you can play a card for its effect — the white part of the card. Pay the cost printed on the card.

If the card's effect includes other actions (launching a probe, scanning nearby stars, and so on), you perform that action without paying its standard cost. Any restrictions of the underlying action still apply.

After resolving the effect, place the card face up in a discard pile near the main deck — unless it is a mission card or an end-of-game scoring card, which stay in front of you.

Remember, when a card is used it is used for only one of its benefits. If you play a card's effect as your main action, you cannot also discard it for its free action, its signal, or its movement icon.

Mission Cards

After you play a mission card, keep it in front of you.

Conditional missions state a condition and a reward. If you play the card for its effect and you already meet the condition, you may complete it immediately. Otherwise:

• At any time during your turn, if the condition is met, you can complete the mission as a free action
• Gain the reward described by the card and turn it face down
• You are never forced to complete a mission as soon as the condition is met — it can be completed on any of your later turns while the condition still holds

Triggerable missions have one or more circles that you cover by doing the depicted action:

• When you trigger the mission, choose to cover a circle with one of your markers and gain the depicted bonus
• Only things you do after playing the mission count — things you did before do not retroactively trigger it
• Each circle can only be covered once. If a single trigger would cover multiple circles (on the same card or on different cards), choose one circle; to cover another, you need to trigger the mission again
• It is possible for a trigger to occur outside of your turn (for example, from solar system rotation). The trigger still counts
• When all circles are covered, the mission is complete — turn it face down with your other completed missions

Both completed conditional missions and completed triggerable missions count for gold scoring tile scoring.

End-of-Game Scoring Cards

Cards with gold boxes offer you points at the end of the game. After resolving the card's effect, keep it in front of you for the rest of the game. These cards are scored during final scoring.

Pay 6 publicity to research a new technology as your main action. Move your publicity counter down 6 spaces. If you are not on space 6 or above, you cannot take this action — though remember that certain cards can be discarded for publicity as a free action.

When you research a tech, always rotate the solar system first (see below). Then choose one of the techs you do not already have. Take the top tech tile from that stack:

• If you are the first person to take a tech from that stack, discard the 2-point tile and score 2 points immediately
• Gain the bonus printed on the tile. Then flip the tile over and place it on your board

Tech Types

Tech tiles go into dedicated slots on your player board:

• Probe techs and telescope techs have specific slots
• A computer tech can go in any computer tech slot. If there is already a data token there, that is fine — just place the tech under the data token. Sliding the tech under is not considered placing data, so you do not score the 2-point space for the data token already there

A card with a probe, telescope, or computer icon lets you research a tech of that type as a free effect. This is like a regular research action except that your choice is limited to techs of that type. The card still reminds you to rotate the solar system, and you do not pay publicity. If the card tries to give you a tech when you already have all 4 of that type, ignore that part of the effect — you still rotate.

Rotating the Solar System

You always rotate the solar system when you research a tech, whether it is your main action or a card effect. The first player to pass in a round also rotates, before drawing an end-of-round card.

The rotation counter on the tech board reminds you which disc to rotate. Each time you rotate, advance the counter to the next space:

1. The first time, rotate disc 1 (the top one)
2. The second time, rotate disc 2. Disc 1 rotates with it
3. The third time, rotate disc 3. The other two discs rotate with it
4. And then back to disc 1 again

Probe figures rotate with the discs. Because of cutouts in the discs, a figure may not move even though the planets in its ring do — and sometimes a figure in a cutout is bumped by a rotating disc into the next space. In that case, any movement is free and any publicity icon in the destination space is collected immediately.

Passing is a main action — so you may still perform free actions on the turn you pass. Then resolve these steps in order, without playing any more free actions:

1. Discard down to 4 cards if you have more than 4
2. Check whether you rotate the solar system. If you are the first player to pass this round, take the rotation reminder token and set it beside the stack, then rotate the solar system. (In the final round, you still rotate, but discard the token.)
3. Choose one card from this round's end-of-round cards and return the rest to the stack. Other players will choose their card when they decide to pass. The earlier you pass in a round, the more cards you will have to choose from

Usually your choice of card does not depend on what the other players do on their remaining turns — but if it does, you can hold onto the cards and not make your final choice until someone else passes.

Once everyone has passed, the round ends. The last player to pass chooses one of the 2 remaining cards and discards the leftover card.

When playing with the Space Agencies expansion, each player takes the role of an asymmetric organization with its own starting setup, powers, and income structure. Organizations replace the standard starting income card and change the length of the game to 4 rounds (rounds 2 through 5). Player setup is described in the Player Setup section.

Organization Board

Each organization board shows three kinds of effects:

• Starting resources and effects — gained once during setup
• A passive power — a rule that applies throughout the game
• A once-per-round ability — a free action you may use once per round

The once-per-round ability is a free action, usable on your own turn only. When used, mark its space to remind yourself that it has been used this round. When you resolve income between rounds, clear the mark so the ability is available again.

Quick Start Cards

Quick start cards set you up with an opening play. They may instruct you to place an orbiter, mark a trace, or mark signals. Resolving the top half of a quick start simply places those markers — you do not gain any effects or benefits for what is placed. The bottom half then gives you starting resources, points, or other effects, usually related to what the top half set up.

After resolving a quick start, return it to the box — unless it was tucked for income, in which case it stays under your organization board.

Income Increases During Setup

Several organizations and quick starts give you the income symbol during setup. Resolve them one at a time: for each income symbol, pick one of your remaining setup cards (any of the 4 main deck cards you were dealt, or any unused quick start or organization extras) and tuck it for income. Gain the bonus from the card you tucked immediately, and again during income in later rounds.

Income During the Game

Do not resolve income at game start. You will resolve income only at the start of rounds 3, 4, and 5 — there is no income resolution at the start of round 2 because the first pass has not yet happened.

First Game with Organizations

If this is your first game with organizations, consider giving every player 1 of the organizations numbered 1–4 (shown in the bottom-left corner). They are the simplest. Deal 2 quick start cards instead of 3 and 4 cards from the main deck, and play as normal.

Free actions can be performed at any time during your turn — before, after, or even during your main action. You cannot play free actions between turns or on another player's turn.

The common free actions are:

• Spend 1 energy for 1 movement — move one of your probes into an adjacent space
• Discard a card for its depicted free-action benefit (movement, signal, publicity, and so on, shown in the card's upper-left corner)
• Place data from your data pool into your computer (see Analyze Data)
• Complete a conditional mission whose condition is met
• Trigger a triggerable mission by doing the depicted action
• Use an organization's once-per-round ability (Space Agencies)
• Resource exchange: exchange any 2 cards, 2 credits, or 2 energy for 1 card, 1 credit, or 1 energy. The two resources being spent must be of the same type. When you exchange for a card, you may draw from the card row or from the top of the deck
• Buy a card: spend 3 publicity to take a card from the card row or the top of the deck

Note: You cannot exchange, say, 1 energy and 1 credit for another resource — the two resources spent must be the same type. Alien cards in your hand count as cards for exchange purposes, so you can discard 1 regular card and 1 alien card to get 1 credit, with one exception: Exertian alien cards are not in your hand and cannot be discarded.

Some events are triggered when a player's score counter reaches or passes a certain score on the track. These are resolved between turns, after the current player has finished playing free actions.

Gold Milestones

At the end of a turn in which you reach or pass 25, 50, or 70 points, choose one of the gold scoring tiles and mark it with one of your markers.

Each gold scoring tile has multiple spaces worth different point totals. The first player to choose a given tile places a marker on the highest value. The second player to choose that tile gets the next-highest value, and so on. There is room for everyone to choose the same tile.

You cannot choose to mark the same tile twice. So at the end of the game, if you have scored at least 70 points, you will have 1 marker on 3 of the tiles and no marker on the fourth. The details of each tile are described in the Gold Scoring Tiles section.

If you score over 100 points and pass these spaces again, they have no effect on your second trip around the scoring track.

Neutral Milestones

In games with fewer than 4 players, you placed nonplayer markers at the 20-point and 30-point milestones during setup. Each time a player reaches or passes one of those spaces, a nonplayer research group investigates one of the two alien species:

• Each species has 3 spaces that lead to its discovery. If any of those is empty, move a nonplayer marker from the milestone to the leftmost empty space of whichever species
• This may result in the discovery of an alien species (see Discovering Alien Species)
• If all 6 spaces are already full, the neutral milestone has no effect
• If all of the nonplayer markers have already been used, the neutral milestone has no further effect
• In a 4-player game, ignore neutral milestones completely

Multiple Milestones

Milestones resolve between turns, in order starting with the player whose turn just ended and proceeding clockwise. If you and another player both cross a gold milestone on your turn, you still choose first because the milestone is resolved on your turn. The neutral milestone always resolves last.

Neutral Signals (1–2 Players with Quick Start Cards, no Organizations)

As an optional module from Space Agencies, quick start cards can be used to make the setup more dynamic even without organizations. Before anyone chooses a quick start, reveal 4 quick start cards at random and mark any orbiters, signals, or traces shown in the top half using neutral-colour pieces. Ignore the bottom halves.

When resolving a completed sector that includes neutral markers, treat them as if they belonged to another player. Since a sector can hold at most 2 neutral markers, neutral can never actually win a sector — but if neutral has the second-most markers, leave one neutral marker in the sector during the reset just as you would for a real second-place finisher.

The alien species in the game are represented by two face-down boards. Below each alien board are three discovery spaces representing traces of alien life that must be filled to discover the species:

• The skull/jaw trace is usually earned by landing on planets
• The antenna trace is usually earned by scanning nearby stars
• The DNA trace is usually earned by analyzing data

Once all three discovery spaces under a board are filled by markers — which may include nonplayer markers in 2- or 3-player games — the alien species on that board is discovered.

The Discovery

If a species is discovered during your turn, resolve the discovery after you finish your turn. If there are any milestones to resolve, resolve them before the discovery.

1. Flip the species board over to reveal which species was discovered
2. Read the rule sheet for that species
3. Follow the setup rules for the revealed alien species. Players who marked the three discovery spaces are rewarded during this setup

You do not need to read the rules for all species in advance. To get the full experience of discovery, read the rules for a species only when it is discovered.

Alien Cards

Each alien species comes with a special deck of cards. These cards are slightly stronger than regular cards and may only be gained from the alien species. In your hand, they follow the rules of regular cards — except for Exertian species cards, which do not count toward your hand limit.

Further Research

Each alien board has many more research opportunities beyond the 3 discovery spaces. When you earn a life trace of a matching colour (including a universal life trace) you may mark any empty space of that colour on an alien board and gain its reward.

In 2- and 3-player games, the nonplayer markers used for neutral milestones can only be placed on the 6 discovery spaces below the boards. They never block spaces on the species board itself.

Overflow Spaces

The area below the 3 discovery spaces is for extra alien traces. Sometimes you will gain a trace but all matching-colour spaces on both alien boards are already taken. In that case, place your marker on one of the overflow spaces and score 3 points.

You are allowed to place your marker on an overflow space even if another space of the matching colour is still available. If a card refers to traces marked for an alien species, markers in the overflow spaces count, as do markers on the discovery spaces and on the species board itself.

Each of the 4 gold scoring tiles has two sides, and only the side that was randomly face up during setup is used. For each set you make, score the number of points shown by your marker.

Tech Tile

• Side A — score for each set of three techs, one of each type (probe/telescope/computer). Put another way, count how many techs you have of each type and score for each tech of whichever type you have the least of
• Side B — score for each pair of techs you have. For example, if you have 5 techs, that is 2 pairs, so you score twice

Mission Tile

• Side A — score for each completed mission, counting both conditional and triggerable missions
• Side B — score for each pair of completed missions and end-of-game scoring cards. A pair can consist of 2 completed missions, 2 scoring cards, or 1 of each

Income Tile

• Side A — score for each set of tucked income cards, one of each type (credit, energy, or random card). Do not count the 3 credits, 2 energy, and 1 random card printed on the starting income card itself
• Side B — score for the type of income card you have tucked the most: credits or energy. Do not count the 3 credits and 2 energy printed on the starting income card itself

Other Tile

• Side A — score for each set of three life traces you marked, one of each colour. Markers on overflow spaces still count
• Side B — score for each sector win paired with an orbiter or lander. The number of pairs is the smaller of: your total sector wins, or your total orbiters plus landers. When counting sector wins, count all of your markers, even if you have multiple wins in the same sector

The rival does not track credits, energy, cards, or data pool size the way you do. Instead, the rival uses a progress track and simplified accounting.

Progress Track

Whenever an action gives the rival the progress icon, advance their progress marker 1 space on the progress track. The rival always moves clockwise, in the direction of the arrows.

When the progress marker crosses the "new advanced action" icon, the rival grows in strength. Add 1 random advanced action card face down to the top of the rival's action deck. It will come up on the rival's next turn (unless the rival has already passed this round), and it is a permanent part of their action deck from now on.

Resources Translation

The rival does not hold resources. Whenever an effect would give the rival credits, energy, or cards, advance the progress marker 1 space per resource gained:

• 1 credit, 1 energy, and 1 card each count as 1 progress space
• This includes the card icon, the publicity-to-card icon, and even the card gained from passing or from discovering an alien species

When the rival gains the income symbol (usually by placing an orbiter), advance the progress marker 4 spaces instead.

The rival can also advance on the progress track when you do not fulfil enough objectives during the round (see Objectives).

Rival's Computer

Whenever the rival gains a data token, add it directly to the rival's computer. If the computer is full, add the token to the data pool instead. When a data token is added to a marked space in the computer, the rival gains the benefit shown on that space.

The rival's data pool has no size limit.

Rival Publicity

When the rival gains any publicity, advance their publicity counter accordingly. The rival spends publicity to get techs (see Rival Actions).

Rival Victory Points

Move the rival's score counter whenever they gain victory points. The rival triggers neutral and gold milestones the same way a player would.

• For gold milestones, the rival always claims only the first, most valuable spot on a gold tile
• If multiple gold tiles have the first slot still available, the rival chooses the leftmost or rightmost tile based on the decision arrow at the top of the current action card
• If all first spots are already taken, the rival does not claim anything

Preferred Tech

The rival's player board shows a preferred tech (a coloured icon in the circle). Whenever the rival researches a tech, they prefer techs of that colour.

The rival research institution takes turns as though they were the other player in a 2-player game.

Start the rival's turn by revealing the top action card of their deck. The card shows up to 4 actions from top to bottom:

• The rival performs one of those actions — the topmost one that is possible
• If the top action is impossible, move down the card to the next action, and so on
• It will always be possible for the rival to perform one of the depicted actions

After the action is resolved, the rival's turn ends.

Decision Arrow

The top of each action card shows a decision arrow (◀ or ▶) used to break ties when the rival faces a choice — for example, when selecting between multiple valid targets of equal value. The arrow tells you whether to prefer the leftmost or rightmost option.

Passing

If the rival starts a turn with no cards left in their action deck, they pass. Remove the top card from the current round's end-of-round stack — do not forget that taking the card advances the rival 1 space on the progress track.

If the rival is the first to pass that round, do not forget to rotate the solar system as well.

The rival's action cards depict up to 4 actions per card. Here are all of the actions the rival can perform.

Tech (Research)

• The rival spends 6 publicity to research a tech. If they have less than 6, skip this action and try the next one on the card
• Some cards show a research action that does not require publicity — the rival still researches
• Whenever the rival gains a tech, rotate the solar system as usual

To choose a tech:

1. Look at the rival's current position on the progress track. This shows the rival's preferred tech colour. If that tech stack still has a 2-point tile on top, the rival chooses that tech
2. If not, check the next tech on the progress track, repeating until the rival finds a tech with a 2-point tile
3. In the rare event that none of the techs have 2-point tiles, the rival selects the first available tech based on their marker, even without a 2-point bonus
4. Give the rival whatever bonuses are shown on the tech tile, including the 2-point bonus if it had one. Exception: the rival never gets credits or the "discard 2-point tile" bonuses from techs

The rival stores their techs on the matching spaces of their board in a pile.

Using Tech Tiles: techs' usual abilities have no effect on the rival. Instead, many action cards let the rival discard a tech of a certain type to enhance an action:

• Probe tech — prioritises landing on a moon
• Telescope tech — marks an extra signal from the card row
• Computer tech — gains 3 points and 1 progress

Launch

Place a rival probe figure on Earth. If the rival already has a probe on Earth, skip this action and try the next action on the card.

Orbiter / Lander

Move the rival's probe from Earth to a planet. Check the planets in the order shown on the action card (left to right), and move to the first one the rival can reach in the depicted number of moves. Remember, the rival must pay 1 extra move to leave asteroids. If no planet on the list is reachable, or the rival has no probe on Earth, skip this action.

After moving:

• Give the rival the publicity earned from visiting planets and comets along the route. If multiple flight paths reach the destination, choose the one giving the most publicity
• If the planet has a moon with an available space, the rival tries to land on the moon first, discarding a probe tech to do so. If multiple moons are available, use the decision arrow
• If the rival does not land on a moon, they try the first orbiter space or lander space on the planet. If both first spaces are available, or if neither is, the rival uses the preference shown on the action card (orbiter or lander)
• Either way, give the rival any points, resources, and life traces earned from the orbiter or lander

Life Traces: whenever the rival gains a life trace, look at the matching-colour column for each alien species. The rival marks the lowest available space in that column. (The rival ignores overflow spaces below the column unless all other matching spaces are full.) For a universal trace, consider all columns. Tie-break using the decision arrow.

Telescope (Scan)

Mark the rival's signals as shown by the action. For signals drawn from the card row, use the decision arrow to choose between the leftmost and rightmost matching cards.

• If the rival has a telescope tech, discard it to mark an extra signal from the card row
• After finishing all card-row signal marks, replace the discarded cards with new ones from the top of the deck

When multiple sectors could receive a signal, the rival chooses as follows:

1. If marking the signal would win a sector, choose that sector
2. Otherwise, if marking in the second position of a sector would score points, choose that sector
3. Otherwise, choose the sector where the rival already has the most markers

In each step, if there is a tie, the rival favours the bigger sector (the one that can hold the most data). There are no circumstances that would make a Telescope action impossible for the rival.

Analyze

The rival can only take this action when their computer is full. If not, skip it.

• Remove all data from the rival's computer (not the data pool) and give the rival the benefit shown on the action card. The rival also marks a DNA life trace as shown on their player board
• If the rival has data tokens in their data pool afterwards, place as much data as possible into the computer, gaining the benefits of any marked spaces covered along the way
• If the rival has a computer tech, discard it to gain 3 points and 1 progress. Even if the rival has multiple computer techs, they can only discard one

Species Discovery Action

Some action cards start with a check: if a particular alien species has been discovered, remove that action card from the game and replace it with the special action card for that species. Then resolve the new card.

If the named alien species has not been discovered yet, skip this action and try the next action on the card instead.

Each objective tile has one or more tasks. When you complete a task, mark it. When all tasks on a tile are marked, you have completed the objective.

Most tasks use symbols you already recognise from triggerable missions. When you do the depicted action, mark the task. If a task has a slash (/) between symbols, mark it when you accomplish either part of it.

Tasks on a Single Trigger

Just like triggerable missions, you can only mark one task from a single trigger. For example, if you have an orbiter task on one objective and a research task on another, and your orbiter coincidentally also triggers the research task, you choose one to mark. You cannot mark both with the same trigger.

Between Rounds

At the end of your turn, move all completed objectives into a completed-objectives pile near your board, and replace them with new ones from the stack. You will always have 3 objectives to work on until the stack runs out.

At the end of rounds 1, 2, 3, and 4, before getting income, spend completed objectives equal to the round that just ended:

• Remove that many tiles from your completed pile
• For each objective you cannot spend because you do not have enough, the rival advances 3 spaces on the progress track

At the end of round 5, count up all uncompleted objectives — those still in the row of three and those still in the stack. The rival scores 5 points for each uncompleted objective.

1-star difficulty has no objectives at all. The rival does not progress on the progress track for uncompleted objectives between rounds, nor gain points for them at the end of the game.

Long-Term Objectives (Space Agencies)

When playing solo with organizations, 2 of the 3 long-term objective tiles are revealed during setup. They work differently from regular objectives in two important ways:

• No replacement: when you complete all three tasks on a long-term objective, remove the tile from the game. You cannot spend it to prevent rival advancement at the end of rounds
• Penalty for uncompleted tasks: at the end of rounds 2, 3, and 4, the rival gains 1 progress for each uncompleted task still visible on any long-term objective tile

Uncompleted long-term objectives are not scored by the rival at the end of the game. They only cause rival advancement during the game.

Tasks on long-term objectives follow the same single-trigger rule as standard ones. If a single trigger could mark multiple tasks (even on different objectives), you must choose only one.

When the Rival Runs Out of Advanced Action Cards

At higher difficulty levels, the rival may run out of available advanced action cards. If the rival should gain an extra card and there are no cards left to be added, they gain 8 points instead.

Winning

As usual, the game ends after the last player has passed. You score victory points the same way as in a multiplayer game. The rival does not score gold scoring tiles; instead, the rival scores 5 points for each uncompleted objective. If you have more victory points than the rival, you win.