Overview

Gain the most points after 9 rounds

Turn

A turn is divided into 6 phases, each phase is simultaneous for each player, they are:

Project

Development

Evolution

Research

Technology

Event

Project

Each player has 5 Technology cards

They pick 2 to place on the left, for Deployment, and will only activate the left icons at a later point

They pick 2 to place on the right, for Research, and will only activate the right icons at a later point

The final card is slid under Ancient Technologies so the VP is visible

Development

Based on the two cards chosen as well as any leaders if any, the players put cubes of their colour into the trays matching the icons depicted, this will give them Agents for that type to use later

However, the Agents out in trays can never exceed a player's Population Limit, if it would then choose which Agents get deployed and which don't

Evolution

First, anyone who can progress in Philosophy must progress a single level

If a player is the first to reach a level, they reveal two benefit tiles and pick one to become a public benefit for all at that same level or higher

After which, each player has the opportunity to build a Wonder, but does not have to

Finally, each player has the opportunity to elect a new Leader, but does not have to, any player who does then replaces their old leader with this new leader, and their old leader goes to the Cemetery

If players are tied for trying to purchase a Leader or Wonder, check your track to see who has the highest level in that type of card (These are random on each player board and won't upgrade)

Research

Based on the two cards chosen as well as any leaders if any, players earn research points in the depicted icons however, like Agents, a player cannot have more research points than current population, but can choose which research points they do and don't apply to satisfy this

Technology

Each player must purchase one new Technology

The cost is paid in Research Points of the correct type, which is done by lowering the matching token

The player will gain a purchasing bonus based on the tray sides the card was taken from

Players can have multiple copies of the same Technology

Event

There are two types of events, Challenges and Battles

Round 1 & 2 contain NO Events

Odd rounds contain Challenges

Even rounds contain Battles

In round 9, final round, BOTH a Challenge & Battle will occur

Challenge

The first upper part of a challenge provides an exchange, which can be acted on as many times as each player wishes and is able to, to gain the reward the exchange offers

The lower half has a scoring opportunity, it generally asks you to add up all of certain features to gain a score, then divide that score by an amount to gain a bonus

Battle

First, each player takes the level of their Military Legacy and adds 2 points to it per Military Unit, place a marker on the Power Track to show this total

Based on the rankings of Power, players each gain a reward based on their rank, however the card itself participates and will take a Rank too which will prevent an actual player gaining those rewards

To be able to gain any reward, a player has to have a minimum power level of 1

If tied, everyone of the same Rank gains the full rank reward, but the following ranks are seen as occupied to the quantity of tied players i.e. with two tied players, the next rank is ignored

All Agents in the Military Tray are then emptied out and returned to their owners

Game End

The game ends after the 9th round, when both the Challenge and Battle are fully resolve, then players gain points from the following:

Technology Cards

Position on Philosophy Track

Position on Population Track

Leaders (both Active and Dead)

Wonders

VP Tokens gained via other means

Total Agents in Leader, Philosopher, and Wonder trays halved

The player with the most points, wins!