Abilities

Resolve Abilities

Cards and faction sheets each have abilities that players can resolve to trigger various game effects. Each ability describes when and how a player can resolve it. If a card has multiple abilities, each ability is presented as its own paragraph. If an ability contains the word “Action,” a player must use a component action during the action phase to resolve that ability.

Abilities on components that remain in play are mandatory unless those abilities use the word “may.” If an ability has multiple effects separated by the word “and,” a player must resolve as many of the ability’s effects as possible. However, if the player cannot resolve all of its effects, that player is allowed to resolve as many as they can.

Costs

Some abilities have a cost that is followed by an effect. The cost of an ability is separated from the effect by the word “to” or by a semicolon. A player cannot resolve the effect of such an ability if they cannot resolve that ability’s cost.

Some examples of an ability’s cost include:

• Spending resources
• Spending trade goods
• Spending command tokens
• Exhausting cards
• Purging cards
• Activating specific systems.

Timing

If the timing of an ability uses the word “before” or “after,” the ability’s effect occurs immediately before or after the described timing event.

If the timing of an ability uses the word “when,” the ability’s effect occurs at the moment of the described timing event. This typically modifies or replaces the timing event in some way. Effects that occur “when” an event happens take priority over effects that occur “after” an event happens.

If an ability uses the word “then,” a player must resolve the effect that occurs before the word “then” or they cannot resolve the effect that occurs after the word “then.”

Each ability can be resolved once for each occurrence of that ability’s timing event.

Component Specific Rules

The opening paragraph of each ability found on an action card describes when a player can resolve that card’s ability, and most abilities found on promissory notes describes when a player can resolve that card’s ability. Some promissory notes have abilities that trigger as soon as a player receives the card.

Abilities on agenda cards correspond to a voting outcome. Players resolve these abilities during the agenda phase after players vote.

Each faction has faction abilities presented on its faction sheet. Each faction’s flagship and mech has one or more unique abilities. Some abilities provide players with perpetual effects.

Unit Abilities

Some units have unit abilities. These abilities are named and presented above a unit’s attributes on a player’s faction sheet or on a unit upgrade card. Each unit ability has unique rules for when a player can resolve that ability. The following abilities are unit abilities:

• Anti-Fighter Barrage • Bombardment • Deploy • Planetary Shield • Production • Space Cannon • Sustain Damage