Ok guys I've only had the game for 3 weeks and really haven't had time to really determine the intent of all the rules so I need some clarification help.

My friends and I had an epic 5 person game going. My one friend was playing with Sardakk N'Orr and the other was the Federation of Sol. The Sardakk N'Orr (coloured RED) attacked Sol's (coloured YELLOW) home planets and took out his space fleet. Sardakk fleet wasn't carrying troops so he just blockaded the planet.

Sol's fleets were now depleted and he didn't have another shipyard so he had to retake his home system with the 2 Dreadnaughts, 2 fighters and carrier located in the adjacent system.

Which he accomplishs with only one damaged Dreadnaught.

Now here's where the problem comes in. Since the fleet had to activate the system to go in and do battle can the Sol player, now that he's cleared the blockade, begin rebuilding his fleet on the same turn or does he have to wait until the next turn when he can activate the system again to build (ie everyones passed and then selected a new strategy)?

The reason why this is important is because the Sardakk Fleet can still move 3 cruisers in system and if the Sol player can build as well as do battle with one activation CP then really it'll change the strategy of the Sardakk fleet (ie because they'll be 3 Cruisers against more ships then are currently in system).

Yes, assuming that the space dock is still there, the Sol player can build following the space battle. This is because production comes after space battles in the tactical action sequence.

I think the important thing is not to think that you're using a command counter in order to do any one thing such as fight or build. You simply use it to activate a system, and then there are certain things you can do within that system in a given order, such as move ships into a system (which happens to lead to a battle if there are enemy ships), build, etc.

Hope this helped

Definitely correct. When you activate a system, you follow the Activation sequence in order. If, at the time of the Production step, you have an unblockaded space dock in the system, you can build ships there. It doesn't matter if the Space Dock HAD been blockaded at the beginning of the activation - all that matters is that when you build, it is not CURRENTLY blockaded.

PS: Be nice to yourself and get the expansion. As has been mentioned umpteen times on the boards it's just as much a patch as an expansion, and improves the game no end.

Thanks guys!

There is a plan in the works on getting the expansion. I'm not sure whether I'm waiting until Christmas or if my friends will chip in and purchase it, either way I'll have it in two months if I have to buy it myself.

Ask every player to give you $10 or so..... you then have your expansion pretty much paid for.

I echo everyone else's take on this: please get the expansion. The 'new' strategy cards alone are worth the purchase.

+1 for getting the expansion to make things better, however, having everyone chip in to buy it might not be the best idea. If everyone pays part of the cost to buy the expansion then there might be some debate about who "owns" the expansion, and that int urn might lead to pieces of it getting borrowed and/or lost and/or damaged, etc, etc. It's a headache best avoided.

If you all want to pool your resources to get the expansion faster, I would suggest you (the owner of the base game) also set up a plan to pay back everyone else for their contributions over time. That way you can get to playing with the expansion ASAP, but the expansion stays with the base game and ownership is well-defined.