Can you get technologies from other players as a bribe/present/smth else? If so - what are the rules for such a thing? Can u get a technology you don't meet prereqs for?

Same question about action cards. Only Hacans can trade em, but what about simply getting them for free from other player?

Can you destroy your units anytime you want?

Can you attack enemy system with 5 ships if your fleet supply is 4?

What happens if you play action card that removes all the race special abilities against Letnev with fleet supply of 3 who has 4 ships somewhere on the map/Yassaril who has more than 7 cards?

Technologies may only be acquired when the game allows for it. This can be through the use of the Technology strategy card, action cards, or some political cards. Only the political card "sharing of technology" and one action card "focused research" (I think, the cost is 6 resources) lets you skip prerequisites.

Only the Hacan is allowed to "give" them away. Action cards are otherwise yours until you use them or discard them. There is a few action/political cards that can effect your hand as well.

You may only destroy your units during the status phase, but only after qualifying for objectives. This ensures that people can qualify for "blockading spacedocks". You could also "redistribute" command counters during the status phase, which might cause you to lose some ships.

You may never bring more ships than your fleet supply allows. There are a few cards that can temporarily increase your fleet supply. These will usually last for the entire round, but go back to normal in the status phase.

Yssaril action card hand size I know is immune to that card, but I haven't seen a ruling on Letnev. I do know that Clan of Saar space docks abilities are also immune to Cultural Crisis. Someone else might have seen something about Letnev, but I would play it that they do lose their ability.

Mr. Djingles said:

No, technologies cannot be traded between players. They can only be acquired via the Tech SC or the occasional AC or PC that might permit acquiring new techs, and even then you are generally restricted to what you have prereqs for.

Mr. Djingles said:

"giving them away for free" counts as a trade wherein nothing is given in return (why the donating party wold agree to such a trade is beyond my ability to answer, but I'm sure there are reasons.) Only the Hacan can trade ACs, so no one else may do this. The Hacan CAN, however, facilitate trading ACs between two other parties, by trading first with one player and then with the other. The only question is what does Hacan want in order to make this happen?

Mr. Djingles said:

Only during the Status Phase and only after objectives have been claimed, as David says.

Mr. Djingles said:

You can never deliberately exceed your Fleet Supply in any one system, either by moving ships in or by building new ships there. Note that this means you cannot deliberately "overbuild" in order to scuttle older units you don't want. If your build would cause you to exceed Fleet, you cannot make that build in the first place. If something should ever happen that causes you to exceed Fleet in a given system (such as the Letnev getting hit by Cultural Crisis) then the offending player must IMMEDIATELY scuttle units (of his choice) until he is once again legal.

I would have said the same for Yssaril hand size, but I was unaware that a ruling had been made making that particular racial immune. Good to know.

Thanks for your answers. We played an awesome 6-player game on friday. Though some new questions have risen up:

1) According to the rules if you bombard enemy planet and kill all the enemy units on it, the planet would still belong to the player who had had ground forces there until at least one other player's GF lands there, right?

2) According to the rules players should exchange trade contracts between each other. What is the point in having 3/3 contracts if you most probably will exchange it for 2/2?

3) During a space battle my enemy's Dreadnought is wounded. I announce to play a card as soon as it happens. My opponent also announces that he will play his card. We both open em and see that I've played "Direct Hit" card and my opp used "Emergency Repairs". What happens next? Will his ship be destroyed or will it be repaired first?

Mr. Djingles said:

Right; until the planet is invaded, the original controller will keep it.

Mr. Djingles said:

Well, the Hacan get a bonus from each Trade Agreement anyway, so a 2 TA is basically like a 3 for them anyway. But most often, there will be several lopsided trade agreements; those often help serve as diplomatic favors, as the person getting the better end of the deal is less likely to start a war. But in any case, getting SOME trade goods is better than getting NONE.

Mr. Djingles said:

It depends on who has the lower initiative; when two cards are played "simultaneously", you resolve them in initiative order.

If Emergency Repairs goes first, then the ship is not damaged and Direct Hit will have no effect. If Direct Hit goes first, then the ship will be destroyed and the repairs will have no effect on that ship (but could still repair other ships that are being damaged).

Since initiative order is known, the other player would know whether or not it's worth playing his card.

sigmazero13 said:

This is the official way that instances of this nature would work. My group is a little bit more flexible in that if you have an emergency repairs care, we allow it to be played before direct hit would be allowed. Part of our reasoning is that repairs is played "at any time" which seems more immediately than "after a ship is damaged" Also, the way that action cards are officially announced and resolved is just a little wonky and weird. Why does having diplomacy make you faster than someone who is political?

As far as the Yssaril and hand limits. I don't think its an official ruling anywhere, but its just something on their race sheet. They are never limited in hand size for any game effects that might be in place. I can't remember the exact wording, but its on the race sheet.

Thanks for your help. Got new question:

According to the rules when player triggers his Strategic Action he first executes the primary ability and then everyone else can execute a secondary ability of that card starting with a player to the left of the active player. So that means that when you play Political SC you first debate over a certain political card and than players can spend CC to get one Action Card. And also that means that in the first round player who used Trade SC can pick TG from his active agreements(none), than he can make/allow new agreements and than other players can get TG from the agreements they have just made. Is my logic right?

Mr. Djingles said:

You are right on the Political SC; you vote, and then after the vote, everyone ELSE gets an Action Card if they pay a CC (but the person who played it get's 3 Action Cards as part of the Primary).

With Trade, however, while it doesn't say on the card itself, the rulebook (page 37) clarifies that you can't get any Trade Goods for agreements you just formed during that action. Thus, in the first round, when the player activates Trade, he gets 3 Trade Goods (assuming he picks option a, which would be the only smart option at that point); then the Trade Agreements get set up, and then the secondaries go. However, nobody can collect any TGs for their agreements, so nobody would want to.

One last question (I hope):

In the first phase of a Space combat i announce that part of my ships are retreating. Will I be able to fight with those ships during the Combat roll phase or will they be defenseless? Should i first destroy the ships that stayed in a sector or can i wound/destroy ships that are retreating?

1. Announce withdraws/retreats. This comes first, but you don't actually execute them yet.

2. Roll combat dice. All ships present get to roll dice, just like normal.

3. Remove casualties. All casualties are removed, just like normal.

4. Execute withdraws/retreats. If you announced a withdraw/retreat, NOW is the time you execute it.

This means that you must always go through at least one round of combat before you can get your ships out.

Also note that IF you announce, it becomes mandatory even if you change your mind.

I've seen instances where you think you have absolutely no chance of winning, but want to save some ships.

Well, first round your opponent did not even get one hit on you and you managed to hit a bunch of times.

The battle now looks to be in your favor, but you announced retreat, so you must.

So even retreating ships will roll dice. Thanks for your answer. We played exactly like this i just wasn't sure that this is right since in many games retreating units do not participate in battle.