Just want to start and say Civlization the Board Game is amazing. The rules are quite clear, I was able to figure most of it out within 1 reading of the rules and a test play. I have only a few rule questions that I didn't quite understand, maybe you can help. Thanks.

1) Battles: From what I understand, everyone must play all their units in their hand size in a battle. If this is true, what exactly happens if both players, for some reason, simply choose not to attack each other (simply opening up new fronts). Would it just be a tie and the defender gets the victory?

2) Battles: Can you play a unit on top of one of your dead units in a battle? For example, if my mounted unit is killed by a mounted unit, and he receives 2 wounds, can I then play an infantry on top of my dead mounted unit to kill the wounded mounted unit?

3) Tech Tree: Can you really play any techs you would like as long as there are legal spots in the pyramid? So you could theoretically completely skip the railroad, steam power, and end up getting Atomic theory in Level 4?

4) Culture: Are culture events just the cards that you get from moving up the culture track? So when a card says "Cancel any culture event", does that mean you can nullify/cancel another player's card?

5) Scouts: Can a scout sit in a city outskirt and still receive the icons on that square? For instance, if I have a scout sitting on a forest square w/ 2 production, and that square is adjacent to my city (in the outskirts), can I send the 2 production to that city (thus garnering 4 production from that square)?

Thank you!

WC4J said:

Since the winner is the player whose surviving units have the highest total unit power (the number on the unit, 1-3 on rank 1) including combat bonuses then IF the total power of both players units is the same then yes, it would be a tie and the defender would win.

WC4J said:

Since killed units are to be removed from the front the front opens up for a new unit to take the dead units place. So the answer would be yes.

WC4J said:

Since no techs have any prerequisites other than having two techs of a lower level to "stand on" (Level 1 techs being the exception) the answer is yes.

WC4J said:

If the prerequisites of the cancelling card is fulfilled then yes. My memory is a wee bit hazy as to the exact wording but as i recall the culture event card from culture level 1 says: "Cancel a culture event card targeting you, any of your figures or a square you control". This means that you can only protect yourself and not any allies you might have.

WC4J said:

The answer to this question would be no. A scout sitting in a citys outskirts denies that city the "outskirt-getting" of the 2 production by sending it somewhere else. So the effect of having a scout in city A's outskirts and sending the production to city A would be same as if the scout was not there.
To put it in another way: You can only gather the resources (production/trade/culture etc.) ONCE from each square.

WC4J said:

You're welcome. Hope my answers helped. I'm no expert but this is how i have interpreted the rules.

Fnoffen said:

Furthermore, since unit wounds are healed immediately after the end of the battle, but prior to strengths being totaled, there would be no point in damaging units to begin with if you could not place another unit on that same front to replace a unit which had died.

Fnoffen said:

I could be wrong, but I think only the UN wonder card restricts the canceling of culture events to ones that target you. I think the tech abilities and culture cards that cancel culture events can be used to cancel any cultural event played against any player (unless the text of the card specifically says otherwise).

Fnoffen said:

Agreed. The yield of any single tile can only be claimed at most ONE TIME per turn. "Gathering" can be thought of as "picking up that whole tile and moving it onto your city's outskirts (thus removing it from the board at its current location". Additionally, since Scouts cannot enter a tile containing an enemy figure, it is impossible for two players' Scouts to occupy the same square, and therefor impossible for more than one player to claim the yield of any single tile in any single turn.

It is also worth noting that according to the rule book, the special abilities of wonders as listed on the wonder card cannot be used on when an enemy figure (including a Scout) is positioned on the tile containing the Wonder's marker.

However, one big question does remain: Can Scouts "gather" from a tile in one of your own city's outskirts to another city that you control?

As I explained in the topic "Gathering from city outskirts" ( http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=200&efcid=1&efidt=423866 ), gathering from your own city outskirts to another of your own cities would allow you to reap the yields of multiple "starred" buildings and wonders in one of your cities by "gathering" that building's yield. And since the rulebook AND official FAQ only says that you can embargo/gather the yield of buildings in an "enemy city", it would seem that the designers' intention is to not allow you to gather from your own cities. However, this may have been an oversight, and the designers' intention may have been simply to limit the number of starred buildings that can be placed, and not to limit the total yield available to any individual city. This question remains unresolved...

If you wish to discuss this idea further, please do so in the "Gathering from another outskirts" topic linked above. Thanks.