Age of Empires III - FAQ v2.0.

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BGG COMPILED Q&A - V2.0 AUGUST 10, 2007 This document is a compilation of nearly all rules questions asked in the BGG forums through August 10, 2007. The questions have been grouped into general categories, and keywords have been highlighted in red to make topics easier to locate. Whenever possible, I used answers provided by Glenn Drover, but I cannot vouch for the validity of all answers to all questions. I merely copied the basic content of each question thread and performed minor edits and cleanup where necessary and eliminated duplicates. Hopefully, this document can help with learning and playing the game. Enjoy! -Eddy Bee COLONISTS AND PLACEMENT Q. As each event box is resolved, the colonists are removed from the board (with the exception of unused discovery colonists and those being placed in the colonies from the dock). Do the removed colonists go into the "player's unused supply"? A. Once an Event Box is resolved, the colonists/specialist go back to the player's unused supply. They are not returned in front of you. Q. The rules state each new turn you get 5 colonists. Do you retain the all the colonists you received from the prior turn(s) also? In other words, at the end of the turn do you retain only those colonists you received in prior turns who were either in the colonies or in the Discovery box? What about specialists? A. Towards the end of each turn (Step H) you will receive 5 new colonists from the general supply. These are added to any specialists that you received in Step B from the Specialist Event Box and Step D Capital Buildings Benefits that give you additional colonists/specialists (such as the Ship Yards that give you +1 Captain automatically). The ones in the Discovery box must remain in the box (assuming they didn't set sail), and the ones in the Colonies must remain in the Colonies. You cannot keep colonists or specialists from one round to the next apart from those mentioned above, in other words during the placement phase you must place them all. Q. Are you limited to the number of plastic units? A. There is no limit on Specialists or Colonists. Therefore, if you are running out of colonists you could swap into the New World any specialist except for a Soldier (because he has special ongoing ability once in the New World.). With the exception of Soldiers, the other specialists (Merchants and Missionaries) trigger their ability as soon as they arrive in the New World and can then be replaced by standard colonist figures with no effect on the game. 10 soldiers is the limit. Trading for colonists is permitted, but the advantage of doing so is somewhat limited. -1-

Transcript of Age of Empires III - FAQ v2.0.

Page 1: Age of Empires III - FAQ v2.0.

BGG COMPILED Q&A - V2.0AUGUST 10, 2007

This document is a compilation of nearly all rules questions asked in the BGG forums through August 10, 2007. The questions have been grouped into general categories, and keywords have been highlighted in red to make topics easier to locate.

Whenever possible, I used answers provided by Glenn Drover, but I cannot vouch for the validity of all answers to all questions. I merely copied the basic content of each question thread and performed minor edits and cleanup where necessary and eliminated duplicates.

Hopefully, this document can help with learning and playing the game.

Enjoy!-Eddy Bee

COLONISTS AND PLACEMENT

Q. As each event box is resolved, the colonists are removed from the board (with the exception of unused discovery colonists and those being placed in the colonies from the dock). Do the removed colonists go into the "player's unused supply"?A. Once an Event Box is resolved, the colonists/specialist go back to the player's unused supply. They are not returned in front of you.

Q. The rules state each new turn you get 5 colonists. Do you retain the all the colonists you received from the prior turn(s) also? In other words, at the end of the turn do you retain only those colonists you received in prior turns who were either in the colonies or in the Discovery box? What about specialists?A. Towards the end of each turn (Step H) you will receive 5 new colonists from the general supply. These are added to any specialists that you received in Step B from the Specialist Event Box and Step D Capital Buildings Benefits that give you additional colonists/specialists (such as the Ship Yards that give you +1 Captain automatically).The ones in the Discovery box must remain in the box (assuming they didn't set sail), and the ones in the Colonies must remain in the Colonies.You cannot keep colonists or specialists from one round to the next apart from those mentioned above, in other words during the placement phase you must place them all.

Q. Are you limited to the number of plastic units?A. There is no limit on Specialists or Colonists. Therefore, if you are running out of colonists you could swap into the New World any specialist except for a Soldier (because he has special ongoing ability once in the New World.). With the exception of Soldiers, the other specialists (Merchants and Missionaries) trigger their ability as soon as they arrive in the New World and can then be replaced by standard colonist figures with no effect on the game.10 soldiers is the limit. Trading for colonists is permitted, but the advantage of doing so is somewhat limited.

Q. Does player 1 place his 1st colonist, then player 2 his 1st, then player 3 his first. Then player 1 places his 2nd colonist, player 2 his second etc., until all have placed all?A. Yes.

Q. Can you choose to take a space on the turn order track when the previous space has not been filled?A. You must take the first available space, starting at 1, then 2, 3, 4, etc...

Q. Some areas you can fight over with majority, and others are simply a matter of who places first. Please clarify the rules for placing units in the various spaces.A. Initiative, Colonist Dock, Trade Goods, Capital Buildings, Specialist and Warfare all only allow one unit per box (first come, first served).

Initiative (1 per player) - A player may only occupy one space on the track. Colonist Dock (2 x Number of Players - 1) - May occupy multiple spaces on the track. Trade Goods (4 spaces) - May occupy multiple spaces on the track. Capital Buildings (5 spaces) - May occupy multiple spaces on the track. Specialists (5 spaces - Missionary/Merchant/Soldier/Captain/Training) - May occupy multiple spaces on the track. Warfare (4 spaces) - May occupy multiple spaces on the track.

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Merchant Shipping and Discovery allow multiple placements. Merchant Shipping: Only the player with the most units here receives the merchant ship Discovery: All players who have units here, in turn order, may attempt a Discovery. This is the only event box that does not get

cleared at the end of the turn.

Q. Each player takes their turn to place one unit in an event box until they are finished with all their available units. This makes sense, but what about the Discovery Box. If you plan to put 1 captain, 1 soldier, and 1 colonist into the discovery box do you still have to place one at a time?A. It's all a matter of turns that your opponents don't know what you are going to do. If you have the above 3 figures and your opponent also has three they might make different choices based on where you place your units.

Q. When placing in the Trade section can you only place 1 settler per turn in this section or as many as you are able to place in the turn? Thus claiming more than 1 trade good?A. You can only place 1 settler per turn, but each turn you can place 1 more, provided a space is still available.

Q. It says in the rules that specialists act as colonists but also have unique abilities. Does this mean that a specialist can go in the trade good box, or the capital building box.A. Yes, all of your units from your supply must be used on your turn and if that means putting a missionary into the trade goods event box then so be it. You MUST place all units each turn. You may place specialists in boxes where they have no benefit.Q, Does this mean that if I put a missionary in the trade good box, I cannot take the trade good? Or do you mean that the additional value of the missionary over a standard colonist is "wasted?"A. The latter.

EVENT RESOLUTION

Q. In what order are each of the events resolved?A. Order of resolution is as follows:

Colonist Dock: 1 first, 2 second, and so on. Trade Goods: Left to Right (i.e. in the order that they were placed). Merchant Shipping: Majority with turn order as tie breaker Capital Buildings: Left to Right (in the order that they were placed) Discovery: Turn Order Warfare: Left to Right (in the order that they were placed). Only Four wars/ battles per turn. Like almost all action boxes in the

game, the limit drives competition and stress. It also makes paying $10 for a "War" worthwhile and validates the strategy of placing a colonist there "defensively": i.e. to limit the other players warfare options.

COLONIST DOCK

Q. Can a player only place one colonist in the Colonist Dock per turn or several?A. You are able to place colonists and specialists in the Colonist Dock as long as there are available slots (up to the maximum 2x players - 1)

Q. The Colonist Dock phase states: "The first player to have three of their colonists and/or specialists in a region gets the trade good in that region. Once this occurs, the region is now eligible for victory point scoring, and remains so unless the population of the colony is reduced to less than three."Does this mean the total population or the population of a single player?For example: There are 3 blue colonists, 1 orange colonist and 1 red solder in a region. If the red solder shoots a blue colonist leaving 4 total population but only 2 blue, does the region still score?A. No. In order for a colony to be scored, one person must have at least three colonists/specialists in a region. Once it is eligible, then any player who has any number of colonists there may get in on the scoring. But if no player has three colonists there, then no scoring takes place regardless of how many total colonists are there. So to get to the "3" you cannot have 3 colonists of differing colors.Q. Does this mean that in a region with only 3 green colonists and 1 red colonist that the red player will not score 2nd place points because they do not have at least 3 colonists in the region?A. You do not need 3 colonists for second place scoring. When it is time to score, at least one player must have 3 or more for the REGION to score. Second can score with any number. This promotes scattering your colonists to gain several second place finishes as an alternative to winning in one place.

Q. When does the "ship" leave from the Dock, and where does it go? If the dock is not full, will the ship still leave? If so, can players just pick which of their occupied colonies to send their colonists to? If the ship only goes to one colony, which one?A. It's a dock, not a ship. Different ships can leave from the same dock, especially since they are going at different times (hence the one at a time placement).Each colonist can be placed independently from what colonists before and after have done. The same player can even put colonists in different regions, if he has multiple colonists on the dock. The explanation starts on page 7 of the rules.

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Q. What happens with the colonists and specialists in the Colonist Dock? If a player chooses not to ship them to discovered colonies, do their colonists or specialists sty in the colonist dock until the next turn?A. ALL units placed on the Colonist Dock are sent to a discovered region in the New World chosen by the owner of the unit when that track is executed. No one may stay behind.

Q. If you have two colonists and a soldier in a region does that count as three colonists, and would allow you to take the trade good?A. Yes, when 3 colonists or specialists occupy an uncontrolled region then you are in control of the region and are entitled to the trade good of that region.

TRADE GOODS

Q. When counting income from Trade Goods, does a "Set of any three" have to be three different goods for $1, or can it be two of the same type and an odd third one? (eg. 2 sugar and 1 indigo as a set of "any three")A. Either is fine. 3 different, or 2 of same and odd third one. same goes with merchant ship, you could have 2 different ones and a merchant ship for a set of any 3. The only limitation is that only one merchant ship may be used in each "set".

MERCHANT SHIPPING

Q. Is there any reason to secure a Merchant until discovery has been made?A. Yes, merchants generate a one time income of $5 when they are moved to the New World via the Colonist Dock as well as count as 2 in the Merchant Shipping event box.

Q. If two people are tied in the Merchant Shipping box, the player closer to first in starting order wins? So: 1st wins over 2nd, 2nd wins over 3rd, and so on?A. Yes.

Q. Does a Merchant Ship allow you to receive your rum distillation for it if you use it as a sugar?A. No. The merchant ships may only be used for completing sets.

Q. Does a Merchant Ship count as a "trade good" and thus a victory point for Mercantilism?A. No. A merchant ship is a merchant ship. Trade goods are only the little cardboard chits.

CAPITAL BUILDINGS

Q. Let's say we're at the end of Round 3, which is also the end of Age 1. It's time to put out new capital building cards. Do we put out "Age 1" cards, or "Age 2" cards? Technically it's still Age 1, but we're about to enter Age 2 and the buildings will cost more.A. At the end of round 3, you put out Age II cards so that they are available for rounds 4, 5 and 6. At the end of round 6, put out the Age III cards.

Q. When you buy buildings, can you keep purchasing on the same turn as long as you have money? For example, it's me and another player only - I buy one, the other buys, then I can buy again? Or is it just one per turn?A. One building per "action"/ colonist.

Q. For the capital building cards that say "immediately", does that mean "as soon as you buy it" or "once, the first time you hit a capital building effects phase"?A. Immediately when you buy it.

Q. There are certain Capital Buildings that are played immediately. But there are others that have no indication as to when they should be played, such as the New World Cartography card. Does the Discovery happen immediately after the card is selected, or can you stash it and just play it whenever you want?A. Most buildings are marked "per turn" and obviously are an ongoing effect resolved each turn during Step D. If it is not marked each turn, then it will tell you when it can happen. Sometimes a condition has to be met (like the Cathedral only works if you send a Missionary to the new world via the Colonist dock) or it will tell you immediately. In the case of New World Cartography, it should take place immediately, since it has no other designation (specifically, "use at any time").

Q. Can the Age III buildings that give variable VPs be used on both the 7th and 8th turns, or only at the end of the game?A. The ones that give a varied amount of VP's based on say your gold amount or how many buildings you have etc. you can buy during the 7th turn and so you would only be able to use them on the 8th turn anyways.Scoring for colonies occurs 3 times (at the end of each age), and scoring for everything else (including Capital Buildings) occurs only once at the end of the game. Capital Building VPs are only scored at the end of turn 8. Only the New World is scored at the end of Age I, Age II and again at the end of Age III.

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Q. When do you place colonists/specialists generated by buildings that have a predetermined destination, during the building benefits phase or during colonist placement? For example, if you have Indentured Servitude (I), does the colonist go to the "X" box during the buildings benefit phase?A. The benefit is implemented during the Capital Buildings Benefit Phase during which "All recurring benefits (those that are generated each turn) from Capital Buildings are taken by owning players." The Capital Building benefit is taken during that phase and in this case, it is 1 Free Colonist in a specific location. What you get and when you get it are explicitly laid out.

Q. Cathedral: After placing the Missionary, I assume you place your 2nd colonist along with the 1st colonist... you don't have to wait for the Capital Building Benefit phase to put the bonus #2 colonist on the board?A. It says right on tile when it happens: "...when arriving in the New World..."

Q. Is the Cathedral special effect only used once, or does it apply to every missionary?A. It is a continuous effect from that point forward. Every missionary you send to the New World via the Colonist dock will get you 2 extra colonists when you arrive.

Q. What is exactly the effect of the Glory building? Is colonized region on the board with colonists on it? Or there must be colonists of the player who got the Glory card? Does it mean that I must have control or just presence on that region?A. In every region where you have at least (1) colonist, you get 2 VPs

Q. Migration/Stable/Indian Allies: These buildings allow you to place or move figures in the Capitol Buildings Benefits phase. The Colonist Dock phase states "The first player to have three of their colonists and/or specialists in a region gets the trade good in that region. Once this occurs, the region is now eligible for victory point scoring...Can you gain the trade good and open a new region for scoring in the Capitol Building Benefits phase? For example, combining a discovery with migration (on turn 8)A. The Indian Allies Capital Building means that you immediately (just as soon as you buy it), place 2 soldiers in a colony where you have at least one colonist or specialist already. This is one-time use onlyIt adds a new land with one colonist immediately, and next turn I can place 2-3 colonists or specialists in the Dock to acquire the new trade good for that discovered region.

Q. When you trigger your recurring building benefits one last time during final scoring in which order are Stable and Migration executed?A. The Stable and Migration are executed in turn order.Q. The Stable makes it clear that only soldiers can be moved. Migration just says that "colonists" can be moved; can that include soldiers (since they are a specialized type of colonist)?A. Each player starts with (30) "Colonists", so therefore... Colonists in this case refers to moving just those (not Soldiers, captains, etc- as they are referred to as "Specialists").

Q. The rules for the Militia capital building make reference to the soldier not being removed if it was a casualty, which gave us the impression that in addition to providing a shot, it would effectively serve to absorb the first hit from the attacker. However, since the attacker chooses who they shoot, isn't it the case that the militia figure will never die unless every other figure has already been shot?A. The Militia will never be chosen, because it disappears after the battle anyway. Excess text on the counter. You are never forced not to shoot at the Militia - but you can if you want.

Q. Is New World Cartography (free discovery) one time only?A. Yes, one time and immediate. It must be used on the turn it was acquired.

Q. New World Cartography: The Appendix states, "1 Free Discovery (and 4 VPs) ... Take the discovery counter and the Spanish dollars shown as usual." Do you really get 4 VPs plus the VP on the discovery counter?A. Yes 4 VPs and whatever is on the Discovery counter both. It is a valuable counter, but it still gets ignored sometimes, especially when players are focused on development of specialists/ economy early in the game.

Q. When counting final VPs, does the Privateer's ability give VPs for generating income with ships/trade goods?A. No. The victory points for "economy" = Trade Goods and Merchant Ships only.

Q. Privateers: If a player wants to take pity on another, does he have to collect the money? What if a nation doesn't have the money to pay? Is it collected on a later turn?A. If they have no money, then the Pirates go hungry! If a player is short, they just don't pay (no IOU's to Pirates). Think of it as a Pirate capturing an empty ship...no booty.Q. When does the player with Privateer take the money from the other players. The rules say 'after the income phase'. Does this happen:1) Between the Income and the Capital Build Phase?2) Or in the Capital Building Phase (as it's one of those), and if so does it happen after all money is gained from Taxation, Trading Post, Factory, etc?A. The intent was that the Privateer is actually stealing the Trade Goods/Merchant Shipping revenue.

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Q. Prosperity: Does the owner receive VP for every Capital Building he ever owned (i.e. New World Cartography, Conquest of Inca) including Prosperity, or just the ones he owns at the time of end game?A. Keep all Capital Buildings til the end of the game...always.

Q. Rum Distillery: Do you get $3 per sugar every turn?A. Yes, you get $3 per sugar each turn.

Q. Regarding the Rum Distillery (plus $3 for each Sugar trade good owned), it specifically states that this is earned during the Income phase. Does that mean that you WILL earn victory points for the Rum Distillery in final scoring (unlike other building income like the Trading Post, Taxation and Factory, which I assume is earned in the Capital Building Benefits phase and therefore not eligible for victory point earnings)?A. The "Economy" VP's at the end of the game are VP's equal to the $'s that your trade goods and merchant ships earned on turn 8. No capital buildings count for this calculation. So the income produced by the Rum distillery does not translate into VP at the end of the game.

Q. Can you use "Stables" to move another player's soldier, or only your own?A. Only your own.

Q. University: If a player chooses the colonist dock to move ahead first, what happens to the first colonist there? Does the "old" first colonist change places with the "new" first colonist, or does every colonist get shifted back one?A. Shifted back one.

Q. The rules for the University in the appendix, state that one of the things it can be used for is to change turn order. I assume this means at any time the player with the University can simply move his/her colonist marker to the #1 space to take the #1 position. Does the player go back to his/her original space at the end of the turn, or do the normal rules apply; i.e. if no other player takes initiative, the University player would also start the following turn as the #1 player?A. The move is, indeed, permanent. You could move to the front of the line and stay there until the next turn (when the new turn order is dictated by the Initiative track).

Q. West Indies Co. says "1 free Trade Good at the end of each turn". Does this really happen after step J (advance turn marker)... which is after the trade goods were refreshed, or during the Capital Building Benefit step D, which is before the trade goods were refreshed?A. This ability should trigger during the Capital Building Benefits phase each turn (That is what the phase is for, after all, recurring effects from Capital Buildings).

Q. Timing of West Indies: Economy VPs = amount of money earned during Income Phase from goods & ships. An owner of the West Indies company receives a random trade good during Capital Building Benefits. Does this mean that a new set created using that random trade good DOES NOT count for Economy VP?A. Correct, as the Building Benefits only occur after the Income Phase.

DISCOVERY

Q. There are 16 Discovery counters, but only 8 used on the board. The other 8 just go back into the box and are never seen or used again, right?A. Exactly. The distribution is a bell curve with 3 being the most common, 2 and 4 being somewhat common and 1 and 5 being the least common. However, because only half of the counters are used in any one game, you can never be quite sure what to expect in the New World until you get there.

Q. How many Discovery attempts can a player have per turn?A. Page 8 of the rules: Note: Players may only launch one discovery per turn but are not required to send all of their colonists on an expedition. The colonists that remain behind stay in the Discovery Area and can be used for future expeditions.

Q. If you fail a Discovery, do you show the tile to everyone?A. Yes, show everyone and then turn it face down. The penalty for failing a discovery attempt includes giving the other players information.House Rule: We reveal the tile to all, then shuffle the tile back into the stack, then replace the tile that was on that spot. Our game group thinks this is more fair.

Q. I am to understand that only one colonist stays behind after taking a Discovery Card in the new world? Not the entire group required to take it.A. Technically, it is a new colonist that is placed in the discovered region. The units that came from the Discovery box don't actually make it into the region. From the rules: In either case, the player's colonists and specialists that were part of the expedition are removed from the board and returned to the player's unused supply.Q. After a successful discovery what can you leave in the province? Only a colonist?A. You lose everyone in the expedition (put them back in your reserve), and place a single colonist (non-specialist) in the new colony. Don't forget to take money for a successful discovery including the soldier money x # of soldiers in your party.

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Q. If the Captain along with his discovery crew lands successfully, does he go into the region? As he is in the region, he counts as (2) Colonists as far as determining bonuses/ VPs for region scoring, etc. Is that correct? Down the road, should you need another Captain, can you always just swap out a captain for (2) Colonists on the board at a regional area (Peru, New Granada, etc)? A. No. All members of a discovery expedition are eliminated regardless of the result. However, if the discovery is successful, one colonist belonging to the discovering player is placed in the region. The only way to get a captain is via the specialist event box or certain capital buildings.

Q. Once you send your colonists to an explored region and successfully taken the region, do they stay in this region to show you own it?A. Once you move colonists and specialist into a region they are there for the duration of the game (unless you exchange a specialist for a colonist as per the game rules).Colonists and specialists may actually be moved from the regions via the Stable (for soldiers), and Migration (for colonists) capital buildings.

Q. Am I correct in that placing a settler in Warfare section will not allow you to move that piece to the colonies it just signifies that you wish to engage in combat. Also only soldiers cause casualties?A. Correct on both.

WARFARE

Q. So, you've placed one or more colonists on the Warfare box in preparation to fight. But, then it comes down to resolving your conflict and for some reason you no longer think doing so is a good idea. Can you just pass?A. You can pass any time rather than gain the benefit of your "action", though this probably only makes sense to do in the Warfare and Capital Buildings areas.A player does not have to gain the benefit of any action when it is time. The piece is counted as a colonist and wasted in its specialist ability.

Q. From the rulebook: There are battles in ALL colonies where both players have at least one colonist or specialist and at least one of these is a soldier.Does this mean (a) that battles occur only in colonies where BOTH players have soldiers (i.e. no firing on defenseless civilians), or (b) is it just making the obvious points that you can't have a battle if the other side doesn't show up, and you can't have a battle where nobody has any guns?A. The requirement is that the attacker must have at least one soldier in the region to have a battle.

Q. If I go to "war" against a player in several colonies, can I select which colonies to fight in? If I select not to fight in a colony can the opponent fight back?A. No half measures!

"Battle" ($0): You choose one player to fight against in one region. All of your soldiers there eliminate one unit of his/ hers each. All of his/her soldiers in that region also eliminate one of your units.

"War" ($10): You choose one opponent to fight. Battles occur in any region where either of you have at least one soldier.

Q. If green (one soldier in region) have a battle with red (2 soldiers in the region), wouldn't both red soldiers fire back and kill the green solder and one colonistA. Every soldier gets one shot. The person shooting selects the target. So in your example, green must remove 2 and red 1. Green should not attack red in this situation.

Q. If you put people in more than one Warfare box, can you declare war (not just a battle) on the same person more than once?A. Yes. Each unit you place in the warfare box allows you to declare a battle or a war. If you want to declare them on the same player in succession, well, they should have built soldiers! As a defensive move, a player can occupy slots in the Warfare box to mitigate the hits they'll take.Q. When choosing to Battle, must you kill as many of your opponent's units as possible?A. Every soldier eliminates one unit belonging to the targeted player in that region.

Q. What happens in Regions of the active player who launches a War and also has militia - in those regions where their opponents have a Soldier but they only have Colonists and/or Specialists but no Soldiers?A. You only get the benefit if you did not cause the war. So if you happen to have a colony with no soldiers but your enemy has them, he gets free pot shots.

TURN 8 AND FINAL SCORING

Q. When exactly do you score VPs during the game?A. You score VPs for area control at the very end of the turn just before "new turn order." At the end of the game, follow the sequence described in the rules for final scoring after turn 8.

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Q. How is turn 8 played?A. You play Turn 8 the same way except that the cash earned from goods/merchant ships are for the only time in the game added as VP's also.

Q. Do colonies score again at the end of Turn 8 during the endgame VP scoring phase?A. Yes. Colonies/New World is again scored at turn 8. They will be scored a total of 3 times during the course of the game.

Q. With regard to the final round and scoring, when exactly are points awarded for income? Is the income phase in the final turn completely bypassed?A. The income is awarded during the income phase and the points for income are awarded during the scoring phase (though we often award the points during the income phase since it doesn't really matter and the count is fresh in our mind).

Q. If Wealth is not owned by anyone, except for West Indies Co, Stable and Migration, the game could end after the resolution phase of the turn 8 as all the Income and Buildings benefits of that turn would be useless to all players. Is this correct?A. True. Other than the owner of the Wealth Building, money does not count for victory points at the end. Although money may still be used as the 2nd tiebreaker. So we still provide the income and building benefits if the game is close.

Q. Do you still be able to collect for building benefits in the final turn since some of those too reward the player with money?A. Yes, you also still collect building benefits, at least collect those that can make a difference, such as money makers and the one that moves colonists.

Q. The rules note that the game ends at the end of Turn 8. Since the turn sequence includes the Income and Capital Building Benefits phases, are you supposed to receive your income (for tie breaking purposes I suppose) and recurring building benefits prior to moving on to the victory points calculation (where you will receive victory points for your income level)?A. The income on turn 8 matters only to the player with the "Wealth" Capital Building. We usually skip it for the other players.

Q. For final scoring, the rules say that a colony is only scored if at least one person has at least three pieces. So if player 1 has four pieces and scores 6 VPs does the second most player need to have at least three pieces to score 2 VPs?A. 2nd place only needs 1 colonist to get the 2 points, they then take the chance of getting battled without cost later in the game and loosing the points all together.

VARIANT: BIDDING FOR TURN ORDER

Q. For the bidding for turn order variant: do the players that pass during the bidding still receive the extra income? 2nd spot/$1, 3rd spot/2, 4th/3, 5th/4?A. No. There is no "offset" for later starting positions in the auction start. The players do NOT receive any extra gold income for going 2nd, 3rd, etc.One thing we've been doing lately though is randomly drawing the bidding order (rather than youngest first and then clockwise).

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