“Make it so.”
-- Jean-Luc Picard

Command Phase - Part 1

Chart the course of the Galaxy’s great civilizations and empires with Gale Force Nine’s Star Trek: Ascendancy hobby boardgame. Send single Starships on missions of exploration or command vast fleets to seize alien worlds. Commission new Starbases on the edges of the galactic frontier or open diplomatic talks with potential allies. The choices you make will ultimately lead your civilization to prosperity or ruin.

 Star Trek: Ascendancy

In the Command Phase of the game, players will make the critical decisions to grow their civilization. Each player has a number of Command Tokens they can Exhaust each turn to perform actions. Players begin the game with five Command Tokens and will have the opportunity to earn more through Advancement research and the establishment of Starbases. The more tokens a player has, the more Commands they can issue on their turn. Every Command costs one Command Token to execute and the same Command may be given multiple times in a turn.

A Command may be spent to Launch New Advancement Projects. A player may draw two cards from the Advancement Deck and add them to their Research Area. The number of blue Research Nodes they control on their worlds is the maximum number of Active Projects they may have in their Research Area. Any Projects a player discards are returned to the bottom of the Advancement Deck. Research is committed to Advancement Projects in the Building Phase.

A Command is also issued to Commission a Starbase. A Starbase is a major strategic construction; a civilization may only place three Starbases over the course of the game. Each Starbase a player Controls increases the number of Command Tokens in their pool, there is no limit to the number of Starbases a player may Control. New Starships may be constructed at a Starbase, allowing a player to build up their forces far from the civilization’s homeworld. Starbases can also contribute during a space battle in the system they are located in.

Star Trek: Ascendancy

A Command may be spent to Commission a Fleet.  Fleets may only ever be formed at a civilization’s homeworld or at a Starbase under their control. Ships in a Fleet act as one, only one Command is issued to move a fleet for example. And many Fleets have a special purpose, represented by a Special Rule for the Fleet while it is active.

Star Trek: Ascendancy

Advancements, Starbases and Fleets are valuable tools to grow a player’s civilization. What will be your orders when you take command Star Trek: Ascendancy? Once our engineers finish cleaning the plasma conduits, we’ll take a look at issuing a Move Command and how Impulse and Warp Speed work in the game.