A Planet may be convinced to join your civilization through diplomatic means by way of a Hegemony Roll. This roll represents the lengthy negotiations and treaties required to convince a world to join the larger galactic community or switch allegiances from one faction to another.

Hegemony is the result of costly negotiations and normally requires spending at least two Culture Tokens to accomplish; one to make the attempt and another to place a Control Node on the planet if the attempt was successful.

The Hegemony Resistance of a System is equal to the number of structures on the world plus the Ascendancy of the civilization who Controls it. Starbases and Nodes count as structures and each add to the Planet’s Hegemony Resistance.

To attempt Cultural Hegemony, a player must Exhaust a Command Token and spend a Culture Token. The player then rolls a die and adds their current Ascendancy as well as any applicable Advancement bonuses. If the player rolls more than the target number, they may spend another Culture Token to place a Control Node on the planet, taking control of the world. If they fail the roll, negotiations breakdown and another attempt must be made later to bring the planet into the fold. While challenging, adding worlds to a civilization through Hegemony means that they contribute to it’s growth immediately without spending additional resources.

When a Level 1, 2 or 3 Warp-Capable Civilization is discovered, the Exploration card will direct the player to develop some that System’s Capacity and place a number of Warp Tokens on the System. This is an independent, space-faring civilization that must be conquered or convinced to join a player’s faction. 

A Level One Civilization has a Weapons Hit Roll of 5+, a Shields Modifier of 1 in Planetary Invasions, and a base Hegemony Resistance of 1. A Level Two Civilization has a Weapons Hit Roll of 4+, a Shields Modifier of 2, and a base Hegemony Resistance of 2. A Level Three Civilization has a Weapons Hit Roll of 3+, a Shields Modifier of 3, and a base Hegemony Resistance of 3. A Level Three Warp-Capable World is a significant presence in the Galaxy that fledgling civilizations may not be able to deal with right away.