The Ultimate Guide: How to Play Beyond the Sun – Conquer the Stars!

Hey there, space explorers! Ready to embark on an epic journey where humanity seeks a new home among the stars? In Beyond the Sun, you're not just players, you're the brilliant minds behind our civilization's technological advancement. Prepare to research, colonize, and dominate the galaxy!

Game Objective

In Beyond the Sun, you are factions competing to become the leader in economic development, science, and galactic influence. The ultimate goal is to accumulate the most Victory Points. How do you do this? By researching new Technologies, boosting your economy, controlling and colonizing star systems, and of course, achieving various Achievements and events throughout the game. The game doesn't have a fixed number of rounds, but it ends when a certain number of Achievements are collectively reached by the players. Whoever has the most Victory Points at the end takes the crown of galactic ruler!

Setup

Let's set up the table for your intergalactic journey! Follow these steps for a 4-player setup (for 2 or 3 players, there are minor variations):

1. Place the Technology Board in the center of the table. It's the heart of your scientific progress, with four technology levels, from basic on the right to advanced on the left.
2. Separate the Technology Cards by level (I, II, III, and IIII) using the card backs and shuffle each pile. Randomly deal the 4 Level I Technology Cards face up into the marked spaces on the board.
3. Place the Level II, III, and IIII Technology decks face down next to the Technology Board, near their respective columns.
4. Separate the Event Cards into Level II and Level III. Shuffle the 2 clear-bordered Level II Event Cards (Tyler Lee, Entrepreneur Prodigy and Maya Chaturvedi, Visionary) with 4 random Level II Event Cards. Deal these 6 cards face down into the marked spaces on the Technology Board.
5. Shuffle the 2 clear-bordered Level III Event Cards (KC-24X, First Android Governor and Onu, Speaker for the Colonies) with 4 random Level III Event Cards. Deal these 6 cards face down into the marked spaces on the Technology Board.
6. Return all unused Level II and III Event Cards to the box.
7. Each player receives a Faction Board (basic or advanced, decided before setup), an Action Pawn, 60 Ore Crystals, and 20 Resource Cubes (representing Population, Supply, and Spaceships of levels 1 to 4).
8. Place the Starting Player Marker next to the player who will start.
9. The Action Pawns start off the board and do not block any spaces.

The Game Turn

In Beyond the Sun, players take turns clockwise until the end-game condition is triggered. A player's turn is divided into three phases:

1. Action Phase
2. Production Phase
3. Achievement Phase

1. Action Phase

To perform an Action, you move your Action Pawn to a new Action space on the Technology Board and execute the corresponding Action. Pay attention to these rules:

• The chosen Action space cannot be occupied by another faction's Action Pawn.
• You must move your Action Pawn; it cannot remain in the same space. However, it can move to another open space on the same Technology Card (if there are multiple) or even repeat the same Action if more than one space is available. This also applies to the spaces in the Basic Space Technology box, except for the last Action space, which can be repeated as many times as you wish.
• You can only perform Actions from Technologies you have already researched. This is indicated by the presence of a Population Cube of your faction to the left of the Technology Card. (Action spaces printed directly on the Technology Board do not require prior research).
• You cannot perform an Action that you cannot execute or pay the cost for.
• Two of the Action spaces in the Basic Space Technology box require paying 1 additional Ore.

Actions generally follow the format [cost :] effect. Most costs and effects are represented by icons, while more unique effects are explained in phrases. Always pay the full cost before executing the effect!

Important Basic Actions (Examples from the Basic Space Technology Box):

• Research a Level I Technology: Use 1 Population Cube to research a Level I Technology.
• Research a Level II Technology: Pay 2 Ore and use 1 Population Cube to research a Level II Technology (discovered or not).
• Build Spaceship and Jump: Optionally, transform 1 Population Cube into a Level 1 Spaceship and place it in Sol or any Shipyard System you control. Then, you can perform up to 2 Jumps (movement points).
• Create Population and Gain Ore: Create 1 Population Cube from the leftmost available Supply Cube (ignoring Food production discs) and gain 1 Ore.

Details on Researching a Technology:

Research is fundamental! Follow these steps:

1. Choose the Technology space: There are 4 levels of Technologies. You choose a space you haven't researched yet and for which you have the prerequisites (indicated by blue lines connecting the Technologies to the left). Level I Technologies have no prerequisites.
2. Place the Population Cube: Place your Population Cube in the rectangular space to the left of the slot. These cubes remain there permanently, representing your workforce dedicated to science.
3. Trigger the Event (only for undiscovered Level II or III): If the slot is covered by an Event Card, reveal it, read, and resolve its effects.
4. Choose the Technology Card (only for undiscovered Technologies):
   1. Determine the Technology type: Observe the types/colors of the prerequisites. If there's only one type or both are the same, that will be the type of the new Technology. If there's more than one type, you choose which of the two the new Technology will be.
   2. Reveal Technology Cards: Reveal cards from the Technology deck of the appropriate level until you find 2 cards that match the chosen type/color.
   3. Choose the Technology Card: Choose 1 of the matching cards and place it in the slot. Unchosen cards and those that didn't match go back to the bottom of the deck.
5. Gain immediate bonus: If the Technology Card has an "IMMEDIATE" box, you receive that bonus a single time.

Other Common Actions:

• Automate Food or Ore Production: Move the leftmost production disc from the corresponding production track on your Faction Board to the Automation track. This increases your production and can give Victory Points at the end.
• Build a Spaceship: Take a Resource Cube and rotate it to the side with the Spaceship symbol of the desired level (1 to 4). Place it in Sol or a Shipyard System you control.
• Upgrade a Spaceship: Rotate a Spaceship Cube to a higher level (up to level 4).
• Hyperspace Jump: Spend movement points to move your Spaceships.
  1. Move: Each movement point allows one Spaceship to move along one line segment between locations. You can distribute the points as you wish.
  2. Check System control and build outposts: The faction with the most powerful fleet in a System (except Sol and Deep Space) gains control and builds an outpost, placing a production disc of the System's specialty type. Losing control returns the disc.
  3. Check System bonus: Some Systems give bonuses when controlled.
• Colonize a System: With sufficient military power and control, you can colonize a System.
  1. Determine eligibility: You need to control the System and have the minimum military power required (indicated on the System card).
  2. Settle Spaceships: Return Spaceships from the System that sum to the required military power or more to your Supply Columns, flipping them to the Supply side. This replenishes your columns!
  3. Exile other Spaceships: Move all remaining Spaceships in the System (including yours) to Deep Space.
  4. Take System card and discover new System: Take the System Card and the outpost disc. Reveal a new System Card from the appropriate deck to fill the empty slot.
  5. Place additional production disc: Place another production disc (of the System's specialty type) on the System Card, forming a stack of 2 discs.
  6. Gain colonization bonus: Receive the bonus described at the bottom of the System Card immediately.

2. Production Phase

In this phase, you choose ONE of the following options (it's not an Action and doesn't use the Action Pawn):

• Population Growth:
  1. Check the population growth track on your Faction Board.
  2. For each visible Food symbol (not covered by Food production discs), take 1 Supply Cube from the corresponding Supply Column, flip it to the Population side, and place it on your Faction Board.
• Ore Production:
  1. Check the Ore production track on your Faction Board.
  2. Gain Ore from the reserve equal to the number of visible Ore symbols (not covered by Ore production discs).
• Trade Resources: You can make as many trades as you want and in any combination:
  1. Ore for Population: Pay 3 Ore, take a Supply Cube from the leftmost Supply Column, and flip it to the Population side.
  2. Deactivate Spaceship: Pay 1 Ore, take 1 of your Spaceships from anywhere, and transform it into a Population Cube.
  3. Population for Ore: Return 1 Population Cube to the rightmost Supply Column with an empty space and gain 1 Ore.

3. Achievement Phase

Achievements give Victory Points at the end of the game. You can claim up to one Achievement per turn, even if you meet the conditions for several. You MUST claim an Achievement if you qualify; you cannot voluntarily skip to delay the game. If you meet the conditions for multiple Achievements, you can choose which one to claim.

• To claim an Achievement, announce the fulfilled condition and place an Achievement Disc in an open slot on the corresponding Achievement Card, filling from left to right (highest to lowest Victory Points).
• Each slot can only be occupied by one disc. When an Achievement Card is full, it can no longer be claimed.
• Each Achievement can only be claimed once per faction.
• Once claimed, the disc remains there, even if the condition is no longer met.

End of Game and Scoring

Triggering the End of the Game

The game does not have a fixed number of rounds. The last round is triggered when a total of 4 Achievement Discs are placed on the Achievement Cards (regardless of which ones or what color). As soon as the 4th Achievement is claimed, the current round is finished (ending with the player to the right of the starting player), and then one FULL final round is played. Achievements can still be claimed during the final round.

For example, if Cindy (3rd player) claims the 4th Achievement, Derek (4th player) still plays his turn. Then, everyone (including Derek) plays one more full turn.

Scoring

After the final round, players calculate their Victory Points by following these steps (also printed on the back of your player aid):

1. Each faction scores 1 VP for each of its Level I Technologies.
2. Each faction scores 2 VP for each of its Level II Technologies.
3. Each faction scores 3 VP for each of its Level III Technologies.
4. "Private Technologies" (from card bonuses) are worth 2 or 3 VP, depending on their level (Level II or III, respectively).
5. Each faction scores the VPs specified on its Level IIII Technologies.
6. Each faction scores the VPs specified on its Automation track (sum all visible ones, up to the level reached). After level 7, each additional level is worth 1 VP.
7. Each faction scores the VPs for each of its Colonized Systems, as indicated at the bottom of the System Card.
8. Each faction scores