Game Objective: Save Earth from the Alien Invasion!

In Under Falling Skies, you are the leader of an underground base, humanity's last hope against a relentless alien invasion! As the mothership approaches Earth, your mission is clear: develop a weapon to destroy the invaders before it's too late. To do this, you'll need to expand your base, manage resources, and confront enemy ships bombarding the surface.

Victory is yours if you manage to move your research marker to the last space on the research track. But beware! Defeat lurks if the mothership descends too far, covering the skull symbol, or if your base takes too much damage, moving the damage marker to the skull symbol on your base.

Preparation (Setup): Assembling Your Underground Defense

Let's set up the table and prepare your base for battle! Follow these steps for setup:

1. Assemble the scenario: Arrange 7 cards one above the other to form a continuous image of your base and the mothership.
2. Resource Tracks: Place the card with the energy and research tracks in an easily accessible location.
3. Enemy Ships: Position 5 green enemy ships on the starting points of the mothership card.
4. Markers: Place 4 white tracker cubes on their starting points (marked with a small white square) on the research, energy, damage tracks, and one on your base as the excavator.
5. Action Dice: Keep 5 dice (3 black and 2 white) nearby. They will be your main tools.
6. Reserved Components: Set aside the 2 blue robot dice and 2 red enemy ships for now. They will come into play later.

Beginner Tip: For your first game, use the "easy" side of the cards. The cards are double-sided, with an easy side and a difficult side (with an icon in the upper right corner). You can increase the difficulty by flipping any number of cards to the difficult side in future games, each adding +1 LEVEL.

The Game Turn: Managing the Crisis

The game unfolds in exciting rounds, each composed of three crucial phases. You will continue playing until victory or defeat!

Phase 1: Place Dice and Move Ships

At the beginning of each round, roll the 5 dice (3 black and 2 white) and start placing them, one by one, in the available spaces of your base.

• White Dice: They have a special function! When placing a white die, you must re-roll all remaining dice that have not yet been placed.
• Enemy Movement: Each time you place a die, all enemy ships in that die's column descend towards your base. They move a number of spaces equal to the value shown on the die. If the final space has an icon, resolve that effect immediately.
• Base Damage: If a ship reaches the lowest space in its column, your base takes 1 damage. Move the damage marker and place the enemy ship on the mothership card (to be respawned later).

Dice Placement Restrictions:

• Each space can only contain one die.
• You can only place one die in each column.
• Dice can only be placed in excavated rooms, except for one die that can be placed in a room or tunnel to move the excavator. (The space under the excavator is not yet excavated.)

Continue placing the 5 dice, resolving enemy movement after each one. Then, proceed to the next phase.

Phase 2: Resolve Rooms

After placing all five dice, resolve them one at a time, in the order you choose. After resolving a die, set it aside.

Using Rooms:

• To use a room's effect, you must spend the indicated amount of energy. If you don't have enough energy or don't want to spend it, remove the die without effect.
• The strength of the effect depends on the die's value (the higher, the better!).
• If the room has a modifier above it, the modifier applies to the die when resolving the room's effect. However, enemy ships descend according to the unmodified value of the die.
• A room with multiple spaces can only be used if all spaces have a die. All room effects are resolved with the value indicated by the sum of the dice in the room. If the room has a modifier, apply it only once.

Moving the Excavator:

• A die can be placed in a space not yet accessible to move the excavator.
• The die's value must be equal to or greater than the length of the excavator's route to the die.
• Moving the excavator always costs one energy, regardless of the number of spaces it moves. If you spend one energy and the die's value is high enough, replace the die with the excavator token; otherwise, just remove the die.

Room Effects and Icons (Examples):

• Shield Icon: When you move enemy ships in this column, they move one space less. If you place a 1 here, enemy ships do not move.
• Battery Icon: Add the die's value to your current energy. If the total is more than 7, set energy to 7.
• Explosion Icon: Shoot down all enemy ships in explosion spaces that have a number less than or equal to your die's value. Place the shot down ships on the mothership card (to be respawned later).
• Research Icon: Advance on the research track. To advance to the next space, the die's value must be greater than or equal to the value shown in that space. You can advance multiple spaces if the value is at least as high as their sum. (To move through space 3 and land on 1, you need a 4 or higher.)
• Robot Icon: Build a robot. Take a blue die and set it to the value of this room. Place the blue die in any unoccupied space of any excavated room. This blue die becomes a robot.
  • A robot can be used like any other die during the Resolve Rooms phase, once per round, except during the round it was placed.
  • After use, the robot remains on the board – decrease its value by 1 and rotate it 45° to show it has been used. (Rotate it back at the end of the round.)
  • You can choose not to use the die, in which case it remains on the board and keeps its value.
  • If you use a robot that is already a 1, remove it instead of decreasing it.
  • When placing dice, you still place one die in each column, ignoring robot dice.
  • You can choose to remove a robot at any time. Robots never move enemy ships.

Phase 3: Move the Mothership

This is the final phase of the round, where the alien threat intensifies:

1. Mothership Effect: Resolve the glowing symbol under the arrow on the mothership card.
2. Mothership Descent: Then, move the mothership card one row closer to your base. If there are any ships in this row, move them to the mothership card.
3. Enemy Ship Respawn: Finally, respawn all enemy ships from the mothership card.

Respawning Enemy Ships:

Place the ships one by one in the unoccupied starting points according to these rules:

• Green ships are placed before red ships.
• Place ships only in empty columns, if possible.
• If every column has a ship, choose a starting point with the most empty spaces between it and the top ship in the column. If there are multiple options, the choice is yours.
• If you run out of points, leave the unspawned ships to be spawned in the next round.

Mothership Effects (Examples):

• Damage Icon: Your base takes 1 damage.
• Excavator Back Icon: Move the excavator the indicated number of spaces back along the track. (Remove any robot dice in the way.)
• Research Back Icon: Move the marker on the research track back the indicated number of spaces.
• Red Ship Icon: Place a red enemy ship (if available) on the mothership card. The red ship functions the same as a normal ship, except that if it is shot down, it is set aside instead of being respawned.

End of Game and Scoring: Victory or Defeat?

The game ends when you meet one of the following conditions:

• Victory: You win if you manage to move the research marker to the last space on the research track. Congratulations, leader! Humanity is saved!
• Defeat: You can lose the game in two ways:
  1. When the mothership descends to cover the skull symbol.
  2. When your damage marker moves to the skull symbol on your base.

Tips for Winning: Strategies for Survival

To increase your chances of victory against the alien threat, consider these tactical tips:

1. Column Management is Key: When placing your dice, pay close attention to the columns. Remember that you can only place one die per column. Prioritize columns that, when moving enemy ships, do not cause immediate damage to your base or allow you to shoot down ships in explosion spaces. Using the shield effect in a busy column can be a lifesaver!
2. Balance Research and Defense: The ultimate goal is research, but you cannot ignore defense. If your base takes too much damage or the mothership descends too far, the game ends. Try to balance advancing on the research track with generating energy and shooting down enemy ships. Sometimes, it's better to sacrifice a little research to avoid critical damage.
3. Robots are Your Best Friends: Building robots can be a powerful long-term strategy. They provide additional dice that do not move enemy ships and can be used to activate important rooms. Plan to build robots in rooms you'll need to activate consistently, such as energy or research rooms, to maximize their value over the rounds.