Type: Strategy, Empire building
A game by: Agnieszka Kopera, Andrei Novac
Art by: David J. Coffey, Maria Marin, George Necula
Rules: EN, Interactive setup
No. Players: 2-6
Age: 12+
Play time: 30-45 min/player
Release date: Nov-2013
Status: Out of stock
Exodus: Proxima Centauri (revised edition) is the re-print of our earlier success, Exodus: Proxima Centauri with an updated graphic design and a few changes in the core changes in the game play, reducing game time and increasing the fun factor.
On top of the new improved graphic appearance, we adapted Exodus: Proxima Centauri to fit in a standard box size, according to our new policy less is more. Keeping the same number of components, we worked a lot on the game ergonomics and the look-and-feel of the game, making it fit in a smaller box while providing better quality components.
The Player Boards which used to be made of thick paper are now made of cardboard, their size increased from a standard A4 to a staggering 29 x 29 cm (11 x 11 in), incorporating the spaceship blueprints. The damage, population and movement tokens are now store on the blueprints rather than on the player board, reducing the number of components on the hex map. And these are just two examples. For a full list of changes, please visit our Changes page.
The theme of the game remains unchanged. The game inspired by Stanisław Lem’s “The Magellanic Cloud”, brings to life a new universe marked by a fierce struggle for power. The humanity is building a new civilization on the ashes of a dying race, the Centaurians, after Earth had been destroyed in a nuclear holocaust.
Exodus: Proxima Centauri (revised edition) remains a full civilization game for experienced players, who enjoy immersing themselves in a new universe and fight for supremacy in a flavored, thematic game.
For the original description of the game, please visit the page of Exodus: Proxima Centauri first edition.
Components
Reviews
The Story
After the devastating nuclear war of Earth year 2299, the remains of the human race embarked on a fleet of space ships and started their search for a new world. On the 3rd of November 2299, exactly 83 days after the first nuclear warhead hit Berlin, nine factions made an agreement to cease fire. Each made of a few hundred thousand people, for sure less than one million, these factions represented the remains of the human race still not affected by radiation. History did not preserve reliable evidence to support the ethnicity of each of the nine factions, but there are speculations that three of them were from the former USA, one from Greater China, one from the Greenland’s north (the Norsemen), one from Antarctica, one from Latin America (Nueva Espagna), one from the African Union and one from United Europe.
Two days after the cease fire, already unable to find any source of food and drinking water on a rampaged Planet, devastated by the nuclear winter and the tremendous level of radiation, the nine factions decided to use all the star ships they could still power up and attempt emergency leave, abandoning Earth. The only spacecrafts left were in the heart of Asia.
They all boarded the space shuttles from Baikonur Cosmodrome in what people used to call 200 year ago Kazakhstan. In there, the last genocide occurred. The six factions that arrived early found some of the spacecrafts damaged by nuclear warheads and decided to avoid a conflict or a draw for who gets to board and who gets to stay on the dying Planet. They shot down the hovercrafts bringing in the Antarctica, Africa and Greenland factions. Allegedly, more than one million people died. Humanity’s last genocide was recorded on camera and used for the anti-war propaganda.
After almost one year of space travel and fragile peace, the humans adapted to almost everything that space travel involved. They reached a common decision to disregard the possibility of terraforming Mars or Venus and to look for a new home in the closest star system to Earth, Alpha Centauri. They estimated the travel time to 400 cycles* at a speed of 1800 miles per second, a period short enough that humanity would survive and long enough to make old pride forgotten.
* The concept of one year, the time Earth took to revolve around the Sun, did not represent anything that humans wanted to remember, the new unit of measure for a long period of time was the cycle. One cycle was initially one year, but due to miscalculations by physicist who took into consideration time dilatation at high speed (relativity theory misinterpreted), one cycle was later roughly equal to 1.65 Earth years.
By the end of the 3rd cycle, they established a full political system which brought along the old interests and conflicts. It took half a cycle and one election ‘day’ to stir up a new war. Without nukes, but with still powerful weapons, half of the human fleet was wiped out in a matter of hours. With identical spacecrafts and equal weapons, the leaders of the factions reached a new peace agreement. The new settlement left the factions completely separated. The only thing keeping the together was the basic instinct of survival and the promise that once they’ll find a new home, the conflict will be solved once and for all. That last peace treaty cut all inter-faction contacts to a minimum, only their elected leaders were to meet once per cycle to decide on matters that concerned all of them, usually related only to calculations for direction and course adjustments for the fleet. Each faction was leading the convoy for one cycle and they’d rotate like that until reaching their final destination. The contact between the factions was reduced to almost nothing. People belonging to each faction evolved separately, developing unique features and skills associated to space travel.
At the end of the 144th cycle, the remnants of the fleet came in contact with a superior civilization whom they wrongly call Centaurians (inhabitants of Alpha Centauri system, in fact more than two and a half light years away from that very spot). At that point, it became clear for the leaders of the factions that the original plan was at fault. Their spacecrafts would never last long enough to reach Alpha Centauri and their nuclear fuel was going to be exhausted in less than 50 cycles. In the light of the new situation, the leaders presented themselves as one civilization in front of the Centaurians.
After establishing communication, but without ever seeing them, the Centaurians borough in the leaders and had them audience in front (as a matter of fact, they were in a strange red room on a star ship) of the High Council. Time seems to pass at a different rate for the new found saviors and friends, as this meeting seemed to take forever. Never having seen one Centaurian, the humans came to understand quickly how this advanced civilization was working. They had amazing technology – able to learn human languages in a matter of minutes, they seemed to be capable of faster than light travel, they were the utmost humanitarians, never even considering killing or enslaving humanity and – most importantly – they were willing to provide help.
The Centaurians guided the old damaged fleet towards a Planetary system that could support human life. Without ever allowing anyone else but the six leaders aboard the Centaurian star ship, the Saviors took about half a cycle to prepare the human fleet for high speed travel. No one ever explained how or what the Centaurians did to the human spacecrafts to allow them to travel much faster, nor how fast they’d be able to travel. The only requirement from the Centaurians was that every vessel they were working on was to be vacated completely for the duration of the repairs. This allowed the first mass contacts between factions in more than 140 cycles. Old tensions grew quickly under the surface and sporadic fights were reported, but the casualties were quickly disposed of and no word of this got to the Centaurians.
Once all repairs final, the fleet started the last part of its journey towards humanity’s new home. No one was able to tell whether they were travelling faster than light or not or which direction they were going. The leaders told the people they were going to settle all together on a Planet orbiting the Proxima Centauri star. In the first ‘days’, curiosity prevailed and not even one gun shot was heard among any ship in the fleet. The humanity recorded this last part of the trip as the exile.
Centaurians were keeping their distance all the time, not interfering at all in the humans’ internal affairs. They seemed to be the perfect ‘fathers’ providing but never asking in exchange. The underfed humans were provided all kind of new things that they forgot or never knew of existing. This preserved the apparent harmony for a while, but humanity’s drive towards conflict soon overcame their wellbeing. In the final days of the exile, war spurred again. The never forgotten pride arose one last time and the Centaurians decided to split the fleet, without giving them means of direct communication other than their periodic meeting in the High Council. Each faction landed on a different Planet, however all in the same solar system.
The settling process took almost two full cycles. Humans were first taught first how to survive on their new home Planets, which were all alike, they were provided with technology to make their new home worlds look like the ancient Earth. The humans’ reproductive function was lost either due to the high exposure to radiation or to some other undocumented reason. The only way for the humanity to grow was through cloning, a process that the Centaurians help perfect. The Centaurians did all this from a distance, never interfering more than the minimum necessary. Their understanding of the human race seemed far better than anyone could ever expect and their respect for human values, habits and traditions seemed infinite.
With the passing of time, the humans were coming closer and closer to considering the Centaurians gods. Human perception of their benefactors was very close to reality. The Centaurians were a peaceful race, one that seemed to be omniscient and omnipotent. Although they weren’t anything like the humans, never fighting, they still possessed an impressive warfare arsenal, making them undefeatable in the eyes of the humans.
Following the Centaurian tradition, the leaders of all the six Colonies were assembled in a High Council, on the same Planet as the Centaurian High Council had its headquarters. They had the chance of acknowledging each other, share their most important issues and remember they were once brothers.
The Centaurians kept a policy of equal treatment and long distance supervision, ensuring lasting peace. Every new Colony was given access to the same technologies, the same amount of knowledge, so that proper balance would be kept. In time, the humans, with their new found technology for looking into space were more and more convinced that their saviors were indeed Centaurians and that they were all living on Planets revolving some of the stars in the Alpha Centauri system.
They assumed that the three stars (Proxima Centauri and Alpha Centauri A & B binary star system) humans knew about were the only one visible from Earth but, in fact, there were many more, most of them with inhabitable Planets, all alike and all perfectly suitable for human life. In fact, little did the humans know about the fate that was awaiting them…
In the 296th cycle, the Centaurians came to all 6 races with a terrifying announcement, their own race was on the verge of extinction. The Centaurians Supreme Leaders appointed a permanent human High Council, formed from the leaders of six Colonies and supervised by one single Elder. The Elder had the role of preserving peace and guiding them for another 10 cycles and thus conclude both the transition and the extinction of the Centaurian race. In this time, humans would gain access to almost all Centaurian technology, they would be able to expand their existence on more Planets and develop beyond their imagination.
The Centaurians would leave and look for what humans assumed was a way to prevent their extinction. They were never to return… or so everyone thought.
With a very good understanding of the human race, the Centaurians appointed the High Council with the purpose of giving humanity the chance of preserving the Centaurian glory and memory and appointed the Elder to prevent humans to self-destruct and to bring them together to form a new great civilization. The Council was given the power to decide on all political matters of the Colonies and to split the great heritage of the Centauri civilization. With all the others gone, the last of them, the Elder had the power to ensure that the Council was functioning respecting the majority principle and that all their decision were followed by the Colonies.
At the end of the ten cycles, one Supreme Ruler would be appointed by the High Council who would form a dynasty to rule forever the new Human Empire.
The Centaurians
Although the humans spent many cycles surrounded by Centaurians, they only got to see and touch their technology. There was no recorded meeting between a human and a Centaurian and no human has even seen a Centaurian. Some came to believe that Centaurians were living outside a physical body and shape, but no one could even come close to proving anything.
The only thing that humans learned about the Centaurians was that there was some kind of division among them. Some of the scientists called them different species, but others argued that the term of species itself is not compatible with the nature of these superior beings. The religious groups lead by psis (people with extra sensorial abilities) believed that the four ‘species’ were in fact auras and each of them was of a different color. The strangest thing was that these auras were completely different colors from those of the humans, not resembling anything else anyone has ever experienced. The only way one ‘species’ of Centaurians was identifying itself was by a symbol, either marked on their ships or on some piece of equipment.
There were four Centaurian species that humans knew of. The Orange Aura were famous for inventing the Cloaking technology and thus the only Centaurians who ever stood different than the other ‘species’. Apart from this historical distinction, all the others were simply classified by the humans according to purely subjective criteria. The Grey Aura were the most eclectic one, they almost never came in contact with the humans and everyone assumed they mastered the most powerful weapons. The Black Aura were the ones that humans were mostly keeping in contact with, the ones that (they assumed) split them between Planets and providing them with means of living. The Tan Aura were the leaders or so everyone thought. This was most likely a myth fueled by those who strongly believed in the auras and claimed that the white aura is the most powerful of all.
FAQ
Resources & Population
Q: Do I pay tax for the resources I had before together with the new ones?
A: No, it is a tax per income, not per fortune. You pay tax for what you get ‘fresh’ that turn.
Q: My stash of Population cubes ran out. They are all out on Planets. What do I do next?
A: This stock is limited. Your clone factory can only produce a limited number without significant genetic degeneration. You will just have to better manage your Population.
Q: What happens if I am attacked and all my ships and my Population are destroyed?
A: Every turn, the clone factory on your Home Planet produces two Population cubes. That can be a fresh start for you.
Q: Can Population belonging to two or more players coexist on the same planet?
A: Yes! They’re not happy about it, but they can.
Q: So, in this case, who gets resources first? Does it matter how much Population we have there?
A: The resources are taken in turn order. The amount of Population counts only for getting VP at the end of the game.
Q: There is no Axinium Planet near me and I cannot get enough Axinium to build all the ships that I want. What do I do?
A: Use Trade. For greater efficiency, research Advanced Trading, this way your trade rates will also improve.
Politics and turn order
Q: When distributing Turn Order cards before the first turn, which ones should we use?
A: In a N-player game, used the cards with numbers 1 to N. For example, in a 4-player game use the cards 1,2,3 and 4.
Actions
Q: Can multiple players select the same Action card for their Reaction?
A: Every Reaction may only be activated once, so it is available only to the first player that puts Population on it.
Q: I researched Expert Politics and I am reacting on my own card, so I don’t have to spend any population to activate it. How do I mark it spent?
A: Simply flip the card on the other side.
Q: Do players have to use the Bonus Action?
A: No, the use of the Bonus Action is not mandatory.
Research and Technologies
Q: How do I get to play more Actions per turn?
A: Research Master Politics, it provides the third Action.
Q: Can I un-research or lose a technology that I’ve already researched?
A: No.
Q: I keep rolling the ‘wrong’ dice when I need to deploy my Population. What else can I do?
A: Research Landing Maneuver, you won’t have to roll the die at all.
Q: Does Basic Politics work between the 2nd and 3rd Action (Master Politics researched)?
A: No, Basic Politics only allows you to take your Action card back before playing your second Action.
Q: Which technologies provide a discount for Basic Research?
A: Any other technology.
Q: If two or more players have researched Civilian Ships, they are both free to move population between planets during the Conquest stages. Who does it first?
A: This is done in reversed turn order.
Trade
Q: Can I use the market if I do not have any cubes left?
A: No.
Q: Does Advanced Trading allow a player to buy and sell with a single exchange?
A: Advanced trading allows you to buy and to sell. However, one exchange is either buying OR selling.
Q: I used Trade as my first Action and I plan to use it again as a Reaction and then as a Bonus Action. Do I need to block a place on the market each time?
A: Yes, every time a Trade Action is performed, one space one the market is blocked, regardless if that player has already performed another Trade Action.
Upgrades
Q: There are no more upgrades of the kind that I want. What can I do?
A: Try to research a different technology that is still available which provides a similar upgrade.
Q: I have many ships but they’re easily defeated in combat. What’s the problem?
A: Try to put better ship upgrades on their blueprints.
Q: If I move shields away from the blueprints of ships with damage so that the damage accumulated exceeds the total value of the shields, do I have to destroy those ships?
A: Yes, as soon as the damage on a ship exceeds the amount the shields can carry, the ship is destroyed immediately.
Building Ships
Q: There are enemy ships orbiting my Home planet. Can I still build ships?
A: Yes
Q: So, what happens then? Do we fight immediately?
A: You do not fight immediately. During the Conquest stage, everyone gets to move their ships before battle. If the enemy ships are too powerful, you have the option to run away with your ships. You get to mount population, place movement tokens and execute them before the actual battle takes place.
Q: In the last turn, the selected bonus Action was MOVE. How many Conquest Stages do we perform and when does everyone get the Radar tech?
A: You will go one by one through three Conquest Stages. The Radar is awarded to everyone before the third Conquest Stage.
Centaurian Resistance
Q: I am in the middle of a combat and I have in my hand a Centaurian Resistance card that gives me a better shield. Can I use it to upgrade my shield?
A: No, these cards can be used only outside the Conquest stage. You will be able to use it next turn.
Q: I am the ‘guy on the left’ controlling the Centaurian Resistance and I am not sure what is the best way to distribute the damage of the Resistance ship. What do I do?
A: Target ships with Population if you can deal enough damage to take them down. Then, go for the most expensive ship or for many weak ships. If you’re still in doubt, just hit something, it will be fun.
Ship Movement and Battle
Q: Can I retreat from a battle?
A: No.
Q: Can I move my ships through spaces containing non friendly ships? For example I have a ship with Fusion Drive and I move through a hex containing non-friendly ships to get to a tile with no other ships. Would this work?
A: Yes, it is possible.
Q: Before the last Conquest Stage of the last turn does a player automatically get the Radar even if he has no more cubes to place on his technology tree?
A: Radar is awarded to all players and there no need to mark it on the player board.
Q: At the end of the player-vs-player combat, no players have ships left in the hex. Who gets the VP for the destroyed ships?
A: No one. It is a rare case but it can happen. If no one survived the battle, no one gets the glory.
