RftG

I have everyone's choice of action card; the players have chosen:

omnis: Phase IV ($)
askye: Phase III
Connie Neil: Phase I (+5)
chrismg: Phase II

Phases I, II, III and IV have been selected by one of the players, so Round 1 will consist of those Phases. Phase V was not selected by anyone, so it will be skipped.

We start with Phase I - Explore. Every player will draw two cards and keep one. This Phase was chosen by Connie, who gets a bonus. There are two possible bonuses a player may select for this Phase; Connie has chosen to draw 5 extra cards to look at (but will still keep just one).

Cards are going out now. Everyone, when you're ready, please let me know which card you keep.

RftG

Everyone has chosen which card to keep from their exploration. Next is Phase II - Develop. Everyone may, if they wish, add a development to their layout by discarding a number of cards from their hand equal to its cost. chrismg is the one who chose this Phase, so he gets a 1-card discount off the cost of playing a development.

Everyone, please let me know which development (if any) you would like to play, and which card(s) you discard to pay for it.

RftG

On to Phase II! Let's see who plays a development.

omnis and Connie both pass on developments. They save their cards. askye, however, plays Investment Credits. This card gives her a 1-card discount on any future developments. It costs 1 discard to play.

chrismg plays Interstellar Bank. In future, whenever we resolve Phase II, he draws 1 card before any developing takes place. It normally costs 2 discards, but chrismg selected Phase II, so he gets a 1-card discount on the cost. It costs him 1 discard.

That's it for Phase II. Phase III (Settle) is next. There's a whole new world out there! Possibly several.

RftG

This time, chrismg passes on playing a world. omnis plays Rebel Fuel Cache. This is a Brown windfall world, so it appears in his layout with a good already attached. That'll become relevant next Phase. It is also a 1-strength military world. omnis has a military strength of 1 (from Epsilon Eridani), so he may play this world (no discards).

askye plays Comet Zone. This is a Brown production world. It produces a Brown good when we resolve Phase V; it also gives askye a card draw when it produces a good. It costs 3 discards to play; but askye gets a 1-card discount on playing Brown worlds (from Alpha Centauri). It costs 2 discards, which happens to be the number of cards askye has left in her hand. But! askye is the one who selected Phase III. Therefore she draws 1 card after playing a world.

Connie also plays a world, Former Penal Colony. This is a Blue windfall world, so it starts with a good already attached. It is also, like omnis' play, a 1-strength military world. Connie has a military strength of 2 (from New Sparta), so she may play this world (no discards). Finally, this world increases Connie's military strength by 1, to 3 strength.

That concludes Phase III. Phase IV (Consume) is next.

RftG

Phase IV. There are three players with trade goods at the moment - omnis has a Brown trade good, as does askye. Connie has a Blue good. However, askye and Connie have no Consume powers, so their goods go unconsumed. chrismg has a consume power but no good to consume on it. Nothing happening there.

Finally there's omnis, who has a good and a consume power. However, he's the one who chose this phase, and he chose Consume (Trade). Instead of consuming his one good, he trades it to draw 3 cards.

Note too that omnis did not have that trade good at the start of the turn. He got it by settling a windfall world in Phase III - which he did not choose. He took a gamble that at least one other player would choose Phase III, or else his own choice would be wasted. Gutsy move.

RftG

That concludes Round 1! I'll post the state of play to start Round 2 shortly.

RftG

End-of-round summary:

Round 1
omnis_audis
Layout
Epsilon Eridani (Non-Military World)
Rebel Fuel Cache (Military Brown Windfall World)

Cards in Hand: 7

Victory Points: 0

askye
Layout
Alpha Centauri (Non-Military Brown Windfall World) + good
Investment Credits (Development)
Comet Zone (Non-Military Brown Production World)

Cards in Hand: 1

Victory Points: 0

Connie Neil
Layout
New Sparta (Military World)
Former Penal Colony (Military Blue Windfall World) + good

Cards in Hand: 4

Victory Points: 0

chrismg
Layout
Earth's Lost Colony (Non-Military Blue Production World)
Interstellar Bank (Development)

Cards in Hand: 3

Victory Points: 0

VP Pool: 48

RftG

Everyone has chosen their action card, and it's a different outlook from last round. Choices are:

omnis: Phase II
askye: Phase IV ($)
Connie Neil: Phase II
chrismg: Phase II

Three of the four players chose the same Phase. This round, then, we'll have only two Phases. Phase II (Develop) is first. Before anyone does anything, chrismg draws 1 card from his Interstellar Bank. Card going out now. Everyone, please send me orders for Phase II.

RftG

As expected, we have a flurry of development in Phase II. omnis develops Interstellar Bank, for one discard. He will draw one card at the start of every Phase II from now on. chrismg already has this card in his layout - there are two copies of most developments in the deck.

Connie plays New Military Tactics, for no discards. This is a one-shot card. One Phase III, she can discard it from her layout in order to boost her military strength by 3.

chrismg plays Contact Specialist for no discards. This is an interesting card. It lets him play military worlds as if they were non-military (i.e. by paying for them instead of through military strength). It doesn't apply to Alien worlds.

askye doesn't play a development, but she is the only player to benefit from Phase IV. She chose Phase IV ($), so she gets to trade her Brown good for three new cards.

And that concludes round 2! Everyone now has three cards in their layout. Everyone, time to pick your action cards for round 3.

RftG

End-of-round summary:

Round 2
omnis_audis
Layout
Epsilon Eridani (Non-Military World)
Rebel Fuel Cache (Military Brown Windfall World)
Interstellar Bank (Development)

Cards in Hand: 5
Victory Points: 0

askye
Layout
Alpha Centauri (Non-Military Brown Windfall World)
Investment Credits (Development)
Comet Zone (Non-Military Brown Production World)

Cards in Hand: 4
Victory Points: 0

Connie Neil
Layout
New Sparta (Military World)
Former Penal Colony (Military Blue Windfall World) + good
New Military Tactics (Development)

Cards in Hand: 3
Victory Points: 0

chrismg
Layout
Earth's Lost Colony (Non-Military Blue Production World)
Interstellar Bank (Development)
Contact Specialist (Development)

Cards in Hand: 3
Victory Points: 0

VP Pool: 48