RftG

There are five Phases that can be resolved in a round. Each player chooses one Phase, so if everyone chooses a different one, there can be four Phases. Each Phase gets resolved just once in a round, no matter how many people chose it.

There is a 2-player variant, where each player picks two Phases. A player can select Phase II or Phase III twice in this variant; if they do, that Phase gets resolved twice in a row. But that's not in effect here.

RftG

Everyone has made their choice from Exploring. Next is Phase II (Develop). omnis and chrismg each draw 1 card. Everyone, please send me your orders. You can send me orders for Phase III (Settle) as well.

RftG

Orders for Phase II. omnis and askye both pass on playing a development. The other two both chose this Phase, so they'll get -1 off the cost of their developments.

Connie plays Drop Ships for 3 discards. This card adds 3 to her military strength, for a total of 8. This is sufficient strength to conquer any military world in the game.

chrismg plays Merchants Guild. This is a 6-cost development, but he gets -1 off the cost for choosing Phase II, and another -2 from Galactic Federation. He discards 3 cards as well. Merchants Guild lets him draw 2 cards whenver we resolve Phase V. Its value at game end will be 2 VP for each production world in his layout.

On to Phase III (Settle), for some worldly action.

RftG

It's now askye and chrismg who pass on playing a world. omnis chose this Phase, and he plays Galactic Trendsetters. This world can consume 1 good in Phase IV for a whopping 2 VP; most consumption powers offer a straight one-for-one exchange rate. He discards 5 cards to play it. He then draws 2 new cards - one for choosing this phase, and one thanks to Terraforming Robots.

Finally, Connie takes advantage of her newfound Phenomenal Military Power, and plays the Rebel Homeworld. This card needs 7 strength, the highest defence on the base game, and is worth all of 7 VPs.

That concludes Round 8! Round 9 begins with the choice of action cards. Everyone, please send me your choice.

RftG

End-of-round summary:

Round 8
omnis_audis
Layout
Epsilon Eridani (Non-Military World)
Rebel Fuel Cache (Military Brown Windfall World) + good
Interstellar Bank (Development)
Terraforming Robots (Development)
Gem World (Non-Military Blue Production World) + good
New Survivalists (Military Blue Production World) + good
Consumer Markets (Development)
Galactic Trendsetters (Non-Military World)

Cards in Hand: 6
Victory Points: 4

askye
Layout
Alpha Centauri (Non-Military Brown Windfall World)
Investment Credits (Development)
Comet Zone (Non-Military Brown Production World) + good
Prosperous World (Non-Military Blue Production World) + good
Replicant Robots (Development)
Empath World (Non-Military Green Windfall World)

Cards in Hand: 8
Victory Points: 5

Connie Neil
Layout
New Sparta (Military World)
Former Penal Colony (Military Blue Windfall World)
Malevolent Lifeforms (Military Green Production World) + good
Lost Alien Warship (Military Yellow Windfall World)
Export Duties (Development)
Trade League (6-Cost Development)
Drop Ships (Development)
Rebel Homeworld (Military World)

Cards in Hand: 3
Victory Points: 0

chrismg
Layout
Earth's Lost Colony (Non-Military Blue Production World) + good
Interstellar Bank (Development)
Contact Specialist (Development)
Spice World (Non-Military Blue Production World) + good
Avian Uplift Race (Military Green Windfall World)
Galactic Federation (6-Cost Development)
Pirate World (Military Blue Windfall World)
Merchant Guild (6-Cost Development)

Cards in Hand: 7
Victory Points: 3

VP Pool: 36

Phenomenal Military Power! Itty bitty living space.

Spartan living space, even.

RftG

Finally, Connie takes advantage of her newfound Phenomenal Military Power, and plays the Rebel Homeworld. This card needs 7 strength, the highest defence on the base game, and is worth all of 7 VPs.

Um. Wow! Must produce more VP's to get ahead. That's a LOT of VP's!

Dude, I've had 0 VPs for several rounds.

Actually that reminds me - the summary we've got now only shows the VPs we get for consuming goods(in the physical game these are represented by chips drawn from a common pool) and not the ones we'll get from cards in our layout. Is there any way to show both, either separately or combined?