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We finish the round with Phase V (Produce).

Connie produces 1 Blue good. She then draws 2 cards from Rebel Cantina, as she has 2 Rebel worlds.

Ryan chose this phase, so he can produce on one windfall world, namely Deserted Alien Outpost. He produces 2 Blue goods, 1 Brown good, 1 Green good and 1 Yellow good. He then draws 4 cards from Diversified Economy, as he produced 4 colours of good, and 1 card for producing on Gem World.

omnis produces 3 Blue goods. He then draws 3 cards from Galactic Studios and Pan-Galactic Research.

Laga produces 1 Brown good and 1 Green good.

chrismg produces 1 Green good on Pre-Sentient Race. This is a windfall world, but Genetics Lab lets him produce on one Green windfall world.

Cards are going out now. Everyone, please send me your choice of action card for Round 10. While you make your choice, please bear in mind that chrismg has 11 cards in his layout. One more card will end the game.

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End-of-round summary:

Round 9
Goals
Research Leader - Most Explore Powers (Laga)
Largest Industry - Most Blue/Brown Worlds (Connie, omnis, Ryan)
Galactic Standard of Living - First to 5 VPs (omnis)
Expansion Leader - First to 8 cards in layout (Connie)
System Diversity - First to have a world of each colour (Ryan)
Budget Surplus - First to discard at round end (Ryan)

Connie Neil
Layout
Rebel Cantina (Non-Military World)
Space Mercenaries (Development)
Runaway Robots (Military Brown Windfall World)
Drop Ships (Development)
Primitive Rebel World (Military Blue Windfall World) + good
Devolved Uplift Race (Military Blue Production World) + good
Galactic Developers (Non-Military World)
Galactic Survey: Seti (6-Cost Development)
Alien Robot Scout Ship (Military Yellow Windfall World)

Cards in Hand: 10
Military Strength: 5
Victory Points: 3
Layout Value: 8
6-Cost Developments: 7
Goals: 8

Ryan
Layout
Ancient Race (Non-Military Green Windfall World)
Distant World (Non-Military Green Production World) + good
Gem World (Non-Military Blue Production World) + good
New Vinland (Non-Military Blue Production World) + good
Deserted Alien Outpost (Non-Military Yellow Windfall World) + good
Imperium Blaster Gem Consortium (Non-Military Brown Production World) + good
Diversified Economy (Development)
Trading Outpost (Non-Military World)
Investment Credits (Development)

Cards in Hand: 7
Military Strength: 1
Victory Points: 4
Layout Value: 16
6-Cost Developments: 0
Goals: 9

omnis
Layout
Earth's Lost Colony (Non-Military Blue Production World) + good
Public Works (Development)
Space Port (Non-Military Blue Production World) + good
Galactic Studios (Non-Military Blue Production World) + good
Pan-Galactic Research (Development)
Galactic Salon (Development)

Cards in Hand: 4
Military Strength: 0
Victory Points: 9
Layout Value: 12
6-Cost Developments: 0
Goals: 6

Laga
Layout
Separatist Colony (Non-Military World)
Rebel Pact (Development)
Plague World (Non-Military Green Production World) + good
Abandoned Alien Uplift Camp (Non-Military World)
Mercenary Fleet (Development)
Rebel Miners (Military Brown Production World) + good
Mining Conglomerate (Development)

Cards in Hand: 7
Military Strength: 3
Victory Points: 2
Layout Value: 8
6-Cost Developments: 0
Goals: 5

chrismg
Layout
New Sparta (Military World)
Star Nomad Lair (Military Blue Windfall World)
Space Marines (Development)
Outlaw World (Military World)
Genetics Lab (Development)
Pre-Sentient Race (Non-Military Green Windfall World) + good
Imperium Troops (Development)
Rebel Outpost (Military World)
Rebel Base (Military World)
Investment Credits (Development)
Rebel Homeworld (Military World)

Cards in Hand: 6
Military Strength: 6
Victory Points: 2
Layout Value: 26
6-Cost Developments: 0
Goals: 0

VP Pool: 42

Looking at current scores: Connie, omnis, chrismg and Ryan have 26, 27, 28 and 29 points respectively. We have a nailbiter of a finish here.

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Orders are in for Round 10, and on the face of it, it looks like this will be the final round.

Connie Neil: Phase II - Develop
Ryan: Phase II - Develop
omnis: Phase IV (x2) - Consume (double VPs)
Laga: Phase III - Settle
chrismg: Phase II - Develop

We hve three phases, including both Phase II and III. If chrismg plays at least one card, it's game over. (And he picked Phase II, so you have to think he's planning on it.) Phase II (Develop):

Connie draws 1 card from Galactic Developers, then plays Galactic bankers for 5 discards. This card gives her 1 card draw at the start of Phase II, and in Phase IV, she can discard up to 2 cards from her hand for 1 VP each. Its value at game end is 1 VP per development, but there are three cards worth 2 VPs instead. (She has none of them.) It's currently worth 4 VPs in her layout.

Ryan plays Galactic Exchange for 4 discards. This card lets him consume up to 1 good of each colour for 1 VP and 1 card. Its point value depends on the number of colours of worlds in one's layout - with one colour it's worth 1 VP, with two it's worth 3 VPs, three colours gives 6 VPs and all four colours is worth 10 VPs. There's also a 3 point bonus for one card, Diversified Economy. Ryan has all four colours and Diversified Economy. This card adds a monster 13 points to his score.

omnis passes, as does Laga.

chrismg plays Rebel Alliance for 4 discards. This card lets him play Rebel Military worlds as if they were non-military, with a cost equal to their defence -2 (not hugely necessary with his military). Its value at game end is 2 VPs per Rebel card (including itself) plus 1 VP per other military world. That's a perfect fit for chrismg's military strategy, and it's currently worth 11 VPs in his layout.

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Phase III (Settle).

Connie plays Galactic Bazaar for 3 discards. This is a Blue windfall world. It also gives her +1 card when trading a Blue good, and in Phase IV, she can discard 1 card for 1 VP. (With Galactic Bankers, she could do up to 3 cards.)

Ryan passes. Playing that development was exhausting!

omnis plays Spice World. This is a Blue production world, that gives +2 cards when trading a Blue good.

Laga plays Interstellar Prospectors. This is a Brown production world. It gives her +1 card draw when Exploring, and in Phase V, she can produce on a Brown windfall world (in addition to producing on this card itself). She then draws 1 card for choosing this phase.

chrismg plays Rebel Convict Mines. This is a Brown windfall world. It lets him discard 1 card from his hand to boost his military strength by 1. As it's a Rebel card, it also adds 2 points to the value of Rebel Alliance.

That's it for Phase III, and we have some goal movement. Both Connie and omnis played a Blue world, bringing their Blue/Brown total to 4. But Ryan did not! He falls behind the other two, and no longer picks up 3 points from this goal. (Connie still claims 5 VPs and omnis 3.)

Time for a big Consume to end the game.

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Connie has just one Consume power that takes goods. She consumes 1 good for 1 VP. She also has 1 card left in her hand, which she discards on Galactic bankers for 1 VP. Total of 2.

Ryan has some Consumption power now - he could, theoretically, consume up to 9 goods, if they were the right colours. He consumes a Blue, Green and Yellow good on Diversified Economy for 3 VPs. He consumes his Brown good on Imperium Blaster Gem Consortium for 1 VP and 2 cards. Finally, he consumes the remaining Blue good on Galactic Exchange for 1 VP and 1 card. Total: 5 goods for 5 VPs and 3 cards.

omnis chose this phase, and opted to double his points. He has 3 Blue goods, which he can consume on Earth's Lost Colony, Public Works and Galactic Studios for 3 VPs and 1 card. He also picks up a bonus 1 VP from Galactic Salon, just because. Doubled, that means he consumes 3 goods for 8 VPs and 1 card.

Laga has two colour-coded consume powers, and fortunately her goods are a match. She consumes 2 goods on Plague World and Mining Conglomerate for 2 VPs and 1 card.

chrismg has just the one Consume power. He consumes 1 good for 1 VP and 1 card.

And with that, as chrismg has 13 cards in his layout, the game ends! It's a close result - there's just 1 point separating first and second, and 1 point between third and fourth. Results to come shortly.

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Gulp t burp

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As usual, we'll break the points out by category.

Consumption VPs
Connie Neil: 5
Ryan: 9
omnis: 17
Laga: 4
chrismg: 3

This is omnis' main strength, fittingly given his starting world of Earth's Lost Colony. However, by game end Ryan had overtaken him in consumption potential at least (baseline consumption of 5 VPs vs 4).

Layout Value
Connie Neil: 10
Ryan: 16
omnis: 13
Laga: 10
chrismg: 27

This one, of course, belongs to chrismg. Military strategies tend to dominate here, as high-defence military worlds have the highest values in the game.

Status Developments
Connie Neil: 12
Ryan: 13
omnis: 0
Laga: 0
chrismg: 13

There's quite the gap in this one. Status developments were thin on the ground this game, with only four played. Neither omnis nor Laga got one on the table. Ryan and chrismg were particularly fortunate here, in that they both managed to draw the single most valuable status development for their particular layout.

However, you'd have to say Ryan was especially fortunate. He only picked up Galactic Exchange about two rounds before the end of the game, and it was worth 5 VPs more than any other card on offer for him. Conversely, chrismg got Rebel Alliance in his starting hand, and held onto it for the entire game. That gave him the option of shaping his layout to maximise its value. Also, any of Galactic Imperium, Imperium Lords or Imperium Seat (there's a bit of a theme developing here) would have been worth almost as much to him.

Goals
Connie Neil: 8
Ryan: 6
omnis: 6
Laga: 5
chrismg: 0

Last game, Laga dominated the field here. This time around the points were more evenly spread.

Next up, we'll put it all together.

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So let's see where everyone lands.

Closing Summary

Connie Neil
Victory Points: 5
Layout Value: 10
6-Cost Developments: 12
Goals: 8
Total: 35

Ryan
Victory Points: 9
Layout Value: 16
6-Cost Developments: 13
Goals: 6
Total: 44

omnis
Victory Points: 17
Layout Value: 13
6-Cost Developments: 0
Goals: 6
Total: 36

Laga
Victory Points: 4
Layout Value: 10
6-Cost Developments: 0
Goals: 5
Total: 19

chrismg
Victory Points: 3
Layout Value: 27
6-Cost Developments: 13
Goals: 0
Total: 43

VP Pool: 25

There's just a single point in it, but:

Ryan wins!

chrismg is in second place with 43. omnis' final consumption binge just edges out Connie for third place.

Wow! It was close a round ago. That's quite a last round.

Good game everyone! Congratulations to Ryan!!

And special thanks to our Game Master extraordinaire, BillyTea!

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This time I had military strength but no military assets.