Nucleum · Board game rules
How do government buildings affect player actions?
Quick answer
Government Buildings (level-IV tiles) can be placed on urban sites showing either their own icon or the Government icon, and at game end they multiply scoring across an entire network rather than acting as a normal action modifier.
Details
Government Buildings are the level-IV Urban Building of each type (Residence, Factory, Laboratory). During an Urbanize action, they can be placed into a black urban site showing either their column's icon or a Government icon, giving you more placement flexibility than standard Buildings [p.12 — GAMEPLAY - ACTIONS EXPLAINED].
Their main effect on the game isn't on your turn-to-turn actions, but on Final Scoring: each energized Government Building shows a Building type (Residence, Factory, or Laboratory) instead of a flat VP value. For each energized Government Building you have, you score the indicated amount of VP for every Building of that shown type located in the same network as the Government Building — including your own unenergized ones and other players' Buildings — regardless of whether those other Buildings are energized [p.21 — GAMEPLAY - END OF THE GAME].
Several Contracts also reference Government Buildings specifically: having a Government Building on the map grants a Level 1 Technology and 2 VP income steps (C15), having 2 grants a Level 2 Technology and 2 VP income steps (C31), and having 3 grants 6 VP and a Level 3 Technology (C38) [p.22-24 — APPENDIX - CONTRACTS].
Watch out: the network used for Government Building scoring must be connected via completed rail lines that you own — you don't score for buildings that are technically in the network but not reachable through your own completed rail connections to the Government Building [p.21 — GAMEPLAY - END OF THE GAME].