Apogee reference sheet

Overview

• 1–5 players, 15–50 min depending on chosen Mission [p.3 — Objective]
• Play as Mission Directors building rockets to reach space destinations [p.3 — New Space]
• Hire Engineers, design and build Technologies, then launch your rocket [p.3 — Objective]
• First player to complete the Mission objective wins; play continues to end of round [p.21 — End of the Game]
• Core loop: Planning phase (assign Engineers) → Administration phase (collect Credits, take Director actions) [p.11 — Game Overview]

Setup

1. Each player takes a Player Board, Launch Pad Board (matching numbers), and Help Card [p.8 — Players Place]
2. Separate Technology cards into 4 face-down decks: First Stage, Upper Stage, Payload, R&D [p.8 — Technology Cards]
3. Separate Engineers into Junior and Senior face-down decks; shuffle Investor cards into 1 deck [p.8 — Engineer and Investor Cards]
4. Each player receives 280,000 Credits; set up Bank with 4 Credit decks [p.9 — Credits Cards]
5. Shuffle Event cards face-down; place Space Operations Center board accessible to all [p.9 — Event Cards / Space Operations Center Board]
6. Reserve 10 blue dice as pool; place 1 white die in center [p.9 — Launching Dice]
7. Agree on a Mission card; return the rest [p.9 — Mission Selection]
8. Deal 2 Mission Director cards to each player; each keeps 1 [p.9 — Mission Director Selection]
9. Starting with highest-authority Director, each player hires 1 Senior OR 2 Junior Engineers (free) [p.10 — Hiring Starting Engineers]
10. Reveal top 3 cards of First Stage, Upper Stage, and Payload decks as Technology rows; reveal top 2 Investor cards [p.10 — Technology Rows / Investor Row]

Turn structure

Each round ('quarter') has 2 phases in order:

A. PLANNING PHASE (simultaneous)

1. Reveal 1 Event card; resolve immediate effects [p.11 — Events]
2. All players simultaneously place Engineers face-down on actions [p.11 — Engineers Actions]
3. Resolve in order: a) Specialties → b) Constructions → c) R&D → d) Design [p.12 — Planning Phase]

B. ADMINISTRATION PHASE (in descending Director authority order)

4. Each player collects quarter Credits based on Engineers in hand [p.16 — Collection Quarter Earnings]
5. Each player performs up to 2 Director actions [p.16 — Perform Director Actions]
6. Return all Engineer cards to hand; begin next round [p.21 — End of Administration Phase]

Actions

Engineer Actions (Planning Phase — place Engineers face-down)

Director Actions (Administration Phase — up to 2 per turn)

Combat

Launch Requirements

• Rocket must have ≥1 First Stage, ≥1 Upper Stage, ≥1 Payload Technology built [p.18 — Perform a Launch]
• ≥1 Engineer on Space Operations Center with sufficient authority for destination [p.18 — Perform a Launch]

Step 1 — Calculate Performance

• Sum all built Technology Thrust values and Mass values
• Cross-reference Thrust (rows) × Mass (columns) on performance table → get performance number [p.18–19]

Step 2 — Find Minimum Roll

• Cross-reference performance number × destination on Launch Probability Table [p.19]
• Destinations (near→far): GEO, Moon, Venus, Mars, Europa, Titan

Step 3 — Roll

• Roll white die; if result ≥ minimum → Success: earn 80,000; First Stage, Upper Stage & R&D cards return to reserve; Payload cards go to Space Operations Center [p.20]
• Failure: rocket stays intact; may immediately spend reserve dice for re-rolls [p.21]
• Static fire (prerequisite): ≥1 First Stage + ≥1 Upper Stage built; roll die, result ≥4 → gain 1 blue die [p.17]

Scoring

• Quarter earnings: based on Engineers in hand — 0 Eng: +60k / 1: +40k / 2: +20k / 3: 0 / 4: −20k / 5: −40k [p.16 — Collection Quarter Earnings]
• Successful launch: +80,000 immediately [p.20 — Successful Launch]
• Sell Technology (Director action): +40,000 per card from reserve [p.17 — Sell 1 Technology]
• Investor objective fulfilled: Credits stated on card, received immediately; keep card [p.6 — Collecting Credits from Investors]
• CubeSat R&D built: earn Credits stated on card immediately during Construction (no build cost) [p.39 — CubeSat]

End of game

• Game ends when a player completes the Mission objective; finish the current round [p.21 — End of the Game]
• All players who complete the objective in that final round are co-winners [p.21]
• Tiebreaker (optional, agree before game): lowest total authority (Engineers + Director) wins; if still tied, lowest Director authority wins [p.21 — Tiebreakers]
• Solo: win if objective met before end of final round stated on Solo Mission card; otherwise failure [p.26 — End of the Game]

Glossary

• Reserve: face-up Technology cards on a player's board, not yet built (max 9 cards) [p.15 — Design Resolution]
• Launch Pad Board: where built Technologies are placed (max 3 per stage slot) [p.5 — Launch Pad Board]
• Space Operations Center: shared board where Engineers are assigned to enable launches; Payload cards placed here after success [p.7]
• Quarter: one full game round (Planning + Administration) [p.11 — Game Overview]
• Performance: number derived from Thrust/Mass table used to determine launch difficulty [p.18 — Calculating the Performance]
• Static Fire: Director action requiring ≥1 First Stage + ≥1 Upper Stage built; roll ≥4 to gain a blue die [p.17 — Perform a Static Fire]
• Authority: numeric value on Engineer/Director cards used to determine action order and Space Operations Center requirements [p.4]
• Manned Flight: Technology characteristic counting astronauts; combinable on same rocket [p.38 — Manned Flight]
• Nation Intervention: once-per-game Director action; die roll required; no re-roll on failure [p.21 — Activate Your Nation Intervention]
• Public Market: where Technologies are sold for 40,000 (returned to bottom of deck) [p.17 — Sell 1 Technology]

FAQ

• Q: Can the same Director action be taken twice? — A: Yes, except Static Fire and Launch (each only once per turn) [p.16 — Perform Director Actions]
• Q: Can a built Technology be removed from the Launch Pad? — A: No, except via Director Anatoliy Feoktistov's Specialty [p.14 — Constructions Resolution]
• Q: Do Engineers on the Space Operations Center count toward quarter earnings? — A: Yes, all Engineers in hand are counted, including those assigned to the SOC [p.16 — Collection Quarter Earnings]
• Q: Can Technologies acquired via Specialty be built the same round? — A: Yes [p.13 — Specialties Resolution]
• Q: Can reserve dice be used to re-roll a failed Nation Intervention? — A: No; failure ends the action permanently [p.21 — Activate Your Nation Intervention]
• Q: What happens if a player can't pay negative quarter earnings? — A: Skip Administration turn; dismiss 1 Engineer per 20,000 unpaid [p.16 — Collection Quarter Earnings]
• Q: Can a Technology acquired and sold in the same round count for an Investor objective? — A: Acquire objectives: yes (card must be in reserve). Build objectives: must be on Launch Pad board [p.32 — Investor Objectives]