Sampo Sikiö
Finland
Espoo
It's no secret that the stars are falling from the sky / It's no secret that our world is in darkness tonight / They say the sun is sometimes Eclipsed by a moon / You know I don't see you when she walks in the room
Exiled
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The last couple of months have been great for us and Eclipse. It's been really wonderful to see the game being played and well received all over the world. We'd like to offer our heartfelt thanks for your enthusiasm and support!
As is proper for the season, here's a gift from us to the Eclipse players -- Elders of the Solstice, available for download here:
- Rules and components PDF
- Player board
The rules for the expansion can also be found below.
Thanks again, and good gaming for the holidays and upcoming year!
Touko & Sampo
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Eclipse Holiday Special 2011:
Elders of the Solstice
The very first discovered fragments of the Galactic history already mention the Elders of the Solstice. When the day is short, the stories tell, the Elders would arise, bringing light and joy to the righteous and smiting down the wicked. Their Dreadnoughts roamed the night unchallenged. It has been a long while since the Elders were last seen, but who knows – as the shadows of the great civilizations fall, the times are dark indeed...
Player materials:
1 Player Board, 1 Starting Sector hex (#269), 4 Ambassador Tiles, 5 Naughty Tokens
Special abilities:
Four Ambassadors.
The Production Tracks are shorter than usual.
Start with a Dreadnought instead of an Interceptor.
Special Dreadnought: The Dreadnought may not attack ships or Population and it cannot be attacked. It cannot be pinned and it does not pin enemy ships. Unlike other ships, moving the Dreadnought to another player’s territory is never considered a hostile act and it does not break the Diplomatic relations. You may not build more Dreadnoughts.
Special Diplomacy: Your Diplomacy proposal cannot be declined, if both players have Ambassadors left. If the player’s reputation track is full, he must choose and discard a Reputation Tile to make room for the Ambassador.
Naughty Tokens: The first time you are in conflict with a new opponent, give him a Naughty Token. If you were attacked, place it the -2VP Naughty side up. If you were the attacker, place it the Seminaughty side up. Each opponent may only hold one Naughty Token. If an opponent holds the Naughty Token the Seminaughty side up, it is not flipped even if he later attacks you.
Gifts: In the Setup Phase, place one Population cube on each of the nine squares on the Gift Track located on your Dreadnought blueprint. At the end of your Move action, if your Dreadnought is in a hex containing an opponent's Influence Disc, you may flip one unused Colony Ship to place the rightmost Gift Cube from the Gift Track on the Influence Disc on that hex. A Gift Cube may only be placed on a hex not yet containing a Gift, and the opponent may not have a Naughty Token the Naughty side up. The opponent immediately receives one resource, choosing freely. If the disc is later removed, the Gift stays on the hex. At the end of the game, you score the amount of Victory Points shown on the leftmost visible space on the Gift Track.
Tractor Beam: Start with the rare Tractor Beam Technology. Opponents may not retreat from a battle with you.
Trade rate 3:1
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Scott Lewis
United States
Castle Rock
Colorado
Dread Our Coming, Suffer Our Presence, Embrace Our Glory (Solonavi War Cry)
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Very interesting
 While obviously only a semi-serious race, it looks fun, though I'm guessing it's not quite as interesting in a 2-player game.
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Nate Centybear
United States
Essex Junction
Vermont
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This is hilarious and awesome.
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Please include it in the expansion!
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Wim van Gruisen
Netherlands
Maastricht
Unspecified
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What does the Tractor Beam do?
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Andy Andersen
United States
Newark
Delaware
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Excellent. Thanks
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Jonathan Ramundi
Canada
Toronto
Ontario
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Whymme wrote: What does the Tractor Beam do? Prevents enemy ships from retreating when in combat with your ships.
Looks like the key to this race is attacking players before they attack you. This way, they won't get naughty tokens and prevent you from dropping off gifts.
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Scott Lewis
United States
Castle Rock
Colorado
Dread Our Coming, Suffer Our Presence, Embrace Our Glory (Solonavi War Cry)
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Jotora wrote: Whymme wrote: What does the Tractor Beam do? Prevents enemy ships from retreating when in combat with your ships. Looks like the key to this race is attacking players before they attack you. This way, they won't get naughty tokens and prevent you from dropping off gifts.
You'd better watch out, you'd better not cry, you'd better not put I'm tellin' you why. Santa Clause is coming to destroy you... tonight!
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kilgore wrote:
When it comes to the artwork, this guy is my definite favourite (along with the Hegemony ogre).
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Hilarious!
... but why does Santa have a tractor beam?
Suggested variant technology:
Mass Driver: Usable only on naughty players to deliver a devastating coal barrage!
Damage 2, power 1
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Sampo Sikiö
Finland
Espoo
It's no secret that the stars are falling from the sky / It's no secret that our world is in darkness tonight / They say the sun is sometimes Eclipsed by a moon / You know I don't see you when she walks in the room
Exiled
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adebisi wrote: When it comes to the artwork, this guy is my definite favourite (along with the Hegemony ogre).
Thanks! Those familiar with the classic works of Rudolf Koivu might see where the inspiration came from..
MrThud wrote: ... but why does Santa have a tractor beam?
Who is Santa?
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Eirik Johnsbråten
Norway
Notodden
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Haha, this is so awesome!
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Jacob Ossar
United States
Massachusetts
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This is great! You guys are truly a class act.
Asking detailed rules questions might be gauche, like asking how much a present cost, but I can't resist: is the use of tractor beams optional? The way the description is phrased suggests that they work in every fight, whether you want them to or not.
I'm interested in details in part because it looks like the tractor beam technology might be a serious proposal for addressing perceived imbalances with plasma missle-armed interceptors. No?
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Lacombe
Louisiana
It was a dark and stormy night.
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Great! I can print the tokens and the hex on a normal A4 sized page with my printer, but how can I print the player board? The size is too big, I have to split the file in 2 and print on two A4 sized pages?
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Sampo Sikiö
Finland
Espoo
It's no secret that the stars are falling from the sky / It's no secret that our world is in darkness tonight / They say the sun is sometimes Eclipsed by a moon / You know I don't see you when she walks in the room
Exiled
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Tanelorn wrote: Great! I can print the tokens and the hex on a normal A4 sized page with my printer, but how can I print the player board? The size is too big, I have to split the file in 2 and print on two A4 sized pages?
Yep.
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Sampo Sikiö
Finland
Espoo
It's no secret that the stars are falling from the sky / It's no secret that our world is in darkness tonight / They say the sun is sometimes Eclipsed by a moon / You know I don't see you when she walks in the room
Exiled
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jossar wrote: is the use of tractor beams optional? The way the description is phrased suggests that they work in every fight, whether you want them to or not.
It is not optional. These folks aren't letting anyone run away..
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This is great, and it will be used at our table. But a few questions:
kilgore wrote: Special Dreadnought: The Dreadnought may not attack ships or Population and it cannot be attacked. It cannot be pinned and it does not pin enemy ships. Unlike other ships, moving the Dreadnought to another player’s territory is never considered a hostile act and it does not break the Diplomatic relations. You may not build more Dreadnoughts.
Q1: Does the SD prevent enemy ships from retreating into its hex? It does seem that it does by the rules, but we weren't sure if this was as intended.
Q2: Unlikely, as it cannot attack population, but if the dreadnaught is (alone) in an enemy-influenced hex which has no population cubes at the end of the combat phase, is the enemy influence disk removed as it would be for any other ship? It does seem like this is the case from the way the rules are written, but we're quite sure it is not intentional...
Q3: Apart from the question above, can the SD be used for exploration and influence in the same way as other ships? It does seem like this is the case, but again we aren't sure about the designers' intentions.
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Sampo Sikiö
Finland
Espoo
It's no secret that the stars are falling from the sky / It's no secret that our world is in darkness tonight / They say the sun is sometimes Eclipsed by a moon / You know I don't see you when she walks in the room
Exiled
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1 & 2: No.
3: Yes.
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Wow, quick service. Thank you very much! (And thanks for creating an amazing game.)
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So where is Easter Special? We wanna play bunnies.
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Markus Rathgeb
Germany
Erbach
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Arrr2D2 wrote: So where is Easter Special? We wanna play bunnies.
When it comes to bunnies, I would like to play the Playboy special
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It's no secret that the stars are falling from the sky / It's no secret that our world is in darkness tonight / They say the sun is sometimes Eclipsed by a moon / You know I don't see you when she walks in the room
