Operations, Surfacing and Upkeep
Play cards, spend fuel to move and drill, visit the shops, and reset for another turn.
Operations order
During Operations, freely alternate between playing cards, moving, drilling, using default functions, exhausting mine tiles, and using face-up drones. You may repeat an effect as often as you can pay for it. You do not have to spend every movement or drill point as soon as you gain it; track unspent points on your dashboard gauges.
When you finish choosing effects, check your mech’s floor. If it is on the surface, take the Surfacing phase. If not, skip straight to Upkeep.
Playing cards
Choose one way to play each card from your hand:
- Main effect: pay its fuel cost and resolve its effects. Track any movement and drills it creates on your gauges. Resolve the card’s instant and unique effects as part of playing it. If the main effect has a solid-fuel cost, move one mineral from storage to overflow instead of paying fuel; it earns no credits but still scores as a mineral.
- Gain fuel: play the card and increase your fuel by the amount shown. Never exceed your fuel cap.
- Keep it: leave the card in hand for a later turn. One card is free to retain during Upkeep; each additional card costs 1 fuel.
Played cards remain in your play area until Upkeep. Permanent cards stay beside your dashboard and can be used once during each Operations phase.
Moving and drilling
Spend 1 movement to move your mech up or down one floor. You may enter only an open floor; a floor with a barrier is closed.
Spend drills for one of these actions:
| Drill action | Cost and result |
|---|---|
| Collect a mineral | 1 drill to take one mineral from your floor and place it in storage. You cannot collect if storage is full. |
| Excavate a corridor | Pay the number shown above your floor’s corridor stack. Add the minerals printed on its top tile to that floor, then place the tile in your progress track. |
| Remove a barrier | If your mech is directly above it, pay the barrier’s drill cost, place the barrier in your progress track, and reveal the floor card below. Resolve its reveal effect, then move down to the newly opened floor for free. |
If you can, collect minerals added to your floor by the corridor you just excavated. Each mineral still takes a separate drill.
Default functions
These actions are available during Operations before or after playing a card, but not while resolving that card’s main effect:
- Pay 3 fuel to gain 1 movement.
- Pay 4 fuel to gain 1 drill.
- Once per turn, take one Damage card into your discard pile to gain 3 fuel.
Damage cards may be repaired during a later Surfacing phase. If the Damage stack runs out and you need to take damage, return the top mineral from the rightmost non-empty column of your market to the supply instead.
Drones and mine tiles
Flip a face-up drone face down to either sell one mineral from storage or buy one card from a shop. A drone purchase places the card on top of your deck; it does not refill the shop until Upkeep. Some card effects refresh a drone.
You may exhaust a mine tile you own to use its printed effect. Flip it face down afterward; exhausted tiles are worth fewer points. Battery icons on a tile can also pay the battery part of an advanced card’s purchase cost.
Surfacing
Take these actions in any order when you end Operations on the surface. Apart from repair, repeat them as often as you like:
- Sell minerals: move every mineral from storage to the bottom open space in its market column and gain the credits shown. If the market column is full, move that mineral to the rightmost empty overflow slot and take its overflow price. Minerals in storage, market, and overflow all score.
- Discard cards: discard any number of cards remaining in hand for 2 credits each. Cards left in hand still cost fuel to keep during Upkeep.
- Upgrade storage: pay 3 credits to move the storage cap one space right.
- Upgrade fuel: pay the credit cost printed on the next fuel-cap space and move the cap one step right.
- Repair once: pay 5 credits to remove one card from your hand, play area, discard pile, or top of deck. Return a Damage card to the Damage stack; remove another repaired card from the game. If you repair a card in hand, draw a replacement.
- Buy cards: pay the credits shown. Advanced cards also require battery icons by exhausting mine tiles. Put a normal purchased card on top of your deck; put a permanent card beside your dashboard.
- Refresh one shop: once per game, flip your shop-refresh tile and replace all available cards in one shop with two new cards. After the advanced shop expands, refresh it with four cards.
- Refuel: move your fuel marker to your current fuel cap.
Upkeep
Upkeep happens every turn, whether you surfaced or not:
- Keep one unplayed card for free. Pay 1 fuel for every additional card you retain.
- Move played cards to your discard pile. Keep permanent cards beside your board, and reset movement and drill gauges to zero.
- Draw three cards, even if you kept cards in hand. If your deck runs out, immediately shuffle your discard pile into a new face-up deck.
- Refill empty shop spaces from their matching decks. A shop deck that runs out stays empty.