The Five Actions

Travel, Sonar (and Discover), Dive, Conserve and Journal: where each is done, what it costs, Dive tokens, Journal effects and Journal actions, and paying Research.

Every action except Travel happens in a zone where you have a Vessel, at the spot marked with that action’s outlined symbol. Sonar, Conserve and Journal need a second disc from your Staging area, which stays in the ocean for the rest of the game.

Travel

Move one of your Vessels from its zone to a different zone, then take that zone’s Arrival bonus.

• Your Technology level (the lower row of your Ingenuity track) is both the farthest you move, in zones, and the deepest zone you may end in.
• A Vessel moves up, down, left or right, one zone at a time — never diagonally, never through an empty space with no zone.
• Keep Vessels in the Travel box of their zone.

Arrival bonus

The reward under the Travel symbol of a zone. You take it:

• each time a Vessel ends a Travel there — not for zones passed through;
• when a new Vessel enters its launch zone, including your first Vessel at setup.

Bonuses for travelling away from a zone (Vortex, Jellyfish Bloom) come after the move, together with the Arrival bonus.

Sonar

Put a disc from your Staging area on the leftmost empty space of a Sonar track in a zone with your Vessel, and take what that space shows.

• A zone with several tracks lets you choose the track.
• Some spaces show a common reward; most show Discover.
• The disc may complete a link.
• No empty space on the zone’s tracks means no Sonar there.

Discover

The symbol shows two boards (you always draw two) and the depths you may draw from: “1-2” means two from depth 1, two from depth 2 or one of each; “3+” means depth 3 or deeper; “3” means depth 3 only.

1. Choose a board. Draw two boards from the allowed stacks, keep one and put the other at the bottom of its stack.
2. Place it in any legal spot at its depth. Depth-1 boards start new columns within the Mission’s limits; any deeper board needs a zone one depth shallower directly above it.
3. Discovery bonus. Take the faint reward at its top left. A zone with a Dive site gets its stack of face-down Dive tokens now.

• You may place a zone deeper than you can Travel to.
• If no allowed depth has a legal spot, draw from the shallowest depth that has one. If the whole play area is full, take an Impact instead.
• A drawn board with the mission symbol that your Mission doesn’t use is discarded and replaced.

Dive

In a zone with your Vessel whose Dive site still has tokens, take the top token and turn it face up.

Dive tokens

Each token shows Research and, usually, an effect. When you spend one (onto a discard pile) you take either its Research or its effect.

• Spend tokens at any time in your own turn — before, after or between a Specialist’s actions — including the turn you got them.
• Spending a token can replace your activation, or come on top of it.
• A token’s action works like the normal action: Sonar, Conserve or Journal still need a Vessel there and a second disc.
• At the end of your turn you may keep one token on your mat; spend the rest first.
• When the token supply runs out, shuffle the discard pile into a new supply.

The effects are listed with pictures under Cards & Components.

Conserve

Choose a free Conservation site in a zone with your Vessel, pay its Research cost, take its rewards (often Impact) and put a disc from your Staging area on it. The disc may complete a link.

Journal

In a zone with your Vessel, choose a free Journal site whose Field symbol ( ) also appears on a Journal in the display. Pay that Journal’s Research cost, put a disc on the site, take the card and refill the display from the deck.

• The Journal may show other Field symbols too; no Journal in the display with the site’s symbol means you can’t Journal there.
• Whichever symbol you used, all the card’s effects apply.

Journal effects

Row	Effect
You	You gain it at once — often a Promotion
Others	Every other player gains it at once (not you)
Points	You score it at the end of the game
Action	An activation circle you can use on later turns (below)

Journal actions

Instead of activating a Specialist, put a disc from your Staging area on an empty activation circle of one of your Journals and do its action. That disc stays there for the rest of the game.

Paying Research

A symbol with a number is a Research cost. Pay it from your Research track; you may also spend Dive tokens for their Research at any time. The track holds at most 12 — Research beyond that is lost.