Rounds and Specialists

The two phases of a round — Preparation (recruit, gain discs, reassign) and Activation (one Specialist per turn) — attribute tracks and levels, promotion and the end of a round.

The game lasts six rounds (seven in solo). A round has two phases, and the player with the Wave goes first in both, then clockwise. The flow-of-play diagram on your mat shows the order; its faint lines lead to the track that drives each step.

Attribute tracks and levels

Your mat has four attribute tracks. Each is split into five brackets, and the row under each bracket shows your level for that track — the number of symbols printed there (1 to 5):

Track	Level	What the level does
Reputation	Recruitment level	Highest Specialist tier you may recruit
Inspiration	Effort level	Discs you gain each round
Coordination	Reassignment level	Discs you take back from Specialists each round
Ingenuity	Technology level	How many zones away and how deep your Vessels Travel

• Only the bracket you are in counts; the brackets are not added up.
• Reaching the symbol at space 10 of any track gives an Impact. Going past the end sends the cube back to the symbol and gives the Impact again.
• The first time your Ingenuity cube reaches space 2 and space 7 (the Vessel icons), put a new Vessel in the Mission’s launch zone and take its Arrival bonus.

Phase 1: Preparation

Each player in turn does all three steps, 1a to 1c, before the next player starts. You may pass the tray on as soon as you have recruited.

Recruitment

Take one Specialist from the tray. Its tier — the symbols in its top corner — must not be higher than your Recruitment level.

• A recruited Specialist always starts on its Junior (blue) side; duplicates are allowed.
• Take its immediate gains at once. A gain to Inspiration or Coordination already counts for the next two steps.
• If you take a tier-5 and leave its pocket empty, move the top tile of another tier-5 pocket there, so three tier-5s are always offered.
• You always recruit: if no tile is left at a tier you may take, take one from the lowest tier that still has tiles.

Effort

Take as many discs from your supply to your Staging area as your Effort level. If your supply runs out, use another colour or any substitute.

Reassignment

Take back as many discs from your Specialists to your Staging area as your Reassignment level. If you can’t free them all, choose which; the rest stay.

In round 1 you have one disc on your Team Leader and Reassignment level 1, so you take it back.

Phase 2: Activation

From the Wave, clockwise, each player takes a turn or passes. Once you pass you take no more turns this round. The round goes on until everyone has passed.

Taking a turn

Put a disc from your Staging area on a Specialist in your tableau whose activation circle is empty, then you may do its action(s).

• That disc only allows the actions. Sonar, Conserve and Journal need a second disc from your Staging area (never from your supply) to place in the ocean.
• To act in a zone you need a Vessel there. Each zone shows an outlined action symbol where that action is done.
• You may activate a Specialist and do nothing, and you may decline any reward.
• Some things replace an activation — a Dive token or a Journal action circle. Rules about “your activated Specialist” then apply to that instead.

Specialists with several actions

Promotion

A Promotion flips one of your Junior Specialists to its Senior (gold) side. The promotion bar at the bottom of each Junior shows what the Senior side has.

• Take the attributes, Research or Impact printed on the Senior side. You keep what the Junior side gave you.
• A disc on the Junior’s activation circle goes back to your supply — but the Senior is then free to activate again this round.
• Team Leaders start as Seniors and cannot be promoted.

End of the round

When everyone has passed, the round ends. After round 6 the game ends at once — everyone then has seven Specialists, Team Leader included — and you go to final scoring. Otherwise pass the Wave clockwise and start the next round.