Solo and Co-op

Play any Mission solo or co-operatively: Bonus Goals and Setbacks, the four difficulty levels, team thresholds and the Impact board goal.

Every Mission works in co-op mode, with players working together. Solo is one-player co-op with one difference: you play seven rounds instead of six. All normal rules apply; you aim for team thresholds instead of a top score.

Extra setup

1. Shuffle the 6 Setback cards and stack 3 face down (4 in solo).
2. Shuffle the 6 Bonus Goal cards and put 3 face down on top of the Setbacks.
3. Return the unused cards to the box unseen.
4. Choose a difficulty:

Tip from the rulebook: keep the stack under the Wave, so passing the Wave reminds you to flip a card.

Each round

At the start of every round, round 1 included, flip the top card:

• Rounds 1–3: a Bonus Goal. Put it face up by the Scenario sheet.
• Round 4 onwards: a Setback. Resolve it at once, then discard it.

The seven goals

• Three Mission goals: the co-op banner under each goal gives the team threshold for your player count, listed as 1p | 2p | 3p | 4p | 5p on Missions. Leader bonuses are ignored.
• The Impact board goal: see below.
• Three Bonus Goals: from the cards.

Thresholds are for the team combined, not for each player.

The Impact board goal

The Co-op Goal sign on the Impact board gives the points your team needs from the Impact board, Journals and Specialists combined. Attribute tracks, leftovers and Mission goals do not count. Example: Mission 1 with three players needs 45 points from those sources.

Bonus Goals

	Card	Team threshold (1p | 2p | 3p | 4p | 5p)
	Scholarly — Research left over at the end; a stored Dive token’s Research counts	6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 30
	Thorough — fully completed zones	4 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 13
	Esteemed — Reputation + Inspiration track values	22 | 40 | 56 | 70 | 82
	Resourceful — Coordination + Ingenuity track values	22 | 40 | 56 | 70 | 82
	Synergistic — zones holding at least one disc or Vessel of every player	11 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 5
	Dedicated — Junior Specialists	5 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 19

Setbacks

	Card	Effect
	Exhaustion	Each player returns one of their discs from a Conservation site to their Staging area
	Tsunami	All Vessels move 2 zones left, with no arrival bonus
	Volcanic Activity	All Vessels move 2 zones up towards the surface, or as far as they can
	Protected Waters	In the depth-3 zone with the most discs, discs go back to Staging; set its Vessels aside, replace the zone from the depth-3 stack, then put the Vessels back
	Government Intervention	Each player returns one disc from a depth-1 or depth-2 zone to their supply
	Funding Shortage	Each player loses 2 in their lowest attribute, or flips a Senior Specialist back to Junior (no bonuses; a disc on it goes to supply)

How you win

At the end of the last round, count the goals you met. If that is at least your difficulty’s number, the team wins.

[UW] Uncharted Waters has an Enhanced Solo & Co-op mode on a separate rules sheet, with Mode cards, an Ocean Roamer tile and more Bonus Goals and Setbacks. That sheet is not covered here yet.