Uncharted Waters
The Uncharted Waters content expansion: 19 Ocean boards with their special rules, new Dive tokens, Journals and tier-5 Specialists, the Scoring track and Missions 11–14.
Short tag: [UW] — a content expansion: no new systems, just more of everything. Every component meant to be mixed into the base game carries the UW symbol, so you can sort it out again. Rules: the Uncharted Waters rulebook (4 pages, 2026).
The Uncharted Waters components are not pictured here yet; the text follows the rulebook.
What it adds
| Component | How to use it |
|---|---|
| 19 Ocean boards | 11 have normal backs: mix them into the stacks. 8 are special zones that enter only when a Scenario or another board says so; their back explains how. Keep them apart |
| 2 double-sided Scenario sheets | Missions 11–14 |
| 1 Tectonic Split tile | Mission 11 only |
| 1 Blue Hole Bottom tile | With the six Blue Hole boards (Mission 12, but not only there) |
| 4 Trench Bottom tiles | Mission 13 only |
| 8 Fog tiles | Mission 14 only |
| 7 Journals | 4 with normal backs go into the deck; 3 with other backs enter only when an Ocean board says so |
| 12 Dive tokens | Mix into the supply |
| 6 tier-5 Specialists | Shuffle with the other tier-5s; extras stay nearby |
| 5 Descender markers | Only with the Mariana Trench |
| Scoring track | See below |
| 8 Mode cards, Ocean Roamer tile, 15 Bonus Goals, 19 Setbacks | The Enhanced Solo & Co-op mode, on its own rules sheet (not covered yet) |
New Dive tokens
- You gain 5 Research; everyone else gains 2.
- You gain 2 discs; everyone else gains 1.
- You gain 2 of the attribute shown; everyone else gains 1.
- Spend 2 Research to gain 2 discs.
New scoring track
Keep it beside the Scenario sheet. When you would put a marker in a 1- or 2-point scoring space of the Impact board, leave the space empty and put your marker on the first space of that Scoring track instead, or advance your marker already there. At the end of the track, start a new marker.
At game end, convert the markers still in scoring spaces into advances on the tracks (a 3 is one step on each track), then add up the spaces your markers reached.
New tier-5 Specialists
When you fill the tray, shuffle all tier-5 Specialists together and put three random ones in each tier-5 pocket. Leftovers stay nearby for the Deepwater Telemetry Buoy.
| Specialist | Clarification |
|---|---|
| Aquanaut | Its Dive actions may take a token from a Dive site one zone away from your Vessel, orthogonally |
| Journal Editor | On recruit, the Journal display grows by two for the rest of the game. On activation, gain 2 Research |
| Scholar | Its Journal action publishes two Journals with one disc on one site; both need the site’s Field symbol and you pay both costs |
| Hydrographic Surveyor | On recruit, discover a zone of any depth and you may move a Vessel there at once, beyond your Technology level, taking its arrival bonus. On activation, gain a disc |
| Restoration Ecologist | On recruit, take 2 Dive tokens from the supply (the one-token limit applies only at the end of your turn). On activation, gain a disc |
| Renowned Visionary | When promoted, remove it from the game and recruit any available Specialist up to your Reputation level |
Special zones
| Zone | Special rule |
|---|---|
| Thermohaline Circulation | On arrival move your Vessel to the zone below, even beyond your Technology level, and take that zone’s arrival bonus |
| Cold Upwell | On arrival move your Vessel to the Cold Upwell above and take its arrival bonus. Any Vessel entering must stop here; you may decline the push upwards |
| Sargasso Sea | When placed discover a depth-2 zone directly below (gain 1 Impact if the spot is taken). Your Vessels may end a move here only with Technology 3+; you may pass through with 2. Completing either of its links lets the involved players (active first) Travel away |
| Blue Hole Opening | When placed shuffle the six Blue Hole boards into a stack and keep the Blue Hole Bottom nearby. Its Dive sites empty left to right. Completing a Dive site here discovers a Blue Hole zone (draw 2, keep 1) at the bottom of this column, even beyond the usual deepest row; the last one adds the Blue Hole Bottom. If a non-Blue Hole zone sits lower in the column, gain 1 Impact instead |
| All Blue Hole zones | Entered only from above or below. Only Blue Hole zones go beneath them. Links may run onto the zone above or below. They count as depth 2 for everything, goals included |
| Subduction Trench | When placed add both Subduction Trench Journals to the display. Its Journal sites publish only those Journals, which are not replaced |
| Polymetallic Nodules | When placed add its Journal to the display. Its Journal site publishes only that Journal, not replaced |
| Deepwater Telemetry Buoy | When placed add three random tier-5 Specialists from outside the tray. Travelling away, you may discard your Team Leader (its disc goes to supply) to recruit one of them |
| Mariana Trench | When placed add the Mariana Trench Bottom below; everyone puts a Descender in its Travel box. Taking a token from its Dive site lets you pay the Research on the arrow to descend one level (one Descender per slot) and take the slot’s reward; refill the site with one token. The Bottom is depth 6 |
| Deep Current Deflection | Sonar on the linked track also Dives at this zone’s Dive site |
| Anoxic Environment | Completing its links gives each involved player 1 Research per disc they have in a marked spot here |
| Coral Garden | With a disc in the marked spot, Journalling here lets you Journal again here |
| Debris-Filled Caves | Journalling at its sites forces you to move a Vessel from here to the depth-1 zone of the column (with arrival bonus) or pay 2 Research. While a Dive token covers a Sonar track, nobody can Sonar there |
| Undersea Volcano | While the Dive token stays on the bottom-middle site, Vessels cannot leave downwards. Journalling here adds two Dive tokens to its site and every Vessel here must Travel away (active player first, clockwise). With a disc in a marked spot, a token from its Dive site gives 1 Ingenuity |
Missions 11–14
The Scenario sheets for these Missions are not reproduced here yet; the rulebook clarifies:
Mission 11: Divided Waters
- Columns A–C are the West Sea, E–G the East Sea. Column D holds only its surface zone and the Tectonic Split tile; no zone may ever go there. If its random depth-1 zone would bring another zone below it, replace it.
- Impact goes in the grid of the sea where it was gained, including Impact others gain from your action there. If the source is column D or no zone (recruiting a Pilot), choose the grid.
- Filling the 3-point hex marks that sea in Goal 3’s box.
- Goal 1: zones with your disc or Vessel in the West Sea and in the East Sea; you score the lower count.
- Goal 2: your discs in each sea; you score the difference. In co-op each player scores separately; a set number of players must reach 10.
- Goal 3: your Journal discs and Vessels in the marked sea; nothing if no sea is marked.
Mission 12: The Blue Hole
- Part of the Impact grid is the Blue Hole grid: only Impact gained in a Blue Hole zone may go there, and you may choose the other grid instead.
- A discovered zone may go under a zone of its own depth, so rows mix depths. When travelling, the zone’s depth counts, not its row.
- At most seven rows (a zone that adds one below it may exceed this).
- Column C takes only Blue Hole zones.
- Goal 2: each Sonar track of a zone counts on its own for completeness.
Mission 13: In the Trenches
- Put every zone with “Trench” in its name from the depth-3, 4 and 5 stacks one per column at its depth, with its extra components, and a Trench Bottom tile under each. Remove leftover Trenches. Nothing may ever go below a Trench Bottom. The Mariana Trench’s two zones count as one Trench.
- Goal 1: for each Trench, whoever has the most discs there (for the Mariana Trench, the deepest Descender) scores 1 per zone in that column where they have discs. Co-op: a Trench is complete with no empty disc spots and no Dive tokens left; the Mariana Trench is complete when a Descender reaches its deepest point.
Mission 14: The Fog
- Each player puts one Vessel in the depth-3 stack and one in the depth-4 stack instead of gaining them normally, and starts with 2 Ingenuity.
- Discovering a depth-3 or depth-4 zone: place a Lost Vessel from that stack upside down there (Located); locating someone else’s gives you 1 in your lowest attribute. Located Vessels are not Vessels yet.
- Arriving in a zone with a Located Vessel Rescues it: it becomes a normal Vessel (no arrival bonus for it). Rescuing someone else’s gives you 1 in your lowest attribute.
- Every column starts with two face-down depth-1 zones topped by a Fog tile. Discovering depth 1, choose an un-fogged stack and pick one of its two zones. With every stack fogged, depth 1 cannot be discovered.
- Placing Impact on a Sun hex lets you move a Fog tile from a stack, face up, into an empty slot of the Impact board touching an existing tile, and take the slot’s bonus.