Lay out the ship as pictured above. Shuffle the Green backed Crew Cards and deal them out face up to players until a total of 6 have been dealt (this differs from the main rules for brevity), players can end up with different numbers of Crew each, then deal each player 1 face down Crew member (as a reserve). Place markers on each face up Crew’s Morale 4 and Oxygen 0. Find the numbered rank token and coloured movement token for each Crew Card, place the rank token on the Crew Cards with matching printed rank values and all movement tokens into the Central Corridor. Place markers on the General Supply meter’s Red 12 and Blue 0. Shuffle the Blue backed Movement Cards and Red backed Challenge Cards separately and stack them face down, lay out each of the 6 Mission Cards number side up.

 

General Rules:

 

The following Key words will be referenced on several cards:

Any two touching Locations of the same colour are “Adjacent” (internal Locations are White, Arrays are Yellow).

Any two touching Locations of different colours are “Attached”.

If a phrase includes the term “May” the active player may freely do as little or as much of it as they choose.

If a phrase includes the term “Try” the active player has to try to do as much of it as they can, any part of it that can happen will happen.

If a phrase includes the term “Must” the active player must do every part of the phrase entirely or no part of the card happens, though they can choose to do no part of it. They simply cannot perform one part of the phrase and not another part of it.

 

Your First Turn:

 

Deal each player 1 Movement Card (Blue backed) for each face up Crew Card they have, +1. Players select and place 1 card next to each of their face up Crew cards then, starting with the player controlling the Crew with the highest rank and passing left, players may move each of their Crew according to their chosen card. Then discard all Movement cards.

Remember that Locations have a maximum Crew capacity marked in their top right corner. Make sure not to get in each other’s way.

When you step aboard the Omega initially there are 3 things that are always a good idea:

1. Oxygen levels are a continual pressure in SSO so try to move 2 Crew into the Oxygen Hydro Pod.

2. Certain Movement Cards include additional rewards for co-ordinating properly to activate them, ensure that Crew with such cards assigned have room to activate them.

3. Each Challenge Deck will contain several cards which can devastate your mission if your Crew are in the wrong place when they strike. Since you don’t yet know where that is, try to spread out without isolating any Crew.

 

Crew in the Rec Room gain 1 Morale for each other Crew in there as they relax and form plans together. At this stage though only the Pilot or Generalist can gain more Morale.

 

Move the General Oxygen Count’s Red token down 1 space. Each living Crew breaths 1 point of Oxygen, the Blue meter counts in units the Red in sixes. Since you have 6 living Crew you only need to move the Red token.

 

Starting with the player controlling the highest ranked Crew players select their Crew in any order to perform 1 “Crew Action” printed on their card or current Location. At this stage using the Oxygen Hydro Pod to replace the Oxygen you just breathed is the only likely useful action, so if you have 2 Crew in the Hydro Pod each can increase the Blue meter on the Oxygen count by 1.

 

Flip the top most Challenge Card (Red backed) and perform its actions, this is the only stage you enact Challenge Cards so any you flip before this step are skipped. They represent the terrible events that wiped out the first Crew of the ship effecting yours, if they run out you win the game. After performing the events on the card it will tell you to trigger 1 or 2 Missions, representing your attempts to deal with the unfolding events. Flip face up the Missions listed on the Challenge Card. Mission cards will have 5 basic parts; the Success conditions, what you have to do to complete the Mission; the Fail conditions, what you have to avoid; the Rewards for success and Punishments for failure and finally the Mission count, how long you have to complete the Mission. Discuss or figure out a plan to achieve the success conditions and avoid the failure conditions without too much risk or loss. The Crew then vote on the plan, each player takes their Crew’s rank tokens and places them in their closed fists, Crew in the right hand vote to attempt the Mission, in the left to abort. All players reveal their votes and total up the scores on them, if the total in all right hands is higher then those tokens are moved to the Mission card and remain there until it is completed or failed, this stops these Crew from voting on future Missions and increases their punishment if the Mission fails, so the fewer tokens used the better. If the total in the left hands is higher perform the “Punishment” effects of the Mission (this differs from the main rules for simplicity), as ignoring events can be dangerous, and flip the Mission face down. All counters in left hands return to their Crew cards either way. If you think your plan is achievable and the rewards outweigh the risks ensure the Crew vote for it overall, but hold back some Crew tokens for future votes by having some Crew vote against.

 

You have successfully played your first turn of SSO. You should now have a Mission with a plan of action to carry out and a problem caused by the Challenge Card to deal with. Play future turns following the steps on the Quick Reference Card and checking the Main Rules to resolve any issues. Follow your plans, fix your problems and when you need to sacrifice yourself for the good of the group or betray them for your own benefit.  

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Back to How To Play SSO page

 

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