SSO General Rules Guide
In the interests of saving box space, the SSO main rules are extremely dense. As such we have created a series of guides for first time players with more in depth explanation. The following guide goes into further detail on some of the general rules.
Please note that all rules both generally and in specific phases are the same irrespective of which Challenge Deck is selected. Also other than set up all rules remain the same for solo play or with multiple players. One player is not a separate mode, just another player count.
SSO uses three primary key word terms:
May – If part of a phrase contains May then the player activating the phrase may do as much or as little of that part of it as they choose.
Try – If part of a phrase contains Try then the player activating the phrase has to try to do as much of it as is currently possible.
Must – If part of a phrase contains Must then the player activating the phrase must perform all parts of it in full or no part of it occurs, though players are free to have no part of it occur.
Each step contains the following general elements aside from its specific parts:
1: Begin step.
2: Flip face up all face down white Locations with Solar Arrays attached.
3: Perform step.
4: Crew in face down Locations die.
5: End step.
6: Trigger and perform any Death Phases.
Return to 1.
Flipping Crew Cards:
In the base set of SSO Crew will only be flipped face down by death or face up by unfreezing due to death, though later decks and expansions will extend this mechanic.
Whenever a Crew is flipped face down, for any reason, immediately move all of its associated tokens onto its card.
Whenever a Crew is flipped face up, for any reason, set its Morale and Oxygen to 0, place its rank token on its card and its movement token in the Location of its controlling player’s choice.
Random Determination:
Randomly determining Crew requires all relevant rank tokens be placed into a container, the specified number selected without looking and checked then all used tokens returned to their Crew cards.
Remember to pick up only tokens specified by any conditions of the random determination, all such tokens return to their Crew cards after random determination; this can result in rank tokens moving from a Mission to a Crew card.
Randomly determining Locations requires a coin to be flipped (the Captain’s Lucky Poker Chip is provided with the Kickstarter print run for this purpose) and eliminating all Locations whose listed letter in brackets does not match the result (T for tails, or H for heads). Repeat for letters in order until only the required number of Locations remains. Where all eligible Locations list the same current letter, skip to the next.
Remember that face down Locations lose all qualities except colour and so can never be selected by random determination.
Split Decisions:
At all points if there is a choice to be made whether between a range of options or the ordering of timing various steps and it is otherwise unclear how the choice is to be made the player controlling the highest ranked Crew (2 is higher than 1) makes the choice.
Maximum Levels:
Mission Guides, Morale and Personal Oxygen counts cannot raise past their top level. The General Oxygen Supply count cannot rise past its set up level. No count can drop below 0. This means the general supply cannot be increased at the start of the game until the Crew have begun to breath.
Flipping Cards:
When text requires that a card be flipped it should be turned from whatever its current face is to its other. When text requires that a card be flipped face up or face down it can only be flipped as specified. If it asks for a face up card to be flipped face up or face down card face down, nothing occurs.
Remember that face down Locations lose all qualities except colour, as such an instruction to “Flip a Pod” can never flip a Location face up.
Rank tokens:
Certain effects will move specific rank tokens, such as activating abilities or voting on Missions, to move them simply pick them up and put them in their new location. Remember if an effect does not specify which rank token to move the player controlling the highest ranking Crew decides which to move (see Split Decisions) and potentially where to move it to.
A note on rank tokens:
Rank tokens are best thought of as representing what is on a Crew member’s mind at any given point, what they are giving their personal thought or attention to. If they vote for a Mission they will then be giving that Mission their personal attention and will be against committing to additional Missions until it is dealt with; if they use the Computer Module or Medical Pod to do down another Crew member their thoughts will be on that Crew’s potential reaction to their treachery and filled with guilt such that they will be unwilling to work as a team on Missions or focus on voting; if Mission Control asks Crew to report on each other their concentration will be on the individual they are asked to report on. They can calm their minds by dealing with the source of their concerns or by consulting Mission Control via the Radio Pod.