Rule Clarifications

Well, nobody's perfect! There are always things in the rules that could have been a bit clearer. We'll post clarifications here. If you have any questions, send an email!
 

If a Resource Stack runs out, but the corresponding Resource Discard Pile is empty, and then later in the turn cards are placed into the Discard Pile, when do I refresh the Resource Stack?

 
Oops -- we probably should have covered that one! In this case, the spent cards should remain in the Discard Pile until the next time someone has to draw a card from the corresponding Resource Stack.

The specific events which constitute needing to draw a card from the Resource Stack and thereby trigger refreshing the Stack are: normal production, and the special "consolation prize" production caused by the Meteor Strike action card.

Rapid Prototyping, however, does not trigger a refresh. That's because Rapid Prototyping says "Search through a Resource Stack of your choice and take any one card you find." It's doesn't say to draw a card; it says to take any one card you find. If the stack is empty, you wouldn't find anything. Needless to say, don't play Rapid Prototyping on an empty Stack!

None of the above changes the procedure for when the Resource Stack runs out but the corresponding Discard Pile is not empty. In that case, you just turn over the Discard Pile immediately (as the rulebook says), whether someone needs to draw from it or not.

If two or more players achieve the victory conditions in the same turn, is there a tie breaker?

 
This is actually covered in the rulebook, but it's buried at the end of the Lay Down Cards section. It should at least be cross-referenced in the How to Win section.

Anyway, the short answer is that the player who wins first, wins. Because laying down cards happens one player at a time, with the token holder going first, one person will corner their final resource first and the game ends immediately. Other players do not get a chance to lay down cards, even if they also could have won on that turn.

So in that sense, the token is the "tie breaker."

If you Meteor Strike a planet affected by Labor Unrest, does the planet produce?

 
Tricky! Labor Unrest says "the planet does not produce" while Meteor Strike says "draw resource cards as though the discarded planet had just produced." We can resolve this with an elaboration of the Action Card Rule Precedence concept: "In the case of conflict between the rules on two Action Cards, the more recently played Action Card has precendence." So, yes, the planet would produce, because Meteor Strike was played second.

This could also be justified in game fiction terms. The "production" that occurs after Meteor Strike represents your company's scavenger ships salvaging useful materials from the wreckage of your planet; it has nothing to do with how good or bad your labor relations are... or were.

If someone has played Above Board, and then later during the same turn I draw Undisclosed Location, can I play it then to protect myself from the effects of Above Board?

...or...

Can I play Undiclosed Location to remove an existing Labor Unrest from one of my planets?

 
In both cases, no. You must play Undisclosed Location immediately in response to the action card it is intended to counter. You can't use Undisclosed Location after the fact to escape the lasting effects of Labor Unrest or Above Board.

How many cards can a player lay down during the "lay down cards" phase? The rules could be interpreted to state that you can add only one card per turn to your existing sets.

 
This is a bit of awkward wording in the rulebook. In fact, you can lay down as many cards as you want in a single turn. You can add one or more cards to any number of existing set(s), and/or you can start one or more new sets. The only restrictions on laying down cards are: (1) if you are starting a new set, you must start it with at least three cards; and (2) the maximum number of sets you can have is equal to the number of planets in your Empire.