8. Ideas #

The progress of technology and philosophy is represented by Idea Cards. These can be claimed by taking the Research Idea Action (see p. 12), also simply called Research, and spending Monarch Points matching that Idea’s type. Some Ideas have prerequisites that must be satisfied before they can be Researched, and some Ideas will not be added to the Idea deck until the game reaches a certain Age.

Upon Researching an Idea, a player scores 2 and marks that Idea with a Tag chit.

If they are the second or third player to Research an Idea, any player(s) that have already Researched that Idea score another 1 each. Once 3 players have gotten the Idea, only the player Researching that Idea scores 0 for the Research Action.

Available Ideas and adding Ideas #

At the start of the game there are normally 3 Ideas of each type available to Research, with 1 of each type being a Basic Idea (green background). These are laid out in a 3 x 3 grid, with 1 column for each Monarch Power type. More Ideas will be added through Events as the game progresses, creating additional rows in the grid.

If an Event or a Mission lets you Research an Idea not on display, you may still do so by taking 1 unresearched, non-Basic Idea of matching type from the display and shuffling it back into the deck. Then, place your Researched Idea into the display grid. If there are no unresearched Ideas of the same type on display, make space for a new row of Ideas and add the new Idea there.

Government Forms #

Some Ideas are labeled as Government Forms. You may only ever have 1 of these Ideas Researched at any given time.

If you Research a Government Form when you already have one, you lose the earlier one. Remove your Tag chit from the Idea you lost. Score 0 as normal for the new Idea; you do not lose 0 for the lost Idea.