Outpost: Rules
Outpost: Rules
Each player commands a colony on a distant planet. Build factories, staff them with colonists and robots, and use the production they generate to buy colony upgrades. The first player to reach 75 victory points (VP) wins.
This is a simplified summary for online play. The full game uses the 20th Anniversary / Expert Rules v1.32 set.
Victory points
You score VP from:
- Manned factories: 1 VP each (2 VP for titanium, research, and new chemicals factories)
- Colony upgrades: 1 to 20 VP each, as printed on the card
Only factories with an operator assigned count. VP are recalculated every round.
The round
Each round has these steps, in order:
- Purchase order is set: most VP first; ties broken by total credits spent, then seat.
- Colony ship arrives: the market of colony upgrades is refilled to one card per player (rolled from the supply; unsold cards stay).
- Production: every manned factory deals you one production card of its type, and some upgrades deal you a free card. Production cards are your money.
- Discard: if you hold more cards than your hand capacity, discard down. Research and microbiotics cards never count against capacity.
- Actions, in purchase order. On your turn you may, in any order:
- Auction a colony upgrade from the market (see below)
- Buy factories, colonists, and robots by spending production cards
- End your turn by assigning your operators (colonists + robots) to factories
- Next round begins.
Spent production cards are discarded face-up; when a deck runs out its discard pile is reshuffled. You never get change, so overpaying burns the extra credits.
Production cards
Each card has a credit value. Deck averages:
| Factory | Cost | Avg value | VP (manned) | Requirement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ore | 10 | 3 | 1 | - |
| Water | 20 | 7 | 1 | - |
| Titanium | 30 | 10 | 2 | Heavy Equipment |
| Research | 30 | 13 | 2 | Laboratory |
| New Chemicals | 60 | 20 | 3 | pay with a research card |
Research and microbiotics cards do not count against hand capacity.
Operators
- Colonists cost 10 each (5 with Ecoplants), up to your population limit (starts at 5).
- Robots cost 10 each, require the Robots upgrade, and ignore the population limit (up to Robots copies x population).
Each operator mans one factory at the end of your turn. Unmanned factories produce nothing and score no VP.
Colony upgrades
Upgrades are won by auction. On your turn, pick a card from the market and open the bidding at no less than its list price. Going around the table, each player either raises the bid or passes; once you pass you are out. The highest bidder pays their bid (minus any discount) and takes the card. Some upgrades grant free factories or a free production card every round.
| Upgrade | List | VP | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Library | 15 | 1 | -10 on Scientists and Laboratory bids (per copy) |
| Warehouse | 25 | 1 | +3 hand capacity (per copy) |
| Heavy Equipment | 25 | 1 | Allows titanium factories; -5 on Warehouse/Nodule, -15 on Outpost (per copy) |
| Nodule | 25 | 2 | +3 population limit (per copy) |
| Scientists | 40 | 2 | Free research card each round (per copy) |
| Orbital Lab | 50 | 3 | Free microbiotics card each round (per copy) |
| Robots | 50 | 3 | Allows buying robots (per copy: up to population) |
| Laboratory | 100 | 5 | Allows research factories; free research factory |
| Ecoplants | 50 | 5 | Colonists cost 5; -10 on Outpost bids (per copy) |
| Outpost | 100 | 5 | Free titanium factory, +5 hand capacity, +5 population limit |
| Space Station | 120 | 10 | Free orbital medicine card each round |
| Planetary Cruiser | 160 | 15 | Free ring ore card each round |
| Moon Base | 200 | 20 | Free moon ore card each round |
The market and game phases
The market refills to one card per player each round by rolling from the supply. Which upgrades can appear depends on the leading player's VP:
- Under 10 VP: only Data Library, Warehouse, Heavy Equipment, Nodule (d4)
- 10+ VP: upgrades 1-10, up to Outpost (d10)
- Past the threshold (30-40 VP depending on player count): upgrades 2-13, up to Moon Base (d12+1)
No more than half the players can hold the same upgrade type in the market at once.
Strategy in one paragraph
Production is everything early: water factories and colonists before upgrades. Warehouses and Nodules are the strongest early buys. Mid-game, race for Scientists and Orbital Labs to fuel research production and New Chemicals factories. In the end game the big upgrades (Space Station, Planetary Cruiser, Moon Base) decide it, so hold cash when they are about to appear.