Invader deck

Frequently Asked Questions

Adversaries

• With Habsburg Monarchy (Livestock Colony) Level 5 (Wave of Immigration), do you do the effect before or after the Explore on that turn?
  After completely resolving the Explore Card above it, but before resolving the Adversary's "After the Explore Step" Escalation. If you're resolving another Explore Card that turn, e.g., because you're playing the Surges of Colonization scenario, resolve the effects of the Reminder Card before revealing the next Explore Card. Similarly, the effects of the Reminder Card happen before anything triggered by Advancing the Invader Cards, like the extra Build Step caused by the "Fortification" Event.

  Formally, Reminder Cards resolve once you're done resolving the Invader Card above them. (Or, in unusual cases like this FAQ, if they end up atop the Invader Deck.)

  This ruling originally implied that the "Seek Prime Territory" Escalation happens first. Because the timing of the Escalation was made more explicit in later printings, this ruling has been updated accordingly.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Invader deck, Ordering, Reminder Cards, Combining Adversaries, 6 more...
• Can the Salt Deposits Invader Card be removed or discarded from the Invader Deck?
  No, the only way it can leave the Invader Deck is by being advanced out of the Explore Space into the Build Space at the end of the Invader Phase in which it was revealed.

  In particular:

  • If you would Accelerate it out of the deck, instead discard the next Stage II card underneath it (or the top-most Stage III card if there are no Stage II cards left).
  • Visions of a Shifting Future can't bury it to the bottom of the deck (since it's specially placed during Setup), but can shuffle it to take a chance at delaying it.
  • The Past Returns Again can't swap it with a card in the Invader discard.
    Tags: Accelerate, Invader deck, Visions of a Shifting Future (Fractured Days Split the Sky), The Past Returns Again (Fractured Days Split the Sky), 3 more...

Definitions

• What does it mean that a land "matches" an Invader card? Most places, it seems to mean "has the land type shown on the card" and nothing else, but the Notes on England (p. 27 JE) use it differently.
  The p. 27 note on England (first JE printing) is incorrect – all "match" means is "matches the land type shown on the card". Limitations from the Invader Action are separate.

  The England example should instead say, "Invader Build Cards affect matching lands without Invaders if they are adjacent to at least 2 (town)/(city)".
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Invader deck, Matches, Build, Kingdom of England, 0 more...

Effect Rules

• If an effect happens after a particular step of the Invader Phase (e.g., "after the Build Step") and there are multiple Invader cards in the corresponding space, does it happen after resolving each card?
  No, resolve the triggered action(s) after the entire step is over, once you've finished resolving every card in that step. If the triggered action references the corresponding cards, it refers to all of those cards.

  So, for example, when up against Habsburg Monarchy (Livestock Colony) Level 1+ and have both a "Jungles" card and a "Mountains+Wetlands" card in the Build Space, then (in order):

  • The Invaders build in Jungles;
  • The Invaders build in Mountains and Wetlands;
  • "Migratory Herders" triggers, gathering Towns from Sands into each Jungle, Mountain, and Wetland.
    Tags: Ordering, Invader deck, Triggered Actions, Habsburg Monarchy (Livestock Colony), 9 more...

General Play

• What is the Invader Stage when the Invader Deck is empty?
  Stage III.

  Normally, the Stage is shown by the top card of the Invader Deck, but on the last turn of the game (before the game ends when you attempt to draw an Invader Card and fail), the Invader Deck is empty. It is Stage III for the purpose of Event Cards and similar.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Invader deck

Invader Actions

• What happens when multiple Invader Cards are in the same space on the Invader Board? (e.g., due to Explorers are Reluctant)
  In the corresponding step of the Invader Phase, resolve each card one at a time, starting with the oldest card – the one closest to the Invader Board. When Invader Cards advance at the end of the Invader Phase, the cards move together. [B&C p. 14, JE p. 11]

  Each card separately determines where it creates Invader Actions. If a land matches multiple cards, it can thus get an Invader Action from each one! Clarifications for specific actions:

  • Ravage: Defend applies separately to each Ravage. Only add Blight if a single Ravage deals 2+ Damage to the land. In the uncommon case that a Ravage created by the first card adds or moves Invaders, it can change which lands Ravage due to the second card.
  • Build: Towns/Cities added by the first Build Card affect what is built in that land by the second Build Card.
  • Explore: Pieces added by the first Explore Card can be sources for the second Explore Card, though this only matters if something makes an Explore Action add Towns/Cities or allows Explorers to be sources.

  Anything effect that checks which lands match the Invader Cards in a particular space (e.g., the Hard-Working Settlers Event) or the terrains showing on those cards (e.g., the Fortification Event), checks all of those cards. (It generally won't matter how many times those lands match or those terrains appear, just if they do.)
  Tags: Invader deck, Matches, Tsardom of Russia, Surges of Colonization, 6 more...
• If a land matches an Invader Card multiple ways – eg, if the Stage III Jungle + Wetland comes up and "Weave Together the Fabric of Place" has been used to merge a Jungle with a Wetland – does it perform that action multiple times?
  No. Invader Cards check "what lands match the land type(s) printed on me and are affected by the rules for the current action?", then perform that action once in each matching land.
  Tags: Invader deck, Land Types, Matches, Weave Together the Fabric of Place, 0 more...
• When resolving a 2nd (or 3rd!) Explore Card in a single Invader Phase, what's the Invader Stage while resolving the later card(s)?
  Whatever if would be if they were on top of the deck (usually the Phase printed on them).

  Most of the time, this distinction doesn't matter – almost all checks of the Invader Stage happen earlier in the Invader Phase, when resolving an Event Card. However, when resolving an Explore Card during the "Ward the Shores" Scenario, the Stage of the game determines which pieces are added by Explore Actions. This can change in the middle of the Explore Step when resolving multiple Explore Cards.
  Tags: Invader deck, Ward the Shores, Explorers are Reluctant, Surges of Colonization, 0 more...
• What happens when a specific Invader Card doesn't advance (e.g., due to "Immigration Slows")?
  When advancing Invader Cards, leave the card in the space it's already in, but advance all of the other Invader Cards. There will then usually be two (or more!) Invader Cards in that space for the following Invader Phase. On future turns, the card that didn't move will resolve before the newly-arrived card, and both cards will advance together.

  The Salt Deposits card (Habsburg Mining Expedition Level 4) is a special case that permanently doesn't advance once it reaches the Ravage Space. (It advances normally out of the Explore and Build Spaces.) It will share that space with other Ravage Cards on subsequent turns, and will always be the first of those cards to resolve.
  Tags: Invader deck, Immigration Slows, Habsburg Mining Expedition

Scenarios

• In the Surges of Colonization scenario, are the Explore Cards on surge turns resolved simultaneously or sequentially?
  Sequentially, just like for other effects that resolve more than one Explore Card in a single turn.

  Explorers added in the first card will be sources of Explorers for the second card. Also, if a land matches multiple cards, it can get Explored multiple times.
  Tags: Explore, Invader deck, Surges of Colonization

Spirits and Innate Powers

• What happens if Fractured Days Split the Sky uses Visions of a Shifting Future on the Invader deck, and there is a reminder card right below the top card?
  Set aside the reminder card, look at the top Invader Card, and shuffle the top two Invader Cards (one of which was previously below the reminder card). Then put the cards back on top of the deck, with the reminder card below the top card.

  If you instead choose to put the top Invader Card on the bottom of the deck, resolve the reminder card before moving on with the rest of the Slow Power Phase.

  Unless otherwise specified, Reminder Cards mark a position in the deck. They are not Invader Cards.
  Tags: Reminder Cards, Invader deck, Visions of a Shifting Future (Fractured Days Split the Sky), Fractured Days Split the Sky, 1 more...
• What Invader cards are "specially placed during Setup" for Visions of a Shifting Future or Rising Interest in the Island?
  Any card that was moved by Adversary or Scenario instructions.

  As of the release of Nature Incarnate, this includes:

  • The early Stage III card of Kingdom of Brandenburg-Prussia Level 2.
  • The early Stage II cards and Coastal card of Kingdom of Scotland Level 2, and the early Stage III card of Scotland Level 4.
  • The interleaved Stage III cards of Tsardom of Russia Level 4 (but not the Stage II cards they alternate with).
  • The Salt Deposits card of Habsburg Mining Expedition Level 4.

  The only Event that is currently specially placed is France's Slave Rebellion.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Invader deck, Visions of a Shifting Future (Fractured Days Split the Sky), Fractured Days Split the Sky, Kingdom of Scotland, 4 more...