Introduction: By Game Developer, Fred Schachter – Players desiring a bit more complexity to their games of ACIS and/or ACME (once published, of course) in exchange for adding development of culture to their respective Civilizations should appreciate this offering by designers Chris and Mark. This responds to some ACIS players lamenting the game’s absence of a “Culture Arc”.

When play-testing these rules; we found the added complexity acceptable. What’s nice is that with exception of military-oriented developments, advancing a Civilization’s culture does not entail direct overt aggression towards another player… a nice touch in my opinion to a game which already has plenty of “take that!” opportunities.

What these rules entail is another path to achieving your Civilization’s victory and a new aspect to the fascinating resource allocation “puzzle” the designers provide. When trying this option with Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea, please feel free to tinker with these rules to achieve what your gamer group believes provides the best alternatives. Above all… have fun!

With that, here’s what Chris and Mark offer…

OPTIONAL RULE: CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT (ACIS /ACME)

The Cultural Development Option allows players of Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (ACIS) and/or the forthcoming Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East (ACME), an additional path to victory. It also offers them a chance to further customize their Civilization, as well as providing another arena in which to compete, both for victory points and for bonuses. These optional rules also offer civilizations another use for their Fate cards as Resources to obtain and further Cultural Development.

The Cultural Development Tracks

Cultural Development has three levels, each depicted by a Track: Military-Political, Economic-Social and Religious-Intellectual. Each Track has Levels of four stages, numbered 1 – 4. No Civilizations, unless otherwise stated in a scenario, begin with any disks on the Culture Tracks.

Disks may not be allocated to or advanced upon a Culture Track until a Civilization has paid the resources for placement/advancement on a Track.  Note:  if a Civilization has none of its disks available in its supply, it MAY NOT begin a new Track until it has an available disk. One disk is needed for each of the three Tracks.

Card Play Phase

During each Round of Card Play, instead of playing a card, establishing a Wonder (ACIS) or Deity (ACME), or passing, a Civilization may elect to pay resources to advance one stage on one Track Level. A Civilization may pay to advance on another or the same Level on subsequent rounds but may never advance more than one stage on one Track Level per round.  

There is no limit (theoretically) as to how many Levels or number of Tracks a Civilization may advance during single turn. Only the number of needed Resources limits such advances once a Civilization has a disk upon a Track.  Keep in mind a Game Epoch turn comprises many years.

As per the basic Card Phase rules, once a Civilization has passed in a round of Card Play, that Civilization may make no further advances on the Culture Track that turn.

Requirements for Advancement

Each stage of advancement requires a Civilization have a certain number of Cities (Urbanization):

• To enter stage ONE, a Civilization must have at least TWO Cities
• To enter stage TWO, a Civilization must have at least FOUR Cities
• To enter stage THREE a Civilization must have at least SIX Cities; and
• To enter stage FOUR, a Civilization must have at least EIGHT Cities.

This requirement is per stage, not per Level. Thus, a Civilization with at least TWO cities is eligible to advance to the first stage in each of the three Levels.

Resource Costs for Advancement

To enter a stage on a Level, a Civilization must pay a price in resources equal to the number of the stage to which it wishes to advance. Thus, to enter stage one requires the expenditure of one resource; to enter stage two requires the expenditure of two resources; to enter stage three requires the expenditure of three resources, and to enter stage four requires four resources.

Resources and Resource Bonuses

Just as in building a Wonder (ACIS) or Deity (ACME), discarding one card, returning one disk from the map to supply or expending one talent/mina is worth one resource. Certain cards, however, are worth more on certain tracks:

In addition, ANY Great Person is worth 2 Resources on ANY Track.  

The cost to enter a stage can be met by paying any combination of resources. No “change,” however, is ever returned.

In other words, if advancing to the first box on the Military-Political track, a “C” card, normally worth two points, only moves the disk to the one box. No cards, talents/mina or disks are returned to make up the otherwise lost difference in value… e.g. the player never receives any “change”.

Bonuses Granted for Each Level of Civilization

At the beginning of EACH PHASE in a turn, players must check to see which Civilization has its disk occupying each Track’s level. The Benefits of being in more than one Track may be combined.

Level 1 delivers no Benefit other than being a gateway to other Levels’ Benefit(s).

In the event two or more Civilizations are tied for the lead, no Civilization gains the Reckoning Phase VP bonus unless tied at Level 4. Each Civilization in a Level 4 stage box receives 1 VP.

Sacking Cities (Loot) to Add/Reduce Levels of Civilization

After Sacking a City and receiving Loot as usual, the Victor draws a card from the top of the Fate deck. If the card is an Event, the Event is played immediately but not replaced by another card.

If the selected card has an even card I.D. #, the Victor may EITHER ADVANCE ONE Level on a Track where it is BEHIND the losing Civilization OR REDUCE by ONE any Level of the loser. The City (Urbanization) prerequisite for Advancement is in force when an Advance is selected through Sacking an enemy City. (Example: Blue is in stage 3 of Military-Political.  Green is in stage 4. Blue sacks a Green City and draws an even I.D. numbered card from the Fate deck. For the Military-Political Track, Blue may either reduce Green down to 3 OR increase Blue to 4. However, Blue would need eight or more Cities to fulfill the Urbanization prerequisite to advance into the 4 Level Box.)

BARBARIANS ALWAYS REDUCE the highest level of losing Civilization by ONE (no card draw required). If advances are tied, Barbarians reduce Military-Political before Economic-Social before Religious-Intellectual.

Note: A Civilization never loses progress on the Culture Track if its number of Cities drops below the level required for advancement on a Track, perhaps by Card play, End of Epoch Event, or by loss of Cities through Competition. Culture Track progress may be reduced ONLY through Sacking of its Cities. However, if a Civilization has lost Cities, it may not advance on the Culture Track through expending Resources during a Card Phase unless it has sufficient Cities to do so.  

NPC Levels of Civilization

NPCs will never attempt to advance on the Culture Track during the Card Play Phase. However, at the END of the Card Phase, after all Civilizations have passed, each NPC will draw in Civilization Turn Order one Fate Card to attempt to advance a Level and only if it has sufficient Cities to allow the advance:

If any other Card is Drawn, the NPC will NOT advance at all.

Immediate, Sudden, Automatic Victory: “Lord of the Four Quarters of the World”

If a Civilization reaches the fourth stage in all three Tracks, that Civilization gains an automatic victory that occurs at the instant that status is achieved even if in the middle of a turn. The game immediately jumps to the Reckoning Phase.  After scoring is complete (which could be relevant to Tournament Play), the Civilization which earned the “Lord of the Four Quarters of the World” accomplishment is declared the winner, regardless of Victory Point totals. 

(Player’s Note: Keep your eye on where your competition has its Culture Track disks placed, along with their Resources available to advance their Track disks, to avoid an unpleasant, unexpected, game loss through an opponent achieving this automatic Culture Track victory.)

Shorter Games

As the “Lord of the Four Quarters” victory is unlikely to be possible in games of three or fewer Epochs, players may agree to accelerate the process by placing at start a disk of each Civilization into the first or second stage of each Level (although they do not have the requisite number of Cities). 

Aeneas (ACIS) – Gilgamesh (ACME) Advancement

 A Civilization which uses the Aeneas or Gilgamesh Option may adjust its position forward on each Level in which it is in last place so that it is one and only one stage behind the Civilization immediately ahead of it on that Level. A Civilization which uses the Aeneas – Gilgamesh Option does not lose any progress that was previously made (it does not regress).

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