Echo from the Dark (IGS)

Emperor Cormac II is dead. His opulent space station locked down and strewn with bodies. Reports claim a biological weapon killed him and his cabinet. Today, the fraying twine holding an interstellar humanity together slips free of his dying fingers.

Chaos has erupted. Old and new factions have drawn lines across the empire, separating those who would fix the mistakes of the past from others striving to transform civilization. Propaganda barks out of every market and network. Underneath the din, naval crews take to their ships and quietly charge their weapons. There is neither precedent nor prediction to help us now. When interuniversal salt opened our first wormhole just eleven years ago, only one fundamental truth was retold: if you change one rule, you change the entire game.

Echo from the Dark is the fourth game in the Irregular Conflicts Series, depicting an interstellar struggle between divergent factions after humanity discovers a material that allows for faster-than-light travel and communication. Players will use this material to deploy unique technologies that shape their faction identity across the course of the game, meaning that every playthrough is a unique experience. As they expand across the galaxy, the human population will follow, providing new incentives and opportunities. Eventually, their visions for the future will prove to be irreconcilable: only one player will be able to determine the fate of humanity.

Highlights:

A highly variable setup: Choose from a selection of different factions to arrange on a modular map. As the game goes on, players will discover valuable Salt and dangerous anomalies that further change the texture of the map.
A shifting population: At this scale, population grows, moves, and declines over time, encouraging factions to consider the longer-term ramifications of their actions.
Technology: Every round reveals a new technology that can be researched to shape each faction over the course of the game.
Unique non-player opposition: Aliens, artificial intelligence, and disease form some of the possible opposition factions that each act through their own special system.
Streamlined sequence of play: Every faction may act on every round, with smaller actions allowing a player better initiative in the next round. Player factions all have access to the same basic actions and can use researched Technology no matter what action they take.

Echo from the Dark is a streamlined take on the COIN/ICS formula, where each faction acts on every turn and the event deck is replaced with 48 unique Technologies for them to research. Setup is quick and easy, with a modular map and eight factions to choose from, providing a new experience every game.

All factions have the same set of actions available to them at the beginning of the game, plus a unique special bonus action that uses Salt. All factions have the same set of forces, the same collection of population markers, and the same way of choosing and paying for actions. They also have the same access to Technology, gated only by presence on the map.



In Echo from the Dark, the map is composed of modular tiles depicting different types of sectors: Stars, Nebulae, Asteroids, and Black Holes. This modular map impacts the game in three major ways: Technology, Salt, and Population.

In order to research a Technology, you must occupy at least one sector that matches its type. The more matching sectors you occupy, the more researchers you have available. Some Technology only matches sectors with Anomalies, which appear rarely as you explore the map.

The movement action that can sometimes place Anomalies usually places Salt instead � two sides of the same token. Factions need Salt for their special action, but Salt can also be spent in lieu of credits when acting in any number of sectors. As the rounds wear on, this option tends to become more and more important.



Sectors also support a variable number of Population markers, reduced by any Anomalies found there but increased by any Starbases constructed. Population is growing, mobile, and shifting, and the state of a sector�s Population will often constrain faction options and activities.

When playing with 1-3 factions, the remaining components emerge as non-player factions. Unlike the player factions, non-players represent non-human powers with strange abilities and arcane objectives: artificial intelligences, ancient progenitor machines, natural disasters, and others.

These alien factions use different mechanisms for manipulating components (sharing a few standard procedures for consistency and clarity), but in the end still play with the standard pieces of starbases, leaders, fleets, and population. This retains the player faction options for interaction and speeds play when non-player factions are used.
Lead your faction to greatness or burn it all down. Dig into ancient artifacts and help the population survive space-bending anomalies. Peer into the Salt crystal at what an alternate universe could have looked like in Echo from the Dark.

Components:

� One Mounted Sideboard
� 48 Unique Technology Cards
� 158 Wooden Pieces
� 19 Hexagonal Map Tiles
� Five Full-color Countersheets (including map tiles)
� Four Double-sided Player Aids
� Eight Double-sided Faction Mats
� Two 6-sided Dice
� One Rulebook
� One Playbook
� One Learn to Play Book
� One Non-player Rules Book
� One 3� Box