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Fractal

Rulebooks, campaign sheets, sleeve sizes and every clarification for Beyond the Void, Automata and Alliance.

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Rulebooks

Campaign

Sleeves.

538 cards in 3 sizes, drawn to scale. Core game, Beyond the Void and Automata.
  • 281Standard

    63 × 88 mm

    • Core · 164
    • Beyond the Void · 65
    • Automata · 52
  • 122Mini

    44 × 67 mm

    • Core · 60
    • Beyond the Void · 62
  • 135Square

    51 × 51 mm

    • Core · 73
    • Beyond the Void · 62

Inserts.

Every component has its place. The lower tray leaves extra room — handy if you customize components or 3D-print tokens.
Core — upper tray
Beyond the Void — lower tray

Core — upper tray1 / 2

Core game insert, upper tray layout

Rulings.

Errata and clarifications from the community, for the core game, Alliance, Automata and the Beyond the Void campaign.

Core game · Errata

End-of-cycle effects

Resolve end-of-cycle effects before depletion upkeep and the other end-of-cycle steps (phase 0). Rulebook p. 19

Depleting without enough influence

The rulebook reads: “If you don’t have enough influence, choose which action markers to spend it on, then lose the rest.”

If you only have 1 influence and need 2 to undo the depletion of an action, you can’t undo it. In that case, the influence remains unspent and is not lost. Rulebook p. 19

Map setup

During the compact map setup, use the Utopian sector Amalur 1 (the one showing a productive colony slot). During the extended map setup, use Amalur 2. Rulebook p. 23

Faction tactic cards and Combat Precognition

A faction’s unique tactic cards count as their original tactic cards for all naming purposes. For example, Borroka’s Swarm Attack counts as Flanking, and Saura’s Frenzied Assault counts as Ground Assault. This matters most for Delverar’s Combat Precognition mastery and the cost-7 military technology.

Battle medal limits

Battle medals have no set limit: if you run out, use blockade tokens instead. All other components follow the limits given in the rulebook. Rulebook p. 11

Starting sectors can’t be disconnected

Under no circumstances can a player’s home sector be disconnected from the board.

Scientific track

Third colony: draw 1 artifact (colonization bonus). Gain 4 science when you Research. Move 3 sectors per movement order when you Advance. Rulebook p. 10

“Forced March” action card

Corrected text: Perform a movement order with a lightship two sectors away, ignoring pin-down, living galaxies and living storms.

Core game · Clarifications

Elite tactic cards

Elite tactic cards can’t be discarded. Some effects let you replace your tactics with their more powerful elite versions; if an effect asks you to discard a tactic, you may only discard regular tactic cards. Rulebook p. 17

Tactic cards and tech upgrades

During a battle, players add up all the damage dealt by their tactic cards and tech upgrades. There is no set order: resolve these effects as you see fit. Rulebook p. 17

Wormhole adjacency

Wormholes are one-way: players can move from a living galaxy token to other sectors, but not the other way around. Rulebook p. 21

Developing a technology

Technologies can only be gained at the end of a Research action, unless an effect specifically allows it. Rulebook p. 15

Initiative ties with Orbital or Ground Defense

If a tactic card has the same initiative as Orbital or Ground Defense, the defense still applies: all effects are applied first, then all damage is applied simultaneously.

Initiative ties with Retreat

If a tactic card has the same initiative as Retreat, damage is dealt before any retreat happens.

Action cards and colony restrictions

Action cards bypass colony restrictions. Some say “ignoring restrictions” explicitly; others simply disregard colony limits when they affect colonies. For example, Progress Plan (“Replace up to 2 of your colonies on the board with Military or Science colonies from your empire board”) also ignores which colonies may normally be placed on a given sector.

Action cards and movement restrictions

When an action card such as Tactical Withdrawal lets you move units “ignoring restrictions”, it overrides the game rules — living storms, pin-down, ground unit transport and so on. Still follow any specific instruction written on the card.

Simultaneous retreat with only one valid sector

If several players must retreat at the same time to the same sector, the Watcher decides the order. The other players’ units are lost, as they no longer have a valid sector to retreat to.

Units vs colonies

If, at the start of a battle, a sector only contains one player’s units and other players’ colonies, no battle takes place: go straight to siege resolution.

Core game · Factions

Goria & Txingur — “Trade Federation” government

When you add a new living galaxy token to a sector you control, you may look at its effects before choosing where to place it.

Goria — “Bone Collector” elite mastery

The elite version only applies during battles. It doesn’t extend to retreats triggered outside battles, such as those caused by the Cybersecurity Link civil technology.

VAX-117 — “Meritocratic Society” government

If you have enough influence to trigger the government action several times, treat each trigger as a separate action.

VAX-117 — “Deconstructor” ability

Corrected text, additions in bold: “When you remove or banish one or more […] one of the sectors you removed or banished the component from.”

Delverar — “Secret Passages” ability

You can pay 1 influence to bypass several instances of one specific required condition.

Exodian — “Elective Conclave” government

For each 4 influence, choose any track of your empire board and trigger the leftmost revealed colonization bonus on that track. Each bonus can only be triggered once — so with 8 influence, you choose two different tracks and gain their leftmost bonuses, provided they’ve been revealed.

Core game · Reminders

Anomaly and obstacle timing

Anomalies and obstacles can only be resolved by the active player, at the end of one of their actions.

Empty sector

An empty sector is a sector without any player units or colonies. Rulebook p. 11

Actions
  • You can only take an action if you can resolve at least part of it. Rulebook p. 12
  • Each basic action (Advance, Recruit, Research, Colonize) can only be taken once per turn, but several times per round. Rulebook p. 12
  • Taking the Government action doesn’t spend influence. Rulebook p. 15
Battles outside the conflict phase

Some effects trigger a battle outside the conflict phase:

  1. Place a battle medal in the contested sector.
  2. Resolve the battle if units from two or more players are in that sector.
  3. The winner claims the medal.

If the effect mentions a siege, resolve the siege before awarding the medal. Otherwise, only place the medal, battle with valid tactic cards and claim the medal.

Invading outside the conflict phase

Some cards and effects let you invade colonies outside the conflict phase, such as Corruption Network (action card) and Incite Rebels (Emissaries module). Invading this way earns 1 military victory point, just like a successful invasion or raze during the conflict phase.

Defensive tactics against several attackers

Defensive tactic cards aren’t tied to one attacker: they apply fully against each opponent individually. For example, if two attackers each play Orbital Assault (2 direct damage) against one Orbital Defense (blocks 2 direct damage), all the damage is cancelled.

Alliance · Crystal Temple

Setup

During map setup, use the Utopian sector Amalur 1 (showing a productive colony slot) as the middle sector. All other sectors with a living galaxy token are non-habitable.

Swarm battle medals

The Swarm collects battle medals when it wins battles, and players make their prestige checks against the medals the Swarm has collected.

Pinned-down ground units

If players have more pin-down effects than the Swarm in a sector, all the Swarm’s ground units there are pinned down. Otherwise, none of them are.

Automata · Errata

No victory point limit

The Automata has no maximum of 10 VPs, nor a maximum of 5 VPs per objective type. Use a second cube to track extra VPs.

AI protocol cards from influence

Each additional protocol card can only be gained once per game, and can’t be lost.

Damage allocation

The Automata follows the Swarm rules from the Crystal Temple scenario (Alliance expansion):

  • Dealing damage — it always tries to interrupt any active tactic with a higher initiative, or to reduce the players’ unit diversity. Otherwise, damage is assigned in the unit order shown in the Crystal Temple scenario.
  • Taking damage — it absorbs as much damage as possible with Resist, then takes damage in the same unit order, while trying to keep at least one unit of each type.
  • Multiplayer combat — the card it plays applies to every player involved. If it inflicts 2 damage with 2 players, that’s 4 damage in total.
Choosing a Flanking composition

The Automata picks one of the listed compositions, prioritizing those that reduce its opponents’ unit diversity and bypass their defenses, if any (see Damage allocation).

Automata · Clarifications

Advancing with ground units

The Automata always transports as many ground units as possible to reinforce a sector — except with the Expansive behavior, which moves a single infantry (rulebook p. 17). For ties, follow the unit priority.

The Watcher

The Automata never takes Watcher actions.

Elite tactic cards at setup

During setup, add elite tactic cards to the Automata deck according to the difficulty level, and keep the rest in the elite pile. Each time you add an elite card to the Automata deck, move the matching regular card to the reserve pile, then reshuffle. The Automata can also gain elite tactic cards through colonization and other effects.

Gaining an AI protocol card

When the Automata gains a new AI protocol card during its first action, place it on top of the AI protocol discard pile. The Automata then takes its second action, resolving the row with the second red arrow using the new behavior.

Action cards

When the Automata plays an action card matching the slot number on the action display, immediately draw a new action card and place it face down. Rulebook p. 14

Moving a living storm

If a player’s action card makes the Automata move a living storm, it moves it following the last AI protocol card in the discard pile.

Automata · Factions

Saura — “Call to War” ability

The Automata ignores all movement behaviors and only tries to move toward the nearest enemy.

Borroka — “Destroyer of Worlds” ability

It triggers “when you remove any component from the board”. Components are the same as for the player Borroka faction: living storms, living galaxies, anomalies, obstacles and sectors.

Goria — setup

During setup, the Goria Automata gains only one extra AI protocol card, and starts with one infantry and one lightship.

VAX-117 — “Deconstructor” ability

Corrected text, additions in bold: “When you develop a technology or remove/banish […] on the board.”

Campaign · Clarifications

Setup

During the compact map setup, use the Utopian sector Amalur 1 (showing a productive colony slot); during the extended map setup, use Amalur 2. For specific scenarios:

  • p. 106 — Amalur 2
  • p. 107 — Amalur 1
  • p. 109 — Amalur 1 in stack B, then Amalur 2 in stack C
  • p. 110 — Amalur 2 with 2 or 3 players, Amalur 1 with 4 players
  • p. 111 — Amalur 2
“Inevitable Fate” obstacle

If there are no empty adjacent sectors, banish the obstacle and continue.

Campaign · Scenarios

Shattered Puzzle

At the end of a cycle, you may take 1 victory point per sector you control.

Secret of the Void
  • Drifting in the Void — you can place and explore new sectors in empty areas where sectors were banished earlier.
  • Aftermath — applies as written, even if a player wins by controlling both Utopian sectors: they add two levels of ascension to their player sheet, and every other player adds one level of extinction.
War Over Polaris

Competition: when you trigger the Eternal Blacklight singularity effect, increase it by 1 VP token and take 1 more VP token from the Utopian sector — 3 VP tokens in total.

Campaign · Modules

Deep Space

To explore Deep Space, you can only move 1 ship as part of the Advance action.

Galactic Laws

Galactic Laws are resolved after all end-of-cycle effects.

Galactic Trade
  • At the end of each cycle, commodities are refreshed: place the top card of each commodity deck at the bottom of its deck. Commodity decks can be manipulated with Insight.
  • Without the Mercenaries module, ignore any mention of mercenaries on Galactic Trade action cards.
  • You may negotiate to share trade benefits with an enemy colony at any time, but the trade itself happens at the end of the action phase. Negotiations can include retreating, but agreed terms aren’t binding.
  • When you generate commodities with a Galactic Trade action card, place the standee on a sector matching the commodity type (an arid commodity on an arid sector, for example).
Starbases

Starbases can’t retreat: any retreat damage they take is treated as standard damage.

Emissaries

You can trigger an invasion with Incite Rebels without units that have the Invade ability — or without any units at all.

Election
  • Once revealed and voted on, Election cards are set aside, freeing up their slots on the action board.
  • The emperor has a neutral option: choose the top effect, the bottom effect, or return the faction token to its player.

Campaign · Factions

Delverar — “Seers Council” government

Draw one replacement component at random; you may look at it before placing it on the board.

Illunak — “God of Many Faces” ability

During each income phase, banish your current government card and choose one of your other available government cards. This applies from the second income phase onward.

Credits.

Game design
Bernardo Rippe
Co-design
Iker Uriarte, Romain Lesiuk
Automata design
Bernardo Rippe, Fernando Campon, Jose Sánchez
Art direction
Yann Hilaire
Illustration
Tom Lopez
Inserts
Matt Haley
Thank you to everyone who helpedShow names

Fractal took years to make, and it wouldn’t exist without the people who tested it, proofread it and named its corners of the galaxy. Thank you.

Proofreading

Darryl Anderson · Wade Fong · Miguel Gordo · Adrien Martel

Digital resources

Wade Fong · Mike Hall

Playtest partners

Kicktesters · LittleBoardgame House · Player Lair

Playtesters

Adam Skindzier · Matthew Messerli · Fernand Campon · Francisco Velazco · Darryl Anderson · Norman Obst · Winston Lee · Kevin Lee · Ken Martí · Alexis Mojica · Juan Sáez · Balazs Pastor · Balazs Nemes · Jozsef Gal · Krzystof Figaj

Legendary characters

Wade Fong (The Mastermind) · Matthew Messerli (The Brainstormer) · Adam Skindzier (The Technocrat) · Vincent Klempau (The Champion) · Brandon Jacques (The Jubilant) · Dominic Hurov (The Fire Chicken) · Bryce Williams (The Ronin) · Norman Obst (The Real) · Zen Yan (The Exiled)

Community

Eugene · Vanayad · Hendrick · 94067 · MrSteve · xRyzZ · kryptykal · drakanis82 · Smerkantes · Crow · HeAt · Zeratul · Alkainfluence · Asmodius · Cheshy · Hedgehamster · SkullHydra · Irene (Let’s go Ukraine!) · Kazeh · Kyleth · Pizzicat · BoB · PlatoBob · Sylvanas · Tamas O · Wappe

Sector explorers

Josh Mcilroy · Kvin · Brice · Britta Böhnke · Michael Hal · Michael Vincenti · Rick Kennedy · Realarete · Jan Tepe · Teowulff · Indomeeple by Axel Gros · Hedgehamster · Amy L · Wee · Rowen Chumacera · Henri Vänskä · Amos Rogiani · Sébastien · Saucez · Andreas · TrojanWade · Andrew Rasdall · Jonne Kocken · Florian Dumusois · Ken Marti · Matterhorn · Nicolas Sas · Mark Popp · Dave Coutu · Dan Pugh · Tolis Koutsikos · Jess Ansorge · Erica-Seth Richardson · Paolo Varotto · Gerd Teniers · Pillon Christophe · Chris Rogers

Still stuck?

Ask the community — players and designers are on Discord.