Description

Advances in the future have led to the creation of biomechanoid ships, capable of penetrating the barriers between the Mutliverse Orders. There, with the ability to command the vast energies available, biokind waged war with itself for control of the Multiverse.

Diatomica is a 2 player "batteline" style game lasting about 30 minutes. Players place cards on their side of the Multiverse Orders to gain attack strength. When the Threshold Value is reached the control for that Order is decided. The player who controls the most Orders at game end is the winner.

Basic Game - Each player receives one set of the 6 different Ship cards (Organelle, Vault Complex, Cluster Hive, Plastid, Centriole, Shift). The remaining 6 Ship cards are then shuffled and 3 are dealt to each player. Each player now has 9 cards in their Ship deck. Each player should shuffle their Ship deck and set it to one side.

Advanced Game - Shuffle the 18 Ship cards, creating a Drafting deck. Each player draws 3 cards to their hand. 1 card is chosen to be added to the player’s Ship deck, and is placed in front of them, face down. 1 card is then passed to the opposing player.

Of the remaining 2 cards in hand, 1 card is again added to each player’s Ship deck. The final card in each player’s hand is placed on the bottom of the Drafting deck. Repeat drawing hands of 3 cards and drafting choices until all 18 cards have been drawn. During the final draw each player will receive one card to be added to their Ship deck of 9 cards. Each player should shuffle their Ship deck and set it to one side.

Shuffle the remaining 30 cards and create a Draw deck. Each player, beginning with the Start Player (who is chosen at random), draws 3 cards from the Draw deck to their hand as well as 3 cards from their Ship deck.

Lastly place the 40 markers within reach of both players. These wil be used during the game to show the amount of energy a player has to draw from as well as Attack Strength modifiers.

Play:
Beginning with the Start Player, each player’s turn consists of
3 phases. Player’s are free to consider any phase optional but phases go in order:

1. Playing a card: The player may play a card from their hand beneath any of the 6 Multiverse Orders not yet controlled, stacking the cards vertically in a column.

2. Activating a Special Ability: The player may now activate the Special Ability of any one card they have previously played to any Multiverse Order.

3. Drawing/Discarding a card: The player now draws back to a hand limit of 6 cards from either their Ship deck and/or from the Draw deck.

Control Phase:
Once the die’s value on a Multiverse Order card falls below zero, the die is removed and normal phases of a player’s turn are halted.

The player who played a card to reach or pass the Threshold Value is now the Attacking Player. They add up all Attack Strengths of their cards in that Multiverse Order’s column, including any Attack markers and any additional Ship bonuses. The Attacking Player then announces their total Attack Strength.

The opposing player, now the Defending Player, may:

A. Play a Ship card from their hand spending Energy markers equal to the Threshold value of the Ship card to only the Multiverse Order currently under the Control Phase

or

B. Activate the Special Ability of one card played to their side of any of the Multiverse Order cards, spending Energy markers as required.

Game End:
When control over the final Multiverse Order is decided, the player who has the most Control Value points is the winner. (Note: Game end should also be triggered if one player has won more than half the total Control Value points.) If players are tied, the player who has the greatest number of Energy markers is the winner. If still tied, the player who has control over the Multiverse Order of Icosa is the winner.