The Story

It is the 23rd century. There is an energy and resource scarcity on Earth. The planet is exploited and the world economy is about to collapse. Desperately Spaceships be sent out to explore the neighboring planets. A crystalline substance, shining like gold, with incredible energy content is discovered on Mars. It gets named Rich Yield Crystal Energy, or in short: RYCE.

RYCE could satisfy the insatiable hunger for energy of Earth if… yes if it is possible to collect the material on Mars, and bring it back to Earth. Every space traveling nation is called to participate and thus to secure a part of the energy source. But the difficulties are considerable. The extraction system must be developed and transported to Mars.

Hostile life conditions and water scarcity in this EMPIRE OF SAND do one last thing, but the challenge is accepted.

But then the shock: Mars is inhabited. The Martians live in underground cities and were not detected by the sensors.The Martians turn out to be cooperative and strongly point to the dangers of the planet. The mighty CRAWLERS, which move through the sandy deserts of the planet and cause dangerous sandstorms. And a mysterious faction, that calls itself THE BROTHERHOOD and that has no sense of humor when competing with their resources.

A difficult task, which can only be overcome with the support of all factions...if it were not for the rivalry among the nations!

Description

Ryce: Empire of Sand is a area control and resource-management strategy game with a thematic background on a variable game board with interactive mechanisms, low downtime, low luck elements and a variable and calculable game-time. Conflicts in the game are solved by majorities instead of fights and war.

Each player takes the role of one of six space traveling nations of Earth (USA, Europe, Russia, China, Japan, India). The Players land on Mars with their bases, recruit astronauts, and send astronauts out to collect resources, install mines, build tunnels, and taking over control of mines from other players. Collected resources are spent in more astronauts, new mines, new technologies (to upgrade the collection of resources, the amount of astronauts, the movement-range etc.),or in influence to the three mighty factions on Mars (The EARTH, The MARTIANS, and the BROTHERHOOD). From the factions the players get control of special units and also get influence cards, that they can play in their turn to get different benefits. Through the controlled mines, the level of technology and the influence on the factions and their special units the players get victory points. The player with the most victory points wins the game for himself and his nation.