There was a post here a while back that asked when there was going to be an expansion that changed this game into Fight for the Galaxy. This variant is pretty close.

This is also such a major departure from every other solitaire version out there, that it is hardly comparable. Also, it probably does not help prepare for multi-player play, but I have found it very fun to develop and play over this past weekend. The following instructions are long, and if they are confusing, I will try to include pictures.

Edit: I posted pictures in the second post below.

Premise of the game:
Your home world is in the middle of a galaxy that is free for you to explore and settle. However, on the edge of your galaxy there are rumors of a horrific Alien creature coming to devour everything in its path. Can you build your galactic empire fast enough and strong enough to stop the Devourer before he consumes your home world?

Setup:
Start by dealing 25 random cards to the table in a 5x5 grid Have them all right-side-up facing you. The cards should be placed far enough apart side to side to allow any of the cards to be rotated sideways without lying on top of the card beside it. The row of five cards closest to you is row 1 and the one furthest away from you is row 5. Your starting world should be the middle card in row 2. When developing the game, I placed the 4 starting cards associated with that starting world on either side of it in row 2 and directly above and below in rows 3 and 1. Obviously, you don’t need to use the starting hand cards if you don’t want to, but I did. Also, deal yourself 6 and discard two for your hand.

This is your galaxy. There are 25 star systems each containing a planet or development. Scan the cards to see if there are any duplicate cards and swap them with a random card from the draw pile. This might be difficult to do, and if at any time during the game you find that there is a duplicate card in play, swap it with a card from the deck. You can not place any new cards into the galaxy that already exist in the galaxy or your tableau. At this time place a good on any Windfall planets. Instead of using cards for goods, I used white poker chips, because I felt all the cards on top of cards got messy, but you can do what ever you want. Also place two starting ships on your home world. Use anything you want for the ships. I used blue poker ships. To show that you have settled your home world, turn it sideways. Take 7 of the action cards (removing the extra develop and settle cards) and place them in front of you for selection throughout the game.

Now place five cards in a “Row 6” above row 5. Place these cards upside-down to you to denote that they are not part of your galaxy. The Devourer starts on the first card (upper right corner) in row 6. I represented the Devourer with (any guesses?) a red poker chip. These five cards represent the star systems leading up to your galaxy so the Devourer can build up strength before attacking. If there are any hostile worlds in the sixth row, replace them at random until they are all either development cards or non-hostile worlds. It is okay to have duplicates in this row with your 25 card galaxy as they are not actually part of your galaxy. Then take the 7 phase cards for three colors (21 total without the extra settle and develop) and shuffle them together. Place them up near the starting point for the Devourer.

Each turn consists of you taking an action and then the Devourer taking an action. Unlike in the multi-player game, when you choose an action, only you do it, and when the Devourer chooses an action, only he does it. The actions for you remain mostly unchanged with a few slight modifications.

Explore: This is the most different in that you do not draw cards. You may only develop or settle cards that are already on the galaxy board in front of you. The explore +1+1 allows you to move both of your ships one space. Ships can not move diagonally. Ships may not end their turn in empty space. The explore +5 allows you to move one ship 5 spaces. Again, ships can not move diagonally and can not end their movement in empty space. Also, ships can not move past hostile worlds. If trying to move to a space beyond a hostile world you must use the movement points to go around, or stop at the hostile world and resolve the conflict during a settler phase. Any bonuses to Phase 1, such as the ability to draw an extra card are given to the movement of the ships. If you have the power to draw an extra card in phase one, they you can either divide three movement points between two ships or move one ship six spaces.

Develop: This is your opportunity to bring development cards from the galaxy to your tableau by discarding cards from your hands. You must have a ship on the development card that you want to get. Once you do this, your ship will be in empty space and must be returned to the nearest settled planet. At the end of this phase after all Phase II powers have been invoked, you may fill the void in the galaxy by playing a card from your hand. No costs need to be paid at this time as in order to settle or develop that card, a ship will need to be placed on it and the costs be paid at that time. If you do not place a card in the empty space by the end of this phase, then that spot will remain empty for the rest of the game.

Settle: You must have a ship on the planet you wish to settle; otherwise all the same rules apply. You may discard cards from your hand to settle a non-hostile world or use your military strength to settle hostile worlds. Once you settle a world, turn it sideways to denote that you have settled it as your ship can now move elsewhere. The planet card does not move to your tableau and stays in the galaxy.

Consume: This phase is identical to the normal game. You may choose either the Consume:Trade to get more cards in your hand, or Consume:2X Exp for extra experience points. All planets in play that are turned sideways (you have settled them) with goods on them can be consumed.

Produce: This also works the same as the normal game. All planets that you have settled may produce a good, and Windfall worlds have the same restrictions as in the normal game.

After you have chosen your action and have fully completed it (making sure to replace a removed development card with a card from your hand if you desire) the Devourer takes his turn. His actions are slightly different than yours and are explained as follows.

Explore: The Devourer moves along the cards in the galaxy in a back and forth motion, starting from the upper right at the sixth row and moving card by card to the left until he gets to the fifth card in the sixth row. His next move is to move to move down into the fifth row and go back to the right. In this pattern he moves back and forth, devouring things in his path until he gets to your home planet and the game is decided (if not before then). When you draw an Exploer +1 +1, the Devourer moves one space, when you draw an Explore +5 he moves two spaces.

If at any time in his movement, the Devourer encounters a hostile planet, he must immediately resolve combat. The Devourer’s strength is determined by the number of cards he has collected. If the Devourer has 4 cards and encounters a hostile planet with a strength of 3, he defeats the planet, and it is consumed. The card (and any good on the planet) is removed from the board and placed into the Devourer’s card pile. If you are using counters for goods instead of cards, make sure to swap out the counter for a card when adding it to the Devourer’s strength. If the Devourer does not have the strength to defeat the hostile world, move him back one space and add a card to his strength pool. He takes his next turn normally. Once the hostile world is defeated, the Devourer ends his turn even if his target destination was beyond the hostile world.

Develop: Move the Devourer to the next development card in his path and he consumes it into his strength pool. The cost of the development is irrelevant. If the Devourer is currently on a development card, he does not move and simply consumes the card he is sitting on. If there is a hostile planet in the way, resolve the hostile encounter as listed above, and he does NOT proceed to the next development card.

Any and every time the Devourer consumes a card, another card is placed beneath the Devourer face down. This card is placed face down so it is not considered if a develop or settle action card is drawn. It is placed, however, so that if a Consume action card is drawn, the Devourer still has something to eat. Once the Devourer has left that space, flip the card over. If it is a Windfall world, place a good on it.

The concept (to make it easier to understand the philosophy of the extra face down card) is this: Each card space represents a star system. Each system has the potential to provide several planets or developments. Usually, the Devourer will feed once in a system and then move on, but other times (based on the action cards that are drawn) he will feed again and again on a system. When the player takes a development card he can play another card from his hand into that spot, thus pulling more resources from that star system, or he can play Paul Revere and scream, “The Devourer is coming! The Devourer is coming!” and evacuate the star system, leaving it empty for when the Devourer comes.

Settle: Move the Devourer to the next planet in line and he attempts to consume it. Planet strength is important here. If the planet is too large (ie larger than the Devourer is strong) he can not consume it, and the Devourer simply stays at the planet until the next turn. If it is a hostile planet and the Devourer can not consume it, then send the Devourer back one space and give him one card to his strength pool.

Consume: This is exactly what it sounds like. It does not matter which of the bonus Consumes it is. The result is the same. The Devourer consumes what ever card he is on (if he can). If the space is empty, nothing happens. If the card is upside down, flip it over (put a good on it if it is a Windfall world) and resolve the conflict. If it is a hostile world, and the Devourer can not defeat it, send him back one space and give him a card. After consumption (assuming it was successful) place an upside down card beneath the Devourer.

Production: Every planet not owned by you in the current row of the Devourer gains a good (unless it already has one). Even if the Devourer is passed this world in the row, it still gets a good. This is meant to fatten worlds for the kill since the Devourer will add two to his strength when he consumes a world with a good.

After the end of the Devourer's turn in which the 21st card is played and there is no action cards left for the Devourer, he instantly devours all available cards in his row that he is able, starting with the development cards and building up to the unsettled worlds with any goods on them. Settled worlds and upside down cards are safe from this final meal. After all the available cards in the Devourer's row have been added to his strength pool, move the Devourer immediately to the home world and have a final combat.

Combat: Worlds that are settled by you are considered hostile to the Devourer and will stop him in his progress like other hostile worlds. In order for full combat to occur, one of your two ships must be at the planet in question. Combat consists of adding the total strength of the Devourer and comparing it to your total strength. Your strength is considered to be the total of all of the combat bonuses from cards like Space Marines and Drop Ships as well as planet combat bonuses. Combat bonuses that only apply to a particular color only apply if the battle is taking place at a planet of that color. Also, you may trade in 3 experience points for a +1 combat bonus until the end of the turn. If this is done, those experience points are lost for the rest of the game. Also, at any point in the game, you may cash in a 6? Development card for experience points. You may do this during a battle to bolster your defense. Once done, the Development card is discarded from your tableau and the exp points added to your pool.

If your defense is greater than the Devourer, you have defeated him. Game over. If not, then the Devourer takes damage (discards cards from his strength pool) equal to your total combat value (planet bonuses + development bonuses + exp point bonuses). After losing the fight, your ship is returned to your home world and the Devourer tries to consume the planet. If it does not have enough strength left to consume the planet, then it moves back one space and gains one card. If it can consume the planet, then it does so, taking any good that might be on the planet and an upside down card is placed beneath it. The Devourer will now continue to take turns as normal, consuming more cards and planets until it makes it to your next planet.

Combat as described above can only take place under the following two conditions: You must have successfully settled the planet and you must have one of your ships there. If your ship ever encounters the Devourer and it is not at a settled planet, it is immediately sent back to your home world with no combat taking place. Encountering your ship does not halt the path of the Devourer if it is going beyond that location, nor does it impact the Devourer’s encounter with a world you might be in orbit of but have not settled. If the Devourer encounters one of your planets without a ship in orbit, then only the combat bonus of that planet (if any) does damage to the Devourer before he consumes the planet. All experience points and development cards are tied to your home planet, and without a ship from the home planet linking the world in peril to you home world, it is on its own. It is also important to remember that all exp points used to bolster defense are discarded after use. You always have the choice what you want to defend with. If you do not want to use exp points to save them or you don’t want to discard the new military tactics or 6? development cards, you don’t have to.

When combat takes place at your home world, victory is declared when you have either defeated the Devourer by having more defense than his strength, or because you have wounded him enough that he does not have the strength to consume your home planet. If your home planet is consumed, you lose.

Modifications I am thinking about making after several more plays:

Count up the total number of combat bonuses in the starting galaxy and give that to the Devourer to start with.
This balances the game if, by the luck of the deck, you have a ton of combat bonuses out there to collect before the Devourer ever makes it to the first spot in your galaxy. It also gives him a huge bonus because he is more likely to be able to consume every world he comes across. There have been times early in the game where he sits on a 5 strength world with 4 cards in his strength pile and I draw three straight consume cards that he can’t do anything about it. I just played this variant, and it was really good. The 21 cards ran out and the Devourer showed up at my Home World with a strength of 13. I had a defense of 11. He had two strength left over, and just barely sucked my home world into oblivion

Start with no cards in your hand.
With cards in my hand to start, I am always able to get the Development cards like Colony ship and Investment Credits and Replicant Robots that make it much easier to get future development cards and settle planets, thus making the need to Consume: Trade for more cards far less important. If you start with no cards in your hand, then you must produce and consume at least once before you do anything or have a strong enough initial combat to settle a hostile world if your home world doesn’t produce. It makes it a little slower to start and gives the Devourer a head start. However, I can see a chance that you can’t do anything at the start of the game if you have a non-productive home world and there are no hostile worlds at two or less.

Count up the total number of combat bonuses in the starting galaxy and give that to the Devourer to start with.
This balances the game if, by the luck of the deck, you have a ton of combat bonuses out there to collect before the Devourer ever makes it to the first spot in your galaxy. It also gives him a huge bonus because he is more likely to be able to consume every world he comes across. There have been times early in the game where he sits on a 5 strength world with 4 cards in his strength pile and I draw three straight consume cards that he can’t do anything about it.

Eliminate the bonuses for Develop and Settle. There are a lot of valuable 1 point development cards and because the only way to get develop is if you pick it, you always have a -1 discount. This makes the need for cards in your hand less, and thus devalues the Consume: Trade option. You also settle a lot early on, and with the draw a card bonus that gives you, it also decreases the times you need to pick the trade card. The bonuses for the other cards are necessary for the game to work.

If the Devourer ever has a strength less than 5, he returns to the starting spot in row six.
This variant means that you can't just try to wound him early on. You have to go for the kill. If he is sent back to the starting point (as any sentient evil being would do if it was too weak to continue realistically) then it is likely that he will run out of cards while still in the sixth row giving him lots of worlds with goods and development cards to instantly consume before he shows up at your home world.

Remove all duplicate cards before starting. In my most recent game I used Colony Ship twice and New Military Tactics twice. I had them in my hand and on the board in front of me. I waited until I had discarded them, and then brought them into play again. I believe you can do that in the real game, but since in this game, your total collection of planets and Development cards is almost always going to exceed 12 and combat is so much more important, it seems like too big of an advantage.

Dave