Alliance Variant Handbook

This handbook provides Alliance Variant rulings and clarifications for reference during the TI Junkies Alliance Tournament and beyond.

Last Updated: 10/24/25.

Table of Contents

  • Transactions
  • Movement and Control
    • Simultaneous Tactical Actions
    • Control
  • Combat and Unit Abilities
    • Retreats
    • Winning a Combat
    • Structures
  • Abilities and Effects
    • Strategy Cards
    • Action Cards
    • Technology
  • Objectives
  • Exploration
  • Relics
  • Faction Specific

TRANSACTIONS

MOVEMENT & CONTROL

  • Simultaneous Tactical Actions
    • You may perform simultaneous tactical actions on your ally’s turn even if you have already passed.
    • Fleet Logistics does not allow you to perform a second action if it’s not your turn.
    • While performing simultaneous tactical actions on your ally’s turn, you may use the abilities of Dominus Orb and Crown of Emphydia.
    • While performing simultaneous tactical actions on your ally’s turn, you may use Master Plan or Minister of War to perform additional actions.
  • Control
    • When you exchange a legendary or home system planet card with your ally and your ally has Shard of the Throne, you do not gain Shard of the Throne.
    • Exchanging planet cards does not mean you lost or gained control of planets.
    • You must have one or more ground forces remaining at the end of a ground combat to gain control of the planet.
    • When you would gain control of a planet as the result of a ground combat, if only your ally has ground forces remaining, your ally gains the planet even if it is your turn and they did not perform a simultaneous tactical action.
      • If both you and your ally have ground forces remaining, you may choose which player gains control, regardless of who is the active player. If you can’t agree on who gains control, the active player decides.

COMBAT & UNIT ABILITIES

  • If you initiate combat in a system or on a planet where both members of an alliance team have units, both players are considered your opponent.
  • During a combat in which both alliance teammates participate, rolls are combined, therefore you may play action cards such as Direct Hit, even if your units specifically did not land any hits.
  • Retreats
    • Alliance teammates declare retreats separately.
    • You may not retreat to a system that contains only your ally’s units and planet, unless you research Dark Energy Tap.
    • If both you and your ally declare a retreat, you may retreat to different systems.
    • If you retreat while your ally continues fighting, you lose the combat at the time of retreat, even if your ally manages to win the combat.
    • If one of your units with capacity transports your ally’s units to another system during a retreat, both you and your ally place tokens in the system to which you retreated.
  • Winning a Combat
    • To win a combat, you must have one or more units remaining at the end of the combat.
    • If your ally has units remaining, but you do not, your ally won the combat, but for you it ends in a draw.
    • If your ally has units remaining, but you do not, your ally won the combat, but for you it ends in a draw.
  • Structures
    • You may place structures on your ally’s planets.
    • Limit of 2 PDS and 1 Space dock per planet still applies, not per player.
  • Space Cannon
    • During your tactical actions, if your ally does not perform a simultaneous tactical action, they may not use the space cannon offense abilities of their units.
    • During your tactical actions, if your ally does not perform a simultaneous tactical action, other players may not use the space cannon offense abilities of their units to destroy your ally’s units, unless those units were transported by 1 or more of your units with capacity.
    • If you and your ally perform a simultaneous tactical action, you may both use the space cannon offense abilities of your units to target players who have ships in the active system.
      • The defending players decide how to assign any produced hits.

ABILITIES & EFFECTS

STRATEGY CARDS

TECHNOLOGY

ACTION CARDS

  • Ancient Burial Sites
    • May be played on your ally, but does not exhaust their planets.
  • Archaeological Expedition
    • You may choose an exploration deck that matches one of your ally’s planets.
  • Assassinate Representative
    • May be played on your ally.
  • Blitz
    • Does not apply to your ally’s ships.
  • Bunker
    • You may play on behalf of your ally’s planets.
  • Construction Rider
    • You may place the space dock on your ally’s planet.
  • Counterstroke
    • Cannot be played when your ally activates one of your systems.
  • Coup d’Etat
    • You may target your ally.
  • Courageous to the End
    • Cannot be played on behalf of your ally’s ship.
  • Decoy Operations
    • Cannot be played when your ally activates one of your systems.
    • You may place the ground forces on either your planet or your ally’s planet.
  • Diplomacy Rider
    • You may choose your ally’s planet.
    • Your ally places a command token in the chosen system.
  • Diplomatic Pressure
    • May be played on your ally.
  • Direct Hit
    • May be played during a simultaneous tactical action even if only your ally’s units produced hits.
  • Disable
    • If both members of an alliance have PDS units in the system, both players’ PDS units lose Planetary Shield and Space Cannon.
  • Economic Initiative
    • Readies your and your ally’s cultural planets.
  • Emergency Repairs
    • Does not affect your ally’s units.
  • Experimental Battlestation
    • Cannot be played when your ally moves ships.
  • Fighter Prototype
    • Does not apply +2 to your ally’s rolls.
  • Fighter Conscription
    • You do not place a fighter in systems that contain only your ally’s space docks or ships with capacity.
    • You do place a fighter in systems that contain your space docks and your ships with capacity, even if the system contains your ally’s ships.
      • You do not need to remove a fighter that exceeds your capacity limit if your ally has the capacity for it in that system.
  • Fire Team
    • Cannot be used to reroll your ally’s dice.
  • Flank Speed
    • May be played on your ally’s turn if you are performing a simultaneous tactical action (but only affects your units).
  • Forward Supply Base
    • Cannot be played when your ally activates a system that contains your units.
    • You may choose your ally to gain 1 trade good.
  • Frontline Deployment
    • You may place the infantry on your ally’s planet.
  • Ghost Ship
    • You may place the destroyer in a system that contains your ally’s units.
  • Ghost Squad
    • May be played when your ally lands on one of your planets.
  • In The Silence of Space
    • Does not apply to your ally’s ships.
  • Industrial Initiative
    • Gain a trade good for your ally’s industrial planets as well.
  • Infiltrate
    • Cannot be played when you and your ally exchange planet cards.
  • Insubordination
    • May be used on your ally.
  • Intercept
    • In a combat against both members of an alliance team, both players are prevented from declaring a retreat this round.
  • Lost Star Chart
    • Applies to both alliance teammates if played while performing a simultaneous tactical action.
  • Lucky Shot
    • May be used on your ally.
    • May be used in a system that only contains your ally’s planets.
  • Maneuvering Jets
    • You and your ally may both play a Maneuvering Jets.
  • Master Plan
    • May be played to perform an additional action after performing a simultaneous tactical action, even if it is not your turn.
  • Mining Initiative
    • You may gain trade goods equal to the resource value of one of your ally’s planets.
  • Morale Boost
    • Does not apply to your ally’s units.
  • Nav Suite
    • Your ally’s units being transported by your ships with capacity may also ignore the effects of anomalies.
      • Does not allow your ally’s other units to ignore the effects of anomalies.
  • Parley
    • If two alliance teammates invade the same planet, play Parley after they both commit to return both players’ units to the space area.
    • May be played after another player commits units to land on a planet controlled by your ally.
  • Plagiarize
    • May be played to gain a technology owned by your ally, provided you and your ally are neighbors.
  • Plague
    • Cannot be played on your ally’s planets.
    • If two players have infantry on the chosen planet, they both roll.
  • Public Disgrace
    • May be played on your ally.
  • Rally
    • Cannot be played after you activate a system that contains your ally’s ships.
  • Reactor Meltdown
    • May be played on your ally.
  • Reflective Shielding
    • Cannot be played when one of your ally’s ships uses sustain damage.
    • Your opponents choose how to assign the hits, including splitting the 2 hits between their ships.
  • Reparations
    • Cannot be played when you and your ally exchange planet cards.
    • Cannot be played when Hacan and their ally use the Hacan mech ability to transfer a planet.
  • Reverse Engineer
    • May be played on your ally.
  • Rise of a Messiah
    • Place 1 of your infantry on each of your planets and your ally’s planets.
  • Rout
    • If both players of an alliance team are attacking, both players must declare a retreat if able.
  • Sabotage
    • May be played on your ally.
  • Salvage
    • If both players of an alliance team are present for combat, both give their commodities.
    • If one player of an alliance team retreats, both players of the alliance team give you their commodities.
  • Sanction
    • If your ally votes for the outcome that you predicted, they return 1 command token from fleet supply to their reinforcements.
  • Scramble Frequency
    • May be played on your ally.
    • You do not reroll your dice even if you participated in the unit ability roll.
  • Seize Artifact
    • May be played on your ally.
  • Shields Holding
    • You and your ally may both play a Shields Holding.
  • Signal Jamming
    • Chosen system must be adjacent to one of your ships, not just your ally’s.
    • May place your ally’s command token in the targeted system.
  • Skilled Retreat
    • Your ally does not move their ships.
    • You may move your ships to a system that contains your ally’s ships.
  • Spy
    • May be played on your ally.
  • Tactical Bombardment
    • Chosen system must contain one of your units with bombardment, not just your ally’s.
    • Planets in the chosen system controlled by your ally are not exhausted.
  • Unstable Planet
    • You may choose your ally’s planet, but the planet cannot be exhausted. You still destroy 3 infantry on it.
  • Uprising
    • Cannot be played on your ally.
  • Waylay
    • Hits produced by both you and your ally are combined to be applied to all ships.

OBJECTIVES

  • General Guidelines
    • A player cannot score public objectives if that player does not control each planet in their home system, even if their ally controls any or all planets in that player’s home system.
    • Your ally’s home system is not another player’s home system for the purposes of scoring.

EXPLORATION

  • Core Mine
    • Your ally’s mech’s do not count.
    • You may remove 1 of your ally’s infantry to gain 1 trade good.
  • Expedition
    • Your ally’s mech’s do not count.
    • You may remove 1 of your ally’s infantry to ready this planet.
  • Volatile Fuel Source
    • Your ally’s mech’s do not count.
    • You may remove 1 of your ally’s infantry to gain 1 command token.
  • Mirage: If Mirage is drawn when you and your ally perform a simultaneous tactical action, the player whose turn it is gains the planet.

RELICS

  • Book of Latvinia
    • Your ally’s planets do not count for the purposes of purging this relic for a victory point.
  • Circlet of the Void
    • May be exhausted to explore a frontier token in a system that contains your ally’s ships.
    • Your ally’s units being transported by your ships with capacity may ignore the effects of anomalies.
      • Your ally’s other units still roll for gravity rifts and may not ignore the effects of other anomalies.
  • Crown of Emphidia
    • May be exhausted to explore after performing a simultaneous tactical action, even if it is not your turn.
    • You cannot purge this card to gain 1 victory point if your ally controls the Tomb of Emphidia.
  • Crown of Thalnos
    • May not reroll your ally’s dice.
  • Dominus Orb
    • May be purged when performing a simultaneous tactical action, even if it is not your turn.
    • You may transport your ally’s units that are in systems that do not contain one of their command tokens.
  • JR-XS455-0
    • May be used on your ally.
    • Chosen player may place a structure on their ally’s planet.
  • Maw of Worlds
    • Do not exhaust your ally’s planets.
  • Nano-Forge
    • May be attached to a planet controlled by your ally.
  • Neuroloop
    • You may not purge your ally’s relics.
  • Shard of the Throne
    •  When you and your ally exchange legendary or home system planet cards, you do not gain or lose Shard of the Throne.
    • If you and your ally trade a planet via the Hacan mech ability, Shard of the Throne is not gained or lost.
  • Stellar Converter
    • Chosen planet must be in a system adjacent to one of your units with bombardment, not your ally’s.
    • Destroy all units includes yours and your ally’s.

FACTION SPECIFICS