Tutorial: Beetles First Turn

At the start of your first turn, you should have 1 Thinker, 1 Pheromone Pod, 1 Water Pod, and 6 Harvesters in your base. These should all be face-up and oriented such that you can read the text on the cards. This indicates that the cards are "ready", a term that will be used throughout the tutorial.

Many actions in the game will require you to "engage" a card, which is indicated by the symbol. To engage a card once, turn it 90° clockwise. To engage a card twice, turn it 180° clockwise. To engage a card three times, turn it 270° clockwise. Cards will never be engaged more than three times in a single turn. During the first round of play, skip the prep phase and go directly to the build phase. The following list gives all of the actions you can take during your first build phase, with mechanical instructions in indigo and strategic notes in teal.

Phases (Turn 1) Prep phase → Build phase Move phase Combat phase Cleanup phase

Gather ambria
Engage any ready Harvester, then place an ambria counter on it. Beetles each keep their own supply of resources. Ambria allows Harvesters to morph into structures. If you want to morph a structure next turn, you'll want to have several Harvesters gather ambria this turn.

Gather water
Engage any ready Harvester, place it underneath the Water Pod, then place a water counter on top of the Harvester. Each Water Pod can hold up to 3 units at a time. Water allows Harvesters to split and morph into more powerful units.

Split a Harvester

There are two ways to split a Harvester: Remove a water counter from a ready Harvester, place a new Harvester face-down underneath it, then engage both cards once. Place a new Harvester face-down under a ready Harvester, engage both cards once, then place both cards underneath a nearby Water Pod. This takes up one of the Water Pod's 3 slots. With more Harvesters in play, you will be able to perform more actions each turn.

Research a Form or Upgrade
Find the form or upgrade you want, place it face-down underneath your Thinker, then engage both cards twice. Forms help make your army larger, while upgrades help make your army stronger.

Release a Pheromone
Find the pheromone you want, place is face-down underneath your Pheromone Pod, then engage both cards once. The pheromone that you use can always be changed later on. Different pheromones are useful in different situations.

When you've finished your turn, click on the next player's race below. If everyone has already taken their first turn, click "next" to continue the tutorial.