6. Voting and Political System

6.1 Vote Sources#

Locations contribute Votes equal to their printed Vote value. Characters and other cards may also contribute Votes if printed. Vote counts are per-card; there is no global rule tying Vote count to Drives or other Character properties.

6.2 Vote Costs#

The cost in committed Votes to push a Galactic Factor by one step depends on the position's distance from neutral:

• Move to ±1 (neutral position): 5 Votes
• Move to ±2: 6 Votes
• Move to ±3: 7 Votes
• Move to ±4: 8 Votes

These are per-step costs. Pushing a GF from neutral to ±4 requires 6 + 7 + 8 = 21 Votes total across as many actions as needed. Pushing back toward neutral applies the same cost structure in reverse. Players may move more than 1 Galactic Factor during their turn, but each vote cost to move each GF must be paid individually.

6.4 Resource Pool#

The Resource Pool is the single, turn-bounded container for every non-persistent Resource a player generates — principally Votes and Exploration Vector (EV). The Resource Pool empties at the end of each Phase. Effects that "add Votes to your Resource Pool" or "add EV to your Resource Pool" inject those Resources into the pool for use during the current Phase; any not spent are lost when the Phase ends. Persistent Resources (Currency in the Treasury, CP on cards, and Story Points) are NOT held in the Resource Pool and do not empty. (R7: replaces the former separately-named "Resource Pool.")