RuleSage cited table rulings
← Imperial

You asked

How do I play?

Answered counted as answered

Asked with: Imperialbg-24181-en-1e

The game is played as follows:
Setup and Bond Distribution
1. Players receive starting money from the bank based on the number of players.[1][2]
2. Nation flag cards are dealt to players in turn.[1]
3. Players grant bonds to nations by choosing a bond from the pile and paying its amount into that nation's treasury.[2]
4. For the first nation (Austria-Hungary), one player is determined by lot to choose the first bond, followed by all other players in clockwise rotation.[2]
5. This process continues for subsequent nations (Italy, France, Great Britain, Germany, and Russia) in clockwise fashion.[2]
6. After every player has had the opportunity to grant bonds to every nation, the game can start.[3]
7. Any player who does not form a nation's government receives a Swiss Bank instead.[3][2]
Gameplay
1. Austria-Hungary begins the game, followed by nations moving clockwise according to the order of their national deposits on the edge of the gameboard (1. Austria-Hungary, 2. Italy, 3. France, 4. Great Britain, 5. the German Empire, and 6. Russia).[4]
2. A turn marker is used to identify which nation's turn it is.[4]
3. If a nation has not been granted a bond, it has no government yet, and its move is skipped.[4]
4. A nation's move consists of choosing a space on the rondel.[5]
5. In a nation's first turn, the game piece is placed on any space of the rondel.[5]
6. In all following turns, the space is chosen by moving the game piece clockwise; remaining in place is not allowed.[5]
7. The piece may be moved to one of the three spaces ahead at no cost, but each additional space costs the player leading the government of that nation 2 million, paid to the bank.[5]
8. The maximum move on the rondel is six spaces.[5]
9. A nation is allowed to build one new factory.[4]
10. A factory may be built only in one of the nation's own cities if there are no hostile armies in its home province.[4]
11. To build a factory, the nation pays 5 million into the bank and places the chosen factory on the gameboard in the appropriate city.[4]
12. At the end of the Investor turn, a check is made to see if there will be any changes of government.[6]
13. A player takes over the government of a nation if the sum of all bonds of that player in the nation is the highest (a tie is not sufficient).[6]
14. If several players achieve the same highest credit sum, the player first in seating order, counting from the player with the investor card, takes over the government.[6]
[1] RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook · p.5 · 2. Distributing the bonds · 4 to 6 players: · 3 players:
[2] RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook · p.5 · Variant for experienced players
[3] RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook · p.5 · Variant for experienced players
[4] RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook · p.7 · Start of play · SPACES ON THE RONDEL · FACTORY
[5] RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook · p.6 · GAME PLAY · Selecting a space on the rondel · Example:
[6] RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook · p.11 · Example:

One rule clearer, zero feelings hurt.

🔧 debug — where this ruling came from
outcome
ANSWERED — Answered
corpus profile
live,vps
answerer pin (deploy-frozen, attribution only)
gemma4:26b think:false 5571076f3d70
timings
search 188 ms · ask 4181 ms · total 4372 ms
single-flight (PR-5)
queued 0 ms · generation 4372 ms
retrieval refs (raw) — what the PASSAGE SEARCH returned, not what the answerer read
[{"page": 6, "score": 0.04918, "snippet": "The.six.imperial.Great.Powers.(nations).operate. on. the. gameboard.. The. players. are. investors. who.grant.bonds.to.these.nations..The.player. who.has.granted.the.highest.credit.amount.to. a.nation.controls.the.government.of.that.nation. and.decides.the.actions.on.the.gameboard..This. player.is.r", "headingPath": "GAME PLAY · Selecting a space on the rondel · Example:", "sharpsignalDocId": 401}, {"page": 7, "score": 0.047379, "snippet": "Austria-Hungary. begins. the. game;. after. that,. the. nations. move. clockwise. according. to. the. order.of.their.national.deposits.on.the.edge.of. the. gameboard. (1..Austria-Hungary,. 2..Italy,. 3.. .France,. 4..Great. Britain,. 5..the. German. Empire.and.6..Russia)..The.turn.marker.is.used. in", "headingPath": "Start of play · SPACES ON THE RONDEL · FACTORY", "sharpsignalDocId": 401}, {"page": 5, "score": 0.032258, "snippet": "Britain,.Germany,.and.Russia.in.the.same.way.. The.price.of.the.bond.chosen.must.be.paid.into. the.respective.treasury..Finally.each.player.who. does.not.form.a.nation's.government.receives.a. Swiss.Bank.instead. After.every.player.had.the.opportunity.to.grant. bonds.to.every.nation,.the.game.can.st", "headingPath": "Variant for experienced players", "sharpsignalDocId": 401}, {"page": 5, "score": 0.031746, "snippet": "This. variant. for. bond. distribution. increases. the. strategic. possibilities. and. is. therefore. recommended.for.experienced.players. Each.player. gets. the. following. starting. money. from.the.bank: ·. with.six.players,.15.mil. ·. with.five.players,.18.mil. ·. with.four.players,.22.mil. ·. wi", "headingPath": "Variant for experienced players", "sharpsignalDocId": 401}, {"page": 12, "score": 0.030769, "snippet": "when.landing. on. the. 'Taxation'. space. on. the. rondel,.the.nation.has.to.pay.1.mil..soldiers'.pay.to. each.of.its.armies.and.fleets..One.million.for.each. army.and.fleet.of.the.nation.is.subtracted.from.the. tax.revenue..Only.the.remaining.amount.is.paid. from.the.bank.into.the.treasury.on.the.g", "headingPath": "3. Collecting money · 2. Adding power points", "sharpsignalDocId": 401}, {"page": 10, "score": 0.030303, "snippet": "If. an. army. moves. into. the. home. province. of. another. Great. Power,. the. government. of. that. army.has.to.decide.if.the.intentions.are.hostile. or. friendly.. A. hostile. army,. placed. standing. upright.in.the.province,.blocks.the.province.(no. production,.no.import,.no.building.of.factori", "headingPath": "Entering provinces of other Great Powers:", "sharpsignalDocId": 401}, {"page": 16, "score": 0.029851, "snippet": "| Factory Nation → Bank | Afactory may be built for 5 million. (brown city = armaments facility; light blue city = shipyard) | | Production | Each unoccupied factory produces an army or a fleet, respectively. Placement: In the province of the factory (the fleet in the harbor). | | Import Nation → Ba", "headingPath": "PD-Games has the following strategy games on offer (2010): · Investor · Taxation", "sharpsignalDocId": 401}, {"page": 15, "score": 0.029762, "snippet": "Imperial 2030: In.2030.the.old.powers.USA,.Europe,. and.Russia.compete.with.the. rising. world. powers. China,. India,.and.Brazil..This.is.a.new. imperial.challenge.with.more. neutral.regions.to.control.and. some.rules.tweaks.. Antike: .Ancient.nations.compete.in.developing.their. civilizations.. En", "headingPath": "PD-Games has the following strategy games on offer (2010):", "sharpsignalDocId": 401}]
citations (raw) — what the answer cited, chosen from a retrieval this page cannot show
[{"page": 5, "quote": null, "headingPath": "2. Distributing the bonds · 4 to 6 players: · 3 players:", "sharpsignalDocId": 401}, {"page": 5, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Variant for experienced players", "sharpsignalDocId": 401}, {"page": 5, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Variant for experienced players", "sharpsignalDocId": 401}, {"page": 7, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Start of play · SPACES ON THE RONDEL · FACTORY", "sharpsignalDocId": 401}, {"page": 6, "quote": null, "headingPath": "GAME PLAY · Selecting a space on the rondel · Example:", "sharpsignalDocId": 401}, {"page": 11, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Example:", "sharpsignalDocId": 401}]
boost provenance — errata + base rulebook (E2/E3)
no registered errata card matched this query; base rulebook doc 401 boosted; rulesage.errata.boost-enabled=true, rulesage.errata.supersedence-enabled=true
base rulebook doc 401 boosted
answered-before recall
this ruling was answered, so past rulings were not offered
similarity threshold in force: 0.55 (rulesage.answered-before.similarity-threshold; the exact-question tier is not gated by it)
answer fence
passed — letter density 0.90113 of 2043 non-space chars (floor 0.45); 0 glyph-index tokens (max 2)
debug row recorded
Oct 7, 2026 22:50 UTC

what this block IS: the PASSAGE SEARCH's own results — the same search that fills this page's closest-passages list — and NOT the passages the answerer read. Answering runs its OWN retrieval: a far wider candidate pool, re-ranked down to a final handful, plus floors this search never applies — the base rulebook, surviving errata corrections, and one slot per book on a multi-book read. Each of those armed only if THIS ask sent what it needs: the boost block names the ids it forwarded, and the scope line names the books it read. A document the answer CITES that no row here names is therefore EXPECTED, not a defect: two searches, two candidate pools, two orders. The answerer's own final rows are shown in their own block below, beside these and never mixed into them.

score = the fused retrieval score (reciprocal-rank fusion over the search arms) — NOT a cosine similarity. This ruling ran the THREE-ARM fuse (full-text + vector + the doc-priority boost arm, which carried the base rulebook and/or the errata corrections this query matched), whose arithmetic ceiling is 0.04918 — all three arms ranking the same chunk #1 (ceiling = arms/(k+1) at k=60). The measured healthy band 0.016–0.033 was measured on TWO-arm asks and does not bound this one: its high end is the two-arm ceiling, and a third arm has room above it. A chunk only one arm ranked highly lands near 0.016 (that one arm's #1 vote), so 0.03 here is an excellent hit, not a 3% match.

per-arm ranks (the rank each search arm gave a chunk): NOT DISCLOSED by the gateway. Fusion happens gateway-side and only the FUSED score crosses the wire, so rulesage cannot show them without a gateway change. The rank column below is the FUSED rank (position in the returned list), which is real.

token count per chunk: NOT DISCLOSED — chunk token counts are not reported on the ask path. The character counts below are of the bounded snippet/quote rulesage actually received — a real measurement of what we hold, never an estimate of the chunk.

fused rankdocumentheadingpage fused RRF scoresnippet chars
#1 RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) GAME PLAY · Selecting a space on the rondel · Example: p.6 0.04918 (at the 3-arm ceiling (0.04918) — every arm ranked it #1) 300
#2 RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) Start of play · SPACES ON THE RONDEL · FACTORY p.7 0.047379 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) 300
#3 RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) Variant for experienced players p.5 0.032258 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) 300
#4 RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) Variant for experienced players p.5 0.031746 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) 300
#5 RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) 3. Collecting money · 2. Adding power points p.12 0.030769 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) 300
#6 RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) Entering provinces of other Great Powers: p.10 0.030303 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) 300
#7 RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) PD-Games has the following strategy games on offer (2010): · Investor · Taxation p.16 0.029851 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) 300
#8 RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) PD-Games has the following strategy games on offer (2010): p.15 0.029762 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) 300

what this block IS: the passages the ANSWERING read put in front of the answerer, in the order it read them — the other half of the two reads described above, and the one that decides what the answer could possibly say. Each row names the book it came from and where in that book it sits, what it scored when the search arms were fused, which arm carried it there, and whether the re-ranker chose it or a floor guaranteed it a slot. A row here that no passage-search row names is EXPECTED: a far wider pool, re-ranked, with floors the passage search never applies.

candidate pool: the answering read scored 44 passages, out of a ceiling of 80 set gateway-side. Both figures are reported by the gateway for THIS ask — measurements of what actually happened, not constants read out of anyone's source and printed here on faith.

floors armed for this ask: the base rulebook — armed · surviving errata corrections — not armed · one slot per book on a multi-book read — not armed. Every floor is stated on every ask, armed or not, so a floor that did not apply here is never mistaken for one this app does not know about.

arms fused for this ask: vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm. Stated separately from the rows because an arm that ran and carried nothing is a different fact from an arm that never ran.

read atdocumentheadingpage fused rankfused RRF scorecarried byhow it got its slot
#1 RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) GAME PLAY · Selecting a space on the rondel · Example: p.6 #1 0.04918 (at the 3-arm ceiling (0.04918) — every arm ranked it #1) vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm the re-ranker chose it
#2 RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) Example: p.11 #28 0.011364 (below 0.016, the low end of the measured band — a weak fuse (that band was taken on two-arm asks; only its low end, one arm's #1 vote, carries over to a 3-arm one)) vector the re-ranker chose it
#3 RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) 2. Distributing the bonds · 4 to 6 players: · 3 players: p.5 #11 0.014286 (below 0.016, the low end of the measured band — a weak fuse (that band was taken on two-arm asks; only its low end, one arm's #1 vote, carries over to a 3-arm one)) vector the re-ranker chose it
#4 RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) Variant for experienced players p.5 #3 0.032258 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) vector + the doc-priority boost arm the re-ranker chose it
#5 RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) Don't forget the power points · Be careful when concentrating on one nation · Take care of your money · Use the Swiss Bank p.13 #18 0.012821 (below 0.016, the low end of the measured band — a weak fuse (that band was taken on two-arm asks; only its low end, one arm's #1 vote, carries over to a 3-arm one)) vector the re-ranker chose it
#6 RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) Variant for experienced players p.5 #4 0.031746 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) vector + the doc-priority boost arm the re-ranker chose it
#7 RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) p.2 #17 0.012987 (below 0.016, the low end of the measured band — a weak fuse (that band was taken on two-arm asks; only its low end, one arm's #1 vote, carries over to a 3-arm one)) vector the re-ranker chose it
#8 RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) Start of play · SPACES ON THE RONDEL · FACTORY p.7 #2 0.047379 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm the re-ranker chose it

token count per chunk: NOT DISCLOSED — chunk token counts are not reported on the ask path. The character counts below are of the bounded snippet/quote rulesage actually received — a real measurement of what we hold, never an estimate of the chunk.

#documentheadingpagequote chars
[1] RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) 2. Distributing the bonds · 4 to 6 players: · 3 players: p.5 no quote on the wire
[2] RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) Variant for experienced players p.5 no quote on the wire
[3] RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) Variant for experienced players p.5 no quote on the wire
[4] RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) Start of play · SPACES ON THE RONDEL · FACTORY p.7 no quote on the wire
[5] RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) GAME PLAY · Selecting a space on the rondel · Example: p.6 no quote on the wire
[6] RULEBOOK Imperial — Rulebook (corpus doc 401) Example: p.11 no quote on the wire
timing split
retrieval 188 ms · first delta 1182 ms · total 4372 ms (retrieval and first-delta both measured from the START of gateway work, so first-delta INCLUDES retrieval — do not subtract)
full breakdown
queued 0 ms · retrieval 188 ms · ask 4181 ms · gateway work 4372 ms · total 4372 ms
tokens in (the prompt the answerer read)
3363
tokens out (what the answerer generated)
630
tok/sec
202.4 tok/sec — 630 output tokens in 3.113 s of generation
live seat (read from the running child)
answering — gemma4:26b think:false · num_ctx 32768 (live-verified 56s ago)
answerer host (measured by rulesage)
reachable (for 2h, checked 2s ago)
answerer node (the seat proxy's own header — this probe, not this ask)
node1
stream path
streamed — the gateway pushed at least one accumulated draft
watchdog
first-token watchdog: 30s per arming window (rulesage.table.first-token-watchdog-seconds), re-armed once by the passages frame — so the worst case before a reader falls back to polling is 60s. Whether it actually fired is a BROWSER-side decision that never reaches the server, so it is not recorded here. The stream path above is the server's half of that story: whether a delta was emitted at all.
num_ctx · think posture
both are the CHILD's settings, not rulesage's, and no ask reply carries them — an answer never states which context window or think posture produced it. The live-seat line above reads them from the running child instead, where the gateway can answer for itself; it describes the child NOW, not this ask.
outcome
ANSWERED — Answered
abstain rationale (n/a — this ruling answered)
answered — no abstain rationale applies
decision
NOT_SETUP_SHAPED — no setup-shape pattern matched this question

this game registers NO errata cards (edition 330), so "no registered errata card matched" above could never have matched one

Errata scope: the gate above matched this ruling's own edition only. When an ask also reads an expansion, that expansion's own registered errata cards stay outside the match — a stated phase-1 limitation, not a failed lookup.