A turn, phase by phase

Answers

First come the answers to the newspaper's question and to the factions' demands. A side that has not picked an answer takes the first one it is allowed. Granting a demand adds 2 Command and refusing one costs 1.

Checks and refusals

Every order is checked against what its side can still afford in Action Points and money, and an order that no longer fits is dropped. Then an order that goes through a faction can be refused by it: a recruit goes through its unit's faction, and an order that needs units through the faction of the first such unit in the district. A restless faction refuses 25% of the time and a rebellious one 50%. A refused order costs no money.

Orders that need no unit are never refused, and some upgrades make a faction never refuse. In a chapter where the movement has no leaders, some of its proposals are simply not taken up.

Costs

Every order still standing is paid for. A side's money never falls below zero.

Moves

Every move happens at once. Some districts reveal the hidden units that enter them, and in some chapters units that come in across open ground are shaken for the turn.

Recruits and buildings

Recruits appear where they were ordered and buildings go up. A Revolution unit may add Heat as it arrives, as its description says; in a chapter where every act counts toward Heat, a unit with Stealth 1 or less recruited in the open adds 1 more.

Orders, by priority

The other orders are carried out by priority, from the first to the last. An order can also set a priority of its own.

Within one priority, the side that acts first changes every turn: the Revolution on odd turns, the Law on even ones. A side's own orders keep the order it gave them. Units that lie low cannot act. An order that needed something an earlier order has used up this turn lapses, and its cost is returned.

Units at work

Every unit that does something each turn does it now: spies and informants look for hidden units, papers move Opinion, and so on, as each unit's description says. How a hidden unit is found is on Arrests, raids and assaults.

The city reacts

• Unrest: a district at 90 or more riots on its own, and every other district cools by 1 unless its chapter says otherwise. See Unrest, riots and barricades.
• Influence moves in every district. See Influence and control.
• Districts change hands. A side that takes a prison frees its people held there, and the holder of a landmark gets what the landmark gives.
• Heat acts for the Revolution, and a low Legitimacy may bring a coup against the Law. See Heat and Legitimacy.
• The factions act: their power moves, the devoted give their perks, the rebellious turn their threats on you and may rebel, and promises are kept or broken. The neutral powers drift and give. See Factions in depth and Neutral powers.
• Income comes in and upkeep is paid. See Money.

Objectives

The objectives are checked, and so is every district a level asks a side to hold, turn after turn. At 75% of the level's turns, rounded down, the game also notes whether each side already meets an objective that is judged at the end: that decides the second star. See Winning, losing and stars.

The next turn

Action Points come back, effects that last a few turns count down, wounded leaders whose time is up return, demands past their deadline are refused, a faction may make a new demand, and the next news is drawn: the story's own first, otherwise, 35% of the time, news from the chapter's pool.