Experienced players - please explain this

[devxx]

i've read the official rulebook, i've watched more than a few videos, and i've done a fair search on the internet for the answer but i cannot find an explanation of what Alien, Imperium, Uplift, and Rebel are. i mean, are they races/factions like in other games? and when their name as yellow Alien, red Rebel, or purple Imperium appears on a card does that mean something? can someone please explain this and most importantly, what's the significance of the cards that have their colored in names on them? thank you , thank you :-)

[greysphere]

In the base set, Alien Tech institute gives 2 VP per ALIEN (in yellow) card. In the expansions, many cards start give points or trigger effects for the various factions.

[devxx]

so ALIEN cards support other Alien cards? is that what they do? is that what the REBEL cards are do as well, support other REBEL cards? and Alien, imperium, uplift, rebel are factions? that's why we have Rebel VS Imperium? i'm just trying to understand why some cards have big, bold, colorful words like ALIEN, REBEL and others don't.

[sen]

Pretty much, the faction cards or cards of a specific type can gain synergies through cards that enable them.

However most of these "synergy cards" are introduced in the expansions.
a few examples: http://imgur.com/a/Vtid1

[paschott]

@devxx As this is based on the card game, you can find a _lot_ of information at www.boardgamegeek.com if you search for "Race for the Galaxy". The best "behind the scenes" look would be the Designer's Diary blog post at https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/1931/designer-diary-race-galaxy. That's not going to be a "how to play" by any means, but you can read about what the designers were thinking as they produced the game and how things mesh together.

As noted, the expansions really start building on the card synergies where those bolded terms start meaning a little more. You see a little in the base game w/ Alien Tech Institute as one example, but not quite as much otherwise.

[devxx]

thanks everyone! im a regular at BGG but thanks for the link to Tom's post, reading it now!!