RIKA: Engines of Discord is a negotiation-driven engine builder where five asymmetric alien races must cooperate to survive escalating crises aboard a failing spaceship. Each crisis requires specific resource combinations, forcing temporary coalitions that dissolve immediately as players compete for Victory Points.
Players build resource-producing engine networks from cards, then negotiate during timed phases to form coalitions that pool outputs to meet crisis requirements. Successful coalitions distribute rewards (VP, resources, political cards), while failures inflict penalties and push the ship closer to destruction.
The central tension: participating in crises earns VP but slows engine development, while skipping crises to build engines risks catastrophic failure. Players can defect to gain political leverage, attempt solo resolution for full rewards, or betray allies mid-negotiation. Five races offer radically different strategies across tempo, economy, scaling, defense, and quality archetypes. Highest VP after three failures or final number of crisis wins.
—description from the publisher
Similar to:
Sidereal Confluence
Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island