Influence

Permanent and temporary Influence slots, pushing cubes out, converting and resetting Influence, and local powers.

Influence slots

Every Region has slots for Influence cubes. The number printed in a slot is the VPs you gain at once when your cube lands there. Influence comes from Engage, Invest, Build a Base, stacking a ready starting Country and some cards. Each time you add Influence, you choose which kind of slot to use — permanent or temporary — unless an effect says otherwise.

Scoring a Region counts all cubes there, permanent and temporary alike — but a Region scores only if every permanent slot is filled. See Scoring.

Permanent slots

The slots above the line. A cube there stays until the end of the game. They usually score fewer VPs now, and there are only a few: once they are full you can’t place permanent Influence there unless an effect lets you.

Temporary slots

The slots below the line. A new cube always goes in the leftmost free slot and scores its number — usually more than a permanent slot.

When the row is full, a new cube enters from the right: the leftmost cube leaves the Region, every other cube slides one space left, and the new cube takes the rightmost slot. Nobody scores for this placement or for the cubes that slide.

Converting to permanent

Some effects turn a temporary cube into a permanent one. Move it above the line: into a free permanent slot if there is one, otherwise beside the permanent cubes. Cubes that were to its right in the temporary row slide one space left. Nobody scores for any of this.

Resetting temporary Influence

Some effects Reset your temporary Influence in a Region. Take one of your temporary cubes out, slide the cubes to its right one space left, then put yours back in the first free temporary slot — without scoring. Your cube is now further right and safer from being pushed out. If nothing was to its right, a Reset changes nothing.

Local powers

Two Regions start with black cubes: Influence of local powers. For majorities they count as another player’s cubes — they can take a majority position and break ties as usual. See Ties.

The EU’s starting slot in Africa shows a 4: the EU does not score it at setup. It matters only if that starting cube is ever removed and the slot is filled again.