Under Falling Skies – Quick Start & Common Rules Mistakes Explained

Reading time approx. 5–7 minutes

Quick Start – 1st Game (with rules clarity)

Reading time approx. 6–8 minutes

Quick Start – 1st Game (with rules clarity)

Under Falling Skies is a solo dice game where you defend a city against an alien invasion. The goal is to develop a solution against the invaders through research in time, before your base is destroyed or the mothership reaches Earth.

This guide assumes basic knowledge of the rules and focuses on the flow logic, critical rule points, and typical understanding issues from player experience.

Game Objective

Victory:
The Research marker reaches the end of the Research track.

Defeat:

• The Damage marker reaches the skull
  OR
• The Mothership reaches the skull row

Game Setup (Quick Overview)

The game board consists of:

• 4 Sky Tiles
• 1 City Tile
• 2 Base Tiles

Additionally:

• Place the Mothership above the sky
• Place 5 Alien Fighters on the starting discard points
• Place Energy, Research, and Damage markers on their starting spaces
• Place the Excavator on the starting space

The simplified setup is usually recommended for the first game.

A Round Consists of 3 Phases

1. Dice Phase (Core Mechanic)

You roll all 5 dice:

• 3 gray dice
• 2 white dice

Then you place them individually in different columns of your base.

Central Rule (often played incorrectly)

Each die is fully resolved immediately before the next die is placed.

This means:

| Each die generates a complete mini-sequence. |

Immediate Alien Movement

As soon as a die is placed:

• All Alien Fighters in that column immediately move down by the die value
• Then the effects of the destination space are immediately triggered

Important:
Only the space where the fighter lands is triggered. Spaces passed through are ignored.

Typical Rule Error

Many players treat multiple dice movements as a single collective movement at the end of the phase.

This is incorrect.

The order of each individual placement permanently changes the game state.

White Dice

White dice change the probabilities of the round.

After each white die used:

• All unused dice are re-rolled

This creates a constant risk/control conflict:

• high values = strong rooms
• high values = faster alien movement

Die Placement

• Only 1 die per column is allowed
• Normally, dice can only be placed on already excavated rooms
• Only one die per round may be placed in front of the excavator to expand the base

Alien Effects during the Dice Phase

Alien fighters can trigger various effects:

• Damage to the city
• Movement of other ships
• Mothership movement
• Preparation of new enemies

Important:
Effects are triggered immediately after movement.

Damage to the City

If an alien gets under the sky:

• Your base takes 1 damage
• The ship returns to the mothership

If the Damage marker reaches the skull:
→ immediate loss

Important Room Rule

Each die activates exactly one room.

The effect is fully executed or completely forfeited.

Room Value

The room value is calculated from:

Die Value ± Modifier

Important clarification:
The modifier only affects the room, not alien movement.

This is one of the most common rule errors.

Room Types

Energy Rooms

Generate energy for later actions.

Many powerful rooms cannot be used without energy.

Research Rooms

Advance the Research marker.

The room value must be high enough to pay the research costs of the spaces.

Important misconception:
Multiple research dice cannot be summed unless a multi-space room explicitly allows it.

Fighter Jets

Destroy Alien Fighters on explosion spaces.

A ship is only destroyed if:

• it is on an explosion space
• the room value is high enough

Excavator

Expands the base and unlocks deeper rooms.

The Excavator:

• costs energy
• can only be moved once per round
• requires a sufficient die value for the distance

Multi-Space Rooms

These rooms only function if all associated spaces are occupied by dice.

If a die is missing:
→ entire room has no effect

This is often forgotten, especially in early games.

Anti-Aircraft

Anti-aircraft reduces alien movement by 1.

Minimum is 0.

Important:
The reduction only applies to this column and only during the current die placement.

2. Room Phase

Now you activate all rooms with dice.

The order can be chosen freely.

Each die:

• is evaluated exactly once
• then removed

Typical Fallacy

Dice cannot be "saved" or used multiple times.

Even later effects do not change already removed dice.

3. Mothership Phase

This phase consists of three steps:

1. Mothership moves down 1 row
2. Effect of the new row is executed
3. Ships on the mothership launch again

Re-launching Ships

All ships on the mothership are distributed according to fixed rules.

This is one of the most frequently incorrectly played parts of the game.

Order

1. Purple ships first
2. Then white ships

Placement Logic

| Step 1: Fill empty columns first |

| Step 2: Then choose the column whose topmost ship is farthest from the city |

| Step 3: In case of a tie, choose freely |

Important Clarification

The distance rule is only used when no empty columns remain.

The color only determines the order of placement, not the target column.

White Ships

White ships function differently from purple ones.

• They launch after purple ships
• If they hit the city, they return
• If shot down, they are permanently removed
• If all white ships are already in play, no more appear

Strategic Importance

White ships are the only permanent reduction of enemy pressure.

Therefore, they are often more important in the long term than short-term damage against purple ships.

Basic Principles of the Game

✔ High dice are powerful, but simultaneously increase alien pressure
✔ Dice are not individual moves, but part of a chain reaction system
✔ Research is the actual path to victory
✔ Stability is more important than short-term maximum moves
✔ Good players control escalation instead of just causing damage

Common Errors from Player Practice

• Too aggressive dice placement quickly leads to uncontrolled chain reactions.
• Too little focus on research unnecessarily prolongs the game and increases overall pressure.
• Ignoring white ships leads to a long-term loss of control.
• Many defeats are not caused by individual bad moves, but by a creeping loss of system control.

Note: This is an unofficial quick start guide and is not affiliated with the game's manufacturer or publisher.

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