RuleSage cited table rulings
← Explorers of the North Sea

You asked

How do I play?

Answered counted as answered

Asked with: Explorers of the North Seabg-176371-en-1e

To play Explorers of the North Sea, follow these steps:
1. On your turn, first place 1 Tile from your hand.[1]
2. When placing a Tile, ensure it shares at least 1 edge with the Starting Board or any other Tile, and all edges must match up to surrounding Tiles (land to land and sea to sea).[1]
3. When placing a Tile, you must also place 1 Livestock, Settlement Token, or Enemy Ship as indicated by the Tile's illustration.[1]
4. After placing the Tile, you may take up to 4 actions.[2][1] Actions can be taken in any order, and you may perform the same action multiple times.[2] Available actions include:
* Load Longship [2]
* Unload Long/ship [2]
* + Deliver Livestock [2]
* Move Longship [2]
* + Destroy an Enemy Ship [2]
* Move Vikings [2]
* + Raid a Settlement [2]
* Transport Livestock [2]
* Construct an Outpost (costs 2 actions) [2]
5. Once you have taken all desired actions, end your turn by drawing a new Tile to your hand, if there are Tiles left to draw.[3][1]
The game continues clockwise from the starting player.[1] The game ends immediately after the turn where the player holding the Winter Token has no more Tiles in their hand.[4]
[1] RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook · p.3 · gameplay overview · placing tiles · placing tokens · Placing Livestock · Placing Settlement Tokens · Placing Enemy Ships
[2] RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook · p.4 · Placing Enemy Ships · 1. Load Longship · 2. Unload Longship · + Deliver Livestock: · 3. Move Longship
[3] RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook · p.5 · 6. Construct an Outpost · Example: · drawing tiles
[4] RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook · p.6 · drawing tiles · scoring · 1. Delivered Livestock · 2. Constructed Outposts · 3. Destroyed Enemy Ships · 4. Raided Settlements

Now you know — make it count.

🔧 debug — where this ruling came from
outcome
ANSWERED — Answered
corpus profile
live,vps
answerer pin (deploy-frozen, attribution only)
gemma4:26b think:false 5571076f3d70
timings
search 111 ms · ask 2892 ms · total 3005 ms
single-flight (PR-5)
queued 0 ms · generation 3005 ms
retrieval refs (raw) — what the PASSAGE SEARCH returned, not what the answerer read
[{"page": 5, "score": 0.047875, "snippet": "At the game's end, players score Victory Points for each completed (completely surrounded by sea) Island they control. The most effective way to control Islands is by constructing Outposts. Scoring Islands will be explained later. As 2 actions, players may construct an Outpost on a point where 3 Til", "headingPath": "6. Construct an Outpost · Example: · drawing tiles", "sharpsignalDocId": 1104}, {"page": 2, "score": 0.047163, "snippet": "Explorers of the North Sea is set in the latter years of the Viking Age. As ambitious sea captains, players seek out new lands to settle and control. They will need to transport their crew among the newly discovered islands to capture livestock, construct outposts and fulfill various other goals. So", "headingPath": "aim of the game · setup", "sharpsignalDocId": 1104}, {"page": 8, "score": 0.047123, "snippet": "Gain VP equal to your influence on 1 Island you control, minus players in the game. The Queen does not lose Victory Points if the sum is below zero. For example, if you had an influence of 8 on 1 Island you control and there were 3 players in the game, you would score 5 VP. Gain 1 additional VP for ", "headingPath": "Queen · Scout · Shieldmaiden · Trader · Tyrant · Watchman · …", "sharpsignalDocId": 1104}, {"page": 3, "score": 0.032787, "snippet": "Proceeding clockwise from the starting player, each player takes their turn in full. On their turn, players first place 1 Tile from their hand. After doing so, they may take up to 4 actions. Once they have taken all desired actions, they draw a new Tile (if available), adding it to their hand. This ", "headingPath": "gameplay overview · placing tiles · placing tokens · Placing Livestock · Placing Settlement Tokens · Placing Enemy Ships", "sharpsignalDocId": 1104}, {"page": 6, "score": 0.032258, "snippet": "The game ends immediately after the turn where the player holding the Winter Token has no more Tiles in hand. This should be exactly 48 turns (there are 48 Tiles). However, some players may forget to place a Tile on their turn. In this situation, it is possible for the game to end with 1 or more pla", "headingPath": "drawing tiles · scoring · 1. Delivered Livestock · 2. Constructed Outposts · 3. Destroyed Enemy Ships · 4. Raided Settlements", "sharpsignalDocId": 1104}, {"page": 4, "score": 0.030303, "snippet": "Players score 1 Victory Point for each Enemy Ship they destroy. To destroy an Enemy Ship, players must move their Longship (with at least 2 Vikings on board) onto the same sea space of the same Tile. The Enemy Ship is immediately destroyed (this does not require any additional actions). However, pla", "headingPath": "+ Destroy an Enemy Ship:", "sharpsignalDocId": 1104}, {"page": 7, "score": 0.029851, "snippet": "Players score increasing amounts of Victory Points for every Viking that dies while destroying an Enemy Ship. This is equal to dead Vikings, squared. = 1 VP (1x1) = 4 VP (2x2) Players score Victory Points for each Island they control. Note: Only completed Islands (totally surrounded by sea) are scor", "headingPath": "5. Viking Deaths · 6. Controlled Islands · 7. Captain Cards · Archer · Barbarian · Cartographer · …", "sharpsignalDocId": 1104}, {"page": 4, "score": 0.029412, "snippet": "After placing their Tile and adding any required Livestock, Settlement Tokens or Enemy Ships, the current player may take up to 4 actions. Players may perform the same action multiple times if they choose. Actions can be taken in any order. The available actions are: Load Longship Unload Longship + ", "headingPath": "Placing Enemy Ships · 1. Load Longship · 2. Unload Longship · + Deliver Livestock: · 3. Move Longship", "sharpsignalDocId": 1104}]
citations (raw) — what the answer cited, chosen from a retrieval this page cannot show
[{"page": 3, "quote": null, "headingPath": "gameplay overview · placing tiles · placing tokens · Placing Livestock · Placing Settlement Tokens · Placing Enemy Ships", "sharpsignalDocId": 1104}, {"page": 4, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Placing Enemy Ships · 1. Load Longship · 2. Unload Longship · + Deliver Livestock: · 3. Move Longship", "sharpsignalDocId": 1104}, {"page": 5, "quote": null, "headingPath": "6. Construct an Outpost · Example: · drawing tiles", "sharpsignalDocId": 1104}, {"page": 6, "quote": null, "headingPath": "drawing tiles · scoring · 1. Delivered Livestock · 2. Constructed Outposts · 3. Destroyed Enemy Ships · 4. Raided Settlements", "sharpsignalDocId": 1104}]
boost provenance — errata + base rulebook (E2/E3)
no registered errata card matched this query; base rulebook doc 1104 boosted; rulesage.errata.boost-enabled=true, rulesage.errata.supersedence-enabled=true
base rulebook doc 1104 boosted
answered-before recall
this ruling was answered, so past rulings were not offered
similarity threshold in force: 0.55 (rulesage.answered-before.similarity-threshold; the exact-question tier is not gated by it)
answer fence
passed — letter density 0.88204 of 941 non-space chars (floor 0.45); 0 glyph-index tokens (max 2)
debug row recorded
Sep 5, 2026 15:45 UTC

what this block IS: the PASSAGE SEARCH's own results — the same search that fills this page's closest-passages list — and NOT the passages the answerer read. Answering runs its OWN retrieval: a far wider candidate pool, re-ranked down to a final handful, plus floors this search never applies — the base rulebook, surviving errata corrections, and one slot per book on a multi-book read. Each of those armed only if THIS ask sent what it needs: the boost block names the ids it forwarded, and the scope line names the books it read. A document the answer CITES that no row here names is therefore EXPECTED, not a defect: two searches, two candidate pools, two orders. The answerer's own final rows are shown in their own block below, beside these and never mixed into them.

score = the fused retrieval score (reciprocal-rank fusion over the search arms) — NOT a cosine similarity. This ruling ran the THREE-ARM fuse (full-text + vector + the doc-priority boost arm, which carried the base rulebook and/or the errata corrections this query matched), whose arithmetic ceiling is 0.04918 — all three arms ranking the same chunk #1 (ceiling = arms/(k+1) at k=60). The measured healthy band 0.016–0.033 was measured on TWO-arm asks and does not bound this one: its high end is the two-arm ceiling, and a third arm has room above it. A chunk only one arm ranked highly lands near 0.016 (that one arm's #1 vote), so 0.03 here is an excellent hit, not a 3% match.

per-arm ranks (the rank each search arm gave a chunk): NOT DISCLOSED by the gateway. Fusion happens gateway-side and only the FUSED score crosses the wire, so rulesage cannot show them without a gateway change. The rank column below is the FUSED rank (position in the returned list), which is real.

token count per chunk: NOT DISCLOSED — chunk token counts are not reported on the ask path. The character counts below are of the bounded snippet/quote rulesage actually received — a real measurement of what we hold, never an estimate of the chunk.

fused rankdocumentheadingpage fused RRF scoresnippet chars
#1 RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) 6. Construct an Outpost · Example: · drawing tiles p.5 0.047875 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) 300
#2 RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) aim of the game · setup p.2 0.047163 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) 300
#3 RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) Queen · Scout · Shieldmaiden · Trader · Tyrant · Watchman · … p.8 0.047123 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) 300
#4 RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) gameplay overview · placing tiles · placing tokens · Placing Livestock · Placing Settlement Tokens · Placing Enemy Ships p.3 0.032787 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) 300
#5 RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) drawing tiles · scoring · 1. Delivered Livestock · 2. Constructed Outposts · 3. Destroyed Enemy Ships · 4. Raided Settlements p.6 0.032258 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) 300
#6 RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) + Destroy an Enemy Ship: p.4 0.030303 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) 300
#7 RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) 5. Viking Deaths · 6. Controlled Islands · 7. Captain Cards · Archer · Barbarian · Cartographer · … p.7 0.029851 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) 300
#8 RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) Placing Enemy Ships · 1. Load Longship · 2. Unload Longship · + Deliver Livestock: · 3. Move Longship p.4 0.029412 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) 300

what this block IS: the passages the ANSWERING read put in front of the answerer, in the order it read them — the other half of the two reads described above, and the one that decides what the answer could possibly say. Each row names the book it came from and where in that book it sits, what it scored when the search arms were fused, which arm carried it there, and whether the re-ranker chose it or a floor guaranteed it a slot. A row here that no passage-search row names is EXPECTED: a far wider pool, re-ranked, with floors the passage search never applies.

candidate pool: the answering read scored 10 passages, out of a ceiling of 80 set gateway-side. Both figures are reported by the gateway for THIS ask — measurements of what actually happened, not constants read out of anyone's source and printed here on faith.

floors armed for this ask: the base rulebook — armed · surviving errata corrections — not armed · one slot per book on a multi-book read — not armed. Every floor is stated on every ask, armed or not, so a floor that did not apply here is never mistaken for one this app does not know about.

arms fused for this ask: vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm. Stated separately from the rows because an arm that ran and carried nothing is a different fact from an arm that never ran.

read atdocumentheadingpage fused rankfused RRF scorecarried byhow it got its slot
#1 RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) 6. Construct an Outpost · Example: · drawing tiles p.5 #1 0.047875 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm the re-ranker chose it
#2 RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) Queen · Scout · Shieldmaiden · Trader · Tyrant · Watchman · … p.8 #3 0.047123 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm the re-ranker chose it
#3 RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) Placing Enemy Ships · 1. Load Longship · 2. Unload Longship · + Deliver Livestock: · 3. Move Longship p.4 #8 0.029412 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) vector + the doc-priority boost arm the re-ranker chose it
#4 RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) drawing tiles · scoring · 1. Delivered Livestock · 2. Constructed Outposts · 3. Destroyed Enemy Ships · 4. Raided Settlements p.6 #5 0.032258 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) vector + the doc-priority boost arm the re-ranker chose it
#5 RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) 5. Viking Deaths · 6. Controlled Islands · 7. Captain Cards · Archer · Barbarian · Cartographer · … p.7 #7 0.029851 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) vector + the doc-priority boost arm the re-ranker chose it
#6 RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) aim of the game · setup p.2 #2 0.047163 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm the re-ranker chose it
#7 RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) + Destroy an Enemy Ship: p.4 #6 0.030303 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) vector + the doc-priority boost arm the re-ranker chose it
#8 RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) gameplay overview · placing tiles · placing tokens · Placing Livestock · Placing Settlement Tokens · Placing Enemy Ships p.3 #4 0.032787 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one)) vector + the doc-priority boost arm the re-ranker chose it

token count per chunk: NOT DISCLOSED — chunk token counts are not reported on the ask path. The character counts below are of the bounded snippet/quote rulesage actually received — a real measurement of what we hold, never an estimate of the chunk.

#documentheadingpagequote chars
[1] RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) gameplay overview · placing tiles · placing tokens · Placing Livestock · Placing Settlement Tokens · Placing Enemy Ships p.3 no quote on the wire
[2] RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) Placing Enemy Ships · 1. Load Longship · 2. Unload Longship · + Deliver Livestock: · 3. Move Longship p.4 no quote on the wire
[3] RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) 6. Construct an Outpost · Example: · drawing tiles p.5 no quote on the wire
[4] RULEBOOK Explorers of the North Sea — Rulebook (corpus doc 1104) drawing tiles · scoring · 1. Delivered Livestock · 2. Constructed Outposts · 3. Destroyed Enemy Ships · 4. Raided Settlements p.6 no quote on the wire
timing split
retrieval 111 ms · first delta 1328 ms · total 3005 ms (retrieval and first-delta both measured from the START of gateway work, so first-delta INCLUDES retrieval — do not subtract)
full breakdown
queued 0 ms · retrieval 111 ms · ask 2892 ms · gateway work 3005 ms · total 3005 ms
tokens in (the prompt the answerer read)
3795
tokens out (what the answerer generated)
320
tok/sec
196.8 tok/sec — 320 output tokens in 1.626 s of generation
live seat (read from the running child)
answering — gemma4:26b think:false · num_ctx 32768 (live-verified 41s ago)
answerer host (measured by rulesage)
reachable (for 22h, checked 1s ago)
answerer node (the seat proxy's own header — this probe, not this ask)
node1
stream path
streamed — the gateway pushed at least one accumulated draft
watchdog
first-token watchdog: 30s per arming window (rulesage.table.first-token-watchdog-seconds), re-armed once by the passages frame — so the worst case before a reader falls back to polling is 60s. Whether it actually fired is a BROWSER-side decision that never reaches the server, so it is not recorded here. The stream path above is the server's half of that story: whether a delta was emitted at all.
num_ctx · think posture
both are the CHILD's settings, not rulesage's, and no ask reply carries them — an answer never states which context window or think posture produced it. The live-seat line above reads them from the running child instead, where the gateway can answer for itself; it describes the child NOW, not this ask.
outcome
ANSWERED — Answered
abstain rationale (n/a — this ruling answered)
answered — no abstain rationale applies
decision
NOT_SETUP_SHAPED — no setup-shape pattern matched this question

this game registers NO errata cards (edition 1034), so "no registered errata card matched" above could never have matched one

Errata scope: the gate above matched this ruling's own edition only. When an ask also reads an expansion, that expansion's own registered errata cards stay outside the match — a stated phase-1 limitation, not a failed lookup.