Editing Debt

[[Image:Debt.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Some Debt tokens.]]
[[Image:DebtCardboard.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Some cardboard Debt tokens from some European [[Empires]] versions.]]
[[Image:Empires_tokens_punchboard.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Victory and Debt tokens punchboard, as found in some European [[Empires]] versions.]]

'''Debt''' (represented by the symbol {{Debt}}) is an alternate [[cost]] for some cards and [[Event]]s in {{Set|Empires}} and {{Set|Rising Sun}}.  It allows the buyer to take {{Debt}} tokens instead of paying the full cost of the card.  Players who have {{Debt}} tokens may not buy cards, Events, or [[Project]]s.  {{Debt}} tokens can only be removed from a player by paying {{Cost|1}} per {{Debt}} token at any point after playing [[Treasure]]s or spending [[Coffers]] tokens during the player's [[Buy phase]], unless otherwise specified (e.g. {{Card|Capital}} allows paying off {{Debt}} tokens during the Clean-up phase).  A player cannot play any more Treasures or spend any more Coin tokens once they have begun to pay off {{Debt}}.  {{Debt}} may not be paid off when {{Card|Black Market}} allows you to buy a card from the Black Market deck.

A cost in {{Debt}} is orthogonal to a cost in a {{Cost}}; cards with {{Debt}} in their cost do not cost less or more than cards with a {{Cost}} cost.  {{Debt}} and {{Cost|P}} are similarly not comparable.  

Empires comes with 40 {{Debt}} tokens, but the mechanic is not intended to be component-limited.
== List of Debt cards and Events ==
{{Cost|||4}} {{Card|Engineer}}
<br>{{Cost|||5}} {{Event|Triumph}}
<br>{{Cost|||8}} {{Event|Annex}}, {{Card|City Quarter}}, {{Event|Donate}}, {{Card|Overlord}}, {{Card|Royal Blacksmith}}
<br>{{Cost|4}}{{Cost|||3}} {{Event|Wedding}}
<br>{{Cost|8||8}} {{Card|Fortune}}

* {{Card|Capital}} does not incur debt when it is bought, but when it is cleaned up from play—in effect, allowing you to buy ''other'' things for {{debt}} instead of {{cost}} that turn. 
* {{Event|Tax}} adds {{Cost|||2}} to any Supply pile when bought, and has a Setup rule where all Supply piles start with {{Cost|||1}}. When Tax is in the game, when you buy a card, you take the {{Debt}} on its pile.
* {{Landmark|Mountain Pass}} is a [[Landmark]] where players bid {{Debt}} for 8{{VP}}, taking the {{Debt}} they bid if they win.
== Official Rules ==
* Empires has Debt tokens. These are indicated with the {{Debt}} symbol, usually with a number on it, e.g. {{Debt|8}}. 
* Having Debt tokens prevents a player from buying cards or Events; Debt tokens do nothing else (for example they have no effect at the end of the game). 
* Buying a card or Event with {{Debt}} in its cost gives the player that many Debt tokens. 
* A player removes Debt tokens in the player's Buy phase by paying {{Cost|1}} per Debt token to remove it; this is done after playing Treasures, but can be done both before and after buying cards.
* Removing Debt does not use up a Buy.
* For example, Natalie has {{Cost|4}} and buys City Quarter, which costs {{Debt|8}}. She takes {{Debt|8}}, then immediately pays off {{Debt|4}} with her {{Cost|4}}. She still has {{Debt|4}}. On her next turn, in her Buy phase, she has {{Cost|3}}. She cannot buy any cards; all she can do is pay off {{Debt|3}}, leaving her with {{Debt|1}}. On her next turn, in her Buy phase, she has {{Cost|6}}. She pays off the {{Debt|1}} and has {{Cost|5}} left to spend. She buys an Engineer, taking {{Debt|4}} and immediately paying {{Cost|4}} to get rid of it.
* {{Debt}} amounts are something different from {{Cost}}. 
* An amount of {{Cost}} and {{Debt}} is only larger than another if both the {{Cost}} and {{Debt}} amounts are larger, or one is larger and one the same. 
* Amounts that do not specify {{Cost}} have {{Cost|0}}, and amounts that do not specify {{Debt}} have {{Debt|0}} (including all previous Dominion card costs). 
* Math involving {{Cost}} amounts does not affect {{Debt}} amounts.
* Examples:
** {{Debt|4}} is not "up to {{Cost|4}}." {{Debt|4}} is not more than {{Cost|4}} and {{Cost|4}} is not more than {{Debt|4}}; both have something the other lacks.
** {{Card|Bridge}} (from [[Intrigue|Dominion: Intrigue]]) lowers the cost of cards by {{Cost|1}}. This lowers Fortune from {{Cost|8||8}} to {{Cost|7||8}}, but has no effect on Engineer's cost of {{Debt|4}}.
** {{Card|Patrician}} checks to see if a card costs "{{Cost|5}} or more." Fortune costs {{Cost|8||8}}, so it costs "{{Cost|5}} or more." Overlord costs {{Debt|8}}; that is not "{{Cost|5}} or more."
** [[Knight]]s (from [[Dark Ages|Dominion: Dark Ages]]) trash cards costing from {{Cost|3}} to {{Cost|6}}. That never includes cards with {{Debt}} in the cost.
** {{Card|Trader}} (from [[Hinterlands|Dominion: Hinterlands]]) trashes a card and gives a {{Card|Silver}} per {{Cost|1}} it cost. Trader trashing Fortune would give 8 Silvers for the {{Cost|8}}, and no additional Silvers for the {{Debt|8}}.
* Players cannot just take Debt tokens for no reason. 
* Players cannot [[overpay]] with Debt (for [[Guilds|Dominion: Guilds]] cards). 
* Debt tokens are not counter-limited; players should use a replacement if they run out.
* <span id="anchor_Possess"></span>{{Card|Possession}} (from [[Alchemy|Dominion: Alchemy]]) now has errata that causes it to also give the Possessing player all Debt tokens the Possessed player would get.

==Gallery==
===Cost debt===
{{CardImage|Engineer}}{{CardImage|City Quarter}}{{CardImage|Overlord}}{{CardImage|Royal Blacksmith}}{{CardImage|Fortune}}{{LandscapeImage|Triumph}}{{LandscapeImage|Annex}}{{LandscapeImage|Donate}}{{LandscapeImage|Wedding}}
===Other uses of debt===
{{CardImage|Capital}}{{LandscapeImage|Tax}}{{LandscapeImage|Mountain Pass}}

== Trivia ==
=== In other languages ===
* Finnish: Velka
* German: Schulden
* Polish: Dług

=== Preview ===
{{Quote
|Text=Okay so Debt. That reddish hexagon means you don't pay for City Quarter or Royal Blacksmith up front. Instead you take some tokens that say how much you owe. While you have the tokens, you can't buy cards or [[Event]]s. Those are the only things you can't do; you can still play cards, including the one that got you into Debt if you draw that one; you can still trash cards and get attacked and win the game and so on. You can pay off Debt tokens in your Buy phase, before and/or after buying cards, at {{Cost|1}} per token. So, you have {{Cost|4}}, you buy City Quarter, you get {{Debt|8}}, you pay off {{Debt|4}} of it immediately, you have {{Debt|4}} left. In your next Buy phase, if you had {{Cost|6}}, you could pay off the rest of your {{Debt}} and then have {{Cost|2}} left to spend. Get it? It's pretty simple. The one tricky thing is how these things work when cards compare costs. There it works like {{Cost|P}}: apples and oranges. A reddish hexagon with an 8 isn't more or less than {{Cost|3}}. There's a rulebook, okay? It covers all the tricky things. And uh why a hexagon, why that color? The physical tokens are reddish hexagons.
|Name=[[Donald X. Vaccarino]]
|Source=[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=15357.0 Empires Previews #1: Debt]
}}
=== Secret History ===
{{Quote
|Text=I had Debt from the start (and it had been in the ideas file for years). The first version though was a word on cards, "Debt," that meant you didn't need the {{Cost}} to buy the card, but went into Debt. The Debt tokens worked the same way as they do now. One day I thought of using a symbol, and the cards changed to things like "When you gain this during your turn, take [red coin with a 10 on it]." They were like that for a while, before finally I put the symbol into the [[cost]]. With Debt a significant concern was that you could just buy the card turn one, and if that was good it seemed like the game could be too scripted. So the big Debt cards always tried to not be good turn one, although it took a while to really get there. Originally the cards could all be bought with {{Cost|0}}, and in the end some have {{Cost}} costs too.
|Name=[[Donald X. Vaccarino]]
 |Source=[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=15660.0 The Secret History of the Empires Cards]
}}
=== Why are there no Debt attacks? ===
{{Quote
|Text=It was obvious that you could try to give out {{Debt}} with an attack. You want it to be like {{Card|Swamp Hag}}, because otherwise, you could lock players out, and if you tone it down enough that you aren't doing that, it looks like {{Card|Bridge Troll}} giving out the -$1 token, which we already have; the big difference is it's cumulative with {{Card|Bridge Troll}}, which isn't great. And well I did do {{Event|Tax}}. It's kind of a dud though I enjoy the set-up, the set-up is what kept it alive.
|Name=[[Donald X. Vaccarino]]
|Source=[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=17785.msg728954#msg728954 Previews #4: Werewolf, Skulk, Cursed Village]
}}

=== Applications to past cards ===
{{Quote|Text= If I had tried debt earlier, or made 10 expansions before any were published, I could have given some other things {{Debt}}. Debt is tricky so probably very few cards would make the leap. It would be more about "let's have a few more {{Debt}} cards" than "this card would be better with {{Debt}}." Nothing stands out as an obvious good fit.
|Name=[[Donald X. Vaccarino]]
 |Source=[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=5799.msg612860#msg612860 Interview with Donald X.]
}}
{{Quote|Text= Yes this is better-to-use than the -{{Cost|1}} token, though {{Event|Ball}} would be {{Cost|5}} and {{Debt|1}}, not {{Cost|4}}. I don't imagine {{Debt}} would find a lot of other use; those {{Debt|8}} cards were tricky. However the {{Card|Engineer}} trick could come in handy elsewhere (since it costs {{Debt}}, it can't gain itself).
|Name=[[Donald X. Vaccarino]]
 |Source=[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18180.msg742782#msg742782 How would old cards be made differently with new mechanics?]
}}

{{Navbox Empires}}
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{{Navbox Mechanics}}
[[Category:Empires]]
[[Category:Rising Sun]]
[[Category:Tokens]]