Galactic Emperor is much as the box describes. "A fast paced empire-building game of exploration, conflict and struggle for dominance". The game is a beautiful meld of a number of great games.

Mechanics & Game Play:
The majority of the game revolves around a Puerto Rico-esk role-selection mechanic. The first difference that players familiar with the aforementioned game is that the left-right binding issues have been lessened. The current holder of the Galactic Throne gets to choose whether play will advance clockwise or anti-clockwise meaning that sitting with the new/bad player to your right is no longer a simple path to victory.

The game has seven unique roles.....

Explorer: The Explorer role, as its name suggests allows the players to explore that galaxy. Each sector of the galaxy is represented by a single tile that gets placed by the players during this phase. The Explorer has the benefit of being able to influence the sector that they choose immediately, while all other players have to wait. Sectors produce resources during other roles as well as generate victory points. During the end game the sector tiles will eventually run out, and the Explorer will become a second Warlord (see below)

Merchant : The Merchant is a multi-tiered phase. Firstly the person who selects the role gets three galactic marks and sets the prices of the three resources at the market (for both buying and selling). Then all of the sectors that are currently controlled get to produce food to feed the players' sectors. Finally players allocate their food to sectors, allowing them to produce or they sell at the galactic market. The Merchant’s benefit is the Galactic Marks and some amount of control over the market.

Steward: The Steward is where the players produce the resources that will fuel their war effort. Any sector that has food currently allocated to it, may consume said food and produce any metal and/or energy that they have showing. The Steward's benefit is one free cube of the player's choice.

Engineer: The Engineer allows the players to produce the ships that will be their sword in combat. Fighters are cheap and expendable, Cruisers (or Crusiers if your read the cheat sheets) are more expensive but dependable, Dreadnaughts are costly, but simply brilliant. Any purchased ships can be deployed to any of the player's star bases. The Engineer's benefit is to place a free Fighter.

Scientist: The Scientist allows player to research technology. Technology cost energy (between one and three depending on their effects). The technologies are good, but not game-breaking. Mid way through the game the central sun will explode and the Scientist will be removed from the game. The Scientist's benefit is a one energy discount.

Warlord: The Warlord allows the player to move their ships and attack. Each ship and base in the game has a number of dice that they fire and a score they need to hit. The Warlord's benefit is one extra dice for any one ship in the battle.

Regent: The Regent allows the player to exert their political influence. Each player gets two influence markers and can buy another for a price. These then get placed finishing with the Regent. This influence allows the players to establish new Empires and consolidate their hold on planets by building starbases. In addition influence can be placed on the Throne to take the first player card (the only way to get it once it's been allocated). At the end of the Regent phase, each player scores victory points equal to the number of planets (not sectors) they control. The Regents benefit is the lowest cost to get extra influence and ability to place influence last ensuring that it can't be countered.

The game ends when either.....

A player places their last Empire token.
or.
The victory point chips run out.

Strategy:
Attack! Project power and try to intimidate your opponents. The game does not cater very well for turtles. Don't over commit your forces and leave yourself vulnerable. The black hole is a powerful threat; but use it wisely.

The Regent can be a major anoyance if you have not planned for it. It is my firm belief that the Regent is the most bloodthirsty phase in the game, with major political battles seriously gaining momentum for a player or completely undermining a player's strategy and powerbase. Aggressive play with the Regent will win you a lot of enemies however.

Don't undervalue or overlook food.

Always try to make sure that the role you choose helps you more than the other players at the table. I know it seems obvious, but it's important.

Components:
The plastic retro-style ships are excellent, but a little bit to big for their purpose. The card-stock is fairly thin, but workable. Overall the components are the worst part of the game.

Number of Players:
The game can take three to six players, though I would suggest three or four players would be the 'sweet spot', though the game is worth playing with all supported player numbers. The five player layout is slightly less balanced with one player further from their neighbors (giving them a slight defensive advantage).

The six player game is interesting, because in the last third of the game all six remaining roles will be chosen every turn, thereby you have to change your choosing habits to pick the benifit that is the best for you at that instant. This change from strategy to tactics is not really to my liking which brings about my preference for the four player game.

Box To Box Time:
For experienced players, the game will last about an hour and a half, give or take half hour, inexperienced player will drag it out a little, but you should still be finished within two and a half hours at the outside. There is a fair bit of set up and pack up, so probably allow half hour more for that, giving a box to box time of between one and a half and three hours.

Overall:
I personally think that the game is magnificent. It is quick, tense and dramatic. All of the facets of the game mesh well and the game is well balanced. This is a game I hope to play again and again.