Game: Starship Catan

Thread: Re: "Advanced" Starship Catan

Neil Thomson — 2008-09-12T09:27:36+00:00

Thanks for the idea, I'll give it a shot but I suspect I'll side with my Brazilian friend as I think it is an important mechanic to ensure tense moments in the game.

Thread: Re: "Advanced" Starship Catan

dead jawa — 2008-09-12T09:03:39+00:00

Well this variant has been working perfectly for me, which is to say rarely. It's just a small impact to help prevent roadblocking, usually in close games.

Which brings me to the other side of things, not close games. Starship Catan does have a rich get richer aspect. As you improve your ship more and more, it allows you to do more and more with your ship. In many ways this is just a linear progression for both players. However, once you get ahead, get a number of the Level II victory points, start getting the tougher pirates out there that won't bother you but your opponent is still struggling for Level I's, catching up can become increasingly difficult.

Now this isn't a variant as much as an experiment based on some ideas in other discussions. If you tend to win your games of Starship Catan, or just routinely play with newer players and trounce them despite the handicap, try this: Once you get to about 5 or 6 victory points, give your opponent the option of trading sides. You take the losing side and your opponent takes your side. See if you, as the better player, can still possibly catch up.

Here's my actual variant idea.

Charity, from the alien peoples.
The aliens you met take pity on your plight to get home. During the trade phase of your turn, you may buy any one single resource of your choice (not Science) for a cost equal to your current number of victory points.

This is just a slight nudge, intended to prevent blow-outs. It should make the early part of the game go faster. If you wish to extend the game to make up for it, you can always increase victory to 11 points. The game will support it.

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willdesigns — 2008-09-11T15:53:14+00:00

This is what makes a great company

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willdesigns — 2008-09-11T15:37:21+00:00

Uncut Sheet 8 - BlueSide Modules back

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willdesigns — 2008-09-11T15:33:58+00:00

Uncut Sheet 5 - Blue Side Modules

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willdesigns — 2008-09-11T15:30:46+00:00

Uncut Sheet 5 - Red Side Modules back

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willdesigns — 2008-09-11T15:27:52+00:00

Uncut Sheet 5 - Red Side Modules

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willdesigns — 2008-09-11T15:24:50+00:00

Uncut Sheet 4 - Currency

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willdesigns — 2008-09-11T15:20:47+00:00

Uncut Sheet 3 - Ship parts

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willdesigns — 2008-09-11T15:17:14+00:00

Uncut Sheet 2 - Ship

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willdesigns — 2008-09-11T15:13:34+00:00

Uncut Sheet 1 - Ship

Thread: Friend of the People

Heliconia — 2008-08-08T17:48:16+00:00

So here we have the baby brother of the Catan series. While this is a very good, perhaps often overlooked game, there are a few things that you may want tot do to 'help' the game along. Of course the obvious one is to have fewer VP's needed for victory. Agree on a number before the game starts, but realistically the minimum required to get the best out of the game is 7. Any less and I feel that it ends before both players can get the best out of their starships.
Another house rule I use sometimes is to start with 3 engine boosters each instead of 2. I find that this gets the cards from the reserve stack into play earlier.
It may be noted that we were playing to just 8 VP's instead of 10 in this game.

I chose the Moon icon for my starship and my opponent took the Sun starship. Since I had a carbon producing planet to start I concentrated on building up carbon and trying to focus on cannons for the pirates to come.
While the sun player chose the 'default' logistics module to start with (allowing him to store 3 goods of each type), I chose the production module. And so my early strategy involved trying to find trade planets with production goods.

The early rounds saw me getting the slightly better of the production rolls. Anyone familiar with any of the Catan games will know how this works. Having the production module also meant that every round or two I would produce trade goods which I was using to sell for astro.
Both of us found that food was at a premium early on and so we were a bit slow in colonizing planets when we found them. and it also meant that we both tended to focus on the same sector decks when we knew there were colonizable planets in them.
The Sun player built up his engine boosters and then his command and sensor modules. This gave him a lot of options in the midgame. But by this time I had defeated the early pirates and got more of the adventure planet cards. I had 4 planets colonized and was awarded the Hero of the People card, while the Sun player just had 3 colonized planets.
Also at this stage of the game I was able to manage my astro better and was always able to get whatever commodity I needed no matter the price.
We both added more modules to our starships and increased our planets, trade stations and fame points. The Sun player got the Friend of the People card but was unable to claw back my lead in fame points. Pirates are always a nuisance but less so to me in this game because I had 5 cannons. With more resources available to me I was able to build two level 2 modules, one turn after another and therefore won the game. The final score was 8 to 6.

It was a good game, taking about an hour maybe a little less. I was only one card behind in the friends of the people and felt like I could have gotten that VP in a few turns.
Though the Sun player was able to zoom through the sector decks and had more options available due to his boosters and modules (sensor and command), I had the better starship/planets/stations infrastructure in place. It was fun, there are plenty of different paths to victory, and 1 hour zipped by. I recommend those of you looking for a good 1 to 1.5 hour, 2 player game to gave this a look.
And that was Starship Catan.

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theaney — 2008-05-03T21:56:45+00:00

Starship Catan card in an Ultra Pro Polypropylene "Card Sleeve." Note excess sleeve on side edges.

Thread: Re: Grubsnatcher Review: Starship Catan "Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone."

Grubsnatcher — 2008-04-01T04:11:17+00:00

Wrevilo wrote:
There are two dice in Settlers of Catan, a normal six sided die and oddly proportioned die in the ranges of 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4. The yellow six sided die is used to calculate resource and flight duration. The oddly proportioned blue die is used for pirate combat.

I've only played this twice, but if I remember correctly, the yellow die has 1,1,2,2,3,3 on it. Otherwise, great review.

I liked it enough to order it within an hour of my two plays. I'm looking forward to its arrival.

Oliver

You are absolutely correct. And fixed.

Any excuse to post this video:

That is quite possibly the funniest video I've seen this year. As much as I consider myself a fan of Elton John and Star Trek, I've never watched this.

Hope you continue to read my series of reviews based on songs. Half of the fun of making these reviews is listening to music and finding the perfect song. Strangely enough, very few people actually comment on that element of the review.

Maybe I'll make a geeklist to discuss this after I wish ten of these reviews.

Thread: Re: Grubsnatcher Review: Starship Catan “Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone.”

Kingdaddy — 2008-03-31T18:39:38+00:00

Any excuse to post this video:

Youtube Video

Thread: Re: Grubsnatcher Review: Starship Catan “Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone.”

Wrevilo — 2008-03-31T17:39:01+00:00

There are two dice in Settlers of Catan, a normal six sided die and oddly proportioned die in the ranges of 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4. The yellow six sided die is used to calculate resource and flight duration. The oddly proportioned blue die is used for pirate combat.

I've only played this twice, but if I remember correctly, the yellow die has 1,1,2,2,3,3 on it. Otherwise, great review.

I liked it enough to order it within an hour of my two plays. I'm looking forward to its arrival.

Oliver

Thread: Re: Grubsnatcher Review: Starship Catan “Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone.”

GROGnads — 2008-03-31T02:38:41+00:00

Grubsnather wrote:
"He’s such an ugly monkey-alien. The game needs more of this guy." He's got a "camel-toe-puss"!

Thread: Grubsnatcher Review: Starship Catan "Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone."

Grubsnatcher — 2008-03-31T01:12:29+00:00

"Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone."

Welcome to a Grubsnatcher review. Each of my reviews will be named after a song, or after lyrics within a song. I will not use numerical ratings with my reviews but instead show elements that personify the game. I feel that numerical ratings will change between play groups as bad rules will be house ruled.

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A game of space exploration rocketing into the world of Catan. Huh?

Settlers of Catan is a great game but doesnï¿½t play very well with two people. After awhile, I was athirst for a game that had exploration and feeling of individual progression. I needed something that could be played two players and had a strong theme. I was looking for a pirate game, but the ships intrigued me. In walks Starship Catan.

Components

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I received Starship Catan in the mail from an online retailer. As soon I popped through the box and swam through the swamp of peanuts, I held the game in my greasy chit-stained hands. My first impression was just how small the Kosmos boxes felt in my hands. I also realized I would have a problem with putting in on my bookshelf.

The box front has a few ugly moonmen. These guys are some of the ugliest aliens around. You have this green alien with the face of a manatee and fins for ears. The other character appears to be smiling goofy orc with a button on his nose. I guess heï¿½s trying that trick you show the children when you take a coin and put on your forehead it stays. Otherwise the box displays space like it should be: boring. The galaxy in the background was spot on. It is a space game! I was pleased to see my object identification were up to par.

I popped the box open beheld the components. For such a little box there appears to be much here. In fact, I often have trouble putting components back in the box. The inserts are only workable in some circumstances. They have a place for both decks of cards, the dice has their own compartment, as does the modules. The rest of the components just float freely around the box.

The Ship

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Both players receive a ship made of pure germanium-catanium alloy. In the center of each ship are numerous compartments with large cardboard chits called modules. These modules grant your ship extra abilities. The tips of the ship are the shipï¿½s laser cannons which are used to fight off space threats. The rear of the ship sports the boosters which allow you to explore further in the galaxy each turn. Both the lasers and boosters are double sided with dots to represent the power of the representative pieces. They are double sided, but to raise two a second level booster or cannon takes more resources. Every ship has three slots for cannons and three slots for boosters. Also this way you donï¿½t have to dig out a new laser or booster every time you upgrade, just one every two upgrades.

The game does not use cards to track resources. Each ship has a printed compartment with a wheel that shows off different resources. You use an arrow to indicate which part of the wheel you are currently located. At the beginning of the game you can only have a maximum of two in any one resource. This can be further upgraded with modules.

The ships look good and are very functional. It keeps the resource management down to a manageable level. It also forces all resources to be perfect knowledge. The ship can also store a single colony ship and a single trade ship. Trade ships are used to set up permanent trade planets and colony ships give you resource gathering advantages. More on this later.

Two Factions of Moon and Star

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Each player is represented by one of two factions, the sun faction and the moon faction. Each faction is identical besides the founding planet. The Sun player starts the game with his first turn.

At the beginning of the game each player receives a single colonized planet. The Moon planet receives a planet that gives carbon. The Sun planet receives a planet that gives out Fuel. This promotes two different types of game play from the start. The Moon player can attempt to win through military actions of defeating pirates. The Sun player can attempt to win by colonizing as many planets as he can in a turn or going for pure economic victory.

Astros

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The game uses a type of currency lovingly coined Astros (pun not intended). This helps to track the amount of relative wealth a character has obtained. Astros can be used to buy new resources at outposts, but it is not used for any building purposes. Each player starts with 25 Astros. More can be gained by trading or completing adventures.

Dice

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There are two dice in Settlers of Catan, a normal six sided die with only three numbers and an oddly proportioned die in the ranges of 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4. The yellow six sided die is used to calculate resource and flight duration. The oddly proportioned blue die is used for pirate combat. The dice are wooden and light. It dice are hefty for wooden dice so they work. I have no complaints.

Component Parts

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There are six different modules you can upgrade during the game, each with two levels of effects. You start out with one free that the beginning of the game. Modules can be further upgraded if you wish, but only one player may have a Level II module. These powerful modules give both a powerful effect plus a victory point. There are ways that a ship can lose a module thus allowing the other opponent to upgrade, but this has itï¿½s hard to do such.

Adventure Deck

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The Adventure Deck adds a bit of a quest element to the game. Each quest consists of one planet. The deck is stacked to have the easy quests on the top of the deck and the harder quests the deeper you delve. The deeper you delve, the more worthwhile quests become as well. One quest is shown at time, so one must complete an adventure before the next can be exposed. Most are usually fairly easy to obtain but some do put the characters the out of resources or Astros.

Exploration Deck

This brings me to the most important element of the game, the Exploration deck. You canï¿½t finish adventures, colonize new planets or produce trade without the exploration deck. The deck starts out consisting of forty cards. These cards will have a mix of planets, events and later in the deck, empty space.

The game is divided into four legs. One might never approach all four legs if one player takes a greater lead. Around each card is a colored border with a roman numeral. This number indicates which leg the card belongs. The deck is stacked so that the leg one cards will be drawn before the leg two. The further one goes into the stacked deck, the more valuable the planet, the better the trade post and tougher the pirates. Thankfully, the decks are shuffled so each game is not identical. Many other games, like Tikal use this mechanic, so if youï¿½re familiar with stacked decks. I love this style of stacked decks. It gives the feeling of progression without the use of overcomplicated rules.

The deck is shuffled and divided into four different sections of ten cards, called sectors. When it becomes your turn you pick a sector and explore it. The sectors never become contaminated by other sectorï¿½s planets or cards. Once a planet is colonized or set up as a trade post it is replaced with one of the cards from the stacked deck.

While this method is cunning, I suggest finding a way to differentiate each sector. I use random board gaming pieces; Snotling and Spider from Warhammer Quest sectors, a red cube sector, and the Tikal tile sector are all good suggestions. After exploration is complete I place the token on top of the deck to add some visual reference. It helps me memorize which planets in which sector. ï¿½Picasso is in the Snotling sector, alright!ï¿½, ï¿½Hmm, I donï¿½t want to go into the Tikal sector, it has at least two or three piratesï¿½, and ï¿½I havenï¿½t touched the red cube sector in awhile, I should see whatï¿½s newï¿½ are all common thoughts while playing with this aids. Otherwise Iï¿½m just scratching my head trying to remember which sector has those Adventure Planets. That being said, this game needed to come with sector indicators.

There is also a misprint on of the planet cards, but thankfully in the newer boxes it came with a replacement. The adventure planet, Picasso was printed slightly off center and bleeds halfway across the card. There is a note card to remind the players to switch the cards prior to play.

Rulebook and Player Aids

The rules of the game are unique; it comes with an introductory ï¿½how-toï¿½ manual for first time players and a more complicated rules condensed rulebook.

The actual rulebook is lukewarm. Itï¿½s hard to get all the rules into a small Kosmos sized rulebook, but I think they succeeded. The majority of the examples that could be placed in the main rulebook seemed to migrate its way into the introductory rulebook. I would have preferred some of the pictured examples in the basic rulebook.

I do like the list of cards in the back of the book. This does help me predict what will come up in the deck with a glance. Some games do not add this element to the books or aids, but itï¿½s helps people whose memory is not photographic.

The Game Flow

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The goal of the game is to get 10 victory points. This is accomplished in a few ways.

Gaining points for colonizing planets.
Gaining the Hero of the People card.
Gaining the Friend of the People card.
Upgrading your ship with second level modules.
Certain Adventure Planets give victory points.

The game is divided into three phases: production phase, flight phase and the building phase.

Production Phase

The first phase is the shortest of the phases. The current playerï¿½s turn rolls the yellow production die. The die has six sides, but is numbered 1 to 3 in equal proportions. Every production planet and module that matches the die rolls gains that resource. This does include your opponentï¿½s resource planets. You can help your opponent intentionally. You must roll the production die, it is not an option.

The six goods are: Carbon, Ore, Food, Fuel, Trade Goods and Science. Trade goods can never be produced through planets. The best way to do this is to buy modules. One of the hardest goods to receive, Science, is best gained from a module early on. Deeper in the deck, you can buy Science.

The maximum value one can have in his cargo is two. This can upgraded further to three and eventually four with modules. You need to management this correctly if you want to gain the most for your Astros.

Flight Phase

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This phase is the meat of the game and a majority of the tactical decisions take place in this phase.

During his turn, that player receives two actions to spend in any sector he wishes. He picks a sector he wishes to explore, and rolls the yellow d3 die. You add this number to your booster rating. This is the number of cards you can explore in the deck.

You opponent picks up the deck and take a card exposing the top card. That player decides to spend an action one the planet if you wish. Only certain actions can be made at certain planets. You cannot trade at a colonization planet for example.

The following does take an action: Trading with planets, colonizing planets, founding a trading post or completing a mission.

Trade Posts can be founded with a single action. This allows you to freely trade with the planet with Astros in the Building and Trade Phase. Trading Posts also allow you to gain friendship points, which can be used to gain more victory points in the long run. It requires the expenditure of a trade ship to found a trade post.

Colonization of Planets is very important action and the key to winning games. To colonize a planet you must spend a colony ship as well as an action. Colony ships allow you to produce more resources during the Production phase.

Another option during the flight path is trading. You may sell or buy certain goods at planets. Some goods are worth more at certain planets. One planet may have a surplus in Carbon therefore buy and sell for carbon for 1 Astro, while another planet might have a dire shortage of Carbon selling and buying the famous tetravalence resource for five Astros a piece. You can make a fortune buying and selling if you wish to spend the actions and time to memory a good flight pattern between sectors.

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The Adventure deck can be a way to gain points. The deck is separated into four parts with increasing difficulty, very similar to the Reserve flight Stack. The third and forth parts of the Adventure deck have cards that allows you to gain victory points. Adventures must be complete to expose another adventure, so you must complete them if you wish to gain these points in later in the game. Adventures are open to the first player who meets the requirements and wishes to spend an action point. This creates a sense of tension towards the end of the game when victory points are hard to come by.

The biggest threats to your well hatched plans are pirates. When you flip over a pirate, you must give them some of your hard earn Astros or fight them. If you decide to fight a pirate, you must roll the blue die and add your cannons. The opponent does the same and adds the pirateï¿½s value on the card. If the players roll equal to or higher than the pirate, that player destroys the pirate and places the card on his side of the board. The pirate is now used a fame point. If the player loses, he can lose resources or even in some circumstances your precious modules. To make matters worse, the player also loses he stops his flight immediately. Either way, fighting or buying off a pirate does not take actions.

The flight ends in three ways: by spending all your actions, you have flipped as many cards as your flight allows or pirates win a combat. If any card was removed for any reason it must be replaced with a card from the Reserve Stack. The sectors must be ten cards deep at any point in the game. After all cards have been replaced the deck is shuffled. This is a very important; it keeps the deck nice and random.

Trading and Building Phase

After the flight phase, you may build new ships, modules or trade with your trade posts. Resources during this phase are vital, and you must know what resources do at any one time.

Resources are used for:
Ore is important for building modules, trading and colony ships.
Carbon is important for making cannons, trading and colony ships.
Food is important for colony ships. It is very important for Modules and Advanced Modules.
Fuel is important for boosters, trade ships and colony ships.
Trading Goods is good for trade and some adventure cards.
Science is required for second rank cannons and boosters.

When you build in this phase, you can gain powerful effects to help bolster your odds. This is where a majority of the strategic planning takes place.

First off, the bonuses the key ship parts: cannons and boosters. Both are useful for surviving the vicious galaxy. Both ships start with two level one cannons and two level one boosters.

To increase a cannon to itï¿½s first rank, it requires 2 Carbon. To increase a cannon to itï¿½s second rank, it requires 2 Carbon and 1 Science. Cannons are useful for one reason and one reason only, to eliminate pirates. If you do not keep up in the race for cannons, it may not even be worth your time to raise your cannons statistics. Your opponent will be slaying the pirates so you can fight in his empty territory. Keeping cannons up is escalated, if you want to fight pirates you have to keep up with the best cannons or you will suffer. At later stages in the game some pirates become very, very nasty.

To increase a booster to first level, it requires 2 Fuel. To increase a booster to itï¿½s second rank, it requires 2 Fuel and 1 Science. Boosters are universally useful for both sides. No matter what strategy you will be using having a middle- to high-ranged booster scheme is essential! If you are attempting to reach a certain planet or find a pirate to boost your fame, you will need to find them first. Sensors can compensate for a low booster score, but even a four-booster rating is still very essential.

During the game you also can buy new modules or upgrade new ones. They are all useful but some are hard use. To buy a new module, you must spend 1 Ore, 1 Carbon and 1 Food. To upgrade a module, you must spend 1 Ore, 1 Carbon, 2 Food and the module must be available; only one side can have an advanced module of the same type.

You can also buy new trade ships during this phase. It costs 1 Ore, 1 Fuel and Trade Good to buy a Trade Ship. To buy a Colony ship it takes 1 Ore, 1 Fuel and 1 Food. You can only have a maximum of one trade ship and colony ship. This does mean you can only colonization or create a trade post once per flight run.

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The Command Module is my personal favorite. If you use this combined with a high booster value, you can do what you need. The upgrade, the Integrated Command Module allows you to make four actions per turn. Itï¿½s very much worth the effort.

The Science Module is one of the sure ways to get Science. Otherwise, Science is hard to obtain. You can find them at certain planets, they are trade posts. If you are going for a Trade Post Stragety, this module will be next to useless. The upgrade model, the Advanced Scienctic Module helps you get more Science points, allowing you to claim on a roll of 2 and 3.

One of my other favorite Trade Modules is the ï¿½screw your only neighborï¿½ modules, the Trade Modules! You can force your opponent to trade with you during your Trading and Building Phase. This could just be enough to stop him or her from buying the certain upgrade she needs. Itï¿½s very useful to get the odd resource from your opponent to upgrade to an advanced module he has been eyeballing. It does cost Astros to use the Trade Module, which goes directly in the coffers of the other player. You can only use the module once per phase, unless you upgraded, in which you can use it twice.

The Logistics is the easiest module to use and probably the most important. It allows your ships to carry more goods. Usually having a maximum of three per good is usually enough, but sometimes you will need four for some strategies. The advanced Logistics is also useful because it allows you carry four goods. It might be worth it if you consider yourself to needing them for a particular strategy; for example, a Module heavy strategy will require plenty of Food.

The Sensor module allows you to look at the top two cards of the deck and allows them to be put on the bottom of the deck if you wish. This is an excellent for ships who refuse to build up cannons. This way you can toss pirates to the bottom without much worry. Itï¿½s also excellent for the late game when there may be many lost planets. The Deep Space Sensor module is even greater. A ship with six boosters with a Deep Space Sensor

Production Module is an excellent supply of Trade Goods. The problem is that Trade Goods are not as useful as any of the other resources. Itï¿½s used very rarely and has very few uses. Thankfully, trade goods tend to pile up in your reserve. Trade goods are also used to make trade ships. If you are going for a trade strategy, the Production Module might be worth it but usually itï¿½s simply an advancement to get a victory point for the advanced module.

The Two Cards of Victory

The game also has two extra cards that allow victory points.

The Friend of the People is gained by setting up trade posts. The player who has the most Friendship points at any point in time receives the Friend of the People and the victory point that goes along with it. This can only be a temporary bonus and can be stolen from another play if he receives more friendship points that you. The Friend of the People is usually granted to the quickest ship. The ship can reach trade planets quicker and faster. Most players Iï¿½ve played with who donï¿½t deal with major trading donï¿½t buy trade ships.

The Hero of the People is gained by destroying pirates. Like Friend of the People, the player who has the most Fame points receives the Hero of the People card. Hero of the People is usually granted to the most militant because of the chanced of the player actually defeating the pirates.

Because of resource assortment, Hero of the People is in the territory of the Moon player and the Friend of the People tends go to the Sun player. A player who tends to go split his decisions also does well able to defeat some pirates and able to trade efficiently. You must be careful if the other ship takes a large leap and should change strategies versatility accordingly.

Ponderings

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Heï¿½s such an ugly monkey-alien. The game needs more of this guy.

The game play is longer than you might expect. If you are expecting an easy gateway game go elsewhere. This can be more complicated than you would expect. Expect to spend many halves of hours trying to figure out the rules. The game does quite a bit for such a small package. This is not the first game to pull out to teach someone how to play a board game. It might even be the hardest of the Kosmos small boxes Iï¿½ve played.

The game also has a huge memory element. If your memory is not up par, do not pick up this game. Maybe if your opponent allows you to keep notes, but half of the game trying to remember which routes gives boons or banes.

The last leg of the game can seem to take forever. When both players get nine victory points, itï¿½s hard to tell which side will win. I love this type of tension, but for some people they may feel it has a bit of drawn out. Iï¿½m not in that camp.

The game does feel a bit like multiplayer solitaire but since a majority of the time both players are fighting over resources it doesnï¿½t really have that outcome. I think this game needs more of a screw your neighbor element. I suggest using a Death Star-like planet destroyer. I would to see a military powerful take peopleï¿½s other resources. I transform your favorite Adventure Planet into a Lost Planet! A pirate faction would be wonderful.

The game is fairly language independent, using symbols to display information. Some of the cards do require some reading, but a majority of the game be taught without much English. The primary offender being modules and adventures; they have many lines of text that has requirements and rewards. While this is not unwieldy, it can distract.

Starship Catan is a great game that may not be for everyone. It is an eurogame but has a lot of randomness and die rolls. But it has plenty of decisions and feels like the theme is firmly attached. If you are not turned off yet, give it a try. You might just like it.

"And I think it's gonna be a long, long time."

Thread: Re: "Advanced" Starship Catan

Grindmal — 2008-03-09T20:37:54+00:00

We have enjoyed playing where the first person to buy the Stage II module gets the victory point. The game ends when one player completely upgrades thier ship. The player that completes their ship get a bonus victory point.

Thread: Re: Language Neutral?

ahoodedfigure — 2008-03-07T11:07:40+00:00

Are you saying that the German is easily deciphered from a nordic-speaking perspective, or an English-speaking perspective? Until I started learning Norwegian, German was an incomprehensible mess for me.

Thread: Re: Language Neutral?

Snooze_uk — 2008-03-06T14:39:11+00:00

I class Starship Catan as language-level 2

(http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/15467)

There is plenty text.

Thread: Re: Language Neutral?

matildadad — 2008-03-06T10:53:43+00:00

Many thanks for your replies, folks

Thread: Re: Language Neutral?

Zimeon — 2008-03-06T10:21:35+00:00

It's basically language level 1. Maybe, maybe 2. There's a couple of texts here and there on the adventure cards, but they are very easily deciphered.

Thread: Re: Language Neutral?

qzhdad — 2008-03-06T01:15:06+00:00

I just played this (great game) recently.

You could get along fine with just translations.
The build costs are icons like most Catan stuff.

There are six potential modules and upgrades for them. You'd need a translation for their capabilities, but they are easy to remember.

The adventure cards would need to be translated and the pirate cards, too.

After playing a few times, I suspect you wouldn't need the translations to play.

Thread: Re: Language Neutral?

Karlsen — 2008-03-06T00:11:48+00:00

There is text on the cards, although for the life of me I don't remember how much text. Less than Starfarers of Catan I think.

Thread: Language Neutral?

matildadad — 2008-03-05T23:44:58+00:00

Don't know if this topic has been pinned already, but I couldn't find it anywhere:

How much text is on the game components? From the perspective of a non-German speaker, could I play the German edition with just the translated rules?

Thanks!

Thread: Re: Starship Bogus

Zimeon — 2008-02-08T09:22:01+00:00

They can, but no one ever ever wants to. At least during my 20 or so games.

Thread: Re: Starship Bogus

tritone — 2008-02-08T03:05:21+00:00

feebleoreo wrote:
During each game, there was certainly interaction between the players, but there wasn't any trading to the benefit of both players, which is what I really like about Settlers of Catan. All of the trading occurs using the Trade Module, which allows one player to force the other to sell them some of their goods.

Pardon my intrusion... I realize this topic has had a checkered history and don't want to beat any dead horses. But I'm just learning the game (played my first solo trial last night) and I have a question about this statement. (The above quote was from the "revised" review.)

I was pretty sure that the rules allow for full interaction/trading between players in addition/in spite of the Trade Module(s)... isn't that right? So, if two players wanted to conduct an "amiable" transaction without using the Trade Modules, I'm pretty sure they can. But maybe I misremembered the rules.

Thread: Re: "Advanced" Starship Catan

dead jawa — 2007-12-14T08:07:03+00:00

GSReis wrote:
I think the limit on modules is good because it brings a tense race to get them, forces players to follow other paths to get VPs, and prevents them from copying each other's strategies too much. If you can't get a module because they have all been built, that's part of the game. Just my opinion.

Civilization versus Advanced Civilization, the debate rages on!

Thread: Re: "Advanced" Starship Catan

GaryP — 2007-12-12T14:38:53+00:00

I am not sure if I would use this myself, but I'd certainly be willing to try it if my opponent wanted. I rather enjoy the race for the various modules and how that effects your purchases.

I believe the modules are reasonably well balanced. I do have my preferences, but I don't think any particular module would be worth taking without a VP, instead of any other with the VP.
That, I would have to disagree with. I think I would often prefer a Level II Sensor Module without a VP over a Level II Production Module with a VP. That would depend on current scores or the odd chance that I had the Trade Planet for Trade Goods.

Again, I very much like the current race as it is. However, I could see using your variant if I ever wanted to play an extended game to, say, 15 VP, just to get a little more use out of those stage IV cards.

Thread: Re: "Advanced" Starship Catan

GSReis — 2007-12-12T03:32:18+00:00

I think the limit on modules is good because it brings a tense race to get them, forces players to follow other paths to get VPs, and prevents them from copying each other's strategies too much. If you can't get a module because they have all been built, that's part of the game. Just my opinion.

Thread: Re: "Advanced" Starship Catan

dead jawa — 2007-12-12T02:57:12+00:00

Got in before I could add: or if all the Level II Modules are bought up and you're hunting for those last few victory points to end the game. I know from experience that's been a major factor in the endgame of many games I've played.

Although if the optimal play really was to not buy your own copy of a Level 2 Module your opponant has, then allowing it or not allowing it wouldn't matter... It's at least more usefull than sitting on resources you don't even need in the endgame, when you need every edge you can get to win a close game.

I was just putting a glass-bead marker on a level 1 Module to indicate it's a level 2 without the victory point. But I've been meaning to photocopy the Level 2's and use the photocopies as the secondary versions.

Thread: Re: "Advanced" Starship Catan

GSReis — 2007-12-12T02:05:38+00:00

I believe the modules are reasonably well balanced. I do have my preferences, but I don't think any particular module would be worth taking without a VP, instead of any other with the VP. Besides, the game comes with only one of each type.

Thread: Re: "Advanced" Starship Catan

dead jawa — 2007-12-12T00:20:20+00:00

...Except when the already-bought Module's effect is able to get you more victory points then an alternate Module with the victory point. Optimal is optimal. Or in more general terms, useful is useful. Unless I just mispelled useful...?

Thread: Re: "Advanced" Starship Catan

GSReis — 2007-12-11T21:50:55+00:00

Buying a level-2 module without getting the extra VP would be a sub-optimal use of resources. I would just pick another module instead, as the rules say.

Thread: "Advanced" Starship Catan

dead jawa — 2007-12-11T10:16:51+00:00

I'm surprised this idea hasn't been posted here already.

When you pick up a Level II Module, not only are you:
A: getting the advantage of the module and
B: getting a victory point, you are also
C: cutting off your opponant from that victory point and
D: cutting off your opponant from ever using that module.

That's harsh. The advantage of the Level II Module's effect can even sometimes be more important than the victory point it gives you. I would suggest allowing the second player to also buy the Level II Module, but without gaining the victory point for doing so. Give it a try!

Thread: Re: User Review

Harv — 2007-12-06T13:40:02+00:00

Binars wrote:
Give this game to the 11 year olds.

From your 'I don't wanna go to visit grandma' tone, I got the impression you WERE 11!

Thread: Re: Sensor and Trade module questions

Ed_the_Red — 2007-11-18T00:50:18+00:00

I agree - you can split the cards any way you like at top or bottom of the stack.

Trading with or without the module can only happen during your turn, in the trading/building phase.

We've certainly always played this way, even if it's not right!

Eddy

Thread: Re: Sensor and Trade module questions

GSReis — 2007-11-18T00:40:05+00:00

When looking at the top 2 cards in the flight deck with the sensor module can you chose to put 1 on top and one at the bottom or can you not split them up?
The rules state "you may choose to put each card on the bottom or the top of the stack, in any order" (emphasis mine). I interpret that as being allowed to "split" the cards.

Can you use your trade module at any time during your turn (mid-flight for example) or only during phase 3 (Trade/Build) of your turn?
The rules don't explicitly say it, but it seems logical to restrict the use of the module to the trading phase. Trading is not listed as a possible action during other phases and nothing indicates the module could be used any time.

Thread: Re: Sensor and Trade module questions

Zimeon — 2007-11-18T00:05:22+00:00

1: You must place both cards at the bottom or at the top of the pile

2: You can only trade during the trade phase.

…as far as i have seen it.

Thread: Sensor and Trade module questions

Vaughn — 2007-11-17T16:11:46+00:00

When looking at the top 2 cards in the flight deck with the sensor module can you chose to put 1 on top and one at the bottom or can you not split them up?

Can you use your trade module at any time during your turn (mid-flight for example) or only during phase 3 (Trade/Build) of your turn?

Thanks!

Thread: Re: Trade Module usable at the turn purchased?

Vaughn — 2007-11-14T18:33:21+00:00

Was there ever an official ruling on this?

Can you trade/buy with the trade module at any time during your turn from your oppponent
or does it have to be done during your trading/building phase?

Thanks

Thread: Re: Sternenschiff PC Spiel...

dalembraun — 2007-11-09T08:59:40+00:00

I found that the Dutch version of the game has all of the text in the loc0040.bcf file. I was able to translate and convert the text from Dutch to English, but the file is 18Meg in size. It seems to be a resource file - a file that contains both text and sound/video files - so I can't upload that one file here for people to try. Even compressed, it's still 17MB.

But it works just like the German to English text converter for Catan the Card Game posted elsewhere. All of the displayed text is in English.

Also, it seems that the website for getting the editor via the in-game updates is broken (not surprising, since it's been three years). I only just bought this game from a Dutch online game store about 3 months, and I would have liked getting the editor and seen what the additional missions would have been...

Dale

Thread: Re: Four player version

Zimeon — 2007-09-28T13:52:04+00:00

Ah, yes. Removing the special planets might be a good idea. Another alternative is to remove all duplicates except the colonies and just keep four stacks.

I haven't played it that many times on four, but it's true the downtime is long. I'll try to experiment with having two persons playing simultaneously, that could probably work rather well. Thanks for the tip, I'll come back when I have learned more.

Thread: Re: Four player version

GaryP — 2007-09-26T13:55:56+00:00

If I was going to try this with 4P, I would want a scheme to allow two players to go at the same time to keep the play time reasonable. Maybe pass around a marker to indicate priority in picking a stack and using their trade module. I'd also want to remove the duplicate special planets so that there would be no chance of two players trying to fulfill the same mission at the same time.

It would be interesting to see how the game would change given that trade between players would become worthwhile.

And, no, it would not be the same thing as Starfarers.

Thread: Re: Four player version

GSReis — 2007-09-26T03:43:16+00:00

There already is a four-player version of "Starship Catan". It's called "The Starfarers of Catan".

Thread: Four player version

Zimeon — 2007-09-25T18:42:41+00:00

As I liked this game very much, I actually bought two extra copies at a sale and mixed them together to form a 4 player game, and I've played this version with sucess, although a bit chaotic. Yes, it's a bit slow for the ones waiting, so you'll have to be used to the game before you try a 4 players session.

From the 80 flight cards, I dropped 2 vards (Diplomatic outpost) to form 6 quadrants with 13 cards in each. This does create some weird stuff with having the same planet in 2 different quadrants, also having 13 cards in each deck also means that you can't skim through them all. With a sensor module, 6 rockets and rolling a 3, you can effectively skim through 11 cards. This didn't pose a problem for us, but it might be annoying for others. The interaction of having 3 opponents instead of one well made up for the weird parts.

Thread: Re: Starship Catan: A Detailed Review

Neil Thomson — 2007-09-25T03:54:39+00:00

Holy @*$@$&*

Thanks for the pick-up Joe. This will change our play quite significantly.

Note to self - Don't try and use cut and paste after midnight!

Thread: Re: Starship Catan: A Detailed Review

Joe Casadonte — 2007-09-25T00:20:55+00:00

Great review, Neil!

Neil Thomson wrote:
Sensor Module - Allows a player to look at the top 2 cards of any Sector Deck before they choose which Sector they will explore.

I believe you choose which Sector to fly, then look at the top two cards, then decide which order you want those cards to be placed back on the top and/or bottom of the Sector deck. Then you fly through it.

Neil Thomson wrote:
Command Module - Allows a player to take 3 actions during the Flight Phase instead of 2. Allows a player to look at the top 3 cards of any Sector Deck before they choose which Sector they will explore.

Methinks that second sentence is misplaced.....

Thread: Re: Starship Catan: A Detailed Review

Neil Thomson — 2007-09-24T23:38:03+00:00

Octavian wrote:
Fantastic review.

Minor edit - you list the Sensor module as being worth a VP rather than the Level II Sensor module.

-MMM

Thanks for the pick-up MMM. I hit the Submit button just after midnight so a typo was likely somewhere.

Edit made.

Thread: Re: Starship Catan: A Detailed Review

tonyfung1205 — 2007-09-24T18:06:26+00:00

Sternenfahrer-MUC wrote:
I underscore this, it is really much, much better then Starfares of Catan (which I don't like at all) and gameplay is much different, as anyone can see.

I dont comment on personal preferences.

I would like to make a words about the Catan series. Games from the Catan Franchise do share some "trademarked" features. According to my actual experience playing these games, each catan game are different. They may be subtly different, or mechanically different. The differences do enable new experiences, new strategic options. An usual mindset in one game may not work in another, if one is lazy to reformulate a new strategy to adapt.

Thread: Re: Starship Catan: A Detailed Review

Octavian — 2007-09-24T16:15:47+00:00

Fantastic review.

Minor edit - you list the Sensor module as being worth a VP rather than the Level II Sensor module.

-MMM

Thread: Re: Starship Catan: A Detailed Review

Sternenfahrer-MUC — 2007-09-24T15:40:02+00:00

I underscore this, it is really much, much better then Starfares of Catan (which I don't like at all) and gameplay is much different, as anyone can see.

Thread: Starship Catan: A Detailed Review

Neil Thomson — 2007-09-24T14:31:31+00:00

All of my 'Detailed Reviews' aim to offer an in depth look at a game including the theme, mechanics, game play and overall 'feel'. Where possible I will seek to include visual images to give a visual impression as well. Any feedback is always welcome.

Summary

Game Type - Card Game (Catan Franchise)
Play Time : 60-90 minutes
Number of Players: 2
Mechanics - Resource Management, Trading, Exploration
Difficulty - Moderate (Will take a few plays to iron out the rules)
Components - Excellent

Starship Catan was one of those games that I had heard positive comments (on the whole) about for some time, but I had never really been drawn to it for several reasons. First this was simply another 'Catan' Game (I already had plenty) and it is based on the board game 'Starfarers of Catan'. I am not a big fan of the board game so some of that mud was sticking (unfairly) to this title.

But one can only hear good things for so long before they are tempted. After 6 plays I am extremely happy that Starship Catan found its way into my collection.

In a Galaxy Far Far Away...The Back Story

Two pilots of the Catan Space Fleet have been sucked through a wormhole to an undiscovered section of space. There they discover 4 alien races that help them understand the financial, political, scientific and demographic ways of this new frontier. In truth the aliens are not really used in any great way except to add some flavour. After several plays you won't be giving a 'toss' for the aliens themselves. All you'll be looking at is the benefits they can bestow.

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Image Courtesy of Caesar!

So the scene is set as both players try to curry favour with these strange creatures in order to make their way back home. Err, well we assume this is the aim, but it is never really outlined in such concrete terms. No - both Starfarers are locked in a battle to be the first to accrue 10 Victory Points. Why? Well I don't know really but heck who cares. If one wants to connect the dots, those Victory Points are earned by upgrading your ship, establishing Colony & Trade Planets and learning new sciences. Thus we must assume that these endeavours would help us find a way back to our 'Home Galaxy'.

The Components

The game revolves around both players’ starship template, which consists of 2 mid-sized sections. Each starship contains a series of bays, a hangar that can hold up to 2 smaller vessels (Trade and Colony Vessels) at any one time and your boosters and cannons. Six of the bays are used for storing resources (fuel, ore, carbon, food, trade goods and science research) and a similar illustration feature is used to that seen in the 'Settlers of Catan Card Game'. For those unfamiliar with the concept, there are illustrations for 1, 2, 3 or 4 of each resource in a bay. Small arrow tokens are then placed in the middle of each bay and can be rotated to point to (and reflect) how many of each resource you currently have on board. It is a really nice design mechanism and one that allows the game to flow easily.

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There are also 6 empty cargo bays and these are used to hold 'Modules' that can be researched and purchased throughout the game. Ooh my Spock ears are tingling with excitement.

The Boosters and Cannons take the form of cardboard tokens and these slot nicely into position at the stern and bow of your vessel, just like a jigsaw piece.

The currency of the game are called Astros and they are depicted using round cardboard tokens in denominations of 1's and 5's.

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Finally there is a plethora of cards to reflect the encounters you may experience on your travels.

All in all the quality of the components is excellent. Each starship also outlines the resource costs to build or upgrade the many components, so it serves as a reference mat of sorts as well as a functional play area! In fact it is something of a mystery that all of the bits fit into the little box, but they do with clever baggy'ing.

The Set-up

A pair of sun and moon symbol cards are used to represent the two sides and the players take one card each. The sun player goes first but more importantly the starting card taken by each player also acts as a starting Colony Planet and offers the players a resource that can be collected on a roll of 1 (fuel or carbon).

Each player must then set-up their starship by adding 2 cannons and 2 boosters. Each player also starts with 1 science point and 2 trade goods and they can then select any 1 science module to begin the game with. The rules recommend that beginners start with the Logistics Module but once the players are experienced they can start with any module of their choice. The ability to customise is always good and it helps to alter the early flow of each game.

It should be noted that the starship upgrades are basically identical for both players. The only difference is the numbers that must be rolled to gain a resource from some of the science modules.

Now the Galaxy Decks, Reserve Galaxy Deck and the Mission deck must be created.

The players then take their starting quota of 25 Astros and the game is ready to begin.

The Game System

Resource Collection (This is still Catan) - A player's turn begins by rolling for resource collection. The number rolled will determine what resources each player may collect from their Colony Planets. Each Colony Planet founded by a player will feature a number and a resource. If the dice roll matches one of your planets you are able to add one of that resource to the appropriate bay. If a bay is already at its maximum holding capacity then no more can be added.

It is important to note that the resource dice only goes up to 3 (two of each number) so controlling multiple Colony Planets can result in regular resource booms in the later stages of the game.

The Flight Phase - This is where the game really shines. The value of the resource roll is now added to the number of Boosters your starship has and this total is your flight speed for the turn. There are 4 Sectors that can be explored each turn and they are represented by 4 Sector Decks, each containing 10 cards. The active player must select any 1 of these decks to explore for the turn and the flight speed determines the maximum number of cards that can be explored for the turn.

I find this mechanic to be totally refreshing as it perfectly combines the theme and mechanics into a meaningful gaming experience. As a player you actually feel like you are venturing into unknown sectors of space (on account that each deck is randomly created each game) and the development of your vessel limits your ability to venture deeper into space! It's these touches that make a game stand out from the crowd.

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Completing the Flight Phase - One by one it is your opponent that must reveal each card in your flight path. As each card is revealed the active player must decide if they will take an action to utilise the card. Each player only starts the game with 2 actions per turn (these can be increased by building the Command Module). As soon as a player exhausts all of their action points, their flight will end, even if they had remaining flight points (card draws).

The Sector Decks consist of Trading Posts and Colony Planets that can be founded by a player if they have the appropriate vessel. They also feature Alien Trading Posts that cannot be owned but can be used on a once per visit basis. Then there are the Mission Planets, but more on those later.

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Then of course there are the Space Pirates and it is the inclusion of the Pirates that makes it important for your opponent to reveal each card (as the player facing the Pirate cannot know the strength of the Pirates). The opponent must read the text, which outlines how many Astros the Space Pirate demands of you. You can choose to pay the demand or fight instead. See Combat below.

It is also important to point out that a player can choose to stop their flight voluntarily. This may be done if a player is light on Cannons and fears the potential of encountering a Space Pirate. Defeat at the hands of a Space Pirate will (at the very least) result in a player's turn ending immediately. This means a player cannot trade or build for this turn and this can be highly detrimental in a tight game.

When the Flight Phase is concluded the Sector Deck must be reshuffled. Regardless of a player's memory, reshuffling helps to maintain a small element of surprise with each future flight.

Combat - Combat is a simple affair but it works. Each side must roll a blue combat die that features 1 'one', 1 'four' and 2 'two' and 'three' values. The number rolled is then added to the number of cannons (for the active player) and the strength of the Space Pirate as outlined on the Pirate card. The Space Pirates must have a higher combat value to beat the active player. A draw or lesser value will see the Space Pirate defeated. The Space Pirate cards outline the conditions for victory and defeat.

Trading & Building Phase - With the completion of the Flight Phase we return to classic 'Catan' mechanics. In this phase the active player can make use of their Trading Post Planets to buy or sell the resource outlined on each card. Up to 2 Trading Posts can be utilised per turn. All trading with the use of Trading Posts must be done at one time and of course a player cannot exceed their Resource Bays holding capacity. In this way a player cannot go on crazy trading and buying sprees.

Like other forms of Catan, the players can trade with each other but it doesn't seem to transpire very often (if ever). I am yet to trade with an opponent in my 6 games but I'm sure it could happen if both players felt they were getting something crucial to their plans.

All manner of things can then be purchased by paying the required resources. New boosters, cannons, and vessels can be purchased as well as new Science Modules.

Winning the Game - The above steps are the core of the game and are simply repeated until one player acquires their 10th Victory Point to win the game.

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Nice Touches - The Mission Deck

It is possible to embark on specific missions, relating to each of the 4 Alien Races. At the start of the game a Mission deck (12 cards) is created and 3 cards are turned face up to display the possible adventures on offer. Each adventure relates to a Mission Planet and these can be found in the Sector Decks, but of course their exact location is not known at first and must be discovered.

The early adventures simply require the players to visit a planet but as each completed adventure is replaced with a new one, the requirements required to fulfill the missions become more challenging.

Completing missions will always bestow a free resource choice, but they may also offer fame, Astros or friendship points as their demands increase (See Bonus Victory Points below).

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Nice Touches - The Reserve Sector Cards

It is crucial that each of the Sector Decks maintain a total of 10 cards throughout the game. However it is possible for the players to take cards from the Sector Decks as they establish new Trading Posts, Colony Planets or defeat Space Pirates. This is where the Reserve deck comes in.

When a card is taken from a Sector Deck, the next card drawn for the Flight must come from the Reserve Deck. This deck features a range of new planets and Space Pirates. This is a really clever design feature as it enables each Sector Deck to change and keep the players guessing. Thematically this is exactly what you would expect from an unknown sector of space and is another example of the mechanics being true to the theme and feel of the game.

Nice Touches - The Deck Structures

Each of the decks (Sector, Mission and Reserve) has been well designed to offer a scaled difficulty factor that moves with the progress of the game. The initial Sector Deck cards offer a large number of Colony Planets and Trading Outposts as these are needed to help acquire more resources and speed up each player’s development of their starship. There is also a smattering of Space Pirates but they are relatively weak and only a poor set of combat rolls tend to end in defeat.

The Mission and Reserve Decks are built using cards numbered 1-4. By placing the '4' cards on the bottom with the '3' cards on top and so on, the game can effectively match the player's progress with more challenging situations. This may not seem obvious at first but the logic goes like this.

New cards can only be exposed from the Mission and Reserve decks if other cards have first been taken from the face-up Adventure Cards or a Sector Deck. However cards can only be taken if a player has begun to upgrade their Starship or colonise more planets or trading posts. In this way the game can always ensure that the next challenge is always within reach, without making it too hard or too easy. Very Nice!

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Nice Touches - Bonus Victory Points

Like most Catan games, Starfarers also offers 2 Bonus Point Victory Cards.

Hero of the People (1 VP) - This honour is bestowed to the first player to acquire 3 Fame Points on their travels. Fame is most commonly won by defeating Space Pirates but it can also be gained by completing some Missions. If another player manages to equal the leading Fame total, the card is returned to a neutral stance and will be won by the first player to gain the lead again.

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Friend of the People (1 VP) - This honour is bestowed to the first player to acquire 3 Friendship Points on their travels. Friendship points are earned by establishing new Trading Posts. If another player manages to equal the leading Friendship total, the card is returned to a neutral stance and will be won by the first player to gain the lead again.

The Tech Guide

Boosters - Each booster costs 2 fuel and they allow your starship to fly further into a given Sector of space. Each ship can hold up to 3 Level I boosters. They can then be upgraded to Level II boosters at the cost of 2 fuel and 1 science research point.

Cannons - Each cannon costs 2 carbon and they allow your starship to fight back against the Space Pirates. Each ship can hold up to 3 Level I cannons. They can then be upgraded to Level II cannons at the cost of 2 carbon and 1 science research point.

Colony Vessels - A colony vessel can be built at the cost of 1 ore, 1 fuel and 1 food. If a player discovers a new Colony Planet they can colonise it and add it to their play area by discarding their Colony Vessel. Each new Colony Planet allows a new resource to be acquired during the resource roll phase. A lack of Colonies will always end in defeat.

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Trading Vessels - A trading vessel can be built at the cost of 1 ore, 1 fuel and 1 trade good. If a player discovers a new Trading Post Planet, they can establish a trading base and add it to their play area by discarding their Trading Vessel. Each new Trading Post allows the owner to buy or sell the resource listed on the card. Trading Posts are crucial to managing your finances, which are crucial to victory.

Sensor Module - After choosing a Sector Deck to explore, the top 2 cards can be viewed and either card can be placed on the top or the bottom of the deck. This is great for avoiding those nasty Pirates.

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Deep Space Sensor Module (Level II) -Cannot be built unless the Level I Module has been built first. Allows a player to view the top 3 cards of the chosen Sector Deck. Each of these cards can then be placed on the top or bottom of the deck in any order before beginning the flight. This Module is also worth a Victory Point.

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Command Module - Allows a player to take 3 actions during the Flight Phase instead of 2.

Integrated Command Module (Level II) - Allows a player to take 4 actions during the Flight Phase instead of the 3 made possible by Tech Level I. This Module is also worth a Victory Point.

Science Module - Allows the science resource to be gained on a specific resource roll of 2 or 3 depending on which side you play.

Advanced Science Module (Level II) -Cannot be built unless the Level I Module has been built first. Allows the science resource to be gained on a specific resource roll of 2 or 3. This Module is also worth a Victory Point.

Trade Module - Allows a player to buy 1 resource from their opponent for a cost of 2 Astros. The resource must be present in one of their resource bays and the 2 Astros go to the player losing their resource.

Improved Trade Module (Level II) - Cannot be built unless the Level I Module has been built first. Allows a player to buy up to 2 resources from the opponent per turn at the cost of 2 Astros each. Again they must be available in the Resource Bays of your opponent and all money goes to them in compensation. This Module is also worth a Victory Point.

Production Module - Allows trade goods to be gained on a specific resource roll of 2 or 3 depending on which side you play.

Expanded Production Module (Level II) -Cannot be built unless the Level I Module has been built first. Allows trade goods to be gained on a specific resource roll of 2 or 3. This Module is also worth a Victory Point.

Logistics Module - Allows up to 3 resources to be stored in each of the Resource Bays instead of the standard 2.

Enhanced Logistics Module (Level II) -Cannot be built unless the Level I Module has been built first. Allows up to 4 resources to be stored in each of the Resource Bays instead of the standard 3 offered by the Level I Module. This Module is also worth a Victory Point.

The Resource Guide

Ore - One of the most valuable resources, Ore is needed to build all Modules and both Colony and Trade Vessels.

Fuel - Fuel is not surprisingly needed for propulsion and is used to build new Boosters. It is also used to build both Colony and Trade Vessels.

Food - Food is used in the construction of Colony Ships and Modules. Two food is needed to develop Level II Modules.

Carbon - This resource is used to build the powerful Cannons for your Starship. It is also used in the construction of every Module.

Trade Goods - These are used in the construction of Trade Vessels only. There other main use is as a commodity that can be traded to earn Astros and finance your spending elsewhere.

Scientific Research - This resource is only used in the development of Level II Cannons and Boosters. It can also be traded but it is perhaps the most under-utilised resource in the game.

The Final Word

I love this game and will quickly go past 20 plays by Christmas. Everything from the components through to the design and experience this game offers is top class.

But no game is without a few flaws. The rules are not as clear as they could have been in sections and it will take several reads and 'in-game' rule clarifications to get things right. My edition came with a 'Professor Easy' tutorial booklet and this was most helpful.

Then there is the game length. It will take up to (and possibly over) 2 hours to play when first learning and this will be way too long for many people. If you persevere though it can be reduced significantly and I am now playing it in just over an hour (if my opponent also knows the game well). This may seem long for a game of this nature but the ratio of 'time to gaming experience' is spot on for me.

The end game is usually a frantic affair as each player can see what they need to do to achieve victory. Each Level II Module offers a Victory Point so a race usually forms to gain as many of these as possible. Often each player will acquire 3 of the 6, maintaining the razor edge balance. This means that victory is usually secured by gaining control of either 1 or both of the Bonus Victory Point cards. However this is not always the case and additional Colony Planets can be found as the Reserve Deck becomes more exhausted and gives up the gems within.

This is definitely better than the Settlers of Catan Card Game as it feels more innovative. I easily rate this above its bigger brother of the board game variety.

Thread: Re: Trade Module usable at the turn purchased?

GaryP — 2007-08-08T17:54:00+00:00

Octavian wrote:
but I daresay there is a reason it's called a "Trade Module". Furthermore, you are only allowed to "buy" or "sell" from your owned Trade Planets during the Trade & Build Phase.
I daresay that such a reason should be spelled out in the rules if it, in fact, exists. It would require no more than a half dozen words be added to the description of the trade module. Instead, it says "on your turn". I think that word choice is telling.
I don't have my Mayfair rulebook here, only William and Guido's translation as posted here. That lacks the "on your turn" phrase in the description of the Trade Module. However, use of the Trade Module is covered in the subsection "Trading" of the section "The Trading and Building Phase". I'm tired of playing rules lawyer, but I've at least convinced myself. If someone wants to ask Guido or quote the German rules, go for it.
Finally, it just doesn't make sense in my mind: the opponent's ship is not traveling along with you while you explore. (Admittedly, we are talking about space exploration via shuffled stacks of cards, but I need some logical framework to make a game work.)
And what logical framework are you using currently to justify the fact that building a section of my ship makes you unable to decline my offer of a paltry 2 coins for the resource you may desperately need to hold on to?
Oops. I re-wrote that second sentence and then failed to re-read what I wrote and notice that I had almost entirely removed the point I was trying to make. My point was that it is indeed absurd to ascribe logic here. However, I personally need a "logical" framework (in terms of the theme) that lets me internalize the rules. For this game, each player independently explores each quadrant (stack) so there is no opportunity to trade mid-flight. It wasn't meant as an objective argument, only why it tweaks my brain.

Thread: Re: Trade Module usable at the turn purchased?

Octavian — 2007-08-08T17:11:38+00:00

I still think it is powerful in the case where you encounter a planet where you could sell ressource X at 5 and buy it immediatly at 2 from your opponnent. Of course, it cost you one action, but you may have plenty and only a few destination left in your flight path.

Not at all - I'd argue this is one of the weakest uses of the trade module.

but I daresay there is a reason it's called a "Trade Module". Furthermore, you are only allowed to "buy" or "sell" from your owned Trade Planets during the Trade & Build Phase.

I daresay that such a reason should be spelled out in the rules if it, in fact, exists. It would require no more than a half dozen words be added to the description of the trade module. Instead, it says "on your turn". I think that word choice is telling.

GaryP wrote:

Finally, it just doesn't make sense in my mind: the opponent's ship is not traveling along with you while you explore. (Admittedly, we are talking about space exploration via shuffled stacks of cards, but I need some logical framework to make a game work.)

And what logical framework are you using currently to justify the fact that building a section of my ship makes you unable to decline my offer of a paltry 2 coins for the resource you may desperately need to hold on to?

-MMM

Thread: Re: Trade Module usable at the turn purchased?

GaryP — 2007-08-08T16:47:05+00:00

I would also agree that allowing the Trade Module to be used at any time is far too powerful. And, yes the English rules may say it is used to "buy", not "trade", and I don't have the German rules to reference, but I daresay there is a reason it's called a "Trade Module". Furthermore, you are only allowed to "buy" or "sell" from your owned Trade Planets during the Trade & Build Phase.

Finally, it just doesn't make sense in my mind: the opponent's ship is not traveling along with you while you explore. (Admittedly, we are talking about space exploration via shuffled stacks of cards, but I need some logical framework to make a game work.)

Thread: Re: Trade Module usable at the turn purchased?

filcius — 2007-08-08T15:45:57+00:00

You are right, it says that it is a "forced selling". But my interpretation states that selling is trading money for resources

I still think it is powerful in the case where you encounter a planet where you could sell ressource X at 5 and buy it immediatly at 2 from your opponnent. Of course, it cost you one action, but you may have plenty and only a few destination left in your flight path.

Thread: Re: Trade Module usable at the turn purchased?

Octavian — 2007-08-07T00:49:45+00:00

filcius wrote:
Using the trade module is a "forced trading"

Does it say that, or are you interpreting it to say that? There's a big difference. You'll note that the rules say "buy"...not "trade".

It might be too powerful in the scenario where a special mission requires to brings one food and you encounter that planet without this required food...

Never found that to be the case.

-MMM

Thread: Re: Trade Module usable at the turn purchased?

filcius — 2007-08-07T00:09:12+00:00

Actually, the rules states that trading with the other player can only happen in the trade/bulid phase. Using the trade module is a "forced trading", so I think it should only be used in this phase.

It might be too powerful in the scenario where a special mission requires to brings one food and you encounter that planet without this required food...