Terra Prime is a game about space exploration, resource gathering and alien fighting. At the start of the game you have a standard issue ship with atomic batteries (thrusters) and a couple of cargo hold slots. The goal of the game is to score the most victory points via colonization, resource gathering and alien fighting. While you can "specialize" in one method it will take all three to ensure victory.

Building up your ship is an important aspect of the game. During the game you can add additional atomic batteries and cargo spaces. You can also add shields for defense and blasters for offence. However, to make more than a few minor additions you will need to purchase tech advances.

Alien fighting and asteroid mining are the most dangerous aspects of the game. When you encounter an asteroid field you must roll to see if you hit any, and if so take damage to your ship. However, if you survive and have a cyro pod in tow, you can establish a mine (colony) in the asteroid field. This is also good for two reasons, one you no longer have to roll for asteroid impact (however, other players till do) because you have mapped the asteroid field and two the mine (colony) produces brown resource cubes that are vital for ship upgrades.

When you encounter aliens you must fight them or flee. When you first encounter aliens they get the first attack. If you decide to engage the aliens rather than flee, you must successfully destroy or bargain with all the aliens to clear them out and gain victory points. Should you fail to clear all the aliens on your turn, they will replenish to full force on the next turn. You can choose to open fire on the aliens and if your rolls are good destroy them. Or you can choose to "buy them off" with a diplomatic tribute.[Donating resource cubes] However, you still have to roll to see if the aliens appreciate your offer or just take your goods and still intend to kill you. But if you are prepared and luck is on your side, you gain victory points based on the number of aliens and the distance from Terra Prime.[not the distance, just the number of aliens] While alien fighting is great for earning victory points, it doesn't earn you any credits or resources needed to repair and upgrade your ship.

The cash cow in Terra Prime is resource shipping. This is accomplished by gathering resources from your colonies or your opponent’s colonies (but your opponent gains victory points) and transporting them back to Terra Prime. The economic model is where I find a weakness in this game. It is my opinion that one player may luck out during exploration and get a valuable resource planet and reap too great a benefit. The supply and demand model does not cause the value of a flooded resource market to drop sharply enough. The profits allow the one player to quickly upgrade their ship and take too great a lead.

The game end is trigged when the last yellow hex is explored or any player is down to their last two unused cryo pods. Once the game end is triggered, each player takes one more turn and then the game ends - the last player to play will be the player who triggered the game end. This again leads back to the games one weakness. If one player can quickly upgrade their ship and take an early lead, the can rush through exploring the yellow space and there is little or nothing that the other players can do to stop them. I understand that Seth is working on some changes that may address this issue.

In closing, the game plays quite well with three to five players. I love the alien fighting despite the risks involved. The game board makes each game distinct and exciting. And even despite the economic issue, this is a good game just chomping at the bit to become a great game!

(...snip...)There have been some updates/development since the time of John's play(...snip...)