The Game

I am one of the many people who was originally drawn in to German games by The Settlers of Catan. Of course, at the time it was only available in German as Die Siedler von Catan, and very difficult to come by. It was only later than Mayfair acquired the rights to produce it in English, and then a further delay while new artwork was produced before it became available. This began a pattern; Kosmos would regularly release a new Settlers product, and some time later Mayfair would produce their own version. Fortunately for me, I hadn't been tempted by many of the expansions and other Settlers games - I found that they generally weren't any more enjoyable for me than the basic game, and each came at the expense of additional length.

It was therefore with mixed emotion that I approached Starship Catan. First and foremost, I was thrilled to see Mayfair follow Rio Grande's lead and release the game simultaneously with the German release - doubly so because of the fair amount of text inherent to the game. At the same time, I worried that it would be yet another Klaus Teuber game offering twists upon the Settlers of Catan promise without providing a new and unique experience.

I was therefore pleased to note as I read through the rules that while some of the mechanisms used in the game were familiar to the Settlers family, the focus of the game is on elements not shared with the family of games. Players take the role of lost space travelers, trying to get home. Four alien races offer their assistance to the players, in the form of cash, a colony planet, introduction to the commerce of the galaxy, and help getting back home.

Cash? Yes, cash. Unlike other Settlers games, Starship Catan is unabashedly an economic game. Other games Settlers games offered an economic underpinning, in the form of goods and production, Starship Catan severely limits production and instead offers a direct economy - all goods can be bought or sold, and players have to manage their finances carefully in order to keep advancing toward victory.

Unlike the basic Settlers of Catan game, the initial setup offers almost no options, and little variability. One player receives a fuel producing colony; the other a carbon producing colony. Each player also receives a few goods, a colony ship, a trade ship, 25 Astros (the economic unit of the game) and a module of their choice. Each turn during the game then follows a fairly standard Settlers cycle - produce, trade, and build. The production phase will be familiar to anyone who has played other games within the family - here, it is colonies that produce rather than settlements, and there is a single production die with only three different values, but the basics remain the same.

The trading phase still exists, but in a very different form. It is replaced by a flight phase, wherein the player may adventure through one of four sectors (represented by piles of cards). Flights contain six different types of encounters. The first, and least interesting, is the lost planet; such planets use up part of the player's limited flight length without providing any benefit or harm to the player. The second is trade planets, where players may buy or sell goods at various prices. These planets drive the economic game, as players must learn where to buy goods inexpensively - and just as importantly where to sell them for maximum profit.

The third possible encounter is a trade planet where a trading post can be established. These planets offer players the opportunity to perform additional trading before they build - but always at an average cost. The fourth possible encounter is a planet available for colonization. These planets offer some additional production capability, but are primarily useful for the victory point they also include. The fifth potential encounter is an adventure planet. These planets allow players to complete increasingly difficult missions for the galactic council, potentially earning resources, fame, or even victory points. The sixth and final potential encounter is with pirates. Defeating a pirate gains fame and resources, but losing ends that turn's flight and, with tougher pirates, involves equipment loss as well. Pirates may be paid off, a potentially valuable option when one is unprepared to deal with the loss.

The final phase of each turn is the trading and building phase. A player may trade with any two of that player's trading posts, and with the other player if that player is willing (or through use of the trading module, helpfully averting the other player's choice in the matter). Finally, the current player may build. There are four things a player may build - boosters (which increase the length of the flight), cannons (for defeating the pirates), ships (for colonies or trade posts), and modules (simple and advanced; the advanced modules are upgrades to the basic modules, and include a victory point). Two additional victory points are available for collecting sufficient fame and friendship points (the latter provided with trading posts). The first player to reach 10 victory points during their turn is the winner.

Strategy

The first strategic decision each player must make is which module to begin the game with. The rules suggest the logistics module, which allows players to store a third resource of each type in their cargo bay, for new players. This seems reasonable, with experience; with only two resources of a type allowed, there is very little flexibility for economic movement.

The command module, which allows a third action during the flight, was my preference before having played; having played, it's less valuable early then I expected, primarily because it requires additional boosters to be productive. The sensor module, which allows players to look at the top two cards in the stack they choose for their flight and either leave them or move them to the bottom of the stack, has quickly become a favorite. It is particularly effective at balancing a small number of boosters (by extending the effective range) or cannons (by potentially allowing pirates to be avoided), and may even be a reasonable choice for an initial module.

The production module and science module produce trade goods and science points respectively, and are reasonably useful mid-game purchases. The trade module allows for the purchase of one good from the other player every turn for 2 Astro, and seems to be of limited value - it tends to cause the other player to have nothing in particular worth buying.

The second level modules are of varying utility. The enhanced logistics module is easily the most useful, allowing a fourth resource of each type to be stored. The enhanced production module and advanced scientific research module are the next most useful, in my opinion; at the point at which the basic module becomes useful, the advanced module doubles the value. The integrated command module, offering a fourth action, is only useful with a very large number of boosters, and as such is likely to be primarily advantageous for the victory point. The deep space sensor module only adds one additional card to the preview; it would be more useful if choosing a no-cannon path. The improved trade module requires the other player to leave two resources available to be of direct use, and probably should only be considered for the victory point.

One of the nice things about the game is that it's not necessary to do everything. Never buying cannons is probably a defensible strategy - the fame points are of limited value, and it's not clear more resources can be gained defeating pirates then the cannons cost. There is a cost in buying off the pirates, however; a sensor module is a must, to avoid them where possible and time them ideally otherwise. Having no cannons also eliminates the possibility of gaining one of the fame points from the galactic council, but that's consistent with the approach.

Boosters are less optional; however, unlike cannons, there are clearly diminishing returns; my experimentation to this point suggests purchasing two (in addition to the two everyone starts with) is generally sufficient, though a fifth booster is necessary to really take advantage of the integrated command module.

Colony ships are vital to success; while it's possible to win without ever forming a second colony (see Odds and Statistics), it's inefficient and unlikely to succeed - not only do other victory points generally cost more, they don't add to production. Trade ships are not as necessary, though they are very helpful - not having trade posts necessitates spending more turns creating income.

Visiting the galactic council is generally optional, unless (1) it is possible to complete multiple adventures, (2) a victory point is available, or (3) key resources can be acquired. The fame points are potentially of some value, if neither player is attacking the pirates, but generally it's more valuable to buy a resource cheaply (such that multiple resources can be acquired for a single action) or sell a resource for top Astros.

Reactions

Most two-player games are directly competitive, and as such very interactive. Starship Catan is not - it is in essence a two-player solitaire game. The only player interaction is in trading (a rare event, typically), and in competing for the fame and friendship victory points. Add in the fact that in my experience the fame and friendship victory points aren't closely fought, and the only real effect of having a second player is having a time limit for reaching ten victory points. Therefore I would not recommend Starship Catan to anyone who is allergic to multiplayer solitaire games.

Starship Catan also includes a memory element - at a minimum, players need to remember where to buy each good, where to sell each good, and where pirates reside (either to avoid them or to defeat them). The memory element can be removed by allowing players to take notes, but at the cost of game time. Given that many people feel Starship Catan is a bit long anyway - it can be played in about an hour with experience, but with new players typically clocks in at two hours - it's not clear that it's a good choice for those who prefer games without memory elements.

The theme of the game is reasonably if not ideally carried out. The elements of the game all tie in well to the theme, evoking a sense of a science-fiction adventure - particularly through the use of the flight decks. However, there are oddities - particularly in the fact that space is never mapped, so that while you know what planets are in which directions, you never know which one you will see first or in what order. Or at least this strikes me as odd; a friend with whom I've played the game found this aspect consistent with some theoretical means of space travel, and therefore not an issue.

Overall, I enjoy the game. It's never going to be a hit of Settlers of Catan proportions, but with experience the game moves along well, offers sufficient variety to withstand repeated play, and offers sufficient tension to keep both players involved. The price ($30 retail) is a bit high for the components (cards and cardboard, plus a couple of dice), but not out of line for two player games of comparable complexity. Within their web pages, Mayfair offers a picture of the components including the initial setup conditions: http://www.coolgames.com/mfg/catalog/catpages/soc/3010-01.htm.

Statistics

Total Available Victory Points: 22
Starting Colonies: 2 (1 per player)
Module Upgrades: 6
Galactic Council Meeting: 2
Initial Sector Stack Cards: 6
Reserve Sector Stacks: 4
Hero of the People: 1
Friend of the People: 1

Total Available Fame Points: 18
Galactic Council Meeting: 7
Initial Sector Stack Cards (Pirates): 2
Reserve Sector Stack Cards (Pirates): 9

Total Available Friendship Points: 11 (All From Trade Colonies)
Initial Sector Stack Cards: 5
Reserve Sector Stack Cards: 6

Pirates

Pirates Who Demand 3 Astro: 5
Pirates with 2 cannons: 2 (1 initial, 1 reserve)
Pirates with 3 cannons: 2 (1 initial, 1 reserve)
Pirates with 4 cannons: 1 (reserve)

Pirates Who Demand 5 Astro: 6 (all reserve)
Pirates with 4 cannons: 1 (lose 1 cannon if lose)
Pirates with 5 cannons: 2 (lose 1 module if lose)
Pirates with 6 cannons: 2 (lose 1 module if lose)
Pirates with 7 cannons: 1 (lose 1 module if lose)

Odds

Player Cannons	Pirate Cannons
	2	3	4	5	6	7
0	14%	3%	0%	0%	0%	0%
1	28%	14%	3%	0%	0%	0%
2	64%	28%	14%	3%	0%	0%
3	86%	64%	28%	14%	3%	0%
4	97%	86%	64%	28%	14%	3%
5	100%	97%	86%	64%	28%	14%
6	100%	100%	97%	86%	64%	28%

Player	Pirate Demanding 3 Astro	Pirate Demanding 5 Astro
0 cannon	7%	0%
1 cannon	17%	1%
2 cannons	40%	3%
3 cannons	66%	10%
4 cannons	86%	25%
5 cannons	96%	47%
6 cannons	99%	71%

Note: Odds for Pirates Demanding N Astro assume the pirate could be any of the pirates of that type. Absence of a particular value pirate (because captured or not yet available) would change the odds. Published in English by Mayfair Games; licensed from Kosmos