TLDR: fun but complicated, not for gaming beginners This is a beautifully presented complicated turn based game, working off of a player board with a ton of options and decisions to make for each and every turn. The game is dynamic in that every time you think you know what to do on your next turn, another player may pull a fast one causing you to change your entire strategy. The goal is simple: get the most points; but you can do this a million different ways. Do you colonize planets and make federations? focus on going up the knowledge columns? try to get lots of usable energy for special actions? There is minimal player interaction, but what a player does can affect the other players. There is a lot of "replayability" built into this game because what you do depends on others, but also because there are 14, count them, FOURTEEN different player boards that can be used and each has a different ability and starting condition. There is also a solo version of this game which is why I ordered it (gotta have a solo game thanks to the virus). The solo version is not a lot different than the regular version as far as you are concerned. It's a bit harder to learn the game solo because you also have to learn how to use the automated player (who of course doesn't follow the regular rules), but once you get it figured it the game play is pretty smooth. Beware though if you don't like strategy games or want something easy to learn; this game has a HUGE learning curve with a LOT of rules. It is NOT easy to learn, even after watching several videos of it being played (explaining the rules as they went). It's fun and worth it if you like this type of game, but you have to be willing to put in some time/effort at the beginning. As for the pieces, they are really good quality, as they should be for the price- it's VERY expensive (again worth it for the replayability). The cards are heavy weight, cardboard pieces are ~1/8 inch thich and very sturdy, plastic parts feel like good quality. The negative here is there are a LOT of pieces. You get 7 player colors (a nice bonus since it is a 4 player max game), each player colors has probably 45 pieces. You have the resource tokens, all the cardboard cutouts (close to 100 pieces if not more get punched out of the cardboard), the green blocks, the power tokens, 7 heavy weight cardboard player boards (double sided), a research track/scoring board, the final score/round track board, the 10 pieces you use to build the game board , 2 rules book, a full size paper sheet automated player help sheet, the automated player color cards, the automated player decision cards, the player aid cards (not at all helpful unless you already understand what the symbols mean). Like I said, there is a LOT going on here, and a LOT of ways to screw up. LOL I about broke a toe when I collected the Amazon box from my porch. It was very small considering what was hiding inside, so I lysoled the crap out of it then tried to pick it up with my free hand (the other one had the lysol still to spray the bottom of the box). I got it about an inch off the ground and then dropped it bc it was unexpectedly heavy. The box could actually stand to be a smidge larger (deeper) because the parts, once everything is punched out and in its own baggie (they send you extra baggies which is nice) it barely all fits inside the box.Weiterlesen
