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The basic blue action is to research technology, and the variability of the tech market is the game’s best feature. Taking a technology from the market of eight cards doesn’t cost a thing, and the tech is added to a tech board with six available slots. Over the course of play, adding technologies gives you three different options: Using your crew figures, players can perform actions on rooms such as move, fight, gain tech or repair. Rooms have a required colour so the right crew member is required. Tech cards can even let players have access to new rooms and grant extra abilities. Hailing all Starship Captains! Get ready to boldly embark on a maiden voyage through the cosmos in this euro-style action selection and engine building game for 2-4 players. Medals allow players to train any of their cadets or ensigns to another color; pay three medals and you can upgrade an ensign to a commander, which allows for the commander to do double actions or command a crew member of the same color to come out of the waiting area onto the ready room of your ship.
Finishing missions will enable players to then upgrade their respective ships with powerful alien technology, thereby allowing them to take on more ambitious tasks. Players will also be able to earn medals they can use to promote and train their crew – thus making them even better at their jobs. As their reputation for success spreads throughout the galaxy, players will gain connections with three separate factions and acquire even more benefits. Whichever player becomes the most celebrated starship captain wins the game. Starship Captains has clearly had a lot of love put into its production. It’s disappointing, then, that the overall experience doesn’t quite hang together. The tech board and large number of tech cards help give Starship Captains high replay value. Combining this with the mission and event cards and you’ve got a game that you can keep playing without the fear of it growing stale. Overwhelming Choice But that would be a miracle. Why are there so many rings slotted on each player board for a miracle scenario like this? In Starship Captains up to 4 players compete for reputation and glory across the galaxy in this adventurous euro game.Starship Captains is a worker placement(ish) and resource management(ish) board game that will have you trying to earn points over the game’s four rounds. This light euro game plays from 1-4 players and takes about an hour or so to play. Gameplay Overview: Blue: Take a tech card from the display. These upgrade your ship and provide bonuses and/or special powers. Replayability is limited so manage expectations accordingly. I had much more fun with my first two plays than my last two plays. After three multiplayer plays and four solo plays (I was able to do two of those solo plays over a recent lunch hour), I’ve seen all that Starship Captains has to show me until expansion content hits in a year or two. (CGE has not confirmed this, but let’s just say I have a sneaking suspicion.)
Another example: five commander rings are available to each player. These rings signify when you’ve achieved a promotion. The highest total number of commanders I’ve seen promoted by a single player is three. In that game, one player had a tech which allowed them to train a certain color of commander with only two medals, instead of the normal three.Ensigns can be promoted to commanders by spending 3 medals. These upgraded units can be used to activate a room twice or bring across a matching coloured ensign from the queue into the ready room, allowing for more actions on future turns. Each turn, you will either assign one of your active crew to a room in your ship (letting you do all those actions we mentioned) or completing a mission card at your current planet. Each mission card is worth a certain number of points, and also depicts multiple lines that correlate to both positive and negative effects. Captains can complete missions (thereby scoring them) by assigning the appropriate number of crew members to the mission card. Any crew member, including your inept cadets) can be assigned to any line, but if the crew you assign matches the color of the line (or is one of those universally-capable androids), then you can optionally take advantage of the effects of that line, which could result in all kinds of bonuses…and sometimes penalties.
Finally when players have exhausted all their options, or even before if they want to save some crew, they can pass. After everyone has done this a new round begins. It’s one of my favorite moments from my favorite Star Trek film, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan; Kirk (William Shatner) is baring his teeth and yelling from the bridge of the Enterprise at his longtime nemesis, Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban, shamefully not nominated for an Oscar for his work here). In addition to their ships each player begins the game with a tech board. These have slots for tech cards which players can obtain from a row below the game board. And that’s one of the interesting things about Starship Captains. There is always something to do. From moving around the board, to completing missions, to upgrading your ship, I always wanted more crew to use. I did like the upgrade system that lets you spend medals to convert your cadets into crew members. This gave you some flexibility to get the right color at the right time. And once you upgrade them to commanders, they gain you double the bonus when taking actions. Only crewmen in your ready room can be used. Settle into the captain’s chair of your very first star cruiser and get ready to embark on an exciting voyage through the depths of space in this euro-style action selection and engine building game for 1-4 players.
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Starship Captains is an engaging and exciting euro game with a fun, accessible theme. It combines some of the best elements of the genre with an innovative crew management system. Perform a repair action, move or gain a medal can all be gained if players can place cards in the right slot. Of course these spaces are limited and some may need to be repaired first to be used. With limited actions and only 4 rounds, finding little boosts and combinations which grant you extra rewards present themselves so often. Something as simple as fighting a pirate, combining it with a tech card so you don’t take any damage and gaining another artefact. Then using 2 matching coloured artefacts on the next turn to move to a mission card then use an android you acquired to gain extra rewards is so satisfying.
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