SpaceCorp: 2025-2300AD
A game for 1-4 players by <PERSON>
Published by GMT Games
"I don't think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space. There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet. But I'm an optimist. We will reach out to the stars."
<PERSON> , The Daily Telegraph , October 16, 2001
The Basics
SpaceCorp is the latest entry in a the ever popular science fiction genre of humanity attempting to colonize and expand into space. It joins the games such as Terraforming Mars, High Frontier (Third Edition), and Leaving Earthin the sense that you are trying to expand your particular position as best you can in space, but direct conflict is limited.
Every player has a core corporation with basic research abilities and a chemical drive in hand that can be used as infrastructure. Anything on your infrastructure board can be used every turn as the base value and can be supplemented with cards from your hand. In general, the actions you want to play will require that you build up a good combination of cards in hand plus a solid infrastructure to best develop your corporation.
Action cards drive the game
On your turn you get one action from a rather lengthy menu of options. The rules are very clearly written, so how to complete your action is well described. You can use the global infrastructure from other players but it provides them with a reward if you do, so it's a choice that needs to be weighed carefully.
There are three eras to play - the Mariners (local solar system to the asteroid belt), Planeteers (out to Pluto), and Starfarers (local star systems). The additional rules for the second and third eras are introduced in those eras, so you don't need to worry too much about what's coming in the next phase.
It all starts at Earth
The Mariner era allows players to get their start in the space exploration business. 697
Movement is initially slow and difficult, but astute and shrewd players will figure out how to build bases and get themselves out to the various regions to expand their empires.
The Planeteers era introduces progress cards that can be claimed through the use of genetics or revelations. Transportation distances are much greater (as one might expect) and it gets more difficult to get places, but the exploration options are interesting and fun.
The Starfarers era adds more progress cards and colonies. The distances are vast. The tech is pretty cool as it introduces multipliers for movement and research.
There are player aid cards that cover the majority of what you need, and refreshingly the board has the information you need so there is very little need to refer to the rule book once you get going.
Progress cards - I set up both the planeteer and spacefarer cards at the same time, but the latter aren't available until that era of the game.
The Game Play
The game comes with two sets of rules - one for solo gamers (I haven't played this solo yet), and one for 2-4 players. Although the full game sees players progress through all three eras, the game allows for any combination to be played. You can play a short game with just the mariner era, allowing players to learn the rules. You can combine the mariners and planeteers for a shorter game, or you can start with the planeteer era and finish with interstellar fun.
This variable play allows for a lot of variety depending on how much time you have available, how many players, or simply personal preference.
The game's ebb and flow has a lot of dynamism too. With but one action per turn, it means you have to milk the most out of every turn, but at the same time, the game state when it comes around to you might make you choose to delay your plans.
Ultimately, you are trying to maximize your profits (in trillions of an unspecified currency), and although it is easy to get distracted by building a cool space empire, your focus is and should always be on advancing your profit token along.
A nice touch is that when you move from one era to another, you get to carry forward one legacy discovery that you can continue to use in the next.
Profits are generated by exploration and production, but not to be overlooked are the master contracts that also give you some profits. There is a different set of contracts in each era, but interestingly the ones that were not fulfilled in the prior era simply become more valuable as you add both the current and prior era values if you can get them done.
One particular quirk which will either be seen as feature or a nuisance is that each era has its own separate board. Once you complete the mariner era, you retain your corporate infrastructure, but all other cards from the era are discarded, and everything is removed from the board. You then put out the planeteer board and set up again. 629