Galaxy Trucker is for 2-4 players. The back of the box says 60 minutes for game play, which may be a bit optimistic for four players. The game is designed by <PERSON> (Through the Ages) and is produced by Rio Grande Games.
A Unique Theme
The premise of Galaxy Trucker is that you have been hired by Corporation Incorporated. Corp. Inc. needs to ship sewer pipes to the far side of the galaxy. Rather than ship them on another vessel (which is expensive), they have hired you to build the sewer pipes into a ship (the sewer pipes will be the ship itself). The network of pipes is the base that will hold the important components (engines, lasers, crew accommodation, cargo holds, shields, etc) that you will need on your ship. After you have built your ship, you and your fellow truckers set off across space, braving the adverse events that fate sends you. If fortune smiles on you, most of your ship will arrive intact at the other end. Otherwise, you may find yourself in debt at the end of the journey. A silly theme, you say? You’re right. But who cares. The game is fun and adventurous.
Building a Ship
Galaxy Trucker is first of all a building game. You have a pile of components in the middle of the table, from which all the builders will simultaneously be drawing the pieces they will use.
You begin with a play mat.
The play mat has a grid of squares, which limits the size and shape of your ship. Depending on the size of the ship, the players have more or less time for building. Once the time is started, the players can dig into the pile, flipping pieces to see if they can be built into the ship.
Pieces that you don’t need right away are put back on the table face up, where they can be snatched by your pilfering opponents.
There are several different components:
1. Crew accommodation. Each crew cab holds two crew. If you run out of crew during your journey (it can happen easy enough), your journey ends and you make no money. The crew can be used to tow abandoned space ships that you encounter along the way (for which you get a salvage fee). They can also scavenge cargo from abandoned space ships. You want to have as many crew as possible.
2. Lasers. Lasers are essential to a well built space ship. Lasers help you fight off pirates, smugglers and slavers. They also help you blow up large meteors that are headed for your fragile space ship. You want as many lasers as possible.
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Engines. Of course you need engines. The more engines the better, since there is a bonus given to the ship that reaches the destination first.
4. Shields. Shields protect you from small asteroids and from light laser fire. But they use up precious battery power.
5. Cargo holds. Corp Inc graciously allows their truckers to make a bit of lucre on the side. If you have included cargo holds you can stop at planets along the way to pick up some goods to sell later. This is an important source of income for the truckers and a major incentive to the poor sods who sign on. You want as many cargo holds as possible, including some hazardous cargo holds (which are red), since hazardous cargo generates the most income.
6. Alien life support modules. There are two types of aliens who can be signed on by Galaxy Truckers. Purple aliens are from a warlike race and increase the effectiveness of your lasers. Brown aliens have a unique mechanical skill and increase the effectiveness of your engines.
7. Batteries. Space is at a premium on a ship. Therefore, an efficient builder will often use double lasers and double engines (see the picture of the example components) to make his ship more effective. These more powerful components can only be activated by batteries. Batteries are also needed to activate your shields. Batteries have room for two or three green beads, which are spent when components are activated. Once the beads run out, your components are useless. You want as many batteries as possible.
If you look closely at the picture of the components above, you will see that there are three kinds of connectors: single, double and universal. Universals will connect to anything, but singles will not connect to doubles. Pieces cannot be adjacent to each other if their connectors do not match. The only place you can have an exposed connector is on the outside of the ship (there is a bonus for the ship with the least exposed connectors). Putting a ship together is a bit of a puzzle and can be quite difficult. Especially when you are running out of time.
Galaxy Trucker is played over three rounds, in which the players build successively larger ships and subject them to successively longer and more brutal journeys. 403