The star drivers of Catan

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The star drivers of Catan
Game data
author Klaus Teuber
publishing company Kosmos Publishing House
Publishing year 1999
2019 (revision)
Art Board game
Teammates 3–4 (5–6 with extension)
Duration 60-90 min
Age from 12 years

The Star Driver of Catan is a board game by Klaus Teuber published by Kosmos-Verlag . It is an independently playable modification of the well-known predecessor The Settlers of Catan . The players slip into the role of star travelers of the 3rd millennium, who explore space in the name of mankind and meet foreign races. The game is not to be confused with the two-player variant Starship Catan in a similar setting .

During the game you travel with your ships through space and try to develop as quickly as possible. You found colonies on alien planets and establish trade relations with alien peoples. The first player to collect fifteen victory points wins the game.

The attraction of the game is that the complex structure gives you many tactical options to intervene in the game. You can react to the actions of other players and develop plans on how to get points as quickly as possible. In the process, however, random events (e.g. pirates , space leaps ) appear that mix up the game and create new situations over and over again.

Game material

Included in the game are:

  • 1 game board
  • 2 dice
  • 4 mother ships
  • 100 resource cards
  • 32 encounter cards
  • 20 friendship cards
  • 38 yield tiles
  • 4 slices of friendship
  • 40 rings of fame
  • The extensions:
    • 24 on-board cannons
    • 24 drives
    • 20 freight rings
  • The game pieces (each in 4 different colors):
    • 36 colonies
    • 28 trading stations
    • 12 spaceport rings
    • 12 vans
    • 4 victory point markers
  • 4 overview panels
  • 1 rules & almanac

The game plan

The game board is 84 × 56 cm and shows space. It consists of hexagons arranged in a honeycomb shape, on which the spaceships move. There are eleven planetary systems. Four of them are called the Catanian colonies , from which one starts. The four home bases of foreign peoples are depicted on the edges. There is also a printed scoreboard to keep track of the score.

The mother ships

The mother ships are approx. 20 cm high plastic figures in which there are four colored balls. With them the speed and the combat strength are rolled. On the upper part of the mother ship there are brackets for the various extensions and the rings of fame.

The resource cards

The resource cards are the currency of the galactic bank . There are five different raw materials:

  • fuel
  • ore
  • Merchandise
  • Carbon
  • food

With the resource cards, players can buy ships and upgrades.

The extensions

The extensions are small plastic pieces that can be purchased during the game. They increase certain skills of the player. There are:

  • Freight rings - enable trade with foreign peoples
  • Drives - increase the speed of the spaceships
  • Airborne cannons - increase the fighting power

Rings of fame

Rings of fame are not extensions in the true sense of the word. They can be acquired and lost in the course of the game. Two of them are worth one victory point each.

The yield tiles

As with The Settlers of Catan, there are yield tiles that decide whether to receive raw materials. They are small and round and show a number between 2 and 12 (with the exception of 7). There is a tile on each planet. If the number that can be seen on the tile is rolled, the planet produces raw materials. Each player who owns a colony on the planet receives one resource. The color of the planet decides which it is.

The pawns

Colony ships

They fly to alien planets to settle there as a colony. They consist of a colony and a transporter.

Colonies

They are branches on the planetary systems and bring in raw materials. Colonies can be founded on the colony points of the planetary systems. As soon as there is a colony on a planet, the yield tiles are revealed.

Merchant ships

They fly to the bases of the foreign peoples to set up trading posts there. They consist of a trading station and a transporter.

Trading stations

They are branches at the home bases of the foreign peoples. There are five trading posts on each base. In order to set up a station there, the player must have at least the number of cargo rings corresponding to the number. As soon as you set up a trading post, you can take a friendship card of the respective people. This allows special moves or improves the expansion of the mother ship. In addition, the player with the most trading stations on the planet of a people receives the friendship disc , which is worth two victory points. If several players have the same number of trading stations, the player who occupies the lowest position receives the disc.

Spaceports

They are colonies from which the ships begin their flight. A spaceport is composed of a colony and a spaceport ring. A spaceport must also be bought with raw materials.

Game preparation

Before the game, the game board is laid out first. Then the yield tiles are distributed to the appropriate planets. The friendship discs and the friendship cards are placed on the board. The pile with the encounter cards is shuffled and a supply pile is formed from some of the raw material cards. Each player receives the figures and the mother ship of his color, an overview card and a ring of fame.

Starting grid

The starting line-up determines from which planets of the Catan colonies the players start. There are two different starting positions in the game instructions:

The simple starting grid

With this starting line-up, the two colonies, the spaceport and the spaceship, which each player owns from the start, are set up according to a predetermined method illustrated in the rules. The position of the yield tiles is also predetermined. This setup is suitable for "inexperienced star drivers".

Starting grid for advanced users

In this starting setup, the two colonies and the spaceport are distributed in turn by the players on the planetary systems. You can choose your point of view freely, which allows tactical considerations. The number of yield tiles is particularly important. When setting up the spaceport, the player receives his first ship.

Finally, each player receives three resources from the supply pile and the actual game can begin.

Course of a train

1. Roll raw material yields

When it is a player's turn, he first rolls the two dice. The eyes are added up and the planets on which there is a yield tile of the corresponding number each produce a resource for the players who own adjacent colonies. If the result is a 7, all players who have more than 7 resource cards in hand must discard half of them - rounded down.

2. Draw from the supply pile

On his turn, each player may draw a card from the supply pile as long as he has less than 9 points.

3. Trade & construction phase

Now you can buy ships and upgrades and exchange raw materials with the other players. You also have the option of exchanging three of the same raw materials for one (3: 1) with the galactic bank . The ratio of 2: 1 applies to the raw material "commodities". These exchange ratios can be improved with friendship cards from dealers .

building-costs
Play element Required raw materials
ore fuel food Carbon Merchandise
Colony ship 1 × 1 × 1 × 1 ×
Merchant ship 1 × 1 × 2 ×
Spaceport (from a colony) 2 × 3 ×
Freight ring 2 ×
drive 2 ×
On-board cannon 2 ×

4. Roll the dice with the mothership

Now, if you have a ship on the plan, shake your mother ship so that two of the four balls fall into the viewing window. The balls have different values:

  • Black: 0
  • Blue: 1
  • Yellow: 2
  • Red: 3

You add the two numbers and you can move your ships by this number plus the number of drives. However, if black is thrown, the player hits an intergalactic peculiarity and is read out an encounter card. These describe events in which the player has to decide how to act. His decisions can have positive and negative consequences. The player may now move three spaces plus the number of drives with all of his ships, unless his ship has been damaged during the encounter.

When the player has drawn all of his ships, it is the next turn.

Scoring

The level of development of a player is assessed with the following points:

Play element Victory points
liberated pirate planet 1
populated ice planet 1
colony 1
two rings of fame 1
Spaceport 2
Friendship card of a people 2

Supplementary set

There is an expansion to "The Star Driver of Catan", which allows the game to be played with up to six players. In addition, three new planetary systems and the home base of the wandering people are included. The princes of the peoples were also available as modeled characters.

Edition of 2019

In October 2019 a revised version will appear as "CATAN - Star Driver". The essential game elements remain unchanged, but have been graphically revised. The biggest innovation is the now variable game plan, for which three different structure variants are suggested in the almanac. In addition, a new attachment mechanism for the extensions was developed for the mother ships, as there were strength problems with the predecessor.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Star Riders of Catan - addition for 5 and 6 players
  2. ↑ The princes of the nations
  3. ↑ catan.de: “A classic is back! CATAN - Star Driver is out this autumn "
  4. ↑ catan.de: "CATAN - Star Driver - Almanach"