Galaxy truckers

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Galaxy truckers
Deskohraní 08-10-05 070.jpg
Game data
author Vlaada Chvátil
graphic Radim bad luck
publishing company Czech Games Edition ,
Heidelberger Spieleverlag ,
Rio Grande Games
and others
Publishing year 2007
Art Board game
Teammates 2–4 (2–5 with The Great Expansion )
Duration about 60 minutes
Age from 10 years on

Awards

Game of Games 2008: Games Hit with Friends
Game of the Year 2008: Recommended List of
German Games Prize 2008: 7th place
Japan Boardgame Prize 2009: 8th place
Hra roku 2008: nominated

Galaxy Trucker is a science fiction board game for two to four people. It was developed by Vlaada Chvátil , the game graphics were designed by Radim Pech. The game was published by Czech Games Edition in 2007 , and a German version was published by Heidelberger Spieleverlag that same year .

Plot and game idea

Galaxy Trucker puts players in the role of space pilots who, on behalf of an interstellar consortium, have to fly to remote and dangerous areas of space to deliver building materials. The spaceships for the total of three flights have to be assembled by the players themselves from a large number of components under time pressure and equipped for the upcoming events and dangers: Shields and cannons protect against meteorites and attacks, for example, a strong crew is required to examine wrecks and goods can only be purchased on the trip if there is storage space. Deficiencies in spaceship design can cost a player goods, crew, and entire parts of the spaceship, and possibly even force them to abandon the journey prematurely.

At the end of each stage, the process is settled: the player has to pay compensation for lost components, whereas a quick achievement of the goal and the sale of the transported goods bring money in the form of cosmic credits . The aim of the game is to accumulate as many of these credits as possible.

material

  • 1 flight plan
  • 8 ship plans printed on both sides (4x I + II, 4x III + IIIA)
  • 144 spaceship parts (including 4 starting parts in 4 colors)
  • 48 characters (40 people and 8 aliens )
  • 40 energy stones
  • 56 goods cubes in 4 colors (12x red, 17x yellow, 13x green, 14x blue)
  • 8 spaceship miniatures in 4 colors (2 per color)
  • 64 credit tokens (4x 50c, 18x 2c, 12x 5c, 17x 10c, 13x 1c)
  • 60 flight tickets (20 each per stage)
  • 1 card with the changed playing conditions for rounds 2 and 3
  • 4 numbered tokens
  • 2 six-sided dice
  • 1 hourglass
  • 1 manual of the rules of the game

The rulebook is divided into two sections: The first section describes a simplified sequence of the first round with a fixed selection of events. Here, some rules are modified so that players can make mistakes without this having serious consequences. Finally, the second section covers the complete rules and explains all other game elements. Furthermore, several game variants are described in the rulebook, such as the possibility of playing in teams.

Course of the game

A game consists of a total of three rounds or stages . Later stages enable higher profits and the construction of larger spaceships, but are also longer and more dangerous. Each stage is in turn divided into three phases: The construction of the spaceship, the flight and the accounting.

Phase 1: building the spaceship

In the first phase, each player has to construct the most powerful spaceship possible. The basis for this is a ship plan that varies depending on the stage and specifies the maximum number of components, the basic shape and the cockpit as the core component.

The available 140 components are divided into eight groups and improve the spaceship in one particular respect: for example, engines increase its speed, pilot cabins allow additional crew members to be accommodated and cannons improve the chances of repelling attacks. Some components only work in combination with other components: So need shield generators , dual drives and double guns to their use energy stones that run only on battery delivered -Bauteilen. In order to be able to take aliens into the crew, a corresponding life support must be integrated into the spaceship.

All spaceship components have one or more connecting struts and can only be attached to existing components with suitable connecting struts. Some types of components also have other installation rules: Motors, for example, may only be installed if the drive nozzle points aft and is not blocked by other components.

All components are shuffled face down at the start of the construction phase and laid out in a pile in the middle of the table. The players each take a component from it and check whether they can and want to attach it to their ship. Parts that are not required are placed face up back in the middle and can then be taken by any player. A special feature of the construction phase is that there is no sequence or division of rounds - all players use the supply of components at the same time. The maximum construction time is limited by an hourglass, and players also get a greater starting advantage in the following flight phase, the faster they complete their spaceship. The players construct their ships under time pressure, which makes compromises in spaceship construction necessary and can also lead to design errors. These can be searched for and corrected in the final spaceship control, but at the expense of the starting advantage.

During the construction phase, players also have the opportunity to look into the previously shuffled and laid out stacks of flight cards. At the expense of construction time, they can receive information about the upcoming events and dangers and adapt the construction of their spaceship accordingly.

Phase 2: flight

During the second phase of the game, the players complete the respective stage flight with their built spaceships. This is simulated by playing out the flight cards that were previously compiled at random . Each flight card shows a certain event for all players to which they can or must react, for example a swarm of meteorites, an attack or a group of planets. The number and degree of effectiveness of the flight cards vary depending on the stage - while in the first round only eight flight cards are played with rather little effect, the flight in the third and last round consists of a total of 16 cards with some very dangerous events.

All events put the design of the spaceships to the test and in some cases also offer the chance for additional earnings. For example, abandoned ships and space stations can bring a player additional money or goods, but only if his space ship can have a sufficiently strong crew for exploration. In turn, crates of goods can only be picked up if the ship has the appropriate cargo holds. If the group of players encounters pirates or slavers , they can only be defeated with a sufficiently strong armament. In a swarm of meteorites , not only the strength of the weapons but also the orientation of the cannons plays a role. If a spaceship is not sufficiently well equipped for a dangerous situation, this can cost the player concerned goods, crew members or parts of his spaceship.

In contrast to the construction phase, the flight phase is played according to a certain sequence, which is recorded by figures on the flight plan. At the beginning of the flight it corresponds to the order in which the players completed their spaceships. In the course of the flight it can change again and again due to certain events. The sequence plays an important role in the evaluation of many events, among other things: attacks always hit the leading player first and the following players only if they could not be repelled. Conversely, the first player also has priority when exploring space stations and ships as well as trading planets, while the players behind may get nothing. Furthermore, the sequence at the end of the flight (after evaluating the last flight ticket) determines the payment that a player receives.

Under certain circumstances, a player may be forced to prematurely cancel the flight. This happens, for example, when it loses all of its human occupation or gets into free space (an event) with no propulsion systems . The player must then sit out until the end of the flight phase.

Phase 3: billing

After evaluating the last flight ticket, the respective stage will be billed. According to the sequence at the end of the flight, the players receive a certain amount of money as payment and possibly a bonus for the ship with the fewest open connecting struts, and the boxes of goods acquired on the trip are sold for money. Conversely, however, players have to pay compensation for spaceship parts that were lost during the journey.

According to the rules of the game, winners are all players who have at least one Cosmic Credit after completing the third round, with those who have more credits also winning a little more.

Reviews and awards

The reviews and reports about Galaxy Trucker were mostly very positive. The comparatively low level of interaction between the players and some weaknesses in the game balance were mentioned as points of criticism. On the other hand, there would be a successful and entertaining mixture of real-time puzzle game and space adventure, almost no idle time for individual players, a high replay value , the well-structured game instructions and the relaxed and humorous topic.

In 2008 Galaxy Trucker received the award "Spiele Hit mit Freunde" from the Austrian game award Spiel der Spiele . In the same year the board game was on the recommendation list for the game of the year and reached number 7 of the German Games Prize .

Extensions

Various expansions have been released for Galaxy Trucker.

Surname Publication
date		 Remarks
Bonus cards  Oct 2007 Two bonus cards that were distributed to those who pre-ordered the game at SPIEL '07. They are included in the large expansion.
Great routes  Dec 2007 At Christmas 2007, Czech Games Edition published this expansion on its website for download and printing. It contains flight tickets with thieving crew members, exploding batteries and similar events, some of which increase the level of difficulty considerably and are therefore aimed at experienced players.
The big extension  Oct 2008 The first major expansion appeared at SPIEL '08. It contains the material for a fifth player, an expanded version of the Krasse Straßen expansion , which was previously only available online , additional flight tickets including the two bonus cards (see above), as well as new aliens, ships and ship parts. The expansion is only partially compatible with the first edition of the base game, so a Compatibility Pack was released, which contains some updated components and was available free of charge from the publisher.
Another big addition   2012 The second major expansion includes new ship classes and parts, crew members and bonus cards.
Even Steven Cards   2012 A limited expansion consisting of five cards to keep the game balance for differently experienced players. The English colloquial expression even steven means "balanced".
The anniversary edition   2012 Contains the base game, both major expansions, the equalizer cards and the comic book Close Encounters .
Brand new models   2013 Contains fixtures for four new classes of ships, IC to IVC.

Digital implementation

In autumn 2014, Galaxy Trucker was released as an app for the iPad . The digital implementation essentially corresponds to the board game and, in addition to some changes and additions (side missions), includes a tutorial, a single player campaign and various multiplayer modes. In the meantime, versions for the iPhone , Android systems and the Amazon Kindle have also appeared.

The reviews of the digital implementation of Galaxy Trucker were overall very positive, with some reviewers even praising it as one of the best board game implementations ever.

Web links

Commons : Galaxy Trucker  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Website of the Hra Roku (Czech)
  2. ↑ Peter Nos: Review by H @ LL9000 on June 13, 2008
  3. ↑ Thomas Nezold: Review at spieletest.at from February 28, 2009
  4. ↑ Jörg Luibl: Board game test at 4Players from March 31, 2009
  5. ↑ Dominik Krister: Review at GoodGameGuide from April 22, 2008
  6. ↑ Denis Uhlig: Report at Spiele-Akademie.de from June 9, 2010
  7. ↑ Game of the Games 2008
  8. ↑ Galaxy Trucker on the website of the Spiel des Jahres eV
  9. ↑ Jörg Luibl: Test for digital implementation , October 7, 2014, at 4Players
  10. ↑ Collection of reviews of the digital implementation on metacritic.com (English)