There are four things you can build in the game, each of which requires a unique mixture of resources. Further, you can trade with the bank at a pretty bad ratio - which improves if you build outposts near the borders.īuilding: The object of collecting and trading resources is ultimately to build stuff. You can also trade with other players as you see fit. Trading: You aren't bound by just the resources that you randomly receive. You get to set him on a planet (to prevent it from creating resources in the future), and then you get to steal a resource from a player with an adjacent outpost or starbase. Whenever a "7" is rolled, the Klingon is moved instead. Each of those planets has a number, and when that number is rolled (at the start of a player's turn), you'll gather resources. Basically, the game has three aspects, collecting resources, trading, and building.Ĭollecting Resources: You'll start the game with two outposts, each located near a couple of planets. What follows is a briefer summary of the gameplay.
If you'd like an extended discussion of the gameplay of Star Trek Catan I'll point you to my review of Settlers of Catan the rules are all the same here (with the addition of Support Cards), though the names are changed. There are minor issues with card thickness, with the support cards, and with general theming, but they're minor as a whole. I finally decided to let it eke in a "5" out of "5" because it's a good-looking and well-produced games.
I was stuck between giving Star Trek Catan a very good or a great rating for Substance. Nonetheless, thanks to the preponderance of Star Trek details, I thought the theming generally worked. I can see why Sulu lets you move your ships around and why Kirk manages to talk himself out of problems with the thief (Klingon), but I'm not sure why Uhuru forces trades with people, nor why Spock compensates you when you don't earn resources. You get more solid theming with the use of Star Trek characters on the support cards, though I was puzzled by some of the choices. That theming is all pretty light, as is the theming of the five resources used in the game (Dilithium, Tritanium, Food, Oxygen, and Water). Thus you have outposts instead of settlements, starbases instead of cities, spaceships instead of roads, etc. Theming: Star Trek Catan is pretty much Settlers of Catan, with the names of everything changed out. We were getting a little better by the end of the game, so long-term players wouldn't have problems, but it was a real missed opportunity for this new variant of the game. As a result, players were constantly reading over all the cards when they had to select a new one. Unfortunately, the powers are entirely textual, with no attempt to iconify them. It includes special "support cards", where characters from Star Trek help you out with special powers. I did have one usability issue with Star Trek Catan, which is pretty unusual for the franchise. (Players had some initial problem with Dilithium, which is green, but glows so brightly that the color is hard to make out. This is all really easy to see within the game thanks to color-coordinated resources and player reference cards that clearly lay all the formulae out.
Hexes produces goods, which players get as cards, then use to build stuff. Usability: The Catan games have always had good usability, and that's on display here. Overall, this is a great-looking version of Catan. The graphic design on the resource cards and on the player references is probably the best in the set: very attractively done. The hexes all show planets which are mostly monochrome, but still appear quite attractive due to the artistic attention. 4+ out of 5.īeauty: The cards are all illustrated with artwork based carefully on Star Trek images (I'd guess they used samples from the Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home era). The cards are a bit thinner than I'd like, but will probably hold up to play. The cardboard bits are all thick and glossy (but not line-textured). Quality: The plastic ships, outposts & starbase hubs are exquisitely produced in great detail. Star Trek Catan comes with: cardboard hexes and board edges to make a board lots of plastic ships, outposts, and starbase hubs various cardboard playing aids and lots of cards. Star Trek Catan is a variant of The Settlers of Catan that uses theming from Star Trek
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