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At the bottom of your ship is a cargo hold with limited slots to hold treasures (and damage) you will receive throughout the course of the game. As the game progresses these spaces will fill up, with either defeated pirate ships or artefacts you collect.
In addition to their ships each player begins the game with a tech board. These have slots for tech cards which players can obtain from a row below the game board. In this 1-4 player Eurostyle game, which mixes action selection and engine building, you'll manage a diverse crew of cadets, ensigns, androids, and officers — each with different special roles and capabilities. By earning medals, you can promote and train your crew for even greater effectiveness. Similarly, you can upgrade your ship with powerful engine building technology for maximum synergy. Another example: five commander rings are available to each player. These rings signify when you’ve achieved a promotion. The highest total number of commanders I’ve seen promoted by a single player is three. In that game, one player had a tech which allowed them to train a certain color of commander with only two medals, instead of the normal three.
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It is these issues that give me pause. I think Starship Captains will land best as a game played with casual players, and played only occasionally. Playing it once every few months is perfect, and lets players who arrive mainly for the theme take part in a medium-light gaming experience that is simple to teach. With limited actions and only 4 rounds, finding little boosts and combinations which grant you extra rewards present themselves so often. Something as simple as fighting a pirate, combining it with a tech card so you don’t take any damage and gaining another artefact. Then using 2 matching coloured artefacts on the next turn to move to a mission card then use an android you acquired to gain extra rewards is so satisfying. The vibrant galaxy holds many peculiar mysteries to explore and uncover! Skillfully manage your team of cadets, ensigns, androids, and officers to make the most of their unique abilities—all while balancing essential ship roles, completing unique missions, and upgrading your ship with powerful engine-building alien technology. The game’s manual provides fun flavor text for each specific possible score from 21-75. 0-20 is summarized with something to the effect of “you are terrible at board games”, and I agree—it feels like it is almost impossible to score less than 25 points. The lowest score I have seen is 28 points, but the highest score across seven plays was 39. It’s a good design choice where if a player moves to a planet with a mission, they get to reserve it until they leave. This is great as missions can require specific colours of ensigns to gain huge bonuses. It’s even a great strategy to pass while you have a good mission card reserved so you gain your full crew to use.
Replayability is limited so manage expectations accordingly. I had much more fun with my first two plays than my last two plays. Perform a repair action, move or gain a medal can all be gained if players can place cards in the right slot. Of course these spaces are limited and some may need to be repaired first to be used. This allows everyone to gain an extra cadet, redistribute any bonus planet tokens and refresh their crew members. Starship Captains is an engaging and exciting euro game with a fun, accessible theme. It combines some of the best elements of the genre with an innovative crew management system. Another unique mechanic with these cards are the matching bonus symbols. At the sides of the tech cards are small icons. When placing a card down on the board, if an icon matches one next to it you can claim an instant reward.Finally when players have exhausted all their options, or even before if they want to save some crew, they can pass. After everyone has done this a new round begins. Starship Captains was created by Peter B Hoffgaard, with this being the designer’s debut title. Liv and Wheels chat about the board games they're most excited for in 2022.
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