Starfarers of Catan Info
Things you should know before playing
1. It says on the box that the game lasts 2 hours. I have never played a game of this that lasted that long. It's more like 90 minutes, but knowing my luck, I've been playing it wrong so don't quote me on that.
2. The ships are fragile. Putting those yellow boosters onto your mother ships is one thing, but taking them off is another! If you don't do it carefully the plastic holders might snap off and you won't be able to put the booster there anymore. It dosn't take much for this to happen. If you casually take it off, you run that risk. If you invite your friends over, DON'T LET THEM HELP YOU PUT THE GAME AWAY, NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY! Don't let them take the boosters off what ever you do. DO IT YOURSELF!
Setup and Resource Strategy
The setup for this game is different than that of the other catan games. The main difference is the fixed board. In this beginning of this game position is almost as important as probability. Here is something that you should know about this if you haven't figured it out already:
Only chips with red dots on the back can have pirate lairs or be ice planets. You can always (and should) terraform between a yellow and blue.
Now stop and think about your mother ship. Yes it's possible to get to a red dot and blue dot chip intersection in one turn if you are on the right place. That's NOT where you want to be. You want to be positioned so you can be the first to get to the closest yellow-blue intersection. If you place you spaceport in the right place, you will be there in two turns (providing no bad events).
Try to get a good fuel supply at the beginning. Don't worry too much about food. It's kinda like sheep.
Opening Strategy
The first thing you want to do is go forth and try to colonize the first thing you can. Move your ship as fast as you can. Build another ship as soon as you can. If you can't, build a booster so your other ship is faster. Play it safe with events. Run away from pirates, give the merchant at least one resource; give the travelers two. Colonize the first thing you can no matter how bad it is. In general you should always colinize something if you can with only rare exception.
Try to build mostly colony ships at the beginning, but don't limit yourself to them. If it is more convienient to build trade ships, then build them. You should always buy something if you can, with two exceptions:
1. Freight rings. I know, you need to have them for trading posts, but build the trade ship first. You can work on the frieght ring while you venture across the board. You are likely to get encounters that could be to your benefit with that ship on the board. If you make it to the closest outpost and still haven't got the frieght ring, then go to one of the farther ones. Don't lose potential movement, especially at the beginning when it's slow.
2. Spaceports. You should strongly think about this at the beginning. I'm not saying don't build them, but it is more valuable to build them later in the game, when you have colonies closer to the center and at the far ends of the board. It is also better to add to your victory point total later on when you need them to win. Remember, you don't collect resources off of spaceport, but you do from colonies, and if you build a cannon instead you can have better chances against the pirate and win some resources.
I would like to fininsh off with one more generalization about the opening as well as the whold game in general. Always try to have at least one ship on the board
Mid-Game Strategies
It is not only hard, but nearly impossible the possible outcomes up to this point. However I will make the following assumptions: Each player has about two colonies, two ships, some boosters, either a trading outpost, spaceport, or both. At this point colony ships are very important if you haven't been building them. There are limited spots to build without terraforming abilities etc. and the game turns into sort of a space race. Look for fuel planets. The can make you go faster. Get boosters so you can move ships you already have faster. Keep you eye out for the yellow fuel, which probably has a good number on it, and the blue fuels. Wormholes are nice, if you build those boosters. If convienient, send your tradeships to the outpost with boosters.
One more word about founding colonies. Always do it if you can, unless there is a better spot in the same system.
End-Game/Winning Strategy
As in many games, things change near the end and a sort of equilibrium is achieved. At the beginning fuel was important for boosters. Now carbon is important for cannons. This will optimize the events in your favor if you have the most of them. Getting victory points is important, since most of the spots for colonies are taken (especially in a 3 player game). Winning battles will get you fame. You can defeat pirate lairs and get two points at once. It's probably a good idea to have a colony ship lurking about for this reason. If that isn't enough build a spaceport. It's another victory point and if you put it close to a alien trade outpost, you can turn out trade ships to get the friendship token and they won't have to mover very far.
The most important thing is to remember that like the Setters of Catan, you shouldn't let your opponents know you are winning. An unpaired fame ring, a waiting colony ship, and a trade ship ready to pounce with the construction of another fame ring are all examples of implied victory points.
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