A selection of space tables and an overview of their mechanics

<sup>All soared: it pleases


Zerglings, by the way, on a pair in one unit</sup>

For three years now we have been dreaming of making the game according to the principles of “Elite”. Only desktop. Unfortunately, during all this time we were unable to develop or find mechanics, successful enough to transfer the atmosphere and the world, and at the same time interesting enough for those who do not even remember Parkan or Vangers.
')
But let's start from the beginning. I will show you the available board games about space and tell you what is special about the mechanics of each. Please note that they are rather successfully transferred from PC to paper (MOO, Starcraft) and vice versa (Eclipse). And I will tell you where the day after tomorrow they can be played with other geeks, celebrating Cosmonautics Day with the same joy as we are. Come in: geeks are few, and we meet in real life rarely. Need a reason - and he is.

Starcraft

Perhaps the most famous example of the arrangement of a computer game in the desktop. He enjoyed wild popularity in the East - they like to collect figures there, and there are a lot of them in a huge box. The game is a global strategy level is not a tactic, as in the original PC-strategy, but the management of front logistics on different planets. In this case, the properties of units are stored in cards, and the bases on the planets are reduced to 3-4 buildings.


<sup>Infantryman with a half cruiser. Conventions.


Bases</sup>

Space truckers

This is our localization, which we released to the last Day of Cosmonautics. Wonderful thing, which is simply disassembled on pre-orders in Europe. Somewhat complicated for the domestic market. The game consists of two parts - assembling a ship from modules in real time (it was this part that blew up the nastolk market - very few people risked working with real time, usually everything was done with moves), and then you make an attempt to fly on your unfinished piecework through galaxy. On the way there are pirates, adventures, cargo and other interesting objects of space. Here is the topic with the review of "Truckers".


^{Pilots and a very militant newcomer. A gun near the cabin now fall off on takeoff because of the wrong connection.}

Hyper-6

Extremely simple and compact abstract tactics about space. The plot - you need to transfer the fleet to the other end of the galaxy for a decisive battle. You and your opponents are moving in groups of ships to the black hole that you need to use for the jump. Who will fly first - wins. Chips of ships are cubes with different numbers of faces. The game uses them both as chips and as random number generators (after a hyperjump, the cube must be thrown - the relativistic speed changes randomly), and as variables (on the cube the current speed of the ship, and you can change the cube by one division). The strategy of the game is to use your own and other people's ships as mass anchors for hyperjumps in a converging orbit.


^{Bandana with a field - awesome decision}

Space alert

Very specific and complex, very for geeks. Requires a well-crafted team: here you can easily play a training game. The author is the same as that of “Space truckers”, and also real-time mechanics are used. Essence - you play for the crew members of a space cruiser. Intercom constantly sends messages about the approach of the enemy, the state of the reactor, and so on. The task - to work in a team for a limited time so that it will survive. Unlike other team games, there is no time for contracting and the leadership of one of the players - you just have to take and do what you think is right. It did not work - catch the kinetic projectile. Very similar to what a desktop FTL could look like, parallelized to team members.


^{Your ship}

In the expanded edition of the game, another excellent mechanic is used - along with the box a disc with intercom sounds is delivered: you are not looking at the piece of paper with the script, but are directly listening to what is happening.

"Twilight of the Empire"

This game is right on the Master of Orion, but the owners could not agree on the use of the universe, so the names of the races and technologies are changed. The rest is the same good old MoO II, only in paper. The game is particularly notable for 9-hour games (in version III - 4-5 hours each), a huge box and a very cool diplomacy system.


^{Weakly finish the party?}

Eclipse

Another large-scale space strategy. Quite popular in the West: the game took the best from Twilight, but the game is shorter, and the rules are more accessible. It is worth noting that the space here is more modular - in general, probably something similar and should be used for the game on "Elite", but it is not clear how. Probably - add a piece of the field when you open a new region. Like many successful desktops, Eclipse was transferred to the application: there is in iOS appstore for sure.

Septicon

If you like hardcore domestic science fiction, then this is definitely the best choice. The story is this - after my very old post on Habr about the development of board games we were approached by many authors with ideas. We organized the authors ’game store - 60 people came from all over the country, representatives of almost all domestic publishing houses came. And here "Septikon" found the publisher.



In the game you control your autonomous station on the planetoid - and try to destroy the station of your opponent. The box is a good tactic, awesomely crafted world and interesting art. Reading the rules is already an aesthetic pleasure. They, by the way, are here .

More games

I will note more "Space pirates". Against the background of other games - a fairly simple trading simulator. If you, for example, in Eve have a character trader for well-protected systems, then the emotions are about the same as in the game for him. Plus there is a parody "Star Munchkin", card tactics "Race for the Galaxy", a big "Battlestar Galactica" and a simple almost childish game "Perry Rodan".

To play

For almost all of these games, sophisticated friends are needed who have some kind of experience in the game. Therefore, I invite the residents of Moscow to the Cosmonautics Day “Space Truckers” tournament.


Happy New Year!
And yes, if you have ideas on how to implement “Elite” in a board game - do not be silent)