Star Trek: Catan
"SPACE...the Final Frontier."
The many resource rich planets within the limits of Federation territory await exploration and settlement. Build outposts and star bases to extract the resources. Using your fleet of starships, establish supply routes that enable you to boldly go further into deep space. Avoid resource shortages by trading with your opponents and Federation neighbors. If your opponents venture too far into your space, though, you might need to divert the Klingons to drive them away... because in the end, only one can be the Federation’s greatest hero! Take up the challenge!
Star Trek: Catan® transports the timeless game concept of the world’s most acclaimed board game—The Settlers of Catan—into the exciting Star Trek universe. The popular characters of the Starship Enterprise come into play through novel new “support cards.”
Build, trade and settle where no one has gone before!
User Reviews (3)
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KEY POINTS:
-Typical Catan resource gathering and development game play, but with a nice speed boost and a strategy twist.
-Support cards add unique abilities that can be used to enhance the normal collecting/trading/building processes.
GAMEPLAY:
The gameplay is more or less identical in almost every way to the standard Settlers of Catan board game. You gather resources under new names: Dilithium = Wood/Lumber, Tritanium = Clay/Brick, Food = Sheep/Wool (lamb chops, anyone?), Oxygen = Wheat/Grain, & Water = Ore/Rock). Once you gather some resources, you can trade them in to build starships (roads), outposts (settlements), starbases (cities), or to buy a development card on your trek (sorry, I had to) for victory points. Hmm, they couldn’t think of a new term for a development card, it seems. Why not something like a Matter Conversion Distributer? Too lengthy to print on the building costs card? Ding, ding, ding! I think we have our answer.
New elements: “Support Cards” bring new life to this classic game and can speed up game play considerably, especially for veterans. Each player is provided with a support card that represents one of the characters from the Star Trek original series. Each has a unique ability that can be used up to two times (but only activated once per turn) before trading in for a new role. These unique abilities include some game-changing effects like forced resource trading, the ability to gain a resource card when rolls do not produce them, and 2-to-1 trading (without using a [port]).
Depending upon your familiarity with normal Settlers of Catan mechanics, these cards can provide a VERY powerful boost for the overall game speed as resources can be accumulated and used more efficiently. In a two-player game, for example, we found that the playing time was reduced by 10-20 minutes in a game with absolutely zero player-to-player resource trading. As a veteran of Settlers of Catan (mind you, only the base game with 5-6 player expansion), I found these abilities to be an AMAZING benefit for the game. Catan can (sometimes) seem to drag on if one or more players are not collecting the right resources or using them wisely. The support cards seem to negate that issue, which was my only element of grief with the first game. For strategy gamers, these cards can add a nice layer of strategy to this game, as players get to choose among the available support cards and can reap the related benefits.
COMPONENTS:
The board and card artwork really pops and is a welcome Trek-themed version that greatly differs from the classic Catan style. The cardboard components are similar in quality to the 4th edition of the Settlers of Catan game (relatively thin, but not terribly so). In lieu of the wooden settlements, cities, and roads, the game includes very fragile-looking plastic pieces (including a lovely Klingon ship as the Robber/Soldier). The starships, outposts/starbases are all placed on clear plastic bases to give you that “floating in space” effect, but this adds a considerable time to set up (at least initially). Be careful with these fiddly bits and they may last long enough to boldly go where several predecessors have gone before (though at a marginally higher altitude). Of course, if they do require a little patching up and someone complains, don’t miss the golden opportunity to loudly proclaim that you’re “a doctor, not a miracle worker!”
RULES:
The rules were not as logical and straight-forward as one might expect for a themed release of such a popular game. That being said, anyone familiar with the Settlers of Catan game play should have minimal need to reference the rules other than to review the mechanics of the support cards.
REPLAY FACTOR:
Star Trek Catan brings new life(forms) and new civilizations to an old favorite. While I was admittedly a bit skeptical of how much power Scotty could bring to the Catan game, I was greatly impressed by the themed modifications made and the enhancements the support cards provided. They boldly take the old classic Catan to new places!
PROS:
-Classic Catan-style turn play with simple mechanics and dice rolls.
-Support cards add new game play options and some mild strategy.
-Space-themed, eye-catching artwork.
-Easy for Catan veterans to pick up.
-Attracts Star Trek fans (if they aren’t gamers already, this might do it).
-Game plays a faster due to support cards. Warp speed!
CONS:
-Rules book could use some maintenance.
-Plastic pieces may need hull reinforcement or a good repair crew over time
-No 5-6 player expansion available (yet)
-No tribbles (Yes, I was hoping they’d be worked in somewhere)
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Star Trek: Catan is a good re-themed version of an old classic. If you like Settlers of Catan and like or love space themes or Star Trek in any form, this game will deserve a place on your game shelves. While I would never consider selling the classic game, this version is definitely the preferred version for me. The game play is faster, the artwork is more energetic, and the support cards offer new options. For those reasons, I feel that this game is “Givin’ it all she’s got!”
Live long and prosper with resources in this game!
Star Trek Catan Details:
No. of players: 3-4
Time to play: 1 – 2 Hours
Age:10+
Set-up: 10 minutes
Based on the iconic game Settlers of Catan – Star Trek Catan plays much the same way. If you like Catan and you like Star Trek this is a no-brainer. Star Trek Catan is the very same game we all know and love, with the addition the Star Trek theme and one new mechanic. If you are familiar with the game play of Catan then you will almost immediately be able to jump into Star Trek Catan.
So, what does the change in theme bring? For me, some very cool changes. No longer are we playing with wooden pieces…they are now replaced with molded plastic versions of the starship Enterprise and the familiar federation space stations. The ships are equivalent to roads, the space stations replace towns, and in place of a city simply add a second tier to the space station. Both the ships and the space stations are attached to clear plastic bases about half an inch tall. Personally, I love the theme and for me it feels very much like a new game. The board is still constructed of randomly placed hexagons with randomly placed numbers. However, the hexagons are now different colored planets (red, blue, gold, white and green) that correspond to the different resources (Tritanium, Water, Food, Oxygen and Dilithium). The robber has been replaced with a fearsome Klingon Bird of Prey that trolls the galaxy robbing moving as always with the roll of a 7.
The new mechanic is the addition of Character Cards/Support Cards that give you a specific advantage based on the card currently in your possession. For example, Captain Kirk allows you to do one of two things: if you have more than 7 cards when the next 7 is rolled, you can use your Kirk card to avoid losing any cards. Or, if you have less than 7 cards, you can use it to take 1 resource of your choice. When you’ve used one of the character cards for the first time you have a choice: flip the card over and save it to use again later (after which it must be returned to the table), or you can immediately return it to the table and choose a different card. While this is the only mechanic change to the game it adds a great deal in the way of strategy without dramatically changing a beloved, classic game.
This is a great addition to the world of Catan and also the world of Trek. My family loves playing Catan and now we have found a fresh interest in Star Trek Catan. Of course that is probably influenced by our love of all things Trek!
I’ve been checking this page for a couple days to see if anyone posts a review, but nothing yet so I guess I’ll go first! I can’t wait to see what a big Catan fan has to say though as I warn you, I am much more of a Trekkie than a Settlers of Catan player. In fact, I’ve been “silently flamed” with my review on Catan here as the diehards have largely voted no!! Oh well, like I said there, I get Catan, but I’m not a big fan.
However, when I saw they were doing a Star Trek version, I was eager to drop the $50 at Target (the only place to buy it here in the States) and see if I could change my own mind. So far, yes!
Having the Trek theme makes the game a lot more fun for me. And that’s a personal thing of course, but if you’re a big ST fan, I think you’ll dig this.
The miniatures look great if not a little on the delicate side. I’m not sure how durable the plastic will be in the long term, but with some basic caution they should hold up fine. I also appreciate the zip lock bags included once I tear open the shipping bags for all the pieces, which there is a lot of!! I like the way you add onto outposts to turn them into starbases and the Klingon threat is pretty neat. I also really like the character cards and the impact they can have. With only a couple games under my belt, I haven’t gotten the gist of all of them, but the idea of forced trading etc. make for great player interaction. Nothing’s wore than when the dice hate you and you’re stuck without the one resource you need repeatedly!
The tiles are nicely illustrated although I feel the overall look of the board is a little dark. Considering how important the corners and straight edges (shipping routes) are to Catan, the black on black esthetic is hard on the eyes. A faint blue line or something would’ve been a nice addition. There are some space clouds, but it’s not consistent.
All that being said, if you like Catan and you like Trek, you’ll love this version. If you’re only into Trek, I still say you’ll want to add this game to your collection. If you’re just a big Catan fan, not sure this will add anything to your experience. The mechanics are largely the same, but the joy in Star Trek Catan is the Star Trek.