Revisiting: Galaxy Trucker

I like the game and think it is a great concept but agree that it takes the FFG's Horus Heresy approach which is to start with a simple game and just add more and more onto it to make it feel more interesting. One that I would like to play more though but to be honest for me the rules fiddly-ness makes me look at the box when pulling stuff off the shelf for gameday and think "Eh...Too much of a hassle."

I like it a lot, but I agree with the bloat. I only bought the first expansion and we never use any of it because there's already so much shit to get straight. For many people, just keeping track of what the different ship parts do is hassle enough.

It often has the same problem as Dungeon Lords. I liked that game okay, but every single time it was a learning game, either because someone was genuinely new or because no one remembered all the fussy nonsense involved. I sold it because I would rather play something else than learn Dungeon Lords AGAIN. Vlaada has some great themed ideas but then he adds a lot of junk to it so that the gaming gets in the way of the theme.

I've sometimes thought of trying a GT variant where you give everyone one laser and one engine, divide up the rest of the tiles (face down) among the players, and then you build whatever you can out of what you have.

This is all kind of touching on my issue with the game. It usually gets pulled about once a year, which is fine. But its just complicated enough that its always a learning game. When we do the 2nd phase we have to look up what the cards do each time. All of it just slows the game down so its never the fast-playing build'n'smash it feels like it should be. I always feel disappointed when I play this game because I really want to like it or maybe I expect it to be something its not each time I play.

Huh, sounds like maybe I have fewer problems because I play it more regularly.

Gary Sax wrote: That said, there's a huge caveat here: for the game to be truly fun and surprising you need to have players at the table who are pushing as hard as possible for speed in the build phase. The fun and tense part of the 2nd phase of the game are broken ships, hastily put together, coming up against impossible challenges. If everyone furrows brows and builds perfect ships, it really ruins the second part of the game and the game feels like it's on boring autopilot in part two.

I love this game, but this is a really good point. I'm always the guy flipping the timer and driving the build phase, because the people I play with would like nothing more than to calmly and quietly build a flawless ship. You really have to force yourself to buy into the theme, and be reckless about the build phase.

And I also agree that the rules are fiddly. I've played this game dozens of times, and I simply can not internalize the small asteroid / big asteroid / small laser / big laser rules about how to defend those things. I ALWAYS have to look at cheat sheet printed on the center board.

Some of the expansions add more competition and conflict (although with added complexity). Probably the best game of Galaxy Trucker I ever played, we were using the first expansion where each player randomly draws a card that has some special circumstance or rule for that phase. We had a card that said that each time somebody new took over first place, everybody else got to take a pot shot at him. Then there was another card that said each time a player lost a section of ship, it was treated as a "big asteroid" for everybody behind him. OH MY GOD. Between those two rules, there was so much death and destruction, it was freaking hilarious.

I'm very excited about the upcoming iOS app. That could be very cool.

I suck at this game (I've only played about three times so that's not a complaint) but the last time I played a buddy came over and told me to build the ship, but never fly it. He said I'd do better points wise. Seemed like a cheat but it appears he was right. Kind of takes the heart out of the game though.

S.

Galaxy Trucker is a favorite of mine, but I also have trouble getting it played. In my case I think it has more to do with the fact that it's an older game and people want to play new stuff.

It's a little complicated, but I feel like it has enough payoff to make it worth the trouble. It does a good job of striking that balance between the setup-and-punchline silliness and actual skill, where most games have to go one way or the other. Dungeon Lords had a little of that, but I actually think the key is the real-time component, which emphasizes snap decisions over process. I like that better because I'm a lot better at it.

And I love the first expansion, if just because it gives the experienced player (me) a way to handicap themselves. I have won like 80% of my games of Galaxy Trucker. It is by far my highest win rate. Part of that is that I'm usually teaching other people.