Catan Starfarers Duel Review
Memorization Catan.
You and a buddy fly through space together, that is 1 of 4 decks! With some memorization, resource management to buy/sell, and plenty of interaction, this 2 player sci-fi Catan is 15-75 minutes, depending on what module played.
Video published February 27th, 2024
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Explore 1 of 4 decks, buying/selling when you want.
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Move 5 resources (plus tech) up and down on your ship.
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Remember where the planets are!
Story
We got this copy of Starfarers Duel from Catan studios, of whom do not have any input on this content! We played it 6 times, including every single scenario in the training module.
This is also a reprint of Starship Catan, a 20 year old version of Catan.
EDIT 03/26/24: We got a question asking about the trade goods being wild in the rulebook, so I looked it up: and it doesn't say that trade goods are wild. This is a BIG oops on our part, and definitely changes a lot about this review. So, take from what this review as you will, since we played a different version as "rules written". Turns out that trade goods are just a normal resource that I conflated with trade good usage from other board games.
Need to learn how to play? Or want more reasoning for our points? Our review video’s got you!
Component/Art PROS
Cool modular ships with nice fitting pieces
Resource dials work well
All cardboard pieces feel sturdy
2 nicely colored D6’s
3 foldable boxes to organize components
Visual Pros
Sector card structure is easy to read
No resources look remotely similar
Moving dials up and down is convenient
Nice art
Trading posts look unique
Inside the box and board are cool
Gameplay Pros - Cool Memorization Schtick is Crunchy
4 decks, each deck is 8-9 cards, exploring at least 1/3 a turn, gonna see most cards soon
Memorize the BUY LOW SELL HIGH cards
Buy for 1, sell for 5
Need to memorize where rare tech is, or orange, or planets to achieve objectives
Need to remember where they are after achieving pre-reqs
Good memorization allows you to value resources well
Don’t sell for 2, because a 4 sell is coming up
“Push-your-luck” with memorization: when flip a card, have to do action NOW, can’t go back later
May want to push deeper for better buy/sell by “hitting” from top of deck
Gameplay PROS — Dynamic & Crunchy Resource Management
Ship constantly encountering trading opportunities to buy/sell
Need to weigh selling against upgrading your ship
Need to have money in the bank to complete objectives
Hitting 0 money is super crippling
Trade Good implementation (wild resource)
Has highest range of 1-5, can provide most profitable swings
Selling is tricky because its a wild, so might want to hold
Gameplay Pro — Updating Puzzle of Ship Customization
Boosters are nice for more distance every turn, but is expensive
4 different ship modules to choose (start with 2)
e.g. more storage for goods, extra actions, or look at top of explored deck
As re-affirm probabilities from decks, look at how you should upgrade
See different planets, trading outposts, and you get colonies
Not like normal Catan where some upgrades are always good with certain openings
Gameplay Pro — Lots of Interaction
Need to pay attention to opponent’s cards, because informs your deck knowledge
e.g. if they see a lot of trading outposts, you should build trade ships and go there
1 VP golden modules are a tense race to get before opponent
Gameplay Pro — ZERO Downtime
You flip opponent’s cards for them (because pirates exist)
Like blackjack where “hitting” other player as they explore
As opponent decides what to build, you pick up cards and shuffle them back into deck
Look at dice rolls at beginning of turns
Gameplay Pros - Good Progression
Each deck slowly updates as cards are taken by players
Satisfying to have “catan-isms” of having more stuff in front of you
Easy to get a card to trigger off of every die roll (1-3 with D3)
Can be self-sufficient economy that produces via colony, then sell at end of round with trading post
Replayability Pros
1-5 Scenarios possible
Scenario 5 uses all 36 central cards into 4 decks of 9 cards
Decks have different feelings as randomized differently
Theme Meets Gameplay — Feels like You’re Flying Across Space!
Decks are like shipping routes, possibly harassed by pirates
Need to sell goods to get money to repair your ship
More outlandish trading posts later and later
Component Cons — Orange D6 is a D3!
Rulebook only refers to it as orange die, so you would never know
Catan Studio clarifies on website
Icons/Art Cons
Colony and trade ships look really similar, mostly use tiny symbol on top left corner to tell
Annoying b/c end result of colony vs. trading post are way different
Trading posts look similar to normal planets you trade on
White symbol on top right corner isn’t enough, because when flipped you look at bottom of cards
POTENTIAL FIX: give different outline
Learning Cons — Training Module is afterthought
Far less diagrams than normal rulebook, uses text
Have to jump between it and normal overview reference
“Special Mission cards” are hard to distinguish on back
Always explains setup as if you just played the scenario before it
Agonizing to setup anything besides scenario 1 & 5 from scratch
Playing through whole booklet in 1 sitting is ridiculous of ask, seeing box says 75 minutes, and each scenario is 15-75 min
POSSIBLE FIX: Scenarios could have been their own modules for more replayability
Would need to tweak the moon/sun player components, because moon player weaker in scenarios 1-4 (no pirates)
POSSIBLE FIX: One less scenario (combine scenarios 2 +3 together)
Would shave off 20-30 minutes off the learn
Gameplay Cons — Slight balance concerns
Some trade stations just better, all cost same to buy
Diplomat post to trade anything for value 3 at end of turn means trade good at end of every round
Trading good post to get unlimited trade goods at end of round, only costs 3 (same as diplomat post)
Module to get tech is weaker than same cost module to get trade good
FIX: Tech creation module should be a bit cheaper
Gameplay Cons — The Pirates
Unhealthy RNG that feels feast or famine
If beat them, get free trade good, 1 medallion, keep flying without action spent
If lose, have to end flight, sometimes pirates blow up part of ship
Losing a booster is really rough to see less cards then after
“Hero of the People”, to get 1 VP for 3 medallions is wacky when beating pirates is outside your control
If opponent beats 2 pirates, and you lose against 2, going to be hard to win
POTENTIAL FIX: Have pirates not give out trade goods, when you lose against them, they don’t blow up something, maybe they just steal a resource
Gameplay Cons — Reserve Deck Pacing a bit off
Golden module rush for points makes game too fast
Permanent upgrades with consistent costs that get WITHOUT an action (happens during building)
We rarely saw tier 3 cards during gameplay
POTENTIAL FIX: Decrease size of tier 1 and tier 2 reserve piles
Inherent Cons — So much darn shuffling!
Every single turn has you pick up cards and shuffle back in deck
Can get tiring
Theme Cons — Misleading Rulebook
Rulebook talks about 4 alien races that will help you
Aliens are not shown in game at all
We only know about their trading posts because normal Starfarers showed us
Confused why didn’t use Starfarers alien art in this game
Recommender Score - 6/10 Above Average
At MSRP of $35 bucks for these components and presentation, heck yeah! Like, are they losing money producing this? But yeah gameplay wise, this isn’t going to be winning any awards for balance, but its not meant to be, its a game targeted at a casual audience, likely for those who are familiar with Catan and want a 2 player version. But then the learning is egregiously bad, and so while we don’t punish this very hard for balance, or lack of aliens, we really smack it for learning. Games like these really contribute to the idea that all board games are so hard to learn, so they’ll just stay with Catan, and I can’t blame them after reading this rulebook after only playing Catan.
Again with the “barely” 6/10, the end point of all the scenario learning is odd. We couldn’t escape the feeling that scenario 5, the one that introduces pirates and is technically the “full game”, might be a little too much for your average Catan fan.
On one hand, you’re taking this slightly more casual idea of deck memorization, rolling dice at the beginning of every turn, and then adding in the pirates which have the possibility to randomly appear and destroy parts of your ship in a 75 minute game. Scenario 5 also introduces a LOT of ways to get points, upgrade your ship, and you’re encouraged to buy and sell with the tons of trading posts in front of you every round, which is all surprisingly crunchy for a game where scenarios 1-2 were initially flip card, buy things.
If you like this combination of memory + economics, and are willing to learn the game beforehand without going through the training missions, then this could make to be a cool 2 player game night of the more seasoned board gamer getting their newcomer board game buddies more into complicated games. Maybe this is a zero downtime date night too!
If you’re both not very experienced in games, you could do the learning scenarios, play scenarios 1-3 in one sitting, then clean it up and come back later to avoid getting overwhelmed by so many new rules in 1 sitting. Or just stay on scenario 3, hey that is a totally valid way to enjoy this, especially if you don’t mind some the sun faction being a bit stronger, or just add more money to the non-sun player.
