I had my third game last night. I had played two three-player games before (winning as Protoss and then losing as Terrans to the Zerg) and last night I managed to scrounge up two more players and we set off to have a proper fight for the galaxy.

After the usual hour of explanations we had the set-up phase. Eventually, accounting for z-axis connections, we had four players in sort of an 8-shaped loop, each more or less connected to two others, and then we had a two planet off-shoot connected to a neutral planet where the last player sat with 3 conquest points.

This looked like a big problem. Basically that last player was bound to either have a huge advantage by keeping this back-yard with lots of points and resources, or have his back against the wall if someone did go into it. And of course, while it was clear that someone has to go into that off-shoot to prevent his automatic victory, it wasn't a very good strategy for the game... one of the other four players would have to sacrifice himself to give the other three a chance at winning.

So we sort of cheated, and we made the first z-axis changer card that came up move one of the paths over there, and we ended up having a pretty decent game (but see at the end). However, looking here I'm suprised nobody seems to have run into a similar problem. It looks to me like the set-up phase is a huge deal: starting with a base between two other bases is a terrible idea, starting between two empty planets is a huge boost, and the number of CPs around you is very important, too.

So am I imagining this? Maybe once everyone is more experienced they take these things into account when doing the set-up. Has anyone come up with house rules for this phase? I'm thinking of requiring maximum connectivity, and not allowing z-axis connectors to connect already-adjacent planets.

Eventually about half the group swore off the game after the session... One that just doesn't like heavy strategy, another that has problems with analysis paralysis, and the last one simply had some bad luck on both times she played.

Stalkre said:

For a good game the player havo to place the z-axis whit strategy...or 1 player can have a "boost"

I play Warhammer Fantsy Battle and, just like in starcraft, deployment is half the game! I always tend to have a "safe planet" where to put my research, gain some resources and VP. This is easy to do with 2-link planets. And being the first player becomes a big deal for placing your z-axis in the way you want. And also, the navigation error event card plays a big role in balancing the game.

It did happen a couple of times to have a galaxy set up that advantages one player. This is where diplomacy comes in! It's up to players to be aware of the winning one to team up against him until another become the prime target. And always include a backstabbing tactic when you expect to win!!! But house ruling is fine too!

I have found the galaxy setup to be a very important part of the game. It can lead to possitions where one player has a clear advantage but these can be avoided during setup with smart placement and can be dealt with during gameplay with "kill the leader" kind of tactics.

Having a corner on the board can be a blessing or a curse, it means you aren't going to be attacked from many sides but also means you don't really have very good escape routes.

There are a lot of very powerful plays and abilites in this game but they all tend to balance each other out pretty well.

It definitely is very important. Use your social skills in this excessively, too! If a player tends to build himself a decent position, tell everyone how cool it is, that he's about to win and such things and this way force him to either rebuild the galaxy setup so he doesn't profit that much or to bring all players to smash him in turns so no one has to sacrifice.

I would love to see booster map packs in the theme of tide of iron maps that when built form a square board. Then have random start positions on the map, for replayability they would (tide of iron) be 2 sided and able to be cunjured up in ways for instance where a player may be on top of several recourses but players further away from resources would have more startings units.I know people do there own maps and such like the space map on bgg but i for one would purchase the booster packs.(note to FFG) don't forget i'm on commission from here on in.

The only "booster pack" I know is Typhon Promotion http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37429 that is a rare single-link planet that was given in the BlizzCon2009. It is then sold 20$ on ebay! But I like the idea. A new set of 6 planets with platforms and strategic areas would be great fun!

I would like to see some land only sectors with points.

Yes land only sectors would be great. I would love to see some maps that are like the pc game.Many tiles forming one big square with random resources in them and possibly pick up units or area with bunkers or photon cannons etc. So static style that are manouverable not lots of extra little planets.