Starfarers of Catan

Unlike the other Settler games, this one actually uses plastic and not wood for many of the pieces/parts. My friends can be quite rowdy late at night but in the years I have had the game, no piece has ever broken.

Play is a little different than in other sets. Its sort of like Seafarers with lots of little islands. Development cards are there (although there are some new resources) and they have been joined by encounter cards where you deal with alien races, traders and pirates. Play lasts a little longer than the original but is comparable to Cities & Knights.

The board is beautiful and rather large (no small contained hex this time). Players ability to move and fight are modified by upgrades to their central ship/die roller/neat thing. There is currently an expansion set for adding up to two more players which I just picked up (so I don't know how it affects play yet).

All in all, this is a really fun addition to the Settlers world of games (I have eight of them so far). If you liked the original and wanted a bit more of a challenge, this is a great addition to your game closet.


Complicated and Involved   December 3, 2002
Christopher Bennage (Tallahassee, FL USA)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

I bought this game because I liked Settlers of Catan and I'm a sci-fi fan. However, this game is not much like Settlers.
The game might be compared to a combination of Risk and Monopoly. It takes about three hours to play and longer if you are teaching a beginner. There are a lot of small pieces to break or lose. Also, you really need three, and not more than four, people to play a game.
All that aside, we really enjoy the game and I would highly recommend it for teenagers to adults.


FYI: How NOT to Break Your Motherships!   May 26, 2004
13 out of 14 found this review helpful

Starfarers of Catan is a fantastic game. However, it seems that more than half of the new owners of Starfarers end up breaking one or more of their motherships, within the first couple of times playing the game. Which is a crying shame, considering the price of Starfarers (around $40-50, depending on where you but it).

The problem with the motherships is mostly due to the poor design and the brittle plastic of the brackets that hold the booster rockets onto them. Customer support at Mayfair Games says (I quote), 'this truly is a rarity and only occurs in 0.4% of all ships'. But this appears to be a gross falsification on Mayfair's part when you consider the many, many complaints on websites such as Board Game Geek, Fun Again Games, and Amazon.

The brackets on three out of my four motherships broke, and this happened to me the first time I tested putting the booster rockets on and taking them off. (And I have fairly nimble fingers!) I was able to get replacements for my broken motherships from the guy who sold me the game. After I did, I thought hard on how I could possibly fix this problem, before I ended up breaking my replacements as well.

The problem is that most of the time, the brackets fit too tightly around the boosters and the plastic of the brackets is brittle. So, the solution is to loosen the brackets before you snap the boosters into place, the first time. To loosen them, use a metal file; one that is small and preferably has a round head.

First, test a bracket on a mothership. Chances are, the bracket will be too tight, and the booster will not easily go into place. But do NOT try forcing the booster, because more than likely you will break the bracket.

Then, gently file the inside rim of the bracket, especially at the outer prongs. Do this carefully! File away just a little bit, then test the bracket again with a booster. Eventually, you should be able to press the booster into place with just a *gentle* pressure. If you file away too much of the inside bracket, the fit will be to loose, and the booster will not stay in place. If you don't file enough, the bracket may break when you try putting the booster in or taking it out.

Do this with all six brackets, on each mothership. (Yes, this will take at least an hour of careful, meticulous work.) Once you're done, load up all four motherships with six boosters each, to make sure you've gotten all the brackets to fit just right.

There! Now you can play your Starfarers of Catan game, relatively worry free. (You and your fellow players still need to be gentle with the motherships, for they are delicate in other areas as well. Despite appearances, this game is not for kids! Heh.)


WOW! This will blow you away!   April 9, 2003
Craig J. Horlacher (Mount Gretna, PA United States)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

I love Settlers of Catan. I wondered how in the world they would turn that into a game set in space. Klaus Teuber did an increadible job!!! I was absolutly blown away the first time I played.

Besides building on the board in a similar manner to the way you do in settlers, you now have a mother ship you can upgrade! It looks like something McDonalds would give in a happy meal but give it a chance!!! It's actually very functional and a great addition to the game. You use it to figure out how far you can travel each turn as well as to determin the outcome of battles and other things.

Instead of development cards you do trade with alien races to get cards that give you abilities that relate to that alien race.

Another great addition is the Encounter cards!!! These give you options and depending on what you choose you'll have very different outcomes. You could get an upgrade for your ship or maybe have something stolen.

I would never play this game with anyone who isn't an experience settlers player. This is much more complex and you'll really want a good understanding of settlers gameplay before you start.

If you like settlers, and like SciFi, you'll love this synergistic mix of the two!!!

Be careful when you put the booster upgrades on your mother ship. It's easy to break the finger off. These are not well designed. If they do break it's not a big deal. You can just set the boosters down. The don't actually need to be on the ship for anything. The rest is ok. This is why I gave it a lower rating for durability.


Fun for hours!   October 26, 2002
Clemens Bertram (Tokyo, JAPAN)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

The "Starfarers" are quite different from the "Settlers of Catan", although a few Settlers-concepts (resources, ...) were retained.
A typical round with 4 starfarers takes about 3 hours, so plan enough time for your game-day.
The rules look intimidating at first, but once you understand the general concept, it all falls into place easily. The basic game play is simple and summarized on a small card for every player, which is great for novices.
Based on months of playing, a word of caution: be gentle with adding boosters to the ship - the little plastic pieces that hold the boosters can break if you are too rough. This is my only gripe, really.
Otherwise: I love it and recommend it to every board game fanatic!