Space Station Phoenix is a worker-placement and resource management game set in one of Earth’s possible futures. The players are representatives of the Galactic Council, sent to Earth to build space stations to observe and perhaps interact with humanity.
Players begin the game with nine ships and a station hub. These ships act as action spaces that players use to gather resources, explore the nearby planets, and build their stations. Turns are fast and straightforward; either take ship action or take income.
Many games start players off with a small resource engine which they build up to a bigger one. In Space Station Phoenix, players start with the best production engine they will ever have and proceed to break it down part by part. As the game progresses, their actions get more efficient, but the number of ways to take those actions starts to diminish.
Space Station Phoenix also features deep re-playability with millions of possible starting positions and station parts combinations.
—description from the publisher
- Very consistent enjoyment across plays
- Strong core experience
- Highs can be more stable than explosive
- Engineering, space infrastructure
- Space station building and resource management in a sci-fi setting
- Mechanistic / consistent gameplay
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Engine-building style actions — Actions provide ongoing benefits across turns
- Resource management with set collection — Players gather and allocate resources to achieve objectives
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's a euro style game that plays up to six
- it's fully simultaneous
- Concordia Venus ... brings in team play and that lets you play two on two which is a four player game and it also lets you play two versus two which is a six player game
- not a euro game really it's more of a deduction style game where it's one versus many
- I started to work on that video and I'm hoping to make it happen
- Miniatures don't do anything for me
References (from this video)
- very large, table-filling component set that still scales well at two
- two-player gives clearer plan and better table management
- board space can be enormous; still challenging to lay out at higher counts
- space exploration and station management
- building out a modular space station hub
- thematic, modular setup with variable board states
- Imperium
- Gloomhaven
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Resource management — managing a large set of components and ships to optimize actions
- tile/section drafting and placement — revealing and placing station sectors and ships to expand your board
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Don't cross in front of my light again
- Please play this game. No one plays this game.
- Pure greed. Score points is fun.
- Two players is very popular player count.
- Cinema's a lie. Narnia is not real.