How to Play Caçadores da Galáxia: Colonizadores

Game Objective

In Galaxy Hunters: Colonizers, players take on the role of galactic megacorporations seeking to expand their dominion into unexplored areas of space. The objective is to colonize new planets and upgrade their robots to become the best Galaxy Hunters. Although the manual does not detail the exact victory condition, colonizing planets grants Victory Points (VPs) at the end of the game, suggesting that accumulating more points is crucial for victory.

Preparation (Setup)

To set up the game, follow the steps below:

• Shuffle the expansion's monsters into the monster pile in Ulaan.
• Shuffle the expansion's missions together with the missions from the game's main mission deck.
• Place planets BANE, HIROSHI, RAGNAR, SCARPIO, EGORAH, and SANARA face down.
• Distribute one ROBOT UPGRADE token to each player, which should be attached to the right side of each robot token.
• Place planet AMBER and the Skills and New Weapons board next to the central board, alongside the other game boards.
• Shuffle all skill cards (blue cards with the common skill symbol) and place them on the skill board.
• Draw the first two skill cards from the deck, creating a skill offer.
• The robot-specific skills (with the main skill symbol) are distributed at the start of the game after choosing the robot.

Game Flow

Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Actions and How to Play

Players can perform the following actions and interactions:

Planet Colonization Module

• Colonize a Planet: To colonize a planet, the player must allocate an agent to the planet's space, pay the necessary resources indicated on the planet, and then flip the planet face up, placing their respective colored colonizer marker.
• Benefits of Colonized Planets: Once colonized, any other player can allocate agents to your planet and collect the available benefits, provided they pay you the docking cost. The benefits of these new planets are greater than those of already discovered planets.

Details of Planets and their Benefits:

• Planet Bane:
  • Cost to Colonize: 1 favor (pink disc) and 5 star credits.
  • VPs for the Colonizer at the end of the game: 4 VPs.
  • Planet Benefits: Remove 1 permanent damage marker and repair your robot 1 armor and 1 ammo.
• Planet Hiroshi:
  • Cost to Colonize: 1 favor (pink disc), 1 titanium (gray disc), 1 aurum (yellow disc), and 2 star credits.
  • VPs for the Colonizer at the end of the game: 2 VPs.
  • Planet Benefits: 1 radiation, 2 aurums (yellow disc), and repair your robot 2 armor.
• Planet Ragnar:
  • Cost to Colonize: 2 favors (pink disc) and 3 star credits.
  • VPs for the Colonizer at the end of the game: 2 VPs.
  • Planet Benefits: 1 diamond (white disc) and repair your robot 1 armor and 1 energy.
• Planet Scarpio:
  • Cost to Colonize: 1 favor (pink disc), 1 titanium (gray disc), and 3 star credits.
  • VPs for the Colonizer at the end of the game: 2 VPs.
  • Planet Benefits: 1 radiation, 2 lutygens (orange disc), and repair your robot 1 energy and 1 ammo.
• Planet Egorah:
  • Cost to Colonize: 2 theridiuns (black disc), 1 titanium (gray disc), and 3 star credits.
  • VPs for the Colonizer at the end of the game: 2 VPs.
  • Planet Benefits: 1 radiation, 1 titanium (gray disc), 2 theridiuns (black disc), and repair your robot 2 armor.
• Planet Sanara:
  • Cost to Colonize: 2 favors (pink disc), 1 titanium (gray disc), and 3 star credits.
  • VPs for the Colonizer at the end of the game: 3 VPs.
  • Planet Benefits: 2 radiations, 1 lutygen (orange disc), 1 diamond (white disc), and 1 aurum (yellow disc).

Robot Upgrade Module

• ROBOT UPGRADE Token: Each token has 3 spaces for skills. Two with the common skill symbol (which can be acquired through planet AMBER) and one with the main skill symbol (main and robot-specific skill, distributed to each player at the start of the game after choosing the robot).
• Acquire Common Skills: The skill cards (blue with the common skill symbol) are purchased from the skill board. The cost of each skill is below it. When a skill is purchased, the oldest skill is moved to the rightmost position on the board, and a new skill is immediately revealed.
• Skill Limit: Each robot can only have 2 common skills. If a third is purchased, the discarded card returns to the bottom of the skill deck.
• Robot-Specific Skills: The robot-specific skills (with the main skill symbol) are distributed at the start of the game. Some are single-use, and others are continuous-use.

End of Game and Scoring

The manual does not explicitly describe the end-game trigger. However, scoring is awarded as follows:

• Victory Points for Colonization: Players who colonize planets receive Victory Points (VPs) at the end of the game, as specified on each planet:
  • Planet Bane: 4 VPs for the Colonizer.
  • Planet Hiroshi: 2 VPs for the Colonizer.
  • Planet Ragnar: 2 VPs for the Colonizer.
  • Planet Scarpio: 2 VPs for the Colonizer.
  • Planet Egorah: 2 VPs for the Colonizer.
  • Planet Sanara: 3 VPs for the Colonizer.

The player with the most VPs at the end of the game will likely be the winner, but the manual does not detail other scoring criteria or tie-breakers.

Tips for Winning

• Choose Wisely When to Benefit Someone: The benefits of new planets are greater, but if anyone chooses to use them, they will also be benefiting the player who colonized them. Think carefully before using a planet colonized by another player.
• Experiment with Different Combat Machines: The robot-specific skills (with the main skill symbol) can be single-use or continuous-use. Experimenting with different combinations of robots and skills can be crucial to finding the winning strategy.