Space Empires: Close Encounters

Prepare for intense cosmic encounters with Space Empires: Close Encounters, the first expansion that supercharges Space Empires 4X! This gem throws you headfirst into encounters with new alien races, bringing ship boarding battles and planetary invasions with varied ground troops. Each alien empire shows its teeth with around 20 unique abilities, revealing strengths and weaknesses that will make you think about every move. The expansion is smart and maintains the simplicity of the base system, adding more technology and that sci-fi flair we love, without overcomplicating things. Want more? It's modular, so you can pick only what appeals to you and leave the rest aside. Oh, and there's more: an experience system for your fleets! Keeping your ships alive now yields bonuses and makes them more skilled in combat. To handle this, more ship counters are included, along with military academies to give an initial boost to experience. And to top it off, Titans, gigantic ships that cause mass destruction and can even carry fighters, but beware, they have their drawbacks. The box also comes with fleet counters and displays, exclusive alien technologies upon conquering non-player planets, more technologies and money for the expanded tech tree, and new scenarios for 3 and 4 players. For solo fans, there's a scenario against an alien empire and another against a swarm of space amoebas. And if you have the first printing of the base game, this expansion includes a complete set of thicker counters for everything to look and feel top-notch!