In Galactic Overlords, the players are challenged to guide their race from a small beginning on a rich home world and grow it into a powerful space empire. This is a full-fledged space empire game featuring exploration, expansion, exploitation of galactic resources AND space combat. However, it eschews the extermination or elimination of weaker players by allowing the stronger ones to become their overlords, thus extending to them a measure of protection.
The order of game play is on a round system where players do their empire production simultaneously in a production phase. Then the players do two actions each, in turn order, in the action phase. In their actions, players may engage their opponents by diplomacy, trade, and espionage as well as military ventures. Or they may go off on their own to explore for rewarding encounters.
The building of economic engines will not be enough to win. There is a shifting economy and there are changes to game conditions with the passing of ages. Players must be willing to abandon hard-won colonies in order to adapt to the changes. The game can be customized in many ways, one being the duration of the game can be set to any number of rounds the players want. Players can set limits on the aggression level of the game if they desire a more peaceful experience. There is a four player introductory game designed to introduce players to the basics of the game. In this "intro" game, the special alien abilities and technologies are not used, thus placing players on an equal footing.
A variety of mechanisms are employed which are designed to quash the common complaints that tend to occur in multiplayer conflict games.
There are several possible ways the game can end in addition to timing out on the last round. Players are rewarded on a point system for their accomplishments such their as economy, technology, exploration, military, cultural and diplomatic achievements. The highest score gains the win.
Civilization, Science Fiction, Space Exploration · Area Majority / Influence, Dice Rolling, Modular Board, Variable Player Powers
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