Starfarers of Catan: 5-6 Player Expansion Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Preparation
  • Game Board Preparation
    • Catanian Colonies
    • Variable Set-up of the Sectors
• Setting Up the Game
  • Game Pieces
  • Overview Cards
  • Resource Cards
  • Upgrades & Fame Medal Pieces
  • Friendship Cards & Markers
  • Special Tokens & Cockpit Markers
  • Starting Set-Up
  • Placement of Starting Pieces
• Game Play at a Glance
• Game Play in Detail
  • Production Phase
    • Production From the Reserve Pile
  • Trade & Build Phase
  • Flight Phase
    • Determine Your Speed
    • Move Your Ships
  • Artifacts
• Special Cases
  • Resolve an Encounter Card
  • No Blockade
• End of the Game
• Turn Overview Cards
  • Turn Overview: Pilot 1
  • Turn Overview: Pilot 2
  • Victory Points Card
• Friendship Card Descriptions
  • The Travelers

Game Components

Most of the die-cut parts and the large cards are marked with a symbol so the game components of the different sets can be separated easily when needed.

• 2 Die-cut Cardboard Sheets
• 3 Sectors: 2 Planetary Systems and 1 Outpost (each with a front and a back)
• 10 Number Discs (front and back; 4 of them carry the Greek letters α, β, γ, δ)
• 4 Special Tokens:
  • 2 Artifacts (front and back; the back shows the number of friendship cards required)
  • 2 Reserve Number Discs (front and back)
• 1 Friendship Marker (with 1 stand)
• 2 Cockpit Markers (each with 1 stand)
• 20 Fame Medal Pieces
• 59 Cards:
  • 40 Resource Cards: 8 each of Ore, Fuel, Carbon, Food, and Goods
  • 14 Overview Cards: 6 Turn Overview, 2 Building Costs, 6 Victory Points
  • 5 Friendship Cards (see Friendship Card Descriptions)
• 46 Player Pieces (in 2 colors):
  • 9 Colonies per color
  • 7 Trade Stations per color
  • 3 Transport Ships per color
  • 3 Shipyards per color
  • 1 Victory Point Marker per color
• Mothership and Upgrades:
  • 2 Motherships
  • Balls (1 extra per color): 5 yellow, 3 red, 3 blue, 3 black
  • 8 Freight Pods
  • 8 Cannons

Preparation

Game Board Preparation

Assemble the 6 game board sections as described in the base game. The board is the same size as the base game. What changes is the mix of number discs on the Catanian Colonies and the mix of sectors used.

Catanian Colonies

The 4 new number discs with the Greek letters α, β, γ, δ on their back each replace 1 number disc per Catanian Colonies planetary system. Exchange the number discs as shown in the following chart. Put the replaced number discs back into the box.

Greek letter	α	β	γ	δ
5-6 Player Extension	10/11	9/12	3/4	2/5
3-4 Player Base Game	11	3/12	3	2/11

To familiarize yourself with the game more quickly, we recommend the following distribution of number discs on the Catanian Colonies for your first game.

You can also follow the variable set-up rules and place the number discs randomly on the starting colonies. Shuffle the number discs face down and randomly assign them to the planets with the matching Greek letters, then reveal the discs.

Variable Set-up of the Sectors

You can use all of the variable set-ups described in the Starfarers Almanac with this extension.

To use the Strategic Variant and the Explorer Variant: First replace the 4 empty sectors from the base game with the 3 new sectors from the extension. Next, shuffle these new sectors into the base game sectors using the stars as described in the base game. Last, sort the new number discs by the icons on their back and shuffle them together with the base game number discs as described in the base game.

Setting Up the Game

Game Pieces

Take all of the player pieces in a color of your choice and place your victory point marker on space "4" of the victory point track. In addition, take 1 mothership and equip it with 5 balls, as described in the base game.

Overview Cards

You only need the 4 Building Costs cards from the CATAN–Starfarers base game. All remaining base game overview cards stay in the box.

Each player takes one set of the 3 overview cards (Turn Overview, Building Costs, and Victory Points). Place the cards in front of you as shown.

Important: The Overview Pilot 1 side of your Turn Overview starts face up. When you are Pilot 2, flip it over to the Overview Pilot 2 side.

Resource Cards

The Supply: Sort the additional resource cards by type and place them into the matching compartments of the card tray.

The Reserve Pile: Take 12 cards from each of the 5 resource card stacks. Shuffle them and place them face down into the "?" compartment.

Upgrades & Fame Medal Pieces

Upgrades: Put the additional ship upgrade pieces into their compartments in the upgrades tray.

Fame Medal Pieces: Add the 20 additional fame medal pieces to the supply in the upgrades tray.

Friendship Cards & Markers

Insert the Travelers friendship marker into a base. Arrange the Traveler friendship cards into a stack and place it beside the other 4 alien civilization card stacks. Place the friendship marker on the top card of the stack.

Special Tokens & Cockpit Markers

Artifacts: Place these 2 tokens face up beside the ice planet and pirate base tokens.

Reserve Number Discs: Shuffle the 2 additional reserve number discs with the 5 matching discs from the base game and place them face down beside the game board.

Cockpit Markers: Insert the 2 markers into a base and place them beside the game board. You assign them in the Starting Set-Up phase.

Starting Set-Up

The 5-6 player set-up phase differs slightly from a 3-4 player set-up phase. The complete set-up phase is described below.

Each player, in turn, rolls the dice to determine the starting player. If you roll highest, you are the starting player. Take the "Pilot 1" cockpit marker and place it in front of you so that the cockpit faces you.

Give the "Pilot 2" cockpit marker to the 3rd player to your left (in clockwise direction). They place it in front of themself so that the cockpit faces them.

• 5 players: Third player to the left of the starting player = Pilot 2.
• 6 players: Third player to the left of the starting player = Pilot 2.

The starting player begins the set-up phase and then the game. The other players follow in clockwise order.

Note 1: Before the turn begins, Pilot 2 must flip their Turn Overview card so "Pilot 2" faces up.

Note 2: Pilot 1 takes their turn following the actions described on the "Pilot 1" Turn Overview card. When Pilot 1 is finished, Pilot 2 follows the actions described on the "Pilot 2" Turn Overview card.

Note 3: For 5-player games, place colonies of the 6th player color on the unoccupied colony sites. They have no other function in the game besides blocking those colony sites.

Placement of Starting Pieces

This set-up phase has 4 rounds.

Round 1: The starting player begins and places their first colony on any of the colony sites in the Catanian Colonies. Then the other players follow in clockwise order.

Round 2: Once all players have placed their first colony, the player who went last in round 1 starts round 2. That player is now the first to place their second colony. The other players follow in counterclockwise order.

Round 3: Once all players have placed their second colony, the player who went last in round 2 places a shipyard around one of their colonies, creating a spaceport. After placing your spaceport, place 1 colony ship or trade ship (your choice) on one of your spaceport sites. Then the other players follow in clockwise order.

Round 4: Once all players have placed their ship, you choose upgrades. Place 2 boosters, 2 freight pods, and 2 cannons on the game board. The player who went last in round 3 takes 1 of these upgrades and adds it to their mothership. Then, in counterclockwise order, the other players each take 1 of the remaining upgrades and add it to their own mothership.

Each player draws 3 resource cards from the face-down reserve pile. Keep the cards hidden in your hand. Then each player takes 3 fame medal pieces from the upgrades tray and places them in front of themself.

Game Play at a Glance

There are always 2 players who participate in a turn (Pilot 1 and Pilot 2), which is a substantial change to the CATAN–Starfarers 3-4 player rules. Unlike other 5-6 player extensions in the CATAN range, there is no "special build phase."

Pilot 1 and Pilot 2 take the following actions in the order listed below. The actions are summarized on the Pilot 1 and Pilot 2 Turn Overview cards.

1. Production Phase
   1. Pilot 1 rolls both dice to determine the resource production for all players.
   2. All players receive resources produced by the production roll.
   3. Pilot 1 draws any resource cards from the reserve pile that they are entitled to.
   4. Pilot 2 draws any resource cards from the reserve pile that they are entitled to.
2. Trade & Build Phase
   1. Pilot 1 can trade and build (in any order) as usual.
   2. Pilot 2 can trade with the supply (but not with other players) and build (in any order).
3. Flight Phase
   1. Pilot 1 shakes their mothership to determine the base speed of both pilots' ships.
   2. Pilot 1 moves all their ships (if they wish).
   3. Pilot 2 moves all their ships (if they wish).

After all actions are completed, Pilot 1 passes the "Pilot 1" marker and the dice to the player on their left. Pilot 2 passes the "Pilot 2" marker to the player on their left. The new Pilot 1 continues the game with the Production Phase.

Game Play in Detail

The phases of the base game remain the same. Keep in mind, however, that in certain phases both Pilot 1 and Pilot 2 take actions. Pilot 1 must always complete their actions before Pilot 2 takes the same actions.

Production Phase

Production From the Reserve Pile

Number: As in the base game, on your turn you must take 0-2 resource cards from the reserve pile, depending on your current number of victory points. Pilot 1 draws first, then Pilot 2.

Reserve pile depleted: When the reserve pile is depleted, immediately form a new reserve pile with 10 cards of each resource type.

Trade & Build Phase

Pilot 1 can trade with all players and with the supply and can build as usual. After Pilot 1 completes their trade & build phase, Pilot 2 can also trade and build in any order. Pilot 2 can only trade with the supply (3:1 or 2:1 goods) but not with the other players. However, Pilot 2 can build as much as desired and in any order.

Flight Phase

If neither of the pilots have ships on the game board, they skip the flight phase and pass the pilot markers to the players on their left.

Determine Your Speed

Pilot 1 shakes their mothership. The result determines the base speed of both pilot's ships. If Pilot 1 doesn't have any ships on the game board, Pilot 1 still shakes their mothership to determine the speed of Pilot 2's ships.

Move Your Ships

Pilot 1 moves their own ships. After Pilot 1 is done, Pilot 2 can move their own ships.

Artifacts

Exploring planetary systems can now reveal artifacts. When you reveal an artifact, replace it with the corresponding special token.

Just like the rules for pirate bases and ice planets, you cannot build colonies on colony sites if an artifact special token is on one of the adjacent planets.

To find the artifact and remove it from the planet, you must satisfy two requirements:

• Have friendship cards from any 2 or 3 different alien civilizations (the number required is depicted on each artifact marker).
• One of your ships must either stop on an intersection adjacent to the planet (circled in green in the booklet illustration), or pass through an intersection adjacent to the planet as your ship flies by.

If you meet these requirements, take the special token, turn it over, and place it in front of you. It is worth 1 victory point. Then place one of the reserve number discs face up on the planet.

Special Cases

Resolve an Encounter Card

If a black ball is revealed when Pilot 1 determines the speed, Pilot 1 and Pilot 2 have an encounter. After both pilots have resolved the encounter, they move their ships.

Someone else reads the card aloud: The player to the left of Pilot 1 draws the topmost encounter card and reads the text in the first text box aloud.

Important: This encounter card applies to both Pilot 1 and Pilot 2! If one of the two pilots does not have a ship on the game board, that player cannot join the encounter. The pilot with at least one ship deals with the encounter alone.

Make a decision: Pilot 1 makes their choice first, followed by Pilot 2. The pilots can choose different answers. If both pilots choose the same answer, their result is the same. If both pilots' answers are different, the reader announces the result for Pilot 1 first, then the result for Pilot 2.

Resolve the result: If you need to "shake your mothership" to determine a result, Pilot 1 and Pilot 2 each shake their own mothership. To compare combat strengths, the neighbors of Pilot 1 and Pilot 2 specified on the encounter cards act as adversaries.

Example: Encounter card "16" is read aloud to both pilots.

Encounter card "16" reads (flow as printed on the card):

• "A space pirate attacks you! Do you flee?"
  • Flee: "Do your mothership's boosters equal or exceed those of the player to your right?"
    • Yes: "The pirate's ship is no match for yours. You escape!"
    • No: "You fight!" (see below)
  • Do not flee: "You fight!" (see below)
• "You fight! The player to your right takes the role of the pirate. Shake your respective motherships and compare the Mothership Strength. Is your result equal to or greater than the other player's?"
  • Yes: "VICTORY! You free a great leader of the Scientists! Add any 1 upgrade to your mothership. You also receive 1 fame medal piece."
  • No: "DEFEAT! Your ship is damaged. Remove any 1 of your mothership's upgrades."

The example as printed in the booklet: Pilot 1 decides to flee, Pilot 2 chooses not to flee. Pilot 1 compares their number of boosters with those of the player to their right. Since that player has more boosters, both Pilot 1 and Pilot 2 must fight. Both pilots compete against their respective right neighbors, who take the role of the pirates. Pilot 1 loses to their "pirate" and must remove 1 upgrade from their mothership. Pilot 2 defeats their "pirate" and earns 1 upgrade and 1 fame medal piece.

The booklet's diagram labels the roles as follows:

• Player to the Right = Pilot 2's Adversary (the neighbor on the right of Pilot 2 takes the pirate role)
• Player to the Left = Event Card Reader
• Player to the Right = Pilot 1's Adversary (the neighbor on the right of Pilot 1 takes the pirate role)

Note: In a 5-player game, it can happen that Pilot 1 is the adversary of Pilot 2 or vice versa. In this case, the player shakes their mothership twice: once for their own result and once to determine the result in their role as the adversary.

No Blockade

In this extension, both Pilots 1 and 2 move their ships during the same turn. If you have occupied a colony site without building on it, you must observe the base game rule to vacate the site on the next "turn" if possible. This means you must leave it when you next move your ships as either pilot.

End of the Game

If you reach and/or have at least 15 victory points on your turn, the game ends and you are the winner. "Your turn" refers to both Pilot 1 and Pilot 2. If Pilot 1 and Pilot 2 reach 15 points during the same turn, the order of phases must be taken into account. For example, if Pilot 1 reaches 15 victory points during their own build phase or flight phase (e.g., by obtaining a fame medal piece), Pilot 1 immediately wins the game. In this case, Pilot 2 can no longer take their turn.

Turn Overview Cards

Turn Overview: Pilot 1

• Roll the dice to determine resource production for all players. Everyone takes their generated resources.
• If eligible, take additional resource cards from the reserve pile. After you, Pilot 2 does the same.
• Trade resources and/or build in any order. After you, Pilot 2 does the same, but can only trade with the supply.
• Shake your mothership. The result applies to both pilots. If a black ball appears, you have an encounter. Otherwise, move your ship(s).
  • Encounter: The player to your left reads the encounter card aloud to both pilots. You respond first, then Pilot 2.
  • No Encounter: Add the values of the 2 movement balls together to determine the base speed for both pilots (3-5). Both pilots' base speed is 3.
• Move your ship(s) 0-? spaces. ? = Base speed + number of boosters on your mothership. After you move, then Pilot 2 may move.

Turn Overview: Pilot 2

• Pilot 1 rolls the dice to determine resource production for everyone.
• After Pilot 1 takes any additional resource cards from the reserve pile, you take your additional resources, if eligible.
• After Pilot 1 completes their building and trade, you may do the same. Remember, you can only trade with the supply, not with other players.
• Pilot 1's mothership result applies to you as well. If a black ball appears, you have an encounter. Otherwise, move your ship(s) after Pilot 1 moves theirs.
  • Encounter: The player to the left of Pilot 1 reads the encounter card aloud to both pilots. After Pilot 1 responds, you respond.
  • No Encounter: Add the values of the 2 movement balls together to determine the base speed for both pilots (3-5). Both pilots' base speed is 3.
• After Pilot 1 moves their ship(s), you move yours. Move your ship(s) 0-? spaces. ? = Base speed + number of boosters on your mothership.

Victory Points Card

• Friendship Marker: 2 Victory Points
• Colony: 1 Victory Point
• Spaceport: 2 Victory Points
• Ice Planet Token: 1 Victory Point
• Pirate Base Token: 1 Victory Point
• Artifact Planet Token: 1 Victory Point
• 2 Fame Medal Pieces: 1 Victory Point

Friendship Card Descriptions

Both Pilot 1 and Pilot 2 can use their friendship cards during their respective turns.

The Travelers

Space Jump (2 x)

If you have this card, thanks to the abilities of the Travelers, you can use a wormhole to perform a space jump with one of your ships during your flight phase. The space jump replaces the normal movement of the ship for the turn. After a space jump, you cannot move that ship any farther on this turn.

To perform this space jump, you must have at least 3 boosters. This includes boosters on your mothership plus any boosters granted by the Scientists' friendship cards.

You cannot perform this space jump if a black ball was revealed in the mothership used to determine ship-speed this turn.

If you have both of the "Space Jump" friendship cards, 2 of your ships can perform one space jump each on your turn. You may not perform 2 space jumps with 1 ship.

Card text: "SPACE JUMP: If you didn't have an encounter (black ball) and your mothership has 3 or more boosters, you may perform a space jump with 1 of your ships during your flight phase."

Targeted Encounter (1 x)

If you have this card, you can choose whether or not to have an encounter in your flight phase. You must make the decision before the encounter is read aloud.

If the mothership used to determine ship speed produces a black ball, you can choose to skip the encounter and continue flying as usual. Your base speed is "3."

Note: You are not allowed to use the "Space Jump" card (if you have one) in this case.

If the mothership used to determine ship speed produces no black ball, you can choose to have an encounter. The player to your left reads the topmost encounter card aloud. After the encounter, you move your ship(s) with the base speed determined by the mothership.

Note: You are allowed to use the "Space Jump" card (if you have one) in this case.

In a 5-6 player game, the choice to have an encounter (or not) only applies to the pilot that has this card. The other pilot must apply the mothership result.

Card text: "TARGETED ENCOUNTER: If the mothership result is an encounter, you may ignore it (your base speed is still 3). If not, you may opt to have an encounter if you wish (your base speed is unchanged)."

Glorious Donation (1 x)

If you have this card, on your turn (as either pilot) you can ask any one of the other players for a specific resource (e.g., "carbon"). If you receive the resource, you and the player that gave you the resource each receive 1 fame medal piece from the supply. If that player cannot (or does not) want to give you the resource, nothing happens.

Card text: "GLORIOUS DONATION: Once during your turn, you may request 1 resource of your choice from another player. If that player agrees to give you the resource, both of you receive 1 fame medal piece each."

Ship Exchange (1 x)

If you have this card, on your turn (as either pilot) you can convert one of your trade ships into a colony ship or vice versa.

Remove your transport ship from the game board, exchange the colony or trade station for a game piece from your supply, and return the transport ship with the exchanged game piece to its original intersection on the game board. You are not allowed to swap the positions of 2 of your ships on the game board. You can convert a ship at any time during your turn, including before the Trade & Build Phase.

Card text: "SHIP EXCHANGE: Once during your turn, you may exchange one of your colony ships with a trade ship from your supply or vice versa."