SPI's Science Fiction Games / reviewed by Stuart McGregor

Star-Force: Alpha Centauri

This game was SPl's first venture into the field of science fiction
games and to date is one of the best-selling games they have ever
produced.

The actual play of the game is fairly complex, although experienced
players should find no difficulties.

There are two levels of play, the 'basic' game and the advanced game.
The basic game, as its name suggests, introduces one to the basic
mechanics of play, that is movement and strategic combat. Movement is by
the instantaneous transition from hex to hex (known as shifting) on a
stellar display which is about 30 light years on all three axes. I say
all three axes because Starforce employs a three dimensional system of
movement and, although this may seem complex at first sight, it isn't
really and one soon gets the hang of it.

Combat is fairly abstract in the basic game, using a simple
"differential" CRT, but in the advanced game this aspect of the game is
altered by transferring combat to a tactical map. However, although it
adds a considerable amount to the game, it does tend to be
time-consuming.

There is a total of fifteen scenarios in the game, one of which is for
Solitaire play. As for the others, the first few are designed for play
with only the basic game and use few units and thus are fairly useful
for learning the mechanics.

Other scenarios are designed only for the advanced game, whilst others
can be played with either. Perhaps the best two scenarios are the last
two, which involve a race known as the Xenophobes who, to put it simply,
try to destroy everyone. What makes these interesting is the fact that
the Xenophobe units use hidden movement, which means their opponents
must guess what they will attack next, a job which is none too easy as
well as time-consuming. A Xenophobe scenario can take up as much as 12
hours if not longer to play.

To sum up, Starforce is a fascinating game and certainly worth getting.
Starforce has been on SPl's best selling list 14 times (up to Issue 60)
and, as they say themselves, anything which is on the list 6 times,
gamers should find as a valuable addition to their collection.

Outreach

This game is SPl's latest offering in strategic science fiction games.
The game scale is much larger than Starforce (which would fit into one
hex on the Outreach map), the hexes being approximately 1,200 light
years across. The time scale of the game turns is "Generational" which I
take to mean about 3 turns per century .

The play of the game is fairly simple. One starts by exploring hexes,
such action which, if successful, yields a point value or potential
value of the hex. This is important since the potential value is the
maximum amount of resources (or system points) a Stargate on the hex can
yield and the total amount of resources available governs how many new
ships can be built and whether the ones already in service can remain
so.

Movement is, as in Starforce, by means of "shifting", the instantaneous
transition from one hex to another. The amount of distance which a ship
can cover is only governed by attrition and the player's civilisation
level, so theoretically, it is possible to travel an unlimited distance,
although in practice this is not practical due to attrition. The
civilisation level of a player (mentioned above) is a fascinating aspect
of the game. It affects almost all the game functions. Firstly, the
maximum distance one can travel when not starting from a Stargate is its
square, known as the civilisation level range (CLR). The CLR also limits
shifting from Stargate to Stargate, for a unit which shifts less than
the CLR from 'gate to 'gate may continue shifting. Thus it is possible
to have a chain of stargates with continuous shifting within it.

Inter-player reaction is fairly complex using an "interaction matrix"
whereby players choose if they are to be hostile, neutral or friendly.
Mutually friendly players share extensive benefits from each other -
such as mutual use of Stargates, whereas mutually hostile players double
all losses in combat. In addition to other players there are "Autonomous
forces" which act independently according to a set of rules and thus add
more interest to the game as they may suddenly attack you if another
player declares war.

Fate is an interesting aspect of the game. Each Game Turn there is a
roll on the fate table, which produces one of three basic results:

(1) dissolution of one's forces by up to 90%
(2) creation of autonomous forces
(3) an increase in one's civilisation level

The last result is conditional upon the expenditure of wisdom chits
before the fate die roll. These chits are fairly precious, being brought
from the centre of the galaxy, where they are fairly difficult to get.

Of the senarios provided in the game, there are one each for one, two,
three and four players and one for one to four players. The first two
(for 2 and 3 players respectively) are introductory, not using such
rules as wisdom chits and the relevant fate table results. The third
(solitaire) scenario must be misprinted as it is mathematically
impossible to complete it in the number of game turns permitted (I
suggest 35 is a good alternative).

All in all, I consider Outreach to be one of SPl's best games, and well
worth the money. However, would-be purchasers must be warned that some
of the quality of the UK printing is below the normal SPI standards, in
particular the counters are fairly poor. Nevertheless, I should not let
this distract anyone from what is after all a fairly good game.