A Euro Board game classic, Alien Frontiers, has come to the iPad! Alien Frontiers Do you have what it takes to be a deep space colonist? An alien frontier awaits the brave and daring! This new planet wi… $4.99 Buy Now Watch Media DetailsDo you have what it takes to be a deep space colonist? An alien frontier awaits the brave and daring! This new planet will be harsh, but if you have the skills to manage your resources, build a fleet, research alien life, and settle colonies, the world can be yours.Roll and place your dice to gain advantages over your opponent and block them out of useful areas of the board. Use Alien Tech cards to manipulate your dice rolls and territory bonuses to break the rules. Steal resources, overtake territories, and do whatever it takes to get your colonies on the map first! Don't dream it'll be easy, though, because the other players will be trying to do the same thing.Alien Frontiers is a game of resource management and planetary development for two to four players. During the game you will utilize orbital facilities and alien technology to build colony domes in strategic locations to control the newly discovered world.The game board shows the planet, its moon, the stations in orbit around the planet, and the solar system’s star. The dice you are given at the start of the game represent the space ships in your fleet. You will assign these ships to the orbital facilities in order to earn resources, expand your fleet, and colonize the planet.As the game progresses, you will place your colony tokens on the planet to represent the amount of control you have over each territory. Those territories exert influence over specific orbital facilities and, if you control a territory, you are able to utilize that sway to your advantage.The planet was once the home of an alien race and they left behind a wondrous artifact in orbit. Using your fleet to explore the artifact, you will discover amazing alien technologies that you can use to advance your cause.Winning the game will require careful consideration as you assign your fleet, integrate the alien technology and territory influences into your expansion plans, and block your opponents from building colonies of their own. Do you have what it takes to conquer an alien frontier? Information Seller: Genre:Board, Dice Release:Oct 05, 2012 Updated:Nov 30, -0001 Version: Size:0.0 TouchArcade Rating:Unrated User Rating: (7) Your Rating:unrated Compatibility:HD Universal You can find more info about it here, in the upcoming thread: http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?p=2469656 strivemind Well-Known Member Aug 11, 2010 2,784 2 38 Designer Ottawa, Canada http://www.strivemind.com/ #2 strivemind, Oct 5, 2012 The Boardgame Geek listing for Alien Frontiers contains a lot more detail on the physical variant. Emos Well-Known Member Dec 2, 2009 478 0 16 #3 Emos, Oct 5, 2012 Looks very interesting! trystero Well-Known Member Aug 11, 2009 717 3 18 #4 trystero, Oct 5, 2012 Played the physical board game once and really enjoyed it. Looking forward to reading some reviews. Crew96 Member Nov 5, 2011 7 0 0 #5 Crew96, Oct 5, 2012 i would like to know if there is a tutorial LordGek Well-Known Member Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold Patreon Bronze Feb 19, 2009 12,282 141 63 Software QA Engineer Saratoga, CA, USA #6 LordGek, Oct 6, 2012 Nope, but the 11 page PDF is pretty in depth complete with a quick little reference card hitting all of the key points of Satellite Operation. I'm a good ways into my first game (I never played the physical board game) and while it was a bit overwhelming at first, I think I have a grip on the basics. Each player starts with 3 ships (dice) which are essentially your workers that you'll use to create more ships, fuel, ore, and colonists in the various satellites orbiting the planet. The trick with these various satellites, is that besides needing an opening to use them (if another player has claimed all of the limited spaces of a satellite facility, tough tooties for you), many of them have very specific ship placement rules (to use this satellite you'll need three dice/ships of matching value). It is safe to say the biggest common theme of the orbiting satellites is colonist creation as it is these colonies that one earns their victory points from. Also, as an added bonus, if you ever own the majority of colonist in a given region you'll have access to that region's special ability that almost invariably gives you some sort of advantage in using the satellite hovering above it. If all of this weren't at least somewhat straight forward there is one final twist, and that comes by way of the Alien Artifacts (each player starts the game with one random artifact and can grab more from one of the game's satellites). Each turn you are allowed to use one of them and they'll allow you to cheat the system in way or another. Like a Plasma Beam to blast some opposing player's ship out of your way or a Booster Pod to raise the value of one of your yet placed ships by one point. I'm liking the game's strategic depth as you're not only trying to manage the chaos of your dice rolls and grabbing a ride on the always very limited seating in each of the satellites, but need to figure out how to make the best of your current batch of artifacts to dominate your opposition. As it stands so often in games like this (Le Havre), I technically know how to play but have no firm grasp on winning strategies. My only whine at this point is the lack of any sort of stat tracking. I guess it also lacks online play (just local or AI opponents at this point), but this isn't a big issue for me. 4/5 Tinsel Well-Known Member Dec 8, 2008 508 5 18 #7 Tinsel, Oct 6, 2012 Looked over the rules some time ago on BGG and it looks like it could be hit or miss on iOS. Any reviews? ColeDaddy Silver Supporter<br>Moderator Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold Patreon Bronze Mar 20, 2010 4,226 130 63 Male Sojourner Washington D.C. #8 ColeDaddy, Oct 6, 2012 Last edited: Oct 6, 2012 LordGek, as always your reviews are insightful and appreciated. Hmmm...no tutorial? Based on the screens, the board looks pretty daunting. It could be my Friday-long-week-just-got-back-from-two-hour-commute inside voice freely typing away, but we need to read an eleven page doc? I'll wait for more impressions... LordGek Well-Known Member Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold Patreon Bronze Feb 19, 2009 12,282 141 63 Software QA Engineer Saratoga, CA, USA #9 LordGek, Oct 6, 2012 I personally found 1 real useful tool was to simply watch my opponent take his turn. The game keeps a detailed log of the entire game to refer back to. The manual is nicely organized (with a fair amount if pictures) so it was easy to jump right to a description of any orbitting satellite or artifact you weren't entirely clear on. Actually, the core gameplay was summed up in 2 pages with the remaning 9 pages just going into greater detail of each component. Quantus Well-Known Member Aug 9, 2011 256 0 16 #10 Quantus, Oct 6, 2012 Is $4.99 an intro sale price? LordGek Well-Known Member Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold Patreon Bronze Feb 19, 2009 12,282 141 63 Software QA Engineer Saratoga, CA, USA #11 LordGek, Oct 6, 2012 Here's a handy review/tutorial of the physical game: Rokrdude Well-Known Member May 14, 2011 1,286 0 36 #12 Rokrdude, Oct 6, 2012 Actually it's one of the easier games compared to all the euro games coming to iOS Here are some videos which may help you to decide sapphire_neo Well-Known Member Jan 20, 2011 3,934 0 0 #13 sapphire_neo, Oct 6, 2012 No async, no sale. drloony Well-Known Member Jul 19, 2012 310 0 0 #14 drloony, Oct 6, 2012 OMG....drools.... hits buy button Rokrdude Well-Known Member May 14, 2011 1,286 0 36 #15 Rokrdude, Oct 6, 2012 They plan to add Gamecenter support by the end of the year Bool Zero Well-Known Member Dec 14, 2010 1,922 0 36 #16 Bool Zero, Oct 6, 2012 That was pretty much the same words I said... Then I hit the buy button! Honestly this is a steal for the price, having a portable version of this game is awesome! I agree with some that the lack of Asynchronous is a miss, but I am sure it will be added, and as far as translations go, this is one of the more faithful ones from physical to app! Now if only some one would make a Runebound app... I'd sell one of my kids for that! Kidding, kidding! ColeDaddy Silver Supporter<br>Moderator Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold Patreon Bronze Mar 20, 2010 4,226 130 63 Male Sojourner Washington D.C. #17 ColeDaddy, Oct 6, 2012 LordGek and Rokrdude, Thanks for the informative vids. Buying right now! september Well-Known Member Sep 14, 2012 2,673 0 0 #18 september, Oct 6, 2012 Shallow as it sounds, those buttons are putting me off. Blue on blue, quick rounded rectangles with gradient chrome. Just feels a bit placeholder. LordGek Well-Known Member Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold Patreon Bronze Feb 19, 2009 12,282 141 63 Software QA Engineer Saratoga, CA, USA #19 LordGek, Oct 6, 2012 Even though I'm still only getting the hang of this base game, I NEED the Factions expansion already! I just read about it last night and it sounded awesome. With this Factions expansion, each player represents a random faction that adds its own satellite and unique ability. Other players can dock on the satellite to get a minor version of the faction's ability but they'll need to pay the owning faction a small fuel fee (a little like Le Havre). Werechihuahua Well-Known Member May 26, 2010 137 0 16 Eternal labors Pensacola, FL #20 Werechihuahua, Oct 6, 2012 Looks daunting, isn't actually I was a kickstarter supporter on this one and love it to death. The negatives are pretty obvious. No tutorial of any kind. Not true retina graphics... The communications are sharp clear retina text but every other asset is blown up from old res. It actually looks better only old iPad 2. The symbols on the board are cryptic and there is no real help the text available. You simple have to read the rules. The good news is, the rules are short, clear, and once you k ow that the shipyard requires 2 equal dice (ships) and the resources listed to build a new ship you never need to read that again. Watch one of the videos of the boardgame and you will be all set. They really out to have popup text to explain the board elements available. That would be so stoopid simple to implement I can't imagine they won't get it in soon. Right now it's hot seat or against the AI only. They plan on Gamecenter support next up but I wouldnt be surprised if that depends on the reception. If you like any Eurogames or boardgames you really should try this out. I think it's a steal for the price and I am having a really good time with it. The AI on Admiral plays a strong game BTW. So you won't be hurting for a tough match if your friends are silly buggers who can't play hot seat. (You must log in or sign up to post here.) Show Ignored Content Page 1 of 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next > Share This Page Tweet Your name or email address: Do you already have an account? No, create an account now. Yes, my password is: Forgot your password? Stay logged in
Nope, but the 11 page PDF is pretty in depth complete with a quick little reference card hitting all of the key points of Satellite Operation. I'm a good ways into my first game (I never played the physical board game) and while it was a bit overwhelming at first, I think I have a grip on the basics. Each player starts with 3 ships (dice) which are essentially your workers that you'll use to create more ships, fuel, ore, and colonists in the various satellites orbiting the planet. The trick with these various satellites, is that besides needing an opening to use them (if another player has claimed all of the limited spaces of a satellite facility, tough tooties for you), many of them have very specific ship placement rules (to use this satellite you'll need three dice/ships of matching value). It is safe to say the biggest common theme of the orbiting satellites is colonist creation as it is these colonies that one earns their victory points from. Also, as an added bonus, if you ever own the majority of colonist in a given region you'll have access to that region's special ability that almost invariably gives you some sort of advantage in using the satellite hovering above it. If all of this weren't at least somewhat straight forward there is one final twist, and that comes by way of the Alien Artifacts (each player starts the game with one random artifact and can grab more from one of the game's satellites). Each turn you are allowed to use one of them and they'll allow you to cheat the system in way or another. Like a Plasma Beam to blast some opposing player's ship out of your way or a Booster Pod to raise the value of one of your yet placed ships by one point. I'm liking the game's strategic depth as you're not only trying to manage the chaos of your dice rolls and grabbing a ride on the always very limited seating in each of the satellites, but need to figure out how to make the best of your current batch of artifacts to dominate your opposition. As it stands so often in games like this (Le Havre), I technically know how to play but have no firm grasp on winning strategies. My only whine at this point is the lack of any sort of stat tracking. I guess it also lacks online play (just local or AI opponents at this point), but this isn't a big issue for me. 4/5
Looked over the rules some time ago on BGG and it looks like it could be hit or miss on iOS. Any reviews?
LordGek, as always your reviews are insightful and appreciated. Hmmm...no tutorial? Based on the screens, the board looks pretty daunting. It could be my Friday-long-week-just-got-back-from-two-hour-commute inside voice freely typing away, but we need to read an eleven page doc? I'll wait for more impressions...
I personally found 1 real useful tool was to simply watch my opponent take his turn. The game keeps a detailed log of the entire game to refer back to. The manual is nicely organized (with a fair amount if pictures) so it was easy to jump right to a description of any orbitting satellite or artifact you weren't entirely clear on. Actually, the core gameplay was summed up in 2 pages with the remaning 9 pages just going into greater detail of each component.
Actually it's one of the easier games compared to all the euro games coming to iOS Here are some videos which may help you to decide
That was pretty much the same words I said... Then I hit the buy button! Honestly this is a steal for the price, having a portable version of this game is awesome! I agree with some that the lack of Asynchronous is a miss, but I am sure it will be added, and as far as translations go, this is one of the more faithful ones from physical to app! Now if only some one would make a Runebound app... I'd sell one of my kids for that! Kidding, kidding!
Shallow as it sounds, those buttons are putting me off. Blue on blue, quick rounded rectangles with gradient chrome. Just feels a bit placeholder.
Even though I'm still only getting the hang of this base game, I NEED the Factions expansion already! I just read about it last night and it sounded awesome. With this Factions expansion, each player represents a random faction that adds its own satellite and unique ability. Other players can dock on the satellite to get a minor version of the faction's ability but they'll need to pay the owning faction a small fuel fee (a little like Le Havre).
Looks daunting, isn't actually I was a kickstarter supporter on this one and love it to death. The negatives are pretty obvious. No tutorial of any kind. Not true retina graphics... The communications are sharp clear retina text but every other asset is blown up from old res. It actually looks better only old iPad 2. The symbols on the board are cryptic and there is no real help the text available. You simple have to read the rules. The good news is, the rules are short, clear, and once you k ow that the shipyard requires 2 equal dice (ships) and the resources listed to build a new ship you never need to read that again. Watch one of the videos of the boardgame and you will be all set. They really out to have popup text to explain the board elements available. That would be so stoopid simple to implement I can't imagine they won't get it in soon. Right now it's hot seat or against the AI only. They plan on Gamecenter support next up but I wouldnt be surprised if that depends on the reception. If you like any Eurogames or boardgames you really should try this out. I think it's a steal for the price and I am having a really good time with it. The AI on Admiral plays a strong game BTW. So you won't be hurting for a tough match if your friends are silly buggers who can't play hot seat.