SETI Space Agencies

For me, SETI is a Sensational Euro To Intergalactic awesomeness. That’s why I was excited to see what new features the expansion brings to the game.

Corporations from Terraforming Mars

The first major new feature is the corporations from Terraforming Mars. At the beginning of the game, each player chooses one corporation. They will affect our initial resources, provide us with a different level of income, and give us special abilities. These can be passive abilities that enhance basic actions, or they can be skills that we use once per round.

There is a fairly large selection of corporations, and it’s great that they affect different aspects of SETI. However, as is often the case in asymmetrical games, some of these corporations are very powerful, and this ability can give us a lot during the game. Unfortunately, there are also corporations that we will rarely use.

It’s worth discarding Stratus Core and Turing Systems

Prelude to new features

At the beginning, we will also receive quick start cards. They provide bonus drops, victory points, and some of them will allow us to send a signal or place a probe on a planet. It feels like a prelude to Terraforming Mars.

Alien III

We will also be able to add new aliens to the game.

3I/ATLAS (Arkhos) is a huge stellar object, which is probably a ship of an alien civilization. We will be able to explore it to obtain various bonuses. We can also try to break its security to get even stronger effects.

Amoeba is an alien organism that constantly moves its cells. By marking a particle of the aliens, we will be able to get bonuses from one part of its body. After that, these bonuses will move according to the arrows, changing their positions. It is worth waiting to study this species in order to gain as much as possible from this action. This is probably one of my favorite alien races.

Glyphids have sent us a signal from space that we must decipher. By performing basic actions, we will gain their glyphs, which we will later be able to decipher. After that, their cards will provide us with many different bonuses depending on the color of the glyph. We will also score points for collecting sets of different colors. It’s cool that this race affects the entire board and the actions we perform.

Apparently 4 rounds

Playing with corporations and quick start cards shortens the game to 4 rounds. However, this does not change the overall playing time. This is because we can do more in our turn and we can play and play and play, etc.

With two players, this may not be so noticeable. However, space voyages with 4 players can be lengthy and definitely turn it into a game that we will only play on weekends.

Summary

SETI Space Agencies do not mechanically change the gameplay. We still do exactly the same thing, we just get more options.

Corporations add asymmetry to the gameplay and make our turns more enjoyable. As for the abilities of these corporations, some are better and some are worse. However, the most important thing is that they have a positive impact on the basic aspects of the game, developing them even further.

The three new alien races are very interesting and expand the various combinations that we will be able to discover during our space travels. I would definitely like to see more aliens in future expansions.

Signal transmission has been fixed, and you can really hear it, especially in two-player games. All thanks to the quick start cards and new tokens.

The only aspect of SETI that has been left out of this expansion is the new objective tiles. It’s a bit of a shame, because it would definitely add variety to our pursuit of them.

Final verdict: Space Agencies adds more awesomeness to this Sensational Euro To Intergalactic awesomeness

Pros

• Cool new Aliens
• Asymmetric Corporations
• Quick start
• Meaty turns
• Better signal transmission

Cons

• It’s a shame there are no new objectives

[Game provided by Czech Games Edition]