We’ve gone from space and are now on a planet in Stars of Akarios by OOMM Games. How does that part of the game work compared to the space combat. And how does the space exploration work? We are diving into a whole new area of the game this week.

Stars of Akarios – Exploration

I want to talk about the two different ty pes of exploration in Stars of Akarios. The space exploration and then the planet explroation. They really are quite different in what you do. But I think that both are fairly interesting.

Space Exploration

Space Exploration is very simple. You move from location to location. Events happen if there is an exclamation point on the spot you travel to. And then there are spots to interact with. All the while you are spending supplies. There isn’t much more than that.

But I don’t mind that, because it works as a quick part of the game. I thought the event, very similar to Gloomhaven’s city or road events worked well. And I like that you can do more, if you want, but it’s going to take up supplies from the Sparrow and if you run out then the crew starts taking stress. And from what I can tell, that stress continues to your next things. Whether that is space combat or going down to a planet. Basically putting greater pressure on you.

Planet Exploration

Planet Exploration is definitely different. This consistently gets compared to Seventh Continent. You go around to different tiles and interact with them. And each of these comes with a challenge. So it might just be using up your dice, you still have four, to do something like open a door. Or it might be something where you need to use a specific skill.

I think using those skills is what makes for the most interesting part of the game. I use a skill, I might have three successes, like G’iardian did, naturally. But even if the challenge is three, I still need to roll a die. I don’t need to use the result, but it’s cutting down on how much I can do every time. And if you don’t have that skill, you are at the whim of the dice which is a nice push your luck element. Things didn’t go as well for Violet Ray as I tried to push my luck.

I also think that whereas the space exploration is going to be similar, the planet exploration is going to be different on each planet. Here, in the prologue, I’m assuming it is a bit more of a taste. Versus in the various acts the planet exploration will cover more or can cover more and be more open.

Upcoming Streams

Next Wednesday, we are going to go to the next mission, which I believe will take us back to space again. I also think that mission might be the last one, or maybe that mission and a space exploration before we get to Act 1, at which point I will decide if I want to continue with it or move to another game because I have campaign games coming in fast, including Etherfields which I unboxed a couple of weeks ago.

And on Monday, my plan is to learn and play Isle of Cats Explore and Draw and probably play a few games of that and chat. I don’t have any of the big boxes coming in yet between ISS Vanguard, Tiny Turbo Cars, Chronicles of Drunagor, and Zombicide Undead or Alive. But when those come in, unboxings will be happening as well on Mondays. Generally Monday streams are at 8:30, but subscribe to Malts and Meeples to know when I go live.

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