Solar Sphere

Humanity has exhausted Earth’s energy reserves. To become an interstellar civilization, they must harness the power of an entire solar system by building a Solar Sphere. In this dice placement/manipulation game, you will be competing against other Captains, by hiring a crew, (engine building) fighting off the resistance, (semi-cooperative combat) and building the Solar Sphere (area control). You will need to collect resources along the way if you are going to complete your tasks effectively. Drones are essential to a winning strategy. Use drones to manipulate dice, visit occupied locations, compete in combat, build the sphere, and upgrade locations. Your crew will gain morale in several ways. You can keep this for end game points or trade it in for instant bonuses. Have you got what it takes to build the solar sphere?

Solar Sphere is a dice placement/manipulation game with elements of engine building, resource management, and set collection. Set hundreds of years in the future in a time when competition will move mankind forward, but when collaboration is also sometimes necessary. In Solar Sphere, each player commands a mothership. Their primary task is to build a dyson sphere. But, with crew to hire and aliens attacking the sphere, there are many other ways to earn prestige and become the saviour of mankind.

In this dice placement game, players can manipulate their dice using drones. However, players have a limited supply of drones, which are also used to upgrade dice placement spots or to support in fights against aliens. Players can always recycle used drones to get them back into their supply. Or, spend them for instant benefits.

Players simultaneously start the turn by rolling their dice. Dice act as spacecraft and are sent, in payer order, to locations to gather resources, build the dyson sphere, build or recycle drones, upgrade worker spots, hire crew, and fight off aliens.

Crew come with their own unique benefits that will help players in a variety of areas. Chain crew abilities together to build a good engine, and retire them for extra benefits. Making space for new crew members.

As the game progresses, more aliens will arrive to defend a sun that they also need. Fight them off alone, or join forces with other players and share the rewards. However, if no one takes on the rebellious aliens, then you all lose points.

Solar Sphere combines a combination of mechanisms with a powerful theme to bring players an immersive experience.

—description from the designer

COMPONENTS:
Cardboard:
90 cards (49 Crew cards, 8 Location cards, 12 Solo cards, 15 Resistance cards, 4 Sphere cards)
4 Player/Command boards (dual layer)
53 punchboard pieces:
19 Solar Sphere hexes
Jigsaw Solar Sphere border/score tracker
6 Morale tokens
4 Score tokens

52 wooden pieces:
4 Score markers (in player colors red, blue, yellow, black; screen printed)
4 Order markers (in player colors)
12 gray Ore
12 yellow Gold
12 green Crystals
4 red Morale markers (hearts)
4 yellow Sphere markers (suns)

89 plastic cubes (red, yellow, blue, black, clear)
17 Dice
Rules

2-4

5060750950029

Dranda Games

120

2022

13+

Solar Sphere

2022-12-26 17:09:52

~$33.63

2025-11-27

2022-12-26 17:09:52