review

 

The right specialist at the right time

 

Lift Off

                  

Satellites must be placed in orbit

 

An economics game with the sole purpose of equipping rockets to put satellites into an orbit around earth - that sounds unusual. There are, of course, hundreds of space games with one SciFi topic or the other, but I have not yet, in my career as a gamer, come across a game that utilizes the rather banal reality, the daily business of today’s spacefaring industry, for a topic. That may be, of course, due to my restricted knowledge; therefore, I cannot deny the existence of comparable games, but I can at least state that the topic is a rare and unusual one. I am always pleased when a strategy game differs from the classic castle building or space battle sundries.

In Lift Off, players are transferred to the 50ties and 60ties of the 20^th century; a time when today’s technology was developed and the transporting and launching of satellites was not a daily occurrence. Very suitably, the design of the game mirrors the style of comic books of that era.

 

The game is played over eight rounds. In each round, every player is dealt three specialists in the form of cards. Simultaneously, all players select one of them and keep it, the remaining two cards are handed to the respective neighbors. Thus, each player has three cards, selects two of them and hands on one card.

After this drafting, all players have again three specialists in hand. Two of those specialists are then played in turn order. Specialists enable a player to buy advancement / progress. A rocket can be upgraded to more loading capacity or a more efficient propulsion. Upgrading of the laboratory enables you to develop bigger satellites. Another requirement for the launching of rockets are technology cards, which can also be acquired with the specialists. Other specialists enable you to invest in the joint space station, which in turn gives you victory points, income or technology cards.

On top of that, all specialists give you bonuses - money, victory points, additional, cheaper or better rocket launches, or an additional mission card.

 

When all players have played their specialists, each player is dealt one mission cards, or another one when allowed by a specialist.

There are four types of mission cards. Each mission card corresponds to one of four types of satellites. Satellites are graded from 1 to 4, in ascending order of their size. With satellite size, the requirements for the size of the rocket, the upgrading of the laboratory and the number and type of technology cards are all increasing, too.

 

Now, each player has the opportunity to launch one rocket, unless a specialist allows you an additional one. For a launch, you must have sufficient money to launch, which in turn depends on the efficiency of the propulsion. Furthermore, you must hold minimum one mission card that can be resolved with the rocket. For the mission card, all associated requirements for rocket, laboratory and technology, must be met. You can resolve more than one mission card with one rocket launch, provided that there is enough capacity on the rocket and all requirements are met.

For each successful rocket launch you are awarded victory points and the bonuses indicated on the completed mission cards. Then, the mission cards are moved “upwards”. The satellites depicted on those mission cards are now in earth orbit, and the mission cards can no longer be used.

 

At the end of the game there is an end-of-game scoring. At the start of the game, each player did receive three end-of-game cards, which also have been drafted. Those end-of-game cards are now scored. Furthermore, some other cards and left-over money are also yielding victory points. Whoever now has the highest total of victory points, is the winner of the game.

 

Lift Off is a nice, beautiful, tactical strategy game, that can be played rather quickly by experienced players.

Tactical elements are dominant: When do I play which specialist to resolve my missions as efficiently as possible?

Via the end-of-game card, strategic aspects are introduced to the game: How many satellites of what type do I want to launch into space?

As there are cards drawn at many points during the game - specialists, missions, end-of-game cards - there is naturally some luck of the draw involved. This element of chance is somewhat reduced by the drafting mechanism, but nonetheless a deciding factor. This is not necessarily a bad thing, depending on the group of players, but must at least be mentioned for a strategy game with the complexity and duration of Lift Off.

 

A negative mentioning is due to the lack of interaction. Despite the drafting mechanisms, players more or less play on their own. Keeping an eye on your fellow players is only of limited use. You can also interfere with others very little and only in the end-of-game scoring you will find out who was working most efficiently on lift-offs.

 

Markus Wawra

 

Players: 2-4

Age: 12+

Time: 30-120+

Designer: Jeroen Vandersteen

Artist: Nache Ramos, Andreas Resch, Kreativbunker

Price: ca. 50 Euro

Publisher: Hans im Glück 2018

Web: www.hans-im-glueck.de

Genre: Drafting

Users: For experts

Version: de

Rules: de en

In-game text: yes

 

Comments:

Unusual, fresh topic

Very harmonious design

Clear rules

Multi-player solitaire game

 

Compares to:

Müll & Money, 7 Wonders

 

Other editions:

Z-Man Games (en)

 

My rating: 5

 

Markus Wawra:

Lift Off reminds me of the old game Müll & Money, also at Hans im Glück, amended by the drafting mechanisms made popular by 7 Wonders. Lift Off, for me, comes across clearly more sophisticated, but sadly, it lacks interaction.

 

Chance (pink): 2

Tactic (turquoise): 2

Strategy (blue): 2

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 0

Interaction (brown): 0

Dexterity (green): 0

Action (dark green): 0