BTS: Play it now, even if it's not the band you're looking for...
*Oh.
Sorry.*
BTS doesn't stand for the famous K-pop group Bangtan Boys.
It stands for BEYOND THE SUN.
And it is one of the most exciting games released last year!
Winning the Most Innovative Golden Geek award in 2020 as well as many more distinctions; it is a medium-weight game that is worth your time.
Beyond the Sun is a space civilization game in which players collectively decide the technological progress of humankind at the dawn of the Spacefaring Era... while competing against each other to be the leading faction in economic development, science, and galactic influence.
The game is played over a variable number of rounds until a number of game-end achievements are collectively claimed by the players. The winner is the faction with the most victory points obtained by researching technologies, improving their economy, controlling and colonizing systems, and completing various achievements and events throughout the game.
On a turn, a player moves their action pawn to an empty action space, then takes that action. They then conduct their production phase either producing ore, growing their population, or trading one of those resources for another. Finally, they may claim up to one achievement, if possible.
As players take actions, they research new technologies that come in four levels. Each technology is one of four types (scientific, economic, military, commercial), and higher-level technologies must match one of the types of tech that lead into it. Thus, players create their own technology tree in each game, using these actions to increase their military strength, to jump to different habitable exoplanetary systems, to colonize those systems, to boost their resource production, to develop android tech that allows growth without population, and more.
The game is perfectly suited for 2 to 4 players, and games last more than 60 minutes. (120mins with 4 beginners)
*But don't be shy, it's worth the time investment.
Have a look at the game here:
https://boardgamearena.com/gamepanel?game=beyondthesun
Perfectly mixing mechanisms like area control, workers and resource management, and even a tech tree, there is just enough interaction to elevate this game to the level of must-play.
The BGA team would like to thank, as always, the publisher Rio Grande Games (So many of their games are available here now), and of course the game designer Dennis K. Chan.
Nothing would have been possible without the help of Mogri, the developer that made it run perfectly on Board Game Arena, and on most devices.
No expansions here, but until you have played at least 10 games of this gem, you will have time to exploit the games mechanisms.
**That's it for today, as always, thanks for reading!
**
- I can't understand what people are sayin'
어느 장단에 맞춰야 될지
한 발자국 떼면 한 발자국 커지는 shadow
잠에서 눈을 뜬 여긴 또 어디
어쩜 서울 또 New York or Paris
일어나니 휘청이는 몸 yeah*
Yeah, i can't get it out of my head.