Meandering Through Space with Empires of the Void II
Travel between intriguing planets as events unfold, battles rage on, and empires slowly take shape in Empires of the Void II.
Many parts of my game collection come from my husband, which means that solo isn’t as high of a priority. He was quite excited to pick up Empires of the Void II, but it never actually made it to the table… So I went in search of a solo variant! With a little research, I found one that seemed intriguing enough to try out. Off to the endless limits of SPACE!
Game Overview
Game Name: Empires of the Void II
Publication Year: 2018
Designer: Ryan Laukat
Artists: Ryan Laukat and Michael Leavenworth
Publisher: Red Raven Games
Solo Mode: Unofficial Solo Variant
Over the course of play, control over planets shifts while influence guides alliances and available recruits. Events and actions shape what happens across the many planets, while the solo variant introduces a pair of foes who create battle opportunities. Quite an ambitious design!
First Play
July 2, 2022
Complexity
3
Latest Play
July 2, 2022
Expansions
0
Setup Time
25 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
1
Play Time
1 Hour & 30 Minutes
High Score
74
Game Area
42" x 34"
Low Score
0
A Lot of Setup Steps
Ignoring the extra time needed to punch and sort all of the components, setup was quite intense! Randomization made for lots of shuffling… And then re-shuffling.
I liked how only some of the planets were used each time, but their decks had to be separated first. Actions were not events, but those events had to then be added to the deck.
Beautiful components come together nicely, and this was no exception! Setup just felt very, very lengthy.
Cautiously optimistic, I placed my worldship in the best possible position… According to my random calculations!
Necessary Organizing
Without some of my UberTrayz to hold a fair number of the components, this play area would have gotten out of control very quickly. Organization to the rescue!
The sheer number of pieces made me hesitate. Lots of components can work well, but I forgot how some worked halfway through the rulebook. Epic space game, maybe?
I liked how the different planetary actions had flavor text to bring everything alive, though. I had some nice options!
There were also interesting ideas around technology and placing buildings. So I set to work, ready to explore…
Uncovering the Lost
All of those face-down tokens were far too tantalizing, and my first move was to immediately explore this region!
First, a lost colony provided me with a larger hand size. And I discovered a lifeform crawling around out there, which was one of the main resources. Very neat!
But I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing. Action choices were pretty limited, yet nothing felt very cohesive.
I definitely enjoyed the exploration aspects. Don’t I always?! Ha ha! There were also some narrative elements, though I was a little too lost to get immersed in the events.
Expanding Into Space
The map was both enormous and interesting as I looked at the various routes and planets. So much to see! Yet I found myself rather limited by the possible actions.
For how open gameplay seemed to be, it didn’t feel like I was on a grand space-faring adventure. The pair of solo opponents moved about, not quite posing a threat.
My biggest qualm was the way this solo variant played out. I had to conquer a number of planets, then gain influence.
Only that wasn’t such an easy objective, and also forced me to play a certain way at times. But that map! So nice!
A Srange Stronghold
I had a number of issues with the overall gameplay, but I was caught in a strange situation on one of my planets.
This just so happened to be the route that connected the rest of the planets that the solo opponents traveled between. Combat was triggered over and over again…
Yet with this combination of units and the special ability, I had a guaranteed win every single time. And yet combat went on and on and on, cutting through the play deck.
Inevitably, this sped up the game tremendously and I didn’t have a chance to do much before it was all over.
Finding the One-a-Million Broken Combinations
Maybe it was just my luck, but stumbling across this odd scenario basically broke the game. I still had a chance to do a lot and explore the planets, though. There was simply no way I could make my mark on control or influence before the end game trigger. So, what happened? Possibly the perfect storm! It all started with the abandoned stronghold.
With an extra die to roll and additional defense from the researchers, I had to get extremely unlucky with my dice rolls to lose. Even then, I had powerful cards to add, while the solo opponents simply drew randomly. No threat at all.
On one hand, I broke the game and had an indestructible planet! Yet this posed no challenge, and had I seen it early on, I likely would have placed the researchers elsewhere. My ship slowly floated along, engaging in a few important battles that were overshadowed by the constant and meaningless combats with the pair of solo opponents.
Could I have made up a house rule? I considered it a few times, but with the underlying mechanics not quite working in my favor, I was somewhat glad to have the end arrive a little sooner. For such a beautiful world with so much going on, it was a shame that it felt very mechanical with limited decisions. I hope others will enjoy the game, though!
A Nearly-There Story
Cards could either be used for their text as something like an action or mission, or contribute to combat. My play was cut a bit short, yet I still only managed to play a few cards.
There was the hint of storyline as it looked like I was going to help certain factions more than others. And… A used ship?! It almost sounded like there would be a story there.
I wanted to get into this world and make up my own stories. Who was Sirst Sol? Why was she kidnapped?!
Everything was just on the cusp of making sense and coming together. Alas, my used ship was the highlight!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1
Solo Mode: Unofficial Solo Variant
Play Details: Novice Difficulty Level
Outcome: 74 Points (Loss)
Collecting resources, upgrading technologies, and adding buildings were all interesting elements. Yet it all was a bit too disjointed for me, likely adding to the difficulty in crafting a story. There might be ways I could improve on my gameplay choices next time, but I don’t think this one is for me. It’s certainly beautiful and brings in some excellent ideas, though, so I hope it has its fans!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
3
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
7
Originality
Design & Theme
5
Quality
Components & Rules
5
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
3
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
8
+ Pros (Positives)
- The components are beautiful and quite impressive, with awesome artwork and unique ship miniatures.
- A certain order of operations must take place regarding controlling and influencing planets, which is clever.
- Forming alliances to recruit different types of units is very intriguing, particularly in looking at the bonuses.
- Not every planet is used with each play, so there are a lot of possible combinations and variability.
- Cards provide possible activities or help aid in combat, leading to some interesting decisions on how to proceed.
- Exploration tiles provide the thrill of discovery and can quickly change the planned strategy for a planet.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Setup and cleanup take an exceptionally long time, especially with the way the cards must be split and shuffled.
- There isn’t a lot of tension with the solo opponents after a handful of turns, as they can feel a little too random.
- Limited stories evolve over time, even with all of the events and other things happening across the planets.
- Most decisions are fairly straightforward and don’t lead to interesting choices for the turn’s chosen action.
Victory Conditions
Meet the Threshold
- Overall Goal Progress 50%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 70 points.
Win at least 1 game at the novice difficulty level.
Continue the Conversation
Have you played Empires of the Void II? Are there any other solo space games that provide a sweeping narrative? I had some fun early on, and always want to point out that games I don’t enjoy aren’t bad games. We all have our different tastes! It was great to take a look into this colorful galaxy with all of its characters, events, and (used) ships!
Interesting. I have Empires of the Void II on my wish list, but I already own (and love!) Star Wars Outer Rim and Xia: Legends of a Drift System, and they’re my favorite games to play solo. I’m wondering how much more I need another space exploration game. I wonder how much you enjoyed either of those other games, if you’ve ever played them.
It certainly has some great things going for it! To me, it just fell short in a few important ways. I also realized I played it multiplayer a couple of times, and forgot about it since my gaming group didn’t quite love it, either. But I definitely recommend continuing to research it, as my opinion is just my own, and there are other solo variants out there that might make it even better!
I actually haven’t played either of those games, although I’ve heard great things about them! Really need to keep an eye out… I don’t think I own enough space-related games, particularly ones that are more about exploration and stories. Guess I’ll need to update my wishlist at some point!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
The feeling I get from the writeup here is that this is mostly a Star Trek sort of game: you have your one ship, but you’re one of the big players, making faction-building sorts of decisions. Does that seem fair?
In Xia and Star Wars Outer Rim (and my own favourite Firefly), you’re much smaller: there are huge untouchable factions out there, and you just want to be left alone with your small ship and not come to people’s attention. (At least at the start of the game – there’s some powering-up to be done, and you may conduct a daring raid against the Imperials or Niška or even a fellow PC, but even then you strike and retreat rather than saying “har har, I’m bigger than everyone now”.) I don’t think any of them has anything on the scale of conquering a planet.
That sounds correct, and is actually an interesting point. I don’t know if I have any space-related games that feel like they’re on this smaller scale. This one is all about conquering and doing things at a much higher level. I wonder if that’s what also didn’t work for me? The stories didn’t feel like they were there, unfortunately.
You always bring up some very thoughtful comments, Roger! Thanks again for stopping by and continuing to give me reasons to examine my solo gaming tastes. Always a great time to dig a little deeper: Helps ensure that I make better buying decisions down the line!