[Headline]

NAUTILUS

[IMAGE]

Author: unknown

Publisher: Kosmos 2002

Awards: none

EVALUATION

[IMAGE]
[IMAGE]
[IMAGE]
[IMAGE]

G@mebox author Ralf Togler writes about the game:

In Nautilus each player takes control over a team of scientists on the search of the treasures of Atlantis. The game starts at a basis station anywhere in the middle of the board. From this point each player builds home stations to bring new scientists in the game and science stations where the scientists work. Both kind of stations cost some money, so you have to calculate your budget. In the deeper water regions you can find the treasures which can be salvaged with the help of submarines.

The game is played in rounds which consists of three phases. In phase I the players buy and build the stations. There are five different types of science stations. The buying of one of these stations costs one Nemo, the currency of the game. The costs for the building depends on the region of the game. The deeper the water the higher the cost. The buying of a building station is free, but it costs one Nemo for each scientists (up to a maximum of four scientists per building station) which is placed on the station. This is the only possibility to bring the scientists in the game. The stations canīt be placed everywhere on the board, but must be connected either directly or indirectly to the basis station.

In Phase 2 the scientists can be moved. At the beginning you can do up to three moves. But with increasing science activity this can go up to five moves. Once the player moves a scientist in a science station where he has no scientist he can decide to start the activity in this station. If this station was build by another player he has to pay him one Nemo for rent. Note that there can work more than one science in a station, but they have to belong to different players. The science activity is marked on a tableau in front of each player. With increasing number of scientists working in the same science field (training, technique, echo, trial and analyse) the player gets more abilities. For example if a player has two scientists working in two (different) training stations he can move four instead of the three moves.

Finally in phase 3 the players can move their submarines, search the treasures with the an echo or save them with the submarines. In every science station where is more than one scientist of one colour the player can decide to exchange one of the scientist for a submarine. The saving of the treasures costs one Nemo, but sometimes you can find a treasure chest which gives you some Nemos back (depending on your science activity in the field of analyse). Note that this is the only possibility next to the rent of the science stations to earn Nemos. The real treasures are collected and count in the end from zero up to two points. There are also some special treasures, the treasures of Atlantis. These are collected on a special chart and the player with the most Atlantis founds gets extra points in the end.

The game ends if either all Atlantis-Chips are collected or the Atlantis-Chips with the number 13,14 and 15 are collected or in one round nobody buys or builds a station and nobody saves a treasure.

All points for the treasures are added. This sum is multiplied with points for the science activity. Of course the player with the most points wins the game.

My first impression of the game was that it is quite similar to La Citta or in a way even to Siedler. But this is wrong. There are less tactical elements in the game. So I would say it is more a game for the whole family. The game is quite easy to learn and you canīt do very much wrong. It is more luck that you need to win the game, although there is no dice. The multiplication of the points in the end makes it very difficult to say if you are better or worse than your opponents during the game. I donīt like very much the blue colour of the board but how could look water else. Okay that is more a personal dislike. But the colours of the stations are too similar, so you always have to look twice whether it is a training or an analyse station.

If you are looking for a family game which you even can play with smaller children you should have a look at Nautilus. But if you like the tactics more, I would prefer a game like La Citta.


Looking for this game? Visit Funagain Games!


[Gamebox Index]

Kulkmann@aol.com

Copyright © 2006 Frank Schulte-Kulkmann, Essen, Germany