Game summary
đź‘ĄA game for 1 – 4 players
⏳Play time around 60 – 240 minutes
🏢Publisher is Explore8
Introduction
After countless meetings, political intrigues and diplomatic missions in Federation, the universe expands even further with Federation: Piracy. And trust us, this expansion doesn’t just bring new opportunities but also plenty of moral dilemmas.
Let’s get in on the table
A quick summary of Federation, or in case you want to read our full review: Federation is played over five rounds. Each round is divided into two main phases. The first phase consists of player turns, during which each player acts as an ambassador-spy and sends a spaceship on a special mission. Once all players have completed their turns, the executive phase begins, during which players collect income, fund major projects, and enact laws.
The game ends at the conclusion of the fifth round. The player with the most prestige points wins and joins the Federation.
The Federation: Piracy expansion consists of two modules: the Piracy module and the AI Assistant module. Both modules can be played together or separately. The purpose of these modules is to present players with more dilemmas. They also introduce a new asymmetry that is determined by the players themselves rather than being imposed.
Ready to dive deeper into this expansion?
Let’s play
Let’s first take a look at the first module, Piracy. To set it up, place an additional tile on each spot on the game board, except for the production structure, which should be placed off the board. Next, place the new President’s Office tile in its corresponding slot with the Piracy side facing up. Place the Major Project Piracy on top of the Joint Major Project and place the marker on the number corresponding to the number of players.
Randomly choose three Deep Space Piracy tiles, form a stack, and place them next to the Deep Space Tiles. Then place as many Piracy Influence tokens as there are players. Next, create a stack of neutral Spaceships and Robot pawns. On the Neo tile, place as many tokens as there are players.
Now you are ready to play. Each planet now offers an exclusive Piracy action, introducing new asymmetrical choices within the Federation. There is also a new influence track called Piracy. Whenever you choose to go to one of the planets, you may decide to perform a Piracy action or the planet’s standard action.
Here’s a look at the different actions per planet:
- Pirate Planet Atalum (purple): This action can be attempted once per game. You may exchange three level 1 tiles in your possession for three new level 1 tiles from the market. Alternatively, you can exchange two tiles to gain one Lavandium, or one tile to gain one Coppernium, or nothing to gain one Oceanium.
- Pirate Planet Arratooine (purple): This planet adds four new level 2 trade stalls, accessible to all players. When performing an action, you may once per game choose to go to this planet. Select one of the stalls, pay the required resources, place your trade disc, and receive the bonus. Each stall is suitable for only one player.
- Pirate Planet Smoon (blue): When performing an action on this moon, you can make a detour during movement. The actions work the same way as the other actions on this moon: pay the required resources and receive the bonus.
- Pirate Production Structure (green): This is a new production structure planet. When performing an action here, you build in the same way as on other production structures but only once per player. Once built, you immediately receive the income, including during the executive phase at the end of each round. This action is always resolved first during the executive phase.
- Pirate Planet Neo (orange): This is an alternative planet. When performing an action here, you may choose to enter the smuggling business. When you do, the first four asteroid tokens are revealed and may be collected. You no longer participate in the influence race on this track and your influence is always zero, regardless of bonuses. From now on, whenever you perform an action, you may collect one of the revealed asteroid tokens and gain the corresponding resources or bonus. To collect a dead asteroid, the Miner Pawn must have reached level 7 on the influence track and the tokens must be revealed.
Each time you visit a pirate planet, you receive one Pirate Influence token, moving you one step forward on the Piracy Major Project track. At the end of the game, if a total of ten tokens have been collected by all players, the Major Project Finance is triggered, awarding Prestige Points for the end of the game. This only applies in a four-player game.
Additionally, several new level 1 Erudite tiles are added to the purple planet as part of this module. There are also new Deep Space Pirate tiles, which you gain once you reach the final level of the Accreditation track. Place these tiles on your player board and immediately receive the bonus. When you take a Deep Space Pirate tile, you also gain a Black Pirate Influence token.
Module 2: AI Assistant
Each assistant is unique and comes with its own special bonuses. An AI Assistant card is linked to an Assistant die. During setup, choose as many cards as there are players plus one and place them next to the board so that all players can see them.
You can obtain an Assistant card once you acquire an Assistant die, allowing you to take one of the available cards. This module lets you decide whether to use the die in the Senate or on your Assistant card. When you use it on your Assistant card, you immediately receive the corresponding bonus. You may then use or gain the value of the die, or choose the lower value instead. Once your die is placed on your Assistant card, it remains there until the end of the round. If the value of the die increases during the game, you adjust its value accordingly but leave it in its position.
Conclusion & final score
Difficulty: 3.75/ 5
Our score: 8,5 out of 10 dice
Federation is already a very good game and while playing we never really thought about whether an expansion would ever come out because the game already feels complete enough. But this expansion still manages to make Federation just a bit more fun.
Let’s be honest, it’s not a must-have but Piracy adds a little more depth to the choices within the game. The great thing is that this expansion doesn’t get in the way at all. You don’t have to fully focus on the different pirate planets but can decide for yourself which ones to visit or even skip them entirely. That might make the expansion seem unnecessary, or does it? No, we actually think it’s a very nice addition. You can freely decide which direction to take. For example, the blue planet gives you some strong options and all it takes is an extra detour. Sure, it might cost you a chance at an early influence token but the pirate influence token also gives you advantages toward the end of the game.
The different planets each offer their own unique actions. For instance, the Atalum tile lets you exchange three tiles for other level 1 tiles, or fewer than three tiles to gain resources instead. Toward the end of the game, if they’re still available, you can also gain a Deep Space Piracy tile. These are powerful and provide extra options to help you in the final stages.
The AI module adds fun extra possibilities using dice, sometimes at a cost and sometimes for free. It all depends on the value of the die, which can increase during the game, giving you more opportunities. You may always use the lower or equal value of the die, and only the higher value once the die’s value has already increased before you perform the action. You can only use the AI once per round, so it’s crucial to obtain an AI card as soon as possible.
Both modules can be played separately with the base game or combined. We are definitely fans and hope you will be too. This expansion will be available from Spiel 2025, so make sure to visit Explore8’s booth for a closer look.
Thanks to Explore8 for this review copy for Federation and the opportunity to write about this expansion.
