Far Space Foundry: Ether Ore Expansion Review

Dan Manfredini’s Far Space Foundry took the Euro world by storm in 2016, bringing tight gameplay, twists on convention and more theme than a Euro has a right to. Now, along comes the awesomely-named Ether Ore expansion, its moniker second only to Belfort’s The Expansion Expansion, to add even more gameplay variety for those who supply those who boldly go, and it delivers. Whether you needed it to or not.

The original game had eight different products, of which two to five were used in a game, depending on player count, and Ether Ore adds six more basic ones, plus three special products. The original’s two different minerals, one of which could be converted into a third, are boosted by four, and each of the four new ones has a distinct function. One’s used to make the aforementioned special products, one can be used as money (but not converted to money), one can be charged, and the fourth can be converted to an alloy of itself. Even if Data and Spock worked together (leave it to Hollywood to fiddle with time yet again to make this happen) they’d have trouble keeping up with all of this math.

Does all of this add up to a bad expansion? Not at all. I know there are gamers out there who have played every possible permutation of the base game, so for them, Ether Ore is just what the doctor of theoretical physics ordered. Just adding in the new color of alien pilot lends new strategic options to the base game, which is plenty to keep me happy for the time being, but for those who’ve seen all the product combinations and mastered the all variations of the original, Ether Ore is the expansion for you. In addition to the pile of goodies I’ve already discussed, it follows its predecessor’s wake by adding two new alternate modes of play, delivering a veritable mole of permutations, and if you like the sound of that number, buy the expansion.

For me and mine, it recalled Belfort’s expansion in another way, by speeding the game down the decision path and smashing us into the theoretical wall at its end. Expanding Far Space Foundry to roughly a dozen different ways to earn points, and a few to lose them, Ether Ore ratchets up the possibilities and boldly goes where I’m not too keen on visiting, but then, I haven’t exhausted the potential of the base game yet. When and if that day comes, Ether Ore will be ready and waiting and its aficionados may welcome me into their exclusive club, provided I remember to carry the one.