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I have Race for the Galaxy and i am interested in getting an expansion for it but i don't know which one i should choose.
At first i thought about getting the first expansion that got out, "The gathering storm", in part because of the possibility of the following expansions only being suitable with the previous ones. *However*, that expansion costed around 17,5~25 Euros, which seemed reasonable at first, until i saw that it only expanded the game into one more player (nice, though) and by 18 (or 22) new cards. That just seemed to me like way too expensive for what i would get.
What is the expansion that delivers the most for it's cost, and can that expansion be used without any of the other expansions without concerns?
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Phil Crompton
United Kingdom
St Helens
Merseyside
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A friend bought me the third expansion as a christmas but it states that expansion 1 and 2 are required to play it. You might have to buy them in order ?
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Sean
Canada
Vancouver
British Columbia
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You have to buy the expansions in order, so I'll suggest Gathering Storm.
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Jason Carlough
United States
Portland
OR
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You have to buy them in order. However I wouldn't recommend buying any of them unless you are totally sick of the base game. I bought both of the first two, but I no longer use them as they just make the game less elegant and more unwieldy. If you are going to buy one the expansions though the first one is definitely best as it's adds the most variety without adding extra mechanics.
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Rafal Kruczek
Poland
Legnica
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No expansion for rftg has as good card/price ratio as base game.
But fun/price and (added replayability)/price ratios for the gathering storm are very good.
If you played the base game less then about 100 times, you don't need expansions. If more times the gathering storm is the best (for now).
But really good (in terms of nambers of added cards) "new story arc" expansion will be Alien Artifacts which will require only base game. But it wiil cost more than previous expansions.
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Guido Gloor
Switzerland
Ostermundigen
Bern
The statement below is false.
The statement above is correct.
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The second expansion, Rebel vs Imperium, can be played without the first one, but I wouldn't suggest it. The third one, Brink of War, can't. (Well, technically it could, but it's not balanced nor meant to be).
The cards in Gathering Storm shake things up quite a bit, even though they're few - particularly of course Improved Logistics that lets you settle two worlds instead of one and has a huge impact on your tempo, but the combination of worlds and six-cost developments also make uplift-based strategies more viable. And the one single most powerful early game point engine, the Alien Toy Shop, also enters play in the first expansion.
There's two other major additions though: The solitaire robot, which you might or might not want to use but is quite well-made, and the goals, which have the potential to deepen your game a lot. You can't play with just the second expansion's goals, those would be entirely useless if you'd only get RvI, and if you play with goals this might make entirely different strategies the ones you want to pursue.
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I owned all 3 expansions but I consider first one as good and valuable. Goals are great for the game and new cards are very nice and fresh. Second and third expansio for me is forbuse only for new worlds and developments, which are always nice but new rules are quite uninteresting.
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Lee Smith
Cedar Rapids
Iowa
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One thing I'd like to add is that you shouldn't get 'expansion fever' with this game. The expansions add to the game, but the base is great on its own. Play it alone at least 30-50 times before adding the first expansion. You'll better appreciate the changes the expansion brings if you do that and get more out of the game as a whole.
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Eric Clason
United States
Cedar Rapids
Iowa
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All 3 expansions add mechanics beyond new cards. That's why Gathering Storm (GS) seems to cost so much for the number of new cards. It also includes about a dozen pieces of cardboard goals.
GS includes Goals and Solitary play
Rebel versus Imperiam (RvI) includes Takeovers
Brink of War (BoW) includes Prestige
With GS and RvI, you can add the new cards, without using the new mechanics. With BoW, if you use the new cards, you need to use Prestige.
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Mikkel Øberg
Denmark
Virum
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Everyone has said it already, but as this is one of my all-time favourite games I have to chime in:
1) Play until you think "Hey, I need more variation, because (insert strategy here) is clearly broken".
2) Buy lowest-numbered expansion.
3) Repeat 1+2 until all expansions are in play. As a result, 1) will never happen again. 
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Coen Velden
Germany
Geldern
Deutschland
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PauloAugusto wrote: I saw that it only expanded the game into one more player?
As far as I know, it also expands the game into less players, since it adds rules for solitary gaming.
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If you don't want to buy the first, I'd suggest the fourth, Alien Artifacts, which should be out this year (probably this spring, but you can never be sure).
It's a single expansion, but it represents a whole new arc (expansions 1, 2 and 3 formed the first arc). It is meant to be played without the other 3 expansions, just with the base set.
Here you can find more info: http://thegaminggang.com/2012/01/race-for-the-galaxy-alien-a....
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What I like the most in the "Gathering Storm" are the goal tiles. They considerably improve the playability without altering the basic ruleset. I'd go as far as to say that for me, RftG+GS is the real "starter set".
And don't forget the best feature of the expansion: base game + GS both fit together into the GS box 
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jasoncarlough wrote: I bought both of the first two, but I no longer use them as they just make the game less elegant and more unwieldy.
Less elegant? The expansions make the game far more elegant! They drastically expand the strategy space, while making core strategies from the base game feel slightly different. I'm especially looking at changes in building tempo relative to purely economic tempo.
They do make the game more "unwieldy", if by that word you mean more complex rules and an overall harder-to-grasp system. But in exchange for that, you get a simply amazing game.
I agree with other posters here: If you want the feel of the base game with enough tweak to get you to explore more advanced building strats, TGS is the expansion for you. Never mind you should just be acquiring them in order anyway. A lot of posters complain about the number of cards in TGS, but you really have to look at it in terms of improvement of the gameplay...TGS delivers this in spades, and Tom himself has commented on deck size issues, etc. limiting the number of cards that could be added in the first expansion without significant changes to the mechanics (which happened to be added in the other 2 expansions)!
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Len
United States
Austin
Texas
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I have the same question as the OP, but I am going to read the many reviews people already took the time to write in order to decide.
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B K
United States
Cincinnati
Ohio
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Getting this for the solo play was my primary driver. It also allows for 5p games which was a nice addition for me since there have been times where we had a fifth wheel observing who couldn't resist injecting themselves into the game.
Since then, I've also got my wife interested in the game and the goal tiles were a hit with us offering new incentives and strategy choices that have to be considered.
Yes, there are (some) additional cards which add a couple of nice twists, but the other enhancements justified the relatively inexpensive cost to add this to our collection.
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Johan Haglert
Sweden
Örebro
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I have only played the game wrong 11 times, correct one time and showed it to someone else.
However more interesting cards is a good thing and when I showed it we both used the starting hands and they definitely give you a smooth start.
But I would feel like adding more well before 100 games I think.
First two expansions make perfect sense, third maybe not but if you already bought the rest ..
I think it make sense to ignore them and just going for the second arc due to the price factor but then I assume he may not choose for precisely the same game with arc 2 so I doubt it replace arc 1?
Though not all in arc 2 was orb stuff?
Easier to not think and just buy and forget about it
Over here in Sweden a bottle of vodka would cost much more, and after drinking it you wouldn't remember either.
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Johan Haglert
Sweden
Örebro
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LSMB wrote: I have the same question as the OP, but I am going to read the many reviews people already took the time to write in order to decide. There's lots of people who say the first expansion brings a lot to the game from the new start worlds and many who recommends only that or have removed the others. So judging by that it must still be good.
Many of them probably dislike take overs to but anyway.
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Derry Salewski
United States
Augusta
Maine
. . . give a ship.
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All of them are just cardboard. By your reasoning, you should definitely invest in something else. Mcdonalds food probably.
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Johan Haglert
Sweden
Örebro
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scifiantihero wrote: All of them are just cardboard. By your reasoning, you should definitely invest in something else. Mcdonalds food probably. I don't know what it is with RFTG which make people behave like assholes.
It would be easy to put different cards in different plastic wraps. For instance to include the first expansion with the base game but not the cards and have a notice about how one could add the additional starting worlds once one got used to the old ones or whatever.
As far as work and design goes the cost of that would of course have to be added to something like a big box edition but as far as production and shipment costs goes of course the additional price for having it all in one box vs the base set wouldn't come close to the cost of having three separate expansion products.
As far as sales numbers or whatever goes I guess that could also be an argument for not trying to push three expansions to the distributors.
Guess the ass juice sipper down from the top of the pyramid so to speak.
(It would be better if the producer was German.)
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Johan Haglert
Sweden
Örebro
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philcrompton wrote: A friend bought me the third expansion as a christmas but it states that expansion 1 and 2 are required to play it. You might have to buy them in order ? As said: You don't.
But the last one "needs" the first two. So kinda harsh situation. Impossible to swap now?
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Gabriel Manasan
Philippines
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Gregaria wrote: 1) Play until you think "Hey, I need more variation, because (insert strategy here) is clearly broken".
2) Buy lowest-numbered expansion.
This is really the best advice in this thread. I have all the expansions, but I wish I had stuck with just Gathering Storm for longer.
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Joachim Pehl
Germany
Daubach
Rheinland-Pfalz
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Either Gathering Storm or wait for the next one.
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